David Wilkerson stands before his congregation, physically trembling over Ezekiel 3, warning every pastor, teacher, and believer that they will one day stand before God and answer for every soul they failed to warn, then reveals that the only way to fulfill that terrifying responsibility is not human zeal but the secret place alone with God.

Preached: September 29, 1996

Main Points:

• David Wilkerson said this scripture caused him to tremble physically, spiritually, and emotionally every time he read it. God told Ezekiel plainly: if you don't warn the wicked and they die in their sin, their blood is on your hands. That warning does not expire in the day of grace.

• Peter, after Pentecost, pointed his finger at the crowd and said, "You crucified both the Lord and the Christ." Stephen called the religious leaders stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, knowing it would cost him his life. Paul confronted incest in the Corinthian church publicly. None of them were willing to stand before God with blood on their hands.

• How many pastors will answer on judgment day for the Laodicean condition in their churches, for telling people they're alive when they're dead, for feeding congregations on pop psychology and flattery instead of warning them about sin? Better to run out of church angry and convicted than to be flattered gently into hell.

• God's answer to the weight of this responsibility was not to send Ezekiel immediately into the streets. He took him aside first, showed him his glory, and struck him speechless, because a man who goes out in his own human zeal will do more damage than good.

• Every word that comes from a true pulpit must first come from the secret closet of prayer. David Wilkerson went to prayer like a disciple with an empty basket, saying, "Lord, I have nothing," and Jesus breaks the bread and fills it. If you haven't been shut in with God weeping over the lost, you're babbling.

• The greatest wickedness in the congregation that day was not drugs or alcohol or sexual sin. It was Christians who had heard warning after warning and still held grudges, still carried bitterness, still hardened their hearts. They were almost beyond help.

• David Wilkerson called the whole church to a 30-day round-the-clock prayer chain, not to be busy or religious, but because God will only give the right word at the right time to those who have first been alone with him long enough to fall on their face.

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