In this sermon, the preacher discusses the theme of not calling anything that God has cleansed common or unclean. He shares that he has been convicted by the Holy Spirit about the responsibility of every Christian to live in right relationship with God. The preacher then references a passage in Genesis where God curses Cain for killing Abel, using the imagery of changing someone's appearance. He goes on to explain that true believers in Jesus Christ are forgiven of all their sins and are seen as righteous by God. The preacher emphasizes the importance of actively participating in the work of God and being part of the body of Christ.

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However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. God bless you this afternoon, Times Square Church, trusting the Lord to continue to speak to us throughout this day. And I have no doubt that he is speaking. For those who were here Friday night, you heard a message preached by Pastor Neal and again repeated this morning by Brother Dave. And nobody's conferring in this church one with another. But the theme basically is essentially the same. And I have a message which is exactly along those same lines today. I have been under conviction all week. I'm going to be so happy to preach this message. It started with a devotion on Monday morning. I just got up, began to read my Bible and didn't really anticipate receiving a message from the Lord. By the time I was done in the morning, he had shown me something in the Scriptures that greatly convicted my own heart. As the Holy Spirit began to remind me of something and began to remind me of the incredible responsibility that is given to every Christian who knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in spirit and in truth. I want to share that with you and I'm trusting you will share the conviction that I've shared this week and the joy and the release also of knowing that when our lives are in right relationship with God, there is a joy. There's a release. We are people who want truth here in Times Square Church. I'm assuming that you want truth. That's why you're attending this church. Some truths are easy to be heard. They go down easy. They're easy to preach. They're easy to hear. There's a spontaneous joy of times that come with these truths and others are more difficult. They're more bitter water as it is harder to hear. I think of the disciples as they followed Christ and were all excited about the miracles and all the wonderful things they were seeing until he came to the point of saying, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And rather than then dig deeper and find out exactly what it was that he was speaking to them, there were many that just said, this is too hard. Not understanding that he was speaking about life, even though it seemed like an impossibility. It was absolute life and freedom. But rather than then dig into the depths of those statements, they chose to walk away. And I think of the tragedy of the many. I believe some say there are over 50 that walked away from him that were given a close invitation to walk in intimate association and came and were faced with the truth that was too difficult to hear and began to turn away. And I think that as we get begin to walk through this, I'm going to have to go through some of this slowly and sometimes you'll have time to get to the passage in the Bible and sometimes you won't. But just have a listening ear today. And I know that God is going to take us deeper into what he wants us to be as the body of Christ. Father, I stand before you absolutely dependent on you. I simply cast myself on you, Jesus. Lord, I don't have any wisdom to speak this. God, I don't have. Lord, it's so far beyond me to even understand the depths of it. I'm asking, oh, God, that you just simply give it to me. Let it be an animation of your heart. Let it be grace and season with salt. I'm asking that it would be spoken in a way that can be heard by everyone here and that we will be the better for hearing it, that your kingdom will really, truly advance in us. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to quicken me, quicken my mind and understanding, quicken my physical body. And, God, let your name, Jesus, be exalted, lifted up, loved and desired. Let your truth advance. And, Father, I thank you for this in Jesus' mighty name. Now, if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 25 and just leave your Bible open once you get there, Deuteronomy chapter 5. I'm going to speak today about building up my brother's house. Building up my brother's house. Now, this is not a truth. This is not something that comes to any of us naturally. We are more naturally prone to criticize. We are more naturally prone to indifference, to jealousy, to hatred. These are things that became part of our human nature. When Adam and Eve, our first parents, sinned in the Garden of Eden, that sin nature was passed on to us through them. And it didn't take long. If we were to look in the book of Genesis, for example, Adam and Eve had a son. His name was Cain. And here we first clearly begin to understand that there is an interrelational or that is a man-to-man effect of indwelling sin. The Lord came to Cain one day in Genesis 4.9. And he said to him, where is Abel your brother? And he said, I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? You see, indifference is in his heart. Jealousy was now in the human makeup as it is. And, of course, this had turned to murder. And it had become part of the fallen nature of every man. Now, thanks be to God that the Bible says today that we who believe in Christ are no longer under the indwelling power of sin. Now, many here can bear witness to the fact that you had, before Christ, you had no power over the jealousy in your life. You had no power over the envy. You had no power over the indifference as it is to walking by misery all day. Walking by and in your heart it was, well, I've got enough problems of my own. You look after yours. I'll look after mine. I'm not interested in your troubles. I remember we used to have an expression on the police force. Here's a dime. Go call somebody who cares. Now, that was with one another. That wasn't even with the people that were out on the street. It was just indifference. Listen, I've got my trouble. You've got yours. And please don't bother me with it. And really, that's part of the human nature. That's part of the fallen human nature. That's not the way it ought to be in Christ, especially as the body of Christ. Now, the Bible tells us in Romans 6, 14 that sin no longer has dominion over us. We're not under the law now but under grace. And God says, to put that in simple terms, God says, I've come into your life now by the power of the Holy Ghost and I've given you a new mind. I've given you a new heart. I've given you a new nature. I have given you a compassion that you never had before. I've changed you. I've made you a partaker of the work that I am doing. I've made you, in a sense, a sign and a wonder to a society that is indifferent, jealous, and full of hatred all around you. But yet I have made you into another person. I've made you into someone who can listen, who cares. And when everyone is speaking death, you're speaking life. When everyone is casting down, you're building up. When everyone is in hopeless despair, you're standing in the middle of the storm with words of encouragement, strength, and hope for all around you. I've made you something that the world can't be without the power of God. Oh, yes, people can go into positive thinking classes and come out and be positive, I suppose, for a short period of time. But there is nothing that comes to the flesh that has any duration, has no ability to endure. You come out with these wonderful new resolves. And I know how many of us here, before coming to Christ, at 12 o'clock midnight, every December 31st, made all these wonderful resolutions. I made them. I know that you must have, too. And they last until what, 1210, 1212? How you're going to be such a friend and you're going to be so good to your wife or to your husband and you're going to change and be this wonderful parent. You're going to be positive in the work environment. And about 1212, you're now sitting around the table and discussing some failing in somebody's life that you work with. And the whole thing has gone up in smoke for another year. The whole resolution has died because there's no power in the natural man to fulfill any of this. Now, Deuteronomy chapter 25 tells us, this is the law of God that was given to Moses. And there was a law that if two brothers were dwelling together, or let's say in the same village or proximity, and one of them died and had no child, this is verse 4, the wife of the dead shall not marry a stranger, but her husband's brother shall go into her and take her to him to wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be that the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the name of the brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. And if a man likes not to take his brother's wife... Now, let me stop just for a moment. This was a law. Let's say if my brother, if I was alive at this time, my brother's wife, my brother died and had no child, that I was to take his wife into my house and the firstborn son would be after his name. In other words, I would be raising up seed to my brother. And I would be building my brother's house. In my heart, I would say to my brother, I'm not going to let your house be destitute because of the death that has found a foothold there. But I'm going to now be a vessel as it is of the infusion of the life that God wants to give to your seed. And your seed is going to be raised up. And even though I might be the father of that son, that son will not be called after my name. It will be called after your name as my brother. And it was a commitment that the families of Israel were to make one to another. And how much more in a sense, in a spiritual sense, are we to be committed to one another in the body of Christ? And if the man, verse 7, likes not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him. And if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her, then shall his brother's wife come to him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot and spit in his face and shall answer and say, so shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother's house. That's an incredible thing. I want you to really see that. This is God's law. He said, if a brother refuses, if he sees death and he refuses to come and build up his brother's house, then God says, I give permission to that man's wife to come and loose his shoe from off his foot. I'll explain that to you in a moment. And spit in his face and say, so shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of him that has his shoe loosed. Now, we see this principle in Genesis chapter four. If you have a moment to turn there with me. Genesis chapter four. After Cain killed Abel, the Bible says it this way. Genesis chapter four, verse eleven. God said to Cain, and now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened your mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When you till the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shall thou be in the earth. That's an incredible thing. In a sense, you could say, in a spiritual sense, that God loosed Cain's shoe from off his foot. And said, from this day forward, you will bear no fruit. And you will be a vagabond or you will have no direction. Beloved, I have seen, I've been a pastor now for quite a few years. And I have seen over and over again, not only as a pastor, but as a Christian. I've seen people who refuse to enter into the work of God, of building up God's kingdom in each one of the saints of Jesus Christ, called the church. And I've seen those who fail to discern what it means to be part of the body of Jesus Christ. Paul said it the best. He said, because they fail to discern the body, there are many that sleep and some are even dead because of it. They fail to understand what it means to be part of this church. And because of it, they bring no fruit. Yes, they come to church and they're there, but there is no fruit. There's this ever studying, but never changing. Ever worshipping, but never having faith. Ever being, but never being transformed into the image of Christ. You meet this person in 1980 and you go on a long journey and come back in 1990, and they're the same as when you left. Conversation is the same. Questions are the same. Nothing changes. There seems to be no fruit and there seems to be no direction. It's as if they had their shoe loosed and God Almighty himself had spit in their face. Because they refused to raise up seed to their brother. They refused to begin to minister the life that Christ has purchased on Calvary for everyone who is called by his name. As Pastor David shared this morning, they look upon those that God has cleansed and make a willful choice to call them unclean. I would hope it would be an ignorance, because if this thing is done with knowledge, it's a very, very dangerous thing to do. And we'll see that in a few moments. God said to Cain, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground. John the Beloved said, whoever hates his brother is a murderer. I asked myself the question this week, how many wounded? And the Holy Spirit caused me to look within and to go back over the years and to think about areas and people and times that I may have wounded those that were purchased by the shed blood of my Savior. How many wounded cry to God from the dust where they lay because of unkind words or indifference or inaction? When we saw the death and could have made a difference but refused to raise up seed to our brother. We could have done something. I wonder how many have drifted away from the church and are wandering now in the wilderness. Half dead out in the wilderness. And it was within our power to just speak a word that could have changed the very course of their life. It was within our power to be a partaker as it is or a co-laborer with God. In building that which God is building through His Son Jesus Christ on this side of eternity. We could have made a difference. Psalm 26, 22 says the words of a tail bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. And he that hates dissembles with his lips. He that hates dissembles. Now, I want to tell you something. A lot of people would say, okay, Pastor, help me understand this. I don't, to the knowledge that I have today, I don't hate anybody in this church. I don't hate one member of the body of Christ. Now, if we're going by our own definition, our own definition would be almost like frothing at the mouth and running after them down the aisle with a dagger in your hand. Now, I don't feel that way. Many people said about anybody in the church. So, therefore, I'm clean of this inference in Scripture. But Psalm 26, 23 says he that hates dissembles with his lips. Now, I want to dissect that word dissembles. It's nekhar in the Hebrew. And here are some included definitions of dissembling. This is the hate that comes from the mouth of a person. Included definition would be to scrutinize or to be looking at somebody with an eye, but it's not the eye of God. It's looking from another perspective. Not to find life and health or not to see where we can help, but to see where we can hurt. With an eye to what is wrong. I think it's tragic that oftentimes in the church we are recipients of such incredible grace. And remember the accusation Christ had against the scribes. He said, you take in a camel and you strain it in that. In other words, you swallow whole this wonderful bounty of God. And it's as if you have a treasure in heaven poured out on you every day and you open your little purse. And it's an effort to give a penny to somebody. A little tidbit of the goodness God says that I pour into your life. It's an effort to have it flow through your vessel to the brothers and sisters. It might be a need of just a word of encouragement around you. And he who hates dissembles with his lips. It means to scrutinize, to find strange. But I think this is the definition that says it the best. To change the appearance of something. He who hates changes someone's appearance. Incredible. Now, I want to show you first in Psalm 103. If you'll turn there with me. I want to show you the image of the true believer. This is how God sees you today. If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ. If you have come to him and asked him to forgive your sins. I want to show you exactly what you look like to God right now. Amazing. It's incredible when you think of it. Psalm 103. David, the king, says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all thine iniquities. If you are in Christ, all of your sins are forgiven. Isn't it amazing? There is no list. There is no wrong. There is no trailer of past sins behind you. It is completely blotted out by the blood of Jesus Christ. Who heals all thy diseases. In other words, the sicknesses that are within you that cause that sin in the first place. Not only are we forgiven, but the power of the Holy Ghost comes upon us. To begin to change us into the very image of our Lord and Savior. The very root of the sin is taken out as it is. Line by line, bit by bit, piece by piece. Remember, God doesn't call things as they are. When the Holy Ghost speaks to us, he speaks to us as we will be. As we begin to follow him. He begins to speak into our lives things that are not. Because he calls things that are not as if they are. Who redeems thy life from destruction. And who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. Incredible. I am forgiven all my sin. I am healed of the very rot within me that caused me to live a life of sin. I have now a new power source within me. The very God who created the universe now lives in my life. And all things become new and all things are passing away. That's who I am in Christ. That is the heavenly picture. Whether or not I'm rough around the edges as a new Christian or whatever I happen to be. This is how God sees me. This is what God has done. He has redeemed my life from destruction, the scripture says. I'm not headed for destruction. I'm not going to hell. And the devil is not going to overpower me. And he's not going to ruin my home. He's not going to steal my testimony. I will not be ashamed before my enemies. This is not how God sees the Christian. He sees you and I as living in victory, walking in victory. A standing testimony to the grace of God. Not perfect, but being perfected by the grace of God. And He has crowned me. I have a crown on my head in the sight of God. Oh, you may not see it, but God sees it. Those that have come to Christ and are redeemed, He has placed a crown on you. You are crowned with loving kindness and tender mercy. Hallelujah! The tender mercy of God is on me every day. If God wanted to, He could destroy me a thousand times over. But His tender mercy has crowned me. And His loving kindness changes me. Hallelujah! That's the testimony of the Christian. That's the picture that God sees of you when He looks at you. In spite of your struggle. In spite of your failings. In spite of all the weaknesses and struggles and trials that you and I go through. In spite of what anyone else may say, there's only one voice that counts in eternity and time. He says, I see you as mine. You are my beloved. And your righteousness is of me. This is the true image of the believer before God. But the man who doesn't want to build up his brother's house in this image. The man who chooses to focus on the death. And beloved, there's no shortage of people like that in the church of Jesus Christ. Claiming to be co-laborers with God. But focus on the death. And when they see the death, they say, I want nothing to do with raising life in this person. I want nothing to do because there's nothing in it for me. There's nothing in it when this first son is born as it is and it doesn't even carry my name. There's nothing in it for me, so why should I even bother beginning to speak into this person's life as it is infusing that seed, nurturing that seed that God has infused in their life through Christ. Psalm 64. Just go back in your Bible with me a little bit. I'll talk about the man who refuses to build his brother's house. He has something else in mind. Psalm 64, verse 4, verse 3. Well, let's go back to verse 1. David says, Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer and preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked and from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity who wet their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words that they may shoot in secret at the perfect. Suddenly they do shoot at him and fear not. It goes on to say, They search out iniquities. They accomplish a diligent search, and both the inward thought of every one of them in the heart is deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow, and suddenly shall they be wounded. And so they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves, and all they that see them shall flee away. And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God, for they shall wisely consider of his doing. And David is saying, God, please, Lord, you are leading me, you are guiding me. And I believe this is the prayer of every sincere Christian who is not yet what they should be, but they are moving towards that which God has called them to be. And along that route, we all make mistakes, don't we? We do things that we shouldn't do. We say what we shouldn't say. Everyone blows a gasket once in a while. They just have had enough at home, the office, wherever it is. And they say and do things they shouldn't say. And David says, but in David's heart he's saying, God, you've got a call on my life. There's a destiny over me. And, Lord, you're taking me there. And, yes, I'm aware of my failings, but, oh, God, please spare me. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked. Hide me, because they form words. They search out. They accomplish a search, and they look for flaws. They search out iniquities, David said. You can always tell workers of hell, even in the church, they spend all their time looking for wrong things in other people. Spend all their time talking about wrong things in other people. It's a tragedy. Only to come before the judgment seat of Christ someday and find out that the whole time they've been praising, they've been outside the kingdom of God. The whole time they've been lifting their hands and saying, I love you, Lord. They've been cursing the very work of His hands. Incredible blindness. They search out iniquity. They accomplish a diligent search. And they shoot in secret at the perfect. Now, the word perfect in the Hebrew means complete, whole, upright, innocent, sincere, undefiled, beloved. It is an endearing term for a beloved female. And I think of the bride of Christ when I'm looking at this. They shoot in secret at those that God says, I have perfected. I have given them righteousness. I have cleansed them. But they make a choice to call them still unclean and common. Incredible. And they accomplish a search to justify this evil that's proceeding from their lips towards the bride of Christ. And it goes on. And the Lord says through David, the judgment, verse 8, that they hope to pronounce on another falls on themselves. So shall they make their own tongue to fall upon themselves and all that see them shall flee away. And men shall wisely shall fear and declare the work of God. They shall wisely consider of his doing. Oh, beloved. I caution you with everything in me. I have seen the effect of the uncontrolled tongue in my years as a Christian. I have watched people go into darkness. I've watched their children taken captive. I've watched them swallowed literally whole by darkness because of an uncontrolled tongue. Especially a tongue that is used to tear down the body of Jesus Christ. A tongue that in secret shoots at the righteous and thinks somehow that God doesn't see this or God doesn't hear this. Very, very dangerous. I'm going to show this to you in greater measure in just a moment. Paul said to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 6, don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he's going to reap. Whoever sows to the spirit is going to reap life. And he who sows to his flesh is going to reap destruction. He said, therefore, let us let us not be weary in doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we faint not. In other words, the good which we choose to perform in obedience to God, Paul says, God will reward it back to us. If you were going to reap what you sow, if you and I choose to sow life into people around us that are struggling and hurting, then God says, I will sow life into you when you are struggling and hurting. When you are in a difficult position, I will send you a word that will bring you out of captivity. I will give back to you an even greater measure than you give to others. I will be, if there's nobody around, I myself, God says, will be your consolation. I will be there for you. You will have that peace. You will have that sure word in the midst of your darkest time and your deepest trial. There's no greater calling on the Christian's life than to build our brother's house. I'm called to build your house. That's what I'm attempting to do today with all of my heart. I'm called to. There's a seed of life in you. If you belong to Christ, you might be the roughest looking Christian in this place. But if Christ is in you, there's a seed of life in you. And I'm called to be a co-laborer with God. I'm called to water that seed. And I'm called to speak into that area of life that you have. I'm called to raise up that seed, a testimony of God's grace to you. I'm called to be a co-laborer, to speak words of life and encouragement that will help you and give you hope in the midst of your own adversity and trial. I'm called to raise up the seed of new life in you by speaking to you and speaking of you in a manner that encourages and builds you in the faith. The Bible says in Proverbs 15, 4 that a wholesome tongue is a tree of life. It's a tree of life. The word life in the Hebrew means to revive from sickness, discouragement, and death. A wholesome tongue, in other words, is a tree that revives from sickness, discouragement, and death. Remember that it was because of sin that man lost access to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. But that life, that access, was given back through Jesus Christ. He said, I'm come that they might have life. Christ is himself the tree of life. And that they might have it more abundantly. In other words, exceedingly abundantly or superaboundingly. The Holy Spirit is constantly breathing this life of Christ in us, raising up seed in areas where we have been powerless because of the death which once reigned in us. This is what the Holy Spirit is doing. He is constantly speaking that life. In some areas of your life, beloved, there's only just a seed. There's not a whole lot of victory, but there is a seed. God has spoken this life into this. The life of Christ is now in you. And because the life of Christ is now in you, he is going to overthrow. He's going to overpower. He's going to tear down. When he came into your life, he didn't come in as a meek little lamb. He came in as a lion. He came into this temple of the Holy Ghost with a scourge in his hand and says, Just call out to me and I'll overthrow the tables and drive out the money changers. I'll throw out all of the religious things that have nothing to do with life. I will absolutely transform. I didn't come in here to cohabitate. I came in to take over. Hallelujah. And yes, we're rough. But the Holy Spirit is constantly raising up the seed of Christ. He's constantly breathing the life of Christ into us. Constantly changing us into the image of our Savior. John chapter 16, if you go there very quickly with me. John chapter 16. He speaks about this ministry of the Holy Spirit. Verse 13. Listen to what Jesus says. He says, How be it? When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. To come, in the original language, means that are moving from one place to another. The Holy Spirit will show you. The Holy Spirit will be speaking into your life. The Holy Spirit will be changing you. The Holy Spirit will show you things to come. Have you ever gotten up in the morning, opened your Bible, and all of a sudden there's a verse, you never saw it before, or you read it. It never meant much. And all of a sudden it jumps off the page. You know what that is? The Holy Spirit is showing you things to come. The Holy Spirit is quickening that to you because he intends to perform it in your life. He's showing you what you're going to be. He's showing you who God already sees you as being. He shall glorify me. Verse 14. For he shall receive of mine. Remember, when Christ rose from the dead, he received the very blessings. Everything of heaven became his. And because we are in him, it also became ours. And he will show it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore said I that he shall take of mine, and he shall show it to you. Verse 10. Chapter 17. All are mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. Hallelujah. He will show you things to come. He is speaking to you right now. When you open this book and begin to read, the Holy Spirit is speaking life. He is infusing life into you. And raising up seed to glorify Christ in areas where you and I have been dead to sin. And he that plants and waters are one. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God. And I guess this is my point today. The Holy Spirit is raising a church to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is in you. If you are a believer, the Holy Spirit is in me. And the Bible says that we are laborers together with God. In other words, if I am in the labor of God. If the Holy Spirit is in me. If I truly have God's mind. Then I am doing the same work that the Holy Spirit is doing. I am speaking into your life. You are speaking into mine. I am encouraging you. You are encouraging me. We are edifying one another in love. We are encouraging one another. We are building up the body. We are not judging one another unrighteously. Yes, even if we have to correct. We do it solely with an eye and a heart to restoration. To bringing that person in line to what God has intended them to be. Everything is done with tenderness and with the utmost of love as God has treated us. Truly we treat others as well. We have come to the place where we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And the truth of that relationship is manifested in the depth of our love one to another. Jesus said, by this all men will know you are my disciples because you love one another. You have a love one to another that is not found in the world. It is not a conditional love. You perform and I perform. You do good to me, I do good to you. No, it is not conditional. It is not something that is found in the world. It is such a depth of love that the world around will look at it. And because of it they will know that you are my disciples. They will see brother going to brother. And even when there seems to be death at some point reigning in his life. They will see brother infusing that other brother with life. Raising up seed to him. Going to his house and saying, how can I help you? How can I bring you out of this situation? How can I challenge you? Or forgive me for not praying for you the way I should have been praying for you. Let's not let the devil gain advantage over you in this situation. Let's take it to the throne of God. And let's believe for the victory in your life. Let's believe. Let's walk together. Christ, if you go to Matthew chapter 12. He gives an incredible warning. I honestly have never seen this the way the Holy Spirit is speaking it to me. I don't want anybody to come under condemnation with what I am about to share. Because I believe it is something that God was speaking to my heart. Now Matthew chapter 12, the whole context. Is that Christ has just cast the devil out of one that was blind and dumb. And the people saw it. And the Pharisees said he cast out devils by the prince of the devils. Then Jesus began to speak about this accusation that was brought against him. In verse 32 he says, whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him. Neither in this world nor in the world to come. Either make the tree good and his fruit good or make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. I say to you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Now this is an incredible thing. Stop with me just for a moment. We've heard a lot about the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. And you read most commentaries and oft times commentators will basically say, well the only way you can know you haven't blasphemed against the Holy Ghost is that you still have the power to come back to God. And that's true. I agree with that. But folks there's something in this that the Holy Spirit was speaking to my heart. They accused him of casting out the devil by the power of the devil. And surely that is the blasphemy in its purest form. That's the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. To see the work of God, they were seeing Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost overthrow the power of the devil and they attributed this work to the devil. That's the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost in its purest form. But Jesus said this, verse 29. He said, I'm entering in a strong man's house and spoiling his goods, first binding the strong man and spoiling his house. And I want to take this as a type of the life of a new believer. Somebody who is genuinely in Christ. And the Holy Spirit comes and enters our house. Tell me those who are walking in Christ here for 20 or 30 years, were you perfect in your first five years of your walk? Some of you didn't stop drinking until just a few years ago. Or gambling. You're still going to the convenience stores at the, what do you call that, scratch and sniff tickets, wherever you get them. And you're still buying these things. On one hand the promises of God, on the other hand, were you perfect? Were you perfect in your walk with God? And you think of all the mistakes you make, for example, as a young Christian. And we have many young Christians here at Times Square Church. Many who are just very rough around the edges. Saved and crowned with mercy and redeemed and not headed for destruction, but still very rough. But Christ said, I am in them in the power of the Holy Ghost. I'm overthrowing the power of hell. I'm in there and I'm working. And I'm setting them free and I'm spoiling the devil's goods. And I'm binding the strong man and I'm spoiling his house. That's what I'm doing. I came into this life. This is a genuine believer in Christ. Yes, rough behind the edges, but I'm in there. And I'm casting out the power of hell that has oppressed them. And then in verse 30 he says, he who is not with me is against me. And he who is not gathering with me is scattering abroad. It's incredible when you begin to see it. He says, you are either building with me or you are scattering. He says, it's by your words, in verse 37, that you will be justified. And by your words you will be condemned. Look at the context of these verses. I often wonder, I couldn't help but wonder as I read it, is this blasphemy at least in part that Christ is speaking about? And I say in part. Is it not possible that it's those who oppose the work of the Holy Spirit and those whom Christ has saved and called to himself? They walk up to a young believer who's struggling and instead of infusing them with life, they cast them down and criticize them. And use their scriptural knowledge as a sledgehammer, destroying the very life of God in them. And Christ says, you are blaspheming the work that I'm doing in their life. I'm setting them free. I have received them. I have cleansed them. But you walk up to them and call them unclean. You are blaspheming the Holy Ghost. I don't think I've ever had the fear of God struck as deep in my heart as reading this scripture and beginning to see these things. Oh God, help me. Oh God, help me never to say I'm full of the Holy Ghost and yet stand in opposition to what you are doing in any saying of God. Help me to speak the same words. If the Holy Spirit is in me, the same Holy Spirit that is in you, then I've got to speak the same words the Holy Spirit is speaking. That's why Christ said at the end, you will be judged or justified by your words or condemned by your words. There will be many that stand and say, Lord, Lord, did we not do wonderful works? We cast out devils. We prophesied in your name. And Christ will say, you say you were mine? You say you were doing my work in my house? You say that you were one in mind with the Holy Ghost? Well then, let's look at your words. And I wonder, I wonder as some stand before the throne of God someday, if there will not be a list as it is or a replay of all these saints of God that were struggling and where the Holy Spirit was working. And let's see what was in you. And you see what the Holy Spirit was speaking and what we spoke. And you see that the two were opposed one to another. The Holy Spirit was speaking life and faith and we were speaking death into that person's life. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy is understanding. There has to be a fear of God or we get to the point as a church where we feel we can speak anything we want to anybody and there's no consequence to it. In the manner Jesus said, you treated the least of these, you treated me. The least of these. They were in prison and you came to them. I'm not talking about a physical prison. They were in a prison in their spirit and you came to them. They were naked and you clothed them in some area of their life. They were hungry, you fed them. Not just in the physical but in the spiritual. You didn't oppose the work that I was doing. I'm starting to understand something about the body of Christ that I've never seen before. We speak so liberally, we speak so loosely, so indiscriminately quite often to one another. Because there's a little of the fear of God now. We feel we can come into the house and speak anything we want. We can gather in little groups and shoot at the perfect and secret and think that this is fine. We can cast down leaders in the body of Christ. We can ascribe to them wrong motives and pass on rumors about them and think there's no consequence to any of this. Incredible. Blindness. God said, beware that you're not blaspheming the Holy Ghost because I'm working in them. Beware that you're not standing against my work in that person's life. Incredible. Incredible. I think for the rest of my life I'd rather say nothing at all. I say it seriously. If there's nothing good to say, say nothing. Just say nothing. I'll tell you something. I will be judged one day for my words. I'll leave it to you to make the choice of how you will be judged. But I will stand one day before God. I will be judged for my speech. In secret. In public. In public. Everything I've said about the church of Jesus Christ and individual believers. Incredible. I make the choice to build with God. The rest of my life. I say, God, I don't know if it's just me, but I've had a fear of the Lord in my heart. I can't even think of a specific incident, to be honest with you, but I have a fear of God in my heart. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. Mighty Christ. Mighty God. Don't let me. Don't let me stand before any of your saints, especially as a spiritual leader. And be not speaking what you're speaking in that person's life. I don't want. I don't want my shoe loose. I don't want. I don't want to. I don't want my face spit on as it is. I don't want to be a man who brings shame. To the work of God. I hope this is making sense to you. I have one last scripture. If you go to the book of Numbers. I was thinking, God, when I was preparing this, there's got to be a good side to this somewhere. It starts out in Numbers, chapter 12. Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses. Numbers, chapter 12. Because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Or another translation would say a Cushite. Now, the Ethiopian woman was a descendant of Ham. You remember the son of Noah that delighted in exposing his father's nakedness. And because of it, he was cursed, in a sense, to be a servant of servants all his life. And this is such a beautiful type of grace. Because if you take Moses to be a type of Christ, the Ethiopian woman comes into the land of destroyer. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried, this woman is called. And here are now Miriam and Aaron that are taking issue with Moses. Because of this wife that he had taken. Or this relationship that they didn't approve of. And maybe they knew the history. I don't really know. Maybe they knew the history and said, listen, you've taken a wife and she's a descendant of Ham. And Ham was cursed because he exposed his father's nakedness. And here they are doing the very same thing that Ham did. And they're blind. Some of the most blind people in the body are the habitual sin exposures. They're the most blind in the whole church. They do the very same things that everyone else is doing and they're not even aware of it. And here they are standing against leadership and accusing Moses. And he's in a righteous relationship. It's allowed by God and it's a type of incredible grace. This woman is forgiven. There's no descendancy that can hold anybody who comes to Christ. Everything is forgiven. She's received lawfully as the wife of Moses. And Miriam and Aaron begin to speak against her. And speak against Moses. And God now hears about it and calls the man. And, of course, Miriam bears a judgment and Aaron gets... I'm doing a study on Aaron. He is the ultimate empty suit in the Old Testament. He's a man who just has no sense of direction whatsoever. He takes on the imprint of wherever he is. The strongest opinion literally gets him. All his life he's like that. He never changes. Incredible. And God comes down and calls Aaron and Miriam. And in verse 7 he says, My servant Moses is not so. In other words, he said, I speak unto other prophets in verse 6 in visions and in dreams. But my servant Moses is not like this. Who is faithful in all my house. So God says, I see Moses. Now, you are changing his image. Remember that we talked about that in the Psalms. You are altering the image of Moses. But I want to correct something. I see Moses as faithful. I don't care how you see him, Aaron and Miriam. But Moses is faithful in all my house. I speak to him face to face. He comes in the prayer closet and he's not hearing from me in little snippets in visions and dreams. But I meet him and I speak to him. And he speaks to me as a man speaks to his friend. He said, this is how I want to just set the record straight. Moses is faithful in my house. And with him when I speak mouth to mouth, verse 8, even apparently and not in dark speeches. I speak continuously. In other words, God says into his life. He is faithful. I speak into his life and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. In other words, God says he will see my likeness. He is faithful. I speak into his life and he will see or he will know intimately my likeness. And then God asked him a question. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? God says a very simple principle that carries itself right through to everything that the Holy Spirit has given me to talk about. I have accepted him. I have counted him faithful. I am speaking into his life. And he will behold my likeness. Why then were you not afraid to speak against him? Incredible. There are many people who are going to hear these words repeated at the judgment seat of Christ. Why were you not afraid to speak against him? I received him. He was faithful. And he was changing daily into my image. Why then? Where did this come from that you thought you could get together in secret and speak against him and not pay a price for it? Incredible. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us. I don't know how many times Aaron said that throughout his life. I don't know how many times Aaron said that throughout his life. And he said, My Lord, when we have done foolishly and when we have sinned, and let her not be as one dead. You see, Miriam became a leper. The anger of the Lord, the Bible says, was kindled against them. And Miriam became, Aaron describes her as one dead. Her tongue, as it is, fell upon herself. Remember what David said. The Lord said to David, they shoot bitter words, but their own tongue. The Lord shall cause their own tongue to fall upon themselves, and everyone shall see it and shall wisely consider of the doing of the Lord. Her own tongue came back to her and fell upon herself, and she became as one dead. And I want to suggest today that some, even here in this house, are as one who is dead because the judgment of your own tongue has fallen upon yourself. You come into the house of God and say, God, why am I so empty? Why is there so little life in me? How come the only time I can lift my hands in praise or in a Sunday service, when everybody gets excited, I get excited? How come it doesn't carry through to Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday? I want to suggest to you, just by way of suggestion, if only if the Holy Spirit is convincing your heart that perhaps the judgment of your own tongue has fallen upon you. Moses cries unto the Lord in verse 13 and says, Oh, heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. Now, here's where it gets interesting, verse 14. And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had but spit in your face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that, let her be received in again. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not, till Miriam was brought in again. And God here, I believe, is likening himself to her father. She had spoken again. She had refused to raise up her brother's house. And God said, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be set out of the camp for seven days? There is a shame that comes for evil speaking. There is a price to be paid. But there's incredible grace with God. And I don't think in any word do we see greater grace than in this passage of Scripture. God Almighty himself shamed her and shut her outside of the camp. In other words, outside of the life, outside of the favor. But because she had a repentant heart, she had to have a repentant heart. The Bible says the people journeyed not again until Miriam was brought back in. That's an amazing thing. That's the grace of God. You see, if you have been involved in evil speaking, we're going into a time of incredible soul winning this next year. I think you're going to be astounded at the number of people that are going to come to Christ in New York City alone. Maybe you're outside and you're sitting here today and say, Pastor, I have been, the finger of God is on me. I'm sitting in this sanctuary and God brought me here this day, this service. There's some that could say that I didn't even plan on being here. But I'm here and the finger of God is right on my heart. And God has touched the besetting sin of my life. And the cry of my heart is, oh, God, forgive me for this ignorance. God, forgive me. Remember the Apostle Paul said, I persecuted the church beyond measure and wasted it. But I received mercy because I did it in ignorance. God was merciful to me. And I know there are people here today say, Pastor, the finger of God is on my heart. And I have used my lips unrighteously. I have failed to understand what it means to be part of the body of Jesus Christ. I have willfully, and I know there are some that are going to have to make restitution after this service. But I have willfully, willfully chosen not to raise up seed to my brother. I could have done good and I've chosen not to. I could speak kindly, but I've spoken evil instead. The grace of God says to you, if you ever repent of heart, the church will not move on without you. Incredible grace. God says, all I require of you is that you repent. All I require of you is that you say, Lord, don't let this thing get a hold of my life. Get this death out of me. I want to be a man or woman who speaks what the Holy Spirit is speaking. I don't want to speak in the flesh. I don't want to blaspheme the work that God is doing in any believer's life. By looking at that person and hear the Holy Ghost is in them, forming them into the image of Christ, and looking at them and saying, you're full of the devil. Incredible. Folks, I want to tell you, if you say that to somebody and the Holy Ghost is in them, you have a problem with God. I say it very lovingly. You better be sure, if you ever say those words to somebody, you better be sure they're full of the devil. Because if the Holy Ghost is in there, you have a problem. You've done the very same thing that the Pharisees did in the New Testament. But I have a promise, and that's as good as it gets today. I have a promise of the Holy Ghost, that if you have a repentant heart, and you will let your tongue be used for the glory of God, this church will not move forward without you. If God has to make us stand still for seven days, He will. But we will not move forward without you. You will be part of the church. You will be part of the body. You will be a functioning part of the body. You'll be a person that can be counted on by the Holy Ghost to go where there's death and speak a word of life. And to move in unison with God and be among those that say, my Father works and I work. The Holy Spirit works and I work. We are moving with the same mind, the same heart, and the same voice. Now, beloved, I tell you, this has been one of the hardest messages for me to deliver that I've had to preach in a long time. But I believe that it's going to bear the fruit of life where there's death. I believe that it's going to raise up people that formerly were used as the enemy and are working against the work of God and not even aware of it. I believe there's going to be an honest fear of God come into the hearts of the people of this church to be very careful how we speak one to another and of one another. Very, very careful. Because one day we stand and by every word we'll be justified. By every word we will be condemned. Christ said it. There's no getting away from it. Every idle word He said we will give an account of on the day of judgment. Incredible. Incredible. And today, if the Holy Spirit has been speaking to you as He has spoken to me, I'm so glad to be unburdened from this message. This has been a terrible week for me. But if He's speaking to you as He's been speaking to me about these things, I'm going to ask you to get out of your seat and please join with me at this altar and we're going to pray together and ask the Lord for great grace to be co-laborers with Him in the work that God is doing in His kingdom. If your tongue's been used unrighteously, I'm going to ask you to humble yourself. The balcony, you can go to either exit as we stand. Education Annex, we'll wait. You can join us here. Please make your way down to this altar. Let's ask the Holy Ghost to sanctify our hearts, sanctify our tongues, sanctify the way we see other people. I believe it could be the beginning of an incredible miracle in many people's lives today. Let's stand together. I want to ask you to slip out. If the Holy Spirit's speaking to you, make your way down here. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed to admit that you have a need. Just come and let God begin to cleanse you. Let God begin to do a miracle in you. Let Him begin to infuse you with life so that you can be used with the Holy Ghost to infuse others with life. Now, I have a word for everybody that's at this altar today. I want you to receive this for your life right now. If you will hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and do all these commandments which I command you this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above the nations of the earth. In other words, God will raise you up. And all these blessings shall come on you and overtake you if you will hearken to the voice of the Lord your God. You will be blessed in the city and you will be blessed in the field. The fruit of your body will be blessed and the fruit of your ground. The fruit of your cattle, the increase of your kind and the flocks of your sheep. You will be blessed in your basket and your store. You will be blessed when you come in and you will be blessed when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before your face. They will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing upon you in all your storehouse. And all you set your hand to do, he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you a holy people unto himself as he has sworn to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. And all the people of the earth and New York City will see that you are called by the name of the Lord and they will be afraid of you. And the Lord will make you plenteous in goods and in the fruit of your body and the fruit of your cattle, the fruit of your ground in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you his good treasure. The heaven will give you rain in your season and bless all the work of your hands and you will lend to many nations and not be a borrower. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail and you shall be from above only and not from beneath. If you hearken to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day to observe and to do them. And you will not go aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right hand or to the left to go after other gods to serve them. Now God says, I will bless you. I will speak into your life. I will cause you to prosper. I will strengthen your hand. I will make you what you are not. I will bless everything you set your hand to. And I will make you a blessing to people around you beginning in the household of faith. Mighty God. You see how good that feels. It feels good, doesn't it, when God speaks that into your life. And now he calls us to be channels of that goodness to others. Beginning in the household of faith. Deuteronomy chapter 28. That's all right. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus. Forgive me. For all the times. I've allowed my tongue. To be used for evil. Where I have cast down. That which you are building up. Forgive me. For this ignorance. I thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your promises to me. And your promise especially. That you will not move on without me. Because you love me. And you will speak good into my life. I want to be a person. Who brings life. Where there is death. Encouragement. Where there is despair. Hope. Where there is sorrow. I want to speak. The very same words. That the Holy Spirit is speaking. Into the life of every believer. And every person. That I meet. Make me a person of faith. And not a person of discouragement. Help me. Never to call common. Or to call unclean. Those that you have cleansed. With your precious blood. Jesus help me. To understand. What it means. To be part of the church. Of Jesus Christ. Help my mind. Help my heart. To understand. The incredible depth. Of your love. And the incredible magnitude. Of your grace. Make me a channel. And make me a vessel. Of that grace. To all men. Especially those. Who are of the household. Of faith. May I never use my tongue. To frame bitter words. And to shoot in secret. At those that you have cleansed. With your own blood. Oh Jesus. I'm asking today. That this be part of my life. Till the day I die. I ask that when I stand before your throne. From this day forward. That my words. Would be building words. Good words. Searching words. Challenging words. And encouraging words. Faith building words. That bring honor. And glory. To my Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. And Holy Spirit. I call you today. To empower me. To be able to speak this way. For the rest of my life. And I thank you. That you will do it for me. You will bless me. And make me a blessing to my generation. And I thank you for it. In Jesus name. Thank you Lord. Thank you mighty God. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. God, we praise you! God, we praise you! God, we praise you! God, we praise you! We bless you, Jesus! We worship you, Lord! We worship you! We worship you! Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, mighty God! Thank you, mighty God! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! This is the conclusion of the message. This is the conclusion of the message.