The Church of Self-Deception: Message to the Church at Laodicea

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Jesus had nothing good to say about the church at Laodicea. The church had decieved itself into think everything was okay, but the opposite was true. They were in desperate need of revival or they would be diciplined.

Notes
Transcript
Let’s being by reading our theme verse together.
Revelation 3:6 CSB
6 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Let’s review. We have looked at six of the seven churches addressed by Jesus in the book of Revelation. These historical churches had specific messages to them which are relevant and important for us to hear today. We have looked at:

The Church at Ephesus: The Church of Apathy

The Church at Smyrna: The Church of Persecution

The Church at Pergamum: The Church of Compromise

The Church at Thyatira: The Church of Tolerance

The Church at Sardis: The Dying Church

The Church at Philadelphia: The Church of Opportunity

It is my opinion that we are seeing a time of pruning in the church. For many years, churches became bloated, comfortable, and self-sufficient. Churches began to trust in their blessings rather than the God who blesses. When we have plenty, the tendency is for us to think that we need nothing. For so many years, so many people have put their faith in material possessions rather than in God. During this pandemic and economic downturn, maybe even collapse, God has stripped away all of our pretenses to reveal our true condition. It shocks me that so many pastors and churches are failing to see their true condition.
God warned his people throughout the Scripture not to forget that he was the source of their blessings. God is the source of freedom and salvation. They were told so many times to remember what God has done for them. Special days and feasts were set up so they wouldn’t forget, and yet, they did forget. Unfortunately, we are no better. We forget too. We tend to put our trust in what we can see rather than in what we can’t see. We deceive ourselves into thinking that we are “okay” when we are not “okay”. The Church at Laodicea is the Church of Self-Deception.

The Church at Laodicea: The Church of Self-Deception.

Laodicea was located at the crossroads of three major ancient highways.

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It was a commercial center and it was a very wealthy city. The city boasted a theater, stadium, public baths, and even shopping centers. The city, from every metric, was doing pretty good. Life was good in Laodicea. The people were unaware of a major danger. The city was built on a fault line and in A.D. 60, the city was completely destroyed by a massive earthquake. The people were so wealthy that they were able to rebuild the city without any help from Rome. They were completely self-sufficient and their self-sufficient attitudes carried over into the church. Let’s read the message to the church at Laodicea.
Revelation 3:14–22 CSB
14 “Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent. 20 See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 “To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
At the beginning of the message, Jesus uses three phrases to describe himself.

The Description of Jesus

The Amen

The word “amen” has no translation into English or Spanish. We simply take the word from the ancient language. The word’s meaning is complicated. It conveys the idea of firmness, stability, and credibility. People use this term to accept something as valid. Sometimes the word is translated “truly truly”. It is also indicative of having the final word. Jesus is the Amen. He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The Faithful and True Witness

Jesus uses this self-description to contrast himself with the church at Laodicea. Jesus is faithful. The church was demonstrating faithlessness. Jesus is true and stable. The church was unstable.

The Source of Creation

Jesus is the origin, the cause, and the Creator of all things. Jesus is the one responsible for and therefore in charge of creation. He made everything we see and everything we don’t see. He will also be the Creator of the world to come.
After pointing out these attributes for himself, Jesus moved on to describe their condition. Notice, this church had nothing good said of it. Jesus didn’t say this church had anything going for it. This church had a good opinion of itself. They thought they were in need of nothing. They thought they were rich and had no issues, but Jesus knew there true condition.

The Condition: Nauseating

Jesus knew them for what they really were. They were nauseating. They made Jesus sick to his stomach. They were neither hot or cold. Hot water is useful. Cold water is useful. They weren’t good for anything. They weren’t salt or light. They were useless to the kingdom of God. They were totally ineffective and therefore, distasteful to Jesus. The word in verse 16, lukewarm, is only used here in the Scriptures.
Why did Jesus describe the church as revolting? Look at verse 17.
Revelation 3:17 CSB
17 For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
They thought they had everything they needed. They were continuing to add to their wealth. They didn’t need anyone, not even God’s, help. They were completely deceived by their self-sufficiency. They were proud. They had, or so they though, everything they needed to give them security and happiness. They thought they were insulated from troubles and problems. They were comfortable.
Up to this point, largely for the last several decades, the American church has been doing pretty good. Most churches and denominations were financially solid. Mega-churches were full. Pastors could sell books and make millions. Ministries grew and we were felling pretty good about the trajectory of the church. Like the church as Laodicea, we failed to realize our true state. There is a corruption that had seeped into our congregations. We became blind to the reality of our situation. We are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. The reality is the lifestyle of people who claim Christ and people who are non-Christians is the same. There is very little difference, if any, between many people who claim the name of Jesus and everyone else.
Churches became hotbeds for abuse. Pastors preach Marxist values rather than biblical values. Denominations further social justice rather than biblical justice. The people became materialistic and followed the model of their materialistic pastors. Churches have pursued the normalization of LGBTQ behaviors rather than calling for biblical manhood and womanhood. The new religion of leftism with its radical anti-christ agenda is being adopted by churches, seminaries, and colleges. We have been guilty of shutting God out of our lives for so long. We shut him out of our schools, our politics, our lifestyles and even our churches. Why would Jesus describe us as anything other than revolting, as nauseating?
Perhaps the saddest word are these “and you don’t realize”. There is a great deception that has fallen on our churches and on our land. A great falling away from the truth of the Bible is taking place as we speak. Do you see it happening? Most people don’t even realize what is happening. Pastors are being threatened with being fined and arrested for holding worship services in the United States. Did you ever think you would hear of such a thing? Church are being pressured to accept the Black Lives Matter agenda. Have you even read what they want? Go to their website. They want the destruction of the biblical family unit and a deletion of the father figure in the home. They want to further homosexuality and destroy what they call “heteronormative” thinking. Do you realize what is happening? I have so much more to say about this, but I will refrain. Brothers and sisters, if we don’t listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches, we are in for major trouble.
What is the solution? What do we need?

The Solution: Revival

When I say “revival” I am not talking about a week long series of meeting. I am not talking about preachers yelling at you for hours on end to get your life right with God. Look at how Jesus described revival.
Revelation 3:18 CSB
18 I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.
This first idea troubled me some because I struggled to understand how were could buy what is only obtainable through faith? Jesus gives us grace, but we can’t buy it or earn it. What does this mean? Then, I remembered an Old Testament passage which echoed the same idea.
Isaiah 55:1–3 CSB
1 “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost! 2 Why do you spend silver on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods. 3 Pay attention and come to me; listen, so that you will live. I will make a permanent covenant with you on the basis of the faithful kindnesses of David.
They were told to buy what couldn’t be bought with silver. They were to acquire what they needed from God by faith that he would give them what they couldn’t otherwise obtain. As I thought about what they were to “buy”, I realized he wanted them to exchange their material security, their gold and silver, for true riches, the spiritual richness of the Word of God, the Pearl of Great Price.

Buy refined gold: Invest in the Scriptures

Make investments in God’s Word. Study it. Know it. Read it. Each month, we provide a reading plan. Use it to saturate yourself in God’s Word. Instead of turning the television on at dinner, talk about God’s Word with your family. Many of you are doing school at home. Incorporate God’s Word into your child’s learning and you will learn too. If you need help with this, reach out to me and we will help you. Here is my email address:

pastorben@fbclaredo.org

Revelation 3:18 CSB
18 I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.
White clothes are almost always symbolic of righteousness. In other words, put on the righteousness of Christ.

Get properly dressed: Clothe yourself with Jesus’ righteousness

Again, these clothes are not able to be bought with physical money. This is about putting your faith in Jesus. When your hope is built in nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness, Jesus gives you his righteousness to wear. The righteousness of Christ hides the shame of our nakedness before God.

Get your eyes treated: become spiritually discerning

There is no shortcut to becoming spiritually discerning. If you want spiritual discernment, you are going to need to immerse yourself in the Scriptures. The theologian Karl Barth once said, “Hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” The Scriptures, through the person and work of Jesus Christ, is the only lens by which we interpret the world and culture around us. We don’t start with other lenses and then go to the Scriptures. We start with the truth of God’s Word and I would say, if you aren’t confident you know the truth of God’s Word, don’t move from the Bible until you know.
People are being lead astray because they don’t know the Bible. They are listening to the retail media and social media more than they are in the Scriptures. This is a major problem. Do you wonder how people can be so easily deceived? It really is very simple. They are constantly fed a viewpoint. A particular narrative is stated repeatedly until it becomes accepted. George Orwell, in his, well I thought fiction until this point, used the 2+2=5 equation. If you tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and with enough force, the lie becomes accepted as truth. The antidote to the thick lies around us is the truth of God’s Word.
Look at verses 19-21
Revelation 3:19–21 CSB
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent. 20 See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 “To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
If the church didn’t repent and experience revival, they would be rebuked and disciplined by Christ. I think, one of the reasons we are experiencing such a great upheaval in our land, is because Jesus is stripping away everything to expose our true condition so that we might repent and experience revival. Let me say it again. I believe Jesus is stripping away everything to expose our true condition so that we might repent and experience revival. What are you going to do? I say, “you” because up to this point, the message has been to the churches as a whole, but in verse twenty, the message uses personal pronouns. It is as if Jesus is say, “The universal church might not repent and experience revival, but you can.” You are responsible for how you respond to the offer of Christ.
Verse twenty is often thought as a call to salvation, but it is not. It is a call to repentance and revival. It is a call to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The cure for the problem is to respond to Christ’s call with obedience. Jesus has initiated a call. We are to respond to his call. This is a call to be in fellowship with the Savior. Jesus desires to be in deep personal relationship with his people. Will you repent? Will you open the door to the call of your Savior?
Jesus promises a special blessing on those who invite him into fellowship. The special blessing is that you will be given the right to sit on Jesus’ throne with him! You will share in Christ’s authority and rule in the millennial kingdom and eternity! Rule over who? Well, that my friends is a discussion for another day, but suffice it to say you will rule and reign with Christ! The reward for the faithful is to share in the reign of Christ.
Revelation 3:22 CSB
22 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Father God, I ask you to move upon the heart of your people. As we repent of our ways, bring us the revival we so desperately need. We aren’t going to make in on our own. We need you. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Before we close this time of reflection with heads bowed and eyes closed in quiet meditation, I want to talk to those of your who may be listen and have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Acts 16:31 CSB
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Do you believe? How many of you will say, “Yes, I believe.” Will you raise your hand?
Maybe you couldn’t raise your hand because you have not yet believed. Let me tell you what Jesus has done for you because he loved you so much. Jesus was born of a virgin and without sin; Jesus became sin for us. You are a sinner. Your sin leads you to do ungodly things and separates you from the God who loves you. We have a sin problem inside of us. Jesus went to the cross and shed his blood. He died and he rose again. He did all of this because he loves you and he wants to save you from your sin. He wants to transform you, so you can experience his goodness, so we could experience his grace. He wants to heal you and bring peace to your life. It is time for you to surrender to Jesus. Will you believer? If that is you this morning, would you pray with me…
“Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sins, make me clean. I ask Jesus to be my Savior and to be the Lord of my life, first in every way. My life is not my own, I give it to you. Thank you for new life. In Jesus’ name, I pray.
With heads bowed and eyes closed, if you prayed that prayer for the first time and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, will you raise your hand this morning?
One more thing, brothers and sisters, I think we need to make a moment to seriously examine ourselves. Have we been guilty of thinking we are “okay” before God? Have we thought that we don’t really need anything? Maybe this current situation has stripped away your sense of self-reliance and self-security. Maybe you are realizing that really you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. This is a day of repentance and revival. I am not going to ask you to come forward. I am not going to ask you to raise your hands. I am going to ask you to pray. I am going to ask you to repent before God.
2 Chronicles 7:13–14 CSB
13 If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people, 14 and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
I can’t be responsible for every church in America or even the action of everyone hearing my voice, but I am responsible for what I do with the call of Christ. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. How about you?
Let’s take a moment, while the music plays to get on our knees before God in repentance. One of the benefits of having the chairs the way they are, is that, if you able, you can get on your knees more easily. I would urge you to do so. Today is a day of repentance and revival. After a little while, I will come back to the stage to close in prayer.
If you want to talk more about what it means to be a follower of Jesus or you just need to talk to me about what is going on in your life, my email address is on the screen:

pastorben@fbclaredo.org

Write to me. Let me know of your decision to follow Jesus. Let talk about how you can move from where you are to where God wants you to be.
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