All right, now let's take our Bibles and let's go to Revelation chapter three, Revelation
chapter three verse one, Revelation chapter three verse one, we're continuing our series
on the churches, the seven churches of Revelation, and now we're up to the fifth church, it's
the fifth church, the church inside us, the fifth church, the church inside us.
So let's look at Revelation chapter three verse one, the Bible says, and unto the angel
of the church inside us writes, these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God
and the seven stars, I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art
dead.
Jesus Christ says to this church inside us, you're dead.
This is a dead church, okay, now before we get into the dead church of Sardis, something
I want you to notice there in verse number one, speaking of Christ, it says that he hath
the seven spirits of God, the seven spirits of God.
Now these seven spirits are mentioned a few times here in the book of Revelation, so let's
just try to understand a little bit about what these seven spirits are, go to Revelation
chapter four verse five, so just one chapter across, Revelation chapter four verse five,
let's just look at the references to these seven spirits, Revelation chapter four verse
five, the Bible says, and out of the throne, so this is the throne in heaven, the throne
of God, out of the throne proceed of lightnings and thunderings and voices, and there were
seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
So before the throne of God, we see the seven spirits of God are there, and they're burning
like a lamp of fire, right, before the throne, okay.
Now as we keep reading this, what I want to say to you, what I believe the seven spirits
are, is that it is all seven make up who the Holy Spirit is, that's what I believe,
I believe we're looking here at the Holy Spirit being manifested there before the throne of
God, and of course if you know your Bibles many times, the number seven is the number
of completion or the number of perfection, and so there are sort of, from the Holy Spirit,
there are sort of seven attributes of his spirit that plays a role here, but first thing
we notice that it's before the throne of God, he's there in heaven, got a Revelation chapter
5 now, Revelation chapter 5 verse 6, Revelation chapter 5 verse 6, the Bible says, And I beheld
and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders
stood a lamb as it had been slain.
So we see the lamb is the lamb of God, it's Jesus Christ, and he appears there before
the throne as it had been slain, and I think the significance there is that of course Jesus
Christ in his resurrected body, even though he was in his resurrected body, remember when
he presented himself to the disciples, he still had the handprints, he still had the
hole on his side, and so what I believe is that in the future, in the eternal heavens,
the new heavens and the new earth, that we're always going to have this constant reminder
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We get given resurrected bodies through the power of God, but we're not going to show
up with our scars and our sicknesses, we're going to have these perfect bodies, but one
thing I see with Jesus Christ is he's always going to have those marks of his sacrifice
of his offering, just as that eternal reminder of what Jesus Christ has done for us.
So a lamb stood as it had been slain, look at this, and of course this is figurative
or symbolic of this lamb, it says here, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
It's quite interesting that Christ spoke to the church insiders that he has the seven
spirits, and here as a picture, as an image, we see this lamb with seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits there of God as well, and of course when the Bible
speaks of horns, it's often about authority.
Someone often, say David speaks about the Lord exalting his horn or things like this,
and it's a picture of authority, so these seven spirits have a high authority, in fact,
it's the same authority that comes from Jesus Christ, because it's Christ that has these
seven spirits there, and also when it says, not just the horns, but seven eyes.
So the eyes of the Lord are everywhere, the eyes of the Lord sees all things, and so what
I see there is that the Holy Spirit does go out throughout the earth, and is working in
the hearts of man, and the Holy Spirit sees these things, he has the authority, he has
the insight of God, and is there before the throne.
Now I want you to turn to the book of Isaiah please, Isaiah chapter 11, because we don't
really have much more about these seven spirits, we know about the Holy Spirit, and Isaiah
chapter 11 is the best, and I believe it's correct to say this is where we see what these
seven spirits represent, okay, these seven spirits, Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1, and look
at this, it says, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots.
Now if you know who Jesse was, that was the father of King David, and this is a prophecy
of Jesus Christ, that he would come from this family, from the lineage of Jesse from King
David, of course we know that Jesus Christ sometimes there is referred to as a branch,
and like roots and things like that, look at verse number 2, and the spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, okay, rest upon Jesus Christ, and so I want you to just notice,
just in verse number 2, we have all mentions of the seven spirits there, it says, and the
spirit of the Lord, okay, so he, the spirit there represents the Lord God, then it says
the, shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom, okay, and understanding, that's the third,
the spirit of counsel, the fourth, and might, the fifth, the spirit of knowledge, the sixth,
and the spirit, sorry, and of the fear of God, so we have the seven attributes of this
spirit that came upon the Lord Jesus Christ when he came onto this earth, look at verse
number 3, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not
judge after the sight of the eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but
with righteousness shall he judge the poor, again speaking of Jesus, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked, now if you remember the previous
church there, where Christ spoke about having the double edged sword that would come out
of his mouth, and that he would destroy the enemies, he would destroy the armies of the
antichrist, and we kind of get that picture there in verse number 4, that he has this
rod that comes out of his mouth, and just by the breath of his lips is he able to slay
the wicked, so it kind of gives us an idea, it just sounds like, from what I can gather
just Jesus speaks the word of God, and through his power he's able to destroy the enemies
there, but you can see how this speaks of Christ, and how it speaks about that spirit
of the Lord coming upon him, and all these attributes that are associated, wisdom, understanding,
counsel, might, knowledge, the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, it's the beginning of knowledge, and I believe these are all attributes that
come from the Holy Spirit, you know, if you need a counselor, who should you go to, there's
a spirit of counsel here, spirit of counsel, if you need guidance, if you need help, you
need direction, you ought to take that to the Lord God, you know, he's your counselor,
and might, you know, he'll strengthen you in the time of counsel, you know, sometimes
people desire the first thought when they need counsel, you know, I need to go to the
counselor, I need to go to the psychiatrist, or I need to go to this whatever, you know,
I need to go to whatever, to somebody to help me, but no, we should be going to the Lord
God, you know, the Holy Spirit is our counselor as well, you know, he will guide us, he will
give us strength, you know, the Bible says wisdom, understanding, knowledge, we all need
these things, you know, we need the presence of the Lord upon us, just as Christ had received
it from the Holy Ghost, and the fear of the Lord, you know, the fear of the Lord is going
to help you walk in his paths, if you don't have a fear of the Lord, you're not, you're
just going to walk in the ways you want, you know, you're going to, you know, commit sin,
you're going to walk in darkness without considering, you know, the chastisement of the Lord, or
the judgment of God that would come upon you.
So one thing I think about, when I think about the Trinity, you know, obviously we know that
God the Father, you know, has the highest authority, we know that the will of Jesus
Christ is aligned with the will of the Father, you know, God the Father gives works for the
Son to do, and the Son is the one who carries out those works, but the Bible is also very
clear that he carries out the works by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit
is upon Jesus Christ, it's interesting how the Trinity operates, you know, the Father
makes the call, the Son, you know, carries it out, but he carries it out through the
power of the Holy Spirit, okay.
Now just to remind you this, it said there that the Spirit of the Lord had come upon
Jesus, and this is the seven spirits, or the seven attributes of the Spirit here that we
see, if you guys can go to Luke chapter four now, Luke chapter four verse 16, Luke chapter
four verse 16, and of course we've gone through the book of Luke already, but just as a reminder
here, Luke chapter four verse 16, remember back in Isaiah it said that the Spirit of
the Lord would rest upon him, it said that he would judge the poor, reprove the equity
for the meek of the earth, so you know, the Lord's concerned for the poor, for the meek,
and in Luke chapter four verse 16 it says, and he came to Nazareth, where he had been
brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and
stood up for to read, and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias, and
when he had opened the book, he had found the place where he was written, the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, so there's that Spirit of the Lord that's upon him, because he
have anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, there he is concerned for those that
are poor in spirit, that he have sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that
are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and sat down, and the eyes of all of them that were in the
synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them, this day is the scripture
fulfilled in your ears, so it's interesting that we have Jesus Christ in his first coming,
the Spirit of the Lord God was upon him, okay, the reason why he grew in wisdom and
stature and understanding was the Holy Spirit was working through the Lord Jesus Christ
in his humanity, you know, and when we look at Esaias, it's not just that, now, you know,
the same spirit, you know, that caused Jesus Christ to have that spirit of meekness and
wisdom and all those kinds of things is the same spirit that empowers the Lord Jesus Christ
at his second coming to just speak the words and destroy the enemies, you know, and what
I like about this is, again, Jesus Christ came and he set an example for us, he came
in the form of, you know, flesh and, you know, we're called to walk after his steps and as
I read about here the seven spirits and how the Holy Spirit was upon Christ just reminds
me about our need to be with the spirit, you know, if you've been saved, you've been born
of the spirit, you have the new man, but we ought to be people that are seeking to be
filled by the Holy Spirit, you know, if you need boldness, you need wisdom, you need understanding,
you need to ask the Lord to give you a greater measure of his spirit, of his power, you know,
of wisdom and knowledge and those things come from the Holy Spirit, you know, quite often
we don't think about too much, we don't think too much about the Holy Spirit, but that's
where the power of God lies and that's, you know, that's who the Lord uses to work through
us to get us to a point where we can serve him and walk after his ways and so let's go
back to Revelation chapter 3, please, Revelation chapter 3, now that we have a better understanding
of what those seven spirits are, it's not, I don't see it as seven holy spirits, but
rather attributes, seven attributes or a perfect completion of who the Holy Spirit is and working
through those different channels, I suppose and then it says here in Revelation chapter
3 verse 1, sorry, verse 1, it says here, you know, the seven spirits of God and the seven
stars, we already covered what the seven stars are, they're the seven pastors or the seven
messengers of the church, he says, I know thy works.
So this church in Sardis was a working church, they were serving the Lord, right, they were
doing the works, then he says this, that thou hast a name that thou livest, he says, look,
you've got a good name, your church is well known, it has a good reputation, but then
he says, and not dead, he goes, but you're a dead church, you see, this church in Sardis
had started well, right, they were serving the Lord, they were doing the works, they
had developed a good reputation, but now where they were, they had become a dead church
and they were trying to live off their former work, so trying to live off their former reputation,
this church had gone bad, this church is now dead in the eyes of the Lord, alright, and
let's look at verse number 2, look at verse number 2, now even though in the eyes of Christ
this is a dead church, we see that in his patience, in the patience of the Lord Jesus
Christ, right, in his mercy, he's still able to find some good things about this church,
okay, some good things and he wants this church to be resurrected, to come back to life, to
go back to the way they used to be, and verse number 2 he says, be watchful and strengthen
the things which remain, because there's still a few things in this church, even though you're
dead, there's still a few little things that's good, you're doing right, a few things, strengthen
those things, alright, because look, he goes, what do you say, verse number, alright, because
strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, because those little few things
that you're still doing good, they're almost dead, you're almost completely dead but you
still have a few little things, and I'm encouraged by the Lord here, right, because churches
are made up of fallen human beings, you know, and sometimes, you know, I don't know, I never
want to get to a point where Jesus says that our church is a dead church, but you know,
you can be in a really dead church, a really bad church, and what I'm encouraged here is
that even the small things that are still being done, you know, for the service of God,
just the small works that are being done, Jesus Christ looks at that and goes, well,
strengthen those, you know, you can still fix things, you still have a little bit of
life in you, you can still be resurrected there, you know, and I loved about Jesus Christ,
you know, he's not quick to cast away a church, he's still able to see those small things,
even though those small things are close to death as well, and then he says in verse number
2, for I have not found thy works perfect before God, verse 3, remember therefore how
thou hast received, sorry, remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold
fast, and repent, alright, this dead church, you know, Jesus Christ is not just looking
to cast away the candlestick, he wants them to repent, he wants them to remember, remember,
you know, the things that you've received and heard, it sounds like to me, this church
once had a good preacher, it sounds like they had a good preacher, they had a good pastor
one day, right, they've heard, they've received the words of God, they were being motivated
to do the works, they were well known, maybe there was a generational shift, maybe there
was a new pastor that stepped in, you know, someone that wasn't, you know, on the same
page as the former preacher, you know, someone else stepped in, and now they had died away,
you know, they'd become complacent, they'd started compromising as a church, the things
that they once heard, they've now forgotten those things, and God says, Jesus Christ says,
go back to those things, go back to those old things that you once heard, repent, you
know, and then he says this, at the end of repent, he goes, if therefore, thou shalt
not watch, were they watching, because you're not watching, I will come on thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee, now this is why I asked brother
Sam to read first Thessalonians chapter five, because when you look at these words that
were said of Sardis, you know, watch a thief, the hour I come upon thee, doesn't this remind
you of the rapture?
Doesn't this remind you of the teaching of the rapture?
And you know, we're called, when it comes to the end times, when it comes to the resurrection
of the saints, we're called to be watchful, right, to watch the events of the earth, to
be mindful, when we see the Antichrist, you know, come to be, to be revealed, we ought
to be aware, hey, we're at the time of tribulation, we need to get the preaching of God's, of
the kingdom of God, the gospel of the kingdom of God out there to all nations, we need to
be watching, we need to be prepared, ready, you know, to serve the Lord at the hardest
times, this church had stopped watching, okay, this church had stopped watching, and he said
look, because you're not watching, I will come upon thee as a thief, now keep your finger
there and go to first Thessalonians chapter five please, first Thessalonians chapter five,
verse one, first Thessalonians chapter five, verse one, and you know, our brethren that
I love very much, okay, I love them very much, that believe in a pre-trib rapture, they believe
that Jesus Christ is coming upon them as a thief, alright, that's the situation the church
inside us is in, Jesus says look, I'm going to come upon you as a thief, this is a negative
thing, alright, this is not how it should be, they've stopped watching, and Jesus says
I'm going to come as a thief to you, that's what our pre-tribulation brethren say about
the Lord's return, they say we don't know when it's coming, it's going to come as a
thief in the night, well you've stopped watching haven't you, you're in the same place as this
church inside us, but they say it with conviction, they say it as a positive thing, no, it's
a negative thing when you don't know when the thief is coming, okay, they've stopped
watching, you know, this church had turned to the pre-trib rapture, right, let's have
a look at, well maybe not, but you know, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, what does Paul say
to the Thessalonian church, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need
that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall cometh
as a thief in the night, well there it is, it's coming as a thief in the night, well
look at this, verse number 3, for when they shall say peace and safety, hey, not you Thessalonian
church, not you believers, not you Christians that are watching Christ, no, when they, the
unsaved world, say, no, sorry, when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape, but
ye brethren, are you saved, are you my brother or sister in the Lord, are you my brethren,
then this is for you brethren, but ye brethren, are not in darkness, that they should overtake
you as a thief, brethren, the day of the Lord, the coming of Christ, should not overtake
you as a thief, because you're not in darkness, you're a brother, Jesus wants you to know,
don't you think he wants you to know, right, so we can do his works, you know, we can get
out there and be encouraged and be reminded of the Lord's coming back, and then verse
number 5, ye are all children of light, and the children of the day, we are not of the
light, nor of darkness, hey, when does a thief come?
He comes at night, he comes in darkness, you know, he doesn't want to be seen, he wants
to break into our house and not be caught, but if we're not in darkness, if we're not
of the night, the thief will never come upon us, right, the thief's not going to break
in during the daytime, because in the daytime, we can watch, alright, and that's the way
we ought to be, spiritually speaking, when we talk about the coming of the Lord, we ought
to be in the light, we ought to be in the daytime, we ought to be aware and seeing how,
you know, this world is progressively coming worse, how we've seen the prophecies being
fulfilled, you know, the developments that are coming, you know, it's definitely coming,
you know, we're definitely, today we're one day closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we're also a day closer to the coming of the Antichrist as well, you know, but then
verse number 6, therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober,
okay, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in
the night.
Hey, this doesn't sound good, the unbelieving world, they're sleeping in the night, the
thief's going to break in one day and still, you know, and they're also compared as drunken,
you know, they don't have their full senses alert, they're not fully awake, you know,
they're not sober minded, and this church here inside us had become just like the unbelieving
world, they had stopped watching, Jesus said, look, I'm going to come upon you as a thief,
just the same way as the unbelieving world, you're not even prepared for me, you're not
doing the works anymore, you're no longer aware, you're drunken, you're in the darkness,
you're not sober minded is what's being said about, you know, about this church inside
us.
And guys, again, our circle, our independent fundamental Baptist brethren have been deceived,
they're in darkness, they're drunken about this topic of the end times, you know, and
they're not waiting for the coming of the Lord, it will come upon them as a thief, because
they've chosen not to be children of the light in the sense of Bible prophecy, end times
prophecy, okay.
So this church had done something very similar, they had stopped watching for the Lord and
He's going to come upon them as a thief in the night.
Let's go back to Revelation chapter three, please, Revelation chapter three.
And just a reminder that we ought to be a church that does preach on the end times,
that does preach on the rapture, the coming of the Lord, you know, when I started this
church, I had some advice from some people, because they know I hold a different position
on the end times.
It's like, you know, maybe don't even talk about the end times, maybe don't teach on
the rapture, don't teach on the book of Revelation, you know, is that really the most important
thing?
Well, yes, otherwise, you can become a dead church, like this church inside us, you know,
it's an important part of the church to be aware of end time events, okay.
Now as we get to verses number four and five, you'll see a contrast in verse number four,
which is about our walk with the Lord.
And verse number five is about our position before the Lord.
I have preached on these things many times, but again, we're reminded about this in the
Bible.
And just a reminder, guys, if you're saved, you are in a perfect position before the Lord,
you know, you have no sin before the Lord, when the Lord looks upon you, He sees you
for the righteousness of Jesus Christ, you know, your position before the Lord is perfect.
He looks at your position is when He looks upon you in that new man, okay, the new man
in you, that's perfect without sin, okay.
So never, I never want you to get the idea that, well, I'm not living right, therefore,
maybe I'm not saved.
Well, is salvation about living rights?
Well, no, because if it was about living right, then it's a workspace gospel, you know, clean
up your life.
The gospel is a free gift given to us by the Lord God.
And of course, we also have the other real realistic realization that we also have to
walk with the Lord, and your walk with the Lord can be failing, your walk with the Lord
could be in darkness, okay.
This church had been in darkness, to some extent, they weren't even watching for the
coming of the Lord, their relationship, their fellowship with the Lord wasn't where it should
have been.
So we see this comparison here in verse number four, which is about the walk with the Lord
and verse number five about your position with the Lord.
Let's look at verse number four.
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they
shall walk, there's a walk, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
Okay, for they are worthy.
So he says, look, this Sardis church, you're pretty much dead, all right.
But there are a few people in your church, praise God, for a few people in the church,
right.
And Jesus says, look, they have not defiled their garments, they're still walking with
me, they're still in fellowship with me, they're still walking in my ways, they've not defiled
their garments, for they are worthy, he says, they're worthy of the relationship, they're
worthy of the walk with the Lord.
And as I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about, you know, thank God for New Life Baptist
Church, you know, we're not a dead church, okay, we're doing the works of the Lord, we're
teaching from his word, you know, we put the Lord God first.
But you know, I'm just thinking about, you know, the future, situations, our children
grow up, you know, people move places, you know, things happen, things develop, and you
might find yourself, or even in the past, you've not had this church, you know, you've
tried other churches, and you said, well, this church has the right gospel, you know,
but they're dead, they're not doing the works of the Lord.
And maybe, maybe in your mind, you feel like maybe the Lord's already removed the candlestick
of that church.
Hey, churches can get pretty bad, you're looking at the book of Revelation, churches can get
really bad and still be a candlestick unto the Lord, you know, again, it's just showing
us the long suffering of Jesus Christ and, you know, the space he gives us of repentance
to make sure that we improve as a church, but the point I want to say this is, Jesus
Christ wants you in his church, okay, he died for the church, he purchased the church with
his own blood.
And if all you've got is a dead church, you know, I know, I've spoken to some of you guys,
right?
And you're like, well, man, that's a bad, that's a dead church, I'd just rather not
be there, you know, and I understand, I understand how you feel about that.
But did you notice that this dead church had a few righteous people, a few people that
were faithful unto the Lord, and the Lord, even though he sees the dead church, he recognizes
their condition, he goes beyond that, and sees the faithful that are still in attendance,
the faithful that are still trying to do the works of God, okay?
And what I want to say to you guys is this, I never want to see you outside of church,
I never want to see you leave church, okay, and I'm not even talking about New Life Baptist
Church, I mean, I'd never want to see you leave New Life Baptist Church, but look, life
happens, you know, things change, you know, life, if you're not seeing how life can lead
you from one place to another, you know, I never thought I'd be on the Sunshine Coast,
and I never thought I'd be here in Queensland, but things can develop, and you know, you
need to find the best church you can be in.
The Lord wants you to be in church when you're out of church, you're in disobedience.
When you're out of church, you're committing sin, okay?
And sometimes we can be so righteous, so well, this church is not up to my standard, it's
not up to my level, I'm not getting anything out of this church, so I'm not going to
be in that church.
That's, look, you're not right with God, if that's your approach.
You're better off even in the dead church, where Christ can look and say, well, you're
worthy.
You're worthy.
I see that you haven't, you know, what did you say there?
You haven't defiled your garments, you're still working with me.
I mean, how much, what a beautiful thing, for you to be in a bad church, I mean, hopefully,
it's a real church, you know, it has the right gospel, you know, but in a bad church,
you're doing the best you can, okay, your pastor might be failing you, the people around
you, your brothers and sisters might be failing you, you know, they might not want to have
to even talk about the Lord God, they'd rather talk about worldly things, and you're
like getting frustrated, you're getting, I want to talk about the Lord, I want to grow
in the Lord, I want to find fellowship with the Lord, but it might be the only church
you've got, then stick by that church, you know, show the pastor you've got their back,
you know, maybe if you just showed him some support, say, look, pastor, I want to hear
hard preaching, I've got your back, all right, I'm not going to be offended if you
stand up and just boldly proclaim the word of God, I'm not going to be offended if
you just go back to the old ways you used to be, you know, how many churches today,
you know, in Australia are deteriorating, you know, moving away from preaching, you
know, hard things, they don't want to offend anybody, they don't want to get in trouble
by the government, they don't want to be in trouble, they don't want to lose members,
you know, sometimes the preacher just needs your encouragement, so just preach it, brother,
all right, even if you rip my face, even if you offend me, even if you step on my toes,
I'd rather you just preach it, so we can be right with God, you know, so we can be
a church that's shining brightly, that lamp, you know, the entire church can be walking
after the ways of the Lord, I don't care if you offend me, that's how you should be.
But again, just a reminder, even a bad church, please don't thumb your nose, look, a lot
of their churches could still be on that candlestick, all right, and the Lord's just giving them
time to repent, you know, and if that's all you've got, you might be that little flame
that gets that church back up to where it used to be, you know, it might take your work,
it might take your encouragement, you know, your influence to get that church back to,
you know, that flame and fire that it needed to be, and you know, sometimes if you give
up on churches, you know, you can be part of causing that church to, you know, lose
its place as a candlestick, so yeah, just keep that in mind, I understand, you know,
not liking watered down preaching, I can understand not liking Zionism, the teachings and the
dispensational things sometimes, but if they're a church of God, if they're your brothers
and sisters of the Lord, you know, the Lord might just be giving that church time to repent,
you might be the deciding factor, you might be the one that the Lord's using, the one
that's working, walking worthily of him, that will use that church to, you know, be fired up.
You know, I might be a pastor that gets cast down, you know, I've got emotions and feelings
and you know, I can get sad, I can get a little bit distant from the Lord, I might just need
a brother here or a sister to just encourage me, you know, and that's how we ought to be
toward one another, but let's look at verse number four again.
It talks about here, about walking with the Lord, so it's our walk with the Lord and you
can defile your garments, okay, so as you have fellowship with the Lord, as you're walking
with the Lord, if you're committing sin, if you're in darkness, you're going after worldliness
and you're defiling those garments that you have, okay, you're defiling those garments
and you're not worthy of walking with the Lord in that situation, okay, and that's why
it's so important for you to just bow your knees, bow your head and just confess your sins to the
Lord God, okay, that's what the Lord wants from you, when you've committed sin, just go to the
Lord, confess those sins unto him, he will forgive you and you have those clean garments once again,
you better walk with him in fellowship, okay, but I just want you to notice that it said there,
I talked about they're being, you know, being worthy and if you can take your Bibles and go to
1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, I just want to touch upon the Lord's Supper
just very quickly, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 27, 1 Corinthians 11 verse
27, again this is about the Lord's Supper and notice what it says here, wherefore whosoever
shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup, all right, so we've done the Lord's Supper a few times to the church and I've often said how,
you know, being unworthy for first of all, how are we worthy, you've got to be saved, that's given
but also our walk with the Lord could be unworthy, okay, our walk with the Lord could be in a state
of unworthiness so you'd rather not partake of the Lord's Supper if you're not walking with the Lord
and that's why we have a time of silent prayer, we have a time there verse 28, what's the answer,
is the answer just not to participate in the Lord's Supper, well if you're so prideful that
you can't confess your sins then yeah, you shouldn't participate of it but verse 28 says
but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, so if you
spend time to examine yourself, make yourself worthy before the Lord in your spiritual walk,
confess your sins, you know, put them before the Lord and participate of the Lord's Supper
then you'll be worthy because you're worthy in your walk as well, okay, so just keep that in
mind with the Lord's Supper, not just worthy in salvation but worthy to participate in the walk
of the Lord with sharing the Lord's Supper, all right, now verse number five, verse number five,
so we looked at the walk, right, we looked at the walk that we ought to have, now verse number five
is our position before the Lord, it says he that overcometh, all right, who's he that overcometh,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God, if you're saved, if you believe on Christ,
you have overcome, you are saved but look at this, the same shall be clothed in white raiment,
okay, so you see the two garments there, the garment of your white raiment because you've
overcome because you've believed, that's your position, it's always white, it's always a white
raiment but then you have your garment of your walk and that can be defiled, that can be corrupted
by your daily life of sin, so you need to make sure, you know, number one, that you have the
white raiment of salvation but number two, that when you walk with the Lord, that you keep that
garment clean, you keep confessing your sins to the Lord, he understands, he knows that you're
going to commit sin and we ought to, you know, turn from those sins, we ought to ask the Lord
guidance to help us in that area but when we do fail, we ought to bring that before the Lord,
then it says this, for those that have overcome, for those that are saved, he says and I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life, of course, you've got to have your name in the book
of life in order to be permitted into heaven and so of course if you're saved, you are going to
enter into heaven but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels, okay, so
what an honour, you know, even this dead church, he says well at least you're saved,
right, at least you have the white raiment, you know, and because of the fact that you're saved,
I'm going to confess your name to the father and to his holy angels or before the angels there, so
can you please turn to Ephesians chapter 2 please, Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2
verse 8 and of course we're all very familiar with this passage, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8,
the bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, how are you saved? By the grace
of God, how do we receive the grace of God? Through faith, right, by believing and that
not of yourselves, hey you can't save yourself, it is the gift of God, it's free, praise God,
not of works lest any man should boast, okay, so very clear that salvation, that white garments,
okay, is that white raiment is not of works, okay, not of works, that white raiment is righteous
because of the righteousness of Christ, okay, but look at verse number 10, for we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them, okay, so this passage is wonderful, you know, Ephesians 2 8 and 9
is about salvation, not of works, your position before God, but then verse number 10 talks about
our walk with the Lord, we ought to walk in good works before the Lord and of course that's making
sure we don't, that we keep our garments unspotted, undefiled, go to Ephesians or Ephesians chapter 4
now, just a few chapters over, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1, I just want to just reinforce the fact
that, you know, being worthy before the Lord is how we walk before the Lord, okay, Ephesians
chapter 4 verse 1 says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith ye are called, okay, see we're compelled guys to, yes, rejoice in the fact
that we're saved without works, okay, but we're compelled to walk worthy of the works that God
has given us to do, all right, we need to be a little bit balanced in our in our teaching,
I mean, look, salvation is free, okay, it's a gift of God paid completely by Jesus Christ,
okay, and sometimes our enemies or people that are, you know, contrary to us will say, well,
what are you saying, you can just live however you want, no, we're not, you know, we shouldn't
live out, well, you could live however you want, okay, if you want to be chastised by God, you want
to be judged by God, yeah, you can live however you want, but expect the chastisement that comes
from the Heavenly Father, okay, but hey, we should walk after the ways that God has asked,
we ought to be worthy in our walk with the Lord, okay, so my challenge to you guys is,
how is your walk, you know, are you walking worthy, can you say to yourself that, you know what,
this past week, I've been walking worthy of the calling that God has asked me to do,
doing the works that God has asked me to do, have you confessed your sins to the Lord,
when's the last time you've done that, you know, you sin every day, do I have to tell you that,
you know that, you know you sin every day, you know, even if it might not be indeed,
but definitely in thought, you might be thinking, just thinking foolish things, just thinking
wicked things is a sin, just not doing what is good is a sin, okay, the sins of commission and
the sins of mission, hey, you are, you commit sins every day of your life, all right,
now when, just ask yourself, when's the last time you've confessed those sins to the Lord,
it could be a week, right, it could be a month, I mean think about that, if you haven't done it
for a week, that means you've not been walking worthy of God, with God for a week, okay,
you've been unworthy of his fellowship, you've been unworthy of that walk with the Lord,
please get in the habit guys, this was a game changer for me, when I realised I better confess
my sins to the Lord on a regular basis, in fact as soon as I sin, I ought to be like, Lord I'm
just so sorry, please forgive me, I'm a fallen man, woe is me Lord, please help me to overcome
that sin in my life, help me to maintain that walk that's worthy of your calling,
help me to do the works that God has asked me to do, I mean look, if you want to be effective for
the work of God, you're going to have to be someone that is ready to humble themselves and
confess their sins before God, I mean if you're not walking worthy of him, you can understand how
the works of the Lord that you want to do will be hindered, the effects, the productivity,
the effectiveness of the work of God will be hindered in your life, just because you've got
spotted garments in your walk, and you need to get them clean, all right, now it's said in Ephesians
4 verse 1, how are we to walk worthy of the vocation, verse number two, with all lowliness
and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace, listen you might be someone that says, I am walking after the ways
of the Lord, you know, I'm uncompromising in the words of God, but how's your relationship with
your fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, you know, are you being low and meek, you know,
are you putting the brethren before you, are you edifying the brethren, are you being long suffering
with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, you know, if someone wrongs you in church,
or says something wrong, or forgets to greet you or something, how quickly are you to get upset,
or are you going to be long suffering with your brethren, if you want to be worthy with the Lord,
you've got to have these attributes, these are the attributes of God, this is how God is able
to put up with this church here, okay, because he is long suffering with them, okay, and we ought
to be that way toward our brethren, forbearing one another in love, you know, endeavoring,
you know, endeavoring means you're putting effort in, okay, you know, this is not something that's
natural, you're putting the effort in place, you're endeavoring to keep the unity of the
spirit in the bond of peace, you say, look, I'm trying hard to make sure that this church,
my brethren, we have peace with one another, we're endeavoring to do that, if you're not
doing that, then you're not walking worthy with the Lord, okay, it's not just doing what God
commands us in the Bible, which is important, you know, doing the works, but doing it with the right
spirit, doing it with the right attitude, doing it with the right love and patience that you have
for your brethren, keep that in mind, back to Revelation chapter 3 verse 6,
Revelation chapter 3 verse 6,
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, okay, so this church,
not the greatest, right, Sardis, not great, but the Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants us to hear
what the Spirit's saying to the churches, Holy Spirit wants us to know this, okay, obviously,
the Lord does not want us to get to that point, okay, of being a dead church, okay, this is why
we have these examples for us in the Bible, so we need to take heed, we need to listen,
again, just a final reminder guys, if you find yourself in a dead church,
please be a blessing to them, be a blessing to the brethren, be a blessing to your pastor,
be that one that is walking worthy of the Lord's calling, be that one, you might be that only one
that's keeping that church alive to some extent, okay, it might be that only one that brings,
that resurrects that church, please, don't be, you know, don't hate other churches,
you know, don't be, don't speak evil of other churches, I'm not talking about false churches,
I'm not talking about those that have a false gospel, I'm talking about our brethren that's
out there, okay, and you know, sometimes we say, well, they're not preaching the way they should,
that's probably true, you know, they're not doing the works that they probably should,
that's true, but you know what, we're probably not that perfect, okay, I'm sure we have things
we can improve on, I'm sure there are things that the Lord has been long suffering toward us,
you know, and you know, we ought to be mindful about the brothers and sisters that we have
in the churches, pre-trib, well, they're not watching, they're in the darkness, okay, hey,
but the Lord might be just working with them, you know, causing them to repent from those kinds of
things, you know, still working with them, giving them space, you know, we need to be careful about
how we talk about our brothers and sisters in the Lord and the other churches that God has,
the other candlesticks, you know, I would hate for us to be doing everything perfect in this
church, but the Lord says, I've got a problem with you guys, by the way you see other churches,
that'd be disappointing to me, because we ought to be striving to be long-suffering
and loving to our brothers, even if they're not part of this church,
all right, so let's leave it there, let's pray.