The Coming of the Lord

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This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. Go to Revelation 22 please, Revelation 22.

Go to verse 7 with me. This is Jesus speaking. Behold, what? I come quickly.

Blessed he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Go down to verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.

He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his works shall be. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. All right, verse 16.

I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. Verse 17.

And here's my message. And the Spirit and the bride say, repeat these words with me. You know, we don't do this often, but it's so important for me now, and I want you to hear.

And the Spirit and the bride say, come. Again. And the Spirit and the bride say, come.

Two voices. The Spirit and the bride say, come. Lord Jesus, I can't preach this unless your Spirit comes on me.

Unless you open my heart and the ears of all who hear and touch my voice and give me the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, we expect you to return. God, I thank you that this is the hope.

This is our eternal hope. This is our everlasting hope. That we learn for and we look for the return of Jesus Christ back to this earth to redeem his own.

Lord Jesus, in these perilous times, this message has to be heard. Now, Lord, God, let this sound like a trumpet. God, sound the trumpet in our voice.

Not at the intensity of my voice, but Lord, the power of your Holy Spirit. It's dead letter unless you come by your Spirit and make it known and real to our hearts. Awaken our spirits, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. When's the last time you've heard a message on the coming of the Lord? I don't remember how long it's been since I've preached on the coming of the Lord. You don't hear it anymore.

You can go anywhere in the United States and you will seldom hear a message about the soon return of Jesus Christ. Now, when I was a boy, before even teenage years, we heard that every Sunday. My father was a preacher.

My grandfather, great-grandfather, came from a line of preachers. And every Sunday we heard this. I grew up hearing about the trumpet sounding.

And I heard this message that came from my father, Jesus is coming. He's coming like a thief in the night. Be ready, be prepared at any moment because Christ is coming.

And my mom used to say, David, don't ever go. Now, back in those days, going to a movie was very worldly. Don't go to a movie.

Jesus might come while you're in there. And she kept me righteous for years. I didn't want to do that because the trumpet was going to sound.

I still come to attention when a trumpet blows. I was born and raised with this, not with fear, but a godly fear. The message is, it's from the Scripture, he's going to come suddenly as a thief in the night in the twink of an eye.

Bet your eye, that's how quick the Bible says Jesus is going to come. Even when I was a teenager, every evangelist that came preached on the coming of the Lord. People were awake, people were expecting his coming.

We don't know when he's going to come. But the Bible said we're to live expecting him at any moment. Now, the Bible warns us that in last days, mockers are going to come mocking this message.

I'm reading to you from 2 Peter 3, verse 4. In the last days, mockers will come with their mockings, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For all things continue just as they were from the beginning of nature. Ever since the fathers fell asleep, things go on as usual. You see, there's a new teaching now, there's a new mindset right now.

Jesus is not coming. We've heard that for many years. All the prophecies, very few have been fulfilled.

Why should we expect his coming? Because everything continues. The sun rises and sets, and there's morning, and there's noon, and there's night, and every day will be the same. It's been that way from the creation of the world, and it'll be like that until we die.

Where is the sign of his coming? Because, you see, if you're living in sin, if you're in perversion, if you're in something that your heart and your conscience tell you is wrong, and even when your conscience is smitten, the Holy Ghost tells you it's wrong, then you don't want to hear this message. You want nothing to do with it, and you're going to say, well, things continue as they are, and you're going to have this same mindset. The very thought of dying, the very thought of judgment, the very thought of having to stand before God and have a day of reckoning for sin, the world can't handle that.

The world cannot handle those outside tonight, especially those who are living in vile sin. There's no way they want to even think about it. It's the most frightening thought any man in sin can think, that one day there's a judgment.

One day Jesus might come and might judge me. I might have to stand before him and have books opened on my life, and that's the last thing that the sinful man wants to hear. The Bible says they followed the dictates of their own lust.

And this is what Peter is saying. Here's what's behind all of this rebellion against God's Word. Here's what's behind the lawlessness of today.

Because they have said in their heart, Jesus is not coming. Where is the promise of the coming of Christ? Where is there any danger of ever having to stand before God and give an account? And that's what Peter is saying. This is what is behind this lawlessness breaking out in the land on all sides.

This is the teaching. This is what man has done. The flaunting of sin.

Now these that are pushing for breaking down the marriage institution between a man and a wife. Breaking this down. Till it can finally come that a brother and a sister can get married.

It will come down to the most vile, incredible breaking down of every institution we've trusted in. They are not breaking the law of the land. They're not breaking the constitution.

They're breaking the law of God. They're bringing into disrepute and unbelief everything God has said. Taking away the authority of God's Word.

Because there's this nagging fear. This nagging thought. The Bible says, and I don't know where they hear it.

Some of you say have never heard it. The Holy Ghost, when He comes, He reproves the world. The world, all of mankind, He reproves the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.

And even though you try to shake it off, the world tries to shake it off. And the world sits comfortably saying, we don't believe it. Everything continues as it was.

Now, first of all, how can anyone be so blind as to say things are continuing just as they have? We've had terrorists blow up the twin towers in New York. Terrorists blowing up a train station in Spain. Terrorists down in Iraq are chopping off heads.

You know, people say things continue as they were. What blindness when 700,000 innocent people were killed in Rwanda at the hands of their own people. AIDS killing millions in Africa, India, China, and all over the world.

Rogue nations now with hydrogen bombs ready to hold the whole world as hostage. New diseases coming up that have never been known to mankind, such as SARS and Ebola. That can eat up a man's flesh in a week.

And they say all things continue as they were. That is willful ignorance and blindness, the Bible says. They forget the flood.

That's what Peter said. They forget that there was a flood. Things do not continue as they were.

The Bible said things continually get more and more evil. And many generations are multiplied seven times in multiples in the power and the extremity of the wickedness. Incredible that man can say things continue as they were from the beginning.

But you see, there's a power in the land. An unseen, invisible power. And that's the Holy Ghost.

When men say, where is the sign of his coming? Even if they sear the conscience, as I said, the Holy Spirit has been mandated to come and reprove the world of sin. Folks, the sinners can parade. Sinners can mock.

The mockers are here. They're in Congress. I'm not saying all congressmen, that they're trying to change our laws and our institutions.

They're in Congress. They are in government. They're in our schools.

They're in our colleges. The mockers are everywhere. The mockers are teaching in seminaries, in Bible colleges.

These mockers who are taking away this concept that Christ will come again. Absolutely removing it from their minds and from their theology. You ask me, what kind of coming are you talking about, Pastor Dave? Are you talking about what they call is the rapture? That he could come at any moment.

He could come tonight. And it's called by one strain of thought that that's the evacuation. People will disappear suddenly.

Books have been written about it. It's been preached for years. And it's called pre-trib rapture.

Many believe that Jesus will come halfway through what is called the great tribulation. That the world is going to fall under. And this is scriptural.

That there's going to be a time of what they call Jacob's trouble. And for seven years there'll be terror. And there will be signs and wonders and chaos such as the world has never seen.

A time of tribulation. Some say that we're going to go three and a half years and Jesus will come. Some are called post-trib.

That means after the trib. Pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib. And then there are others that say, well, there's only one coming and that's the end of the world when the Lord wraps it all up.

That's all the way to the very last in when he comes back with a host. And, folks, there are good men, godly men in all of these camps. Honest people could give you scripture to back up their theology.

Now, here's where I'm going with this. I'm not going to get into any of that. I believe in we can't lose trib, for example.

To me, it doesn't matter if I have to go through three and a half years of tribulation or seven years because the same Lord that's kept me for 73 years is going to take me for seven years if I have to. And he'll walk over us. And, you see, that's not the real issue because the Bible says no man knows the time or the date.

And I think it's wrong to argue with Christians so bad. Well, I believe in the rapture. I believe in mid-trib and get mad and lose your soul in talking about Jesus coming.

Get mad at people. If you love Jesus with all your heart and you want him to come and you're wanting him to come at any moment, you can go all the way to the end. Jesus will be with you just the same.

Glory be to God. I'm not trying to lighten this or be facetious about it at all. But, you see, there's a greater issue.

There's something goes for you on that. Because Satan has created a vicious lie that he's implanted in the heart of Christians. It's in the world, but it's taken hold at root even in evangelical circles and in Pentecostal circles.

And this is the lie. Jesus has delayed his coming. Jesus is not coming at any moment.

He has delayed his coming. I want you to go with me, please, to Matthew 24. Matthew 24.

Do you have your Bible? I said, do you have your Bible? Then go to Matthew 24. And I start reading at verse 42. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Now, that's amazing. You don't know whether it's pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, end of the world. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come.

But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in which hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be what? Be ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh, who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give meat in due season. Blessed is that servant, whom when his Lord comes, he shall find so doing.

Verily I say unto you, he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But, if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord, delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, in an hour which he is not aware of, shall cut him asunder, point him in his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, he's talking about servants.

These are his people. He's talking about his servants. And one of them is expecting, one is faithful, and he's been made ruler of the house.

The other is called an evil servant. And what is it that makes him evil? Well, why does Christ call this man an evil servant? Because he says in his heart. He didn't preach it.

He didn't teach it. He didn't voice it to his family. But he was taken by a lie in his mind.

His mind has bought this lie, Jesus has delayed his coming. He's not coming at any moment. I don't have to be concerned about it.

I don't have to live carefully. I don't have to think about it because he has delayed his coming. Now, Jesus called that man who thinks like that an evil man.

Now, folks, we don't say it. You may not have a theology to back it up. But you may have heard it somewhere, and the enemy has planted that somewhere in your mind.

He's not coming at any moment. But he has delayed his coming. Some say Paul the Apostle preached against getting people excited, preaching about an imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is widespread in the church today. I want you to go to II Thessalonians, please. II Thessalonians, the second chapter.

You're going to have to go closer to the end of the New Testament for new believers here. II Thessalonians. I'd like to hear the rustling of the leaves.

II Thessalonians 2. I'm sorry, verse 1. Now, we beseech you. This is Paul speaking. We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Now, look at me, please. He said, you've gotten a letter, or somebody sent you a word, and don't let that word that you hear upset you or excite you. He said, don't be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letters from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Now, look this way, please. You see, Paul, this church, was sent a letter, and said, Jesus is coming, and Paul says, Jesus, calm down, don't worry about it, don't think about it, because two things have to happen first.

There has to be a great falling away, an apostasy, and then the man of sin, the son of perdition, the Antichrist, has got to take his place, seated in the temple, opposing, or claiming to be God, and claiming worship. In the first place, in the original Greek, and in the New American Standard, it's not what it says at all. It says, the Scripture said, that day shall not come.

Let me get here. That the day of the Lord has come. That the day of the Lord has come.

Their concern, their being troubled, was that they were told that Jesus had come. That the day of the Lord had come. And they said, we have missed it, and they were troubled.

Paul, that's not Paul's theology. Here's what Paul's theology is. Knowing the time, that is already, this is already the hour for you to wake from sleep.

For now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is almost gone. The day is at hand.

Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Here is Paul's theology. Let your moderation be known unto all men, because the Lord is near.

Now, let me talk to you about Jesus not coming until there's a great apostasy. Number one. Now, I think you'd have to be absolutely spiritually blind not to see the raging apostasy all over the world.

In the world and in the church of Jesus Christ, the apostasy that is now sweeping worldwide. The apostasy has already come. That day shall not come except there come a falling away first.

For the mystery, Paul said, the mystery of iniquity is already at work. The mystery of iniquity is the mystery of lawlessness. He said it's already at work.

Now, listen closely. If this lawlessness, this spirit of lawlessness, absolute chaos, no one respecting the law. This is why God destroyed the earth by the flood, because of violence and lawlessness.

And Paul said this mystery of lawlessness, it's a mystery how it's just breaking out everywhere. But if it started in the days of Paul the Apostle, what do you think is happening today? How raging is this fire? That after all these years and that apostasy, that lawlessness has continued to grow worse and worse and worse. How lawless do you think Paul would think we are in this generation and in America today, if he were alive today? The apostasy.

Absolute mockery of the things of God. No concern about the coming of Jesus Christ. This message could not be preached in a majority of Protestant churches today.

It could not be preached. Paul goes on to say there's been a restraining power. I'm going to read on in verse 4. Who poses and exalted himself above all that is exalted, all that is called God, that is worshipped so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Remember, he said when I was with you, I told you these things. Verse 6, now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. What withholdeth? There's a restraining force, Paul said.

There's a restrainer. And that's what it says in the original Greek. There's a restrainer up to now.

And he said that restrainer is no longer going to be restraining. Now, could you imagine? Who else could restrain sin? Who else could stop total lawlessness, total chaos, till the world was in critical mass and everything spinning out of control, no one controlling, no government, nobody. It's been the Holy Spirit.

You know what New York City would be? Can you imagine what this city would be without the restrainer? Restraining wickedness until the gospel can be fulfilled and taught and preached in its fullness? I wouldn't want to be near this city. I wouldn't want to be in the country. I wouldn't want to be anywhere.

But the restrainer has been here. And he said, now, you know what's withholding, that he might be revealed in his time. Can you think about it? Think about it for just a moment.

All of this that we've been talking about, this lawlessness, that's under restraint. The Bible said God's going to lift the hand of the restrainer. He's going to lift the hand of restraint so that they will believe a lie, he said.

There'll be strong delusion. And what is going to happen? See, the Antichrist forces are already set. The stage is set.

We have United States of Europe about to put into place a constitution that is totally secular, denies God, denies religious freedom. Right now, I told you in Sweden, a Pentecostal preacher is in jail because he preached against homosexuality from the Bible. And that's a part of the whole agenda of the United States of Europe.

It's just the beginning. The stage is set. Right now, you say, well, Jesus can't come until the Antichrist.

What does the Scripture say? What does the Bible say? He is Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. John said, even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know it's the last time. When you think of terrorism, the deification of flesh, the blatant atheist, Islamic brutality, vile television, movies that are so filthy, militant homosexuality, molestation of little children.

One Catholic diocese in the West Coast has declared bankruptcy, unable to pay the millions of 60 accusations against one priest for child molestation. I'm not marking the whole Catholic Church. There are some men that I know in the Catholic ministry that are called charismatic Catholics and they seek God with all their heart.

I've met some true men of God. I'm not painting a brush on all the Catholics, not at all. But you see, this is all under restraint.

The restrainer is still here. He is still restraining. He is still withholding, the Scripture says.

But you see, the Antichrist is right on stage. It's like the stage is set and he's right outside the door ready to come in. Because what happens the moment the restrainer's hand is lifted? The Bible said that God will send a strong delusion that they will believe a lie.

What is that lie? They can believe that any man who mentions the name of Jesus, he must be all right because he names Jesus. But the Lord himself said they're going to come with another Jesus and another gospel. And they're going to use the name of Jesus, not the Christ.

They don't acknowledge him as God, but as a good man. And this blindness is going to sweep the whole world and even those that you wouldn't believe, who were once on fire for Christ, for once believed in the Trinity and the doctrine of a glorified Christ, are going to be caught in a delusion. The apostasy is already here.

The Antichrist spirit is already in control of the bodies of many and the minds of many. The Antichrist spirit, John said, is already here. There is nothing holding back the return of Jesus Christ to this earth.

Nothing. Let me talk to you about the cry of the man who is seated with Christ in a heavenly place. The cry.

And that cry is what we heard here in Revelation. We hear Jesus saying, I'm going to come quickly. And the spirit and the bride say, come.

And folks, the Holy Spirit knows just as sure as Peter and Paul were told their time was up. As the Lord, Peter said, has revealed to me, my days are short. And Paul said, I finished my course.

God spoke to his heart. And the restrainer knows that his time is nearly finished. His work is nearly done.

And he knows that the spirit cries out, oh, Jesus, come. The Holy Spirit's last prayer in the Bible. Jesus, come.

Do you understand the Holy Ghost grieves? He said, grieve not the Holy Spirit. Do you understand he has grieved all these years? How the Holy Spirit grieved when Jesus came to reveal himself as the Son of God. And even Jesus said, you have hated me and you've hated the Father.

Can you imagine the grief of the Holy Spirit at the rejection of Jesus Christ? And how they crucified him. And the grief of the Holy Spirit as he watched the Christ that he has come to magnify and glorify and reveal and manifest. He sees the agony, the pain of his Christ.

And the very spirit of the living Christ himself. The grief that was in his heart. And the grief of all of these years since the cross.

Can you imagine one pastor, 150 years ago, stood in Metropolitan Tabernacle. His name was Spurgeon, one of the great preachers of all times. And he said, I wonder why the Holy Ghost is still here.

Because we so grieved him. And the grief he sees as every law of God is being flaunted. The grief he sees as Christ being rejected by a world that Jesus came to die for.

And he sees the church turning away from him. Unconcerned people, even those who are the elect, going their way. Buying, selling, getting involved in the worldly things and tied to the things of the world and materialism.

There's nothing wrong with your car, your house. There's nothing you have to provide for your family. But folks, look what's happening to us.

Look what's happening to us. You see, the Holy Spirit has to pray through people. He does.

He prays through the bride. The bride encompasses every born-again, blood-cleansed believer. All over the world, we're the body of Christ.

And the Holy Spirit, in the last day, in the last time, said a cry is coming. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. And the Holy Spirit hears Christ saying to the Spirit, I'm coming soon.

I'm coming quickly. And all the Holy Spirit cries out and prays through his bride, Come! Jesus, come quickly! I'm going to ask you a question. When is the last time you prayed this prayer? Jesus, come.

I want you to think about it. When is the last time you allowed the Holy Spirit to pray through you? Oh, Jesus, Savior, come! Redeem your name! I can't handle the rejection of those around me against you. You see, that's the prayer.

That's the cry of the man who's seated with Christ, because he walks and lives in the Spirit. And the Spirit is crying this. He's praying that, and he has to pray it through the church.

I ask you again. When's the last time you prayed diligently and daily? Now, I'm preaching to myself because when God posed that question to me, I couldn't remember. Couldn't remember! I've read that.

And the Lord said, David, it's different now because my coming is so close now. I am doing it by the Spirit. The Spirit is going to start praying and crying.

And now, soon, if the bride of Jesus Christ will cry... See, I didn't know I could hasten the day of the coming. I didn't know that my prayers could hasten the day of His coming. You see, never heard that before.

Let me prove it. 2 Peter 3.12, Looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of the Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, the elements shall melt with the fervent heat. And that big word, hastening, means to speed up.

To speed up the coming of the Lord. You see, if the bride all over the world, if the church would wake up and just allow the Holy Spirit to pray this and begin to pray, Jesus, come! And there was a cry from millions of those who know Christ. Would He shorten the days? For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall there be.

And except the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. Do you know that we can touch God's heart? Are you saying that, pastor, because you're just tired of living in this world of sin? Yes! I'm tired of all the cancers in my family. I'm tired of this belly of mine aching all the time.

There's nothing wrong with that. Because He said, I'm going to give you a new body. Paul the apostle said, I want to go home.

The only reason I'm here is for you. I've got to keep ministering to you because he said, you're not learning fast enough. Oh, but that's not why I want to go.

That's not the real issue. The Bible said, we're going to see Him face to face. We're going to behold Him as He is.

You know what I want to hear? My name. David. I want to hear Him speak it.

David. Can you imagine Him calling your name? Say it. Think of Jesus saying it to you.

Face to face. Beholding Him. He says, David.

There's much more. One last thing. I'm just going to shut it down.

One last thing. Can you imagine a newlywed couple? They've just been married and he's called away. And he says to his new bride, I don't know when I'm coming back.

I have to go. I have to do this because that's my calling and I have to go. I don't know when I'm coming back.

But here's how you can reach me. And I'll come at a certain time. I don't know when, but I'll come.

Can you imagine that woman, that bride? She writes to him for the next two or three years. Wonderful love letters. Sweetheart, I miss you.

I miss you so much. It extends to five years and she's still writing those love letters, except they're not as frequent now. Ten years go by and she's writing these letters.

And less and less, I love you. But can you imagine this man having to be gone 15, 20 years and having received all these letters, I love you, and all these pledges, I'll be true to you. And every once does she say, please come home.

Please come back. I need your embrace. I need to see you face to face.

And, folks, that's a picture of the church, a picture of many of us. Oh, how we love Jesus. How we love him.

How we talk about it. When was the last time you got on your face and said, Jesus, I can't handle this anymore without you being here. I know you're in heaven.

I know that I want to be with you. Let me come to meet you. Come get me.

I would think she wants to be near him. I would think she wants to see his face and be embraced by this man and say, I'll never leave you again. I don't want to be away from you.

And that's the way it is. This is what I'm talking about. The man seated with Christ, walking and praying in the Spirit, is going to have this cry in his heart.

Come. Teenager, you're here. You say you love Jesus.

I'm not going to put some scare thing in you. I'm not going to say, hey, you're going to miss the coming of the Lord. I'm saying if you love him, this is the motivation.

If you truly love Jesus, you're going to leave this service saying, I don't know how to pray like that, the Holy Spirit. If I just get along with you, would you pray this through me? Because the Bible says we don't know how to pray, but the Spirit in us. That is what he's doing in this last hour.

He's praying that prayer. And I just have to yield. I've been doing that this past week when the Lord's been dealing with me.

I've just been going along with him and allowing the Holy Spirit. And suddenly my heart just cries out, oh, Jesus, honor your name. Defend your name.

They're mocking you now. It's out of control. Come, Lord Jesus.

And the only reason he's delayed, he says, the Lord is patient, long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but all come to repent. Or he would have come long ago. And so, and with this last word I close, if I really am praying that and believing it in my heart, you better believe I'm going to pray for my unsaved loved ones.

Because it would be hypocrisy for me to say, come quickly, Lord Jesus, and pray that prayer, and knowing that I have not prayed diligently for my unsafe loved ones. If you've got a son or daughter, a child, somebody in your immediate family, and they are not right with God, and if you truly believe that Jesus is coming, I would suggest you need to be on your face before God and say, Jesus, come quickly. But first, save my boy, save my daughter, save my family.

I don't want to go without my family. I want to take all my family with me when Jesus comes. Will you stand, please? Everybody stand, please.

Hallelujah. Jesus, oh Christ of Calvary, oh Holy Spirit, we give ourselves. Can you just say that from your heart? Lord Jesus, come.

Lord Jesus, come. Help me to pray this prayer. Help me to, not just words out of my mouth, but from the depths of my innermost.

Lord Jesus, oh Holy Spirit, come and pray through us. Come and make that the cry of our hearts, even so. Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, Jesus. And may we be ever living, expecting Him at any moment, as the Scripture tells us. Now, look this way, if you will, please.

In the annex, and here in the balcony, and the main floor, this is a very simple message. No deep theology. This is a very simple word that I've given to you.

When I pray this to the Holy Spirit, this will fall right in front of me on the ground, if you don't take it and make it known and felt, that the congregation can experience what the Holy Spirit is saying. As weakly as I may have presented it to you, but the Holy Spirit working in your heart. And this is a question that the Holy Spirit would ask you.

And I am asking you through the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit's upon me right now, and I'm speaking as led by the Holy Spirit. And I ask you, this message, does this frighten you? Does it upset you? Does it trouble you? If it troubles you, then there's a controversy there that God wants settled.

Because this is the hope of the church. This is the thrill of the church, to hear that Christ is coming. What a wonderful, glorious truth that Christ is coming.

But have you been ignoring Him? Have you been slipping away? Have you... If you stood face to face with Jesus, I ask it honestly, without trying to strike you with fear, even though the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, I'm telling you all honestly, are you ready? Are you ready to face Him? If you're not looking for His coming, if you're not yearning for His coming, then sin's at the door. The sin that has to be dealt with. Now, in His loving grace, I invite you to step out of your seat and say, Pastor David, I say it outright.

I'm not ready. I know that. My conscience tells me, my spirit tells me, I know that.

I am not ready to meet Christ. We are to live every day, every moment ready. Be ye ready.

For in an hour you don't think He's coming. He said, I will come. I can't tell you when that is.

But I invite you to step out of your seat. In the balcony, go to the stairs on either side and come down. And in the annex, just go to the lobby.

Turn behind you, go to the lobby. Ushers, will you please show them how to get into this auditorium. Come down the stairs and meet me here.

And we're going to settle this now. We're going to settle it in the name of the Lord. If only five people come, I'm going to make this... We're not interested in just packing the auditorium.

We're asking now, that if you're honestly not ready, I have to put that to you straight. If you know in your heart you're not ready, and you feel the Holy Spirit tugging at your heart, come here and say, I'm not leaving this building until I know that I'm ready to meet Christ. Whenever He comes.

Step right on out of your seat and come and stand here to the front if you will, please. If you've ever been in this church before, if you've been coming, you know that we don't play games, we don't try to put on a show. And I've always been sober in this pulpit.

But just now the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart that at least three of you that are here, that came forward, have even been thinking of suicide because you've been so down, so feeling of hopelessness and no hope. And I said, Lord, I can't do that. Now, when I travel all over the world in ministers' conferences, young people flock to some of our meetings.

And not too many months ago in Montevideo, Uruguay, I gave an invitation. The invitation for only those who were thinking of suicide, and over 400 came forward out of 4,000. And it's all over the world and all over the United States.

And I know it's here tonight. And I said, Lord, I don't want to do that. And the Lord said, No, I want to save them.

I want to save them from the pits of hell. No one will put you down. No one will say a word to you but to pray for you and strengthen you.

If you're one of those three, where are you at? Raise your hand. Just raise your hand. I can't see all of you.

Two, three, all right. Four, five, all right. Folks, this is not a show.

I'm not trying to be prophetic. But this is life and death. I want you to pray with me now for every one of these that had their hand raised, that God will stop that lie.

And every one of you have that right now. I want you to know that God so loved you that He didn't point you out to shame you. He pointed you out to say you're an object of my love.

You're an object of my prayers, of the saints of God's people. All right, folks, let's pray right now. Pray right now.

If you saw someone's hand, just put a hand on their shoulder and pray the love of Jesus. Father, right now I come against that lying spirit of the devil who tried to destroy. The devil's a destroyer.

The devil's a liar. And we take authority over that spirit in the name of Jesus, and we cast it out now in Christ's name. We take Your authority, not our authority, but the authority of Your Word, the authority of Your name in the name of Jesus Christ.

Pluck that lie out of every mind that's here tonight in Christ's name, in Jesus' name. Now, look at me, please. Those that have come forward right now who say, I'm really not ready.

It doesn't take all night. It doesn't take God long when He sees an open heart. When He sees an anxious person, He said, if you're ready to confess, I'm more than willing to forgive and cleanse you.

You know Jesus can wipe you as clean so that you can be as clean in the eyes of God as Jesus is. Do you understand that? That's the power of the blood. You can be as clean and accepted before God as His own Son because He takes you into His heart and you are one with Christ so that the Father looks at you not as what you were but what you are through confession of your sin and faith in Jesus Christ.

He said, you're accepted in the Beloved, and He receives you into His heart. And even if you've backslidden, if you've said, well, I've grieved the Holy Spirit and I've grieved God. Yes, but here you are.

You're being lovingly convicted by the Holy Spirit and He wants to bring you back to His arms right now. Lord Jesus, I pray for a miracle now that everyone that's here will hear the Holy Spirit saying, Come, come now. The Lord is ready to receive you and cleanse you.

Will you pray this prayer with me? Lord Jesus, cleanse my heart. Of all sin and iniquity, I confess my need. In every sin, take sin out of my life.

By the power of Your Holy Spirit, Jesus, receive me. Because I want You. I love You.

Touch me. Heal me. And set me free.

And bring me peace. And rest in my soul. Now, I want you to just close your eyes for a moment.

And just, if you have your Bible in your hand, just raise one hand. Some of you have your purse or pocket, but just raise one hand to the Lord right now while we pray. Will you pray this, thank You, Jesus? Say it out loud, thank You, Jesus.

That You answer prayer. And You honor Your Word. And on the authority of God's Word, I've confessed.

And now I believe. I'm forgiven. And I'm cleansed.

And I'm ready to meet Christ. Give Him thanks now in your heart. Give Him thanks.

Hallelujah. This is the conclusion of the message.