Letters From the Lord: "Laodicea"

Introduction:

We are continuing our series in Revelation 1-3 today.

In chapter 1, we got a very detailed description of our glorified Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As we enter into chapters 2-3, we begin reading the seven letters to seven churches, authored by Jesus and written down by the Apostle John.

The letters from the Lord were for the churches of that day but they still apply to us today.

In these letters we see what Jesus desires for His church.

We learn what things in the church make the Lord glad and bring glory to Him and what things in the church grieve Him.

Jesus has some good things to say about His church but also some hard things that can sting. But He tells them and us these things because He loves us and wants the best for us.

We’ve read the letters to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia.

Today we are going to look at the Letter From the Lord to the church in Laodicea...

Revelation 3:14–22 (NASB)

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.’ ”

Jesus is the Amen, the faithful and true witness. (v. 14)

Reminder: The way the Lord introduces Himself in His letters is directly connected to the problem in the church or the persecution the church is about to face.

Examples:

Last week, we saw that Jesus introduced Himself to the church in Philadelphia as the one who holds the keys of David and He opens what no one can shut and shuts what no one can open. And what did Jesus talk about? He had given them an open door of opportunity for the sake of the Gospel and that even though they would face difficulty they had nothing to fear because Jesus had opened the door and no one, not even the Devil, could shut it.

The week before that it was the letter to the church in Sardis and Jesus said that He was the one who had the seven Spirits of God. He was saying He was the one that gives the Holy Spirit to those that trust in Him. And the issue in the church was that they had a reputation of being alive but they were dead. They were trying to serve the Lord in their own strength and they were lacking the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in the church. Jesus was calling them to repent and surrender to the Holy Spirit so that they could become Spirit filled.

The problem with the church of Laodicea is that their witness was neither faithful nor true. (v. 15-16)

Jesus introduced Himself to Laodicea as the “The Amen, the faithful and true Witness....” Why? Because most, if not all, in the church of Laodicea were not living in faithfulness to Christ and many were not even true followers of of Jesus. They were faithless or false! Jesus called it “lukewarm”.

(v. 15-16) 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.

Laodicea was a very wealthy city. They were very technologically advanced for the 1st Century a medical center. People would come from all around to be treated by the physicians of Laodicea.

But, lukewarm water was something Laodicea understood well.

All the water in Laodicea was lukewarm. They had no natural source of water in the city. They were in a valley but no springs, no streams and no wells were there. They had to get their water from outside sources. And because of their great wealth and technological expertise, they had water piped from two major sources that brought water to the city:

One of those places was Hieropolis. It was in the mountains, north of Laodicea. The water in Hierapolis came from hot springs. It is 95 degrees at the source. Hot water can be used for so many things… a nice bath or healing soak for one...You can even go to Turkey today and tour the ruins of Hierapolis and even soak in the hot spring pools. You can also use hot water for wonderful drinks like hot tea and coffee. But Laodicea didn’t get any of those benefits from the water. By the time the water traveled through the aqueduct to the Laodicea, it was just lukewarm.

The other primary source of water for Laodicea was Colossae, located Southeast of city. Colossae had refreshingly cold water. There was a large spring in the city of Colossae they was fed by the snow caps of the mountain, about 8,000 feet above them. The streams would come together, disappear into the mountain and go underground through the rocky ground of the and come back out at Colossae. Its source was cooled by the snow cap and then further cooled in the cold caverns in the mountain. When it reached Colossae the water was in the low 50s. It is still like that today! But for Laodicea, by the time the water got to them, it wasn’t cold and refreshing anymore, it had become lukewarm.

Much like their water, the church in the city was neither hot nor cold. They had become lukewarm.

We don’t want to be like the church of Laodicea. Rememeber, out of the 7 churches, only 2 had no rebuke from Jesus. The other 5 had sin in the church. They had issues Jesus needed to address and so he called them to repentance. Laodicea is unique though. It is the only church out of the 7 that Jesus didn’t have a single good thing to point out. The other 4 churches with issues did have some good things. There was some evidence of God in their midst. But Laodicea only received a rebuke. There wasn’t a single God honoring thing that Jesus could point to.

Pride was the primary cause:

17a ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing...”

Pride It had dulled their senses.

17b “...you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked...”

This is a terribly sad description of a church.

Wretched! Miserable! Poor! Blind! Naked! Wow!!!!

And yet, as bad as they were, by the grace and mercy of God, Jesus loved them and came to come to them to offer them forgiveness and restoration.

Jesus had come to them, He was knocking on their door to offer them something only He could give, so that they could be refreshed and rejuvenated. So that they could be faithful and true, just like the Lord.

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.

When Jesus comes calling, don’t ignore Him!

Whenever we open up the word of God, Jesus is knocking on the door of the heart and the Holy Spirit desires to get His truth inside us so that it can work, making us more and more faithful and true.

Based on the text today, we need to ask ourselves some heavy questions.

Am I saved?

(v. 14-16) 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.

John 6:37 (NASB)

37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NASB)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

John 14:6 (NASB)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Romans 10:9–10 (NASB)

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Am I seeing things clearly?

(v. 17-18) 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.

James 1:23–25 (NASB)

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Romans 3:23 (NASB)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

Romans 7:18 (NASB)

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh...

Isaiah 64:6 (NASB)

6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags...

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Ephesians 4:24 (NASB)

24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Am I seeking after Christ?

(v. 19-21) 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.

James 4:8 (NASB)

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you....

Jeremiah 29:13 (NASB)

13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Proverbs 8:17 (NASB)

17 “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.

Have you been lukewarm?

Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart today.

Revelation 3:20 (NASB)

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.

Repent, return, be refreshed in Christ.

Maybe you haven’t been living in lukewarmness. Praise the Lord. Don’t forget, it is easy to get there. Don’t grow complacent. Keep seeking after the Lord!

And maybe you are here today and you’ve not yet trusted in Jesus for salvation. Make that commitment to the Lord today. Trust in Jesus, ask Him to forgive you of your sins because of what He did on the cross, and be saved.

Let’s pray!

Memory Verse of the Week:

Revelation 3:20 (NASB)

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.

Discussion Questions:

What does this Scripture teach us about God?

What does this Scripture teach us about man?

Do you see any commands to obey or principles to apply?

Do you see any promises to claim or blessings to enjoy?

Do you see any truths to meditate on or Gospel messages to share?

Did anything else in the passage stick out to you?