We conclude the letter to the Messianic congregation at Laodicea (and to all the congregations) by looking at the final call to repentance.
Nuggets
- The Plan of Salvation was designed so that we would repent, turn away from our sins, and live as God would have us live.
- Acceptance or rejection of the Plan of Salvation is up to us.
- The one who conquers will have control of the heart.
At birth, the doors to our hearts are closed. Sin has done this.
Fortunately, we have a Savior Who is willing to stand at our heart-door and knock.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the The Letters to the Congregations series
The Whole Reason
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3: 19 ESV)
The Plan of Salvation was designed so that we would repent, turn away from our sins, and live as God would have us live.
Love and Discipline
God doesn’t want us to remain in sin. He is the One Who designed the Plan of Salvation.
Parents are always correcting their children. They want them to grow up and be adults.
Father God wants us to grow up from milk babies to be steak adults. He calls this process sanctification.
Yes, it is a correction but one that we need. Why does God correct us? “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you” (Deut. 8: 5 ESV).
Why does Jesus correct us? He loves us. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5: 8 ESV).
Jesus didn’t tell God, “No, I’m not going down there until they clean up their acts. They have to show a little remorse before I even step one foot down there.”
The Lamb gave His life before we even knew of the concept of sin, salvation, forgiveness, and redemption.
Why doesn’t Jesus get mad and take His toys and go home? He loves us too much to leave His Church.
Jesus didn’t delegate the correction to the Holy Spirit or someone else. He handled it.
This correction has one goal – to make us more like God. That can only be done by finding forgiveness for our sins.
Unfortunately, God uses a lot of tough things to correct us. He uses sickness – even death. He can lead us to poverty and leave us there a really long time. That list just scratches the surface.
Hopefully, there is also a fellow disciple around to minister to us.
Remember, the Laodiceans were backsliders. They weren’t prospects that were being counseled to turn their lives over to Jesus.
They already had and had fallen away.
If we are growing closer to God, then we are drawing away from the present world. The Laodiceans were not doing that. They were entrenched in this one.
Jesus wanted to touch them with His love to drawn them back toward God.
Culross believed that Jesus wasn’t especially finding fault with them. I can see that.
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Humans are going to be sinful. While we are in these sinful bodies, we are not going to be pure.
The Laodiceans had to learn the truth about their spiritual condition. Jesus could only do that through mercy.
There had to be enough bite to it to get them to conviction. We only get to conversion when we see our need and see that Jesus is the only One Who can address that need.
Zealous and Repent
Our response should be one thing – repentance. When we truly repent, we turn away from our sins and don’t commit them again.
Jesus wants this correction to prevent the need for other corrections in the future.
How should we be doing this repenting? Zealously.
I really liked Mede’s definition of zeal. He wrote, “Zeal is the intention and vehemency of all our affections in matters of God and His service.”
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Intention – we called that habitual holiness. We have to make a commitment to become responsible and engaged to grow in holiness.
Vehemency – we have to be passionate about God. We have to adore and love God with an intensity.
I see this is what we do and how we do it for God.
We learn from the Laodiceans that we must worship God corrective with the appropriate vigor. Theirs was in reality a hypocritical zeal. They thought they were passionate for God.
They really weren’t.
Think about it. If the Laodiceans were zealous for God, they would not have been lukewarm. There was no way they could have been.
Why? Wood said that zeal shows us a strong faith. Through it, we can see the Holy Spirit.
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I have to process what Fleming was hinting at. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (II Cor. 5: 17 ESV). Zeal – intention and vehemency – is the intensity of this new nature.
We become new creations in Christ when we have the habitual holiness with the passion for God.
Our Choice
“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” (Rev. 3: 20 ESV)
Acceptance or rejection of the Plan of Salvation is up to us.
I Stand and Knock
This verse gives an interesting image. We know that Jesus comes to live in our hearts at conversion. “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’” (Jn. 14: 23 ESV).
So, if God and Jesus are supposed to be living in our hearts, why is Jesus outside knocking on the Laodiceans’ hearts?
Spurgeon said that is especially not where Jesus is in relation to His Church. He wrote, “If we are walking aright with Him, He is in the midst of the Church, dwelling there, and revealing Himself to His people.”
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We said that sin has closed the door to our hearts. Hamilton noted several reasons we choose for those doors remain close.
- Carelessness
- Ignorance
- Indolence
- Frivolity
- Prejudice
- Pride
- Strong sins
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No, we don’t have the choice whether or not to have a sinful nature. Adam and Eve made that decision for us.
We decide individually whether we are going to continue to have the door remained closed to our Savior.
Revelation 3: 20 says Jesus stands, implying waiting. It doesn’t say He comes and goes to check in to see if we are ready.
Jesus is concerned for our souls. He doesn’t go anywhere!
Think about it. We talked in the last devotion that they were bartering among themselves and comparing themselves to each other.
There was room for everyone except Jesus. He was being purposefully excluded. He is the uninvited guest.
Yes, salvation comes to us. God calls us to salvation.
God also comes knocking when we backslide. He calls us back to fellowship with Him.
The most important part of this verse is Jesus is knocking. He wanted the Laodiceans back just as He wants us back.
We know that, for ever how long He waits, Jesus waits patiently for us. “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him” (Isa. 30: 18 ESV).
Jesus is there knocking, waiting for us to open the door.
Opens the Door
Jesus allows us to open the door to Him.
There is only one way our heart-doors are opened. We open them.
There is only one way we can gain Truth. Salvation is only through Jesus.
Many times, the image is more than just Jesus doesn’t open the door. It is more He can’t because there is no handle.
I think the no-handle part is more a visual for us.
Jesus could say the word and open the door. He doesn’t.
One thing Jesus doesn’t do is force Himself on us. God doesn’t either.
They are not dictators, forcing us to worship Them.
They give us free will. We have the choice whether or not we will submit our allegiance to Them.
Oh, there are consequences if we don’t. But final consequences are down the road.
This also gives us a promise. “… If anyone hears my voice and opens the door …” (Rev. 3: 20 ESV).
All we have to do is ask Jesus to come into our hearts through genuine faith, and He immediately enters.
Audio Man said that we open the door when we hear His voice. It is more than just hearing.
There is an element of recognition there. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (Jn. 10: 27-28 ESV).
If we do not open the door, that is on us.
Come in and Eat
At the same time, I love what Bain said about redecorating after Jesus gets there. He wrote, “Not less natural it may be to sit down, after a desponding glance around you, and [endeavor] to devise some plan by which you may entertain the Guest more worthily.”
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We don’t have to clean up our acts before Jesus enters our hearts. He doesn’t allow us to stay there.
Jesus doesn’t want to just step foot inside the door. He wants to make His presence felt. He has to make a difference in our lives.
Bain also said that Jesus is the One Who makes our heart-home acceptable for His presence.
We won’t be doing the redecorating. Jesus will.
When we allow Jesus to redecorate/sanctify us, our heart-homes are filled with peace.
The purpose of coming in is to eat. The Parable of the Prodigal Son told us that there were feasts in Heaven. We know there will be a joyous one at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.
The food symbolizes the blessings we will receive.
Maclaren made a really good point. These words were the final call to repentance from Audio Man – practically the final words period.
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The focus of Jesus’ mission here on earth was to invite us to repentance. He may have accomplished the Plan of Salvation so repentance could happen, but He doesn’t consider His work done yet.
Closing
“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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 3: 21-22 ESV)
The one who conquers will have control of the heart.
The image painted by the wording “The one who conquers …” (Rev. 3: 21 ESV) shows us to expect spiritual warfare. That is why we need to put on the armor of God (Eph. 6: 11-17).
The problem is what Arthur says. He wrote, “Allied with your heart and habits stands the world.” That’s the problem the Laodiceans had.
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Yes, we are going to have issues when we are trying to go counterculture to the whole world. But that is what Jesus is calling us to do.
Jesus is the One Who “… conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Rev. 3: 21 ESV).
We know that we will receive eternal life when we are faithful to God.
In between all of that is the interesting part. It is the part that says we will sit with Jesus in His throne.
We are going to get to the ruling-with-Jesus part in Revelation 21. I don’t think I have the mental capacity to deal with that right now.
Let’s just say that every little girl and boy in that century and this one dreams of wearing a crown and being called Your Highness.
For most of us, those are just pipe dreams. We aren’t going to be the commoners made princes and princesses.
We are going to participate in the kingdom. We will be right there with Jesus. We’ll look at that in Revelation 21 to flesh that out.
For now, let’s just say that we can be holy. We can form the habits that grow our faith, bringing us holiness.
Mathewson told us one way to do that. He wrote, “If that Church would adopt more humility, it would be more entitled to a place on the throne.”
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Those who have overcome sin in this world have a legal right to be sitting on the throne with Jesus.
Making the Connections #1
Look at Culross’ description of what rebuke is. He wrote,
“Rebuke is not mere fault-finding, or ‘coming down upon’ a man, or ‘giving it hot’; that is easy enough; commonly it is the outcome of the wrath of man, which worketh not the righteousness of God; and not seldom it is directed against those who do not deserve it.”
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Oh, yes. God could have led with wrath. “Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God” (Ezek. 22: 31 ESV).
Rebuke has its purpose. It shows us where we have sinned.
The Laodiceans proved the necessity of this to us. They hadn’t realized that they were mired in sin.
Sometimes, we need a strong response to show us the errors of our ways. A wishy-washy oh-you-probably-don’t-want-to-do-that response isn’t going us to change our actions.
Making the Connections #2
Audio Man said that the Laodiceans should have zeal. Some, though, may be a little leery of that word.
They think that because they are suspect of those who are overly passionate in their cause. They don’t want to appear a fanatic.
Thompson disagreed. He felt we could never have too much zeal.
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To illustrate, Thompson questioned what we felt was the importance of religion.
How could we put a value on it?
Making the Connections #3
If the Laodiceans had made a profession of faith, why wasn’t Jesus on the inside of their hearts? That is where He should have been.
Brown tried to explain what may have kept Jesus out of their hearts.
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Let’s face it. We don’t always understand God’s Word. When we don’t, it has to be the Word’s fault, doesn’t it?
We don’t want to admit we don’t know something. It can be even harder to admit that there is something we don’t know. We think we have to be smarter than that.
Once we lose the desire to care, we become indifferent. We don’t care if Jesus is wanting in or not.
We are focusing so much on the worldview that we ignore Jesus.
The sad part is when we change our minds as to believing in Jesus. We allow the worldview to turn us away from God.
Brown also mentioned prejudice. We decide we don’t want anything that has to do with the cross. We don’t want anything that even makes us sort of appear to be a disciple.
Running through all of these is that we just don’t show Jesus the gratitude He deserves. He gave His life to pay the price for our sins. We don’t care.
Father God, we need to repent now.
Making the Connections #4
Exell agreed that we can only open the door to our hearts by searching for and seeking God. He wrote, “Calm reflection, earnest prayer, and a diligent study of the inspired Word, together with the gentle influences of the Divine Spirit, will open the soul to the entrance of Christ (Acts 16:14).”
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The focus has to be on our needing Jesus as our Savior. If we think we can find salvation under our own power, we are wrong.
Making the Connections #5
Knowing there is a Jesus isn’t enough. Hearing Him calling while He is knocking isn’t enough.
We have to invite Jesus into our hearts as our personal Savior and Redeemer.
Yes, it has to be personal. Yes, we have to be obedient.
If we aren’t, we might as well not ask Jesus in at all because we are deluding ourselves. If we think Jesus is asking for more righteousness than we can give, we may be setting ourselves up for a self-fulfilling prophesy.
We have to believe Jesus is our Savior and that, even though we don’t understand and know how, He will do what He says He will do. That is, save us from our sins.
How Do We Apply This?
- Make a clear profession of faith.
- Attend services regularly to hear sermons.
- Show friendship and service daily.
- Renew our hearts in order to hear
- Jesus.
Focus our thoughts on God, not away from Him. - Don’t deaden our convictions — repent of our sins.
- Don’t put off seeking God.
- Don’t shut out our Deliverer.
- Don’t be an enemy of Christ, especially we think we are friends.
- Make sure we have evidence of a new heart.
- Support other disciples, helping them to grow their true relationships with God.
- Turn away from the worldview.
- Be content with the faith of a mustard seed.
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Father God. We want Jesus on the inside of our hearts. We want our hearts focused on You. Amen.
What do you think?
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