Elder, Matt VanderKooi, preached this message on November 9, 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
Message that I will be giving you this morning. By the way, my name is Matt Vandercoy, I’m an elder here at the church. And the message I’ll be bringing you this morning has been a message that’s actually been on my heart for probably over a decade. This passage in Revelation 3, 14:21. I read a book that used this passage to make some points.
It was a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. And as I read the book, I started to ask questions. Is that what this passage means? Is that how it should be applied? And it led me on a study of Revelation.
It led me on a study of this passage. Some of the works DA Carson, Matthew, Henry Voddie, Bachem, Kim, Riddlebarger, Gospel Coalition, among others, have all informed this message as I studied this passage and the book of Revelation. Please turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to Revelation 3. You’ll probably want to keep your Bible open to this passage as we will be coming back to this passage throughout the message here. And please read with me Revelation 3, 14:21.
And to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write the words of the Amen. The faithful and true witness the beginning of God’s creation. I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot.
So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich in white garments, so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen. And salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. Please pray with me. Dear Lord, thank you for our time this morning.
Thank you for our veterans that have fought for our country. That is a reminder that we are in a spiritual battle now and today. I just pray that we would be faithful in this battle. And I pray that, Holy Spirit, you would give me the words to say this morning and that you would open hearts Understand what you would have people hear in Jesus name. Amen.
So let’s go right to verse 16. Let’s open right to the verse that was distressing to me first time I read it, and a bit terrifying also, where Jesus says, I will spit you out of my mouth. Is there anything more terrifying and distressing than that statement? It terrifies me to think of today being spit out and rejected by my Savior at the end of days. To be spit out by my Savior and be under judgment.
There’s nothing more terrifying to me than that.
So how do I understand that passage? But maybe this morning that passage is not very terrifying to you. Maybe you come this morning and you think, I don’t know if I believe in this Jesus. I don’t really know who this Jesus is. Well, let me share with you this morning that the Christian faith is a faith that’s built on historical truth claims.
And if these things that are claimed to have happened in history did not happen, then our faith is worthless. It’s not worth the money for the pages it’s written on. But our Christian faith is built on historical truth claims, things that really happen. And if you wonder about this Jesus, can I believe in him? I’d encourage you to read the book by Lee Strobel, A Case for Christ.
I would encourage you to read Evidence that Demands a verdict by Josh and Sean McDowell. I’m just going to go over a few of the things written about in some of these books. So the Gospels is one of the historical books, the Gospels. Check every box for a reliable eyewitness account. Checks every box.
And we can be confident today that the Gospel that we have is preserved from the original manuscripts. Better any document in all of history, how it’s been preserved, it’s miraculous. So the Gospels. Josephus was a Jewish historian. Tacitus was a Roman historian.
Pliny the Younger was a Roman Roman governor. And what do they all talk about in regards to the historical truth claims? They talk about Jesus Christ, that he lived 2,000 years ago and he performed miracles. There’s no doubt about that. The secular writers all agree on that too.
He was crucified and he died. Contrary to Islam. Yes, he died. You cannot have a spear pushed in your heart and live. He died.
And then three days later, there was an empty tomb. There is no debate in that history. The tomb was empty. The bones have never been found. So why was the tomb empty?
Well, 500 plus eyewitnesses claimed to have seen the risen Lord. And then something miraculous happened. Christians under persecution refused to recount the risen Lord with a certainty of death. They went from afraid to no longer feel fearful. Why?
Because death had been conquered. That’s why Jesus rose from the death. And they saw the risen Lord and they heard about Him. Well, perhaps that’s not enough. Perhaps you look at that.
Okay, I see these historical truth claims, but let’s talk about something a little further here. This Bible, written over 1500 years has prophecies that were written hundreds and hundreds of years before Christ, that were fulfilled in Christ. Let’s just talk about a couple or a few. I should say that Jesus would be born of a virgin. Written hundreds of years before Christ.
Fulfilled in Christ. Talk about in Matthew. He was to be born in Bethlehem. Fulfilled in Christ. Line of David.
Fulfilled in Christ. Preceded by a messenger. Happened in John the Baptist. Rejected by his own people. Fulfilled in Christ.
Betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Fulfilled in Christ. Pierced hands and feet. Fulfilled in Christ. That was written about in Psalms.
Silent before accusers. Talked about in Isaiah. Fulfilled in Christ. Talked about in Matthew. Buried with the rich.
Talked about in Isaiah. Fulfilled in Christ. In Matthew. He was resurrected. Amen.
That was fulfilled in Christ. Talked about throughout the New Testament. So that is who Jesus is. And I implore you today, don’t just go and hear these things and do nothing with Jesus. Something has to be done with Jesus.
You either reject him or you accept him. Two choices. Well, perhaps this statement being spit out of Jesus mouth does not distress you because, well, that’s not my Jesus. We hear that today. My God wouldn’t do that.
My God is not a God of judgment. My Jesus would not have wrath. That wouldn’t be my Jesus. It’s easy today to want this. Love is love Jesus and have everything be accepted.
As long as I just try to follow Jesus, I’m good enough. But is that the Jesus of the Bible? Richard Niebuhr in his book written in 1937 talked about the Jesus and the God that we want in America today. A God without wrath, bringing men without sin into a kingdom without judgment, through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross. But is that who Jesus was?
Is that who he is? Because we need to be worshiping a true God and a true Jesus. And he’s described in this book. Well, who is this Jesus? Is he a Jesus without judgment or holiness?
Right. Revelation 19:11 16 says, Then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire.
And on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them. With a rod of iron he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
On his robe and on his thigh he is a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus came the first time as a suffering servant to live a perfect life in your place and to die for your sins. When he comes again, it will be to come again as a righteous judge, and it will be a holy warrior that is described in the Bible. Let’s talk about this even further. Revelation 6, written about in verses 15 through 17.
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains. And the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who was seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand Whose wrath is that? It’s the Lamb.
It’s Jesus. He’s coming again to judge. Who can stand in that wrath? That is a crucial question for us all to answer this morning. And we’ll get there.
But who can stand that wrath? Well, perhaps you might say, well, that’s just revelation. Well, what did Jesus himself say? What did he say? Well, the God of wrath.
That’s just the Old Testament. God. No, that’s God. What did Jesus say? Who did he say about himself?
Luke 12:4,5. I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do to you. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has the authority to cast into hell. And yes, I tell you, fear him.
So I have to tell you, talking about the wrath of God and the judgment of God, I am very, very uncomfortable to talk about. I don’t like to talk about it. I don’t like to think about it. In fact, I like to pretend it doesn’t even exist. But that doesn’t change the facts.
I cannot like it. I cannot want it to be true. But the fact is, it is true. And what am I going to do with that. A book by Jeff Vanderstelt called Gospel Fluency.
He writes, perhaps we love approval from others more than we actually love them. Because if we loved people and we know that this is true, wouldn’t we be praying for them? Wouldn’t we be inviting them to church? Wouldn’t we be sharing the gospel with them? That was quite a challenge to me as I looked at some of these verses.
So why does judgment. Why is it even necessary? Right? Why? Wrath of God what is all this about?
R.C. sproul in his book Holiness of God really helped me understand this better. He writes that God is set apart. He is transcendent. He is pure.
He is holy. And that is all that God is. And his holiness sin cannot be in his presence. His love is a holy love. His justice is a holy justice.
His mercy is a holy mercy. His knowledge is holy. His Spirit is a holy Spirit. He further writes, our sin is cosmic treason. When we say to God, my way is the way.
My truth is my truth. God, I am going to control my own destiny. I’m going to do things my own way. That’s defiance. That is what we do every time that we sin.
When we do it, we are making our ways better than God’s ways. We are claiming our ways are better than his.
R.C. sproulfurther writes, God is so slow to anger that when his anger does erupt, we are shocked and offended by it. God’s patience is designed to lead us to repentance. But we use this grace to become more bold in our sin. We delude ourselves into thinking that God doesn’t care about it or that he is powerless to punish us.
The supreme folly as we think we will get away with it.
So let’s get back to the passage that we started with, this lukewarm thing. Francis Chan writes in his book, and he is making the point that lukewarm people are not Christians and they will be under judgment. What I would ask is that what this passage is about? And we’ll talk about that in just a little bit. But let’s look at some of his quotes.
Lukewarm people attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected of them, what they believe good Christians do. So they go. Lukewarm people are moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act. Lukewarm people will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money and energy they are willing to give.
So as Francis Chan uses this passage in Revelation, and he Talks about lukewarm people this way. There’s an implication that if you are not hot enough for Jesus, you are lukewarm and you’ll be judged. You are not hot enough for Jesus, then you’re under judgment. But is that what this is saying? It was really confusing to me because I’m like, well, what’s hot enough?
What is on fire enough for Jesus? Is it 100 degrees, 150? Do I need to be boiling? Is there some measuring thing about where I’ve got to earn the right amount of hotness? Is that how this passage is to be used?
I would say no, as well as many of the scholars that I studied further. Now let’s talk about how do we properly interpret this passage? How do we properly interpret Scripture? If we are going to interpret Scripture properly, we need to realize that the Bible was written to a particular people in a particular time, in a particular context, with a particular meaning that we can then apply today. So what is the context of the Book of Revelation?
So the Book of Revelation, it was written either between 54 and 68 AD in the reign of Nero or in the reign of Domitian 81 through 96. But it’s apocalyptic literature. And that means that it is a revelation concerning the ultimate goal of history. What’s the ultimate goal of history? That Jesus Christ will be glorified, and those that believe in his name will be glorified with him.
But there will also be judgment for the wicked, the rebellious. And the book of Revelation is full of symbolism and prophecy. And some of the symbolism and prophecy in there is absolutely amazing. The more I studied the Book of Revelation, the more I learned about it, the more amazed I became at the complexity of our God and realized, boy, I can study this book for the rest of my life and I’ll still just be scratching the surface. So to who was a book written?
We talked about type of literature it is. It was written to seven churches in Asia Minor or Western Turkey. And the number seven is used, seven churches, which is interesting. There were literal seven churches. But also in this book, God uses numbers in a very incredible way.
In fact, when God is described, he’s almost always described in threes, which is why, well, we have the Trinity, right? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. An example is Jesus is described as the one who is, the one who was and the One who is to come. So Revelation uses numbers in this amazing way. And one of the symbolic numbers is 7.
And 7 is a number of completeness or perfection. So when this book is written to these seven Churches then it’s also being written to the seven or the complete church now. So it’s very applicable to us today. Now, this was a time where persecution had fallen on many Christians. This was a time where it was demanded that you acknowledge the emperor as divine.
If you’d acknowledge Caesar as divine, then it was okay for you to worship how you wanted. There was a time of heretical teaching that had come into the church. False teaching had come into the church already in the first century. So do we need to be on guard for that today in our churches? Absolutely.
There was a call to stand fast because victory had been secured through Christ and his blood. That’s our context. So let’s get to the first verse in this passage and to the angel of the church in Laodicea. Right. Who’s the angel?
Angelos? I’m not sure how to pronounce it in Greek, but it’s a Greek word. It means messenger. And messenger can be either a human messenger or a heavenly being as a messenger. In this context, the scholars believe that this angel is a human messenger.
It is a leader of the church in Laodicea. Right. Or in the church to Laodicea, write these things. So it’s written to the messenger or the leader of the church in Laodicea. And then the words go on to say the words of the Amen.
The Amen is Jesus here, the word Amen being complete. And it’s from the faithful and true witness who is Christ, the beginning of all God’s creation. Remember, in John we hear and read in the beginning was the Word. So the Word here is Jesus Christ. And this Word is being given by Christ, breathed through John to be written down.
Now let’s talk about the hot cold and the lukewarm. And who is actually being judged here? When one of the. The pastors that I listen to a lot when preparing for this service here and this message, his name is Vodi Bakam. And he writes that this is not an individual that’s being vomited out of Christ’s mouth here.
It is really the church that is being judged. It’s a church that is being unfaithful. It’s the church that’s being rejected. Now, parallels of this can be found in the old testament. Zephaniah 3, 12, 13 talks about when the nation of Israel was under judgment.
They were being judged, going to be judged. But God says, I will leave in your midst of people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord. There is a remnant of believers in National Israel as there were, there is a remnant of believers, likely in this church in Laodicea. And in Revelation 3, 4, it’s the church of Sardis.
Sardis was also being unfaithful under judgment. But there it very clearly says, yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments. They will walk with me in white. And walk with me in white is a key thing here. We’re going to come back to walk in white, for they are worthy.
So also in Revelation, we see individuals that are being saved through this church that’s being rejected. And I believe that happens today. Today we have false churches all over the place that are no longer proclaiming the gospel, that are no longer preaching the whole of Scripture. And we want to pray and help people come out of those churches into true churches. But God can still save people in those places.
And that’s what’s being described here. There’s the church that’s being rejected. Now, what about the hot and the cold? Is this really saying you need to be on fire for me enough. You need to be at a certain temperature to be hot enough to not be rejected.
Let’s look at this context. Laodicea. Where was Laodicea? Laodicea was in a hot, arid climate. It did not have its own water supply.
It got water from Colossae and water from Hierapolis. Now, Colossae had this delicious cold spring water, and that cold spring water came to Laodicea. Hierapolis had had this hot medicinal spring water and that would get aqueducted. Is that a word? Aqueducted?
That would get aqueducted to Laodicea. Now, it was interesting when the cold water, by the time that got to Laodicea, it was lukewarm. When that medicinal water got to Laodicea, it was lukewarm. And in both cases, it was disgusting. It nauseated people and it nauseated Christ.
Christ saying, I’m nauseated by this. It’s not about whether you’re cold enough or hot enough in regards to being hot enough that I want you to be on fire for me, or it’s better for you to be completely cold against me. It is about this water being nauseating and makes Jesus sick to his stomach. In scripture, in understanding scripture properly, Scripture always needs to interpret scripture. So does God anywhere else in scripture say, I would rather you be completely cold like Richard Dawkins, Michael Shermer, and reject me, speak out against me, or an evil person that persecutes the church.
I’d rather you completely cold or I want you to be on fire. Does God ever say he would rather you be completely cold and reject him? It’s not consistent with Scripture. So it’s not talking about this being hot enough or it’s not talking about that. It’s talking about being useful to Christ.
It’s talking about being acceptable to Christ. So how do we get there? What was this church doing that was not acceptable? What was making the church nauseated? So more context.
Rich baking center was Laodicea. It was very rich. It was famous for black wool. It was also famous for a medical school that produced Isap. So that is all context here.
Now, what were the sins of the church that we see in verse 17? For in verse 17, the church says, I am rich. I have prospered, and I need nothing. Yet Jesus says, they are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. So how did they become rich?
How could they be rich in this time of persecution? Right. The church is being persecuted, but this church is rich. It’s loaded. What’s going on here?
Well, Vodi Bakam describes this being a time of merchant guilds. And if you were going to be rich at this time, you were going to be involved in these merchant guilds. And what happened in these merchant guilds? Well, feasts. Feasts where there were sacrifices to idols.
And also with those feasts sacrificed to idols, there was sexual immorality running rampant at these feasts. And that was likely occurring at this time, as it was also occurring in Sardis. And there was also likely compromise of the gospel. Well, how can this church be rich when you have to say Caesar is divine? How can they be rich if they’re not saying Caesar is divine?
Well, no, they wouldn’t be rich. They’d be persecuted. So Bauckham further describes that this church was likely compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ by compromising with Caesar being God and was saying, you know, idol worship, you know, we can take, you know, we can handle that sexual immorality. We’re okay with that. They were rich.
So today as we look also, you know, throughout history, where are we being told to compromise more than anywhere else? It all goes back to Genesis. In Genesis, the devil said to Eve, Satan says to Eve, did God really say. Did God really say, no, you can be God. You can be God.
God just doesn’t want you to have that knowledge. You can be God. So right away, at the beginning, idolatry, make yourself God. And that’s what we see happening in Laodicea. Make yourself God.
Other gods are okay. And today that’s what the world is telling us to do today. Be who you want to be. Make it your way. Your truth is your truth.
You be you.
That’s what was happening then. And that’s where Satan continues to want us to compromise today. Sexual immorality in Genesis, Genesis 2:24. A man shall leave his father and mother and should cleave to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Why does God care so much about marriage?
Because it’s a covenant. And it’s the closest thing we have to the covenant that God has with his people. That’s being mirrored in marriage. That’s why it’s such a big deal. And sexual immorality is anything outside of that.
Any sexual immorality, any sexual intimacy outside of a covenant commitment between man and woman is sexual immorality. And it’s talked about in the Bible 50 times, implicitly, hundreds of times implied it is again and again. And the world is saying, you compromise here, like the Church of Laodicea. You can compromise on this stuff.
But then we get to this. I need nothing. And that is worse than the sexual immorality. That’s worse than the idolatry. Because I need nothing.
I can do it on my own. I can be good enough. I can be hot enough. I can do it. I can do what I need to do to be in a right relationship with God.
Self sufficiency is the sin of this church, and we need to be on guard of that today. Self sufficiency. What does Jesus say? He says, I counsel you to buy for me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich. Be rich in Christ.
Not rich in your own works. Not rich based on what you think you can do to be in a right relationship. Every religion in this world today says what? Be good enough. Try your hardest.
Be good enough. Our faith is totally different. Faith in Jesus, not what you do, it’s faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is how you buy gold from him. White garments that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen.
White garments, clothe yourself in Christ. Salve to anoint your eyes. Salve from Jesus so that we can see it’s not in the world, it’s in him.
In verse 19, we further see the purpose of this judgment. Why does Jesus here reject the church? Why did he reject national Israel? Why did he judge Israel? Why does he judge the church today?
Why does he judge and give discipline to us as individuals today?
Well, Jesus says in verse 19, those whom I love, I reprove. And discipline. So be zealous and repent. Jesus disciplines us so that we return to him. He’s saying to this church, return to me.
He’s saying the national, national Israel in the Old Testament, return to me. As he’s saying to you today, return to me.
Verse 20 says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me. At this point in the passage, it’s applied both to the church and to the individual. We see a little bit of a change here where we see an individual being addressed here. So as Jesus is standing at the door and knocking at the church, he’s saying, church, return to me.
Be open to me. Come back to my truth. Come back to riches in me. Clothe yourself with my robes. See what I want you to see.
And he’s saying, I’m knocking outside the door of your church. Open the door. Then when you have communion, I will come in and dine with you. I will be there in my spirit, in fellowship with you. He’s saying to the individual, here I stand at the door of your heart.
I’m knocking at that door, open the door, I want to dine with you. Dining is fellowship. I want to be in relationship with you. So he’s calling this church to do this. Perhaps today in your life you’re wondering, why am I going through this?
Why am I going through this thing with my job, my work, my relationships, my health, whatever? Maybe God is disciplining you so that you return to him. Ask God if that’s what he’s doing through that. What is the call to our church here, to Lake Wisconsin Church? Is to hear Jesus voice, is to dine with him, is to stay true to the truth.
The gospel of Jesus Christ and the whole of scripture is uncompromisingly, what does the word of God say? And we need to never be self sufficient, always depend on him for everything that we do in prayer. Proverbs says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him.
Be not wise in your own eyes, but turn away from evil. So what about to the individual? What about to you and to me? What’s our call to this passage? Is it to be hot enough to try harder?
I talked about that earlier. No, that’s not what this passage is about. Because in verse 23 Romans 3, 23 it says, for all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None of us can Be hot enough in our own strength. Hot enough is not possible in our own strength.
Our hot enough is only in Jesus Christ. For the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For all who believe, there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace. It’s his grace, his gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2, 8, 10 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Even our faith is a gift from Him. It’s not a result of work so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in Him.
Further, how do we get to be hot enough? It is only in Jesus Christ. It is only in believing in Him. That’s where it all begins, and that’s where we have our sufficiency. John 6, 28, 29 says, Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God?
Jesus answered them, this is the work of God that you believe in him, who he sent. That is how we get into that right relationship. Clothed in white. Remember, we started in that passage and Jesus is telling the church be clothed in white. In Sardis, there was individuals that were clothed in white.
What is all this white stuff about? Revelation 7, 13, 14. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come? And I said to him, sir, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. White robes again. So I started this message talking about the holy judgment of Christ. Now I want to turn and I want to talk about the holy, holy, holy love of Christ. The holy, holy, holy love of Jesus.
2000 years Jesus lived. He lived a perfect life in your place. And then he was spit on. He. He was mocked and he was rejected.
He had a crown of thorns pressed into his head, pressed down to his skull until blood ran down his face. He had his back opened up with lash after lash for you and for me, until the blood ran in the streets. He had nails put through his hands, nails put through his feet. He then went to the cross, and the billions and billions of sins that had been committed were all placed on him. Our sin was my sin.
Your sin was placed from you to him. And the wrath of God, the judgment of God, Went there. All of it. He took it all. Imagine the darkest place you’ve ever been in your life.
Multiply that by a bazillion, and that’s what Jesus felt on the cross. And he did all that for you? He did all of that for me.
And then what do we get out of that? He took our sin. We get his white robe of righteousness. If we are going to come into the presence of God someday and come into his presence. And he says, why?
Why are you in a right relationship with me? And we say, because I did this for you. I did that for you. I was hot enough. I was on fire.
It was good enough. We will come into heaven naked. That is, naked. But if we come to Jesus and we say, jesus, I believe in the perfect life you lived in my place. I believe in the death that you died in the cross in my place.
I believe in your resurrection and that you conquered death. If we come then in that way to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit in judgment, we will be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. That white robe will be covering us. That garment will be covering us. That is what Jesus will see.
Not our sin, not our self righteousness. That is how we are in a right relationship with God. That is how we are hot enough. And then what happens? Glorification.
Revelation 21:3 4 says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. God loves you and I so much that he wants to dwell with us throughout all eternity. He created you and me so he could live with us and dwell with us.
And as we come into heaven, what will happen? He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have all passed away. That is the promise for you and for me.
Now, what does a living faith look like? Jackie Chan or Francis Chan? Jackie Chan. Francis Chan.
Francis Chan was not trying to say in his book. Well, I do not believe he applied the passage correctly, but I know he was not trying to say you’re justified by your works. He was trying to get people to examine themselves. Okay. We are called to examine ourselves.
Is our faith real? 2nd Corinthians 13:5. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourself. Or do you not realize this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you?
Unless indeed you fail to meet the test. So we are to examine ourselves. Is our faith real? How do we know is our faith real? Well, James 2:1426, James says so.
Faith by itself, if it does not have works, it’s a dead faith. If you have a real faith, it will be accompanied by works. It will be accompanied in you by the Holy Spirit giving you the desire to pursue God. It will live out in you in your desire to try to live by the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faith, faithfulness and self control.
There will be fruit and the Holy Spirit promises to give us that fruit. Okay, Jesus said that will happen. I’ll send a helper to help you. So a living faith. Now let’s come back to Paul in Philippians.
So what do you think? You think Paul would say, I’m hot enough, I’m on fire for enough for Jesus? What do you think he would say? Would he say, I’m on fire enough for Jesus?
That’s not what he said in Romans. That’s not what he said in Romans 7:24, what he said there, O wretched man that I am now. Paul didn’t just leave himself there. He went to the cross. And then because of that gift that Christ gave him, he said in Philippians 3:12,14 this is what I do.
Not that I’ve already obtained this perfect righteousness in Christ, or I’m already perfect, but I press on to make it my own. I desire to make that my own because Christ Christ Jesus made me his own brothers. I do not consider that I’ve made it my own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind my sin, I turn from it. Once I am saved, I turn from my sin and I turn and pursue God.
And that’s what Paul is saying here. Forgetting what lies behind and straying forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
So application for us today from this this morning church of Lake, Wisconsin. Do not compromise on the whole truth of the scripture. Do not compromise on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Proclaim it each and every day and rely completely on Jesus, you and me, you individually in this place. Today.
I really implore you to do something with Jesus. Today. You have two choices. Reject or accept. I really, really just want you to please accept him or at least struggle with this.
All you need to do right relationship with Christ. Trust in him completely in his perfect life that he lived in your place, the death he died in your place. And the victory over death that he accomplished for you. Please do that this morning. And then brothers and sisters, go out and live in that light.
Please pray with me.
Dear Lord, thank you for your holiness. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for choosing to create a world. Thank you for choosing to create a people that you desire to be in relationship with. Why you desire to be in a relationship with us, I have no idea.
Because we reject you constantly. I’m so thankful that you did not leave us in our rejection, but you sent your son to do what we couldn’t do and to die in our place. Lord, we’re so thankful for what you’ve done for us, and I pray that we would live that light in the upcoming weeks ahead. In Jesus name, Amen. There is people.