Principles of Judgement - The Church That Jesus Detests: Part 2 - Revelation 3: 15-16

1:08This is where we see the amen, the beginning and the ruler of the whole creation of God, bearing witness to the spiritual condition of the very last of these seven churches, Laodicea. Let me read verses 14 through 22, just to get our minds fresh. Verse 14. To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write, the amen, the faithful and true witness. The beginning of the creation of God says this: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you will become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed. And eyesalve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne, he who has an ear, the Lord. Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. You know, one of the growing deceptions of our times is that there is no judgment to come.

3:13There is no second death. No hell. And the thought is that God is too loving to send anyone to hell, to judge anyone. And it absolutely shocks our therapeutic culture today that anyone would dare to say that we are not spiritually okay. We are not spiritually okay, that in and of ourselves we are offensive to God and our deeds prove it. Now that, ouch, that really can hurt our therapeutic culture. Don't, don't, you're harshing my bust. Ouch!

3:57I'm a victim, not a sinner. Yes, you may be a victim, but also a sinner. We are sinners and we're judged, we are going to be judged accordingly. That's a notion that we just don't even like to think about today. And even it itself, those who express thoughts of judgment and coming to judgment are adding to the The theological trauma of our times. Well, because of this, many in society really refuse to take seriously God's words on judgment.

4:47But you know, there's even a greater deception that exists in our society today, and specifically among churchgoers. There is this idea that, yes, the coming judgment, most churchgoers will readily acknowledge that there is a coming judgment, but that it's for other people. It's really not for the church-going crowd. And it shocks our church-going culture that anyone would suggest that we're not spiritually okay. No matter what your profession is, that many churchgoers today are unredeemed and are going to fall under the same judgment as those who are in high-handed sin against God.

5:50And especially, especially as churchgoers, what makes us a little more difficult, a little more deceived, is that we. Can point to good works. We can point to good things that we do. Well, I'm not for human trafficking. I'm against the social injustices of our times. Therefore, I know I'm on the right side. Yeah, there may be some things out of whack in my life, but I got the big blocks right. Therefore, I'm going to be fine.

6:22Because of this, many churchgoers refuse to take seriously the biblical teaching about the coming judgment. There are those who profess one thing, but they possess something completely different. You know, what is the hardest nut to crack? Have you ever thought about that? What is there? Are certain nuts when you go and buy them, and I'm not talking about people, I'm talking about, well, I guess in a way I am, but first that's the metaphor, then the reality.

6:54You know, pistachios. Is that a hard one to crack? Yes. No, it really isn't. You mostly get them. Yeah, okay, some of them are, you know, but they're pretty. What about peanuts? They're pretty easy to crack. Yeah, they are. You know what you never really see very much in the shell are macadamian nuts. You ever notice that when you buy them, they're all shelled? You know why? Because they're supposed to be the hardest nut to crack.

7:22It takes 300 pounds of pressure per square inch to crack that nut. That may not mean much to you, but I can tell you, I was washing my car one day and had a washer, power washer at 40 psi. Accidentally washed my finger, and it was just like a water blade going through my knife, cutting out a chunk of skin. I mean, you take 40 psi and you put it in a power washer, and you can wash the flesh off your body. That's what 40 psi does. Think about 300. Well, I'll leave that with you. That's the hardest nut to crack, or certainly among the top few. But I would say that there are some of the greatest and the hardest nuts to crack in the church are those who profess one thing and have convinced themselves that they're fine, they're good, and that judgment is not something that they even need to give a second thought about.

8:32And it keeps them from looking closely at the teaching on judgment and looking closely at how to counsel others on the coming judgment. Well, this letter was given to shock us out of our spiritual complacency. It was given to shock this church out. Of its spiritual okayness in its own thinking. And Christ does this through the threat of judgment. And it's real. It's a real threat. And it's to be taken as such. So as we continue our study this morning, looking at this letter to Laodicea, I want you to see three basic principles of judgment.

9:31Three basic principles of judgment so that you will be ready for it, but also that you will be able to counsel others to be ready for it. So that you will have biblical truth and understand the principles of judgment that Christ articulates here in these few verses. And very simply, first, you need to know who the judge is. Second, you need to know the manner in which he judges. And third, you need to know the results of his judgment. That's where we're going this morning. Very straightforward, very simple. So first, we'll look at who the judge is. In fact, this is review. We looked at this last week. Look at 15.

10:21I'm sorry. Verse 14. To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write, the amen, the faithful, and the true witness, the beginning. Of the creation of God says this. And Jesus has presented himself as the amen. That is, the so-be-it, the one who has the final say in what happens to you and what happens to me. It's Jesus. He is the judge. He is the faithful and true witness. He is the beginning of the creation of God. These expressions, taken together, tell us about the one who is fixed, who is unchangeable, who is true, who is certain, and the one whose word finishes the creation of God.

11:05What he says is final. What he says is true. What he says brings the creation to its destination point. He begins, he ends. Alpha Omega. But it's important to understand that he's doing something good in this world. As the amen, as the faithful and true witness, as the beginning of the creation of God, he is bringing about something very good. I want you to see that this morning. Well, John has already prepared us for Jesus Christ being the judge. In John 5:22, Jesus said this: For not even the Father judges anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. And he goes on, in verse 28, he says, Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming. In which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. And Jesus is going to be the one judging between what is good and what is evil. Back at the end of Revelation, we see that great white throne judgment in chapter 20 and verse 11. Let me just read to you. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. That's the final judgment. And as we continue in our passage this morning, we're going to get a preview of the judge in action. He is the judge. Of all things. And we're going to see him as he relates to this church. You're going to see all these elements, these characteristics of this judge. You're going to see the judge in action. So that's a review. We've already seen who the judge is. Second, look at the manner in which he judges. Look at verse 15.

13:55I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. Look at what he knows. First of all, it's based upon his knowledge. The judgment is going to be based upon what he knows, what he knows about you, what he knows about God, what he knows about what's good and what's evil. This is going to be the basis of judgment. As I've already read, the great white throne judgment, it's based upon their deeds. Books are open, deeds. People are judged according to their deeds. And here you see this judge, verse 15, I know your deeds.

14:42I am very intimately acquainted with your deeds, your accomplishments, the routine that you are in, and what comes out of your routine. I am intimately aware of your deeds and your works. And I know what these deeds and works say about you. He knows our deeds, he knows our works, and he knows what they say about us. You see, our deeds say something about who we are, what we love, what we're about, ultimately. And he can see through our deeds, to our thoughts and our motivations behind our deeds. And his knowledge is comprehensive, and his knowledge is thorough. And that's why he says, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I know intimately who you are, I know it all.

15:38Yeah, judgment is going to be based upon his comprehensive knowledge of deeds, not upon our selective memory. We tend to forget those things that we did wrong or maybe fail to own up to it or shuffle things around a little bit. We have selective memory. No, it's going to be, judgment is going to be based upon his deeds. I mean, upon his knowledge of our deeds. And specifically in Laodicea, as he's looking at this church, the objects of his knowledge are their deeds. They reflect the life, the conduct, and spiritual disposition of the church, as well as the individual. So the manner in which Judgments, it's going to be based upon deeds and his knowledge of deeds, but it's also going to be compared to his standards. Look at, I know your deeds, that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. Verse 16, so because you were lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, or hot nor cold, you can see that he's saying, I know your deeds, and I wish that they were cold or hot. It's an interjection. Oh, how I wish they were cold or hot.

17:10Judgment is based upon his preferences, not ours. We flatter ourselves in making ourselves think that we're the ultimate decision between what is good and what is evil. No, it's not going to be based upon our standards of good and bad, but his. That's why understanding Jesus is the most important thing about you. The most important thing about you is what comes to mind when you hear the name Jesus. What comes to your mind? Who comes to your mind when you hear the name Jesus? He is God, Son of God, Son of Man, Creator, Judge. That's who He is.

18:00We also can look on the pages of Scripture and look what he's like, what he doesn't like, and expect that judgment is going to be based on what he desires. I know your deeds, and oh, how I wish they were one way and not the other way. That's the manner in which he judges. We can spout off all we want about what we think is good and what we think is evil. At the end of the day, we come under his standard and under his preferences and his knowledge about where we really are.

18:39And not just ultimately, but even in a temporal sense, as a church, like Laodicea. What is the basis of your union? What is the collection? What are you gathered around? He's able to see. Well, we come here into an interpretive issue that I really don't want to spend hardly any time with, but it is one that takes a little bit of thought. What is Jesus saying here? I wish you were cold or hot. Now, there's really two options. There are several options, but two that I think are worth mentioning. Is he talking about the spiritual fervor of the church, or is he talking about the usefulness of their deeds?

19:30Spiritual fervor or the usefulness of their deeds. So if it's spiritual fervor, hot is good, but cold is bad. So hot refers to being zealous, and cold means laziness, lethargy, deadness. And so it comes down to what is Jesus saying? Is he saying, I wish you were either alive and passionate, or unsaved and uninterested? Is that what he means by spiritual fervor? And the difficulty with this position, of course, is the statement that he makes at the end of verse 15, oh, how I wish you were cold or hot. Now, some see this interpretation as ridiculous. One says this: to suggest that the living Lord preferred the church to have ice-cold slothfulness in its reaction to the things of God rather than lukewarmness is clearly preposterous. And yet, others, the majority that I've consulted, see this interpretation as sound, saying that the Lord's evaluation of his church is on its mediocre demeanor in regard to spiritual things. These people have avoided the extreme of spiritual destitution, but they have also avoided the extreme. Stream of unrestrained spiritual fervor.

21:04So the question: Would Jesus really want people to be cold instead of lukewarm? And if so, if your answer is yes to this, then this certainly is an ominous warning, isn't it? Jesus sees more hope for a completely lost person than the nominal Christian who thinks he or she is saved and yet shows no true fruit of it. Well, this principle is certainly affirmed elsewhere in the Bible. You see, that Jesus, in the way he denounced Chorizon, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, remember what he said? Capernaum, you're not going to be exalted into heaven. You will descend to Hades, for if the miracles that had occurred in Sodom, which had occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. You remember when Jesus in Matthew 12 is speaking about when an unclean spirit goes out of a man? It says he passes through waterless places and it doesn't find rest. And then it goes and says, You know what? I'm going to go back to that place I was at and I'm going to take seven more spirits more wicked than myself, and I'm going to go Go back there and live there. And this is what Jesus says as he wraps this thought up. He says, This is the way it will also be with this evil generation. When he tells that analogy, he's talking about a generation who had all these works done before them, like Capernaum, like Bethsaida, and yet they didn't repent. And so clearly, Jesus is communicating that there was more hope for them before they heard the gospel than afterwards.

23:02So, if that's spiritual fervor. But the second position is that he's talking about the usefulness of their deeds. And in this paradigm, both hot and cold are good. The hot waters of Hierapolis were useful for healing the sick. We talked about that last time. They were the healthy mineral waters, hot mineral waters of Hierapolis were useful. The cold waters of Colossi were also useful in refreshing the thirsty. So, what Jesus is saying here, if this is the case, is that instead of their deeds being cold, that is, providing the refreshment like the waters of Colossi to the spiritually thirsty, or hot, providing spiritually spiritually. Spiritual healing to those who need it, that the water is useless for either purpose.

24:10And basically, they're useless. They're not good for a cold drink. They're not good for a healing remedy. Useless. And this truth is also affirmed elsewhere in Scripture. Remember the salt, unsalty salt that Jesus says in Matthew 5:13, if the salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You know about a fruitless branch, John 15, 6. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

24:54So which do you think it is? Honestly, I don't really have a strong opinion. It's a challenging issue. Talk over it at lunch, will you? Don't try to keep figuring it out for the rest of the sermon and tune me out and say, well, let me think, no, let me think, no, no, no. There's something very clear. The problem is very clear here, and the solution is very clear. Clear here. The clear problem is their lukewarmness. And regardless of which nuance is brought out in this interpretive issue, both ideas are implicit in the passage and are related to one another. There is certainly a cause and effect here. There is a connection between their lukewarm fervor and their useless deeds.

25:54Lukewarm fervor is behind their useless deeds. And both downgrade Christ. They're lukewarm. They downgrade Christ. And you remember, as this context of chapters 1, 2, 3, is Jesus walking among his churches, seven churches. And what is the purpose of the church? It is to be, to illumine, to light the community. And what is happening in this church is their light is ineffective. Their lukewarm fervor is adding to their useless deeds, and therefore their witness is completely ineffective. And what you have in contrast, Jesus refers to himself as the faithful and true witness. What you have here in Laodicea is the unreliable and false witness of the church. The two are not connected. The light of the church is not the light of the true Christ.

27:06Another thing that's clear: there's only two options: repent and become zealous. Let your spiritual fervor amp it up or be vomited out of Christ's mouth. That's the problem's clear, the solution's clear, and the two are related. So don't get hung up on that issue. And keep listening to this sermon. Well, principles of judgment. First, you need to know who the judge is. Second, you need to know the manner in which he judges. Third, you need to know the outcome of his judgment.

27:50Look at the end of verse 16. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. I will spit you out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. So, the first result you can see of this judgment is a violent rejection. Spiritual neutrality is not an option. Spiritual neutrality is not an option. Lukewarmness has a shelf life. Heaven is filled with excitement about God. You're not going to get into heaven and find this, ah, you know, that's cool. Yeah, that's great. No, there is excitement. And just as we turn into chapter 4 and chapter 5, and you get this image, there is excitement and joy and celebration and extreme, extreme fervor about Christ, about heaven.

28:58Yeah, lukewarmness has a shelf life. It will go because either we'll repent or because Jesus will remove it. He spits out the lukewarm church. And only in his mercy does he allow them to exist as long as he does. But I think what Jesus is doing here is that he's making a comparison between the water of Laodicea and the church. Spent a lot of time looking at this last week. You know, tepid mineral water is not good. That water would be lukewarm, filled with all kinds of minerals, even clogged their pipes. And even a drink of it, you would want to spit it out. Or if you took it in, you would want to vomit it out. Very graphic. And I remember this commercial. I'm going to date myself. And I used to watch TV when I was little, and there was these. Commercials would come on and they'd have a little jingle and they would sing a song. Really effective because, you know, now 50 years later, I can still remember those little jingles and the images. And one of them was the Alka Seltzer commercials. And the little jingle went like this: plop, plop.

30:20So you guys listened to it too. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is. Fast, fast, fast. And I remember that commercial, and I remember this cup of water and somebody throwing in two Alka Seltzer, and then they would just start bubbling. I thought, that is the coolest thing I've ever seen. I just want some Alka Seltzer. And I remember by chance, one day in God's providence, I came across some Alka Seltzer. I don't know who somebody had it on a shelf or something. So I got this water, tepid, out of the out of the faucet, threw in the plop, plop, took a big swig of that, went down, half of it came out of my mouth, and it doesn't taste very good. Anyone done that? Yeah, it doesn't taste very good, does it? I don't know what kind of relief people were looking for, but that ain't the kind of relief I need.

31:25But what a horrible description. Of a church. Can you think of anything more horrible? Christ's church is to be known for its water, its living waters, waters of refreshment, its life-giving ministry, like that of the waters of Colossi, the refreshment, or the spiritual healing, like that of Hierapolis. We are to be known for the living waters. We are not to be a people that just, woo, wah! Well, Jesus' utter disgust and distaste for this church is graphically portrayed.

32:11He distests them. Listen to what he says in Matthew 25. Here again, we have this picture of this judgment where he's got the people before them, and these are professors, professors of Christ. And he says, He'll say to those on his left, Depart from me, you accursed ones. That's strong language. Into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to drink, nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink.

32:45See that violence rejection. The question is: what is a lukewarm church? How would we characterize such? Well, without being too cliché, I would say it something like this: professional. Without possession. Procession, profession without possession. In fact, Paul says to Timothy, but realize that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant. And in verse 5, he says, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these. So there's going to be a violent rejection, and there is going to be a separation from the place of God's blessing. A separation from the place of God's blessing. You know, Israel was vomited out of the land because they forgot God, compromised truth with the surrounding societies. Don't think for a moment that the church is any different.

33:58In fact, Paul says, Romans 11, 19, you will say, the branches were broken off so that I may be grafted in. Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Now, he is not talking about the individual loss of salvation. No, John has made it very clear: what is born of God does overcome the world if you are in Christ. You are in Christ, but you will bear fruits, keeping with being in Christ. You will see that there will be evidences of the new life. He's not talking about the loss of individual salvation, but he is talking about corporate rejection. If he did not, if he cut Israel off because of their unbelief, don't think Emmanuel Baptist Church is any going to be any different. If we forget God, this collection, this people, this unique institution and organization will be removed, spit out from the place of blessing.

35:10But there's good news. Back at verse 16, so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. The verb there looks like I will as an as a future. It's really a present verb. And what he is saying is, because you are lukewarm, I am on the verge of vomiting you out. I am on the verge. I am at the point of, or as we would say in Texas, I'm fixing.

35:49I'm fixing. Fixing to spit you out of my mouth. There's a warning there. There's a warning there. He's on the The verge. This is still a warning. And why does he warn? Because he doesn't want to bring us under his judgment. He wants us to bring us to the place of his blessing. And he's like, Look, you cannot go down life your own way. You need a king. You need the amen. You need the faithful and true witness in your life. You need the beginning of the creation of God to complete that in you. And that is what he is wanting.

36:34It's not too late. If you can hear me, it's not too late to step into a real, dynamic, true, living relationship with your creator. He is still walking among his lampstands. He is still watching. He is still exhorting. He is still discipling. He is still disciplining. He is still waiting. How would you judge yourself? Are you lukewarm? Change that today. Look at what he says in verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone, anyone, anywhere, at any time, hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him. I will take the best supper with him. I will take the best choice time with him.

37:30And he with me. Here this morning, as we close out this time, we're reminded of the principles of judgment. You need to know who the judge is. You need the manner to know the manner in which he judges. And you need to know the outcome of his judgment. But you also need to get a glimpse of the heart of the judge. He wants a relationship with us. It's our privilege this morning to celebrate the Lord's table. And I'd like to call the men forward who are going to distribute the elements. It's unusual for us to do it in the morning, but we have so many baptisms tonight, we don't like to rush either the Lord's table or the baptisms. And so just a few instructions before we take the Lord's table together. We do celebrate an open table here. What that means, if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you're welcome to partake with us. You don't have to be a member of this church to partake. We welcome you to the table if you are of the same faith and have trusted in Jesus Christ and Him alone for your salvation. You are welcome to join with us. But I also want to make sure you understand that this table is not for unbelievers. If you have not put your faith in Christ, Do not take, just let them pass by. You cannot partake in something that you have never partaken in. You cannot remember something that has never happened to you. And so if you've never partaken in who Jesus is and realize who he is and have brought him in, welcomed him into your heart, then let these go by.

39:25Also, I want to bring to your attention that if you are an individual who lives in chronic unforgiveness, I want to remind you of a couple of words from Christ himself in Matthew 5. Verse 14 says, For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you your transgressions. Matthew 18 says a similar thing, in even stronger language. It says, This is in the context of this unforgiving slave. He summoned him and he said to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you? And his Lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed to him. And Jesus says, This, my heavenly. Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart. You know why you got a problem with unforgiveness? It's because you've never been forgiven. You've never seen the magnitude of your sin in the light of God's holiness. And if you have a chronic problem of unforgiveness, I don't say it. The scripture says it. You don't know him.

41:03Be honest with yourself and let this be a heart change today. So if you are living, if you do not know Christ, if you cannot forgive, if you're living in unforgiveness, let the elements go by. We're going to be taking this again in a month. Take time to go make things right. 300 pounds of pressure is hard. But it's only the clear teaching of Scripture that's going to break through our hard hearts. And forgiveness is one of the clearest ways to see if you truly do belong to Him.

41:50That's why here at Emmanuel, we are all reconciled. Whatever background we're from, listen, we don't reconcile. What God has already reconciled. So, what a privilege to take this morning. And one final piece of information is: wait until all have received, and then we'll take it together.