Its Later Then You Think — David Wilkerson

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, TX 75771 or calling 214 -963 -8626.

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The Three Divisions of Time

First Peter, please, the fourth chapter. First Peter, the fourth chapter. And then just leave it open on your lap and then give me a good eye on your good ear. If you'll just look this way then. The apostles divided time into three categories.

Listen closely because you have to catch this to understand where I'm going tonight. The apostles divided time, especially Peter, into three categories. Time past, the time of our soul journey, and the time of departure.

Three areas. The time in the past that you wasted. The present time that you have left to serve the Lord and your time of departure. Without any fanfare, I want to get right into these three categories and talk to you about the time.

And what you're doing with it. And I'm sure that there are many here tonight that have been praying, God use me. I want my life to count. And that's where I'm going with this message tonight, the Lord willing.

The Wasted Time of the Past

First Peter, the fourth chapter, verses three to five. First Peter four, verse three. For the time past. The time past. Now that's the first category the apostles dealt with. You'll find it also in the writings of Paul.

We're very strongly here in the writings of the apostle Peter. He said, for in the time past. You see that? In the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. When we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excessive robberies, darkenings, and abominable idolatries.

Wherein they think it strange that you went not with them to the same excessive riot, speaking evil of you. Who said, give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. Straight out.

Look at me please. Straight out. Peter said, and he's speaking to the children of God. He said, you wasted your past. In time past, you gave yourself to the Gentile lust. You had a lust that was running rampant.

He said, you wasted your life. You wasted everything. You didn't give anything to God. You were self-centered. Now does that strike a chord with some of you here today? You wasted your past. You have a time.

It's past time. It's that period of your life. You look back now and you've lost and you say, how could I have been so blind? How could I have been so stupid? The things that I did. The things that I said.

The grief and the hurt that I caused people. I'll tell you what, folks. Do you ever have embarrassing moments that you like to forget? I've got some moments that are so embarrassing. I'm not talking about outright sin.

I'm just some dumb, stupid things that I've done. I'm glad it's all in the past. But there are some of you sitting here right now. You have wasted, absolutely wasted a whole segment of your life. It could be that you loved the Lord when you were a child.

But some way, there was a whole segment of time cut out that you absolutely flitted away. You just absolutely gave it up. Now, forgiveness is no problem. Paul said, in time past, and this is Paul speaking of the same category of time.

In times past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the principle of power of the earth. The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And he said, if you want to see how you were and the way you wasted your time, take a look at the people you work with.

Take a look at the people out around you. Just go out in the street there and look at the people. Look at the greed. Look at the cursing. Look at the self-centeredness. Look at the people around you.

And the very same spirit that's working in them, the Bible said, was once working in you. That was the way you were. You don't like the way some people around you act. You know it's the devil working in them.

They're ruled, controlled by the devil. So are you. I mean, you want to see what you're like, just look around you. Especially on the job. Look at those that you don't like. By the way, you were just like that.

You were devil-driven and head down, ruled and directed by evil spirits. And that's why you did what you did. You did it because you were full of the devil. And you wasted it because the devil's a waster, especially in time.

But thank God he sent his son to deliver us from all past sins. I'll read it to you. He came to be a propitiation for the remission of the sins that are past through the forbearance of God. Now, beloved, that's the miracle of grace.

That God doesn't hold your past against you. Oh, I'm so glad he doesn't hold my past against me. There are times that you come to this church and you try to sing and praise the Lord. And the devil tries to bring up something of your past.

And he'll parade it right in front of your eyes. And he'll try to condemn you out of your blessing. He'll try to condemn you out of your praises. But my Bible says that when God forgives, he truly forgets.

And he buries it where past is forgotten and forgiven. The only one who doesn't forgive your past are your friends. Now, if they're not walking with God, I presume you know and understand what I'm talking about.

See, your past cannot be used against you because all of those past deeds were written down. The word applied to blood. And those words or those accusations against you can't bleed through the blood. They don't come through the blood.

The blood, absolutely. If you have repented of your past, it's gone. And folks, there's no use going back and crying over the past. There are some times I think I can crumble when I think of the wasted time.

There are times that I have literally crumbled before God, thinking of the stupid things, the wasteful things, the sinful things way back. And I've often said, well, where could I be today in you if I had applied myself?

If I had really given you quality time, if I hadn't wasted it, where would I be? Some of you that are on drugs and alcohol, you wasted it. And I'll tell you what, you've never smoked, you've never drank, you've never done any of these things.

You wasted it just as bad. You sat for ten years and not said I love Lucy and anything else when you should have been there. You sat there for hours. Thirty-five hours a week now our kids are spending watching television.

And that's not my message. But that's not my main point. I want to get to my main point. There's another category of time, and you'll find it in the fourth chapter again, 1 Peter, the fourth chapter. I'm going to read the first two verses.

And I wonder if you can pick up. When I read it, it was a thunderclap. It was like a flaming sword that just went through my spirit. And I've not been able to shake it off. This segment of time that we progress through now, it's found in these first two verses.

For as much then as Christ had suffered rest in the flesh on the cells, and staking himself likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lust of men, but to the will of God.

How many see it? The rest of his time in the flesh. Oh, it hit me. What are you going to do, the Spirit said to my heart? What are your plans for the rest of the time of your life in the flesh? And that's the question I want the Holy Spirit to pierce you with now, to serve the right to your heart.

Forget the past. In fact, the apostle says, suffice, it was sufficient. And I think the New American Standard brings it up even a little bit better. In other words, you wasted enough time. It was sufficient that you got wasted in lasciviousness and excess.

You lived in excess. You had enough wasting of your time. Now that you're a child of God. Now that you're a child of God, what are you going to do with the rest of your time? What are you going to do?

Are you still going to be a waste of your time? I looked at that. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for lust of men but to the will of God. Peter said the time past was sufficient for you to have carried out your Gentile desires.

In other words, you should have had that out of your system. You should have seen the penalty of wasting time. You should not have to live with regrets anymore. You've had enough regrets. Why waste it now in this present time?

In fact, the rest of your life, this segment of time, they're called the time of your sojourner or our sojourner. The time of our traveling on with the Lord. That was the time in the wilderness when we became a man.

And that's the picture of our very present state where we're at right now. The scripture says, in fact it's in verse 5, He said, give an account to him who's ready to judge the living and the dead. You see, the scripture says, look, there's a key.

I don't know if you saw it or not. I asked you to listen very closely to verse 1 and 2. And here's the key. Arm yourself likewise. Peter gave two options to the Christian, only two options. He said, your present time, the time that you have left on this earth in the flesh, you have two options.

You can live for yourself, to the will of self, or to the will of God. You've got to live it one way or the other. You can't have it both ways. You're either going to be self-centered, or you're going to give yourself wholly to the Lord.

Or you're going to look at the time that's left to you. Or you're going to say, I give it all. Now that's hard to talk, that's hard to administer to young people, that truth. Because most young people think they're invincible.

They think they're immortal. You try to tell a 21-year-old kid that he's got to be serious about this present time that he has left on earth. He'll have that forever. Then you're dead because you can walk right out that door, and time will be no more.

It can come at any moment. So I think we should all consider it as the Holy Spirit is laying it out to us tonight. Arm yourself. Beloved, that's a military call. That's a call to arms. That's a call to warfare.

God’s Eternal Purpose in Christ

I want to make a statement, and it's the foundation of what I'm trying to convey in the Spirit tonight. And listen closely, because I know it can help us. God has an eternal purpose for every one of us in this place tonight.

And that eternal purpose centers on Jesus Christ. He's got a plan and a purpose for every single one of us. I know most people are crying and praying and saying, God, I want my time to count. There are multitudes of Christians that are getting really...

They go to the job, but it's so Monday, and they're sitting Monday in the job, and they're weary, they're tired, and they say, is this how it is today? Am I going to live from paycheck to paycheck? Am I just going to sit here week after week and month after month, year after year, looking at a pile of bills that can hardly pay?

And the housewife looks around her at the children crying and the needs that can't be met, and so many problems pressing in. Is this how it is tonight? And that's why now there are more wives leaving husbands than husbands leaving wives.

They're just fleeing. They're just walking away from their responsibilities. But even in the church, there are many people saying, look, I'm not amounting to anything. My life is not really... God gives me the chance.

Worship, praise the Lord, but I'm not doing anything. I'm really not accomplishing anything with my life. But you know, there's a need in all of us to count. There's a need in all of us to get our hands on some vehicle, some cause, or some purpose to give us meaning to our life.

And I know that the Holy Spirit's put this in their heart to deal with it tonight. I want you to listen very, very closely. Hang on to what the Holy Spirit's saying. Because some of you right now could make the worst mistake in your life.

Because we have right now not hundreds, but hundreds of thousands of Christian vagabonds. They have decided that they didn't want to have an 8 to 4 or a 9 to 5 job anymore. They didn't want those responsibilities.

It got so boring. It got so useless. It looked like there was no hope. So they said, let's just pack it all in. They sold everything. They got into their Volkswagen. They got into their van. And they took off their, don't trust the Lord.

And they're living as vultures from the body of Jesus Christ. Some of them have been called. There's no question about that. And I'm not putting that down. But there are many, many who think if I can just get my hand on some ministry, if I can just get a hold of a cause, I've had young ministers look me right in the eye and say, that's easy for you to say, David, you've been a part of a cause.

You've been a part of something. God has used you to help create something. You've been all wrapped up in some big cause. I'm going to give you a few confessions tonight to knock that out of you. When I'm finished, you'll see that that's not it.

By the way, I want you to know that all the causes have been taken. All the causes have been taken. There are not enough causes to go around. The walls have been taken. The minks have been taken. We'll save the minks.

They'll run all around New York. We'll have a spray tan, spray them right in. Or a red paint on women's fur coats. And say, spray them, spray them, spray them. Spray them, spray them, spray them. Endangered species, rainforest, greenhouse effect, ozone, air pollution, polar bears.

Save the polar bears. I mean, they've got causes for lungs and heart disease, for everything. They're up for diseases. And that's why we have so many Hollywood people in all these cars. Why are they doing it?

Because their life has no meaning. They're looking for some meaning. They're looking for some vehicle to satisfy this craving inside. I've got to get a hold of something so that when I die, there's a purpose for not having been born.

I don't want to just be a blob. I don't want to just have a period. And what is the purpose? Because money doesn't satisfy. I'll tell you one thing. The most dissatisfying, the most morbid time in my life was after I had written two or three books.

This has been a good 15 years ago. Written a number of books. And royalties were coming in. And I appropriated those royalties. It was legal. And I wound up with a house with a swimming pool. I wound up with a couple of old Mercedes automobiles collecting cars and going to these things.

And I was wasting time. And I loved it. I was still preaching. Preaching to thousands. But you see, I was starting to go off in this direction. And I'll tell you, that's the most despairing thing. If you think money's the answer to your problem, if you think a big house and a swimming pool is the answer, you just talk to those who've had it and got sick of it.

It is not the answer. It's the most discouraging, it's the most debilitating thing there is. Spending money only makes you sick. Unless you spend it rightfully bad. But you see, we get the idea we get a causal project.

And I'll tell you what, no matter how worthy that causal project may be, it won't bring you satisfaction in itself. Multitudes right now are walking away from some of the most worthy causes on the face of the earth.

And they're leaving the damn doubt, disillusioned, despairing, hurting. They thought, if I can only get into this. I've had so many say, if I can only be a part of the ministry, if I can only... I'd like to be like you fellas.

You boys, I'd like to be a part of that. Sometimes get their hand on it, because there's driving me inside. And yet I can tell you now, that literally thousands have found no satisfaction whatsoever. Because they're burned out, disillusioned.

They thought that that was the answer, that would satisfy this enemy, but it was not satisfied. But there is an answer, beloved. And I believe it's the only way to find true satisfaction and peace with the Lord.

I've been praying, Lord, this year help us as pastors to bring a congregational remnant into the image of Jesus. We want to stand before the judgment seat on that day and present a body for New York City and this metropolitan area.

And we would like to be able to march, not in front of you, but maybe behind you. And say, Lord, you're the true shepherd, look what we've brought. We gave them as much Jesus as we could. We ministered Christ.

And we bring to you, Lord, your sheep. We were faithful to the best of our ability and the knowledge and the knowledge that you gave us to bring a people into the firmness of Jesus. But you see, there's an answer to this.

And I'm telling you now, you don't have to go to China to find that satisfaction. You don't have to be a missionary to Cuba. You don't have to go to South America. You don't have to go to any other city.

You don't have to move out of your seat. Keep all the idea that missionary books are off. I can only do that. That will do it. Beloved, the mission field is crowded with missionaries that are disillusioned.

Because they never really did have that burning call. They were not to satisfy need in themselves. Here is the answer as far as I'm concerned. You find out what God's original purpose in creating us was all about.

You find out that eternal purpose and then you embrace it and you go with that eternal purpose in mind. You live it. You breathe it. God, why did you create me? Why am I on this earth? And nothing else matters.

I want to know why I'm here. I want to know the whole thing. There comes a time that question has to be asked. Now, he's talking to the people. Peter's been talking to people. If you aren't separated, there comes a time.

Why did you save me? What do you really want out of me? Can I reach a place where I know my time has been well spent? What can you do in me, affirm me? And what can you give me in that revelation that I know that I can stand before you on the judgment day?

And I stand before you and I won't have to hang my head in shame. I know that I have redeemed the time. That I've used it properly to your glory. In first place, don't look for a vehicle. Don't look for a ministry.

Don't look for a cause. We're looking to him. It's a person. It's a person. God's eternal purpose is a person. And it was Jesus. It's always been Jesus. God's eternal purpose is very simple. He created us for his own son.

He was looking for a bride for his son. The scripture makes it very clear. By him were all things. Speaking of Jesus. By him, all things were created that are in heaven and on earth. And all things were created by him and for him.

All things. You and I were created for what? I've heard people say that it's been proof even in this paper from Justin. It's partly true. That we've been born to praise God. But that is only, that's not the purpose.

That leads us into the purpose of God. That's only a part of the purpose. We praise him for what reason? He's preparing us as a bride. We are not living just for this earth. We're not living just for today.

God had an eternal purpose. He wanted fellowship with this created being. His own begotten son, he wanted a bride. And it's a body. It's not one individual. And by the way, God only sees one man. It's a manhood.

He sees Jesus. And anything he sees in you, he sees it only through the Christ that is in you. There's one man, one head. That's Christ. He's the head of this church. He's the head of the body. We're all a part of that one body, which is Christ.

We're all members of that one body. But his eternal purpose, as Scripture says, was to gather. And he was before all things, and by him all things consist. He's the head and the body. For it pleased the Father that in him all things should dwell.

And God's plan was that everything be gathered up in Christ. Everything would be sitting on Jesus. That Jesus would not just be someone to be studied. Would not be someone just to be praised. But that Jesus would be our very life.

This is what the apostles tried to convey to us. The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Not I, but Christ lives in me. I wanted to go beyond just theology tonight. And I don't know if I have, I don't know if I can do that.

The Holy Spirit has to do that. Did you see? We're so focused on our behavior. We're missing something. In fact, a lot of people think holiness has to do only with behavior. As if God's looking down and saying, well, what did you give up for me today?

What did you lay down? What bad thing didn't you do today? Now, I want you to know that we've preached in this pulpit, and we've preached it loud and clear. But when you walk in the Spirit, you magnify the deeds of the flesh.

You magnify them. Those who love Jesus, those, after a while, you can't just go through life focused on behavior. Am I behaving? Lord, are you pleased with the way I walk today? God, when I stand before Him, He's not just going to say, well, you behaved yourself, you were good there.

The real question God's asking this church right now is, how are you preparing for the marriage supper? How are you getting ready for my son? Are you involved in the interest of my son Jesus? Are you involved in your own interest?

Are you ready to be adorned? Are you going to submit to me? And I'll tell you something. John saw a city coming down from heaven. Adorned as a bride. Prepared and adorned as a bride. I heard a prophetly preacher say, well, that's the generous gift of God.

It's a very big Jewish city. And he materialized the whole thing. Now, I believe there's a little heaven. I believe there's a great city of God. But what John saw coming down out of heaven was a people.

A people adorned for Christ. This was a people who lived their lives. They came down from God. They were settled in God. They came from the heavenly place. They were seated. They were down, preached what they may here so eloquently.

But they were seated in Christ in the heavenly place. This people, in that last day, are going to come out from God. They're not going to come out from the world. They're not going to come out from flesh.

They came out of that thing. They're settled in God. They're coming down out of heaven. Ephesians 1. Can you go to Ephesians? The first chapter. Holy Spirit, make this real to our hearts. Verse 9. I'm going to read verse 9 through 12.

Gathering All Things in Christ

Ephesians 1. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, that's our time, he might gather together and run all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are in earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counts of his own will, that we should be the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

There you have the eternal purpose of God. We were predestined before we were born. We were predestinated. We were predestined to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were predestined.

God sent his own son to redeem God, to redeem abroad, to bring back to himself a people, that from that time on, this present time would be spent. Holy given to him. Then finally there's another segment of time.

The Time of Departure

It's called the time of departure. Paul said, I'm now ready to be offered for the time of my departure is at hand. I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course. Do you hear these words? I'm ready to be offered.

I wonder how many listening to me right now can say that. I know you can say, right now, Lord, I'm ready. That word offered there is very, very strong in the Greek. Here's the interpretation. I'm ready to embrace eternal devotion to my Lord.

Eternal devotion is brotherhood. I'm prepared now to step into my eternal purpose that God ordained when he created me. He created me and brought me forth on this earth for the interest of Jesus. I was not to live to my own interest.

Yes, I had a job. He worked with his own hands. But you see, he never made peace with this earth. He never was at rest with the things of this world. He knew that he was called to undertake and embrace the interest of Jesus on this earth.

Are you locked up in the interest of Jesus? Or does your job come first? Now, God wants everyone of you to say, if a man doesn't work, he's not going to eat. If a man provides not for his own household, he's worse than an infidel and he's denied the faith.

But your job is secondary. In light of the fact that we're shown, the Bible said, the end of all things is at hand. And you'll find that in that same chapter in 1 Peter, the fourth chapter. The end of all things is at hand.

The end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two.

Paul is trying to say to us, my whole reason for living is not some great cause. I have no other cause but Christ. I have no program but Christ. People can't understand this church. They come here and they say, what's your strategy to win New York?

We don't have a strategy. We have Christ. They say, well, what's your plan? We have no plan but Christ. Where's your membership? We have no membership but the body. It's got to be centered in Jesus. Let me tell you something.

If you just come here and you call this your church and you're proud of this church, that's the wrong attitude. What should attract you here more than anything else? It's a place where you can invest your interest in Jesus.

It's a place where you can join others who have the same mind. They are armed as Scripture says. You can't just drift. You've got to arm yourself with this mindset. You've got to arm yourself saying, I'm here for a purpose.

I don't need some big cause to satisfy me. I don't have to be some big evangelist. I have to know that God is preparing me as a bride for his son. And he wants me to grow in the image of Jesus. Become more Christ-like.

That my whole life could be spent on the interest of Jesus. And everything else I do is secondary. Look at verse 7. 1 Peter. Go back to 1 Peter 4. Verse 7. At the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer.

Look at me please. Do you know Paul the Apostle wrote to Christians? He said the time is short. And yet two millennia went by. In fact, you go right up here to some of these cemeteries. I didn't mean to even play on that.

You go to these higher schools of higher learning. And they'll tell you that Paul and Peter didn't know what they were talking about. They kept warning and said you preachers that are warning about the coming of Jesus.

You know better than Paul and Peter. They kept saying the time is short. They stood in that room and said these are the days prophesied by John. The last days. They forget the scripture says the day of the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day.

And every day has a dawning, a midday, and a midnight. They introduced the dawning of the last days. Then there was the midday. The reformation. And now we're at midnight. We're at midnight of this last day.

And he says the end of all things is at hand. Now that could be the end of Jerusalem even. Because just it's only a few years later that Jerusalem is going to be sacked. It's the end of all she's preaching to.

The end was coming to that particular society. It was the end for them. These men who wrote. Paul had this state of mind always. He was always had one foot in heaven. The fact he had both feet in heaven he just kind of slipped back once in a while on earth.

He was more in heaven than he was on earth. He said I have a desire to depart and be with the Lord. And that's the mark of a true holy person. That's the mark of those who go along with God. Their heart is in the Jerusalem.

Their heart is not here on this earth. They love their families. In fact the man that's got his heart in heaven he's a much better man on earth. Well that's another sermon. I believe if Paul was here tonight he'd preach the night is far spent the day is at hand.

I asked the Holy Spirit to show me what I should begin this year with in my role in this church. And the Holy Spirit just kept saying you've got to convey to my people that it's later than they think.

And David it's later than you think. The end of all things is near. Be therefore sober and watch unto prayer. And then he proceeds to give us some sobering warnings. Look at 2 Peter. Go over to 2 Peter 3.

The Coming Day of Judgment

If this doesn't sober you, nothing will. He said be a soberer and watch unto prayer. 2 Peter 3 beginning to read verse 7. That the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. That one be with the Lord in a thousand years and a thousand years is one thing. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. As some men count slackness.

But he's long suffering to us for not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. And that's the only reason judgment hasn't fallen yet. It's the only thing God's this patient.

He's waiting for the last ingoing of his harvest. But the day of the Lord, verse 10. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. The heavens will pass away in a great noise. The elements shall melt with a fervent heat.

The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Save them that all these things shall be dissolved. What's going to be dissolved? Does that include your house, your apartments, your furniture, your car?

Does that include the job where you work? Does that include everything? Includes this theater? Includes everything, doesn't it? Save all these things are going to be dissolved. In other words, he said, stop and think about it.

He said, brethren, hold on. He said, do you want to know what motivates the apostles? Do you want to know why we live for the eternal purpose of God, of living only for the abuse of Christ? He said, because we know it's all passing away.

I'll tell you what. I look out time after time from apartment 22B up in West Side. I look out over the skyline of New York. And I look at those buildings and time and time again the Holy Spirit said, brethren, that's not the real world.

That's all a facade. That's just like a Hollywood stage set. You know, where they just have fronts and there's nothing behind it. That's all going to burn. New York will vanish in just a moment of time.

It's all going to be dissolved. I have that in mind. Why are you looking for a project? Why are you looking for something to get your hands on? Why are you looking for something outside of Christ? It's not a cliche that Jesus is everything.

It's not a cliche that he saves and keeps and satisfies. Look at it. It says, seeing that all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness?

What kind of people should we be knowing that the time is so short? Paul said, no man but worth entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who chose him to be a soldier. Now, listen to me preach.

If you're going to stand at your time of departure, I don't know when mine will be. Don and I faced a moment where I found dad was 54, wasn't he? 54. I was preaching when I got the call, ready to stand in the pulpit for the telegram.

For mother, dad's been glorified. Moment of time, when that day of departure comes, that time of departure comes, I don't want to be entangled. I don't want to be, I want to be disengaged from this earth.

I want to be weaned from the earthly things, and I'll tell you that's the biggest battle we fight as Christians. Because these things have a way of wrapping themselves around our hearts, and we keep saying, oh it doesn't mean anything, it doesn't mean anything, it does.