Would you turn with me to Revelation
chapter 2? While you're turning there, tonight
the message will be the part of the disciples' prayer which
the Lord taught us to pray when he taught us to pray, give us
this day our daily bread. That's what we're going to consider. Now, what if the Lord himself
wrote the Todd's Road Grace Church a letter? Wouldn't you be interested to
hear what it is he had to say? Now, what if in this letter he
would commend us for certain things and also warn us about
things that he had against us and said that if we don't remove
those things, he would remove his presence and his candlestick
from us. Wouldn't you be interested, greatly
interested to read exactly what it was he had to say? What if the Lord wrote you a
letter? Can you imagine getting a letter
in the mail, how you'd open it and how carefully you would read
what he had to say? If the Lord wrote this church
a letter, what would he say concerning me? What would he say concerning
you? Now in the book of Revelation,
This is an epistle of encouragement to the persecuted churches. These
people were being tormented physically. They were being put to death.
He speaks of Antipas, the faithful martyr. He says to some of the
churches, be faithful unto death and you'll be given a crown of
life. But the basic message of the book of Revelation is you're
going to win. The Lord's on the throne. He's
in control and you are going to win. And he writes this letter
to seven specific local churches, perhaps much like this one. And
he says some specific things to them. Now, the church, the
local church is something divine. That's something to think about,
isn't it? What this is, is something divine. The church is called
the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the habitation
of God. And in that passage of scripture,
I just read from Revelation one, the Lord tells us the candlesticks
are the churches and he walks in the midst of his churches. Do you know he's walking here
right now in our midst? He's promised his presence where
two or three are gathered together. That's what's so special about
gathering together and meeting like this. This is where the
Lord is. And he calls the stars that are
in his right hand, the angels or the pastors of the church. There is such a thing as a pastor. And when the Lord writes these
specific letters, he writes to the angel of the churches. He writes to the pastor of the
churches and the churches. And I think it's interesting
that in each of these letters, he begins with himself. Look
in verse 1. Under the angel of the church
of Ephesus, chapter 2, verse 1, write, These things saith
he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Look in verse 8. And under the angel of the church
in Smyrna write, These things saith the first and the last,
which was dead and is alive. And in verse 12, unto the angel
of the church of Pergamos write, these things saith he which hath
the sharp sword with two edges. Yeah, you'll notice in each one
of these letters, he begins with himself. Now, do you remember
grade school when you were taught to write a letter? Maybe, I don't
know if they still do that, but when I was a kid, they taught
us to write letters. And the cardinal rule in writing a letter
is never begin with the word I. You know, the Lord does that
in all his letters though. He begins with himself. That's
only appropriate, isn't it? He begins with himself. And in each of these letters,
he says to every one of these churches, I know your works. Now, you know, really, he's the
only one who knows, isn't he? He says to each one of these
people, I know your works. And his assessment of something
is the way it really is. I remember reading a book about
baseball. George Will wrote it. It was
called Men at Work. It was a really good book if
you like baseball. But he told a story of an umpire, strike
three. And the fellow who struck out
said, Everybody in this stadium could see that was a ball. And
he replied, unfortunately for you, mine is the only opinion
that counts. The Lord knows our works and
his is the only opinion that counts. Now he begins these letters with
commendations. Look in verse 2 of chapter 2
regarding the church at Ephesus. I know thy works and thy labor
and thy patience. And how thou canst not bear them
which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are
apostles, and are not. And you found them liars, and
you have borne, and you have had patience, and for my name's
sake you have labored, and not fainted." He begins these letters
with commendations to these churches. Now the only church that he didn't
find anything to commend him for was the church of Laodicea.
There was no commendation for them, but he commended these
churches for certain things. And wouldn't you find it a great
blessing to find the Lord commended you for something? He actually
commended them for these things. And that that also teaches us
that when we. Communicate to somebody, we really
ought to begin with commendation, shouldn't we? That's what the
Lord does. He began with commendations. And then he gives them some things
he had against them. Look in verse four of Revelation
chapter two, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee. And in five of the seven churches,
he mentioned something that he had against them. Now, what if
the Lord said, I have something against you? Wouldn't you listen
carefully to find out what it is? I have somewhat against thee. And he goes on to name six different
things. And if we go bad, if I go bad, if
you go bad, if this church goes bad, And if the Lord doesn't
come back, it will. No local church has ever continued. You know, he told this church
at Ephesus, I'm gonna remove my candlestick if you don't repent
and do the first works. No local church continues. If the Lord doesn't come back,
at some point, I hope I'm dead when it happens, but at some
point, the Lord will leave this place. The machinery will go
on. Perhaps the doctrine will go
on. The preaching will go on, but the Lord won't be here. And
that is a very scary thought, isn't it? And if we go bad, here's
where we're going to go bad. And the Lord, in his mercy, gives
these warnings to his churches. Of these six warnings, all of
them come out of this first. He says to the church at Ephesus,
you've left your first love. Now, if you don't do that, none
of these other things will happen. Here's what he says, you've left
your first love. And in leaving your first love,
he said to the church of Pergamos, you have them there. All he says
to them, here's the second warning. He says, you have them there
that hold to the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the
Nicolaitans. It digresses from losing your
first love to having those in your midst that hold these doctrines. And then he says to the church
at Thyatira, here's the fourth warning. The other two were the
doctrine of Nicolaitans and Balaam. Then he says to the church of
Thyatira, you suffer that woman Jezebel to teach. It's what you
tolerate. It's what you allow. You leave
your first love. Then you're going to have people
that hold this. Then you're going to begin to
tolerate this. And then he says to the church
at Sardis, you've got a name. that you live, but you're dead. You're living off past accolades.
You're living off past experiences. Your faith is not in the present. It's in the past. You've got
a name that you live and you're dead. And then finally to the
church at Laodicea, he said, you become lukewarm. You're not
hot. You're not cold. You're lukewarm. And like I said, that is the
only church that he did not give a commendation for anything. This church in this state of
lukewarmness. Now I want us to consider all
six of these warnings because if you and I go bad, now I realize,
understand this, none of God's sheep can ever fall away. If God elected you, If Christ
died for you, if God the Holy Spirit gave you a new heart,
you cannot fall away and perish. There is no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. I realize that. And I also realize
that every church at some time in its history, it goes bad.
And if this church goes bad, this is where we will go bad
in one of these Well, if we, it begins with, well, let's look
back to Ephesians or Revelation chapter two. He says to the church
at Ephesus, I know your works verse two and your labor and
your patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil.
And his tribe then would say they're apostles that are not.
And you found them liars and you've born and you've had patience. And for my name's sake, you've
labored and have not fainted. And that's pretty good resume,
isn't it? I would sure love for the Lord to say this about our
church, for him to use this description to describe us. This is a pretty
impressive resume, but look what he says in verse four. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love." Faith in Christ and love to Christ
are inseparable companions, aren't they? A Christian is someone
who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me give you three reasons.
I'm sure there are more, but let me give you three reasons
why the Christian loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, John
says we love him because he first loved us. The love we have to Him, we know
where it came from. Now if you love the Lord Jesus
Christ, you know it's because He first loved you. And He gave
you the love that you have for Him. You know it's not something
that came out of your heart naturally. It's something that He gave you. He gave you a love to Christ. We love Him. Because He first
loved us. And we love Him, secondly, because
He's lovely. I love the song you just sang,
how beautiful. I thought that was so appropriate for me to
be thinking of this message. How lovely the Lord Jesus Christ
is. How beautiful His character is.
He's God. He's man. He's all God. He's all man. He's all just,
He's all holy, He's all gracious, He's all wisdom, everything that's
beautiful, He is. He is altogether lovely. We love Him because He's altogether
lovely. What's not to love? He's altogether
lovely. And thirdly, we love him first
because he first loved us. Second, because he's altogether
lovely. And thirdly, because of what
he's done for us. Paul said, he loved me and he
gave himself for me. He loved me so much. that He
took my sin and made it His very own. He would not let me go to
hell. He would take my sin and suffer
hell in my place before He would let me go to hell. He keeps me. He loves me. And He gave Himself. That's what He gave. He gave
Himself. He said, as the Father hath loved
me, so have I loved you. He that hath been forgiven much, loveth much. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16,
verse 22, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be Anathema, Maranatha. Let him be damned upon the return
of the Lord. Now, was Paul being unloving
when he said that? No. But if any man loved not the
Lord Jesus Christ, he who is altogether lovely, he ought,
if a man dies having no love for the Redeemer, he ought to
be damned. Do you believe that? And Paul said to the church at
Ephesus, the last verse, I think it's so interesting. He said,
grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Did he see something in this
church, even when he wrote this, that this is the church the Lord
warned you left your first love. When the Lord appeared to Peter
after his denial, What was the one thing he asked him? He didn't
say, Peter, are you sorry? He didn't say, Peter, have you
been sufficiently humiliated for this prideful thing that
you've done, saying, I'll never deny you, but you end up being
the one who did it. He didn't say, Peter, do you
promise to never do this again? He asked him one question. He
said, Peter, do you love me? Do you love my person? Do you love who I am? That's
the one question. Peter, lovest thou me? You know, when you love a person, the Lord said to the church at
Ephesus, you've left your first love. He's talking about their
love with regard to this person. When you love a person, you love
to think about them. If you don't love to think about
them, you don't love them. When you love a person, you love to
hear about them. You love to hear them bragged
on, don't you? When you love that person. That's what the preaching of
the gospel is. You love to hear the Lord Jesus Christ bragged
on. When you love a person, you love
to read their letters to you. Let's say a woman, her husband
is off fighting in another country in war and she receives a letter
from him. Oh, how carefully she reads every
word. When you love a person, you want
to please that person and you crave their approval if you love
them. Now, if you don't care about
pleasing them, if you don't care about their approval, it's because
you do not love them. When you love a person, you love
their friends. You love people who love them.
And when you love a person, you're jealous of their honor. You will
not accept people speaking reproachfully concerning them or things that
are contrary to them. When you love a person, you love
to have communion with that person. You like to talk to that person.
You like to pour out your heart to that person. And when you
love a person, you want to be with them. You want to be in
their presence. It's not enough to just have
a photograph of them. You want to be in their presence. Your first love is when you first
hear the gospel as gospel. Now let me repeat that. In your
first love, that's when you first hear the gospel as gospel. How you love the Bible and everything
it says. You love to hear the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. And you don't want to miss any
services because He's there. Your song is amazing grace, how
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, now
I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner,
condemned, unclean. How sad and deplorable it is
when that love begins to decline. You no longer hear the gospel
the way you formerly did. The heavenly manna becomes light
bread. Remember the children of Israel?
They called that angel's food that came down from heaven. All
of a sudden it was light bread, insubstantial, dry and crusty. It's easy to find a reason to
not be in services. They lose their importance. You
become more comfortable with the world. The sweet hour of
prayer becomes a two minute formality. The extravagance of your first
love departs. You know, first love is extravagant,
isn't it? You know, when you're first with your husband or wife,
you don't think about how much you got to spend on them. It's
all, it's everything. There's an extravagance there.
But when your first love declines, how sad. And here's what the bottom line
of the declension of the first love comes from. You quit hearing
the gospel as a sinner. That's it. That's what happens
when you, when you lose your first love, you've quit hearing
the gospel as a sinner. And so it loses its power. And all of these other things
that take place come from losing your first love. And what does
the Lord say to do? He says in verse five, remember,
therefore. From whence thou art fallen,
remember, you remember when you first heard the gospel. As gospel. You remember. Remember, therefore,
from whence thou art fallen, and repent, change your mind,
and do the first works. Or else I'll come unto thee quickly,
and will remove thy candlestick out of his place. Now, in verse
12 of this chapter, And to the angel of the church in Pergamos
write, These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with
two edges, I know your works and where you dwell, even where
Satan's seat is, and you hold fast my name. And you've not
denied my faith, even in those days when Antipas was my faithful
martyr and was slain among you where Satan dwells. But I have
a few things against thee, because thou hast them there that hold
the doctrine of Balaam. who taught Balak to cast a stumbling
block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed
unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou them there that
hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." Now here,
these next two warnings has to do with who they had there in
their presence, who they had there in their midst. And when
you lose your first love, When a church loses its first love,
when individuals lose their first love, they will have this in
their midst. He didn't say you're doing these
things, but he says you have those there who do and they're
comfortable being with you. First, you have them there that
hold the doctrine of Balaam. Now, who is Balaam? Balaam is
the arch false prophet. He's mentioned three times in
the scripture in the New Testament to describe what a false prophet
is. And if you read Balaam's history in Numbers chapter 23
through 24, you'll agree with everything he says. Matter of
fact, what he says is good. I mean, you'll like it. Everything
he says is good. But you read the history of this
man and he was a compromiser. It's not what he said, it's what
he didn't say. And what the Lord accuses him
of, he said, you taught the children of Israel to cast a stumbling
block. Now you can read the story. I mean, it's three chapters.
It's Balak wanting him to curse Israel, and he wouldn't do it.
He wouldn't do it. But he kept coming at him and
saying, I'll give you money, I'll promote you to great honor
if you'll just do this. He went with them. Well, I'll
go see what else the Lord will say to me. I mean, he kept the
door open wanting this money, and Jude and Peter both tell
us he was controlled by covetousness and greed. He could be bought. As a matter of fact, the word
profane in the scripture means accessible. It means you can
be bought. Now you have them there. He was
someone who compromised the gospel. And here's what he did. You can
read about it, where he taught the children of Israel, look,
I can't curse you, but here's what you need to do. Balak, you
get the daughters of Moab to marry the children of Israel,
and they'll end up worshiping your gods. And you won't have
to worry about me getting God to curse them, because God will
leave them because of that, because of this compromise. He said, you
have them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam, the doctrine
of compromise. You can be bought. And the next
thing he mentions is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. He said,
which things I hate. Now, what is the doctrine of
the Nicolaitans? If you read Josephus, the Jewish historian,
he speaks of a man by the name of Nicholas who was a heretic
in the first century and was an antinomian and taught the
people that it was okay to sin because we're all under grace.
Now, that may be there may have been a man by the name of Nicholas
who taught that. But you can't find the meaning
of a scripture by going outside the scripture. Something that
happened. You can't find the meaning of
any scripture by going to Josephus or a historian to find out what
took place. The only way you can find out the meaning of the
scripture is in the scriptures. Now, all we know of the Nicolaitans
is this. The word means over the people. above the people. It's the idea
of clergy, laity, Nicco, victory, laity, the common people above
the common people. It's like this. There's God,
there's clergy, and there's the lay people. There's God, there's God's inheritance,
God's clergy, and then there's the common lay people. Now what
that does is it says Christ is not all. That's all it does. Christ is not all. You know,
like when we had the conference, have all kinds of preachers there.
They're just part of the congregation. That's it. Just part of the congregation. Christ is all. Everybody else
is none. There's no special clergy, no
special God's inheritance. No, that denies that Christ is
all. We're all nothing, and yet we're
complete in Christ. And Christ says, I hate you. the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And when someone loses their
first love, all of a sudden they're going to have in their midst
the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
which thing Christ says he hates. Now look in verse 20 of chapter
two, he says to the church at Pergamos, He says in verse 19, I know your
works and your charity and your service and your faith and your
patience and your works and the last to be more than the first,
another sterling commendation. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee because you suffer that woman, Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants
to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Now Jezebel was the wife of Ahab. You can read about her in the
Old Testament. She stirred him up. She's the one who introduced
Baal worship. So the children of Israel, remember
when Elijah said, how long halt ye between two opinions? If Baal
be God, serve him. If the Lord be God, serve him.
But don't halt between two opinions. She's the one who brought that
kind of thinking in, Jezebel. And throughout the scriptures,
false religion. There's no male and female. We're
all one in Christ Jesus. And the only reason for the distinction
between the sexes is to show some relationship between Christ
and His church. Men are not better than women.
Women are not better than men. All are one in Christ Jesus.
There is a protocol. But that doesn't, there is a
protocol man is the head of the home and so on. And, uh, but
that's, that's God's way, but it doesn't mean women are better
than me or women are worse than men or inferior in any way. That
kind of stuff is foolishness. It's also true in the scriptures
when the Lord shows us false religion, it's painted as the
harlot of Babylon. A beautiful woman. The woman
in Proverbs who's always trying to seduce. And it's looked upon
as a woman. And what he says to the church
at Thyatira, you allow this. You suffer this woman to teach.
You permit it. This is something you allow.
And when someone has lost their first love, there's a lot they'll
tolerate. All of a sudden they become very tolerant. They lose
their discernment and they become tolerant. They allow this. It's
okay for this to take place. You allow that woman to teach
my servants to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.
Same thing he said in Church of Pergamos. Now, Paul shows
in several of the epistles, there's nothing wrong with eating something
sacrificed to an idol in and of itself. Good piece of filet
mignon was used to sacrifice to an idol. I'm going to go ahead
and eat it. There's no good. It's not good or bad. It's a
thing of indifference. But what the Lord is saying in this is
you've made it OK. You're tolerating people to feed
on idolatry and fornication out of pleasure outside the covenant,
outside the covenant of grace. And that's what you you permit
that. Now, chapter three, verse one.
Two more. Unto the angel of the church
in Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works, that
you have a name that you live and are dead. You're living in
the past. You're living on your past name.
Faith is always in the present. I'm sure that manna tasted so
good. And they were to go out and gather
that manna every single day. What happened if they thought,
well, what if it doesn't come tomorrow? Let's go ahead and get two days
worth and live off, tomorrow we'll live off today's manna.
What happened to that manna? The scripture says it bred worms
and stank. What's that? Death. Death. I cannot live off yesterday's
faith. I cannot live off yesterday's
experience. I come to Christ right now the
very same way I came to Him the first time. As a sinner needing
His mercy. I can't live off the past. Now, any relationship has to
be maintained in it. Now, any relationship, marriage,
what happens when one of the people in a marriage quit trying? They don't, you know, they just
take everything for granted. That's where the real marriage
problems come from. Because you're not giving effort. You're not
seeking to be what you should be. Every effort, and this is
including our walk with Christ. I don't live off the past. No,
it's got to be maintained today. Today, if you will hear His voice.
Salvation is always in the present. It's always in the now. Who are
you looking to right now? It doesn't matter what you learned
yesterday, or what you thought yesterday, or what you experienced
yesterday, or what you did yesterday. Faith is always in the present. I'm looking to Christ right now.
And the church at Sardis, they quit doing that. You see their
self-denial and work and maintaining a good relationship. Sardis was
living off the past and was on a life support system. Now you
can see that. Can you see that the digression
here? You start out with your first love. You leave. You leave
it. And all of a sudden when you leave your first love you
have them. that hold these erroneous doctrines. And then all of a
sudden you become tolerant of Jezebel, of that which is false. You're tolerant of it. It's not
something that bothers you the way it used to. You're okay with
it. And then, all of a sudden, you're living off the past. And
then you hit the last stage. Chapter 3. Verse 14. And unto the angel of the church
of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know
your works, that you're neither cold nor hot." Now, being cold, my dear wife is always cold. covered up right now. She's always
cold. It's a feeling of discomfort. I'm hot. I'm hot right now. It's a feeling of discomfort. You know what it is to feel cold
spiritually. It's a horrible feeling. It makes
you miserable to be cold, to be unmoved by the gospel, to
hear the gospel and just feel cold, to try to pray. And when you confess your sin,
it's not true confession. It's just cold going through
the motions, cold, cold. It's miserable. And then there's
being hot, filled with a zeal for Christ, a zeal for His glory,
a love to Him. And you're hot. Hot is a feeling
of discomfort. And look what the Lord says.
He said, I want you to be cold or hot. I know your words that thou art
neither cold or hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So
then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will
spew thee out of my mouth. Now that's strong language, isn't
it? Lord said, I'll vomit you out because you're not cold,
cold, miserable, because you're not hot, but lukewarm. I will spew thee out of my mouth. Now, what is this state of lukewarmness? Look in verse 17. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with
goods and have need of nothing. You know what the lukewarm person
has done? They've lost their sense of need. That's exactly
what lukewarmness is. I'm rich. Hey, I'm okay. I'm
in good shape. I believe. I've been baptized. I believe the right truth. I
believe. I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm fine.
I'm rich. I'm increased with goods. I have
need of nothing. They've lost their sense of need. Now, sense of need is essential. The whole need, not a physician,
but they that are sick. He healed them that had need
of healing. The only way to hear the gospel
is with an urgent need. You know, I think it's sad when
people look at the doctrine of grace and all of a sudden it's
just, you know, doctrine we believe and argue over. I need God to
choose me. And I need the Lord Jesus Christ
to die for me and be successful and do it all. I need that. Limited
atonement isn't just a doctrine. It's what I need. I need I need
Him to come to me invincibly and irresistibly and give me
a new heart and cause me to believe. I need to hear this too. These
things I'm talking about, it's not just, I need to hear. I need
to hear all the time. I need Him to preserve me so
I'll persevere. It isn't just doctrine. This is what I need. This is
who I need. Now, these people in Laodicea,
they quit hearing with a sense of need. And what they said really
wasn't true. They said, I'm rich and increased
with goods and I have need of nothing. Everything's going fine.
No, it wasn't. What they said was not true. And we also know regarding these
people, look in verse 17, because thou sayest, I'm rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing, and you don't know that you're
wretched, miserable, poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee
to buy me gold dried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, that the shame of
thy nakedness does not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyesafe,
that thou mayest see as many as I love. I rebuke, and chase,
and be zealous, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. What the Lord is saying, these people were not having
communion with Christ. You know, the Lord's not going
to have communion with that kind of attitude. He's not going to do it. You
can say I'm rich and increased with goods and have needs of nothing,
but it's a lie. And the Lord says, I'm standing
on the outside knocking. And the Lord is giving this person
the blessing of You open up. And what does it mean to open
up? Lord, come in, come into my heart. Come in. Don't stay
on the outside, come in. He says, I'll come in and I'll
sup with him. That means communion. That means
fellowship. But this person wasn't having
any communion with Christ. He said, I'm rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. But it wasn't real. It wasn't
true. Now, what does the Lord say to these people? He says,
you don't know that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. Verse 18, I counsel thee to buy
of me. Now here's the wonderful counselor. Here's the counsel I must have. He says, I counsel thee to buy
of me gold tried in the fire, that which will withstand judgment,
that thou mayest be truly rich. And white raiment, and you know
that that white raiment, clean and white, is the righteousness
of the saints. It's the righteousness of Christ. You know, it's... I hope His righteousness is always
precious to us. His righteousness. I counsel
thee to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear. And in thine
eyes what I said that you may see." Here's what it is they
didn't see anymore. They didn't really see who he
was. And consequently, they didn't see who they were. Rich and greased
with goods and in need of nothing when you deny the reality that
you're naked, miserable, wretched, and poor, and blind. He said,
buy these things of me, that you may see the truth concerning
who I am and who you are. And look what he says in verse
19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Now, regarding this thing of
chastening, I don't wanna suffer any kind of affliction. But I
want to be somebody he rebukes and chastens, don't you? Because
he says, as many as I love, I want to be one of these people, somebody
he loves. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous,
therefore, and Repent. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock." Now, I realize religion has made this to be him knocking
on the sinner's door, heart's door, to try to gain entrance.
That's not what it means. But when the Lord comes into
somebody's heart, he knocks the door down and takes control because
of who he is. He doesn't knock and ask for
permission. He comes in and saves by his grace. But this is talking
to his people who have grown into this state of Laodicea.
He stands at the door and knocks and says, open up to me. And
everyone that says, oh Lord, come in. He comes in and they
sup. They have sweet communion and
fellowship one with another. You eat with people, you love
being around. And that's the way the Lord demonstrates
this. Now here are the dangers that
you and I face, and the first one is losing your first love. And all of these things come
out of this. All of these warnings that the Lord gives to his churches
comes from this one danger of losing your first love. The doctrine
of Balaam and the Nicolaitans, compromise, clergy and laity,
what you become tolerant of, Jezebel, living in the past,
and lukewarmness. May the Lord give us grace right
now, every one of us, to come to Him the way we came the very
first time. When you first came to Him, you
didn't have one thing to bring. You couldn't come with your faith,
you didn't have any. You didn't come with your repentance.
You came to Him empty-handed, needing everything from Him. May God give me and you grace
to come that way even now. Let's pray together.