If you will, turn with me to
Revelation chapter 3. I wanted to complete the study
on the churches, but I just wasn't able to get it all into one message,
so we're going to break it up into two, and that will complete
our study on the seven churches. Laodicea is the church that we're
gonna be looking at this morning. And it was probably the most
well-known city in the Roman Empire. Now, we've heard a lot
of talk about it in some of these other churches, but it was the
richest city in the empire. It was the center of all the
banking. All the banking transactions
under Roman rule was in Laodicea. And then secondly, it was the
center of fashion. Now those two things usually
just fall in line wherever the money is, that's where the fashion
is. And this was the very center
of fashion and they were known for their black wool coats. People
came from all over the empire there to get those black wool
coats. But if something broke new on the fashion center, it
was at Laodicea. And then thirdly, they were the
center of medicine. They had the largest, if not
the only, medical school in the whole of the kingdom. It was right there in Laodicea. And they published a book of
medicine there which was so renowned that it was used throughout the
Roman Empire. All of this came from the city
of Laodicea. It lay inland from Ephesus and
from Philadelphia about 90 miles, and it was located in that large
river valley. There was a large river valley
that kind of run on a diagonal up through there, and it made
a natural way of transportation because the river, you had water,
you had game, you had fish, and back in that day, you didn't
go into McDonald's. You had to stop and catch fish. kill something to eat. And the city was named after
the wife of a heathen king whose name was Laodicea. And this all happened about 250
years before Christ appeared on the earth. The closest city
with a Christian church was Colossae. The Colossian church was about
11 miles from Laodicea. And it's mentioned by Paul in
his letter to the Colossians in both chapter 2 and chapter
4 of the book of Colossians. You read in there, because they
were so close together, what Paul would write to one church,
he'd say, you be sure and take this over there so they can read
it, because they were very close. Now let's begin, as we should
always begin, with the testimony of God. He says here in Revelation
3.14, And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and the true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. When our Lord declares
himself to be the Amen, he's talking about his immutability. He's talking about his unchanging
character and purpose and promises to men. Everything, all the promises
of God, Paul said in Christ are yea and amen. When he says I
am the Amen, that's what he's talking about. I'm the one who
promised this thing from the beginning and I'm the guarantor
of those promises. And not just a witness, but a faithful
and true witness, it says here, of whom all other witnesses receive
their knowledge and revelation. He's the beginning of the creation
of God. Did you ever think about creation
as a witness of God? Creation witnesses God. In fact, the Lord inspired Paul
to write in Romans chapter one that natural men who've never
heard the gospel are without excuse because they have creation
as a witness and the conscience as a witness. And if they would
obey that light, if they would follow that light, submit to
that light, he'd give them more light, but they wouldn't. So
creation is a witness. He tells us in Romans 119, that
which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has
shown it to them. That's the conscience. And then
in verse 20 he says, for the invisible things of him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that men are without excuse. When Christ spoke this world
into existence, He declared Himself to be the sovereign mediator
of it. He's the mediator of it. He's
the Lord over it, and He's the rightful judge of it. And all
created things are by Him, and the scripture said they're for
Him. And by Him, they have their continuance. And He is the beginning
of the new creation, not just the old creation, but the new
creation. He's the beginning of it. And as such, he makes the same
claims as he did with the first creation. He's lord over it. He's the mediator of it. He'll
be the judge of it. Verse 15. I know thy works, that
thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou work cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I'll spew you out of my mouth. Now it is impossible for me to
exalt the Lord Jesus Christ higher than the Father hath exalted
Him in His Word. There are no words in any language
to fully set forth His glory, His beauty, and John said, His
works alone, if all the men on earth from beginning to end,
all of them wrote books, the world could not contain the books
of the things which he's done. It's impossible for me to exalt
him or declare him higher than what he is. My words fall short
of that. All words fall short of that.
There's just no word in any language to fully set forth his glory
and his beauty and his tenderness and his love for his people.
The old hymn writer said, could we with ink the oceans fill? And were the skies of parchment
made, were every stock on earth a quill and every man a scribe
by trade, to write the love of God alone would drain the oceans
dry. nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. The Lord Jesus Christ
deserves and demands our love and our service and our worship. He said, he that loveth not knoweth
not God. Those who know God love God. They love God. They worship God. They submit to God. They follow
God. They obey God. Those who know
Him. To know Him is eternal life.
To know Him is to know the grace and mercy of God. To know Him
is to know His sovereign rule. He doesn't reveal Himself in
anything other than what He is. He's the sovereign. Well, what
does that mean? That means he does what he will. That's what that means. Actually,
that's where the beginning of the experience of salvation is
formed, right there, in God's sovereignty. God's sovereign. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or even question what he does. He's
sovereign. To know Him is to know His sovereign
rule. To know Him is to know God's
purpose in Him. There's nothing in Christ to
generate anything in us but love, devotion, zeal, and service to
Him with all of our hearts. There's nothing else in Him to
move us any other direction. Yet here we're reminded that
it is a very real possibility to find ourselves drawn away
into a state of indifference, carelessness, and apathy. And I tell you, in the sight
of God, that's like a bucket full of warm spit. That's what
he's telling us here. I'll spew you out of my mouth.
I'd rather you were a rebel or a bond slave. Anything in between,
that lukewarm, That's nauseating to God. Nauseating to Him. Our Lord's words here are not
to a false church, but to one He calls His own. The Laodiceans
were not hypocrites. They were deceived. They were
blind men that thought they could see. Isn't that what He says
here? They were miserable people who
thought they were happy. They lived in Shangri-La. They
lived in the richest city in the kingdom. They lived in the
most well-known city in the kingdom. Most of them, no doubt, jobs
were plentiful there. And if it runs the course as
it does in much of the rest of the world, it was men's relatives
who took the jobs, who got the jobs. And here they sit. They all had high stations. They
had more money than they knew what to do with. They were miserable people who
thought they were happy. They were naked people who thought
they were clothed. They thought they were model
citizens and did not know that they were wretched. Wretched. They thought they were
rich. Had no idea that they were paupers. Old Mephibosheth. They found him. Saul was dead. All of his relatives dead, all
of his chief captains were dead. David had ascended to the throne. And David said, you go look out
and see if there's any of the house of Saul left. They found
one crippled boy, Mephibosheth. Couldn't walk. Ruined by the
fall. His nurse dropped him. And here he is, and they bring
him into the palace. And he thinks, well, I'm the
last. You know, they've killed the
rest. They've slain the rest. They're going to slay me. And
they brought him in. And he said, now, Mephibosheth,
from now on, he said, you're going to live in my house. You're
going to sleep in a royal bed. You're going to sleep in the
royal palace. And you're going to eat at my
table. And you're going to be like my son, Mephibosheth. Oh, I tell you, he was a rich
man, Mephibosheth. Had nothing, but he was rich. But Mephibosheth never thought
from that day forward that he was rich. He knew what he was. He knew what he was without David. At one time the Apostle Paul
spoke highly of this church and its pastor. Laodicea spoke highly
of No faults in it. Praise the pastor. Praise the
people. Model church. So what happened? What caused this once faithful
assembly to be drawn away into such a state of being? What happened?
In a word, pride. Pride. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. Somehow this faithful congregation
began to equate success and worldly gain with spiritual growth and
blessings from God. How often do we talk that way
about our own financial condition? We'll get a little money ahead.
Boy, I'm blessed. Maybe not. Maybe not. You might be getting ready for
the biggest fall of your life. Don't ever try to equate riches
in the spiritual realm with riches in the natural realm. They may
well go together, but one does not necessitate the other. They said they were rich and
increased with goods and had need of nothing. They didn't
need anything. They didn't need to pray, give
us this day our daily bread. They already had. They couldn't
have any kind of bread they wanted. They didn't need God's presence.
They had their own station and reputation to carry them through.
They lost sight of their need for Christ. Well, how did such a thing happen? Well, I'm going to put the biggest
share of the blame on the pastor. This is the man God has put over
them to watch for their souls. Watch for their souls. I might
even go so far as to put most of the blame on the pastor, whose
place it is to watch for the souls of his hearers. So what
might this man have preached that would allow for his hearers
to sink into such an apathy? What might he have preached?
Well, first, he may have left off the preaching of Christ to
tell men and women how to live as good Christians. That's pretty
common. I got everybody grounded now.
I got everybody solid in the faith. They know this doctrine. I don't have to preach Christ
now. I'm just going to tell you how to live. I'm going to tell
all the women you need to wear dresses and you need to have
your hair cut so long and all you men, you need to dress this
way and that way and here's how much you got to give and here's
a how-to message. Begin to preach that. Just leave
Christ off. Just leave Christ off. You cannot get a church to serve
the Lord by telling them how to serve the Lord. Churches learn
to serve the Lord, and they're motivated to serve Him by pointing
them to the servant of God. We point you to Christ, the ultimate
servant of God. He said, if there's any inkling
of a work of grace in your heart, Paul said in Philippians chapter
2, he said, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus. Let that mind be in you. He who
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation and took on him the form of a what? Servant. You wanna know how to serve God?
Study Christ. Study Christ. And I guarantee
you, you'll fall way short, but you'll come a lot farther serving
God, studying him, than you will for some preacher to get up here
and tell you how to live. Truth be known, you already know
how to live, you just don't want to. It's not with the mind of duty
that we serve Him, but with the mind of Christ. Duty and law
look to men for their motives and strength and comfort. Grace
looks to Christ alone. You see the difference? Or perhaps
their offerings were so much that the pastor found no need
to talk about service at all. Maybe they're just rich. Anything they needed, they had.
What do you need? You need a new car? You need
a new horse? What do you need? Got plenty in the building fund.
Need to stretch the walls out? We'll stretch them out. They
had need of nothing. Perhaps this church was a church
where everybody showed up for worship and showed up to help
work on the church. gave more than was needed for
the maintenance and ministry of the church, and so the pastor
felt no need to speak at all on the subject of service. He might have even gone a little
overboard in his commendations of his members. The scriptures do not say what he preached or didn't preach.
Didn't say. Didn't say what they believed
that opened the door for this pride. But it's being satisfied with
themselves they became indifferent. They become indifferent and careless
and unmotivated in their zeal and their labors together with
God. The Church of the Living God is established in this world
as a lighthouse. That's why we're here. We're
a lighthouse. We're not just here to get to
see people that we haven't seen in a week. That's not why we're
here. We're here to worship God. We're
here to preach His gospel. We're left in this world as a
lighthouse. You think there's gospel being
preached out in this community somewhere? I've not been in these
churches, but I guarantee you, I'd know about it if somebody
was preaching the grace of God. I'd know about it. There's no
grace. There's just one lighthouse here.
You say, that's a pretty conceited statement. Well, you take it
any way you want to. The church is a lighthouse. That's
why we're here. And that's our business. That's
our business. These people, they were satisfied
with themselves. They were satisfied with the
way things were going. What's wrong with us four no
more? What's wrong with that? That's
where they were at. We're here to the best of our
ability to evangelize around us in any place where the Lord
will open a door of opportunity for us to preach. And our daily
business of feeding this flock and coming into this house to
worship and prayer is not to be looked upon or acted upon. It is to be looked upon and acted
upon. It's a great privilege. It's
a privilege to be here. Oh, my soul, what a privilege
just to know his gospel. Look around you at the people
who don't. You ever just ask yourself, why
me? Why me? Of all people, why me? Brother Fortner said one time,
if Christ is worth anything, he's worth everything. He's worth
everything. And this world may, they might operate in the realm of pride
and self-conceit, but the church don't. Believers are men and
women who owe everything and are more than willing, more
than willing to share what they have and being motivated by love
for Christ, they're filled with excitement and expectation about
what the Lord may do. Are you? They invited me all the way up
to Virginia to preach. That's almost to the coastline.
Just a few more hours, I'd be on the Atlantic Ocean. I think
it took, I had to detour through Danville, but it was a 20-hour
drive from here. Little church, no bigger than
this. And they called me to come and
preach. And I tell you, any time God opens a door for me, I get
excited. I get excited. I'm just filled
with expectation because I know how God works. I know how He
works. You know, there was a fellow
that called me and he wanted to come down here and visit with
us, and he did. He drove down here from up in the mountains
of Missouri and come down here and worshiped with us, and I
got to know him. He'd been back many times. I've been up there
and preached for him on occasion. Looks like the Lord's going to
raise a church up Where'd all that start? Right here at this pulpit. I'm filled with expectation.
Just filled with expectation. That's why he's left us here.
That's why he's separated us from the world. That's why he's
given us these gifts and given us this willingness to be here.
And if he's given it to us, let's put both hands to it. Let's do
it. Let's do it. I tell you, this
lukewarmness here, this is a warning to you and I. And I take it especially
to myself. Oh, it's so easy, so easy, just
fold your arms. Believers are men and women who
owe everything and more. And the Laodiceans, they professed
faith in Christ, but they had no interest in promoting it.
They professed love for Christ, but they had no rejoicing in
hearing the gospel. They were doctrinally sound and
pure, spiritually dead. Oh, beloved, let us not be so
foolish as to read this charge of lukewarmness and fail to apply
it to ourselves. Surely this is meant to shake
us up and cause us to examine ourselves. And as he tells us
here, lukewarm Christians are nauseating to God. So preacher,
what's the cure? What can a true believer do who's
been drawn into such a state? Revelation 3.18. 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 that make in this do not appear and also annoying and i was asking
him that uh... may see christ is pure gold tried
in the back well he's a object out of our faith he's the motivator
of our hearts and he's the way to move our mind and what we
need to do is not let worldly station successor or any of these
things. These monetary holdings contribute
anything to our hope in Christ. If God's been pleased to give
you a lot, use it for his glory. Just use it for his glory. But do not put any trust in it.
Spiritual riches is knowing Christ. And he says, I'll give you some
white raiment to cover the shame of your nakedness. What if there
was a machine? I don't have time to get off
of this. What if there was a machine that you could hook up? You know
how they measure brainwaves and they hook all these wires and
stuff up on you and they sit over here on the screen and it's...
What if they had a machine that'd hook up your heart and your mind
and had a big screen out there in the lobby and they took you
in a room, hooked all that up and all your thoughts and motives
and service and dreams and visions were all come up on that screen. Huh? I'd be hunting for a back
door. I wasn't going to come out there.
Huh? That's how we stand before God. A man looks on outward countenance.
That's as much as I can see. I see you this morning, and I
see what you have on. But I can't see in here. But
he does. Heeda.