God's Message to the Seven Churches - Part 7: The Lukewarm Church: Laodicea (2 of 2)

Amen. If you take your Bibles, turn if you would to Revelation chapter three. We'll begin reading again at verse 14. As we finish up our study on the church of Laodicea, Seven churches from Revelation, as I mentioned earlier, I believe primarily these seven churches to which John is writing first of all, were obviously real churches with real problems. Real issues to be straightened out, which he addressed, and things that the Lord wanted them to be praised for and encouraged about as well.

And so, these churches that existed in the Western half of Turkey, we've looked at churches at Ephesus and Smyrna, don't know if you can see them from back there. If you go on up, you come to Thyatira, and then Pergamum, and back down to Sardis and Philadelphia. And over on the right where the red balloon is, that's where the Church of Laodicea is over there about a 100 miles inland from the church at Ephesus. Also, what's wrong with my collar? Did I fix it?

Alright. Evidently, there was something distracting about my collar, but anyway. So, so anyway, we have these seven churches. John was writing to from The Isle Of Patmos, is down down here, just off the coast right there from the rest of the city. So, he administered in this area for several years.

So, John was familiar with what was going on, the Lord led him as he was exiled on this island to write this message along with all of the rest of the book of Revelation sent to these seven churches. They also represent, I believe, different struggles that churches have throughout pretty much all the church age. Different churches and different places struggle with different issues. And these churches represent a lot of the issues that churches in Christian M have struggled with throughout the centuries. There is also thought, as I mentioned, that these seven churches represent seven specific time periods during the church age, starting at the time of of John when he wrote these, all the way up through the church the last time period in the church age right before the rapture.

The sixth church that is mentioned here, the Church of Philadelphia, is said that it will escape a great time of judgment. And the Church of Laodicea that we've been studying, which as we see, would seem to be mostly made up of of professors, but not possessors of salvation. There is no such promise. And as you know, those who truly know the Lord, when the Lord comes back, he will take home to to be with him at the rapture. But there will be many churches and many Christians quote unquote, who won't go in the rapture.

That's not because they're not part of Baptist group or the this group or that group. Okay? That's because there will be many people who label themselves as Christians who really aren't. They go to church, they go through the motions, but sadly, they have a form of godliness, as second Timothy three five says, but deny the power thereof. They do not have the power, They go through the motions.

They're religious, but they're not saved. And sadly, is the case with many people, and down through the ages has always been an issue here as we recognize in the church of Laodicea. So, let's go ahead and read beginning in verse 14 again, and then we'll come back to it. Under the angel of the church of Laodiceans write, these things saith he, the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.

Excuse me, I had a frog in my throat. I would that thou wert cold or hot, So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit say it unto the churches. Now, just a quick review here from last week's message about this church.

As already mentioned, the church is about a 100 miles inland from Ephesus, it is on a major trade route. It was a merchant city, very wealthy. When there was a great earthquake in that area, the other cities were in need of help to rebuild, some of them didn't rebuild all that well. Laodicea refused help from Rome. They wanted to rebuild their city on their own, and they did.

It was a city known for its banking system, unlike any other in that day, for black wool that they sold, for eye salve, and other medicines that they prepared there, and also for its lukewarm, tepid, nasty water. The churches surround the the cities surrounding it, there are two cities down there, you probably have a hard time reading them from back there, but a little to the north is Hierapolis, a little to the south is the city of Colossae. Hierapolis had hot springs and was known people went from came from all around to to go to the hot springs in Hierapolis. And then in Colossae, there were cold water springs and crystal clear mountain water. And so those two cities were known for that.

Laodicea didn't have a natural water source right there at the city, so their water was piped in from the other two cities. By the time they got there mixed together, got through the aqueduct and all that, the water was lukewarm and not very tasty. And so, that plays into the letter here written by John. He he uses that illustration. The Church of Laodicea, as I mentioned last week, was likely planted by Epaphras.

Epaphras, we read about in Colossians, was an associate of Paul's who ministered in this area to these three churches, Colossi, Hierapolis, and Laodicea. By time Colossians was written, which was written by by the way to the church at Colossi, but was also to be read at the church at Laodicea, Epaphras was already back with Paul from where he wrote the book. This letter, this message to this church begins with a description of Christ that makes it clear as to who he is. He is the Amen, the faithful, and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. These identify Christ as the final and sure word or revelation of God testified by the father and the holy spirit in several ways including at his baptism that I mentioned last week.

Jesus Christ is the alpha and omega. He is the beginning and the end. The word amen is often used as a concluding word to end statements and even letters in that day. He is the beginning of creation because he is not the first one created, he is the originator and source, originator and source of all that is created. In the book of Colossians, remember which was written to Colossians and to Laodicea, Paul wrote, for by him, that is by Christ, were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him.

Jesus Christ is God and Jesus Christ is the creator of all things. There seems to have been an issue with this in this region, both in the church at Colossae and Laodicea with the deity of Christ. And again, that's an issue we deal with today. There are several cults which will say that Jesus Christ is the son of God, but will always stop short of saying that Jesus Christ is equal with the father or one with the father, which the bible clearly indicates that he is. And that is an issue which evidently plagued this church or the churches in this region.

There is no commendation for the church at Laodicea. All the other churches had at least a little bit of praise or a little bit of commendation from the Lord. There is no hint of that in the church of Laodicea which leads one to wonder how many really true believers there were here if this church was not commended for anything by the Lord Jesus Christ, who ultimately is the giver of this message. There is only condemnation for the church. The primary complaint of Christ is that the church is what?

Help me out. The church is loop? Loop warm. Alright. Good.

Not a trick question, alright. The church is lukewarm. Now, we discussed this last week. What does he mean by that? We assume a lot of times that they understood cold and hot like we do.

That cold meant, well, that's spiritually, you know, cold, dead, lifeless, completely. And, that hot is on fire for God. In the spirit, walking with the Lord. Spiritually hot and spiritually cold. I'm going to turn that off.

However, it's not necessarily necessary that they understood it that way. It is likely that they understood cold and hot in reference to the cities of Colossae's water was good because it was crisp and clean and cold. Hierapolis' water was because it was nice and hot and warm. And those things were both good, neither of them were bad. A matter of fact, in this passage, God says, I wert that you were cold or hot.

And it seems to me that God would not be wanting us to be cold spiritually. That wouldn't be an improvement. And so, thinking that cold and hot means spiritually cold and spiritually hot, some people think, well, lukewarm just means, well, they work, yeah, kind of not so dedicated complacent Christians. But God here says, that because you're lukewarm, because you're tepid and yucky, I'm gonna spew you what? Out of my mouth.

And that's a picture of what people when they visited Laodicea when they got a first taste of the water might do. I went to camp when I was a kid in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Now, the name of the area might give something away about the water. Okay? The water that came from the wells in the area was just like the name.

It was full of sulfur. And I don't mean there was just a hint of sulfur, I mean it was strong. The whole camp smelled like rotten eggs. It it worked good at getting rid of my acne while I was there. I'd go to camp and come back and my all my acne would be gone.

Sulfur just got right rid of it. But you had to hold your nose if you will and take a drink of water because it just smelled so bad and if you hadn't been to camp before, the first time you turned on the water and went to take a drink, you were likely to spit it back out of your mouth because it smelled and tasted yucky. Well, that was the case here. That's the illustration that God wants us to see and it doesn't seem fitting to me that God would say to a church largely made up of believers in Christ that he's gonna what? Spew them out of his mouth.

It does seem more consistent with a church full of people who were professors, but not possessors, which those who were going through the motions, which those with those who were religious but not truly saved or related to God largely through Jesus Christ. This seems to be more likely what we have here at the church of Laodicea. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. It seems that the church in general seems to head more that way all the time. We want to be made to feel comfortable.

And not comfortable as in, you know, nice and cool and padded pews, but comfortable in the way we are. Praise God that Jesus Christ receives us through faith and his shed blood on Calvary's Cross despite the fact that we're sinners and that we won't be completely free of that while we stand before him in heaven. However, God wants us to change. We we've been looking at that on Sunday morning, this past Sunday morning to be more like him, to to glorify him and it doesn't seem that in the church, sin is preached upon as much as it once was or as strong as it once was or that hell is mentioned at all like it once was. We don't want to offend anybody.

We want them to feel comfortable. Sin, preaching on sin is offensive. Hell is offensive. But people need to hear. For people need to be saved.

It says in second Timothy four and verse two, Paul writing to Timothy says, preach the word be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke. Those two things, reprove and rebuke. Does any of you like being reproved or rebuked? I don't, but it's necessary. Exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

Lot of people don't want to hear a lot of teaching on doctrine either. They say all teaching on doctrine is dry. I just want you to tell me how to deal with this this week or tell me a good story. But doctrine is important. You don't know what the bible teaches particularly about God and about what God expects of us, then we can't really apply those things to our life like we should.

I don't want you to make choices in your life simply because the pastor tells you, you have to do it this way. I want you to learn the word of God and what the Bible teaches so the holy spirit can help you. To apply it to your life. I could be wrong but God's never wrong. Verse three says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

It's something how today it seems like people would rather hear a lie 10 times over than hear the truth. We are, as humanity, are drawn, even in religious circles, to whatever new thing comes along than to stick with the eternal truth of God's word. And as we approach the time of the rapture and the tribulation, I think we'll see this sad to say more. But it certainly shouldn't be the case in our church. It shouldn't really be the case in any church that preaches and teaches the word of God.

So, we see here the problem with the church of Laodicea. They thought, going back to Revelation, they thought, as we look here in chapter three, that they were in good shape. If you look in chapter three and in verse 17, he says, Because thou sayest I am rich, increased with goods, have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou are wretched, miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. And you think, hey, you're everything's great, you got money in the bank, you got a nice house, life is going well. You have luxuries.

No problem. Everything must be great with God. Those things aren't always an indicator that everything is great with God. God says here to them, you think you're in good shape but as I see you, and by the way, that's all that really matters is how God sees us. As I see you, you are wretched, pretty strong word, and miserable, and poor, blind, and naked.

But God doesn't end there. Even for the church of Laodicea, God says there is a remedy. This is where we didn't get to last week. There is a remedy to your condition. You don't have to stay wretched, a blind, miserable, poor, and naked.

There's a remedy to this but the remedy is not found in your banks. The remedy is not found in your wool market. The remedy is not found in your eye salve. The remedy is not found in you. The remedy is found in me, Jesus Christ says.

And that's the same. Whether it's it's it's the remedy for being lost in sin and under the condemnation of sin and hell or whether it's the remedy of what choice to make concerning how to deal with your neighbor or your relative or how to get victory over sin in your life, the remedy is who? It's Jesus Christ and it's God's word. It's not in our intellect alone. Understanding of man or in the arm of flesh but it it is in the Lord And in verses eight verse eighteen and nineteen, God says to them, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in fire that thou mayest be rich.

Let's take these one at a time. Well, let's I want to read let's read the whole thing and then I'll come back one at a time. He says, next, In white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyes, so that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.

Be zealous therefore and repent. In keeping with the previous illustration, Christ counsels or advises them to turn or to repent of their self righteous thinking in ways, to receive the remedy to their spiritual deficiency. Repent. You're trusting in yourselves, you're trusting in the comforts of life and the securities found in the bank. Your security is misplaced.

Repent of your way and trust in my way. He says here, buy of me gold tried in the fire. That is gold, not physical gold, but gold refined in the fire of God's judgment for sin, suffered by Christ on the cross for our redemption. In contrast to the temporal riches contained in the banks of Laodicea, which cannot buy the acceptance of God. Read this verse this morning.

What for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? The answer to that is, what do you have to give in exchange for your soul? What do you have to give God and say, God, here, I give you this now. Forgive me.

What do you have to give? The answer to that is you have what? Nothing. Nothing good have I, whereby his grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's lamb.

We're going get to the garments here in a second. Fact is, I have nothing to give. But Jesus does. He gave his life on Calvary's cross, the sinless savior, to pay the price, to redeem my what? And your souls.

He paid the price to redeem our souls. It is his gold that we need in payment for sin. Ours does us no good. Jesus says to them, you may have plenty of gold in the bank but that's not the kind of gold you need. You need the gold that is found in Jesus Christ.

It is offered through faith in Jesus Christ to redeem your soul from sin. The Bible says, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where rust and mutton, where rust and moth does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay for your up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. It seems sometimes that even Christians are too focused on laying up treasures here and not there. It's good to have money in the bank. It's nice to have money in the bank.

But it's more important to lay up treasures in heaven and certainly to have received God's gift of eternal life through Jesus. He next says to them, he says, and not only to buy of me gold, but also white raiment that thou mayest be closed that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, what immediately did they become aware of? They became aware of their aware of their nakedness and they hid themselves from God and they made clothes of fig leaves to try to cover their nakedness. That nakedness was symbolic of their shame for their what?

For their sin, you see. Before they sinned, they weren't ashamed. But now, on their sin, they feel exposed before God, before his judgment, before his eyes, they're ashamed of themselves. And their sin. They needed to be clothed.

They tried to clothe themselves with fig leaves, but that wasn't sufficient. So, what did God do before they left the Garden Of Eden? He killed an animal and he clothed them in the skins of an animal. He shed the animal's blood and then he clothed them in the skins of that animal to cover their nakedness. Now, I can't help but think that that is symbolic of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The price that he had to pay to cover our sins that we might receive his righteousness. For God hath made him, Jesus, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, the Laodiceans were very proud of their black wool. They were very proud of their clothes. Jesus said, you can clothe yourself in as many layers of beautiful clothes as you want.

It will never cover your sin. You must be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You must be washed in the blood of the lamb. In Revelation seven, why don't you go ahead and turn there, seeing we're so close. Revelation seven verse thirteen and fourteen, it says, and one of the elders answered saying to me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?

And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest, and he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in what? In the blood of the lamb. I'm sure that is the same thing that God is talking about in Revelation chapter three when he says to buy of him gold tried in fire and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed. And then he says, to also anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. They were proud of their medicines, proud of their eye salve that they sold.

But one of the things that God said about them earlier is he said that they were blind. And they're scratching their heads. What do you mean we're blind? And of course, he didn't mean physically, he meant what? He meant spiritually.

Spiritually blind. Hold your place in Revelation. Turn back to second Corinthians chapter four. Second Corinthians chapter four. Verses three through six.

Helps if I'm in second Corinthians and not in first, doesn't it? Alright. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servant for Jesus sake.

For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul says, if the gospel is hid, it is hid to those that are lost whose minds have been blinded by the God of this world. Now, you'll notice little g on God in verse four, it's not a reference to God, it's a reference to Satan who fancies himself as the God of this world, who has blinded the eyes of the lost that they should not see and hear and understand the gospel. It is not we who can enlighten their minds. It is the Holy Spirit.

But what does the Holy Spirit use to do that? He uses the sword of the spirit. And what is the sword of the spirit? It is the word of God. Thus, the reason we preach and teach and proclaim and share the gospel and the word of God with those who are lost.

That God would pierce through the blindness of their heart and the holy spirit would help them to see. Eye salve to open their eyes. Maybe you don't have allergies that are so bad that your eyes swell shut, but I've known people like that. And their eyes are there, their eyes work fine, but their eyelids won't open and they can't see. Put something on your eyes or take some medicine to deal with your allergy and the swelling goes down and then you can open up your eyes again.

People, the church of Laodicea maybe in a way had had sort of become calloused to the gospel and the word of God. They had heard it but they hadn't received it. Their eyes had grown closed. God said, receive of me eyesal, to open your eyes so you can once again see the gospel. There's nobody harder to reach with the gospel than somebody steeped in religion.

Much easier to reach someone who is not already steeped in a particular belief system. So, he gives them these remedies. They need the gold refined in fire, the white raiment, the righteousness of Christ, and eye salve that they might see. These remedies from God and not of their own making as the products of their city. Jesus tells them that despite their sin, he still loves them, he still wants to save them, and as many as he he loves, he rebukes.

The bible says, for God so loved what? The world that he gave his only begotten son. In verse 20, he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. Jesus pleads with them to let him in, to let him back into the church that apparently had forsaken him and into their lives by faith assuring them that if they would open the door, he would indeed come in and have fellowship with them.

Regardless of the rebuke, regardless of the the condemnation, God says, it's not what? It's not too late for you. You know, God says that to our world today. It's not too late. Yes, we live in a sinful society that's going further away from God, and religion seems to turn to everything but the truth.

But it's not too late for your neighbor and it's not too late for your coworker. It's not too late for you if you don't know Christ. It's not too late. God is a god of the second chance and the third chance and the fourth chance. God came to Cain in Genesis four when he brought the wrong sacrifice and he says to Cain, why are you angry?

Just repent and bring the right sacrifice and I'll accept it. You know, God didn't say to Cain, oh, you brought the wrong sacrifice, it's over. No. God said to Cain, just go back and do the right thing. I'll receive you.

That's what he says here to the church at Laodicea. It's not too late. It's not too late. I'm still standing here knocking at your door. Would you let me back in?

Would you let me back in? If you'll open it, I'll come in. That's our God, a God of grace and a god of mercy. Not only to fellowship with him which is the the picture of dining here. It really wasn't about food.

It was about fellowship. You know, when baptist churches when we say we're going to have a fellowship, that usually means we're going to have what? Food and if we have food, that means we're going to fellowship. In Jesus's day, there weren't all these different places to go and all these different activities to do. If you wanted to fellowship with somebody, what did you do?

They invited him over for a what? For a meal. And you sat, you reclined, and you talked. And you fellowship. God says, I will fellowship with you but not only fellowship but God offers also to sit with him on his throne to partake of his inheritance in heaven and the throne of his father.

What a merciful and gracious God we have. Verse 21, he says to him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me on my throne even as I also overcame and I'm sat down with my father in his throne. Praise the Lord. We have an advocate. Jesus Christ, the righteous, which sits at the right hand of the father in heaven.

Jesus Christ died on the cross. He rose again and he ascended back to the throne of his father. One day, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. And Jesus offers for us to share in that inheritance. What an offer.

We don't deserve that. We don't deserve his fellowship. We don't deserve his forgiveness. But God offers it to all. Who will come to him through faith in his son.

Maybe that there's someone here to like tonight like many of them that's going through the motions, playing the game, not really part of the family. You say that pastor, you know us. Well, man man looks on the what? The outward appearance, God looks on the heart. I think I know you.

You think you know me. But we can't see each other's hearts. God can. So maybe there's someone here tonight that's just going through the motions. Maybe your faith is in you.

What you do and not truly in Christ. Remember my illustration of the guy who walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope? He walked from one side to the other, he got to the other side where the crowd was, and there he had a wheelbarrow, and he picked up the wheelbarrow and set it on the wire, and he asked him, you think I can push the wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls? And the crowd said, yes, you can. He said, okay, sir, would you come over here?

Do you think I can push this wheelbarrow across the tight rope across Niagara Falls? Man looked at him and says, yeah, you can do it. He said, great, we'll get in the wheelbarrow. Just get in the wheelbarrow. You believe?

Get in? Get in there. I I bet you the man didn't get in the wheelbarrow. But you know something, that's what Jesus Christ did for us. That's what he offers.

You're not getting to heaven on your own. You're you're not getting across that that on that tightrope. But Jesus Christ already did and he offers to take us back to heaven with him. He said, I'll return. Take you with me.

I'll save your soul. But you have to get in what? You have to get in the wheelbarrow. You have to trust him, not you. To get there.

It's not your good works. It's not even quote unquote your faith. It's Jesus Christ in whom you have put your faith. He is the one, the only one that can carry you safely to your inheritance in heaven. Are you trusting in him?

It may be likewise for Christians that we've taken our eyes off of Christ, allowed the affections of the world to creep back into our lives. Bible says, love not the world, neither the things that are anywhere in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. Don't allow the things of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life to rob you of the blessings and joy in Christ that we have here, the victories in Christ. We take our eyes off of Christ and put it on the things of the world.

We do become complacent. And sometimes what you might call backslidden Christians. We need to repent of that as well. Rededicate ourselves to Christ. To either group cry Christ cries out to repent and let him in.

Let him back on the throne of your life, child of God. Let him in to save your soul, lost sinner. What will it be? He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word and for the challenge that you have given to us in the message to these seven churches.

Lord, there are certainly many things that you touched upon that are relevant to our lives. Lord, we pray if there's one here that's never received Christ, they're trusting in something else, in religion, in the church, in their own good works to save them. I pray that you'd help them to see that salvation is not in themselves, but in Christ Jesus. In receiving his gift of everlasting life, not in trying to earn it of our own merit. Lord, I pray for us who know the Lord as savior that we would not become complacent.

That we would be on fire for Jesus Christ, that we would repent of our sins, that we would trust more in you every day, that you may be glorified in our lives, and that we might bask in the joy and love of our savior every day. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.