1600-5 Church

REVELATION 3:14-22
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor.10:12).
“For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend
themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among them-
selves, are not wise” (2 Cor.10:12).
“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal.6:3).
“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil” (Pr.3:7).
“Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?”
(Pr.20:6).
“Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him” (Pr.26:12).
“There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthi-
ness” (Pr.30:12)
“Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight!” (Is.5:21).
“The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose
habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” (Obad.3-4).

2. The lukewarm are rejected because of their true condition: they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
What does this mean? All of these refer to the spiritual life of the church and its believers.
a. The church was spiritually “wretched” (hotalaiporos). The word actually says the wretched one in the Greek.
The church had its full staff and all the programs—so much so that it felt it needed nothing. But the church
was really the wretched one. The word means to be afflicted spiritually; to be spiritually contemptible; to be
spiritually inferior. In God’s eyes they were spiritually lacking, very much so—so much so that they were
afflicted, contemptible, and inferior.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Ro.3:23).
“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness”
(1 Jn.5:19).
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” (Pr.20:9).
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the
LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is.53:6).

b. The church was spiritually “miserable” (eleeinos). The word means pitied, despicable. The believers felt
self-sufficient and were carrying on all the works of the church, but they were doing it in their own strength.
They were missing out on the greatest thing in all the world: the presence of Christ and the power of Christ.
They were missing out on experiencing the power of Christ working in their lives and in the church. They
were to be pitied. In God’s eyes they were despicable, for they were ignoring and neglecting His Son.

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not
the truth” (1 Jn.1:6).
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”
(1 Jn.1:8).
“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us”
(1 Jn.1:10).
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and
we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Is.64:6).

c. The church was spiritually “poor” (ptochos). They felt rich and in need of nothing, but in truth they were as
spiritually poor as a church and person can be.

“And when he [the prodigal son] had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land;
and he began to be in want” (Lk.15:14).
“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world” (Eph.2:12).
“Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself” (1 Tim.6:5).
“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”
(Rev.3:17).
“Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of
the LORD, nor the judgment of their God” (Jer.5:4).

d. The church was spiritually “blind” (tophlos). They could see only what was in the world: money and human
ability and effort. They did not look beyond to the spiritual need of the human soul nor to the possibility of
spiritual and supernatural power working within the church and the lives of people.

49
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44 | Page 45 | Page 46 | Page 47 | Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 | Page 56 | Page 57