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SCRIPTURE- REV. 3:16                                                            MAY, 1995

SO THEN, BECAUSE YOU ARE NEITHER COLD, OR HOT, I WILL SPEW YOU OUT OF MY MOUTH

SUBJECT - THE GRAY ZONE (EITHER SIN OR NOT)

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Look at these pairs of words, and try to figure what relationship they have to each other. Black and white. Cold and hot. Young and old. Rich and poor. If you have figured that they are opposites of each other, you are right. Each, has a distinct, clear difference, from the other. They are at opposite ends of a scale, that is used to measure their particular characteristic.

Let's look at hot and cold. If you put a thermometer into a hot cup of coffee, the mercury will rise to the high point of the scale. Put that same thermometer in a cold cup of water, and the mercury will drop to the bottom of the scale.

In life, when someone is at the beginning of it, they are considered young. When they near the end of life, they are old.

When looking at something white, we are seeing a combination of all colors, rolled into one. When we look at black, we are looking at the absence of all color.

Rich, means different things to different people, but it usually signifies that a person, has a lot of money, while a poor person, has little or no money.

Now, in each of these areas, there is a space, that can be called, the middle ground. It is that place, where each of our examples meet. A person may not be rich or poor, they can be middle income.

A person may not be young or old, they may be middle age. Something may not be black or white, it may be gray. Some things may not be hot or cold, they may be lukewarm.

My point, in the above paragraph, is that there are things that represent extremes in different conditions. Then there are things, that represent all aspects that fall somewhere in between those extremes.

Now in different circumstances, we may need extremes. While in others, somewhere in between, is more to our liking. In certain instances, we like our coffee, or tea, hot. Other times, we may like them cold. Very few times, will we like them lukewarm.

Most of us would like to be rich. However, we will settle for not being poor. We all want to stay young as long as possible. We don't like to think about getting old. When it comes to black and white, we don't mind being able to see those colors. However, it would be a dull world, if those were the only colors we could see. So, you see, having extremes and middle range, is good in some areas. But, in other instances, it is distasteful. Life, is that way. What I am saying is, either extreme or somewhere in between, is acceptable to us in most of our everyday lives.

Now, look at these words. Holy and unholy. Righteous and unrighteous. Saved and unsaved. Saint and sinner. Heaven and hell.

What do you see about these word pairs? If you say, they appear to be opposites of each other, you are right. However, there is a difference between this set of words, and the ones above.

Do you know what it is?

The difference is, that there is no, in between, of these extremes.

In other words, a person, can't be middle holy, middle righteous, half saved, half a saint or be half way in Heaven.

Now to us, we would figure, that there should be a middle ground. After all, we are so used to doing everything half way, that to not have a middle ground, seems unfair.

Well look at these examples.

You men, when you were courting your wife, you did everything to the extreme. You dressed nice, You opened the doors for her. You would pull her seat out, so she could sit down. You took her out on dates. You bought her flowers and candy. You did all that good stuff, to get her to marry you.

But now that you have her, what are you doing? You get off of work, if you work at all, and go to the bars, and get high with the fellas. When you are home, you flop on the couch and watch the TV. You pay little attention to her. If and when she asks you to take her out, you are too busy. You never bring her anything home, like flowers or candy. You look like a bum, and in some instances, you smell worse.

Every once in a while, you will do something nice, but not too much. This is half doing. If you feel there is nothing wrong with that, then figure this.

What if the company you worked for, only gave you half a check? You work 40 hours, and get a check for 20. You would have a fit, right?

Then, think about your wife. She puts 100% into the marriage, and you give her, 40, 50, 60, 80 or so percent, and expect her to be satisfied. Wake up my friend. Oh, just in case you think I forgot, some of you ladies, are guilty of the same thing.

Well, when it comes to God, He gives all of us, 100% of His love and mercy. He created us, in His image. He provides all of the necessities of life, for us. He protects us. When we go astray, He gently nudges us back to the right path. When man lost fellowship with Him, through Adam, He sacrificed His only begotten Son, so that we could get back to where we are supposed to be. All He wants us to do, is to serve Him. And really, not serve, in the sense of being servants, but rather as sons and daughters, serve, or obey their parents.

But no. We want to half step. We want to find a middle ground. We don't want to go the route He wants us to go. That makes us look like fanatics. We don't want to look like we just dropped in from Northville (psychiatric hospital).

After all, we want to look, and maintain our dignity. We want all the good stuff, that God has to offer, but we don't want to do the work. That's like wanting a 40 hour check, when you only do 20 hours work.

Well, if you look at the subject verse, Jesus, is speaking to one of seven Churches. He is addressing their condition, as it pertains to spiritual.

In the verses above that, He is saying that He wished that they were either cold or hot.

Now to explain this, along with the subject verse, is rather simple.

When a person, is a fanatic, Jesus freak, holy roller, or the like, what they are, is termed, on fire for God, or Hot.

On the other hand, when a person, has no regard for God, or His people, or His laws, then they are termed cold.

Now those that are on fire for God, will be with Him in Heaven, and enjoy His blessings on this earth. Those that are cold, have nothing to look forward to, except a great warming up party, in hell.

But, there is a third group. The one that Jesus is addressing.

This group, is made up of those, like most of us, that want to half step. They want to play Church. They want, what they perceive, the best of both worlds. A little bit of God, and a little bit, or a lot of, the world. They want to walk in the area, known as the gray zone, where black meets white.

To them, sin is a gray area.

Well, Jesus looks at this with despair.

Why?

Because they are coming to God, or are already there, but they continue to run to the world, and its devices to seek pleasure. And because they have this attitude, Jesus will vomit them out of His mouth. This means, they will be lumped in with the ones that are cold.

That's right, a Church, will be condemned to hell, because of its attitude.

We have many Christians that fit into this category.

They go to Church every Sunday. They participate in all of the church functions on Sunday. The choir, the deacon board, the organist, and they may even be the pastor. On Sunday, they are singing the praises of God. Hallelujah!!! Glory to God!!! Thank you Jesus! I mean, they look like those fanatics you see down the street in that little store front Church.

But just wait until they get out of service. The rest of the day, and the other six days of the week, they live like hell. Fussing, cussing, fighting, drinking, smoking, doing drugs, running numbers, playing the lottery, committing adultery and fornication, promoting psychics, and more. You name it, they are doing it.

Some, even go into the nightclubs and make records, glorifying sin. We have one artist, singing 'Freeway of Love', another sings, 'if you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with.'

Neither of these songs, sung by so-called Christians, is talking about the marital relationship, but rather fornication.

There are literally hundreds of songs, sung by Christians, that present this type of situation. And the bad thing about it is, they are leading millions of people, into sinful behavior, because the people think that since these are Christians, then God must approve of it.

Man, are they going to be sorry, if they don't change their ways. Same thing goes for movie stars, and their movies.

What condition are you in? Hot, cold or lukewarm? If you are not hot, you should ask Christ to forgive you (repent), and ask Him to be Lord of your life, and do what He says for you to do. You can be hot now, or hot (in hell) later. the choice is yours.

NEXT MONTH'S MESSAGE - IT'S NOT TOO LATE!!!
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