Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
Who can understand that?
I don't myself.
But I have enough understanding to realize that
there's a significant conjunction between prophecy and Jesus.
He doesn't lend his name to anything.
But that he calls prophecy his testimony is
something that deserves our deepest attention.
I'm saying all that in order to say
this.
What you're going to hear is not a
sermon.
I'm not a sermon bringer.
I'm a man of a prophetic call.
And that has a special requirement.
A special burden, a special urgency.
That kind of word is often a warning
rather than a sermon.
Or it is to alert God's people of
things that are shortly to come to pass.
I wouldn't have to say these things if
this was not unusual for you.
I'm saying it that you will give special
attention to the word.
It's a word beyond sermon.
It needs to go down into the foundations
of your faith.
It's not likely that you'll hear another word
like it.
So with that introduction, what would you say
if I took my jacket off?
Hallelujah!
I've been a believer 35 years.
But I can never understand that they give
to the singers and musicians the freedom of
a short-sleeved shirt and an open neck.
But we who have to labor in the
word, we are strangulated with something
that Isaiah and Jeremiah and the prophets never
had to suffer.
So I appreciate the freedom that you've given
me because this word is going to be
a labor.
And I have little faith that you can
receive it.
It may bewilder you.
But I'm comforted by the word of God.
Be assured that your labors are not in
vain.
So I didn't come with a prepared program.
But seeking the Lord for this morning, He
has impressed me with Matthew, chapter 25, the
first judgment of Jesus as King.
So I'll ask Richard to read from verse
31 until the end of the chapter.
And he will disconnect one from the other,
as the shepherd disconnects the sheep from the
goats.
And he will place the sheep on his
right, and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to them on
his right, Go, you who are blessed by
my Father, share the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.
But I begged, and you gave me to
eat.
I pleaded, and you gave me to drink.
I pleaded, and you accepted me.
I was naked, and you dressed me.
I was sick, and you visited me.
I was in prison, and you came to
me.
Then the righteous will answer him these words.
Lord, when did we see you begging, and
we fed you, or wanting, and we gave
you to drink?
And when did we see you pleading, and
we accepted you, or naked, and we dressed
you?
And when did we see you sick, or
in prison, and we came to you?
And the King, answering, will say to them,
I tell you the truth, whatever you did
to one of my youngest brothers, you did
to me.
Then he will say to them on his
left, Go away from me, you curses, eternal
fire, cooked by the devil and his angels.
I pleaded, and you gave me to eat.
I pleaded, and you gave me to drink.
I was naked, and you accepted me.
I was naked, and you dressed me.
I was sick, and in prison, and you
visited me.
Then they will answer him, saying, Lord, when
did we see you pleading, or wanting, or
naked, or sick, or in prison, and we
did not serve you?
Then he will say to them, I tell
you the truth, whatever you did to one
of my youngest brothers, you did to me.
And they will go to eternal punishment, justly
to eternal life.
This does not sound to me like a
parable.
It sounds like a quite literal description of
a judgment.
A really astonishing judgment that ought to mystify
us.
That ought to mystify us.
Because it is predicated on one thing only.
What Gentiles have done at the end of
the age with regard to one people.
And on the basis of that, there is
a judgment or reward that is eternal.
It is irrevocable, it cannot be changed.
Something is sealed for all eternity.
An ultimate reward for the righteous, and an
unspeakable catastrophe for the wicked.
And only one thing distinguishes the one group
from the other.
Their response to the least of these, his
brethren.
So here is what I want to tell
you.
With whatever measure of authority I have in
Christ, the least of these, his brethren, are
Jews.
And they will be suffering a final judgment
in the earth.
A final tribulation and sifting through all nations.
Most of them will not survive this trial.
But the remnant of them will survive and
return to Zion as the redeemed of the
Lord.
And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
And mourning and sighing shall pass away.
Now listen to me, dear children.
This is very real, and it's very soon.
The factors that are given by God to
work this great tribulation are already in place.
And this text is confirmed in many places
in the prophets.
I'm not a man who has to scrounge
to find one text that will substantiate my
position.
I'm overwhelmed with the volume of prophetic testimony
that speaks of the last day's sufferings of
the Jewish people.
Why must they go through this?
And why must they go through it again?
There's no way to understand historic Jewish suffering
or that which is yet to come, which
will be global, except in the light of
Israel's millennial calling.
It's something with which you should be acquainted.
That's why everlasting joy will be upon their
heads.
They will be restored to the land of
which the present Zionist Israel is not the
fulfillment.
Only the preliminary for the judgments to come
that will again disperse this people into all
nations and bring about a ruin of Israel
and the loss of their political state in
order for one thing, that they might return
as the redeemed of the Lord.
This is not God dealing with an ethnic
people.
This is God dealing with a chosen people,
a people who have not yet fulfilled their
destiny, their gift and their calling.
The evidence of that is to be seen
in all nations that are sinking into a
profane, vulgar and obscene lifestyle.
I've never seen so many half-naked women
as I've seen them in Poland where one
doesn't even turn around.
The miniskirt is normative and so is every
other aspect of our contemporary culture.
A direct offense against God which no one
seems to notice and aspects of it even
come into the church.
As the music and the beat.
Why?
Because there's not a nation that is priestly
to call the nations to
righteousness.
The priest shall teach the people the difference
between the sacred and the profane.
But what if there are no priests?
And what if there is a nation called
to be a nation of priests and a
light unto the world?
There are people who have not yet fulfilled
their calling.
They've given to the world Jascha Heifetz, a
great violinist, and Karl Marx and other aspects
of Jewish genius.
But they've not given to the world the
light of God.
For they themselves do not have it.
Even in their orthodoxy.
But Romans 11 says that the gifts and
callings of God are without repentance.
That means that something must be fulfilled independent
even of their own willingness.
If God gives a calling to a nation
of priests and a light to the world
that you will bless all the families of
the earth that word has got to be
fulfilled that covenant has got to be honored
and that nation of priests that calling has
got to be realized or God is not
God.
And his word and his promise is vain.
The issue of Israel is the issue of
God and it's an issue that is not
finished yet.
The fact that it does not occupy you
as an issue the issue and the supreme
issue by which the age is concluded and
with which the Lord comes is the statement
of the unhappy condition of the church today
from which being Pentecostal or charismatic does not
save us.
I'm crying out for you people to wake
you from your sleep and from your religious
culture to understand the drama of the last
days for which the church is not merely
an observer but the most critical participant your
response to these Jews will determine their salvation
will determine their redemption but it will also
determine your eternal destiny.
Notice that both groups say to the Lord
Lord, when did we see you hungry?
When did we see you thirsty?
These are not just mere Gentiles who are
being judged they are evidently Gentile Christians.
Who else would say, Lord, Lord, when did
we see you, Lord?
This is not the language of the world
this is the language of Christians but Christians
of totally radically different kind they both
were faced with the same challenge but only
one was able to respond and that one
is called righteous and the reward is to
inherit the kingdom prepared for you was their
righteousness established in that moment?
No, it was revealed in that moment it's
a crisis of faith and the Jews have
always done that to us their relationship to
us has always been a challenge and which
we have never successfully met historically but here
is a last days event do you use
that phrase?
The last days?
Is that part of your consciousness?
Do you know that we are at the
end of the age?
We're moving toward a climax an apocalyptic end
of history and the Lord's coming and the
restoration of His people and the establishment of
His kingdom if you knew that really knew
that it would change everything it would affect
everything but we don't know as we ought
to know even when we say, Lord, Lord
of course, who's to blame those who will
turn away?
He calls these the least of these, my
brethren and that's exactly what they will be
some of the biggest Jewish hotshots in the
world today the great film makers and bankers
and men in commerce and industry will become
the least they will become despised and rejected
of all men you who have an affinity
for Israel and you think that they're cute
at that time they will have no beauty
that you should desire them they will be
more marred than any man brother,
your words sound familiar you sound like you're
quoting from Isaiah 53 the description of the
suffering servant Jesus to be descriptive of what
will come upon Jews at the end of
the age and my answer is yes exactly
they must walk the road to Calvary do
you know why?
because they are also called to be servants'
sons and how shall they be that to
you?
and to the Ukrainians who volunteered to man
the concentration camp at Treblinka and
enjoyed Jewish suffering Jews are going to be
priestly to them and patient with them and
forbearing with them as Paul himself was with
Gentiles and he said, I'm a man born
out of time what you see in me
as an apostle to the Gentiles for whom
I have been their father and their mother
in the faith and did not withhold to
them anything of the counsel of God but
gave it to them with tears day and
night he says, this is the picture of
the nation Israel when it shall come into
its own apostolate and be to the Gentile
nations what Paul was to the Gentile church
it will be nothing less than life from
the dead but it will not happen independent
of you it will happen because of you
that's why Paul says in Romans 11 by
your mercy they may obtain mercy and I
tell you children they are going to need
it and if they don't receive it they'll
perish and they're going to need it in
Warsaw and in Poland because the prophet Amos
says I will sift you through all nations
you will not be exempt and what will
you do in that day when so much
as to acknowledge them or to identify with
them might be your own death if
they are so hated that they have to
flee through all nations when all of human
society and government is opposed to them what
will your fate be as a Jew lover
if you extend to them food or water
or clothing and get caught doing it that's
why Jesus calls them the righteous righteousness is
not cheap it's not convenient it wasn't convenient
for God and it will not be convenient
for you true righteousness requires sacrifice that's what
the cross demonstrated that while we were yet
sinners he died for us and do you
know what he's saying to the church at
the end of the age while they are
yet sinners will you die for them as
he died for you but Lord they don't
deserve it Paul says they are the enemies
of the gospel but what is mercy if
it has to be deserved mercy is only
mercy without qualification I hope you'll not think
I'm boasting when I share with you an
episode out of my atheistic life an
American soldier leaving Germany returning to the States
do you know what it means to be
a Jew in Germany no small thing do
you know what it means to be a
Jew who falls in love with a German
woman and will soon enter into a tragic
marriage with her these were my thoughts in
the military train on the way to the
seaport I wanted to reflect on my experience
why was I sent to Germany and not
to Korea why was I so affected why
was Germany more home to me than Brooklyn,
New York but I couldn't think those thoughts
the train compartment was too noisy the other
soldiers were drinking and shouting and carrying on
their noise was intolerable it was a condition
that could not be tolerated because it contradicted
humanity it contradicted human values it
contradicted decency so I got up out of
my seat and I went to the man
with a bottle of whiskey in his hand
which he was passing around to all the
other soldiers I took it out of his
hand to his astonishment and I walked to
the window and I opened it and I
threw it out closed the window and turned
around and there we were face to face
as we Jews say, nose to nose and
I was ready to have my nose smashed
I was ready to have my face smashed
I was ready to be killed if that's
what it took because there are certain things
that are more important than life itself and
if we will not die for those things
then what is our living merely to preserve
our protoplasmic life a life without value without
humanity I knew that as an atheist how
much more as a believer that man never
laid a finger on me and he was
big enough to do so but the issue
was not who is bigger or stronger righteousness
required a response whatever the cost that's what
it will be for you you will not
learn righteousness in that moment it will rather
reveal what all your moments have been till
that moment it will be the statement of
the sum of all your moments if your
righteousness is only a principle it will fail
because the fear for your own self-preservation
will become the most important factor but you
know what it means to be righteous in
the righteousness which is of God death is
not so terribly to be feared the righteous
will have their reward and righteousness requires suffering
or it's not righteousness at all you righteous
inherit the kingdom prepared for you the issue
of the Jew in the last days will
reveal our righteousness and how are you feeling
right now toward them oh brother I have
to confess I'm not Jewish like you I
don't have this feeling for them frankly I'm
even a little irritated by them they seem
so bold and arrogant as if Auschwitz is
their exclusive territory didn't Poles die there also
and Jews are forbidding even the sight of
a cross this rubs me the wrong way
as well it should humanly speaking but from
the point of view of a saint of
the righteous saints of God they are not
irritated their love is unconditional they understand what
the cross means to an unbelieving Jew a
symbol of persecution of which their graves are
all around us what will you be to
them in that day when they are the
least of all men the righteous will not
be able to withhold themselves I can't imagine
that people should be thirsty or hungry or
naked and pass by and I should not
do something no matter
what the cost is to myself for a
Jew what did they ever do for you
but the same spirituality that is authentic that
same righteousness which is godly sees in this
yet unbelieving people still in their sins the
brethren of the Lord and he says whatever
you have done for them you have done
for me when did we see you thirsty
you hungry, you naked what you have done
for the least of these what you have
done for me such is his identification with
his own brethren that he says it's me
what is your identification this is a spiritual
matter beyond culture, beyond history, beyond nationality and
this last day's episode will find it out
it's not a heroism that we're going to
find in the last moment we will have
to be living consistently in the righteousness of
God or we will not find it in
that moment and the issue is eternity where
are you going to spend it will it
be a place of reward and rejoicing or
of shame and of disappointment that you fell
short of the glory of God and lived
a predictable Christian life totally
undistinguished and non-sacrificial where you were the
object of your own concern and could only
respond to those who are like you and
even there your response was often lacking well
I know you're anxious to go home so
I won't talk to you about Ephesians chapter
3 and verse 10 of which I suspect
you have no more familiarity and understanding than
you do with the issue of Israel because
the two subjects are profoundly apostolic so very
briefly Paul tells us in Ephesians 3.10
God's reason for the creation of the church
God has created all things in order that
through the church that the church is so
important in God's sight that He did not
think it extravagant to frame an entire world
that would support it and this is the
eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus are
you occupied with God's eternal purpose or only
your own purpose or your own agenda or
your own program that's only religious to be
apostolic and priestly and righteous is to be
occupied with God's purpose His eternal purpose as
being your first purpose that would change everything
and what is that purpose I'll say it
but you may not understand it to demonstrate
to the principalities and the powers of the
air the manifold wisdom of God what
a mouthful to see that who can understand
that who can fulfill that and it's only
given to the church to make that demonstration
is important to God before the invisible powers
of the air a demonstration a demonstration that
can only be made by the whole church
what wisdom the wisdom that will lay its
life down for another the wisdom that thinks
that righteousness is more important than physical preservation
the wisdom that sees in the least of
these Jews the brethren of God who while
yet in their sin are called to be
a nation of priests and a light unto
the world through the mercy that you will
extend that they might obtain mercy this is
the mystery of God and what is that
church that is not occupied with it that
has not taken it into its deepest consciousness
that is not seeking God as to how
to fulfill it such a church might be
a candidate for the judgment of God for
it has forsaken his eternal purpose as it
has forsaken his ancient people and God is
speaking now to save us from that eternal
loss this is what you call a prophetic
message it's not a sermon it's an appeal
it's a warning it's a call and something
is required of you who hear it something
more than an amen did you like the
message, brother?
this kind of message requires a certain kind
of response ultimate response yes, Lord I
heard your word and if this Christ I'm
so short of your righteousness but impute it
to me in proportion to my brokenness to
the degree that I'm aware of my need
for which mere religion is not enough even
with our intense Pentecostal praying Lord, change me
Lord, fit me Lord, prepare me give me
an understanding he'll hear that prayer let's bow
before him so
precious God I know what these people don't
know that when the prophetic word comes our
response is critical it's expensive to hear and
not to hear it will not allow us
to go on as we were before we
will not remain what we were we will
be worse for the spirit of prophecy is
the testimony of Jesus and if we discount
that word we're discounting the Lord and inviting
his judgment so I appeal to you, Lord
speak to their hearts break through their categories
give them a fixed religious understanding touch them
in the deeps of their being give them
a sense of the last days and of
the requirement of it so beyond any ability
in ourselves to fulfill hear our cry
be merciful to us in our great need
so that we can have a mercy that
we can extend but we have not needed
it till now till now we were quite
able to continue by ourselves quite able to
conduct our own services but this requirement this
crisis to these people is beyond any ability
in ourselves you must be all in all
and when they will see that through us
they will believe for this will be the
undeniable evidence that the God of Jacob lives
and is full of mercy even through his
Gentile people especially in Poland who will stand
for this who will welcome the Lord's dealings
who will welcome the Lord's disciplines to fit
us and form us as the sons and
daughters of God to remove what is false
and establish what is authentic the righteousness of
God himself who will stand for that and
welcome those dealings that you will not be
ashamed on that day I invite you to
stand and make a statement to God don't
stand because you are tired of sitting or
that you would be embarrassed to be found
seated God is righteous God is present and
he will not be mocked better to remain
seated in your uncertainty than to stand mindlessly
but for those who are standing in truth
for what authority that I have in Christ
I bless you I seal you for this
precious call of God and I ask the
Lord to put a seal on it and
to call for it on that day and
that Jews will be saved out of death
and called to redemption because of what is
being transacted right now in the Spirit, in
Jesus' name Amen