As covered previously, many consider the seven churches of Revelation to be a prophetic outline of church history, and I share that view. Looking back, this is an amazingly accurate outline of church history. It would mean that the last church the Lord addressed, the church at Laodicea, would represent the church at the end of the age. This was the church that the Lord gave His greatest promises to: they would be given their food by Him, and they would sit with Him on His throne. This is in contrast to the great company that stands before the throne (see Revelation 7). This speaks of the best of all spiritual food and unprecedented authority.
We tend to think of the church at Laodicea as the one that was so prosperous they had become lukewarm, making the Lord sick to the point that He would vomit them out of His mouth. This is true of the church today, and it is the great danger of our time for Christians. To be lukewarm is the worst condition that a Christian could ever fall into because it reveals ultimate contempt for the Lord. Indifference is the greatest affront to any relationship. To know Almighty God and be lukewarm toward Him is the greatest insult. This seems to reflect the condition of many, if not most, Christians in this time.
How can anyone who knows God be lukewarm? Jesus said,“because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). He did not say “many” here, but “most.” This is obviously addressed to Christians because non-Christians do not have a love for Him to lose. Therefore, we can conclude that in these times, most Christians will have their love for Christ grow cold. To go from being hot to cold you have to pass through the lukewarm stage. This seems to be where most Christians are now.
Lawlessness begins with impurity, which grows into fornication and adultery (see Romans 6). All who go down this trail to illegal sensuality, lust, and the sins that are begotten by them, will have their love for God grow cold. They tend to become even more religious as an attempt to compensate for their sin. However, that too is a basic departure from the righteousness that we have only through the cross of Jesus. Those who seek their own justification through works will also move further away from truly loving God.
A study done by Orthodox Jews revealed that pornography is more addictive than cocaine. This community of Jews had a divorce rate of only 6% when the rest of the world was experiencing nearly 50%. Then, when the Orthodox community saw their rate of divorce double, they sought answers to why this was happening and conducted this study. They saw pornography as the key inroad of sin that destroyed marriages.
If we let the impurity of pornography into our lives, we are trading the love of Christ for it. Our love for Him will grow cold, and further lawlessness will grip our hearts. We are choosing between lust and life. The wages of sin is death, and eternal life is only found in Christ. Are we going to serve sin or serve Him? “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (see Hebrews 4:7).