Let us turn in our Bibles to the last book of Scripture, the book of Revelations. In our previous class, we had quite an interesting discussion about things concerning Revelation and things with that. I want us to focus on Revelations 3, verse 14, to the end of the chapter. This is one of seven letters that Christ is writing by way of pen of John the Apostle to 77 churches in the Asian minor at that time. And basically what Christ does is he's looking at these congregations and in some of them there are things that is good and he commends them for that. In some of them there is a bit of a mixture between things that are good and other things that are starting to go astray. Then you also have one or two letters where Christ looks at this congregation and what he sees is just bad. There's nothing worth commending in that congregation. Now what we have to understand of these seven letters, Christ is not talking here to the unbelievers. This is not people who have not come to faith. Even the churches where things went horribly wrong are still considered believers Believers that had went astray and that is very important, especially when it comes to this last letter the letter to the Laodiceans and So in this last and final letter of this seven letters that Jesus writes he says to the angel of the church in Laodicea write the Amen and The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, says this, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing. And you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich. and white garments, so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed. And I solve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reproof and discipline, therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and be with him. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Now, when we look at this letter, as well as the other letters that Christ writes, we find a very simple pattern to these letters. It opens with some revelation of the author. Who is writing this letter? it then progresses to point out what is good or bad, or both good and bad, in the letter. And then usually, the third part of these letters has a call to do something either to endure suffering or to return to their first love or to repent not talking about first repentance but coming back to the narrow way. Then the fourth section usually has a promise and then you have this concluding formula He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. These are the pattern that is followed throughout these letters. And yet, each of these letters are also entrenched in a certain sense in the city life of each of these churches. For instance, Laodicea was situated Between two cities, to the higher lands, more mountainous terrain, you had Hierapolis. And Hierapolis was known for its hot mineral springs. which was also a place where people would go to, to go and bathe in these hot springs for the sake of relieving pain. For instance, arthritis and similar ailments. To the lower limbs, closer to the sea, you had Kalasha. Kalasha was again known for its soothing cold mineral waters. In between these two cities, you had Laodicea, which did not have a water source of its own. So where did they get their water from? They had to get it from Hierapolis. And so there were aqueducts spreading from Hierapolis, coming down to Laodicea. And so by the time that hot water came to the city, It was this lukewarm, vile water. Who of you on a hot summer's day grabbed at a nice bottle of water to take a large sip and just to find out that water is this lukewarm, it stood in the sun and it's like, blech. It's just not nice to drink it. This is the image to which Christ connects to in this passage. Also, Euripolis was known, Laodicea was known for two industries. The one was the industry of wool. Around the edges of the city and in the fields, you would often find black sheeps, flocks of black sheeps. And what they would do is they would gather this black wool and they would make garments of this black wool, which was very sought after in the ancient minor, because this was the only place you could get these types of wool garments, which helped the wealth of this city. But they were also known for their industry of ointment, especially an ointment to cure eye illness, cure eye illnesses. And so by these things, Laodicea became a wealthy city. Now in the city, there's a church. And this church has also tasted some of this wealth of the city. But what happened? Look at what Christ says. He says that they have became lukewarm Christians. They've became lukewarm Christians. Now, I've heard interpretations where people would say, you should either be a Christian, hot, or not a Christian, cold. That's not the point that Christ is making here. When Christ says, you are neither hot nor cold, he's referring to these other water sources and what it alleviates, whether it is ailments or thirst. And so Christ tells this church, you are in this world in order to be a healing effect in your society. Yet you do not do that. You have conformed to your society. On the other hand, you are to be the ones that that that quenches the thirst, spiritually speaking, by the proclamation of the gospel. And that also you have not done. So where are you? You're neither hot nor cold. You are lukewarm and therefore ineffective as a church of Christ in your city. They might do all the correct things still. They might gather, sing hymns, listen to the preaching of the word, Sit there, mmm, yeah, beautiful sermon. Go out and still be unchanged. And isn't this something we see today as well? How many churches are Laodicean churches today? In the gospel that they present, which has absolutely no substance, for quenching the thirst, the spiritual thirst and the spiritual hunger of people. It is for me, it's astonishing to see in our own city, where I'm from, that there's a growing spiritual hunger and it is from people in churches. That comes to church comes to our services, and at one point, it's as if they hear the gospel for the first time. You know, people that's been in churches for 10, 20, 30 years. Churches has grown lukewarm. Therefore, they seek to be quenched. And yet there's no spiritual water. Perhaps you are yourself in such a church. Listen to what the Spirit says. On the other side, you have churches that never look at the needs of the people around them. where the gospel is made practical within the situation and circumstances and needs of that person or within that group. So you have churches today that have become lukewarm. And what does Christ say is the result of this church going to be? He says, I will spit you out of my mouth. Now, time and again, throughout these seven letters, Christ gives this type of warnings. I will remove your lampstand from its place. I will spit you out. I will bring sickness and death into the churches. Time and again, these warnings. What's actually astonishing about this expression is this is translated very, very softly in a certain sense. Literally, Christ says, I will vomit you out. That is the word that is used here in the original languages. I will vomit you out. You're making me nauseous. Your religion makes me nauseous and I will vomit you out. That's the type of disgust that Christ has of a lukewarm church. But then he comes to the heart of the matter. Why had they become lukewarm? Because they have become prideful. Listen to the confession of this church. He says, I am rich. I have become wealthy and have need of nothing. Do we hear this today? Where religion is only about health, wealth, prosperity. I'm rich. I need nothing. And by that statement, it also includes I do not need a savior. I am totally self-sustaining in all my matters and affairs. I am in need of nothing. And yet Christ says, you are in need of so much more than you realize. Your spiritual pride has blinded you for your state of miserability, wretchedness, poorness, and blindness. You think you are in need of nothing? The things you need most are the things you do not see. You don't need money. That you have enough of, yes. You do not need sciences and wealth. You have medicines for that. But what you do not have is you do not have a treasure in heaven. What you do not have is you do not have spiritual sight. You have been blinded and confused by that which the world offers and gives. Now, you perhaps might wear this black robes, being very prideful about about your garments and yet spiritually speaking you are naked. And so here comes the call. It says, I advise you. Now when God and Christ advise you in scripture, don't make the mistake to think there's an option. If God says, I advise you, that is euphemism to say you better. You better open your ears and you better listen. So I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich. White garments that you may clothe yourself and cover your nakedness and eyes off to anoint your eyes so that you may see. In other words, turn away from your prideful heart and come back to the narrow way. Come back to being the Christ, the church you once were. Because we read in the letters of the Apostle Paul, that this is one of the churches where Epaphroditus had ministered. These are people that knew the gospel. It's not a new thing to them. This is perhaps second, third generation after the ministry of Paul. It should still be in a certain sense fresh in their minds. And yet, they have fallen prey to the snares of this world. And so Christ says, notice where you are and come back. In the Pilgrim's Progress, We read about Christian where, drawing near to the narrow gate, he meets Mr. Worldly Wiseman that leads him out of the narrow way, tempting him by the riches and the glamour of this world. These people were tempted away from the narrow world by a Mr. Worldly Wiseman. with devastating effects. So Christ says, I still love you. So I am those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Now, this is, in a certain sense, a great comfort to the believer, but also an astonishing thought. If Christ did not love this church, he would not have called them to come back to the narrow way. Now that today doesn't make sense to us, especially in a psychological era, right? Because psychology says, no, no, no, no, no, you should not discipline a child. You should, you should dialogue with him, right? If you discipline a child, you do not love them. Christ says, if I love you, I'm going to discipline you. And so he loves this church, this church that had in their rebellion walked away. And so he's calling them back. He's disciplining them back. He calls them to rekindle this flame of zealousness for Christ that they once had. And to repent of their sinful ways. And then we come to this verse, which I think is often the most misquoted and misinterpreted verses in all of Revelation. Verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and be with him. Often enough, I heard this verse quoted in the mission field. Oh, Jesus stands at the door of your heart and you have to open because this door only has a handle on the inside. Ever heard that? that type of illustration as if Christ is helpless to open the door of your heart if you do not let him in. Please do not pray that from your pulpits because it's not true. Look at the context. What is this knocking at the door? This is not first repentance. This is Christ's rebuke and discipline of this church. That knocking on the door might have taken the application of these people losing their wealth, so that they may realize how dependent they are upon Christ. Or it might have been in another form of application. But Christ is rebuking the church. He's disciplining them. That's the knocking. And so he says, if they repent, if they come back to the narrow way as they were called to do in the previous verse, then this relationship will be restored. and he will come in and dine with him. Do you dine with your enemies? Who of you, when you go to buy some takeaway, sit in a restaurant, invite your enemies to come and sit and eat with you? Anyone? No one. You don't do that. You do that only with friends. And Christ says, in your rebellion against me, you have become like enemies. But if you repent of your wicked ways, if you come back to the narrow way, if you have zeal for me once again, this relationship will be restored and you will experience that restoration. This is similar to what Christ says, after he had taught the people the Lord's Prayer, or perhaps better, the Believer's Prayer. When he says, if you forgive others, God will forgive you. If you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you. Does that mean if I don't forgive others that I'm going to be lost? No. What he's talking there is about parental forgiveness. If I do not forgive my brothers and sisters in Christ, it's going to have an effect on the way I experience my relationship with the Father. I mean, that's a given, right? If you can't get along with the children of the Father, how are you going to experience the love of the Father? And in similar fashion here, Christ doesn't tell them they are a bunch of unbelievers, but they are children of the Father that went astray. Like the lost son in the parable that took his stuff and went to a far off land. And so he's calling them back into the feast in a certain sense. Back into this restored relationship. And perhaps In your life, there is something where Christ is standing and knocking. A secret sin that only you know about, and God. One of those sins that you lock away so deep inside the dungeons of your heart that nobody else sees or notices it. And yet, that sin has an effect on the way you experience your relationship with Christ. So Christ calls you to deal with that sin. And to give adherence to his discipline. So that this relationship might be restored. And look at how beautiful this relationship can be. Restored What is the promise he gives he says those who overcome I will grant to him To sit with me on my throat Wow We seated with Christ On his throne I mean that is complete restoration This is what is promised to the believer that we will one day rule with Christ over this earth. And if that is our destination, that should have an effect on our present relationship with Christ. If we are to rule one day with Christ, we ought to live in a restored relationship with him now. I've deliberately left out the first part of this letter. Who is the one that is speaking? Because it's easy to say, oh, you know what? John is writing this letter. What does he know? John, how do you dare call us to repentance? So often you hear that being said after a sermon. How dare the pastor be so straightforward about sinmen and the penalty of sinmen. Ah, he doesn't know me. He doesn't understand my circumstances. Or even better, if you're sitting in a counseling room. Pastor, if you had a wife like me, you would understand. Or something similar. Pastor, if you had children like me, you would understand. John, if you were part of this congregation, you would understand. But it's not John Wright that is writing. Who is writing? The Amen. The faithful and true witness. In other words, what Jesus says about this congregation is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They cannot deny it. They cannot argue against it. And they cannot just set it aside as if it hasn't happened. Because what he sees and what he testifies to is the complete truth. And so also he can look into your heart and mine and give testimony and that testimony before his father is completely true. That's a humbling thought. If Christ looks at you and me today, and He takes our hearts before the mercy seat of the Father to testify about the content thereof, what will the testimony be? What would the Father hear? from the mouth of the Amen, faithful and trustworthy witness. Something to think about. And so, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let us pray. Our Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, which is living and powerful, by which you also cut into the heart, bringing the sins to the surface, but also giving the solutions for those sins. And so as we stand before you in this morning, we realize we are far from being perfect, far from being holy. We are but sinners in your sight. So we pray, Father, that you may sanctify us by your Spirit so that day by day we might reckon with sin that has been still in our lives and day by day being conformed all the more to the image of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord. Amen.