Letter 7
7 Letters to the 7 Churches • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We have come to the end of our 7 Letters but this is not the end of the series
We will have one more to wrap everything up
But if you will recall last week in the letter to the church at Philadelphia they were encouraged to stand strong and remain faithful in the Word of God
This was a church who had it all going together
They had the right doctrine, they had action to their faith
They did not compromise
They remained faithful even when no one did
8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
What an amazing church
Let us be a church who has the right doctrine
Let us be a church who puts action to our message
Let us be individuals who say the right things and do the right things
Church that message is that Jesus loved each and every person enough to die on the cross and deal with the sin problem
Our call and mission is to share that message with everyone
The rest of the story of that message is that to accept that free gift you must repent and trust in Jesus
I think Richard Blackaby said you cannot stay where you are and follow God
This morning we go right into letter number 7
To the Church at Laodicea
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
This was the city
This city is the home of 2 major trade routes met
This city was rich
This city was prestigious as from what I found a medical school was there
I have found that any other city had a medical school
So this must have been some important city
What makes this city so unique are 2 things
1st is the fact that it rebuilt itself without any help from Rome
2nd is that there was no good drinking water near the city
From what I could find is that it either got warm water from Hierapolis or it got cooler water from Colossae from either source it would end up lukewarm
And we see that played out in the letter to the church
It is said that visitors to the city were not expecting the lukewarmness of the water and it would cause them to throw it up
Again we see that played out in the letter to the church
But what I found really interesting is how they got to that point
The attitude of the city must have infected the church
See the city did not need anything from Rome they were self sufficient so much so they could rebuild themselves after the city was destroyed
That same attitude must have infected the church in that they thought of themselves as self sufficient in that they no longer needed God
And church as we see that is a dangerous place to be
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
Like every letter we have seen in the series this is a description of Jesus
Jesus is the AMEN
Jesus is the one we can and should agree with it
Jesus is faithful and true
I think sometimes we get so caught up in life that we forget Jesus is faithful
to be faithful is to remain steadfast, remain constant, true to the facts and to the origin
Which goes right into the description
The beginning creation of God
Jesus created everything and through Him it was all created and for Him it was all created
Jesus was there before there was a there
If that guy has a message don’t you think we should listen
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
Like the rest of the letters
Jesus know your deeds
This verse seems a bit odd when you begin to break it down
Jesus is telling the church who by the way He knows better than they know themselves
He is telling that they are neither hot nor cold
in doing some study and talking
We have decided and determined that Jesus is using what this church would have known
When Jesus says you are not hot or cold Jesus is referencing the water in the region
The hot water from Hierapolis was soothing and healing
Jesus is telling this church you are not soothing and healing to the people you come into contact with
The Cold Water from Colossae was refreshing and Jesus is saying that church you are not refreshing to the people you come into contact
You are nether hot or cold
The water at Laodicea was just that lukewarm
It was good for nothing
You either want your drink hot or cold
Not very many people want lukewarm water
lukewarm comes when you mix hot water and cold water
Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Chapter 3)
It is a church with truth that has been diluted with error
This is a church that had the truth but had allowed the comprise of the outside world to come in and mix with it
God desires they choose one
They will either be hot and soothing or they will be cold and refreshing to the community they are a part of
But because they have not they are lukewarm
Lukewarm does nobody any good at all
And because of that there are punishment for not being hot or cold
For not choosing one
But rather being indifferent about who they are there is punishment
Exalting Jesus in Revelation (Jesus Knows Who We Think We Are (3:17))
Indifference will eventually lead to ignorance concerning where we are spiritually
That punishment is God is going to spit them out of His mouth
How disgusting that is
For God to have to spit you out of His mouth
That is just gross
There is no use for the spit that comes out of someones mouth
Jesus is so upset with the church that they are lukewarm
This sounds bad but they were basically worthless
And God cannot and will not stand for that
They are indifferent as to their true identity not who they say they are but who Christ says they are
And then we see why they are so lukewarm
17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
The reason they are indifferent
The reason they are not Hot like the waters from Hierapolis which provided healing
The reason they are not cold like the waters from Colossae which bring about refreshing
Is because they believe they didn’t need God
They started to think look at me and look at what I am doing
I have rebuilt this or that
I have this much money and they started to believe they had no need for God
I have said it from this very pulpit but church we are only 1 service away from being like Laodicea where we are doing church services all on our own apart from God
We can play music and we can give speeches but the real work that goes on Sunday Morning is done only by the Power of the Holy Spirit
This was a church that had started to make their focus on what they had accomplished and forgot about God
They are a blinded church in that they don’t know they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked
They think they are happy, rich clothed seeing church
Jesus tells them they had better buy Gold from Him
Invest in Him and not the world
The things of this world will rust and go back to dust as that is what they are
The things of God are eternal and will last forever
Jesus tells them with the God from Him they will truly be rich
In Jesus they will be clothed in white garments
They will be pure because of Christ
There is no way to wash the stain of sin away other than to all Jesus to wash it out for you
You can’t deal with the sin problem on your own
It can only be dealt with by Jesus
It is only in Jesus that our eyes are truly opened
Jesus has this to say to the church at Laodicea
19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
How refreshing
Jesus is giving this message cause he still loves the church at Laodicea
To the Christian who is here this morning who is cold to what God is going and blinded by the thing of this world Jesus has a message for you this morning
Repent and he gives that message because He loves you
He reproves and disciplines those He loves
This is a reproving and discipling message because He loves them
Jesus is standing at the door knocking
And if you will open the door and come under the authority of Christ, He will come in and dine with you
For some of you He is knocking and has been for sometime
This morning let me very clear
You need to open the door
You need repent this morning and allow Jesus to come in and dine with you
If you don’t we have seen what happens, Jesus will come quickly and there will be punishment for those who refuse to repent
21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
Church this letter to the church at Laodicea is a message of hope
To him who overcomes
He will grant to him to sit down with Him
For those who repent and return to Jesus after they have walked away
For those who don’t think they need Jesus but after this morning because of the Holy Spirit realize they need Jesus
To overcome that it requires you to repent
For those who repent Jesus says you will share in the blessings that He has shared in and it is to sit and become an heir with Him
Then of course like the other letters Jesus says if you have an ear you had better be listening
Church are you listening
CLOSING
As we move to our time of invitation
The band is going to come up
And as they come up and prepare to play
Are you listening
That has been the message this morning
Maybe you are here and you have a personal relationship with Jesus but don’t think you need Jesus so much in your life
You do
Would you repent this morning an run back to Jesus
Maybe you are here and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus
You do
Would you come to the front and speak with someone how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus
The altar is open