James Merritt - Sardis, The Walking Dead
Well, I wanna say good morning to those of you who are watching online, those of you are in the room. And if you're glad to be here, if you really are, just turn to your neighbor right now and just say, "I am glad to be here". Would you just do that? Just tell 'em. I am so glad that you are here and not in the emergency room of a hospital today. This happened years ago, decades ago and it still to this day, as I was writing about it, when I was working on this message, and it all came back to me, it's one of the most gut wrenching experiences I've ever had in my entire life.
I was pastoring my second church, little country church in Kentucky. I was still getting my PhD. And we had a family in that church, he was a young guy. They were young and they had two kids. Had a son and a daughter, beautiful children, and they were two of our best friends in the church. She played the piano and the organ, he was a deacon. And he was driving home from Louisville one afternoon and it was pouring down rain. And two of his kids were in the backseat. Well, this teenager was driving, he was driving too fast and he hydroplaned and he came over into his lane. And it happened so quick, there was nothing the dad could do. All he could do was just hold onto the steering wheel. And he knew they were gonna hit head on and so he just screamed and yelled for his kids to get down, to sit down, "get down".
Well, the little girl did what he said, but the little boy, eight year old John, instead, he raised up to see what was going on. And when they hit the front of his head, hit the back rest of that front seat, and it literally crushed his skull in. The dad had a broken hip, some other injuries, the girl was not hurt. They were rushed to the hospital. And this beautiful eight year old boy, I can see him in my mind right now, his name was John. He was put on life support to keep his heart beating, but they couldn't detect any brainwaves. Well, when I found out I was home, in fact, I was working on my dissertation, I found out, got ready, drove up to the hospital there in Louisville and prayed with them.
Well, the next day I get a call from the dad and he said, "Pastor," he said, "my boy's been declared brain dead," and he said, "there's no hope for recovery and we need to take him off these machines, but she doesn't wanna do it, Mom doesn't wanna do it. Would you come up and help us"? And they don't teach you in seminary how to do that kind of stuff, that's not what you learn. And in her heart and mind, that boy was alive. She's a mom and I get it, her boy was alive and he could still live. So he asked me, "would you please go and would you sit down with her? Would you help persuade her to do what she needs to do"? It was the longest ride of my life. I dreaded every mile of it. I mean, even to this minute, I almost get choked up thinking about it. It's one the most difficult conversations I've ever had in my life.
I walked into the room and here's that little eight year old boy and his chest is hooked up to a machine. And so if you were looking at him, his chest is moving up and down like he's breathing and his heart was continuing to beat because it was hooked up to a machine. So when you looked at the boy from the outside, I mean it looked like he had life, but he was dead. So I had to sit down with this mom. And I gently began to prod and to plead and to persuade. And I had to put up with, you know, I mean, I'm just telling you it was just agonizing. Well, finally she agreed. So it's one of the saddest things I've ever experienced. They go get the dad, they wheel the dad into the room. We had a prayer and then they took that boy off those machines. And just as we knew, it wasn't maybe two minutes that all physical signs of activity were gone.
Now if you'd walked by that room five minutes before and just kind of glanced in, you would've seen an eight year old boy that you would've thought was alive. He was just hooked up through some machines. But in reality, he wasn't alive. It was all smoke and mirrors. He was dead. What's that got to do with us? And what's that got to do with the church? Well 2,000 years ago, Jesus wrote some letters to 7 churches. And he wrote a letter to a church and from all appearances on the outside, it looked like a living, moving, breathing, dynamic, fantastic, getting it done church and yet Jesus said, "but you're dead". "You're not live, you're dead".
And we're in a series that we're calling, "This Is Your Captain Speaking". And I want you to turn to the last book of Revelation, the very last book, easy to find. Revelation chapter 3. We're gonna be looking at one of these letters today because in this letter there's a church at a place called Sardis. And Jesus said, "you are a dead church". Let me just make something real plain. It doesn't matter what I say about our church, what you said about our church, what the media says about our church, what a denomination says about our church, what the community says about our church. If Jesus says your church is dead, call the coroner. If Jesus says, your church is dead, you better make funeral arrangements, that church is dead.
And I want you to understand something about this church. This was not a weak church that needed restoration. It was not a sick church that needed rehabilitation. It was a dead church, it needed resurrection. The members had written "great" over the door of the church. The community had written "super" over the door of the church. But God had written "dead" over the door of the church. And in a real sense, if you like television, this was the Church of "The Walking Dead". There were Christians who came every week to that church. On the outside it looked like their faith was alive, it was vibrant. After all, they came to church. After all they sang on a praise team. After all, they helped park cars. After all, they led a small group. After all, they did serve. But their faith was dead.
My greatest fear, since I started pastoring, my greatest fear has always been pastoring a dead church. And my greatest fear has always been that I might be a dead Christian. So here's what I want all of us to do today, and those of you're watching right now, I want you to become your own spiritual doctor right now. I want you to do a self-examination. I'm not gonna examine you, I want you to examine you. I want you to check your spiritual vital signs. And I want you just to be honest. I want you to ask yourself, "is my faith in Jesus, my passion for Jesus, my walk with Jesus, am I hitting on all eight cylinders? Or am I on life support"? "Is what people think I am. what I try to show people, is just artificially induced"? And so I wanna give you today a fourfold prescription Jesus gives to this church. How to make sure you have a living real faith. All right?
Number one, first thing you gotta do, I gotta do it too. You've got to ignore your spiritual reputation. That's the first thing you need to do. You've got to ignore your spiritual reputation. Now, when Jesus writes to this church, it looks like, at first glance, he gives this church a clean bill of health. He says in verse one. "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars". He says, "I know your deeds". Now listen to this, "you have a reputation of being alive".
This church had a tremendous reputation. They had acquired quite a name for themselves and on the outside things looked great. Their doctrine was sound. It was probably the largest of all the seven churches. The place was packed out every week. It was probably the wealthiest of the seven churches. Money was not a problem, they had money to burn. And if you known of somebody that said, if you were living in another city, they said, "by the way, we're moving to Sardis, can you tell me about a church in Sardis I ought to go to"? "Oh yeah, go to Cross Point Church in Sardis. That's the church you need to go to. Man, it's a great church, I hear the teaching is solid. I hear they've got great programs. I hear they make great ministries. I mean, things are popping. Everything I hear about that church is good".
And if you'd gone to Sardis and just talked around the community, you would've found, "man, they've got a great reputation". If you'd gone to Yelp and Google, five star review. Fantastic church. Commenters on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, this is the church to go to. A plus, triple A plus reputation. Let me just to stop say something to a lot of young people today. You know, reputation is a really funny thing. It's really interesting and the older I get, the more I've thought about it. Isn't it interesting that we care a lot more about what we think people think about us than maybe what they really think about us? You know, somebody said, when you're 20 you worry about what people think about you. When you turn 40 you stop worrying about what people think about you. But when you turn 60 you realize nobody's been thinking about you. I mean, it's really kind of amazing what we think about reputation. It's just so funny.
You know, it's just something else. Explain this to me because I'm in the same boat you are. Why do we care more about what people think about us than what God knows about us? Why are we so concerned about what he thinks, she thinks? But we don't really think about what God knows. I heard about an old man that died and they were having his funeral. So the preacher was trying to do the right thing, trying to comfort the family. And so he got up and he gave this eloquent eulogy. He said, "you know, Mr. Smith, he was an honest businessman. He was a loving husband. He was a devoted father. He was a generous giver. He was a pillar of the community. He was loved and respected by everybody who knew him".
Well, his wife was sitting on the front row and she kinda looked confused and perplexed and she leaned over and said to her oldest son, "would you go up to the casket and make sure that's your dad up there"? I mean, look, nobody wants a bad reputation. Okay? I get that. But can I just give you something I bet you've never thought about before? Let me tell you how unimportant reputation is, in a way. Do you realize that at the end of his life, Jesus wound up with a bad reputation? You ever thought about that? "See, he wasn't who he said he was. It was all a lie. He was a fake. He wasn't really who he said he was. He would've come off that cross. He would've done miracles. He would've shown them, you can't kill me". At the end of his life, he died with a bad reputation.
Let me tell you something, God is not impressed with your reputation. God's not impressed with our reputation. Whether it's our church, or a Christian. Reputation is what people think you are. Character is what God knows that you are. So you ignore your spiritual reputation. See some of you today, and I don't know who you are, I gotta watch this myself. You put on a great show. You put on an academy award-winning performance. And people who look at you on the outside and they say, "man, I know him, I know her, seem like they're great. Seem like they're awesome. They got all their spiritual batteries are fully charged. They're here going on all eight spiritual cylinders. But you're not. You don't read your Bible, you don't pray, outside of church you don't give God a second thought. You never talk to anybody about Jesus".
I'm not fussing, I'm just be honest. I'm just telling all of us today, let's ignore our spiritual reputation. Second step, face your actual reality. Listen, ignore the reputation. Face your actual reality. See, everybody else looked at the church, the mayor, the city council, the newspaper, the community. Everybody looked at this church in Sardis and said, "this is a great church, it is alive". But when Dr. Jesus walked into that church, he couldn't find a pulse. He couldn't find any brainwaves. He couldn't see any breathing. And his diagnosis was summarized in four words that are mind boggling. He says, "but you are," say that word out loud, "Dead... You are dead". The church had no spiritual heartbeat. Rigor mortis had set in. It was like a dressed up corpse laying in a casket. It looks alive at first glance, but when you examine it, it's really dead.
Now that raises the question, what makes a church a dead church? And what makes an individual Christian a dead Christian? Well, let's think about it. What is a dead person? What is a dead man? A dead man is a man, or a dead woman for that matter, but a dead man is a man from whom the human spirit has departed. Everybody got that? That's what a dead man is. Well, what is a dead church? A dead church is a church from whom the Holy Spirit has departed. A dead man, the human spirit has departed, but a dead church, the Holy Spirit has departed. I'm gonna say something to you. I dunno if I've ever said it quite this way or not, but it's one of the most important things I'll ever say to this church, ever and don't ever forget it.
Long after I'm gone, long after I'm in heaven, when somebody else is preaching to you, somebody else is your pastor, don't ever forget what I'm about to tell you. The only thing that gives life to the church is the Holy Spirit. The only thing that gives life to the church is the Holy Spirit. It's not the programs, it's not the pastor, it's not the preaching, it's not the music, it's not the ministries, it's not the mission trips, it's not the sermon, it's not the service, it's not the songs. All of those things are worthless without the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives life to the church. You may or may not know this, but every Sunday before you walk into this door, every chair in this room is prayed over. Every single prayer, every chair is laid hands on, every chair is prayed over.
You know what we pray? "Holy Spirit, hover over this seat. Holy Spirit convict this person of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Holy Spirit, draw this person to Jesus. Holy Spirit, convict this person of what is wrong in their life and give them the power to make it right". Every seat is prayed over. Why do you do that? Because if the Holy Spirit doesn't show up, we don't need to show up. He said, "you're a dead church, oh, you got function, but you got no -unction". And there's nothing worse. I made that up. There's nothing worse than being a walking dead church. There's nothing worse. Let me tell you what's even worse than that. It's really worse to be a walking dead Christian and you don't even know it. You don't even realize it. You know, remember, somebody tell me, who was the strongest man in the Bible? What was his name? Sampson. Remember Sampson? Guy with a long hair, right? Strongest man in the Bible. Poor ol' Sampson. He thought his power came from the hair on his head.
Let me tell you something people don't understand, Sampson was not strong because of the hair on his head. He was strong because of the Holy Spirit in his heart. That was the problem. So you know the story about Sampson, right? One of the saddest things, you know, Sampson, his hair gets cut and then he's taken captive by his enemies, the Philistines. His strength was gone. You said, "well, I always thought it was because his hair had been cut". No, that was a symbol of what had happened. Can I tell you what happened to Sampson? Listen to this. "He did not know that the Lord had left him". What is both frightening and fascinating about the church of Sardis, here's what really scares me about this church 'cause it scares me about our church.
This was a church that was dead and didn't even know it. Thought they were alive. People walked into that church every Sunday, thought they were alive, but they were dead. You know, when I was a boy with our next door neighbors, we used to raise chickens. And if you're from the country you'll appreciate this. I'll never forget the first time my dad was gonna kill a chicken for us to eat. And so he took me down. He said, "I wanna show you something, son". He took me down, you know what he did? He grabbed that chicken by his neck and just broke it's neck, I'd never seen that happen before. Said, "don't ever come near me, Dad". But he, you know, grabbed that and then he took a knife and he cut it's head off.
And what happened next is absolutely one of the scariest things I've ever seen in my life. You know what that chicken did? He started running around, he started thrashing, he jumped around, you would've thought he was the chicken of the week at Chick-fil-A. It was unbelievable. I mean, this chicken was absolutely going nuts. On the outside it looked like that chicken had ever been more alive, and yet it had never been more dead. And I still remember from that day I learned two lessons I'll never forget.
Number one, something can look alive and yet be dead. And number two, you can be dead and not even know it. Well, what was the giveaway? How did Jesus know this was a dead church? What was the telltale sign that the church was dead? What was the telltale sign that there were a lot of Christians in that church that were really dead? Well, the next statement's very revealing. Listen to what he says. "Wake up! Strengthen what I remains and is about to die," now watch this, "for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of God". "I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of God". Well, what were these unfinished deeds?
Well, remember Sardis was just like every other city, they were no different. You had the same thing going on in Sardis you had going on in Ephesus and Thyatira and other cities. They had pagan worship, they had temple prostitution, they had spiritual idolatry, they had sexual immorality. But let me tell you something different about this church that we've never read about any other church. Unlike any every other church we've read so far, you don't read one word about oppression. You don't read one word about persecution. You don't read one word about prosecution.
Well why? Why was the church not under persecution? Why were they not having trouble outside the church? Why was everybody getting along with them? Because the church had lost its witness. Instead of standing up against what was wrong and speaking up for what is right, they were sitting down, they were shutting up. There was no evangelism. Nobody was telling people about Jesus. There was no gospel witness. See, there was no persecution. They were getting along great with everybody. You know why? They put their weapons down. They had unilaterally surrendered. They weren't going to invade enemy territory. Oh, the church had a dynamic ministry, but they had a dying witness. So let me be clear. "If there is not enough life in your Christian faith to share Jesus with dead people who need that life, your faith is pretty dead". "If there's not enough life in your Christian faith to share Jesus with the dead people who need that life, your faith is pretty dead".
See, we're watching it happen before our eyes. More and more churches are becoming mausoleums and monuments rather than movements of witness to the gospel of Jesus. If you ever get a chance to go to London, I've been to London a couple times, one of my favorite cities. If you'll get a chance to go to London, go to Westminster Abbey, one of those famous churches in the world. One of those famous cathedrals in the world. Well, when you go there you'll have a guide. And some of the most famous people have ever lived are buried at Westminster Abbey. Isaac Newton is buried there. Charles Darwin is buried there. Charles Dickens is buried there. People of royalty and wealth, kings and queens are buried there. And every time I go there, I remember the story, a true story of a little old lady, this was back in the beginning of the 20th century. She was a dynamic witness for Jesus. And she was guided to a group, they were going through Westminster Abbey.
So this guide was trying to impress the people of all the famous people that were buried in this place. He was trying to impress him with how beautiful the church was, it is a beautiful church. How beautiful it was, how ornate it was, you know, what a great building it was and all the famous people that were buried there. And then you know, this lady raised her hand and said, "may I ask you one question"? And the guide said, "yes ma'am, you certainly may". And she asked this question, "has anybody been saved here lately"? Burns me every week in our church. I wanna see that. Anybody been saved here? See, the actual reality of this church was, it's witness was dead. It's worship was dead. It's works were dead.
So this is the point I want to ask all of us a question. I'm asking me, I'm asking you. Be honest. Put yourself on a meter right now. Put yourself on, let's see where your needle is. Let's just be honest. Here's my question. How truly are you on fire for Jesus? How alive is your faith? If the Lord Jesus took your spiritual pulse right now, how strong would it be? You gotta ignore your spiritual reputation. You gotta face your actual reality. So if you say "you know, pastor, I may be on life support. I know I'm not where I need to be. I know I'm not where God wants me to be". Well what do you do? Step three, you experience your personal repentance. Experience your personal repentance.
Now look, here's the good news. All was not lost for this church. See, here's the good news about Jesus. When you know Jesus, death may be fatal, but it's not final. Because if you turn your back to him, life can come back. So Jesus gives this council, look what he says. "Wake up! Strengthen what's remained and is about to die". He says in no uncertain terms, tell you first thing you need to do. "Wake up". You know, when you study this church you'll find out there were actually three kinds of Christians in this church. There were the dead Christians. He says to them, "wake up, reignite the fire". Then there were the dying Christians. He says to them, "strengthen what's remained and is about to die". But then there were some dedicated Christians. So he says to them in verse four, "yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes".
Now whether you're a dead Christian and you know it and you need to wake up. Or you're a dying Christian and you know you need to get your vitality back, you need to strengthen what remains. Or you one of those, you say, "no, I'm really, really on fire for Lord, I'm dedicated". He gives three pieces of advice. Look what he says. Number one, "Remember, therefore, what you've received and heard". Jesus was a great counselor, he says, "listen, let me tell you the first thing you need to do, if you are not where you ought to be with the Lord today". He says, "here's what you need to do, remember your past".
Memories are very powerful thing. You know, sometimes one of the best things you can do is just go back in your life, remember those times when you were most on fire for the Lord. Go back to a time in your life when Jesus was most real to you. When you were most passionate about your faith. And when you remember what you remember from the past, Jesus said, "you can retrieve from the past. You can remember it in the present". See, here's what I want you to understand. I don't know where you are with the Lord. But if you're not with the Lord, where you ought to be and you know you're not with the Lord, where you ought to be and you know he knows you're not with the Lord where you ought to be, you don't have to stay where you are. You do not have to stay where you are. And sometimes the way to get to where you need to go in the future is go back and remember where you once were in the past. Because listen, if you were ever there yesterday, you can get back there today and you can be there tomorrow.
So Jesus said, first of all, "all right, remember". Second piece of advice, "hold it fast, and repent". We keep seeing that word over and over. Jesus says, "okay, remember a time in your life when you were close, you can get back there". How do you get back there? "Repent". You know, in every letter where Jesus gives a rebuke, he always says, "hey, part of the remedy is to repent". Somebody said, and I think they're right, that the shortest road to repentance is remembrance. And I think that's true. But I will tell you this, we talk about revival. We need revival, the church needs revival. I need revival, you need revival. Don't know hardly anybody doesn't need revival. Listen, the only road that leads to revival is repentance.
You know, we talk about, man, I'll tell you what Preacher, America needs to get right with God. Stop the presses. The church needs to get right with God. The church needs to be on fire for God. Let's don't worry about them. Judgment begins at the house of God. Now understand, repentance is not just understanding the problem. Yeah, I know we got a problem. It's not just being sorry about the problem. Yeah, I mean I know I'm dead and I really shouldn't be that way. It's turning from the problem to the solution. And I've said many times but it bears repeating, I've said it many times and I'll say it till I go to my grave. If you said to me, what do you think is wrong with the average true Christian? Easy, no, I'm telling you, I'm dead on when I tell you this. The average Christian got saved and got over it. They got saved, but they got over it. They've already moved on to something else.
Somebody asked a man one time, "Hey, how long have you been a Christian"? He gave a classic answer. They said, "how long have you been a Christian"? He said, "oh, I've been a Christian off and on for about 40 years". Well some of you need to turn the on switch back on. And you need to stay on and never go off. And repentance is when you decide, "you know what, I'm flipping the on switch again". Heard about a little boy, fell out of bed one night and just screamed at top of his lungs, it scared him to death. His mom and dad rushed in, picked him up, loved on him, put him back in the bed. And so she was tucking him back in, you know, she knelt down, she said, "son, what happened? Why did you fall outta bed"? He said, mom, "I know what I did". She said, "what"? He said, "I went to sleep too close to where I got in".
Well go back to where you first got in. If the most excited you've ever been about Jesus is when you gave your heart to Jesus, go back to that time for me when I was a nine year old boy. When you gave your life to Jesus. We need to remember we need to repent. Then he says, "we need to return". He says in verse three, "But if you don't wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you". See a church that's awake is a church that's returned to Jesus. It's a church that's always looking for Jesus, always looking to Jesus. Now, Jesus said, "when you remember and when you repent, and when you return, then you'll be revived". And watch this last part, 'cause this is really encouraging. He says, "now once you do that," here's the last thing, "you can expect your eternal reward".
Now watch this, the stench of death was not on everybody in this church. He says, "you have a few people in Sardis, they've not soiled their clothes". Yeah, there were some people that walked in and they were faithful followers. They were glory with spiritual life. You know, back in the day, some of you're too young to remember this. Some of you're old enough. We used to have what we call a moral majority in American. How many of you remember the moral majority? Can I be honest? I have never believed there was a moral majority in America. But I tell you what I do wanna be a part of. I wanna be a part of the master's minority, wherever they're found. So here's what he says to the faithful few. Here's what he says to those people who say, "he may be dead, she may be dead, my church may be dead. I'm not gonna be dead". He said, "okay, I'm gonna make a promise to you". He says in verse four "They will walk with me dressed in white for they are worthy".
Now you ladies know that the color white in the Bible, symbolizes purity. That's why every bride wears white. And one of these days, those who are his faithful bride, if we're faithful, we will wear white. We will be known throughout the universe. He says, you know what? "The angels will know about you. Every being will know about you. I know how you lived on earth, you kept the faith. You stayed close to the Lord, you stood strong. You remained pure, you are not ashamed of the gospel. You will wear white". Then it goes on to make a very startling statement. This will shake you up a little bit. He says, "the one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white". Now watch this. "I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but I will acknowledge that name before my father and his angels".
Now if you believe in the afterlife as I do, and if you believe in heaven and hell like I do, that statement will get your attention. What does he mean by "blot out from the book of life"? Because whatever that means, I don't wanna be a part of that. So what does he, "I'll blot you out". Because you remember Jesus said one time to the disciples in Luke chapter 10, he said, "rejoice that your names are written in heaven". Now, when Jesus said to these disciples, "your names are written in heaven". He uses a verb in the perfect tense. In the Greek language when you write something in the perfect tense, it means something that is done, it is permanent, it will continue on to the future, it will never be undone.
So, for those of us who are truly believers in Jesus, we've really surrendered to the worship of Jesus. Your name has been written permanently in the book of life. But what about those who'll be blotted out? Who is he talking about? Watch this. Learn something. In Psalm 69, verse 28, speaking about people who rebel against God, they refuse God. They don't give their life to Jesus Christ. They have no use for Jesus. They don't wanna know about eternal life. They don't wanna be safe. They don't wanna know God. Now listen what he says, "May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous".
Now here's what we're talking about. God has a book of life. What is life? Life is people who are living. So God has a book of life and it contains the names of all the living, everybody. Whether you're wicked, whether you're righteous, whether you're saved, whether you're lost, whether you believe, whether you don't believe. Got all the names. But you die an unbeliever. You die without Jesus. You die unsaved. God takes an eraser, blots your name out. Takes your name out of the book of life. Because the only thing that will be left at the end of eternity in the book of life are people who are truly alive. People who truly believe. People who truly know Jesus.
That's why it's called a Revelation 21:27, "the Lamb's book of life". So here's the question I wanna ask all of you right now, those you're watching. So which group are you in? Which group are you in? Are you a part of those unbelievers who are spiritually dead? Are you a professing believer but you appear to be spiritually dead? Or are you a believer, you say, "my faith is on fire. People can see me burn, they can feel my heat". And Jesus says this about them, listen. "I will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels".
So we're gonna wrap this up. You've been great, you've listened. I've been watching closely, nobody's asleep yet, I don't think they are. Do what Jesus says, "Wake up"! Tell 'em to wake up. So I'm gonna close with this. We don't just come to the end of our life. The entire world comes to the end of time. God turns out all the lights. God closes all the curtains. God shuts down all the machinery. Well, there's gonna be that day when those of us who stayed faithful and we stayed true to the truth of God, and The Word of God, and the Son of God, and the gospel of God.
One day, just imagine, we're going to be led up this street. It's gonna be a golden street. And on either side of this street you're gonna see legion, after legion, after legion, after legion, after legion of angels. And we're going to be led right up to the very throne of God. And before every spiritual being and every human being that's ever lived, Jesus is gonna call our name. And Jesus is going to say, "well done good and faithful servant". What else could you want? What else could you ask for? What else could you look for? To be in a world where there are no walking dead. Everybody is gloriously alive. But it only comes through the one who said, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life and no one will come to the Father unless they come through me".
Would you pray with me? Heads are bowed, eyes are closed, just for a moment. I'm asking you right now, whether you're watching online or you're in this building right now, please get honest. You can't fool the great doctor. Do you have a pulse? Do you have a spiritual pulse or not? Let me tell you something, if you don't know Jesus, you are spiritually dead. You may work out at the gym, you may pump iron, you may take vitamins, you may watch your diet. You might not be on any medication at all, but if you do not know Jesus, you are spiritually dead. Now your name's in the book of life, but if you die that way, it will be blotted out. How about those of you who say, "well, all right, I claim to be a Christian".
How alive is your faith? If you're not as close to Jesus today, if there's ever been a time in your life when you've been closer to Jesus than you are today, you're a walking dead person. It's time to change that. First you don't know Jesus, you've never been saved, you're in this room or you're watching right now. Would you like to be saved? Would you like to know the one that's going to judge you one day? Would you like to know the one that can keep your name in that book? Would you like to know the one that can change your life forever? You say, "yes, I would". Why don't you just tell him? Just right now:
Lord, I need you. I'm a sinner and I need a savior and you're that savior. Would you come into my life right now? I repent of my sin, I turn away from my sin. I trust you as my savior. I receive you as my Lord. Forgive me of all my sins, and thank you for giving me eternal life today.