Will the Real Church Please Stand Up?

Number three.

Jordan, I'm I don't know what I'm gonna do yet.

You want me to use this?

No.

No.

Am I doing this right?

Very good.

Revelation and chapter number three.

And verse one.

The angel of the church.

These things saith he that Spirit of God.

Are you sure?

Why don't we let's go to this?

I always wanted one of these so I could look like a TV preacher, and then I got one and it didn't even work.

So now I'll look like an evangelist or something.

Okay.

Let's try it again.

Unto the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

I know thy works that thou hast to name, that thou livest and art dead.

Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.

For I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent.

If thou therefore shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments.

They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

I've taught I've entitled this message today Will the Real Church please stand up.

Father, we ask you to help us as we enter into the Word today.

Speak to all of our hearts.

Lord, as I'm speaking, oh Lord, speak to me.

And do a lasting work is our prayer in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you so much for standing and be seated together.

One of the marks of the end times church is a powerful statement made by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 3 when he says that they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Is it possible to look alive and be dead?

Is it probable that we could have all of the trappings of life and form and organization and function and still miss all that God has for us in Christ?

Can I be honest with you?

I've been in church my whole life.

You might call me a professional Christian.

Maybe you're a professional Christian.

By that I mean we've all learned how to look alive.

We wear our Sunday best, we put our Bibles under our arms, we nag the kids, and as soon as the door opens on our car in the parking lot of the church, we become a new creature in Christ.

Good morning.

So good to see all of you.

And your kids are looking at like, who was that guy that just drove us to church this morning?

Thou hast a name that you are alive.

But you're dead.

The time of John's writing, Sardis was a has-been city.

It used to be great, it used to be prominent, used to be successful.

Sardis was considered one of the ancient world's most secure cities.

We have a few pictures, I think they'll show here.

Because of its extraordinary natural and military defenses, was built upon a towering Acropolis rising roughly 1,500 feet above the Hermos Valley.

The city was protected by steep and sheer rock cliffs on the southern face, and it made the city impervious to direct attack from the valley floor.

Approaching armies faced only a handful of accessible routes, allowing Sardis defenders to focus their protection on limited entry points, while much of the city seemed naturally unclimbable.

Massive fortified walls once crowned the heights of the city, giving watchmen commanding views over the surrounding plains and the major trade routes.

As the wealthy capital of the Kingdom of Lydia, Sardis combined a strategic geography with immense prosperity, producing an atmosphere of great military confidence and perceived invulnerability, and maybe they felt like Americans today feel today that we are too big, we're too big to fall.

It appears that the only way that the city could be breached is if the watchmen who were to protect the wall were not vigilant.

In 549 BC, King Crocius of Lydia felt secure in the city, but a Persian soldier spotted a Lydian soldier dropping his helmet and descending a secret path to retrieve it.

The Persians observed his unguarded nature.

They discovered the hidden path, scaled the cliffs at night, and took the city by surprise.

The Ionians, 50 years later, during the revolt, the Ionian revolt, the city was captured once again and accidentally burned.

The pride of the people, their feeling of invincibility once again led to their demise.

And then a third time, nearly three centuries later, a remarkable and similar incident occurred.

The army of Antiochus scaled the steep, neglected walls of the Acropolis at a point deemed too safe.

And it was left unguarded, resulting in the city being taken for a third time.

Last, in AD 17, a surprise earthquake fully destroyed the city.

They rebuilt.

But historians record that the city was then a shadow of its former self.

That's the city that gets this letter.

A century later, when John writes in Revelation chapter 3, he writes to a city that was more reputation than current reality.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

They had a reputation that they had made another go at city building, but deep down inside they were dead and awaiting the trash heap of history.

Bence Havner, the great evangelist of the 20th century, noted that the same thing may be true of a church.

He said a church has four stages, begins with a man, the man begins a movement, the movement becomes a machine, and after a while the machine becomes a monument.

Though the head is not dead, the body is.

And all that's left is a movement that always seeks to resuscitate something God had done in the past, but was dead.

This dead church, Paul, John is writing in Revelation chapter 3, we notice there's things that are not distinctive about it.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

First of all, it had no gospel witness.

It appears as we read this letter and in church history, we discover that this church had no gospel witness, or I might say it this way, this church was having no gospel impact on its own community.

May I just say, God forbid that the Calvary Baptist Church, it would ever be said of us, that church has no gospel witness in the city of Englewood.

No witness.

We might say, number two, the city receives no commendation.

As is true of many of these letters that we've seen already, the Holy Spirit will say, This is what I like and this is what you're doing, and keep doing that, but let's fix this.

This church receives no commendation.

Matter of fact, their only commendation is placed within a rebuke where he says, You have a reputation that you are alive, but are dead.

We might notice that this church is suffering no persecution.

We've seen that the last couple weeks.

No advancement that has forged an attack against the gates of hell.

And because there was no advancement against the gates of hell, there was no friction, and because there was no friction, there was no movement, just a church occupying the ground.

The doors are open.

Maybe there's a membership, maybe some form of religious observance, but long ago faith stepped out and duty walked in.

Lifeless worship walked in, and vital praise walked out.

These believers are at ease in Zion, in danger of extinction, having no real impact, no real influence, and no real vision for the world in which they were to serve and represent the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of their services started at 11 sharp and ended at 12 dull.

And I know what you're thinking.

You never intend for that to happen at Calvary Baptist Church.

Havner said, Orthodoxy, that is right belief.

It's correct belief, right opinion, but there is a dead orthodoxy.

It is the tragedy of a church or an individual who has the truth but has lost the fire.

Can I say that again?

That the enemy of a church is to hold to the truth and lose the fire.

G.

Campbell Morgan wrote, A dead church always has a great deal to say about its past.

It lives in memory, not in hope.

And we've had some great days here at 75 Pine Street, and we've seen God do some great things, and we've seen God start some great things, but it's my heart to say, God, will you do it again in our lifetime for your glory?

And all of this malaise and daze and haze and craze.

You want to stand up and shout, will the real church at Stardust please stand up?

Who in the congregation was tired of showing up and slumping off and mentally assenting and leaving unchanged?

Who's tired of the advancement of the wicked, the encroachment of the darkness, the comfort of the afflictors?

There's a fire in their bones.

It's somewhere.

A light, a smoking flax, a tinkling symbol.

What does John give as advice to this church?

Ethan asked me what I was preaching this morning, and I got to three points.

And then I gave him another one, and he said, Oh, there's more.

I said, Buy three, get one free.

Number one, he said, Wake up.

Wake up.

The Bible says in verse number two, be watchful.

Everybody say, watchful.

Watchful.

There's a word of caution here.

Where are the watchmen who guide the spiritual temperature of the church?

I had somebody say to me the other day, they thought the health of a church was the strength of its male leadership, its worship and vitality and praising God, and their ability to laugh.

Think about that.

John MacArthur said, follow the agenda set by church growth experts, business strategists, and opinion surveys, and you're likely to conclude that building a successful church demands shorter services, larger parking lots, better equipped nurseries, more entertainment, and above all, less preaching and teaching from the Bible.

But he concluded that the church is not a business, and success is not its goal, and leadership qualifications are not negotiable, and its health is not measured in size or market share or bank accounts or programs or its influence or popularity with the world.

Its influence is measured by its preaching and teaching of the Word of God and its exaltation of the person of Jesus Christ in the soundness of its theology, in its spirit of repentance, in its demonstration of affection and love the brethren have for each other.

It's in making disciples not just attracting crowds.

It's in holy living lived by all who call it their church home.

In other words, our worship should never become humdrum, lifeless and rote, predictable and pedestrian.

Our worship should be rich and warm and hopeful and collective.

Let none mumble when we sing.

Let us praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our prayer should be active, meaningful, specific and intercessory.

There ought to be a time in your week.

The Holy Spirit puts a church member's name on your mind, and you stop everything you're doing and you pray.

Our preaching should be centered on Christ, compassionate and life-changing.

We should teach all the counsel of God and stare evil right in the face, regardless of the cost.

Our discipleship should be personal, powerful, prolonged, and accountable.

We should expect that all new converts are cared for like newborn babes, not just born and baptized, but nurtured and loved and protected and impacted by seasoned saints who want to invest in others what was invested in them.

Can we all say amen?

Our ministry should be excellent always for the glory of Christ.

Each member should be a minister, all serving Christ with a full heart full of joy and faith and passion.

Our giving should be generous, consistent, sacrificial, and voluntary.

No guilt in giving, all given because of grace.

Our relationships should be a coalition of friends, positive, forgiving, extracurricular, and inclusive.

No room for clicks here, no room for favoritism in God's church.

In essence, each one is looking for that new person to include into their family of faith.

Our doctrine should be steadfast, unmovable, taught, trained, defended, and declared.

Is there a watchman in the pulpit?

Is there a watchman heading every ministry?

Is there a watchman in every pew?

Well, the real Calvary Baptist Church, let's all stand up.

Wake up, he said.

Number two, he said, rise up.

He said in verse number two.

I hit the pulpit so hard, my Bible closed.

I hope that doesn't mean I'm supposed to stop preaching.

Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.

Strengthen the evidences of life that they still had.

The flickers of life that remained were in danger of becoming extinct.

Was there any hope that the things that remained would ever thrive again?

I want you to take the Bible and I want you to turn to the gospel of Matthew in chapter 12.

And I want to teach you something about Jesus.

There's many in the room this morning I do not personally know.

I'm so glad you're here.

I don't know where you are on your faith journey.

Maybe you've been a Christian for half a century, maybe more.

Maybe there's someone here today that would say, Pastor, I am I am more in love with Jesus than I've ever been in love with him before.

And if that's you, keep on loving, keep on praying, keep on pursuing Christ.

There might be someone here today that just has that flicker of faith.

Asking the fundamental questions of life.

Is there a God?

How do I know He loves me?

How do I know He has a plan for my life?

Both people are in the room today.

I was talking in our Wednesday morning class about what I find as a pastor that's always interesting to me.

I I said I preached a funeral last Saturday and I left there, and my wife and I went to the hospital and saw a brand new baby.

I had a member tell me that he just lost his job.

I had one tell me he just got a promotion at his job.

I want you to know in both places, our Lord is present.

The Bible says in Matthew chapter 12, verse number 20, a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

These are two statements that God uses through his Son, the Lord Jesus, that signifies to us that if there is a breath of life and a small ever so weakened reed, he can bring life from that place.

Strengthen the things that remain.

Let me talk to you about a bruised reed.

These are things that have never been of use.

Someone said, A bruised reed shall he not break.

A reed was a thin plant that grew along the water's edge.

And when it became bruised or even bent, it was weakened and nearly useless.

Most people would look at that and snap it off.

But the Bible says that Jesus doesn't break those with little strength.

No, he nurtures them.

What a savior.

He strengthens them and fashions them into great tools for his glory.

John Phillips said, from the bruised reed he can make a flute from which can flow the harmony of heaven.

A bruised reed.

And then he doesn't quench the smoking flax.

These are things that were at one time useful but no longer on fire.

Flax refers to a lamp wick.

A smoking flax or wick is one that is barely burning.

It has a small flame, but mostly just smoke.

Almost extinguished.

The picture here is of someone whose faith and hope and spiritual life is faint and struggling.

They are in what one author called the dark night of the soul.

Questioning even the existence of God.

Well, the Bible says Jesus doesn't snuff out that little faith.

He nurtures it back into a raging flame.

Someone said from the smoking flax he can make a lamp that lights the whole world.

Some of you here today are that broken reed, that smoking flax.

And you wonder, is there any hope left for me?

Your marriage is like that broken reed.

And you wonder.

Can our marriage ever be a flute that plays the harmonies of heaven?

Maybe at times you came to Calvary Baptist and you thought to yourself, well, the best days are those behind us, but if there were just a spark of faith, the Holy Spirit can blow upon it the air of heaven and produce a raging fire that reaches the ends of the earth for the glory of God.

That's the God that I serve.

John Phillips, he told the story of the little girl who was required to take a birth certificate to her Sunday school class.

But she lost it on the way.

And so when she got to Sunday school, one of the church workers saw her crying and asked her what was wrong, to which she tearfully said, I've lost my excuse for being born.

And some of you have lost your excuse for being born again.

But look around and see those sparks, and by faith ask God to empower them by his spirit.

Wake up, wise up, number three, warm up.

Remember, verse three.

Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent.

If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt know what hour, shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Three little words he gives, I'll give them quickly here.

He said, Remember.

Remember the work of God in the past.

Remember how thou hast received and heard.

How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

Remember.

If you're in that place where you feel like, where is God?

I want to encourage you to do something.

I want you to remember what you've seen and heard God do.

I had a voice teacher, I don't talk about him enough.

His name was Earl Holloway.

He became my great friend.

He was an old man when I met him, and I knew him for almost 20 years.

He became a really old man.

He died, I think he was 95.

I stood at his graveside years ago, and I was so upset.

And maybe selfishly a bit upset because I was going to miss him and I was going to miss his influence and encouragement in my life.

And his wife came up to me, and I was supposed to be ministering to her, and she came over and she ministered to me.

She said, years ago, Earl heard the story of a young man learning how to fly an airplane.

And he had he had a flight instructor who was incredibly harsh on him.

Can I borrow this?

Thank you.

That was a joke, by the way.

He was incredibly harsh and unbending in his rules.

Young man came to the place, felt like his instructor hated him.

Finally, one day, the instructor was all over his case, and the young man said, Why do you hate me so much?

The instructor began to laugh.

He said, I don't hate you.

He said, I'm I'm trying to prepare you for something.

There's going to be a day I'm not going to be sitting in this cockpit with you.

And the wind is going to blow and the clouds are going to set in, and it's going to be dark outside.

And you're going to be forced to panic.

And in that day, when you're forced to panic, I want my words to enter your mind so that you can land safely back home.

Can I tell you what God's done in my life?

God's given me some words that when the wind begins to blow and the darkness begins to set in on me, I remember what I've heard.

And it helps me navigate the storms of life.

Remember.

Not only did he say remember, there's a second word here.

It's the word recognize.

Recognize God in the present.

Hold fast.

The God of yesterday is the God of today.

The God of today is the God of tomorrow.

Recognize that God is at work in your present circumstance.

Spurgeon said, when we cannot trace God's hand, we should trust God's heart.

Recognize God in the present.

And thirdly, he said, we're to ready ourselves for his coming.

Hold fast and repent.

Watch, he says, watch.

He's coming again.

Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening, and maybe soon, but Jesus is coming again.

We're to be ready for the return of our Lord.

Warm up.

Last one, he said, wrap up.

Wrap up.

Look at verse 4.

Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white.

What he's saying is there's a lot of dead growth on the tree of the church, but they're not all dead.

No, I have a few names in Sardis that have not defiled themselves.

Lest we think that we're the only ones left, I want you to know God has a remnant all around the world that love Jesus as much or more than we do.

He says, there are those who have not soiled their garments.

The remnant.

That's what he's saying.

Because Christ is coming again, keep yourself unspotted from the world.

That thick line, I'm trying to land the plane, that thick line that used to separate the church from the world, has thinned over time.

It's thinned over time.

Someone said, Pastor, I've heard you preach, you're pretty narrow-minded about that narrow right there.

Can I say it to you?

If it's in black and white and sometimes red, it's still in black and white and sometimes red.

And if it was right yesterday, it'll be right tomorrow.

Keep yourself unspotted from the world.

Wrap up.

When the Son of Man cometh, will he find faith on the earth?

And you ought to say, when Jesus Christ comes, by his grace, if the whole world loses its mind, I'm keeping my mind on him.

I want to serve him.

There's a remnant of faith.

In Isaiah chapter 1, verse 9, the scripture says, Except the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom.

Isaiah 1:9

I want to walk you through something as we close.

I was reading on the internet, this is an old number.

But as of 2008, Billy Graham had an estimated lifetime audience of 2.2 billion people.

Is that amazing?

2.2 billion people.

2.2 billion people heard the gospel from the mouth of Billy Graham.

Billy Graham has shared the gospel with more people than possibly anyone in history.

But who shared the gospel with him?

One of the names in the remnant.

Almost 200 years ago, there was a man that owned a shoe, a shoe, a cobbler shop.

His name was Edward Kimball.

Edward Kimball was a Sunday school teacher, not prominent.

If I hadn't mentioned his name, you would never probably know he even existed.

Kimball came to a determination that as he was teaching a class, he was asking God that every young man in his class would come to personal faith in Jesus Christ.

He had a young man working for him, that little boy's name was Dwight.

God so burdened his heart with fear and trepidation, he had a hard time even asking someone if they were a Christian.

But he got up the gumption to speak to a child.

He led that little boy to Christ.

That little boy was named Dwight Lyman Moody.

D.L.

Moody.

They say that Moody became such a great preacher, he set one foot on England and the other foot on America, and he shook them both for God.

They say a million people came to faith in Christ through the meetings of D.

L.

Moody.

Edward Kimball, D.L.

Moody.

Well, Moody was preaching, and a young man by the name of Jay Wilbur Chapman came to faith in Christ.

We sing the music of Jay Wilbur Chapman.

One day when heaven was filled with his praises, one day when sin was as black as could be.

Kimball reached Moody.

Moody reached Chapman.

And Chapman was preaching one day, and there was a young man.

He was a professional baseball player.

He was an alcoholic.

His name was Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday came to faith in Christ through the preaching of Jay Wilbur Chapman.

Billy Sunday began to travel the nation, preaching against what he called booze.

Billy Sunday, by the way, Billy Sunday did not believe that revival had entered a town until all the saloons had closed for business.

Oh, we're going to go to the red one now.

Okay, we're going to knock them all out here.

I just want to say that that line between the world and the church is really thinned in that area.

I've had a lot of people defend social drinking to me until I get late calls in the night.

That social drinking became intoxication.

That became a ruined life.

You don't have to say amen.

I believe it.

Let's keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday was preaching, and a young man by the name of Mordecai Ham came to faith in Christ.

He became a great preacher.

Until one day he was preaching, and a hopeless young teenage boy named Billy from Montrose, North Carolina came to faith in Christ.

No one ever heard of Edward Kimball.

But Kimball became the human instrument that God used: a smoking flax, a broken reed to start a forest fire, an orchestra of heavenly flutes singing praise to God.

And I'm praying in your life and in your family.

Some of you are here today, and the flame and the flicker and the reed was almost broken and extinguished.

And Jesus interjected in your story, and he's rewriting your story because that's the kind of Savior He is.

And you're here today and you're looking for hope.

You'll only find it in the one I'm preaching about today.

And his name is Jesus.

Let's all bow our heads and pray together.

I invite you to come to Jesus.

That's a broad appeal.

Where you are in your life, wherever you're coming from, I invite you to come to Jesus today.

Maybe your faith is wavering.

Come to Jesus.

So many broken pieces in your life.

Come to Jesus.

Maybe it's a marriage.

I want you to bring it to Jesus.

Maybe it's a hopeless life.

Listen.

He can strengthen the things that remain.

He's a wonderful Savior.

Let's all stand together.

We'll begin to sing.

I just throw the net out for you today.

Will you just bring yourselves to God?

Come to the Lord today.

Let's sing it together.