The Church Age is Completing – The Rapture is Near – Part Two

The Current Final Laodicean Church Period before the Rapture

 

Our churches today are largely in this lukewarm condition. There is very little warm-hearted spirituality. There’s a lot going on in them, but it is largely mechanical and of a social character. Committees, men & women’s groups are multiplied, but there is an absence of spiritual heat. The character of the Church at Laodicea is a fair representation of the Church period from A.D. 1900 till the soon coming Rapture. The Church at Laodicea – A Lukewarm Church – Rev. 3:14-22

Jesus Complaint: 15 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 hot nor cold, 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,

Jesus has no commendation, only much to complain of. He says: 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot;  I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

There is nothing more disgusting or nauseating than “lukewarm” water. There is nothing more repugnant to Jesus than a lukewarm church. He would rather have a church frozen or boiling. It was the chilly spiritual atmosphere of the Church of England that drove John Wesley to start those systematic meetings which became so noted for their religious fervor, and it was the same chilly atmosphere of the Methodist Church that drove William Booth in turn to become a “Red-hot” Salvationist.

have been scheduled each year based on a traditional schedule instead of waiting on the Lord for power. Evangelists and paid singers are hired and, instead of true revival, churches see a soul or two saved and call it revival. In reality a revival meeting should be just that, concentrating on reviving the church so that evangelism can take place. The cause of this lukewarmness is the same as that of the Church of Laodicea–Self-Deception.

17 You say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need od nothing.’ and you do not know that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.

They thought they were rich, and outwardly they were, but Jesus saw the poverty of their heart. There are many churches like that in the world today. More so than in any other period in the history of the church. Many churches today have gorgeous buildings, eloquent preachers, paid singers, large congregations. Some of them have large land holdings and are very wealthy, and yet they are poor. Many of the members, if not the majority, are worldly Christians. These churches do not see that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

If we were to visit a church like this, they would take pride in showing us the building, they would praise the preaching and singing, they would boast of the character of their congregations, the exclusiveness of their membership, and the attractiveness of all their services, but if we suggested a series of meetings for the deepening of the spiritual condition, or evangelistic meetings, they would say–“Oh, no, we don’t need those kind of meetings, we’re just fine and don’t have a spiritual need.” The Church at Laodicea was not burdened with debt, but it was burdened with wealth.

The trouble with the church today is that it thinks that nothing can be done without money, and that if we only had the money everything would be fine and the world would be converted in this generation. But the world will not be converted by money, but by the Spirit of God.

The trouble with the Church of Laodicea was that its “Gold” was not of the right kind, and so it was counseled to buy of the Lord gold refined in the fire. What kind of gold is that? It is gold that has no impurities. Gold that is not cankered, or secured by fraud, or the withholding of a just salary.

But the Church of Laodicea was not only poor, though rich, it was blind. Or to put it more accurately, near-sighted. They could see their worldly prosperity, but were short-sighted relating to heavenly things, so the Lord counseled them to anoint their eyes with eye-salve. Their merchants dealt in ointments and herbs with a high degree of healing virtue, but they possessed no salve that would restore impaired spiritual vision, only the Unction of the Holy Spirit could do that.

But the Church was not only poor, and blind, it was naked. Their outward garments were likely of the finest material and the latest fashions, but not that which should be worn by a Child of God. So, they were counseled to purchase of Jesus white clothes, in exchange for the raven black woolen garments for which the garment makers of Laodicea were famous.

Then a very startling revelation was made to the Church of Laodicea, Jesus said–20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. These words are generally quoted as an appeal to sinners, but they are not, they are addressed to a Church, and to a Church in whose midst Christ had once stood, but now found Himself excluded and standing outside knocking to come in.

This must be one of the most startling things recorded in the New Testament, that it is possible for a church to be outwardly prosperous and yet not have Jesus in its midst and be unconscious of the fact. This is a description of a Christless Church. Jesus, excluded from His own Church, for they Rejected Him; excluded from the world, for it Crucified Him; excluded from His Church, as He stands outside its door knocking for entrance.

How did Jesus come to be outside the Church? He had been within it once or there never would have been a Church. How did He come to leave? It is clear that they had not thrown Him out, because they don’t seem to have missed His presence. They continued to worship Him, to sing His praises, and engage in all manner of Christian service, yet He had withdrawn. Why? The reason is summed up in one word–worldliness.

The question is how is Jesus to get back into His Church? Does it require the unanimous vote or invitation of the membership? No. “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.” The way to revive a lukewarm church is for the individual members to open their hearts and let Jesus guide them, and thus open the door for His reappearance.

The character of the Church today is Laodicean, and as the Laodicean Period is to continue until the Church of the Born Again is taken out at the Rapture of the Church, we cannot hope for any great change until the Lord comes back.

What do these messages to the Churches teach us? They clearly teach the decline of the church. That the professing Church instead of increasing in spiritual and world converting power has become lukewarm, faithless, and Christless.