                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                              A call to Grief

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By David Wilkerson
October 5, 1987
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          I am convinced that the only way to experience the
          fullness of the joy of Jehovah is to share His grief.
          God does grieve over sin, and those who truly walk with
          Him enter into His grief.

          In the days of Noah, "God saw that the wickedness of
          man was great in the earth," and that every imagination
          of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually and
          it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,
          and it grieved him at his heart" (Genesis 6:5,6).

          The Hebrew word used here means cut to the heart. It
          means hurt, pain. The wickedness of mankind was hurting
          God deeply, causing great pain to His heart.

          Isaiah said of Christ, "He is.... a man of sorrows, and
          acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). "Surely he hath
          borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah
          53:4). The sin of mankind caused that grief. He entered
          into the very hurt and pain of the heavenly Father.

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                   Old and New Testament Servants of God
                        Shared This Grief Over Sin.

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          David was a man of God who discovered the glory of joy
          in Jehovah, but it was born out of great grief over the
          transgressions among the Lord's people. He said, "I
          beheld the transgressors, and was grieved ... because
          they kept not thy word. (Psalm 119:158). "Do not I hate
          them Lord, that hate thee ... and am I not grieved with
          those that rise up against thee... (Psalm 139:21).
          David hated what God hated; he grieved over the things
          that grieved God and detested what God detested.

          The prophet Amos cries out against "those at ease in
          Zion ... who are not grieved for the afflictions of
          Joseph ..." (Amos 6). He shared God's grief over a
          backslidden people lounging in ease and prosperity,
          putting out of mind the impending hour of judgment,
          while lying on beds of ivory (materialism), chanting
          their music, drinking wine - yet, having no grief over
          the ruin all about them. (See Amos 6:1-6.)

          The word Amos used is sickened. He was actually saying,
          "The sin and ruin among God's people does not sicken
          you. It does not disgust you because you have become
          blinded by sin and the good life you now enjoy."

          Nehemiah was grieved because he understood the evil
          that had infiltrated the house of God. A backslidden
          priesthood had brought into the Lord's house a terrible
          compromise, and only Nehemiah understood the depth of
          the iniquity and the awful consequences it would bring
          upon the people. (See Ezekiel 13:1-9.) The high priest
          Eliashib, whose name in Hebrew suggests "unity through
          compromise" had set up a residence in the temple for
          Tobiah, an Ammonite prince. By law, no Ammonite was to
          be permitted to set foot in the temple. But Tobiah,
          whose name means "prosperity, pleasure, good life", was
          permitted to abide there, a heathen entrenched in the
          house of God.

          There was now a new thing in Gods house. A corrupted
          ministry was in league with paganism. The people of God
          were yearning for prosperity, for the good life; and
          Tobiah was ready and willing to teach them the
          materialistic path of idolatry. "Eliashib the priest,
          having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our
          God, was allied unto Tobiah. (Nehemiah 13:4).

          Nehemiah understood the evil that was going on
          sponsored by a sin-soft priesthood. "And I came to
          Jerusalem and understood of the evil that Eliashib did
          for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of
          the house of God. And it grieved me sore; therefore I
          cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the
          chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the
          chambers; and thither brought I again vessels of the
          house of God..." (Nehemiah 13:7-9).

          Nehemiah was not acting on impulse or legalistic
          tradition! He was seeing through God's eyes, feeling as
          God felt and he was understanding the evil of mixture,
          of compromise, of the cancerous growth of sin in God's
          house.

          If more ministers understood the evil mixture of the
          music, the encroachment of entertainment, the lust for
          materialism now in the church - like Nehemiah, they
          would grieve over it and cast it out of the church once
          again. God, give us a body of preachers and
          parishioners who are sick of sin and mixture, and who
          will take a stand against it. God, give us believers
          with enough discernment to understand the depth and
          horror of the compromises and sinfulness creeping into
          the Lord's house.

          Paul grieved over the backsliding of God's people. He
          warned, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often,
          and now tell you even weeping, that they are the
          enemies of the cross of Christ ... whose end is
          destruction, whose god is their belly ... whose glory
          is their shame, who mind earthly things" (Philippians
          3:18,19). The Greek meaning here is loud sobbing or a
          piercing sobbing out of a broken heart. To see
          Christians turn aside to earthly things, rejecting the
          reproach of the Cross, broke Paul's heart to the point
          he literally shook with the grief of God. This was not
          silent despair nor resigned sighing over the falling
          away, but the loud, piercing, heart-broken crying of a
          man entering into God's grief for His wayward children.

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                           The Ministry of Grief

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          Samuel was a young man who was called to "the ministry
          of grief." Not his own grief, not the grief of humanity
          - but the deep and unfathomable grief of God! God was
          profoundly grieved over the backslidden condition of
          His own people, and there was no one to share it. God
          was about to remove His glory from His house at Shiloh,
          and the present ministry that stood before His altar
          did not know it. How sad to be so deaf, dumb and blind
          just at the hour of judgment.

          Israel was corrupt; the priesthood was adulterous; and
          the established, organized ministry was totally blind.
          Eli represents the decaying religious system with all
          its self interests, having gone soft by easy living
          with only, a token hatred for sin. Eli had become fat
          and lazy about the deep things of God, simply going
          through the motions.

          His sons Hophni and Phinehas represent the on-going
          ministry of tradition. These two young priests never
          did have an encounter with God. They knew nothing of
          "hearing from heaven." They knew nothing of hunger for
          God, of a burning passion to experience the glory and
          presence of the Lord - nothing of God's grief. These
          kind dont fast or pray. They look for the best
          ministerial positions, with the highest benefits and
          the best chance of promotion. Their hearts have never
          been broken over lost humanity; they know little of
          suffering. They are the products of cold, dead
          ritualism. They are not fresh from God! They say the
          right things, novel things, they sound and act
          professional. But there is no anointing, no holy
          unction; they don't know the fear and dread of a holy
          God.

          So, like Eli's sons, they become sensual, worldly and
          self-serving. The sons of Eli became so corrupt, God
          called them "the sons of Belial" (sons of Satan). It is
          said of them, "They knew not God." They "made
          themselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings
          of Israel" (1 Samuel 2:29). This is why multitudes of
          evangelical youth are growing so cold and sensual,
          becoming rock and roll addicts, drinking beer, engaging
          in illicit sex, bored and restless. Some youth pastors
          are damning them by their own poor example and their
          lack of Holy Ghost discernment. If the youth leaders
          don't know the Lord, how can they reach the kids for
          God? We now face the tragedy of an entire generation
          going astray because they have so few shepherds to show
          them how to escape the Satanic snares of this age.
          There has been too much catering to the sensual desires
          of youth.

          Eli had lost all his spiritual discernment! Hannah, a
          godly woman, was weeping bitterly in the house of God
          at Shiloh. She was beseeching the Lord to give her a
          son and was in deep intercession. She, is a type of the
          interceding holy remnant who yearn and cry out to God
          for a fresh word from God. "Now Hannah, she spake in
          her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not
          heard: therefore Eli thought she was drunk" (1 Samuel
          1:13).

          How blind can a minister of the Lord be? She was in the
          Spirit, conversing with God, under divine unction and
          soon to become a channel of renewal in Israel - and the
          man of God couldn't discern the truth. He totally
          missed the significance of what was happening at the
          altar. What has happened to this priest of the most
          high God, that he should be standing at the threshold
          of a profound new move of God that would affect
          Israel's future - and he is so out of touch with God he
          mistakes it for flesh?

          How is God going to get through to this backslidden,
          corrupt people of Israel? God is grieved; He is wanting
          to shake things; He is about to move swiftly in wrath
          and spew it all out of His mouth! But Eli doesn't know
          it! Eli has become so indulgent, so comfortable, so
          steeped in cold tradition - he has not the slightest
          hint of what God is saying or about to do. His sons are
          going to be cast aside - literally cut off from the
          things of God. But they are so consumed with lust, so
          addicted to the best cuts of meat, so hardened by sin -
          they have become agents of Satan, blind to impending
          judgment. God must go outside the established religious
          structure to find someone open enough to share His
          grief!

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                            The Samuel Company

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          The Lord always brings in a Samuel-people to hear His
          voice in a time of spiritual declension. This company
          is made up of men and women who care nothing for
          tradition, for promotion, for denominational
          boundaries. They represent pastors and lay people who
          have an ear to hear. They are shut in with God.

          God sent an unnamed prophet to Eli with a warning. It
          was an arrow shot directly into the heart of a
          religious system that had become self-protective. Eli
          had protected his wayward sons. God said to him
          prophetically, "You honourest thy sons above me, to
          make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the
          offerings of Israel" (1 Samuel 2:29).

          When Eli had heard how his sons flaunted their
          fornication right at the door of the congregation, all
          he would say was, "Nay, my sons, it is no good report
          that I hear; ye make the Lord's people to transgress"
          (1 Samuel 2:24). God later told Samuel He would judge
          Eli's house because he knew of their iniquity and did
          nothing about it. "For I have told him that I will
          judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he
          knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he
          restrained them not" (1 Samuel 2:13).

          There is a day of judgment appointed here on earth for
          ministers of the gospel who know the sin in the
          congregation or their family and they refuse to deal
          with it. They may slap the wrist of the adulterers, the
          wine-bibbers, the fornicators - but they have no
          penetrating message of reproof! They are afraid to
          discipline their spiritual children. At the judgment
          our Lord will ask, "Why did you not show the people the
          difference between the holy and the profane?"

          Why was Eli so soft on the sin of his boys? Because
          they were stealing the filet mignon before it went into
          the seething pot, and they were bringing home this
          fresh, red meat and Eli had grown accustomed to it. He
          would suffer if he came down too hard on them - he
          would have to go back to eating sodden, boiled meat. He
          had learned to shut his eyes to all the evil about him
          in God's house - and in his own family.

          This I believe is why some preachers are soft on sin.
          They have become sedated by the good life! They enjoy
          the comfort and prestige of large numbers, bigger
          buildings! How subtle it is while knowing something
          must be said, the minister simply utters a limp, "You
          shouldnt do these evil things!" No holy thunder. No
          grief over sin and compromise. None of Paul's vision of
          the exceeding sinfulness of sin. No warnings of divine
          retribution and judgment. People would get offended -
          stop coming - stop paying the bills. The growth might
          be hindered.

          I've preached in some of these churches, and its been
          a heartbreaking experience. The pastor like Eli,
          usually loves the Ark of God - he is not an evil man.
          But he is a fearful man. Afraid of the moving of the
          Holy Spirit, afraid of offending people, giving lip
          service to holiness - but fearful of dealing too
          harshly with sin. There is rampant divorce. There are
          secret affairs! Young people bound by habits; deacons
          smoking and drinking; and a lot of unspiritual
          socializing.

          I stand in that brothers pulpit making known the Lord's
          demand for holiness, calling for repentance, warning of
          judgment upon sin - and compromisers rush forward,
          weeping, confessing, seeking deliverance. I look to the
          side and see a pastor worried that the service might
          get out of control or that there will be some kind of
          manifestation of uncontrollable weeping or falling to
          the floor with conviction and grief for sin. He is
          deathly afraid his "new people" won't understand. He
          can't wait to take over the meeting to quiet things
          down. He begins to whisper sweet reassurances that God
          loves them all - and reminds everybody of the lateness
          of the hour and quickly dismisses them. He puts a wet
          blanket on the conviction, and the sin-burdened members
          go home troubled by what appears to be their pastors
          unconcern.

          I have left those kinds of meetings broken in heart. I
          ask myself, "Where is the grief over sin? Can't leaders
          see those weeping sheep want to cry out and permit the
          conviction of the Holy Ghost do His cleansing work in
          them?"

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                 Where Is the Grief of God in Our Pulpits?

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          Where are the Samuels who have heard the voice of God,
          who have been awakened by the Holy Spirit, who have
          received a revelation of the soon-coming judgments upon
          a backslidden house of God? Why aren't all preachers of
          the gospel grieving over the sinful condition of the
          church? Why aren't all pastors and evangelists crying
          out as watchmen on the wall?

          It is said of Samuel, "Samuel told him [Eli]
          everything, and hid nothing from him" (1 Samuel 3:18).
          I ask you, pastor: Are you telling it all? Are you
          holding back, hiding the truth, afraid to offend?

          The message of the Samuel Company is not a pleasant
          one! "Samuel feared to tell Eli the vision ... "
          (3:15). Samuel heard God pronounce the end of a
          backslidden religious structure. The vision was
          overwhelming! God was no longer going to put up with a
          form of godliness without the power of holiness.
          Judgment was about to fall in the house of God.
          Adultery would be exposed. The compromising leadership
          would no longer enjoy the blessings of the presence of
          God.

          God was going to remove His presence from Shiloh and do
          a glorious new thing in Israel. God said, "I will raise
          me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to
          that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will
          build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine
          anointed forever ..." (1 Samuel 2:35). This speaks of
          the Samuel Company of believers and ministers who share
          the very heart of God. They know the Lord's mind; they
          know His will; and they walk in fear and holiness
          before Him. The Samuel Company is a praying people; and
          because they are in touch with God, they are made to
          know and share His grief! It was while Samuel was in
          prayer that God revealed to him the fearful things
          coming to the Lord's people. "And the Lord said to
          Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which
          both the ears of every one that heareth it shall
          tingle" (1 Samuel 3:11).

          I can tell you who God is speaking to these days! He is
          speaking to those shut up to Himself who pant after Him
          as the deer pants after the water - who have died to
          every selfish ambition who have no other goal in life
          but to bring pleasure, glory and joy to His heart!

          I say it unflinchingly - it is not going to be a
          denomination that delivers the Word of the Lord to this
          cursed generation! It will not be a committee which
          hears the true Word and ignites the last day gathering
          of the remnant. While the angels of the apocalypse go
          forth to smite the earth, denominations and religious
          leaders will be hard at work protecting their interests
          and strengthening their authority, drawing up bylaws
          and resolutions.

          To the very end of his ministry, Samuel bore the grief
          of God over His people. Israel lusted after a king so
          they could be "judged like all the nations ..." (1
          Samuel 7:5). Samuel fell on his knees, greatly
          displeased. And again God shared His grief with him:
          "And the Lord said unto Samuel - Harken unto the voice
          of the people in all they say unto thee, for they have
          not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I
          should not reign over them..." (1 Samuel 8:7).

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                  God's Grief Brings Protest Against Sin.

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          The grief of God upon the Samuel Company must bring
          forth a protest against all sin and apostasy! "Now
          therefore harken unto their voice: how be it yet
          protest solemnly unto them ... and shew them the manner
          of the king that shall reign over them..." (1 Samuel
          8:9).

          Everywhere you turn now, God's people in growing
          numbers are rejecting the lordship of Christ! There is
          a clamor to "be as the nations". That is mixture! That
          is being just like the world. That is saying, "We want
          God and the world!"

          Thank God for the protesting Samuel Company! They have
          heard from God and they know where all this compromise
          is going to end. They see the frightful results of
          apostasy ahead and, like Paul, they sob that piercing,
          heart-rending cry of grief.

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          A Call to Grief Results in Everlasting joy in Jehovah!

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          Those who sob over sin in the church are called
          doom-sayers and sad-sacks. Many Christians have said,
          "I don't like to be around them. They sound so
          negative, so morose, and they look so sad." That is
          because they simply do not know them! They don't know
          that those who share God's grief over sin are also
          brought into the greatest measure of joy.

          Those who truly grieve with God are given a leaping
          heart of joy in Jehovah! "Although the fig tree shall
          not fruit; neither should there be any provision on the
          vines; the produce of the olive should fail and the
          fields not yield subsistence; the flocks should be cut
          off from the fold, neither should there be any herd in
          the stalls. Yet will I leap for joy in Jehovah. I will
          exult in the God of my salvation. Jehovah my Lord is my
          strength" (Habakkuk 3:17-19, Spurrell Original Hebrew).

          This joy comes from knowing that God will always have a
          pure ministry, a holy and separated body - even in the
          most evil days. They know that God will honor them with
          His constant presence though all others turn from them
          in fear. They are full of joy because they draw
          strength from believing in the majesty and power of
          God, whose judgments are always righteous. With
          Habakkuk, they can say, "Though all else fails, my
          heart will rejoice in God alone!" Even when there seems
          to be failure all around and so little evidence of
          results, grief gives way to ecstatic joy, because of
          nearness to the heart of the Lord. With Paul, the
          grieving remnant can say, "As dying, and behold, we
          live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet
          always rejoicing ..." (2 Corinthians 6:9,10).

          As conclusive biblical proof that sharing God's grief
          results in rejoicing, I remind you of the words of
          David who said, "He that goeth forth and weepeth,
          bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
          rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him," (Psalm
          126:6).

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

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