Let's look at Romans 12 verse
11. Once again, not slothful in business or diligence
or earnest care, carefulness, but fervent in spirit, white,
hot in spirit, boiling in spirit, serving the Lord. I've entitled this message, Fervent
in Spirit. Now, it would be easy to lay
a big guilt trip on all of us with this verse because every
one of us feel like we are not careful enough and we don't have
enough zeal. I dare say every believer feels
that way about themselves. I want to bring this message
in a way that will not simply make you feel guilty, but that
will make us truly desire to be more earnest in spirit and more white-hot
in our attitude toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And do not be slothful
in business. And that word, like I said, means
diligence and earnest care. Do not become lackadaisical and
complacent in your earnest care to serve the Lord, but be boiling
over in zeal, white hot in your desire to serve the Lord. Now I would like for you to pray
for me that I preach this message the way it ought to be preached.
And I'd like for you to pray for yourselves that you'd hear
this message as it ought to be heard. Now I think more than
anything else, Paul is warning us against lukewarmness. Lukewarmness. One of my favorite
statements, I've made this statement many times, I'm going to make
it again. If true, it's of infinite importance. If false, it's of
no importance at all. But the one thing it cannot be
is moderately important. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Revelation chapter 3? Like I said, I think Paul
is warning us against lukewarmness. Verse 14, Revelation chapter
three, verse 14. And unto the angel of the church
of the Laodiceans write. Now, I think it's interesting
what the name Laodicean means. It means the rights of the people. The rights of the people. And wherever you have people
seeking their rights rather than to do what's right, you have
the beginning of this Laodicean spirit. The rights of the people. I want my rights. I want my rights. Verse 14, and under the angel
of the church of the Laodiceans right, These things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning or the cause of
the creation of God. I know thy works. He said this to all seven of
these churches. I know thy works. that thou art neither cold nor
hot. I would thou wert cold or hot,
so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will
spew thee, I will vomit thee out of my mouth. And he says to these people,
You're neither cold or hot. Now, coldness and hotness are
both temperatures of discomfort, aren't they? You're not comfortable
when you're cold. You're not comfortable when you're
hot. You know what it is to be cold in spirit, where you're
hearing the truth and it just isn't affecting you and you hate
yourself for it. You think, what's wrong with
me? Why am I not responding to the gospel any better than this?
And you're miserable when you're cold, when you hear the gospel
and you feel like you've got an ice cube in your chest and
it's just doing nothing for you. It makes you miserable. I don't think there's anything
much more difficult than hearing the gospel when you're not hearing.
And you know you're not hearing. And then, hotness. Being hot. That's a feeling of discomfort.
You see, when you're hot, boiling over in zeal for His glory, you're
dissatisfied with the present state of things. There's always
a dissatisfaction with hotness. Now, He says to these people,
you're not cold. You're not hot. lukewarm. You're somewhere in between.
Now, tea. We like iced tea. We like hot
tea. We don't like lukewarm tea, do we? We love hot coffee. I can't say that I like iced
coffee. I've never tried it. I've seen those in some of the
Starbucks restaurants. That's weird. Why would somebody
drink iced coffee? But at any rate, there's hot
coffee, there's iced coffee, but who wants lukewarm coffee? As a matter of fact, you want
to spit it out when you're drinking it. It is irritating to have
something like that. Now, the Lord says regarding
the church at Laodicea, the ones who were protecting their rights,
the ones who were standing up for themselves, he said, you're
neither cold nor hot, but because you're lukewarm and neither cold
nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Now, he says, I
find that disgusting. I find that disgusting. to be lukewarm concerning myself. I find that to be disgusting. Now, verse 17, here's what lukewarmness
is. And I think this is so interesting
and it's so important for me to understand something about
this lukewarm state. If I'm lukewarm, I do not know
it. I'm unaware. Here's the way I
feel about myself when I'm lukewarm. Because thou sayest, I'm rich. I'm increased with goods and
have need of nothing. Everything's fine. How you doing?
Great. Great. I'm rich rather than poor in
spirit. I'm increased with goods rather
than having great needs. I have need of nothing. I'm fine.
I'm all right, don't anybody worry about me, I'm doing great.
That person is the person who is lukewarm. And you don't even know it when
you're lukewarm. And you don't know, our Lord
says, that in reality, look what he says in verse 17. You say,
I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And
you don't know that you are wretched. and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked. You just can't see yourself the
way I see you when you're in this lukewarm state. Now, the
Lord is very tender to these people. Look what he says. In verse 18, he says, I counsel
thee to bide me. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire, that you may be truly rich, the gold that
comes from me, and white raiment representing his righteousness,
that thou mayest be clothed. You know, when you're lukewarm,
the righteousness of Christ becomes a doctrine rather than the greatest
thing there is. He said, buy of me white ringment,
that thou mayest be closed, that the shame of thy nakedness does
not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that you may
see." I'll get the eyesalve so you can see. You just can't do
it. You can't see yourself. You can't see me. You can't see my glory.
You can't see the gospel. You can't see when you're in
this state of lukewarmness. You don't even know you're in
it. But here the Lord mercifully warns us about this thing of
lukewarmness. Now, he says in verse 19, he
says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." I want to be in
that group, don't you? He says, as many as I love, that's
the group I want to be in, those who he loves, those who know
him. He says, as many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten, and I want to be rebuked and chastened by
him. Now, I'm all for, like I've said many times, I don't want
it. I don't want any trials. I want to get out of every trial
I can. Don't want to be tried, but I also want to be with somebody
that's loved by him, that's rebuked and chastened. And he says, as
many as I love, I rebuke and chase and be zealous, therefore,
and repent. Change your mind about this lukewarm
state. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. Now, if any man hear my voice
and open the door, I'll come into him and will sup with him
and he with me. What? Oh, don't you want that?
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even
as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his throne.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now, back to our text
in Romans chapter 12. Verse 11. Not lazy and complacent in this
thing of diligence and earnest care in our serving of the Lord,
but fervent in spirit, boiling in spirit, boiling in spirit,
serving the Lord. I can certainly see why anything
short of this is disgusting to the Lord. I mean, if I'm lukewarm
in spirit and he can look at me and say, I died for you. I put away your sin. I right
now am interceding for you. And to be lukewarm about that? There's no excuse for that. Serving
the Lord. Now, let's consider for a few
moments who it is we serve and why this lukewarmness is so wrong. He says, don't be complacent,
don't be slothful in your earnest care and your diligence, but
be fervent, be white hot, be boiling in spirit, because you're
serving the Lord. He's the Lord. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Lord. You know, I love to talk about
the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It's something that I'm thankful
for. Are you thankful that He's Lord?
Now, what all does that mean when we say He's Lord? A lot
of folks, I remember when I was in college, I went to a religious
college one semester, and I remember this guy, and I can't remember
what his name was, but every time he'd see somebody, he'd say,
Jesus is Lord, because of that scripture, no man can say that
Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. And he thought, this proves
to everybody that I got the Holy Ghost, Jesus is Lord. He didn't
even know what the Lordship of Christ meant. He could use the
term, but he didn't know what it meant. What is meant by the
Lordship of Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, he's the
Lord of creation. That means all things were made
by Him. And without Him, there's not anything made that was made. He made everything. All things
were made by Him and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And that's who He is. He's the
Lord of creation. And I love thinking about this.
He's the Lord of Providence. That means He's in control of
everything, and everything that happens is nothing less than
His will being done. That's why we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose, because He controls everything
in Providence. It's always the Lord's will being
done. Samuel told Eli, God's gonna
kill your two sons. Ewan's reply was, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Most especially when we talk
about the lordship of Christ, we're talking about his lordship
in salvation. Now, I love this. My salvation
is in his hands. I've got no control, you've got
no control, and I like it that way. He's the Lord. Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. I will be thou clean. He is the Lord. He is the way. He's the way to
the Father. He's the only way. He's the truth. He is the truth. He didn't say,
I'll tell you the truth. He said, I'm it. He is the life. That means if I have life before
God, His life is my personal life before God. He's the way,
the truth, and the life. He said, no man cometh to the
Father but by me. Now the only way I can come to
the Father is if I'm in Him. And when He's in the Father's
presence, I'm right there with Him. No man comes to the Father
but by me. In the beginning was the Word,
He's the Word. He's the Word of God. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. He's the Christ. This is the
Lord we serve, but we're serving the Lord. He's the Christ. He's
God's prophet. He brings me the very Word of
God. He's God's priest. That means
He represents me before the Father so that the Father can accept
me and embrace me and love me because I'm brought by Him. He's
the King. He's got the power to cause me
to do His will. He's got the power to cause me
to believe, to repent, to bow the knee to His Son. I need Him
as my King to reign over me. Now, who is this Lord we serve? He's the Lord. Scripture says,
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Now you think about this Lord
we're serving. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells, resides
in His body. He's the Savior. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And that is music in this sinner's
ears, because that's what I need. I need to be saved from my sins. And I know I can't save myself
from my sins. Oh, thank God he's the savior
of sinners. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
that we serve. Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself
with no help from me or you. purged us of our sins. Now this
is the Lord we serve. Is there any way to serve him
in a indifferent and careless way or with lack of zeal? This one who loved me and gave
himself for me and washed me from my sins in his own blood
and made me a king and a priest to God and even now he's interceding
for me. Is there any way to serve him
other than with white-hot zeal for his glory. Can I be slothful,
indeligent, and earnest care with regard to him? Is there
any other way than to be fervent in spirit with regard to him?
You know the answer to that question. I laugh at myself. I'm very fervent
in spirit when it comes to sports. I get so tied up about things
of that nature. People become so fervent in spirit
about politics, right-wing, left-wing politics. People become so fervent
in spirit about success and money and making money and getting
somewhere in life. But oh, to be fervent in spirit
concerning the Lord himself. When the Lord Jesus made a scourge
to drive the changers of money out of the temple, can you imagine
how angry people were when he did that? What gives him the
right to do something like this? Who does he think he is? He comes
in here and, I mean, we've done all this, where's his authority
coming from? How can he do this? But you know
what the scripture says? The scripture says regarding
that event, he did it because the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. He could not bear that which
is contrary to his father's house. And he made a whip. And he drove
those people out, and I believe he hit them too. I think he overchanged
the money table, all those things, because the zeal of thine house
hath eaten thee up. Now where there is love for Christ,
there is a zealous jealousy for his honor. You can't bear that
which detracts from Him, that which doesn't give Him all the
glory. You can't deal with it. You can't bear it if you have
a zeal for His glory. If you hear something that's
not true, well, if you're low in love to Christ and if you're
complacent, you just fluff it off. You know, it's okay. It's
okay. I mean, you know, everybody can't be right. And when you're
zealous for His glory, you cannot bear that which is contrary to
Him, that which doesn't give Him all the glory. Now, that
is a zeal from love to Him. When you see sin, you see your
own sin, what makes you hate your sin or what makes you ask
the Lord to deliver you from your sin is because you see how
it detracts from His glory. And that's why you hate it. It
detracts from His glory. How can someone who the Lord's
done so much for, how can I be so sinful? And you ask for deliverance. Now, not slothful in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Now, how is the Lord to
be served? First, singularly. What's that mean? No man can
serve two masters. Can't be done. You remember what
Elijah said to the People on Mount Carmel, how long halt ye
between two opinions? If Jehovah is God, serve him. If Baal is God, serve him. He is to be served singularly. You can't serve two masters. You can just write that down.
It's not going to happen. Acts chapter 20 verse 19, I love
this. Paul said, serving the Lord with
all humility of mind. Now, first I serve him singularly,
but second, I serve him with all humility of mind. Now, if
you're around me and my zeal makes you just feel guilty and
judged and threatened by me, I'm really not serving the Lord.
Not really. I'm serving myself. I'm trying
to make myself look good. I'm trying to make myself look
powerful and zealous and all those kind of things. And you
just feel bad about it. No, when someone serves the Lord,
he does so with humility, with all humility. That means when
I serve the Lord, I serve him with a just estimate of myself. That's what humility is. That's
the best definition of humility. It's a just estimate of myself. I am what I am. by the grace
of God. Now where do I begin? I'm a sinner. Not I was a sinner. I am a sinner. I say to my shame,
I know it's so, but do you know I also realize it's only the
grace of God that's taught me that? I'd never be a sinner.
I have a lot higher view of myself if grace hadn't done something
for me. I am what I am by the grace of God. I'm a saved sinner. And I know that that salvation
is all of grace. I love that passage of Scripture
read in Ephesians chapter 2. By grace are you saved. Through
faith. And that not even yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of
works lest any man should boast. I'm a justified sinner. And I
know that I've been justified by His grace. This is something
God did. This wasn't something that was offered to me. Here
it is, take it or leave it. No, God justified me. When Christ
died, I was justified. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. I'm a justified sinner, and I
know it's by the grace of God. All I am, I have faith, and I
know God gave it to me. I have repentance, and I know
that's what He worked in me. I love His Lordship. I love His
person, and I know that's because of what He has done in me, and
it doesn't have anything to do with my works. Now, that's what
humility is. The only way you can serve the
Lord is with humility, and if you're around someone who you
just feel judged and threatened and you're not measuring up and
you feel bad, that person, that person's not serving the Lord.
If you're around somebody who truly is serving the Lord, they're
going to inspire you to want to serve him too. They're not
going to just make you feel bad and wretched and think, oh, I
don't measure up. I'm, I don't have the faith of
that man. I don't have the courage of that man. I don't have the,
no, that, that man is trying to make you feel that way. So
I don't want to be that way. I don't want to serve the Lord
in such a way as to say, look at me, look at my zeal for God,
look at my courage and my passion and my love for souls. That's just not even real. It's
phony. It's phony. The only way he can be served
is with humility. And this service, turn with me
to Romans chapter 7. Verse six, but now we are delivered
from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we
should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter. Now this is the way I serve.
If I serve, I serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness
of the letter of the law. In other words, there's some
understanding of grace when I serve. I'm not under law. Do you like
that? I love not being under the law. I don't want to be under
the law in any way, and beloved, I'm not. I'm not. If you serve
in the oldness of the letter, you're not really serving the
Lord. That's just works is all it is. But every believer desires
to serve in this newness of spirit, this newness. I love the newness
of the gospel. You know, the gospel comes to
me right now is brand new. Brand new. It's not an old worn
out message. It's new. I've got a new history. I love thinking about that because
my history is all good. It's all new because he makes
all things new. And we serve him according to
grace. What if you had to serve him
according to works? It'd just make you miserable, wouldn't it? But
no, we serve him in newness of spirit and not in the oldness
of the letter. While you're in Romans, turn
to chapter 14. Verse 17, that the kingdom of
God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth
Christ is acceptable, is well pleasing to God and approved
of men. Now, the only way I can serve
God The only way I can serve Christ is to have some understanding
of Romans chapter 14 verse 17. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
not rules and regulations. It's not you're better off if
you do this and you're worse off if you do that. The kingdom
of God is righteousness. Now, righteousness is the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that the only
righteousness that you personally have is the righteousness and
merits of Jesus Christ? Do you believe that? Now, if
you do, you know what it's going to do? It's going to give you
peace. If God looks to me for anything,
I've lost my peace. But if my righteousness is Jesus
Christ himself, what that does is it gives me peace. Peace with
God. But not only does it give me
peace, It gives me joy. This is the one thing that I
truly have, I rejoice in. I rejoice in Christ being my
righteousness before God. It makes me so happy. Right now,
it makes me, hey, it gives me joy. Now, he that serveth the
Lord in these things, This understanding of Romans chapter 14 verse 17,
for he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God,
well pleasing to God, and approved of men. Turn to Ephesians chapter
6. Don't be slothful, complacent,
lazy in your earnest care toward serving the Lord, but be fervent. Boiling is the word. Boiling
in spirit, serving the Lord. Look in Ephesians chapter 6.
Servants, verse 5. Be obedient to them that are
your masters according to the flesh. with fear and trembling,
in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ, not with eye
service, as men pleasers, just so when men are looking, but
as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Now that's the only way to serve
him. Not as unto men, but as unto the Lord. 1 Thessalonians
chapter one. Verse 9. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Now notice, it doesn't say you
turn from idols to God. That's never going to happen.
You're not going to turn from your idols to God. it says you
turn to God. And then you saw your idols for
what they were. You turn to God from idols to serve the living
and the true God. Now, serving the living and true
God will always cause a turning from idols. And I love this name
of our God, the living God and the true God. That's who he is. And if I ever see who He is,
I will see idols for what they are. The false concepts, the
man-made concepts of God, all the idols, the idols of my imagination,
I'll see them for what they are if I see the living and true
God. And I'll turn from idols from
seeing Him. Now, if I hold on to my idols,
I prove by that I've never really seen the only living and true
God. Now, when I bring a message like
this, I fear, more than anything else, I fear bringing a message
trying to fire people up without preaching the gospel. If I did that, this was a complete
waste of time, a waste of my time, and a waste of your time. That being said, the gospel of Christ that actually
saves sinners. The gospel of Christ that has
actually saved me. He saved me from my sins. He
put them away. They're gone. I stand perfect
and accepted before God in His glorious righteousness. Now,
how can there be any way to serve Him other than being white-hot
boiling in this service? And I know I can't work that
up, and I don't want to work it up, but boy, I want to be that
way. This is a true story. There was a young man that wanted
to be a missionary, and his parents tried to prevent it. They did
not want him to go away to a foreign land and preaching the gospel.
But he said, I know this is what the Lord will have me do, and
he went and did it. Three weeks later, he died. Young man, three weeks later,
he died. If he would have listened to
his parents, that wouldn't have happened. Three weeks later, he died. And his
dad went to get his remains. And he found his Bible. And he opened it up. And in that
Bible, that young man had this note to himself. No reserve. No retreat. And no regrets. Isn't that beautiful? And that's
the way I want to serve my Lord. With no reserve. With no retreat. And with no regrets. I would
like to be able to say with Paul, I thought a good thought. I finished
my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord
will give to me, and not to me only, but unto all them that
love His appearing." And I tell you what, I'm somebody that loves
His appearing. I love His appearing for me as my surety before time
again. I love to think of Him taking
complete responsibility for my salvation. I love His appearing
when He became flesh. I love His appearing on the cross
when He, after having obeyed the law for me, He put away my
sin. I love His appearing when He was raised from the dead.
I love to think of His appearing as He ascended back to the Father.
And oh, how I love His appearing right now where He's interceding
for me as my great High Priest. And how we'll love His appearing
when He returns. Now, is there any excuse for
being slothful, complacent, lackadaisical in your earnest care in your
service of him? May the Lord give us grace to
be boiling, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And I read
this about zeal, and I thought it came from an anonymous source,
but I thought it was a good statement. Zeal is like fire. It needs feeding, and it needs
watching, or it'll go out. And I don't want mine to go out,
do you? May the Lord enable us to obey the injunction that Paul
gives us in Romans chapter 12, verse 11. Be not slothful in
business or diligence or earnest care, but be fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord. Let's pray.