Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1677
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, September 3, 1882
“Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” Revelation 3:17,18.
THESE words were spoken, not to the outside world, but to the Church of Laodicea. They relate to persons who were in a Church state, who had been baptized on confession of their faith in Christ and who were thought to be in a fine spiritual condition. They had a singularly high opinion of themselves and probably considered that of all the seven Churches in Asia, they were the first in power and influence. The words before us are as sharp as they are true—and they demand the earnest attention of all professors of our holy faith—for to persons like ourselves they were addressed and, moreover, we have the special note of attention—“He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches.” Here the axe is laid to the root, not of the oaks of the forest or the pines of the mountainside, but to the root of the trees of the vineyard and the choice trees of the garden of the Lord. By this, the Lord showed His love to the true ones in Laodicea, according as He says, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten.”
While reading the text, I feel forced to cry, “O my threshing, and the corn of my floor!” Truly the flail must first be used upon the heap that is gathered in the garner. It is all in vain to preach to the outside world unless matters are true and right within. The Kingdom cannot come, nor the Lord’s banner be lifted high if the soldiers of His own army prove false and turn back in the day of battle. The time is come when judgment must begin at the house of God! The word to the slaughter men in Ezekiel was, “Begin at My sanctuary.” The stout heart of the king of Assyria will not be punished till the Lord has performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem!
Behold, the Lord Himself comes to deal with His Church, for His fire is Zion, and His furnace is in Jerusalem. “His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor.” As for them that are outside, God will judge them in His own time, but now, by His blessed Spirit, He speaks to those of us who are within the Church and make profession of His name. The solemn words which make up our text were also spoken by the Lord Jesus under a most special title—“These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness” (Rev. 3:14), as much as to say that though the Laodicean professors were false, mistaken and deluded, He who now addressed them by His servant John was true and faithful. He is the Amen, the Verily, Verily of God! He judges not according to the outward appearance, but looks at the heart according to truth.
He is “the faithful and true Witness,” who does not flatter, nor keep back any of the terrible Truths of God, but speaks out that which He perceives with His eyes of fire and warns men of their condition with all sincerity. Instead of crying peace, peace, where there is no peace, and letting them be like Moab at ease from their youth and settled upon their lees because not emptied from vessel to vessel, He stirs them up that the sediment of their falsehood may be seen and their evil case be made manifest. Oh for Grace to hear this Word at this time as from the Lord Jesus and as from Him under the weighty Character of a Witness, faithful and true, speaking as the Amen of God!
It seems to me that my text accounts for the lukewarmness of the Laodiceans. They were lukewarm because they imagined themselves rich when they were poor. Two conditions will help us to escape lukewarmness. The one is to be really rich in Grace, for they that have much Grace will not be lukewarm. Grace is as a fire in the soul and he that has much of it, so as to become an advanced Christian, cannot but have a heart boiling with earnestness. The other way is to have but little Grace, but to be painfully aware of it—to be deeply conscious of soul-poverty—to sigh and cry because you are not what you should be.
There is no lukewarmness in a strong desire caused by a bitter sense of need. The poor man, poor in spirit, conscious of his imperfections and failures, is never a lukewarm man, for with sighs and cries coming out of a heart that is all on fire with a desire to escape out of such a sad condition, he besieges the Throne of God that he may obtain more Grace. These Laodicean people, however, were unhappily in such a state that you could not get at them. They were not so poor that they knew they were poor and, therefore, when the poverty-stricken were addressed, they said, “These things are not for us: we are increased in goods.” They were blind, but they thought they saw; they were naked and yet they prided themselves in their princely apparel and, therefore, it was hard to reach them.