When Jesus Comes Unannounced — Hans R. Waldvogel

Bhikkhu-samandhu-gurukayam daya vasu-kula-namandheda. Vekanamandhaya bakal-namandhaya vasyam-namandhika-namandhaya. Dasu-kula-namandheda dishaya-namandhu. Dikana-namandhika-namandhaya. Vaso-lekana-namandhika-namandhaya.

Vekanamandhu-gurukayam daya vasyam-namandhaya. Dikana-namandhaya vasu-kula-namandhika. Dikana-namandhaya vasyam-namandhaya. Vaso-lekana-namandhaya. Vaso-lekana-namandhaya. Naktita-sor vasyam-namandhika-namandhaya.

Redeeming the Time Before Eternity

Vekanamandhika-namandhaya. Time passes so swiftly. It's enough to scare a person. Your life ebbs away so fast that it ought to wake you up and make you question yourself and say, My Lord, where am I going?

There is no going back and there is no holding up of the time. Everything is moving at a tremendous pace and every one of us in this meeting and everyone around about you is headed for an eternal destiny and it ought to wake you up and it ought to scare you a little bit unless you have learned that one grand lesson of redeeming the time or rather letting me control your life.

If it is myself that has been able to take hold of your heart and your thoughts and your actions of your body and making a temple of the Holy Ghost, then you don't need to be scared. Then you ought to be rejoicing very greatly.

For he that soweth unto the Spirit shall reap of the Spirit life everlasting. And those who have learned to take me into their lives, into their daily lives will find that one day what the Lord is as a thousand and is exceedingly valuable.

And every moment of your life you'll find again in eternity as a grand asset if you have learned to place yourself at my disposal and to take me moment by moment. And my offer tonight is the same. If you have wasted your time and if you have to look back with remorse, let me remind you of the fact that I'm able to restore the years which the canker worm hath eaten and I'm able to bring victory out of defeat.

All I ask of you is that you come with your defeat and your loss and your lost time and come to me just as you are and say, Jesus, from henceforth it shall not be myself anymore to determine my actions or my time or my life or my thoughts in this world, but it shall be you and I'll take over and everything will be well.

Meeting Jesus in the Holy Ghost

To me a meeting is a very valuable meeting because I realize that as I place myself into the hand of Jesus, he works by the power of the Holy Ghost and he works wonders. He really does exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask or think.

I found out that when I come to meet with Jesus in meeting with real earnest desire, he turns sometimes the whole meeting in my direction. He just sort of fixes up the meeting for me, for my need. He's done that many times and I don't mean maybe.

It has been an exceedingly valuable fact that Jesus Christ is infinitely more interested in us than we are in him and how deeply is he interested in filling us with the Holy Ghost and making us ready for that great day when we shall meet him and see him face to face.

And so we're very wise if we come to meeting to meet with Jesus and then make use of all the blessings he bestowed upon us. From the very beginning of my experience in Pentecost, I wanted to know what Jesus was going to do for me and when he poured out his glory, I wanted all the glory that he was able to put in.

I just took off the cork and I said, Now Lord, sweep right in. And when praise was given, I praised the Lord. I used to praise God until I was hoarse. And you know, I didn't lose anything, but I gained a great deal by that.

Praise, Fellowship, and the Presence of Christ

I know the people who do not praise the Lord, they gain a lot too. They gain flesh. If you like flesh, you will gain flesh. You will gain bondage. You will gain blindness and deafness of soul. But when you take him as he offers himself to you, something happens to you.

God comes in. I know that everybody cannot speak in tongues or interpret tongues or prophesy, and that is not necessary. I believe though that many more would have these gifts of the Holy Ghost operated within them if they were willing to do the things that seem to be little.

If they were willing to say, Hallelujah to God. You never said, Hallelujah, but you become sweeter. Say it once and you look sweeter right away. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. There you are.

Now you can have your picture taken. But not only that, it is, It's an association with Jesus Christ. It's praising him. It's glorifying him. It's recognizing his presence. It's telling him that you're happy that he is here.

You're so glad to meet the Lord. And you're so glad that he's come to meet with you. And just to put up your hands like this. Do you ever do that? And fail to get a blessing? I don't think so. Praise the Lord.

The woman said she couldn't lift her hands. She said, How do you hang up the wash? What a silly excuse. Praise the Lord. But I never put up my hands, but a blessing comes down. Why you know we're here for fellowship with Jesus.

As John says,. And truly our fellowship. We call this the Ridgewood Pentecostal fellowship. But that's a very poor misnomer. Our fellowship is with God the Father. And with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thank God. And the Father's here. And the Son of God is here. And our fellowship with him ought to mean a great deal to us. We ought to meet God with great joy. And when we do that, he meets with us. And I think the simplicity that Jesus Christ calls for is so very sweet.

He doesn't ask you to make an eloquent sermon or to put on a show. But he asks you to let his praise be continually in your mouth. What have you got in your mouth tonight? I'm so glad that here we don't see people chew gum.

At least when I'm around. Sometimes they'll be chewing and as soon as I look at them, then they're spiritual. Liars. No, we don't do that. We've got something else to do with our mouths. Praise God. We praise the Lord.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth. What is continually in your mouth? When his praise is continually in your mouth, it means that continually you're in touch with Jesus. Continually. How simple is the way.

Praise the Lord. After all, it is so simple today to turn on your toaster. Plug it in. Or your wash machine. Plug it in. Praise God. And since Christ has come, all you have to do is plug yourself in and God manifests himself.

But how we ought to be glad for a meeting where we can give our time to Jesus. And the Lord has said it's a great sin not to keep yourself in touch with Jesus during a meeting. Two hours in a meeting is really a very short time to load up for a week.

You need more than that. And you ought to come up and load up. They've got a slogan in Germany now. Tu den Tiger in den Tank rein. Put the tiger in the tank. That's become the slogan everywhere in Germany.

And they've got this tiger, you know, picture of it. Now you put something else in your tank. Put the glory of God in your tank. Thank God. And you'll be going all week. I will praise him. Now and then.

But mercy higher than the heavens. Glory like a mighty stream. All you need to do is to really open your heart in faith and in simple trust and receive it. You don't need anyone else. How very wonderful that you don't need the Archangel Michael or Sebastian or Thomas or somebody like that.

But Jesus offers himself. That really truly is wonderful. As I said a while ago, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And God has to wake us up and awaken in our hearts the consciousness of it.

And that's what he does when we wait upon him and give him a chance by the Spirit. Thank God. And he brings us into Jesus Christ himself. I was telling this morning, I came to the airport in Frankfurt and the loudspeaker was demanding the captain.

They said, we can't, we're all ready to fly and the captain's missing. Well, the captain was looking for me. That was the difference. He knew I was coming and so he's looking for me and he put me in his private car and the loudspeaker was bellowing and barking there for him to come, but he couldn't come without me.

And Jesus can't move without me, without you. He can't. He said, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also. Just think, when I came up there, he put me in first class.

He said, now the plane's yours. Sit down, choose your seat, which I did. Then the stewardess came around. I was telling this morning, how she looked daggers at me. I wasn't on her list, you know. As if she'd say, hey, what are you doing here?

You belong in the doghouse over there. Come on. This is first class. But what a change came over her when the captain came in and sat alongside of me and had his picture taken with me and then entered a conversation.

That girl changed. You should have seen her. Why she became so serviceable. She came around with liquor first. She wanted to serve me some martini or whatever they call that business. And then one thing after another and I said, where shall I put it all?

She brought me meals and she brought me and hardly eaten my meal when she brought another meal. Nothing doing. I can't digest all that. But that made the difference. My fellowship with the chief captain and that's what makes all the difference in the world.

Our fellowship with God, our abiding in him, our being associated with Jesus Christ himself. He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands lest.

What does it say there? Lest thou dash thy foot against the stone. But here's a scripture text I would like to just quickly quote. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs. What a picture come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God almighty. Behold I come as a thief.

Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Let's talk to Jesus a moment. Jo cabaja parabiam batae palamo monzardo perribalaco bojoco keleva bambini fandai pungunjare rabiello bongasanae kalamam bambini galon dombele yarambardono bologobo gerraba I walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks and I know your works and I see the deep need of your souls and I come to satisfy every need of yours.

Prayer for Spiritual Quickening and Restoration

If you apply yourself to me in faith I will stretch forth my hand even this night in this meeting and grant you some blessing that I see you need some change some quickening of your soul and spirit that will make you a better Christian and a better follower.

Dear Lord we're so thankful so thankful for the Bible. Oh we're so thankful my God for thy grace which is so all sufficient all sufficient. Oh God we're so glad that you haven't left us alone but you've come to us unworthy though we be.

Lord Jesus we're so glad that you're not ashamed to call us brethren and so we apply our hearts to you tonight. Oh God we fly into your arms we pray that you'll take the scripture and write it upon our hearts.

Oh Jesus Lord Jesus do it. We have a number of Bible translations I'm thinking of one now that tells when it comes to this verse behold I come as a thief it tells you that that doesn't belong there. I don't like these newfangled Bible translations I like the solid King James version and Martin Luther's version because they were given somehow through the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost and some of these newfangled interpreters are just looking for money.

And they spoil it. In Germany, I've been enjoying soup. Soupy, soupy, soupy. And I tell you, it's good soup. They know how to... Germans never serve you a meal without soup. That's the opening blessing.

And I like a good bowl of good soup. My, they know how to spice it just right, you know, just enough garlic and salt. And I don't know all they put into it, but it certainly tastes good. Now you're hungry, really hungry, and somebody sets before you a bowl of good soup.

It's wonderful soup. And then some enemy comes and throws a dead rat into it. Now you lose your appetite. The soup is all right, but you lost your appetite. I lose my appetite for these newfangled interpretations because they spoil it.

They put a dead rat into it. I need the Bible that God writes. I need the Word of God that's given by inspiration of God. And the reason we don't understand it better, there's only one way to study the Bible.

It isn't studying it intellectually. There is a way. Abba, take our Bible of eating. Thy words were found and I did eat them. Then you get the substance of it. When you eat the soup, you get the substance of it.

When I was a little boy, we had one boy in our class who was taller than all the rest. And he kidded me one day. He said, Boy, are you small? I said, How can I help it? Well, he said, Eat more soup. And if you want to grow spiritually, here is something.

Christ as the Bread of Life

It isn't soup, but it's bread that comes down from heaven. Oh my God, the Pharisees who were certainly Bible students like nobody else. They said, What must we do to please God? Jesus Christ says, This is what you do.

Believe on him whom he has sent. Eat the bread that God my Father will give you. And they said, Oh God, give us that bread. He said, I am that bread of life. And beloved, the only way to study the Bible successfully and fruitfully is to live it.

That's the reason we have so much false Bible teaching today. Somebody came to me and brought me a book by one of the famous radio evangelists. God helped him. And it was a book against Pentecost. If you, if I mention his name, you'd say, Oh, I listen to him every day.

All right, you're welcome to it. And they said, What do you think of this book? Telling all the false of Pentecost. I said, That man teaches words which man's wisdom teach. And they're dead, not only dead, but they're death dealing.

Beloved, the gospel can only be preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. And that's the only way it can be received. And that's the only way the Bible can be understood. And if you want to understand what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God and who doesn't, we need it in these days.

Oh, how we need the wisdom that comes down from above. How we need that bread that a man may eat it up and not die. Oh, the sin that man commits against this wonderful gift of God, the Bible, the New Testament, that would make a man perfect unto every good work.

Would work in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight. And we are satisfied to read it and satisfied to memorize it perhaps, but until our hearts hunger and thirst after righteousness, we're not going to get it.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. And again, God quoting and speaking about the Pharisees and scribes. Wouldn't you like to be a Pharisee? Little John, uh, Edwin and I sat at the table in Switzerland last week, Friday or Thursday, and there were four priests at a different table.

And he said, why do they do this? He didn't know. I said, well, you know, they've got to do something to look religious. He said, watch them now. They wear black robes and they turn their heads like this.

You've got to do something. Wouldn't you like to be a Pharisee? Wouldn't you like to make long prayers? Wouldn't you like to make people, impress people with your knowledge of the Bible? Oh, how many do that?

Obedience Beyond Religious Appearance

And beloved, we fool ourselves. And Jesus Christ says, verily I say unto you, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

My, that's the sentence of Almighty God, upon my poor effort, upon my poor life. And then he tells us how to get into the kingdom of heaven. He says, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, or we all hear them, and doeth them not, shall be like unto a man that built his house upon the sand.

And how many do that? And nice houses, split-level houses. My, they're beautiful architecture, marvelously built, everything built to your specification. And you've got the finest furniture in there.

And then you put on a coat of paint. It's got to be just so. And outwardly everything very beautiful, but built on sand. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not. And great was the fall thereof.

And you don't have to go very far to find houses that were built like that. They were built on sand. They looked very beautiful. They were beautifully appointed, beautifully painted. And men are not a bit slow to advertise the beauty of it.

They like people to know how spiritual they are. They put a very special tone into their testimonies and into their prayers. They like to tell the Lord how he made heaven and earth and all the things that are therein.

And they like to hang up the whole family wash when they pray. But beloved, it's a very different thing when you do these things. And here Jesus Christ says a word that we need to take to heart. He talks about a war.

The Battle Against the World and the Flesh

And of course, men have written books about the Battle of Armageddon. Don't go to Jehovah's Witnesses to find out what it means. It doesn't mean that at all. He's talking about frogs. We don't like frogs, do you?

They come out of the mouth of the beast. And we know what they are. Oh, these frogs that are today croaking everywhere. What to God they croak their last croak. But they come, and they come for a very purpose.

They come to gather the kings. That means humanity. They are the kings. God says he are gods. Not descended monkeys, but fallen gods. That's what humanity is made out of. And here the devil has spewed out these frogs in order to, what?

To gather them to the great battle of Almighty God. To gather all the enmity against God into one grand thrust. The devil knows that his time is short. And that's why he brings all these powers to work against God.

And he gathers all the kings. And who are these kings? They're the great men, and the small men, and the smart men, and the men, and the women of this world that are at enmity with God. And all flesh is at enmity with God.

Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh, and is enmity toward God, and cannot please God. It is impossible for flesh to please God, no matter what a coat of paint you put on it. And that's the battle we're up against.

And that's the battle God is up against. And that's the battle that Jesus Christ is talking about. And now he talks about those who have been saved. Those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord. He talks about those who have received the garment.

Oh, this garment the Bible talks about. His wife hath made herself ready, and unto her was given a garment. Why? Whiter than the snow. Where are they? Where are the people that keep their garment unspotted from the world?

Where are they? They're the friends of Jesus, not the enemies of Jesus. And beloved, that's where the great battle is being fought today. It's fought in the hearts of God's people. Create in me a clean heart, oh God.

Did you ever pray through in that prayer? God has offered in his new covenant to give me a new heart, a clean heart. Erazai gambo yilvajah galamazah. What good is a pretty face? Oh, how men work today, and women too, and women especially, to have pretty faces.

I don't blame them. They need it. I tell you, a woman who is not saved is an animal. And she can paint herself all she wants. They need it. We need it. We need to paint ourselves. We need to make ourselves pretty.

Because we're not pretty. Because we're abominable in the sight of God. And what a blessing when God can show me myself as I look in his sight, and make me say, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

And then he points me to one. Not to Mao Zedong, and not to Stalin, and not to Tito, and not to Roosevelt, but to Jesus, the crucified. Oh, the beauty of the crucified Son of God. Oh, the beauty of that head, now wounded, now crowned with thorns.

That head, that full of blood, and full of shame. How beautiful is that young man, Jesus Christ, stretched upon the cross, and dying between two thieves, for you and for me. Oh, thank God. How I need the cross of Christ.

How I need the crucified. How I need that blood of Jesus Christ. How I need the power of the blood, and the power of the resurrected Son of God. And God offers me this great salvation. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Keeping the Garment Unspotted While the World Falls

Now he says here, right at this place, when the devil gathers all his forces. And wherever you go in the world today, people recognize that that's happening today. Wherever you go, whoever you talk to, they say, oh, it's never been like this.

Yesterday, a man talked to me on the phone. He said, boy, we certainly have been sliding awfully fast in this country. We have been. And not only the wicked, not only sinners, but our Supreme Court, and our highest officials are tainted, and are in the service of the devil, to destroy the United States.

And the very church men of this nation have been guilty of it, instead of preaching the truth. Thank God for those that do preach the truth. Thank God. I found in India, a group of Christians that gather every week for a night of prayer for Billy Graham.

I said, thank God. Oh, how we ought to pray for the preachers of the gospel in this land, and the preaching of the gospel. How we ought to pray that God might send his two-edged sword, and unsheathed, and send conviction into the ranks of God's people.

Beloved, the great trouble in the world today is not to be laid at the feet of the communists, but it's the church of Jesus Christ that has failed God. What a power the church could have been. What a mighty power.

I read today a little article about Hiroshima, and how with one bang, 200 ,000 people were killed, and 170 ,000 were maimed for life. And who did it? This blessed country of ours, this land of the free, and this home of the.

We sent those bombs over there. We brought that torture upon, and we changed the whole history of the whole world by unleashing that horrible, hellish weapon. The world has never been the same since. And I remembered how that 50 or 60 years ago, a missionary from Japan wrote to the United States, to the President of the United States, and said, please, send all the missionaries to Japan that you can.

If you don't send missionaries, now the day will come when you'll have to send bombs. They didn't pay any attention to that warning, no. And the devil is behind all this business, and gathering his forces, and you can't stop him.

You can't stop him, but one thing you can do, and that is to keep your garment unspotted. Blessed is he. Behold, I come as a thief. That means unannounced, unnoticed by the great world. They'll go on with their battles.

They'll go on with their pornography, and with their sin, and with their defilements, and the church will go on with their polemics, and with their theology, and with their conventions, and all that. And somewhere, Jesus Christ will find a single soul that keeps their garment unspotted.

Somewhere he'll keep a heart that is bent on pleasing him, on keeping their garment. Blessed is he that keepeth his garment. Blessed are you. And isn't it wonderful that, oh my Lord and my God, that among all this wickedness in the world, I don't have to join.

I don't have to be defiled. I don't have to. Men have to, because they don't have God. They have to. Women have to. What have we gotten into since the last war? Before the war, a woman would have been ashamed to found, be found smoking in public.

I remember that time. Today, they have no shame. They don't have any shame. They have to serve the devil. And that's the least of all. It's the secret sins. It's the defilement of the soul, and of the mind, and of the heart, and of the body, that has been given up to a reprobate mind to defile their bodies.

It's the defilement in married life, and in single lives too, that defile and curse, and drag men and women down to hell. And you don't have to join. Isn't that wonderful? You don't have to be defiled.

Abiding in Christ and Awaiting His Return

Jesus Christ will keep his own. He says, I come as a thief. I come again to receive you unto myself, that where I am, ye may be also father. I will that day whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold the glory which was mine before the foundation of the world.

Father, that they all may be one, even as thou art in me, and I in thee, that there may be one in us, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved them, even as thou hast loved me.

Here's a wonderful word, and it belongs exactly where God put it. Right in the midst of this declaration of this great battle, where all the forces of hell are arrayed against God, and against his little flock.

Jesus is here. Jesus Christ is near you. He's within you. He loves you. He has purchased you with his own blood. There's one thing that is more precious to him than all the worlds. He says, all the worlds shall perish and shall pass away, but he that doeth the will of God shall abide for him.

Oh, rabba gaila bongili bajo, how interesting my life becomes now. Just one thought, Jesus, you. Just one cry in my soul, you Jesus. Just one. Oh, to please you, and to please you, because I'm always in your presence.

You are always with me. You've beset me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. There's not a word in my tongue but lo, oh Lord, thou knowest it all together. Listen. That makes for a very careful walk with God.

To practice the presence of Jesus, and to watch like a bride watches the desire of her bridegroom. But here's a bridegroom that's brighter than all the brightness of eternity. Jesus. Jesus, and he's made himself real to us.

He has come to us. Thank God we have felt his touch. We have tasted the powers of the world to come, and the reason we don't appreciate it more is because we haven't yet lived close enough to Jesus, but he's calling us.

And how wonderful, he says here, blessed is he that keepeth his garment, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Oh, the day is coming. The day is at hand, when that decision will fall, and I will find out.

Oh dear Lord, but the day is now. The day is now when Jesus Christ bleeds with you and with me. And you know what he means. You know what it means to have a garment that is clean. Oh, whiter than the snow.

How precious the blood of Jesus Christ that washes us, really cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and then the Spirit of God given to preserve us spotless unto the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Walking in the Light and Obeying the Word

Oh, now I know what he means when he says, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, here is the light. And this wonderful light, and as I walk in the light, as I walk in obedience to his word, it becomes alive.

And that's the only way we can really be Bible students, and understand the will of God, and know what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It controls everything about me, my thoughts.

Let this mind be in you. Listen, has God been able to do that for you? What is your mind like? Your thoughts, your dreams, your imagination, what is it like? Oh, Jesus Christ wants possession of it, and he will take possession.

The peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus. Those things are not in the Bible for the fun of it. Why, this is our inheritance. That's why Paul says, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance.

This is the testament. This is our inheritance. This is God's will. Hallelujah. And it's addressed to you and to me. And today, to keep my garment, that's my job. Never mind what others do. Never mind what you do.

But my job is to keep my garment. And how do I do that? Well, the Bible is a wonderful book. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock.

There's the rock foundation, that Sermon on the Mount. I'm so glad that God gave us that sermon in a nutshell. So short, and yet so rich, so exceedingly wealthy. The unsearchable riches of Christ are put into that Sermon on the Mount, and whosoever doeth them, now I got a job on my hands.

But it's really surprising, and it is catastrophic, how little attention we pay to his words. His words. Father, I've given them the words thou gavest me, and they have received them. And they have kept them.

Young man, what an opportunity is yours to become soldiers of Jesus Christ. I know Uncle Sam will call you perhaps, and you'll have to go. You don't have to go when Jesus calls you, but you can. Oh, to follow Jesus in these days, to be his, and to think that he comes as a...

Listen, he's coming. Honest to goodness, he's coming. And he's coming as a thief in the night that many will not know when he comes. But I want to know.