Sudden Destruction — David Wilkerson

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.

Spiritual Warfare and the Power of the Holy Spirit

I've not consulted with the other pastors except just in passing and I think they would bear out what I'm about to tell you. Now as we keep making more and more progress here in Times Square and people are praying and interceding, the devil and all the adversaries of hell have come out of hiding and this church is under tremendous attack of Satan.

We don't give him glory, we don't give him an edge because the Bible said greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. But it comes across, we have occult people walk in here, their spirits are strong spirits and they try to overwhelm, but they can't overwhelm the spirit of the living God.

And tonight I would like every one of you who believe that when the spirit of the Lord, when the enemy comes like a flood the spirit of the Lord raises up a standard. And that's the power of the Holy Ghost.

And you have the Holy Spirit abiding in you, don't you? Tell you what I'd like you to do, I know you've been standing and sitting quite a bit, but I want you to stand in prayer and help me in the spirit of the Lord to take power and authority over every spirit that would try to hinder us from receiving the true word of God because we need the Lord to break through to our hearts tonight.

I want you to raise your hands and let's agree tonight that God will break through here and in every service in this church, Heavenly Father, we pray that you would take authority over every prince of power and power of darkness.

Bind every lying spirit. Bind that which is of Satan. Bind that which is of the enemy. Come forth with power and glory and unction. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, take your authority. Let the word go forth with spirit and unction and power.

Lord, you're sending revival to Times Square, to New York City. Lord, reclaim it now. We bind those enemy forces. We bind everything that's unlike you, Jesus. We take your authority tonight. We take your authority, Lord.

It's not ours, it's yours. It's your authority. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Oh, still living God. Bring forth your holy word tonight. Speak your word, Lord, and break every enemy force.

Satan has no place in this house. Satan has no place in this house tonight. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to the Lord. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be his name. Blessed be his name. Hallelujah. You may be seated. Thank you. My message tonight, sudden destruction. Sudden destruction as to avail upon a woman with child. First lesson learned in the fifth chapter.

The Day of the Lord and Sudden Destruction

Start reading the first three verses, please. I'm reading from King James. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall cometh as a thief in the night.

For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as to avail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. That's as far as I want to go right now. We'll continue a little further in the course of the message.

But give me your good ear and look at me right in the eye, please. The judgments of God strike suddenly, but never once are they without warning. God always warns before He sends judgment. God promises, in fact, that He'll do absolutely nothing until He warns His servants, the prophets, and His watchmen.

I'm reading from Amos, the third chapter and seventh verse. Surely the Lord God will do nothing. He will do nothing unless He revealeth His secret unto His servants, the prophets. The lion hath roared.

Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy? Now here God promises, I'll have a trumpet blasted before judgment comes. He said, I'll roar like a lion to bring the fear of me upon the people.

God says, I'll not judge. I'll not send judgment upon you, upon your nation, upon the world, until there's plenty of warning. It may come suddenly, but it will not be unexpected. It will not come without warning.

And the Lord shall be seen over thee. And His arrow shall go forth as the lightning. And the Lord God shall blow the trumpet. That's Zechariah 9 .14. I want you to turn to Zephaniah with me, please. Go to the last chapter, last book of the Old Testament.

And I'm doing this for the new converts here. And by the way, if you plan to come back, your first time here at Times Square Church, if you plan to come back, please bring your Bible. You'll need it here.

Zephaniah. If you go to Malachi and go four books left, you'll find Zephaniah. It's right between Habakkuk and Haggai. Does that help you? Zephaniah, first chapter. Now, keep your finger on first Thessalonians, because we're going to go right back to that.

Zephaniah, the first chapter. Starting to read verse 14. Zephaniah 1, starting to read at verse 14. Do you have it? The great day of the Lord is near. It is what? In fact, the prophet seems to emphasize it.

He says again, it is near, it is near. And hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress. A day of wasteness and desolation.

A day of darkness and gloominess. A day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm. Because the fence cities and against the high towers. Against the fence cities and against the high towers.

And I will bring distress upon all men. That they shall walk like blind men. Because they have sinned against the Lord. And their blood shall be poured out as dust. And their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.

Friends, all the wealth of America doesn't mean anything when God sends judgment. The prophets say they're going to throw their gold and their silver on the streets. They're going to walk on it. It's going to be absolutely worthless.

And I'm telling you now, you people are hoarding gold. It's going to be absolutely worthless in the day of judgment. Absolutely worthless. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.

But the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. For he shall make a speedy riddance. A sudden riddance of all them that dwell in the land. Now will you look at this please. It's a time of gloominess, of darkness, thick darkness, of judgment.

But it's also, verse 16, a day of what? The trumpet and the alarm. It's a day of the trumpet and of the alarm. I wrote a book called Set the Trumpet to Your Mouth. And it's based on Hosea. Don't turn there, but rather on Hosea.

Eighth chapter and the first verse. Set the trumpet to thy mouth. And that's the name of the book. Because for three months I heard a trumpet sound. I couldn't sleep. I was standing on a wall. I don't claim to be a prophet, but one of his many, many watchmen.

God has thousands of watchmen set on the wall now. And they hear the sound of a trumpet. And God made it clear to me, set that trumpet to your mouth. Ezekiel said, when I bring the sword upon the land, if the people of the land take a man of their coast and set him for their watchman, if when he seeeth the sword come upon the land and he blows the trumpet and he warns the people, then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

And that's the verse that prompted me to go ahead, because I was talking about a hydrogen holocaust coming to America. And how do you do that unless you're prompted by this? By the word of God that says if you don't deliver your soul, the blood's upon your own head.

And the Lord said if you blow the trumpet and they don't heed, then the blood is upon their own head, but you have delivered your soul. Now God blows the trumpet through the voice of his watchmen and his prophets.

Now the trumpet in Hebrew means a reverberating blast, a warning. A reverberating blast. Listen to what Paul said. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15, 51, and 52. Now we are excited about that moment, aren't we? Changed in the twinkling of an eye. And that Pentecostal song, by the name of that, changed in the twinkling of an eye. The trumpets are sound, the dead shall be raised, we'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye.

The Bible says, at the last trump. That suggests there were other trumpet sounds. This is the last of a series. Now I do believe there's going to be an angelic trumpet blast. The angels will come forth, as they did on Mount Sinai.

That long, piercing, mournful blast when judgment's about to fall. Now there's going to be a joyous sound of a trumpet when the angels come back, and we come back in glory with Christ. I believe there will be an angelic trumpet.

But I also believe the prophets are talking about the voices of men. At the last trump. At the last trump. There's coming a day when we will preach our last sermon at Times Square Church. There's coming a day when God is going to raise up all of his servants, his watchmen, and his prophets, and they're going to preach the last trump.

The last trump's going to sound. It happened to Noah. In his wicked day, God said, I'm going to destroy it. You have 120 years. And God pinpointed the very day. It was going to happen on the 17th. Day of the second month.

This is 120 years later. And on the 16th. The last trump sounds for Noah's generation. It's the 16th. The second month of the year. And Noah stands for the last time. They've mocked him. They've ridiculed him.

But God told him. Evidently. I'm sure there must have been some inclination. This was going to be the last time. Because God says you preached it on the 16th. On the 17th. They got into the ark. Let me read it to you.

You don't have to turn to Genesis 7 -11. In the 600th year of Noah's life. In the second month. The 17th day of the month. The same day. Where all the fountains of the great deep broken up. And the windows of heaven were opened.

And you know the story. The earth was drowned in a mighty flood. Everything that breathed died. Us trump sound on the 16th. Oh friends we've got a God who keeps a calendar. He has it all lined out. And the only reason he delays is in his patience.

He may move up his calendar a little bit. As he did for Josiah. Because under Manasseh the nation was so wicked. God said I'm determined to send judgment. Josiah comes along. And the judgment is delayed for a number of years.

But God said you'll not see it. But it's still determined. Holden the prophet has said the best you can do. Is to delay those coming judgments. No wonder Paul the apostle starts. Go back to 1 Thessalonians 5.

The Church Must Not Be Surprised by Judgment

No wonder Paul writes. The first verse again let's read it. Now look at that. How do they know perfectly that the Lord is going to come as a thief in the night? He said I shouldn't even have to tell you.

I shouldn't even have to talk about it. You know it. How is it? He's writing to the church of Thessalonica. And like Times Square church this letter was received. When that church was only 6 months old.

6 months old. And he's writing to a 6 month old church. And he's saying. You know perfectly. You know very well. That day of the Lord. Now that day of the Lord mentioned here is the day of judgment. He said it's going to come suddenly as a thief in the night.

And you know it perfectly well. How could they know it perfectly well? 6 month old church. It had to be because. Timothy. Silvanus. And Paul. Who all preached at this church. Must have preached a lot.

They must have preached more. They had the law. They had the prophets. You know they had the same warnings that you and I have here tonight in Times Square church? They had it all. Paul was a faithful preacher.

He said let me show you the way God works. Let me show you his pattern. How he works on a time clock. Let me show you how it comes on the 17th day of the 2nd month. In the 600th year of Noah. Let me show you how it happened to the very day.

And all the Old Testament prophets. In fact. This epistle was written. 52 to 53 A .D. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A .D. They were less than 20 years away. From the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus.

Of the destruction of Jerusalem. He was trying to set them in their heart for what was coming. He said you know perfectly well. It's going to come like a thief in the night. It will come suddenly. When it's not expected.

You know what Paul was saying as far as I'm concerned. It's perfectly clear that God's judgments fall suddenly like a thief. But no believer should ever be surprised. There should be nobody in this church ever surprised at what God's about to do.

You should not be caught unaware. That day should not overtake you as a thief the Bible says. Not at all. He said you know God's word. You've seen the record. And then Paul proceeds to tell them what it's going to be like when that day of judgment comes.

And I'd like to try to open that to you if the Holy Spirit allows us tonight. And then how to act when this hour comes. On the brink of judgment how should we behave? Alright first of all. Paul says the day of judgment will come when society becomes obsessed with prosperity and security.

Prosperity, Security, and the Corruption of the Church

Do you think we live in that kind of a day? Look at verse 3. For when they shall say peace and safety. Sudden destruction cometh upon them. Now the Greek word that Paul uses here for peace is Irenae which means prosperity.

The root word of that Greek word peace is prosperity. Look it up it's very very clear. The Greek word for safety is better interpreted security. Prosperity and security. And the apostle says you'll know, you will see.

I want you to understand it perfectly because the sign is very clear. When men begin to say prosperity and security. When men's hearts become obsessed with riches and money madness and greed and accumulating and hoarding.

Jesus warned us it would be a time when men's hearts would fail them for fear of watching over the things that are coming upon the earth. And men will begin to yearn for something secure. They'll want to find a place where their investments won't melt away like wax.

And to find a retreat somewhere should the bombs begin to fall. Or a warning come. A secure haven for their assets. But the Bible doesn't say it will be a time of peace and safety. It says they will say peace and safety.

Because there is no peace to the wicked the Bible says. There is no security as far as the world is concerned. Never in history, never in history of this nation have the Americans been so driven by a quest for money.

It's called the American dream. The American dream is success. The American dream is a Mercedes. The American dream is the biggest house you can buy. Even if you can't afford it. The American dream is to be number one.

The American dream is not to fail. That one of these days soon, the American dream is going to become the American nightmare. Please, no clap. The American nightmare. The stock market's become one gigantic gambling casino.

Millions of Americans are playing the numbers, they're playing the lottery, hoping to strike it rich suddenly. This city has gone crazy with lottery. The whole state, nation, we've become one mass lottery.

Everybody looking for an American dream. Everybody trying to get that little nest egg. Peace, security, prosperity. It's even infiltrated and corrupted the church of Jesus Christ. How Paul would have grieved if he knew a day would come.

If he could have foreseen a day like ours. When preachers of the gospel would take the precious covenant of Christ and make it a covenant of cash. Placing the cross and putting a dollar sign over it. The church of Jesus Christ once stood before the world as a testimony against greed.

And materialism. Against the love of things. Against self love. Against hoarding. Against covetousness. But now the world sees the church as its biggest competitor for the good life. They turn on Christian television programs and all they see is wealth.

And they hear people say, God wants you rich. I wonder what it would be like if that lonely man, that lonely Nazarene came riding in his donkey backstage. In his sandals. They'd chase him out. Because he hadn't been to make up yet.

Not being facetious. He had no place to lay his head. But now because the church has rejected the message of suffering of Christ and Paul. Instead decided to indulge in riches and pleasure. Now sudden destruction does not necessarily mean only a hydrogen holocaust.

Because one sudden event could strike America. One single catastrophe and the American dream could be over. In an hour. The judgment that suddenly fallen on God's house in America is going to fall on our society at home.

The church woke up one day, didn't it? Years ago. To a terrible, terrible tragedy that made the whole church blush. Because we were told that American charismatic evangelist, television evangelist spent three million dollars in one year.

Buying fancy cars and jewelry. An air conditioned dog house. And I'm not laughing folks. And you shouldn't be either. Three million dollars. And the world laughs. The bar rooms were abuzz and they held up their drinks.

And they were toasting hell fire preachers who drive Mercedes. Blushed. Because Jesus became the song of drunkards. Then they mocked. The name of Jesus became the butt of jokes and satire. And then once again just recently in one hour a newscast.

And suddenly judgment again on the house of God. Because suddenly the whole world was told the nation's number one sin preacher was caught in sin. In Times Square church when this was announced I heard some screaming.

I heard people groaning. And people came to me and said, please tell me it wasn't so. And now we watch the destruction. Amidst all the sham and the shame. These awesome words of the scripture from Peter come back.

For the time has come that judgment must begin in the house of God. Why are we surprised? Why are we surprised? Why are we so shocked? Judgment must begin in the house of God. We've been telling the world for years that judgment's coming.

And if we've been telling the world that it's coming, it begins in the house of God. You can't preach judgment on the world without waiting for it to hit the house of God first. God's willing to let his name be mocked.

Just to wake up the church and give one last trumpet call to the world. If it begin in us. Listen to it. 1 Peter 4, 17. Just listen. And if it begin, that's judgment. If judgment begin in us, his house, his people.

What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Now God's judgment in his house are sudden and they're frightful.

And God has warned. He said, I'm going to send judgment on my house. It's going to make everyone's ears tingle. You can go to the Old Testament, you'll find scripture after scripture. Now, don't tell me, but just let me go through some of them with you.

God was about to destroy the house of Eli. Because there was sin in Eli's house. He had become indulgent. He allowed his boys to commit fornication. His sons committed adultery right at the temple gate.

Right at the tabernacle door. And he wouldn't correct them. And here's what the scripture says. God said, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that hears it shall tingle. I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew all about.

God came down through the prophets with another message during the time of Manasseh. Corruption had spread. Bob mentioned it this morning. His message, the great Manasseh caused Israel to sin above all the kings of the earth.

And when God sent the message, he said, I am going to bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever hears it, both his ears shall tingle. 2 Kings 21 -12. You see it in Jeremiah. Jeremiah was told that sudden judgment was coming on Israel.

And God said, tell him this. I'm going to do such a work, he said, of judgment, that whosoever hears it, his ears shall tingle. Now what's he mean? You find it all over the Old Testament. God says, I'm going to judge my house.

It's going to be so awesome. It's going to be so incredible. Everyone who hears it, their ears are going to tingle. Now that word tingle in Hebrew means to rattle the ears and make them red with shame.

God said, I'm going to rattle your ears. I'm going to make your ears blush. He's talking about the whole world, the wicked, are going to have blushing ears. I believe what's happening in the church has caused the world to blush even.

The judgments are so awesome. And folks, it's not just happening to television ministries that are well known. Jesus Christ, our Lord, is shaking up the entire church around the world, and especially in America.

What he's doing is turning over the shovel to expose all the worms. Because he wants a true planting. All he's doing is tearing down the veil. You know when the veil was rent in two? It started at the top, didn't it?

And then came all the way down, so that the Holy of Holies could be seen. He started at the top, and he came right down. It split, the veil split from top to bottom. That's what he's doing now. From the top to the bottom, he's splitting it.

And thank God, I'll tell you why. What really stirs my heart and breaks my heart. Do you see what the devil thought he was doing? He thought he was going to discount all holiness preaching. He's going to discount everything that has to do with hellfire and brimstone.

He's going to try to stop and silence the voice of the prophets in the land. He's going to make the watchman seem to be nothing but preachers of darkness. Oh, how many letters I've received in the mail.

And they said, well, Vance was so and so, preached against sin. He preached holiness, and he had this thing hidden in his life. And I can hear what they're trying to say. They don't want to come out and say it, but it's hinted at.

You preach righteousness if there's something hidden in your life. And so now there's suspicion. Everywhere, absolute suspicion. But I want you to know, it wasn't the devil that did all the exposing, it was the Holy Ghost.

And if the Holy Ghost exposed it, He knows how to handle it. He knows how to handle it. Well, folks, it's just begun. It has just begun. And if it begins in the pulpit, He's going to touch the pew. Do you think for one moment He's going to judge those who are known and not judge you?

Remember when I said you might get mad? God's judgment in His house are so frightful, men's ears will tingle. But I want to tell you, God's going to rattle the ears and cause them to be red with shame.

Because there are going to be fearful judgments following society. Because God said, if it begins in my house, can you imagine if the righteous are going to be in the judgment? Where will the wicked come in?

What's going to happen to the society? If God is willing to expose His name to all of this shame, if God is willing to say, I'm going to clean up my house, if you won't do it, some of you people didn't, so many people didn't have discernment.

Some of us have been crying out for five years against sending money to build swimming pools and all this garbage. We've been preaching it for years. And yet people send thousands and thousands of dollars.

And God said, if you don't have the discernment, I'll shut it down for you. And I can say that knowing in my heart, I pray every day for those who are involved and love them in my heart. Not angry at them at all.

Just angry at the devil who made the nation so blind. But I'll tell you what, the media, television, newspaper, whatever it may be, they had better delight themselves and make hay while the sun shines because it's all about to change.

It's all about to change. The judgment of God's house is going to come down. Let's look at the next verse. Sudden destruction will come and surveil upon a woman with child. Sudden destruction. We're talking about this in verse 3.

Judgment as Birth Pangs

When they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction coming upon them is surveil upon a woman with child. They shall not escape. Look this way, please. This is God's inspired word. The Holy Ghost inspired everything of it.

And God chose His words carefully. It's not an accident that God, the Holy Ghost, made the coming judgment a type of a woman about to give birth. And the judgments were likened to birth pangs of an expected woman.

Now the woman here is a lost, wicked, godless society. And she's about to give birth to a monster. Judgment's coming out of her very own womb. And as sure as an expected mother can't hide her pregnancy, the impending judgment is going to be obvious to everybody.

The closer the mother gets to the birth, the more evident it is that she's bearing. The closer we get to judgment, the more obvious those judgments must be to us. The Bible says, Paul the Apostle is saying, these sudden judgments are going to come like birth pangs and labor pains.

And the closer you get to the birth, the more frequent and more intense those labor pains are going to become. Every one of you here, as mothers who have born a child, know exactly what this means.

This is the end of side 1. You may now turn the tape over to side 2.

First they came, what, an hour apart? And then half hour apart? And then ten minutes apart? I don't know when you were rushed to the hospital. And then the pains became ever increasing and ever intense.

And then suddenly you were in labor and you were rushed into the labor room. And the spiritual application is very, very clear. The final destruction that's coming to America will come with intensified, accelerating warnings and catastrophes.

These are going to be birth pangs. Now, even though the child is said to come suddenly, there's been an incubation time. There's much evidence that the child is there, that something's about to come forth.

And he's saying, look at it now. You shouldn't be surprised. Any more than you should be surprised that your wife is bearing a child. Evidence is there. Pains are coming. The pains will increase. They will intensify.

They will accelerate. Until finally there's going to be travail, which is labor. Now, I believe America is already ambulatory. I believe the United States of America is already headed and being rushed into the delivery room of divine judgments.

Didn't the ears of the whole world tingle when our spaceship spun out of control? And you saw the Scripture fulfilled in the last days? Blood and fire and vapors of smoke. Three vapors of smoke and blood and fire.

Didn't the ears of the whole world tingle? Weren't they rattled? Weren't they blessed with shame and fear? When they heard how could believe that a nation so mighty who sent men to the moon, five astronauts are plunging to earth while mankind stands helplessly by.

Labor pains close by that event. What was it, 260 Marines? I don't remember the number. Suddenly blown into eternity. And this nation, supposed to be the greatest nation on earth as far as its armaments, stands helplessly by like a little child unable to do anything about it.

Labor pains! An airplane, an airliner, bringing over 150 of our soldiers over near Iceland. The plane goes down and you saw the President of the United States, President Reagan, standing in front of those rows of caskets, weeping.

You saw the tears in his eyes? Pains. AIDS has been declared a national plague by doctors who can't understand why our government is not isolating these people. Listen, I'm talking about homosexuals who refuse to stop doing what they're doing even though they know they have AIDS.

And it's a plague and every doctor I talk to say, David, I don't understand it. We are not even beginning to know the extent of this plague. And their projections are awesome, they're frightful. Labor pains, travail, drug epidemic.

I started here in New York City in 1958. There were probably 30 ,000 known heroin addicts at the time. Now look what's happening. You hear it on the news every day. The gangs now, look at Los Angeles.

Thousands and thousands of teenagers now roaming the streets. Not only do they have shotguns, they have machine guns. They have Uzis. Streets of New York now, gangs. All out for crack. This nation's gone crack crazy.

From the White House all the way down, it's in the Senate, it's everywhere. Cocaine snorting everywhere in this nation. Even 12 and 15 year old kids. It's getting mind-boggling. And the Bible said these things are going to accelerate, they're going to intensify.

Just as a woman about to go into labor, did the ears of mankind tingle when the stock market crashed? October 19th, I was down there. Brother Phillips was with me. I saw the fear. I kept the newspapers of that day.

And I looked at it this afternoon, the daily news. The headlines said, Panic! Dow plunges through the floor, 508 points. And you know what Paul says? Like a mother with child. It's going to be like an expectant woman.

The pains are going to get worse. And more timely. And intensified. And accelerated. You shouldn't be surprised, saints of God, when you turn on the news one morning, and you find that the stock market is beginning to melt down about 12 o 'clock, the panic hits and by 4 o 'clock, they may not even be able to keep it open until 4 o 'clock, when the meltdown comes.

And if you think I'm preaching gloom and doom, you ought to read some of The Economist. I don't preach anything regarding gloom compared to what they're preaching. God is quickening the pace now. Of troubles and sorrows.

And simultaneously, the Bible said, I read it to you in Zephaniah, when it's a day of darkness, impending judgment, it's also going to be a day of the trumpet and the sound of the warning. You know it, as well as I know it.

Never since you've served the Lord have you heard so many warnings, by so many prophets, by so many watchmen, the judgment's coming. Have you ever in your lifetime heard so many warnings? So much so, that we're turning them off.

We don't want to hear it. I've talked to some very godly people recently, that for the last 10 years have been prophesying. Watchmen. They've been comparing notes. And you know what many of them are saying, Brother Dave, I feel like giving up.

I don't feel like saying it anymore, because nobody's listening, it's all being turned off. God had to really work on me to preach this tonight. My heart. Jesus did say, when you see all these things begin to happen, look up and rejoice, because redemption doth nigh.

But there's a condition to that. Not every Christian is going to be able to look up and rejoice. There's a condition. Who are these? That brings me to my third point that I want to make clear to you tonight.

Watching, Sobriety, and Holiness

In this time, in our society, when we're at the brink of judgment, God is calling for people to watch and be sober. On the brink of judgment. To watch and be sober. Now, Paul, look at verse 6. 1 Thessalonians 5, chapter 6, verse.

Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. Then Paul goes on further down, he says, You are not of darkness. You are not children, but you are children of the light, and the children of the day.

We are not of the night. We are not of darkness. Now, look this way, if you would, please. What Paul is saying here, what appears to be destruction and tragedy for the world, listen closely now, what is destruction and tragedy for the world, is the dying of a new day for God's people.

Now, hear it again. It has nothing to do with you and me if we're walking in holiness. It has nothing to do with us. Because, he said, you're not of the day, you're not of the night. That's a nighttime situation.

That's the darkness of destruction to the wicked and the ungodly. But you are servants of the day. You walk in the day, and what is going to be judgment on this world, is going to be resurrection for you.