Well, good evening.
As we were singing that song, Revive Us
Again, I thought to myself, why?
It's an interesting question.
If God would come, and here God is,
we believe, looking upon the meeting tonight, and
God is watching what's going on here, and
He sees maybe 200 people saying, singing from
their heart, Revive Us Again.
The Lord says, why?
What would you do if I revived you?
What would you do if God revived you?
Have you ever thought about that?
It might scare you to get revived.
You might end up in a jail if
you get a real revival.
Why do you want to get a revival?
You know, I'm going to mention this verse
a little bit tonight, but that early church,
and boy, as I study and spend time
in the Bible, I really see the need
for us to go back to the original
pattern in the early church.
But I see the early church, and there
they are, trembling.
They had been filled with the Spirit of
God at Pentecost, and I don't know, it
looked like a few weeks, maybe a few
months later, the church is gathered together again,
and they're trembling.
But they're praying.
But in all of their trembling, they want
to do something.
They're fearful of doing it, but they want
to do something, and they want God to
come and revive them because they want to
do something.
Ever been that way?
Lord, I want to do what You want
me to do.
It's in all my heart, but I'm fearful.
I'm going to go ahead and do it.
That's the way they were.
They were there praying.
Here's how they prayed.
Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto us
that with all boldness we might speak Thy
Word.
God says, you want a revival to speak
My Word?
And all of a sudden, the place was
shaken where they were assembled.
And they were filled with the Holy Ghost.
Why do you want to be revived?
Is it because you can go home and
feel close to Jesus for another couple of
months or couple of weeks, and then wait
until the next year's revival meetings because you've
fallen away again, and then come back and
get revived so you can be close to
Jesus again?
You know, God has a purpose in us
being revived.
There's a reason for it.
If you've never thought about that, you ought
to think about that a little bit tonight.
Why do I want to be revived?
Well, last night we talked a little bit
about the life of Christ.
Tonight, I would like to magnify the life
of Christ again, lift up the life of
Christ before us, because He is our example.
1 John chapter 2 says that, He that
saith, He abideth in Him ought himself also
so to walk, even as Christ walked.
And I have no doubt tonight that if
you have a revival this week, you will
begin to walk like Jesus walked.
I'd like you to open up your Bibles
tonight to the book of Ephesians.
You know, if there's one subject that is
very much neglected today, and I guess the
devil has come and he has silenced this
subject.
He has silenced us.
He has silenced this teaching, what I'm going
to share with you tonight.
And I guess if there's perhaps any teaching
that the church has fallen down in to
this one tonight.
Let's begin by reading in Ephesians chapter 5
and verse number 1.
Be ye therefore followers of God as dear
children.
There is a good verse for us.
Be ye followers of God.
How can I follow God?
I mean, who has gone ahead of me
to give me an example to follow?
The life of Christ.
Be ye therefore followers of God as dear
children, and walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling savour.
But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let
it not be once named among you as
to become a saint, neither filthiness nor foolish
talking nor jesting which are not convenient, but
rather giving of thanks.
For this you know that no whoremonger nor
unclean person nor covetous man who is an
idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of
God and of Christ.
Let no man deceive you with vain words,
for because of these things cometh the wrath
of God upon the children of disobedience.
Be not ye therefore partakers with them, for
ye sometimes were darkness, but now are ye
light in the Lord.
Walk as children of the light, for the
fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness
and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable
unto the Lord.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness, but rather reprove them.
For it is a shame even to speak
of those things which are done of them
in secret, but all things that are reproved
are made manifest by the light.
For whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and
many of us are asleep, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as
fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because
the days are evil.
Let's have a word of prayer this evening.
Our Heavenly Father, I want to stand here
this evening, Lord, and preach Thy Word.
And I want to, Lord, do it out
of a heart of love and concern.
Lord, I know I do not have the
love and concern for Your people that You
do.
Heavenly Father, I stand here tonight, I do
not want to please men, but I want
to please God.
For if I please men, Jane says, I
should not be a servant of Christ.
I want to be a servant of Christ.
We pray, Heavenly Father, tonight that You will
help us.
Even as a songwriter wrote, Breathe on us
tonight, Lord, the breath of God.
Help us to see Jesus, in all His
glory, this wonderful example, and the benefits of
following in His footsteps.
We do pray, Heavenly Father, that You would
revive us again.
But revive us to do Thy will, O
God.
Thy will is in this Word, and we're
reading some of it tonight.
So we pray, Father, You would revive us
to obey and to do Thy will.
We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.
Well, as I was reading the verses there,
I remember that I was told to remind
you that after each service, there is an
opportunity to get some tapes.
If you would like tapes of the services,
just 15 minutes after the services, you can
have a copy of the tape of the
service tonight.
So I was told to remind you of
that.
So I don't want to forget to do
that.
I'd like to focus our attention this evening
on verses 11 through 13.
Paul here writes to the church at Ephesus
these words when he says, And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove them.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them.
Now, I'd like you to notice that this
verse and this passage here is not speaking
to the leadership in Ephesus.
It's not speaking to the apostles.
It's not speaking to the elders.
It's speaking to the church that is at
Ephesus.
This is for all of us, every one
of us here tonight.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness.
Now, most of us understand that we believe
in separation.
We believe in coming out from among them
and being separate and touching not the unclean
thing.
We don't send our children to public school
systems.
We don't do a lot of things because
we want to come out from the world
and we want to live a separated life
from the world, not fashioning our life according
to the fashions of this world, but living
according to the obedience of the word of
God.
We want to be separate.
Separated.
Sanctified.
Vessels that God can use.
Here Paul discusses the principle of separation in
verse number 11.
Have no fellowship, no koinonia, no communion with
the unfruitful works of darkness.
And I know you've heard many sermons on
that, separation.
But I'd like you to notice the second
half of the verse.
Many of us don't consider, perhaps, the second
half.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather, but rather reprove them.
But rather reprove them.
Now, this word reprove means to rebuke.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather rebuke them.
Rebuke them.
In other words, here's what true separation is.
The world is over here.
We come out of the world, we separate
ourselves from the world, and then we reprove
the evil of that world that we've separated
from.
For us to come away from the world,
and be separate from the world, and say
nothing to the world, is not separation in
its entirety.
You see, God called us out of the
world to preach and to rebuke the darkness
of the world.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them.
You notice, there's a negative.
Don't fellowship.
But there's a positive.
Rebuke them.
Reprove them.
What does it mean to reprove them?
Well, there's a good example given to us.
Many examples in the Bible, but one good
example is John the Baptist.
John the Baptist lived a separated life.
But that wasn't all John the Baptist did.
John the Baptist was a vocal reprover of
the deeds of darkness in the world in
his day.
As a matter of fact, John the Baptist
got his head cut off, because he stood
up and reproved the deeds of Herod, who
was doing an ungodly act, and therefore John
the Baptist was put in prison, and his
head was taken off, because John the Baptist
followed Ephesians 5.11, even though Ephesians 5
.11 was not written in his day.
I was in a dairy mart a couple
of months ago, and I had not any
intention to do this, and I need God's
grace in this area, perhaps as much as
anyone here, but I didn't have an intention
to do this.
I was in a dairy mart.
I was heading to work, and while I
was there buying a milk and some donuts,
there was a man that came up behind
the counter, and he wasn't the man that
was waiting on me, but he came up
behind the counter, and he had a couple
of bunches of immorality, immoral magazines, you know
what they are, behind the counter there, and
I don't know what happened to me.
I trust it was the Lord.
I just stopped and I said to the
man that was at the counter, selling me
these donuts and milk, I said, Sir, do
you realize that that is disgusting in the
sight of God?
And that if you sell that, you're going
to be held accountable for doing that.
And that man looked at me and he
said, No, I don't believe I'll be held
accountable.
Those are not my magazines.
I didn't buy them.
I said, Yes, you will be accountable if
you take those magazines and you sell them.
He stopped and he thought of me and
he said, I don't have anything else I
can do.
What can I do?
I said to him, Listen.
I said, Listen, I'm a painter.
Want to come and paint with me?
He said, No.
But here's a man who is doing something
that was wrong in the sight of God.
He was selling magazines that were immoral.
I guarantee you, brothers and sisters, the next
time that man takes that magazine and puts
it on the counter, he'll think about what
he's doing.
You see, the Bible doesn't say to come
out from among that wicked world and to
lock yourself in a corner and to be
silent.
No, God says, Come out from that world
and then speak to that world about its
evil.
Reprove them.
But rather, reprove them.
We often do well on the first half
of the verse, but fail on the second
half of reproving the world.
We're going to see the life of Jesus
tonight and how Jesus lived out this beautiful
example for us to follow and how everyone
who abides in him will also walk even
as Jesus walked in this area of life.
I love this story.
I want to read it to you.
Of a man by the name of Peter
Cartwright.
These men of old time, you know, we
make heroes out of them, but you know,
we need some heroes today.
In this tent, some heroes like this.
Peter Cartwright was a man who understood that
when we come out from the world, we
don't just hide in a corner and be
silent.
We reprove the world.
Here's what he did.
Peter Cartwright, the backwoods Methodist preacher, was once
belated among the Cumberland Mountains, meaning he was
stuck there, must have been a storm, and
obliged to seek shelter for the night at
an inn where a large party assembled for
drinking and dancing.
Obliged to sit and look on, he was
at length invited by a young lady to
join in the festivities.
Instantly he resolved, and what he confessed was
a desperate experiment.
He walked into the midst of the dancers
with his new partner and addressing the company,
said that for several years he had not
undertaken any matter of importance without first asking
the blessing of God upon it, then grasping
the young lady's hand, he fell on his
knees and prayed with all the power of
soul and body he could command.
The young lady tried to get away, but
he held her fast.
Presently she fell on her knees, as did
some of the rest, while others slid.
Some sat still and all looked curious.
When he had finished his prayer, Cartwright commenced
an exhortation and then sang a hymn, no
resistance to his impetuous zeal being offered.
During the whole of the next day, the
work so strangely begun continued, and before resuming
the journey, the banquets preacher had organized a
society and taken thirty-two members into the
bosom of the Methodist Church.
You know why?
Because he reproved the world of its evil.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them.
Why are we not this evening confronting the
world with the righteousness of God?
Why are we not confronting the world with
the righteousness of God?
I think it's interesting tonight to realize that
these words were written by Paul to the
church at Ephesus.
Now, if you remember in the book of
Acts what happened at Ephesus, I mean, these
people knew exactly what Paul was saying.
Paul had come to Ephesus and he had
stood up publicly and preached against the idolatry
of the great goddess Diana of the Ephesians.
And so stirred up the unbelieving world that
there was an uproar in the city of
Ephesus.
And if you were around Paul, you would
have realized that Paul reproved the world of
its darkness.
And so when they received this letter, have
no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them, they knew by example,
Paul's wife, what it meant to reprove the
world of darkness.
You see, the early church didn't just separate
from the world and its evils.
They contended against them.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them.
That's an interesting passage in the book of
Proverbs.
Proverbs 29, 24 says, Whosoever is a partner
with a thief, hateth his own soul.
He heareth cursing, and bereath it not.
How many of you would want to be
a partner with a thief?
None of you would.
None of you would go hand in hand
with a thief, and go into a house,
or go into a Walmart, and steal something,
and team up with a thief to steal.
If you did, the Bible says here, you'd
hate your own soul.
But, God says, He that heareth cursing, and
bereath it not.
It's like a man who walks into a
store, hand in hand, as a partner with
a thief.
The word berea means to stand boldly in
opposition to.
I'd like you to realize something tonight.
If the world is over here, and you
and I come out from the world, and
we stop here in the middle ground, and
we don't continue over here to this side,
where we reprove the world of its sin,
but we only stop here in the middle,
we are like a man who heareth cursing,
and bereath it not.
We come halfway.
You know what?
If we come halfway, we're still partners with
the world.
Jesus said, If you're not for me, if
you're not over here for me, actively for
me, you're against me.
Too many of us have come out of
the world, and we've come halfway.
And I want to tell you why, because
later on, we've only come halfway.
If you hear a man cursing Jesus, and
you don't speak against it, we have become
a partner with his deed.
You see, to separate from the world, and
then to be silent towards its evil, still
leaves us partners with the world.
True separation not only comes down from the
world, it also takes a stand against the
world and its evils.
Now that is Christ-likeness.
I mean, if you'd have watched the life
of Jesus, you'd have watched a man, the
God-man, who would come out from the
world, and he would take a stand against
the world's evils.
We're going to see a little bit of
that too.
And if we are to walk, even as
Jesus walked, we ought to walk in the
very same way.
Let me give you a quote.
As he who stands by and sees another
commit murder, without giving an alarm, is a
counted accessory to the murder, or as he
who sees a blind man running into a
pit, in which he is drowned, and makes
no effort to save him, is guilty of
death, so is he who sees his brother
destroy his own soul, without any effort to
prevent it.
Ezekiel 33, God said, When I say unto
the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely
die.
If thou dost not speak to warn the
wicked from his way, that wicked man shall
die in his iniquity.
But his blood will I require at thy
hand.
Do you realize what that's saying?
You were a partner in his death, because
you didn't say anything to warn him of
his wicked way.
Do you know what Paul said at Ephesus?
Here's what he said to the church at
Ephesus in the book of Acts.
Wherefore, I take you to record this day,
that I am pure, free from the blood
of all men.
For I have ceased not to declare unto
you all the counsel of God.
In other words, Paul was saying, I am
free from the guilt, from the blood of
all these here, because I have warned you,
every one of you, of your evil way.
And if you go on and live wickedly,
your blood be upon your own head.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them.
How many people die and go to hell
without their deeds ever being reproved or warning
given to them?
Yet the church will give an account for
it.
You know, the world needs us to reprove
it.
A.J. Gordon said this, There were Negroes
in Central Africa who never dreamed they were
black until they saw the face of a
white man.
You know, there are many people who are
living in sin and don't even realize it
until you and I turn on a light
in their soul.
I remember a few years ago, we were
out on the streets of Mount Vernon, and
a young boy, probably no more than eleven,
twelve years old, came up and began to
contest.
We were handing out certain tracts that talked
about sexual immorality, and he came up and
began to contest with me about the legitimacy
of homosexuality.
He was trying to tell me, and from
his heart he was trying to convince me
that yes, there's nothing wrong with this lifestyle.
Twelve years old.
Do you know how many young people today
are growing up with no concept of what's
right and wrong?
And here they are, walking in darkness, heading
for the pit, and God says to the
church, Aren't you going to warn them as
they walk towards their destruction?
Have no fellowship with them, yes, but rather
reprove them.
My, we're living in a generation of young
people that are walking straight into hell and
they have no idea what is right and
wrong.
And you know why that is?
The church has buttoned its mouth.
Ephesians 5, look there.
Verse number 12, For it is a shame
even to speak of those things which are
done of them in secret.
But all things, now notice this, all things
that are reproved, same word as verse 11,
all things that are reproved are made manifest
by the light.
For whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Do you realize what Paul is saying?
He's saying people are in darkness, and when
you come and reprove them, you turn on
a light in their soul.
Everything that is reproved makes manifest, it reveals,
makes manifest.
When we rebuke sin, it's like turning on
a light in a person's soul.
Verse 13, But all things that are reproved
are made manifest by the light.
For whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
So as this young person is on his
or her way into the pit of destruction,
and you come along, and you begin to
reprove the deeds of that young person, all
of a sudden, some light comes into their
soul.
And they begin to see another side of
the picture.
Whatsoever is reproved makes manifest.
That's why it's so important to reprove the
world of sin, the world today is in
darkness, and the church is to be shedding
the light.
And one of the ways to shed light
is to reprove sin.
And notice verse 14, Wherefore, wherefore, because he
just said what he said, wherefore he saith,
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead.
I'll tell you what, the church needs to
awake in this area.
And rise from the dead, and take the
responsibility that God has given each one of
us to not only come out from the
world, but to reprove the world for the
world's sake.
I thank God I had a mother and
father who told me certain things were right
and certain things were wrong.
Now, my mother and father never opened up
a Bible and sat down with me and
taught me the Scriptures, but they did teach
me some morality.
But we're having children growing up in our
generation that have no idea, no comprehension of
the difference between right and wrong.
And God gives the church a responsibility throughout
every generation to be a light to this
dark world.
And brothers and sisters, you don't take the
light and sit it under a bushel.
You don't take the light and hide it
in a corner.
But you take the light and you bring
it out and set it, Jesus said, on
the tabletop that everyone can see.
John the Baptist, in John chapter 5, verse
35, was called a burning and a shining
light.
He was a burning and a shining light.
Do you know why that is?
He reproved the evil of his day.
And Jesus said, there is a man who
is a burning and a shining light.
And Jesus says to us, as Christians, you
are the light of the world.
You are the light of the world.
Here the world is, sailing along in darkness,
nearly crashing upon the shore of eternal damnation.
And you and I are the light of
the world to warn them of their evil
way.
Reproof brings light to a darkened soul.
Let's look at John chapter 15.
John chapter 15, verse number 18.
John 15.
Jesus is speaking to His disciples and also
speaking to all who will follow Him in
His footsteps throughout the generations to come.
And He is speaking to you tonight through
these words if you want to follow His
steps also.
Verse 18.
If the world hates you, you know that
it hated Me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world
would love His own.
But because you are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
The world hateth you.
I wonder how many of us tonight could
truly say that the world hates you.
Jesus says, if you were of the world,
the world would love His own.
Do you know why the world doesn't hate
you and I?
Because the world is over here and Christ
is over here.
Jesus calls us out of the world, past
the lukewarm stage here and over to the
place where Christ is.
We might walk like He walks and stand
over here and reprove the world of its
sin.
But too many of us have come out
of the world and we're standing right here
in the middle.
And we want the acceptance of Christ, but
we don't want to offend the world.
We want the acceptance of Christ, but we
don't want people to be mad at us.
We want the acceptance of Christ, but we
don't want to spend a week in jail.
We want the acceptance of Christ, but we
don't want to be away from our families
for two or three weeks in a jail
cell.
So we stand right here and we say
we have come out from the world, but
Jesus stands over here and says, come on
over to me and take a stand against
the evils of the world and they are
going to hate you for it.
They will hate you.
I know it's comfortable to be over here.
God didn't call us to come here and
stop.
He called us to come over here and
follow in His footsteps.
If the world hates you, know this, it
hated me before it hated you.
Verse 20, Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you.
Are you a servant of Christ?
If they have persecuted me, Jesus said, they
will also persecute you.
Verse 21, But all these things will they
do unto you for My name's sake, because
they know not Him that sent Me.
If I had not come and spoken unto
them, listen to this, if I had not
come and spoken unto them, they had not
had sin, but now they have no cloak
for their sin.
You know, many people in the world have
a cloak for their sin.
It's hidden.
It's hidden to them.
Jesus said, I have come and I have
spoken unto them about their sin.
Now the cloak is taken away.
They have no excuse.
That's our ministry as a church.
That's our ministry as believers.
Jesus says, I have spoken unto them and
have shed light into their souls, and now
they cannot excuse themselves.
Oh, there's such a need for that today.
There was a man by the name of
Telemachus.
He was in the 4th century.
He lived in the 4th century.
He lived in a little community, many, many,
many miles from Rome.
He was out there a very godly man.
He was tending his garden.
He prayed much during the day.
And as the story goes, the true story,
God spoke to his heart and asked this
man to leave his home and go to
Rome.
He had no idea why he was going
to Rome, but he began this journey to
Rome.
He got to Rome, and he was walking
through the streets of Rome, and he saw
a large congregation of people.
So he followed them.
And as the story goes, he followed them
right into the Roman Colosseum.
There this little man was, a godly man.
Telemachus was sitting in the Roman Colosseum, and
he looked down on the field there in
the middle of the Colosseum, and there were
some gladiators, and they were pledging their allegiance
to the Caesar of Rome and talking about
how they were going to fight to the
death.
And when this godly man realized what these
gladiators were about to do, this little man
from the back of the Colosseum began to
cry out, In the name of Christ, stop!
In the name of Christ, stop!
And he worked down through the crowd aisle
by aisle, and he got down, and got
out actually onto the field, and was crying
out, In the name of Christ, stop!
In the name of Christ, stop!
And people began to laugh.
They thought it was a part of the
show.
And he continued to cry out, In the
name of Christ, stop!
And then the laughter turned to anger.
And they realized it was not a part
of the show, and one of the gladiators
took his spear and thrust it through this
young man, this small man, Telemachus, this godly
man.
And there he lay on the ground, bleeding
to death.
It is said that one by one, the
people of the Colosseum began to walk out.
And history records that this year, 391 B
.C., this day was the last time that
ever a fight to the death was fought
in the Colosseum in Rome.
Because one man stood up and reproved the
world of its evil.
All because of one tiny little voice, brothers
and sisters, one little shining light that shone
in the hearts of thousands of people that
day in the Colosseum, and reproved their evil.
And it stopped.
God wants some shining lights like that today.
You know, we talk about having liberty in
Christ.
Liberty for what?
Liberty to speak, and to open our mouth,
and to reprove evil?
Is that the kind of liberty we have?
Or are we bound up?
Bound up by fear.
Not at liberty, like we may think we
are.
I like how the early church prayed, And
now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto
Thy servants that we might find a place
of solace to live out the rest of
our lives in peace.
Is that how they prayed?
Grant unto Thy servants that we might with
all boldness speak Thy Word.
Lord, give us liberty to speak Thy Word.
And the Bible says, God looked down and
saw it.
And He was pleased, and the place was
shaken.
You know, if we got that kind of
liberty in our hearts today, if we got
it in our hearts, Lord, I want to
obey this.
I want to be a bright and shining
light.
Lord, I need a revival.
I want to have boldness, Lord, to be
a bright and shining light, like what we're
talking about tonight.
I think God would begin to get interested
in sending you a revival to do His
will.
God liked that prayer.
The early church was bold in its rebuking
of sin.
Paul cried out against the idol worship in
Ephesus, the great goddess Diana.
Some of you sit tonight and say, we
don't have any of that going on around
here.
We've got more idol worship in America than
they ever had at Ephesus.
We've got an idol called Mary that people
worship.
Great goddess Mary.
I wonder what would happen if Paul and
the early church were alive today here in
our nation.
You don't think that the world would hate
you?
A friend and I, a couple of years
ago, probably five or six years ago now,
we decided we were going to, each Sunday
morning, before our services started at ten, we
were going to go and hand out tracts
reproving the deeds of Catholicism.
After sitting here tonight, you're a Catholic.
I love Catholics.
I just don't believe their doctrine is right.
But we went to the Catholic church and
we were handing out tracts reproving the idolatry,
the worship of Mary.
And 15 minutes, from what I can remember,
and a half an hour at the most,
out on the sidewalk in front of the
Catholic church, in Shelby, Ohio, the priest was
out.
The priest said to us, if you're not
gone in five minutes, I'm calling the police.
Listen, brothers and sisters, the world still hates
us.
The world still hates us.
You know, we get this idea that we
live in America so we don't suffer.
I guarantee you, if the apostles were alive
today, they would be in prison in our
cities.
They would be in prison.
Nothing's changed.
How many of us are reproving Catholicism?
Pornography.
The murdering of unborn babies.
Cursing.
Immodest dress.
How many young people grow up, have no
idea that a pair of shorts and a
tank top is ungodly?
How many people today are growing up like
that?
And who is going to tell them?
The lottery.
Alcohol.
Beer joints.
Look at John 15.
Jesus says in verse number 18, If the
world hates you, you know that it hated
Me before it hated you.
Now, why did the world hate Jesus?
Let me read to you what it says
in John 7.
Listen to what Jesus says.
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is
not yet come, but your time is always
ready.
The world cannot hate you, but Me it
hated.
And here's why.
Because I testify of it that the works
thereof are evil.
Here is why the world hates Me, men.
Because I testify of it that its works
are evil.
I speak to the world and show that
their deeds are evil.
Now, we learned last night that the Bible
says that he that abideth in Christ, he
walks even as Jesus walked.
Jesus said, I testify unto the world that
their deeds are evil.
Are you going to walk even as I
walked?
The early church disciples walked like their master
walked, and they testified of the world's deeds
that they were evil, and they were persecuted
for it.
The early church walked as Jesus walked.
They walked as their master walked, and they
testified against the evil, and they were martyred
for it.
Now, here you and I are, the 20th
century, and into the 21st century, are we
walking as Jesus walked?
You say, well, I abide in Christ.
Well, the Bible says that if you abide
in Christ, you want to walk even as
He walked.
They hate Me, Jesus says, because I reproved
them of their evil deeds.
Now, I believe we ought to reprove them
in love.
We are not to be obnoxious, but we
are to be concerned about them.
You know, sometimes, and I would love to
preach a sermon on this sometimes, but I
really think sometimes we are confused on what
non-resistance is.
Non-resistance is to not let evil go
all around, all over the place, and not
to say anything about it.
That's not non-resistance.
We have one of the sisters from New
York here.
But, a few weeks ago, I was up
in New York sharing, and I was asked
to preach at a Catholic facility.
I don't remember the name of it right
now, but there was a number of juveniles,
juvenile delinquent young people.
And what a blessing it is to come
and just share and preach to a bunch
of juveniles who are open, who are living
in darkness, but wanting to see some light.
They were sitting there, about 25 of them,
and they just asked me to come.
It was a Saturday night.
They asked me to come and just share.
And so I came and I shared.
I didn't know...
I preached on why we're created.
To please God, and not ourselves.
During the message, I just began to share
a little bit about homosexuality.
And how, when we live for ourselves, it
destroys our life, our soul, our body, and
a great example of it is this homosexuality
that's very prevalent today.
One young girl began to cry and got
up and left.
Shortly thereafter, another girl left.
I finished, and the man who was in
charge that night came to the man who
was in charge of our group and me
and said, you two, come with me right
now.
Uh-oh.
What happened?
So we went into the room and the
man sat us down and he said, listen,
you can't preach on that here.
You can't preach on that here.
He said, we teach these young people to
follow their heart.
To follow their heart.
If they feel like their heart is going
this way, we teach them to follow their
heart in this issue of sexuality.
If they believe their heart wants to go
this way, we teach them to follow their
heart.
What you're sharing with them goes contrary to
what we're trying to teach them.
He said, listen, you either not teach that
or you not come back here.
The world still hates us.
You know that?
The world still hates this book right here.
This book is a light.
You take this Word of God and you
take it out into the world and the
world still hates it just as much as
they hated it in Jesus' day.
Are we hated by the world?
If we are not, it's because we are
not testifying of its works that they are
evil.
Catherine Booth of the Salvation Army a hundred
years ago said this, Opposition?
It's a bad sign for the Christianity of
this day that it provokes so little opposition.
If there were no other evidences of it
being wrong, I should know from that.
When the church and the world can jog
along comfortably, you may be sure there is
something wrong.
The world has not altered.
Its spirit is exactly the same as it
always was and if Christians were equally faithful
and devoted to the Lord, the world would
hate them as much as it ever did.
It is the church that has altered, not
the world.
Your Master, Jesus Christ, was hated in this
world so much so that they put Him
on a cross and crucified Him.
And you and I are called to follow
in His steps and to testify of the
world that it's evil.
And you know what?
We will be hated too.
We've only come halfway in this idea of
separation.
Jesus said, launch out into the deep.
And we need to launch out into the
deep.
And I'm not saying we need to as
a church whole, but every individual needs to
start launching out into the deep in their
life in this area.
Laying down their fears.
Praying and saying, God, lead me to someone
that I might open my mouth to and
expose evil.
Not to be obnoxious, but to be a
light to a darkened world.
Turn to Matthew 10.
Matthew chapter 10.
I won't read the whole passage here, but
I'd like to give you an idea of
what Jesus is saying to His disciples.
We'll skip a few verses.
We'll start down here in verse number 5
of Matthew 10.
Jesus is about ready to send His disciples
out to go and preach the Gospel and
preach the Word of God.
In verse number 5 of Matthew 10, we
read, These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of
the Gentiles and into any city of the
Samaritans.
Enter ye not.
But go rather to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel.
And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom
of heaven is at hand.
Go out and preach my word.
And reprove and preach the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
Look down at verse 16.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in
the midst of wolves.
Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as
doves.
But beware of men, for they will deliver
you up to the councils, and they will
scourge you in their synagogues.
And you should be brought before governors and
kings for my sake, for a testimony against
them and the Gentiles.
Jesus is saying, When you go now, realize
you're going to be opposed.
There's going to be opposition.
Now look at verse 21.
And the brother shall deliver up the brother
to death and the father to the child.
And the children shall rise up against their
parents and cause them to be put to
death.
And you should be hated of all men
for my name's sake.
But he that shall endure unto the end
shall be saved.
They're going to hate you.
I'm telling you ahead of time.
When you go, they're going to hate you.
Now look at verse 24.
He comforts them by saying, The disciple is
not about his master, nor the servant above
his Lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he
be as his master and the servant as
his Lord.
If they have called the master of the
house, Beelzebub, how much more shall they call
them of his household?
I wonder if you are of the household
of God tonight.
The master has been called Beelzebub.
How much more will they call those of
his household?
What's the world calling us?
Friend?
Those poor helpless folks down there.
Docile.
Apathetic.
Now look at verse 26.
Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing
covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be made known.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak
in the light, and when you hear in
the ear, that preach you upon the house
stops.
And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell.
I'd like you to notice that Jesus, the
master, spoke those words to his servants and
disciples.
He said, listen, I've brought you out of
the world.
And I want you to come over here
to where I'm at.
And don't fear.
Don't fear the world.
They may come and kill your body.
But don't fear them.
Fear me.
I can destroy both body and soul in
hell.
Here's the problem.
Here's where we're at.
We're right here.
And we look upon the world and we
say, if I reprove them, they might not
like me.
We look over here at Jesus and Jesus
says, but reprove them.
The problem is, we fear them more than
we fear him.
And so we go on our life and
we're afraid to speak against the deeds of
that world.
And here's Jesus over here wondering, why do
you fear he that can kill the body?
Why don't you look over here and fear
me who can destroy both body and soul
in hell?
You know why we don't speak out?
Because we fear men.
We're afraid of what men may do.
Fear them not, Jesus said.
Fear them not.
We fear the consequences of speaking out against
the evil.
I like to tell the story of Richard
Wurmbrandt.
He was a godly man in Romania many
years ago in the 1940's when communism came
and took over Romania.
One time the communists gathered all the bishops
and priests and missionaries and everyone together who
named the name of Christ and had a
large gathering and began to teach their communistic
doctrine and they wanted all these pastors and
bishops and priests to pledge their allegiance to
Stalin and the communist party.
One by one, these men began to stand
up and pledge their allegiance to Stalin, the
communist party.
They began to speak evil against Christ.
And Richard Wurmbrandt was in the congregation there
and his wife was there too and his
wife nudged him, as Richard Wurmbrandt said.
His wife said, Honey, stand up and wipe
the shame off of the face of Christ.
They are spitting in his face.
Richard Wurmbrandt turned back to his wife and
he said, Honey, if I stand up right
now, you lose a husband.
And Richard Wurmbrandt's wife turned back to him
and said, I don't want a coward for
a husband.
And Richard Wurmbrandt stood up and he reproved
those men, he reproved the communistic system and
brothers and sisters, I believe it was twelve
years he spent in prison for standing up
and reproving the world.
Fear ye not he that can kill the
body, but fear him who can destroy both
body and soul in hell.
Most fear men, not God.
Look at verse 31 of Matthew 10.
Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more
value than many sparrows.
Notice the Lord saying, Fear not.
Go and preach.
Go and proclaim.
Go and expose the world of its sin.
But don't be afraid.
Notice verse 32.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I confess also before my Father which
is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father which
is in heaven.
Boy, those words ought to make us tremble
tonight.
You think we got a straight shot into
heaven?
Glory, rewards.
Better meditate on that one a little bit
tonight.
Amen?
Whosoever shall deny me before men.
You're going to go out and you're going
to stand against this world and you're going
to open up your mouth and testify against
its works that they are evil.
Don't be ashamed of me.
If you're ashamed of me and my words,
I will be ashamed of you.
What an awesome thing to stand at the
judgment seat of Christ, having been all our
life ashamed to stand up and speak the
words of Christ to this dark, evil society.
And Jesus looking at us and saying, You
are ashamed of me in that sinful and
adulterous world and generation.
I am ashamed to confess you before my
Father, which is in heaven.
Luke says it this way, The Son of
Man must suffer many things and be rejected
of the elders and the chief priests and
the scribes and be slain and be raised
the third day.
And He said unto them all, If any
man will come after Me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross daily and
follow Me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it.
But whosoever shall lose his life for My
sake, the same shall save it.
For what is the man's advantage if he
gain the whole world and lose himself or
be cast away?
For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me in
My words, of him shall the Son of
Man be ashamed when he shall come in
His glory with all the holy angels.
Peter says in 1 Peter 4, If you
reproach for the name of Christ, happy are
ye.
For the Spirit of glory and of God
rests upon you.
God says, If you are reproached, if you
are hated by the world, it is a
good testimony that the Spirit of God rests
upon you.
If there is ever a testimony today that
the Spirit of God is not resting upon
the church, it is that the church is
not hated by the world.
Peter says, If you are reproached, be happy!
It is a testimony that your life is
a reproach to the world.
That must mean that the Spirit of God
rests upon your life.
John Wesley was a great godly man.
One day, he was traveling along on his
horse and it dawned on him that for
three days he had not been reproached for
the name of Christ.
He says he got down on his horse
and began to pray.
He asked God, What's wrong with my life?
For three days not a single person has
thrown an egg at me.
Not a single person has thrown a brick
at me.
What is wrong?
Have you left me, Lord?
I wonder how long it's been since you
were reproached for the name of Christ.
Three months?
Three years?
Thirty years?
I wonder if the Spirit of glory and
of grace rests upon us like we think.
Jesus reproved the word of sin and was
hated for it.
The apostles reproved the word of sin and
followed in their Master's steps and were hated
for it.
The early church followed their Master's steps and
reproved the word of sin and they were
hated for it.
And you and I are called to take
up Christ's cross and follow in His steps
and reprove the word of its sin and
be hated for it.
It's as simple as listening to the Lord
and the Lord says, speak to that individual
about the sin in their life.
You obviously see it.
Simply saying in your heart, Lord, I fear
You and not men.
I will open my mouth and I will
reprove and make manifest to this soul who
is in darkness its condition.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness but rather reprove them.
I think of men like John Hus.
A man who reproved the world of its
sin was burned at the stake for speaking
against the evils of the Catholic Church.
Savonarola, Florence, Italy.
Martyred for preaching against the evils in his
society.
D.L. Moody said this, Now mark you,
no man can be true to God and
live for Him without at some time or
other being unpopular in the world.
It's impossible.
They hated me, they will hate you also.
And many people today are claiming to know
Christ and to be following Christ.
But a true follower of Christ will be
hated of the world.
I'd like you to look at one more
passage in 2 Timothy.
Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3.
2 Timothy
chapter 3 starting in verse 10.
Paul is talking to Timothy.
Writing to Timothy, he says, But thou hast
fully known my doctrine, my manner of life,
my purpose, my faith, my longsuffering, my charity,
patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at
Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.
What persecutions I endured, but out of them
all the Lord delivered me.
Yea, and all that will live godly, that
will live godly, that will live god-like,
that will live Christ-like, that will live
in the steps and pattern of Christ.
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
I think if Paul were up here tonight,
he would say, If you are a godly
man and woman, you will suffer persecution.
Do you realize that a part of being
a holy and godly man is walking in
the steps of Jesus and reproving the world
of sin?
That's godliness.
That's holiness.
That's god-likeness.
That's Christ-likeness.
That's a part of holiness without which no
man shall see the Lord.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse
and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
And many of us have been deceived.
He's not just talking here about the apostles.
He's talking about all that will live godly.
He's not just saying that those in Russia
or those in China or those in the
Sudan or those in Cuba, but all that
will live like Christ shall suffer persecution.
The servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have hated me because I testified
against them that their deeds were evil, they
also will hate you when you testify of
their deeds, that they are evil.
I would encourage you to try it out.
But, brothers and sisters, there is wonderful joy
in testifying and sharing and opening up the
Scripture and saying, Sir or ma'am, do
you realize this area of your life you
have a need?
Do you realize those shorts are immodest in
God's sight?
Do you realize the danger you're putting others
in by creating a stumbling block that others
are falling and sinning?
Do you realize what you're doing?
You want to stir up anger.
But I tell you what, if you do
that, you go away from there and God's
Spirit comes and places Himself upon your heart
and you have joy in your heart because
you're now walking like Jesus walked.
And you're pleasing your Father.
And you're living like Christ.
You're living godly and holy.
He that saith He abided in Him, all
himself also so do walk, even as He
walked.
He, Jesus, testified of the world's evil.
Will you?
Say, Brother Jerry, why don't you talk about
Jesus' humility?
Well, maybe we will.
Why don't you talk about how Jesus forgave?
Maybe we will.
Why don't you talk about how patient Jesus
was?
Well, maybe we will.
Why don't you talk about His love for
everyone?
Maybe we will talk about that, but tonight
we're talking about another aspect of the life
of Jesus that many of us have forgotten.
Here's a man who reproved the world of
sin.
And Paul said to the church at Ephesus,
if you want to walk like Jesus walked,
you need to reprove the world of sin.
Brothers and sisters, listen.
Tonight we are called to be lights to
this dark world.
Many will perish without warning if we are
unwilling to be lights in this dark and
wicked world by reproving the world of sin.
How important is it for you to let
people walk by in darkness?
Young people especially.
What a burden.
Young people have no idea.
No idea of what evil is.
And they're crashing on the shores of immorality
while we as a church sit silently thinking
that we are separated from the world.
Separated, yes, but not separated to be silent.
I don't know if this is true, but
in my memory I remember a group that
wanted to gain asylum over in Europe.
They wanted to gain asylum somewhere, and I
think they went to Russia or one of
the communist countries over there.
And the authorities told this group, they said,
listen, if you will just come to our
country and just be silent.
Just be silent.
Just don't speak.
You can come and we'll give you some
land and you can live there.
And they did that.
You know what?
The men took those apostles, Peter, James, and
John, and said, fellows, listen, if you'll just
be silent, if you'll stop preaching and testifying
of the evil, we'll let you go.
Go into Jerusalem there and find you a
nice corner, build a little community, and just
live quietly.
You'll be fine.
Just don't speak in the name of Jesus
Christ.
You know what those men said?
We cannot but speak the things which we
have seen and heard.
You know what happened?
They beat them.
And ultimately they killed them because they were
like their master and they reproved the world
of sin.
We are called to be the light of
the world.
My wife and I, we were in South
Carolina.
I was preaching in North Carolina last year.
We went down to South Carolina along the
coast and we stopped at a lighthouse.
We were going up this lighthouse, probably 100,
200 feet high, and halfway up the lighthouse,
approximately there was a plaque on the wall.
It was an interesting plaque to me.
I stopped and read it.
It was about a man by the name
of Adam Fripp.
Adam Fripp.
It was a memorial of Adam Fripp.
He was the lighthouse manager back in the
early 1900s.
I believe it was 1899-1900, somewhere around
there.
He took his job seriously.
He loved the sailors that sailed there in
the South Carolina area, that sailed the ocean,
Atlantic Ocean.
One day there was a hurricane.
Of course, back then, they didn't have the
warning systems that we have now for ships
to get in.
Hurricane came, and wind began to blow, waves
began to rise, and these sailors, these men
that were out in ships, began to quickly
try to make it to shore.
Adam Fripp was in his home.
His home was nearby where the lighthouse was.
As this hurricane was blowing, he looked out
the window and he saw that the lighthouse
light had gone out.
Out there in the sea, the boats were
trying to get in and couldn't find their
way, and he saw that the lighthouse light
had gone out.
As this plaque said, he ran outside, and
his daughter, I believe it was his daughter,
his daughter or his granddaughter followed him.
They ran the distance.
I don't know how long it was, but
he got to the lighthouse and began to
go up these stairs.
Brothers and sisters, I walked up them, and
my, they were retiring.
I'm not in the greatest shape of all,
but this man began to run up these
stairs, maybe 12, 13, 14 flights of stairs.
He got almost to the top, and he
fell down.
He was having a heart attack.
In his eager and desire to get the
light lit on that lighthouse, he fell down
the steps.
His daughter, a few seconds later, came behind
him, stomped, and saw her father, or grandfather,
I forget which one, there laying on the
steps.
She said, Father, should I run and get
some help?
This man said to her, No, no.
Don't run and get help.
Run up the stairs and turn on the
light, or light the flame on the lighthouse.
So this young lady ran up the stairs.
She obviously knew how to do it.
She lit the lighthouse, and those sailors could
see the light.
They could make it safely into harbor.
She went back down the stairs, and there
was her father laying on the stairs, dead.
He had died.
There was a memorial there for him, a
plaque, for a man who cared enough about
these sailors out on the ocean, trying to
find their way to shore, in the middle
of a hurricane.
Here's a man who laid his life down
that others might see the light and be
saved.
When I thought about that story, I thought
about the church.
Here the world is in a storm, darkness,
and here is the church.
Are we willing to lay our life down,
to turn on the light, that the world
might see its sin and be directed to
the person of Jesus Christ and be born
again?
Philip Bliss.
Many of you know Philip Bliss.
He was a prolific songwriter.
He was sitting one day listening to D
.L. Moody preach.
D.L. Moody was talking about a master,
or the master, taking care of the great
lighthouse, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great lighthouse.
Philip Bliss, as he was listening to D
.L. Moody preach, he wrote the words of
this song, Let the Lower Light Be Burning.
It's in our song book, right there.
Let the Lower Light Be Burning.
The master has taken care of the great
lighthouse, but is the lower light burning?
Are you, like John the Baptist, a burning
and a shining light to this dark and
wicked world?
Christ, the great lighthouse, reproved the world of
sin.
What about you and I?
Let the lower light be burning.
And then he closed with this.
Listen to this.
Jesus' counsel to the church at Laodicea, who
were afflicted with complacency and materialism and ease.
Remember what he said.
I would that thou were either hot or
cold.
Either go over and live for the world,
or come over here and live for me
and be hot and be a burning, shining
light, instead of standing here in the middle
and being lukewarm.
I would that thou were either hot or
cold than to be lukewarm.
Because thou art lukewarm, I will spew thee
out of my mouth.
That's not a safe place to be right
there.
Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased
with goods, and knowest not that thou art
wretched and poor and miserable and blind and
naked.
Last night we talked about one of those.
Blind.
You think you see, but you're blind.
Tonight I'd like to mention another one.
Jesus said to them, I counsel thee to
buy of me gold.
Here's what He said, Tried in the fire
that thou mayest be rich.
I counsel thee, Laodicea, You're lukewarm.
I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire.
What's He saying?
That's what He's saying.
Get out of this position and come over
here and get some persecution in your life.
Some fire.
Gold tried in the fire that thou mayest
be rich.
When I thought about that, here's what I
thought.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you
and persecute you and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is
your reward in heaven.
You're rich in heaven.
Standing here, Laodicea was poor in heaven.
The Lord says, I want to give you
some counsel.
Don't go back to the world.
Don't stay here.
Come over here and get some gold tried
in the fire of affliction that you may
be rich in heaven.
Blessed is every one of you who are
reviled, who are persecuted for the name of
Christ.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is
your reward in heaven.
You are truly going to be rich in
heaven.
Have no fellowship, but rather reprove them.
I believe tonight the Lord Jesus' counsel for
us is to move from there to here.
To buy some gold tried in the fire.
Brothers and sisters, you can do it.
God's grace can enable you to do it.
Just lay down that fear.
Listen to the voice of God.
The Lord brings a situation to your attention.
Open your mouth in loving kindness, concern, and
reprove the world of its darkness.