PRE-212-209. God Wants You To Know His Voice

209. God Wants You To Know His Voice

God Wants You to Know His Voice!

by David Wilkerson

April 19, 1993

[May 19, 1931 '96 April 27, 2011]

The devil does everything in his power to make his voice heard in this world. At one point he even had the audacity to interupt Jesus while the Lord was speaking in the synagogue:

"And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day He entered into the synagogue, and taught… And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him" (Mar_1:21-26)

Using the voice of the man, Satan cried out loudly, having one purpose in mind – to send fear throughout the entire congregation! He wanted every person within the sound of his voice to cower in fear – to believe he had power and authority, even as he was being cast out.

Peter warns last-day believers that Satan will come to them with a loud voice, trying to bring fear: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1Pe_5:8).

Here is my point: If Satan is making his voice known in these last days, showing his power to the masses of lost souls, how much more important is it for God's people to know their Father's voice? Do you think the Lord would sit by as Satan roars at the world – and yet remain silent Himself? Never! Isaiah said: "And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard" (Isa_30:30)

Since Adam and Eve, God has been speaking to man. Scripture says that from the very beginning, "They heard the voice of the Lord God" (Gen_3:8). Adam said, "I heard thy voice in the garden" (verse 10)

From Genesis onward through the New Testament, God made His voice known to His people – to Abraham, Moses, Caleb, Joshua, Samuel and David, to righteous kings and judges. In the books of the prophets we see this phrase repeated time after time: "And God said…" God's voice was known and understood. He always made His voice to be heard!

Jesus confirmed this in the New Testament, using the example of the Good Shepherd: "The sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers" (Joh_10:3-5).

Jesus stated to Pilate: "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice" (18:37). The message to us is clear: If you have God's Spirit in you, then you will hear and know His voice!

Yet we live in a day when many voices clamor for our attention. Paul warned: "There are…so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification [meaning]" (1Co_14:10).

Perhaps you have had the experience of many other Christians: When you pray, seeking to hear and know God's voice, your mind is flooded with all kinds of voices, You may wonder, "How can I distinguish the voice of God from my own flesh? How can I be sure it is God speaking, and not the voice of a tempting spirit?"

Let me share with you a few insights I believe God has given me on this matter of hearing and knowing His voice:

If You Are Living in Sin, You Will Never Hear God's Voice!

If you are coddling some secret sin, you can be sure you really don't want to hear God's voice. That is because you already know what He will say to you – and you don't want to hear it!

When Adam and Eve sinned, it brought shame. And with that shame came guilt, fear and condemnation. This shame is called "nakedness" in the Old Testament – and being naked meant standing in God's presence clothed only with guilt.

"And the Lord called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen_3:9-10).

Adam hid from God's voice, because of the guilt and shame of his sin. And that is exactly where many of God's people are today – hiding, afraid to hear God speak!

You may have lukewarm Christian friends who don't like to go to church with you. When you first met them they were living carelessly. Indeed, they were burdened with guilt and shame – but they weren't ready to give up their secret sin!

When you brought them to church with you, God's Word pierced their conscience. They knew they were hearing the voice of God, calling out to them, "Where are you – what are you doing?" Fear struck their heart! The holy presence of Jesus made their sin seem vile and they could not wait to run out of church and hide!

Beloved, if you want to hear God's voice you have to be ready for a total cleansing. You must be willing to have every sin exposed and cast away!

The prophet Isaiah had an awesome vision of the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. Seraphim covered themselves with their wings because of the holy presence of God. They cried out: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isa_6:3).

God's voice was so mighty it shook the temple. And at the sound of it, the righteous prophet Isaiah fell on his face, crying: "Woe is me for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips… for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (verse 5). Isaiah was stricken with a sense of sin and uncleanness – because God's voice is a purging voice!

"Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged" (verses 6-7).

Isaiah could not hear God's "directing voice" until he had first heard His "purging voice."

You see, direction and guidance come only after purging because if you haven't been purged, you can't go any farther with the Lord. Yet thousands upon thousands of God's people today flock to meetings to get a quick, "cure-all" word from God. They want a prophet to lay hands on them – to tell them what to do and what the future holds. Most of what they hear, however, is flattery: "Thou shalt be mightily used of God!" "Thou shalt be a witness to the nations!" "Thou shalt be blessed and prosperous!"

How many of these people do you think would flock to meetings if the "star preacher" pointed a finger at their heart and gave them the purging Word of God? "You're still unclean – you never have let go of your secret sin! You have no vision of Jesus' holiness. Hear His voice – repent!

If you want to hear God's voice of direction, you must first be ready to have your soul purged and cleansed. His Word comes to pierce our conscience and expose wickedness – so He can use us!

It Was Only After Isaiah Heard the Voice of Purging That He Heard the Voice of Direction!

Once he had received purging, Isaiah received direction from God: "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go… " (Isa_6:8-9).

How excited we become after the purging! Once we have repented and become broken, we pray, "Lord, You know that I've been cleansed, that all sins have been purged. Now I'm ready to hear Your voice of direction speak comfortably to Thy servant – I'm ready to obey!"

Yet if you want direction – if you think you're ready to do what He asks – then let me ask you: Are you ready for an unsettling word – a mission of hardship and rejection – a life of faith with no guaranteed comforts except those of the Holy Ghost?

That is exactly what happened to Isaiah! The prophet volunteered, "Send me, Lord." And God sent him on a hard, difficult mission!

"And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not, Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart" (verses 9-10).

The word Isaiah heard was not flattering! On the contrary, it would make him hated, unpopular. The Lord told him, "Go, harden those who refuse to hear Me speak! Close their eyes and ears – finish the hardening of their hearts!"

Dear saint, if you want to know God's voice, then you have to do willing to hear anything He says! God will never say, "Go!" until He first asks you "Who will go?" He comes to you asking, "Are you willing to do anything I tell you – to do it My way? Are you willing to lay down your life?"

When I prayed for direction a few short years ago the Lord told me clearly, "Go back to New York." That was a most uncomfortable word for me! I had been ready to retire. I had planned to write books and preach at selected places. I thought, "Lord I've already spent my best years there. Give me a break!"

Yes, we want to hear the voice of God, but we want to hear it comfortably! We don't want it to shake us. Yet why should God give us His voice of direction if He is not sure we will obey Him?

Abraham learned to hear God's voice by first obeying what he heard – at the time he heard it! God's word to him was a hard word: "Sacrifice your son, Isaac!" Abraham acted on that word and his obedience became a sweet-smelling aroma that touched the whole world: "And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice" (Gen_22:18).

There is One Major Cause of Why So Many Believers Cannot Know or Understand the Voice of God!

The teachers of Israel came to Moses and said: "Now therefore why should we die? For, if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it" (Deu_5:25-27).

These men were saying to Moses, "You go to God! You hear His voice and tell us what He says, and we will do it."

But Moses reminded these leaders that at one time they had heard the Lord's voice for themselves: "The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire" (Deu_5:4). God had talked to them personally – and they had lived! In fact, that very night, before retiring, they had agreed: "We have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth" (verse 24).

No, these Israelites were not afraid of hearing God's voice – they were afraid of what He was going to tell them! It was because they still clung to idols – golden mice they had carried with them from Egypt!

God already had commanded them:

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them…" (Exo_20:3-5). And now He was saying to them, "I want all of your heart. Lay down your idols!"

Amos spoke for God, saying: "Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Molech and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves" (Amo_5:25-26).

The writer of Hebrews says Israel begged "that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded…)" (Hebrew 12:19-20).

Here is the key! The Israelites could not endure what God had commanded of them because they not bear the thought of giving up their hidden idols and secret sins!

They thought, "Moses is meek. We'll let him talk to God and then we'll listen to him. He's led us all these years, and he still hasn't caught onto our hidden idols. He won't be as hard on us as God!"

No! God is not an entertainer who plays parlor games with idolatrous Christians! He seeks intimacy – He wants to speak to the smallest details of our lives. And He speaks with one purpose in mind – to possess all of our heart! He wants to destroy all idols and purge all sin so He can bless, favor and reward!

The Lord said of Israel: "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!" (Deu_5:29).

God's Voice Cannot be Heard When You Are Depending On A Man's Voice!

Israel could not hear God's voice because they preferred hearing the voice of a man. I ask you: Could this be the reason you are not able to hear His voice?

Perhaps you have an idol – a certain minister, teacher or evangelist. He speaks to you of good things – of healing, prosperity, faith and blessings. But he does not dig into your heart about sin! You don't want to be searched; you want only to be blessed – so you listen to his tapes for hours, devouring his messages. But you are feeding on a man instead of on Christ!

Beloved, the reason why many Christians today cannot hear the voice of God is because they have been indoctrinated by a man! The Bible speaks of this as the worst idolatry of these last days – addiction to false doctrine, false teachers, indoctrination by men who do not speak for God.

I do not speak against these men, but against heresy and error – against false doctrines that are coming forth and ruining men's souls. Those who run to such doctrines end up halfhearted, confused, shipwrecked. They miss the true blessing and favor of God!

It is time for every believer to go directly to the Lord and hear His voice without a man in the middle! You have to learn to hear God's voice for yourself. Yes, His Spirit will be digging, searching, convicting, dealing. But you will never know His voice until He has all your heart!

I want to speak now to those repentant, remnant believers who truly want to hear and know their Lord's voice:

God's Desire Is for His Holy Conversational Hearing Of His Voice!

God desires to speak to you as if you were sitting down to dinner with Him. He wants to converse with you, heart to heart, on any and all matters! The Bible says: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev_1:1-20 ation 3:20).

This verse often has been misapplied to the unsaved. We speak of Jesus standing at the door of the sinner's heart, seeking entrance. No – it is to the believer that Christ is speaking!

The context shows that Christ is talking to those who are clothed in white raiment (righteousness), who have bought gold tried in the fire, whose eyes are anointed (having revelation), who are loved, reproved and chastened (see verses 15-19). These are repentant, holy people who want to know the voice of God!

As I read and reread verse 20 in this passage, three words kept leaping out at me: "Open the door! Open the door!" And the Spirit of God spoke clearly to my heart: "David, the reason you have not heard Me as I want to be heard is because you are not wholly open in your spirit to hear!"

Now, we know theologically that Jesus abides in our heart. Yet most of us keep a little place in our heart that we never open up to the Lord. This is the seat of our soul, the very core of our being – it makes us the person we are. And out of it springs all of our emotions.

This is the room Jesus comes to, knocking, calling. He is saying there is a closed door between you and Himself – something that is blocking Him from coming in.

This door as I see it represents a commitment – one that many Christians have not yet fully made. Most believers pray, "Lord, all I need is a little advice, a few words of direction – a reminder that You love me. Just let me know whether I'm doing right or wrong. Go before me and open the doors!"

But Jesus answers us: "If all you want from Me is direction, I can send a prophet to give it to you. If you only want to know where to go and what to do, I can send someone and you can filter it all through him. But you're missing Me!"

The truth is, Jesus wants more! He wants your closeness, your deepest emotions, your locked-up room. He wants to sit down with you and share all that is in His heart – to talk to you face to face. He wants to be intimate with you! He is calling for dinner for two!

Rev_3:1-22 is a wonderful picture of this. It speaks of love and intimacy, of sharing secrets, of tender voices. Christ is saying here, "I want to share My heart with you. I want you to know My ways, so that the very thoughts you think are My thoughts. I want My voice to emerge more and more in your heart – until your very mind is the mind of Christ!"

He stands at the door, knocking, asking for a commitment – a step of faith that says you will open up your heart, soul and mind to Him. This can't happen through emotions or feelings. Rather, it must be through a commitment of faith that says, "Jesus, I commit to you, not to answers, not to direction. I open the door of my all to You!"

When Jesus comes in, He brings food, bread – in other words, Himself. And when you feed on Him, you will be satisfied completely!

The Song of Solomon Offers a Beautiful Picture of Christ Wanting in the Door!

The bride portrayed in the Song of Solomon says:

"I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night" (Son_5:2).

The bridegroom in this scene represents Jesus. He is knocking on his bride's door, saying "Open to Me My beloved, My head is filled with dew [meaning, I have suffered for our love]." The bride hears Him knock, but she is in bed. She loves the bridegroom, but she is too tired to get up and open the door to him.

Then something happens. She says, "My beloved put his hand in the hole of the door, and my [heart was] moved for him" (verse 4). In oriental times, doors were built with an opening in them. Here, the bridegroom wants so badly to be with his bride that He puts His hand in the opening and tries to undo the lock from inside. But for some reason he is hindered. So he looks through the opening at his bride – and he sees her sleepy-eyed and half-awake.

He wonders: "Does she truly love me? "Why does she not open to me with anxious jubilation? Why am I so anxious to be with her – and yet she is so unconcerned about being with me?"

Dear saint, this is exactly what the Lord is wanting from His church! He wants us waiting at the door, full of love – not slighting Him as if He were not the altogether lovely One of our hearts!

People who are in love want to be alone together. And this picture shows Christ's heart toward us: He wants intimacy with us so badly that He literally reaches inside and tries to unlock the door! Yet, I ask you – how many times has Jesus wanted intimacy with you, but you've shut Him out?

At this point, the bride rouses herself and smells her beloved's fragrance (the myrrh) on the lock of the door: "I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock" (verse 5).

Finally, she says: "I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer" (Son_5:3-5).

The bridegroom was gone! He still loved her – but his actions said, "She has no intense love for me – she's taking me for granted! I've got to withdraw until she learns to appreciate who I am"

Beloved, sometimes the Lord has to withdraw from us for the same reason! When He does so, He is saying to us, "I want you to come to Me with all your heart. I want you to love Me – to yearn after Me with everything that's in you!"

Suddenly, the bride realizes she has slighted her bridegroom! So she runs into the streets, crying, "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am [faint with desire]" (5:8). She tells everyone, "He is altogether lovely" (verse 16).

This is a picture of an awakened church – awakened to her need for Christ! Those who hunger for the Bridegroom are already standing at the door when Jesus knocks. They're ready, with their hand on the door, to open up to intimacy with Him!

Like the bride in this passage, we must wake up to who Jesus is to us! We have to say, as the bride does, "That's my love, my life, I can't do without Him!"

Have you not yet opened up to loving intimacy with Jesus? Have you not yet let the Bridegroom in? Open up your soul and spirit to Christ, and trust He will enter, Let Him be your source, your everything and believe what He said: "I will come in – I will dine with you!" (see Rev_3:20).

In His presence, shut in with Him alone, you will get to know Him – His fragrance, His ways, His heart. And you will learn to know His voice – the voice of the One who loves you enough to keep knocking and begging for your intimacy.

Get close to Him – and you will know His voice!

210. Where Are The Nine?

Where Are The Nine?

by David Wilkerson

March 8, 1993

[May 19, 1931 '96 April 27, 2011]

Imagine this scenario from Luk_17:1-37 : Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem as the time for His crucifixion drew near. As He passed between Samaria and Galilee, He approached an unnamed village. And outside that village, ten lepers were encamped in terrible squalor and shame.

Evidently, nine of these lepers were Jews, and one was a Samaritan. Now, the Jews of that day did not even touch Samaritans, let alone live with them. But apparently the common distress of these ten had brought them together in a shared misery.

If you've ever studied leprosy, you can imagine the sordid conditions they existed in. What we see every day in New York City is bad enough. On 41st Street, near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, makeshift hovels line the street, stretching a city block. They are cardboard shacks – refrigerator boxes covered with rags. You see filthy, soiled mattresses; rotting, torn clothes; worthless junk piled high on top of these pitiful "homes." It's a little town filled with lice, roaches, rats, drugs, alcohol, AIDS, rampant disease and constant fighting.

But believe me – those hovels are palaces compared to the squalid conditions of the ten lepers living in Jesus' day! These men had no disability checks, no welfare, no food stamps, no hospitalization, no social safety net. They had been totally abandoned by society.

They were homeless outcasts – forced to live in an isolated camp outside the village. Lepers were required by law to stay at least 100 paces (200-300 feet away) from all others. When people walked by, they had to cry out, "Unclean, unclean!"

Depending on how long they'd had leprosy, some had lost fingers, toes, ears, teeth, arms, noses. Their flesh was raw and rotting – and the stench and sight was unbearable. These men begged, scrounged, and ate food that others would not even look at. They probably lived out of the garbage dumps.

Yet what had to torment these outcasts most of all was the haunting memories of loved ones they had to leave behind when the priest pronounced them lepers. They lost loving wives and laughing, adoring children who once romped with them. They lost homes, careers, respect and all hope of usefulness. Some of them probably had been faithful Jews, entrenched in the tradition of the church. Yet now they were camped outside this unnamed village, leading a bleak, lonely existence of unspeakable shame and sorrow.

Leprosy in the Bible Has Always Been a Type of Sin!

Scripture shows the leper to be a type of sinner living in shame – debilitated and wasted by sin's terrible effects.

In many of our services at Times Square Church, the first three rows are occupied by former "lepers. These are the young men from Timothy House – former drug addicts and alcoholics. The leprosy of sin cost many of them all they had: wives, children, jobs, self-respect, health, sanity. Some ended up homeless, helpless, totally lost.

I don't know how these ten lepers ever heard about Jesus. Perhaps a vagabond leper had passed through and told them of the miraculous healings Jesus had performed for lepers in other towns or villages. In any case, they somehow knew Jesus would be passing by – and they were waiting anxiously to see Him!

Try to picture it: There they sit, as near to the road as they can get, but still two to three hundred feet out in the field. They've camped all night. What a pitiful sight they must have been! Ten hobbling, filthy, decaying, dying men, holding each other up for the moment when Jesus walks by.

I have often wondered if, when they saw Jesus and the apostles coming down the road, they started waving their stump arms. Did they point to missing limbs? Did they wave their dirty rags of clothing? I don't know how they got His attention. But when Jesus came within ear shot, they cried aloud, "Jesus, Master – have mercy on us!"

They weren't asking for money, or for heaven when they died. They were crying for mercy! It was as if they were pleading, "Jesus – how can You look upon such a pitiful sight and not have mercy? How could You turn us down?"

I am sure Jesus did not wince or turn away for even a moment. He looked them right in the face – and with great compassion He said, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests" (Luk_17:14).

Can you imagine what these lepers must have thought? "Go back to the priest? Why he's the one who examined us and pronounced us unclean! He chased us out of the village. If all ten of us showed up at his door, he'd take one look at us and mock our impudence. No one has ever been healed of leprosy. He'd think we were crazy!"

Yet I believe there was an immediate flow of life, health and strength into all ten of these men! One moved an arm he hadn't been able to move in months. Another felt life begin to throb in him – and he began jumping up and down! One after another, they looked at their hands, at each other's faces – and their scaly, ashen skin was beginning to change. Healthy-looking flesh was being restored to their limbs, their faces – they were being healed!

Do you remember the hour Jesus had mercy on you – how clean and alive you felt? Did you shout because you felt His cleansing power? Did you feel new life in you?

These men had to feel that life! You can be sure that some kind of thrill went through that group, and they let out shouts of joy! Raw, rotting skin was now closing. And where sores had been, now there was new, healthy skin!

Jesus Told These Ten Lepers The Same Thing He Told Every Leper He Cleansed: "Go and Show Yourself to the Priest as a Testimony!"

In Luk_5:14, Jesus had told a different leper: "Go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them" (Luk_5:14).

Now, no leper could simply return to his home or church or covenant rights. There were certain things he had to do.

First, he had to be pronounced clean by a priest – and that entailed a very elaborate, detailed ceremony covering eight days. He had to be thoroughly shaved, bathed and examined. Afterward came sacrifices, sprinklings by blood and oil, anointings, offerings. And after all this, he had to wait another eight days before he could be restored to his family and his rights. Altogether, the process took sixteen days of incredible religious activity!

These highly religious ceremonies were all symbolic – types used to teach the people about the glory of the Messiah. It's all described in Lev_14:1-57 – and this is what the ten lepers were headed back to their village to do.

By this time Jesus and the apostles probably had something to eat and were far up the road beyond the village. Yet suddenly they heard a racket behind them. When they turned and looked back, they saw a man running toward them – shouting and waving his arms! One of the disciples said, "It's one of those ten lepers from the village." And as he neared, they heard him shouting, "Glory – glory to Jesus! Praise You!"

It was the Samaritan! When he came up to Jesus, he fell prostrate at His feet – and he broke out in praise and thanksgiving! Out of his innermost being poured adoration for the Son of the living God: "You're God! You couldn't have done this unless you were the Son of God. Praise God! Glory!"

Jesus looked down at him and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" (Luk_17:17). He was asking, "Why only you? Where are your friends, the others I healed?"

Beloved, that is the question Jesus is still asking today! Of the many multitudes He has cleansed and made whole, only a remnant are drawn back to Him! So where are all the others? I'll tell you where – they are in the same place the nine healed lepers ended up: lost in the church – swallowed up by religion!

I believe in the Bible's statistics. And if the statistic from this story in Luke's gospel is accurate, then 90 percent of those who are touched by Jesus end up going back to some dead, dry church. They never get into Jesus – because they get lost in religion!

Now, these nine lepers were anxious to get on with their lives. They said, "I've got to get back to my wife and family. I want my self-respect back. I want to go to the synagogue again and study about the coming Messiah!"

You may say, "What's wrong with all that? Isn't a man commanded to provide for his own household? and doesn't David speak of meditating on the deep things of God? Aren't Christians supposed to be motivated to work diligently – to do exactly what the nine lepers did? And didn't Jesus tell them to go directly to the priest?"

Yes, that is all true – but it all becomes meaningless if you don't first get to know Jesus!

These Nine Lepers Had Truly Been Touched By the Power of Jesus – They Had Become Witnesses to His Power!

"Go… to the priest… for a testimony unto them" (Luk_5:14). For years to come, these lepers would have a powerful testimony. They could spend the rest of their lives talking about how Jesus merely spoke a word, and they were healed:

"I was once a leper! I was all alone with no hope – dirty, filthy, lost, a dying man. Then Jesus came along and cleansed me. I've been healed now for twenty-five years – praise His name!"

That all sounds wonderful. But the problem was, they were talking about a Man they did not know – witnessing to the power of a Savior they knew nothing of! They only say Him afar off. They could tell you what He looked like, what He talked like, how He walked – but they never got near to Him and to His heart!

One of my greatest griefs in all my years of ministry has been to witness the burnout of former addicts and alcoholics who had been miraculously delivered from lives of terrible sin and crime. Many of them were called of God to preach. but churches and pastors throughout the United States kept asking them to come and give their spectacular testimonies. They were cajoled and encouraged to give the gory details of their past.

Now, years later, many of these former addicts are telling the same story: "Fifteen years ago I was a pimp. I lived with prostitutes and went to jail twenty times. One day somebody told me about Jesus – and I was cleansed and made whole!"

Beloved, hundreds of such precious converts are now burned out, backslidden and shipwrecked! They have none of the character of Christ, no relationship with God, because they are living on a past, one-time experience. They never returned to Jesus – they never got to know Him!

Many people have asked why Times Square Church doesn't have converts from our charity outreaches come and testify each week. Indeed, these men and women have some of the most incredible testimonies you've ever heard.

But we want more for them than to end up with an old, worn testimony! We want them to go on with Jesus – to be able to stand and tell about a fresh, daily walk with Him, about what He's done for them today!

We want them to have more of Christ!

How Sad It Is to See So Many Converts – So Many Delivered People – Settle Down and Get Lost in the Hype of Modern Christianity!

Some people simply do not want to go on with Jesus. They prefer dead religion! They enjoy the pomp and formalism of the "high church" ceremony.

Oh, how religious those nine lepers must have felt as they went through the long ritual of cleansing! And what an incredible ceremony it was:

First, the priest took two birds. He killed one over a bowl of "living" (or, running) water and allowed the blood to drip down into the water. Then he tied hyssop to a cedar paddle (about 16 inches long) and bound it to the living bird with a crimson wool ribbon. This bird's wings and tail were dipped in the blood and water.

The blood was sprinkled on the cleansed leper's forehead and wrists seven times. Then the living bird was set free to fly away into an open field. afterward, the leper washed his clothes, shaved off his hair, bathed carefully and came into town to be isolated for seven days.

On the eighth day, he came back to the priest bringing two male lambs and one ewe without a blemish. He also brought 2.8 gallons of flour and a pint of oil. These were for a trespass offering, a sin offering and a burnt offering.

The priest took the oil and poured it into his own palm, then sprinkled it seven times on the ground. Taking the blood of the lamb, he touched the leper on his right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe. The priest then anointed him with oil at these same three points, and poured the remaining oil over his head.

How very ceremonial it all was – how religious the lepers must have felt! And indeed, these rituals stood for some very significant things – unctions, anointings, cleansings with the blood. But it was all dead!

These lepers had gone from being touched by Jesus, back to dead, dry ritualism and formalism. Yes, they had gotten back their self-respect. They had re-entered the life of the church. They had regained material blessings. But they never did get to know Jesus!

You may ask, "Why would Jesus send them back into such ritualism?" I believe Christ sent those lepers to the priest hoping they would get hungry to know the reality behind all the ritual:

"The running water – did He not once say He Himself was the Living Water? And the sprinkling of blood – did He not say His blood would be shed, that He would be crucified? The lamb being slain – what does that mean?"

You see, there was not a priest in Israel who could tell those nine lepers what those ceremonies meant. They performed them all by rote! No – Jesus wanted those lepers to turn to Him and be taught! When they had cried out to Him by the roadside, "Master, have mercy!" they used a word that meant, "Commander, Teacher!" They knew He had all truth – but they hadn't been hungry for it.

Those nine lepers represent the thousands of poor souls today who sit in church listening to ministers who don't know what they're talking about. It is all dry, boring – dead! Yet I know it is having one good effect: People are getting fed up! Many are saying, "This is not what Jesus saved me for – to sit here and dry up under a man who's just going through the motions. Give me reality! Give me Christ!

I Want to Tell You Now About The Remnant Man – the One in ten Who Turns and Runs Back to Jesus!

Why is it that in every generation there is a remnant who run after Jesus with passion and thanksgiving? Why does God always have one in ten who leaves everything and comes back just to worship and praise Christ – while the other ninety percent continue to go through the motions?

I believe the Samaritan ran back to Jesus because he wasn't bound by forms and rituals. He didn't have to "unlearn" it all! You see, the other nine had been raised orthodox, their minds trained from childhood in ritual and ceremony. They were still bound by their tradition. But once the Samaritan saw the whole religious system, he cried, "No way!"

He witnessed the phoniness of the religious leaders and churchgoers. He saw Pharisees robbing widows and taking away their homes. He saw priests bribing and being bribed. He was the temples filled with money changers, turning God's house into a den of thieves. He saw scribes making rules for others that they never lifted a finger to keep themselves.

He saw all the whitewashed fronts, the false faces and double standards. And he said to himself, "This is the blind leading the blind – it's not for me. I want the real thing!"

Now, as he heads toward the village with the other nine – back to the priest, to church, society, respect and the good life – he stops and thinks: "Wait a minute! I remember what it was like when I had it all – money, prestige, security. I was miserable! My so-called friends all rejected me at the first mention I might have leprosy. I was empty – bound by sinful habits, full of hate and bitterness. It was a living hell. Why should I go back to that?"

Then something in his heart began to burn: "Look at me – I'm clean. Jesus healed me! The church can wait – my family and career can wait. I'm going to Jesus! I want to get to know the One who healed me!" He came to the same conclusion all remnant people come to :

"There is nothing out there I want. It's all vanity! I'm going to Jesus – He is going to be my reality!"

Don't Think for a Minute This Cleansed Leper Came Back Just To Say Thanks – No, He Was Overwhelmed By a Desire to Worship This Man Jesus!

The remnant leper could not stop crying, "Glory!" praises sprang up from his innermost being!

I believe that if any person worships Christ as this man did – lying prostrate at His feet, crying thanks out loud without restraint – such a one is determined never again to leave Jesus! In his heart he says, "To whom shall I go? He has the words of eternal life!"

I imagine this man showing up everywhere Jesus taught. Every time Christ was on a mountainside or seashore, there sat the cleansed leper, right in front. He cried aloud: "I love You, Jesus! Glory to God! Praise You!" I see him at the Ascension, crying, "Take me with You, Jesus!" And I like to think he was in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, praising God – filled with the Holy Ghost!

Yet the truth is, we have been given something the thankful leper never had – a potential for power beyond any known to mankind!

In January, every four years, America inaugurates a president to what is called "the most powerful office on earth." His signature is law. He commands the world's most powerful army. He can simply push a button and bring destruction upon whole nations. But the power he holds is nothing compared to the power Jesus has given to you and me!

You see, we have absolute access to come into the very presence of the living Creator God – and also for Him to come to us! "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way… let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb_10:19-22).

The remnant leper didn't have such power. It came only after the veil in the Temple was rent in two. When that happened, it meant that man could go in and God could come out – that He could meet us!

The word "boldness" in this verse means "with open, undisguised publicity." Beloved, that "publicity" is for the devil's sake! It means we can say to every demon in hell, "I have a right by the blood of Jesus Christ to walk into the presence of God and talk to Him – and He to me!"

Do you believe you have this right – that God is willing to come out and meet you? Let us draw near to Him with a heart full of the assurance of faith! We do not come by the blood of a bird or goat or bull – but by the blood of our Lord Jesus:

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb_9:12-14).

Nothing thrills the heart of God more than when His children come to Him in boldness, without timidity! He wants us to come saying, "I have a right to be here. And even if my heart condemns me, God is greater than my heart!" (see 1Jn_3:20).

After this leper drew near to Jesus the second time, Scripture says Jesus "made [him] whole." "And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole" (Luk_17:19). This time Jesus gave him more than cleansing – He gave him wholeness, in his mind, body, soul and spirit. And that is what God is giving to all who draw near to Him today: wholeness!

I like to think this remnant leper went back to his hometown and had a reunion with the other nine healed lepers. What a conversation they would have had!

The nine probably stood around talking about all the problems they face when they went back: Wives were remarried. Children turned away in shame. Old friends still acted like strangers. The adjustments had to be overwhelming!

Then they all turned to the remnant one. "How did you turn out? Do you remember that Galilean, Jesus, who healed us? Whatever happened to Him? And why are you so happy?"

He broke into a smile and said, "I was with Him just yesterday! I'm following Him – I'm His disciple, and He is my teacher. And believe me, I haven't had an adjustment problem! It doesn't bother me that my family rejected me, or that my friends forsook me. Jesus took me in!

"Brothers, let me tell you – I walk with God! He talks to me and teaches me. I'm a tent-maker now – but my most rewarding work is praising my Lord!"

Perhaps he invited the other nine to go with him to see Jesus. But they probably would have turned him down: "Sorry – we study the law three nights a week. We're in a big discussion now about when the Messiah is going to come." They may have thought they were looking for the Messiah – but they had already missed Him!

So off the remnant one goes – back to Jesus, singing, "There's a song in my heart that the angels can't sing – Redeemed! Redeemed!" He is living in redemption – made whole, totally free!

Dear saint, you and I have something far greater than this leper had. We have not just an open door, but a loving Father who says to us, "Come – you're cleansed. Believe it – act on it. Come and meet Christ!" Hallelujah!

By: David Wilkerson