REVELATION 2-3 GODS PROPHETIC TIMELINE2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 2-3 Gods Prophetic Timeline

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010. There is a lot of rebuke in these letters to the seven churches, and there's a lot of cause, a lot of reason for us to consider and to take evaluation, to take stock of our hearts and lives and say, is there need for me to rebuke?

As we look at the church of Laodicea, it should be a good challenge for us. And I don't know about you, but for me, as we've been looking at these seven churches, I've been refreshed, I've been challenged, I've really enjoyed our time looking at these churches. Because it's just been a real good, you know, kind of heart scrubbing, I think, that God's been doing for me personally. And I hope for you as well, that you take these things seriously and you allow God to work in your heart in this way.

And so as we look at the church of Laodicea, although it's not the church that anybody would want to say, oh yeah, I'm more like this church, but even though that's not desirable, I would challenge you to consider your heart and consider what these things would mean and how they apply to your life because God wants us to pay attention to what he's saying to this church.

Well, we start out the letter in verse 14 when he says, And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things, says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Again, he addresses it to the angel or the messenger of the church, but he changes it up a little bit here. He says it's to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans.

Now, in all the other letters to all the other churches, he wrote to the church in the city that he was writing to, the church in Philadelphia, the church in Sardis, the church in Thyatira. But here he says it's the church of the Laodiceans. It's a little bit of a change and maybe not that noticeable. And yet there's some important connotations here that we should consider. It's the church...

The word Laodicea means rule of the people. And that's a good caption for what this church was like. This was the people's church. The people were in charge. The people ruled. It was their church. It was the church of the Laodiceans. In other words, it was not God's church. It was their church.

You know, sometimes we talk about my church, but I think we all understand. We don't mean it's my church, right? When we say it belongs to me, I own it. Like we refer to this is my country. You know, I don't own the country. I'm part of it. And so I hope that we understand that. Yeah, this is our church. But in Laodicea's case, it really was their church. It belonged to them. They were in charge. They called the shots. They made the decisions themselves.

And so it's the church of the Laodiceans that Jesus is writing to. Now it's important for us to consider because, again, looking personally at it, I would ask you, whose life is it when you consider your life? Again, yeah, it's my life, but does it belong to me? Do I own it? We have the phrase when we talk about salvation, we talk about our salvation experience when we receive Jesus Christ, and we often refer to that as, I gave my life to Christ.

But we say that many times without really thinking about what those words mean. If I gave my life to Christ, then it's not my life any longer. And so if Jesus was writing this letter to you, would he be able to say, hey, this is my life, or would he say, this is your life? Would he say, I'm writing to the church of the living water ends,

Or would he say, I'm writing to Calvary Chapel Living Water. It's located in Corona. It's populated by mostly people who live in Corona. But it doesn't belong to them. This is God's church. This is my church. And something important for us to consider as you look at your own life. Is it his life? Did you really give it to him? If he was dealing with you, is he writing to you as one who is not on the throne, not in control because you've not surrendered to him?

Well, Laodicea was a city that was very proud. It prided itself in three specific areas. Number one, it prided itself in financial wealth. They were very wealthy. They had all kinds of banks. It was known it was the wealthiest of the cities in the region.

It also prided itself, number two, in an extensive clothing industry. They were able to manufacture a black wool like no other black wool that could be found in the day. And so they were very well known for that and they were very profitable for that.

The third thing that they prided themselves in, that they were well known for, was they had an eye salve that would be useful for applying in certain conditions with the eye. And so they prided themselves, they were well known for this eye salve. They had a medical school out there that specialized in the things of the eye. And so they were able to minister to people in that way. And so they were very well known for their wealth.

for their clothing, and for their healing abilities for the eye. And those are going to become very interesting things that Jesus incorporates into this letter. And so remember those things, we'll come back to them. Well, as he introduces himself to the church of the Laodiceans, he introduces himself as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and the beginning of the creation of God. Jesus Christ as the Amen witness.

It is a reference to the fact that he has the final word. He gets the last word. He is the Amen. The word Amen means so be it. And that means that Jesus, because he is the Amen, what he says goes. What he says happens. It's going to be fulfilled exactly as he says.

Paul tells us something encouraging in 2 Corinthians 1.20. He says, all the promises of God in him, that is in Jesus, are yes and in him, amen to the glory of God through us.

The promises of God to us in Jesus Christ are amen. So be it. They're guaranteed. They're going to happen. They will be fulfilled. Jesus says, look, I am the amen. I get the final say. It's my word that matters. And that's why we need to pay attention to these things that he's writing to the church of the Laodiceans. Well, he's also the faithful and true witness. He is faithful and true and he is a witness or he communicates faith.

God to us. He is the one who faithfully and truly, He's the genuine witness for God. He accurately represents to us God the Father. He accurately represents to us the truth. And so as we look at these things, we can understand His words, well, they're coming from one who is faithful and true. He's not just, you know,

Kidding around. He's not just a little bit misinformed. He's not deceived. He knows the truth. He is faithful and true. And so as he evaluates this church, it's accurate. And his word is final.

And thirdly, he introduces himself as the beginning of the creation of God. Now, this doesn't mean that he was part of the creation or that he was the first thing created. The word beginning literally is the word that means ruler or source or origin. He is the origin of the creation of God. He is the creator God. Colossians 1.16 says,

Tells us that by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.

Now that's also an interesting verse because it's in the letter to Colossians or to the church at Colossae. Because Colossae was nearby to Laodicea. In fact, it was so close. In the letter to Colossians, Paul says, hey, make sure this letter is read at the church in Laodicea.

And so they had a close relationship and they were to read this letter, they would have been familiar with this letter and they would have been familiar to this teaching that God or that Jesus is the Creator and that all things were created through Him and for Him. And so as he deals with this church, he wants to remind them of who he is.

He is the Amen. He has the final say. He's the faithful and true witness. He's accurate in what He says. He's accurate in His portrayal of God. And He's also the beginning of everything. He started it all. He's the beginning and He's the Amen. He's the end. He started it. All things are created by Him.

And for him. And again, that's the point. Everything was created for Jesus. It all belongs to him. And so as he writes to the church of the Laodiceans, he wants to remind them, hey, this really is my church and you need to be submitted to me. You need to be paying attention to what I have to say.

And so as we go forward in this letter, as he begins to write to this church, there's five things I want to point out to you, personal application that we can consider for our own lives. And point number one this morning is be hot or be cold. Verse 15 says, I know your works.

that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Jesus kind of just gets right into it, doesn't he? He doesn't kind of, you know, kind of puff him up a little bit or kind of, you know, give a little bit of cushion here. He just gets right in. He says, I know your works. I know what your life is like. And you are neither cold nor hot. And I wish you were one or the other.

I wish you were one or the other, cold or hot, but instead you are lukewarm.

Now as Jesus is writing this letter to the church, he's using things that they could relate to. He did this, in fact, in all the letters. I didn't highlight all of the instances, but this one is especially important because this city had a situation, had a physical understanding of what Jesus was talking about here when he talks about lukewarmness.

Because Laodicea is one of those cities that does not have its own water source. It's rare actually in those days, you would usually build a city around a water source so that you would always have water and that you would be protected in case of an attack. But Laodicea did not have its own water source.

To the east of them, there was the city of Colossae. And in Colossae, they had incredibly cold and fresh water. There was snow on the mountains right near Colossae. And so the snow would melt and run down. And so they'd have fresh, cold water throughout the year. To the south of Laodicea was a city called Hierapolis.

And Hierapolis was known for its hot water. They have approximately 17 hot springs, which range from 95 degrees to boiling 212 degrees. And so they come out incredibly hot, very hot. And so right next to them, on the east and on the south, they have these two extremes. Very cold from the melting snow and then very hot, the springs that were coming out there at Hierapolis.

And so there's hot or cold, again, something they would be very familiar with. Because if you were in Laodicea and you say, "Man, I want some hot water, I want to go take a warm bath." You would go to Hierapolis. If you wanted, "Hey, I want something refreshing, I want to go cool off." Then you would go to Colossae. Now the water that they had in Laodicea, they obtained by building an aqueduct from Hierapolis where the hot water was.

And so they imported this water from Hierapolis to Laodicea. Now, the aqueduct that they built was six miles long. And so the water is coming out of the ground, 100 to 200 degrees, but then it's traveling six miles to Laodicea. Now, what do you suppose happens to hot water as it travels six miles by aqueduct? Well, it cools off.

By the time it gets to Laodicea, what do they have? Lukewarm water. It's not hot. It's not cold. It's not really desirable to drink. It's not refreshing. It's not healing. It's not really useful for anything.

So that's what they ended up with, this lukewarm water. And so Jesus tells them, you are neither cold nor hot. You're not cold like the water at Colossae, which means that spiritually they're cold. They're not involved in the things of God at all. That's what the coldness would mean, that they were just not involved in the things of God. They wanted no part of God. He says, but you're not hot either. Hot like the water coming out of the springs in Hierapolis. Spiritually, there was no heat there.

They were not fully involved in the things of God. The word hot is closely related to the word for zeal that we'll see later, the word for passion. There was just no passion for God. There was no real zeal for the things of God. They were not hot, nor were they cold. Jesus says, I could wish you were cold or hot. It's kind of surprising. I think we would expect Jesus to say, I wish you were hot. But he says, I wish you were cold or hot.

As bad as it would be to be cold toward the things of God, as far as God is concerned, being lukewarm is worse than being cold. Now we think of lukewarm, I mean, hey, at least I'm not all the way cold. At least, you know, there's a little bit of spiritual interest here. But as far as Jesus is concerned, lukewarm is worse. I wish you were one or the other. Cold or hot, he says.

It's not the first time God has communicated things like this. In fact, just on Wednesday, we are in Ezekiel chapter 20. And in Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 39, God is dealing with the nation of Judah. And He says, "...as for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, Go, serve every one of you His idols, if you will not obey Me. But profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols."

God tells them, look, if you're going to serve your idols, then fine, go serve your idols. But don't profane my name anymore, serving your idols and then bringing me gifts. Living one foot in the world and then one foot in the relationship with God. He says, stop doing that. That's profaning my name. That's worse. If you want to serve your idols, that's fine. Go serve your idols. That's your choice. You can make that choice, but don't try to do both.

serving your idols and following me and bringing me your gifts. Judah was trying to do both. The church at Laodicea was doing both. You remember Joshua dealt with this as well. In Joshua chapter 24, he gathers the people together. He's about to die. He says, look, you guys need to pick one or the other. There in verse 15, choose this day whom you will serve. He says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

And the people respond, oh, we will not forsake the Lord. We'll follow the Lord. And then Joshua responds back to them. He says, look, you cannot serve God. He's a jealous God. He won't put up with you serving these other gods and serving these other idols while you at the same time worship Him. And the people respond again. They say, no, we're going to serve the Lord. Really? We mean it. And so Joshua says, well, okay then. Put away your foreign gods and incline your heart to the Lord.

We cannot try to do both. Jesus said you can't serve God and mammon or money. You can't try to live in this world and pursue the things of this world and still be a part of God. What you end up with is lukewarmness. And lukewarmness is not a good place to be. You have to make a choice. You have to make a decision. Jesus said, He who is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters.

It's one or the other. And we try to do both sometimes. But trying to do both, as far as Jesus is concerned, He says, that's worse. That's the worst option. That's the worst thing that you could try to do. He says, you must make a choice. Be cold or be hot. Be with me or against me.

If you try to do both, you end up being lukewarm. And here's what Jesus says about lukewarmness. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. These are some pretty heavy words that Jesus is saying. He says, lukewarm church, you make me sick and I will vomit you out of my mouth. What makes you vomit? Is that something pleasant? You want to think about that?

This whole week, every meal I was eating, I was praying, Lord, please don't let this be an illustration for Sunday. I was kind of anticipating something putrid or just something just nasty, you know, and then it's in your mouth. Have you ever had that? I remember hanging out with Pastor Tom one time and I don't like sushi. And he convinced me, because he's very persuasive, to try it. And so I tried it one more time and he really thought I was going to do what Jesus says that he's going to do with the church at Laodicea.

Now I forced it down. I survived it. But he was expecting and all the people were looking at me waiting for it to just come coming out of my mouth. And that's what I expected too, but the Lord gave me strength. That's what Jesus says is going to happen to the lukewarm church. It's pretty graphic language and it's pretty clear what he is saying.

We need to get the point. We need to get the picture. He says it this way on purpose. It might not be pleasant for us to think about, but we need to understand what this is like to the Lord. We need to understand what lukewarmness is like to Him. Because we think of lukewarmness in our minds and we think, that's pretty good. You know, it's at least I'm not cold. Maybe I'm not where I should be, but at least I'm not cold. Right?

But the way that Jesus feels about lukewarmness is it makes him sick. It makes him sick. Maybe like old milk makes you sick. I get so nervous about milk. I don't like to drink milk if it's the day before the expiration date. And other people come and say, it's still good. You can eat it like five days after or drink it five days. No way. If it's the day before, I'm smelling it. Ah, it smells funny. I'm not drinking that. I won't risk it because I hate that feeling.

And I know you hate that feeling. Nobody likes that feeling. But that's how it makes Jesus feel when His followers, when His people are lukewarm. When they're not hot and they're not cold, but they're trying to walk the line. They're trying to be right in the middle. Are you lukewarm? Is this how...

You make Jesus feel. I'm not trying to condemn you, but listen, if there's truth to this, if there's a reality, if there's something that God wants to address, don't you want to know about it? Don't you want to let it be addressed so that you can change, so that you can stop making Jesus feel this way? Commentator John Walvoord says, it's apparent that there is something about the intermediate state of being lukewarm that is utterly obnoxious to God.

Far more hopeful is the state of one who has been untouched by the gospel and makes no pretense of putting his trust in Christ than the one who makes some profession but by his life illustrates that he has not really honored the Christ whose gospel he has heard and professed. He says, There is no one farther from the truth in Christ than the one who makes an idle profession without real faith. This is why it makes God sick.

Because we think we're okay, as we'll see from the Laodiceans' attitude and what they say. We think we're okay. But then the reality, well, the reality is far different from our perception of ourselves. And so Jesus says, be hot or be cold. Be one or the other. Stop trying to be lukewarm. It makes me sick. The second point this morning is to receive from God.

That's what we need to do. We need to receive from God. Look at verse 17. He says, "...because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked."

And then he'll go on to tell them, in verse 18, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. We need to receive from God. Their perception of themselves, what they thought of themselves is, I am rich and have become wealthy and I don't need anything.

Now the city of Laodicea was a wealthy city. They had money galore. They had banks everywhere. They were known for it. But Jesus is not condemning them for that. He's not condemning them for having money, for being wealthy. That money in and of itself, it's not a sin. When He says that they're saying, I am rich, He's talking spiritually. Their perception of themselves spiritually was, He, I'm rich.

I've got more than enough righteousness. I've got more than enough good works. I have right relationship with God. I'm okay. And see, that's the danger. What they see of themselves spiritually is, I've got it made. I'm wealthy. I've got more than enough. What Jesus sees is, you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

And that's a big difference between their perception of their spiritual state and God's perception of their spiritual state. And you know which one matters. You know which one has the truth. Jesus is the faithful and true witness. He's declaring the truth. But they're thinking of themselves, I don't need anything. I have need of nothing. Now this again would be something that they were familiar with because in AD 60, there was a massive earthquake in the area.

And many cities around them, as well as Laodicea, were demolished. They were destroyed by this earthquake that took place. But Laodicea was different. It was unique because they refused the help of the Roman Empire in rebuilding their city. The Roman Empire came in and said, all right, we're going to help you rebuild. And the Laodiceans said, we have need of nothing. We don't need your help.

One Roman historian says, Laodicea rose from the ruins by the strength of her own resources and with no help from us. That was their pride. That was what they were proud of. We don't need anybody. We don't need anything. We don't need your help. We can do it ourselves. We can rebuild ourselves. That's what they said when the Roman Empire came to help them rebuild. But that's also what they said when it came to spiritual things. They said, look, we don't need any help. We've got it.

We're religious. We're good people. We've got it figured out. We've got it covered. Now, think about that. Can you imagine that? If New Orleans said, no thanks, federal government. We don't need any assistance. We're going to rebuild ourselves. We're wealthy enough. It's hard for us to picture. It's hard for us to imagine. But they were so wealthy. They had so much. They were so full of themselves. They said, we got it. I don't even want your help. Don't even offer to help me. And that's their attitude towards God.

They had determined, they had decided, hey, we don't need help, God. We don't need your assistance. We've got it covered. Very dangerous attitude. Again, because they're lukewarm. They're complacent. They're comfortable where they're at. They don't see their need. And so they would declare to God, we don't need you. We don't need your word. We don't need your thoughts. We don't need your help. But listen, even though we maybe know better than to say those words out loud, what I'm really asking us to consider is our lives.

With our lives and by our lives, do we declare that we do not need God? So, when we never spend time in His Word, aren't we declaring, thanks God for the Bible, but I don't really need it. When we don't really do the things that He's called us to do, we read the scriptures and we see what He says, but we don't follow those things, aren't we saying by our lives, thanks God, that was good advice, but I've got a better idea.

You see, it's not really about what we say, because we can train ourselves to say the right things and to not say the wrong things. But evaluate your life. Consider your heart. Are you living this way? So that your attitude is, hey, I'm rich, I'm wealthy, and I don't need anything. I'm good. I'm set. I don't need your help, Lord. Because the reality of the church of Laodicea was they were clueless. They did not know that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

There was a huge contrast between what Jesus saw and what they thought of themselves. And understand here, the issue is not that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. That's true of all of us. The issue is not that they were these things. The issue is that they didn't know they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. And so they weren't willing to receive from Jesus the things necessary to deal with those issues in their lives. Listen, do you know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked? No.

This is a feel-good sermon. I hope you feel good right now. Don't you know? This is your condition. This is my condition. Jesus wants to help us with these things. He wants to change us and transform us. But if we don't know that this is our condition and our attitude is we don't need your help, He cannot do the transformation. He cannot change us. Remember Jesus told that man who came up to Him and called Him a good teacher. He said, "...only God is good."

You are not good. I am not good. Only God is good. Do you know that without God's work in your life, through Jesus, you are completely and utterly spiritually bankrupt? Do you know that? Do you know that without Jesus, you are hopeless and lost and that there is nothing that you can do to get to heaven, to have eternal life?

When he uses this word poor, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, there's a different word for poor that means you're poor and so you have to work every day to just barely survive. But this is another word for poor, which means that you're so poor that you can't even do that, that you can only obtain a living by begging. And that's the reality of our spiritual condition.

We can only survive by begging, by asking Jesus for the help that we need to supply our lack, to clothe us with His righteousness. We need Jesus desperately. You cannot be good enough or do enough good works. You need Him. I need Him.

And so he tells us in verse 18, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. They were known for their wealth, they were known for their clothing, and they were known for their eye salve. And Jesus says, you're relying on those things and you think you're awesome, but here's what I counsel you to do. Here's what you need to get from me, wealth, clothing, and eye salve.

But again, not physically. He's not talking about some physical things. He's talking spiritually. But he's using terms and things that they would understand because of the context of where they were. He says, you need to get this stuff from me. What we need, only Jesus can supply. Only He can meet our needs. Only He can satisfy those things. And so we need the gold that's refined in the fire that we may be rich. Again, not material wealth.

They had that. Jesus says, that's not enough. That's not sufficient. They need the white garments that they would be clothed. They had good clothing physically. They were known for their black wool. But Jesus wasn't talking about the material. That wasn't sufficient. They had the eye salve that they could anoint eyes that people might see. They were famous for that. But that wasn't sufficient. Jesus wasn't talking about the physical thing. What they really needed was real spiritual life.

They needed the riches of righteousness because of their spiritual bankruptcy. Spiritually, we're bankrupt. Our accounts are delinquent. We owe God a debt of righteousness. Jesus says, get gold from me. Come to me and receive my wealth. Paul tells us all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ Jesus.

Everything we need for life and godliness is found in a relationship with God. We need to be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our nakedness, because we're naked, we're destitute, so that it might not be exposed. We need to clothe ourselves with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And our eyes need to be opened. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Our eyes and our ears need to be opened. We need to pay attention. We need to hear what God's saying. We need to see with God's eyes.

getting past our own thoughts, our own opinions, our own ideas, and receiving from God. The church at Laodicea, they needed Jesus. And Jesus is what we need as well. And we need not just a little bit of Jesus, that's lukewarmness. We need our lives to be consumed with Jesus Christ. We need to be hot for the things of God. Hot in a relationship with God. Passionate and zealous for the things of God.

And so we need to receive from God. We need what He has. Point number three, he says, be zealous and repent. Be zealous and repent. Verse 19 says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Notice that. He says, as many as I love.

So everyone that Jesus loves, he rebukes and he chastens. Listen, Jesus loves you and that's great news. But you need to also know that means, well, there's some rebuke and there's some chastening that is in order. That will be coming. Because he loves you, he rebukes and chastens you. You can also read about this in Hebrews chapter 12 and I encourage you to do so. It teaches the same thing.

Those that Jesus loves, he rebukes. I like what one commentator, John Trapp, said. He said, God had one son without corruption, that was Jesus, but none without correction. One son without corruption, but none without correction. God has no children without correction. We all receive and need correction. Why? Because we're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

God tells us things about ourselves that we don't like to hear, but not just to beat us up and make us feel bad. It's so that we can come to Him and be changed and have our needs met so that we can be transformed. And so He tells us the truth so that He can deal with those issues. We don't like to hear it, so sometimes we kind of just turn down the volume, thinking to ourselves, I'm rich, I've become wealthy, and I have need of nothing. But God says, no, you have this need.

You see, what God wants is a relationship with us where we listen to what He says, where we listen to His evaluation of our lives and then we respond accordingly. He wants us to continue. It's not just about the original need for salvation. It's about the lifelong process of change and transformation that He wants to work in us. Jesus loves you too much to leave you the way that He found you. And so He chastens us. He rebukes us.

And when he does, he says, be zealous and repent. He says, therefore, look, I'm doing this because I love you. So be zealous. Be passionate about this. Don't just blow it off or disregard it. Again, this word zeal, it's derived from the word that means to be hot and to boil. This passion or this zeal. Be fervent, he says. Engage. Consume yourself with me. When I speak to you, don't say, I have need of nothing.

You ever do that? You know, God's speaking to your heart. Ah, that's not that important, Lord. I'll deal with that later. Hey, if God's speaking to your heart, it's because He wants to work in that area. Be hot. Be zealous. Be fervent. Don't say, I have need of nothing. We need to fully submit to God and surrender to His will and His plan and His correction. He says, be zealous and repent. Not just get all worked up, you know, get passionate and... Yeah! Yeah!

Make lots of noise, but now repent. Change. Change your life. Repentance, we've talked about it many times looking at these churches because often when dealing with the church, Jesus needs to say, repent. And we don't like to hear that. We don't think it's necessary. We say we have need of nothing. But the reality is, for many of us, we need to repent. And to repent, it's a change of our life, a change of our heart.

It's regret, but not just a regret because of the consequences or because of the effects or because we got caught. It's a regret and it motivates us to change, to live differently, to not be the same any longer. And so that's what Jesus says. Be zealous. Great. Be passionate. Be fervent. And now change. Live differently. Or you could look at it this way. Let me change you because he's the one that we need to come to.

for the gold that's refined in the fire he's the one who has what we need so we need to change by coming to him and getting what we need listen if there's some failures in your life some areas where you're falling short some areas where there's been perhaps a severe severe turning against god or disregarding of god god allows those things in our lives so that we can see our need

Not to beat us down, not to push us away, but so that we can see our need and then come to Him because He wants to change us. We like to beat ourselves up and condemn us and the enemy jumps on that bandwagon real quick. And maybe even during this message you're like, man, I'm lukewarm, man. I just need to get out of here. Why do I even come to church? No, no, no. God's showing you these things so that you can see what's really going on so that you can come to Him. He's saying, I love you. I want to draw near to you.

So be zealous and repent. Come to me. Come to me with passion. Oh, but I'm not worthy. Well, of course you're not worthy. None of us are. We never were. That's why Jesus died on the cross. But Jesus dying on the cross isn't enough if we don't come to him. We need to receive what he has for us. We need to receive what he accomplished at the cross. For us not to come to him to receive what he accomplished for us, we're saying, I'm good. I have need of nothing.

No, we need to come to Him. Be zealous and repent. Look at verse 20. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me. Jesus says, Look, I'm standing at the door. I'm knocking. You hear my voice? Hello? Anybody there? Can I come in? Where's Jesus in relation to this church? Outside. Knocking on the door. Consider what Jesus said in Matthew 18.

Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them. So what do we learn about this church if Jesus is on the outside knocking on the door? They're not gathered in his name. They're gathered in their name. It's the church of the Laodiceans. And they're there saying, I don't need anything. They're coming to church saying, I don't need anything. I don't need to hear from God. Listen, we need to come to church. We need to gather in his name with an attitude, with a heart of, man, I need the Lord today. I need to hear from God. And then as he speaks, I need to repent. I need to repent.

I need to come to Him and get right. I need to be passionate for the things of God. Here Jesus is saying, look, I'm standing at the door and knocking. He's on the outside. Now again, looking at this personally, where is Jesus in relationship to your life? Is He on the outside knocking? He's all saying, hey guys, can I come into your family meetings? To your family time? Can I come into your family gatherings? Can I come into your home? Is He on the outside saying, hey, can you let me into the workplace with you?

Is he on the outside saying, hey, let me into your life. Let me be a part of who you are. Let me be a part of everything about you. We don't come and knock on the door, and this is God's house, and we knock on the door. All right, God, can I come in? And here we are in God's presence, and then we leave and say, okay, God, see you next Sunday. No, he's knocking on the door of our lives, saying, I want to be a part of everything you do of your whole life.

So he's knocking on the door and he says, look, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him. He's not ding-dong ditching, right? He's not knocking on the door and then we go, alright Jesus, where are you? No, he says, look, if you open the door, if you hear my voice, I will come in. It's a promise. It's a guarantee. Look, if you respond to Jesus' message, if you come to Jesus, he will meet your need and he will satisfy you.

He will transform you and He will change you. Do you hear His voice? Is He speaking to you? Then I would ask, how are you responding? Are you letting Him in? Are you saying, go away, we don't want none. We have need of nothing. Today God wants the same thing that He has always wanted and that's relationship with you. But He won't force Himself and that's why He knocks. Let me remind you, He's talking to the church.

Although this applies if you are not a believer, if you've never received Jesus Christ, this applies to you. God wants a relationship with you and he's knocking. But let me remind the church, listen guys, he's writing to a church. Don't exclude yourself and say, I don't need this. I have need of nothing. Listen, consider, is Jesus on the outside knocking? You and I are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. But he loves us and he wants to be in our lives so that he can change us.

Be zealous and repent. Open the door. Let Him in. Surrender to Him. Point number four, overcome. He says in verse 21, To Him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. And so He says, overcome. Like He said to all of the churches.

And you'll rule and reign with me. I'll grant you, I'm sitting on my Father's throne and you're going to sit with me. You're going to rule and reign with me. You're going to be a part of eternity with me. You're going to have a part of the eternal kingdom and my eternal plan. You're going to sit with me if you overcome. What is keeping you from obeying Jesus? What is keeping you from

Opening the door to let Him in. What is it that, "Ah, I don't know, I don't want to let this go, I don't want Him to see that, I don't want to deal with that." What is it that's keeping you lukewarm? Not hot, not cold, but trying to be in the middle. What is keeping you self-reliant or self-sufficient? Overcome it, Jesus says. Cry out to God. Cry out to Jesus and receive from Him. That's what it means to overcome in this case.

You've got to overcome those things that are keeping you in this condition. Because those who are lukewarm, Jesus says, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Point five, hear what the Spirit says. He says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Are you listening? Is God speaking to you? Are you paying attention? Do you have need of nothing? Jesus is dealing with our hearts in preparation for the things that are to come. He says, look, I want you to understand that

You need me. And I want to come in and help. But you have to let me. I'm knocking, but I'm waiting for you to respond. He's not, you know, the old-fashioned KGB just kicking down the door. I'm coming in whether you like it or not. He waits for us. He's put himself in a position where he will come in when we allow him, when we invite him. He will change us when we ask him. This morning, as we consider these things, be hot or be cold. Listen, if you don't want to...

follow Jesus Christ, if you don't want to fully surrender to Him, you have that option, you have that choice. So Jesus says, then make your choice and go follow your idols if that's what you want to do, if that's what you choose to do. That's better than trying to do both. That's better than trying to live in the church sometimes and in the world other times. We need to go all out for Jesus Christ. He wants us to be hot for Him. Receive from God. Listen, you have need. I have need. I have need.

We need to receive from Him. We need to allow Him to change. And as He speaks to us about those needs, then we need to be zealous and repent. To be eager, to be going forward and saying, yes, I want to change. Yes, I want to live the way that God has called me to live. Yes, I want to be obedient and fully surrendered to Him. So this morning I encourage you to overcome. As you're hearing what the Spirit is saying, as God is speaking to your heart, overcome. Whatever it is, whatever is in the way, get rid of it.

Stop being lukewarm and get on fire for Jesus Christ. The worship team is going to come up and close us in a song and as they do, I want to challenge you to consider those things. To let this time be a time of overcoming. Where you come to Jesus and allow Him to transform you and change you in those areas that He's speaking to you.

Now this morning, if you've never been born again, if you've never received the forgiveness of God, or maybe you have, but it's been a while, you need to get right with God, understand that for you, Jesus is knocking. Understand that you and I are spiritually bankrupt, that we cannot get to heaven on our own. We can't save ourselves. There's not enough good works, there's not enough good deeds. We owe a debt to God that we cannot pay. But you know what? Forgiveness is free.

So even though we're bankrupt, spiritually speaking, He offers to us forgiveness for free. This gold refined in the fire, He offers it to us for free. But only He can supply it. And we have to come to God through Jesus Christ. And we have to be willing to be zealous and repent, to turn from sin, to change our lives, to change our ways, and to devote ourselves completely to Jesus Christ, to be consumed with Him.

So this morning, as they lead us in worship, there's going to be some of us up here. If you would like to do that, if you'd like to change your life, if you want to be forgiven, you're ready to repent, to turn to God and receive from Him all that He has for you. We'd love to pray with you and agree with you in what God's speaking to your heart. So we'll be up here and during the song we invite you to come on up. Or if you're a believer and you find yourself in a lukewarm condition this morning, this letter is really speaking to you and God wants you to change. He wants you to be zealous and repent.

We'll be up here for you as well. If you want to be zealous and repent, come on up. We want to pray with you, encourage you in the things that God's speaking to your heart. So let's worship the Lord together. As you feel led, as the Lord speaks to you, we'll be up here. Come on up. Receive prayer. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.