Laodicea: Satisfied & Useless

[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.

[0:12] Revelation chapter 3, verse 14 says, 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.

[0:36] I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot.

[0:51] So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich. I have prospered. I need nothing.

[1:11] Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

[1:23] 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.

[1:42] And salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.

[1:55] So be zealous and repent. 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.

[2:14] 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.

[2:26] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. May God bless the hearing and the preaching of his word this morning.

[2:44] You know, there are certain people in this world for whom the phrase always confident, seldom right, fits perfectly.

[2:55] No doubt you've met someone like this. You know the people I'm talking about. The people that are quick to speak, quick to a decision, quick to move forward, but far too quick to stumble.

[3:11] You know, the people that can't seem to get their foot out of their mouth. In our family's favorite show, All Creatures Great and Small, Tristan is just such a guy.

[3:22] He brims with confidence. He's a man of optimism. He charges into the day. He's not afraid of any challenge. He's not afraid to try anything new.

[3:33] And in the animal clinic in which he's an intern, he's quick to volunteer to take up a hard case. But unfortunately, his confidence often leads to disastrous consequences.

[3:45] There's a danger when churches have a similar misplaced confidence.

[4:02] It's a wonderful thing for churches to be solid and confident in the truth of the gospel and the word of God. But it's a terrible thing when churches are confident in what they've learned, what they've gained, what they've achieved, what they've done.

[4:18] Far too often, this self-confidence comes as churches get more settled, more successful, more secure. It comes as the church and its members reach a level of fruitfulness.

[4:33] Such that they begin to think, this is the way it's got to be done. This is what's worked for us. This is how it works. Or when the church attains a level of financial prosperity that they begin to believe, they don't really need any other help because they're doing just fine.

[4:49] Or when the church and its members just achieve a level of status and stability. However, this self-confidence comes, it always comes with a gradual drift away from dependence on Christ.

[5:06] You know, it goes the same way in our personal lives. When we're young, we charge into life. We're living on a shoestring budget, trying to make ends meet, crying out to the Lord for help, and joyfully watching Him provide month after month.

[5:24] But as we get older, the budgets grow larger, the needs decrease, and we gradually lose that month-to-month dependence. We don't realize it at first.

[5:36] We're still doing the things. We're still reading our Bible. We're still praying for our children. We're still serving the Lord. And if anyone asks how we're doing, we'd say, fine, even great.

[5:50] But if we looked a little closer, we'd notice that we don't have the same desperation. We don't pray with the same conviction. We don't sing with the same abandon.

[6:03] We don't give thanks with the same wonder and awe. Slowly and subtly, as we become more successful, settled, and satisfied, we move our confidence away from the Lord to ourselves.

[6:21] The church in Laodicea is marked by this misplaced confidence. By this self-confidence. They are, in a word, satisfied and useless.

[6:33] Satisfied and useless. In this final letter from the risen Lord to all His churches scattered across time and across the world, the Lord warns us of this same danger.

[6:47] In a word, the church that bears fruit in every age will depend on Christ for everything. The church that bears fruit in every age will depend on Christ for everything.

[6:59] We're going to break this out in three points. The first is the reality of self-confidence. The reality of self-confidence.

[7:10] You know, the Lord begins this letter like He'd begun all the other letters, talking about what He knows about the church. He says, look in verse 15, I know your works.

[7:23] I know your works. But as He continues, they realize He knows something about their works that they don't know.

[7:35] Look in verse 15. B, I know your works. You're neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you're lukewarm and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

[7:48] One commentator says, there's no encouragement whatsoever in this letter to Laodicea. And that's what we see immediately.

[7:59] He says, you are lukewarm. Well, what does Jesus mean by that? You're neither cold or hot. You're just lukewarm. Often we understand lukewarm to be a reference to the measure of their passion for God.

[8:13] That's what we think. It's a measure of their passion for God. So we understand this verse to mean it's good to be hot, burning with passion for God, but not good to be lukewarm or cold.

[8:25] Right? But if it's a reference to the measure of our passion for God, why would Jesus say it's better to be cold than to be lukewarm?

[8:43] It's not a reference to the fervency of your passion. It's actually a reference to the emptiness of their works. See, the water in Laodicea was notoriously bad.

[8:59] No good water supply was in Laodicea. So he was saying something very specific to them that would have made immediate sense to them. There was a town named Heropolis, six miles to the north, that was famous for its hot springs.

[9:12] If you know anything about hot springs, you go there to climb into, to dip into the minerally rich water, the medicinal qualities of the water.

[9:24] And so people traveled to Heropolis for their hot spring water. And some of the water would even flow down through the valley and down the hill across from Laodicea.

[9:35] But by the time it arrived, it was lukewarm and dirty. They didn't have any hot water in Laodicea.

[9:48] They had lukewarm water. So too, a nearby, the nearby town of Colossae had cold water. It had a cold water supply. It was refreshing and invigorating.

[10:00] A cold drink of water on a hot day is so invigorating. But by the time it traveled through the aqueducts to Laodicea, the cold water from Colossae was also lukewarm.

[10:15] All the water in Laodicea was lukewarm. I remember years ago, I played middle school football. That's where I stopped. Coach K wouldn't pick me up, but we began practice.

[10:29] I started playing guitar and smoking weed. Thankfully, I stopped that too. Not guitar. We began practice in the heat of August. And we poured sweat like a bunch of dogs.

[10:43] Occasionally, we'd have a water break in practice and we'd run to the team's homemade water fountain. And if you played basketball back in those days, you know what it means.

[10:54] It was a long PVC pipe attached to a hose with a bunch of holes bored into it. So you ran over there dying of thirst to get up to the hose. The only problem was that hose ran about three miles from the school.

[11:09] And so all that water was gross and hot. You drank it because you had to. But it was only good for spitting out.

[11:22] That's what, that's the analogy here. Jesus is saying, all the water is only good for spitting out in Laodicea. And all your works are only good for spitting out.

[11:36] Lord's saying, you don't heal like Heropolis. You don't have the hot springs that heal like Heropolis, that heal the spiritually sick. And you don't refresh the spiritually weary.

[11:47] You don't have cold water there either. In fact, if you notice, look in the opening verse of this letter when he's addressing the church. He says, the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness.

[11:59] So he is the faithful and true witness. He's saying, I'm looking across time to tell you this is where your witness is falling out of alignment with the truth of the Word of God.

[12:15] Your works are lukewarm. They're useless. They're good for spitting out.

[12:29] This is the Lord. The one who gave his life to purchase this bride. And yet he says, I've come back to check on you and your works.

[12:41] They're not hot or cold. They're lukewarm. How could this be? How could a lampstand get to this level?

[12:54] Laodicea was on a road connected to Jerusalem. We talked about these seven letters being written to seven churches, a long, a postal road. And so Ephesus was right up the road.

[13:05] And so you would have traveled down from Ephesus. And so many people believe that this church was planted by one of the Apostle Paul's disciples himself in the early 50s A.D. while Paul was in Ephesus preaching the gospel for two and a half years.

[13:20] It was a church dear to Paul when he wrote to the Colossians, the neighbors up the road. He said, read this letter in Laodicea as well.

[13:30] Look in Colossians 2. He says, I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together and love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ.

[13:49] And so here you have this church peppered throughout this letter and other letters that Paul loved and watched. But Jesus tells us how they began to stray.

[14:03] Laodicea was not just known for its bad water. It was known for being a prosperous city. It was a city filled with wealth. It was known for its fertile ground and high quality black wool.

[14:17] It was known for its medical school, for the advances they had created to help the ears and especially an eye salve that was popular in Laodicea.

[14:31] But apparently, just as the city began to prosper, so too the church began to prosper. Look at verse 17.

[14:42] Because you're neither, because you're lukewarm, neither hot or cold, I'll spit you out of mouth. For, the reason is, the reason I'm spitting you out, because you say I'm rich.

[14:56] I prospered and I need nothing. Apparently, the church in Laodicea began to prosper. And gradually, they began to place more and more confidence, not in the Lord, but in all they had.

[15:12] In their wealth, in all the things their money could buy, in their high quality black wool clothing, and the status they're able to maintain. In their health, in the medical progress they achieved.

[15:24] And so the Lord says, you say I'm rich, I've needed nothing, I'm prospered, not realizing that you're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. The reality is, they think they're the same as they've always been.

[15:45] They think nothing's changed. They think they're doing fine, doing well, still serving the Lord.

[15:56] But that's the sad reality of self-confidence. You think you're rich. You think you're doing well. You think you need nothing. But actually, you're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind.

[16:14] You're blind and you're blind to your blindness. It's one thing to be like blind Bartimaeus on the side of the road saying, Father, Son of David, have mercy on me.

[16:25] It's another thing to be on the roadside, not realizing you're blind. And that's what he's saying to them. You're just like everybody else in town.

[16:36] Your church isn't an outpost for me. It's just another place where status carries the day.

[16:53] You're satisfied and youthless. Now, lest we be confused, Jesus is not saying sell all your possessions. There's nothing wrong with making money, even lots of money.

[17:03] But there's a great danger in money is what he's saying. And you begin to think that what makes you secure is your money. You begin to think that's what makes you stable and all these things.

[17:16] And more importantly, you begin to neglect your soul. We remember the parable, the rich fool, you know. You become like the rich fool who fills up his barns with grain. And then he decides to build more barns to fill up with grain.

[17:29] Surely then he's safe and secure from everything. Right? Even the seven-year famine. And Genesis couldn't take him out because of all the grains.

[17:41] But then the Lord comes, says, Fool, tonight, your soul is required of you. You're rich and grain.

[17:53] But you're poor in God. It doesn't happen all at once. It happens slowly. The hit band, the Avett Brothers, who I can't commend every song they sing.

[18:06] But they do sing well. I have a song called Down With The Shine that gets at this very well. I think we have these lyrics for you.

[18:17] And it says, this is verse 1. He says, It's in with the new and out with the old. Out goes the warm and in comes the cold. It's the most predictable story told.

[18:31] It's in with the young and out with the old. So just talking about the changed generation, love of the young generation. This is where he gets a little more pointed. A belly full of high dollar wine.

[18:45] A fat hand. A fat wallet, too. Things change and get strange. If you've lived under the sun for any length of time, you know what that means.

[18:57] With this movement of time, it's happening right now to you. The chorus says, Down with the shine.

[19:08] The perfect shine that poisons the well and ruins my mind. I get took for a ride every time. Down with the glistening shine.

[19:20] As Shakespeare once said, Not all that glistens is gold. The Lord is speaking in these verses saying, How's your soul? How's your soul?

[19:35] How's your soul? Is it fat? Is it bloated?

[19:45] Unfeeling? Unfeeling? You know, when we're young, our soul is lean. I remember coming to the Lord. It's just so lean, so loving.

[19:57] Everything in Scripture, nothing could get in the way of following the Lord. But when we get older, fat grows over our soul in so many ways. With the money, the wine, the food, how's your heart?

[20:12] Has it become cold? Are the extra shifts you keep picking up what you really need? Do you really need the car, the education, the vacation, the freedom you're chasing with that money?

[20:26] What are you doing with that money? Is it yours to do with however you like? Have you begun to care too much about the clothing you wear and the way you look?

[20:38] Does your commitment to health and staying fit leave room for unhurried time meditating on the truths of Scripture? Do you still have time to drop everything to serve, to pray, to witness, to help?

[20:54] What are you saying is how's the chase for stability and security affecting your soul? Don't be duped.

[21:13] I remember sitting in my garage one day realizing, just hit me like a wave.

[21:24] It may make no sense to you. I take that risk. Hit me like a wave. I believe that there's enough in my little house, my 21-square-foot house that we lived in before we live in the one now, to ruin my children's soul forever.

[21:42] That's what he's saying. It's just like the parable of the soils, the things of this world, the cares of this world have begun to choke out the Word. They don't even know it.

[21:56] Point two, the remedy of self-confidence. The remedy of self-confidence.

[22:07] After unmasking the reality of self-confidence, the uselessness of self-confidence, the Lord gives the remedy. Look in verse 18. He says, There's almost a playful tone to this.

[22:33] You're so rich. Like, you've got it all going on. You're so rich. Well, come buy from me. Like, you go to the marketplace. Well, come to my market, is what the Lord said.

[22:46] Come buy from me. Come buy three things. Buy gold refined by fire. Now, we know what a refining process is. 1 Peter 1. Everything in this world is passing away. All the riches of this world are passing away.

[22:58] All the treasures of this world will soon be destroyed by moth and rust. But there's a treasure that is refined by fire. That is gold. That has all the impurities pushed out of it by the fire.

[23:11] And that's the treasure that Jesus Christ offers. That's what he's saying. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which does not satisfy Isaiah 55.

[23:25] Come buy the riches. Yeah, ironically, Smyrna, if you remember, they thought they were poor.

[23:36] And Jesus said, you're rich. Laodicea, he says, you think you're rich, but you're poor. But come buy riches from me.

[23:46] Buy gold refined by fire. Then he says, buy white garments. This would be especially provoking in Laodicea. I told you, they're known for their expensive black wool.

[23:59] Their high quality black wool. But Jesus says, the garments you need, your markets do not sell. All throughout the book of Revelation, white symbolizes purity and righteousness.

[24:11] The elders are clothed in white, Revelation 4. The martyrs are clothed in white, Revelation 6. The great multitude are clothed in white, Revelation 7. And all those who pass through the blood of the Lamb are clothed in white to symbolize purity and righteousness.

[24:27] So he's saying, you need to be clothed in white so that your guilt might be completely removed. But look, he says, you need white garments so that the shame of your nakedness might not be seen.

[24:47] So that your shame might be covered. I think he's uncovering something amazing here.

[24:57] I think he's saying, isn't it shame that drives so much of the chase for riches, clothing, health, and status? Isn't it a sense of shame that drives this because we want to fit in?

[25:12] Because we want to feel worthy. Because we want to feel worthy. Because we want to feel worthy. Because we want to feel beautiful.

[25:22] Because we want to feel accepted. I remember years ago reading Madonna. I don't think my kids even know who Madonna is. But she used to dominate in the 80s when I was a wee lad.

[25:36] And she puts to language, shame in a provocative way. She says, I have an iron will.

[25:47] And all my will has always been to cover a horrible feeling of inadequacy. Now this is Madonna. Bulletproof Madonna.

[26:00] She says, I push past one spell of inadequacy and discover myself as a special human being. And then I get to another stage and think I'm mediocre and uninteresting again.

[26:14] Again and again, Madonna says, my drive in life is from this horrible feeling of being mediocre. And that's always pushing me.

[26:25] Pushing me. Because even though I've become somebody, I still have to prove I'm somebody. My struggle has never ended and probably never will.

[26:38] If you can't relate to Madonna, then we need to talk after the meeting. You know, that's the way it is. What Jesus is saying, come by white garments to cover your shame.

[26:51] Once and for all. All that other stuff will never do it. It's all husk and ashes. It will never satisfy you. Come by the garments for me so that you can again be naked and unashamed.

[27:08] By healing. By healing. Ointment for your eyes. Salve. To anoint your eyes so that you may see.

[27:22] This too would have been provoking to Laodicea. I told you they were known for their medical progress and for their eye salve.

[27:33] Jesus is saying, all that ointment made you blind. Come to me. I'll help you see. It wasn't obvious already.

[27:46] Where do we get this gold? These white garments? This anointment is from Jesus Christ. I mean, he's saying, come and get all this from me. You know, he began the letter saying, look in verse 14.

[27:57] He said, the words of the amen. Why do we say amen at the end of prayer? Amen is just a way of saying, so be it. Lord, let it happen according to your promise.

[28:08] We pray to you. Let it happen according to your promise. Well, Jesus is saying, I am the amen. I am the one that brings to pass all that I promise for my people forever.

[28:21] He also says, I'm the beginning of God's creation. That's not a reference to Genesis there. The Lord is saying, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are making all things new.

[28:32] All my promises are new and fulfilled in me. And then he says in verse 18, I counsel you to buy from me all that you need.

[28:47] There's only one person who can give you true riches, who can cover your shame, who can make you see the Lord Jesus Christ.

[28:58] All you have to do is humble yourself and be honest with him. One of the most provoking miracles in the gospels is the miracle, one of the healing of blindness in Mark 8.

[29:09] The man is on the side of the road or somewhere begging the Lord to heal him. And the Lord takes him, puts spit on his eyes and lays his hands on him.

[29:22] Now, the Lord was doing it in a demonstrative way to point very clearly to what he was coming to do to this man, to heal his eyes. And so he spits on his eyes and lays his hands on him.

[29:37] Then he says, do you see anything? Do you see anything? He said, I see men, but they look like trees.

[29:49] Now, if there was ever a time to be lovingly dishonest, it's right here. And you guys know what I mean by being lovingly dishonest.

[29:59] When your wife says, honey, how's the pot roast? You know, and you're like kind of working it through like your worn out leather in your mouth. Or babe, what do you think of the new couch?

[30:11] Or what do you think of this special type of fuchsia that I picked out for the kitchen? It's best in those moments to be lovingly dishonest. And I think that's what this man was tempted to be, lovingly dishonest.

[30:26] Tempted to say, I see. I've never seen before. I see. Is this what seeing looks like? But then he says, I only see men that look like trees.

[30:42] And then the Lord heals him completely. Why is this story in the Bible? So that we wouldn't walk away from Jesus until we receive from him everything we need.

[31:01] All you have to do is be honest. All you have to do is admit you've been chasing the things that never satisfy. All you have to do is admit that you've pushed God into the margins of your life. That you're just going through the motions.

[31:12] You're just doing the stuff. You're just going through it, still serving. But your soul is not as lean as it used to be. I think far too often we're tempted to not be completely honest because we want to appear strong.

[31:25] We don't want to be. We want to be an American-made Christian who doesn't need other people, you know? Not one of these weak, needy Christians. We want to save face.

[31:36] We don't want to admit that we're not what we appear. That we're not as godly as we think or as we think about us. We don't want to disappoint people in our life. But the precious invitation is for those who will be brutally honest with the Lord.

[31:50] And then you get all that he has. I remember years ago watching Kim Burns' Vietnam documentary. You've probably told this before because it's just affected me in so many ways.

[32:01] But the documentary is fabulous. My wife's Vietnamese. And so we love watching things like that. But there was a particular part that was very pointed that I was very interested to see how they handled. That was the My Lai Massacre.

[32:13] American history has some real blemishes. And this is one of them. Hundreds of civilians massacred.

[32:25] Span of hours. Families, women raped. I was watching, you know, I was leaning forward to see how they're going to handle this.

[32:37] How are they going to talk about this? Are they going to look this in the eye? And there was a man that was there. It was there. He sat in a chair with the camera looking at him in the face.

[32:49] He said, I did it. I did the raping. I did the pillaging. I did the killing.

[33:01] I wanted to scream in that moment because suddenly he was a man who was honest. And that's all the Lord is asking you to do. He comes to this church in Laodicea that is satisfied and useless.

[33:13] And he said, if you'll just come, if you'll just admit that you've blown it and that you need me, you can have everything. I broke the back of heaven to give you everything you need.

[33:27] Just come and be honest. Point three, the source of true confidence. The gravity of the situation is heightened by another analogy.

[33:42] The source of true confidence is uncovered in verses 20 through 22. The Lord says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.

[33:56] Often we use this verse. We think about this verse like we're preaching it to an unbeliever. And the Lord is knocking on the door of their heart. And so ask Jesus into your heart. He'll save you or something like that.

[34:06] Well, that's wonderful. And that's true. But this is not true. To a non-believer. This is Jesus knocking on the door of a church. In their chase for riches, clothing, health, and status, they pushed Jesus out.

[34:24] They excommunicated Jesus Christ. He's the one who's not welcome at their services any longer.

[34:37] No wonder their works are useless. But he says, I'm coming to you. I'm standing at the door knocking for you.

[34:49] It's hard to improve upon the long-suffering, steadfast love of God revealed in these verses.

[35:02] Several years ago, the well-known author and pastor, Eugene Peterson, died and went to be with the Lord. When his son shared in the funeral, he said his dad really only had one message.

[35:15] I pray that's what my kids say. He fooled everyone for 29 years as a pastor. He only had one message. He said the message of his life was a secret he whispered in his ear many years ago.

[35:35] He said his dad used to sneak into his room at night and say it over him as he slept. He'd say, God loves you. He's relentless.

[35:47] God's on your side. He's coming for you. He's relentless. God loves you. God's on your side. He's coming for you. He's relentless.

[35:59] God loves you. He's on your side. He's coming for you. He's relentless. What do these verses reveal? But that, the invitation, is that I want to come in.

[36:09] I want to eat with you in a culture where eating was far more than getting some nutrients. Jesus was saying, I want to have fellowship with you.

[36:20] I want to be your everything. Jesus was not saying, I want a few hours of the week. He was saying, I want to be the center of your life. I want everything to revolve around me again.

[36:34] Don't you remember? It wasn't always this way. I want to be your strength, your confidence, your security, your peace, your joy, your riches, your treasure. You see, Christianity is not a list of do's and don'ts.

[36:46] It's a person who wants to take over. Carrie Underwood said it. He wants to take the wheel, but he doesn't want to take the wheel.

[36:57] He wants to take the whole car. He wants your life. Eugene Peterson, another place says, if we don't have a sense of the primacy of God, we'll never get it right.

[37:08] Get life right. Get our lives right. Not God at the margins. Not God as an option.

[37:20] Not God on the weekends. God at the center. God first and last. That's what I've come to offer you this morning. I've come to offer you God at the center.

[37:30] That's what Jesus Christ wants. He does not share. He wants everything. He wants your life. You'll come to him. You'll believe in him. You'll trust in him.

[37:40] He'll give you new life. He'll make all things new in your life as you follow him and worship him. Most importantly, he'll take away your dead heart of stone.

[37:51] Your unfeeling heart. And put inside you a heart of flesh to fear him. And to love him. And to want what he wants. And to love what he loves. To hate what he hates. And so it'll be like it was of him.

[38:03] Your will and your desire to do the food. To eat the food of heaven. So, be zealous and repent, he says.

[38:18] Look at verse 19. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Be zealous and repent. We've seen repent a whole lot of times in these letters.

[38:29] But this is a wonderful combo. Repent now. Be zealous forever. Repent now. Be zealous. Often we think, repent and live like pond scum.

[38:46] Isn't that the way we think? Repent and move into the doghouse for a couple weeks. But that's not what the Lord says to this church that is completely useless to him. He says, repent and be zealous.

[38:59] Start over. Start anew. That's the invitation. The one who conquers will sit with me on my throne. The one who conquers will sit with the Lord in the end. So he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

[39:12] These letters to Ephesus. The Lord said, a church with truth but without love will soon be dead. To Smyrna. The Lord said, the only church that matters is marked by costly faithfulness, Jesus Christ.

[39:26] To Pergamum. The Lord said, it's not enough to be faithful. The church that conquers continually turns from sin. To Jesus Christ. To Thyatira. The Lord said, the church that survives will be strangers in this world but faithful.

[39:39] To the end. To Sardis. The Lord said, the church must have more than a good reputation. It must have a deep spirit filled life. To Philadelphia. The Lord said, the church that is a pillar in the life to come will hold fast to the end of this life.

[39:54] To Laodicea. The Lord says, the church that bears fruit in every age will depend on Christ for everything. So he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

[40:11] So what should we take away from these seven letters? Thinking about this yesterday. What am I going to take away?

[40:21] A vision of home. I think that's it. A vision of home.

[40:34] Sorely tempted to go to Revelation 4 and 5 next week. But that's not what we're going to do. At least right now that's not what we're going to do. But it presses in. It's very important why it's there. It's a vision of home.

[40:47] Have you ever ridden a horse? Back in the day, I used to take horseback riding lessons. Used to go on long trail rides on Sunday afternoons.

[40:58] And no matter how far you rode. No matter how many miles you traveled. Not that we traveled like a gazillion. Just like four or five. No matter how tired that horse became.

[41:11] The pace picked up when it saw the barn. The horse began to canter. The horse began to gallop.

[41:22] I think the point of these letters to the church in every age facing every conceivable trouble from the world, the flesh, the devil, is just to say the barn is over the bend.

[41:34] To lift and not bluff. If we were leaving from home, we would have much reason to be discouraged and to be depressed and to be broken now.

[41:48] But we're not going from home. We're homeward bound. That's where we're going. We're going home. And so the pace picks up because we're going to the barn.

[42:02] We're going to glory to be with the Lord forever. To be in that mansion filled with many, many rooms. How do we go there? Well, you are the way, the truth, and the life.

[42:14] You're the one who's going to take us all the way home. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we cast ourselves onto you. We thank you for the privilege of sitting under your word.

[42:26] We thank you for these letters. That you, Lord, reprove and rebuke those you love.

[42:42] So that we might repent and burn again with zeal for you. We pray that you would come by the Spirit and produce that zeal that pleases you.

[42:53] Amen. Amen. So that we serve you and the strength you supply. We thank you for the invitation this morning to start over where we are.

[43:08] In zeal and hope for you. We thank you. We praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You've been listening to a message given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.

[43:24] For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at trinitygraceathens.com. Thank you.