Good morning, good to see you
here today. Our text for today is found in
the latter part of Revelation chapter 3 if you want to be turning
there. The book of Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ
as given to the Apostle John was addressed to the seven named
churches in Asia Minor. And in chapters two and three,
we have recorded seven different letters that the apostle was
directed to send to the angel or the messenger or the pastor
of these churches. And today we're going to be examining
the letter that was addressed to the seventh church, the church
at Laodicea. Some believe that these seven
churches represent seven successive periods of church history. But
that seems to be the invention of man rather than supported
by scripture. Because in my study I learned
that the cited conditions within each of these churches was true
of these churches as they existed even in that day. And that same
thing can be said to be true or found over and over again
in the professing church of every age. And so, as in every age,
this makes this very relevant to us. While addressed to specific
churches, which all existed at that time, we know that these
letters were shared among all of them. And it's noteworthy
at the end of each of the seven letters, we find the same statement
repeated. Each letter ended just as we're
going to see in today's text in Revelation 3.22 with this
statement, he that hath an ear Let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. Now, that describes to whom Christ
is speaking to within the professing church. And notice in that verse
that churches is plural. So Christ, speaking through the
Holy Spirit, delivers these various encouragements and rebukes for
the benefit of and to be heeded by those given spiritual ears
to hear and heed all that is contained in all seven letters.
Those born again believers within the professing church of every
age. So with that, let's focus on
God's message for those he saves. as we consider this letter addressed
to the church at Laodicea. If you compare the letter to
Laodicea with the other six, you might well conclude that
this church to be the worst of the bunch, and therefore representative
of the worst that could be said of the professing church in any
age. I'm going to use that term, the professing church, a lot
today, so I want you to know I'm referring to all who call
themselves Christians. are claimed to be of the Christian
faith, some of whom truly are, but many among them are exposed
by these letters to be false professors. In each of the other
six churches, Christ found something to commend them for, while also
finding something to condemn them in all but two of the churches. But he says nothing at all commendable
about Laodicea. And yet, as lifeless as this
church, which professed to believe on Christ, is now characterized,
there were some of God's sheep among them as it was written
for their benefit. And you'll see that as the scripture
unfolds this morning. Well, I chose this passage for
today's message because I believe that the description of the church
at Laodicea is so relevant to us because it's such an accurate
description of the majority who profess to believe on Christ
in our day. You can see I've titled today's
message, Religious La La Land. That expression, La La Land,
it originated from the bizarre, zany, wild behaviors often associated
with Hollywood in Los Angeles, or L.A., as in La La La Land. And over the years, the phrase
has become more commonly used to describe any state of being
that's totally out of touch with reality. You know, if someone's
under anesthesia, or if their behavior's erratic, or if they're
zoned out on drugs, it's not uncommon to hear someone say
he or she is in la-la land. And I hope that title, I selected
that because I hope to stir up curiosity that will prompt folks
to listen. But I also want you to know I
don't mean to be flippant concerning this because this is a very serious
subject. And I don't intend that title to be demeaning or derogatory
in any way. And you can know that's not my
intent because I'm going to readily admit to you that I too was once
in religious la-la land. You know, from scriptures such
as Ephesians 2 and others, God declares that spiritually speaking,
we all, even those who are saved, we begin our lives on earth as
spiritually dead, blind sinners. That means out of touch with
God's reality. In other words, in religious
la-la land, so to speak. So, with that understanding,
let's begin with Revelation 3, verse 14, where John is told
And unto the angel or pastor of the church of the Laodiceans
write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. Christ here identifies
himself as the Amen. He's the judge of all. He has
the last, the final word on all things. And you can bank on his
declarations and promises as we read in 2 Corinthians 1.20,
for all the promises of God in him are yea and in him amen unto
the glory of God by us. So yea and amen, that means absolute
and unchangeable, the final word. He identifies himself also as
the faithful and true witness. And that means he's perfectly
loyal to his true church. He's trustworthy. He's honest.
In other words, we can fully rely on his words. That's an
interesting phrase, isn't it? It mirrors the description of
Christ in chapter 1, where in verse 5, he is called a faithful
witness there. And what's interesting about
it is that in chapter one you have the picture of Christ in
the midst of his church as represented by the seven golden lampstands.
And so as he rebukes here the professing church at Laodicea,
he does so as the faithful witness who abides with his true church. So we can know who will call
out and deliver his sheep. even in the midst of such abject
blindness that you're going to see characterized Laodicea and
as is so prevalent in many so-called Christian churches of our day.
Now who are these with whom Christ abides in the midst of to defend
and deliver? They're those to whom he writes.
who have been or shall be given the spiritual ears of God-given
faith. He's faithful. He shall not fail
to deliver every single one of those for whom he lived and died."
Lastly, he identifies himself there as the beginning of the
creation of God. Recall how Christ is described
in the first chapter of John's gospel. In the beginning was
the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. So take heed, this is
God talking, the God man. who is faithful and he's true
and whose declarations are yay and amen, absolute and unchangeable,
the final word. And with that, it's this one,
this faithful and true witness who says, beginning in verse
15, 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. To
be neither cold or hot describes an awful condition of the heart
and the mind. Here it's describing a professing
Christian, remember this is written to the church, who either is
or has become half-hearted and apathetic or indifferent to the
things of God. It could describe one who says,
I really don't need to delve into this gospel doctrine, the
doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of God's sovereign grace in Christ,
because they may figure, well, you know, look, we're all good
Christians. Any that come in the name of
Christ, it's all about the same. And yet, these so described as
Luke 1 here, that would be spewed out of his mouth, they're found
in the professing church. So that means clearly they're
engaged in some level of religious activity. It may be only in its
external form. And this condition could describe
a true believer whose zeal and fervency over the gospel has
diminished to such a state. But if so, this is a rebuke and
a call to repentance for them to kindle their love for Christ
and the gospel, to rekindle it. But know this, persisting in
this lukewarmness would ultimately expose one who is unregenerate,
still spiritually dead, a lost person who merely professes to
believe on Christ because this would be one who ultimately will
be spewed out of his mouth or rejected. I want to give you
a little background on Laodicea as it relates to this lukewarmness.
Laodicea was especially known for its wealth. It was a great
commercial and financial center in Asia Minor. One commentator
I read said it was the home of the millionaires. And probably
in our day, that'd be equivalent to the home of the billionaires.
So the citizens there, for the most part, were rich. And they
knew it. And they were said to have developed an unbearable,
kind of I've got it made attitude that often accompanies great
wealth. And the verses that follow indicate
that this attitude had spread within the professing church
as well. We'll see that. So within the church, they presumed
that their being financially or materially blessed was an
indicator of their being spiritually blessed, a sign of being favored
by God. So not just materially rich,
get that out, but spiritually rich as well. So they had arrived. They presumed to be saved. They
had that all secured in their minds, buttoned down, taken care
of. I did that back, oh, I professed
Christ back when I was 10 or 12 or whatever. So by their way
of thinking, they were not in need of anything. And again,
you'll see that in the verses that follow. I'm a little ahead,
but I wanted to bring this up as it concerns their lukewarmness
here. They were not in need of any
corrections or admonitions or rebukes, believing they could
afford to be lukewarm about those things. We know that that could
also describe those who are ready to compromise, who want to cry
peace to one another with the attitude that all is well, we're
all good church-going Christian folks here in Laodicea. Well,
that attitude is an obstacle that stands in the way of, as
we heard in the 10 o'clock hour, our testing the spirits to see
if they are God. Of our making our calling and
election sure. In other words, as we're commanded
to do. It stands in the way of our interest and our willingness
to objectively consider anything contrary to our current understanding
of how God saves sinners. In other words, our gospel as
we imagine it to be. Because we, in that state of
mind, we presume to be in need of nothing. You know, with folks
who make no pretense of being religious, who might well be
described here as cold with respect to the gospel, you know, sometimes
you can get a hearing. Because if one says, I know I'm
not saved, or I don't pretend to be saved, or imagine I'm saved,
well, at some point, they might get serious about their eternal
destiny. With sincere true believers who
have been humbled under God's gospel of grace, who might well
be described as hot here, well, a fellow believer can fellowship
and rejoice. But with these professing Christians,
which one writer described as, we're all such very good folks
here in Laodicea, people, well, you typically find them unreceptive. But listen, isn't that true of
all of us? Until God, by his Spirit, shows us our desperate
need of Christ through this, his preached gospel, as we read
in Psalm 110, God makes his people receptive or willing in the day
of his power. Now this faithful and true witness,
God, who knows all, the God-man, he declares this unvarnished
truth to them. And he noticed he doesn't say
that he has spewed them out of his mouth, but that he will.
And as the verses to follow will show us, he will accept they
come to him in repentance. God here communicates not that
he's grieved, not that he's angry with him, but rather that he's
thoroughly disgusted. It's communicating that he's
nauseated. You know, lukewarm water can
turn your stomach and lukewarm religion turns the proverbial
stomach of the Lord and it sickens him. And as we move to verse
17, we'll see their disconnect with God's reality as he tells
them, 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
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 eyesalve,
that thou mayest see. Now, remember, this counsel's
directed to professing, quote, Christians. who are out of touch
with the reality of their own spiritual state and what today
I'm referring to as religious la-la land. Now from these two
verses we can see that they had equated their material riches
with the presumption of being spiritually blessed. And we see
that because Christ is saying you think and say this, but the
reality is And he starts speaking of what the reality of their
spiritual condition. See, those with material wealth,
they knew they were not financially poor, but they were not aware
of their spiritual poverty. And note that the counsel of
verse 18, it's given not just because they say, as in saying
or thinking to themselves that they are rich and in need of
nothing, But it's because that is their self-assessment and
because that assessment is diametrically opposed, 180 degrees out of touch
with the reality. The truth concerning them, remember,
is declared by that all-knowing, true, and faithful witness. They
think they have it made, while in reality, he says, they are
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Well, this
describes the spiritual condition that we all begin life's journey
as spiritually dead sinners. That's why Christ told Nicodemus
in John 3, ye must be born again. Consider first how by nature
we all are wretched. That word translated wretched
denotes someone in deep misery who's afflicted and afflicted
with that which has serious side effects. Like me, you may have
thought before, boy, wouldn't it be something if I could be
as zealous and as used by God like someone like the Apostle
Paul? Well, here's how Paul described himself, Paul. a redeemed at
the time. He was a redeemed, born-again
believer who was being used mightily by God to write most of the New
Testament. Well, he said this of himself
in Romans 7, 24, writing, Oh, wretched man that I am, seriously
afflicted. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. See,
we're afflicted with sin, so as to be wretched in our very
sin nature. We're born sinners. We don't
become sinners because we sin. We sin because sinners are what
we are. We're born sinners with Adam's
fallen nature, and consistent with it, we actually do commit
sin. being wretched sinners, seriously afflicted. And that's
a problem we cannot cure for ourselves. But as Paul wrote,
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, there is deliverance. Secondly, consider how by nature
we are all miserable. The word that's translated miserable
here, many think it would be better translated pitiable, as
in one to be pitied. Well, this description fits the
multitude who continue along their merry way with a false
sense of security in religious la-la land. That is, totally
oblivious to the reality of their spiritual condition. It'd be
like thinking you're a great athlete while the truth is, and
everybody knows it, that you're uncoordinated and clumsy as an
ox. It would be like thinking you're healthy as a horse while
the reality is you're dying of a dreaded disease. It'd be like
the ugliest girl in school thinking or expecting to win the beauty
contest. See, we pity such sadly mistaken folks. And this delusion
concerning the spiritual state, which is initially common to
all of us by nature, this is far more serious. This has eternal
ramifications. See, to remain so mistaken here
is to rush headlong toward eternal judgment with a false expectation
of being saved, only to hear the reality from Christ saying,
and you can read this in Matthew 7, verses 20 and 21 and thereabouts, where he told those preachers
who approached the judgment, saying, haven't I done this and
that for you? And he said, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. In other words, that doesn't
measure up. What you're bringing won't cut it. See, this describes
those who think they're in fine shape, but who in reality are
miserable because they're on the road toward getting what
every sinner deserves, and that's an eternity of misery. Thirdly, consider how by nature
we all are spiritually poor. All of us are spiritually poor,
but not all of us are poor in spirit. We know Christ said in
his Sermon on the Mount, he said, blessed, eternally blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. See,
to be poor in spirit is to have been humbled under God's gospel
so as to learn of and discover your spiritual poverty. As guilty
sinners before the holy inflexible justice of God against whom we've
sinned, we owe a debt that we cannot pay. The word, the Greek
word that's translated poor here was a word that was used to express
the extreme opposite of rich. So it indicates one who's totally
bankrupt, insolvent, destitute, because they have nothing, nothing
to pay or remit for the debt due unto their sins. Nothing
but the blood, as we sing. Nothing but the precious blood
of the God-man could pay, and has paid the debt to God's holy
justice for the remission of sins, so as to justify those
for whose sins Christ died. God's justice has been satisfied
for them, but it's not owing to anything done by them or in
them or through them. God doesn't save his dear children
because they believed. His dear children believe because
God saved them. So it's not because they believe
some decision they make or anything else done by them. Think of the
audacity we had to approach God expecting that he would save
me because I've done my part in light of what it took. It's
to think that my believing could do what took his precious blood. As poor sinners, we have nothing
to offer. And yet God's adopted children
all will, without fail, they'll believe on Christ. But they won't
come believing, expecting that God saved them because they believed.
No, they'll know that that was solely owing to the blood-bought
gift of faith. As we read in the book of Acts,
Christ truly purchased his true church, and he did so with his
own precious blood. Fourthly, consider how by nature
we are all blind. Remember in Matthew 13, the disciples
ask our Lord why he spoke in parables. And in verse 11, he
answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given. And then in verse 13 he adds,
therefore speak out of them in parables, because they seeing
see not. And hearing, they hear with the
physical ear, but they hear not, neither do they understand. And
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing
ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall
see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed. In other words, they're in need
of nothing. lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."
We have to have blessed eyes, the spiritual faculties of life,
spiritual eyes to see, spiritual ears to hear, and spiritual hearts
to understand. to understand with our hearts
the truth of how God saves sinners by grace through Christ alone. And so starting out as spiritually
dead, we can't see, we can't hear, we can't understand spiritually.
As we read in 1 Corinthians 2.14, but the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. We have to be given spiritual
life. Lastly, consider how by nature we're all spiritually
naked. Nakedness is a biblical metaphor
of our shame and our exposure to the wrath of God that is justly
due unto our sins. So we need clothing that we can't
make and we can't buy. Like Adam and Eve, we naturally
presume to be able to hide our nakedness by our own doing. Well,
I'll join the church or I'll get serious about religion or
whatever. That's akin to what they did in the garden, you recall,
after the fall when they tried to sew together some fig leaf
aprons. But God showed them that would
not suffice, you can read of that in Genesis, as he killed
an animal. And he clothed them with an animal
skin showing that blood had to be shed, this picturing, see,
the shed blood of the future Messiah, the coming Lamb of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So, to imagine ourselves saved
because of something we do, some decision we make, any of our
own efforts, that is to attempt to do what took his shed blood. It's to attempt to do what is
required for entrance into heaven. It's to try to work out our own
righteousness. But God declares through his
prophet in Isaiah 64, 6, he says, but we are all as an unclean
thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Now these
rags of our own self-righteousness, they won't cover us. We need
the white raiment of the very perfect righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God tells us in Acts 17 that
we're going to all be judged by that very righteousness. That means your righteousness,
your obedience. It's got to equal that of the
Lord of glory of Jesus Christ. We're sinners. We can't do that. The only way we can stand righteous
before God is we have to have the very merit of Christ's obedience
unto death, his perfect satisfaction to God's law and justice. That's
his righteousness. We have to have that imputed
or reckoned to us, charged to our account just as the sins
of all those who are saved were imputed or charged to him so
that he could bear the just punishment that was due unto them. We often
quote from 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. In our fallen nature, we're naked
and exposed. To be accepted before a holy
God, we must be found with his robe of righteousness, as it's
described by Isaiah. When he said this in Isaiah 61,
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful
in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. They got the wedding garments.
You know, the Bible speaks of the church being the bride of
Christ. He says, as a bridegroom decketh
himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with
her jewels. So heed the counsel of Revelation
3.18, because spiritually, in and of ourselves and our fallen
sinful natures, we are all Laodicean-like. That means spiritually wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked. And his counsel is
to buy of Christ's 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. When you consider
that Christ, the wonderful counselor, as he's called in Isaiah 9, When
you look at that and it says he instructs them to buy, we
might logically say, wait a minute, I thought salvation was free.
How can I buy if I'm the opposite, the extreme opposite of rich?
I'm spiritually poor. Well, the word that's translated
by, it's derived from the Greek word agora, which refers to the
Greek marketplace. The emphasis in that word is
on the taking possession of something. See, salvation must be bought,
and this counsel is to come to Christ and take possession of
the riches that Christ has bought for God's elect. So this buying
is coming to Christ to receive rather than to give, this free
grace. Christ is saying, come to me
and take possession of the whole white raiment of my righteousness. So the poor and destitute sinner
buys, just as we're commanded to in Isaiah 55, where we read
beginning in verse one, ho, or listen up. Everyone that thirsteth,
who sees their need, come ye to the waters, and he that hath
no money, the poor in spirit, come ye, buy and eat. Come, buy
wine and milk without money and without price. Now this is the
call of the gospel. Wherefore, why do ye spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me. Listen, hear. and your soul shall
live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David." Well, that's the counsel Christ has given
in Revelation 3. We come to Christ in the manner
we often sing of in that refrain from that grand old hymn, Rock
of Ages, where we sing, in my hand no price I bring, simply
to thy cross I cling. So Christ counsels. to buy of
him gold tried in the fire. The riches of God's grace in
Christ are like gold. As gold, see, is tried in the
fire, the grace of God comes to sinners in salvation as the
fruit and effect of their substitute and Savior having endured the
fire, the fire of God's wrath against their sins. He endured
that in their place. Like gold, the grace of God in
Christ, it makes poor sinners rich before God. I love to think
of that. What an inheritance. Believers
have all the riches that is infinitely valuable blood could purchase
for them. I don't think we can even come
close to appreciating the wonder of that. It's to come into possession
of the incorruptible, everlasting treasures of eternal life. Well,
the white raiment symbolizes the perfect righteousness of
Christ imputed or reckoned to his people and received by God-given
faith. As Romans 10, 4 declares, for
Christ is the end, that means the finishing or the fulfillment
of the law for righteousness, to everyone that believeth. If
you believe Christ is your righteousness, that's what you will look to,
to stand before him accepted. See, this speaks of our justification
before God, whereby we're accepted in God's beloved Son. We're clothed
in His righteousness, whereby we shall not be ashamed. Rather,
by which we can have boldness to enter into the very presence
of a holy God, not ashamed. God accepts me based on a perfect
righteousness. which this sinner has no part
whatsoever in producing. The Bible calls believers holy
and unblameable. How can a sinner be holy and
unblameable? They've got to have his righteousness.
This white raiment, it symbolizes the purity, unblameable, the
purity of these so clothed in having the merit of his perfect
obedience unto death, his righteousness imputed. As that same old hymn
puts it, be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make
me pure. And then at the end of verse
18 he adds, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou
mayest see. To have your eyes anointed with
eye salve is to no longer be spiritually blind. So this salve,
this is the gospel of God's grace made effectual is God the Holy
Spirit gives life and he opens the eyes of blind sinners. And
listen, he does it through this preached gospel. Opens their
eyes to see the glory and the value of Christ and his finished
work on the cross, his blood and righteousness. Look with
me now at verse 19 where Christ adds, as many as I love, I rebuke
and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.
Now, here's how we know that God still has a people among
these churches. He doesn't say here how many
he loves, but he does rebuke and chasten all those he loves. To these he's commanding them
to forsake their lukewarmness and be zealous and repent. That's
in keeping with Hebrews 12 where we're taught that those whom
the Lord loves he chastens. But think about that. Look at
the wondrous grace and mercy on display here for all those
who are saved. Because this is on display as
some among those who are so thoroughly disgusting as deserving to be
spewed out of his mouth, rejected, or addressed as objects of his
everlasting love. That's something, isn't it? And
then Christ says in 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. I know many of you like me in
times past, we've heard this presented as if Christ was knocking
or begging at your heart's door. If you'll only just let him,
invite him in, you'll be saved and you'll enjoy the eternal
fellowship that supping with him does denote. But this is
not Christ begging any sinner to allow him in, to save them.
It is the general call of the gospel of grace that goes out
and is preached to all without exception. But notice that it's
his voice that is taking the initiative. It's not the person
on the inside of the door. No one called him. This is Christ
calling his own sheep to faith in him and repentance from their
dead works and former idolatry through his gospel that is preached
to all. So what that means is that means
he's knocking today, whether you have ears to hear him or
not. As recorded in John 10, Christ told the Jews gathered
there that he said, I'm the good shepherd and the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. And then when he gets down to
verse 26, he added, but ye believe not because ye are not of my
sheep. As I said unto you, now here's
what distinguishes his sheep. Those for whom he died, the ones
that the Good Shepherd gave his life for, from those for whom
he did not, he says in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. That means those who persist
in their unbelief, they may be in the professing church, as
we see here at Laodicea, but if they're not looking, if they
don't have to have that robe of righteousness as their only
standing before God, They hadn't heard this voice. And Christ
adds, and I know them, my sheep, and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. So his voice is the gospel
of God's grace, wherein the glory of God and the righteousness
of God are revealed, Romans 1, 16 and 17. See, Christ, he takes up residence
within the hearts of his people by his spirit and by his word
so as to sup with them. That means to have close, an
unbreakable, eternal fellowship with all those he saves. Verse
21, 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 I already mentioned
concerning verse 22, there's some version of both these two
verses found in the other letters to the churches. He that overcometh
describes the sinner saved by the grace of God in Christ. See, to overcome is one who conquers. And this conquering, this victory
over sin and Satan, this remedy for our sin condition, it was
all single-handedly accomplished by our Lord and Savior. Believers
are told that in Romans 8, 37, when he said, Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. See, we can never conquer or
overcome in our own power and goodness, but only by the power
and goodness of Christ as our Lord and Savior. And all whom
God saves in Christ, we're made kings and priests together with
Him, to reign with Him. There's allusion to that you
may want to look at on your own in Revelation 1-6 and Revelation
5-10 about how believers reign with Him. They reign with him
who alone is our sovereign king and our great high priest. Well,
as I close, I want to remind you that all of us by nature,
within the professing church, apart from true God-given faith
and repentance, we are Laodicean-like. And I can understand the offensiveness
that accompanies the suggestion that you might be living in religious
la-la land, so to speak. It's important for us to understand
that we all start there. And but for the grace of God,
we all remain there unless and until God exposes the reality
of our sin problem to us and the only remedy. In fact, until
we see what it really took to take care of our sin problem,
we don't understand it. We have a problem that only the
imputed righteousness of Christ can address. And we won't seek
that sure cure unless the disease is properly diagnosed and understood. So I'm not soliciting anybody
here to go and join some so-called Christian church or get busy
for Jesus, as some like to say. No, what I'm talking about is
fleeing to Christ for all of your salvation, seeing our desperate
need for His righteousness to have been made ours. See, by
faith we buy or we trade all those mistaken notions that have
us imagining that salvation, at least in some way, some degree,
some small part, has got to be something I can do, conditioned
on ourselves. And we trade that for God's gospel
of free grace, where we see all that's required was fully met
by Jesus Christ as the substitute, the surety, and the savior of
his people. if you profess then to be a Christian,
but you can't identify a time when you too were living in the
religious la-la land of the Laodiceans. I'm talking about where you presumed
to be just fine and spiritually in need of nothing, only to discover
you were in reality, spiritually wretched and miserable and poor
and blind and naked. Then I beg you to think again.
Before we're given spiritual life and the new birth, we're
all out of touch with the reality of our state. So if you're unable
to identify with these as accurate descriptions of your former self,
then the only reasonable conclusion is you must still be out of touch,
still groping around in spiritual darkness, and there's nothing
more pitiful than to be found like the majority of these Laodiceans,
totally out of touch with their lost spiritual state. So if you're
like me in years past, if you think the real difference maker
in your being saved is because of something you did, some decision
you make, because you believe something, or you prayed some
prayer, or you joined some church, or you got baptized, and the
list goes on and on, but what was the common word in all of
that? It was you. something you presume to do. Well, doesn't that suggest that
at that time, I must have thought I had the wherewithal, I must
have thought I was spiritually rich enough to do what actually
took the blood of Christ, to make the difference in my own
salvation. There's the evil of that. that
presumption. So that's really to be in need
of nothing. I don't need a savior. I just need to do what the preacher
said I had to do to get myself saved. And that describes someone
oblivious to their spiritual poverty and their desperate need
of God's mercy and grace in Christ. Their need for that which is
impossible for you to provide for yourself. You got to have
the perfect righteousness of God in Christ by which we all
shall be judged. Well, believers rejoice that
God has spoken to us through his gospel to show us how desperately
we needed his mercy and grace in Christ. And if someone you
hearing this message can't yet identify with mercy beggars such
as we, I pray God will deliver you as well from the religious
la-la land that permeates the professing church of our day.
Winston, let's close with the first two verses of that great
hymn, Rock of Ages.