Transcription
Gone through a bit of agony trying to decide what theme to pursue this week. I um, worked for a while on a series concerning Christian witness and service. I considered the possibility of a series on sanctification. I considered a series on how to know God's will in your life, and a series on The Parables of Jesus, which I've ended up talking to the teachers in the mornings this week about. And I considered sharing what little I know about marriage and family. And finally have come up with none of the above.
Now, if I missed my signals and somewhere along the line someone has a burden concerning any of these areas that I have uh indicated, please write me a note if you feel impressed, and I'll listen carefully to that. But instead, I have chosen to begin tonight in a uh, sort of a launching pad that takes us several directions, and uh, I'm impressed that it has much to do with your motto that I see up here behind me. I'm sorry I wasn't here for the weekend; I was out of town. But uh, I like the motto.
So if you will turn with me to Revelation the thir chapter, and then if you would sing with me a little song that's an Oldtimer and yet it has a real message to the heart. I love to sing it a cappella. If you know it, I hope you'll join quickly so I don't have to sing a solo.
"I know not why God's wondrous Grace to me he hath made known,
Nor how unworthy Christ in love redeemed me for his own;
But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."
Do you know the song? "I know whom I have belied." I always had problems with singing it that way, but I guess that's what you're supposed to do. Let's try it and see how we sound together.
"I know not why God's wondrous Grace to me he hath made known,
Nor how unworthy Christ in love redeemed me for his own;
But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day."
Thank you. If you have heard that for the first time, we look forward to more help tomorrow night. Revelation 3, beginning with verse 14:
"Unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write these things, saith he Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."
Who is this who's the Amen, the faithful and true witness? Jesus. And we are reading from Jesus' own book. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not Jesus' own books, but Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Revelation from Jesus Christ, and it's the message to the Laodiceans. Verse 15:
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot."
"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
This evening, please consider with me the two parts of this message, and we've just read the first one, verses 15 to 17, and it is a rebuke. You'll have to admit it doesn't sound too encouraging. There's not a great deal of patting of our backs in these verses, and it shows up that lukewarm is worse than even cold. And uh, rich, increased with goods, have need of nothing and don't know it, don't know it.
Now we all know in the history of the Christian Church, according to the study of Revelation, that Laodicea is the last Church up until shortly before Jesus comes. Let's consider just what it is that makes a Laodicean a Laodicean, and then we'll go on to the good news and the counsel to this church. Laodicea is known for its lukewarmness. Laity in church is a lukewarm church, but it's God's church, and that is interesting and encouraging, right to begin with. If it wasn't God's church, he wouldn't have some special counsel for that church. The Laodicean is lukewarm. What makes lukewarm lukewarm is a combination of hot and cold. You turn on the spot on the right, you get cold; the one on the left, you get hot. You turn on equal parts of each, and you get lukewarm.
Now that doesn't give us a whole lot of a clue, because for a Laodicean person it would be rather ridiculous to say that they are hot on the left side and cold on the right side. But we have a little clue in Jesus' own teaching to the people of his day that tell us how you get hot and cold together in the Laodicean, or the lukewarm. Matthew 23, which we may study a little more later, is one of the hardest hitting, striking out at the religious people, leaders of his day, that uh, Jesus ever did. I have gone through Matthew 23, and I have tried to say those phrases that he said with tears in my voice, because when Jesus struck out at people he had tears in his voice. And I ask you plainly, my friend, how do you call people hypocrites and whited sepulchers and snakes and sons of snakes with tears in your voice? I always get gravel in my throat when I use those phrases; it just doesn't seem to work for me. But Jesus evidently had a knack and a pathos or whatever it was that could come through with phrases like that and tears in his voice. But you'll find Matthew 23 one of the hardest hitting chapters in all the Gospels, and he said in the middle of it, he said uh, the problem with you people is that you are like these whited sepulchers that you go out and and paint every Memorial Day Weekend. Evidently they had that sort of thing going; they would mix up their bucket of whitewash and go to the cemetery, to the tombs of the prophets, and uh, there they would splash on some whitewash, and then they'd say, "My, wasn't it terrible what our fathers did to these wonderful prophets," and then they'd cry and carry on and splash on some more whitewash until they had emptied their buckets, and then they would proceed back to Jerusalem where they would make plans for the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus said, "You yourselves are are like these sepulchers; you look good on the outside, but inside you're full of dead men's bones."
So we have an answer to what it is that makes a lukewarm person. A lukewarm person is a combination of one who apparently is hot on the outside, but he's cold on the inside. He does all of the right things for all of the wrong reasons. Isn't this safe to say that's the issue? And Laodicean people are strong people. Let's never forget that. You can't be a weak person and be a Laodicean. You've got to be a strong person. Why? Because weak people don't look that hot on the outside. The weak people are the ones who uh are continually falling and failing, not only on the inside but the outside as well. They're the ones that end up in jail; they're the ones that end up persona non grata in good moral society. It takes a strong person to be a good Laodicean, because that Laodicean is the one whose life is really not that much different from the world on the inside, but he has enough grit and backbone and willpower and self-discipline to tow a hard line, you see, and uh, develop a good reputation as a church member, uh, maybe even be a church officer or church leader sometimes. Have you ever considered on what basis we choose our leaders in church elections and so forth? You know, we uh find it so easy to consider people in terms of talent, in terms of how gregarious they are, how uh well they get along with people, um, how much they can help the cause maybe financially, uh, we choose them on the basis of their morality and their ethics and their good track record. But do we really put number one on the list, their spiritual life? Is that a fair question? So um, you can be, if you're a strong-willed person, you can be a good Laodicean. Now I don't want to dwell on the Laodiceans too long, except to point out that um, there is no reward when Jesus comes for the lukewarm people. There is no reward. We uh know that when Jesus comes there are only going to be two kinds of people, right? And they are characterized by different labels in Scripture: here the hot and the cold, or the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish, on and on we go, but only two. When Jesus comes, he has his reward to bring to every person, but the rewards are for only two groups of people. There is no such thing as a lukewarm reward for the lukewarm; no lukewarm Lake of Fire or anything like that. It is not, it is not in Scripture. But how many people in a church called Laodicea would you have to have in order for the church to be called Laodicea in the Bible? Now you know just from logic and reason, if you're going to have a church that is known for its lukewarmness, how many people in that church would have to be lukewarm? The majority; at least 51%. If it was 51% of some other strain, why it would be known by that, wouldn't it? So you're going to have the majority of people in that last church until shortly before Jesus comes being lukewarm, and we ought to face that fact, be realistic about it. There's no point in hiding our heads in the sand over it, which means that um, you have a lot of Laodicean people in congregations here and there. You would have um, you'd have Laodiceans in institutions; you'd have lukewarm people perhaps teaching Sabbath School classes; uh, you could have some lukewarm preachers; is that possible? You could have some lukewarm leaders. I mean, if it's a democratic uh system, why the lukewarm are going to put in their own, aren't they, for leaders? And so the lukewarm are going to be in charge; they're going to be running the outfit. Let's face it. In other words, the Laodicean church is going to be soaked through with lukewarm people, and uh, that could be very discouraging, except for the fact that the Lord Jesus, who wrote this book and this information, knew all about it hundreds of years before it happened. He wasn't taken by surprise; he predicted that it would come; he was ready for it. And tonight we, who could very likely be among that church, can take courage because God had a word for us. Now there's no reason to get uptight and get discouraged about it and get hurt, because here is special information for this church, isn't that true? Now the main thing that God has a burden about, apparently, is that the church that doesn't know it, find out about it. That's the first thing; that's why we choose to dwell on it here a little bit.
Well now, if up until shortly before Jesus comes you have hot and cold and lukewarm, three groups of people, and the lukewarm is the bigger, but at at the time that Jesus actually does come you only have two groups of people, then you are faced with a very fascinating question: what happens to lukewarm people by the time Jesus comes? Obviously, then there's only one answer: lukewarm people go one way or the other, right? One way or the other; they either go cold or hot. That's the option; there is no other option. And the time when lukewarm people go one way or the other, believe me, is going to be a very traumatic time, a very solid time. And the reason that I'm interested in going into it a little bit tonight is because I think that that time is here and it's going on every day, and it's becoming more pronounced every day. Are you aware that we are polarizing? There is no middle ground that's going to last much longer. The fence riders are leaving the fence. Sometimes we talk about, "Let's be well balanced and let's stay in the middle of the road." I'd like to assure you that the middle of the road is the wrong place in Laodicea. If you're going to be the right place on the road at the time of Laodicea, you're going to be way over on the right, not in the middle.
Now what is it that causes these people to go one way or the other? Let's move on to verse 18, where we have one verse of counsel:
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."
This is Jesus talking. This is the counsel to Laodicea. See, God in his love never rebukes people or gets on their case without coming with counsel. He doesn't wound without providing the means to bind up our wounds; he doesn't hurt without providing oil and wine to pour into the hurt. And that's what's nice in this passage about the love of God. Then the first verses, verses 15-17, the rebuke is followed by verse 18, the counsel. Part A is the rebuke; Part B is the counsel. What is Part A? What is it? All right, what's Part B? The counsel. What was Part B again? The counsel. Thank you, class. And just in case someone missed it, Part B is the counsel to Laodicea. Have you heard that Part B was the counsel to Laodicea? You now I wanted to run that into the ground for a specific reason, which you'll notice in a moment. However, what is the ingredient list here on the council?
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire."
You students of Daniel, Revelation, what is the gold? Go ahead and say it like a bunch of good admins: gold of faith and love. And what is the white raiment? Christ's righteousness. Have you heard anything about that lately? And what is the eyesalve? It has to do with spiritual discernment that is brought by the Holy Spirit; oil representing the Holy Spirit, the golden oil. Maybe you read that book on the Holy Spirit. Well, let's just put it into a short sentence: what basically is the counsel to lukewarm people? It is that they need, right, the righteousness of Christ by faith, which works by love, and the whole thing mediated by the Holy Spirit. Isn't that right? Isn't that it? So please put it down in your little black book that the counsel to Laodicea is the need for righteousness by faith; it works by love, and it involves the Holy Spirit.
Are you aware that you don't have to talk about the Holy Spirit to talk about the Holy Spirit? We um, we've been talking some about the Holy Spirit in our lessons, and where I was this weekend we got into a discussion as to whether or not we should spend time, more time talking about the Holy Spirit. Now the Bible says the Holy Spirit speaks not of himself; he glorifies Christ. There's more than one meaning to that phrase, but um, I would like to propose that if we spent too much time talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit himself might get nervous. The Holy Spirit's function and purpose is to point us to Christ. There is nothing he'd rather do than to glorify Christ and point us to Christ. Therefore, when you talk about Christ, when you talk about faith, when you talk about the righteousness of Jesus, when you talk about love, you are talking about the Holy Spirit, because he's the great medium through which all this happens in our life. And so, although it is well and good and proper to spend time talking about the Holy Spirit, there must be a spirit-led balance of when to quit, or the spirit himself may get nervous, you see. And it is possible to talk about the Holy Spirit a great deal without ever mentioning his name.
Well now, at this point it becomes extremely meaningful to um, to read an inspired vision. I'd like to invite you to read the whole thing carefully. I just take a few excerpts. It's a vision that was given a long time ago, recorded in one of the first books that was given to this church by the special gift that God provided; early writings. But the uh passage is just as relevant today as it was then, because it's talking about something that happens at the very end, just before Jesus comes. And we have been at the very end, just before Jesus comes, for over 100 years, haven't we? Haven't we? I heard a preacher preach a sermon, "How near is near?" We have been near for over 100 years. Well, more on that later. When you read this passage, Early Writings, page 269, titled "The Shaking," you um, you come up with the last-day events that take place within the life of people internally and experientially. Now I'm interested in what happens in the Middle East and the Far East and the Near East and all the East, but I am much more interested in what happens on the inside of people, internally and experientially. I am in things happening internationally and politically, and that's what's fascinating about this passage; it gives you the sequence of events taking place in the lives of people just before Jesus comes. Listen to the way it follows:
"I saw some with strong faith and agonizing cries pleading with God."
What kind of people? Strong faith. Don't miss that.
"Their countenances were pale and marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads."
Now this is extremely encouraging. I used to think that people who had agonizing cries and pale countenances and deep anxiety and internal struggles and large drops of perspiration were people that were living far from God; that's why they had all that problem, see. And um, guess who I thought qualified? Any ideas? I kid you not, I've had my share of deep anxiety and large drops of perspiration. One of the big reasons that I am so interested in the great theme of Christ's righteousness is because I need it so much. And I thought that if I went through all these kind of problems that I must be far from God. And that's why I like this simple description: you can be strong in faith and still have deep anxiety. I'm glad to hear that. And then it says:
"Now and then their faces would light up with the marks of God's approbation. When all the time, now and then and again the same solemn, earnest, anxious look would settle upon them. Evil angels crowded around, pressing darkness upon them to shut out Jesus. Notice their main purpose: to shut out Jesus from their view. As these praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray of light from Jesus came to them to encourage their hearts; at times, not all the time. At times, when the heavens hang as brass over your head, take courage; there will be, there be a time when your hearts will become light again and your countenance will light up as well."
All right, that's one group of people, and obviously now we are into the polarization; it's a description of this polarization if you haven't caught it yet. Notice how it becomes very clear in the next sentence:
"Some I saw did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading with God. They seemed indifferent and careless. The angels of God left these. The angels of God left these and went to the aid of the earnest praying ones. I saw angels of God hasten to the assistance of all, all who were calling upon God with perseverance, but his angels left those who made no effort, and I lost sight of them."
Now I realize that this is a different group than the typical cross-section of lukewarm people. Uh, I don't want to fall into the pit of being like the Sabbath School Superintendent gets after all the people who weren't on time, and the only people who here are the ones that are on time. Um, I realize that um, these are not lukewarm people I'm talking to tonight; they're home watching television. And anyway, one who would go out of the way to go to a camp meeting, although it gets a little tricky here at, you know, some of us feel it's like living at a resort here, and we even toy around with the temptation of life tenure and all that sort of thing. But um, by and large I must acknowledge that I must not be talking to lukewarm people. So please use what I'm talking about tonight for your lukewarm friends. Will you do that? But here you have this group of people who uh did not participate in seeking God. Angels of God left them, and you find in the end that the Holy Spirit leaves them as well. The angels leave one group and double around the other; the Holy Spirit leaves one group and doubles around the other. What are these groups?
You know, some years ago I took a number of surveys of several hundreds of church members in different churches and uh found out to my surprise that only one out of four spent any time at all, even five minutes a day in personal uh devotion and prayer and study of God's word. Only one out of four. For some time I have wondered and worried about whether my survey was correct. I hoped it wasn't, but I was even more amazed recently to hear Dr. ______ from Andrews University, who has taken a much more extensive and exhaustive survey, come up with only one out of five in our church who has any time for fellowship with God in prayer and the study of his word day by day. I uh, I don't apologize for talking about our need for this, because that is our biggest problem, is it not? That's our biggest problem. Our problem isn't money; our problem isn't missionaries; our problem isn't means to finish the work; our problem is that we've got too heavy, we've had too heavy of a cross-section of good Laodicean for too long, and that's why we're still here. But after this author had seen these two groups, she became curious, and she says:
"I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the true witness to the Laodiceans."
Now do you understand why I tried to focus on that a few minutes ago? It's the counsel to the Laodiceans that causes the shaking, the polarization that we we see here described and that we are noticing more and more today. Let's get more specific: what is it that causes Laodicea to get shaken up? It is the message that they need the righteousness of Christ by faith that works by love and is mediated by the Holy Spirit. That shakes people up; that shakes Laodicea; that shakes lukewarm people. They get shook over that. Isn't it clear? No wonder we have all kinds of ebb and flow in the present tide, and we haven't seen the end of it at all, only the beginning. Why there are so many voices and so many people wondering what's up in the church today. Do you know that this is one of the greatest evidences that Jesus' coming is right upon us, because this is the last thing that happens just before Jesus comes. This is a sign that makes the sun, moon, and stars look like antiques. And it says the counsel of the true witness, our need of Christ's righteousness, will have its effect upon the heart. People who have been cold on the inside, even though they looked hot on the outside, they will be affected by this kind of emphasis on the inside. Some will not bear this testimony; they will rise up against it. Have we lived to see that day? And this is what will cause a shaking among God's people. A shaking among who? God's people. That's still encouraging, isn't it? God's people. And then it says something rather startling:
"I saw that the testimony of the true witness has not been half-hearted. The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded."
And that was written in a day when, if any, we would expect the fervor of the Pioneers to still be running high. What about today? Well, this leads us to a heavy-duty question. I ask you plainly, my friend, why would anyone who professes to be a Christian at all get shook over the need of Christ's righteousness and faith and love and the Holy Spirit? Why would anyone get shaken up over that? Why? You'd expect that the the person who knows the least thing about Christianity and the religion of Christ, why he would be most in favor of those. Why would he get shaken up over that? There's only one answer: it's because lukewarm people have had their security in something else. Their security has not been in Christ's righteousness and faith in him and his love in the Holy Spirit. They have been basing their security and their hope upon something else, right? And what is it they've been basing their hope upon? Their performance, their behavior, their works. It's just that simple. And that was the problem of the religious people in the days of Christ. Did you know that we are very similar to them? That again and again the um, inspired Messenger to this church was told that we, just before Jesus' coming, are very similar to the religious people just before the coming of Christ, First Advent. And when Jesus came along and talked about the need of self-surrender, giving up on ourselves, giving up on the idea that we can do anything, anything to ever earn or merit God's grace or favor, when he uh indicated that the substance of his teachings was self-surrender, they said, "We don't need this man around; let's get rid of him." Why? Because he toppled their sand castles, and he pulled the rug out from underneath them. They had thought that they could get into heaven on the basis of the good lives they had lived and all the bad things they hadn't done. But Jesus pointed out, and it still comes clear today, that the real issue in sin is not sinning; it is in living our spotless lives apart from Jesus. That's the issue. And so the moral people, the strong-willed people that comprise Laodicea, get shaken by a message that says, "Look, your only hope is in Jesus Christ." That's all. Isn't this clear? That's very fascinating that we're seeing it; we're seeing it today, and it shows up in all different colors, but it's here; that's very obvious if your eyes are open. But the the interesting thing is that when this shaking time comes, this polarization time, it happens not only in the church that you know of, but it happens everywhere; it happens in the world everywhere. And as the rising message of Jesus as our only hope continues to be sounded forth, people go one way or the other; one way or the other. Whenever Jesus is lifted up, there is either a revival or a riot. People never stay the same. Paul, either a revival or a riot, because he determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ. This idea that you know, "Let's just have a message that will keep the ship running smoothly and everyone comfortable," uh, that's not it at all, is it? People have to go one way or the other. That's precisely what happens just before Jesus comes. I ask you tonight, which way are you going? I think you know which way you're going, don't you? Do you know which way you are polarizing? I believe deep down in our own hearts, in our solemn quiet moments, we know the answer to that. And we live in a time when if we are going cold and um, we are momentarily brought to our senses, we can still go hot instead. But it's harder and harder every day to change direction and go back. We're also living in a time when if we are going hot that we're finding it harder and harder to turn and go cold too. And that's encouraging, isn't it? But it's here, and it's going down through the middle of churches; it's going down through the middle of institutions; it's going down through the middle of groups; and it's going down through the middle of families. I have talked with families who um had a united home for a period of time because they both believe the same way. You can have two atheists who have a united home, right? They're both atheists. You can have two lukewarm people who have a united home; they're both lukewarm; they have have that in common. Beautiful. Well, beautiful doesn't either. You could have two people who believe the same thing, even though it's wrong. I saw an MTO in someone's kitchen the other day; said, "Anybody who hates kids and dogs can't be all that bad." All right, let's suppose that you...
Have two people that are both united on that, all right? Then they have a happy union together because they're united on something, even though it's wrong. But when you have two lukewarm people who have been united, and they come to a forks in the road, and one goes hot and the other goes cold, you're going to have problems. You follow me? You're going to have problems. And we're seeing it today; let's be realistic. We're seeing that, and people who have got along rather well for years suddenly find conflict.
Let me ask you: when a person is really close to Jesus, and um, someone else that they're with is not, who is the most uncomfortable? The one who is not. That's right; that's the one who gets the most uneasy. And so this shaking time is going on, and it's having its effect. But I'm thankful tonight that the door of probation is still open, and that you and I have the privilege of listening to Jesus' friendly words when he says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hear my voice and will open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me." Isn't that good news? That's the conclusion of this passage, but perhaps we'll um, cast around a bit more in the passage to see what else we can get from it as we proceed tomorrow.
In the meantime, I know not why God's wondrous grace to me he has made known, nor how unworthy Christ in love redeemed me for his own. But I know the one I've believed in, and I'm persuaded that he is able. Are you persuaded that he is able? Shall we pray?
Dear Father in heaven, we are not—we're not able—but you are. And we pray that you'll teach us more and more how to trust in your enduring might, your power. Thank you for the good news that Jesus is our righteousness. We pray that you'll increase our faith, teach us to really love, and send the Holy Spirit to do all that he wants to do with us. Be with each one here who looks toward heaven for help tonight. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.