Audio Sermon： Counterfeit Spirituality

I'm going to be preaching almost exclusively from John the 8th chapter. The Holy Spirit's opened this chapter to me. I've been in it for a number of weeks. Now when you get that, I'd like you to open it to John the 8th chapter and then look me in the eye for a minute. Let me talk to you as pastor of the congregation. I'm senior pastor. I'm not that old. I don't like the word senior even, but I happen to be the oldest of all these young men around here. And you didn't need to say amen, you know what I meant. Here's what I want to say to you. If any one of these pastors, including myself tonight, if we get to sounding like we're preaching right at you, then we've got the mind of God. Because if I've ever been in a church where I say, does he know something about me or is he aiming right at me? Then I know it's God. But if I can generalize and say, well, I can relax, this is for somebody else. I wonder if the man's really been praying like he should. I believe I'm going to make you feel like I'm preaching right at you tonight, everybody. Because I'm preaching at me too. Glory to God. So I honestly, I can't think of, when I was working on this message for a number of weeks now, I said, Lord, I really can't see in a congregation who this would apply to, because our people are growing and I don't see counterfeit spirituality among our people, but the Lord made it clear I had to preach it. So whoever it is, we're going to find out. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your holy word. This is a church that trembles at the word of God. We tremble at your holy word. We shudder at it. It's our joy and it's our terror. Hallelujah. It gives us comfort. It changes us and we love it because Jesus is the word. Hallelujah. Now, Holy Spirit, I ask you to quicken me that the word would come forth, not in sensationalism, it would come forth in the power of the anointing of the Holy Ghost. I need your help. Lord, in fact, I need every power of the Holy Spirit that you have available to me tonight. I bind in Jesus' name every lying spirit, every principality, power of darkness, that nothing shall hinder the word from finding answers to our hearts. Lord, we love you. We thank you for your presence tonight. You've been good to us. You've been here. And I thank you, Lord, for continuing now. Thank you for what you did this morning. Continue the good work tonight. Amen. Before I get into the message, don't forget the great service Tuesday night, powerful preaching. God's been bringing forth a powerful word on Tuesday nights also, and communion service and prayer. And then the powerful intercessory prayer meeting Friday night, Friday night at seven o'clock. And remember, Bible School starts a week from this Thursday, a week from this coming Thursday, 630 to 830. Brother Phillips is a priest going on a long 12-week course. We'll be telling you more about it as time goes on. Counterfeit spirituality, you have your Bible open to the eighth chapter of John. Look at verse one. Jesus went unto the mouth of olives, and early in the morning he came again into the temple. Do you see that? Now look this way, please. Let's just stop right there for a minute. This is the Feast of Tabernacles, and Jesus has been there two days. After the first day, there's very little response to his message. People are still mocking him. The whole religious system has turned him off, and he goes up and sleeps the first night at the mouth of olives. He comes down early in the morning, right in the temple, in the treasury, and he begins to teach again. And again, it seems like he's not making much progress, and the big question all over Jerusalem is, who is this man? Who is he anyhow? He claims to be the Son of God, but who is this man? Everybody in Jerusalem is asking that question. And I wonder if his disciples didn't get just a little disillusioned and say, Master, they don't want to hear what you have to say, the Pharisees are mocking you, the rulers are trying to kill you, the people are not obeying, they're not listening, let's move on somewhere else. But on the second day, it appears that there's a break that comes, like a spiritual breakthrough. It seems like the Word was finally getting through, and look at verse 30, John 8 chapter. And as he spake these words, what does it say? Many believed on him. I can just see the disciples, how excited they were, finally, we're going to have a revival. They're hearing, Master, they're hearing. Now if that was today, and it said many believed on him, we'd have the pastors running into that crowd. I mean, they'd be made members of First Baptist, First Pentecostal Church right off the bat. They would have been brought in, no questions asked, these are believers, they would have been told they're the sons of the living God, heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, they'd have been signed up, made members, because it says here, many believed on him. Many believed on him. They would have been called Christians. They would have been told they're the sons of God with every right in the Bible. But not so with Jesus. Jesus discerned a counterfeit faith in them, a counterfeit spirituality. Jesus was looking at them, and he said something's wrong. And it's almost as if he said, now wait a minute, stop everything. Now I know your disciples are excited about this, but there's something not right. And boy, when God began to open this chapter to me, he sold me salvation in a new life. And I want to speak it to you, love, tonight. He's saying, not so fast with these believers. They're not coming to me with all their hearts. In fact, there's a lying spirit in here, and we're going to judge it by my word. Now I want you to look at verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which what? Believed on him. And skip down now to verse 55. Verse 55, 855. Look what Jesus calls these believers. Yet ye have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him not, I shall be what? A liar like unto you, but I know him, and I keep his sayings. Now from the 30th verse of John all the way to the end, you're going to find that Jesus is talking to these Jewish believers who said they believed on him. Would you look at the last verse? They took up stones to cast at him. That's how it's going to end. These believers are going to try to stone him. So we know there's something wrong. Jesus is calling them liars. I'd be a liar like unto you. The Lord Jesus, look at me now. Our Lord Jesus Christ will have nothing to do with surface faith. He will have nothing to do with it. You see, he's saying these people are hypocrites. They're saying that they have a belief in me, but my word has not touched them. My word has found no place in them yet. They're just giving mental assent. You know that there are people today, just like these Jews, who can say I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe Jesus is God in the flesh. They can believe every promise in the book. They believe everything. Yes, God, Jesus is Lord. They claim it all as if to say so what and move on. It never touches them. The word doesn't do anything for them. They pick up their worldly ways and go their way. They claim to be believers, but the word has found no place in them, and according to Jesus, they're not saved. They can give mental assent out. Yes, he's the Son of God. Every word he preaches is true. But that word does nothing in their heart. They don't expect to do anything in their heart. They're satisfied with the way they are, and I'll tell you the Lord is uncompromising. You see Jesus coming almost ruthlessly against these people who said they were believers. There's a ruthlessness in them. I'm going to show you it was done in kindness and love and weeping, but the Lord was bearing down on these, and I'm telling you if Jesus stood where I stand tonight and he looked out over this audience up in the balcony, we all call ourselves believers, I wonder how many Jesus would point to in his discernment and said, no, liar, hypocrite. In fact, it goes, it gets stronger than that in this lesson tonight. See, the Lord's uncompromising stand against those who claim to be believers has given me such a courage to reach out. I'm beginning to understand something about the church. There are massive counterfeit conversions in the church. Massive counterfeit conversions bringing in to the church a counterfeit kind of spirituality. The gospel has been so watered down, you can go to, I mean, there are demons that would be comfortable in many churches today. There are demons that can say, amen to everything that's being preached in the pulpit. You don't believe that? Well, let me read to you. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. Even the devils believe and tremble. Even the demons believe that God is Lord, and they shudder, that word is shudder, they tremble. You say you're not even shaking, the demons shake. Why is the church today polluted with absolute punk rock? We've got kids standing in Pentecostal churches today dressed in tight spandex, they have purple hair spiked out four feet tall. One of that group was in my office in Texas, and I said, how do you get your hair to stick out like that? He said, you lay down like this in the bed, comb it down, and get three cans of hairspray and spray it after you've colored it. They said in my office, I mean, you see, they were stuck in a rock and rollers, they said they believed on Jesus, so they just brought the rock and rolled everything in. They used to dress like that, now they're dressing like that for Jesus. The only thing that's changed is they put Jesus words in the same melodies. And you know what they said to me? I got my Bible out and tried to go through, they said they wanted help. And you know what they told me after? Brother Dick, none of these kids listen to old prophets like you anymore. We're the new prophets of this generation. And why are our kids now dancing in the aisles to heavy metal in our churches? The kids dressed, squirming around in tight spandex pants, purple, green hair, and I mean dancing down the aisle sensuously with lust in their eyes and calling it a spiritual experience. Why is there no more difference between the ungodly and the religious in many Christian circles today? We've got Christian television stations, and Christian television programs that parade before the church today, a whole generation of celebrity believers, celebrity believers, who one day are standing up in a conference, a spiritual conference, talking about how Jesus has saved them, and the next time you hear about them, they are on some dirty, filthy soap, they are on some filthy television program, they're in some dirty, R-rated movie, and they're being applauded by the church. You see them in Las Vegas performing in nightclubs. There's one Christian brother, who if I named him, you'd be shocked, and he's considered one of the great celebrity Christians in America today, but he goes to Las Vegas for two weeks every year with the news behind him. But you see, he holds prayer meetings after his show in his room, and that's supposed to make everything all right. What's happened to words like separation, coming out from among them, being separate and clean, and not sitting in the seat of the spoilsport? You know why the church is becoming more like Hollywood than Jesus? I want to show it to you. It's because we've got beanie dogs in the pulpit. You say, hey, that's strong language. Well, I didn't say it, Isaiah said it. Isaiah, that soft-spoken prophet of all the major prophets, Isaiah 56. I want to show you what's happening in the church of Jesus Christ today and why we've got this phony spirituality. We've got this counterfeit thing that undeserving Christians are praising God and saying, isn't this wonderful, but it's of the devil. Isaiah 56. I feel a Holy Ghost about to wind me up. Isaiah 56, verse 10. Kids watchmen or what? They're what? Kids watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant. They're all what? My King James says dumb dogs. My Bible says they cannot bark. They're sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, everyone after his own gain from his own quarter. Come you say that, I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves a strong drink tomorrow so be as this day and much more abundant. In other words, we're prospering today, we're going to prosper more tomorrow. Every day is the same, and it's going to get better the way we're going. But look what it says here. Kids watchmen are blind, they're ignorant, they're dumb dogs. They cannot bark anymore. Listen to me, look me right in the eye now. God has called me as a preacher of the gospel, as his watchman, to bark in the house of God. And I'm barking tonight. I'm barking. He's called every one of us to bark. He said only the dumb dogs, only those who look for their own interest, only those who have their own dreams will not bark. They're sleeping, they're lying down. Now I know a lot of people don't want that kind of preaching today. And I'm not trying to play to the crowd. But if you go to a church where there's a man that tries to wake you up and say, no, sin, and he cries and he barks, you thank God for it. You thank God for it. He said, in fact, there's no more barking many pulpits today. And that's why, listen, if we had some barking shepherds who could stand up when this stuff started coming in and stand up with the word of God and say, sin, this is wrong, this is not of God, this is the devil, we would have given it out of the house of God long ago. It wouldn't be here now. But the shepherds went to sleep. Shepherds were building big churches, trying to have the world's biggest church. They were trying to build these super domes. They were trying to have 10,000 in Sunday school. And their kids were going to hell. They can't bark, they're lazy on sin, self-seeking. While they slept, the enemy came in and planted counterfeit gospel mixture. I'll tell you, this is the church of the barking dog shepherds. Tell everybody. Now, Jesus has revealed in this... I'll go back to John 8. Jesus has revealed in this passage how to tell what's counterfeit and what is genuine. I'm going to give you three ways to tell the counterfeit. Three ways. You want to know what's real and what's counterfeit today? Do you want something to help your discernment? I'm going to help you get your Holy Ghost antennas up. And it's all right here, all from this passage. All right, first of all, counterfeit believers are blind to their bondage and slavery that they're under. They're under bondage and slavery and don't know it, and they get mad if you try to show them. Yes, they do. When Jesus told these believers that they could not be His disciples unless they allowed His word to break their sins, they got offended. Look at verse 31. Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on Him, right off it says what? If, if, if. He throws this big if in front of them. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And Jesus is in trying to unbondage. He would have never said, come to my truth and be free if He's not, if they were not in bondage. It's right there very clearly. And what He's saying, you say you believe in me, but you're not free. You're still bound. If you really believe in me, you must obey my word and continue in my word. In fact, the better translation is simply this, whosoever practices sin is His servant. It's His servant. Look at verse 34. Jesus answered them saying, Verily I say to you, whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. That doesn't mean you commit one sin, but he who practices sin as a slave to sin, that's what Jesus is saying. But I mean, these people, look at them. They were horrified. They were angry. They said, what do you mean? Bondage. What do you mean? Sin. We've never been in bondage to anybody. Look at it in verse 33. That answered, they answered Him. We beat Abraham, see. We're never, we were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you shall be made free? What do you mean there's sin in my life? What do you mean that I'm not a child of God? What do you mean that I'm taking direction from the devil rather than from God my Father? And that's what Jesus tells them. You're going to see it very, very clearly here. But they would say to Jesus, but Master, you told one of us, Nicodemus, who was one of us, you told Nicodemus, Whosoever believeth on you shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. And they're saying, Jesus, we believe. We stand on your word. You said, we believe. We're saved. You won't condemn us. We're your righteousness. And Jesus would have to come back to them and say, Now, wait a minute. I also told Nicodemus something else. And it's that something else that people don't want. It's that something else. It's that big if that Jesus puts there. Before all believers. He said, you didn't quote me right. See, you go down from John 3.16, John 3.17, and you go to John 3.19, and this is what you get. Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Everyone that does evil hates the light. They will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be exposed or reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest that they are right in God. He said, if you're going to say you believe in me, I'm the light, you're going to come to me and let me expose everything that's in your life, that I can change you. And if you won't come to me and accept my word and continue in the word, and let my word continuously purge you and work in you, then you're not my disciple. You can't be my disciple, he said. He said, unless you do that, you cannot be my disciple. You can't say you believe in me unless you take all my word and let it work in you. We say a lot in this church about letting the word of God cleanse. Let the word of God work in you. Let the word of God do it. And according to Jesus, now listen closely, no one is a true believer until the word has a place in his heart. And these are the very words that Jesus uses, a place in the heart. Until the word is both a terror to you, a hope to you, until you're committed to obey every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, until the word exposes and breaks the bondage of sin and tradition and false doctrine. Oh, we've got an easy believism in the church today. We're telling the Lord, just believe and you'll be saved. And we block off the whole rest of the Bible. We just mark it all off just as they did, as they would say, well, you told Nicodemus, just believe and you won't forget us. Won't even talk about walking into life, resisting the devil that he flees from you. To these believers, Jesus said, you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. They were flabbergasted. What do you mean? We're saying we believe in you. And he said, you're out to kill me. You're out to kill me. Now, you said, well, we don't do that, brother. How would that ever apply? Oh, yes, we do that. He's the word, isn't he? Jesus is the word. And when we will not accept it and we drive it out, we put Jesus Christ afresh to an open scene, we crucify the son of God. By crucifying his word, driving it out of our lives, Jesus is saying to them, you cannot be a doer of my word because you've never laid down your sin. You still take orders from Satan. You do that which you have seen with your father. Can you imagine Jesus telling that point of finger lovingly at these people, these Jews? He's saying, you're doing what your father, the devil, tells you to do. You've never separated from the world. You're still doing it. You have your old habits, your old ways. You've hung on to your old traditions. Now, we may not like it, but listen close. I believe this with all my heart. A great majority in the church today who call themselves believers have never, never been saved. They have never been touched by the conviction of the Holy Ghost and the word of God. They're still slaves to their old ways and old habits and old friends. There's not one iota of change in them. They have one foot in the world. They're living a lie. They're putting Christ in open shame. They go to Jesus and say, I believe, but they're doing more harm to Jesus than Scorsese in his film, The Last Temptation of Christ. The greatest grief of God are those who say that I believe and will not walk in his words. They can't see that they're bound. They get angry at you if you try to show them. The Bible says they're going to be cast out as unprofitable servants. They're going to go to hell thinking they're believers. They're going to be damned by a deception. They're going to trust in some false doctrine of security. Did you hear me? A false doctrine of false security. They're told they're believers. They're told everything is all right. Do you know, I believe there are some people in the church more deceived than all those half-dead junkies out on the street? Let me tell you what the lie is. Here's the lie that many so-called believers are buying from the devil. Those Jews bought it, and now it's happening again today. It's someone who said, I believe in Jesus. They say, God is with me. This is what the Jews were saying. We're children of Abraham. We belong to God. God's our Father. And this is what you get from people who don't want to break away from the world. They've got a career. They're in show business. They're on Broadway. They're in television. They're performers. And you get it everywhere you go. All I have is what God gave me. All my talents and abilities are gifts that He's given to me. I'm doing exactly what God told me to do. God and I are on good terms. There's a young lady started coming here almost when we opened the first two months, and she's an excellent concert titanist, and she hasn't come in months, but she got angry because she was playing in a drinking nightclub, and she as well as asked if we could approve what she was doing, and her idea is this. I'm a child of the king. God opened this door for me. Yes, I do perform where there's a drinking cursing crowd. Yes, I'm in the middle of a wickedness, but God put me there as His representative. God told me it's all right. I had another young starlet who doesn't come anymore. Not one that sang in a choir or anything. Alice just visited the church. Yes, I play a role that's off color. She had a movie piece, but that's not the real me. The real me is a lover of Jesus. That's just something I play. How do you separate the two? How do you separate the two? Do you know what my Bible says? Jesus said when He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him. Did Jesus go before you, and you follow Him back? See, it's this line. It's the worst kind of tonic of spirituality. See, there's never been a surrender. There's never been a separation from the world. There's been no heartbreak over sin. There's been no laying down of the past life, and Jesus knows that. He tells it like it is. Jesus says, you people really don't want My Word. You don't tremble at it. You don't really want to hear it. You don't stop and let it sink in. My Word means nothing to you. You say you believe in Him, but My Word doesn't have any meaning to you whatsoever. He said, you say you're My disciples, but you're not. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. God said to Malachi, if then I'd be a father to you, where's My honor? And if I'd be your master, where's My fear? You're going to call Me Master? Why don't you tremble at My Word? Why don't you believe what I've given to you? Why don't you believe My service to prophets? You know, I have been among young people so addicted to their rock and roll, so addicted to heavy metal, even punk music, and I tell you, as I stand here, an angel from God's heaven can come down. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself can come in the flesh and stand there and they could know He was Jesus and He could preach to them and they would not let it go. They would not let it go. I've had them stand up against Me. I don't care what you say. God told me it's all right. I don't care what is said up there. God told me it's all right. You see, these kind have no sense of need, no need to repent, no need to change, nothing to lay down and forsake for Jesus. Just pick everything up and go with Jesus. You see, they don't see Jesus as an emancipator from sin. They see Him as an enhancer of their career and of their personality. They enhance. In other words, I'll have Jesus. He'll have my career. You know that most of these rock groups that are in the church, and I'm not just dealing with rock groups here at all. Do you know that they just use Jesus? They're not one of them that could make it in this secular world. So what they do, they come into the house of God, their second and third race to start with, and they come in and the shepherds are blind and they say, if the kids want it, let's get them. We don't want to lose the kids. So they're bringing it all into the house of God and they set up their entertainment. They bring this pollution into the house of God. The shepherds are asleep. Greedy dogs, the scripture said. I'm not indicting all of them. I'm indicting those who allow this stuff in the church. I better smile when I talk to you. You'll think I'm mad. I'm not mad. I'm just burning inside with the zeal of God. But you know what they do? They use Jesus. They can't make it but if I had Jesus' words for this, and they use all of these poor, blind, misguided, shepherdless teenagers in our churches to walk on their backs, to give themselves a reputation and try to make it. And I'll tell you, the first time CBS or anybody else would lay a contract down there, they'd jump to the secular right on the nose. They'd jump just like that to get a contract. Many of them are doing it right now. He said, you are doing the deeds of your father. Jesus said, I don't have anything to do with this business. You call it spirituality? No, it's of the devil, Jesus said. It's of Satan. Alright, did you get that first one now? You can't correct them because they say, I am right. I don't care what you say. I don't care how much you preach. I don't care how you prophesy. God told me, I'm God's child. Everything's alright. Me? Well, it just says it right there. We've never been in bondage to any man. And we won't be in bondage to you. You won't put a guilt trip on us. No bondage. These people were bound by sin. They were taking direction from their father, the devil, and didn't even know it. And they look right at the Son of God and say, bound? Never. Not us. Alright. Number two, they won't even believe Jesus when he calls them fornicators and idolaters. They won't even believe Jesus. Jesus boldly said to these people, what you are doing is of the devil. All these deeds you think are approved by God are deeds of the flesh. Verse 41, you do the deeds of your father. And they became absolutely indignant. I want you to look at verse 41. What does Jesus say? You do the deeds of what? You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Alright, look at me, please. Here's the excuse. We are doing nothing wrong. We're not evil. We love God. There's absolutely nothing wrong in the way I'm living my life. The devil is not in me. The devil is not directing me. It's the spirit of God that's in me. We're children of God. We're special. We're chosen. That's what these Jews were saying to Jesus. We're not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. He's our father. We're being directed by God. Jesus didn't buy it. Jesus didn't buy it at all. Jesus said, and I'll tell you what, if Jesus stood here today, you know what he would say? I made it clear who my children are. You say you're a child of the father, you're a child of God, my father. Well, my children, the sons of God, are free from all ties to this world. My sons are not unequally yoked with unbelievers. My sons have no fellowship with the works of darkness. My son has no communion with the workers of wicked iniquity. My sons refuse to take my temple into dens of iniquity. My sons are separated from this world. They touch not the unclean thing. If you want the words for that, that's 2 Corinthians 6, 14 to 18. Jesus listened to these people. He said, we're not committing idolatry. God speaks to us. And Jesus seems exasperated. You know why Jesus seems exasperated? He can't understand why they're so blind. He's made the word so simple. He's saying, don't be yoked with unbelievers. No fellowship with darkness. What fellowship have light with darkness? Come out from among them, be a separate and clean and stand for the Lord. Then I'll receive you as my son or daughter. How clear could that be? How clear? And Jesus is, he seems exasperated because he knows they're into idolatry. He knows they're fornicators. And they have the spirit in them. And they're saying, we believe on you, Jesus. And Jesus keeps backing away. He said, no, that's not enough just to say you believe in me. And he keeps coming down. And you hear this exasperation. Look down in verse 43. Why? See if you can see the exasperation there. Why do you not understand my speech? Why don't you understand what I'm saying? People, look this way before you look at that scripture. I tell you, that's the heartbreak of preaching, especially to the young generation today. That's the heartbreak of preaching to people that you know as a pastor are compromising in their life. And you come with the word time and time again. And you say, I thought that was as clear as it could be made. A little child could understand that. I've known this desperation, this exasperation that Jesus seems to have here. Why? Why aren't you seeing it? Why don't you understand? It's not complicated. I made it so simple that a child could understand it. You're confusing it because you're not of God. You're not hearing in the heart because you really don't want to pay the price. Look at the verse again. Verse 43. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. 44, ye are of your father, who? And the lust of your father you will do. You see, there was a lust. They couldn't let it go. They lusted after the things of this world. They lusted after something there. And he said, no, as long as you will ain't have lust there. Don't talk to me about believing in me. No. He said, you're lying. That's a shame. You're just doing the lust of your father. Is that what he's saying? You remember, he's talking to those who claim to be believers. I'll tell you what, Jesus is not going to buy a lot of the things we try to pass off on him. Why don't you understand? Because you cannot hear my words. Look at verse 47. He that is of God heareth God's words. You therefore hear them not, because you are not of God. Listen, saints, do you hear the word when it goes forth from this pulpit? Jesus warns that all idolatry among believers is personally directed by the devil. All idolatry is whispered into the heart by the devil. You know, after Jesus immediately told the believers they weren't hearing the truth, he said, why don't you hear me? You're not hearing me? Then he tells them who they're listening to. He said, you, verse 44, you are your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. When he speaks a lie, he speaks it of his own, for he's a liar and the father of it. I got a letter here Friday from someone who's from another nation and visits this church occasionally in New York City, and he said, David, I travel frequently to New York City, and he said, I'm a hypocrite. I'm just acting. I'm one whom the Lord denounces. I'm sure that I'm saved, but I also think that I'm playing games with God. You see, I'm overcome with a sin that so easily besets me, the sin of pornography, sexual fantasy and lust. In two worst places I can be alone in a hotel is London and New York. I have never physically compromised my wedding vows, but my filthy mind has many times. I know many men, and Christian men included, suffer from this same sin, but they lack the desire or the ability to do anything about it. I have the desire, yet even this desire is sometimes strong, like right now, and sometimes it's weak, like one hour before the R-rated movies come on television. Before these abominations are due to go on at 10 o'clock to be shown, I try to fight it, knowing I'm going to lose. It really is so hellish, I guess it must be like drugs. I've wondered about diving out of an open window at times, but what would that accomplish? The enemy with just four points? Brother Dave, I want to fight this thing even I want to be delivered. My problem is, I'm not sure if it's an outside influence coming at me, or if it's just the deceitfulness of my own wicked heart. And he goes on, he just cries. You sense this, sometimes I feel like jumping out of a window. Here's a man fighting, raging against a lust inside. But you see, there's hope for this kind of man. There's hope for this man because he sees the exceeding sinfulness of it. He wants to hear the Word of God, and he closes, I'd like to come in and have you show me the Word, try to help me. But you see, many Christians are allowing what this man called an outside influence, an outside influence in the whole. I told you I was going to talk about Johnny Carson or Jesus Christ. Well, here I go again. But I'm going to be trying to be as sweet and kind as I know. Lord, help me to be sweet. I'm going to ask you a question, saints. All of them. Back here and here. I know right now some of you are saying, here he goes again. I mean, you're going to get your defense mechanism up, but in light of what I'm talking to you about right here, and Jesus says, why don't you understand? Even because you're not hearing my voice, I want to get dead serious with this church. We're talking about walking in holiness in this church. We're talking about setting an example for the lost. We're talking about being free to worship the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart. And you hear us talk about this idolatry. This idolatry. And yet, I get the feeling that some of you are not hearing a word I say, or any other pastor that's mentioned it, that you're not hearing it all. But I'm going to ask you a question. I want to say it in very great love right now. Who told you, who told you it's okay to sit for hours drinking in filth in front of television? Who told you it's not idolatry to sit and watch something that's totally corrupted out of the pits of hell? Who told you that's not corrupt? Who told you it's not an idol? Was it Jesus who told you that? Was it the Holy Ghost that said, you're mature. Brother Dave's just on a hang-up right now. He'll get over it. I have a priest or friend who I thought was very close to me. He did it one night in his church because I sensed the spirit of idolatry in that church of wickedness. And I knew where it was coming from. And I began to thunder this message. And I did it in love with the Holy Thunder of God. I trembled as I preached it. You know what the pastor did? That was Sunday night, Wednesday night in prayer meeting. He got up. And he said, please don't, in words so much like, please don't take Brother Dave too serious on that. When he comes to my house, I hide it in the closet. I bring it out as soon as he's gone. He goes through those stages. He goes through those stages. You know, folks, I hear the Holy Thunder in my soul. I hear God says, you don't sit in the seat of the scornful. I hear a scripture that says, I'll set no evil thing before my eyes. I hear the word that says, bring no abomination into your house. I hear it by the hundreds of scriptures. And I don't understand why our people in this church are not hearing it. You say you are a believer. You say you want to go all the way with Jesus. Who told you it's okay? Did the Holy Ghost tell you you can sit there and watch Gallus and Dynasty? Did the Holy Ghost say that you're mature? You can sit there and watch violence? You can bring those R-rated movies and videos into your house and come into this house and praise God? Who told you that? Did the Holy Ghost tell you that? I ask another question in love. As a pastor who weeped over this congregation, who's talking to you now, is it the devil going to tell you to tear it away and get away from idolatry? Is it the enemy? Is the devil saying get away from iniquity? Is it the devil that breaks my heart over this kind of iniquity in the church? Is it? All right then, if it's God, you've got a dilemma. You have to make a choice. You cannot say Brother Wilkerson is legalistic. You cannot say I'm sick and tired of hearing this. You have to make a choice. And I'll tell you why the choice has to be made because it's getting worse. And if you can't handle it now and this gets a hold of you, the lust and the filth that comes out of that too, if it gets a hold of your heart any more than it has now, no angel, nobody is going to ever break it from you. Who told you that you can enjoy that fatal attraction? Even the devil calls it a fatal attraction. It'll kill you and destroy you. Who told you that's all right? Who told you that you can come to God's side? Who told you you can run out on your husband or wife? And you can walk right out the door and come in the house and say, who told you that? It wasn't God. It was the devil. Who told you it's all right to slip out occasionally and go night clubbing? Who told you that? Did that come from God? Or of your father the devil and the lust of your father you're doing? Why do you not understand my speech? Why can't you hear my word? You know what shakes my soul to the very core? Jesus is speaking to those who call themselves believers but he's saying you're of the devil. You're doing the lust of your father. And that shakes me up because you can sit in this church tonight being blind to who you are and what you're doing making excuses saying that's not me. I love God. I'm not a fornicator. We'd be not fornicators they said. We're not committing adultery. We're not fornicating. You'll say it's an idol. I don't say it's an idol. I don't say it like you see it. You don't have to say it like I see it. You have to say it the way the world sees it. I've begged the Holy Ghost. I've begged the Lord in the ways you're speaking say Lord I don't want to I don't even want to do that anymore. I don't even want to talk about that. I don't want to glorify anybody's flesh. But I know what it's like. I know that attracts in this thing. It's so satanic even though I preach like this and occasionally I'm in a hotel somewhere there's a tendency to turn on the news and I did it a few weeks ago. I turned on to get the 10 o'clock news and there was something come on just watch the next movie and boy the Holy Spirit I begin to feel this pull this pull I said oh God if it's not even in my home now that pulls they're just occasionally like this. What kind of an attraction is that? What kind of attraction is it that you get angry at me for talking about it? I'm barking. I'm a barking watchman. I'm a watchman and I weep for your soul. Number three oh my alright here's the trick here's the here's this is this is really cute the way the devil this is something else and boy does this hit the nail on the head. Rather than deal with the sin they try to switch the blame by crying don't judge. You want to see it? In black and white? I got this in the Holy Ghost brother, sister. Look at verse 48 then answered the Jews and said unto him say we not well thou art a Samaritan you have a devil in you look at verse 53 the last part the last three words four words in verse 53 well let's read verse 53 I felt greater than our father Abraham which is dead and the prophet whom makest thou thyself? Who are you? Why are you judging us? Now look at me listen I'm going to speak but I want you to hear good because it strikes at what's happening in the whole charismatic movement today and evangelical circles everywhere and it shocks me the anger that should be directed to their own sin is turned around and directed against the reprover did you catch it? Jesus is reproving them and they say no wait a minute and they turn the tables and they said no you're the one with the devil the devil is speaking through you you got a devil in you because we're of God and you don't recognize it if you're of God you'd recognize it and you're wrong because you're judging and judging is a sin so that makes you the transgressor so they take the searchlight away from their own sin and they say I don't want any preacher telling me what to do I don't want anybody telling me what to do I know I'm all right with God I'm not going to let anybody tell me different what a clever device that's being used by the devil these last days to cover up false doctrine he uses it to cover up sin in the pulpit and in the pew the cry everywhere today is don't judge because you're trying to hinder unity I call it a love trap a false love trap if you you give me your good ear now please if you're not careful somebody's going to come to you here in New York City you're going to get it from a preacher you're going to get it from somebody who said don't go to Transparent Church because those preachers down there are judging churches they're judging everybody else they think they're the only ones that have the gospel and that's the furthest thing from the truth not at all we fast and pray we seek God for other pastors and we're praying for revival in this city and we love every one of them we'll spend our last moment at waking hour with anyone who will walk in righteousness with us but they'll say no there's a unity movement and those men are standing there they don't believe in unity there is no unity outside of holiness there is no unity outside of walking in his righteousness we are one because we come under the word we come under the power of this word we surrender to the word we are united at the cross of Jesus Christ and through his shed blood but I'm not going to walk with those who will not deal with these issues that Jesus is dealing with and the cry is don't judge and folks we don't even begin to understand and we've got a lot of people so confused about this yes the bible says don't judge but then it goes on to quickly explain don't judge after the fast it's right in this chapter I'll show it to you 8th chapter verse 15 Jesus is still talking saints would you would you agree that I'm on pretty good ground if Jesus is doing the talking is that in red letters in your bible verse 15 you judge after the flesh I judge no man but he's saying you judge people after the flesh I don't judge them that way because next verse says yet when I judge or if I judge my judgment is true and look at verse 26 I have many things to say and to what judge of you he said I've got many judgments I've got to pass on you alright would you look this way please when Jesus says don't during the bible and Paul all the apostles any way you read it don't judge he said don't judge after the flesh judging after the flesh is vindictive it comes from a mean spirit it comes from arrogance it comes from some doctrinal issue that somebody tried to uphold it doesn't come from a broken heart to judge after the spirit in the bible calls it judging righteous judgment is to judge redemptively this comes from a broken heart this comes from a pastor who stands like tonight and says look I have to preach like this because I see danger in it I love you too much I care about you and I've swept over you and I stand here now I'm not judging you according to the flesh I'm judging you redemptively hoping that you'll see the error of your ways and be saved and be healed and I can hug you and I'll know there's something of God's character in you hallelujah we're not judging after the flesh we're judging righteous judgment according to the word of God that comes first of all for having a zeal for God's word a zeal for His holiness and then a love for the people involved oh I've heard preachers just get up and just bang their congregations over their head I'm not banging you over the head tonight not at all if you're a Christian and you're delving into the world I cry out like this for one reason redemption that you can be redeemed from it because I see the danger we see the danger that's what God calls minutes of the gospel for to show them the dangers of these things have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them would you go to 2nd Timothy please I'm going to close in just a few moments 2nd Timothy the 4th chapter because you know if we don't judge righteous judgment we're going to be carried away by every wind and wave of doctrine and God helped this church if the time ever changed we had pastors up here afraid to judge His righteous judgment 1st Timothy the 4th chapter 1st Timothy 1st Timothy the 4th chapter verse 1 now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some soul depart from the faith giving heed to what seducing spirits and doctrines of devils people listen to me what kind of pastors would we be if we saw these doctrines of devils coming in if we saw this worldly spirit of these fables coming in if we didn't stand up and bark to wake you up I wouldn't be a shepherd I have no right to be in this pulpit if I don't breathe when I'm alone shouting with God if I can't come here in this pulpit and bear my soul as the holy ambassador of Jesus Christ to see Jesus formed in you some of you that are off of broadway some of you are into all these other things and you're still dabbled around I'm not mad at you I'm not I'm not trying to put you down I'm trying to say that's going to destroy you and I want a fellowship with you I want to look you in the eye and see Jesus in you I want to see holiness in you I want to have that comrade spirited with you and I'm not going to stand before the judgment day and ask the answer for your soul you said in this church you heard us preached and we never cried out and we never barked no no it comes from a broken heart because we see the devil trying to destroy you read the next verse speaking lies and hypocrisy having their conscience sheared with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to save from me look at verse 4 I want to skip I want you to go to Titus just keep going right to Titus first chapter verse 10 for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers especially they of the circumcision whose mouths must be what stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake one of themselves even a prophet of their own said the Christians are always liars evil beasts low bellies this witness is true wherefore what rebuke them sharply the king Jason rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith all right look this way please I'm going to close in just a few minutes this morning in this pulpit God raised up a word of warning against those who say the blood of Jesus Christ is not enough it did not atone for sin in fact if you if you want to come to us privately it's not been the practice of this pulpit to name names because we're talking about principles not people we're talking about doctrines and not those who preach them we can give you the name of almost every prosperity preacher in America your favorite if you're into it and we can show you where every one of them now believe that the blood of Jesus Christ does not totally atone in fact three of the major ones have said that the blood of either one of the thieves isn't that correct the blood of either one of the thieves could atone if the blood could atone for sin either one of the thieves would have done we can show you in black and white we can give you tapes and you can listen to them now do we just sit back and say go get burned or do we stand here and say no here's what the word says and bark and warn that's what we're trying to do and in the next month or so there's going to be a lot of barking holy ghost barking oh yes there is not against men but against doctrines of demons and devils hallelujah my bible says when it's not closed come on out i ask the lord to give before i close i ask the lord to give me the key to this whole chapter lord what is it you're trying to say in closing alright here it is listen closely i'll try to say it very simply i want it to be clear in your mind how to fix spirituality that is a person listen closely now who refuses to lay down the world to lay down the world is not anything for jesus the spiritual man the truly spiritual believer the true believer is the one who lays everything down that's as simple as it can get the one whose tonic holds on to the world his habits his crowd his career he wants to hold it and that's what jesus said no you can't be my believer until you let go let go and all the holy ghost all last night until probably two o'clock in the morning i was praying oh god what is the key what are you trying to say tonight make it real to the people make it simple the lord said david the whole thing the reason i couldn't accept their faith i couldn't accept what they said as believers is because they would not let go of their tradition they would not let go of their own religion they wouldn't let go and come to me they wanted to believe that i was god in the flesh but hold everything they had they wouldn't let go they really didn't need me they were just adding me on top of what they had no jesus is the line you come to him he's the door everything goes everything lord everything goes it's all yours i'll let it all down stand please stand i would tonight that if you were angry at my preaching i could see you backstage and just hug you and say no you didn't hear me right we want to see jesus formed in you we don't want to see the hypocrisy anymore we don't want to see that devil standing we don't want to see the devil plaguing your soul we don't want to see the devil coming after you trying to tear your soul apart anymore we don't want to see your home divided we want to see the holy ghost come down on you we want to see that first love that you once had renewed that's what this service is all about tonight i want god by his holy spirit to deal truthfully with you will you bow your heads and ask the holy spirit to deal with you would you open up your heart your mind to the holy spirit tonight while i pray holy spirit i can't do anything now you have to do it holy spirit fall on us tonight everyone in the balcony everyone on this main floor holy ghost fall on us right now fall upon us convict us are we doers of the word did we hear something tonight and just slough it off or are we going to take it to heart and say yes jesus i heard you tonight i'll obey you i heard if i never heard before i heard it tonight i lay my sin down i lay my idolatry down yes lord i'm going to obey you i will obey i feel led of the lord tonight to give an invitation up in the balcony in the main floor everywhere listen for those who are bound by a habit or a sin you're carrying this burden and you want to be free tonight i want you to get out of your seat wherever you're at we're going to ask god tonight to set you free by the power of his spirit and his word all over the house tonight wherever you're at you're bound you have to admit david and i don't have to know what it is now if you see people leaving now they're the counselors that are going to the back room they're just counselors going to the back room but if you want prayer tonight you said it's something you said your message tonight it's something you said was meant for me i want you to get right out of your seat right now up in the balcony just go to the middle right up there and here in the main floor get out of your seat and come and stand here right now so we can pray with you and believe jesus for a miracle in your life tonight wherever you're at up in the balcony there just that little aisle come down either side here in the main floor get right out of your seat now while we're praying while we're speaking to you feel the pull and tug of the holy spirit that's jesus saying tonight i'm going to change going to deliver you and set you free and set you free tonight move in real close move in real tight if you will please please don't resist the holy spirit the moment the holy spirit talks to you you obey him did the message touch you tonight was there something that was said that was meant for you take it to heart and obey him now you feel the tug come and join these move in closer move in closer hi let's just hold still for just a minute i've got to say something to this congregation tonight please hear me my heart's breaking because i know some of you are going to leave here and god's been dealing with you he's saying tonight come on back to where you once were you once had my fire you had my touch but you've drifted away your heart's grown cold you know the enemy is tearing you apart are you going to walk out on him again tonight i feel there are couples husbands and wives need to take each other by the hand just walk down here tonight they say let's go let's settle tonight let's get back to that love we once had in jesus some of you are single you may not be married but wherever you're at in this house the lord's saying tonight tonight get it settled are you going to walk out on his word again like you've done before well jevin is singing again and the singer's singing we'll wait for just a moment you feel that tug of the holy spirit i implore you in the name of jesus don't resist the holy spirit come on down join us what's his name delon delon's had a difficult situation so here's the young man we've been praying for in our prayer meetings we're going to believe jesus to break the power of satan against him we bind satan in jesus name tonight lord let him understand and hear the word tonight break through to him break through father in jesus name break through right now jesus hallelujah you that have come forward we just keep your head bowed in his presence before jesus right now did you come up here to mean business do you mean business tonight you say lord jesus the best i know how i mean this i don't want to walk out of here the way i came i want your word to get into my heart and change me i want to lay down the world and everything it represents i want to lay it all down i want to forsake it alright raise your right hand just raise your right hand pray this prayer with me from your heart pray it loud and clear dear jesus i admit i failed you i've sinned and i'm sorry and i repent come lord jesus with your spirit and your power cleanse me forgive me and set me free i've been bound but i want to be free every habit every lust everything that holds me down i want to be free free me jesus free me tonight i give you all my heart i'm coming back to my first love i love you jesus with all my heart i confess that to this church to this people and to you jesus now raise both hands and tell jesus you love him right now lord i love you i want you and i need you i'm going to give you everything that i am and all that i have i'm going to give it to you right now jesus right now jesus i'm going to give it all to you ask him right now to give you power over sin lord break the power break the hold of sin on me right now break the hold of sin jesus as we stand here now in your presence i ask you to break the power of sin through the word and the spirit through the word and the spirit in jesus name through the word and the spirit let's raise our hands everywhere let's ask the holy spirit to come down and confirm the word right now ask the lord to break these chains all over the house let's praise him right now lord come and break through to this house break through in real conversions right now let us be true believers true believers tonight to be true believers true believers lord we want to be true believers will you say that lord i want to be a true believer not a counterfeit believer but a true believer a true believer tonight thank you jesus a true believer a true believer oh jesus come down on us now fall upon us holy ghost fall upon us at this altar lord jesus we give you our hearts our sins our lives alright you can put your hands down i want to know how many of you came forward tonight for the first time in this church