14 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
hot, 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 have 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, that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve 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
have sat down with my father in his throne. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." This is the last letter Laodicea,
it says there that the rich and increased was good. It was an
incredibly, incredibly wealthy city. And they had hot springs there
and the springs that they had there, the water was just lukewarm.
Just lukewarm. In the hot springs. And there
was also a school of medicine there. That developed a remedy
for weak eyes. And they say this place was such
a wealthy, wealthy place that they had three great theaters
there where people put on plays. They had a big stadium and they
even had a gymnasium that had hot baths in it. Over in Bath,
England, they call it Bath because the Romans went in there and
they had hot baths there. hot water run into them and they
had a big gymnasium there and that's how Bath, England was
called Bath because of the and it was still there money was
still laying around down there where they left it and it was
hot springs like that that the Romans had found and built built
this big hot bath that they could get in take hot baths and that's
what they had here in lived a sin and they were so wealthy that
one time they had an earthquake, partly destroyed the city and
they were so wealthy that they did not take any money from the
government but rebuilt it themselves out of their own pockets. Then
you know I showed you out of Colossians chapter 4 that Paul
was one of the responsible ones for establishing this church
at Laodicea. And he wrote a letter to the
church at Laodicea and said now read this at Laodicea and send
it to the other churches also. But now I want you to notice
first of all how our Lord describes himself to the Laodiceans. He
describes himself to every church differently. And here he describes
himself to this local congregation he says he said these things
these say the amen we all know what amen means that means it's
so let it be so it's final we say amen and you find people
say amen at the end of some of these books they'll say amen
and that means that's steady it's final it's true we agree
with it and Christ is the amen In fact, Paul said in 1 Corinthians,
he said he's the second Corinthians, he's the yea and amen of all
the promises of God. He's the yea and amen of all
the purposes of God. And then it not only says that
he's the amen, he's the final saying. That's what it says.
I'm the final saying. When I say amen, that's it. That's it. We say amen at the
end of a prayer. Cause it's final. We're through. And that's what he means here.
I'm the Amen. I'm the final word from God.
Final word. True word from God. Then look
what else he says about himself. The faithful and true witness. There's never, there's a lot
of people that tell the truth. A lot of people that do go to
great lengths to be honest. But our Lord Jesus Christ says
He's faithful and He is true. No one is as faithful as the
Lord Jesus Christ. No one is as true as the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said He was the faithful and
true witness. And when He came to this world,
He was faithful to His Father. He is faithful to the Scriptures. He was faithful to His people. And He'll always be faithful
to us. He said, I'll never I'll never
leave you and I'll never forsake you. And when we sing that song,
great is thy faithfulness, we don't have... You know, Paul
said, though I was crucified with Christ, I live by the faith
of the Son of God. I live by His faith, His faithfulness. If we live by our faith, it wouldn't
amount to nothing. But I don't live by my faith,
I live by Christ. I'm a believer, but yet I still
got lots of unbelief in me. And here's the thing about it,
it's Christ's faithfulness that saves us. Don't ever forget that. It's His faithfulness to us.
And it's His faithfulness. He read that tonight. It said,
I am my Father, one. And if you don't believe me for
what I say, look at the works that I did. Look at what I did. And so I tell you what, he's
the faithful and he's the true witness. John himself said when
he got to the end of John's Gospel, he said, he that witnesses these
things is witnessing his truth. It's true. You know it's true.
And I tell you what, when he says he's the faithful and true
witness, that means he only tells what he sees and only tells what
he knows. And if you see everything, You're
faithful and true. If you know everything, you're
faithful and true. And if he has to tell you how
sorry you are, he's faithful in doing that. And if he's faithful
in telling you what he's done for you, he's faithful in that. And everything he says is true.
We can take him at his word. You can't take me at my word,
but you can sure take him at his. He's the faithful, that's
how he describes himself. He can be trusted. He can be
believed. And oh my! He's faithful and
true witness for His people. He's a faithful and true witness
for His people before God, His Father. He's a faithful and true
witness before all of our enemies. And I tell you what, He's a faithful
and true witness when He talks to these people right here and
tells them the truth about themselves. And then it says He's the beginning
of the creation of God. What in the world does that mean?
That means that God, that Christ is the one who began creation.
the scriptures tells us so plainly that all things that was made
was made by him and without him was not anything made that was
made in the beginning was the word the word was with God the
word was God the same was in the beginning with God and over
in Colossians chapter 1 it says this that by him were all things
and for him are all things and Everything that was created,
He created it. And everything that's upheld
in this world, He upholds it. And everything that exists is
because of Him and it consists and upheld by Him and His precious
Word. I mean this creation His creation
is His. And I'll tell you something else,
not only is His creation His, but the new creation, if you've
got a new heart, if you've got a new mind, if you've got a new
will, if you've got a new nature, if you've got a new relationship
with God, Christ made that happen. Ain't that right? Not only is
He this creation, but He's the author of this new creation.
That new nature we got. That new heart we got. That spiritual life we got. That
new birth we got. All of those things Christ is
the author of them. He's the author of them. And
then look what he says now. He gives the subject of this
letter. He says there now in verse 15. He said, I know your
works. I know your works. and look what
he says about them that you're neither cold or hot cold or hot
I would I would that you were cold or hot you're neither one
you're just lukewarm is what he's telling them and that's
a heavy heavy charge against the Laodiceans And our Lord knew
them and we just got through saying He's a faithful and true
witness. So He's witnessing faithful and true to these people. He
knew these people better than they knew themselves. He says
you're neither hot or you're neither cold. I want you to be
either hot or I want you to be either cold. But you're neither
one of them. And what He's saying is you're
lukewarm. And the difference, you know, when those disciples
on Emmaus Road were walking with the Lord, with the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he got to their house, and he revealed himself to us,
you know what they said? Did not our hearts burn within
us? That's the difference between
the hot and cold. You know Christ causes our hearts
to burn within us. He causes something to go on
inside of us. But these people were not that
way. They were in the worst worst
possible condition. They were lukewarm. They were
indifferent. That's what our Lord said. You're
neither cold or hot. Just lukewarm. You're totally
indifferent. Matthew Henry. I know everybody
here knows something about Matthew Henry. He got six volumes of
a commentary. Really, really good. But Matthew
Henry said if religion is a real thing, it's the most excellent
thing. Therefore, we should be in earnest
in it. If it is not the real thing,
it's the vilest imposture, and we should be earnest against
it. If religion is worth anything, it's worth everything. And indifference
here is inexcusable. And our Lord said you're either
for me or either you're against me. And there's no middle ground. And that's what he said to these
people. You're neither hot or you're neither cold. You're just
lukewarm. And then look what he says here.
And verse 16, so then, so then, since this is the condition you're
in, if this is the miserable shape you're in, so then, because
you're lukewarm, just lukewarm, you're neither cold nor hot,
I'm going to spew you out of my mouth. The feeling that our
Lord Jesus has here is not found of Him anywhere else in the Bible. Not anywhere else in the Bible
what he describes himself and his relation to this congregation.
It doesn't say that I'm grieved with them. It doesn't say I'm angry with
them. It doesn't say I'm disgusted
with them. It says they make me sick. That
word nauseous is the same word for vomit. He said, I'll spew
you out of my mouth. You're fence straddlers. He said,
you make me sick. I want to spew you out of my
mouth. I want to vomit you out of my
mouth. That's no place else would it
say anything about our Lord. Nowhere else did he describe
himself that way. He knows that their entire profession,
their entire religion is a sham. It's a sham. It's a pretense. So much hypocrisy among them.
But he's just the opposite. He's the Amen. He's the faithful
and true witness. But there's nothing faithful
or true about these people. Nothing worthy to come into man. Nothing at all. And what is the
cause of this indifference? What's the cause of this inconsistency? Self-conceit. Self-delusion. Self-conceit and self-delusion. You know it says they didn't
have any problems. That was their whole problem.
They had no problems. There was not a thing in the
world wrong with them. Not a thing in the world wrong
with them. They had our thoughts of themselves. And oh what a
difference that they thought of themselves and what our Lord
Jesus Christ says about them. Look what it says, look how they
describe themselves. I told you this was a very, very
wealthy, wealthy city. They said this, because thou
sayest, I'm rich. I'm rich. And they were. They
were very wealthy. Very wealthy. I'm rich. And look
what it says. And I'm getting richer. I'm getting
more and more goods. I'm not only rich, but I'm getting
richer. And look what it says. And look
here. And have need of nothing. Anybody here in that condition?
I have need of nothing? Every one of us comes here with
our mouth open like a bird and our hands stuck out. Huh? With a cry in our hearts and
a cry in our mouth, Lord give. We can't give you anything, but
Lord we sure can take from what you give us. And I'll tell you
what, they said, oh we're rich. We're rich. Getting richer. Have need of
nothing. Oh, they supposed that gain was
godliness. David wasn't like that. You know
what David said? He said, Oh Lord, I'm poor and
I'm needy. I'm poor and I'm needy. Paul said this, He said, I want
to win Christ. These folks didn't need nothing.
I want to be found in Christ. These folks didn't need nothing.
I want to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ. I want everything before I knew
Christ to count but done. I want to know Christ. These
folks said, we don't need nothing. They're not like that publican
that had Pharisees stood and prayed dust with himself. And
that publican, you know, he went over there and he couldn't even
lift his eyes to heaven and he says, he smoked his breath and
said, Oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner. These folks said,
we don't need nothing. Our pockets are full, our coffers
are full. It's like that rich fool. Oh
my, he had so much stuff one year, his crops were so much
and he ain't made so much. He said, listen, he had a whole
crew, said go tear down all my barns. Tear them down and build
me great biggins. I needed to put all my stuff
in. He got home that night, leaned
back in his lazy boy, propped up his feet and said, oh soul,
you got it made. Take it easy now. And God said, you fool, I'm requiring
you tonight. These people said, we're rich
and we're getting richer. We're getting richer. Oh my. And have need of nothing. Oh
God. Don't let us flatter ourselves.
Don't let us deceive ourselves as these people did. And look
what he says. And this is how our Lord describes
them. He said this is what they say about themselves. This is
what they thought of themselves. But this is what Christ knew
about them. The faithful and true witness. And knowest thou
not, here's the first thing he said. He said, here's how you
really, really are. You're wretched. You're so wretched. Amazing grace that saved a wretch
like me. People look at somebody and say,
what a wretch. A wretch is somebody that ain't
got nothing. Old raggedy clothes on. Dirty
and filthy. Hair a mess. Stinking, rotten,
corrupt. Oh, look how wretched they are. That's what grace comes to save.
But our Lord says, you know, you say you're rich, but I'm
telling you what, you're wretched. You're wretched. Then look what
else he says about them. Not only are we wretched, but
you're miserable. Oh, you're miserable in front
of me. In front of me. In my eyes. They wasn't miserable
in their own eyes. He said, you're miserable in
my eyes. And that word miserable is the
same word as to be pitied. Pitiful. Pitiful. Who's to be
more pitied than someone who imagines themselves to be a fine,
fine, fine Christian. Yet Christ Himself says, I'm
so sick of you, I could spew you out of my mouth. Then he says, then not only are
you wretched and miserable, but you're poor. Well, they just
got through saying we're rich, getting richer. He said, but
you're really poor. You're poor. You're poor where
it counts. They had no food for the souls. They had no covering for their
nakedness. They had no shoes for their feet.
They were in debt to the justice of God and didn't have a father
to pay off their debt. Joe was praying for dinner today
and he said, Lord I thank you for the roof over our head, clothes
on our back and shoes on our feet. When I was a young boy down in
North Carolina, living with this person, that person, the other
person, there was many a time, and I don't, and I'm not, don't
want you to, there was lots and lots of times that I cut out
cardboard and milk cartons and put them in the bottom of my
shoes to keep my socks from being on the ground when I was a boy. and stick them in the holes in
the bottom of my shoes. And I had to go to school like
that. So I know what it means, Joe,
and I'm thankful for the shoes on my feet. I thank God I don't have no holes
in them now. In fact, I've got the best shoes
on that you can have on. John, with the preparation of
the gospel of peace, I got on gospel shoes. Gospel shoes. That's the best
shoes. God put them on. When he puts
them on. Oh, bless his holy name. But
he said, oh my. And then he said, not only are
you poor, but listen to hear what else he says about it. He
said, they're blind. You're blind. Do you know how blind they were?
They were so blind that they couldn't even see their own condition.
They couldn't see the way that they were supposed to go. A blind
man don't know the way he's supposed to go. They didn't see their
danger. They could have walked off of
a cliff and never know that the cliff was there. No. They couldn't
see Christ. They couldn't see God. They couldn't
see death. They couldn't see eternity. They
couldn't see their need. And our Lord said, if the light
in you be darkness, how great is that darkness. And then look
what else He says about it. And you're naked. Oh, you're
naked. You're naked. And you know He
says, you don't have no clothes on. And you know where they was
naked at? The same place Adam was. Naked
before God. And that's where it counts. They
had no justification. They had no sanctification. They
had no covering. Christ said this about them.
And then our Lord, He gives them counsel. Look what He says in
verse 8, I counsel thee. Now boy, ain't He the most wonderful
counselor there is? We go to him for counsel. We
go to his word for counsel. And he's called the wonderful
counselor. And our Lord gives him counsel. I counsel thee to
buy of me gold. You got money? I want you to
buy of me gold tried in the fire. That you may be rich. Gold tried
in the fire. that you may be rich and white
raiment that you may be clothed that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that you won't
be blind anymore that you may see now how in the world does
he say by by me by me salvation white garments to cover their
nakedness eyesalve to put on their eyes so they can see And what he's telling them is
give up. Give up yourself. Give up your wisdom. Give up
everything. And you know when you realize
you ain't got nothing, that's when you can have something.
And let me show you. I read this back in the study
tonight. Look in Isaiah 55. Look in Isaiah
55. You know, these little old country
stores that used to be around, used to be able to go say, I
need to charge that today. Now you can't go to Kroger's
and say put that on my account. But you used to be able to go
to these little old country stores. and say, you know, listen, I'm
running a little short this week and I need to buy this, I need
to buy that and everything. Well, I'll just make you a ticket,
you know, I'll make you a ticket. You go in to last a month, you
pay off your debt, you know. Well, when you ain't got nothing
to pay when the end of the week comes, they're going to quit
letting you have anything. But our Lord Jesus Christ, He's
got everything. And when you ain't got nothing,
that's when you'll go to Him. Look what He said here in Isaiah
55. This is God's marketplace. Look what a wonderful marketplace.
Now listen, this is what our Lord said. Oh, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, Look
at the next line. Come ye buy and eat. Now he said
you ain't got no money. But yet he says come and buy
and eat. You ain't come not only buy and
eat but buy some wine, buy some milk. Without money and without
price. How can you buy when you ain't
got no money? And he says you can get it without money and
without price. And he goes on to say, now you're laboring in
this world and he said, you're spending your money for that
which is really not bread. Never satisfies you. And you
labor for that which never satisfies your heart or your soul. He said,
I'm going to tell you what you do. Listen, listen, listen to
me. And let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Here it is, incline your ear
and come unto me. Hear and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. Oh my, huh? That's how he done it. That's
how he done it. He said, I counsel thee. said
I have gold and I tell you our faith is this gold more precious
than gold tried with fire and you know you can't buy salvation
you know you can't buy the righteousness of Christ and you know you ain't
got any eyesight so where in the world are you going to get
this at and the Lord Jesus Christ he said I'll do it and look what
he says in verse 19 and after you know give up your wisdom
give up your Really, only the naked is the only one that's
going to be clothed. Only the blind is the only one that's
going to be made to see. And he said, as many as I love. As
many as I love. I wonder how many in that place
he loved. But I do know that, he said,
as many as I love. He said, I rebuke them. Not only do I rebuke them, but
I chasten them. I'm going to teach them, I'm
going to instruct them, I'm going to bring them to such a state
of mind that they'll be glad to learn what I've got to say. Chastening never has to do with
punishment. Now I want you to understand
that when our Lord says that He chastens those He loves, He chastens. And he chastens his people. He
doesn't, you know, if you're a bastard, you're not getting
no chastening. But chastening means that he takes a person
and, you know, there's no punishment involved. When we whipped our
children, we was whipping them for something they done. Now,
we've already been punished in the Lord Jesus Christ. Punished
for our sins. Punished for our iniquities,
our transgressions are gone, we've been forgiven of every
sin. So when it says He chastens us, what it means is, is He deals
with us as we, as we, with a child, and as a child, or as a son,
and He puts the pressure on us, and He brings us to a place.
And thank God He does this for us. When we get high-minded,
when we get to grumbling and complaining and murmuring, you
know what He'll do? He'll pull a rug out from under
you. And He'll turn the heavens to brown. All He's got to do
to chasten you is shut you off for about a week or two weeks
and let you come hear the gospel. And you don't hear nothing. You
don't feel nothing. You don't see nothing. You can't
pray. You can't read. You can't do
anything. And next thing you know, say, Oh Lord, Oh Lord,
oh Lord, oh what am I going to do? I can't do it. You'll start laying on your bed
at night. Turn this way and that way. Lord,
hear me. Oh Lord, what's going on here? You'll just toss and
turn all night. And then one of these days you'll
go to service and you'll hear his voice and the tears will
start coming out of your eyes. Oh, he spoke to me again. That's all he's got to do to
chasten us. Your mama used to say all the
time, he's weaning us off this world. When we're weaned off
this world, this world just gets worse and worse. It gets sicker
and sicker to us. He's going to wean us. And I
said, as many as I love. As many as I love. I rebuke them. I rebuke them. I've told you this story before.
Brother Henry Mahan got all over me a couple of times. I mean
got all over me. Twice. One time he just raked
me over the coals in front of some people. And I just said,
well I'm sorry, you know. And he really, and somebody told
me later said, boy, boy, what? How did you, what do you think
about Brother Henry getting on you like that?" I said, well,
I said, open rebukes better than secret love. I said, you know
why he talked to me like that? Because he loves me. Because
he loves me. And I'll tell you another story.
He got on to me real bad one time in front of several people,
preachers, and kind of took me to task. And it was putting me
in my place where I needed to be. I really did. I mean, I had
it coming. I won't justify myself at all. And I left there and
I come home and I just, I wept for about three days. I mean,
it really hurt. And then I got a letter from
him. And he said, Brother Donnie, he said, I'm so afraid I hurt
your feelings. I'm so afraid I hurt your heart.
And I want you to forgive me. He said, I wouldn't hurt you
for nothing. And that's what our Lord is.
He said if I love somebody I'm going to rebuke them. I've seen other people do a lot
worse than I did and Henry just ignored them but boy you let
me get out of line. But he loved me. He really loved
me. He loved me. And that's what
our Lord says, as many as I love, I'm going to rebuke them and
I'm going to chase them. Lord just go ahead and chase
them. Oh, at least I know he loves me. And then look what
he says, I got to hurry on. And this is one of those things
that's going to take some explaining to do. As old Scott used to say,
I got to explain this. He said, behold, I stand at the
door and knock. And that's those verses of scriptures
that people use to teach Christ trying to get in your heart.
That's not what's happening here. He said, behold I stand. He's
at the door of this congregation. He's at the door of this building. He's at the door of this congregation. And he's talking to individuals.
You know he says, if any man hear my voice, I'm on the outside. You don't have need of nothing.
I'm on the outside. And I want you to hear my voice.
And he speaks to them inside that. He said, if any man hear
my voice, hear my voice, and open the door and this open
door now listen to what I'm telling you this is not regeneration
it's not him doing this open up and let me in and I'll give
you a new heart no no this is not regeneration this is that
rebuking and chastening and he goes on to say I stand at the
door and knock and if any man hear my voice and open the door
and say Lord please nobody else in here may not want you but
I want you And look what he says, I'll come into him. He said,
now listen. He said, you don't have to come
out. I'm going to come into you. I'm going to come to where you
are. And I'm going to have supper with you. And you're going to
sup with me. Now what he's talking about here,
and here, do you know how Christ took the initiative here? Like
he always does. It's Christ in sovereign grace
standing and knocking and calling. And he said, if any man hears,
any man, I don't care who he is, if he hears, He addresses
Himself to individuals. And opening this door is what
it means is a conversion. He says, Be zealous therefore
and repent. That means that they were converted and they turned
from their thoughts of themselves and what they thought that they
were and what they said were increased with goods and they
turned from that and turned to Christ. And there's one new birth
but lots of conversions in our lifetime. Lots of conversions. And I tell you what, not regeneration.
That's not what taught me here. Cause you know the scriptures
does never contradict itself. Said he opened Lydia's heart.
And he said I'll come into that man. Didn't say I'd come in the
door. He said I'd come into that man. And I'll abide with him and he'll
abide with me. And then look what he says here. and to him that overcometh oh my you know how we're overcomers
by the blood of the lamb and the testimony of the Lord Jesus
Christ well I listen to this now will I grant you know and
you look at these people here somebody in this congregation
in this Laodicean church if they overcome what they thought of
themselves and Christ comes in and sucks with them and they
have fellowship with him and he with them he said him that
overcomes this I grant to sit with me in my throne even as
I also overcome and sit down with my father in his throne
oh my You know the scripture said we're already seated together
with him in heavenly places. But he said, you sit down with
me in my throne. Sit down with me in my throne. And he that hath an ear, hear
where he says this to every one of them. He that hath an ear,
God give you an ear, let him hear what the Spirit, what the
Holy Ghost says unto the churches. You know these churches, every
one of them except two had something wrong with them. And they all
exist today. They all exist today. And all
I'm interested in is us. I'm really truly interested in
us. Are we faithful to our Lord Jesus
Christ? Are we faithful to His Word?
Are we faithful to His Gospel? Is our candlestick still burning? Is our light still burning? Is our candlestick lit? That's the things we want. Oh Lord, let us be a
light. Let this congregation be a golden
candlestick and let that candlestick burn bright. Maybe we'd be light
bearers of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I'm interested in,
to us. Us. I pray God make us like the Philadelphia
church, not like Laodicea. Oh, save us from being Laodiceans.
Laodiceans. Jesus Christ is made to me All
I need, all I need He alone is all my plea He is all I need
Wisdom, righteousness, and power My redemption full and sure,
He is all I need.