Where we're at in the book of Revelation
is we're at the last church.
Jesus has been talking to the churches.
Now this is important because he's talking to
us today.
2,000 years ago it's still relevant today.
So the last five or six or seven
weeks now with Christmas we were talking about
the different churches.
Now we get to the final church and
let me give you the title to have
you kind of take this in for a
minute.
And I look that up, that is a
word.
Laodiceanism.
Laodicea is where the church was.
Laodiceans are people who attended or who lived
in that community and Laodiceism is lukewarmness, carnality.
It's being lukewarm for the things of God.
And lukewarm is okay if you're in your
bed sleeping, right?
You don't want it hot.
You don't want it cold.
You want it lukewarm.
There's something on your wall that you can
adjust to 72 degrees and it keeps everything
comfortable.
Lukewarm.
But when it comes to coffee, you like
it lukewarm?
Some of you do.
I didn't know that.
It's not good.
What about black tea or tea drinkers?
Do you like it lukewarm?
No, you either want to put it in
the microwave or put some ice in it.
There's this lukewarm state is good in some
regards, but it's terrible for spirituality.
Let me make a statement today.
Balki, I hope you can hear me.
Lukewarmness will kill spirituality.
Jesus said if you're lukewarm, and I taste
that and you're lukewarm, I'm gonna throw up.
Jesus said I'm going to vomit you out
of my mouth.
So this is something we need to pay
very close attention to.
This is the last sermon of the year,
okay?
So we got to hit the ground running
going into 2018.
And at the first service, as you know,
there was a survey that went out about
2018 about the church.
I actually covered that at the first service.
So all you have to do is click
the live feed link.
Fast forward to 35 minutes and you can
hear some of the things that went over
in regard to the surveys and the church's
direction, how we're doing financially as a church,
which is we're doing very good, and everything's
going good in that regard.
So go listen to the first service.
Fast forward to the 35 minute mark, and
that just saved me eight minutes.
How's that?
Okay?
Instead of trying to repeat everything.
Revelation 3.14, and to the angel of
the church of the Laodiceans, write these things,
these things, says the Amen, the faithful and
true witness, the beginning of creation of God.
So Jesus is saying, I am the faithful
witness.
I am the true and living God.
I am faithful to the end.
I will not let you down.
Here's what I'm saying to you.
Everyone in this audience, he is saying this
to us.
The beginning of creation of God.
I want to clarify this because some, we
would consider a cult, some cults teach that
Jesus was created.
He's not God.
He's a created being.
He's the brother of Satan, or whatever you
want to say.
The Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible says throughout Scripture, in Colossians for
example, Colossians 116, that in Jesus Christ all
things were created.
All things have been created through him and
for him.
The disciple Thomas said, my Lord and my
God.
It's not a created angel.
We don't worship a created being.
He is fully God, but he was fully
man when he came here to earth.
Try to understand that.
You're going to get a headache.
We just know that the Scripture clearly teaches
it, that Jesus was not created.
Also what's interesting, the beginning of the creation
of God, the word beginning there can also
mean origin.
In other words, all things originated from Jesus
Christ.
Everything.
So that's a good point to clarify.
That's who's speaking to us, speaking to the
church, and now I'm going to get into
the deep stuff.
Are you ready?
If you're asleep, wake up.
If you're looking at your phone, turn it
off.
If you're ready to go take a bathroom
break, just wait.
Give me 30 minutes, maybe 45.
I'm going to try to go quick, but
just pay attention here.
Now I want to just first encourage you.
I don't want anyone to leave here defeated,
and defeated, and let down, and depressed.
Often I've noticed that God will reveal something
in order to heal you in that area,
but when it's revealed to us, often instead
of being healed, we get mad and we
leave, right?
You ever hear something difficult?
You're like, well, I'm not going to hear
that.
I'm out of here.
But God does that through His Word.
It hurts in order to help.
He reveals something in order to heal a
certain area.
So hearing about this topic, I will tell
you up front that it's not comfortable for
many people.
Many people are living in a lukewarm state.
That's why the church is the condition it's
in.
That is why our nation is in the
predicament it's in.
That's why many of our lives are in
the certain predicaments as well.
It's because we are living in a state
of lukewarmness, and you want to know why?
Because it is comfortable, isn't it?
It's just that, don't turn up that thermometer
of my heart very high, right?
Don't turn it up.
I'm comfortable here, Shane.
I don't go minister to the homeless.
No, thanks.
I'm comfortable.
Go get involved in the hospital ministries.
Mm-mm, I'm comfortable.
Go help with the children.
Are you kidding me?
I'm comfortable.
Counsel a family in distress or marriage counseling?
No way.
I'm comfortable, right?
I'm acting like there's a gauge on my
heart.
72, uncomfortable.
I'm not gonna do anything that's going to
burst my bubble.
And God's comfortable, right?
It's church on Sunday, Budweiser on Monday.
Church on Sunday, Raiders on Sunday night.
I got church now.
I don't want to get past that.
I'm comfortable.
Unfortunately for you, the Bible is not about
being comfortable.
Unfortunately, I should say.
Did I say fortunately?
But it's a good thing because when God
pulls us out of that comfort zone, things
start to happen.
Things rarely happen in the comfort zone.
He gets us out of that lukewarm state.
So what I'm gonna offer is the cure
for apathy, complacency, and spiritual laziness.
That's what the Laodiceans were going through.
They were apathetic, complacent, and spiritually lazy.
Don't raise your hand, but does it apply?
Just kind of shake and I'll see you.
You don't have to, you know, the person
next to you doesn't need to know.
But just so you know, this can creep
into my life as well.
All of us.
Nobody is above lukewarmness and being in this
Laodicean state.
You remember that old hymn, Prone to Wander?
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love.
Oh Lord, take and seal it.
Seal me from the courts above.
Seal my heart.
See, there's something in us that's prone to
wander.
And as we wander, when we wander, when
we get into that state where we become
comfortable and complacent and we become lukewarm.
Lukewarm has its place, as I said earlier,
but not in spiritual matters.
And we like to hear that God has
a plan for you, right?
Best-selling books out there.
God has a plan for you.
Do you know the devil has a plan
for you as well?
He has a plan for you.
Hyphen lukewarmness.
That's what his plan is.
He wants us to be lukewarm.
He wants us to be not on fire
for God.
He wants us to be irrelevant.
He wants us to be bored and lazy.
That's his plan for us.
And there's so many distractions that come in
and can take us away from the things
of God.
So let's read where the rubber meets the
road.
Verse 15.
Jesus says, I know your works that you
are neither cold nor hot.
I could wish that you were cold or
hot, but because you are lukewarm and neither
cold nor hot, I will vomit you out
of my mouth.
Isn't that interesting?
That's a pretty big deal.
Jesus said, I wish you're hot, I wish
you're cold, but because you're lukewarm, I'm going
to vomit you out of my mouth.
Now it would be pretty bad if he
left us hanging there, wouldn't it?
But he gives a cure for this lukewarmness,
for this Laodicean aspect that can rise up
in our lives.
But this shows me the seriousness of it.
When Jesus says, I will vomit you out
of my mouth, I will vomit this life.
Basically, it's this lifestyle that makes Christ sick.
It's like, have you ever seen that person
that just, that is just so disgusting.
Why do you say that but live this
way?
It reminds me of a story I heard
about a young man coming down from the
hill country, right, we can, it makes sense
here.
He's coming down the hills, he's going to
party in this town.
He heard, oh man, I heard the party
life is wonderful, up all night, the kegs
are flowing, I can't wait to go to
this.
And the man stopped him and said, okay,
well why are you bringing your Bible?
He said, well if it's as good as
people say, I might stay till Sunday.
Now you're gonna get that when you're driving
home.
The point is, right, well if this party
life is as good as they say, I'm
not gonna go home Saturday night, I'm gonna
stay for church on Sunday.
See, you can't have Sunday and then live
like hell on Monday.
Jesus said, I vomit that lukewarmness out of
my mouth.
It's a repulsive thing.
Now I'm gonna talk about an aspect here
of a theological division where some people are
a little bit divided on this.
To me, it's not a hill to die
on.
But personally, again personally, okay, you don't have
to come up and argue.
I believe that hot and cold can be
both good traits.
Here's why I say that.
Jesus said, I wish that you were either
hot or cold.
I wish you were either one of those.
But because you're lukewarm, I'm going to spew
you out of my mouth.
However, one side would say, well if a
person's cold, cold to the things of God,
at least we know where they stand.
They're not a hypocrite.
They're not saying I'm a Christian.
They're living like they're not.
We can deal with cold.
You're either hot or cold.
But if you're lukewarm, and there's validity to
that.
I see what they're saying.
But just because looking at the sentence structure,
looking at the grammar of it, Jesus is
saying is, I wish, my desire, I desire
that you're either hot or you're cold, one
or the other.
But lukewarm, it's not productive.
Lukewarm coffee, no.
But hot coffee, yes.
And now they've got iced coffee?
You guys are crazy.
Iced coffee, it's cold, ice cold.
Or what about a tea?
Same thing, right?
Hot or cold, the benefits.
Now, I remember many years ago, reading commentaries
and different things.
They talked about in Laodicea, there might have
been hot springs representing people could relate.
That's hot, hot springs refreshing to the body,
going sitting there like a sauna.
And then there's cold, cool springs coming down
from the valley there, going into the valley
there.
So you can have both of that.
And we see that lukewarm is not good.
Have you ever been hiking up in the
mountains or anything, and you see this this
little stream coming down?
And what about if it was lukewarm?
And you're hot, you know, it's 75 degrees,
you're up in the Sierras, and you want
the cool, refreshing.
See, cold, this cool has a sense of
refreshing, and this nourishing element of it.
Ice, and you put in ice, and you
refresh the drink.
So that's what I believe he's saying here.
But we know that fire, hot, describes passion
and power.
Be hot for Christ.
Or cool represents, cold water represents refreshment and
nourishment.
Basically, our character is pleasing to God versus
nauseating.
Now, I want to be careful because sometimes
we think, people think, Shane, are you talking
about being perfect?
No, I'm actually talking about being real and
genuine, transparent, and serving God with all of
our heart, with all of our strength.
See, there's a difference between somebody who says
they love God, they go to church, but
then there's no living like that.
There's no, there's nothing in their life that
reflects that.
They're in a lukewarm state.
They look like the world.
There's not a difference at all.
So Jesus is saying, come out from among
them, right?
Be separate, be set apart from me.
And the person who struggles, you can struggle
and say, but God, you are my focus.
I don't want to be lukewarm, and you're
transparent, you're open about it, you're trying to
get back on track, you're loving God, you're
making changes, you're seeking him.
Though you fall two steps, one step back,
two steps forward, and it's this pursuit for
God.
That's not lukewarm.
That's welcome to the Christian walk, amen?
I mean, come on, 11 a.m. This
is Christianity 101.
We fall and we get back up.
Okay, you got me, devil, but now I'm
coming back, and we go forward, and you
take a step back, you go two steps
forward, and you get back on track continually.
That's not lukewarm.
Lukewarm is just an apathetic attitude towards God.
Here's the definition.
It's the death of conviction and the rise
of unfaithfulness.
Lukewarmness is the death of conviction.
Do you remember when you used to be
convicted about things?
I've been there before, a conviction, a strong
conviction, but then what happens to that conviction?
It starts to wane, it starts to decrease,
and in the spiritual, in spirituality, in Christianity,
always remember this, it's always a fight.
You're either fighting to gain ground or you're
fighting the enemy trying to pull you back.
It's a fight, it's a struggle, that's why
Paul says it's warfare and contending and fighting.
So it's the death of conviction.
Conviction, what is conviction?
Holding, well let me just show you, it's
this, right?
Conviction, I'm living by this.
Well now it's like, well I don't really
care what this says, now I'm living by
the flesh.
I know what this says, but I'm no
longer convicted.
Isn't that interesting?
People say, Shane, I'm just not convicted about
that like you are.
I used to be convicted.
Look at the, just look at the media.
Talk about the conviction that is the death
of conviction 40 years ago.
Do you think anything, anything that's air today
would have been allowed 40 years ago?
Any, just anything, well maybe fixer-upper, okay
I'll give you that one, but anything else,
right?
What most of things would never been allowed.
Why?
Conviction, that's what the enemy does, he's got
a big sledgehammer, he just keeps chipping away,
chipping away at the foundation.
Let me get this foundation of integrity, that's
no longer important.
Now you can't even trust the news.
I mean, I remember when journalists, if they
didn't like something, they would at least report
the accurate facts about something.
Now you don't know what's going on.
Conviction, the loss of integrity, the loss of
morality, hello?
The loss of morality, of integrity, all these,
that's what lukewarmness is, and America has been
rocked to sleep.
That's wonderful for a little baby, but it's
terrible for a church.
We've drifted into a lukewarm state.
Let me just be upfront and honest for
a little bit, and of course I am
with this too, maybe I should have said
that, but let me just be upfront about
some things.
That's why there's not a lot of people
that like prayer meetings or worship mornings.
That's why there's not a lot of people
that attend church regularly.
That's why it's that mentality of, I don't
want too much of God.
I'm in this lukewarm state, I'm comfortable, and
that's what Jesus is saying here.
That's his challenge to us.
Here's another challenge though.
When a person is lukewarm, sometimes when a
believer is lukewarm, the same character traits you
can see in an unbeliever, and a person
who doesn't know the Lord, they almost look
the same sometimes.
How do you know the difference?
Well, I give you two examples of a
person named Tanner and a person named Tommy.
I'm just making up names here.
Tanner loved the Lord when he was little,
grew up in a Christian home, read his
Bible, went to Iwana, knew some scriptures, but
throughout his teens and 20s, he drifted from
God.
So he's now lukewarm.
He doesn't have conviction, he's not really going
to church, he's doing things he shouldn't be
doing, he's lukewarm.
But that looks just like his unbeliever friend
Tommy.
But see, Tanner is convicted.
Tanner knows there's something missing.
He knows he needs to get back to
that relationship he used to have with the
Lord.
He wants that, like a deer that pants
after the water brook.
He has this desire, I want to go
back, I miss that, I need that.
So he's got this internal struggle.
Tommy has no struggle.
He's not convicted, he's doing what he needs
to do.
God is not in his thoughts, he's not
convicted about what he did last night.
But Tanner, on the other hand, is.
See, that's the difference.
So don't let this sermon beat you up.
Well, maybe a little bit, but not to
where you're beat up and don't do anything.
Let it convict you.
Let the hammer of God sometimes fall.
Let it come down and crush pride.
Let it come down and crush hypocrisy.
Let it come down and crush lukewarm living
so that the fruit of that is vitality
in a relationship back to God.
It's okay not to like what I'm, not
to like to hear what I'm saying.
It's okay.
I bet if we could have you fill
out a survey, a lot of people would
not like what I'm saying.
That's why a lot of people often don't
come back to church.
Now the lukewarm church, though, it's interesting.
See, the pulpit attracts what the people are
hungry for.
There's many lukewarm churches.
You will not hear about repentance.
You will not hear about sin.
You will not hear about hell, for sure
not about hell, or God's judgment, or the
wrath of God, or the blood of Christ,
or holy.
You're not gonna hear about any of that.
Why?
Because lukewarm people do not want to hear
that.
So the pulpit, if nothing is coming out
and the pulpit is lukewarm, the majority of
the people will be lukewarm.
Because he set the temperature on the bathwater,
and they're all sitting in it.
It feels lukewarm.
It feels good.
But if you put a little heat into
that sermon, you put a little fire, you
put a little passion, you put a little
Holy Ghost preaching into that, and the people,
they either wake up, they either have a
breakthrough, or they break out.
Right?
It's one or the other.
I remember, I think it was William Steele,
he was a famous Puritan author.
He said when people for the first time
come under the sound of Holy Ghost preaching,
they are mortally offended because they've never been
exposed to the white light of the gospel.
It's true.
They're like, what?
I've never been exposed?
What is he saying?
Does the Bible really say that?
And they've never been exposed to the white
light of the penitent.
See, the gospel hurts before it helps.
You have to say the wages of sin
is death.
Ah, but here's the Savior.
Point to the cross.
Point to the solution.
See, it has to hurt.
I don't see my need for this.
What does that mean to me?
That means absolutely nothing to me if I
don't know why it's there.
But if somebody, you read the wages of
sin is death, I'm lost without God.
Christ is my all-sufficient sacrifice.
He paid the penalty, propitiation.
He absorbed the wrath of God so I
don't have to.
Then that becomes a place of adoration, a
place of joy and of worship because you
understand.
You understand the good news because you were
given the bad news.
That's why we often say you can't understand
or appreciate the good news without the bad
news as the backdrop.
So it's the same thing here.
These things are meant to hurt initially but
often to heal and to restore and to
rebuild our lives.
Because doesn't something happen to our...
I mean you sit on a tack, you're
not gonna stay sitting there.
Your kids can put their hand in the
door.
They're not gonna leave it there.
Something hurts so there's action takes place.
So that's Jesus's heart with this.
Here's why he's so strong I believe in
these words because these people are deceived.
These people are deceived.
Verse 17.
Jesus says because you say, because you say
I am rich and I've become wealthy and
I have need of nothing.
Oh my goodness.
This poor church.
These guys are so lost and I think
he's saying here because you say they are
boastful.
They are proud.
They are an arrogant church.
We are rich.
I have pastors tell me this.
They say Shane that's not true about repentance
and lukewarmness.
Look at how big our building is.
Look at how many people we have.
We have more people than you.
Who are you to tell me we're lukewarm?
Boastful, arrogant, proud.
We are rich.
We don't need anything.
We're clothed.
We don't need anything.
And Jesus uses these very scathing words.
But you do not know that you are
wretched, you are miserable, you are poor, you
are blind and you are naked.
Now not physically, spiritually.
Think about what he's saying here.
You are wretched.
You're miserable.
You're in a miserable state spiritually speaking.
You're poor spiritually.
You're blind.
You can't even see and you're naked.
You're not clothed with God's righteousness.
And my heart and my passion is for
this type of church too because I do
believe a lot of unbelievers can sit and
enjoy the lukewarmness and not realizing that they
don't even know the risen Savior.
They can come on in and they can
because in churches that preach all of God's
Word, an unbeliever is not going to stay
there very long.
They're either going to get convicted and saved
or they're going to say bye, see you
later.
Tried that, it doesn't work.
Next on my list, because you can't, the
Word of God will keep convicting and keep
convicting if a person is open to that
conviction and they turn to God.
Verse 18, I counsel you.
God says, I counsel you, which means I'm
telling you, buy for me gold that is
refined in the fire that you may be
rich and white garments that you may be
clothed and the shame of your nakedness may
not be revealed.
What a good God.
You're naked, you're poor, you're blind, you're miserable,
but come to me.
Let me clothe you.
Let me cover, let me hide that shame,
that guilt.
I counsel you, I'm telling you, come to
me.
Maybe that's a word for somebody this morning,
I didn't hit on this at the first
service, but if you're carrying tremendous amount of
shame and guilt because of your past, because
of where you are now, God can redeem
all of that, set you free and clothe
you in his righteousness and his love and
his grace.
And yes, there are consequences.
We feel, we know our past, but our
past no longer holds us.
There's not the sting of shame and regret
because it's been dealt with on the cross.
So yeah, I can think of my past
and go, oh boy, I'm glad I'm through
that, but the enemy does not have that
over my head anymore.
So think about that.
If you're dealing with shame and guilt, God
says, I counsel you, turn to me and
I will put white garments on you of
purity and holiness and anoint your eyes with
eye salve that you may see.
It's this healing of the eyes that need
to take place in order to see what
God is doing.
So let's stop here for a minute and
just unpack this.
Wealth in and of itself is never a
mark of blessing.
Never a mark of blessing in and of
itself.
They say we're wealthy.
Doesn't that happen a lot?
How many times do we think, look, God
is blessing me, right?
God is blessing me.
Look, have you seen my car?
Have you seen my bank account?
Have you seen my home?
Look at this wonderful job God gave me.
God is blessing me.
No, the devil can bless you too, right?
Just drive that way 60 miles and there's
a big Hollywood sign on a hill.
The devil's San Francisco, New York, everywhere.
Just because there's abundance doesn't mean that God
is in it.
The devil can bless.
The devil can prosper.
So don't, and I hear that a lot,
health in and of itself is never a
mark of blessing and in need of nothing
in and of itself is never a mark
of blessing.
Now this is a dangerous spot to be.
If you're in this spot, I would encourage
you reassess your life, examine your heart.
Because I run into people, they say, Shane,
I don't need God.
I'm doing fine.
I'll retire in a few years.
House is paid off.
I got the motor home to take some
trips.
I don't, I'm fine.
See what you're telling me, Shane, doesn't apply
to me.
I don't, I don't care.
I'm not buying what you're selling.
It doesn't matter.
I'm in need of nothing.
We have to be careful because that can
slip into a Christian's life as well.
That's why I often say our blessings can
become our curse.
And what I mean by that is anytime
God would prosper his people, throughout the Old
Testament primarily, prosper them, they would become wealth,
wealthy and abundance.
Harvest was coming, you know, harvest tons of
food, tons of wine, tons of everything.
They begin, they begin to grow lazy and
complacent.
He would call the prophet Hosea.
He would call Joel.
He would call Amos, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Isaiah's
or the Jeremiah's.
And, and they would go and they would
call that people away from that luxury.
Instead of worshiping the luxury, worship God.
See, it's, it's, it's a dichotomy of some
sorts because you seek God.
God wants to bless you.
God blesses you and then that blessing becomes
idolatry and you forget God who gave you
the blessing.
And that's often at the heart of Laodiceanism,
lukewarmness.
All of us are susceptible, right?
The, the money's coming.
See, it's interesting.
When we have a prayer mornings or worship
mornings, it's usually people that are going through
something or they're interceding for family members.
They're going through something.
I just got the call.
I lost my job.
30 years at Lockheed.
What am I gonna do, Shane?
I bet you're right here.
I bet you're right here the next worship
morning.
Why?
Because you're in need.
Shane, my spouse just left.
That's why I'm at church every week, at
worship every week.
Do you have midnight services?
Do you have midweek service?
I need, I need God.
Isn't it interesting?
When we're, when we're not in want, when
we're not in need, we have this DNA
in us.
Maybe it's a chromosome or I'm not sure,
but it's like, okay, thank you, God.
Instead of thanking him, we, we, we allow
this abundance to become idolatry.
But it's interesting.
God says, I counsel you, I tell you
to buy from me gold that has been
refined in the fire.
And that, he's not talking about real gold,
right?
Here's an ounce, you know, it's 1,600
bucks an ounce, whatever it is now.
And he's not saying that.
Gold, refined in the fire.
All the impurities come out when gold is
refined.
All that, the, the, the things have come,
come into the gold and maybe melted with
the gold when it was first formed.
It begins to come out.
So God's saying, come to me, buy from
me gold refined in the fire.
This purity, this, this holiness.
But how do you buy from God?
Think about that.
God says, buy from me.
How are you going to buy from God?
It's very simple.
You invest into the relationship.
You invest into that relationship.
You turn your affections away from gold, riches,
comfort, and ease.
You turn your affections away from those and
your affections towards God.
You buy from God this, not, not working
for your salvation things, but you buy from
God what he's offering by turning to him.
How many things in the Bible are conditional?
If you seek me, you will find me.
There's a sign right out front that says,
if my people humble themselves, pray, and seek
my face, and turn from my wicked, your
wicked ways, I will heal their land.
If you seek, if you do this, if
you, if you buy from me.
Now these things in and of themselves are
not bad, of course, right?
We need comfort of some sort.
I, I'm glad I'm not always in a,
always have a tack in my shoe, right?
I'm serving God.
Oh, there's another.
I'm just, there's no ease.
There's no, thank God for a thermostat, right?
Put that thing on 72, you know?
And just, you know, my temperature is 72
now, right?
Based on this sermon, but you know, you,
well, because the kids want 80, and you
know, and, and it's, it's just, it's interesting.
I'm getting off point here, but it's okay
to want comfort, you know?
Sometimes to relax.
Who doesn't want to sit down on the
couch and take off your shoes and just
relax?
And God has created us for that.
Money, we talk about money a lot, or
gold, or riches.
If God blesses a person with that, and,
and there's people he gives you abundance, then
you be a blessing to others.
You, you, you know, you, you use that
wisely, but it's when these things begin to
control, and they have our affections.
How do we know we have our affections?
Because we'll put them before church.
Do you know why most people are not
at church?
It's because they have higher priorities.
They got to play with the toys in
the garage, right?
And we'll get to church when it's convenient.
That's why I often say God, when God's
a priority, when God is a priority, then
everything else comes around him, and that, he's
the priority.
Yes, enjoy life, have your vacation, do things,
but where are your affections lie?
So that's what he's saying here.
Buy gold from me.
I'm counseling you.
Buy these things from me.
God counsels, but he doesn't force.
He counsels us.
He tells us to do things, and that's,
that's one thing I think that, that's kind
of hard for me, is I wish, I
wish God spoke a little louder than the
world, but it's often that still small voice.
God will not compete for our time or
our attention, right?
We turn up the television, God doesn't turn
up his volume.
Hey, hey, I'm up here.
It's that still small voice.
You need a quiet place, a quiet hour,
and a quiet heart to hear from God.
You get your heart.
Robert McIntyre wrote that in his book, The
Hidden Life of Prayer.
I highly recommend that book.
You got to foster these things, and you
look, you can read, you can read God's
Word.
This is, you can read God's Word to
somebody, and it's penetrating.
It's life-changing that they need, they need
God, and then you hear the next day
they just died in an automobile accident.
Without, Lord, why, why can't you have been
louder, louder, louder?
But it is, it's a conviction of the
Holy Spirit, and what's, what's sometimes more, more
motivating?
Your father yelling at you, or your father
lovingly lowering his voice and encouraging, son, I
love you, I love you, I love you
so much, you cannot go that way.
Turn back to me, turn back to me.
It's that still small voice.
It was funny, Elijah was running and hiding,
and he said, God, just kill me.
The prophets of Baal, I killed them, and
now Jezebel's going to kill me.
Lord, I'm just, it's just me, it's just
me that's left.
Kill me, take me.
And God said, don't worry, I have 7
,000 who have not bowed their knee to
Baal, nor they've kissed his image.
He wasn't in the fire, he wasn't in
the earthquake, he wasn't in the storm, he
was in the still, small voice.
That's how you're going to hear from God,
folks.
Get rid of the clutter, get rid of
the junk, get rid of the things that
are distracting you.
God's not going to talk over Facebook.
He's going to tell you to turn off
Facebook, turn off the media, put me first,
seek me, and you'll hear that still, small
voice of a loving father.
Because the world is loud and confused and
impatient.
God is calming and reassuring and not in
a hurry.
That's the way you hear when he says,
listen, seek my counsel.
And then verse 19, as many as I
love.
Jesus is saying this to you.
Everyone in this room, listen.
Jesus is saying, as many as I love.
I can tell you by the authority of
God's word, I can stand here and know
that a lightning bolt is not going to
hit me.
Okay?
God says, Jesus says, as many as I
love.
He loves every single person in this room,
every single person that is hearing this message
later.
For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes
shall not perish but have everlasting life.
He loves all of you.
And like a loving father warning a child
to come out from the street, I can
see the semi going at 60 miles an
hour.
You need to get out of that street.
He says, I love you.
I love you.
Here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to rebuke you.
I was hoping for something a little bit
different, God.
I'm going to rebuke you and I'm going
to chasten you.
If we had time to unpack that word,
it's not real pleasant.
But there's something in us that's at war
with God.
And I don't know about you, but people
often don't change until they're rebuked.
Me and my wife were just talking just
yesterday.
The big lesson we've learned in this church,
we planted the church seven years ago with
10 people, and this year we've learned it
the most is communication.
You've got to have hard talks with people
from time to time.
Because if you're not confrontational, you know exactly
what I'm talking about, right?
Oh, just fix itself.
I'll come back next week.
It'll be all fixed.
No, it won't.
Loving rebukes.
When you love someone, you go to them.
Hey, I want to help you in this
area.
And you can also gauge their heart.
Are they sincere?
Because if a person is sincere and humble,
they'll listen, they'll learn, and they'll grow.
So it's the same thing here.
God says, I love you, and I'm going
to rebuke you, and I'm going to chasten
you.
Therefore, be zealous and repent.
There's that word again, repent.
I cannot get away from that word.
How about you?
Is there any other word, Shane, any other
word we can start referring to?
I mean, repentance in Genesis, repentance in Revelation,
repentance in the Gospels.
What is going on?
The word repentance means renewal and revival.
You're changing your mind about sin, and you're
changing your position to focus on God.
There's no other word that's going to describe
that, folks.
So he says, be zealous.
The same way you're zealous for the things
of the world, the same way you're zealous
and excited about sin, start being zealous about
repentance.
Can you imagine that we are just as
excited about sports or Disneyland as we are
about repentance?
This altar's not big enough, if that was
the case.
We'd have to blow out the back wall
and build a bigger altar if we're as
zealous about getting back to God as we
are about everything else.
How many people will go to a crazy
mall and try to return things?
Those pair of pants don't fit.
I'm going to the mall and get me
a...
I'm going to park where I want, I'm
going to do this, I'm going to get
in there.
If we're just as zealous to seek the
things of God, we'll watch a three-hour
Star Wars movie, we'll wait in line, we'll
watch all these things if we're just as
zealous for the things of God.
We'll pursue the things of the world, right?
We'll pursue our work.
Our work, I got to own more, I
got to buy more, I got to get
up for it.
If we're just as zealous for the things
of God as we are for the things
of the world, you would...
the change would be incredible.
So he says, I love you, I rebuke
you, I'm chasing you.
What's he doing?
How did Jesus rebuke these people?
Hello, 20 minutes ago he said, you're lukewarm,
I'm going to vomit you out of my
mouth.
Some translations are a little nicer.
They'll say a spew.
Just spew.
The word is a regurgitation.
There's something inside of me that's making me
sick.
I mean, that's just...
that's almost enough to bring me to tears
right now.
Jesus says, there's something inside of you, I
love you, I love you so much.
There's something inside of you that's killing you.
Listen, be hot or cold, but you're this
lukewarm, I can't, you're...
it's making me sick to name the name
of Christ and go and do what you're
doing.
To come to church and act, act as
if you've got it all together and you
know your life's falling apart.
It's...
I'm sick.
Have you ever eaten bad food?
Bad tuna?
Oh, goodness.
It's just, I gotta throw up.
I gotta throw this up.
So that's his rebuke.
I love you, and I'm rebuking you.
You've got to turn from that.
Here's the wonderful thing, is when you turn
from that, then you're filled with the Spirit
and you're full of joy and peace and
love.
You say, why in the world did I
allow that?
But while you're in it, you're saying, I
don't want all that other stuff.
This is too hard.
I like my comfortable state.
I like the temperature at this certain temperature.
It keeps me warm.
I don't want to do too much for
God.
Many of you were here maybe a few
weeks ago when I read that poem, $3
worth of God, right?
I just want to buy just $3 worth
of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul.
I want the warmth of the womb, not
the new birth.
I just want $3 worth of God, please.
So he's saying that, I love you, I'm
rebuking you.
So if a sermon rebukes you, don't run
from the heat, run to it.
You're zealous for everything else, be zealous for
me.
And then we're gonna close here in a
minute.
Verse 20.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens a
door, I will come into him and dine
with him and he with me.
To him who overcomes, I will grant to
sit with me on my throne.
And I also overcame and sat down with
my Father on his throne.
Jesus is saying, I overcame, I know your
struggles, I know what you're going through.
Christ was tempted in all points, like as
we are, but he was without sin.
So he says, I know.
I'm feeling like preaching a little bit.
This might not be the last point, okay?
I saw the time, I got some time,
now you're in trouble.
So he said here, the context supports a
call to lukewarm believers.
See, many people use this when they're offering
salvation to people, right?
God stands at the door and knocks at
your heart.
Repent and believe to an unbeliever, which I
don't have a problem with that, but the
context of this scripture, the context is he's
talking to the church who's now lukewarm and
he's calling them back to them.
So he says, I'm knocking at your door.
I'm on the porch.
You ever leave people on the porch, look
through the thing, it's like, oh, it's a
guy with a white shirt and the name
badge.
I'm not opening that door, right?
Or whatever, and you're not, no, I'm not
opening that door.
That's what he's, the image he's giving there.
I'm knocking.
I'm knocking at the door.
Let me in.
I want to dine with you.
That just is deeper fellowship.
It's a deeper, more intimate relationship.
When you say hi to somebody in the
lobbies you're passing by, are you going to
get to know them as well as going
out and having a two or three hour
meal and sitting and fellowshipping?
So Jesus says, I'm knocking the door.
I'm knocking.
Open the door of your heart.
Let me back in.
Get away from that comfortable, lukewarm state.
So what is the cure for Laodiceanism?
You have to remove the lukewarmness.
It begins, he said here, with repentance.
This is so funny.
I'm like, God, can you give me another
angle here?
You know, let's, come on, another truth down
there somewhere.
Come on, something else.
No, it's always the same.
Always the same.
It begins with the repentance, admitting, God, I
need help.
I need help.
Is anybody crept in?
Don't raise your hands.
But is lukewarmness crept into your soul, into
your heart?
Oh, lots of yeses.
Okay, that's good.
Because this message is for you.
God loves you and me enough to tell
us how he feels according to his word.
Not that we leave here mad, but that
we leave here now refreshed.
Because when a person turns from the error
of their way, they begin to rejoice.
They begin to see the light.
They begin to be in fellowship with God
again.
Now I'm going to talk about two things
I always talk about, but I want to
tie them in because this will cure, this
will cure.
If you have this problem, this will cure
you big time.
If Jesus said to do something, we better
do it, right?
If Jesus said, I want to do a
quick series on this someday, hopefully soon.
When Jesus says, when you do something, when
you pray, when you give, when you fast,
you would assume that he's thinking we're going
to do it, right?
So when he says to do something and
you do it, you will grow spiritually.
That's a, you can take that equation to
the bank every day.
God's not going to go, oh, not this
week, I'm too busy.
Your spiritual growth is going to have to
be on hold.
We've got too much going on in heaven.
It's an end of the year budgets and
things.
No, it's, it's whatever.
If you, if he just says, if you,
if you do these things, when you do
these things, you will grow spiritually and progress.
One of the things he says, I'm not
going to talk a lot about it, but
when you fast, when you fast, we've got
a whole, if you put fasting on the
website, all these things will come up when
you fast.
Jesus needed it.
We needed it.
Isn't it interesting?
We talked about last week, Jesus was filled
with the Holy Spirit, right?
He was baptized.
He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
And then he went into ministry.
No, he didn't.
The Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness
for 40 days to starve the flesh.
Then he began his ministry.
Then he came out full of the Spirit
of God.
Fasting basically puts handcuffs on the flesh.
It restrains it.
See, the Spirit of God is omnipresent.
You know what that means?
It's just a big theological term that means
that God is everywhere.
He's everywhere.
But it's a word I made up, omniconditional,
meaning that the power of the Holy Spirit
in your life, this all-consuming, passionate fire
of presence of the Holy God is conditioned
upon what you do with God, what you
do with the Holy Spirit.
Everything we're talking about, it's conditioned.
If you do this, I will do this.
God says, if you pray, if you fast,
if you seek me with all your heart,
I will do this.
We got it on the sign out front.
If my people will seek my face, they'll
pray, they'll turn from their wicked ways, they'll
humble themselves, then I will do this.
See, it's conditional.
So the same thing applies here.
When you fast, fasting puts handcuffs on the
flesh.
It's no surprise that we don't fast often
because we don't teach self-denial.
It's another not popular topic, okay?
If I put how to deny yourself on
YouTube, not going to go anywhere.
That's why we've got to trick people with
sermon titles, to get them to listen, right?
You need to hear this sermon.
Okay, oh goodness, I don't need to hear
that one.
What's the next one?
But this is so true, self-denial.
What are you doing?
You're denying self.
See, myself wants to sleep in.
Myself wants to be rude.
Myself wants to do things that aren't godly.
Myself wants to govern me.
Myself wants to control me.
Myself wants to rule and reign.
Myself likes to be on the throne.
So self-denial is denying self, and it
loses its power.
That's why people think, oh fasting, that's hard,
that's old school, that's for Roman Catholics, that's
for Muslims.
No, that's Bible.
Just do it.
Just put in how many times it's mentioned
throughout the Bible.
It's a denying of self, and that is
a Christian walk.
I hate to drop a bombshell on you
this morning, but it's not always your best
life now and how much God can give
us.
It's about denying ourself.
But see, here's the interesting thing about this.
When I say it, we're like, oh man,
that stinks.
But when you do it, you're so filled
with the Spirit that the reward far outweighs
the challenge.
Does that make sense?
We're like, self-denial, no way, fasting, I
can't do that.
And then when you do it, you're so
full of God's Spirit, like why didn't I
do that before?
The pain of discipline or the pain of
regret?
That's something that the Bible says, do this,
and here's why I think it is.
Seek me with all of your heart, you
will find me.
The seeking has to be difficult to show
you how valuable it is to you.
If I could seek God, right, by sitting
down at Krispy Kreme and drinking a half
pot of coffee and six donuts, I would
eat six donuts, I'm telling you right now.
If you seek me, just do this, be
lazy, be a glutton, watch NFL all day,
and then I'll find him.
That wouldn't cost me anything.
But it's when you seek him, when you
put away those things, you say, Lord, you
are so important to me, you are so
important to me, I'm gonna miss a meal
or two or three.
I'm gonna seek you, and you show the
value of that relationship.
You tell your spouse that, will you marry
me?
Yes, I will, I'm gonna forsake all other
relationships until the day I die.
Everything else, I'm forsaking it for you.
See, we show the value in that.
What spouse is gonna say, you know what,
I'll consider it, but you might be wife
number three, four, five, or six, right, there's
no value in that.
So it shows the value.
Remember what we read many months ago in
Acts, and as they prayed and fasted, the
Holy Spirit said, as they prayed and fasted,
the Holy Spirit said, does anyone need to
hear from God today?
And you're tired of not hearing from God,
you're tired of not having direction, pray and
fast.
Pray and fast, you starve the flesh, you
pray and you're filled with the Spirit, God
begins to direct an empty vessel who is
humble and set before him.
Alan Redpath, he should have a warning label
on some of his sermons, boy oh boy,
he said there is no movement forward in
the realm of the spiritual unless there is
a denying of something in the physical.
Think about that.
You will not move forward in the spiritual.
You will not grow spiritually unless you deny
yourself physically in certain areas.
Think about that.
If a young adult comes to know the
Lord, okay Lord, I want to grow with
you spiritually, but I'm going to keep getting
drunk, I'm going to keep smoking weed, I'm
going to keep hanging around with these people,
I'm going to keep watching ungodly entertainment, I'm
going to go to church when I can
make it.
You think you're going to grow?
You're going to be stuck on stupid for
the rest of your life.
Pardon my whatever, but that, you see, you're,
I'm stuck in this, that's why I'm not,
I don't think I'm going to go to
my class reunion again.
I can't, I can't handle people stuck in
high school mode when they're almost 50.
They're in their 40s and it's like, that's
what you did 25 years ago.
You're drunk again.
I don't even understand what you're saying.
What is it, and you're talking about the
same things.
Rewind, rewind, come on, come out of that.
Spiritual growth is, is vital to the Christian
and the way you grow spiritually is you
starve the flesh and you remove the things
that are pulling you back, this constant pull,
you feel this pull, I want to get
closer to God, but then, let's do it
this way, I want to get closer to
God, right?
I feel I'm growing and then, what wants
to pull you back this way?
It's pulling you back into that battle, starving
to go forward spiritually, you have to deny
things in the, in the physical.
The Bible says make no provision for the
flesh, don't plan ahead to fulfill those things.
And this is often why people don't pray
with their spouse, this is why we'd rather
watch grass grow than go to church, because
lukewarmness has set in, and zeal is gone,
and passion is gone.
Then he said, when you pray, when you
pray, an old saint said many years, the
price of prayerlessness far exceeds the price of
prayer.
What he meant by that is, prayer will
cost you something, prayer has a price, but
the price of prayerlessness will cost you far
more.
Yes, it's hard to get up and pray,
it's hard to put God first, but that
cost is less significant than the cost of
not praying at all.
In David MacIntyre's book, The Hidden Life of
Prayer, he made the following point, you need
a quiet place, a quiet hour, and a
quiet heart.
I'm going to double dog dare all of
you, I don't even know what that means,
I don't know what a single dog is,
or a double dog, it's from a movie,
right?
But I'm going to double dare, double dog
dare all of you, hope that's a good
thing to say.
I'm opening this church at 6 a.m.
next Sunday, I'm putting on worship for an
hour and 15 minutes, I want to see,
come and see how uncomfortable you get.
You have to grab your phone, you have
to get out of here, that is a
sure sign that lukewarmness has set in.
For those who can make it, 6 a
.m. next Sunday, just worship for an hour
and 15 minutes, no band, just worship.
Trust me, you'll either have a breakthrough or
you'll break out.
You'll come to the altar and be broken
before the Lord, you'll say, I'm out of
here, give me a coffee and donuts.
But see, that's the struggle.
I double dog dare you, try it, try
it, just see, are you antsy?
Because there's a heart problem, there's a worship
problem that's not happening.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, this
wrestling has no rules.
You know that?
The enemy, remember this, the devil is not
sympathetic.
The devil is not sympathetic, he will crush
you if he gets the opportunity.
He will not only kick you when you're
down, he will bury you when you're down.
You've got to have prayer and fasting.
He knows that an hour of heart-wrenching
prayer can pull down plants he's been making
for months.
An hour of heart-wrenching prayer before God,
you can pull down the fortress that the
enemy is building upon your life.
Many years ago, I gave some examples on
prayer and I'm going to leave you with
this.
E.M. Bounds, who was born in 1835,
began his three-hour prayer routine at 4
a.m. Edward Payson, who ministered during the
Second Great Awakening, wore grooves into his hardwood
floor as a result of prayer.
John Hyde, who left for the mission field
in the 1800s, I believe, wouldn't even go
until he heard from God in prayer.
William Bramwell, a powerful Methodist circus writer, often
spent hours in prayer.
Adoniah Judson, Hudson Taylor, attributed all their success
as missionaries to a life of prayer.
Wait for this one.
Amy Carmichael, you hear the name?
Did you know she spent 55 years on
the mission field without a furlough?
55 years without a furlough, without a break.
They said, how did you do that?
A life of prayer, saturated prayer, because when
you have a life of prayer, you won't
have a nervous breakdown.
How come?
Because prayer is holding me up.
I don't need a break because prayer is
sustaining me.
That's the heartbeat of the Christian, is that
life of prayer.
You have to return to that.
George Mueller never asked God for one dime,
and he funded millions and millions of dollars
to house orphans through prayer.
That's it.
John Fletcher, I love reading John Fletcher's stuff.
He was part of the Methodist movement.
In his journals and different things, it said
he stained the rooms of his prayer closet
with the breath of his prayers.
It just saturated everything.
The weakest saint on his knees is stronger
than hell's best soldier.
Did you catch that?
The weakest person in this room, I'll include
you too, the weakest person in this room,
spiritually speaking, you are more powerful than Satan's
greatest general when you're on your knees and
your face before God praying and calling down
Almighty, because when you call on that name,
that name begins to come inside of you,
and you begin to call on the name
of Christ, and the enemy must flee, the
enemy must stand back.
I can't do anything to a child of
God who is on his knees before God,
who is praying to the Father.
I can't touch them.
Yea, though they walk through the valley of
shadow of death, God will hold you.
Though you walk through deep waters, he will
sustain you.