Lukewarm

Rev. 3:14-22 Lukewarm

Condition we must forsake

Lukewarm Saints15 "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. To remain lukewarm then, is a metaphor for continuing to compromise with the spirit of the age, rather than seeking to please God by remaining faithful to the gospel, The complacency toward the things of God and the interest shown in things of this world has rendered this church nothing but a bitter and disgusting taste in our Lord’s mouth. They have compromised to the point that they no longer offend anyone and in the process, sadly, have become an offense to the Lord of the church. They may be a success in the world’s eyes, but they are a failure in Christ’s estimation (Riddlebarger) They are neither heathens nor Christians - neither good nor evil - neither led away by false doctrine, nor thoroughly addicted to that which is true. In a word, they were listless and indifferent, and seemed to care little whether paganism or Christianity prevailed. To be cold as a lukewarm Christian can do the church more harm than an outright enemy of the faith. (Hinds) So a cold "An honest atheist is more acceptable to the Lord than a self satisfied religious man. (Beasley-Murray). Lukewarmness is a worse disposition than absolute coldness: it makes a man presumeupon himself, as if he were good enough, and hinders him from aiming at genuine Christian experience and holiness of heart: The first alarming symptom of lukewarmness is a growing inattention to the private duties of one’s faith. And among these are personal prayer, Bible study, and self-examination. The lukewarm Christian begins by omitting his personal time witht heLord on the mornings of his busiest days, or on the nights when he is wearied and worn out in the service of the world. Next, he contrives to shorten his prayers, and leaves his Bible-readings for Sundays. Thus little by little lukewarmness takes possession of the soul, and brings forth its shrivelled and sickly fruit. Another evidence of the encroachments of lukewarmness is neglect in attending public worship. And if persisted in, will eat out of the soul every germ of its spiritual life. (Norton) How quickly a believer may become lukewarm!How quickly his love and holiness and zeal fade away! His cheek becomes pale, with the symptoms of deadly decline; or flushed with the passions produced by drinking the world"s cup, and partaking of the world"s fellowships. Spirituality loses ground. Worldliness, either in a gross or a refined form, steals in. Reality in their faith disappears. Enjoyment of prayer and the Bible ceases. Pleasure, and exciting worldly pursuits supply the place which the things of God once held. First love is gone. Joy and peace become strangers. (Bonar)

Lacking Saints 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked

Self-sufficaincy  and self-conceit are the inaviable attendants to lukewarmenss (Simeon) These people have compromised with the spirit of the age to the point where they are blind to their true condition. A sure mark of defective Christian emotion is absolute unconsciousness on the man’s part that there is anything the matter with him. There is always a refrigerating process acting upon us, which needs to be counteracted by continual contact with the fiery furnace of spiritual warmth, or else we are cooled down to the degree of cold around us (MacCLarean) The soul withers; the eye that looked upward now looks downward; and the once "religious man," who "did run well," takes the downward path into lukewarmness or death. Yet Jesus leaves him not. He hates divorce. He pursues His fugitive. He pleads with the backslider—"Return, and I will heal." (Bonar)

Locked out Savior 20 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. Whenrever there is a closed heart there is a knocking Jesus (MacClaren) Think of the earnest, patient, long-suffering appeal which the Master makes, bearing with all our weaknesses and our shortcomings, and not suffering His gentle hand to be turned away, though the door has been so long barred and bolted in His face. And let these sweet thoughts of a Christ that gives everything, of a Christ all whose dealings are love, of a Christ who pleads with us through the barred door, and tries to get at us through the obstacles which ourselves have fastened against Him, let them draw us to Him, and kindle and keep alight-a brighter flame of consecration and of devotion in our hearts to Him. (Mac Clarean) The patience of Christ."I standat the door." He stands, and He has stood, as the words imply—not afar off, but near, at the door. He stands. It is the attitude of waiting—of perseverance in waiting. He does not call from a distance—He comes. He does not come and go—He stands. He does not sit down, or occupy Himself with other concerns. He has one object in view—to get access to this poor Laodicean—and therefore He stands. Patiently and untiringly He stands. At the door of a backslider He stands. Day after day He is seen in the same posture, immoveable in His patient love. "Behold! I stand." Here, surely, is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; the "meekness and gentleness of Christ;" the patience of Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself." He Knocks. The earnestness of Christ."I knock." If the standing marks His patience, the knocking marks His earnestness—His unwearied and persevering earnestness He calls as well as knocks; for He says, "If any man hears my voice." Christ does not merely speak or call to Laodicea. He is too much in earnest for that; and, besides, she is so much engrossed with the world that a voice would not reach her deaf ears. So He continues knocking; not forcing the door, or using violence, for God always treats us as reasonable and responsible creatures; and, besides, force cannot change the will or heart, and it is with these that Christ has to do; it is unto them that He is seeking entrance. How does He knock? By His word; His warnings; His invitations. By providences; by trials; by comforts; by sorrows; by joys; by family troubles. By convictions; by sermons; by friends; by the changes of the year. By His Holy Spirit ever working; every striving. (Bonar)

Cure that we must Facilitate

Receive his Counsel 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and 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 They must look to Christ, whose ability to supply then with what they need is inexhaustible.(Riddlebarger)  Lay hold of the truth that Christ possesses a full store of all that you can want. Meditate on that great truth and it will kindle a flame of desire and of fruition in your hearts. He offers gold for sale—gold not only of the finest kind, but which had passed through the fire, and been purged from all its dross. it is gold the like of which earth does not contain anywhere—the very gold of heaven. So we must exchange the dross filled gold of the world for the fire purfifed pure gold of heaven,. He offers clothes for sale -It is from the slain Lamb that this true clothing comes. Nothing else will do. It is the best robe; for it is divine. It is fine clothing; for it is the very clothing of the Son of God. It is His righteousness that is to cover you. So we must exchange our filty sinful rags for robes made white by the blood od the lamb. He offers He offers esye -slave -here is eye-salve—heavenly eye-salve—better eye-salve than that with which Christ anointed the blind eyes of the body. Here it is—in Christ"s own hand. Here it is, all ready for you. Let Him anoint you with it, and immediately you shall see. Consent to take His eye-salve, and your vision is restored. So, we exchange spiritiual blindness to clearly see our beautiful savior through the application of heavenly salve. (Bonar)

Respond to His Correction 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Repentance is sorrow for the past, blended with a resolve to paste down the old leaf and begin a new writing on a new page. Christians have need of these fresh beginnings, and of new repentance, (Gen 13:3-4). Do not be ashamed if you have been living low and inconsistent Christian lives in the past, to make a new beginning and to break with that past. Here is a solution, full of microscopic germs that will putrefy. Expose it to heat, raise the temperature, and you will kill all the germs. Get the temperature of the Church up, and all the evils that are eating out its life will shrivel and drop to the bottom dead. They cannot live in the heat; cold is their region. So, dear brethren, let us get near to Christ’s love until the light of it shines in our own faces. Let us get near to Christ’s love until, like coal laid upon the fire, its fervors penetrate into our substance and change even our blackness into glowing flame. (MacClarean) When trial comes, and sorrow lays hold, and the deep consciousness of evil burdens, and the prospect of coming wrath rouses someone, then he looks round and asks for love. "Is there anyone to love me, anyone that can love one so unlovable?" The answer is, None on earth! But One in heaven! Jesus loves still. All Laodicea"s unloveableness has not quenched His love! This love deals with Laodicea. It deals in tenderness, and yet in solemn severity. Instead of letting Laodicea escape, it takes hold of her, as a wise father of his disobedient child, and makes her sensible how much it hates the sin. Love cannot bear lukewarmness. It expects love for love—and will leave no method untried in order to win back the straying heart, however far it has gone, either in indifference or hatred. (Bonar)

Return to his Company 20 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door

The love of Christ. Here is love. It is love not to the lovable and the loving, but to the unloving and unlovable. It is love to the worst of sinners, the worst of backsliders; love to those who had left their first love; who had once known Christ and His love, but had begun to go back. It is love irrespective of goodness in us. It is love which has broken through many a barrier in order to reach us; love which many waters could not quench, nor the floods drown. (Bonar) The one who opena the door and sups with Jesus shall be lukewarm no more. Open the door! (Spurgeon)

Comfort that we must Find

Communion with Him Eat with you 20 I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. A mere outside Christ will profit us nothing. An outside cross will not pacify, nor heal, nor save. It must come in; and it comes in upon our believing. We hear the knock, and we say to the knocking One, "come in,” and immediately He comes in with His healing, saving cross; He comes in with His divine fellowship and love. (Jn 14:23). The presence of the Lord Jesus in our dwelling, turns darkness into light. His absence is gloom; His presence is glory and gladness. He will not only come in, but he will eat with us. When He comes in, He does not give a hasty salutation and then depart. He sits down—not to rest Himself, but to eat with us. He comes in as a guest, to take a place at our poor table, and to partake of our homely meal. The King comes in—not to His banqueting-house, but to our earthly cottage. He comes in lowliness and love (Zaccheus).

Command with Him Enthroned with him 21 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. When our hands hang down, let us think upon the throne—the throne and Him who gives it—the throne and Him who sits on it, and shares it with us. It will be glorious enough to compensate for hardship and conflict now! (Bonar) Here were beleivers, neither hot foe the Turth of God, nor conversions, nor hot for holiness, They are not firey enough to burn the stubble of sin, nor aealous enough to make Satan angry, not fervent enough to make a living sacrifice of themselves on the altar of Gid. They are neither hot nor cold. Oh that they may never be said of us. (Spurgeon)