Awakening from Lukewarmness: Embracing Intimacy with Christ

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The essence of lukewarmness is the sentence I don't need it, I need nothing, have enough of Jesus. I walked the aisle one day and he came into my heart and I have him, I don't need anything. The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied. To find out whether you are among that number now, don't look in your head and ask whether you think that you're a sinner because you all do. [00:50:16]

The way to tell whether you are among the number of the spiritually self-satisfied is to look at your prayer life. There's the barometer to tell whether we are in the bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction. The question is how frequently, how earnestly, how expectantly, how extendedly do you strive with God to have a deeper knowledge with Christ, greater earnestness in prayer, more boldness in witness, sweeter joy in the Holy Spirit. [00:89:60]

Now Jesus has a word to you and to me if we think we need nothing at the beginning of 1983. If there's no sense of desperation in our hearts for change, people who think that it's a bit melodramatic, a little overdoing it, a little bit to have an all-night prayer meeting on Friday as though there were some volcano about to come down upon us. [00:176:16]

Well there is in verse 14 and 15 a volcano about to come down on lukewarm people. Here's what Jesus' word of assessment is: you are in fact wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked. Now remember that's Jesus talking. I didn't choose those words for sermonic effect. Those are the words of Jesus. [00:202:23]

Therefore I counsel you buy from me gold refined by fire that you may be rich, white garments to clothe you, keep your shame, your nakedness from being seen and saved to anoint your eyes that you may see. Christ's will for the church is not to spit it out. His will for the church is that our poverty be replaced with wealth. [00:287:19]

There's only one place where we can get that gold, those garments, and that medicine and that's Jesus himself and that's why he says buy from me gold. Now how do you buy gold when you're broke? He just said you are poor, blind, naked, miserable, wretched, not only poor, not only broke, but blind. [00:326:24]

The answer is in verse 20 you don't go out of your closet, you open the door and let Jesus in. Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I'll come in and eat with him and he with me. Now that verse can be applied with legitimacy to unbelievers, but that's not its meaning here. [00:381:28]

That verse is addressed to lukewarm Christians who think they have Christ sufficiently and he's just out there knocking on the door of the Christian's heart. It's addressed to lukewarm Christians who think they don't need any more of Christ. We've got his riches, we've got his garments, we've got his medicine and he says you don't, you're poor, blind, miserable, naked, and pitiable. [00:416:88]

His will for the church is that we open the door, all the doors of our lives. He wants to join you, this is that sweet promise. He wants to join you in the dining room of your life, light a candle, spread the table, sit down with you, talk for an hour. Just try to imagine the favorite meal you've ever enjoyed with the nearest and dearest friend you've ever had. [00:473:84]

And when Jesus Christ comes into the room, he brings with him all the gold, all the garments and all the medicine in the world. To have Jesus is to have everything. So how do you buy gold when you're broke? You pray, you start opening all the doors of the deep recesses of your life, and you appeal to him to come into every single sphere. [00:519:36]

I just confess very personally there is an intimate communion and fellowship with Jesus I crave in 1983. This sermon is a sermon for me. I'm not damning you, I preach the way I do because I want so bad to have the fullness of Jesus Christ more than I've known him before and I want us to share it as a congregation. [00:553:12]

When he comes and dwells in the innermost room of our affections, there's gonna be power, power to love, that's what we all want more than anything. I said on New Year's Eve, power to overcome all the crummy desires that pull us around by the nose and lord it over us. When Jesus comes in and has dinner with you by candlelight, you've got power to overcome all the allurements of the world. [00:581:51]

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