In this sermon, the pastor begins by urging the congregation to confess their personal needs and hunger for God. He emphasizes the importance of being in God's will and warns against getting in the flesh. The pastor then refers to Ezekiel 44:5, where God instructs Ezekiel to mark well the entrances and exits of the temple. This prophecy speaks of a future time when priests will pervert the entrances and hide the exits. The pastor also shares personal stories and experiences, including a confession from a woman who had been watching inappropriate movies and a child's innocent question about the power of Jesus compared to Superman. The sermon highlights the need for genuine repentance and the dangers of hypocrisy in ministry.

Together, Lord, bind us. Together with cords that cannot be broken. Bind us together, Lord, bind us. Together, Lord, bind us. Together with love. Together. I carry with me this morning a promise from the Lord that He's going to do a profound work in all of our hearts. And I divide my time now primarily between street work in mostly New York City, and overseas work, and a few ministers' conferences. I really feel God's put a burden on my heart to share as He gives me an opportunity. And I can say with ease, gentlemen, I'm honored in the spirit to come this morning and share my heart with you. Hallelujah. You know, I couldn't sleep last night much because I was up quite a bit. The Lord was pouring a message in my heart, the sins of shepherds. Now, that's not my message this morning. Brother Rutledge mentioned about those promises God makes us way back when we were just starting in the ministry. There's something the Lord really has been dealing with me about last night, and I can't shake it off, and I hope that He'll let me share it. And those three sins in the ministry happen to be an inability to hear, receive, and appropriate reproof. It's very difficult for ministers to receive reproof. We love to give it, but it's hard to receive it. And I'm not even giving it out. I'm just sharing something in my heart that last night just kept me up. And the one thing that kept me up was the matter of smoldering embers, a fire that burns within us. And these embers will burn for 20 and 30 years, and God will never bring us into the fullness in our own lives until we deal with those smoldering embers, the fire that burns and continues to break out. The Lord took me all through the Word last night, and I began to see the fires break out in men of God that destroyed them, just at the height of their usefulness. They had never come to the place where they dealt with those smoldering embers, those fires of lust that were ignited years ago, both men and women, wives. And I'm glad to see the wives that are here this morning. Many times ministers go to conference and leave their wives at home, and they have the same needs and the same word of the Lord needs to be received by the wives that are here. And I want God to give me this message in its fullness for myself. He was saying to me that I will not come in to the fullness that He has for me in my own life. Forget my ministry, just my life. I can't come into it until I deal with a certain fire. Those things that were ignited when I was a young preacher, when I was first starting out, and I didn't maintain my prayer life and didn't bathe myself in this Word as I should and follow through. We all are touched by God. We go so far, and then we back off. And it's those times of backing off that these fires get out of control. And it's not just lust. There are so many, many other fires. And I have yet to meet a man of God. And I can name some great men of God. I have in my circle of friends five of the greatest prophets on the face of the earth, men of God in their seventies. Some of them came through great movements of God. And I've heard them all confess the same thing, that when God really got down deep into the heart, He began to deal with the embers, the smoldering embers of fires that break out in the seventies, in the fifties, sixties, and seventies of men's lives. And I hope to deal with that. This morning, I want to deal with the Zadok priesthood. Would you mind saying with me, Zadok? Alright, I hope that will be more than just a word before we're finished this morning. I want you to turn with me, if you will, please. Now, by the way, I presume you have your Bible. I couldn't conceive a minister, Christian worker, coming here without one. So I'm not embarrassed any further than that. Turn with me, please, to 1 Samuel, 2. 1 Samuel 2. This is a prophetic message this morning about what I believe God is doing in raising up a Zadok priesthood after His own heart. Do you love the word? Would you look this way for a minute? I'm going to take you through this thing. Every time you're here, if you don't have your Bible, you better look over somebody's shoulder. I'll lose you, and you won't understand a word I'm saying unless you're with me. And I'm amazed. When God told me to put up all my stories and become a Bible preacher... By the way, I discovered that you can go to ministers' meetings and find less Bibles than anywhere else. We always say, well, I have the word hidden in my heart. But gentlemen, we're not setting an example for the sheep. If we're not in this thing and bathed in it... When I put out that last book, Set the Trumpet to Your Mouth, in one month I had over 30 false prophets in my office. I finally had to have somebody else take them. And they'd use the excuse, I just have to see, I have a need, I have a burden, I'm brokenhearted. And when they get in the office, they started prophesying. I've had them leave their shoes out my door as a curse. And threaten my death and everything else, because I wasn't receiving their prophecies. But the only thing, they didn't know their Bibles. No false prophet knows his Bible. And if you know your Bible, you can tear them apart. I mean, put them to shame. And they'd have to go out and put their shoes at the door. And we need to know this book. And I want to take you into it. Let's get into it, please. I'm reading from New American Standard. Boy, I love this. New American Standard is so open to the Word. I recommend it. And I was thinking, why would I recommend an American book? But I remember Canada is America too. This is North America. You know, we come from the United States and think that's the only America there is. No, there's a North and there's a South America. And Canada is in America. Canada is America. All right. New American Standard. NIV is pretty close to this. New King James. But whatever you have, you'll catch it. Let's go with the 27th verse. 1 Samuel 2, 27. Then a man of God came to Eli and said, By the way, we don't know who this man is. Oh, I'd love to meet this man. He is one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. He prophesied something that you and I are coming under the influence of even today. Profound prophet. Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Did I not indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house? And did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by making yourselves fat with the choices of every offering of my people Israel? Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord declares, Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will be not an old man in your house. And you will see the distress of my dwelling, in spite of all that I do good for Israel. And an old man will not be in your house forever. Yet I will not, notice this, I will not cut off every man of yours from my altar, that your eyes may fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life. And this will be the sign to you which shall come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phanis, in the same day both of them shall die. Now listen to this. But I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and in my soul, and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before my anointed always. Now that's the key verse, and I want to read it again. But I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and in my soul, and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before my anointed always. Lord Jesus, we bind now every spirit that would conspire against us to rob us of truth. Lord, we have got to be hearers of this word, and then doers. And I pray, Lord, that you would open our hearts. Let me, Lord, deliver the reproof that you've given to me with love. Lord, I've been under this rod. I've been reproved, and I've felt it, and I've received it. Now, Lord, I share it. Go deep into our hearts, Lord. You brought this meeting together. There are shepherds here this morning. There are pastors, there are ministers, there are Christian workers that hunger for a righteous walk with you, and you're looking for a righteous remnant. And that is the message of this last hour, that you are raising up a faithful priesthood after your own heart. Lord, we want to come into that this morning. So we bind every spirit that would hinder us from hearing what the Spirit would say. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Alright, you're finding here in 1 Samuel 2, a curse upon one kind of priesthood, and the prophetic raising up of an enduring holy remnant priesthood. You're going to hear any man who's praying now talk about remnant. You say, what's all this talk about remnant? Get a hold of God, set yourself in, and you'll hear the same thing. That he is raising up a people to himself after his own heart. And he's going to have shepherds. It used to be the worry of my spirit that God would move so among sheep, and usually the sheep are far ahead of the shepherds. And that's the same thing happening now in the United States. The sheep are far ahead of the shepherds. And seeking God, and the fear of my heart has always been, Lord, you're going to raise up this great remnant of believers, will there be shepherds to carry them on? Will there be shepherds to be able to minister to them as they move on in you? Then God began to show me this. And my heart began to rejoice. Eli represents a cursed priesthood. A priesthood of fat, self-centered servants of God. They represent those who are called priests who lightly esteem the Word of God. A ministry who does not like to hear or give correction. Spiritual children that have become wicked under their ministry. The Bible says in verse 29, they make themselves fat with the choices of every offering of my people. Verse 13, it says, even though his sons brought a curse upon themselves, he did not rebuke them. They were living in idolatry and adultery. He didn't raise a hand against them. The Bible says his house is going to be judged. The glory of the Lord, remember, departed from Shiloh and his sons died. Eli dies. What was this everlasting judgment on a certain kind of ministry represented by Eli? Why did this man come and speak of two priesthoods? He placed a three-pronged curse upon the household of Eli and this kind of priesthood. He said, first of all, I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house. This is a priesthood with an inbred weakness. I am going to break your strength and the strength of your father's house. That's in verse 31. If you look in verse 32, you'll find the second prong of this curse. There will be a continual falling short of God's fullness. And you will see distress of my dwelling in spite of all the good I do for Israel. I'll be blessing my people, but you will always have a measure of distress never coming into the fullness. You will always come short of the fullness. You represent a priesthood that will always be seeking and searching and never come into the fullness. The third part of this curse, verse 33, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life. Now, that's a very spiritual significant thought that just at the peak of your ministry and usefulness, there's going to be a fall. There's going to be a breakdown because there's something in you of weakness. There's something in you of a curse that's not been dealt with. And nobody of this priesthood will inevitably go through to fullness but will wind up on the shelf. And I grieve over the ministers that I know in their 60s and 70s and even in their 50s are on the shelf. In the prime of life, it's all over. In the prime of usefulness, it's all done. And I want to show that to you as the Holy Spirit leads this morning. Now, here's a weak, flawed, self-centered priesthood. But he said, I'm not going to destroy it. I'm going to let it continue on. Isn't that what he said? Yet, I will not cut off every man of yours from my altar. He places a curse on this fat, self-centered, weak priesthood. And he said, yet, verse 33, yet I will not cut off every man of yours from my altar. I'm going to let it continue. That ministry is with us today. But there's another kind of priesthood prophesied here also. Verse 35, but I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and in my soul. And I will build him an enduring house. And he will walk before my anointed always. That's an amazing prophecy. A prophecy that God will raise up a holy remnant priesthood enduring to the end. He said, I will build it. That gives me great comfort that God is doing it. God is building himself a priesthood. A holy, sanctified, separated priesthood. Now, this dual priesthood is very clearly illustrated in the ministry of Zadok and Abiathar under the Davidic kingdom. Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? This is in 2 Samuel 15, 35. Don't turn. Just let me read it again. Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests that are with you there? We see fulfilled clearly here the prophecy of this man who came to Eli. That dual priesthood continued even up to Christ's time. Remember, Caiaphas and Annas. The dual priesthood continued right through. This dual priesthood continues. That dual priesthood is here this morning. There is a dual priesthood represented here this morning. And God's desire is to get you out of the Abiathar priesthood into the Zadok priesthood. Zadok in Hebrew is Sadok. And it means one proved righteous. One who is proved righteous. Abiathar means a peace with the Lord who is my God. Both very pious names. Let's look first at Zadok. I want to have you study this name with me for just a bit. 1 Chronicles 12. 1 Chronicles 12. Do you love the word say, man? Okay, I want you to go to 1 Chronicles 12. I'm going to start in verse 22, please. I'm going to bring you to the first introduction of this man. Man, remember David? Is it Ziklag? And David, remember Ziklag lost everything. All right, verse 22. For day by day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army like the army of God. Now these are the numbers of the divisions equipped for war who came to David at Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul to him according to the word of the Lord. Now the whole process, look at that now. There's a kingdom change. God is moving from one realm to another. The anointing's been lost by Saul. And look at verse 26. Of the sons of Levi, 4,600. Levi recognizes where God is moving. He recognizes God's anointing. Look at verse 28. Also Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father's house 22 captains. All right, look at this, please. Look at me if you will. Here comes Zadok, a young man of valor. And from the time Zadok meets David at Ziklag, he never once swerved the rest of his ministry. He knew what God was saying. He knew where the anointing was. He knew what God was saying to the generation. And his heart went after David. I read to you in verse 23. He's turning the kingdom of Saul to David according to the word of the Lord. And Zadok, in his whole house, says, I'm going with David. I'm going with this man. I commit myself to him. He made a commitment to David. Never did Zadok swerve from that time on. If you remember, in fact, let's go to 2 Samuel, if you will, please. I'll show you another glimpse of this tremendous man of God. Let's go to 2 Samuel 15. Let's go to the 23rd verse, if you will, please. Do you remember David's running from his own son Absalom? Absalom is in rebellion. Verse 23. While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people passed over. David's having to flee for his life from his own son Absalom. The king also passed over the brook Kidron. And all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness. Now behold, Zadok also came. Hallelujah. Zadok is still with David, totally committed. And all the Levites with him, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God. And they set down the Ark of God. And Abirathar came up until all the people had finished passing from the city. And the king said to Zadok, Return the Ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then he'll bring me back again and show me both it and his habitation. Go to verse 27. The king also said to Zadok the priest, Are you not a seer? You know what that means in Hebrew? Aren't you not one of discernment? Do you not have a gift of discernment? Return to the city in peace and your two sons with you. Your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan, the son of Abirathar. See, I'm going to wait at the ords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me. Go to verse 35. Are not Zadok and Abirathar the priests with you there? So it shall be that whatever you hear from the king's house, you shall report to Zadok and Abirathar the priest. All right. I want to paint a picture for you for a moment. If you will look this way. Here is a marvelous blessing of David upon this man. He said, You're the man I trust. You have the strength to go back into the city and spy on my son. He said, You have a strength in you. You will not fail me. Go back. And he had Hushaiah there to remember. And in the midst of corruption, while Absalom is taking David's concubines and a tent on the top of the roof, and before all of Israel openly committing adultery and fornicating with these wicked women, here in the midst of all the decay and the ruin, there's a holy priesthood in Jerusalem. There's a man of God in that city who is totally committed to David. Nothing moves him. And David says to him, And what a trust he puts in this man. You have discernment, Zadok. Go back and you bring me word. And you remember it was the sons of Zadok and Abiathar who carried the messages of Absalom's every move to David, hiding in the wilderness and in the caves. He said, There's something about you, Zadok, of faithfulness and commitment to me. While the whole nation is in rebellion, this priesthood remains true to the Lord. David is his only king. He'll walk blameless before David. And in this process of Zadok walking blameless on behalf of David, God is building an enduring house for Zadok. The prophecy is being fulfilled. I'll build you an enduring house, Zadok. He's building David an enduring house, but he's also building Zadok an enduring house. This is that faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and in my soul, according to the prophecy. This is the holy remnant. These are servants of the Lord, the offspring of Zadok. Today we see them. While there's rebellion and ruin all around, in the house of God before his holy altar are still men who do according to the will of God in his heart. Ezekiel had a vision of a spiritual temple. And Ezekiel was very well aware of this man who came to Eli. In fact, he wrote a whole chapter based on that prophecy. I want you to, before I take you to that prophecy, go to Ezekiel 43 with me, if you will please. Ezekiel 43. Before we finish this morning, I'm going to show you something to make you weep. When I saw it, I've wept ever since I've seen it. But I want you to go to Ezekiel 43, 19. And I want to show you the mark of a Zadok priest. The 19th verse, Ezekiel 43. And you shall give to the Levitical priest who are from the offspring of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God a young bull for sin offering. Now, friends, I really believe that this tabernacle, this temple of Ezekiel in 42, 43, 44 is a vision temple. Never was built, never will be built. He's seeing the church. I don't think we'll ever understand this vision temple until we get to heaven. I don't believe we'll understand it until God reveals it and Ezekiel is given an opportunity to explain his whole vision. I do know that he sees in this vision temple, this pure temple of God, he sees a ministry whose mark is this right here now. And they're the ones who get the bull. Those are the ones who are given the sacrifice, who are from the offspring of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me. That is the mark of a Zadok priest. His ministry is to minister only to the Lord, not to the house, but to the Lord. That's the Zadok priesthood. Now, the Zadok priesthood is the descendant from Aaron. The Abiathar ministry is a descendant of Eli. Now, keep that in mind. Abiathar, now let's look at him for a moment, if you will. I'd like to establish these two men and their types first. Now, Abiathar, remember, his very name means peace with God and he is my Lord. Very pious name. Abiathar, a pious, dedicated man at peace with God. His very name conjures reverence. Now, remember, he's with David crossing over the Kidron when he's running from Absalom. Remember, the Bible says, and Abiathar came up also. Abiathar says, this is rebellion. This is wrong. My heart's with David. Now, up to this time, it's fine, isn't it? What a great man of God he appears to be. You'll find that back in 2 Samuel 15, 29, also verse 35. He said, Absalom is in rebellion. He and his son Jonathan appear to be just as faithful as Zadok. He appears outwardly holy, blameless and faithful. But why is it that so soon in this whole story in the Old Testament, the prophets forsake Abiathar and they speak only of the Zadok priesthood from then on? You won't find Abiathar after these first few contacts with him. And I want to show you how clearly this prophecy of this man of God comes to pass, that Abiathar has in him, in spite of the fact that he's known as a pious man, people look up to him with great reverence. This was an outward facade. There was no deep inner commitment to David. Remember the prophecy that there would be an inner weakness? Remember the prophecy that there would not be a long, continued ministry, but at the height of usefulness, there would be a fall, there'd be a breakdown. There would be a smoldering ember that would break out into a fire that would char the branch and destroy it. And you'll find that prophecy in Ezekiel 6. But I want you to go with me to 1 Kings. This is the most tragic 1 Kings 1 chapter. Turn with me quickly. 1 Kings 1 chapter. This is a frightening fulfillment of prophecy. I don't know about you, but I read some of these things. They make me weep. All right, I want you to start reading with me the 5th verse. 1 Kings 1 chapter, beginning of the 5th verse. Don't read ahead of me. Look this way for just a minute. I was in crusade ministry, friends, preaching to thousands. I'd have 1,000 people a night at an altar, sometimes 2,000 at an altar. And the whole time my heart divided. I didn't live in adultery, but my wife had cancer, 6 operations for cancer. And there was just this subtle thought, God, I can't take him or let her die, give me a younger woman who can stand with me with strength. I wasn't looking, but the thought was there and it was there for a number of years. And I had a terribly divided heart. Seeds of lust. Preaching these textual sermons, telling stories. And the Lord shut me down. I've really been shut down for 3 years. Almost 5. I'm not in crusades anymore. Occasionally I go to a church or two. Trying to get back to my roots in the street. But God began to make it clear to me that the only preaching that changes lives is Bible preaching. The Word. It's a hammer. It's a consuming fire. So I really don't care what anybody thinks about me having to take them through this thing. It's the only way I can show it. It's the way He took me. I didn't get it from a man. He just, month after month, said, eat the book, eat the book. But I can't tell you what I've been through. I got so hungry 5 years ago, I went through every Puritan writer. You can't name a Puritan writer from Sibbes and Brown and Grinnell and Owens. I read volumes. I read 15 volumes at a time. Then I went to all the English writers. I went through Wesley and I went through John Fletcher, who he called the most pious man since St. Paul. I went through 3 of his volumes. Then I went to the new English writers. I went to the great writers of the early outpouring in 1850 in England. I went through Macintosh and J.P. Stoney for years until I couldn't read anymore. About a year and a half ago, God said, eat the book. Put it all down, eat the book. Then He began to take me into some of these truths. When He led me to this, I trembled because I knew I was there. I was reading my story. Some of you are going to read yourself here. Let's go with the 5th verse. 1 Kings 1, chapter 1, verse 5. Now Adonijah, the son of Haggath, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. So he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen with 50 men to run before him. And his father had never crossed him at any time by asking, why have you done so? And he was a very handsome man, and he was born after Absalom. And he had conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abathar, the priest. And following Adonijah, they helped him. Tragic. But Zadok, the priest, Ben-Aniah, the son of Jehoiada, Nathan, the prophet Shimeiareah, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zohelith. Now take a look at that. I'm going to show you what that means, the stone of Zohelith. It's very significant. Which is beside Enrogel. And he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah to the king's service. But he did not invite Nathan, the prophet, Ben-Aniah, the mighty men, and Solomon, his brother. All right, now look this way, if you will, please. He's not with Solomon in his rebellion. But now comes a ministry of self-exaltation, a man-centered, self-centered ministry. Adonijah exalted himself, and that's the key. Abathar, the priest, followed Adonijah. By this time, David's an old man. If you read the first few verses, you'll find a beautiful young lady named Abishag. They bring him in. I don't understand that whole story, how they bring him in to try and get heed. I don't understand it. I don't even try to interpret it. But what I'm saying is that this man, all the time he's exalting himself, and all the time he's seduced Abathar, he's after this woman. Remember, this cost him his life eventually. He goes after Abishag. He's lusting after this woman. He's exalting himself. And how a man of God, who has peace with God, can be seduced by this man, I don't know. Any more than I can understand how any man of God is being seduced by the ministry of prosperity, and self-exaltation, and self-centeredness. What we're seeing today is an old story. It's the Abathar priesthood, according to the prophecy of this man, coming into full bloom. It's been prophesied years and centuries ago, and we're seeing the fulfillment of that prophet now. That's why that prophet seems so important to me now. And they go to the stone of Zohelith, which is interpreted in Hebrew, the stone of the serpent. Zohelith, the serpent. Can you imagine? Abathar is down at the stone of the serpent. He's fallen under the seduction of a ministry. And he believes it's a new ministry, a new thing that God's doing in the land. He has no discernment. And you see that at the height of his blessing now, he's falling under this three-pronged curse. He's about to be put on the shelf, and he doesn't know it. And he's down at the stone of Zohelith. He's at the stone of the serpent with a ministry that basically is built on adultery, lust, and self-exaltation. Abathar leaves David, and he confers with Adonijah, and he goes to the stone of Zohelith, and there Abathar offers to the Lord his sacrifices. See, we've got people today looking for new things, crying out for new ministries. I see evangelists in ministry, pastors and shepherds going after every new thing that comes down to their right, because they do not have that enduring relationship with the Lord. They don't have the strength of his word in their heart. They're not bathed in it. They don't know it. They've never gone into the secret closet and carved out for themselves a theology that will see them through anything. And so they're swept by every wind and wave of doctrine that comes along. Nobody's more guilty of that than shepherds. Don't blame the sheep. The shepherds are responsible for that. Abathar gets caught up in it. A pious, once faithful man at the peak of his ministry makes a wrong move. He turns the wrong way, unwittingly thinking he's right in the center of God's will. Look at the difference between these two priesthoods. Abathar's now coming under the curse of Eli. There's a weakness in this man that's beginning to surface. Now, let's look at 1 Kings 1.32. Just turn over, if you will, to verse 32. You see, if you follow the story through in this chapter, Nathan... Oh, by the way, do you know that down at the stone of Zahidath there's not a holy man in the bunch? Nathan's not there. Zadok's not there. Solomon's not there. Do you... Look at me for just a moment. I've observed something. Men who preach self-centered messages run in packs. They run in packs. Look at the conferences. And I'll tell you why. There is an underlying sense that I may be wrong and I have to be reinforced. There's still a lingering thing there by God's Holy Spirit saying, You're preaching what is false. And you'll find your own kind. If you're of the Baathar priesthood, you'll finally gravitate to that kind of ministry. If you're of the Zadok ministry, you'll find that holy priesthood. And the Bible says in that day they'll all speak the same language. Hallelujah. Nathan goes to David and he says, Have you appointed Adonijah as king? He's got men riding before him. He's announced himself as king. David was horrified and he says, In verse 32, Then King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest. Hallelujah. Who is our David? Jesus Christ the Lord. Hallelujah. And where does the master turn when there's a crisis in the land? He turns to Zadok. Then King David says, Call to me Zadok the priest. Verse 34, And let Zadok the priest. And Nathan the prophet anointed him there. He's talking of Solomon. Anointed him as king over Israel and blow the trumpet and say, Long live King Solomon. Hallelujah. Look at verse 43. But Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Know our Lord King David has made Solomon king. The king has also sent with him Zadok the priest. And I'll tell you when Adonijah heard that Zadok was with him, he knew it was all over. Because God was with Zadok. Men who live in sin are afraid of men of God. They can't look him in the eye. Because there's sin in their lives. See, if Biathar has in him that indulgent, lazy, weak spirit. That seed of Eli. It's been laying dormant all the time. I want to show you an amazing fulfillment of prophecy. Do you know that Solomon was aware of that prophet? I want to prove it to you. First Kings. Let's go. I've got to find it here. First Kings 1.32, I believe it is. We've been to that. I've got another scripture here. Here it is. First Kings 2.26. First Kings 2.26. Oh, yes. Here it is. Before I set this, would you look this way just a moment. Remember now, Solomon has been anointed king by Zadok. And Solomon has been observing this whole thing. He's watching these two men. And Solomon at this point is a great man of God. The kingdom is in his hands. He remembers that Abiathar has been to the stone of the serpent. He was a part of this rebellion. Now, listen to an amazing prophecy. Look at verse 26. I'm going to read through to 27. Then to Abiathar the priest. This is Solomon speaking. The king said, go to Anaphoth to your own field. See, he's being put on the shelf. For you deserve to die. But I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted. Now, listen to this amazing prophecy. So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest of the Lord in order to fulfill the word of the Lord, which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli and Shiloh. You see it? Does that make you tremble? Solomon was aware of it. He knew that God said, I'm not going to cut that priesthood off. I'm not going to kill you. You deserve to die, but I'm not going to kill you. Your ministry continues. It's going to continue forever. I can't cut you out, but you're not priest anymore. You're on the shelf. You're a dead man. The anointing's gone. You have no place at the altar. Nothing worse for a man of God than to lose the anointing. That's the curse. Now, you want to see it in something even more frightening. I'm going to take you to Ezekiel. Turn to Ezekiel, if you will, please. I want you to go to Ezekiel 43, please. Before I show you Ezekiel's fulfillment of this prophecy, I want you to see something. Verse 43, 19. We read it before, but I want you to take a look at it one more time. You shall give the Levitical priest who are from the offspring of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God a young bull from a sin offering. Go to 44.15 now. 44.15. But the Levitical priest, the sons of who? Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. You see it again. There's the mark of the Zadok priesthood. Ezekiel knows this prophecy. But the Levitical priest, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. They shall enter my sanctuary. They shall come near to my table to minister to me and keep my charge. Now, I want to show you something else that marks this priesthood, this Zadok priesthood. I want you to go to verse 23, 44.23. What does the Zadok priesthood do? Moreover, they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. That is the mark of a Zadok priesthood. Showing God's people their iniquities. A man who has dealt with the uncleanness of his life and has the right to stand before the people and show the iniquities. I want you to go back to chapter 44, verse 5. 44, verse 5. And the Lord said to me, Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the statues of the house of the Lord and concerning all its laws. Now, look at this. And mark well the entrance of the house and all exits of the sanctuary. Now, stop a minute. Look this way. Mark well the entrances and the exits. And here is a prophecy of a day coming when there will be priests who pervert the entrances and hide the exits of the temple. He said, now you mark down those entrances. You've got to be able to show them how to get in and when they get out, be able to declare to them. But he's saying there's a priesthood that's coming that's going to pervert the entrances and hide the exits. They're not going to know how to bring people into fullness because they're the Baathar priesthood and they stand at the gate and they're confused. They've lost the anointing. They are the seed of Eli. They have perverted the entrances and they have hidden the exits. They don't even know when people are out. They don't know how to get them back in once they're out. Mark well. But that's all we know now. You can make it. You're not going to make it. There's no restoration without first death and resurrection. There is none. Sin has to be dealt with. Otherwise it's a cover-up. There's no true restoration until God raises up this holy priesthood. Until there are men in the pulpit that are righteous before God with clean hands and pure hearts. Go on to verse 7. When you brought in foreigners uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuaries to profane it, even my house, when you offered my food, the fat, the blood, for they made my covenant void, this in addition to all your abominations. And you have not kept charge of my holy things yourselves. He's speaking of a biathor. And you have sent foreigners to keep charge of my sanctuaries. Thus says the Lord God, no foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel shall enter my sanctuary. All right, now listen to me. Look this way, please. Jimmy Swaggart asked me a question a year or two ago, and he said, David, I don't understand. You keep prophesying that God's going to bring these corrupt ministries down. I don't do that anymore. I've seen something that when I first saw it, I laid my head on the table and I cried uncontrollably. I'm going to show you. Don't read ahead. Don't get ahead of me. I'm going to show you something that doesn't make you weep in your heart. God is going. God has cursed a backslidden church with a backslidden priesthood. He has appointed a biathor over those who are rebellious. God said, if there were my sheep, I'd give them shepherds after my own heart. But this is a day of idolatry. This is a day when Bible says my prophets are bags of wind and my people love to have it. So they love it. A lack of discernment. And I'm going to show you something that, if you have a heart for God, will make you weep. I know now that God doesn't bring these ministries down. He doesn't cut off a biathor. He says they're going to continue. And this is what frightens me. That what I see in so much Christian television, what I see in ministries, and what I hear from popes, I've seen some that were so abominable I'd get on my face and say, Oh God, I want to pray. Shut her down! Shut his mouth! That is not a representation of Jesus Christ! That is not righteousness! That is flesh! It's stinking flesh! Kill it, Lord! I don't think that way anymore. And that's what frightens me. Go to verse 10. Now, folks, if your heart doesn't weep over this, you may not weep outwardly, but when I saw it, I wept. Now, don't go ahead of me. Just follow me. But the Levites who went far from me, that's a biathor, when Israel went astray from me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministry in the house. They shall slaughter the burnt offering of the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. Do you see a ministry to the house? Do you see it? Look at it! These men have idols in their heart! These are priests! These are shepherds with idols! Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house. Oversight at the gates! And ministering in the house, they shall slaughter the burnt offering of the sacrifice for the people. Outwardly, nobody knows the difference unless you have discernment. It looks good! They shall stand before the people to minister to them. What did it say of Zadok? They shall come to my table to minister to me. They shall go to my sanctuary at the altar to minister to the house. It gets worse. Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn against them that they shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. And they shall not come near to me, to serve as a priest to me, nor come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy, but they shall bear the shame and the abominations which they committed. Listen to this! Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, of all of its services, and all that shall be done in it. I'll appoint them! You want shepherds like that? I'll give them to you. These men are stumbling blocks. They're stumbling blocks! At the gates! Perverting the entrances and hiding the exits! In charge of the gates! They've got iniquity in them. Hidden sin! A stumbling block is something God pointed out to you, that is going to make you fall! And it's right ahead of you, and if you don't get rid of it, you're going to fall! And you refuse to get rid of it! I keep saying, isn't it just a small thing? God said, yet I'm going to appoint them. I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, of all its service, and all that's done in it. Go to Jeremiah with me, please. Let's start at verse 38. Jeremiah 23, verse 38. For if you say the oracle of the Lord, surely thus says the Lord, because you said this word, the oracle of the Lord, in other words, here's someone who carries the oracle of the Lord, has been the oracle of God, you shall not say the oracle of the Lord. Therefore, behold, I shall surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers, and I will put an everlasting reproach on you, and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten. That is the curse on Abiathar. Go back to Jeremiah 7. And I want you to start at verse 8. Jeremiah 7, verse 8. Remember, he's talking to shepherds. Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you still murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely and offer sacrifices at Baal, and walk after the gods that you've not known? Then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered that you may do all these abominations. Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, declares the Lord. But go now to My place, which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people." The wickedness of who? My people. The wickedness of My people, Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and I spoke to you rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did in Shiloh, and I will cast you out from My sight, as I have cast out all of your brothers, all the offsprings of Ephraim. I've got to ask you to go with me to Leviticus. I just want to tie something down here with you, if you will, please. Leviticus 10. I'll show you two priests. You remember Nadab and Abihu, verse 10? In chapter 10, Leviticus, we're going to go to verse 1. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Now look at this. Then Moses said to Aaron, it is what the Lord spake concerning, saying, By those who come near me, I will be treated as holy, and before all the people, I will be honored. And Aaron therefore kept silence. Listen to the Word of God, gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen. By those who come near to me, that's the Zadok priesthood. Remember the mark of Zadok. Come near to me to minister to me. By those who come near to me, I will be treated as holy, and before all the people, I'll be honored. Folks, I can't go on anymore. Let's just close it up. Just close your Bible, if you will, please. I would have rather taken you to the bad part first, rather than close with the great, glowing report of the Zadok priesthood, rather than close with the Abiathar curse. But to tell you the truth, I really do tremble at what I hear. If those two priesthoods are in this room, if it's not dealt with, it'll come out. That seed will come out. That's why a preacher can call me from Mississippi and confess his adultery and says, I don't understand because I'm being so blessed. Never had so many people saved. Seems a paradox. That's why I couldn't deal with it. That's why these ministries prosper. Ministries that are abominations to God prosper. They've been appointed. God will let you continue. He'll let you continue building. He'll let you continue being a great success. But the time will come and it'll all out because nothing's dealt with. And I tell you, God's dealing with sin in the shepherds' hearts. He's saying, enough of your abominations. If you're going to stand at my gate, if you're going to come to my table and minister to me, you're going to make me holy before the people. You're going to show me as a holy God by your life and their sin in the hearts of shepherds and their wives. And I'm going to tell you again, you wives, I'm not off on some little kick. You can't sit and watch Dallas Dynasty and all that filth and maintain the anointing. You'll lose it. When God dealt with me and I began to share with my four children, married children, what God was saying, one of my daughters said, Daddy, there's a knob on it. And I was hurt because I'd seen Debbie's spiritual life go down. Married to a great man of God. Debbie is my oldest daughter, just a precious, beautiful girl. A week later, I drove into their house. They live near us. And Debbie's out in the driveway weeping. I went and put her on and said, Honey, what in the world's wrong? She said, Daddy, Do you know why I reacted so angrily at you? She said, Roger doesn't know it, but I've been going out and getting these movies and putting them on the video machine. And when Roger goes to sleep, I would go in there. It just dawned on me last night. I was sitting there watching a movie about affairs and adultery. And the devil put a thought in my mind, what's so bad about that? And she said, I'm frightened. Now I know, when they took it out the next day, little BJ said, in all sincerity, Mommy, who's got more power, Jesus or Superman? And he meant it. And we sit before idols. Brother Ravenhill and I have been weeping at some of the letters and confessions. He has probably 20, 30 ministers a day coming to see him from all over the world. Calls, letters. I average about 10,000, 15,000 letters a week. And I can't read them anymore. Ministers, wives who write and say, My husband's one thing in the pulpit, and another thing at home. He's not a man of God. Confession after confession. Ministers who are watching filth. Pornography. Number one problem. Then you're going to come and cover the altar with tears. I've been delivered to do these abominations. No. God says, enough. He's raising up a Zadok priesthood. Holy. Sanctified. Separated. Hungry. I stay hungry. If you stay hungry and keep coming to the light, brother, you're going to move into the Zadok priesthood. He'll take you right out of a bath or right into Zadok. That's what he's trying to do for us right now. He's trying to bring us to the light and shine it on us. C.S. Lewis said, The man who loves us is not the man who flatters our corporate sins. The man who loves us is the one who shows us our iniquities. Not the man who flatters our corporate sins. God put me against the wall. He said, I'm going to show you the shame that you bear if you continue the way you are. He said, I'll take my presence from you. You'll go on ministering to the house, but I'm going to take my anointing from you. You don't come to my table. I want to sit at his table. I want to be at Solomon's table and I want to minister to him. Hallelujah. Minister to him. You're not called to minister to people. You minister to him as you minister to him. The outgrowth of that, the outpouring of that is a ministry to the people. I'm so sick and tired of numbers games. I'm so sick and tired of all of the hype and the foolishness and the hounds of God. I cry to meet men of God who share. I sense it in the pastor of this church. I sense it in Brother J.B. Oaks. I sense it also in all these who minister with us here. Brother Hall, I sense it so tremendously now. He's moving us into a remnant. And God made me a promise that he was going to do something so profound. I didn't get that promise so much. I believe God's going to bless the auditorium here. But I got the special word that he was going to do something among those who are in this meeting, in this gathering. He was going to do something very, very profound in all of our hearts. Of cleansing and purging and bringing us to light. He's going to send conviction. I could feel the knife cutting when we got to Ezekiel. I could feel the knife cut. He's going to the very marrow of the bone. And I thank God for the day. He thrust his sword so deep in my heart and got to the marrow of the bone and said, David, never again in that pulpit, never again until you deal with sin. Never. Heavenly Father, how much you love this gathering. How much you love these shepherds and Christian workers today. I feel your love for them, Lord. I feel your love for me this morning. You love us. You truly love us. But you're trying to sanctify to yourself a people, a priesthood who will look at the light. Come to it. Expose me, Jesus. Expose me. Deal with sin in my life. Lord, how long can your servants park themselves in front of idols and waste hours? Waste hours. When they should be shut in eating this book. How can we waste these hours? Waste these hours. God, raise up a Zadok remnant out of this group. Raise up a Zadok remnant out of this group. Holy Spirit, just breathe on us. Convict us of our sins this morning. Convict us of our sins. We bring it to the light. Friends, I've got to do something. Could you listen to me for just a moment? Lord, help me. I'm going to open this microphone. Now, this is a great risk. And I want you to know that Pastor Rutledge, myself, and Brother Oaks will probably judge you if you're out of God's will. If you get in the flesh, you'll be judged. Which means we'll stand here and ask you to be seated. But I believe God wants to say something to us. And I want anyone... I don't want to hear confession of personal sin. We don't need to know that. But a confession of need. Or of hunger. Not more than two minutes, three minutes at the most. Wives and pastors. I want to hear about need. And how God's stirring you and drawing you. I don't want to hear about your church, how many you have. I don't want to hear anything about your ministry. But you, personally. What God's doing by digging and probing and searching and tearing. I'm just going to sit down and trust the Holy Spirit to take over. Because I believe He's told me to do this. Because there need to be some confessions of need here. There are some men here that have been walking in the flesh. And women. There have been people here that have been sitting in front of idols, wasting time. You know, when you get to seeking God with all your heart, there's going to be a conspiracy of interruptions. It's demonic. If you sit here this morning and you set your heart to seek God now and go to a Zadok priesthood. With all the heart that's in you. And you set your heart to pray and seek the Lord. There'll be a conspiracy of interruptions like you've never known. It's demonic. It came to the place with me. I said, Lord, I don't care who it is. I'm shutting everything down. And I'm getting away. And I don't think you can be a pastor unless you have two full days a week that you're alone with God. Two full days a week. And God will help you do more in those few days you've got left than you've ever done before. And that's going to be the greatest discipline in your life. To shut everything down and get alone with God. And stand on the pulpit and say, Thus saith the Lord. And hear from Heaven. There'll be a conspiracy of interruptions. The phone will ring. Everything. There'll be one interruption after another. And they'll all look like good things. People with needs. But it's much of it. Much of it. Not all, but much of it's demonic. It's a conspiracy of interruption to keep you from a Zadok priesthood. Heavenly Father, just breathe on us now. I feel God's trying to break us. It may not come this morning, but it's going to come before this thing is over. It may come this afternoon. It may come tonight. Or it may come tomorrow. But He's going to break us. Folks, He's going to probe deep. He's going to cut like a surgeon. Go deep, deep, deep in us. Lord, You know those men that need to be free. That are tied down. You know those wives, Lord, who are at the end of the rope. You know those, Lord, that have had some tremendous shaking. And turning inside. And a calling and a probing. Lord, we need to hear about that so that we can move on with them. There may be some that we need to lay hands on that You need to release. Just as they stand here this morning. Will you just bow your head in a word of prayer, just quietly. And as you feel led, will you come up here and just share your heart. Just in a quick, no preaching. We don't want to hear your latest message. What's God talking to you about in your life. About cleaning up. About purging. About coming into Zadok.