Postcards from Patmos: Dear Laodicea

Transcript

JRS 10
08/28/2022
Postcards from Patmos: Dear Laodicea
Revelation 3:14-22
Jesse Randolph


It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. These are the famous opening lines, of course, from Charles Dickens' “A Tale of Two Cities.” But the rest of that opening paragraph, that not a lot of folks know, goes like this. “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epic of belief, it was the epic of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” Dickens obviously was writing about a very specific time and in a very specific context, specifically the late 18th century in London and Paris. But what Dickens wrote in the opening pages of his classic work fits quite well with our subject of study this morning which is Jesus' letter to the church at Laodicea.

Laodicea was the church that thought it was the best when in fact it was the worst. Laodicea was the church that thought it was wise when in reality it was foolish. Laodicea was the church that thought it was headed for a spring of hope when in reality it was headed for a winter of despair. Laodicea was the church that thought they were going to heaven when in fact they were headed for hell. The church at Laodicea was the lost church, the deceived church, the unsaved church, the unregenerate church. And the church we are about to see sickened the Lord. In some ways it was the best of times for the church at Laodicea in light of all the prosperity that was around them. However, it was also the worst of times as they received the darkest and most grim postcard from the Lord yet.

Turn with me in your Bibles for the final time in this series, if you would, to Revelation 3. And specifically I'll draw your attention to verses 14-22 where we encounter the Lord Jesus' final postcard from Patmos that He addressed to this church at Laodicea. Revelation 3:14, God's Word reads, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write: The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Beginning of the creation of God says this: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 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. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into Him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

As we saw two weeks ago when we looked at the letter to Sardis, that church, the church at Sardis, was the dead church. It was the ghost ship whose oars were being turned by spiritually dead men. And yet in that city, in that church there were still a few believers who remained. We saw in Revelation 3:4 where the Lord says, “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments.” This wasn't the case in Laodicea. The church at Laodicea was not only lifeless, it was lost. This was the unsaved church, the unconverted church, the unredeemed church, the false church. And whereas Christ had nothing good to say about the dead, lifeless church at Sardis, He actually does have something to say to this lost and false church at Laodicea. He calls on them to repent, to repent of their proud self-sufficiency, to repent of their deceived sinful ways, to repent of their double-minded faithlessness and to turn to Christ truly as Lord. So that they could be forgiven of their sins and so that their souls could be saved and so that they could secure the hope of eternal life. The Lord calls on the Laodicean church not to clean up their act, as He does with other churches. Rather, what He does with this church is counsel them, advise them, we'll see, to stop playing church, to stop faking it and to truly come to Him through saving faith.

Now before we get back into the text, again it's helpful one last time to establish some of the context of what was happening in this city at this particular time. So we understand what this church was going through and what it was encountering. Now the city of Laodicea was quite a ways inland from the first two cities we looked at, Ephesus and Smyrna. And then it was also about 40 miles south of the city we looked at last week, that of Philadelphia. So once again putting it in our greater Lincoln, Nebraska context. If Ephesus were like Crete, and Smyrna were like Seward, if Pergamum were like Raymond and Thyatira were like Waverly, if Sardis were like Eagle and Philadelphia were like Syracuse, Laodicea would have been like Beatrice. Sort of completing the loop of where we have been so far. Antiochus II founded this city sometime around the third century B.C., he named it for his wife, Laodice, before divorcing her. However, the name stuck.

In terms of its commerce Laodicea was a rich and well-to-do city. There was a lot of money floating around Laodicea. For starters, it was a notable banking center and as we know, banking centers, whether they be overseas or here in the states, are always places where lots of money is floating around, places that are economically prosperous. Not only that, the city of Laodicea was active in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. They had a highly respected medical school, they had highly respected medical teachers and the city was known for producing a powder which was used as a form of eye salve, or an ointment, to soothe painful ophthalmological afflictions. And sales from that ointment that was produced here in Laodicea brought even more money into the city. So it was not only a banking city, it was a pharmaceutical city. On top of that this city was highly involved in the production and export of clothing. There was a fine, black wool that was native to this city, which was used to produce fine clothing, that was yet another major stream of revenue into this region. So Laodicea was a banking center, it was a pharmaceutical center, and it was a clothing production center.

All this to say that through these three streams of revenue this was a very wealthy city. So wealthy, in fact, that when a powerful earthquake leveled this city just a few years before this letter was written to it, this city, unlike the other cities we've seen so far, was able to rebuild itself without taking a single penny of assistance from Rome. To put that in our context, that would be like a tornado decimating the entire city of Lincoln and we as a city not needing a single penny of relief from FEMA. This was a very wealthy city, a very self-sufficient city.

And Laodicea in terms of where it sat naturally and geographically, it sat between two other cities, Hierapolis and Colossae. And those three cities made up sort of like an ancient tri-city area. And notable fact, Colossae had these very pure, cold springs which would bring in these cold waters of refreshment to its visitors, especially on really hot days. And Hierapolis, on the other hand, had these hot springs that would bring therapeutic healing to those who were hurt and aching and sick. So it was surrounded by two cities that were known, one for its cold water and one for its hot water. But unlike its neighboring cities in this tri-city area, Laodicea had no original water supply of its own. It had to have its water piped in and what happened was Laodicea brought in their water from Hierapolis, the city with the hot springs. And that hot water would travel six miles from Hierapolis to Laodicea in these underground stone aqueducts. It would leave Hierapolis at about 95 degrees in temperature, but by the time it got to Laodicea the water had become lukewarm, it had become tepid. Not only that, as the water would flow in these aqueducts from Hierapolis down to Laodicea, the water not only cooled down, but it actually accumulated or accreted these calcium carbonate deposits that had been building up in these stone aqueducts over the years. And what that did is that polluted and tainted the flavor of the water there in Laodicea. The result was that Laodicea's water was really bad, like vomit-out-of-your-mouth bad. Well, not even the city's wealth could fix that problem.

At the time Christ writes His letter to this church there obviously was a church there in Laodicea, hence the postcard that is addressed to this group of purported believers. We know that this church would have been founded, as Acts 19:10 says, sometime around the time that the Gospel was spreading throughout all of Asia Minor. We know that those who were originally converted during Paul's ministry to Ephesus on his third missionary journey would eventually have fanned out eastward and gradually reached Laodicea with the Gospel. We see the Laodicean church referenced several decades prior in Paul's letter to the neighboring church at Colossae. In Colossians 4:16, addressed to that church, Paul says, “When this letter is [spread] among you,” to the Colossians, “have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.” Know that the Laodicean church many decades before this letter comes from Christ to this church had been a source of great concern to Paul, even though He had never seen them in person. Colossians 2:1, Paul expresses that concern. He says, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf,” speaking to the Colossians, “and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face.” Now we also know that this church, the Laodicean church, many decades prior had been a source of great concern to Paul's associate, Epaphras. Colossians 4:13 says, “He,” meaning Epaphras, “has a deep concern for you,” meaning the Colossians, “and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.” And finally we can reasonably surmise that the Laodicea church, given its relational and geographic proximity to the church at Colossae, had somehow been infiltrated by the same heretical teachings concerning the deity and nature of Christ that had caused so many issues in the Colossian church decades before.

See, the Laodicean church once had life during the days of its founding as the Gospel initially went out through Paul's ministry from Ephesus. And even later, during the time that Paul mentioned this church in his letter to the Colossians. But fast forward a few decades to the mid-90s A.D. as Jesus is now addressing this church, the Laodicean church, through the last living apostle, John. And what happened is the first generation of Laodicean Christians had all but died off and now this new wave of Laodicean church attenders has taken their place. And this now Christological heresy has wreaked havoc on this church and the result is that this is no longer a church. This is now instead a group of unconverted people who still assembled and merely called themselves a church. A big difference.

With that as our background (and we're going to come back to this background as we weave our way through the text) let's get back into the text and look at Revelation 3 starting at verse 14. It says, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write.” As He does in each of the seven letters, Christ begins by introducing Himself to the angel of this church, this “angelos,” this “angelo,” this earthly messenger of this church, this pastor of this church. And as in each of the previous six cities and churches, this pastor would have in many ways been an embodiment of the people that he had been charged to shepherd there. Like the members of this church, he may very well have been wealthy and well taken care of and beaming with pride about all his earthly accomplishments. When in reality he was like them, wretched, filthy, and poor and blind and naked. His business card said he was a servant of and a representative of and a mouthpiece for Jesus Christ. But in reality his heart was far from Him. He was completely oblivious to his true nature and his actual spiritual condition.

And sadly there have been many in pastoral ministry and church leadership throughout the centuries who have been under the same delusion. They wear the mantle of minister. They call themselves pastor or elder or bishop or shepherd. They have a pulpit. They preach and teach God's Word. They call themselves Masters of Divinity and Doctors of Theology. They swing the big stick. They call themselves shepherds who have been called by God to protect the sheep. When in fact they are wolves, when in fact they are tares, when in fact they have never been regenerated, when in fact they are lost, when in fact they are unsaved. Richard Baxter dedicated the entire first chapter of his book, “The Reformed Pastor,” to this tragic reality of there being unsaved pastors in Christ's church. That's the whole idea behind that title, “Reformed,” there, by the way, in Baxter's work. He's talking about converted, not reformation theology. Baxter writes this: “God never saved any man because he was a preacher, nor because he was an able preacher, but because he was a justified, sanctified man and consequently faithful in his Master's work. Therefore, first take heed unto yourselves,” he's talking to pastors here, “so that you will be that which you persuade your hearers to be, believe that which you persuade them daily to believe, and have heartily accepted that Christ and the Spirit whom you offer to others.” He continues and says, “Many a preacher is now in hell, that has a hundred times called on his hearers to use the utmost care and diligence to escape it.” What a tragic and terrifying warning for anyone who thinks that there is somebody in the church of Jesus Christ, who holds a title in the church, who draws a paycheck from the church, and yet remains condemned, facing judgment from the Lord of the church because they never truly trusted in Him and believed in Him and have given their life to Him. That's what we see happening here at Laodicea. The angel, the pastor, was as spiritually dead as the rest of them.

Now after addressing this angel, this messenger, this pastor, Jesus next, as He does in each of the other letters, introduces Himself by bringing in these divine titles and divine descriptions of Himself in the rest of verse 14. And this is something He does in each of the other six letters. You recall in the letter to Ephesus Christ identifies Himself as the One who holds the seven stars as He walks among the lampstands, the churches. To Smyrna He identified Himself as the first and the last, the One who was dead but became alive. To Pergamum He identified Himself as the One who has the sharp, two-edged sword. To Thyatira He identified Himself as the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like bronze. To Sardis He said He holds the seven spirits and the seven stars. To Philadelphia He referred to Himself as holy and true, having the key of David and being the doorkeeper.

And now to Laodicea He is saying that He is, look at verse 14, “The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” Let's start with each of those descriptors, beginning with that word, “the Amen.” That's an Old Testament word, a Hebrew word which describes that which is fixed and true and unchangeable. And then it is carried over into the New Testament where it has a similar meaning. That word, “amen” is often used in Scripture to affirm the truthfulness of a statement, it's an affirmation, it's a kind of verbal guarantee that what is being said is true. It's the word the New Testament writers like Paul used to punctuate a statement. And obviously it's a word that we use at the end of our prayers. As it relates to the Lord Jesus Christ, this term, the Amen, means something specific. It means that He is not only the second person of the trinity, He is not only God incarnate, He is not only the way, the truth and the life, but He is the One who makes good on all the promises of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20, “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.” See, Christ, God the Son, is the affirmation of each of God the Father's promises. He is the guarantee, He is the surety, He is the assurance of each of God's promises. He is the Amen.

Next, He calls Himself “the faithful and true Witness.” Not only does Christ secure and affirm all that God has said and all that God has promised, whatever Christ says is true. Whatever He affirms is true. Whatever He promises is true. And that's because He is true. Indeed, John 14:6, He is “the truth.” Whatever He says, He says with perfect trustworthiness and accuracy. If He bears witness to something it is absolutely indisputable and true. Indeed, John 3:33 teaches that the One who has accepted His testimony has certified “that God is true.” Once Christ has testified to something no further witnesses need to be called, no clever cross-examiner is going to be able to unravel or poke holes in His testimony. He is a perfectly trustworthy and faithful Witness. And because the Lord is faithful and true in His character, He is faithful and true in His assessment of each of these seven churches that we have been studying. Since He is described as walking in their midst as the perfect eyewitness, nothing that He says about any of these churches has come secondhand to Him. Whatever happens in these churches, He sees, He witnesses, He testifies to. So what He is about to share about the Laodicean church is a faithful word, it's a true word. He is “the faithful and true Witness.”

Next we see in verse 14 He describes Himself as “the Beginning of the creation of God.” For centuries, of course, false teachers have taken this and similar passages, ripped them out of context to suggest that Christ is a created being who is somehow lesser than God. And according to this view, which has found its way into the teachings of the earliest heretics like Arian and even more modern false teachers like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and Harry Emerson Fosdick, they'll take this text and texts like it to say that when it says “the Beginning of the creation of God” that must mean that He is God's first creation, the first created being by God, but not Himself the Creator. And that's not what is being said here in verse 14 at all. Rather to say that He is “the Beginning of the creation of God” is to say that He is the originator of all creation, He is chief of all creation, He is the author of all creation, He is preeminent over all creation.

In fact, turn with me, if you would, over to Colossians 1 where we are going to see this more fully fleshed out. Colossians 1, it is just so clear, Colossians 1:15. Here Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, says, “He,” speaking of Christ here, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” “Prototokos,” there is that word again, firstborn. Does that mean He is born? Does that mean He is created? No, look at the context. Look at what he says and the words that inform that term in verses 16 and following. “For by Him,” Christ, “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.” Verse 17, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also [the] head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” And if you just turn the page, Colossians 1:19 says, “For all the fullness to dwell in Him.” What is that fullness referring to? Well, look at Colossians 2:9, again speaking of Christ, “For in Him,” Christ, “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” Does that sound like a created being to you? No, that's saying that He is the Creator. “All the fullness of deity dwells in Him.”

So why was it important for this church at Laodicea some four decades after its founding to be reminded about these truths about the deity and preeminence of Christ? Well, again we have to keep in mind the proximity of this city to Colossae. It was only ten miles that separated these two cities and whatever Christological issues concerning the person, the nature, the deity of Christ that was plaguing Colossae apparently now had migrated into and plagued and now many decades later killed the church at Laodicea. The church at Laodicea apparently early on had adopted some heretical views about Christ which did not affirm Christ as fully God, Christ as Creator, Christ as the preeminent One. Rather like their neighbors at Colossae before them, they apparently had reduced Christ to some sort of created being, some form of angelic being. Which is why Paul tells the Colossian church in his letter to them to read that letter to the church at Laodicea as well. Colossians 4:16, Paul tells them, many decades before we see this letter from Jesus to this church, read this letter in the church of the Laodiceans. Why? So that they would get it, so that they would snap out of their Christological drift, so that they would see and worship the Lord for who He really is. Apparently the church at Laodicea didn't snap out of it, they clung to their errant beliefs about Christ. And that fact alone rendered this church not only a dead church like Sardis, but a fake church and really no church at all.

I'll be as direct as I can be. A church that gets Christ wrong is not a church. It may have a building, it may have a sanctuary, it may have a steeple, it may have a cross, it may have an altar, it may have a pulpit, it may even have the name Jesus Christ on it, it may call itself a church, it might call itself Christian. But I'll say it again, a church that gets Christ wrong is not a church. The Mormons get Christ wrong, they are not a church. The Jehovah's Witnesses get Christ wrong, they are not a church. The church that waffles on the deity of Christ is not a church. The church that doesn't recognize the humanity of Christ is not a church. The church that denies the virgin birth of Christ is not a church. The church that denies the exclusivity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of His work on the cross is not a church. This is the position that the church at Laodicea found itself in, swayed by these various Christological heresies which first crept their way in the back door through the church at Colossae. The Laodiceans had now swallowed those same heresies hook, line and sinker. And the result was they were not a true church. Rather, this was now a collection of unsaved people who called themselves a church but indeed were not. They were a false church.

Well, after introducing Himself in verse 14 as “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, [and] the Beginning of the creation of God,” Christ moves on to describe what He knows about this church in verses 15-16. And look at verse 15, He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm,” verse 16, “and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” Note that Jesus doesn't start tenderly and sweetly with this church. He doesn't sort of ease His way into His assessment. Rather, He launches right into His critique. And there is a reason for that. See, this church knew better. As we've just seen, several decades earlier this church was an indirect recipient of Paul's letter to the Colossians which was read to them and which would have exposed their own Christological errors and heresies, meaning this church knew what was right or wrong in terms of the doctrine of Christ. It knew its right hand from its left on this important matter. This was not an ignorant or untaught church. This church was not a first time offender. So the level of rebuke they received from Jesus here is accordingly intensified.

And notice what the Lord does here, He brings in this imagery, imagery that the residents of this city no doubt would have been familiar with. In describing their deeds there in verse 15 He says, “you are neither cold nor hot.” Jesus here is saying what is true of you physically is also true of you spiritually and you are like the water that is physically piped there into your city, neither cold nor hot. He goes on to say, though, you'll see it there, “I wish that you were cold or hot.” At least if you were cold you could bring some sort of refreshment to those who come into your midst and are weary and worn, just as the cold waters of Colossae would have enlivened weary travelers. At least if you were hot you could bring some form of healing, some form of remedy, some form of cure to those who are sick, the way those hot springs of Hierapolis brought healing and relief to those countless hurting and ailing people who came into its gates. This is why I believe Christ here is saying, I wish that you were cold or hot. If you were cold or you were hot, you'd serve some purpose. Not this church in Laodicea, He found them completely useless.

Now this is the part of the letter where we might expect the Lord, as He has done in other letters to other cities, to say something encouraging or affirming to this church. Something that was good and something that was noteworthy and something that was beneficial. But that's not what we see here. For this lost Laodicean church the Lord had nothing but contempt, which we see pouring out in verse 16. He says, “So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

Now don't think of cold and lukewarm and hot as three different settings on the dial like some sort of sliding scale of spirituality that the Lord is otherwise neutral about. No, not in the context here. In the context here hot and cold are actually both presented as in some ways good while lukewarm is presented as bad. Hot and cold can be useful; lukewarmness, however, is useless. And that's what the Laodicean church was, it was useless. The Laodicean church couldn't refresh anyone the way the springs at Colossae could refresh or the way that the cold water in your sink can refresh a section of burnt skin. The Laodicean church didn't help anyone the way that the hot springs of Hierapolis could help people or the way that the hot water setting in your washing machine can actually take out tough stains that cold water can't take out. Rather, this lukewarm, lost Laodicean church is being condemned by Christ for being so tepidly ineffective.

And look at the result again in verse 16, “Because you are lukewarm, [and] neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” This church was to the Lord's mouth what their water was to theirs. Lukewarm, useless, nauseating. The Lord here is saying to this church, your fake veneer of faith doesn't fool me. I know Romans 3:18, that there is no fear of God before your eyes. You are not really of Me, you are not really with Me. You make Me sick. And so He says, verse 16, “I will spit you,” the literal word there is vomit you, “out of My mouth.” What the Lord here says to this church is of no small consequence. He is utterly rejecting this church. They think they are in the family of God, they think their salvation is secure, but they are like those who Jesus warned in Matthew 7:22-23 where He says famously and bone-chillingly these words. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” This is scary stuff, folks.

The Lord isn't done. As we move into verse 17 the Lord continues to heap on these words of accusation and judgment against this church. Look at what comes next. He says, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” Because. The reason they are facing this impending judgment, the reason they are about to be spit out from the Lord's mouth is because of their lukewarmness, their nauseating uselessness which we have seen stemmed from the fact that they were Christologically in error. But we also see that it comes from the fact that they were secure and self-sufficient and smug, and specifically in this context about their financial position. Look what it says. They are rich, they had become wealthy and therefore they had no need of anything. They were in their own eyes rich and well established in their own prosperity and therefore in no need of help whatsoever. These people undoubtedly had been affected by the material prosperity of the city in which they lived and the ways of the city seemed to have crept into the church. There is no record of this city facing any sort of external pressure or persecution, no idea of any kind of internal opponents like a synagogue of Satan as we see in other cities. No, they had succumbed to their own affluent lifestyle and they didn't even know it. They are lounging around in their decadent ease in denial of their true condition.

And look at what the Lord says, His assessment of their situation. And at the end of verse 17 He says, “And you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Let's take those one by one. First, He calls them wretched. That word wretched means completely hopeless. It's used only one other time in Scripture in Romans 7:24 where Paul says, “wretched man that I am.” But note the contrast. Paul knew he was wretched but this church at Laodicea didn't embrace that fact. He calls them miserable here in verse 17. That means to be an object of extreme pity. Christ is saying to this church, your condition is as pitiful as it could get. He calls them poor. That word refers to extreme poverty, a condition of being totally destitute, which is an interesting description when we think of the city to which this letter was written because as we have seen the people in this city, in fact, were quite rich, based on their involvement in banking and pharmaceutical and clothing industries. All those had made them very, very wealthy. And yet they were poor.

This church was the opposite of Smyrna. The church at Smyrna was poor but Christ says they are rich. Here to this church He says, you think you are rich but you are spirituality poor. Next He calls them blind. Again that word stands out because one of the things that put Laodicea on the map was that eye salve that they produced which was designed to give its recipients clearer vision and sight. But they are blind. Last, He calls them naked, and that stands out because this city was known for producing that ultra luxurious, beautiful black wool which was used to create clothing which obviously would cover up people's nakedness. Solomon once said in Proverbs 30:8-9, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ ” That's exactly what happened at Laodicea. On account of their wealth this church had forgotten God. Their Christological errors were only compounded by their comforts.

Now there is an interesting phrase the Lord uses here in verse 17 to describe the actual condition of this church. Before He introduces those five descriptors He says, “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” I've had to bring this to your attention, Laodicea, because you are self-deceived. Until I brought this to your attention, Laodicea, you were not even aware of what terrible shape you were in. Until I wrote you, you thought you were thriving and prosperous and wealthy and visionary and fashionable and all the rest. But as He does with unbelievers of all time, “the god of this world,” 2 Corinthians 4:4, Satan, “has blinded” you. He has blinded you as to your actual spiritual state. He has pulled the wool over your eyes so that you have failed to see that you are not only lukewarm, you are lost. This church thought it was redeemed when in fact it was wretched. This church thought it had it made when in fact it was miserable. This church thought it was rich when in fact it was poor. This church thought it had spiritual sight when in reality it was blind. This church thought it was clothed in Christ's righteousness when in fact it was naked. This church was full of ignorant, unregenerate people who had never experienced genuine salvation. They were spiritually blind, spiritually naked and fully exposed before God. This church was not only full of lukewarm hypocrites who made the Lord sick. It was full of deceived individuals who had no salvation, no heaven and no hope.

So how was this church at Laodicea… how was it supposed to get itself out of this dangerous position it found itself in? The Lord tells them in verse 18. He starts by saying, “I advise you.” Not “I order you.” Not “I command you.” “I advise you,” counsel you. It's a very interesting choice of words. The Lord was free to destroy the sinners in this church based on the perfect outworking of His perfect justice. But that word “I advise you,” I counsel you really shows that the Lord is merciful. He is showing them grace, He is offering them forgiveness.

And what does He advise them to do? Look at the rest of the verse. He 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.” See these were items—gold, garments, the eye salve that people in this church would have thought they either had or easily could get. Because again those resources were easily found in their city. And also because they were otherwise prosperous, this city, even if they didn't have those means right at their hand in their homes, they had the means to purchase them. But Jesus here is saying whatever you think you need physically is actually what you need from Me spiritually. You do need gold refined by fire. You do need garments. You do need an eye salve. But not in the way you think. Let's take these one by one.

He says, speaking first of the gold refined by fire. That would be the purest form of gold and here it represents faith. The church's lukewarm uselessness, its tepid faithlessness, needed to be replaced with a pure faith. The type of faith that can withstand fiery trials, the kind of faith that 1 Peter 1:7 says, will “be found to result in praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” They needed faith. Next, He says you need these white garments so that you may clothe yourselves. These white garments are pure garments, they represent the righteousness of Christ, which would stand in contrast to the precious black wool that the proud citizens of this city were so fond of. The church at Laodicea needed to buy these white garments which would hide their nakedness so that they wouldn't be exposed on account of their sin in the presence of a holy and righteous God. Next He says you need eye salve to anoint your eyes. Now in the case of physical afflictions this ointment was applied to take care of specifically the condition of myopia, that sort of distorted vision. And if there were anyone who was spiritually myopic, it was this church, these people at Laodicea. Jesus here is saying, come and buy this spiritual salve from Me so that you may regain spiritual sight. Come and see.

To summarize, the Lord's counsel to this lukewarm, useless, unregenerate church at Laodicea who in their comfortable smugness didn't think they needed anything -- He is saying, “buy from Me gold (that is) refined by fire so that you may become rich.” Buy from me “white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and (so) that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed.” Buy from Me “eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.” And of course, considering that this is a group of wealthy, smug, self-sufficient church-goers, what do you think their inclination was in response to this counsel? Where do I buy it? I need to buy gold? I need to buy clothes? I need to buy eye ointment? Sure. How much? Where do I write the check? Where do I send the Venmo payment to?

Is that what the Lord is saying here? No, no. That's not what He is saying at all. In fact, to give us sort of a context, a picture of what He is truly describing, flip with me all the way back to Isaiah 55. Obviously Isaiah 55 has a unique context and setting and reference, but we can go back to Isaiah and these Old Testament prophetic books and see so many references, especially in the book of Revelation. Isaiah 55:1, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” I could go off on that passage and go much deeper into it. But I think I just want to give you guys the illustration here in terms of where we are in this letter to Laodicea in that the Lord is giving a similar encouragement as we see in Isaiah to the church at Laodicea. He is telling the lost Laodicean church, come and buy, but not with your money, not with your material wealth. Rather, you simply have to come to Me in faith and be prepared to have that gifted to you. Not because of you. Because of Me.

And that's a word of both warning and encouragement to all of us here this morning. None of us has anything that we own or could own that could inch us any closer to the Lord or buy us any favor with the Lord. All of us at some point must throw ourselves on the mercy of God and ask for His grace. And declare that what we don't have, that which we cannot buy, is what we need from Him as a free gift, specifically offered and mediated through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And trusting in His finished and sufficient work as being the only thing that could save our souls, grant us eternal hope and give us any sort of standing before a perfectly holy and perfectly righteous God. And anyone who comes to God on those terms will be granted eternal life, will be saved from their sins and will receive rich, eternal blessings in glory. So it was with this lost, unconverted church in Laodicea. They are now being graciously beckoned by the Lord to repent and believe in Jesus, to receive salvation in its fullness, to be given spiritual sight and at no charge.

Drop down to verse 19 and let the text speak. He says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” Note the logic here. I've just reproved and disciplined you, which means what? I love you. We could do a study in the Proverbs on that concept but we don't have time. Now interestingly the word that the Lord uses here for love is not “agape” or “agapao,” that sort of self-sacrificing love that we see often described of God and Christ. That form of love that led to Christ offering Himself as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin. Rather, the word here for love is “phileo,” that sort of love of friendship, a love of affection. And we do know, don't we, that while God has a certain love for believers, for His children, He also loves and has a different sort of love for the world, which is brought out in this verse. Though this church is lost, though this church is full of unregenerate people, there is yet still a sense in which He loves them. And so He reproves them, it says. He rebukes them the way He is described as doing so in other settings with respect to unbelievers. You can jot down John 16:8 which says that the Holy Spirit “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” Or 2 Timothy 2:25 says that under shepherds, pastors, will correct those who are in opposition, meaning unbelievers. God loves sinners. God does not desire that any would perish but that all would reach repentance.

Speaking of repentance, look at that next part of verse 19, He says, “Therefore be zealous and repent.” That's a call to salvation. That's calling for immediate action, a turning from one's sin with all of one's heart as they trust fully in the finished work of Christ on the cross. The message to this so-called church here is repent now, with haste, without delay. Don't wait, don't wait until your bank account is what you want it to be. Don't wait until you have the full number of acres that you want or the size of the family that you want or until your kids are at a certain age, the age that you want. No. Repent. And out of that will come a godly zeal, a burning passion and pursuit of God that comes from a true and redeemed heart of faith.

Moving on to verse 20, He says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Of course, this is one of the most abused verses in the Scriptures. This is most often used in certain evangelistic settings as saying that Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and knocking. We've all heard the silly sayings. The door only has a handle on the inside and only you can open the door and just let Him in. He's out there on the porch and He's in the rain and His hair is getting wet and His Birkenstocks are getting soaked. Just let Him in.

That's not the context. No, the context of how Jesus is being portrayed here is actually in contrast to another fact about the households of Laodicea during this time. As I mentioned earlier, Laodicea was sort of a far out outpost in the Roman Empire. And what would happen by way of imperial edict is that Roman soldiers would basically just station themselves in these Laodicean homes. And these Roman soldiers, looking for clothing and food and shelter out in this outpost of Laodicea, they were allowed to just barge in, stay the night, eat the food and do whatever they wanted to do in those Laodicean homes. They forced their way in.

Jesus here, though, is portrayed as knocking. That's the picture we get here of the Lord Jesus, the Kings of Kings, with all rights to bring imminent judgment on this church if they did not repent, actually knocking on the door, calling on them to repent. If they don't, of course, they will face one day His eternal judgment and wrath. But if they do repent we see here in verse 20, “I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Those who repent will dine with Him now in the sense of enjoying fellowship and communion and intimacy with Him as His followers, as members of God's family. But of course this is pointing to a day that is coming, the ultimate meal, the ultimate dining experience, when believers will enjoy that feast that we know as the marriage supper of the Lamb. He will dine with them and they with Him.

But again Jesus here is speaking to a lost and unregenerate group of people who call themselves a church. This is not a church that Christ is in and He wants back in the church. This is not about Him knocking on the door of anyone's heart. Rather, He is saying if anyone there in Laodicea or for that matter in any dead and lifeless and unsaved so-called church today will come and open the door, meaning bow the knee to Him in repentance and faith, He'll come in. He'll reenter that church and that church can again be called a church of Jesus Christ. He will have fellowship with those who put their trust in Him. In context of the entire letter this is a final warning, a final attempt, to reach this lukewarm church of Laodicea to let the Lord back in. Not into their hearts but into His church.

Now does that mean that the Lord isn't interested in hearts turning to Him? It most definitely does not mean that. Look at verse 21. It says, “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” As we've established throughout this series the overcomer is the follower of Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:5, “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but [he who] believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” That's the overcomer, the believer in Jesus Christ, the Christian. To that overcomer Jesus here is saying, “I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” So those who are overcomers are not only co-heirs with Christ, we're going to be co-rulers with Christ. The One who also, it says, overcame, meaning when He died on the cross and rose from the grave on the third day. See, when you trust in Jesus Christ to save you, when you believe 1 John 5:5, that He is the Son of God -- you die to sin, you are made alive to righteousness, and you are promised that one day you will rise with the Lord having paved the way for you through His own resurrection. And not only that. You will reign with Him on His throne during His coming thousand-year reign here on earth, before He ushers in the eternal state. 2 Timothy 2:12, “If we endure, we will also reign with Him.” That's the promise to the overcomer.

What a message to a church that thought it had everything figured out, that seemed to have so much going for it, who thought they were sitting on top, who thought they were the best in show, who thought they were the cream of the crop, who probably thought they had overcome based on various other worldly achievements and accomplishments. But they weren't truly overcomers. They could only become overcomers if they came to Christ.

Last is verse 22, “He who an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The Spirit, as He does with every jot and tittle of Scripture has given us this letter. Gave this letter to this church in Laodicea, but He also gives it to us today to understand what pleases the Lord, what displeases the Lord. To lay over life in the body here at Indian Hills and sincerely ask the question, are we listening? Are we hearing? Heeding any warnings? Is it clicking? Do we get it? And of course, given the context of this letter and this lost Laodicean church, I have to ask the question this morning. Are there any of you here who though sitting in church, though possibly raised in the church, though you know the address to the church, though you attend church, though you serve in the church, though you say you love the church. Are there any of you here this morning who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ? If there are, your solution is not to clean up the outside, the solution is not to just become better. The solution is not to read your Bible more necessarily, it's not to pray more, it's not to serve more, it's not to get involved more, it's not to just become more churched. The solution rather is to repent and believe the Gospel. To trust that it has nothing to do with who you are or what you have done. And it has everything to do with what He has done once and for all, paying in full the penalty for your sin on the cross of Calvary. Trusting and banking your entire eternal existence on what He did for you. Not on what you think you can do for Him or what merit you think you have. If you are here this morning and you are a Laodicean, lost, my charge to you is to repent and believe in the Gospel. Trust exclusively and fully in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

I'm going to end this series. I've heard a lot of feedback on this series and I think a common word I've heard as I've talked with many of you about these letters and what we have been talking about up here, a common word I've heard is ouch. And I hope we are all taking that the right way. The Lord had real things to say to these real churches in real history. And they are real stingers that we're feeling from time to time. And my prayer for us as a church is that we'll take these rebukes, we'll take these words of warning, we'll take the words of encouragement, too, and strive every day, every month, every year to be a progressively faithful church to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!?

Let's pray. Lord God, we thank You again for Your Word. It is timeless, it's true, it's fixed, it's sufficient. We have in it all the treasure we need to walk through this dark and darkening world. God, as we have come to the end of this series and studying these letters to the churches, I pray that we would be encouraged with those good and godly examples in some of the churches of ancient Asia Minor. And that we would truly take to heart where there have been rebukes that You gave to those ancient churches, but rebukes You give to unfaithful churches today. Help us, God, by the power of Your Spirit, living within each of us individually and moving in Your church, to become a progressively more faithful church, a church that holds firmly to the Word and sound doctrine, a church that is faithful in sharing the Gospel, a church that is faithful to pray diligently, a church that seeks to bring glory to Your name. We love You and give You thanks for this day, this time, and this series. In Christ's name, amen.