This sermon emphasizes the importance of maintaining a fervent love for God and His Word, warning about the danger of growing cold in love and drifting away from the truth. It highlights the need to endure in faith, embrace sound doctrine, and be willing to receive warnings and judgments as honey from heaven. The speaker urges the congregation to repent, return to their first love, and seek the Lord with a renewed passion, especially in the face of impending judgments and the second coming of Christ.

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. 2 Peter, the third chapter, and just leave it open there. And for those who have just been saved, if you get to John, turn, you've gone too far, go back. 2 Peter, third chapter, and just leave it open there, please. I'll be speaking a lot out of the third chapter of 2 Peter. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the precious word we heard this morning. How you warmed our hearts and you provoked us, Lord, to prayer and to love. Now, Lord Jesus, you're just adding to it tonight. I pray that you give me a spirit of love, an anointing of the Holy Ghost. Lord, come down right now upon us mightily. Lord, give me a freedom. Give me an anointing, an anointing of the Holy Ghost that I may speak as the oracle of God. Lord, we thank you for your presence here tonight. You're moving among us. Lord, you've been precious, you've been so close to us. Lord, get glory and honor tonight from your word. We do take your authority over every evil spirit, every doctrine of demons. Lord, we take control in Jesus' name of everything demonic and of the spirit of darkness, and it's commanded in Jesus' name to flee the house, that the word of the Lord may go forth in strength and power, in the name of Jesus. Amen. I need a little more of the monitors here, so I won't have to lift my voice too much there, okay? Thank you very much. Now, according to the word of God, Christians are to live every day as if the end of all things has come. That's what the Bible says. The end of all things is near, and we're to live like that. We're always to be looking for the coming of Jesus. If you're a Christian, you should be looking for the coming of Jesus every day you get up. All day long, you should be looking for the return of the Lord Jesus. We're to be aware, the Bible says, waiting for the Master to return from a long journey. And Paul said, we're to desire that we leave this body and put on the new body. In other words, not just when you have aches and pains, but even when you're feeling good, say, Lord Jesus, I've got a new body in eternity, and the Bible said we long to be clothed with that new body. We must long to be with the Lord. Paul longed to be with the Lord at all times. In my book that I wrote a few years ago called Set the Trumpets in Thy Mouth, I warned of a hydrogen holocaust coming to the United States of America. And in it, taking many scriptures, I showed that I believe in my heart, with everything in me, that Russia is going to make a first strike attack, a ballistic missile attack on the United States. It'll come over the North Pole. And some of you, that may blow you away right now. In fact, when I first wrote that, in the first chapter of that book, and gave many, many scriptures to prove it, we had charismatic preachers who banned the book. You know what I'm talking about, especially in Texas. They banned the book. There were preachers who were absolutely enraged and called me a false prophet. In fact, one charismatic preacher of a large church wrote a book on false prophets and used me as a classic example of a false prophet. Enraged because it was a gloom and doom message, they said. In fact, the one preacher who wrote the book said, all bad news preaching is of the devil. What's the bad effect? He said, we won't have it in this church. He said, the gospel is nothing but good news. None of this preaching of judgment and hell and none of this harping on sin, it's all false. He said, if you hear a man talking about sin, if you hear a man talking about hell, if you hear a man talking about destruction and doom, say he's not of God. Well, then, my friend, according to his definition, Peter was a false prophet. Peter was a false prophet by his definition. I want to ask you, do you believe that the epistle of Peter is in the gospel? Do you believe that's a part of the gospel of the Lord Jesus? Now, let's read it. Let's go to 2 Peter 3 and 7. Read the 7th verse. But the heavens and the earth which are now. Now, you know what that means? You've got to look up there and see the stars. It's your sky. It's my sky. It's not that of the flood. It's not of the apostles, even right now. It's ours. The heavens and the earth that now exist, what's it say? By the same word are kept in store, reserved unto what? Reserved unto fire against the dead judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Now, folks, if you've never been here before, and you don't understand the kind of gospel that you're beginning to hear already, please don't get mad at me, because I'm just quoting you scripture right now. Get mad at me later when I enlarge on it. But right now, just stay with the word. Don't get mad at God. By the same word, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. This one thing, that one days with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but He's longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with the what? A great noise. And the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what latter persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation of godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on what? Being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Glory be to God. Look at the next verse, by the way. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless. Look this way, please. Peter makes two incredible statements here in this passage. First of all, God's fiery judgments that are being stored up right now, being held in reserve for the day of judgment, they are meant to provoke us to holy living. They're given to us to provoke us to righteousness. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation of godliness? He said, now that you know that the heavens and earth are reserved for fire, it's going to happen at any moment. He said, that's hanging there. It's there, it's coming definitely. He said, you see it. What kind of person ought you to be in your lifestyle, and in your holy conversation, in godliness before the Lord? In the original Greek, it reads, in light of everything being dissolved, and here's what the original Greek says, what country are you from? That's exactly what it says. Seeing all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons, it really, the best interpretation is, seeing these things going to happen. What country are you a citizen of? Are you tied down to this earth? Is everything revolving around your success, your career, your job, everything else? Are you citizen of heaven? Of Zion, the city of God? Where is your citizenship? Now folks, I love my country. When I preach like this, some people think I don't love America. I love America as much as anybody else. But I'm not a citizen of the United States as much as I'm a citizen of Zion, the holy city of God. Peter is saying, this knowledge that God has given us of the destruction that's coming, ought to encourage you, the holy living, to be weaned from the spirit of this world, and to keep your eyes on Jesus. The second thing he says, we're not to dread the coming destruction, but instead, Christians are to look for it, they're to anticipate it, and keep their garments spotless in light if it's happening. Well, let me read it to you again. Saying that ye look for such things. You know that's what bothers me. They say, I get it in the mail sometimes, Brother Dave, you're one of those gloomy preachers. You look for this stuff. He said, you search the Bible and look for it. What's it say? Saying that ye look for such things. I'm only doing what he told me to do. They that look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. Now, if Peter were resurrected, and came in the flesh, and traveled around America and visited our churches, he'd be appalled by all the sugar-sweet-candy-cotton preaching from pillow prophets. Listen, I mean this with everything in me. Peter would say, if he met some of the modern prophets that God's raised up in watchmen, I believe Peter would return to them and take them by the hand and say, Brother, what's wrong? Why aren't they warning their people of the coming destruction? Don't they know that God gave me this message? The Holy Ghost moved on me? And I got this directly from the throne of God. This is not a joke. You can't spiritualize it. It's going to happen. Why aren't they warning them? Why do they make fun? Why do they mock preachers who try to wake up their people? Why aren't they provoking people to holiness through these warnings? Peter would say, Don't they know Jesus gave the very same warning I've given? Do you remember what Jesus said? The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. Jesus said that. He warned us of that. And Isaiah the prophet, And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll, and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth from off the vine. John, on the Isle of Patmos, got the same revelation. He said, The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became bloodlike. The stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it's rolled together, and every mountain and island removed out of their places. Now, why such talk from the Scripture? Why these warnings to the church? Paul said, To stir up your pure minds, to keep your hearts stirred and active, to bring to your remembrance the warnings of all the prophets. Now, in this amazing, Jesus warns, Paul warns, Peter warns, all the prophets warn, all the true separates warn, but in spite of that, Peter predicts and prophesies that there will come scoffers in the pulpit. Mocking and ridiculing. There will come scoffers. Look at verse 3. 2 Peter 3, 3. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Did you see that? Now, look at me, please. These, Paul says, these men who are scoffing the soon return of Jesus, and by the way, there's a whole teaching now called Dominion Gospel. And they're telling you Jesus is not coming. Right now, in fact, He's not coming until we conquer the whole world for Him. We take over the government, we take over science, we take over the arts, we take over music, we take it over all. We have a pastor sitting here from Texas. He's associated with Pastor Victor. I was talking to him the other day. He was into that gospel. And he had a marble company. And they prophesied over him that in this new kingdom age, this was going to be the kingdom marble company. And it was going to be the biggest. So he was going to live like that, so he was about to buy a yacht, and his associate was going to buy an airplane, so they could enjoy this new dominion. Well, the Lord had other plans. The plan was bankruptcy. And God got him out of that stinking, horrible mess, and now he's preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and he's longing for the coming of the Lord. You see, scoffing, saying, where's the sign of His coming? And then, Peter said, they're outright lying. He said, look at verse 5, For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. You know what they're saying? Where's the sign of His coming? You know, everything's continued as it was in the beginning. They're lying. He said, they willfully will not tell you that there was a preacher of righteousness named Noah. He said, they know it. They're willfully ignorant. They're hiding something from you. He said, they know that God destroyed the earth once by a flood. He said, they know that God's revealed His character of judgment toward sin. They know that. And they're willfully ignorant. They're hiding it from you. They know that for 120 years God waited patiently. Things have not continued the same from the beginning. Not at all. He said, these men are willfully ignorant of the whole flood, the destruction of the whole earth when God destroyed everything that breathed except those who were in the ark with Noah. Eight souls. Eight people saved. They're willfully ignorant of the destruction cast on Israel when they sinned. They're absolutely ignorant of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He said, they know Sodom was destroyed. They know Sodom and Gomorrah was wiped out. Fire and brimstone. He said, but they come along and they tell you that God is not like that. God is all love. He said, they're willfully ignorant. They're telling, they're absolutely ignoring that. You know you can go to churches right now where the men in the pulpit are willingly ignorant of this. They pass it out of mind. They will not tell you about the judgments of God. Let me tell you something else. I preached a message last week of absolute love and mercy. And I'm telling you now, I'm preaching as much and more mercy right now than I did last week. Because the most merciful thing God can do for us is to raise up prophets and watchmen and warn us and prepare our hearts. That's mercy. That's the mercy of the living God. Hallelujah. There shall come in the last days stoppers walking after their own lust and saying, where is the promises coming? Peter calls them willfully ignorant. Now this is a very serious charge by Peter. And nothing I can say could make it any stronger at this point I don't believe. So I want to move on. But you see there's an attempt to kill off the conviction of the Holy Ghost. Peter preached this. We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace without spot and blame us. Today you hear just the opposite. Jesus is not coming. Not until we take that dominion. So relax. Get yourself in position to be somebody in this new world. Now here's the real gospel according to Peter. Verse 7, look at it. The heavens and the earth which are now, this is our world, by the very same word, the same word that destroyed the earth by the flood, the same word that brought fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, is the very same word of God kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Now look this way please. I believe that if we got our just reward, America would be destroyed already. It should have happened after the first million babies were killed and aborted. There was a river of blood. There's been blood on our hands. You know that the first million babies that were aborted in the United States, God should have sent fireballs out of heaven and destroyed us because of the blood on our hands? You know the first million rapes in the United States? This is the first million rapes. Our nation is only a few hundred years old. But the first million rapes, wouldn't you think that would be enough? Wouldn't you think that the first million babies, our little children, were molested by their fathers and mothers with incest? Wouldn't you think that all these babies that are being drowned and murdered and killed and molested, wouldn't you think that all of heaven would be so in grief right now that God would say that's enough, I can't look on it? Don't you think God should have destroyed us already? Wouldn't you think that the first ten billion dollars worth of drugs, demoralizing our youth, the first ten billion dollars with the mugging and the robbing and the stealing and everything goes with it, wouldn't you think that when President Reagan's top man in his drug program says that we have lost the war against drugs, drugs are spinning out of control, all our borders are down, it's coming in from Canada, from Mexico, from the Pacific, from the Atlantic, it's just like a sieve, nothing can hold it out now. We are being baptized with drugs of all kinds. Wouldn't you think the first ten billion dollars worth would have been enough to grieve the heart of God and shut us down? Why isn't God destroyed? You get angry at me by me saying that God is going to wipe out much of this country with the hydrogen holocaust. Did you read the paper yesterday? It was on the news all day yesterday that our CIA has discovered a huge multi-billion dollar underground cities all through Russia, even connecting city to city underground subways, they're ready to take their whole government and all the elite of their society underground, they're already prepared. They can go through a first strike against America and the Bible said when they cried peace and safety then sudden destruction is going to come. Sudden destruction. It's going to come on a noon day just like it did in Sodom. Everybody preparing to go to the parks for picnics and going out for their boat rides at the Dead Sea. Whatever it was, totally ignorant, totally unconcerned and God suddenly, near noon time, the fire began to fall and took them all away and they weren't even aware of it though they'd been warned. And so it will happen again. America should have already been destroyed by fire. Wouldn't you think that when the Supreme Court stuck its finger in God's nose, in his face, and said get out of our schools, out of our courts, out of our society, wouldn't you think that would have been brazen enough for God to say, alright, that's enough? And then to turn around and legalize homosexuality, legalize abortion, wouldn't you think God says how much does it take? We've been spared, my friend. And I'll tell you why we've been spared. For the same reason God waited 120 years patiently while the ark was being prepared when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water. And look what Peter says, 2 Peter 3.9 Long suffering. He is long suffering to usward. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. You know what God's waiting for? Listen real good now. God is not building an ark now, but in a way it is an ark. He's building a city. Now that city is a people. A wholly separated people. I believe this started probably ten years ago. In the last five years it's really catching fire. The Lord is going to churches all over this nation and around the world and He's waking people up. And He said you can't play church anymore. You can't live one foot in the world and one foot for me. I'm going to demand everything. I'm going to demand total obedience. I'm going to demand all for my people. I'm going to raise up a people who cleave to me with everything that's in them. And God is awakening hearts. He's calling them out of dead churches. And He's saying you're going to serve me with everything. You're not going to be sitting around watching pornography. You're not going to be sitting around watching those R-rated movies in your house anymore and those movies. I'm going to purify people after my own heart. And He's getting a people ready. And He's waiting for that city to be completed. And one of these days, hallelujah, just like God gave the very day when He closed the ark. He said that's it. That's it. Tomorrow the flood. And one of these nights, it may be a Sunday night just like this. God said, well, for New York, that's it. And the other churches, that's it. It's all wrapped up. Close the door. Close the door. And God will move on a Soviet pulidur. He will move and they will silently have the signal and they will creep underground. The button will be pushed and there'll be a holocaust. And you say, well, that's frightening. Not for a Christian that's walking in Zion. It says, look, seeing that you look for these things. What Jesus said, when you see all these things begin to happen, look up and rejoice. Your redemption draws now. Hallelujah. You say you want to be raptured? Well, I'll tell you what. If there were a hydrogen bomb that fell on New York City, here's one preacher who's not afraid because I'm going to be dissolved right into the presence of Jesus. I'll be... It may happen when I'm... Oh, I'd love it when I'm preaching. Hey, wouldn't it be wonderful to be in church? Praising the Lord. Singing majesty. Majesty. He's waiting. Folks, stop there. How else can you explain in seven months? We were almost full here this morning. We've got hundreds in the balcony also. How do you explain in seven months what's happening here? How can you explain what Jesus did to you? In your heart. How do you explain that awakening that came to you? For years and years you're hungry and you're thirsty and finally God says now. And God began to open your eyes. He sent somebody to you. Heard the call. What is that? That's supernatural. That's the Holy Ghost at work. He's putting something together. He's putting something together. Hallelujah. It's His body. Hallelujah. Glory. Well, I've got to move on or I'll start shouting. Jesus warns. And here's my message. Jesus warns that on the eve of destruction at the midnight hour for mankind the love of many believers is going to grow cold. Matthew, don't turn there but I'll read it to you. These are the words of Jesus. Matthew 24, 12. And because sin shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. Do you know what it reads in the New American Standard? The love of most will grow cold. The love of most Christians will grow cold. And in the Greek it says a great number, a large host. Either way you look at it, any way you look at it, many, many Christians are going to be cold in their love to Jesus right on the brink of judgment right at the midnight hour when they should be burning with fire, fervent, white hot. They're going to be dying, decaying in their love for Jesus. You know what that word wax cold means? A reduction of temperature degree by degree. A reduction. Evaporation. It's going to evaporate right out of their lives. Just when they ought to be growing, expecting and on fire. They're going to start drifting away. Do you know they're going to be in these last days many deceivers? They're coming many false prophets and many people are going to follow them. I'm going to read a couple things to you. For many deceivers are entered into the world now. And many shall follow their evil ways and because of them the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers who are going to subvert whole houses teaching things they ought not to for the sake of money. For the sake of money. They'll be talking about prosperity and money. I can't conceive how anyone in these last days can be talking about success and money or prosperity. We should be on our faces as weeping before a holy God. Satan is even now pouring out a flood of wickedness against God's people trying to carry them away the Bible says. I'm going to read you a scripture. Don't turn to it. It's Revelation 12, 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth waters a flood after the woman. And this woman is the church. That he might cause her to be carried away with the flood. Carried away. Now, I'm going to talk to you in real love as a pastor. For you that attend Times Square Church. The first time I did this I thundered at you but I won't do it tonight. Do you want to know the real reason? I believe that Christians who want to keep their love burning bright until Jesus comes ought to get rid of their television set. No clapping. Let me tell you the truth. Let me tell you right out of my heart. I tell you with tears and brokenness. If I could just come into your house and sit down and just embrace you and pray with you and begin to open my heart to you and let you feel the wrath of God that I feel against this thing. Because God's so patient with His children but then there comes a time where God says, Hey look, you know. You know that that's the flood gate. And behind it the Bible says the devil's going to pour out of his own belly out of his own mouth a flood of wickedness. You know he's going to do that right through your TV set in your home. Because it's getting more vile, more wicked. Even the commercials are nudity. You can't even watch sports anymore without just polluting your minds. And you know I I feel the Holy Spirit saying to me, David, why aren't my people seeing it? Why aren't they understanding that this thing is not innocent? That this thing has become wild and vicious and wicked. And it's a flood gate and every time they turn it on they're altering the flood gate. And they stand a chance of being carried right away with the flood of filth. Be carried right away with it. Because all it's going to do is touch the love that you have for Jesus. It's going to dampen. It's going to put a little by little, degree by degree it will go down. You know all I can do is tell you what I believe the Holy Spirit said to me. You can do with it what you want. I'll love you just the same. But I tell you as a pastor and I tell you it with brokenness in my heart. We're going to stand before the judgment seat of Jesus one day. We're going to answer for hearing the word of the Lord. And I'm going to tell you the time has come and it's already here that God is going to make it so clear that you're not going to be able to live a true overcoming life and hold on to these idols. You can't. Because the devil has decided that he's going to come right into your home and blow you away and carry you away. I beseech you in the name of the Lord one more time because I have to stand before Holy God and answer. I remember sitting with a well-known evangelist who recently was embarrassed. And he said, David, I've got table in my home and I was watching something with my little grandson and I just saw how filth it was and I got so mad I was going to take an axe and go just hit the table. You know my answer? Why don't you? I wish it had. I wish it had been done. You know right now God's dealing with some of you so sweetly and so loving about it but one day is going to come and you're going to wonder why your love degree by degree gets cold. You come to church and get pumped up and get primed up. Bob was preaching about it this morning. And then you wonder why all your prayers are hindered. You wonder why so many things go wrong and yet you have an idol in your house. I don't care what anybody says. I'm calling it outright an idol. It's an idol. It's a satanic idol. Now I know some of you may never come back again. I'll tell you what. I'm going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and I'll go home tonight saying Lord I want your people to accept your loving word. I don't get any glory out of this. What good is it for me that you come and say I got rid of my television set. It's just to get rid of all the idols. It's to get rid of that floodgate out of your home so you keep your eyes pure and your eyes on Jesus and it gives you more time to pray and seek the Lord. Wouldn't it be awful when that sudden destruction comes that you're sitting there watching Dallas. Do you know what they're saying now? The writers of all these programs are competing with each other to see who can be the most wicked and vile. They're bringing even incest in now. Straight out of the pits of hell. You know something? Some of you dear saints look at me. Yes. And you're not going to do anything about it. You're going to say I'm going to control it. You try controlling the devil. Playing games with him. No, you cast him out. You get away from it. I don't know why I'm lingering at this. I don't want to. I want to move on. But I feel God saying there's not going to be victory. I'm not going to be able to hold that love this midnight hour unless everything of Satan is gone out of your home and your heart and your life. Help me Jesus to move on now. This flood is coming. Now, do you sit in this meeting tonight and ask yourself and do you say to yourself like Peter, Lord Jesus, though others forsake you, I'll never forsake you. I love you with all my heart. My love will never grow cold. I will not be like Peter and deny you three times. My love is growing. But do you know the Bible says many, many are going to go cold into love. Can you imagine yourself ever being one of these that he's talking about, Jesus is talking about? Could you be one of those many who because sin abounds and you begin to get the spirit of the world in you? The lust keeps coming back and it's not dealt with. You won't lay down the idols. And all of this iniquity increases and increases and it begins to vex your soul. And then it starts cooling down your love. But the sad truth is many who have been delivered from sin, many who have been awakened by the Holy Ghost used to attend a dead church, now you're alive. God's beginning to open the Word to you. You're seeing revelation after revelation. Your heart's being stirred and awakened. You tell others what God's been doing for you. You said, Oh, the Lord's helping me to grow. I see things I've never seen. Now, the only problem is the Bible says there are going to be many carried away with the spirit of this world. They're going to go after things. They're going to indulge in the pleasure of the world. They're going to get sucked in to the flood of filth. There are going to be some that say, I've come far enough. I can't take any more of this preaching of separation from the world. My goodness, aren't we to enjoy life? Listen, I'll tell you who enjoys life more than anyone else. Those who have that quiet confidence in their security in Jesus. Those who are not trying to prove anything to anybody. They believe that Jesus has saved and healed them and blotted out their sins. And they don't have to be up and down. They're not yo-yo Christians. They've got that quiet peace and confidence because they walk by faith. And they're turning down their idols as God deals with them. I've been getting some wonderful letters and notes from some of the saints here, the Christians in this church. They're saying, Brother David, thank you for your message last Sunday night on mercy and the confession of your heart that you felt you needed more mercy when you preached. And we needed that kind of encouragement. But also remember that some of us have misinterpreted the Word of God that's coming forward. You can misinterpret what God is saying. You can take it for hardness when it's not meant for hardness at all. It's the love of Jesus Christ coming forth because He cares about His people. But many, I say it, Bob said it this morning, I say it again, some of you are not going to move on with God and let your love grow. And I'll tell you why. Your love is going to grow cold by turning away from what you believe is a hard message, a hard word. You know, Jesus gathered His disciples together. This is near the time of His crucifixion and He said, unless you eat My body and drink My blood. He said, My body is meat, it's bread, and My blood is drink indeed. And what He's saying, He said, I want you to get all your source of life out of Me. I want to be not first, I want to be everything to you. He demanded of all His disciples full surrender. He said, You don't walk with the world in Me. He said, You deny yourself, take up your cross and you follow Me. It's a full commitment of your life. And you know, the disciples listened to that. You know what they said? Many therefore of His disciples when they heard this said, This is a hard saying. Who can understand it? From that time on, many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. They simply gave up. They quit. They said, I can't go that hard life. This message is too hard. I can't take it. I can't believe it's that difficult. You know folks, I'm not talking about Christians who get weary and well doing. I know what it's like to have gone through three months, years ago of a dry spell. Now, there's a reason that God's trying to put His finger on something. Sometimes, He just has to withdraw for a while until you agree to get honest before Him. Doesn't mean He's forsaken you, but He's trying to get your attention. I'm not talking about those who get weary and well doing. I'm not talking about those who occasionally are under attack of the enemy and try to get them down. There are some people that go home and say, sometimes, God, I wonder if I'll ever please You. I wonder if I'll ever make it. I don't know if I measure up. And then a discouragement comes in. But then, there's no thought of ever forsaking the Lord. And then the thought comes, but Lord, to whom shall I go? I can't go back to what I was. And then, they come forward and say, Oh Lord, no. I may be going through a dry spell. I may be weary and well doing, but I despise that. I hate that. I do love You, Jesus. And they come back quickly. They rise up against that spirit that comes to them. They rise up against it. And they get ahold of the Word of God and take authority and dominion over it. Hallelujah. Well, I'm not talking about that. But you see, our love to Jesus is tied to our love for His Word. Do you understand that? You measure your love for Christ by how much you love every word that proceeds out of His mouth. Now, I want to show you something. I want you to go to Ezekiel. I want to talk about honey from heaven. I'll bet you don't even have a slight idea what honey from heaven is. I will prove to you that all my writings and preaching in the last two chapters has been all honey from heaven. It's been honey from heaven. Glory be to Jesus. Ezekiel 2. Ezekiel 2. Oh, I love to hear the rustling of the leaves. I'm going to read, I tell you what, I want to read the whole chapter. Ten verses. Do you have it? I'm reading from the King James Version. And He said unto me, this is God speaking to Ezekiel, The Lord said unto me, Son of man, stand upon my feet and I'll speak to you. And the Spirit entered into me when He spake unto me and set me upon my feet and I heard Him that spake unto me. And He said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel to rebellious nations that rebelled against Me. Then their fathers have transgressed against Me even unto this very day for their impudent children, stiff-hearted. I do send thee unto them and also say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for their rebellious house, yet shall they know that there's been a prophet among them. And thou, Son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns be with them. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Thou shall speak My words unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear their most rebellious. But thou, Son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious like the rebellious house. Well, stop there with this man. How could he be rebellious? God's saying, Don't you be rebellious. Don't you be afraid to preach My word. Don't you be afraid to tell the truth. Because if you don't tell My people the truth, you're in rebellion. Because I told you to stand up and I'm going to give you something to give to the people. Look at the next verse. Open thy mouth and eat what I give you. And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me and lo, a roll of a book was therein. And He spread it before me and it was written with in and without. It means on both sides. And it was written therein lamentations and mourning and woe. Alright, what did it say was on the books? This is a big scroll and God says to Ezekiel, Now, don't you rebel. I'm going to have you go to My people and I'm going to give you something. And when it says you eat it, take it into your bowels. It means take it to your heart. Eat it. Listen to it. You first make it real to your life and then you give it to the children of Israel. And what was written on both sides? What's it say? Look at verse 10. And it was written therein, what? Lamentations, that's warnings and mourning and woe. That's doomsday. Do you see that in your Bible? Alright, look at verse, look at chapter 3. Moreover, He said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and He caused me to eat that roll. That means I heard the word and I accepted it. I absorbed it into my body. And He said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Now look at me. Was He afraid of it? Was He afraid of it? No. Did He reject it? No. And what was it all about? Lamentations, mournings, and woes being pronounced of judgment on the house of God. And He said and I took it in and it was like honey. It was sweetness in my mouth. Why? Because the prophets accepted every word that God said. Whether it was negative or positive, it was all honey. Amen. Because it was their Father. The finger of God wrote this. Yes, it says. The finger of God. Well, this is I heard a minister say something like this. He said I can't serve a God of wrath. He said I'm going to preach nothing from this pulpit but encouragement. He said I'm not going to repudiate you. I'm not going to let anybody other preacher come and repudiate you either. God is love. He said we've had enough of this doomsday. But you know what the prophets said? All the prophets when they heard these and then they absorbed them they said look, this is God speaking. No matter what He says. I receive it. I accept it. And when He accepted it and absorbed it into His body it was as sweet as honey. And there was written therein lamentations and mournings and woes and warnings. I opened my mouth and He caused me to eat the roll and I filled my belly with the roll that He gave to me. I did eat and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Do you know what Jeremiah said? Now listen closely please. Don't turn. I'm reading to you from Jeremiah 28. The prophets that have been before me this Jeremiah speaking all the prophets have been before me and before thee of old they prophesied both against many countries they prophesied against the countries and against great kingdoms and they prophesied of war and of evil and of coming pestilence. Did you hear it? He said all the prophets of all time from Moses on Moses was a prophet Samuel was a prophet Jeremiah Isaiah Ezekiel He said all the prophets before me all the prophets of old they all had one thing in common God sent them He raised them up against nations to warn them He warned of coming wars They warned of coming destruction All of them and all of them considered it as honey They didn't grieve over it They In fact the prophets said Jeremiah when he was praying he said Lord you know I didn't want these things to happen You know I grieved in my heart the very possibility of their happening But I remain faithful to you And when they tell you the true prophets and watchmen don't preach judgment and wrath Don't they know their Bibles? Ezekiel said Every prophet Every prophet has preached the same thing They've been raised up to warn God's house There's a warning going forth here tonight When God sent us to New York City In fact for the last three years that I've been praying about coming to New York City And especially the last two years I was shut up in my prayer chamber down in Texas And it was on top of my garage a room where I met the Lord And for months and months God began to tell us that there were two reasons we were coming to New York City to establish a church in Times Square Number one was to find a holy remnant that would walk in holiness A holy remnant that would come out of death and be raised up to walk in righteousness And all speak the same language And God's doing that And secondly to warn this city of coming judgment To warn And to cry aloud And despair not And I keep trying to put it off This is the end of side one You may now turn the tape over to side two It keeps rising up in my heart And I feel it so strong upon me tonight The anointing of the Holy Spirit Brother, sister There is a warning And I don't think of it as bitterness in my heart I hear these things I read His word of war and of judgment coming And though I dread it I hate it The very thought of it happening And yet we live by every word that proceeds out of His mouth There have been some words that come forth from these pastors Whether it's in Bible school Whether it's on Tuesday or Friday night Sometimes it's been a strong word It sounds to some like it's a hard word No, folks It's not hard if you delight in all that God says If you eat every word that comes from His mouth Whether it's positive or negative We've got some churches that have nothing but a negative message Some have nothing but a positive message It's not negative or positive It's the whole counsel of God It's everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God We don't live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, Jesus said Every word You know why David's love never grew cold? Because he had respect for every word that came from the mouth of God Do you know what David said? Listen to it Don't turn to Psalms 19 The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together More to be desired are they than gold yea, than fine gold sweeter than honey and the honeycomb By them thy servant is warned and in keeping them there's great reward He said, do you hear it? I see it and it's more to be desired than fine gold Brother, sister let's say it lovingly let's say no how If you sit here and you feel that you're being pounded or it's hard please don't because this is God's mercy It's His absolute mercy Thank God that you're in the church where you're being stirred and awakened Thank God Not because I'm preaching tonight But there are men here not afraid not afraid to tell you the judgment is coming What does the scripture say? There's a scripture that says Flee from the wrath of God That's honey The scripture says Without holiness no man shall see God That's not hard That's honey Accept your repents Ye shall die in your sins That's not hard That's honey The earth and all soul the works of the wretched shall be burned up Hard? No Honey For the Christian It's honey Do you know the Christian that's walking in the fullness of Jesus loves to be reproved? He said it The scripture said It's just like oil that flows down over his head Lord, I'll accept anything you say As long as I know it comes from you And it comes from those who love me By them thy servant is warned I ask you a question If David says By this kind of preaching This honeycomb preaching By this we're warned If it's not being preached How are the people being warned? How are they being warned? When you get nothing but a positive message When you're told the coming Lord is off in some distance When you're told to relax When you're told that God wants you rich Now listen If you're not being warned By this By them The words of righteous judgment By them Your servants are warned Then how? How are they being warned? The sweetest, most merciful thing he can do is to warn us Can you say Listen to what Jeremiah said I wish you could say this with me Thy words were found And I did eat them And thy word was unto me The joy and rejoicing of my heart And he was talking about Judgment and woe The joy and rejoicing of my heart Because I am not afraid He's saying You know that God gave John On the Isle of Patmos A book written with the same The last plagues and judgments upon mankind And the angel said to John Take it and eat it Eat it all up And it shall make thy belly bitter But it shall be in thy mouth as sweet as honey And that was all about The final judgments on the earth The angel of the Lord said Eat it It's gonna be sweet Jesus warned That only those who endure to the end Shall be saved I'm reading again From Matthew 24, 13 This is Jesus speaking Don't turn, just listen But he that shall endure to the end The same shall be saved Now that word endure Means to persevere Through all the persecution All the trials To hold your love strong But there's another side to it Timothy ties in our attitude Towards sound doctrine Now listen close Listen close I want to make a statement You can measure your love for Jesus By how you desire to hear sound doctrine I hear people say Oh I don't believe in doctrines Well, if you don't believe in doctrine You don't believe in the gospel There is a doctrine of truth For the time will come When they will not endure That's that word endure Jesus said they that endure to the end Shall be saved But they will not endure sound doctrine But they will turn away from the truth And shall be turned to fables They're gonna listen to these Very soft candy cotton tales You know if you want that You can find a church here in New York Don't come to us We won't give you their address But there's some You can go You can get nothing but sweetness You can go out and be happy Folks, our purpose here Is not to make you happy But to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ That you may be righteous and holy In this last day I'd rather you walk out of here Deeply under conviction Than to go out high as a kite And then just go out there And not be able to fight the devil Hallelujah He said there's coming in the last days A great resistance to pure uncorrupt doctrine There's gonna come a resistance Oh it's coming Folks, I'm no longer in the assemblies of God And I don't say anything against the assemblies of God And I didn't leave the assemblies of God Because I disagree with doctrine or anything else I still love all my brethren in that movement But you see a sign out there that says interdenominational It's interdenominational We wanted to be an interdenominational church But you know, I got so much So many letters So much from so many ministers In the assemblies of God And other Pentecostal movements Saying that this hard message is coming forth From Brother Phillips and from all of us here That there's such a hard message coming forth But folks, if you understood what I'm saying If you understand what the Holy Spirit's saying to us There is an enduring of some doctrine The Bible says they will not put up with it They will not endure it They'll say we will not have it Even though this should produce a hunger for God It should provoke us to righteousness Because they receive not the love of the truth For this cause God shall send them strong delusion That they should believe a lie That they all be damned to believe not the truth But had pleasure in unrighteousness There are going to be thousands of Christians So cold at midnight So cold at midnight That not even the judgments when they begin to fall will shake them I remember talking to a Pentecostal pastor In the midwest of a large church And I found out when I got there He'd just been told a few weeks before That he had terminal cancer And just a few months or weeks to live And I was interested in what changes it would make Knowing that he had a death sentence And he was already going down so fast Could hardly walk And after the service went out to eat And I said pastor What's changed since you had this death sentence? Do you pray more? Do you try to redeem the time? Do the hours seem shorter to you now? And I was really interested He just kind of stared at me He said David nothing's changed Nothing's changed And I know he's a man of God But he seemed to have all his emotions frozen Even though he's about to die He died shortly after that And I thought Well if you know you're near death You would maybe try to make up time You might just spend all the time Siding with God And he said David It goes on just the way you were It just goes on the way you were I was rather taken back by his answer I'll never forget it In fact I was shocked I don't know anything about his life And I'm not saying anything derogatory or anything But you know it's just like the AIDS victims here In New York City or anywhere else The closer they get to death The more angry they get at God Because their emotions are frozen And then they go backwards You see death is You could be told you're going to die And if your love is cold It's going to freeze right where it is You're not going to just all of a sudden Say well I'm about to die And I'm going to make this right You know that if judgment begins to fall And we begin to see it It's very clear to the church and everyone That what we're seeing is divine judgment The last judgments are falling Do you know that those who grow cold Are not going to turn to God In fact they're just going to decay more and more The scripture says That when judgment fell in the book of Revelation And one third of mankind was killed by plagues One third of mankind was killed by fire The rest of Listen to what it says The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues Did not repent of their works by their hands That they should not worship the devil And idols of gold Neither did they repent of their murdering Nor did they repent of their sorceries They did not repent of their fornication They did not repent of their thefts But they blasphemed the God of heaven Because of their pain and their sores And repented not of their evil deeds Judgment's falling all around You'd think they'd cry God help There's only a little time left No And this is what's frightening about Christians And this is the statement that Jesus made Because sin will abound the love of many Or most will grow cold That's frightening Because you see when the judgments begin to fall People are not going to run around I used to think that they knew The judgment was going to fall tomorrow Everybody would be on the telephone Making their wrongs right I mean everybody would pray all night long Jerry brought it out So beautifully Friday night Lot was told by the angels that the next day Lot was going to be destroyed He slept all night and angels had to wake him up When Gary was preaching that it hit me It blew me away I thought that's right That man went right to sleep The city going to be destroyed Because he had vexed his soul Night and day by the things he saw In Sodom the scripture says He vexed his soul His love for God had evaporated Yet the people do not turn back To him who struck them Isaiah said God was striking Israel with judgment He said yet the people do not turn back To him who struck them Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts You know I want to say it Before I close tonight In a way that you'll know it comes from a heart of love But you There's nothing mystical about Keeping your love for God Your love for Jesus bright But most of you that I'm talking tonight Your love is on fire You can't wait to get to church to hear the word God's spoken to so many about your idols And you deep in your heart you're saying God give me the strength to do it You're willing to obey And I'll be the majority in this church In this house When those judgments fall Or when Jesus comes We're going to have a time square corner in heaven In glory It's going to be something I believe some of the red hottest Christians Are coming right out of this church And many other churches here in New York City And I'm not trying to put a guilt trip on anybody tonight But I can't shake off the words of Jesus Because sin abounds The love of many is going to grow cold The love for me And it's not mystical You know what the love of God The love of Jesus is The love you can measure it It's not how much you pray It's not how much you read your Bible It's not how often you come to church Loving God is more simple than that He's made it so very very clear He said for this is the love of God That we keep his commandments And his commandments are not grievous Do you want to keep his word? You say you want to be loving him That means that everything you hear from the mouth of the Lord Everything you hear from the word of God You say Lord that's it I'll obey you I'll obey you Hallelujah I'll walk with you Jesus What is the love of God? Is keeping his commandments Faithfully Everything Jesus said It's taking every word that God says And say I accept it Honey from heaven Glory be to God I should have preached my whole sermon Just honey from heaven But I've delivered my soul tonight But oh The grief in my heart tonight Is that Some of you Your love is going this way now Slipping Sliding Evaporating You're afraid you just can't Take anymore You've been offended by the word of God Don't let the word of God offend you Say Jesus I want to obey it Thank you for the word Folks we ought to be thanking God for the word that's coming forth We should be praising God for the word that's coming forth And not fighting it Not resisting it in any way Hallelujah The Lord has never told me I'm a prophet One of his many many watchmen But I stand here in closing and tell you That it could happen any time Do you remember when the Japanese Were about to attack Pearl Harbor Where were their ambassadors? They were in Washington D.C. Trying to draw up peace treaty Our president They call it glass knot now It's new peace freedom One of these days Now folks I don't know whether Christ will come before then or not I don't know I don't know if it's going to happen tomorrow I don't know if it's going to happen 10 years from now Nobody knows the time or the date But folks God's not going to let us Kill 25 million babies He's not going to let this nation get so stupid And drunken on drugs and alcohol And chase God out of every part of our human life He's not going to let this nation Go berserk I believe it's been the praying people who have held it back so far I really do I had somebody ask me Don't you believe that if we really pray and seek the Lord We can stop this? I believe we can delay it Yes we can I believe the prayer meetings here Are being heard right in heaven Yes we can delay it But folks What good is it just to delay it? But we should be praying more than that Lord save those who are involved And set my heart on fire Keep me burning bright I'll tell you what The greatest desire in my heart Is that the closer we get to the coming Judgments and the coming of the Lord The more I want to burn for Him The more I want my heart just wrapped up in Him Hallelujah Brother Bob Stand here and preach it the way God tells you I'm going to sit there and take it as honey Preach it as God tells you From love and brokenness Preach it Brother I'm going to preach it With brokenness But I'm telling you folks We're going to look up and start rejoicing now Because It's all wrapping up Hallelujah And God's going to have a people in love with Him Are you in love with Him tonight? Is your love growing in Him? Stand with me please For the Lord is willing that none should perish But all come to repentance He is long-suffering Merciful and kind And He invites you to receive Of His mercy tonight And be changed by His power Hallelujah He's merciful Amen He's long-suffering Do you know that's what He's waiting for? His mercy Just wait until it all is gathered up Won't you come tonight? If you're standing here tonight And say brother David My love has been growing cold It's been The cares of this life There have been other things that enter in I don't know why It's happened but Lately I've been discouraged Kind of Just drifting a little bit Drifting Now if you've been coming to this altar Time and time again Don't Don't come up here just because you believe God's turned His back on you He hasn't Unless you've just asked Him to leave I'd like to make this for those here tonight That the Holy Ghost has spoken to God's talked to you tonight While I was preaching He really talked to you He's saying it's time It's time for you to make it right It's time for you to get established It's time for you To have my love Rooted and grounded in you You need to be rooted and grounded In the love of God The love of Jesus Heavenly Father There are many standing here tonight Perhaps some that had A wonderful love They really loved you at one time But something's happened Something's come into their life And Lord it's clouded that love It's perverted that love It's cooled off It's chilled that love There's a chill There's a chill in their life Their spiritual life is chilled It's just degree by degree Losing that touch That love Lord Jesus Bring us back to your love tonight Fill us with your love Baptize us with your love tonight Up in the balcony You go to the steps And then come down either aisle And here on the main floor If you feel the tug of the spirit Of God saying tonight I want you to come back to my love Come on down here We'll lay hands on you We'll believe Jesus tonight To bring you back Come on This is the conclusion of the tape