CHURCH AT LAODICEA

Sermon of the Week #200809 – March 2, 2008

In Revelation 3:20 we read, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”

The New Testament tells us in the book of Acts, the history of how the Church began after the ascension of Jesus to sit at the right hand of God, leaving us the promise of His coming again.

It was on the Day of Pentecost the gospel was first preached in its fullness, namely the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and three thousand believers, repented and were baptized for the remission of sins, and receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The epistle written to the Church at Laodicea in Revelation the third chapter gives the insights of Jesus about a church consisting of real people in the first century who were amazingly just like many in churches of the twenty-first century in America today.

It was to this Church that Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me.”

There were two sounds given in this invitation: the knock, and the voice. The voice identified the knocker. A person might ignore a knock, but to ignore the voice of Jesus is to walk on a slippery slope. Remember, Jesus said He was the Shepherd of the sheep; the sheep hear His voice. He calleth His sheep by name and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. It appears the sheep in Laodicea ignored the voice of the shepherd, and that is why Jesus told them, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

In fact, the Laodicea Church was the only church out of seven that was not accused of false doctrine. The reason they had no false doctrine was because they were lukewarm, and did not have enough conviction to be concerned about doctrine of any kind: either true, or false. They never did anything against the Church, and neither do they do anything for the Church. They simply did not care one way, or the other.

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Someone asked a certain preacher if it is a sin to drink coffee? He said, “Not as long as it is hot, black, and plenty of it.” That is the way Jesus likes His Church. He would rather have it hot or cold than lukewarm. Yet He still stands without and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

In that sense the Church must be in the mouth of Jesus before He can spew it out. The Church preaches the Bible message, and there is not much the Lord can say through a lukewarm Church, and that is saying a whole lot about their spiritual condition. Remember, the Lord said that in the last days the love of the many shall wax cold. Yet He still stands without, and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

The Lord has a lot to say to the world about salvation. But what can He say through a Church that is indifferent to the Word on the plan of salvation, and believes it doesn’t make any difference what you believe, just so you are sincere. Such a Church makes Jesus sick, and yet He still stands without and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Jesus has a lot to say to the world about contribution of money, but what can He say through a Church where most spend more on entertainment than the Kingdom of God? Yet Jesus still stands without and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Jesus has a lot to say to the world about the contents of the Bible. But what can He say to the world through a Church that is composed of people who never read the Bible, and whose preacher never preaches it? Such a Church makes Jesus sick, and yet He stands without and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Jesus has a lot to say to the world about Christian unity. But what can He say to the world through a Church that is splintered and torn by division, and each splinter claims that it is the one true Church? Such a Church makes the Lord sick, and yet He still stands without and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Actually it is amazing that this church could be so indifferent when we note that Paul wrote to a nearby Church of the Colossians, and told the Colossians after they read His epistle to cause it to be read also at the Church of the Laodiceans. It is in that epistle that Paul spoke of such matters of setting your affections on things that are above and not the things of the earth; also how we have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. It is in that epistle that Paul told how we are buried with Him in baptism wherein ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. The Laodiceans believed all Paul said in that epistle which was written for their benefit as well as ours, but paid little attention to it. And yet He stands without and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

It really was a rich city. In 79 AD a Roman stadium was dedicated to the Emperor Vespasian, where the Laodicean Leopards could play the Pergamos Ponies. That was the great passion of the Laodiceans at the time John wrote Revelation. Times have not changed all that much and still both then and now, Jesus stands without and pleads, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

What can the Lord say, or do with a Church like that? This is the Church as Jesus sees it in the twenty-first century. Jesus saw the Church at Laodicea as a lukewarm Church, but the church at Laoadicea saw themselves, as a rich Church.

RICH CHURCH

They actually said, “I am rich and have gotten riches and have need of nothing.” Jesus did not agree. He said, “You are not only, not rich; you are poor, blind and naked.”

There are some things money cannot buy. A report in a national magazine gave the names of the forty richest men in the United States history. Only three are still alive. The average age at death of the thirty-seven was 72 years. Every one of them was worth billions and yet with all that wealth they could not buy, even one year of extra time. While I do not know their spiritual condition, and relationship with the Lord, if they could not buy one more minute of life here on earth with all their billions, what chance do they have of buying eternal life beyond the grave, apart from the shed blood of Jesus Christ?

Use your money while you’re living, do not hoard it to be proud. You can never take it with you--there’s no pocket in a shroud.

And this is amazing; we live in the richest age of all times. There never was a time, place, or generation, where we would have been born and given more than the Church in this time, place, and generation. Some people used to live behind what was called the iron curtain, and some, like us today live behind the plush curtain. Thou sayest, “I am rich,” but Jesus says, “You are poor,” but He really wants us to be rich. He said, “Buy of Me gold that you may be rich.”

Jesus wants us to be rich. He wants us to have gold, and He tells us where we can get it. He said, “Buy it from Me.” Jesus is qualified to make that statement; are not the streets of Heaven paved with gold? He has plenty of it. Peter tells us how we can get this 24,000-karat gold in his first epistle. He says, “It is the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire.” Your faith is gold if you pay the price. He said, “Buy it from Me.” How can you buy it? Spend, spend, spend, your time with His Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, and that kind of faith is pure gold.

Then He said, “You are also naked.” Jesus looks upon the well-dressed twenty-first century Church as a spiritual nudist colony. Jesus said, “Thou art naked.” He sees it as a naked Church.

The church at Laodicea was naked like Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve made aprons of fig leaves, and thought they were clothed, but when God came calling, they hid themselves amongst the trees of the Garden, because they realized that before God, they were indeed naked.

Some might think they are properly clothed now with good works; but when the Lord who died for them appears at His return, like Adam and Eve they will know they are naked, and there won’t be any place to hide. The prophecy in the book of Daniel will come to pass, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame, and contempt.” Jesus died upon the cross, naked so that we might be spiritually clothed, and not stand there naked before the assembled host of glory. Paul teaches us in the book of Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.”

He also said they were blind, and needed to buy some eye salve from Him. The people of that time in Laodicea had developed something called Phrygian eye salve. I do not know what that eye salve was, but it appears Jesus is the only one who has the real eye salve, and He has it for sale. He said they needed to buy some from Him. Whatever eye salve is it will help you see better. The only eye salve I know is the Word of God, and the more time you spend on it the better your vision will be in seeing spiritual things. I read the verse to a man where Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” He looked at it, and read it himself, and then said, “I don’t see it.” I think he needed to buy some of that eye salve Jesus has for sale.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to Him, and will sup with him, and He with Me. To Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.”

When Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” He was not talking about the person outside the Church; He was talking to the people inside the Church. The picture is the picture of Jesus standing outside His own Church trying to get in. The modern-day Church is a Church where the Lord Himself does not feel welcomed. They have gathered in services to worship Jesus, and He is not allowed in. But He has not gone far away; He stands just outside and He continues to knock, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Sweetly the tones are falling

Open the door for me;

If thou wilt heed My calling

I will abide with thee.

So open the door because your soul is like a house. It may have several doors: a back door, a front door and a side door. At which door does the Savior knock at the house of your soul? He may knock at the door of intellect. If you think about it, you know there must be a God. If you admit there is a God, it seems logical that God would not leave us without instructions as to what He expects of us. What other instructions could there be but the Bible? Again, He may knock at the providential door; you get sick, have an accident, and have the death of a loved one. And you hear the knock on the door of your soul. Then again it may be that the Lord may knock on the door of conscience. You read the Bible, or hear a sermon, maybe this radio broadcast, and you hear the knock of Jesus on the door of your heart.

Sweetly the tones are falling

Open the door for Me

If thou wilt heed My calling

I will abide with thee.

Although Jesus is standing at the door of your soul and knocks, He will yet stand there again and knock on another occasion. Let Luke tell us the words of Jesus on that matter, “Let your loins be girded about, and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their Lord, when He shall return from the marriage feast: that when He cometh and knocketh, ye may straightway open unto Him.” At the Second Coming, or at death, you will hear His voice, and you will open the door when He stands at the door and knocks.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock, gives the impression that the Lord wants to get into His Church and yet there is the warning too, when we consider what James said, “Behold, the Judge standeth at the doors.”

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. The amazing thing about this statement is the way the next chapter begins. Think of it. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” and then the very next statement in the next chapter is, “After these things I saw, and behold, a door was opened in Heaven.” If we as a Church will open the door, and let Jesus in, He will open the door of Heaven and let us in.

When the scriptures were first written there were no chapter and verse divisions. Before the time when verse and chapter divisions were inserted, these verses would read like this, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me. He that overcometh I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, even as I overcame and sat down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches, after these things I saw and behold, a door opened in Heaven.” So when we open the door down here for Jesus, He will open the door up there for us. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

In the silent midnight watches, List thy bosom door

How it knocketh, knocketh, knocketh, knocking evermore.

Say not thy pulse is beating, Tis thy heart of sin;

Tis thy Savior knocks and crieth, rise and let Me in.

Death comes on with reckless footsteps to the hall or hut

Think you death will tarry knocking where the door is shut.

Jesus waiteth, waiteth, waiteth, but the door is fast;

Grieved away thy Savior goeth: Death breaks in at last.

Then tis time to stand entreating Christ to let thee in;

At the gate of Heaven beating, waiting in thy sin.

Nay, alas thou guilty creature: hast thou then forgot?

Jesus waited long to know thee, Now He knows thee not.

He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.