THE FAITHFUL WITNESS

Isaiah tells us that God declares the beginning from the end. As the Almighty, he stands outside of time and foretells that which is to come as if it had already happened because from his perspective, it already has. This is why he can prophesy the birth of Josiah 340 years before it happens and give details of what Josiah will do. This is why he could give details of the heathen King Cyrus 150 years before his birth. B.H. Clendennen says, "God never starts a thing until He finishes it." That is the reason the book of Revelations reads like history when in truth it is future.

The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy. Testimony is the same word translated witness. When you think of witness you think of someone in a court of law who with uplifted hand swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God. Before time ever began, Jesus who is the Son of God, the Almighty, swore with uplifted hand to tell the truth because he is eternal Truth. As he took the witness stand as a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,He proceeded to witness of all that you read about in the scriptures. That is why you see in the scriptures that "the word of the Lord came" to men of old. The word came from Heaven because it had always been; the Word never originates in time!

What does a witness do in a trial, does he testify as to what will happen, or does he testify as to what has already happened? He testifies as to what he has seen and and heard, that which has already taken place. To do otherwise would surely be rejected. The witness could not say, "I did not see the accused shoot the gun, but I am sure that was fixing to happen! This would not be accepted because it is not possible to know this, naturally speaking. However, when Jesus testifies, he speaks of things eternal--supernatural, those things which must surely come to pass.

When God's covenant people go through a trial, the Lord is always with them because this is the covenant: He has promised to never leave you and to hold your hand. He is the faithful witness on your behalf and as in the time of Daniel, he will show up in the fire. When the evidence mounts against you so as to assure you that you are going down in utter defeat and embarrassment, he is faithful to witness of this truth: You are more than a conqueror through him who loved you! When your besetting sin brings accusation that you will never be free, your Advocate testifies that sin shall not have dominion over you, that he who the Son sets free is free indeed. When it looks like the disappointments and the shame they bring will never end, Jesus with hand lifted up brings your destiny to light, declaring over you: "Surely there is an end; your expectation will not pass away. I the Lord will perfect that which concerns you; I will bring that which you are going through to a sudden, abrupt termination, and bring you into the fullness of my presence within your life. You will see my goodness in the land of the living!" With God this is a done deal; it has been recorded in the courtroom of Heaven, witnessed by the Son to the Lord of heaven and earth.

THE LAST CALL

In 1982, while I was casting a net for minnows at our fishpond, lightening suddenly struck about twenty feet in front of me on the water. Immediately I heard what I now know to be the voice of the Lord tell me, "You could have busted hell wide open." I turned and screamed from my innermost being a cry of stark terror, the cry of the damned, because I knew what I had heard was true. I ran home and when my Mom saw me a hour later I was still visibly shaken and when I tried to tell her what happened, I broke and could only weep.

This was on a Monday and with every intention of getting saved the following Sunday, I started reading my bible. Nothing happened that Sunday or the next. On Monday, 14 days later,the conviction of what had happened had started to wane when I heard the same voice speak to me again, "I have gotten your attention; this is your last call to get right with me." I had a Billy Graham answer book and I "happened" to turn to the question, "How can I know that I am saved?" When I read the answer I heard the same voice that had been speaking to me say to me, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me." Immediately I saw for the first time that Jesus had died for me and I was astonished because in that moment I had passed from death to life. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (Matthew 5:24).

I am here today because I heard the greatest preacher who has ever walked the face of the earth: Jesus Christ!! His word is full of power and authority.His speaking and his action are one; he brings life to everything that he touches. One word from him can totally change a situation from hopeless to wholeness!When he changes you and brings you out of absolute darkness into Light, nobody will have to convince you that you are saved: Nobody could convince you other wise. As surly as he is alive, he will be alive in you; your lifestyle will prove that you are living the life of another. Whereas you were headed 280 South, you are now headed 280 North.

The Lord has brought me, through many dangers, toils, and snares, to this time to say to all who would hear:This is the last call,"Behold the bridegroom cometh." When the prophet Daniel read Jeremiah, he "understood by books" that it was time for Israel to return from the exile.If you will search the scriptures you will "know by books" that everything is going to change suddenly. Suddenly the Lord has come and is coming to cleanse the temple the second time, because judgment must begin at the House of God.Jesus is coming to awaken his church out of sleep. The truth is, we have been asleep, in bed with American Idol and every other pleasure that robs us of our time with the Lord, and our adultery has produced "strange children." We have "inoculated" the Word of God and have produced spiritual cripples.

If judgment begins with the church, if the righteous be scarcely saved,where will the ungodly and sinner appear? Several weeks ago while in prayer, the Lord spoke to our Saturday morning prayer group the following word. "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, and make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord:do not they provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces" Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man and beast...it shall burn, and not be quenched" (Jeremiah 7:18-20). On this same day David Wilkerson warned that a world shaking calamity was soon to come, that we were not in a depression but that we were under the wrath of God.

It is midnight: "Thus saith the Lord, about midnight will I go out unto the midst of Egypt..." (Exodus 11:4). God is going to bring his church out of Egypt and soon the trump will sound and we will meet the Lord in the air. What will be a "Red Sea" deliverance for the church will be devastation for those who hate God. He will make a difference between the righteous and the unrighteous.

According To The Scriptures

We live in the time of the greatest out pouring of the Holy Ghost known to man. With out a doubt the word of the Lord is proceeding forth this very moment from the very mouth of God.

This being true leads us to two questions. Why am I not seeing it and of the many voices claiming to be this out pouring, which one is the true voice of God.

If you are not hearing the voice of the Lord clearly it can mean only one thing: you are in the wrong place. In the natural, I promise you on the word of God that at this moment the Tallapoosa River is flowing at Griffin Shoals. The reason I do not hear it is simple; the reason I am not being cleansed by its current is simple: I am not there! I’m not even close; to say any different would be to lie.

The only river bed through which the Spirit of God flows is that of death and resurrection. Until you see through the scriptures the exceeding sinfulness of man and the corresponding wrath of an outraged Holy God which led him to crush his Son at the cross we will never stand on the ground of repentance that leads to life. It was our sin that put Jesus on the cross; he was wounded for our transgressions. You must see your old man as an enemy of God and worthy of only one thing, the death of the cross. Thank God that in his mercy he liquidated the old man once and for all through the body of Jesus Christ. If you have been born again it is no longer you that live but Christ; you are now his sheep and his sheep hear his voice. If you claim to be hearing his voice and yet you love the world and have no time for Jesus, you are lying; you are not there. The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin you can’t love Jesus and sin!

The way to know which voice is the true voice of God is simple: if thus saith the Lord is not thus saith the Word of God it is another voice! Run! It’s an imposter; it’s the enemy who has come to kill you. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

As with the first coming of the Lord so will be with the second; he came according to the scriptures. The word of the Lord that came to John the Baptist was the unadulterated word of God: “The word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Luke 3:2-4).

Jesus is coming again the exact same way: according to the scriptures.

One of the biggest lies that have ever been told is this: “There is a vast difference between past truth and present truth.” That is straight out of hell! Jesus Christ is the truth and he never changes. Anything that he says will stand up to any test of the scripture. If you trace his truth back to the source from which it came, you will come straight to the mouth of God. What form of doctrine are you listening to? Who have you been listening to? Be a Berean: trace it back to the root: “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit” (Matthew 12:33).JV