The Letter to the Laodiceans

Q: What does the Bible say about God's rebuke?

The Bible teaches that God's rebuke is a sign of His love and care for His people, as seen in Revelation 3:19. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus declares, 'Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline.' This clearly establishes that God's rebukes are not punitive but are rooted in His love for His children. He corrects us to bring us back into alignment with His will, to mature us in the faith, and to guide us away from harmful behaviors. A believer should rejoice when faced with correction, as it confirms our status as God's beloved children. The absence of rebuke may indicate a spiritual apathy or distance from God, as seen in the case of individuals who do not belong to Him.

Q: How do we know that Christ is the ruler of God's creation?

Christ is affirmed as the ruler of God's creation in Colossians 1:16-17, where it is stated that all things were created through Him and for Him. In Revelation 3:14, Jesus describes Himself as 'the ruler of God's creation.' This is consistent with Colossians 1:16-17, which proclaims that 'by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.' This shows that Christ not only holds authority over creation but also that all things exist for Him. His sovereignty as ruler assures believers that He governs all aspects of life and history, sustaining and directing creation according to His divine purposes. This comforting truth encourages believers amidst trials, reminding them that their lives are under the rule of a loving and sovereign Savior.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to recognize their spiritual need?

Recognizing our spiritual need is crucial because it brings us closer to Christ, who provides everything we require for salvation and growth in faith. In Revelation 3:17, the Laodicean church proclaimed, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' This self-assured sentiment was perilous because it obscured their true spiritual state. Acknowledging our spiritual poverty is essential for receiving the grace of God. Jesus responds to their condition by urging them to 'buy from me gold refined in the fire,' symbolizing the need for His truth and righteousness. This realization leads us to seek Christ for what only He can provide—salvation, spiritual insight, and biblical wisdom. It fosters humility, dependence on God, and a deeper relationship with Him.

Q: What does it mean for Christians to be lukewarm?

Being lukewarm signifies a half-hearted relationship with Christ, lacking true zeal for Him and the gospel, as warned in Revelation 3:15-16. In Revelation 3:15-16, Jesus expresses His strong disapproval of the Laodicean church's lukewarmness, saying, 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot... I am about to spit you out of my mouth.' Lukewarmness reflects a compromise in faith, where one maintains an outward appearance of religion while lacking genuine fervor and devotion to Christ. This state can stem from self-sufficiency or distraction by worldly concerns. The call to be 'earnest and repent' in Revelation 3:19 serves as an urgent reminder to rekindle passion for Christ, prioritize spiritual growth, and engage actively in God's mission.

Q: How can Christians ensure they are responding to Christ's call?

Christians can ensure they are responding to His call by opening their hearts to Him and actively engaging with His Word and community. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus states, 'I stand at the door and knock.' His invitation is both personal and communal, encouraging individuals to respond to His call. To ensure a genuine response, Christians should cultivate a sensitive heart that is attuned to Christ's voice through prayer, scripture reading, and fellowship with other believers. This openness invites Him into their lives, allowing for transformative communion. Additionally, prioritizing earnestness and repentance fosters an environment where growth can flourish, ultimately leading to deeper intimacy with Christ and a more vibrant faith.

Now these seven letters, which
the Lord Jesus dictated to various churches in Asia Minor, while written to them, are for
all the churches, including our church. And even though there
is some very hard to hear things in them, I mean difficult to
take, Our Lord was, for five out of seven of these churches,
He was pretty rough. But He says here in this particular
scripture, He says, those whom I love I rebuke. You should be
very happy, you should rejoice if the Word of God rebukes you.
Because you know those that don't belong to God, He leaves them
alone. Someone used to put it this way,
the Lord don't spank the devil's children. but He will deal with
His own. And it's good to be rebuked by
the Word of God, because when the Word of God rebukes us, that's
God dealing in love with us. But He started out with these
seven letters in order that the churches might be prepared to
listen to the glorious things He had to say afterward. He had to get their attention.
And that was part of the problem. that at least five out of these
seven churches had. They weren't paying much attention.
Now he says here to Laodicea, to the angel, that is the pastor,
the leaders, the preachers of the church in Laodicea write,
these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds that you are
neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other,
so because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about
to spit you out of my mouth. You say I am rich, I have acquired
wealth, and do not need a thing, but you do not realize that you
are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you
to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you can become
rich. and white clothes to wear so
you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your eyes
so you can see. Those whom I love, I rebuke and
discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am. It's interesting to
other churches, he says, I'm coming soon. To this church,
he said, here I am. This was an urgent letter. He
said, I'm here. I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will
give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame
and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. God give
to each one of us an ear. These letters were written to
churches, addressed to the leadership of
those churches, and yet they were addressed to the leadership
that the whole church might hear it. For it says here in verse
22, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to
the churches. And God deals with churches and He deals with individuals. Now when you read something like
this and you say, well, this is to the churches, I guess there's
nothing for unbelievers in here. Well, you see, that's just the
thing. A church, such as you and I are members of, is going
to be made up of believers and unbelievers. You're going to
have maybe unbelievers in there because there are some that just
don't even profess to believe, and yet they come to church.
There are some who would, if you knew their hearts and truth,
they're unbelievers. They may have professed to believe. They may have said, yes, I believe
this. And yet in their hearts, they
don't know God. It says there shall be many in
that day. These are the words of the Lord. Jesus said there
shall be many in that day who's saying to me, Lord, Lord, did
we not Cast out demons in your name and did we not do many wonderful
works in your name? And did we not preach in your
name and our Lord never denied that they did all those things
Throughout their lives those people and held themselves forth
as believers and not only believers in the Lord Jesus Christ But
ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, but our Lord says of them. I
never knew you And the interesting thing to
note in that he didn't he didn't say you never knew me he said
I never knew you Who are you? Not that he was ignorant of their
person, but he had never been united to them in personal knowledge. He had known them in eternity.
He had not known them when he died for his church. He did not
know them as the Spirit went forth calling God's people to
himself. And as they stood before him,
he still didn't know them. And he says, depart from me into
outer darkness, you workers of iniquity. And there are churches,
they have these religious workers of iniquity within them, and
then you have the believers. And among the believers you have
various degrees of zeal, or as our translation puts it, earnestness. Various levels of maturity. So
when you read something like this addressed to a church, it's
addressed to men in whatever spiritual state they're in. Because
you see there is only one message and it is the right message for
every man, woman and child in the world and it will be good
for them no matter what spiritual situation they're in. If you
have come here today and you're not a believer, I mean you don't
even profess to believe, there is gospel in here that you need
to hear. If you're one of the religious
phonies and maybe even so much religious phony you don't even
realize you're a religious phony yet, Here's the words you need
to hear. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks
in a way which will be good for you if you'll listen. And if you are a true and honest
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what state of spiritual
maturity you are in, these words are good for you. Because the
Word of God in every place is sharp, is living, and it's powerful. And it pierces the heart, every
heart, and reveals what's there. You know, one of the problems
this church in Laodicea had was they said, we see. The Lord said,
no, you're blind. You need somebody to show you
something. Now notice who it is that writes this, how our
Lord describes himself in this letter. He says in the last part
of verse 14, these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and
true witness, the ruler of God's creation. Now, there's a reason
that our Lord identifies himself in a particular way in each one
of these letters. He says, I am the Amen. Now,
we think of Amen, at least where I come from, Amen is just kind
of like religious applause. In the church I grew up in, they
never clap for anything, and that's fine. Most of your conservative
churches don't. They feel it's inappropriate
to clap, you know, and show applause for what's going on. That's just
fine, but what they did was replaced it with the word, Amen. And I
remember we'd have, uh, we had a choir in that church and if
they sang a little, uh, a nice song, but it was slow and meditative,
you know, and they'd be done and there'd be dead silence.
Nobody'd say a thing. And that was okay. But you let
them sing one of them stirring ones. They sang one called Jubilee. And it was all about the Lord's
return and we're going to heaven. I'm going to that happy jubilee.
And it was kind of upbeat and the folks would get going and
there was a choir. You know when it was done there would always
be, Amen! That's just their way to do this without really clapping.
And churches are pretty, you know, there's some churches where
if the preacher says something you like, fellow holler out Amen.
Not a thing in the world wrong with that. Here's what the word means. So
be it. That's all that it means. So
be it. And that's why it's perfectly
legitimate whether you do so under your breath or loud enough
that your neighbor hears you or even the preacher hears you
when he says something you agree with. Amen. You're saying I agree
with that. So be it. That's the way I see
it. When the Lord says here, He doesn't say, I say Amen. He
says, I am the Amen. I am the so be it of all of God's
Word. I'm the so be it of all of God's
eternal purpose. God has an eternal purpose. Do
you realize that God has ordained everything that's going to come
to pass? I mean the minutest detail of this creation was ordered
by God before there was a creation. I don't know what motivated you
to come here this morning, but I know why you're here. You're
here because God ordained that you'd be here this morning. The weatherman may have predicted
yesterday's snow. He may be able to give you some
kind of scientific background as to why it snowed yesterday
and not the day before. But here's the ultimate reason
that it snowed yesterday. God ordained it. He also ordained
that yesterday several of us would get together and move Ben
and Sherry. And I don't know, the conjunction of those two
particular ordinations, I probably would have done it different.
It wasn't a fun day to move people, but we got her done. But whatever
happens, the Lord ordained it. Now, the Lord ordained it, then
why does it happen? Because Jesus is God's so be
it in this world to carry out all that God has ordained. He is God in the world, God in
the creation, bringing to pass everything that God has ordained. In fact, in the next section
of it, next section here of Revelation,
we find out about, it's in chapter 5, that he who sits on the throne,
that is God, and he has a scroll sealed with seven seals. And
that scroll is God's everlasting purpose, particularly His purpose
in salvation. But it says that nobody could
open it. And John wept. Because there
was no one found worthy that could bring that decree to pass. And the angel said, don't weep.
The Lion of the tribe of Judah, that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
He has prevailed and He's worthy to loose the seals and open the
scroll and bring all this to pass. And so our Lord comes to
Laodicea and He says, I'm the so be it. I'm the one that's
causing everything to happen. I have been given the decree
of God in my hands, and I will bring it to pass. All the promises
of God are in Him, yea, and amen, says the scripture. So be it.
Because He's the so be it. There's a lot of promises in
the scriptures, aren't there? What reason do we have to believe
that they will really come to pass? Jesus Christ is the so
be it. He is the Amen of every one of
God's promises. He's the Amen of every one of
God's decrees. Now you imagine that. Somebody
comes to you and with a voice with sufficient authority to
convince you of the truth of it and he says, I'm the one in
whose hand is all of God's purpose and I will bring it to pass. That'd get your attention, wouldn't
it? You want to know what he has to say. And then he goes
on and calls himself the faithful and true witness. Once again,
we're brought back that the Lord not only sees all and knows all,
he correctly tells all. All shall be made known by him. Everything you need to know,
he can tell you. And whatever he tells you, you
can count on it. It's true, and it's important.
There's a lot of people saying true things, but what they say
just isn't important. I can't help but notice the politics
that's going on, but you know, they got these debates, and I
think they're going to just utterly wear the American people out
with all these silly debates they're having. And they get
these, this last debate they had, they got their questions
from people on YouTube. And any of you that are internet
savvy, YouTube is filled with a bunch of stuff that's pretty
much worthless. And the questions were too. And so they come up
with these silly questions, useless questions, and the guys answer
them. Well, they told the truth, I guess. They told the truth.
But once you knew the truth, what use was it? It wasn't important
anyway. If the Lord speaks, it's important. It's true. It's important. It's
coming to pass. You better listen. Oh, it's good
to have truth. But one thing about having the
truth, once the truth's been brought to you, you're responsible
to it. Responsible to act on it. And
that's why he reveals himself this way to Laodicea. He had
some hard words for him, and he had some very gracious words
for him, and they needed to pay attention. And then he says, I'm the ruler
of God's creation. That word translated ruler can
mean beginning or ruler. We get several of our words from
it. For instance, we talk about archeology and what's that mean? That's the study of the first
things. Study of the beginning things,
old things, archeology. And then we also get words like
so-and-so is my arch enemy. What do you mean by that? Well,
he's my chief enemy. Well, actually, both of those
senses of that Greek word arche apply here. Our Lord is the beginning
of God's creation. Paul says of Him in the book
of Colossians, I believe, he says, He is before all things
and He's the first thing. Jesus Christ is a created being,
but He is the uncreated God revealed as a created being. You say,
that doesn't make sense. It doesn't have to. Doesn't have
to be something you can get your mind around, because we just
can't get our mind around the things of God. But we can believe
it to be so. Jesus Christ, though He is a
created entity, He is nonetheless the exact representation of the
uncreated God. He's the beginning. If you want
to know God, you've got to know Him. He says, no man comes to
the Father but by me. People say, can't get to heaven
but by Jesus Christ, and that's true, but that's not what our
Lord said. He said, no one comes to the Father but by me. No one
understands God except through understanding Him. And the disciples
went on to kind of question Him about that. And I believe it
was Philip said to Him, well, He said, well, you just show
us the Lord, you show us the Father, and that'll be enough
for us. And the Lord, you know, Well, I tell you, what grace
for the Lord to put up with us. I look at how He put up with
those disciples and all their ignorance and stupidity, and
He'd tell them the truth and make it so obvious, and they
just couldn't let go of their old ways. And they said, you
show us the Father and it'll suffice us, it'll be enough for
us. And I can just see the Lord shake His head and said, have
I been with you so long that you don't realize that He that
has seen me has seen the Father? If you would know God, you have
to know Jesus Christ. He's the only revelation of the
Father. If you want to come to the Father,
you've got to come to Christ because He's the only way to
the Father. To know Him is to know the Father. He's the beginning of God's creation.
He's the ruler of it. There's not a thing in this world
outside of the control of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is
very comforting to the man who trusts in Him. Now it's really
easy for us to say that when we see the bank account growing
and we're full of vigor and health and our way is happy. And we
say, oh, I tell you, somebody upstairs loves me. What about when you're so sick? Like my mother used to say, she'd
say, I got so sick I was afraid I was going to die, then I got
a little sicker and I was afraid I wouldn't die. What happens
when you're that sick? Or you've been sick and in pain
so long and there's really no hope that anything will ever
change. What about when you look at the bank account and there
isn't going to be enough to finish up the bills? As they say, there's
more month than there is money. And maybe it's getting bad enough
you might lose the house. What are you going to say when
your kids play the rebel and get themselves in all kinds of
trouble and act like they don't know God and don't have any interest
in the things of God? What will you say then? If you
trust the Lord Jesus Christ, here's what you can say. Though
Satan should buffet, Though trials should come, let this blessed
assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And everything's well with my soul. You see, he's the ruler, no matter
what's happening. And I hope that if a time of
severe testing comes to me, I can remember what I said this morning.
But you can be as sure of the goodness of God's promise at
the worst of times, which you would call the worst of times,
as you can at the best of times. And I am convinced that when
our life is over and we're able to look back and give a good
reading of it and the significance of it, we'll say this, you know,
the best parts of my life, were the hardest parts. That's when
the Lord dealt most graciously with me. That's when he really
caused me to grow up, son. That's when he weaned me from
my love of the world. That's when he struck the most
severest blows to my flesh. The hardest days were the best
days. And while at the time I may have
enjoyed those golden days of peace, I really didn't make much
progress in them. And looking back on it, I didn't
think a whole lot about Christ in them. I believe his brother Scott Richardson
said this, if we had the power of God, we'd change everything.
If we had the wisdom of God, we'd change nothing. Oh, let
us at all times remember that the Lord Jesus, who loved us
and gave himself for us, is controlling the minutest detail of our life. And while it doesn't make sense
to us, and even though it can be very painful, and you think
it's never going to get better, you can still say, this is coming
from the hand of my Lord, and I trust him. And if he says this
is good for me, then it is. And I trust his love and his
wisdom enough to know and to believe and to rest in this,
that what's happening to me right now is the best thing that could
happen to me right now. He says, I'm the ruler of God's
creation. I sure am glad. I've looked at
the men who want to be the ruler of this country, and I've seen
the people who are rulers of other countries. And I'm glad
they're really not the ruler. I wouldn't trust any one of them.
But I can trust this one. I can trust him. He says to the
church at Laodicea in verse 15, I know your deeds, that you're
neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or
the other. So because you're lukewarm, neither hot nor cold,
I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. Now, here's what he
rebukes him for. Here's what he takes note of,
and this is an important point. He says, I know your deeds, that
you're neither cold nor hot. Now why, the Lord says this to
all the churches. He says, I know your deeds. Why
is the Lord consumed with their deeds, with their actions? Don't
we believe that God doesn't look on the outward appearance, man
looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart. Yes,
he does. And don't we believe that in all of our outward actions
there is sin and therefore the Lord looks upon our heart and
judges us according to things which is in the heart. That's
true. Don't have any problem with that. But here's one thing
I know. What a man's doing tells you what's in his heart. It's
just that simple. I know that at any particular
moment in the life of a believer you might find him doing some
awful things. I guarantee it's true of this
believer, and I imagine I'm not a whole lot different than you
in that respect. All of us would be ashamed if everybody around
us knew everything about us. But our Lord here is speaking
in particular regarding those deeds of worship, those deeds
of our relationship to God. And He's looking on what they're
doing about His gospel. what they're doing with his gospel,
what they're doing concerning the worship of him. And he says,
look, I'm seeing what you're doing. I'm watching. And here's the verdict about
your actions. They're lukewarm. You all aren't really serious
about this. That's what he's telling them. He says, you're neither cold
nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. You know, Once
again, we get the example of politicians, and that's why the
ones going on right now are frustrating me. Every one of them is trying
to play both sides of the fence. I mean, every one of them in
both parties. You can't find anybody that's hot or cold. Everyone's
kind of running towards the center. They're trying not to offend
anybody. And I think that what they're
going to find out is they're going to end up offending everybody. What are
you for this? Yes. What are you for this? Well,
I'm for that too. Well, no, I'm not for that and
I'm not for that either. There's nothing to it. One statement
cancels out the other. They're everything and because
they're everything, they're nothing. And that's what this church was
like. Well, do you love Christ? Yes,
I do. Well, do you love the world? Yes, I do. Well, wait a minute. Do you love worshiping God? Yes,
I do. Would you rather do something besides worship God? Yes, I do. And it comes out in just kind
of wishy-washy, lukewarm. You know, you can get a cup of hot coffee
or you can get one of those iced Frappuccinos. But you know, I've never heard
anybody come up and say, you know, I'd like a cup of lukewarm coffee.
Get me something that's about 103 degrees. Anybody gets a cup of coffee
at about 100 or 103 degrees, they run over to the microwave
oven or put it in the refrigerator, one or the other. Nobody that
I know of likes lukewarm coffee. And our Lord said, I wish that
you were hot or cold. If you were hot, he said, man,
I could rejoice in you. You and I would be in fellowship
because I am hot. I'm zealous. When he was here
on the earth, he cleansed that temple. I mean, he ran the money
changers and the people selling the sacrifices there. He took
a whip of cords and he just drove them all out. And he says, the disciples remembered
this, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. The Lord said,
I wish that you were like that. I wish that you were hot like
that and you were full of the zeal of the Lord and the things
of the gospel. He said, I wish you just cold.
I wish you're dead. I can talk to dead people. I
can raise the dead. I can do something with the cold. He said, what are you? You're
lukewarm. If I come to you and say, do you love me? You're going
to say yes. Well, what am I going to do about that? lukewarmness. Verse 16 says, because you are
lukewarm, lukewarm in your deeds, you come to church once in a
while and worship just enough to keep your name on the roll,
just enough so that people don't think you quit altogether. Or maybe you come regularly. You're there pretty much when
the doors are open or at least once a Sunday. But you know Monday
through Saturday, you don't think of Christ. You're not concerned
about Him. You're too busy with other things. You get all cranked up about
things of the gospel when somebody challenges you and kind of insults
your view of the gospel, but now you don't really go out there
and proactively tell anybody else about what you believe.
You run that middle where you're, you know, just enough that nobody's
going to fault you for not being religious, but not so much that
they're going to fault you because you've got a religion they don't
agree with. That's lukewarm. And here's what he said about
them. I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. Now, I look that
word spit up. And having said it that way,
I look that word spit up. That's really what he's saying.
He's not just saying spit. He's talking about vomit. He's saying, I drank you down
and your lukewarmness nauseated my stomach and you're coming
back out. Lukewarmness is nauseating to the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, yeah, their problem
was lukewarmness. No, it wasn't. That was the symptom
of their problem. Here's their problem, verse 17.
You say, I am rich, I have acquired wealth, and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you
are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. Here was their
problem. They were self-righteous. They
said, I'm rich. Now it is said that Laodicea
was a wealthy town and maybe they had made the mistake that
worldly prosperity was an indication of spiritual prosperity. And
I can understand in our day certainly why there's a lot of people that
think that because there's a lot of preachers preaching that. If you'd really
believe God and lay hold of His promises, you know all that,
you'd get wealthy and you'd get healthy and you'd become influential. And, you know, the religious
right of our day, though their influence is beginning to wane
for a while there, they must have thought they were right
on the verge of the kingdom of God and God's special servants in
the world. In fact, we got a guy running for president this time
who used to be a Baptist pastor. And one of his cohorts called
me one time because he was going to be coming to, I think, Sioux
Center or maybe Sioux City. I can't remember. Cohort this
campaign helper. He has called me up and he says
I got your name from Don Fortner's mailing list You know, I've been
down to hear Don Fortner and all this and you know, I used
to be a preacher and this man I'm Campaigning for he used to
be a preacher, you know We like Don Fortner and all that as soon
as he told me this guy used to be a preacher now He's running
for president. I thought I ain't voting for him Unless he would tell me, I used
to be a preacher but I realized God never called me and that
was a mistake for me to get in the first place. I can understand
that. I've met a lot of guys in the ministry that ought to
get out. But if God called you to the ministry and then you
thought you could do better by becoming President of the United
States, I don't want anything to do with you. But they think that that's where
their power and influence is going to come from. If I can
get in the Oval Office, I can do something for the Kingdom
of God, I beg your pardon. I've been blessed, and I don't
say this out of arrogance, I just believe it. I've been blessed
to be given the most powerful position in the world, a preacher
of the Gospel of God's grace. Now that doesn't mean that it's
going to do what I want it to do, but I know this, it'll do
everything God sends it to do, and the world cannot stop it. The world is ruled by believers. Did you know that? It's ruled
by believers. And anybody that was called to
the pulpit and then would leave the pulpit to occupy the leadership
of the most powerful empire in the world, He has shriveled up. He has stepped down. They say, I am rich. I have acquired
wealth. And here's the problem. I do
not need a thing. So many people in this world
don't think they need anything. I was listening to a message
by Brother Tim James this past week. And he said, you know,
he'd been preaching, I guess, at that church for about 30 years,
something like that. And he says, for 30 years, I've
been looking for a sinner. I'd love to find a real bona
fide sinner, somebody who needed something. Of course, he's found
a few, but there's not a whole lot of people out there think
they need anything. You've got the irreligious bunch. You've
got those that have no interest in the things of God because
they feel that their needs are perfectly satisfied by the level
of wealth and influence they have in this world. They just
don't go, hey, life's good. I've got it together. I got a
nice job. pull down some good pay I got
a house I live in and I'm able to buy some nice gadgets and
believe me they got some nice ones out there and you know I
got my big screen TV now you know what I want because that's
what popped in my mind when I thought of gadgets I thought of a big
screen TV plasma about 60 inches so there you go that's now you
know what's on my heart anyway I got the stuff I don't need anything like that
man who said Soul, your barns are full. Better make some more. And so
he tore down his little barns and put up big barns and filled
them full of grain. And he said, my soul, take thy
ease. You got all you need. And the
Lord said, you fool, your soul will be required of you this
day. He never got to eat any of the grain out of those full
barns. And you may be here this day thinking you don't need anything.
And that's because you don't feel you need. Ah, you're full
of health. You got money in your wallet.
You got the promise of more money coming down the pike. You got
some stuff. And everything's good. One of
these days, it ain't gonna be so good anymore. Don't mistake a prosperous way
in this world with having what you need. And there were some, I'm sure,
in that church who said, well, look, I got the gospel. I know
what the gospel is. I got the truth. I made my profession
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I joined the church, and everything's
good with me. I got all I need. You can take a profession of
faith, and I guess you'd have to say 70 cents now, 75 cents. An official profession of faith
and 75 cents will buy you a nice cup of coffee. You say you don't think people
ought to profess faith? I think people that have faith ought
to profess faith. But a profession of faith doesn't mean anything.
That's what James is telling us when he says faith without
works is nothing. The faith he's talking about is the faith of
the mouth. A man says, I believe. Well, good. We're glad a man
will say, I believe. But that doesn't really mean
anything about the truth. If I stood up here and told you
that I've got a thick head of hair that's all nice and dark,
would that make it be so? No. And you'd know right away. Well,
you can say what you want, preacher, but it ain't so. And a man can
say, I believe Christ. That doesn't mean it's so. Well,
I've been saved. That don't mean it's so because
you say you've been saved. Don't ever get to where you think
you don't need anything. You may be a very mature believer.
You may have grown in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you may have spent many years faithfully following
Him. And actually, if you have done
that, I bet you you would say, boy, I need a lot. I'm in desperate
need of Christ. Yes, I can look back and I can
look at all those enjoyable years of following Christ, but you
know something? I'll fall flat on my face if the Lord doesn't
give me what I need for the next step. We may have a constant supply,
we may have an overflowing supply of what we need, but that doesn't
mean we don't need. And the most dangerous conclusion
you can ever come to is to think, I don't need that. I don't need
to hear about Christ. I don't need the fellowship of
God's people. I don't need the joy of ministering to the saints
in whatever capacity God enables me. I don't need the blessedness
of giving as the Lord says it's more blessed to give than to
receive. I don't need these things. Self-righteous but he said well
you think you have no need but let me tell you what you really
are. You're wretched. You know what wretched is? What
that word means? It's like a homeless person. They're wretched. I mean, they
got nothing to speak of, and what they have isn't worth anything.
Generally speaking, they smell. They regularly bathe once a year
on a regular schedule. You don't like being around them,
do you? They look bad. They smell bad. They act bad.
Most of them are mentally ill. They aren't right in the head.
You talk to them, and they don't make any sense. And that's the
problem with being wrong in the head. They think that they're
the only ones that's right. The whole rest of the world's
crazy. That's why they're living in houses instead of under a
bridge. Silly world. He says, you're wretched. You're pitiful. He says, I look
on you and I don't see something to rejoice in. I don't see something
To make my heart glad, he said, I look at you and your objects
of pity. They used to allow, at least
there was no law against begging on the streets in Huntington,
West Virginia. And I remember when we'd go down, particularly at
Christmas time, there'd be people sitting on the sidewalk with
their little box of pencils and a little cup of pencils for sale.
And some of them, You know, I mean, they obviously had health problems.
I mean, they looked wretchedly sick. And we'd look at them,
and I remember even as a little kid, my heart would break for
them. I said, oh, man, that's awful.
You know, and that's what he's saying that we are. We're pitiful. You're poor. You got nothing.
You're blind. You don't even have the ability
to see your condition. And you're naked. Remember the
story of the king's new clothes, the emperor's new clothes? Somebody, a con man, made nothing,
but he held it up like his clothes, and he said, King, he said, I've
made you new clothes. The king looked at him, what
do you mean? He said, well these, he said, of course only the wise
can see them. A fool can't see them. Well the
king wasn't going to admit to being a fool, So he says, Oh,
those are beautiful. Well, thank you very much. And
so the king showed it to all his advisors and told them, you
know, only the wise can see them. Oh, beautiful, nice clothes,
king. They bring out your eyes. They're
good, you know? So the king gets all puffed up.
He can't see anything, but he figures everybody else is. And
so he has a parade. And he says, I'm going to show
the world my new clothes. And he puts on his new clothes
that only the wise can see. And by then, the news has gotten
out to the whole kingdom. Only the wise can see these clothes.
Well, nobody's going to admit they're a fool. And so the king
goes by butt naked, wearing his clothes everywhere. Ooh, nice. Except one wise kid. Hey, the
king's got no clothes on. He's naked. The kid thought it
was funny. Kids are the only smart ones
in the whole kingdom. And people are just like that. They've been
sold a bill of goods. Some preacher comes up and says,
now here's some clothes to wear. And he gives them some kind of
fancy, complex theology full of, you know, words about that
long. And he says, only the wise can
understand this. And they put it on. And they're naked. They don't have a thing. And
all their shame is showing. And he says, I counsel you, verse
18, to buy from me gold refined in the fire so you can become
rich, and white clothes to wear so that you can cover your shameful
nakedness, and salve to put in your eyes so you can see. What's
the gold? We read that in Psalm 19. More
to be desired than much fine gold. God's truth, God's word. What's the white clothes? That's
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ with which He clothes
His people to cover their shameful nakedness. What's the eye salve?
That's the grace of God that enables us to see us for who
we are and see Christ for who He is. And the Lord goes on and says,
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline, so be earnest and
repent. Now, we're going a little long,
but I just can't stop yet. Here is the gracious gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel that's for unbeliever
and believer alike. It's his good news of his goodness
and grace. He says, here I am. Now that
might sound a little bit threatening, and there is a threat hidden
in it. I'm here for one or the other, he says, but I stand at
the door and knock. Oh, how wretched a thing that
the Lord might come to a church, A meeting such as you and I are
having this morning, and we're just going away at what we always
do and singing our songs and praying our prayers, and the
Lord's out there. Can I come in? Sorry, we're busy.
We're singing some praises in here. Well, I'm the one you're
supposed to be praising. Can I come in? Now, don't bother
us. We've already entered the service.
We can't have any interruptions. It's in the middle of the sermon.
You can't come in. I stand at the door and knock."
Now notice here he doesn't say, if the church will hear me. He
said, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come
in and eat with him and he with me. Here is a word of comfort
to those who are in a lukewarm church. He says, the whole church
may not open the door, but if you will, he said, I'll eat with
you. I'll break bread with you, the
broken bread of my body and the wine of my blood. I'll come in
and I'll receive your worship and I'll pour out my grace upon
you. Maybe you've never believed.
Maybe in the gospel you hear a knock at your door. The Lord stands and says, here
I am. Now I know this, he's going to
go in, he's going to invade every heart that belongs to him. But
this isn't so much about his sovereignty as his grace right
here, that is his kindness and mercy. That he comes to the vilest
of sinners and he said, look, you think you got everything,
you don't have anything. And here's my counsel. that you
buy from me gold and there's only one way to buy from God
and that's what's in says in Isaiah ye that have money or
excuse me ye that have no money come and buy we buy without money
he says you come by the gold of my truth and you come and
get you a nice white robe of my righteousness to put on and
I've got some eye salve that'll let you see things as they really
are I'm at the door open it up I'll come in I'll not refuse to come in. This
will be a certainty. That in the end of days, when
all things are seen for what they really are, if you do not have the blessing
of God, there will be only one person to blame, and that'll
be you. It won't be because the Lord
wouldn't come in. It'll be because you wouldn't
open up. It won't be because he wouldn't speak. It'll be because
you wouldn't listen. It wouldn't be because he wouldn't
lead. It'll be because you wouldn't
follow. So our Lord says to this church and to every individual, I'm knocking. The day of grace
is yet open. The throne of grace is still
in session. Will you have my mercy? Or will
you have my judgment? May the Lord God bless your heart
for that word.

The Letter to the Laodiceans

What does the Bible say about God's rebuke?

How do we know that Christ is the ruler of God's creation?

Why is it important for Christians to recognize their spiritual need?

What does it mean for Christians to be lukewarm?

How can Christians ensure they are responding to Christ's call?

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The Letter to the Laodiceans

What does the Bible say about God's rebuke?

How do we know that Christ is the ruler of God's creation?

Why is it important for Christians to recognize their spiritual need?

What does it mean for Christians to be lukewarm?

How can Christians ensure they are responding to Christ's call?

Sermon Transcript

About Joe Terrell

Comments

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