The faithful and true witness is the author of the ninth commandment. You shall not bear false witness. Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 4. He is the rock. His work is perfect.
For all his ways are justice. A god of truth without injustice. Righteous and upright is he. That's poetic. Righteous and upright is he, because he is the God of truth, not imagination.
This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation, chapter 3, with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio.
Revelation chapter 3. Jesus has not saved the best for last in this round. We are going to stand and take verses 16. And 19 and 20.
So we'll skip over a couple of them for our reading, but we should get the whole chapter in. Please stand for the reading of God's Word.
So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Verse 19: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any one hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him. and dine with him, and he with me.
Please be seated.
Well, you couldn't leave out that 16th verse. And then You couldn't just leave it hanging either. And most of you are familiar with what's going on here. And one of the challenges with all seven of these churches is reducing the information. to a twenty minute sermon that I give.
Yeah. Yeah. Well Laodicea Love unrequited. And unrequited love is when you love someone. and they don't love you in return.
And this was the case with this church. The Lord loved them. They didn't love him back. Ephesus lost their love for Christ. They drifted away.
But Laodicius stopped loving him. content without him, unmindful of his absence, Which is the complete opposite of the story of the Song of Solomon. which depicts The love of Christ for his church. The Shulamite is the church, and the shepherd in the story is Christ, and Solomon in the story is the troublemaker.
Well, this church became indifferent. Non-responsive to the point of Christlessness. And the fact is clearly stated: I'm outside knocking, trying to get in, I'm not there. And that is a soul-damning Condition.
So now, verse 14, and to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things say the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
Well, their pastors whom this is addressed to now The star of the church is the pastor, and that is the church. You can't really separate the two. Revelation 1, verse 20, he holds the seven stars. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
Well, the angel is being addressed here, it's the messenger. Not an angelic being, it's a human being. It's a sinner saved by grace, permitted. To lead the flock. Their pastors in this church, just like Progamus, Diatira, Sardis.
Their pastors should never have allowed them to have service without Christ. But That is not always the case. The pastors did allow the church to assemble without Jesus. When pastors don't do their job, when they do the job of the people and not Christ, it's not good for anybody. Not according to the scripture, not according to the Lord.
And we don't have to guess about this. It's recorded for us many places in scripture. This is one of them. Keeping people happy became more important than keeping them holy. We we drift, we leak.
We need constant realignment. and the church without Christ. A Christless church is an apostate gathering. Having the audacity to continue to call itself a church. Why not make up some other name?
But think This wouldn't work for Satan. Satan's objective is to destroy everything that God loves. Still Christ loved this church. As we were reading and our standing, I stand at the door and knock. As many as I love, I chase and I get after them.
This was once a solid church. Briefly, it's mentioned four times in Colossians because Colosseum was right down the road from. Laodicea. And there in Colossians 1, for I want you to know what great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea. And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, Paul said, I haven't been there, I haven't been to Colossi, I've been to Laodicea.
But I know the fight you're going through, and this letter that. I'm writing will address many of your Your struggles.
So this city, Laodicea, and remember, the city is not. all that important. It is a little bit. It's the people, it's the church, what's going on there. And also remember, it's not one giant assembly or large assembly as we have today.
These were many churches in the city where pockets of believers could gather, but they had an overseer. of all of them. And they had their pastors. And again, in this case, they did not do their job as In contrast to Smyrna and Philadelphia, where the pastors were doing their job and the people were right along with them. Laodicea, the name, it is a compound word.
Meaning ruled by the people. Or the justice of the people. The very thing a church Under the lordship of Christ must not be. is ruled by the people. governed by the people.
The name Israel is believed to mean governed by God. Of course, we read in the book of Judges: there was no king, and everyone did whatever they wanted to do. People-centered or God-centered? Which will it be? Going to take hits either way.
You might as well make them count in Christ. then be an offence to Christ. Laodicea Put people ahead of Christ in his church. And we've had 2,000 years almost to consider this lesson, because that's how long it's been in print.
So nothing good was said about this church. Not a single thing. Except that Christ loved them still, and that wasn't because of them, it was Christ. The church of Democratic rule. The church people Governed, not theocratic.
not God governed.
Now in this city They were known for their banking. Successes. They were known for their medical school. which produced an eye salve. And they were also known for their clothing industry.
Because each field was successful, And Lucrative They became arrogant. Nothing wrong, then. Having financial gains is what happens to you. If you do, I mean, this can be in anything. What happens if you have really good kids?
Does that give you the right to look down on others who don't have good kids? What happens if you have a lot of money? Does that give you the right to look down on all those who do not have money? Be very careful there. Because that outside attitude of the world crept into this church and it took it over.
And by the time Christ addresses them in front of all the other churches, he calls them out on these things. And it was their arrogance that did it. Certainly wasn't their holiness. As cities go, there was a big earthquake that struck this church in sixty AD. And that's about twenty seven years after Christ, And leveled the city.
But it also took out Hierapolis and Colosse, two sister cities to. Chileo de Sia.
Well, those two cities received money from Rome to rebuild. Leo de Sia said, no thanks, we got this. See, that's how successful, lucrative they were, and this factors into the address that Jesus is giving to them. They felt self-sufficient to a fault. We all want to be independent.
We should want to be somewhat interdependent. But not to the point where we lose our sense of place. before the throne of God. And this again We'll get to the corresponding age in a moment because it is the age we live in now. Which we should just get to right now, and even the corresponding ages.
We're done with all the churches. The behavior of each church finds a parallel in history. That is inescapable. And we've covered it. I won't take up too much time on that.
This church. This church Fits the times we live in. As did the church in Philadelphia from the Great Awakening till now, there are faithful churches interested in God's work, awake to the Holy Spirit and the work of God. but running at the same time will be This apostate church. I believe it really kicked into gear in the early 1900s.
especially in this country.
So, what God pointed out to these churches showed up in future history. And we're right now we're just making that parallel, and we'll get back to the actual letter to this church, this hist historic uh church in Laodicea. That The last church address shares qualities of the last days apostate church. is not coincidence. It's Prophetic.
And it will continue to exist until the rapture comes. And when we get to chapter 17 and we talk about the great harlot, well, that has to do with unfaithfulness and idolatry, which you can only really have if you have lost the faithfulness. and have not engaged in the idolatry and that Revelation 17 will tell us about The final end of the apostate church, which will be here through the tribulation period, in which Antichrist will eventually trample. But here's a few verses from the Old Testament that address this condition. Psalm 81, verse 15: The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to him.
I mean, that happens with people, here it's happening with a group of people. Several groups of people. Psalm 81 again, verse 12.
So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. That's 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, right? The Lord says, because they did not receive the love of the truth. I'll turn them over to Delusions. And they can embrace their lies just like they want to do.
At some point, God says, enough. And so he says to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, right.
Now he says, Laodiceans, it's a subtle disowning. Because he doesn't address the other churches. He doesn't say to the church of the Ephesians. He says to the church in Ephesus, to the church in Smyrna. But to this one, The church of the Laodiceans.
And I think it is subtle, and I think it has to do with him distancing himself from this condition. As verse 20 tells us, he's outside. He's not in this church, but he wants in. He once was in They did once love him, why I read from Colossians chapter 2. These things say the amen.
Now, amen is the Hebrew. Or verily. truly Certainly, And when it shows up in your New Testament, Jesus says, Verily, verily, it's amen, amen. This is the truth. It's a Hebrew word that's used by the Greek-speaking.
Apostles. He is the truth. But they don't have them. Revelation 1, verse 5, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.
Well, you can't be faithful if you are untrustworthy, and you will be untrustworthy if truth doesn't matter to you. His people and churches must pursue truth. 1 Timothy 3, verse 5. I love this verse. I've read it a few times through these seven churches: the house of God.
which is the Church of the Living God. the pillar and ground of the truth. Because they were careless. With the truth They did not Mean To change their ways. Truth got in the way of who they wanted to be.
However, Fraudulent churches do not make Christ a fraud. The world doesn't understand that. They think of a Christian or a pastor or a church. Contradicts Christ, that Christianity therefore is not valid. They're just looking for an excuse.
More like a drowning man grasping for a straw. In this country in 1922, a heretic by the name of Harry Emerson Fosdick. very much supported by John Rockefeller, He preached a sermon. And in that sermon he said, Shall fundamentalism win?
Now, that church is still in existence in Manhattan, the Riverside.
Well, one of. He had three churches. That wasn't the one he preached at, but that was one of the churches that he. But he finished the riverside, and to this day It's it's completely immoral and heretic church. But in 1922, as a Presbyterian Pastor, he preached, Shall Fundamentalism Win?
And what he was saying is, the Bible is outdated. We're modernists now, and it is a humanistic approach. And it really catapulted Liberal theology because he was so respected. He had so much money in the back of him.
Well, another pastor, Clarence McCartney, He wrote a counter article and preached a counter-sermon. Shall unbelief win? Because that is exactly what Fosdick was preaching: unbelief. and that represents to this day the Apostate Church That is going to again go through the Great Tribulation period.
So here the faithful and true witness Sticks to His Word because it is faithful. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of God stands forever. But to the liberal theologian, He has to get rid of that some way. And he elevates humans. And he demotes God's word, thereby demoting God's voice, thereby demoting God.
The faithful and true witness is the author of the ninth commandment. You shall not bear false witness. Deuteronomy chapter thirty-two, verse four: He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all his ways are justice.
A God of truth. without injustice. Righteous And upright is he. That's poetic. Righteous and upright is he, because he is the God of truth, not imagination.
Imagination is the foundation for all idolatry. The imagination of man. Back in Genesis, God had to deal with that. And he has put it in print so we can understand. We go by the revelation of God's Word.
which is from Genesis to Revelation. and not by speculation. Just this week, I was listening to a radio station. It was once solid. We gotta get going here.
We're only on verse 13, right? But there's always a time for anecdotes.
So I'm listening to this radio station last week, and I was saying, who is this guy speaking? There's nothing about scripture, there's nothing about God. It's all about making people feel good about themselves. We go to a motivational course for that.
Well, it turned out to be Rick Warren. No surprise there.
So I I went back again the next We do I think the day before yesterday, one of these days. was one of the days in this year. And I'm listening, and my wife was with me, and this guy is talking about. Imagination. And he wrote a book, Imagining Heaven, or something like that.
And there's all these stories about, and Jesus came, and I died, and I saw the light, and someone held my hand, and Jesus said, This is cool. People are gobbling this stuff up and it's junk. Nest. Who who put who aired this? Who is supporting this book?
The imagination of heaven is something to Those lines. In one hand, I try to delete it, in the other hand, I try to say, Lord, is this useful information from the pulpit?
Well Some of you may like focus on the family. I'm not one of them, never have been, won't ever be. I prefer my focus on God, and I had a trouble with that from the day one. And this is the kind of stuff they're putting out. They've always been putting out this kind of stuff.
I know, I know. But it helped me so much. You know, you can be a carrier of something. Like Tyford Mary, IFOY didn't bother her, it was just taking out everybody she dealt with. Just because you get away with something doesn't mean it's right.
What does the scripture say? That's what Filters out everything. or leave them what is necessary.
Well, and you know, so here you have a pastor that's saying, hey, we have. radio ministries out there That are doing more damage than not, that pastor has got to be ready for people to leave his church when he preaches those things. The pastor at some of these churches weren't ready for that. And that's what caused the problem. And when a people in a church begin to want to see their church grow under any circumstances, Get out of there.
It has to be according to the scriptures. One of the beautiful things about the Gospel of Matthew. That the scripture might be fulfilled. That the scripture might be found, all over his pages, he puts that in there, that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Because ideally The Jewish believer was to adhere to their scripture.
As Jesus said, about his church. If you keep my word, you are my disciples indeed.
Well Coming back to what we have here is a reminder that the church at Philadelphia, incidentally, when Clarence McCartney. countered Emerson Fosdick, with shell Unbelief when he was preaching that sermon. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Just kind of an interesting little. Thing to go alongside where Fosdik is being laodicea here from Philadelphia, the voice of Philadelphia comes McCartney.
Anyway, the Philadelphian church. Turned to the Word of God. From the world, but the Laodicean church turned from the Word of God. to themselves. Not even the world.
They're just so self-impressed. The beginning of the creation of God. This is the one that's talking to the church here at Laodicea. Creation started at his command. He's self-existent.
Not made, not created. begotten In other words, coming into view. For us proceeding from the Father. He is beyond king, he's creator.
Well, Colossians 1:16. John 1:3, Hebrews 1:2, make it clear. Christ is the one, the voice that says, you know, let there be light, Jesus. That's him. There are three major beginnings in Scripture.
There's the beginning of God, not a commencement. But an expression. for our sakes. of his eternal state, and that would be John 1, verse 1. And you see of course Christ right there with it.
The beginning of the physical universe, Genesis 1:1. And the beginning of God being born. As a human, In 1 John Chapter 1, verse 1.
Well, we've got some other interesting things that are going to come out of this section. Verse 15: I know your works. That you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. This did not work for them for them.
He knew about their works. They weren't even worth mentioning. Oh, by the way, all churches work at something. But so does hell. It's not enough to say, well, we're busy.
You're doing what? Is The church Going through the Great Tribulation period? I don't believe so. Not the true church. But the false one will.
He says that you are neither cold nor hot.
Now, Laodicea. had an inadequate water supply of its own.
So what they did is they piped in water from the mountain regions towards Colisee. about ten miles to the east.
so they could get some of that snow-capped cold water coming into their city. They also ran aqueduct from Uh hierapolis. which is about six miles to their north. And that would bring in water from the hot springs. Yeah.
But the engineers, as clever as they were, Did not factor in that the hot water would cool by the time it reached Laodicea and the cold water would become lukewarm, but it's lay lost there. Like you might as well just, you know, lug it from a well or something. It didn't work out. And Christ is taking advantage of that. He understands they can identify with this.
That While they wanted cold water to refresh them in the summer and warm water to soothe them in the winter, they got neither. It didn't work. And so, like the water the church had laid out to see, it was neither refreshing as cold water. Yeah. No soothing as he.
A hot spring. Am I a Christian like that? Am I a generator or a drain? Do I suck the life out of an environment when I go into it, or do I bring life into that environment? Am I an asset or a liability?
Um This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube.
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Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
