conditions or a combination of them. One of the truths that we learned in our studies, even good churches have problems. You're not going to find a church that doesn't have a problem or an issue or a blemish or an imperfection. And the reason is, is because it's filled with sinners. Now we're all saved by grace that know the Lord Jesus, but we're still sinners. We're imperfect and we won't be perfect till we get to heaven. And so if you're looking for the perfect place to be, then chances are If I went there or you went there, we would mess it up because we're imperfect. Wouldn't we agree with that? And you come to Revelation chapter 3 and you're dealing now with the final three churches. And the Bible says in verse number 1, And to the angel of the church in Sardis, this is a city in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, And it was the capital of ancient Lydia. It's just a shell of its former glory by this time. And Jesus is telling John, right. I want you to dictate a letter, John. Here we go. These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God. We know that to be the Holy Spirit in all of his fullness, all of his power, and the seven stars. These are the pastors of the seven churches. And these men, these pastors, were answerable to the Lord Himself. Did you notice they're not answerable to some kind of denominational bishop, some kind of denominational hierarchy? They're not answerable to some city on earth. They're answerable to the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every church is answerable and every pastor is answerable directly to the Lord. He said, I know thy works. that thou hast a 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 therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." Many times people equate that phrase to the second coming. There's no evidence that this is the second coming of Christ or the rapture. What he's saying is, just as my coming will be sudden and unexpected, so when my chastening hand falls upon you as a church, it will be sudden and unexpected. Notice he goes on to say in verse 4, Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with men 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." Here was a church that if you were to ask anybody about this church, they would tell you that this is a great church. It would be a wonderful place for your family to go. I mean, it seems like it's alive and vibrant and wonderful. But Jesus said that there's really a problem. All of that is surface. All of that is just a facade. What you see on the outside is not the reality on the inside. They have a name that they're alive, but they're really dead. Can you imagine that? This church was dead and didn't even know it. What a sad place to be, to be dead and not even know it. But here what we learned is that the condition at Sardis may have been fatal, but it didn't have to be final. No, there was a way back. We can turn back to the Lord Jesus. With Jesus there is always hope. We've learned that the Lord Jesus has a way of bringing dead things back to life again. And we entitle the message, Making a Dead Church Live. See, here's the good news. No matter how far down a church may go, when we turn back to Christ and the things of Christ, there is a way back. Can I say this? No matter how far a Christian may go away from God, there is always a way back. They don't have to stay away. There is a way back. The prodigal son came from the lowest of the low, from the hog pen of the world, and there was the Father ready to welcome them. Aren't you glad we have a welcoming God this evening? How to make a dead church live? We learned number one, if you're going to make a dead church live, then there needs to be a recognition of one's spiritual condition. The Lord Jesus said, be watchful. They needed to wake up to where they were spiritually as a church. They needed to realize the dire situation that they were in. That they had a reputation, but no reality. They had form, but no force. They had motion, but no movement programs, but no power. This church had a form of godliness, but they denied the power thereof. And so we find that they needed to wake up. And if a church will be alive and healthy spiritually, that we'll be in tune individually to our own spiritual condition before the Lord, that we're all in for Him. Can I tell you that, church? That Christian will never wilt and die spiritually. Then the second truth we learned on how to make a dead church live was a renewed submission to the Holy Spirit. There are evidently elements within this church that could bring it back to life again. We saw that in verse number 2. He said, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. And so evidently, there was these elements there that could be revived and that would be a catalyst to bring this church back to life. But they couldn't do it on their own. They needed the Holy Spirit. Church, can I remind us, we need God. I need God. You need God. We can't do it on our own. Listen, can I tell you, this community doesn't need what I can do and you can do. They need what God can do through us as we yield ourselves afresh and new to the Holy Spirit. And when we come to church, I want the reality of God's presence. I don't want something we have to work up. I want something that God's going to bring about as a reality in our lives. Number three, I wanted you to catch this. Rejoice in the past, but don't revel in it. Rejoice in the past, but don't revel in it. Look what he says again in verse number 1. He said, Thou hast a name. That word name there has the idea of a reputation. Evidently, there was a time in this church's history when it was vibrant, and healthy, and growing, and the membership was increasing, maybe buildings being built, bank account was growing, but then they reached a point that they had arrived. and became content with status quo. It doesn't matter the size of the church. You see, a lot of times we think that small churches are dead and large churches are alive, and that's not really reality. It doesn't matter whether they're small or large, a church can have a name that they're alive and in reality be dead. It's not the size of the church. It's the spiritual condition of the church that matters. Notice this in verse number 2. Would you look here again at the last phrase? For I have not found thy works perfect, before God. That word perfect means to be finished or complete. This church had stopped short of all that God had for them. You know, one of the most dangerous places that you and I can be as the people of God, as a Christian, is to be saved long enough to think that we have arrived. that somehow I no longer need an altar, somehow I no longer need to respond to the preaching, no longer I need to get on my knees and get right with God in areas of my life. I mean, I've just got it together. Let me just say something. I've been saved over 40 years. I've been preaching over 39 years and pastoring 34 years, and I'm just going to tell you, I still don't have it all together. I have failure in my Christian life. There are times that I'm less than what I ought to be as a child of God. There is always another level of spiritual growth. Even the Apostle Paul put it this way. He said, brethren, think not that I have apprehended. I have not arrived. Listen, let me just say something. If Paul hadn't arrived, neither of you and me. There's always another level spiritually in our lives. We can always love Him better. We can always serve Him better. There's always more growth in our lives. There are attitudes and actions and areas of our lives that need to be dealt with so that we can be more conformed to the image of His Son. But here was a church that they had arrived, they had stopped stepping out by faith, they had stopped attempting great things for God and expecting great things from God. I'm just going to tell you, there's a danger when we live in yesterday's glory, and yesterday's blessings, and yesterday's victories, and yesterday's answers to prayer. Let me tell you what a symptom of a sick church and a sick Christian is. That they're unhealthy. When you ask them about the best days of the church, or their own spiritual life, they talked about what happened 20, 30, or 50 years ago. That church is dying. That movement is dying. One of the sad things, I go to meetings. And you'll have preachers that will come on a national level, and they'll begin to talk about what God used to do in this meeting, and what God has done, and what God did do. And we're living way back here fifty years ago, and yet there's very little being said of what God is doing. Let me tell you what that says to the young preachers and young pastors. That the good old days were the best days, and those days are gone. What kind of hope does it leave them? I talk to people and I'll talk to them about their spiritual lives and I'll ask them what God's doing and they'll tell me what He used to do. How He did this and how He did that. What is God doing in your life right now? God is not a past tense God. I rejoice in what God has done. I am thankful for what God's done in our nation. I'm thankful for what God's done in our churches. I'm thankful for what God has done in my life. But I'm glad God's not done. That's what I'm glad for. I'm glad the same God that answered prayer in the past can answer prayer today. I'm glad the same God that sent the glory down in the past can send the glory down today. I'm glad the same God who gave blessings in the past can give blessings today. I'm glad the same God that gave victory yesterday can give me victory today. G. Campbell Morgan put it this way. He said, it is impossible to unlock the present with the rusty key of the past. I'm just going to tell you, if you're living in yesterday, you're dying. Dr. Billy Martin put it this way. He said, you can't go forward looking in the rear view mirror all the time. You just can't do it. And God has something fresh for your life. God has something fresh for your family. God has something fresh for your future. God has something fresh for this church. He has things for us that we've not even accomplished yet. Can I tell you, God has prayers that He wants to answer. He has blessings that He wants to give. He has victories that He wants to bring about in our lives. Friend, I don't want to miss what God is doing. I want to say like Paul, I want to press toward the mark, I want to apprehend, I want to grab hold of that for which He's grabbed hold of me. I'm glad we can experience His presence and His glory and His power and His victories and His answer to prayer in our day. I was preaching recently in a preacher's meeting. It was just a group of men that God had given me the privilege to preach to. You go about anywhere I go, preachers are discouraged. They're discouraged. They're wondering, is there any hope? And some of them think back and remember these days when maybe you have a revival meeting and 50 people are saved. And they're saying, well, I don't see that. That doesn't mean that God's not saving people. It means there's more people not wanting to be saved. God will save anybody who wants to get saved. Maybe it's that we're not reaching people the way... I have no idea. But they're discouraged. Here's what I told them. I said, listen, don't stop celebrating what God's doing. Listen, if all that ever happens in our church is this coming week, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 children come to Christ, why don't we quit saying, well, you know, I remember. Why don't we just celebrate it? Celebrate what God is doing in your life today. God has not lost His power. His hand is not short that it cannot save. God wants to do a great work in our day, and God is doing a great work in our day. And if we're not careful by our very attitude, we'll miss out on it. And that's what happened in Sardis. And so rejoice in it, but don't live there. Let's move on. Number four, very quickly. If we're going to make a dead church live, there needs to be a return to the authority of the preached Word of God. A return to the authority of the preached Word of God. I love our music. Do you love our music? Amen. I believe our musicians, our choir, the special music, the congregation, Brother Delp and others lead a wonderful music ministry here. I love it. I love it. It's wonderful. I have a preacher say, man, that's good. I say, I get to preach behind that every week. I say, man, if you can't preach behind that, you must not have any fire. There's something wrong. I love it, don't you? But God didn't say that He saved people from the foolishness of singing. He saves people through the foolishness of preaching. Now that's not to minimize what we do here. I love what Dr. Ron Comfort says, music is queen and preaching is king. They complement one another. The music and the worship sets the table for the preaching of the Word of God so that we can hear from heaven. Our hearts are prepared so that we can receive from heaven. Don't you like that? I'm fired up to preach. Hopefully, you're fired up to hear it and respond. It's good. You say, Preacher, where's that in these verses? Well, let me show you. Look at verse 3. Remember therefore. Now you're saying what you just said about the past. Verse 3 is not talking about what happened in the past so far as events. How do you know that? Well, let's keep reading. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard. and hold fast. Did you see that? That word hold fast means to cling to it. It means to grab hold of what you have been taught. It's not remembering what they had done in the past or what had been accomplished in the past, but what they had heard and learned from what had been taught and preached from the Word of God. And to hold on to that. Friend, can I tell you, there's nothing like Bible truth that brings stability into our lives spiritually. There's a danger in the modern church growth movement. I'm praying that Lord will let me give this somewhere outside of here to preachers to help them. The modern church growth movement, you can go to about any Bible book store, you can go online, and you can find all kinds of church growth gurus who write books to try to help people to revive declining churches or lifeless churches. And without fail, here's going to be the list. I can give it to you. Number one, change your Bible. That's number one. Number two, jazz up the music. Take your choir out. Bring in your praise band. There's a misnomer. People say, well, I don't like contemporary music. Can I help you with that phrase? Contemporary just means new. That's all it means. If we're not careful, we're going to miss something because there are wonderful hymns and songs being written today. They would be considered contemporary or new, but they're not carnal. There is a difference between contemporary, something new, and something that is worldly and carnal. There's a difference. Just because we as a church sing some songs and some hymns that are new doesn't mean we're contemporary in the sense of being carnal or worldly. There was a day that Fannie Crosby's music was contemporary. It was new. And we think just because something might be a little different that somehow that it's wrong. And that's not necessarily so. You need to ask the question, is it worldly? Let me tell you how you can tell the difference. When you roll your car window down, can the person hearing your music or the person tuning in to our music, can they tell the difference between that and what's on the secular radio station? Then you can answer the question, is it carnal? The next part is that they're going to tell you to preach happy messages. So they probably wouldn't hear what I preached the last couple weeks. Because I want everybody to feel good. I want us to feel good too, but sometimes we feel good because we felt bad. Because there's areas of our lives that we've gotten right with God. Heaven help us if we preach on sin, or the blood atonement, or even mention hell, or holiness, or separated living. Is anybody following me? I remember there was a preacher between myself and Brother Bixler after I came here who pastors my former church. And there was a guy who came in between us. And I started getting phone calls from the church. And I would say, listen, this is not my problem. I'm not your pastor anymore. You need to talk to your pastor. They say, well, you hush and listen for a minute. I'm really good at just talking and helping people and fixing things. So I said, okay, I'll hush and listen for a minute. They said, listen, the problem is not what this guy is saying. It's what he's not saying. And sometimes the problem in preaching is not what is said, but what's not said. To where we leave out key truths in dealing with certain areas in our lives. But today it's went even beyond that. You see, it started with Andy Griffith, Mayberry, Leave it to Beaver video clips. I'm talking about Baptist churches too. on the screen and we just sort of, in the Sunday school and during the preaching time, you know, we show a little Andy Griffith or we show a little Leavitt Beaver and we sort of give some life lessons and teach us how to live better. But now it's actually metamorphed into Bible series. Now remember we're talking about a return to the authority of the preached Word of God. A Bible series is from the pulpit entitled, At the Movies. And what churches are doing is they're taking modern movies. Some of them that Christians shouldn't even watch to begin with. Some of them are okay to watch, I guess. That's between you and the Lord. And everybody has to make those decisions themselves. What I'm saying is they may take a Marvel movie. I'm not saying every Marvel movie is wrong. I'm not saying that. They'll take a Marvel movie. They'll take a Disney. I'm not going to say every Disney movie is wrong. I'm not going to say all of that. But here's what I am saying. They will have a Marvel video clip or they'll have a Disney video clip or they'll have... My wife would love this one. She really wouldn't. But Christmas video, Christmas movie sermon series. Maybe it's just a Hallmark Week month preaching. And we show the clip, you know, where every woman's dream is to marry Santa Claus. I don't know. I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. I have to go home tonight. Can I come home and stay with anybody tonight? Will anybody let me stay with you? Anyway, I'm kidding. She's fine. We laugh at this. And then they bring a little sermonette from it. throw a couple little Bible verses to it, and they call it preaching. How often do you see things like that, Brother Dan, working in churches across America? He's doing this. Church, can I tell you that we need to stay away from fads? And we need to be a church that is known for the preaching of the Word of the living God. There's a reason why the pulpit is the centerpiece of this platform. It is not me. It is not the pastor before me who was a tremendous Bible preacher. It's not that at all. It's not the men that were before us that preached Bible. It is not that. It is not that. It is not about the man and the pulpit. It is what comes from the pulpit, the preached Word of the living God. That's what it is. And that's what keeps a church alive. And that's what will take a dead church and cause it to live. Let me give you some verses. 2 Timothy 4.1, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick, the living, and the dead that is appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. That's a command. Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort. Do you hear some negativity there? Reprove, rebuke. Those negative words are positive words. Well, it's cornered on how you look at them. You see, the positive comes out of the negative. Sometimes I need to be rebuked from the Bible. Sometimes the Bible needs to reproof some attitudes and things in my life. And so the negative becomes the positive. Exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts, their own desires, shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and am crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the and power of God. When all you can do is throw a video clip on a screen, add a Bible verse to it, and give a sermon at, all you're doing is living in the wisdom of men and not in the power and the truth of Almighty God. There's never been a life-altering move of God in a church or a nation or a family or an individual life apart from a return to the authority of the preached Word of God. When we keep the main thing, the main thing at Calvary Baptist Church, our church won't die. I Timothy 4.16, Paul said to Timothy, Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt most save thyself and them that hear thee. Titus 2.1, Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. You ought to jot this down in the margin of your notes. I jotted it down as I was preparing this message, and this came to my mind. And I jotted this down as it came to my mind. A church is only as healthy as its pulpit. God impressed that thought on my heart. A church is only as healthy as its pulpit. If the pulpit is unhealthy, that means it's not sound, accurate, Bible-preaching. Then the church will not be healthy. An unhealthy pulpit leads to an unhealthy church. And a healthy pulpit, that means sound doctrine, leads to a healthy church. Number five. You want to make a dead church live? A restored fellowship with the Savior. Look at verse 3. And by the way, that holds true not just for... That doesn't mean... Preacher, does that mean that you can never show a video at church? Absolutely not. Doesn't mean that. Does that mean you can't put anything on a screen? Absolutely not. Doesn't mean that. It's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is you can't depart from the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And Jesus used pictures. Behold, a sower went forth to sow. Consider the fowls of the air, they sow not neither. The world was his object lesson. A restored fellowship of the Saviour. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast. Church, hold fast. Listen, you'll never read your Bible, I'm talking about seriously, without a way to jot something down if God speaks to you. And you always ought to be listening to preaching with pencil and paper in your hand. And let God speak to your heart, because you won't retain everything that's said. I never listened to preaching that I don't have pen and paper, or iPad, or phone, or whatever you want to use today. Now maybe you've got a wonderful memory. I don't. And there's times I jot down things that God speaks to my heart from. And I just was going to throw that out there. Maybe sometime down the road we'll preach on some of these things, you know, just to help people grow. But notice he says, "...and repent." The majority in Sardis needed repentance. They needed to take an inventory of their spiritual lives. They needed a self-examination that would lead in life change. How do you know that? Look down at verse 4. We're going to come back to these verses in a moment. But notice he says in the middle part, "...about a few there which have not defiled their garments." That word defile means to soil. Much of the membership in Sardis have become spotted by the world. Here's what's interesting. There's no evidence in this church of the sins of Jezebel, like in Thyatira, of immorality, or idolatry, or the deeds of Nicolaitans, like at Smyrna and Ephesus. Now, Ephesus hated that, but Smyrna, that doctrine was in that church, and the Lord said, I hate that. He doesn't mention any of those things. I'm not saying they're not there. He just doesn't mention it. Well, preacher, what is there? Just cold, dead, lifelessness of going through the motions. The sin of Isaiah 29.13, This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me. You see, you don't have to be in deep sin to be dead spiritually. You can just be cold on God. and complacent and apathetic and indifferent. He's going to deal with another church about this a little bit later on. They have a little different problem than what they have here in Sardis. We'll deal with that when we deal with the last of the churches. And what he said, they needed to repent. How often you and I need to have a tender heart to let God deal with where we are spiritually, to keep our hearts alive with a love for Him and a commitment to Him. So easy. You remember what the songwriter wrote? Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Number six. Here's the last one. You want to make a dead church live, recognize spiritual condition. Renew our submission to the Spirit of God. Rejoice in the past, but don't live there. Return to the authority of the preached Word of God. Keep the main thing, the main thing. A restored fellowship with the Savior. Make sure that our lives are in alignment with the will of God and the Word of God for us. And then the last thing, a remaining faithful in a day of spiritual decline. Look at verse number 4. Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy." I did a lot of reading. I don't know how much I've read in preparation for this message. One of the fallacies that I've read that struck me, and it was this, that immediately what people want to do is they want to go and say, well, the majority of the people in this church are lost. There's no indication of that. Not one. David Jeremiah in his stake said, this is the first church filled with nominal Christians, Christians in name only, but they needed to be born again. Well, why didn't Jesus tell them to be born again? Why would you tell a lost person to hold on? and hold fast to something. Why would you tell a lost person that they needed to remember and their works weren't perfect before God and that they needed to be watchful and strengthen the things that remain? He's not talking to lost people. He's talking to dead, dried up Christians. That's who he's talking to. There's not one gospel message in this verse. There's not one place calling anybody to be born again in this passage. Read it. I read it, and I read it, and I read it, and I read it. When Jesus dealt with a lost man by the name of Nicodemus, He said, you need to be born again. He didn't say, boy, you need to hold on to the Word of God. You need to strengthen some things that remain in your life. He didn't do that. He said, you need to be saved. He met a woman at the well. And He brought her to Him saving knowledge of Himself, didn't He? He's not bringing these people to a saving knowledge of Himself. They already knew Him. They just weren't in love with Him. And they were lifeless spiritually. You see, Christian, you and I can wilt spiritually to where our lives are meaningless so far as heaven's concerned. Lost people don't get saved by doing. Lost people get saved by believing. And He tells this church to do. And so we come here and there's a minority, there's a remnant within this church, even in Sardis, that had not fallen into spiritual decline and deadness. I call them the master's minority. Laman Strauss termed that. The word defiled means to soil or to contaminate. It's interesting that pagan worshipers in Sardis could not enter and approach their gods, their idols, with soiled clothes. When they entered the temples, they were given a clean white robe to wear. and it symbolized their dedication to their gods. And Jesus says there's a remnant of believers that even in Sardis that's dead and lifeless that have remained true to Me and they've remained faithful regardless of what everybody else in that church did. And here's the lesson. Are you ready for it? Every believer is responsible to the Lord for their own spiritual life. You can't blame the pastor. You can't blame the deacons. You can't blame the Sunday school teacher. We can't blame the youth pastor or the assistant pastor or anybody else. I am responsible to God for myself. That's what he's saying. Now if you were in Sardis, you didn't have five churches to go to. You only had one. They didn't have a church hopping problem in Sardis. You go to the next church, you're going to walk 60 miles, or 35 to Thyatira, and it had its own problems. Are you following me? And in this dead, dried up church, there was a group of people that said, you know what? I don't care about everybody else. I'm going to live for Jesus Christ. And you know what? We can't put our eyes on anybody else. Young person, listen to me. You can't put your eyes on anybody else. Hey, I can let you down. Somebody else can let you down, but Jesus will never let you down. Put your eyes on Him. We all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Every one of us will give an account of himself to God. Now let's look real closely at this passage. Notice he says, They've not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with men white, for they are worthy. So let's talk about that walk with me in white. The white garment symbolized their commitment to the Lord Jesus. It was some kind of special blessing from the Lord given to those who had remained true to Him. They were worthy. Nobody's worthy to be saved. You don't earn the righteousness of God. That is given to us through Jesus Christ. So this is how you rightly divide the word of truth. This can't be a salvation verse. Because nobody's worthy of going to heaven. Nobody's worthy of walking in white. Nobody's worthy of being saved. Nobody's even worthy of staying saved. Salvation is of the Lord. There are two kinds of righteousness. There is imputed righteousness. That is Christ's righteousness imputed or put to our account when we trust Him as Savior, when we believe on Him for salvation, and He makes us righteous before God. That's imputed righteousness. It's always mentioned in Scripture as the righteousness of God or the righteousness of Christ. I'm unrighteous and I'm made righteous. Are you following me? There's a second kind of righteousness, and that's imparted righteousness. That's where we live out Christ's righteousness in our daily lives. We're living righteously in Him. Can we look at a couple verses tonight? I'm going to quit on time. Let's look at a couple verses. Turn all the way back to Titus 2. Would you turn to Titus 2? And if you can't get there, that's fine, because I'm not going to take a lot of time waiting. And I'm going to read a verse here, but I wanted you to see it. Titus 2. And I want you to find verse number 11. Would you look there? If you can't find it, just jot it down. You can go back to it. It's fine. Teaching us. Verse 11, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. And here's what it teaches us. Verse 12, Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly, righteously. and godly in this present world." What he's saying here is what I am on the outside ought to reflect who I am on the inside. If I am righteous in Christ, it should translate, it ought to show up in my life as righteous living before others. I need to reflect Christ's righteousness by how I live my life. Are you following me? When you come to the book of the Revelation, white robes oftentimes symbolize not the righteousness of God, but the righteousness of saints. Turn with me, if you would please, to Revelation 19 now. Look at Revelation 19. There's a difference between the righteousness of God and the righteous acts, the righteous living of the saints. There's a difference. The righteousness of God is given to me. That's imputed. Living out that righteousness, the righteousness of the saints is imparted. That is living out what God has worked into my life. Look at Revelation 19 and find if you would in verse number 8. This is after the judgment seat of Christ. This is the church, the bride of Christ, getting ready to be married to the Lord, the Lamb of God. Alright? And notice in verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine land is the righteousness of saints." What he's saying is that once we've come through the judgment seat of Christ and all the draws, you understand that word draws? The gold is heated and the waste elements come to the top and it's skimmed and skimmed and skimmed and skimmed all the waste materials until you have pure gold. Are you following me? As pure as you can get it. Well, here's the thing. When we go through the judgment seat of Christ, it's like ore going through the fires and being purified to where it's perfectly pure. And so when we get to heaven, listen, I think we ought to live righteously, we ought to live godly in Christ Jesus, but does anybody live perfectly? Does anybody here not have any blemish in your life? Is there anybody here that you always have the right attitude all the time, and you never lose your temper, and you never say something you shouldn't say? Anybody here like that? If you are, I'd love to meet you. Because I just fall short at times. I don't want to, but I do. And I've sinned since I've been saved. And chances are I'll sin before this week's out. Probably I'll sin before this day's out because I've got to drive back home tonight. But when I get to heaven, I'm going to be saved to sin no more. All the dross of my life is going to be gone. And this is the righteous acts, the righteous imparted of the saints. This is not imputed righteousness. This is imparted righteousness. And we'll be perfectly like the Lord Jesus. Salvation, the work of God, is complete. And so the word here is, are you following me? There is a sure fellowship. We can walk with Him here in a manner that pleases Him and honors Him like this fateful few, and then you know what? In heaven, we're going to walk before Him in what? We're going to be perfectly pure because we're worthy of that in Jesus. Amen? And some believe that this is a special garment given to those who have remained faithful to the Lord. Whether that's true or not, I don't know and you don't know. I'm just telling you what some people have written about this passage. I just know that, friend, one day we're going to be made perfectly like Jesus. Amen? And the worthiness of that comes from our relationship with Him. But then we come to a sweet assurance. Look, if you would, please, in verse number 5 again. And I will not blot out His name out of the book of life. Preacher, does God have an eraser? 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." Is this a special group of Christians that when they get there, they get white raiment and their name doesn't... Is it a promise to them if they overcome, they just live victoriously, that they're going to be assured that their name is not blotted out of the book of life? Well, that's true if you're a Calvinist. and you have a Calvinist view of perseverance of the saints. But we don't believe that, right? We believe that we're secure in Christ and that salvation is completely a gift of God by grace, right? It's no human effort, no human works. I can't do anything to be saved and I can't do anything to stay saved. Who is an overcomer? We already know that. We preached a whole series on it. 1 John 5 verse 8, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. The moment you were saved, you became an overcomer. Say it with me, church. One, two, three. We are overcomers. And here's the promise. God will never blot your name out of the book of life. It's not a warning of losing your salvation. It is a word of assurance that you can never lose it. It's a guarantee. Even the dead, dried up saints in Sardis were assured that one day they would be in heaven with the Savior and their names wouldn't be blotted out of the book of life. Some believe that there are two books. I've read this. The Registry of the Living. I believed that for a long time in the Lamb's Book of Life. Here's the only problem. There's no other place that it really mentions all of that. That may be true. I don't know that one's the Book of Life that everybody, when they're born, their name's written in that book, but if they never get saved, their name's blotted out. And therefore, at the great white throne judgment, this book will be opened and it'll show where they never were saved and their name's because they're no longer part of the living. That may very well be true. May very well be true. And the Lamb's Book of Life is the book that your name's written into the moment you get saved, and it's the registry of the redeemed. And that is wonderful. And I'm not saying that's not true, but here's what I am saying. It doesn't matter if you're saved, whether there's two books or one book, your name's always going to be in that book if you trusted Jesus. That's a word of security, not a word of loss of salvation. It is a word of assurance. Because if you have to overcome to keep your name in that book, you're not going to make it, and neither am I. Notice the next phrase. That word, not, by the way, is the same... If you go to... When I preach on eternal security again in John 10, 27 or 26, I believe it is, I give unto them eternal life, okay? And they shall never... It's the same... construction. That word there is the same construction in its form as that word never perish. I will not. It means no, never, under any circumstances will I not blot your name. There's no circumstance that will cause me, once you're saved, to blot your name out of my book. That's what it is. It's the same thing where Jesus said, He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Never under any circumstance have you come to Me while I cast you out." It's assurance. That's what it is. Because there is no assurance otherwise. Because we'll never live good enough to stay saved. Alright, here's the last one. I've got to close. A satisfying confession. Look at verse number five. But I will confess His name before my Father and before His angels. I'm not going to blot your name. You're going to be clothed in white raiment. I'm not going to blot your name out of the book of life. And I'm going to confess you before my Father and before His angels. I don't know what all that entails. You say, how come? Because God doesn't tell us. And I've never been to heaven. Okay? And if I had been to heaven, all right, I wouldn't be here right now. Okay? So, are you following me? Alright. Here's what I envision. I envision the Lord taking us by the hand and introducing us to the Father. That's not like the Father doesn't know us. But it's sort of like me taking a friend, Brother Lane. And here's my dad. My dad's never met Brother Lane. And I say, Dad, I just want you to meet one of my friends. I want you to meet one of my friends, Michael Lane. He's been a blessing. I don't want you to meet him. He's my friend. There's an introduction. One day, church, we get to heaven. Jesus is going to take us by the hand. And he's going to take us to the Father. And he's going to say something like this, Father, this is my servant, Kevin. And I just want you to know that I'm his friend. And I love Him. And He belongs to me. And there was a day in His life that He put His faith in me. And His sins were washed away. And Father, I just want to introduce Kevin to you. A sweet confession. I don't know about you, but heaven sounds really wonderful, doesn't it? Church, can I just say something? I'm done. I'm done. It pays to serve Jesus. It pays every day. It pays every step of the way. Though the pathway to glory may sometimes be drear, you'll be happy each step of the way. Calvary, do we want to keep our church from becoming a dead church? Then let's recognize, let's stay in tune with our spiritual condition. Let's stay right with God. Let's continually be submitted to the Holy Spirit. Let's rejoice in our past. We have a glorious past. But let's not live there. Let's rejoice in it and grow from it and go forward. Let's return. Let's stay. I don't think we have to return because I think we've got it right. Let's stay under the authority of the preached Word of God. Not the authority of the pastor, although pastors are God's authority and leaders of the church, but we're all under the authority of the Word of God. Are you following me? Let's stay right with God. Let's be willing to repent and get areas of our lives right when they're wrong. Can we do that? And let's remain faithful no matter what anybody else does. I come to the conclusion, of course I know this, but I was riding down the road, I think I was coming back from a preaching meeting, and I reminded myself that I don't pastor that church down there, or that church over there, or that church that way, or that church here, or that church across the nation. I don't pastor those churches. I'm responsible for one congregation, and that's this church. I'm not responsible for all the others. I do care what they do, but it doesn't matter. If they go away, that's between them and God. What matters is that we stay right. Now, I'm not necessarily saying all of them are going to go away. I'm just saying no matter what anybody else does, no matter what anybody else does, Let's remain thankful to God. That's all I'm saying. Can we commit ourselves to that? Can we commit ourselves to that? When we do that, church, can I tell you what's going to happen? That means we're going to hand off one day to the next generation a vibrant, growing church that's alive, with a love for Jesus Christ. We're going to hand off what has been handed to us. We're sitting here today because of people that were faithful before we came, and they sacrificed, and they gave, and they loved, and they reached, and they preached, and they stood true. Let's do that to the next generation. Amen? And some of you that were part... I don't know that we have any more of the very beginning, but we still have some long-time members here at Calvary that are still staying by the stuff. And I just want to tell you something. I thank God for you. And those of us that have come later, we're thankful for you. Amen? Church, let's just be alive, Church. Amen. I don't really know how to give invitation tonight, but I know one thing you ought to always be doing.