My text this morning will be
found out of Revelations chapter 3, but I want you to first turn
with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and then
we'll move to Revelation chapter 3. Give you a moment to find
that passage. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, I want
to begin reading in verse 27. The Apostle Paul is writing here
to the church at Corinth, and he said, but I keep under my
body, and I bring it, speaking of his body, his flesh, into
subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to
others, I myself should be a castaway. The children of God, the child
of God, the believing child of God, must continually examine
themselves to see that they're in the faith. That was what Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5. Judging others we cannot,
but self-examination is a must. Upon self-examination, God's
people must constantly, I mean constantly, venture to put their
flesh into subjection. That doesn't mean that they live
the life of a martyr or that they separate themselves as a
monk. or that they try to do what self-righteous
men and women think to be holy. That's not what it means at all,
putting the flesh into subjection. It means that we don't put any
confidence in our flesh. It means that we look to Christ
and Him alone for salvation without endeavoring to do a work of righteousness
that we think would somehow or some way commend us to God. In the context here, Paul speaks
as one of a fighter. Notice in the last part of verse
26, Paul says, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air,
but I keep under my body." Brothers and sisters, there's a war going
on in our members. Paul says, so I fight. You and
I fight with this flesh. It's a battle, it's a struggle
to make it bow to Christ and Christ alone. We must continue
to bring it into subjection, for in our flesh dwelleth no
good thing, Romans 7, 18. And we as believers are not just
shadow boxing. That's what Paul's talking about
here. Have you ever seen fighters, they come out and they do all
their moves into the air? It looks impressive, but it causes
no harm to their opponent. Just beating the air. We have
real adversaries. We've got real enemies. And these enemies are out to
destroy us. The world, Satan, sin, and even
self, our flesh. And the word subjection in verse
27 means to enslave. It requires great diligence Great
effort, care, dedication, and commitment to keep our flesh
in subjection to God. It's a man's natural tendency
to want to do some work, do something that would obligate God to save
them. That desire is in each and every
one of us, trust me it is. It's not an easy thing to take
ourselves out of the equation in salvation. It's just not. It takes the mercy and the grace
and the revelation of God. I think of that young ruler that
came to the Lord Jesus. Why? He was such a moral man.
The Lord Jesus said, honor your father and your mother, do this,
do that. He said, Lord, I've done all those since my youth.
And the Lord Jesus looked at him, oh, I bet it just pierced right to the quick of his soul.
And he said, one thing thou likest. If you desire to be perfect,
see, that's what we've got to be. We've got to be perfect.
Any sacrifice to God has to be perfect to be accepted. We cannot
offer God what God requires. This is something that concerns
me greatly. Do you see what Paul's concern
was here? He said, when I preach to others
salvation by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone,
that was what Paul preached. He said, do I myself trust in
my work or my position as a preacher and wind up being a castaway
myself? That concerns me greatly. You
know, it takes the same sovereign grace for me to submit to what
I preach the same as it does to you. I have to believe, I
have to trust, I have to bow to the same God and the same
Gospel that you do in order to be saved. We have to constantly
Be on guard against our enemies. And we ourselves are often our
greatest enemy. I have to constantly fight my
flesh so that I don't take lightly the grace and mercy, the sovereign
grace and mercy that I preach to others. And that's what Paul
is saying here. None of us are exempt from this
fight. None of us are exempt from this
battle. Paul makes that perfectly clear.
The Apostle Paul struggled with the same things that all God's
people struggle with. And in verses 26 and 27, we see
that he had to run with certainty. He himself had to fight with
veracity. He had to keep under His flesh
the same as you and I do. And He had to bring Himself under
subjection. And these are not things that
a believer does in order to be saved. Let me make that perfectly
clear. These are things that God enables
a true believer to do when they are saved. Because they're saved. If you don't have any fight in
you, you don't have any life in you. And that's what James
meant, I believe, when he wrote, even so, faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being alone. Works doesn't cause faith in
Christ. Faith in Christ produces good
works. Certainly, if the faithful apostle
Paul was on guard to being a castaway, so ought we be. This morning
I find myself greatly burdened, great concern for the sheep that
are under my watch. You know, that's what pastors
are. I never understood that before. I have often said that
if I had any understanding of what a pastor was before I was
one, I would have been a greater support to my pastor. God's preachers,
God's pastors are shepherds under the great shepherd. They're under
shepherds, we call them, who watch over Christ's sheep. That's what God told Ezekiel.
He said, I've set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore
thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them." God's
preachers are to comfort God's sheep, but God's shepherds also
warn the sheep. And I take for myself the words
of the Apostle Paul, and I'm sincere in this. I know not like
I ought to be, but I am sincere in this. I'm jealous over you
with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,
without spot, without wrinkle, unblameable, unreprovable before
him. But Paul didn't stop there. He
said, but I fear. I'm alarmed. And oh, I can enter
into that so well. He said, lest by any means is
the serpent beguiled or tricked, Eve, through his subtlety. Subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now our enemy, our adversary,
the devil, is so subtle so crafty, so cunning, so deceptive, so
devious, that he often corrupts our hearts and our minds from
the simplicity that is in Christ. What is the simplicity that's
found in Christ? What is the simplicity of the
gospel that we preach? Doesn't it make sense that it
would be simple? It's very simple. Simplicity is not a hard thing
to understand. It's simple. Sinners don't have
trouble understanding the gospel. Sinners have a great deal of
trouble believing it. And here's the simplicity of
what we believe. In the matter of salvation, now
listen to me. No reason for us not to understand
this. In the matter of salvation, you
and I can do nothing, we can provide nothing that would in
any way commend us to God. Now is there anything about that
you don't understand? You can do nothing and you can
provide nothing that would commend you to God in any way. And in
addition to that, we deserve nothing but the wrath The judgment
and the condemnation of God. Is there anything, I ask you
again, that's too hard to understand about those simple statements? If not, then the next question
is, do you believe that is so? Now if Christ doesn't do for
us that which God requires of or from us, and we say this every
service, then there's no hope of deliverance from our sin.
It's just that simple. Why? Because we can do nothing
and we can provide nothing that God would be mindful of us. The
simplicity of the gospel is not the problem. Believing the simplicity
of it is. To be simple is to be childlike. A child is rarely tormented with
anxiety and stress. I was watching my grandchildren
this morning. They're skipping down the aisle.
They don't have a care in the world. That's the way we ought
to be before God. My children, nor my grandchildren,
never have to worry about where their next meal's coming from
or what they're going to wear. Simple, child-like faith. Children are so simple and single-minded,
aren't they? No wonder our Lord said, verily
I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little
children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. The
simplicity of God's gospel is the gift of an undivided heart. You think about that. an undivided
heart, a singleness of heart is a must in the kingdom of God. Our Lord said very plainly, no
man can serve two masters for he'll either hate the one and
love the other or else he'll hold to the one and despise the
other. And then he repeats the same
thing in different words. And he says, you cannot, serve
God and mammon. A double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. Singleness of mind. You know
the opposite of singleness of heart is idolatry. I know that
none of us are likely to to bow down and worship a golden calf,
as the Israelites did. I know that. But man has made
golden calves out of many things. Man has sought out many inventions. And our adversary, the devil,
is so subtle that he's even made religion an idol to men and women. That's exactly right. There are
men and women today who are trusting in religion, but not in God. Religious men and women trust
in a walk down an aisle, in a decision that they made, in a hand being
raised, in a prayer being repeated. And they'll tell you quick, oh
yes, I was saved on this date at this time when I decided to
make Jesus Lord. None of us can serve both God
and man, and man is anything and everything that the creature
loves and desires more than God. You can make an idol out of anything.
Anything. Even good things. And our Lord
said to the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2, He said,
I have somewhat against thee. This is the Lord Himself speaking.
He said, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left
thy first love. Have you left your first love? If you would now turn with me
to our text in Revelation chapter 3, I'll be brief. And I'd have
you look at verse 14 with me. Revelation 3, begin reading in
verse 14. And unto the angel, and that
word angel there means messenger or pastor of the church of the
Laodiceans, writes, these things saith thee, Amen. That's a capital A. We spoke
on that several months back. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's obvious from the words
that follows, the faithful and true witness. Christ is the faithful
and true witness of God. The beginning of the creation
of God, Christ is most certainly that. And notice what he says
in verse 15. He says, I know thy works, that
thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or
hot. So then because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot. I will spew thee out of my mouth."
Oh my, isn't that so alarming? Now what does the word lukewarm
mean? You can look it up in a concordance
and you can look it up in a dictionary and pretty much the same on both
accounts. It means to be indifferent. It
means to be half-hearted. It means to be unenthusiastic. It means to be lackadaisical. Many in the professing church
have become lukewarm concerning the things of Christ. But you know, I was thinking
as I read this passage, no scripture ever wears out. This is not a
word for days gone by. This applies to the church today. The things written to the seven
churches in the book of Revelation were recorded to warn all who
profess to be a part of God's church today. Who is it that
makes this charge? Well, we've already said. That
it's none other than God the Son. He is the Amen. He is the faithful and true witness.
He is the beginning of the creation of God. He's not the first creature
God made, but the first cause of the creation. And this is
He who made all things out of nothing in the beginning of time.
He's Alpha. He's Omega. He's beginning. He's
the end. He's the end. And the address
that our Lord begins Here, it begins with Him saying, I know
thy works. Do we honestly think that we
are hiding anything from God? He sees everything. With searching
eyes, Christ sees all the works of His church. And only He knows
what is done, how it's done, and why it's done. And men get
pretty good at fooling men. But none of us can fool God.
Only the Lord can search the heart and try the reins and give
to every man according to his ways and the fruit of his doings. And the condition described in
our text is one of indifference. It's one of carelessness. They
are said to be lukewarm. They're not cold. but they're
not hot. They're not infidels, but they're
not earnest believers. They didn't oppose the gospel,
but neither did they defend it. They were not working mischief,
neither were they doing any great good. Luke warned. They were not dishonorable in
moral character, but neither were they distinguished for holiness.
And they were not irreligious, but they certainly weren't enthusiastic
or zealous, lukewarm. And the Lord Jesus said, I'll
spew you out of my mouth. Now, I'd like to ask this question. Why is lukewarm religion so distasteful
to the Lord Jesus Christ? You think about that. Why is
lukewarm religion so distasteful to our Lord and Savior? You know,
it's a great insult for His people not to give all to Him who gave
all for His people. Did not our Lord consider salvation
so important that He must need come from heaven to earth to
work it out? Did He not consider His gospel
so worthy and needful to be known that He spent His life proclaiming
it? Did not our Lord think that His
perfect righteousness that He worked out to be so invaluable
that He must shed His own precious blood in order to provide it?
to be indifferent, to be half-hearted, unenthusiastic, lukewarm to these
amazing things is an insult to Christ for claiming that He laid
hold of these things too deeply at heart. Our Lord's intense zeal and passion
was not on or for His own account. But it was on and for the account
and behalf of His people. The perfect righteousness that
He provides for chosen sinners should incite and stimulate our
full attention. And if you're one of His, it
will. And if you have a half-hearted
concern for Christ and His righteousness, if you have a passionless concern
for your soul and its lack of righteousness, then I'm afraid
that you've not yet seen your true need of redemption, which
can only be found in the sacrifice and substitution of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, many people kneel in
prayer. They don't pray. Not to God. They pray to a God of their imagination. Many folks bow their heads, but
few bow their hearts. And I'm telling you the true
believer will. They know that Christ was full
of love for them in whom was nothing lovely. Should our love
to him not strive to match his love for us? I know I can never
love him like he loves me, but I ought to try. I ought to strive
to. It ought to be my heart's desire
to love the Lord Jesus like He loves me. Why, He gave Himself
for me. It pleases the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. We know that. Is it
not a sorry and pitiful thing that men and women would be so
unenthusiastic in hearing His Word preached? God's people want
to hear the Gospel. Let me even rephrase that. God's
people must hear the gospel. It's a necessity. It's a necessity. Why? It's the water that causes
us to never thirst again. God's people want to hear the
glorious gospel. The lukewarm can take it or leave
it. Now there was a time when these Laodiceans would not miss
the preaching of the gospel, yet now they just seem to be
lackadaisical in their interest. And notice what our Lord says.
He said, I would that thou wert cold or hot, one or the other. It's better to be utterly ignorant
of the gospel than to be a vain, carnal, indifferent, lukewarm
professor of faith. Does that describe you? If it
does, then I'm afraid that you're lukewarm. You know, in worldly
relationships, we give our all. If we offered half-hearted love
to our loved ones, our spouses, our children, our parents, our
friends, it would be considered by them to be no love at all.
No one is interested in a half-hearted love. It's not a desirable thing. I want my wife to love me unconditionally. A half-hearted love is not desirable
by any of us. So do we dare offer God a wavering,
lukewarm heart? Men and women often claim, oh,
it's for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. But
their actions prove differently. Their actions prove that they're
halting between two opinions. If the Lord be God, follow Him. If Baal be your God, then follow
Him. There's no place near the throne
of God that will allow a lukewarm heart to dwell. With Christ,
it's all or nothing. Against popular belief, God doesn't
need our time. God doesn't need our money while
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. God doesn't need our help. God desires and deserves our
all. And if God has you, He's got
your time, He's got your money, and you'll see that He does not
need your help. And I suppose one of the most
difficult things to do in this life is to surrender our whole
self to Christ. We just want to do something,
don't we? We just want to contribute something. Oh, it requires the
subjection of the flesh and the sovereign grace of God to surrender
our whole self to Christ and His righteousness. God's not
going to accept anything less. And God deserves nothing less.
And the consequence for anything less is He'll spew you out of
His mouth. Now that word, spew, And I don't
want to get overly graphic, but in the original Greek, it means
to vomit. How nauseous lukewarm religion
is to Christ. It's nauseating. There's some
real solemn realities that we need to consider. Death is coming
for every one of us. Every one of us. Eternity waits
for Us, whether in heaven or in hell, we're going to spend
eternity in one of the two places. Either with Christ forever or
alienated forever. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? In the end, will this seemingly lack of concern prove that we
never did belong to Christ? What's the reason for this indifference? Well, we can answer it with one
word, and you know what that word is. It's sin. But the Lord
gives us a little more detail right here in verse 17. Look at it with me. He says,
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. Now I want us to think about
this verse in a spiritual sense, not in a natural one, even though
it applies both ways. But I believe the real teaching
here is found in how it applies to the professing Christian who
thinks that they're rich and increased. Sometimes men and
women use God's grace as an excuse to sin. Well, I know that I sin. I know I sin because I'm a sinner.
That's just what a sinner does. They sin. Boy, that's a dangerous
place. Paul said, shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. There are many men
and women who believe that they're increased with spiritual good
and gifts. You know, religion has just become
a showcase for the talents and gifts of men and women. Today's
religions patterned themselves so after the world that entertainment
now replaces gospel preaching. It seems that everyone today
is increased with spiritual goods and gifts. Oh, we're doing great
things for God, aren't we? Let me pat myself on the back. But here's the true reason, and
it's found in this same verse. Have need of nothing. Men and women have need of nothing.
Men and women have become indifferent to Christ and His gospel because
they have no need of His continual love, mercy, and grace, and forgiveness. They're doing quite well on their
own. But there's always been tares which grow with the wheat,
and in the harvest they'll be destroyed, spewed out of the
mouth of God. The Lord Jesus let them both
grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I
will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into
my barn." Oh, are you a tare or are you
a wheat? Some of you show plain symptoms of being lukewarm. May God allow me to be faithful
to you. You see, a watchman who does
not warn sinners of their error is not a true watchman at all.
And I often wonder what would have happened to David if Nathan
hadn't been faithful to him and told him the truth. Nathan told
him, he said, Thou art the man. You're the man. You're the one.
Oh, I'm telling you friends, the first step to a remedy for
being lukewarm is a clear discovery of your state. Oh, if you're
here this morning and you're indifferent to the sovereign
grace of God in any way, know that you're wretched, you're
miserable, you're poor, you're blind, and you're naked. What
are you going to offer God? May God teach you your great
need. Another remedy is found in verse 18. Look at it. He said,
I counsel thee to buy of me gold fried in the fire. And doesn't
that strike you as being very much like that passage in Isaiah
which says, Come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and
milk without money and without price. You see, the things of
God are free, free to us because Him, His Son. So we must begin
again just as we started. We bought gold of Him then for
nothing, so let's go and buy it again for the same price.
It's free. Read on. Why? Because that thou
mayest be rich, and white raiment, and 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." That's the result
of coming to Christ again and again and again. Notice that
this remedy involves rebukes and chastenings from the Lord.
Verse 19. As many as I love, Christ says,
I rebuke and chasten. Boy, isn't that a comforting
thought. He chastens those He loves. He says, as many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
You know, it's a very solemn and surprising thing to be dearly
loved by God. Isn't that the most amazing consideration? That God loves me. And if you,
by sovereign love, belong to Him, He will not let you go. Now, I suppose the best remedy
of all for a lukewarm heart is more communion with Christ, more
love to Thee, O God, more love to Thee. Look at verse 20. He
says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if any man
hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him. Oh, and
I'll sup with him and he with me. Now listen, half-heartedness
may have driven the Lord from your presence, but He hadn't
traveled far while He's at the door, ready to come in. Behold, He saith, I stand at
the door and knock. Christ loves His church so much
and too much to leave her altogether. He longs to come back and therefore
He waits at the door ready to come in and sup again with the
prodigal child. What grace! What mercy! Oh, what love! Amazing love! The love of Christ for me! Dear prodigal, if any man hear
his voice and open the door, he will come in. It's a certainty.
There's no salvation in the saved sinner opening the door. A lot
of people say, well, yeah, he saved me because I opened the
door and let him come in. There's no salvation there. Salvation
is found in the one who enters the door. God makes a sinner
willing to commune with his God. Oh, that God might enable you
to get back into an earnest zeal for the Lord and His love and service. Wavered
child, listen to his rebukes. Do you remember what he said
to Thomas? You remember that story. Thomas wasn't with him
when the Lord resurrected and appeared to the disciples. I
can just see him. You know, the Lord came today.
He appeared to us, Thomas. I'll believe it when I put my
finger in the nail prints and in his side. That's when I'll
believe it. You see, I'm from Missouri. I'm
from the show me state. You're going to have to show
me to believe. What was the Lord's rebuke to
Thomas? Thomas, reach thy finger, and
behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into
my side, and be not faithless, but believing." What a rebuke! Well, that rebuke incites faithfulness
to Him. May you, like Thomas, fall into
His arms and cling to Him alone, and say, My Lord and my God. Verse 21, in closing, 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. Child of God, know for certain
that the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth
endureth to all generations. You know, He that is able to
save you is able to keep you clean to Him. Keep looking to
Him. Keep trusting Him. Keep begging
Him for more and more grace. He delights to show it and give
it.