Final Message to the Churches

The Lord has caused us to hope in Him. The world doesn't have a hope. They hope that things might work out, but they have no hope. Because hope is that which is real. It's that which is not a thought. It's not something we would want to be true, but it's something upon which we cast our care. That is our hope. Our hope is Christ. We have no hope in anything else. He alone is our hope. We've been looking here in this last message sent by an angel to the church, to one of the seven churches. And this one to the church of the Laodiceans. And we've looked at several of these verses. And I want to begin reading in verse 18 and then we'll cover some of these things that we've already looked at.

He says, 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 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 in to 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 have 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.

Now, he said, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. Now, what would you buy it with? Now, man's fleshly religion tells him he can buy it by some effort of his own, that he can come up with something. I mean, surely God would want him to do something, or he would look at him and say, well, you know, I'm going to single this out, single this man out.

And I have, was watching a program about David the other day, and In the main, I was pleased with how they portrayed David, but I was not very pleased with how they spoke of how Samuel came to David and spoke to him because in their depiction, and this is how the world considers it, that the Lord chose David because of David's heart.

Samuel did say to him, the Lord looketh on the heart. He doesn't judge as men judge outwardly. And indeed, that's what the Lord looks at in his people. But the error that they made in their consideration of this was that the Lord chose David because He had a pure heart. But that put the cart ahead of the horse. Because the Lord was the one that gave David the heart that he did.

The scripture says he was a man after God's own heart. But he did not become a man after God's own heart because he did something. He was made a man after God's own heart. God made him like he wanted him to be. David was an imperfect man insofar as we look at David's life, but yet the Lord viewed him as one who was perfect and upright. How'd that happen? Because he saw him in Christ. And how'd he get in Christ? The Lord put him there. The Lord made him there. See, he wasn't anywhere else. He was in Christ because of the mercy of God that made him that. And by the mercy of God, he became the king of Israel for the purpose of God, for the glory of God, that God might illustrate the triumph of Christ as the true king of Israel.

You know, the Lord promised David that his seed would sit upon the throne, but his seed was not Solomon. It was not all of those that came after him, but it was Christ. And Christ is indeed that one who sits on the throne of David. What is the throne of David? It's the throne that God chose, wherein God chose to dwell. And that is, he's pleased to dwell with his people. See, I mean, we couldn't in any wise dwell with God. Can a man, by searching, find out God? I mean, can a man lift himself up to God? No, except by the mercy of God that God would come and dwell with him. He has no power or ability.

And the Lord said, I counsel thee to buy of me gold dried in the fire. He said, come ye without money and without price and buy these things of me. How are these things bought? They're bought with the blood of Christ. But he tells us to buy them. What does he mean by that? He means seek them out with all your heart. Now, that falls on deaf ears to many people.

You know, if a man doesn't desire to seek after the Lord, he won't seek after the Lord. You can tell him all day long, you need to seek the Lord. But until such time as God, who's rich in mercy, comes to that man and causes him to see his need of seeking the Lord, he'll never do it.

But that's the glory of the Lord As he tells his people, seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. Ask and it shall be given to you. Because that's the manner in which the Lord works in his people. He that asketh receiveth. He that seeketh findeth. And he that buys gold from the Lord. He'll get it.

How's he gonna buy it? He don't have anything. You know, it's like telling a young kid who doesn't have anything to buy something. What's he gonna do? I mean, how's he gonna go in the store and buy it? He can't. But you know if somebody who's a rich benefactor goes in that store before he ever gets there, And he says to the storekeeper, I'm paying for everything that this young man needs, and when he comes in this store, you let him buy anything that he would have. And that's what the Lord says to his people, buy. But he's already paid the price. You see, he's already, been to the cash register and he has already poured out that which was necessary for that which he has later called upon his people and drawing them to himself he says, buy, buy of me gold tried in the fire.

Now what is gold? Gold is the purest element that we know of, or at least it is highly regarded among men, we'll say that. You know, men seek after gold. And as we spoke about last week, you know, gold, as it comes from the earth, is not pure. It has to be purified. I mean it may look pure, but if you take a gold nugget and you take it to a assayer, somebody who can determine the purity of something like that through chemical process, they'll tell you this is maybe 95% or it may be 97% or it may be a high percentage of gold in that gold that's taken from the earth, but it will not be pure. Because anything taken from the earth is not pure. The Lord didn't design it to be pure. That which is pure must come down from heaven to us. And there is but one pure gold, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the pure gold.

You know, when the scripture speaks about over later on in this book, speaks about a street of gold. And I've talked to y'all, I've mentioned this many times before now. A lot of times in songs and stuff. In fact, we sang one yesterday that talked about the streets of gold. And people often talk about, well, we're gonna walk on the streets of gold.

Well, you're not gonna walk on the streets of gold in heaven because there's not streets of gold. There is a street of gold. And that street of gold is Christ. He's that one way, and it is a golden way, it's a pure way. It's a desired way. But it's only desirable to those who have an eye to behold its beauty.

Now, if you take a, you know, somebody that's never seen gold, never had, doesn't have any idea what it's worth, It's nothing to them. I remember some place in the scripture, it talks about how they made things of gold because silver was not counted to be worth anything. Now silver's worth a lot if a man knows what it is, but compared to gold, it's not worth anything. And the Lord says, I count for thee to buy of me gold because he's the only place you can get it. is from Him. He is the goal. He is the one. He's the one we seek. We don't tell you to try to seek out anything but Christ. Not looking for your religious deeds, not even looking for your faith.

What good is your faith? Do you have any confidence in your faith? Some people do. A lot of times, men are told to have confidence in your faith. I mean, brother, you got to go back and think about when you believed and how you believed, and just go back to that. Every time that you get filled with doubt or anything, just go back and think about how you believed. You know, when a man becomes convinced that he is the center, The last thing on earth that he thinks he possesses would be faith. He knows he has no faith.

Remember in the scripture, the Lord told man to believe. He said, Lord, help thou mine unbelief. I can't believe. The Lord said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, be thou removed and cast into the sea and it'd be done. Now was he telling the people that you need to gather up some faith and get it so that you can cause this mountain?

No, he's pointing to them, you can't do anything because you don't have faith. There's only one source of true faith and that's from the Lord. Faith is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You boast and I boast too. If I could have faith, I said, man, look at my faith. I've really done something. No. Our faith is Christ. He's that gold. And he said, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. You see, Christ was tried in the fire.

He underwent our Suffering. He underwent our grief. He carried our sorrows. He was tried in the fire, and he was purified. Now, he was pure when he came, but you see, when the scripture speaks about that he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Now, was it that he was unacquainted with what it was to be obedient? No, it means that he went through it. He demonstrated obedience. through the things which he suffered. Father, may thy will be done. He said, I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

Now see, you and me left ourselves, we'll do what we want to do. Everybody wants to do what they want to do. Why do children have to be corrected? Because they want to do what they want to do and not what they need to do. No, I mean, when I was a kid, if I was left to myself, I wouldn't have eaten nothing but marshmallows. But, you know, my parents corrected me. They taught me, they showed me.

The Lord causes His people to be willing in the day of His power, but they're not willing to do anything but what they want to do otherwise. May he work in us. May we buy that gold fried in the fire. That we may be rich. And white raiment. How can a man be rich in the kingdom of God? Only one way. Gotta have the gold. And the gold is Christ.

See, there's no other money in the kingdom of God. Now, with all of the present day religious orders and all of them trying to get you money in one way or another, the Lord doesn't need your money. And any preacher that tells you the Lord needs your money is lying to you. The Lord doesn't need a thing you got. You can't buy anything, you can't earn anything, you can't gain anything with any possession that you might have. But you may be rich one way, and that's in Christ, the only way. And white raiment, where you gonna get it? Now some people, think that their raiment becomes white because of their faithfulness, because of their activity.

They're being sanctified daily and they're getting better and better and cleaner and cleaner and higher and higher. But dear brethren, when the Lord shows a man what he actually is by nature, he knows that he's not getting better. You know, when you look in the mirror every morning, do you look there and you look better than you did yesterday? The older you get, the worse you look. And the longer that you walk with Christ, the worse you'll look to yourself. Because the more you see Christ, the uglier that you appear.

When the Lord's teaching you about yourself, he's not teaching you pleasant things. He doesn't teach you anything that caused you to pat yourself on the back and said, you know, I did a pretty good job. He calls us to see how far from the example of Christ that we are. Why he doesn't cast us off is because he gave us to Christ. And Christ said, I'll lose none which were given to me of my fault.

Then not a one of them's gonna perish, because I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. See, that's the only way that a man will ever not perish, is to be given eternal life. And where is that life? The life is in his son. See, our life's in Christ. You can't take one breath that God doesn't give you. You can't live one second longer than God will allow that you live, that he has ordained for you to walk in.

White raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. There's only one cover, just like there's only one money, In the kingdom of God, there's only one covering. To go into the kingdom of, to seek to be into the kingdom of God without that covering is to be cast out, just like that man that made it into the wedding feast.

And when the chief of the wedding came in there and he saw that man, he said, what are you doing in here? He says, you don't have on a wedding garment. Well, there's only one wedding garment. And you know, the culture of that time was that the host of the wedding provided wedding garments for all of the guests. And they were all clothed in a garment given to them by the host of the wedding. Their brethren, God's people, called to a wedding. And there's only one wedding garment that's gonna be acceptable there, and that is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that's the covering of our nakedness. Because the shame of our nakedness will appear without it.

And anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. You remember when the Lord brought the, came the blind man, he came to the blind man and says he spat on the ground and he made clay and he put it on the man's eyes. Seems like an odd thing to do, is it not? But he's showing, he's teaching us. I mean, he could have touched the man's eyes and made the man to see. He didn't need to do that for his sake. or even for the blind man's sake, but for our sake, that we might learn that it is with that which the Lord must apply to our eyes to cause us to see.

That's what he says, isn't it, at every one of these messages to these churches, hear what the Spirit led him that hath an ear to hear, let him hear, let him see. Let our senses be awakened to know him and see him. And then he says, and this is the key, and this is the center of that which he would teach to his people, it says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.

Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Now he rebukes and he chastens. How does God chasten his people? Now men often think of chastening as punishment. But chastening in the scripture is primarily about instruction. Now sometimes in the course of instruction, There is what we might call punishment meted out, but the Lord never punishes His children for sin. He might bring harsh correction upon us, but it's for the purpose of bringing us to Christ.

And He says as many. He didn't say to everybody. He said as many as I love. Now according to the world, that would include everybody. I mean, if you listen to the religious world, they can tell you, well, that's everybody on earth, as many as I love. No, we know that the love of God is a particular love. He particularly loves his people, which he chose in Christ from before the foundation of the world.

Who are they? They're those whom he rebukes, those whom he chastens, Those whom he teaches that there's one gold in the kingdom of God, and that's Christ. Now there are those that don't believe that. There's those that won't bow to that. There are those that say, that's not right.

I know there's gotta be, there's something I can do. I mean, you know, the Lord's waiting for me to do something, and I know there's something for man to do. Man's part and God's part. You ever heard anybody tell folks that? Well, this is God's part over here. Now it's all up to you, it's man's part. I've heard men preach great messages where they spoke of grace and they defined the gospel.

And then they negated everything they said by coming down to the end and saying, all right, now it's all up to you. Brethren, it's never all up to you because if it's ever all up to you, you're in a world of trouble. It's never all up to you. See, it's never all up to you because God chastens those whom he loves. He corrects those whom he loves. He rebukes those whom he loves. And sometimes he does that in a way that humbles us down to the very dust.

I think of Job, we often speak of him. Job was an upright man, the scripture says. I mean, if you'd have looked at Job, you'd have said, man, this guy here, he's just, he might go on to heaven tomorrow. You know what I mean? He's just walking and going down the road. But the Lord humbled Job. And he brought Job down to the place, Job said, I thought I knew something about you, Lord, but now, He said, mine eye seeth thee. And when he saw the Lord, what did he see? As he saw the Lord, he said, I hate myself. And I repent in dust and ashes. He said, I thought I knew something about you. I thought I was a righteous man. I thought I was going down a road here of service to you, and I thought all these different things.

But he said, Lord, when you brought me to see what true righteousness is face to face, it all melted away, and I became as nothing. I mean, think of John when he saw the Lord, and we read it just not long ago. And he saw the Lord there in the book of the Revelation with his eyes as a flame of fire and his feet as brass. And he said, Lord. And he fell on his feet as a dead man.

Because you see, when the glory of God is brought to a man's awareness, all of the things that he thinks are beneficial or useful, they fade away. That's what Daniel said. He said, when I saw the Lord, he said, my comeliness was turned in me to corruption. He said, everything that I thought about myself that was good and useful, he said, And he said, I fell upon my face.

And that's where he would have stayed except he said the Lord reached out his hand and he picked him up. And dear brethren, that's the place the Lord brings his people. He rebukes them. See, he'll bring a man to the place where he knows that he has no righteousness of his own. And then he'll reveal himself. that He is the righteousness of God. And that not only is He the righteousness of God, but He is your righteousness. He's your only hope.

And that's a glorious place to be. Now, you know, some people think it'd be a glorious place to have some, you know, like have a cat, you know, in the bag. I mean, you've got something that you can bring to the Lord. You're gonna stand before him in judgment, but you've got this one thing that you're holding out that you're gonna stand with him there.

No, a man that's holding on to anything is gonna perish. But the man that's clinging to Christ, he can't ever perish. Can't ever perish, because if a man's clinging to Christ, you can be sure that Christ is clinging to him. See, he's watching over a man before.

When the disciples were fishing in the boat, and I talk about this, this is one of my favorite passages of Scripture in all the Bible. When those men were fishing out there, And they were toiling away and thinking, what are we gonna eat? We gotta fix this, gotta get catch these fish and we got to sell them and all this stuff going through their minds. And all the time the Lord was on the shore.

Scripture says, I don't know how long he was there. Doesn't tell us, but it doesn't matter about that. What matters is he was watching them the whole time that they were fishing. And he said, children, have you caught any fish? And one turned to the other, and he said, it's the Lord. And they couldn't pull the net in for the fish, and they cast themselves into the water to come to the Lord. And when they got there, that's a lovely thing, when they got there. There was a fire of coals with fish and bread prepared. He said, come and dine. Remember, he asked them, children, have you any meat? And they would say, no, we ain't caught a thing. He'd already prepared exactly what they wanted. And they didn't even know it. They didn't have anything to do with it. And he brought them to himself. You see, he knew they would come When he called, how did he know they would come? Because they were his sheep. And he said, I know my sheep. And he said, they follow me. And then he says here, I stand at the door knock. If any man open the door now, most people put, or a lot of people put ifs on the, if any man, any, just anybody.

They picture the Lord just framming and knocking on the door, hey, let me in, help, help, come on, don't you hear me? You're gonna die, won't you hear me? That's not the picture. The Lord says, I'm knocking at the door. And if any man, Hear my voice. Who was he talking about? He said, those whom I love, I chasten, I rebuke. And he says, I'm knocking at their door. Wherever the Lord knocks, he'll come in. He's not knocking on the door, he's not coming in, believe me. When the Lord knocks on the door, he's coming in.

Just like I said last week. You know, I may knock on your door, and you might be in bed or something, and you might say, I ain't got time to mess with him right now. I got to let him go on, I'll see him later. And I might go away. I knocked on the door. But I guarantee you this, if the FBI rolls up in front of your house, And there's two or three SWAT teams get out, and they got guns drawn and everything, and the guy comes up to your door. And he knocks on the door, and I don't care if you're asleep or whatever you're doing, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna open the door.

Because the voice of authority is speaking. And the Lord said, behold, who's he speaking to? Those whom he loves, those whom he rebukes, Those are me chastens. He says, I'm knocking at the door. If you open to me, I will come in. Will they open? I believe they will. Because the Lord loves his people. And he says, I'll come in with them. And he says, not only will I come in with you, but he says, I'll sit with them. I'll eat with you. Why? Because he got the meal prepared.

Remember what he told Zacchaeus? Did he ask Zacchaeus if he could come see him? He said, Zacchaeus, basically he said, Zacchaeus, what are you doing up in that tree? He said, come down, because I'm going to your house today. See, the Lord can invite yourself in. Now, a lot of people talk about somebody they call the Savior who doesn't, he's timid. He's just hoping somebody will let him in. The Lord's not like that. See, the Lord, he sees you in the tree you're in, and he says, come down, because I'm going to your house.

I'm going to your house this day, and I'm gonna sit with you. I'm gonna sit down with you. We're gonna have fellowship together. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. Who is that? It's those who hear his voice. Those whom he loves, those whom he chastens.

They overcome. How did they overcome? We read later on in scripture how they overcame. It says, these overcame by the blood of the Lamb. Christ is our overcomer. And we overcome, you know, make no mistake about it. We are triumphant in Christ. We are victors in Christ. But all of our victory is in Christ. It's not of us.

It's because he loves us, and he chastens us, and he rebukes us, and he calls, and he knocks. And he says, I'm coming in. I'll grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne. Now, we see two different things that he's talking about here. Now, we're not gonna sit on the throne of God.

He alone can sit on the throne of God. He alone hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach. He's immortal, he's invisible. He's the only wise God. We can never sit on the throne of God. But he's not saying we're gonna sit on the throne of God with him. He's saying you're gonna reign with me as my sheep. You are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. We don't become God. Can't. Man can't be God. You know, there's some religions in the world that teach that men can become God.

Gonna get their own planet. They're gonna do all kinds of things. No, you're never gonna be anything other than what you are, a creature of the dust whom the Lord has redeemed with his own blood. and he has made you an heir and a joint heir of the things of God.

And he said, I've grant to sit with me in my throne. The saints of God shall judge the earth, scripture says. We're gonna be seated with him because he is pleased to be seated with us. Even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His throne. Christ doesn't sit on a secondary throne. He sits on the throne of God. He is God. He's one with the Father.

Hear what he that hath an ear to hear, or he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith through the churches. Do you hear? Is he calling you? Does the Spirit of God say come? Does he rebuke you? Is he chasing you? Does he teach you what you are by nature? Is he correcting you?

You know, it'd be a good thing for, especially a young boy, because I've been there, if he could be corrected one time, and then he wouldn't ever do that again. But you know what I found out as a young child was I kept doing the same stuff over and over again, and my parents was faithful to correct me over and over again. And the Lord's faithful. He'll correct us, He'll rebuke us, and He'll chase us, and He'll keep doing that. And He'll do that until the day that He calls us out of this world. Why? Because He said, I love you. He said, because those whom I love.

See, the man that's without chastisement is a bastard. He's not a child of God. but those who belong to the Lord. He's daily humbling us. He's reminding us what we are. And the way He reminds us what we are is because He shows us what we are. He won't let you forget it. You know, some people might forget what they are, but the Lord won't let His people forget what they are. And by His grace, He won't let us forget who He is either. That's the glorious thing. Say, he'll bring us right where he wants. And he says, I'm coming in, and I'm going to sit with you. Come down, Zacchaeus, before I'm going to your house this day. What a glorious God he is, a savior of sinners.

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Final Message to the Churches

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