Will you please turn to the book of Revelation, Chapter 3? We will begin with verses 14 through 22.
And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of My mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I reprove 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 in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.
He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for saving us. What a price Thou hast paid to redeem us. Though we are what we are today, it is all because of what Thou hast done for us.
May Thy love inspire and enable us to really seek Thee with earnestness. Give us a spirit of humility, that we may not be complacent, but may press toward the goal that Thou hast set before us.
Oh, dear Lord, do open our eyes; open our hearts. Do speak directly to each one of us. Deliver us from everything that stands in Thy way. Oh Lord, remove all obstacles, that we may be brought into Thy thought, brought into Thy purpose, that we may glorify Your name and be a corporate vessel of honor unto Yourself.
Dear Lord, we commit this time into Your hand. We trust Thy Holy Spirit to do Thy work. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
I hope you still remember what we shared together two weeks ago. We were talking about the church in Philadelphia, and we emphasized that the church in Philadelphia is not an ideal church—that is to say, something we look forward to but think we will never arrive at—because this is not the Lord’s mind.
He gave us the description of this church in Philadelphia because this is what He wants. This is what will satisfy His heart, and this is what He will do to us to bring us to that place. So, dear brothers and sisters, never consider the church in Philadelphia as only an ideal.
But we must pursue after it, because this is what God wants, and this is what God wants us to be. Be not satisfied until we are in that condition. And even if, by the grace of God, we come to that condition, really do not be proud, lest anyone may lose his crown.
Now, this morning we would like to share together on the church in Laodicea, which is just the opposite of what the church in Philadelphia is.
If you still remember, we mentioned two weeks ago that when you look at the seven churches from a prophetic standpoint, you can see that the first three churches succeed one after another. In other words, after Ephesus you have Smyrna, and when Smyrna came, Ephesus passed away. Then, from Smyrna, you come to Pergamos, and when Pergamos came, Smyrna passed away.
But when you look at the last four churches, you realize there is something different. Even though, prophetically speaking in church history, one church passes on to the second one, yet the first one still exists together with the second one. The same thing is true with the third one, and of course up to the fourth one.
Why is this so? Because you find the fourth church—that is, the church in Thyatira. There in Revelation 2:25, the Lord speaks to those who do not know the depths of Satan in that church:
But that which ye have, hold fast till I come.
So here you find this church will remain until the coming of the Lord. The same thing you find in the church in Sardis, because in Revelation 3:3 He said:
I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
In other words, this church will remain until the coming of the Lord. The same thing you find in the church in Philadelphia. In Revelation 3:10, toward the end, He said, “I come quickly.” And, of course, the fourth one is the last one that will continue to the coming of the Lord.
So, from the prophetic point of view, the last four churches exist together until the coming of the Lord. To put it another way, such conditions you will find in the world until the coming of the Lord.
If the church in Thyatira speaks of the Roman church, then the church in Sardis speaks of the Protestant church. Then you find Philadelphia and Laodicea. In other words, aside from what we know as the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church, you will find in this world two other kinds: one will be as Philadelphia, and the other will be as Laodicea—or, to put it more accurately, one is on the road to Philadelphia, and the other has sunk into the state of Laodicea.
The church in Philadelphia encourages us to be what God desires, but the church in Laodicea warns us lest we fall into that state. Brothers and sisters, we need encouragement, but we also need warning. Hopefully, by these two things, we may press on toward the goal.
As we said, Philadelphia, that very word, speaks of brotherly love. We already mentioned that brotherly love is not natural love. Brotherly love is something that is developed in our spiritual life. When the life of Christ in us is developed, then gradually you find brotherly love comes forth; and when brotherly love comes forth, it will come to love.
But Laodicea, by its very meaning, means the opinion of the laity. Now, brothers and sisters, this democracy is something that the world is looking forward to. We think democracy is the best system in the world.
But the church is heavenly; it is not earthly. Therefore, so far as heaven is concerned, the church is not a democracy. The church is a theocracy. That is to say, God rules over His church. God is the sovereign King of the church. He is the Head of the church. The headship of Christ is the very foundation of the church.
The Lord said, “I will build My church upon this rock,” and the rock refers to our Lord Jesus Himself—to the confession of our Lord as the Christ, the Son of God. So He is the Head of the church. In the Bible, you find it is emphasized again and again: the headship of Christ.
We gather together unto His name. We have no other name but our Lord Jesus. That is to say, we all put ourselves under His headship and allow Him to be the Head. Then we will be united together and ministered one to another. So the headship of Christ is the very foundation of the church.
But here you find this church has developed into a democracy. In other words, the world has come into that church to such a degree that they begin to lose the headship of Christ, and they go for majority rule. They go for the opinion of the people.
So far as the world is concerned, there is nothing better than that. And how often you find people, even God’s people, take pride in it: “See how democratic we are.” But so far as God is concerned, it is a downfall.
So here the Lord writes to the church in Laodicea. It is a fallen church. Basically, it has fallen from the very foundation of the church. And when the foundation is changed, you can expect the whole building will be false.
To that church, the Lord reveals Himself in a special way. He said, “I am the Amen.”
Now, brothers and sisters, “Amen” means “yes.” Why? Because our Lord Jesus is the beginning. He said, “I am the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega.”
And then, when you read, for instance, Isaiah 65, you will find that term: “the God of Amen.” Because to Him and in Him everything is yes, positive, real, and true. He is the Amen.
Then He said, “the faithful and true witness.” Now that refers to the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. He emptied Himself of all the glory, honor, and position of His Godhead, and came into this world to be a man, even in the form of a slave. That is to say, He is the faithful and true witness.
All through His life, He was faithful to His Father. He said, “I cannot say anything out of Myself. I say it because I hear My Father say it. I cannot do anything by Myself. I do it because I have seen My Father do it.” Even His very timing was in the hand of the Father. He said, “Your time is always ready, but My time has not yet come.”
He was obedient to His Father, even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. So here is the faithful and true witness. What a contrast to the church in Laodicea.
And He is the beginning of the creation of God. Now, what does that mean? It means that He is the very purpose of God’s creation, because all creation was created in Him, by Him, and for Him. You find that in Colossians 1. So this is the testimony that is given to the church in Laodicea.
Yet you find the condition of Laodicea is just the opposite. So our Lord Jesus said, “I know thy works.” The Lord knows everything. Everything, as the Bible says, is naked before God. We may deceive ourselves; we may deceive others; but we cannot deceive our Lord. He knows. He knows us so well.
He said, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.” Now, brothers and sisters, so far as human beings are concerned, neither cold nor hot is the best. When you are eating food, if it is too hot, it burns you. If it is too cold, you feel it. We want something lukewarm, because that really suits our taste.
But this is not God’s taste. The taste of God is so different from the world’s taste. He says, “You are neither cold nor hot.” Why?
Because if you are cold, you know what you should be, and you have a desire to be hungry and thirsty after righteousness. There is still a chance if you are cold. But if you are hot, then you consider yourself as complete, as perfect. “It is okay; it is all right.” And you lose the desire to humble yourself and seek after the Lord.
So, spiritually speaking, lukewarmness is the worst attitude that anybody, any church, can take. If you know that you are cold and have nothing, then there is a chance for you to seek earnestly. If you are hot, then you are on the way to the perfect will of God. But if you are lukewarm, then you are hopeless.
So the Lord said, “Because you are neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew thee out of My mouth.” That is the worst situation so far as the Lord is concerned. Brothers and sisters, I hope this word will sink into our hearts.
He would rather you be cold, because there is still hope. But if you are hot, thank God for it. But if you are lukewarm, the Lord said it is hopeless—to the extent that He said, “I will spew thee out of My mouth.” Rejected by the Lord Himself. What a pitiful condition.
But do they know it? No. Because thou sayest—in other words, the Christians in Laodicea have their own estimate. They say, “I am rich, and have grown rich, and have need of nothing.”
How can the church in Laodicea boast in that way? It is because once it was Philadelphia, but now it has fallen from Philadelphia. In other words, once there were riches, but now this is only something superficial.
When it first began, those people who sought after the Lord paid a tremendous cost. But then, including the second generation, or maybe the third generation, you find that they have all the knowledge they have received from the past, and yet they have paid no price.
Everything becomes mental knowledge. In their minds they know a lot, but because they have never paid any cost, therefore in their life, in reality, they have nothing. But in mental knowledge they see themselves as rich and growing rich. In other words, they pursue and acquire mental knowledge and understanding.
Yet because they never really pay any cost, they do not deny themselves. They do not take up the cross and follow the Lord. Therefore, they may grow mentally in spiritual knowledge, but in actual life it is nothing. That is the most dangerous situation.
Now, what is the Lord’s estimate of such a condition? The Lord says, “You are wretched and miserable.”
You remember when the apostle Paul cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?” The church in Laodicea does not feel wretched at all. They feel glorious. “See how we know; how we understand. We are far above others,” not knowing that they are wretched.
Brothers and sisters, do we know we are wretched? Have we experienced how we are being bound by our self-life? We want to do the will of God, but we do not have the power to do it. Instead, what we do not want to do, we do. That is wretched.
And miserable—when you are in that kind of condition, it is really a miserable condition, and you really look to be delivered out of it.
So the Lord gives the Christians in Laodicea some advice. He says, “You are poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest be rich.”
Brothers and sisters, here you find they are poor. Poor in what way? They are poor in faith—in living faith. So far as their knowledge is concerned, they are rich, but so far as their life is concerned, they are poor, because they are not living by faith.
Now, how can we really get living faith? If you turn to 1 Peter 1, we will read from verse 6:
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials,
that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes we wonder why, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we have encountered so many trials. Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, of course, we had many trials and troubles. But after we believe in the Lord Jesus, now we think we are all right. We think we are sitting in a chair and being carried into heaven; all trouble will be over now.
But, to our surprise, we find that we have more trials than ever before, more challenges in our life, more problems we encounter, more tribulation we go through. Sometimes we begin to murmur. We begin to lose our faith.
But so far as God is concerned, it is just the contrary, because living faith comes through trials and tribulation. So God seems purposely to send trials to us, problems to us. For what reason? To increase our faith, that our faith may be tried through fire and be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, after every trial, your faith begins to grow. You see the Lord Jesus, and you increase in Him.
Gold purified by fire refers to living faith. We need living faith—that is to say, faith that comes through trial, proven by fire. Then we are truly rich. But it is something that you need to buy.
You remember the parable of the ten virgins. They all have oil in their lamps, but the wise have extra oil in a vessel; the foolish do not. And when the foolish find out that their oil is lacking, it is not something that can be shared. You have to go and buy it.
In other words, the oil in the lamp is a gift, but the extra oil in the vessel is something you have to buy. You have to pay a cost.
So, to have living faith, it is costly. You experience it. You go through it. You overcome it. You experience the life of Christ that is ascending, and that makes you rich before the Lord.
Number two: white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest.
Naked. White garments. You remember, in the book of Revelation, there are two places where you see white garments. In Revelation 7, you find numberless people standing before the throne of God, and they are clothed with white garments.
Then, of course, in Revelation 19, you find the bride, the wife of the Lamb. She is clothed with white garments, and it is explained to us what that white garment is: it is the righteousnesses of the saints.
Brothers and sisters, when we are saved, we are all clothed with Christ. He is our righteousness. But aside from this, Christ Himself as our righteousness gives us standing before God.
But then you find that, to be a bride of Christ, she has to be clothed with another garment of embroidery. It is a white garment, the righteousnesses of the saints. As you read 1 John, you will find that aside from Christ as our righteousness, we need to have practical righteousness. In our daily lives, we need to be righteous as He is righteous.
This is the righteousness of the saints, and this is the wedding gown of the bride that makes us clothed instead of naked.
Then thirdly, you find, “eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.” Brothers and sisters, what does eyesalve refer to?
You see, in Ephesians 1, we are told that we will be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God, that our eyes may be opened to know the marvelous working of God. So the eyesalve here refers to revelation.
We need to have revelation from above. We often say that great revelation probably will happen in your life only once or twice in your whole life, because that really transforms you—just like Saul on the road to Damascus. Such a revelation changed him completely.
But such an experience you only experience in your lifetime maybe once, maybe twice. But aside from that great revelation, daily revelations are being given.
In other words, the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in us—the inner anointing—He is there anointing us day by day, hour by hour, never ceasing. In small things and in big things, He is leading us, guiding us, speaking to us, and revealing to us.
As He teaches us, are you listening? Are you following? Are you obeying? And when you are obeying, you have to pay a price, and the price is yourself. You have to lose your self-life in order to put on Christ’s life. This is the eyesalve.
Now, all these need to be bought. You have to pay a price. Even though it is given, yet it has to be bought.
And the Lord said, “I rebuke and discipline as many as I love.” Brothers and sisters, naturally speaking, we do not like to be disciplined. We like to discipline other people. That is human nature.
But the Lord said, “Because I love you, I discipline you.” If we read Hebrews 12, you will find how He treats us as His sons, not as bastards. He disciplines us because He loves us. He wants us to grow spiritually.
So our part, when we are receiving discipline, is this: how should we react? He said, “Be zealous therefore, and repent.” That is where we need to be zealous. That is to say, we need to love to be disciplined, and then we need to repent.
You know, as you read the condition of the church in Laodicea, it is very pitiful. Why? Because in verse 20 He said, “I stand at the door and am knocking.”
The church is built upon the foundation of Christ. In other words, we ought to abide in Christ, and Christ in us. But here you find, so far as the church is concerned, Christ has already been cast outside the door of the church, and now He is knocking at individuals.
If the whole church comes to a point of hopelessness, then the Lord’s heart is still for some people. He still wants to knock at individual doors to see if any door will be opened to Him. If there is any door open to Him, He said, “I will come in and sup with you.” That means fellowship with Him.
Sometimes you wonder why there is no fellowship. Because He is outside the door. If you desire fellowship, open the door. Let Him come in, and then there will be fellowship.
And thank God, to this church His promise is, “He that overcometh.” Even in such a condition, the Lord is looking for overcomers.
Brothers and sisters, we never need to be in disappointment and despair. The grace of God is such that even in such a condition of the church, there will be overcomers. There will be those who respond to the Lord, who repent, and who buy from the Lord.
And to those who overcome, He said, “He will sit with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and have sat down with My Father in His throne.” We know that this refers to the millennium time. During the millennium time, the overcomers will sit with Christ on His throne. And this is the blessed promise.
So, brothers and sisters, here before us are two different conditions of the church. One condition of the church is pressing on to the goal; the other is going backward and falling into the world. No matter in what condition we are, we are all encouraged by the Lord to overcome.
And I believe that is God’s word to us today. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, take away from us any sense of pride. Make us humble before Thee, that we may, by Thy grace, be delivered from the situation in Laodicea and be able to press on together with our brothers and sisters as the church in Philadelphia.
Lord, it is not a matter of how we are pleased; it is a matter of how You are pleased. Oh, give us that heart utterly given to Thee, and allow Thee to work out Thy full salvation to the praise of Your glory. We ask in Thy precious name.