In this sermon, the preacher shares a story about a teenage girl who is obedient to her father's rules but lacks a genuine heart motive. He emphasizes the importance of spending time with God and giving Him our love and attention. The preacher warns that a storm is coming and urges the listeners to build a strong foundation of love for God in order to withstand the challenges that will arise. He refers to the parable of preparedness in Matthew 7 and expresses the desire for a church filled with people who are spiritually prepared and able to stand firm.

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260 Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Stand or fall in the coming storm. Isaiah prophesied that in the last days God's going to demand by His Majesty and by what He does that the nations fear Him. He's going to create situations like He has just recently to demand the fear and the respect of His Majesty. He said, I'm going to rise according to Isaiah 2, 19 and 20. He said, I will arise and shake terribly the earth. I'll rise and shake it that the nations may fear me. Isaiah said, there's even more to come than the shaking. Behold the Lord will make the earth empty. He's going to turn the earth upside down. He's going to scatter the inhabitants. All joy will be darkened. The mirth, the laughter of the land will be gone. Nobody's laughing this week in the land. When this it shall be in the midst of the land among the people there shall be as a shaking of an olive tree. For the windows from on high will be opened and the foundations of the earth will shake. The earth will be moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro and shall be removed like a cottage. Now those are the prophets of Isaiah. All the prophets saw that last day before Jesus comes He would take the child that's asleep. Have you ever seen a sleeping child or a wife who goes to wake up her husband? Can't get him awake. What does he do? Take him by the shoulder and wake him. Say, wake up, wake up. And the longer they snooze, the longer or harder it is to wake them, the more you shake them. And God is taking America and the world by the nap of the neck, so to speak, by the shoulders and he's shaking to get attention, saying, wake up. All the prophets prophesied this. Ezekiel said that God's fury is going to come up in his face. He said, you're going to see, he's going to be a red face, so to speak. There's going to be a fury in the face of God. And he said, my jealousy, the Lord said, in the fire of my wrath I have spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in your land. He went on to say, all the men that are upon the face of the earth will shake at my presence. The mountains will be thrown down. The steep places shall fall. And every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will be known in the eyes of many nations. And they shall know that I'm the Lord. They're going to know that I am God. The prophet Joel said, the Lord shall roar out of Zion. He'll utter his voice from Jerusalem. And the heavens and the earth shall shake. But the Lord will be the hope of his people. And the strength of his children. Prophet Haggai, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once in just a little while, I will shake the heavens and also the earth. And I'll shake the sea and I'll shake the land. And I will shake all nations. Now, who's doing the shaking? God says, I will shake. All this past week I got a call from a radio station, one of the largest radio stations in Southern California. And the interviewer said, there are many programmers out here and disc jockeys and others saying, how could a holy God, how could a just God cause so many people to die? If you say God is doing this, where's your God of love? Well, for 120 years he warned the earth through a prophet called Noah. 120 years he said it's going to rain. And the whole earth was destroyed by a flood that God sent and only eight souls were saved. And God was justified because he spent 120 years warning. How many years has God been warning America? How many years have we heard it on radio and on television and prophets up and down the land? Thousands of watchmen warning that God's going to shake the land. God's going to get our attention. And you find it in New Testament, Hebrews 12.21. Yet one more time, I will shake not only the earth, but I'll shake heaven, that only the things which cannot be shaken will be left standing. The only thing that's going to be left standing is that which we have with Jesus Christ in our hearts, that which is of faith. Now, I want you to know that God foretold us that he was going to shake everything in sight so that he will be revered and honored alone as the only unshakable power force on earth. There was an article in the Daily News the day after the San Francisco earthquake. And a very liberal writer, he said, it was in headlines, is God trying to quake us up? And he went on to say, we are not hearing something. And this man sounded godless. But he said, there is something happening in America. Somebody's trying to get our attention. Somebody's trying to get our attention. God is. Mexico City was shaken. Thousands destroyed. The city laid in rubble. The Russian city of Armenia was shaken. It was flattened by a 6.9 quake. Last week, God shook San Francisco. And the very next day, the whole province of China, above Beijing, was shaken. Tokyo shook with a 3.4. Italy was shaken. Half of Italy was shaken with an earthquake, almost 4.5. Hundreds of aftershocks are now raging all through northern California. Literally, hundreds. They say before it's all over, there will be thousands of shakings as a result of that earthquake. And Jesus warns us, the church, and I want you to hear it clear and loud in your inner man. He warns us there's a great storm that's descending upon mankind. He said it's going to be a fierce downpour. This is a spiritual vision Jesus has given us of something very powerful, mysterious that's going to happen in the land and in the nations of the world. There's going to be a fierce rain and overpowering winds, waves. There will be a flood come sweeping through the nations. That's a flood of iniquity. A flood of demonic activity. A flood of demonic powers. We've been warned and told of this until it's almost an old story. But you see, the Lord has warned us of this because He's trying to prepare a people. And this is what I see Jesus giving us in a parable. I want you to go to Matthew. I want you to go to Matthew 7. I'm going to base my message tonight on what I call the parable of preparedness. The parable of preparedness. How to prepare for the coming storm. Beloved, the concern of Jesus in giving this parable is to find a people who are going to be ready for what He warns is coming. So that when it's in its full fury, these people will not be bent by the winds. They'll not be swept away, but they'll be on the rock. We'll be talking about that tonight. Hallelujah. Also, look this way before you go into this parable with me. As a shepherd, one of the shepherds of this church, and I believe I can speak for all the shepherds of this church, the great concern is, Oh God, we're not looking just for numbers. We thank God to see the seats filled. We're not looking for just a big church. Not at all. We're looking for people that are going to be able to stand. We won't have to worry about them. We won't have to fret about them. We won't have to wonder about them. We'll know in our hearts, because we've seen something of the grace of God, we will see when the news comes over suddenly, when there's a shaking, and all these things are going to happen suddenly in the Bible. Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly. You wake up one day, in fact the stock market went down 190 points, remember last week, in one hour. One hour, 190 points. The meltdown can happen in less than two hours. Suddenly, they turn on expecting a World Series ball game. And suddenly, it goes dark. They can't even say, the man said, There is an earth. It didn't get off quake. It went black. And the whole nation of the world sitting there. There it is. These things are going to hit suddenly. It's my desire, it's my cry in my heart, that all the messages that go forth, and all that the Lord's doing in the way of worship and praise, and bringing the people together, remnant people, that we would have a people that the shepherds don't have to worry about, no matter what comes, no matter what happens. We know in our hearts that you will stand. That's our cry. That's the purpose of this message tonight. That was the purpose of the message given this morning, in all the messages. Matthew 7, beginning to read, verse 24, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and it fell not. For it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that people were astonished at his doctrine. You see, they were astonished, they were marveled at it, but they didn't obey it. They didn't get it. He taught them, as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Alright, now look this way, please. We're going to talk about these two men tonight. There's a man here, who built his house upon a rock, and a man who built his house upon the sand. On the sand. These represent two classes of Christians that will be living in the last day when the flood comes. They've already built, they're already living in it. They both may look the same. The house on the sand may be built with the same dimension, the same plans. They're living in it. In fact, it's a finished product by the time the storm comes. But you see, this represents two bodies of people. Two kinds of believers. The Lord is trying to say something profound here. And I've been praying over this and seeking God over it for the last ten days or so. And hours on my face, saying, Jesus, I want to see this through your eyes. What are you saying? You are saying something profound to the church. Because it comes after three chapters of his sayings. It comes after the Sermon on the Mount. You look at chapter 5, 6, and 7. It's all red letters. It's the Lord speaking to the church. And at the end of it, He's trying to say something to us that I believe most of us have missed. And I think in great measure I've even missed it. There will be a body of people who will build their house on the rock. The Bible says, it fell not because it was founded upon a rock. Now, I told you these two builders represent two classes of Christians. These are Christians. It's encouraging to know from this parable that there are going to be people standing when the storm comes. It's encouraging. Jesus said it. So I don't care what the devil says. I don't care what comes, what may come or go. The Lord has made it clear there will be people on the rock that will not be shaken or moved when the storm comes. That's encouraging. It's also shocking there will be some in the church who thought they were going to stand and are going to be absolutely shocked. When the storm comes they have nothing to stand on. They are going to be absolutely carried away by the flood. In fact, the Word says, a great, and great was the fall, it means a total collapse, complete, devastating collapse of everything they stood for. Everything they have and have known will be wiped away. Now, what is this matter of building a house? Whether you know it or not, we're all building something. We're building a house. This has to do with the heart. Forget about the natural. See, we try to interpret everything in the natural. We're not talking about a natural house. We're talking about a spiritual house. We're talking about building a relationship with Jesus. That's what this whole thing is about. To have such a relationship with Jesus that you will be able to walk through fire, through flood, through storm, through rain, because you have something in you in a relationship that can't be broken. We're talking about a condition of the heart. You have to see this as a relationship, a walk with the Lord. You and I are building that right now. The day is going to come and it will be too late. What you and I do now while there's time, while there's still prosperity, while we still can meet like this and we still have jobs, we still have money to do things for God, but more than anything else we have the Word revealed in open heaven. You and I are building something one way or another. You're building a house on the rock or you're building on the sand. Now, there's a spiritual truth here so profound and powerful only the Holy Spirit can reveal it. And I said, Lord, I want to know who that man is. Who is this man who builds his house on the rock? Because I want what he has. I want to be that man. If you've got a secret locked up there, please open it up to me because I want to see a people, I want to be that man and I want to see a people go into that promise. I want to see that people on the rock. Well, the Holy Spirit, you know, is our teacher and Jesus knew, Jesus was after something here. He's after it tonight. And I pray the Holy Spirit bring out what Jesus is after. Jesus is talking here about obedience. Do you hear me? Jesus is talking about a people who will be walking in total obedience when the flood comes. These are people who hear His Word and do it. They obey it. They act upon everything He says. Now, it's important for me to know who this man is because you can't follow Him. You can't get this until you understand who He is and what's in His heart. Now, we know that Jesus is the rock. Most people, when we look at that, say, well, we build on Jesus. But that's not exactly what Jesus is saying. There's a certain aspect of the nature of Jesus and the way He related to His Father that is the rock. It's not enough to say Jesus is the rock. We have to emulate. We have to follow Him. And there is a truth here that I don't know if I have the ability. The Holy Ghost will have to do it. And I want you to follow me as close as possible. Remember the rock in the wilderness that was smitten and water came out of it? There was a spring in that rock. And the water came out of it. That spring had to be pure so that everything that came out of that had to be pure. Now, that rock is obedience. And it's a spring. And every act of obedience follows that can be pure and acceptable to God only if it comes from a pure spring. And I want you to see what I believe this rock is that Jesus is talking about. He's talking about something that only the Holy Spirit can bring out. I want you to listen just a moment because the devil has fought me all the way on this. I have never been so hindered because I see it releasing in me. And I see it releasing in the body of Jesus a tremendous power of authority to withstand everything that hell throws at us in the last day. And the devil doesn't want you to be equipped. He wants you to bend before him. Do you know it's possible to obey God's Word and still grieve God? There's a kind of obedience that makes God weep. It's the child that obeys the parent. For example, here's a 16-year-old daughter. Let me explain it or illustrate. Here's a 16-year-old girl. She's running around with a drug-addicted boy. Father is a man of God. And he says, No, you're not to run with him anymore. And I want you home by 11 o'clock every night. And he lays the law down knowing that it's good for her. So, it's 11 o'clock and this girl is in her room. She is not with her boyfriend and she's sitting there listening to her radio, but you should see her attitude. She's sitting there with her hands crossed. She's obedient. She's in her room. She's obeying her father. But her father goes past the room and he looks in and he sees that spirit and he weeps in his heart because he knows it's coming from the wrong spring. It's not flowing out of something that's pure. She fears being put out of the house. She fears the wrath of her father, so she obeys because she's afraid. It is not flowing. It's not built on a foundational motive. Now, this is what I believe the rock is. It's a motive. It's a foundational motive. And out of that foundational motive flows every act of obedience from that day on. And if you don't have this foundation right, every act of obedience down there will not bless the Father. And often it will cause the Father grief because it's not a pure heart obedience. We have a church all over the world today obeying God legally. Obeying God according to technicalities. But their heart is not in it. It's not built on the rock. The rock... This will come clear in just a few moments. You'll see it clear. You see, there's a cold technical obedience. It's based on fear. It's the fear of the consequences if it's not done. It's the obedience of a disgruntled spirit. But you can't understand this man that's building on the rock until you understand true obedience. And you can understand true obedience only through the eyes of Jesus. Now, Jesus can talk about obedience only one way. The way He knew it. The way He practiced it. And for Jesus, He's interpreting this obedience through the only thing that He truly knows and practices. That's Jesus. Let me see through your eyes. What do you see of obedience? I want the kind of obedience that you had. I want to obey my Lord the way you obeyed your Heavenly Father. And you see, for Jesus, the only motive for obedience, there was only one, one criteria, one motive. And it was the rock. It was the foundation that gave Him a life of obedience. A ministry of obedience. It was a spring, a foundational spring that came out of that rock. It was a commitment He had made, hard and fast, that was unmovable. And here it was, to do all of God's will simply to please Him. Not on a motive, but to please His Heavenly Father. That was the rock foundation, the rock motivation of all of His acts of obedience. Jesus said, I do nothing of myself, but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things. And He that sent this with me, the Father has not left me alone. For I do always only those things that please Him. I do only that which pleases my Heavenly Father. Brother, sister, that is the rock upon which we build. Not just saying, just a blanket statement, Jesus is the rock. The rock that you and I build on is the same attitude and approach to obedience that our Lord practiced. That is the foundational rock. If you do not have it in you tonight to obey God simply because you love Him and want to please Him with all your heart, nothing else matters. All your acts of obedience can bring Him no joy. I do His Word. I obey Him to please Him, He said. This is the rock of obedience upon which Jesus built. It has got to be our rock. It is the foundational motive out of every act of obedience. I am going to obey the Lord because I love Him so much and I cannot think of offending Him. I want nothing but to please the Lord Jesus. Now, Jesus set out to understand and discern the will of the Father because He said, My Father's will is His pleasure. Now, you stop and think. That is as simple a definition of the will of God as I can give you. The will of God is simply His pleasure. Whatever is His pleasure is His will. So, your will is your pleasure. It is what you want to do. And so, He set out. He would go to the mountaintop. He would spend all night just saying, Father, show me Your heart. I will not do anything except to please You. I do not have a will of my own. I am here on this earth. You sent me here to please You. And I want, Lord, to know Your heart. I want to know Your heartbeat. I want to know Your thoughts so that I can just react naturally. It will flow out of me because I have already got a rock position. I have already set my heart to do everything that pleases You. Oh, I want that rock position. Enoch obeyed God with the sole objective of pleasing the Lord. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not seek death. And he was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. He did only those things that pleased God. John said, And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments. And we do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Paul said, We speak not as pleasing men, but as pleasing God, which tries our hearts. Paul added further, fulfilling all the good pleasure of His goodness. John on the Albatross said, For Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure alone everything has been created. God said, If any man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Do you know that this kind of man, he's not under any legal obligation. He can't obey God through some legal obligation. You see, the law is not for this man. The law does not even relate to this man because in his heart he keeps all the law. Because he knows the good pleasure of the Lord. He does not condemn the law. He does not dedicate the law. He does not put the law down. He says, The Jesus in me has fulfilled the law, and I want to do all that's pleasing unto Him. Beloved, this kind of obedience is not concerned about what is legal or illegal. It's not even concerned about what is forbidden. There's only one thing in this man's heart. What does the Lord desire? What does He wish? You can come to this man and you can lay down the law. You can come to this man and talk about all the prohibitions in this book, all the don'ts. You can talk about all the do's and all the don'ts. You can come to this man and you can lay down the thunderside eye. You can take him to the brink of hell and let him sniff the flames of hell. But He says, He'll answer to you, That's not what I'm looking for. I don't need a set of rules and regulations. I don't have to figure out what's right or wrong. I go to Him and I'm in love with Him. I'm so enthralled with Him. I don't even think of bypassing Him. I don't think of hurting my Jesus. Don't tell me what He denies. Tell me what He wants. Tell me what He wants. I want to do it. I want to do whatever He says. You see, we have people today who picture the law as some kind of a prison. That it's captivating, devastating. And along comes Jesus with what we call grace. And He digs a tunnel of escape. And He says, Come on with Me. I know you can't make it here in this prison. Come on with Me. Grace will get you out. And we've made grace to be a tunnel of escape from the prison of the law. No, the law is not a prison. To the man who has an obedient heart and he's on this walk to please God. You can't talk to this man about legalism. Well, he doesn't know what you're talking about. You can't even talk to him about legalism. You can come to this man and he's obeying God. Somebody comes to him and says, Hey, I understand you don't watch television anymore, dirty television. You don't watch those. You don't go to dirty movies. And you don't do this. You don't do that. Legalism. He'll look at you and say, I'm not even keeping score, brother. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, you've got a preacher at Times Square Church. You've got preachers down there trying to tell you how to live. Preaching against so much sin and bringing you under guilt and condemnation. And this man smiles back and says, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just in love with Jesus and I obey Him because I love Him. You search the Gospels and you'll get to know His Word. And I'll tell you what, if you don't do anything else but learn to master Matthew 5, 6, and 7, you'll find all through Jesus' hand you want the sayings of Jesus to learn how to keep them? They're all there. They're all there. You may not have mastered them. There are many things yet here that I see I have not yet been able to overcome and deal with in everything that Jesus asked. But I have a heart. I'm on the rock and I'm building. I'm building a character. I'm building a life of obedience so that when the flood comes, I will be ready by the help and the grace of God. Hallelujah. He said, I say unto you. Are you beginning to see it? You see, the grace of God is actually a teacher of holiness. It's not an escape hatch. Grace is a teacher of holiness. For the grace of God to bring us salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Hallelujah. The man on the rock embraces every word of God. He embraces it because he's so enthralled with Jesus. Hallelujah. Now, you're not on the rock if you need a preacher to tell you what's right or wrong. You're not on the rock if you just need a set of laws to tell you how to live. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll obey me. Hallelujah. Are you building a life of obedience on this rock-solid enthrallment of this person saying, Jesus, I want to know you more? I've had experiences lately when I'm sitting with the Lord. I just sit in the chair and I talk to Him like I'm talking to you. I don't have to strain. I don't have to beg or plead or scream or yell. Well, there are times I weep when He comes and His presence is so real. But I talk to Him and I say, Master, I want to know You. I want to love You so much that I won't have to... If I see it there, no one has to explain it. I don't have to look for another Scripture to see if I can get out of it. This is the end of side 1. You may now turn the tape over to side 2. Some doctrine of grace? I believe in the doctrine of grace. I don't need some doctrine of the law. You know, if the church had really loved Jesus, there would have never in its history been an argument of law and grace. There would have never been antinomianism and Arminianism. There would have been nothing. We would have been in love with Jesus just obeying the sayings of the Lord and we would have had a righteous church. All of this arguing, all of this doctrinal nitpicking is because we don't have that rock foundation. We are not obeying God out of a desire to please the Lord Jesus. We want to please man, we want to please ourselves, but we've never learned to truly please His heart. This is the end of side 1. You may now turn the tape over to side 2. How will we make it? How will these people make it? How will we make it unless we're shut in with You? Unless we're learning to love You more and more? Until Your glory fills our heart? Until we're drawn away from ourselves? Until, Jesus, You fill our hearts? And these are not empty words, O Lord, but they come from a cry inside. Jesus, I want to know You. I want to please You. I don't want to live for myself, but I want to know what Jesus says and I want to obey Him. I want to obey Jesus. God, let that be the cry of so many hearts tonight. I want to obey Jesus. I don't need some doctrine of grace. I believe in the doctrine of grace. I don't need some doctrine of the law. You know, if the church had really loved Jesus, there would have never in its history been an argument of law and grace. There would have never been antinomianism and arminianism. There would have never really been a love of Jesus, just obeying the sayings of the Lord, and we would have had a righteous church. All of this arguing, all of this doctrinal nitpicking, is because we don't have that rock foundation. We're not obeying God out of a desire to please the Lord Jesus. We want to please man, we want to please ourselves, but we've never learned to truly please His heart. And all the cry of my heart, more and more, is, oh Master, I want to love you so much that I hear your heartbeat. And all you have to do is whisper to my heart. Just whisper it. I'll obey you. And you know I will. Because when I stand before you on the judgment day, I don't want you to have to hang your head at me. I want to get that smile. I want to know that when I come, I break right into your presence, that I've gotten to know you so well, it's just another moment of fellowship. It's just another moment of pressing in a little closer. Drawing so close. The Lord has to take you if you've gotten too close. And I believe some people are glorified that way. They just get too close to Jesus. And He said, you're getting too close. Come on in. I know some dear old saints just like that. They got too close to the glory. And He's not going to let you taste the glory down here. He has to take you there. Hallelujah. The kind of glory we're talking about. But now here's another man. Here's another kind of Christian that built upon the sand. I'll read it to you again. And everyone that heareth these things of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. Now, who's this man? I want to know that too, because I want to avoid him. I don't want anything to do with this man. Well, you'll find a description of this man in a few verses ahead of this. Look at verse 21, please. And you'll find this man who built on the sand. He's a very religious man. He's got a lot of power. He's a man called in the name of Jesus. That's his name. All right, read it. Here it is. Verse 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many, it doesn't say a few, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Beloved, I want you to hear something, please. Hear it in the Spirit. You see, in the name of Jesus, they prophesy. In the name of Jesus, they lay hands on the sick. In the name of Jesus, they cast out devils. In the name of Jesus, they do mighty works. You'll hear them say, Lord, Lord, all the time. You'll hear them say, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Now, beloved, there is power in the name of Jesus. But the Lord is saying a shocking thing here. That in the last days, there will be a class of people, there will be a body of people in the church that are used of the Lord. They are used. There's no question that the sick here are being healed, the demons are being cast out. It's an amazing predicament. It's an amazing, shocking thing that the Lord's introduced here. And you have to understand that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. You've got to understand that some of these people that have their hands laid on them, they're the ones that have the faith and God's answer in their faith. You have to understand that before you go any further. But you see, these people have the formula. These people have gone to Jesus and they've come for relief, they've come for deliverance, they've come for power, but they've not come to know Him. They've not come just to get to know Jesus. They've come for some motive. These are very busy people. They are so active for Jesus. You see them running all over the church. They are full of compassion and human need. But they don't know how to wait on the Lord. That's boring. The idea of producing Christian character, the idea of waiting on the Lord and getting ready for a storm, is foreign to them. They don't even know what you're talking about. You see, it's all power-oriented. There are churches like this, brother, sister, where all these kind of gifts are in operation. And by the way, there will be men come to you, or you'll go to their church, and they'll want you to think of them as a man of power. Brother so-and-so, a man of power. No man could do these works unless Jesus were with him. That's what the commercial is. Look what I'm doing. Look at the miracles being performed through my ministry. Brother, sister, that's not the criteria. These people were doing that, and Jesus turned to them and said, I don't even know you. You're workers of iniquity. When Jesus comes and purifies the people, there will be miracles. There will be signs and wonders. The demons will run. But they run from the presence of Jesus. They don't run from some showman. They don't run from some man. They run from the Christ that's in him. Jesus says of these, I never knew them. These are workers of iniquity. It's not that they backslid. It's not that they were on fire and then grew cold. He said, I never knew them. From the very beginning, something was wrong. Their approach to Jesus was wrong. There are many people like that. Oh, I'm convinced that many did not really get saved or claim to be saved. Many have never really given Jesus their heart. They gave him their mind. They have a concept of Jesus. But they have never been broken. They have never been yielded. Jesus looks at this man and says, I don't know him. I don't even know this man. He uses my name. He does all these things in my name. I don't even know him. He's a stranger to me. I've never known him. Oh, he may have come to me once. He may have asked for power. He may have asked for deliverance. He may have said in Jesus' name, I'm free. I don't know the man. He never spends time with me. I'm going to tell you, and listen closely. If you sit here claiming to be a child of Jesus, you say, well, look, I know I'm saved. I know that day in the hour. I can tell you, the day in the hour I gave my heart to Jesus. Did you? If you did, you fell in love with him. He took your heart. That's the only salvation that's going to last in these final days. That encounter with Jesus so took you, so possessed you, you can't stay away from him. You can't stay away from his Word. How can you say you were saved when you neglect him? How do you say you were saved when you never heard from this book? You never go near it. You never spend time with him except in the church. I'm going to say the strongest thing I've ever said in my life. Brother, sister, if you're not claiming and yearning after him, if you're not shutting yourself in with him, you're not a Christian according to this. You're not saved according to this book. You're not where you should be. Something was wrong from the beginning. You never really had that kind of encounter where you were yielded, totally yielded to him so much so that there was no matter of mixture. It was saying, Jesus, I love you. So many people are coming to these altars. They're not falling in love with Jesus. They're making a decision. They want to be free of drugs. They want to be free of alcohol. I want to see people come and say, take it all, Lord. I want to fall in love with you. You know the greatest grief of my heart? The sweet Christians, good Christians who are so compassionate. They give the clothes off their back to meet human needs. They'll go anywhere to heal the sick and cast out devil. They'll do anything. Great works for the Lord. But the Lord said, I don't know them. I don't know them. They don't spend time with me. They don't search me out. They don't want my sayings. How can they obey my sayings when they don't even know what they are? You're not going to get enough just coming to church. You're not going to get it coming. We're in church every night. That wouldn't be enough. There has to be something every waking hour in you reaching out to Him. Something flowing in you of love that produces an obedience without a preacher looking over your shoulder. There's going to come a time your husband or wife can't protect you. There can't be a covering for you. You're going to be all alone. Some of you may be discouraged. You say, Well, I really gave my heart to the Lord, but I've grown cold. Yes, that's possible. But you see, if you really have given your heart to Jesus Christ, no matter what you go through, no matter how hard the time is, your heart keeps going out to Him. It just starts automatically. You go back. There's a magnetic pull. You go back to Him. I talked to Nicky Cruz recently. Nicky Cruz has been saved now for over 25 years. Nearly 30. Mile-mile gang leader off the streets of Brooklyn. A killer in heart. But the day Nicky Cruz gave his heart to Jesus, tears flowing down his cheeks, it wasn't a vote for Jesus. He didn't raise his hand and decide for Christ. No. His sins broke his heart. And he saw Jesus in all of His splendor and all of His love. And Nicky said, David, that day I fell in love with Jesus. I fell in love. And I'll tell you, in all these years, Nicky was telling me a few weeks ago, he said, Brother Dave, the devil emptied hell on me. He's done every trick on me. I've been tested and tried. I've been tempted with everything that's come out of hell. But you know what's kept me through all the temptation? Jesus knows I love Him. Jesus knows He has my heart. Jesus has my heart. Tears running down His cheeks. He put His hand and said, David, Jesus has my heart. If He has your heart, He has your love, you go to this book because you want to know what He's saying. You want to know His heartbeat. Not because a preacher thunders it at you, but because there's something that rises inside. You go to prayer not to get a reward. You go not just because you need your baby healed or your children saved. Yes, that's all a part of it. But you go there because you want to know Him. There's something drawing you to Him. And that person that runs to Jesus and gives it all, you don't have to teach Him how to obey. You don't have to give Him the law. He obeys out of love. And I tell you, the Bible says that this man's going to fall. He's going to fall. You know what he's going to fall into? The flood of evil. This man's going to end up in a spirit of darkness, powerless, a slave of lust, and hell and the devil because he's really never given it all to Jesus. I don't want anything else anymore but to love Him with all my heart. And God's looking for a people here tonight who will say, Jesus, if I want your kind of obedience, that's going to be the rock upon which I'd build to please my Savior. Get to know Him, love Him, and please Him. Stand, if you will, please. What a simple message. Very, very simple. I ask you a question while we stand in His presence. Have you been neglecting Jesus during the week? I don't know. I don't know how else to say it. I don't know what to say. I'm speechless because I stand before some people that no matter what is preached in this pulpit, no matter what you hear, you are not going to obey because you don't even know what He's asking. How can you obey if you don't know what is demanded of you or asked of you, even in His love? What will it take to get you to become a student where you go in here and say, Jesus, I want you. What are you saying to my heart? What do you want from me? I want to stand in the evil day that's coming. Jesus, make your word real. What's it going to take to get you just to shut off the television or whatever it is and just get away from the family and go to the room and shut the door and spend even a half an hour a day with your blessed Savior? How can you say you love Him? How can you say you gave Him your heart when you don't give Him your time? You don't give Him your time. I'm not condemning. This is a heart cry of mine. I just don't understand that. I don't understand it. But if you don't hear what I'm saying tonight, you're not going to be ready. The storm will come. The flood will come from all sides. And then you'll start running. But you won't stand because you have not built into your character, your Christian character, that foundational motive. You've not been living as pleasing unto the Lord in all your ways. It's so simple. Jesus built, based it on love for Him. Lord, I want to love You tonight with all my heart. I want to see a people who love You with all their heart, not just in words, but in deeds. You said don't love in word, but in deed and in truth. Oh, Holy Spirit, draw people tonight. Awaken people. Isn't it amazing, Jesus, that we as Your people have time to visit and to go out to eat and our jobs and family? And that's fine. But we don't even have a half hour a day for You anymore. How are we going to make it? How will these people make it? How will we make it unless we're shut in with You? Unless we're learning to love You more and more. Until Your glory fills our heart. Until we're drawn away from ourselves. Until, Jesus, You fill our hearts. And these are not empty words, O Lord, but they come from a cry inside. Jesus, I want to know You. I want to please You. I don't want to live for myself, but I want to know what Jesus says, and I want to obey Him. I want to obey Jesus. God, let that be the cry of so many hearts tonight. I want to obey Jesus. I want to obey Him because my heart overflows with a love for Him. I love You, Jesus. I truly love You. I love You with all my heart. I love You, Jesus, with everything in me. I want to love You through the day. I want to love You, Lord, through Your Word. I want to hear Your voice. I want to hear what You're saying in this last day. God, give us a people like that so in love with You. Will you raise your hands and just tell Him you love Him right now. Lord, teach me to love You. Give me more love for You. Oh, Jesus, that's where our obedience will come from. Our obedience will flow out of a loving heart. If you need to repent, you say, Brother Wilson, this message is for me. I want you to get down here right now, this front, and say, Oh, Lord, tonight, forgive me for my neglect. Some of you are cold. Some of you are gifted away. Maybe you're not right with God. Come on up in the balcony. Come down any exit. Where are you at here? We have a Holy Spirit. Come to this altar and say, Lord, tonight, I want to build on the rock. I'm going to live for myself. Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you. Oh, Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you. I love you. Are you here tonight with a heart that's indifferent? Jesus is just there, but he's not really alive here in your heart. Are you gifted away from his love? Why don't you come and join these that are here right now? This is a wonderful night to get your heart turned around. It's a good night to say, Jesus, tonight I begin building on the rock. You can do that tonight. You can start building on the rock right now. You can make that commitment to the Lord. We'll sing it again. Get out of your seat. We'll wait for just a moment. Then this service will be history. It won't be long. This service will be history. Here's the time. Here's the chance for you to get things right. One last invitation, please. Jesus, I love you. Oh, Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you. Oh, yes, I do. Oh, Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you. Oh, Jesus, I love you. Oh, yes, I do. Hallelujah. You that have come forward, just lift up your hands to the Lord right now and express what's in your heart. If there's love, express it right now. Whatever's in your heart, express it to the Lord Jesus. Tell Him. Speak it right out loud. Speak right out to the Lord. Please, I don't want to have foot words in your heart right now, in your mind. Just from your heart, express it. Lord, I love you. I need you. Lord, I want to obey you out of a heart of love. I want the obedience that springs from this rock, this fountain of pleasure to Jesus. I want to be a fountain of pleasure to the Master. Hallelujah. I want to fall in love with Jesus tonight. Tell Jesus you want to love Him. Lord, reveal your love to me. Tell Him that. Lord, reveal your love to me tonight. Reveal your love. Say it right out. Jesus, show me your love. Fill me with your love. I want you, Jesus. I don't want to neglect you anymore. I want to give my time to you and my heart to you. Take it all, Jesus. Take it all. Now, just thank Him right now for His faithfulness to you. Say, Lord, I thank you. I thank you, Jesus. I thank you, Jesus. Go ahead. Tell Him what's in your heart. Some of you, God wants to hear it from you. Just tell Him right now. We'll wait. Lord, we're telling you right now what's in our hearts. Telling you how much we love you and need you and desire you. You are everything. You are the need of our heart. Thank you, Jesus. Come and fill me, Lord. Fill my heart with your love. I want to obey you out of a heart of love. I don't want to be forced. I want it to be natural with me, Jesus. Just to flow out of me. Hallelujah. Let's all sing that together while you're standing here. Jesus, I love you. Everyone. I want to say one last thing to you that came forward right now. You may have had a time that you said, Jesus, come into my heart that this may be the first time that you're giving everything to Him. This is the time you say, Jesus, take all of me. This is the time I want to truly be saved. I truly want Jesus with everything that's in me. Oh, God, let it be that way tonight. Not a decision. Oh, Lord, not just out of fear, but say, I want you, Jesus. You're the one that I want. Beloved, it's coming to Him wanting Him. Do you want Him with all your heart tonight? I ask you, do you want Him with all your heart? This is the conclusion of the tape.