Brothers and sisters, would you turn in your Bibles please to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55, if you're able, when you're ready, would you please stand for the reading of God's holy, inspired, inerrant word, Isaiah chapter 55. Hear now the very words of God. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligent to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. And cline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, And a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. And then would you turn over to Revelation chapter three. Verse 14. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So, Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so 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 eat with him. And he with me, the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne. As I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne, he who is near. Let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Amen. To God's word, let's pray. Please, Lord, this evening, please speak to us. Do that work that is needful for us. We look to you. We look to this ordinary means of grace. that you would strengthen us, that you would encourage us, that you would rebuke us, that you would do whatever you see fit. But Lord, draw us close to you. Even this night, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. According to one commentator, Laodicea was one of the richest cities in the world at this time. There was theaters, there was a stadium, it was known as a banking epicenter, there was a textile industry there, and there was a medical center. They were something. This city was something. In fact, there was an earthquake in Laodicea and they were offered, in AD 60, they were offered federal funding. The feds turn up, here's a bunch of money for you. And they said, no thanks, we've got this. Can you imagine that happening today? Baltimore, here is billions of dollars. No, we're fine. We don't want your money. But that's what this city was like. They didn't need any assistance. We have this under control. And what the city was like is also what the church was like. This church was self-important. This church was self-reliant. I am rich. I have prospered. I need nothing. Verse 17. Now, I don't think they would say that. I don't think if you asked them, do you need God? Well, no, we don't need God. We'll come calling to Jesus if we need Him, but we're fine. I don't think they would say that. But in the recesses of their hearts, that's what they thought. That God is somehow irrelevant. That somehow they didn't need Him. They were self-important. They were self-reliant. Well, with that in mind, I want us to look at this letter under four headings. The first one is Jesus' description. Jesus' description of this church. Now, this is the only congregation out of the seven that he says nothing good about. Look at verse 17. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. You're wretched. He says, literally, literally, it's you are the wretched one. Laodicea, this city is a banking epicenter, but you're poor. Smyrna were poor, but they were rich. But you're rich, but you're poor. Laodicea had this textile industry. They produced much wool, but you're naked. They had a medical center, but Jesus says to them, you're blind. Jesus isn't messing around with this church. He's telling them straight. He goes further, verse 15, I know your works, you're neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. Now, this city, Laodicea, they had an aqueduct. Their water came from five miles away. And of course, by the time it reached the city, it was tepid. And that's what Jesus is saying, That's what you're like, you're tepid. You're lukewarm, you're apathetic. I think of Sharon. Sharon grew up in church. And you know, church is fine. She's not against Christ. In fact, her family, she says that she is a Christian. And every now and then she comes to church and she brings her kids with her because that's what her upbringing was like. And she wants her kids to grow up to be moral people. But if you were to ask Sharon, Sharon, how often do you read this Bible that William Tyndale died for you to have in your language? How often do you pray? Is there a battle with sin? Are you longing for Christ? Is there any meaningful communion between you and the triune God? She's room temperature. Or Stuart. Stuart is a good chap. He's a good family man. He works hard, he attends church more often than not. And if you start speaking to Sheriff, he will tell you how in his younger days, how he snuck Bibles behind the iron curtain to various countries. And yet now it's all but impossible. to get a word out of him about the Lord Jesus Christ, about the Bible. You start talking to him about current affairs, start talking to him about politics, and he will light up. He's got an opinion and everything, but you speak to him about the Lord and, well, he shrivels up. He's not really interested. And this text is saying, Sharon, Stuart, You make Jesus want to puke. You make him want to puke. That's the effect that they have on Jesus. Secondly, I want you to see Jesus' threat. Jesus' threat in verse 16. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Now that word spit is not Not the best words. The word in Greece, emeto, it's the idea of vomiting. I think the King James uses the word spew. That's a better word. I will spew you out of my mouth. They are sickening. Doctors, this is where we get our word emetic, emeto. I will spew you. You want to vomit. Now imagine this congregation, their pastor reading this letter out. If Jesus is your side hobby, he wants to puke you out. See, Jesus doesn't judge this church by their budget, or the number in their rows, or their building, or their music, or their apparent growth. What he cares about is humility. and sincerity and love and vitality and zeal. He cares about what's going on in here. This is what he cares about. He doesn't care about the outward show. He cares about the hearts of his people. Now how did they get How could they be so deceived that they thought they were something when they're nothing? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I think perhaps of married couples who don't have any weeds in their garden, but they don't have any flowers. It's not like the husband and wife are at each other's throats all the time. They're not criticising each other all the time. But there's no words of affirmation. It's not necessarily a hostility there, but there's no affection there. And the absence of conflict may suggest that all is well. And that's what people can do. Even though it's loveless, even though they're far off from Christ, they just imagine that because everything seems to be smooth sailing, that that's God's approval, stamp of approval on their walk with Him. All the while, Jesus wants to puke them out. And that's the threat. He will spew them out. Third, I want you to see Jesus' counsel, Jesus' counsel in verse 18 through 19. Now Jesus hasn't held back from criticizing Laodicea, but why not? Why has he not held back? The answer is L-O-V-E. It's because he loves them. that he hasn't held back. Verse 19, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Love motivates his rebuke. Love motivates his call to repentance. He loves them enough to tell them what they don't want to hear. He wants to call them back because he loves them. Don't you love Jesus that He's not that friend? You know, those people that just tell you what you want to hear all the time. He didn't just let them wander away in their self-reliance. He cares enough to speak the truth and love to them. Come back! Turn around! Come back! Perhaps he's saying that to you this evening. Come back. Care. Care, care now. Young people this evening, let me say to you, please don't ever say, I'll care, I'll fully embrace Jesus when I'm older. I'll care about Jesus when the coursework is out the way, when the exams are out the way. I'll care, I'll be zealous when I'm married. I'll be zealous when the kids are more manageable. I'll be zealous when things calm down at work. I'll care when I'm retired or I'll care when I'm an empty nester. Jesus loves your soul enough to say this evening, care now. Repent and be zealous. Now be a purposeful, diligent, focused, motivated, firm, battling Jesus lover now. Come back. Come back. So I say to you this evening, if you're self-important, if you're self-reliant, or you're just flat out apathetic, and if you won't repent, then let me tell you what's very possible, what may happen to you. If you don't belong to Christ, and you're just you're just drifting, then it's very likely that you will continue to become more and more detached until one day you'll float so far out to sea that you'll turn round and there will be no land. Or, if you do belong to Jesus, then he will love you enough to hurt you. to discipline you, even if it hurts, even if it's painful. He won't leave you in your apathetic state. He'll reprove you, he will afflict you in love. This sounds so ridiculous now, I don't even want to mention it. But when I lived in Wales, I had a really nice car. It was a beautiful car, and I loved it. And it sounds so silly now, but at the time, it was an idol, I mean, a car. And I loved it. And every Monday, I'd wash the car, and I cared. I cared too much about this car. It sounds so pathetic. And I remember I heard a sermon and the man was saying, you know, when we have idols in our lives, God will love us enough to tear them down. And so put your idols to death. And I remember even at the time being so convicted about a car. I thought I loved it too much. And I didn't listen. And within a month, some, I don't know what your equivalent is, I guess like a redneck or something, some, I know who it was as well. He lived in, we lived, it was a very rough neighborhood where the church was. He'd scraped, he'd do a coin or something, scraped all the way along the bonnet, the hoods. And the car was never the same again, praise God. My car was ruined. It was never quite the same. And I knew, the day of, I knew it was from God's loving hand that he wouldn't let me have this idol in my life. And that's what God will do. So be zealous and repent. Wake up, he's saying to this church. Not out of mere self-preservation, but because he's worthy. Everything that this picture book letter says about this King of Glory is true, so turn around and be zealous, he says to them. It doesn't stop at this call to repentance. Note what he says in verse 18. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. You know the three things in verse 17, poor, blind, naked. And here Jesus says, yeah, but there's an answer. There's gold for your poverty. There's salve for your blindness. There is white garments for your nakedness. Jesus gives them the answer. Jesus is the answer. You're poor. If you have this whole world and everything that you think that you need and everything that you think that you want, if you don't have Jesus, you're poor. But Jesus, the rich, for your sakes, became poor that you, through his poverty, might be rich. He said, buy gold. That's me. Take me. I will be your richness. I will be enough for you. You're blind. Come to me and I will open your eyes and you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free. You're naked like Adam and Eve in the garden. They were naked. They knew it. They knew their shame. But Jesus says, I will clothe you with white garments. I'll clothe you with myself, with my righteousness. He died naked on a cross in order to clothe His people. Come, He says, and buy gold and garments and salve. They're free. Come and buy them from Him. I'll give you them for free. All that you need. It's Jesus' counsel to this church and Jesus' counsel to us this evening to come to Him. For all that we need. And then fourthly, I want you to see Jesus' promise. Jesus' promise in verse 20 and 21. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. Now understand that this is not an evangelistic text. This is not poor old Jesus wishing that they would only make room in their hearts for him. This is the picture of a master coming home expecting his own servants to open the door. We have this same imagery in Luke chapter 12. Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants who the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table and he will come and serve. And this is a promise. This is a promise to Jesus' servants. A promise to this congregation of the privilege of restored fellowship with their master. And Jesus comes, as it were, to 900 Watauga. Do you think about that? Do you think as you're coming to church that Jesus is coming as well? Where two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst of them. And he comes like we come and it's as if he knocks on those red doors at six o'clock at the back and says, am I welcome? Will you let me in? Open the doors and I will come in and we can eat together. You see here there is this picture, it's quite a startling picture of Jesus vomiting, of Jesus puking people out. But then there's this other picture of Jesus loving his people enough to call them back. This other picture of Jesus offering to make them rich and to clothe them and to heal them. And this other picture of Jesus standing at the church door saying to his servants, listen to me, repent. And I will forgive you for your indifference, forgive you for your complacency. Open the door and I will come in and we will be together. And we will dine together. And this picture of Jesus saying to them, conquer. And I will call you up into my throne. to reign with me, the one who conquers. I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who is an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, we thank you that you loved your people there in Laodicea enough not to leave them. But in stark terms, warn them of their condition and in love, call them back to yourself. Lord, we do pray tonight if there are those here this evening who are far off, who are lukewarm, that you by Your spirit would give them the grace to obey, to be zealous, and to repent. You would call them back to you. You would keep them close to you. They would no longer be lukewarm, but would be on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would grant that to us as individuals and to us as a church. We be zealous for you, that you would be exalted, that we would conquer, and that you would pull us up to your throne to reign with you forever. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.