This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day five of our look together through Revelation chapter 3. I want to
congratulate you to making it to this day. These are some tough messages from
Jesus you and I have been looking at this week.

He causes us to search our hearts, but remember, He loves you. Remember He's
always going to love you. And He says everything that He says out of His love
for you.

And He says everything that He says intending to love you in the midst of it.
Yesterday we began this look at what Jesus says to a complacent church, a
complacent life, those places where I've settled in and begun to lose my
passion, my passion for Him, my passion for relationships, my passion for
sharing the good news with other people. And the first thing He said I've got to
do to restore my passion is I've got to admit the shocking truth about myself.

I've got to admit the truth that there's some things that have changed in my
life and I've grown lukewarm at some spots in my life. And once I've done that,
there's a second thing I have to admit. I have to admit my desperate need.

In verse 17, Jesus says to the church in Laodicea, "You say, 'I am rich, I have
acquired wealth, and I don't need a thing. ' But you do not realize that you are
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. " This church fits with so many of us
in America.

They had acquired wealth, they felt like they had everything they needed in this
world, maybe not everything, but at least enough of what they needed in this
world that they could make it. They felt like they'd met their own needs. We
feel like we meet our own needs sometimes.

We meet our own needs through riches, what we acquire, through achievement, how
we aspire, through rules, what we require, through knowledge, how we inquire,
through relationships, who we desire. But no matter how well you acquire,
aspire, require, inquire, and desire, the truth of the matter is, in the end,
we're all going to expire. There comes a day when we're going to meet our maker,
and the things that we have in this world are not enough.

If you picture Jesus' talk here to this church of Laodicea, to your heart, to my
heart, in one sense, this is the diagnosis of the great physician. Jesus says
he's the great physician, and here he says, "You think you've got everything you
need, but I'm examining you on the examining table, and the truth is, you're
wretched, you're pitiful, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked. The more
self-sufficient we are, the more we fail to recognize our deep need of him.

" Now, maybe these words, you don't like to refer to yourself this way, but the
truth of the matter is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit. " When I recognize how
wretched I am, how deeply I need his forgiveness, how pitiful and poor and blind
and naked I am without the person of Jesus Christ in my life, when I see that,
I'm seeing reality. I can fool myself and think, "I'm okay without him.

I'm better with Jesus, but I'm okay without him," but that's just fooling
myself. The truth is, without him, wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,
but Jesus wants to make a difference. Our passion can sometimes move from the
things of God to the things of the world, and it happens many times when I think
the things of the world are enough to satisfy me.

How do I regain a passion for God? I realize that I am desperately in need of
him, more desperately than I realize. Our modern world can sometimes mask that.

The fact that I can have my needs met at some store by buying some groceries or
some online service by buying some new thing that I wanted, that doesn't meet
the deepest needs in my heart, of my life. I admit my desperate need of him.
That's how I get out of complacency.

And then the third thing that I do to get out of complacency is I go to Jesus
alone to meet my deepest needs. Jesus says in verse 18, "I counsel you to buy
from me gold refined in the fire so that you can become rich and white clothes
to wear so that you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your
eyes so that you can see. " Jesus says, "I see that you have these struggles in
your life.

We live in a sinful world. We have a sinful nature. " And Jesus says, "I want to
change that.

I want to change that through who I am. " Go to Jesus alone to meet your deepest
needs. Where do you get your sense of worth?

That's one of your deepest needs. How do you deal with your shame? That's one of
your deepest needs.

Where do you get your view of the world? That's one of your deepest needs. Go to
Jesus alone to meet those deepest needs.

In fact, Jesus says, "Here's what I want you to do. I counsel you to buy from me
gold refined in the fire, white clothes to wear, salve to put on your eyes. Buy
from me.

" He says that to this church in Laodicea because they were people who had
learned to shop for their significance, but they were going to the wrong source,
a false source. So Jesus says, "Get it from me instead. " If it's intellectual
pursuit that you think is going to fulfill you, Jesus says, "Learn from me.

" If it's chasing after fun that you think is going to fulfill your life, Jesus
says, "Learn to enjoy me. " Whatever you think is going to fulfill you,
recognize that Jesus alone can meet that deepest need. And here he specifically
talks about gold refined by fire so you can become rich.

I think he's talking about faith there. Our faith is like gold refined in the
fire many times in scripture. He talks about white clothes to wear to cover your
nakedness.

I think he's talking about grace there. He wants to give you the white clothes
of his grace to cover the shame of your sin. He talks about salve to cover your
eyes so that you can see.

I think he's talking about wisdom there, the kind of wisdom that only God can
give. It helps me to see life for what it really is and see God for who he
really is. God wants you to be rich, rich with spiritual values, clothed in
spiritual virtues, seeing with spiritual vision.

He wants those kind of riches in your life. I don't know why it is that we so
often find ourselves looking to shallow sources to meet our deepest needs. I
know I do it and you probably do it too.

When you feel that loneliness of heart, when you feel that depth of need, that
tiredness, the weariness of your bones, who do you go to to meet your deepest
needs? The way to escape complacency is you go to Jesus alone. And as you go to
him, there's a fourth thing that Jesus outlines in these verses that you and I
can do to get out of this trap of complacency.

You respond as a deeply loved child. In verse 19, just walking through these
verses, the next thing Jesus says to this church is, "Those whom I love, I
rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

" If these kinds of words of Jesus scare you because you think he's going to
reject you, he says, "I don't say these kinds of words to somebody I'm going to
reject. I don't discipline somebody I've rejected. Those whom I love, I rebuke
and discipline.

" So you respond as a child being disciplined rather than as a stranger being
punished. Punishment makes me want to run and hide. I don't want any part of
that.

I want to get away from God if I think he's out to just punish me, but he is
not. In your relationship with Jesus Christ, discipline invites me to be
earnest. It helps me to repent.

So if there's a sting in your heart right now, it says, "I need to change. I've
grown complacent in my life. " Don't run and hide from that because God's not
out to punish you.

He wants to change your heart. You don't have to live in fear of discipline. You
can live in the reality of his love.

You respond as a deeply loved child. You go to Jesus alone to meet your deepest
need. You admit your desperate need.

You start with recognizing the shocking truth about yourself. And then there's a
fifth thing that you do in these verses. Very famous verse, Revelation chapter 3
verse 20.

You continually open the door to Jesus. Revelation 3 20, Jesus says, "Here I am.
I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and
he with me. " And then verses 21 and 22, he says, "To him who overcomes, I will
give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with
my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to
the churches.

" Behold, Jesus says, "I stand at the door and knock. " Now, many times you may
have heard this verse referred to somebody who is beginning their relationship
with Christ. And I think it applies there.

The first time that I opened the door of my life to him, and maybe you need to
do that right now, open the door of your heart to him. Accept his forgiveness,
his new life. He will walk in.

He will begin a relationship with you. You can depend on it because he promises
it right here. Maybe that's the only place though that you've ever heard this
verse referred to is related to someone who's first responding to Jesus Christ.

And yet in these verses, Jesus is talking not to someone who is becoming a brand
new believer, but someone who's been a believer a long time and has become
complacent in their faith. He's talking to Christians, Christians whose heart
has been closed. And he's saying, "I'm still knocking.

" If you feel like I've closed my heart to God, I've gone the wrong way, Jesus
says, "I'm still standing at the door. I'm still knocking. " Patiently,
lovingly, even vulnerably, Jesus is still knocking.

Can you hear it? Can you sense that he has not given up on you? As you hear the
knock of Jesus on your heart, what do you hear?

Do you hear the invitation in it? Jesus says, "I didn't come to condemn you. I
came to give you new life.

" Do you hear the invitation to what he wants to do in your life? Jesus is
knocking. It is not angry.

It's not insistent. It's not so loud that it cannot drown out other things. You
can let it be drowned out by the things in your life.

But when it gets quiet, when it gets still, there it is again. He is still
knocking. And Jesus says, "If you'll open the door, I will come in.

" In that moment, no matter what you've done, no matter what mistakes you've
made, no matter how far you've wandered away from me, no matter how shameful you
might feel, I'll come in. I'll eat with you. You'll eat with me.

We'll have a relationship with each other. That is his promise to your life.
Let's pray together.

And as we pray, I hope you hear Jesus saying, "I'd love to come in. I want to
come into your life in a way that I never have before. I want to come into your
life into a place where you've never let me before.

Don't be afraid. I won't reject you. Don't be afraid.

I won't disappoint you. Look, I'm standing at the door. I'm knocking.

If you'll just open the door, I'll come in. I'll change your heart. I'll change
your life.

You don't have to settle for complacency. I've got an abundant life to give to
you. Jesus, help us to hear your heart today.

We ask it in your name. Amen. Next week, we're going to turn to Revelation
chapter 4.

What a chapter. We're going to get an insight into what's happening in heaven as
Jesus opens the door to his revelation of the future. Join us next week for
Revelation chapter 4.