Introduction

Revelation 3:14-22 ESV  “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.  (15)  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  (16)  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.  (17)  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  (18)  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.  (19)  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.  (20)  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  (21)  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  (22)  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Revelation 3:15-16 ESV  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  (16)  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

• So we have made it to the final letter to the Seven churches, the letter to the church in Laodcia.
  • And I want you to consider something as we read through and preach through this letter this morning is the difference in tone in this letter.
    • No longer are we talking about removing the lampstand…
      • No longer is the rebuke “I will remove the authority that I gave you as a church”.
      • Now it is as if the rebukes of all the churches have culminated to this one point…
      • It almost feels like the church of Laodicea is what happens to a church AFTER their lampstand has been removed.
      • After they have compromised with the world.
      • After they have allowed sexual sin, political idolatry, and pagan traditions.
      • Well after they have last their first love.
      • Well after their works have died.
      • We have this church that has no authority, no lampstand, no light, no power, no name in which they represent.
      • And now they are at their final chance, the last straw…
      • Just consider the severity of this rebuke… of this warning:

Revelation 3:16 ESV  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

• I WILL SPIT YOU OUT OF MY MOUTH.
  • Not I will remove your lampstand… no! I AM GOING TO SPIT YOU OUT! BLEH! I love the way the King James Version words this:

Revelation 3:16 KJV  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

• I will SPEW thee out of my mouth.
  • I will vomit you up.
  • I gag on your lukewarmness and have to get you out.
    • And this is written to a church, a CHRISTIAN church.
    • So don’t think that just because you are part of a church means you are safe…
      • Some think, well they are still saved, and to that I ask “Where do you think God spewed them out to? Heaven number 2?”
    • No, this is a terrifying warning of the Father rejecting a church, and the people with in the church, and not just rejecting, but violently expulsing them.
    • BLEEEEHHHHH! I spew thee, Jesus says, I spit you out of my mouth.
• Therefore todays message is titled:
  • Don’t get spewed!

• Don’t get SPEWED. I want to be in heaven, I want to be with Christ, I don’t want to get spewed out.

• Point one this morning is very simple: Don’t be cold!

Point One – Don’t be Cold

• Consider our key verse this morning:

Revelation 3:16 ESV  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

• Here we see the three possible states of zeal that a church can be in, and I think it accurately describes the three possible states of people as well.
  • They are either Cold, Lukewarm, or Hot.
  • So we are going to start by looking at the cold state… what does it mean to be cold toward God, cold toward Christ, cold toward the Gospel?
• It means to look at Christ and say “I want nothing to do with Him”
• It means to choose sin over Jesus.
• It means to choose Barabbas over the Messiah.
• It means to examine your options, to think it through, and to say “Nope, I don’t want to be a Christian”

Joshua 24:15 ESV  And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

• Choose this day who you will serve. If it is evil in your site to serve the Lord, then choose NOT to serve Him.
  • That choice, the definitive choice to say “I WILL NOT SERVE THE LORD! I will not obey the Lord! I will not submit to Scripture!” That’s the choice to be cold.

Matthew 12:30 ESV  Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

• Christ says “You are either for me or against me! You gather with me or you scatter…”
  • To be cold is to say “Yup, I am against Christ! I don’t want anything to do with Him, I don’t want to gather with Him, this whole Christianity thing is a lie, a façade, a trick… I hate it and want nothing to do with it!”
    • That is what is like to be cold.
• Let me strongly encourage you church: DON’T BE COLD!
  • DON’T BE COLD!
  • Don’t be against Christ!
  • Don’t be the enemy of Jesus.
  • DON’T BE COLD!
  • Don’t call serving the Lord evil!
  • Don’t be cold!
• Because the end result of being Cold is a place that is very, very hot!

Matthew 13:47-50 ESV  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.  (48)  When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.  (49)  So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous  (50)  and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Revelation 21:8 ESV  But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

• But maybe you are thinking “I can be a good person without being a Christian…” again, you are mistaken, your name must be written in the book of life:

Revelation 20:15 ESV  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

• Don’t be cold church!
  • Don’t be cold! Because a life that is cold ends in an eternal death that is very very hot!
• But, there is something worse than being cold… there is something worse than being fully against Christ.
  • Our second point this morning: It is better to be cold than Lukewarm.

Point Two –  It’s Better to Be Cold than Lukewarm

Revelation 3:15-16 ESV  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  (16)  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

• “Would that you were either cold or hot…”
  • In other words “I wish that you were either cold or hot! I WISH THAT YOU WOULD EITHER BE ALL IN OR ALL OUT… DON’T BE LUKEWARM! IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN BEING COLD!”
• Again our second point this morning is this: It is better to be cold than Lukewarm.
  • What does it mean to be Lukewarm?
    • It means to pretend to be hot… to pretend to be in love with Jesus, to pretend to have zeal… but really to don’t follow Christ as Lord.
    • It is the Christians who comes to church Sunday morning and cusses out his coworkers Monday afternoon.
    • It is the Christians who serve in the church, but beat their wives.
    • It is the Christians who say they are sold out for Christ, but refuse to confess and repent of their sins.
    • It is the Christians who have two Facebook accounts, one for their Christians friends and family, and one for the world.
    • It is the double minded people who just treat religion as a past time, a hobby, a tradition…
    • People who say they believe, but never obey.
    • The Lukewarm Christian is the false Christian… and that is what we see here in the church of Laodicea…

Revelation 3:17 ESV  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 

• You see the people in the church of Laodicea, they said they were spiritually rich, that they spiritually have prospered, that they have need of no teaching, or rebuke, or correction. The people in Laodicea were TELLING other people that they have arrived.
  • But the truth is, they were wicked, evil, lacking in all spiritual things… naked and exposed, their sin freely sin by the world. It is not they needed nothing, but that they had nothing and in reality NEEDED everything from Christ.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV  But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  (2)  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  (3)  heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,  (4)  treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  (5)  having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

• That’s quite a list of sin, focus on that last line…

2 Timothy 3:5 ESV  having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

• They appeared to be godly, they acted like they were holy. They will prophecy and cast out demons and preach on the street corners…
  • But in reality they are EVIL… they love themselves, they love money, they are proud, arrogant, abusive, dishonoring, ungrateful and unholy. THEY ARE BRUTAL…
    • Yet they go to church… and sing the songs… and post the facebook posts.
    • They name their children Christian names, and put their children in Christian Schools.
    • They might even lead a small group out of their home…
    • They appear holy… but in reality they are evil… they are lukewarm.
    • Their life is not defined by a submissive following of Jesus as Lord.
    • Sin is prevalent in their lives but repentance and confession are not.
    • They are people who call themselves Christians but have never been born again.
• IT IS BETTER TO BE COLD THAN LUKEWARM!
  • It is better to fully acknowledge that you hate Jesus then to pretend and fake it.
  • And I mean that!
    • I went to a Lukewarm university…
      • I watched a bunch of college kids who pretended to be Christians, who said they were Christians, I watched these “Christians” have sex with one another,
      • Get drunk.
      • Do drugs.
      • Promote other religions.
      • Promote Homosexuality.
      • Degrade the person of Christ/
      • Degrade the authority of the Bible…
      • THEN I WATCHED THE LUKEWARM STAFF APLAUD THEM FOR THES AND ENCOURAGE IT.
        • Then I watched as the world cheered! And how the world began to think “Why can’t all Christians be like this”
        • The world begins to think of Christ as a lover of pleasure…
        • The world begins to think of Christ as a promoter of sin.
        • The world begins to think of Christ as some spiritual frat boy who just wants us all to party until we die…
      • So the Lukewarm Christian does everything he can to degrade the name of Christ…
• And this furthered the problem with the church in Laodicea and in the lives of any lukewarm believe…  because lukewarm people don’t even realize that they are a bunch of evil, Godless fakers…

Revelation 3:17 ESV  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

• NOT REALIZING! They thought they were good! They thought they had made it! But one day they are going to die and face judgment and they will be in for a rude awakening.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  (22)  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  (23)  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

• Look, if you don’t want to be a Christian… if you don’t want to follow Jesus…. If serving the Lord seems evil to you… fine!
  • Just admit it. Stop faking it.
  • Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are going to make heaven because you go to church or give money to the church.
    • Just make the choice today, are you all in for Christ or are you all out for Christ.
    • Pick a side!
• Because then, even if you chose to deny Christ, AT LEAST YOU KNOW WHERE YOU STAND.
  • One of the most frustrating things for me when evangelizing is trying to convince a luke warm Christian that they are not saved…
    • Because if I can’t convince them they are not saved they will never agree to be saved.
  • Someone who hates Jesus, they are easy to talk to, to pray with, to evangelize to…
    • Because they know were they stand.
• But if you are Lukewarm… if you are faking it… not only are you making Jesus look bad, you are putting up bearers to your own salvation.
  • And you are going to find yourself SPEWED out of God’s mouth.
    • DON’T GET SPEWED CHURCH!

Philippians 2:12 ESV  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

• Take a self inventory to see if you are really saved…
  • A good place to start is the book of 1 John, it’s like a true believers test… read through it and ask “Is this talking about me”?
  • Pray to God, Cry out to him… AM I A TRUE BELIEVER?! And then listen for an answer…
  • Examine your life… is it defined by sin, or repentance, is it defined by lies or confession, are you two faced? Double minded? Playing games? Then you may not be saved… STOP FAKING IT.
• It is better to be cold, fully against Christ, then Lukewarm… faking it.
• But there is of course a much better way!
• My final point this morning is this: Why be cold or lukewarm when you can be passionately on fire for Christ?

Point Three – Why be Cold or Lukewarm when you can be Passionately on Fire for Christ?!

Revelation 3:17-19 ESV  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  (18)  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.  (19)  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

• Jesus says “I know you are faking it… but if you would just repent… I have the truth!”
  • “I have the real Gold” Jesus says “Not that fools gold you are bragging about”
  • “I have the real righteousness… the clothes of white” Christ declares “Not those filthy rags you say are priestly garments.”
  • “I have the medicine to make you be able to see the truth” Our messiah tells us “So stop stumbling around allover the place with a can and sunglasses acting like you can see”.

Zechariah 4:6 ESV  Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

• In otherwords “You can’t do this on by your own strength… no matter how strong you are, no matter how mighty and powerful… you can’t do this… but if you would let the Spirit of God do it for you… if you would submit to Christ, and to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit… if you would Submit to GOD then you would accomplish a zeal for Christ that is ON FIRE!
  • And of course it starts at salvation, back to the letter to the church of Laodicea:

Revelation 3:19 ESV  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

• Repent, be baptized, give your life to Jesus, be born again.
  • We will in a moment have an opportunity for you to make that decision, to start your fire for Christ…
• But once we repent that first time, that first time we confess Christ as Lord…
  • That time we get born again…
  • And we get changed, and we get full of joy and zeal and fire!
  • Just because that happened doesn’t mean we are off the hook… we have to tend the fire church.
    • We have to keep up our zeal.
    • We have to run the race and make it to the finish line.

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 ESV  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  (27)  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

• Just because you started the race doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to finish the race.
  • Therefore, stay on fire, stay zealous, keep running, make it to the finish line.
  • Part of that is daily repentance and confession and dying to yourself…

Luke 9:23 ESV  And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

• Part of staying on fire is gathering together with other Christians to encourage one another…

Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  (24)  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,  (25)  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

• Part of that is constantly reading the word of God and allowing it to change you:

2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it  (15)  and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  (16)  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  (17)  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

• And part of that is allowing, seeking, desiring God to change you daily to increase the ehat of your fire…

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

• Church if your fire isn’t getting hotter, it’s probably getting colder… so let’s take a few moments concluding by turning up the fire, amen?!
  • Because there are three options, Hot, Cold, and lukewarm…
    • And two of those options lead to hell…
    • Let’s be passionately on fire for Christ!

Conclusion

• Gospel Call for the cold and lukewarm
• Prayer for those getting colder.