Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - A House Call for a Sin-Sick Church

Transcript

Voddie Baucham - A House Call for a Sin-Sick Church · Voddie Baucham Sermons

0:00
Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you, please open them
0:02
Speaker 1: to Revelation chapter 3. And here in Revelation chapter 3,
0:08
Speaker 1: we've come to the end of chapter 3, which means
0:11
Speaker 1: we've come to the end of this first section here
0:15
Speaker 1: in Revelation. It's a very important section in chapters 1
0:20
Speaker 1: through 3. And really, I mean, arguably it's the second
0:24
Speaker 1: section that we have in the second and third chapter,
0:26
Speaker 1: which are these letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor.
0:31
Speaker 1: Today we come to the last letter, to the last
0:35
Speaker 1: church here in Asia Minor. And it is significant in
0:39
Speaker 1: a number of ways. This letter is significant in that
0:44
Speaker 1: it is probably the best known of the seven letters
0:48
Speaker 1: to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Even though the
0:52
Speaker 1: church at Laodicea is not well known, this letter is
0:57
Speaker 1: well known. And like many things that are well known,
1:01
Speaker 1: that also comes with some difficulty. How many of us,
1:07
Speaker 1: for example, have well-known songs in our past that we
1:14
Speaker 1: know and love dearly? And if you're like me, there
1:17
Speaker 1: are songs from your youth that you've sung your whole life,
1:21
Speaker 1: and you sing these songs and love these songs, and
1:23
Speaker 1: you know, they're just your favorite songs. And then one day,
1:28
Speaker 1: You open up the actual lyrics of the song. They're
1:32
Speaker 1: on the inside of the jacket. And you read the
1:35
Speaker 1: lyrics to the song that you've loved forever and realize
1:39
Speaker 1: that you've been singing the wrong words. Amen? Sometimes that's
1:45
Speaker 1: what familiarity will do for you. How many times have
1:48
Speaker 1: we done it with our Bibles where there's a Bible
1:50
Speaker 1: passage that we read and we memorize and we know
1:54
Speaker 1: it from our childhood or we've heard it over and
1:56
Speaker 1: over and over again and then we recognize that that's
2:00
Speaker 1: not actually what the Bible says. The Bible doesn't say
2:04
Speaker 1: that money is the root of all evil. In 1
2:08
Speaker 1: Timothy 6.10, it actually says that the love of money
2:11
Speaker 1: is the root of all kinds of evil. But how
2:14
Speaker 1: many times do we hear people walking around saying the
2:16
Speaker 1: love of money is the root of evil? That is
2:21
Speaker 1: also true here in this letter to the church at Laodicea.
2:26
Speaker 1: There are at least a couple of instances here in
2:29
Speaker 1: this letter with which we are very familiar, but usually
2:33
Speaker 1: not in context. And because we are not familiar with
2:37
Speaker 1: them in context, I would argue that we're actually not
2:41
Speaker 1: familiar with them at all. That we don't understand what
2:46
Speaker 1: these things mean. And if we don't understand what they mean,
2:50
Speaker 1: it's difficult, perhaps even impossible, for us to understand how
2:56
Speaker 1: they apply. This is one of those instances where the question,
3:00
Speaker 1: what does this passage mean to you, is a dangerous
3:05
Speaker 1: question to ask. Amen? Because this passage can mean to
3:10
Speaker 1: you some things that are very different than what the
3:12
Speaker 1: passage actually means, period. And what we're interested in is
3:17
Speaker 1: what it means, not what it means to you. We're
3:21
Speaker 1: interested in how it applies to you, but not necessarily
3:25
Speaker 1: what it means to you. I don't believe that I
3:28
Speaker 1: have ever preached a passage of Scripture where the historical,
3:34
Speaker 1: geographical background was more important than in this passage of Scripture,
3:41
Speaker 1: in particular here at the end of Revelation chapter 3.
3:44
Speaker 1: There are instances where if you are just, you know,
3:49
Speaker 1: a history buff or an archaeology buff, there's some interesting
3:53
Speaker 1: things about some places in the Bible. And we can
3:56
Speaker 1: bring out those interesting things about those places in the Bible,
3:59
Speaker 1: and they're no more than that. They're just trivia about
4:02
Speaker 1: these particular places in the Bible. Did you know that
4:05
Speaker 1: this place, da-da-da-da-da. Here, however, if you do not know
4:10
Speaker 1: the history of Laodicea, if you do not know the
4:13
Speaker 1: geography of Laodicea, it is impossible to understand this letter
4:20
Speaker 1: to Laodicea. And that is why we're familiar with it,
4:26
Speaker 1: but don't know it like we think we know it.
4:30
Speaker 1: With that in mind, join me here in Revelation chapter 3,
4:35
Speaker 1: beginning at verse 14, and let's read this passage that
4:40
Speaker 1: contains several familiar ideas or statements. We read, And to
4:49
Speaker 1: the angel of the church in Laodicea write the words
4:53
Speaker 1: of the Amens, the faithful and true witness, the beginning
4:57
Speaker 1: of God's creation. I know your works. And so there
5:02
Speaker 1: are those familiar elements that we have in all the letters.
5:06
Speaker 1: Address it to the angel of this church. He then says, write.
5:11
Speaker 1: He then says, the words of. Again, equivalent to the
5:14
Speaker 1: Old Testament phrase, and the word of the Lord came to.
5:18
Speaker 1: Then there's the identification of Jesus. There's a difference here, however.
5:24
Speaker 1: This identification of Jesus does not come from the section
5:28
Speaker 1: at the end of chapter 1. It comes from the
5:30
Speaker 1: section at the beginning of chapter 1, which makes it
5:33
Speaker 1: unique among the other identifications. And then there's the phrase,
5:37
Speaker 1: I know your works, or I know your deeds, which
5:41
Speaker 1: points to the omniscience of the Lord, but also opens
5:46
Speaker 1: the door to the aspects of the church that are
5:48
Speaker 1: being corrected. He says... You are neither cold nor hot.
5:56
Speaker 1: Would that you were either cold or hot. So because
5:58
Speaker 1: you are lukewarm and not hot nor cold, neither hot
6:01
Speaker 1: nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth
6:04
Speaker 1: or vomit you out of my mouth, literally. For you
6:07
Speaker 1: say I'm rich and I've prospered and I need nothing,
6:13
Speaker 1: not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
6:18
Speaker 1: That's a sad state of affairs. Amen. Amen. I counsel
6:24
Speaker 1: you to buy from me gold refined by fire so
6:28
Speaker 1: that you may be rich, white garments so that you
6:32
Speaker 1: may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may
6:35
Speaker 1: not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so
6:39
Speaker 1: that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove
6:43
Speaker 1: and discipline. Be zealous and repent. And then here's the
6:49
Speaker 1: other familiar verse. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
6:53
Speaker 1: If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I
6:55
Speaker 1: will come into him and eat with him and he
6:58
Speaker 1: with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him
7:02
Speaker 1: to sit with me on my throne as I also
7:06
Speaker 1: conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.
7:10
Speaker 1: He who has an ear, let him hear what the
7:13
Speaker 1: Spirit says to the churches. Amen. If I had to
7:21
Speaker 1: title this message, I would title it, A House Call
7:24
Speaker 1: for a Sin Sick Church. Because I believe that the
7:27
Speaker 1: way Jesus lays this out, he really lays it out
7:31
Speaker 1: in almost medical terms, the way he diagnoses their problem
7:36
Speaker 1: and then comes to a treatment plan. So what we
7:39
Speaker 1: have first is the identification of the physician. And again,
7:43
Speaker 1: if you want to be cured, you need to go
7:45
Speaker 1: to the proper physician. Amen. Amen. If you have a
7:48
Speaker 1: problem with your back, you don't go to the foot doctor.
7:51
Speaker 1: He identifies himself. And then we have the diagnosis. Here's
7:56
Speaker 1: what your problem is. And we have the symptoms. After that,
7:59
Speaker 1: we have the prognosis. And then we have the treatment plan.
8:03
Speaker 1: All of these things, as he makes a house call,
8:06
Speaker 1: we see there in verse 20, to this sin sick church.
8:11
Speaker 1: So let's look at it from that perspective and see
8:14
Speaker 1: how the doctor does his work. First, there is the
8:17
Speaker 1: identification of the physician. Look at how he's identified. To
8:22
Speaker 1: the angel of the church that laid us here, right?
8:24
Speaker 1: The words of the amen. That phrase there, the amen,
8:29
Speaker 1: means not just that he is the truth, but he
8:32
Speaker 1: is the validation of the truth. When we say amen
8:35
Speaker 1: or amen, what we are saying is truth. It is so.
8:39
Speaker 1: What we are saying is that is true. Someone says
8:42
Speaker 1: something and we validate the truth and testify to the
8:45
Speaker 1: truth by adding our amen to what is being said.
8:50
Speaker 1: Jesus says he is the amen, which means that he
8:54
Speaker 1: is the validation of all truth because he's the source
8:58
Speaker 1: of all truth. In John 14 and 6, he identifies
9:02
Speaker 1: himself as the way, the truth, and the life and
9:05
Speaker 1: says that no one comes to the Father but by him. Here,
9:09
Speaker 1: Jesus says, I am the last word. I am the truth.
9:15
Speaker 1: There is no truth outside of God. There is no
9:19
Speaker 1: truth that does not align with God. And Jesus is
9:23
Speaker 1: the one who stands as the validation of all that
9:27
Speaker 1: truth that aligns with God. Second, he says, not only
9:32
Speaker 1: that he is the Amen, but he is the faithful
9:35
Speaker 1: and true witness. This is important for a number of reasons,
9:40
Speaker 1: not least of which is there's an Old Testament allusion
9:43
Speaker 1: here to Jesus actually being the faithful Israel that is prophesied.
9:49
Speaker 1: Christ is faithful Israel. He is the last Adam. He
9:53
Speaker 1: is faithful Israel. He is God's faithful and true witness
9:57
Speaker 1: on the earth, and now he's God's faithful and true witness.
10:00
Speaker 1: in heaven. As the one who took on flesh, the
10:03
Speaker 1: second person of the Trinity took on flesh, has ascended
10:07
Speaker 1: to the right hand of His Father, and He ascended
10:10
Speaker 1: in that very flesh that He took on. So He
10:13
Speaker 1: is the faithful and true witness. He is the truth.
10:17
Speaker 1: And he is also the faithful and true witness. This
10:19
Speaker 1: is important also because as we look at the letters
10:23
Speaker 1: to these seven churches, there is a consistent theme. When
10:26
Speaker 1: he uses that phrase, I know your work, what he
10:30
Speaker 1: refers to more often than not is their witness. Some
10:34
Speaker 1: of them had a witness on the outside that was faithful,
10:38
Speaker 1: and yet they allowed error to come on the inside.
10:42
Speaker 1: Others would not allow, like the church of Ephesus, error
10:45
Speaker 1: to come on the inside. They stood up against error
10:48
Speaker 1: on the inside, but they were not faithful in their
10:50
Speaker 1: proclamation of the gospel on the outside. So their witness
10:55
Speaker 1: was incredibly important. As we continue in Revelation, that idea
11:00
Speaker 1: of the witness will be extremely important and the faithful
11:04
Speaker 1: witnesses of God. And one of the things that we
11:07
Speaker 1: see throughout the book of Revelation is that being a
11:10
Speaker 1: faithful and true witness leads to the opposition of the
11:13
Speaker 1: world and ultimately to martyrdom. What did Jesus get for
11:19
Speaker 1: being a faithful and true witness? He got the cross.
11:24
Speaker 1: And as we continue to read in this letter, the
11:28
Speaker 1: faithful and true witnesses are killed. Nowhere more dramatically than
11:35
Speaker 1: there in Revelation chapter 11. Look with me in Revelation
11:43
Speaker 1: chapter 11 for a moment. We won't say too much
11:48
Speaker 1: about this because we'll eventually get here. But look with
11:52
Speaker 1: me beginning in verse 4. Look with me at, look,
11:58
Speaker 1: go back to verse 1. Then I was given a
12:01
Speaker 1: measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, rise
12:05
Speaker 1: and measure the temple of God and the altar and
12:09
Speaker 1: those who worship there, but do not measure the court
12:11
Speaker 1: outside the temple. Leave that out, for it is given
12:15
Speaker 1: over to the nations, and they will trample the holy
12:18
Speaker 1: city for 42 months, which is three and a half years.
12:21
Speaker 1: which is half of a seven. Remember, seven is the
12:24
Speaker 1: number of completion. Three and a half would be a
12:27
Speaker 1: broken seven. So it's a seven that does not come
12:30
Speaker 1: to completion. That's very important. And I will grant authority
12:34
Speaker 1: to my two witnesses. And they will prophesy for 1,260 days,
12:40
Speaker 1: clothed in sackcloth. 1,260 days is another way of saying
12:44
Speaker 1: 42 months, which is another way of saying three and
12:47
Speaker 1: a half years, which is another way of saying a
12:49
Speaker 1: seven that doesn't come to its full completion. Verse 4.
12:54
Speaker 1: These are the two olive trees. So now we got
12:56
Speaker 1: the two witnesses who are two olive trees. The two
12:59
Speaker 1: lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And
13:02
Speaker 1: if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth
13:06
Speaker 1: and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this
13:10
Speaker 1: is how he is doomed to be killed. They have
13:12
Speaker 1: the power to shut the sky open. That no rain
13:16
Speaker 1: may fall during the days of their prophesying. And they
13:19
Speaker 1: have power over the waters to turn them into blood
13:22
Speaker 1: and to strike the earth with every kind of plague
13:25
Speaker 1: as often as they desire. And when they have finished
13:28
Speaker 1: their testimony, they are witnesses. What do witnesses do? They testify.
13:32
Speaker 1: They testify. They are testifying to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
13:36
Speaker 1: The beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make
13:39
Speaker 1: war on them and conquer them and kill them. And
13:43
Speaker 1: their bodies will lie in the streets of the great
13:46
Speaker 1: city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their
13:50
Speaker 1: Lord was crucified. What happens to faithful witnesses? Faithful witnesses
13:57
Speaker 1: are killed. Because they testify to the message of the
14:03
Speaker 1: gospel of Jesus Christ that stands against everything that this
14:07
Speaker 1: world is about and everything that this world stands for.
14:11
Speaker 1: So when Jesus identifies himself as the faithful and true witness,
14:16
Speaker 1: he identifies himself as the one who carried out his
14:20
Speaker 1: witnessing responsibility all the way to the point of death.
14:29
Speaker 1: John 8, verse 18, and then verses 27 and 28.
14:36
Speaker 1: Same author. Jesus' words there. I am the one who
14:41
Speaker 1: bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me
14:44
Speaker 1: bears witness about me. They did not understand that he
14:49
Speaker 1: had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus
14:52
Speaker 1: said to them, when you have lifted up the Son
14:54
Speaker 1: of Man, then you will know that I am he.
14:58
Speaker 1: and that I do nothing on my own authority, but
15:01
Speaker 1: speak just as the Father taught me. He is the
15:05
Speaker 1: faithful and true witness, even unto death. Finally, he says,
15:12
Speaker 1: the beginning of God's creation. So he is the amen.
15:17
Speaker 1: He is the validation of all truth and the source
15:21
Speaker 1: of all truth. He is the embodiment of all truth.
15:25
Speaker 1: He is truth incarnate. He is the faithful and true witness.
15:30
Speaker 1: He does not waver. He cannot waver. There is no
15:33
Speaker 1: shadow of turning in him. And finally, he is the
15:37
Speaker 1: beginning of the creation of God, or he is the
15:41
Speaker 1: originator of the creation of God. He is the author
15:44
Speaker 1: of the creation of God. He is the creator. Colossians
15:50
Speaker 1: chapter 1, verses 15 through 20. And listen to how
15:53
Speaker 1: much of this imagery is contained in this passage in Colossians.
15:57
Speaker 1: Speaking of Jesus, he is the image of the invisible God,
16:00
Speaker 1: the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things
16:04
Speaker 1: were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
16:08
Speaker 1: whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things
16:11
Speaker 1: were created through him and for him. And he is
16:14
Speaker 1: before all things, and in him all things hold together.
16:18
Speaker 1: He is the head of the body, the church. He
16:20
Speaker 1: is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in
16:22
Speaker 1: everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the
16:26
Speaker 1: fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him
16:29
Speaker 1: to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or
16:32
Speaker 1: in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
16:35
Speaker 1: That is who Jesus is. That's the physician. What about
16:42
Speaker 1: the diagnosis? Well, this is where it gets a bit
16:45
Speaker 1: dicey and can be even a bit confusing. He says,
16:50
Speaker 1: I know your works. Familiar phrase. That's a picture of
16:54
Speaker 1: his sovereignty and his omniscience. Nothing is hidden from him.
16:59
Speaker 1: That's what the statement means. But what of their works
17:02
Speaker 1: does he speak of? The reason that the statement of
17:05
Speaker 1: sovereignty and omniscience is so important is this. When he says,
17:09
Speaker 1: I know your works, Jesus doesn't just mean, I know
17:12
Speaker 1: what you did. He means, I know why you did it. Amen? Amen?
17:19
Speaker 1: He doesn't just look. Man looks on the outward, but
17:23
Speaker 1: God looks at the heart. Jesus doesn't just say here,
17:28
Speaker 1: I know what you did. He says, I know why
17:31
Speaker 1: you did it. How many of us have done things
17:36
Speaker 1: that look good on the outside, but inwardly, the reasons
17:40
Speaker 1: that we did them had absolutely nothing to do with
17:43
Speaker 1: the glory of God, but everything, everything with being viewed properly.
17:50
Speaker 1: in our own opinion, in the sight of man. How
17:53
Speaker 1: many of us rarely do anything without thinking about the
17:58
Speaker 1: kind of credit that it's going to bring to us?
18:00
Speaker 1: When Jesus says, I know your works, what he means is,
18:04
Speaker 1: I know that you said words that were encouraging to
18:09
Speaker 1: that other person, but you only said those words that
18:12
Speaker 1: were encouraging because somebody else was watching and you thought
18:15
Speaker 1: it would make you look good. I know that you
18:23
Speaker 1: went and ministered to thus and such, but you only
18:28
Speaker 1: did that so that there would be a feather in
18:30
Speaker 1: your cap and you could talk about all the ministry
18:33
Speaker 1: that you do. I know that you testified and you
18:40
Speaker 1: bore witness to the gospel, but I also know that
18:44
Speaker 1: you only did that because you knew that it would
18:47
Speaker 1: tweak that person and you loved doing that. I know
18:57
Speaker 1: your works. I know the heart of your works. That's
19:03
Speaker 1: what he refers to here. And in these letters to
19:06
Speaker 1: these churches, that's what's important. I know your works. And
19:12
Speaker 1: then here's where it gets interesting. You are neither cold
19:16
Speaker 1: nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot.
19:21
Speaker 1: So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold,
19:24
Speaker 1: I will spit you out of my mouth or vomit
19:26
Speaker 1: you out of my mouth. Sometimes we get a little
19:29
Speaker 1: confused there and we think that there's some diagnosis and
19:32
Speaker 1: prognosis there. That the idea of being spit out of
19:35
Speaker 1: his mouth is really the consequence. That's the threat. The
19:38
Speaker 1: threat is I'm going to spit you out of my
19:40
Speaker 1: mouth or vomit you out of my mouth. That's not
19:42
Speaker 1: the threat when you understand the context. He says you're
19:46
Speaker 1: neither hot nor cold. The way that we read this
19:49
Speaker 1: and understand it again has to be connected to the
19:53
Speaker 1: geography of Laodicea if it's not we just sort of
19:57
Speaker 1: read this and we go well hot that's good cold
20:01
Speaker 1: that's bad Jesus is basically saying I'd rather you either
20:05
Speaker 1: be for me or against me one or the other
20:10
Speaker 1: I mean, be against me if you're going to be
20:11
Speaker 1: against me, but at least just do it all out.
20:14
Speaker 1: Go hard or go home. It's not what Jesus is saying.
20:20
Speaker 1: First of all, we know that because he's talking to
20:22
Speaker 1: the church at Laodicea. That's not what he's saying. Nowhere
20:27
Speaker 1: in Scripture do we find that. Be against me. I
20:31
Speaker 1: would have more respect for you if you were just
20:33
Speaker 1: against me. The other problem with this understanding of the
20:36
Speaker 1: hot and cold is that we actually reduce this to
20:39
Speaker 1: a matter of our passion and our intensity. We think
20:43
Speaker 1: of hot as very passionate and intense. And Jesus is saying,
20:48
Speaker 1: if you're not going to be passionate and intense about it,
20:51
Speaker 1: then just don't do it. It's not what he's saying here.
20:55
Speaker 1: Not at all. This doesn't have anything to do with
20:58
Speaker 1: passion and intensity. It doesn't have anything to do with
21:01
Speaker 1: being for him or against him. In order to understand
21:04
Speaker 1: what he means, you have to use all of your
21:06
Speaker 1: context clues. One of them is this. Laodicea is rich
21:11
Speaker 1: in natural resources. And we'll get to that in a
21:14
Speaker 1: moment because that's significant as well. But there's one natural
21:18
Speaker 1: resource that they don't have. That's water. They don't have
21:24
Speaker 1: their own water supply. So there were two directions that
21:28
Speaker 1: they could go. There's Herapolis and there's Colossae. Now we
21:33
Speaker 1: know that there's a church in Colossae. We know that
21:35
Speaker 1: the letter of the Colossians. And in fact, Laodicea is
21:38
Speaker 1: mentioned in Paul's letter to the Colossians. And there's a
21:43
Speaker 1: relationship between Laodicea and Colossae. Colossae was the source of
21:48
Speaker 1: cold water. These streams of cold water that were good
21:52
Speaker 1: for drinking. They were six miles away. And so you
21:55
Speaker 1: would pipe the water in from Colossae for your drinking water.
22:00
Speaker 1: And when you pipe water in from six miles away,
22:03
Speaker 1: at its source, it's cold. But by the time it
22:06
Speaker 1: goes through six miles of pipe, it's no longer cold,
22:10
Speaker 1: it's lukewarm. Well, Herapolis was 11 miles away in the
22:15
Speaker 1: other direction, and they had hot water. Hot water with
22:19
Speaker 1: calcium deposits in these streams that were used for medicinal purposes.
22:24
Speaker 1: So the cold water was good for refreshing. Cold is
22:27
Speaker 1: not bad. It's not hot good, cold bad. Cold is good.
22:34
Speaker 1: Any of you live in Houston? Oh yeah, that's right.
22:38
Speaker 1: All of us do. You live in Houston on a
22:40
Speaker 1: hot day? How about this? If you want to understand
22:44
Speaker 1: this vividly, those of us who live in Houston, here
22:47
Speaker 1: it is. You're in Houston on a hot day and
22:49
Speaker 1: you're outside doing some outside activity. You're at the zoo
22:53
Speaker 1: where we went recently. Over to the zoo. All right,
22:55
Speaker 1: you're at the zoo and it's hot. Like hot, like
22:59
Speaker 1: August Houston, hot, sweaty, nasty, hot. And you walk over
23:04
Speaker 1: to the water fountain. And when you walk over to
23:07
Speaker 1: the water fountain, you don't hear that familiar buzz, that hum.
23:12
Speaker 1: You know the hum that you want to hear when
23:14
Speaker 1: you walk up to the water fountain that says that
23:16
Speaker 1: it's working and it's cooling the water. But you ignore
23:19
Speaker 1: the fact that you don't hear the hum and you
23:21
Speaker 1: push the button and you put your mouth down for
23:23
Speaker 1: a nice cold drink of water on a hot day.
23:27
Speaker 1: And it's not cold. You don't just keep drinking. You
23:33
Speaker 1: spit that water out and try to go find somewhere
23:35
Speaker 1: where the machine is working and the water's cold. That's
23:39
Speaker 1: what he's saying about the cold water. The hot water
23:42
Speaker 1: comes from Herapolis. The hot water was good for medicinal purpose.
23:47
Speaker 1: These mud baths or other things that they would have there.
23:50
Speaker 1: And it was also heavily calcified water. So now you
23:53
Speaker 1: have hot water that's piped in, that's heavily calcified. By
23:56
Speaker 1: the time that water gets to you, it's no longer hot.
24:00
Speaker 1: It is lukewarm. If you drank that hot calcified water,
24:06
Speaker 1: it could induce vomiting. I mean, it was literally that nasty.
24:11
Speaker 1: Don't drink the water. It's nasty. It could induce vomiting.
24:16
Speaker 1: So when the hot water comes, it's no longer hot.
24:18
Speaker 1: It's not good for its medicinal purposes. It's lukewarm. When
24:21
Speaker 1: the cold water comes, it's no longer cold. It's not
24:24
Speaker 1: good for its refreshing purposes. It's lukewarm. Jesus is not
24:28
Speaker 1: saying here, be passionate or not passionate before me or
24:33
Speaker 1: be against me. Your problem is not the temperature. Your
24:42
Speaker 1: problem is the distance from the source. That's the issue.
24:50
Speaker 1: And because of your distance from the source, you are
24:54
Speaker 1: not fulfilling any of the purposes for which you exist.
25:00
Speaker 1: There are some ways in which the church is to
25:02
Speaker 1: be a cold drink of water on a hot day. Amen?
25:06
Speaker 1: To be refreshing. There are other ways in which the
25:10
Speaker 1: church is to be a healing balm. And what Jesus
25:16
Speaker 1: is saying is, You're neither refreshing nor healing. You are
25:25
Speaker 1: vomit-inducing lukewarmness. That's the diagnosis. The diagnosis is not just lukewarmness.
25:33
Speaker 1: You have vomit-inducing lukewarmness. That's the disease. That's what it's called.
25:39
Speaker 1: It's a vomit-inducing lukewarmness. But I mean, a diagnosis is nothing, right?
25:47
Speaker 1: What are the symptoms of this disease that we have?
25:51
Speaker 1: Glad that you asked. Look at this next part of
25:55
Speaker 1: the passage. Four, now he's going to give you the
25:59
Speaker 1: symptoms of the disease. You say, I am rich and
26:03
Speaker 1: I have prospered and I need nothing. Here's where history
26:09
Speaker 1: comes into play. You say I am rich and I
26:12
Speaker 1: am prosperous and I need nothing. Why is that significant
26:14
Speaker 1: in Laodicea? Because they are a banking center. They're at
26:18
Speaker 1: a crossroads. You've got Ephesus and Herapolis and Colossae and
26:24
Speaker 1: all these other places. We're at a crossroads here and
26:27
Speaker 1: Laodicea was extremely wealthy. How wealthy was Laodicea? Well, Laodicea
26:34
Speaker 1: was so wealthy that in AD 60, there was an earthquake,
26:37
Speaker 1: a devastating earthquake. And they had many earthquakes in Laodicea
26:41
Speaker 1: in this region. There was a devastating earthquake. And it
26:45
Speaker 1: devastated towns all around the region. Now, in the Roman Empire,
26:49
Speaker 1: they had their own version of FEMA. And they would
26:52
Speaker 1: actually send money to cities in the empire so that
26:55
Speaker 1: these cities could rebuild after a natural desire. Laodicea was
26:59
Speaker 1: so rich that in AD 60, their city was destroyed.
27:03
Speaker 1: Rome sent money and Laodicea sent it back saying, we
27:07
Speaker 1: don't need your money. We can rebuild ourselves. Can we
27:12
Speaker 1: read that verse again? For you say, I am rich.
27:18
Speaker 1: I have prospered and I need nothing. That's the attitude
27:27
Speaker 1: of Laodicea. I don't need anything. That is self-reliance. And
27:37
Speaker 1: that's the death knell to Christianity. Self-reliance. I can do this. That's,
27:45
Speaker 1: by the way, when you don't call on God. Why
27:47
Speaker 1: do you need to call on God? You have everything
27:49
Speaker 1: you need. I am wealthy. I have prospered. I have
27:52
Speaker 1: need of nothing. God, I'll get with you if I
27:55
Speaker 1: need something. That's the death knell. That's the death knell
27:59
Speaker 1: to Christianity. It's the death knell to the church. We
28:02
Speaker 1: don't need God because we have prospered. We don't need
28:07
Speaker 1: God because we have money. We don't need to be
28:09
Speaker 1: on our faces before Almighty God because things aren't bad here.
28:16
Speaker 1: Here's the other issue in Laodicea. We know about these
28:20
Speaker 1: trade guilds. And we know, for example, that just a
28:23
Speaker 1: couple of churches earlier we read about the church at Thyatira.
28:33
Speaker 1: And that in the church at Thyatira, they had a
28:35
Speaker 1: problem because people were being seduced into engaging in the
28:40
Speaker 1: practices in these trade guilds. And that there were some
28:43
Speaker 1: people who had to be taken care of by the church.
28:46
Speaker 1: He says in verse 18, Or verse 19, I know
28:50
Speaker 1: your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance.
28:54
Speaker 1: That word for service there refers to the service to
28:57
Speaker 1: individuals in the church who couldn't take care of themselves
29:00
Speaker 1: financially because of the pressure of these trade guilds. So
29:04
Speaker 1: what's happening all over Asia Minor is that churches and
29:08
Speaker 1: Christians are losing income because they will not compromise. And
29:14
Speaker 1: if they will not compromise and join the trade guilds,
29:17
Speaker 1: they can't get work. And if they can't get work,
29:20
Speaker 1: they're barely hanging on financially. So in the midst of
29:23
Speaker 1: persecution of the church all over the region— And in
29:28
Speaker 1: the midst of Christians who are in great need because
29:31
Speaker 1: they won't compromise, because they're faithful witnesses to the gospel,
29:35
Speaker 1: and they'd rather starve than compromise, Laodicea says, we got
29:38
Speaker 1: all the money we need. How does that happen? Only
29:46
Speaker 1: through compromise. Only through compromise. What does he say here?
30:02
Speaker 1: after the symptoms he says verse 18 here's the cure
30:13
Speaker 1: i counsel you to buy from me gold refined by
30:16
Speaker 1: fire so that you may be rich why is that
30:20
Speaker 1: significant remember i said they were a banking center that
30:24
Speaker 1: they were a wealthy city guess what they had a
30:27
Speaker 1: whole lot of gold We're rich. We don't need anything.
30:33
Speaker 1: Why are you so rich? Because we have gold. Jesus says,
30:36
Speaker 1: you're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. You think you're rich,
30:42
Speaker 1: but you've got nothing. I advise you to buy from
30:45
Speaker 1: me gold refined by fire. Jesus, we already have gold.
30:49
Speaker 1: You know what? That's your problem. You have nothing. I'm
30:56
Speaker 1: the vine. You are the branches. Apart from me, you
30:58
Speaker 1: can do nothing. Apart from me, you have nothing. Jesus,
31:02
Speaker 1: we have gold. No, you don't. You need to buy
31:06
Speaker 1: gold from me. That thing that you believe you have
31:09
Speaker 1: in abundance, you need to come to me for that thing.
31:11
Speaker 1: You need to recognize that that thing is not yours.
31:14
Speaker 1: You need to recognize that I am the beginning of
31:16
Speaker 1: the creation of God and that thing is actually mine.
31:20
Speaker 1: And that thing that you think you have in abundance
31:22
Speaker 1: can be taken away from you like that. Then he says... Interesting,
31:41
Speaker 1: they had a thriving textile industry and they were known
31:45
Speaker 1: for black wool. Jesus says, you need to buy from
31:50
Speaker 1: me white garments. You're known for the black wool that
31:57
Speaker 1: you provide all over this region. You need to buy
32:00
Speaker 1: from me white garments. Now, we know that these white
32:02
Speaker 1: garments refer to our cleanness before God and our ability
32:07
Speaker 1: to approach God in worship. And then finally, he says,
32:16
Speaker 1: and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
32:21
Speaker 1: Laodicea was famous for its medical school. Guess what? its
32:30
Speaker 1: medical school was most famous for turning out. Doctors who
32:37
Speaker 1: would treat the eyes with a Phrygian eye salve made
32:42
Speaker 1: right here in Laodicea. Why do they think they're wealthy
32:50
Speaker 1: and have need of nothing? Because they got plenty of gold,
32:54
Speaker 1: they got plenty of wool, and a medical school that's
32:58
Speaker 1: renowned throughout the region because of the doctors that they
33:02
Speaker 1: send out there specifically to treat this disease of the
33:07
Speaker 1: eyes with their eye salve. What does Jesus say? You
33:12
Speaker 1: say you're rich and that you don't have need of anything.
33:19
Speaker 1: You're wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. What are they? Poor, blind,
33:30
Speaker 1: and naked. What do they need from Jesus? Gold so
33:34
Speaker 1: they won't be poor. Eye salve so they won't be blind.
33:38
Speaker 1: And white garments so that they won't be naked. That's
33:45
Speaker 1: the treatment. What are they dealing with? Self-denial and self-reliance.
33:54
Speaker 1: Self-denial and self-reliance. So what's the prognosis? What happens if
34:08
Speaker 1: this thing goes untreated? Verse 19. Those whom I love
34:16
Speaker 1: I reprove and discipline so be zealous and repent. There's
34:26
Speaker 1: the prognosis. If you don't treat this you will be
34:33
Speaker 1: reproved and disciplined by me. There's several things that are
34:38
Speaker 1: important for us to understand this prognosis. One is this,
34:43
Speaker 1: those whom I love. It's hard for us to wrap
34:48
Speaker 1: our mind around this because of the time in which
34:50
Speaker 1: we live. And in the time in which we live,
34:53
Speaker 1: we live in a time where everybody celebrates the universal
34:56
Speaker 1: fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. God
35:00
Speaker 1: loves everyone. Folks, if God loves everyone, then his love
35:04
Speaker 1: is meaningless. It's meaningless. Think about it this way. I
35:10
Speaker 1: am a husband to my wife. If I say to
35:14
Speaker 1: my wife, I love you the same way I love
35:16
Speaker 1: everyone else, my relationship with you is no more intimate
35:20
Speaker 1: than my relationship with anyone else. That's called adultery. Jesus says,
35:27
Speaker 1: those whom I love. Those whom I love. He is
35:31
Speaker 1: setting apart a group of people based upon the love
35:35
Speaker 1: that he has set upon them. Those whom I love.
35:38
Speaker 1: Which means that there are others whom he does not love,
35:41
Speaker 1: or at least whom he doesn't love in the same way.
35:43
Speaker 1: He is angry with the wicked every day. God hates
35:46
Speaker 1: the wicked. Not just wickedness. He hates wickedness and he
35:57
Speaker 1: hates the wicked. Amen, somebody? We're enemies of God before
36:05
Speaker 1: we're converted. Do we not read this in the Scriptures?
36:10
Speaker 1: I was an enemy of God, and I am no
36:13
Speaker 1: longer an enemy of God. He has adopted me. Here's
36:16
Speaker 1: the other thing. This whole universal brotherhood of man, we're
36:19
Speaker 1: all God's children. Newsflash, we're not. This is the language
36:25
Speaker 1: of adoption and childhood. Those whom I love, I reprove
36:28
Speaker 1: and discipline. Whom do you reprove and discipline? Your children,
36:32
Speaker 1: not everybody else's. In John chapter 1, we see what?
36:41
Speaker 1: That those who believe in him, even those who believe
36:43
Speaker 1: on his name, he gives the right to become the
36:45
Speaker 1: children of God. Folks, I don't need the right to
36:47
Speaker 1: become something I already am. And if we're all God's children,
36:53
Speaker 1: why does Christ die so that we can become the
36:55
Speaker 1: children of God? In Romans chapter 8, the spirit of adoption,
37:00
Speaker 1: whereby I'm adopted and cry out, Abba, Father. Why do
37:03
Speaker 1: I need to be adopted by God if I'm already
37:06
Speaker 1: a child of God? God is going to send his
37:11
Speaker 1: children to hell? He's going to pour out his wrath
37:15
Speaker 1: on his children throughout all eternity? I don't think so.
37:20
Speaker 1: His children are adopted. They belong to him and they
37:23
Speaker 1: will in no wise be cast out. There is a
37:26
Speaker 1: distinction here. This is important because when we look at
37:29
Speaker 1: verse 20, there are those who rip it, kicking and
37:32
Speaker 1: screaming out of context and use verse 20 as though
37:37
Speaker 1: it's an evangelistic verse. Behold, I stand at the door
37:40
Speaker 1: and knock. We put that on the end of these
37:42
Speaker 1: evangelistic tracks as though Jesus is somehow talking to unbelievers. No. No.
37:47
Speaker 1: Number one, this is a letter to a church. Number two,
37:48
Speaker 1: verse 19 makes it clear that he's using the language
37:51
Speaker 1: of sonship. There's another issue here. Those whom I love,
37:58
Speaker 1: he uses the word phileo, not agape. He doesn't use agapeo,
38:03
Speaker 1: he uses phileo. Those whom I love, phileo. This is
38:06
Speaker 1: another one that gives us fits, mainly because of a
38:11
Speaker 1: couple of very famous sermons. Uh, A couple of very
38:17
Speaker 1: famous sermons about Jesus' restoration of Peter. Do you love me? Lord,
38:23
Speaker 1: you know I love you. Feed my sheep. Do you
38:25
Speaker 1: love me? Lord, you know I love you. Feed my sheep.
38:27
Speaker 1: Do you love me? Again, in that, Jesus uses... Agape,
38:34
Speaker 1: do you agape me? Peter, yes, I agape you. Two,
38:38
Speaker 1: do you agape me? Or I phileo you. Jesus says,
38:41
Speaker 1: do you agape me? Peter says, I phileo you. Jesus says,
38:44
Speaker 1: do you agape me? Peter says, I phileo you. And
38:46
Speaker 1: then finally, Jesus says, do you phileo me? And Peter says, yes,
38:50
Speaker 1: I phileo you. There's a bunch of famous sermons there
38:53
Speaker 1: about the use of agape versus phileo and this idea
38:56
Speaker 1: that agape is God's love, agape is the highest level
39:00
Speaker 1: of love, so on and so forth, and this huge
39:02
Speaker 1: distinction between agape and phileo. But Jesus says here, those
39:08
Speaker 1: whom I phileo. Here's the other thing. John uses this
39:12
Speaker 1: a lot. In John chapter 5 verse 20, for the
39:16
Speaker 1: father loves the son, the word there is not agape,
39:19
Speaker 1: it's phileo. John chapter 16, verses 26. and 27 in
39:32
Speaker 1: that day you will ask in my name and i
39:35
Speaker 1: do not say that i will ask the father on
39:37
Speaker 1: your behalf for the father himself phileos you god phileos
39:44
Speaker 1: me He phileos you. He phileos us because you have
39:49
Speaker 1: phileoed me and have believed that I am come from God.
39:55
Speaker 1: Phileo and agape are used interchangeably by John. It's the
40:03
Speaker 1: same thing. They're used interchangeably by John. The second is
40:10
Speaker 1: the idea of the love and discipline. We don't grasp this.
40:15
Speaker 1: We don't understand it. Listen to this from our own confession,
40:20
Speaker 1: 2nd London Baptist Confession, chapter 16, paragraph 3. And though
40:25
Speaker 1: they may through the temptation of Satan and the world,
40:30
Speaker 1: the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect
40:33
Speaker 1: of means of their preservation fall into grievous sins, and
40:38
Speaker 1: for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure
40:43
Speaker 1: and grieve His Holy Spirit, come to have their graces
40:46
Speaker 1: and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt,
40:51
Speaker 1: and scandalized others, and bring temptation and judgment upon themselves,
40:58
Speaker 1: yet they shall renew their repentance and be preserved through
41:03
Speaker 1: faith in Christ Jesus to the end. All that bad
41:09
Speaker 1: stuff happens. He disciplines us. Proverbs 3, 11 and 12,
41:16
Speaker 1: my son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be
41:19
Speaker 1: weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom
41:22
Speaker 1: he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights.
41:27
Speaker 1: That's the language that John is using in verse 3,
41:30
Speaker 1: verse 20 of chapter 3. First Corinthians 11, 31 and 32,
41:34
Speaker 1: this is extremely important. Every week we read this. But
41:39
Speaker 1: if we judge ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
41:41
Speaker 1: But when we are judged by the Lord, we are
41:44
Speaker 1: disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with
41:48
Speaker 1: the world. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 5 through 7. And
41:54
Speaker 1: have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
42:00
Speaker 1: My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
42:03
Speaker 1: nor be weary when reproved by him, for the Lord
42:06
Speaker 1: disciplines the one he loves. and chastises every son whom
42:11
Speaker 1: he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure.
42:16
Speaker 1: God is treating you as sons, for what son is
42:19
Speaker 1: there whom his father does not discipline? This is father-son language.
42:31
Speaker 1: Now we get to verse 20. And look at what
42:34
Speaker 1: he says in verse 20. Behold, I stand at the
42:39
Speaker 1: door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, opens the door,
42:44
Speaker 1: I will come into him and eat with him and
42:47
Speaker 1: he with me. This is amazing. What's the disease? The
42:55
Speaker 1: disease is vomit-inducing lukewarmness, which when you understand the geography
43:01
Speaker 1: has to do with this improper connection to the source.
43:05
Speaker 1: This improper connection to the source that leads to self-reliance
43:09
Speaker 1: and self-deception. What's the cure? Well, the cure is to
43:15
Speaker 1: be connected to and dependent upon the source. So what
43:19
Speaker 1: does this physician do? He comes to us. Do you
43:29
Speaker 1: follow that? We hear Jesus saying to the church, you
43:35
Speaker 1: are disconnected from me. You are not properly connected to me.
43:39
Speaker 1: You are depending on yourself. And in your self-reliance, you
43:42
Speaker 1: are deceived and you think you have everything you want.
43:45
Speaker 1: You don't even see your own compromise. You're not hot.
43:49
Speaker 1: You're not cold. You're not healing and you're not refreshing.
43:52
Speaker 1: You are nothing. You are useless right now. And all
43:55
Speaker 1: those things that you think you have, you need to
43:57
Speaker 1: buy from me in abundance because you don't have what
44:01
Speaker 1: you think you have and you're not who you think
44:03
Speaker 1: you are. You desperately need to be connected. Oh Jesus,
44:06
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. Here I come. I want to connect
44:08
Speaker 1: with you again. Here you come. What? I'm at the door.
44:16
Speaker 1: Do you know why I believe the Lord doesn't ask
44:18
Speaker 1: us to go anywhere? Because what's our problem? We think
44:23
Speaker 1: we've done it all. If he says, run to me,
44:28
Speaker 1: and your problem is self-reliance and self-dependence, then if things
44:32
Speaker 1: get better, what do you start thinking? I'm better because
44:34
Speaker 1: I ran to him. You know what this sounds like?
44:37
Speaker 1: This sounds like people whose testimony goes something like this.
44:42
Speaker 1: You know, I heard the message, and when I heard
44:45
Speaker 1: the message... I ran to the altar and I surrendered
44:49
Speaker 1: everything to the Lord. That testimony makes me cringe. First
44:54
Speaker 1: of all, you don't know where everything is. Amen. I
45:00
Speaker 1: surrendered everything to the Lord. Liar, liar, liar. You don't
45:05
Speaker 1: even know where everything is. Here's another reason I know
45:08
Speaker 1: you're a liar. Because you didn't surrender the pride that
45:11
Speaker 1: would make you think you actually surrendered something to God.
45:17
Speaker 1: You didn't surrender everything to the Lord. Sanctification is an
45:21
Speaker 1: ongoing process. How are you going to say that you
45:23
Speaker 1: surrendered everything to the Lord and believe that sanctification is
45:26
Speaker 1: an ongoing process? Help you if you're okay with that.
45:30
Speaker 1: That doesn't work, folks. You did not surrender everything to
45:34
Speaker 1: the Lord. But listen to the language. I am right
45:38
Speaker 1: with God because I surrendered everything to the Lord. That's
45:42
Speaker 1: our language. I decided for Jesus. I made Jesus my...
45:49
Speaker 1: What are you talking about? No. Christ comes to you.
46:02
Speaker 1: The disease is your improper connection or lack thereof which
46:11
Speaker 1: makes you self-reliant and self-sufficient and utterly useless. The cure,
46:20
Speaker 1: you need to be reconnected to the source. How do
46:24
Speaker 1: you do that? The source comes to you. And notice
46:30
Speaker 1: what he says. He says, I will come into you
46:34
Speaker 1: and I will dine with you and you with me.
46:36
Speaker 1: There's intimacy here and there's dining here. There's a couple
46:40
Speaker 1: of reasons that really irks me that we put this
46:43
Speaker 1: in our evangelistic text. But one of them is this.
46:48
Speaker 1: I believe that the language used here has a direct
46:53
Speaker 1: implication to the Lord's Supper. When we gather before the
47:05
Speaker 1: table of the Lord, we always begin With repentance. And
47:13
Speaker 1: we do it so that we are reminded that we
47:15
Speaker 1: are not self-sufficient. That we are utterly dependent upon Christ.
47:23
Speaker 1: We gather before the Lord's table week after week after
47:26
Speaker 1: week to remind ourselves that we are wretched and pitiable
47:31
Speaker 1: and poor and blind and naked and we have absolutely
47:35
Speaker 1: nothing of any use before a holy God and we
47:38
Speaker 1: need him. And He comes into us and dines with
47:49
Speaker 1: us and we with Him. Oh, that God would grant
47:55
Speaker 1: us grace to shake off that incredibly inappropriate, Baptistic understanding
48:06
Speaker 1: that many of us have of the Lord's Supper where
48:09
Speaker 1: it's just so purely memorialized that we do not think
48:13
Speaker 1: about the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at all
48:16
Speaker 1: when we gather before those elements. Some people get so
48:24
Speaker 1: uncomfortable when you talk about the Lord being there, the
48:27
Speaker 1: Lord being with. Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute now.
48:29
Speaker 1: You know, the Catholics, when they do that and they
48:31
Speaker 1: reach up and they crucify Christ afresh and they believe that,
48:33
Speaker 1: you know, he becomes the elements of that. Nobody's talking
48:35
Speaker 1: about transubstantiation here or even consubstantiation here. But Christ is
48:40
Speaker 1: present and it's real. And here's what's ironic about that.
48:44
Speaker 1: There are people who will, you know, have a powerful
48:48
Speaker 1: emotional music set. And they'll hear the music and, you know,
48:53
Speaker 1: there'll be an emotion that comes over the audience and
48:55
Speaker 1: they'll go, the Lord is here right now. Because of
49:03
Speaker 1: the emotions that we feel in the music. Or we
49:06
Speaker 1: give an invitation and people are coming down the aisles.
49:09
Speaker 1: And as people are coming down there, we go, the
49:10
Speaker 1: Lord is here right now. The Lord is all over
49:12
Speaker 1: this right now. There's a hush that comes over the
49:15
Speaker 1: room because God is present with us. But you say
49:17
Speaker 1: that about the Lord's Supper. that he calls his flesh
49:21
Speaker 1: and his blood and people go, oh, now wait a minute.
49:26
Speaker 1: Don't be saying he's present in that. One of the
49:36
Speaker 1: reasons that it is so important to be renewed again
49:40
Speaker 1: and again and again in this particular ordinance because of
49:47
Speaker 1: our desperate need to be reminded of our desperate need.
49:57
Speaker 1: His body was broken for you. His blood was shed
50:02
Speaker 1: for you. And as we sit before these elements... And
50:10
Speaker 1: as you take these things into your body, just like
50:15
Speaker 1: food goes in and nourishes your body, Christ nourishes your soul.
50:23
Speaker 1: And as Christians, it is necessary that we feed on
50:26
Speaker 1: Christ spiritually, continually. And that we are reminded of our
50:35
Speaker 1: desperate need for him. Is that all that verse 20
50:40
Speaker 1: is about? I don't think that's all that verse 20
50:43
Speaker 1: is about, but I don't think you can ignore the
50:45
Speaker 1: implications there. Both because of the significance of eating and
50:54
Speaker 1: dining and drinking, but also because of the self-examination that's
50:59
Speaker 1: called for in the Lord's Supper and because of the
51:03
Speaker 1: rebuke that's there in the Lord's Supper. Some of you
51:06
Speaker 1: are sick and some of you have died. Why? Because
51:09
Speaker 1: you didn't judge yourself properly when you came before the
51:12
Speaker 1: table of the Lord. There are echoes there. Be zealous, therefore,
51:17
Speaker 1: and repent because those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.
51:27
Speaker 1: That's his message to Laodicea. And I believe by implication,
51:32
Speaker 1: it's his message to us. Think about this. The church
51:41
Speaker 1: in Laodicea was really in a very difficult position. Why?
51:46
Speaker 1: Because they were in one of the wealthiest parts of
51:50
Speaker 1: the world. And not only did they have wealth, gold, money,
51:58
Speaker 1: but also textiles and manufacturings. In addition to their wealth, gold, money,
52:05
Speaker 1: they had textiles and manufacturing, and they were a medical center.
52:12
Speaker 1: So what does everybody want? Everybody wants money so that
52:19
Speaker 1: you can buy things and so that when you get sick,
52:23
Speaker 1: you can afford to get better. I mean, that's the
52:25
Speaker 1: essence of life. If you really boil it down, there's
52:27
Speaker 1: a whole lot of other stuff. Amen? Amen. But really,
52:30
Speaker 1: we've got to be able to provide for our basic needs.
52:32
Speaker 1: We need money. We've got to have stuff to buy.
52:35
Speaker 1: We either produce it all or it's produced for us
52:37
Speaker 1: and then we buy it with our money. And ultimately,
52:39
Speaker 1: when we get sick, we want to be able to
52:40
Speaker 1: go to the doctor so that we can be healthy
52:42
Speaker 1: and continue to live. I mean, there's not a whole
52:45
Speaker 1: lot more to life than that. By the way, can
52:48
Speaker 1: you think of a city, maybe not a city, but
52:50
Speaker 1: perhaps a country, I don't know, that's maybe more wealthy
52:54
Speaker 1: than the rest of the world? And maybe that has
52:57
Speaker 1: more manufactured stuff available to people than the rest of
53:01
Speaker 1: the world. And maybe that has more access to medicine
53:04
Speaker 1: than the rest of the world that may make it
53:07
Speaker 1: easy for churches in that part of the world to
53:11
Speaker 1: fall into the sin of self-dependence, self-deception, and self-reliance. Maybe? Anybody?
53:22
Speaker 1: Could you think of such a place? The fact of
53:27
Speaker 1: the matter is we live in such a place. We
53:33
Speaker 1: are in such a place. See, when we gather together
53:40
Speaker 1: to meet as a church, we don't immediately bow down
53:45
Speaker 1: and pray that the Lord will allow us to finish
53:47
Speaker 1: our service without somebody kicking in the door and dragging
53:52
Speaker 1: us off or locking the door and setting the place
53:54
Speaker 1: on fire. You see, when we gather as believers, we
54:02
Speaker 1: don't come together as believers on a regular and ongoing
54:06
Speaker 1: basis and try to figure out if we can piece
54:09
Speaker 1: together a Bible among us from the fragments that some
54:14
Speaker 1: families have. When we gather together as believers, we may
54:21
Speaker 1: gather and we do gather and we pray for people
54:24
Speaker 1: who are sick. But when we pray for people who
54:27
Speaker 1: are sick, we're not praying for people who are sick
54:30
Speaker 1: who recognize our prayer for them as the only thing
54:33
Speaker 1: that they have access to because the idea of getting
54:36
Speaker 1: to a doctor or affording one is completely outside of
54:40
Speaker 1: the realm of possibility. So what is the temptation? We're wealthy.
54:53
Speaker 1: We're wealthy. And we really have need of nothing. All
55:01
Speaker 1: the while not realizing that we are wretched and pitiable
55:06
Speaker 1: and poor and blind and naked. Every one of us.
55:16
Speaker 1: I believe that the message to the church at Laodicea
55:22
Speaker 1: is the most directly applicable message to churches in the
55:28
Speaker 1: United States that we find from these seven letters. And
55:37
Speaker 1: I believe that it is the letter with which more
55:42
Speaker 1: of us in this room can identify than anything else
55:46
Speaker 1: that we read in the letters to these seven churches.
55:54
Speaker 1: Because the fact of the matter is, Most of us
55:58
Speaker 1: struggle with the disease of vomit-inducing lukewarmness. Self-dependence, self-deception, self-reliance.
56:14
Speaker 1: God help us. God save us. This is why we
56:21
Speaker 1: need the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why we
56:24
Speaker 1: need to be reminded again and again and again of
56:28
Speaker 1: our desperate need. This is why the cross must be
56:33
Speaker 1: ever before us. Would you bow with me? And as
56:54
Speaker 1: you bow before the Lord, There's a promise there at
56:59
Speaker 1: the end that promises that the one who conquers will
57:05
Speaker 1: sit with Jesus on his throne. I want to read
57:09
Speaker 1: this over you from Philippians. Have this mind among yourselves,
57:17
Speaker 1: which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was
57:22
Speaker 1: in the form of God did not count equality with
57:25
Speaker 1: God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. By
57:28
Speaker 1: taking the form of a servant, being born in the
57:30
Speaker 1: likeness of man, and being found in human form, he
57:33
Speaker 1: humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
57:36
Speaker 1: even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted
57:41
Speaker 1: him and bestowed on him the name that is above
57:43
Speaker 1: every name, so that at the name of Jesus every
57:46
Speaker 1: knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under
57:48
Speaker 1: the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
57:51
Speaker 1: Lord to the glory of God the Father. Christ, the
58:05
Speaker 1: faithful and true witness, was faithful and true unto death.
58:11
Speaker 1: Unto death on the cross, which means that he was
58:14
Speaker 1: put to death at the hands of those before whom
58:19
Speaker 1: he bore that faithful testimony. And the end result is,
58:23
Speaker 1: Father exalted him. He says, the church at Laodicea, and
58:30
Speaker 1: to you and me today, Being my faithful witness may
58:37
Speaker 1: cost you everything. But remember, He's the source of all
58:53
Speaker 1: true wealth, all true power. And as we'll see in
59:00
Speaker 1: the next several weeks, He is seated on His throne
59:05
Speaker 1: He is high and exalted. And when you see things
59:10
Speaker 1: from his perspective, you recognize what really matters. As we
59:22
Speaker 1: bow before the Lord, I encourage you to examine your
59:27
Speaker 1: own heart for this self-reliance, for this self-deception? When was
59:43
Speaker 1: the last time that you actually believed that you couldn't
59:48
Speaker 1: do it? That you couldn't make it unless God intervened?
1:00:02
Speaker 1: When was the last time you actually recognized that those
1:00:06
Speaker 1: things that you have aren't even yours? That they are
1:00:12
Speaker 1: merely on loan from you, from the God who owns
1:00:18
Speaker 1: all things? When was the last time that you recognized
1:00:27
Speaker 1: that you are absolutely and completely unworthy Of the blessings
1:00:32
Speaker 1: that you've received from the hand of God. Behold. He
1:00:40
Speaker 1: stands at the door and knocks. If anyone hears and
1:00:45
Speaker 1: opens the door. He'll come in. Dine with you. And
1:00:53
Speaker 1: you with him. And if you are here today without Christ,
1:01:08
Speaker 1: how much more is it true of you that you
1:01:15
Speaker 1: are self-deceived in your self-reliance? Because the same Christ who
1:01:24
Speaker 1: stands at the door and knocks, waiting to come in
1:01:29
Speaker 1: and dine with those who are His, is the Christ
1:01:35
Speaker 1: who will come through the door as judge to all
1:01:39
Speaker 1: of those who are not.