Church at Laodicea Rev, 3:14-22

Hello and good morning. We're going to be looking this morning at Revelation chapter 3 starting with verse 14 and going through the end of the chapter. Before we do that though, we've begun some weeks back taking a brief look as a preface to how the events that have taken place September 11th and following tie in with the trends of prophecy and scripture.

Again, I don't see it as a fulfillment of it, and yet there are many trends that it certainly feeds towards. Of course, one of the names we've seen lots of in recent weeks is Osama, and I don't want anybody to get confused as to who that is. But at any rate, Osama bin Laden, Is someone who actually has had an impact in bringing about? biblical fulfillment of biblical prophecy and what we see here is There's been a trend and this has been taking place for some time. There's been a trend of the Jews to be moved out By circumstances and otherwise out of the countries that they're in towards Israel and living in Jerusalem And here's one instance, and this is a part where Osama Bin Laden has actually contributed to this whole biblical trend.

So let's trace it through. Here's the late 1800s, about 40,000 Jews in Afghanistan. By 1948, only about 5,000 remained, so they'd already begun to move out. By 1979, Osama Bin Laden left Saudi Arabia to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. And look what happened roughly 10 years later. By 10 years later, only 15 to 20 Jewish families left in Afghanistan, most of them centered around Kabul.

By 1996, the Taliban took over, enforcing Islamic belief. Basically, they go up to the Jews and they say, sorry, you have to be Islamic now. And they'd say, I'm sorry, I can't. I'm sure the apologies weren't there, but you know what I mean. Anyway, here's February 1998, Bin Laden announced the creation of a new alliance of terrorist organizations.

By that time, there's only a handful of Jews left in Afghanistan, and the last I was able to find, there was two Jews left that I could find by name left in Afghanistan. What's happened? Where did they go? Well, let's look at, here are some biblical prophecies we looked at last year, and here I've highlighted three of them particularly. Deuteronomy 28, and 32 tell us that Israel would be scattered among the nations. This was given 1400 B.C., right? Israel will be few in number among the nations. In other words, wherever they're spread, they're not a majority. They're always a minority. But the last one highlighted Israel will be gathered and brought back to the land.

So what's happened? The events over in Afghanistan have served to shove the last Jews, other than the small handful, the last Jews out of Afghanistan, and where have they ended up? Here's the count of Jews in Jerusalem over that same period of time I showed you on the chart twice. Look at the gathering of Jews in Jerusalem. It's a fulfillment of what the Lord said 3,400 years ago. The Jews would be gathered back to the land. Here you see the numbers. Not only that, Look at the ratio during that period of time between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Certainly Jerusalem has grown, but the number of Jews has grown proportionally and stayed a far larger group than the balance of them.

This is just today's fulfillment of prophecy of which what's gone on in Afghanistan is just one small part. But it's interesting to see our focus has tended to be on You know, the war and Osama Bin Laden and all that. In the midst of that and virtually unspoken in the news is the fulfillment of the prophecy that our Lord gave 3,400 years ago that said the Jews would be brought back to their land. And this very battle that we see going on now has been a part of that. Anyway, I thought you'd like to see that just because it's so neat to see how faithful the Lord is. Through all the centuries, Whatever he says will come to pass. He is indeed a God on whom we can depend. All right, why don't you turn with me, all Osama's aside. Turn with me to Revelation 3, 14. Oh, one more thing while you're turning there.

One of the things that is available in the literature rack, kind of up high, is a history of the pre-tribulation rapture. We'll be taking a look at that in a couple weeks here. But one of the things that some of you may have encountered is somebody will tell you, there was no such thing as a rapture before about 1830. Nobody taught it. And anyway, quite a number of events prior to that. So you might be interested in picking up that little handout. Okay.

Let's take a look at Laodicea. This is the seventh of the cities that we'll be looking at, the seven churches. And This gives you a view of it from the site itself looking away towards one of the mountains nearby. It was situated on a hill, not a high hill, but kind of a plateau, and there was a valley below and some majestic mountains that were off in the distance and surrounding it in different directions.

It was an important center for legal administration and commerce. Court cases for that region were brought into Laodicea and judgments made and judgments recorded there in Laodicea, so it was an important legal center. And that's something to keep in mind because, as you'll see here, it shows up in the passage. One of the other things that it was was an important banking center. Banking was a big industry, and also when court cases were solved, what did they need to do? They needed to solve the situation with the funds. So having the bank there was another tie-in to the court system that they had there at Laodicea.

It was a wealthy city, even though the city was damaged by earthquakes once, roughly during the life of Christ, and then again in 60 AD, unlike the other cities we've studied that got damaged by earthquakes, Laodicea rebuilt itself with no help from Rome. They said, no thanks, we don't need it. We're rich enough, we can cover it ourselves. They were very wealthy.

It was also an important regional textile center. There was a huge textile industry, and we'll touch base on that a little bit more later. But one of the interesting things is there was a kind of sheep there that was black, and so the black wool was an important part of the textile industry. They had this black wool that they would sell, make into a fabric.

And as we'll see, that'll come up to be an important feature later, too. Around the site, there are actually two theaters. This is the larger one. And if you have on your handout a map, and I've color-coded it with a yellow. There should be a yellow spot there. That's where it's located on your handout. And there was another one, a smaller one, situated not too far away.

And this one here was dedicated to the Emperor Vespasian. Of course, they can't have anything unless it's dedicated to somebody, right? So it's dedicated to the Emperor Vespasian. They also had a gymnasium, a stadium, and other public buildings. And the stadium had gladiator games. They'd have these gladiators that were held explicitly for the purpose of fighting. One of the other things that shows up there, they had a city seal, as each of the cities had a seal.

And this shows the god of Laodicea. And this god of Laodicea, as you know, he's got the spear and that shows his military power and might. And there was also a temple of Zeus nearby, and right next to that temple associated with it was a famous medical school. Medicine in those days, remember, not medicine like our own. But in those days they had a medical school there. So that was associated with Laodicea as well. The other thing is Laodicea had a significant Jewish community.

We know that they had special documents allowing them to collect money to send to the temple in Jerusalem, that was when the Temple was still around, because it was destroyed in 70 AD. We know that they collected huge amounts of gold, massive amounts of gold, because the Jews had lots of money. They would pick up these collections of gold to send to the Temple in Jerusalem. There was friction between the Christians and the Jews in other areas, and we saw that in some of the churches, I remember two of them, talked about the synagogue of Satan. No mention of any friction with the Jews here, and we have no other record of friction with the Jews. So the Christians and the Jews in Laodicea, both of them seem to get along just fine.

Okay, with that as a preface, let's read Revelation 3, 14-22. To the angel of the church at 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 eyesalve 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 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." Okay, let's go back to verse 14 and take a look at it. Phrase by phrase, what's he saying there?

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, Now, like all the initial verses to these messages to the churches, the intent here was to focus their attention, and ours, on the Lord Jesus Christ, to center our attention on Him. He alone has the answer and the solution to our every need. And that's why everyone was begun with a focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. As we'll see shortly, the promise to the overcomers calls us to the Lord as well.

So let's take a look at that. Now about the Amen. Sounds like a simple start, right? Well, I think there's a couple of main reasons why this was included there. Let's take a look at one of them first. First is that Amen was a legal term at the time. It had to do with something that was true and absolute and certain and stable and established. And since Laodicea was a legal center, that would make perfect sense to them, wouldn't it? It would hit home with them because it would be a word, oh, we know that. We've seen that in all the legal documents. They talk about it all the time.

Now, the Greek word is amen. It comes from the Hebrew word aman. And it has to do with what is stable and true and trustworthy. That Hebrew word is used in Isaiah 65, 16 of God. It says the God of truth And it literally means the God of Amen. Now, the word was used to emphasize and acknowledge what was valid and sure and true and important and significant.

And you know, we use it that way today, don't we? Somebody will say, Amen. Somebody will say, Amen. And what we mean when we say that is, yes, that's true, don't we? Now, there's another way that this is intended to mean as well. It implies the idea of finality, the last word. It leads us to a really good question.

In our own hearts, in our own lives, in our own mind, have we come to a place of recognizing that Christ's Word is the last Word? And I don't mean that in the sense of, you know, of legalism, I mean that in a sense of recognizing that when Christ has said something, that we're not in a spot of dickering with God.

It's real easy for us to fall into a place of trying to figure out, if we're not careful, how much can I give God so that He'll leave me alone? When the reality is, when the Lord says something, He is saying something because He is the last word. And we really have no place to dicker with him. We have no place to figure out, okay, how much do I give God so that I can have what's left for me? That's not God's intent, is it? He is the Amen. He is the last word. He is the one that's true. True with a capital T. Okay, let's take a look at the next one. The phrase, the faithful and true witness.

Now, that is also a legal phrase of the time. But it shows up again and again in the book of Revelation, and we'll see that here. But you can imagine, here's the law of the sins, there's sin. Okay, here's this legal phrase. Here's the one who is faithful and true. Here's the one who, whatever he says, that's right. What he says, that's correct. And this phrase, faithful and true, was a legal phrase that was used prior to judgment It was stated that the witnesses were faithful and true, and therefore here is the judge's judgment.

You get the consequence there? They're getting a clue here that something is about to come down as they're reading this preface to this message. The next one, the beginning of the creation of God. Now, some folks have gotten kind of astray on this one because they'll think, well, this is the first created being. Time out. It is the first cause. The first cause.

Colossians 1.16 and 17 puts it this way.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, invisible 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.

He is the first cause. If you were to put it in terms of Christ called Himself the Alpha and Omega, He is the Alpha. He is the one from whom everything else starts. There is nothing outside of Him. And I think there is something else to look at here. He is the beginning, the first cause of everything that we see. including the material realm.

But one of the things he's trying to get across to these folks in Laodicea who are really materialistic, and we'll see more of that in a bit, he's saying, all the things that you're counting on, I'm the one that started it. I'm the one that began it. I'm the originator of those things.

Don't count on those things, I made them. You see the distinction there? There's a real tendency for us to kind of slip into depending on the things that have been created rather than the one that created them. And he's trying to get them centered and focused here. He says, I'm the first cause. I'm the one that began these things. Don't you slide into depending on those things. I'm the one that originated it all. Next, verse 15, he tells them, I know your deeds, that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, 16, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." Wow! That's pretty intense. And the truth is, it's more intense than it looks, and we'll see why in a minute.

But one of the things to take a look at, as we've seen before, the Lord knows their deeds. He acknowledges it. He says, I'm not ignorant of anything that's going on with this church. There's not one thought, there's not one whisper that I don't know about. But let's move past that right now, because he says, I've got some other real critical issues I've got to talk to you about. And he immediately moves into the next issue. Now, there's some background we've got to get here to get the fullest understanding.

This is a view from the hill at Laodicea looking towards, out of the gate, and this is B on your map, and there should be a little red dot there, looking in the gate towards Heropolis. What you see as this sort of white area in the middle of the picture, that's the mineral deposits over at Heropolis. Heropolis is this nearby city, roughly six miles away. So here's the city of Heropolis off in that distance there.

If you get even closer to the white mineral deposits, this is the way they look up close. It's dramatic. Lots of mineral deposits. Laodicea, Heropolis, and Colossae were three cities that were all right near each other. Heropolis right across the valley, about six miles away. Upriver, the city of Colossae, that's where the Book of Colossians was written to, about ten miles upriver. They're all kind of close by and important for us to take a look at. Let me give you a little better introduction.

Here's a gate at the city of Heropolis that was built at the same time that the book of Revelation was being written. And there's a very similar gate at Laodicea built around the same time and facing towards Ephesus that was dedicated to Emperor Domitian during that time. That's the one that put John in exile. So to kind of give you a sense, these cities were all together, and they built things together, they did things, they were very closely associated.

Now, one of the things you'll note, and you have it on your map, there's this aqueduct here. There's kind of a dotted line on this aqueduct, and I've got it shown here so that it stands out a little bit. That was one of the aqueducts feeding into Laodicea.

You see, Hierapolis had its own hot springs, and people would come there because it was a therapeutic area. They could come to these hot springs and sit in the hot mineral baths and it was therapeutic, especially if they had some injury or disease problem. That was Hierapolis. Nearby, about ten miles upriver, was Colossae. Colossae had a nice, cold, pure water spring. Laodicea didn't have either one.

Laodicea got its water from the aqueduct, and it was from a hot spring, but by the time it got to Laodicea, the water was lukewarm. So he's saying, in contrast, unlike Hierapolis, where you can go and the water's hot, right across the valley you see them, Unlike Colossae, just upriver about 10 miles, you've been there, where the water's pure and cold, you folks get water that's lukewarm, because by the time it's come through the aqueduct, all it is is this sort of body temperature. So he's using a spiritual illustration here, isn't he? He's taking the situation that they've got, the physical situation about their water, and using that to illustrate to them spiritually what's going on. So that's the intent.

Now, the word hot in this verse is translated from the Greek word, zestos, and what it means is really hot, like boiling hot. It's the same word used in Romans 12, 10 and 11 where Paul writes, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit." That's the word zestos. Boiling in spirit. That's what he has in mind. I would that you were boiling, serving the Lord. Now, think about it.

Hot water feels good after a long day's work. You take a hot shower or a hot bath, it feels great. Especially on a cold day, it's marvelous. People enjoy drinking nice hot beverages of various kinds and cultures throughout the world. Cold water is good when we're thirsty and boy, there's nothing more refreshing. Get a nice cold cup of water. People ask you, do you want ice water? Do you want ice in it? Because if you like it nice and cold, The difference is good. It rehydrates us and it's refreshing. It's really good. But the lukewarm doesn't do either one. How about a nice lukewarm cup of water? It's not refreshing. It's neither one. It's not what I want.

That is why Christ says, I would that you were either hot or cold. It's a picture, an illustration of exactly... They knew their problem, even in their own city's water temperature. Whenever they'd get to water, they'd have to try to do something different with it. Because it came neither hot nor cold. No matter how you used it, it wasn't quite right.

So the physical characteristics of the water made a perfect spiritual illustration. They were neither refreshing to the spiritually weary, nor therapeutic to the spiritually ill. You see that? They were neither refreshing to the spiritually weary nor therapeutic to the spiritually ill.

If we compare them, remember we looked a couple of weeks back at the three cities. Ephesus had lost its first love. Sardis lost its life, which only comes from dependence upon Christ. Laodicea had lost its zeal for Christ and zeal which comes from Christ.

Now, most translations have it. It says here that Christ will spit or spew them out of his mouth. That translation is a bit weak. The Greek word there is emesai, and it actually means vomit. That's the meaning. In the medical term, we have an emetic, and emetic comes from the same Greek word. That means, get it out. It's not just spitting. It's a strong word.

Christ's rejection of their lukewarmness was to him nauseating. Do you see that? Christ's rejection of their lukewarmness was to him nauseating. To the Lord, indifference is worse than opposition. Indifference is worse than opposition. Nominal, apathetic, indifferent Christianity does not please Christ. He finds it repulsive and nauseating.

Then, in verse 17, let's take a look. And 18, 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." Now, let's take a look at what those two verses are saying. First of all, I think just to notice, worldly wealth can cloak spiritual poverty. It covers it up. It makes it look like it's not there.

Notice what Paul writes to the church at Colossae. And remember that Paul wanted his letter read in the church at Laodicea as well. He instructed them to read the same letter in Laodicea in chapter 4. He says in Colossians 2, 1-3, For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Do you get the picture of Paul's emphasis here? Even 45 years before this was stated by Christ in Revelation, Paul is writing about the same issue.

He's telling them, look, I know you guys are wealthy. I want you to understand what wealth is. And so he's writing to them, telling them, this is wealth that comes from a full assurance of understanding. A true knowledge of Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures. See, the Laodiceans knew about treasures. But they were thinking about the ones you have here on planet Earth. even 45 years before was trying to get across to these folks, you need to understand what's really valuable.

You see that? And they missed it. They missed it. For 45 years, they should have continued to read Paul's letter here and get the idea, but they didn't. So when Christ says to the Laodiceans that you are wretched, it means they were in an awful condition. See, they thought, man, I'm doing great. I've got money like crazy. We're doing fine. But he's saying, you are in a terrible shape.

This is the same word, by the way, that Paul uses in Romans 7 when he ends, oh, wretched man that I am. And that Romans 7 is a spiritual condition, isn't it? He was saying that folks at Laodicea are in the same kind of spiritual condition as the person at the end of Romans 7 that wants to do the right thing and can't, and loves the law but cannot live it, and is trying to do it on his own. He says, you folks at Laodicea are wretched, same as this person in Romans 7. Then he tells them they're miserable, which of course they were very glad to hear, right? I'm sure.

It means that they're worthy of extreme pity. They're miserable, they're worthy of extreme pity. That word was used in those days to describe people who had been invaded by a foreign army and pillaged and destroyed and everything burned and what wasn't burned was taken. That's the word that he uses that's translated miserable. It's really bad off. They were in the worst possible state when Christ tells them that they are poor. That word poor means a stooping beggar. You are stooping beggars. You may think you're wealthy, but you're stooping beggars. Desperately poor, it's used in other documents of those beggars who are scavenging for crumb. You get the picture?

Now, when Christ says that they are blind, he is likely to make reference to the fact that the Laodiceans produced a world-famous eye salve. They would take a powder nearby, and you saw those mineral springs? They'd take a powder from these mineral springs, they would mix that fine powder with olive oil, and they'd put it in these little containers. and then they would put a special stamp on the container. As a matter of fact, on the back of your handout you've got a picture of that stamp. I'll go ahead and put it on the overhead as well. They would take this stamp and they would stamp it on the little container so everybody knows that you have the official stuff.

It's called Phrygian eye powder and I'm not cursing. It's called Phrygian eye powder and they would take this stuff and they would take the salve and they would put it on the eyelids And that was supposed to help people that had some kind of an eye problem. I imagine occasionally it actually helped. But nonetheless, they were famous for having this Phrygian eye powder and this salve that they would put on there.

And no doubt Christ is referring to this because this is something they would very well relate to. You see, they were saying, hey man, we've got the best eye powder in the land. And he's saying, you don't see. We have what it takes to cure eye problems. And he says, I'm the one that has the only thing that can cure eye problems. He's talking spiritual eyes. Now, that's not all. He tells them that they're naked.

And one of the things we mentioned before, Laodicea was famous for its textile industry, right? They're thinking, man, when it comes to textiles and things to wear, nobody beats us. We're on top of the world. You see, there was a certain type of fabric that came to be known as Laodicean fabric. And everybody in all of the Roman Empire would say, oh, that's Laodicean fabric. They were famous for that. And not only that, they had a special kind of tunic, and I don't have it on, but they had a special kind of tunic called a trimedia. And it was so popular that the town Laodicea was nicknamed It was like, man, that's the place where these great tunics come from. It's some kind of fashion center or something.

But here's Christ telling them, look, you guys may have the most famous garments in the whole Roman Empire, but you're naked. Spiritually, you're naked. What's the problem? Positionally, you're clothed in Christ. Conditionally, you've forgotten it. Conditionally, you've forgotten it. that you have everything it takes, but you don't understand if you are not in your condition, close with me, you are spiritually naked. You're bad off.

Now, that's why in verse 18 he starts giving them advice. He's given them in verse 17, this is my assessment of where you're at. He says, and now I'm going to give you some advice. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich." See, they had lots of gold in the bank, right? It was a banking center. And he says, you'd better buy gold from me because I have riches that your gold can't cover. The truth is, they can't buy it, can they? None of this can they buy. None of this can they buy. But he's trying to get them to understand it is only by grace are these given. Let's continue on.

In white garments that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed. They were famous for all their textiles and garments, but what they really need spiritually could come only from Christ. The fact that they had these famous garments and famous textiles wouldn't afford them anything. They must come to Christ for the righteousness of Christ. Only He alone could be the source.

And next he says, to buy eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Well, we talked about the eye salve, right? He's saying, you've got the world famous eye salve, but I'm telling you, you will not see spiritually until you come to me. The truth is, they couldn't buy any of this stuff.

Christ knows that. But he's telling them, you may try to buy it, but the reality is, it's by grace. I'm the one who does the buying. It's free. But you must come to me. And that's the way the original Greek here is written. You buy from me is emphasized. Okay? You buy from me. He is the only one from whom they can buy. He is the only source of these things. Essential things.

Now, let's take a look at verse 19. The first half of it says, Those whom I love I reprove and discipline. And this sounds so much like Hebrews 12, And especially verse 6, Hebrews 12, 6 says, For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. Notice, first of all, that he says he loves them, both places. And incidentally, the Greek word is different there, but he says that he loves them. He is telling them that discipline, and the Greek word here means child training, is coming upon them. It's coming, folks. I love you. But I have to tell you this child training is coming. I have to tell you that this discipline is on its way.

Let's look at the second half of that verse. It says, therefore be zealous and repent. You see, he's exhorting them to be zealous, to have a zeal that they don't have now. They can stop being spiritually apathetic. He says, I want you no longer to be lukewarm. I want you to be zealous. And then he says, and repent.

Now this word repent has been used eight times in the first few chapters of Revelation that we've seen so far. This is the last time we're going to see it used like this. We'll be looking at this later. It's used four more times in the book of Revelation and each time afterwards it's did not repent is the statement. So this is the last time repent is given as an exhortation to the churches. After that, the four times that the word repent is used, it's a statement. Did not repent. And it's used exclusively during the tribulation period. Okay? We'll see that in a bit.

I think there's something really important for us to look at in repentance, though. What has happened in a lot of churches is that repentance has gotten really mixed up and confused as to what it means. So let's take a look. You see, the English word sometimes can convey this idea of sorrow and contrition. We feel bad about it, right? But the Greek idea focuses more on a total change of thought and behavior based on a fundamental different understanding, a different valuing of things. Everything about our thinking is different because we value things differently.

It is not just a vow, we'll never do that again. It's not just really feeling bad about something. It's not just feeling bad because you got caught. That's not repentance. It isn't, I'm going to sign up for this list of legalism. It's not that, is it? And the reason why I focus on this, let me come down and just make an emphasis, Repentance is not something God says to do because He loves to see us cower and shiver. Repentance is something that God wants because the Lord wants fellowship with us.

He wants us to behold Him. And the sin that is in the way is getting in the way of the fellowship. That's what He's looking for. The end result of repentance is, yes, there will be zeal, but as we'll see in a little bit, the focus is on fellowship. The Lord wants us to fellowship with him. And no halfway repentance, no repentance that comes out of the flesh is going to suffice, because no repentance out of the flesh will lead us to a place of fellowship with the Lord.

You will see churches where people, they'll have people, you know, called up to these You know, altar calls and things like that. And it happens again and again and again. And I'm not saying that that's uniformly wrong. But the point is, is if we're just looking for people to get real emotional, if we're just looking for people to sign up to a list of things they're going to do and not do, we've missed the point. And Christ doesn't focus on that here either. Do you notice that?

He says, I'm looking for fellowship with you. Let's take a look at the next part here. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me." How many of you have heard this verse before as a salvation invitation? Quite a few, I'm sure. The truth is, I don't believe this is a salvation invitation. I'm not saying that it isn't somehow a nice illustration that may be somewhat useful from that standpoint. But I don't think that's the way it's intended in this context. First of all, he told them in the verse before that he loves them. And that word love he's used typically has to do with a relationship that's already there. And you can't have a relationship if you're not saved. Okay? First of all, It was the custom in those days, you don't just, like today what we do is we knock on the door and then you see who it is. The custom in those days was to knock while you're saying who you are. Okay?

And you'll find an example of that Acts 12, 13, and 14. Peter goes up to the door. Remember, he's getting out of jail. And he knocks and calls out who he is. And the servant took off and left the door closed. Kind of strange. But that's the custom in those days. And that's why it says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice, it's because he's doing the custom of the day. Knocking and calling out. He's saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, while he's knocking. Now, he is appealing to believers here who already have a relationship with him, but with whom he wants fellowship.

He's telling the folks at Laodicea, I have a relationship with you. When I call out my name, you know who I am, but you're not opening the door. What we're missing, believers in Laodicea, is fellowship. We have the relationship, but fellowship is absolutely missing. Here I am, in terms of fellowship, standing on the outside, and I'm continually knocking, and I'm continually calling out my name. The way the Greek is structured It's behold I stand at the door and knock. It's behold I have been already standing at the door and I am now continuously knocking. Okay? That's the way the Greek senses come out there.

He told them He loves them. Now He's looking for fellowship. Christ desires fellowship with us and that's His point with them. He says to repent. His point is not that they suddenly sign up for a list of things to do. Not, boy, I'm going to get busy in the church. Not, boy, I'm going to do all the right stuff and I'm going to stop doing all the wrong things.

But instead, he's saying, I desire fellowship with you. If you'll listen to my voice and open up, I will come and respond. The Lord always desires fellowship. The response on our part is what's needed. Let me take a little bit of a side trip. From time to time you will hear believers singing songs about, you know, Lord come back, send the Holy Spirit on me, and those kinds of things. The Lord is always waiting there to fellowship.

It's not Him that's the problem. The problem is on our end. He's always been standing right there. We don't need to call and beg and invite that He'll come back. The problem is on our end, not His. He's not left. We're the ones who have the door closed, and we just need to listen to the knock, listen to the voice, and seek fellowship with Him. That's what the Lord desires. That's what He wants. In verse 21, He says, He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Ephesians 1.19, the last half of the verse and into verse 20, says, These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might, that's the Father's might. We know that from verse 17. Verse 20, which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Christ has been seated in the heavenly places.

Now, with that as a preface, we go on to Ephesians 2.4-7. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace we have been saved, he tells them, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Positionally, He has already accomplished this seeding. That's what He's told us here in Ephesians 2. In terms of our eternal position, that's already a done deal. We have been seeded with Christ.

What He is telling the church here at Laodicea is, look, those of you who are believers, there will come a time when what you now understand by faith will come in reality and faith will no longer be a part of it. Right now, what we just read in Ephesians 2, we believe it by faith. It's a fact by faith. A time will come we will see the Lord face to face and that faith will no longer be a part.

He's giving them this promise here, you will sit down. Our condition and our position right now can be in two different places, can't they? And that is the problem with the church in Laodicea. Their position wasn't at issue, but their condition sure was, wasn't it? You see the difference?

There will come a time, he's promising them, when he says, you will sit with me and there will be no tension between your position and your condition. It will be complete, full reality. You will sit with me. You will be enthroned with me as I am with the Father. You will share that with me. It will be an eternal reality because we will see him as he is.

In verse 22, he comes with a phrase he's been using at the end of each message, but it's here as valuable as ever. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let's pray. Lord, certainly we can see how the things that you said to the church at Laodicea were amazingly relevant, point by point, how it fit to their understanding of things and it fit to their spiritual condition. And we just would pray for us, Lord, that as fits, we would hear what the Spirit is now saying to the churches and that we would be responsive.

And Lord, We just pray that you would keep us from getting distracted about what really counts. In the end, what you are seeking is fellowship. In the end, we will be seated with you. And it will be beyond a time when faith will even be needed to verify the fact that we will see you as you are. And Lord, we just pray that you would bring all these truths home, open our eyes to see and ears to hear. In Jesus' name, Amen.