In these precious verses that
we consider this morning, Revelation 3, verses 19 and 20, there is
something that our Lord absolutely reveals concerning the fact of
His distinguishing love to His own. Our Lord sets forth In verse
19, he says, as many as I love. As many as I love. I do not find in scripture these
words spoken to the world in general. Smile. God loves you. I do not find in all of holy
writ, Almighty God setting forth this statement. The Lord has
a plan for you. No, the Lord Himself says, as
many as I love, as he has everlastingly loved. That's what he said in
Jeremiah 3. As many as are the gifts from
God the Father, all that the Father giveth me. It's always
distinguishing. It's always concerning his elect. for all that he purchased with
his blood that shall surely come to him. I lay down my life for
the sheep, he said. And told the Pharisees when they
said, how long are you going to cause us to doubt? Be plain with us. Tell us the
truth. He said, I've told you the truth
and you believe not because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my
voice and they follow me. Now listen, here's a fact concerning
Almighty God and His love. He said, I love my people. As many as I love. As many as He has chosen to show
mercy in electing, redeeming, and quickening grace. His people
are never left to themselves. Whether or not they're going
to know Him in regenerating grace, He said, as many as the Father
has given shall come to Me. They shall come to me. How many
is He going to save? All that the Father has given
Him. But concerning those, the many
that He loves, He says, I rebuke and I chasten. Now, I wanted
to be very, for myself and for you, I wanted to know, I want
to know. What are you saying? Our Lord
is speaking. What are you saying? As many
as I love, I rebuke. That is, I tell their faults
to them convincingly. I tell them their faults. As many as I love, I talk to
them. And I tell them exactly who they
are. who I am, I rebuke, and I chasten
as many as I love, I chasten, I train them up, and I educate
them by discipline. I correct them, as many as I
love. I speak to them concerning myself
and themselves, and I train them, educate them. But do you know
those that he loves, as many as he loves, that he rebukes
and chastens? It's never in wrath. It's never
in wrath, but in tender mercy. His rebukes, his chastisements
to his people are always tempered according to his perfect wisdom
and mercy. He always knows exactly how to
deal with His people, to keep them and to recall them from
straying. He's not going to let them go.
They're not going to get away. He always knows the exact need
of His people. He draws them back to Himself.
He always instructs them according to divine compassion and mercy,
and administers rebuke and chastisement for their good, never for their
harm. He says, as many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten. Be zealous. Therefore, and repent. I've entitled this message this
morning, Be Zealous. That is, be earnest. Be earnest. And repent. And think differently. And I
began to think on those words, be zealous. Repent. Be zealous. It's an attitude.
Be zealous. Be zealous. Lord, in what? I can tell you this. Be zealous
immediately in the means of God's grace. When you pray. It's never if
you pray. God's people pray. They seek
Him. God's people ask. People constantly desire to lift
up the brethren. God's people desire earnestly,
seeking zealously to ask the Lord, will Lord speak to my heart? Lord, guide me, direct me, keep
me. Lord, don't let me stray. Be
zealous. Be zealous in the means of God's
grace. Reading God's Word. For myself, for you, I cannot
express to us all the absolute need of reading God's Word. I'm telling you, be zealous in
seeking Him in the Scriptures. Read, you said, I just don't
understand. Ask Him. Ask Him. Lord, I can't tell you as your
pastor, I cannot tell you the times as I would be studying
and reading a Scripture and take a commentary, take Strong's Concordance,
take Vine's Word Studies and looking and just something It
just doesn't seem to bear witness to my heart that this is right.
I'll read something that somebody says, and I know they're sincere,
I don't doubt that a bit, but I read that and I think that
just doesn't... Lord, help me. Lord, this is Your Word. Lord,
You wrote this. Lord, You moved on the prophets
to write these things. You moved on these apostles to
write these things. This is Your Word. Lord, I'm
asking. You said, I have not, because
I ask not. Lord, help me. Help me to understand. Lord, help me to see You in these
Scriptures. Be zealous. As many as I love,
I rebuke, I correct them, I tell them, I teach them, instruct
them. Be zealous therefore. and repent,
make much of the means of God's grace. The Lord would have never
left you to yourself. He would have never left you
to yourself had He not meant to do you good. God is not going
to leave you. When we think about the zealousness,
I mean desiring, longing to be and to spend ourselves. I was looking at something, and
Lord willing, I may preach on this. I was reading something
the other day, and I'll kind of give you a little preview
into my mindset here. I was reading the other day,
and whenever Joseph, who was taken in captivity, he brought
his dad Jacob, his brother, and over, and they were now in the
land of Egypt. And Joseph brought his brethren
in. And they came before Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh asked them, said, what do you do? What do you do? And they told him, we're shepherds.
And he talked to them for a few minutes. And then Joseph brought
his dad in, Jacob. And Jacob came before Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh asked him, he said, how old are you? How old are
you? And that struck me. That struck
me. How old? How old are you? This
life is but a vapor. And that scripture has borne
to my heart. There's a message there. And
I pray the Lord will allow me to preach it. Lord willing, I
will. How old are you? Be zealous for the time that
we have. All the time that's passed is
water under the bridge. Be zealous. Make much of prayer. Make much of asking the Lord.
You say, well, I don't know exactly what to say. You tell Him that.
Read His Scriptures. Be zealous. Search these Scriptures. When you come to these services,
take what's been set forth. And you go to the Word of God.
And read the Scriptures that's been set forth. And ask the Lord's
blessing on that. Make much of hearing the gospel. The gospel of free grace. Shun
everything else. Shun everything else. But hear
the Word of God. Hear God's message preached.
Oh, the convicting knowledge of my need to be zealous. Just that convicting. That heart
of conviction. is an evidence, I'm going to
tell you, of His love. Whenever you feel, and every
believer does, the Lord was speaking in this particular passage of
Scripture. I'll tell you who He was talking to in verse 14.
It says in Revelation 3.14, under the angel of the church of the
Laodiceans. He was writing to the pastor
of a church at Laodicea. A church that Paul the Apostle
loved and wrote to, fellowshiped with. had much dealings with
that church at Laodicea and what it was. There was a lukewarmness
in their attitude. They had become lukewarm. And
whenever the Lord is pleased to speak, and first of all, He's
going to speak to the pastor of the church and tell the pastor
of the church of the need of the pastor for zealousness. Zealousness after Christ. Zealousness
after asking. Zealousness after seeking. Zealousness
after searching these Scriptures and praying, Lord bless these
words. This is what the Lord has called
the pastor to do. And then for the congregation
to be careful of lukewarmness. You know what, when you think
about being lukewarm, and here our Lord dealing with it. Dealing
with it to a church. Telling them. Telling them. Do
you know that hurts? That hurts. It hurts inside. When you begin to think of being
lukewarm. But I'm telling you, if you feel
the convicting power of His Holy Spirit to lukewarmness, be thankful. Be thankful that Almighty God
has preciously rebuked and chastised you. That's a sign of His love
and affection. Be zealous therefore. Be excited
for what He's saying in your heart. Embrace that token of
His affection to you. Repent. Think differently than you have
toward Him. Think differently concerning
making much of the means of God's grace. Think differently about
it. You that know Him, you think
differently about it right now, don't you? You say in your heart,
Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, forgive me. Lord, will
I find it so easy to just not make much? of the means of your
grace. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Now, verse 20. Behold, I stand
at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him
and he with me. Now, listen. I can tell you based
upon the Word of God, that these precious words that are spoken
are not spoken to everyone. They're spoken to His people
that He loves, that He rebukes, and He chastens. Unto the angel
of the church of the layout of sins, write, Almighty God is
speaking to His people Those whose hearts He breaks and corrects
and teaches and instructs, that's who He's talking to. Now, you
that know Him, you know, you know the tendency that every
believer has to wandering. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love.
That's a fact. That's a fact. And every believer
knows the need of being corrected. Lord, don't leave me to myself. Lord, the thought that I would
just be able just to go and just don't care anymore and could
just walk away and never come back. Lord, but for Your grace,
where would I be? Behold. He said, take note of
this. I stand at the door and knock.
Now I can tell you again, this is not a request for an unregenerate
to allow him access into an old deceived heart. He's speaking
to the church. He's speaking to his people.
When the Lord comes first, in power and regenerating grace. Let me tell you what he does. Just think about Saul of Tarsus
on the road to Damascus on his high horse with letters of authority
to take all that were of the way, believers, there in Damascus. And Almighty God in infinite
mercy and power and grace stopped him. A light shone round about him,
knocked him off his horse, and he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And Saul said, Who are you, Lord? Who are you? I don't even know who you are.
He said, I'm Jesus that you're persecuting. It's hard to kick
against the pricks. Let me tell you what happens
in regenerating grace. Almighty God comes in and takes
control. He said, I remove a heart of
stone and I give you a heart of flesh. Sensitive to Him. Sensitive to love Him. Sensitive
to His voice. Sensitive to Him. Almighty God
does something that an unregenerate cannot and will not do for himself. Almighty God must give a man
a new ear, a new eye, a new heart. God Almighty makes him sensitive. And that regenerated sinner,
one saved by the grace of God, now is sensitive to his voice. He says, Behold, I stand at the
door and knock. And this is not just anybody
standing. Now, I'm telling you, my friend,
if we want to know how Almighty God, our precious Savior, deals
with His people, let's listen up. This is Him talking. This is not Marvin's opinion.
This is not something that we just contrive up. This is God
speaking. to His church, to His people. Those that He loves. Those that
He rebukes. Those that He chastens. Those
who in themselves know what they are. Those that feel the struggles
within. Those that understand something
of the war that rages within them. I got to thinking about those
scriptures the other day and I wrote down this. This is God
Almighty. This is He who has ever stood
as the surety of God's people. This is the Lamb that taketh
away the sin of the world. This is He who spoke, and it
was. This is the Judge of all the
earth, before whom every soul shall stand at the day of judgment. This is the Father's beloved
Son. And He says, Behold, I stand. The One who is seated at the
right hand of the Majesty on high. The one who is deserving
for all, he's deserving for all to fall down before him. And
what does he say he's doing? He said, I stand at the door
and knock, knock. God Almighty, King of kings and
Lord of lords? The Prince of Peace? Did He say
that? Yes, He did. And who is He speaking
to? His Beloved. His Bride. His Church. Here is condescending mercy to
His people beyond our understanding. Here is love beyond our grasp. Here is the One that knows how
to draw His people to Himself. When we speak of Him, I'll be
honest with you, I love to speak of Him in power. Because I know
who He is. I love to speak of His sovereignty
because He is sovereign. I love to speak of His distinguishing
grace because He speaks of His distinguishing grace. I love
to speak of Him who does as He will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth. I love to speak of Him
that no one stays His hand. No one questions Him. No one
does what He pleases. I love it. I love knowing that
He is able to keep that which He has committed unto me against
that day. I love that. I love God's sovereignty. I despise
men that speak of God Almighty as an impotent one who desires,
who wants to do what he can, but can't unless little puny,
nothing, worm man lets him do it. No, sir. No, sir. That's not the way He is. That's
not the way He is. He's God. God Almighty. And here is God Almighty setting
forth this blessed, personal, intimate relationship with his
bride. He says, Behold, men as I love,
I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door,
the door of her heart. Knock. Knock. Are His ways truly not our ways? You know, offend me. Offend me. And by the grace of
God, I'll get over it. I will. But I'm telling you,
offend me and the first thing I want to do is shun you. I'd
rather not talk to you right now. Now, I hate to admit that,
but that's the way you are too. But here he is, when his own
act or react in a way that's according to the dictates of
their old nature, sin that's in their members, he lovingly
rebukes and chastens And when they're backward in the maintenance
of fellowship with Him, He gently and kindly, lovingly knocks and
rebukes and chastises us. It brings her back. It's the
love of Christ that constrains us. It doesn't drive His people to
love Him. It draws them. If any man, he
says, hears my voice and open the door, I will come in to him
and will sup with him and he with me. If any man hear my voice,
and his sheep do, because they have ears to hear. And I'll tell
you this, they know. They know who's speaking. They
know who he is. And they respect him. They honor
Him. They know that He's God Almighty. They know that He holds in His
hand the souls of all men. They know that He's going to
do as He will. They know that He's got the right
to make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor. They
know that. They know He's the potter. They
know what He can do because He's told them what He can do. And
then she hears him knock. If any man hear that sweet voice
of the one who said of himself, he said speaking to his bride
in Solomon, he said, you've ravished me with one of your eyes, Lord. Me? Lord, this one who knows
something of himself, Lord, You would look upon me in mercy and
compassion and say that I have stolen your heart? The voice of Him who bore the
sin of His people in His own body made sin for them, the one
that shall surely Grants to all that overcome. And they overcome
only by His power that keeps them from falling. He's able
to keep you from falling. And they overcome in Him. We're
more than conquerors. In Him who loved us. He's the
conqueror. And we know that. He said, if
any man hear my voice and open the door, We willingly, willingly, by His
power, in regenerating grace, not first, not first, we receive Him, if any man receive
Him. That's what John 112. We receive
Him who received us first. We love Him who first loved us. We come to Him who first came
to us in mercy, grace, and compassion. By the grace of God, you'll never
hear me say that anything started with us except rebellion. That's
what started with us. If any man hear my voice and
open the door. We who, you mean act with such
disrespect? Yeah. Yeah. You would stand without. Lord, You who possess all, You
who has the right by creation to all things, You who have established
our relationship, You who conquered me in regenerating power and
love and compassion, You, if I Hear your voice? Let me make sure I read this
correctly. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man
hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will
sup with him, and he with me." Lord, this breaks my heart. Lord, how arrogant. I am by nature. How insensitive I am. Lord, let
me repeat the words of Laban to Abraham's servant when Abraham's
servant came to find Isaac a wife. Come in, thou blessed of the
Lord. Wherefore standest thou without? I'm telling you, there's nothing
And by the grace of God itself, there's nothing that breaks a
believer's heart like beholding the tender mercy of our God.
And beholding Him who we know speaks, and it is. And Lord,
You would speak to me like this. Lord, You would come to me. How
quickly is the heart freshly made willing in the day of His
power again and again. You see, I know something about
this wretched attitude right here. And you that know Him,
you do too. When He says in Song of Solomon
5, 2-4, Open to Me, My Sister, My Love, My Dove, My Undefiled,
And then for me in my heart to say, I've put off my coat, how
shall I put it on? I've washed my feet, how shall
I defile them? Lord, I know that I just find
myself so often just too busy, just too insensitive. But in
loving kindness, my beloved put in his hand by the hold of the
door, and my bowels were moved for him." How does he draw his
people back? Drive them back just in these
rebukes. Those that I love, I rebuke and
I chase them. Let me tell you something, there's
no rebuke in chastisement. like Him who breaks our heart
and draws us to Himself. Open the door. I will come in
to Him and will sup with Him and He with me. Oh, how short
do we come in describing this fellowship. I don't really know
how to speak of it. This is something that is experienced
in the heart of a believer. When God breaks their heart,
And they know, a believer knows they are at a loss to express
it. Somebody says, tell me how you fellowship with the Lord.
I can't. I just can't. But I can tell you this, He can break my heart. And He
knows how. He knows how to remind me of
His love. He reminds me of the fellowship,
need of union with Him. And I know that when I find myself
unfaithful, and I am, and you are too, he is ever faithful. He said, I'll never leave you.
I've never deviated from you. There's never been a moment that
his heart was not on his people. Loving them. Knowing that he'll
cause me to feast in my heart upon him who is the bread of
heaven, Come in. Lord Jesus, sup with me. Lord, sup with me right now. Lord, by Your grace, allow me
right now, by Your grace and mercy, to be zealous. Lord, help me. Help me to think
differently. Lord, help me to be zealous to
seek You and ask Your blessing upon me In the hearing of your
gospel right now, Lord, fellowship with me. Lord, keep me because
I know this. Lord, if you don't, I know what
will happen. Lord, if you left it up to me
to maintain the fellowship, I know what would happen. There wouldn't
be any. Lord, thank you for your loving
rebuke. Thank you for your chastisement. Thank you for breaking my heart.
Thank you for keeping me by your power for Christ's sake.