Repentance Is The Seed Of Revival: Letter To The Church Of Laodicea Series

I’ve worried about many of you. I worry you’re pretending to be a Christian. You’re showing up to church but you don’t really live for Christ alone. And you’ve got to repent and give it all over to Jesus. Repent of your pride. Repent of your rebelliousness. Repent of your thefts, your lies, your manipulations, your sexual immorality, your selfish indulgence, your constant entertaining yourself, and turn to Jesus before it’s too late.

It's truly disturbing to see us marching toward hell, while sitting in church pretending to be Christians, and I’ve been guilty of it too. I’ve been a hypocrite and a white washed tomb. And I need to repent too.

But Jesus doesn’t tell us all this to condemn us, but to discipline us. He says in Rev 3:19:

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent” –Revelation 3:19

He says I love you, that’s why I’m rebuking you, correcting you, telling you to change your ways. Make a change! Be earnest, be honest, be real with Jesus, and repent. Right now. In your heart. Make a change. Ask Jesus to help you. Be earnest, be real, repent.

You may think to yourself well God loves me, Jesus loves me, he would never send me to hell. Well, that’s actually not biblical. It says in God’s word he is coming for a bride that is holy and spotless and blameless. He is not coming for a bride who has soiled their garments in sin. And if we’re living in sin, or lukewarm when Jesus returns he’ll say to us, “Why did you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I said to do?” -Luke 6:46

Depart from me, I never knew you, you worker of lawlessness, you who lived a double life. I never knew you.

Jesus is love, and mercy and grace and kindness, but he is also truth and justice, and firm, and insists upon our obedience to His ways. That is how we abide in Him in fact, “those who obey me are those who abide in my Love. “

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. -John 15:10

You might be thinking “this is pretty intense pastor” I hope you see it as this is how much I love you, I’m willing to risk offending you to bring you to heaven and not hell.

We’ve made out Jesus in our modern era to be a bit of a Mr. Rodgers, but he’s not that, he’s loving he’s righteous, he’s firm, and he will by no means clear the wicked of their wrongdoing if they don’t repent (Exodus 34:7). Remember that.

So then the letter concludes like this: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”–Revelation 3:20-22

The church of Philadelphia was told, I have put before you an open door that no one can close. For the Laodicean church, they have the door closed. But Jesus is still knocking at the door of their hearts. But they need to open the door. They need to by an act of opening their heart let Jesus in.