I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn back with me to the book of Revelation
chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. Last week, I looked at the first
verse and half of the second verse in this passage, which
actually starts in verse 14, I'm sorry. I'm going to be looking,
Lord willing, in verses 15 through 22. And I won't go over. what I said last week for the
sake of time, except to say this. This is a letter, one of the
seven letters that was written to the seven churches in Asia
appointed by Almighty God. It was penned by the Apostle
John while on the Isle of Patmos, a letter that was written to
these seven churches, but a letter to each of these churches that
are relative for us today. Now let me just say this and
I'm going to start. I pray that this message be an
encouragement to every believer. It's an extremely convicting
letter. It's one that, let me just come
right out and say it, is scary to every believer who has been
by the grace of God made sensitive of himself and the old man that's
still there. But this is a letter from the
Lord and therefore I pray that God be pleased to bless it to
the comfort of God's people. I've entitled this message, Am
I Luke Warm? By and large in the church at
Laodicea, there was found to be a spirit of apostasy, laxness,
laziness, Luke, warmness, and it was a spirit that had crept
in. It was a spirit of indifference. A spirit that is referred to
by the Spirit of God in the 15th verse of this third chapter. of being neither cold nor hot. The Spirit of God moved upon
the Apostle John to say in verse 15, I know thy works, that thou
art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or
hot. Now my first question would be
this, what does it mean to be cold or hot? Those that are said to be cold
are those that are in a state of no profession at all. They make no confession, no profession
of being a believer. There's no interest whatsoever
in the glorious gospel of God's free grace. Those that are said
to be hot are those that are fervent for the truth. They have a burning heart that
is like those that were on the road to Damascus, the two. I'm
not saying that there's not a realization of the old man that's there.
There is a realization of the old man that's there. But there's
a new man in those that are hot and they recognize that old man
as being that which they war against. But they love God. They love the gospel. They love
God's people. And they are fervent in that
which they believe. So the Lord said, He said to
a group of people, and I could go into a long discourse on this
church at Laodicea, one of the richest churches monetarily in
all of Asia. It was the center. of all the
arts, all the fashion. If you wanted to be somewhere
where it was happening, go to Laodicea. That would be where
it's at. But something happened. There
was a people there at one time. Paul loved that church. He wrote
to that church. He told them, he said, look,
I'm going to write you a letter. They were close to Colossae,
just a few miles from Colossae, the church that was written.
to the Colossians. And when Paul would write a letter
to Laodicea or to Colossae, he'd say, look, read it to the other
one. If I send you one, read it to
Laodicea. If I send one to Laodicea, I
want them to read it to you. So there was a church there,
but something happened. There was found to be, now in
that church, a spirit of indifference. And the Lord told him. I know,
I know your works. You're not cold, you're not those
that have completely shunned the gospel, like the wayside
hearers. When the seed was thrown, the
birds came and picked it up like that, and nothing, nothing, nothing. They weren't that way, a total
rejection of the gospel. He said, you're not cold and
you're not hot. He said, I would that you were
cold or hot. One that is cold. Now listen,
we need to hear this. One that is cold and makes no
profession whatsoever of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
honest. about his indifference, about
his coldness, I mean. There's no disguise, there's
no pretense. You know where one that makes
no confession whatsoever stands. You know where he stands. He's
a Saul of Tarsus. He hated the gospel. He hated
the truth of God's free grace. He loved the message of works,
thought he had kept the law. But you knew where he stood.
He was cold. But one that is indifferent,
Luke 1, is a Judas. He makes claim to believe the
gospel of God's free grace. And here the true and faithful
witness expresses that which we know. believe by faith that
there is found within every man that old man that hates the gospel
and a new man that loves it. But those found to be cold without
any knowledge whatsoever of the truth. The Lord said, I would
that you were cold or hot. There's apparently according
to the word of the Lord More hope, according to the good pleasure
of God, that God might be pleased to do something that makes no
profession whatsoever, but for one that makes a profession to
believe the gospel, and then exhibits a spirit of indifference,
indifference, laziness toward it. If they were hot, truly believers
in Christ, alive by the grace of God, and when they see that
spirit within them of indifference, they see it, they know it. But
I'm telling you, when they see that, they're arrested by the
Spirit of God. They're chastened. And they're
thankful. for that spirit of correction,
they're like the publican that would not so much as lift up
his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, said, just God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. Rest assured, now you listen.
The north wind of God's spirit in convicting mercy shall surely
blow upon the garden of the Lord. God does not leave his children
in a state of indifference. They're corrected. Now, you're
looking at one that will readily admit. There are times that I
see myself and I know it. I know that there's that spirit
of coolness and it grieves me. It grieves
my heart. And I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful. Lord, thank you that you'd give
me a heart to care. I see it. I know it. But to be
left in a spirit of lukewarmness, those that God Almighty leaves
to themselves are like those illustrated by that publican,
a Pharisee in Luke 18, which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous. There's great danger. I'll tell
you this, just as an illustration. You take a man or a man's wife
that is lukewarm and indifferent toward his spouse. Let me tell
you something. There's problems. There's problems. Just that spirit of that tepid
attitude of carelessness. Not cold or hot. And I'm telling you that a believer
sees that spirit because it's still there. Now an unbeliever
is left totally. That's his total attitude. But
a believer, I said that the spirit of coldness is one that doesn't
profess anything. That's the spirit of coldness.
The Lord told Peter, He said, before the cock crows twice,
you're going to deny me three times. And when Peter was denied,
there was one of those denials when he said, I don't know the
man. I don't know him. That's cold. That's cold. I don't know Him. And the same man, Peter, was
the one when many of them went and would not follow the Lord
anymore. And the Lord turned to His disciples
and He said, will you go away too? You know people are going
to do what they want to do. You want to go too? And Peter
said, Lord, where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal
life, and we believe. Sure, you're the Christ. Where
am I going? You see that cold spirit there? Oh, but to be lukewarm consistently. The Lord said in verse 16, Because
thou art lukewarm, and exhibit that spirit of indifference. You claim to be a believer. You
claim to know Him. You say you believe sovereign
grace. You believe the Lord saves people according to His will
in heaven and earth. He rules and reigns. But that spirit of
indifference. He said, because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot. That word spew right there? Vomit. I will spew thee out of my mouth." Now my friend, those words scares
a believer. Somebody said, oh that, you know,
you'll never find me being like that. A believer says, Lord is
it me? Is it me? One of you is going
to betray me. The sound of that, let me tell
you what a believer will do. He said, because you're lukewarm,
I will spew you out of my mouth. A believer, and I'll tell you
what every one of you that know him just did, you fly to him. You're like that Syrophoenician
woman, that woman of Canaan. They came to the Lord and she
cast herself upon him and she said, Lord, my daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. And he said, it's not meat for
me to give the children's bread to dogs. And she said, I ain't
going nowhere. I ain't going nowhere. You're
right. But the dogs get the crumbs under
the master's table. And he said, woman, great is
thy faith. A believer hears the rebuke of
the Lord and immediately they cast themselves upon Him right
now. Lord, don't leave me to that.
Don't leave me to that. The walk of one that is lukewarm
is a walk uncorrected by the Lord. Now you listen to this.
The Scripture says in verse 19, As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. A believer hears the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will immediately in his heart
say, Lord, forgive me. Lord, have mercy on this sinner. Those words right there were
penned by John the Apostle, but let me tell you who spoke them.
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scripture says, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. A believer knows and bows to
the truth that salvation is of the Lord. That it is by His good
pleasure and providence that He keeps them. And unless He
keeps them, they know that they're going to perish. Because if He
doesn't keep them, He will leave them in that spirit of lukewarmness. And a believer is arrested. He's
arrested, constantly arrested. The Lord said in verse 17, Because
thou sayest, I'm 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. Because you say, I am rich. You know what a believer says? I'm poor. I'm not rich. One that's lukewarm says, I am.
I got it. I got a handle on this. I'm increased
with goods. I have need of nothing. I need
Him. I need to come to Him. I need
to ask His forgiveness again. I need the Lord. I need. That spirit of lukewarmness is
deception. In thinking that I'm rich in
my doctrine, I believe in five points of Calvinism.
Demons believe that there's five points of Calvinism. They don't
cast themselves upon the mercy of God. But they know the five
points. A believer thinks he's increased
in religious plenty and works and is acceptable to God and
has no additional need of God. I'm satisfied where I'm at. Thank
you. I'm doing just really well. I know what you're preaching.
I understand it. But I need no correction from God. Because a man is destitute of
the knowledge of his true condition, that he's wretched. That word
wretched right there, let me tell you what it is. Afflicted,
but without a knowledge of sin. I don't truly believe that I'm
that bad. miserable, and he is to be pitied,
poor and destitute of true wealth in Christ, blind spiritually,
and naked, robed only with the filthy rags of his own self-righteousness. And because he's got such a high
opinion of himself, because he's spiritually complacent, satisfied
with himself, he says, I am not in need of any adjustment. in me. The way that things are
with me is fine. They're fine. He sees therefore
the Lord's word of correction and instruction as meddling. My friend, we need to remember
who's talking here. Who's talking? Let God be true
and let every man be a liar. God is right, I'm wrong. And
everybody else in here is wrong. In that attitude of complacency
and likeness, truly found in that believer, if that believer
by the grace of God is made to be a believer, God is going to
correct him. Now listen to the counsel of
the Lord. Now this is the truth of man by nature. Every man by
nature is born with an attitude that's cold toward God. He's
born with that nature. By the grace of God, he's made
hot toward the Lord in regenerating grace. For one to foolishly profess
to be a believer. Now listen, I'm not talking about
being religious. I'm not talking about being religious.
Those that are religious, just merely religious, they don't
know God. They're cold. They're cold. And
by the grace of God, God may be pleased to call one out. These
people, this was the church where the gospel was preached. This
was a place where God had blessed the gospel. The Apostle Paul
knew. Paul preached there. Paul had
preached the truth there. So listen, I'm not talking about
those people out there in the la-la land that are just religious.
I'm talking to us, y'all. I'm talking to us. I'm talking
about people that profess to believe the gospel of God's free
grace, but possess a spirit of lukewarmness. Indifference. It ain't that big a deal. That's
what I'm talking about. And I'm telling you, I'm the
first to say, Lord, keep me from that. Because if you don't, I'm
gone. Now listen to the counsel of
the Lord. I counsel thee. If we've ever listened to any
counsel, this is it right here. 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 eye salve, that thou mayest
see." Here the Lord mercifully, gives
some profitable advice. This is profitable. Only a believer
will hear these words with a sense of urgency. And if this message
isn't a message of urgency to you, I pray the Lord will make
it so. I don't want to be fooled. I'm going to stand before God
and you are too. I don't want to be fooled. I know that this
carnal heart is desperately wicked. It's deceitful above all things.
And I say, Lord, please don't leave me to me. Lord, if you
say that there is a spirit of lukewarmness that's found within
your church, that's what He's saying, only by the grace of God will
I not be one of them. I counsel thee. And only one
regenerated by the power of God and grace of God will immediately
say, Lord, teach me. A believer is going to examine
himself to see if he'd be in the faith. He's not going to
be like Paul was saying. He's in a spiritual war. He said,
I don't battle like shadow boxing, like beateth the air. You ever
watch these boxers? Kind of warming up before the
match. They didn't do anything for their
opponent. They didn't hurt that opponent.
He looked good, maybe. Looked like he's fast and all
that kind of stuff. Paul said, I'm not fighting like that. He
said, I'm not in that kind of battle. I want to know, Lord,
do I know you? Like old John Newton, if I don't,
Lord, help me today. to begin today. It cannot be
that the Lord would counsel a sinner to buy of him, that is, buy of
him by faith, if there was no possibility of being able to
purchase by the grace of God him who is the gift of life. He said, I counsel thee, buy
of me gold tried in the fire. Now let me tell you what this
gold is. It's Him. It's Him. He is the gold, the tried and
proven and accepted sacrifice for sin. He is the gold, the
tried gold, the proven gold. proven to be the faithful and
true witness under the scrutinizing eye of God Almighty who said
of Him, this is my beloved Son whom I will please, you buy of
Him. The one who was proven in the
fire of God's justice, in Him alone, is a man rich toward God. Now you say, you hear him say,
I counsel thee, buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich. And you know what a believer
says? Lord, I come. Lord, you said, buy without money,
without price. And Lord, all I got is your word.
Lord, I come. I come right now. I don't want
to talk about coming yesterday. I told you yesterday's air is
gone. I need air right now. I need faith right now. I need
Him right now. By of me. Lord, I come. And He said, I counsel you, by
of white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame
of thy nakedness do not appear. Now, I know what the Scripture
says, man by nature, You know, he tries to cover his own spiritual
nakedness before God by the works of his own hand, by Genesis 3-7,
when Adam and Eve took and made garments out of fig leaves. I know this. I know that's nothing
but filthy rags. I know that. And let me tell
you what a believer says right now. Lord, robe me now. Lord, cover me now. Someone says,
well, don't you believe that the Lord covered you already?
Lord, cover me right now. Today is the day of salvation.
Right now. When the trump of God sounds
and the dead of Christ died and the Lord rise first and the saints
are raised up to meet, you know when the day of salvation will
be? Right then. Right then. Lord, save me right
now. Cover me right now. That white
raiment The righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that covers
the shame of a sinner's own spiritual destitution and nakedness before
God's law is the need of every sinner. And only His rope covers
my shame. Lord, robe me, robe me. And anoint Thine eyes with eye
salve that Thou mayest see That is the anointing of the Holy
Spirit's blessing to be able to see Christ as He's preached
in the glorious gospel of God's grace, illuminated spiritually
by the Spirit of God, kept from the darkness of unbelief. And
the Lord's people say, Lord, make me see. Lord, I want to
see. Don't you think you've seen before?
Lord, I need to see right now. I need to see. Like Paul, when
he says, oh, that I might know Him. They say, well, Paul, you
know Him. No, I want to know Him. I want
to know Him. The Lord said in verse 19, as
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore,
and repent. As many as I love, I rebuke. There were some obviously at
Laodicea who were lukewarm. They weren't cold, they weren't
hot. They were lost. Lost. But here we see that there
were some that were loved of God. And the Lord gave them counsel. And by the grace of God, they
took it. They took it while they hear His voice. And they don't
argue with Him. They don't disagree with Him.
Lord, as you say Lord, it is. They were rebuked. No believer,
no believer in this congregation or any other congregation says,
I don't need to hear these words. No believer says that. I need
to hear these words. I need to be corrected. You corrected
your children because you loved them, not because you didn't
love them. You corrected them because you love them. Those
that I love, I rebuke. And I chase them. God trains
up His children. The Lord says, Be zealous therefore
and repent. Titus 2.14 says concerning our
Lord, Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous
of good works." Be zealous. Lord, I want to be. I do. I want to be zealous. Brother Henry Mahan on this verse
said this, The Lord gave Himself for us that He might redeem us
from iniquity and sanctify or set apart for Himself a people
who love Him, who are eager and enthusiastic to please Him and
glorify Him, and desire to live for His glory, and who, through
the miracle of regeneration, are new creatures in Christ. A believer wants to be faithful. I want that. I don't want to
have a lackadaisical attitude. I don't. And when I see it in
myself, and I do, I say, Lord, keep me from me. Keep me from
myself. The Lord said in verse 20, 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. This passage of scripture has
probably been one of the most misused passages of scripture
as a word of invitation to a dead sinner to exercise his free will
and let Jesus be the Lord of his life. I stand at the door
and knock. Now I want you to remember something
on this passage of scripture. A sinner made spiritually alive
in Christ has ears to hear and can perceive the knock of Christ. A dead sinner, if I'm preaching
a funeral and there's a corpse right here and I say, did you hear that? Do you know
what that corpse is going to do? Nothing. Why? It cannot hear. Now listen to
the words of the Lord. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door. I remember to whom this letter
is written. This is the call of the Master
to the sheep. You remember when He called to
Shulamite? The bride in the song, we just
looked at it last week. Song 5, verse 2 to 4. And the Lord is, He knocks. Let me just read it. You know
it. I'll read it anyway. Song 5, I sleep. I'm drowsy, Shulamite says, but
my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh. saying, open to me my sister,
my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is filled with you
and my locks with the drops of the night. Whenever the Lord
knocks, He knocks for a purpose. And I'll tell you, when He knocks,
His sheep, regenerated by the grace of God, hear. And they
say, as Shulamite said, it is the voice of my beloved. How do you know this is really
me talking right now? How do you know? You say, well,
I know what Marvin sounds like. David can say the same things
I'm saying right now, but David's voice and my voice is different.
You know that this is me because you hear me. The Lord said, my
sheep hear my voice. Someone says, how do they hear?
How do you hear my voice and know it's me? You know. You know.
And by grace, whenever the Lord comes to His sheep, He comes
to His sheep because He's pleased to fellowship with them. And
if He wasn't pleased to fellowship with them, they wouldn't come.
If He didn't come to them first. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. I stand at the door and knock. Shulamite says, I sleep. My heart's awake. And God's people
hear this voice right here. If any man hear and open the
door. And if they open the door, they
opened it because they were made willing in the day of His power.
I can tell you this. They didn't have a free will.
They didn't make themselves alive. The Lord Jesus Christ comes unto
His people and presents Himself through His Word, by His Spirit,
to the heart of a new and created man, made and born from above,
one that has had that old stony heart removed and a new heart
imparted and a new spirit. And they hear. He said, that opens up, I will sup with
Him and He with me. There is fellowship between the
Lord and His people. If any man hear my voice, they have been given an ear to
hear. And they do know that it's the Lord that's speaking. And
He knocks through His Word by His Spirit And He says, I'm going
to sup with you and you with me. The promise of the Lord Jesus
to His regenerated sheep is that they will partake of His blessing
and presence. And they don't want to be without
Him. He's the shepherd. You know what
happens when sheep don't see the shepherd, they don't hear
the shepherd, they don't hear the voice of the shepherd, they just
start wandering. And I don't want to wander. I'm
prone to. I pray that God speak to my heart. I want to agree with Him. And
I consider the mercy of God that He would dine with anybody. He's the food. And he said, to him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame
and sat down with my father in his throne. To him that overcometh,
and we only shall being kept by the power of God through faith,
to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. Oh, to sit with Him and not be
cast out. Even as I also overcame, I'm
sat down with my Father in His throne. Fellowship, rest, communion,
which begins on this earth in conversion, but it's going to
continue forever. And all who've been made victorious
in Him, who is the mighty conqueror, by grace, are given the privilege
to sit with Him in His throne. I don't understand all that.
But whatever it is, I want it, because that's His promise. I knock. You hear. Open the door. I'll sup with
you. You're with me. And to him that
overcometh, I'm going to give you something. You're going to be seated with
me in glory. Even as I overcame, I'm sat down
with my Father in His throne. I don't understand it, but I
believe it by faith. I believe it. Oh, for grace to grasp hold,
of something, of the wonder of that thought. To sit with Him
in His throne exceeds the capability of my mind. But thanks be unto
God, which giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ, He has
declared this to be so. And His Word is going to stand.
Now, verse 22, He that hath an ear, And let me tell you what
a believer says right now. Lord, make me hear. He that has
an ear. Lord, I know that the seeing
eye and the hearing ear is of the Lord. I know that. Lord,
give me that. I don't want this to just be
a message that just took up some time. This is real. It's real. There's really coming a time
that I'm going to see Him. I want to see Him being found
in Him. I want that. I want that. He that hath an
ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. I pray that this message be,
I need it to be a comfort to me. I need it. Here's the blessing
in it and I'll close. Someone that says in their heart, Lord keep me from being lukewarm. Keep me from being lukewarm. There's hope there. Because God's
given you a heart to care. One that is lukewarm thinks himself
to be in need of nothing. And a believer says, I need I
need Him. I need Him to save me. If the
Lord has blessed this message to your heart and given you a
heart to need Him, confess Him in baptism. If the Lord has given you a heart
to see your need of Him, you thank Him. Because if He didn't,
you wouldn't see it. You would sit in indifference.
You may claim to know the gospel, but if that spirit of indifference,
if it doesn't arrest you, I pray that God have mercy for His glory
and our good. Amen.