An Earnest Warning about Lukewarmness

Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, July 26th, 1874, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the
creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot:
I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 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: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and
anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I
stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I
also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.''Rev.
3:14-21

No Scripture ever wears out. The epistle to the church of Laodicea is
not an old letter which may be put into the waste basket and be
forgotten; upon its page still glow the words, He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.' This Scripture was
not meant to instruct the Laodiceans only, it has a wider aim. The
actual church of Laodicea has passed away, but other Laodiceas still
exist'indeed, they are sadly multiplied in our day, and it has ever
been the tendency of human nature, however inflamed with the love of
God, gradually to chill into lukewarmness. The letter to the Laodiceans
is above all others the epistle for the present times.

I should judge that the church at Laodicea was once in a very fervent
and healthy condition. Paul wrote a letter to it which did not claim
inspiration, and therefore its loss does not render the Scriptures
incomplete, for Paul may have written scores of other letters besides.
Paul also mentions the church at Laodicea in his letter to the church
at Colosse; he was, therefore, well acquainted with it, and as he does
not utter a word of censure with regard to it, we may infer that the
church was at that time in a sound state. In process of time it
degenerated, and cooling down from its former ardour it became
careless, lax, and indifferent. Perhaps its best men were dead, perhaps
its wealth seduced it into worldliness, possibly its freedom from
persecution engendered carnal ease, or neglect of prayer made it
gradually backslide; but in any case it declined till it was neither
cold nor hot. Lest we should ever get into such a state, and lest we
should be in that state now, I pray that my discourse may come with
power to the hearts of all present, but especially to the consciences
of the members of my own church. May God grant that it may tend to the
arousing of us all.

I. My first point will be THE STATE INTO WHICH CHURCHES ARE VERY APT TO
FALL. A church may fall into a condition far other than that for which
it has a repute. It may be famous for zeal and yet be lethargic. The
address of our Lord begins, I know thy works,' as much as to say,
Nobody else knows you. Men think better of you than you deserve. You do
not know yourselves, you think your works to be excellent; but I know
them to be very different.' Jesus views with searching eyes all the
works of his church. The public can only read reports, but Jesus sees
for himself. He knows what is done, and how it is done, and why it is
done. He judges a church not merely by her external activities, but by
her internal pieties; he searches the heart, and tries the reins of the
children of men. He is not deceived by glitter; he tests all things,
and values only that gold which will endure the fire. Our opinion of
ourselves and Christ's opinion of us may be very different, and it is a
very sad thing when it is so. It will be melancholy indeed if we stand
out as a church notable for earnestness and distinguished for success,
and yet are not really fervent in spirit, or eager in soul-winning. A
lack of vital energy where there seems to be most strength put forth, a
lack of real love to Jesus where apparently there is the greatest
devotedness to him, are sad signs of fearful degeneracy. Churches are
very apt to put the best goods into the window, very apt to make a fair
show in the flesh, and like men of the world, they try to make a fine
figure upon a very slender estate. Great reputations have often but
slender foundations, and lovers of the truth lament that it should be
so. Not only is it true of churches, but of every one of us as
individuals, that often our reputation is in advance of our deserts.
Men often live on their former credit, and trade upon their past
characters, having still a name to live, though they are indeed dead.
To be slandered is a dire affliction, but it is, upon the whole, a less
evil than to be thought better than we are; in the one case we have a
promise to comfort us, in the second we are in danger of self-conceit.
I speak as unto wise men, judge ye how far this may apply to us.

The condition described in our text is, secondly, one of mournful
indifference and carelessness. They were not cold, but they were not
hot; they were not infidels, yet they were not earnest believers; they
did not oppose the gospel, neither did they defend it; they were not
working mischief, neither were they doing any great good; they were not
disreputable in moral character, but they were not distinguished for
holiness; they were not irreligious, but they were not enthusiastic in
piety nor eminent for zeal: they were what the world calls Moderates,'
they were of the Broad-church school, they were neither bigots nor
Puritans, they were prudent and avoided fanaticism, respectable and
averse to excitement. Good things were maintained among them, but they
did not make too much of them; they had prayer-meetings, but there were
few present, for they liked quiet evenings at home: when more attended
the meetings they were still very dull, for they did their praying very
deliberately and were afraid of being too excited. They were content to
have all things done decently and in order, but vigour and zeal they
considered to be vulgar. Such churches have schools, Bible-classes,
preaching rooms, and all sorts of agencies; but they might as well be
without them, for no energy is displayed and no good comes of them.
They have deacons and elders who are excellent pillars of the church,
if the chief quality of pillars be to stand still, and exhibit no
motion or emotion. They have ministers who may be the angels of the
churches, but if so, they have their wings closely clipped, for they do
not fly very far in preaching the everlasting gospel, and they
certainly are not flames of fire: they may be shining lights of
eloquence, but they certainly are not burning lights of grace, setting
men's hearts on fire. In such communities everything is done in a
half-hearted, listless, dead-and-alive way, as if it did not matter
much whether it was done or not. It makes one's flesh creep to see how
sluggishly they move: I long for a knife to cut their red tape to
pieces, and for a whip to lay about their shoulders to make them bestir
themselves. Things are respectably done, the rich families are not
offended, the sceptical party is conciliated, and the good people are
not quite alienated: things are made pleasant all round. The right
things are done, but as to doing them with all your might, and soul,
and strength, a Laodicean church has no notion of what that means. They
are not so cold as to abandon their work, or to give up their meetings
for prayer, or to reject the gospel; if they did so, then they could be
convinced of their error and brought to repentance; but on the other
hand they are neither hot for the truth, nor hot for conversions, nor
hot for holiness, they are not fiery enough to burn the stubble of sin,
nor zealous enough to make Satan angry, nor fervent enough to make a
living sacrifice of themselves upon the altar of their God. They are
neither cold not hot.'

This is a horrible state, because it is one which in a church wearing a
good repute renders that reputation a lie. When other churches are
saying, See how they prosper! see what they do for God!' Jesus sees
that the church is doing his work in a slovenly, make-believe manner,
and he considers justly that it is deceiving its friends. If the world
recognizes such a people as being very distinctly an old-fashioned
puritanic church, and yet there is unholy living among them, and
careless walking, and a deficiency of real piety, prayer, liberality,
and zeal, then the world itself is being deceived, and that too in the
worst way, because it is led to judge falsely concerning Christianity,
for it lays all these faults upon the back of religion, and cries out,
It is all a farce! The thing is a mere pretence! Christians are all
hypocrites!' I fear there are churches of this sort. God grant we may
not be numbered with them!

In this state of the church there is much self-glorification, for
Laodicea said, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing.' The members say, Everything goes on well, what more do we
want? All is right with us.' This makes such a condition very hopeless,
because reproofs and rebukes fall without power, where the party
rebuked can reply, We do not deserve your censures, such warnings are
not meant for us.' If you stand up in the pulpit and talk to sleepy
churches, as I pretty frequently do, and speak very plainly, they often
have the honesty to say, There is a good deal of truth in what the man
has said': but if I speak to another church, which really is half
asleep, but which thinks itself to be quite a model of diligence, then
the rebuke glides off like oil down a slab of marble, and no result
comes of it. Men are less likely to repent when they are in the middle
passage between hot and cold, than if they were in the worst extremes
of sin. If they were like Saul of Tarsus, enemies of God, they might be
converted; but if, like Gamaliel, they are neither opposed nor
favouring, they will probably remain as they are till they die. The
gospel converts a sincerely superstitious Luther, but Erasmus, with his
pliant spirit, flippant, and full of levity, remains unmoved. There is
more hope of warning the cold than the lukewarm.

When churches get into the condition of half-hearted faith, tolerating
the gospel, but having a sweet tooth for error, they do far more
mischief to their age than downright heretics.

It is harder a great deal to work for Jesus with a church which is
lukewarm than it would be to begin without a church. Give me a dozen
earnest spirits and put me down anywhere in London, and by God's good
help we will soon cause the wilderness and the solitary place to
rejoice; but give me the whole lot of you, half-hearted, undecided, and
unconcerned, what can I do? You will only be a drag upon a man's zeal
and earnestness. Five thousand members of a church all lukewarm will be
five thousand impediments, but a dozen earnest, passionate spirits,
determined that Christ shall be glorified and souls won, must be more
than conquerors; in their very weakness and fewness will reside
capacities for being the more largely blessed of God. Better nothing
than lukewarmness.

Alas, this state of lukewarmness is so congenial with human nature that
it is hard to fetch men from it. Cold makes us shiver, and great heat
causes us pain, but a tepid bath is comfort itself. Such a temperature
suits human nature. The world is always at peace with a lukewarm
church, and such a church is always pleased with itself. Not too
worldly,'no! We have our limits! There are certain amusements which of
course a Christian must give up, but we will go quite up to the line,
for why are we to be miserable? We are not to be so greedy as to be
called miserly, but we will give as little as we can to the cause. We
will not be altogether absent from the house of God, but we will go as
seldom as we can. We will not altogether forsake the poor people to
whom we belong, but we will also go to the world's church, so as to get
admission into better society, and find fashionable friends for our
children. How much of this there is abroad! Compromise is the order of
the day. Thousands try to hold with the hare and run with the hounds,
they are for God and Mammon, Christ and Belial, truth and error, and so
are neither hot nor cold.' Do I speak somewhat strongly? Not so
strongly as my Master, for he says, I will spue thee out of my mouth.'
He is nauseated with such conduct, it sickens him, and he will not
endure it. In an earnest, honest, fervent heart nausea is created when
we fall in with men who dare not give up their profession, and yet will
not live up to it; who cannot altogether forsake the work of God, but
yet do it in a sluggard's manner, trifling with that which ought to be
done in the best style for so good a Lord and so gracious a Saviour.
Many a church has fallen into a condition of indifference, and when it
does so it generally becomes the haunt of worldly professors, a refuge
for people who want an easy religion, which enables them to enjoy the
pleasures of sin and the honours of piety at the same time; where
things are free and easy, where you are not expected to do much, or
give much, or pray much, or to be very religious; where the minister is
not so precise as the old school divines, a more liberal people, of
broad views, free-thinking and free-acting, where there is full
tolerance for sin, and no demand for vital godliness. Such churches
applaud cleverness in a preacher; as for his doctrine, that is of small
consequence, and his love to Christ and zeal for souls are very
secondary. He is a clever fellow, and can speak well, and that
suffices. This style of things is all too common, yet we are expected
to hold our tongue, for the people are very respectable. The Lord grant
that we may be kept clear of such respectability!

We have already said that this condition of indifference is attended
with perfect self-complacency. The people who ought to be mourning are
rejoicing, and where they should hang out signals of distress they are
flaunting the banners of triumph. We are rich, we are adding to our
numbers, enlarging our schools, and growing on all sides; we have need
of nothing. What can a church require that we have not in abundance?'
Yet their spiritual needs are terrible. This is a sad state for a
church to be in. Spiritually poor and proud. A church crying out to God
because it feels itself in a backsliding state; a church mourning its
deficiency, a church pining and panting to do more for Christ, a church
burning with zeal for God, and therefore quite discontented with what
it has been able to do; this is the church which God will bless: but
that which writes itself down as a model for others, is very probably
grossly mistaken and is in a sad plight. This church, which was so rich
in its own esteem, was utterly bankrupt in the sight of the Lord. It
had no real joy in the Lord; it had mistaken its joy in itself for
that. It had no real beauty of holiness upon it; it had mistaken its
formal worship and fine building and harmonious singing for that. It
had no deep understanding of the truth and no wealth of vital
godliness, it had mistaken carnal wisdom and outward profession for
those precious things. It was poor in secret prayer, which is the
strength of any church; it was destitute of communion with Christ,
which is the very life blood of religion; but it had the outward
semblance of these blessings, and walked in a vain show. There are
churches which are poor as Lazarus as to true religion, and yet are
clothed in scarlet and fare sumptuously every day upon the mere form of
godliness. Spiritual leanness exists side by side with vain-glory.
Contentment as to worldly goods makes men rich, but contentment with
our spiritual condition is the index of poverty.

Once more, this church of Laodicea had fallen into a condition which
had chased away its Lord. The text tells us that Jesus said, I stand at
the door and knock.' That is not the position which our Lord occupies
in reference to a truly flourishing church. If we are walking aright
with him, he is in the midst of the church, dwelling there, and
revealing himself to his people. His presence makes our worship to be
full of spirituality and life; he meets his servants at the table, and
there spreads them a feast upon his body and his blood; it is he who
puts power and energy into all our church-action, and causes the word
to sound out from our midst. True saints abide in Jesus and he in them.
Oh, brethren, when the Lord is in a church, it is a happy church, a
holy church, a mighty church, and a triumphant church; but we may
grieve him till he will say, I will go and return to my place, until
they acknowledge their offence and seek my face.' Oh, you that know my
Lord, and have power with him, entreat him not to go away from us. He
can see much about us as a people which grieves his Holy Spirit, much
about any one of us to provoke him to anger. Hold him, I pray you, and
do not let him go, or if he be gone, bring him again to his mother's
house, into the chamber of her that bare him, where, with holy
violence, we will detain him and say, Abide with us, for thou art life
and joy, and all in all to us as a church. Ichabod is written across
our house if thou be gone, for thy presence is our glory and thy
absence will be our shame.' Churches may become like the temple when
the glory of the Lord had left the holy place, because the image of
jealousy was set up and the house was defiled. What a solemn warning is
that which is contained in Jeremiah 7:12-15, But go ye now unto my
place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see
what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now,
because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto
you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you,
but ye answered not; therefore I will do unto this house, which is
called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to
you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you
out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole
seed of Ephraim.'

II. Now let us consider, secondly, THE DANGER OF SUCH A STATE. The
great danger is, first, to be rejected of Christ. He puts it, I will
spue thee out of my mouth,''as disgusting him, and causing him nausea.
Then the church must first be in his mouth, or else it could not be
spued from it. What does this mean? Churches are in Christ's mouth in
several ways, they are used by him as his testimony to the world; he
speaks to the world through their lives and ministries. He does as good
as say, O sinners, if ye would see what my religion can do, see here a
godly people banded together in my fear and love, walking in peace and
holiness.' He speaks powerfully by them, and makes the world see and
know that there is a true power in the gospel of the grace of God. But
when the church becomes neither cold nor hot he does not speak by her,
she is no witness for him. When God is with a church the minister's
words come out of Christ's mouth. Out of his mouth went a two-edged
sword,' says John in the Revelation, and that two-edged sword' is the
gospel which we preach. When God is with a people they speak with
divine power to the world, but if we grow lukewarm Christ says, Their
teachers shall not profit, for I have not sent them, neither am I with
them. Their word shall be as water spilt on the ground, or as the
whistling of the wind.' This is a dreadful thing. Better far for me to
die than to be spued out of Christ's mouth.

Then he also ceases to plead for such a church. Christ's special
intercession is not for all men, for he says of his people, I pray for
them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.'
I do not think Christ ever prays for the church of Rome'what would he
pray for, but her total overthrow? Other churches are nearing the same
fate; they are not clear in his truth or honest in obedience to his
word: they follow their own devices, they are lukewarm. But there are
churches for which he is pleading, for he has said, For Zion's sake
will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the
salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.' Mighty are his pleadings for
those he really loves, and countless are the blessings which comes in
consequence. It will be an evil day when he casts a church out of that
interceding mouth, and leaves her unrepresented before the throne
because he is none of his. Do you not tremble at such a prospect? Will
you not ask for grace to return to your first love? I know that the
Lord Jesus will never leave off praying for his own elect, but for
churches as corporate bodies he may cease to pray, because they become
anti-Christian, or are mere human gatherings, but not elect assemblies,
such as the church of God ought to be. Now this is the danger of any
church if it declines from its first ardour and becomes lukewarm.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy
first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy
candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.'

What is the other danger? This first comprehends all, but another evil
is hinted at,'such a church will be left to its fallen condition, to
become wretched,'that is to say, miserable, unhappy, divided, without
the presence of God, and so without delight in the ways of God,
lifeless, spiritless, dreary, desolate, full of schisms, devoid of
grace, and I know not what beside, that may come under the term
wretched.' Then the next word is miserable,' which might better be
rendered pitiable.' Churches which once were a glory shall become a
shame. Whereas men said, The Lord has done great things for them,' they
shall now say, see how low they have fallen! What a change has come
over the place! What emptiness and wretchedness! What a blessing rested
there for so many years, but what a contrast now!' Pity will take the
place of congratulation, and scorn will follow upon admiration. Then it
will be poor' in membership, poor in effort, poor in prayer, poor in
gifts and graces, poor in everything. Perhaps some rich people will be
left to keep up the semblance of prosperity, but all will be empty,
vain, void, Christless, lifeless. Philosophy will fill the pulpit with
chaff, the church will be a mass of worldliness, the congregation an
assembly of vanity. Next, they will become blind, they will not see
themselves as they are, they will have no eye upon the neighborhood to
do it good, no eye to the coming of Christ, no eye for his glory. They
will say, We see,' and yet be blind as bats. Ultimately they will
become naked,' their shame will be seen by all, they will be a proverb
in everybody's mouth. Call that a church!' says one. Is that a church
of Jesus Christ?' cries a second. Those dogs that dared not open their
mouths against Israel when the Lord was there will begin to howl when
he is gone, and everywhere will the sound be heard, How are the mighty
fallen, how are the weapons of war broken.'

In such a case as that the church will fail of overcoming, for it is to
him that overcometh' that a seat upon Christ's throne is promised; but
that church will come short of victory. It shall be written concerning
it even as of the children of Ephraim, that being armed and carrying
bows they turned their backs in the day of battle. Ye did run well,'
says Paul to the Galatians, what did hinder you that ye should not obey
the truth?' Such a church had a grand opportunity, but it was not equal
to the occasion, its members were born for a great work, but inasmuch
as they were unfaithful, God put them aside and used other means. He
raised up in their midst a flaming testimony for the gospel, and the
light thereof was cast athwart the ocean, and gladdened the nations,
but the people were not worthy of it, or true to it, and therefore he
took the candlestick out of its place, and left them in darkness. May
God prevent such an evil from coming upon us: but such is the danger to
all churches if they degenerate into listless indifference.

III. Thirdly, I have to speak of THE REMEDIES WHICH THE LORD EMPLOYS. I
do earnestly pray that what I say may come home to all here, especially
to every one of the members of this church, for it has come very much
home to me, and caused great searching of heart in my own soul, and yet
I do not think I am the least zealous among you. I beseech you to judge
yourselves, that you be not judged. Do not ask me if I mean anything
personal. I am personal in the most emphatic sense. I speak of you and
to you in the plainest way. Some of you show plain symptoms of being
lukewarm, and God forbid that I should flatter you, or be unfaithful to
you. I am aiming at personality, and I earnestly want each beloved
brother and sister here to take home each affectionate rebuke. And you
who come from other churches, whether in America or elsewhere, you want
arousing quite as much as we do, your churches are not better than
ours, some of them are not so good, and I speak to you also, for you
need to be stirred up to nobler things.

Note, then, the first remedy. Jesus gives a clear discovery as to the
church's true state. He says to it''Thou are lukewarm, thou art
wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' I rejoice to
see people willing to know the truth, but most men do not wish to know
it, and this is an ill sign. When a man tells you that he has not
looked at his ledger, or day-book, or held a stock-taking for this
twelvemonths, you know whereabouts he is, and you say to your manager,
Have you an account with him? Then keep it as close as you can.' When a
man dares not know the worst about his case, it is certainly a bad one,
but he that is right before God is thankful to be told what he is and
where he is. Now, some of you know the faults of other people, and in
watching this church you have observed weak points in many places,'have
you wept over them? Have you prayed over them? If not, you have not
watched as you should do for the good of your brethren and sisters,
and, perhaps, have allowed evils to grow which ought to have been
rooted up: you have been silent when you should have kindly and
earnestly spoken to the offenders, or made your own example a warning
to them. Do not judge your brother, but judge yourself: if you have any
severity, use it on your own conduct and heart. We must pray the Lord
to use this remedy, and make us know just where we are. We shall never
get right as long as we are confident that we are so already.
Self-complacency is the death of repentance.

Our Lord's next remedy is gracious counsel. He says, I counsel thee to
buy of me gold tried in the fire.' Does not that strike you as being
very like the passage in Isaiah, Come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy
wine and milk without money and without price?' It is so, and it
teaches us that one remedy for lukewarmness is to begin again just as
we began at first. We were at a high temperature at our first
conversion. What joy, what peace, what delight, what comfort, what
enthusiasm we had when first we knew the Lord! We bought gold of him
then for nothing, let us go and buy again at the same price.

If religion has not been genuine with us till now, or if we have been
adding to it great lumps of shining stuff which we thought was gold and
was not, let us now go to the heavenly mint and buy gold tried in the
fire, that we may be really rich. Come, let us begin again, each one of
us. Inasmuch as we may have thought we were clothed and yet we were
naked, let us hasten to him again, and at his own price, which is no
price, procure the robe which he has wrought of his own righteousness,
and that goodly raiment of his Spirit, which will clothe us with the
beauty of the Lord. If, moreover, we have come to be rather dim in the
eye, and no longer look up to God and see his face, and have no bright
vision of the glory to be revealed, and cannot look on sinners with
weeping eyes, as we once did, let us go to Jesus for the eye-salve,
just as we went when we were stone blind at first, and the Lord will
open our eyes again, and we shall behold him in clear vision as in days
gone by. The word from Jesus is, Come near to me, I pray you, my
brethren. If you have wandered from me, return; if you have been cold
to me I am not cold to you, my heart is the same to you as ever, come
back to me, my brethren. Confess your evil deeds, receive my
forgiveness, and henceforth let your hearts burn towards me, for I love
you still and will supply all your needs.' That is good counsel, let us
take it.

Now comes a third remedy, sharp and cutting, but sent in love, namely,
rebukes and chastenings. Christ will have his favoured church walk with
great care, and if she will not follow him fully by being shown wherein
she has erred, and will not repent when kindly counselled, he then
betakes himself to some sharper means. As many as I love I rebuke and
chasten.' The word here used for love' is a very choice one; it is one
which signifies an intense personal affection. Now, there are some
churches which Christ loves very specially, favouring them above
others, doing more for them than for others, and giving them more
prosperity; they are the darlings of his heart, his Benjamins. Now, it
is a very solemn thing to be dearly loved by God. It is a privilege to
be coveted, but mark you, the man who is so honoured occupies a
position of great delicacy. The Lord thy God is a jealous God, and he
is most jealous where he shows most love. The Lord lets some men escape
scot free for awhile after doing many evil things, but if they had been
his own elect he would have visited them with stripes long before. He
is very jealous of those whom he has chosen to lean upon his bosom and
to be his familiar friends. Your servant may do many things which could
not be thought of by your child or your wife; and so is it with many
who profess to be servants of God'they live a very lax life, and they
do not seem to be chastened for it, but if they were the Lord's own
peculiarly beloved ones he would not endure such conduct from them. Now
mark this, if the Lord exalts a church, and gives it a special
blessing, he expects more of it, more care of his honour, and more zeal
for his glory than he does of any other church; and when he does not
find it, what will happen? Why, because of his very love he will rebuke
it with hard sermons, sharp words, and sore smitings of conscience. If
these do not arouse it he will take down the rod and deal out
chastenings. Do you know how the Lord chastens churches? Paul says, For
this cause some are sickly among you, and many sleep.' Bodily sickness
is often sent in discipline upon churches, and losses, and crosses, and
troubles are sent among the members, and sometimes leanness in the
pulpit, breakings out of heresy and divisions in the pew, and lack of
success in all church work. All these are smitings with the rod. It is
very sad, but sometimes that rod does not fall on that part of the
church which does the wrong. Sometimes God may take the best in the
church, and chasten them for the wrong of others. You say, How can that
be right?' Why, because they are the kind of people who will be most
benefited by it. If a vine wants the knife, it is not the branch that
bears very little fruit which is trimmed, but the branch which bears
much fruit is purged because it is worth purging. In their case the
chastening is a blessing and a token of love. Sorrow is often brought
upon Christians by the sins of their fellow-members, and many an aching
heart there is in this world that I know of, of brethren and sisters
who love the Lord and want to see souls converted, but they can only
sigh and cry because nothing is done. Perhaps they have a minister who
does not believe the gospel, and they have fellow-members who do not
care whether the minister believes it or not, they are all asleep
together except those few zealous souls who besiege the throne of grace
day and night, and they are the ones who bear the burden of the
lukewarm church. Oh, if the chastening comes here, whoever bears it,
may the whole body be the better for it, and may we never rest till the
church begins to glow with the sacred fire of God, and boil with
enthusiastic desire for his glory.

The last remedy, however, is the best of all to my mind. I love it best
and desire to make it my food when it is not my medicine. The best
remedy for backsliding churches is more communion with Christ. Behold,'
saith he, I stand at the door and knock.' I have known this text
preached upon to sinners numbers of times as though Christ knocked at
their door and they had to open it, and so on. The preacher has never
managed to keep to free grace for this reason, that the text was not
meant to be so used, and if men will ride a text the wrong way, it will
not go. This text belongs to the church of God, not to the unconverted.
It is addressed to the Laodicean church. There is Christ outside the
church, driven there by her unkindness, but he has not gone far away,
he loves his church too much to leave her altogether, he longs to come
back, and therefore he waits at the doorpost. He knows that the church
will never be restored till he comes back, and he desires to bless her,
and so he stands waiting, knocking and knocking, again and again; he
does not merely knock once, but he stands knocking by earnest sermons,
by providences, by impressions upon the conscience, by the quickenings
of his Holy Spirit; and while he knocks he speaks, he uses all means to
awaken his church. Most condescendingly and graciously does he do this,
for having threatened to spue her out of his mouth, he might have said,
I will get me gone; and I will never come back again to thee,' that
would have been natural and just; but how gracious he is when, having
expressed his disgust he says, Disgusted as I am with your condition, I
do not wish to leave you; I have taken my presence from you, but I love
you, and therefore I knock at your door, and wish to be received into
your heart. I will not force myself upon you, I want you voluntarily to
open the door to me.' Christ's presence in a church is always a very
tender thing. He never is there against the will of the church, it
cannot be, for he lives in his people's wills and hearts, and worketh
in them to will and to do of his own good pleasure.' He does not break
bolt and bar and come in as he often does into a sinner's heart,
carrying the soul by storm, because the man is dead in sin, and Christ
must do it all, or the sinner will perish; but he is here speaking to
living men and women, who ought also to be loving men and women, and he
says, I wish to be among you, open the door to me.' We ought to open
the door at once, and say, Come in, good Lord, we grieve to think we
should ever have put thee outside that door at all.'

And then see what promises he gives. He says he will come and sup with
us. Now, in the East, the supper was the best meal of the day, it was
the same as our dinner; so that we may say that Christ will come and
dine with us. He will give us a rich feast, for he himself is the
daintiest and most plenteous of all feasts for perishing souls. He will
come and sup with us, that is, we shall be the host and entertain him:
but then he adds, and he with me,' that is, he will be the host and
guest by turns. We will give him of our best, but poor fare is that,
too poor for him, and yet he will partake of it. Then he shall be host,
and we will be guest, and oh, how we will feast on what he gives!
Christ comes, and brings the supper with him, and all we do is to find
the room. The Master says to us, Where is the guest chamber?' and then
he makes ready and spreads his royal table. Now, if these be the terms
on which we are to have a feast together, we will most willingly fling
open the doors of our hearts and say, Come in, good Lord.' He says to
you, Children, have you any meat?' and if you are obliged to say, No,
Lord,' he will come in unto you none the less readily, for there are
the fish, the net is ready to break, it is so full, and here are more
upon the coals ready. I warrant you, if we sup with him, we shall be
lukewarm no longer. The men who live where Jesus is soon feel their
hearts burning. It is said of a piece of scented clay by the old
Persian moralist that the clay was taken up and questioned. How camest
thou to smell so sweetly, being nothing but common clay?' and it
replied, I laid for many a year in the sweet society of a rose, until
at last I drank in its perfume'; and we may say to every warm-hearted
Christian, How camest thou so warm?' and his answer will be, My heart
bubbleth up with a good matter, for I speak of the things which I have
made touching the King. I have been with Jesus, and I have learned of
him.'

Now, brethren and sisters, what can I say to move you to take this last
medicine? I can only say, take it, not only because of the good it will
do you, but because of the sweetness of it. I have heard say of some
persons that they were pledged not to take wine except as a medicine,
but then they were very pleased when they were ill: and so if this be
the medicine, I will come and sup with him, and he with me,' we may
willingly confess our need of so delicious a remedy. Need I press it on
you? May I not rather urge each brother as soon as he gets home today
to see whether he cannot enter into fellowship with Jesus? and may the
Spirit of God help him!

This is my closing word, there is something for us to do in this
matter. We must examine ourselves, and we must confess the fault if we
have declined in grace. An then we must not talk about setting the
church right, we must pray for grace each one for himself, for the text
does not say, If the church will open the door,' but If any man hear my
voice and open the door.' It must be done by individuals: the church
will only get right by each man getting right. Oh, that we might get
back into an earnest zeal for our Lord's love and service, and we shall
only do so by listening to his rebukes, and then falling into his arms,
clasping him once again, and saying, My Lord and my God.' That healed
Thomas, did it not? Putting his fingers into the print of the nails,
putting his hand into the side, that cured him. Poor, unbelieving,
staggering Thomas only had to do that and he became one of the
strongest of believers, and said, My Lord and my God.' You will love
your Lord till your soul is as coals of juniper if you will daily
commune with him. Come close to him, and once getting close to him,
never go away from him any more. The Lord bless you, dear brethren, the
Lord bless you in this thing.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Revelation 3.

HYMNS FROM OUR OWN HYMN BOOK''184, 787, 992.
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The Blood of the Covenant