Lukewarmness-Live

In this discussion, the speaker focuses on the concept of lukewarmness as mentioned in the Bible. They explain that being lukewarm refers to compromising one's beliefs and being spiritually lazy. The speaker emphasizes that God wants believers to be either hot or cold, not lukewarm. The church of Laodicea is used as an example of a lukewarm church that became spiritually lazy due to their prosperity. The speaker encourages believers to turn to God, accept forgiveness, and have a restored relationship with Him. They also discuss the symbolism of lukewarm water and its perceived uselessness. The discussion concludes with the image of Jesus standing at the door, waiting for believers to invite Him in and have a restored relationship with Him. All right, this morning we're going to be discussing the Luke Warmness. We are going to be going through Revelations chapter 3, 14 and 22, and this is the New King James Version. I'm going to read this in its entirety, and then I want to teach you a little bit what I have learned. I hope you guys enjoy this. I've learned a lot. Then I read what the Bible scholars said about the Luke Warm Church, so we're just going to put it all together and let the Lord speak to you and go from there. Verse 14 goes something like this, and it says, To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, they write, These things say, the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that you're neither hot nor cold. I could wish that you were either hot or you were cold. So then, because you're lukewarm and you're neither cold nor hot, it says, I will vomit you out of my mouth, because you say I am rich, you have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, or naked. I counsel you to buy for me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich in white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and I chasten. Therefore be zealous, and therefore I need you to repent. He says, Behold, he says, I stand at the door, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I like this part, I like how it ends in this part of the scripture of this letter here, it says, To him who overcomes, this is our hope that we have, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and I sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the scripture says to the churches, this is the churches of Laodicea. So when we look at the lukewarm, what it says here, when we're looking at lukewarm, it's referred to those who have compromised their beliefs or rather they have became all things to all people is what we say when you begin to look at the word lukewarm. So what God prefers us as a believer, God prefers people to be on one extreme or the other extreme. He doesn't want us to be in the middle, per se, lukewarm. God wants us to be hot, or he wants us to be hot, but he's trying to give us an illustration of our spiritual life, which is hot or cold with a lukewarmness. He doesn't want us to have a compromising faith, that is not what the Lord wants for us to have in our life. Now if you'll glance back to Revelations 3 and 16, and if you'll study throughout the Bible, 3 and 16 is the only place that you will find that the lukewarm is applied to a person, because remember this was to a church, but in 16, you'll notice that the lukewarmness is applied to a person here as I begin to study this out. So neither hot nor cold describes the spiritual condition of the church of Laodicea. Alright, now I want you to understand the church of Laodicea. Laodicea, this place was a wealthy place. It was a place for business, they had trade, there was a lot of finances, there was a lot of marketing, there was a lot of things, commerce that was beginning to come into where Laodicea was there. And because of their prosperity, because of the wealth that they had coming into Laodicea, they became spiritually lazy and they were unconcerned inside of the church. And when I say that they became spiritually lazy, I want you to get this, they were no longer hot enough spiritually to respond to the Holy Spirit's guidance in their life. They were not cold enough to realize that they needed to repent and return to the dependence upon God. Did you get that button right there, Clayton? They were not cold enough to realize that they needed to repent and return to their dependence upon God. See, when you see a lukewarm church, it's negligent with their personal devotion that they have with Jesus Christ. I'm always challenging our leaders that we have sometimes within the church, even our student leaders, I'll send them a text and I'll say, hey, what you studying this week? Hey, what devotion you got going on? What's God speaking into your life? What's He leading? Why? Because I want to challenge them. I want to know that they've not become spiritually lazy on their doing as we're beginning to plant this church because we don't need to be the church of Laodicea. See, Jesus warns the church about the judgment against those who are spiritually, they have lukewarmness going on in their life. So He said, neither hot nor cold describes the spiritual condition of the church of Laodicea. He calls for the church to turn from their ways, not only to turn, but He wants them to turn and to surrender to God. He wants them to surrender and He wants them to accept the forgiveness that God has available for us. But can I tell you, if we're honest, that is a hard time sometimes. We begin to look at the things that we do in our life. We look at where we've fallen short. Maybe we're looking at, hey, where we got lazy in our life and we begin to go and we begin to turn to God and we begin to speak to God, but we're negligent on accepting the forgiveness that He has for us. And He's already covered everything on the cross, but it's a condition. It's a choice that we must make to accept the forgiveness that God gives us. And when we accept the forgiveness that God gives us, then I, can I tell you, we begin to be a people that are restored. Our life becomes restored. Our relationship with God becomes restored at that time. And then when we have restoration, can I tell you, it begins to see where it closed out in that scripture there. It says, Christ began to knock at the door there. And then there was another choice. We're going to go into that in a moment. And I want to go back to the phrase where it says, because you are lukewarm. It says, because you are lukewarm, it says that I will vomit you out of my mouth. And this leads us to where I begin to study and I begin to look at the Bible scholars and see what they said. This is what I found. They believe that the water is referring to the water supply that is in the sea. This is where the temperature of lukewarm begins to come from. The Bible scholars begin to believe that the lukewarmness points to the quality of the city's water supply that was coming in. You know, we begin to, what we mess up a lot of times is we begin to look at the cities Bethlehem, Laodicea, Judah, Judea, all the different places in the Bible, Colossus, in the Bible. And we just begin to think that they're just people in huts and there's nothing there. But you know what? They weren't just cavemen. They were people that had evolved. They had systems. And they had water supplies. They had markets. They were improving in life. So they actually had a water supply that was coming into the city. And the scholars say that this water supply that was coming into the city was lukewarmness. I'm going to need those photos, Clayton, first. The first photo I want to show you, this one actually is of the hot springs. This is the hot springs that were near Laodicea. And these hot springs were, of course, they were hot. And they were known for healing waters, okay? So are you getting a picture of what's going on in Laodicea? These were near Laodicea there. And they were known for waters that were healing. Now the next photo that I have, this one is the cool springs. And this in Colossus. And these springs, if you'll notice the banks near that, these springs, of course, they were cool. And they were noticed, if you get in these waters, of course, they were refreshing waters at this time. But scholars presume, that's good. Thank you, Clayton. But scholars presume that the water coming through the ducts for Laodicea, this was lukewarm. It was neither what we've just seen, the lukewarm water that was coming through Laodicea, it was lukewarm. And it was considered useless is what they consider this word for. Now while cold and hot, both of these are effective waters. One was for healing and one was for refreshing. Lukewarm was judged to have little use. And lukewarm water seemed to have little power or was related to a powerless water, okay? That's what the Bible scholars were telling us. And then we go back to the scripture and the Bible talks about the lukewarmness. It says Christ is actually nauseated. It actually says that he was nauseated by the church of Laodicea. The letter of Laodicea claims that the works of the church, they were ineffective. Can I tell you, we do not want an ineffective ministry. Where it's at a body here where we are or it's where you are in your life or in your walk or your personal ministry. We do not want to be ineffective in our ministry where God has us in our life. And the letter of Laodicea claims that the work of the church, it was ineffective. The hot, the cold, and the lukewarm, the comparison that we see in the scripture here, this is a comparison of healthy versus unhealthy spiritual relationship that is going on. And lukewarmness that the Bible was talking about, this is not being effective in the church is what it's speaking of. So let's look at this. I like how it closes. The letter in Revelation, as it begins to speak here, the letter ends with an image of a restored relationship. This is my favorite here. The first is Jesus standing at the door. Come on, let's picture this. Jesus standing at the door and he's knocking at that door. Although Jesus was outside of the door, he was waiting for an invitation to enter and to walk in and sit down at the table where they were. He said this. He said this in Revelation 3 and 20. He said that anyone hears my voice and opens the door, he says, I will come in and I will dine with him and he with me. Let me go back and tell you what it says. The first image that he has of a restored relationship was Jesus on the outside and he was waiting on that invitation to come on the inside of the house and in around the table. Can I tell you, that's what we have in our life. Can I tell you, no matter where we are or what we're going through in our life, Jesus always, always standing there. He's never leaving us nor forsaken us no matter where we are, whether we're hot or we're cold. Can I tell you, we can have a strong relationship with God, but there's going to be days that we're going to need him. We're going to still be in valleys that we're going to need with God. Maybe we've had a cold relationship with God. Maybe it's been some time that we've spoken with God. Maybe it's been some time that we've listened to God. Maybe it's been some season that we've had a one-on-one conversation with God. But he says, I'm standing at the door. I want to tell you no matter what you're going through today, that Jesus is always there and he's standing at the door. He's not only just standing at the door, but he's knocking. He said, can I come inside of your home? Can I come inside of your family? Can I come inside of your house where you are there? He says, I'm standing at the door and I'm knocking and I've got an invitation and I'm wanting to enter and I'm wanting to come around your table. So what is the Bible saying there? Jesus is saying, hey, I'm wanting to enter your home. I'm wanting to enter your workplace. I'm wanting to enter that relationship. I'm wanting to enter that struggle, that circumstance that you have in life. He said, I've been at the door and I've been knocking. He said, I just need you to give me the invitation. I need you to give me the permission to come on the inside and go ahead and work. Can I tell you, we have a God that is willing. We have a God that has extended his hand. He's just waiting for you to extend your hand and put it inside of his. Because he said, my yoke is easy. If you just take the first step, he said, I will take the rest of the step. He said, you're the one that is lost, but I'm coming after you. He said, I'm concerned with you. I'm concerned with what you're wrestling with. I'm concerned with your struggle. He said, but I've been knocking and I've been wanting to help you. But I've been waiting for the invitation to come in and dine. The invitation to come in and sit around the table. He said, in Revelation 3 and 20, he says, if anyone hears my voice. And he opens the door. He says, I will come into him and I will dine with him. And I like this part. And then he says, and he with me. Can I tell you, we serve a God that is looking for a real, genuine relationship with you. We serve a God that knows where you've been. Your struggles. We serve a God that knows what's been going on behind the mask and the closed doors. But he's still standing at the door and he's still standing there and he's knocking. He's waiting for an invitation to come in and dine around the table where you are today. Meaning he's wanting to come in and help you with your struggles that you have in life. He says, I can wish that you were cold or hot. Is what the scripture says. What Jesus wanted, he wanted to change them. He wanted to change the people. He wanted to change where they were in their life in the middle. He wanted to change them and he wanted to try to work and make sure that they were hot. And they were on fire for the love and for God. He was trying to work and he said, I wish that you were cold or I wish that you were hot. Hot water begins to heal. Cold water, as we've seen, begins to refresh. But lukewarm is useless. Lukewarm has no purpose. It was as Jesus was saying, if you were hot or cold, I could do something with you. But because you're neither hot or cold, he says, I will do nothing. The lukewarm Christian has enough of Jesus to satisfy a craving for religion. But not enough for eternal life. Can I tell you, the thief that was on the cross. The thief on the cross was cold toward Jesus and clearly saw his need. Look at John. John was hot toward Jesus and he enjoyed a relationship of love. But look at Judas. Judas was lukewarm, was he not? Judas was lukewarm. He was following Jesus enough to be considered a disciple. But not giving his heart to Jesus in fullness. So the lukewarm Christian has enough of Jesus to satisfy a craving for a religion. But not enough for eternal life. One more time, Jesus was saying, if you were hot or cold, I could do something with you. But because you're neither hot, you're neither cold, I will do nothing. Can I tell you, we have a choice to make. He's made his choice. He says, I have chosen you. God says, I've sent my one and only son into this world. He says, I want you to be neither, I want you to be hot nor cold. And he said, if you were hot or cold, I could do something. But because you're neither, I will do nothing. Can I tell you today, lukewarmness. Lukewarmness begins to turn people away from Jesus. Lukewarmness, when people begin to see people that are lukewarm, they see a person who says, I'm going to heaven. Who is only traveling at a snail's pace. Can I tell you, lukewarmness is someone that professes to believe that there is a hell, but they never seek to snatch souls out of hell from going down to the pits of hell. Come on, I want you to understand that. Lukewarmness is like they see someone that is going to heaven, but they're only traveling at a snail's pace. Come on, that's good right there. Lukewarmness is someone that they profess to believe that there is a hell, but they never seek to snatch souls from going down into the pits of hell. I want to close with this, with what Charles Spurgeon said. This is what he said about a lukewarm church. A lukewarm church, they have prayer meetings, but they have very few presence, for they have quiet evenings at home. They have found themselves lukewarm and happy, right where they are in their relationship with Christ. A lukewarm church, when more attend the meetings, they're still very dull, for they do their praying very deliberately, and they're afraid of being too excited. Charles Spurgeon describes a lukewarm church as they have Bible classes, preaching rooms, all sorts of agencies, but they might as well be without them, for there is no energy displayed, and no good comes from them. Charles Spurgeon describes a lukewarm church, says the pastor does not fly very far in preaching, never preaches far from the gospel, and certainly has no flame of fire in the preaching. Spurgeon describes a lukewarm church, and says the pastor may be a shining light of eloquence, but certainly not a burning light of grace, setting hearts on fire. Says everything is done in a half-hearted, listless, dead and alive way, and if no matter, and if it didn't matter, how much whatever someone has done. Spurgeon describes a lukewarm church, and says things are respectably done. The rich families are not offended. The skeptical party is there. The good people are not quite alienated. Things are made pleasant all around, and I think we seem to be in a place where we want things that are pleasant. They're neither hot for the truth, or hot for the conversation. For hot for holiness, they're not fiery enough to burn the stubble of sin. They're not zealous enough to make Satan angry, nor fervent enough to make a living sacrifice of themselves upon the altar of God. They're neither hot nor cold. And the Bible tells us he who has an ear, to let him hear. God's people, we must recognize the relationship between the church and the Holy Spirit. Not only to recognize it, but it's responding to the Holy Spirit that is there. See, the Spirit and the Word working together, this is what releases the authority. This is what releases the power of God in and through the church. Can I tell you, the church is not a building. It's a group of people that is out in the world trying to make a difference and set apart to be righteousness. So when a congregation fails to hear, and they fail to respond to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, it slowly loses its purpose and its mission in the church. The Holy Spirit will remain with any church only as long as it remains faithful to Christ and His Word listening and responding with the Word.