1600-5 Church

REVELATION 3:14-22
the real clothing. What the church needs is spiritual clothing. Why? So the shame of their spiritual
nakedness will not be exposed. This refers to the righteousness of Christ, the pure righteousness of Christ
that makes a person acceptable to God. A person must be clothed in the righteousness of God; he must put
on the righteousness of Christ. God does not accept a person because he...
• is religious
• has been baptized
• belongs to the church
• attends worship
• does religious works
• professes Christ
• does good
• gives generously
There is only one way that a person can be acceptable to God: by being clothed in the righteousness of
Jesus Christ. Christ and Christ alone is sinless. He alone is the Perfect and Ideal Man. He and He alone has
made the perfect sacrifice for sins. Therefore, Jesus Christ alone is acceptable to God. If a person is to ever
be acceptable to God, he has to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. As the Perfect and Ideal
Man, the righteousness of Jesus Christ can stand for and cover all men. Therefore, when a person really
believes and trusts in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, God counts that person’s belief as righteousness.
God counts that person as being in Christ, as being in the righteousness of Christ.
Note: if a person is not in Christ, if he has not been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, then he shall
appear naked in the great day of judgment. He shall be ashamed before God and rejected by God.
This is the great counsel, the great advice of the Lord Jesus Christ, His great message to the lukewarm
and half-committed church and believers: “Buy of me the white clothing of my righteousness. Putting on my
clothing, my righteousness, is the only way you can ever be acceptale to God.”

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor.5:17).
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor.5:21).
“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness” (Eph.4:24).
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ [clothed in Christ] in God” (Col.3:3).
“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him
that created him” (Col.3:10).

c. The church needed to buy eye salve. Remember the city was well known for its medical school that
concentrated on treating the eyes with a famous eye salve. Christ is telling them that no matter how much
they treat their eyes, they are still blind and in the dark. Why? Because they do not spiritually see the Light
of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They see only themselves...
• their prosperous life and blessings
• their good behavior
• their good works
• their abilities
• their wisdom
• their religious gifts
• their prosperous church
They saw little if any of Christ Himself. They did not see their need for Him, nor did they see what His
presence and power could do for them and their church. They were blinded to their own need and to Christ and
the great difference He could make in life. The eye salve means the God-given ability to see spiritual truth.
They needed to depend upon Christ to give them the ability to see the light of the world.

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (Jn.1:4).
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follo-
weth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (Jn.8:12).
“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have
the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither
he goeth” (Jn.12:35).
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolish-
ness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that
is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” (1 Cor.2:14-15).
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”
(2 Cor.4:6).
“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light” (Eph.5:14).
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Ph.2:15).

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