                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                               Breaking Out!

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By David Wilkerson
March 16, 1986
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          The prophet Micah delivered a message for our day which
          is both frightening, yet very hopeful. The importance
          of his message can be found in these works: "Hear now
          what the Lord is saying!" (Micah 6:1). Micah speaks
          forth the heart of God to men of all ages - to the
          backslidden Jew of his day, to the remnant of the last
          days, and especially to the shepherds in our time. Keep
          in mind the message of Micah is the burden of the Lord
          and His view of the church and of His shepherds.

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                 I. God Has A Controversy With His People!
                               (Micah 6:2,3)

                      -------------------------------

          "Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the Lord,
          and you enduring foundations of the earth, because the
          Lord has a case against His people; even with Israel He
          will dispute. My people, what have I done to you, and
          how have I wearied you? Answer Me."

          The Lord proceeds to call the mountains and hills as
          everlasting witnesses to His faithfulness to His
          children. He speaks of how He delivered them from
          bondage; how He demanded of them nothing but to walk
          humbly with their Lord, to do what is right and to love
          kindness.

          But the voice of the Lord called to His people, "Where
          is My fear now? The house has become wicked; My people
          are being cheated! There is deception - there are lies
          in My house!"

          Then the Lord describes the horrible judgments that
          fall upon a backslidden people. "I will make you sick,
          striking you down! Your sins will cause a desolation in
          your midst! There will be no true satisfaction, you
          will not have your spiritual needs met! You will go
          from one place to another, seeking reality and
          security, but will not grasp it! You will lose your
          discernment. What you do end up with, thinking it is
          finally the real thing, I will send someone with the
          true sword of the Lord and destroy it" (Micah 6:13,14
          paraphrased).

          Micah was a true prophet who saw the church through
          God's eyes, and it caused his soul to wail and lament!
          He was not about to whitewash the conditions in the
          house of God! He was now seeing in the Spirit what God
          saw - the deep, hideous sins of the people, of
          shepherds and leaders. He saw idolatry! A harlot church
          making a harlot's wages! "Because of this I must lament
          and wail, I must go barefoot and naked; I must make a
          lament [make a sad song] like the jackals and a
          mourning like ostriches. For her wound is incurable,
          for it has come to Judah; it has reached the gate of my
          people, even to Israel" (Micah 1:8,9).

          A spirit of rebellion and wickedness has reached the
          gates - and now God's people, once holy, have an
          incurable disease! Listen to Micah's lament: "A
          calamity has come down from the Lord to the gate of
          Jerusalem... because in you were found the rebellious
          acts of Jerusalem" (Micah 1:12,13).

                      -------------------------------

                    II. What Is This Disease Among God's
                      People That Becomes Incurable?

                      -------------------------------

          What has possessed the holy people, bring them into
          such a great controversy with a holy God?

          What Micah sees in the Spirit is so abominable in God's
          sight, He is forced to cry out, "[Because of it]... I
          am planning against this family a calamity from which
          you cannot remove your necks: and you will not walk
          haughtily, for it will be an evil time" (Micah 2:3).
          Micah saw an incurable disease among God's people and
          an inescapable judgment. Look at what God calls
          rebellion! Here is the cause of God's controversy with
          them:

            1. A new scheme of covetousness! A scheme concocted
               by mercenary servants of God, having to do with
               money, property, success.

            2. An emphasis on self [the power of the hand]. "Woe
               to those who scheme iniquity... it is in the power
               of their hands. They covet fields... houses...
               inheritances.... They rob [my people]" (Micah
               2:1,2).

            3. Rejection of the prophet's warnings! Telling the
               people that judgment preaching is not of God, that
               it is contrary to His character! "Do not speak
               out.... Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient [with
               His people]? This is not the way of a loving God"
               (Micah 2:6,7).

          The false prophets and robbing shepherds told Micah to
          shut up! "Don't preach so much judgment! Quit the doom
          and gloom warnings! We are God's people; He loves us -
          there will be no judgment on us." The literal
          interpretation means, "Drop it! Drop this message of
          judgment on God's people! Stop rebuking! Stop
          reproaching good people! Stop all the warnings about
          misfortune, and stop denouncing the church!" "This is
          not of God," they say.

          But listen to Micah's answer! "If this message is not
          preached...the reproach of this place will never be
          tuned back" (Micah 2:6). "Do not my words do good to
          those who walk uprightly" (Micah 2:7). "Recently My
          people gave arisen as an enemy" (Micah 2:8).

          Micah saw an appalling thing among the shepherds - a
          sin that made these same robbing shepherds enemies to
          God! He saw the covetous shepherds stripping the robes
          of righteousness right off the backs of the innocent
          children of God. He saw those who wanted rest from
          their wars being deceived and stripped by false
          doctrines of covetousness. "You strip the robe off the
          garment, from unsuspecting passersby, from those
          returned from war" (Micah 2:8).

          How the heart of God must grieve over the innocent,
          unsuspecting, hungry people who walk into the traps of
          worldly-minded, ambitious preachers of covetous. I have
          been to seminars and conventions and have watched in
          horror as young, immature Christians were being fleeced
          by money-mad shepherds! They were told they could learn
          the secrets to health, wealth and prosperity for less
          than $100 - by simply buying his tapes. Walking with
          God was reduced to formulas.

          I hurt most of all for the mothers and the children! So
          did Micah! He warned: "The women of My people you
          evict, each one from her pleasant house. From her
          children you take My splendor forever" (Micah 2:9).

          The splendor of the Lord, the pleasant house - this is
          the holiness and righteousness of God! These uncaring
          shepherds are not preaching against sin, they preach
          nothing but safety and peace - they mock the judgment
          warnings of God, and because of their lightness, their
          covetous doctrines - they take away from the mothers
          and youth the awesome holiness of God! These are the
          shepherds who keep more people out of the kingdom than
          all demon powers possibly could.

          God help the preacher of the gospel who is so set on
          his own covetous dreams that he lays down his Sword and
          becomes a flatterer or an intimidator. Churches have
          been built on the spiritual skeletons of innocent women
          and youth! Dreams and schemes came from the pulpit
          rather than a call to holiness and separation. What
          horrible intimidation there is today in the house of
          the Lord, by shepherds bulldozing their dreams.

          I saw a young man turn white with sorrow and anger when
          he sat in a meeting where truth and righteousness was
          being preached. He told me, "Why haven't I heard this
          before? I go to a Bible school that teaches nothing but
          ways and means to be prosperous and successful. I'm
          being cheated! I'm angry!

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                        III. Micah Warned That Zion
                         Would Be Plowed As A Field
                        And Become A Heap Of Ruins -
                        Because Of Prophets Leading
                            the People Astray.

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          "Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my
          people astray... on account of you, Zion will be plowed
          as a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins"
          (Micah 3:5,12).

          There is something very familiar about the mercenary
          prophets he spoke about! They are all about us today -
          the church overflows with them even now! Micah said of
          them, GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY. DO WHAT THEY TELL YOU TO DO
          - AND THEY WILL GIVE YOU A SWEET WORD! They will bless
          you! Prophesy to you good things! "When they have
          something to bite with their teeth, they cry, `Peace'"
          (Micah 3:5).

          But don't fall for their scheme, don't buy their
          objects, don't help them - and they will all but curse
          you! "But against him who puts nothing in their mouths,
          they declare holy war" (Micah 3:5).

          One Charismatic fund raiser threatened cancers on
          everyone who refused to give a huge offering. Pastors,
          evangelists - listen to them thunder at the people,
          threaten, cajole! "Give to me, to my cause - and God
          will bless you, heal you, give you everything you
          desire. If you don't give, if you don't sacrifice for
          me, everything will crumble around you! God will shut
          the windows of heaven on you! You will be responsible
          for shutting me down." What war-like threats!

          They cover their doctrines of covetousness by saying,
          "The Lord is with me!" "Her priests instruct for a
          price, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean
          on the Lord saying, `Is not the Lord in our midst?
          Calamity will not come upon us'" (Micah 3:11).

          The Lord was not in their midst - but they did not
          discern it. God declares He removes all discernment of
          godliness; He remover all knowledge of His presence, as
          a judgment against self-centeredness and covetous
          practices and doctrines. "Therefore it will be night
          for you - without vision, and darkness for you -
          without divination. The sun will go down on the
          prophets, and the day will become dark over them. The
          seers will be ashamed and the diviners [those who say,
          "The Lord told me"] will be embarrassed... because
          there is no answer from God" (Micah 3:6,7).

          Micah makes it most clear that among them discernment
          is gone; there is now no true word of the Lord; and
          doctrines of darkness are taught - because the Word is
          twisted! "...And they twist everything that is
          straight" (Micah 3:9).

          There is much of "Thus saith the Lord!" Much of "God
          told me!" Much of speaking about new revelation! Much
          of boasting, "God is truly with us!" Much of leaning on
          numbers, growth, great success - as proof the Lord is
          with them, but the prophets calls it DARKNESS - AN
          EMBARRASSMENT TO GOD - SHAME!

          These shepherds have blood on their hands! They are
          guilty in God's eyes of a violent kind of injustice!
          "Who built Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with
          violent injustice" (Micah 3:10). This means that a
          shepherd has blood on his hands if his doctrine or life
          keeps anyone from the fullness of Christ. It is violent
          injustice for shepherds to minister with lust and sin
          clinging to them, for nothing damns a soul more surely
          than an unholy ministry! Building great churches,
          having accepted public ministries, without the
          anointing! Without the consuming fire of God upon it!
          Without Holy Ghost conviction! With a gospel of peace
          and safety! By the counseling of rebellion - flattering
          the evil, calling evil good!

          What could be a more violent injustice than for a
          shepherd of the Lord to put souls at rest and peace on
          the brink of judgment and damn them to an eternal hell
          by holding back the truth? How many shepherds will
          stand before Christ's tribunal with the blood of
          blinded believers on their hands? They themselves
          wouldn't enter into the holiness and fullness of
          Christ; and they hindered sheep from entering also.
          These are not the harsh ramblings of a doomsaying
          prophet, these are the words of the Lord - His eye-view
          of conditions among His people!

          We have become sloganeers. Biblical slogans such as
          RENEWAL, RESTORATION, REBUILDING abound. I hear modern
          prophets saying, "The church has never been more alive
          - never has there been more praise - never such coming
          together." But the Lord says, "Arise and go, for this
          is not your rest" (Micah 2:10).

          In the original Hebrew it reads: "O my glory! Arise and
          depart forever! For this shall not be your resting
          place: this, because of its pollution, is bound over,
          to grievous travail." This is not the true Zion! Depart
          from this polluted thing! But what about all the
          dancing, the praising, the merry multitudes who clap
          and sing so loudly? What of the great and magnificent
          buildings, the super churches (all claiming to be the
          fastest growing in the nation)? What of all the
          seminars, conventions, solemn assemblies?

          Harken to the prophecy of Micah: "If a man, acting in
          the spirit of falsehood and lies, prophesy unto thee,
          to INDULGE in the wine and intoxicating drink...
          surely, he is the prophet for this people!" (Micah
          2:11, Spurrell).

          This people want PANDERING PROPHETS, pandering to their
          sensual desires. Wine and strong drink in Micah's time
          represented TEMPORAL BLESSINGS, MATERIAL PROSPERITY!
          They preached the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:11 : "And
          the Lord will make you abound in prosperity." But they
          refused to preach the rest of Deuteronomy 28: "It shall
          come about, if you will not obey the Lord... to do all
          His commandments... curses shall overtake you. The Lord
          will smite you madness and with blindness and with
          bewilderment of heart" (Deuteronomy 28:15,28).

          Jeremiah said, "And the prophets are as wind, and the
          word is not in them" (Jeremiah 5:13). Jeremiah could
          not fathom the lying spirit of these prophets. "But,
          Ah, Lord God! I said, look, the prophets are telling
          them, 'You will not see the sword nor will you have
          famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this
          place.' Then the Lord said to me, 'The prophets are
          prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent
          them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are
          prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility
          and the deception of their own minds'" (Jeremiah
          14:13,14).

          Again, the prophet Jeremiah says, "An appalling and
          horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets
          prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own
          authority; and My people love it so" (Jeremiah 5:31).

          It's not the true word of the Lord that is heard in the
          land today! Only a very few preach truth and
          repentance. It is a frivolous, light, sensuous,
          effeminate gospel. The dancing is not that spontaneous
          response of a repentant heart to the genuine moving of
          the Holy Spirit - it is the choreographed dance of self
          and pride. You cannot learn to dance in the Spirit -
          and what I see today focuses on flesh. It's the ark on
          a NEW CART! It won't get to Zion!

          I look about today and I hear the Spirit saying to me,
          "This is not it! This is not your rest! This is all
          headed for ruin! It's entertainment! It's applause!
          It's focused on self, pride, ambition, materialism! God
          has already walked away from it all."

                      -------------------------------

                       IV. A Holy Remnant Is Going To
                     Break Out Of This Apostate Thing!

                      -------------------------------

          Micah brings to our attention one of the most glorious
          of all Old Testament prophecies. He prophesied of a
          people who would follow the Lord to new pasture. "I
          will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely
          gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together
          like sheep in the fold; like a flock in the midst of
          its pasture. They will be noisy with men. The breaker
          goes up before them; they break out, pass through the
          gate, and go out of it. So their king goes on before
          them, and the Lord at their head" (Micah 2:12,13).

          Micah saw a people of God being released, a people
          whose hearts beat as one, a people so led by the Spirit
          they would be called outcasts by the apostate church.
          "'In that day', declares the Lord, 'I will assemble the
          lame, and gather the outcasts, even those whom I have
          afflicted. I will make the lame a remnant, and the
          outcasts a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over
          them in Mount Zion from now on and forever'" (Micah
          4:6,7).

          Who makes up this holy remnant? Not the proud, the
          self-centered ministries, the polished, applauded stars
          - NO! This is a tested people; they have been in the
          fires of trial; they include the unknowns, the outcasts
          of denominations, those who are considered lame in
          comparison to the high and mighty established church,
          and those who raise their voices against corruption in
          God's house.

          God says, "I will put them together!" All the human
          efforts to bring God's servants together is in vain.
          God has to do it - and the one thing that brings this
          remnant together, causing them to see eye to eye, is a
          repentant heart in union with Christ. They are drawn
          into one fold - a fold called out of the harlot church!
          The Septuagint says, "They shall leap forth from among
          men."

          Jerome describes these kind as "those children of God
          who are repentant and who rise above worldly things and
          aspire to heaven." This is a heavenly-minded people,
          weary of lightness and compromise. A people who yearn
          for holiness in God's house. I tell you there is even
          now a holy remnant leaping forth from among men. Every
          man and woman of God whose heart is broken over the sin
          and corruption in God's house can sense this leap of
          the Spirit! There is a coming out, a breaking out just
          ahead!

                      -------------------------------

                    "The Breaker Goes Up Before Them."

                      -------------------------------

          The "BREAKER-UP" was a title well know to the Jews. It
          was one of their titles for the Messiah! Dr. Driver
          said, "The breaker-up advances before them, breaking
          through the gates of the prison in which the people are
          confined: they follow, marching forth triumphantly
          through this open way; their king, with Jehovah at his
          side, heads the victorious procession. They have broken
          forth; they have passed through the gates."

          That triumphant break-out was the resurrection of Jesus
          Christ our Lord! There, He led captivity captive to
          Himself. From that day to this, He has had a holy
          remnant.

          How arrogant we have become! We conclude that the only
          day of restoration is in our day! That the remnant
          exists only in these last days! NO! Peter stood on the
          day of Pentecost and proclaimed, "These are the last
          days - this is that which was promised by Joel, in the
          last days." We have been in last days for nearly 2,000
          years.

          The Lord has had a restored, holy remnant even during
          the dark ages. The Waldenses, that holy clan who kept
          the light of the gospel burning for years when the
          church was corrupt and cruel! The Moravians, the
          Puritans, the Wesleyans, the Brethren - in every day of
          apostasy, the Lord had a holy people who broke out! A
          people who followed their Lord into a new realm of
          holiness and faith!

          What we are seeing today is the cap-stone on the
          remnant! The last remnant! We have lost our sense of
          history! We think God exists only for our day, that all
          the promises, all that God has done - is only for us!
          But we are not a complete remnant without all those who
          broke out before us. They are not yet complete for they
          wait until the house is finished. "...So that apart
          from us they should not be made complete" (Hebrews
          11:40).

                      -------------------------------

                              "They Break Out;
                        They Pass Through The Gate,
                           And Go Out Of It..."

                      -------------------------------

          Are you willing to break out, pass through this
          apostate thing, get out of it and go with Him "outside
          the gate"? What if the Holy Spirit asks you to break
          out of your denominational system? Are you ready to
          break out and follow the Lamb wherever He leads? "
          Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people
          through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
          Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing
          His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city,
          but we are seeking the city which is to come" (Hebrews
          13:12-14).

          Are you looking for an earthly kingdom, an earthly Zion
          - or a heavenly kingdom? "But you have come to Mount
          Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
          Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general
          assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled
          in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the
          spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus,
          the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
          blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel"
          (Hebrews 12:22-24). "Therefore, since we received a
          kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude,
          by which we may offer to God and acceptable service
          with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming
          fire" (Hebrews 12:28-29).

          He is even now shaking everything that can be shaken.
          The warnings of Isaiah are at our door. God is
          forsaking the apostate, harlot church; and He will
          leave it in its wasted condition. "And now, O
          inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge
          between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do
          for My vineyard that I have not done in it ? Why, when
          I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce
          worthless ones? So now let Me tell you what I am going
          to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it
          will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it
          will become trampled ground. And I will lay it waste;
          it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns
          will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no
          rain on it" (Isaiah 5:3-6).

          I believe what God told Micah is true. The earthly
          Zion, the harlot thing, will be ruins, plowed as a
          field - it will become a heap of ruins. Then the
          heavenly Zion will rise outside the camp! Zion is a
          people, a blood washed, sanctified, separated people. A
          people who sigh and cry over the abominations of the
          land. God calls this people THE NEW JERUSALEM - THE
          JERUSALEM FROM ABOVE. It is out of this Holy Jerusalem,
          a holy separated people, from which the Word will go
          forth. "And it will come about in the last days that
          the mountain of the house of the Lord will be
          established as the chief of the mountains. It will be
          raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to
          it. And many nations will come and say, 'Come and let
          us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house
          of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His
          ways and that we may walk in His paths.' For from Zion
          will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from
          Jerusalem" (Micah 4:1,2).

          Do you feel the labor pains of holy Zion? The "Breaker
          Forth" has come to Babylon to lead His people out.
          "Writhe and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like
          a woman in childbirth, for now you will go out of the
          city, dwell in the field, and go to Babylon. There you
          will be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from
          the hand of your enemies" (Micah 4:10).

                      -------------------------------

                           "Now You Will Go Out -
                   You Will Be Rescued Out Of Babylon."

                      -------------------------------

          Finally, we must break out of the harlot systems, only
          to follow the Lamb wherever He leads. We must not
          settle down in someone else's camp. No other doctrinal
          camp for this delivered people, because they are
          following the BREAKER to His bridechamber. No devotion
          to some star teacher or evangelist for this separated
          people, for they have eyes only for their Lord. They
          are in this world, but no longer of it.

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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