God's Final Call, Part 8

The Bible reveals how the early church experienced and gracefully endured severe persecutions, and today we're also seeing a growing wave of hostility against Christians. In his new book, God's Final Call, Dr. Michael Yusef takes you to the compelling and comforting words of Jesus in the book of Revelation. You'll be challenged to faithfully run the race of faith, reclaim and renew your first love, and follow Jesus more closely and faithfully.

He who has a ear, let him hear. It means that Jesus' message is for all, all who hear it. It's meant not only for the members of those seven churches, but it's meant for everyone who reads the Word of God in the book of Revelation, in those seven letters. Be one of the first to get a copy of God's Final Call when it's released. Pre-order your copy today and learn more about the content when you go to ltw.org. It'll be shipped to you the moment it's released, when you give a gift of any amount to the ongoing ministry of leading the way.

ltw.org. Hello and welcome to Leading the Way with pastor and bestselling author, Dr. Michael Yusef. In a moment, step with him into the pages of Revelation, where Jesus speaks to a church he calls lukewarm, apathetic to their spiritual condition and to their heavenly responsibilities.

The words of Jesus not only speak to this church, but they're also words of warning and challenge for us today. God's Final Call is the title of this series from Dr. Yusef, Practical Words from Revelation. Dig deeper into today's content in Dr. Yusef's book of that very same name, God's Final Call. Details at ltw.org.

Do that later though, because you'll not want to miss a word from Dr. Yusef as he begins the teaching portion of this episode of Leading the Way. Stand with me please to the book of Revelation chapter 3 beginning verse 14. This resembles many many churches in the 21st century. It has the distinct and the distinction of being the only church of all the seven that are resurrected, glorified, soon coming Lord Jesus could not find one blessed good thing to say about them. Not one.

Not one. You have to understand a few things about the city, the city itself. First of all it was founded in the year 250 BC by Antikos of Syria.

Now Antikos of Syria is where the city of Antioch was named after him and he founded this city and named it after his wife, Laodicea. Laodicea was a remarkable city in every way and all the ones we've been looking at. This is the most remarkable city of them all. It would have been the kind of city that every business consultant would set as an example for success. Every motivational speaker would come to your boardroom and to your business and and will give Laodicea as a model for success and for business management. It would be exhibit A in every business book that is ever published on management. It would have been the subject of every PowerPoint presentation. Every business consultant would begin his speech by saying let me tell you about Laodicea.

Why? Because it was the business capital of the region. It was the financial center of the region. It was the manufacturing center of the region.

It was the medical scientific center of the region. Every bank has a branch and a head office in Laodicea. Every financial institution they had an address in Laodicea. Every investment firm and a brokerage firm and a financial institution they have to have even if it's a cubbyhole but they have to say hey we got an office in Laodicea. They cannot afford not to have an address in Laodicea. That's how it was.

Why? Well it was the center of the manufacturing of the finest clothes. The sheep that were renowned in this Laodicean hill from which they were famous for soft violet black glossy wool which was rare and was manufactured in Laodicea but that's not all. It was the medical center of the region and then became the talk of the world literally. Nearby the temple of Mancurio there was a medical school and it was second to none. In fact that medical center became world renowned because they discovered a special salve for the curing of all eye diseases.

Powder. I want you to think with me. Please just think with me. They are the financial capital of the world. Their clothing manufacturing capital of the world. The medical center of the world and yet Jesus said I am not impressed. That's a rough translation but you get the meaning. Let me rephrase the words of Jesus without doing the service or doing any harm to the text. And Jesus is saying you might be the financial capital of the world but your spiritual poverty is grinding. You might be the clothing manufacturing center of the world but your spiritual nakedness exposes your shame.

You may be boasting about your eye salve but in reality your spiritual blindness is causing you not to see your true spiritual condition. As we've been seeing throughout the seven churches the resurrected glorified Jesus finds the characteristic about the city finds something about the culture and he will lift that out and he would apply it either for them to depart from or to apply it to themselves and to use that for the church. But wait wait wait wait a minute I left something out here of most important the most important thing I left that out about this city and Jesus focuses on it like a laser beam. The water supply to the city of Laodicea had to travel several miles through underground aqueducts and the water because they traveled long distance underground by the time it reached the city it was foul it was dirty and it was tepid. This water was not hot enough to relax and restore and rejuvenate like the hot springs in a nearby heriopolis that's h-i-e-r heriopolis nearby they had hot springs or people went there and rejuvenated it was not cold enough to refresh like the streams of cold water in the nearby colossi. Question what good is that water what good is it for?

It was good for one thing they drank it to induce vomit our resurrected glorified soon coming Lord Jesus is saying to them you are like your water your indifference and your complacency is making me sick your apathy is making me nauseous your half-hearted commitment is making me feel like I have drank a glass of your water. Now beloved I am absolutely convinced that this is how our Lord Jesus Christ now feels about so many of the 21st century churches his churches that have departed from the truth someone said there are some churches that make Jesus weep other churches make Jesus angry than others make Jesus sick. I pray to God that our church make Jesus rejoice. So what is the answer? Praise God I don't have to come with the answer.

Praise God we don't have to come with the answer. Jesus himself gives the answer and here the resurrected glorified Lord Jesus gives him three things first of all he alerts them to their dangerous condition secondly he advises them how to get out of their dangerous condition and finally he awards them if they get away from their dangerous condition. Here you have it alert advice and award this is Jesus alert system his alert system the truth is most people have blind spots all of us have blind spots what makes it worse is that none of us are naturally alert to our blind spots otherwise they wouldn't be blind spots right so the question is how do you react when somebody points you blind spot how do you react to it now there's some people react angrily when you point to their blind spot others receive it graciously and do self-examination and come clean with God and say Lord search me Oh God I want to come clean with you and then there's a third group third reaction and those who are react apathetically you know I'm talking about it's like the person who said I'm neither for nor against apathy. Remind me of the preacher who is really preaching waxing eloquently about apathy and against apathy and he was preaching his heart out and then he turned to the person in the front pew and he said is that not so and the man said I don't know and I don't care that warms the heart of the preacher now I'm going to make a statement it's gonna startle some of you not obvious some of you I believe with all my heart that apathy is Jesus is number one enemy why am I saying this listen carefully please because he knows how to deal with the red hot fanatics he knows how to deal with the cold enemy but it's a tippet apathetic lukewarm person that makes him sick and here in this letter to the believers in the city of Laodicea our glorified Lord Jesus is telling them your blind spot is that you are not realistic in your self-assessment you are smug in your self-satisfaction you are resting on your worldly reputation you are placing your total confidence in your material resources you're puffed up with your wealth in other words you are blind to your true condition oh Lord may that never be said of me you are materially rich but you are spiritually penniless you may be dressed up in the designer clothes but you're spiritually and shamefully naked you may be able to boast about your I-self but you are truly spiritually blind to what is really matters hear me right please hear me right all sin all sin all sins are infectious but pride is the most infectious and dangerous sin of all and that is why here Jesus had to speak to them bluntly he's saying wake up and smell the coffee you are poppers in spite of your banks you're blind in spite of your eye powder you're naked in spite of your clothing manufacturing companies first of all he does what alerts them and secondly he advises them underline that in verse 18 in your Bible Revelation 3 18 just underline it I'm going to tell you a little bit about that verse it gives me palpitation it really does it's just amazing verse I counsel you say that with me this verse gives me goosebumps I'm going to tell you why the God who said let that be light and there it was the God the very God who clicked his fingers and the galaxies began to dance in their orbits that same God says I counsel you what yeah he could have said I order you he could have said I command you he could have said I demand of you but now he said I counsel you our amazing God listen the older I get the longer I walk with Jesus the more I am overwhelmed by how amazing our God is he respects the very freedom that he gives us he respects the freedom he gives us when I see someone causing a lot of harm and their sin and disobedience really when they're acting foolishly and because we know that sin it just harms a lot of people not just the person who sins right when somebody acting foolishly harm a lot of people I always pray and says God sock it to them I've done it so here the voice of God says I'm speaking to them I think Lord whack them I'm sending messages and messengers to them I say God smack them silly God says I'm counseling them you and I know that God can terrify us but he doesn't he can order us often he does it not in the beginning anyway he can demand from us but he doesn't he prefers first to counsel us that small voice he prefers first to advise us he prefers first to convict us he prefers first to call us he prefers first to guide us he prefers first to lead us all to be sure don't miss what I'm going to tell you there are dire consequences to ignoring his counsel there is a terrible price to be paid for continuous disobedience oh I know that I know it but he always starts the process with counseling us advising us his small voice is speaking gently and softly have you heard that small voice so what is Jesus' counsel to the believers in Laodicea he says come and buy from me true spiritual gold that will make you truly rich come and buy from me real spiritual clothes that will cover your sin and guilt come and buy from me good spiritual eyes of that will open your spiritual eyes I know some of you alert and you heard the word read by and you said buying what is this we're going to buy salvation now it's salvation for sale or Jesus saying come and buy from me what is this all about now of course not you know it's not now in a million knows I want to tell you I want to tell you this is the best buy of your lifetime this is the biggest deal in the whole universe this is the greatest bargain in all of human history when you come in repentance you exchange your sin for his forgiveness you exchange your failure with his success you exchange your pain for his healing you exchange your pride in your sin for his humility you exchange your worthless self-righteousness for his true righteousness you exchange the rest of your stubbornness and rebellion for his gold of obedience you come and you exchange your pride of your ideas and your opinions for the true peace and contentment that only God can give you have you ever known a bargain like that only a foolish person turns a bargain like that down this exchange is not exchange of equal sums you pay X to get Z no no no no no no no this is not an equal exchange I am giving him my trash for his riches I'm giving him my sin for his forgiveness I'm giving you my worry and anxiety for his peace a question that's often raised regarding these in the church of Lada see where they're really carnal believers or are they never believers at all but you know what it doesn't matter it doesn't matter don't get sidetracked if Satan has blinded someone's heart it does not matter whether that person is a church goer or not in fact there's so many people hearts are blinded who are churchgoers it doesn't matter that person has heard the truth then turn their back on that truth or never heard the truth at all it doesn't matter the message of the resurrected glorified Jesus is the same come to me come to me come to me think about it the master of the house the master of the house is not beating the door down he's knocking and he gently knocks and then he waits and then he knocks louder then he waits then he knocks louder then he waits and his final decision is judgment don't wait till that would you open the door of your heart to him wherever you are whatever condition you're in only you know he knows nobody else does not even the dearest and nearest know where we are will you open your heart he alerts he advises and then he awards isn't that amazing his greatest award is for those who overcome he will give them the right to sit on the throne with him think about this the late Queen Elizabeth is such a gracious lady and all the people who near had talked about how gracious she is and that she knows the Lord and in her graciousness she has never once and she loved her husband the late Prince Philip she loved him dearly never once she got him to sit on the throne with her not once he sat next to her in the chair next to her but never on the throne with her I want you to think about this the reason I'm giving him a human illustration to tell you why this is buggers the mind we're gonna sit on the throne with Jesus first he said give me your trash and I'll give you a golden exchange then he says if you accept my this unbelievable exchange then you'll sit on the throne with me now beloved this award exceeds all the other promises all of them that we have seen in the other six churches this exceeds them all exceeds them in glory it exceeds them in honor exceeds them in authority here's what our Lord is saying let me into the chambers of your hearts let me into the very seat of your will and I'll let you into my father's throne room you invite me daily to fellowship with you at what invite me to breakfast I don't know what your translation said he said I sup with you the old translation is more accurate I dine with you for lunch no because people back then didn't eat much during the day the main meal the center of your life the foundation of your life the main meal of your life come invite me to dinner and I will sup with you I will dine with you and I will fellowship with you on a daily basis you hand me the authority over everything that is important in your life and I'll give you authority to judge the universe with me what a deal what a deal what a bargain what a bargain I want to conclude by something I left this in all the seven letters every one at the end of every letter says the same thing I didn't touch it I left it all the way to the end every letter end he who has ear let him hear it means that you cannot sit here and say wow this is a great message for so and so or I wish so and so was here to hear that message that's what it means it means it's for you who have heard it it means this message for everyone who reads it or hears it this message is for you every admonition is for you every promise is for you every encouragement is for you he who has ear let him hear Dr. Michael Yousaf passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth on this episode of leading the way connect further at ltw.org or speak with a ministry representative at the call center they can be reached 24 7 at 866-626-4356 this program is brought to you by leading the way with Dr. Michael Yousaf connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org or through your favorite social media platform including youtube facebook x instagram and more