Draw your attention this morning to God's Holy Word found in Revelation 14, excuse me, chapter 3, verse 14. Revelation 3, we'll read verse 14 through the end of the chapter, the last of the seven letters. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. I know your works. You are neither hot nor cold, or cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning that we can once again come together as a body of believers, as your church, to hear from your word. Lord, to open up the scriptures and to read the words that you would have us to hear. Lord, to meditate upon them. Lord, we as we come to this last letter to the seven churches, we pray that the Holy Spirit might bring to our remembrance all that we've learned before. That we might. Take the revelation of Jesus Christ. And we might hold it dear. That we might look to Christ in all things to be our sufficiency, our teacher, our guide, our goal. Lord, what a Savior we have. Give us thankful hearts. Give us hearts full of love and devotion. to Christ. Be with us here this morning, Lord. Open our ears, open our eyes that we might see more of Christ. In your name we pray, amen. Well, we're at the end of our study in Revelation, the seven letters to the church of Revelation here. We've been looking at this for several weeks, and there's been weeks in between some of the weeks that we've looked at this, but we're at the end of that. There's a lot of things that we've seen that Christ has had as a message to His church. He's revealed Himself to us through the writings here, the inspired writings, the God-breathed writings of Revelation through the Apostle John. We have, I think, a pattern here for what our message is to be. When Christ Himself speaks to His church, anyone who stands up in front of a body of believers and has a message, Woe to him if he doesn't speak according to what Christ has commanded that he speak. We have a pattern of messages of truth, willingness to reprove and rebuke, calling sin, sin, not downplaying sin, not downplaying transgression of the law, transgression of God's holy requirements of what is holy and what is not. We have a call to persevere. We have a call to believe the promises of Christ. We have a call to look forward to that which is to come. There is still more to history than what we've seen. Christ tells us and tells His messengers to be faithful to Him, not to the world. There's so much here in just this passage to the church at Laodicea We won't have time to hit everything in detail, but we'll try and hit on a couple things as we go through. We have here in this passage a message that's very hard to hear. It wounds the pride of man. But it's a message that must be heard and preached nonetheless. We not only have a word that is hard to hear, a pride-killing word, But we also have promise and direction from our Lord that must be followed and heard, lest we find ourselves at the end of all things to still be poor, blind, and naked. After telling this church in Laodicea that He is the True One, the Amen, He proceeds to be just what He is, truthful with them, because He Himself is what they need. They need truth, and truth is what will set us free. So let's look at this passage here, Revelation 3, verse 14, through the end of the chapter. We find that the angel, this is sent to the angel at the church of Laodicea. We'll look real briefly at what Laodicea was as a city. It was a city that was located about 43 miles to the southeast of Philadelphia, which is the last letter that we looked at. And it's about 11 miles west of Colossae. It was situated in the Lycus Valley and served as a gateway to Ephesus some 100 miles or so to the east of where it sat. So we've gone along this postal route. from Ephesus on around and we're now at the end of that postal route and directly a hundred miles to the east of this city goes right back to Ephesus. It was named Laodicea after the Syrian ruler Antichus II extended his power to include this area and named it after his wife, Laodice or Laodice. The Romans then entered this area in about 133 BC and made the city a judicial and administrative center. The Romans built, if you remember from history, one of the things that they're famous for is building roads. And they built a road, a system of roads in this area. And Laodicea became a center or at the crossroads of some of these roads that Rome built in the area. And it increased Laodicea's influence both in wealth and prestige. Laodicea had a thriving wool industry, and it flourished under this. It produced and exported a black wool that was used to make very costly garments, and then those were shipped to other cities, other regions, other parts of the world. They were also known as a medical center and a place of medical invention. They developed a school that specialized in ear and eye care and went on to develop an eye ointment for treating inflamed eyes. The salve produced there was the source of worldwide fame for Laodicea. In AD 60, Before any date, so if you go through and you look at all the supposed dates for the writing of Revelation, you will find the writing anywhere from about 70 AD for those who believe it was prior to 69-70 AD, prior to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the Jewish temple, all the way through to 90s to 100 or so. But in A.D. 60, before any of that would have taken place, whether you thought it was an early writing or you think that it's a late writing for Revelation, in A.D. 60, there was a severe earthquake in this region. And as was the case in most situations of natural disaster during this time, when Rome was the occupying or the governing body, Rome would suspend taxes in an area where there was a natural disaster, and they would send funds for the rebuilding of the cities. Well, Laodicea was so wealthy that they refused the help from Rome. Some historians even say that Rome sent wagons, whatever it was, with gold to Laodicea and they turned around and took it right back to Rome. Very, very wealthy city. Wealthy enough that during this earthquake of 60 AD, they actually used their own funds to not only rebuild their city, but also cities around them. very, very wealthy city. In 62 BC, the Roman proconsul there in the area confiscated 20 pounds of gold bound for Jerusalem to pay a temple tax. This amount would suggest that there was a Jewish population in Laodicea of about 7,500 adult males. So there would have been children, there would have been females as well, but 7,500 adult males. It's interesting, we see a lot in our previous letters where Christ himself mentions the Jews. There is no mention of the Jews here. And this is probably telling of indicative of something. It's probably indicative of the fact that the message that this church had in Laodicea was nothing that was threatening to the message of the Jews. So they weren't holding out Christ as the Messiah. Laodicea, something else that's unique about it is it really had no water supply of its own. The local river was too muddy, it wasn't good for water. So water was piped in from a cold spring about five miles south of the city through an elaborate system of aqueducts. And they built these aqueducts and they brought water from the cold spring south into the city. very advanced, once again, showing what great wealth the city of Laodicea had. They brought this in, but by the time it got from the cold springs, the five miles to the city, it became lukewarm. It was tepid water at that point. There was also hot springs near the area that were used, and they were, again, about five, six miles away in the opposite direction. And those were used for medicinal purposes. Hot springs were often used in this time and still in some parts of the world used today. If you have certain ailments, you would go and you'd sit in these hot springs. And there would be certain substances from the earth that would get hot and would help you in your aches and your pains and your infirmities. And this is what these hot springs were used for. Some historians have made mention that they thought that water was also piped in through aqueducts from these hot springs. But we really don't have archeological evidence of this. We have archeological evidence that the fact that they were using the cold springs piped up from the south. Either way, even if that was the case, by the time it went from the hot springs to the city, what would it be? It would be lukewarm. So either way, there's something here to what Christ is saying about the church. We've seen before that he uses things that the local residents would understand and know to bring about a point, to prove something to them. And here he does the same thing in this letter. There is an allusion to these things within his letter to the church. They were neither hot nor cold, they were lukewarm. So it is here in this city, there's the three kind of main things I want us to think about. Number one is that they're lukewarm, but the other three things that I think we have to keep in mind were that they were extremely wealthy, they had a industry that thrived on two things in particular, the black wool and the ISAF. As you read through this letter, those things become abundantly clear in what Christ is teaching them, telling them, showing them through His words. And here it is that we find this letter written. What an opening statement we find here in this passage. The words in verse 14, the second part, the words of the Amen. the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. We find once again that this draws us back to Revelation 1, and the revelation of Jesus Christ and who he is himself. That's the overall purpose, remember, that we stated for revelation, is revelation is, the very first words of it, the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you turn back real quick or just flip the page maybe in your Bible, Revelation 1 verse 5 says, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is the faithful witness. He is the Amen. We talked about this a little bit before, but let's kind of go over it again when we dealt with the faithful witness. But he is the Amen. He is the verily, verily. He is the truly, truly. Depending on which version of the Bible you grew up with, you probably remember a lot of the passages that Christ is speaking in, whether he's giving a lesson, he's giving a parable, whatever it is, he will start that by saying, verily, verily, or truly, truly, and then go on to tell what it is that he had as a message for his hearers. Well, he is the amen. He's saying, I am truth. I am the truly, truly. Christ often preceded his words with truly, truly. We say amen after a statement. He says it before. He is the amen. He is the amen of God. He is the ultimate truth. He is truth personified. Truth is in His very being. His character is the embodiment of truth. 2 Corinthians 1 verse 20 says, for all the promises of God find their yes in Him. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God. Now that's the ESV translation. Some of your translations you will remember that he is the yay and amen. He is the yes, he is the truth. It is through him that we utter our amen, through the truth about him, through the truth regarding him, through what he is, through him being the truth itself, that we are able to utter our amen to God. He is also the faithful and true witness. He is without error. He is without exaggeration. He is without ambiguity. He is truth. This is almost like a threefold repetition of the same exact thing. He's basically saying, I am truth, truth, truth. We hear and we talk about this with Isaiah 6. There's not too many times And I could just hear R.C. Sproul in the back of my head. There's not too many times that you hear a thrice-repeated characteristic. A thrice-repeated phrase to describe something about God. In Isaiah 6, in the year that King Uzziah died, I looked, and he saw this, he saw Christ. high and lifted up, this glorious train of his robe filling the whole temple, and he saw these beings, these angels, these seraphim, that they flew with two, they covered their creatureliness, their feet with two. And they covered their eyes with two from his blazing holiness and brightness. And what were they crying out to each other? Holy, holy, holy. Well, this is almost the same thing. Christ is telling us that he is a thrice true Christ. He is a thrice true savior. He is a three times truthful Jesus Christ, our Lord, our King, our Sovereign, our Ruler. He is true, true, true. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Well, he is the beginning of God's creation, the last part of verse 14 of chapter 3. He is the source of creation, the creator of all things. There are those, Jehovah's Witnesses being an example, and even some who are more in line with most of Christian truths that have taken this verse to be that Christ is the first created being, because of the English way in which this is translated. But that's not what it's saying. The beginning here should be viewed as not the first begotten, as in of offspring. It's almost like it's not first begotten, it's the first begetter. He is the one who begets all things. He is the one who makes all things. He is the one who births, who brings into existence all things. This is who Jesus Christ is. John 1, 1 through 3 says that, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was not made. But then see what it goes on to say. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made. Everything that you see with your natural eyes, he created by the power of his own word. Colossians 1, 15 through 17 says, he is the image of the invisible God. the firstborn of all creation, for by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him, and He is before us." all things, and in him all things hold together. He is not the created, he is the creator. He is the first begetter of all things." Well, these words that Christ addresses himself as to this church here in Laodicea, of absolute necessity to be heard by this proud and lukewarm church that we find here in Laodicea, because the Lord Jesus Christ is about to hit them with the fact that He knows their works. He knows all, and what they perceive to be truth is actually a lie. A self-deceived, willful blindness to the truth as Jesus Christ, the truth himself, the amen, declares it to be. As creator and sustainer of all things, he can see through to the core of the issue, diagnose the issue, and bring about a remedy. And that is exactly what we see here in this letter to the church at Laodicea. In verse 15, he says, I know your works. We don't know much about this church, its founding. We don't know much about its people. We don't know much about the particulars of this church, but the text points us to the one who does know about this church. Christ says he knows their works and finds them to be in a deadly place. This church, Christ says, is neither hot nor cold. Would that they be either hot or cold. Verse 16 tells us that so because of this fatal flaw in the church, this lukewarmness with which Christ refers to, he tells them that he is revulsed by this. He threatens to vomit them out of his mouth Our text in the ESV says, spit them out. I don't think that this is a great translation of this, as I believe the word vomit fits more closely with what is actually meant. The state of the church here in Laodicea has become one which mirrors the city itself of Laodicea, as evidenced by what our text opens up to us in the preceding verses. They've become prideful, They've deceived themselves into a state of self-sufficiency. They have in themselves a belief that they are able to have and produce everything that is needed pertaining to life and godliness. But it's inherent in themselves, not in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1, 3-4 says, His divine power has granted to us. His divine power. Now think about the difference in this verse and the self-sufficiency of Laodicea in their wealth and what they have. He, His divine power has granted to us. all things that pertain to life and godliness. Through the knowledge of him, who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted, once again, he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them, not through us, through them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. The church at Laodicea is confident in their own abilities, in their own standing, their own wealth, their own status, their own sufficiency. Because of this, Christ tells this church, I will spit you, I will vomit you out of my mouth. They make him sick. They have no flavor and they disgust him. These are strong words, very strong words. Christians to the world around them in the message that they have, the message of Jesus Christ and his sufficiency should be like taking a cold drink of water on a hot day. when you're parched for thirst and you have need of something just to replenish you, to give you some relief. You remember the rich man that wished that Lazarus and Abraham's bosom would just come and just bring a drop of water to place in his mouth. This is what the world needs. It needs something that will satisfy the parched, dry, hot feeling that is in the world. They need something to refresh them, something to give them some life. Oh, that you are cold or hot. Well, what about the hot? Well, the hot is used for medicinal purposes. It's used to help with infirmities. This should be, is the world not in a state of need, in sin, needing a message? This gospel of Jesus Christ that acts to them both as a cool, refreshing dip in the water and a hot springs bath? You see how this should make sense to the church at Laodicea? They have hot springs a few miles from them, and cold water a few miles in the other direction, situated between the two, and they've got nothing but lukewarm water in their city. This is the picture that's being created here. You know, When Christ says that he's ready to vomit them from his mouth, when you look at this passage here, there is nothing good in this church. A couple times ago that I preached, we dealt with the church at Sardis. Things were not good in Sardis, right? Beginning of chapter three. He says, I know your works. You have a reputation of being alive, but you're dead. But at least there's something here. If you look at verse four in this passage, he says, yet you still have a few names. It's bad. You got a reputation for being alive, but you're dead. But at least you have a few names. There's still a couple, there's still a few here who have not soiled their garments. And they'll walk with me dressed in white, for they are worthy, because they haven't capitulated. They haven't gone away from their first love. They haven't gone away from truth. They haven't gone away from the proclamation of the message of Jesus Christ. There's still a few there in Sardis. There's nothing here in the church to Laodicea at all that Jesus Christ commenced. Not a single thing. They're apathetic. They're lukewarm. They take no stand. They don't show great love for Christ. They don't show great love for the people. And what is the absolute worst representation of what the church of Jesus Christ should be is an apathetic church that makes no stand for anything. They're no different than the world. They give in to the world. They give in to the desires of the world. They don't stand strong for the truth that we find in God's Word. Women pastors? Ah, okay. Homosexuality? Ah, as long as it doesn't hurt me. Abortion? Well, we're not doing it. But, you know, if that's what's right for you, no stand. Lukewarm? apathetic to everything around them, not actually calling themselves. Here's the problem, the hypocritical nature of this, and we're all guilty of this to a certain degree. So we can't just point our fingers outward, we have to point some back at ourselves as well. But the situation is that whether it's fear of hurting somebody's feelings or whatever it is, you know, we just don't take a stand and say, this is what Christ says, I believe it, it's in the word of God, that's my authority, that's where I stand. And instead we just, eh, well, it's the time we live in. Sad. And what does that do as a representation of what the church should be? When people look at those who call themselves Christians and they're no different than the worldliest of men. What does that say about the message and the gospel of Jesus Christ? The message in the gospel of Jesus Christ is transforming in its nature. It's powerful. It quickens dead sinners and makes them alive. It changes the core of who they are. And if you've never experienced that, you better make your calling and election sure. If you call yourself a Christian and you don't have a desire for the truth, a desire for the things of God, you better pray that God opens your eyes and either brings you back or opens your eyes and gives you new life. Because something is wrong. That's what we find in this church. Verse 17, for you say, you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing, not seeing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. This is the exact opposite of the church in Smyrna. What did he say to them? Revelation 2 verse 9. This church had nothing but commendations, right? The church in Smyrna. I know your tribulation and your poverty. You are rich. The world may see your poverty. I'm telling you, you've got something of far more value than anybody else in Smyrna. And here he says, you say you are rich. I tell you, you are poor. You are destitute. You have nothing of eternal value. The truth, Christ says, is far from what they say. Christ is saying to them, you say you're rich, you're rich, I tell you you're poor. You say you have prospered, and I tell you you are wretched, you are pitiable. You're naked. You say you have need of nothing. I say you are blind. You don't even see the true nature of your condition. See the way this works out? Look at the last, look at the verse here, verse 17. Not realizing. They can't even see the situation that they're in. Verse 18, I counsel you. Christ says to them, because of this, I counsel you, buy from me gold that's been tested by fire, the worth of which has been proved. This is not gold mixed with anything. This is not fool's gold. This is true gold. This is valuable. white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see." These are the remedies for the crisis that has befallen this church at Laodicea. It's the cure for the exact problem that Christ confronts them with right here. Christ frames them in the exact circumstances, in the exact things that this city would most understand. The city was rich, but not with gold that will last through to eternity. The city was known for black wool, like we said, made into costly garments, but they wear out and they get dirty. But Christ has a white garment. A white garment, does he not? The garment of his own righteousness which he gives to all his people in that great exchange. That great two-sided imputation of that which we have not earned. That which we have demerited, we are given. We're given Christ's righteousness. in an exchange for our sinfulness. He took upon Himself our sin so that we might be clothed in His own righteousness. That's what atonement on the cross is all about. That's imputation. That's Him giving something to us that we didn't earn, that we didn't deserve, that we actually were so far in the other direction, we earned death. He took that upon himself so that we might be given life in him. His righteousness in exchange for our sinfulness. It's beautifully pictured with the contrast between the black wool of Laodicea and the white robe of Christ. You remember Revelation 7.14 where John is shown this group of people and the angel asks him, it may be an elder there, let me look here real quick, Revelation 7.14. One of the elders addressed John saying, who are these clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? And I said to him, sir, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. Why are their robes white? Remember, we said this last time, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. There's where your robe of righteousness comes from. It's purified, it's washed in the blood of the true sacrifice. Isaiah 61 10 says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exalt in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bride decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. This is the robe of salvation. This is the robe of Christ's righteousness that is given to us to cover our nakedness. Zechariah pictures this in Zechariah 3, where he sees this vision of Joshua the high priest standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, remove the filthy garments from him. And to him, he said, behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments. This is a great exchange. Jesus is the righteousness of his people. He is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. And he counsels them to buy of him. Well, what else does he counsel them to buy? Eyesalve, to cure their blindness. They were blind to their condition and they needed to be given sight to see. They had created in this city a physical eye salve in their medicinal school to help with inflamed eyes and as a cure for that. But they needed something more than physical eyesight. They needed spiritual sight. If you look at John 9, I don't think we have time to read all this, so we'll try and paraphrase a little bit. But Jesus passed by a blind man who had been blind from birth. And he talked to his disciples some and they talked about some things. And then in verse 6, he spit on the ground and he made mud with his saliva. And he anointed the man's eyes with mud and said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sin. So he went and washed and came back seeing. Well, there was quite an uproar because this was on the Sabbath. And the leaders, the Pharisees, brought this man in and multiple times asked him how he received his sight and from whom he received his sight. And they even brought his parents to ask him, and they were afraid of giving an honest answer that they would get kicked out of the temple. So they said, well, he's of age, ask him. So they asked him again. And he said to him, in verse 24, so the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God, we know that this man is a sinner. Talking about Christ. Because he did this on the Sabbath. He's the Lord of the Sabbath. He answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. Now right now he's talking about his physical blindness, right? He says, why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And you can imagine the rage, right? They reviled him. And we know that down in verse 30, they said some more things to him. And the man answered, this is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never, verse 32, never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a blind man. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. And they answer him, they cast him out, cast him out of the temple, and Jesus heard about this. And he finds this man who's been cured of physical blindness. And he says, do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered, to Christ, he answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him, you have seen him. and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. He not only was given physical sight, he was given spiritual sight. This is what the church in Laodicea had great need of. They needed to see with spiritual eyes their Savior. Well, how are we going to buy these things if they are so eternally valuable? There's good news for that as well. Price has already been paid. Price has been paid. Christ himself pays the price for the gift that he gives. Isaiah 55, 1 through 3, it's a passage I love. Isaiah 55, one through three. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, he who has no money. Come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me and hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. come and buy without money. It's free. The price has been paid. Revelation 22, 17 that we read in our scripture reading this morning, the spirit and the bride say come, and let everyone who hears say come, and let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who desires to take the water of life without price. The price has been paid. Salvation is a free gift. There's nothing that you have that you could buy it with. Christ's blood paid the price for these things. They are priceless things that Christ counsels His church to buy, this church to buy, but they are free. That's the exchange. You know, it's not so much to buy what's contained in the meaning as it is to make these things yours through an exchange, through a transaction that Christ offers your worthlessness in exchange for his worth. That which leaves you destitute for that which leaves you rich beyond measure. beyond what our mind can even fathom, and that which is temporal for that which is eternal. Come and buy from him." Well, those who he loves, he disciplines, he reproves, so be zealous. and repent. He is truly a Savior full of pity and compassion, full of tenderness and love, full of patience and long-suffering, and He says He corrects those who He loves. Verse 20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me." There may not be a more well-known portion of Scripture from these first three chapters of Revelation, maybe the whole book of Revelation. I also don't think there's probably a more misunderstood portion of Scripture in these first three chapters than this. Arminians will take this as their proof text, but in reality, I don't think that there's a more able verse by which we can defend two indisputable truths of Scripture, man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. There is no apology that Scripture makes for the doctrine of election and man's responsibility. Here we see that Christ says he stands at the door and knocks. We're not going to go into great detail here. Maybe we will some other time or in a Bible study sometime. But Acts 1730 through 31, in the 17th chapter of Acts, the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. And then he tells us why. Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. The world is going to be judged by the God-man, Jesus Christ. And because of that, God has commanded everyone to repent. This is a prime example of man's responsibility. The outward call goes out to all men to repent. Yet look here at the second part of verse 20. He says, if anyone hears my voice, well, who is it that hears the voice of Jesus Christ? John 10, 27 says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Those given to him from the Father hear his voice and they respond to that voice. They have been given an ear to hear. The Spirit has quickened them, made them alive, made them willing in the day of his power to hear the voice of their beloved, to hear the voice of their shepherd. And the one who opens the door has a great promise. I'll come in and I will dine with Him, I will eat with Him and Him with me. And we have a great promise in verse 21, to the one who conquers, the one who perseveres unto the end, preserved by the love, the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ, He will grant them to sit with Him on His throne. Remember Revelation 17, 14? Almost every single one of these letters we've made mention to this. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them. For He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and those who are with Him are called and chosen and faithful. To conquer with Him and through him and by him with his victory and then to sit with him on his throne as he sits down on his throne as he conquered and sits down with the father on his throne. Can there be any more precious promise in scripture than the one in the last letter to the last church on the last portion of the postal route in Asia Minor? To be given that which we did not earn, to be victorious in a battle that we didn't fight, to be granted riches that we didn't even work for, if we actually Our wages for what we work for actually incur debt, and we receive riches instead of debt? To be given a seat on a throne when we were beggars? To be partakers in a kingdom so rich when we were once outside the walls? destitute, without hope of obtaining entrance, He brought us in, purchased us with His precious blood, and made us joint heirs to His riches, to His kingdom, and to His throne. That is a precious, precious promise. And then we have the command that we have in all of these letters. And if there's, I don't know if there's any more awesome reason, any more staggering reason to heed that command than that which we've just heard. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Why is it important? Because without it, we're poor, we're blind, we're naked, and we're destitute of anything that's of eternal value. You know, there are some people, some of them even family and friends, who take issue with the preaching of sin and sinfulness. The accusation is often that preaching like this regarding sin and how man has fallen short of the glory of God has gone overboard, it might hurt someone's delicate sensibilities, it's too divisive, it's too weighty, too hard for people to hear, might wound the listener. To that I say, thank God that it does. This is not my problem. This is not the church's problem. This is not a pastor's problem. This is what Christ says to his church here in Laodicea. He tells them of their sin. I don't think the problem is too much preaching on those things. I think the problem is probably too little preaching on those things. Do you see what Christ tells the church here? These aren't my words. These are the words of Jesus Christ. These are the words of the Lord of lords, the King of kings. These are the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness. You think you have everything. You think you are rich. You think you have fine garments to clothe yourself. You think you have abundance and need of nothing. Christ says you are poor. You are wretched. You are naked. You are pitiable. You are in a miserable state. You have absolutely nothing. The problem is not how you see yourself. The problem is how Jesus Christ, who knows your works, sees you. He is going to judge the world. And He's telling us now the state of sinners. Because when He judges, it's too late. Now there may be those who preach the curse of God's wrath and don't preach the remedy. I think those anymore are few and far between. I've not heard a preacher that's done that in years and years and years. This is not usually what takes place. But until Christ has given you the salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see, The problem is that this message infuriates those when it wounds their pride. Any one of you want to be told you think you're rich, but you're poor? Any one of us want to hear, I've got everything I need to be told you've got nothing? That's exactly what, if we're going to be saved, we need to hear. Why would someone reach out for help from a doctor if they didn't realize they were sick? Who would reach out for a cold drink of water if they don't feel the heat of the day? Who would want to sit in a hot springs bath if they didn't have aches and pains? you must feel your need. And the Holy Spirit uses that to draw a needy sinner to the Savior. Christ says in our text here this morning, not only what the need is, that they're poor, they're blind, they're naked, but He gives them the cure. buy from him, that which cures your infirmity. You're poor, but you can buy from him a gold tested in fire. You're blind, he has a soothing balm, a salve that will make you see. You're naked, with no garment to hide your shame. He has a sparkling, dazzling white robe, so white no launderer can bleach it. It's his own garment that he'll clothe you with. The white robe of his righteousness, and he counsels you. The word counsels you. This church here today counsels you and everybody who hears this message to buy from him. Don't look to yourself. Don't look to your neighbor. Don't look to your pastor. Don't look to your teacher. Don't look to your parents. You buy from him. Be like Pilgrim and Pilgrim's Progress. Believe it was him and faithful that were in the city of Vanity Fair and all these merchants on the streets hawking their goods, worldly goods. And they got to the point that they just put their fingers in their ears And one of them said, well, what will you buy? He said, we'll buy the truth. I don't need your trash. I don't need your worldly rubbish. I need something that's gonna last. Something that's eternal. Can you imagine spending your whole life investing in gold. So popular right now because gold price is going up, right? So everybody investing in gold and then come to the end of your life and find yourself in a predicament that you have to have something of value to find out that gold has lost all its value. Can you imagine that? Will you buy into worldliness? And everything that you invest in is one day going to let you down at the time you need it the most. You need what comes from Christ. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the message that you gave to the church at Laodicea that we might learn from it. Pray that the Holy Spirit would use this, his words here this morning to enrich our understanding, our dependence upon Christ, that in all things we might look to him, that we might put our stock in him, that we might invest in him, that we might draw from His bountiful gifts that He gives to His people. Be with us through this week, Lord. Pray that You'd give us opportunity to witness to others that we might share these great things with them. It's in Your precious and holy name we pray. Amen.