Revelation chapter number three this morning, if you would please. Revelation chapter three. Pray for Pam Collins, her sister. Went to be with the Lord on Friday, and I'm sure we'll be sharing arrangements as soon as we know those. And I sure want to pray for God to bring comfort to that family as well. Revelation chapter number three. Well, I feel like I'm in Guyana almost. I didn't have to preach with a coat on. That was a blessing. I had a handheld mic because that's just the best way to do it there. The only difference is I'm not sweating and it's not 100 degrees. I don't have mosquitoes and bats flying around me and all that kind of stuff. So anyway, we're in a comfortable auditorium, but God did amazing things and we can't wait to share some upcoming videos in the weeks ahead and share all that God did there because of your prayers, your giving, your heart for missions is making an impact around the world and there's a nation that's in an area of that nation that's changed. I can promise you the president of Guyana knew what was going on. I can promise you that. One of his cabinet members sang in the crusade. knew her, she was in the crusade in 2016 as an airline stewardess and just a godly Christian lady and got to know her there and then she sang on I think Monday night of the crusade and just wonderful song and she's in the president's cabinet and he lives in the area where the crusade took place and so he was well aware and would probably have even came to the crusade had he been in country. But anyway, the Lord blessed in a great way. I thank you for being patient with me this morning. And I appreciate that so much. Well, you should be in Revelation chapter 3. Let's look at verse number 14. The Bible said, 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, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. 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. 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 eyes sad, 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 have sat down with my Father in His throne, He that hath an ear." Not everybody has an ear to hear. Oh, we all have ears, but do we have hearts? Do we have ears that are willing to hear and respond to the words of the Son of God? He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Over the last several months we've been looking at Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the seven churches that were addressed in Asia Minor by the Lord Jesus, literal churches. The condition of those seven churches are reflective of the condition of all churches throughout what we would call this church age, this age of grace beginning with the beginning of the church on the day of Pentecost all the way until the Lord takes us home to heaven. in the rapture. And every church has one or more of the characteristics of these seven churches. We've been learning what Jesus thinks of His churches. I remind you, it doesn't matter what we think of Calvary Baptist Church, what matters is what He thinks. If the church in Philadelphia that we looked at a couple weeks ago is the church that we would want Calvary Baptist Church to be most like. It was the church with a little strength, but yet great dependence upon God. It was a church that was dedicated to His Word and devoted to His name. It was a church that Jesus said, you're strategically located, that I've set before you an open door of ministry opportunity, and no matter the opposition, no matter what comes against you, no man can shut that door. It sort of reminds me of Joshua as he's leading the children of Israel into Canaan. And God said to him, that no man shall be able to stand before you. Church, can I say something? When God gives opportunity, nothing, no one, not even the devil can stop it. But then you come to this final church. And if Philadelphia is the one you want to be most like, this is the church in Laodicea you want to be least like. It's interesting that Jesus did not have one good thing to say about this church. Other churches had problems. Oh, the church in Thyatira had problems. The church in Pergamos had problems. Church in Ephesus had problems, but yet in the midst of that there was something positive, there was something good, there was something that Jesus could commend in this church. But when you come to this one, there is nothing the Lord can commend, there is not one a positive word from Jesus. Could you imagine sitting in the congregation, receiving this letter on the edge of your seat, knowing that Jesus is going to share with you what He thinks of your church, and He says this, Dear Laodicea, you make me sick. Could you imagine making God sick? But yet that's exactly what this church did. They so nauseated the Lord, He said, I'm going to spew you. That's a really good way of saying it. He was nauseated and we know what happens. And the Lord said, that's exactly how I feel about you. The city of Laodicea was located about 100 miles east of Ephesus. It was probably 40 miles south of Philadelphia. It was the southernmost of the seven cities there in modern day Turkey or Asia Minor of that day. Three highways, three major highways converged in Laodicea. It was a highly developed commercial center, trading center. It was a wealthy city. There were bankers and financiers and great manufacturing areas. There was medical schools. They had stadiums and lavish public baths and fabulous shopping centers. It was an amazing place to live. Laodicea was destroyed and about thirty years before the Lord writes this letter to this church located in this city. It was devastated, but they had such wealth that they did not even look to Rome or want any outside financial help in rebuilding their city. They financed it themselves. There was a large medical school that was dedicated to the worship of the God of healing. It was a city filled with idolatry and immorality. Yet the Gospel had come here, and a church had begun. No doubt, probably in the three years that Paul was in Ephesus, when all of Asia heard the Word of God, a man by the name of Epaphras probably started the church of Laodicea there, and the church of Colossae, well known to both of them. And now the Lord is writing to them. And the problem is that within a short period of time, the church had taken on the characteristics of the city where it existed. And instead of influencing their city, their city had influenced them. Their conditions so dire. We learn of Laodicea, and I preach this thought, making God sick. Could we pray? Lord, thank you for your word today. I pray, Lord, in the midst of the upsets of life that you would help us to tune in Lord, Satan seeks to disrupt in so many ways and while I don't believe he caused the incident this morning, I do believe he uses it just like he sought to use incidences in Guyana to hinder the work of God and the Word of God in that country. He wants to hinder it this morning. Lord, you have a message for us. Lord, I don't want to make you sick. I don't want to lead a church that makes you sick. Lord, I want to lead a church that's vibrant and growing and healthy and honoring the Lord and reaching its community in the world for Christ. Lord, help us to not have a Laodicean mentality. Lord, help us not to make you sick. And I'll sure thank you for what you do for us this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. As we look at the passage before us this morning, we're going to notice the Lord's introduction, how He introduces Himself to this church. Look again, if you would please, in verse number 14. He introduces Himself in three ways. First of all, He introduces Himself as the Amen. Notice what He says. He said to the angel, the church of the Laodiceans, write, John dictating the letter. These things saith the Amen. I like that. I believe Amen's a Bible word. What about you? It's one of my favorite words. Let's practice it together. Are you ready? One, two, three, Amen. Boy, that's good. He's the Amen. Matter of fact, I believe it's right and biblical to be able to say Amen. It simply means truly or true or let it be true. You're going to find it 25 times. The Lord is going to use this very word. It's one of His favorite words. He used it in John's Gospel 25 times. You'll find it in our King James Bible, verily, verily, or truly, truly, amen, amen. What He's saying is what I'm getting ready to share with you is of the utmost importance. Can I tell you, Jesus doesn't just say amen. He tells us right here He is the amen. He's the living Word. Every one of His righteous judgments endure forever. The Word is true from the beginning, the psalmist says. And notice the appellation that comes after that. The faithful and true witness. They go together. He's the Amen, faithful and true witness. Every word of God is pure. Do you know your Bible consists of 66 books? 1189 chapters, 31,173 verses, 774,746 words, and you can say Amen to every one of them. Because they come from the Amen God. He is the faithful and true witness. Why would He say that? Because no church, no Christian would ever think that they make God sick. The sense of what Jesus is getting ready to say to this group of Christians is so strong, it is so stern, that they immediately begin to say, well, that can't be true of us. Well, that's not who we are. And the Lord is saying, whatever I say at any point or whatever condition that I say you are, I am the Amen, I am the faithful and true witness. You can take it to the bank. This is exactly who and what you are. He knows you, and He knows me this morning. He's the Amen. And notice the third way that He mentions Himself to this church, the beginning of the creation of God. Now, let me tell you what that doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that Jesus is a created being. It does not mean that God the Father created God the Son as the Jehovah Fault's witnesses would claim. Jesus is not a God, He is the God. He is not an emanation of God. He is the very God of God Himself, Second Person of the Divine Trinity. He is the Creator God of the universe. And what it's saying is that He is the One who created everything. All things the Bible says are by Him and for Him. He is before all things. There's never been a time that Jesus did not exist and there'll never be a time when Jesus does not exist. And he's a reminder to this rich, self-satisfied church that everything they had had come from Him. He's the one who gives us the power to get wealth. All that we are, all that we have comes from the good hand of God. And that word beginning doesn't just have the idea of creation, or starting, or origination. It also has the idea of priority, that He is the preeminent one, that in all things, in every area of our lives, Jesus is to have the preeminence. Everything flows out from Him. And He's reminding them that it's not wealth, and it's not position, and it's not power, and it's not pleasure, or anything else this world offers us that should have the first place in our lives, but that He should be first in our lives in every area. And that's what He's reminding them because He's not first. No doubt He was prominent, but He's not preeminent. And there's a difference between Jesus being important in our lives and being preeminent in our lives. If Jesus is important in our lives, then I can shuffle Him around when more important things arise to the forefront. But if He is preeminent, then everything flows out underneath Him. He's first. Let me ask you something. What's first in your life? This is how he introduces himself to this church. Notice, secondly, the Lord's indictment of this church. As we've already said, the Lord didn't have anything good to say. He's going to look beneath the surface, and He brings their failure to light, and the first thing He deals with is their compromise. Look at verse 15. He said, I know thou wert, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would, I wish, thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Now, I want you to notice there are three temperatures here. The word cold has the idea of frigid. It's not just a little bit cold, it's a whole lot cold. It's icy cold. The word hot here is not just a little heated up, it's not just a little warm. No, it's boiling hot. It's the other extreme. And so you have icy cold and boiling hot, and then you have tasteless, tepid lukewarmness. You know, it's only used one time. This word, lukewarm, is only used one time in the entire New Testament. As far as I know, the entire Bible. It's only used of this church. Jesus had taken their spiritual temperature and He said, you're not cold and you're not hot. You're a nauseating in-between. I've always been puzzled by this passage. I've preached it many, many times. I've always been puzzled why the Lord would want us to be cold. Why would Jesus want you to be cold? Why would He do that? Why would He want me to be frigid and cold and dead and lifeless? Why would He wish that? I've always been puzzled by that. Many times how I would preach that and how you read it often is the idea that somehow or another that if we're cold and dead and lifeless at least we know where we're at and we can get right and I can buy that and I don't think that's a poor application. But I'm not sure that's really what the Lord's saying here. It was interesting through my studies and research and going deeper into the city of Laodicea, you're going to make a discovery that they would have immediately knew what Jesus was saying that would not be as clear to us today in our Western culture. You see, Laodicea was a great city, but it had no water supply. It wasn't founded near a river. It didn't have deep wells. It got its water from two other cities. See, we live in what's called the triad region, right? You've got three major cities. You've got Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, just within miles of each other. Well, if you were to study the geography of Laodicea, you're going to find it was a triad. There were three cities that were no more than ten miles apart. You've got Laodicea. You've got Colossae. The book of Colossians was written to that church in that city. And then you've got a place called Heriopolis. You know that Laodicea got its water from Heriopolis and Colossae by large viaducts that traveled eight to ten miles to their city. Here's what's interesting. Heriopolis was known for hot water springs. People would travel from all over Asia Minor to the city of Heriopolis to bathe in its hot water springs to soothe them. They believed it had healing qualities. And we all know there's nothing like, for me, a hot bath when your joints ache. You know, just soothing. And the hot water is going to flow from Heriopolis to Laodicea. But watch this. Colossae was known for its mountain snows, icy cold springs. And they piped cold, icy cold water from Colossae to Laodicea. traveling ten miles through a viaduct. They didn't have refrigeration in that day to keep the viaduct cold, and they didn't have any way of keeping the water hot, so by the time it got to Laodicea, they didn't have hot water, and they didn't have cold water. They had tasteless, tepid, lukewarm water that nobody wants to drink. And Jesus is saying, I wish you were what you should be. You see, hot water is hot water, soothing, healing, it accomplishes. Cold water is cold water. It's what it's supposed to be. He said, but you're neither. And you know what's the matter with the American church today? We're not anything like what we're supposed to be. We're wealthy and indifferent. and careless and half-hearted. Because that's what the problem was in Laodicea. There was half-hearted worship, half-hearted work, half-hearted witness, half-hearted service, half-hearted everything. Oh, they weren't out, but they weren't in. Just half-hearted. And Jesus said, You make me sick. They were a compromising church. Then very quickly, for sake of time, because we're going to run out and I want to make sure we cover everything, I want you to notice they were a conceited church. Look at verse 17. He said, Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, And knowest not, here's what you really are, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Wow. They were a prideful church. God resisteth the proud. You know, I think in America, and I believe in American exceptionalism, I do, I believe that. But I don't believe in American arrogance. There's a difference. God has blessed us to be a very exceptional nation. We are blessed like no nation on the face of the earth. You go to the grocery store and we're upset when they don't have our, when they're out of our form of Mountain Dew. By the way, I agree with future Vice President J.D. Vance. I like Mountain Dew too. He won't say amen right there. Some of you don't want to talk about it. It's alright. You can look it up. He got attacked by the governor of Pennsylvania. Who drinks Mountain Dew? Well, I tell you what, there's a whole lot of people down here in the South that drink Mountain Dew, hallelujah, amen. We upset they don't have our diet caffeine-free, because I have to have caffeine-free Mountain Dew. We have no idea what it's like to go to the market or the grocery store, and they don't have any food. We have so many clothes we don't even know what to wear. We have so many shoes we don't know which pair to wear. We're rich. You say, oh preacher, you don't understand. I'm not rich. Go with me. Go with me to the third world countries that I go to and you'll see poverty. You'll understand it like you've never understood it before. Now, I'm not saying that to make you feel bad. God's blessed America. But here's what the problem was. You remember when Israel was getting ready to go into the land of Canaan? And he said, you're getting ready to go into cities that you didn't build, and you're going to live in houses you didn't build, and you're going to eat out of gardens you didn't plant, and you're going to eat off of trees that you didn't cultivate. You're going to have all of that. And when you get there, you be careful that you don't forget about me. And here's what happens. When we get blessed beyond measure, we forget about the God who gave it to us. And somehow we think we deserve it. Somehow we think we're just a little cut above. Somehow we just think that we've arrived. And that's where this church was. They were smug and self-sufficient and self-satisfied and didn't have a need of anything. And friend, you know what? They didn't even need God. Now they wouldn't say it out loud, but they didn't even need God. They had arrived. And Jesus said, you're blind. And you're really poor. And you think you've got all these wonderful wealth and luxurious clothing. They were known for the black wool manufacturing. It's a very soft, silky wool that they got from the sheep of that area that they were known for. And he said, you've got all this extravagant clothing and you think that you're there. And you think because I blessed you materially that somehow you're just a cut above everybody else. and that everything's okay, and the reality of it is, is you're poor, and you're blind, and you're wretched, and inside you're miserable, and you're naked before me. Sort of reminds me of a fellow I read about, went to church, and every Sunday morning, go out the door, he'd say, you really laid it on him this week, preacher. Boy, you got him today. Boy, I tell you what, I tell you, you just let them have it. Boy, they needed it, preacher. And this guy, he knew, this preacher, he knew this guy needed what he was preaching on. He knew this guy had a problem. And so one snowy Sunday, it was just the preacher and that guy. And buddy, he was loaded and ready. And he had all the vigor, all the energy, everything within him. He let this guy have it and he said, boy, he's got to get it this time. And then he gave the invitation and closed the service, went out the door, and this one guy come out and he said, Preacher, if they'd have been here, you'd have really let them have it today. Let's be careful that when God speaks to us that we have ears to hear. That we don't ever think that we've arrived. I've been saved nearly 40 years. I've been pastoring 34 years now. And you know how easy it is? I've done it all before. I've got thousands of sermons. How easy it is to just go and grab something and preach it and go through the And I, by the way, don't do that. I take my preparation to preach very seriously. But we could just have arrived and think we can do it. I heard at a meeting, I wasn't there, but I heard from a meeting there was a big name preacher that has a very, very large church. He got up and he said, you know what? He said, with the principles of church growth that we have, we could build a church without the Holy Spirit. This is an independent, fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist that said it. And you know what? You might get a crowd without the Holy Spirit, but you'll never build a church without the Holy Spirit. And I don't care how many principles you learn. The Lord builds His church. Church, we don't ever. We've been blessed. God has given us wonderful facilities. He's given us a wonderful location. We're moving into 55 years. 55 year history of our church. God has blessed it beyond measure. But don't ever let us get the idea that somehow we're special. Or somehow we're just a cut above. Or somehow we deserve what God's doing because we don't deserve any of it. It's just the good grace of God. Can I give you one more and then I'm going to get to the cure? Can we do that? It was a Christless church. You say, what does that mean, preacher? How do you have a Christless church? I believe these people were saved. They hadn't lost their salvation. It wasn't that the church was full of unsaved people. You read that from the Calvinist commentators. I don't believe that. I believe that the Lord's writing to his people. But look at verse number 20. He said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Now, I even use this by way of application in Guyana as an invitation for those who didn't know Christ to be saved. I would say to them, listen, the Lord's knocking on your heart's door. He wants to come in. That is a wonderful application of the verse, but that's not the primary interpretation. The Lord is not standing outside the door of a heart in this verse. He's standing outside the door of his church. And here's the imagery. Here is a church that probably had a large bank account, had a large congregation, had a fine building. They probably, as they met together, thought that they were so blessed above all the other churches in the Asia Minor area that they were just there. And they thought that they had it, that they had it together. And what they didn't know was that Jesus wasn't there. They had come and meet. And God wasn't there. Could you imagine to come meet with God and God doesn't show up? They were like Samson of old. They knew not that the Lord had departed from them. It wouldn't mean that they weren't saved. But they were so out of fellowship with God. They were so distant from Him. The Lord couldn't stomach meeting with them. And so He's outside the church knocking on the door saying, Hey, will anybody open the door and let me in? And I'll have fellowship with you. Because I can't have fellowship with everybody else because they don't want to have fellowship with me. They don't need me. I don't ever want to come to church at Calvary Baptist Church and have to pretend that Jesus is here. Or we just think that somehow he's always, his presence, you understand what I'm saying? His presence, his power, his hand, his blessing is always there. I don't wanna be like Samson, and the Lord departed, and us not even know it, and him standing outside our door, knocking, trying to get in. And now he gives an invitation to them. Look what he says. I counsel thee to buy of me. That little pronoun, me, is very important. Did you see that? The Laodiceans didn't think they needed anything and Jesus is reminding them of their true need and He's saying to them, you need me. And the only answer to what's wrong with you is me. Can I tell you, Jesus is the answer to everything in our lives. Our marriages, our family, our future, this church. He is the answer. And He counsels them. He said you need spiritual values. Look what he says in verse number 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold, try to end the fire. They were living for the world's values rather than God's values. They were living for what they could get out of this world rather than having their eyes on another world. They were living for a world that had already been shaken by an earthquake and destroyed. It had no foundations. And he's saying what you need is you need to live on the gold standard. You need to look for a city that has foundations. That's why the Bible said that we're to set our affection on things above and not on things on the earth. Can I tell you that what we have here can be taken just like that? The only thing that's really lasting in our lives is what we have in Jesus Christ. They needed spiritual virtues. Notice what he says. He said that thou mayest be gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed. He's talking about righteousness or purity. We mentioned how they had the black garments, the woolen garments that they wore as a picture of their wealth and their luxury. And he said what you need is purity and godliness and righteousness lived out in your not life. You need to reflect me. That's what Jesus is saying. Let me ask you a question. When somebody looks at your life, can they tell you've been with Jesus? In spiritual vision, notice he says, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest be rich." Because of a medicine in the region of Phrygia, however you want to say it in this particular area, there was a tablet that they made and they would take that tablet, they would sell it all over Asia Minor. It was developed there in the medical school and they manufactured this tablet that would be crushed and mixed with water and smeared on the eyes for eye issues and eye irritation. and eye problems, and so they were known for this medicine, this eye salve. And what the Lord's saying is, you need to anoint your spiritual eyes with the spiritual eye salve of the Holy Spirit that you might see your true condition. He said you're blind, and what you need is you need the Holy Spirit so you can see. Can I help you understand something? You don't understand this book apart from the Holy Spirit. It's spiritually discerned. That's why in the Olympics opening ceremony, thank the Lord I didn't watch it, wasn't planning to. And I'm not going to watch one second of it. You say, well, that's not going to make any difference. Well, it makes me feel good. Makes me feel good. Watch it. That's your business. I'm just not going to. I'm going to be a part of something that's going to desecrate one of the most sacred moments in the life of God's people. And when we can be so brash and so bold, I was telling one of our staff members this morning, I said there was a time that networks would care about what they showed on their advertisements or in their sitcoms or whatever because they didn't want to ostracize viewers and we're to a point they don't even care. They're blind. They're bold in their blindness. One day they're going to see but it'll be too late. And what Jesus is saying to His people in this day, this Laodicean mindset in America, that it's time to open our eyes and see where we are and hunger for spiritual realities and realize this world doesn't satisfy and quit chasing what the world offers and start living for what God offers us. Young person, I'm going to tell you something, the greatest thing you'll ever do is give your life to Jesus Christ. And then he commands them, look at verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke. Aren't you glad the Lord rebukes us? He's a loving Father. He is like a loving Father. He rebukes and chastens. As many as I love. Do you know the Lord challenges us out of a heart of love because He wants more for us than what we want for ourselves. As many as I love, the Lord loves you today. He's wanting to get our attention. And he tells us, be zealous. That means be fervent. Has the idea. Same word as boiling hot. and repent. Change your mind. Let it bring change to your life. Quit looking here and start looking here. Can I tell you the greatest need of God's people in 2024 is repentance. of being a repentant people to deal with smugness, to deal with self-satisfaction, to deal with worldliness, to deal with self-sufficiency, to deal with pride, to deal with unforgiveness and bitterness and all the impurities in our lives. Listen, the Lord calls on His people to repent. You want revival? Then we need repentance. And it's a command. Oh, there's such indifference today. I have preachers preach here and they tell me this is one of the easiest places they've ever preached. And I'm going to tell you why. Because you want the Word. You want the Word. I preach in places they don't even care if they hear what I'm saying or not. That's why I just don't even leave Calvary on Sunday mornings most of the time anymore unless I know I'm going somewhere that wants to hear the Word. I just don't do it. Why would I go there and preach to people that don't care when I can come here? Why would I do that? It dawned on me one day, I was sitting on a platform, and I was getting ready to preach, and I'm looking out, and there was such indifference, I thought, what am I doing? Why have I left, you know, five, six hundred people that I'm going to preach to, there's more than that on our property, but in this auditorium, that I'm going to preach to on a Sunday morning, that want to hear it, to come here and preach to you, and you don't want to hear it. Why am I doing that? And that's when God spoke to my heart, and I just tell guys now, they want me, I'm not coming on a Sunday most of the time. I'll give you a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, but I'm only going to give you Sunday. I'm going to be here. And then the Lord's call. It's one of the most sobering verses in all of the Bible. I've already given you the interpretation. Can we come back to it now and apply it? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Church, I don't want to stand before the Lord one day and the Lord said, listen, I was knocking at the door at Calvary Baptist Church and I just wanted one person, one person in that cold, conceited, stuck-up church. And I don't believe that's who we are. But I wanted them to just open the door and let me in. And I'd have fellowship with them because I couldn't fellowship with everybody. I don't want to have to be sad of us. We want to be warm and welcoming and showing the love of Christ to our community and the world. I don't want to be a place where Jesus is not welcome. I don't want to be a place where He's so nauseated He don't even want to enter it. And there he is standing outside the door, knocking to get in, if any man, just the individual. That word sup, that's why the Bible was written by Southerners. Supper. The last... I'm being facetious. the last meal of the day, eaten before the dawning of the next day. Now think about that. We eat supper, okay? And some of us have second supper and third supper and on and on, but you know, we eat supper before the dawning of the next day. And the Lord's saying to this church, just before the dawning of my coming, if there's anyone that will let me in, I will fellowship with you. I will draw close to you. The Lord created us and saved us for Himself, and our first order of business is pleasing the Lord, meeting with Him, fellowshipping with Him, worshipping Him, and everything else flows out of that. That's my business. St. Paul's Cathedral in London, there's a picture that hangs there. It's called Holman Hunt's famous painting on this text. The artist pictures Christ standing by the closed door with vines growing over it, his hand up lifted to knock. In the other hand, he carries a light, a lantern. The hinges are rusty. There's no knob on the outside of the door. It must be open from the inside. The story is told of a little girl and her father and they were viewing the painting and they stood there and looked for the longest while and finally the little girl looked up to her daddy and she said, Daddy, did he ever get in? I don't want to ever have that question asked about us. Could we renew our hunger for the Lord today? Could we repent of any indifference? Could we just look inside this morning? Let's not be like the guy that said, boy, you let them have it today, preacher, didn't you? Could you look in your heart this morning? Is there anything there that's between you and the Savior? Is there anything in your heart that would keep him from fellowshipping with you because maybe there's indifference there, or apathy there, or coldness there, or maybe you're just self-satisfied, or maybe you've arrived, or maybe you've got unforgiveness, or maybe you've got bitterness, or maybe you've got anger in your heart? I don't know, but the Lord does. And I know this, He's knocking, Christian. Because can I tell you, we can never impact out there unless we let the Lord impact us in here. It starts with us. And I don't want to be Laodicea, do you? And the only way that we can not be Laodicea is for every person in this church to have a fellowship with Jesus that is vibrant and growing and strong in their life. And not what we think, but what the Lord thinks. There's more than a verse a day to keep the devil away. that it's more than just lifting off a prayer to salve our conscience, but we genuinely talk to God. And we hear His voice as He speaks to us from His Word, and we respond to that. Do you know what? I never want to get tired as a Christian walking the aisle and coming to an altar and dealing with areas of my life. I never want to get over that. I don't ever want to get too big for it. I don't ever want to be saved so long. I don't need to slip forward and talk to God in an altar. And by the way, can I help you understand something? I've heard people say, well, nowhere in the Bible does it say come to the altar. I understand that. I get it. Okay? But here's what I do understand. Throughout the Bible, the Lord invites people to come to Him. And there's something about being willing to step out and meet with God and do business with God and to let God work in my life because He's real and He loves me and He wants more for me than I can ever want for myself. And we get blinded by this world. And He's saying, I want you to lift your eyes and see there's another world worth living for. And church, I don't want to make God sick. Do you? then let's start today by responding to him. And maybe that's the invitation to you. Could we bow our heads and close our eyes for a moment? I'm going to address Christians in the congregation first. Are there Christians in our church this morning that would say, Preacher, God, I'm not saying that you're dealing with a lukewarm heart. I'm not saying that. You might be. I'm not saying that. But God has spoken to your heart this morning through the message. And you'd slip up your hand and say, Preacher, God spoke to me today.