About forty years ago, I was sitting on the living room floor, with my Bible and several commentaries scattered all around me. While reading Revelation chapter 3, I had a thought for a sermon. I recalled a Time Magazine article from my childhood and then began researching the subject. This was several years before the Internet. While I utilized many resources to compile the sermon, I believed my title was original. Sometime later, while reading through an old Shepherd’s Staff magazine, I noticed a sermon with my title. There were some common thoughts in mine and his. But what I thought was my original title had been used by this guy over one hundred years earlier: “God Is Not Dead, But He Is Sick.” I suppose Solomon was right when he said there is nothing new under the sun.

Revelation 3:16, “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of My mouth.” Most translations use the word “vomit,” rather than “spue.” This message is often used to refer to the condition of the world in the last days. That verse is followed by Jesus telling what made Him sick. “You say you are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” While we quickly attribute these words to the last days, it seems to have gone right over our heads who the Lord is talking to in these scriptures. These words were not spoken to the infidel, they were not spoken to the atheist, they were not spoken to the one who denies the deity of Christ. It was not to any of these that God said, “I will vomit you out of My mouth,” but rather it was to the church. It is the last days’ church that makes God sick to His stomach.

Most people will only know about God from what they see in us. What does the world see when it looks at the average Christian? They see people who profess deliverance from sin, but who have no victory over sin, people who talk about joy, but who have no joy; they see no evidence of a changed heart, no proof of the reality of God. Jesus said part of the problem would be, “You say you have no need of anything.” We live in a day when we have become so self-satisfied. We have more beautiful buildings than we’ve ever had, more modern equipment, splendid organization, preachers with theology degrees, the sweetest singing you would ever want to hear, large budgets, a wide range of literature, denominational schools, and missionaries. We have everything we could possibly need, so what is missing?

Since we feel we have need of nothing, we seek nothing. We are not hungry, so we do not come and dine at the Master’s table. We are not thirsty, so we do not drink from the fountain of living waters. We are not aware that we have lost our power, so we do not pray. We often fail to realize that our sins grieve the heart of God, so we do not repent. Jesus said, “This people draw near Me with their mouth, but their heart is far from Me.”

What are we to do? Jesus gave us the answer in verses 18-22, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

I pray that each of us will do what is right, whether the world likes it or not. Eternity is just around the bend. It’s time to get right with God.