II. THE PRESENT ("THE THINGS WHICH ARE ON"), Part 3--3:14-22
B. The Individual Letters--Part 3 (Chapter 3:14-22)
7. The Laodicea letter--3:14-22
a. The church
addressed--v. 14a
(I)
The name "Laodicea"
(A) Voice of the people
(B) Judgment of the people
(C) This is not a criticism of the congregational form
of church government which this writer believes, in
part, the Scripture teaches. (See
The Church, organized)
(II)
Name descriptive
(A) This church is the exact opposite of Nicolaitanism.
(B) This church is people ruled, so-called "democracy" in a
church.
(C) This church had human leadership rather than Christ leadership
(This is not to deny the Lord works
through human pastors.)
(D) This church was following man-made authority rather than
God-given authority.
(III)
Represents
(A) Any church, or group, which places human authority above
God's Word
(B) The Modernistic, liberal, or neo-orthodox church
(C) Specifically represents the present-day church, the church
of the last days.
(D) Thus represents the apostate church
b. The Christ
described--v. 14b
(I)
"Nothing of His appearance among the churches in the vision of
chapter 1 remains here."--Newell, 75
(II)
The "Amen"
(A) So be it, Lord.
(B) Sets forth the certainty and actuality of a thing
being fulfilled
(C) It is the One who brings things to pass that is searching
out this church.
(D) Idea of "It is fixed and cannot be change."--Source
unknown
(E) Cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20--”In Christ all God's plans
are made good!" (Newell, Ibid.)
(III)
The Faithful and True Witness
(A) Faithful sets forth the idea of "eternal
reliability."
(B) He warns with "perfect fidelity."
(C) What a title for our Lord when speaking to a faithless church
(D) His faithfulness assures the believer that every promise
will be performed by the Lord.
(E) His faithfulness is a solemn warning to unbelievers in that
He will faithfully execute the statements in
Scripture concerning sin and judgment.
(F) He is the True Witness.
(1) Jesus Christ spake the truth while here on
earth and spoke through the apostles the truth.
(2) He is the Truth--John 14:6
(3) He is a witness to the truth.
(IV)
The beginning of the Creation of God
(A) This phrase does not teach that Jesus Christ Himself was
a creation of God.
(B) It rather sets Him forth as the Creator of the
Universe.
(1) John 1:3
(2) Colossians 1:15-18
(3) Hebrews 1:2
(4) How appropriate is this title in a period
of church history where the church at large has denied the
creation of the universe by
Jesus Christ in favor of a false teaching of evolution.
(C) He is also the Creator of the new spiritual creation--the
Church, i. e., born-again believers.
(D) This title is a warning to every individual living in Laodicean
times.
(1) "Christ is not mere religion, but a spiritual,
divine, heavenly life." (Source unknown)
(2) Reminder that the new birth is necessary
to
(a) "Understand spiritual
things"
(b) "To serve God" acceptably
(c) "To worship God
acceptably"
c. The condition
known--vv. 15, 17
(I)
I know thy works.
(A) Oh yes, this church had works.
(B) It had a lot of activity of a fleshly nature.
(C) But it was lukewarm.
(1) Spiritually indifferent
(2) Middle of the road
(3) Compromise with worldliness
(4) Insipid
(D) The Lord wished this church were either cold or hot.
(1) A hot church is on fire for the Lord.
(2) A cold church is so dead that even an
unregenerate recognizes its deadness.
(3) But a lukewarm church appears to have life
but doesn't, thus beguiling many.
(4) The words hot, cold, and
lukewarm
(a) Hot
((I)) Fervent
((II)) Cf.
Romans 12:1
((III)) A
hot drink is enjoyable on a cold day.
(b) Cold
((I)) Cf.
Matthew 10:42
((II)) Proverbs
25:25
((III)) A
cold drink is refreshing on a hot day.
(c) Lukewarm
((I)) Word
is chliaros, used only here in the Bible.
((II)) A lukewarm
drink is. neither enjoyable or refreshing, but disgusts.
(E) I will spue thee out of my mouth.
(1) The expression, though mild in the Greek,
is very descriptive as how insipid this church is.
(2) There is thus a warning, but a hint of a
promise if there is change.
(II)
This church's estimate of itself
(A) I am rich and increased with goods.
(1) Rich in material things
(2) The average church today boasts of
its
(a) Numbers in membership
(b) Wealth of its members
(c) Importance of its
members in the world
(d) Great buildings
(e) Outstanding
universities
(f) Their worldly influence
even to the point of lobbyists to "control legislation"
(B) Have need of nothing
(1) Self-centered
(2) Self-occupied
(3) Self-satisfied
(4) Self-sufficient
(5) Over-confident
(6) Proud
(7) Boastful
(8) Newell, 77; italics are his.--"The loss of
a sense of need, as the drowsiness that besets a freezing
man, is fatal.
People blindly go to hell in droves in the Laodicean churches of
these last days."
(9) Need nothing--not even Christ
(III)
The Lord's accurate description of the church
(A) Wretched and miserable
(1) This church is worst off than any of the
seven.
(2) Yes, "worse than Thyatira, than Romanism,
this last lukewarmness." (Newell, 77)
(3) Miserable condition
(a) Think themselves rich
whereas they are actually poor
(b) Self-deception is always
a miserable condition--cf. 1 Corinthians 15:15
(c).Objects of pity
(B) Poor
(1) The Smyrna Church thought itself poor whereas
it was rich in Christ.
(2) This church thought itself rich but actually
it was poor being outside of Christ.
(3) "Alas! the poverty, in view of
their possible riches in Christ and His Word and the presence
of
the Holy Spirit!
The poverty of the Laodicean churches of this hour!
Whole years, and no one
born-again! Whole
denominations shrinking in numbers!" (Newell, 77; italics are his.)
(C) Blind
(1) They look at "stones and towers and organs,
and pews." (Newell, 77)
(2) They have eyes and see not.
(3) 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4
(4) All one has to do is try to show someone
the plan of salvation from the Word itself, to see how
blind that one is.
(D) Naked
(1) To be naked is to be unclothed of all
saving righteousness.
(2) To be naked is to be lost.
(3) The Lord says to this church is stripped
of that which is holy.
(IV)
Commendation and condemnation
(A) There is nothing in this church that the Lord can commend.
(B) This church is condemned to the point where the Lord is
about spue it out of His mouth.
(C) This is the only church which Christ could not find something
to commend.
(D) Keep in mind this is picturing the church in general in
this period, not individual local assemblies many
of which are true to the Word of God and the gospel.
d. The consequential
action--v. 16
(I)
I am about to spew thee out of my mouth.
(A) Authorized Version says,"I will."
(B) Greek is melloo
(1) "I am about to"
(2) "I am ready to"
(3) "'I have it in my mind', implying graciously
the possibility of the threat not being executed if only
they repent at once."--Fausset,
quoted in Newell, 77
(4) In defense of the KJV (since this writer
has not consulted the Textus Receptus), Greek writers
from Homer down have made
it "of those things which will come to pass (or which one will do or
suffer) by fixed necessity
or divine appointment". "In general, of what is sure to
happen."--Thayer,
397; italics are his.
(II)
This action of spewing is startling and expresses loathing and
rejection.
(III)
This expression sets forth God's hatred of all.
(A) Spiritual indifference
(B) Middle-of-the-road attitudes (i. e., don't
take your beliefs too seriously: live it up a little).
(C) Worldly compromise
(D) Lack of spiritual growth
(E) Disobedience of the Word
(F) Outright apostasy
(IV)
This "false church will not be spued into the.millennium," as some think.
"It will be spued into the
Tribulation," when the true church will be caught up to meet
the Lord in the air. (Source unknown)
e. The counsel of
love--vv. 18, 19
(I)
Christ the Counselor
(A) Cf'. Colossians 2:3
(B) I counsel thee
(1) "His counsel reveals that which is needed
to safeguard from and remedy its weaknesses." (Source
unknown)
(2) His counsel centers on spiritual and eternal
riches.
(II)
The counsel to buy
(A) If salvation is free, why does He exhorts them to
buy?
(B) The answer is twofold
(1) This church claimed to be rich; therefore,
Jesus says to them, "All right, if you are so rich you buy
from Me what you need to
make yourself truly rich."
(a) The catch is, of
course, that the price was too great (remember it cost God His Son),
for this
church, if
it attempted to buy, would find its riches insufficient.
(b) Romans 3:23
(2) As already suggested the price has already
been paid, so the buying is done without money and
without price (cf. Isaiah
5:1).
(C) Thus the purchasing is done by faith alone.
(III)
What to buy by faith
(A) Gold tried in fire
(1) Refined gold, pure gold
(2) This suggests that their gold was tarnished
or corrupted.
(3) This gold tested by fire may well represent
our blessed Lord Who passed through the fiery
judgment of the cross.
(B) White raiment
(1) A naked church, a naked individual needs
clothing.
(2) White garments represent God's righteousness
imparted to believers in Christ.
(3) "The world today sees the nakedness of the
Laodicean church and has contempt for it, but the full
shame of that
nakedness will not be made manifest till the false church is rejected as
Christ's
witness on earth. and hated
as a harlot by the Beast and his ten kings."--Newell, 78; italics are his.
(4) Christ in love is ready and willing to clothe
those who admit their nakedness and turn to Him for
clothing.
(5) Christ makes us righteous, i.
e., clothes us in white raiment.
(a) Romans 3:22
(b) 1 Corinthians 1:30
(c) 2 Corinthians 5:21
(C) Eye-salve
(1) This church, remember, was blind.
(2) The exhortation is to accept God's eye-salve
that they might be saved from their blindness.
(3) "The Holy Spirit's unction, like the ancient's
eyesalve, first smarts with the conviction of sin, then
heals."--Newell, 78
(IV)
The rebuke and chastening of love
(A) As many as I love
(1) Astonishing is the love of our Lord.
(2) He loves even the lukewarm, the church that
has "no heart for Him!" (Ibid.)
(B) I rebuke
(1) "I reprove"
(2) He rebukes in love; therefore, His wounding
of us is the "faithful wounding of a friend." (Ibid.)
(3) Proverbs 15:31, 32
(4) His reproof leads to chastening.
(5) This shows His love, for He has not yet abandoned
this church.
(6) Hebrews 12:5-11
(C) An exhortation to zeal and repentance
(1) If the present church is really in
earnest, it can be zealous and repent.
(2) This plea, however, is to those saved people
who are identified with the Laodicean system and who
need to have a "change in
their lives as will evidence separation from the system and its sin."
(Source unknown)
(3) Cf. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
(4) Repent
(a) Change your minds
(b) The call is ever to repent.
f. The call--vv. 20-22
(I)
The grand invitation--v. 20
(A) Christ's position
(1) Oh how sad! Christ is standing outside
the door.
(2) Christ here is seen outside the church systems.
(3) How graphically true of this present
day, for Christ is no longer found midst the main stream of
Christianity but rather outside
that main stream.
(a) Many church leaders criticize
independent churches,or groups who are not part and parcel of
the ecumenical
system, as being outside the main, historical Christian stream.
(b) They are right, absolutely
right. We can not trace our origins back to the reformation except
indirectly;
we who are dispensational, particularly, have no historical precedent unless
one leaps
the centuries
to the early church.
(c) There are groups, however,
down through the church age that have held a form of
dispensationalism.
(d) But, though we are outside
the main stream, we are where Christ is.
(4) Christ's position is further evidence of
our Lord's love for the Church, and individuals in particular.
(B) Christ's plea
(1) Sets forth His character (Ibid.)
(a) The plea of the
low and meek of heart--cf . Mathew 11:28-30
(b) "The plea of an
active, yearning love." The activity can be seen in His standing and
His
knowing; the yearning love
is evidenced in His patient waiting--cf. 2 Peter 3:9.
(c) "The plea of
deepest concern."
((I)) He knows
what the result of rejection of Him is.
((II)) If
He were not concerned, He would not so deliberately take His stand
at the door, as
suggested by the verbs.
(2) Set forth in the verb tenses
(a) Literally: "Behold I
have taken my stand at the door and am knocking."
(b) "Have taken my stand"
sets forth a deliberate attitude.
(c) "Am knocking" suggests
a continual action.
(3) Sets forth three solemn facts
(Ibid.)
(a) "The awful fact that
people can 'belong' to an assembly of Christ's, and yet not
hear, never
hear Christ's
life-giving Voice."
(b) "The blessed fact that
anyone may hearken who will."
(c) "The eternally solemn
fact that the opening of the door is from our side, not from
Christ's."
(4) Cf. Mathew 23:37
(C) Christ's promise
(1) His presence in our lives
(a) Marvelous truth of
Christ in us
((I)) Set
forth in the gospels
((II)) Developed
in the epistles
(b) Jesus' statement
((I)) John
15:4a
((II)) John
17:23a, 26b
(c) Epistles' statements
((I)) Romans
8:9, 10
((II))
2 Corinthians 13:5
((III)) Galatians
((A)) 1:16
((B)) 2:20
((C)) 4:19
((IV)) Ephesians
3:14-19
((V)) Philippians
1:21
((VI)) Colossians
1:27
(2) His mutual fellowship with us
(a) "I will sup with him
and he with Me."
(b) We need His fellowship,
but He wants ours.
(c) Here He speaks as the
Bridegroom--cf. Ephesians 5:25
(d) His love and joy is much
greater so He says "I will sup with him"; but then He gives those three
little words--"he
with Me."
(e) Oh the delight of
supping with Him!
((I)) Psalm
23:5, 6
((II)) Song
of Solomon 2:3, 4
(f) This can be the believer's
portion now, but we must open the door to Him; we should not delay
lest He be
gone.--Song of Solomon 5:2ff.
(II)
The promise to overcomers--v. 21
(A) The right to sit down with Christ in His Throne
(1) NOTE: "Christ's throne is the throne
of His father David at Jerusalem."--Newell, 81
(a) 2 Samuel. 7:12, 13, 16
(b) Jeremiah 3:17
(c) Luke 1:32
(d) Acts 15:14-18
(3) Paul throughout his ministry referred to
Jesus' Davidic lineage.
(a) Romans 1:3
(b) 2 Timothy 2:8
(B) Notice to whom this promise is made
(1) This promise overwhelms us, for again it
sets forth the infinite grace and love of Christ.
(2) Fausset--"The assembly whom Christ just before
threatened to spew out of His mouth, is now
offered a seat with Him on
His throne." (Quoted by Newell, 81)
(3) "The highest place is within the reach of
the lowest."--Trench, quoted by Newell, 81
(4) Notice also that "the most tender plea of
all the seven is made to a lukewarm assembly." (Newell,
81; italics are his.)
(5) Notice also that this promise of reigning
with Him is given at the close of the church age.
(C) Christ's example of overcoming
(1) He calls us to victory because He was
victorious.
(2) He has walked the path before us and knows
the way. (cf. Hebrews 4:15, 16)
(3) By faith we share in His victory and thus
overcome.--cf. 1 John 5:4(4) Because He overcame, He
is now sitting on His Father's
throne.
(a) Notice He is sitting
now on His Father's throne not the Davidic throne, which is still future.
(b) Newell, 82, footnote;
italics are his.--"Our Lord is not now on His own throne, the throne of
David. He
is at the Father's right hand, on the Father's throne, and is now the Great
High Priest,
leading the
worship of His saints; and also our Advocate against the enemy. But
He is there in
an expectant
attitude, as we read in Hebrews 10:12,13."
((I)) Ephesians
1:20
((II)) Hebrews
4:14-16
((III)) Hebrews
7:25
((IV)) Hebrews
9:24
((V)) Hebrews
10:12, 13, 19-22
((VI)) 1 John
2:1
(III)
The final call to hear--v. 22
(A) For the seventh and final time Christ cries forth: "He
that hath an ear, let him hear", i. e., heed, "what
the Spirit saith unto the churches."
(B) "The world is full of voices today, calling you to
hearken to what man is, and has done, and will do,
but be thou one of whom some day your Lord
will gladly say, 'He had an ear and heard My Voice!'"
(Newell, 82; italics are his.)
(C) The time is short. Hear and then heed what the Lord
is saying to the church.