Jesus Speak Clearly to Me — Carter Conlon

Deception and Counterfeit Signs in the Last Days

Now, I want to preface, before I begin this morning, I want to preface what I'm about to say so that you'll understand the context that I'm going to be speaking from. You don't need to turn there, but in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus speaks clearly that one of the marks of the last days is going to be deception, there's going to be a profound religious deception come into the whole earth, and there are many even who are attending church who are going to be swept up in spiritual delusion.

Now he said in chapter 24, verses 11 and 12, and many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many, many prophets, many false prophets deceiving many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

And then on in Matthew 24, he said there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders. Now, it's amazing, folks, you cannot base what you believe now on signs and wonders.

These things are fantastic if they're in line with truth. But Jesus himself, red letter in the Bible warned that an hour is coming at the end of the age when there's going to be counterfeit signs and wonders everywhere, and they're going to be counterfeit voices, and they're all intended to steer the professing church of Jesus Christ or those who at least would have some measure of wanting to follow God as they see him into a wrong direction.

And in so much, he says that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. I find great hope in this, because there's an inference here for those who truly belong to God. It is not possible that you can be held on a road of deception.

I thank God for this with all of my heart. Now go in the New Testament to Luke chapter 14. The title of my message today is Jesus speak clearly to me. Jesus speak clearly to me. Now that's got to be the cry of your heart today.

Speak clearly to me. God speak to me. Make it plain. And I'm going to show you, I believe through the scriptures today, I'm going to attempt to show you how you can hear the voice of God in the midst of a multitude of voices that are going to be, that have been and will be raised in the coming days, which one belongs to God.

The Spirit of Truth and Hearing God's Voice

Father, I thank you, Lord, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, you're the spirit of truth and Holy Spirit. Jesus said that you would come and you would show us things to come and you would guide us into all truth.

I'm asking you today, oh God, for an anointing of the Holy Spirit that comes from heaven itself. I'm asking you for the ability, Lord, to lay out the truth that you put into my heart from your scriptures very clearly that all may hear it.

Give us ears to hear, oh God, and Father, keep us, I ask it in Jesus' mighty name. Luke chapter 24, beginning at verse 15. Oh, Luke 14, I'm sorry, don't move there. Luke chapter 14, beginning at verse 15.

And when one of them that said, Admeet with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. And then he said to him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many.

And he sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. They all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I've bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it.

I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I've married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And so that servant came and showed his Lord these things.

Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

The Banquet of Salvation and the New Creation

A great banquet, Jesus said, was initiated by a great king. I mean, what greater banquet do we have than in our fallen condition, God in his mercy became a man, died on a cross, and then gives us the option or the opportunity to be partakers of his life.

I don't know if there's a greater banquet. I believe this banquet began on Calvary. Certainly, when the Holy Spirit came and indwelt us and made truth a living reality within your life and within mine, I became a partaker of this incredible banquet of God in Christ Jesus.

I became a new creation in Christ, as you are, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ today. Old things began to pass away and all things became new. I have a banquet of ability, as it is in Christ, to have a new mind, to have a new spirit, to have a new heart, to have a new life, to have a new direction, to be given the privilege of living my life on the earth for the sole purpose of glorifying the name of God through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, of standing in the midst of whatever presents itself in this world and everything that purports itself to be of God, but standing as a very distinct and a very direct testimony that the life of God is freely available to all who come to Him in spirit and in truth, who want the truth of God and who are willing to walk in that truth of God and are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into the power of that truth and let that truth be lived out in each of our lives.

I live at a banquet table every day. If you are an honest Christian, if you are an honest seeker of God, you live at a banquet table. It's amazing. Every line in this Bible is a miracle to you. Every line is God speaking into darkness, God speaking into confusion, just as in Genesis chapter 1.

When God speaks, light comes into every darkened corner. When God speaks, life comes. When God speaks, boundaries are established where certain things can go only so far and other things are. The restrictive hand of God, as it is, is put up and said, Satan, you can only come this far and no farther.

Praise be to God. A great supper, Jesus said, a certain man made a great supper and he bade many. I think of Jesus in John chapter 7 verses 37 and 38. It says, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried and said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.

And he that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly, that means his inward parts, shall flow rivers of living water. John says this was written about the Holy Spirit, who was to be given to those who would believe on Jesus Christ.

If you thirst, the cry of Jesus is still coming out to you today. If you thirst, he says, you can come to me and drink. You can come where no one else can come. But those who are invited by faith in a finished sacrifice on Calvary 2 ,000 years ago, you can come into the very throne room of God.

You can find living water to satisfy the very deepest need of your heart and life. And this water will begin to bubble up and flow as a never ending stream out of you. Praise be to God for these truths in our generation.

Christ's Flesh, Blood, and Complete Acceptance

In John 6 verses 55 to 58, Jesus said, My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him. And as the living Father has sent me and I live by the Father, so he that eats me shall live by me.

He that eats of this bread shall live forever. And folks, this is an invitation, this supper. It's to a new, to an incredible and to an everlasting life. He's talking about if you will drink of the salvation that I've freely given you.

And when you fully drink of this salvation, you can put every voice of hell to flight. I give you a righteousness. I give you a right standing in the sight of God, Jesus said, that cannot be taken away from you.

Every voice that rises against that, you have the authority to condemn it. I've given you my righteousness, the Lord says. You can drink of this salvation every day. You can drink of it when you've had the worst day of your life.

You can drink of it when you've had a good day. You can drink of it when you feel successful. You can drink of it when you feel as if you're a failure. If you are a genuine believer in Christ, your standing is complete in God, fully accepted with God through Jesus Christ.

The devil cannot come against that. He cannot condemn that. You must drink of that or you'll be always on this treadmill of high mountains and low valleys. You'll never have a steady walk in this life until you fully realize that you are fully accepted with God in Christ Jesus.

You are seated with him in heavenly places at the right hand of almighty God. And as Paul says, you and I are more than conquerors now through him that loved us. I am already over the finish line because the head has already crossed the line.

I am part of the body. I'm very soon to follow the head who's already won the victory. I live in victory. I stand in victory. Every day, every day is a day of victory. And the cry of my heart is, oh God, manifest this victory now.

Manifested to my heart, manifested to my mind and through my life and through the lives of your church, manifested God to this darkened generation we're living in. Let them know who lives on the winning side.

Let the people know. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let everything in us say so. Let the way we live say so. Let the way we think say so. Let the direction we're walking in say so. Let everything about us now declare to this generation we are redeemed.

We are the sons and daughters of God. John 17 and verse 18, Jesus said, as the father or as thou, he's speaking now, he's in prayer right before going to Calvary. And he says to his father, as thou has sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

The Church's Mission and Christ's Victory

We have a commission and a calling. Jesus was given of his father that you and I may have everlasting life. And now that life, that power to be given, that power to win against every opposition that comes against it, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

It was all triumphed over by Christ on the cross. And he says, now I won the victory for you. Now I've come to live inside of you as my church. And we're going to walk together now through this world.

And through you, I'm going to proclaim this message because I'm going to lift you out of darkness. I'm going to cause you to stand in my marvelous light. And the very presence of God in you will be a declaration to this generation that Christ indeed has conquered death, sits at the right hand of all authority and is alive.

In Luke 14, 17, it said his servant, he sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bitten, come for all things are now ready. Everything is ready now. Everything is ready. When Jesus went into that last supper room and when he broke the bread and talked about the giving of himself, and when he passed around the wine and talked about the shedding of his blood, he was indicating not just to those in the room, but to you and I today that everything is ready.

You don't have to wait till tomorrow to find the life of God. You don't have to wait till next week. You don't have to wait till next month. Nobody has to tell you what the plan of God is for your life.

God has promised you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I will come to you. I'll speak to you. I'll carry you. We'll walk together. And through the earth, I will bring my own name to reputation through you.

That's got to be the cry of your heart in this hour we're living in. It's got to be the cry of mine, oh Jesus, the Christ of God, bring your name to reputation. When everyone else is pushing you out of the borders of every conceivable institution in our world today, Lord, the one thing they can't do, they can push out writing on a wall if they want, but they can't push out the presence of the living God because you have a body, you have a church, you are God.

How foolish for men to think they can push God out of anything. You cannot push God out of anything because God is everywhere. If you know the scriptures, you know he's omnipresent. How do you push somebody who's everywhere out of anywhere?

The Holy Spirit Guides Into All Truth

All things are now ready. Now, put a marker in Luke 14 and go back to John chapter 16, or go ahead rather to John chapter 16, where he says, all things are ready at supper time. I'm likening this to the last supper.

You've probably gathered that by now. And all things are ready. Everything you've longed for can be found here now. John chapter 16 and verse 13, how be it when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.

And he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine or what is of mine and shall show it to you. Now, Jesus went to the cross and his part was to give his life as a redemption for you and I. And for those who have studied the covenant, the father's part is to give to those who believe in the son, everything that the son inherits, everything he wins, everything he triumphs over, every authority that's given him, every power over sin and hell and darkness is given into the son's hand.

And the son says to the father, I will go and I will believe that you will raise me from the dead. But you will give to those who believe in me, my church, everything that I win, everything that is mine will become theirs.

And when the Holy Spirit comes and the Holy Spirit came to the church on the day of Pentecost and still comes constantly to those who call out to be filled with the spirit. He will guide you into all truth.

He will not speak of himself. That means he does not have an independent agenda from the father and the son, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will show you things to come. He will glorify me for he will receive of mine and show it to you.

The Holy Spirit will show you what I've won for you. The Holy Spirit will guide you into truth. The Holy Spirit will change you. You see, that's why Jesus said those who worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth.

You have to want truth. You have to want where truth will lead you. You have to want the kind of a life that truth will bring you into, to have the power of the Holy Spirit backing that truth. And again in verse 20, he says, verily, verily, I say unto you, you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice and you shall be sorrowful, but your soil shall be turned to joy.

Sorrow Turned to Joy Through Truth

When they were rid of Christ, oh, how a religious and down fallen world was so happy to be rid of this religious nuisance as they saw him. And there was a season of rejoicing. But when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, the world now was going to go at an even greater speed to its time of sorrow.

We're moving folks very quickly to a season of sorrows. The beginning of sorrows is not too far away, if not already upon us today. As the scripture says, the world is moving to sorrow. But he said, you are going to be turned to joy.

You're going to have another value system. You're going to have another end, another expected end. You're not focused on the things of this world and the things of this world, whether they rise or whether they fall, they're not going to have a great influence on you because you're going to have a joy that is not given by this world and this world can't take it away from you.

Praise be to God. Verse 23 says, in that day, you should ask me nothing. Verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. And hitherto you've asked nothing in my name, ask and you shall receive that your joy might be full.

He said, those who walk in truth, those who want to walk with me where I am, you're going to ask me whatever you want and I'll give it to you. Now folks, this is about walking in truth. This is about the church glorifying God in the earth.

And the things we ask for are no longer the things we used to ask for before we knew Christ is our Lord and Savior. Before we knew him, it was all about external things. It was all about things that make us personally happy and comfortable.

But the moment that Christ is at the very center of your heart, the things that you and I begin to ask for are, God, give me love that I may love even those that hate me. Lord Jesus Christ, give me sound thinking.

Give me peace in my spirit in the midst of a confused and confounded society that I may hear your voice and know where it is that you are leading me. We'll ask for our families. We'll say, God, if you can tell an old rotten Philippian jailer through the apostle Paul that if he believed his house would be saved so much more should my house be saved.

We can ask for the Holy Spirit in even greater measure. Jesus said, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

We can ask that signs and wonders begin to flow. Now, I'm not talking about just paranormal supernatural things. I'm talking about a sign and a wonder of you sitting in your right mind among your old friends.

That's a sign and a wonder. Did you know that? No longer bound by drugs. No longer addicted to pornography. No longer groaning and complaining. A sign and a wonder sitting there. People looking and say, how did you change like this?

What course have you taken? What book did you read? What did you do? What kind of a vow or resolve did you make? And yet you'll be able to stand before or sit before your old friends and just say, I didn't resolve to do anything.

I came to Jesus Christ and gave him my whole heart. He gave me his life. He came to dwell inside of me and now I am a new creation. He promised to so change me that people would wonder at the change. And I am the sign that God sent to be wondered at among those that I sit with every day that knew me without God.

Plain Speech and the Cost of Discipleship

And in verse 25 he said, these things I've spoken to you in Proverbs, but the time comes that I'll no more speak to you in Proverbs, but I will show you plainly of the father. In other words, Jesus said, I will speak plainly to those who are willing to be partakers of the life of Christ and the calling that is an inevitable part of this life.

I will speak plainly to you. You want to know why so many people are confused today in the church? You want to know why so many people are running around? Because they want God, but they don't want the life we're walking with Christ will lead us into.

And therefore there's confusion. Therefore the gospel is a parable. Therefore, Christ is some kind or the Holy spirit, some kind of a, an inexplicable mist that kind of descends on people and whispers and peeps and everyone now stands.

Well, I think God is like this. I feel God is like that. There's no plain speech. And that's where we've been for many, for several years now in many circles, no plain speech because the people in these places really just don't want to go where truth leads us to.

Here you find it clearly explained in Luke chapter 14 again, his servant, verse 17 at supper time was sent to them to say, come for all things are now ready. You see, the time has come that you can go into all the world as a witness.

You can preach the gospel to every thing that has been created by the hand of God. You can be given as Christ was given for the lives of other people. Come let's go. And they all with one consent, verse 18 began to make excuse.

And the first said, I bought a piece of ground and I must need to go and see it. I pray they have me excused. And another said, I bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray they have me excused.

And another said, I've married a wife and therefore I cannot come now, folks go back with me. Keep a market there. Go back into Deuteronomy. I want to show you something in the scriptures because what, what these people were doing was really lawful in the old Testament.

Deuteronomy's Exemptions and the Call to Battle

Now I'm going to, you'll, you'll understand what I'm saying here in a minute. Deuteronomy chapter 20, beginning at verse one, when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou be not afraid of them.

For the Lord, that God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be when you are come nigh to the battle, that the priests shall approach and speak unto the people and shall say to them, hear O Israel, you approach this day unto battle against your enemies.

Let not your hearts faint, fear not and do not tremble. Neither be you terrified because of them. For the Lord, your God is he that goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. And the officers shall speak to the people saying, what man is he here that has built a new house and has not dedicated it?

Let him go and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man dedicated. And what man is he that has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him also go and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.

And what man is there that has betrothed the wife and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further to the people and they shall say, what man is there that is fearful and faint hearted?

Let him go and return to his house lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. And it shall be when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

And you see, so it was a lawful thing actually according to the law in Deuteronomy in the Old Testament where before going into battle, the officers would come and they would say, listen, if you've just bought property, a house for example, then go home and dedicate it.

If you've just started a new business, bought a vineyard, this was the man in the gospel of Luke that bought the oxen for example, and you've not yet eaten of the fruit of it, go back and do it and work it.

If you betrothed the wife and you've not taken her, go back and return to your house lest you die in the battle and she become another man's. And if anyone is fearful and faint hearted, they also said, you go home to lest you cause the hearts of those around you to fail.

Lawful Things That Distract From God's Calling

There will always be a portion of the people of God in every generation will say, well, I'm just so occupied with these things. And I realized I'm being called into another battle. I'm being called to give my life for a cause, but I beg you to be excused.

You see, these are lawful things. Remember, Jesus said, as it was in the days of Noah, people will be buying and selling and marrying and giving in marriage. They'll not even know till the day the Lord comes.

And folks, these are lawful things that will so grip many of God's people in this last moment of time. So many will be gripped with the good things of this life as it is lawful things. It's not wrong.

There's nothing sinful about getting married. There's nothing wrong with having a job or property. There's nothing wrong with having a business. But you see, when these things take the hearts of God's people away from the true calling of God in Christ Jesus, when these things begin to preoccupy all of our time, can you imagine the apostle Paul saying, I'd really love to take this journey to be over a witness in Rome and to go to prison and write much of the New Testament.

I'd love to take the journey, but my tent making business is really taking off. And we got orders. We're backlogged. We got five years of work ahead of us. And so I beg you, Lord, would you excuse me?

I'll stay right here in this little town and I'll preach right here. I'll set aside a day. But folks, we're not called to set aside a day for God. We're called to live for God. Yes, we have to do some of these things, but they're not to keep us out of the battle.

That's the issue. And this servant was sent to the people and he said, oh, things are now ready. You're invited to this incredible life of Christ. You're invited to be partakers of the very heart of God that sent Christ to a fallen people, the very heart of God that caused him to go to Calvary when he could have gone to a palace, the very heart of God, where he could have enjoyed the fruits of the world was offered to him.

Satan said, I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world if you'll just do it my way. If you'll just worship the things that I worship, if you'll fall down as so many have fallen down before me and just worship the things of this world and just think the way that I think.

And Jesus said, no, I'm not called to do this. My father has called me to be given as a living sacrifice that others may come back to living relationship with him again. And because of it, he went to Calvary and because he went, you and I are saved.

Sent Into the World as Witnesses

And he says, as the father sent me, now I'm sending you into the world with the express privilege of being given for men and women and children and this and every other generation who are living without God and heading into a Christless eternity.

And not we're not sent to overcome ourselves. We're sent to walk with the one who has overcome. That's the supper he's talking about. That's the victory. That's where our strength comes from. But folks, every once in a while in a church generation, they all begin to make excuse.

It says it just gets to a point where everybody, almost everybody is just saying, no, we are just so engrossed in the things of this world. We're just so enamored. And of course, we have people telling us this is all right.

We have people telling us that this is the way God wants us to live. We have people saying this is the express purpose that Christ went to Calvary so we could be more wealthy, so we could be happier, so we could have a greater self image, so we can realize some incredible destiny that we see ourselves fulfilling every time we look into the mirror.

But just as it was in Noah's day, there's a people so preoccupied with even legitimate and lawful things that they're completely unaware of the hour they're living in. And I fear for this generation. I don't think people really understand.

I think people are fearful, but they don't know there's so many who don't know. And because they don't know, they're going to turn to a myriad of voices that are going to be purporting to speak for God.

But folks, there's one voice that speaks for God. Listen to me now. That's the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart. If I stand in this pulpit and I speak, I'm only standing that you can bear witness to what God is already speaking to your heart.

You should know what God is speaking when you come in here on Sunday morning or Tuesday or whatever night of the week. You should know you should be in that prayer closet. Your life should be abandoned to the purposes of God.

You should be opening this book and saying, Oh God, feed me from this life of Christ that is mine. Make it a reality. Holy Spirit guide me through my day. Thank you Lord for a job. Thank you for food in my cupboard.

Thank you for an apartment to live in. Thank you for these things. But Oh God, now I've got to focus on those who don't know you in the workplace, in my neighborhood, in my apartment building, in my family.

God, there are people who don't know you. This is the focus of my life. Give me what I need God to get in to these places that they've locked themselves behind. If they put a door up, God, make me thin enough to slide underneath it.

God Almighty, bring your truth and your life into these places Lord that these dungeons may be unlocked and these people may come to freedom in Christ Jesus. So many are completely unaware of the calling that God has set upon them in the actual work which they should be giving their hearts to.

And this is the dilemma. They began to make excuse one after another. God forbid that you should excuse yourself from the calling of God in Christ Jesus. God forbid that you get to heaven one day. Should you get there, stand before the throne and for the first time in your life, hear what you were called to be on the earth.

Because God was constantly there trying to speak, but all you were doing was saying, please excuse me, please excuse me, I'm not a good speaker, please excuse me, I don't really like people very much, please excuse me, please excuse me.

Somebody else Lord, the neighbor down the hall, there's a Christian over there, he's always quoting scripture, use him. That's exactly what Moses told God. God said to Moses, who made your eyes? Who made your mouth?

Who are you telling that I can't use you in the measure that I choose to use you? Are you trying to tell me that I can't bring you to a supper table where a great victory has been won and I can't change you?

But isn't that supposed to be what it's about? Isn't it supposed to be about God doing in us what we could never do for ourselves? You and I need to be in this book. You and I need to be in the prayer closet.

You and I need to ask God for a believing heart. If you can't ask him for anything else today, ask him for a heart of faith. God help me to see who you are in me. Help me to see Lord what you've called me to be, what you've called me to do.

And God Almighty help me never to say no. Help me never to pursue lawful things to the exclusion of what you've called me to do in the earth. Praise God. In verse 21, it says, So that servant came and showed his Lord these things.