— Brother Phil Enlow: The Gospel has gone out. Thank God, to some degree it’s still going out! But the Gospel has gone out as a witness to all nations, but we are seeing a separation take place. We are seeing God call people out, but we are seeing people on a…that are exposed to that truth rejecting it and saying we are going to chart our own future. We have our own plans. We embrace that. And, from God’s point of view it is darkness—it is gross darkness!
And the fact that it’s midnight, I think, is significant. You know, the Jewish day, technically, began at six o’clock in the evening, went to six o’clock the next day, so the night portion of it was from six to six, isn’t it? Midnight is exactly in the middle of that. I don’t think that’s an accident. I think God is saying this is an appointed time in the middle of the darkness of night. And what He’s saying is, all that has been unfolding all these years, it’s coming to a climax, when the only option, the only thing left is judgment!
One of the other things that’s really significant about this is it says the bridegroom was a long time in coming. I think it’s something the Lord wants us to be aware of. I know some of you, who were here when the Lord visited us so powerfully so many years ago, remember how it was and how intense the presence of God was. How…I mean, things that were being revealed were just amazing, but the presence of God and the manifest presence of God was just powerful.
And oh, it was like, oh, He’s coming, certainly, within five years. We’re right at the gate. It’s just about over. All God was doing was showing us what was coming without giving us a time frame. What happens when the time just sort of seems to drag on and you don’t see the fulfillment of what we’ve been talking about? How many people did we have who came on the excitement of what was happening, who didn’t stick around when it just kind of went on?
See, God is wanting a faith that looks past every circumstance. And He has told us specifically that it’s gonna seem like He’s delaying. Is He? No. He knows exactly the time. And I’ll quickly read a scripture that we know over in 1st Peter…2nd Peter, rather, chapter 3, because this deals with this specifically. And it reveals something about why God would even allow a delay to happen. I’ll just look…verse 3 is a good place to pick up.
“Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” (NIV). That tells you what’s behind the scoffing. Okay? “They will say, Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. but they deliberately forget…” It’s a choice. “…That long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and earth was formed out of water and by water.
“By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly.” Do you believe that?
It’s nice…we like to believe the sweet things that just give us help and comfort and all of that, and thank God for every one of them. But this is truth, too. This is reality. This is the world that you live in. This is the world our young people are growing up in. You better understand it. I mean, your destiny depends on understanding this and walking in the light of it.
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise….” You get that? “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with…” Who? “…Patient with you….”
I believe, on the one hand, He’s certainly giving people all the opportunity that they could ever…I mean, no one can go there and say You didn’t give me a chance. There’s…I’ll tell you, God’s judgement is gonna be just. But I’ll tell you, the patience is with us. I’m so glad He’s patient with me. Aren’t you?
( congregational amens ).
Oh, thank God. He is gonna continue to prepare everyone that has been born of His Spirit who will look to Him, and drink in of what He gives us, because I don’t have what it takes to stand in this kind of darkness, but He does.
( congregational amens ).
He is faithful. He is not slow! Okay? “Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God is not in a hurry to pour out His judgement. Jesus wept again over Jerusalem. That’s His heart! But there does come a time, when it absolutely reaches a climax, and there’s nothing left to do.
If you have a world full of people, who have made their choice, who have no capacity for God, and this is a temporary world, what’s the point of going on? There is no point. And this world, like I say, is destined for something that he’s gonna be talking about here.
“But the day of the Lord…” This is the day. This is midnight. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” That is unexpected. “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
I mean, what are you living for? What matters? Thank God. I don’t…you know, in the natural, I don’t look forward to the trouble and the difficulty that may well come. But I find myself saying, Lord Jesus, come. Lord, whatever it takes, let that day come. Reach everyone that has…that can possibly hear the message. Reach them, Lord! Help us to do our part and be part of that, but Lord, oh, God, wind this thing up. You get older, you realize there’s nothing to live for here. You might as well say just Lord, come.
Praise God! I hope the young people can get this. I was one of the younger people when all this was happening, and we’ve got some of them here this day…to this day, that are still with us that got it. Some of them have gone on already to be with the Lord. But oh, every generation, this needs to become reality in your heart and in your life. This is the world in which you have been born. This is what it’s about. If you miss this, you miss everything. This is what it’s about.
“That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
I’ll tell you, there is a time frame. We are watching two harvests come to fruition. The harvest of wickedness of people who’ve chosen their own way, and the harvest of righteousness of those who have given and surrendered their lives, lock, stock and barrel, no conditions, into His hand, looking to Him for the salvation they cannot engineer in themselves. That’s it.
And I’ll tell you, God is going to make manifest whether that is really in the heart or not. And that’s one of the things that makes this passage concerning. I don’t believe that anybody who’s really and truly been born and sealed of God’s Spirit is gonna be lost. But the reality is, there are people who sit in churches who will profess every one of these things, because the foolish virgins were also there with the wise. They were there to look for the bridegroom. They were expecting him. They had the knowledge to go with all of that. They had the intentions that went with that. What they didn’t have was the oil.
Oil gives light. Of Jesus, it was said, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (KJV). Folks, he’s talking about the oil of God’s Spirit. He’s talking about the reality of a born-again heart. And I’ll tell you, even when there is a darkness that causes people to come to a place where they’re asleep, in a sense, I’ll tell you, if you don’t have this, you don’t have anything to wake up to, because there is a time when it is too late.
That’s the message of this. When God closes the door, it’s closed. When God closed the door of the ark, it was closed. I’ll tell you, you think about the people that rejected and killed Jesus, the condition of…the condition of people who thought they were serving God by killing the Son of God. Do you see what darkness is like?
Folks, that’s the spirit that is engulfing our world. When God withdraws His Spirit from influencing people, what happens? He withdraws it because they say no, repeatedly. What happens to people’s hearts? Do they just…are they just an empty vessel? No. I’ll tell you, devils rush in, and you see the manifestation, in one form or another, of satanic power, satanic deception, satanic wickedness, satanic hatred of God, hatred of you and me!
But oh, thank God, He’s gonna bring us to the end of the age. He’s never gonna leave us. But folks, the fact that they could be in a state of darkness, and actually slumber and sleep tells me that…it reminds me of what Jesus said. “…In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” It’s when you don’t expect Him! Conditions had become such that they weren’t even thinking, oh, this means the Lord is about to come! They were just kind of looking at the conditions.
But I’ll tell you, if we have something on the inside, if we are doing what Ricky was talking about and listening and growing and learning and becoming one, and just aligned with Him completely, whatever the conditions are when voice comes, there’s gonna be something there that’s capable of responding, capable of fulfilling the place that God has opened for us.
I don’t claim to be able to explain every little detail. I don’t think I need to, but do you get the heart of the message there? The reality is a warning to people that sit in church pews, and affirm all of the right things and do all the right things, and even sit there believing they are ready for the bridegroom to come! But they have never, ever faced the need of their own heart and never surrendered to Jesus Christ. He has never come in and sealed them by His Spirit. What a horrible thing.
So many others will have already fallen off to the wayside, but here is a time when, at ‘the’ critical moment, when the Lord says, it’s time, they’re not ready. That’s a pretty sober warning, and I pray that anybody here, anybody that hears this, will cry out to God and say, oh, God, search my heart. Lord, I need You. I want to be a part of Your kingdom, and I have no power.
God, show me the corruption of my own heart and my own need, and then, show me the Savior and what He has done for me by bearing every sin upon His own back, shedding His blood so that I can be completely free from sin. The way was opened to see You and to become part of Your kingdom, Lord. That’s what it’s all about. Don’t be one of those that comes to that day, and it’s all over.
You know, there’s a scripture toward the end of Revelation that says, “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” I don’t remember all of it. There were about four different things. He that is unrighteous. “He that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”
There’s a point in time when your condition is fixed, when choices have been made, and the Lord says, okay, that’s it. Your destiny has been determined by what you have chosen. Oh God, reach out to people that are in need, because there’s still a day of grace. There’s still an opportunity. We see the Word going out. We see that there are people coming.
But we also see the condition of the world and the way darkness is unfolding and spreading. It’s very, very real. We see the politics of things, and all these political battles and cultural battles that are going on, but do you see what’s really happening?
There are two kingdoms. God and His kingdom are reaching out. That’s more real than what we see and touch. That’s what will last. God’s kingdom is reaching out and convicting hearts and drawing them into His kingdom. But there is another kingdom. Boy, its day is short. Thank God! But he knows it’s short, and he’s angry about it.
So, I just…I’ll do the same thing as Ricky does. I just put this in the Lord’s hands. He is able to save those who call upon Him from the heart. Don’t find yourself, don’t fool yourself into thinking you can sort of adhere to Christ in some fashion without ever surrendering your heart and your life and being born of His Spirit. Don’t fool yourself. If you do, the darkness will overtake you. If you walk in the light while there is light, God will give you light, and you’ll have what you need.
( congregational amens ).
And of course, he comes to the end of this and says, be ready, because you don’t know! So that’s a warning to those who do believe! It’s exactly what Brother Ricky was saying. We need to be taking in and realizing things aren’t always gonna be as they are. We need what He’s giving us, and He is preparing us to stand in an hour, the greatest hour of darkness the world has ever known.
But I’ll tell you, the light will be enough. Don’t worry. That day will come when He sends His angels. Again, what a picture that would be. Can you imagine Him showing up in the air, and all of a sudden, angels being dispatched everywhere, and flying down and taking hold of somebody’s hand and leading them up into the air?
Folks, when that’s done, when the last one is removed from the earth, what purpose is there in going on? There’s nothing but fire, and then judgement to follow. You know, our paper is the Midnight Cry Messenger, Midnight Cry Ministries. That’s where this came from. I was just thinking as I came into this service. I can’t remember the last time I preached on this passage. But it’s real, and this generation needs to get it. These are the words of Jesus. They aren’t mine.
And if they are not a warning of what’s coming, and what we need, but also an encouragement, I don’t know what they are. So, if there’s somebody here, and you’re just, you’re here, and you’re kind of going along, but it’s never gotten down into here, be warned. There will come a time, if that does not change, when you will not be able to change. Now is the day of salvation. Now. It’s when He speaks that we need to hear. So, I just pray that God will touch the hearts of everyone to whom He’s speaking today. May God bless you.
