In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of proclaiming and declaring the generation of Jesus Christ. He uses the example of Philip preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch, who was confused about how a dead man could see his children and fulfill the good pleasure of his father. Philip opens the man's eyes to the scripture that says Jesus will see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The preacher calls for repentance and a hunger for God, reminding listeners that God is faithful and can bring about instant change in their lives. He also highlights the need for prayer, intercession, fasting, and a passion for Christ.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771, or calling 903-963-8626. You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. I'm preaching the obvious tonight, something so obvious and so simple. No fresh revelation, it's just something that we need to be reminded of. And the Lord reminded me through some experiences I had. And I just want to share my heart with you. I want you to go to Acts. My message is, who shall prolong his days? Who shall prolong his days? Speaking of Christ. Acts, the 8th chapter. The 8th chapter of Acts, beginning verse 26. The angel of the Lord said unto Philip, saying, Rise and go to the south, the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he rose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, eunuch of great authority under Candacy, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. He was returning and sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah, the prophet. When the Spirit said unto Philip, then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet, Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his ears, he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. Eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophetess? Of himself or some other man? Let's pray. Holy Spirit, I truly need you tonight. I need you to speak to me as I preach it. And I want you, Lord, to speak to this congregation. And I need physical and spiritual strength. And I pray that you give that to me. And give us ears to hear what the Spirit says. For we truly tremble at the word in this house. We do, we tremble at the word. We trembled this morning at your word and this afternoon. And we tremble again tonight as you present your heart to us. Please help me, Lord. Amen. It's directed by an angel. It's Philip. And he finds this diplomat from Ethiopia reading the book of Isaiah. The Spirit says, go join yourself to the chariot. And when he gets near, he hears the man reading out loud from the book of Isaiah, 53rd chapter. And he says, do you understand what you're reading? But the man evidently stopped reading. And this probably prompted the question because he was stuck. There was something that he could not understand. He probably had been reading the whole book of Isaiah. He had to, because of what he said, would indicate that he'd read the whole book. The chapter he was reading from was chapter 53, verses 9 to 11. Here's Isaiah's account. Speaking of Christ, he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Turn to Isaiah 53. If you don't see it in black and white, it may not register like it should to our hearts. 53rd chapter, verses 9 through 11. Isaiah speaking of Christ. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He had put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. And here's my text. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. This was what he'd been reading. Now, folks, look this way, if you will, please. It must have been one of the most exciting experiences of this diplomat's life to read the exciting words of the prophet Isaiah about a man who is to come. And if he's been reading previously, this is what prompted his question. And if you go back through, starting at the first chapter of Isaiah, this is what you read of this man, exactly what this diplomat had been reading. This man who would come would swallow up death. He'd wipe away all tears. He'd remove the reproach of his people. He would remove all darkness from the eyes of the blind. He would bring out captives from prison houses. He'd deliver dwellers who were dwelling in pits and dungeons. He would lead his people in a path unknown to them. He would redeem a people to himself. He would have the government upon his shoulders. He would be a light to the Gentiles, salvation to the ends of the world. Kings would reverence him. Princes would rise and worship him. He would be a covenant to his people. He would lead his people to springs of living water. He would establish an everlasting kingdom. He would be preserved by Almighty Father God. His name would never be obliterated from the earth. Now, this is what he'd been reading. How exciting. A man is coming with the government on his shoulders. He's going to live forever. Then suddenly, he comes on words that must have absolutely shocked his senses. He was cut off. He reads this. He was cut off. He was stricken. He was bruised, put to grief. He was wounded. He went to the grave. He's buried with the wicked. He's thinking, who is this man? He'd been so excited. This man is going to come. And just as he perceives the coming of this man and the greatness and the glory of this man, he's going to set up a kingdom. He's suddenly cut off. He's gone. Buried. Dead. And this man stops. Where do you go from here? And here is what really shocked this diplomat, this black man from Ethiopia, who just had such a hunger for God. He's so excited about this coming king. Well, then, who's going to declare his generation? Who's going to prolong his memory? What happens to his seed? He was cut off from the living. Who shall declare his generation? He turns to Philip and he asks the same question. In his humiliation, his judgment or his justice was taken away from him. Who's going to declare his generation? Here's the problem, the real troubling question for this man. He reads these words to Philip. Yet he shall see his seed. This is verse 10 in Isaiah 53. Yet he shall see his seed. In other words, he's going to have children he's going to see. He's going to see his seed. He shall prolong his days. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. In other words, everything I read about him is going to prosper. How is that going to happen to a dead man? How does it happen to a dead man? He's gone. Who's going to proclaim his generation? How can a dead man see his children? How can he fulfill the good pleasure of his father? He's been cut off. And Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Began at the same Scripture and that same Scripture. As he shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And this is confusing to this man. How does he prolong his days? He's dead. Who's going to proclaim his generation? And by declaring his generation it means who's going to fully relate and fully tell and show forth who he was. What he was all about. It comes from a Greek word channel. Where is the channel? And it's channel of an act. Where are all these acts of him going to be repeated? Who's going to talk about him? Who's going to tell all generations about him? And how can he prolong his days? He's dead. And this is where Philip opened the eyes of this hungry man. He said, oh, he's already come. His name is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. And he's been crucified. And he went into the grave, just as you read. Yes, he was smitten, he was cut off. But he was resurrected from the dead. And he does have children. And I'm one of them. And you can be one. And you can prolong his days by living like him. Who are these followers who will prolong his memory? Who are going to extol him when he's gone? There must have been tears in this man. He said, how can he prolong his days? And Philip says, oh, I'm prolonging his days. I'm preaching Christ. You may not know it, but everywhere, people. Now, he has a seat everywhere. They're full in Jerusalem there. They're in Philippi there. All over, all over the place he has a seat now. And Christ is living in them. And, sir, you prolong his days by giving your heart to him and believing in him. You become his child. No wonder he jumped out of his chair into the water. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He said, that's the cross, sir, that was the travail for you and for me to raise up a seat of faith. Now, the question is, am I prolonging the days of Jesus in my ministry and in my life? Is my life a full expression of who he is? Do I bring to my generation, who shall proclaim his generation? Who shall live so like him that his memory is never lost? Who will be that full expression that Christ is alive yet today and that he still lives? You know, he never dies. He's living. And we preach that and we believe that. But the question is, am I prolonging his days? Am I that one who's proclaiming, declaring his generation to my time? Do we really take seriously the prophecy of Isaiah, the 53rd chapter, that his days are going to be prolonged and we understand it can't be prolonged except through those who are full expressions where that living water is springing out and everyone sees Christ in his fullness. Not an apparition of Christ, but a full Christ, a full vision. They can look at this individual and he is living out the generations of Christ until Jesus comes at the end. Now, how do I declare his generation? How do I prolong his life through me? Proverbs 4.23, With all watchfulness guard your heart, for out of it, I'm reading from the original Hebrew, from out of it flow the actions or the issues of life. He said, out of the heart there is flowing an issue. There's a river flowing and that is Christ. That's the innermost, that living water within is Christ in his fullness being revealed to the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, everywhere I go, everywhere I went in England, everywhere I go to preach a minister's conference, and from this pulpit, you've heard what we preach here. I've preached so much on the need for prayer because of such prayerlessness today. All how I've cried out about intercession and the need for fasting and the need to get on our face before God and the need to anguish over unsafe loved ones and the need to get back into the word of God. Those are all important issues and I've preached intensely on all these subjects. Need for greater passion for Christ, that's been my subject. My son Gary traveled with me and he's been challenging pastors also to a life of prayer and brokenness before God. But you see, there are deeper issues, much deeper issues. This is where God really shook my very soul while I was in England. You see, I can pray more, I can fast more than I've ever fasted, I can bury myself in the word of God. But if I'm defiled in the inner man, if there's defilement there, it's in vain. If I haven't dealt with the heart issues, if I go out and just preach this and I don't see and I can't preach to the real defilements that defile us, if I can't get to that defilement that's in my heart, all of these are just side issues. They're important, they are vital. And without prayer, without fasting and these things, we can just die, we can spiritually die. I can be defiled, I can become just, I can so damn up the flow of the Holy Spirit, there's just a trickle of Christ coming out of me. I can so baffle the voice of God by defilement. Jesus tells us what defiles a man, very clearly, plainly, simply. Hear and understand, Jesus said in Matthew 15, 11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. The three issues I want to talk about out of the heart. I want to talk about a defiled mouth, defiled ears, defiled eyes. Folks, I'm not preaching to you. The Lord told me when I preach tonight that I'm making a declaration that would change my life. I'm making a declaration so that God's put me on this spot, I can never go back to what I was. On this matter of defilement. A defiled mouth. And we've got to go to the word, James 3, 6. The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body. It setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on the fire of hell. Now, folks, I'm going to stick to Isaiah, because this is where this eunuch was studying. And this is going to stay with the prophet Isaiah. With the exception of a few other verses. Let me just let the word of God speak. Isaiah 53, 9, speaking of Christ. Neither was there any deceit in his mouth. How do I prolong his days, lest I know who he is, what he was like? I have to have a full description, and I have to follow Christ. His character, and his life. And there was no deceit in his mouth, the prophet Isaiah said. No deceit. Isaiah 58, 9. Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If, if. Listen, we fast, we pray, we go into the world, and we may be heard on high. We want God to hear us. We want to know his voice. We want direction. We want his favor and his blessing. Now, listen closely to what the word of God says. Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. But, there's a caveat, he says, if you take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the pointing forth of the finger, and speaking vanity. And in Hebrew, the word is irrelevant words, rude words, disrespectful words. He said, you want me to hear from on high? He said, then you're going to have to look at the release of the heart. You're going to talk about it in your mouth. Talk about your lips, what you say and what you speak, what comes out your mouth. He said, if you're speaking vanity, if you are irreverent, and irrelevant. Irrelevant words mean that they should have never been spoken. They have no meaning, they have no purpose whatsoever. We just spout them off. There's no spiritual weightiness about it. There's no spiritual authority or spiritual power. He said, the pointing of the finger, the rudeness, the disrespect. He said, I will hear if you stop pointing your finger and speaking with disrespect concerning others around you. God's been showing me how serious this matter and how gross the sin is of taking another man or another woman's name in my mouth. The responsibility of what I say. Because I can tarnish and pollute the name and reputation of any man or any woman in a moment. I can destroy a man, I can destroy a woman with my words very quickly. The word of God says, a good name is preferable to great riches and esteem to silver and gold. We would never dare think of stealing a man's gold watch. We would never think of getting into the net and trying to take his bank account from him. But according to the word of God, if you steal his reputation, if you defame his name, if you darken his name, you are a robber. You have robbed him and you have defiled your mouth. We defile our mouth, I'm going to say we instead of you. I think the three most damning words can be, have you heard? Have you heard? Have you heard about so and so? Honestly, I'm not going to try to make you shout. I want to make you think. I want you to deal as I have been dealing with my mouth and the things that really defile me. Would you go to Psalm 50 please? Verses 19 through 23. Beloved, do you really, when we say I tremble at the word of God, do you mean that? I said, do you mean that? A few of you do. Psalm 50 verse 19. Now folks, this is serious business. Do you understand what he is saying? You gave your mouth to evil. Deceit was in your tongue. You slandered a brother. You slandered a brother, sister in Christ. You slandered somebody. You have spoken against somebody with your mouth. And why did I do it? The Lord says, because God is saying, because you thought I was someone just like you with your nature. You thought I was one that looks on the outward rather than inward. See, man looks in the outside and God looks in the heart. You thought I was like you that only looks on the outside and considers whether you're praying, studying your Bible and fasting. You're looking on the outside and the things that we should be doing, but there are things on the outside. But you're not looking at your heart. I'm looking at the heart. And sure you pray. You fast. You read the Bible. You're not taking my word serious because you still say things against your brother. You take someone's name in vain. Look, if you say amen and I say it lovingly, be careful. Because sometimes that means, did you hear that neighbor? Did you hear that? I can't say amen because I failed my test. By God's grace, I'm not going to fail it again. And if I fail it, I'm going to have the Holy Ghost correct me on the spot. You see, I made God to be one like myself that doesn't look at the heart issues. I look at the outward appearance, not the heart. I will reprove you, God said, because I want this matter set in order before your eyes. I want you to deal with it, God is saying. I'm going to set this in order. So that you see it as I see it in its ugliness and its defilement of the body and the whole man. Now here's the point. If I'm the seed of Christ and I'm to prolong his days and proclaim his generation and be a channel, I can't allow anything in my heart that hinders the flow. I can't allow any defilement in my heart and not deal with it. Anything that would hinder my being, that showing forth fully, that uninhibited, unhindered flow of the Spirit of Christ to the world and to my family. It's a conscious decision I have to make. Lord, convict me if I do this. David said, I'm purposed in my heart that my mouth shall not transgress. He made a conscious decision. I have purposed here and now, I will not allow my mouth to defile me. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. You say, is it possible to control the tongue? Listen to what David said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. What he's saying, every time I mount my horse, I put a bridle on that horse through his mouth. And as sure as I bridle my horse, I'm going to bridle my tongue. Let me tell you where this started. It started in the back seat of a car. A pastor picked us up at an airport to go to the conference, one of the conferences. You see, you can defile your mouth without saying a word. Body language. And you know, the driver asked, I was sitting in the back seat with Gary, my son, and he said, Pastor David, how have you been, meetings going, and what's happening? And I got started, oh, London was great. And I told him about Parliament, and I told him about how young people stream to the altar and everything. And I got five minutes or so wound up, and he interrupted me. And he started everything I said, he upped me. You know, I've been there, I did that. I had bigger crowds. I finally shut up. And just wait to hear. I got angry. And here's my body language. I turned to my son, rolled my eyes. I didn't say a word. I just, you know what that means? Big mouth. And while I was seething in anger, the Holy Spirit came. He said, David, do you want to know why you're angry? Because he did not listen to you. He wanted to do the talking. And you were boasting. Now that he's doing a little boasting, it bothers you. But that you, oh. You see, you can just have somebody question you. Just come and say, do you know a brother so-and-so? Yeah. I've just defiled my soul. My mouth. Do you know a sister so-and-so? Mm-mm-mm. All you have to do is roll your eyes. Raise your eyebrows. Body language. You've defiled your mouth. And I defiled my mouth and my heart. Defiled yours? We go back to Christ. Isaiah 50. Would you turn to Isaiah 50, please? Folks. Before you read any further, look this way, please. I'm going to tell you something. You've got to hear it or you won't understand this. God raises up prophets to reprove and rebuke. Paul the Apostle named names. But see, there's a calling to that. There's a calling. And there are judges in the church that judge sin. But they come with the witness of two or three witnesses. I have exposed from this pulpit every pastor who has exposed sin. If God ever leads us to name a name, you'd better know that it's only because there is proven error. It's proven error in the mouth of more than two or three godly men. And there's a warning that goes out. There was a strong one went out this morning, full of the Holy Ghost, anointed of God. And there is a righteous judgment. But that has to do with leadership that's anointed and appointed. And God forbid and God help the person who tries to take that role who's not called to it. Defiled ears. Fiftieth chapter. Here's Christ. Here's what we're to proclaim to the world. For the Lord God, I want you to start at verse four. For the Lord God, speaking of Christ, hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away from the fact. Jesus said he was awakened morning by morning. He awakened my ear to listen with the attention of a learner. He was awakened by the Holy Spirit every morning. The Lord God opened my ears, and I was not rebellious. Jesus learned obedience by the things that he suffered. He was taught by the Spirit of God. He was taught by the words of his own Father. And he said, whatever he said, I took it, I received it, I wasn't rebellious. I obeyed everything that he said because I had an open ear. You see, Christ's own disciples didn't have that open ear. They had defiled ears. And I want to tell you that defiled ears shuts off and blocks all divine revelation. Anyone who's a dumping ground, who listens to gossip, who has an ear to hear, that which defames the character and the name of any brother or sister in Christ, speaking or hearing words of bitterness, words that are disrespectful, irrelevant, have no meaning, no purpose to ever be quoted or spoken, things that should be shut away in the heart and even lifted out of the heart, plucked out of the heart, and spoken. And folks, can you imagine a dump truck going to a pure fountain where they are feeding a whole nation out of this spring, polling waters, for example, and someone pulls a truck up to the fountain and dumps a pile of garbage there. It's going to poison the whole flow, all the water. It's going to be poisoned. And Lord dealt with me. David, you can't, when you travel, because even ministers gossip. Ministers gossip. I go to town and someone, a pastor, says, in a nice way, he said, you're going to meet a very rich man, but I'll tell you something about this man. And I listened. He said, he's driven every man out of his church because he's rich and he thinks he owns the church. I've heard that all over. I've heard that many, many times. But he said, he's going to be in your meeting. He's probably going to come up and introduce himself. So the man did come up and introduce himself, but you see, I was already polluted. So I didn't even give the man the time of day. I shook his hand. I'd already judged him about what I heard. Oh, have I repented of that. Christ's disciples had defiled ears. In Luke 9, verse 44, don't turn there. Jesus said, let these words sink down into your ears. He'd never said that before. Not so emphatically. He'd never said that. Let this sink down into your ears, brothers. He's saying, I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to give you a revelation. It's something you need to know. For the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of man. And another gospel goes on to explain. Jesus said, I'm going to be lifted up. He said, I'm going to be crucified. And this is something you need to know. And this, he said, what he said, if you've ever heard anything, if you've ever heard a revelation, if you've ever needed it, let this sink down into your ears. Can you hear Jesus saying that? Put yourself right in front of Christ. And he's looking at you and said, now, I want to tell you something. If you ever heard a word that I've ever spoken, hear me, let it sink down into your ears. This comes from God. And they couldn't hear it. Scripture says, but they understood not. Why didn't they understand? Because they were defiled in their ears. The Scripture says, the next verse, there arose a reasoning among them, who shall be the greatest among them? The Scripture said he was hid from them. Christ was hid from them. The revelation was hid from them. They had no revelation. Had they had that revelation, what would have been different when he was crucified? Would they have all run as they did? But you see, it's this self-interest. You know, they never heard each other. They were discussing who would be greatest, but they never heard each other. They never heard what anybody was saying. You know people don't listen? Come on, you don't listen, I don't listen. We don't listen to people like we should. We're always thinking what we're going to say next. And that's why I was mad in the back seat. I wasn't listening to a word that man said. I was thinking about the next glorious thing I was going to talk about. I wasn't hearing it. These disciples didn't hear one another, who's going to be greatest. They're just babbling on about what they've done and how and why they're the greatest. I didn't know I was capable of such boasting. I thought I was a very humble man. And he was hidden from them. You see, this boasting. We think we're boasting on the Lord. How much of it is flesh? Learning to just shut up and listen. Defiled ears. You see, I can preach holiness. I can expose sin in society. I can talk about imputed righteousness by faith. I can preach about covenant victory over sin. I can do all of these things. But if my ears are defiled with some kind of filth, if selfish pride causes me to boast, and I can't listen to others with respect and sincerity and honesty, I cannot prolong the life of Christ. I can't proclaim his generation because I'm not the example. I don't represent Christ in fullness. Let me give you an example. A pastor meets me in the city. He seems so cold and aloof. And then I remember that, hey, one of my enemies who did me wrong is one of his friends. I walked away and I went back in a room. My son's in there. I said, you know that guy that just shook hands with me? I know he doesn't like me. I know he thinks I'm a phony. Because I know in my heart, you know, that he's talked to this guy. You know, I have been so shocked. When my son comes to me two or three times on this trip, I said, man, that guy is angry at me. He doesn't like me. I didn't say it in so many words. I didn't say exactly, but those words. And Gary would come back to me a little. Hey, Dad, he wasn't mad at you. He reads your book and he's so proud of the ministry God's given you, he didn't know how to act in front of you. I want to die. I'm thinking this. How many times have people come up to you? I have to wait until I get to defiled eyes to explain that. So often, we are ears defiled. I'm going to tell you straight out. If you listen to gossip about your pastors, about anybody in the church, you can come and sing and shout and talk in tongues. He prays all you want fast and pray and reads your Bible cover to cover, but you're still defiled. You're defiled. And I've got to face that. I think over the last 30 days, what have you heard? You still have an open ear to that garbage. You still sit around in the restaurants and just, hey, have you heard about so and so? Have you heard about other brothers and sisters in the church? God said, I'm going to demand of you to bring this in order. I'm not going to let you get away with this. You're not going to let me get away with it. You're not going to let any preacher anywhere get away with it. He said, you're going to deal with it. Let's talk about defiled eyes. And again, we turn to Isaiah 11.3. The Spirit of the Lord shall make him of quick understanding. That means quick, accurate discernment in the fear of the Lord. You don't have to turn there. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. And in the original Hebrew, here's what it reads. Now listen closely. He shall not judge according to the appearance to his eyes, neither shall he reprove according to what is reported to his ears. He's not going to judge just by looking at somebody. He's not going to judge by the input somebody gave from the ear, something that was said before he could stop it even. He said, I'm not going to judge that way. God's getting to the heart of the issue right here. We know that pornography defiles the eye. And you see, this is my problem. When I go out and preach about pornography, because it's a big problem, but probably half or two-thirds of the pastors or even more, that's not an issue. It's not an issue with me. If somebody gets up and preaches about pornography, I say, oh God, thank you. That's not my problem, and I don't ever want it to be my problem. But you see, they're not getting to my heart. That's not my heart problem. That's not my heart issue. There's something deeper. When we talk about what defiles the eyes, yes, television defiles. There is defilement in all of that. But that's not the real, deep, hidden thing. He shall not judge according to the appearance to his eyes, neither shall he prove according to the reporting to his ears. You see, we judge mental judgments. We look at a people, and we size them up, we measure them. We let them talk, and then we judge them. I call them mental judgments. And I can't tell you how many I made before God began to deal with my heart about it and showed me the deeper, hidden issues in my heart. I judged one of the leaders over there. The conference is about to start, and I'm following him down the aisle, and he's going like this, just running down the aisle. I'm thinking to myself, that man is putting on a show. That is flesh. And I'm judging him, flesh, by my appearance, what I see, by my eyes. And then you talk to his associate, and he said, you know what he does? He's got a clear conscience. He's a happy man. Again, I want to die. I said, God, I'm judging everybody. Folks, this is serious stuff. How many times I've met somebody, and I go home, I say, Gwen, my spirit doesn't witness with him. There's something wrong with that guy. I don't even know him. Now, folks, there is spiritual discernment. And when, like Pastor Carter said, he met a false prophet, and he said to him, you're a devil. That's the word for the Holy Spirit. And God wants us to have that kind of spiritual discernment. You've got to have that. He didn't call him a devil. It's something that God revealed in his mind to protect him from ever being a part of that, so that one day he can stand and preach it with authority. But let me tell you, there is a danger, a terrible danger in how we judge people. This mental judgment. When we look at somebody and say, I can't put my finger on it. There's something wrong in him. There's something wrong in her. I have misjudged so many, many. In my 50 years of preaching, I can't begin to tell you how many people I've judged by appearances. The things that people say in my ear. I've had whole groups of pastors come to me and dump on me. They'll never do it again, but they would dump on me about somebody. And because I heard that, I cut off fellowship from that person without even knowing. I just stopped communicating and stopped fellowship. Because you see, this is the devil's way to stop fellowship. You know, when I was in Latvia, here's an archbishop of the Lutheran Church sitting at lunch with one of the Pentecostal bishops and Gary and myself. And in essence, what was being said at the table was an archbishop saying to the Pentecostal, he said, man, I've misjudged you people. I thought all of you were into fanaticism and things because there's been so much fanaticism in the charismatic. I thought you were all the same. And he said, I see Jesus in you. I've misjudged you. Here's the Pentecostal people. I thought your church is dead and none of you knew Jesus. And I know I see Jesus in you. And here they are, everybody's been misjudging. Everywhere I go, everybody's misjudging. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and me. Oh, so you want to preach pastor's conferences? Well, you'd be ready for judgment. Divine, loving judgment against the issues of the heart. Issues of the heart. Jesus warned, judge no man according to appearance. The judge writes his judgment. You judge after the flesh, Jesus said, but I judge no man. Recently I met a minister I've known for a number of years. I've met him maybe a dozen times. And every time I've met him, I judge him as being boastful and just, you know, great things he was doing and so forth. And I would go home and talk to Gwen. I said, man, I met Brother so-and-so again. And there he went off again. And I said, that man, there's something just not right. I met him a couple of weeks ago again. And the Lord said, this time, dude, as you see, I'd just gotten home from my trip and the Lord had dealt with me. And the Lord said, this time, just be quiet. Don't judge him. Listen. Look him right in the eye and just listen to him. And take him by the hand and pray for him. And I took him by the hand and prayed with him. When I went back, walked away, a grief hit me. A terror hit me before I got to the passage room. The terror of what I'd done over the years. And, oh God, why wasn't I ready to hear this sooner? I've preached along these lines. But why haven't I really trembled at this? Why haven't I dealt with this in my life? Because I want to proclaim you. I want to be a full manifestation of who you are. I want to proclaim your generation. I want to prolong your days. And I felt the grief of God in my heart for that judgment. I mean, for all of the things I'd said unknowingly and just judging people. And I was so glad I felt so good inside that the Lord had taught me a lesson that I could finally just give an ear. And not even think once I want him to know anything I've done or what great things I've seen or done. I don't want to do that. I want to keep my mouth shut. And I want a hearing ear. And I want God to wake me up every day and say, David, watch it today. I want the Holy Ghost to warn me. And I want that quickening of the Holy Spirit every time I go to speak or hear. I want the Holy Spirit to be right there. And I want the Holy Ghost to wake in my ears and wake in my eyes. You see, I will be preaching less and less. I will still mention pornography and all these things and the misuse of television, all of these things. But I want to get to the heart, my own heart first, and then the heart of pastors around the world, the real issues of the heart. I've preached. I've repented. I'm not trying to be open. I'm not trying to be vulnerable. God knows I'm too far down the road for that. Can you examine your heart before the Word of the Lord tonight? Have you passed the test? Can you sit here and you've passed the test? I failed it. But I went to the Lord in His loving mercy. Oh, what a loving Heavenly Father we have who when you see it... See, I'm not talking about God throwing you into hell. I'm talking about that which hinders the flow of the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about that which defiles the testimony. Would you stand, please? If you heard the Word tonight, if this is serious business to you like it is to me, you say, Pastor David, I failed the test. I need a cleansing. I need my mouth cleansed. I need my ears purified. I need my eyes touched by the salve of Heaven. I invite you to come and say, Lord, touch me tonight. Up in the balcony. In the attic you can come also. Anyone in the attic? If God's dealing with you, just come. Bless you, Jesus. Please move in close. There's not one person in this building, not me, not any pastor, none of us. None of us above this message. Not one of us. There's not one of us that doesn't need a cleansing on this matter or a searching of the heart. All of us. I'm searching my heart tonight even as I preach. Just go across the back of the ushers. Let the people go across just the back instead of the aisle, just across the back there. Folks, I believe we all need to repent. Every one of us. The Lord knows our hearts. He knows our hearts. He knows our hunger for Him. He's a faithful God. He's a faithful Savior. Who can instantly, we heard it this afternoon, suddenly and instantly come. It didn't take me more than 24 hours for God to really dig this deep into my soul and change. He put a change in me. I haven't arrived yet, but I know now where I stand. I know what I have to do. By God's grace. And if we make that humble confession before the Lord now, the Lord's going to send a Holy Ghost and remind us, put a guard at our lips. And I want to tell you something. I'll make you a promise. Sir, if you're a man who's had roving eyes, that is just the leaves of the tree. The root is down further. And it's this very thing of judging people. You're judging others because you've not judged yourself. And that thing will change. God will heal your roving eyes the moment you stop judging. He'll start healing other issues in your life. He will change everything if you are willing to have this change in your life. Would you pray this with me? I don't know how else to do it other than lead you in a prayer. Lord Jesus, I humble myself and I confess to You that I've failed the examination. But that's a good thing because that's where I begin. I begin now by confessing I am defiled in mouth, ears, and eyes. And I repent. I am sorry. And I truly want victory. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to come now and set a guard at my lips, my ears and eyes. I believe that. I confess and believe that You have heard me. And I receive Your forgiveness and Your cleansing. And now I rejoice that You have made a change, a sudden change by the power of the Word of God sealed by the Holy Ghost. Now raise your hands and thank God for victory. Just thank God for victory. Lord, I thank You for victory. It doesn't take all night. Thank You, Jesus. Give Him praise. Give Him thanks. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Glory be to God. Glory be to Jesus. Lord, I praise You. I worship You. Glory be to Your Holy Name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Father, thank You. You are so ready to move in the ready when we are ready to just say that's me. Lord, I look in the mirror. It's not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, O Lord, in the need of prayer. And I thank You, Lord. Lord, I thank You for the freedom that I feel in my own heart because You have dealt with me. You've made it serious before my eyes. And yet, Lord, You've promised me the help that I need. And You're going to do that for everyone in this body who hears this message tonight, we pray. Glory be to God. We're not going to work something up, but there should be joy in your heart when you know that God loves you. As Pastor Carter said this morning, the words that come forth are meant for our edification and for our healing. And that's what He does. Hallelujah. There should be a peace in your heart because you've honored the Word and you believe the Word, so we have a right now to rejoice in it. This is the conclusion of the message.