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SERIES: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WEEK 16

TITLE: THE LUKEWARM CHURCH

TEXT: REVELATION 3:14-17

INTRODUCTION: (1) AT THE END OF A STATEMENT PREPARED FOR A CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN 1940 CAME THESE WORDS:

* “COMMITMENT WITHOUT REFLECTION IS FANATICISM IN ACTION; BUT REFLECTION WITHOUT COMMITMENT IS THE PARALYSIS OF ALL ACTION.”

** NOW THAT STATEMENT COMMUNICATES A REALITY THAT IS DESIRED AND NEEDED IN GENUINE BIBLICAL REAL AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY.

*** AND THAT IS THE AUTHOR OF CHRISTIANITY, JESUS CHRIST, THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, DESIRES AND DESERVES REFLECTION (THINKING, MEDITATION, PONDERING) OF HIS TRUTH, HIS WORD, WHICH LEADS TO COMMITMENT AND COMMITMENT WHICH IS BORN OF REFLECTION.

**** IN OTHER WORDS WE ARE NOT MINDLESS IN OUR COMMITMENT TO JESUS CHRIST, WE HAVE THOUGHT THROUGH AND MEDITATED ON SCRIPTURE ABOUT CHRIST AND AS A RESULT ARE DRIVEN TO COMMITMENT.

***** WE ARE PHILOSOPHY DRIVEN FROM SCRIPTURE THAT LEADS TO SACRIFICE.

(2) WE ARE NOT MINDLESS FANATICS BLINDLY FOLLOWING JESUS CHRIST. WE SERVE HIM WITH HEAD AND HEART.

* THE TRUTHS OF THE BIBLE SHOULD LEAD TO A WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT TO JESUS CHRIST DRIVEN BY A HOT LOVE FOR HIM, BEING AFLAME FOR CHRIST, BURNING BRIGHTLY FOR HIM.

** WELL, THE CHURCH AT THE CENTER OF OUR STUDY TODAY, LAODICEA LACKS WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT TO CHRIST. THEY WERE NOT HOT FOR CHRIST AND THEY WERE NOT COLD FOR CHRIST.

*** THEY WERE NOMINAL FOR CHRIST. THEY WERE TEPID FOR CHRIST, THEY WERE LETHARGIC, THEY WERE LUKEWARM FOR CHRIST.

**** THEY LACKED WHOLEHEARTEDNESS. IN FACT THEIR LACK OF WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT AND FIRE FOR CHRIST CREATED THE ADJECTIVE “LAODICIAN”.

(3) AND “LAODICEAN” HAS PASSED INTO OUR VOCABULARY TO DESCRIBE SOMEBODY WHO IS LUKEWARM IN RELIGION OR POLITICS OR ANY OTHER SPHERE.

* AND NONE OF THE SEVEN LETTERS TO THE CHURCHES IS MORE APPROPRIATE TO THE CHURCH OF OUR DAY IN AMERICA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY THAN THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA.

** JOHN STOTT SAID AND I QUOTE DESCRIBING THIS CHURCH IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION 1-3 THAT: “IT (THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA) DESCRIBES VIVIDLY THE RESPECTABLE, NOMINAL, RATHER SENTIMENTAL, SKIN DEEP RELIGIOSITY WHICH IS SO WIDESPREAD AMONG US TODAY. OUR CHRISTIANITY IS FLABBY AND ANEMIC. WE APPEAR TO HAVE TAKEN A LUKEWARM BATH OF RELIGION.” (END QUOTE)

*** AND THAT STATEMENT IS SO TRUE. THE COMPLACENCY, THE LACK OF FIRE, THE NOMINALNESS, THE LUKEWARMNESS, THE WORLDLINESS, THE HALF-HEARTED COMMITMENT OF THE CHURCH AND PROFESSING CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA TODAY IS ALARMING.

**** I MEAN EARNESTNESS, ZEAL, FERVOR, FIRE AND PASSION FOR CHRIST ARE QUALITIES THAT SADLY ARE NOT THE NORM.

(4) SO TODAY AND NEXT SUNDAY, ALL OF US, STARTING FROM THE PULPIT TO THE PEW, ALL OF US, MUST CONSIDER CAREFULLY WHAT CHRIST SAYS ABOUT HALF-HEARTEDNESS AS HE EXPLAINS WHAT IT IS, HOW TO OVERCOME IT, AND THE PROMISE TO THE WHOLEHEARTED FERVENT BELIEVER.

* AND WITH THOSE INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS IN MIND, I’VE TITLED OUR STUDY TODAY, THE LUKEWARM CHURCH.

** AND UNDER THAT TITLE AND THEM DIRECTING US, WE’LL LOOK AT 3 POINTS TODAY IN OUR STUDY OF REVELATION 3:14-17.

*** NO. 1 THE CITY OF LAODICEA AND IT’S BACKGROUND, V. 14A; NO. 2 THE CORRESPONDENT WHICH IS CHRIST, V. 14B; AND NO. 3 THE CONDEMNATION BY CHRIST OF THIS CHURCH, VV. 15-17.

**** SO WE’LL LOOK AT THE CITY, THE CORRESPONDENT AND THE CONDEMNATION AS WE START OUR STUDY OF THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA TODAY.

(5) AND WITH THOSE THOUGHTS, LET’S JUMP INTO OUR STUDY BY LOOKING AT V. 14A WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR FIRST POINT, THE CITY. LOOK AT REVELATION 3:14A PLEASE.

I. THE CITY, (READ V. 14A)

A. NOW AS IN THE OTHER SIX LETTERS TO THE CHURCHES, THIS ONE BEGINS THE SAME WAY, TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH WITH THE CHURCHES NAME AND FOR JOHN TO WRITE.

* SO JESUS GIVES THIS MESSAGE TO JOHN WHO IS TOLD TO WRITE, THEN JOHN GIVES IT TO THE ANGEL OR MESSENGER OF THIS CHURCH, THEN TO THE CHURCH.

** AND SPECIFICALLY HERE, THE CHURCH THAT IS LOCATED IN THE CITY OF LAODICEA.

*** AND 4 MATTERS ABOUT THE CITY ARE RELEVANT FOR OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST TO THIS CHURCH.

**** NO. 1 IT’S LOCATION. LOADICEA’S SISTER CITIES WERE COLOSSAE ABOUT 10 MILES TO THE EAST AND HIERAPOLIS ABOUT SIX MILES TO THE NORTH.

1. LAODICEA WAS ON THE SOUTH EASTERNMOST POINT OF THE SEVEN CITIES.

* AND IT WAS STRATEGICALLY LOCATED AT THE JUNCTURE OF TWO IMPORTANT ROADS: THE EAST-WEST ROAD LEADING FROM EPHESUS INTO THE INTERIOR AND THE NORTH-SOUTH ROAD FROM PERGAMUM TO THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

** NOW THIS LOCATION MADE IT AN IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL CITY.

*** ALSO THIS CITY WAS LOCATED ON A PLATEAU SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET HIGH WHICH NEARLY MADE THIS CITY IMPREGNABLE TO ATTACK, EXCEPT FOR ONE THING.

**** IT HAD TO PIPE IN ITS WATER FROM SEVERAL MILES AWAY THROUGH AQUEDUCTS THAT COULD BE BLOCKED AND FOR TASTE, THE WATER OF LAODICEA WAS KNOWN FOR ITS LUKEWARM TASTE BECAUSE OF IT BEING PIPED IN.

2. NO. 2 THE CITY WAS KNOWN FOR ITS WEALTH BECAUSE OF ITS LOCATION AT THE JUNCTURE OF TWO IMPORTANT ROADS. IT WAS A BANKING CENTER AND GOLD WAS REFINED AT LAODICEA AND STAMPED FOR PURITY.

* THE TOWN WAS SO RICH, THAT WHEN IT WAS DESTROYED BY A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE IN A.D. 60, THEY REBUILT THE CITY WITHOUT ROME’S AID OR HELP, WITHOUT WHAT WE WOULD CALL FEDERAL DISASTER RELIEF FUNDS. (THEY WERE ECONOMICALLY INDEPENDENT).

** NO. 3 THE CITY WAS NOTED FOR ITS PRODUCTION OF A SOFT BLACK WOOL THAT IT PRODUCED WHICH BECAME A SYMBOL OF WEALTH AND STATUS IN THE ROMAN WORLD.

*** AND THEN NO. 4, THE CITY WAS FAMOUS FOR ITS EYE SALVE.

**** A SCHOOL OF MEDICINE FLOURISHED IN LAODICEA WHERE THEY MADE AN EYE SALVE THAT WAS EXPORTED ALL OVER THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD.

3. AND ALL OF THESE THINGS, FINANCE, WEALTH, WOOL AND THE PRODUCTION OF EYE SALVE COME INTO PLAY IN THIS LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN THIS CITY. (KEEP THEM IN MIND FOR TODAY AND LORD WILLING NEXT SUNDAY, I WILL REFERENCE THESE THINGS).

* AND THAT’S SOME BACKGROUND OF THE CITY, WHICH LEADS US TO OUR 2’D POINT TODAY, THE CORRESPONDENT. LOOK BACK AT V. 14 PLEASE.

II. THE CORRESPONDENT, (READ V. 14)

A. NOW THE CORRESPONDENT OF THIS LETTER IS NONE OTHER THAN OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH.

* AND HE IDENTIFIES HIMSELF BY USING 3 DIVINE TITLES, MAKING REFERENCE TO HIS DEITY, HIS HUMANITY AND HIS ETERNITY.

** NO. 1 HIS DEITY – FOR JESUS DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS THE AMEN.

*** AND THAT SPECIAL TITLE, USED ONLY HERE IN SCRIPTURE TO DESCRIBE CHRIST REMINDS US OF ISAIAH 65:16 WHERE GOD IS TWICE CALLED THE GOD OF TRUTH AND THE HEBREW WORD FOR TRUTH IN THIS TEXT IS THE AMEN.

*** ISAIAH 65:16 – “BECAUSE HE WHO IS BLESSED IN THE EARTH WILL BE BLESSED BY THE GOD OF TRUTH; AND HE WHO SWEARS IN THE EARTH WILL SWEAR BY THE GOD OF TRUTH; BECAUSE THE FORMER TROUBLES ARE FORGOTTEN, AND BECAUSE THEY ARE HIDDEN FROM MY SIGHT.”

1. NOW THE WORD “AMEN” IS A TRANSLITERATION OF A HEBREW WORD MEANING “TRUTH”, “AFFIRMATION” OR “CERTAINTY.”

* AND IT REFERS TO THAT WHICH IS FIRM, FIXED AND UNCHANGEABLE.

** IN FACT, THE WORD AMEN IS OFTEN USED IN SCRIPTURE TO AFFIRM THE TRUTHFULNESS OF A STATEMENT.

*** THE POINT BEING, WHATEVER GOD SAYS IS TRUE AND CERTAIN; THEREFORE HE IS THE GOD OF TRUTH.

**** CHRIST IS THE AMEN IN THE SENSE THAT HE IS THE GOD OF TRUTH INCARNATE.

2. BUT ALSO CHRIST IS THE AMEN BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO CONFIRMED ALL OF GOD’S PROMISES.

* FOR IN II CORINTHIANS 1:20, PAUL WRITES CONCERNING CHRIST: “FOR AS MANY AS ARE THE PROMISES OF GOD, IN HIM THEY ARE YES; THEREFORE ALSO THROUGH HIM IS OUR AMEN TO THE GLORY OF GOD THROUGH US.”

** AND BELOVED IT IS THROUGH THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST THAT ALL GOD’S PROMISES ARE FULFILLED AND GUARANTEED. (WE CAN STAND ON THEM AND WE MUST AT ALL TIMES, READ PSALM 62:8 AND PROVERBS 3:5&6.)

*** SO HE IS THE AMEN BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO CONFIRMED ALL OF GOD’S PROMISES, WHICH LEADS TO A SECOND DESCRIPTION.

**** AND NO. 2 CHRIST IDENTIFIES HIMSELF AS THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS. AND THIS TITLE COMMUNICATES HIS HUMANITY, IT POINTS TO THE LIFE AND TESTIMONY OF CHRIST WHILE ON EARTH.

3. FOR FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS HE WAS FAITHFUL AND TRUE. HE ALWAYS SPOKE THE TRUTH, FOR HE WAS TRUTH INCARNATE AND THAT’S WHY HE COULD SAY IN JOHN 14:6 TO THOMAS: (READ IT).

* AND AS THE TRUTH, HE ALWAYS SPOKE THE TRUTH, AS HE WILL SPEAK THE TRUTH TO THIS CHURCH AS HE WILL ACCURATELY ASSESS THEIR CONDITION, WHICH WAS A SHOCK TO THEM AS WE’LL SEE.

** BUT MOVING ON, THIRDLY, CHRIST REFERRED TO HIMSELF AS THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD.

*** AND FALSE TEACHERS LIKE THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES HAVE TAKEN THIS STATEMENT AND COMMUNICATED THAT CHRIST WAS THE FIRST CREATION OF GOD, A CREATED BEING AND DENIED HIS DEITY AND HIS ETERNITY.

**** BUT THAT’S NOT THE MEANING OF THE TITLE. IT DOES NOT SAY THAT HE HAD A BEGINNING BUT THAT HE IS THE BEGINNING.

4. HE IS THE ORIGIN OF THE CREATION OF GOD. IN HIS HUMANITY AS A MAN HE HAD A BEGINNING, BUT AS GOD IN HIS DEITY HE WAS THE BEGINNING.

* IN FACT THE GREEK WORD TRANSLATED BEGINNING, AR-KHAY MEANS SOURCE OR ORIGIN.

** AND BEGINNING DOES NOT MEAN THAT CHRIST WAS THE FIRST PERSON GOD CREATED, BUT RATHER THAT CHRIST HIMSELF IS THE SOURCE OR ORIGIN OF ALL CREATION, FOR THROUGH HIS POWER EVERYTHING WAS CREATED AND HE IS PRE-EMINENT OVER ALL CREATION.

*** JOHN 1:1-3 AND V. 14 COMMUNICATE THIS (READ THEM). ALSO READ HEBREWS 1:1&2 AND COLOSSIANS 1:15.

**** AND THEN VV. 16&17 CLEARLY COMMUNICATE THE MEANING OF V. 15, YOU CAN FOLLOW ALONG ON THE SCREEN. IT SAYS:

COLOSSIANS 1:16– “FOR BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED, BOTH IN THE HEAVENS AND ON EARTH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE, WHETHER THRONES OR DOMINIONS OR RULERS OR AUTHORITIES – ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN CREATED THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM.”

V. 17 – “HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, AND IN HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER.”

5. NOW GOING BACK TO V. 15, WE SEE FROM THIS CONTEXT, THE WORD FIRSTBORN REFERS TO THE SUPREME OR PREEMINENT ONE, THE ONE RECEIVING THE HIGHEST HONOR AS THE O.T. FIRSTBORN DID.

* AND THAT’S WHY COLOSSIANS 1:18 SAYS: (READ IT).

** NOW WITH ALL THAT IN MIND, CHRIST IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD, THE SOURCE, THE ORIGIN OF ALL CREATED. THIS TRUTH COMMUNICATES HIS ETERNITY.

*** AND THAT’S HOW HE INTRODUCES HIMSELF TO THIS CHURCH, AS THE AMEN EXPRESSING HIS DEITY, AS THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS THAT WAS EXPRESSED IN HIS HUMANITY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION COMMUNICATING HIS ETERNITY.

**** BELOVED, THE LORD OF THE CHURCH IS GOD-MAN WHO HAS NO BEGINNING OR END, THE CREATOR AND HEAD OF THE CHURCH, SO THE CHURCH BETTER LISTEN UP!

6. AND IN VV. 15-17, JESUS WILL PULL NO PUNCHES AS HE CONDEMNS THIS CHURCH AS THE LORD OF THE CHURCH.

* SO LOOK AT V. 15 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL START TO SEE OUR 3’D POINT, THE CONDEMNATION.

III. THE CONDEMNATION, (READ V. 15)

A. NOW CHRIST’S X-RAY ASSESSMENT OF THIS CHURCH COMES FROM THE FACT THAT HE KNOWS THEIR WORKS, THEIR DEEDS AS THE AMEN, AS THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS AND AS THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD, THE OMNISCIENT ONE.

* AND HIS SCATHING CONDEMNATION AND REBUKE BEGINS WITH THE REALITY THAT THEY WERE NOT SPIRITUALLY HOT OR COLD.

** AND THIS METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE COMES FROM LAODICEA’S WATER SUPPLY.

*** FOR IT TRAVELED SEVERAL MILES THROUGH AN UNDERGROUND AQUEDUCT AND ARRIVED FOUL, DIRTY AND TEPID OR LUKEWARM.

**** IT WAS NOT HOT ENOUGH TO RELAX AND RESTORE, LIKE THE HOT SPRINGS AT NEARLY HIERAPOLIS, NOR WAS IT COLD AND REFRESHING, LIKE THE STREAM WATER FROM NEARBY COLLOSAE.

1. SO COLD WATER OR HOT WATER WAS MUCH MORE USEFUL, EITHER REFRESHING OR THERAPEUTIC.

* AND IN THIS ANALOGY OUR LORD SAYS AT THE END OF V. 15, “I WOULD THAT YOU WERE COLD OR HOT.”

** AND THE WORD “WOULD” EXPRESSES THE LORD’S DESIRE, THE LORD’S LONGING.

*** NOW WHY COLD OR HOT? WELL, TO BE COLD IS TO BE UNSAVED, NO AFFECTION FOR CHRIST, THOSE WHO OPENLY REJECT CHRIST, BUT THEY ARE NOT HYPOCRITES.

**** THEY KNOW THEY ARE LOST, THEY REALIZE THEY ARE NOT CHRISTIANS. AND THE LORD WORKS WITH THOSE WHO SEE AT LEAST THAT THEY ARE LOST FROM THEIR HUMAN PERSPECTIVE, WHEREAS WE REALIZE FROM THE DIVINE PERSPECTIVE THAT THE LORD OPENS THE HEART AND EYES.

2. BUT CERTAINLY IT’S EASIER TO WORK WITH A NON-RELIGIOUS PERSON WITH NO SPIRITUAL RESPONSE THAN A SELF-RIGHTEOUS RELIGIOUS PERSON.

* FOR NOTICE THE CLEAR TRUTH OF THIS IN MATTHEW 9:10-13 – “THEN IT HAPPENED THAT AS JESUS WAS RECLINING AT THE TABLE IN THE HOUSE, BEHOLD, MANY TAX COLLECTORS AND SINNERS CAME AND WERE DINING WITH JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES.

V. 11 – WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW THIS, THEY SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, “WHY IS YOUR TEACHER EATING WITH THE TAX COLLECTORS AND SINNERS?”

V. 12 – BUT WHEN JESUS HEARD THIS, HE SAID, “IT IS NOT THOSE WHO ARE HEALTHY WHO NEED A PHYSICIAN, BUT THOSE WHO ARE SICK.”

V. 13 – “BUT GO AND LEARN WHAT THIS MEANS: I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE, FOR I DID NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS.”

** ALSO READ MATTHEW 18:11, LUKE 5:32 AND LUKE 19:10.

*** NOW WITH THOSE TRUTHS IN MIND, YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHY JESUS WOULD RATHER HAVE A PERSON COLD.

**** AND OF COURSE HOT IS SELF-EXPLANATORY. HOT HERE LIT. MEANS BOILING HOT, SOMEONE WHO IS A TRUE CHRISTIAN AND IS ON FIRE FOR CHRIST, BOILING OVER FOR CHRIST, A FORM OF THIS WORD TRANSLATED FERVENT IN ROMANS 12:11 (READ IT).

3. AND ALSO THE VERB FORM IS FOUND IN ACTS 18:25 WHICH SAYS: “THIS MAN HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED IN THE WAY OF THE LORD; AND BEING FERVENT IN SPIRIT, HE WAS SPEAKING AND TEACHING ACCURATELY THE THINGS CONCERNING JESUS, BEING ACQUAINTED ONLY WITH THE BAPTISM OF JOHN.”

* SO CHRIST WOULD RATHER HAVE A PERSON BE HOT, BOILING OVER, FERVENT FOR HIM, OR COLD, LOST, NO HYPOCRISY, NO FACADES.

** BUT THE PEOPLE AT THIS CHURCH IN LAODICEA WERE NEITHER, LOOK AT V. 16 PLEASE.

B. READ V. 16. NOW THE LAODICEANS WERE NOT HOT OR COLD, THEY WERE LUKEWARM, UNPALATABLE, SICKENING, UNUSABLE, NOMINAL, TEPID.

* AND SOME WERE MOST LIKELY UNBELIEVERS WHO PROFESSED TO KNOW CHRIST BUT WERE HYPOCRITES, SELF-DECEIVED, WORLDLY PEOPLE WHO PROFESSED TO KNOW GOD BUT WERE IN THE CATEGORY OF TITUS 1:16 (READ IT). ALSO READ II TIMOTHY 3:5 AND MATTHEW 7:21-23.

** AND BEYOND THE UNSAVED PROFESSING RELIGIOUS CHRISTIAN, THERE WERE PROBABLY SOME TRUE BELIEVERS WHO HAD DRIFTED AND LEFT THEIR FIRST-LOVE, AND FELL IN LOVE WITH THE RICHES OF LAODICEA WHO NEEDED TO RETURN TO THE LORD.

*** BUT REGARDLESS OF THEIR SAVED OR UNSAVED START, THEY MADE THE LORD SICK.

**** FOR BEING LUKEWARM WOULD MAKE THE LORD SPIT THEM OUT OF HIS MOUTH!

1. AND THE WORD TRANSLATED SPIT OR SPEW OR VOMIT DEPENDING ON WHICH TRANSLATION YOU HAVE IS THE GREEK WORK EM-EH-O FROM WHICH WE GET OUR ENGLISH WORD EMETIC.

* AND WHAT IS AN EMETIC? IT IS A MEDICINE THAT CAUSES VOMITING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN SOMETHING THAT IS POISONOUS.

** AND HERE WE HAVE THIS VIVID PICTURE. WHAT IS THE LORD’S RESPONSE TO A LUKEWARM PERSON? THEY MAKE HIM SICK, HE SPEWS OR VOMITS THEM FORTH, THEY MAKE HIM THROW UP, NOT A PRETTY PICTURE.

*** JOHN MACARTHUR SAID AT THIS POINT IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION 1-11 AND I QUOTE: “SOME CHOICES MAKE THE LORD WEEP, OTHERS MAKE HIM ANGRY, THE LAODICEAN CHURCH MADE HIM SICK.”

**** BELOVED THEIR DEEDS WERE NAUSEATING.

2. AND THIS PICTURE COMES FROM THE RESPONSE TO DRINKING LUKEWARM WATER AT LOADICEA.

* FOR WE ARE TOLD THAT SOMEONE’S RESPONSE TO DRINKING THEIR LUKEWARM UNPALATABLE AND SICKENING WATER FOR THE FIRST TIME WAS TO SPIT IT OUT, IT TASTED SO BAD.

** AND THAT RESPONSE PICTURES CHRIST’S RESPONSE TO THIS CHURCH.

*** AND BOTTOM LINE, THIS ASSESSMENT WAS PROBABLY SHOCKING TO THEM, FOR LOOK AT WHAT V. 17 SAYS.

C. READ V. 17. NOW THE LAODICEANS WERE SELF-DECEIVED, CLUELESS, BLINDED TO THEIR CONDITION.

* FOR THEIR RICHES AND WEALTH AND WHAT IT COULD BUY GAVE THEM A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY THAT THEY WERE SELF-SUFFICIENT, INDEPENDENT AND DOING THEIR THING.

** AND BELOVED THERE ARE TIMES WHEN MATERIAL WEALTH CAN BRING ABOUT SPIRITUAL PRIDE. THEY GO TOGETHER.

*** AND YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE CHURCH IN AMERICA IS RICH COMPARED TO MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD AND THAT WE AS AMERICANS ARE RICH IN COMPARISON TO MANY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

**** AND WE MUST BE ON GUARD AGAINST SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND PRIDE AND COMPLACENCY AND BECOMING LETHARGIC. WE MUST BE ON GUARD AGAINST NOMINALNESS.

1. AND IT IS SO EASY TO BE SELF-DECEIVED OVER OUR SPIRITUAL STATE THROUGH THE THINGS WE HAVE, THAT THINGS TAKE US AWAY FROM CHRIST RATHER THAN DRAW US NEAR TO CHRIST.

* I MEAN THERE ARE VERY FEW OF US HERE TODAY THAT ASK THE LORD FOR OUR DAILY BREAD, LORD FEED ME TODAY, FOR MOST OF US HAVE A FEW DAYS TO A FEW WEEKS TO A FEW MONTHS IN THE REFRIGERATOR AND FREEZE OR FREEZERS.

** AND WE CAN GET SELF-ABSORBED, SELF-CENTERED AND SELFISH IF WE DON’T WATCH OUT, FOR OUR CULTURE IS VERY ME-FIRST.

*** AND THE SCARY THING ABOUT THIS IS IT HAPPENS AND WE ARE NOT AWARE OF IT.

**** FOR NOTICE WHAT CHRIST SAYS IN THE MIDDLE OF V. 17, “AND YOU DO NOT KNOW.”

2. AND WHAT DIDN’T THEY KNOW? WELL, THE ANSWER IS THEIR TRUE SPIRITUAL STATE FROM CHRIST’S VANTAGE POINT AND OMNISCIENT X-RAY VIEW.

* THEY WERE IN REALITY 5 THINGS ACCORDING TO THE LORD’S ASSESSMENT.

** AND FIRST OF ALL THEY WERE WRETCHED. AND THIS DESCRIBES AN EMERGENCY SITUATION, A PERSON WHO NEEDS URGENT HELP, LIKE THOSE WHO GO TO A HOSPITAL’S EMERGENCY ROOM.

*** NO. 2 THEY WERE MISERABLE WHICH CAN BE RENDERED PITIABLE, USED IN I CORINTHIANS 15:19. (READ IT).

**** AND THIS MISERABLE PITIABLE CONDITION IS CONNECTED TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NO REAL FUTURE, DESTITUTE.

- THEY WERE WRETCHED AND MISERABLE, DYING OR DESTITUTE.

3. NO. 3 THEY WERE POOR. AND THIS WORD DESCRIBES THOSE WHO ARE PENNILESS, WHERE BEGGING IS THE ONLY ANSWER TO THE NEED.

* WHICH AGAIN, MUST HAVE BEEN A SHOCK FOR THEY WERE RICH PHYSICALLY, BUT IN WHAT REALLY COUNTED THEY WERE POOR SPIRITUALLY.

** NO. 4 THEY WERE BLIND. AND WHAT AN IRONY HERE. THEY WERE THE CITY THAT PRODUCED THE FAMOUS EYE SALVE THAT HELPED PEOPLE WITH VISION PROBLEMS, TO SEE BETTER.

*** BUT SPIRITUALLY THEY WERE BLIND WHICH MAY BE AN INDICATION OF LOSTNESS, THAT THEY WERE UNSAVED, FOR II CORINTHIANS 4:3&4 SAYS: (READ THEM).

**** AND SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING, PEOPLE WHO DON’T TRULY KNOW CHRIST ARE BLIND, DEAF AND DEAD, WILL NOT RESPOND AND CANNOT RESPOND WITHOUT DIVINE INTERVENTION CALLED IN SCRIPTURE THE CALL OF GOD.

4. SO THE LAODICEANS WERE DEAD.

* AND THEN FINALLY THEY WERE NAKED. AND HERE ANOTHER IRONY FOR THEY WERE FROM THE TOWN THAT PRODUCED A RICH GLOSSY WOOL TURNED INTO COSTLY CLOTH AND CLOAKS.

** AND FOR THEM THE GARMENT OF GOOD AND HOLY WORKS WERE MISSING, THEY WERE NAKED.

AND IN WRAP UP TODAY (1) IN SUMMARY, CHRIST SHOWS THIS CHURCH IN WORD PICTURES, THEY WERE DYING, DESTITUTE, PENNILESS, BLIND AND NAKED.

* THAT WAS HIS ASSESSMENT OF THE CHURCH. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? HE KNOWS OUR DEEDS, OUR WORKS, OUR FRUITS TODAY AND WHETHER WE ARE HOT, COLD OR LUKEWARM.

** AND BELIEVER IF YOU ARE HOT FOR CHRIST TODAY, FERVENT, PASSIONATE FOR HIM, PRAISE THE LORD!

*** FOR THAT’S WHERE HE WANTS YOU. BOILING OVER FOR HIM AT WORK, AT HOME, IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AT SCHOOL OR WHEREVER YOU ARE AT.

**** YOUR LIFE CAN BE SUMMARIZED BY PSALM 42:1 (READ IT).

(2) YOUR LIFE CAN BE SUMMARIZED BY MATTHEW 5:6 (READ IT).

* AND YOUR LIFE CAN BE SUMMARIZED BY

I CORINTHIANS 10:31, READ IT AND TALK ABOUT DIRECTION, NOT PERFECTION.

** BELIEVER, LET’S BE HOT FOR CHRIST TODAY.

*** BUT FOR YOU THAT ARE COLD, THERE’S GOOD NEWS! II CORINTHIANS 5:21 AND ROMANS 6:23 SAYS: (READ THEM).

**** COME IN REPENTANT FAITH TO THE SAVIOR TODAY.

(3) AND LASTLY IF YOU ARE LUKEWARM TODAY, ASK THE LORD TO OPEN YOUR BLIND SPIRITUAL EYES.

* ASK HIM TO TAKE THE BLINDERS OFF, THAT YOU WILL NO LONGER BE SELF-DECEIVED, SELF-SUFFICIENT AND COMPLACENT WHEN IT COMES TO HIM AND HIS KINGDOM.

** REPENT OF BEING NOMINAL AND PLAYING CHURCH, FOR HYPOCRISY AND LOVELESSNESS AND GET YOUR PRIORITIES IN ORDER.

*** CHRIST’S ADVICE AND COUNSEL TO YOU TODAY IS FOUND IN V. 18 WHICH LORD WILLING WE’LL LOOK AT NEXT WEEK.

**** IT SAYS: “I ADVISE YOU TO BUY FROM ME GOLD REFINED BY FIRE SO THAT YOU MAY BECOME RICH, AND WHITE GARMENTS SO THAT YOU MAY CLOTHE YOURSELF, AND THAT THE SHAME OF YOUR NAKEDNESS WILL NOT BE REVEALED; AND EYE SALVE TO ANOINT YOUR EYES SO THAT YOU MAY SEE.”

(4) MAY THIS BE YOUR RESPONSE AND COMMITMENT TODAY.