Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20020804.htm

CHRIST'S SCRIPTURE PROPHECY ON CONTEMPORARY EVANGELICALISM
Part III: Christ's Appraisal Of Evangelicalism As Two, Offensive, Judging Factions
B. Christ's Evaluation Of Evangelicalism Detailed
1. Christ's Exposure Of The Factions' False Judgments Of Their Own False Works
(Revelation 3:14, 17a[a,b,c])
  1. Introduction
    1. If Christ predicted our current Evangelical era of Church History, we should expect Him to provide a specific, detailed spiritual evaluation of our era's believers and their churches with their unique needs.
    2. Well, Rev. 3:14a, 17a[a,b,c] gives Christ's exposure of the false judgments of their respective factions:
  2. Christ's Exposure Of The Factions' False Judgments Of Their Own False Works, 3:14a, 17a[a,b,c].
    1. As we saw, Christ is appalled at Evangelicalism's two factions, (1) Calvinists who extol doctrine and (2) Arminians experience as each errantly judges the other in self-exonerating evaluations, Part III, A.
    2. To detail the error of these factions' evaluations, Christ notes how ERRANTLY they judge their various ministries to the godly, the carnal and the unsaved respectively as follows, Revelation 3:14, 17a[a,b,c]:
      1. We learned in Rev. 3:14b NIV how Christ is the All-Sufficient Source for ministry to the godly ("The Amen"), to the carnal ("The Faithful & True Witness") and to the lost ("Ruler of the creation of God").
      2. In CONTRAST, the judgments of the Evangelical FACTIONS seeking to promote their OWN respective ministries to the godly, carnal and unsaved are EXPOSED by Christ as being futile:
        1. The evaluation of the respective factions' ministries to the godly are flawed: (a) Jesus said the Laodiceans judged themselves to say "I am rich," Rev. 3:17a[a] NIV, a reference to Zechariah 11:5 where the Pharisees were predicted to take financial advantage of God's flock while failing to meet their spiritual needs, cf. Merrill Unger, Zechariah, p. 192. (b) This state is further explained in Ez. 34:2-3; 22:25-30; Jer. 23:25-40; Ez. 13:1-23: there, Israel's teachers failed to expound Biblical truth so as to mislead God's people into sin so God must judge them, and all to preserve position and its (dishonest) gain. (c) So, unlike Jesus Who taught the truth (Mk. 6:34) at great personal cost so His hearers could repent unto blessing, Evangelical leaders have not expounded Scripture, but mouthed errant popular beliefs for job preservation to the harm of God's flock (cf. the honorable Dr. Robert D. Culver's A Wake Up Call, p. 68-77 who exposes this in his own denomination and its seminary)!
        2. The evaluation of the factions' ministries to the carnal are errant: (a) Jesus said the Laodiceans judged themselves to say "I have acquired wealth," Rev. 3:17a[b] NIV. (b) The same construction appears elsewhere only in Hos. 12:8 LXX (Moulton & Geden, Conc. to Grk. Test., p. 818f; Hatch & Redpath, Conc. to LXX, v. II, p. 1150). Ephraem there treats its wealth as a shield for its sin, so (c) Evangelicals hide behind false externals and ideas, producing a lack of the conviction of sin and church discipline! (Armstrong (gen. ed.) in The Coming Evangelical Crisis, p. 36-41 attests to this.)
        3. The evaluation of the respective Evangelical factions' ministries to the unsaved are deeply flawed: (a) Jesus said the Laodiceans judged themselves to say "[I] do not need a thing," Rev. 3:17a[c] NIV. (b) The Greek words behind this phrase exist elsewhere in the N.T. only at 1 Thess. 4:12, Ibid., Moulton & Milligan, p. 1010. (c) There, Paul directs the Thessalonians to earn a living with their own hands to preserve their testimony before the unsaved. (d) Thus, Evangelicals have relied on human effort to evangelize, sabotaging the effectiveness of their ministries [Dallas Theological Seminary's founder, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, exposed this in True Evangelism back in 1911!].
Lesson: Christ complains EVANGELICAL Calvinistic (doctrinal) AND Arminian (experiential) factions' self-exonerating judgments of their LEADERS are ERRANT: (a) leaders have felt they were blessed by God for external results only when, to preserve their acceptance and jobs, they have failed at Bible exposition to align with established, errant factions' assertions to the harm of the godly. (b) They have hid behind false ideas of reality and truth to the extent of not addressing carnality in the Church, and (c) have errantly viewed themselves to be effective in outreach by futile human efforts.

Application: Evangelical leaders have ERRANTLY led laymen to view them as successful in ministry via WORLDLY criteria, and that for WORLDLY gain! They must REPENT of this and heed CHRIST!