Fifty years ago I first trusted in Jesus Christ. Not so long after that I read David Wilkerson’s book “The Cross and the Switchblade“. David Wilkerson’s teaching really helped me on my path to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Today I listened to his sermon below. I don’t know when he gave that sermon (he died in 2011) but it really resonates with me as being applicable to our current times. Please listen to/watch it in full. Courtesy of AlphaΩmega Productions.
Transcription
Jessica Tapia: They told me that if I were to ever find out about a student’s gender or pronoun preference that I was to withhold that from parents.
Narrator: Jessica Tapia was fired as a teacher from Harupa Valley High School for refusing to hide students gender preferences from parents.
Jessica Tapia: And I said, “Are you asking me to lie to parents?” And they said, “Yes.”
Narrator: AB (Assembly Bill) #1266 (A California law about pupil rights: sex-segregated school programs and activities) passed in 2014. Schools can’t tell parents about their children’s gender identity without first asking the students.
Jessica Tapia: We are talking about minors. Their brain is not fully developed. The decision-making portal in that brain is not fully developed and they need their parents at this time for everything, everything they’re going through mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, you name it.
David Wilkerson: I was listening to the radio in the car the other day, and a national call-in program had two hours dedicated to the Book of Revelation. And the question asked by the host was, “Do you believe that this is the end? Do you believe that God is judging the nations for their sins?”
Now, this was a secular host. It wasn’t a Christian program. And most of the callers that called in — I was amazed — most of them said, “This is God. This is divine intervention.” And even the seculars that were calling in said, “This is beyond comprehension! Is this the Book of Revelation being fulfilled? There’s something happening! Is God speaking? Is God judging the nations?”
And I listened to some of these scientists, and it’s really a fearful thing that they’re prophesying a pandemic that would sweep the world and worse than the flu epidemic in 1918 that killed over a million people here in the United States in six months, and and tens of millions around the world. And they say that was nothing compared to what is coming.
Now, as a believer, what do you think about all of this? As a believer what comes to your mind? Is this what Jesus said would happen that men’s hearts would begin to fail them for fear of watching those things coming on the earth, does that come to your mind? If we believe the Bible is God’s Eternal Word, then this is what you have to believe. I’m quoting to you now from Second Peter 2:4-6:
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world,… bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; …Who brought in the flood? God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And He turned the cities of Sodom Gomorrah to ashes, condemning them with an overthrow, making them examples unto those to those that after should live ungodly. God sent fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed the city. He brought in the flood that destroyed a wicked vile society during Noah’s time.
There have been prophetic warnings. There was a series of books called The Rapture. Is there something happening? Is there something supernatural? This has never happened! Though there have been floods and earthquakes and famines and pestilence and plagues all through history. Because you see all those things happen they have not happened in the the intensity in the rapidity of what we’re seeing in the nations of the world today.
The world is not listening to the prophetic voices. In the Book of Revelation you find natural disasters and so devastating the Bible says men will seek for death and they won’t find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee them. And you go to the Book of Revelation 14th chapter and you see, it says God was pouring out the wine of His wrath upon the nations. The preceding chapters and a few chapters following chapter 14 in the Book of Revelation you find ecological disasters, you find scorching heat, you find pandemic diseases, and all of this after God sent voices and trumpets.
After Jesus Himself appeared to the churches to warn, you find that in Revelation 9 chapter, those that were not killed by the plagues repented not that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver. Neither repented they of their murders or sorceries or of their fornications or their thefts.
In Revelation 16, men were scorched with great heat and they blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these plagues. God which hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give Him glory. They gnawed their tongues for pain, and they blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pain and their sores and repented not of their deeds. You see calamities on all sides and rather than see God or or even turn to God and repent while there was time and while they still had an invitation, they shooked their fist at God, chewed their tongues in pain! Amazing! Incredible! If the secular world and the ungodly world is not moved by these prophecies and by these warnings, then why warn? Why warn people if they’re they’re just going to end up shaking their fist at God? Well, the scripture answers that. Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets. God warns. That is the justice of God, that is the mercy of God.
Here’s my message: Judgment cannot be the only message of the Church of Jesus Christ in the last days. It cannot be judgment alone. God must judge the wicked. We have got to believe what God said. We have to sit back. And you know, we quote that Scripture, we see all these things happen, look up and rejoice. But we dare not do that before the sinner. Who says, “Well, you’re just rejoicing because so many people are dying. You’re able to say, ‘well, I told you so.’” We’re to rejoice in our assemblies, in our hearts, not because of these calamities, but only because there are signs that the Lord has given to us, and we rejoice. We were rejoicing before any of these calamities came. We were rejoicing in the good times. We rejoice at all times. The Lord wants us to prepare our hearts, to face these days with a spirit of rejoicing, and knowing that there is a redemption that’s drawing nigh.
But what is the message of the Church of Jesus Christ in times of calamity such as this? If all we can say to the world is that the end has come, judgment is here, this is God judging the world of sin, if that’s the only message we have, we take away the hope of The sinner. We take away his hope because he’s going to come back to us, the sinner will come back and say, “All right, if this is the end of the world, if time is over, if God’s judging, then let’s go out stoned. Let’s all get drunk, let’s all get high, because there’s no hope, we’re all going to die. We’re all going to hell.”
And then we take away the hope. Now when I say the church has got to preach hope and expectations of mercy and grace, I’m not talking about just preaching heaven. Usually, we come to the sinner and we say, “Well look, yes judgment is here but there’s Heaven coming! If you just repent you can get out of this mess. You don’t have to go through this. You don’t have to suffer.”
You see, the hope of Heaven is for the Christian, is for the believer. It’s not the hope of the sinner. The hope of the believers is the coming of Jesus Christ! But you see, the world is not thinking that, they’re not saying, “Think of eternity, think of Heaven.” They’ll say to you, “Look, I’m trying to get through the day!” No, you see, the world is nervous, the world is out of its mind, the world is perplexed, the world is full of fear, and they’re not going to take a message about Heaven. They’re taking pills and alcohol trying to get through another day.
That’s the hope of the church, yes, but out there, here in the city and around the world, that is not the hope. How do I preach hope, then, to this lost world? The truth is, people have lost hope because they’ve lost their faith. Let me tell you how they lost it. People have lost that faith, they have prayed prayers, they wanted God to be a fix-it God, and because God didn’t fix it for them they weren’t seeking God for who God was, they just wanted it fixed up, and God said, “That’s not enough.” And so they’ve given up, they’ve given up their faith. And so they look at the Church, they look for somebody that they could look to who in their trials and in their hardship, and when all is sinking and everything is shaking, that they have a solid anchored faith. And they come to the Church of Jesus Christ and they see ships wrecked so often. They see Christians who have a reputation for being men and women of faith, who preach faith, who talk faith, who are caving in and giving up in their crisis time.
We’ve had so many sermons on faith. We’ve had so many books in a nervous society. Multiplied millions worldwide are worried about a shaking that’s going on. And where are they going to find the faith? Where will they find this faith? The Holy Spirit spoke to me that I had to anchor my faith. Be sure your faith is not a wavering faith. And when the Holy Spirit began to deal with me that the only thing that would touch people would be beacons of faith, those who had set their hearts and their minds. And in Psalms it says – talking about Israel – they set not their minds on God, they set up their faith on the Lord, they trusted not in Him, they didn’t set their faith, they didn’t anchor, they didn’t deal with the need to have an anchored set faith that could not be shaken. The Scripture says, if any man wavers in his faith let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord. And in that verse, He places the responsibility squarely on our shoulders.
Yes, the Holy Spirit will help. The Holy Spirit will anoint, the Holy Spirit will seek God, the Holy Spirit will not do it without you. He will not do it without me. He said, you set your faith, you anchor your faith. If any man waver, let him not think he will receive anything of the Lord. It’s a strong statement, but God is saying something to us. I must have faith in these days when everything is shaking something has to be solid something has to be unshakable.
What else can it be but our faith, folks? What else can it be? When you determine to take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there and walk away and believe God for rest. When you say, “God, I can’t handle this, but I’m going to commit it to You. I’m going to lay it down at Your feet. I lay all my burdens on You.” When you walk away from that and you say, “Lord, I’m going to believe You.” And you set your mind, and you set your heart, oh, you’ll be tested, it’s going to be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done in your life perhaps. But the Holy Spirit sees this desire, this hunger in your heart, I want to be, I want to offer hope to my family and those in my circle of influence, those who know me, I want to be a beacon of hope. And a solid faith is the only hope they’re going to have. They have to not have a sermon, they have to have a man, they have to have a woman, they have to have that illustrated sermon! They have to see it. They have to be able to touch it. It can’t be a fantasy! It has to be something that is solid! Here are Christians going through the same battles, going through the time of calamity, and they’re not shaken by it. There’s something about their countenance. They can even face death knowing that God has everything under control.
The Bible says in Psalm 78, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. Ephraim was the largest tribe of Israel, the numerous tribe. It was the best armed. It was the most beloved of the Lord, the most blessed tribe of Israel. And they were armed, they were prepared, and they went out to battle, and they had good resolve. No other tribe had been so blessed. They had the knowledge of God. But in the battle the Scripture says, they went out armed with those, and in the battle they turned back. And that’s what happens to Christians. armed, trained, practiced, blessed, honored, full of the Holy Ghost, and then we go out to the battle we say we’re going to win the victory, boast about it, and then, when the crisis comes, and it gets hot, we turn back to our unbelief. And you see what happens. The rest of Israel, all the other tribes say “Wait a minute. If the tribe’s so armed, if the tribe’s so trained, and so blessed can’t make it, what hope do we have? And this is what the world says, “If the Christian who talks about being anointed of God and full of the Holy Spirit, full of the Word of God, and have all the promises of God, if they can’t make it, what chance do I have?”
So we further rob them of faith, of hope. Ephraim questioned God’s faithfulness. They speak against God. They said, “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” Yes, he smote the rock. The waters gushed out. That’s an amazing thing. Waters gushed out. It didn’t trickle out, gushed out. The next statement, “But can He give us bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people?” They believe not for His wonderful works. They were not steadfast in their faith, and they limited the Holy One of Israel. And I don’t want to be guilty of this sin of Ephraim.
In Hebrews 11 we read this. By their faith, the elders obtained a good report. And the word “obtained” there in Greek is they began to bear witness, they became a testimony. By their faith they became a testimony, they became a beacon of hope. Because of their faith they obtained, they became this testimony. First of all, they obtained a testimony of their own heart. Because whenever you set your heart on faith and say, “I’m going to anchor my faith, I’m going to believe the Holy Ghost to help me achieve this desire my heart.” He said, “Ask what you will and it shall be given unto you.” And this is what I will, this is what I want, and I believe God’s Word that He can assist me in this unwavering faith.” And when you do that, the Holy Spirit always affirms it. He always lets you know that all is well with the Father because God said that’s the only way you can please Him. Without faith it’s impossible to please God, and when your faith becomes steadfast, and when you you say, “I don’t care what I’m going through.” We’re in the flesh, yes, we’re going to have those moments, and we’re going to feel like no there’s no hope, but saying no no no no no, I’m not going to do that, I’m going to hold my position.” That’s what the Holy Spirit said, take a position, take a place, take roots, put foundations down now, put pillars under. It’s really what it says in the Greek! Put pillars under it. And build on that. Let every crisis be another building block until you build this Temple unto God.
First there’s an affirmation of the Holy Spirit, that all is well. I know I can’t think of any greater thoughts than to stand before Jesus one day, and He is smiling at me and saying, “Well done! Well done! Yes you believed. You trusted Me. You were the hope.”
You have need of patience. Let me read what the Scripture says, “For you have need of patience that after you’ve done the will of the Father that you might receive the promise.” I’ve always said, you’ve heard me say from this pulpit, the hardest part of faith is the last half hour. Have you ever done that where you caved in, you begin to waver, you begin to doubt?
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. So let patience do his perfect work in you. Let patience settle you and bring rest to your heart. God’s teaching you to wait patiently on Him.
And the last word is, don’t give God any deadlines. You trust Him in His time and His way. I don’t have this all figured out, and please, don’t think that that I have arrived and that I have this perfect unwavering faith, because of everything I’m talking to you about, I have been sorely tested on, even yesterday, and yet I stand here today saying God I believe and will trust you.
There’s somebody that’s ready to fight. There’s somebody ready to hold on. There goes a man, there goes a woman, there goes a Christian that practices what he preaches, believes God, doesn’t murmur and complain and then go around saying, “God has failed me, God has let me down.” No, but in the face of the fire and the floods, take a stand, you say, “God is faithful. How else can I show God’s faithfulness? I can’t show it through my preaching. I have to show it to my living. I have to show it through something I have experienced and gone through. It has to do with the way I live, the way I believe.
Lord, we thank you for Your faithfulness. Lord, there are many listening to me this morning that really have been shaken in their faith. Lord, there are things that seem to be beyond control, things that seem to be spinning out of control, and waiting so long for prayer to be answered, waiting and waiting and getting weary. Lord, You said be not weary in your well-doing, because God will answer. Lord, in the face of everything, in the face of everything, we’ve got to say, with God nothing is impossible, with God nothing is impossible.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 1:8
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22:20
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