Greg Laurie - Jesus' Words to Last Days Believers (01/13/2018)
- Watch
- Donate
- Become Partner
Pastor Greg Laurie warns believers about the spiritually dead church of Sardis and the reviving church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3, urging us to wake up, strengthen what remains, stay watchful for Christ's return, and walk through the open doors God provides so we can be vibrant, living Christians in these last days.
Jesus' Words to Last Days Believers
All right, grab your Bible. I think Jonathan already told you to turn to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation 3. We're back in our Revelation series. And then we'll be out of it again. Because next Thursday, as was mentioned, is Good Thursday, as we call it, where we remember the death of our Lord and His sacrifice as we go into Easter week.
Hey, just a quick poll. How many of you are going to come to one of those Saturday services? Raise your hand up. Four and six o'clock. Yeah, we're adding those this year. So, there's room for everybody. So, how many again will be coming to one of the Saturdays? All right. That's quite a few of you. How many of you will be coming to one of the Sundays? Okay, good. How many of you won't come to church Easter Sunday? What are you, pagan? Excuse me. What? No. Kidding.
A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Commitment
All right. Let's pray together now. Lord, we don't want to be like those lepers who were healed and didn't give thanks. So, Lord, we prayed and we prayed and we prayed and we prayed for Harvest America. And you heard our prayers. And you did abundantly above and beyond that which we could ask or think. And now, Lord, we want to say thank you. And we want to give all the glory to you. And we want to commit those new believers to you and pray that they will be grounded and will become seeds sown on good ground and they'll bring forth much fruit. So, bless every one of them. Bless all the churches that are engaged in follow-up right now. We commit them to you. And we commit the evangelistic events in our future to you. We have the Southern California Harvest right around the corner and then later on Georgia and other opportunities. So, give us wisdom as we march forward with the only message to change lives for time and eternity, the Gospel. And bless now as we open your Word and help us know how we can be a vibrant, living church and how we can be a vibrant, living believer. We commit this Bible study to you in Jesus' name. Amen.
The title of my message is Jesus' Words to Last Days Believers.
Recognizing Spiritual Sickness
Okay, quick poll. How many of you like to be sick? Raise your hand up. Well, nobody. But there are people that actually in some weird way enjoy sickness. You know, they can't wait to go to the doctor at the first sign of an ache or pain. We call them hypochondriacs, right? They have their doctor's phone number under favorites on their phone, right? Ruth Graham, the wife of Billy Graham once said, quote, "a bore is someone who when asked how they are feeling will tell you," end quote.
And there are some people that like to talk about their aches and their pains and their latest operation and where they got this scar or that scar. And then there's the other extreme of a person who doesn't want to go to a doctor at all, even when there's some serious symptoms.
I read a rather bizarre article a while back about a woman who showed up in a Seattle emergency room because she was very sick. She had extreme nausea, vomiting, and a dull pain in her back. So they finally found out what it was. This woman had eaten an entire tube sock. As it turns out, she had a nervous habit of eating about half a sock each evening. I'm not making this up. She had an entire tube sock in her stomach. Now I know where the other socks go. This woman has been eating them. I mean, how bizarre is that?
Heard about a woman that went to see a doctor. She said, "Doc, I'm in constant pain. Everything I touch, it hurts. I touch my head, it hurts. I touch my leg, it hurts. I touch my shoulder, it hurts." And really, he's looking at this lady who, by the way, was a brunette, okay, in case you're thinking. I'm going there. This lady who's a brunette, everything she touches hurts. And he says, "Did you ever used to be a blonde?" She said, "Yes, I did." He goes, "You broke your finger." Yet everything she touched, it hurts. Her finger is broken. She was a blonde. What, I can't even mock blondes now? Is that how far political correctness has gone? I can't mock blondes? Look at these blonde ladies. They're looking at me with a great anger right now. Well, look, I used to be blonde a long time ago. I feel that. Okay, I'm leaving. I just, no.
Okay, well, sometimes people want to go to that doctor too much. Sometimes we don't go and we should go. Well, here in Revelation chapter 3, it's a story of a sick and dying church. And we have the words of the great physician, the Lord himself, to this church. We're actually going to look at two churches in our time together. One that was sick and dying, identified as Sardis, and one that was sick but was coming back to life. That is the church of Philadelphia.
How Spiritual Death Happens Gradually
Now, how did this church die? Well, maybe we could personalize it and say, How does a person die? Well, there's a lot of ways a person can die. Sometimes it's sudden and unexpected. Other times there are the signs that something is wrong. It could begin with a new ache or pain and it's an illness that is untreated and it gets worse and then you expire, as they say. And the same can be true spiritually. There's telltale signs that things are not right but we ignore them and we get sicker and sicker. And before you know it, we're on our spiritual deathbed.
It usually starts with leaving your first love. Remember, we're looking at the seven churches in the book of Revelation and the words of Jesus to them. It starts with the church of Ephesus and it ends with the church of Laodicea. We start with an apostolic church and we end up with an apostate church. We start with a church that's loosening its grip and leaving its first love and we end up with a church that's so messed up, Jesus is on the outside trying to get back in when He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock and if you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in." That's the context of that statement. Jesus trying to get into His own church.
How do you get there? It's the breakdown in your first love. Same thing is true of a marriage. You show me a marriage that's unraveling and I guarantee somewhere back in their past, the romance has been missing and that intimacy is gone and communication is broken down. Now this problem erupts and that problem erupts and the same is true of us as followers of Jesus.
Well, if we're on our deathbed or if we're on a sickbed spiritually, can we come back to life? Can we be revived? The answer is yes. But before we tell you how, let's see what Jesus says to this first church that's dying, the church of Sardis.
The Dying Church: Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)
Revelation 3 starting in verse 1. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things saith he that has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember then how you have received and heard, and hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I'll come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I'll come upon you. You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcomes will be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life. But I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church.
So here's a church that's dying. Here's a church that has lost its fire. I heard a story about a fire that broke out at a local church, and a man ran down there. And the pastor who was watching his church burn to the ground, looked over at this man and said, "I can't believe you're here finally. All those times I saw you around town, and I invited you to come and you never came. Why are you here on this day of all days?" And the guy said, "well pastor, this is the first time I've ever seen this church on fire." And that's Sardis. You know, they've lost their fire.
But they had a few things going on. Look at verse one. Jesus says, "I know your works." You'll notice whenever Christ brings a criticism, he starts it with a compliment. He'll say a few positive things, then he'll get to the criticisms and the evaluation. So he starts off and says, hey I know your works. I know you guys are not slackers. I know that you're not lazy. I know that you're busy.
Notice it says that you have a name that lives but you are dead. They had a name. Back in this day people knew the church of Sardis. It was a church that was humming with activity. No shortage of money, talent, or manpower. Outwardly it had every indication of a church on the move. But there was a problem in this church that only Jesus could see.
Verse two. "I have not found your works perfect before God." What does that mean? Well actually this word perfect could be better translated fulfilled. You're not fulfilled. In other words, you have not fulfilled your purpose for which I put you there on the earth.
The True Purpose of the Church: Upward, Inward, Outward
And there are churches today that are big and they're busy and they're full. But the question is, are they fulfilling the purpose for which they exist? Why does the church exist? Why is there a church? Are we here to merely entertain people? Are we here to just help people have a better life? Are we here to... Why are we here?
Well, the way I see it, the church is here for three reasons. We're here for the glorification of God, for the edification of the saints, and for the evangelization of the world. The glorification of God, the edification of the saints, and the evangelization of the world. A simpler way to remember is upward, inward, outward.
So first we're here to glorify God. That's what we just did in our worship. That's what we do in our prayer. We honor and glorify the Lord for thy pleasure. The Bible says you have created all things. We are here to bring pleasure to God. To glorify Him with our life.
Number two for the edification of the saints. The edify means to be built up. So we teach the word, and we have mid-week Bible studies, and we have fellowship, and we encourage one another. That's the edification of the saints. That's what we're doing this for. That's why we have a mid-week Bible study. And I wish more churches had mid-week Bible studies. A lot of churches are shutting them down these days. I think the mid-week Bible study is a fantastic opportunity to recharge, don't you?
I mean, that's why you're here. You're here because you want to be here. Sometimes people are in church on Sunday morning because, well, it's Sunday morning, so we probably should go. Yeah, you probably should. But it's a lot better when you want to go. And you're here because you wanted to hear the word of God.
So the edification of the saints, and then the outgrowth of the glorification of God, and the edification of the saints, is the evangelization of the world. And that's what we just did in Harvest America, and that's what we do often at the end of our services in calling people to Christ.
But this church, Sardis, they had a lot on the ball. But the thing is they did not do what God wanted them to do. They had reputation, but no reality.
Samson: Strength Lost Through Compromise
Mind you a little bit of the story of Samson. Remember him? He was the he-man with the she-weakness. And he had supernatural strength. He was almost like a superhero, except he was not a cartoon. He was a real guy. And we always think of Samson as super buff and muscular, right? The Bible never says that. Wouldn't it be funny if Samson was a scrawny little dude, you know?
The fact is, is the Bible tells us the Spirit of God would come upon him, and he would do these incredible things like kill a thousand Philistines with a jawbone of a donkey he picked up off the ground, or pick up the city gates and carry them for miles. I mean, that was because God's power came upon him, and Samson had consecrated his life to God, and it was symbolized by him taking the vow of a Nazarite, which, among other things, meant that he would never cut his hair.
Well, I don't want to go into the whole story. I think you know it. He took a one-way trip to Delilah's barber shop, and all of his hair was cut off. And he thought he could get up and fight off the Philistines as he had before, though he had been compromising and was living in sexual sin. And the Bible says that Delilah yelled out, "The Philistines are upon you." And Samson said, "I'll go out at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Judges 16:20.
You see, he didn't know. Sometimes when you're dying spiritually, you're the last to know. Someone else will have to tell you, "Hey, you know what, man? Something's wrong with you spiritually." "What do you mean there's nothing wrong with me?" "No, really. I see this, this, this, and this." Because you somehow rationalize your decisions, and it gets worse and worse and worse. That's the Church of Sardis. They were the last to know how messed up they actually were.
Marks of a Dying Church – Part 1
You can do all the right things outwardly and completely miss the point. You can sing your worship songs perfectly, and each lyric is in place. You know all the melodies. You can pray eloquently. Or someone will even come up and say, "My, what a beautiful prayer that was." You can dutifully take notes and actually know your Bible quite well, and yet there can be a spiritual deadness about all of it.
You know, I don't want you to come to this church and say, "Man, that was great worship tonight." I don't even want you to say, "That was a great worship band." I want you to go out of here saying, "What a great God we worship." See, that's the point. That's the point.
I don't want to hear you say wonderful sermon. I want to hear you say wonderful Savior. You know, that message helped me come closer to God.
And we've all been to dead churches, right? You've been to them. And there are actually telltale signs that a church is dying. Chuck Swindoll, in his excellent commentary in the book of Revelation, points out five marks of a dead church. And I'll bring you his points with some of my own thoughts added to them.
But here's his five points on when a church is dying.
1. A Dead Church Worships Its Past
Number one, a dead church worships its past. A dead church worships its past. You know, there's amazing stories of conversion and lives that were changed, but it's all in the distant past. In contrast, living churches are always looking to the future, while thankful for what the Lord did in the past, or always looking to do that next thing.
2. A Dead Church Resists Change
Number two, a dead church is inflexible and resistant to change. A dead church is inflexible and resistant to change. Here's what I see as a problem. Sometimes in churches, we're flexible, where we ought to be inflexible, and we're inflexible, where we ought to be flexible. Does that make sense?
Where should we not be flexible? Okay, we should never be flexible in the teaching of the Word of God. We should not say, let's not have Bible studies anymore. No, no, no, we're inflexible there. We should not be inflexible when it comes to the subject, or flexible, rather, on the subject of prayer. No, we're going to pray. No, we're going to worship. We're inflexible here. This is where we stand.
But then there's areas where we can be real flexible. Now I'm talking a lot of times about style more. Maybe it's a sound of worship. Maybe it's lighting or technology that we use or other things of that nature. And sometimes people will get so hung up on minor points. They'll leave churches over secondary issues and miss the thing all together.
I remember years ago at Harvest Riverside, actually, when we first introduced video screens. I'm not sure when this was. I think it was the 80s, and we put these screens on the side. I had a couple people write me, "I'm leaving the church." Why? "I don't come to church to watch TV." Okay. We actually weren't stopping the service and watching reruns of I Love Lucy, were we? I mean, we actually were still having the Bible study.
And, you know, we just showed what you can do with this technology at Harvest America. I mean, we rejoice in the fact that 82,000 people filled the AT&T Stadium. So that was awesome. There's stats up there. But look at this. Look at what this says. 82,000 in the stadium. 6,300 professions of faith. But look at that number on the second level. 180,000 at our Harvest America host sites with 18,000 professions of faith. And then 89,769 unique views via our public Webcast in 123 countries with another 1,042 professions of faith.
Now, think about this. Let's go back to that other screen for a second. Go back to the other screen if you would. But let's just take the red line out. As awesome as it is. Take it out for the sake of a point. Look at the white line only. It would have been worth doing for the white line only. Listen to this. It would have been worth doing for the bottom line, the blue line. But we have all three lines.
See, so here's what I'm trying to say. We use technology, video screens, but the Word of God is alive and powerful if it's on a video screen, if it's given to you in person, however it comes, it's still God's Word. So my point is, if we're resistant to technology, we're just stupid, okay? It's all we are. We're missing opportunities to get out to people and use every form of media to get the gospel out.
3. A Dead Church Has Lazy Leadership
Number three, a dead church has lazy leadership. A dead church has lazy leadership. Complacency and lethargy set in. And their church is in spiritual cruise control. They don't want to try anything new or rethink the way things are done.
You want to know something? I do like to blow things up every now and then. Now, I don't mean literally, but actually, I like to blow things up literally, but I don't do it very often. I remember we had this tugboat years ago that belonged to our oldest son, Christopher, and it was unsinkable. It was a sealed plastic boat. So one day, he was over it, and so I said, let's blow it up. So we put a little hole in it, and I put an M80 in. You know what an M80 is? It's more powerful than a cherry bomb. The guys are with me right now. I know it.
But, so we lit it, and we put it out in the middle of a pool, and it just sort of... It wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be. It just went... And then the thing was right down to the bottom. We said, yes. Sometimes things need to be blown up. Sometimes in a church, you need to say, why are we doing this that way? Because you know what? That's not effective anymore. Maybe we should rethink it and redo it. "Oh, no, we've always done it this way."
So, things have changed. Culture has changed. People have changed. Is there a more effective way that we can do that than the way we've been doing it? For instance, any church that has a cassette ministry today, they need to blow that up. Where are you going to find a cassette player? On eBay? I mean, there was a time, believe it or not, when cassettes were cutting edge technology. Not anymore. Or, my point is, we shouldn't be afraid to change things.
4. A Dead Church Neglects Youth
Number four, a dead church neglects youth. They neglect youth. Maybe it's because they're tending to an aging congregation and they don't want to offend those people. But we've always placed a high priority on youth at harvest. I don't... Some of you don't know this because our church started over 40 years ago before a number of you were born, actually. And we actually started as a youth ministry. I began preaching at 19. I began pastoring at 20. I had shoulder length hair. I had hair. And it was shoulder length and a beard. And so, you know, we did our services and everybody else was young.
And so, we decided, after doing our services on Sunday nights for many years, that we needed to start reaching older people. People over 30. And so, we started an outreach to older people on Sunday morning. This is absolutely true. That's how our Sunday morning service started. So, of course, now things have changed and I'm no longer 20. And I'm a little bit older than that. But the point is, we still want to continue to reach young people.
And over the years, you know, we've changed our music. If you came to harvest 15 years ago, the music goes one way. If you came 10 years ago, it's another way. Even five years ago. And some would say, well, I don't like that. Uh-huh, sorry. It's going to keep changing. We're going to constantly be changing and tweaking and refining. And constantly be doing the best job we can possibly do to reach as many people as possible. That's where we're going.
So, if you believe in that, you're in the right place. If you believe in that, you're in the right place. If you like to do it only a certain way, with only a certain style, then you're going to have a little bit of a problem. But dead churches neglect youth.
5. A Dead Church Lacks Evangelistic Passion
And fifth and finally, a dead church lacks evangelistic passion. It turns inward to its own needs. It never reaches out. No opportunities are given for lost people to come to Christ.
I speak at pastor's conferences quite often. And one of the things I always say to my fellow pastors is, "Hey man, throw the net at the end of your service." By throw the net, I mean invite people to Christ. I don't care what you're teaching on. I don't care what the topic is. You can always find a way to just turn it into a little bit of an evangelistic message. It doesn't have to be totally an evangelistic message. But just say a few words to the visitors. To the folks that are there for the first time. And give them an opportunity to come to Christ.
Because you show me a church that doesn't have a constant flow of new believers coming in. And I will show you a church that is dying spiritually.
Well that was Sardis. They were dead. And they needed help.
The Prescription from the Great Physician
So what did they need to do? Well the great physician, the doctor, had some advice. I mean look. If you're sick and you go see your doctor. It isn't going to do you any good if you don't do what the doctor tells you to do. "I don't know why I'm still sick. I went to the doctor." Did you follow his advice? "No." But that's beside the point. No actually it isn't. You need to do what he or she told you to do.
I heard a story about a patient that went to his doctor and said it's been one month since I saw you. And I still feel miserable. The doctor said did you follow the instructions on the medicine bottle I gave you? And the guy said I did. The bottle said keep tightly closed. Oh. That's part of the problem.
So the Lord gives his solution. Go back to verse one. He calls himself the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. These symbols were identified for us in the first chapter of Revelation. The seven spirits are a symbol of the Holy Spirit in his fullness.
Here's what Jesus is saying to the church of Sardis. Here's what Jesus is saying to any church that has grown complacent and lethargic. Let me personalize it. Here's what Jesus is saying to any believer who has lost their fire. They need the power of the Holy Spirit in their life. They need to be filled and refilled and refilled again and again.
The Bible says in Ephesians 5, be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. A better translation, be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.
You know, it would be like driving your car for maybe two weeks and suddenly the car stops functioning. A little red light keeps, you know, flashing. You don't know what's wrong. So you tow it down to the dealership. And he says, have you put gas in your car? "What's gas? I didn't know. I thought it was a Tesla." Really? No, it isn't. You have to put gas in your car. That's what the red light is saying. That's why we call it an idiot light, you see?
So in the same way in our life as Christians, you know, we're going along and we just start sputtering and we grow weaker. You need to say, "Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit." A church needs to do that. And individual Christians need to do that as well.
Wake Up and Strengthen What Remains
Now Jesus gives his prescription. Verse 2. He says, they should wake up. Wake up. Be watchful. And the word watchful could be translated, wake up. Recognize something is seriously wrong. Wake up to that reality.
Number 2. Strengthen the things that remain. Strengthen the things that remain. This means to stabilize that which is frail. So the idea is, look, you can come back. We've seen this scene in so many movies. Someone has, you know, they've been shot or injured and they're dying. And someone's saying, "stay with me. Don't give up. Stay with me." And this is what Jesus is saying to the church. Stay with me. You don't have to die.
Watch for Christ's Return
Here's another way that the dying church can be revived. Look at verse 3. Be watching for the return of Jesus Christ. Because he says to them in verse 3, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief.
See, one of the secrets of a vibrant church is believing that Jesus could come back at any moment. You know, back in the Jesus movement many years ago, there was a belief that we had that Jesus was coming back at any time. I was a graphic designer back then. I even designed a bumper sticker that said, "Jesus is coming" with a little cartoon character. Named Ben Born Again, pointing up. And, you know, we went through many prints of those. They kept printing them and printing them.
And you're saying, yeah, how long ago? Was that 40 years? Yeah. So, wow, that's kind of sad because Jesus didn't come. Guess what? We're 40 years closer to his return than we were then. I don't regret it. I don't regret it. Because we should live every day as though it were the day that Christ were coming. We should live every day as though it were our last day because it could be. You don't know when that day will come. And so, be ready for my return, Jesus says.
You know, it's interesting. In Scripture, the return of Jesus is constantly described in two ways. And it really comes down to where you are at in your relationship or lack thereof with him.
Consider this ominous description of Christ's return in Malachi 4:1-2. "For behold, the day of the Lord is coming, burning like an oven. And all of the proud, yes, all who do wickedly, will be stubble. And that day will burn them up," says the Lord. "And they will leave them neither root nor branch."
But then you listen as the prophet continues out of break. And he says, "but unto you that fear my name, the son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings." You're saying, well, what's with that? Are these two different events? No, the same event. Greeted with joy or dread, depending on where you are at with him.
When a believer is right with the Lord, it's a day of joy. When a believer or a non-believer is not right, it's a day of dread.
John gives us two potential reactions to Christ's return as well. In 1 John 2:28, he says, "Dear children, continue to live in fellowship with Christ. So when he returns, you'll be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame."
See, that's your choice. You can respond which one you want. You can be full of courage or shrinking back in shame. If you're walking with him, you'll have courage. If you're not walking with him, you'll have shame. Which attitude describes you the best?
The person who is right with God hears Jesus say, "Behold, I come quickly." And the response is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
Your reaction to the return of Jesus is like a spiritual barometer. If you're right with God, you'll look forward to it. If you're not right with God, you'll dread it. And so he's saying to them, Get ready and be aware that he could come back at any moment.
The Promise to Overcomers in Sardis
Now, here's a very important but often misunderstood verse. Verse five. "He that overcomes will be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before the angels."
You know, the scripture tells us that God has a book. Actually, quite a few books. He has a book of remembrance containing the names of those that fear the Lord and think on his name. Then it's described sometimes as just the book. More often, it's called the book of life. It's also called the Lamb's book of life.
In Revelation 20, we read, The books are opened, and the dead are judged by what is written in those books, plural, more than one, and everyone not found written in the book, singular, the book of life is cast into the lake of fire.
So here's my question to you. Is your name in the book of life? Well, I believe mine is. How many of you think your name is in the book of life? That's good. And you should feel that way, because if you've... It's hard to clap and raise your hand. I noticed that. You notice? It's hard to do both, isn't it?
The disciples got excited on one occasion because they were casting demons out of people, and Jesus said this in Luke 10:20. "Hey, guys, don't rejoice that the spirits are subject to you. Rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
Now, I don't know when your name is written. If you're a Christian, I don't know if it's written before you're even born, and God knows you'll believe, and you just come to realize it one day. I don't know if it's not written the day you accept Christ into your life. I'm not sure about that, but God promises, "I'll never blot your name out."
In fact, the Greek sentence used here is a double negative, as if Jesus meant to say, "I will never by any means blot your name out of my book." So a believer who walks with God should never fear for their salvation.
So when the devil comes and says to you, "you're not saved anymore, you lost your salvation," you can say to him, "you know what, devil? Go to hell." Start there. It's the only time when it's legit to say that to Satan.
And you know what else? Jesus promises, my name will never be blotted out of the book. And he promises that no one will ever pluck me from his hand. So you stand on that promise.
Jesus promises to stand up for you in heaven. Will you stand up for him on earth? Notice what he says in verse five. "He that overcomes will be clothed in white garments. I'll not blot his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels."
He's standing for us. Will we stand for him? Of course, we all know that verse where Jesus says in Luke 12, if you'll confess me before men, I'll confess you before the Father and the angels in heaven. But if you deny me before men, I'll confess... I won't. Or if you deny me, I'll deny you before the Father and the angels.
You know, sometimes not confessing him is a form of denying him. There could be a situation We're having a conversation with some people and suddenly it turns to spiritual matters and even to the Bible and Jesus Christ even. And someone turns to you and says, "well, what do you think about Jesus Christ?" And you say, "I don't really want to get into that." In a way, you just denied Him, you see. Because the door opened up for you. And by not speaking up for Christ, it was a form of denial.
We should look for opportunities to speak His name.
The Reviving Church: Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13)
All right, so now let's shift gears to one other little section and we'll wrap this up. Revelation 3, verse 7. We're going to look at the church of Philadelphia.
I talked about a church that was sick and dying. That's a church of Sardis. Now the church of the last days. Hence my message title, Jesus' words to last days believers.
Verse 7 of Revelation 3. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that is the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no man can shut it. For you have a little strength. You've kept my word and you've not denied my name.
Indeed, I'll make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews but lie. Indeed, I'll make them come and worship before your feet and to know I've loved you. Because you've kept my command to persevere, I'll keep you from the hour of trial which will come upon the whole world to test those that dwell on the earth. Behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast to what you have and let no one take your crown.
He that overcomes, I'll make a pillar in the temple of my God and he will go out no more. All right, we'll stop there.
So what do last day's believers need to know? What steps should we take to return to spiritual life?
1. An Unprecedented Open Door from Jesus
Number one, Jesus tells us he's given us an unprecedented open door. Look at verse seven. A door that he opens and no one shuts.
Now what does it mean when Jesus says an open door? Well, the door is a symbol of opportunity and the key is a symbol of his authority. You know, if you come to someone who has the keys to a building, that person has a certain measure of authority. And if they have the master key to every lock, then they have quite a bit of authority.
So in the same way Jesus has the authority, he has the key to every lock. But then he also has opened a door.
In 2 Corinthians 2:12, Paul writes, He came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel and he says, "A door was opened to me of the Lord." In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas gathered the church together and declared all that God had done and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
So when we say open door, we're speaking of opportunity. So a lot of times you'll hear Christians say, "You know, the Lord really opened a door for me the other day." That's what that means. He opened a door of opportunity for you.
In fact, we should even pray for such doors to open in our own lives. Because Paul says in Colossians 4:3, "Pray for us that God will open a door and give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That's why I'm here in chains. Pray that I'll proclaim his message as clearly as I should."
Sometimes people ask me, "Greg, how should we pray for you?" Especially when you do crusades. My answer is what Paul says right here. Pray that God will open a door for me to speak for him and that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.
See, the door is open. The question is, will we go through the door? A lot of times we don't want to go through these doors that God opens. There's clear open doors in our life and we don't want to walk through them.
Living in the Best and Worst of Times
We're living in a critical time in American history. Someone asked me in a radio interview today, you know, what I thought the state of the country was. I thought, I said, I think it's really good and really bad simultaneously. And I think of the opening lines of the book written by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. And it sort of sums up our time when he writes, "It was the best of times and it was the worst of times."
In some ways in America it's the best of times just by what we saw in Texas at Harvest America. All those people coming to Christ. There's very promising signs. But then in other ways it's the worst of times. Have we ever been more divided as a nation? And then you look at the world and all the threats and the instability and the terrorism and the potential for mass destruction.
But yet God has opened a door for us and we need to go through that door. I mean, think about this. As we've shared with you, just let it sink in for a moment. Harvest America was the single largest live evangelistic event in American history. And God let our church play a role in that. That's a privilege, right? It is. It's a privilege.
So whatever role you played, I mean, maybe you prayed for it every day at 3:20. Maybe you gave financially toward it. Maybe you came to Texas with this and helped out. And therefore you share in the fruit of it. And maybe you did nothing. You didn't pray about it. You didn't think about it. You didn't give toward it. Well, you missed out. But too bad for you. But there will be other opportunities. Don't miss it next time. Because it's a joyful thing when we work together for God's glory.
An open door.
Historical Context: Pax Romana and Modern Technology
Now it's interesting in context. Remember that these seven churches were actual churches that once existed. In fact, they followed a postal route. And so there was an actual church of Philadelphia. And they existed under what was known as Pax Romana. Pax Romana means forced peace. The powerful armies of Rome had bludgeoned the world into submission. They had conquered most of the world at this time. And people were under Roman rule.
And the Romans did some things right. They built a great road system. Connecting a lot of parts of the world that were unconnected after that point. And after Rome conquered Greece, they took a lot of Greek culture and sort of the Greek political system and Greek philosophy. And they carried it through Rome. And so there was a common language. Everyone spoke Greek. We had a common language for the first time. Everybody had roads to travel around on, which did not exist previously. And there was a pseudo-peace, at least the absence of war, and it caused people to be searching.
So this was the open door that they had. And we have a different kind of an open door. Technology has allowed us to have an open door to all of the world. At Harvest America, not only did we reach every state in our nation with all those folks, but we also were able to reach into 123 other countries.
And I've heard some amazing stories. Here's just a couple. There was a church in India where 156 people gathered watching the live Webcast of Harvest America in India. And there were 32 people that walked forward and made a profession of faith to follow Christ. Isn't that great?
And then there was a church in Nairobi, Kenya. They had 2,000 people attend the Webcast of Harvest America. And listen to this. 700 people responded to the gospel. You know? Can you believe that?
So we're thinking of America and host sites here. Meanwhile, in Africa and India, they're taking it too. And these are just two stories we've heard. That's the ability we have now with... But there's not just open doors in the world. There's open doors in our own lives.
Personal Open Doors and God-Given Dreams
Maybe there was something you've always wanted to do and it never happened. Maybe you have a dream right now. You know? And it's a dream to do something for God. Maybe it's a dream to get married one day. You're single. You want to get married. Or maybe you're married. You want to have a family. Or it's a dream to do another thing. And that's not a bad thing. God can give you those dreams.
Sometimes God gives you a glimpse of your future. But it's still a ways off. God gave to young Joseph a glimpse of his future. Of being a world leader. And he shared it with his brothers. And it did not go over well. "Hey brothers, I've had this crazy dream. I was out in the field and you were a bunch of sheaves of wheat. And you were all bowing down before me." They're like, "we're going to kill you, okay?"
Sometimes it's best to keep your dreams to yourself. But sometimes the Lord is showing you what is still going to come. So you never know. Just keep praying about it. And put it in God's hands. He may give you that dream. And open that door.
You know, my whole goal in life, before I was a Christian, was actually to be a graphic artist. And a cartoonist in particular. And after I became a Christian, I thought, well, okay, I'll be a Christian artist. And I did album covers and posters and little evangelistic booklets and things like that for a while. And I was very happy doing that.
But I went, shortly after my conversion, I went to a Billy Graham crusade in San Diego. This is the early 70s. Now I'm already, at this point, I'm a pastor. I left that part out. So I've kind of broadened into teaching the Bible. But that's what I thought I would do. Be a pastor and be an artist.
And I saw Billy do this crusade. And I'd seen Billy before as a kid, living with my grandparents, watching him on the old black and white television. Along with shows like Bonanza and Gunsmoke. Many of you will not remember these shows unless you watch those TV stations that play oldies, right?
So, and I would watch Billy. But now I see him as a Christian and as a pastor. And I thought, that's what I want to be when I grew up. And when he gave the invitation, I walked forward. Not to get saved, but to get a closer glimpse of this guy, Billy Graham.
Little did I know that one day I would get to know him, become a friend to him, and learn a lot from him. But I never thought I would do what he did. I just wanted to share Jesus with people and see people come to Christ in the little meetings I was holding. And I never envisioned being in a stadium or at a place like AT&T.
But God gave me a little glimpse of my future, you know? And he might give you a little glimpse. Whatever it is, there are those doors. Go through those doors.
I love what Jesus says in verse seven. These things saith he that is holy. He that has the key of David. By the way, Jesus never loses his keys. How many of you lose your keys? Oh, I do it all the time. You can put these little devices on them now. There's one called the tile, have you seen that? And you clip it on, it's a little piece of plastic. And you hit the button and it'll beep and hopefully you'll find your keys.
I feel like I need to put tiles on everything now. Like I need it on my keys, on my car, on my house, on what I was eating for lunch and misplacing things. Jesus never loses his keys. And when Jesus opens a door, no man can shut it.
But see, God can open a door, but you still have to walk through it. There's a story in the book of Acts of the church that was praying for the release of Peter, remember? Peter was arrested after James was killed. And we read in Acts 12, constant prayer was offered to God by the church. So the Lord answered their prayer. And he sent in an angel to the prison. The chains fell off Peter. The angel sort of escorted Peter out. The door opened automatically. I love that. Like in the supermarket. And they walk out and they're in the cold air and the angel just leaves. Peter's standing outside going, oh, wow.
See, God opened the door, but Peter had to walk through it. God's not gonna force you through the door. Here's an open door. You can say, well, I don't wanna go through the open door. Well, you don't have to, but you'll miss the opportunity.
You know, he's given us this opportunity. We need to go through it.
2. God Gives Enough Strength for His Call
Number two, God has given us enough strength to do what he has called us to do. He's given us enough strength to do what he's called us to do.
The great physician, our Lord, gives his divine assessment of Philadelphia. Verse eight, "you have a little strength." A little strength. This was not a negative comment about the weakness of the church. It was a commendation of its strength.
The idea that Christ has convened is you have a little strength, but you're coming back to life. You know like when you've been really sick and all you wanna do is just lay there. You don't wanna talk on the phone. You don't wanna look at an iPad. You don't even wanna watch TV. You're just so sick. You just lay there going, oh.
And then, you know, you start feeling a little better. You have a little bit of a meal and you think you're back to full strength. You jump out of bed and you get sort of a head rush. Oh, I'm not quite ready. You're in that sort of in-between state.
That's the church of Philadelphia. They're not super church, but they're making a comeback. They're definitely not as sick as Sardis. They're coming back to life.
And sometimes weakness can be more of an asset than a liability. Because when you realize you're weak, then you depend on God.
I'll tell you the truth. When I walked out on the stage of Harvest America and saw the stadium was full and I thought of all those people watching, I just, oh, you know, I had such a sense of inadequacy and I was praying, "God, help me right now because this is just overwhelming to me." And then I had to just focus on what I was there to do and step up and begin to speak.
But, you know, there are times you say, "this is too much for me. God, I can't handle this." And I've had those moments in my life. I certainly had it when my son died. I thought, "I can't do this. I can't endure this. I can't survive this." And you know what, humanly, I don't know that I could have. But God helped me, you see.
And it's not that it's over because God still helps me because it's still hard. "Greg, it's been seven years. Get over it." No, I won't. I'll never get over it. But I'll get through it each day by God's strength just as you will get through your hardship with God's strength because His strength is made perfect in our weakness, the Bible says.
So, this is a picture of a church coming back to life. A church that is reviving.
3. Keeping God's Word and Not Denying His Name
And then number three, they were keeping His word and not denying His name. Keeping His word. How important that is in the days in which we are living. Because the Bible warns in the last days there would be false prophets, false apostles, false teachers, and even lying wonders.
There is so much false teaching floating around right now, I can't believe it. And I have to say, I've never known a time in my 40 years plus of preaching when there's been a greater biblical illiteracy. When people who claim to be Christians don't even know the basic things about the Bible, the basic things about God, the basic things about what salvation even is, I'm not saying that of you. You're in a midweek Bible study. Come on. But I'm talking about people that rarely read the Bible.
And sadly in some churches they don't hear the Bible preached. They don't hear the Bible taught. They don't even take Bibles to church. What's with that? I say bring your Bible to church. Open your Bible in church. Read your Bible in church. Take the Bible into the pulpit.
See because in the last days. there's going to be those that turn from His Word. But this church coming back to life they kept His Word. Are you doing that?
Interestingly, the word for kept means guard it. Guard it. It's important to keep your Word or to keep the Word I should say but you must also spread it.
Don't Just Collect the Word – Spread It
I have some friends that collect cars. In fact I know one guy that has the most amazing car collection of all time. Incredible cars. Every kind of car you can imagine from the 30s, the 40s, the 50s, the 60s. All these cool cars. I was checking it out. And you know, I love old cars. I have an old car. It breaks all the time. That's what old cars do. Right? But I do love them. And especially cars in the late 50s and early 60s.
But anyway, so I'm checking out all these cars and I noticed that none of them ran. I said, "do you ever drive your cars?" "No, no. I don't drive them." I thought, man, if I had these cars, I'd be driving one every day. I'm gonna take this weird car out now. Because I like to drive cars. It's fun, you see.
So it's fine to collect things, but it's more fun to use the things you collect. And sometimes we have the Word of God. I love the Word of God. I defend the Word of God. I Cherish the Word of God. Well, why don't you also share the Word of God?
You know, sometimes we're defending it and we're arguing about it, but we never spread the Word of God. We need to do that too.
John Stott in his book, What Christ Thinks of the Church, says this, and I quote, "here is the balance of the Christian life. It's a life of give and take. First we take what He offers. Then we give what He asks. He sets before us the open doors of salvation and service. He bids us to go in through the one to receive salvation and go out the other to give service," end quote.
I love that. That's it exactly. You receive it and you give it. You take it in and you give it out. That's the way it works. That's how you grow spiritually. It's like eating, getting fuel, working it out, eating again.
If you only eat it, you don't work it out, you have trouble. Last night, I don't know what I was thinking. A couple of friends, three of us actually went out and ate too much food. We ate barbecue. Our wives were at the girls' Bible study, so we're a bunch of crazy guys overeating. And then, you know, that's bad enough. We ate all that barbecue. And then I had the stupidest idea of all time. Let's go to Krispy Kreme Donuts. And we did. And I only ate three. I felt kind of proud about that. Because sometimes I've eaten six. Come on now.
When those things are hot coming down that little... bell glistening, light reflecting, you hear the voices of angels. Or maybe it's demons. I'm not sure. Because after you eat them, oh man. Oh, I paid for it last night. I paid for it around 12 o'clock. Just, oh. I didn't throw up. I don't want to gross you out. But I just knew I shouldn't have done it. Plus, all that sugar. I was having the craziest dreams of all time. Just crazy dreams, you know.
I thought that was just such a bad decision on every level. But I'm going back tonight. No, I'm not. I'm really not.
But you know, now that's not very good fuel there. But let's say you have a proper meal, balance, you know, vegetables and some meat. Or if you're a vegetarian, just more vegetables. You know, whatever. Now you've got to go do something. You've got to work out. You've got to be productive. That's fuel. And then you expend the fuel and you refuel.
That's us. We come to church. We take it in. We give it out. We take it in. We give it out. See, you have some churches where people don't take it in. That's a problem. But then you have other churches where people take it in and they never give it out. They just take it in. They hoard it.
You ever see those shows on TV with the hoarders? They're like that. They just hoard stuff. They usually have a lot of cats, these people. Something with cats and hoarding. I don't know the connection.
But God's Word is not given to be hoarded. It's not given to be merely admired. It's not given as a collector's item. It's given to be processed, understood, and given out again. And we repeat the process again and again and again. That's how it works. It's not rocket science. It's not rocket science, folks.
Oh, what if I had this just emotional encounter? Yeah, those things come and go. Well, what's going to keep you going is the Word of God and the power of the Spirit and going through the open doors of opportunity that God gives to you.
A Final Call to Come Alive in Christ
So if you're a believer and you feel like you're kind of sick right now and you're kind of listless, you probably need to be refilled with the Holy Spirit. And if you're someone visiting and you're hearing a lot of this stuff for the first time, you're like spiritually dead, you need to come alive. God can change you and forgive you of every sin you've ever committed. And you can walk out of this place a different person than when you came in with this. Knowing that when you die, you will go to heaven.
Here's my question. Is your name written in God's book? If you believe in Jesus, it is. If you don't, well, it isn't. So that's why you need to believe in Jesus. So you can know that one day you'll enter into His presence.
And if you're not sure that your life is right with God, if it kind of freaks you out when we talk about Jesus coming back, that's probably an indication that there's something wrong with you spiritually. So you need to believe in Jesus right now.
You say, well, how do you do that? By praying. And that's why we're going to close with a prayer. And I'm going to give you an opportunity to ask Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin.
Because 2,000 years ago, He went to that cross and died there for you and took God's judgment upon Himself for you and for me and Rose again from the dead. And now He'll come into your life and forgive you. If you want Him to, He won't force you to believe. But if you want Him in your life, you'll come in. And you'll never regret this decision.
So we're going to pray and I'm going to extend this invitation for you to come to Jesus. Let's all bow our heads right now.
Father, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for loving us. And I pray for the folks that are here that don't know You yet. Some that are even listening or watching that don't know You yet. Help them to see their need for Jesus. And help them to come to You and be forgiven of their sin.
Now when our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying, how many of you would say, right now, I need Jesus in my life. I need my sin forgiven. I want to know that when I die, I will go to heaven. Pray for me. I want Jesus.
If that's your desire, would you lift up your hand? If you want your sin forgiven, if you want to go to heaven when you die, if you want Christ to come into your life, lift up your hand. I'll pray for you. Wherever you are, lift it up high where I can see it.
God bless you here in the very back there. God bless you there. Anybody else? Raise your hand up now. God bless you toward the back. Over here on the side and the back. God bless you too. Anybody else? Raise your hand up. Let me pray for you. God bless you, sir. God bless you. Anybody else? If you haven't lifted your hand yet, lift it now. I'll pray for you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless all of you.
Now I'm going to ask that every one of you that has raised your hand, I want you to stand to your feet and I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Every one of you that raised your hand saying you want Jesus, stand up. You heard me right. Even if you did not, raise your hand. But you want Christ in your life. Stand to your feet. And we are going to pray together. I will wait another moment. Anybody else? Stand up. You raise your hand, even if you did not. You want to go to heaven when you die. You want Christ to come into your life. Stand up and we will pray together. Anybody else? Stand now. God bless you that are standing.
Alright, now I am going to pray a prayer. And I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Again, as I pray, pray this out loud after me, all right? Pray this out loud after me, right where you stand.
Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and Rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life. Be my Lord. Be my God. Be my friend. I choose to follow you now. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
God bless you guys that stood and prayed that prayer. God bless all of you. God bless you. Yes.
All right. Hey, listen. You that just stood and prayed that prayer, I have a little gift for you. It's called the Start Bible. This is the New Testament with some notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you've made to Christ. We want to give you one of these.
I'm going to ask all of you that just stood and prayed that prayer with me, if you would. Look over here to your left. You're right. There's Chad holding up a Start Bible. I want all of you that stood and prayed that prayer to get up out of your seat now. Walk over to where Chad is. We're going to give you that Bible. Go on over there right now. All of you guys that prayed. Yeah. Right over there. God bless you.
All right. God bless all of you. Praise the Lord. God bless you. Praise the Lord. Yes.
Let's all stand up. Well, the harvest just keeps going, folks. We just keep calling people to Christ. If it's 25,000, if it's 25,000, if it's 5,000, I'm good with whatever. I just want to see people come to Jesus. Because heaven rejoices over one sinner that comes to repentance. So we rejoice tonight over all these people that just pray.
Now, I've kind of gone a little long tonight, and I apologize. But I haven't done a Bible study for a while, so I've forgotten how to do them.
But why don't we close by just asking the Lord to refill us with the Holy Spirit. We talked about that. That's what the Church of Sardis needed. That's what we need. Every day. It's a great way to start the day. Lord, just fill me with the Holy Spirit today. And give me all the power I need to honor you.
So let's pray together. Father, here we are as your people for this midweek Bible study. Learning about churches that are dying and Christians that are dying. And we don't want to be one of those people. We want to be alive and revived and vibrant and fervent and full of fire for you.
So you've told us that you'll give the Holy Spirit to those that ask. So we ask right now, fill us with the Holy Spirit. Fill every one of us. Give us that power to be a witness. Give us the power to resist temptation. Give us the power to go through doors of opportunity that we would not even have considered before. With a holy boldness. Fill us with that power as we worship you in this song.