Seventh-day Adventists and many other Christian groups confess to belonging to the seventh church of the Christian age, the Laodicean church, written of in the book of the Revelation chapter three. Many christians also confess to personally being Laodicean or lukewarm in spiritual nature.
Ellen White writes that “I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God's people at the present time…” 1T 186. This means all of God's people. Laodiceans are said to be "lukewarm professors", neither spiritually cold nor hot. They have a lukewarm faith. Laodiceans think themselves spiritually rich: "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." Rev 3:17 RSV.
He advises the remedy, to "buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see." Jesus reproves those He loves, "Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent." The invitation is, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me." Rev 3: 15-21 RSV.
These are the words of the faithful and true witness, the Amen, the beginning of God's creation, so they must be true. See v 14. He cannot lie. See Titus 1:2, Heb 6:18.
The majority of God's people are in this state, this the Bible teaches. The shocking truth about Laodiceans is that Christ will eventually spew them out of His mouth. He says so in verse 15-16. "I will spew YOU out of My mouth." He would prefer you to be either cold or hot. What? Christ prefers lukewarm Christians to be cold rather than lukewarm? Yes! Lukewarm Christians profane His holy name by living the life of sinners. He can get to the cold, they know they're lost, but the lukewarm think their hot when they're lukewarm. Therefore all lukewarm saints are lost if He spews them out of His mouth!
What is their problem? Their problem is that they think themselves rich and increased with spiritual goods, truth, and do not realize their need of a Saviour. The first condition of acceptance with Christ is to know you're lost, to know and feel your need. They don't realize they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked spiritually in the sight of God. See v 17.
Oh, they give a mental assent to the truth but it does not register to them that their faith in Christ is presumption upon the mercies of God. God has His conditions of acceptance; unless we meet them, we are not accepted in the beloved. I spoke of this to a friend who said, “Oh, Christ promised "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Heb 13:5. However, unless they repent and forsake their sins and live a godly life by Christ's standards, they're lost, hell bound and one day, at the close of their probation, He will spew them out as vile from his mouth. Therefore, we may deduce that lukewarm Christians are repulsive to Christ; their profession invokes vomiting, total rejection.
Laodiceans cannot afford to believe that if they just hang on we shall be saved. Unless we are abiding in the branch and the sap of Christ's divine nature is ours, we are not, categorically not, born again! This is utter folly. Christ through His angels says six times that it is only to the overcomer that the crown of eternal life is proffered. Unless we are overcoming in our daily walk, we are being overcome. Unless we gain precious victories over our sins, we shall never walk with the Shepherd in the Psalm 23 experience.
We must know the true gospel of Christ, for error damns. The truth of Christ's gospel is that we are not "saved in sin". We cannot continue our life of breaking the ten commandments and delude ourselves we will yet win paradise. The truth of the Bible is that we are saved from the power and guilt of sin. See Matthew 1:21. We must separate from sin and sinners, for God will have a clean and holy universe.
Sin separates us from Christ. Christ will only entrust eternal life to those who prove that they can be trusted with eternal life that will not continue to propagate sin and re-infect the universe with sin. They have idols that shut out Jesus, they prize sin higher than truth. Many lean upon a false hope. They flatter themselves that they are good Christians yet they have not a single ray of light from Jesus. They have no living faith or love of Christ.
