Get Real or Get Out!

Intro – Story/Joke

What is a real Christian – “One who follows Christ�? – First used in Antioch (Acts 11:26)

Not a churchgoer, not a pastor, not a missionary, “One who follows Christ�?

Talked about before – What do people at work, Friends, Family see when they look at you? Someone like them, or someone who is following Christ?

Do you words match your actions?

Do you only say you’re a Christian, or is it apparent through your actions?

World doesn’t need more people to claim Christ is in them, it needs more people who allow Christ to live through them.

1 John 4:4 …the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Greater is He…Rather than, greater is He that I claim to be in me…

Read Revelation 3:14-20

We are going to talk about someone who is lukewarm, what does that mean?

Let me relate it to having a Fever. There are over 300 illnesses that you could get, and have a Fever as a symptom.

On the other hand, you don’t just get a fever. You either have an infection, or some problem that causes the fever as a symptom.

The same is true with being lukewarm. If you are lukewarm, there are underlying factors.

Maybe you have no desire to know God more personally.
Maybe you have no desire to read the Bible.

There are a million different reasons why you could be lukewarm, but the point is that you need to find out why.

People may know you go to church, and you say you’re a Christian, but are you truly “following Christ�??

If you are not truly “following Christ�?, tonight is your chance to get it right, no more pretending.

If you are not truly “following Christ�?, and you don’t want to follow Christ, I urge your to get real, or get out.

If you don’t want to get right with God, and “follow Christ�?, you are lukewarm…your words don’t match your actions and you do more harm than good.

Lukewarm water does not quench thirst. Someone who claims Christ’s power in their life, but does not live it, will not quench a persons desire to know God.

You can’t be 2 faced. You may be able to fool people at church, they see you once a week, but you won’t be able to fool your family, and co-workers.

Then when I try to witness to them, they say they already know about Christians, and they think of you, and everything bad you’ve done…and who doesn’t really care to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and follow him as Lord.

Read Rev 3:15-16

4 Chairs

We’re going to look at 4 types of people.

• In the first chair here is someone who does not want to know God and does not know God.

• In the second chair is someone who does not want to know God but knows God in spite of himself. He really doesn’t want any real part of it but religiosity has always been a family thing that he just does out of habit – he goes to church because it is the thing to do. There could be a myriad of reasons – but he is not here for Christ.

• In this third chair here is a man who wants Christianity but he really does not have it. He believes the stuff he hears in church and he likes it — in his mind — but he has never let it into his heart. He is always a hearer of the word but never a doing. The best way to describe him would be in direct contrast to be a living sacrifice. He still conforms to the pattern of the world, and he likes it that way.

• Then in this fourth chair you have the man who wants it and indeed has it. He will testify and tell others about the love of God. He has been crucified with Christ and it shows – there is lasting fruit.

The middle two chairs are what the Bible is referring to a lukewarm.

• This guy over here is the first chair is cold – but he’s honest about it.

• This guy over here in the fourth chair is hot and he’s honest about it.

• These two guys over here in these two middle chairs are lukewarm and they are liars about it.

The guy in the 4th chair, who is Hot, is trying to bring the guy who is Cold over to his side, and it appears that the two in the middle are already on his side, when in reality, they are just as lost as the guy who is cold.

One of the characteristic symptoms of someone who is Cold is a kind of chronic indifference towards the things of God—a lack of interest in prayer, Scripture, fellowship.

They enjoy church when it is convenient, and they are excited about 12 o’clock because they can “get on with their day�?.

Dismiss chair people.

Let’s read on in Revelation 3 starting in verse 19.

“Those whom I love�? God still loves those who are lukewarm, but he desires they repent from the middle chairs.

V20 I stand at the door and knock. IF anyone…

It has to be a personal choice between you and God.

Tonight at the end of the service, if you find yourself sitting in one of the first three chairs, you will have a chance to get out of those chairs, and get into the 4th chair.