you make me sick
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Hot or Cold
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.’ ”
Oh God open up our ear so we can hear what the spirit of truth is saying to the church.
I wrestled with the title of this message this morning what should I call this sermon.
But if my title offends you this morning you can call this message “Hot or Cold.”
Here we see the angle the messenger of God writing or giving here the words of Jesus to the church in Laodicea
Here we see the last and worst of all the seven Asian churches, it is the total opposite of the church of Philadelphia; where there was nothing reproved in that, here is nothing to commend this church for, but interesting enough this was still one of the seven golden candlesticks.
for this corrupt church was still a church.
I came to the conclusion, it is impossible to have a perfect church.
Because the church is made up of people.
And I am not talking about you, but your neighbor is not perfect.
Even if if was possible to have perfect people it would still be impossible to have a perfect church.
Because these perfect people would be so in love with Christ and His people that they would continue to bring in the lost, the sick, the hurting, the broken, and the imperfect in the door.
So he write to the worst church and speaks to them so that they could know him.
I want to say this morning as long as a person has ears there is still hope.
He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit is saying to the church.
Christ speaks to the people in this city and he says I know your deeds, meaning I been watching you.
I see you.
I know exactly where you are.
I know were you have been running from I know what you did last summer.
I know the thing that other don’t know.
I see you. I see under the mask that you wear. I see behind all those pretty clothes that you wear. You may be able to hide from man.
But I God don’t look at things like man looks at thing.
Man can be fooled by mask and fake smiles. Because they are looking at the outward appearance but I God know what going on in the inside.
I see your pain, I see your tear I know your deeps.
And he say I am not impressed.
Notice you are neither Hot nor cold.
Today we will talk about 3 things God sees
1. Your deed (works, actions)
1. Your deed (works, actions)
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
I wanted to preach this, this morning as sort of a continuation from last Sunday message “the end is near”
Jesus tells the church. You are neither hot nor cold. I wish you where one.
Matthew Henny says this,
“If religion is a real thing, it is the most excellent thing, and therefore we should be in good earnest in it; if it is not a real thing, it is the an imposture, and we should be earnest against it. If religion is worth any thing, it is worth every thing; an indifference here is inexcusable.”
Jesus says, the words that I have spoken are spirit and life.
The bible is the written expression of God heart and His thought.
It tells of the story of creation and its creation, and give the heart of the creature.
To hear the word of God and to be indifferent is an insult to the one who is faithful was there in the beginning.
Adam Clarke says it like this in his commentary,
“They {Laodicea} were too good to go to hell, too bad to go to heaven.”
They are like Ephraim and Judah in Hosea 6:4
4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early.
your loyalty or your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it passeth away.
They are tossed to and fro.
2. You indifference
2. You indifference
16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
They are trapped between two different opinions.
Maybe God can do this. Maybe God will do that.
Maybe God’s word is true.
One day they believe and one day they stand. And one day they don’t and they fall.
As the early dew it passeth away.
But I can hear the Lord echo the word of Elijah in 1Kings 18:21
21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.
Time out for being a fence riding christian, believe something and jump in.
Who do I know what to believe open up da Book And stand.
So he says I rather you be Hot or cold.
Many time we read this and thing he is talk about being wrong or right but listen he is talk to the church.
Many of us may have different passions. So about children, so about the prison, so about youth, some about the elderly, some about dogs.
But that’s what make up a wealthy body.
Jesus points to the fact that this city was sick.
They were only getting warm water.
This was a huge problem because the warm water was making everyone sick.
Jesus here point to the effect of the temperature of the water is having on the people stomach.
It was causing them nausea.
God says I see you. I see you heart.
And he says I see your service.
Your indifferent your doing nothing.
hot water was useful and cold water was drinkable but lukewarm water is useless.
God want us to get up and do something. To touch people live to affect the community. To stand on the word.
To invoke change to give hope, to help to share.
To bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners, To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God, To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
This is the heart and the desire of God.
And to all that are lukewarm and passive. To all that do nothing and stand for nothing. To all that do not care.
God says I will spit you out.
The last thing Jesus says to this church is this.
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 3rd thing he sees Is.
3. Your position and relationship with Him.
3. Your position and relationship with Him.
And out of this the other 2 things flow.
He tell them buy from Me gold and silver so you can become rich.
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
If god gave His best (all that he had,) shall He withhold anything of lesser value?
No, “with Him” He shall freely give us all things.
So Jesus says come and buy.
White garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
The reason you can come and buy from jesus is because he has already paid the price.
He say behold I am standing here all the time and I am knock. Please open the door of your heart and let me.
And we can eat and don’t worry if you don’t have food because I came prepared. I am the bread of life.
And if you let me come in and sit with you. You will overcome and when you do overcome.
Because you let me sit with you.
I will grant you to sit with me when I sit with me my Father at His throne.
He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit is saying to the church.