Watchman Radio Hour

David Shulze: Welcome to the Watchman Radio hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Shulze, your announcer. The Watchman Radio hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker, Alex Dodson, to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Alex Dodson: For our scripture reading today, let us turn to the book of Revelation. And we begin reading in chapter three, verse 14. Let us hear the word of God. To the angel of the to the angel of the church in Laodicea right, these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one of the other. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say I am rich.

I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your eyes so you can see. Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be honest and repent. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him and he with me.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given to us. We thank you that it's your infallible word and that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. Now, oh Father, as we come to this time to study your word, we pray that you will send forth your holy spirit in great convicting power. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Jesus addresses the Laodicean church. He finds the church far from what it ought to be. He threatens to spew it out of his mouth. Yet he doesn't give up on the church.

He continues to love them. He calls in love for them to repent. He knocks at their door and asks that they allow him to come in. This church is not hopeless. It needs revival and renewal. We could say that so much that said to the Laodicean church could apply to the church in America today. We're not the church the Lord desires us to be. We have become lukewarm. Jesus is knocking at our door. Our text is Revelation 3 and verse 20, which again says, here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him and he with me.

Jesus invites us to open our hearts to him. Though we have fallen short as the church, Jesus has not deserted us. He is near and wants to see the church changed for the better. Like in times past, the church is at a low ebb, but revivals came in years gone by that completely changed the church. May the Lord send such powerful revivals again into our midst. Now let us see in the first place a message to the Laodicean church. It was a church in a pitiful condition. Listen again to verses 15 through 18. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.

I wish you were either one of the other. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say I am rich. I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your eyes so you can see. She thought she had it made.

She had acquired material wealth. She thought she did not need a thing. On the surface, she looked good, but underneath Jesus exposes exposed her wretchedness. She was really pitiful, poor, blind, and naked spiritually. She had become spiritually bankrupt. And so Jesus gives her counsel. Notice that he does not spew out of his mouth as he had threatened, but he gives her some advice. Again, verse 18, he says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your eyes so you can see.

Jesus had pity on the Laodicean church. His desire for her was that she be revived and become renewed and better church. And Jesus calls the Laodicean church to repentance. Verse 19, those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be honest and repent. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him and he with me. Jesus loved the Laodicean church. He only wanted to rebuke and discipline her. And so he calls her to repent. Simon J. Kistemaker in his commentary on this passage writes, look, I stand at the door and knock.

Being shut out from the spiritual life of the individual members of the Laodicean church, Jesus figuratively stands outside the door of their heart and knocks to gain entrance. He persistently knocks to gain their attention so that no one will ever be able to say that the Lord failed to call them. He calls them individually by continually rapping on the doors of their hearts as though the owners are asleep. The stress stress is on him human responsibility to go to the door and answer the one who is seeking entrance. The Lord open Lydia's heart, but here he waits for the sinner to do so.

Here is the crux of divine action and human responsibility. When these two appear with reference to God's electing grace in human beings, we encounter a mystery that defies human understanding. Scripture teaches God's intervention and human accountability as the two sides of the proverbial coin. It says in Philippians 2:12 and 13, therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure.

Jesus stood at the door of their hearts and asked to come in. It was up to them to open the door. It is only by grace that they could do so. When real revival comes, Jesus sends the holy spirit from heaven to enable people to open their hearts to Jesus. When revival breaks forth in churches, people respond in great earnestness. And then let us see in the second place an invitation to all. Again, verse 20 says, here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone here is my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him and he with me.

The message extends to all. It's a universal call. Some interpret this verse as only for the church or believers. It's true the immediate context makes the main application to the church in Laodicea and to any church that has declined like it had. Yet there is also here a universal call to open one's heart to Jesus. The invitation is given to anyone to open their heart. The call goes out to anyone who hears to open their heart to Jesus and let him come in and give them a new heart. Here we have the free offer of the gospel to all.

We must never lose sight of this free offer. We know that it's only by grace that anyone can believe, but the gospel is offered to all indiscriminately. Simon J. Kistemaker writes, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and I will dine with him and he with me. The term anyone indicates that the call to repentance is broad and inclusive. Jesus does Jesus not only stands at the door of a sinner's heart and knocks repeatedly, but he also speaks and calls him to repent. As soon as a person responds to Jesus's voice, Jesus enters his or her heart.

Note well that Jesus is fully in control, for the emphasis in this sentence is on Jesus who speaks, enters one's heart, and dines with the person who responds. It's clear that the responsibility for listening and responding to Jesus's voice rests with the hearer. R. C. H. Lenski writes, I am standing at the door implies that it's it is he who comes as here to the Laodicean, so do all sinners. He is not far off waiting for us to come to him. He sends his gospel, go into all the world. He does not ask the sinner to go to it.

He stands at the door and keeps knocking as a friend asking entrance. The thought is overwhelming that the everlasting king comes from his throne to ask a beggar to receive him. The perfect tense of I stand is always used as a present, and thus both verbs are durative. I stand and I knock. These two tenses are not aoristic and do not refer to a momentary standing and just a knock or two and then indignant departure if the door is not at once open. He comes and will even wait and knock again and again. It is the sinner's hour of grace when the king stands and knocks.

The message of Jesus comes to all who hear the gospel, and that message is to open their hearts and believe the gospel. This is the responsibility of all who hear. The call of the gospel is sincere. Whoever hears that gospel and opens their heart to it will be saved. The book of Revelation in its final moments issues the invitation for all to come to Christ. In Revelation 22:17 it says, the spirit and the bride say come. And let him who hears say come. And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

The Bible clearly teaches the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man in our salvation. In John 6:37 it says, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. In John 6:39 through 40 it says, and this is the will of him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

God saves us by his sovereign grace, and yet anyone who looks to the son and believes on him will be saved. We must never discourage anyone from coming to Christ. The invitation of the gospel is universal to all who hear it. If anyone opens their heart to Jesus, he will come in. Today that offer extends to you, whoever you are. And here a response is called for. Jesus definitely called for a human response to his invitation. He calls on everyone who hears to open the door to him, to open the door for him to come into their hearts and lives.

R. C. H. Lenski writes, here we have all the sweetness of his heavenly grace, all the gentleness of the gospel which seeks to win our souls. This is his heavenly power to save. It is by winning that he saves. Lenski goes on to say the king comes to the door, stands there, knocks, calls with his voice. In this lies the power that moves the will to open the door. The Lord's power of love and grace in and by his word, which is the power of God to save, reaches into the heart and moves it to open and to receive.

This is the picture here presented. And this invitation is to you today. To you who have sinned against God and need to repent, this invitation is given. The king whom you have offended calls out to you in love to open your heart and let him in. Repent of your great sins and humble yourselves before God. Open your heart to him and let Christ come in today. And then in the third place, we have an invitation to today's church. The American church is in a pitiful condition. The church in America is similar to the Laodicean church in so many ways.

We have become very materialistic. We have magnificent church buildings with state-of-the-art audio and video equipment. We have padded pews and air conditioning to keep us comfortable. We have entertainment without limit. We have worship teams to entertain us, videos to watch, and sermons to please us. Yet we are spiritually deficient. We are pitiful in the eyes of God. There is very little fear of God in us. We compromise with the world in so many ways. Our worship services are geared toward pleasing people and not toward pleasing God. In commenting on worship as described in Revelation 5 and 7, John D.

Payne wrote in his book on worship, this quick peak into the portals of heaven reveals celestial worship to be fervently reverent, gloriously dignified, exceedingly joyful, thoroughly God-centered, and ardently focused upon the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. It is this magnificent heavenly approach to worship which in part informed and inspired the worship of Protestants for almost 500 years. Sadly, however, in recent times this has changed. In general, evangelical worship has become radically informal, presumptuously innovative, and biblically impoverished. Much of this is due largely to the abandonment of God-centered biblically regulated liturgy. What has been shelved is a Protestant liturgical heritage which for centuries has faithfully led Christians to worship God biblically and nourish their faith upon Christ through the ordinary means of word and sacrament.

Payne goes on to write, imagine for a moment Moses disregarding God's directions for worship and designing it instead according to an opinion poll taken amongst the unbelieving nations surrounding them. Or imagine the apostle Paul knocking on doors in Ephesus and asking unbelievers how the church could make worship more appealing. Of course, these are preposterous notions. Nevertheless, in some measure this is what is happening in many quarters of the evangelical church today, causing great confusion about their primary object and goal of worship. Indeed, the so-called seeker-sensitive churches, well-meaning as they may be, put more emphasis upon what man will get out of a service of worship, unbeliever or believer, than upon what God will get out of it.

To be sure, we are supposed to be seeker-sensitive when designing and executing worship, but according to scripture, God, not man, is the seeker toward whom we are to be sensitive in worship. Not only are our worship services in a pitiful condition, but the way we live as Christians compromises too much with the world around us. We worship the same idols, whether they be sports idols, automobile idols, electronic idols, or many other kinds of idols. Three areas we compromise in and think nothing about. First is the way we spend the Sabbath day. Other than going to church on Sunday, we do the same things everybody else does on Sunday.

We shop. We work, some of us. We go to our commercial sports events or spend much of the day watching commercial sports on television. Our churches have their Super Bowl Sundays and bow down to the same sports idols. Secondly is the way we dress. We dress up to go to the office, and then when Sunday comes, we dress like slobs to go to public worship of almighty God. We wear immodest clothing just like everybody else who wants to be in fashion, whether it's at the beach or walking down the street. How we dress can reflect our hearts on the inside.

God does not want us to dress just like everybody, but to dress has become those who follow Christ. Thirdly is the way we divorce just like everybody else. Recent polls say that those over 50 have a skyrocketing divorce rate unheard of before. I wonder how many of those couples claim to be Christians who divorce just like everybody else. As Christians, we need to clean up our act and our marriages. We need to live as becometh those who worship God in every every every area of our lives, including our marriages. There are many other ways we compromise with the sinful ways of our culture around us, from watching the same movies, to saying the same curse words, to laughing at the same dirty jokes.

There are Christians who are guilty of all these things. There's a call to repentance and renewal here. Jesus calls us to repentance and a renewed relationship with him. Verse 19 says again, those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him and he with me. Jesus wants our hearts to be right with him in the way we live. He wants us to walk with him daily living in his presence.

Simon J. Kistemaker writes, Jesus desires to have fellowship with us. In the Eastern mind, hospitality at mealtime demonstrates the host's trust in and respect for the guest, for the host has opened his home to the guest and breaks bread with him. But here it is Jesus who assumes the role of host, for he says that he will enter and dine with his guest for the main meal of the day. This meal was enjoyed near the end of the day after working hours in an atmosphere of leisure and close fellowship. This was a time of conversation during which wholesome topics were discussed.

Laughter was heard and counsel was given for solving problems. This passage speaks of union with Christ and a day-by-day walk with him. Marvin J. Dawn commenting on this passage says it rebukes Christians who have failed to trust God for their life giving water, wealth, health, and covering. Believers are to repent and recognize that Christ waits at their door and desires to come into their lives more thoroughly. And R. C. H. Lenski writes, I will come in and will dine with him and he with me, describes the fellowship that begins and continues. This dining together is not postponed until we reach heaven or until the Lord comes in his parousia.

As far as eternity is concerned, the feasting there is only the consummation of the dining together here on Earth in blessed fellowship. Jesus calls today's church to repent and turn anew to him. What we need today is a great revival of the church in America. We need an outpouring of the holy spirit in great convicting power to cleanse anew and draw us back into true fellowship with Christ in our daily lives. We need an outpouring of the holy spirit to cleanse us from our worldliness and idolatry. Many times in the past, God has sent revivals to America, and these revivals always start in the church and spread outwardly.

During the first Great Awakening in America, multitudes came under great conviction of sin. Christians were renewed in their faith as never before. Ian Murray writes, the strong, sometimes even agonizingly overwhelming conviction of sin so widespread at this date was nothing more than is common to all true revivals. Men suddenly in large numbers are made to feel the real nature and danger of sin. Today modern American Christians need to be awakened to their sins so that they will repent and follow Christ anew and afresh. We need a fresh outpouring of the holy spirit that will bring worldly Christians to their knees.

On July the 8th, 1741 Jonathan Edwards preached at the meeting house in Enfield, Connecticut. Murray relates, Edwards took as his text Deuteronomy 32:35. Their foot shall slide in due time, repeating a sermon which he had given in his own church shortly before on the subject sinners in the hands of an angry God. We look reported to tremble how the people whom he characterized as thoughtless and vain were so changed before the sermon had ended. They were bowed down with awful conviction of their sin and danger. Powerful revivals shook Wales in the early 19th century. It was said of a preacher named John Williams, he began to thunder against the sins of the land with such an awful strength that even the blockish creatures that came regularly to the church began to fear.

And before long, a powerful outpouring of the holy spirit was experienced producing singing and praising everywhere. We need in America today such a powerful outpouring of the holy spirit. And may God raise up preachers of his word who will thunder against the sins of this land with such an awful strength that the people of the land will begin to fear God again. But what about you today? Are you a great sinner in need of a great savior like Jesus Christ? You have sinned against God and you need to be cleansed of your sin and forgiven.

Only Jesus Christ can do that. Even now he knocks at the door of your heart and desires to come in. Open that door now and Jesus will come in and sup with you and you with him. Our Father in heaven, we do pray that you will send a great revival to this land. We pray that you will pour out your spirit in great convicting power beginning in the churches. Oh Father, our sins are great and they pile up to heaven. And even now you are pouring out your wrath. Even now you're sending your warning judgments.

But we pray that in wrath you will remember mercy and that you will pour out your spirit and bring great conviction of sin all over this land. And we pray that the people of this land will turn back to you. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

David Shulze: We hope this week's broadcast has been a blessing to you. If you have any questions about Mr. Dodson's message, please write us. You may email us at info@watchmanradio.org. Our mailing address is Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251 Portland, Oregon 97213. That's Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251 Portland, Oregon 97213. You may listen to this broadcast at any time on the internet at www.oneplace.com. In the list of ministries, just select the Watchman Radio hour. This week's program and previous programs are always available there for listening. Our web address is www.watchmanradio.org. That's w a t c h m e n radio .org www.watchmanradio.org.