Laodicea Bankrupt Before God — E.A. Johnston

The Church's Compromise in the Laodicean Age

We live in a day, friends, where all hell is washing over this country like a filthy sewer. We are no longer shocked by neither nudity or perversity. We as a people have filled our living rooms and bedrooms with sensual entertainment and we're addicted to our lusts and pleasures.

I've been around for a while and I've never seen an entire country so eaten up with pleasure-seeking and self-gratification. It's as if the whole nation is hell-bent on going to hell and having a good time along the way without a care in the world of a future judgment.

And where's the church in all of this? She's either in the grip of dead formality with her emphasis on orthodoxy but lacking spiritual fervor or she's in the grip of worldly compromise as a house of entertainment and laughter.

Either way, we're living in what is denominated the Laodicean Church Age. Listen, friends, we're so close to the appearance of our Lord I can almost hear that midnight cry. This whole world, friends, is getting ready to be wrapped up by God like you would roll up a beach blanket.

We are so near the end that sometimes I cup my hand to my ear and I think I hear the distant hoofbeats of that white horse carrying the faithful and the true, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But whether you are pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib it won't make a hill of beans then, friend, when he returns.

I like what Vance Havner had to say on this. He said, we shouldn't be as concerned about our dispensations as we should our dispositions. So, friends, how we live each day until he returns should be of great importance to us for we read in 1 John, when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

The Message to Laodicea in Revelation 3

The title of my message this evening, friends, is Laodicea, Bankrupt Before God and our text will be found in the book of Revelation in chapter 3. You can turn in your Bibles there now. We'll be in verses 14 through 22 for our study this evening.

In the first part of the book of Revelation Jesus is speaking to the seven churches of Asia as described in the Apostle John's vision on the island of Patmos. I have traveled to Patmos. Perhaps some of you have traveled there as well.

It's a rocky and desolate island in the Aegean Sea and there's a monastery that sits atop that island called the Monastery of St. John. I have toured that entire island. A Greek Orthodox monk was my tour guide and he took me to the cave where tradition states was the scene of John receiving the apocalypse.

There's a painting above the door of that cave of an open Bible and a dove. The Greek monk told me that tradition had it that John was an aged man when he received this revelation from Jesus Christ. He was very feeble and old and how he wrote this book, the Bible, is as follows.

He would lay his head in a crevice of the cave and he would receive the visions from Jesus and then he would relate them to his younger scribes which he had beside him in that cave. Now I don't know friends if any of that is true but I do know that John lived on that island called Patmos having been banished there for preaching the gospel in Ephesus.

And these words contained in this book of Revelation are the words of Jesus Christ. And you better not mess with them friends for there is an attendant warning associated with this book of the Bible as seen in chapter 22 and verses 18 and 19.

It warns about adding or taking away the words in this book. But there is also a blessing associated with this book as well friends. We see this in chapter 1 and verse 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand.

So sit back friends and receive a blessing from this message this evening as I read us from this wonderful book of Revelation beginning at verse 14. And as I read it I want you to compare it to our present day church situation.

Jesus' Sevenfold Diagnosis of the Laodicean Church

Here now is the word of God. May the spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God.

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot, would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.

And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed.

And the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint not eyes with thyself that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chase and be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father in his throne.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Before I get into the three main heads of my sermon this evening, friends, I want us to know something. I want us to be aware of the fact that of the seven churches of Asia, this church at Laodicea was the only church that Jesus had nothing good to say.

Each of the other churches he commended their virtues. To the church at Ephesus he commended their good works, their patience, their sound doctrine, their church discipline, their steadfastness, and their hatred of evil.

Notice how aware Jesus was of every little detail in the life of that church. He's aware of every little detail in the life of every church in the land. To the least little detail, and to the church at Smyrna, he commended their spiritual endurance and heavenly treasures.

To the church at Pergamos, he commended their steadfastness amidst an evil environment. And to the church at Thyatira, he commended their charity, their spiritual service, their faith and patience. To the church at Sardis, he commended a few members for their purity.

To the church at Philadelphia, he commended their keeping of the word and testimony. But to the church at Laodicea, he had nothing good to say. Rather, they made him sick to his stomach. When he observed their Sunday morning service, it made him want to throw up.

They were filled with pride and arrogance. They were self-satisfied individuals and self-reliant. They were doing just fine without God. And that is the church of our day, friends. They get along fine without God.

I remember a story I heard about a deacon regarding his church's weekly prayer meeting. He was leading in prayer, and as he prayed, he said, Lord, we had a great time last evening. We surely did. I don't recall such a time.

You should have been here, Lord. So this church at Laodicea was getting along fine without God, just like most churches do today. Well, friends, I want us to examine several aspects of what Jesus had to say to the Laodicean church as we apply it to our own situation today.

Three Marks of Laodicean Spiritual Decline

I've listed these as follows. The church at Laodicea was, number one, blind to their own condition. Number two, bankrupt before God. And number three, bound for a burning hell. Let's look at these each individually, friends.

Blindness to Spiritual Condition

Number one, the church at Laodicea was blind to their own condition. They believed themselves to be model Christians and doing great things for God with all their money and manpower. They were self-reliant, self-satisfied, and self-focused.

It was all about them. Their Christianity centered around them and their happiness about what great Christians they were. They had it all. They were rich and increased with goods. They had full bellies and full bank accounts.

As far as they could tell, they lacked nothing. At least that's how they saw themselves. But that's not how God saw them. When I go around and visit megachurches today, I see the same attitude. Many are boastful, proud, and arrogant.

There's even a billboard on a busy street in the city that advertises their megachurch in these words. We dare you to just come once. Well, I took them up on that dare one time, and I went and visited them, and I dared them to get me to go back.

I went to another megachurch, and it was so crowded in there. People were crawling over each other's backs just to find a seat. It took me ten minutes before I found a seat in the back of the room. The pastor came out in blue jeans and a rumpled short-sleeved shirt, and he spent ten minutes in his opening remarks bragging about all the amenities his church had to offer.

And then he took up a collection even before he began his sermon. So we see the Church of Laodicea was full of spiritual pride but blind to their own condition. And that's a sad place to be, friends. When you can't see your own heart, it's sad and a pitiful place to be.

Spiritual Bankruptcy Before God

Now, friends, let's look at the second aspect of our passage this evening. Number two, the Church of Laodicea was bankrupt before God. They thought highly of themselves through spiritual conceit, and they had no conscious need because they operated just fine on money and manpower.

And that's how the church operates today, friends. But I remember a day when the church didn't operate on money and manpower but only by prayer and holy ghost power. Jesus says of this Laodicean church, Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.

So although this church is full of the world with its goods and full of themselves with spiritual pride, yet they stand bankrupt before God. Jesus speaks of their true condition. And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

They were poor in the sight of God, spiritually bankrupt, and naked before God. They stand in abject spiritual poverty. Jesus says even their worship service is half-hearted, for it's neither cold nor hot.

Bound for a Burning Hell

So they're blind to their own condition, which is spiritual bankruptcy. And because of their sad spiritual condition, this leads us to our last aspect of our passage this evening, friends. Number three, the church of Laodicea was bound for a burning hell.

They were full of unconverted church members who could not recognize there was an absence of God in their midst. In fact, we have a picture here of God being shut out from his own church. In verse 20 we read, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door.

I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. They were naked, Jesus says. They did not have on the robe of righteousness through saving faith. They were a group of unconverted church members who were self-satisfied, self-centered, and self-reliant, kind of like a bunch of Baptist deacons.

They knew nothing of their great danger of dying in their sins. They were asleep, and they slept the sleep of death. They were full of spiritual pride, and their hope of heaven was a false foundation of self-righteousness and good works.

And that, friends, is the biggest deception the devil can bring to a person, and that is a good opinion of yourself based on your long track record of service. But these Laodiceans could not see their lost condition because they were blind to their great danger.

They believed themselves rich when they were poor. They were in reality bankrupt before God. And the saddest thing is that they were bound for a burning hell because they rested their hope of heaven on a false foundation of carnal security because of their spiritual blindness and bankruptcy.

But Jesus says to them, I will spew thee out of my mouth. This speaks of reprobation. They were a group of unconverted church members so full of themselves and who had shut God out of their church because they didn't need him anymore.

Worldly Entertainment and the Exclusion of God

And that's what the modern church has done in our day, friend. They've walked God to the back of the church and pushed him out the back door and then walked back to the front of the church and invited the world in.

They fill their sanctuaries all with idols and entertainments of this world and say, Come now, friends, come and worship with us for we are increased with goods and have need of nothing. I'll never forget sitting in a church where the pastor made the following remark.

He said, I wish I had a million dollars. Do you know what I would do with a million dollars, friends? I would spend it on you and we would have a big party for God. And that is the church of today thrown a party inside.

Well, God is shut out on the outside and they cannot even hear him knock because of all the noise going on inside. But because they could not see their nakedness spiritually, they were unaware of their great danger of dying in their sins for they were bound for a burn in hell.

And that's the third aspect we see here, friends, a group of self-reliant people who meet each week, call it a church, but they are spiritually bankrupt individuals and God is not even around them. And if they died, they die in their sins and drop right down to a devil's hell.

Christ's Call to Repentance and Spiritual Renewal

Jesus beckons them to buy me gold and to buy white raiment to cover their nakedness, to send shame, to get to myself and anoint their eyes so they can see their great danger. He tells them to do the one thing that they refuse to do, and that is repent.

That's the last word he has for them, repent. And that's the last thing Jesus has to say to the church of today, friend, to repent. But that's the one thing the modern church of today refuses to do, repent.

Her spiritual pride keeps her from true repentance. And that's why we're not seeing revival. It's only a repentant people turning back to God in humility and forsaking their sins that gains the ear of the Almighty.

So this sad picture of the church in Laodicea is a tragic example of what can happen to churches even in our day. Heaven help us. Let us pray.