The Complaint -Revelation 3:15-17

The Complaint -Revelation 3:15-17

THE COMPLAINT

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot (3:15).

Your works – Deeds always reveal people’s true spiritual state (Matthew 7:16; Romans 2:6-8). Though salvation is by God’s grace through faith alone, deeds confirm or deny the presence of genuine salvation (James 2:14).

Neither cold nor hot – Laodicea’s water supply traveled several miles through an underground aqueduct before reaching the city. The water arrived foul, dirty, and tepid. It was not hot enough to relax and restore, like the hot springs at Hierapolis; nor was it cold and refreshing, like the stream water at Colossae. Laodicea’s lukewarm water was in a useless condition.

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth (3:16).

I will vomit you out of my mouth - Some churches make the Lord weep; others make Him angry; the Laodicean church made Him sick. Hot people are those who are spiritually alive and possess the fervency of a transformed life. The spiritually cold are those who reject Christ. The lukewarm fit into neither category. They are not genuinely saved, yet they do not openly reject the gospel. They attend church and claim to know the Lord. Like the Pharisees, they practice a self-righteous religion; they are hypocrites playing games (Matthew 7:22-23). Obnoxious hypocrisy nauseates Christ. Those who self-righteously think that they are saved are protective of their religious feelings and unwilling to recognize their real condition. No one is harder to reach for Christ than a false Christian.

Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17).

I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing – Such words as these bite and burn. Their deeds gave the lie to their empty words (Matthew 7:21). Like the rich young ruler, they were deceived about their spiritual condition (Matthew 19:16-22).

Wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked – They were rich in spiritual pride, but bankrupt in saving grace. They believed that were to be envied, but they were in fact to be pitied. Human nature must be changed internally, and only Jesus Christ can do that!

The world is not to be converted by money, but by the Spirit of God – Clarence Larkin.