Series: Are You Prepared? (Revelation) [#6]
SATAN’S BEST
Revelation 3:1-6
Introduction:
May I confess something to you that God has revealed to me? In the attempt to see Bel Aire Baptist Church grow in the Lord; I have become angry, frustrated, and dissatisfied. God reminded me of my frustration with Tyler when he was 4 years old. Tyler was defiant. If I said clean your room, he would take all the toys out and throw them in the floor. If I said go to bed, he would stay up. If I said don’t go to bed he went. So I would spank Tyler and as I would go to leave his room he would say something like, “Is that all you got old man”? I would go back in and spank him some more. On the way out I would hear, “Stupid, that didn’t hurt”. This cycle went on and on. Tyler probably received 15 to 20 spankings a day and guess what? Spankings were not working.
This morning God has led me to present this sermon differently. Although I don’t want to admit it, we may be like the Church in Sardis; and if we are, we need to begin to change now! We don’t need another spanking, we need a change of attitude and behavior.
"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1).
I. Dead Or Alive?
How can you tell if something is dead or alive? You check for vital signs. Is there a pulse, blood pressure, etc…? As we ask this question, we must put this in perspective with our Church in mind. I found this explanation about life:
“When an organism is alive, there is…
1.Growth
At our Church, are we growing? I am not asking about numbers, that is just a bi-product. We can fool people as they drive by our Church on Sunday Morning because there are cars on the parking lot; but is our Church producing Christians that are growing stronger in the Word, in fellowship, in witness, in prayer, and discipleship? If we are not growing, we are dieing.
This Church was not completely dead. “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God” (Revelation 3:2). This Church had a great reputation in the past and was barely holding on. They had started well, but they were not finishing too well.
When an organism is alive, there is growth and…
2.Repair
When the body is sick, if it is healthy, it can repair itself. Sometimes we need a doctor to prescribe something to help fight off the sickness. The less healthy the body, the longer it takes to heal.
The Church is the same way. There are times when we as a Church are sick. This sickness comes from sin within the Church; but if we will allow God to heal our Church, the repairing will begin. The healthier the Church, the quicker it will be repaired.
When an organism is alive, there is growth, repair, and…
3.Reproduction
Reproduction is necessary to carry on life. A healthy Church reproduces. A healthy Church is all about watching the Kingdom grow regardless of what it does for their congregation personally. When a Church is reproducing, God will bless them. The numbers, money, workers, etc… will happen.
When an organism is alive, there is growth, repair, reproduction, and…
4.Power
A person that is healthy has the power to walk, to work, to conquer, etc… The Church of Sardis was like a person fighting for those last breaths. They were still living, but they were in a coma. This Church could not help others. This Church could not be the light to their community. Notice that this Church was not facing any persecution. When a Church is not shedding the light of Jesus Christ on their community, then the things that go on in the darkness are not seen.
Obviously this power comes from the Holy Spirit. Only God’s power will be sufficient for what the task is. “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you” (Revelation 3:3).
II. Dirty Or Clean?
As in every Church, even those which are all but dead; there seems to always be a core of people that have not given up. Praise God for these people! “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy” (Revelation 3:4). At this point we go from looking at the Church as a whole and we begin to look at the individuals that make up the local congregation.
1.Are You Dirty?
The question we must ask ourselves here is this: “Am I dirty with sin or am I clean”? Christians are to be white, which represents purity. If you wallow in the dirt (sin), you’re going to get dirty.
2.Do You Need A Bath?
Because we still sin as Christians, when we get dirty we must take a bath. Here is how: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:9-2:2).
3.Are You Stuck?
Sometimes we can get stuck in the mud and muck and we don’t know how to get out. Do you seem to have problems with the same sins over and over again? The reason for that is you are trying to get rid of the bad fruit instead of going to the root of the problem. “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:15).
Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have a problem with your temper and every time something goes wrong you blow up. As soon as you are done exploding you start saying things like, “I’ve got to stop getting so mad” or “I’m going to fix my temper”, etc… The problem is that even if you pick that temper fruit off of that tree, if you have not killed the root of bitterness; the next time something happens, you will get mad and blow up again.
I found this “cool” toy to help illustrate my point. (Take out the “Whac-A-Mole” game and have the lights turned out). The moles lighting up represent the sins popping up in your life. (Start hitting the moles as they light up). Although we as Christians are trying to clean our lives up, we get so busy trying to kill the bad fruit that we just work ourselves into a frenzy. We must kill the root and then those bad fruit will stop appearing!
Let me ask you something of a practical nature. “Why do we have to have an opinion where we have no responsibility?” You can take a great burden off of yourself if you will start “minding your own business”.
4.Are You Covering Up?
Some of us have a similar but slightly different problem. We know that there is a problem, but we just don’t want to deal with it. Have you ever had a bad stink coming out of your refrigerator? You put a deodorizer in there but it still stinks. You even throw away last weeks casserole and the old tomatoes in the crisper; but it still stinks. Finally, the stink gets so bad that you get a bucket of hot soapy water, you pull every tray and shelf out and you clean that refrigerator top to bottom; and guess what? That nasty polluted water that was in the very back corner is gone and so is the stink.
Christians, you can keep trying to deodorize the stinky sin in your life; but until you take the time to repent and be cleansed of all of your unrighteousness, you will still stink. We must stop putting Christian “band-aids” on gaping sores.
Denied Or Accepted?
Let me give you the bottom line of why it is so important that our Church be healthy. “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels” (Revelation 3:5).
Every Christian’s name is going to be found in the Lamb’s Book Of Life. If your name is not in the Book of Life then you are not spending eternity in Heaven.
The way we behave as a Church could determine whether a person’s name in blotted out of the book or found written in the book.
Conclusion:
We live in a time where everyone in the Church is mad. They are mad at the preacher, they are mad at the music minister, they are mad about the old carpet, they are mad about how much the new carpet cost, etc… We may not look dead, but we are approaching death. Not what we want to hear, but the truth.
Today, let us take a bath. With every head bowed and every eye closed I want to ask you a couple of questions and I pray that you will be honest.
1.If you are here this morning and you harbor bitterness towards someone and are wanting to take a bath; I want you to raise your hand so I can pray for you right now. (Pray)
2.If you are here this morning and you are mad about something, but you want to kill that and let God start moving in your life and our Church; I want you to raise your hand so I can pray for you right now. (Pray).
3.If you are here this morning and you don’t know if you died today if your name would be found written in the Book of Life; I want you to raise your hand so I can pray for you right now. (Pray)
4.Are you dead or alive?
5.Are you dirty or clean?
6.Will you be denied or accepted into Heaven?
Don’t leave this place today having not taken care of business with God.
