Justified By Faith
The mind of faith is that you believe God’s Word. The Bible speaks of the mystery of the faith. There’s a great mystery concerning 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 has said it, 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.
The reason that it’s going to do that is not necessarily because the devil feels he can take it away from me or keep me from believing that, but he can cause me to be so broken up, as to my wavering in faith, that it will never benefit me. He can cause me to believe a little, and then doubt a little, and believe a little, and doubt a little, until it will never be any benefit to me. 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. 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. All my lifetime I’ve been able to believe. God has done great, marvelous, mighty things for me because I’ve been able to believe. Because of this, I love to exercise my faith in God. No matter what my problems might be, I love 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.
“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.”
Chapter five: “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.”
One thing I’d really like to impress upon you is what it says in Romans chapter four, verse five: “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” The question then arises, “Is there such a thing?” Is there really such a thing, in the world somewhere today, that there is a human being, or there is a man, that God would give righteousness to him without him 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 say that there are people in the world today who cannot sin, and many people dispute that. There are preachers who dispute that. But nevertheless, these that are of this message and this Word and are of this covenant that God has brought forth, they are blessed, because their iniquities are forgiven and their sins are covered, and these people have had their iniquities forgiven. God has actually forgiven their iniquities. And God, by His blood, has covered their sins. 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.
It doesn’t matter how much they stumble, or 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. Never at any time, during the entirety of their life, will sin ever cross their path or be imputed unto them. They will be without sin during their entire lifetime. When I preach this, that the Bible says 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 by faith, and faith in what I said will save your soul from death.
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. 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.
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 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. Somebody might say, “Praise God. That means that I’ll never have another problem.” That just means that you’re having strong delusions. 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.
“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.” So I 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. 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, and I know that they are forgiven. That means 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. Since He will not impute iniquity unto me, then what will He do to me? The Bible says, “Therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. And being fully persuaded that, what God had promised, He was able to perform.” Abraham was 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 says, “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 so it will never be wicked again.
I find that God has not only taken my iniquities away, He made me to where He will not even impute iniquity unto me, but He has imputed righteousness unto me. He hath given me righteousness. What is righteousness? Somebody might say, “Fast ten days.” What’s fasting ten days got to do with righteousness? I don’t know of anything fasting does other than make you hungry. You go without food ten days, and you’re ten days hungry. I don’t find any righteousness in it. Somebody says, “Well, if you pray all night.” I don’t find any righteousness in staying up all night. All you get is tired eyes, a tired, miserable body, nerves all pulled down, sore knees, and then 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. 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. I am now dead to the world by the body of His gift. I am now dead to sin, and since I am now dead, as far as death, sorrow, 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 esteem 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. 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. My sins are remitted, which means taken away, by the fact that I’ve acknowledged that He died in my place. That was me that God smote, and 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 now it’s dead. It’s gone, and 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 a member 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 for a church without spot, without wrinkle, and without blemish. When the Lord breaks forth from the heavens, as it says in Thessalonians, I will be changed into the glorified image of the Son of God. When He looks at that glorified image, before it ever leaves the ground, I will be a church without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. I will be His perfect likeness. I will be His perfect righteousness. I will be His perfect bone and His perfect flesh. I will be the perfect, spotless church that He came back for, before I ever lift a foot off of the ground, because I have been changed. All of this righteousness of God, with Christ on the inside, has been made manifest. This life of Christ within me has been made manifest in the mortal genes of my natural body.
God imputes righteousness unto us without works. 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 says 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.
We are born unto death until the seed, even Christ, to whom the promise was made, came at Calvary, and then death was abolished within that body and sin was gone, for He made in Himself twain. He made in Himself one man, in putting away the man Adam that had sinned against God, making an end of that generation and the old tree of knowledge. The Bible says that cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. And then He made in Himself the second, the twain, the resurrected one appearing in a new form, as the tree of life, that it might be the very body of Almighty God. He was 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, for by one man righteousness unto life has come upon all of us. 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 have come to know the truth. Many people throughout the world today, religious people, Pentecostals, Catholics, Baptists, and others don’t understand these kinds of things that we understand. But we are fortunate because God has made us to understand these things.
Someone would say, “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 wrestling, you can go to 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. Everything is all fixed and you can go do what you want to. If you want to be holy, godly and pure" and win souls, feed the needy, help the poor and to watch after those that need help" and win the lost and evangelize the world, you can do that, too. Whatever you would like to do, you can go do it now, because God has made it possible for you to go do whatever you want to and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Somebody may ask, “What will happen to me if I do that?” The blood is on the seat of atonement, and the rain is on the unjust just like it’s on the just. You can go out there and the goodness and the blessings of the Lord will still be falling all around. He cannot see your wrong because He’s looking at you through the blood. 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. Those that have the ‘want to’ of righteousness, it will be a positive proof that you were born again because you had the right ‘want to’, and God will bless you with eternal life, and when the blood is taken off 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. 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.” Jesus has fixed it. We see how that God has so fixed it 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.
It’s so wonderful to know that you can believe the right thing. Then, of course, there is the danger of believing a lie and being damned by 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, you should strive always, with all of your ritualistics, that you may 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, we have peace with our heavenly Father, through the grace that He has given us by the finished works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having faith in God, we have peace with God through what the Lord has done for us. 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. 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 to get to heaven. 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. 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 new 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, as 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 the Lord. I speak as the oracle of Christ. So it is not I that liveth but Christ that liveth within me. 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, and that’s to be like Christ because that’s my life. That’s my nature. That’s my desire. The apple tree doesn’t have any problem bearing apples. It doesn’t make any special effort or 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. If you have the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will just be your nature to produce the lovely fruits of the Spirit. Your branches will be filled with the lovely, luscious fruits of the Spirit, and 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 was added because of transgression. Why did the law then come? It came because of transgression. 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. 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. Once He came, the law was then taken away, because righteousness was then upon all mankind. 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 and continue in the lovely laws of freedom of Almighty God, rejoicing in the wonderfulness of our Savior.
By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.
Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.
Holiness Unto The Lord