SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning, church family.
SPEAKER_00: Let's try again.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church family.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, there are people in the room.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so I'm just gonna go ahead and break the ice.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new with us today, my name is not Cody Hale.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Andrew.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the worship pastor here.
SPEAKER_00: Cody is our new lead pastor, and he starts with us.
SPEAKER_00: He'll be starting teaching next week.
SPEAKER_00: He is at a speaking engagement today that he had planned long before we hired him as our senior pastor.
SPEAKER_00: And so, church family, when he is here next week, not only are we gonna hear him preach, but he is actually gonna have his family here as they're trying to get everything sorted out and squared away for them to move here.
SPEAKER_00: And then after that, later that evening, we're gonna have Orchard Outdoors.
SPEAKER_00: So I promise you, next week is gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss next week.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so last week uh we had our um founding pastor Sam Shaw come and preach his last sermon for us as our interim.
SPEAKER_00: He has been interiming, interiming, I can't even say that word correctly, interiming, is that even a verb uh for us for a number of months now and has helped us through this last season like crazy.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it was such a joy to hear him.
SPEAKER_00: He preached last week from Revelation 1.
SPEAKER_00: And what's really neat is in 2010, when Sam planted the orchard, he preached from Revelation 1.
SPEAKER_00: And he got to preach from it again last week.
SPEAKER_00: And I guarantee you, if you go back and watch it, you will be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: If you missed last week, I really urge you to go back and listen to it.
SPEAKER_00: But the the really neat thing that Sam left us with is looking at Revelation 1, all of us either have, currently are, or will face that moment when we feel that hand on our shoulder, and Jesus says to us, Hey, it's me.
SPEAKER_00: I know you.
SPEAKER_00: We've met.
SPEAKER_00: Don't don't forget that I'm the one with the keys to death in Hades.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have anything to fear.
SPEAKER_00: Now get up.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to get the word out.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Sam left us with last week.
SPEAKER_00: And I love that imagery of Jesus just saying, hey, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: What I've called you to do, I'm gonna walk with you every step of the way.
SPEAKER_00: There's no reason for you to fear.
SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful picture.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we got to the end of Revelation 1, we really came to this understanding that it is only by the power and the works of Jesus Christ that we are saved and made pure, by no works of our own doing.
SPEAKER_00: And so to continue that thought today and to give one more week in Revelation, we're gonna be in Revelation chapter 3, verses 14 through 22.
SPEAKER_00: So if you would go ahead and turn there today, again, that's Revelation 3, 14 through 22.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna continue a study, just a two-week study in Revelation before we start a study next week with Cody, really kind of outlining who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start in John 1.1 next week.
SPEAKER_00: But Sam mentioned seven churches that Revelation talked about.
SPEAKER_00: Seven churches that Jesus himself, through John's hand, wrote these letters to.
SPEAKER_00: Seven churches.
SPEAKER_00: And the final church is the church called Laodicea, the final church that was written to.
SPEAKER_00: And Laodicea was different because every other church that was mentioned, there was there was this mindset of God saying, Hey, I know you believe in me.
SPEAKER_00: I know you're walking after me.
SPEAKER_00: I know you are pursuing righteousness and faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Even the worst admonition and correction of the church in Sardis, it was pretty sharp.
SPEAKER_00: Even in that correction that God gave to the church of Sardis, there was still grace in that he said, But hey, I know there are still a few of you who walk with me and believe in me.
SPEAKER_00: I know there are.
SPEAKER_00: Laodicea, as we're gonna see, was very different.
SPEAKER_00: And that there was no mention of anyone righteous or any righteous deeds that came from this church.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna jump into that.
SPEAKER_00: Um let's see what the word says.
SPEAKER_00: If you would stand with me as we read God's word together.
SPEAKER_00: Would that you were either cold or hot.
SPEAKER_00: So because of your lukewarmness, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
SPEAKER_00: For you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked.
SPEAKER_00: I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and with white garments, that you may clothe yourselves, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
SPEAKER_00: Those whom I love I reprove and discipline.
SPEAKER_00: So be zealous and repent.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.
SPEAKER_00: To the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.
SPEAKER_00: He who has ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
SPEAKER_00: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_00: See, this whole idea, this whole premise of these seven churches that that John accounted for is really quite remarkable and still so relevant to where we are as a church.
SPEAKER_00: In every one of these seven churches, there's like these truth bombs that are dropped.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, yeah, that's that still applies 2,000 years later.
SPEAKER_00: Yep, that's still true.
SPEAKER_00: That's still true.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, one of the things that I'm really hesitant to even say out loud, and those of you who know me are like, Andrew, we know you're gonna say it out loud because you you always do.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just yeah, I am just gonna say it.
SPEAKER_00: What of the church of Laodicea?
SPEAKER_00: What of the things and the aspects that we just read is true here?
SPEAKER_00: What are the aspects of this church that seem to have no one righteous and no righteous deeds?
SPEAKER_00: What parts of that are true of the orchard?
SPEAKER_00: What parts are true of you?
SPEAKER_00: What parts are true in Collierville?
SPEAKER_00: In the United States.
SPEAKER_00: Look, I don't know if y'all have been paying attention, but there are some truly remarkable things that are happening, not only in this church, but outside of this church.
SPEAKER_00: There seems to be revivals happening all across the U.S.
SPEAKER_00: and even the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible to watch.
SPEAKER_00: There are people coming to faith.
SPEAKER_00: There are people in this church that are turning their lives over to Christ and walking as disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: But my fear is is it gonna last past the point where we see something else shiny that we want to go after?
SPEAKER_00: Are there those of us in this room who would fit right into the church of Laodicea?
SPEAKER_00: Let's dig in a little bit to understand what was really being said here.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 14, we start with this audience that was intended for this specific part of John's vision to the Laodiceans.
SPEAKER_00: So, who were these people that sounded like a bunch of self-righteous, wealthy cultural Christians who were clearly not going to inherit the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it seems to be exactly that.
SPEAKER_00: It seems that they were exactly what was described.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Laodicea was an extremely wealthy area near Colossae.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the same place that Paul wrote the book of Colossians to.
SPEAKER_00: They were the wealthiest city in all of Phrygia.
SPEAKER_00: They were, as some commentators describe, a rich banking center who were self-sufficient and in need of nothing.
SPEAKER_00: They had everything.
SPEAKER_00: They had food, resources, shelter, they had everything that they needed, housing.
SPEAKER_00: They were so wealthy, in fact, that there was an earthquake in AD 60 that basically destroyed and demolished the city of Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: The Roman government comes in and is like, hey, we'll we'll help you rebuild.
SPEAKER_00: And the Roman government had a very big vested interest in Laodicea because Laodicea produced so much wealth and so many goods.
SPEAKER_00: And the Roman government comes in and is like, hey, we're gonna help.
SPEAKER_00: And the Laodiceans are like, nah, we've got it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need you, we don't need anybody else but ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We've got it.
SPEAKER_00: And they and they did.
SPEAKER_00: They rebuilt the city themselves and continued to be a very wealthy and successful place.
SPEAKER_00: They needed nothing and nobody.
SPEAKER_00: But even in all the material wealth that they had, you know what they didn't have?
SPEAKER_00: I know some of you are probably like, Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: But this is true.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They thought they did, but they didn't.
SPEAKER_00: But no, that's actually not what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have water.
SPEAKER_00: There was no water source in Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: They had everything else, but they had no actual water source in their city.
SPEAKER_00: So what did they have to do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you go back to, you know, historical facts, maybe you learned this when you were in like, I don't know, elementary school, middle school.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know when kids learned these things about aqueducts and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: But if you go back and look at the aqueducts, how they were designed and how they were formed, they were made out of wood and tar and pitch.
SPEAKER_00: They were they were covered in stone, and they carried water to Laodicea for over five miles.
SPEAKER_00: Now that doesn't sound very far in our minds, but five miles back then to carry water is a long way because there was nothing forcing the water through the aqueducts.
SPEAKER_00: It was just running, it's just slowly trickling down towards Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: What happens when water goes that far through something that was just already filled with impurities and stuff?
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna pick up everything that was on the wood and the stone and the air outside of it.
SPEAKER_00: And so by the time it got to Laodicea, it was undrinkable.
SPEAKER_00: It was filled with all sorts of impurities, and it was it was lukewarm.
SPEAKER_00: And you think about this the area of Colossae had springs, had cold springs in the mountains that they were in.
SPEAKER_00: And it was a little bit further than an area called Heropolis.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's likely that Laodicea got their water from Heropolis, which was hot springs.
SPEAKER_00: So you have this the dynamic of cold from Colossae, you have this dynamic of hot water from Heropolis.
SPEAKER_00: And we think that they probably got it from Heropolis.
SPEAKER_00: But as it travels that far, as I said, it picks up all sorts of just impurities and just junk.
SPEAKER_00: It was gross and useless unless purified and temperature controlled.
SPEAKER_00: You see, even though Jesus gave a really, really strong rebuke and called them out really hard, there was still grace in his message.
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: Because he was using terms like lukewarm that would actually really mean something to them.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus meets us where we are when we are needing his grace.
SPEAKER_00: And he's giving them grace in the way that he's talking to them.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't necessarily sound nice and loving and all warm and fuzzy, does it?
SPEAKER_00: He's calling them wretched and pitiable and poor and naked.
SPEAKER_00: But he's still giving them grace in the way that he's speaking to them.
SPEAKER_00: To continue that line of thought, the other interesting thing about Laodicea was the word salve that was used in verse 18, or in other words, a healing ointment, specifically an optical healing ointment for the eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you think about if you if you bathe yourself in this lukewarm, sediment-filled, probably overly calcified water, it's gonna leave your skin and your hair, and it's gonna get in your eyes, and it's just gonna, ugh.
SPEAKER_00: And so they created this stuff from uh from Phrygian powder, and it was found in the Phrygian area, and mixed with oil, it would actually make a healing ointment, not only for skin, but specifically for eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And so, again, it was used by Jesus, this way of reaching them where they are.
SPEAKER_00: He used the word salve because they knew really what it meant and how much they needed it.
SPEAKER_00: History also tells us that there were advanced medical practices in Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: One other kind of cool thing is there were some specific sheep that were really uh specific to their area in the valley of Laodicea that produced this very, very dark black, shiny wool that the Laodiceans would harvest from these sheep, and they would make these clothes out of them, and it was this kind of glossy, shiny black clothing that was very, very expensive and very, very rare.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I would have liked some of that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I always wear a black shirt if you hadn't noticed.
SPEAKER_00: But you think about this again, God's using their terminology to meet them where they are.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about clothing them.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about pure garments, he's talking about things that can heal their eyesight.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the lukewarmness of the water so it catches their attention because they're gonna go, yeah, I know what that is.
SPEAKER_00: That's stuff's gross.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it makes you sick.
SPEAKER_00: So, starting off in verse 14, Jesus tells John to write, the Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Jesus is faithful, full of truth, and the beginning of all of God's creation.
SPEAKER_00: This is a similar mindset in the letter from Paul to the Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Laodicea and their neighbors, where Paul out for the outlined for them that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, and everything was made through him, by him, for him.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Colossians 1 says, as I read earlier.
SPEAKER_00: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
SPEAKER_00: For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
SPEAKER_00: He is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: See, this whole letter to Laodiceans begins very similarly to how Paul wrote to the Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is announcing who he is.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying that he is a created being.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying that he was the first creation.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that he's the first of creation.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who spoke God's creation, all of God's creation, into existence, the true beginning of all life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is eternal and he has never not existed.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just clear that up.
SPEAKER_00: Now we get to some really harsh conviction, really harsh language in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: He starts by saying, I know your works.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to pause there for just a minute and take a look at what Jesus said to the other six churches.
SPEAKER_00: To five of the seven churches, Jesus said, I know your works.
SPEAKER_00: To five of the seven.
SPEAKER_00: To one, he said, I know your poverty and your suffering.
SPEAKER_00: But yet, even in that poverty and suffering, you remain faithful.
SPEAKER_00: To one, he says, I know where you dwell.
SPEAKER_00: But even in the midst of you dwelling in a very dark and sinful area, you are still faithful.
SPEAKER_00: But to the church of Laodicea, he says, I know your works.
SPEAKER_00: And we have to understand that to every church, to each church, they're addressed by Jesus himself, telling them that he knows them.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus knows all of these churches.
SPEAKER_00: Each church is addressed by Jesus himself, telling them that he knows them.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the depth of this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is telling them that he sees them, he hears them, he understands with them, he sympathizes with them.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what they do, where they live, who they are.
SPEAKER_00: He addresses them, reminding them that there is nothing that he does not know.
SPEAKER_00: And I think the same is true for us.
SPEAKER_00: For you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows you.
SPEAKER_00: He knows your works.
SPEAKER_00: He knows your suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He knows your heart.
SPEAKER_00: He knows where you live.
SPEAKER_00: He knows the moments that you you fail.
SPEAKER_00: He knows the moments that you are tempted.
SPEAKER_00: He knows the moments that you're trying to hide from everybody else, but you cannot hide from the Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: He knows you.
SPEAKER_00: And even still, even in the midst of your failures, he still loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He cares for you.
SPEAKER_00: He will meet you where you are every single time.
SPEAKER_00: He is still faithful even when we are not.
SPEAKER_00: That's the good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: For we don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: But in every way he was tempted and tried as we are, yet remained without sin.
SPEAKER_00: So you know what that means?
SPEAKER_00: That in our time of need, when we understand that we need Jesus every single day, we can approach his throne of grace and be filled with grace and mercy and love and kindness from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's the promise.
SPEAKER_00: But church, I need you to hear me in this.
SPEAKER_00: He knows your works, he knows you.
SPEAKER_00: A question I have that kind of stems from verse 14 is do you know him?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you just know about him?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know him?
SPEAKER_00: Of all the churches that Jesus spoke to in these passages, only Laodicea did he pronounce who he was and that he was the divine creator.
SPEAKER_00: That's really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't do that for the other six churches.
SPEAKER_00: For the other six, he would say attributes of who he was.
SPEAKER_00: He would say maybe some of the things that he did, but only to the church of Laodicea did he say, I am the creator.
SPEAKER_00: I created you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying to them.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he say that only to the church of Laodicea?
SPEAKER_00: Why would he have to say who he was?
SPEAKER_00: He told them that he knew them and told them who he was because they didn't know him.
SPEAKER_00: They did not know him.
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about a regenerate church.
SPEAKER_00: We're not even talking about a church like Sardis, who I mentioned earlier, who were really struggling.
SPEAKER_00: They were almost dead.
SPEAKER_00: But then in verse 4, it said, Yet you still uh you still have a few names in Sardis who have not spoiled their garments, and they will walk with me.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about a spiritually dead church.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said this because he knew them and he knew their works.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the main difference between someone who is lukewarm and someone who is a believer is that the believer will experience conviction.
SPEAKER_00: The believer will experience the power of the Holy Spirit saying, Hey, hey, hey, stop, don't go there.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Turn towards Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But the lukewarm, they don't experience that.
SPEAKER_00: That's the main difference.
SPEAKER_00: And the Laodiceans were so blinded that they had no ability to see their own depravity without the working of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So what were their works?
SPEAKER_00: Why why does the scriptures define these Laodiceans as so bad?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not like it's saying that they were, you know, murderers or these evil, horrible people.
SPEAKER_00: No, they were they were wealthy, they were successful, they were they were even generous.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't need anybody, they were self-sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: So what made them so bad?
SPEAKER_00: That's where the cultural understanding is coming into play while Jesus is telling them they're dead and useless.
SPEAKER_00: He's still meeting them where they are by bringing the terminology that they would understand and that was meaningful to them.
SPEAKER_00: They knew lukewarm all too well, as we talked about earlier.
SPEAKER_00: That's how they received their water.
SPEAKER_00: It was lukewarm, it's filled with junk, and it had to be purified before drinking, or else it would make them sick.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this terminology that Jesus uses.
SPEAKER_00: I will spew you out of my mouth.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he's saying to a church like this, you're making me sick to my stomach.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be rejected.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to spit you out of my mouth, and you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying to them.
SPEAKER_00: You see, cold water, when he talks about the difference between cold and hot water, cold water is supposed to be refreshing and pure.
SPEAKER_00: You think about when you go to Kroger and you see, you know, spring water from the mountains.
SPEAKER_00: I don't really know if it's actually spring water, but they label it as that.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it tastes like spring water, I'm not gonna lie.
SPEAKER_00: But spring water, this whole mindset is that you're supposed to be a lot, you know, go take a cup.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you've seen YouTube videos.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you take a cup and just dip it straight out of the spring and you drink it, and it's cold and it's clean, it's crystal clear and refreshing, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's supposed to be the idea of this cold water.
SPEAKER_00: And the hot water, I don't know if anybody ever bring the been to like hot springs, Arkansas.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00: The hot springs, they well up and and they're and it's warm and refreshing, kind of feels like you're at ease, it's relaxing.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, the church shouldn't be one or the other.
SPEAKER_00: The church is supposed to be both.
SPEAKER_00: The church is supposed to be hot and cold, the church is supposed to be refreshing and pure and healing and life-giving and warm.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, you're not even one of the two.
SPEAKER_00: You're not even cold or hot.
SPEAKER_00: I wish you would at least be one of the two.
SPEAKER_00: But in reality, the church, we are supposed to be to outsiders and to each other.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to be cold and hot.
SPEAKER_00: Both.
SPEAKER_00: And this church had zero qualities of being life-giving or pure, protecting, and healing or pious towards Christ in any way.
SPEAKER_00: They're dead and impure, stagnant, sickening to the point where Jesus said, You're going to be rejected.
SPEAKER_00: So what made them so lukewarm and dead?
SPEAKER_00: Their own pride and self-reliance and self-dependency.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 16 says that pride and arrogance and self-righteousness, there's a word that's used in Proverbs 16 to describe that, and it's called abomination.
SPEAKER_00: The prideful, the arrogant, the self-righteous are an abomination to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: No wonder Jesus is using terms like this.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to spit them out of his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this wealthy city dependent on their own wealth and knowledge for daily living and prospering.
SPEAKER_00: They had no need of divine righteousness because they were righteous in their own minds.
SPEAKER_00: They had no needs of riches of salvation because they were overly comfortable in their lifestyles.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know this?
SPEAKER_00: Look at the text.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, it says, Jesus said, For you say I am rich, and I've prospered, and I need nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich in white garments, so that you may clothe yourselves, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salved to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we see the love and the kindness, even in the strong rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: We see the love and the kindness of Jesus to these unregenerate people.
SPEAKER_00: He's using terms that mean something to them.
SPEAKER_00: We know that from history, even outside of Scripture, that the Laodiceans were super wealthy.
SPEAKER_00: They made products for eyesight, very rare clothing that just screamed out wealth and tons of money.
SPEAKER_00: They were prideful even so much to turn down help when their whole city was destroyed by an earthquake.
SPEAKER_00: And even though they supplied themselves with fancy clothing that was the clothing that was admirable by others, he called them naked.
SPEAKER_00: Even though they had more money than they knew what to do with, Jesus called them poor.
SPEAKER_00: Even though they were famous and righteous in their own eyes, Jesus called them wretched and pitiable.
SPEAKER_00: It was clear that this church was simply playing church and had absolutely no adoration or affection for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they were going to church to fit their own game or to be culturally relevant.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they would fit church into their schedule when it didn't mess with their plans.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they would only show up for church when they wanted to feel better about themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they would only give when they had an excess of money instead of giving something that was difficult to give.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they would follow Jesus until the road got actually narrow.
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound familiar to you?
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound close by, maybe?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but that sure as heck sounds like the American Church today.
SPEAKER_00: My fear is that how much of the orchard functions in this way?
SPEAKER_00: Are you here today just to keep up appearances?
SPEAKER_00: Are you here because something was wrong this week and you showed up to feel better about yourself and to gain something?
SPEAKER_00: Are you giving and tithing only when you have leftovers?
SPEAKER_00: Are you serving begrudgingly because it's quote unquote the right thing to do?
SPEAKER_00: Are you clothed in the righteousness of Christ or the righteousness of your reputation and your wealth?
SPEAKER_00: Can you actually see the poor and needy or only an opportunity to take a picture and upload it to Instagram and say, look what I did?
SPEAKER_00: Can you hear the voice of God because you know your shepherd's voice?
SPEAKER_00: Or is the voice of the world the one you follow?
SPEAKER_00: You see, church, we can't detach ourselves from the church of Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: Because so often we act just like that church.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that so often the same people who attend church in Shelby County are the same ones who also fit really, really, really well into the world from Monday through Saturday?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that people constantly church hop when their preferences are messed with?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that people are so is so quick to complain in church about things they would never actually complain about outside of these walls?
SPEAKER_00: It's the same reason that the Laodiceans were in the boat that they were in.
SPEAKER_00: They were culturally Christian, not actually Christian.
SPEAKER_00: They were playing church to gain something for themselves rather than going to glorify God together in corporate worship.
SPEAKER_00: You know what Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, you know what he said of lukewarm churches?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I do not think the devil cares how many churches you build, if only you have lukewarm preachers and lukewarm people in them.
SPEAKER_00: That hits me hard because I start to think, well, what aspects of my life are lukewarm?
SPEAKER_00: I know that the Lord has saved me.
SPEAKER_00: I know that I'm saved only by his grace, nothing of my own doing.
SPEAKER_00: But what aspects, what areas of my life are lukewarm?
SPEAKER_00: I know that sometimes things like this might be hard for us to hear.
SPEAKER_00: It is for me.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, if the scriptures ended there, we just walk out sad.
SPEAKER_00: That's the good news of the gospel, church.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures don't end there.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the end of the story.
SPEAKER_00: There is once again grace.
SPEAKER_00: Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sins.
SPEAKER_00: There's grace in every time Jesus meets us where we are and calls us out.
SPEAKER_00: There is grace because he is the author of grace.
SPEAKER_00: If he didn't have grace, he wouldn't have called out the church of Laodicea in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: Over and over and over in Scripture, there's warning after warning after warning of sinners saying, You're going down the road of destruction.
SPEAKER_00: You are going to die.
SPEAKER_00: You are going somewhere that is not with me.
SPEAKER_00: But then after every one of those moments, this is one of the reasons I love the minor prophets, is Jesus calls them out hard.
SPEAKER_00: He calls the Israelites out over and over in the minor prophets.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, But if you will just turn to me, I will give you everything you need.
SPEAKER_00: I will give you life beyond what you could ever even understand.
SPEAKER_00: I will give you water that's pure.
SPEAKER_00: In me you will need nothing.
SPEAKER_00: He says it over and over throughout scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Grace enters when we least expect it.
SPEAKER_00: I love what it says in Romans 5.
SPEAKER_00: How even while we were still in the middle of our sin, Christ Jesus showed his love for us by dying for us on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of that, he says, I love you.
SPEAKER_00: I know your works.
SPEAKER_00: And even in the middle of them, I died for you.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to me, and I will give you grace.
SPEAKER_00: I will give you sight.
SPEAKER_00: I will clothe you in pure righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I will be your prize.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: That is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole message.
SPEAKER_00: For those of us who are truly in Christ Jesus, that is every single second of every day, even when we're tempted, even when we fail, even when we screw up, his grace is sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: His grace cannot be outshaded by the darkness of our failures.
SPEAKER_00: It's God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: It's stronger than anything we can fathom.
SPEAKER_00: Even for a church who clearly doesn't know him yet.
SPEAKER_00: He meets Laodicea, even though they were dead, with life and instruction of how they can walk in the light of his grace.
SPEAKER_00: I love verse 18 because Jesus is displaying to them how well he knows them.
SPEAKER_00: He's calling them out.
SPEAKER_00: He flips the script on them, on all the material things that they say and they pride themselves with.
SPEAKER_00: He says that only in him can they find their pure prize.
SPEAKER_00: Only in him they can be clothed in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Only in him can be provided the true ointment for their eyes so that they can see him for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: Only in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Those first four words in verse 19, after a really hard rebuke, are the heart of Jesus on display.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Those whom I love.
SPEAKER_00: Those whom I love.
SPEAKER_00: He's showing them that even in the middle of all their wickedness, all their depravity, all their self-sufficiency, their pride, their greed, their lukewarmness, that he alone can heal them and bring them to true life through the repentance he has led them to.
SPEAKER_00: He knew they were a zealous city after their own wealth.
SPEAKER_00: And so he again uses that term and calls them to be zealous after him and repent.
SPEAKER_00: But even after this, he meets them with even more grace.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this grace after grace after grace after grace that he just keeps having for his people those who he loves.
SPEAKER_00: He says he's standing at the door knocking, waiting for them to open it.
SPEAKER_00: You see, not only is his love on display here, but his sovereignty is as well.
SPEAKER_00: How did I get there?
SPEAKER_00: We would never turn to Jesus unless he called us to himself.
SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't even hear the knock at the door unless he has called us to himself.
SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't ever approach the door of his salvation unless he said, Hey, come on, come this way.
SPEAKER_00: If he didn't call us, that door wouldn't exist.
SPEAKER_00: He's calling the church of Laodicea to open the door to his salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling them that even in the midst of their own sin, he's ready for them to come to him because he loves them.
SPEAKER_00: And the only way that they can conquer their own sin is by his grace.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8, when Paul said this, starting in verse 37, know in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
SPEAKER_00: For I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Only in Christ Jesus can we conquer our own pride and selfishness.
SPEAKER_00: Only in Jesus can we see the holiness of God and repent of our sins and put them to death on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00: Church, I want to leave you with this today.
SPEAKER_00: Something that really hit me hard, but it also hit me really, really sweet this week.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this church that he's writing to, they felt that everything in life was cause and effect.
SPEAKER_00: They felt that if they worked hard and they had to earn everything, they had to earn their money, they had to earn their value, they had to earn their reputation, they had to earn their ability to stay part of the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: They had to earn, they had to earn, they had to earn.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this world is teaching us today.
SPEAKER_00: The world that we live in, every single thing that you do, it has to be earned.
SPEAKER_00: Everything you get has to be earned.
SPEAKER_00: But not so with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There has never been a day that you have ever had to earn the love of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There has never been anything that you could do that would earn his forgiveness of your sins.
SPEAKER_00: There has never been a moment where you earned the cloak of his righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Even though this world is going to tell you that in order to gain something, you have to earn it.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, No, not with me.
SPEAKER_00: I love you because I chose to love you.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that you have ever done that has earned my love for you.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: God loves you in spite of your inability to earn his salvation.
SPEAKER_00: God loves you in spite of your hard heart.
SPEAKER_00: All those moments that you face in this world and everyone around you telling you that you gotta earn it, not so.
SPEAKER_00: How can you earn something that was already given?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he will reprove and discipline those who he loves, but he does that to grow you as a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: Not earning the status of child of God, but walking in the status that you have already been given.
SPEAKER_00: The church of Laodicea, it was dead indeed.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus in his grace says to them, I'm right here.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: I died for you.
SPEAKER_00: You have no need to earn my love because I've already given it to you.
SPEAKER_00: And I will wake you up with new and unearned mercy and grace every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Answer the door.
SPEAKER_00: Even to a dead and useless church, God gave them his grace and love.
SPEAKER_00: There's no more debt that we owe when we're in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing we have to earn.
SPEAKER_00: There's still suffering in this life.
SPEAKER_00: But we will never have to walk that alone.
SPEAKER_00: Ever again.
SPEAKER_00: There's no more condemnation for those of us in Christ Jesus because he already destroyed it.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the room today and you're just like this church of Laodicea, I urge you to turn your face towards Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you to open that door that he's knocking on.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and run into the arms of Jesus that are open to you.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, our elders are going to be kind of in the back of the room.
SPEAKER_00: You can find them after service, or you can find them after the sermon is done.
SPEAKER_00: But our elders will be kind of in the back of the room standing near the sound booth, maybe by the doors.
SPEAKER_00: Just come talk to us if that's you.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a believer and you have kind of slidden back and become lazy and become lukewarm in your actions, repent and turn towards Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you need a minute to do that, in this last song that we're going to sing in a minute, I encourage you to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Either come up front and pray at the altar, bow in your seats and pray and just get right.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a believer in the room and you are on fire for Christ, look around.
SPEAKER_00: Go meet with somebody who's struggling.
SPEAKER_00: See somebody whose head is bowed low and just offer them a prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Offer them a loving arm around them.
SPEAKER_00: Take this away, church.
SPEAKER_00: Never once have you ever had to earn the love of Christ Jesus.