Christ is presented as the Amen and the Faithful and True Witness, addressing the spiritual complacency of the Laodicean church. The sermon reviews previous dual titles of Christ, including Lord and Christ, Prince and Savior, Apostle and High Priest, and Shepherd and Bishop, before focusing on the current text. The 'Amen' signifies Christ's absolute truthfulness, immutability, and the fulfillment of all God's promises, offering certainty in a world of flux. As the 'Faithful and True Witness,' Christ possesses perfect knowledge of hearts and motives, judging not by outward appearance but by inner reality, and his rebukes are born of love, offering a path to spiritual recovery through repentance and openness to His knock.
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Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with good, and have need of nothing, and knowest not, that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. 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 eyeshaves, that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And may the Lord bless the reading of his words. Let us again look to him in prayer. Our Father, we ask you for the ability tonight to examine these dual titles of our Lord.
He is indeed the Amen and the faithful and true witness. We thank you for him who reads the heart, for him to whom the hearts of all are exposed as an open book. And we pray thee that tonight we may get a new sense of who thou art, and thy dear son, we thank you again for his blood and righteousness that secures us and not only makes us accepted in the beloved, but makes us acceptable in thy sight.
We thank you for this glorious standing that is ours in him, in whose name we give thee thanks. Amen. When we consider this dual title of our Lord tonight, the Amen and the True Witness, we must remind ourselves afresh of the dual titles that we have already examined. We began with a foundational title in Acts chapter two, that God has made this same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. He is Lord. He has been exalted to God's right hand. And he is Christ. the anointed one of God who could say the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to preach a gospel to the poor he is Lord and he's Christ now I like something that our brother David lines not brother David lines but our brother David Morris said when he was with us in the series when I was in high school I had a history teacher who was a genuine believer.
She loved the Lord. She attended the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia where Dr. Barnhouse was pastor. She drove over ninety miles every Sunday morning to hear Dr. Barnhouse. She was a good history teacher. I couldn't have had a better. But she had a statement. God said it. I believe it. That settled it. Our brother David Lyons says, God said it. That settles it. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. And you know that's just the way it is. God has made him Lord. He is Lord. And what he says settles everything.
It doesn't matter whether it's believed by man. Man's belief does not add anything to the lordship of Christ. He is Lord. The unbelief of man doesn't take anything away from Christ. He is Lord. And what God has said stands. He is Lord and he is Christ. And I find rest for my soul when this becomes a living reality to me. When I open the Word of God and no matter where I read and I find that he has declared his will and his mind, I accept it. I don't try to explain it away. I accept it.
And I rejoice in the fact that he is Lord. Here is a foundational title of the dual titles of our Lord. Now the second one that we examine from Acts chapter four that God hath made him a prince and a savior. A prince and a savior. A prince is one who is kingly in nature. A savior is one who has become one of us and who has provided redemption to his precious blood. He is Lord and Christ. He is a prince and a savior. The third of these dual titles that we have already examined, he is the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.
And in Hebrews chapter three and verse one, we are commanded to consider him. He's the apostle. He's a sent one of God. The father sent the son to be the savior of the world. My, we could spend a lot of time just considering that and taking apart those words in all the simplicity, the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. But not only is he the sent one of God, he is the high priest of our confession, he is the one who at God's right hand bears his arm and continuously make intercession for us. As Hebrews seven, verse twenty five says, He ever liveth to make intercession for us.
In other words, The purpose of his life at the present time is us. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. We are the object of his love, just as he is the object of our faith and the object of our love. We are the object of his love. The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. He's the apostle and high priest of our confession. And then we also examine that he is a shepherd and bishop of our souls from First Peter chapter five. Peter there in First Peter five, you remember, he speaks of himself as a shepherd and under shepherd of the chief shepherd.
What a blessing it is to be able to speak of him as a shepherd. He could say, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd give us his life for the sheep. And all that the term shepherd conjures up in your mind. He is. He is the shepherd. But he's also the bishop. And that word bishop, he's the overseer. And Peter addresses his first epistle to overseers. In chapter five, the elders, the overseers, the shepherds who are among you, I exhort. So here we have the one who is above all. The chief shepherd, he is a shepherd, but he's also the overseer of our souls.
Isn't that a great expression? When you think of it, the one who oversees my soul is none other than a shepherd who gave his life for me. You think that through. You'll never get through it. And the more you think about it, the more you're going to worship him who loved us and gave himself for us. Now we come tonight in Revelation chapter three and verse fourteen to the dual title, the Amen and the true witness. Now the background for this title is none other than the church at Rehadesia. Now the conditions of the church at Rehadesia are the same as the conditions of the church in our day today.
The sad part about Laodicea, that church was spiritually dead, and it didn't know it. And to a large extent today, the church is dead, but it doesn't know it. Now, this church at Laodicea, there is no hint of evil doctrine. There was a hint back at the church at Ephesus. There was a hint in the church, more than a hint in the church at Tarotara. And the church of Sardis, but no hint of evil doctrine here. And there was no actual accusation of moral evil in this church at Laodicea.
No. The great matter of the Holy Spirit's life and power are what is missing in this church. The life of the Spirit. and the power of the Spirit. For this church was beggarly. This church was blind. And this church was insensitive to the voice of God. He said, You say that you're rich and increased with good and have need of nothing. That's what the church at Laodicea said.
Take a look at our bank statements. That's what the church at Laodicea could say. But the Lord, with his eyes of a flame of fire, he looked and said, no, that's not how it is. You're beggarly and you don't know. You're blind to spiritual truth and you're insensitive to my voice. Now into this condition, into this condition, that is described of the church at Laodicea, we have the searching scrutiny of the one who declares himself to be the Amen and the true and the faithful witness.
He comes to expose, which he did. He comes to warn, which he did. And he comes to reveal the way of recovery. God never warns without giving a way of recovery. He cries out, I counsel thee to buy a me, gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich. There are riches, friends, that money can't buy, and money can't provide, gold tried in the fire. I counsel thee to buy a me, I salve, that you might see. Laodicea had a name for making a salve that was good.
for the eyes and help people with physical blindness. But the Lord says there's something worse than being physically blind. It's being spiritually blind. And I have the remedy for that. I have the way of recovery for spiritual eyesight. Let us consider the Amen. He is the Amen and the faithful and the true witness. The word Amen is derived from a Hebrew root, meaning that which is sure, that which is fixed, and that which is true. The only sure thing in this world is a knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that which is associated with a gospel of saving grace.
There isn't anything that is sure. Think of it. You have no security of any kind apart from that which is in Christ Jesus. I knew a man who knew John D. Rockefeller, and he knew him in the later years of his life. He said that man would have given millions just to have health that was half decent, but he couldn't buy it. But you see, having security in good health, even to a hundred years, is a speck in relation to being saved and secure, not for a hundred years, but for all eternity.
When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less saved to sing God's praise. than when we first begun, I've often sat and tried to imagine eternity. And your mind wheels into infinity, friends. After you've been in glory for fifty billion years, oh, that's an awful, that's an awful length of time. Or multiply it by a trillion. you've just as long to go.
You can't imagine eternity because everything that you and I know has to do with time. We are creatures of time. But eternity, friends, it never ends. It never ends. I remember my illustration that I got from an agnostic. As I was witnessing to him concerning the eternity of the lake of fire, his name is Jack Nevius. His uncle, whom he's named after, was a famous missionary to Korea, John Livingston Nevius. And this was his nephew.
And as far as I know, he still lives in Meyerson, Pennsylvania. He's up in his eighties. I visited him about three years ago on vacation. You just can't visit everybody when you go north. I'd love to. I would have loved to have talked to Jack again. And Jack says, I'm coming in through the side door. He said, I'm not going to come by Christ. I'm going to prove to you that I can come in through the side door. And Jack made a lot of money in South Rye Gate, Vermont. He was in the granite business. And this was his illustration of eternity. He said, if you had a cubic yard of solid granite and a hummingbird, now you know what a hummingbird is.
We have a feeder out there. They're one of the sweetest creatures to watch, to photograph, to do a lot of things. And if a hummingbird came once every hundred years and brushed its wings across that piece of granite, and returned a hundred years later until it did that, until that granite was worn away by nothing other than the brushing of the wings of the hummingbirds. That's one day in eternity. A man who would say that and still remain apart from Christ.
Can you imagine the judgment that he will face in a coming day? When we think of the Amen, it is derived from a root that speaks of that which is sure, that which is fixed and that which is true. In other words, I'd like you to turn to Isaiah chapter sixty-five and verse sixteen, for just one verse and to let you see the meaning of the word Amen. Isaiah sixty-five and verse sixteen where we have the expression God of truth and here we could it could be translated God of the Amen the God of the Amen notice it twice here in Isaiah sixty five sixteen that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of the Amen in the God of truth in that which cannot be changed that which is sure, and he that swareth in the earth shall swear by the God of the amen, because the former troubles are
forgotten, and because they are hidden from thine eyes. For behold, I create new heaven and the new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. Here we have one of those great expressions found in the prophecy of Isaiah. God says, I am the one who is the amen. I am the one who is fixed. I am the one who is unchangeable. I am the one who is true. I'm the Amen. And I'm going to create a new heavens and a new earth. And you won't even remember the former because of the glory of the latter.
It won't even come into mind. Oh, friends, God addresses this church that was blind, an insensitive and naked before him a church that had no divine righteousness to really speak about he addresses them I'm the one the only one who can give you that which is fixed and that which is true now in John's gospel That word, amen, is equivalent to the word verily.
Our Lord said, verily, verily, I say unto you. In, I think it's the Catholic translation, it says, Amen, amen, I say unto you. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me. But here in Revelation chapter three, as he addresses the church, it is a substantive statement. with a definite article, The. I am the Amen. First of all, it expresses the righteous character of him who administers all the counsels of God to the church.
The Amen. And our Lord Jesus is the Amen. He is the one who administers beloved, the righteous consoles of God in the church. He's the one who we see in chapter one, who holds the seven stars in his right hand. He holds the church in his hand. She is his creation, and she responds to his love. I am the amen. But more than that, he is the one in whom every purpose and promise of God is will be fulfilled.
I'd like you to turn to Second Corinthians chapter one and verse twenty. Second Corinthians one and verse twenty, where Paul says something great concerning the person of Christ, and he uses this word, Amen. And it has reference to the purposes and the promises of God. for all the promises of God in him that's in Christ are yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. Paul is taking his stand here in First Corinthians one with those who accused him of lying, of not telling the truth, as to when he would come to them and minister to them at Corinth.
They tried every way possible to discredit the Apostle Paul. But Paul speaks of himself in verse nineteen. And he says, For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not ye and nay. It was not yes and no. But in him was yes. For all the promises of God in him are yes. You can depend on them. He's the Amen. When we speak of the promises of God, friends, we speak with a definite yes.
They find their fulfillment in Him. The promises of God, there are multitudes of them in the Bible, about three thousand of them. Someone has said there are at least three hundred sixty-five for now, for time. You can't use them when you get to eternity. It'll be too late. If you're going to use them, you have to use them now. And the premises of God are like stacks of cement in a warehouse. Here's the warehouse, friends. Right here. What you know cement is of value less, unless it is mixed with water and sand.
Then it's of real value. And you know the promises of God are valueless unless they're mixed with faith. Hebrews chapter four. The promises that God made that he speaks of to Israel there in its link with chapter three. The promises that God made to Israel at Tadish Parnia, they didn't mean anything because they weren't mixed with faith in them that heard it. And you see, God can keep speaking, he can keep speaking, and he can keep speaking. God said it, that settles it. But if it's going to be settled and do me some good, I have to mix what God said with faith.
I believe in, I take amen's word. God addresses this church at Laodicea, and he says to them, I am the amen. O the promises of God, or find their complete fulfillment in him. Now that brings us to the second part of this dual title of our Lord. He is the witness, the faithful and the true witness. That is, he judges with a perfect knowledge and a perfect insight into the heart. God seeeth not as man seeeth.
Man looketh on the awkward appearance, but God looketh on the heart. Oh, when we learn this, that the one with whom we have to do, the one to whom we pray, he knows why I say what I do. He knows why I ask for what I ask. He is the faithful witness. No matter what this church at Laodicea might have said in their prayers, it is what they said in their heart which was manifested in what they did in their actions.
They probably never said, we're rich, we don't need anything. They never said that, Ad-Lad. They said it by their actions. And so it is in the church today. There are a lot of things we don't need to say on loud. We say them by what we do and how we react. And you see the faithful and the true witness, he judges with a perfect knowledge and an insight of the secrets of the heart. And you see, you can say, I know.
And that's what he says of this church. You see, in verse fifteen, he says, I know thy works, that thou art neither hot nor cold. And his witness is both faithful and true, regarding the secrets of the heart. But there's something else here. You know, if we just take the negative side of this, we're going to really miss it. For this one who knows all things about the secrets of the heart, he says something else. He not only says, I know, but he says, I love. Oh, how precious that is. He says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chase him.
Why does he speak as he did to the church at Laodicea? He loved him. He not only says, now, I know all about you. I know you need a hot and a cold. Really, no. As you think of the Christians that you know, do you know some that you'd have to say, they're neither hot nor cold? And God says it with a perfect knowledge, but God also goes further.
He says, as many as I long, I rebuke and I chasten with pen. Turn around, come back, have a second thought. And you see, direct from his heart that knows he says, I love. But now notice, when you consider the love of Christ, how graciously he offers the remedy for the sin of the heart. Look at verses eighteen through twenty two. In verse eighteen he says, I counsel thee to buy a me. Gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be closed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyes of that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chase them. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. I'm ever ready to listen to you. I'm ever ready to move toward you. I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me, to him that overcomes. Will I grant to sit with me and my throne, even as I also overcame and him set down with my father in his throne?
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. Notice the graciousness of the Lord. He offers the remedy for the sin of the heart. He is the amen and the faithful witness. But now there's one thing left here. There is a warning to us. We must beware of something. we must beware of turning a deaf ear to him when he speaks to a heart and we must beware of a stubborn will to the amen and the faithful witness is my will broken or is it stubborn is my ear deaf physically almost spiritually Do I hear his voice?
Am I rejoicing in his voice? You see, we must beware of turning a deaf ear, and we must beware of a stubborn will. Now originally, I planned on taking two dual titles tonight. This one, the Amen and the Faithful and True Witness, and another, the Alpha and the Omega. But I'm so afraid that already I've used up over a half hour.
And if I take the other, I'm not going to finish it. I'm going to go way over time. So I'm going to stop early tonight. But I think we need to spend just a moment in asking ourselves a question. Am I right, Rhea Decia? Christ comes to us tonight as the one who is sure. He is the only thing sure in the universe. He is the Amen. He comes to us tonight as the faithful and the true witness.
And he speaks of things as they are. Not as we wish they were. But as they are. Does he have my attention? Now I have to answer that question as well as you. And he gives the remedy for the recovery. He says, now I know. but I also love. What are you going to do about it? That's what he says. Now let's pray together. Our Father, who is likened to thee? When we examine these titles of our blessed Lord, we confess we stand amazed at your grace.
We stand amazed at your matchless love. And we ask you now that you will take the word and with us search our hearts. Deliver us, O God, from a stubborn will or from a deaf ear in order that we give to thee that honor and glory and praise that is due unto thee because of who thou art. Thou art thee. Amen. in whom we find all the promises of God fulfilled, the one who is sure and steadfast.
And we thank you, our Father, that you're the faithful and the true witness. Receive our thanks. Help us to be conscious of these truths moment by moment and day by day for the Lord Jesus' sake. Amen.