All In

Revelation 3:19, “ pAs many as qI love, I rebuke and chasten: rbe zealous therefore, and srepent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and tuknock: uif any man hear my voice, and open the door, vI will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." [1]

I.   Attention

     A. Look

     B. Listen

II. Admission

     A. Lock

     B. Let

III. Allegiance

     A. Like

     B. Love

Introduction:  This has been quite a journey.  We have come to the last of the churches which Jesus told John to write letters to their angels.  One thing to take from this series; all local churches have something from heaven that reminds them of what they could be.  Another thing to learn is that all local churches have something keeping them back from being what Jesus expects us to be.

The final thing that I take from this series is that there will be a remnant that will receive the crown of life one day.  We must not lose heart because of what others in the church are doing.  We must not stop living for Jesus and instead live only for what Jesus gives.  We must not stop telling of His mercy and His grace.  We must not stop showing our appreciation for the love that Jesus has for us.

We are left here in the many different churches to overcome the attacks within the local church where we serve and without in the other churches that should love us and serve alongside of us.  We should love even when we know that we are unloved.  That is the only way that the others will see that we know that God loves us. We should sing that song more often.  Jesus loves me this I know…

We should stop insisting that others conform to our wants while we refuse to conform to His design for us.  We should live by example and not by forcing others to give us our rights.  Only Jesus is righteous and through Him we are to be holy and apart from that which brings us down into the pit.

Today we will consider the church in Laodicea that was wealthy with the things that God had provided.  They decided to live lazily with what they had and not work stronger for His kingdom’s work. The Laodiceans had gotten comfortable and that brought on laziness.

It was time for them to make a choice as Joshua had challenged the children of Israel.  Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, mchoose you this day whom ye will serve; whether nthe gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or othe gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: pbut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” [2]

Jesus wants us to be All In.  We each must decide at some point in our life to leave that behind which is preventing you from leaving it all behind to follow Jesus.  There is always one more thing that you must know that you must do, that you are responsible for.  There is that one more thing that you refuse to believe that Jesus can do better than you could ever do.  There is that one more thing that you just can’t believe that He can do which the ones secluded from Him in this world don’t even know how to do.

You cannot leave one foot on the platform and the other foot on the train.  That is a line from the song, “The House of the Rising Sun.”  In that song the person was returning to the scene of his gambling crime perhaps for the last time.  Which foot would he lift?  You cannot leave one foot on the platform when the train leaves.  Which foot will you lift when it is finally your decision?

Some of us have had to make those decisions or at least we thought we did.  Jesus lifted my other foot and here I am.  He did the same for Rachael.  Now we are finally on board.  Who must we serve now?

Scripture:  The scripture for this message is Revelation 3:19-20.  Please Stand for the reading of God’s word.

Prayer:  Please be seated.

Message:  The message title today is “All In.”  Follow as we read Revelation 3:14-15, “And unto bthe angel of the church ||of the cLaodiceans write; These things saith the dAmen, ethe faithful and ftrue witness, gthe beginning of the creation of God; 15 hI know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: iI would thou wert cold or hot.” [3]

Jesus describes Himself as the Amen.  When we hear “Amen” in church what does that mean, amen?  It is to say that the hearer of the word is in agreement with the word that was heard.  Jesus the Son is the Amen to God The Father.  Jesus is totally in obedience.  He was in total agreement at the creation of all things and He remains totally obedient even throughout eternity.

He again told John to write to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans.  Jesus knows our works.  This is a theme throughout these messages to the angels of the churches.  Jesus knows and He observes, and He waits patiently.  What else can we do?  When it is His time to act, He will.

This church was not a cold church.  Observers might even feel drawn to come into the church.  When they came in though they didn’t find a congregation that was hot for God.  Jesus said a strange thing there.  He would rather that we would be one or the other, either hot or cold.

Why did Jesus say that.  Would He truly rather that a church was a cold church?  There are commentators who attempt to explain this metaphor with a glass of cold water and a cup of coffee.  The commentators say that there is a time for each.  On a hot day you want an ice cold drink of water.  In the morning I want my one good cup of hot coffee.  So I will somewhat agree with the analogy of explanation.

The point that I see is that people will recognize the difference.  If you are an unbeliever and that is the way you act there will be no mistake.  Jesus doesn’t want people to be confused.  If you are cold towards God, so be it.  Confusion is the devil’s job.

If you are hot for God and all in people will see that too.  Again, there will be no confusion.  Be who you are or be whose you are.

If you are lukewarm or wishy washy in siding partially with Jesus and partially with the world, nobody will believe your witness.  People will stay for a while but soon they will grow sick of your halfhearted witness, and they will leave.

Hear Revelation 3:16, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” [4]  Jesus said that He will reject those who are not fully trusting Him alone.  If you are not fully in, then you are fully out.  He will spue you out of His mouth.  The true Christian will too.  Why is the church weak today?  Why are so many leaving and looking elsewhere?

Verse seventeen, “ Because thou sayest, kI 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:” [5]  There is the answer to why Jesus spues those out of His mouth.  There is the reason that the church is in decline.

They say that they have no need of Jesus.  To be rich doesn’t necessarily mean to be wealthy with money even though the Laodiceans were.  To be rich means that a person feels self-sufficient.  If they don’t have it, they know who will give them what they think they need.  They certainly don’t need to kneel at the throne of God’s grace.

Jesus had the answer to the need that they didn’t see they had.  Verse eighteen, “I counsel thee lto buy of me mgold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and nwhite raiment, othat thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” [6]

They knew about eyesalve.  The Laodiceans had the resources and the formula to make and supply eyesalve which was in high demand.  It brought them wealth.  There is nothing wrong with supplying eyesalve but it is not God.  Since they depended on the eyesalve they were not able to see God.  That is the definition of irony.

Why do bad things happen to good people?  Is God done with you when He sends correction your way?  Is that a reason to get mad at the one who is speaking the truth to you.  Here is the answer in our focal text. 19 pAs many as qI love, I rebuke and chasten: rbe zealous therefore, and srepent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and tuknock: uif any man hear my voice, and open the door, vI will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." [7]

Those of us whom Jesus loves includes everyone.  He is carrying out the will of His Father who rebukes and chastens because He loves us.  Often as others are watching He rebukes us so that others whom He loves will see how much He loves them.  That is what He did with His only begotten Son.

If you are being challenged, it is time to look within and examine yourself.  He will show you.  You might not like it.  You might even decide to hate the one He uses to help you but once you realize then you must come about.  You must repent.

Before Jesus told us as disciples to knock and it would be opened to us.  Here Jesus is the One knocking to get our attention.  He is standing there at the door.  Do you have spiritual eyes to see or only secular eyes to see that which is not spiritual.

Look!  There is Jesus standing and waiting.  Listen!  Are you hearing with the spiritual ears that He gave you to hear, or can you only hear the secular voices speaking lies that will be your stumbling block.  What is it?  Are you all in or all out. 

Open the door and let Him in! Admission is totally up to you.  If you leave the door locked, He will not use His key to open it.  He can but you must decide to let Jesus in.  All In or all out?

When a person finally truly opens up totally to Jesus, He will come in.  Allegiance!  I pledge allegiance.  What does that mean.  I belong totally to that which I have allegiance in.  It is part of me, and I am part of it.  I am immersed in that which I have allegiance to.  All in.

For those who do the so-called social media there is that thing people do when they agree with something.  They “like” it or they don’t comment.  Jesus is not asking whether we simply agree with Him.  Jesus asks, do you love me.  Often that is a painful question when Jesus asks do you love me more than those.  That is what He asked Peter three times.  That is what He is asking me right now.

When Jesus is totally in, He asks what’s for supper.  Brother Norman uses that line sometimes and some people get offended.  Norman invited himself to my house and asked what I was going to serve him.  You see Norman knows the Bible too.  When He asks things like that Norman is reminding those who can spiritually hear of what Jesus is saying.  “What’s for supper.” Jesus is ready to dine.

Prayer:

Invitation:  One day we will not have a choice.  God will either lift the foot that is tethering you to this planet and you will ride His train to heaven, or you will finally refuse Him and fall back into the pit of hell.  Today you have a choice.  Which will it be?  Do your own thing or be all in with Jesus?

Riding His train is easier than walking apart from Jesus.

p See Prov. 3:11, 12.
q So ver. 9.
r See 1 Cor. 12:31.
s ver. 3.
t Cant. 5:2.
u Luke 12:36, 37.
u Luke 12:36, 37.
v So John 14:23.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 3:19–20). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
m ver. 22. Comp. Ruth 1:15. 1 Kin. 18:21. Ezek. 20:39.
n ver. 2, 14.
o So Ex. 23:24, 32, 33. & 34:15. Deut. 6:14. & 13:7. & 29:18. Judg. 6:10.
p Gen. 18:19.
[2] Ibid., Jos 24:15). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
b See ver. 1.
|| Or, in Laodicea.
c See ch. 1:11.
d Is. 65:16 (Heb.).
e ch. 19:11. See ch. 1:5.
f So John 8:14. ch. 19:11. & 22:6. See ver. 7.
g So Col. 1:15.
h See ch. 2:2.
i See 1 Cor. 4:8.
[3] Ibid. (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[4] Ibid., Re 3:16). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
k 1 Cor. 4:8. See Hos. 12:8.
[5] Ibid., Re 3:17). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
l Isai. 55:1. Matt. 13:44, 46. & 25:9. Comp. Prov. 8:19.
m See 1 Pet. 1:7.
n See ver. 4.
o So 2 Cor. 5:3. ch. 16:15.
[6] Ibid., Re 3:18). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
p See Prov. 3:11, 12.
q So ver. 9.
r See 1 Cor. 12:31.
s ver. 3.
t Cant. 5:2.
u Luke 12:36, 37.
u Luke 12:36, 37.
v So John 14:23.
[7] Ibid., Re 3:19–20). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.