Well, we're coming to the last of the letters to the churches, and we're in Revelation 3, and we'll read from 14 to 22. Let me pray. Our Father and our God, we pause before we read your word to ask your blessing upon it, Lord. Your word is powerful and mighty, and Lord, we are weak. So Lord, we pray you'd strengthen us. Lord, as your word says, give us ears that can hear, hearts that can receive, minds that can understand, Lord, that we would grow by your grace. We thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. So let me just read the entire letter here, 14 to 22, and then we'll unpack it. And to the angel of 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 cold or hot, So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have 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 chase him. 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 in to him and dine with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And I've been trying to lay out various views. And I'll continue, by God's grace, to do that as we move through the book. But if you held the view that these are letters to various church ages, then those that hold that view, and there's various views even on what age it would be, but that this would be from about the year 1900 to the Tribulation or the Secret Rapture, if you believe in a secret rapture. So this would be the church age at the end of time, before our Lord returns, is the way that would be viewed. And you also know that I've been reading these and unpacking them as letters to this particular church in this particular age, with lots of truth for us to glean because these letters so clearly tell us what pleases the Lord about His church and what displeases the Lord about His church. And we want to be a church that pleases the Lord. This church in particular had no accolades, no you know, pats on the back. No, I see that at least you're doing this, this, and this. Nothing. Not one thing. It was all their problem. So before we start to unpack the actual letter to the church, I want to talk a little bit about the city, Laodicea. It was founded by Antiochus II. And it was actually an ancient city. It had been there under other names for centuries. But Antiochus II captured the city and changed its name to Laodicea after his wife, Queen Laodice. And I thought, that's pretty clever. You don't know what to get your wife for Christmas. Go capture a city and name it after your wife. That'll make her happy, right? What a gift. But that's where the name came from. It's located uniquely of these seven churches, kind of in a strategic spot of crossroads. So there were three major thoroughfares, highways, Roman roads that passed through Laodicea. So you can imagine a little bit about, if you were there in your mind's eye, thinking of standing in the city with all the people coming and going, all the activity from the travelers that would cross there. It was a major commercial city. The city itself was extremely prosperous, extremely wealthy. I was reading Cicero in one of his writings, was talking about cashing bank statements in the banks of Laodicea. So it was a banking hub, very wealthy, very well known in that area. It was known for its production of black wool. that you couldn't find anywhere else. And so they became an exporter of clothing, is one of the things they're known for. Banking. There was a medical school in Laodicea. They found Phrygian powder. It's a rock that they would grind and mix with liquid and sort of make a paste out of it. Not so much a salve, like we think of salve, but more like a paste. And it was to heal the eye. And they were known for that. People with eye problems would go to Laodicea to get this salve to be treated by the physicians at the medical school. They also had a salve that they basically created or invented for the ears. So they were a medical center, if you will. They were prone, just like many of these cities we looked at, they were prone to earthquakes in that region of the world. There's fault lines and whatnot. They were also hit with that earthquake in 17 AD that we keep bringing up. They were also hit with another earthquake in 60 AD. In 17 AD, they received some funds from Rome to help with the rebuild, just like many of the other cities did. In 60 AD, they refused the offer. They were offered imperial money to help with the rebuild, and they kindly said, you know, we appreciate that, but we're actually quite well off as a city. We have the funds to take care of this ourselves. We're in need of nothing. is what they basically said, which you can see right in the text of what Jesus is saying to the church. Pagan worship, just like all the Hellenistic cities in that day, they had a temple to Zeus. They had a worship of a god, Menkaru, which translates to the god of the valley. It almost seems like it was their unique folk god that they worshiped, a god of healing. Asclepius was worshipped there, again a god of healing. And you can imagine with the medical school and their pagan mind that they're going to worship the gods of healing. Scepulus is the god usually represented with some type of a staff with a snake wrapped around it. And you'll still see that in medical centers to this day. Hopefully nobody's worshipping it, but that's still a medical sign. They were prone and conducted imperial worship, the worship of the Caesars that the whole area fell into. And quite honestly, they had a whole plethora of Hellenistic gods and goddesses that they worshipped. So very much steeped in pagan worship. Interestingly, I was reading, oh I can't think of his name now, Ramsey. I was reading Ramsey and he said that when he toured the city, and that would have been like 1900's, 1902 or something, I don't know what year exactly, but that's the era that he lived. that he could not find any signs in the ruins of any wells. And it seems for most of the commentators that I read that the one thing that they had problems with was fresh local drinking water. The Holman commentary says Laodicea was one of three sister cities. And we talked about this when I was teaching Colossians. But it's one of three sister cities in the valley of the Lycus River. There was Colossae, which was famous for its cold springs. And then there's Heropolis with hot medicinal springs. And there's Laodicea, who really doesn't have fresh water. And Keismaker said the water supply for Laodicea came from a distance of six miles at Heropolis via an aqueduct. Its sources were hot water springs with calcium carbonate. When the water arrived in Laodicea, it was lukewarm water. So you can see, one of the things the Lord is saying, basically the way he speaks to this church, is that they have acclimated into that culture. The world has crept into the church and he identifies them with all these identifiers of the city itself, of the culture itself. And there they are, much like the culture they're in. And at one time they were probably very distinct and a citadel of light and truth and drawing people to Christ. But something's happened to this church. As a matter of fact, when you read Paul's writing to the Colossians, He mentions this church. He says in Colossians 2.1, for I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, for as many as not see my face in the flesh. Paul had not been to Laodicea, but he knew of them, and he prayed for them, and he had concern for them. When you get to chapter 4 of Colossians, and he's talking here about Epaphras. Epaphras probably started these churches, like the one in Laodicea. And he says, for I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Heropolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Memphis and the church that's in his house. Now, when this epistle is read among you, see that you read also, I'm sorry, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans. and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Now this letter is not the epistle to the Laodiceans. Either it was not really under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, because we don't have it on the scriptures, or some people think the letter that he's referencing to the Laodiceans is the book that we would call the letter to the church in Ephesus, the Ephesians, because that was a sort of a circular letter that was to be handed off around that whole area. So whether it's, that book or not, Paul had a concern for the church in Laodicea. And I labor that and read that to say this, that Paul does not have a rebuke against the church of Laodicea. Something's happened to this church. Things have changed. In Paul's day, he didn't say, well, that church in Laodicea, Jesus is about to spit them out of his mouth. He didn't say anything like that. So if these dates are accurate, if that letter to the Colossians was written around 62 AD, and the letter to the churches in Revelation was a late date, like in mid-90s, like maybe 30 years. have gone by and something has changed drastically. Maybe those originally who heard the gospel and began the church were excited, and it was fresh and new, and now another generation's come up 30 years later, and it seems like the vitality and life of the church has gone down tremendously. So Jesus' self-disclosure. Jesus' self-disclosure. He says that he is the Amen. He is the Amen. Isaiah 65, 16 reads like this in my New King James. It says, so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. That word in that verse translated to truth is the word Amen. So it's the Amen. He's the God who is the Amen. So Jesus says, I am the Amen. He's referring to his deity, to the fact that he's the final word. The word that we translate to Amen is the word true. If you remember when Jesus would teach and he wanted people to listen and he had something significant to say, he would say, but truly, truly, I say to you, well, in the original language, he's saying, amen, amen, right? So he is the amen. He is the true one. He is the final word, Hebrews 1.1. Jesus is the final word that God has for this world, is Jesus Christ. So he is the amen. He is also described here as the faithful and true witness. Jesus, much of the gospel of John deals with light and dark. And the fact that the world, like Romans says, who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, now has the truth embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, who arrives on the scene in our Christmas story, and teaches in his ministry, and speaks truth. But Jesus said more than that. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He is the embodiment of truth. He only speaks truth. He sees truly. When he puts his finger on the pulse of the church in Laodicea, or any church, and he says, this is what I see, he's speaking truth. And this church is self-deluded, as we unpack it. You'll see that was the problem they had, was they were self-deceived into what their condition was. And Jesus says, no, no, no. I see truly. I am the truth. I speak the truth. I'm the faithful and true witness. The beginning, he says, he is the beginning of the creation of God. That does not mean that he is the first and chief created being. That is not what that means, like the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. What that phrase is referencing is that he's before all things. He is the creator, right? And Colossians really does a great job with that. Chapter one, verse 16, for by him, meaning Jesus Christ, our Lord, for by him, All things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him All things consist. All things are held together by the power of Jesus Christ. It's He who is the Creator. And that's what He means when He says that He is the beginning of the creation of God. He was before all things. And as every of these letters follows the outline of Jesus' discernment, he knows something about this church. He says he knows their works. He doesn't go on to list any of those works, and I believe it's the same indictment that he had on Sardis in Revelation 3.2 where he said, I've not found your works perfect before God. I know your works, and they're not perfect before God. You guys have a problem." And the problem he identifies for the church in Laodicea is that they are lukewarm. They're lukewarm. And he's using what they would have known. about Colossa with its cold water springs, with Heropolis with its hot water springs. But you're getting this water, this hot water, by the time it gets to you and your city, it's lukewarm. As a matter of fact, as a church, that's what I identify you with, lukewarmness. There's no zeal. There's no bubbling water here. You're lukewarm. Spiritual apathy. They were just going through the motions. And churches can do that. We have to be careful as a church that we don't just go through the motions and lose our fervor for the Lord Jesus Christ. They weren't cold like a dead body. They didn't need to hear the gospel again, in the sense that they have not had rebirth. He's talking to a church that's a legitimate church here. And they're not hot. They're not zealous for the cause of Christ anymore. I can't remember where I got this, but somebody wrote, cold water is good for quenching thirst and hot water is a valuable aid to healing and pain relief. Spiritually, the Laodiceans church was neither cold nor hot, could neither quench spiritual thirst nor provide spiritual healing. And that's what Jesus is conveying to the church. How would you like to be the church that received that? Hey, Jesus wrote you a personal letter. And the pastor, the star of the church, the pastor gets up and opens up the scroll and begins to read, and the church hears these things. Not something you want to hear, but they needed to hear it. So, Laodicean water supply. It's tepid. It's infected with calcium carbonate. The people that lived there were so used to it, it didn't bother them. You know what that's like? You've probably been to somebody's house and had bad well water. I hate that. I can smell the sulfur in it, but they're so used to it, they don't even notice it anymore. I don't have sulfur problems in my water, so I get to their water and I'm like, oh. So probably the city folk would not have really had a problem with that water. But John MacArthur said, visitors, unaccustomed to it, immediately spat it out. They'd be like, whoa, what's wrong with this? And that's what Jesus is talking about. He's using their own city condition, their water supply condition, as an illustration to the church itself. And Jesus tells them, because you're lukewarm, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth. So something has changed in this church. If 30 years have gone by since Paul mentioned them in his writing, then this next generation has grown cold. Not ice cold, but lukewarm cold. Indifferent. Apathy. Which is a sad thing. It's much like, and I was thinking when I was studying, it's much like Nineveh. Because you have the story in Jonah of Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, and Jonah goes and does what God tells him to do, and goes around the city, and spends three days doing it, preaching a message of repentance. God's judgment is coming, and they repent. if you remember. But it's just the very next generation. God raises up the prophet Nahum, if you'll read your book Nahum, and now God's judgment comes upon that city. Because the next generation reverted right back to the way they did things and became bloodthirsty people again. So that's sort of what's going on here in the Church of Laodicea. Three roots to their problem, at least according to my study and what I see here. What's the root? What's the problem here? Why are they like this? I think you see it in verse 17. It's what they boast in. They're boasting here. Jesus says, because you say. That's boasting. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing. But they're boasting in the wrong thing. Their trust was in their wealth and with their riches. They needed, I thought, to study Psalm 49, which is a great psalm to keep you on track as you navigate life, especially as maybe a younger man begins to find some success in the business world, that there's a temptation for any of us but to put your trust in your 401k account, and put your trust in your Roth account, and put your trust in the salary that your company is providing, or the riches you've managed to accumulate through owning a business, or whatever it might be. The Bible warns about that. I want to read this, not the whole psalm, but a good chunk of it. This is Psalm 49, beginning in verse 6. It says, those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever, that he should continue to live eternally, and not see the pit. for he sees wise men die. Likewise, the fool and the senseless person perish and leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man, though in honor, does not remain. He is like the beast that perishes. This is the way of those who are foolish, and of their posterity who approve their sayings. Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased, for when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. But while he lives, he blesses himself, for men will praise you when you do well for yourself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see light. A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish." God doesn't have any problem giving Christians wealth. He does it. Abraham was probably one of the richest men in the world. He does that. Job was incredibly wealthy. You can go on down the line in the Bible. But we have to have wisdom and understanding, and understanding that we're simply stewards of what God's entrusted to us. You can tell by Revelation 3.17, this boasting, that they become proud. They become, my second root here, they become arrogant. They said, we have need of nothing. And Jesus is using the history of the city when they refused any kind of help and assistance from the imperial coffer when they had the earthquake in 16. They said, no, we have need of nothing. He says, you as a church are saying you have need of nothing. They weren't saying We need our Lord. We need the Lord Jesus. We're weak in ourselves. We need Him. We need to understand His Word, to have empowerment, to live the Christian life, to have empowerment, to be bold witnesses in this wicked city. But they said, we have need of nothing. They thought material wealth equaled spiritual health. And that's not the case, right? That's not always the case. In the book, the prophet Hosea, chapter 12, verse 8, He says, And Ephraim said, Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin. In other words, equated the fact that because of wealth, I'm sinless. I must be under the blessing of God. How else would I be able to account for all this wealth that I've accumulated and amassed? Material wealth does not always equal spiritual health. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, says, perhaps they were well provided for as to their bodies, and this made them overlook the necessity of their souls. Or they thought themselves well furnished in their souls. They had learning, and they took it for religion. They had gifts, and they took them for grace. They had wit, and they took it for true wisdom. They had ordinances, and they took up with them, instead of the God of ordinances. How careful should we be not to put the cheat upon our own souls! Doubtless there are many in hell that once thought themselves to be in the way to heaven. Let us daily beg of God that we may not be left to flatter and deceive ourselves in the concern about our souls. It's a good counsel from Matthew Henry. And we all have to watch out for this and be mindful of this. I was reading one of the church fathers one time, and it stuck with me what he said, because he said it was a good practice when you're in your home, if God's permitted you to have a home, and maybe you have some nice things, and just in your mind, just think, OK, now I've passed, I'm in glory, and some stranger is now living in this place. Because I just have it for my little journey here on planet Earth. And somebody else is going to be walking around my halls, and sleeping in my bedroom, and living in my living room. And just to get God's perspective on the fact that we're stewards and trusted with things, that we might live a life. I mean, God likes us to be happy. But ultimately, it's all to His glory's sake, right? That we need to grow in Christ. Proverbs 10.22, the blessings of the Lord makes one rich, and he adds no sorrow with it, right? There's no sorrow with the blessings that come directly from God. So they were boasting, they were arrogant, and the third root here is their ignorance. Because did you notice that Jesus told them, you do not know. You boast, you say you're all this, but you do not know. You're ignorant of your true spiritual condition, is what he tells them, right? When I was a kid, this story jumped into my mind. I completely forgot about it. When I was a kid, I was at the beach, and I was out in the water. And I was a swimmer. I was on a swim team for years and years and years and years. So I considered myself a good swimmer. But I was really young. I was probably eight years old, maybe younger. And I got rescued. And I was indignant when the person came out there to rescue me. And I was like, what are you doing? And they said, you're drifting. The ocean current is taking you out to sea. And I didn't even notice. And I looked back, because I was facing out towards the ocean. And I looked back, and I was way away from the shore. I didn't even know it. This is an illustration of where this church is at. They've been caught up in the riptide of society. They've acclimated the church into the society around them, and they don't even know it. And Jesus is giving them a wake-up call and saying, you do not know that you're poor and wretched and miserable, blind, naked. And that's what he says in his assessment. Let's look at those words. He says, first, that they don't know that they're wretched. If you want to compare scripture to scripture, that would be spiritual death. And I don't think Jesus is saying that they were never born again, but as far as a productive instrument in the hand of Christ, they were cold and dead to Jesus. And I get that from Romans 7.24 where Paul says, Oh, wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me from this body of death? So it's equated with death. He tells them also that they don't know, but they're miserable. And that maybe is better translated, pitiable. You think that we should all be applauding you as you wear your nice black wool outfits, and you're counting the money in the coffer, and we should just be applauding you, but really we should all just take pity on you, because you don't even know where you are spiritually. Third, he tells them, even though they're boasting about being rich, he says, you're actually poor. in the things of God. You're spiritually bankrupt, is what he's saying. And then he says you're blind. You can't even see your true condition, right? And you're naked. You're naked, which made me think of Isaiah 59 in verse 6, where Israel's brought before the Lord's bench and judgment is taking place in that chapter. But in verse 6, he says, their webs, like spider webs, will not become garments. They're trying to cover themselves up and God sees right through it. Almost like the emperor's new clothes, right? Oh, isn't this a beautiful outfit I have on? And Jesus says, you're naked. You're naked. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are the works of iniquity, is what it says in Isaiah. So Jesus's directions to them, his counsel, right? He counsels them. You know, you say you're rich, then here's what you ought to do. You ought to come and buy. Come and buy from me. Come and purchase some things that you need, that you're lacking. Right? When he says, come buy from me, it again made me think of Isaiah. Isaiah 55 verse 1 says, Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk, without money, without price. That doesn't sound like it makes any sense. How can I come and buy without money? Because the price has been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why. It's of his grace. And that's what he's conveying here when he says, come and buy. You could almost think to yourself, with no money, because I paid the price. But you come and buy. And what does he want them to buy? Refined gold. It's gold that's been refined in the fire. That's equated in scripture in a couple ways. One, to the word of God. It says in Psalm 19, which gives a lengthy description of the word of God in a poetic way. But in verse nine, it says, the judgments of the Lord, meaning the word of God, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." I believe the Church of Laodicea had lost its desire for the Word of God. And churches can drift out of that. If you've ever been on vacation and stopped in a church and you think, well, I'm going to try this one. And you find they don't even teach the Word of God. The Word of God is not front and center. I mean, how can you present Christ as centristic to the entirety of the worship service if you don't teach the Word of God, right? Jesus is the sum and substance of the Word of God. And also it would point to an enduring faith. And you remember Peter, 1st Peter, and I'll pick it up in verse 6, he says, If now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." It's an enduring faith, the Word of God, that they would purchase gold that's been refined by fire. Again, Matthew Henry writes, Part with sin and self-sufficiency, and come to Christ with a sense of your poverty and emptiness, that you may be filled with His hidden treasures. Right? And that's the way we want to approach the throne. Humble, not boastful, and understanding ourselves as much as we can to come before the Lord, not bringing anything to Him, but empty hands and saying, Lord, I'm poor and wretched and blind. I pray that you just pour your life into me, that your Holy Spirit would just be the driving force of my life this day. And God answers those types of prayers, but we have to come humble of heart to the Lord. Secondly, he tells them to buy garments of white. They were well known for their black wool. I have no doubt that they were wealthy. This church was monetarily wealthy, and I'm sure they went down to the nicest places and bought those beautiful black fabrics and clothing. And he says, no, you need to buy garments of white from me, is what he says. In Isaiah 61.10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. The Lord has adorned me with salvation and his imputed righteousness as a robe." Alexander McLaren says, no thread of it is woven in our own looms. This isn't the Church of Laodicea's good works. This is coming to the Lord as a beggar and saying, Lord, will you clothe me? Will you clothe me with your perfect righteousness? Clothe me with the garments of salvation. And the Bible speaks of, we can lose our joy of salvation. And we can pray to the Lord, Lord, restore the joy of my salvation to me. And confess your sins before God and be, if you will, re-robed. Not that you lost your salvation, but that you need to have a zeal return. Paul speaks about this a lot in Philippians 3, about how Paul, in his accolades, thought that he had really earned merit before God. And when he came to salvation, he realized that everything he had done in his own flesh was demerit. There was no merit in it whatsoever. And when he comes to the concluding thought in that chapter, he says that he wants to be found in Him. He means in Christ Jesus, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God, By faith. He tells the Roman church in chapter 13 to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provisions for the flesh, right? Put on the Lord Jesus. And the third thing that our Lord tells them to buy is eye salve. They would have understood what that was about. They lived right there at the school of medicine. And he asked them to come and buy Aisav, because they're blind. They've been self-deceived. You can't even see yourselves for who you are. You need to have your eyes opened. And they weren't really keeping step with Hebrews 12 too, where the writer of Hebrews tells us to keep on looking unto Jesus with our eyes. And they needed their eyes healed. So Jesus's dinner invitation. He says, first he tells them that he loves them. And that's hard to hear when you've got a rebuke like that. That's a sharp rebuke. And then Jesus pauses and says, I say this to you because I love you. Because I love you. He says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. As a matter of fact, the writer of Hebrews in chapter 12 says, if you haven't been chastened by the Lord, you're not his kid. That's me in my own version of it there, but that's what he says. God's going to chasten his children. Not to judgment and wrath, but he's working sanctification in us to make us more and more like Jesus, right? Robert Trench says, he, the great master builder, squares and polishes with many strokes of the chisel and the hammer the stones which shall find a place at last in the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem. It's a good way to look at it. And I'm sure you're here today, you've walked with the Lord for a significant amount of time. You've been chiseled. You know what that feels like. Jesus does it out of love. Out of love. He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. He tells them to be zealous, right? That's the Greek word, to boil. You're lukewarm. I need you to be fervent again, to be alive, vivacious, boiling over with joy, with the Spirit. Be zealous and repent. Do a complete 180. You need to turn things around, church and Laodicea. And he says that he stands at the door and he's knocking. And I think it's beautiful that he's writing to the church collective, but then he says, if anyone, If any one of you, if just that one lady opens the door, I'm coming in. So he really makes the invitation personal. If anyone would open, anyone enters by me, he'll be saved, he says in John chapter 10 verse 9. So Jesus there said that he is the door. Jesus teaches his people to knock and the door will be open. But here Jesus condescends to the need of the church and says, look, I'm standing at your door and I'm knocking. I'm knocking. And he's speaking too. He says that if anybody hears him, he's speaking at the door. And if you go back to a book that I rarely quote, Song of Songs, In chapter 5 and verse 2, it gives you a little insight into what Jesus is saying. The Shulamite. I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the voice of my beloved. He knocks, saying, Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is covered with dew, and my locks with drops of the night." In other words, I've been standing out here all night, knocking on your door. Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. And that's our Lord Jesus Christ standing at the door, knocking. The church has pushed Jesus out of its midst. And Jesus is saying, I want to come back in, but you have to open to me. Right? Men can only open when Christ knocks. They would have no desire at all to open unless He knocked. Unless together with the external knocking of the Word, or of sorrow, or of pain, or whatever other shape it might assume, there went also an inward voice of the Spirit. We know what that feels like. And in our salvation experience, I remember You know, there's not a season of being saved, but there is a season, I believe, that a lot of people go through of searching the scripture. But you're either dead or you're alive, spiritually. So I can't tell you the moment I got saved, but I remember it almost seemed as if God was knocking on my door, and I was hearing the voice of Jesus. And I finally fell to my knees and gave my life to Christ. And you probably know what that experience is like. But here he's speaking to a church that have really grown distance. And then Jesus' declaration. He says, "...to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame to sat down with my Father on his throne." The New Living Translation puts it like this, I will invite everyone who is victorious to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my father on his throne. And we're not to take this literally. It's not like millions of Christians are going to sit on this throne seat with Jesus. It's symbolic of the fact that the Bible says that we who continue and endure in the faith, press on, stay in Christ, that we will reign with Him. We're joint heirs with Christ. That's what He's talking about. We don't deserve this whatsoever, but He's going to lift us to the highest of places to be with Him, seated in the heavenlies. As a matter of fact, the Bible says we're seated there already. We need to let our minds go there, because that's where we really are, because we're in union with our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me end with what I read by Warren Wiersbe about this church, and I thought it was good. He says, the Laodicean church was blind to its own needs and unwilling to face the truth. Yet honesty is the beginning of true blessing, as we admit what we are, confess our sins, and receive from God all that we need. If we want God's best for our lives and churches, we must be honest with God and let God be honest with us. That's a good word. Let me close with that. Our Father and our God, we thank you for your word. And Lord, I pray if maybe we are self-deluded. Lord, if we have lied to ourselves about our spiritual condition, that in your love, you'll make us aware of that, that we might purchase from you without money all that we need. Lord, we pray that you might restore our fervor. Lord, that we might boil with fervency and excitement about you. And Lord, we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. or receive the blessing of the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Go in the peace of Christ Jesus to a world that desperately needs to hear the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen.