His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt with a much needed warning from Jesus to the church today.

Matt VanderVen: He's warning us. Just as the lukewarm water could cause vomiting, so can the lukewarm condition in our cities, in our churches be so nauseating to Christ today that he's threatening to vomit them out as well. After all, as we read in the other churches, he said he'll take his lampstand where he dwells in the midst because what's the good use of a church if the people in it aren't the light refracting the light from Christ himself.

Guest (Male): In many parts of the country, the hot weather in the summer can be unbearable at times, but in the winter months, not enough heat can be a problem. Today on His Perfect Love, Pastor Matt Vanderboegh continues his look at the Lord's letter to the Laodiceans in Revelation 3 verses 14 through 22. Now the Lord wants his churches to be on fire for the gospel, but his Laodiceans were lukewarm. In many respects, this is worse than being completely cold, and we'll find out why on today's program. Here is Pastor Matt.

Matt VanderVen: What's the other thing the church is supposed to do or the Laodiceans were supposed to do, but because they were compromised in one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom? Heal the brokenhearted. What about all those people? Remember Laodicea was like their wealthy playground. Remember that? The pictures, it was a vacation spot, the springs, the wealthy, all everybody was traveling there. What about all those people that were brokenhearted and were coming to those springs because they were coming for medicinal reasons, right? They wanted just like we talk about, you know, soaking your foot in Epsom salt or something like that to get the toxins out or different things like that.

What about the people? Well, guess what? You had all these people that were coming there. You had a ministry built in because they came for the best medical care that could be offered that day. They traveled to Laodicea. They had the eye salve. They had the lukewarm water to help you if you got sick or different things. But they were missing the opportunity to witness to the brokenhearted. All those people that were around them, even people that they might even say sometimes were difficult. They missed the opportunity to refresh the weary. These are all the things that Jesus was pointing out.

Their salt wasn't seasoned with the spirit of God and a true heartfelt relationship and trust in Jesus and the redemptive work on Calvary. This straddling, what he's telling us here, this sort of devotion, if I can even call it that way, it still churns God's stomach today. It's not like it stopped churning God's stomach. It still does. Imagine if Joshua, right? Joshua in our scripture, if the great warrior leader had been lukewarm about his commission to claim the Promised Land. Just just think about that. What would that be like? Joshua chapter 24 verse 15. He wouldn't have said this to Israel.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day, choose whom will you serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river. Boy, doesn't that sound a lot like this again? Or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen. Imagine the great prophet Elijah. What if he had been lukewarm during his contention with the false priests of Baal? 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 21. And Elijah came to all the people and said, how long will you falter between two opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow him. If if Baal, then follow him. But the people answered him not a word. That is scary. That was the Laodiceans. They didn't say anything. They were playing both sides. Now the word cold here, as we read hot and cold, it refers to unbelievers who have not been exposed to the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus. In in their spiritual deadness, they did not even pretend to have an outward form of zeal for him. However, such unbelievers were confronted with the saving grace of God to respond with genuine faith, which we all have been called to do, to become saved, to become hot with a zeal for Christ.

If you want an example of a group of believers like that, please read 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. The Thessalonians became saved in an example those that were cold because they became hot, and those that were cold became hot, not lukewarm. Jesus himself explained why straddling between the world and the kingdom of God, hot and cold. Effectively, lukewarm doesn't work. Matthew chapter 6 verse 24. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. Yes, Jesus is a jealous God and loyalty matters.

You cannot serve God and mammon. Do you think Jesus ever gets it wrong? Absolutely not. That'd be blasphemy. He's literally telling you you cannot do this. If you're doing that and yourself deceived or convincing yourself everything is okay, it's not. That's what he 's telling us. And and that's really heavy here. Please understand, this is because in that area they were so wealthy, they had so many different things. Their money, their riches, their possessions, what were they trusting in? Those items, those inanimate objects. Is that just not another form of idolatry? I mean, why don't we just call it a golden calf?

We all understood the golden calf was wrong, right? But yet when you ask Aaron about the golden calf, I don't know how it got there. Meanwhile, you you and I look at it and it's got his fingerprints like all over it. It's got his indentations. I don't know what you're talking about, man. That's not my golden calf. Really? Well, what about the inanimate objects we have in our lives? Any one or anything, and I mean anyone or anything, right? Your children, your family, whoever, right? Material objects, your time, anyone between your heart and Jesus Christ by definition is what?

Idolatry. It doesn't change. And I don't say this again to Jesus doesn't say this to For whom the Lord loves, he corrects. He's just doing this because he wants us to be reconciled to him in the perfect relationship so that we can experience his very best and not settle for second or third best, which has never been his intention. Do you want to give your children or people that you love your fifth, 10th, 20th best? What father when his son is starving and he has a piece of bread and the boy has an eaten or the girl wouldn't turn and break a piece of the bread and give it to the child to forego not having the food themselves?

Every father I've ever met would do such a thing. How much more our heavenly Father? How much more? So he explains why hot and cold effectively lukewarm doesn't work. Again, no one can serve two masters. Being lukewarm is unacceptable to Jesus Christ. Those who John said, and I love how John put this in 1 John chapter 2 verse 19, we're with believers in churches, but we're not of believers are examples of lukewarm individuals. If you want a biblical example of that, 1 John chapter 2 verse 19, I'll read that for you this morning. They went out from us.

What's that mean? We'll talk about that. But they were not of us. So what is the body of Christ that what is a church? Is it a building? Really, it's not the building. It's the people in the building that make it a church. It's the body of Christ that gathers. This isn't just talking about someone that says, you know what? I think the Lord is calling me to a different church. I'm going to be under the word of God there. I you know, whatever. Okay, fine. That's not what he's He's talking about somebody that leaves a healthy body where the word of God is taught and they're just not attending church at all.

They're not doing anything. They're they're living like an unbeliever or they are an unbeliever, but they convince themselves that they were a believer. And he says they went out from us, but they were not of us. So when they says they were not of us, what's the us? Born again believers, right? For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us because there's a covering supernaturally, spiritually speaking. You can read 1 Corinthians for that right around chapter 10 where God talks about how there's a covering of the church. You can read 1 Corinthians chapter 5 where he says that if there's sin in the church, someone specifically, you know, making a a mockery of God, not something where you have personal sin or sin in your life that, you know, that's between you and Jesus.

You don't come There's only one mediator, and that 's the man Christ Jesus, right? There's no there's no pope, there's no a box that you and I go in that we have to then confess our sin to some man and, you know, do so many rosaries or so many, you know, did you find nothing biblical like that? Jesus Christ has forgiven you past, present, and future. His blood is eternal and it has washed your sin and my sin. We need no man but Christ Jesus, the God man. That's the first thing. We don't want any We don't need a religion.

Thank you. But the second thing that we need to understand about this is he says they would have continued with us. Well, what do you mean? Because in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 when there was somebody that was broadcasting it around the whole church and the whole church was just accepting that broadcast, that's when it became a discipline issue within the church. They turned around and said, no. He says you have to let that person be buffeted by Satan. You have to let him go. You don't think that person's going to say, woe is me, I'm the victim?

Of course they are. Right? Don't we always feel that way? If we're being honest, each and every one of us, don't we feel wronged when somebody Of course we do. There's no lack of victimization within the United States of America. There just isn't. Right? And that shouldn't make us insensitive. We need to be sensitive. We need to be compassionate. But we need to understand that some of these things sometimes are beyond our control. But they went out that they might be made manifest. Do you see that? That you would actually see who they really are and what they really are and what they're about.

And sometimes that's so shocking, right? Isn't it when you know somebody that you believed was a born again believer and they were walking with the Lord? Again, this isn't talking about somebody that's just going, oh, I'm going to go fellowship in another city or at another church. That's not what We're talking about somebody that could have been there for, you know, a number of years. Boy, they look really good in sheep's clothing, but they were wolves or they were really not true believers. And you go out and you find out and they go back and carouse at the bars and they're back doing the things they used to do before they were saved.

And you're literally shocked by that because you're like, I knew that person. I saw them at church every Sunday. I mean, I I Wednesday night I you know, they don't even act you know, wow, I can't believe they're not in any kind of fellowship or they don't talk about Jesus or there's nothing in their lives that even bears witness to the fruit of God. He says that they went out that they were made manifest, that none of them were of us. Matthew chapter 7 verse 21 through 23, John chapter 6 verse 60 through 66 provide other examples of such people.

The people of the church of Laodicea were lukewarm because they had allowed wealth, self-sufficient attitude uh of their city to affect their spiritual outlook. They got compromised by trusting in what they could see, touch not in the true Jesus, the true God. They equated their religiosity which they had acquired for themselves with spiritual wealth. And yet what does Jesus say? They're spiritually bankrupt. They felt spiritually self-sufficient and satisfied and were convinced that they needed nothing else in the spiritual realm, not even a spiritual life with Jesus. After all, do you remember when they had the earthquake there and they turned around and said to Rome, we don't even need your help to rebuild.

We can do it. We have the funding ourselves. We all know people like that when you offer you know, you go up to them, hey man, how can I help you? What can we do? No, I'm good. No, I'm good. No, we know you're good, but but really what can we do? How can we help? Christ's evaluation of their spiritual state differed radically from their own. And that probably scares me more than anything because they sat in the same seats and they believed they were spiritually whole. It's kind of like Saul in the Old Testament.

The spirit of God left him and he wasn't even aware of it. Those are the kind of things that frighten me more than anything else. It's like when you don't feel that conviction anymore. We all blow it. Amen. Let's just be transparent here. Let's not play church. When I sin, when I blow it because I blow it, you blow it. Let's Again, let's not pretend here. Let's not do that. When I blow it, I'm thankful for that conviction. I'm thankful that I cycle because it's a perfect reminder that Jesus keeps me on such a short leash.

And when I get it wrong, he loves me enough to say, hey, get right. I want to reconcile you back in right relationship. The day that I don't feel that or when I get it wrong or I many time I don't realize it. Sometimes I do, right? Whatever. But whatever it happens, if I don't get that check in my heart or in my spirit, I will probably lose it because I will be so oh my gosh, Lord, how could this have happened, right? To be so aware of that at that moment that the spirit of God you have Now this isn't for the born again believer.

I am using myself as an example, but that you literally have gotten to the point of such a state that you seared the Holy Spirit. The Bible says we can sear the Holy Spirit. Well, some of you would say, well, wait a minute, how does that work? Well, all of us have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, right? But that means that he's a gentleman and he's going to reveal that to us again when he says, I knock at the door. Those who open, he says, I will come in and sup with them and them with me.

Jesus doesn't kick doors down. Pastors of the home guys here, pay attention to that. I'll talk about that more again and use that example. He doesn't walk in to your wife's heart and kick her door down and speak to her in a way that would tear that door down. He doesn't physically abuse her. If you are a Christian and you're walking after Christ and you're physically or verbally abusing your spouse, what spirit are you of? Because Jesus in his own church in Laodicea who again could have kicked that door down to Laodicea and walked in and said, what's going on in here?

He knocked because he's a gentleman and he will only come when invited. It's a warning. It's the He's a gentleman. Like he doesn't do things that way. He he declared that they were ignorant of their true spiritual condition. Again, he says that they were wretched. They were in a miserable state. They didn't pick up any of that, right? The city was wealthy, but they were in poverty spiritually. You know, the the city produced medicines for eye ailments, but what were they? Spiritually blind, right? The city manufactured fine wool clothing. Remember the black wool we read about and and looked at?

But they were spiritually naked, right? Not being clothed with righteousness of God that makes a person acceptable to him. It it's like Jesus took every single thing that was an accolade or an attribute. Remember all the doors when we looked at the pictures, how of the temples and the all the doors, oh, many doors. Wow, this is really fancy architecture, all this gray. Oh, we have the best black wool. It's the best wool you can buy in the whole area. They had grown such wealth from that. Oh, medicinally we can heal all these things, use our eye salve.

Oh, by the way, if you're in the hospital and you're sick, go take this uh water. It's it's it's temped and it'll it'll induce vomiting because the minerals Hey, oh, by the way, if you're if you're hurting and you're aching and your body hurts, come and and sit in this spring so that you can have all the toxins taken out. All of these things that they were like on the map for, wealthy, the who's who, a rich person's playground. And Jesus comes to them and says, everyone of these things has done you in because you made them a God.

You trusted in your wealth. You trusted in your ability and intellect. You trusted in your medical beans as though your pharmakeia was going to save you. You trusted in all of these other things instead of trusting in me, the one true God who is the keeper of your soul. That's what he's saying to Laodicea. And and I think he's still saying that to us today. He's warning us. Just as the lukewarm water to Laodicea could cause vomiting, so can the lukewarm condition in our cities, in our churches be so nauseating to Christ today that he's threatening to vomit them out as well.

After all, as we read in the other churches, he said he'll take his lampstand where he dwells in the midst because what's the good use of a church if the people in it aren't the light? Refracting the light from Christ himself. We're all like mirrors refracting light from Jesus. We're just pointing that light to a lost and dying world that needs to know the path and the way. There's only one way. He's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through the Son Jesus Christ. We just read it yesterday.

There This isn't religion on my terms or ministry on my terms. These things are humbling, isn't it? Because it's totally juxtaposition or juxtaposed to how our culture, our political system, our government, our individual homes are being run today. We want God to run heaven like the democracy of heaven or the republic of heaven. But we forget he's the king and he's on the throne and it's the kingdom of heaven, not the democracy of heaven. We don't want another democracy or republic of heaven on the earth. We've seen what can happen when absolute power corrupts absolutely regardless of what line you stand on.

The worst day in Israel's history was the day in 1 Samuel where they came and said, give us a human king. And oh, by the way, don't forget Deuteronomy. It was already called out that Jesus said, when you do that, that person will fleece you. This is what's going to happen to you. Your wife Your wife, your children, your possessions. It's though it's like a new thing, communism or the threat of it. That's why every antichrist or type of antichrist that's been on the scene Have you ever noticed they're all from communist, socialist agendas, Stalin, Hitler, the guy over in Venezuela?

Pay attention. He was and I let him see what the spirit has to say to the churches, not to the lost and dying world, to the churches that are taken to take the gospel and the light to the lost and dying world. So many people are sitting in seats comfortable, go to their jobs every day. And one day they're going to be so surprised because so many of their friends aren't here, but they've been left behind because it will be revealed who was their true master. We often think about the rapture in a beautiful way, and it is caught up.

But what about those that were self-deceived, that were practicing a form of godliness but neglected true righteousness?

Guest (Male): All right. We'll pause the message right here, but don't go away. Pastor Matt Vanderboegh will continue the message momentarily on His Perfect Love. We're traveling through Revelation, and this week the emphasis has been on the lukewarm church in chapter 3. And I'll remind you that you can hear the program again when you visit His Perfect Love dot org. That's His Perfect Love dot org. We're also at oneplace.com and look for us wherever you get your podcasts. We also offer a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you on the go.

You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website His Perfect Love dot org. We can't thank you enough for your prayers for this ministry. Please pray that as God's word goes forth, that lives will be greatly impacted for the glory of God and people would grow by his grace and love or even enter into a relationship with him. And if you have a prayer request, please send that our way. You can email that to us through our website at His Perfect Love dot org. If you live in the Mechanicsburg PA area, we hope you'll stop by for a visit just like you hear on the radio.

Pastor Matt teaches verse by verse through the Bible here at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek gathering on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. We're located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg PA. Go to ccharrisburg.org for more information. And now let's turn back to Revelation chapter 3.

Matt VanderVen: Look what he says in verse 17, please. Because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Is is everybody with me here this morning? Is that heavy? Is Jesus like mincing words here? No, not at all, right? He is very heavy. What's he saying here? Well, this word poor, dohas, right? Dohas. You can see it in the Greek. It's G 4434. Boy, it should con It's an adjective. It should draw our attention to what he's saying here because when you look up the word, it literally means to cringe like a beggar.

So when he's talking about those that are poor and he uses this Greek word and he's obviously reflecting it not to their physical wealth because they were wealthy. He's talking about it spiritually speaking. He says it's like they're cringing before You know, there's like literally cringing and like I it just it draws the uh almost a nightmare to our minds to stand before Jesus to find yourself in that place where you're What did he say? He said there'll be those that will be nashing of teeth. It's like that cringing where you're biting down. They're going to say, Lord, Lord.

He says, I do not know you, you worker of iniquity. Depart from me. I mean, Jesus is love, right? It's love. So he's cool with everything, right? No. Again, it it's an adjective to describe one who crouches or cowers. You know, Luke uses as an adjective in 1620 uh Galatians chapter 4 9 speaks to poverty stricken, powerless metaphorically described to the religion of the Jews of the time. It's also used that way to speak to that. You see their excessive trust in money, pleasure, riches left them as a beggar impoverished before God. That's scary. We'll finish up Pastor Matt's look at the church of Laodicea next time on His Perfect Love, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.

Guest (Male): His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.