In this sermon, the preacher talks about a woman who had a vision of standing before the gates of heaven. She saw some people she knew and was about to enter when an angel told her it was not yet her time. The preacher emphasizes that when we see the glory of God, we desire to be with Him, just like the apostle Paul. He also warns that as followers of Jesus, we may face rejection and persecution, but Jesus tells us these things so that we will not be offended. The preacher urges parents to ensure that their young people are responding to the preaching and not being influenced by worldly idols.

Hope you brought your Bibles. Times Square Church, you need your Bible. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, tonight, in this service, I ask you to do something supernatural. Lord, almost every service, we've had occult people come in here and try to destroy the spirit. But I come against every occult spirit. I come against everyone who's come against us in the name of Jesus. Satan, we bind you. We take authority over you. You have no right here. We cast you out and we bind you in the name of Jesus. We bind you in the name of Jesus Christ. You cannot hinder me, Satan. You cannot hinder the Word from going forth. Satan cannot take the Word tonight from anybody's heart. We bind you, Satan. We know where you're sitting. We know who you are and we take authority over you in Jesus' name. Now, Lord, bless and anoint this message. Let it go forth with spiritual authority. Oh, Jesus, have your way in the Word tonight, we pray. Amen. It's amazing to see people come in and go through their occult signs, and they think we don't know about it. We're aware of it even in the service tonight. But I'll tell you what, there's authority here. And the more God blesses, the more the devil tries to send in his people here and try to destroy it. But he has absolutely no authority. No authority whatsoever. Was the enemy able to stop the singing and the worship? No. Is he able to stop the Word? No. No. Hallelujah. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. The cost of going all the way with God. One of the best ways to lose friends and be rejected is to go all the way with God. How many know what I mean already? Well, see, you get serious about spiritual matters, and you start forsaking all your idols, and you start turning the Lord with all your heart. You begin to get absolutely possessed with Jesus. You take your eyes off material things, get your eyes off of everything that's material, and start being consumed with Jesus. And you suddenly become a religious fanatic. You're in for the greatest rejection of your lifetime. And I'm going to tell you where it comes from. Not out there, but in the backslidden church. Now, when you were lukewarm and having just a form of godliness without any power, and when you were not overly sinful or overly holy, but you were in that lukewarm thing just riding along, not too concerned, nobody bothered you. You didn't bother anyone, and not even the devil. Because, you see, you were just riding down the middle of the road, and you weren't making waves. But now you've changed, haven't you? We got a lot of people here who are going to know exactly what I am talking about because you got hungry for God. You got convicted of your sin, your easy lifestyle. You couldn't play church anymore. You repented. You turned to the Lord with all your heart, and down came your idols. They were busted to powder. You began to dig into God's Word, and you are so into the heart of Jesus now, you came into a new realm of discernment because when you repent and begin to dig into the Word, the first thing God gives you is back to discernment so that you know what is profane, and you know what is holy, you know what is righteous, and you know what is evil. And you begin to cast down your idols, and then you begin to see things in the church that you never saw before, and the things that never bothered you before bother you now, and the compromise bothers you because you know what it's all about because you were there. And you see it, and the reason it hurts you is because you know what it did to you and your family. And now that God has opened your eyes, you say, Why can't it happen to the entire church of Jesus Christ? And it's not because you have a holier-than-thou attitude. It's not because you have a judgmental spirit, but you say, Oh God, how could I have been so blind for so long? But instead of your friends rejoicing, you see you're awakened, you're turned around, and you're broken, and you're contrite, and God's given you a burden for the church. But instead of your friends rejoicing with you, they think you've lost your mind. You've gone crazy. You go visit them, and if they can... You can't even talk to them because the television's blaring so loud. And you start talking to them about Jesus, and they look at you with that blank expression. What's wrong with you? You don't talk about the Jets. You don't talk about the Cowboys. You talk about Jesus. Now Moses was wonderfully touched by the hand of God, and he had a vision of God coming down and delivering the Lord's people. He had such a touch and such a vision of what was coming. He got so excited, he ran out, the Scripture said, to tell all his brethren. He ran up. It said he came into his heart to visit his brethren. He was so excited about this revelation he'd received. So excited. Freedom's coming. God is moving. God's going to do something new in his church. For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand, not by Moses' hand, but by the hand of God, by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. He went out all excited, so full of this thing, he said, I'm going to tell them all. He expected them to rejoice with him. He expected them to come right along with him, and he perceived, he thought they'd understand, but the Bible said they didn't understand at all. In fact, they said, who made you a judge among us? Who are you? Who are you to come and tell us that we're not where we should be? For he supposed his brethren, instead they said, who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Have you had that reaction yet? How many have had that reaction? Who do you think you are? Now you're coming into a revelation. Now that you say God's moving you toward holiness and righteousness. See, when the Holy Spirit woke me up a number of years ago, I'd been preaching to thousands of people. I'd have a thousand people at the altar. I didn't even take my Bible to the pulpit because I just took a text, and I took my notebook to the pulpit, and I was sincere and everything else, but I did not have that burning fire. I didn't have that total obsession with Jesus. I was walking with him, but there were some areas in my life that had never been dealt with. I was not living in adultery. I had probably the spirit of it because the Bible said even if you look, you look at television lust after something on television, you've committed adultery in your heart. You're a murderer. You have hate towards your brother. And many of these areas had not been dealt with. And God came one time in my life and said, David, if you don't deal with these things in your life, I'm going to take your anointing. I'm not going to let you stand before the people like this because you can't take the people any further than you go with me. If you don't have it, how are you going to share it? And God began to shake me up. I got so hungry for God, I took a year off. I canceled all my crusades. And I got hungry for God. I bought every book I could get my hands on. I bought all the Puritan writers. I went through John Owens and Sibbes and John Brown. I went then through all the English writers. I went through T. Austin Sparks. I can take you to my library and show you whole volumes underlined. I just read for days and days, just hungry, hungry for God. God had created that hunger in my heart. And I began to see things. I would fall on my face and just weep. I'd go out in the woods and prophesy out of the woods. God was showing, exposing my heart, exposing the pride of an international evangelist who really didn't know God in fullness, winning souls, busy, busy, busy for God. And you see, when I was just preaching salvation, nobody bothered me too much because you know when you're going out talking about drug addicts getting saved and street work, man, to fight that, that's like fighting the American flag in apple pie. Nobody bothered me. I didn't have any enemies until I started prophesying and started preaching about sin and started telling people what God's doing in my heart. And I'd get on the telephone and call my preacher friends and so excited, say, hey, you know what I heard from God the other day? God would begin to talk to me about sin in the church. And I'd say, brother, things are wrong. Everybody come in my office. I said, boy, this is going to be wonderful. I know he's a man of God. And I'd get my Bible out and I'd get so excited. And he'd sit there blinking his eyes and say, that's a little heavy for me, Brother Dave. Just a little heavy. Don't you think you're taking it a little too far? Don't you think you're just... One preacher said, God can't be that serious, can he? Words to that effect. Someone said of me when I was in that, said, you never see him smile. Well, they've never seen me play with my five grandsons. Nobody laughs more than I do. I just don't go around with a silly Colgate grin on my face. But I thought everybody would be excited instead I was suddenly a fanatic. I had enemies everywhere I turned. And I said, Lord, I don't understand that. I thought everybody would be excited. I'm not telling you that I outgrew anybody else. I'm not telling you I felt I reached a certain place because the more I see of Jesus, the more I know, I less know, I know less than I really want to know. That's one thing about going deep with God. The deeper you go, you begin to see how endless. The ocean gets bigger the further you get out instead of they just blink at me. You're going to get, if you're going to go all the way with the Lord, you're going to pay a price and you're going to get rid of your idols. You're going to say, Lord Jesus, I'm going to seek you with everything that's in me and I'm not going to compromise and I'm going to take out my right eye if it offends me and I'm going to cut off my right leg if it offends me and I'm going to go all the way and mortify the deeds of the flesh. I believe in the righteousness of the faith in Christ Jesus. I believe in that forensic righteousness. By faith alone in Jesus Christ. But I also believe in a practical walk of holiness. And if you're going to walk practically in holiness before the Lord, you're going to have three reactions from all lukewarm churches and preachers. First of all, you're going to be rejected. Secondly, you're going to be cast out. And third, you're going to be stoned. And I'm going to talk about all three of them now. First of all, you're going to be rejected. Jesus warned us of this. Don't turn there but John 15, 19. Now you're going to be getting in the Word with me before I get much further, but listen to this. If you were of this world, Jesus said, the world would love its own. But because you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Now you show me a Christian, you show me a believer, that has become a lover and doer of the Word of God, now I'll show you one's going to be rejected and persecuted by the entire lukewarm religious establishment. If you give up on the world, you totally give up on the world, the lukewarm Christian's going to give up on you because the spirit of the world is in him. Now, there'll be more amens as we go. See, Jesus had many followers until he started preaching what they called a hard message. When he said, I'm not going to be first in your life, I'm going to be everything. He said, you're going to eat my flesh and drink my blood. In other words, I'm going to sustain you. You're not going to go to anyone else for help or strength but me. He made a total command. I mean, he made a demand, a total demand for total dependency upon him, nothing else. And they said, who can receive that? That's a hard saying. And from that moment on, they all forsook him and fled. They departed and said, who can receive that? That's too heavy. That's too heavy for me. Bob handled that very well this morning about people who can't handle the heat. God's turning up the heat. The furnace is getting hotter. And it's going to get hotter, much, much hotter than it is now. Not because we want it that way but because the Holy Ghost is going to do it that way. But you see, Jesus turned to Peter and the disciples and said, will you go away also? And what he was saying, is this message too hard for you too? You are my beloved. You are those in my inner circle. Is this getting too hard for you too before the service tonight? You know, in New York, people come late. And about 5 to 7, they'll look like anybody's going to be here. It's funny about New York City that way. But by 7.30, you see, we're just pretty close to filming this downstairs. And I told Don, you never know which night one of us is going to preach a sermon, chase them all away. And I knew that's not right because I know some of you could never be chased away. Because like Peter said, Lord, no. What they consider hard, Peter thought, was life because it was producing life. He said, where should we go for you have the words of eternal life? The word you bring, they call it hard but it's producing eternal life in me. To whom should we go? Where am I going to go after this has produced such life in me? I'm not talking about this church. I'm talking about the principle here now of hearing and doing the truth. Now this is the issue I believe that every Christian in this last day is going to have to face. Whether or not you're going to go with the truth, truth that fingers your sin, truth that rebukes and reproves and corrects and blasts your idols and gets your eyes off the things of the world and makes you more like Jesus, makes you hunger and thirst after him, whether you go after the truth that produces that in you or whether you go after the soft message that you can sit there in your sin and iniquity and be comfortable. And that's the choice that God's going to bring every Christian to before it's all over. The truth, the Bible said, sets you free. Now I'll tell you what it sets you free from. It sets you free from dead churches and dead preachers to start with. I had a preacher friend of mine. God bless his heart. He would run around and run and run and the devil tries to get preachers to run and not putting preachers down. But he never had a word and he would get his songbook and everybody up in the pulpit knew that he got his sermons out of the songbook. He would look at some of those old time writers and he would come in a half hour before church and they'd get his sermon out of the songbook. And that church today is one of the most corrupt churches in Texas. I shouldn't have told you where it was but that's a big state. It sets you free from this concept of oh, that kind of preaching is too unloving. Have you ever heard that? That's not loving. I've raised four children. I've got five grandchildren. The most loving thing I ever did was put them over my knee when they sinned and when they did wrong and the Bible said foolishness is bound in the heart of the child and the rod of correction will drive it far from him. And they're not a preacher that loves you. They're not a preacher that loves you who will not reprove you with love. Now there are some people that are Christian sadists. They want to be whipped all the time. Beat me, beat me, beat me. This is not a church where we beat our last people with the word of God. These are ministers who share with me the burden. We stand in the pulpit with a broken heart because we want to see Jesus raise up a righteous holy people that will be a testimony in this city of the glory of God. The lovers and the doers of the truth come to the light because they want every secret deed exposed. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Neither does he come to the light lest his deeds should be reproved or exposed. But he that doeth the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be manifest or exposed that they may be wrought in God. Those who love God love the light. They want to come to the light. They want to come to the heat that everything that's unlike Jesus will be exposed. Folks, that's my prayer every night. Every time I pray, oh Lord, if you see anything of iniquity in me, show it to me so that I may see it with my own eyes and cast it out in Jesus' name. That should be the prayer of your heart. That which is genuine truth. You say, how do you know the truth? How do you know when a preacher's really preaching the truth? How do you know you're in a church that you can trust? Because there are many voices in the world today, none without significance. But that which is genuine, according to Scripture, always exposes every hidden thing that's in the life. And when Jesus began to throw the light on the hidden sins of the Pharisees, those religious Jews sought to kill him. He said, I know you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. You see, if people don't have a place in their heart for the word, if something else has their heart, they're going to kill. I don't mean physically. David says, the words are like arrows that cut my heart. But there's going to be a reaction. You now seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth. He that is of God heareth God's word, for therefore, you therefore hear them not because you are not of God. Now I want you to go to 2 Thessalonians with me, please. 2 Thessalonians. Is this making any noise? Okay. 2 Thessalonians. I want you to go to the 2nd chapter. 2 Thessalonians, 2nd chapter. Let's begin reading at the 8th verse. 2 Thessalonians, 2nd chapter. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, what cause? Because they don't have a love for the truth. Folks, look at me please before you go any further than that. If you're not sitting here tonight with the love of the truth, you've opened yourself for deception of all kinds. It's the love of the truth that keeps you from deception. It's a love for the truth. It's not just the love for reproof, but the truth. If it happens to reproof, fine. If it happens to bless, if it happens to anoint and uplift you, fine. But whatever God brings forth, and if you read it in the Word, but there it is again. Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. For this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that's error, that they should believe a lie, that they may all be damned to believe not the truth that had pleasure in unrighteousness. And God fingers it right there. The reason they don't love the truth, something of wickedness has their heart. Something that's of evil has their heart. You see that? There are multitudes, look this way now, there are multitudes of Christians today who do not have a love for the truth. They're like the Jews of Jesus' day. They're convinced that they see, and they reject furiously anything that would threaten their doctrine. I've had so many people say, well, you can preach it that way, but I just don't see it that way. That's not the way I was taught. It doesn't matter the way you were taught. Does it line up with the Word? Now, right now. There's something other than the truth that had their heart, these Jews. Now, I want to tell you something. You can mark it down. Those who reject you, if you're walking in holiness, and you're pointing out with love, that which is wrong in the church of Jesus Christ, and you do it, not out of a holier-than-thou attitude, but you do it out of a broken heart, and you, for example, I've had people tell me, Brother Wilkerson, one church especially down south, to fill the church and build a big church, they're bringing in the most ungodly, what they call Christian rock. They're bringing in every kind of theater there is to try to pack out that church and try to pay the bills and the mortgage. And there happens to be a godly remnant in that church. And how many times they've called me or they've gotten in touch with me. In fact, one of the churches in touch with Brother Bob, they've been to some of our repentance conferences, and they say, we go to our pastor with love. We go after fasting and praying for him and say, Pastor, are we so blind that we're allowing this compromise in the church? And do you know they are verbally spanked? They are ridiculed. They're accused of being unloyal to the church. They're accused of being judgmental. And I know their hearts, they're just crying out that God would purify and sanctify that church because they're losing their kids left and right. They're losing their teenagers. And you mark it down, those who reject the truth, have a strong reason for rejecting it because you stand as a threat against something they hold dear in their hearts. You stand as a threat because they know if you are right, they know if they go the way that God has called you to a full surrender, it's going to cost them that thing. They're going to have to lay it down. Paul wrote to Timothy. He said, let all they that are in Asia be turned away from me. I looked at that the other day and I see Paul. He's writing from Rome and he's in jail. And he's writing to him and he said, every one of them. And Timothy knew that he'd given his life for these people and he said, I spared not. He said, I wept over them. He founded most of these churches. These were all his babies at one time. And he's sitting now in prison. And he said, I'm the prisoner of the Lord. Three times he said, I'm here as a prisoner of the Lord. And he's writing to Timothy. He said, all in Asia have turned against me. They don't visit him. The Roman Christians turned against him. There was no one there except Onesiphorus who came to visit him. He said, he offered fresh meat but no one stood with me, Paul said, no one. Not even the Roman Christians. He said, all in Asia have turned against me. Now why would Christians, the majority, you say, could the majority be wrong? There's one man of God so given to the heart of Jesus and he's suffering, he's afflicted. And there's a new gospel now in Asia that's gripped the hearts of the people. There's another evangelist, another teacher that's coming. His name is Alexander the Coppersmith. And Alexander in Greek means man pleaser. And he's associated with another teacher. Hymenaeus. And his name means God of weddings. And so there's a new gospel now sweeping through Asia that has to do with celebration. Weddings. Celebrations. Man pleasing. And Alexander the Coppersmith, Paul said, did me much harm. And how can you do harm to Paul except you touch his gospel? How can you hurt Paul because jail doesn't hurt him. Nothing else hurts Paul. But when he sees the devil creep in, he sees false doctrine creep in. And Alexander the Coppersmith is going around preaching a gospel. Now, if you're walking with God, you don't suffer like Paul. He goes around telling you how to walk by faith. Why is he in jail? Why is he suffering? And he's rejected because there's a new gospel in the land now. And I know the same thing. I knew what it was to have someone very dear to me. A daughter who attended a church at one time that believed that if you suffered, it was because of sin. And when my daughter got cancer, she had people in that church ask her not to come back again. Because she was not a testimony of faith. They've all turned against me, Paul said. Alexander the Coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. But you see, this was a man-pleasing gospel. These were teachers that were tickling the ears. And I want to tell you, a church deserves its pastor. Think of it. Because if you say, in my church, we don't have a pastor. I'll tell you what, if there's a church that has idolatry in their heart, God will give them a pastor full of idolatry to minister to their idols. And if you want, if you say, Brother Wilkerson, I've got a group of people in our church, we're fasting and praying and God's put something in my heart and I don't know who's here tonight to hear it. I don't know who's here. But I'm speaking the mind of God right now. If you get together and seek the face of God, one of two things will happen. God will get a hold of that man if he really needs the touch of God. And if you discern there's a backsliding in the pulpit and in the pew, God will bring that or you get out and you find a body that will walk with you to the fullness of Jesus. The Bible says Paul turned, he said, I turned Alexander and Hymenaeus over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh that they may learn not to blaspheme. Now that doesn't mean he tried to kill him. It's the destruction of the flesh because he said that they may not learn, that they may learn not to blaspheme and how can you learn if you're dead? No, he's talking about the destruction of this fleshly doctrine. He said, I've turned them over to the devil. What he's really saying, I want this doctrine to be exposed. I want the devil to come forth because there's a spirit of the devil behind these doctrines that they're preaching. I want that exposed and I'm turning that doctrine and everything they preach over the devil so that the eyes of the people will be open. They rejected Paul because they perceived, what they perceived as a loss of freedom. He wasn't walking in freedom. You know, there's a whole group in the charismatic movement today drinking and they believe that they call that freedom and they look upon us who don't drink and preach against those kind of licentious attitudes. They call us bondage people. They call us legalists because they have come into freedom. Well, go tell after these guys have been saved out of alcoholism. Go with me to charismatic conventions where you see people singing shouting talking in tongues and I pray in tongues more than all of you. I can say that with all of my heart. I pray all day long in tongues. This is a genuine Pentecostal church that you're sitting at tonight. But I want you to know something, friends. I've been in charismatic meetings and I've watched them go out in their parking lot and open their trunk and pull out their six packs and pass around their beer and I'm walking with converted drug addicts and alcoholics and they stop and say, look, look, look, what's happened. They don't understand it. They've been delivered and set free and they don't understand people singing, shouting, talking in tongues and drinking. And I don't understand it either, fellas. You know what Paul said? They're ashamed of my bonds. They're ashamed of my bonds. They're ashamed of these shackles around me. They're ashamed of me. They're ashamed that I'm suffering. They're ashamed that I'm going through this affliction. They're ashamed of me. That's why Pope Paul was so excited about these young preachers and said, you're not ashamed of my bonds. You're not ashamed that I'm suffering as a prisoner of the Lord Jesus. A prisoner of who? No, they were ashamed the devil put him in jail. Well, he may have been the vehicle, he may have been the one who put him in jail, but he was the prisoner of the Lord Jesus. Not the prisoner of the devil because any moment the Lord, if he'd already proven that, at any moment he could walk out of that jail, the angel could come and he already had that proven. He didn't have to prove it over and over again. So you're going to be rejected. Paul was rejected. Why were they rejecting this man? Why would the whole church in Asia turn against this man? Because Paul would not compromise with any of these doctrines. He had a doctrine of suffering and that's what is lacking in the church of Jesus Christ today. It doesn't mean that God wants you to go on suffering all the time, but I know some very, very godly people that have suffered and some of you are sitting here right now and you're going through something very, very deep and others have a tendency to avoid you when you're going through that and I want you to know that you will not be avoided here. Not in this church. You will not be avoided. Many are the afflictions of the... but the Lord delivers them out of them all. Were they delivered from the furnace or in the furnace? They were delivered in the furnace. This is what Bob was preaching this morning because that's where Jesus manifests himself. My wife has had five operations for cancer. Oh, neither of us want to go through that. She's done all the suffering. I don't want to even think of those nightmares and the suffering, but oh, you talk to that lovely woman sitting back here tonight and she will tell you now that Jesus revealed himself to her in a way no other way could it be done. No other way could she have seen the healing, keeping power of the Lord. She's here alive and well because of the revelation of Jesus. One time, we called the doctor in and we couldn't find her pulse for the longest time and we thought it was all over. She's laying in the bed and Dr. Rice just sat there. He said, I don't know what to do and I sat there and said, Lord, I don't know what to do. Five minutes later or so, Gwen came back. She'd had a vision. She was standing before the gates and about to Gwen she saw some people and she knew she thought Gwen and Angel of the Lord said, not yet, not yet. She didn't want to come back because she'd seen some glory. Hallelujah. She'd seen the glory. And once you see the glory, you get what Paul said, oh, I have a desire to depart. You don't have to say, God's going to kill me. You say, oh, I've got a desire to go, be a part of that kingdom. Hallelujah. She saw the glory through all of her suffering. Secondly, they're going to cast you out. Jesus said, they shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time will come that whosoever killeth you will think he does God's service. Wow. Jesus said, these things I tell you so that you'll not be offended. What he's saying, I'm going to tell you something I don't want you to be surprised when it happens. The day's going to come if you walk with me all the way, there are going to be people who think that if they get rid of you and cast you out, they've done God a great service. Getting rid of the fanatics. Are you still there? Jesus healed a young man who was born blind. Remember that? What they do, the church council brought him in before the big cheese. They put him on the spot. And they said, how did this happen? He said, well, I really don't know how it happened. But I know one thing, one thing I know, I was blind but I see. You think those men, they're supposed to be men of God. These are the leaders of the religious world. You should have, shouldn't they have been raised and said, thank God. Thank God. Everybody knows you were blind. You were born blind. He sees, he sees. No, they threw him out. They cast him out. They said, who made you a teacher? Are you going to tell us? We're the leaders. Are you going to tell us? They threw him out. You know what the Bible says? He said, once I was blind but now I see. And they say, who made you our teacher? Aren't there some of you here tonight sitting, you say, well, Dave, I know once I was blind but now I'm beginning to see. I'm only seeing a little bit but what I see is so glorious. And the more you see, you try to share it, you try to share it. Who made you my teacher? Now, if you intend to go all the way with Jesus, you've got to be prepared to bear his reproach. I'm going to read you this scripture. Don't turn but listen to it. From Psalm 69 and 7 to 9. Because, this is David speaking, speaking of Christ, because for thy sake I have borne reproach. Same hath covered my face. I've become a stranger with my own brethren and an alien to my own mother's children. That means his brothers and sisters, he's become an alien. For the zeal of thine house has eaten me up. The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. Is that striking your heart? Is anybody hearing that in the spirit tonight? The zeal of God's house is eating you up. And the reproaches that came upon Christ are now falling upon you. And you've got, shame has covered your face. You're bearing a reproach because you're becoming a stranger to your brethren. I'm going to tell you, I have some relatives, you know, not close relatives, but down the line just a little bit. And they come to my house and even though they're my blood relatives, I have more fellowship with Brother Phillips, who is not a blood relative. He's a closer relative to mine, to me, than some of my own flesh and blood. I had a woman, a young lady who'd been living deep in sin, I mean, living in harlotry. She got saved and her father was a backslidden preacher. And he was so mad at her about to disown her because she was getting in with all these religious fanatics. I mean, she was coming home and preaching to Dad because Dad was drinking and she knew what was happening in that preacher dad's life. And he said, Honey, you're going to have to come my way because blood is thicker than water. She said, so is sewage. She wasn't down on her father, but she knew there was sewage running through the family line. And she wanted a pure blood line. Now, although this speaks primarily of Christ's suffering, but as He is in the world, so are we in the world. And those who persecuted Him and reproached Him will persecute you and bring reproach on you. And who are these who reproach Jesus Christ? They are the leaders of the church, of that day. They are leaders of the Jews of that day. Now, I'm going to stop here and say, I'm going to make a statement and I want you to listen very closely. I believe that to cast out of a body that's not walking with God, to have, if you're cast out of a fellowship or a body because you're going on with God, it's the greatest favor they ever gave you. It's the greatest favor they could do to you. Because I've heard people say, and I feel this so strong, Bob was dealing it and I believe God's dealing with the leadership of this church and I believe that any man who walks with God will preach it just like I'm preaching it tonight. I've heard people say, and by the way, I'm saying it in view of the fact that we don't even have a membership here. We're not trying to get anybody to join this church. You come here only because you're fed. You come here because you meet Jesus. We're not trying to get you to join this church. We don't have a sales pitch. We don't even have a membership rule or anything else. So I'm not saying it as a commercial for Times Square Church, but our people come all the time. We all hear it. Well, God put me in this church. I know it's dead, but I'm going to change it. I'm there as leaven in the lump. And folks, that's not only unscriptural, it's dangerous. First of all, it's dangerous for your family. You say, well, my children are there and they have their friends there. Well, if you're dying, now what's going to happen to your kids? My church is dead and I know that I'm not getting fed, but you see, if you keep staying right there thinking I'm going to change things, it's tradition that's holding you. It's tradition. And can you think about this? You say, oh, I love the truth. I really want to go on with God. But if you don't get out of that kind of situation, you may not be as ready as you think you are. You may not be ready. You're really not ready because that tradition is holding your heart. All my friends are there. Well, the Bible said if you walk with Jesus, they'll take care of it for you because they'll cast you out of their company, the Scripture says. If you really go all the way with the Lord, they're going to say, well, who do you think you are? I'll tell you what, you can't hide, you can't hide what Jesus is doing for you. You can't hide your lamp under a bushel. You say, oh, I was blind, now I'm beginning to see, I'm beginning to see, and that's all you talk about. Yes, you are a fanatic, by the way, for Jesus. See, Paul, as his manner was everywhere he went, he went into the synagogue. The Scripture said that was his manner. It was his habit, his custom to go into the synagogue. And then one day he stood in the synagogue and he said these words, speaking of Isaiah, Isaiah said it and he was repeating Isaiah, for I'm going to work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, I mean, in no way will you believe though a man declare it unto you. God said, he stood right in the church, he said, God has promised that a certain guy is going to come, he's going to do a glorious new work, and you're not going to believe it when you see it, even though a man of God stands and declares it to you. In no wise, in no way, and I'm telling you folks, in no way are you going to change things. If Paul couldn't do it, where do you stand? In no way will they believe though you stay with them and declare it. And you know what the Scripture says, Paul did, they rejected Paul in the synagogue, so he shook off the dust of their feet against them. I'm saying that lovingly, I'm not saying it with anger. Paul said to those who rejected the word of God as it was coming forth, it was necessary that the word should first be spoken to you, but seeing that you put it away from you, lo, we're going to turn to the Gentiles. And if you're in a fellowship or a church that's turning away from the call of holiness, the call to righteousness, a call away from materialism to get your eyes on Jesus, a call away from everything that's in this world, and if you see and discern that they're not walking according to the word of God, do what Paul said, lo, we go. He said, come out from among them, be you separate and clean, saith the Lord, then I receive you. What fellowship hath light with darkness? I'm not judging any church. I've not named a church here tonight. I don't even have a church in mind. I have this Babylonian church system that's back because there are two churches now in the world, and that's the Zion church of people who are getting their eyes open, marching towards Zion, hungry for God, and then there's this worldly system that's going after the things of the world, and you know where it is. Now let's get to the next one. First, you're going to be rejected. You're going to be cast out. Oh yeah, you're going to be cast out. Any fellowship that's not going to go on with God, if you go on eventually, you're going to get cast out. I mean, just by being made to feel like you're not wanted, or you'll get somebody thrashing you from the top of your and they'll just dig, dig, dig, dig into you, and not with the word. If it's the word, you should receive it. You'll be stoned, and you know who's going to stone you? The majority. And they stoned Stephen, look at this, this is such a paradox, and they did something. You know who's stoning him? The church hierarchy, the council, the church council, the general assembly. They had called this man on the carpet, because, you see, he was preaching such a strong word. They brought him to the council, Acts 7, 12. In fact, why don't you turn to Acts 7 with me. This is incredible. It's hard to believe that this is a religious system doing this to such a man of God. Here's a man, the Bible says, he has his eyes fixed on Jesus. How many are still with me tonight? Say amen. All right. Because somebody's going to need this. You're going to need this Jesus today. You're That's man of man of Now, here's a man who's got his eyes fixed on Jesus. That's all he talks about, that's all he knows. He is so full of Jesus, he sees their sin, he sees their corruption, he says, every prophet you've turned against, like your fathers, you won't even listen to the prophets. And that's one thing I have against this whole system today, they're turning rejection against the prophets. Every time we preach the prophets, they say, those people down there preaching nothing but the prophets. That's what Stephen said, you reject, like your father, you reject the message of the prophets. But you see, he was preaching a message that was cutting them to the heart. He said, you stiff-necked, look at verse 53, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, well, you think I'm preaching strong tonight? Listen then, boy, you bunch of stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do you. Verse 53, you have received the law, you've not kept it. You talk about the law, you talk about this, you claim to have the Word of God, but you don't keep it. You claim to be preaching it, but you don't keep it. Your people don't keep it. And see, this two-edged sword was coming into the heart, and they were pricked to the heart. Why are they gnashing on a man of God? You know why? Oh, it's very, very clear if you go to, look at verse 55, 7th chapter, verse 55, But he being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. What is it that's getting to them? It's a man who has an open heaven. You see it? He stands before me and said, I see the heavens opening to me. I see Jesus now standing at the right hand of the Father. With all their years of training, all their years of doctrine, all their years of talking about a Messiah, they don't even know what he's talking about. And here's a man so far beyond them, it's incomprehensible to them, and he's a rebuke to their carnal, because the Bible says, this man said you're stiff-necked in heart, and he said lust has a hold of your heart. And here comes along a holy man, so given to Jesus, he reproaches the whole system. And the more you draw closer to the heart of Jesus, and the more the heavens are open to you, and the more you see of his power and his glory and his holiness, the more you're going to shine forth as a light. And I want you to know when that light comes, you won't go around boasting about it, because when Moses came down from the glory, his face was shining so much that he had to cover his face with a veil. But the Bible said he was not that his face did shine. He wasn't even aware of that. He wasn't flaunting it. He didn't rip it off saying, take a look, I'm a man of God. He put on no prophetic airs. He didn't threaten anybody. He wasn't even aware that he was walking in such holiness. He wasn't aware that his face was so ablaze with the glory and the presence of Almighty God. He didn't even know his face did shine. He was not that his face did shine. The real child of God who walks with the Lord when he's rebuffed, when he's persecuted, when he's stoned. And when we talk about being stoned, now we're not talking about physical stones. We're not talking about literal stones. The Scripture is talking about this verbal blast, this verbal abuse. You know, I'm thinking right now that one of the first drug addicts that ever came to me for help is from Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. He'd been stealing $200 a day to support his habit. He was one of the biggest thieves in Brooklyn. And his wife had known the Lord and they had a little baby. I remember standing in a street corner. She had a baby carriage and just crying. She said, Brother Dave, please go and get a hold of my husband. Tell me where he was and get him to Jesus, please. He beats me. He drinks and he smokes. He curses. He's full of the devil. Please, I've been praying for him. But, you know, that girl herself was not really all out for God. She was going to a Pentecostal church but playing games with God. And that boy really got saved. Oh, did he get saved. He got on fire for God. He didn't sit around watching television junk anymore. He started praying, seeking God and was into the Word. She wouldn't read her Bible. She wasn't praying. She's just one of those Christians by name. And one day she came into the kitchen and she said, I don't like you the way you are. Go back. Go back. I like you the way you were before. And he said, I'm not going back. He said, there's something wrong with you. And he found out his wife still loved to go to parties. Put on all this front, but parties had her heart. She was slipping out going to these parties. And she knew that if she went the way her husband went, she'd have to give up her party time. And so she began to fight him. He wouldn't break. So one day she went out and bought what was called a nickel bag, a $5 bag of heroin, laid it in the kitchen, got a needle and said, I want you back on the needle. And he couldn't resist at this time. That boy died on drugs. I still remember him. It broke my heart. One day that girl's going to stand before God. She stoned him to death. There's some of you husbands here. I don't know who you are. Probably a dozen or more. Your wife is going on with God. And you stone her with your words because she's reproof. She's rebuke. Because the world has your heart. I'm thinking of a couple down in Texas now. Bob, you know who that may be. He started right. But his business got a hold of him. He said, I'll never let that get a hold of me. But I watched as that thing just began to eat him up, eat him up. And now he's going one way and his wife's going another way. And there's a great big chasm between. And I don't know how it can stop outside of a miracle or divorce. Stoning. You know, the Israelites tried to stone Joshua and Caleb because they called on the people of Israel to go all the way into Canaan land. Remember, the 12 spies came back and 10 of them gave an evil report. They said, we can't go up there. There are giants there. There are high walls there. We can't go. Yes, it's a good land. It's full of milk and honey. We can't go up. And Joshua and Caleb said, we can go up. God has taken away their defense. Let's go up immediately. God's with us. And Caleb said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome. But they said, let us make a captain. Let us return into Egypt. This will be the last verse I want you to turn, but go to Numbers and look at it for just a minute. And I'm not going to be preaching much longer, but I've got to make this come down very clearly to you. Go to Numbers 14, if you will. Numbers 14. And let's begin with verse 8. Numbers 14, verse 8. Well, no, let's start at verse 6. And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb. Do you have it, Numbers 14? Verse 6. And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. They tore their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we have passed through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Rebel ye not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. They're bread for us. We're going to go eat it up. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. But all the congregation, what? They've stoned them with stones. Look at me. I'm not concerned about Joshua and Caleb because God's with them. They can stand up against everybody now because they're walking with God. They don't have any enemy. There's no weapon that's formed against Joshua and Caleb that can have any effect on them. But I'm concerned about those people with the stones in their hands. These are the children of God. This is the great majority. And you say, How can you, people who talk about holiness, there's so few of you, how can you be right? Is the whole church, that whole thing you call a holy church, is that wrong? Well, there are only two of these men with Moses standing. I'm sure there were others. But as far as the leadership, there were two men standing there alone and running their clothes. I don't want to focus on Joshua and Caleb and the stoning. I want to know what's provoking them. What's provoking these people to stone them? They've got stones in their hands. And look at the message that's being preached. Let's go all the way. Come on. Grable. There are no giants that can stop us. There's nothing. It's a good land. This land of freedom. This land of righteousness. This land of walking without idolatry. We can go into it. We can possess it. And they gathered stones ready to stone them. How do you answer that? First of all, you don't answer people who stone you by answering back. Jesus said, As a lamb, you open not your mouth. You don't call fire down out of heaven on them either. You know what the Scripture says? Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer. We take it. Folks, I don't have much time for pseudo self-acclaimed prophets with arrogant spirits who try to fight back at people. I don't have time for that. I've had more so-called prophets that believe that God has raised them up to straighten out the church. He's not called me to do that. I know that. To straighten out the church. And so they go to pastors. They go to people and say, Here's what God told me about you. And if you don't listen to him, I've had more of these prophets that have come to me. And when I won't receive the Word because I'll just take a few Scriptures and show them where they're wrong because they start out by saying, If you don't hear it, you're going to be cursed. And anyone who wants to throw a curse on you is of the devil. He's not of God. It's impossible for a man to be of God and try to put a curse on him. First of all, he can't do it if he's walking in the Spirit. No curse works against those who walk in the Spirit, walking in the fullness of Christ. But I've had them leave their shoes outside my door. I don't even know what that means. They leave their shoes outside. I go out and they leave their shoes. And I'm not making fun of them. But, you know, if you're really going to walk in holiness and you're being stoned, you're being persecuted, you're being rejected, you're being cast out, you don't say, God will get you for that, just say it to the Lord out of anger. No, they were picking up stones because, you see, the Bible said that God Moloch had their heart. They'd never given up to God Moloch. They called on the name of the Lord and Moloch at the same time. It was mixture. It was double-mindedness that so angered them. And that's what angers people about the message that's going forth, not just in this pulpit, but from wherever this message is being preached, the separation of righteousness and holiness before God, the thing that brings this reaction is double-mindedness, something else that has the heart other than Jesus. You can mark it down all the time. And wherever something else has the heart, it goes hand in hand with unbelief. You cannot find an idol without unbelief. They're hand in hand, and it's that idolatry and that unbelief that comes against that which is truly faith and rejects it right out of hand. The Bible says, pray for those who despitefully use you. Pray for them. You know, David was running for Jerusalem one day, remember? And he's running from Absalom. Absalom, he's crying and he's weeping, and he's walking out of the city. And up on the hill, there's one of Saul's relatives, Shimei, and he's casting stones at David. He's up there cursing David, calling him names. And the captain of David's army said, why should that dead dog curse my Lord? Do you ever feel like that? Why should that dead dog reproach me? It's because I'm walking with God. Let's pray fire down there. And what they're saying, David, let me go up there and cut his head off. I'll deal with him. You know what David said? So let him curse. Let him alone. It may be that the Lord will reward me for good for his cursing this day. He didn't fight back. I don't fight back. And I've seen some books that have been written by men of God, and they're strong, hard books, and then when somebody stands up and answers that, I see them fighting back. I see them trying to defend themselves. If you're walking with Jesus, you don't have to defend yourself. You don't have to fight back. You just stay sweet and pray. Hallelujah. Now I've got a warning and a word of a reward that goes with those who are going to go all the way with the Lord. Well, I'll tell you what. I think I've given enough of the warning. Let me go to the reward. Sometimes I get to warning too much. The reward? What is the reward? Now there are all kinds of rewards for those who are going to go all the way with the Lord, but there's one that's so great it covers everything. Hallelujah. Here's Paul. Remember, he's in Jerusalem, and he's got the whole city stirred up now because he's preaching Jesus in such a way. He's preaching against their idols. He's preaching against those that are uncircumcised of heart, and the whole city's divided, and the Scripture says that they were about to tear him apart. In fact, the soldiers feared lest Paul be pulled in pieces. Don't turn it, but that's Acts 23.10. The whole city stirred up against this righteous man. They take him by force and incarcerate him in a castle, and he's waiting there to be taken before the judges. And that night, something happens. And oh, this blessed me. I was reading again this afternoon, and I just got so happy, and I still feel happy about it. And that night, the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, Give good cheer, Paul. Now, this is not an angel. This is the Lord Himself. I hear people talking about the angel of the Lord that can't run about Him. That's wonderful. But I want to tell you what. You're going to go all the way with Him. The Lord Himself appears. And He said, Be of good cheer, Paul. What He's really saying, there's more to come. More persecution. More being cast out. More being stoned. That's what He says. Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome. Settle down, Paul. I'm with you. And if God be with us, who can be against us? Oh, that's but such peace to my heart, brother Bob. That's but peace to my heart. If I walk in purity before the Lord, if my hands are clean, if we do that which is right before the Lord, who is He that can harm you? There's not a demon in hell. There's not a devil anywhere. There's not a crowd. There's nobody that can hurt you when you walk in His righteousness. Glory be to God. Now, I was finished with this message in this afternoon. At least I thought it was. The Spirit of the Lord dealt with me. And I want to take just a few minutes of prophetic word. It has to do with this service tonight with everyone in this place. And I want you to listen very closely. See, the thing that the Holy Spirit began to do with me is that the great concern is not for those who are casting the stones. The greater concern is for those who are silent, who are doing nothing. They don't fight back. They don't reject. In other words, there's no outward rejection. They don't give you the verbal abuse. They don't try to stone you. They just give you the silent treatment. I want to talk to young people. I've had some parents come to me since we've been here and say, Brother Wilkins, couldn't you have something special for the young people? Could you pray about having something special for the teenagers? No, that's fine. And if God provides that, we should pray about that. What could be more special than sitting here where there's freedom to worship? And what could be more special than for God to prepare a word that can burn in the heart? What could be more important than to hear it from experienced men of God who weep over their souls? What could be more special than that? And you know what concerns me now? The young people that are here tonight, 25 and under, especially the unmarried. Why is it that you can sit and you can hear men of God and you know they're men of God? And you know what you hear tonight? You hear a certain sound. And I'm not telling you I know it all. I know so little. But I know I preach undenunciated anointing of the Holy Spirit, and I know I have His mind right now. And I know what I tell you is from God. And I tell it to you with a spiritual authority. And if you know God at all, that'll witness to your heart. And that's not a boast. That's something I know in my heart. But I want you to listen very closely. How is it that you can sit week after week and you can hear messages and you're not moved? And you remain silent about it? Because there's something in the world that's gotten a hold of your heart. You say, well, parents have the idea, well, maybe they would listen if we would give them a certain kind of music or there was a certain person. If you would bring somebody in, you know, that relates to them. Listen, if young people will not relate to the pure Word of God, what they relate to, what we call relating to someone without experience, someone not walking in the Spirit, someone whose own heart is given to the world or given to some idol of music or anything else, they will respond because they're responding to the idol that's in that person that's speaking, and it will be an emotional response, and it'll send them right to hell. And I love young people too much to allow that to happen. So do these men standing with me. Dad, Mom, I'm going to tell you to your face honestly. If you young people are not responding, the preaching is not over anybody's head. The preaching I preach tonight is so simple that a nine-year-old can understand it. And if your young people are closing up under it, you'd better get a holy God, you'd better seek Him night and day because the idols of the world have taken their heart, and if God himself sent Jesus in the flesh here and the Holy Ghost stood here in human flesh, they still would not hear. They still would not hear. And young people, this concerns me, really concerns me. You may have a praying dad and mom. You may have parents that walk with God. But that makes it all the more dangerous because you're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ one day, and the Lord's going to have to be able to... He must say to you, you had a praying father, you had a praying mother, you sat under preaching that was convicting, but you set yourself out, and you know what it is? Like Lot's wife, you turned around, you got your eyes back at Sodom, and you became rock hard like rock hard salt. And then no program in the world is going to reach you. If I don't reach you tonight through this preaching, and the Holy Ghost reach you, if you don't feel something responding right now, saying, David, you're right, I've heard enough, and my heart is getting cold. That same preaching of Paul that turned Demas away because he loved this present world was a gospel so strong, and yet it raised up mighty men like Timothy, young men of God like Timothy. And the word we preach tonight is going to bring forth, why is it? Some of you young people that are born in a Christian home and raised in a Christian home, you can't hear it, you're shutting your ears out, and here's drug addicts coming off the street with their ears wide open, God's bypassing, they're bypassing you by a thousand miles, they're seeking God with all their heart, and here you sit, unmoved, untouched, waiting for some special kind of entertainment. And I say it with tears and brokenness. I have a burden tonight for young people. I've preached all my life to young people, and some of you young people tonight have looked so long at Sodom, your feet are already rock hard, that just spread right up through until your neck is so stiff, and your head turns rock hard, not a thought, nothing gets through, nothing can reach you. Some of you are close to that tonight. I'm going to ask God to break your heart. Ask God to break it tonight. Parents, if I've got a burden for your kids, why don't you let God break your heart all over again for your children? How many of you here tonight, now if your children are here, don't raise your hand, don't want to embarrass you or them, but how many of you here tonight have unsaved children in your immediate family? Raise your hand, please. You have unsaved children. Raise your hand. God bless your heart. All right. I want this audience to stand with me for a moment. Now, I could tonight just start working you up into an emotional frenzy, and I could get half of you down here at the front, and have you crying out and screaming at the top of your voice for God to do something. We're not going to work something up, because I believe the Holy Ghost is here, and the Holy Spirit's doing something profoundly deep. He's been doing it all day. He did it this morning. He did it Tuesday night. He's doing it here tonight, and did it this morning. The Lord's calling a people, and you're hearing it from every one of the preachers in this pulpit, He's calling out a people that are going to go all the way with Him with no compromise. That's going to cost you something. It may cost you your friends. Did you hear me? Did you hear what I said? It may cost you your friends. How many heard that? Are you willing to face that? Are you willing to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness without fighting back? Are you willing to let the glory of Jesus so fill you that you're not going to flaunt it to anybody? Hallelujah. Heavenly Father, send the Holy Ghost tonight in such a convicting way. Lord, there are still people that are on the fence. Lord, we're not asking them to join this church. We're asking them to get out of idolatry. We're asking them to come out of Babylon, to come out of anything, Lord, that's unlike you, and to set their face toward you. Lord Jesus, and I pray for the young people, and I pray for the young people tonight, and I pray for parents with young people, that you would awaken us to this terrible thing that's happening, the world taking hold of the hearts of our young people. Hallelujah. Help us. Holy Spirit, help us. This is the end of this tape. For a copy of this tape or any other tape by David Wilkerson, write to World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or call Area Code 214-963-8626. Thank you.