Please turn with me to Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three, beginning in verse one. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. And I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, these things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have sat before you an open door, and no one can shut it. For you have a little strength, have kept my word, and have not denied my name. Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and know that I have loved you. because you have kept my command to persevere. I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole earth to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast to what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to the angel, the church of the Laodiceans write, these things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were colder hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I'm rich, I've become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. 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 dine with him and be with me, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. May God add his blessing to his own word. Well, this morning we get to the seventh and final of the seven churches in the first a couple of chapters, chapters two and three of Revelation, and this is the church in Laodicea. For those who have been in Revelation much at all, for those who have even heard of these churches before, have done much, studied all in these matters, you probably need little introduction to Laodicea. It's the easiest one to remember. It's the lukewarm church. Now, the outward situation of Laodicea was that it was fairly wealthy. It had a famous banking industry and the wealth that goes along with it. It was also noted for medicine, both in terms of having a famous medical school, particularly noted for its ophthalmology, and also for its production of medicine, particularly, again, eye salve. And it was also noted for its textiles, producing good quality garments. Well, anyhow, in all these ways, it has virtually anything that could be desired. It was a prosperous place. As material things went, they had all they needed. But, Jesus declares that they were lukewarm. Neither hot nor cold, lukewarm. Now, are these things related? Well, it's possible they are. It's possible that the material prosperity were either creating or contributing to the conditions that made them lukewarm, and we'll be thinking about these things as we go on in the sermon. But mainly, being lukewarm is such a terrible thing, such a thing to be avoided, that we need to understand what it is and how it happens. Now, we're in no doubt, thankfully, to the solution of being lukewarm. The solution is always Christ, and Christ reveals himself to this church. In verse 14, these things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness. I think it's significant for a couple of reasons, don't you? One, because what he is about to say to this church is going to strike them as unbelievable. And he reminds them of that he is the true witness, the one who is faithful, and is going to tell them the truth. He's going to tell them like it is, because they're not going to believe it. They're blind to their condition. They are not aware of it in the slightest, and it's going to strike them as fantastic. But he is the true witness, and we must listen to him, no matter what our preconceived notions might be. And in the other way, This reality of Christ being the faithful and true witness is in polar opposition, completely unlike what these people in Laodicea were like, because they simply weren't. They were, of course, claiming the name of Christ, but in their actions, and no doubt their words, they betrayed him. They were not living in accordance with their claim to being Christians. And actually in their witness and what they said and what they did, they were showing themselves to be anything but. They were not faithful witnesses to Christ, as we are called to be. They were unfaithful. They were untrue. They were the opposite of what Christ reveals Himself to be. And indeed, as we shall see, it may be that many of these people in Laodicea were not Christians at all, and they needed something else that the Lord Jesus Christ reveals Himself to be, which is the firstborn, the firstborn of the creation of God, the beginning of the creation of God. A reminder then that he is the author of life and he is the one that's able to give life to the dead, as we saw in another church, and even to make those who are lukewarm to be warm and zealous in their faith. Because that's what the final answer for this church. The title of the sermon is, To the Lukewarm, Be Zealous and Repent, because that's what the Lord tells him. That's the advice, that's the counsel that the Lord gives to this lukewarm church. For these lukewarm people, for a lukewarm church, there's but one remedy, and that's to be zealous and repent. Well, these three points. The Laodiceans are lukewarm. Second, Jesus cannot stand the lukewarm. And third, Jesus's counsel to the lukewarm. The Laodiceans are lukewarm. Jesus can't stand lukewarm people. And third, Jesus's counsel to the lukewarm. So first, the Laodiceans are lukewarm, as it says in verse 15. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, And in verse 16, you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot. Now, we need not go into much depth into the physical comparison as to what they are. We all know what lukewarm water is, and nobody wants it. It's not the sort of thing that you would choose. You either have a cold glass of water, or perhaps you have a hot glass of water, but it's not necessarily the best thing to have at, say, room or particularly body temperature. That's not something that we appreciate. Now again, we never base our interpretation on anything on extra-biblical material, but it is interesting that in our archaeological and historical research, there are things to suggest that the water there in Laodicea was actually lukewarm. Unlike some other water supplies in which perhaps it was from a cold spring and nice and cold, or perhaps it was from a hot spring and warm and thought to be of some medicinal value, it's lukewarm. It was piped in from a distance and over time it warmed up just enough to be lukewarm. Well, this is a situation that they're in, and of course what we're talking about is that they're lukewarm spiritually. It's not physical, it's spiritual. Neither hot nor cold. And we'll be asking what's wrong with being lukewarm in the next point. But for the moment, let's just ask this question, the very simple question, how did they get to be lukewarm? I think it's an important question to ask because it's obviously something we want to avoid at all costs. This would seem to be the worst case of all the seven churches. We've got to avoid being lukewarm. So let's just think about how it is that they might have come to be lukewarm. Well, there seems to be something of an answer in verse 17. It says, because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing. That word because implies that this is an explanation for their lukewarm condition. And so it seems as a, well, it says I've become rich, I've become wealthy, and I have need of nothing, implying that they have no spiritual need. And it would seem that they're falling into this old trap that the Jews so often fell into of equating being rich with being righteous. They built that understanding on things, well of course this is scripture, they built it on things like Genesis 13 too, that Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold, and he was a righteous man, must have been. These things were connected. And then we have the general principle such as in Proverbs 10.4, he who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. And then they conclude, this is a hard and fast rule. Each and every time you have a righteous man, they will also be rewarded with wealth. Yes, that was the Old Testament equivalent of the health and wealth gospel. And that explains then the reaction to the disciples had in Matthew 19. Remember how it is. To our eye, when we read this, we're not surprised at all, but for them it was shocking. In Matthew 19, 23, then Jesus said to his disciples, I assuredly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And when his disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, who then can be saved? They were saying, wow. If rich people can't be saved or it's hard for them to be saved, who could possibly, especially the middle class and the poor, how could they be saved? Because everyone knows that the rich are righteous and they've gotten it because they are so righteous. Well, being diligent and being clever is not always the very same thing as being righteous and being therefore rewarded of the Lord. And Jesus has to correct that misunderstanding that far from being an invariable indications of someone's spiritual condition, being rich can very often be an impediment spiritually, an impediment even to salvation. Now, riches themselves are spiritually neutral. And sometimes the Lord has reasons to grant them to his people. But the things that surround riches can often be a problem. And of course, they would have found that out had they even been more balanced in their reading of the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms. It makes it very clear. So the Laodiceans seem to be, they were mistaking their material prosperity for their spiritual prosperity. And thus concluding in verse 17, I am rich. I have become wealthy. And the tense there and the coloration of that word there is I have done it. I have made myself wealthy. Not that this has been given to me by the Lord, but I have done it. And I've merited this wealth. And I have need of nothing. So maybe that's the situation, but that doesn't really answer the question of how they become lukewarm. Because as we said, the mere possession of wealth is not necessarily the problem. Yes, they're certainly mistaking their material condition for their spiritual one, and that's a problem. But the mere possession of wealth is not necessarily the problem. That's not necessarily at the root of their lukewarmness, or the main symptom even of their lukewarmness. Indeed, we have in 1 Timothy 6, 17, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. And then he gives them the command, let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. So it's speaking to wealthy Christians, not the mere possession of wealth. It's how it's acquired, your attitude towards it, and what you do with it. Now then, now perhaps we should ask, how did the Laodiceans come to be wealthy? Maybe that's the question to ask. Well, we're not told exactly. You have the scripture in front of you as much as I do. We're not told exactly. But it is certainly interesting, isn't it, that the Laodicean church has managed to become rich in this situation of widespread Jewish and Roman empire persecution. Smyrna in Revelation 2.9 says, I know your works, tribulation and poverty, as if these things go together. Indeed, none of the other churches are described as in any way being rich. Most of the churches were being persecuted, and persecution just simply doesn't go well with being wealthy, does it? They were, as we had mentioned in other sermons, they were refusing to take part in the pagan trade guilds, you see, that controlled all the trades. Because of their idolatrous rituals and practices, they didn't think a Christian could rightly take part in it, and they were therefore suffering the consequences. of being ostracized and being kept from those trades, being kept from being able to participate in the thriving economies. Because, you know, Laodicea wasn't the only thriving economy. A number of the other places we mentioned also had those things, but the churches weren't always rich. So, how is it possible that this church in Laodicea became wealthy? Maybe, again, we're not told specifically, but quite possibly it's because they'd capitulated and they'd fallen in completely with these pagan trade guilds and all their pagan rituals. And therefore they got what they asked for. They got the wealth that came with it. Now, I say that they capitulated wholesale because there's nothing for Christ to commend them for at all. All the other churches have something for Christ to commend them in. Something, little, some even little hint. But, or if not as a church as a whole, then they have some sort of faithful remnant. There are those, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments and so forth. There's not even a faithful remnant here. And so perhaps rather than putting up any resistance whatsoever, perhaps rather than it being a heretical party within the church who says it's okay to be doing all these things, they've just fallen into it completely. Well, maybe that's perhaps how they got rich, and if so, then we have a little bit better understanding then of how it is they came to be lukewarm. And it's not so surprisingly then we find that they're deceiving themselves. They're in self-deception. You do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. And let's just briefly take those words one at a time. Wretched. It's like Romans 7.24. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? This wretchedness connected with this body of death. Miserable. They're not in a good and careless and festive condition no matter what they think. They're in misery. They're poor, mainly. They think they're rich, but Jesus says they're poor. It's the opposite of what he says in Revelation 2.9. I know your works, tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. Complete opposite to those who considered themselves to be poor. Jesus has to remind them, no, you're rich spiritually. You have great wealth. On the other hand, he's saying, here, you think you're rich, but you're actually poor. And perhaps worst of all, they're blind. You know, there's a lot of things you can do about your condition as long as you know about it. It's generally true in life. As long as you understand the problem, as long as you see it, you're conscious of it, more than likely, over time, there's going to be a way for a solution. You're going to be praying about it, you're going to be doing what is in your hand to do, and no doubt, Most of those problems are going to be solved. But if you're blind, if you don't even see it, then you are stuck. You are in the worst possible condition. And that is their situation here. They're blind. And that's just what Jesus said in John 9. Again, their situation has a lot to do, is reminiscent of the situation of the Pharisees, both in their equating being rich materially with being rich spiritually, and also in their being blind to their condition. In John 9, 39, this is, again, the aftermath of the healing of the man born blind. And Jesus said, for judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. And some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said to him, are we blind also? Of course, they're saying it in a disbelieving sort of way. And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore, your sin remains. Therefore, your sin remains. And it has to remain because you don't know any different. You're not going to repent. You're not going to come to Christ if you think you're OK. They were blind. And so was the church in Laodicea. They were blind to their terrible, wretched condition. And last of all, finally, they were naked. Now here's where things get pretty serious. They were not clothed, you see, by Christ's righteousness. We know that's the sense in which this is used throughout Revelation, throughout the whole Bible. But particularly in Revelation, this idea of being clothed in white robes. These white robes that were washed in the blood of Christ. And it's to cover their spiritual nakedness, their sin. We need to be robed. We need to be clothed in the robes of Christ's righteousness. But they weren't. They were naked. And so, there's no need of saying that that was certainly the case for every last member of this church, although Jesus doesn't make any exceptions, but it would seem that the general condition of these people in Laodicea, in their lukewarmness, actually revealed the fact that they were not Christians, they were not saved, not having the righteousness of Christ applied to them. That then brings us to our second point. Jesus cannot stand the lukewarm. That's what it says in verse 15. I could wish that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Now, over the years, That situation is perhaps a little less prominent here in the UK than what it once was. That situation is extremely prominent still, particularly in the American South, where virtually everyone you meet, the overwhelming majority, say in some ways, make some sort of claim to being a Christian. And yet they are lukewarm. Yet it is quite clear, over time to you at least, that they're probably not Christians. We don't ever know someone else's heart really, but the things that are given to us to know, the things that we're supposed to be able to check, their understanding and their fruitfulness or lack thereof and all the rest of it, it's not there. And the problem is they don't know it. It's a terrible condition for them to be in. They go around saying that they're Christians, that they're born again because they've said the sinner's prayer. And yet, clearly they aren't. It's a bad condition. And what he says is, I wish you were either hot or warm. And it's not because he's indifferent about that. Clearly, he wants them to be hot. He goes on to say that. He's not being indifferent about it. But he does wish that if they were completely cold, they would be publicly recognized. That they'd not be claiming the name of Christ. That they'd say, yes, we're pagans. Yes, we're unsaved. Yes, we need to come to you, Christ. That would be a good situation, a better situation. And certainly the ideal is that they'd be warmly zealous for him. But in the situation they are, they have neither of those advantages. No, he's very much in favor of them being hot. Goes on to say, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Because zeal is a good thing. You know, even zeal without knowledge, some people will point out that, well, you know, zeal, zeal, but zeal without knowledge. Well, even zeal without knowledge is still something that Paul is sort of commending the Jews for. That's the way, that's the context in Romans 10 too. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. The idea is I bear them witness. I speak on their behalf, that the basic character of their attitude is good. It is a good thing that they are zealous. Now, it just needs to be according to knowledge, obviously, because their zeal isn't saving. But there is nothing bad about zeal said throughout all Scripture. Nothing. Only good things. Lots of bad things said about lack of zeal. Now, if that's the case, then what might have... Again, if we're speaking of those who are lukewarm, we've already mentioned the element of their material wealth and we've said maybe it's the way that they acquired it. But there's other problems as well. I said it's not the mere possession of money, it's how it's acquired, your attitude towards it and what you do with it. So let's now think about some of those other things as we consider this problem of being lukewarm. Well, you know the problem of the sower. You know the parable that we have of these four seeds, and they're in four different categories. And one of those things, the third category, is being choked by the world. It says in Matthew 13, 22, now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. the parallel passage in Mark adds, and the desire for other things entering in. So it's not merely and only just money, the desire for other things, and in fact the Luke passage has it this way, and pleasures of life. So all these things put together then, not merely being wealthy, but of the whole picture of desires for other things, for the pleasures of this life, worldliness, the things that this world can afford, that's the thing that is driving you day by day and that is what is keeping you from being fruitful. It is choking the word, keeping it from being fruitful. As we should see, it is not that these people are just in their character, in their personality, those people who aren't passionate about something. They were passionate about something. They were passionate about the world. That's the thing, the category, the category three. People who are being choked by the world, it's not that they lack zeal for zeal in general. The problem is they lack zeal for God. They have zeal for the world. They care about the pleasures of life and the things this world affords. So please don't misunderstand those two things. Sometimes we say, well, some people just don't have much passion. We say, thankfully, that people in the Northeast tend to have a little bit more passion. But that's not the issue. The issue is the object of the passion that we all have, the zeal that we all have. Is it towards God or is it towards the world? That's the issue. Now, having said that then, having looked at that problem, you see now that there's two possible objects for our zeal, God and the world. We need to make the next thing, which is to say that these two things are not compatible. It's not that you can do both of those things. It's that if you have zeal for one, you will not have zeal for the other. It's as simple as that. It's incompatible. That's why it says no man can serve two masters. That's either he'll love the one and hate the other, or love the one and hate the other. It has to be like that. You cannot possibly have warm, zealous love and adherence to two completely different things. Because remember again, the world and Christ are at enmity. They're not friends. They're not allies. And you have to make your choice. That's why Jesus says, I cannot stand you lukewarm people. I cannot stand you lukewarm church. Because your passion, your zeal, your energy, your allegiance, by your actions, whether or not you say this, and you're not saying this, But by reality of who you are and what you're doing, all of your love and your zeal and your passion are going to the world and not to me. And you're quite lukewarm towards me. You name my name, that's this one element of being hot, but it's mixed with so many parts of cold water because your allegiance is really to this world. So these things are not compatible. Zeal for the world is exclusive of zeal for God. And let me just say then, in anticipation of our applications, we have to recognize that zeal is not fashionable, especially not here. It's not fashionable, zeal for God at least. You know, any number of civic religious ceremonies involve a good amount of Christianity and everyone seems to participate in them. The trick is, no one can act like they believe it. Probably they don't. But the cardinal rule is you can't act like it means anything to you. You can be religious still in this country. Even in 2011, you can go to church and you can be and do anything you want. As long as it doesn't make a difference. As long as you don't care. As long as you act like you're cold to the Lord, that's all they want. And you can go about your business. just like the Laodiceans. Problem is, is if you're a zealot, it's almost a four-letter word, isn't it? What possibly could you call someone worse than to be a zealot? Well, that's jealousy, you see. That's the way the world treats its rival. You see, the world wants your attention, and it demands that you not give your affection to another. Well, Christ says the same back. Very same thing. I demand your attention, your affection, your zeal. I demand that you be a zealot for me, no matter what the world says. That's because, you see, zeal and jealousy and love, they're all interconnected, aren't they? These things are not. We cannot think of zeal again. We have a problem, don't we, of saying that there are some here that are zealous. There's a minority of Christians that are zealous and maybe the other ones just aren't that way for some reason. But zeal is connected with love. If you can think of love here, and you think zeal is what we are towards the object of our love, we're zealous towards that object. And jealousy is the way we are towards those who keep us from it, or who are rivals in that way. Love necessarily comes both with zeal and with jealousy. And the way we should be is zealous towards Christ and jealous with regard to the way the world is trying to choke us and trying to get us to compromise. And we should be jealous in that way. But of course, all too often, it works in reverse. Now, anyhow, relate all this to Jesus' self-revelation. He is the Amen, the true and faithful witness. Maybe not so much in terms of pure error, but because of being lukewarm. And it reveals that they themselves were trying to follow two masters, which is impossible. They were trying to serve two masters, which the Lord had said you cannot possibly do. They were therefore lukewarm. Christ, of course, was not false in this way at all, was he? He was not lukewarm when he was in this world. Could anyone possibly accuse Jesus Christ of being lukewarm? Could anyone possibly have interpreted his words or actions to have allegiance to the world? That's, of course, why he was so unacceptable to the world. Because of his zeal for the house of God. That's what it says when he went and overturned those money tables. Zeal for the house of God has consumed me. And it led him to act in these appropriate ways that revealed and betrayed, in that way, his great love for the Father. He is a faithful and true witness because he is a zealot. Well, thirdly and finally, Jesus' counsel to the lukewarm. It says in verse 18, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may see. This is his counsel. This is his, come now, let us reason together. Let me explain the thing that you need to do. Let me explain how you need to respond to this situation. You didn't see it, you're blind, and now I've revealed it to you. I've told you the truth, the way you really are. You're blind and naked and poor. And what he says is, I counsel you to do these things. First of all, to buy gold refined in the fire, that you may have true riches. Well, we know from elsewhere in scripture that all of our works are going to be through the fire of judgment, so to speak. We consider, again, the picture of Christ as the one with the eyes of a flaming fire. In his position as judge over all things, he sees it. All the things that we're in deception about, all the things that we deceive ourselves about, he sees through. And as all of our works pass through that fire, Only the gold and jewels remain. And all the wood, hay, and stubble are burned up in that fire. And what we need then are the true riches that he offers to us. Funny he says, buy, buy from me. Well, we know that we can buy without price. That's what we came to in Isaiah, wasn't it? Come those who don't have money and buy from me. that which is bread, buy from me those things that are good, because Christ has done this for us. Christ's righteousness that he has purchased, that has gone certainly through the fire, has been refined in the fire of the atonement of his righteousness and sacrifice for us, these things are available if we put our faith in him. And likewise, to be clothed in white garments. They are naked. Their sin is ever apparent to the Lord, and there's no hiding it. The sin is there. They may not recognize it because they're clothed in finery. They don't even notice it. But the Lord surely does, and He says, you are naked. And that is a shame. The reality of your sin is a shame. Let me clothe you in my righteousness. Let me give you that which you could never have for yourself. Adam and Eve tried to make those garments, didn't they? Made them out of fig leaves, but that didn't work. God himself had to clothe them in the skins of the animal that he killed on their behalf. And so it is that we can be clothed in the righteousness of Christ because he died on our behalf. He says, let me anoint your eyes with eyesalve. As Jesus says again in verse 9, I've come to give sight to those who are blind. Let me anoint you through the Holy Spirit to give you the ability to see. As those who are spiritually dead, they neither hear nor see. They can't see their situation at all, but those who have been given this eyesalve through the spirit, the regenerating work of the spirit, they can see. And mainly, and most importantly, of all the counsel that he gives to this lukewarm church, be zealous and repent. There's nothing for it. There's nothing else to be said. That's the advice, and that's, well, we just might as well move to the applications, because surely that's the first and foremost, is to repent. Now, again, we, in our simplicity, in our lack of wisdom, in our lack of understanding the Word of God, sometimes make these things into two different things, faith and repentance. And sometimes we think that repentance must have something to do with works salvation, but it's not true. Faith and repentance No doubt I've said it before, two sides of one single coin. They're just with reference to different things. You can't possibly come to Christ unless you repent and turn away from your sin. And you cannot possibly then turn away from your sin without coming to something else in faith. And that's what it is, repentance of your repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Christ. The two things work perfectly together, which is why throughout the Gospels, so very often it's repent and believe. Sometimes it's repent only, sometimes it's believe, but very often it's both of those things together because they come together. And for these people, who despite what they thought, were actually blind, were actually naked, were actually poor, not having the things of Christ at all, they needed to be saved. They needed to repent. and believe. But we never ever, no matter how much we would have high opinions of ourselves and high opinions of the church in general, we never ever remove ourselves from the possibility of such things. That there is some element of lukewarmness in the church as a whole, or that some among us are lukewarm in the sense of not being Christians. It's always, of course, a problem, isn't it? The lukewarm never recognize it. Well, the Holy Spirit is able to make us to see all things. His word can reach all of us, including those who might be lukewarm. And Jesus' counsel and my counsel is that you ought to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, I think we ought to cultivate zeal. Now, I've said it already, and I'll say it at the outset, and I'll try to prove it as we go, but there is no such thing as a Christian who is not a zealot. A true Christian is going to be zealous for the Lord. It has to be that way. But we yet must cultivate zeal. We must set the conditions that are going to tend towards zeal and move us away from a lukewarm condition. If you've been called And you always are called, by the way. It's not something we do ourselves. God calls us through his word and his spirit. We become Christians that way. But if he's called us to himself, then you've been called to be a zealot. It's not for someone else on the fringe to be a zealot. It's for you. Because the only alternative to being zealous is to be lukewarm. Those are the two potentials. And as we said, being lukewarm is not really being a Christian at all. Therefore, you must be zealous. The only alternative is to be spewed out of Christ's mouth. And therefore, we are called to imitate men. For instance, like John, the author of this revelation. And what was he called? What did the Lord Jesus Christ call him in his youth? We think he was probably a late teenager, 17, 18, something like that, when he began to walk with the disciples. And what did he call him? A son of thunder. This man was a zealot. They had another one, by the way, who was called a zealot, Simon the Zealot. That was the sort of men that Christ associated with, the sort of men who came to Christ that were zealots. And I would say, by the way, I would say, again, if you're afraid of being identified as being a zealot, just remember what it is that is giving you that fear. It's because of what the world thinks. It's the world's opinion. And precisely in that fear, precisely in that concern that maybe I don't want to be over the top, it reveals that problem of a mixed allegiance with the world. We're called to imitate men like John, the son of thunder. We're called to imitate men like Phineas. You remember the sermon that Josh Rieger gave on Phineas and his zeal for the Lord, which was so commended in the Old Testament. And we're called to imitate Christ, and Christ was a zealot. You see, he had infinite and perfect love for God and perfect hatred for the things of the world. That's what led him to overturn those money tables. He wasn't unbalanced, he wasn't crazy. He was doing what was only right and good for those who loved God more than anything else and had zeal for their house and for the purity of worship. He was a zealot, and we must imitate him. And so I speak particularly to the young men. I ask sometimes, why is it that we have, when you go to some I don't know how to put it. If you go to a website of a church of mixed situation perhaps in America, why is it that their youth group inevitably has some sort of word like extreme? Extreme youth or the rest? Why? Why? I'll tell you. Because sadly, the culture you live in is tame. Utterly tame. way too tame. For generations and generations of health and safety people have reduced and reduced and reduced all the sort of dangerous things you could possibly do, and you live in a tame and lame environment. And so the natural inclination then of those who are trying to make money off of this is to offer you all kinds of excitement. And the church sort of piggybacks on that commercial idea of young people live in a lame environment, The world wants to offer them illicit excitement in response to that. We're going to offer them some sort of Christian mimeograph of this consumerist situation. Well, I think that's supremely misguided because you don't have to slap the word extreme or have some other aspects. But I don't have to have a fauxhawk in order to be your youth pastor because what I'm preaching is extremely extreme and radical. It's dangerous, actually. It's not just trying to act like it's dangerous. It actually is dangerous. It's a matter of life and death. And if you put your faith in Christ, if you repent, you're called to be a zealot, and it just might cost you your life. That's not a joking matter. It's a very serious matter, isn't it? This is the situation. We don't need to have something fake. We can have something real. Now, I would say all the more because, you know, zeal is not something that you get just suddenly when you're old. Zeal is something that on the most part is a trajectory that is set fairly early on. I don't mean to say that it can't be some other way, because the reality is that the Lord can do all things. All things are possible with God. And so that even those who come to Christ in their very aged years can yet be zealous for the Lord. I know that's true. But if you've come to faith, maybe as a child or as a young man, do not think that a trajectory of compromise is ever going to lead anywhere else than more compromise. Once you set that mold early on, it is very likely to remain that way. And that is why all the more young people, I say to you, be zealots. Make that your habit. Make that your mindset. Set a course now that you're not going to be lame. You're not going to be a compromiser. You're not always going to have to do the safe thing in the eyes of the world. You're going to follow the lamb wherever he goes, because that's what you're called to. Wherever the lamb goes, you're supposed to follow him, whether the world likes it or not. Now, I've mentioned the young men, and in some sense, I don't need to excuse myself from that, because we often speak of other groups. But I would just make this one excuse, because if that happens, then a lot of other things, maybe not everything, but a lot of other things go along with it. You see, the young ladies, they're going to follow such men. I guarantee it. I guarantee it. that a church filled with zealous young men will also be filled with zealous young women because they'll just follow them. I've been to a lot of churches where the opposite has been the case. Maybe that the women are zealous and the men aren't, but I've never been to a situation of the reverse, where you have zealous men and not zealous women. It goes together. And likewise, what about the rest of us, the middle-aged and the old? We're going to be pushed by you young men. We're going to be led, maybe not in imitation, because of course it should be going the other way, but we're going to be kind of pushed in our jealousy to keep going and keep moving in order to be good examples to you. And the old, well, we can lay down in the end and go on to our eternal rest, being very confident that one of the most important aspects of the work has been done and that the church is in good hands. Because if the church is filled with these zealous young men, zealous for the Lord, caring not of the things of this world, then we're in good shape. So, be zealous. Finally, I would just say this. Chastening is good. We didn't speak of this verse 19, but we should say it. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. That's the basis on which we say, then therefore be zealous and repent. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Chastening is not pleasant. The word of God fully admits that. No chastening seems pleasant for the time being. But it is a sign of God's love. And here is the element of the gospel for this church, because they have not been committed for a single thing. And it would seem like the majority of them weren't even Christians, because if that's the general character of their situation, it is not compatible with actually being a regenerate Christian. It isn't. Yet, he speaks of his love for them in his chastening. And therefore, some of them must have been Christians. And therefore, all of them had hope. All of them had something to grab a hold of, because he says, I'm speaking this way. I'm speaking in such harsh tones, and giving you reality of things, and calling you out to repentance, because I love you. The chasing of the Lord is not a bad thing. He needs to get a hold of us from time to time. Don't resist it. Let it have its work, be zealous, and repent. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, how thankful we are that you truly are our Father if we've come to you through faith in Christ. We're not illegitimate. You actually care for us, and therefore you do rebuke and chasten us. And how, Lord, we pray that you'd bring all of us to saving faith in Christ, that we'd be clothed in the rich, white robes of Christ and his righteousness, and not have to stand in the nakedness and shame of our own sin, and that we'd have true riches, riches refined in the fire, and that, Lord, we would have everlasting riches in heaven. Heavenly Father, you know all of our great temptations to compromise with the world. You know our great temptations to be cold towards you and to try to serve two masters. Lord, we pray that you'd help us to repent and that we would be a zealous church, zealous for the Lord. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. We conclude our worship singing to God's praise, Jude 1, 24. Sorry, hymn 595, Sinners, Jesus Will Receive. Hymn 595, Sinners, Jesus Will Receive. Tell this word of grace to all who the heavenly pathway lead. All who linger, all who fall, this can bring them back again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Hymn 595. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? ♪ Listen to me ♪ ♪ Come and see the wandering sheep ♪ ♪ For God on earth is weak and poor ♪ ♪ Jesus comes with a watchful ear ♪ ♪ The Lord on top of His head ♪ ♪ Sweetest in the world ♪ ♪ Sweetest in the world ♪ ♪ Sweetest in the world ♪ Spirit of good, the love of faith, Christ receive this day. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.