SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2015
7:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Christ’s
Commands for Laodicea
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
3:18-20
Message
of the verses: “18 I advise you to
buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white
garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness
will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19
’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore 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 will dine with him, and he with Me.”
As we have looked at this church
over the last few days we have seen that there were no believers in it, and so
Christ could have destroyed this church, but that was not what He desired to do
at this time so He gives them a threefold appeal which are played on the three
features that the city of Laodicea was most noted for, and most proud of, and
that was its wealth, its wool industry, and its eye save.
He speaks of buying gold refined by
fire from Him, and this in no way is speaking of buying one’s salvation. “5 You meet him who rejoices in doing
righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we
sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved? 6 For all of us have become like
one who is unclean, And
all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither
like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away (Isa. 64:5-6).” Now we will look at Isaiah 55:1 “"Ho!
Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy
and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.” Isaiah writes that you can buy without even
having any money to buy with, and this speaks of the free gift of
salvation. So what are they going to
offer in exchange for the righteousness of Christ? They must offer themselves, their wretched
and lost condition in exchange for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This does not seem like a fair exchange, and
that would be true, however that is the gift of God because of His great love,
mercy, and grace. So we see when Christ
tells them to buy gold that has been refined by fire He is offering them the
free gift of Salvation, but they must turn from their sins, repent and accept
that free gift from Him. They said they
were rich, but Christ tells them that they were poor.
Next we see that Christ advises them
to buy white garments in order to clothe themselves so that their nakedness
would be covered. They were famous for
black wool, but Christ wants them to have white garments which represent the
righteousness of the saints. Now when I
say saints I am speaking of all of those who are born-again believers in Jesus
Christ, and all will one day be clothed in white garments showing that they are
righteous before the Lord.
Next He offered them eye save in
order to anoint their eyes so that they could see. They prided themselves on their false
righteousness, one like the Pharisees boasted about, that is their good works, but
they were blind and could not see that they could not work their way to heaven,
but must rely on the finished work of Christ on the cross.
John MacArthur writes “Some argue
that the language of Christ’s direct appeal to the Laodiceans in verse 19 “those
whom I love, I reprove and discipline,” indicates that they were
believers. Verse 18 and 20, however,
seem better suited to indicate that they were unregenerate, desperately in need
of the gold of true spiritual riches, the garments of true righteousness, and
the eye save that brings true spiritual understanding (v. 18).
“Christ has a unique and special
love for His elect, Yet, such passages as Mark 10:21 and John 3:16 reveal that
He also loves the unredeemed. Because the
Laodiceans outwardly identified with Christ’s church and His kingdom, they were
in the sphere of His concern. To reprove
means to expose and convict. It is a
general term for Christ’s dealings with sinners (cf. John 3:18-20; 16:8; 1 Cor.
14:24; Titus 1:9; Jude 15). Discipline
refers to punishment (cf. Luke 23:16, 22) and is used of God’s convicting of
unbelievers (2 Tim. 2:25). Thus, the terminology
of verse 19 does not demand that Christ be referring to believers. The Lord compassionately, tenderly called
those in this unregenerate church to come to saving faith, lest He convict and
judge them (cf. Ezek. 18:30-32; 33:11).”
And now a word on true repentance from
C. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “Repentance means that you realize that you are a
guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and
punishment of God, that you are hell-bound.
It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you,
that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every
shape and form. You renounce the world
whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice,
and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ.” Christ give a message to this lost church in
the same way He does to all unbelievers, and that is their need to repent of
their sins and turn to Him for salvation:
“When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying,
"Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’
(Acts 11:18).”
If you have been a believer for some
time you probably have heard that verse 20 is speaking to those who are
unbelievers and since we have said that this church was full of unbelievers we
can say that Christ is offering salvation to those inside this church. I have seen pictures of Christ standing at
the door knocking and what is unique is that there is no door handle on His
side of the door, meaning that the person on the other side of the door is the
only one who can open it to receive the salvation He is offering. So we see Christ offering a personal
invitation for salvation to this unbelieving Church the same way He offers
salvation to all unbelievers. The
question is will you let Him in?
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As I look
at what has been written about repentance I know that as a believer when I sin
I am to confess my sin to the Lord and then repent and turn from it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the
Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to better understand
the love that Christ has for me, and then live in His love.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “To put
in on a candlestick” (Matthew 5:15).
Today’s
Bible question: “Who said, ‘I heard Your
voice in the garden, and I was afraid’?”
Answer
in our next SD.
2/28/2015
8:11 AM
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