Jesus says, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Revelation 3:15-19 NKJV
Beloved Jesus said, “I know your works,” In essence He was saying, “I know your spiritual state.”
Man only looks on the outward appearance, but God looks much deeper than our outward appearance. God sees the heart of a person.
I want to establish a foundational truth of the Good News, before I go any further in this post.
We have all sinned. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one good enough to be saved by his/her works.
The penalty of sin is death. Sin requires a payment that payment is death. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay our payment.
He paid a debt that He did not owe, and that we could not pay.
He died on the cross, so that we can live in Him. Jesus was murdered on a tree, buried in a borrowed tomb, and rose from the grave on the third day.
Today through faith in Jesus Christ, the same power that raised Him from the grave, can raise us up to new life in Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. We are saved by grace through faith. No one can be saved outside of faith in Jesus Christ. It is only through the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross that the sin of a man can be cleansed and forgiven.
WORKS CAN NOT SAVE US. IF WORKS COULD SAVE US JESUS CHRIST WAS A FOOL AND HE DIED IN VAIN. BUT HE IS NOT A FOOL. HE IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR. IT IS ONLY BY HIS BLOOD, WE CAN BE SAVED FROM SIN, DEATH, & HELL. IT IS ONLY BY FAITH IN CHRIST AND THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT FIRE CAN BE IGNITED AND THAT FIRE CAN BE REKINDLED.
Jesus is speaking to the church in this setting of scripture in Revelation 3. He says, to the church. He will spew, vomit the lukewarm out of His mouth.
God desires to have a on fire, blazing red hot, church. Jesus didn’t die for a church that walked in the middle ground. He didn’t die for a church that straddled the fence. He didn’t die for a church to be lukewarm. He didn’t die for a church to live in complacency. He died so we could live on fire, sold out lives for Him. He died so that we walk in fire of God daily and be bold for Him.
He said I know your works. Beloved we have already established we can not be saved by works. But when we are truly saved we will have works. The Bible says we were created for good works.
Let me uncover one more lie and deception. Just like works can not save us. Works can not start the fire of God in our life. Jesus Christ is the baptizer of Holy Ghost and fire. He is the only one that can start the fire in our life. Somebody shout Amen!
But works do keep the fire of God stirred, blazing and red hot. So real quick I want to share with you four disciplines, four works to maintain and keep the fire on the altar of our hearts blazing.
Hear the Word of God.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17 NKJV
We must hear the word of God in several ways. We must daily hear the word of God through a reading plan. As a disciple of Jesus Christ we need to daily have a set time and a set place that we hear, read and study the living Word of God. We must also hear the anointed preached Word of God. As a disciple of Jesus. We must regularly hear the preached word of God.
Hunger for the Word of God.
Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire (Hunger) the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
I Peter 2:1-3 NKJV
Hunger for the Word causes the fire of God to grow in our life. We should desire, hunger for the Word even more than we do natural food. Real hunger causes us to lay aside every other desire all to whole hearted go after God.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6 NKJV
Those who hunger for the Word of God will be filled with the fire of God.
Have Faith in the Word of God.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Hebrews 11:1-3 NKJV
Faith is the currency of the Kingdom. In order to access the things of God we must have faith. Just as in the earth we must have the currency of money in order acquire material things. When you approach the check out line at Wal-Mart you will need the currency of money to possess the merchandise. When you approach the Word of God you must have faith. Faith in the Word unlocks the power of the Word in our life. Our faith in the Word needs to outweigh even the facts of our circumstances in our life. If I were preaching I would tell you to high five your neighbor tell em, “faith outweighs facts.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “to walk not by sight (facts) but by faith.”
Apply the Word of God.
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, (Doers, apply the Word of God) and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:21-25 NKJV
Just as in hungering for the Word you must lay aside the works of the flesh. In applying the word of God you must lay aside sinful desires. Beloved there are going to be choices every day. Those who have a blazing, red hot, fire burning in their hearts.
We have to choose God.
We have to choose to obey.
We have to choose to walk in the Spirit.
We must choose to walk in love.
We must choose to hear and do the Word of God. Those who daily choose to do the Word of God will daily see the Word of God work in their life.
I will end just as Jesus ended in Revelation 3:19, He said, “as many as I love, I exhort to repent.” Jesus is the baptizer of fire. He loves you. He desires for you to walk in the blazing, red hot, fire of God.
Are you red hot for Jesus right now? Or are you lukewarm?
If you need to take a moment and get things right with God. Repent if you need to repent. If you feel empty, in faith ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit and fire. God will ignite your fire, but He requires us to stir (maintain) the fire.
I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, from this day forward you will daily.
Hear the Word. Hunger for the Word. Have Faith in the Word. Apply the Word.
Amen!
Fire on the Altar 