Lukewarm Laodicea makes Me sick!
Revelation 3:16 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spur thee out of My mouth.”
Years ago, when my husband was going to write a message on Laodicea, he received this title from the Lord:
“Lukewarm Laodicea makes Me sick!”
And right then, he felt sick….almost like vomiting!
That is what the Lord was trying to show him.
This is the way the Lord feels about this church.
Laodicea is the last of the church age, before He comes to meet them in the air….
….and this is just the time that this church should be zealous for Christ and the saving of souls…..
….but they are neither cold or hot, just lukewarm….sickening.
If we were cold…..He could just judge us.
If we were hot…..He would bless us.
Instead we are just sickening to Him.
We are as Israel of old. (Jesus quoted this when He was here about those religious workers. Matthew 15:8-9)
Isaiah 29:13 “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men:”
Several things to mention:
First….they say all the right words….all the praises that they should.
Second,….notice it is “removed” their heart far from Me. He does not just say that is is far from Him…..but that they removed it. They chose something other than Him, to set their heart upon.
Third,….the fear toward God is merely taught to be right.
It is something they know because it has been told them……not that they have.
“Fear” here is reverence and awe that the Lord should have as God….and because of the great things He has done for us.
But they do not.
It was not that Israel could not see….for they had enough Light, they could have known their God….but it was that they would not.
In Laodicea, we too, say the right things….we do the right things….but our hearts just aren’t in them.
We draw near with our lips, but our affections are far from Him…..
….to what are they looking?
And we Laodiceans say we reverence God…..but if we did, we would stop congratulating ourselves on our “richness”….and see ourselves as He sees us:
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.”
In this last of the Church age, we are “poor”……without the love and fear of God…..in experience.
Head knowledge is necessary…..but heart knowledge of God by personal experience is:
You know a certain Bible truth…..because you have experienced that truth in your life.
2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
They say they are Christians…..that they do believe.
But their lives show they are “denying the power thereof”.
(I want to stress here…..”power”. I know some people misuse this word…..I have heard it too.
But the Holy Spirit gives us grace….the unmerited favor of power in our lives….He gives us power over ourselves…..and power to face a world which hates Christ, cheerfully…….and power to stand in the evil day.
And the Word of God gives us power…..the power to shape our thinking and our attitudes and our choices…..by our reading, praying over it, and thinking upon it….till the power of it changes us.
It is not a word to use lightly…..for real power belongs unto God only….He can give it to any He chooses….
….but it is real. God’s power to us is to change us…..and by that, influence and change others….toward God.)
If we are different, it is by the power of God in our life….and not by something I have done myself.
Lukewarm Laodicea is correct…..it says all the right things…..
….but our hearts are far from Him.
I believe our error is of the heart.
The Lord Jesus when He was here, said about the hearts of those who came to hear Him…..but not to obey Him:
Matthew 13:15 “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
Their “hearts” are described as “waxed gross”…..so full of other things, there was no room for Him.
Their “ears” are described as “dull”….only half hearing…..nodding: “Oh, yes, that is good”….but not listening for His Word to them.
Their “eyes” are described as “closed”….they have closed….so they would not see the Truth.
If they had seen, and heard Him, with hearts open to and receptive to Him…..
……they would have been converted (most think of this as salvation, but it means to “turn back again”; it is the same word Jesus used to Peter about his three denials Luke 22:32)
……their hearts would have been turned back to God, by Christ….and they would have been healed.
Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
For those He loves…..He rebukes…..speaks like a Father to correct us (Hebrews 12:5-6)…
….sometimes softly…..sometimes loudly…..
….but then…
….well, must He also chasten?
His promise is understanding, to be turned back to Him, and healing….will be hear, and repent?
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 