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Gold, White Raiment, and Eye Salve
Colossians 2:18-19
COL-467© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1995)
This morning, we continue to direct your attention to Colossians 2:18-19, "The Error of Angelic Worship," segment number 24.
The Word of God is a great prize, and it is the true wealth of the individual believer. It is always gratifying to find that the people of God who
are in touch with this ministry, in one way or another, have a sense of receiving something special – something out of the ordinary, when they listen
to what is said from the sermonic material – the exposition of the Word of God. This was demonstrated again yesterday, when that magnificent choral
group sang for us right out of the Meyers Musical Center (quality people). Kevin Guess is a very appreciative person. And you saw how big he is. When he
hugs you, "you done been hugged." One family came up and said, "We are grateful for what we get from Berean Church. We live 65 miles away, but we're in
touch with the Word of God."
Another family who was here lives at a distance now. After the banquet, the husband said to me, "We've been getting some of the unedited tapes on the
current series in Colossians, and we have been reminded again about the church in Laodicea." And the point that is so important about this church is that
it did have a lamp stand. It was one of the seven lessons where Jesus stood and said, "You are one of My churches. And if you do not remain faithful
to Me, I'm going to shut you down. I'm going to take your lamp stand, and knock it over." And for some of these churches, that did happen. But the point
of that is that Laodicea was also one of the genuine churches of Christ. The problem was that there were deep in the carnality.
So, this man said, "Last Sunday, our preacher got up, and he talked about the Laodicean Church, and how these unsaved people needed to come to the
knowledge of Christ." So, after the service, we went up to him and his wife, and said, "The Laodiceans were not unsaved people. They were Christians out
of fellowship with God. That was the reason that Christ was standing knocking at the heart's door, and saying, 'Come on back. Open it up to Me. Let Me
back into your life.' And they were not unbelievers." Well, here was this seminary graduate saying, "No, you're wrong. Those are unbelievers."
So, don't take it too lightly when you get the great perspective on the Word of God that is really the truth. We went through several writers, and
people like Dr. Walvoord from the seminary. We said, "All these men are great scholars of the Word of God, and they all uniformly say that that church
was made up of Christians, but they were out of touch." Well, the man wasn't fazed.
So, your congregation will be colored by what comes out of the pulpit. And if it is false, you will be affected. If it is triviality, you will be affected.
If it is baby stuff, or salvation gospel truth, you will be affected, not only now, but the worst way you'll be affected is at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
There you'll have cause to realize that you never grasped what life is all about as a Christian. So, you never got around to your mission, and your life
has been wasted. We do not want that to happen to you.
So, we remind you that this church in the city of Laodicea, recorded for us in Revelation 3:14-22, was a genuine church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
had people who were born-again. But it is an example of church-age believers who had been robbed of the prize which accompanies salvation that is spoken
of in Galatians 2:18. When you get the package of salvation, there's a great prize. It's like when you buy a box of Cracker Jacks. The only important
thing is what the prize is at the top of the box. That's what you tear open to find. It comes with the package. Well, when you have the package of salvation,
there's a great prize. These people lost it. And every one of us, as Christians, is under the gun of having that thing taken from us, because that's the
main purpose of Satan toward you.
A Prize
The church age spiritual power system for living a holy life, and for divine good works to store treasures of rewards in heaven – that's the
prize which comes with the salvation package. The Jewish people never could really live a holy life. It all depended on themselves. And their sin nature
kept tripping them up. They had no power from God to do what was right. Well, they knew what the right was, but they couldn't beat the game. And to serve
God, there was no Holy Spirit power. There was no Holy Spirit enablement, because the Holy Spirit did not indwell them. He would come upon them periodically,
and then He would leave them for certain purposes. But it was so different than what it is today. It is a real prize to be able to walk like God, and
to be able to be the holiness of God Himself, because He does it for us.
Church-age believers have God's power through the filling of the Holy Spirit to do the morally right thing, and to obey the will of God in their life
mission in Christian service. We have no excuse to be poor people in heaven – devoid of treasures of rewards.
Galatians 5:16: "But I say walk by means of the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh (the sin nature)." You could not say that
to a Jew in the Old Testament Mosaic Law system. You couldn't say to him, "Walk by the Spirit." He didn't have the Holy Spirit in him to be guiding him.
He didn't have what he needed to beat the sin nature. But that is true for you and for me.
In Ephesians 2:10, we have our mission: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them. Those good works is our life mission. Colossians 1:9-12: "For this reason, also, since the day we heard of it, their love in the
Holy Spirit, we have not ceased to pray for you, and to ask that you might be filled with the knowledge – the 'epignosis," by the way – the
full knowledge that is doctrinal truth, that you said, "Amen" to: "I will choose to do it. As we pointed out, these magnificent titles at the banquet
that certain people had, because they went with the Word: "That you would be filled with the full knowledge of His will, and all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit and every good work, and increasing in
the knowledge of God again (increasing with the doctrine stored in your human spirit), strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, attaining
of all steadfastness, and patience, and joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light."
He's talking about the prize – to share in the prize of the inheritance of grace.
One more: Ephesians 5:15-16: "Therefore, be careful how you walk – not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days
are evil." You can enjoy the prize of the spiritual power, or you can ignore it, and waste your whole life – a life lived in a devil's world, based
on self-effort and sincere good intentions, as was the case under the Mosaic Law way of life. It has no divine power enablement to succeed. It only tells
us what ought to be. There is no doubt that the Mosaic Law says that this is the way it should be. But it did not enable you to do it. The sin nature of
the flesh always undermined it.
Romans 8:3-4 points that out: "What the Law (the Mosaic Law) could not do, as it was through the flesh (the sin nature), God did, sending His Own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirements of the Law (what the Law said ought
to be, might be fulfilled in us (we Christians), who do not walk according to the sin nature, but according to the Holy Spirit." We could do what they
could not.
Now, the spiritual prize (the power prize) of Colossians 2:18 is a result of being placed into Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which every
believer experiences at the point of salvation. Colossians 12:13 points this out: "By one Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews
or Greeks, whether slaves or free; and, were all made to drink of one Spirit – all filled with the Spirit.
Now, this is our position in Christ, This is our potential prize. The benefits of it is turned on and off by carnality. The Mosaic Law system and the
church-age grace system are opposite lifestyles for the people of God. Law brings spiritual defeat. Grace brings spiritual victory. Christians who fall
into a carnal lifestyle governed by the sin nature, fall into spiritual revisionism, and they become victims of the sin nature of the world system and
of Satan. That was the condition of the Laodiceans.
1 Peter 5:8-9 says, "Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but
resist Him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." Satan is
always out to trip you up. Oh, he's not going to drag many of you into gross sin. You're not that type. That wouldn't appeal to you. But he can really
pull you down by getting you tied up with the trivialities of life, and you forget your orientation to have your eyes on Christ and the things above.
That's where he'll get you. And pretty soon, you will drift off into the world system. But you are not his slave. You enable him to bring you down. Be
of a sober spirit, on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, is looking for a chance. If you don't give him a chance, He cannot bring you down. He's a
prowling lion. And resists him." God would not tell you to resist the devil if you couldn't.
In the Old Testament, that was a problem. Be firm in your faith, and firm in your confidence, in the principles of the Word of God. And while Christians
suffer (you betcha), there is a stride that one can hit, and that's suffering, and that's the way it should be.
Compare this to James 4:7. James says, "Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." You are not a victim of Satan. You
choose to go with it. The Christians in the Laodicean Church were lukewarm. They were indifferent to separation from the lifestyle of Satan's world. And
they were indifferent to investing their lives in God's services as witnesses, and as stewards – stewards of the material treasures that he had
entrusted to them. They were entirely self-oriented. They did not have their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ as the "amen;" the faithful witness; and, the
Creator in the Godhead.
The Laodicean believers were a country club church who thought more highly of themselves than they should have. It was all based on their wealth, and
all based on their social standing, and all based upon the power that they exercised over other people in the community. And they thought that that made
them something special with God. But their blind, lukewarm indifference to godly living, and the Christian service, made these Christians nauseating to
God the Father, who promised to vomit them out of His blessings, and to discipline them. The view the Laodiceans themselves was that they were rich, wealthy,
and in need of nothing. That was human viewpoint. But the view of the Lord Jesus Christ to them was that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked. That was divine viewpoint.
Satan will trip you up if you think more highly of yourself than you ought to. The advice of Jesus Christ, to the spiritually disoriented Laodiceans
was to buy certain things from Him, to correct their spiritual revisionism and shameful appearance. And the money with which they would buy these things
from Christ was faith in the Word of God – believing what He was telling them.
Gold
First of all, he told them to: "Buy gold – the gold of church-age doctrine, as wisdom purified by the holiness of God, so they could become truly
rich." Revelation 3:18: "I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, by the holiness of God." What is He telling them? Where are you going to buy
this gold? Where are you going to go to buy the gold of doctrine? Church-age realities – you're going to attend an expository preaching ministry.
There you will find the mind of God. That's how you buy the gold of divine viewpoint.
Please remember this: It is amazing how many Christians never understand this. Any material well, which a Christian possesses, is not genuine riches,
if he cannot take it with him to heaven when he dies. Whatever wealth you have, and whatever possessions you have, they are not wealth unless you can
take it to heaven. No matter how big your bank account, and no matter how big your investment reserves, it isn't riches. It's not wealth unless you can
take it to heaven with you. That is because if you can't take it to heaven, Peter says that all these things are going to be burned up, and turned back
into the elements out of which they were made. Now, that's an important point. If you learn that this morning it was worth coming to church. Never look
upon what you have, and say, "I'm well off." No, you're not. You're only well off if you can take that to heaven with you. Obviously, that has to be a
transition of those material things as storage treasures in heaven.
These possessions are all that you have. And this wealth is nothing but possessions unless you can take it with you. Luke 12:15-21 is a very classic
example of not being able to take it with you: "Jesus said, 'Beware, and be on your guard, against every form of greed. For not even when one has an abundance,
does his life consist in his possessions.'" That's true. Your wealth is not what you have, unless you're going to take it to heaven. And you have to convert
it into a form that you can take it with you. It is foolish to have the opportunity to take great wealth, and not convert it.
Verse 16: "And Jesus told them a parable, saying, "The land of a certain rich man was very productive. He began reasoning to himself: 'What shall I
do since I have no place to store my crops?" He said, "I have so much. I'm so wealthy. This is what I will do. I'll tear down my barns, and build larger
ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods." This poor man operated on the principle of "get what you can, and can all you get." The result
was that it never occurred to him: "Man, I can't even stuff the things I have into the barns I have. I can't even store my wealth anymore. I can hardly
keep up with all the money I have. I have every box at home stuffed, and every safe deposit box in the bank is stuffed. My assets are enormous."
It never occurred to this man that Israel is filled with poor people. Israel is filled with widows and orphans. Israel is filled with people that you
can now help in a tremendous way. It never occurred to him to say, "I will contact the authorities, and have them take all this surplus, and take care,
in this theocracy in which we live, of those who are poor." For indeed, that's what Jesus said: that the widows, and orphans, and the poor should be cared
for. He could have done it, because it's not a socialist system where the government does it. It's the individual believer that does it. It never occurred
to this man to say to the priesthood, "I have more than enough. You priests and you Levites – you have no land. You can't earn anything. All the
other tribes have a plot of land. And every family has an assigned land. And if they sell it, 50 years down the line, in the year of Jubilee, their heirs,
whoever is alive at time, get the land all back. It goes back into the family possession. So, you can never sell your land beyond that 50 year period,
the year of Jubilee. How much is your land is worth? You look at the calendar, and you say, "Oh, it's just two years till Jubilee. Then I have to give
this land back to the original family," and you don't get paid for it. You just give it back. So, you say, "I'll pay you this much, because I can only
use it for 2 years."
Well, this man could have said, "I want to help the priesthood. The priests have families. The priests would like to have some good things in their
lives. They get things from the sacrifices. They do get to use the animals which are being sacrificed. God has provided for them, but they are in the
service of God, and the care of our temple. Take my surplus. Let's make the ministry there better, as we operate with the facilities. Why should I build
something better for myself when our religious facilities need some improvement and care? He didn't do that.
Verse 19: "I'll say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come: take your ease; eat; drink; and, be merry.' But God said
to him, 'You fool, this very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared?'" He could have taken the whole crops with
him, had he done the first thing I said – had he put it in God's work, and had he put it in the service of the Lord. He didn't do that.
So, the question was: "Tonight, you're going to die. Now who is going to have all these crops? You're not rich. If you could take all these crops with
you, because you had put them into God's work, you really would be rich in heaven. So is the man who lays up treasures for himself, and is not rich toward
God."
Luke 12:31: "But seek for His Kingdom, and these things will be added to you."
Then there's another sobering passage, and it's Matthew 6:19-21: "Buy the gold," Jesus says to the Laodiceans. They had the wealth. They were like
the rich man. They had everything, but they didn't know how to take it with them. Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy,
and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is (your love), that's where your heart will be:" "Where your treasure is (my treasure
is in heaven), and that's what I'm going to convert my material goods by putting them into the service of God, and sending them up ahead." Yes, you can
take it with you, but you have to convert it into the proper transmitting form to begin with.
So, here Jesus is telling him to do a very practical thing: take the gold of the Word of God that you have. You have grace salvation. You have potential
of a great power system. You have lost this prize by your carnality. Now get back to buying the preciousness of the reality of the Word of God. Stop doing
other things on Sunday, and get out to the church services, and receive the gold of church-age truth. The advice of Jesus Christ continues now to the Laodiceans
on how to correct the nauseous condition with the second thing that they should do.
First of all, verse 19 told us to buy the gold.
White Raiment
Secondly, they need to buy white raiment. The money for this again is believing the Word of God, or believing church-age doctrinal principles. They
are to buy white garment. White is the color of purity or holiness. The Laodiceans are to secure something which is holy. Oh, they have plenty of garments.
They have plenty of the latest fashions that they're wearing, but those are not holy garments. They're just things. What they are to receive, he says,
"Are the garments." And this Greek word tells us a little more about the kind of garment. It's called the "himation," and that means the mantle that's
thrown over the undergarments. It is what people see. It is that which the Laodiceans are to secure – a holy garment that people will see. And they
are to buy this from the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a spiritual covering. And why?
Well, he's that they are to buy this particular holy garment so that they may clothe themselves. And the word "clothing" tells us a little more about
the style of this garment. It is called a "periballo." "Peri" means "around," and "ballo" means "to throw." So, it means something "to cast around yourself,"
like a cape. Jesus Christ declares that the Laodiceans were naked. All they had was their underwear. They thought they were fashion plates. Jesus saw
the Laodicean Christians in their true condition of spiritual nakedness. And that's what counts in eternity.
So, while people might be impressed with how stylish you are every Sunday that they see you, God is not impressed with the garments that He sees that
are really significant – your spiritual covering.
Revelation 19:8 has a very important point about these garments: "And it was given to her (to the church – to the individual believers of the
church-age, to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean (the holiness of God), for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." And it is
plural. It is the righteousnesses of the saints. So, there is the material out of which you're going to make your garment that you're going to show up
in heaven. The garment will be made out of your divine good service (your acts of righteousness in fulfilling your mission). That is what will make up
the garment that you are clothed with. The lifestyle of godliness (personal sanctification) – that's the material out of which you cut the garment.
The divine good works produced by the Holy Spirit fulfill your Ephesians 2:10 mission. That's what you make the garments out of.
So, when he says to: "buy this special garment" – a holy garment that you can throw about yourself to cover yourself, so that you're not standing
there just in your undergarments, this is a garment that you may clothe yourself with, and it's white because it is the holiness of God. It's not always
carnality things that dress us. It is the godly things. That's what dresses us.
Now, you know that we pointed out that Laodicea was a city that was known for its black wool. There was a special kind of sheep that had a lovely black
wool. This black woolen cloth was desired all over the empire. It was symbolic here of the carnal lifestyle of the congregation of Laodicea. But the Laodiceans
viewed themselves as good Christians. And they thought that they looked really good. Instead of the white garments of divine righteousness, which is the
only garment that you can wear in heaven, in daily living, they wore the black garments of the smug, self-centered carnality of the world system. They
had religion, but they did not have a relationship with Christ. It is a terrible thing, then, for a believer to be insensitive or indifferent to his own
evil ways, because that's the garment that you're making for yourself. In the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were dressed in what Isaiah 64:6 says
are just filthy rags. The Laodicean Christians, therefore, are to repent of their reversionism. They're to clothe themselves in a sanctified lifestyle.
And they are to just pay a little attention, for heaven's sake, to the service to God that you can perform. Pay a little attention to meditation upon
reading the Word of God. Pay a little attention to having fellowship with Christians, so that you're not walking and rubbing shoulders all the time with
the world system, and all the crummy, depressive, degrading qualities that that imposes on you.
That's why the banquet Friday night was so magnificent. And people came from such a distance, because the fellowship to step aside, and be in the presence
of the godliness of people in this terrible evil age, who understand where history is going, helps keep our head screwed on straight. If you don't think
that's true, I think you're going to find that was a very bad mistake.
The Laodicean Christians are to repent, and they are to confess. They get back on track in their service. They're to buy sanctification. This verb
is in the middle voice. That means that they do it for themselves. But its subjunctive mode means that they might do it, or they might not do it. A lot
of Christians don't care about designing a garment of righteousness.
Now, why do you want this kind of garment? Well, verse 18 says, "So that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed." The idea is the shame. This
word connotes humiliation. The Laodiceans found this a hard word to impose upon them. They were proud in their arrogance of their carnality, when, in
fact, they stood in a position of humiliation. They weren't ashamed of everything. They felt that they were just great people. But when God looked at
them, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "You're all 'gumnos.'" You're all naked. This is word that means "no clothing." Public nudity, by God's standard, is
a shameful thing. You may read about this in Genesis 9:20-23, where Noah became drunk, and lay there naked in his tent, and his son Ham made fun of the
old man. The other two sons said, "No, that's a shameful thing, and we should not treat our father with that disrespect." The two boys put a robe over
their backs, and they went in backwards, and covered their father as he lay there. So, they did not view him in his shameful nudity.
Are people ashamed of nudity in our society today? They are not likely. They think it's really cute and cool. Well, this is what Jesus said to these
people. I mean, they had everything in life on a material sense. And they were born again people. He said to them, "Spiritually, you're plumb naked, and
public nudity, after the fall in Eden, became a major factor to our day, which has led to sexual immorality. Public nudity leads to that.
This word is sometimes used to describe one who's only wearing his undergarments. This is an interesting thing. The word "nudity" is also for just
being in your undergarments, which is near nudity. In John 21:7, this word is used. The disciples have been fishing, and Jesus comes along. They recognize
Him: "Then that disciple therefore whom Jesus loved (that is, John) said to his friend Peter that the man who was talking to them on the shore, 'It's the
Lord.' So, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on, for he was stripped for work," or he was nude. It's the same Greek
word, and he threw himself into the sea. He had stripped down to his underwear to work hauling in the in the fish. So, he puts on his outer garment, and
jumps in the water, so he could swim to shore to the Lord.
The Laodicean Christians were therefore walking around in their spiritual underwear. Spiritual underwear is salvation by the grace of God. They did
have that righteousness. But the garment that they were going to cover themselves with was their own works of divine good righteousness. They had the
covering-of-salvation righteousness, but they had no experiential sanctification covering. And when you get up to heaven, it is going to be that way.
A lot of Christians are going to be walking around in their underwear up there. Salvation – that's great. You need that righteousness. But the rewarded
ones will be walking around with magnificent garments that have been the product of their faithfulness in their divine good service.
It is a shameful sight to see a Christian walking about without the clothing of experiential sanctification. It is not a nice sight. And we see that
happen all the time at all age levels, and all of a sudden, some Christian gets into deep trouble. He can be a youth, or he can be an adult. And it's
always because he has permitted his experiential sanctification to become shredded. So, he's walking around in the undergarment of salvation. He's covered
with that, but he has no experiential sanctification out of which to make a holy garment to walk before the Lord. So, that garment is important now,
when some Christian stumbles, and is tripped up by Satan because he is not in the right uniform of the day.
If you have ever been in the military service, you know what it means to have the word passed along about the uniform of the day. When the uniform
of the day is posted, by heaven, you better wear that uniform. That is the accepted clothing – nothing else. And it is like that with God. You are
to walk about in experiential sanctification garments. That you will take to heaven. And you build that experiential sanctification garment by what you
do with your material things. That's the connection. So, don't be too quick to say, "Oh, sure. I have experiential garments. I have lots of that good-works
material. Not too fast. You better be very careful about how much your eyes are on things below, and not on the things that God has for you to do.
Ananias and Sapphira
Ananias and Sapphira are classic examples of two people who were saved, with no experiential garments or sanctification – just the undergarments
of salvation. Here it says that we do this, so that your lack of covering would not be revealed. The Greek word is "phaneroo." "Phaneroo" means manifested
in public view. And our garments of righteousness indicate our true character.
Well, the Laodiceans, then, are being warned that are in the undergarments of salvation righteousness, but they are spiritually naked in their outer
garments of righteousness in God's service. And this is a passive condition. They can't say they're something they're not. They can't pretend that they're
something they're not. It is something that they cannot hide. But it is, again, that subjective mode. You choose to do it, or you ignore it. What a sight
to see Christians going in the Lord's presence in nothing but their spiritual undergarments at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Personal sanctification –
that was the clothing that the Laodiceans lacked. And Jesus said that that's a very, very shameful condition. And it was one which they simply were not
sensitive to.
Eye Salve
Then He said, "You need to buy one thing more from me. You need some eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see." These people were spiritually
blind as a bat at Laodicea: Christians, but blind. And He said, "You need to buy from me also your positive volition to the Word of God – and eye
salve so that you can anoint your eyes. The word "anoint" looks like this: "egchrio." "Egchrio" means "to rub in," or "to besmear." It's something that
will heal spiritual blindness. It's a medication for spiritual blindness.
There was a very serious problem in the ancient world with eyes. The apostle Paul, in one of his letters, said, "You see with what large handwriting
I write this." We suspect that that was one of the things that was a problem for him. He had physical problems, and we suspect that eyesight was one of
them. These people needed to have something to anoint their eyes with so that their spiritual sight would be brought into focus. Their eyes, the physical
organs, were used for spiritual vision in a symbolic sense. They had eyes to see on the earth, but they were missing the realities of spiritual things.
This concept of being able to see spiritual things is in Ephesians 1:17:18: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to
you a spirit of wisdom, and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (full knowledge of Him). And I pray that the eyes of your heart (the eyes of your mentality)
may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of this calling, and what are the riches – the prize of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints. If you don't have this, you will not have an appreciation for what you have in the package of salvation.
This word "egchrio" that means "to anoint the eyes" is also used in Matthew 13:15: "It's for the heart of the people has become dull, and with their
ears, they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and return, and I should heal them." If you go spiritually blind, you're in a very bad condition. The consequences of lacking eyes of spiritual insight
are eternal in nature. It will result in your not having a garment of experiential righteousness to wear, and you will not have the rewards in heaven.
What does it take? It takes what he "eye salve." This was made sort of like a lipstick. It was compacted into a little roll. And it was called a "kollourion."
This is a medical word. "Kollourion" refers to a cylindrical shape, and the background of the word comes from what was called the "tephra phrygia."
This was a medical product. It was an eye powder which was developed in the Laodicean medical school, for they had a medical school there. This eye powder
was very popular because of the problem that people had with eye infections, often in very unsanitary conditions. So, this powder was mixed with a grease
or oil, and then it was rolled into a tight little cylinder like a lipstick. And then it was applied to the eyes. The Lord Jesus Christ had this medication
for their eyes so that their spiritual discernment will come back.
The Laodiceans have been blinded by carnality. And their eyesight will come back when the Word of God is applied. Is this real? It's real. This is
not just inspirational talk. It is for real.
So, there we are. These people thought they were everything because they had wealth. And they did. They had their eyes on things below, and they had
status in the community, and they had good clothes, and they could go to any restaurant they wanted, and they thought that God was blessing them. Jesus
said, "You think you're a fashion place, but you're walking around in spiritual underwear of righteousness of salvation. But you have no garment to cover
that up. So, I advise you to do this: There are three things you need to buy from Me to get back out of your reversionism.
The first one is gold; that is, the Word of God refined by the omniscience of God. Then you'll be a rich person. Also, buy white garments so that you
may clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will be hidden – your righteousnesses (your godly life and your Christian service). The
third thing you must buy from Me is eye salve, to anoint your eyes – confession of known sins, and positive volition to the Word of God, so that
you can see the truth. You can see yourself as you are.
There are going to be multiplied numbers of people, I can guarantee you, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, who will wonder what ever possessed them to miss
the point when they sat here in Berean Church, and they heard these things laid out from the Word of God, and the order of things, they said, "Yeah, that's
nice, but it's not for me. You cannot have a foot in God's camp, and a foot in the world's camp. Forget it. You're a fool to think that. The world's camp
will always win out. That's what happened in Laodicea. They were Christians going to heaven – yes, but all they had was the garment that God gave
them of absolute righteousness. But how they dressed themselves in their spiritual service – nothing. And that's why there will be tears in heaven
that Jesus will have to wipe away. Do you want to cry then?
Dr. John E. Danish, 1995
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