REVISITING CHRIST’S MESSAGE TO TODAY’S EVANGELICALS

Part III: Christ’s Appraisal Of Evangelicals As Two, Offensive, Judging Factions

A. Christ’s Evaluation Of Evangelicals Illustrated

(Revelation 3:14a, 15-16)

I. Introduction

A. Our Lord prophetically revealed that great spiritual needs exist in today’s evangelicals, and He provided a comprehensive evaluation of those needs in Revelation 3:14a, 15-17.

B. Jesus began His evaluation by illustrating these spiritual needs in Revelation 3:14a, 15-16 (as follows):

II. Christ’s Evaluation Of Evangelicals Illustrated, Revelation 3:14a, 15-16.

A. Today’s evangelicals are named “Laodicea,” that is, “judgment of [by] the people” (J. D. Pentecost, Things to Come, p. 152), and since Christ sharply critiques this group (Rev. 3:16-18), they are wrongly judgmental, hypocritically not correcting their own wrongs while judging other believers in violation of Matthew 7:1-5!

B. Christ then illustrated how today’s evangelicals are wrongly judgmental in Revelation 3:15-16 (as follows):

1. Christ as divine Judge in each of the 7 churches, rules, “These things saith” and “I know thy works,” but of the 7 church messengers, only the Laodicean Church messenger acts like a judge, BUT as an errant one, for Christ critiques him, saying, “thou sayest” but “thou . . . knowest not” (Rev. 2:1-3:22 KJV)!

2. To clarify the critique, Jesus likened today’s evangelicals to the water folly of the ancient city of Laodicea:

a. The city had no water source, for it was founded as a hub for nearby trade routes, New Bib. Dic., p. 716f.

b. To get water, Laodicea laid bored out, long stone blocks end-to-end to form two conduits overland to bring hot water in one conduit from Heliopolis and cold water in the other conduit from Colossae, Ibid., p. 717.

c. Yet, both conduits lay exposed to the weather, so both gave only lukewarm water fit as an emetic, Ibid.

[Christ expressed strong frustration in the Greek text: the word ophelon (Rev. 3:15), “would that,” asserts a critical viewpoint in the N. T. (Moulton & Geden, Con. to the Grk. Test., p. 741), and the phrase “neither cold nor hot” in v. 15 is repeated in v. 16, but with its adjectives reversed in the Greek text to read, “neither hot nor cold,” an expression of frustration! (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 844-845)!]

3. We apply this illustration to clarify Christ’s great frustration and His critique over today’s evangelicals:

a. The fifth century Pelagius versus Augustine doctrinal split was never settled, but it has only intensified in today’s evangelicals as Pelagian Charismatic-Arminians clash with Augustinian Calvinists (Reformed Theology). (W. Walker, A Hist. of the Christ. Church, 1959, p. 168; A. Skevington Wood, The Inextinguishable Blaze, p. 176-188; J. H. Armstrong, gen. ed., The Com. Evang. Crisis, 1996, p. 31-36)

b. Thus, Charismatic-Arminians promote EXPERIENCE and Calvinists promote DOCTRINE (Ibid., Armstrong, p. 29-31; R. Quebedaux, The New Charismatics, p. 30-31). This rivalry is manifested in the Greek text at Rev. 3:17 where Christ says, “ . . . you do not know that you [emphatic pronoun] are he who is wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked (versus your view of your theological rival)”!

c. The exposure of Laodicea’s two conduits to the world’s weather that adversely altered their respective water temperatures illustrates how Pelagius’ pagan Stoicism corrupted Bible truth to form Charismatic-Arminianism and how Augustine’s pagan Neo-platonism corrupted Bible truth to form Calvinism! (Ibid., Walker, p. 168, 98, 163-164; The Volume Library, 1994, v. 22, p. 2025-2026; B. B. Warfield, Calvin and Augustine, 1974, p. 395-396, 378; Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations, 1963, p. 272)

d. Christ thus wishes that (i) today’s Charismatic-Arminians and Calvinists would EITHER be doctrinally (cold water) sound OR experientially (hot water) sound, but He finds BOTH groups are NEITHER doctrinally SOUND NOR experientially SOUND, but LUKEWARM! (ii) Also, neither group discerns its own errors, but (iii) hypocritically judges the other one, a state that Christ views as (iv) intolerable!

e. Thus, the Lord is about to (figuratively) “vomit forth” (emeo, Thayer’s Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T,, 1963, p. 207) such evangelicals, to expel them from effective influence, Rev. 3:16b! [Such a strong expression is used of the wicked Canaanites who Israel was to displace from the Promised Land in Leviticus 18:27-28!]

Lesson: Jesus views today’s evangelical groups of errant Charismatic-Arminians and errant Calvinists who hypocritically judge each other as intolerable, and He stands ready to expel them both from effective influence!

Application: If we do not hold to God’s view on election and predestination, and we judge others who do not hold to our view, we are hypocritically and intolerably judgmental to Christ, and we must humbly wait on Him to give us the truth [in Revelation 3:17-19] that we might pull the log out of our eye lest He expel us from effective influence!