This then, what we study tonight, makes perfect sense when you read this, because it's the church of Laodicea. And we're talking about the church. We're talking about how the church is responding to things in the world. Well, after you read Laodicea, you're going to say, oh, that makes perfect sense. This church is the last church of the church age, the dominant factor of the church age. And this is page... 65 in your book, page 65 in your book. Laodicea is the last of the churches. It's how the church aged in. Laodicea is the church of apostasy. It is the church of 1900 to the present day. Again, the last church that is the predominant vehicle that will lead into the rapture. Apostasy. What does apostasy mean? When we use the word apostasy, you've got to distinguish a few things. First of all, you know, frutenbaum will give you a definition, but one that is pretty easy to understand is it's a departure from the true faith, from a previously held view of the faith, The person is departing from it. They had once claimed to be a believer, or claimed to be associated to a believing organization, and then departed from that. Departed from the true faith, or departed from the denomination, or what they previously said they held. I want you to distinguish between an apostate church versus apostasy. An apostate church are those who claim to be Christian and are not. Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Christian Science. All those groups, those cults, we call them cults, they claim to be Christian, but they deny orthodoxy. Those are considered apostate churches because they claim to be Christian and are not. Now, on the other side, we have what's called apostasy. which is a verb that deals with believers accepting false doctrine into their theology, and by doing so, they fall away. They fall from the true faith. Not fall out of salvation. I'm not talking about salvation. I am talking about falling from correct doctrine. Okay? That's a difference. Now, in the apostate church, there's no doubt it's made up of unbelievers. There's no doubt about that. And the teachers are unbelievers. A good Mormon elder is not a believer. He's an unregenerate person who claims to be a Christian. But over here, you could have an individual Christian because they were either immature, a new believer, or never studied their Bible. They got saved. But then they got sucked into something because they don't know the scriptures and they have assumed false doctrine into them, into their ideas. And now you have a functioning Christian that has spots and blemishes in their theology. And this will be very difficult for you to understand because they're going to be your friends. and relatives, and you're like, where did you get that from? And they'll say, well, God never gave up the Sabbath and Sabbath is still in effect, so I'm gonna keep the Sabbath, so I'm gonna join up with the Seventh Day Adventists. I don't know how many times I've heard that one. Because of what they start believing in and holding to, they will depart from the faith and preach false doctrine as a church. So you've got to distinguish between a church as a vehicle versus an individual. Because an individual who apostatizes has a different penalty. Because as with all the statements, his statement is to Thyatira, his statement is to Sardis, his statement is to Laodicea, that church in general And he tells the individuals to escape it, but he's telling that church in general, like Thyatira, I'm going to put you on a bed of suffering. You're going to go through the tribulation period. So basically, he's given a blanket statement to the Roman Catholic Church that you're being left behind. And then he says to Sardis, same thing, you're dead. Your church in general is dead. To Laodicea, you think you're a believer, but you're not. A believing church, because they're going to make up the false church, which will then be assumed under the whore of Babylon. So, what we're seeing now, and what's developing, or has developed, is the false church. The false church, the apostate church, is here with us. And that church will be left behind. And so this is the characterization of the last days. So does it surprise you that we're living in the last days and you're seeing all the evidences from the churches deny doctrine, deny certain things like the emergent church and they're coming up with all these weird ideas. And you're starting to see pastors who you trusted and knew now defect and start assuming false doctrine. That's the sign. Now, I'll deal with the individuals later, but I want to deal with the church in general as a whole, OK? So I want you to keep those two categories separate. We'll deal with an individual later, and we'll go through that in just a bit. Let's talk a little bit about the characteristics of it. Let's read this. I'm going to read from the New King James. I'm having a hard time reading the King James. But verse 14 says this. And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write. OK, what does Laodicea mean? Rule of the people. Rule of the laity. It's the rule of the people. Okay, so what does that mean? Well, first of all, it means that God's not even ruling this church because it's an apostate church. The Mormon church is not ran by the Holy Spirit. The head is not Christ. It's ruled by men. Okay? So it's the people ruling, not God ruling in the apostate church. Secondary, laodiceus, where we get the word laity, it's telling you something too about the age as well in other churches. It's telling you this, that the churches are catering to the laity. They're not following God. They're following the will of the people in the churches. They're not being directed by the pastor and the authority anymore. They're being directed by the authority of those sitting in the pews. Guess what kind of church that ends up being? The cafeteria Christianity that you all know of. that exists out there that gives people what they want. You want to be entertained? I'll entertain you. You want to have a light and smoke show? I'll entertain you with that. You want me to preach and tickle your ears? I'll entertain and preach and tickle your ears. It's that mentality that the people in the pews are ruling how the church is to function. And the pastors cave into that and let the people do it. It's the will of the people. I'll give you an example in history that relates to what I'm talking about, and you'll understand this. Where do you think infant baptism came from? Pressure from moms on the pastors. That's where it came from. It wasn't a theological decision. It was pressure from moms on the pastors. Well, what do you mean by that? Well, they came out with a doctrine that baptism saved you. And so since it was salvific, which is an error, obviously, a heresy, the moms were saying, well, what happens if I have a child that dies before they get baptized? Then they came up with this doctrine, well, they go to limbo. Well, the mamas didn't want their babies going to limbo, because infant mortality was very high. Child mortality was very high in those days. And we're talking in the 300s and the 200s, right? So they kept putting pressure on the pastors. And say, hey, you got to come up with something for us, because our babies and children are dying. This is not fair. And you're saying baptism saves you. So you know what they did? They moved the age down from adults to children. They started baptizing when they were born. And you think, really? It was that easy? Yeah, it was that easy because pressure was put on the pastors. Well, where do you think sprinkling came from? Very simple, the mamas. The mamas didn't like the babies getting dunked underneath the water. So they told the pastors, look, that's a little drastic. Can we find a different way other than dunking the baby underwater? And they said, sure, we'll sprinkle them. So lo and behold, infant baptism and the sprinkling of babies came because moms put pressure on pastors and the pastors caved in. Laodicea, the rule of the people on the pastors. That's just one example. You think, wow, it wasn't that big a doctrinal debate of anything. No, it was the pressure from the people. That's what you're seeing today in the modern day church, the pressure of the people of I want this and I want that. So the pastors came into this and say, we've got to have more programs because this person wants this thing and this person wants that thing and that person wants this thing. And lo and behold, the birth of the mega church. who has every program under the sun to cater to everybody's whims, because the church will not say no. And before you know it, you have a ministry that's very active, but it doesn't produce depth. It's just program after program after program. But all these programs don't study the Bible. They're this, and they're that, and they're this. And so the demand on the people, give me more programs, and if you don't, I'm going down the road, because they have a better program than you. And then all of a sudden you start finding out people are going to three or four different churches during the week because I'm going to their Iwana program, I'm going to their Sunday night service, I'm going there on Sunday morning, and I'm going over here on a Thursday night to the men's Bible study. And before you know it, they're borrowing other people's ministries and they don't belong to even one church. That is the phenomenon that's going on in America right now. They're using other churches' ministries for their benefit like a cafeteria. I want that, and I want this, and I want that. That's so bad of ecclesiology, I can't tell you. But the pastors are doing it. It's the rule of the people. Okay? These things say the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Because Christ is the faithful and true witness, these churches are not the true witnesses. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth." Let me just explain what that means. The apostate church, he says, I wish you were cold or hot. Well, he's using an illustration from their geography where Laodicea was. Laodicea had two streams coming into its city. One was from the ice caps that it had from the snow mountains in Turkey, and the cold water came through towards Laodicea. In another river, it was bubbling up hot springs. and a lot of mineral water, which was extremely hot. And it would come this way, run downhill towards Laodicea. The icy cold water and the mineral hot water came and finally met right before it hit Laodicea. And then the one stream that went through Laodicea was this lukewarm water that had extremely high mineral content. So that if you did drink it, it made you vomit. So Jesus is using their river as an illustration of the condition of this church. So what does it mean then? I wish you were hot or cold. Because he's talking to false believers, he says, I wish you were cold, which means cold in the context, and again, it always goes back to context, means you're an unbeliever. Hot means you're a believer. So? Because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth." He goes, I wish you were either one. I wish you would get on the side that you need to be on. But you're pretending to be something. So what is lukewarm? Lukewarm means this. I profess to be a Christian, but I am not a Christian. I am lukewarm. I'm not hot because I'm not a believer, but I'm not cold. I don't deny Christ. They say they're Christians in that sense. So it's not like you're dealing with a person from Islam. Islam's not going to claim they're a Christian. Hindus are not going to claim they're a Christian. Baha'is are not going to claim they're a Christian. We're dealing with people who claim to be Christians, but are not possessing salvation. So the term lukewarm is put on them. The fact that the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses or the Roman Catholics say, no, we're Christian. And Glenn Beck says, I'm a Christian. How dare you even question that I'm a Christian? That's lukewarm. Glenn Beck would be considered a lukewarm Christian. Now Christian, not in the sense of being saved, but in the sense of being in Christendom. Christendom. Not all these churches are saved, like Thyatira is a Catholic church, and you've got the Protestant church, things like that. They claim to be. And a lot of them will claim to be the true faith. Joseph Smith claimed to have the true faith, and he's given all the Book of Mormon, and he's going to start it all over again. Jehovah's Witnesses did the same thing. Seventh-day Adventists, the Millerite movement, did the same thing. We're the true Christians now. We have the true faith. That kind of stuff. Okay, look what he says because they're lukewarm. Neither cold nor hot. I will vomit you out of my mouth. He's using a metaphor, obviously, for what the river did. But what is this idea of vomiting? I'm going to vomit you. When you eat something that's poisonous or something that doesn't agree with your stomach and you vomit it, what is your body doing to it? Expelling it. Rejecting it. Your body is rejecting the food that came into your mouth. And He is telling them, your lukewarm state, I am rejecting you. Now, you know the passage that goes parallel with this. Many will come to me on that day and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do great things in Your name? And in Your name cast out demons. And I will turn to them and say, I never knew you. That's where he's going with this. So the idea of vomiting means, I'm rejecting you because you're not a believer. Judas Iscariot cast out demons, and he wasn't a believer. He was given authority by Christ to do it, and he still was able to do it. That doesn't mean that now, today, unbelievers out there running around casting out demons, they can't. But an unbeliever like Judas was given the ability to cast out demons. Judas is implied in that passage. The broader implication, though, is that just because someone does miracles, doesn't mean they're a believer. Because demons can do miracles, the Antichrist will do miracles, and so will the false prophet. And it's like I was telling our youth the other night, just because there's a miracle that happens, doesn't mean it's from God. So, a lot of these false teachers and apostate churches claim miracles. They claim to do things. And in that broadest sense of that term is they're going to stand before Christ and say, how could we do all these miracles? We did them in your name. Does that indicate that we know you? No, it does not. But if you include in the strictest sense Judas Iscariot, he did do real miracles. But that authority was given to him by Messiah himself. Now, no one is doing that because he was an apostle. So that's not for today, but because it's not for today, you have to take it in the broader sense of miracles, good works. Yeah, and prophesy in my name and all those kinds of things. So false prophecies and all that stuff. So these people claim that their lives were based on Jesus Christ, that they did all their ministry for Jesus. So you talk to the good Mormon, you talk to the Jehovah Witness, you talk to the Catholic, they're going to swear up and down they're doing it for Jesus. And they're not. Jesus says, I don't know you. I don't know who you are because you're Laodicea. You don't even know me because you don't keep Orthodox faith. I mean, that's the problem with the Laodicean church. That being the case, does everything make sense so far? Okay, watch what he says. Okay. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing. So the idea in the Laodicean church is they typically have money. What did I tell you last week about the Philadelphia church? The Philadelphia tends to not have money, which is the remnant church. But the false church always has money. Creflo Dollar is getting a lot of heat right now for buying a $65 million airplane for his ministry. They have oodles and oodles of money. Isn't it funny how the false church always has money? TBN, loaded. Joel Osteen, loaded. And I've given you the stats before of all the kind of salaries they have and the houses they have. But the false church is never without money. That's the hallmark of the false church. It has money attached to it. Now, how do they get money? What do you think? They fleece the flock. That's exactly what the Pharisees did. That's what the leaders of Israel were accused of is fleecing the flock. They kill the flock and they take every part of it. And then they leave nothing left. False teachers of the apostate church always get money out of their people. Now, let me give you a real world example. I have cousins and things like that. They're involved in the Mormon church. You know, the Mormon church looks at their W-2s at the end of the year to make sure they gave 10% that year. A lot of you are aware of that. How do you think they're doing financially, then, if every one of their people is forced to give 10% of their income? Big money. The Mormons are right up there with money. I mean millions and millions of dollars. And they own properties. They own businesses. They own all kinds of things. Was it the Marriott Hotel, I think, is Mormon? Beneficial, I don't know if beneficial is still around. You'll have stock and all kinds of things. Think, okay, let me put it in perspective for you. The average Protestant gives 22 bucks a month. 22 bucks a month. Average Protestant in giving in the nation. And you're telling me the Mormons give 10% of their income? That's why the Philadelphia church is always without money. The true remnant church is always lacking in resources, but they do great things because they do it by the power of God. The false church has money because they force it from the people. They force it. Catholic church, forcing it, forcing it, forcing it. And so it just, anywhere you go where cults are, they always have the money behind them. The Whore of Babylon, the markings of the Whore of Babylon is she's rich. So there's the false church, they're always rich, they always have a lot of money. The people are not rich, the leaders are rich. I've become wealthy and I need nothing." So they don't see their spiritual need. They think they're all settled. And he goes, and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. You're nothing. You don't have anything spiritually. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may become rich." He's talking about salvation. The gold refined in the fire is talking about salvation. And white garments, referring to salvation. "...that you may be clothed." Clothed in what? Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. "...that the shame of your nakedness..." Your nakedness is that you are standing before God in your filthy rags. You're naked in front of Him because you do not have a foreign righteousness from Christ. your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see." Now again, Laodicea made a lot of money off the ISAB they sold there and they made a lot of money off the black wool they sold there. It was known for their black wool and it was known for the ISAB that they produced and so the people that attended Laodicea were extremely, extremely wealthy. Extremely wealthy. But it blinded them to things. And so he goes, buy ISAB for me that you may see spiritually. Okay. It tells you The problem we picked up on when we started the lesson, why are so many people falling away? Why are so many people not paying attention to what's going on in the world? The problem in Laodicea, see if you can relate this today, is they had a lot of money. The Aesav and the black wool made them extremely wealthy and made them not see their need for Messiah. and they incorrectly thought that money meant blessing of God. Now relate it to today. Do you see the parallels? How many churches do you know claim the blessing of God because they have a lot of money, A lot of people. It's health and wealth. You got Joel Osteen, health and wealth, 47,000 people. He says, this is a blessing of God. This is a blessing of God. God's blessing us tremendously while he gets his plastic surgery for the 12th time. And he's saying this blessing is blessing, and he is Laodicea. He is Laodicea. Do you know where that came from? It's nothing new under the sun. The Pharisees taught the same thing. I've told you that a couple times. The Pharisees taught in Jesus' day that if you were wealthy and if you were healthy, you have the blessing of God. And that if you died in a terrible accident, then you were because you were cursed of God. Or if you were maimed or blind, then something bad you were doing or your parents did. Folks, that's the health, wealth, prosperity gospel in Jesus' day. And so, in Jesus' day, the poor people that were flocking to Jesus, they were outcasts because the Pharisees said, you're cursed of God because you're poor. If you were like us, you'd be rich and wealthy and healthy. And I thought, wow, that sounds like Benny Hinn. He was dealing with Benny Hinn in the first century with the Pharisees, for goodness sake. The blind man? I mean, you think about all the maimed and lamed people that came to him. He told John, are you the Messiah? He said, yeah, the gospel's preached to the poor. It's poor in spirit, but it's also he did preach to the poor. And because the Pharisees didn't touch the poor. They were cursed of God. We're not dealing with you because there's something wrong with you. And it's the same thing today. And like Creflo Dollar, you know, he says, don't get on to me for being rich because God's blessing me. And it's like, no, Creflo, you're a lay of the sea, too. Money is not a sign of God's blessing. Otherwise, what do you do with the book of Job? What do you do with Job? He had everything stripped from him, and Job's friend says, well, you must have done something wrong. That's what's happening in the churches in America, is Job's friends are in the pulpits, and they're preaching health and wealth, prosperity, if bad stuff's happening to you because God doesn't like you, or you're cursed. That's crazy. That's nonsense. Check this out, he goes, in verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. So he's doing this because he loves people. He loves them, even though they're in unbelief. It says in 2 Peter that he died for false teachers. God still loved the world. Yes, does he love unbelievers? Does he love those pretending? Yes, because he wants them to repent. He goes, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Check this verse out. Behold, you know this verse very well. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me. You know what that is? That's called table fellowship in the Middle East. When you had fellowship with somebody at a table, it meant you were communing with them, you were fellowshipping with them, and you had a relationship with them. He is telling the Laodicean church, repent so that you and I can have a relationship with one another. I'm desiring this from you, and I want this. I want to sit down and fellowship with you, but you've got to repent. You've got to stop doing what you're doing. So that is a classic case of Where is Jesus in that passage? He's outside the church. He's not even in the church. He's outside of it. Laodicea, rule of men. Jesus is not even in the church. He's knocking at their door. Mormons, will you let me in? Jehovah Witnesses, let me in. Seven dead Venice, let me in. Roman Catholics, let me in. And it depends on that individual if they're going to let him into his heart. But there's knocking and he's knocking. He wants to get in. They have a different definition of God's love. Piper said it the best. God doesn't love everybody. So his love is more providential love that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. It's that kind of love. It's not agape love. It's creation love. I've studied it ad infinitum. The way the Calvinists view God's love and view God's character, it's not there. It's just not there. I just don't see it. And it doesn't mean that makes me an Arminianist, because I'm not an Arminianist, but the system's just not there. All over and over again. God is reaching out to people to save them. One of the stories Jesus told when he was dealing with the Pharisees, if I can remember off the top of my head, the Pharisees held a view that if someone needs to be saved, they have to go to God. Right. They have to go to God. God sits back and waits for them to come to him. But he doesn't go searching. Right. That's what the Pharisees taught. And then Jesus comes right at them with three parables. And he comes back and he says, ah, let me give you this parable. And he starts with the parable of the lost sheep, lost coin, lost son. Boom, boom, boom, real quick. In all three parables, who's doing the searching? The sheep is lost, so the shepherd goes and looks. The coin is lost. The woman, a la Holy Spirit through the church, looks for the coin. then the Son is lost, and who goes looking for the Son? The Father meets Him when He comes back, right? In all three parables, it shows the Trinity searching for people to save who are lost. So he goes right after the pharisaical teaching and says God's sitting back waiting for them to come to him. He's saying, it's the opposite. God is searching out people, trying to get them saved, trying to offer a hand and saying, come, I'm offering it. He totally rebuked that whole system. much like what you're seeing today with Piper saying God doesn't love people. I'm glad he's honest. At least he's honest with the system. That's totally honest. He made the claim saying that when he goes to bed at night and he puts his boys to sleep and he kisses them goodnight, he doesn't know if they're reprobate and elect or not. Is that how you view your kids when you put them to bed at night? I don't know if they're elect or reprobate. Do you even know? That's the problem. That's the problem. All doesn't mean all. All kinds or loves the nations means different individuals from the nations but not all the nations. It's not agape. It's a redefinition of love. It's a redefinition of all. It's a redefinition of the world. And it's because of presupposition being put on the text before reading the text for what it says. Jacob I loved and Esau I hated has nothing to do with individuals. It has to do with nations. It has to do with the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant going through the nation of Israel. Elect, many times, is using the framework that Paul uses, in Christ. That's a technical term. means that you're predestined for the benefits that God has already outlined for salvation. He's destined you for adoption. He's destined you to be conformed to the image of Christ. He's destined you to glorification. Those are predestined benefits or blessings you receive once you become saved. You can't read into the text things that are not there. Behold, I sent to Dornoch, we read that verse 21, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. As I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne, Where is Jesus sitting at right now? Right there on the Father's throne. Don't let any progressive dispensationalist tell you He's on David's throne, because right there in the text, He's saying, I'm sitting on the Father's throne. So if you and I were in heaven today, you would see the Father's throne in the New Jerusalem, and Jesus is right there on it, physically. So he is not on David's throne. He will occupy David's throne at the second coming. But right now he's on the father's throne. But the blessing, notice the blessing here. The blessing is you and I will sit on whose throne then? The Messiah's throne. Did you see that? And I saw the 24 elders and they were sitting on thrones in Revelation. Being an overcomer is a technical term and another way of saying saved. He who overcomes is like saying he who is saved. And of course John is writing this. John defines being an overcomer in 1 John. And it's a reference to the high priestly prayer. In a high priestly prayer, He says, I've already overcome the world. And because, like the technical term I said, when you're in Christ, that means you get the benefits of what He accomplishes. It's finished. That's right. And so because of that, to be in Christ means I already am an overcomer because He's achieved salvation for me. Because He's asking individuals out of this church to escape. That's why he said, I have not come to bring peace. I've come to bring a sword. And you've got to hate your father and mother and love me. You've got to have your priorities. I must be the priority, not your parents. And so therefore, you have to make the decision to step out of that cult and go for the truth. Let's give you an example of the Mormons. When someone joins the Mormon church, they are given everything they need. If they need a job, someone will hook them up with a job. If they need support from the church, they get a lot of it, and it's a tactic to suck them in. If they need a wife or a husband, they'll do matchmaking. And so before you know it, okay, I've gotten a job because now I work at a Marriott, and I've hooked up with some gal in the Mormon church, and now she's my wife, and I'm taking food money from them to help me out. And so if you come to them and say, I'm going to leave, You have all these attachments now. I've got to leave my job, my wife will probably divorce me because she's not going to be married to a non-Mormon, and I'll lose all these benefits that I had materially from them. And that's the way the cults operate. They suck you in by giving you material things and make you indebted to them. So you're right, it seems easy now, but when you're in it, and you have the family pressure, and you've been raised that way, it's enormous. It's just absolutely enormous, the pressure that gets put on people. They virtually have to die to self, and that's why it's very difficult. I've seen so many people, they will not follow Christ because of a mom and dad, in a cult or something like that. I've had people say they needed to be baptized and they wouldn't be baptized because their parents believed in sprinkling, and they wouldn't be baptized until their mom and dad died. I mean, that's crazy. That's just crazy. But they wouldn't follow the Lord in obedience until mom and dad died, because they were afraid of what mom and dad would say. That's what Jesus was trying to point out, that you can't live like that with Him. Yeah. They give up a lot, man. They give up a lot. And again, the thing ends, He who hasn't yet let them hear what this says to the churches. So the call goes out to the Lay of the Sand Church. Now, here's the deal. We've got to stop now. I'm not finished with the Lay of the Sand Church because you have to see the history behind it in the last hundred years. So next week, I'm going to chronicle all the steps that happened in America to get us to this point. And it will shock you what you're going to see historically in America about how we got to this Laodicean age.