Laodicea The Church Of Lackluster Faith Series

When we are cold in our faith we are unrepentant and living in sin. God has given us every way through His Word, and His Spirit to live out the Christian life. The Christian life is to be lived out in the Word in order to be in Christ, and then in the Spirit, so that we would live out what we have learned in the Word. Any progression in the Christian life must first start with a removal of the layers of sin in one’s life in exchange as Hudson Taylor called it for the crucified life that our Lord gave to us through the Cross.

In my sermon on the Matthew 5:8 titled, ‘The Transformation of the heart’, I wrote, “On the Cross, Jesus put on display both systems, and tore them both apart, so that we could come before Him, and enter into His very presence. When Jesus said, "It is finished" on the Cross- , it is at that point that we were able to have eternal life. Redemption was accomplished.”

We have to choose whom we will serve; whether that be our riches, dreams or whatever, but we ought to point our lives towards the truth towards the one who is True and instead accept that our lives are but a glimmer in the sky compared to His majesty, and give ourselves wholly over to Him, for His purposes.

Revelation 3

18I advise you to buy gold from me--gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. And also buy white garments so you will not be shamed by your nakedness. And buy ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.

Here Christ advise is very serious. The context here suggests first and foremost that what Christ is speaking about is entering into a relationship with Him by faith through what He did on the Cross. The treasure that Jesus spoke about in the beatitudes here applies. It is by grace that we are saved. Christ was then offering a pure, true salvation that would bring them into a real relationship with His Son not the false one that they and many today are engaged in Laodicea’s famed black wool symbolized the filthy sinful garments with which the unregenerate are clothed (Isa 64:6; Zech 3:3-5). In contrast with this Christ offers them white garments (3:4-5; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9; 13-14; Isaiah 61:10), symbolizing the righteous deeds that always accompany genuine saving faith (19:8). Blindness is aa repeated theme throughout the NT (Matthew 15:14; 23:16-17, 19,24,26; Luke 6:39; John 9:40-41; 12:40; Romans 2:19; 2 Cor 4:4; 1 John 2:11), which goes to show that what is in view here is the lack of understanding and knowledge leading to spiritual truth and salvation by grace through what Christ accomplished on the Cross.

Verse 19I am the one who corrects and disciplines everyone I love. Be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Those who follow Christ can expect to be reproved, and disciplined if they continue to live in their sin, instead of looking into their lives and examine them under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Here again we turn to the fact that they were unregenerate meaning unwilling to repent of there sins and were thus rebuked accordingly by Christ. Here then we see that Christ was reproving which shows His extent was to expose and convict them of there sinners which was in the NT refers to God’s dealing with sinners (John 3:18-20; 16:8; 1 Cor 14:24; Titus 1:9; Jude 15). Discipline then would refer to punishment Luke 23:16,22) nd is used of God’s convicting of unbelievers (2 Tim 2:25). This then is not referring again to believers but to unbelievers to repent of there sin and come into a relationship with Him. Then the Lord’s compassion is thus shown to the unregenerate church to come to saving faith since they identified with Him, lest He convict and judge them (Ezek 18:30-32; 33:11) They would have to in order to be saved be diligent and turn from their indifference which is tantamount to the attitude of mourning over sin and hungering and thirsting for righteousness of which Jesus spoke (Matthew 5:4,6). While repentance is not a meritorious work, the New Testament call to salvation always includes it (Matthew 3:2, 8; 4:17; Mark 6:12; Luke 13:3, 5; 15:17, 10; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; 11:18, 17:30; 20:21; 26:20; Romans 2:4; 2 Cor 7:10; 2 Tim 2:25; 2 Peter 3:9). In repentance, the sinner turns from his sin to serve God (1 Thess 1:9). Martyn Llyod Jones points out, “Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice; and you deny yourself, ad take up the cross and go after Christ. This message seems to have been lost although Acts 11:18 says, “Repentance that leads to life.” So we see that repentance from our sin leads us to the new life that Christ offers to us.