RevClass-03: WHAT HAPPENS TO BELIEVERS INFECTED WITH PERSISTENT SIN?

[Music] welcome to the third lesson of the book of Revelation there are twenty lessons in this course on Revelation revelation has 404 verses over 800 quotes that cover all the other books of the Bible the rest of the Bible but there's only one message and that message is how the book opens and if you have a copy of the scriptures or your online version look at verse 1 and we're going to read that and then invite the Lord to do what it says the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants the things which must shortly take place and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John and now verse 3 blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things written in them the one message is God wants us to keep treasure respond to what his word says let's pray and ask him to do that father I pray that you would stir our hearts through this class to hear and to understand and to keep to treasure to guard your truth in our lives and I pray that through this class we might be transformed to be even more effective servants of our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray amen well the book of Revelation is so timely and the message for this third hour is about infected believers now as you know the covet 19 virus is very small coded 19 is just one millionth of an inch wide now this isn't science class but here's a virus here's a bacteria which is between a hundred and a thousand times bigger and here's a human cell now remember we're made of billions of cells trillions if you count everything in our neurons human cells are tiny tyria are just a hundredth of the size a virus is a thousandth of that size isn't it amazing how much something that small has affected our whole world and the the lesson is this that there's a virus worse than Kogut do you know what that virus is it's this it's the s I and virus the SI n virus is what the whole book of Revelation is about sin keeps us from operating in a healthy way it keeps us from being all that God designed us to be now you can see here this is just a typical clip out of all the newscasts you've been watching or anything online it's how Co vid affects our body you notice that it affects our brain with a fever we can't think it affects our senses you know the eyes and the nose and and taste they've found our early warning signs but look what it does to the lungs it affects our lungs the the connection of this little tiny virus which by the way depending on what you read online they can't even decide if a virus is alive or not alive a virus affects the the cell to which it attaches but in itself it's not really alive it's just an agent of affecting a cell did you know that so much like sin Paul talked about sin as a force as a as an influence just like a virus and as you see in that picture then it begins to affect all of the systems and at the bottom leads to death now this slide I just clipped this off Bloomberg this is the as of about an hour ago this is what was going on one point four six seven million confirmed cases worldwide with eighty five thousand four hundred and thirteen notices hardly on that map a country of the world that's not affected by the virus now this is the normal screen shot of what we're seeing on the news all the time here where we are in the United States we have four hundred two thousand cases twelve thousand nine hundred and thirty five Americans have died because of something that's one one millionth of an inch wide that means it's almost invisible in fact it is invisible to about 99.99% of the world except those few attach to an electron microscope it's an invisible influence that's changing the world well that's what's going on in the book of Revelation look at what we're seeing here there's a repetition follow on your Bible verse one which God gave him to show his servants then keep going to verse four John to the seven churches and then keep going to verse 11 write what you see to the seven churches which are in Asia revelation 1:11 and then they're listed now look at the map in front of you on that slide starting in the the left side right in the middle is Ephesus on that map of Asia Minor which is modern-day Turkey above it is Smyrna then you go further up and a little to the right Pergamum then you come down starting to go a little bit to the east Taiyo Tyrel down to the south Sardis little more to the South Philadelphia and then Southwest to Laodicea those seven churches were the the seven churches that verse 11 lists off and they were a group of people that were believers that had become infected with a nearly invisible virus God called sin and their lives had utterly become affected because of their infection with sin that's why the theme of this book is how to live for God in a dangerous world we think how to live for God in a dangerous world with like in modern times maybe you know religious zealots like Islamic zealots that that would come and do terrorism or maybe someone that would terrorize us in the office and make fun of us that's not the danger really this is the danger you see we are more than conquerors no one can take our life one moment before God has written it down in his book of all that we're gonna live but we can severely impede our health by wrong choices by becoming infected believers so how do you live for God in a dangerous world that's what this book is all about and that's what we're gonna examine especially as we look today at what Jesus says in the first three chapters was going on in these seven local churches we just looked at at the map now do you remember this is the second generation the first generation the ones that were alive from the the death bear and resurrection of Christ through the Apostolic journeys and the writing of the New Testament they had passed off the scene and their children were now the ones that were populating the early church and the second generation was slowly getting infected by the Roman Empire where they lived they were getting getting infected by something so tiny no one could see it except God and slowly it began to permeate their lives so the lesson of Revelation 1 2 & 3 is when Jesus finds sin in his church infected believers now let me show you what I mean see on your slide there revelation 2 4 if you take your Bible mark this if you want to because this is going to be the core that we're building around in this lesson today verse 4 jesus said this tatha --ss nevertheless i have this against you that you have any lists off their problem you have left your first love and verse 5 continues what what does it mean I have this against you well most of us have been there I mean you're you sit in the waiting room and a friend or a family member is in with a doctor and we're out there waiting and all of a sudden as we wonder how our loved one our mom our dad our grandparents our husband wife our child is going to be the doctor walks out and when the doctor finally finishes his exam and comes to the deliver the news by looking at his face we know that he's going to say something we aren't going to appreciate and he comes out and the doctor sits down he says I have good news and bad news the bad news is you're infected or you have cancer or you have heart disease or whatever the the terrible diagnosis is but then he says the good news is you're gonna live now chapter one of Revelation portrays Jesus like a doctor coming out you remember what we read yesterday when we were looking at one like the son of man verse 13 of chapter one clothed with a garment down to his feet girded about the chest with a golden band his head and hair were white like wool and his eyes are piercingly like a flame of fire do you remember what John said about his response when he saw Jesus look at verse 17 when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead now wait a minute why did John respond that way why did John who love Jesus Christ so much who who was the one that that Jesus loved and in the scriptures and the gospel say that John would lay his head on Jesus shoulder they were such close friends at meals they would lean on each other they were very close why would John faint and fall down on the ground well I believe John saw something he hadn't seen for 60 years do you remember when Jesus start is ministry John - in John - Jesus cleansed the temple if you remember he got angry he made ache a whip out of a bunch of cords he began taking that whip and he goes through and he drives out of the temple the money changers and those who were buying and selling all kinds of animals and and birds inside the temple and Jesus his eyes were just glowing with anger it says that that Jesus was angry at those money changers and those selling remember at the end of Jesus ministry and again when we get to Matthew 21 he does it again Jesus comes and he drives him out of the temple a second time overturns their tables driving out the animals the anger of Jesus when the temple the earthly representative of God's presence was defiled now Jesus come and inspects the church and the earthly temples the representatives of God were defiled and that same anger john saw and that's why he fell down as if he was dead yet it paralyzed him thinking of Jesus being so angry look at verse 14 Revelation chapter 2 verse 14 to the the next church to pergamus actually the third Church Jesus says but I have a few things against you now you notice I I skipped over verses eight down through verse eleven that's the church in Smyrna Jesus doesn't say he has anything against them they're only five if you notice Jesus has five churches that he says that he has something against him that they're infected with sin in their lives continuing down to verse 20 notice what Jesus said nevertheless have a few things against you continuing to chapter 3 verse 3 remember therefore excuse me I mean verse 3 of chapter 2 remember how you have received and heard and hold fast and repent Jesus said I want you to repent of what I found in your life and finally look at verse 16 so then because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will vomit you out of my mouth when Jesus finds sin in his church he doesn't overlook it he goes right to remediation getting something wrong and what's that the diagnostic report on the five churches what does Jesus say to Ephesus pergamus Thyatira Sardis and Laodicea the physician comes in and says this is what you need to do now if something happens to us and and it's detected that that we either have you know the the newest horrible flu or we have heart disease or we have a tumor or we have something wrong with us does the doctor just say and I hope you get better or does he say to treat this you're going to need a ventilator like in the current flu crisis or you're going to need surgery or you're gonna need to take this medicine you see that's what Jesus does our new hearts sometimes start behaving like the old heart salvation what is salvation do to us it says in Ezekiel 36 in verse 26 a new heart I will give you a new spirit I will put within you and I will put a soft heart within you God says that what he wants to do with us in salvation is give us a new heart that's what salvation is that's Ezekiel 36 26 and 27 and if that's a verse you don't have marked in your Bible you ought to mark it because the essence of salvation is new hearts so he takes out the old stony heart he takes it out and transplants a new heart but what was happening in these believers their new heart was starting to look like the old heart that he had removed in the surgery of regeneration when a new heart gets infected was sin when our life becomes infected with sin we began to act like unsaved people like unbelievers and Jesus said I will not tolerate that Jesus prescribes treatment in Revelation 2 and 3 and that's why this letter remember I told you last session in a session before this was the most widely taught and most popular and most desired book of the Bible for the early church why because they didn't want to be infected with sin they didn't want to displease the Lord they want to live out this new heart they didn't want to act like the old I always tell people when they say they lost their temper have you ever heard that expression oh I lost my temper I say no you didn't you found it you see when we act like our pagan cold-hearted person were did were showing that we've become infected with sin well what was the diagnosis what did Jesus say basically the medical report is this Ephesus had heart problems what was their problem their heart was crowded I illustrate it this way it's kind of like the top shelf of our life the Lord says I want to be in the top shelf I want to be up here most important in your life and we say okay that's what we want but then we start adding other things that are just as important our heart gets crowded Jesus no longer has first place that was the medical report for Ephesus Smyrna the only thing we could possibly infer jesus said to the second church is fear not what is that do you said don't even slip into fear with what's happening to you the third church Pergamus they were over exposed to sin the fourth church they weren't exposed they were infected the virus had taken root in their bodies Sardis they appeared to act unsaved if you would have been walking around the city of Sardis in the first century and looked at the church you could not have told a difference between the way the people in the church were living and the way the people in the Roman pagan temples were living they both had the same struggles in life and they both had the same living in under the power of sin going on in their lives and the Lord says you're like you're dead you're acting unsafe by the way there's one Church the sixth Church they got Jesus absolute accrual Philadelphia Jesus said just keep up what you're doing so see it is possible to live on earth absolutely pleasing to the Lord it's by avoiding infection now I don't know where you are at the current time but where we live our country everyone is encouraged to wear masks and so could I have your mask we have a student here with a mask I'll get this mask right here look at this thing this is a real one it's got the filter on it and people are going around with these masks on and they're talking through them and they're steaming up their glasses why because they know that there's an infection there's a virus it's only one millionth of an inch wide but they want that filter to stop it because they don't want to get infected did you know that the believers of the first century Church we're not wearing their masks they weren't socially isolating they weren't washing their hands all the time in fact they were touching their face and getting the virus all into their system so the last Church Laodicea the one that made Jesus sick was spiritually blind and distracted well let me tell a quick illustration from this slide Bonnie and I've had the privilege of ministering in the last 12 months to several hundred missionaries that that work on the frontlines of Central Asia the Middle East Equatorial sub-sahara Africa all over the world and as we taught them we met one doctor and I'd like to tell you the story of this doctor because sin has consequences this doctor was an American mazing doctor that was trained a surgeon who had a heart for missions like many of you that are taking this course he wanted to take the gospel to the ends of the earth and so he finished med school did his practice learned and and excelled as a doctor and in his late 30s he moved to one of the most desolate needy gospel absent countries of the world one of those hard to enter countries and he could only enter as a doctor and so he went there to be a medical missionary in a closed country a limited access country and and he worked very hard and got a team around him and they built a hospital and Americans contributed and they started this hospital and they started reaching out in the community and they started translating the Bible and as the ministry grew and as people were getting saved teams started coming in to their hospital to help them from America one team came and they decided they'd paint the hospital and they'd also do daycare so that all the the doctors and all the nurses and Families could spend extra time as couples and so that team came and while that team was there his little daughter said to him daddy why that man touch me and the father said what are you talking about and to make a horrible story short one member from the church missions team that was on child care duty molested his little tiny daughter that doctor as you see on that slide got infected with bitterness the first thing he did is he looked up and he said God how could you let my little helpless innocent precious daughter get defiled by that that wicked man then he said to his wife how come you weren't watching our daughter then he started getting irritated and all the other doctors and nurses and before long when we met him he had decided to resign close the hospital and end the work in that desolate part of the world with no gospel witness now the way I met him is I had been invited every morning to do a Bible lesson and for 45 minutes challenge a room filled that group was about 750 doctors from 64 different countries and I was preaching along and I was telling them about the Lord's Prayer and at that conference I was doing the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 and I I began showing on the screen when it says forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and I said you know what if you're not a forgiving person you'll get infected with and on the screen I put up a chart about the symptoms of bitterness and I just started going through the the signs actually it was called the signs of bitterness and I was going through and I was on about the third one and this doctor told me that he'd been sitting there he wouldn't listen he didn't open this Bible no one noticed cuz there was several you know 750 of them out there and he was looking at the floor but he couldn't help but listening and by about the third sign of bitterness he looked up and he started looking at that screen and he started thinking and he said to me he turned to his wife and he said is that me his wife told me that she froze because for the last year he had been so bitter that he was violently angry he just would explode for anything he gets so upset and impatient and troubled and irritated with everybody in the hospital and with his children with his his marriage was struggling so she thought if I say yes you he'll explode and get angry at me she thought but if I don't say anything this might be my only chance so that faithful wife breathed a quick prayer and looked at her husband and said that is you on the screen I went through the rest of the signs of bitterness but he told me he didn't even listen the rest of the sermon he said he bowed his head and right there sitting in that service said God I confess I got angry at you and blamed you for not protecting my daughter then I got angry at my wife and blamed her then I got angry at the whole ministry and then I quit and he said I was bitter bitterness is sin and sin infected my life that doctor said he had taken so many steps away from God months had gone by but it was just one step back right there sitting that service he bowed his head he said I was wrong I confess I asked you to cleanse me and he said when he lifted his head he was a different person the infection was gone his wife realized it his co-workers and by the way he went to the mission and said I'm not close in the hospital Satan allowed me to get infected with bitterness trying to stop the ministry here's the lesson no matter how many steps we take away from God it's only one it's always an only one step back that one step is called repentance well let's look at what the early churches needed to repent of number one in Revelation 2 in your Bibles verses 1 through 7 we see that Ephesus had a spiritual heart condition and the first stop in Jesus is medical inspection tours Ephesus and it didn't take long for him to find a serious heart condition there but you wouldn't have known it to look at him you see Ephesus was the largest Church of the ancient world Ephesus according to the church historian Eusebius had upwards of 50,000 people that had come to know Christ in the ancient world and that huge church was humming it had a galaxy of great pastors I mean Apollo's had been there Paul had had helped found the church he had left behind Timothy before long the Apostle John moved there and he brought Mary how would you like to go to church with Paul and Mary and John and Apollo's it was an unbelievable place the largest the most vibrant Church Ephesus appeared to be thriving easily the largest Church Paul had been there three years explaining the scriptures daily answering their questions teaching them sanctified lives that's the content of of the book of Ephesians is what was taught there when Paul moved from FCC left Timothy you can read 1st 2nd Timothy you can see the caliber of that serving the Lord and just before being exiled to Patmos John lived there and ministered there more scripture books were written directly to Ephesus than any other city but they had slowly developed hardening of the arteries the the the heart disease that came from Jesus no longer being most important he was just important this letter Jesus dictates to John is epistle number four written specifically to this church and when Jesus examines Ephesus he finds they had a major health problem at first glance they appeared healthy but if you read the diagnostic report in verses 1 through 7 Jesus initial observation appears to be a glowing report of as large as the most influential church he says I know your works your labor your patience you can't bear those who are evil you've tested those who say they're apostles and are not it sounds like health was there but look Jesus wasn't first he was longer first in their schedule they planned everything and when they got done with their plan they found there was no time for the Lord Jesus wasn't first in their concentration and that signaled that he was no longer the supreme ruler of their hearts and their lives what's the bottom line Jesus didn't take first place in their lives their heart didn't belong solely to him their spiritual arteries were clogged with so many other things that they were in danger of a spiritual heart attack and while the Ephesians may have felt find on the outside Jesus said there's something wrong on the inside now I want to give you a little test you know I'll use an object lesson I was a youth pastor for so long that it's hard for me not to walk around in fact in my teaching as a youth pastor I used to walk around the students and and it really made everybody just sit up and be careful because they knew as I walked up and down the where they were sitting that I could see everything they're doing and what I would tell them is I'm just doing what Jesus does remember in Chapter 1 of Revelation we looked at yesterday Jesus was walking in the midst of the seven lampstands and and as he walked around the seven lampstands what he was saying is I'm looking I'm looking at what you're doing I'm watching to see whether or not you're doing what I left you to do and just as a youth pastor walking around I would look to see whether or not the children well they weren't children the teenagers in my youth group were following along in their Bibles whether they were listening whether they were paying attention or if they were kind of more in touch with someone next to them and distracted now Jesus walked around the church if he walked around today here's an illustration what he could do he would say which is more important in your life to catch up with every friend you have to post to send pictures to Instagram them to snap them to what to is playing games is listening to music more important than my voice you see it isn't that Jesus was unimportant he just was no longer supremely important his the people did not in the church in Ephesus they did not build their lives around seeking first Jesus Christ that's what heart problems are like and that's the first church the second church Jesus addresses is Pergamus that's in Revelation chapter 2 and look at verse 12 because in Revelation 2 and verse 12 Jesus says this and to Angel the church and Pergamus write these things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword now remember every letter Jesus refers back to something from chapter one what he's saying is 1:16 I am the one with the sword coming out of my mouth he's remind that he is the living and abiding Word of God look at verse 13 I know your works I know where you dwell where Satan's throne is and you hold fast my name and did not deny the faith even in the days when Antipas verse 13 was my faithful martyr who was killed among you where Satan dwells he said that two times now look at that slide what was Pergamus problem they had spiritual immunity problems basically when Jesus travels to pergamus he says the church at Pergamos was sitting right on top of a nuclear sin reactor did you notice what twice I read to you in verse 13 it says you live where Satan dwells now there's something really really interesting that we learn here Pergamus is where Satan at that moment in history dwells you what that tells us reminds us actually Satan's not omnipresent Satan is only in one place at a time you ever heard someone say oh the devil made me do it most likely he didn't because he can't influence every person on the planet his demons with him can be pervading you know the atmosphere all around everybody but for Satan to be in one place at one time is what we have to remember that's where it what God says and Satan at this time in the first century his seat his throne his command center it says twice in verse 13 was right there a few years back a nuclear reactor melted down in Japan Fukushima is the name of the location to this day ten years twelve I don't remember how many years ago it was to this day it's still too deadly for people to walk around not in protective suits in that whole city people that go there unprotected to go and homes get leukemia it just rings and and withers the marrow of their minds because they're around the the terrible radioactivity of that reactor you know what the Lord said the people in Pergamus were around the radioactivity of sin and they weren't you see the slide there notice all those people in that picture have masks on can you see a covin 19 virus it's 1 millionth of an inch wide no but they know it's out there and they protect themselves the people of Pergamus we're living within the radius zone of the marrow shriveling radiation of the soul that Satan pumped out and they weren't putting up any immunity protection they've been doing really well for a while it says in verse 12 they held fast to Jesus name verse 13 even one of their great leaders were martyred but by the time of Jesus examines the church they who had started out strong we're now susceptible to sin and we're starting to get unhealthy immunity problems at Pergamus here's a kind of a summary of what the Lord is saying our spiritual immunity is compromised when we as believers as God's own people are comfortable around what God hates you see we're supposed to more and more be embracing as our conduct in our operating system gods and God says avoid what is evil let those that name the name of Christ depart from iniquity and we are supposed to not love the world or the things in the world because whatever's of the world is not of the Father and it's passing away well you're in my spiritual immunity is compromised when we as believers are comfortable around what God hates there's almost like a downward spiral here because by the time we get to the next Church which is Thyatira we find out that it's kind of like they've gone through what the Ephesians went through in Ephesus and you know the the Lord was no longer first and then pergamus they got comfortable around sin but by the time we get to Thyatira you what the Lord says look at verse 18 chapter 2 verse 18 the angel the church in Thyatira write these things says the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire remember every church he refers back to chapter 1 this is verse 14 those flaming eyes continuing feet like fine brass that's verse 15 also house Jesus self described himself I know your works your love your service your faith your patient your works are more than at the first nevertheless verse 20 I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophet to teach and seduce my servants not to be tempted you see Thyatira wasn't just come for on sin and and the Lord was no longer first Thyatira it says in that 19th verse are the twentieth verse it says my servants to commit immorality they were infected they were just comfortable around sin they were doing it they were starting to live like unbelievers they were committing the same sins that the Greek and Roman pagans in her City we're committing fact what's worse is they went back to what they used to be like before they were saved and the Lord says I'm not going to allow that to go on in your life and and that's the whole lesson that Jesus gives to these five churches that are infected believers what happens when a believer persists in unrepentant sin there are two verses on your screen in front of you the first one is in first John chapter 5 I'll read it to you first John chapter 5 and verse 16 it says this if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death he will ask and will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to the death verse 16 continues there is a sin leading to death first John 5:16 what what is that well on your screen look at 1st Corinthians 11:27 and I'll answer the question that is on the screen what happens when a believer persists in unrepentant sin I'll read you the answer it's right here in 1st Corinthians 11 starting in verse 27 therefore whoever eats this bread and drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of Christ verse 28 let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread what is this about this is communion verse 26 talks about eat this bread drink this cup till I return so Paul says for those of you that are attending church that are a part of the celebration the lord's table if you go to church and partake of the lord's table and don't examine yourself verse 29 he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body and here's what he says verse 30 for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep whoa first Thessalonians 11:30 it says that there are three levels of God's kind of like the way that that he deals with medically in our bodies when we get infected with sin number one he sits many of you are weak and he says many of you are sick and many of you sleep whoa now I've been a teacher long enough when I started out teaching in seminary you stab men that would work all night and they would fall asleep in class I'm not talking about that this is dead this isn't runny-nosed this is persistent sickness persistent physical problems this is an unexplained weakness what first Corinthians 11 says is that when believers get infected with sin God chastens them like a father should chasing his children when they're disobedient and that chastening has three levels it starts out with the Lord just making their lives kind of like have no joy no peace it's just like you know kind of like a flat tire and if that doesn't work then there starts being engine problems and if that doesn't work he takes them home you see what yeah it says in first John 5 it says right here that any believer and it says right here in Revelation chapter 2 that any believer that persists in sin unrepentant persistent sin the Lord will chasten to the point of weakness sickness and untimely death that's called chastening and that's why John in Chapter 1 falls on his face like a dead man he hadn't seen that anger that Jesus had when we as believers get infected what's it now doesn't mean we were supposed to be sinless but it means we're supposed to be washing our hands like we are right now in this this time of being careful wearing our masks avoiding coughing people avoiding anywhere where we would get exposed we don't want to get it to get infected that's the attitude of health as a believer they've lost that desire well that takes us to the next church it says in chapter 3 and look at revelation 3 this is a church in sardis and the first six verses to the angel of church and Sardis write these things says he who has the seven spirits of God there we go chapter one verse four remember every book I mean every letter has a reference back to chapter one and the seven stars that's verse 20 of chapter one I know your works you have a name that you are alive but look at verse one but you are dead what was Sardis the Walking Dead Jesus originally found Sardis and Ephesus and Pergamus entire tyre and Laodicea dead in the ditch they are they all were dead in their trespasses and sin as Ephesians 2 says all of us were I was born spiritually unresponsive to God when I was born again I got a new heart I came to life I was able to respond to God I can understand his word x 26 and verse 18 tells us that when we get saved we come alive the church in Sardis was dead acts 26 says this is what salvation is in verse 18 when we get saved we go from death to life our eyes open we're turned from darkness to light we we no longer love the darkness we want the light from the power of Satan unto God we receive forgiveness of sins and we get an inheritance but the people in Sardis went back after they became infected as believers they began to act like they were unsaved that's what dead means they were not responsive they didn't have the vital signs you know when when the paramedics come they check the vitals they check you know to see if your heart's beating they check your respiration they check your blood pressure when Jesus came they looked alive Jesus even comments that they had a reputation in Sardis for being alive when he examined them he found there was no pulse the Church of Sardis was full of the walking dead they walked like talk like and acted like the dead unbelievers around him and Jesus said that's because of an infection of sin and I'm not gonna tolerate that now we come to the final Church Lee odyssia had a materialism induced blindness look at chapter 3 verse 14 I notice I skipped right over verses 7 to 13 that's the church member that has no no area of their life Jesus finds that he says I have this against you but this is what it says about Laodicea verse 14 chapter 3 - the angel the church and latest yeah write these things says the Amen the faithful the true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot I could wish you were cold or hot so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold or hot I will vomit you out of my mouth perhaps the most frustrating condition of all is what Jesus found in Laodicea they weren't living near Satan's throne like the Pergamus Saints were they weren't struggling with martyrdom they weren't being led by false teachers like the other churches the Laodiceans were rich well-fed well-dressed and had every advantage and they knew it they boasted they had need of nothing and God's Word was first taken for granted then it was forgotten then it was swallowed up with all the information and gadgets and material possessions and the Laodiceans were distracted you know I I watch people as I'm preaching in church or teaching a class and at the beginning you know you've got their attention they're looking at you and all of a sudden there's a little buzz in her pocket and out comes the phone and then they go like this and then they start going like this and you know that they've gotten distracted the church in laodicea had gotten distracted yes they had the word but they had everything else and there was so much to capture their attention that God's Word just got lost in the traffic the latest Ian's had every advantage but they were so focused on everything that didn't matter they'll no longer saw the one thing that did matter and that's what was going on they had become bland and useless to God by the way what does it mean when it says that the Laodiceans were neither cold nor hot well it's curious and when we get to that church you'll see the the geography but the Laodiceans had water coming in from colossi to their town which had no water source cold water came in and from hierapolis another city nearby they had hot water coming but they both came on aqueducts for miles and so that by the water that by the time the cold water got there from colossi it wasn't cold anymore and by the time the hot water got there from here appleís it wasn't hot anymore and all the water in town was kind of lukewarm and what Jesus is saying is I don't want you to be cold and sin and hot serving me no he says I want you to either be cold that's refreshing and renewing or hot that's like therapeutic and and helpful in cleansing I want you to be useful for me not just neutral lukewarm not hot not cold just lukewarm what does that mean they were going along avoiding the really big sins but kind of living the dream kind of having it all Jesus doesn't differentiate between those who are meant to be on fire for him and those who are simply expected to live a life of mediocrity hot or cold not hot not cold just lukewarm is going along avoiding the really big sins we're called to something higher we're called to be set apart to be on fire for God now what about the grace of God I'm glad you asked that you see the slide Titus 2:11 do you know what it says the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness you see grace is not a pass for me to live like I used to live like these churches were living like I'm infected no it's the power to deny sin when the great physician examines my life what does he find well think about what he found here Jesus found five potentially fatal conditions his bought and paid for Church had gotten infected by his believers and his radical treatment plan was the same for all of them you and he said absolute no-holds-barred repentance no matter how many steps you've taken away from me turn back that one step back to me what Jesus was saying is beware of coasting going through the motions no longer being passionate getting comfortable around sin entertaining yourself with sin not fleeing sin in other words not wearing your mask not washing your hands what happens if we don't do that and get infected chastening Hebrews 12 you see on the slide verses five and six knew and it says every child that's in God's family he chastens what is chastening by the way it's when you feel emotional anxiety and distress when nothing really satisfies anymore when you don't have peace and you don't have joy you don't have purpose you see the righteous are as bold as a lion we have the holy spirit we have a new personality that's what the fruit of the Spirit is you see God doesn't see two classes of Christians the hot and the cold no it sees one class of Christians what he says is you can't get to heaven unless you've been sanctified and Jesus said I'm in charge your sanctification and I have a 100% patient survival rate Jesus doesn't lose any of us he says I'm gonna come to you I'm gonna confront the sin and the one response I want is repent what's repentance a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior so what happens when believers are infected with the persistent sin virus Jesus comes and like a good doctor he he prescribes a radical treatment plan and says repent I hope today that this won't just be a lesson of facts about some obscure 2000 year church's 2000 year ago churches but that you'll say Lord the grace of God that brought me salvation teach me to die in godliness I don't want to be infected I want to wear my mask I want to wash my hands I want to eat healthy god bless you thank you for joining the third class let's close in a word of Prayer father teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts in the name of Jesus we pray amen [Music]

Channel: DTBM

Views: 80,862

Rating: 4.8939133 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, God, Jesus, Christian, teaching, biblical, teach, sermon, trinity, church, lesson, traditional, truth, true, divine, theology, freedom, guilt, testament, pure, interpret, spirit, holy, John, Barnett, christ, father, heaven, hell, doctrine, doctrinal, sinful, forgive, forgiveness, history, teachings, chapters, verses, discover, the book, ministries, dtbm, Dr. Barnett, controversial, repent, helpful, sin, the, book, dr, john, doctor, barnett, training, videos, series, resources, savior, god, jesus

Id: YW2F1TjseX0

Length: 52min 25sec (3145 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2020