                    [Times Square Church PulpitSeries]

                      We Have Forgotten How To Blush!

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By David Wilkerson
August 21, 1989
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          "For from the least of them even unto the greatest of
          them every one is given to covetousness; and from the
          prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth
          falsely.... Were they ashamed when they had committed
          abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither
          could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them
          that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be
          cast down, saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 6:13,15, KJV).

          The prophet Jeremiah saw a horrible condition coming
          upon God's people. To hide their sins they had begun
          living behind a facade of superficial peace and
          security. Greed and covetousness had so overcome their
          hearts that they camouflaged their hurts with a phony
          brokenness. Their entire lives had become superficial
          -- superficial tears, superficial repentance, even
          superficial healing.

          God's people had lost their sense of shame and grief
          for sin -- sin in society, sin in the church, sin in
          their own lives. They no longer felt God's hatred and
          wrath against sin. Sin had become "just one of those
          things."

          Jeremiah cried out, "Were they ashamed when they
          sinned? No! They were not at all ashamed -- neither
          could they blush!"

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                       What is Holy Ghost Blushing?

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

          Holy Ghost blushing is not just red cheeks from simple
          modesty. It is feeling wounded, ashamed, devastated --
          grieved that the name and purity of Jesus our Lord has
          been trampled, that His reputation has been smeared.

          Jeremiah gives us a picture of the terrible moral
          breakdown that occurred in Israel and the house of
          Judah:

          "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
          and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places
          thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that
          executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will
          pardon it. And though they say, The Lord liveth, surely
          they swear falsely. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the
          truth? Thou has stricken them, but they have not
          grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused
          to receive correction: they have made their faces
          harder than a rock; they have refused to return"
          (Jeremiah 5:1-3).

          God's people sat under a message of searing truth --
          yet they turned away from it. They rebelled against it!
          Read it again: "They made their faces harder than a
          rock; they refused to return!" They were committing
          adultery by romping with harlots and lusting after
          their neighbors' wives. In verse 11 Jeremiah called it
          outright treachery against the Lord!

          In spite of all the prophetic warnings by Jeremiah,
          these people went their merry way, saying, "Neither
          shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor
          famine" (verse 12). "Judgment is not God's message for
          us,"they said.

          Their fear of God was waning. There was a revolting,
          rebellious spirit rising up in the hearts of multitudes
          of God's people: "But this people hath a revolting and
          a rebellious heart.... Neither say they in their heart,
          Let us now fear the Lord our God" (verses 23-24).

          They had enjoyed great prosperity, but it had become a
          snare. This trap led to deceit, and eventually their
          houses became dens of iniquity. They were winking at
          sin -- sin that should have grieved them deeply.

          "As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full
          of deceit; therefore they are become great, and waxen
          rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they
          overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the
          cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper;
          and the right of the needy do they not judge" (Jeremiah
          5:27-28).

          God warned His people to heed the instructions of the
          Word being delivered to them or He would depart from
          them. "Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul
          depart from thee" (Jeremiah 6:8). And again God said:
          "I am speaking clearly! I am warning! But who is
          listening?"

          "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may
          hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised [closed], and
          they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is
          unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it"
          (verse 10).

          The original Hebrew says the people grew weary of
          rebuke. They grew tired of being exposed and stripped
          by the Word of God. At one time they had delighted in
          His Word. It had been a joy to them as honey is to the
          soul. Yet now they took no pleasure in it. Why?

          "And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and
          possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged,
          vineyards, and olive yards, and fruit trees in
          abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became
          fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
          Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled
          against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and
          slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn
          them to thee, and they wrought great provocations"
          (Nehemiah 9:25-26).

          Why did they turn away from the hard warnings of the
          watchmen? Because a nerve had been touched. Their
          idolatry, greed and covetousness were being exposed;
          they were committing secret sin. "For from the least of
          them even unto the greatest of them every one is given
          to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the
          priest" (Jeremiah 6:13).

          Both in the pulpit and the pew, the hearts of God's
          people were being led away by greed and covetousness.
          But they excused and justified it all! They had no
          shame! They did not blush! No one could bring himself
          to believe that the prophet was speaking to him
          personally.

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                    God Sets Watchmen Over His People.

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

          The Lord said, "Also I set watchmen over you, saying,
          Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We
          will not hearken" (Jeremiah 6:17).

          God's people turned from the warnings of their God-sent
          prophets and watchmen and began walking in the desires
          and imaginations of their own hearts.

          Why would God's people refuse to listen to prophets
          when they knew God Himself had set these men over them?
          They did not dispute that God had anointed and sent
          them. So why did they refuse to hear? Why did they make
          their own plans and do their own thing?

          The answer to that is found in Numbers 16, which
          relates the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and No.
          These four men rose up with 250 others of renown from
          the congregation to question the authority of Moses.

          "They gathered themselves together against Moses and
          against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much
          upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every
          one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then
          lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the
          Lord? And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face"
          (Numbers 16:3-4).

          This is the spirit behind all rebellion and rejection
          of the true pulpit warnings. The rebellious person says
          in his heart, "Pastor -- prophet -- watchman -- you are
          not the only ones God speaks to. We also hear from God.
          We, too, are holy. We get God's mind. You take too much
          upon yourselves. You are lifting yourselves up above
          the congregation."

          When Moses heard this from these men, he fell on his
          face, overcome with grief. A holy anger arose within
          his soul. He was not angry because his word or
          authority was being questioned; he could care less
          about being in charge. He knew they were not rejecting
          him personally or his own word, because he had been
          chosen and set in place by God Himself. Moses grieved
          because they were rejecting God! "Thou and all thy
          company (are gathered together) against the Lord"
          (verse 16).

          Moses could say, "O God, these are not my people. This
          is not my work. You put me here and told me what to
          say. All my words and all these works - I have not done
          them of my own mind (verse 28). I have spoken the mind
          of God."

          The Lord always vindicates those who are truly
          anointed, and He brings down quickly all that comes
          from the flesh. "And the earth opened her mouth, and
          swallowed them up, and their houses.... They, and all
          that appertained to them, went down alive into the
          pit.... And there came out a fire from the Lord, and
          consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered
          incense" (Numbers 16:32-35).

          I have no desire whatsoever to exercise authority of
          any kind over any of God's people. I can say with
          Moses, "I have not taken (anything) from this people,
          neither have I hurt one of them" (verse 15).

          Yet one thing I do know is this: God sent me here to
          New York City. He sent me as His watchman to warn, to
          cry aloud and to spare not. I don't care to frighten
          anyone, nor do I strive to put anyone under fear of my
          anointing.

          Nevertheless I and the other pastors of Times Square
          Church - as well as other watchmen -- have been set in
          place by the Lord. Along with me, they are responsible
          for your soul.

          Your response of obedience to the Lord is not a matter
          of going to your prayer closet, then coming to the
          house of God to hear His Word so you can compare it
          with what you hear - picking and choosing as it fits
          your mind-set. I listen to other truly anointed
          prophets and watchmen, and the Word they bring forth
          not only blesses me -- it strikes terror in my soul! I
          don't measure their words by what I think is right. I
          receive it when I know it is founded on God's holy Word
          and delivered in holiness.

          Why are we here in New York City? Why has Times Square
          Church been raised up at this time and in this place?
          We are here to build up a body into the true image of
          Christ. We are to tear down any idol that would try to
          fuse us with the world. We are here to weep over you,
          to guard your soul and to call you out of this world.
          We are here to uphold the dignity bf the Cross!

          There is a dignity in walking in holiness and purity. A
          church that is over-coming the world has such dignity.
          We are here to put a Holy Ghost blush on your face
          because of God's grief and hurt over sin.

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

                         It Is the Duty of Watchmen
                    to Expose the Hideousness of Sin --
                  And to Bring God's Blush to Our Souls!

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

          Ezra was a watchman who was so devastated by the sins
          of God's people that he could not look God in the eye.
          "And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my
          heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I
          fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the
          Lord my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush
          to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities
          are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown
          up unto the heavens" (Ezra 9:5-6).

          Ezra felt such deep shame before the Lord that he
          blushed because of the sin that had crept in among
          God's only remnant left on the earth. The remnant that
          had returned to Jerusalem numbered only 42,337. That's
          a small group compared to the nearly 3 million that
          came out of Egypt. This tiny remnant, which made up
          less than two percent, represented God's eternal
          purpose on earth. Unfortunately they winked at sin and
          were consumed with compromise -- without feeling the
          slightest tinge of guilt or remorse.

          Suddenly Ezra appeared in their midst. Here was a man
          of God with a deep remorse for sin, a man who blushed
          with shame for them. In fact, they had become so wicked
          that Ezra said, "We cannot stand before God because of
          this."

          Beloved, if we are going to stand before God in these
          days of spreading compromise, it will take much more
          than we have been giving God. It will cost us what it
          cost Ezra!

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

                    I. We Are Going To Have To Get Much
                    More Serious About The Things Of God
                      Than We Have Been In The Past.

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

          When God is about to do a new work, He pours out a
          spirit of intensity upon His remnant. We can no longer
          be spiritually lazy, complacent, nonchalant and
          easygoing. We must become intense, full of heat and
          passion toward Christ, feeling deeply and seriously
          about the work of God. Today God is raising up a people
          who hate sin and tremble at His Word. His remnant must
          hear and believe in holy prophets. They must not
          vacillate and grow lukewarm. Instead they must grow
          more intense and serious for God as the days go by.

          Consider the intensity of Ezra. Look closely at his
          passion against anything that hurts God, and you will
          see his utter hatred for mixing with the world. "And
          when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my
          mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my
          beard, and sat down astonished. Then were assembled
          unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God
          of Israel, because of the transgression of those that
          had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the
          evening sacrifice" (Ezra 9:3-4).

          Saints, here are the blushing believers! They gather
          around a heartbroken prophet -- and they, too, become
          intense for God's honor. They know something very
          dangerous is happening, and they share God's grief.
          Whole households of God's people are cozying up to the
          world. Strange wives are standing at the altar. Holy
          seed is being mixed. These blushing believers know the
          devil is trying to assimilate them and swallow up God's
          testimony of separation and holiness.

          What a scene! Ezra was sitting as a heap of godly
          sorrow, pulling out his hair and beard "because of the
          transgression of those that had been carried [swept]
          away" (verse 4). One by one, all who had a trembling
          heart gathered around him. God had just one man who
          would blush over sin -- and through him he brought
          forth a body of mourners:

          "Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed,
          weeping and casting himself down before the house of
          God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very
          great congregation of men and women and children: for
          the people wept very sore" (Ezra 10:1).

          That is what drew many of you to this ministry -- a cry
          for holiness and separation! You felt God's grief for
          sin and you blushed in shame. You wanted to get serious
          about walking with God.

          Nehemiah had this same intensity for God. "Hannai one
          of my brethren came, he and certain men of Judah, and I
          [Nehemiah] asked them concerning the Jews that had
          escaped, which were left of the captivity, and
          concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The
          remnant that are left of the captivity there in the
          province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall
          of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof
          are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard
          these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned
          certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of
          heaven" (Nehemiah 1:2-4).

          The remnant had returned to the holy place, but
          reproach and lethargy had crept in. Things were still
          in a dilapidated condition. No spiritual progress was
          being made.

          Scripture says Nehemiah began to weep, mourn and "pray
          night and day" (verse 6). It was not a matter of God
          waking him up in the middle of the night and dropping a
          burden into his soul. No! "I asked them, my brethren,
          about the remnant" (verse 2). This man of God initiated
          the burden! He asked for it!

          Likewise Daniel spent hours, days and weeks studying
          God's Word. God did not drop a supernatural burden into
          his heart. Rather, Daniel chastened his own heart. He
          developed and nurtured a true burden for God's people
          by diligently studying and gaining an understanding of
          what God was saying. "I set my face unto the Lord God,
          to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and
          sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9:3).

          Talk about intensity, blushing, mourning and weeping!
          Daniel said, "I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I
          ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in
          my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till
          three whole-weeks were fulfilled.... I retained no
          strength" (Daniel 10:2-3,8).

          When the hand of God touched Daniel, these words came
          from the throne: "From the first day that thou didst
          set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself
          before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for
          thy words" (verse 12). In Hebrew, the word "chasten"
          means to browbeat the flesh in order to bring it into
          submission. Paul also said, "I bring my body under
          subjection!"

          Many of us are like little children with short
          attention spans. We chafe under the burden of
          intensity. We continually backslide into our old ways
          of indulgence and spiritual laziness.

          Noah lived with the great intensity of a judgment
          message concerning the destruction of the earth. For
          120 years he was "moved with fear." He never swerved
          from the burden of the Lord. He was serious because he
          knew that God meant what He said.

          Let the world laugh, Noah said. Let the others say,
          "That's too heavy! I can't live like that! It's too
          gloomy!" Noah nurtured that burden. For 120 years it
          remained fresh in his heart and he did what the Lord
          told him -- up to the very last hour.

          God has been exposing to me my own lack of intensity.
          Within all of us there are certain desires or
          tendencies that carry us away from God or that rob Him
          of our time, money or devotion. Often these things are
          not evil in themselves. Even hobbies have a way of
          being used by Satan to draw our time and hearts away
          from God.

          Yet even now God is shaking out all those who are
          fooling around, breaking vows and covenants with Him!
          The Lord is going to have a people today who are wholly
          given to His work. He is going to have a people who are
          intense, passionate and broken -- giving every spare
          hour and dollar to that which represents His interests
          on earth.

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

                   II. We Are Going To Have To Go Beyond
                     Pointing To The Sins Of Others And
                     Confess Our Own Failures To God!

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

          All of these mourning, blushing, brokenhearted men of
          God had one thing in common: they identified with the
          sins of the remnant!

          They never prayed like the publican, "Thank God I am
          not like others." They blushed over mixture that
          resulted in adultery, treachery and compromise. But
          they humbly prayed, "God, I am also guilty." Not guilty
          of these gross sins, but of falling short of God's
          glory.

          Ezra prayed, "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift
          up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are
          increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up
          unto the heavens.... All that is come upon us for our
          evil deeds, and for our great trespass.... Behold, we
          are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand
          before thee because of this" (Ezra 9:6,13,15). "Now
          when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed,
          weeping and casting himself down before the house of
          God" (verse 10:1).

          Nehemiah prayed, "We have sinned against thee: both I
          and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very
          corruptly against thee" (Nehemiah 1:6-7).

          Daniel also identified with the sins of God's people.
          He prayed, "We have sinned, and have committed
          iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,
          even by departing from thy precepts and from thy
          judgments: neither have we harkened unto thy servants
          the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our
          princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the
          land.... I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my
          sin and the sin of my people" (Daniel 9:5-6,20).

          These were all holy men, blameless before God. They
          were not compromising or mixing with the world. Still
          they stood in the gap, confessing both the sins of the
          people and their own sins.

          If you follow in the same path as these men and
          determine in your heart as they did to seek the Lord --
          fasting, praying, weeping, mourning, blushing for sin
          -- it will have the same effect on you. God's hand will
          touch you, and He will send His word to you. You will
          share the very heart of God. You will enter into His
          glorious presence. And once there, you will understand
          how far short of His glory we all have fallen.

          Let me share with you the key to what God is trying to
          show us:

          Ezra cast himself down before the house of God. He did
          not yet stand up before the people with a word from
          God. First, he humbled himself before all the people.

          When Daniel heard God speak, he said "Then was I in a
          deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground"
          (Daniel 10:9). John said, "When I saw Him, I fell at
          his feet as dead" (Revelation 1:17).

          Saints, what is your praying and seeking after God
          producing in you? Is it putting you on your face, cast
          down before the house of God, like a dead person?

          I want to see these kinds of believers: the sighers,
          the criers, the blushers -- not the thrill-seekers, the
          fun-and-games Christians, the prim and perfect ones. I
          want to see those who can admit, "I've not arrived. I
          have failed God. I grieve over my failure but I believe
          God can touch and heal me."

          God, send more failures into Your body! Send people
          with a sense of need.

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

                    III. Finally, It Is Going To Require
               A Night-And-Day Vigilance Against The Enemy.

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

          When the blush had returned to Israel, sin was cleansed
          and mixture dealt with. There was confession and real
          repentance. Now it was time to stand with each other to
          resist their common enemy.

          Prayer and humility, along with a hatred for sin,
          produces a mind to work. "So built we the wall; and all
          the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for
          the people had a mind to work" (Nehemiah 4:6). True
          revivals of holiness always produce workers. Books and
          seminars and lectures don't -- but revival does!

          When God is doing something genuine among His people,
          Satan conspires against it. "But it came to pass, that
          when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the
          Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of
          Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to
          be stopped, then they were very wroth, and conspired
          all of them together to come and to fight against
          Jerusalem and to hinder it" (Nehemiah 4:7-8).

          The enemy became very angry and conspired to come up
          against them to fight and to hinder! His tactic was to
          secretly infiltrate the body by sneaking up on them
          unexpectedly. "Our adversaries said, They shall not
          know, neither see, till we come in the midst among
          them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease"
          (verse 11).

          They planned to bring into their midst a secret army of
          pretenders in disguise. The enemy had no sudden, open,
          frontal attack, but said rather, "We will come in the
          midst among them!"

          The tactic was inside sabotage! The enemy said, "They
          will never know it is happening."

          And Satan's strategy has never changed. Even now he is
          sending his "angels of light" into gatherings worldwide
          with doctrinal sabotage and seductions.

          How can we detect them? What is our safeguard?
          "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set
          a watch against them day and night, because of them"
          (Nehemiah 4:9). The key here is an intense hatred for
          sin, true brokenness, fervent prayer and constant
          vigilance -- along with staying saturated with the Word
          of God.

          Beloved, God must restore the blush to His people!
          Allow the Holy Spirit to probe your heart very deeply
          and very thoroughly, that you may walk wholly blameless
          before the Lord in this late hour.

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

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