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3/14.
I got to see you.
It's been suggested 3/14.
And under the usual of the church to the latest seems right.
These things set 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 art cold or hot.
So then, because thou art lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mother. Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knoweth not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be cold, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.
And anoint thine eyes with Isaf, that thou mayst see as many as I love, I rebuke and chasing these jealous therefore, and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will suffer him, and he with me.
That overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also over I overcame.
And sat down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit set under the Church.
Verse 13 we did not handle last week last meeting and we did not start with at this meeting, but it's important either hath an ear to hear. Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. You have that reference. He did have the near to hear. Let him hear seven times.
00:05:04
In the Gospels, and you have it seven times here, but here it's what the Spirit says to the churches. It's to those who belong or at least profess to belong to Christ. And the Spirit is teaching us. Church never teaches, the Spirit teaches. But in the in the Gospels, it's to the loss.
Is to those who need Christ, not to those who know Christ so much as to those who need it. That's the difference in the 14 times this reference is found.
I.
Brother Chuck, maybe you to repeat what you said the first day, I think it was very good about the essential difference between Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Philadelphia makes everything of Christ and Laodicea everything of self.
That's the difference, isn't it?
Laodicea is basically humanism into in the church.
And Philadelphia is Christ is everything. That's true Christianity, isn't it?
I believe that's why the 14th verse says the beginning of the creation of God isn't that interesting to bring them back to Genesis 1 because when they get off this far as Laodicea has gotten off, they have to go back to the beginning. Anytime anyone gets off, they have to go back to the beginning.
Where they got off, they got off at the very beginning. Look at Colossians.
I believe that's the answer. Colossians, chapter one.
And verse 16.
For by Him were all things created that are in the in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, All things were created by him.
And for him, we could read on and get a deeper meaning, but they had to be brought back to the beginning. And that's the beautiful thing, how far off they are today. Many in Christendom do not even hold, hold to creation.
If you read on a little bit more in Colossians one, I'll read on verse 17, and He is before all things, and by him all things consist, and He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things you might have the preeminence here in Colossians one. Of course, He's the Creator. That's true.
But he's the beginning, the first born from the dead, and that's when he rose from the dead, when he became the beginning of the new creation. And that's what you have in Laodicea. I don't think he's referring to the first creation here, but he's referring to the new creation, of which Christ is the head.
And that's what should have been found in Laodicea. It says unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans, these things saith the Amen. He was the Amen. He was the confirmation of everything that God said and did. And the Church should have been that too, but they weren't. And then the faithful and true witness, He was the faithful and true witness. The Church should have been that, but she wasn't. And He was the beginning of the creation of God, the new creation. And the church should have been an expression of that, and she wasn't.
So everything that he was, as he presents it to Laodicea, she was not.
She had the complete absence of these qualities and and you wonder as you read it if there was anyone that was even saved in that church. But I think that there was because he says in verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten Bezel is therefore in repent.
So there must have been some there that were real, though the mass was not.
00:10:09
Also, they were overcomers.
Not prove that there were believers.
They have to be the, you know, recover.
It's important to see that as we enter onto a discussion of Laodicea, that on the one hand, the Lord begins by the Spirit of God, begins by the reference to the Lord himself who is the same, and ends up with the address to the overcomer. So this state of things as we're going to read, it's pretty depressing.
It's pretty difficult to say, well, is that really what the church has come down to, or perhaps the professing church, and sad to say, even real believers, and we can be among them, can partake of the character, the attitude, the spirit of Laodicea. But on the one hand it is an encouragement because here is the Lord himself that does not change. And so we can look to Him. And on the other hand, there is the address to whoever overcomes.
Well, the Lord does not tell us to overcome unless it's possible to do so, does He?
And so the spirit of Laodicea does not need to be that which we succumb to, that which we give in to, that which we say, well, what can you do? This is the way things are. It's a bad time. No, it is a bad time, but at the same time there is a remedy for it. And that's why we get this address, because the Lord is looking for those who will be overcomers if we do not recognize that this does not refer to Genesis 1.
We missed the point.
We are connected with a new creation of which He is the person from among the dead.
And we belong not to that which is under judgment, and which sin has corrupted.
You know, we belong to the creation of God and we should live as those that are part of the creation of God. If it would be Genesis, that would bring us unnatural ground. So, and it is beautiful in Colossians, in the King James, it says the first born from the dead. The correct rendering is the first born from.
Among the dead, he's the first fruits. 1St Corinthians 15 Then we that are Christ, that is coming.
You know what then? Even those who are slain for the Word of God and the testimony they bear in Revelation, it says blessed is he that has part in the first resurrection. You know they are also going to be raised in the same way as our Lord has been raised, but already.
We are identified with the one that has been raised and is the head.
Of a new race in resurrection. Of course, in Colossians it goes further than just the head of a new creation. He is the head of the body, the Church. He became that, if I may put it that way, when the Spirit of God came, you know, and linked us to our living head in heaven and to every true St. on earth, that one body was formed.
So.
It's wonderful to be reminded here in Revelation we who live in loudy seeing days.
That we are part of the creation of God, of the new creation. We don't have to wait until He comes and takes us home. We are already new creatures in Christ and linked with Him who is the head of the new race. In John 20 the risen Christ appears to his disciples who were trembling, and he pronounces, peace be unto you.
And that was for themselves, the peace that he had won for them. And then he says, peace be unto you a second time. As my Father has sent me forth, Even so send I you. And then it says he breathed into them the breath of his resurrection life. And I believe that's that's associating them now with Himself as the head of the new creation. We now live of that resurrection life.
00:15:27
And then he says, receive ye Holy Spirit, we lit we, we live in in the spirit.
And in that resurrection life and then the Spirit came down personally on the day of Pentecost to form the one body. But you have those two events, the the bringing them into a new creation by the in breathing of the risen Christ. Just like God in the beginning breathed into man's nostrils the breath of natural life, and man became a living soul, so here is that same person, but now as a man.
Risen, that breathes into them His resurrection life. And that's what this is talking about here, isn't it? The new creation which starts with Him. Risen, and we're associated with Him now in resurrection.
1St Corinthians 15 Adam was made a living creature, the second or last Adam a life giving spirit that connects with John chapter 20.
And also in John 12 The Lord Jesus says, unless the kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die at abideth alone, He was that Colonel of we, the man Christ Jesus. Although He became a man, He was alone. There was none like him. But through His death now we are linked with Him in new creation. We are the fruit of the travel of His soul.
And in John 20, we see him linking us to himself in Resurrection, beautiful young people to get ahold of that. The Scriptures is like a jigsaw puzzle, somebody has said, and all fit together and we have to learn to fit it together and interpreting scripture by scripture.
Bill, you said at another meeting, I think it was you that.
These last two assemblies, Philadelphia and Laodicea, are not ecclesiastical positions, but moral states.
And we can all look into the mirror and, and see that person that is looking back at us. And sometimes we'll, we'll, we'll have the sense. Well, that was Philadelphia and what I did. And the next moment you'll say that was Laodicean of, of self. And we have some of both of that, don't we? We're not all pure little Philadelphians or pure laid Asians. We, we find that there's a mixture. And these are not ecclesiastical positions so much as moral states.
I think that's helpful to see that.
Now Thyatira was an ecclesiastical position, that's Romanism and Sardis and ecclesiastical position, that's Protestantism. I mean, that represents that. But then we can we come to Philadelphia and Laodicea and to make Philadelphia a, a, a group, an ecclesiastical group in Christendom is wrong.
It says thou art lukewarm.
As to what were they lukewarm? The truth?
Person of Christ.
All the truth.
You can take it or leave it. You believe what you want, I believe it what I want, and we can go on together in love. That's that false love you were talking about in the last meeting.
It's not real love at all, is it?
It's interesting to note where we have mixtures that are mentioned in Scripture. Leviticus chapter 19, They weren't mixed seeds or a field. They weren't to mix a garment of woolen and linen. And here we have a mixture of hot and cold. And what is the result of scoop warmness, isn't it? And when?
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And Daniel, chapter 2.
Look at it for a moment.
And verse 42.
In connection with the Kingdom that's described here, says and the toes of the sheep were part of iron and part of clay. Again, another mixture isn't things which didn't come together.
So the Kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken.
What good is a Kingdom that's partly strong and partly broken? So here we have affection and an appreciation for the truth that neither fervent or cold. But Group 1 isn't it.
And I'd like to link that somewhere with what we have in the 18 first, because the 18th 1St there's the council given to buy of me gold tried in the fire. I realized here is what that is being bought. But the very act of buying something is something that is not entered into lightly, is it? And I like to look at the example of.
Abraham in Genesis chapter 23.
Efron here in verse 10 is offering Abraham some property, a field.
And.
Like we just read.
From verse 8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dad out of my sight, hear me and a tree for me, to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me The Cave, cave of Macphaila, which he hath, which is in the end of his field.
For as much money as it is worth, he shall give it me for possession of a burying place amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Hats, and Ephron the Hittite, answered Abraham in the audience of the children of half.
Even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying Nay, my Lord, hear me.
The field give ID, and The Cave that is therein, I give it thee in the presence of the sons of my people, give Hyatt thee bury thy death. Notice Abraham's response to that offer. And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land, and he's fake unto Ephron from the audience of the people of the land saying.
But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee hear me, I will give thee money for the fields. Take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. And we see.
Ephron's answer and verse 15 and in verse 16.
Abraham way to ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the sun to pass 400 shekels of silver current money with the merchandise and.
That field has value to Abraham because it was purchased, didn't it? And So what we.
Are able to.
Value is that which should have some exercise and effort and exercise connected with it as and so that wasn't necessarily the case with those that laid to see it and it should exercise us about our value, how we value the truth of God.
Their lukewarmness.
Their latitudinarian spirit was so nauseous to Christ that he says I'll spew it out of my mouth.
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He would rather you were, he said. I'd rather you were totally against me than this wishy washy in between this lukewarm stuff. I'd rather you were hot or coat.
Even cold but not lukewarm, he wants a decided for or against.
And you either for him or you're against him. But this wishy washy stuff that's riding the fence, that's latitudinarianism, that's Laodiceanism. He abhors that says I'll, I'll spit it out.
It's really empty profession, isn't it? I mean, they profess under criticism to belong, but they do not. It's like Matthew 23, the second verse. They say and do not. It's it's worse than anything else than those that do not even say and do not. But to say it and then be false and empty perfection. That's what he'll spew out of his mouth.
And that's what we have there. They claim to be the same as we brother. They seem to be claim same as any Christians, but they're not true. It is mixing the truth of God with death, which is of man that brings in this lukewarmness, you know, and it is really surprising that.
In this laughter seeing days, sometimes you are surprised.
Of what you hear.
But then when you confront the preacher, I was recently told a preacher had been preaching and gave out some truth and when he was confronted and asked questions, he walked away from the person. You know, he was repeating something that he evidently was not in possession of. So mixing the truth, that is where the warmth element comes in.
But then bringing man's thought in and mixing these two, that brings about this Luke warm condition. And in our day, you know, so much is made of man. You know, what do they call it?
You know.
It is a problem in the Christian profession. Generally speaking, everything is made of man and.
That is what brings in mixing these two things and trying to mix what is of the old man and what is of the new man that brings in this lukewarm condition.
Well, brother, and can't we bring this a little closer to home in connection with ourselves? I think of this, you know, in connection with the breaking of bread on Lord's Day morning. I find in my own soul quite often there is so much coldness when we come to remember the Lord in my own soul and and one feels it in the in the assembly.
And the breaking of bread to me is the expression of the state of the assembly and how little there is of praise and Thanksgiving to the Lord on Lords Day morning. It's lukewarmness that the Lord hates.
And we come together and and there's a long pause after this start of meeting and five or 10 minutes and a brother gives out a hem and then there's a long pause and maybe another hymn given out.
And how much praise is there for for the Lord from our hearts? I think that this we need to start with ourselves. When we read this, we're living in Laodiceans days and it affects us in our assemblies. And to me it's the mercy of God that the breaking of bread has been preserved to us. And it seems to me that that.
The table of the Lord has been attacked so much by the enemy because he sees.
That it is at that table where the Saints get encouraged and they and they get on fire for the Lord and they go out to please the Lord. And so he says, I'm going to attack that table. So brethren get divided and then they argue over things and. And so then you have the breaking of bread once a month and then maybe once every six months because.
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That is the expression to me where it says, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. It is given unto us.
And so it's the table of the Lord to me where we remember him that that the Lord is looking for the affections of our hearts. And that has its effect on old and young alike in the assembly, doesn't it?
Love is the key, isn't it? We've been having that before us.
And I was thinking here in the second chapter.
That we're in.
Revelation.
Member.
The Angel of the of Ephesus. There was a bond there, there was love there, there was a a oneness all there. But notice what it says.
Chapter Chapter 2 verse three and has borne as patients for thy namesake.
As a labor has not fainted wonderful things these were. But notice the next verse.
Nevertheless I have against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
The first love left Atlanta spent the emphasis became lukewarm and sad in the Book of Laodium. That's where we are. We are in clear this year now and as our brother pointed out, we see the results of that too, don't we? We're not the same as they were in the early days. Campuses was going on in 1/2 inch position before the Lord.
Sometimes at home.
Somebody comes home with a story from school, you know, such and such happened to me, and this is what I did.
And I've seen three different reactions, one that says, oh, I would have done that too.
Another one. Well, why did you do that? That was dumb. I would have done this or this or that.
One's hot, one's cold.
But the reply that is most difficult to take is I don't care, So what?
That the stinging reply.
It's neither hot nor cold.
The lukewarmness of Laodicea is in connection with truth presented to the soul. To be hot or cold or Luke warm is a reaction to something that's been presented to me, and I think it's particularly in connection with the recovered truth presented and rejected with AI. Don't care, So what?
You add to that of the 16th verse the 17th, which means.
Pride and boasting and getting richer in their own thoughts, that's what also contemptible to the Lord. And we know that is really coming on fast.
Mega churches, so-called social clubs. They think they're rich, maybe they are.
But it means nothing to God. And that's the next step, flesh moving.
What is worse?
Christ on the outside knocking.
With an I don't care.
Inside.
Or the hot.
Through coldness, I should say, against the person of Christ that put him on Calvary's cross. I think the Christ on the outside knocking is the best because he still cares.
And he wants to open the door and he wants to have personal fellowship with them. He would not have fellowship except with one who is his. And I think that fact that he's knocking is a wonderful thought in this portion, don't you?
I agree, I just I meant it in connection with what's more abhorrent to God is to a state of soul the the the anger that would put Christ.
00:35:01
On the cross and the multitude crying away with him, or the indifference that will allow him to stand outside knocking and say I don't care.
That's right. Well, he answers that himself. He says I would thou Wert hot or cold totally against me or for me, but not this wishy washy in between stuff. That's that's lukewarmness. And that's the worst state that an assembly can be in. The Lord is not in this assembly. He's outside knocking. He doesn't own it. He's outside knocking. But there are some in there that are real. And if they open the door, he'll come into that person.
And fellowship with that person. He doesn't fellowship with this assembly. They're past that point that that was Philadelphia where he commended the assembly. But here there's no commendation of the assembly at all. He's outside of it. But there's some there that might be real. And so he he knocks and if they open, he'll come into them. And that's personal fellowship between him and them. But the, the collective thing is over in Laodicea.
Collective thing is found in Philadelphia. We might wonder perhaps what the difference is and why the Lord would prefer the outright coldness that He mentions here to the lukewarmness. And that bears on what our brother Steve was saying, where there's outright coldness and, shall we say, antagonism to Christ.
There is the opportunity for the Spirit of God to work and how many people have been totally against the Lord Jesus and yet have been turned completely around? We could we could name names of those who have written the beautiful hymns that we enjoy, men like GW Fraser and others who were utterly antagonistic to Christ. And then someone persuaded them to come to a gospel meeting and they got turned right around in their tracks and.
The Lord worked with them.
But the lukewarmness is the result, as our brother Steve mentioned, of truth presented, ultimately rejected, and then that lukewarmness that kind of settles in which nothing seems to be able to touch. Now, we don't limit what the Spirit of God can do. We don't limit what the Lord can do in His grace, and He can act on lukewarmness. But generally speaking, this is the end result of those who have known the truth.
Who have known the gospel, who have had an open Bible, who have had a gospel testimony? And then the point comes where they say, well, yes, we pay lip service to it in an outward way, but it doesn't really have any moral effect on our lives. And those are the ones that the Lord absolutely detests because that spirit of things is in one sense beyond being reached in that way.
Well, we're talking about unbelievers, but the spirit of all of that can affect the believer too. And the trouble is, when we are surrounded by all of that, it's very easy to fall into it, isn't it? Because evidently the humanism and the exaltation of man in this world.
Get hold of those who are believers and as their brother Chuck says, self is what characterizes Laodicea pride in what they were, what they knew, what they had, what they thought they could do. The Lord says you've missed it all, you've missed the blessing and I'm going to spew the out of my mouth. Well, we know that ultimately, of course the Lord will never spew a true believer out of his mouth. He will spew unbelievers out of his mouth but.
Am I right in suggesting that the condition?
Of things that characterize is characterized by lukewarmness that condition.
Is nauseous to the Lord? Maybe it's characterizing a true believer. He'll never spew the true believer out of his mouth, but that condition of things nauseates our blessed Lord. A solemn thing, isn't it? If we think about it, it's an attitude, isn't it?
The subject of abortion comes up and well, I I live in such a free thinking, liberal minded church that some.
Have had it and others are against it and it doesn't say it doesn't divide us where we can go on together thinking what we want to think and others.
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Want to give room for the homosexuals and others are thoroughly against that, but we're so liberal minded that we can tolerate both and go on together. That's Laodicea. That's the spirit of of tolerating anything and everything and calling it love and that's.
Nauseous to Christ.
People honor me with their lips and in their hearts their far from me is God's complaint already in the Old Testament and that might even become a condition of one that belongs to the Lord. You know when our brother he who here was mentioning the Lord's Day morning meetings. Sometimes it is called. Why is that?
Where have our hearts been doing the week?
Have we been occupied with the Lord? Have we filled our basket? We are not supposed to appear empty. The Scripture says to the Old Testament saying that of course in a spiritual way we have been occupied with the Lord Jesus and what He has done for us and who he is. Then we don't come empty handed, you know, sometimes.
When this has been presented, I understand in one part in this world a simple soul was singing a hymn and he made a note, oh, that's a good hymn for Sunday morning. Or he read some passage, Oh, that's a good passage to read on Sunday morning. That is not what we are suggesting. But if we are in these things during the week, the heart is full and we have something to offer.
The Spirit can lead us to express or play that which is enjoyed in the heart. That is what is so important and we do encourage people to.
Sing and have readings as families and sing as families. I believe that was practiced more widely amongst God people generally.
Today we're listening to tapes. You know, not that I object to listen to tapes. We have them along in the car when we travel these long distances, and we listen to it and sing along.
But we have to be in these things during the week. Then the heart is full and there is something that the Spirit can use to which we can give expression on Lord's Day morning and the sisters.
Their state of soul is also very important. They cannot audibly participate, but if they have enjoyed the Lord during the week, their state of soul has a big influence on how it goes on Lord's Day morning in the meeting. Because we don't worship as individuals, do we? We worship collectively, so our spiritual state of everyone that comes to the breaking of bread is very important and it has an effect.
On how things go, whether there is liberty and whether there is real praise.
For the Lord, it is the only thing that He asked us to do, right? He said do this in memory of me and we can do that. What about those that are saved in the audience here? If you ever had the desire to respond to His request to remember Him?
He exercised about that. You know, it's a wonderful thing to be privileged to be at his table.
And be in his presence and worship Him. And the wonderful truth is.
He himself there, and what we learned from Hebrews chapter 2. In the midst of the church will I sing thy praises. As the hymn writer says, He leads the singing, you know, and join the singing that he leadeth. It's a wonderful truth to be gathered to the name of the Lord, having him in the midst.
And then to worship the Father and the Lord Jesus assist us. And a young brother might be afraid to express something on Lord's Day morning. He might be afraid he says something that isn't quite accurate.
I don't believe we would blind Bartimaeus in his natural condition. He was like those here in Legacy. He was blind and you can hardly picture that. He wasn't miserable and wretched. He was poor. He's begging, and when he came to Jesus, he cast away his garment. It was no good to him anymore.
00:45:27
But there's one great contrast. He was not indifferent. He knew his condition and he cried out. And the crowd was indifferent. They told him to be quiet, but he wouldn't keep quiet. And if you notice it, they said, Jesus of Nazareth is coming. And he said, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. He had a discernment that the crowd did not have. They might have been laid to see him, but the blind Bartimaeus.
He came to Jesus, and the Lord said there in the 10th of Mark, he said to him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man had ready answer that Lord, that I might receive my sight, And he got his answer. Now it says here He's an overcomer.
In back in Revelation and what did this man do? Did he go off indifferently knowing the last verse of Mark 10?
And Jesus said to him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Did he go his way? Immediately He received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Isn't he an overcomer? I think he's like that overcomer that we'd like to see there and later to see you. He responds to the knock. He heard Jesus was coming and he called out and he received his sight. He he really bought that He came to Jesus and he followed him back.
Are you finished? Yes. OK, let's go back to verse 17 and 18. We're passing over the most important verses because thou sayest I am rich.
And increased with goods and have need of nothing. What a state to be in and knowest not these people that are Laodiceans don't know their own condition.
Now notice not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked. Every one of those descriptions, it seems to me, doesn't describe a true believer at all. But he goes on. I counsel thee to buy of me.
Gold tried in the fire divine righteousness, which they didn't seem to have, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed.
Practical righteousness, which means they had life if they had that, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. They were naked before God.
And I sent it out to read. I saved to anoint thine eyes. So he counsels them to buy three things, gold light, raiment, and ISAF.
I said to anoint thine eyes, That's the Spirit of God to illuminate them.
With I said that thou mayest see. They were blind, they were naked, they were poor, wretched.
And they needed life, they needed divine righteousness, they needed the Spirit of God. And I read that I, I had to come to the conclusion there wasn't a saved soul there. But he says as many as I love, I rebuke and chase him. Be zealous therefore and repent so in the midst of that.
There were some that were real. I want to tell this story when I was a very young believer.
My sister had a friend of hers, she was a Methodist, and we went to a Methodist Bible study, if you could call it that, and they were all sitting in a circle and we were looking at a verse of Scripture and each one was telling what it meant to them.
What it meant to them. It's like these call in programs. Everyone gives their own opinion.
Which doesn't mean anything, doesn't count for a straw, has no real value to it. My sister looked at me and said, when are you going to say something? And he came to me and I said, what does the verse mean? What does the verse mean? Not to me, to you or to someone else. What does it mean? What is God saying in that verse? And we went over it and in the audience, I've said this before. You probably heard this before. I've heard what Heinz has said 10 times before.
00:50:20
But that's all right. You have to hear what I have to say a few times.
Anyway.
One of those young sisters that was there, she went to the Moody Bible Institute and she was saved. And she was just beaming. She was hearing truth that she'd never heard before. All she'd heard was the opinions of men. And then there were others that looked at me, and if looks could kill, I would, I would have died.
Because they didn't like one bit what I said, but that's that she was in a Laodicean state of things where it it doesn't matter what you believe. We can just go on together and and love covers a multitude of sins and it doesn't believe if you believe in the virgin birth, I do, but he doesn't and we go on together doesn't believe that it doesn't matter if you believe that Jesus could have sinned.
Couldn't have sinned. Those are just doctrinal issues and they just divide us and we don't let those separate us. That's Laodicea. That's Laodicea in attitude and in practice. And what the Lord is, he's knocking on this door and he said there's anyone in there like this young sister that was smiling and beaming because she was hearing the truth come out of that come out of that and we can have fellowship together, but.
She he can come into that person, but not to that assembly, because that assembly is past recovery.
Take heed how ye here, The Lord said.
Every assembly that is addressed by the Spirit of God and revelation, except this one, has something to hold on to, something that the Lord recognizes that they possess and has value, and they're to hold it. The Laodicea has nothing.
Instead, there's something with this assembly that has happened with none of the others. They talked back to the Lord. He has to say to them, and thou sayest.
And thou says, and 13 times over in the book of Malachi, they talked back to the Lord, and he had to say, But ye say, but I'll say it, they have nothing to hold on to. And they talk back to the Lord. And it comes down as our brother said, to apply it close to home. How do we hear? How do we hear? Not just with the ears, That's not what I'm saying. But how do we receive the truth?
When the Spirit of God presents it to our souls.
How do we hear? Do we take it in?
Is it valuable to us?
Or do we just talk back to the Lord?
What was going on in the temple when the Lord Jesus was here? It was dreadful, of course. What did he say? Take these things hence.
What it was, all of it had to go. They were taking advantage of the poor selling doves. The rich could bring the Bullock or the the lamb or the ram, but the poor needed turtle doves and they sold them there in the temple and they were going through carrying vessels. I first wondered what was wrong with that. You got to move the holy vessels around, but J&D has they went through the temple carrying packages.
From the market tracking their dirty feet through for a shortcut and the Lord was so upset. Take these things hence, and that's what he's saying about chrysanthemum right now.
Now there is towards the end, this promise to the overcomer that he would sit with the Lord on His throne as He also overcame and is sitting on His Father's throne. What is he talking about? He's talking about what is explained in Matthew 25, in Matthew 25 verse 31.
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When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of His glory. You know the overcomer in Lord Isaiah is promised that at that time he will sit with the Lord Jesus on his throne. He's not sitting there at the present time.
But when we suffer with him, we will also reign with him that the Millennium, you know, and, and of course he will separate the sheep from the goat and so on. As we have it in that chapter. There will be those on earth at that time that will be shaped and there will be those that are goats that are judged. But.
You know we will be raised and when the Lord Jesus comes.
He comes with all his sayings.
2nd Thessalonians is mentioning that.
The third chapter of first testimonials with all his Saints, the last verse of chapter 3. That means all the Saints will come with him. He comes on that White Horse, but there's his army with him, and his army consists of the holy angels and of all his Saints, and then we will reign with him.
We will sit with Him on the throne. Isn't that grace, beloved Saints of God, that the Lord Jesus is not only saving us for heaven, but He will also share that earthly glory with the overcomer, and that's wonderful. And there is going to be a difference in the Kingdom.
According to faithfulness, there will be a greater or smaller place. Some will be over so many cities and some over less.
In the Kingdom, faithfulness is rewarded in the place that is given to the faithful. When it comes to heaven and our place in the Father's house, it's all based for All Saints and the work of the Lord Jesus. But when it comes to the Kingdom, when he comes back and sits on His throne, there will be those who share in that glory according to the measure of faithfulness.
Displayed on earth. Now, don't you desire to be faithful for him? Not that you desire glory for yourself, as I already quoted that German hymn.
Everyone will see in US only His glory and what the grace of God has accomplished in us all His work, and it will be for His glory. But young people, you can start as young people.
To go on faithfully for the Lord you know, and if you don't watch out and go on carelessly as a young person, you might get into some habits that will be hard to break and to be delivered from. It's a wonderful thing to grow up in Christian homes under Christian influence and be preserved for the glory of the Lord Jesus.
And if we go on and serve Him faithfully, share in His rejection, we will also share in His glory.
The the address to Philadelphia to the overcomer is the highest and that to Laodicea is the lowest. I heard it said just the other way and that's all wrong. The the highest, the promise to the overcomer in Philadelphia, there isn't anything higher than that. And the one into Laodicea is just have a part in ruling. That's not the highest blessing. No, not at all.
Highest blessing is what you have in nearness to the Lord, in what he is and all that. That's Philadelphia, and you'd expect that Philadelphia has the promise to the overcomer by God, a pillar in the temple of my God, name of my God, name of the city of my God, and my new name.
Beautiful promises to lay Lucia. It's I mean, all of these promises to overcome her is a blessing, no question. But that's, that's not the highest, that's the lowest.
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I believe that verse 19 is the only time that His law was mentioned addressing the seven churches, isn't it?
And it's noticeable, isn't it, brother Reuben, that here it singles out some above others that he loves. And it's a very interesting thing. I'm not a Greek scholar, but I understand the word here is the word for natural love. It's the word filio. It's not the word generally used for divine love, although you can't apply that across the board. But I think it has a special character here because.
There is that which the Lord sees in some that He realizes if we could say it from His side, there will be a benefit from a rebuke and a chastening. And so if the Lord deals with us in our lives, if we find difficulties and problems coming in, if we find the Lord not giving us a smooth pathway, it's an evidence of His love, isn't it? It's not an evidence of His displeasure with us. It's not an evidence that He's making the road rough. It's not an evidence necessarily.
Of punishment for some kind of wrongdoing. But rather, if we are adopting the Laodicean spirit, if we are adopting that which he finds nauseous to him and the tendency is in all of our hearts, then isn't it a blessed thing if he rebukes and chastens? Isn't it a happy thing if the Lord intervenes rather than letting me continue down that path without any interruption?
But I believe that's what we have here. And so the word here in that verse is rather an encouragement. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. There is a remedy. There is an opportunity to turn around. There is an opportunity to, as our brother has already mentioned, to come out of that situation, to get clear of those things and to have the enjoyment of what we had in Philadelphia. There's a lot of difference between as many as I love.
I rebuke and chasten that love to therefore doth my Father love me.
Because I lay down my life that I might take it again. That was the love that the Father had for his Son, of French motive, if you will, for loving his Son, going to the cross at an infinite cost to himself. Quite a difference between those two expressions of love, isn't there? He can't speak of their love, but he can speak of his. And so he always retreats to those divine resources.
And they're always fresh, His love to us.
But if I could apply a verse and take it perhaps a little out of its context from judges, how can thou say thou lovest me when thine heart is not with me?
In the.
Number.
There is no.
Blessed God and loving Father, thank you for this portion of Thy worthy medicine for us. We thank you our God too, that Thou hast loved us through an eternal love. We know Thy name is called. Jesus shall save his people from their sins and all. Blessed Lord Jesus, so much more think of those things. My goodness, my grace, Thy mercy, Thy peace.
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I love all these things connected with Thy precious name or Jesus. So we thank Thee for these times over Thy precious word, that we might be enjoyed, that we might enjoy that person, and then we might put into practice those things which have been brought before us. We thank You for the practical ministry, Thy word that goes out, and we just pray, Lord, that that will give us the desire to put into practice.
The things that we hear, the things that we listen to, we pray, especially that these things may get into our hearts, and that as we come together on Wednesday morning, we might remember that Blessed One, all His love and grace and mercy toward us. Lord God, we just pray now that I will keep these things before our souls, that we might not lose them, that we may not drift away from them, but they can be found in enjoyment.
Of thy person, Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, and give these thanks now.
I.