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Beloved, I invite you to turn with me to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 22. Let us read together, starting from verse 29: "The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppressed the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads," says the Lord God.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that You would speak to us now through Your Word by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Lay hold of our hearts this morning. Speak to us, minister to us, revive us, stir us, strengthen us, Lord God. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

A wall is designed to keep out what should not be in. It's a form of security. A farmer builds a fence around his property to keep out unwanted species of animals, though they sometimes manage to break down the fences. A nation may not build a physical wall—unless you're Donald Trump and something's happening on the border of Mexico—but they will have border security, borders and walls to keep out contraband and illegal immigration that, if left unchecked, will change a nation's identity and threaten its security. That's why we have a Department of Immigration; it's a sort of wall. That's why we have ports and security checkpoints at the airport; they serve as walls.

Churches have walls—walls for membership—so that the church is not governed ultimately by unregenerate unbelievers who happen to like church, but rather that it is made up of those who are believers in Jesus Christ, of the evangelical faith. And therefore, these certain walls are set in place to safeguard and protect the purity of the Lord's church.

Israel had walls. Walls are good. Israel had rules and regulations in maintaining its national identity and purity. Yes, they loved the stranger that came into their land, as God had said, and they had responsibilities toward them, but there were limitations.

Now, when you have a breach in the wall, you have a gap or a hole that threatens all that the wall is meant to do. It threatens the security and the wellbeing of the people inside the wall. Your bank has a wall that you can't see, but you are grateful for it because it keeps out cyber threats. When hackers try to break into people's accounts, the wall is very nice, isn't it? It keeps your money where it ought to be. But if you have a breach in the cybersecurity wall, all of a sudden there's chaos.

A dam's walls work so well to keep the water in so that it can serve the people very well. But as soon as there's a breach in the dam's wall, all of a sudden that very water that is there to help and to strengthen and sustain the people becomes a threat to the people.

Israel had walls, but there was a long-time breach of Israel's walls which gave rise to the condition that we read about in the book of Ezekiel and in many of the prophets. And I would argue that the beginning of the breach of Israel's wall, at least most evidently as a nation, is when good old King Solomon disobeyed the word of the Lord. In 1 Kings 11:1, it says, "Now King Solomon loved many foreign women," 700 to be precise, "he had also 300 concubines, from the nations which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, 'You shall not enter marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn your heart after their gods.'"

So God says to King Solomon and to the children of Israel, "Marry those who know Me, marry those who believe in Me, marry those who serve Me, who worship Me. Because if you fail to do so, don't be mistaken, the women that you marry that do not know Me will ultimately turn your heart away from Me." Solomon did not take the advice; he married for political power and gain and influence among the nations. He married from a wide variety of pagan nations, women and king's daughters, in order that he might have influence.

But the same chapter, verses 7 and 8, says this: "Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem; and so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods."

Oh, you know, everyone should just have their own religion, you know, it doesn't really matter. So he marries these wives who God says don't marry, they come into the kingdom, and then Solomon's like, well, you know, as long as they worship them and I guess I don't, so here's a high place. Oh yeah, it's not the temple, but it's a high place. It's a little shrine on a mountain somewhere where they can at least fulfill their ritual duties to their gods and their traditional gods that they had had for so long.

And if you've read the book of Kings, you will understand in the book of Chronicles that the bane of Israel, the destruction of Israel, was due to the high places not being removed. Kings rise up, they cleanse the land, but they did not take away the high places. The next generation's back in idolatry. Only two kings, Josiah and Hezekiah, removed the high places, and they were commended by the Lord. All the other kings that did not remove the high places were not commended of the Lord. They had partial commendation, but these kings that removed the high places, they were truly commended of the Lord.

This was the breach in Israel's wall. Idolatry entering in through the foreign wives of Solomon and high places set up all throughout the region that were not removed finally and utterly and ultimately, and the people's hearts hoarded after other gods. The high places ultimately undermined the exclusivity of the worship of Yahweh, the true God. And part of that idolatrous practice was also mingled with debased sexual practices which also propagated evil in the nation of Israel. "You become what you worship," as it's commonly said. "Those who make them," as the psalmist says, "those who make idols will be like them, and so all who trust in them."

And the depth of idolatry that existed in the time of Ezekiel was unparalleled in the history of Judah. In Ezekiel chapter number eight, Ezekiel has a vision of him going from the outer courts all the way into the most holy place, and what he continually sees as he goes through the wall in the temple and sees in this vision is idolatry set up in the temple of God. What God's trying to show Ezekiel is that these people are riddled to their very core with idolatrous practices, even though they still profess to know Me and even though they still offer their morning and evening sacrifices.

A breach in the wall that led to the destruction of this nation, and God says, "Enough, I must destroy Judah and Israel." The nation's condition and state was permeated with corruption from the leadership down to the people. In verse number 26 of Ezekiel chapter 22, what do we have here? We have the prophets that are regarded basically as deluded, self-seeking conmen that are after using God's word for their own good and for their own ends. They are people that conspire, verse 25, "the conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst." Sounds like health, wealth, prosperity gospel to me. A sort of prophetic utterance and word that comes from God that robs the people of God. That makes pastors and preachers live like King Solomon while the rest of the people struggle with their day-to-day living. The prophets: deluded, self-seeking conmen using God's name for their own ends.

The priests, the ones that were administering the temple, in verse number 26, it says, "Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things. They have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them." And here the priests, those that are meant to be ministering unto the Lord for the people, holy people unto God, only can be chosen from a specific tribe and serve in a specific way to safeguard the teaching of the word of God to the hearers and also to mediate and to intercede for the people in such a way that they can be built up in their faith and can worship and continue to worship God.

But the priests here are those that are perverted pleasure seekers that use now the law of God, once again, to serve their own ends. "They violate My law and profane My holy things." You see, for them, it's not about distinguishing anymore between the holy and the unholy because that would cramp their style. That wouldn't satisfy all their comers to the temple. And so instead, what they do is they twist the law, they violate the law, they turn the law around and pervert the law, and they profane God's holy sacrifices and God's holy things to once again serve their own ends. And God's name is profaned among them.

The princes, these are like the kings and the leaders of Israel. Verse 27, "Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain." These are dictators who destroy people using their power once again for their own ends. These people—prophets, priests, and princes—were given by God to the nation to cause the nation to worship Him, to cause the nation to follow Him, to cause the nation to understand God's ways and God's word. But here we find the exact opposite happening. They're feeding themselves, boasting in their glory, and profaning God's holy name. And as the leaders go, so go the people.

And as we read just before, the people were in utter spiritual bankruptcy. The people mentioned in this passage become like dross, the Lord says, which is like the scum that rises from the metal that has gone through the fire, that gets wiped away to purify the metal. It's like dross could also refer to the base metals, the ones that aren't pure and good and usable. And the Lord says this is what's happened to Israel. They've basically become entirely perverted, and all that is meant for them—this bloody city as He calls them in verse number one—this place filled with abominations and that have defiled and are adulterous and are violent people, all that awaits them is My judgment, says the Lord.

But verse number 30 tells us of something God did before He finally set His heart and mind on sending Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian armies into invading Judah and destroying them. This is what it says: "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none." God was seeking, He was searching for a builder, one who could build the wall, to cleanse inside the city, to build the wall and eradicate evil from the city as it were, to repair the gap, the gaping hole of corruption and the infiltration of the paganism that had entered into God's holy place and city, the idolatry. God says, "I sought for one. I sought for a builder. I sought for one who could build a wall. I sought for one who would stand before Me in the gap. I sought for an intercessor, one who would stand before Me on behalf of the land, one who could intercede for them so that I could turn My judgment from them. I looked for one. I sought for one, a repairer of the breach, who would stand before Me."

Why did God look? That's a really important question to ask. Why does the Bible present God as looking and seeking? It is because God is kind and gracious and does not desire the death of the wicked. That's why He sought for a man among them. You see, they should have been looking for someone among them to repair the wall, to cleanse the land of idolatry. The breach was in their wall. The breach was caused by their own sin. They should be seeking to cleanse the land. They should be seeking to put away idolatry. They should be the princes, the priests, the prophets, the people; they should be the ones that are gathering around and sitting together and saying, "God is not among us. How can we live on like this anymore? Quick, let us return to the Lord before God destroys us." They weren't doing that. God, in mercy and kindness, even though they weren't doing that, He was seeking for someone to stand in the gap for them.

The Bible tells us in the end of this verse of probably the greatest words of disappointment to be found in all the texts of scripture: "I sought for a man who could stand among them, a man who could stand in the gap, but I found no one." Ever been disappointed? Gone on a long search, you didn't find what you were looking for? Some of us, our day is ruined when we go to the shops, and we don't find the dress that we like. We found none. Some of us are discouraged because we look for a friend, and we don't find one. Some of us have great disappointment because we look for a certain outcome in a certain area, whether it be in our work or in our families or wherever it may be, and we search, and we labor, and we look, and we do our diligence, but we find none.

The writer of this prophecy, Ezekiel, wants us to understand this aspect about God. Okay, does God get disappointed? In what sense? God is God. God is not subject, as it were, to the human ways in the ways that we are, but we should think of God as He's revealed in scripture. And what we should think of God is that God sought for a man among them to stand in the gap so that He wouldn't judge them, but He found none. And the point is, He found none with great disappointment. The search ended in nothing. And it's devastating because there's no one to intercede. There's no one to bear up this nation before God and to stand in the gap before Him so that He won't judge them.

You have to understand what this means for God. It means for God that His judgment is coming, and it is final, and He will destroy the people of His possession that He loves, of Abraham's seed that He called out, and He will destroy this generation. This is Jesus, as it were, crying, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, those that kill the prophets and stone them, I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not." It's the same idea. The great disappointment of our Lord who weeps over Jerusalem because her destruction is now pending because she forsook Messiah.

So God the Father, at this point in history, feels the same way. Now, the story of this text is the story of the Bible. It's important to realize this. This story of the constant failure and inability of the people to live up to the laws and holiness of God and to satisfy His righteous demands, that constant failure and repetitious failure, and God's disposition of seeking their good and welfare and not desiring to judge them, this is the story of the Bible.

The story of the Bible is climaxing here at this point of the Old Testament, at the very least, where we are seeing Israel's consistent rebellion now for over a thousand or more years, and the consistency in rebellion is climaxing to a point where God is saying, "I looked, and I found none." The failure of man to repair his own breach, the failure of man to keep his own heart pure, his own home pure, his own nation pure, the failure of man to honor God with his life, the failure of man to cleanse his own heart from idols, is the story of the Bible.

And although God found temporary repairers of the breach all throughout the history of the nation of Israel, the truth is that in all those stories, none of them availed ultimately and finally. Moses was raised up to repair the breach, and he led the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness, but not into the Promised Land. And so God looked for a man, and He found Joshua. And Joshua brought them into the land, yes, but he couldn't keep them in the land. And so God looked, and He found judge after judge after judge after judge, and the cycle continued where the people were delivered from their enemies, and they cycled back into idolatry and back into sin and back into rebellion against God.

And so God raised up kings and prophets and priests, and He raised up prophets to proclaim His word to the nation, saying, "Turn to the Lord, turn to the Lord, turn to the Lord." But the story is that the hardening of the hearts of Israel grew harder and harder and more callous and more cold, and the breach in the war got bigger and bigger and bigger, and the idolatry invaded more deeply into the society in which they lived, and the people were more and more corrupt and more and more set on their own things and not on the things of God.

Ezekiel comes along, and God says, "It's over, judgment's coming. I sought for a man to stand in the gap, but I found none." But the story doesn't end there because God sends His Son, the true repairer of the breach, the one who will make up the gap forevermore, the one who will fully, ultimately, finally bring many sons to glory, the one who never failed as a prince with God, the one who never fails as a priest of God, the one who never fails as a prophet of God, who always speaks God's word, who always leads God's people into the presence of the Father, who always cleanses and makes pure the hearts of God's people. This Jesus was sent.

That's why the hope of the book of Ezekiel is not found in chapter 22, but the hope of Ezekiel is found in Ezekiel chapter 36. Turn with me there just for a moment. Ezekiel 36, listen to the words. Think of the breach. Think of the idolatry entering in. Listen to these words: "Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: 'I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,' says the Lord God, 'when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this,' says the Lord God, 'let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!' Thus says the Lord God: 'On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. So they will say, "This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited." Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.'"

Brothers and sisters, He did it in His Son. This is the blood of the new covenant which is poured out for the remission of sins. A prophet like unto Moses, but greater. A priest better than Aaron, after the order of Melchizedek, who ever lives to make intercession for the people. A prince and king greater than David, also after the order of Melchizedek, who will unfailingly, wholly, righteously rule His people forevermore. This is Him whom God has sent in answer to the words, "I found none." To fix the broken wall. The man, Christ Jesus.

The question is, does this Jesus stand in the gap of your broken life? Your heart today, without Christ, is like a city without walls. There is lack of self-control, there is sin, there is guilt, there is shame, there is evil, there is idolatry on the throne of your heart, and there is, as it were, no room for Jesus Christ. You cannot approach God because you've got this gaping hole in the wall of your life, and your walls are broken down, and your life is in ruins. Does Jesus stand in the gap of your broken life? As the hymn says, He's meant to be the gracious Savior of my ruined life. My guilt and cross laid on Your shoulders, in my place You suffered, bled, and died. Has He, by grace, washed you? Has He made you clean? Has He cleansed you from your idolatry? Has He made your heart new and given you a new heart and a new spirit so that you worship Him? Are you washed? Are you cleansed? Is the breach of your heart built and repaired by Jesus? Because you cannot serve two masters. You cannot have the temple of God and idols. God desires to be enthroned in your life; if you repent and believe the gospel, He will come into your broken city, He will cleanse your city of idolatry, and He will repair the broken wall, and you will be safe and secure from the wrath of God which will come upon all those who reject Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and man. Will you believe in Him? Does He stand in the gap of your life? There's no one else that can satisfy your ruined life. There's no one else that can quench your thirst. There's no one else that can bring such light into your darkness that you never walk in darkness again. There is no one who is like that good shepherd who will bring His sheep into His fold and protect them from the wolves that will ravish them. Do you know this Jesus? Is He your Lord? Is He your Savior? Is He your master?

But if we come to Him, the Bible teaches us that He will make us like Himself, a repairer of the breach. In the passage that was read to us in Isaiah chapter 58, verse number 12, listen to these words: "And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets to dwell in." Well, there you have it. Those whom the restorer and repairer restores, they also are brought into the restorative work of repairing the broken walls. They are repairers of the breach. The children of Israel restored shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets to dwell in. And therefore, as believers in Jesus that have been repaired and restored, and as it were, our walls have been fortified by the grace of God, God puts the hammer in our hands, He puts the sword in our hands, He gives us all the artillery that we need, and He says, "Go, repair walls for My name's sake. Go, stand in the gap, as it were, in the name of Jesus Christ. Go, speak, as it were, as a prophet to the people. Go, be as it were as a priest to the people and lead people to Myself. Go, be as a ruler among the people who will guide them and shepherd them into the truth of God."

We'll fail to do justice to the passage if we do not see that it applies to us. There are breaches in the wall before us. In God's church, in God's city, among God's people, we also have high places. And we might not talk about, as it were, a shrine somewhere up here on the pulpit that we all worship and bow down to. But is it not true that God's people worship sex, money, and power? Is it not true that, broadly speaking, in the church of Jesus Christ today, that there are constant articles being brought out of ministers that have fallen, of sexual misconduct, of all these kinds of things that are happening in our world today? Is it not true that the priests are not ministering as they ought to minister? Is it not true that the prophets are not speaking as they ought to speak, and that they're speaking out of their own hearts and not the word of the Lord? Is it not true that the people are gathering teachers to themselves, having itching ears, who are turning their hearts away from the truth? Yes, it is true. The wall is broken down. It needs repairing. The holy temple of God, His church, is profane. The sanctuary of the Lord is perverted. The church of God has become a place of entertainment, of heresy, of places and things and beliefs that undermine the truth and holiness of God. A place of hyper-grace, where you can live as you please, thinking that God doesn't care how it is that you live. The grace of God, at the expense of holiness, is not the grace of God taught in scripture—the grace of God that brings salvation, that teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, that we should live soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present age. The gospel of Jesus Christ delivers us not only from the penalty of sin, but it is delivering us from the power of sin and the bondage of sin, and that we are to be brought into the liberty of the children of God, to live for His name's sake. The church of Jesus Christ is not meant to be a place where the ultimate end is done by pragmatic means. Whatever gets the people in, whatever makes the people happy. It's meant to be the holy sanctuary of God, where God is happy, where God's name is magnified, where we become His joy because we do what honors Him for His name's sake. The house of Jesus Christ is not meant to be a place of merchandise and a place of business, or a place of fun, or a place of necessarily entertainment. It is not meant to be a place where the preaching is soft on sin, that tiptoes around the issues of our society.

There are churches today in this country and around the world that will not speak clearly on the sin of homosexuality. There's a breach in our wall, dear people of God. Abortion is no longer murder. It's when taking life is not called murder in Scripture. Is there any clear word? No. The priests are saying, "Oh, what we need to do here is, we don't want to be distinguishing too much between the holy and the profane. The people don't like that." God says, "That's your job. Your job is to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ and the holiness of God unashamedly, despite the consequences, because the mission of the church is about what God has given her to do, not about what she wants to do." Princes and leaders of the church of Jesus Christ today are often marked more like wolves than shepherds. Power-hungry, profit-making businessmen that are hungry tyrants. And we need to be careful that we don't just say, "Oh, it's out there and not in here." We need to read Daniel chapter 9, where Daniel confesses his sin with the people. We need to have the humility of Daniel and say, "Oh, they've got nothing to do with us." Listen, if they're part of the body of Christ, they've got everything to do with us. Yes, there are gaps in local churches, I understand. But do not think that it does not grieve God that there are gaps in the lives of His people and in churches around this nation.

And despite the depravity and the corruption that exists in the temple of God today, with the church being absolutely gospel illiterate, biblically illiterate, and living like the world, unholy and unhappy, God's heart remains unchanged to the present time. God's heart is still holy. And that means the scripture says judgment will begin at the house of God. And if judgment begins at the house of God, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? There will be judgment for the house of God. Don't be mistaken. His heart is holy. Judgment is pending. The things that we experience in our society that is now infiltrating the church goes back to the weakness of the church to stand upon the truth of God for generations past. But God's heart is holy, but His heart is also kind. Because God doesn't want to judge, as it were. He doesn't want to remove the candlestick from His churches. And so, God, we could say today, in the very way that He was doing in the time of Ezekiel, He is searching, and He is seeking, and He is looking for a builder of the wall. He is looking for intercessors. He is looking for those that will make up the breach, those that will repair, those that will restore, those that will stand before Him—before Him. First and foremost, stand before Him for the people. One who will stand in His presence, who will bow before Him, who will live, as it were, as a prophet and a prince unto God, to serve Him. First and foremost, He's looking for one to stand in the breach. One who will take the risk, the hardship, the ridicule. God's man, God's woman, to look at the world, to look at the church, to look at the society, and instead of complaining about the breaches, say, "God, here am I, send me." Instead of complaining about the breaches in society, and complaining about the breaches in Parliament, and complaining about the breaches in churches, and complaining about the breaches in the education sector, and in the communities, and "Oh, woe, what are we going to do?" Be like Isaiah, who says, "Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." But when God says, "Who will go for us? Who will I send?" He says, "Here am I, Lord, send me." He's humble enough to know that he's no different to the people that he ministers to because he's flesh and blood. But he also knows that God, the repairer, uses instruments to repair the breaches in the world around us.

Brothers and sisters, let us never forget the history of the church of Jesus Christ. It speaks to this issue so well, because you know, in the 1500s, God sought for a man who could stand among them in a gap, and He looked down and saw an old monk—a pretty young monk, actually—but a monk, a priest in the Catholic Church. Big gaping wall, the doctrines of justification by faith falling before the eyes of the people, and God saw Martin Luther there, a man who would stand in the gap. He saw Zwingli, and Haas, and Calvin, and Knox, and Wycliffe, who said, "The people need the word of God. They need the truth of God, and we will stand in the gap."

In the 1800s, God looked over Bristol, England, and He saw George Müller. He saw the big breach that existed, and all these poor orphans on the streets that weren't hearing the gospel and being ministered to and cared for by the churches of God. And God looked down from heaven and saw, is there anyone who will stand in the gap? And He found George Müller, a man after His own heart, that trusted in the Lord, that saw millions of dollars go through his hands and established orphanages to look after thousands of children by the grace of God.

Also, in 1873, God looked over London, and at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and you think, why would He need to do that? Spurgeon's already taken care of business, but listen to this. And He saw this woman by the name of Mrs. Bartlett, the lady that none of us really know about when we think about the Metropolitan Tabernacle. He looked down and saw Mrs. Bartlett, whose women's ministry saw seven, eight hundred women being taught by her weekly. And it was estimated that a thousand women were added to the membership of Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle as a result of her ministry. You should see the way Spurgeon speaks of this woman because she stood in the gap. There was a need, there was a hole in the wall, and she said, "Lord, if You could use me, then use me."

The same is true of D.L. Moody, who taught upward of a thousand children every week in Sunday school. And God looked down upon Chicago, and He saw D.L. Moody, and He saw Wesley, and He saw Whitfield, and He saw Edwards, to revive the church in her apostasy. And He found William Carey, and He found Adoniram Judson, and David Livingston, and Hudson Taylor, who by the grace of God stood in the breaches of the dark places of the most hardest places to go and to preach the gospel, and God revolutionized the nations through men who stood in the gap.

You know, God has also found many unknown and many unnamed men and women, mothers and fathers, and church members, and businessmen, and politicians, and other faithful Christians who were determined by the grace of God to repair the broken walls and to stand in the gap. And heaven will tell us of all of them as they wear those glorious crowns on their head for loving Jesus, and serving Jesus, and living for the glory of Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, let us hear the testimony of the history of the church, and let us hear the heart of God in the text of scripture, and let us look on the world around us and the breaches in our church, and our lives, and in our homes, and in our businesses, and our workplaces, and let us say, "Lord, here am I, use me. I just want to build a wall. I just want to see a little more cleansing of idolatry out of my own heart and the heart of God's people. God, don't judge us. God, save us."

The revival in Wales, the revival in the world—I think it is in 1949, the Hebrides revival. There were two old women, 84 years old, I think, 80 years old. They were the Smith sisters. Look them up. You'll be encouraged. One was blind, and the other was riddled with arthritis. But they said, "We're going to pray two nights a week. We're going to pray for two nights a week for revival." So from 10 pm to 3 am in the morning, they were praying. And they ended up rallying up the ministers, and they started praying throughout the city. And one of the greatest revivals in the modern era has ever broken out in that revival because these two women said, "There's a breach in the wall," and she's blind. What's she going to do? You can pray. "If My people, which are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked way, I will hear from heaven." And these two women that no one would have even noticed or paid attention to brought about one of the greatest revivals by the grace of God ever seen in the history of the church. And that is because they said, "There's a breach in the wall," and instead of complaining about it, "we're going to do something about it, and we're going to pray."

God help us. God help us. There are breaches everywhere. God is looking. Will He find you? Let us pray.