An Important Message for the End Time Church — Anton Bosch

I can't see everyone on the same screen, but it's good to see old friends and other folk that I don't recognize. I do see there are folk from various parts of the United States and from various parts of the United Kingdom and South Africa.

And so it's really good to be with you this morning and to have the privilege of being able to speak with you. I really have struggled with the message. I have worked out probably a hundred messages in the last two weeks.

I have a particular burden on my heart that I want to share with you, but at the same time, I've not been able to come up with a fancily designed three-point sermon. So I'm gonna just speak from my heart this morning.

It's going to be tough. It's not an easy message. It's not an easy message to receive. It's not an easy message to deliver. And yet I do believe that this is the message. Certainly that is on my heart and the burden that's on my heart for the church at this time.

So I want to begin in lamentations. And Deborah, and by the way, thank you for Deborah and for Sally for all you've done to make all of this work. And Deborah made reference to a video that I did about a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago, called Weep for the Church in Ruin.

And based on the book of Lamentations, and I want to begin by reading from Lamentations chapter two, verses nine through 15. Lamentations chapter two, verses nine through 15. I have been brought back to the book of Lamentations several times over the last two years or so.

And it's one of those books that we tend to ignore. We tend to not read and preachers certainly never preach on it except for the very middle section, great is thy faithfulness. And yet, as I have read this book over and over and over, I have seen the church of today.

And when I speak about the church, I'm meaning the church in general, I'm meaning the visible church. But my concern is particularly also for the so-called remnant church or churches that really are not that different to the visible church.

And that is my concern, is that when we speak about the church today, yes, there is the visible church and there's all the nonsense going on out there. And yet at the same time, those who claim to be part of the remnant in one way or the other, and I don't really like that term.

I certainly don't call myself part of the remnant because God alone knows who that remnant is. But as we look at those believers who claim to be part of the remnant, I'm deeply concerned that even those who claim to be part of the remnant are far from God.

And so the situation in Israel reflects the situation in the church. I don't hold to replacement theology, but at the same time, we must learn from Israel. And one of the things that has struck me over these last couple of years, particularly this last year, is the prophets.

How that those prophets are speaking to us today, that the problems with Israel having forsaken God, having got into all sorts of other stuff, idolatry and sin and all sorts of things, is just a reflection of exactly what has happened to the church.

And so the prophets, and particularly the minor prophets, seem to be more relevant to us than ever before. And so let me read from Lamentations, and I want for you to, as we just read these six verses or whatever it is, to see the church, forget about Israel for a moment, and just see how the Jeremiah is weeping over Israel and this really is my heart as I weep for the church.

And so Lamentations 2, verse nine. Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations. The law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground and keep silence. They throw dust on their heads and gird themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground. My eyes fail with tears.

My heart is troubled. My bile is poured on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the infants faint in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, where is grain and wine?

As they swoon like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out in their mother's bosom. How shall I console her? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare you with, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion?

For your ruin is spread wide as the sea. Who can heal you? Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions. They have not uncovered your iniquity to bring back their captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.

All who pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city that is called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? And so the church has really become a source of blasphemy of God.

Remember, Paul speaks about that. Because of you, his name is blasphemed. Quoting the prophet in the Old Testament, speaking of Israel. Why do people say, as they look at Israel, are these the people of God?

And when the world looks at us today, are they seeing the people of God? Is this what church is all about? Is this what Jesus is all about? Is this what Christianity is all about? And I'm not going to go through the litany of sins and of scandals that has beset the church in recent times.

And folks, the problem here is that it's easy as we go through these things this morning, to look at it and say, well, it's those guys out there. It's the preachers. It's the false prophets. It's the false teachers.

And I thought about this in these last few weeks. We tend to blame the preachers, but the preachers preach what the people want. Remember, Timothy says that they will heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears.

And as I look through the Old Testament, I see that the prophets were simply reflecting the spirit of the people. That's what they wanted to hear. And one of the things that I've realized, and I'm going to try, by the way, I'm going to try and just deal with a problem today and try and present some kind of solutions tomorrow.

So if you find today too hard, maybe tomorrow will be a little bit easier. But as I look at the prophets, I find that the Lord indicts the people for the behavior of the prophets. As the people are, so the prophets are.

We tend to say, as it is in the pulpit, so it is in the pew, but it's a symbionic relationship. The preachers preach what the people want to hear and the people do whatever they want to do. And of course, we're at a time where every man is doing what is right in his own eyes.

And so at the end of the day, we have no control over what the preachers are doing out there, but we do have some say in the church that we are part of, if you are part of a church, to put pressure. And I know that's a strong term, but to put pressure on your preacher and to encourage him to speak the truth and not just to speak what is popular.

And certainly the responsibility is on us individually to live those lives that we ought to live. Now, I want to go then to Revelation chapter three to the church of Laodicea. And again, looking at the audience this morning, I know that this is a passage that we all know very well.

And here's the problem is that because these passages are well-known and they've been preached so many times concerning everyone out there, the traditional churches, the crazy churches, everyone out there, but we tend to not look at it for ourselves.

And I want us this morning to apply this to our own hearts and question ourselves whether this is indeed or maybe a reality in us. And I'm not going to get into all of the background and what have you, we know the passage very well.

And we know verse 15, so we're in Revelation three, verse 15. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. And verse 16, so because you're lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

The New King James translation. And I think it's a very, very accurate description of God's intention. It's not just that he's going to spit you out, but I'm going to vomit you out. God finds lukewarmness repulsive.

He finds it objectionable. And yet here's the problem is that lukewarmness is the state of the church today. It is the state of the remnant church today. When I listen to so-called remnant preachers, when I look at the lives of so-called remnant Christians, I see lukewarmness.

I don't see a zeal for the things of God. I don't see a zeal for the word of God. I don't see a zeal for the Lord Jesus. And these are the problems. These are the things that we will, that I hopefully will address tomorrow, is we have to get back to the centrality of Jesus Christ.

We have to get back to our relationship with him. We have to get back to the word of God. We have to get back to the cross. But we dabble in all sorts of things because we are comfortable. Verse 17, they are lukewarm because you say, I have rich and become wealthy and I have need of nothing.

And we're speaking to Western Christians. I understand there are Christians in persecuted countries that don't have these problems. And that's exactly the problem. I don't want persecution. I enjoy the comfort and the ease and the liberty which we have here in America.

And all of those who are attending today find themselves having liberty. I enjoy that. But it is no good for us. It's not helping us because you're rich and increased with goods. And this applies to the church.

The churches are wealthy. The churches are powerful. They can buy whatever they need. And it's just easy. It's just comfortable. And individual Christians find themselves in the same place. We have our retirement.

We have our salary. We have our whatever it is. And even when we say we're poor, we really are not in comparison to many Christians. We're just comfortable. And that comfort results in lukewarmness. There is no challenge to our faith anymore.

We can buy whatever we need. We can buy the influence. And here's the problem. The church, particularly in America, has bought influence with the money that it has. And we think we can, by influence, change things.

And of course, the bottom line, and I'm really needing to rush through, otherwise we'll never get through. There's just so much on my heart. But you say you're rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.

That's the problem. We have need of nothing. We don't even need Jesus. The church has no room for Jesus. And we know the bottom line, verse 20 of this chapter, of this letter to this church, is that Jesus is not even in the church anymore.

He's standing outside. And forgive me if this is familiar territory to you, but I'm sick and tired of hearing preachers preach about Jesus standing at the sinner's door. Yes, he wants entry into the life of the sinner, but that's not what this passage is dealing with.

This passage is dealing with the church, and Jesus has been locked out of his own church, and he's standing outside, and he's pleading, and he's saying, please, have fellowship with me. We don't need anything.

We have our programs, we have our education, we have our books, we have our degrees, we have our church buildings, and we thank God for those things. But we don't, we need, we don't have what we really need, and that is the Lord Jesus and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

I listened to a message on Sermon Index two days ago about a pastor preaching about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but it was a dead, dry lecture. So even those who are preaching about the baptism of the Holy Spirit don't have a clue what they're talking about.

They just have a bunch of academic stuff up here, but there's no power, there's no spirit, there's no reality. Because Jesus is not in his church, and I wonder whether Jesus is in our lives anymore. And I'm not suggesting that the honorable audience that we have this morning, that you're not saved.

I'm not here to insult you, but we must ask the question, have we become so comfortable, and have we got so far away from the first of the Beatitudes, blessed are the poor, in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

This is not a message we want to hear today. We want to hear about prosperity. We want to hear about how well things are and all the blessings we have and what's available that we're rich in Christ. I thank God for the riches that is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But until I come to a point of understanding how wretched I am, I have no use for those things. I have no use for leaning on the Lord Jesus. Jacob was a man like that. Jacob had all the answers, and he was able to accumulate for himself, possessions, power, influence.

He had the blessing of God in the sense of the inheritance. And yet he comes to that brook and he finds himself with his back to the wall. Maybe for the first time in his life, he stood to lose everything.

And we know those words, I won't let you go unless you bless me. But that's the cry of a desperate man. And we need to be desperate people. We need to be crying with all of our heart, God, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

I need your blessing. And you know, God touches him on that day. And he doesn't come out of there with a great vision and being able to say, well, you know what? I met with God. But he comes out of there limping.

And the story concludes for me in the book of Hebrews and such a precious passage, that as he dies, he dies leaning on his staff, leaning on Jesus, leaning on the only answer and the only hope, no longer leaning on his cleverness, on his physical ability, on his ability to have children, but leaning on his staff.

That's all he had. Jesus writes to this church and he says, and you know, there are so many words in the Bible that are so sad. Verse 17, I am rich and become wealthy, have need of nothing. And you do not know.

You do not know. Folks, here's the problem. The church does not know. And I know, folks, there may be those who are watching and part of this meeting this morning and others who will watch later on and say, preacher, I don't know what you're on about because we don't know who we really are.

Those words find themselves in the Old Testament. You remember Samson? Samson plays with his hair and with his calling. And then eventually he gives the answer and she cuts his hair off and he gets up the next morning and also very, very, very sad words.

He knew not that the Lord had departed from him. Folks, the church does not know that the Lord has left us. Yes, he will never leave us nor forsake us, but there are so many Christians who have nothing of the Lord in their lives anymore.

There are so many churches that have nothing of Jesus anymore and they don't know it because they say, well, we've got our stuff. We've got our programs. We've got this. We've got that. You don't know.

He says that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Oh my God, help us to see who and what we are. And folks, I know this is not a message people like to hear. We wanna hear how good we are.

We wanna hear about our potential. We wanna hear about how powerful we can, influential and all of these things. But Paul says, I rejoice in my infirmities because when I am weak, then am I strong. It's when we're leaning on Jesus that we're strong.

It's when we're drawing from him that we're strong. But as long as we're leaning on our own understanding and our trust is in horses and in princes, we're weak. You don't know. And so he counsels them to buy of him white garments, sorry, gold refined in the fire.

Gold refined in the fire. Peter speaks about, I'm gonna come back to the book of Peter, the second Peter, but in first Peter, Peter speaks about the trial of our faith that produces pure gold. But here's the problem.

You cannot have pure gold without that gold being tried in the fire. There is no shortcut. There is no chemical process. There is no mechanical process. The only way that the gold can be purified is as it goes through the fire.

So how then will this church be purified without fire? Now, I'm not going to get into the tribulation. That's not the point. You see, because God can send fire into our hearts and into our lives and into our beings without us going through external tribulation.

And that's what we need. Yes, if it's not gonna happen by the spirit of God, then maybe it's gonna happen through our environment. And I pray that God and the flame of God's fire, of God's holiness would burn within us and consume the dross, consume the filth.

I'm gonna come back to this idea of filth in a few moments. You know, the glorious thing about gold, and I like to work with metal, is that gold cannot be consumed. I work with steel, I make knives, but every time you put the steel back in the fire, a little bit more is consumed.

And if you put it back enough times, eventually there's gonna be nothing left. But gold is different. You can put it back in the fire as many times as you like, and it's not going to reduce. It's not going to become inferior.

It's not gonna become weaker. It just gets purer and purer. And if we have the real faith, it doesn't matter the depth of the trials, because we don't, obviously we don't enjoy those, but in those trials that we are purified, that we are cleansed, and we come forth pure gold.

Why does he say that you buy of me? Surely everything is by grace. Well, it costs. It costs to be purified. And many Christians are not willing to pay that price. Are we willing to pay the price of suffering, of entering into his sufferings, that he might cleanse us and purify us and burn us and consume that which doesn't belong?

And white garments, speaking about his righteousness, but also our righteousness, because remember the book of Revelation speaks about the righteousnesses, the righteous deeds of the saints as being white garments, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with eye salt that you may see.

We need to see. And maybe the purpose of this message this morning is simply God, help me to see. Help me to see what's going on in my own life, to see what's going on in my own family, to see what's going on in my church, to see what's going on in my community.

You see, we can see very well the sins of the nation. And I'm sick and tired of preachers preaching about the sin of the nation and the need for America or England or wherever to repent. It's not America that needs to repent, it's the church that needs to repent.

It's not the politicians who need to get their act together, it's the Christians that need to get their act together. Lord, help me to see things the way you see things, not the way I wanna see them, not the way the world sees them, and not even the way the preachers want me but the way you see it.

Lord, help me to see myself. Lord, help me to see my environment. Above all, help me to see Jesus. Because if we can't see correctly, the eye is bad, the whole being is bad. Lord, help me to see. Peter speaks about the fact that they become short-sighted and cannot see afar off.

As many as I love, verse 19, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. We become so politically correct that we, that zeal is just something that is frowned on. You don't wanna be too extreme, brother.

Preachers are trying, and I'm not talking about being politically correct in terms of racial issues or those kinds of things, but being politically correct as far as sin is concerned, as far as the truth is concerned.

And we're so concerned about offending anyone. And God needs to raise up preachers who are not afraid of the faces of men and of Christians who will speak the truth. Folks, I'm not advocating being obnoxious and being rude.

There are preachers that make good money out of being rude and insulting everybody, and everybody thinks it's very funny. But may God touch our hearts that we may burn. As the prophet says that I wanted to keep silent, but your word was as a fire burning within me.

Paul writes to Timothy and he says, stir up the gift. And the language that he's using there is rekindle the fire. For those who've been camping or have camped in the past, no, you wake up in the morning and the campfire has gone out and there's just ashes.

But you stir up the ashes and you find a few coals and you rekindle that fire and you get it going again. We need to get the fire going again. Be zealous, be zealous. We wanna be wise. I'm getting older, I'm very aware of that.

And when I was younger, I was zealous and foolish. Now I think I'm wise, but have I in the process lost the fire and the zeal for the house of God? Jesus, it says, clothed himself with zeal as a garment.

The zeal of your house has consumed me. And I know there are brethren here this morning who are being consumed by the zeal for the people of God, for the house of God. But folk, we need more people who are being consumed, who are being burnt up by zeal for the house of God.

And I'm not meaning a denomination, I think you understand that. Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If any one, any man will hear my voice. But that's where we are right now. Remember in the previous seven letters, he's writing to seven churches and he writes to the church, to the church, to the church.

But he's now come down to the bottom line. He's no longer calling the church. And I don't believe he's calling churches anymore. I believe he's calling individuals. He's calling individuals within those churches.

And I'm not encouraging you to leave your church if you have a good church, that's another conversation. But he's calling you and he's saying, I want a relationship with you personally. The church has no time for me anymore.

But will you hear the call? Will you open the door? And will you enter into a real relationship with Jesus? Looking at the faces, most of us have been Christians for a long time. And we've got used to Jesus.

The same way as we get used to our marriages and it loses its spark and it loses its fire. But Jesus is longing for a relationship with us. Now, one of the other churches, and if you flip back a page to chapter two, the first of the seven churches, the church of Ephesus.

And I'm not going to, don't worry, I'm not gonna go through the whole other church of Ephesus. I'm aware of the time and I know I'm already over time. But here's a church that is zealous. Zealous for truth.

They recognize the false apostles from the true apostles. They're working hard. There are 10 or 11 things that they are commended for, that they're doing very well. And I'm sure you know the bottom line of this one.

They've left their first love. The first love here is not, as it's popularly preached, the love that you first had when you first got saved. That's not the language here. This is not first and second and third in a sequence.

This is first, second, and third in an order of priorities. What should be number one, your number one love, is not your number one love anymore. It has become number two or number three. And if you look at this church, they were a good church.

They were a holiness church. They were a doctrinally sound church. They were good in every way. But the problem was that their number one love was no longer number one. Jesus was no longer number one.

Same as the church in Laodicea. The church in Laodicea had pushed him out. These guys maybe still loved him, but he was number two or three or four on the list. What was higher up in the list? The church?

Yes, the church. The doctrine, serving the Lord. These things have become more important than Jesus. And folks, looking at the audience this morning, I think that many of us may find ourselves in that kind of environment, in that kind of church, or maybe in that state in our own lives, where we love the word.

We love the preaching. We love serving God. We love the doctrine. But Jesus is not number one. Peter, do you really love me? You know me. That doctrine is very, very important to me. But doctrine can never replace Jesus Christ.

Doctrine can never be more important, even the word of God. And I love this word. I'm soaked in this word. I preach this word. I study it. But it is so easy, and I know my experience. It is so easy for the word to become more important than Jesus.

God help us that he may be our number one love. Now let's go to Peter, 2 Peter chapter one. And I've been teaching through Peter here at church, and I've really been struck by this letter. It's one that I've obviously read and studied in the past, and yet it's really hit home.

So in 2 Peter chapter one, verse 16, and I'm going to just go through this pretty quickly, but I want to just draw your attention to a few things. So let me sketch the background. There were teachers that had come in.

Well, in fact, they were from inside. And what they were saying is, you know, they were questioning the second coming. Let me just say that as a shortcut. And Peter says, no, you know, these are not fables that we're following concerning the coming of the Lord.

Verse 16, we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And then verse 19, and so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.

So what he is saying is that the coming of the Lord is real. Now, I'm not going to get into signs and I'm not going to get into the timing of the rapture or any of that kind of stuff. The fact is that the Lord is coming.

And having examined Peter and really having wrestled with, why is the church in the state that I've just described in the last 40 minutes? And I believe that part of the problem is that we have lost the sense of the Lord's return.

Now, I want to show you the consequence here. So what he is saying is the Lord is coming. We have this on good authority. And in chapter three, he's going to speak about that again. And he's going to say, the Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness.

And then in chapter two, he says there were false prophets in Israel, among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord of both them and bring in themselves with destruction.

So there's so much here, but I want you to notice that he is not saying there will be false teachers outside, but there will be false teachers among you. So many of the discernment ministries focus on everything that's happening out there, all of the false preachers and teachers out there.

But Peter's warning is that there will be false teachers among you, amongst the true church, bringing in destructive heresies. Remember, Paul said exactly the same thing when he speaks to the elders of the Ephesian church the last time he saw them.

And he says, from your own selves. And folks, here's the scary thing, is that we can be so concerned about watching for the heresy out there, that we miss the heresy that grows up amongst us, in our own churches, in our own groups.

And I've watched with great sadness over these last few years, how that men have fallen into heresy and doctrine and carnality and sin out there. But so many of my own friends, people I have walked with for many years, for decades, have turned into false teachers.

And so false teachers among you, and they will secretly bring in, they're not gonna say, look, here's the new heresy. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them.

And here's really the crux of this. What does it mean to deny the Lord who bought them? Now, clearly they're not denying the existence of the Lord. That would not be a secret thing that you would smuggle in.

I mean, can you imagine the preacher in your fellowship or your group or whatever, just all the brethren who pray together, one morning somebody comes in and say, well, guess what? I have a revelation.

Jesus doesn't exist. I mean, that's gonna work very well, isn't it? Now, obviously that's not the problem, but the key is in the word Lord. The word Lord normally is the word kurios, from which we get master.

The word Lord here is a much stronger word. And it indicates the sovereignty. The Greek word is despotis, from which we get the word despot. Now, we have negative connotations to that idea of a despot, but the Greek word doesn't have those negative connotations.

It simply means that he is a supreme sovereign ruler. He's the boss. And what they are doing is they're denying the lordship. Now, when I use that word, I don't hold to lordship salvation. This is not what this is about, but they deny that he is the Lord, because look what they're doing.

They're denying the Lord who bought them, not who saved them or loved them, but bought them. In other words, we are his slaves. He owns us. He is the boss. He is the master. He is the despotis. And they're denying his lordship.

Can you see the similarity between this and the Church of Laodicea? Jesus is outside. They have no room for him. The Church of Ephesus, the word is more important than Jesus. And these people are denying the Lord that he is the boss.

Every man doing what is right in his own eyes. And they bring upon themselves swift destruction, and many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. The New King James uses the word their destructive ways.

Many of the other translations use the word their lascivious ways or sensual ways or sensuality. And having looked at this passage in detail, I believe that that is more accurate. So what are they doing?

They're denying the lordship of Jesus and introducing loose living. Does that sound familiar? Have we seen that in the church of late? Yes, we're seeing it in the church. Brother, we're not under law, we're under grace.

Yes, we're under grace, but we're under the lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bought us with a price. The modern translations don't like this word slave, and so they changed it into servant. We are not his servants.

We are his slaves. The Greek word is doulos. We have been bought with a price. We are not our own. But modern political correctness has taught us that as Christians, we are our own masters. We are the captains of our own destiny.

We can choose what we want to listen to and do and go, and no fuck, we have been bought. And until we understand the fact that we belong to him, and therefore we cannot live our lives the way we choose to live them.

Now, remember I said that this is connected to the fact that they deny that he is coming again. On what basis can you incite this kind of rebellion? And of course it doesn't come across as rebellion, it comes across as liberation, but on what basis can you introduce or promote this kind of rebellion?

Well, only on one basis, and that is the master is not coming back to call us to give an account. And so I see in this a parallel to Matthew chapter 24, verse 45, and I'm just gonna read through it very quickly.

Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Remember the context is the second coming. Blessed is the servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming. This is exactly what was happening in Peter. The Lord's coming is delayed.

Where is his coming? Everything has been continuing. We've heard about the second coming for centuries. When he delays, my master is delaying his coming, verse 49, and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards.

Folks, that's where we are. The master's not coming. Let's just party. Let's have a good time. Let's enjoy life. Let's eat and drink with the world. We don't want to be seen as different anymore. We're so concerned about fitting into the world.

We're so concerned that we are acceptable to everyone else around us and in the world. And we're eating and drinking with the world and beating up on our fellow servants. Those fellow servants who are calling us to an account, those fellow servants who are calling us to a life of zeal and love and of holiness.

In 2 Peter chapter three, and I'm gonna try and draw to a close, verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come. And the emphasis, if you study the book, the emphasis is that the day of the Lord will come.

That's the point he's making. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burnt up.

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and holiness and godliness? The title of the message that was given is the message for the end times church.

I believe we're in the end times, but are we living as though we are in the end times? If the Lord is coming, and if he is coming with vengeance, and if he is coming to destroy the works of the flesh, what manner of persons ought we to be?

Can we continue in our lukewarmness? Can we continue in dabbling with sin? Can we continue with beating up on our fellow servants? I'm not talking about heretics, fellow servants. Can we continue having fellowship with the world or does something have to change?

Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.