And unto the angel of the church
of the Laodiceans write, These things saith 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. I would 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 of 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 eye
salve, 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 set down with my Father
in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. As we are aware, the Apostle
John was commanded to write what he heard and saw to the seven
churches in Asia. And six of those churches had
really a relatively good report and an encouragement to continue
But when we come to the seventh church, the church at Laodicea,
we see so many things which are wrong with that church. But the
relevant point is, of course, that it was still a church. We're not told that these were
not really believers at all. We're not told that. We're told
it was a church because He speaks in the first chapter about the
seven golden candlesticks. And this was one, therefore,
of those candlesticks, and therefore it was a true church. And it just reminds us that we
can easily condemn what might be classified as a church, because
they don't dot every i and cross every t. And yet you see, they
were a church. And how necessary it is for us
to remember these things, because they are relevant to us in our
day and age. Well, we spoke last Friday really
of the first from verse 14 down to verse 19. And we concluded,
with as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. And there we have
a good position that the Lord tells us that the Lord does chasten,
he does rebuke those he loves if they are going astray, if
they are not walking in the way that is set before us, so clearly
in the Word of God. So we should remember this Word
and we're told therefore if that is so to be zealous, zealous
for the things of God. It's easy to become very lukewarm
even in the outward things. Be zealous therefore and repent. And then the Lord comes to this
20th verse and tells us Behold, whenever we hear and read the
word behold, we should recognise it's an important statement and
it is something that we should take note of. and not just pass
over. And so the Lord tells us here,
behold, I, and that's the amen and the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God that we read of in the
14th verse. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. Well, we can conclude therefore
quite clearly this is none other than the Saviour himself standing
at the door and knocking. And he says, if any man hear
my voice and open the door, I will come into him. and we'll sup
with him and he with me. That's quite an easy statement,
isn't it? But when we think of the relevance
of it, to think that here we have God himself at the door
and knocking on that door and if we hear that knock, if we
listen to what is spoken, Or do we ignore that knock and think
it has no relevance to us in our life? And therefore forget
all about these things and just carry on. Well, we have this
great statement here, behold I stand. Nonetheless, think of
that God himself knocking. Knocking at our heart and we
ignore it. and we turn away from it and
we don't want to hear what is spoken and yet here we have this
statement if any man hear my voice quite clearly and there
is a voice to be heard and it's good sometimes for you and me
if we just examine ourselves as to whether God is speaking
to us Sometimes we don't want to hear
what he says. Sometimes we do want to hear
what he says. And yet, sometimes in those occasions,
that which is said doesn't always go along with what we expect.
And yet, here we have this very great statement, if any man hear
my voice, well, in our little lives, I wonder whether we've
experienced this from Almighty God, or if we come this evening
and have to say, well, I've never heard God knock at my heart,
and I've never heard him speak at all. Well that's a very solemn
and sad situation. And my friends, we don't want
to have deaf ears because the last verse again reiterates what
the other churches have been told. He that hath an ear, let
him hear. what the Spirit saith unto the
churches so we do want to hear when God speaks we don't want
to be deaf to God's word we want to be ready to hear what he says
and so he says he stands at the door the door of entrance It's
our entrance into our heart. He stands there and knocks. It's very wonderful, isn't it,
to think that the Almighty God, with billions of people in this
world, condescends to very gloriously and very graciously to come and
knock at our door. Amazing, isn't it? That Almighty
God should do that. and how wonderful it is therefore
if that has happened the Lord knocks at our door and then speaks
to us speaks to us you know in the Song of Solomon we have a
similar kind of statement when the Lord knocks at the brides
and her response was I sleep 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 dew,
and my locks with the drops of the night. Well, we have to answer
before God as to whether God has knocked at our door. and
whether we've been willing to hear what he said. You know,
in that case, the Bride of Christ, she was sadly, at one stage,
just too heavy with sleep and too comfortable, just like these
Latter-day Saints. She'd washed her feet, she was
in bed, and she just couldn't be bothered to get up. Sometimes
that's just like we are. the poor things of this world
crowd in and we just can't be bothered to perhaps read the
Bible perhaps you think of that when we go to bed at night and
there's the Bible and we think well I'm just too tired tonight
I really can't read the Bible tonight so I just get in bed
and go to sleep you see it's turning away from the voice of
God how relevant it is for us to put first things first. And
first things are to hear what God has to speak to us. You know, there's nothing better
than going to bed at night with the voice of God ringing in our
ears from something we read in his word. And it abides with
us. That's a great comfort. And that's
a great strength and a support. So may we, in our little lives,
be able to recognize the favor of God as he comes and stands
at the door and knocks. Yes, it's right there, my friends.
It's not as though he's a long way away. He's at the door. He stands there and he knocks. And so then the Lord says, if
any man will hear my voice. What a great if that is and how
pertinent it comes surely to every one of us. If any man hear
my voice, It's not anyone's voice, it's the voice of the Saviour.
If any man hear my voice and open the door, there's a great
and glorious result. The Lord says I will come in
to him and will sup with him and he with me. That means he
will feed us, feed us with those spiritual blessings And what
a great favour it is to think that Almighty God has cared for
us to such a degree that He comes and knocks at our door, stands
there and then comes in. Oh, my friends, may we know the
wonderful blessing and the wonderful favour of that. And then He goes
on and gives a glorious promise To him that overcometh. So how
do we overcome? Well, we don't overcome because
of our own ability. We don't overcome because of
our strength. We're told how we overcome. And
they overcame through the blood of the Lamb. Through that great
and glorious sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ made for unworthy
sinners died upon that cross at Calvary. He bore the curse
for us. Well how wonderful then if we
have the evidence of that to Him that overcometh. Not because
of what we've done but because of what the Saviour's done. To
Him that overcometh would I grant to sit with me in my throne even
as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne. Well that really means that we
will be united to Christ. And what a wonderful thing it
is to be able to anticipate that change when we finish our life
on this earth and to then go and to be with Christ, which
is far better, to there see the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, that which to us today is so mysterious, but then by
His grace we shall see face to face. It's a glorious prospect. I hope it is. It's far more relevant
that everything this world has to give is everything this world
has to give perishes with the using it's transient it disappears
the things of God are eternal they don't disappear they remain
and what a blessing therefore if you and I are a partaker of
these things which God has prepared for his church I go to prepare
a place for you. What a wonderful thought that
is. Unworthy sinners, but realising that all the glory must go to
God, mustn't it? Because He it is that has provided
for us. He it is that is stood at the
door. He it is who's spoken. He's knocked and he's come in
and encouraged us to suck with him and he with me. Partakers
of the food of Christ. We might say in a spiritual sense
it's the body and blood of the most glorious Redeemer. And indeed,
as we commented recently, the Word of God tells us in the 6th
of John, except, except, we do partake of that, there's no life. No spiritual life. It doesn't
matter if we pretend, and many do, and we've meditated on that
in these church letters. There were those who were fools
and weren't true witnesses. But what a burnt mercy it is
if we know the wonderful blessing of God toward us and we can indeed
rejoice in it. You know, just one final point
in the short epistle of James. James says, grudge not one against
another, brethren, lest ye be condemned before the judge standeth
before the door. The judge of all the earth. We
don't want to be condemned, do we? No, we want to be those who
have been received, those who have been blessed of God, those
who rejoice. in that wonderful salvation and
go on our way rejoicing. Well, my friends, these are very
powerful words, really. Behold, I, the Lord himself,
stand at the door and knock. My friends, what a mercy that's
occurred in your life and my life. If any man hear my voice
and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him
and he with me. And we have to remember there
will be that great day when the Lord will return in all his glory
and the church of God will go in to the marriage supper of
the Lamb. And as we read in that parable
of the ten virgins, what happened then? The door was shut. And my friends, you and I need
to be shut in with Christ and not shut out like those five
foolish virgins. We could say, of course, those
who are spoken to and ignore the voice of God are numbered
amongst those who are foolish virgins. And we don't want to
be shut out. At least I hope we don't want
to be shut out. I hope we want to be shut in.
with the Saviour forever and ever. And so, he that hath an
ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Well, we've commented on those
messages to the seven churches. A lot to think about, a lot to
meditate upon, a lot of gracious and wonderful instruction. the
living Church of God may be found amongst those who are true worshippers,
who worship God in spirit and in truth.