1 John 2:28 – “Abide in Him”.
In other words, stay intimate with Jesus - so we may not be ashamed before Him, at His coming; and be confident.
Titus 3:8 – “Be careful to maintain good works.”
Al of us are to keep our garments. What does that mean? Putting it very simply: I need to maintain an intimate, passionate, love relationship with Jesus. I need to let Him transform my heart; and I need to be actively involved in serving in some way. I need to produce works. We saw when it comes to sonship, that these are the three major roles of sons:
1) Intimacy with God
2) Transformation of the heart
3) Doing things, acts of service, extending His kingdom.
Jesus warned about not having a garment on, and He's not talking about being saved. He's talking about make sure that when He comes, you're not a slacker. You're not lukewarm, and you're not hanging around, being idle. He said: make sure that your heart is on fire; that you're in vital, intimate relationship; and that you're very busy advancing His kingdom. There's nothing more clear than that – it’s very, very clear.
The second warning Jesus gave was about having defiled garments. Revelations 3:4 – “you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments”. That tells us that we can defile the garments. If the garments are acts of righteousness that we do; or in other words, it's the life we're living, and what we're doing - then they can be defiled. How could they be defiled?
Jesus checks our garments. He said: “You have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. They will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”
They didn't defile their garments. What does that mean? ‘Worthy’ means: to be deserving of praise, to be deserving honour. He said: ‘they are worthy’. Jesus will check our garments - our actions, to see: are they defiled? Are they worthy of close companionship, and reward? He checks you out. If your garments are dirty… He's using spiritual language. Dirty garments, can't get in; clean garments, you're in. He said: don't allow your garments to be defiled. What does it mean, to be defiled? It means: to be polluted, or stained, or contaminated. Something inferior was added to it, that changed its quality. So ‘clean garment’ means ‘clean heart’, and ‘pure motives’, when you do things. This is very simple.
Clean garments, clean heart - you're operating out of love; there's no hidden agendas with what you do. You're doing things because you love the Lord; doing them out of love. These are works flowing out of faith and love; there's no personal agenda. What defiles our garments is hidden selfish agendas. He looks to check your life: are you passionately in love with Him? Are you overflowing, and representing Him, and showing what He's like, with selfless acts of love? He said: love your enemies; do good; hope for nothing in return - and your reward be great; you'll be sons of the most high, if he's kind to the unthankful and evil. Blessed are the pure in heart – they will see God.
The theme of His teaching is really simple; it's not complex. It simply comes down to this: stay on fire, and in love with Jesus; keep your heart pure; and abound in good works. Notice why He's caning the Laodicean church: because, He's saying: you're proud, and you think you're doing well. You've got big buildings, a lot of money, and all these people and whatever; but actually the whole thing is lukewarm, and it's tainted, and stained - it's not acceptable. Jesus' counsel then, is to: “buy of Me white garments”.
Revelations 3:18 – “I counsel you. This is My advice (Jesus' advice): buy gold, refined in the fire, so you can be rich. Buy white garments, that you may be clothed, and the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. Anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see”.
Remember, the garments are the righteous acts of the saints; the accumulation of what we do clothes us for the coming age of glory. Notice His counsel: buy of Me. Now let me give you three simple things in here…
1) “Buy of Me” means: He is the source. What you're going to have to do can only come from Him. You can't get it from me, you can only get it from God. Remember the foolish virgins, who didn't pay the price? So “buying of Me” means Jesus is the source. I've got to get engaged with Him, to get what's needed.
2) “Buy” means I have to pay a price. There's a cost of getting this gold, refined in the fire. There's a price to following Jesus. There's a price in walking with Him.