Participants: Mark Howard
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000881
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02:30 ¤ ¤ 05:26 Our message today I've entitled No Soliciting and I'll tell you 05:33 little bit about that as we get further into it. I want to start 05:38 out this morning by telling you something somebody told me once. 05:43 You may have heard it. They said a short pencil is better than a 05:49 long memory. Have you ever heard that? You know sometimes as a 05:54 minister I preach to people and it's not uncommon, I don't care 05:58 how on fire a saint may be, it's not uncommon for me in the 06:03 middle of a message to see somebody kind of go... You know 06:07 what I'm talking about? God forbid it's ever been you right? 06:12 You know one reason why that happens? Carry a pen or pencil 06:16 with you and jot down what the Lord is impressing you with. 06:20 I thought to myself this morning I thought man what a fantastic 06:25 weekend this has been. How do I follow this up? You know what 06:30 the Lord told me? You don't. It's not about you. Sometimes we 06:35 as ministers forget that, sometimes we as believers forget 06:40 that. That the person up here is only somebody that God is going 06:45 to use to give a message to us. A short pencil is better than a 06:49 long memory. Do this for me. Make it your purpose when you 06:53 come to hear a message, and this morning is no exception, this 06:57 whole weekend is no exception. And try to pick up on three 07:04 things. How many? Number one: What new thing did I learn that 07:11 I didn't know before? How many in here know everything? Not one 07:16 of you. Man, I was going to ask you some questions afterward but 07:21 We often learn something new. So what new thing did I learn? 07:25 Have you ever had something grab your attention in a sermon? 07:28 Or maybe the Lord brings it to you in some other way, in your 07:30 devotion time. You say, wow, that was awesome. Oh I'm in a 07:33 hurry and you get on with your day and then you're thinking later 07:36 what was that? There was that awesome thing I heard earlier 07:40 and it's gone. What new thing did I learn? Short pencil is 07:44 better that what? A long memory. Number two: What old thing was I 07:51 reminded of? Anybody here forget sometimes? I forget. So jot down 07:56 Sometimes God will remind of things we needed to remember and 08:01 we've forgotten. Great. What new thing did I learn? What old 08:05 thing was I reminded of and number three: The most important 08:09 How will I take what I've learned and apply it to my life 08:13 this week. Because we can listen to all the preaching and do all 08:18 the Bible study we want and many of the messages have shared 08:22 that this week, but if we don't put it into practice in our 08:26 lives what good has it done us? What good? I'm going to tell you 08:31 something. The Bible, when we talk about the valley of dry 08:35 bones, it's living and powerful. But only when you put it into 08:39 practice. I mean, God gives the power but if we won't try to 08:42 take that teaching and put it into practice His power doesn't 08:45 go anywhere. There's no channel for it to go. See when I say I'm 08:48 going to take that Lord and I'm going to act on that, then I 08:52 step forward and guess what. His power is right there. It works 08:55 through the word. But if I won't act on it, I don't experience 08:59 the power that God wants me to in my Christian experience. So 09:04 make this a point and a purpose of yours not just today but any 09:08 time you're in a spiritual setting; How can I apply this 09:11 to my life? What new thing did I learn? What old thing was I 09:14 reminded of. How can I put it into practice so I can grow up 09:18 up into Christ likeness. Amen? Now at this time I'm going to 09:22 ask you if you will kneel together with me and we are 09:27 going to ask the Lord to bless us with His Spirit and His 09:35 presence. Amen? Our heavenly Father: Father praise your name 09:42 this morning. Praise your name for your goodness and your mercy 09:48 Praise your name that we are even here, called out of 09:54 darkness into the marvelous light that's streaming from the 10:00 cross of Calvary. And Father this morning we just ask for the 10:05 special blessing of your Holy Spirit. As this rally comes to 10:11 a close may we be inspired, may we be filled with your Spirit 10:15 and with purpose. May we be enabled, Father, to do the work 10:24 that you've called us to do as your disciples. Bless us now in 10:30 the name of Jesus and for His sake. We ask and pray, Amen. 10:41 Now you know I haven't always been a Christian and I'm going 10:46 share with you an experience from my pre-Christian days and 10:53 I'm afraid maybe it will mirror maybe some of your Christian 10:57 days. I'm not sure. My wife and I when we first got married we 11:01 used to have these people that would come by the house to sell 11:04 things. You know, the Rainbow vacuum cleaners and other kinds 11:09 of things. The worst to me was was the college kids selling 11:13 magazines. Anybody ever go through this experience? Because 11:16 they would not leave for anything. I had just a couple 11:20 occasions. You know they're there. They take a bus from 11:23 campus, they drop them off in your neighborhood and jit, jit, 11:26 jit, they go around knocking on your door and then they get in 11:28 to sell you a magazine. Sorry I'm not interested. I don't read 11:31 magazines. Well how about this magazine. Well I really don't... 11:34 Well we could give it to you for half price. Really, I don't get 11:35 magazines. I'd give it to you for only a quarter of the price. 11:40 Just on and on. So what I began to do, I'm almost ashamed to 11:45 say, is that on the weekends, my wife and I didn't do anything 11:48 on the weekends. We would work during the week and I wasn't 11:52 going to church or anything like that and I'd get those... Well 11:56 we began to keep the blinds closed, Okay. And you'd have the 12:01 knock at the door. Now some of you have learned this already. 12:04 We had a peep hole in the door but you can't look out the peep 12:07 hole because you can see a person looking through the peep 12:11 hole. You know there's an eye behind it. You know they're home 12:15 I learned that as a Bible worker The Lord has a sense of humor. 12:20 Because when I became a Christian he sent me out going 12:24 knocking door to door for Him. So kind of a turn of events. 12:28 But I wouldn't look out the peep hole. I would go into the 12:33 other room and I'd peek out the blinds to see who was there. 12:38 And I didn't open the door for those sales people. We weren't 12:41 home. Now it would have been easier probably for me to put 12:44 no soliciting sign up on the door. That would have been 12:47 probably the easiest thing to do. You know what that means 12:49 right? No soliciting. It means don't come to my house selling 12:55 anything. I learned that as a Bible worker too. See because 12:58 you knock on the door and they say can't you read and I say I'm 13:01 not selling anything. I'm giving it away, right? But anyway no 13:09 soliciting. Don't come around here. I'm not interested in what 13:14 you have to sell. I want you to open your Bibles to Revelation 3 13:18 It's so interesting how the Lord works and how the Holy Spirit 13:23 works. I was just talking to Dwight Hall and he shared this 13:26 scripture just the other day and I was thinking, I knew the 13:29 message I was going to be presenting this morning and it's 13:32 just interesting how the Lord pulls so many things together. 13:34 I mean have you heard things repeated through this weekend? 13:37 Certain things God's trying to get across to our hearts, the 13:41 whole scheme of surrendering our hearts and our lives to Him. 13:44 I mean the Lord is in this. But we're in Revelation chapter 3 13:50 and we're going to verse 14. In Revelation chapter 3 you have 13:55 what is often called the letters to the churches. Now it's 14:00 interesting to me about Revelation chapters 2 and 3. 14:04 Seven letters to seven churches. It starts out in chapter 1 of 14:08 Revelation showing a picture of Christ and then He begins to 14:13 dictate the letters. He says: To the angel of the church in 14:19 Ephesus write this; to the angel in the church of Smyrna write 14:24 this. In other words, Jesus himself is dictating letters, 14:29 epistles to the churches. You know we have the epistle of 14:33 Paul to the Romans. We have the epistle of Paul to the 14:37 Colossians. We have the first and second epistles. Epistle is 14:39 just a Greek word that's transliterated. It means a 14:42 letter. The letter of Peter, the first letter of Peter, the 14:45 second letter. These are seven letters from Christ himself. 14:49 Isn't that incredible? And in just those two chapters of the 14:54 Bible Jesus speaks to these seven churches. Those of you 14:59 who have studied this you can see characteristics in those 15:03 churches that we as Christians face and struggle with. You can 15:08 also see the history of the Christian church culminating 15:14 with this last church, the church of Laodicea. 15:19 Interestingly the name Laodicea itself means a judging of the 15:25 people or a people judged. It's the last church before Christ 15:31 appears living in a time of judgment. Verse 14 notice: 15:39 And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these 15:42 things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness. Now 15:45 before I go on, we'll go back to that. I want you to jump to 15:48 verse 20 with me. This is the one that we looked at the other 15:51 morning and I think that you're probably familiar with this 15:53 passage. I mean, this is one that I've heard over and over 15:56 and over again. Verse 20 says, Jesus speaking here, dictating 16:02 this letter: Behold I what? Stand at the door and knock and 16:07 if any man what? Hears my voice and opens the door I will come 16:12 in to him and dine with him and he with me. Jesus is standing 16:16 knocking at the door of your heart friend, you've heard that 16:20 before. Now here's what's fascinating to me. If you go 16:24 back just a few verses notice what Jesus says in verse 18: 16:31 I counsel you to what? To what? Buy from me. Put the two 16:38 together. He's standing at the door and knocking and He's 16:47 selling some things. No soliciting. I prayed about the 16:56 message to give this morning. Lord what message do we as your 17:02 people need? We talk about Jesus standing at the door and 17:07 knocking. We talk about the importance of opening the door. 17:12 Sometimes I wonder if we know what it means to open the door 17:15 to Jesus. You see Jesus doesn't just stand there and knock. 17:18 Jesus has things that we desperately need. The problem 17:26 is, I believe, and I think this is what Jesus is highlighting 17:31 here, the problem is we don't think that we need them. We have 17:35 the No Soliciting sign on the door. Go away mister, don't need 17:42 what you're selling. Go back to verse 14 and let's read through 17:48 this. Let's see if we can gain some insight as to what the Lord 17:54 would say to us today. And to the angel of the church of the 18:00 Laodiceans write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and 18:06 true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, the 18:08 faithful and true what? Witness. Now that's going to come to play 18:13 in a moment. Verse 15: I what? I know your works. Now let me 18:22 tell you something else that just is fascinating to me. 18:28 In every single letter that Christ dictates the first thing 18:36 He says to every single one is not I know your faith but 18:43 to every single church, no exception, this was Jesus. 18:49 Somebody today would say Jesus you need to read Paul. You don't 18:55 understand grace. Jesus, without exception, says I know 19:02 your works. The Bible is plain over and over that it's through 19:10 our works that we evidence our faith. Now listen Jesus doesn't 19:15 misunderstand the gospel. Jesus knows that our works don't save 19:20 us. If anybody knows it Jesus knows it. But He also wants us 19:24 to be clear that we don't play games with ourselves and think 19:27 that we can go around saying we have faith if we don't have 19:34 corresponding works our faith is a lie. I know your works Jesus 19:39 says. What did Jesus himself say in Matthew chapter 5? Let your 19:45 light so shine before men that they may see your faith? That 19:51 they may see your good works and glorify who? You? Your Father in 19:56 heaven. This has been a recurring theme throughout this 20:00 weekend. The point is this. God is in the business of 20:04 transforming lives and it's when the life is transformed that God 20:09 is glorified. I want to tell you brothers and sisters. This world 20:15 is sick and tired of a powerless Christianity. 20:19 One author puts it this way. The sin of the world's impenitence 20:25 their refusal to repent, the sin of the world's impenitence lies 20:30 at the door of the church. They look in the church and church 20:36 people are saying one thing but doing another thing. It's when 20:39 we live that Christian life, that transformed life, as Pastor 20:45 Jackson talked about yesterday. Transformers. As Pastor Hall was 20:48 talking about in his own life, how the Lord has changed his 20:51 life. It's when people see that that they realize there's a 20:53 power to this. This isn't make believe, this is real. We can 20:58 can hold creation seminars from now until the Lord comes trying 21:02 to prove to people that God really did create it. Let God 21:07 create in you a clean heart and you don't have to argue anymore. 21:10 I mean the apostle Paul doesn't even devote an entire chapter 21:14 in what he writes to proving that God created. He just says 21:16 in Hebrews 11 by faith I believe that the worlds were framed by 21:21 the word of God. You let God change your life and that will 21:26 be the sign and the evidence and then we'll glorify God in 21:31 heaven. The faithful and true witness says I know your works. 21:39 Verse 15: That you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you 21:46 were cold or hot. I could wish.. Now hot, we know what hot is. 21:53 Just on fire for the Lord. How many of you when you first 22:05 came to the Lord, I hate to say it that way but that's so true 22:08 too often. When you first came to the Lord you were so excited 22:12 about what you were learning you went and you tried to tell 22:15 everybody and you put your foot in your mouth more times more 22:18 often than not by saying the wrong thing. Have you done that 22:22 before? And then here's what we do. We start to say well I 22:26 went overboard and everything. You were hot. I went 22:29 overboard and I just got to calm these things down a little bit. 22:33 I just got to, what's the word we use today? I got to get 22:38 balanced. Balance. It's an interesting word today. Balance 22:44 is not some halfway compromise between truth and error because 22:49 living the truth fully offends people. That's not a balanced 22:53 life. Let me tell you something. God's word and God's truth are 23:00 balanced. When a person first come to the Lord so often we'll 23:06 go and we'll witness to somebody and we will put our 23:09 foot in our mouth. We'll say something wrong. We're hot but 23:12 what happens too often is we settle back into lukewarm 23:16 and then we 23:17 call ourselves balanced. Jesus says I'd rather you be hot or 23:25 cold, totally indifferent to religion. The apostle Paul was 23:33 hot when the Lord came into him. He had a zeal for God. In fact, 23:38 his zeal for God had him actually killing Christians. 23:42 But the Lord preferred that to lukewarmness because he was able 23:47 to do something with it. He knew he could take this man who was 23:51 on fire for him and if he could reveal his truth to him Paul 23:54 would be a mighty power for good and he was. Praise God for that. 23:58 Then there was that thief on the cross. Now he was cold, he had 24:01 no interest in religion, he had no interest in religious things. 24:05 He wasn't living out what he knew, but there he was hanging 24:08 on that cross and he saw Jesus and his heart was touched and he 24:11 saw and heard the cry of Jesus and his concern for others and 24:15 he looked over and he said, Lord save me in your kingdom when you 24:18 come. This man had been cold but the Lord could take that and 24:24 inspire warmth in his heart. But he says here, Oh I wish you were 24:30 cold or hot. But verse 16 says: Because you are lukewarm and 24:35 neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. 24:40 You know the Bible pictures Jesus as standing as our 24:45 representative before the Father He's our advocate the Bible says 24:51 in 1 John chapter 2. One who stands in defense of another. 24:55 Jesus stands in the presence of the Father and He pleads our 24:57 case. When He says I'll vomit you out of my mouth what He says 25:00 is I'm not going to be your defense anymore. I'm not going 25:06 to speak for you anymore in your lukewarm state. Does that 25:11 make you uneasy? It should. Let me tell you something, if Jesus 25:19 isn't speaking for us, if Jesus isn't taking up our case, you 25:24 can talk all you want about the heavenly city; you're not going 25:28 to be there, I'm not going to be there, not without our advocate. 25:33 This ought to concern us. Jesus says those who are lukewarm I 25:37 can't stand in defense of. Makes me want to know what it means 25:42 to be lukewarm. How about you? Well He doesn't leave us hanging 25:47 Jesus tells us right here. Verse 16 again: So because you are 25:52 lukewarm and neither cold not hot, I will vomit you out of my 25:57 mouth, verse 17, because you say I am rich, have become 26:04 wealthy and what? Have need of nothing and do not know that 26:12 you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. 26:17 Let me ask you a simple question. Is the problem, do you 26:21 feel, is the problem with Laodicea that they're wretched 26:26 and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Is it a problem? 26:31 Is it a problem? Sure it is. Is it THE problem. Isn't that the 26:36 same condition of one who's cold? And maybe even one who's 26:40 hot in some ways, like the apostle Paul. I mean, who is 26:45 there who hasn't sinned and fallen short of the glory of 26:47 God? The Bible says all have. So the key problem with Laodicea, 26:53 the key problem of lukewarmness is not that a person is wretched 26:59 and miserable, poor, blind and naked. What is it? They 27:09 think that they're rich when they're really poor. They think 27:17 that they're clothed when they are really naked. They think 27:26 they can see just fine when they're as blind as a bat. The 27:33 problem with Laodicea is not that the Lord is not have power 27:39 to save them. It says many places in the word, My arm is 27:43 not shortened that I cannot save. He can save to the 27:47 uttermost all who come to God through Him, the Bible says of 27:51 Jesus Christ. The problem with Laodicea is they'll never come 27:55 to Him because they don't have a problem. No soliciting mister 28:01 I don't need what you have. The worst part about this is the 28:06 ones Jesus is addressing here are not the people, the heathens 28:12 that are out in the world living for the world. They're 28:23 the majority of the church-going folk. And Jesus pleads here: 28:33 I counsel you, verse 18, to buy from me... The problem with 28:42 Laodicea is they don't see the need. They don't see their need. 28:52 I want you to turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 5 with 28:55 me. Matthew, Mark, Luke chapter 5. We're going to Luke chapter 29:06 5 verse 29. That's where we'll begin. Luke chapter 5 and verse 29:19 Then Levi, this is Levi Matthew, his disciple, the tax 29:32 collector. Levi gave Him, Jesus, a great feast in His own house 29:37 and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who 29:42 sat down with Him. And the scribes and the Pharisees 29:47 complained against His disciples saying, Why do you eat and 29:51 drink with what? Tax collectors. Publican, another word for that 29:58 tax collectors and sinners. You have to understand something 30:00 about the tax collectors. The Jews were under the authority of 30:04 the Roman rule. In other words, Rome ruled over the Jews and 30:08 ruled over Jerusalem. Why was that? I mean God had told them 30:11 he was going to make a great nation of them. Why was Rome 30:15 ruling over them. Because of their disobedience. And God told 30:18 them that repeatedly. Let them go into captivity, first to 30:21 Babylon then Medo-Persia then Greece and now the empire of 30:24 Rome. Those Jews who would work for the Roman government, these 30:28 tax collectors, they were seen as traitors to their country. 30:33 And what's more because they didn't receive any support from 30:36 their countrymen they would just rip people off left and right 30:40 when they taxed them. So tax collectors were looked upon as 30:43 the lowest of the low. Matthew, one of Christ's disciples, was a 30:49 tax collector. How many of you have heard people say... People 30:55 argue this with me sometimes. I mean we go to all lengths 30:57 sometimes to reach people and they say well Jesus ate with the 31:01 tax collectors and sinners. That's what people always throw 31:04 out there, you know. I'm just going to go hang out in the bar 31:06 for a while and see if I can find a Bible study. Well Jesus ate 31:09 with tax collectors and sinners. You've heard people say things 31:11 like that. Let me tell you something. This is where it's 31:13 taken from in the Bible. Well where did Jesus go? Where He was 31:19 invited. In other words, He went somewhere... Jesus will minister 31:24 to anybody but the person has to be in a state of mind where 31:29 they want to be ministered to. Matthew had invited Jesus over 31:32 to his house and he invited all his tax collector buddies and he 31:36 said you've got to come hear this guy. Of course, Jesus isn't 31:40 going to pass up that opportunity. So here He is 31:43 sitting with tax collectors and sinners. Now this is what the 31:45 Pharisees and the scribes complained about and verse 31 31:51 says this: Jesus answered and said to them, those who are well 31:55 have no need of a physician but those who are sick. How many of 31:59 you go to the doctor when you're feeling well? That's all Jesus 32:02 was saying. We don't go to the doctor when we're feeling well 32:06 we don't go to the doctor unless we are sick. Jesus is the great 32:10 physician of the soul. He says verse 32: I have not come to 32:16 call the what? Righteous, but what? Sinners to change. That's 32:21 what repentance means. Jesus said I have come to call the 32:26 sinners to change. Now was He calling the Pharisees righteous? 32:32 No, but He knew that in their own minds they didn't see any 32:37 need for change. And Jesus said because you see no need for 32:42 change in your own life, I can't minister to you. You've got the 32:49 No Soliciting sign on the door. Are you following me? These were 32:54 religious leaders. These men knew the Bible probably better 32:59 than most of us know it and they were in church every week too. 33:03 And they paid tithe and offering too. And so they thought I'm not 33:08 like that common sinner that we're just bringing in we're 33:10 doing our evangelistic campaign we're trying to bring these 33:13 people in. I'm not like that. I'm not like those people that I 33:15 fell uncomfortable about when they come into church because 33:18 they're still dressing like the world and things like that 33:20 because they haven't learned the truth yet. I don't feel 33:22 comfortable with that. Now I'm not telling you to feel 33:27 comfortable with sin, but I'm going to tell you something. 33:33 These Pharisees, the key characteristic is they didn't 33:38 sense their own personal need for change. See they thought 33:41 Christianity was a one-time thing. You've heard people say 33:45 it today. People come to me and say Pastor I was saved 20 years 33:48 ago. If that's the last time you were saved, get saved again. 33:54 My Bible says, the apostle Paul speaking, that I die daily. And 34:03 if you die daily you have to be born again daily, right? They 34:10 didn't see their need for change Let me bring it to a little more 34:18 practical setting. There was a friend of mine, I was talking 34:21 to him about parenting. He said you know I met this young lady 34:25 she was interested in parenting so she said. She said I really 34:27 want to learn how to be a better parent, want to be a better 34:30 Christian parent. And he said you know I know a really good 34:33 book on that. It's called Child Guidance, it's excellent. And he 34:36 said immediately she said like Unh-uh. I don't like Child 34:40 Guidance. He said what do you mean, do you know the book? 34:44 Yeah, I don't like that book. He says why. She says it makes 34:49 me feel like a bad mother. Makes me feel like a bad mother. Let 34:53 me ask you a question. Did she want to know how to change. No 34:56 she wanted some self-help book that was going to tell her that 34:59 was going to tell her that she was just doing fine as she was. 35:03 See we wear it on the surface and we say yeah I love Jesus 35:06 I want to change. I know I need change, I know I'm a sinner. But 35:09 as soon as something's pointed out that needs changing we get 35:11 all defensive, the hair on the back of our neck bristles up 35:14 and we say don't you talk to me about change. Makes me feel like 35:19 a bad mother. Jesus is looking for people who know they need 35:24 change who don't have the No Soliciting sign on the door. He 35:32 says, I counsel you in verse 18. Is that right? I've lost my 35:38 place. Okay I'm back. I counsel you, verse 18 of Revelation 3, 35:43 to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich, 35:48 white garments that you may be clothed that the shame of your 35:53 nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with eye 35:59 salve that you may see. I want to spend just a little bit of 36:06 time on these things that Jesus is talking about here. The gold 36:12 tried in the fire. Hold your finger there and go with me back 36:17 just a little bit to the book of 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter 36:28 chapter 1 and verse 6. The Bible says: In this you greatly 36:36 rejoice though now for a little while if need be you have been 36:44 grieved by various trials... Do you experience trials in your 36:50 Christian life? Brothers and sisters I can't express this. I 36:54 was talking about it the other day. I think the one thing that 36:58 probably is heavier to me heart than any is this mentality that 37:01 has come into Christianity that says that Christianity ought to 37:06 be a walk in the park. No but I'm having a hard time pastor. 37:11 I'm having this hard time struggling. You know why? 37:15 Because you got your sinful nature you've been feeding and 37:18 it's grown into a huge monster. And it's gotten a grip on you 37:20 now and it's bigger than you because you've been shoveling 37:24 food its way, right, by eating the things of the world. 37:28 Watching worldly programs, eating worldly food, doing 37:32 worldly things, having worldly friends and it just feeds that 37:35 nature and feeds that nature, feeds that nature and then when 37:38 we finally decide we're going to put up a little fight we wonder 37:44 that that nature's so strong. Peter says there may be a need 37:50 for you to go through trials. Why? Verse 7, So that the 37:56 genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold 38:01 though it be tested by fire, tried in the fire, may be found 38:07 to the praise and the honor and the glory at the revelation of 38:13 Jesus Christ. In other words, when he comes in the clouds 38:16 again you want a faith that's going to stand the test. 38:19 Matthew 18 verse 8, Jesus says: When the Son of Man comes will 38:23 he really find faith on the earth? Think about that one for 38:28 a minute. The words of Jesus: When the Son of Man comes 38:32 I mean look at the world today. Everybody's a Christian today. 38:38 Everybody's getting Christianity Everybody's a believer. We get 38:42 to the point now, we're getting to the point where we say it 38:44 doesn't matter what you believe in the Bible as long as you say 38:47 you love Jesus, because everybody's saying it. And Jesus 38:52 himself says when the Son of Man comes will he really find faith 38:55 on the earth? Is it going to be that true faith that's going to 38:58 stand the test. No, because Christian's want an easy 39:01 religion. We want a religion that doesn't affect our daily 39:05 lives. We want to be able to put the No Soliciting sign up and 39:11 still feel like we have a place in the kingdom. Gold, Jesus says 39:16 You have need of gold tried in the fire. You still have an 39:20 experience you need to gain that you don't have yet. You need to 39:24 go through some refining in your life. You need to face a little 39:28 heat and a little pressure, so that when the test comes you'll 39:35 stand and you'll shine. One of the biggest problems I believe 39:40 in the church today is that too many are forgetting the reason 39:46 for their existence that is Christian. We are here, brothers 39:50 and sisters, to carry on the work of the Master. As in the 39:53 presentation yesterday morning by John Dempsey he shared with 39:59 us how we are ambassadors for Christ. Oh that just sent chills 40:04 up my spine when I heard it again. I mean sometimes you just 40:08 that was one of those old things we need to be reminded of and 40:12 jot down. Ambassadors for Christ Somebody who carries the full 40:16 authority of another kingdom who comes and represents that 40:20 kingdom to others. It didn't say pastors are ambassadors for 40:24 Christ. It says WE are ambassadors for Christ. 40:27 As though God were pleading through us. We say I don't know 40:31 I'm struggling in my Christian experience. Let me ask you, are 40:35 you living a Christian experience? And let me 40:41 clarify. I'm not just talking about did you stop watching this 40:44 and did you stop doing this. You can cut certain things out of 40:47 your life. What are you putting back in it? Jesus said the Son 40:52 of Man came to seek and save that which is lost. What are you 40:56 doing in your personal Christian experience to see that souls are 41:01 in the kingdom? And if you can't answer that question in your own 41:05 mind, if even now that's bringing conviction, your mind 41:08 says I don't know that I'm doing anything, there's your answer. 41:09 That's why your struggling in your Christian experience. 41:13 Because you're not putting it into practice. The reason I eat 41:16 a certain way, the reason I live a certain way, the reason I 41:20 don't watch certain things is so that I can carry out the mission 41:24 of reaching the world for Christ and display His character. 41:27 If I lose that purpose, then I'm doing all these other things but 41:32 why? And brothers and sisters, I want to tell you something. God 41:37 can and will use each one of us to reach a soul for Him and I'll 41:43 tell you when you see somebody making a decision for Christ 41:47 because of your witness, Oh you'll catch the bug. That's a 41:52 good bug to catch. You'll realize why the struggle won't 41:56 seem like as much struggle any more when you realize a soul, 41:59 just one soul can be saved through your influence you'll 42:02 forget about all those trials that you had. Gold tried in the 42:11 fire. And then white raiment that you may be clothed and the 42:19 shame of your nakedness does not appear. I want you to turn to 42:24 the book of Isaiah chapter 61. Now you probably thought I was 42:29 going to say 64. We looked at that. Pastor Jackson went to 42:33 that yesterday. Isaiah 64:6. It tells us, and I think most 42:38 people are familiar with it, all of our righteousness's are as 42:44 filthy rags. So it pictures righteousness as a garment, ours 42:49 is what kind of garment. Like Dwight Hall's shirt yesterday 42:55 morning. Lord have mercy. This is Isaiah 61 and verse 10. Now 43:01 notice what it says here: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My 43:07 soul shall be joyful in my God for He has what? Clothed me with 43:14 the what? Garments of salvation and covered me with what? The 43:18 robe of righteousness. So we have garments, we have a robe 43:22 and it's filthy. Christ says you've got a filthy robe but 43:27 guess what, knock, knock, knock, I'm here. Buy from me I have what 43:30 you need. I have something that will cover that filthiness up. 43:34 It's my robe of righteousness. Are you with me on that? I want 43:38 to show you something else in the book of Revelation chapter 43:42 19. This whole robe of righteousness thing has been 43:44 perverted among God's people. Let's look at Revelation 19 and 43:52 we'll flesh this out a little bit. Revelation 19 verse 7: Are 44:00 you there. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory. Give 44:06 who glory? Give the Lord glory. For the marriage of the lamb has 44:09 come. His wife has made herself ready and to her it was granted 44:14 to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. Here she's got 44:19 a white robe or white garment for the fine linen is the 44:26 righteous acts of who? Righteous acts of who? The saints. 44:32 Brothers and sisters, if we receive the robe of Christ's 44:38 righteousness number one: it is not given by God to cloak sin. 44:42 It's not just given to throw over top of your sin. Like I'm a 44:46 sinner but look at this; I'm going to trick God and just put 44:49 put this robe on. Look Father, I've got this robe. God knows 44:52 better. He looks upon the heart. The robe of righteousness we 44:56 sell the Lord short. We say I'm never going to be able to be 44:59 like Jesus. I can't change my life I'm not going to be able to 45:02 be transformed, but praise God He's covered me in the robe of 45:05 righteousness. That's heresy. Are you telling me Christ 45:09 doesn't have enough power to give you a robe that's going to 45:11 change your life. That's what the robe of righteousness is 45:14 about; it's a living righteousness, the righteousness 45:17 of God, the righteousness of Christ. This is what it's saying 45:20 Revelation 19 isn't telling us the saints have all their own 45:22 righteousness and that's how they're going to be saved. When 45:25 it says that they're clothed in the righteous acts, this white 45:28 garment, this white linen, this fine linen is the righteous acts 45:30 of the saints, it's simply saying that as God gives them 45:33 righteousness it's seen in their lives just like we read earlier 45:38 with the works. One more text on that. 1 John chapter 3. Just go 45:43 back before Revelation - 1 John chapter 3 and notice verse 7 45:53 with me. Are you there. Notice what John says: Little children 46:00 let no one what? Deceive you. So I already you know that what 46:06 he's about to talk about is key point of deception. This is an 46:10 area where the devil's going to try to deceive people. Let no 46:15 one deceive you. He who what? Who doeth righteousness, who 46:20 practices righteousness is righteous just as He is 46:22 righteous. John says don't let anybody come and tell you, fool 46:25 you and trick you and deceive you with some fancy talk about 46:29 some righteousness that doesn't change how you act. He who 46:33 practices righteousness is righteous. Now I was reading 46:37 this, it's been about a year or so now, there's this debate over 46:40 this. Some of you are familiar with this Sponge Bob Square 46:44 Pants, this cartoon. I hope most of you aren't, but you hear 46:47 about it in little bits and pieces and you see the lunch 46:49 boxes and things in the store. Anyway I was reading this online 46:52 about this Sponge Bob Square Pants. The issue came out 46:56 within this cartoon for kids where they're playing around 47:00 with the identity of this character where he may be 47:05 homosexual. So there was an uproar in the Christian 47:09 community about how we would let that kind of thing happen. And 47:14 there was all kinds of epithets that were thrown at the Sponge 47:18 Bob program and everything else. So in the magazine Christianity 47:22 Today, and I wish I had saved the date and I didn't, I just 47:26 saved the quote they asked Phil Vischer who is one of the 47:31 creators of Vegetales the little cartoon thing that isn't a whole 47:36 lot better than Sponge Bob but anyway. He is commenting on 47:41 this whole issue and this is what he says. I found it 47:46 fascinating. To be honest, he says, I'm not really sure what 47:52 we're trying to accomplish here. I find it somewhat baffling the 47:56 great shock that we evangelicals register when we catch the world 48:02 acting well worldly. I mean, isn't that kind of the point, he 48:06 says. They're the world, right? Why are we so surprised that the 48:10 world is acting like the world. Now listen to the next thing 48:16 that he says, fascinating. When you start with the assumption 48:20 that the world is fallen, you're much less likely to be 48:25 disappointed when you find that that's actually the case. As for 48:30 me, I'm anxiously waiting the day the world registers great 48:35 shock at the sight of Christians acting Christianly. Phil Vischer 48:42 said we're always in an uproar when the world acts worldly. 48:44 That shouldn't surprise us. What I want to see is when we're 48:47 surprising everybody else and say wow look at these Christians 48:51 They're acting like Christ. Oh for a righteousness, white 48:57 raiment Christs is selling to cover our nakedness. No 49:03 Soliciting. No thanks, Lord. I think I've got plenty of that. 49:09 Think I'm doing pretty good. The last thing Jesus offers to sell 49:14 that church of Laodicea is eye salve. You know, the Bible tells 49:20 us the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately 49:23 wicked. I can't tell you how many Christians tell me no I 49:26 just, I have this feeling in my heart. In spite of the plain 49:29 utterances of the word of God there's a way that seemeth right 49:33 to a man but the end thereof is the way of death, it says in 49:39 Proverbs. Proverbs 14:12. Jesus says you need eye salve, church, 49:45 you need spiritual vision. You're not seeing clearly. You 49:50 know, we've lost the ability to discriminate between that which 49:54 is holy and that which is unholy Now I'm talking to the saints 50:00 this morning. Last night we had a wonderful concert here and I'm 50:04 going to tell you that we as God's remnant people one of the 50:09 things that we believe in is maintaining the holiness of 50:14 church gatherings and sacred gatherings. I had a woman come 50:20 up to me last night, and some others not of our faith, not a 50:25 Seventh-day Adventist, don't know what her emphasis has been 50:28 in her church and she said you know I just want to tell you 50:33 I appreciated so much that when the songs were over nobody 50:37 did all this for the performers. They said Amen. She said it 50:42 seemed to maintain an atmosphere of reverence. It was funny that 50:46 she said that because I sat there during the concert and I 50:50 was watching people and you could see some had tears in 50:54 their eyes just from the way the Lord was using that music. Or 50:58 people were looking thoughtful and actually, really reflective. 51:01 They were thinking about what was being sung. When we start 51:04 to want to copy the world and we have to do all this and we 51:08 want to cheer people on like the world. Look we're not performers 51:12 up here. I'm not a performer today, but what's happened is in 51:17 God's church we're losing discernment between the sacred 51:20 and the common. We say well the world does it this way and I 51:23 don't see what's wrong with it. And it gets so bad that we don't 51:27 we don't even see the problem with it anymore and we think 51:29 that anybody who does bring up that it probably shouldn't be 51:34 this way, they're not balanced. Jesus says you need eye salve. 51:39 You can't even tell, you can't even see, you can't even discern 51:44 between the sacred and the common. I was just on the 51:56 internet. In fact, I got a letter to pastors talking about 52:01 innovative pastoring. There's a pastor in Cleveland, Ohio. He's 52:06 trying to reach the masses and so here's what he's done. He's 52:11 come up with a church that he calls 100 percent religion free. 52:16 They meet in a movie theater, they use popcorn buckets for the 52:21 offering. They do comedy skits, standup comedy acts interspersed 52:26 and he's taken a wrap video about girls with big bottoms 52:32 and he's redone it into girls with big Bibles. I mean, what's 52:39 happened to the discernment of God's people? What's happened 52:45 to that which is holy? You need eye salve Jesus says. No, no I 52:51 don't Lord, I see just fine. I know who's extreme in the church 52:57 and who's not. I'm a balanced individual. No Soliciting. Let 53:03 me tell you something those of you gathered here, all who are 53:09 watching. The greatest danger of God's church now, the greatest 53:14 danger you have, that greatest danger you have is not realizing 53:19 that you need Jesus today as much as you ever needed him. You 53:23 still need change, I still need change. Jesus is coming and 53:27 there's still a getting ready that must take place. Jesus is 53:30 coming to us. He sees our need. We want to put that 53:34 No Soliciting, no, no, no Lord you don't understand. Just like 53:38 Peter, right? Here's the apostle Peter. Jesus said Peter you got 53:41 some problems. You got some issues. I know that you got some 53:45 struggles you need to work on. Look the time's coming up you're 53:50 going to deny me. No Lord, you don't know me, Peter said. You 53:54 don't know me as good as I know me, Peter said. I hear what 53:58 you're saying but the rest of them may forsake you but not me 54:02 Lord, not me. No, I'm going to hang in there. I'll die for you 54:07 Lord. See Peter thought he knew himself better than Christ knew 54:12 him. We do that too much. We think we know ourselves better 54:17 than Jesus knows us. The Lord comes knocking at our door. 54:22 Behold I stand at the door and knock. No thanks Lord. Jesus 54:26 says if any man hear my voice and open the door. Well how do 54:31 you open the door. Cory talked the other day in that story of 54:35 Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel chapter 4 that we're to break off our sins 54:39 by doing what's right. Start to put into practice in your life 54:44 those things that are right. When the Lord comes to you 54:48 and convicts you of something, make a change. You know I 54:51 regularly tell people when they come to me, I mean, there are a 54:53 lot of things to change in your life when you come to Christ. 54:57 You can't do it all overnight. But let me tell you something 55:00 morning: You can't taper off sin. I mean there are some 55:06 things that are going to take you time to get past. They're 55:11 bad habits, but if you have sinful practices in your life and you 55:14 try to taper off and they get a little hook in you and they're 55:16 just going to keep pulling you back away from Christ, pulling 55:22 you back away. Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock. 55:28 Do you hear his voice knocking? Lord I'm not going to deny you 55:34 Peter said. You don't know me as well as you know me. I know you 55:42 mean well. No soliciting. There Peter stood in the judgment hall 55:48 Jesus is in the judgment hall. Peter's in the courtyard. Denies 55:53 Him once, denies Him twice, doesn't even realize he's doing 55:57 it. Some of us are taking the path back where we came from 56:01 step by step. We need spiritual discernment; we don't even see 56:07 where we're going. Blindness. The third time Peter denies Him 56:11 The rooster crows. Peter hears it; Jesus hears it. He looks 56:18 across the courtyard, catches Peter's eye. And then Peter 56:22 realizes he didn't know himself as well as he thought he did. 56:28 How about you this morning. What kind of sign do you have 56:35 on your door when Jesus comes knocking. Jesus stands at the 56:42 door and knocks. It's one of the most beautiful scriptures in the 56:45 Bible, but He doesn't open the door. He says if any man hears 56:48 my voice, if any woman hear my voice and open the door then 56:51 I'll come in. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door. You 56:55 can hear His voice but you can put that sign up. You can be 56:58 peeking through the blinds like I used to do or you can open the 57:05 door. You say how do I open the door pastor? First and foremost 57:10 tell Jesus you want to live for him. And then listen. Whatever 57:15 He's revealing in your life start putting it into practice 57:18 and see the power of God. Say Lord I need the gold tried in 57:22 the fire. I need that robe of righteousness. I need spiritual 57:25 discernment. Look Jesus is offering it. And what's more, in 57:29 Isaiah He sells without money and without price. You can't 57:34 beat that deal. How many of you want to have what Jesus is 57:40 selling? How many of you want to make sure your door will be 57:45 open to Him when He comes to you Let's pray: Heavenly Father, 57:50 Father this morning I just pray that you will take to your heart 57:55 the prayers, the requests, the heart's desire of each one here. 58:01 Lord help us to open our door, the door of our heart to you so 58:06 that you may come in to us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. |
Revised 2018-04-11