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“A Time to Choose” Conclusion
Broadcast #1453
August 9, 2020

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1453 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

 — Brother Phil Enlow: We need to understand what’s going on in the world in which we live. We need to realize the hour in which we live and the incredible importance of taking our stand with Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God! He is Lord! I don’t care what the Devil says, what he is allowed to do! Jesus Christ reigns!

And we need to never look at this world and be dismayed by what we see and say, oh we’ve got to fix it, we’ve got to do something. We’ve got to shine our light and not be ashamed of Jesus Christ in this world, and just take what’s coming and trust God to bring us through.

But there is a — do you see what’s going on? People hate the truth! I mean, you look back at — well, I mentioned earlier, the days of Noah — how often we’ve used that. It’s because Jesus used it. That’s what He said, this is what it’s gonna be like when I come — like the days of Noah. And what an amazing, amazing demonstration of God’s mercy and God’s love we see in spite of the terrible judgment that came.

We have the Lord’s testimony at the beginning of that particular account, that the thoughts and intents of men’s hearts were what? Only evil continually. It sounds like they were already in this condition, and God says, yet, there’ll be 120 years! We don’t have a God that’s rushing to judgment, that’s looking to kill people, looking to judge people. We have a God who is gonna reach out with mercy to that last soul that will hear His voice and embrace His Son. Thank God!

Folks, if you’re here today, this should not frighten you. This should cause you to find hope in Jesus Christ, because the smallest child that puts their faith in Jesus Christ is safe for eternity! God sees every heart and He is in charge! There’s not a devil in hell that can steal anything out of God’s hand. Thank God!

But oh, we see that awful time of judgment when God waited that 120 years and then finally the day came. Those who were ready were prepared. They walked with God. They listened to His voice during all — in the midst of all of this they stood with God and God made a way for them to be rescued out of that. I’ve made this point many times over the years. You know, so many people talk about being left behind and all that stuff that’s gonna happen. What happened to those who were left behind?

( congregational response ).

They died, didn’t they? All of them — every single one that was left behind died. Man, this is not one of those deals where you can say, I’m just gonna just wait and see. One of these days the Rapture’s gonna happen, then I’ll get serious because I’ll realize, hey it really was true. It doesn’t work that way.

There’s gonna come a day when — I mean, this is the day of decision. This is the day when men are choosing. They’re either gonna be with Jesus or they’re gonna be with the world. There’s a division that’s happening right now. It’s astounding what’s going on. I mean, how many of you who can think back to the days when the Lord was showing us many of those things, and we looked at the world and we saw plenty wrong. But how many of you could have imagined some of the things that are part of our daily life today?

I mean — imagine if Brother Thomas suddenly, not knowing any of this, suddenly stepped back into this, and looked around and read the headlines. It would absolutely — I mean — obviously, he’s in a position to know. But, my God, what an incredible down-hill slide. And we’re in the middle of it. It just kind of happens a little at a time, a little at a time. But you suddenly look back and see where you were. Man, we’re not just heading for the cliff, we’ve gone off the cliff. But oh, thank God, Jesus is in charge.

( congregational amens ).

Thank God! And I’ll just refer — there are so many things you could bring into this. I don’t want to belabor it, but I don’t want to soft-pedal it either. I don’t know, for some reason my mind went back to this. It’s just something we need to bring out from time to time, so people don’t lose sight of where we’re at — people understand why things are going on in the world.

Do you ever wonder, do you ever look and say, why is this? Why is God allowing it? What’s going on? Well here’s the answer. God is letting lost men choose what they want. Oh my, how we need Him! My God, how we need Him! If there’s anybody that’s got a heart that something is pulling you towards the Lord, something is still tugging at the heart, man, you better run!

You better run to the Lord, because, I’ll tell you, you’re gonna go through one of two doors. There are only two destinies. There are only two doors through which any human being can go. One of them is to bow at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, surrender to His Lordship, open up the heart, invite Him in as resident Lord and Savior, and stand uncompromisingly with Him! That’s door number one.

Door number two is to say, God, I am my own god. I reject Your Word. I reject Your life. It’s my life! I’m gonna do with it as I please. That’s door number two. Those are the choices! It’s God or the Devil. And we are seeing the human race, more and more, being divided into those two categories.

What do you think it’s gonna be like when Jesus comes? Do you think there’s gonna be somebody that’s just — it’s going to be total delusion on one side, total shock. And it’s gonna be — I’ll tell you, hands in the air. Praise God! The race is run! There’s gonna be a handful still here on that day who will get to look up and say, praise God, the day has finally come! Jesus is here! Justice is finally gonna be served! We don’t have to live in this awful place anymore! We’ve got Jesus coming to take us to another place. The same Jesus who came out of that tomb so long ago has now come as He’s promised.

Of course, there’s another door, isn’t there? And that door is in here. And that’s the one that Jesus comes to and knocks. And what determines everything, everything, is what men do when He comes. When He brings the conviction of His truth, what do we do with it?

You have this contrast drawn — down below He’s talking about belief in the truth and the other group, the saints to whom He was writing. So, you’ve got a group here that has believed the lie. And you got another group down here who’s believed the truth. So you see, it’s exactly the same thing Jesus was talking about. There is a truth that will come knocking on the door of every individual heart.

( congregational amens ).

And that truth will show you some things about yourself that you don’t want to see. It will show you that you’re a sinner. You’re not the person you think you are. It’ll show you that you are not ready to stand before Him. It’ll show you what’s wrong but yet it won’t do it in a condemning way. It will do it in a truthful way that lifts up. And I’ll tell you, once we are willing to humble ourselves to that conviction, then God will lift up a Savior.

( congregational amens ).

And say, but I have provided completely for you. I love you. I’m not showing you this because I hate you. I’m showing you this because I love you and because I’ve made a way out of this. And I’ll tell you, whenever that heart just lets go and opens up — opens that door….

You see, there’s a choice that’s involved. There’s a choice that is made at some point. Do I push Him away and say, no, or do I open the door and say, yes, You can have my heart. I’ll tell you one thing, this is not — this is not a deal where we’re interested in taking our young people and brainwashing them with religion. That’s no defense against this. Christianity is not a lifestyle. It’s not a set of beliefs you embrace, and belonging to a church, quote-unquote, and participating in its activities and carrying on a certain lifestyle. Man, there’s only one thing that God is looking for. He is looking to take up residence in the heart and impart a brand-new life.

( congregational amens ).

If Jesus has not come in, you’ve never been born again. Then you are gonna be swallowed up. If that never takes place, you are going to be swallowed up by this darkness that is overtaking our world. Sooner or later, it will overtake you and that is where your destiny will lie. Oh God! I don’t know, I somehow sense that His heart is reaching out and wanting to warn, wanting to cause people to recognize what’s going on in the world, because it is a time to choose. It’s a time when men are making up their minds.

I believe it’s a time when God is going to reach out and pull in a harvest in the middle of all of this. God’s absolutely not taken by surprise. There is no dismay in Heaven. There are no emergency meetings! God has everything exactly under control! But the way this is playing out is exactly the way it played out in Noah’s day and also in Lot’s day when he was brought out of Sodom.

Do you think there was anybody in Sodom that Lot could have gone to and explained all of this to? No! There was a point in time when their condition was sealed! There was nothing left to do but get Lot out and bring judgment!

That’s going to be the way it is when Jesus comes! There won’t be any gray area! There won’t be any middle ground! Everyone will have totally identified themselves with Jesus, or they will have identified themselves with the world and they will be blind and shocked at that moment when He comes.

That’s the reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe — now I noticed this years ago. It does not say they will believe ‘a’ lie. This is not just any old lie. This is ‘the’ lie. There is something specific. And if you will go all the way back to the beginning, what was the lie that the human race was sold?

( congregational response ).

You will not die. You will be as gods. You see the connection? There is a lie. If you will take an independent course, you will be like a god. You have the right to choose your own path, to do your own thing, and you shall be as gods. And you will have a race of people on this planet who will embrace that lie. And there will be people you will not be able to explain this to. Folks, we’re gonna have battle in prayer.

( congregational amens ).

We’re gonna have to fight with God’s armament, God’s weapons. We have the privilege of standing in an amazing hour. And we have a God who will bring His people through. He will never leave us nor forsake us, not ‘til the end of the age. But it’s a challenging time. We’re gonna have to trust people into God’s hands. We’re gonna have to pray, and pray that God, who alone can penetrate that darkness, will do it, and change hearts and break them out of the dungeons of sin that hold them in darkness.

But, oh praise God for what comes next! This is one of the glorious ‘buts’ of scripture. All of this terrible thing that He describes, this period of the time of the end that’s coming, when evil will be allowed to reign and find full expression in the earth — ‘but!’ And that’s a message to everyone here that loves the Lord and knows Him today.

“But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord.” (NIV). Doesn’t that sound good? He doesn’t say, all you righteous people who have measured up and earned your way into His favor. This is, ‘loved by the Lord.’ That’s the amazing thing, when people have embraced, when people embraced the darkness that is overspreading the world, what they are saying no to is not the anger and the dominion and the spirit of God that wants to take over somebody’s life and ruin it. It’s the love of God! They’re refusing it! They’re saying, I will not bow!

But for those who bow, it’s not to a tyrant, it’s to Somebody who loves us with an everlasting love. I’ll tell you, I believe there are a lot of hearts — I mean, this is the nature of things. God made us to love — to be loved. There are a lot of empty hearts out there, hearts that have been wounded. And God has the answer to every wound, every hurt, everything — it’s His love. I’ll tell you, when we open our hearts to that love and it begins to percolate out into all of the things that have affected us, what a glorious thing it is! Thank God! Loved by the Lord!

Because from the beginning God chose you to be saved, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit! You see God coming to work in our hearts, God coming to knock on our door, God coming to convict us when we’re going down the wrong path, God intervening with our lives!

You know what God said in Noah’s day — He said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man.” (KJV). But think what He is saying there. In spite of all of the things that were terrible, that were wrong with the society of that day, all the evil things that men were doing, God was still working! God was striving! God was there trying to resist, trying to convict, trying to speak! Man, what a God we serve! That God is still at work. That God knows how to work with a heart, knows how to reach us, knows how to set us apart.

“… Through belief in the truth.” (NIV). Folks, that’s what we have in the world. We have the lie and we have the truth. And it’s not just a set of doctrines. It’s not a philosophy. It’s not just words of — my world view versus yours, and they’re all equally good. This is, Jesus Christ who is the truth and this lie that Satan has peddled, that you are really gods, and if you will take the independent course you will find your destiny. And that is what will separate the human race into two camps when Jesus comes.

But, “He called you to this through our gospel …” Through the good news, why? “… That you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Folks, the challenge to God’s people is that we take an uncompromising stand, not a hard-hearted, finger-pointing kind of thing, but an uncompromising stand with Jesus Christ, that we live in this world that we live in with an awareness of what’s going on.

The messages that are coming through movies, the messages that are coming through the television, through, you name it. It permeates our society. It can soften our understanding of things, it can soften our convictions. But folks, we need to stand absolutely for the truth of God and pray for everyone that we have an influence in, pray for our young people, because it’s not enough just to be brought up here and taught the stuff that we teach. You’re gonna have to have an encounter with Jesus Christ.

You’re gonna have to have an encounter where you surrender your heart. You say, oh God, come in, take my heart. It doesn’t belong to me anymore. I surrender my heart and my life. That’s why You made me in the first place. You made me because You want to love me and live with me and for me to live with You forever and ever. And I see what You’ve done to make that possible. The nail-scared hands that were stretched out, were stretched out because of my sins. Oh, my God! That has got to become real!

( congregational amens).

It’s got to become personal! Every heart is going to have to make a choice when it comes to this issue. I am with Him or I am with the world. There is a line. We’ve use that analogy before, the line drawn in the sand. If we are not seeing that in our day, when will we? It’s almost been 50 years since some of these things have happened, about 50 years — since I was in college. It hardly seems possible. But I watched my generation just absolutely going over the cliff and just setting their hearts against God.

And then the Lord began to reveal what’s really going on. It’s not just something in society. There’s a power — there’s a demonic power that has reached out to men and God’s taken His hands back and said, all right. This is a time to choose, because men are choosing an eternal destiny. Folks, if you know the Lord, praise God!

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! As I say, you don’t have to be strong, you don’t have to be wise, you don’t have to be anything, except to trust in Jesus with all of your heart! He will bring every one of His through! We will stand! We will share in this glory that He has promised!

But there is coming a day when God is going to balance the scales of justice. The wicked things that we see in this world, they will not be allowed to stand. They will be brought to an end. There won’t be anybody that will be on the fence at that hour. Everyone will have made their choice. This is the time to choose, because I’ll tell you, there comes a time when God does take His hand off.

And I know the Devil loves to use that and say, well, you’ve gone too far. If there is something in you that has a desire toward God, you haven’t gone too far. That’s God encouraging you to put your trust in Him. The people that have gone too far don’t care anymore. They don’t have any real desire for God. If you have a desire for God, it comes because God’s at work in your heart and it’s because He love you. You need to latch onto that with every ounce of your being!

You need to say, Devil, get out of here! I don’t believe you! God’s touching my heart! That means He’s reaching out to me! That means He wants me! I want Him! I’m not gonna listen to you! It’s a momentous hour that we live in. I have no idea how long this is gonna go on. But man, is it not accelerating?

( congregational response ).

Do we not see a progression from day to day to day? It’s just mind-boggling! The headlines of today were unthinkable a year ago, some of them. And it’s getting faster and faster. But you know what, what did Jesus say? When you see these things, what are we supposed to do? Hang our heads? “Lift up your heads.” Rejoice! The day of redemption is drawing nigh.

We live in a momentous hour. But I just pray that everyone here, anybody that hears this, if you haven’t made your choice, if God’s knocked on the door of your heart, and you haven’t really made a clear-cut stand, you’re 100 percent with Him, man, you better listen to this!

( congregational amens ).

You better listen! This is God. This is not just me. This is God, reaching out because He loves you. Because if you’re not 100 percent with Him, then you are with the Devil. There’s no way to mix the two. You can’t have one foot in each kingdom. God is absolutely separating and we are seeing it, we’re experiencing it. But oh, the hope that He has given to every one who will put their trust in Him! Praise God!

Let’s go forward and look to Him and ask Him for the grace to stand in an hour like this, to never lose the sense that the God we serve, the Lord we serve, is on His throne! He will not abandon His own. He is going to come and He’s gonna come at exactly the right time. He’s not in a rush because He’s not willing that people perish, remember that?

( congregational response ).

See, it’s His mercy that’s holding back. It’s His mercy that is giving every possible opportunity to men to make the right choice! But there will come a day when that choice will end. And He’s gonna come and everything will wind up. And everyone will stand before the judgement of God. Oh, Praise God! I know I have no right in myself. There’s no possible way I could qualify myself for any of this. I stand by the grace of God!

( congregational amens ).

Everybody who stands at all, stands by the grace and the mercy of God who has done everything necessary to open Heaven’s door to us.

( congregational amens ).

So we have every reason to rejoice but we have reason to be sober too. Pay attention to what your kids are getting.

( congregational amens ).

Pay attention to what’s going on in schools, what’s going on in colleges. You have no idea how the Devil is at work. But I’ll tell you, God is at work too, isn’t He?

( congregational response ).
Let’s just cast our lot with Him 100 percent. Praise God! Praise God!

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