Whenever a certain disease is found in a family, the children in that family will naturally have a stronger tendency to be afflicted with that particular disease. Our Creator explains plainly, “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5, 6). Our chances of getting a specific disease such as cancer, heart disease, or arthritis are usually greater if our parents suffered from any such disease.

This principle of heredity also applies when we consider the Laodicean syndrome. We need to face squarely the bitter fact - lukewarmness runs in our family! We cannot escape our heritage. And as the sin problem continues to escalate on our planet, each successive generation grows weaker and weaker. So, all who are born in this era of history must be absolutely on guard. There’s no escaping the reality. But with the wonderful help which our merciful God is offering us - if we apply the healing remedies we’ve been studying about during this Week of Prayer - we can yet escape the subtle, insidious snare of the Laodicean syndrome.

Why is it possible to be delivered from the trap that entangles the Laodiceans? Because our heavenly Father loves us. His Son plainly declares, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19).

Just think about it: When we genuinely love our children, we make sure to correct their wrong tendencies and wayward habits. We try not to let them grow up in crooked paths - we make every conceivable effort to straighten the tender, young sapling before it becomes a massive gnarl of defective timber. Why? It is simply because we love them so much.

Likewise, as our heavenly Father’s children, we are told to “despise not . . . the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:5-11).

One of the first studies in this Week of Prayer was about the glorious investment property that Jesus wants us to purchase - those heavenly riches of faith and love. Yet, “before there can be an intense desire for the wealth contained in Christ, which is available to all who feel their poverty, there must be a sense of need. When the heart is full of self-sufficiency, and preoccupied with the superficial things of earth, the Lord Jesus rebukes and chastens in order that men may awake to a realization of their true condition.”1

In chastening and rebuking us, the Lord discloses to us our defects. He unveils the decay and deformities that are eating away at our spiritual life. And as we begin to honestly see ourselves as we really are - wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked - we are less likely to climb up onto any presumed judgment seat to stand as harsh critics of our brethren and sisters in the faith. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord admonishes us: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).

The apostle confirms, “We dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12).

“When men arise, claiming to have a message from God, but instead of warring against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, they form a hollow square, and turn the weapons of warfare against the church militant, be afraid of them. They do not bear the divine credentials. God has not given them any such burden of labor. They would tear down that which God would restore by the Laodicean message. He wounds only that He may heal, not cause to perish. The Lord lays upon no man a message that will discourage and dishearten the church. He reproves, He rebukes, He chastens; but it is only that He may restore and approve at last.”2

“In the church militant men will be ever in need of restoration from the results of sin. The one who in some respects is superior to another is in other respects inferior to him. Every human being is subject to temptation and in need of brotherly interest and sympathy. The exercise of mercy in our daily relations with one another is one of the most effective means of attaining perfection of character, for only those who walk with Christ can be truly merciful.”3

“We wish we had heaven here below, but we have not. The church militant is not the church triumphant. The church militant must wrestle and toil. She must strive against temptations and fight severe battles, because Satan is not dead. His agencies are much more active in his work than are the agencies of God in the work of their Leader. . . .

“God wants His workers to stand together in perfect unity. One worker is not to measure another worker, trying to find out how high or low broad he is spiritually. If you think your fellow worker is not all he ought to be, try to show him where he is lacking. Those who are new in a field cannot be expected to possess the experience of those who have been in the field for years. They are to be trained and educated, learning, lesson after lesson, how to do the work.

“To those . . . who all their lives have indulged themselves God says, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up the cross and follow me.’ The one we are told to follow is the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, who, in His great love for the human race, laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, and came to this earth to show men how to live Christian lives. He tells us that self-denial is the evidence of discipleship.

“Could the curtain be rolled back, you would today see that the angels of heaven are looking with sadness upon our terrible neglect. All heaven is waiting to give God’s sufficiency to those who will consecrate themselves unreservedly to the Master’s service.”4

What does it mean to consecrate ourselves unreservedly to God? It’s easy for us to expect this of others, but when it involves our own life, then the real challenge of the cross enters into the picture. Our mind seems to see a horizontal barrier directly blocking our upward, vertical aspirations. But that very cross has an attractive drawing power. Nothing can compare with the magnitude and beauty of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Lord has shown us the victory to be achieved by His supreme act of self-denial, with the words, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die” (John 12:31-33). This amazing drawing power is able to inspire in the human heart not mere superficial repentance, but truly zealous repentance. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

In his desperate attempt to make a proud, bloodthirsty mob to see the innocent purity of Christ, Pontius Pilate exclaimed, “Behold the man!” (John 19:5). The misguided, self-righteous piety of the Jewish leaders was more than this Roman governor could tolerate, even in his own heathen ignorance. Yet Pilate’s fruitless efforts to appeal to the better nature of this professedly religious people were tragically in vain. Though the governor had found no fault in their lamblike Victim arrayed in a mock purple robe and crowned with thorns, their cruel, pitiless verdict seems to have been virtually unanimous: “Crucify Him!”

For us today looking back on the scene, are we ever in our thoughts or actions somehow guilty of blindly repeating the same outrageous error as these supposedly religious men? “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.” Such “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 10:26, 27; 6:6). We need to look to Calvary, we need to fall on the Rock, we need to be broken in spirit.

“Oh, why have we so little sense of sin? Why so little penitence? It is because we do not come nearer the cross of Christ. Conscience becomes hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, because we remain away from Christ. Consider the Captain of our salvation. He suffered shame for us that we might not suffer everlasting shame and contempt. He suffered on the cross, that mercy might be granted to fallen man. God’s justice is preserved, and guilty man is pardoned. Jesus dies that the sinner might live. Shame is borne by the Son of the Highest for the sake of poor sinners, that they might be ransomed and crowned with eternal glory.

“The cross of Calvary appeals in power, affording a reason why we should love Christ now, and why we should consider Him first, and best, and last, in everything. We should take our fitting place in humble penitence at the foot of the cross. We may learn the lessons of meekness and lowliness of mind as we go up to Mount Calvary and, looking upon the cross, see our Saviour in agony, the Son of God dying, the just for the unjust. Behold Him who could summon legions of angels to His assistance with one word, a subject of jest and merriment, of reviling and hatred. He gives Himself a sacrifice for sin. When reviled, He threatened not; when falsely accused, He opened not His mouth. He prays on the cross for His murderers. He is dying for them. He is paying an infinite price for every one of them. He would not lose one whom He has purchased at so great cost. He gives Himself to be smitten, and scourged, without a murmur. And this uncomplaining victim is the Son of God. His throne is from everlasting, and His kingdom shall have no end.

“Come, you who are seeking your own pleasures in forbidden joys and in sinful indulgences, you who are scattering from Christ. Look, O look upon the cross of Calvary; behold the royal victim suffering on your account, and be wise while you have opportunity, and seek now the fountain of life and true happiness. Come, you who complain and murmur at the little inconveniences and the few trials you must bear in this life. Look on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. He turns from His royal throne, His high command, and lays aside His royal robe, and clothes His divinity with humanity. For our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich.

“The Son of God was rejected and despised for our sakes. Can you, in full view of the cross, beholding by the eye of faith the sufferings of Christ, tell your tale of woe, your trials? Can you nurse revenge of your enemies in your heart while the prayer of Christ comes from His pale and quivering lips for His revilers, His murderers - ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do?’ (Luke 23:34).

“A work is before us to subdue pride and vanity, that seek a place in our hearts, and through penitence and faith to bring ourselves into familiar and holy converse with Jesus Christ. We must not shrink from the depths of humiliation to which the Son of God submitted in order to raise us from the degradation and bondage of sin to a seat at His right hand. We must deny self, and fight continually against pride. We must hide self in Jesus Christ, and let Him appear in our conversation and character as the One altogether lovely, and the chief among ten thousand. Our lives, our deportment will testify how highly we prize Christ, and the salvation He has wrought out for us at such a cost to Himself. While we look constantly to Him whom our sins have pierced, and our sorrows have burdened, we shall acquire strength to be like Him. We shall bind ourselves in willing, happy, captivity to Jesus Christ. It is high time we devoted the few remaining precious hours of our probation to washing our robes of character, and making them white in the blood of the Lamb, that we may be of that white-robed company who shall stand about the great white throne.”5

“Men sometimes become ashamed of their sinful ways, and give up some of their evil habits, before they are aroused to manifestly come to Christ; but it is the power of the gospel, the grace of Christ, that is drawing them to make reformation in their conduct. An influence of which they are unconscious works upon the soul, and the conscience is quickened, and the outward life is amended. And as Christ draws them to look upon His cross, to look upon Him whom their sins have pierced, the commandment comes home to the conscience. The wickedness of their life, the deep-seated sin of the soul, is revealed to them. They begin to comprehend something of the righteousness of Christ, and exclaim, ‘Was all this love, all this suffering, all this humiliation demanded that we might not perish, but have everlasting life?’ They then understand that it is the goodness of God that leadeth to repentance. A repentance such as this lies beyond the reach of our own powers to accomplish; it is obtained only from Christ, who ascended up on high, and has given gifts unto men. Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only one who can arouse in the natural heart enmity against sin. He is the source of our power if we would be saved. No soul can repent without the grace of Christ. The sinner may pray that he may know how to repent. God reveals Christ to the sinner, and when he sees the purity of the Son of God, he is not ignorant of the character of sin. By faith in the work and power of Christ, enmity against sin and Satan is created in his heart. Those whom God pardons are first made penitent.

“The pleasing fable that all there is to do is to believe has destroyed thousands and tens of thousands, because many have called that faith which is not faith, but simply a dogma. Man is an intelligent, accountable being; he is not to be carried as a passive burden by the Lord, but is to work in harmony with Christ. Man is to take up his appointed work in striving for glory, honor, and immortality. God calls upon men for the use of every talent He has lent them, the exercise of every power He has given; for man can never be saved in disobedience and indolence. Christ wrestled in earnest prayer; He offered up His supplications to the Father with strong crying and tears in behalf of those for whose salvation He had left heaven, and had come to this earth. Then how proper, yea, how essential that men should pray and not faint! How important that they should be instant in prayer, petitioning for the help that can come only from Christ our Lord! If you will find voice and time to pray, God will find time and voice to answer.”6

“The nearer we come to Jesus, and the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly shall we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the less shall we feel like exalting ourselves. There will be a continual reaching out of the soul after God, a continual, earnest, heartbreaking confession of sin and humbling of the heart before Him. At every advance step in our Christian experience our repentance will deepen.”7

Dear brethren and sisters, the opportunity is here. The time is now. Probation’s hour is fast fleeing. May the Holy Spirit of God deeply impress each of us to take earnest heed of the counsel of the True Witness to “be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19).