Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #73： Are You a Lukewarm Christian？

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Real Christianity. Today we are talking about... 0.85

00:00:03.040 Are you a lukewarm Christian? 0.93

00:00:04.880 Yeah, so lukewarm Christianity. Today we're going to be sharing the Bible's perspective. 1.00

00:00:09.580 We don't want to give you our opinion on what it means to be lukewarm, but the Bible does talk

00:00:14.260 about that. We want to share about that in regards to my book. But before we get started,

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00:03:29.360 we'll send out to all of the donors if you become part of that list um okay now we get to talk about

00:03:36.560 things jump on in huh yeah okay so yeah we're excited to take you through episode number three

00:03:41.480 on our four-part series on dale's new book real christianity um if you haven't picked up a copy

00:03:46.300 You can grab yours online on the online store at shop.relearnchurch.org or on Amazon or on Audible.

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00:03:59.840 It does. We get we earn a little bit more profit from our store than we would on Amazon.

00:04:05.180 Yeah. So pick up a copy if you haven't gotten it yet.

00:04:08.040 So in episode one, which was what, two episodes ago, something like that, we talked about biblical salvation and the authority of Scripture,

00:04:15.300 which were the topics of chapters one and two in dale's book the last episode we talked um on two

00:04:22.820 topics of dying to self and alive in christ which are topics three and four or are chapters three

00:04:29.000 and four in your book and then today we're going to talk about um lukewarm christianity which will

00:04:34.140 be chapters five and six um so i think a lot of people um wonder what lukewarm actually really

00:04:41.700 means and you titled the chapter number five in your book do you really love Jesus here you tackle

00:04:48.320 the idea of biblical love and what the Bible has to say about people who love Christ but you also

00:04:54.140 touch on how not loving Christ according to the scriptures can be a manifestation of being lukewarm

00:05:00.920 so can you explain what you mean by that yeah so this is lukewarm is is an important term to

00:05:08.920 define in your life so that you can stay away from it. Because the reality is that when you're

00:05:17.040 lukewarm, you don't know it. I don't think people know, like, I'm a lukewarm Christian.

00:05:22.620 It's a deceptive state. Until it's revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. Exactly. And

00:05:27.040 so the term lukewarm, it comes from Revelation 3, 15 through 16, where Jesus says, and I'm going to

00:05:34.640 read it to you here. It says, I know your works, that you are neither hot nor cold. I could wish

00:05:40.800 that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will

00:05:47.300 vomit you out of my mouth. And so it's pretty intense language there. Jesus is correcting 0.99

00:05:54.680 seven churches in the book of Revelation, and they have these specific issues. And he really ends

00:06:03.400 the section with this one line at the bottom of each of these seven corrections. And not every

00:06:10.680 one of us is a specific correction, but I'm going to label them that for just easy understanding

00:06:14.360 right now. But he finishes each one with, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to

00:06:20.740 the churches. And so these are specific issues directed at specific churches, but these are

00:06:30.480 lessons for the universal church in principle. And so he addresses the loveless church. He

00:06:37.560 addresses the persecuted church, the compromising church, the corrupt church, the dead church,

00:06:46.540 the faithful church, and the lukewarm church. And so the lukewarm church is the last church,

00:06:54.900 and we're going to talk about what that idea means. And so basically the word picture in that

00:06:59.660 passage of scripture that i i was reading to you in revelation it's showing the frustrating state

00:07:05.040 of lukewarm water um you know hot water has a purpose and cold water has a purpose but lukewarm

00:07:12.660 water is kind of this attempt to be both at once it's like what are you right it's that it's just

00:07:19.420 a weird thing it has no loyalties um it's a state of indifference uh it's it's idle or it's inactive

00:07:27.200 That's kind of what it's stating here.

00:07:29.880 And I would say that's really fascinating to note that Jesus actually shows more mercy to those who are cold than he does for those who are lukewarm.

00:07:41.280 Like he doesn't even like look at the fact what he's going to talk about the cold people in their faith.

00:07:47.600 But he says he's going to vomit out of his mouth the lukewarm people.

00:07:52.360 And so basically Jesus is, you know, he, I would say he prefers an outright denial over half-hearted

00:08:01.320 commitment. And so I want you to just to hear that again, because that's an important statement.

00:08:05.920 Jesus would rather have outright denial than half-hearted commitment. And that's what that

00:08:11.760 verse teaches us there. And it tells us that, that something really important about Jesus's

00:08:17.180 expectation for his followers he's he's really looking and expecting uh blazing hot devotion

00:08:24.920 that that's that's the heart of what he's looking for and that's what you get to measure yourself

00:08:29.840 against man am i on fire for god okay but what is what is blazing devotion actually mean like how

00:08:38.000 is um how is this supposed to look in the lives of a common everyday christian uh does it mean

00:08:43.520 getting involved in the church more does it mean studying the bible more does it mean praying more

00:08:49.700 or um how can we be on fire for the gospel yeah it's a good question because the uh

00:08:56.780 yeah it's a good question because how does this practically play out what does it really look

00:09:02.820 like to be hot or to be on fire for for christ um i think blazing devotion as i said can be

00:09:11.180 translated to passionate love. Now we've got to determine what passionate love is also. Last week

00:09:18.380 we talked about Jesus' statement that he repeated, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you love

00:09:24.920 me, keep my commandments. He says it over and over and over. And how really the greatest way to

00:09:31.700 display our love to Christ is through obedience and through keeping his commandments. And you're

00:09:38.080 not saved by by our obedience that's not what we're saying that you're saved by your obedience

00:09:42.100 but your obedience is the outpouring gratitude and evidence that you are saved and so um yeah

00:09:49.680 so i think that you translate blazing devotion to passionate love and passionate love is translated

00:09:55.900 to keeping his commandments as jesus says if you love me you'll keep my commandments okay

00:10:01.000 um yeah so before i had a strong grip on the scriptures there were two verses in the new

00:10:06.500 Testament that kind of shook me, startled me a little bit. And I think there are probably two

00:10:11.800 of the most expressive passages in the New Testament. The first passage is from Revelation,

00:10:18.160 which you actually mentioned earlier about being lukewarm and Jesus saying, I will vomit you out 0.94

00:10:23.240 of my mouth. And the second passage is in Matthew chapter seven, verse 21 through 23. And that

00:10:29.160 reads, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who

00:10:34.140 does the will of the father in heaven my many will say to me in that day lord lord have we not

00:10:40.280 prophesied in your name cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name and then

00:10:45.140 i will declare to them i never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness and at the

00:10:50.660 end there there's an exclamation point depart from me you who practice lawlessness exclamation point

00:10:56.220 yeah um so you've explained this passage to me before several times um and you give a pretty

00:11:03.320 detailed answer on this passage in the book but can you briefly explain this passage for those who

00:11:08.940 may be worried or intimidated by it yeah you're right there's two it is two very scary scriptures

00:11:16.640 in the new testament i'm gonna vomit you out of my mouth if you're lukewarm and depart from me

00:11:22.340 you who practice lawless i never knew you yeah and and you're like wow okay that's a side of 0.89

00:11:28.440 Jesus that's not really commonly seen in the scriptures. And so it's a frightening passage

00:11:35.220 for a few reasons. It clarifies that calling Jesus Lord by itself isn't sufficient to save

00:11:44.900 you. So that's one thing, because it says right here, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,

00:11:49.540 shall enter the kingdom of heaven. So, you know, that's a really bold statement that you go, wow,

00:11:56.380 It's not just calling Jesus Lord that is sufficient to save you.

00:12:02.220 Jesus really combines that declaration of lordship with obedience.

00:12:08.140 It's a combination of the two, which we've talked about in previous, I think even episode one of this series.

00:12:16.000 But he says, but he who does the will of my father in heaven,

00:12:20.720 in combination with lordship and that obedience is is what jesus is looking for

00:12:27.240 but it's also concerning because apparently uh there are people who are prophesying who are

00:12:33.160 casting out demons in jesus's name who are doing many wonders um and and they're not going to

00:12:40.820 heaven like so that this is like a just like a stop you in your tracks kind of statement you're

00:12:45.840 like wow like I don't cast demons sobering yeah I don't cast demons out and like that's a really

00:12:52.380 intense ministry it sounds like you're you're casting demons out and prophesying and doing

00:12:57.460 wonders and and so basically it's teaching us a really important principle that I want you to

00:13:04.520 grasp that spiritual activity doesn't equal spiritual security so spiritual activity whatever

00:13:14.280 activity it is, it doesn't equal spiritual security. You're not

00:13:18.120 secure by your activity. You're secure by

00:13:21.860 your faith in Christ, your belief in Christ, and true

00:13:26.080 belief in Christ, which would include lordship and obedience, and

00:13:29.660 the fullness and understanding of what the gospel is, that you're not a

00:13:33.880 lukewarm, half-hearted, lethargic Christian, but you're on fire for

00:13:38.080 him. And so, I guess the 1.00

00:13:42.160 obvious question is if you're if if calling jesus lord and doing spiritual work doesn't assure you

00:13:49.140 that you know christ um then what does because jesus says at the end of this passage he says

00:13:56.340 and then i will declare to them i never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness again

00:14:04.240 exclamation point it's an angry statement and so the there's two allegations that jesus is making

00:14:09.240 against these people. The first is, I never knew you. Um, and you go, man, the prophesying,

00:14:16.120 wondering, uh, casting out demon people, Jesus never knew them. Um, and then the second allegation

00:14:23.780 is practicing lawlessness, that they're practicing lawlessness. So, so you got two things you got to

00:14:28.980 deal with that I think will overcome the fear in your heart of going to, wow, like, do I know

00:14:33.700 Christ? How do I know if Jesus knows me and I know Jesus? So the Bible is awesome, and it gives us

00:14:44.320 the exact answer for this. And John wrote the book of Revelation, and John also writes the exact

00:14:49.940 answer for this in 1 John chapter 2, verses 3 through 6, and I'll read that. He actually answers

00:14:56.600 it directly. So if we're asking the question, how do you know if Jesus knows you? Well, John

00:15:03.160 1 John 2, 3

00:15:05.480 says, Now by this we

00:15:07.400 know that we know him

00:15:09.140 if we keep his commandments.

00:15:11.880 He who says, quote,

00:15:13.660 I know him and does 0.94

00:15:15.540 not keep his commandments is a

00:15:17.480 liar and the truth is not

00:15:19.560 in him. And who's the truth? Jesus, 0.73

00:15:21.800 right? Verse

00:15:23.440 5, But whoever keeps his word

00:15:25.520 truly the love of God is perfected

00:15:27.740 in him. By this we know

00:15:29.580 that we are in him, in

00:15:31.480 Christ. Verse six, he who says he abides in him ought himself to also walk as he walked, as Jesus

00:15:39.980 walked. And so, this tells us a few things. You cannot know God if you do not keep his commandments.

00:15:48.020 So, that's one thing. You cannot know God if you don't keep his commandments.

00:15:52.400 You cannot love God if you do not keep his commandments.

00:15:56.140 um if you don't keep his commandments and you don't know god or love god which means that

00:16:03.700 you're still in sin and you're under god's wrath you're practicing lawlessness and so um i know

00:16:10.740 that there's might be a concern of going wow like how do i keep all those commandments it's not about

00:16:16.460 you being self-righteous keeping every one of his commandments

00:16:22.540 no it's about the do you listen to the holy spirit as the conviction comes the job of the

00:16:30.720 holy spirit in your life is that when you get yourself in a situation where sin is tempting

00:16:35.420 you the holy spirit's job is to give you a um a conviction don't do that and there will always

00:16:44.680 be a way out there will always be a way out and that's first corinthians 10 13 that veronica's

00:16:48.820 referencing there and the holy spirit doesn't overtake your body and robotically move your

00:16:54.960 mouth and take your hands and move no the job of the holy spirit is to convict you

00:16:59.960 you must cooperate cooperate with the spirit and choose to walk in the spirit and not

00:17:09.500 fulfill the desires of your flesh it's galatians 5 and and and so keeping his commandments is

00:17:18.000 really you know and god the holy spirit is in the trinity and unified and one god with christ

00:17:25.800 and so keeping his commandments allows you to um just listen to the holy spirit repent where you

00:17:33.000 fail but stay in communion with god um it's not about i have to keep every commandment because

00:17:38.940 if i break one then i'm not saved that's not what we're talking about here your relationship is

00:17:45.140 dependent on this kind of seeking to love him and serve him and keep his word, but you're saved by

00:17:51.760 your belief in Christ. And so this idea of lawlessness, you know, you who practice lawlessness,

00:17:59.740 first John chapter three, just a chapter later, he actually says, everyone who makes a practice

00:18:05.400 of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. So again, if you're not keeping the

00:18:12.400 first one uh you know if you don't know him you don't know him because you don't keep his

00:18:18.660 commandments if you don't keep his commandments then you don't know him even if you say that you 0.95

00:18:23.220 know him but you don't keep his commandments you're a liar like this is really important

00:18:26.980 self-evaluation um so basically biblical christianity implies that you are deeply devoted 0.62

00:18:37.100 to Christ and his ways, and that you're allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you, and you're listening,

00:18:47.680 and you're not grieving the Holy Spirit. You're obeying, and you're in relationship, and when

00:18:53.620 you're failing, you're repenting, and you're seeking the word, and you're, you know, just

00:18:58.460 think about a relationship with, like, a child. You know, you're a child, and you're trying to

00:19:03.520 Keep a relationship with your father?

00:19:05.340 Are you trying to serve him and serve your dad or mother in a way that honors them?

00:19:11.980 And you're trying, you're really working to be in relationship with them.

00:19:16.940 You're not rebellious and autonomous and independent and walking in your own way and your own will.

00:19:26.540 But you've literally sacrificed everything to your Lord.

00:19:31.500 You're asking almost permission for everything you do in that way.

00:19:37.060 And we got to remember that the Holy Spirit, as I said earlier,

00:19:41.420 quickens your body, your mortal body, your flesh,

00:19:45.420 to actually, we have an advantage as Christians.

00:19:48.940 The Holy Spirit is like renewing and regenerating us.

00:19:51.940 And Romans 8, 11, I'll close with this.

00:19:54.960 It says,

00:19:56.680 But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

00:20:00.660 He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

00:20:09.060 Now, there's some connection to resurrection there, but also, like, we can, we have power in us.

00:20:17.100 God lives in you as a Christian.

00:20:20.160 Just remembering that is important.

00:20:22.560 So, hopefully that answers the questions.

00:20:24.720 It was a quick little overview of chapters 5 and 6.

00:20:28.960 So, there's eight chapters.

00:20:29.900 You guys can see the book if you're looking at this on the YouTube video.

00:20:33.260 It's a short, small little book.

00:20:34.680 You guys, again, can get that at shop.relearnchurch.org.

00:20:39.300 And, oh, and we have the study guide.

00:20:41.700 And so I developed this study guide.

00:20:43.860 It's kind of fun.

00:20:45.620 It's like 50 or 60 pages or something.

00:20:48.700 And it's, you can see it right here if you're watching the video also.

00:20:52.480 And it's for individuals or small groups.

00:20:55.820 And a lot of people have bought it so far.

00:20:57.760 If you go to our store, you can, you know, it'll automatically ask you if you want to add it to your cart so that you can get the study guide as well.

00:21:06.820 But, you know, if you want to go deeper, because the book's short, it's only going to take you like an hour and 20 minutes to read, hour and a half to read.

00:21:11.940 And then you do the study guide together.

00:21:13.240 I think it can take you a little bit, a little bit deeper.

00:21:17.720 Last thing.

00:21:19.620 We, as you guys know, we've been doing the Real Christianity resources.

00:21:23.040 And these are higher thinking resources, theologically speaking, so that, guys, we don't want to get pulled into the just the run a mill everyday Christian books that like are like a conveyor belt of midway thinking of the Christian faith.

00:21:42.820 there there is higher thinking of great saints in fact most of them are already dead

00:21:50.600 these two that i'm about to show you are and um so i'll pull up these books real quick and

00:21:58.320 talk about them for a second so there's there's two books i want to share with you guys and

00:22:04.780 this is

00:22:07.820 Abraham Kuyper

00:22:09.940 it's spelled K-U-Y-P-E-R

00:22:12.680 this book is really beautiful

00:22:14.300 it's called Honey from a Rock

00:22:15.760 it's pretty much the size of a doorstop

00:22:18.200 it's massive

00:22:19.700 and it's Veronica's favorite book

00:22:24.480 it is

00:22:25.180 I'm kidding

00:22:25.720 this is really heavy theology

00:22:28.040 it's daily devotions from young Kuyper

00:22:31.400 and I'm assuming that this stuff is probably written

00:22:33.740 when he was about my age, and this is first published in the late 1800s, and he's just a

00:22:44.980 really fascinating thinker on theology, and it's really good to expand our mind and realize that,

00:22:52.620 man, there was some really great thinking in like the 15, 16, 17, and 1800s, and that seems to have

00:22:58.720 been diminishing as time goes on um and these are again from lexham press l-e-x-h-a-m press

00:23:06.660 and they just have a good variety of books um this one is you guys know that i mentioned a couple

00:23:13.860 shows ago that i'm not a calvinist um but i i really appreciate a lot of um you know calvinistic

00:23:21.800 doctrine or reformed dogmatics and reformed can mean a variety of things but uh this guy right

00:23:28.000 here, this is again, you know, late 1800s, Gerhardus Voss, he did a whole series called

00:23:35.520 Reformed Dogmatics. And there's some really awesome stuff here. If you're looking to study

00:23:43.120 topical, this is number five of a five-part series. And this is Ecclesiology, The Means of

00:23:50.000 Grace, and Eschatology. And so there's some on the church, there's some on Christology,

00:23:56.980 who Christ is. There's some on Sabbath. There's really cool topics that you get a really deep

00:24:03.580 theological understanding. So if you want to learn more and just start picking up some more

00:24:08.500 theologically stout and dense resources, this is the kind of stuff that I read. And so if,

00:24:14.160 you know, if you want to go deeper, you can. Just go to Lexham Press, L-E-X-H-A-M,

00:24:19.740 lexhampress.com forward slash real Christianity. They get 30% off on all the books that are there

00:24:26.040 and they have a variety of stuff in the store um you could also pick up all those things as well

00:24:31.660 on amazon so on that note why don't you say something see you next week

00:24:37.600 veronica and her her introvertness she loves that um all right thanks guys we'll see you guys uh

00:24:45.260 next wednesday for the last session yeah last episode in the series in the series all right

00:24:50.640 guys take care

Dale Partridge - November 27, 2019

Real Christianity #73： Are You a Lukewarm Christian？

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