October 29, 2000

Laodicea: The Final Decline

Rev. 3:14-22

For the last six weeks we have been studying the churches in the book of Revelation, seeing what their good and bad points were. We have been looking at what those Christians back then had to deal with, and seeing why it is important for us to know about them in our day and time. We have also said that each of those churches back then have certain characteristics in common with different churches today. In some way or other, we are just like them. There is also a remarkable way in which those seven churches typify what the overall church has been like during the last 2,000 years, and we will wrap that up today also.

We have been comparing these seven churches with Matthew 13, where Jesus talks about the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. The seven parables in Matthew 13 explain what happens concerning the Kingdom of Heaven between the time Jesus ascended to heaven back then, and the end of this current age. Today we are going to finish all that up, fit it all together, and get ready for the next big thing on the prophetic calendar, the Rapture, when Jesus comes to take His church to be with him in heaven, followed by the beginning of the tribulation period.

If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn to Revelation 3 and verse 14.
: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;
:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
: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:
: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.
:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
:20 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.
:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

We only need to know a few things about the city at Laodicea to fill in the background and get the picture, and one of the main things was that it was a wealthy city. They had a lot of luxuries there that other cities didn't. For instance, in this country we take our refrigerators and water coolers for granted. We can get ice water most anywhere; but that's not true for most of the world, especially back then.
At Laodicea, there was icy cold water running off the nearby mountains, and they could also afford to heat themselves hot water. So they were pretty much uptown; they had hot and cold running water.
It was a banking center; there was a lot of wealth around, and the people had a high standard of living, including the Christians.

Laodicea was famous for a certain type of sheep that had a rich black wool that was locally woven to make a very desirable type of garment. It was in big demand all over the region. Also, Laodicea was famous for an eye salve that was sold all over the Roman Empire. Jesus uses all these things to get the attention of His church in His message to them.

Lets start with verse 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;" Jesus Christ is the Creator; He created everything in the beginning, yet a lot of churches and denominations today compromise on that point. They are not faithful witnesses; they fail to hold to the truth of God's Word. They let themselves be persuaded that God used evolution to get the world to where it is today, and they teach that Genesis is just an allegory. They exchange the truth of God for a lie from men; they are not faithful to what the Bible says.

Then Jesus tells them: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth."
When Jesus wrote to the church at Thyatira, He got angry. When He wrote to Smyrna, He was filled with compassion and encouragement. But when He writes to Laodicea, He gets sick to His stomach. Why? What is there about being lukewarm that is so very intolerable? Why is that worse than even the idolatry at Pergamos, or the Jezebel of Thyatira? Laodicea gets no rebuke for idolatry, there are no apparent doctrinal errors, there is no heresy, no false teaching, just a lukewarmness instead of being hot or cold, why is that so nauseating?

Imagine a situation where the Holy Spirit convicts a person of their need for salvation, and begins to lead that person toward Jesus Christ. That person begins to seek after God. Now they need someone to tell them that Jesus Christ was God's perfect atonement for sins, that Christ died on the cross for their salvation, and rose from the dead for their justification. The Holy Spirit leads that person to one of these Christians from the church at Laodicea. Instead of them telling this seeker the gospel, and receiving Jesus Christ for salvation, they hear: "You need to clean up your life. You need to stop acting like a heathen, and start acting respectable, find a good church and join it, get a haircut, and get a real job." So this poor misguided seeker after God leaves the church of Aphrodite and joins the First Ecumenical Babylonian Fellowship, puts ten dollars in the plate every week, goes to the churches spaghetti supper every Thursday night, and figures: "Me and Jesus, we got a good thing goin."

The Holy Spirit is not pleased. God still wants this person saved. So He sends a different witness, a faithful witness to speak to this person and give them the Gospel. But now there is a problem. This person now believes they are already a Christian, and they have no need of this "salvation" or "being born again" that they are hearing about. "What do you mean, `Receive Jesus for salvation?' I'm already a Christian, would you like to see my church membership letter?" And now you have a church full of nominal Christians, where the crop is springing up with as many weeds as there is wheat, and churchianity has replaced Christianity.

It is much easier to convert someone who has never heard the Gospel, or never had the claims of Christ pressed against their situation, than it is to try and convert a heathen who is convinced that they are already "saved." There is no one farther from the truth in Christ than someone who makes an idle profession without real faith. How many of us know someone who claims to have walked an aisle, went to an altar, prayed a prayer, "got saved," ... yet their life testifies that they have never known Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Too many of us know such people, they are "Laodiceans." What does that say about us, as we interact with such people, if we go along with their masquerade? What if we play their game? What if we ignore the obvious need of people that think they are saved by their works, their church membership, or whatever, instead of by the blood of Christ? Then we are Laodiceans too, because we go along with that lukewarm imitation Christianity substitute that the Lord finds so nauseating. You better tell them. If someone thinks they are saved and they're not, and you know it, then you better tell them, because if you don't, then you put yourself in the place where Jesus says "You make me sick."

Verse 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:
: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.
:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent."
Well to do, comfortable Christians. Even the poorest Christians in our assembly have food to eat, a car to drive, several changes of clothes and a color TV. Life is good; we are like Laodicea; we have all we need, right? That's not what Jesus told them. This was a church that had wealth and comfort, but many of the members of that church were unsaved. The reference to needing white raiment to clothe themselves refers to their need for salvation, they needed His robes of righteousness, His garments of salvation to cover themselves with. They weren't even saved.

In your bulletins you will notice that the name Laodicea means "the people ruling." This was not a church where Jesus is Lord. This was, and is, a church where public opinion is Lord, political correctness is Lord. This is a church where it is more important to play the game than to be the genuine item.
Probably most of you have heard the story by Hans Christian Anderson, The Emperor's New Clothes. It describes this church very well. Once there was an emperor who liked nothing better than to dress in fine and elegant clothes and show off. Two con men heard about this, and decided to take advantage of it. They let it be known that they had invented the lightest, most beautiful, most colorful fabric in the world. It was so light it seemed invisible. They even said that it was in fact invisible, but only to those too stupid or incompetent to appreciate its quality. Intelligent and refined people had no trouble seeing it. The emperor gave them a large bag of gold and told them to begin working on his clothes, and he sent his high chamberlain to see the progress. When the high chamberlain got there, he broke out in a cold sweat, because he couldn't see anything. "If I go back and tell the emperor I didn't see anything, he'll think I am stupid and incompetent!" So he went back and told the emperor the clothes were beautiful.

Eventually the time came for the emperor to try on his clothes, and the two con men came in pretending to carry the clothes. Everyone pretended to be able to see them, because no one wanted to be thought stupid and incompetent. The emperor was horrified to realize that he couldn't see his new clothes , but he pretended that he could, because he didn't want anyone to think that he was stupid and incompetent. Then he realized he was going to have to get undressed and put on something he couldn't see. He didn't want people to see him with nothing on, but then he thought that the only ones who would think him undressed were the stupid and the incompetent, and they didn't count. So he took his clothes off and got dressed in his new clothes. No one present wanted to be thought stupid and incompetent, so they ooh'ed and aah'ed over the new clothes. Whereupon, the two con men said that the emperor ought to have a parade and show them off (which would keep everyone occupied while they left town).

As the emperor's procession went through town, naturally no one wanted to be thought stupid and incompetent, so everyone ooh'ed and aah'ed over the emperor's new clothes. Except a little child, who didn't care about what other people thought, who went up to the emperor's carriage, and said, "The emperor is naked." The child's father ran up and led the child away, but other people had heard him, and then they started to say "The emperor is naked." Soon the emperor himself heard the people, but he thought that it was better just to keep up the illusion that anyone who couldn't see his clothes was either stupid or incompetent. So he continued to stand there in his carriage, and the parade went on.

That was the problem with the Laodiceans. They thought they were spiritually well dressed, but spiritually they had nothing on, everybody was just going along with the mutual con game. Jesus tells them they need to use some eye salve for their eyes so that they can see reality.

In verse 19, Jesus loves them, He rebukes them, He chastens them, He wants them to repent and get saved, and get serious about their Christianity.

Verse 20, a very well known and well used verse: "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."
This verse is used a lot as a gospel verse, but that is not its primary application. It is a verse for Christians that have gotten indifferent to the first love of their lives, Jesus. This reminds me of chapter 5 in the Song of Solomon, the bride has gone to bed, and her beloved comes and knocks at the door, he calls to her to let him in. Her reaction is: "I have already put my robe off, it is too much trouble to put it back on, I have already washed my feet, it is too much trouble to get them dirty again." Well, eventually her emotions and her conscience get to her, and she gets up, and then she goes and puts on her perfume, and her hand lotion. By the time she gets to the door, he is gone.

Keep your place in Revelation, turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, and verse 35: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
:36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
:38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
:39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
:40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not."
If we leave the church at Laodicea 1900 years ago, and jump the context to our modern churches today, can you see that this is the church that is going to be here when Jesus comes back? This is the church that needs to be awake, and alert, dressed for action, lights on and ready to go, and Jesus is giving us a heads up.

Back in Revelation chapter 3, verse 22: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith to the churches." This is the last time the church is mentioned in the book of Revelation until chapter 22. You reckon it's because the church gets taken out of the picture for the rest of the coming events? Makes sense to me. When Jesus comes back to take His church away before the tribulation starts, there will be some that are not ready to go. This letter to the Laodicean church speaks to those that think they are Christians, when really they are not. Jesus is telling us that there will be a church that is comfortable, well to do, life is easy. They've got all their doctrines correct, no persecution, everything looks rosy. There's just one problem: too many people are indifferent, too many people on the church roles that have never been born again, and when He knocks on their door, they aren't ready to go.

Something that needs mentioning about these seven churches, as we look at them throughout history, as characterizing the church as a whole, they appear in sequence, but they also overlap. When you look at Christianity as a whole, if you look at the little chart in the bulletin, the approximate dates when those things happened are listed.

There is also another sense in which they overlap. Throughout the last 2,000 years, there have always been various churches that have the spiritual characteristics of one or the other of these seven churches. And different people in various churches throughout history have similar spiritual characteristics to one or the other of those seven churches. Different churches in different parts of the world today tend to favor some of these churches more than others. In America today, my opinion is that one of those last four churches would probably fit any or all of those that call themselves Christians.

Time to change gears, and go in a different direction. For the last six weeks we have been tying in the parables in Matthew 13 with the seven churches in Revelation, showing how they go together. The parables in Matthew 13 are about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and not surprisingly, there is a helpful correlation between those parables and the seven churches of Revelation. Today we come to the dragnet, it is the last of the seven parables that Jesus tells about the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. Keep your place in Revelation, and turn to Matthew 13:47: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
:48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
:49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
:50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Obviously this is a parable of judgement at the time of the end of the age, first question, who is being judged? Notice where it is that the net is cast: into the sea. In the Bible, the sea is often used symbolically to refer to the world other than Israel, the sea is symbolic for the whole world of gentile nations.
On the other hand, the land or the earth is a symbol used to refer to Israel, we will see that later on in Revelation 13, when we see one beast come up out of the sea, and the other beast come up out of the earth. So then at the end of the age, there will be a time of judgement, and it will be a judgement on gentiles, non Israelites, God will have one judgement for Israel, and another judgement for the gentiles.
The angels will judge among the gentiles at the end of the age, what did they do during the tribulation, did they have faith in God, and in the everlasting gospel of the kingdom that was preached during that time, or did they rebel? We will look at that more in depth during the weeks to come.

Let me review the parables that Jesus taught concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven: The first parable was the sower that went out to sow, and some seed fell on good soil, took root and sprang up producing a good crop. Other seeds fell on stony ground and the fowls of the air came and ate it up. And finally, some seeds fell on thorny ground, and thorns choked out the crop. This parable is a picture of the gospel being sowed throughout the world during the church age. In some instances the gospel produced good results, in other places messengers of Satan came and stole it away before it could take root, and in other places, the cares of the world choked out those that were making decisions for Christ, they went back to the things of the world.

The second parable was the wheat and the tares, in this parable the seed was sown, a crop starts growing up, but meanwhile an enemy comes and sows a false crop of tares or weeds in among the wheat. The true sowing, mentioned in the first parable, is imitated by a false sowing of weeds that look just like wheat, and Jesus says to let them both grow side by side until the end of the age, when there will be a judgement to separate the evil from the good.

The third parable was the mustard seed, when the church is likened to a plant that normally grows big and weak, a mustard plant is normally like a giant fragile fern but in this parable, it grows big and strong and abnormal, so big that it's branches are sturdy enough to support bird nests. We pointed out that birds in scripture frequently speak of unclean things, and the point of this parable is that the church will grow big and abnormally strong and become a home for unclean things to live in. When the church first began, its problems were external, but as time went on, it became corrupt from within, when we look at the time called the dark ages, we see the parable plainly, the church had become abnormally powerful, and full of corruption.

The next parable continues the idea of the church becoming more corrupt, Jesus speaks of the woman who hid the leaven or yeast in the meal, whereupon it spread throughout the meal until all the meal was leavened. Throughout the Old Testament leaven is symbolic of sin and corruption, and this parable points to a corruption of the kingdom of heaven with sin and false doctrine, the church gradually becoming more and more corrupt. Some examples of this would be the church proclaiming Mary the mother of Jesus as a co-redeemer with Jesus Christ, another would be substituting the mass as an idolatrous substitute for the new birth, claiming that participating in the mass contributes to a person's salvation.

Jesus next told the parable of the hidden treasure, and that refers to the nation of Israel, dispersed, hidden in the world up until 52 years ago, but still precious to God in His overall plans.

The sixth parable was the pearl of great price, which is us, the church of Jesus Christ, born just like a pearl is born, from a wound, an injury, His injury on the cross, then forming slowly and gradually, just like a pearl is formed, and only showing off it's beauty when it is taken out from where it grows, and placed where it can be appreciated.

Finally the dragnet, the judgement of the gentiles of the whole world at the end of the age.

If we put these all together, then Matthew 13, the mystery of the kingdom of heaven during the time the church is on the earth looks like this:
1) There will be a sowing of the gospel throughout the age.
2) It will be imitated by a simultaneous sowing of a false gospel.
3) The earthly kingdom of heaven will grow to huge proportions.
4) The kingdom will be notable for internal corruption.
5) During this time, the Lord will hide for Himself, in the world, a peculiar treasure, Israel.
6) During this time the Lord will also create for Himself another treasure, the true church of born-again believers.
7) The age will end with the unrighteous excluded from the kingdom of heaven, and the righteous entering into the kingdom of heaven.

Also during this church age, there will be seven general types of Christians and churches, and all of us here individually, and all of us as a group collectively, will tend to generally fall under one of these headings. The church at Ephesus speaks of those that have left their first love. If you are the sort of person that likes to pick out a key verse in a passage, turn to Revelation 2 and verse 4. Jesus tells them: "You have left your first love, remember from where you have fallen, and repent."
When you first got saved, were you just head over heels in love with Jesus, did you think about Him all the time, did the wonder of Him loving you just blow you away every day? And how is it now? Now where are you?

The church at Smyrna speaks to us of the church that is afraid of suffering, afraid of what the future might hold. The key verse in this passage is chapter 2, verse 10. Jesus tells them: "Fear none of the things which you will suffer. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life." Are you worried about the future? Does your situation seem so very uncertain? Do you worry about what tomorrow might bring? Jesus tells us: "Fear not." Life is uncertain, life was uncertain for those Christians then, life is uncertain for us today, Jesus never changes, Jesus never fails.

The church at Pergamos speaks to us of the danger of compromising on what the Bible teaches. The key verses are 14 and 15. Fourteen says: "You have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam," and then verse 15 says: "You also have them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans." Do you read what the Bible teaches, and then think to yourself: "I don't see how that can be true. I can see that's what it says, but that can't really be what it means, because I sure don't want to do it if it does." Do you hear what it says, and then if you don't like it, you go and look for someone that will give you an interpretation more to your liking? The Bible speaks of those that heap to themselves many teachers, because they have itchy ears, maybe if you try enough teachers, you will find one that is really easy to live with, and Christianity will become a real piece of cake. Or maybe you believe what it says but you think: "Well, maybe that is what it means, but surely it doesn't apply to me, it probably only applies to somebody else. I'll just ignore it, and maybe it won't matter." Yeah, right. Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.

If Pergamos speaks to us of doctrinal compromise, then the church at Thyatira speaks to us of moral compromise. The key verse is 20: "You allow that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols." Spiritual and physical fornication. Unfaithful to God, and immoral in conduct. Are we involved in anything that we shouldn't be involved in? Are we involved with anybody that we shouldn't be involved with? Is our behavior above reproach, and our testimony clear? Be careful. Don't compromise. Watch your walk.

Sardis: looks good on the outside, dead on the inside. The key verse is chapter 3, verse 1: "You have a name that you live, and you're dead." Years ago I saw a wanted poster that someone had made, there was a picture of this nice, wholesome, clean cut young man, and it said: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" It's great if we look like a Christian on the outside, we are supposed to look different from the world, not all sleazy and filthy, but if our Christianity is only skin deep, we're in trouble.

Philadelphia: a church in revival, a church that is healthy, and active, and faithful to be obedient to what Jesus wants. The key verse is verse 8: "I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it, for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name." Are we keeping the Word of the Lord, being obedient, taking Him at His Word, going when He says go, testifying to His strength in us, looking for Him to come soon, and being faithful until He comes again?

Finally, the church at Laodicea, the church that was satisfied with itself, that was comfortable and well fed, the church that was content just to enjoy all the gusto in life. The key verse is 16, just three words in that verse: "Thou art lukewarm." No doctrinal errors, no real moral problems, no false teachers, no problems with persecution, but totally unconscious of their spiritual needs, their lukewarmness, and their indifference to what was really important.

Do you see how these seven churches are so incredibly relevant to us today, because they are just like us, and we are just like them? It's not for me to stand up here and try and decide: "You are like Sardis, and you are like Smyrna, and you are like..." No, that's not for me to say. Jesus is the one that stands among the seven lampstands, the one that stands in the middle of His whole church, and He is telling us these things so that we can see for ourselves where we are spiritually. He is holding up seven mirrors, as it were, giving us a multiple choice of where we are, and what we look like, He knows the answer already, but He wants us to take an honest look at ourselves in each of these seven mirrors He holds up for us, and see which one we look like.

This is not just for history, it is for right now, and Jesus wants it to be very practical and down to earth. Be honest with yourself, be realistic with where you are, and what you are like, and if you don't like what you see, do something about it. This church is just a group of individuals, each of us is different. There is nothing in the world I would like better than for this to be a church full of Philadelphian type Christians, but that is up to each and every one of us, and for it to happen, we each and every one need to get on board. Like we prayed last week, Lord send a revival, and let it start with me.