This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge
P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771, or
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Pride.
Oh, now who is it that's clapping?
Those who say, I am humble and all
around me are pride, proud.
Let's pray.
Lord, you sent me on a mission this
morning.
I have a job to do and by
your grace I'll do it.
Now we're going to talk about divorce.
We're going to talk about families breaking up.
Husbands leaving wives and wives leaving their husbands.
And Lord, it's a plague.
It's sweeping the church and it's in this
church too.
And Lord, you told me to obey you
this morning and I ask you for a
special grace.
Lord, I don't want to get angry.
I want to preach it in love.
But Lord, how forcefully it comes forth is
only by the power of the Holy Ghost.
You determine that, Lord.
I speak as a pastor.
I speak as a shepherd who cares about
the flock.
And I pray, Lord, that you anoint me
now.
Help me to say it in grace and
mercy.
But, oh God, don't let anybody miss the
point today.
Touch me.
Touch this whole audience and let us hear
what the Spirit has to say.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
A spirit of pride has erupted in the
Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world, and
especially here in the United States, and again,
most especially here in New York City.
Behind all the divorcing, behind all the slander,
behind all of the gossiping in the church,
behind all the contention on the job in
the homes and in the church, there's a
spirit of pride.
A wicked spirit of pride that has erupted.
I want to focus on how pride destroys
marriages.
How pride destroys marriages.
Now folks, I've been preaching now for over
45 years.
That's almost half a century.
And in that half, nearly half century of
preaching, I've seen a lot of things.
But what I've seen the last two years,
I've never seen the likes of in the
previous 43 years, especially in the last two,
three years.
I have seen, I have witnessed married couples,
spirit-filled, attending Pentecostal churches, evangelical churches, and
attending this church in particular, who sat under
sound, strong, biblical preaching, and they are leaving
their husbands, they're leaving their wives, they are,
and those who are still together, claiming to
be spirit-filled, coming and worshiping the Lord
together, are arguing, they're becoming spiteful, becoming bitter.
Husbands and wives are splitting apart, and there's
divorce on the right hand and on the
left hand, and I'm alarmed at it.
And I can't stand still anymore without addressing
it.
We're going to address it very strongly and
right to the point this morning.
A husband will come into our office and
he'll sit there and begin to describe their
marital situation, and if I listen to him,
his wife is unlovable, she is mean-spirited,
she doesn't understand him anymore, she's argumentative, quick
-tempered, on, on, on, on, and he makes
her sound either like a witch or a
floozy.
And I'm sitting there thinking, she must be
some awful woman to hear this man talk.
He's a Christian, he goes to Times Square
Church, he sat under years of strong preaching,
he won't lie to me.
And so I call her in, and she
sits there and they listen to her.
He's the woman's man, he's got nothing but
eye-roving eyes, he's uncaring, he's unloving, he
comes home and just watches television, he lays
there, he's lazy, he's a good bum, he's
just a rotten person.
And I don't care, I want out, there's
nothing he can say, nothing he can do
can change it, I've had enough and God
doesn't expect me to stay in this anymore.
And I'm sitting there, my head spinning, saying,
my Jesus, help me.
Who is right and who is wrong?
They're both Christians, both so-called spirit-filled,
coming to church, love the Lord, and they
come to church with this beautiful front, as
if everything is fine, they've argued all the
way to church.
There's nothing but bitterness and rancor in their
midst, and he's there sitting in church as
a victim, and she's sitting somewhere else as
a victim, they're maybe sitting together, and there's
a wall between them that every day, another
brick, another layer, goes higher and higher, they
can't even see over it now.
Now how many couples are sitting here today,
still married, and yet you're still putting up
a front, but you have argument, there's argumentation,
there's bitterness in your home, and you have
been entertaining the thought of either leaving or
divorcing.
I sit with so many people now in
marital problems, and I'll get my Bible, and
I'll start, and I'll go through it, and
I'll say, I want you to listen to
this, and I start building a case, where
after I'm finished, in my spirit, I'm convinced
they could never entertain the thought of divorce,
they could never think of splitting, no matter
how difficult it was, because you see, first
place, I came from a generation that didn't
entertain divorce every time there was an argument,
and thought that every argument was fatal.
In my day, we stayed together, we lived
together, we worked things out, we prayed, and
we waited on God, and now we have
a generation who don't want to work, they
don't want to wait, they don't want to
let God have time to work it out,
they want out, out.
They go to a second marriage, they go
to a third marriage, and they want out,
out, out.
None of it works, and I'm sitting there,
and I'm giving all these scriptures, piling one
scripture upon another, and they know my heart,
and then when they get up to walk
out, I suddenly realize not a word has
registered.
I have given them the Word of God,
I have shown them the fear of the
Lord, I've shown them the consequences of their
sin, and still they walk out and say,
well, God told me that I don't have
to stay in this anymore.
Well, that may be so, Pastor, but I
feel I am right, and I am not
going to endure this anymore, and so they
walk out of our office, and my heart
sinks, and I say, Lord, what does it
take?
What is it going to take to get
through to so many?
Now, I was asking God this week, how
is it that Christians can sit under such
strong preaching, and still abandon their vows, and
waive off all commitments, and end up entertaining
divorce?
And I found the answer in Proverbs 13
10.
You don't have to turn, I'll just read
it to you, and here's one of the
first distinguishing marks of pride.
Only by pride comes contention.
Only by pride comes argumentation, bitterness, a war
of words.
Only by pride.
Doesn't say anything about victimhood, it doesn't say
anything about any other condition, it says pride.
Only by pride cometh contention.
Only by pride does somebody come to the
place where they're irreconcilable with another individual, with
a mate.
It is only pride that causes somebody to
say, I am right, and he is wrong,
or she is wrong.
That is only pride, according to the scripture.
Now, I'm not talking about the wife whose
husband beats her physically.
If you're in this church, and you are
living with a husband who lifts a finger
against you, he slaps you, he touches you,
you come and report it, and we'll take
it, we'll go with you immediately to the
police, and we'll get a restraining order.
And we'll put that man where he belongs,
in prison.
Sir, if you sit here in this church,
and you raise a finger, you touch that
woman, you're a devil.
I'll tell you to your face, you're a
devil.
And ma'am, you need to report that.
God doesn't intend for you to stay with
the man who beats you, who lays a
hand on you.
I'm not talking about a wife will slap
her husband around, same thing goes.
I'm not talking about a husband or wife
who divorced their mate because they find that
they have been cheated, and they've married a
homosexual lesbian.
I'm not talking about the mate who flaunts
adultery, or the wife who prostitutes, or someone
who you know is a candidate for AIDS
because of promiscuity.
No, no, no, no.
God himself will rescue you from that kind
of bondage.
God himself will miraculously rescue you from that.
There's a preacher's wife who came to us
about two years ago, visiting here in New
York City, a few years ago.
Her husband's a friend of mine, but they
had marital problems because he was into pornography,
and he was demanding that she watch pornography
with him.
And she did for a while, it was
absolutely killing her spirit, it was robbing her
of the Holy Ghost, and she felt so
dirty, so filthy, and he said, if you're
going to stay married to me, you're going
to do it my way.
And the Holy Ghost told her not to.
She called me one day, and I said,
you dare not go with him.
I said, take your stand, no matter what
it cost.
Well, it cost her the marriage.
He walked out, and he's now living with
a woman who's in the occult, and this
was a Pentecostal preacher.
He's living with a woman now who's nothing
but, forget it.
I'm not talking about, I am talking, I'm
not talking about these that have reasons to,
legitimate reasons to leave their marriage.
I'm talking about husbands and wives who will
be having a hard time.
The enemy is bent on destroying their home
and their marriage, and they refuse to believe
that God can change the situation.
They have already made up their mind.
I've had women, I've had husbands, and I've
had wives in my office this past year,
and they will say to me, Pastor, I
don't care if she gets a new heart.
I don't care if God changes her personality.
I don't care if she becomes loving.
I don't want her.
I've had enough.
Lord can give her somebody else.
Let her change, but it's not for me
anymore.
I've had enough.
I have no more love.
I have nothing in my heart.
I want out.
That's it.
See, that's a contentious spirit that comes from
pride alone.
The basis of all that is a spirit
of pride.
According to God's Word, pride hardens the heart,
and it sets your position in stone, so
that even God came down.
If Jesus came in the flesh, you wouldn't
listen to Him, because the pride, the Bible
says, hardens the heart.
Only by pride cometh contention.
According to the Scripture, when King Nebuchadnezzar's heart
was lifted up, and his mind was hardened
in his pride, he was deposed, and the
glory of God was taken from him.
The Bible says, when he was hardened by
his pride, and it's only pride that hardens
you, that you don't want to work on
your marriage.
Now folks, there are some of you sitting
here that are single, and you say, praise
God, this is one time the pastor doesn't
get to me.
All you singles, hear me please.
Any contention, whether it's on the job, whether
it's in the home, whether it's in the
church, anybody you're arguing with, anyone you have
a war with, all the contention in your
life is from pride.
So don't think you're going to be missed
this morning.
I'd better smile, so you don't think I'm
angry.
I'm not angry.
I'm angry at the devil.
God has me on a mission this morning.
I want to see at least 50 marriages
in this church saved, and I want to
see it saved today, this morning.
I want to see God call an armistice
by the power of the Holy Ghost, and
this war of words, stop.
Only by pride cometh contention.
The word contention here means to expel or
drive somebody away by strife or argument.
Only by pride do you try to drive
somebody away by your arguments.
Only by pride you try to expel somebody
out of your life.
That's exactly what the interpretation means.
Proverbs 17, 14, the beginning of strife is
when one lets out water.
Therefore, leave off contention before it be meddled
with.
Now, in the original, it simply means this.
Abandon the quarrel before it breaks out and
becomes uncontrollable.
And one interpreter says it means before the
snarling dog shows his teeth.
In other words, you can you can snarl,
but watch out when the teeth come.
And some of you right there, you're snarling
at one another, and he said be careful
lest you show your teeth.
And then you bite, and you won't.
It comes out of control.
In this scripture, the beginning of strife is
when one let out water.
It's a picture of a dike, and there's
holding back the water, a dam, and there's
just a little leak.
It's as if somebody's letting out just a
little pinhole.
And the Bible says be careful.
Deal with that pinhole.
Deal with that little leak of water that's
coming out now, lest it continue to expand,
and a hole get bigger and bigger, and
you have a flood.
He said stop it now.
You're arguing now.
You're saying little hurting things to one another
now.
You are giving each other the silent treatment.
You are saying and doing things that are
hurting.
There's a little leak in the dam.
He said now, deal with it.
Stop it before it comes a flood, and
you have a flood of words.
You have a war of words.
Your house becomes a war zone.
I was in a home once where the
wife was going after a husband, and they
were shaking each other, and you should have
seen three little kids screaming, grabbing at dad's
leg, and at mom, and trying to pull
them apart, screaming.
They knew.
They knew a war.
They could tell it.
And the Lord is saying, the Scripture says,
you better deal with it before the flood
comes.
And some of you are already in the
flood, and that flood has swept away all
love.
It's swept away everything that has to do
with dignity.
It has swept away your children.
It's swept away every consideration for reconciliation.
It has been sweeping everything away.
You've been carried away by a flood because
you didn't stop the little pinhole leak.
Stop it now.
If there's a war of words going on
in your home, how many of you had
a little bit of that leak this morning
when you got up in your home?
Sister, did you wake up angry?
Did you wake up with a spirit upon
you?
That spirit of pride that feels victimized?
That spirit of pride that's afraid to say,
I'm sorry?
That spirit of pride that says, he shouldn't
or she shouldn't think the way or treat
me like they do?
That spirit of pride that won't come down
off its high horse?
That spirit of pride that doesn't know how
to say, I'm sorry, and take the first
move?
Waiting, always, always waiting.
I always have to make the first move.
Folks, I've never believed marriage was 50-50.
That's a lie from the pit of hell.
Marriage is 99 or 100 to nothing.
What are you going to do?
Go halfway and draw a line and say,
hey, wait, I came 50%, you're only 30%.
There's a 20% hole here.
Marriage is 100% giving.
If you get anything back, that's fine.
That's icing on the cake.
But our job as Christians is to go
100% all the way to be the
one that says, I'm sorry.
I wonder if my wife's sitting here taking
notes.
She's going to grade me when I get
home.
Oh, God, help us to stop this war
of words.
Throwing these ugly, awful words.
And you know, dear wife, you know exactly
the button to push.
You know what gets you mad?
What is that one word?
You know, cheapskate, phony, ladies' man.
And, sir, you know exactly the button to
push.
I'm not even going to start naming the
names.
But isn't that the way even Christians are
acting now?
Pushing buttons, saying hurting, cutting things.
And these are Christians who claim they're going
to live together for an eternity.
And they can't even get along for a
year.
Only pride will keep you from being a
peacemaker.
You can go ahead and build a case
against your husband or your wife.
You can get on the telephone and you
can tell all your friends how you're mistreated.
You can keep focused on the bad parts
and the bad things, the things that you
don't like about your mate.
You can tell all your friends all about
it and you can keep the fire raging.
You keep on the war of evil words.
But let me tell you where you're at.
You can't change because pride is hardening your
heart.
And you can't even see now that you're
part of the problem.
I had a young lady a number of
years ago come to me.
She just had been served divorce papers from
a very famous football player, professional football.
She said, Pastor Dave, we were married five
or six years and it was fine, but
then last year we started arguing.
We're not getting along and in one of
the arguments, she said, I don't remember which
one of us, but in one of our
arguments the word divorce came up.
Well then let's get a divorce.
We were both shocked and we apologized and
we said, we're sorry, I didn't mean that.
And she said, Pastor Dave, I want to
tell you something.
Would you please tell people wherever you go,
don't ever use the word divorce in an
argument.
Don't bring it into the house because it's
an evil seed and once it's planted, it's
like an oak tree and it grows.
And she said, that thought was planted in
our minds and the next argument out it
came again.
This time there was no apology and that
was planted in his mind and it grew,
it possessed him and it just took over
and now I've been served divorce papers.
She said, would to God, I'd never heard
the word in my house.
Whatever you do, no matter how angry you
get, no matter what condition in your home,
don't ever, ever mention the word divorce in
your home.
Not before your wife, your husband, or your
children ever.
It's an evil seed, it'll grow, become a
tree.
The spirit of pride causes, first of all,
contention, it hardens the heart, it refuses all
efforts to make peace and beyond that, it
keeps on stirring up strife.
Pride will never let go of the battle,
never let go of the argument.
It holds and it digs and goes deeper
and deeper and hotter and hotter.
The scripture said, he that is of a
proud heart keeps stirring up strife, Proverbs 28,
25.
Hatred, Proverbs 10, 12, hatred stirs up strife
but love covers all sins.
You see, it doesn't matter how you tell
me you're a victim, that you've been mistreated
in your marriage.
The Bible said if you're not making an
effort to cover it, if you're not making
an effort to make peace, it's because you
have been hardened in your pride and you're
the guilty person now because you keep stirring
up the strife.
And here's a husband, for example, he says,
this has gone too far.
He tells himself, this has gone too far,
so he goes and buys flowers at my
recommendation.
And he goes in and he's saying to
himself, I'm going to make the first move,
this has got to stop, this is going
to get out of hand, this is getting
too much.
And so he walks into his house with
flowers.
And his wife looks at him and says,
what did you do now?
I see that look on your face, I
know when you've done something, what did you
do now?
And he's flabbergasted.
He said, honey, I haven't done anything, I
want peace.
But you see, if you won't let that
argument go, if you won't let that thing
go in you and if you won't strive
to be a peacemaker, that is going to
harden your heart and you will take that
argument, you will take that victimhood right to
divorce court.
And I don't care if an angel came
down from heaven, he would not dissuade you
because you would be hardened in your position.
Because this is exactly what the Bible says,
he that's of a proud heart stirs up
strife.
Boy, how can we speak so hatefully when
the Bible said love should cover, love surrenders
all rights, love seeks peace, love lays down
the argument, love wants reconciliation.
But now you have a heart full of
hatred.
And what the Bible calls nothing but arrogant
pride, that hatred in you is not because
you're a victim, the Bible said that arrogance,
that unwillingness to be reconciled, that unwillingness to
work things out and that driving desire to
get out of your marriage and leave.
Folks, husband, wife, you leave your marriage and
you have absolutely disobeyed every commandment in this
book, every commandment in this book.
The mouth of the righteous is a well
of life, but violence covers the mouth of
the wicked.
Now folks, it's my duty this morning as
a shepherd to warn this body of the
consequences of acting in pride, taking matters in
your own hand and doing what you think
is right rather than to conform to the
word of God.
And I know in my heart, I'm going
to have a few couples walk out of
the church this morning and never come back.
There'll be some of you wives that have
left a marriage, you're going to say, you're
aiming at me, Pastor Dave, and you're going
to walk out angry at me and you'll
never come back here.
I know that.
I would to God that would not show,
but that's the way it's going to be.
Because there's an anger in you.
You are full of anger.
Now you that have already been divorced, I
have a comfortable word for you in just
a minute, so don't sit here thinking, well
Brother Dave, you're making me feel terribly because
I've been divorced.
Now we'll talk about that in just a
minute and I'll do it as lovingly as
I know how and as the Spirit of
God is upon me.
But there are some of you here right
now sitting in this church.
I don't know how long you're married, but
you've come to the conclusion now that it's
a hopeless situation.
You're sitting in this church this morning really
feeling beyond the point of reconciliation.
And you have thoughts, either you have left
or you were thinking of leaving.
Now I would hope that those thoughts are
not based on you having somebody else in
mind.
When I see a husband or wife who
doesn't want to work things out, the first
thing that comes to my mind, I may
be a little suspicious.
But the first question I want answered, do
you have somebody else in mind?
Have you been flirting around?
Have you been cheating?
Are you wanting out of this because you
see something better?
Or if you don't know somebody right now,
is there somebody you would like to know?
I want that question settled first.
If that's out of the way sister, brother,
then we can get to the issue.
But there's no hope for you if you
have that in mind and you're going to
build a case.
You will build what you feel is an
ironclad case that will get you out and
keep the blessing of God.
And there's no such thing.
It's my duty this morning to warn about
the consequences of acting in pride.
The word says God will plentifully reward the
proud doer.
Plentifully reward the proud doer.
Now the proud doer is the one who
refuses to hear and obey the clear word
of the Lord and the commandments of God
and thinks that they have a right.
This woman, this man thinks he or she
has a right to just leave, just go
and pursue the divorce.
The Bible said every way of a man
is right in his own eyes, but the
Lord pondereth the hearts.
There is a way that seemeth right to
a man, but the end thereof are the
ways of death.
Death.
You hear about people heading for divorce and
I've talked to some and absolutely the reaction
I get as pastor, I'm going to have
to take my chances with the consequences because
I don't feel that God wants me in
this marriage anymore.
First of all, God would not tell you
that.
God will not speak anything against his word
into your heart.
That's unscriptural.
Unless these cases that I have brought to
your attention.
Let me give you some of these consequences.
Number one, Bible says, if you walk out
on your obligation to your vows, you'll be
greatly despised of the Lord.
Now don't turn there, but Obadiah is a
one chapter book and this is the prophet
Obadiah speaking to Edomites.
God was judging Israel and they were in
flight from their enemy and the Edomites began
to rejoice at their downfall and the prophet
said, God sent in a bastard and warned
them that you're in a time of judgment.
You're under the judgment of God and you'd
better obey the word of the Lord.
And the scripture says thou are greatly despised.
The pride of thine heart has deceived you
that you can say, who shall bring me
down to the ground?
And here's what the prophet was saying to
the Edomites.
You people have become violent against your brother.
You've made it hard on your adversaries.
You did not grieve over the trouble that
came upon them.
You rejoiced instead.
You even tried to halt them or hurt
them when they were down.
And the Lord says, these are the kind
of people I despise.
Those who don't grieve in the Lord, those
who don't grieve in God, when there's trouble.
If your marriage is in trouble, there should
be grief before God.
You should be on your face before the
Lord.
You should be seeking God.
Oh God, I need help.
I need a miracle.
You shouldn't be on the telephone telling other
people about your husband or your wife and
how bad they are.
That's gossip.
That's slander.
That itself brings the judgment of God on
you.
Do you take it to God?
Do you grieve over it?
Some that see their husband, a woman will
divorce her husband and then there's something inside
that says, now God make him pay.
And then when he loses his job, she
rejoices.
And it can be the other way around.
When trouble comes or they get into another
marriage.
I've heard so much of that.
The divorce and then that husband or wife
gets married to somebody else and there's trouble
and ah, he had to come and do
it.
No, no, no, no.
That's not the kind of spirit that has
anything to do with a true Christian.
That's not the spirit of the Lord whatsoever.
The spirit of the Lord grieves when there's
trouble, grieves where there is sin.
In Malachi, the prophet came against the priest
and the rabbis and the Jewish leaders who
were divorcing their wives.
And they would go according to Malachi and
cover the altar with their tears.
They would weep and they would cry because
most of these men were really building a
case against their wives so they could marry
these heathen wives.
The prophet Malachi came.
God said to this prophet, he said, you
cover my altar with your tears, but you
have been unfaithful to your wives.
And folks, you can, you can cry a
river of tears about your victimhood.
You can cry a river of tears about
the trouble in your home.
But those tears don't mean anything in the
sight of God if there's not a desire
to make things right, to walk according to
the mind and the will of God.
Those are crocodile tears in the sight of
God.
I know women and husbands that cry and
weep over their marriage, but they're crying and
weeping because they say, well, I missed it.
It's not working out.
And they weep and cry over all kinds
of troubles and problems in their home.
But they're not weeping with the grief of
the Holy Spirit.
They're not weeping in a burden for that
husband or wife that God would give them
a new heart.
It's a self-pity kind of thing.
I'm a victim, Lord.
Folks, we live in a generation when there's
nobody but victims.
Everybody's a victim.
Nobody's a perpetrator.
Everybody's a victim.
The whole society is a victimized society, and
that's not the heart of God.
The heart of God says, search me, O
Lord, see if there be any wicked way
in me.
God says, you have wearied the Lord when
you say everyone who doeth evil is good
in the sight of God.
He delighteth in them.
Or where is the God of judgment and
what they were being told by their shepherds
until the prophet came?
They were being told, it's not wrong to
divorce your wife.
God still sees you as a righteous person.
God still delights in you.
There are no consequences.
There's no judgment.
God's merciful.
You can do it.
There's no problem.
This is what they were told.
You're not going to hear that from this
pulpit here.
You won't hear it said that there is
no judgment against this kind of walking in
pride.
God said, if you will not hear and
lay it to heart, I will curse your
blessings.
I will make you contemptible in base.
I will bring you down.
It's a loss of God's favor and blessing
because of acting in pride.
The proud, he knoweth the far off.
Psalms 138.6, everyone that is proud in
heart is an abomination to the Lord.
He shall not go unpunished.
There is a punishment on this folks.
There is a terrible punishment when people sin
against the light.
Walk right into it.
After the message you hear today, you cannot
walk out on your marriage without sinning against
special light.
Another awful consequence of acting in pride according
to scripture is that God is going to
resist you.
God will resist you.
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to
the humble.
According to the word of the Lord, you
have two options.
You can humble yourself, lay down your awful
pride, and God will give you all the
grace you need to be sustained in your
problem.
That's the Bible.
The Bible said, God will give you grace.
If you will humble yourself, if you will
seek the Lord and say, Lord, I am
not going to turn against my vows.
I am not going to break my commitment
that I made to you because those commitments
are made to the Lord.
There are some that have been divorced already
that were right here where I stand and
they, when they stood here three years, four
years, five years ago in this church right
where I stand now and they made their
vows, looking at each other full of love,
they said, making a lifetime commitment, said, this
is my mate for life.
Made those commitments right here where I stand.
And now, those commitments are broken.
Those vows have been broken.
God says, I'll resist you.
1 Peter 5, 5, Submit, yea, all of
you be subject one to another and be
clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud
and giveth grace to the humble.
God says, there's all the grace that you
need.
Folks, I wouldn't be standing in this pulpit.
I wouldn't be standing in this pulpit.
I would have been divorced long ago if
in our home we hadn't believed God for
grace and mercy to see us through all
the hard times, financial problems, all the other
problems that come on life, sickness and misunderstandings
and all of these things.
But there was something there, a willingness to
fight, a willingness to hold, a willingness to
go on.
There was something that said, I'll not break
my commitment, I'll not break my vows.
Submit.
Stop the war.
Stop the fighting.
Submit.
Yield.
Give in.
The prophet Isaiah warned that God has a
day of reckoning for those who act in
their own pride and self-will.
The Lord of hosts will have a day
of reckoning against everyone who is proud and
lofty.
Isaiah 2, 11 and 12.
And folks, the problem is when you act
in that kind of rebellion, this act of
pride in walking out on your commitment, the
Bible says furthermore in Proverbs 15, the Lord
will tear down the house of the proud.
He will tear it down.
Do you know that when you walk out
on your vows, when you walk out on
your marriage, if you're a Christian, I'm not
talking about you who are sitting here divorced
and you were in sin.
I'm talking about those who are Christians and
spirit-filled believers and then walking out on
commitments and walking out on marriages and not
believing God for miracles.
Nothing works.
How can anything be right when God is
resisting you?
How can anything turn out right?
How can a job turn out right?
How can another marriage turn out right?
How can relationships turn out?
How can anything turn out when the Bible
says God is resisting you because of your
pride?
God resists the pride.
I don't want God against me.
I want Him on my side.
I want the favor and the blessing of
God in my life.
And that's why so many people are in
trouble today.
They have walked away, gone off in pride.
I'm going to close in just a moment.
God warns, your pride will bring you low,
ending in shame.
A man's pride shall bring him low.
Proverbs 11.2, when pride cometh, then cometh
shame.
Let me tell you something about that shame.
You know what the shame of divorce is?
The shame of divorce is a testimony to
the whole world, an awful testimony that says
that God can't keep His people, number one,
that God can't answer prayer, that He can
answer prayer for everything in the universe, but
He can't heal a marriage.
It's an awful testimony, a shameful testimony to
the whole world, to everybody you work with,
and everybody around you, that God really doesn't
care much about whether we keep our vows
as Christians or not.
He's not much concerned about commitment.
Marriage doesn't really matter too much to Jesus.
You can get divorced and still keep His
smile.
You can keep His blessing upon your life.
No, no, no, that's contrary to everything in
this book.
God says, I will resist you, I'll tear
your house down.
You become an abomination, I'll make you base
and abominable before all around you.
I will resist you, and I will bring
you down low, and then I will bring
you to shame.
You know what shame is?
It's the shame on the name of Jesus
Christ that we bring, that as Christians we
cannot work things out with the help of
the Holy Spirit.
An awful, awful testimony to the world.
You know what the shame is?
It's the shame before a whole young generation
of children that are being destroyed because they
don't understand why dad and mom was split
up.
They heard dad and mom talk about the
power of God and the love of Jesus,
and they can't understand why that God that
their parents talked about, the Jesus they so
loved and worshipped, couldn't keep them together and
keep their home right.
It's the shame of a whole generation now
that's going to hell because of a lack
of commitment by their parents.
And you want to talk about what it
is to be brought low?
Here's a wife who walks out on her
husband, and she's divorced, and I can't handle
it anymore.
And so she just walks out, and she
gets a divorce, and she's got two, three
teenagers.
You know what it is to be brought
low?
It's when those children can't be touched.
They're out of control.
They say, Mom, you have no right to
tell us how to act.
And they come home smoking pot.
They come home drunk.
They party half the night, and that mother
watches it.
That's low down.
That's low.
That's being brought low.
Nothing could be lower for any individual to
see their children damned.
We have a whole generation of young people
being damned by parents who won't get on
their face before God and cry out for
mercy and keep on their everlasting arguing in
the war of words.
Pride will bring you low.
Now, before I close, there are some of
you saying, Pastor Dave, I've been divorced, and
that's in my past.
I was divorced in the past.
Some of you may be remarried sitting here
now.
The only thing I ask of you is
this.
Have you thought back about it?
Have you taken it to prayer?
If you say, Lord, was it pride?
Was there pride in my part?
How much did I contribute to this?
Have you gone to the Lord, and have
you repented before God for any pride that
you may have acted in?
Yes, he'll forgive you.
Yes, he restores.
Could it be, though, some of the trouble
you're facing now in a second marriage, or
some trouble that you have right now, even
though you're divorced and not remarried, and you're
single now, and there are trouble upon trouble?
Do you think maybe you need to go
back with the help of the Holy Ghost?
Not dig up the past, but say, Lord,
search me, try me.
See if I acted in self-pride, if
my pride is still there, or do I
have to apologize to you, do I have
to write a letter to somebody, or have
I rejoiced in the trouble on somebody that
I felt has abused me in the past?
Take it to God, and get things right
before the Lord so that you lift all
of this from your back.
Now I want to speak in closing right
now to those that are sitting here now,
living in contention.
I hadn't planned to do this at all.
In fact, till about 2 o'clock yesterday,
I had no word from the Lord, and
I sat at my desk, and I just
started to write, and God began to move
in my heart and said, David, you have
got to unburden my heart to the people
this morning, because there are going to be
some that if they don't hear this are
going straight to the divorce court.
Today is Armistice Day.
The Holy Ghost is calling you to make
peace.
You make peace today while you still have
time, while it's still just a trickle before
it comes a flood, and then there's no
way of holding back the flood.
It's too late.
I haven't covered it all.
I've only touched on some highlights.
You say, well, Brother I'm concerned that some
of us might be sitting here very angry
at you, maybe some divorced people that are
here angry.
I didn't slam you.
I didn't rail on you.
I gave you His Word.
It's His Word, and the only reason God
speaks like this by His Holy Spirit is
because He loves you.
He loves you.
He loves me.
Marriage is an institution that came from the
heart of God.
God hates divorce.
The great majority of people getting divorced today,
and here's what bothers me.
Do you know that evangelicals have just as
big a rate of divorce as the world
now?
The evangelical church has the same one out
of two marriages ending in divorce in evangelical
circles.
One out of two.
Every other marriage is ending in divorce in
the church.
So somebody is not hearing God.
Somebody is walking in pride and disobedience.
Hallelujah.
I made vows years ago.
By God's grace, we keep those vows, because
I made them to God.
Not to a woman.
I made them to God.
You may be a wife here, and your
husband's not here in the service this morning.
I'm asking you to go home and be
the peacemaker.
I'm asking everybody in this church that's having
family problems to ask God to help you,
sir, ma'am, to swallow your pride, to
jettison, get rid of it with the help
of the Holy Ghost.
Say, oh God, this thing has to stop.
Folks, you can stop it today.
God can turn your marriage around.
God can heal your marriage.
With the Lord, nothing is impossible.
Nothing is impossible with God.
Hallelujah.
You know something?
If you're here this morning, married, and you
have a good relationship, you may have a
few disagreements, but you never go to sleep
at night without peace.
You don't want a whole hour without peace.
It's not just about going to bed at
night with peace.
It's just having that peace.
You come home and there's joy.
You have a wonderful wife.
You have a wonderful husband.
How thankful you should be this morning.
God should fill your heart with joy.
You that have been divorced, I have nothing
that's in your past.
If you have searched your heart and you've
humbled yourself before the Lord, that's all in
the past.
The blood is sufficient to cover and bring
healing to you.
I want to see at least 50 couples
walk down this aisle, up in the balcony
and the main floor.
I know that takes a lot of courage.
We don't have to know anything.
The Holy Ghost knows it, and this is
family.
I want you to make a public commitment
to your marriage.
That's to say, Brother Dave, the enemy has
tried to destroy our home.
The enemy is trying to bring contention, but
I as a husband, as a man of
God, I refuse to allow it to happen.
I want peace.
I want reconciliation.
I want my marriage to be healed.
If there's been a breach in your marriage,
if there's been something that's come between you
and your wife, it's just a little bigger
than it's been last week or even last
month or last year, I want you to
get out of your seat.
Now, you may be a husband here, but
your wife's not here.
I want you to come.
I want you to come down here boldly.
I mean, as a husband, I want you
to come hand in hand and come and
stand here right now.
Follow these that are coming.
It's boldly and clearly.
This is life and death.
Up in the balcony, go to the stairs
on either side.
The Lord is going to do a miracle.
God is not only going to heal, he's
going to make these marriages strong.
He's going to make them godly.
He's going to bring peace and joy.
Everything the worms have destroyed, everything the canker
worm has eaten, God is going to restore
it.
God is a restorer.
Folks, I know this takes courage, but that's
what it's going to take.
It's going to take you getting out of
your seat right now and say, yes, now.
Don't let pride hold you back.
That's been the problem all along, been pride.
Humble yourself.
Submit to one another now.
Wife, if your husband's with you and there's
something there, touch him.
Lovingly.
Don't drag him, but lovingly.
Why don't you turn and say, honey, should
we go?
I mean, seriously.
Lord, right now, I ask you to speak
all over this house.
There has to be healing.
God, come.
Holy Spirit, come.
I have to say this because the Holy
Spirit's prompting me.
There are some of you standing here yet
in your seat and you're married.
Both husband and wife are here, but pride
alone has kept you from making a commitment.
Now, if you don't come forward, that's fine,
but don't leave the service without tearing down
that wall.
Somebody has to take the first move.
There has to be a swallowing of the
pride and say, honey, right now, I want
things right.
I want to humble myself.
I want to submit myself to you right
now.
Say I'm sorry and ask God by his
Holy Spirit to help you follow through on
that commitment now because believe me, it's life
and death.
There are probably 10, 12 couples up here
right now that would be in divorce court
unless God did something and does something supernatural
this morning and others in the congregation that
are not up here, probably more out there
than are here now.
You say, can it be that bad, David?
Yes, it is.
It's that bad.
Are you standing by your husband?
Are you standing by your wife?
Are you examining your heart before the Lord
right now?
I don't care how old you are or
young you are or how long or how
little of a time you've been married.
God, tear down the walls today.
God, bring armistice today.
Bring peace.
Tear down the walls.
God, I pray now for a miracle.
I ask you to help us tear down
these walls.
They won't come down unless we attack them.
They won't come down unless we tear them
down, but God, you can give us the
grace to do it.
God, give us grace now.
Give us grace to humble ourselves and to
submit ourselves and to come down from our
proud area, our pride and say, oh God,
forgive me.
I want things right.
Now, if you're standing here and you're not
married, you're single, but you may be back,
maybe marriage is not your problem.
There's been a coldness.
You've been straying from the Lord.
You're not right with God.
You're not even right walking with the Lord.
Let's sing it once again.
If you're here and you want to come
to the Lord this way, you don't want
to leave this service without getting right with
God or coming back to your first love
for Jesus.
I would look this way for just a
moment.
I'm going to ask you to deal honestly
with God and with your own heart and
with others around you.
Be honest with God.
You've got to stand before his presence right
now, acknowledging that the vows you made, the
commitments you made were for life, that you
have no right to walk out on them.
There are no circumstances other than those few
that I've named for you to walk out
on your commitment.
If you make that commitment to God, you
can make it to one another.
You make that commitment to God.
Lord, I make this commitment to you.
I'm committed to this marriage.
I will not walk out of this.
I will do what's necessary.
I will pray.
I will seek your face.
I will humble.
I will submit.
I will do whatever you ask of me,
Lord, that I'm no longer the victim.
I'm no longer the victim.
As I walk out of this church, I'm
no longer a victim.
Lord, I want you to be in control
of my heart and my home.
If that's what you want, I want you
to pray this prayer with me right now.
Everybody came forward and out in the audience
as well.
Heavenly Father, I made a commitment and I
stand on that commitment.
I made a vow for better or for
worse, richer or poorer, till death do us
part.
I come back now, Lord, and I acknowledge
before you these vows that I made to
you and to my mate.
I pledge, O God, to keep those vows
with the help of the Holy Ghost and
the Spirit of Christ.
Deliver us, O Lord, from the vows of
the devil.
Deliver us, O God, from the spirit of
pride.
Humble us both.
Lord, we're both at fault, and we humble
ourselves now.
Take away all the pride, all the selfishness,
and heal us.
Heal us today.
In Jesus' name, forgive us.
So sorry.
Now, Jesus, we commit this to you for
your keeping power.
Let me pray for you.
Father, I pray that the Word finds its
place.
O God, you don't want to resist us.
You died, Jesus, to save us and redeem
us.
You're here, Lord.
Your desire is to bless your people and
to give your favor and to bless our
blessings.
O God, to remove every curse from our
life.
That's your desire.
That's your heart.
And, O Lord, we can have that if
we just humble ourselves today.
Now, look at me, please.
It's not in some kind of a syrupy,
hey, I'm going to try.
It's not just planting a kiss on the
cheek of your mate and say, everything's going
to be okay.
It's a change in the heart that says,
I'm committed.
God, whatever it takes, I'm going to stay
on my face until you tell me how
to act and what to do, until you
get a hold of my temper, until you
get a hold of my eyes, until you
get a hold of my heart, until I
see my husband and my wife through your
eyes, Jesus, until I see the good and
not the bad.
Hallelujah.
Lord, I know you're saving marriages here today.
I know it.
And I thank you, Jesus.
I thank you, Jesus.
Now, just take a minute, if you're with
your husband or wife, to whisper to one
another in the presence of God, whatever you
feel God tell you.
Don't take my words.
Come on, just turn.
Nobody needs to hear it.
Just get somebody, get the ear, say whatever
God says to you right now.
Come on.
If there's repentance, if there's a need to
say, I'm sorry, whatever it is that God
is speaking to your heart, you do it
right now.
Yes.
Amen.
I see some marvelous healings taking place right
now.
Marvelous healings.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you.
Lift your hands and thank him right now.
Lord, we thank you.
We give you praise for your faithfulness, your
goodness.
This is the conclusion of the tape.