Father, we thank You that Your Word says if we come unto You, You will never cast us out. You will love us with an everlasting love. So we thank You for the promise of enduring love, enduring salvation. Lord, we can’t earn what You’ve given us, nor can we lose it. You are our goodness, and You have made us Your own. So we just praise You and thank You. And just ask, God, that You would speak to us.
Lord, that Your Word would penetrate deep, that in every heart, in every little crevice of our souls where we’re hiding something from You or we don’t even realize we’ve not surrendered to You, Lord, we just pray to be sanctified in Your Word this evening. Evening, God. Not just individually, but corporately as Your church.
As always, Lord, we pray that You would bless our tithe and our offering.
Lord, as we give electronically or we put money in the box, Lord, let that be done with a sacrificial, generous worship of Your Spirit. Lord, to trust You to take care of all things and to give that You may use what we give. Lord, just to bless and grow and keep the work that we do as a church going to fulfill the great commission of God. So we just want to have open hands and open heart, Lord, in all things. Just give everything to You. Just pray that in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, good evening.
If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation
chapter 3 verses 14 to 22. Revelation chapter 3 verses 14 to 22.
Revelation chapter 3 verses 14 to 22. Sorry, in 14 it says, And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning and the end. The beginning of God’s creation.
I know your works. You’re neither hot nor cold. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I prosper, and I need nothing, not realizing that you’re wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy for me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich in white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love are reproved and disciplined so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him. And eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear will hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is the last letter to the churches. We’ve gone through all of these
starting with Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and now we’re at Laodicea. And this letter ends very much so on a sobering note but also a joyful one. But also a joyful one depending on how we respond to what Jesus says. In this letter. So my title for my sermon this evening is simply Rejected by Jesus. Rejected by Jesus.
Verse 14.
It says to the angel of the church in Laodicea the words of the Amen faithful, the true witness the beginning of God’s creation. So as is always the case Jesus has something specific to say to each church and the descriptor of who Christ is always applies to what that church needs to hear. And of all probably of all the passages not just the letters to the churches in Revelation but in all the book of Revelation this is I would say certainly the most famous passage passage in Revelation this letter to the Laodicean church often pastors, preachers, people like to you know say Laodicea it very closely mirrors the American church. You’ve probably heard someone try to liken the letter to Laodicea to our western modern culture and for a good reason there are a lot a lot of similarities.
Laodicea was an extremely wealthy city. One commentator said they were the Swiss bank of the ancient world. So they had an incredible amount of money. They had bursting at the seam commerce, agriculture when the earthquake of AD 60 happened they were the only city that did not take money from the Roman government. to rebuild Laodicea had so much money they rebuilt themselves with no one else’s help they had made really strides in their clothing they had a special sort of black wool they had bred their black sheep to a place where they got this really fine glossy black wool it was highly sought after and it was something that they sold to the world at the time and it was part of their work part of their wealth part of their success but then mostly what made Laodicea so famous so wealthy was they had a medical school a cutting edge medical school they had a special spice nard for ear problems and they also had a special salve made of some sort of phrygian powder for eye trouble so this is a city that is incredibly independent and they had a special this is a city that is incredibly self-sufficient and unlike all the other letters we don’t read about opposition we don’t read about Jews who hate the message and they’re struggling we don’t read about you know some pagan cult trying to you know throw all the Christians in jail we don’t read about that at all we don’t read about Jesus says to this church that he’s the amen he’s the amen he’s the faithful and true witness now when Jesus says that he’s the amen it goes back to an Old Testament concept in Isaiah of God who is the true one God who is the true one you know we say that at the end of prayers all the time don’t we and in Jesus name we pray it Greek I mean I mean what is that? what does that really mean? it means so let it be what I’ve said man let it come to pass because it’s a good thing it’s a true thing so see what Jesus is saying is he’s saying he doesn’t just say true things but when Jesus says he is the amen Jesus is saying he is God’s truth so if God made promises if God said he was going to do a thing Jesus’ person embodies everything that God says that he would do and everything that God said he would bring to pass in human history Jesus is a faithful and true witness to everything that’s good and true about God he is the amen it’s why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians the son of God Christ Jesus whom we proclaimed among you he says Silvanus and Timothy and I was not yes and no but in him it was always yes for all the promises of God found their yes in him that is why it is through him we understand our amen to God so I can always say things in Jesus name amen even though the Bible doesn’t say you should always formulate say amen in Jesus name at the end of your prayer it works and it makes sense because when we pray for things that honor God we can always say God you’re going to do that in your own perfect way because I’m in Christ Jesus and I’m praying for these things that honor you the amen Jesus is going to see to it that that’s taken care of Jesus’ name is God Jesus says that about himself. But then Jesus says at the same time, he’s the beginning of God’s creation. He’s the beginning of God’s creation. Now, Jesus is the beginning of God’s creation. And that we’re told that it was through Jesus that the universe was made. So in the very beginning, Jesus fashioned the stars and the galaxies and the planets. Jesus made the animals. Jesus made the earth. Jesus carried it all out. He he was in the beginning. Jesus was the being. So Jesus is the firstborn in the sense that he has the preeminence. So in ancient culture, the firstborn, he had the rights to everything. So Jesus is saying the same way. Guess who is, you know, top dog in charge of the whole thing? Me. That’s what Jesus is saying. But Jesus is saying more, because if we look in Colossians chapter one, verse 18, we read that he is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. So what Jesus is saying is that he is the firstborn of God’s creation is not the old world that was marred by Adam’s sin. Right. Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation. Jesus is the only one who has conquered sin and death and Satan. Everything that you and I suffer from chronically, our own sin, our choices. To break God’s law. You and I constantly are beat down. Right. By God’s law that says you’re not enough. But Jesus, having died and fulfilled the law, he was resurrected, the firstborn of the new heavens, the new earth to come. He’s the first fruits of everything good to succumb in God’s new heavens and new earth. So that means that Jesus, if he’s the firstborn of the new heavens and the new earth, it means he’s the king. It means he’s the top. Which also means because Jesus never succumbed to sin and Jesus never succumbed to the devil. It also means he’s a perfect image and representation of what the new heavens and what the new earth will be like. So Jesus is saying to this church in Laodicea, I am at the same time the amen. I’m a faithful witness of everything that God’s ever said. But he also says he’s God’s king and ruler who has led in a perfect way. And is leading all of his own into a new heaven and new earth. He stands for that. No compromise. He stands for that in all integrity. And it’s like, well, that’s great. That’s great. But what Jesus does now is he contrasts and what he shows them is you don’t look like me. You’re very different.
Jesus talks about here rejecting them. And the reason why Jesus says he would reject them.
It’s because of what another writer calls the pride of life. Jesus rejects the one who’s full of the pride of life. He says, I know your works. You’re not hot and you’re not cold. There was in Laodicea close to that city, very famous hot springs. And they would run for a long time and they would fall over a cliff. By the time they got to the cliff, it would be lukewarm water. You couldn’t. You couldn’t drink it. In the same way, Laodicea was kind of landlocked. They were there because it was convenient commercially, not because of natural resources. So they had to have these really, you know, huge, long aqueducts built to get their water to them. And by the time it would get to them, it was most likely lukewarm. So they’re familiar with lukewarmness. And so are you. Right. You remember, you know, the water fountain at, you know, like school or wherever growing up. Maybe, you know, where one is and you’re so thirsty and you go to a water fountain and it’s not at all, you know, cold or hot. She’s kind of like bleh. And you’re like, oh, I’d rather just be thirsty because it’s nasty. Right. You want cold water or if you’re a coffee or tea drinker, you want hot water. There’s nothing worse than like lukewarm coffee or lukewarm tea. It’s what Jesus is saying is the state that you’ve come into spiritually has has left you useless.
And Jesus is saying, because you are the way you are, proximity is impossible. Jesus is saying, I can’t and I won’t be around you. They come into such a despicable state that Christ says nearness to you is a vile thing.
What a terrible thing for Jesus to say that. He says, I, I, I consider your spiritual state and you are so unworthy. You are so unlike me that I involuntarily vomit you out of my mouth. I want you away from me. Those are those are really big, scary, dreadful words. Are they not for Jesus to say to any church, to any Christian?
Laodicea, weren’t they wealthy beyond measure? Yes. Didn’t they have famous industry? Oh, yes. Didn’t they have medical? Success? Yes. But all those things had worked to bewitch their minds into thinking. You know what? I’m just a OK. I’m fine. I can look at my successes. I can look at the place I come from. I can look at what’s in my bank account. I can look at my status and I’m fine. I don’t see anything or anyone that I really need. I’m doing quite well. And so, again, I think when you make that comparison to modern America, American culture, you have to go, oh, yeah, I can see that totally. And if you know, you didn’t know, we were rated the number one place in America to live last year. Huntsville was. So how much more for us to say, hold on, because prosperity is at my fingertips and success is at my fingertips. I need to listen to these words where Jesus says there’s this likelihood where I could see myself in the mirror and the things that I’ve accomplished and the things that I own and think somehow I no longer need Christ.
John says in his first epistle, all that’s in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. It’s not from the father. It’s not from the father. He says it’s from the world. So so Jesus, Jesus says so honestly and clearly what you are.
Jesus says so honestly and clearly what I am. He says you’re wretched. You are pitiable. You are poor. You are blind. And he says you are naked. There’s nothing that you and I can do to ever change our status before God. Nothing. And that should matter, shouldn’t it? What God thinks, because he’s the only one that matters. We don’t do that. It’s like if you got together with some of your best friends and you played. You played a game of Monopoly and you killed it, man. You just got all those colorful dollars in your hand and you got up the next day and you went to the bank and you were like, I would like to deposit this. Look what I have earned. You would get laughed at. I don’t know. They call the police if you try to, you know, try to use funny money is real money. It’s not real. It’s not real. It doesn’t. It doesn’t. It can’t help you. It can’t actually do anything for you. You can say I’m rich and you can say I’ve prospered. But in the eyes of God, friends, we are just as poor and naked as when we came out of our mother’s womb. And we can’t change that. And it’s not a new trick. It’s not a new trick at all. I want you to see this. This is this has been going on since the fall. Genesis chapter three, verse six. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, delight to the eyes. You know, maybe. You know, desired to be wise. She took the fruit. She gave some to her husband. And then once it say they knew they were naked. So what did they do? They sewed fig leaves together and they tried to cover their own nakedness. They tried to make their own standard from the get.
And you and I do that all the time. And it’s so telling, isn’t it? Even though they’re so pitiful and poor. If we read a few verses further. God doesn’t let them go out of the garden that way. God sacrifices an animal and gives them clothes of skin. Something lasting. Something that is worth having on your back. See, you and I, you and I think we can make our own standards. We can marry it up. But friends, Jesus says to us. You’re pitiful. You’re poor. You’re blind. You’re naked. We’ve all turned away. We’ve all chosen the path of destruction. No one has a compass. No one has true purpose or identity that we can find in ourselves. And that’s true for Laodicea. That’s true for every culture in human history. That’s true for you and I. The Bible tells us that our sins have risen up to heaven to be an unbearable stench. Our minds are depraved and deprived of truth. Our hearts are unfeeling stone. We’re stuck in the mire and muck of shame. And if you really want your payout, the Bible says, if you really want to get what you deserve, what you’ve earned, Paul’s really clear. Your due is death. If you really want your wages before God, your due is death.
But with your with your monopoly money in hand, holding it tight. Jesus says kind things to us. Jesus says, but I counsel you. I counsel you, which means I’m trying to give you good advice. I counsel you to buy gold refined by fire so that you could really be rich.
And put on white garments and clothe yourself, cover up your shame and your nakedness. And he says, I’ll put my salve to anoint your eyes so you can really see. Jesus says only he has treasure that lasts only coming to Christ. Friends, do we find spiritual treasure? Paul says the inheritance and the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. And yes. Oh, yes. When this world is passed away, we will know a real kingdom in a new heaven and a new earth. And it will be wonderful and it will be beautiful and it will be eternal and it won’t fade. Jesus says, have the treasure that I can give. And Jesus says, have the treasure that I can give. All he calls us to put on his robes of righteousness. It’s like that parable in Matthew 22, where the man dares to go into the wedding feast and he’s dressed in his own garments and the king says, friend, why do you think you can come in here not dressed in the garments of righteousness? And that man’s thrown out into darkness. Jesus would clothe us in his righteousness, in his cleanness. And only Jesus can drop the scales from your eyes and my eyes that we could see God for who he is. That we could desire God for who he is, that we could love truth for what it is. If if if lasting wealth, truth, beauty, salvation, purpose, vision can only be found in Jesus. The word to hang over the banner of your life is not pride. With desperation.
Desperation. Desperation. Because there’s. There’s only life in knowing Jesus, not religion. In having him and being clothed in him and being touched by him and being loved by him. The scriptures are clear. It’s not religion. It’s not rules. It’s not this. It’s in knowing and being known by Jesus that you and I really have a life. So you and I are foolish, aren’t we? Time and again, when we look for some other source to find some sense of identity, and security and purpose rather than seeing Jesus as the source, it’s like a well and I got a little cup. I’m just getting a little drink and it’s like, no, I need to just stick my head in there and just drink until I got to come up for air and go back down some more. Because Jesus claims to be that source for us alone.
And I think. Our cool, calm, collected worship. Cool, calm, collected, aimless prayers. Our infrequent Bible study. Give us away a lot of times as not desperate as we should be, perhaps just interested. Some of Christ, some satisfaction, worldly gain, some of heaven and some of earth. But what does Jesus say to that?
He says, I vomit at the thought of it. Jesus will be seen as the wonderful Lord and King and Savior. He is. He will be our all in all or Jesus will be a million miles away. And you think about it. It has to be that way. Given his nature as God, can the Lord of hosts, can the one true God of glory, can he share worship? Can he share worship with you? Back to what Jessica was talking about. Can you share in worship for your salvation and attributing something? Can God say, oh, yeah, I did the cross thing. But boy, you know, you really you were successful in life. Well, you really knew how to hold it together when other people didn’t. Good job. You added something here. No, Jesus can’t share glory or he wouldn’t be God. Jesus calls us to come and to fall before him and to worship him as Lord alone.
In First Kings, chapter 18. When Jezebel is getting all the people to worship the bales, Elijah comes and he says this. How long will you go limping between two different opinions? And it’s powerful. If the Lord is God. Follow him. But if it’s bail. Follow him. Kind of like the very popular thing most people have. You know, Christians, when you walk in their house, choose you this day. Whom you will serve as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So what is Jesus doing in this last letter in Laodicea here for us? He’s calling on you and I. He’s challenging us. He’s demanding we draw hard lines in the sand regarding what our life is about. What our life is about. And he says it can be me. And only me. Or whatever else you want to do. But it can’t be both. Jesus will be our supreme Lord. He will be our supreme treasure. And he will draw us in to inhabit us for an eternity to come. Or he says, do away with me.
Now, what this passage doesn’t mean, just to be clear, it doesn’t mean God wants Christians to be poor. So like, oh, they gave me a raise at work and you feel guilty because you have that Laodicea letter. And he’s going to spit me out. But that’s not what that means. Because inevitably, if you’re full of Christian virtue, you’re going to work hard for your boss. And he’s probably going to want to pay you more. Okay, so you can’t double-jep. Like, oh, uh-oh, God’s got me here and there. That’s not right. And if you’re working hard, you’re maybe probably going to be successful. And if you’re using your gifts God’s given you, you’re maybe going to invent or think of something that’s really good and useful. And you probably will be able to have some worldly success. So that’s not… This is not Jesus’ call for Christians to be poor and wear, you know, like potato sacks. And like, he’s happy. We’re like, you know, we look awful and we don’t have anything. That’s not the point. The point is Christ has to be your one great treasure if you never get any of that worldly stuff or if you get it and lose it. Jesus says the rich man and the pauper both come equally and fall face down before God. Before my cross and see me as life and life alone. And I do want to give you this special word of encouragement. Jesus does say, so we have to take him serious on it. He says it’s hard for a rich man to enter heaven. Okay? Now, you may not feel like you’re filthy rich. You’re probably not. I’m not. But you and I, compared to world history and compared to the rest of the world today, you are. You and I have a lot. And Jesus, I think, just gives us the warning. To recognize it’s a dangerous thing to have a lot of stuff, have access to stuff, because it’s really easy for our sinful hearts to love that, want to idolize stuff in position and power. So, again, what does Paul say? He doesn’t say money is the root of all evil. It’s not what Paul says. Paul says it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil and leads people, you know, into many pains. So, again, Christ’s call here is not to live some kind of aesthetic life where you’re trying to make yourself poor. His call is to make you realize how filthy rich you are in him. So that if you do go tomorrow and your boss says, guess what? We’re going to start paying you a million dollars a year. You can go, well, that’s great. But let me tell you about Jesus, who’s given me even more than that. Right? That’s the frame of heart that this passage should provide us. I have no pride in life. I have pride in the cross of Christ and what he’s done to make me rich.
Rejected by Jesus. Rejected by Jesus. We’re rejected by Jesus for the pride of life. But Jesus calls us to renounce our own lives. Calls us to renounce our own lives. Look again with me in verse 19. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.
There’s a kind of a strange verse in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 28, 21. Maybe you’ve seen it before. Maybe you haven’t. But it says this. The Lord will rise up as on Mount Perizim, as in the Valley of Gibeon, he will be roused. To do his deed, strange is his deed. To do his work, alien is his work. Here’s what Matthew Henry says about that. It is a work he’s backward to. He rather delights in showing mercy, not afflict willingly. It is work that he’s not used to as his own people. He protects. He protects and favors them. It’s a strange work indeed if he turned to be their enemy and fight against them. It is a work that all the neighbors will stand amazed at. And therefore, the ruins of Jerusalem are said to be an astonishment. You see what Isaiah is saying in that passage is it’s not God’s normal, enjoyable work to punish and discipline his people. It’s his alien work. It’s his strange work to do it. If we if we go throughout the scriptures, we find a God that loves to make us promise. This is about the good he’ll do us. We find a God that that wants to provide for us, that shows us mercy and grace and gives us peace and joy and hope and promises for the future. But is it not so that true love requires discipline and sometimes really painful discipline? A father that lavishes gifts on a disobedient son is not loving his son. He’s ruining his son. That father hates his son. It’s good to sometimes deprive our children of good things. It’s good sometimes to whip our children. And a good father has no pleasure in doing it. Only he seeks to do what? Preserve his child so his child isn’t spoiled and ruined. God, our father, Jesus, our Lord, makes these dreadful threats. Why? Because we need to hear them. Because Jesus wants us to be preserved. Jesus says. Stop sinning. I’ll throw you out of my kingdom.
My children, I love them, but they have yet to learn. You cannot, when you come out of the grocery store, just run across the street because there’s these things called automobiles and they’re driving by and they’re not looking for little kids. And in more than one time, I’ve had to grab Dawson or Darcy by the arm and say, if you don’t pay attention, you will get run over. And I’m serious. And I shake them because I hate them. No, because I love them.
Friends, God says things to us in the way that we need to hear them to affect change in us because he loves us. So the Lord Jesus speaks so stern. Why? He tells us why. He says it clearly so that we would be zealous and repent. That’s why God brings. These tough words about vomiting us out. That’s why God and we read it in the Hebrew passages. God disciplines us because he loves us. He would hate us if he did not do these things. So so please see this. I really want you to grab this this evening. OK, it’s not for having committed sin.
Even grievous, terrible sin for which Christ would reject you.
OK, it’s not for committing sin and struggling with that sin and having this like this this season of sin that you’re struggling with. That’s not why Christ would reject you. Christ would only reject you if you would not repent of it. Jesus loves you too much to leave you in your sin. OK, but he loves his holiness too much to accept you in it. So Christ is not keeping tally marks of our sin. Doesn’t the scripture say that love keeps no record of right and wrong? Does God does keep record of wrongdoers. In other words, he keeps record of those who don’t want to forsake and give up their sin. So I say that because I really think that’s a healing bomb for a lot of us who in different seasons of life. We can go, oh, man, I remember three, four or five years ago. I was just struggling with this sin or I can remember that time. And Jesus, could you really? Forgive me for that. Could you really? And we go around kind of like, I wonder if he really does forgive me and love me. And Jesus is so clear. Seventy times seven. Mercy is new every morning. The one who comes to me, I will never case. Now, the Bible is replete with Jesus saying, I will always forgive you for your sin. That starts with you forsaking it and coming to me. Jesus will always, always with open arms receive the one who repents. So I totally believe in perseverance. Perseverance of the saints, right? As much as I believe God elects us to salvation, I believe we persevere to the end. What’s the proof that I really have the Holy Spirit and God saved me? I will repent and I will turn. The proof will be repentance. So let that be an encouragement to your heart, friend. There’s no sin you could commit where Jesus is saying that is inventive. I have never. Wow. I can’t. We can’t do this anymore. You got to go. That’s never going to happen. So in other words, who’s the one keeping you from salvation and freedom? You. It’s your unwillingness to obey Jesus, to reject your sin and turn from it. Jesus can’t forgive what we won’t repent of. It’s the lover of sin who’s cast out. It reminds you of that thing Jesus says about the Pharisee and the tax collector. They come into the temple to pray. What’s the Pharisee say? Well, I’m not as bad as others. I’m not as bad as other people. Certainly not that guy over there. And what’s that tax collector do? It says he beats his chest and says, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. And God says that man goes down to his house justified. So, friends, if you would own you’re a sinner, Christ will be the first one to wash you clean.
But if we come to verse 20, I want you to see. Furthermore, the humility of Christ. I want you to see the humility of Christ. 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 eat with him and he with me. Now, this is often misused. OK, this is often misused. Just, you know, being technical here. It’s misused as an evangelistic verse. You know, you walk up to someone and they’ll cry. And the Bible says Jesus is knocking at your door. And if you let him in, I mean, it’s true in its own way. And that illustration. But that’s that’s a misuse of this verse. OK, it’s a misuse of this verse, because what this verse is here is a special word to Aaron Christians.
And if that’s the case, it’s really mind blowing when you think about it hard, because what Jesus is saying is he didn’t just come to me the first time. When I was a sinner, like, well, that’s gracious enough. And and I let him in and he sat down and ate with me. But I apparently multiple times grabbed Jesus by the arm and put him outside of my front porch and shut the door. So, Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth, had humility once to bleed and die, and he would once give me the chance to repent. But you’re telling me Jesus is coming back and saying, hey, I’m out here knocking on your door again. What? Me? You? Why? Why would Christ be so compassionate to sinners? I mean, if you think about that, this really is a powerful, beautiful verse for the Christian, because it says a thousand times you will show Christ the door. But he’s going to turn back around and knock and say, I’d really like to have table fellowship with you, which is saying a lot. Because in this culture, to have table fellowship with someone was to really accept them and say, I receive you. You’re mine. I own you. And so if I would show Christ the door. Christ would say, I’m not owning you. Christ would say, oh, won’t you let me own you? Who is this person? What is this gospel?
Song of Solomon says he’s the fairest of 10,000. He’s the fairest of 10,000.
And because of God’s grace, not because of my loveliness, but because of what? Christ did. You and I have been made lovely in his sight. And he has called us his own bride. And he says he will perfect us and purify us and ready us for the day that he returns to be his bride. So.
Welcome Jesus anew in your heart, wouldn’t you? Once you open the door and ask Jesus, please sit. I’ve been a fool one more time. And Jesus is not going to say, hmm. Hmm. What’s the count here? What’s the count here on how many times you’ve done this to me? Jesus is just going to embrace you. And he’s going to love you.
I guess it reminds me of the John Owen saying came to mind this week, working on the sermon. Be killing sin. Or sin will be killing you. Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. Friend, if the spirit of God is inside you. If you have been chosen and called out by God to be his own, you will repent. You will turn and you will keep fighting. And I love what we learned in our Bible study this past week in Colossians, because what we saw was this. God doesn’t want us just to kind of keep struggling on, always struggle with the same problems. Like I’m always the same person. We can actually live a victorious life in Christ. Paul says if we pray for spiritual wisdom and understanding and we pray for power, God will actually provide. What we need so that we can mature and we can grow up. I don’t have to keep showing Jesus the door. You know, he’s not like, oh, let me show you the door. Like he wants to stay like it was not supposed to be a common experience. He’s he’s kind to keep knocking when I do that. But Christ wants to stay in feast. And if we are really the Lord’s, we will want Christ to stay into feast. So, friends, ask God, God, let this old world become strange. Strangely dim. Let my sins be exposed for what they are. Let Christ be shown as beautiful and let this grace of this savior who would knock on a sinner’s door over and over again. Let that just be my everything. Let me marvel at the humility. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Verse 21.
Jesus says, the one who conquers. I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Friends, Jesus is final letter to see this final little sub letter and revelation to us is a word from Christ to say it is not in his heart. To reject you. It is his strange work to do that thing. His heart is that you would conquer and that you would reign and that you would rule and that you and I would daily cast off the pride of life. And we would see the riches of Christ in the heavenly places as beautiful in this world as much as we could have it and think it would satisfy that we could see it for the temporal sub goodness that it is. It can’t compare with the goodness that’s in Jesus. And that we would conquer as Christ has conquered and that we would sit down with Jesus on his throne and we would rule and we would reign with him. That’s what Christ is calling us to.
And John, who received this revelation, he really gives the key of how we do this in his first epistle. First John 5, 4, he says, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. It’s a fact. And this is a. Victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God?
You see what the work for you and I to do is it’s to believe Jesus, you’ve already won, you’ve defeated sin, you’ve defeated Satan, you’re stronger than my greatest enemy, you’re stronger than yesterday, you’re stronger than today, you’re stronger than tomorrow. And I can look at you and believe in you and in believing I’m a conqueror and I’m a victor with you forevermore. That is that is who this Jesus is, friends. So for the last time, we hear Jesus say it to us. He who has an ear, let him hear. Spirit says to the churches, can you hear Jesus this evening? How do you need to respond? How do you need to repent? He’s calling you. He wants to sit down and sup with us this evening.
Heavenly Father, we just want to worship you for an eternity past.
Willing that your son Jesus would come and he would be the salvation of many, that he would save a people. For his own possession. That we would. That we would be called priests of God, that we would be called children of the living God, that we would be called friends of God. Father, forgive us because we don’t spend enough time just dwelling on the mystery of the gospel. We think about it in passing, but we don’t we don’t dwell on the humility. Of heaven’s darling who bled and died for sinners.
So what I’m not. I’m not praying for a million little to do’s help us do this better. Help us do that better. What we’re just praying for is just a vision of Jesus that we could believe, because we know when we believe in Jesus, we follow in obedience. God. So, Lord, help us set aside every worldly passion, every worldly temptation, every desire to see self glorified, made much of let us be about the business of worshiping and adoring God. And sacrificially living father for your son, Jesus. That’s our heart’s prayer. That’s our heart tonight.
Pray it. In Jesus name. Amen.