Thank you all for your welcome, which is
a little bit un-British.
But I've been changed too, so...
I enjoy being with you.
I'm so happy to be in a place
where somebody knows what it means to say,
Buona asipiwe.
Amen.
That's Swahili for, Praise the Lord.
I was here in this camp two years
ago, and since then I've been seriously ill.
In fact, apart from the Lord and antibiotics,
I think I wouldn't be alive.
And I learned many lessons during that period.
I can't share them all with you, but...
One of the lessons that Ruth and I
want to share with you, we trust it'll
be blessed to you, is the power of
proclamation.
Proclaiming the Word of God systematically, in appropriate
relationship to your situation.
And...
We were going to say 1 Chronicles chapter
28, verse 20, but I've decided we'll say
the one from Psalm 117.
I haven't warned Ruth.
You'll see when she's a good pupil.
This is really our testimony, both of us.
I don't think we would be either of
us here, if this Psalm weren't true.
It begins with verse...
What?
I don't know.
Begins with verse 13, and goes through verse
18.
And the person addressed in the first place
is the enemy.
But then it goes on to God.
You push me violently that I might fall,
but the Lord help me.
The Lord is my strength and song, and
he has become my salvation.
The voice of salvation and rejoicing is in
the tents of the righteous.
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
The right hand of the Lord is exalted.
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
I shall not die, but live, and declare
the works of the Lord.
The Lord has chastened me severely, but he
has not given me over to death.
And if the Lord has not given you
over to death, you're not going to die.
Oh, we've helped, I suppose, hundreds of people
by teaching them to say, I shall not
die, but live, and declare the works of
the Lord.
I think it'd be only fair to you
to let you say that.
Say it after us the first time.
I shall not die, Wait a minute.
You're so quick at learning, you can say
it with us, all right?
I shall not die, but live, and declare
the works of the Lord.
Again.
I shall not die, but live, and declare
the works of the Lord.
Once more.
I shall not die, but live, and declare
the works of the Lord.
Amen.
Now, Don has asked me to mention two
of my, I think, forty books.
This one, Prayers and Proclamations, deals with the
very thing that we've been talking about.
And it contains a whole series of scriptural
proclamations which we have proved in our experience.
And it gives a little advice on how
to make them.
The other book is called God is a
Matchmaker.
And it tells you, as a believer, how
to recognize the mate that God has for
you and how to not get mixed up
with the wrong mate.
But there's a lot more to it than
that.
It really helps people who are married on
how to relate to their spouse.
There's a chapter for divorcees and there's a
chapter for people who don't marry.
When I was preparing the book, the editor
said to me, you need a chapter on
divorce.
I said, that's all I need.
I have enough enemies without that.
But he persuaded me and I really believe
it has been used by God to deliver
multitudes of divorcees from a sense of guilt.
So, that's the book.
Thank you, sweetheart.
Okay.
Now, I plan a series of six messages
of which this is the first.
And the theme of them will be the
predictive prophecies of the Bible.
I say of the Bible because there are
prophecies that are not recorded in Scripture.
I believe in the gift of prophecy today.
I believe there are prophets.
But there's one extremely important difference between the
prophecies of the Bible and prophecies that may
be given today.
And it is this.
The prophecies of the Bible have already been
tested.
David said that the Lord, His word is
tested.
And he said in Psalm 17, the words
of the Lord are like silver purified in
a furnace of earth seven times.
That's a vivid picture.
The silver is the message, the furnace is
the Holy Spirit and the earth is the
human vessel.
But though they've been given through human vessels,
they've been so purified by the Holy Spirit's
fire that they are totally reliable.
You do not have to check the prophecies
of the Bible.
But any other prophecies given today, you need
to test them.
You do not need to swallow them whole.
I've often said to people, you know what
to do when you eat fish.
Swallow the flesh and spit out the bones.
Do the same with the kind of prophecies
that are going around in the church today.
It's become very fashionable to be a prophet.
As a matter of fact, it wasn't nearly
so fashionable with the real prophets.
They had a pretty tough time, most of
them.
As a matter of fact, the truth is
that even being an apostle is not really
fashionable.
I was preaching in Ghana on the ministry
gifts.
And there was several thousand mostly young African
men.
And I gave the picture of the apostle.
And I said, how many of you would
like to be apostles?
And a lot of them stood up.
I said, wait a minute, let me give
you the job description before you apply.
And I read what I can't read tonight.
1 Corinthians chapter 4 where Paul describes what
it's like to be an apostle.
He said, we are the refuse and offscouring
of all things.
We're the last in the procession on our
way to death.
So I said, how many of you still
want the job?
Well, some of them still stood up, but
not so many.
So let's be faithful to the theme of
this conference.
Reality.
Let's be real.
Let's not use religious language and nice phrases
that don't really have the power of God
and aren't verified by the way we live.
So I'm going to deal, as I've said,
with the predictive prophecies of the Bible.
I believe this is a very neglected theme
for most, what we call charismatics or Pentecostals
or not so much for evangelicals.
There has been a certain emphasis amongst them.
I believe many Christians are floundering.
They've lost their way.
They don't understand what's going on because they
have not taken time to study the predictive
prophecies of the Bible.
Let me turn for a moment to Isaiah.
I'm getting pleased with myself.
I've learned to say Isaiah again.
I said that for years and then I
had to learn to say Isaiah when I
got to America.
And now I'm just getting back to Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 46, verse 9 and 10.
This is the Lord speaking.
The God of the Bible.
And it describes something that's unique to God
and to the Bible.
This is not true of any other religion
or any other so-called God.
Only God accurately predicts the future even thousands
of years before it happens.
And only the Bible contains those predictions.
There is no other world religion that has
anything to compare with it.
Neither Hinduism, nor Islam, nor the New Age
or whatever else.
The Bible is totally unique and it reveals
a unique God who foretells what will happen
and reveals it through His prophets.
As I've said, even thousands of years before
it actually takes place.
So these are the words of the Lord
in Isaiah 46, 9 and 10.
I am God and there is no other.
I am God and there is none like
me.
In other words, I am unique.
Declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times things that are not yet done.
Saying, my counsel shall stand and I will
do all my pleasure.
So that's a unique attribute of the true
God that He knows beforehand what's going to
happen and He can declare the end from
the beginning.
And in the Bible there are literally hundreds
of passages in which God has done precisely
that.
It marks Him out as the unique God
and it marks the Bible out as a
unique book without any parallel in all the
other religious literature of the whole world.
I want to turn now to a particular
predictive passage that deals with the theme of
prophecy found in 2 Peter 1, verses 16
through 19.
I'll read the passage in a moment but
let me say first that the theme of
this passage is the return of Jesus Christ
in power and glory.
And I would suggest to you this is
by far the most important theme of all
prophecy at the present time is that which
relates to the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
In the Greek of the New Testament there
is a special word parousia, which is used
for this particular event.
It means the presence or the return or
the coming of the Lord and it refers
to His coming in power and glory as
a king to establish His kingdom on earth.
And what Peter is saying is when we
told you believers about this we weren't telling
you some fable that we'd worked up some
cleverly devised story but we are speaking from
eyewitness experience because he said we saw on
the mount of transfigurations what He will be
like when He comes back in power and
glory.
And you remember His countenance shone as the
sun and His raiment was as bright as
light and then God the Father spoke out
of a cloud and said this is my
beloved son, hear Him.
So Peter is referring to that event but
he goes on to say there is something
even more reliable than our personal eyewitness testimony
and that is the prophecies of the Bible.
Now listen, for we did not follow cunningly
devised fables when we made known to you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ or you could say the coming in
power of the Lord.
But where eyewitnesses of His majesty we actually
saw Him in His glory for He received
from God the Father honour and glory when
such a voice came to Him from the
excellent glory this is my beloved Son in
whom I am well pleased and we heard
this voice which came from heaven when we
were with Him on the holy mountain that's
the mount of transfiguration.
You can find this described in Matthew chapter
17 the opening verses and in the other
two Gospels Mark and Luke.
So Peter is saying we actually had a
preview of what it'd be like when Jesus
comes back in glory but this is very
important, he said there is one other testimony
which is even more reliable and that is
the testimony of the prophetic Word of God.
Always the ultimate and most reliable source of
truth is the Word of God.
The testimony of eyewitnesses is impressive but it
never supersedes the testimony of the prophetic Scriptures.
In 1 Corinthians 15 when Paul is talking
about the resurrection first of all he says
Jesus died according to the Scriptures He was
buried according to the Scriptures He rose again
the third day.
The Scriptures are the primary testimony then he
lists a whole series of eyewitnesses who actually
saw Jesus after He was risen from the
dead but bear in mind the ultimate authority
for any truth is the Scriptures, the Word
of God.
And so he goes on to say now
in verse 19 We also have the prophetic
Word made more sure which you do well
to heed as a light that shines in
a dark place until the day dawns and
the morning star rises in your hearts.
So he says you've heard our testimony but
it's more important that you give heed to
the prophetic Word of God which takes precedence
over all human testimony and he says you
do well to give heed to it.
That's the theme of what I want to
communicate to you it's in your best interest
to heed the prophetic Scriptures if you don't
heed them you'll be in a dark place
without a light because it's the prophetic Scriptures
that are alive in a dark place and
as a child of God you shouldn't be
without the light God has provided the light
for you through the prophetic Scriptures but if
you don't study them, if you don't read
them if you're not familiar with what they
say you'll be in the dark when you
should be in the light and a person
who's in the dark doesn't know where he's
going he ends up in all sorts of
situations he would never have chosen and that's
precisely true of Christians who ignore the prophetic
Word of God they will end up in
places they never wanted to be in because
they didn't have the light to show them
where they were going and the dangers that
they needed to avoid now Peter says we
have the prophetic Word made more sure and
I want to raise this question how was
the prophetic Word made more sure for the
apostles and my answer is this the prophetic
Word became more sure when they saw the
prophecies of the Old Testament actually being fulfilled
before their eyes in the life of Jesus
they believed already but it became more sure
when they saw fulfillment after fulfillment after fulfillment
of Old Testament prophecies in the life of
Jesus and I also want to point out
that every one of these prophecies which we're
going to look at in a moment was
literally fulfilled as far as I can find
there is no evidence in the New Testament
of Old Testament prophecies that were spiritually fulfilled
or metaphorically fulfilled they're fulfilled literally I was
a philosopher before I became a preacher which
some of you may detect in me occasionally
and I object to the use of the
word literally because it suggests something which isn't
real listen where's Don Don are you literally
married you see what I'm saying I'm suggesting
there's a way of being married without being
married that's nonsense it's very dangerous what about
another question do you literally pay your taxes
I certainly do you see the danger of
that question some people would say well I
pay my taxes metaphorically but I don't actually
part with any money and it's just the
same to talk about prophecies being metaphorically or
not literally fulfilled it means they don't mean
what they say and all the prophecies that
I've discovered in the New Testament from the
Old Testament fulfilled in the New were fulfilled
absolutely literally in fact I would almost say
in some cases horrifyingly literal I'll give you
a list of seven Old Testament eleven Old
Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the life
of Jesus according to the New Testament and
I'll point out to you and you can
see for yourself how very literal the fulfillment
of every one of them was I'll give
you the Old Testament Scripture I won't give
the New Testament because I trust most of
you are sufficiently familiar with the record of
the New Testament first of all number one
Jesus was born of a virgin and it
was a literal virgin not a metaphorical virgin
if there is such a thing if she
hadn't been a real virgin our salvation would
not be valid if she'd been merely metaphorically
a virgin Jesus couldn't have been our Saviour
Isaiah 7.14 tells us that second He
was born in Bethlehem Micah 5 verse 2
it was a very literal Bethlehem the word
Bethlehem in Hebrew means house of bread you
could spiritualize that as much as you like
but it wasn't spiritualized it was an actual
village in an actual country where He was
actually born number three He was called out
of Egypt the Old Testament prophecies Hosea 11
verse 1 Jesus as a small boy was
literally in Egypt He was literally called out
of Egypt and it was literally Egypt very
easy to spiritualize Egypt many people do it
and it's legitimate in a way to take
Egypt as a type of this world but
the New Testament doesn't do that number four
He taught in parables Psalm 78 verses 1
and 2 and it was literal parables real
parables number five He healed the sick He
literally healed people who were literally sick is
that right?
how very disappointing it would be if He
merely metaphorically healed the sick if I'm sick
I don't want to be metaphorically healed I
want to be literally healed the Old Testament
scriptures some of them are found in Isaiah
29 35 and 61 number six He entered
Jerusalem on a donkey the Old Testament scripture
is Zechariah 9 verse 9 and it was
a literal donkey very literal number seven He
was flogged and abused Old Testament scripture Isaiah
50 verses 5 and 6 and it was
horribly literal what they did to Jesus not
metaphorical number eight His hands and feet were
pierced Psalm 22 verse 16 and again I
would have to say it was horribly literal
there was no metaphor about it number nine
His garments were divided Psalm 22 verse 18
and the Gospels record how they actually divided
His four garments and cast lots for the
seamless road number ten He was killed and
buried Isaiah 53 verses 8 and 9 and
it's remarkable because it says there they made
His grave with the wicked and with the
rich in His death but in the Hebrew
the word wicked is plural the word rich
is singular He was taken down for burial
with two criminals but He was buried in
the tomb of one rich man can you
see how totally accurate the scripture is and
number eleven He rose on the third day
the scripture that I have is Hosea chapter
6 verse 2 how important it is that
He literally rose it's a well known fact
that there are bishops in the Anglican church
who deny the literal resurrection there's no literal
resurrection there's no forgiveness of sins there's no
gift of everlasting life can you see how
tremendously important it is that we don't make
things allegorical that are said in the plain
simple meaning of words now I want to
go back to 2 Peter chapter 1 for
a moment and take up one more theme
He says in verse 19 we also have
the prophetic word made more sure which you
do well to heed as a light that
shines in a dark place until the day
dawns and the morning star rises in your
hearts that is a most beautiful picture if
I can convey it to you in World
War II I served with the British Army
in the deserts of Egypt and Libya for
three years and I saw something there which
you can see also in other parts of
the Middle East but for the most part
we slept out on the sand we had
no artificial light we went to bed when
the sun set and we got up when
the sun rose which is not what I
do today and so I saw a certain
phenomenon that happens at the time of the
sunrise in the deserts of the Middle East
not all the year but at certain times
of the year there is a star or
rather a planet called Aurora which means dawn
which rises immediately before the sun and it
is an amazingly luminous star and when it
comes up it lightens the whole horizon and
one would easily think the sun is rising
but it isn't the sun it's that star
but one thing you know when you see
Aurora rise you know the next thing that's
going to happen which is what?
the sun is going to rise and that's
the star that Peter talks about so he
says if you give heed to biblical prophecy
about the return of the Lord something will
happen in your heart the morning star will
arise and it will illuminate your heart and
will give you a sure unshakable conviction that
the next great event that's going to take
place is what?
the coming of Jesus that's one of the
main purposes of these prophecies is to make
the coming of Jesus so real and so
vivid that we never lose sight of it
that we're never motivated by anything contrary to
it I've known the Lord now 51 years
it's amazing that He's kept me that length
of time and since I was saved I've
believed the scriptures I never had any doubt
the moment I was saved I knew the
Bible is the word of God and I've
always believed in the second coming of Jesus
as a doctrine of the Bible never at
any time have I doubted that doctrine but
I've come to learn that that is not
sufficient it's not sufficient just to believe a
doctrine what God wants you to have is
the morning star in your heart He wants
you to live in the sure unshakable assurance
that Jesus is coming back and He wants
you to live in the expectation of His
return He wants you to be excited about
it not just say well this is one
of the doctrines of the Bible in Hebrews
9 verses 27 and 28 it says this
and as it is appointed for men to
die once but after this the judgment so
Christ was offered once to bear the sins
of many to those who eagerly wait for
Him He will appear a second time apart
from sin for salvation to whom will He
appear when He comes the second time to
those who eagerly wait for Him I want
to ask you this question will that include
you are you really eagerly waiting for the
coming of the Lord I'm not talking about
believing a doctrine I'm talking about something in
your heart that motivates you, that excites you
that thrills you I have a dear friend
who's a preacher and we've known one another
for 30 years and he's a little bit
different from me he's a little more informal
in his expression but he said one thing
once that always stuck with me he said
when the Lord comes back he will expect
to hear more from his bride than nice
to have you back so are
you excited be honest with yourself because God
can change you one of the reasons you're
here in this camp is to be changed
and if you don't have that excited anticipation
there is a way that you can get
it I've learned this if I don't read
the Bible every day and meditate in it
and ponder it these glorious truths become kind
of remote I still think they're doctrines, I
accept them but they're not motivating the way
I live anybody who believes in the return
of the Lord Jesus should be motivated to
live a life that's appropriate to that belief
first epistle of John chapter 3 of our
proclamations but I'll leave Ruth sitting where she
is the first three verses of 1st John
chapter 3 behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us that we should
be called children of God and we are
therefore the world does not know us because
it did not know him beloved now we
are children of God and it has not
yet been revealed what we shall be but
we know that when he is revealed we
shall be like him for we shall see
him as he is now you can say
amen to that but there's a mark of
those who really believe it and it's given
in the next verse and everyone who has
this hope in him purifies himself just as
he is pure so don't tell us that
you hope for the coming of the Lord
unless you are purifying yourself unless you're seeking
day by day to be better prepared to
live a life that's more holy and more
glorifying to God because you can have the
doctrinal belief but you don't have the evidence
in your life everyone who has this hope
in him purifies himself just as he is
pure and God has only got one standard
of purity that's Jesus so I'm going to
ask you again are you really purifying yourself
are you seeking day by day to draw
closer to the Lord to live in a
way that is pleasing to him to give
glory to him to give him priority in
your life I used to say for years
even as a philosopher if God is willing
to take place to take a place in
our lives there is only one place we
can logically give him and that is the
first place if almighty God the creator of
heaven and earth is willing to dwell in
us we cannot offer him the spare bedroom
we have to give him the place of
honor we have to acknowledge his worthiness I
want to say just a word about the
general characteristics of biblical prophecy because there is
so much confusion about prophecy in the church
today and I want to say I believe
in the gift of prophecy the Lord gave
it to me in 1942 when I was
in a military ambulance on my way up
to the battle of El Alamein I didn't
know what was happening but I heard these
words come out of my mouth and I
realized I was prophesying and many wonderful things
in my life have been shaped by prophecy
but let me tell you I never accept
prophecy until I have checked it and if
I'm the one who's given the prophecy I'm
the one who checks it most carefully I
never go by a prophecy until I've satisfied
myself it really came by the Holy Spirit
you see there's a beautiful scripture in Revelation
19 verse 10 just the last part of
the verse it says the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy in other words
all true prophecy bears testimony to Jesus He's
the theme of all prophecy from Genesis 3
15 right to the end of the book
of Revelation and anything that doesn't bear testimony
to Jesus should be questioned if it puts
anything else in the place which is reserved
for Jesus if it directs our attention in
any other area but to Jesus it doesn't
have the mark of biblical prophecy for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy
He's the theme of all prophecy and then
in John 16 verse 14 Jesus said about
the coming of the Holy Spirit He will
glorify me the Holy Spirit has one supreme
purpose to glorify Jesus if you want the
Spirit of God to rest on a meeting
whether it's worship or preaching or whatever if
you will make it your sincere aim to
glorify Jesus the Holy Spirit will be happy
to join you but He's not interested in
glorifying anybody else but Jesus and when we
find ourselves in a situation of prophecy or
ministry of some kind where the attention is
diverted to a human personality you can be
sure at that point the Holy Spirit has
backed off it may have begun in the
Spirit but it's not continuing in the Spirit
that's one of the surest tests of the
work of the Holy Spirit is this does
it glorify Jesus He'll never glorify anybody else
because no one else deserves the glory and
then as I've pointed out already in the
words of 2 Peter the primary focus of
all prophecy in this particular period is the
return of the Lord God wants to keep
us continually mindful of Jesus coming back let
me give you just one other simple picture
of prophecy you can consider prophecy as a
map of future events now if you have
a map, say a map of a city
it doesn't show you everything generally speaking if
it's a map of a city it won't
show you the color of the houses normally
not even the height of the houses it
won't show you the names of the people
who live in the houses but it will
show you enough for the purpose for which
the map was made which was to get
you to where you want to go and
biblical prophecy is like a map it doesn't
show you everything and maybe it will not
show you the things that you are interested
in but it will show you, if you're
careful enough to get you to the right
destination that's it's purpose what is the destination
well that's right, I say eternal life to
escape from hell how many of you believe
that hell is real praise God I thank
God that he saved me from hell if
I had had my desserts I would have
been in hell long ago I can't proclaim
justice all I can plead for is mercy
hell was where I should have been I've
no doubt about that I think of a
friend of mine who was a salesman a
commercial salesman in the United States he was
also a preacher and he was making his
living selling something and he had to drive
around from place to place and he exceeded
the speed limit three times so the sheriff
who was the person in America that's responsible
for dealing with that sort of thing the
sheriff summoned him to his office and he
was afraid he was going to lose his
driving license and if he lost his driving
license he lost his means of support so
he prepared what to say and he walked
into the sheriff's office and he said sir
I'm not asking for justice I'm asking for
mercy and the sheriff said no one ever
said that to me before and he let
him keep his driving license well I thought
about that scores of times Lord I am
not asking for justice I'm asking for mercy
can you agree with that are you happy
you're not going to get justice the Bible
says the wages of sin is death the
just reward of sin is death if you
want justice brother you can have it in
fact you will have it whether you want
it or not but the gift of God
the free grace gift the unmerited undeserved unearned
gift of God is eternal life don't ask
for justice I heard a man say once
all I want is justice and I thought
oh if you only knew what you were
saying now let me suggest to you two
reasons it's good to have a map two
reasons, two ways in which a map can
help us first of all it can keep
us from trying to get to a destination
that isn't on the map you say well
how could that happen to a Christian well
it happens to a lot of Christians a
lot of Christians are busy with a destination
that isn't on the map you can search
the Bible you can't find it for instance
there are people who are teaching that the
business of the church is to take the
world over for God and when Jesus comes
back we'll just hand him the world and
say here you are friends that isn't on
the map if that's what you're trying for
you're trying for something you'll never achieve because
the Bible doesn't indicate that in fact if
you come back tomorrow night I'll show you
just how much the opposite is indicated in
the Bible let me say this right now
the last thing before Jesus comes back is
the great tribulation we don't want to be
responsible for that do we so let's not
aim for something that isn't on the map
then another reason for the map is to
show you the right way to get to
the right place and keep you from taking
the wrong route now Ruth and I came
in a car here yesterday from Bromley and
we had a map but we didn't the
man who was driving the car didn't make
the right use of the map and we
went miles around I never realized how difficult
Malvern was to get to until yesterday but
he didn't use the map right now you
say what kind of wrong route could you
suggest well let me suggest one hoping to
get into heaven without any problems, without any
suffering without any difficulties that route isn't on
the map Jesus said narrow is the gate
and difficult is the way that leads to
life and there are few who find it
surprising how seldom that scripture is preached on
today difficult is the way that leads to
life and there are few who find it
they don't make the right use of the
map you see and Paul and Barnabas said
to their new converts in Acts 14.22
we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom
of God so if you're going a route
that says no tribulation, no problems, no difficulties
no temptations just want to warn you, you
won't get into the kingdom of God it's
not the way let me say two final
things by way of warning and I hope
by way of help I think the people
who make it most difficult for some of
us to really study biblical prophecy is the
people who know it all you know, they
can tell you what's going to happen next
who the antichrist will be and everything, but
they're always wrong and the strange thing is
when they're wrong they usually don't bother to
tell you that they were wrong there was
a man in the United States who was
prophesying that Jesus would come back some date
in September 1988 and I mean he had
a tremendous following he sold millions of copies
of his books but Jesus didn't come back
do I need to tell you that?
so he said he got the date wrong,
it should have been 1989 and he didn't
come back in 1989 you know what people
discovered afterwards all the time he was teaching
this he was using finance to build up
a tremendous ministry base why would he need
that if Jesus was coming back I mean
I've met people who turned me off because
they were so sure about everything well let
me give you this familiar scripture, familiar to
us Deuteronomy 29.29 Deuteronomy 29.29 that's
easy to remember isn't it the secret things
belong to the Lord our God but those
things which are revealed belong to us and
our children forever that we may do all
the words of this law so there are
two kinds of things secret things and things
that are revealed there are a whole lot
of things we'd like to know but God
doesn't reveal them, they're secret and we waste
our time trying to find out the secret
things because if God's going to keep them
secret none of us are going to break
God's secret but the problem is, for instance
if I teach on certain themes, almost invariably
the first person that comes up to me
afterwards will say this, if you can understand
this language pre, mid or post you know
what that means is he coming before the
tribulation in the middle of the tribulation, at
the end of the tribulation do you know
what I answer, I don't know and it
doesn't embarrass me the least as a matter
of fact I'm not convinced that in the
light of what's going to happen, those questions
will actually make sense at all but as
far as I'm concerned that's a secret thing
Jesus said you don't know the day or
the hour that the Son of Man is
coming, so if Jesus said you don't know
it it's a waste of time trying to
know it you're no smarter than Jesus but
what about the things that are revealed why
are they revealed and Moses tells us that
we may do them see I find the
people who are interested in the secret things
aren't doing the things that are revealed he
agrees with me I'm
glad to have people behind agreeing with me
you see I'll give you a simple example
and I'll come back to it tomorrow the
disciples said to Jesus what will be the
sign of your coming Matthew 24 verse 4
and Jesus gave them a specific answer one
clear definite answer we'll go into this in
detail he said this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world as
a witness to all the nations and then
the end will come that's a specific answer
to a specific question when will the end
come when this gospel of the kingdom has
been preached in all the world as a
witness to all the nations so now you've
heard that but if you're not doing it
don't expect to hear anymore from God because
obedience releases revelation disobedience cuts it off I
know lots of Christians who believe that passage
but they're not doing anything about it I
want to say for Ruth and myself we
live for that I don't want to go
into a lot of details but we are
reaching more than 120 nations with the word
of God we have a radio program in
10 languages that reaches every continent I don't
claim to be specially gifted I just seek
to obey what God tells me to do
but if you hear the prophetic word and
don't obey it you will hear no more
or rather you may hear but it'll be
false because the pathway to deception is to
refuse revelation I didn't plan to say that
but I'm going to say it again the
pathway to deception is to refuse revelation and
I could give you lists of people who
are on that pathway because what God revealed
didn't suit them it didn't fit in with
their private plans or it didn't fit in
with their special theology and you remember what
Peter said the prophetic word is a light
in a dark place you reject it, turn
from it and you end in the dark
I'm not saying you're not saved that's between
you and God but I am saying you're
going to have a lot of unnecessary problems
you're going to walk into a lot of
situations you shouldn't be in you're going to
be confused and fearful when you don't need
to be I'm going to say one more
passage and this is preparing for tomorrow, hopefully
Deuteronomy 18 verses 18 and 19 the words
of Moses to Israel Deuteronomy 18, 18 and
19 17 and 18, no 18 and 19
I will raise up for them a prophet
like you that's like Moses from among their
brethren and will put my words in his
mouth and he shall speak to them all
that I command him now the New Testament
writers are in total agreement that prophet was
who?
Jesus, that's right so we know from the
New Testament the person who fulfilled that prophecy
was Jesus and he's the only prophet of
whom God would say that he shall speak
all that I command him and then he
goes on to say it shall be that
whosoever will not hear my words which he
speaks in my name I will require it
of him brothers and sisters to ignore the
prophetic teaching of Jesus is very dangerous because
if you will not hear it God says
he's going to require it of you that'll
be a very hard interview when you're alone
with God and he says why didn't you
listen to the prophetic teaching of my son
what excuse will you give there is no
valid excuse that's all I have to say
for tonight except one thing I want to
ask you a question be honest with yourself
are you at this moment eagerly and joyfully
anticipating the return of Jesus I'll say it
again are you at this moment eagerly and
joyfully anticipating the return of Jesus because if
not the morning star hasn't risen in your
heart and you are headed for trouble so
if you have been able to receive what
I've said tonight and you really want to
be in the will of God and you
want to be obedient to scripture and you
recognize that your hard attitude towards the return
of Jesus is not what it should be
but you'd like to change or rather you'd
like God to change you we on the
platform would like to pray for you specifically
on that issue that in the course of
the next six days you will be changed
in that respect that when this camp is
over you'll leave with a shining excited anticipation
that Jesus is coming back now if you'd
like us to pray for you if you'll
make a decision that you want that because
God won't force it on you but that's
what you want, that's how you want to
live let me tell you this I've moved
amongst many many different kinds of Christians in
many countries but I discover when Ruth and
I are amongst people who are excitedly anticipating
the return of Jesus we are in fellowship
with them immediately there are no barriers and
there are the most wonderful people all around
the earth from many different nationalities who have
this one thing in common their longing for
the return of Jesus and let me tell
you if you're not I think God is
going to let things happen in the world
and in your life that make you appreciate
how much you should have been longing so
if you want to be changed in that
particular respect I'm not talking about any other
change at this moment and you would like
Brother Don and the rest of the people
who are on the platform to pray with
you and for you now just take a
deep breath don't act hastily but if you
really want to be changed and you want
our prayers then stand to your feet right
where you are these dear people standing before
you here tonight as evidence that they want
to be changed in their attitude concerning the
return of Jesus and Lord we believe you
can do it if they're wholehearted in that
desire you'll do it for them you're in
the business of changing people's hearts and lives
so we pray for everyone standing before you
here tonight that there'll be a sovereign action
of God in their hearts and lives before
they leave this camp they will have had
that glorious experience the morning star will have
risen in their hearts and their hearts will
be shining with light and they'll be saying
Jesus is coming back Jesus is coming back
Amen.