Well, here we come to the last
message, the last letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor,
where Christ revealed to the Apostle John through his messenger
what those churches that were established in the gospel truth,
not a false gospel, many had a good beginning, And
they, well, all of them had a good beginning because, as I said,
they were established on the gospel. But the things that they
would go through, churches, gatherings of people, where the gospel is
preached or should be preached, gatherings of people gathered
together around the area there and essentially all over the
world, what we would go through and the dangers that we would
be facing all throughout the last days. And that's the time
from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ,
the gospel age, what I call the gospel millennium, the new covenant
age. And we've seen in six of these
churches, some of the dangers that churches would face in persecution,
deception, things like that where Christ had commendations for
them. He said, I know thy works, the
works which were evidences of the grace and the power and the
goodness of God. And then he was oftentimes in
a few of them, he'd say, but I have somewhat against you.
I've got, there's a problem and you need to take care of it.
So here's, we come to the last of those seven, the church at
Laodicea. This is the only one that he
has absolutely no commendation for. And it's because of what
he describes here as lukewarmness. Lukewarm, like lukewarm water. He says you're neither hot nor
cold. I was reading One commentator on this, he said, well, he said,
if you think about it, cold water is good because it quenches the
thirst. Hot water is good because it
has some healing properties. But lukewarm water, not good
at all. Just throw it out. And that's
what he says of this church at Laodicea. Laodicea was a wealthy
financial center in Asia Minor. Commerce. A booming city. And the Lord had established
a gospel church there and it had a good beginning. This church
is mentioned two times in the book of Colossians as a gospel
church. One who was thriving in the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. But this church
over a period of time had degenerated into an awful spiritual state. And that was this lukewarmness. And what it has to do with is
the danger of people just simply taking the gospel for granted.
Looking at it as almost a common thing. Becoming indifferent. Even becoming presumptuous. One
preacher said that the Lord's word is filled with blessings
to the people of God, lest we despair. But it's also filled
with warnings lest we presume. Now you've got to be careful
with that because some people use that to justify legalism,
legal preaching. But you have to understand that
no warning that Christ gives to his people is a legal warning. saying that if you don't straighten
up, you're going to end up in hell or something like that.
Or if you don't straighten up, you're going to lose your rewards.
Every warning that Christ gives to his people is this. Flee to
Christ. Cling to Christ. Don't let him
go. Don't lose your fervor and your
zeal for him and his word and the fellowship of his people.
Don't do it. And we can. We can do that. Even believers can fall into
that awful state of mind. Apparently, this church as a
whole had fallen into that state because there were unbelievers
there, maybe in the majority. But we learn later on that there
were a few there. Maybe they hadn't been called
to faith yet. Christ says in this passage, He said that There
are some there, as he says, I counsel thee to buy, in verse 18, to
buy me of gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. That's
a call of the gospel, and I'll show you that in just a minute.
But he says in verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chase
them. So there were either some believers
there or there were some sheep there who had not yet been called
into the fold. But notice he says as many as
I love. He didn't say I love all of you
and I wish you'd straighten up. No, he said as many as I love.
I'll rebuke them, I'll chasten them. So be zealous, therefore,
and repent. And of course, what we know,
that's the gift of God. But let's look at this. Look
back up in verse 14. And unto the angel, the minister,
the pastor, the preacher, the elder of the church of the Laodiceans,
write, these things saith the amen. Christ identifies himself
as the amen. What is the amen? Well, he's
the last word in all things, so be it. So be it. If Christ said it, That's it. No argument. No debate. That's
what Amen means. When you say Amen to anything
a preacher says up here, you're saying, so be it. I'm in agreement
with you. You can't argue with this. He's
the Alpha and the Omega. He's the Judge of all and His
judgments are final. The last word of all things.
And He is the completion and the fulfillment. of all things
in salvation. The promises of God are yea and
amen in Christ. So be it. So listen to these
words. Don't walk away unaffected. If you're lukewarm, pray that
the Lord will heat you up, basically. or that he'll make you cold in
the sense not of being icy, cold-hearted, but in the sense of being refreshed,
revived. My mother sometimes used to come
in when I was a teenager. Me and my brother, we had twin
beds. And you know, as teenagers, we had a hard time getting up
and going to school in the morning. And she'd come in there with
a glass of cold water. Now she wasn't dumping on us,
but she'd put her hand in it and she'd do this in our face. And it'd wake me up. And that's
what this cold water here is to do. Wake us up. Wake us out of our stupor. He
calls himself, in verse 14, the faithful and true witness. That
means he's faithful in all things. He never lies. He never goes
back on his word. He's the faithful and true witness. He's trustworthy. He's honest. He tells us the truth that we
need to hear. You know, we speak the truth
when we speak His Word. And it's a truth that most people
don't want to hear. But it's something they need
to hear. Well, He's the faithful. He was faithful. Our salvation
is based upon His faithfulness to do what He promised to do
before the world began. And that is to come and become
incarnate as the surety, the substitute, the representative
and the redeemer of his people. To walk this earth in sinless
human flesh, God-man, God manifest in the flesh. To keep the law
perfectly without any disruption or any breaking of the law. To go to the cross of Calvary
and shed his blood to establish the only righteousness whereby
God could justify sinners like us, proven by his resurrection
from the dead. And he's faithful right now as
he's seated in the heavenlies, ever living to make intercession
for us and to preserve us unto glory. So that not one of his
people, not one of God's elect, not one of his sheep will perish. Whatever state this church is
in, it doesn't represent people who have lost their salvation.
Those who are lost in this congregation, and remember I told you, in the
church here on earth, you're always going to have believers
and unbelievers. And those who are lost in their sins, who continue
in that state and die in that state, they never were His. They may have made a profession.
And they may have backed off of that and become lukewarm.
but they never were his. And that's why he says, as many
as I love, I rebuke. If Christ loves you, he's gonna
rebuke you. You're going to be chastened. He's not gonna let
you go. He's not gonna let you alone.
But I tell you what, if you can come in and hear the gospel and
walk out unaffected time and time and time and time and time
and time and time and time again, and die in that state, Well,
what's the problem? You've never been rebuked or
chastened. You've never been convicted. Think about that. Lord, don't let me last on this
earth in that state. He says he's the beginning of
the creation of God. He is God himself. We know that,
the second person of the Trinity. He created this world, John 1
tells us, and Colossians 1 tells us. This world was created by
Him and for Him, and this world stays together because of Him,
and it'll stay together until the last one of His sheep are
brought into the fold. He's the source of all life.
He's the goal of all life. He's the center of our lives,
especially the salvation of His people. He's the author of the
new creation. It's what the Scripture says.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works."
Think about it. This is who's speaking now. It's
not just a weak man like me. This is the Word of God. And
we have to see it that way. Think about it. If you got a
phone call, and it was truly the Lord Jesus Christ, and He
said, now I'm going to meet down here at 1102 Eager Drive, At
11 o'clock, would you be here then if He gave you that phone
call? Would you make an effort? You sure would. Well, He says,
don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. What
are we here to do? We're here to worship Him. We're
here to exalt Him. And then He says in verse 15,
He says, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot,
I would that thou wert cold or hot. I wish you were cold or
hot. Lukewarmness is not good. Verse 16, so then because thou
art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out
of my mouth. I'll vomit you up. What an awful,
awful thing. Their works did not evidence
spiritual life. It evidenced an evil state of
their hearts as lukewarm, neither hot nor cold." What an awful
condition of a professing Christian with no real conviction of truth,
with no love of the truth. Indifferent. Maybe they halted
between two opinions. Maybe they compromised the gospel
of Christ when convenient to do so. We're not given specifics
about their works other than the condition that reveals their
state, neither hot nor cold. But I'll tell you what, a person
who claims to believe the doctrine of Christ, but who will compromise
that, that's the very thing that would come under the realm of
neither hot nor cold. Lukewarm water, as I said, is
considered useless. Cold water quenches, hot water
cleansing, healing. But the Laodicean church, which
had a good beginning in the gospel, had rendered themselves useless,
and Christ said, I'll spew you out of my mouth. That expresses
his disgust of them. Let me say it this way. Christ
hates religion without truth, without grace, without heart,
without conviction. He hates it. Look at verse 17. He says, Because thou sayest,
I am rich. Now this is what they say of themselves. This is what
they claim. Because thou sayest, I am rich. increased with goods,
and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." They claimed
to be rich. They were unaware of their poor
condition. They boasted of being rich, increased
with goods, have need of nothing. You know, that's the state of
the natural man. When we try to witness the gospel to people
and they'll look at you and they'll say, I don't want to hear what
you have to say. That's the same kind of attitude. I've already
got everything I need. I'm set for heaven. I'm alright.
I don't need to listen to you. Well, what if I'm telling you
the truth? Do you need to listen then? They'll say, well, I don't
believe you're telling me the truth. How do you know? You haven't
heard what I have to say. You haven't looked at the scriptures
with me. You're rich. You think you're
rich when you're poor. You think you're increased with
goods, but you don't have a thing. Natural man is evil, poor, and
dead, but he thinks himself righteous. Good enough. Ever had people
say that to you? I'm good enough. I might not
be perfect, but I'm not as bad as somebody else. And I think
one of the problems here is the deception of material wealth.
You know, a lot of people have a tendency to equate material
wealth or physical health with blessings from God. But do you
remember the rich man who was increased with goods and was
filling his barns and he accumulated more and more goods and he said,
what am I going to do? Well, I'll build more barns.
And remember what Christ said, this thou fool, this night thy
soul shall be required of thee. Don't ever make the mistake,
if the Lord has blessed you with physical health, if the Lord
has blessed you with physical wealth, don't ever make the mistake
of that being proof that you're right with God. Don't ever make that mistake.
The only thing that makes a sinner right with God, whether he has
a lot of money or little money, whether he's sick or he's healthy,
the only thing that makes a sinner right with God is God's grace
in Christ, His blood, His righteousness alone. That's it. And if you
ever become indifferent to that, you're in trouble. Most people, they don't become
indifferent when it comes to physical wealth or health. If
you accumulate a lot, you want more, like that fool. If you've
gone healthy, you say, well, I'm going to try to extend my
lifespan, you know. Well, the worst thing that we
can do is to become indifferent, complacent, lukewarm about this
gospel. And listen to what he says to
them. He says, you think you're rich, you think you're righteous,
you think you're saved, you think you're blessed of God, but you're
wretched. You know what that word means?
It means to be pitied. You're to be pitied, not envied. I remember a poem when I was
in high school that we read. I don't know if the high schoolers
read these poems anymore, but it was called Richard Corey.
And Richard Corey was a rich man who lived upon the hill and
the people all envied Richard Corey. Whenever Richard Corey
would walk through the town, all eyes were on him, and they
envied him, and it said they cursed the bread that they had. In other words, they weren't
content with what they had because they envied Richard Corey. And
the end of the poem, I think it was written by Edwin Arlington
Robinson, at the end of the poem it says, and Richard Corey went
home one night and put a bullet through his head. Don't ever mistake that. You're
wretched. Richard Corey was to be pitied,
not envied. Miserable. Wretched and miserable
basically mean the same thing. Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful person. You're poor. You think you have
the treasures of salvation. You're in spiritual poverty and
you're blind. You don't see it. That's the
natural state of man. You're naked. That means you
don't have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. You're like Adam in the garden,
naked, and you're trying to sew fig leaf aprons to hide your
nakedness and it just won't do. You think it works, but it don't.
You think you've done enough. You'll never do enough. Do you
understand that? You will never do enough to qualify
yourself to be righteous before God. Never! Well, what's my hope then? Well,
look at verse 18. I counsel thee. Now, this is
good counsel. You know, when I counsel people
in whatever I do, I try to give good counsel, I don't always
do that though, but I always try to stick with the word of
God. Now that's always good counsel. So here's what I'm telling you,
Christ said, to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich, white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. and anoint thine
eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. There's your answer. Now look what he says here. He
says, buy of me gold. What is he talking about? Is
salvation for sale? No, salvation is not for sale. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 55
with me. Whenever the scripture speaks
of us buying gold of him, He's not talking about that we can
buy our salvation or buy God's favor with our money, our time,
our prayers, our works. But there is a price to be paid. But here's the point. We don't
pay it. Christ paid the price. He is
the gold. Gold tried in the fire. When
I come to God, I don't come bringing my own works, my own money, my
own wealth or anything. I come pleading that which Christ
has bought for me in my redemption by His blood. Look at verse 1 of Isaiah 55.
This prophecy is a prophecy of Christ. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. Now, if you're thirsty, for the
water of life, understand that it is God, by the Spirit, who
has made you thirsty. By nature, you're not thirsty.
I'm not thirsty for the water of life, for Christ. But if God,
by the Spirit, through the preaching of the gospel, makes me thirsty
for Christ. Remember in Matthew chapter 5,
I believe it's verse 6, if I'm not mistaken, blessed is he who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, They'll be filled. Where am I
going to find righteousness? In Christ. So ho everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, the waters of God's mercy, the
waters of God's grace, the waters of God's love in Christ. And
he that hath no money. Now look at that. You don't have
any money. You don't have anything. to bargain
with in this thing of salvation. I don't have anything. He that
hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. How are you going to buy
and eat if you have no money? Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money, without price. What's that telling us? It's
free. It doesn't cost us anything as
far as the ground of salvation. Verse 2, why do you spend money
for that which is not bread? That's religion. False religion
without grace, without Christ, without truth. Spending money
for that which is not bread. Trying to work your way into
heaven. Trying to work your way into
righteousness. You're spending money that won't
buy any bread. Christ is the bread of life.
And your labor for that which satisfieth not. Hearken diligently
unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Fatness there means health. Incline
your ear, come unto me, that's Christ, here and your soul shall
live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. So go back to our text now. Buy
of me gold tried in the fire. You know what that means? That
means look to Christ. He is the purchase price. He
is the redemption price. He's all that God requires and
all that we need because we're poor by nature. We don't have
no money. We don't have righteousness.
We're spiritually dead and depraved. He says that in Him, gold tried
in the fire, that's Christ on the cross, tested with the fire
of God's wrath because our sins were imputed to Him, bringing
forth that everlasting righteousness, that white raiment there in verse
18, that's the imputed righteousness of Christ. And that's the only
thing that will bring the shame of our nakedness not to appear. If you come before God pleading
your works, your money, what you've given, you will be exposed
to the wrath of God. That's what nakedness is. But
if you come before God washed in the blood of Christ and clothed
in His righteousness imputed, it will not appear. And he says
anoint your eyes with isabs. The only reason you anoint your
eyes with isabs is to heal them. You were blind, now you see.
Who gave you that sight? God did. Thou mayest see. ISAV. What is this ISAV? It's the gospel. In the power
of the Spirit. Put on that ISAV this morning.
Listen to what Christ is telling us. Don't walk away unaffected. Don't turn a blind eye. Put that
ISAV on. Lord, make me to hear, make me
to see, make me to believe. That's what this is all about. And so he says, as many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.
That's the free, sovereign, redemptive love of God for his chosen people.
If we are his true children, objects of his love, And not
found in the end to be false professors, He will without fail. Because He loves us, He'll rebuke
us. That means correct us. In initial
salvation, He does so by bringing us from darkness to light. Bringing
us from unbelief to faith in Christ. Bringing us from being
unsubmissive to His way of salvation through the righteousness of
His Son, to submission to Christ's righteousness as the only way
of salvation. And if we know Him, and we just
get off the track here, and fall into this awful state, He'll
rebuke us, He'll correct us, He'll chasten us. He'll teach
us, that's what that means. Sometimes that teaching comes
a little harshly. Sometimes not. But you know in
Hebrews chapter 12, what it says, if you're a child of God, you
will be chastened. That's an operation of His love
for you. And if you're without chastening,
He says you're bastards and not sons. This chastening is not
God's wrath upon His people. Christ took all of that. This
chastening is correction for instruction. To bring us out
of anything that would cause us to be indifferent, lukewarm. And He'll chasten us. How He
does so, that's up to Him. But I know in the end, the Bible
says in Hebrews 12, that it will bring forth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness. Now what is that? That means
you'll come out of that chasing, valuing Christ, looking to Christ
even more than you did before. You won't be lukewarm. You'll
be hot. That's the case. Thank God he
will not leave us to ourselves. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God in Christ, Paul wrote in Romans 8. So he says,
be zealous, be fervent for the word of God to worship. Repent
of being lukewarm. This zeal and repentance, they're
both gifts of God. We won't do it on our own. But
he brings us to, and then look at 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. Now this is not the false notion
that people seem to think in general, false religion. Of the
Lord standing at the door of our hearts, begging us to let
him in so he can save us. That's not what this is. First of all, man left to his
own desires and he would never open the door, if that were the
case. The heart, listen, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. The natural
heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. No man can come to me,
Christ said, except the Father which has sent me draw him. So
this is not Christ hanging over the banister of heaven just hoping
someone will receive him and believe in him and make his work
successful, not at all. In salvation by his power and
grace, God has to give us a new heart and a new spirit. Scripture teaches that. We must
be born again by the spirit, else we will not see or enter
the kingdom of God. The Lord has to give us a conviction,
a desire to come to Him by the Spirit through the preaching
of the Gospel. Else we won't come. So if He were standing
at the door of your heart just knocking saying, let me in, He
would remain on the outside. And you wouldn't open that door. But notice what He says. He says,
if any man hear my voice and open the door. This is to the
church. And in this church, Christ is
on the outside calling upon professors to repent. And he says, if any
man hear, hear my voice and open the door. Now, all who hear his
voice are those whom the Holy Spirit has given ears to hear. Remember he told the disciples,
blessed are your ears for they hear, blessed are your eyes for
they see. He told them about the Pharisees, they said they
have ears but they don't hear. They have eyes but they don't
see. They refuse to see. They don't want to be converted.
They don't want to leave their religion. They think more of
themselves than they do of Christ. They think they're righteous
but they don't see Christ as their righteousness. But blessed
are your ears for they hear. This, if any man hear, is not
the natural man deciding to hear. If any man hear, this is the
Spirit of God giving God's people, whom He loves, ears to hear. And you know what happens when
you hear, spiritually? You open that door. You believe. You rest in Christ. And he says,
I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. That's fellowship. That's supping,
that eating, supper, means to have close, unbreakable fellowship
with Christ. What a blessedness it is. And
then he says in verse 21, to him that overcometh will I grant
to sit with me in my throne, the king's throne. We're going
to read about that in the next vision, beginning at chapter
4, the throne. But it's not an empty throne.
Christ sits on that throne. And there's 4 in 20 elders who
sit on smaller thrones, sub-thrones, that's us. Because we have the
authority of the King of Kings when we speak His Word. He said,
even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His
throne. He is successful. He cannot fail. Now, verse 22, he that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Do you
have ears to hear? Do you have eyes to see? Can
you understand what the Lord is saying here to his people? Well, may the Lord bless his
word to our hearts. All right.