The Midnight Cry

I want to speak to you on the specific subject the midnight cry now I need to tell you that I've been getting a lot of requests for a sermon that I years ago I was preaching on this all over the world five or six years ago and then I somehow stopped doing it and then I began to get calls letters since this coronavirus has taken over the planet people of written and said could this be it could this be the midnight cry hence the new interest in this subject now I've got special friends in South Africa they just recently would I preached a sermon for them and this is what I'm doing but I suspect this sermon will go outside South Africa and maybe God will use it all over again it's been on my heart for many many years this is nothing new now I'll come immediately and answer the question is the present coronavirus the midnight cried no in my opinion and I will explain why in this sermon but I want to say quickly that the midnight cry will be coming and I think it could be soon I think this coronavirus will pass and I think it won't be long until something major I mean huge takes place and that will grip people because what needs to happen is a prophetic voice that will be parallel to either a pandemic or world crisis such as what happened on September the 11th 2001 when the twin towers fell in New York City that caused the whole world to stand still but only for a short period of time and my suspicion his I wish it weren't true the present coronavirus crisis is going to cause some people to turn to God and it will wake up a few but I'm afraid that when it passes and I'm told that it probably will and I suspect that it will that doesn't mean the world will ever be the same again I'm not sure the world will ever be the same again the new normal will be that nothing will be normal in any case something major will come that will get the world's attention at the natural level but God will raise up a person I would have thought maybe more than one with such authority that it's just as gripping as the natural crisis itself is and people will know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is coming soon well that said I want to do my best to explain what I take Matthew 25 to refer to here's the way it is written in Matthew chapter 25 verses five and six the bridegroom was a long time in coming and they will all this is referring to the wise and foolish virgins to which I will refer in a moment they fell asleep and at midnight the cry rang out here's the bridegroom come out to meet him well that's what we have in Matthew 25 specially verse 6 where it refers to midnight then I will explain you know it's seldom that I deal with things eschatological eschatology comes from the Greek word excess chaos that means last things and if you were to look over my whole ministry for 25 years at Westminster Chapel and try to find it a sermon that dealt with last day's prophecy you wouldn't find many I'll tell you why when I first started preaching back in 1954 at the age of 19 I was enamored with prophecy I'm not talking about the gift of prophecy that Betty referred to today I'm talking about last day ministries the Antichrist what was thought to be the millennium tribulation all those things I'm not going into that today accept it say that my father came to hear me preach for the first time at my first little Church in Palmer Tennessee many many years ago and I wanted to preach a sermon that would make my dad proud well it was a servant of prophecy I had it all figured out I understood the book of Revelation for example I could explain it completely and I I was at the expert 19 years old well when I finished the sermon my dad didn't say a word and I thought well I don't guess I did very well a couple hours later he said son can I give you some advice it comes from the man I named you after dr. Artie Williams and this is why I go by Artie my father's favorite preacher was Artie Williams general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene and dr. Artie Williams would ordain young people to the ministry and give this advice to them stay away from the subject of prophecy he said let the old man do that I guess that meant because they won't be around to see their mistakes okay I'm old so maybe justifies this word whether I will be around to see what I'm going to talk about who knows that 84 years old and I guess it would be wishful thinking that I would be around to see it but I hope so I'd like to be I know this that many years ago after I had what I would call a Damascus Road experience it wasn't my conversion it was my baptism of the Holy Spirit and where the person of Jesus was more real to me than anything around me even as I speak to you I mean he was so real I can't go into all that now but only to say that in subsequent months have began to have a series of visions I must have had a dozen visions at least one of them maybe more than one hinted of a revival that would go around the world and in Division I was in it oh no maybe that's what I wanted to believe and I wouldn't go to the stake to say that I will be alive but I've always thought I might be because of that vision in any case even if I'm not alive it's going to happen this is real it is coming all right we're talking about the parable of the ten virgins it's one of my favorite parables now one thing to clarify is that midnight does not mean twelve o'clock it means middle of the night it comes through three Greek words that means middle of night we can understand why it will be translated middle of night or more often midnight but that is what we know about this word what it's saying is that the church will be in a deep sleep expecting nothing imagine yourself at two o'clock in the morning in a deep deep sleep and you're getting a wake-up call and you're not ready for it and you don't particularly want it well that's what this parable is about it's not so much about the second coming to be honest as it is the awakening of the church just before the second coming and according to Jesus the awakening will take place in the middle of the night metaphorically speaking I'll come back to this now it means that the call that awakens the ten virgins preceded the actual Second Coming if you look at the parable carefully and look at 25th Matthew twenty five or six you can see there is a gap in time you see between the cry and the coming of the bridegroom many people have assumed that the cry that wakes up the church and the actual coming of the bridegroom which is the coming of Jesus would be simultaneous but look at it more carefully it's not simultaneous because the foolish virgins are saying to the wise give us of your oil look if it were simultaneous they wouldn't be able to say that there was something going on after the wake-up call well the questions that we want to deal with who are the 10 virgins the answer I believe they represent the church what is the meaning of wise and foolish well the answer is the wise are those who were pursuing their inheritance the foolish those who didn't now I need to say parenthetically all Christians are called to come into their inheritance some do some don't well in this parable they thought that they were pursuing their inheritance just because they were a part of something big or they were part of the church but the fact is that all were asleep foolish virgins wise virgins all asleep and so this is what they had in common and so there would be a cry while everybody was asleep now how would I define wise well these people that were wise had the fear of God Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom that's why one could be called wise the fear of the Lord Word we know this that the song says your word is a lamp unto my feet and so we know that these virgins all had oil in their lamps that's what it says in verse 4 and that not only that they have the spirit and they're the ones that had oil because when Samuel anointed David with oil that's when the anointing came upon so word and spirit they it would be the wise what about the foolish well foolish people didn't think about tomorrow's consequences of today's decisions they took no oil in their lamps they knew what the festival festivities have a middle-eastern wedding was like I'll come to that in a moment and so they were hoping for no delay in the bridegroom's coming we know that those who hate the fear of the Lord hate knowledge and God says because you hate knowledge one day I will laugh at your calamity well they did not choose the fear of the Lord all right what is the midnight cry it is an effectual awakening in the middle of the night metaphorically speaking when both the wise and the foolish were in a deep sleep we know what happened on September the 1st 2001 and that woke up everybody God can do that just as easily at a spiritual level so it will mean the preaching of the gospel with unprecedented power I have reason to believe that the key to the next great move of God is the book of Romans and especially chapter 4 and it will be a revival of the teaching of justification by faith alone it will mean a restoration of the gospel and that is something that we need and it will be the culmination of the word and the spirit coming together now I happen to believe that at the present time there is a great divorce I'd call it silent divorce in the church speaking generally between the word and the spirit now when there's a divorce sometimes the children's they were the mother some the children stay with the father well in this divorce you have those that are on the spirit side and those that are on the word side what's the difference we'll take those that are word churches the emphasis is know your doctrine know your Bible sound theology justification by faith sovereignty of God and until we get back to sound teaching the honor of God's name will not be restored what's wrong with that emphasis nothing it's exactly right take spirit churches what what's the message well we need to get back to the book of Acts signs wonders miracles gifts of the Spirit and operation when they had a prayer meeting the place was shaken get into Peters shadow you're healed light of the Holy Spirit you struck dead right on the spot well spirit people say until the church has power like that the honor of God's name will not be restored what's wrong with that emphasis nothing it's exactly right but the problem is today generally speaking there are exceptions but they're not a lot of exceptions in my opinion generally speaking wherever you go it's one or the other you've got word churches you've got spirit churches and they shout at each other pointing the finger not learning not listening and this is where we are generally speaking there are very few churches where it's word and spirit with equal emphasis equal enthusiasm equal joy equal conviction it's usually one or the other well now this parable of Jesus it is based upon an ancient oriental wedding by oriental I mean middle-eastern Jesus immediate hearers would have understood this probably better than we do today because he was talking to people who would know exactly what a middle Eastern wedding was like Jesus will have just had finished the 20 what what is now the 24th chapter of Matthew they didn't have chapters and verses in the original of course there was no reference to a book that would come out one day and say all of this but Jesus had given us what is Matthew 24 it's the description of a very last days and then chapter 25 begins with these words at that time at that time that means at the time when Jesus is describing the very last days there would be at the church that would generally speaking be symbolized by being in a deep sleep if you were to ask me what is the most apt description of the church today I would say the church is asleep all right well Jesus is going to talk about a Middle Eastern wedding sometimes the wedding would take the form of a 7 Day celebration at a specific time the groom would come to get his bride from her house and then take her to his house the bride would never know exactly when the bridegroom would arrive at her house the tradition in those days there would be young unmarried ladies who were friends of the bride and would accompany the bridal couple from the house of the bride to the house of the groom because the exact time of the bridegroom's arrival was uncertain the bride was expected to be ready to leave at any moment often strange as it may seem to us the bridegroom would come in the middle of the night well the hearers of Jesus would have understood that that would not have been a problem for them they would have understood the context that Jesus had been talking about the final generation last days and also the details of an ancient middle-eastern wedding well those unmarried ladies virgins who were prudent would bring along a flask with additional oil supply so that laughs would be burning in the middle of the night this way their lamps would always be burning and lit would not go out now I have to say that a rule of parables rule of parables you can't make a parable stand on all four legs in other words we must not press every detail of a parable but derived from it the main point Jesus was making well the main point that Jesus is making is be ready to enjoy the awakening when it comes that it will not catch you by surprise the awakening that we prior to the second coming it was to be a happy event a celebration so imagine that you could be a part of a moment in history when the word of the Spirit come together and we see genuine miracles we see the pure gospel preached and people shaken and being right in the middle of that there'll be a wonderful time this would be when Jesus still at the right hand of God by the way he has he come physically he's orchestrating this from the right hand of God he will not leave his throne until he makes all of his enemies his footstool all right Jesus hearers would have understood so much of this well now the main point is to be ready now the call would come in the middle of the night speaking figuratively Jesus therefore implying that there would be an awakening when people least expected the church will be asleep the church would be comprised of wise and foolish people well he does not give us the details of what form the midnight cry will take we only know that the cry would be affected it woke up the church which had been asleep and say the only those that had oil in their lamps went in to the wedding banquet which is a way of saying that the word and the spirit are remarried they come together now I'm not sure what all wedding banquet means but it was certainly great celebration and only the wise had the privilege of enjoying it and big right in the middle of it now let me make some other observations about this parable the entire church would be asleep in the very last days wise and foolish things that are obvious about sleep you don't know you were asleep until you wake up and when you wake up sometimes you're horrified I can't believe I slept and this is the way it will be we're told wise and foolish not just the foolish but the wise those who had followed the spirit those who did have the fear of God in them but even they were asleep and you see the proof that you are asleep spiritually you do things in your sleep is the second thing about sleep you do things in your dreams that you would not do if you were awake for example no conviction of sin no sense of the fear of God no sense of outrage over the godlessness of society or the church's lack of influence in the world the things now that we're just taking for granted do you realize that that in most churches and I'm talking about Bible churches I'm talking about spirit churches I'm talking about those who would really be Bible believers do you realize most college students in these churches sleep together they're not married did you know most unmarried couples in their 20s they are sleeping together it's known but we don't want to say anything against it because we don't want to lose them but this is going on same-sex marriage 15 20 years ago we would be horrified at that now we just take it for granted no outrage there's an indifference detachment regarding the cries of hurting people also the loss no concern about people going to hell indifference to our own bitterness our angered holding a grudge unforgiveness that doesn't seem to bother people anymore they can just be angry and there's another thing about sweet we hate the sound of an alarm and you know a wake-up call which I'm trying to give now maybe we'll do some good I hope so I hope that if you need this that the Holy Spirit will apply what I'm saying and you wake up and you say I didn't realize I'd been asleep and so I'd love to think that my preaching on the midnight cry would at least be a mini wake-up call but what I'm talking about here from Matthew 25 it's the real thing and it will be a horrifying event now here's a scary thing about it no person's destiny was changed the foolish did not become wise just because they were awakened it was just revealed if that's what they were and they're going to the wise and say give us of your oil and the wise say we just have enough ourselves sorry I can't help you no destiny was changed and when this comes if you among those who had not followed the fear of God if you were among those you've been foolish and you've rejected the things of the Spirit and then you'll be awakened I'm sorry you will ask for people to pray for you and you'll beg you'll be scared you'll be nervous he'll be awful no change too late then but not now you see as I speak to you there is time to change the real thing is not yet happened you'll be thankful it is coming it will be too late then and it will come when you least expect it and so now is the time to make sure that you have oil in your lamp it's a word and spirit person that you love the word you're open to the Holy Spirit and you are what is called here oh why is virgin well the question is who gives the midnight cry there's a third party you see you've got the wise the foolish and those who do the crying in the middle of the night they will be those who have the word and the spirit and they're the ones that God will use and I would love to think I would love to think that God would use this word so to wake you up now now that you are ready and you could be among those used because as I say when the real awakening comes it will be accompanied by a prophetic word perhaps not just one person but many many around everywhere filled with the spirit but also who know their Bibles they know the gospel unashamed of the gospel and so that third category I'm hoping that this talk would help create a people like this so that when the cry comes actually you'll be in on it because that would be those who give the cry in the middle of the night well I'll tell you what the effect of this client will be the same as we saw on the day of Pentecost you know when the Holy Spirit came down on the hundred and twenty people laughed at them they said these people have got a hold of some new one and then Peter had to stand up and say no we're not drunk it's just a third of the day it's the way of say the pubs aren't even open these people were silver and by the time Peter finished they weren't laughing they were begging they said what shall we do what shall we do and Peter told him to repent and believe the gospel well my point is when this midnight cry comes that I'm hoping that you will be a part in giving it they may laugh at you at first but not for long because God will give you power and authority and all that with what else is happening they'll know this is a no-joke thing and they will have to get right with God I'll tell you who has Hope revival results in three things first nominal Christians being converted second sleepy Christians being awakened and third those out of the world those out of the world who are converted and so it will be a great revival we're talking about in my opinion the greatest Awakening and revival since Pentecost that is coming this will be what will help prepare the bride for that moment which will come very soon then when Jesus leaves his throne having made his enemies his footstool because in my opinion millions of Muslims will be converted hundreds of thousands of Jews will be converted the blindness on Israel will be lifted and millions all over the world will be converted that will be the good thing that takes place when the midnight cry comes this is why I say this has not happened yet so when people say is this present coronavirus the midnight cry no I don't think so far from it but it's what might call preparation for the real thing and just maybe God will use my talk today to prepare of people because something is coming down the road and it will make the present coronavirus look like a drop in the bucket this coronavirus has brought fear and it's awakened a few but just as when the effect of 9/11 was over and people who had become so awakened now went back to sleep this is what I think will happen we're right in the middle of this crisis Karuna virus crisis as I speak but when it subsides people will go right back to where they were generally but the next one it will be altogether different and so the midnight cry will result in a restoration of the gospel with power rarely seen and it will be paralleled by a catastrophic event that is equal a worse than the present crisis it could be national crisis it could be war it could be nuclear war paralleled by a prophetic word that the people everywhere will take it seriously well a number of years ago I gave a talk you can call it a prophetic address I I didn't see it that way at the time but I made this statement this was done in 1992 at in London when I gave a major address to what is probably the first word and spirit conference ever I think it was and it was at Wembley conference center in London here's what I said as Abraham sincerely thought that Ishmael was the promised child and prepared for it and then at when Ishmael was 13 years old the God said to Abraham no that's not the promised child Sarah will conceive Isaac is coming and the promise to Isaac and concerning Isaac will be a hundred times greater than that to Ishmael well you know Abraham's first reaction would say oh no please I don't want this let let Ishmael live before you let ishmael be the promised child and God said to Abraham no it's going to be your son Isaac born from Sarah well Isaac came and that was the promise child and at this particular conference I made the observation it was my opinion then it's my opinion now that the charismatic movement and you can include the Pentecostals that preceded them all over the world many thought this was the great revival many thought that sincerely believe it this is the last day ministries and I dared to say that night that it's Ishmael do you know the charismatic that were there many of them not all that just about all of them were so angry with me I mean livid but some of the same ones now have made a 180-degree turn you know what they're saying to me now the RT we hope you're right because if what we have now is all there is we're in pretty bad shape and now many are hoping that there will be a time when the word of the Spirit come together well a week after that address someone came up to me and said did you get that from Smith Wigglesworth I said no why he said well Smith Wigglesworth said the same thing I said really well I knew little about Smith Wigglesworth I knew that he healed people in a strange way and that he was a colorful figure and I didn't know anything more well it was said that three months before he died in 1948 he gave a prophecy that there would be a coming move of the spirit that the emphasis would be the baptism of the spirit and gifts of the Spirit he said that would come well if he got it right and as many believe he did that would have happened probably around 1960 where a charismatic movement was born in South Africa and Seattle Washington and spread everywhere else and then he said it would be followed by people leaving their churches and starting new churches well that happened all over the world especially in the Western world but then he says when that movement will be on the wane there would be a new movement where the word and the spirit would come together and the result would be the greatest awakening that we've seen greater than the West made revival greater than the Welsh revival and it would go around the world well I I knew nothing about that I was glad to hear it I mean I need all the help I can get I want people to believe this it wasn't fun to be alone and have these charismatic leaders against me but you can go online and read about it doesn't mean everything you read online is true but this is what he allegedly said well I've got this to say even if he didn't say it this is what I believe and I believe the time is coming and what is going on now at least so far as I speak I don't think it is the midnight cry but I believe that the midnight cry is coming and it will be so horrifying to many let me give an example Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 says but Jesus would come with the clouds every I would see him be also which pierced him and he said all the kids of the earth shall wail because of him whale have you ever heard a whale the sound of a well you've heard crying sniffling people going boohoo you've seen grief and you've heard people cry a whale that's a sound you don't want to hear I've only heard it once in my life I won't try to mimic it in one Church I did people's left so I I'm not going to try but it was a case of a mother whose son had just been killed in the Korean War in the 1950s and the sound of that woman wailing you could hear her a block away you see a whale is when there is no hope that will be the effect that the midnight cry will have on the foolish and they will cry they will wail and for all I know millions more not all will be saved I wish all would but there'll be many converted but God's sovereign power will be manifest the gospel will be restored and then there will be that moment which the Apostle Paul calls that blessed hope when Jesus will come again and when he leaves his throne we will be caught up together and the glory of the Lord will be seen and the good news is that all tears will be wiped away there'll be no more crying there will be no pain and then will be the actual second coming we will be changed our bodies glorified will have bodies just like Jesus and that will be the day when every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father that day will come when Jesus personally comes the midnight cry will not be his personal coming except the person of the Holy Spirit orchestrated in heaven by Jesus at the right hand of God that will be what will awaken the church well that is pretty much what I teach about the midnight cry I would say this to the degree that I've got it right I asked the Holy Spirit to apply this to you I'll tell you what would be the firstfruits of my talk today if it made you want to pray more read your Bible more increase in your fear of God that you've not had and that you would seek after wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the wisdom and if God will use this message it would be an earnest that I've taught the truth today that I didn't make this self I didn't think it up it's something that I saw many years ago 60 some years ago and I've been sitting on this all my life and just in recent years come out with this and I pray that God will use it and that you will never be the same again

Channel: RT Kendall

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Id: PYnX04oMfeE

Length: 39min 28sec (2368 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 16 2020