You Make Me Sick!

This morning we are going to be concluding our series on the seven letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. Jesus dictated these letters to the apostle John while he was in exile on the Isle of Patmos somewhere around 95 AD. I've entitled this morning's message, You Make Me Sick, Don't Make Me Come Down There.

You'll understand the context of that in just a moment. Without question, Jesus left the worst church till the end. Unlike the previous six churches, there was nothing good to say about Laodicea.

Everyone had something good, but not the Laodicean church. Instead, he describes them as wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. Sometimes a bad example can be a good example of how not to live.

And so this morning to be forewarned is to be forearmed. These letters to the seven churches involved warnings that are not just applicable to them, but they apply to all of us through all the ages as Christians and as churches. So there is application for us today.

On the map, we'll see we're finally concluded our circuit around of the seven churches, but we started with the church of Ephesus. They had left their first love. They didn't lose their first love.

They left it intentionally. Smyrna was one of two churches only that was not criticized by Jesus for anything. Smyrna, despite being a very persecuted church, they remained faithful to the Lord.

Pergamum was a compromised church. They tolerated false teaching and they just never said anything that was being said outside of the Word of God in their church. They allowed false teaching.

Thyatira was a morally corrupt church. Sardis had a reputation of being alive, but the people were deader than doornails spiritually in that congregation. Philadelphia was the second church that wasn't criticized, and Philadelphia was a faithfully obedient church.

But now this morning, we come to Laodicea, a nauseating, lukewarm church. But before we look at what it means to be lukewarm as a Christian or a church, it would be helpful to understand the four references that Jesus makes in this short letter about this city when he's addressing the members of that congregation. Laodicea was an extremely wealthy city.

Located at the intersection of four roads, it became the wealthiest center of commerce and banking anywhere in the then known world. Surrounded by all this affluence, the church was made up of many wealthy people. People who knew nothing about what it's like to have to go paycheck to paycheck.

People who had, at the end of paying bills, lots of money left over in their accounts. It was also home to a medical school which provided famous eye salve, which was shipped all over the world at that time. And from an infrastructure perspective, Laodicea had no access to local water, so they built an aqueduct system from there to the city of Heropolis, which was about six miles away, and they piped in water that originated from hot springs.

But by the time it got to Laodicea, it was lukewarm in temperature. Laodicea was also famous for its clothing. They produced a soft black wool that they harvested from specially bred sheep.

And interestingly, Jesus makes reference to these four commodities in his rebuke of the church. In verse 14, we read these words. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.

Here Jesus starts off with a unique description of himself. He refers to himself as the Amen. Now in the Bible, the word Amen refers to something that is true or faithful, and that's why the phrase the faithful and true witness is added there.

It's added to reinforce the meaning of the word Amen. I find it noteworthy that in Isaiah chapter 65 verse 16 in our English Bibles, we read the phrase the God of truth in English. But in Hebrew, that phrase in the Hebrew is actually Elohim Amen, the God of Amen.

It's the same thing as saying the God of truth. Amen means truth. So when we say Amen, we're saying that we agree with a statement that was just spoken or that we endorse what was just spoken as being true.

And as Christians, we often say Amen for different reasons. For example, on a fellowship Sunday, a potluck Sunday, one of you might come to me after the service and say, oh Mark, I was just downstairs and the ladies have put together an unbelievable feast for us today. We are going to eat like kings and I will say Amen to that.

That's true. In verse 14, Jesus starts off by saying he's the Amen, the faithful and true witness. And in so doing, he says the words that I'm about to speak to you church, they are accurate.

What I'm about to say to you about your attitudes and your actions, it's 100% true. And that's one reason, according to the last part of verse 14, that Jesus can be called the ruler of God's creation because he is the only ruler in this universe who can be trusted to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So when Jesus says that God created the world, that forever buries the notion and the lie of evolution.

Amen to that as well. So in verse 14, Jesus is preparing the Laodicean church for some real talk. They thought they were pretty spiritual, but he is going to burst that bubble and show them how nauseating their relationship to him really is.

In verse 15, Jesus says, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth.

Some churches make the Lord happy. Some churches make him angry. Some make him weep.

But the Laodicean church made him sick. There are three temperatures listed here that describe Christians. Cold, hot, and lukewarm.

Now this always confused me growing up because I was taught that hot represented an on fire Christian, that cold represented a backslidden Christian, and that a lukewarm Christian was somewhere in between a backslidden and an on fire believer. But that's not what is meant by this metaphor that Jesus uses here. It would be strange would it not to think that Jesus would actually prefer someone who's cold, backslidden, or even falsely saved to a mediocre Christian.

The Lord is using symbolic language here, and to fully understand its meaning, we have to look at the rest of the Bible. The word cold is actually used positively in a number of situations in the Bible. For example, in Proverbs 25 25 we read, like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

In Matthew 10 42 we read, and if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. So in the context of drinking water, cold is good, just as hot is good. And we can appreciate that.

Let's assume we go to a coffee shop. We go to Tim Hortons. We walk up and we place our order for a black coffee.

We get it, and we take the top off and say, now I want you to take this, pour half of it out, and throw about three or four ice cubes in it for me, would you? They just stare at you. Or you go up with and order an iced coffee. Do the same thing.

Take the, would you pour that out and just take some of that warm tap water and throw it in there for me? We don't do that because no one likes lukewarm, and Jesus is just like us. He doesn't like lukewarm. On a cold day, a hot drink is comforting.

On a hot day, a cold drink is refreshing. But we want one or the other. We don't want lukewarm.

And that's what this church was to Jesus. Lukewarm, distasteful, nauseating, and undesirable. So what does it mean for a church or a Christian to be lukewarm? Lukewarm refers to a person's spiritual state as evidenced by their deeds, by their actions, or their lack thereof.

In other words, as Jesus said in Matthew 7 16, by their fruit you will recognize them. A lukewarm person is many things, but I've just pulled three things out that are indicative of lukewarmness. One is, a lukewarm person is apathetic.

They've been gifted by God to serve God's people, but like the unfaithful servant in Luke 19, they bury their talents and leave the work to others. Another characteristic of lukewarmness is neglecting fellowship with other Christians, and choosing to live for ourselves. Forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is according to Hebrews 10 25.

Remember it says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together like some people do, but encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. If that was all the more as the day approached back then 2,000 years ago, how much more does that encouragement apply to us today? We need to get together to encourage one another. Another aspect of lukewarmness is people become strangers to reading the word of God in prayer.

Like God said to the Israelites in Isaiah 43 22, yet you have not called upon me, you have not wearied yourself for me, O Israel. Why do lukewarm people act like this? It's because according to verse 17, they are oblivious to their need. Notice what it says, you say I'm rich, I've acquired wealth, I don't need a thing, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

Can you imagine that? They were naked but they couldn't feel the cold. They had eyes but they didn't notice that they were blind. They had lots of money in their bank accounts but they didn't realize that they were poor and not just poor, poorer than poor, wretchedly, pitifully poor.

This was a big church with a big budget and big people who were self-deluded. They thought they were all that and a lot more and they probably looked down on the fellow church of theirs at Smyrna a few miles away. Yet the Lord said of Smyrna in Revelation 2 verse 9, he says, I know your afflictions and your poverty yet you are rich.

The church at Smyrna had nothing yet Jesus said they were rich. The church at Laodicea had everything yet Jesus said they were poor. And even though the Laodiceans had their money safely invested in a prosperous banking system, they were poor.

Even though they could walk next door and purchase ISAP from the world famous school of ophthalmology, they were blind. And even though they could buy all the black wool fabric they needed for clothing, they were naked. And so Jesus says in verse 18, so I counsel you, let's stop here.

He says, so I counsel you, I'm giving you advice. Now we all go to many different sources and people for advice. But Jesus says to them, he says to me, he says to you this morning, I am giving you some advice right here, right now.

Here's my advice. To buy from me gold refined in the fire so you can become rich and white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your eyes so you can see. God's remedy for lukewarmness according to verse 18 is the purchasing of three things, gold, white clothes, and ISAV.

And each one of these spiritual provisions is life-changing and is actually the basis for an on fire spirit-filled fruitful Christian life. Let's look at each one of these individually. We have gold and gold here of course refers to something spiritual not physical.

They had plenty of gold but they were still poor. So what does spiritual gold refined in the fire refer to? The best explanation is found in first Peter chapter 1 verse 6 to verse 9. And we read this, in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Though you have not seen him and I'm adding in brackets here by faith you love him and even though you do not see him now you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the goal of your faith the salvation of your souls. So how do we purchase based on this passage spiritual gold refined in the fire? It is through faith. Now let me distill this down that whole passage that was just on your screen I've distilled it down into just a few lines and highlighted the key verses or key words.

And we read this, your faith of greater worth than gold is purchased when you love him you believe in him and are filled with joy. That's what it means to buy gold. First we acquire true spiritual goal by loving Jesus and as we read a description of this in Mark 12 30 we understand what he's asking of us to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.

You say well how can I tell how much I love Jesus? There's one verse that summarizes all of this in one sentence it's great memorize this. Psalm chapter 73 25 says whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you. Whom have I in heaven but you like Lord without you I'm nothing.

And earth has nothing I desire apart from you. What are the things that give you pleasure? What are the things you desire most in this life? Now think about Jesus. How does Jesus stack up against those things you just thought about? So we buy spiritual gold when we love Jesus more than anything in this world.

Secondly we buy gold refined in the fire when we believe in him when we believe in his word and in his promises to us even when going through tough times. We buy gold refined in the fire when we can quote Romans 8 28 and believe that all things work together for the good of those who love him who are called according to his purpose. Whatever you've gone through in the past now and in the future it's all going to work together for good if you know him.

We buy gold refined in the fire when we give thanks according to first Thessalonians 5 18 where we say give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. We don't have to give thanks for a sinful circumstance but we can give thanks in it because God is maturing us he's testing us he's purifying us like gold and when we give thanks after we have shared and expressed our love to him we have purchased the second installment of pure spiritual gold in our lives. Thirdly according to this passage we become rich spiritually when we find our joy in the Lord and don't let our circumstances or the latest news unsettle us.

Each one of us this morning has all the reason to have great joy regardless of what we've gone through. In first Peter 1 9 we read and we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for we are receiving the goal of our faith the salvation of our souls. What do you and I deserve? If we got what we deserved you know what all of us here would be sitting right next to me next to the devil in hell roasting but whatever we've gone through whatever we're going through whatever we will go through it's infinitely better than what we would go through if we got what we deserve and if that's not enough to shake someone out of a pity party then I don't know what is.

So what advice is Jesus giving us today? Jesus tells us that we need to buy from him gold refined in the fire and we purchase that gold through faith. Faith that expresses itself by loving him more than anything in this world by believing in him and his word and his promise to us regardless of what our circumstances and the enemy and the world is telling us and by finding our joy in him knowing that all of this will soon be past you never see a hearse pulling a u-haul we're not taking any of it with us but we're going to spend eternity the goal of our faith that gives us joy and Jesus says when you love me and believe in me and have your joy in me you have just made the greatest investment in your life and I'm going to give you spiritual gold. There's a second item we're to buy from Jesus and that is white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness.

Here in this passage white clothes refers to moral purity purity in the way I act purity in the way I think. These laodiceans thought they're okay decked out in their designer clothes but Jesus only saw shameful nakedness they'd been lulled into sleep and compromised by the culture around them they could watch the church the commercials on tv without blushing or having a righteous anger they could go down unholy unhelpful rabbit holes on tiktok instagram facebook and all the other social media honey traps and not feel the slightest conviction they needed to repent of their sins of the way they were thinking in their secret thoughts of the actions they were doing publicly and in secret psalm 51 7 the psalmist said cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean wash me and I will be whiter than snow and thirdly Jesus said here's my advice not only do you buy gold and put on white clothing by repenting and getting right with me you'll have to buy now some isav this church prided themselves on having everything but they actually possess nothing they thought they had money but they're poor they thought they had amazing wardrobes but they were naked and they thought they had spiritual insight but they were stone blind god rebuked the israelites in isaiah 6 9 for exactly the same problem he said this you are ever seeing but never perceiving we're all familiar with the proverb there are none so blind as those who will not see and we've all met people like that we've all spoken with people and had conversations that can only be described as real head slappers we presented facts common sense and logic yet people couldn't comprehend the truth that was staring them straight in the face the laodiceans needed to cry out to jesus like that blind man in mark chapter 10 verse 51 i want to see jesus they needed to humble themselves and admit they were blind to their backslidden condition and ask god for spiritual salve to open their eyes to see themselves as jesus sees them however they like us had a choice we have a choice we don't have to take jesus's advice we can continue in lukewarmness if we struggle with that today but that's when the don't make me come down there clause kicks in in verse 19 we read those whom i love i rebuke and discipline so be earnest and repent what is so amazing about jesus is that he is so patiently loving this church wanted nothing to do with him they didn't find their love trust or joy in him they were wearing the dirty clothing of sin and they couldn't recognize the disgusting state of their spiritual lives yet jesus loved them if anything is a deterrent to sin it should be this that when we sin we are not sinning against an angry god we are rather sinning against jesus who lovingly holds out his arms to us who held them out even farther when he died on the cross for us but just because jesus is loving doesn't mean he lets us get away with things those whom i love i rebuke and discipline hebrews chapter 12 verse 5 and 6 says my son do not make light of the lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son believe me i know that i you know what i'm a professional backslider i know what it's like the bible says it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living god and i've been there and i'm encouraging you let's all take this advice we don't want to have to be in a place where we're disciplined we don't have to be in a place where we're here don't make me come down there it's today if you hear his voice the book of hebrews says do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion i've called another day calling it today so the lord is always willing arms open wide to give us another chance and now we come to one of the strangest verses in the whole bible here i am i stand at the door and knock this would be comical if it were not so sad here's a church let's picture it here's a church gathered on sunday morning to sing and worship the lord and one of the elders stands up to pray lifts up his arms and he says we welcome you here lord jesus and all the while jesus is locked outside of the church door going guys can i come in isn't that a little funny right i stand at the door and knock and jesus calls out if anyone if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come in and eat with him and he with me you know we often use this verse as a salvation verse but it's it's more than that salvation verse it's an it's a relationship verse it's a verse that helps us to determine where we stand with jesus and where he stands in relationship to us have we locked the lord out of our lives out of our families out of our plans out of our future and if this is the case are we willing to purchase spiritual god by loving him more than anything trusting him with every aspect of our lives and finding our greatest joy in him by spending time with him and reading his word and living for him are you willing this morning to purchase white clothing to deal with the sin in your life that so easily besets you that secret sin that only jesus knows about are you willing to purchase isav to humble yourselves before god and ask him to open your eyes spiritually so that you can see and understand the scriptures and see and understand his incomparably great power for us who believe that power according to ephesians chapter 1 19 and 20 is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in christ when he raised him from the dead and if so he will come in and fellowship with you and me every day in a way that this world can never experience or understand jesus goes on and he says to him who overcomes verse 21 i will give the right with me or given give the right to sit with me on my throne just as i overcame and sat down with my father on his throne well what in the world does that mean it means exactly what it says those who overcome those who truly know jesus as lord and savior will have the chance at some point in eternity to sit with jesus on his throne now we shouldn't be surprised at this because in ephesians chapter 2 verse 6 we're given the heads up about this and god raised us up with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in christ jesus so what does this mean this is what this verse and what jesus is saying means here physically we're all sitting on our chairs here this morning in this auditorium but positionally we are seated with christ in the heavenly realms you say what i i don't understand that we don't need to understand it we just need to believe it and the more we believe it guess what the more we start to understand it and one day in heaven what is now our experience positionally will become our privilege eternally in christ verse 22 says he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches can you hear the lord knocking on the door of your heart this morning maybe for some of us we've never taken that step to say lord jesus i need you to come into my life to cleanse me to forgive me i acknowledge you as my lord and savior everyone who calls in the name of the lord will be saved if any man is in christ he's a new creation the old has gone the new has come lord that's never happened to me but i want to be born again if you hear the lord's voice you hear him knocking today you can hear you can when you go home this week get along with the lord and ask him lord i'm going to hear your voice this time and i'm going to let you in i want you to come and cleanse me fill me with your holy spirit change me lord if we already know him and the holy spirit is not and said you know there's these areas that no one else knows about in your life maybe some do maybe some don't but but i know because the scriptures and psalm says you have set our secret sins before you in your presence there's no such thing as secret sin and the lord is saying you know what it's been long enough it's long enough it's time to be an overcomer it's time to make things right with me i am going to give you the strength i have given you the strength you just need to repent you just need to hear me you need to take my advice there's nothing that we're doing that we're holding on to that is worth more than eternity there is nothing worth more than the spirit true the true spiritual gold of loving me trusting in me finding your joy in me let go of these cheap trinkets that you hold on to these cheap thrills let go of them and let me into your life and if we do that then the lord jesus will come and he will dine with us and have fellowship with us and there will be joy unspeakable and full of glory as scripture says then we will be those hot christians who are on fire for the lord fruitful blessed by him and a blessing to others let us pray heavenly father we thank you in jesus name for these letters that you have given to them and to us and lord jesus we thank you that there is no one nothing in this world more precious than you you are the pearl of great price and like that man who once discovered it sold all he had so he could buy that pearl of great price that land so this morning lord make us give us that desire to realize that nothing else matters everything will be burned with fire your word says only what's done for you will last only you are worthy of our love and our efforts and our lives and our time lord jesus thank you for all that you've done we just pray now as we go that we would not forget the advice not that a man up front spoke to us but your advice that you gave to us this morning in revelation 3 thank you lord jesus for your wonderful love and grace and mercy to us in jesus name we pray these things amen