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
calling 903-963-8626.
You are welcome to make additional cassettes of
this message for free distribution to friends.
However, for all other forms of reproduction or
electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply.
Are you ready for the Word of God
today?
Go to Matthew Chapter 12.
Matthew Chapter 12.
A warning to an evil generation.
Father, I thank you from the depths of
my heart for the anointing of the Holy
Spirit.
Lord, it's all about your presence.
If you don't come, then the Word is
just a dead letter.
It does nothing.
We don't want information about you.
We want you.
Jesus, we want you to walk in the
midst of this candlestick, this church that you've
established.
We want your presence here.
We ask you, Lord, to make the Word
more real than life and breath itself.
We ask you, God, to come and walk
in our midst today.
Prove us.
Reprove us.
Challenge us.
Change us.
Encourage us.
God, I'm asking for an anointing that far
transcends any ability that I may have that
you've given me, God.
I ask that it all be transcended.
Lord, that you come and establish my thoughts.
Establish even how this message comes from this
earthly vassal, that it be your heart that
might be seen and not mine.
Give me great grace, Holy Spirit, to step
out of the way and disappear, that you
may increase, that you, O God, may be
seen.
Jesus, we want your Word.
We know that there's no other foundation that
will keep us in the coming days.
We want your Word.
God, help us.
Now help me, help this congregation to hear
what you are speaking to the church.
Father, we thank you today.
We thank you, God, from the depths of
our heart for what you are doing.
Hold us in the palm of your hand.
Speak to us all this day.
Let there be, let heaven record, that there
was a shout of victory and glory came
from this house this Sunday, this day, O
God, where we chose to meet together in
your presence.
And we thank you for it in Jesus'
mighty name.
Matthew chapter 12, beginning at verse 38.
Brought my glasses because sometimes I can see
and sometimes I can't.
The first time I had to wear them
was in Ireland.
It's not a bad thing, really.
They say the lights go dim before the
curtain rises in a good production anyway, so.
Matthew chapter 12.
Then certain of the scribes and of the
Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a
sign from thee.
But he answered and said to them, An
evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall be no sign given to
it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment
with this generation and shall condemn it, because
they repented at the preaching of Jonah and
behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
The queen of the south shall rise up
in judgment with this generation and shall condemn
it.
For she came from the uttermost parts of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Now in this passage of Scripture, here are
people that are at least outwardly, they have
the garments of being seekers of God.
Scribes and Pharisees with their respective roles given
them in the spiritual leadership of Israel would
be looked upon as the people that are
the seekers of God, the setters as it
is of the of the pattern and form
of worship for the people.
And they approach him seemingly with a harmless
request.
They said, we would, we want to see
a sign.
And he answered them in some of the
most powerful words of condemnation that you will
find in the New Testament.
I think elsewhere you'll find him speaking of
the scribes and Pharisees and calling them a
brood of vipers.
And he says, how will you escape the
damnation of hell?
He called them whited graves, whitewashed graves that
appear holy, but are full of dead men's
bones.
But here he seems to speak about more
than just the Pharisees.
He speaks about a generation.
That means a type of people.
Let's put it that way.
He said it's an evil and adulterous generation
that seeks after a sign.
That's an amazing thing when you begin to
realize.
And of course, again, in I think it's
chapter 16 and verse four, he repeats himself.
He says, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign and there shall no sign
be given to it, but the sign of
the prophet Jonah.
And he left them and departed.
Now, this is a warning to what Christ
said was an evil generation, an adulterous generation
that were seeking a sign that he was
indeed the Messiah, the Christ, the one who
he said he proposed that he was.
Now, the Bible clearly warns us, clearly warns
us that in the last days of this
world, there will be masses of people led
into spiritual destruction because they have failed to
discern whether supernatural manifestations being performed in their
midst were or were not of God.
And beloved, we are living in the last
days.
The last days are going to be characterized
by these things.
Christ himself warned in Matthew chapter 24, verse
24.
He said there shall arise false Christ's false
prophets and shall show great signs and wonders
in so much that if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect.
I thank God for those four words that
are inserted there, if it were possible, which
means that there are a people who so
know their God that they're not moved or
they're not shaken, they're not they're not deceived.
If a man appeared at Broadway and 50th
and could call down fire from heaven, they
would have a discernment in them whether it
were or were not of God what they
were seeing.
They're not deceived.
There's something in these people that will hold
them, that will keep them.
Beloved, if ever there was a time that
we need to know this book, because there
is a rise now in our generation, a
rise of false signs and wonders now, and
we're seeing the the beginning of something that
will culminate ultimately with a man rising on
the scene who calls himself a man of
peace.
But the Bible describes him as a lawless
man who will attempt to rule the world.
Second Thessalonians, put a marker in Matthew chapter
12, because we're going to be back there.
Second Thessalonians chapter two and in verse seven,
the apostle Paul speaks about the day that
is coming.
He says, and let's start in chapter two,
verse one, in second Thessalonians.
He says that we beseech you, brethren, by
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
by our gathering together to him, that you
be not soon shaken in mind or be
troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor
by letter, as from us, as that the
day of Christ is at hand.
Now, Paul had written an earlier letter about
the coming rapture, as we call it, of
the church when Christ is going to come
and take his church physically from this world.
Those that are dead rising to life first
and those who are alive and remain are
going to be gathered together.
The actual physical removal of the church from
the world.
And Paul says, now, don't be troubled by
this letter.
And verse three says that let no man
deceive you by any means for that day
will not come except to come a falling
away first.
Now, falling away means you have to have
been somewhere to fall away.
There has to have been a people who
believed or embraced something and they've been led
away from it except to come a falling
away.
And that man of sin be revealed, the
son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself
above all that is called God or that
is worshiped so that he is God, sits
in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God.
This day is coming.
There's a man going to rise.
Many believe it's going to be out of
the new European Union and he is going
to make a treaty with Israel, a seven
year treaty.
At the end of that, halfway through that
treaty, he's going to Israel, declare himself to
be God and severely persecute the Jewish people.
And it will be at that time that
the nation will begin to cry out to
Christ.
And what a day that is going to
be.
The receiving back of Israel again.
I just look forward to that.
What an incredible day that's going to be.
He said, remember when I was with you,
verse five, I told you of these things
and now you know what withhold it, that
he might be revealed in his time.
For Paul says the mystery of iniquity, this
mystery of lawlessness that leads up to almost
a worldwide rebellion against the laws of God.
Yes, there will be an elect, there will
be people saved who were on this earth
at that time.
And but he says the mystery of iniquity
does already work.
And now he who lets will let until
be taken out of the way.
In other words, there's a mystery of lawlessness,
but there is a restraining power of God.
Now, there's much discussion about this.
I personally believe the restraining power is the
Holy Spirit manifested through the church of Jesus
Christ.
But he says this restraining power is going
to be holding this back until he be
taken out of the way.
And when he's taken out of the way,
shall that wicked be revealed from the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth
and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming.
Now, even him whose coming is after the
working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders.
In other words, there is going to be
a power, a spiritual power in operation in
the world at this time that leads up
to this rebellion and this man of lawlessness
sitting in in Jerusalem, declaring himself to be
God.
There's going to be an increase in this
lawlessness and this lawlessness will have a spiritual
power behind it.
But the spiritual power is not God.
The spiritual power is a deception.
It's a delusion.
There are there is another power, but the
Bible talks about it as an abomination.
It's a forbidden knowledge, a forbidden power.
You remember Saul when he lost touch with
God, going to a witch at Endor and
this witch at Endor was able somehow to
call up what some believe is the spirit
of Samuel.
Some believe it was an imitation, either or
that whatever happened, the truth was spoken to
Saul.
There is a power, but it's a forbidden
power.
It's the knowledge of evil.
It's the very thing that God warned Adam
and Eve about in the Garden of Eden.
Don't partake of this.
Don't touch it.
In the day you touch it, you're going
to die.
And he says this age will culminate with
this man of lawlessness rising up and there
will follow him a false religion as it
is a false theology that will point to
man and not to God.
And it will have power and signs and
lying wonders.
Amazing.
I mean, if you really look it up,
it will mean there will be a marvelous
supernatural happening, but it's got nothing to do
with God.
It's an absolute deception.
Now, Paul says this lawlessness is already at
work.
It's always been at work.
It's been at work since the day of
Pentecost.
It's been at work from the creation of
the world, really.
This lawlessness is there.
This undercurrent as it is of evil, the
devil himself trying to get man to be
his own God.
That's what the devil wanted.
That's why he led a rebellion in heaven.
He lost it after the power of God.
He wanted to be as God.
Now, it is little doubt, I have little
doubt that Satan before his fall, this was
in his heart.
He was the anointed cherub.
That's what the scripture describes him as.
He seems to, in the book of Ezekiel,
be described as a creation of great beauty.
And yet he was not satisfied with the
position that he had been given.
He saw this incredible power in God and
he wanted this power, but not for God's
purposes.
He wanted it for his own glory.
And beloved, listen to me.
This has been the spirit behind every person
who lusts for power and recognition in the
church of Jesus Christ.
The same spirit, not the spirit of Christ.
It is the devil himself that animates every
rebellion that you ever see in the church
of Jesus Christ.
Every associate pastor that gets tired of being
the associate pastor and all of a sudden
reaches out and grabs for the reins of
leadership has that same spirit on him.
It's the devil himself.
It's the same spirit.
And yes, there may be a power even
sometimes that comes behind it.
I fear in my heart, every pastor, every
leader throughout church history that has ever usurped
the authority of God, one day has to
stand before God Almighty himself and give an
account of how in his lust for recognition,
he supposedly was representing the man who made
himself of no reputation.
It's incredible.
It's an oxymoron.
It doesn't make any sense.
It's totally foolish to think that these things
can be and somehow ever be blessed by
God.
Acts chapter eight.
If you go there very quickly with me,
Acts chapter eight tells us about a man,
Philip, who went down into Samaria and he
preached Christ.
And there were marvelous miracles began to happen.
You see, Philip was an obedient man.
If you know the whole story from this
place of the miraculous God called Philip into
the desert and Philip obeyed God, that's always
a mark of a man of God.
It's not always bigger and higher.
It's wherever you want me to go, whatever
you want me to do.
It's not my will.
It's your will.
And Philip went up into Samaria and the
Bible tells us that there were great miracles
and unclean spirits were cast out of people
and people were healed and there was great
joy in that city.
And verse nine says, but there was a
certain man called Simon.
Acts chapter eight, verse nine, which before time
in the same city had used sorcery and
he had bewitched the people of Samaria, giving
out that himself was some great one.
And that's, that's always, always the spirit behind,
behind demonic activity.
It's a person, even in ministry, who is
promoting themselves.
It's all about them.
It's all about that.
There's some great man of God.
There's some great woman of God.
And it's a self-promotion.
It's not hard to spot it.
It's not hard to hear it.
It's, you can see it in many places,
even today in what professes to be the
church of Jesus Christ.
And they all gave heed, it says in
verse 10, from the least to the greatest.
And they said, this man is the great
power of God.
You see, here's Samaria and they have this
man in their midst before Philip arrives.
And this man is, is a self-promoter.
He's, he's promoting himself that he's a great
man of God.
That's always a warning.
Be careful of that.
Whenever you see a man allowing himself to
be promoted in that regard, be very, very
careful of it.
And then it says they, the people in
Samaria gave heed and they said, this is
the power of God.
But the Bible says he was using sorcery.
It was not the power of God.
It was the power of the devil that
was animating this man.
But the people said, this is God's power
because they were ignorant of the knowledge of
God.
Now, when Philip came, a humble man of
God, a man who had the genuine power
of heaven moving with him, the power of
the Holy spirit, the people's affections were turned
from this self-promoting man and they were
delivered.
You see, the Bible says that unclean spirits
had gotten ahold of a lot of these
people and Philip came.
And as he began to preach, these unclean
spirits began to lose their hold.
You see, they were getting ahold of the
people through the ministry in part, I'm sure,
although the Bible doesn't declare it.
I'm absolutely positive through the ministry of this
man, Simon, these people were becoming demon possessed
as it was.
And there was great joy because the gospel
had finally come in clarity, purity, and in
truth.
And people were getting free.
A man who's a man or woman of
God doesn't point to themselves.
They point to Christ.
They talk about Jesus Christ.
They talk about the cross.
They talk about what God has done.
They encourage the people to look away from
them because they know they're absolutely nothing.
It's not about us.
It's not about flesh.
Flesh can't do anything for you or for
me.
Not a single thing.
It's only God.
It's only the power of the Holy ghost
that can set you free today.
Nothing else can set you free.
And there was great joy.
And Simon lost his authority.
He lost his power because the people had
a contrast.
Just like in the day of Elijah, when
the prophets of Baal had cornered the spiritual
market as it is in Israel, they had
all the people gathered around thinking they were
really speaking for God.
But one man stands up, builds a proper
altar.
The true presence of God comes.
And in one moment of time, at least
the whole gathered portion of that nation is
turned back to God again.
And that's exactly what happens when there's a
contrast.
And now he says they gave regard to
him from the least to the greatest.
And verse 11 says they had regard because
for a long time he had bewitched them
with sorceries.
But when they believed Philip and verse 12
of the things concerning the kingdom of God
and of the name of Jesus Christ, they
were baptized, both men and women.
Then Simon himself, believing also was baptized.
And he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding
the miracles and signs which were done.
That's an incredible thing.
Simon lost his power and he saw that
there was a power greater than what he
was putting forward before the people.
And he began to follow and he believed.
He said, this is a greater power than
I've ever known.
And there appears to be a conversion.
But it's a it's a very doubtful conversion.
I'm going to show you why.
Now, in verse 18, he says, when Simon
saw that through the laying on of the
apostles hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he
offered them money and saying, give me also
this power that on whomsoever I may lay
hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
And Peter said to him, thy money perish
with thee, because thou has thought that the
gift of God might be purchased with money.
Thou is neither part nor lot in this
matter, for thy heart is not right in
the sight of God.
Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness and pray
God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart
may be forgiven thee.
Peter said, for I perceive that thou art
in the gall of bitterness and in the
bond of iniquity.
On the iniquity in the Greek, it means
unrighteousness.
In other words, Peter says you are you
are gripped by unrighteousness.
You are bound by iniquity and you are
gripped by unrighteousness.
So this man had had an apparent conversion,
but his apparent conversion produced no transformation.
And the evidence of the lack of transformation
is that he's still full of himself.
He's still a self-promoter.
He just wants to use now the power
of God to promote himself.
And Peter said, you don't have any part
in this.
He thinks the ignorance in the man some
exposes itself by thinking that somehow money is
going to buy the power of God.
Money is going to change the world.
And folks, we have preachers like that today.
They promote themselves and they have this impression
that money is somehow inexplicably intertwined with the
preaching of the gospel, forgetting the fact that
the 120 in the upper room didn't have
a lot of money.
As a matter of fact, they might have
had very little at that time, but they
had something that this world needs to have
something that the church needs.
They had the power of God.
It's not money that's going to change the
world.
It's the power of God that will change
this world that we live in.
Now, in John chapter five and verse forty
three, Jesus warned the people.
He said, I've come in my father's name.
And he said, you don't and you receive
me not.
If another shall come in his own name,
him you shall receive.
Now, it's incredible thing.
Christ is speaking to the religious circle of
his day, and he says, I've come in
my father's name and you don't receive me.
But if another man comes in his own
name, you'll receive him.
This was in the hearts of the people.
Here's the son of God speaking to this
generation, saying, here I am, God Almighty, literally
in the flesh.
I'm the son of God.
I'm the I am, but you won't receive
me.
But if another man comes in his own
name, you'll receive him.
This was the heart.
It was the spiritual condition of that generation.
I was reading about it in the Hendrickson
pulpit commentary, and the author said at the
time of the writing of the Hendrickson commentary,
Israel to date had in part or whole
received 64 messiahs as their savior since the
day of Christ, 64 messiahs.
Jesus said, I came, but you did not
receive me.
If another comes in his own name, him
you will receive.
Now, John 5 tells us why this happens
in verse 45.
He says, now don't think that I will
accuse you to the father.
There's one that accuses you, even Moses, in
whom you trust.
For had you believed Moses, you would have
believed me.
For he wrote, he wrote of me.
But if you believe not his writings, how
shall you believe my words?
You see, this is the issue.
They simply didn't desire the messiah about whom
God had written.
That was the issue.
God had given a clear revelation in the
scriptures about this messiah, but the people didn't
desire this type of messiah.
They had something else in their mind.
That's why they wouldn't receive him.
That's why if another man would come offering
immediacy, controlling the kingdom, ruling, reigning without pain,
all this other stuff, he said you'll receive
that, but you won't receive the true messiah
because you don't want me the way I've
been written about.
Isaiah said it this way in Isaiah 53,
he said, Lord, who has believed our report?
God, you, I saw you in your glory
and you opened your word to me and
you gave me a report about who you
are to take to the people.
But who has believed it?
He said, God, you're like a dry root
out of the ground.
He said, the way you reveal yourself, there's
no form, there's no coming.
There's nothing attractive about you that people should
want you.
He said, I've been declaring to my generation
who you are and how you're going to
manifest yourself.
But who has believed it?
Who wants it?
Nobody wants this.
And Isaiah was exasperated.
And that's why he says in Isaiah 53,
he said, there's no form, there's no comingness.
He said, you're a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief.
And we esteemed you not and hid our
faces from you.
We didn't want this kind of messiah.
We didn't want a messiah that understands sorrow
and is acquainted with grief.
We didn't want this broken hearted messiah that
was going to come down and pour his
life out as a servant.
We wanted a messiah that'll reign.
We want a messiah that takes us to
the throne right now.
We don't want to have to go through
the fire.
We don't want to have to go through
the flood.
We don't want to live yielded lives to
the purposes of God.
We want it all now.
We want to hear all the blessings now.
We want none of the sour parts.
We want just all the sweet parts of
the scripture.
And Isaiah says, God, who has believed it?
I've told the people who you're going to
be.
I've written it clearly.
It's clearly there.
You gave it to me.
But who has believed it?
We hid our faces from this sorrowing messiah,
and we didn't esteem him.
And actually, in the Hebrew, it means we
didn't consider him worth very much.
As a matter of fact, they sold him
for 30 pieces of silver.
Now, back to Matthew chapter 12, where we
started.
Verse 41, Jesus said, The men of Nineveh
will rise in judgment with this generation and
will condemn it because they repented at the
preaching of Jonah.
And behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
Now, he's basically saying to the people, the
men of Nineveh will rise.
There's a day coming when the dead and
living will rise and stand before the throne
of God.
And he says, the men of Nineveh are
going to look at this generation.
He's talking now about the people he was
speaking to, and they're going to condemn it
because they repented just hearing a word from
God.
They had a word.
Forty days.
The judgment is coming.
Forty days.
It's all over.
That's all they had of God.
They had a little word.
God has looked at your society.
It is wicked.
He's going to judge it in 40 days.
It's all over.
That's all they had.
That was Jonah's message to them.
And Jesus said they repented just in hearing
a word.
He said, but now you have the word
himself in your midst.
You have the word.
You have God incarnate.
The word became flesh, John says, and dwelt
among us.
And we beheld his glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth.
And Christ says they had a word and
repented.
But you have the word now.
You have the word himself.
You have God walking in your midst.
And yet you're turning and looking in another
direction.
He said in verse 42, the queen of
Sheba shall rise up in judgment with this
generation and shall condemn it.
For she came from the outermost parts of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
And behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
He says the queen of Sheba came from
the ends of the earth, as it is
from a far distance to hear the wisdom
which God gave to a man.
But you now have the very wisdom of
God before you.
And instead of receiving him, you require a
sign.
Instead of receiving God, you want a sign.
It's amazing.
You know, in the light of living in
a generation where many people who profess Christ
seem to be looking for signs now.
If they hear that it's always been a
part of nominal religion, you read it in
the papers, a supposed piece of fog appears
between two panes of window in some country
and you have people flying from all over
the world to see it and worship it.
They require a sign.
I mean, it's the characteristic of religiousness without
God.
They're looking for God, but they don't know
how to find him.
And I find tragically in much of the
modern day charismatic movement that it is moving
the same way.
If a sign appears somewhere in the world,
it could be as foolish as some of
these other things.
You'll find charismatic Christians now flying all over
the world, looking for God.
And that's a mark of something being very,
very wrong in the church and the professing
church of Jesus Christ.
Now, I'm not talking about the whole church.
There are wonderful charismatic leaders and Christians and
churches that are preaching and teaching the word
of God.
I'm talking about a segment of it.
And it is rather distressing to see this
happening in our present generation.
And unfortunately, it will only increase because the
Bible says that the signs will become greater.
The false miracles will become more profound.
And there will be a generation that will
fall away because they don't know what is
of God and what is not of God.
And I'm hoping to share with you why
before we get to the end of this
message.
Now, Matthew 12, 38, they said to a
master, we would see a sign.
Now, obviously, they've had a lot of signs.
There have been they've been around.
The multitudes have been fed five thousand with
a few loaves and fishes.
They've seen the blind.
They have the testimonies of the blind that
were given sight and the lame are walking.
They obviously are signs.
So what is it they're asking for?
Not another miracle.
Actually, if you look at it, the original
text is more than a miracle of healing
that they were asking for.
But they were asking for something else.
I haven't got time to turn to it.
But if you look in chapter 16, verse
one, in Mark chapter eight, verse 11, in
Luke chapter 11, verse 16, they were asking
for a sign from heaven.
They were asking for a supernatural display in
the sky that would be a sign of
his mission.
Incredible.
Just give us a sign.
Stop the sun, move the stars, have the
clouds go around in circles.
Just give us a sign.
And he looks at this generation and says,
this is an evil and an adulterous generation.
He turns and calls it something very profound.
Now, that should have been a shock.
How would you feel if you went to
your prayer closet and said, God, I really
do believe that you love me.
I believe you have a call in my
life.
But just give me a sign.
A lot of Christians do that.
I look out the window and if I
see a red car pass by in the
next two minutes.
Now, how would you feel if the Holy
Spirit clearly spoke to you and called you
evil and adulterous?
That's evil and adulterous.
I mean, it's incredible when you begin to
think of it.
What is it?
What's so evil about it?
What's so adulterous about this?
He says, in other words, here's what it
means that your pursuit of God does not
line up with God's pursuit of you.
God says, yes, you have an appearance of
pursuing me, but I am pursuing you.
But those two pursuits have got to line
up.
We've got to meet in the same place.
If we're not walking in agreement, we can't
walk together.
And if your pursuit of me does not
line up with my pursuit of you.
It's evil.
You can be a pursuer of God and
be all wrapped up in evil.
Simon could have very well said, I'm a
pursuer of God.
What are you talking about, Peter, that I'm
full of iniquity?
I'm a pursuer of God.
But you see, Peter could clearly tell him
that your pursuit of God is not matching
up with God's pursuit of you.
You see, he's got something for you, but
you don't want that.
You want something else.
And we're living in a day today where
I think there's a I won't mention titles
or anything, but there's there's people chasing God
now all over the world chasing God.
But their pursuit of God is not lining
up with God's pursuit of them.
And I have people tell me quite often
they say, I don't understand it.
That man, that woman, that church, they were
so hungry for God.
They were so pursuing God.
How could they have gotten so far off
track?
I want to suggest to you that their
pursuit of God did not line up with
God's pursuit of them.
I want to suggest to you there was
a hidden agenda.
I want to suggest to you that even
though they were betrothed, as it is by
testimony to Jesus Christ, they've never become one
with him.
They're not one in heart with him.
They don't want God's way, just like the
generation of Isaiah.
As he reveals himself, they don't want him.
That's not the Christ they want.
I'm pursuing the Christ, but not the Christ
of this Bible.
I want another Christ.
And we're living in a generation like that,
folks.
Oh, if ever there's time to get in
this book and say, holy spirit, not my
way, but not my will, but yours, not
my thoughts, yours, God, open this book to
me, God, and prove my heart.
Examine me.
Show me whether or not I'm in the
faith in this pursuit that I have.
God, am I really pursuing you?
Is it your heart that I want?
Is it your call?
Is it your mission?
Is it your purpose for my life?
Or do I have another agenda?
And in my supposed pursuit of you, I'm
trying to cram that agenda into my life
and call it God.
God says, no, that's adulterous.
If you are my wife, if you are
my bride, we're walking together.
We're saying the same thing.
We're moving in the same direction.
You have my heart.
If you're my bride, you don't come to
an altar and receive me as savior just
to go live your own selfish way in
your selfish life.
Christ says I have a mission in this
world.
I'm acquainted with grief and acquainted with sorrow
because millions are dying and going into a
hell for eternity.
Christ came to save sinners.
It's conclusive in the Bible.
He came to save sinners.
He came to open prison doors.
He came to give sight to the blind,
to heal the wounded.
He came to preach the gospel to the
poor.
There's no other purpose for being on this
earth if we're the bride of Christ than
to be following in his footsteps.
And Jesus said, it's an evil generation that
seeks a sign and there shall be no
sign given to it but the sign of
the prophet Jonah.
No sign given but the sign of the
prophet Jonah.
I did some research on this.
I was profoundly touched by what I found.
The word given in the Greek text, I
want to give it to you line by
line what it means.
The word given means bestowed.
In other words, he said there's going to
be no sign given to this generation but
the sign of the Jonah.
Now we know that Christ was talking about
his Jonah was three days in the belly
of the whale.
I'm going to be three days in the
grave.
And as Jonah came back, I'm going to
come back.
And those that are mined are going to
be resurrected.
We'll get there in a moment.
There'll be no sign given but the sign
of the prophet Jonah.
The word given in the Greek New Testament
means this.
It means bestowed.
This is the first word.
And I'm going to read you some corresponding
scriptures.
This is the sign.
He said, I'm going to give to you.
Bestowed.
First John 3.1. Behold, what manner of
love the father hath bestowed upon us that
we should be called the sons of God.
For the world knoweth us not because it
knew him not.
The word given means brought forth.
Luke chapter two, verse seven.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and
wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him
in a manger.
Christ said there'd be no other sign given.
The word given means delivered up.
Acts 2.23. Him being delivered by the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God.
You have taken by wicked hands and have
crucified and slain.
The word given means offered.
Hebrews 7.26 and 27.
For such a high priest became us who
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and
made higher than the heavens.
Who needs not daily as those other high
priests to offer up sacrifice first for his
own sins and then for the people's.
For this he did once when he offered
up himself.
It means offered.
The word given.
The word given also means struck with the
palm of the hand.
You can look it up for yourself in
your Greek concordance.
Matthew 26.67. They did spit in his
face and buffeted him and others smote him
with the palms of their hands.
The word given means to suffer.
Luke 17.24. For as the lightning that
lightens out from under one part of heaven
and shines to the other part under heaven,
so shall also the son of man be
in his day.
But first he must suffer many things and
be rejected of this generation.
The word given means to take.
Matthew 16.24. Jesus said, if any man
will come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me.
The word given means utter.
Matthew 13.35. He says, I will utter
things which have been kept secret from the
foundation of the world.
In other words, there's a people, a bride
that I have.
I'm going to speak.
They're going to know my voice.
I am their shepherd.
They are my sheep and they're going to
hear me.
These things have been kept secret.
They cannot be found by the self-seeking.
They cannot be found by those who are
looking for signs.
They cannot be known, but by those whose
hearts are right towards me.
The word given means to yield.
Matthew 27.50. And Jesus, when he had
cried again with a loud voice, yielded up
the ghost.
When he cried with a loud means to
yield.
This is the sign.
This is what will be given to the
people.
Luke 23.46. The Bible says he cried
out, Father, into thy hands.
I commend my spirit into thy hands.
This is the sign, he said, that's going
to be given to this generation.
I'm going to go to a cross.
I'm going to die on the third day.
I'm going to be raised again by the
power of God.
And he said, here is the sign.
Romans 8.11. If the spirit of him
that raised up Christ from the dead dwells
in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you.
This is the sign.
There is no other sign.
The sign that Christ is alive is his
life in me.
It's his life being lived through me.
When people are running all over the place
looking for signs, it is an evidence.
It is a conclusive evidence that their pursuit
is not in line with the pursuit of
Christ.
If you are pursuing the heart of God,
if you want him, want his will, his
way, he said, ask what you will, it
will be done to you.
He said, you've not asked for anything.
But now he said, I ask, I tell
you to ask and it will be given
you that your joy might be full.
He said, not seek, ask.
He said, your father will give the Holy
Spirit to those who ask him.
And when the Holy Spirit comes into a
person's life who's belonging to Christ, there is
a transformation inside.
There are changes.
I don't care if a hundred people go
out onto Broadway and start calling the stars
out of heaven.
What does it mean to me?
I've got the life of God inside of
me.
I've got the heart of God living in
me.
It means nothing.
You go to a meeting and somebody can
tell you you had an aunt who had
red hair.
So what?
What does it mean?
Somebody can tell you the numbers on your
driver's license.
Big deal.
It doesn't mean anything.
And it's an evil generation that seeks that
kind of a sign.
And you'll find those that give those signs
are always promoting themselves, always talking about money,
always, always, always, because that's the spirit that
animates them.
God help the people that come under their
ministries.
God help the Church of Jesus Christ in
this age.
If we should be praying anything, we should
be praying, Almighty God, be merciful to your
church, be merciful to your people, be merciful
to those that are called by your name
and are running the world looking for the
wrong signs.
The sign is a transformed life.
The sign is within you.
Jesus said it this way in Luke chapter
17, verse 20.
Scripture says that when he was demanded of
the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should
come.
You see, they were looking for this great
conquering king that was going to come and
just throw down the Roman Empire, establish his
kingdom, and they were going to live in
happiness and peace and prosperity, no more sighing
or crying, no sorrow.
And they're looking for this kingdom.
You see, Christ was coming with another one,
but they didn't want that one.
They wanted the other one.
They wanted the ruling one.
They wanted the one where there's no trouble,
no trial.
Does this sound familiar, folks?
No sorrow, no poverty, no difficulty.
They wanted another king, another kingdom.
And they asked him, when is the kingdom
going to come?
And then he answered them in Luke 17,
20.
He said, the kingdom of God cometh not
with observation.
In other words, you can't see it.
It doesn't come with some big display in
the sky.
He was just giving them a plain answer.
It doesn't come the way you want it.
It doesn't come the way you think it's
going to come.
You can't really see it.
Incredible.
He says, neither shall they say, lo here
or lo there, for behold, verse 21, the
kingdom of God is within you.
He said, so if people are saying, well,
God is working here, don't go running after
it.
There's no need.
The kingdom of God is within you.
The kingdom of God doesn't just appear in
Kansas and then in Los Angeles and then
over in Buenos Aires.
The kingdom of God is in you.
You don't have to run after it.
The greatest sign is the transforming power of
Christ in your own life.
And he goes on to say, he says,
and he said to his disciples, the days
will come when you will desire to see
one of the days of the Son of
Man and you shall not see it.
And they say they shall say unto you,
see here or see there.
Go not after them and don't follow them.
Don't follow them.
Don't follow the ones that say, hey, there's
the Lord is manifesting in Timbuktu.
Save your plane fare.
Save the money on the tape.
You see, the kingdom of God does not
come without word observation.
The kingdom of God is within you.
Isn't it amazing?
The kingdom of God is within you.
You and I are called out of the
grave like Christ was.
That's our calling.
We are called out of the grave of
sin, the power of death and hell.
We are saved by faith in the shed
blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Then the Holy Spirit comes, the same spirit
that quickened Christ and rose him from the
dead comes to us when we have trusted
in Christ for our salvation.
He comes for a purpose.
The Bible says he comes to quicken us,
lead us into truth and comfort us with
that truth.
And the truth will set us free.
He comes to convince us when our lives
are not in line with the purposes of
God.
He can.
We call it conviction.
He convinces us.
He comes to say, no, this is not
God.
He's it's and he leads us into that
truth.
And once we're we line up in our
minds and hearts with the agreement of God's
word and God's truth, then the Holy Spirit
makes it a reality.
He is the spirit of Christ.
He is the life of Christ.
He makes it a reality.
We can be praying for for things for
the wrong reason.
And quite often God will withhold it until
our minds, our hearts are in line with
his.
We finally see why we need this, that
we're praying for.
And then the Holy Spirit comes and makes
it a reality.
I have lived this.
I continue to live it.
This is not a theology.
This is an experience.
I know this is reality.
I know this is true.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And God's purpose is to come into my
life and into your life and in saving
us and in changing us, bringing glory to
God and then through us as his body,
bringing his love, that's Christ, his healing and
his salvation to a fallen world.
This is the church of Jesus Christ.
So let people gather around images on walls
and pictures on mirrors.
I don't really care about that.
That's not what the kingdom of God is
about.
The kingdom of God is about Christ in
me, the hope of glory, Christ in me,
changing me from image to image and glory
to glory by the spirit of the Lord.
The hope of God's kingdom is God coming
and giving me knowledge that I don't possess,
giving me strength I don't have, taking me
places I can't go, making me a man
I never could be without his spirit within
me, putting compassion in my heart for the
lost, giving me the mind of God, helping
me by God's strength to enter into the
burden of Christ for my generation.
This is the kingdom of God within me.
Hallelujah.
And that's why Christ calls it evil and
adulterous.
In other words, you don't have my heart.
You say you're my bride, but you don't
walk with me.
You want me, but for another purpose.
You don't want to bring my love to
a fallen world.
That's a serious issue.
Because in our pursuit of God, we all
have to answer it.
Why am I pursuing God?
What's the end result of this pursuit?
Is it Christ in me?
Is it going to be my life yielded
to God for his purpose, whatever that is?
Or am I, though I already have a
preconceived Messiah in my mind and I'm looking
for that Messiah.
And so I miss the real one and
have Christ stand before me and say, the
men of Nineveh will condemn you.
The queen of Sheba will stand and say,
what a fool.
I came from Africa or I came from
another part of the world just to just
to hear the wisdom that God had put
in the man.
But now you have the wisdom of God.
And you turned aside from it and said,
no, give us a sign.
Give us a sign.
See, we want power, but we don't want
the cross.
We want to reign, but we don't want
to be acquainted with sorrow.
We looked at this Messiah and said, no,
he's not worth much.
I don't want that.
There's nothing about him that's attractive.
I want this one.
I want the one that sits at the
right hand of power.
That's the Messiah I want.
You see, you can't get this one without
this one.
It's the same Christ.
Beloved, one day we will sit there with
him.
We do by faith now in Christ.
But one day it'll be an actuality.
But till that day, we are on this
earth fulfilling the ministry of Christ.
The things that you read about in the
Gospels that he started, we are moving forward
with it with same calling, same type of
alienation from God, same type of rejection of
his ways, same generation we're called to be.
You know, the Bible says I read an
author recently that or he said that so
many people say the whole world will be
evangelized before Christ comes.
Well, that's fine.
But I want to remind you that every
50 years or so, the whole world perishes
and another generation comes.
The whole world has to be evangelized in
every generation.
And it has to be done by a
church.
God could send angels, but he didn't.
He could make his voice so loud that
he could speak to the whole world, but
he didn't do it.
He called us to be co-laborers with
him.
He called us to be his wife as
it is his bride.
And he said, I'm going to give you
my heart, my life.
We're going to come to an altar and
exchange a vow.
You're going to give me what you have.
You're going to give me your failure, your
weakness.
You're going to give me your confusion.
You're going to give me your lack of
ability.
And that's all we give to him, right?
I mean, could you imagine just imagine the
vow that a bride makes with Christ?
I give you my sin.
I give you my confusion.
I give you my.
And then he looks at us and says,
I give you my power.
I give you my love.
I give you my strength.
And then he says, now, come, let us
walk together.
Let us walk together through this world.
Let us go out into the vineyard and
see if it's the time of the harvest.
Come with me.
Walk with me.
Follow me through this world.
Take up your cross.
It's not heavy and the burden is light.
It's not.
The yoke is easy.
The burden is light.
Take it up.
Begin to walk with me and you're going
to know a joy unspeakable that's full of
glory.
It's full of glory.
The joy that I had with my father,
you will have with me and we will
be one just as the father and I
are one.
This was my prayer for you, that we
would be one as the father and I
are one.
I never want my seeking of God to
end up being called evil and adulterous.
It is a warning to an evil generation.
This is a very self-seeking generation.
And of course, self-seeking is deeply embedded
now in the Church of Jesus Christ because
it's in the culture, especially in the Western
world.
And the Western world is very reluctant to
accept the Messiah as he's revealed.
But you see, because of it, they will
never know the power of God.
They will never know the power of his
kingdom.
He will always be out there somewhere and
they will be forever running, forever looking, and
never finding.
Ever learning, never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth.
The spouses of Christ as it is, but
their very lives are a denial of his
power.
That's what the scripture says.
Talk about Jesus and know scriptures and memorize
the Bible, but their lives are a denial
of the reality of Christ.
Oh beloved, the hour is late.
Don't be caught looking at the wrong places
for him.
There's only one place to find him.
You find him on your knees with a
bent heart, a tongue that confesses that he's
not only Savior, but he's Lord.
That's where he's found.
I'd like us to sit just for a
moment.
Just for a moment.
And just meditate on what the Holy Spirit
has given to us today from the word
of God.
Please don't move.
Same in the education annex.
Just take a moment.
Hallelujah.
Thank you Jesus.
Thank you Lord.
The question that we must ask ourselves today
is does my pursuit of God, does my
pursuit of Jesus Christ line up with his
pursuit of me?
And I'm believing right now that the Holy
Spirit is showing many where that is not
so.
Your pursuit of him is not lining up
with his pursuit of you.
And that is very dangerous.
Because if you don't let it go, it
will cause you to go in the wrong
direction and look for the wrong signs.
You may even fall under the influence of
ministries that have nothing to do with Christ.
Lord Jesus, we do love you.
I speak first for my own life, Lord.
I'm asking that my pursuit of you for
whatever years I have left are in truth.
Let it be a pursuit of truth.
I pray God with all my heart that
it lines up with your heart.
And if it doesn't, I ask you to
deal with it.
Deal with it, Holy Spirit.
Deal with it.
Don't give me any rest.
Don't give me any peace until this is
dealt with.
Father, I pray for your church here at
Times Square, Lord, that our pursuit of you
would be according to truth.
The sign that we would look for is
the life of Christ in us.
Father, I thank you for it, God, with
all my heart.
If you are unsaved today, you're outside the
kingdom of God.
You don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior.
But today you'd like to say, I confess
that I'm a sinner.
I need God.
I'm going to open my heart and give
Jesus Christ the Lordship of my life.
And I'm going to receive him today as
my Savior.
I'm going to believe that as I open
my heart to him, that he will receive
me as his own and set up his
kingdom in my heart, change me and make
me into a new person.
If this is in your heart to do
this today, if you want to become a
child of God, I'm going to ask you
unashamedly now, wherever you are, to raise your
hand with me.
Anywhere in this sanctuary, education, God bless you.
God bless you.
Others, God bless you.
Don't be ashamed.
God bless you.
You too.
God bless you.
Others, bless you.
Keep going.
Raise them high.
God bless you.
There's more.
I know there's more.
Up in the balcony.
Raise your hand high.
You don't have to be ashamed of Christ.
He died on a public hill for you.
The least we can do is publicly give
our lives to him.
Raise your hand high.
Raise it high.
God bless you and you and you way
in the back and cross the back.
God bless you all over the sanctuary.
God bless you.
You'll never be the same again.
More.
There's got to be more in the balcony.
This is God Almighty today inviting you to
eternal life with him, opening heaven to you.
You'll never have a greater decision.
God bless you and you husband and wife.
God bless you.
Others, others.
Praise God.
Bless the Lord.
Now I'm going to pray together, then give
another altar call.
I want us all to pray for these
that have raised their hands today.
The simple prayer, if you meet it in
your heart, Jesus will save you today.
Let's pray together.
Education addicts, I haven't seen your hands, but
God sees you over there today.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus Christ.
I am a sinner.
Jesus, thank you that you love me enough
to become a man and die for me.
Oh, God, thank you for the offer of
forgiveness.
I open my heart today and I receive
you as my savior and my Lord.
I believe you are the son of God.
You died to pay the price for the
wrong things that I have done.
You were raised again from the dead as
living proof that my trust in you is
not in vain.
I open my heart and I invite you,
Jesus, to set up your kingdom within my
life.
Be my Lord and my God and teach
me how to walk with you.
Lead me into your life, which is the
only life that will set me free and
set others free around me.
I love you, Jesus.
I thank you for giving your life for
me, saving me.
I believe at this very moment that my
sins are being washed away as if they
had never happened.
I am clean and I am free and
I'm saved.
I believe it in Jesus name.
Amen.
Sincerely, I would encourage you to get to
a Bible teaching church if you don't have
one, you're welcome to come here and fellowship
with us at any time.
We do believers classes every Friday night.
We're going to stand in a moment and
as we do, I'd like our musicians, our
song leader to lead us in the song.
And as he does, if the Holy Spirit's
been speaking to you in an area of
your life where your pursuit is not the
pursuit of God or you're backslidden, I want
to invite every backslidden Christian to come to
this altar and get right with God.
Get right with God.
If your pursuit of God is not lined
up with his pursuit of you, then please
do come to this altar.
Please do.
And let the Holy Spirit begin to work.
And if you're not sure, come to this
altar and say, God, I'm not sure, but
I want my pursuit to line up with
your pursuit of me.
I want to be a son.
I want to be a daughter of God.
I want your kingdom in my life.
I don't want to be caught looking in
the wrong direction in these last days.
If the Holy Spirit has been speaking to
you, come join.
We'll pray together.
Let's all stand balcony.
You can go to either exit main sanctuary
as we stand.
Make your way down.
We're going to pray together.
We're going to believe God together here.
Hallelujah.
You know, some of the deepest transactions that
ever go on in heaven's kingdom are without
words.
I can lead.
I'm going to lead you in a prayer,
but really that can become just form and
tradition.
The issue is the heart.
As soon as you rise up and say,
I agree with God, I agree with God,
that's where his kingdom begins to come.
His throne is established.
God, I agree that you should line my
life up with yours.
God says, he's so gracious.
He's so merciful, so willing to give up
his power, his life.
So kind.
It's only in the deepest failure that you
begin to understand the kindness of God, how
kind he is, how good he is, how
merciful he is.
The devil has tried to condemn many of
you and tell you, you'll never amount to
anything.
You'll never have the life of Christ, but
he's a liar.
He's an absolute liar because he himself knows
the kindness of God.
That's why he has to fight so hard
to get you to believe another argument.
He knows that the moment you understand this,
you'll open your heart and a kingdom will
come into you that so threatens his kingdom.
That's why he fights so hard against it.
God is so merciful, so full of mercy,
so incredibly merciful.
The older I get, the more I'm aware
of his mercy.
Morning by morning, new mercy.
Hallelujah.
Pray with me, Jesus.
I ask today that I be a person
that you would keep with the power of
truth and the Holy Spirit.
I ask you to keep me from looking
in the wrong places.
Keep me from all deception.
I ask you to give me a spiritual
mind and a heart that loves you and
loves your truth.
Jesus Christ, I want you the way you
are.
I want you the way you've revealed yourself
and the way you will show me who
you are and who I am because of
you in the Bible.
I don't want another Christ.
I don't want the Christ that my flesh
desires or some false prophet would tell me
about.
I want the Christ of the Bible.
I want my life to be the life
that you want it to be.
Lead me, Holy Spirit.
And wherever you lead me, I believe you
will give me the power to be the
person and to fulfill the calling that you
place on my life.
By your power in me, I will know
the kingdom of God has come.
I never need any other sign.
This is the only sign I will ever
need.
Let me pray for you now.
Father, I pray for these that have come
to this altar today.
I pray, God, for the breaking of chains.
I pray, Jesus, for the unlocking of prison
doors.
I pray, God, for the release of oppressed
minds.
Lord, I lift up those that are oppressed
by the devil and I command you, Satan,
in Christ's name to loose your hold.
Loose your hold off of them.
You have no power over them.
You have no power.
We tread on your power today.
We tread on your weaponry.
We tread on it.
We bring it underfoot.
We command it to be broken because of
Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.
We come and oppose you in the name
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Father, I'm asking, Lord, that every contrary argument
be cast down, but that which is truth.
I'm asking, God, that your kingdom come with
power.
God, that you raise up these that are
yielding to you and those in the sanctuary
and annex that are yielding to you.
I pray, God, raise them up and let
there be a church that glorifies Christ in
our generation, in our city, wherever we come
from.
May we be people and lives that glorify
Jesus Christ.
Our prayer is, thy kingdom come, thy will
be done in me and on earth as
it is in heaven.
God, we want no other kingdom, no other
sign, no other leading.
You lead us, Holy Spirit.
God, we thank you for it.
We praise you that you will.
You will, O God, because we ask you
from sincere hearts to do this.
I ask you now to bless this gathering,
bless their coming in, bless their going out.
Let your countenance shine on us, O God.
Lord, reveal yourself to us, Jesus, and we
will we will receive you as you are,
as you want to reveal yourself.
That's who through the word of God, that's
how we will receive you.
We need no other sign.
It's your life lived in us and through
us.
God, thank you that miracles are happening at
this altar right now.
You are infusing life where there has been
no life.
You are giving people gifts where they have
been barren.
God, you are putting things in that cannot
be put in them but by the Spirit
of Almighty God.
I ask, Lord, that tomorrow morning there be
a testimony, tomorrow morning, not next month, next
year, tomorrow morning.
When they awake, there be an awareness that
they've been touched by the power of God.
Lord, confirm your word.
Let this be the sign that confirms your
word.
Let there be an awareness.
Let love be where love wasn't.
Let hope be where there was no hope.
Let boldness be where there was shyness.
Let strength be where there was weakness.
God, let clear vision be where there was
blindness.
Let a love and passion for truth be
where there was confusion.
Let these be the signs, O God.
Let these be the signs.
Let it be the only sign that your
kingdom has come and you are moving and
working through your people.
O Jesus, we will glorify you.
We will give you the honor.
We will give you the praise.
We will give you the glory.
We will, O God.
We'll give you the glory.
We will thank you, God.
We will thank you.
We will thank you, God.
This is the conclusion of the message.