November 18, 2007
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Bible Reading: Ephesians 6-The Wiles of the Devil: "Songs of the Lukewarm Church"
Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds us one of the wiles of the devil is to give false assurance.
How then does he [the devil] exercise his wiles in connection with this whole question of assurance? The first thing he does is to try to give us a false assurance, a false rest, a false peace and a false joy. Obviously if he can delude any of us with the counterfeit, he is going to keep the true from us; and that is one of his favorite wiles....
An example of this is found in the Book of Revelation, concerning the church of the Laodiceans: "Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (3:14-17). You cannot better that description of a church, or body of Christian people who have succumbed to the wiles of the devil in this particular respect. They were perfectly self-satisfied, and felt they were rich; everything seemed to them to be going well; they needed nothing at all; and yet they were in a terrible and tragic condition.
I wonder if the church in Laodicea might have sung some Songs of the Lukewarm Church....rather than singing Matt Redman's "When All Is Said and Done":Life's too short to be lukewarm
This I know, this I know
Jesus, You can have it all
My every breath
My every breath
I need Your power to live this life
This I know, this I know
I can't do this by myself
You're Christ in me
My only hope
As I walk this broken world
Tune my life to heaven's song
For I am Yours
And when all is said and done
Tune my life to heaven's song
Forevermore
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13" (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977 reprint), 224-225."When All Is Said and Done" by Matt Reman © 2006 THANKYOU Music.
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