This message is one of the Times Square
Church pulpit series.
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Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
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I bring you greetings from Pastor David's sister
Gwen in Florida on vacation.
And Pastor David has said that he's having
one of the most wonderful times of prayer
that he's had in quite a long time.
The Lord's refreshing him, and I really look
forward to what God's going to speak through
him when he comes back to be here
with us again.
Remember all of our visitors, we have a
time of fellowship prepared for you and the
education annex after the service today.
Please avail yourself of that.
And we welcome everyone from wherever you are
from throughout the world that are visiting here
with us today.
God bless you and trust that you will
be touched, your heart will be moved by
the Holy Ghost, the kingdom of God will
advance in your life.
Now, beloved, the Lord had a controversy in
the Old Testament with many of his shepherds.
The shepherds were those that were set apart,
not because of any particular extraordinary ability, but
simply because of the choice of God.
They were set apart to represent God before
the people, and subsequently the people were called
to represent him also before the nations.
But the Lord had a controversy with many
of his shepherds because they wouldn't go in
areas that made them and the people uncomfortable.
He said to the shepherds, you've not visited
those that are sick.
And this is not speaking about hospital visitation,
folks.
There's a spiritual sickness that can sometimes get
into a flock.
And he said, you've not visited them, you've
not gone there.
You've not put ointment on those festering wounds,
the places, the sores as it is that
can, if they're not touched by healing, can
infect the whole body of that particular person,
for example, and absolutely bring them to a
spiritual and sometimes even a physical death.
And he said to the shepherds, you've said
to those who it is not well with
them, you've said it's well.
And that is really characteristically the mark of
a false shepherd.
Loving the admiration of the people will say
whatever he has to say or she has
to say to gain the people's advantage or
their admiration.
And false shepherds really don't care about the
people.
They care about their ministry.
They care about their success.
They're evident, at least in the eyes of
men, their success.
And they will not challenge issues of the
heart that can send people to a spiritual
death and even an eternity without God.
Beloved, if we as shepherds here at Times
Square Church truly love you, if we truly
love you, if we truly care about you,
if we are truly called of God, then
as shepherds we will go after those areas
that are going to hurt you.
Even if it makes you uncomfortable and even
if it's difficult for us, I had it
on my heart all week to speak on
a certain topic.
I have had a happy week.
It's been a wonderful week.
God touched me last Friday and healed me.
And I've had a wonderful week.
It's been a joyful week for me.
And I wanted that joy to come and
just spill over this morning to everybody, but
the Holy Spirit had another idea.
And I sat down to try to prepare,
and I remember I told my wife on
Friday, I said, This is the first time
in a long time that I really don't
know what I'm speaking on Sunday morning.
Normally, the Holy Spirit is spoken in my
heart usually midweek, and I really had no
idea, simply because I had an idea and
God said, No, that's not my agenda.
I found out this morning Pastor Neil and
I are speaking on identical topics today.
You see, the Holy Spirit is going after
something in some.
I have prayed for many who are here,
and I believe in God.
I want to see you in heaven.
I want you in heaven.
When I get to the throne of God,
I want to see your face there.
I want you there.
And I'm trusting the Holy Spirit because He
knows your life.
I don't know you apart from Sunday morning
in many cases, or Sunday, or Tuesday, Friday,
and if we chance to meet throughout the
week.
But I don't know you apart from these
encounters, but He knows you.
The Holy Ghost knows you intimately.
He knows all your thoughts.
He knows all your ways.
He knows what part of your Christian expression
is real and what part is not.
What part is birthed in Christ and what
part has no part in Him at all.
And the Holy Spirit will go after that.
I'm asking you today to receive what God
has given me to speak to you, and
later today to Pastor Neil as well.
What God has given us to speak to
you in love.
If you don't hear it that way, it
might be very hard for you to hear
it.
But the essence of what God gives a
shepherd to speak is because He cares.
When I was an actual physical shepherd, I
actually at one time had a sheep farm,
a very small sheep farm.
But I remember time and again I'd have
to go in the barn and sharpen that
knife.
And sometimes do minor surgery as it is
to get bugs out of the nose and
things like that.
That if they're not operated on, if they're
not taken out, they will actually drive that
particular animal insane.
Others had foot rot.
If you don't deal with foot rot, it
will eventually cripple the sheep.
And then of course it can't graze.
If both feet will get it, it can't
walk, it can't graze, and it will eventually
starve to death.
And so some of the things that to
the natural eye may have looked very cruel.
No chastening, the Scripture says, for the present
time seems to be joyous, but grievous.
But afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of
righteousness.
That means God's righteousness is born in those
who have opened themselves to the discipline of
God.
I do pray that you will open your
heart and receive the full counsel of God.
We preach grace like I've never heard it
in my life.
And you know that.
If you attend this church, you know we
preach grace.
Incredible grace in this church.
We preach the New Testament covenant.
The full salvation and the full power of
God to be everything God has called us
to be.
But we have to preach the full counsel
as well.
Father, I thank you today, God, for the
anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Now, Holy Spirit, this is your church.
This is your church.
This doesn't belong to any one of us.
It belongs to you.
These people are your people.
They belong to you.
This is your body, Jesus.
Your beloved bride that you have called and
claimed to yourself that you're going to take
home to live with you for all of
eternity.
Lord, you love everyone in this building.
Everyone that can hear my voice today.
You love us all so much that you
would become a man and die.
And, Lord, that is the basis upon which
we hear everything that you have to speak
to us.
I ask you, Holy Spirit, to quicken me.
Quicken the word of God.
Multiply the little that I have, and God,
feed everyone in this house.
Go into every situation, every life.
Lord God, I can't even begin to relate
to everyone here, but you know.
Holy Spirit, you know, and you can go
where I can't go.
Holy Spirit, we are calling upon you today
to go.
Into every corner.
Behind every curtain.
Into every closet.
Into every hidden thing.
We're inviting you, Holy Spirit, to go.
Those who love truth.
Those who know truth.
Lord God, those who are truly born of
the Spirit of God, there is a cry.
There is a cry that says, Search me,
God, and know my heart.
Try me, and see if there be anything
wicked in me.
And lead me in the way of life
everlasting.
God, that's the cry of my heart.
And that's the cry of this church.
And I'm asking you, Jesus, to tear down
that which you haven't built.
And to root out that which you haven't
planted.
And God, take away that which you haven't
set your hand to.
And replace it with that which is divine.
Which is life.
Which bears your stamp.
And the witness of your power upon it.
And Father, I thank you for this.
Oh God, with all my heart.
Oh Jesus, be glorified in your church.
Be glorified in Times Square Church.
Be glorified, God, in the lives of Christians
all over the world, Lord, who are searching
for truth.
Be glorified.
Be glorified and honored.
Let your name be named among your people
in truth and in righteousness.
Father, I thank you for it from the
depths of my heart.
In Jesus' name.
Revelation.
The last book in the New Testament.
Chapter 3.
I'm going to be speaking a message called
The Defiled Garments of Sardis.
Now, you understand that these are first generation
Christians.
Virtually all of them.
John, the beloved apostle, is writing these words.
He is still alive.
This is the same John that leaned his
head on Jesus' chest at the Last Supper.
John is an older man now.
Jesus has come to him and he's telling
him about the church.
This is not a book about the unsaved.
This is about the church.
These are people that have been won to
Christ and are calling themselves by his name.
They have been established by God to be
a testimony of his power throughout the world.
Their known world at that time.
Even today they're still testifying to us even
though they're dead.
Revelation 3.1. Hold
fast and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will
come on thee as a thief, and thou
shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee.
Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis,
which have not defiled their garments.
And they shall walk with me in white,
for they are worthy.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed
in white raiment, and I will not blot
out his name out of the book of
life.
But I will confess his name before my
Father and before his angels.
He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
I have no doubt there are many theories
about the church of Sardis.
Some are true and some are not.
There is truth absolutely to the theory that
the church of Sardis had once received the
truth and had carelessly fallen asleep to the
reality of what they had heard.
Now the writer to the church, to the
Hebrews, in the book of Hebrews chapter 2,
says again to these Christians, which were also
first generation, chapter 2 verse 1, he says,
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things that we have heard,
lest at any time we should let them
slip.
Now the connotation of the word slip, the
writer of Hebrews is saying, we have heard
some wonderful truths and we must be careful,
lest through carelessness we allow these truths to
simply just drift away from our lives.
Now the context of the word in the
original text is a ship coming into a
harbor of safety, but forgetting to put down
its anchor.
And it just casually, the tide begins to
move it and it casually begins to drift
out of the harbor and is not even
aware that it is moving away from that
place of safety.
And the writer says we must be careful
lest at any time that should come into
our hearts, that we should hear wonderful, magnificent
truths that can not only save us, but
set us free and keep us, lest through
carelessness or wrong associations, we should allow these
truths to begin to just slip away from
our lives until they are just a distant
memory, but they are no longer a real
and actual experience.
They are no longer part of our actual
profession as it is of being in Christ.
But they have drifted away from us.
He says if the word, verse 2, which
is spoken by angels was steadfast and every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of
reward, how should we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at the first began
to be spoken by the Lord and was
confirmed to us by them that heard him?
God, verse 4, also bearing them witness, both
with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and
gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his
own will.
The writer is saying how will we escape
if even angels suffer a penalty because of
their transgression?
How will we escape if God has given
us a knowledge of the completeness as it
is, the fullness of our salvation, and also
he has confirmed it to those who spoke
it to us, who heard it from him.
He worked among them with great witness.
There were signs and wonders and miracles and
gifts given to them which could only come
from the hand of God.
And the Hebrew writer is saying we saw
it.
We saw it with our own eyes.
We saw the reality that God had made
the choice to come and dwell among men.
No longer was this gift to the Holy
Spirit for a select few as it was
in the foregone days before Christ.
No longer was it just the occasional David,
the occasional Elijah, Elisha rising up.
But now it was to everybody, all flesh,
whosoever calls on the name of the Lord.
God said I will now come and live
in them.
Incredible.
He said, tell me, if we neglect this
salvation, what's our end going to be?
If we take this for granted, if we
let it slip out of our lives.
God bore them witness.
And you see, God will always bear witness
to those that are his.
I can tell you that I am anything
I want to tell you I am.
But the proof is in the pudding as
the expression goes.
The proof is in the presence of God
in my life.
Any preacher can stand and tell you he's
anointed.
And there are many that will do that
today.
But the proof of the anointing is the
freedom that comes into your life.
The proof is the prison doors that open.
The blinded eyes that see.
The wounded hearts that get healed.
That's the proof of God's presence.
It's not what I say I am or
other people say about me.
It's what happens in your life.
That's the proof.
The same God.
He says in verse 10.
Chapter 1.
Thou, Lord, in the beginning, in Hebrews, hast
laid the foundation of the earth, and the
heavens are the works of thine hands.
They shall perish, but thou remainest.
And they shall all wax old as does
a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou
fold them up.
And they shall be changed, but thou art
the same, and the years fail not.
The writer of Hebrews says we have this
same God who has the power to fold
the universe.
And he will do that one day.
He will take the known universe, in all
of its dynamics, as far beyond our understanding
as it is.
And this same God that created all things
will fold it up as an old garment
and put it away and recreate it.
Incredible when you think of it.
And the author is saying this same God
now lives in us.
This same God who can change the universe
can change us.
This same God who can fold up things
that man can't even understand can fold up
our old nature.
Hallelujah.
Fold up the old things.
That's why Paul says if anyone be in
Christ, he is a new creation.
The old things are passed away.
The old things are folded up by the
hand of God within us.
It's an incredible thing.
This is an exciting life to be a
Christian.
Did you know that?
It is exciting.
I feel like the hymn writer that said,
morning by morning, new mercies I see.
Morning by morning, God, you fold up things
that I don't understand.
You fold them up and put them away
just because I desire you.
You change me from image to image and
glory to glory by your grace.
Only because I desire you.
He said this same God in verse 9.
God has loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
This same God, Jesus, loves what truly represents
Him and hates what does not represent Him.
Paul said to the Corinthian church, the Corinthian
church was in exasperation to the apostle Paul.
They loved God on one hand, but they
had a toleration for sin on the other.
I have no doubt the Corinthian church probably
had explosive praise and worship.
But they also had a man living in
sin with his mother in their midst and
did nothing about it.
There was an acceptance of things that God
clearly says are wrong.
And Paul said to the Corinthian church, he
said, why?
These are his words.
I'm paraphrasing his words.
He said to the Corinthians, why are you
still willfully sinning when you have the knowledge
of God's mercy and power that's available to
you?
It's so unexplainable sometimes why some who have
the knowledge, who've sat under the gospel, still
make the choices to live in dark places.
When in Christ is all the light, John
said that we will ever need.
In Him was life and this life was
the light of men.
But they make a choice.
They understand the power.
And Paul wrote to the Corinthian church.
I'm just going to read it to you
from the Amplified Bible, because I think it
explains it a little better.
And he said to them in 1st Corinthians
1534.
Now, listen, these are the words of a
loving shepherd to a church that he cared
about.
And he said, awake from your drunken stupor
and return to sober sense and to your
right minds and sin no more.
For some of you have not the knowledge
of God.
He said, you are utterly and willfully and
disgracefully ignorant and continue to be so, lacking
the sense of God's presence and all true
knowledge of Him.
He said, I say this to your shame.
He said to the Corinthian church, I don't
understand it.
It must be a willful ignorance of the
ways of God because you've sat under the
gospel and yet you continue to live in
a way that disgraces the name of the
one you say you represent.
The prophet Amos cried out to God's people
of his generation.
They were not walking in right relationship with
God, but they were publicly claiming that they
longed for the day of the Lord's coming.
They were going to, as it is the
worship of their day.
And if you were to ask anybody at
Amos' day, he says, oh, we long for
the Messiah.
We absolutely long.
We live for the day of His coming.
And really, that is the testimony of many
here today.
I live for the day of His coming.
I long.
But Amos said to them, in chapter 5,
verse 18, he said, woe to you that
desire the day of the Lord.
To what end is it for you?
He said, the day of the Lord is
darkness and not light.
He said, Amos said, you're putting away from
you the very truth of God.
And yet you make a public profession of
saying, I want Him as my Savior.
I long for the day of His return.
But Amos said, you don't understand that when
He comes, He's coming for a people of
truth.
Are they perfect?
No.
But they are a people of truth.
They want truth.
They live in truth.
They're progressing.
They're moving forward in that truth.
Prophet Malachi, turn with me, please.
It's the last book in the Old Testament
that is written 400 years before the arrival
of John the Baptist.
Malachi is the last prophet that spoke to
Israel that there was a 400-year period
of silence until John the Baptist.
And you're going to find that many of
the messengers, the true shepherds of God, had
the same word to their generation.
If I had time, I could take you
through it continuously, both in the Old and
the New Testament.
But Malachi chapter 3, he says, Behold, I
will send my messenger.
You're going to see in here the pattern
of God, how God deals with His people.
Now, this is speaking two-fold, obviously, about
John the Baptist.
But it's also speaking about the word that
comes to the heart of every Christian who's
making a profession of actively seeking Christ.
God says, I will send my word, and
then I will come to you for two
purposes.
I will come to you to make you
free.
Or, you remember, He warned in the New
Testament.
He said, If the light in you be
darkness, how great is that darkness.
Or, I will come to you as a
witness against you, because you've heard the truth,
and you've made the choice not to walk
in it.
He said, Behold, I send my messenger, and
he will prepare the way before me.
Malachi 3.1, And the Lord whom you
seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even
the messenger of the covenant whom you delight
in.
Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of
hosts.
But who may abide in the day of
his coming?
Who shall stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner's fire and
fuller's soap.
Malachi is saying, Those who want the day
of the Lord, want the presence of Christ,
do you understand that when he comes, he
comes to burn away those things that are
unlike him.
He comes to cleanse those things that defile
his presence in the lives of those who
profess to be his.
And he shall sit, verse 3, as a
refiner and a purifier of silver, and he
shall purify the sons of Levi.
Now, in those days, Levi was the chosen
priesthood of God, and the descendants of Levi.
And he says, I will begin by purifying
those who are called to represent me, or
called by my name.
You stand before the people as it is,
and you speak for me.
Now, today, keep in mind that we are
all kings and priests unto the Lord.
What was a selective ministry has now been
in effect.
There are different offices in the church, but
all who know Christ are now called to
represent him before humankind.
I will purge them as gold and silver,
that they may offer unto me an offering
of righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
be pleasant unto the Lord as in the
days of old and as in former years.
In verse 5, he says, I will come
near to you to judgment, and I'll be
a swift witness against the sorcerers.
Now, sorcery, if you look it up in
the original text, means the whispers, in a
sense.
Those who claim to speak for God, and
they don't.
Those that say, the Lord has spoken to
me, and he hasn't.
It also refers to those that are rebellious
to truth, and subsequently to everything that represents
truth and order in the house of God.
They stand in opposition to God's divine order,
yet still have that sense that they are
somehow pleasing to God.
And God says, no, I will come as
a witness.
I'll come as a witness to those who
have the spirit of rebellion, which is as
witchcraft.
I'll come as a witness against that, and
against the adulterers, and against false swearers.
False swearers, it's just simply people that say,
I'm the Lord's, and you're not.
I love Jesus, and you don't.
I love you with all my heart, and
it's not true.
I will follow you wherever you lead me,
and you won't.
And he said, I will come as a
witness against those that swear falsely.
And those that oppress the hireling in his
wages.
That means those that deal dishonestly in financial
matters.
Those that cheat on their income tax.
Those that submit false expense accounts to their
employers.
Those that lie to their wives and husbands
about how much money they take home, and
how much is in the bank.
I will come, and he said, I will
deal with all dishonesty in my people.
And he said, the widow and the fatherless.
He said, I will come as a witness
against those who oppress the weak.
And take advantage of those who have no
strength, and no power.
And exploit them as it is for their
own good.
As God lives in heaven, I would tremble
to stand before him, having been in the
shoes of some that stand in pulpits today.
What a day of tragedy that's going to
be.
What an awful, awesome, fearful day that's going
to be when they stand before God.
And that turn aside the stranger from his
right.
Now, listen to me.
In the Old Testament, there was a law.
He said, I'm going to give you a
great harvest.
I'm going to put things in your field,
but you are not to glean the corners
of your field.
In other words, you're not to grab everything
you can get your hands on.
You are to leave the corners of your
field unharvested for the sake of the stranger
that is passing through who is hungry.
Beloved, really what that means for us today
is that God says, I will plant wonderful
things in your life.
And I will give you an abundance so
far beyond anything you could have ever gotten
with your own hands.
I will put it there and give it
to you, but you are not to consume
it on yourself.
I've given my presence into your life for
a purpose.
There are strangers passing through the land that
are starving to death.
And I'm going to put within you the
goods as it is they need.
And don't, yes, take a portion for your
needs.
There are entire church movements today that are
living in total self-consumption.
The whole gospel is for me, myself, and
mine, and I.
And Jesus said, I'm going to come as
a witness against this.
Because I've planted in your life something that
I am destined to cause to overflow you
as it is to feed the stranger.
To feed other people who don't know me.
You see, Jesus works through his church.
And he feeds people.
I'm talking physically and spiritually as well.
And he said, I'm coming as a witness
to those who don't fear me, said the
Lord of hosts.
To those who have no sense of awe.
There's no sense of awe at my presence.
I'm just buddy up Jesus to them.
I'm Sunday God.
And if they're really devoted, I'm Tuesday night
God as well.
But there's no sense of awe.
There's no sense of understanding that I left
heaven to live in them.
That I have planted my spirit as it
is.
I've given my Holy Spirit to my people
for an express purpose that they may glorify
me.
That I might be glorified through them on
this earth.
There's no sense of awe.
Do you live in a sense of awe?
I live in a sense of awe of
God.
Awe when you wake up in the morning
that I am called by God.
Who am I, David said, that you should
consider me worthy to touch.
What is man that you are mindful of
him?
Mighty God for the things I did against
you.
You should have ruled me into a ball
and thrown me into eternal darkness.
But instead you came down as a man
and you died and took my place.
And not only did you take my place,
but you come and live in me.
And you changed me and you said I'm
going to make you a partaker of my
plan of redemption.
Let's do all that call upon my name
and I will change you.
Every day I will change you.
To live with God is to live in
a sense of awe.
Awe.
Oh God.
The Bible says you dwell in unapproachable light
and yet you have approached me.
The scripture clearly says that if I were
to come into your presence in an unclean
state, I would be instantly dissolved.
I would die in your presence and yet
I've seen your face and I live.
Back in Revelation again chapter 3.
He says to the angel of the church
in Sardis.
I know your works.
That thou hast the name that thou livest
and art dead.
Now this is really pivotal to understanding the
whole passage, the whole five verses to Sardis.
Bear with me if I labor in this
a little bit.
In the Greek text the word for works
means an attainment.
Something you've achieved.
Something you've become which is not accomplished by
a single act but rather by the whole
performance.
And so the Lord says I know your
works.
In other words, God says I'm not fooled
by Sunday's church attendance.
You see because I don't stay just for
one act.
I go through the whole performance.
Jesus said I walk out with you and
I go into your home.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
He says I have stayed for the whole
performance and I know that which you have
become.
I know your works.
And he said you have a name that
thou livest.
The word for name means a character described
by that name.
Really the name he's talking about is Christian.
You have a reputation.
He said but and that reputation is that
you live.
Now the word for live in the Greek
is zeal which means you are caused to
live or you are vivified or quickened.
Now this word is only applied to God
who possesses life independently from anyone and from
whom all things derive their life and existence.
It means that to live under the constant
guidance and influence of God.
He said now you have a name that
you are God's.
And that God's spirit lives in you and
that you live under his constant guidance and
influence.
You have that reputation.
People look at you and say you are
Christian.
You attend Times Square Church.
If this is your home church or wherever
it is that you attend that you have
given your life to God.
You may have boasted about the Holy Spirit
being in your life.
Being close to God.
He says you have a name.
People look at you.
He said but you are dead.
And the word is necros which means you
are separated from the quickening grace of God.
He said you have a name that the
name that you have is that my power
is the light that animates you.
But he said I've followed your whole performance.
And it isn't true.
Now listen very very carefully to me.
There are people that visit this church here
and they may see you and I worshiping.
And this is an explosive church when it
comes to praise and worship.
And it should always be that way.
And you might be among those that come
into the church and you are leaping and
dancing and glorifying God.
And the stranger looks at you and says
wow.
God is with these people.
The reality is that God is with most
of these people.
Others are just simply moved by the music.
They like the beat.
They could do the same thing because they
are doing the same thing in a club
on Wednesday night.
Don't think for one second there is not
people here that go to clubs.
There are.
And they groove and dance there too as
well.
And then they come into God's house and
do the same thing on Sunday.
You see the Lord says I have followed
the whole performance.
I walk where you walk.
I know where you go.
I know who you are.
And people walk in here and they might
be fooled by your reputation.
But God says I am not.
I know who you are.
I see the checks you sign.
I hear the words you speak at home.
I know who you are.
Keep in mind he is speaking to his
church.
He is not speaking to the heathen.
He is speaking to his church.
These are people who profess to love Jesus.
Profess to know Jesus.
And he said in verse 2, he said
be watchful and strengthen the things that remain
which are ready to die.
Now he said there are still some good
things in you.
But even that which you have is passing
away.
You are sliding out of the harbor and
you are not even aware of it.
It is fading away.
In verse 3 he said remember therefore how
thou hast heard and how thou hast perceived
and heard and hold fast and repent.
Now he said I spoke to you one
time and you heard it.
And you received it.
And he said get back there.
The word repent means regret but it is
accompanied by a true change of heart towards
God.
Remember when you first heard and you wanted
to walk with me.
Remember the days before you took my grace
for granted and made it cheap.
Remember the days when your desire was to
live a holy life.
Remember the days when you wanted me to
use you and change you.
What happened?
You slipped out of the harbor.
And in many cases it happens in churches
all over the nation.
They have great revival and then the grace
that they have received becomes some cheap thing.
That they can walk through their week and
squander and then come back in and say
I am saved.
And then they have some preacher stand there
and say things are well.
And they are not well.
He says in verse 3 he says if
you will not watch.
Now the word for watch means wake up.
Literally that is what it means.
If you will not wake up I will
come on thee as a thief and thou
shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee.
As a thief.
That is an incredible thing.
I mean there is obvious meanings to that.
We know the day of the Lord comes
as a thief in the night.
He said in Malachi I will come suddenly
when you do not expect me.
In some cases people will just at that
point become aware and the day of the
Lord's return.
It is at that point they become aware
that they have been cut off from the
grace of God.
But there is another meaning.
And I want you to hear this very
clearly.
I believe the other meaning is simply this.
The messenger comes first.
Remember Malachi.
First the messenger then the Lord comes to
the temple.
What happened to Israel?
The messenger came and said prepare your hearts.
The Messiah is coming.
And then he came to his temple.
And they did not know him.
He walked among them.
They did not even know he was there.
They were offended at him.
They were offended at his words.
Offended at his claim upon their lives.
The legitimate claim.
Offended at the expression of his love.
They were offended at his healing.
They were absolutely offended at the Messiah that
they said that they once loved.
He came among them.
But because of their sleep they were not
even aware he was there.
And I believe that is exactly what he
is saying to Sardis.
I will have come near to you but
you will not be aware of it.
Except for the sense of loss.
The thief comes in the night.
And you do not know he has been
there.
But when you get up in the morning
there is a sense that something has been
lost.
And he said except for the sense of
loss you will not even know that I
have been near you.
Everyone is gaining and you are losing.
Everyone is drawing near and you are fading.
You see there is a dividing line.
Whether we like it or not.
In the kingdom of God.
Luke 8.18 Jesus said it this way.
He said take heed therefore how you hear.
For whosoever hath the hymn shall be given.
And whosoever hath not.
Even that which he seems to have.
In the original text means he imagined he
had.
Is taken away.
He said in Revelation 3.4. You have
a few names in Sardis which have not
defiled their garments.
And they shall walk with me in white
for they are worthy.
Now I want to look at the garments.
Now we are going to go to these
and finish with this.
Go to Isaiah chapter 61.
Please with me.
You have a few names.
That have not defiled their garments.
Isaiah 61.
The prophet Isaiah describes these garments that God
has given to us.
For the express purpose of honoring him.
Isaiah 61.
Let's start in verse 10.
He says I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord.
My soul shall be joyful in my God.
For he has clothed me with the garments
of salvation.
First and foremost when you and I come
to Christ.
He says I will cleanse you.
The word for salvation is yeshah.
In the Hebrew it means liberty, deliverance, help,
salvation, freedom.
It's the Hebrew name of Jesus is derived
from this word.
When we came to Christ and acknowledged that
we were sinners.
God almighty himself received us because Jesus his
son covered us.
He covered us with his own righteousness.
He gave us a new robe.
So that when God looks upon us he
does not see our filthiness anymore.
He sees the beauty as it is of
his son.
He sees the obedience of his son.
He sees the glory of his son when
he looks at you and I.
And I thank God for that knowledge.
That's what gives me the power to throw
away the condemner.
And all of his lies.
Because I know in my heart I long
for truth and walk in truth.
As God speaks to my heart and gives
me the enablement I am able to walk
in it.
But I thank God for that garment of
salvation.
I thank God for that cleansing blood of
Jesus Christ with all my heart.
Hallelujah.
That is my glory.
That's my joy.
He gave me a new garment.
He took away that stinking robe of sin
and all the past and gave me a
brand new garment of salvation.
Whether or not you can see it if
you're a Christian, you are wearing it today.
It is upon you.
When God the Father looks at us he
only sees the glory of his son.
Hallelujah.
That's why the writer of the New Testament
says, I am the righteousness of God in
Christ Jesus.
That is not a vain boast.
He says it's as if I had never
sinned.
Because God has taken my sin and he
has placed it upon his own son.
He paid the price for my sin.
And then he was raised again from the
dead on the third day.
In absolute glory where he sits now at
the right hand of all power.
And he sent his garment abroad to whoever
will call on his name.
Hallelujah.
Beloved, you don't have to live in sin.
You don't have to be filthy.
You don't have to be under the power
of sin.
Jesus Christ died.
Paid the price for your sin and sent
his own image as it is.
Sent his own garment of righteousness.
And he covers in a moment those that
place their trust in him.
Those that say, Lord, I'm a sinner.
I need to be saved.
And it's honest in your heart.
He said, remember how you received soreness.
He said, when you cried out to me
in your need, I didn't find you when
you were righteous.
He said, Israel, I found you in your
own blood lying out in the field.
But I took you to myself and I
cleansed you and I clothed you.
Hallelujah.
Thank God for that day.
Hallelujah.
Again in verse 10, he said, he's given
me the garments of salvation and has covered
me with a robe of righteousness.
As a bride groom decks himself with ornaments
and a bride adorns herself with jewels.
He's given me a robe of righteousness.
That means a robe of right standing.
That means my iniquities are not imputed to
me.
Now, this is not for the religious game
player, folks.
None of these promises are for the hypocrite.
Don't be deceived, Paul said to the Corinthian
church.
Idolaters and fornicators and the effeminate and all
these other things.
He said, you will not inherit the kingdom
of God.
And he said, such were some of you
to the Corinthians.
But now you are washed.
Now you are sanctified.
In other words, there are people among us
who make the choice not to live a
righteous life and will pay the eternal cost.
But he has given me a robe of
righteousness.
That means the righteousness of God.
He has lifted me constantly into right standing
with him.
He has received me as his own son.
That's where I stand now, before the throne
of God.
My state might be a little bit different
than my standing.
My standing is completely accepted.
But my state may be way down here.
But God sent the Holy Spirit into my
life to continuously throughout my life lift my
state in line with my standing.
He's given me a robe of righteousness.
He's given me the power to be a
different man.
Hallelujah!
There is no sin that can have dominion
over me anymore.
If any sin wants to have dominion over
my life, it has to be there by
invitation.
Because it has no power.
It's been broken at the cross.
Absolutely triumphed over when Christ was raised from
the dead.
And the fact that he was raised from
the dead is living proof that my hope
is not in vain.
Hallelujah!
Now, next I believe is the garment, the
neglect of which had begun the whole slide
in Sardis to spiritual death.
You find it in Isaiah 61, verse 1.
Jesus said these words in Luke.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon
me.
Because the Lord has anointed me to preach
good tidings to the meek.
He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted.
To proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are
bound.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God.
To comfort all that mourn.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion
and to give to them beauty for ashes.
The oil of joy for mourning.
And the garment of praise.
For the spirit of heaviness.
God said I gave you a garment.
I gave you salvation.
I gave you an assurance that my righteousness
is now given to you.
But my righteousness is also being daily worked
into your lives by the power of the
Holy Ghost.
And I gave you a garment of praise.
And I believe this garment of praise is
inseparably linked to a belief in the faithfulness
of God.
You cannot separate it from faith.
The garment of praise is linked to faith.
Like our salvation is linked to the blood
of Jesus Christ.
You remember the children of Israel could not
enter into the land of promise because of
unbelief.
The garment of praise is something that God
himself gives to those that are his.
And it comes to those who have received
the word of God.
It comes to those who say, God, your
promises to me are yea and amen.
You cannot lie to me.
You are a God of truth.
And in spite of what I see, in
spite of what I hear, in spite of
my circumstances, your word is truth.
And I praise you God.
I praise you for what you're going to
do.
You see, Sardis had a reputation.
But it was not linked to reality anymore.
They were just singing songs, but there was
no longer faith in the heart.
And that begun the whole process of spiritual
death.
But the true child of God who has
heard his word and begins to understand his
heart comes into the house of the Lord.
And says, the devil can't have my sons.
The devil can't have my daughters.
The devil can't have my grandchildren.
The devil can't have my family.
The devil can't have my finances.
The devil can't have the pathway of my
feet.
The devil can't keep me bound in sin
anymore.
Hallelujah.
Yes, you might be in the midst of
the worst battle in your life.
But God says, I've given you a garment
of praise.
I've given you the ability by faith to
lift your voice and begin to sing the
songs of Zion.
And glorify me.
He says, when you choose to believe me,
I will not fail you.
Hallelujah.
I will not fail you.
I stake my very name on your freedom.
I stake my very name on answering your
prayers.
And be the delight of your life and
heart.
Let me just read this to you.
David, the king, said in Psalm 18, I
will love thee, O Lord, my strength.
I will love you.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress,
my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom
I will trust.
My buckler and the horn of my salvation
and my high tower.
He said, I will call upon the Lord
who is worthy to be praised.
And so shall I be saved from my
enemies.
I will call.
He said, I used to call and God
has answered my prayer.
He wrote this just after he was delivered
from the hand of Saul.
Throughout the psalm, you see that he says
that sores of death were around me and
I was afraid.
But I called out to God.
Remember, he said to Sardis, how you've received
and heard.
Remember, God, says the days that I worked
in miracle power in your life.
And David said, I remember, God, how faithful
you've been.
And when I face trial and when I
face difficulty and when sin threatens to overwhelm
me and when the devil tries to tell
me I'm not going to make it and
when he comes with lies and difficulties and
storms and adversities come into my life, I
will call upon the Lord and I will
praise you.
God, I will praise you.
I will not sing my sorrow.