We're turning in our Bibles, please, to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3, breaking into the chapter, the verse 14, and reading to the end of the chapter, down to verse 22 together. Come to the end now of our studies. In the seven churches in Asia Minor, we come to look at the study on the church of the Laodiceans. So, Revelation chapter 3, and the verse 14, please. The Word of God says, And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and of need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto you. the churches. Amen. And we know God will bless this reading of his word to our hearts again this morning. Now, as I say, we're finishing our study in the seven churches in Asia Minor. We come now to the church in Laodicea, or the church of the Laodiceans, actually. The city itself, you'll see on the screen there, is number seven. It's located about 50 miles southeast of the city of Philadelphia, which we looked at last week. It's primarily, again, a city with great trade. It focused upon three primary industries, or it was known for three primary industries. It was known for its banking industry, believe it or not. It was known for the textile industry. And it was also known from a medical perspective, and very specifically in terms of the medical perspective, it was famous in the region at the time for a medicinal eye salve. And that, of course, comes into play later on. in the words which the Lord Jesus speaks to the church. It's a very distinct introduction that we have here in verse 14 with regards to the church. You'll see in verse 14 it says, "'Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write these things, saith the Amen.'" It's distinct from the other churches and the other letters. because it's called, Jesus calls it the church of the Laodiceans. When you look back over the previous letters, you'll see that other than Ephesus, the first letter, all of the other churches, it's the church in the city, the church in Philadelphia, the church in Sardis. But here, it's the church of the Laodiceans. It's the people's church. That's what the Lord is saying at the very start. It's the people's church. The point that he's making, though, is that it's not really a church at all, or it's certainly not living up to the name of a church in the true sense. Their only purpose, as far as Christ is concerned, that appears from what Christ is saying here and what he's speaking about, was to serve themselves. It was the church of the Laodiceans. So Jesus comes to speak, and he sends this message, and John's to record the message. It's the last of the messages. And Jesus says to them, these things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. That description's very important. We know that Jesus described himself in different ways. He spoke about different characteristics that he had. But on this occasion, it's specific to them. because of their condition. They're so caught up with themselves that they have lost sight of the truth. And Jesus is saying to them, you need to look at me. I'm the truth. The word amen, for example, there that we read, we know that word amen so well in church life, don't we? Because when we pray, we say it at the end of our prayers, and we find it in Scripture. At the end of prayers, the word amen, and it means let it be or so be it. But it's interesting to notice that the word that's translated as amen, when it's used at the start of a sentence or at the start of a statement, It has the thought or the idea of truth. In fact, the word that's translated as amen there is translated twice as many times in Scripture as verily. For example, whenever Christ said, verily, verily, I say unto you, what was he saying? He was saying truly, truly I say unto you. And that word's twice as often translated as verily as it is amen. So in this title that Jesus gives himself at the very start, as he's speaking to the church in Laodicea, he says that these things saith the truth, or the true one, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, the one who was instrumental in the creation of all things. The one who started all things and the one who is the truth in all things, that's who Jesus is. And that's the message, that's the picture that he's painting to the Laodicean people at the very time that he's writing here. In the prophetic timeline, without getting into the detail of it, Laodicea, it represents the period of time that we're in right now. From a prophetic perspective, that's where we are. I'm not saying that's this church, but what I'm saying is, prophetically, that is where we are as a timeline. The name Laodicea literally means the rights of the people. It's an interesting description. It's an interesting meaning, isn't it, when we think of the world today? What is the cry in society today? The cry in society today declares this idea of everybody's entitled to their rights, whether it's human rights, whether it's social rights, whether it's abortion rights, or as it's so often described, women's rights. LGBT rights and all the rest of it. That's the cry that we hear today. There is no doubt that this is the age we're living in, the age of the rights of the people. And as Jesus writes here to the church of the Laodiceans, there is no doubt, as we consider this and we look at the world and we look at what he's talking about in terms of the church and what this church represents, that the demand for my rights Our rights has entered the church like a virus. That's where we are. That's where the church is generally. Everybody wants their rights. Everybody wants their way. There are no words of commendation for the church in Laodicea from the Lord Jesus here. Not one. He doesn't commend them at all. There's criticism of them, and there's counsel to them. How far? how far this church has fallen from where they once were. We bear in mind that this church is birthed at the same time as the other churches around the region. It's birthed out of the gospel going out, and there's no question whatsoever that in the early days of this gathering, this church of people, that there were those who had trusted in Christ, those who had planted the church, those who were seeking to see the kingdom of God extended, seeking to see the message of the gospel preached and declared. But this church, that Christ is writing to now has fallen. The spirit of the age is evident in it. And there's a warning for us at the very outset here, a warning to the church of Jesus Christ today. We must hold fast to the truth of the Word of God. We must hold on to the Word. We must hold on to the truth of the gospel. We must hold on to the things that are fundamental, because if we don't, the danger is that we could find ourselves where this church found itself. There's nothing different about Bally Baptist Church than there is about any other church. It's people. People, yes, redeemed. People who have come together and have trusted the Lord, but the reality of it is that if the church in Laodicea could fall just three generations after the crucifixion, three generations after the Messiah coming, and the message of the gospel going out, and the message of the gospel being preached to such an extent, there is no doubt whatsoever that just as it could fall, Just as it could lose its direction, just as it could be in this position, so any church could find themselves in this position. The spurt of the age is evident in the church of the Laodiceans. The spurt of the age will infect any assembly which is not careful to focus upon the centrality of Christ and the primacy of His Word. And the church becomes more interested in itself. becomes more interested in themselves. The Lord removes the candlestick. He puts the lights out. That's what can happen. So with that in mind, let's see what we can learn from this letter to the Church of the Laodiceans. I want you to notice, first of all, that there's a sickening reality. A sickening reality. Look at verse 15 and verse 16. Is Jesus speaking here? He says, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Now I don't know about all of you, but I know whenever I want a hot drink, I want a hot drink. I like a good cup of coffee. I got a cup of coffee yesterday and the coffee was a bit stale, but I couldn't blame anybody because I made it myself. Okay, so that's the way it is, but I like a hot cup of coffee. I remember a few years back we were doing a children's camp actually in Warsaw and I had an opportunity, we were in the city and I went into a coffee shop in Warsaw and I don't know what came over me, I don't know what it was, but I ordered myself an iced coffee. I'd never had an iced coffee before, I'll never have an iced coffee again. I took one mouthful of it, one mouthful, and the rest of it went in the bin. And I couldn't drink it. I needed a hot drink. And for some reason, I'd ordered a cold drink, an iced drink. And it wasn't pleasant. But I know some people who like iced coffee or who like things like that. That's fine. We're all different. But there are very few, as far as I understand it, who want a hot drink to be lukewarm or who want a cold drink to be lukewarm. You want it either hot or you want it cold. You don't want it at that tepid temperature. Some people, there are some strange people, and if you're one of them, please excuse me saying that you're strange, but there are some people and they like something just at that temperature. But most people like it hot or cold. Here in Revelation chapter three, verses 15 and 16, We find the Lord Jesus here speaking about the people in Laodicea, the Laodicean church. And they're lukewarm, tepid. For them, that picture was relevant because their water supply was provided via aqueducts, their fresh water supply. But because of the distance that the water had to travel, by the time it reached the city, it was lukewarm at the point of delivery. It wasn't very pleasant. to drink, so they would have understood the picture. But as the Lord Jesus is speaking here to the church of the Laodiceans, and He's looking at them here, now, I'm fairly strongly of the opinion that as the Lord is speaking here, that there were a proportion of the people in the church who were not saved. They were not redeemed at all. What is it that makes the Lord Jesus sick? When he looks at this people, what it is is that they have no convictions, but they make a claim to it. They make a claim to convictions. They take the name of Christ. They skirt around the functions of living for Christ. They take the name of being a church, and they carry out all the duties of being a church, but there's no life. At least it's not evident. It's just a facade. It's just a show, both in the individual and in the gathering. Warren Weersbe in his commentary makes the point that their opinion of themselves was hiding a rotting corpse. Those are his words. Jesus says to these people in Laodicea, he says that your lukewarmness and your behavior and how you're living makes me sick. I will spew thee out of my mouth." Now, that's strong language, but that's the word of Christ. It's not the preacher saying that. It's the only time that the word is found in Scripture. The word literally means to vomit, a word that we understand. Strong's Bible concordance goes further. It delves into the depth of what the word means, and it states that the picture in the original language was of something being rejected with extreme disgust. So the Lord Jesus, as He's looking at these people, as He's looking at this gathering, and they're going through the motions, and they have all the activities, and all of the things going on, and Jesus says, I reject you. You make me sick. We're looking at these people and we wonder, well, what is it? Are these the people who are simply involved when it suits them? Is it that they do what it is that makes them feel good about themselves? But it's all just a front. It's just good living. No spiritual life about them. No desire to please the Lord. They're pleasing themselves. indifferent to the claims of Christ, indifferent to the Spirit of God, not even knowing anything about the Spirit of God for some of them because they're not saved. They've heard the truth. Maybe they'd grown up in a Christian home. These are third generation. We're that far down the line. If you remember back to our studies in 1 John, on the Bible study, we noted that when John wrote, it was to third-generation Christians. And John Phillips, in his commentary, he wrote this about the third generation. He said, by its third generation, every movement of God needs a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit. The first generation is motivated by conviction. Great truths have been grasped, and those who have espoused them have a compulsion to spread those truths. The second generation inherits these truths, but often conviction softens into belief. They debate them, they defend them, they disseminate them, but the fire is gone. By the third generation, belief often becomes an opinion, open to dilution, change, and error. And that's why John wrote to the third generation. Well, here Jesus is speaking And he's telling John to write this letter. And he's writing to a third generation church in this same general time frame. And this church is an example of what can happen. This church is an example, sadly, as we look across our land, of what has happened. We look across the world. It has happened. You know, sometimes preachers speak about, and I've read and I've heard preachers speak about, well, what would the Lord say if he sent a message to this church today or that church today? What would the Lord say? What would the apostle Paul write? Sometimes people say, what would Paul write if he was sending a letter to America or to Northern Ireland? Of course, we know that Paul would, if he was writing a letter, he would be writing it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit because his letters to the churches were written inspired by the Spirit of God. But here's the point. What God has to say to the church today is already here. It's in the book. These are the Scriptures of truth. There's nothing new coming. There is no new revelation because we're 2,000 years down the line and there's some sort of cultural change, which means that the Bible has to change. That's not right at all. The Word of God is sufficient. There are encouragements. There is hope, there is comfort, there's joy to be found as we study the Word of God. Yes, there's warning. And yes, there's rebuke. And yes, there's challenge. All of those things are there. And the question is not, what would God say to the church today? Listen, folks, the question is this. How is the church responding to what God has said? That's the question. How is the church responding? We saw the church of the Laodiceans and how they were responding. And if this is representative of the age, what we see here is a warning for those who have grown up in a church and who are playing a church but have never actually believed the truth, because that's the thing which Christ is rejecting here. There's a seconding reality, but I want you to see secondly, there's a skewed reflection. Look at verse 17. It says, "'Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.'" What's Jesus saying to those in Laodicea here? He's saying, look, you're looking at yourselves and you just think you're complete. You're looking at yourselves and you're saying you're entirely self-sufficient. I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Their focus was upon themselves. Their focus was upon what they had. Their focus was upon what they were doing. The city was a prosperous city, as we've said. It benefited from banking, and it had a banking industry. It was rich. And the church was entirely corrupted by the spirit that permeated the city of Laodicea. It had exactly the same mindset as the people outside the walls. Their strength was found, as far as they were concerned, in what they had. and how that made them feel. So whenever they looked at themselves, this is what they saw. Thou sayest. Why are they saying it? They're saying it because they're examining themselves and thinking, aren't we great? Patting themselves on the back. Remember what I said about the name of the city, the rights of the people. It was evident in the church. It was evident to the Lord as he looked at these people making a claim of faith in Laodicea, more interested in what they could get, more interested in what they had, more interested in what they wanted. Harry Ironside, in his commentary on Revelation, wrote these things about this very passage. He said this. He says, they advocate anything and everything that will seem to increase the church's popularity. The rights of the people must be considered. The rights of the Lord Jesus Christ are not even thought of. What do we have here? We have here a place of self-righteous pride. Prosperity had ruined the church. It was destroying the place. They were saying that they didn't need to live by faith when everything that satisfied their carnal needs and their desires was to hand. They had it all to hand. And listen, folks. I've met people like this. In churches today, there are people like this, taking just enough of church to make them feel comfortable about themselves, but more interested in the world out there, more interested in what the world gives them than what the word of God has for them. Look at what the Lord says about this. Do you see what he says? He says, I knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. He tells them that what they think they are, what they think they have, it's not the reality. They've got this flawed perspective of themselves. You see, what the Lord sees when he looks at these people is entirely different from what they see themselves. And the only perspective that matters is what Jesus thinks. It doesn't matter what we think about ourselves. It doesn't matter what I think about myself. The only thing that matters is what the Lord sees. Do you know there's self-reflection? I was thinking about this in the study earlier in the week. And I was thinking about, do you know those fairground mirror attractions that you used to hear about and see about? Where you go and you look in the mirror, and I could go and look in the mirror and suddenly I'd be really thin. And that would be great. But then you go to the next one, and you're far from it. Then you go to the next one, and you're tall, and then the next one you're short. And it's very humorous, isn't it? It's a funny picture, and we can all laugh about it, and so we should. There's nothing humorous here about what the Lord sees when he looks at these people. Nothing to laugh about. He says, thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. He sees the true picture. He sees past the facade, and what they think about themselves is completely different from what the Lord sees. Notice what he says, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. How terrible a picture that paints. You think about that, what a picture that paints. They thought they had it all together. They thought they had it made. They thought they had everything that they needed and everything that they wanted, and Jesus says, you've got nothing. You don't even realize it. You don't even see it. Remember the apostle Paul, as he wrote to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians chapter four, and he talked about how the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. That's one of the reasons why I believe that there were some in this church, a large proportion, in this church, in Laodicea, who believed not, because they couldn't see the reality. God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul's writing to Timothy, and he warns about how things will be in the last days, and as we've said, this age represents the last days. Here's what Paul says, he says, in the last days, perilous times shall come, and he goes through a number of different things, but then he describes the people. And he says, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. That's what we see here in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 17. Listen, this isn't an easy message to stand up and preach. Far from it. But it's my responsibility. as a pastor of this church, to warn that there are people just like this in this age today, people caught up with a profession, people living in this lukewarm state, thinking that they have assurance, but the reality is starkly different. You see, prosperity and worldliness have distorted the perception today of what it is to be a follower of Christ. Worldly influences have distorted what people think the church is all about. And there's this idea that's out there that the church should always be finding ways to fit the culture. The church is not supposed to fit the culture. The church is supposed to stand apart. The church is supposed to stand out. We're supposed to be a light in a dark place, not fitting into culture. We've lost sight of that. We're supposed to be different. What is important to you today as a Christian? What's important to me today as a Christian? Is it what the world thinks about us? Is it the world's perception of a Christian that matters? Or is it what the Word of God says about a Christian that matters? Because let me tell you, the two are not the same. They're vastly different. There are so-called churches like this in Northern Ireland today. catering for worldly passions, promoting and legitimizing sin, saying that it's acceptable. Lord, deliver us from that. Lord, deliver us from it. Let's make sure as individuals, let's make sure as a fellowship that we know what we have and we know who we stand for. Let's get our right perception of ourselves. There's a skewed reality, or a sickening reality, a skewed reflection. I want you to see third. There's a sincere rebuke. Look at verse 18. "'I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent." Jesus here gives counsel. I counsel thee. The word that's translated as counsel there is only found five times in the whole of the New Testament. And on the other four occasions that it's found, it's found in the Gospels. And every time that it's found in the Gospels, it's speaking about those who conspired together about how they might kill Jesus. So Jesus uses that word here, and I think about how that word has been used in other places, and it got me thinking about it. And in essence, what Jesus is saying here, he's giving counsel, and he's giving counsel to those either who are unbelievers, who have never trusted in Christ, and who are playing at church, they're banking on a profession, or he's giving counsel here to those who are saved but have lost sight of Christ. And what's he saying? He's saying, you need to die to yourself and you need to live unto me. That's what Christ wants of everyone who has trusted in him, that we would die to self and live unto him. So he gives that counsel. And he uses the three primary industries to show what's required. The first word that's used here, he says, I counsel thee to buy. And that word is the Greek word agoradzo. We actually, it speaks about redemption. It speaks about being redeemed. It's translated on three other occasions in the book of Revelation as redeemed. Speaking about the saved. He says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. There's the banking industry coming through. Over in 1 Timothy 6, Paul's writing to Timothy, and he says in verse 17, Who's he speaking to there? He's speaking to those who are saved and who are wealthy. And he's saying, don't let those things distract you away from the things of God. Trust in the living God. But here, as we see that he's the Savior speaking, and he's talking about buying gold tried in the fire, he's talking to people who are so proud Convinced that they have everything that they need. Many have missed the point of salvation. Many have missed the fact that they need the Lord. We all need the Lord. We all need him. We know that our works will be tried by fire when we come before the judgment seat of Christ. And when Christ speaks about gold tried in the fire, he's speaking about two things, I believe. There's something for the saved and there's something for the unsaved here. For the unsaved, it's the cross. Christ went through something. There's nothing that is tried and tested and proved more than the perfect sacrifice of Christ the Calvary. It's sufficient. It has been proved. Jesus says they need what he has provided. He says, without it, you're lost. And it's the same today. If you're here this morning, Ask yourself the question, am I saved? People are relying upon the fact that they grew up in a church. Some people are relying upon the fact that they came up through a Sunday school, and then they went to a Bible class, and then they came to the church. Relying upon the fact that their parents brought them along, and they're relying upon this profession. I say, look away to Christ. The second thing that we know that is tried is the Word of God. And that's the thing that the believer needs to seek. That's what we need to hold on to. In Psalm 18 and 30, we're reminded of this. The Word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all them that trust in him. And yet sadly today, even within the church of Christ, there are many who want to adapt the Word of God, want to adjust the Word of God, want to change the Word of God to suit the whims of the world, to make it fit their passions. to make it suit their sin. Alistair Begg said recently, we're not at liberty to rewrite the Bible to accommodate godless perspectives, and neither are we, because it's not ours to rewrite, it's God's word, and we hold fast to it. buy of me gold tried in the fire, buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. Laodicea was known for the textile industry. It was particularly famous for a woolen robe which had been dyed black, and it was the end fashion, apparently. It was the thing that people wanted to wear, and there's nothing wrong with that. But Jesus uses it for a picture here. He shows them the stark contrast between what they have what they're living for, and what they need. You see, they need to stand justly before God in a spiritual sense. They need that imputed righteousness of Christ that's only received through saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, the thought goes deeper than that. The thought goes on to speak about, for those who are redeemed, it speaks about their service for the Lord. You see, the demonstration of a sanctified life is that we seek to live for God. Garments of salvation are granted to us through Christ. That's what the white robe speaks of. But the righteous deeds of the saints are how we ought to live daily. Speaks about that later on in Revelation, about the righteous acts of the saints. If those in the church in Laodicea had no salvation, They couldn't serve the Lord. You can't serve if you're not saved. If you don't have God's salvation, then it's just good deeds. And all the reaching out, all of the effort, and all of the activity, it's only draws before a holy God. They're to buy gold tried in the fire, they're to buy white raiment, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. They're to anoint their eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. And that's the final major industry, we alluded to that earlier, this particular eye salve that they were able to trade in. Back in John chapter nine, the Lord Jesus Christ had healed a blind man. And when we read there about the blind man, There's a whole story that goes with that, and we'll touch on that in a minute or two, but here Jesus now isn't looking at the practical illustration. He's using it as a spiritual illustration to show what's required. He says you're blinded by sin. Whether saved or whether unsaved, there's no life in this place, and you're blinded by your sin. In John 9, when Jesus healed the blind man, One commentator says that in the healing of the blind man, Jesus irritated before he illuminated. What that means is that whenever, if you remember the story, whenever Jesus met the blind man, he bent down, and he gathered up dust from the ground, and he spat into that dust, and he made it into a gritty paste, and then he rubbed that paste on the eyes of the blind man. Now you can imagine what that would feel like, perhaps. It would have been very irritating until he went and washed it off. It would have been painful, but it was effective. And the pain was worth it because of the splendor that was revealed. For the Laodicean, these people in Laodicea, their problem was so much greater. They were spiritually blind. And the only one who could deal with their spiritual blindness was the Lord Jesus, the same one. And they needed to see him, that thou mayest see. They needed to see him truly. And listen, folks, it was going to hurt. It was going to hurt their feelings, perhaps. Those who were playing at church were going to get their pride hurt. Their reputation, perhaps, would be hurt. Their feelings would be hurt initially when this message was relayed to them. But the irritation and the pain was necessary. Because for some, they were so wrapped up in themselves that they had lost sight. They couldn't see. They didn't realize it. For others, they'd become so careless and so infatuated by the things of the world that they had lost sight of the Lord of the church. Could that be the same today? Could that be the same for some today in conservative, evangelical, Bible-believing churches in comfortable, prosperous Northern Ireland? Of course it could. It could be the same today. There are those who are false professors, living on a time and a date, but there's no changes, and there's been no spiritual change in their life. And listen, that's not my assessment, by the way. That's the assessment of Scripture. Over in Matthew chapter seven, the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking, and he said about those who would come before him, and he said, I will say, I never knew you'd depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And those who were, who he was speaking to in that picture that he was painting there, these were people who had made great claims of service. People who were asking the question, they were effectively saying, why are we here? Why are we at the great white throne of judgment for sin? Lord, we have done great things. Lord, we have prophesied in thy name. Lord, in thy name, we have cast out devils. Lord, in thy name, we have done many wonderful works. Do you ever look at what they say? and think about the fact that it's all about them. Look at what we have done. We've done many wonderful works. We've cast out devils. We've prophesied. We have done, we have done, we have done. There's nothing about trusting in Christ. There's nothing about simple trust or obedience. There's nothing about faithfulness. And yes, we should be busy for the Lord. Yes, those of us who are saved should be serving the Lord. But let me say, if you're more interested in your activity, and you really aren't interested in the faithful ministry of the Word of God, and you're really not interested in being in a prayer meeting, and you're really not interested in being in the Lord's house except when it suits you, and you're really not interested in coming to the Lord's table at any time at all, but you can always be involved when it suits you. Listen, folks, you've lost sight. You've lost sight of what's important. And listen, Jesus is speaking here out of love. It's a really, really challenging message, but look what he says in verse 19. He says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Speaking out of love, speaks to rebuke and calls to repentance. There's a message for the church today in this. There's a sickening reality, a skewed reflection, sincere rebuke, and as we finish, notice finally, very quickly, there's a saving revelation. Look at verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. I said already, Christ's outside the door. He's there because there's many inside who are non-believers. And there are some inside who are believers, but they've forgotten about Christ, and they've effectively put him out the door. What a sad indictment upon the church, that Christ would be outside the door. And yet, what we see here is a wonderful picture, because he still gives opportunity. He hasn't gone out the door and just left them. He hasn't gone out the door and said, they're not mine any longer. He's standing at the door, and he's knocking at the door, And do you know he's speaking at the door? Because he says, if any man hear my voice, he's speaking at the door. Where are we with this this morning, folks? There may be some who are believers and have been distracted by the spirit of the age. And the Lord's outside the door. He's out there. More interested in ourselves. More interested in our processes. More interested in attractional theology, as opposed to what the Lord requires. See, whatever camp we're in today, and this is a message to everybody, let me tell you, this has been a hard message this week to study. This has been searching to my heart, personally. It really has been. There's one thing to note here. Time's short to address it. Because look what it says in verse 20. He says, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me. Now the word sup there in the original, that's where we get the word supper from. It speaks about the last meal of the day. The night's coming. The night's coming when no man can work. The close of the age is coming. Time is short, why? Because the Lord's coming. But folks, eternity is forever. Eternity's forever. So the lessons that have come through our studies on the churches, we need to take them on board. We need to apply these things to our lives, every single one of us. We have to be careful. Have to be careful of compromise. We have to be careful of our self-sufficiency. We have to be careful of our own pride in ourselves. And listen, for some of us, perhaps for most of us, maybe even all of us, the self-examination's gonna hurt. It's gonna be painful. Because there may be some who are living on a profession. And you need to listen to the knock at the door of the gospel. You need to open the door to Christ and seek God's salvation before it's too late. And to those who heed, see what it says. There's a promise of eternal life in Christ to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and I'm sat down with my father in his throne. That whole idea there, to him that overcometh will I grant, that's the promise of eternal life with Christ. There's the promise of eternal reward. And folks, isn't that worth it? Isn't that what matters? Isn't that what's all important? That we would live for him, that we would glorify him, and that we will be with him for all of eternity. Praise his holy name.