"Laodicea Church - Please Pick A Side"

Laodicea Church – Please Pick A Side

This morning we come to the final letter that Jesus dictated to John. The church that we will look at this morning, in my opinion, is in worse shape of them all. The members of the church in Laodicea were very religious. They were very proud of their religiosity but was blind to their true need.

Revelation 3:14-22 (NASB95)

“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: ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 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, 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. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

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. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

THE AUTHOR, THE CHURCH, THE CITY (Revelation 3:14)

Jesus again begins this letter like He has begun each of the six previous letters, it is again addressed to the angel (messenger) of the church of Laodicea. As we have in each of the letters, we will first look at the description that the author gives of Himself. It’s a description which identifies Him as Lord Jesus Christ. Then we will take a brief look at the church and then look at some of the history of the city. Jesus begins with this description of Himself, “The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:”

Jesus begins by addressing Himself as the Amen. This is a Hebrew word that was transliterated into Greek and then transliterated into English.

This is a unique title that Jesus uses. It is an Old Testament title for God. In Isaiah 65:16, God is twice called the God of truth and in Hebrew it is “the Amen” which is a Hebrew word which means “truth, affirmation, or certainty.” It refers to something that is firm, fixed, and unchangeable. In reference to Jesus, it speaks of His sovereignty over all things. He is the Amen because He guarantees the truth of any statement He has made. He is the Amen because He guarantees the execution of any promise made by God. He is the One who confirmed all of God’s promises. What He says or what He promises is truth and will with certainty come to pass, what He says or promises is firm, it is fixed, it is unchangeable.

Second, Jesus calls Himself “the faithful and true Witness.” This title expands on the first title, the fact that Jesus is the Amen, the truth. He only speaks what is true and He is completely trustworthy and reliable. As the faithful and true witness, Jesus Christ, can be trusted to never misrepresent His message, by exaggerating the truth or suppressing the truth. His trustworthiness extends not only to His character, but also to the contents of His message. This description of the Lord Jesus was an appropriate beginning to this letter to the church in Laodicea because it affirmed to them that the Lord Jesus Christ had accurately assessed the spiritual condition of the church.

Thirdly, Jesus Christ described Himself as “the Beginning of the creation of God.” Unfortunately, the English does not capture what is being stated here in the Greek. This statement is not saying that Jesus Christ was the first thing that God created, but rather that the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of creation and that through His power everything was created. This had to be stated because there was a heretical teaching plaguing the churches in the vicinity of Laodicea that taught that Jesus Christ was a created being. Those who held to this teaching claimed to possess a secret, higher spiritual knowledge above and beyond the simple words of Scripture. By making this statement Jesus was claiming to be the Creator God, not a created being from God.

The New Testament does not record for us anything about the founding of this church. It was most likely established during the time that Paul ministered in Ephesus, but it was not founded by Paul. Years later when he wrote to the Colossians, he mentions the church in Laodicea, but says “they have never seen his face,” meaning he had never visited there.
The city prospered under Roman rule and became an important commercial city. It became a banking center that brought in much wealth to the city.

The city was also famous for a soft, glossy black wool that it produced. They had a very lucrative garment and carpet business from this wool. The city was also an important city of ancient medicine. The city boasted a medical school that was known for an eye salve they had developed that was exported all over the Roman world. All three industries: finance, wool, and the production of eye salve are brought into this letter to the church in Laodicea.

THE CONDEMNATION (Revelation 3:15-17)

When Jesus begins to speak to this church, He does not have any word of commendation. It does not even seem that a remnant of faithful believers are in this church. Jesus only has words of rebuke for this church. He begins by letting them know that He has been watching this church, He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

Jesus had taught His disciples that deeds always reveal a person’s true spiritual state. You will know them by their fruits.

We understand that salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith alone, but James taught that deeds confirm or deny the presence of genuine salvation. Jesus was saying that the deeds of this church indicated that it was an unbelieving church. Jesus uses a metaphor to describe the condition of the church and He condemned them for being neither cold nor hot, but for being lukewarm.

The members of the church would immediately understand what He was saying. The water for the city traveled several miles through an underground aqueduct before reaching the city and when it arrived it was lukewarm. Hierapolis boasted hot springs. Colossae had a cold, refreshing stream for their water supply. The lukewarm water of Laodicea was repulsive. Jesus uses cold, hot, and lukewarm water to describe three types of people. Jesus says those that are lukewarm I will spit (the word literally means vomit) I will vomit you out of my mouth. Jesus was saying that the church in Laodicea was making Him sick.

Hot people are those who are spiritually alive. Their lives have been transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are on fire for the Lord. They desire to serve Him out of their love for Him and what He did for them on the cross and through His resurrection.

Those people who are spiritually cold are those who have rejected Jesus Christ. They have no interest in Christ or the free gift of salvation that He offers. They are not interested in His Word, or His church and they are not afraid to say so, they are not hypocrites.

Those whom Jesus describes as lukewarm are in a category by themselves. They are not saved, but they do not openly reject Jesus Christ. They think they are saved. They attend church and claim to know the Lord. They are very religious. They are like the Pharisees because their religion is a self-righteous religion. It is not a relationship with Christ, it is a man-made religion. Jesus says that this sort of religion makes Him sick and He wants to spit them out of His mouth.

But His condemnation does not stop here. He also condemns them for their self-righteous assessment of themselves. They believed that because they were rich and had become wealthy along with the rest of the city that this was the sign of God’s blessing upon them. They felt they had need of nothing else and were secure. They were self-assured and Jesus says that they are so wrong.

Spiritually speaking, they were spiritually bankrupt. But more than that they were poor, naked, and blind. They had bought into the lie of Gnosticism and believed they had reached a higher level of knowledge. But in truth, Jesus says they are wretched, miserable, poor, naked, and blind. Jesus said, “spiritually you have nothing. Your worldly riches are not a sign of my blessing, but rather a stumbling block keeping you outside because it makes you self-righteous.”

THE COMMAND (Revelation 3:18-20)

There was no reason that the Lord Jesus Christ could not have judged and destroyed this church filled with unbelievers. Instead, He offered them salvation by grace. The offer of salvation played on the three features that the city was most noted for: its wealth, its wool production, and their famous eye salve. Jesus offered them spiritual gold, spiritual clothes, and spiritual sight.

Jesus is not teaching in this verse that we must earn or buy our salvation, but He says to these poor wretches who have no spiritual riches to come buy from Him gold refined by fire. Those who are dead in their trespasses and sins have no way to buy salvation.

In fact, Isaiah 55 explains that salvation is bought without money.

Isaiah 55:1 (NASB95)

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.”

Jesus offers to those who are members of this church the riches of salvation. All three things that He advises the church to receive symbolize true redemption. First, He counseled them to purchase gold refined by fire so that they could become spiritually rich. This gold refers to the purity of the Savior who died for them. Christ was offering them the true salvation that is found in the death, burial, and resurrection triumphing over sin and death. This is the true gold, refined by fire.

Second, the Lord Jesus advised them to buy white garments so they could cover the shame of their nakedness. These white garments represent the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed to us at salvation. These are purchased by surrendering our life to Christ and our sin is credited to Him. The black wool garments that the city was famous for symbolized the dirty, sinful garments that cover the unsaved.
Third, Jesus Christ counsels them to buy eye salve to anoint their eyes that they may have true spiritual insight. The supposed higher spiritual knowledge that they claimed to have was in fact lies that had made them blind to the truth of God’s Word. Like all unbelievers, these church members desperately needed Christ to open their eyes so that they might turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God. That they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified through Jesus Christ. I like to look at this eye slave as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation that opens our spiritual eyes to the truth of God’s Word. Some argue that Christ language in verses 19, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline;”

indicates that these were believers to whom Christ was speaking. However, verses 18 and 20 seem to indicate that they are unbelievers who desperately needed the gold of true spiritual riches, the garments of true righteousness, and the eye salve that brings true spiritual understanding.
The word translated “reprove” in verse 19 means “to convict or expose one’s faults.” It is a term used by Scripture to speak of God’s dealings with sinners. The word translated “discipline” can and does refer to punishment and convicting of unbelievers that they might come to repentance.
Christ loves the church, even if it is full of unbelievers and He is calling them to come to saving faith. If they refuse to repent then He will vomit them out of His mouth, but His desire according to the apostle Peter is that all would come to repentance and salvation.

Jesus commands the members of this church to be zealous and repent. Up to this point they have been content to be religious. Jesus says that must change and there must be a turning from sin to serve the Lord Jesus because of an overwhelming hunger and thirst for the righteousness.
Salvation must always begin with repentance, an agreeing with God that we are sinners at enmity with Him and that in and of ourselves there is nothing we can do to change that. It is only through Christ death and resurrection that we can be reconciled to God.

The church of Laodicea could only expect Christ to come in judgment. But after calling them to repentance in verse 19, He comes to them in verse 20 with a gracious invitation. He says, “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.”

Though this verse has been used in many sermons and in tracts and booklets to depict Jesus Christ knocking at the sinner’s heart, the meaning is much broader and more alarming. The door which Jesus Christ is standing at and knocking is not the door of a single human heart, it is the door of a church, in this case the Laodicean church.

Christ was outside this church and wanted to be invited in, something that could only happen if the people repented. How many churches today is Christ standing outside and knocking? The invitation is a personal one since salvation is individual. He is knocking on the church door, calling the members to saving faith so that He can enter the church. This verse suggests that there were no believers in this church at all. If one person opened the door by repentance and faith, Christ would enter the church through that individual. Christ offers to dine with those who respond to His knocking and His voice, which speaks of fellowship, communion, and intimacy. The meal referred to here, is the evening meal, the last meal of the day. Jesus Christ is calling the church to repent and have fellowship with Him before the night of judgment fell and it was too late forever.

THE PROMISE AND COUNSEL (Revelation 3:21-22)
The Lord Jesus Christ ends this letter with a promise to the one who overcomes and a word of counsel. Jesus Christ promises that the one who overcomes, that is the one who has agreed with God that they are a sinner deserving hell, but believing that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for their sin; to this one Jesus promises to grant this person to sit down with Him on His throne.
Jesus Christ closes this seventh and final letter to the churches with the now familiar exhortation, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Jesus Christ wants us to hear and obey His words to the churches. As you reflect upon this letter this morning, listen to what the Spirit is saying to you and how He is asking you to respond.

Examine you own heart. Are you cold? Are you hot? Are you lukewarm? Are you going through the motions, but there is no fellowship, no connection between you and the Savior? Maybe you have gone to church your whole life, but it was all a false front and you never really repented and put your faith in what Christ did for you in His death and resurrection. I do not want you going into eternity without knowing for sure where you will spend that eternity. Pick a side; Pick Jesus today!