In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Saul and his son Jonathan from the Bible. Saul's disobedience to God's commandments and his disregard for the word of the Lord led to the loss of God's blessing on his camp. The preacher emphasizes the importance of taking God's word seriously and having honor for it. He warns against allowing sin to creep into our hearts and urges parents to be vigilant in maintaining godly lives. The sermon concludes with a scripture from Proverbs 25, highlighting the significance of self-control and the consequences of not having rule over one's own spirit.

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 Lindell, 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. My message this morning, A Broken Down City Without Walls. A Broken Down City Without Walls. Go to Proverbs 25. Proverbs 25. Pastor Card will be back with us next Sunday. And we'll be preaching Sunday and continue, if you will, to pray for him and hold him and his family up before the Lord. There's a single scripture in this chapter that has shaken me. And I had another message prepared for this morning. But when I read this on Friday night, it so laid hold of my heart. I just, all day Saturday, yesterday, just poured into my spirit. And I've got to share it with you this morning. Verse 28. Proverbs 25, verse 28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down. And what? Without walls. If you have a King James, read it out loud with me, please. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. Now, that city represents an individual. Heavenly Father, I ask you to send mightily the Holy Ghost upon me, upon the words I speak and upon the hearers in this congregation this morning and all who hear it by tape. I pray, Lord, that you help me not to speak a single word that would be contrary to your grace and your mercy. Not a single word, Lord, contrary to your holiness and justice. Oh, God, I pray for that special anointing. My Lord, touch me. If you if you don't touch me, Lord, I can't convey this. It has no power. Anoint me, Father. Anoint the word. Give us ears to hear what this spirit is saying this morning. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. The New Testament states the spirit of prophets are subject to the prophets. In other words, the spirits of those who are used of God, the words prophet here means anyone who is divinely inspired, anyone who speaks inspiredly under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It's not just preachers. It's everyone in this congregation who calls themselves a believer. And the Bible says your spirit is supposed to be subject to you. It's supposed to be in control. Your human spirit is to be in control. That is, if the Holy Spirit abides in you. When a man loses control of his spirit, you see the results in this verse I've just given to you. Paul, the apostle, said that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. And he said that in in connection with the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Very next verse said because he's not he's not the author of confusion. In other words, if your spirit is not under control, your human spirit is not under control. There's going to be confusion of all kinds and there's going to be a brokenness. Things are going to break down and you're going to become like a city without walls. You're not going to have protection against the demonic forces that come against God's people in these last days. Here's a warning in this verse. That if you lose control of your spirit, you lose control of your life and you become like a troubled city. That's lost its divine order. That is out of control and it has no walls. And then the enemy comes in because the walls are down and the control is gone. Total loss of control. Now, this is a powerful warning and it suggests to both men and women, to men of God and women of God and and believers of all kinds and Christian workers in particular. It suggests to me that you can be somebody that goes along for many years in control to the power of the Holy Spirit. Your marriage is solid. Your temper is under control. You don't chew people's heads off. I mean, you go on for years and you are blessed. Your family is under control. The enemy has made no inroads into your life, into your career. There's no bitterness. There's no jealousy. You're a blessed man. You're a blessed woman. And this can go on for a number of years, for many years. There are protective walls around your house, protective walls around your spirit. And you're not in trouble. Now, you suffer the ordinary trials and tests that every Christian goes through. But in the whole, you're under protection and things are going right because your spirit is under control. You're human spirit. You're not out of control. But somewhere, somehow, keeping it to many lives today, there is something happening that is causing God's holy people to lose control of their spirits. And things are beginning to break down, especially in marriages, beginning to break down now. And the walls are coming down. And the enemy has free access to their hearts and their homes. Now, this individual that was under control has a flaring temper. And now, his voice gets louder as he speaks to his family and his wife. And this can be a wife. It can be a husband. And now, they are not understanding one another. Now, they're speaking harshly to one another. And now, everything they say is taken wrong. He can say nothing right and she can say nothing right. And everything is put in a wrong context. And now, things are beginning to spin out of control. And the walls are coming down in that house. And the children recognize the bickering and the fighting and the bitterness and the terrible things that are said one to another. And they're affected by it. And they're turning against the Lord and going to the world. And suddenly, everything is spinning out of control. Marriage is in trouble now. Husband and wife mistake every word that is spoken to them. This is troubled city now. This home is troubled. The heart is troubled. Saul is the most tragic example of a man who loses control of his spirit. And the walls come down and the enemy moves in. This man was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Bible said, anointed by the Holy Spirit. He was a man who prophesied. The Bible says clearly God was with him. And for the first two years, this man shows no sign of anything being out of control. Everything is in control. He's winning battles. His family is in order. There appears to be no jealousy. He appears to be a very humble man. And everything is going along right. And in two short years, something happens in this man's heart. And he begins to lose control. And it's one of the most tragic stories in the Bible to see the disintegration of this man and how he's losing control of his life. Within two years, he's in a battle. And he's ready to kill his own son, Jonathan. There was a great battle. And everybody is weary. And his son takes his staff and puts it in a bee's nest and pulls out honey and sucks honey on there to get some energy. And Saul finds out that there's been some problem and God's blessing is lifted from the camp. And he said, somebody has sinned. And he calls everybody in. And they cast lots. And it comes upon his son, Jonathan. And here's a man who already has been disobedient to the Lord. And there's a sin creeping into his heart. Total disregard for the word of the Lord. Total disregard. He has no honor to the word of God. He was commanded to do something. And he just totally disobeyed because he didn't take it seriously. Didn't take God's word seriously at all. This is in his heart. And he turns to his son and he says, tell me what you did. Tell me what terrible sin you've committed. And so help me God, he says, your life is going to be taken from you. And if his army, captains, didn't deliver Jonathan, he'd have killed his own son. This man, within two years, is totally out of control. How many godly parents, how many godly fathers especially, who've allowed sin to come in and they begin to spin out of control. And when you see it in this testimony of Saul, this man's heart is not right with God. But you see, he develops a legalistic kind of holiness. Bless God, you've sinned and I'm going to deal with it. He doesn't see the sin of his own heart, but he's ready to kill his own son. And he sets up this standard, this impossible legalistic standard. And many fathers have sent their kids to hell because of some legalistic standard that they have put up for their family and their children simply to excuse their own sins. And this almost destroyed, he began to destroy his own family. His own son loses total confidence in him. This is a tragic story when you read, the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. And now he loses all spiritual authority. And when the walls came down around Saul's life, jealousy crept in. He saw the blessing of God on David and it made him insanely jealous. So jealous, he set out to kill him. Threw a javelin at him, trying to pin him against the wall. Bitterness crept up, spirit of murder and hatred. Every lying spirit, everything out of hell. Because there were no walls, there was no protection. Everything was troubled in the kingdom. There was nothing but trouble. A man who is out of control, especially if his marriage is out of control. I'm not speaking just of a husband, I can speak of a wife included. You see, when a marriage is troubled, the walls have come down somewhere and there's trouble now in the family. And a man who doesn't want to acknowledge that he is the problem, a man who doesn't want to recognize, or a wife who doesn't want to recognize that somehow this trouble is a result of the walls being down. There's no protective walls. And the walls mean protection, divine protection. And that protection is gone. And you see, if the walls are down, you can go to experts, you can go to counselors, even godly counselors, but it's of no value, it is of no avail because the walls are down. And the enemy has access. But you see, I've seen this over the years. I've seen even ministers of the gospel. When they, there's sin in their life, the walls, there's a troubled home, a troubled marriage, the children now are in despair, the children are just fleeing from God. No respect for the Father anymore, but I have seen it over the years. This man, just like Saul, will think that everybody is against him and he will try to find allies to his cause. He will build a case against his wife and he will dig up every unkind thing she's ever done since they've been married, every evil word she's spoken or every harsh word, and he will go to his sons and daughters and try to poison his own children against his wife so that he'll have defense when he's ready to make his move for divorce so he can justify it. And then he's got friends around him saying, Well, that poor man of God living with that wicked woman, I don't blame him for divorcing her. The same with wives. They get on the phone and tell every evil thing about their husband, snoring about their husband, not giving them enough money, and build a case. This is exactly what Saul did. He was in the field feeling self-pity. It's all from self-pity and pride. And he turns to his captains and he points a finger at them and he says, You have all conspired against me. None of you have any sorrow and pity for me. Poor Saul, pitying himself. Nobody knows what I'm going through, Saul was saying. And you watch this man totally out of control. And he ends up in a witch's coven, getting direction and counsel. That's where it ends, where the enemy takes full control of the mind and the home. The divorce made in the church of Jesus Christ today is equal to that of the secular world. The divorce rate among preachers is pandemic all over the world. Among elders, deacons, Christian workers, Christian families are coming apart. There's trouble in the home. Folks, you know it. Everybody knows it and they see it. I don't know how many I'm speaking to right now in the annex overflow in here in this auditorium. Your marriage is in trouble. You're on the brink of a divorce, a troubled marriage. And the walls are down. Why? Why amongst Holy Ghost baptized men and women? Why are they losing control of their spirits? Why are most homes trouble city now? Where is the protection? Why are the walls falling down? The enemy can't touch your life. He can't touch your home when the walls are up. Impossible. He can harass you, but he cannot take control of your mind. He cannot take control of your family or your life when the walls are up. But why? Because you see, everybody wants to blame somebody else. Husband blames his wife. Wife blames her husband and they both blame the devil. Oh, they blame it on bad health? Chemical imbalance? Oh, I just can't help myself. Doctor says I have a chemical imbalance. That's why I lose my temper. I've got something going on in my head. I have to deal with this. I've got to have medication. I'm not against that. That's not the issue. But folks, it's not chemical imbalance. I don't care how sick you are. I don't care how down you are. You don't have any right to take it out on your husband or wife or your family. Ever. Charismatics especially blame the devil. Oh, my marriage is under demonic attack. The devil is trying to destroy my marriage and my home. Have you ever heard that? Have you ever said that the devil is trying to destroy my home? Well, I've got a question. Who let him in? Who let him in? Now, there are occasions when God lets the wall down, the hedge down. He did with Job. Job. The last says God removed the hedge around Job and allowed the enemy access. And he does that. Especially with godly, holy people. There are times God has to have testimonies and witnesses of those who've taken everything hell can throw at him. And they've come through with faith and strong faith. It's like gold. God has those testimonies. There's no question about that. But let me tell you, in most cases, your broken condition and your life or home and the walls that are crumbling, not the fault of the devil. And I'm going to show you something from the word of God. And this is what shakes my soul. I want you to go with me, please, to Psalm 80. Psalm 80. I'll get to the singles here, too. Psalm 80, starting at verse 12. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges? Who is thou? Speaking of God. Why hast thou, God, then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood. Now, the boar out of the wood is the devil himself. The devil out of the wood doth waste it. And the wild beast, demonic spirits, of the field doth devour it. In return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine, and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. It's burned with fire. It's cut down. They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. See, the walls are down. The enemy, all that pass by pluck her, the Scripture says. The wild boar of the wood doth waste, and the field is devoured. All they that pass the way do pluck her. Wild music now comes in. Vile movies are sitting watching. Vile television, whatever it may be. And there's no rule, there's no authority. See, the walls are down and now the wild boar has moved in. But who took down the wall? Why hast thou then broken down her hedges or her walls? I want you to go to Isaiah, the fifth chapter. Turn right. Isaiah, the fifth chapter. I want to prove to you conclusively that God pulls down the walls. And I'll tell you the reason why. Isaiah 5, verses 1 through 7, starting verse 1. Now while I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard, my well-beloved hath the vineyard and a very fruitful hill. See, here's a man or woman of God, well-beloved, very fruitful. Things are going right. Things are in order. He fenced it in. The walls are up. And he gathered out the stones thereof. He's removed the stumbling blocks. He's planted it with the choicest vine. He's fed it with the work, milk and the word and the meat of God's word. Well-trained, well-taught. And he built a tower in the midst of it. And also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have I done? What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? God says, what more could I do? I've done everything. Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes. Now go to. In other words, God said, listen closely. I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. Who will do it? I will take away the hedge of the wall thereof. And it shall be eaten up. And I will break down the wall thereof. And it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor digged. But there shall come up briars and thorns. I also command the clouds that there rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment, behold, oppression. He looked for righteousness, but behold, a cry. That cry is the cry of iniquity. Now look this way, please. This is serious business. Beloved, I'm telling you, this is serious business. You can argue that God is not that severe under grace. That that's not the New Testament view of the love of God. God certainly doesn't do that since the cross. Then what do you do with Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts? Under grace, this side of the cross. When two people drop dead. Folks, this didn't happen overnight. This didn't happen that morning. And they make the decision. No, no, no, no. The Bible calls their sin. There's a horrible sin that was building up in their hearts. You see, it was taking the word of God lightly. In fact, the scripture calls it the sin of lightness. I read from the scripture from Jeremiah 23, 32. Don't turn there. Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams, cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness. And the Hebrew word for lightness is they're taking things lightly, trivially, unworthy of serious attention. And you see, they had been taught, they had been warned, but they didn't take it seriously. When I told you this is serious business, I believe what God's word says. And that's what God was saying in the New Testament church in the book of Acts. He said, if you're not going to take me seriously, if you're not going to take my word seriously, if you're not going to act according to my word, you're going to face my holiness and justice. You're going to face it. And I'm going to deal severely with it. You see, that doesn't compute with the love of God. I'm going to talk more about that before I finish this morning. But see, this warning in Proverbs 25, 28 has made me take stock of my own life, to look a little more closely into my own life and my relationships. The Bible said we're to examine ourselves. What about your marriage and your children, your family, your job and your career? I'm going to ask you, is it in divine order? Do you have the overall sense that God is blessing and that the enemy tries to come in on one side, but you get on your face and you pray and God answers here. You see God keeping the devil out this side. There's a wall. The wall of fire is around about you and you have awareness of that because the Holy Spirit has shown you very clearly. The most dangerous thing that you can say if your marriage is troubled in any way is to have this kind of mindset. Well, hey, every marriage has got its problems. Every husband and wife fight. They say things that hurt and cut and are un-Christlike. That's a part of marriage. It's the worst thing in the world you can say and believe in your heart, that this is the normal Christian marriage. It's a lie. It's a lie. And until I deal with that seriously in my heart, I'm going to have walls coming down. I'm going to tell you now, it's not Christlike to pour out venom against one another. It's not Christlike to have a short fuse. It's not Christlike that everything upsets you. And I'm going to be honest with you. I've had people tell me, Brother Dave, you're too vulnerable, you're too open. You shouldn't be telling people your struggles. Hey, I'm 70. I don't care much anymore about what people think. I just want people to get the truth. In the time I have left, I want people to know that the preachers are not angels, that they go through the same struggles that you go through. The worst thing you can do is to look at any pastor in this church and say, Oh, their marriage is perfect. Everything is fine. They have no problems. That's phony. Baloney. We have struggles. Now, Gwen and I have been married almost 50 years. In June, it will be 50 years. And you say, Well, after 50 years, everything must be just perfect. I want to tell you right off, we have a good marriage. It's been to hell and back, but it's a good marriage. We have survived, oh, have we survived the winds and the waves and the floods. And there are times that the walls were down because we were both disobedient and these things that God demands of us that the walls be up. But you see, we develop habits, and we think those habits are common to everybody. And my problem is, I don't know why. I'd like to just excuse it. It's my age. I've gotten very touchy lately. I've been irritable. And if Gwen were up here and could unburden her heart to you, she'd say a loud amen. Until recently, she had to say, David, can I say anything right that doesn't upset you? And then I read this. A man who's not in control of his spirit is like a troubled city without walls. Then I have to go into my study. I have to get on my knees and say, Lord, I know I'm a praying man. I know I hear from you. But there's something I've allowed. I have allowed my spirit in this area. I'm not in control on that. Are you honest enough on your job if you're single, married? You're honest enough to ask yourself the question, why have I become so irritable? Why do I speak so quickly and pour things out of my mouth that I know are not Christlike? Why am I like this? And you've got to then really get honest before God and say, oh, Lord, there's a troubling in my spirit. Is there a breach in the wall somewhere? Have I allowed a breach somewhere? Lord, is there something you're getting to in my life that the enemy has had access? How else can he be able? I say, devil, where do you get the right to come in here into my mind, into my home? And after 50 years of marriage, try to disturb it. Be careful when you think you stand. Lest you fall. Paul says, having preached to others, I myself become a castaway. And a castaway means a reject. You can't fudge it. That's what it says. And that's when the Holy Spirit. And that's why he wouldn't let me get away from this verse. And that's why I'm getting very, very serious with you now. If you just excuse it and say that's the way things are. It's just getting worse because habits have a way of causing us to lose control. You get on drugs, you get a habit of alcohol or drugs, you're going to lose control. You get a habit of gossiping, you're going to lose control. You're going to get caught and exposed. You get habituated to a secret affair. You get habituated from pornography. You're going to lose control of your life. Because somewhere along the line, the wall is down. You say, well, Brother David, what's the solution for you? You'll get it when I'm finished here. It'll fall in place and you'll see what I mean. I have proof of Scripture that God tears down walls. He often tears down walls of his own children for a purpose. Now, I'm not talking about, you see, there's this, I'm going to tell you right off, that is caused by a very serious sin. Now to explain what that sin is that causes the wall to begin crumbling. You've got to face the fact, though, that if there's trouble, there seems to be no answer. You've tried everything, but there's nothing but trouble. And some of you, I'm going to tell you, all your weeping won't heal your marriage. As I said, counseling won't do it. Renewing your vows certainly won't do it. Because you're just telling a double lie. You see, none of those things work. Because until you get honest and say, Lord, are my walls down? If I allow the enemy to get access to my heart, my spirit. Now, I'm not talking about, you see, sin does that. God doesn't take down the wall of somebody that just, you know, out of curiosity, goes to the internet, and there's pornography, and they're suddenly attracted out of curiosity to that. Or they bring a movie into their house and put it into the machine, and it's the wrong kind, and it's something filthy and evil. But they're convicted of it, and they run to the Lord with repentance, and they forsake their sin. He's not talking about those who occasionally fall into some old battle that they've had. No, no, no, no, that's not what he's talking about. The wall comes down when this man or this woman has been dealt with. You see, we have a loving Heavenly Father. We have a Father who's patient and longsuffering and kind and tender. Yes, we have all of that. And, folks, from this pulpit, I know what I've preached from this pulpit. I have preached more grace than mercy, and every pastor's preached grace and mercy. I have preached about the delivering names of Jehovah God. I have preached about the merciful new covenant and how it promises deliverance through faith. We have preached mercy and grace, and still we have people living in sin, still bound by their habits, and the walls are down, and the enemy is moving in on their marriage and their home and everything. It's out of control. And then I say, well, what's the problem? Now, folks, let me tell you the kind of people that this man that becomes Trouble City, this is the individual that is addicted to his sin, absolutely addicted. And even though prophets have come, prophetic word has come, and God has been patient, so patient, dealing week after week, month after month, year after year, God has dealt. And finally, he says, I can't protect that kind of lifestyle. I can't protect a lie. What more could I have done for you? What more? I have shown you grace, mercy. I've shown you everything in my word. I've sent you prophets and pastors and ministers. I've done everything to deal with that issue in your life, that one thing. And you have now made peace with it, and you're going to live with it, and you think you're a special taste now. And this is a preacher, for example, that can sit all day or all week in front of his Internet watching porno, and then with his mind full of filthy visions and images, he stands in the pulpit and preaches against sin. Why does God break down the walls? Okay, go to Romans 2, and I'll show you. Are you eating the word? Romans 2, beginning to read at verse 19. Now, beloved, listen closely. This is the sin. This is the sin that brings down your walls, or my walls. I'm relating to this. Verse 19, beginning to read. And thou art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light to them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hath the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou, therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest, the man should not steal? Dost thou steal? Thou that sayest the man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonest thou God? For the name of God is what? Blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. Now, look this way, if you will, please. The stability of our walls has everything to do with how seriously we take what we just read. I'm going to repeat it. The stability of my walls and your walls has everything to do with how seriously I take this passage. Are you practicing what you preach, God is saying to me and to you? Are you living what you preach, or are you living a lie? Now, see, he only names stealing, adultery, and sacrilege, he names three sins. But you see, God is talking about the whole body of sin, whatever it may be. Now, the Lord is not a hard taskmaster. He's not wanting to bring us into some kind of bondage and legalism. He doesn't take down the walls, I said, of those who fall into sin or they are surprised by sin. He'll take down the wall of all of these young people, for example, that call themselves Christians. And this grieves me, and I hear it everywhere I go. I hear it from Christian kids in Christian schools. They can lay around naked with each other, and they can grope, and they can have their own unique kind of body contact and come out saying it wasn't sex. And this was perpetrated by a former president of the United States, and a whole generation bought it. And now I talk to these young people who say they believe in Jesus Christ, and they love the Lord, and I try to show them from the Word of God that this is sin. And they'll look me right in the face and say no. And they're trying to use a technicality. You see, we really didn't do it. That really wasn't sex. But you see, those who don't want the truth, those who will not take the Word of God seriously, they get in trouble, and the walls come down. Then you find AIDS, you find all kinds of difficulties, you find the enemy coming in like a flood because they are not regarding seriously the Word of God. If you're going to sit in this church and persist in a secret affair or in fornication, in anything that God has put His hand on, you will not let the Word of God produce the fear, the righteous, holy fear of God in your heart and say God means what He says. And if we'll not do that and allow that to come into our hearts, you can be sure trouble is coming and the walls are going down, and the enemy is going to get access to your spirit. And you will no longer be in control. The enemy will be in control of your spirit. You see, there's ample provision that has been given in the Scripture for deliverance from all dominion of sin. And God has said that very lovingly. Now, I want to deal with something before I close. It's a matter of taking it seriously because you see, where I had a breach in my wall was that I was just not taking seriously this matter of always speaking with the Spirit of Christ. And if I'm not speaking in the Spirit of Christ, I've got to recognize immediately, I've got to immediately repent of it to the individual, and I've got to go to the secret closet and say, Lord, deal with this now. I don't want my walls down. And I was not taking seriously how harmful it is to be so irritable and sensitive. And God began to show me the seriousness that I have to practice what I preach because I come here and preach to you that you should love your wife and be kind and don't spew out this kind of stuff. And then if I go home and I disobey it, I'm the one God's dealing with then, saying you're not practicing what you preach. I'll tell you what, it scares me something. I have the fear of God on me because you see, I have to stand before God and answer for this message this morning. I'm going to be judged on a standard. Now, I don't live under any legalistic fear or bondage about that, but I'm taking it seriously because, you see, here's what's happened. I've been, I am so tired. I'm growing tired of this thing that I'm going to mention, and it's a practice that's widespread in the ministry today, and it is sweeping the churches. And that's trying to justify God's warnings and His judgments to see if they comply with the love of God. It's this idea of having filtered everything to the love of God and totally ignoring the holiness of God and the justice of God. In other words, there are preachers who will not accept anything. There are people sitting here now who are not accepting my message this morning because they say, that does not seem compatible with the love of God. And we have turned our Christ into an indulgent Savior who allows us at least 499 times to indulge in a besetting sin. Didn't He say, forgive 70 times 7, that means I can do it 499 times, and for each besetting sin. You can make any kind of excuse because you say, God loves me. God is love. Yes, He is, He's holy, He's just. And He means what He says in His word. We've created a Christ of love only, but how do you deal with that when you read the book of Revelation and you hear Jesus Christ say to Ephesus, repent, or I'll come unto you quickly and remove your candlestick out of its place. And to Pergamos, repent, or else I'll come quickly to you and I'll fight against them with the sword of my mouth. And then He says to all the churches, all the churches shall know that I am He that searches the reins of the heart, and I'll give unto every man, every one of you, according to your works. He said, I'm going to be a holy God. I'm a holy Christ. Folks, I want you to know God loves His shepherds. He loves His pastors, and He loves His elders and deacons and choir workers and prisoners. He loves His people. He'll fight for them. But He will not sponsor a lie. He will not protect a double life. He'll not stand by. He'll say, I have to let the wall down now, because you will not respond to my love. Now I have to allow the enemy to be a chastener. God chastens, yes, but He also, when He pulls down the wall, the chastening and the trouble that came to Job came from the hand of the enemy. But God is always wanting to produce a righteous result. He wants to produce an obedient heart, a willingness to take His word seriously. And I have seen that wall come down. I have so many pastoral pastor friends and acquaintances, and their marriages are about, many of them have already divorced. And I get letters and the calls we get, it's just mind-boggling. We're just hanging on. There's no love. Children are all messed up. Now folks, if your children are messed up, I'm not saying this is the cause only. No, no, no. But you see, you witness to other people. You're able to name sin as it is. But then are you examining your own heart? Are you doing the very thing that you've taken a stand against? He said, are you preaching to others and not living it yourself? And in the eyes of God, this is one of the most serious things, one of the most serious sins of all, that I could get accustomed and not be convicted of living a lie and not practicing what I preach. Serious business. Because then I'm troubled city without walls. And I want my walls. I want Jesus to be a wall. You say, well, Brother Wilkinson, Pastor, is it possible for God to build up the walls again? Is it possible for me to get back control of my spirit? That's the one thing God wants more than anything else, to bring you back under control. He wants to build your wall so that Satan can't come. You say, well, what do I have to do? Restoration begins the moment you take this word of God seriously. No more thinking you're some special case that God will let you get by with your rebellion. You've got to quit blaming somebody else. You've got to take to heart this concept that God will deal with me severely. I am no exception. If I ignore this, if I don't hear it, I'm going to face his justice and his holiness. I'm going to face it. And he said, stop coming to the altar covering it with your tears when you have deception against your mate in your heart. He said, don't come crying to me anymore until you're willing to allow the Holy Spirit to deal with the deceptions. And then it has to do with neglect. We get away from him. We slip away. We don't seek him. We don't pray. We don't fast anymore. And we don't come against these strongholds. And, folks, it's coming to Christ. Coming to him and saying, Lord, I want you more than I want healing. I want you more than anything else. I want you. And, folks, when you get right with Christ, when you get things right with Jesus, and you deal with these things that he's talking about, he'll build your walls. He'll build your walls. Yes, he will. Will you stand, please? Now, don't go out of this house saying, isn't that terrible, brother? Dave's got a troubled marriage. Yours should be as good as ours. Folks, I made a statement in this pulpit not too long after the tragedy of 9-11, when God was moving so soberly among us. And I said, this church will never go back to its old ways. And the old ways that I perceived, at least, and I think some of the other pastors perceived it the same way, is that we had been so over-preached at, perhaps, and so many were taking it lightly. So many were not taking it seriously. And there was too much frivolity. And not enough of serious seeking of God's face. And I don't ever want to go back to any kind of frivolous that would have crept into my heart. Frivolous means not taking it seriously, trivializing the message, going out and forgetting it and not taking it to heart. I'm going to ask God to heal every marriage in this building, every single marriage. I'm going to ask Him to heal the troubled waters. I'm going to ask you to get serious about the Word of God now, and I want every husband and every wife to take the responsibility to say, no, it's not my husband, it's not my wife, it's me. God, you deal with me now. You deal with the way I speak. You deal with the lack of kindness. You deal with these issues that we talked about this morning. Holy Spirit, deal with them. I'm going to be honest with you, I'm at fault. And I don't want a troubled home. And I want the walls around my life and around my home. And you singles the same way. God, help you deal with these issues. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your Word, Lord. The Bible said it's not joyful to come under the chastening of the Word. Lord, when I read this and you chastened me with it, it's painful. It is not joyous at the time, but it brings forth great fruit if we accept it and we abide by the Word of God. Lord, this has been a pastoral message. And I pray, Lord, that you help us now face the Holy Spirit and let him deal with these lives. Oh, God, rebuild the walls. Rebuild the walls. Because we humble ourselves before you and we recognize our need. We turn to you and say, help me to practice what I preach. If the Holy Ghost has dealt with you, be spoken to your heart. I want you to get out of your seat. If your husband and wife are willing to admit that your marriage is in trouble, there's no other way to explain it. Your marriage is in trouble and you want to come down here now for healing. God can heal your marriage in this service. Up in the balcony here on the main floor and even in the annex, if there are any couples who would like to come, you can come into the auditorium here. Just go to the lobby. The ushers will show you how to get here and come down. I'll meet here and I'll pray and I'll ask God for a miracle to restore and ask God to deal with us lovingly, lest there be a disaster. Lest there be a disaster. And the enemy come in, the wild boar of the woods come and trample. If you don't know Jesus, if you've been running from Christ, if you've been cold and indifferent to Him, I want you to come with these that are coming right now and ask the Lord to rebuild your walls so the enemy can't come and attack you. Wherever you're at, upstairs in the balcony, go to the stairs on either side and come down. And in the annex, you can come and follow these that are coming. I'm going to pray a prayer of faith and I'm going to believe God. Now, if you're here without your husband or without your wife and you need that miracle, just come. You can come if you're single or married. It makes no difference. Well, they say. I'll address first the married couples. I just say this. I feel the Holy Spirit put upon my heart some good Holy Ghost advice. When you, as a married husband or wife, when you begin to say cutting things, when you begin to just pick on things, you develop a habit. It becomes a habit with us. A murmuring, complaining, whatever it may be, it becomes a habit. And we just do it almost naturally then. It just takes over our life and we're not aware of it. It becomes a habit. And that has to be broken. You have to acknowledge, I have developed a habit of fault finding. I've developed a habit of speaking before I think or pray about it. I'm just blurting it out. It's a habit. It's a habit. It has to be broken. Will you ask God to break that when I pray with you? Say, Lord, break this habit. I bring it to you and remind me about it. Holy Spirit, convict me when I do it the next time. Convict me and help me to say right away, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Years ago there was a movie that said love is never having to say I'm sorry. That's a lie. Love is learning how to say I'm sorry and to repent. Just hold it. Now, you that are single here, you that are single now, please, will you ask the Lord to examine your heart? Lord, why am I developing such fear? Why this unbelief in me? Why this irritableness? And I'm often talking about impatience with God. Lord, why am I so impatient with you? And why do I have this sense that somehow everything is going to fail and I'm going to fall and I'm going to be destitute? Folks, if you continue in that path of unbelief, it will tear your walls down. The Lord says, no, come by faith now. Trust me that I'm going to be with you. I'm not going to fail you. God's not mad at you. He does severely with us. That's even manifestation, not only of His holiness, but His love. I'm asking God to heal every marriage. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray for every marriage within the sound of my voice. I pray, Holy Spirit, that only Your Word can heal. You will know the truth and the truth will set You free. My God, let everyone take responsibility. I'm not waiting for my husband. I'm not waiting for my wife to make any changes. God, make them in me. Lord, I'm asking You to do that in me as a pastor. God, continue to work changes in me, that I'll not flare up, that I'll not have that kind of irritableness. Jesus, God, help me. Help us all to make no excuses and say, Lord, these are habits that have developed in my life, and I ask You to crush this habit, and I ask You to change me, Lord. And when You change me, I'll see that Your love is there. God, bring us to the cross. Bring us to this self-emptying of our pride and our need to be right. I don't need to be right. None of us need to be right. We just need to be right with You, Lord, to have our hearts right with You. God, forgive us. Forgive us. Forgive us now. If you've been drifting from the Lord, will you ask Jesus right now to come? Will you ask Him to draw you closer to Himself? Will you say, draw me now, Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit? And those who don't know Christ, those who are coming maybe the first time, would you just pray a very simple prayer, Lord? Lord Jesus, I open my heart to You, and I give You my sins. I give You my failure, and I ask You, Lord Jesus, to give me faith. Take away my unbelief, and come now, Jesus, and touch my heart with Your love, and receive me as Your child, and You'll do just that. We give You thanks. We give You praise. I come against every evil spirit. I come against this wild boar from the woods. I come against these demonic spirits that are trying to come in now, and Lord, they're trying to move in and take control. God, give back control. Lord, if we give our minds and hearts to You, You take control of the mind. Our mind becomes the mind of Christ. We are in control because Christ is in control. Help us to see it. Thank You, Jesus. Would you raise both hands and thank Jesus for touching your heart right now? Lord, I thank You. I return to give You thanks right now that You've heard my cry, You've heard my prayer. There are going to be changes in my marriage, in my home, and in my life. Lord, restore my walls. Build my walls. Jesus, You be the wall of fire round about me and the glory therein. Lord, when You are round about us with Your fire, no demon, no devil can ever penetrate. We thank You for that, Jesus. Hallelujah! Thank You for the Holy Ghost. Thank You for Jesus. When I was a younger preacher, priest about marriage, I'd always end the service by saying, Now, kiss your husband, kiss your wife, go, everything's going to be alright. No, no, no, no, no. I had a little kiss and I'm going to do it. Now, if you want to do it, that's fine, but be sure you're married. But the answer is that you take this word to heart. This is the conclusion of the message.