Now According to the Faithful and True Witness
Revelation 3:14 “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things saith the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God.”
I will say here, that we believe that we are called to this Laodicean age. In other words we believe that we are called to Awaken the church to God’s claims on their lives.
As Christians, we are redeemed; we belong to Him, therefore His Will should be the purpose of our lives.
(Yes, we believe that these letters each represent both a real church being written to; and an age within the Church dispensation.
In each letter, the church or the true believers is the focus—not the lost. Jesus Christ is dictating these letters so they will know how He feels about their problems, their tribulations, and their failures; and the grace they need to get, to deal with them.)
Thus saith the Amen.
Now, He alone can say this: this means “Let it be, Let it happen.” He alone is the Affirmation and Confirmation of every Word of God.
We must say, “If God wills.” (James 4:13-15). But He can say Amen, and it will be.
The Faithful and True Witness. A witness just states what He sees and what He knows.
And what does Jesus see when He looks at Laodicea?
Revelation 3:15-16 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold or hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.”
(Indifference to God, after He has done so much for us; is the very worst state we can possibly be in.
And if continued in, will result in being “spued out of His mouth”.)
And the reason of our indifference?
Revelation 3:17 “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:”
Because we say, that I am rich, and increased with goods….and our attitude is
I “have need of nothing”….not even God’s direction, anymore.
This attitude is:
“I am saved, and for that I will praise You; but let me have my place in this world with all of it’s goods…..
……for I can have heaven and earth; both salvation and the world…..
and do what I want for now.”
But Jesus sees their true condition before Him, and says: And knowest not!
Is it possible to be in such a state and not know it? According to the Faithful and True Witness, it is; and we Laodiceans, are.
We do not know that we are really wretched:
This is a terrible word, but Paul used it of himself when he was testifying of his battle with himself, his “old man”.
Paul was a very religious Pharisee, but he discovered from the Spirit of God, his covetousness.
To covet is to “set the heart upon”.
(When we set our hearts upon something, it takes over our emotions, our reason, and our wills…..we even become unwilling to listen to God,…to have this thing.)
Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Why did he say this? Because he saw that even as a Christian, we have our old nature within us.
Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me(that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”
Paul was having trouble with his old self. He was trying to do what God wanted, but found that his trying often failed.
Paul knew he was wretched.
So what did he do? He sought freedom from self, by the Spirit of God.
Romans 8:2, 4 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Here was the answer to his wretchedness: walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh.
We Laodiceans are trying to do both: be in Christ, and in the world……for ourselves.
Christ Jesus plainly teaches that if you would be a follower of Christ you should deny yourself, pick up your cross [does that sound like something the world would like to be around?] and follow Him.
We are to lose our self-life, to have our Christ- life (Matthew 16:24-26)
That is why the Faithful and True Witness says we are also:
miserable [how many Christians today are unhappy, discontented],
and poor [not rich in God’s grace by His Spirit, but barely getting by]
and blind [someone has said, we are blind because we have our eyes shut, so we can not see ourselves as Christ sees us]
And naked [without the righteous acts which are those obediences to God, which separate us from the world, and give a “covering” of peace, and power]
Christ’s witness has been against us so far……..but our blessed Lord Jesus does not leave us (never!); but counsels us, as our Advocate, with the best advice:
Revelations 3:18 “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.”
When we “buy” from Jesus, we are not buying salvation; that is a free gift.
But when we are His, we are to come to Him and get what we need.
He calls it “buying” here because we are to come with the attitude of getting real gain, real value.
To come with the knowledge of our lack; and seek Him for His precious grace, being obedient to His call;….this is to “buy” from Him.
He knows all and counsels us to get gold—gold always speaks of God. So we are to get the true riches of His commanding presence and power in our lives.
(Tried in the fire, is true gold with the dross or admixture burnt out, by the trials of standing with Him)
He counsels us to get white raiment, or the covering of righteous acts, so we will not be ashamed at His coming. (2 John 8-9)
He counsels us to stop being blind, by getting honest (by the Holy Spirit’s help) with Him and with ourselves.
As the Lord told me once: that if any true Christian would get a good look at their own heart, they would want to do something about it immediately.
Then Jesus says to His Laodicean church:
Revelation 3:19-20 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
This is fellowship…
And the power of His presence.
(Psalm 23:5 “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”)
“I will come into him and will sup with him”….these two things the Lord says He will do…..if we will repent and open our lives to Him, again.
Do you hear Him today, calling you to repent of your lukewarmness to Him?
Then answer His voice:
To answer the call of Christ in this Laodicean age, requires not an answer of words at some altar;
But the answer of a life open to and receptive to Him.
None other will do.
He says, “I will”. Will you?
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 