Where are we now in the book of Revelation? A lot of people think the book of Revelation is a very serious, hard to understand book, but in essence it’s not. It is shrouded in mystery, but tonight when I share with you the key to understanding the book of Revelation, I think you’re going to be amazed at how simple it is to understand the totality of it.
Paul says God is bigger than my brain or your brain. God is bigger than any person’s ability to even imagine God, and if you think you have condensed God down to some little thought in your mind and you’ve got him figured out where he’s convenient to you and for you, you’ve committed idolatry. God is saying, “I am the only wise God, and don’t limit who I am and what I can do.”
Sometimes people think that the Christian life is a playground. It’s not a playground; it’s a battleground. Life is tough. It’s a struggle, even for the best of Christians, even for the strongest Christians. He says, “I’m in a struggle.” And it is a struggle. That’s why you need to share your burdens with one another. That’s why we need to say, “Pray for me as I pray for you.”
The problem with many American Christians is that to you Christianity is just such a personal thing; you don’t ever want to share it. You have your ticket to heaven, you have your eternal fire insurance, and frankly, you don’t really care whether anybody else goes to heaven or not. We’re like a bunch of people using first aid on ourselves, when there are hurting people all around us. If you’re content to hang on to the gospel and not share it with anybody else, you don’t share the missionary heart of the Apostle Paul.
As I talk about our church today, I feel like a physician who is examining a very healthy person. When a physician conducts a physical examination, a person can be very healthy, but they never say you’re perfect. They may say, you’re doing great, but you probably need to drop your cholesterol a couple of points or lose a few pounds or exercise a bit more. They always have some words to encourage them to be healthier.
We’re all so different. We come from different backgrounds, different convictions. But when we all love each other and open arms to all kinds of people, that’s when the beauty of unity is seen. And God wants that here. And we can never stand and say to anybody, “You cannot come to the body of Christ.” Because that’s what Jesus would do. He opens His arms.
Almost every day, I sing praises to the Lord, but I come together with you on Sunday. With one voice, we sing praises to the Lord. That promotes and enhances the unity of our church. When a lost person comes in the doors of this church, they sit down and they look around and see a thousand Christians in here singing praises to God. I want to tell you, that has an impact on them because with one heart and one voice, we are glorifying God together.
That phrase “in the Holy Spirit” covers all three of those, righteousness in the Holy Spirit, peace in the Holy Spirit, and joy in the Holy Spirit. When you understand that, anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God (vertical relationship) and is approved by men. That’s your horizontal relationship. That is the condensed essence of the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Elijah was a great prophet, but then he put his prophetic mantle on Elisha and Elisha said, “I want a double portion of the Spirit that has been on you.” If you happen to count up the miracles Elijah did and Elisha did, you’ll see that under the power of God Elisha performed about twice as many miracles as Elijah did. A study of the miracle of the lepers healed and enemies blinded.
A tightrope is a picture of Christian liberty. It’s not just a wide valley you stroll through with no consideration of other people. On one side, if you’re not careful, you will fall into legalism and go back to your list. On the other side, if you’re not careful, you will fall into unrestrained license. But somewhere in between the two is the beautiful tightrope of balance, and the balance bar for a Christian is love. Love for God on one hand and love for others on the other end. And when you understand love is more important than liberty, you’ll be able to walk the tightrope of liberty, and you’ll enjoy the Christian life and you’ll be a blessing to others.
Sometimes people are so content, they just get into a spiritual rut, where nothing ever changes. A rut is nothing but a grave with both ends kicked out. God is trying to say to every one of us today, “Hey, wake up! The alarm has gone off.” I know that part of the problem is with us preachers. There is so much Sermonic Sominex dispensed in churches today, it lulls people to sleep. Today, God is trying to say to Green Acres Baptist Church, “Wake up from your apathy.”
What does the Bible say about debt? The Bible says you should never carry any more debt than you can successfully pay for. We live in such a materialistic culture it causes people to borrow money they can’t repay. Do you know what the American culture says? The American culture says you need to buy things you don’t need with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t even know. That’s what gets so many people in trouble.
God has drawn a moral standard, a line. “That’s my boundary. That’s my spiritual fault line. You better move your life to get in line with it.” And too many Americans are saying, “No, I want to move God’s line and change God’s standard to fit my life.” This is a recipe for destruction, because the Bible says, “There’s a way seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of destruction.”
Sometimes when your enemies treat you wrong and insult you and hurt you and you try to get revenge and you try to do something about the situation, all you do is make a bloody mess of it. There are some of you right now, you’ve got that sword in your hand, and if you had the chance, you would get back at them. You would hurt those people who have hurt you. And if Jesus doesn’t say anything else to you in this service, it may be that Jesus just tells you to put your sword away. Some of you just need to put it in the scabbard, because God is going repay evil.
What is it that makes you different, as a Christian, than somebody out there that’s not a Christian? The fact that when you die, you’re going to go to heaven? It ought to mean so much more than that. One of the main differences between a person who is a Christian and one who is not is how we relate to other people, especially to other people who don’t like us, especially to people who mistreat us.
Some people say, “When I get some of these problems in my life, that’s when I’ll rejoice, that’s when I’ll start enjoying life.” The only time you’re going to get rid of problems in your life is when you’re in a cemetery. In life trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional. Think about that. You have a choice about whether you are going to be miserable about the problems in your life, and the way you deal with it determines whether you are miserable or not.
If you are depressed or if you go through periods of depression, don’t worry because even some of the greatest saints of God in the Bible went through periods of depression. That’s where we find Elijah. Right after this great victory on Mt. Carmel we see him going through a time of depression.
One source of frustration in the church is that people are trying to do the wrong ministry, play the wrong instrument. That is tragic. But do you know what is even worse than that is having your instrument, but refusing to play it. Everybody in this church has been given a special gift that nobody else has, when you mix it with your personality and your own gifts and abilities. If you are just sitting there with your instrument, refusing to play it, there is a part of the symphony that is missing. You need me. I need you. We all need to be playing together. No person is a one-man band.
Have you ever heard somebody say about another individual, “When God made that person He broke the mold?” That is literally true of everybody in this room. There was one mold for you and nobody else is in that mold. My friend, you are not one in one million. You are one in 6-and-a-half billion. There is nobody else like you on the face of the planet, and there is nobody else like you in this body. You are a unique member of the body of Christ.
I want to remind you that friendship is a great investment. One of the things that makes a difference between a house and a home, a family and just people that are together, is the element of friendship both within the family and outside the family. And examination of some ideas about friendship.
The Bible says in the heart of every child, even at a young age, they have a self-centered nature, a stubborn and rebellious nature. I believe that if America is going to survive, we must get back to the old-fashioned biblical principles of raising children. We have allowed too many liberal social scientists to tell us that we should never inflict any kind of pain on our children.
If you want to find out about love, you don’t open the pages of Vogue or Playboy magazine, you open the pages of the Bible. This is God’s instruction book for life, every experience of life. The Song of Solomon is God’s definitive word on romance, marriage, love and sex. And it is in the Bible and it is God’s truth. A study of some characteristics of the kind of love that keeps marriages together until one partner dies.
I think the longer you’re married, the more you figure out you’re not going to completely figure it out. There is no such thing as a perfect marriage because you’ve got an imperfect husband and wife. There’s no way it can be perfect. Couples who think their marriage is going to be perfect have unrealistic expectations. Marriages are either healthy or they’re unhealthy.
You can’t separate your body and your soul and your spirit. God knows if you give your body to Him, the soul and the spirit is going to be given to Him. Sometimes people say to me, “Pastor, I’m not going to be in church this Sunday, but I’ll be there in spirit.” It’s kind of spooky to me to stand up here and preach to a bunch of spirits in these pews. The truth is, you cannot do that. I know they mean they’re going to be there in thought, but you can’t separate your spirit from your body. That’s what happens at physical death; the spirit departs from the body. You can’t do it until then.
When I see a tree with an orange hanging on it, that’s an orange tree. Do you know what the fruit does? The fruit reveals outwardly the inner nature of that tree. The same is true in the Christian life. When there is fruit in your life what you are expressing outwardly is the inner character and nature of Jesus Christ. That’s what the fruit of the Spirit is.
Elijah was one of the most notable characters in the Bible. Not only do we see his miraculous ministry, but also the Bible tells us in the book of Malachi that before the Messiah comes, Elijah is going to return. What a powerful character he is in the Bible! A look at Elijah’s ministry in two perspectives.
Solomon sowed disobedience; he sowed compromise; he sowed little sins of setting up those little altars and before long the Bible says, “His heart had been turned from God.” How different from his father, because although David was a man who sinned and fell, to the very end he still was a man after God’s own heart.
Calling on the Lord has never saved anybody, but calling on the name of the Lord, who is Jesus, always saves. How can you do that? How can you have that kind of faith?” I’ve noticed there are at least three different types of faith (probably more) I think everybody possesses one of three types of faith. Of course, the first two are defective, inferior faith, and they don’t save anybody. The third one does.
God said, “East Texas is full of religious people, but that does not mean they are saved.” They get a good sense of satisfaction out of being religious. What’s wrong with being religious? Nothing, as long as it does not become a substitute for knowing Jesus Christ. You can brush your hair and there is nothing wrong with brushing your hair, but if one day you decide you are going to let brushing your hair stand as a substitute for breathing, in just a few moments that harmless act of brushing your hair will kill you, because you substituted it for something that was totally necessary.
God’s wrath has been revealed throughout history. It has been demonstrated or revealed throughout history. We have seen many examples of his wrath mixed with mercy and grace. Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” It’s being revealed right now. Why does God show us some demonstrations of his wrath in history? To warn us. To teach us that one day God is going to judge sin.
Isn’t it interesting how God can take a mess and turn it into a message? Take the time to read Matthew 2 about the genealogy of Jesus. It says, “David, who was the father of Solomon, whose mother was Uriah’s wife…” Not David’s wife, not even Bathsheba. “Solomon whose mother was the wife of Uriah.” A thousand years later when they wrote it down, God still did not recognize the validity of that marriage, because of the way it began. Even in spite of that God made something beautiful out of a mess. That’s the business God is in. Look at our lives! God is in the business of taking mistakes and using us for his glory!
Have you ever thought about how through the centuries God has preserved the Jewish people and they have maintained their identity even though they have been scattered all over the planet Earth? Why? Because God preserved them. And that’s what Romans 9-11 is all about. We’ll start that section today. Looking ahead Romans 12 through 16–the last section of the book–is God’s righteousness displayed in our practical duty. Starting in Romans 12 it is very practical because we are righteous in Christ, and this is how we ought to live.
Those people out there without Christ are not going to break down the doors of this church to get here and learn about Jesus. Chances are the majority of lost people in East Texas you know somebody they know or you know them personally. We cannot be satisfied. We cannot be complacent until someone has shared with them like somebody shared with us.
Each of us has three kings fighting for control (there are probably a lot more). In each of us, there is a King Saul, a spirit of jealousy, a spirit of envy, a spirit of anger that becomes so blinded that this is a true “rage-a-holic.” Thank God, I think in each one of us there is the potential for a King David, a spirit of submission. It is the spirit of Christ of submitting to God’s given authority. And I also think in each one of us there is a “king-to-be” Absalom and he is the spirit of rebellion, the spirit of selfish ambition. Who I can become? What I could do if I were in charge? I could do a whole lot better if I was in charge of this outfit! Be careful, because those three kings are usually fighting for control of your life.
The Bible says we have enemies in this world. It is the world, the flesh and the devil. We have enemies, but who’s afraid of the big, bad world? The Bible talks about how our flesh needs to stay crucified. We understand we can resist the devil and he will flee from us. There are going to be many people who try to oppose us in the Christian life, but the good news is God is FOR us. That means you and I do not have to fear. We never have to be afraid of anything the world, the flesh or the devil can throw at us!
God is interested in making a whole family of people like Jesus. Some people say, “Well if we were all like Jesus, wouldn’t it be boring?” No it would be pretty exciting. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where everybody was loving and totally unselfish in their loving? Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where everybody was full of joy? Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where everybody was full of peace and patience and kindness? That’s what God is doing. He’s trying to make you and I more like Jesus. That is our destiny our destination and God has already predetermined to make us that way. So that’s God’s purpose. He chose us and then he changes us.
Have you ever bought a product and along with it you receive a guarantee or a warranty that says if anything goes wrong with it, you get your money back? Well Romans 8:28 is “God’s Infallible Guarantee!” He says, “I guarantee if you meet my conditions that you’re going to see all things become a part of his plan to produce good.”
When David heard Goliath’s threat, he knew the enemy was there before him and he said, “We have to do something about this!” Before you ever succeed in battle you have to identify who your giant is. Your giant may be your temper. It may be lust; it may be a financial problem; it may be some personal problem you have. Before you can ever conquer your giant, you have to identify your giant.
It had to be tough on David knowing he was anointed the next king and here was Saul, whom the spirit of God had left. Here was a holy man in the presence of an unholy person, yet he submitted to him and the Bible says he served Saul. God was trying to prepare David. David was out in the field taking care of the sheep and wild beasts came. By killing those wild beasts he knew that when a giant of a beast stood before him he could do it. But he also had to deal with another beast, a human beast named Saul. Throughout his life David was going to have to deal with difficult people sometimes in his own family. God was preparing him for that.
Are you aware there is something we may call the “perfect will of God?” There is something that has sometimes been called the “permissive will of God;” it’s not God’s perfect will, but he allows it and then he takes it from that point. God has a perfect will for your life and if you don’t stay completely on track with that, there are some times that God will give you what you ask for. Israel wanted a king. God did not want them to have a king, but he permitted them to have a king and they got what they asked for. This is true in our lives sometimes when we seek that which is less than God’s best.
