The Lord's Message to Laodicea

It's great to have you with us today as we worship the Lord together. If you've got your Bible, Revelation chapter 3, Revelation chapter 3 verses 14 to the end, as we look at the seventh and final church that was addressed specifically by our Lord.

We've told you that these churches are representative of all the churches that have ever existed in the church age, although they were seven literal churches that received this letter that John would write down once given to him by the Lord himself. And so as we look at these letters, we understand the state of the church.

What is the state of the church? Well, the church is told on five occasions to repent. Repent from its error, repent from its sin, repent from the direction it's going and turn to the Lord. We know that the church of Smyrna and the church of Philadelphia were crucial churches. They were churches that followed the Lord, that had no condemnation, only commendation. And the Lord commended them. They were not told to repent because they live for the glory and for the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. But there were five that were told they had to repent.

And it began with the church of Ephesus. It was a cold and callous church that became complacent in its actions. And so the Lord told them they needed to remember from where they have fallen, repent and return and repeat their first deeds.

They needed to do that. If they did not, they would then become like the church of Pergamum. They would compromise the truth of the gospel, which Pergamum did. And so therefore you see the downgrade of the church. A church that's cold and calloused will always begin to compromise the truth. The church that compromises the truth, like those that Pergamum did, will then be corrupted. And that's what the church of Thyatira was like. They were the world. Pergamum flirted with the world, but Thyatira became the world.

And then Sardis, they were the dead church. They became a corpse. They had only a few among them that had yet to soil their garments. Most of the church was unsaved, but there were a few there that were saved. And there was a commendation given to them. And there was an exhortation given to them as well. And now we look at the seventh church, the church at Laodicea.

This is the counterfeit church. There's nobody saved in this church. That's why Christ is on the outside of the church, knocking on the door to get into the church. Because there's nobody in the church that's saved. Sardis, though dead, had a few that had not soiled their garments. But Laodicea had nobody in it that was truly born again. They were the apostate church. They had fallen from the truth and would not obey the gospel. And yet, they pretended at Christianity. They professed Christianity.

They professed to be followers of Christ, but in reality they were not. That's why Christ was on the outside of the church. Let me read to you what Christ says to them.

Revelation chapter 3, verse number 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, 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 I've become wealthy, and I've needed 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 you may become rich in white garments, so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed. And I saith to anoint your eyes, so 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 outline is the same. There is the analyzation of the church, the city, and the correspondent.

And then there is the accusation against the church. There is no affirmation given. There's no commendation given, because there is nobody saved in the church. So there comes an accusation, then the admonition, then the application. That's the outline we have for this morning. First of all, the analyzation of the correspondent, the city, and the church.

Look how Christ introduced himself. He says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning, he says, of the creation of God. Now, how he introduces himself is extremely important to what the church did not believe about the Christ. The church of Laodicea was an apostate church. They did not believe in the deity of Christ, nor did they believe in the authority, inerrancy, and credibility of the Scriptures. So Christ would introduce himself this way, the Amen. Now, that's a direct quote from the Old Testament, Isaiah 65, verse number 16, which says this, Isaiah 65, 16 says, because he who is blessed in the earth will be blessed by the God of Amen, and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of Amen.

So therefore, Christ is affirming at the outset that he is God in the flesh. To say that he is the Amen is what Paul would say in the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 20, when it says that Jesus Christ is the yes and the Amen of all the promises of God. In other words, because he is truth incarnate, he is the reliable, credible witness. He is the faithful and true witness, because all the promises that God has given are affirmed and confirmed and fixed based on who Jesus Christ is.

He is the Amen. He is truth incarnate. He is God in the flesh, because he claims to be the Amen. He also is that faithful and true witness, as opposed to those in Laodicea who were not faithful and were false witnesses to the reality of Christ and the gospel of Christ. He is the one who can be trusted. He is the one who can be counted on, because he is the faithful witness. And then he says that he is the beginning of the creation of God, which is very important, because those who believe that Jesus was the first one ever created by God are wrong based on the grammar of the text.

Great grammar, great theology, bad grammar, bad theology. And the grammar, the word used is archaic, which speaks of originator, leader, or source. So the Amen, okay, is the faithful and true witness who is the creator, the originator of the creation of God. In other words, he is the creator, because he is God in the flesh. That's why it says over in the book of Colossians, the first chapter, these words, verse 15, Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

That is, he is the prototokos. That doesn't mean that he is the first one ever created, as the Jehovah's Witnesses say, but he is the preeminent one of all those who were ever created, because he is God in the flesh.

He is the preeminent one, and this preeminent one, by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. So Christ is affirming not only his deity, but his authority, his credibility, his reliability, his veracity, because of who he is. Now, you've got to remember that Laodicea was 10 miles from Colossae, and in the church of Colossae, Paul wrote a letter to the Colossians, because Gnosticism had permeated the church, and the Gnostics believed that Jesus was a created being, okay, and only that, that he wasn't God in the flesh.

They denied the deity of Christ and, and they also had this super secret knowledge that would make them supreme over the authority of Scripture. So they denied the authority of Scripture. Every apostate church, every apostate seminary, every apostate college denies the supremacy and the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, and they deny the deity of Jesus Christ our Lord, and that was a church at Laodicea. They were the classic apostate church. There was nobody in the church that was saved, but everybody in the church thought they were.

But none of them were, because Christ is on the outside knocking to get in. In this city, Laodicea began in 250 BC, under Itiacus II, named it after his wife, and this city was known for three major things, and these three major things Christ addresses in his letter. First of all, they were known as the banking center in the, in the area, the major banking center.

They were known for their finances. In AD60, when the city was destroyed by an earthquake, they did not require any outside help from Rome or anyone else to rebuild the city, simply because they had their own riches, their own resources to rebuild the city, and they were rich. Not only were they rich, but they also were a community who had developed this black glossy wool, which they would export all around the region, and they would make tons of money, and this black glossy wool, they were known for.

Christ would address that with them also, because not only did they have riches, not only did they have arraignment, they also had what they believed was the remedy for people's eyes, because in this city, they would take this Phrygian powder, and they'd mix it with an element that would cause it to be an eye salve to someone's eyes and believed that somehow it would fix those who had eye ailments, and Christ would address that with them as well. But those three things in history were what Laodicea was known for, and Christ would address that.

In this city, there was a church, the Church of Laodicea, and we know that because when Paul would write the letter to the Colossians, he would talk about how this letter needed to be read to the Laodiceans. In fact, over in the book of Colossians, the second chapter, the first verse, it says, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea.

And then in Colossians chapter 4, verse number 16, it says, when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and you, for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea, and say to Ecripus, Take heed to the ministries which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it. Ecripus was a son of Philemon. Most believe that he was the pastor and the leader of the church in Laodicea. Now, we don't know when the church began or how it began, but there was a church there.

And in 61 AD, when Paul wrote the letter to the church at Colossae, he was referring to those in Laodicea. In 95 AD, when the book of Revelation was given to John, written, and sent to the seven churches, some 30 plus years later, the church had apostatized the faith. There was no one left in the church who was a true believer in Jesus Christ our Lord. And you ask yourself, how does the church get that way? How does the church move in that direction? The simple downgrade of the churches as we've shown them over the over the weeks, from Ephesus to Pergamum to Thyatira to Sardis to Laodicea, that downgrade happens very, very slowly, but surely, when someone becomes cold and calloused toward their love for Christ.

When that happens, watch out. You will compromise your stand on the truth. That compromise always leads to corruption. That corruption leads to death, simply because you might not, you might be a believer, but you might have a death-like existence. There are a lot of people in the church today who are believers who have a death-like existence. They live as if they have no spiritual life. They live as if they have no life of God in them whatsoever. They are just normal, everyday people who have yet to experience the greatness of the life of Christ.

That's simply because they've involved themselves in becoming cold and calloused toward their walk with Christ. And of course, the end product is that there's no one left in the church who's a believer. In the church at Sardis, they had people there that led the church who were unbelievers. And although there were a few who had yet to soil their garments, they were led by unbelievers. And when you have people in leadership that deny the authority of Scripture, that deny the deity of Christ, you see, everything centers on who Jesus is.

Everything about Christianity centers around one primary element, who is Jesus Christ? Because who he is determines what he does. And every cult is developed around a false belief about the deity of Christ. And so that's why in Matthew 16, Christ said, Who do men say that I am? Better yet, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And what did Christ say? Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father who is in heaven revealed that to you.

No man can convince you of the deity of Christ. Only Christ can convince you that he is God in the flesh. No man can. That's why we preach the gospel. That's why we preach the Word of God. So the Word of God, by the Spirit of God, will convict the heart and souls of every man. This is the classic example of what Paul says in Titus, I'm sorry, 2nd Timothy chapter 3, verse number 5. These are the people who have a form of godliness, but deny its power. And Paul says, Avoid all people like that. Avoid them all.

They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power of God. They are apostates. They are false believers. They're not true believers. Avoid people like that. And this was the church at Laodicea. And so where there would be an affirmation, there is none, because you can't affirm the unbeliever in his unbelieving state. And so now you go from the analyzation to the accusation. And this is what the Lord says, the Amen, the first or the beginning of the creation of God, the faithful and true witness says this, I know your deeds.

He knows them. He knows them for sure. Remember Matthew 7? By their fruits you will know them. You will know them by their actions. You will know them by their attitudes. You will know them. It's not like he didn't say by their fruits. You think you might know them. He says by their fruits, you will know them. They will manifest themselves by their deeds. I know your deeds. That's why it says, Paul says over in the book of Romans, the second chapter, these words.

He says that God will render to each man according to his deeds. Verse six, to those who are who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey in righteousness, they will receive wrath and indignation. Christ says by their deeds, you will know them.

By their works, they will manifest their true character. Christ says, I know your deeds. You can't pull one over on Christ. You can pull one over on your pastor. You can pull one over on maybe your parents. You can pull one over on your peers. But you can't pull one over on the prince of life, Christ himself. He knows everything. He knows everything. He says, I know your deeds. I know them. You might think you're gathering together in church on Sunday and you are worshiping me, but I know your deeds.

I know that everything about you is phony. I know that everything about you is false. I know that everything about you is untrue. Although you might be zealous. Although you might be sincere. I know your deeds. Wow, what an indictment. He says this. That you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. I do, he says. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. Now, that's a very graphic statement. You have to know the city.

You have to know that in Areopolis, there were the hot springs. And they would move the water from Areopolis to Laodicea through these conduits, these aqueducts. In Colossae, there were cold springs. And they too would move their water through aqueducts to Laodicea. So there would be hot water given and there would be cold water given. But by the time it got to Laodicea, because of all the filth in the conduits, because of all the the dross in the in the conduits, because of all the grunge in the conduits, by the time it got there, it was not cold.

It was not hot. It was lukewarm and filled with all kinds of filth. So that when you tasted it, all you could do was spit it out of your mouth because it tasted so bad. And Christ says, I wish that you were cold.

I wish that you were hot, but instead you are lukewarm. Now some will say, well, that means there are Christians and they're just lukewarm Christians. They're what the Bible calls carnal Christians. The problem with that is that God never spews the believer out of his mouth. He never rejects the believer, never does. Nowhere in scripture does he reject the believer. You say, but he tells them that he loves them. Yes, he does. And I'll address that in a moment as to why he says he loves them. It doesn't mean they were believers because he loved them.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So don't think that because they were lukewarm that they were just carnal Christians. And by the way, that term was really really exploded in the, in the, in the sixties and seventies and eighties with a book called He that is Spiritual by Lewis Sperry Chaffer. And at the same time there was a a study Bible by C.I. Scofield. Maybe you have a Scofield reference Bible and they really hit hard the quote carnal Christian as a state of being for a believer.

The problem with that is that the Bible doesn't teach that. You're either a saint or an ain't. There's no in between. And they wanted to develop an in-between person, this carnal person who lived a fleshy life ongoing for long extended periods of time. But the problem is there's no example in scripture of anybody like that. And yet this book in this study Bible became so prominent in the seventies and eighties that people began to believe that you can live in a carnal state, a lukewarm state. It must be a believing state.

But it's not. Because God says the lukewarm person he rejects. And Christ never rejects the believer. He says, I wish that you were cold. I wish you were an atheist, an outright atheist. You would just deny everything outright. Say I don't believe in God. I don't believe anything about God. I'm done. I'm cold. Or I wish that you were hot. You're on fire. You were zealous for Christ. But instead of either being hot nor cold, you are right in the middle. You are lukewarm. You are one of those people who want to play both ends of the spectrum.

You are those kinds of people that mock Christianity. You are those kind of people who profess to be Christians, but never possess the true Christ himself. And Christ says, I reject you.

I reject you for that. These people are the ones who play religious games with God. Religious games with God. Trying to convince others that they're truly Christians. Christ said it this way in Matthew 21. He said that the Pharisees and Sadducees, who by the way were Laodiceans at heart. The Pharisees and Sadducees were Laodiceans at heart. They were people who tried to convince others they were religious. They did not believe that Jesus was God. So they denied the deity of Christ. They did not believe in the words that Christ spoke as ultimate authority, because they believed that he was God.

So the Pharisees and Sadducees were truly Laodiceans at heart. And Christ said to them, the Pharisees and Sadducees, that the tax gatherers and the prostitutes will see the kingdom of heaven before you ever do. Because they know they are sinners. And you don't think you are sinners. Big difference. And so here Christ comes and says, I wish that you were hot. I wish that you were cold. But instead you are lukewarm. And because you're lukewarm, I vomit you out of my mouth. I reject you in your place.

And then he says these words, 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. You're so arrogant. You say we have no need of anything. We don't need what Christ has to offer. We don't need the gospel. We don't need the scriptures. You say because you are rich that you have need of nothing. Their arrogance, their self-confidence, their self-reliance kept them from accepting the truth of the gospel.

And Christ says to them, you are so arrogant. I have need of nothing. These are the people that Christ speaks about in Matthew 7 21 who say at the judgment, But Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? But Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name? But Lord, did we not do many marvelous deeds in your name? These are the people who are convinced that they're Christians so much so that when they stand before the throne of God, they will try to convince God that they were truly one of his. And Christ says, I never knew you.

I never ever knew you. And this is the church at Laodicea. They believed that they were one of God's children. They had self, they had deceived themselves into thinking that they were truly Christians. Self-deception is a horrendous, horrendous thing. It could damn a soul for eternity. So you got to be careful. And Christ calls them out. You say, you have need of nothing, but I know your deeds. I know that you're not either hot nor cold, but you are lukewarm. And I vomit you out of my mouth. I reject you.

And then he says, you say that you have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable, poor and blind and naked. You do not know. You think you know, but you do not know. That's the problem with the person who's convinced himself that he's saved when he's not. You think you know, but he says, you do not know. You make the claim that you're a Christian, but you have no idea that you're not a Christian because you are wretched, you are miserable, you are poor, you are naked, and you are blind.

That is, you are a vile sinner. Christ calls them vile sinners. He didn't say, God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life. He says, no, you're vile, you're wretched, and you're poor. You have nothing to bank on. You think you're rich, but you're poor. You think you're clothed because you have this black glossy wool that makes you rich, but you're naked. You think that you see because you've developed this eye salve that you put on people's eyes, and you think you're so far above and beyond everybody else, but you can't see me for who I am.

You're blinded to the truth. That's your condition. That's where you're at. You think you know, but you don't. Now imagine sitting in that church, having this letter read to you on a Sunday morning. All these people believing they're on their way to heaven. It's almost like in the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4. All these Jewish people sitting in a synagogue on a Sabbath day, believing they're children of Abraham, which they were, and that they were on their way to heaven because of their ethnicity, and they thought they were going to heaven.

And Christ says, I've come to preach the gospel to those who are poor, to those who are blind, to those who are imprisoned.

But you see, they didn't see themselves as imprisoned. They didn't see themselves as blind. They didn't see themselves as poor. They didn't see themselves as naked. And Christ would go on and give an illustration about Elijah and Elisha, where Elijah went to a pagan woman. She believed and humbled herself. And Elisha went to a pagan Syrian king, and he believed. And the people heard those illustrations and were so irate, they wanted to kill Christ. They wanted to take him out of their synagogue, out of the city, and throw him off the brow of the cliff because he had indicted them as being sinners, and blind, imprisoned, poor, and naked.

And that's how Christ describes the unbeliever. He comes in and tells them they're naked. So here's the admonition. He's going to give them a solution. Okay, here's what you got to do. If you're a part of the Laodicean church, this is the solution. And this is what he gives. He says this. I advise you, okay, to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed. And I salve to anoint your eyes, so you may see.

Listen, I want to, here's your solution. You got to buy from me gold refined by fire. You got to buy from me white raiment. You got to buy from me eye salve, so your eyes are open. He plays on what they believe they're rich in, see? That's what he does. He goes right to what they know and shows them that they don't know what they need to know about spiritual things. Here's your solution. Number one, you need to reevaluate your condition.

You are poor, you are blind, you are miserable, you are naked, and you are wretched. You need to reevaluate your condition. You think you are this way. You think you know this. You know nothing. You know nothing. Yes, you are materially wealthy, but you are spiritually bankrupt. Yes, you might have this world's goods, but you don't have heaven's riches. So the Bible says, what shall profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul?

And this was Laodicea. And Christ, in essence, is saying to him, what profit is there in your life if you gain everything, have all the riches, have all the raiment, have all the remedy for people's eye conditions, and yet lose your soul? He says, reevaluate your condition. You're miserable, you're poor, you're blind, you are naked. You think you're rich, but you know nothing of the riches of heaven. Remember 2 Corinthians 8, 9? Knowing the grace of our Lord Jesus, this is the grace of Christ our Lord, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

That's the grace of God. They knew nothing about eternal riches. They knew everything about temporal material riches, but nothing about eternal riches. So Christ says, reevaluate your condition.

And then he says to them, recognize my solution. Here it is. You got to buy gold from me. You got to buy white raiment from me. You have got to be able to buy eyesalve from me. Say, wait a minute. Buy? How could you buy salvation? Well, he plays off of Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, verse number one, where God says, ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you have, who have no money, come buy and eat.

You have no money, but you come, you buy and eat. And then he says, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? For your wages, for what does not satisfy. Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance. And he goes on to say, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord. And he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Christ says, look, you need to come to me. Say, we can't buy anything from you because it's spiritual wealth. We can't buy that. Christ says, you're right.

You can't. So in Matthew 16, when Christ says, for what shall a profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, the very next phrase is this, for what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

You see, salvation is a transaction. It is a concrete transaction. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? You can't give money because money can't buy eternal life. So what does he give? He gives his life away. He gives his life to Christ. He realizes, I can't buy anything. I don't have anything. I am poor spiritually. I can't earn my way to heaven. I have no good deeds whatsoever. Lord, be merciful unto me, a sinner, and God grants him forgiveness because he begs for mercy. He comes poor in spirit.

He comes mourning over his sin. He comes hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And that's what Christ is calling them to do. You think you have riches? You have no idea of the riches of eternal glory. You think you have, you have raiment? You have black glossy wool that makes you money? You need to have white raiment. White speaks of the festivity and the purity, the holiness of the gospel because white's the color of heaven. And we saw that a couple weeks ago in Revelation. And you need to come, you need to buy eye salve from me because you're blinded.

You need to ask me to remove the blindness from your eyes because the only way anybody can ever believe in the deity of Christ is through God himself who opens the eyes of men because 2nd Corinthians 4 says that satan has blinded the eyes of the unbeliever. They've been blinded. That's why he doesn't believe in the deity of Christ. So for that to happen, there must be a supernatural unveiling in the eye of a person and that only happens through the work of Christ in that person's life. Christ says you come to me and you exchange your life for mine.

You give your life to me and you will see. You'll be clothed in white raiment and riches. Oh, you'll have riches refined by fire, true believing faith, true gold. And the scriptures speak of the fact that they themselves are gold beyond anything any man can ever imagine. Christ says you come to me, re-evaluate your condition, re-evaluate it, recognize I am your only solution.

And then he says realize, realize my affection. He says this, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Is it not true that God loves his enemies? Right? Romans 5.8 God commendeth his love toward us in that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. The one who said love your enemies loved his enemies to the very end. Even in John 13 verse number one, he says he loved his own completely until the end and that included Judas in John 13.

And so when he hung on the cross, he said father forgive them for they know not what they are doing. Extending forgiveness to all those who would come to him and repent one day soon. Though some did on that day, most did not. But the Bible tells us that God himself is love. And he's abundant in loving kindness. And he loves the world that he gave his son. In fact over in Mark 10 verse number 21 with the rich young ruler who came to him and asked what it meant to get into heaven and Christ told him.

He turned and walked away because Christ says you got to give it all away. He was unwilling to do that. And when he turned and walked away the Bible says that Christ saw him and loved him.

So just because the Bible says as many as I love I reprove and chasten doesn't mean he's speaking to believers here.

No, he's speaking to unbelievers. To let you know of his affection. It's the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to repentance Romans 2 verse number 4. So Christ is extending his love to the unbeliever that they might understand that they come to him and they fall on their face and bow before him and repent of their sins. They will embrace the Christ and be saved. Re-evaluate your condition. Recognize I am your only solution. Realize, realize my affection and repent with conviction and contrition.

That's why he says these words. He says therefore be zealous and repent. Do it from the heart. Don't play at repentance. Truly repent. Truly give your life to me. Be zealous therefore and repent. May it be something where there's a there's a turning around of your life. True conviction over your sin. Will you truly come before me and fall on your face and repent and say I am unworthy. I am poor. I am not rich. I have no remedy but the remedy that Christ himself gives. I have nothing to give and repent of your sin.

And then Christ gives this application. He says this. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Stand amazed. Stand amazed at this that I am on the outside of the apostate church. I'm knocking on the door. I'm knocking on the door. Then he says if any man, if there is one individual in the apostate church, just one who opens a door, I will come into him and I will sup with him. I will dine with him. He will have fellowship with me. If one person in the apostate church gives their life to Christ, the door to the church is open to the Christ of the church and he will come into the church.

But there's no one there. That's why he extends the invitation. I stand at the door of this church, the apostate church, and I'm knocking. If there be one person in that church who opens the door, that is they receive me into themselves. They believe in what I have said. They give their life to me. I will come into that church. I will come in that person. I will dine with them. I will sup with them. I will have fellowship with that person. I will now be in the church physically. Remember Christ dwells within his people, right?

And so when someone gives their life to Christ, he then enters that church through that person and a revival can begin. This is the love of Christ to the apostate church. He says if you do that, he says he who overcomes, remember he who believes that Jesus is the son of God, he believes in the deity of Christ, 1 John 5, 4 and 5, this is the overcomer, 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. Wow, can you believe that?

I will not only grant you, okay, salvation, but you will be the overcomer and you will sit with me on my throne. Just as I sat down with by my father on his throne, now I grant you that same privilege, that same opportunity. Speaking of the millennial rule of Christ, you will rule and you will reign with me in my kingdom. Wow, what a privilege that is. What a privilege that is. What a promise that is. This is the amen speaking. This is the faithful and true witness. This is the originator of the creation of God speaking.

He says listen, you open the door, I'll come in, and I will dine with you, I will sup with you, and you will be that overcomer. You will be that victorious warrior, and you will sit with me on my throne. Just as I sat down with my father on his throne. You will rule and you will reign with me. You go from salvation to coronation. And then he says this, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Wow, receive my gift of eternal salvation. And you will rule and reign with me.

Will you regard all that I have said? Will you listen? Is anybody listening? Is anybody in the Laodicean church listening? He who has an ear, let him listen to what the spirit says to the churches. Christ concludes every letter the same way. Because it refers to everybody who reads the letters. Everybody who's involved in any church. Listen to what the spirit has to say. Have you re-evaluated your condition? Have you recognized there's only one solution? Have you realized the affection that Christ gives to those who are apostates?

And will you repent with great contrition and conviction that you might become that overcomer that paves the way for the glory of God. What a message. May God give us the grace to understand it. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you Lord for today and the chance that we are together to remember the greatness of your sacrifice. For truly Lord you are a great God and you alone are worthy of praise. Our prayer is that none of us would pretend at Christianity that Lord truly we would know Christ serve him and follow him.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.