Asleep at the Switch – Part 2

James 4:3-8 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Dr. Willie Nolte continues his sermon on "Asleep at the Switch" by pointing out that Jesus said in John 10:8-11, “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” No Satan, know Jesus.

(2) Strengthen what remains. God has started a work in us, but it is not done yet. Our goal is to grow and mature into what God has in mind for us. We tend to think of unholy godlessness as being “sin-sick”, but Ephesians 2:1-3 explains that in Christ - “you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” We are all sinners that were “dead as a door nail”, but now alive in Jesus for good work purposes, living for the Lord and walking with Him daily. He gives us gifts and things to do in the use of them, remembering that we are all saved by grace.

(3) Remember what you have. It’s not like you haven’t heard and received the gospel before. Ephesians 2:4-8 says that, “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” The “born again” transformation, experienced when we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, gifts us with forgiveness of sins, regeneration of the spirit, restoration of our relationship with Creator father god, salvation from eternal damnation unto eternal life, adoption into the family of God, citizenship in Heaven and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Never forget and always rejoice.

(4) Obey it! Just do it and keep doing it! 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 explains, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Being a Christian is not what you do, but who you are ... a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. The Lord desires our obedience.

Revelation 2:5a says, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works.”  

(5) Repent. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “repentance” as: (a) Real penitence; sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an offense and dishonor to God, a violation of his holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a Being of infinite benevolence. This is called evangelical repentance, and is accompanied and followed by amendment of life. (b) Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God. (c) Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice, from conviction that it has offended God. We have life in Christ, nowhere else. So, when going off the straight and narrow, down some rabbit trail, some side road or any wrong path away from the Lord’s perfect Word, Will and Way, remember what you have in Jesus and make a u-turn back towards Him. Do it now or it isn’t going to go well for you. Stop thinking, saying and doing "wrong" things (as defined by God) and start doing “right”; what Jesus wants for us.

Revelation 21:23-27 describes heaven as, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

Dr. Nolte listed two things that Jesus wants for us - (1) Presence, (2) Security. To experience Jesus’ presence in relationship whenever, wherever and whatever we are doing. Work with the Lord in everything that you do, knowing that your name is written in the Book of life. That is true security and life assurance. Asleep at the switch is not what the Lord had in mind for us. We have been designed and created for communion with Almighty God. God created us for eternal life and God loves us eternally. He invites us to be connected. I choose to believe that Father God loves us, that Jesus Christ died an atoning death on a cross for my sins, and this child of God is going to heaven. There is pure joy in knowing and being “awake at the switch”.

In Christ, Brian