I Searched for a Man to Stand in the Gap

[00:00:00] To turn you to the Old Testament and to the prophecy of Ezekiel. [00:00:08] And I would just like to read a couple of verses from the 22nd chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel, Verse 30 of the 22nd chapter of Ezekiel. [00:00:30] And I sought for a man among them that should build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it. [00:00:43] But I found none. [00:00:47] And in the same prophecy. Chapter three, Ezekiel, chapter three and verse 17, Chapter three of Ezekiel 17. [00:01:09] Son of Man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. [00:01:18] Therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. [00:01:28] And then back to that passage that this session began with, the 62nd chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah, chapter 62. [00:01:40] We've already read it. [00:01:42] I will just underline it by reading a few sentences. [00:01:48] Chapter 62, verse 1. It is the Messiah himself who is speaking. [00:01:54] For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace? [00:01:59] And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. And the nation shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. [00:02:17] And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Verse 6. [00:02:25] I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. [00:02:31] They shall never hold their peace day nor night. [00:02:35] Ye that are the Lord's remembrances, take ye no rest. [00:02:42] And give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. [00:02:57] The subject this evening is standing in the gap for Israel. [00:03:03] And it is a very interesting picture that we have here in the prophecy of Ezekiel, where the Lord says, I sought for a man to build up the wall and to stand in the gap, but I found none. [00:03:23] If you turn to Ezekiel 13, you have it again. [00:03:33] Ezekiel, chapter 13, and I think it's verse 5. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither built up the wall for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. [00:03:53] The picture is one of the walls. Defence walls suddenly come cast up for war. [00:04:06] And when the war came, the defence walls were breached in one place. [00:04:13] And then everything depended upon whether there would be those who would stand in the gap fully armed to stop the enemy from making the breach and pouring into the city. That's the picture. That's why it speaks about building up the wall. It's a defense wall. The wall has been torn down in one place, it's been breached by the enemy's offensive. [00:04:45] And the picture is that someone has to stand in that gap and Defend it and seek to build up the wall again so that there can be no coming in of the enemy like a flood. [00:05:03] Now this is a very good word. When I was asked to speak on this subject or it was suggested to me quite some time ago, I'm not sure that whoever suggested it to me, I think it was Ken as usual, or whoever. Whoever whether what? I don't think anyone had any idea how very applicable it would be these months later. [00:05:31] Here we are in a situation where the enemy has come in like a flood, where the defense walls have been breached and not only in a national way. As far as Israel is concerned. My sense is that the whole work of the Lord is under attack and threat in the world tonight. [00:05:54] Certainly all the groups that meet together for prayer are facing an increased tension, an increased pressure, much confusion. It seems as if the enemy is making a breach and seeking to pour in through that breach. And the Lord says he's looking for a man, or for those who will stand in the gap the enemy's made and build up the wall and defend the city. It's interesting in this, Ezekiel 13, isn't it? It speaks about in the day of that. [00:06:38] In the day, day of battle, in the day of the Lord. [00:06:42] Well, dear friends, I am absolutely sure the Lord has very real lessons for all of us in this thing. If we will only learn the lessons now, it will stand us in very good stead in the days that lie ahead when very much more will happen amongst the people of God. [00:07:02] If you and I are going to stand in the gap for Israel, then we have to learn another very simple lesson. [00:07:10] It is almost preparatory to standing in the gap and building up the wall. We have to learn to watch. [00:07:19] I think it is of vital importance and significance that our Lord Jesus, whenever he spoke about the last days, warned us to watch. [00:07:37] It is the one thing the people of God are not doing. [00:07:43] They are not watching. They will even read prophecy charts. They will study books on prophecy and get their heads filled with preconceptions as to what's going to happen, which only makes them the more confused when it doesn't happen the way we are told it will happen. [00:08:04] I think that it is very interesting that our Lord told us to watch. [00:08:11] He said it again and again. I think it's quite important for us to just have a look at a few of these scriptures very swiftly. Take your New Testament. Take Matthew's Gospel, chapter 24. [00:08:25] In the major discourse the Lord Jesus gave on his second coming, chapter 24 and verse 42. Watch, therefore for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh, but know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. [00:08:52] Therefore be ye also ready. For in an hour that ye think not, the Son of man comes. [00:08:58] Chapter 25, verse 13. [00:09:04] At the end of that amazing parable of the virgins. [00:09:08] The ten virgins. Watch, therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour. This parable is very often used as an evangelistic address. I have no problem with that. But the Lord never gave it as an evangelistic address. [00:09:24] He gave it to four of his apostles who were the inner circle of the inner circle. Andrew, Peter, James, and John. [00:09:33] Ten virgins are ten virgins. Not five virgins and five adulteresses or five prostitutes. They were all virgins. Furthermore, they were all related to the bridegroom, and they were all waiting for the bridegroom to come. That's the second thing. The third thing is, they all had lamps or torches, every one of them. The the fourth thing is, they all had oil in their lamps, which is another fallacy that's got round Christian circles. Five had no oil, their lamps were out. Five had lamps, and they were alight, not two. They all had oil in their torches, and all had their torches alight. But when the cry came, behold, the bridegroom comes. [00:10:18] They all got up to. They all sound like believers to me. They all got up together. [00:10:25] All 10 of them. All 10 of them. And then, and only then, the five realized their torches were going out. [00:10:36] In other words, they had no reserves. [00:10:41] Then they turned to the five who had reserves and said, give us of your oil for our lamps. It says in the Greek, our lamps are going out. [00:10:53] And then the wise said something rather unkindly. [00:10:59] Go and buy for yourself oil, for if we give you our oil, then our lamps will go out. Knowing very well a Middle east wedding, they had no idea how long it might go on for our weddings sometimes go on for days on end. I know one wedding that went on for several six days. [00:11:18] Can you imagine it? Bridegroom and bride were nearly dead at the end of it, So they needed oil in their lamps. [00:11:33] Now our Lord says about this parable, Watch ye therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour. [00:11:44] Mark's gospel, chapter 13. This is Mark's record of this same discourse and verse 33. Mark's gospel, chapter 13, verse 33. Take ye heed, listen to this. Our Lord said it again and again when he spoke about his coming in. Take heed. Take heed to yourselves. Take heed that no one lead you astray. [00:12:09] Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is. [00:12:18] Verse 35. Watch therefore, for ye know not when the Lord of the house cometh, whether at even or at midnight, or at cock crowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, that is the four of them, I say unto all, watch. [00:12:38] I find this of infinite significance. [00:12:43] Our Lord did not emphasize the sequence of events although he spoke of a sequence of events. He did not emphasize the details of those events, although he gave details of those events. [00:12:59] His emphasis was was on taking heed to ourselves, being awake, watching, being ready. That was the emphasis of our Lord Jesus. And that emphasis was not to the unsaved, as most people imagine. This discourse on our Lord's second coming was given. [00:13:28] It was not to the unsaved, nor to the mixed multitude, nor to the great number of worldly disciples, most of whom were to fall away, nor to the 120 that were in the upper room, finally faithfully waiting there for the coming of the spirit, nor the 70 that were sent out in the name of the Lord Jesus to heal the sick and raise the dead and cleanse the leper who saw Satan falling out of heaven like lightning. [00:14:03] Not to those 70, nor to the 12 apostles, but to the inner circle of the inner circle, the most devoted, the most understanding, and the most responsible. Andrew, Peter, James, and John. And I say to myself, if the Lord says to such responsible servants of his, take heed. [00:14:30] Be ye also ready. For in an hour that you think not the Son of Man comes. Where does that leave me? [00:14:38] I need to take heed. [00:14:42] I need to to get ready. [00:14:46] I need to learn how to watch. [00:14:52] Take Luke's gospel, chapter 21 and verse 36. [00:14:59] But watch ye at every season, making supplication that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. [00:15:21] Watch, watch, he says. The Lord said, at every season making supplication. [00:15:35] Look again in the same gospel, in chapter 12 and verse 37, chapter 12 and verse 37. [00:15:48] Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. [00:15:53] Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and shall serve them. [00:16:05] Interesting. [00:16:08] Look again at the Apostle Paul's words, just as an example of how he puts it in one the first letter to the Thessalonians and chapter five, and from verse four to six. But ye brethren, this is to believers, this is to a living church. This is to people who are born again. [00:16:30] But ye brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you, you as a thief, for ye are all sons of light and sons of the day. [00:16:44] We are not of the night, nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. [00:16:56] Dear friends, it's I think, very, very interesting that there is this tremendous emphasis on watching. [00:17:05] Take one last verse in Ephesians, the Ephesian letter, and chapter 6 and verse 18 withal. This is when he's talking about being strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, putting on the whole armor of God and standing, withstanding in the evil day, and having done all standing. And then he says in verse 18, taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplications for all the saints. [00:17:58] Now I think that that's enough. [00:18:01] That's Bible study in itself. [00:18:05] I hope one little matter has got over to you, and that is watching is vitally important and full of significance in the last days of this age. [00:18:22] And if you and I do not learn how to watch, we are going to be in spiritual and in the end, physical danger. [00:18:34] We have to learn then the lessons now, particularly in regard to standing in the gap. Nobody can stand in the gap and build up the wall. Who doesn't learn first to watch? [00:18:54] Well, now, let me put it yet another way. Will you notice three things about those scriptures that we have looked at? First of all, will you please note the order? For instance, in Mark 13:33, watch and pray. The Lord did not say pray and watch, which is how most of us would understand it. [00:19:18] Pray and keep awake. [00:19:21] Don't fall asleep. [00:19:28] After this long day on this beautiful summer's day, one of these days that rarely visits Britain, you might feel a bit sleepy, but we tend to think, well, now, pray and keep. Keep watchful, keep awake. Don't fall asleep. That is not the order of our Lord. Our Lord is talking about a specific kind of intercession, a specific kind of prayer. He's talking about building up the wall and standing in the gap. He says, watch and pray. [00:20:03] Out of your watchfulness, out of your being watchmen, out of your observing what is happening, out of the spiritual insight that I give you as you watch. Then Pray under the government of the Holy Spirit and by the power of the Holy Spirit, intercede, stand in the gap, build up the wall, don't let the enemy come in and destroy all the work of the Lord. That's the first thing. Now the second thing is also, I think, very interesting. [00:20:43] We have it in Luke 21:36. [00:20:47] Watch at every season. [00:20:54] Watch at every season making supplication. [00:21:01] Now, what is supplication? [00:21:05] What does it mean to be a suppliant? [00:21:09] An old fashioned word, supplication. [00:21:11] And I imagine most people don't even know what it really means. Well, what does it mean? It's all a prayer and supplication with all prayer and supplication. What is supplication? [00:21:23] Does anyone ever ask what supplication is? Christians are the most extraordinary creatures on the face of this earth. [00:21:31] They don't ask enough questions. [00:21:34] They let it all run off them like water off a duck's back. I mean they just. Oh, supplication. Oh, it's a biblical thing, supplication, yeah. Very religious, very pious, very godly prayer and supplication. [00:21:49] But who knows what supplication is. [00:21:52] Supplication really means appeal or it means a beseeching. But I find the easiest way to understand supplication is the English word enquire, inquiry. In other words, with all prayer and inquiry, not praying your opinion out in public, not praying your preconceptions onto other people, teaching you this kind of horizontal prayer where we tell each other what to do and where to go and how we should live and everything else. These marvelous biblical paraphrases we get in the prayer meeting. I always think the prayer meeting is the venue of frustrated preachers. I need people all coming to the prayer meeting. And there they preach in the guise of prayer. We get points one, two and three. We get whole praises and paraphrases of the Bible. I sometimes feel as if the Lord wants to say, my child, I wrote it. [00:23:03] It's another thing to take the word of God and stand on it. But that's practical, that's direct, that's to the point. But all this high blown oratory and eloquence that we get in the prayer meeting, people say, oh, I got someone in the prayer meeting. Pray, just wait till you hear. And when you hear, it's all words. [00:23:21] What does it mean at the end of it? You wonder, what have they been talking about? [00:23:26] There have been all these wonderful spiritual phrases and really no wonder we have to go out of A prayer meeting saying to ourselves, the Lord does answer prayer. [00:23:36] I mean, it's. If we have to convince ourselves that somehow or other it hasn't been worthless, it hasn't been valueless. But my dear friends, in one sense our beloved Lord doesn't need enemies when he's got a. [00:23:55] We are the best enemies he could have. [00:23:58] We leave it to us. We'll destroy any prayer meeting. [00:24:03] It is amazing, but it really comes down to it, right to the point. You see, we are told here, watch at every season, not just in times of crisis, not just in times of great danger, but watch at every season because very often the enemy is working preparation for a crisis when it seems as if all the blessings there and nobody watches. [00:24:30] Watch at every season with all making supplication. In other words, making inquiry. When you see things beginning to happen, when you become disturbed in your spirit, make supplication. Make inquiry. You know, I've always been thankful that when I was first saved, an old aunt, she wasn't a real aunt, but she was in another way a real one in the Lord. She was Swedish and she very quickly noted that I was proud. [00:25:08] I was only 13, but I was very proud and very forward. And I used to want to know everything and I would not let the matter go. I went on and on and on and on and on and. And she used to say to me, there is a certain scripture you need. [00:25:27] And then she said she would turn it up and she would read it. [00:25:32] If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. And it shall be given him if he ask in faith, not wavering. [00:25:46] And she said to me, I think you lack wisdom and you need the wisdom that he gives. He won't argue with you and he won't upbraid you, and he won't interrogate you and he won't investigate you. He gives wisdom liberally to those who admit their need of it. Why don't you ask him? For every day for a number of years in my mid teens, I opened every day saying to the Lord, I lack wisdom. Lord, give me this wisdom. [00:26:16] Make the Lord Jesus wisdom to me. I used to pray and I believe that the Lord can give us insight in this. This is what inquiry is all about. It's not using our own opinions and our own preconceptions and all the rest of it, but really inquiring of the Lord. The best interpretation of meekness I have ever heard came from a Jewish source. [00:26:43] He said meekness is teachability. [00:26:51] Meekness is the ability to learn, the ability to be taught. It is a very rare quality, that ability to learn, that ability to learn, to be taught, that teachable ability. [00:27:17] Then I want you to note one other thing. [00:27:23] In Ephesians 6:18, watching thereunto with all perseverance, isn't that interesting? Praying at every season in the Spirit. [00:27:37] What does it mean to pray in the Spirit? Now, I have to be careful that I don't digress too much this evening because I want to talk about standing in the gap. But the fact of the matter is that very often we have an idea of praying in the Spirit is praying in a tongue. My dear friend, praying in a tongue is part of praying in the Spirit, but it is not praying in the Spirit. [00:28:03] Praying in the Spirit is far more than just simply praying in a tongue. I think it's wonderful to pray in a tongue. But to pray in the spirit means you pray in the dimension of the Holy Spirit. You pray under the government of the Holy Spirit. You pray by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by the burdens that the Holy Spirit gives you, by the perseverance and endurance that he gifts you with. You pray in the spirit. And when you're praying in the Spirit, we are told then that we are to watch with all perseverance. Don't give up. [00:28:45] Don't throw in the glove. [00:28:48] Even when it looks as dark as it possibly can look, don't throw in the glove. [00:28:57] Watch thereunto with all perseverance. [00:29:05] Dear folks, another point I would just like to underline in this matter of watching, which I believe to be so tremendously important for us all, is that you cannot have a closed mind. [00:29:23] There's no need to watch when you have a closed mind. Now, what do I mean by a closed mind? When you've got it all worked out, I'm amazed at some of God's people. [00:29:33] I recently had a fax. I am not joking. [00:29:38] This fax stretched from that door to here. I'm not joking. I've got witnesses to it. When we finally piled it up in the kitchen, it came up to my chest. [00:29:51] Unfortunately, the time for fires in Jerusalem is over. So I couldn't even use it for that. I've never seen. I thought, how much does this poor man in New Zealand has he spent on this fact? [00:30:03] And at the time that he's taken to write this whole thing to me, does he really think I have time to sit down and read it all? I just don't have time to read the facts that long. I said to the boys, you better read the stuff and see what it is. And there they were, sweating away reading this. They said, it's nonsense. So I said, then get rid of it. [00:30:29] God preserve us from these Christian lunatics. [00:30:35] There are so many of them. I get manuscripts almost weekly. I never ask for them. I've never said I will read to people's inspired writing. But I had these huge tomes this thick that way foolscap sent to me to look and to send back a letter and say what I think of it. I haven't even got time to read the thing. [00:31:01] Do they really think that I can spend hours plowing through these manuscripts? [00:31:12] Closed mind. [00:31:14] Some of the charts I have, they are unbelievable. [00:31:20] Every single little thing is fitted into these wonderful charts. [00:31:24] Of course, to really get a real chart, you've got to be dishonest because you have to push certain things somewhere. [00:31:30] And the marvelous thing about our Lord was he was so ambiguous when he talked about his coming again. [00:31:36] That's why we might have a pre tribulation rapture, a post tribulation rapture or mid tribulation rapture. And we really can't be sure. I know some of you are absolutely convinced now, don't write to me. [00:31:52] I've got my own conviction and I'm sticking with it. [00:31:59] I'm a mid tribulation partial rapture. And I know everyone thinks there's a heresy. [00:32:03] They all think it's a heresy. I believe it's the most biblical of them all. But I still think I could be wrong. So if we all go before, you'll be able to say to me you were wrong. [00:32:16] And if we all go through together, well, then you see, someone else will be able to say to us, you were both wrong. [00:32:23] And if only those who are ready are taken, I just hope you're ready because then I'll be able to say to you, there you are. [00:32:33] But the fact of the matter is, our Lord could have cleared up this whole thing with one small supplementary discourse of precisely five minutes in which he said, I want to spell it out. You are all going through the tribulation. [00:32:47] Never did. Or he could have said, you're all going to be taken before the trip. He never did. Or he could have said, only those of you that are ready are going to be, and the rest of you are going to be left. [00:33:01] No, he never did. He could have just taken. Did not our Lord know the confusion that would result? Of course he knew. [00:33:08] Then it then comes the question, was this ambiguity deliberate or was it coincidental I say it was deliberate. [00:33:18] Our Lord was deliberately ambiguous because he wants us to walk by faith and not by sight. [00:33:25] So in one sense, if you want to live a worldly, careless life, compromised living in sin, you can do so. And that's why the last chapter of the Bible, you have the most amazing thing of all, where the Lord says, let him that is filthy become more filthy, and let him that is unholy become even more unholy. And he that doeth righteousness, let him do more righteousness. And he that is holy, let him become more holy. That is the most amazing, amazing thing for our Lord to say. He then says, behold, I come. [00:33:56] My reward is with me. [00:33:59] Now I say that that is quite extraordinary that our Lord should have said it in this way. Why did he not tell us that we should wake up, that we should get ready? No, he says, and remember, this is to believers. This is not to unbelievers, this is to believers. [00:34:16] And our Lord said, if you want to be worldly, go on, be more worldly. If you want to be filthy, go on, be more filthy. If you want to get ready, get ready. If you want to be clean, get clean. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? [00:34:31] In other words, you and I need to wake up. Now, that was a bit of a digression, but what I'm trying to say is when our Lord told us to watch, it is quite clear to me that he said, don't have a closed mind on any of these matters. [00:34:47] Keep an open mind and watch and inquire, and I will give you light. It is very interesting. There are a whole number of things that are sealed up to the time of the end. The very understanding of those things will not be given to us till the very end. And then the Holy Spirit will give us understanding. [00:35:07] But my point is this. When our Lord said we were to watch, then we cannot have a closed mind. [00:35:17] We have to be convinced in one sense as to what the Word teaches, and yet keep a fluid, open, flexible attitude and mind on the details so that the Lord as we watch, can instruct us and teach us. I believe this is very important. [00:35:37] This matter of watchmen is also very interesting. Now, of course, in Britain, you don't really have too many watchmen, but in the Middle east, we have lots of watchmen. Indeed, through the whole Orient and Far east, there are Watchmen. And one of the most amazing things is that most people think of a watchman. They think of someone who is decrepit. [00:35:57] I'm not being unkind, to you who are older, retired, decrepit, dim of the seeing and hard of hearing, who cannot really do anything. So you pay him a few shekels and he becomes a watchman. And he sits in the courtyard and by his very presence he sort of. It's a human presence there. And people will sort of take note there's a watchman there. [00:36:23] And this kind of idea of a watchman has gone right through our mentality. So we think, oh, watchman, watchman. Oh yes, what does a watchman do? [00:36:35] But if I were to use an altogether modern term, you would understand straight away, supposing I said, ye are the Lord's security guards. [00:36:45] Now you understand you're the Lord's security guards. Now a whole number of things immediately become clear. A security guard has to be healthy. That's the first thing. It's no good in having a wooden leg or one arm. He's got to be healthy and he's got to have every part of his body functioning. That's the first thing. The second thing is he's got to have quick responses and reactions. It's no good having a security guard who wakes up five minutes after the gun has fired. I mean, then he won't wake up at all. [00:37:20] The fact of the matter is you've got to have very quick responses and reactions. That's the second thing about a security guard. The third thing is he must have very good sight. [00:37:32] He must have clear sight. Not short sight, nor long sight, but good sight. Some Christians are short sighted. They only see what's immediately around them. They're only bothered about their family, their relatives and their own fellowship. They don't see beyond. That is the extent of their vision. Other people have long sight. They're not the least bit bothered about anything nearby. But they see the coming of the Lord far off on the mountains. They are totally taken up with the millennium and all that's going to happen in the millennium. That mule is going to be so happy in the millennium. We heard about this afternoon and all that. We have all these wonderful. This is all in the future. Long side. Other Christians have double vision. They see everything double. It's unbelievable. But because they see everything double, they never get anything clearly defined. It's double vision. We can't have any of that. If we're going to be a security guard, we've got to have good sight and then hearing. You've got to have good hearing. [00:38:33] You can't have a hearing aid in each ear and be a security guard. [00:38:37] You've got to have Good hearing. Now, I know some people say, you're getting at us. That's what you're doing. You're getting at us old ones who are the backbone of pfi. You're trying to get at us this evening. No, no, no, I'm not. Not at all. [00:38:53] You've got to have good hearing. [00:38:56] When I was young, they thought I had bad hearing. [00:39:00] And my mother used to say my nickname was Lala. She used to say, lala, go to bed. And I never heard. And she said, lala, put away those toys. Time for going to bed. I never heard. [00:39:13] So she took me to the doctor. And the doctor said, there's something wrong with his hearing. You have to have an operation. [00:39:19] But my mother did one very wise thing always. She always talked things over with her mother. [00:39:26] And my grandmother was a wise old bird. [00:39:29] And she said, send him down to me. [00:39:33] I'll have him for two weeks now. I loved my grandmother and my grandfather, and I went to them for a while. And my grandmother used to say, lala, it's time for you to take your things up and go to bed. Never hurt. [00:39:44] She would put her head in the door and say, lala, it's time for you to go. But I still didn't hear. [00:39:49] I went on playing. [00:39:51] Then one day she stood just in the doorway and she said in a whisper, lala, would you like some apple pie? [00:40:00] And I said, yes. [00:40:04] My grandmother was on the phone like a jet propelled rocket. [00:40:09] She said to my mother, there's nothing wrong with this boy. She said, he can hear everything. He just doesn't want to hear what he doesn't want to hear. [00:40:18] And that is precisely the truth. [00:40:20] I never had the operation on my ear, which I was told would have only a 60% chance of success. [00:40:30] I didn't need it. [00:40:35] Many of us don't hear the Lord because we don't want to hear. We were a little afraid that we might hear too clearly, that maybe he might tell us about some things we would rather not hear. [00:40:49] So we develop a kind of deafness as far as the Lord is concerned, as if that excuses us. But you can't be a watchman. You cannot, under any circumstances be a person who stands in the gap and builds up the wall, unless you really learn these lessons. [00:41:14] Spiritual health, quick spiritual responses and reactions, good sight, spiritual sight, good spiritual hearing, all these things are absolutely necessary. [00:41:38] Standing in the gap, then, has very much to do with watching. [00:41:43] If we watch, we will see that the enemy has made a breach and we will begin to understand as we inquire that we have to stand in that gap and build up that wall. [00:41:58] And as we inquire, the Lord will enable us to build up the wall and to withstand in that evil day. [00:42:12] Now I would like to pass on to the calling of the intercessor Moses. It says in Psalm 106 and verse 23, Psalm 106, 23. [00:42:36] Therefore he that is the Lord said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he he should destroy them. [00:42:52] Moses stood in the gap. [00:42:58] And the calling of the Lord of God to us is that when these defense walls are breached in any way, we should stand in the gap. This is intercession. [00:43:20] Now to me this is an incredible privilege. [00:43:29] Only the redeemed of the Lord have this amazing position in this universe. [00:43:39] Those who are redeemed, those who are saved by the grace of God, those who are born of the Spirit of God are in Christ. [00:43:49] They are in the Messiah, and they are in the Messiah in heavenly places. [00:43:58] They are actually in the heavenlies in Christ. In fact, in Ephesians it says we are made to sit with him in heavenly places. I always remember a story that I tell in connection with this that comes to my mind. [00:44:13] Very dear, very godly man that had a great influence on my life. He told me this story. He once went into somebody's study and he saw on the mantelshelf of his study these wonderful letters on a piece of wood in gold. [00:44:30] Look down. [00:44:33] And as he was talking with this dear servant of the Lord, he couldn't get over this thing. He kept his eyes, kept on wandering. It was a look down. He said, I've never heard of that. I've always heard look up, look up, look down. Or looking unto Jesus. But I've never heard look down. Finally he couldn't bear it anymore. And he said, excuse me. He said, why do you have that up there on the mantelpiece? Look down. Brother said, it's all a question of your position. [00:45:01] If you're under something, you look up. But if you're seated with great Christ, you look down. [00:45:09] So he said, every time I have a problem, I see it on the mantle. Look down. [00:45:16] Where are you? You're in Christ. You're in heavenly places. You're made to sit with him. Look down. [00:45:22] See it from your position in him. Now here is the perhaps incredible privilege that we have. [00:45:30] We are at the same time as being in the Lord Jesus in heavenly places. We are also on the earth. [00:45:40] We are the only People in the universe who are actually on this earth at the same time as being in Christ in heavenly places. What an amazing position. [00:45:52] Now it is only those who can intercede, for they are those who are called to be kings and priests unto God. [00:46:04] Do you understand what I'm trying to say, or is all this a little too much for you? At the end of this long day, at present there is an enormous onslaught of Satan upon Israel, upon all those who love Israel and pray for Israel, and indeed upon the whole household of faith. [00:46:35] Satan's objective in this breaching of the defense wall is to frustrate God's purpose for his church and liquidate Israel. [00:46:50] I don't have any doubt at all that the enemy has within his heart another holocaust for the Jewish people. Now I'm not saying there will be another holocaust. I am saying that the powers of darkness, Satan himself has got this strategy, this plan, this scheme in his heart. He is preparing another holocaust for the Jewish people. He is going to burn them up, he is going to gas them, he is going to liquidate them. And what we see in Iran and what we see in the Islamic fundamentalist revival gives us all the evidence for this statement. Now you may think that what I am saying is somewhat extreme. I don't think so. I believe with all my heart that it's prophetic insight. [00:47:49] I may be wrong, and I will be the first to be thankful if I am wrong. But I have to tell you, I believe the enemy is working according to a devilish plan of his own. He is going to surround Israel. He is going to fire up a religious fervor such as this world has hardly seen. [00:48:13] And in the end, he is going to lead a war, a horrible holy war, a crusade against Israel to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. [00:48:26] There is nothing new in this. [00:48:30] God will deliver Israel. [00:48:34] And in the midst of all those trials, God will fulfill some of the major prophecies in his word. [00:48:47] So, my dear friends, I believe that we are in an enormous battle and this conflict is hotting up. [00:48:57] If I am right, then this conflict is heating up by the weak and we are going to have to to learn how to stand in it and how to withstand. [00:49:15] And when we've done everything to continue to stand in the Lord, the victory is ours. There is no need to be afraid of this conflict. I always find it very interesting when Christians get all upset and neurotic and say, I wish I'd never come to that meeting. [00:49:39] I spent a whole sleepless night tossing off. Do I listen to You. [00:49:45] Why do we have to have people like you talking like this? Well, what do you want? Do you want me to talk about twittering birds and lovely sunsets and peace? Peace where there is no peace? [00:49:59] You won't thank me. [00:50:01] No, you'll turn on me when all the darkness comes to you and then you say, why did you tell us that it was all going to be so heavenly and so wonderful? How could you be so deceived? [00:50:13] The fact of the matter is we are in the last days and we have time to get ready. [00:50:20] There's no need for neurosis. Most of us are neurotic, given the. [00:50:26] The right conditions. [00:50:32] If we've got the right conditions, most of us, including most of the men here, become neurotic. [00:50:40] Let's face the realities of it calmly while we have time and say, the Lord is my strength, the Lord is my light and my salvation. [00:50:51] Of whom shall I be afraid? [00:50:54] The Lord is the strength or stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? [00:51:01] When my enemies came upon me to eat up my flesh, I shall not fear, says the psalmist. [00:51:14] Well, my dear friends, we have an absolutely safe place. But that's not what I'm talking about. [00:51:20] I'm not talking about you having a bed of ease and having a lovely little time and a kind of little molly coddled sort of bubble in which you can live and be somehow other preserved from all the tensions and pressures. You poor saint. [00:51:40] What kind of saint are you going. You believe you're going to come to the throne of the Lord Jesus? [00:51:45] As if he wants some Hollywood star sitting beside him forever, throughout eternity, whereas nothing between her two ears carried all her days. [00:51:59] No, my dear friends, it's time for you and I to wake up. We've got time for the Lord to prepare us, time for the Lord to train us. [00:52:10] And the Lord is very gracious in this way. He puts us through a kind of kindergarten conflict first. Then he steps it up to a kind of, you know, elementary kind of school experience. And then we get a little bit more until in the end we're right in the thick of a real battle. [00:52:31] But the Lord is very gracious with us in this whole matter. Now, my dear friends, isn't that a wonderful word? [00:52:39] This word that my brother Jeffrey read earlier at this time? I thought that was very interesting. I would almost wonder whether I was right in speaking this message this evening, if it hadn't been that this Isaiah 62 was so much. And there it is. Look at that. Beulah, I think, of course, you all Say Beulah. [00:53:02] It's such an old fashioned word. Now, before I knew these things, I used to think of Beulah, Beulah Land and those old sacred songs and solos. Do you remember the old hymn about Beulah Land? [00:53:17] I used to think that was the weirdest thing. I used to sit there in that Baptist church, looking at all these people rapturously singing about Beulah Land, wondering, what in the world are they talking about? What are they singing about? [00:53:30] Beulah Land. [00:53:32] What's Beulah? So for me, somehow or other, this whole idea is somehow Victorian, if you know what I mean. It's gone out with Queen Victoria, Beulah. But it's not so at all. It's in Isaiah, chapter 62. That is a most wonderful chapter. And you find the Messiah is speaking at the beginning. And he opens his heart and he says, I will take no west until Jerusalem's light goes forth as a lamp that burneth to the ends of the earth. I'm putting it now in my own words. And then he goes on about, all nations shall see thy glory and kings the brightness of thy rising. And then he goes on. Whereas before you were called forsaken, or divorced and desolate, you shall be called, you shall be termed Hephzibah, my delight is in her. And Ba', Ullah, married. [00:54:34] Now, Ba' Ullah comes from the Hebrew root from which we get the word baal, husband. So Ba' Ullah is to be husbanded, married. [00:54:47] And baal, the God baal, BAAL was a husband. And when Israel took BAAL as their God, what they were doing was taking another husband. Do you understand? [00:55:01] And of course, the whole of the BAAL worship was to do with fertility. That's why he was the husband. He was creating, as it were, fertility. Now, the wonderful thing about this extraordinary prophecy is it says your land will be called Ba', Ullah, married. And then he goes on, your sons will marry your land. Isn't that a marvelous word when you think about it? It's exactly what we've witnessed in Israel in this last century. The Jewish folk, they have come back from the ends of the earth and they have been married to the very soil of the promised Land. And it is one of the most amazing things in the history of the Jewish people, that only when the land is wedded to the Jewish people does it become fertile. [00:55:55] Every time in history, they have been divorced from the land. It has become a wilderness. It has become eroded hills, treeless, waterless, people less barren. [00:56:12] And every time the Jewish People have come back to the land and have been married to the land again. Then it has become fertile and fruitful. Isn't it an amazing picture? And then the law takes it a step further. As if it is not just and only a matter of the land being married, but the people themselves being married to Himself. [00:56:38] What a picture. Then the Lord says, I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They shall never take their. They shall never take their rest. [00:56:55] Then there's a wonderful little word. I don't know if it's in your version, but it's in mine. And it's absolutely true to the Hebrew. Ye, that are the Lord's remembrance. [00:57:05] Now isn't that a wonderful word? Did you hear it? [00:57:09] Ye, that are the Lord's remembrancers. [00:57:14] Why does the Lord need anybody to remind Him? He doesn't. He knows what's in the book. [00:57:20] But it is part of his instruction and education of us that we have to find out what is in the book. Do you understand? [00:57:29] Then by the spirit of the Lord, we have to take what we discover in the book. And we stand on it and we become the Lord's remembrances. We remind him of his covenant. We remind him of his promises. We remind him of his word. We remind him of the Messiah. We remind him of his grace. We are the Lord's remembrances. And then listen to this. He says, ye, that are the Lord's remembrances. [00:57:55] Take no rest and give him no rest. [00:57:59] What a word. [00:58:01] Why should we nag the Lord? [00:58:04] I mean, why does he say this country as you would have thought he would have said? Now don't worry. I know all about it. There's no need for you to get in on the act. You don't have time to do it. [00:58:16] I don't need you. [00:58:18] You're a problem to me anyway, once you get in on the act. I've got many more cotton, so you stay out of it. I am the Lord. [00:58:31] Now there is an idea in Christian circles that the Lord needs us. [00:58:37] If the Lord needs us, he is no longer God. [00:58:42] How in the world can the Lord need us if God is God? He doesn't need us. [00:58:49] He is the only one who is self sufficient. [00:58:52] Isn't that amazing? [00:58:54] He can do without you and me. And furthermore, he can do much better without you and me. [00:59:01] But in his grace and in his love and in his mercy, he has said, I won't do without you. You are a load of trouble, but I'm taking you along with me. [00:59:12] And furthermore, if you don't come in on this with me, I will do nothing. [00:59:18] I will just sit back and do nothing. [00:59:23] You have to learn how to discern my mind. You've got to get to know my word. You've got to get to understand my purpose. You've got to explore my covenants. And then you have to learn by the Spirit how to take all this as ammunition, as weapons, and stand before me against my enemy, with me for the fulfillment of my purpose. You've got to learn how to stand in the gap and build up the wall so that I don't destroy the land. [01:00:00] And some people say to me, I don't understand what you're talking about. [01:00:05] I mean, if you're telling me that God is self sufficient and doesn't win. Now let me look at this watch, which I can't see. [01:00:16] I think Westminster Chapel is an extraordinary place. It is one of the few places I know that has no clock. [01:00:26] I once went into a congregational church many years ago that was so dusty that if I suffered from asthma, I would have died. [01:00:36] The windows were encrusted. [01:00:39] I don't think they'd been opened in 50 years. [01:00:43] And when I got up into the pulpit to preach to that poor and very decrepit congregation, I noticed there was one single thing that shone with pristine clarity. [01:01:01] It was a little brass bronze plaque in the pulpit, which only the preacher could see. [01:01:08] The deacons and congregation of this church request that the preacher be no more than 14 minutes. [01:01:21] This little plaque was kept beautifully clean. Apparently someone lovingly came and cleaned it, I suppose once a week. The only thing in the whole place that was clean. [01:01:35] Well, now, my dear friends, what I'm just trying to say is this. This is the most wonderful word. You see, someone may say to me, well, if God is self sufficient, can do all things, and after all, he predestinates all things. And he is. [01:01:50] He works all things according to the counsel of his own will. Why do we need to pray? What's the point of prayer? I mean, he's going to do it anyway, isn't he? Well, my dear friends, I don't know myself. I've always said that prayer is a mystery. I have no idea why the Lord calls us into intercession. But in some amazing way, because of the principle of fellowship to which the Lord has committed himself in the training of a bride that will come to the side of our Lord Jesus and reign with him for all eternity. [01:02:23] He teaches us, us, through intercession and through prayer, warfare and conflict, all the principles of reigning with the Lord Jesus. [01:02:34] We have to learn how to overcome. We have to learn how to be right under and come out on top. We have to learn, when everything is terribly dark and absolutely going against us, how to stand with the Lord till the whole tide is turned and the Lord's purpose is fulfilled. Then it will seem to us as if we did it. As if by our prayer, as if by our battling we turned the tide. We did nothing of the kind. It was the Lord who turned the tide. But it was the Lord who said, I will not turn the tide till you stand with me. [01:03:08] Do you see how the Lord is seeking to train us? [01:03:12] Is it not marvelous? [01:03:16] So here we have a call to prayer. And, my dear friends, it is the burden of the Messiah at the right hand of God that is the key to fulfilled intercession. [01:03:34] When we pray our own prayers, nothing happens. [01:03:39] But when we pray out the burden that's on his heart, in the end, something happens, something is fulfilled. And you and I have been introduced into the inexorable progress of the purpose of God. [01:04:00] We have become an integral part in its fulfillment. [01:04:06] It is one of the glories and mysteries of intercession. [01:04:14] I do not believe that there will be any in the throne of the Lamb who is not an intercessor. [01:04:21] Because you cannot become an intercessor till you learn how to read the mind of the Lord, how to discern the will of the Lord, how to discover the weapon to use by the spirit in the warfare. How, not only with faith, but with patience and endurance to persevere until the thing is fulfilled. But I must finish. [01:04:49] What is the character required? [01:04:54] It's all very well for the Lord to say, I sought for a man to stand in the gap, to build up the wall. [01:05:03] What kind of character is he looking for in you and in me? [01:05:08] Firstly, I think we need to be delivered. Listen to me. [01:05:13] From spiritual lunacy. [01:05:19] I will say it again. [01:05:21] We need to be delivered. From spiritual lunacy. The Lord knows better than I how many lunatics are in on this business. [01:05:29] I travel all over the world. [01:05:32] Prophecy is like a magnet that draws every Christian nutcase to it. [01:05:39] The weirdos get in on it, all the unbalanced get in on it. And they make such a business of this thing. It is no wonder that many people are sick to death of the whole question of prophecy. [01:05:56] Lunatics. [01:06:00] Then, of course, wherever I go, people come and tell me that they are intercessors. I only have to look at them to know whether they are a real intercessor. And I see people with these wild Eyes, Pale faces and wild eyes. [01:06:18] They look like kind of Christian dervishes. [01:06:22] Then I know immediately. I remember one poor husband saying, do you think you could do anything for my wife? Why? He said, she shuts herself in the broom cupboard and screams with a friend for two hours on end. [01:06:36] He said, the children, nobody looks after them. The house is going to rack and ruin. [01:06:42] What could you do with such cases? [01:06:45] This poor soul had got this idea of vicarious suffering. [01:06:50] You have to take the suffering in on yourself. So she used to shut herself in a boom cupboard with a friend and have a kind of mental hospital. Scream. [01:07:02] They felt better for it. Nothing ever happened except that the house was just a hopeless mess. God preserve us from lunatics. [01:07:15] We have quite enough of them. [01:07:18] So this is my first. May the Lord deliver us from lunacy. Now, many of you may say, well, I'm not a lunatic. Just wait. That's what everybody who's a lunatic says. [01:07:34] It's like when I've been to visit someone years ago in a mental hospital and this person said to me, I am Queen Victoria. [01:07:43] The thing that shook me was when I looked in this lady's eyes, she obviously believed it. [01:07:48] She was the only person who did not know that she was not Queen Victoria. [01:07:56] So now, if you think when I say, you know, be delivered from lunacy, just be humble in this matter, maybe there's a touch of it in you. Maybe at least you should say, oh, Lord, keep me balanced. Keep me clear of any spiritual lunacy. Deliver me from anything that's in me. You cannot become a Christian lunatic unless there's some kind of spirit of lunacy in you. Do you understand what I mean? The Lord will keep you from it. The Lord is the most wonderful leveler and balancer in this world. He keeps us of sound mind. [01:08:31] Sober is the word in the book. [01:08:35] Sober. [01:08:37] So that's the first thing. The second thing is this. We must have feet firmly on the ground, even though we are in Christ in heavenly places. Now, let me explain exactly what I mean. We have to be good husbands, good wives, good parents, good children, good workers in our place of work and good members of the body of Christ. That's what I mean by having your feet firmly on the ground. Away with this idea that somehow other intercessors are mystics. They float around. They couldn't possibly do anything else. They could never scrub a floor or cook a meal or anything like that. They are called to be intercessors. They are dreamy. That glazed look on their eyes. They sit at the feet of our Lord Jesus. Now, don't get me wrong on this matter. There is a place for sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus. After all the Lord said about Mary, she has chosen the better part. [01:09:42] So don't get me wrong on this. I'm not saying we shouldn't meditate, we shouldn't reflect, we shouldn't be still, we shouldn't be quiet. The more of it the better. But keep your feet on the ground. [01:09:53] When someone says, I've been interceding all day, dear, so there's no meal, well, I don't call that. [01:10:00] I don't call that spirituality at all. [01:10:04] The children haven't been washed here. I've been praying all day. Well, I mean, what kind of hope? Why did you have children? You shouldn't have married. [01:10:14] Do you mean to say you can only intercede when you don't wash your children or when you don't cook a meal? Cause. No, you don't understand what intercession is. Intercession requires you not to hours, not minutes, not your lips, not your time. It requires you. So when you're washing that child, you're interceding in your heart. When you're cooking that meal, you're interceding in your spirit. You're unceasing in prayer, so you've got to have your feet firmly on the ground. When people come in because they're working for a Christian employer, they come in late and go early because they're interceding there's something very wrong. Apparently they still need wages for the full hours and, and for the full input of work. But no, they're interceding. They have the glazed look. They're called to higher things. My dear friends. It's nonsense. [01:11:04] It's nonsense. [01:11:06] I have been now old enough in tooth. [01:11:12] Yes, I am old enough. I'm having them seen to too. [01:11:17] I'm old enough in tooth. I can tell you. [01:11:21] You have seen a lot of people who call themselves intercessors who have no idea of intercession. They are the bane of any fellowship. [01:11:30] What they want to do is manipulate the leadership. They want to manipulate the fellowship by telling it what they got direct in a hotline from heaven. [01:11:41] This is not intercession. [01:11:44] It is a parody. [01:11:48] Real intercession means you are a real human being with your feet on the ground. You've learned to love. You've learnt to cry. You've learnt to laugh. You've learnt to endure. You're a human being and God by his spirit has got into you. [01:12:10] He is turning you into an intercessor. Now, my dear friends, let me go on. Quickly. There's a third thing. If you and I are going to be intercessors, we need to lay down our lives. [01:12:23] That's where intercession begins. When there's an uncrucified self life, no intercession. When there is a life, a self life, lay down, intercession begins. That self life of yours will always be the destruction. [01:12:41] A real ministry. [01:12:43] No matter how you dress it up, however much you make it look beautiful, it is still a self life. [01:12:53] It is a destruction. I am tempted to remind you of a story. Some of you have heard me say it before. Wasn't it amazing when the Lord said to Moses, what's that in your hand? And Moses said, it's a staff, Lord. And the Lord said to him, throw it on the ground. He threw it on the ground, and immediately it became the most poisonous sand viper. [01:13:14] Now he knew. As a shepherd who'd been a Shepherd for 40 years in the desert, he knew all about sand vipers. He fled from it. [01:13:23] To throw down a sand viper is asking for trouble. [01:13:28] Then the Lord said, pick it up by the tail. [01:13:33] Now, Moses must have thought, lord, is it really you? [01:13:37] Are you telling me to take up a sandpiper by the tail? This isn't a rattlesnake. This is a sandpiper. You don't pick up a sandpiper by the tail, it will turn around and kill you. [01:13:50] What was the Lord trying to tell poor Moses? Poor Moses. He had the shock of his life. That staff. He'd put it down beside his bed every night, slept with it. [01:14:02] He had no idea it was a sand viper. [01:14:06] And the more he held onto was still an ordinary staff. But the moment he let it go and laid it down, then its real nature came out. Then he saw that within that staff, which he was going to use to part the Red Sea, which he was going to use to bring water out of the rock, which he was going to use for a thousand miracles. [01:14:27] He had no idea there was a poison of Satan within it which would destroy him and destroy others. [01:14:35] That's why we need to lay down our lives. [01:14:39] Then when we've laid down our lives, we really. [01:14:42] We come to the place where we can't take hold of it again. But the Lord says, take it up by the tail. That's faith. Now, you take up your self life by faith. [01:14:53] And God comes into it and uses it. [01:14:56] This is the third theme in the calling of an intercessor. [01:15:04] The fourth thing is to be Anointed by the Spirit. I don't have to say too much about that, do I? We need to be anointed by the Spirit. We need not only to know what it is to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but anointed by the Holy Spirit. [01:15:20] Only the Holy Spirit can anoint us for such a ministry. And when a life is laid down, it's not a transient experience of ecstasy, some great throbbing, thrilling, sensational experience which leaves us after a while. [01:15:36] But when our life is laid down and the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes upon a broken self life, that anointing is there to stay. [01:15:46] It will never leave you. [01:15:50] That's the kind of anointing you and I need. [01:15:53] We need an anointing upon our lives, upon our ministries that will endure through all the darkness and through all our own failings and bring us finally to the throne of God. [01:16:08] Lastly, we must be a functioning member of the body of Christ. It is a very sad thing that wherever I go around the world, leaders, past elders, whatever they say to me, we've got someone very interested in Israel, in the fellowship here. [01:16:25] They never come to our prayer meetings. They never take part in our church life. They stand aloof, they stand apart. [01:16:35] I'm always very sad when I hear it. [01:16:39] Sometimes they tell me, we have someone who says, they're an intercessor. There's one thing when you're frozen out of a fellowship, but some people don't know how to behave. [01:16:50] They have to throw their weight around and tell everybody where they're wrong and how they should be right and what they should know. And of course, the natural reaction of any fellowship is to freeze us out. [01:17:01] They don't know how to handle such people. [01:17:04] But I think it's a wonderful thing when we're filled with the love of God and filled with the humility of the Lord Jesus, filled with grace and filled with power and can become a contributing, functioning member of the body of Christ. And then people say, you know, you've got a love for Israel. Why do you have this love for Israel? What is it that makes you tick? [01:17:28] Then it becomes infectious, like an infectious disease. It goes from person to person till gradually a whole fellowship comes somehow envisioned. It's the same thing with intercession, when there's real intercession. And people say, why do you have these burdens for the nation? Why do you have these burdens for the work of the Lord? How do you get, I would love to know the Lord like this. When the beauty of the Lord our God is upon us. It is attractive. [01:18:00] So, my dear friends, that was my message for this evening. Standing in the gap for Israel, Standing in the gap for the Church of God. [01:18:13] Standing in the gap for the work of the Lord on this earth. [01:18:21] Standing in the gap for the purpose of the Lord to be fulfilled. If there is anyone here this evening who, having heard me this evening, says, well, that leaves me absolutely out. [01:18:34] I thought I knew something about prayer. I thought I knew something about intercession. But now, listening to you this evening, I feel as if somehow or other I know nothing I haven't begun. [01:18:49] I always say to folks, I always quote a Chinese proverb, not very spiritual, but I always quote a Chinese. [01:19:01] A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. [01:19:08] If you want to come to the throne of God and be part of the bride of Christ, why don't you take the first step? However young you are, some of you may be so young you've never really prayed. You always think prayer meeting is the most boring meeting in the whole life of the church. You wouldn't be seen dead in it. [01:19:25] You feel it's for those who are old on the threshold of eternity. [01:19:32] I thank God that I learned to pray when I was a teenager. And I learned somehow or other with other teenagers, how to battle in prayer and fight through in prayer. And oh, what a blessing it was, and what we learned from some of those older ones, we shall never ever be able to pay them back the debt that we are in. [01:19:53] But my dear friends, I'm only just saying this. However young you are, however unspiritual you are, however earthly bound you are at present, if God has challenged you tonight, why don't you simply say in your heart, here am I Lord. [01:20:12] I want to come commit myself to you. [01:20:15] Do this work in me. [01:20:18] I tell you, you will never ever regret that first step you have started a journey that by the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit, will end in the throne of God. [01:20:38] May the Lord give you grace to respond to him. [01:20:43] May he reach into your heart and do something in it holy for his glory.