Vomited Out of the Mouth of God

Vomited Out of the Mouth of God 2022 05 29

Colossians 4:15 – 18; Revelation 3:14 – 19

Are you glad to be here, today?  Is this where you want to be?  Is there any place you’d rather be, right now?  Something you would rather be doing?  Are you comfortable?  How many people have you talked to, this week, about Jesus Christ?  How many people have you prayed for by name?  How much time have you spent in reading the word of God?  In prayer?  Still comfortable?

Colossians 4:15 – 18; Revelation 3:14 – 19

  1. The church at Laodicea was a flourishing and important church in Asia Minor. In fact, it was one of the chief seats of Christianity in its early life.  It was a joy to Paul, as can be seen in his address to the nearby Colossian church.
  2. Yet only a short time later, we have the letter from Jesus Christ to the Laodicean church via John where he said, “I will vomit you out!”
    1. This is from the Amen, or Truth. Who is the Truth? Jesus our Creator and Saviour is the Truth.  John 14:6
    2. John said that this letter is “… from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.    Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”  1:5 – 7
    3. Amen! Truth!
    4. These are Jesus’ words to the Laodicean church, which was a good church, a sound church, a godly church, a church built on Jesus Christ, the Rock! Paul called them “brethren,” meaning they were true saints, people who had truly trusted in Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
    5. Yet here, Jesus says, “I’m going to vomit you out of my mouth!” God the Son said, “I’m going to vomit you out of my mouth!”
    6. What did Jesus say? He said, “I know thy works!”
      1. Does he know our works? (of course, he does!)
      2. Are you doing any works? But wait, we are justified by faith, not by works, right?  I remember reading somewhere in my Bible that we are justified by faith…  Read those passages:  Romans 3:28; 5:1; Galatians 3:24… They say nothing about works!  They say you are justified by, meaning through faith, not by or through the law.  But is it faith that saves you?   NO!  It is GRACE that saves you by faith!  Ephesians 2:8,9 says, “For by grace are ye saved throughfaith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man boast.”
  • What about works, then? This means you can sit back and relax, now, right?  You have received salvation by the grace of God when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, and now you have a free ticket to heaven, correct?
  1. If that’s what you think, WATCH OUT! Jesus said, “You make me sick!  I’m going to vomit you out of my mouth!”  He said, “I know your works,” and the church, today is going, “What works?  Salvation is by faith, not works!”  But James wrote, chapter 2:20, “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” and vs 17, 18, & 26, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
  2. Real faith produces real works that prove your faith and are a witness of your faith, both to man, and to God. “Where’s your proof, preacher?” The apostles preached this doctrine!!  Acts 26:20 “But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”  They said that real faith will produce works that fit the claim of faith!
  1. Jesus said, “… because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of my mouth!” When you want a hot drink, you want it hot!  Not lukewarm.  You expect hot, and it’s lukewarm, you want to spue it out of your mouth.  When you want a nice cold drink, and you take a good long drink and it turns out to be lukewarm, you want to spue it out of your mouth!  Hot or cold is great, useful, useable, but lukewarm is disgusting!  Jesus said, “I will vomit you out of my mouth!”
  2. Jesus said that the church was filled with people who were indifferent, apathetic, uninterested in spiritual things, happy to come and sit and listen, but unwilling to actually DO anything. They were fence riders, unwilling to do anything that might offend anyone and bring difficulty into their lives.  In their day to day lives, no one outside the church would even know they were Christians!  Jesus said, “I will vomit you out of my mouth!”
  1. I believe when Jesus spoke to the Laodicean church, he was speaking very pointedly and clearly to most churches and Christians of this present age, as well.
    1. So why did Jesus say they were lukewarm? What did Jesus see that disgusted him so much? What could be so bad about a church that it was in danger of being vomited out of the mouth of God?
    2. They were wealthy and claimed to be spiritually rich and blessed by God because they had a lot of stuff.
      1. The Laodicean church was filled with wealthy people! In most other places, Christians considered it a blessing to get food every day, to have a dry place to sleep, and clothing on their backs.  The Laodiceans were so wealthy that when an earthquake completely destroyed their city near the end of the first century, they rebuilt it with no help from the government.
    3. Is it a blessing to have a home, food, clothes, transportation and more? Yes, it is!
    4. Is it because of spiritual maturity that you have these things? NO!!  God caused you to be born here, in this wealthy part of the world, according to His own purpose, before you were even saved!
    5. Jesus said, “You say I am rich, and spiritual, and have a lot of stuff, and don’t need anything; but you don’t realize that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked, so I will vomit you out of my mouth!”
      1. Spiritually wretched, pitiful
      2. Miserably indifferent to the things that are important to God
  • Spiritually poor, not rich – without the basic necessities to withstand ANY kind of spiritual struggle
  1. Blind and indifferent to the lost world around you
  2. Naked, exposed to all the tricks, schemes and deceptions of the devil
  1. Spiritually dead, thinking that all is well and believing that a free ticket to heaven is in hand, the Laodicean church was rejected by Jesus Christ!
    1. Matthew Henry, the 17th century commentator wrote, “Doubtless there are many in hell that once thought themselves to be in the way to heaven. Let us daily beg of God that we may not be left to flatter and deceive ourselves in the concerns of our souls.”
    2. Jesus said, “I’m going to vomit you out!”
    3. This is the last church spoken to in the Revelation; then the great tribulation begins. The Laodicean church is going to be the church that gets spued out into the tribulation.  The church age is going to end, and with it, all comfort on earth for Christians!  Those who really are Christians, who have truly trusted in Jesus Christ as their Saviour, will come through it either at the resurrection or at the rapture, but many will come through covered with smoke and burns, with their worthless works all burned up, saved by the grace of God, as we read in 1 Corinthians 3:15 “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
    4. Many who sit in pews Sunday after Sunday thinking all is well and they have their free ticket to heaven securely in hand will be deceived in those days by the strong delusion that is going to come on the world. Thinking all is fine, they will suddenly and without warning find themselves standing naked before the great white throne of the judgment of almighty God, where they will be judged, their names not found written in the Book of Life, and then cast into the lake of fire that burns for ever and ever.
  2. What do you need to do? How can you escape the horrible fact that everything might not be fine?  Are you 100% sure that you will go to heaven when you die?  Jesus said, “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.”
    1. Go to Jesus! Submit to Him!  Trust in Him!  Before you do anything else, make sure He is your Saviour!  Make sure that you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, our Creator, the Son of God, to take away your sins and give you eternal life!
    2. Go to Jesus. Get serious about your spiritual life!  Feed your spirit!  Spend serious time in the Word of God, finding that pure spiritual gold, and putting on the pure garment of righteousness in Christ.  Ask Jesus to open your eyes and show you what He wants you to do and how He wants you to live.  Spend REAL time with God, WAITING on Him.  Don’t be in a hurry in the Word or in prayer.  Jesus IS going to spue out the lukewarm church, but He does not want YOU to be lost.
    3. Jesus has given you this warning because He loves you. He does not want you to be spued out with the rest!  He lovingly said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”  Jesus is warning you because He loves you.  He is showing His love by showing you what He wants and what you need to do.  His advice to you, today, is “Don’t be a lukewarm pew warmer.  Be zealous!  Be on fire!  Repent and get back to Jesus!  Do what he wants!  Do what he says!”

Don’t be vomited out of the mouth of God.  If you haven’t truly trusted Jesus Christ as you Saviour, you need to do that, right now.  If you have trusted Jesus Christ and have gotten into a comfortable rut, you need to get out of it, and lay your all on the altar for Jesus.  Don’t be lukewarm – He will spue you out!  Be on fire!  Put everything on the line for Christ!   Yield your goods and your life to Christ and PURPOSE to do His will every day.