One thing to be dealt with
One thing to be dealt with
(God is Trying to Get at That Thing in You)
David Wilkerson
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the (strange) wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord,
and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God;
and let it be done according to the law.
Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee:
be of good courage, and do it.
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel,
to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
(Ezra 10:3-5)
They were going through all of these religious exercises.
They had the hearts full of joy that God had given to them.
And God says,
“Now that I brought you out of Babylon,
Now that I’ve delivered you,
Now that I see that you want to go on with me,
Now that I put my joy in your heart and I’ve been very patient with you,
Now I want to get to the bottom.
Now I want to lay the axe to the root.”
These men have been going to their religious services.
They have been going about their duties arm in arm with alien wives.
God was acting to keep intact His eternal purpose. That’s a holy seed.
That’s unmixed with this world, untied to this world. He knows that there’s something in you,
a form of compromise that could destroy you.
He’s not arbitrary, just keep digging in and digging in because He enjoys it.
No. God wants to bring you into a place where there’s freedom.
The whole idea of God ministering to us with life and with loving reproof.
And sometimes He said,
“Whom He loves, He chastens.”
(Hebrews 12:6)
And the purpose of chastening and all of this grinding and working on us,
this casting us into the refining fires. It’s to get out of the filth and the dirt
to bring a pure body into the heart of Jesus.
But I want to talk about that thing, that strange wife. Now strange wife can be interpreted as anything that’s alien in you in relation to the work of God, in other words as anything out of character with the work of Holy Spirit.
That strange wife is that ‘one thing in you.’ It’s that one thing in us that God has still not gotten to.
I kept searching my heart and I couldn’t find it. I kept looking and say,
“Oh God, search me. Try me.
See. If there’d be a wicked thing You’d told me.
You’re trying to get at something in me.
What is it?”
God said,
“I want to show you what is behind it.
I’m not after the fruit of disobedience.
I want to get to the root of it.
I want to play the axe to the root and cut it off.”
I was talking about the fruit of disobedience adultery, fornication, lust, smoking, drinking, cursing. All of these things are those fruit of rebellion and disobedience.
But there’s a root to it. There’s a spirit behind it.
They believed that one part. They believed everything about the blessings. That’s where the prosperity gospel is taken many in the church today.
It’s a one sided faith. They have faith to believe in the blessings. But they don’t have faith to believe in the righteous judgements of God. There’s a faith goes with that.
There’s nothing could have been more clear in the law that they had. Word for word. This is what Israel had with them
When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land …
… thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them.
Neither shalt thou make marriages with them …
For they will turn away thy son from following me,
that they serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you,
and destroy thee suddenly
Deuteronomy 7:1-4
I’d read to you just a moment ago of Ezra. When he found out that these princes and priests, the whole people have been carried away by this compromise, I believe when Ezra was pulling out his beard and his hair and he’s on his face weeping with all the people that tremble at the word of God,
I believe the word that made them tremble.
I believe he was quoting this. I believe he was applying these very words Deuteronomy 7:1-4. I believe he was saying this “lest the Lord destroy you suddenly.” I believe he was crying at the top of his voice. He stand and walk among the people preaching that message.
He was preaching this very thing. He said,
“You know it.
You know it’s wrong, that thing is wrong.
You have been delivered.
You’re not in Babylon.
You’ve been forgiven.”
“I’ve been patient with you.
I’ve put my joy in your heart.
But now I want to get to the root of this.”
How do they sin in the face of such a clear warning? The same way that we sin in the face of all the clear warnings. Because we have a full revelation now more than they had and we still sin against it.
That’s why people continue doing it. Because they really don’t believe in
the righteous judgments of God.
And that spirit is a spirit of unbelief regarding the righteous judgements of God.
They don’t believe God means what He says.
In fact all of this He brings this kind of message because of His great mercy and love.
Isn’t it amazing?
Delivered, Forgiven
Blessed, Full of joy
Yet they’re careless, frivolous.
They’re not serious.
Because they’re hugging something in their life yet. They’re hugging it.
I don’t know what it is.
It can be covetousness.
It can be materialism.
It can be lust.
It can be almost any all of these things. Still hugging it.
What’s the reason?
Why is it still being hugged?
Why is it still being crutched?
Why does it still have the heart?
We have invented ‘a god of Pablum.’
Candy cotton.
A god who takes blood of His own son, and just wipes everything.
No matter where your heart is,
no matter where your will is,
do as you please and just claim the blood.
No, that’s not what my Bible teaches. There’s a holy fear of God on me. God means what He says.
He says,
“Set no wicked thing before your eyes.”
(Psalms 101:3)
How many of you really believe what He said?
Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: … and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing
Deuteronomy 7:26
We don’t believe that.
That’s why we still have millions of Christians seating around watching dirty movies, going to theaters, watching stuffs that’s made out of hell.
They don’t believe that they become cursed just like it and that you become abomination just like it.
I want Jesus to put the light on, turn a light on in my heart.
Jesus, expose every hidden thing.
I want no hidden agenda.
I want no secret thing in my life.
I want you to be able to look at me in the eye and say
“I see Jesus.”
Then I can stand before Jesus on that judgement day and say,
“Lord, thank you for digging so deep.
Thank you for the axe to the root.”