Book: Revelation

  • The Worthy One

    The Worthy One

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    [Music] okay let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter [Music] 5 Revelation chapter 5 a book was recently written by a conservative pastor and in him writing this book he was doing research on worship and he ended up calling his book worship tainment like entertainment and the reason why I call it that is because when he did his research and he researched all these places on how people do worship today how churches do worship he found out that worship was about personalities it was about music it was about cute skits it was about politics and ultimately it was about entertainment that worship was really a production getting people the people to the place where they are planning things to get people to worship but it’s really hard to reconcile those kind of things with the worship in the Bible in fact production and real worship don’t seem to go together in fact several times on vacation my wife and I stopped in places to worship on Sunday we always go to church on vacation and um we stopped in several places and it was quite different where the lights go low and the spotlights on the person who’s either singing or um giving a message and everybody’s dressed down even the speakers dressed down completely you know like it just came off the beach and and uh got into the pulpit and uh it just seemed different for me and a lot of places are are doing worship like that and um really when you evaluate it and look at it um I don’t think I would feel very comfortable doing that on a regular basis and being part of what they call worship I would call it that’s not worship and when you come to a chapter like chapter 4 4 and five in Revelation you begin to see this is real worship this is what’s really going on and not only that but while we’re here on Earth we should be doing worship like this also so chapter really four and five is teaching about true spiritual worship and who is the center of worship why are we here when we we meet on Sunday mornings and to worship as I mentioned already means to ascribe Worth to something and to someone and this includes using all that we are and all we have inside of us to praise God and for for what reason because of all he has is in his person all he does all he has done and all he will do so in Revelation 4:1 we have the verse worthy are you Lord Our God to receive glory and honor and power this is enthusiastic worship of our Lord and as we are taken from Earth to heaven in chapter four and five because we’re still in heaven we get a glimpse of the grander of the heaven heavly place of the God who sits on the throne that Universal Throne which stands for the Dominion and the rule and the kingly power and the sovereignty of our great God and today we we will see the one who is in the center of the throne room his name is Jesus Christ see Christians of all ages should really glean encouragement from Revelation especially chapter 4 and 5 especially concerning how they worship because as I mentioned last week our great guarantee that we have Victory as Christian is that God is on his throne and Jesus is the center of the throne room and that God has a blueprint for the future Christians have Victory and it’s because God is on his throne so we saw in chapter one the vision of the exalted Christ in Chapter 2 and three we saw the present church and how the Lord walks amongst his churches and evaluates them and then we come to chapter four and five and we really come into the place of when the church is taken from the earth and is in heaven these are the things things that are going on now and will go on forever as it says in chapter 4 verse number one after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me said come up here and I will show you what must take take place after these things so after the church age and here is an anticipation of the future which is yet to find fulfillment and here is the prophecy that will take place after the things which are presently happening we’re still in the church age we’re still in the age of Grace We’re still in the time where we’re preaching the gospel and people are coming the faith in Jesus Christ all over the world that is happening and the Lord speaks so that this church and all churches that are worshiping the Lord are not left in the dark or left be behind or uninformed they are not ignorant of what’s really going on and so remember when we when we are in heaven and the curtain is pulled back and the events of the future are soon to become a reality the gospel the the Apostle John who has been invited into heaven this is really seen as a picture of the Rapture of the church when we are finally all in heaven that heaven will open it says a door is open in heaven a voice will sound that will be the sound of like the sound of a trumpet and of course the voice that says come up here and then the Saints will be caught up to heaven now that’s found all over the Bible we find verses like this like in John CH 14 and verse number three if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself and where I am there you may be also that is a picture of the Lord promising he’s going to come back for his people also the bride of Christ is not waiting for wrath but is waiting for Jesus it’s not waiting for tribulation it’s waiting for Jesus it’s waiting to meet Jesus our God and our Lord another passage of scripture like in Thessalonians 1 verse number 10 the Thessalonians who are idolators get saved and what does it say it says and to wait for his son from Heaven whom he has raised from the dead that is Jesus who rescues us from the Wrath to come and then in Thessalonians chapter 5 verse number n for God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ that is the the he’s he’s delivered us from the escal ESC ological wrath that’s going to come upon the whole world and of course the famous passage of scripture from Thessalonians and the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall ever and always be with the Lord so the promise to the church is that we’re going to be with the Lord that is the next thing that’s going to take place and of course re uh 1 Corinthians tells us that the trumpet will sound and the dead will raise imp perishable and we will be changed so after the church is taken to heaven then God pours out his judgment on the earth that’s always been promised that’s going to take place and the Apostle John begins to describe what will happen after the church age and John Sees God the Father sitting on the throne and tries to explain the grander of his presence around the throne are the 24 Elders which represent the completion of God’s people and the the 24 creatures or the excuse me the four living creatures which represent all creation and these give total Devotion to God and completely submit to him as the Creator in heaven Jesus is at the center in chapter five he is at the center of all reverence he is at the center of all reverence and love and thoughts in the glory land above Jesus Christ is the center so this Lord’s day as we are transported into heaven pay close attention on the three Central reasons why Jesus Christ is to be worshiped but let’s pray Lord this morning as we again go to your scripture I pray Lord that you would give us ears to hear here give us a heart to receive the word of God help us to know for sure that if we were to die today where would we go into the presence of God and experience the worship that’s described here or away from him into a place where the worm Never Dies and the fire is never quenched and there’ll be nashing of teeth and Terror because one is separated from from a holy and a loving God and all they experience there is the wrath of God so today Lord as we look at your word give us a sense help us to know that when we go the number one we are going and then when we do go that worship is should be as important to us now as it will be in heaven because it will be important in heaven and I pray this in jesus’ name amen so the first reason the first reason that we are to worship Jesus Christ is that Jesus Christ deserved to be worshiped because he is the lord of the destiny of the world he is the lord of the destiny of the world now before we actually unpack that a bit the focus now in our text is upon a sealed scroll in the right hand of God the father now notice in verse number one of chapter 5 it says and I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back sealed up with Seven Seals now right here the Bible does use the word book it is the word biblion in the Greek it means a book but it it’s it’s more like a roll or a rolled up book It is uh it’s not a book as we are used to today that is bound it is a book that actually you roll it out as a scroll so the the roll was made of Papyrus manufactured in single sheets about 10 in by 8 in and depending on the length of the document determined how many sheets would be connected together and then rolled out for example first and second John and Jude and phiman very short books which just have one sheet one one Papyrus but like the Gospel of John would have many sheets when rolled out it would be around 23 and 1/2 ft and then Revelation if you rolled that out from sheet to sheet it would be 15 ft now the scroll was written on the front and on the back which indicates the extensive and comprehensive information found in a particular document in this case the decrees of God now it says in verse number one also that there’s Seven Seals a seal was used in place of signatures it makes documents valid and secure and to keep the message contained on the scroll secret to the one who was writing it and to the one who it’s being sent to and then opens it it sealed so that no unauthorized person could open it so the person’s seal which was usually on a signate ring a ring or a stamp was pressed into clay or wax as the wax or the clay was put on the roll document and then at the edge they would seal it with wax and then the person who actually wrote it and uh was the author of it would seal it with his ring or with the stamp so no one could open that seal if they did if it was a king usually it was a king who did it or an a person of authority if somebody broke that seal they would be killed because they had no right to to do so so only the one that the only one that could break that seal would be the one who owned it or the recipient of the sealed scroll so we know now that when you ever look at an Old Testament document it has two rolls on it and you roll it from end to end and that they would roll it back and usually they were quite large and that they weren’t owned by many people they only were owned by possibly the rabbis or the teachers or the wealthy people so you had to go to the synagogue into the temple to hear the word of God read and uh and preached now the significance of the scroll in verse number five it says and I saw in his right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back sealed with Seven Seals the the scrolled seems to be the book of God’s decrees contained containing the full account of what God in his Sovereign will has deemed for the destiny of the world in other words what’s next who knows what’s next God knows what’s next now what’s in the scroll now there have been many many fanciful answers to that but I believe there’s a very simple answer to the question what’s in the scroll the answer to the question is the things it says in verse number one of chapter 4 the things that must take place after these things in other words the rest of the re remainder of the Book of Revelation so the Book of Revelation would have been Co closed and sealed if no one was there to open it up to tell us what’s next in fact this scroll had seven separate seals in its role which unfolds throughout the rest of the Book of Revelation when we come to chapter 6 we’ll find there there’s Seven Seals the White Horse the anti would be the Antichrist the red horse would be War the black horse would be famine The Pale Horse would be death and then Marty martyrdom Celestial disturbances and then silence those all those seals are going to be broken open and then open up to the bowl and the trumpet judgments so the significance of the role shows that the figure that is shown in the scroll shows the future is in the hand of the one who holds it the events of human history are proceeding out from the Throne of God that the importance of the right hand shows his plan has been predetermined that no one who with his Majestic power holds the stars of the firmament in his right hand is the same one who holds this scroll but there’s a problem there’s a problem with the scroll found in verse number two notice what it says and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to br break its seals verse number three and no one in heaven or on Earth or under the Earth was able to open the book and look into it now there’s a problem the scroll is unopened in the Book of Daniel the Prophet Daniel was told to shut up the words of the sealed book until the time of the end revelation in Revelation the message is who can open the scroll and look into it so the announcement of this strong Angel this Angel most likely this Angel is Gabriel his name really means strength of God also Gabriel is the one who communicated with Daniel about the future events so most likely it is him he uses a loud voice signifying the importance and urgency of the announcement who is worthy to step forward and open this scroll the the person who opens it must be qualified to open it they must be willing to open it and they must be able to open it able to unroll the scroll and break its seals no one in the whole universe not the greatest of angels of all eternity could do this not Michael or Gabriel not the Apostle John or Peter or Paul not the Prophet Daniel or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Zachariah or maybe Elijah could do it or possibly Moses or maybe the father of all the redeemed Abraham no one was found among these men no one was found who was qualified willing and able so what would the response be of the Apostle John if that takes place no one could open this seal that is so important and look what John happens to John in verse number four then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book and look into it see weeping weeping eyes usually sees the lamb more clearly see the Weeping is deep and it it is heart-piercing because if there is no one who is able just think of it then all hope is gone if it ends there if it ends right here then it would be a very Grim sad end for Humanity it would be like the Apostle Paul when he describes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 if Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless you are still in your sins then those who also have fallen asleep in Christ have perished and then what how does he conclude that if we have hope in Christ in this life only we are all men most to be pied that that would be a very sad end if it ended there but I am coming to enjoy the phrase that the Apostle Paul uses to sweep away such hopeless foolish and untrue conclusions and what is that in 1 Corinthians 15:57 but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ so our Lord usually appears when all other hope disappears and that’s what we find here in scripture because the problem is solved in verse number five of Revelation look what it says and one of the elders said to me stop weeping behold the line that is from the tribe of Judah the root of David has overcome so as to open the book and its Seven Seals see the problem is is solved but if you notice here an elder speaks up out and tells John don’t cry it’s not an angel who does it he doesn’t step up nor does the living creature step up but an elder who represents redeem Humanity steps up the one who repr represents the complete body of Believers in heaven steps up and why does he do that because he along with all who believe in Christ they know who the mediator is they know the mediator of the New Covenant which blood had to be shed to ratify it and to make it for a forever promise to all who believe in Jesus so in verse number five this elder stands up he tells them this is the one the line that is from the tribe of Judah the root of David has overcome to open the book in The Seven Seals so the mediator will take the scroll from the hand of God and open them to the sons of men only Jesus Christ can take the book from the right hand of omnipotence in order to to open the book and look therein only Jesus could do that so what’s contained in the scroll is known only by God and Only God himself can open the scroll and look into it and then tell us what it says but I want you to notice how it describes Jesus that he is the lion of the tribe of Judah that he is the man of war he is the create the Courageous one this is referring to the Messianic Pro promise given to Judah and the sons of Jacob that the one whom the scepter belongs will come out of the Lion of Judah that Jesus Christ is the m Messianic lion who will rule and Reign Over All the Earth where it promises in Genesis the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor or the ruler staff from between his feet some Messiah will come out of the line of Judah which not only displays his deity but also him being a majestic King who will rule as no king ruled before he will be as revelation will describe him he will be the king of kings no one can compete with him him what he does and how he’s like and then it says here he’ll come from the the root of David we read from Isaiah 11 where we see clearly there that something is happening in the future in which Jesus will sit on the throne of David and he will rule but here we know that Mary his mother jesus’ Earthly mother came from the line of David through his son Nathan and also Joseph was a direct descendant of David’s son solivan for scripture tells us then a chute will spring from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit then in the day that day the Nations will resort to the root of Jesse who will stand as a signal for the peoples and his resting place will be glorious that the Messiah will be a descendant of David which shows also his Humanity his Humanity will be in view he will be the God man who will reign and then we also know from verse number five he’s a conqueror there’s nothing to be uh you cannot mess with a lion without trouble he’s a conqueror from the tribe of Judah he has overcome it says and he’s overcome so to open the book and its Seven Seals so the one who came to take away the sin of the world now appears to take away the seals which bind the Eternal purposes so Messiah will be the source of all bless blessings bestowed upon God’s people so Jesus deserves to be worshiped because he is the lord of the destiny of the world now he steps up he will open the seals he will tell us what is coming up and what is next and that will be the rest of the Book of Revelation so the second reason that Jesus deserves to be worshiped is because he is the Victorious One in verse 5 and six and there’s three reasons why he is Victorious number one if you notice in ver verse six it says and I saw be between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing the first reason he’s Victorious he’s standing all the other ones are not he’s standing as if slain it says in verse F six that Jesus appears in heaven in his sacrificial character and this is most prominent and it’s most conspicuous a lamb standing the word lamb is actually means a small lamb it’s used 28 times in Revelation and is is used exclusively for the resurrected and Victorious Christ and his atoning sacrifice they never separate those two from each other it’s like all of scripture is coming to light right in this one passage where really from Exodus your lamb shall be an unblemished male and then Isaiah 53 like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and then in John 1: 29 Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and then we find in Revelation that these will wage war against the lamb and the lamb will overcome them because he is the Lord of lords and the king of kings and those who are with him are the called and the Chosen and the faithful that this slain lamb should always bring to our mind and our heart to think of a sacrifice had to be done on our behalf to be saved and that sacrifice was Jesus and remember a sacrifice for sin must be provided in order for Redemption to actually take place and for one to have a place in the kingdom of God that Jesus was slaughtered as a sacrifice taking our our place and bearing our sin that his sacrifice has lasting effects today and forever that there was a day when jesus’ dead body got up and exited the wellu guarded well sealed tomb in victory over death they could not keep his body dead Jesus atoning sacrifice is the great reason for their deep reverence and their highest adoration in heaven that is still Central in heaven the God man is now in heaven his work is done on Earth and yet everything in the world and all creation is focused in on what Jesus did on the cross it affects everything everyone all the UN verse that if that did not happen everything would still would just come crumbling down see Jesus is standing he’s standing as a Victor but it says in verse number 6 to of vers Chapter 5 Verse 6 it says and having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the Earth that Jesus is forever powerful and knowing all knowing that Jesus first coming as the Lamb of God was a sacrifice for the sin of the world now Jesus is a lamb that is strong with power seven horns represent power and that he has the seven spirits of God meaning that he is omniscient that Jesus is the prophet of God and he sees all things and he discerns all Mysteries this is not uncommon to passages like in Colossians see that’s the second reason that Jesus is Victorious and the third reason is verse number seven that he is forever able it says and he came and took the book out of the right hand who sat on the throne he was able to do that Jesus was able to walk up to the father sitting on the universal throne and take the scroll out his out of his hand and look into it that means that Jesus is the one who’s qualified in his being in his person in his power and his in in his attainment as a slain one Jesus is the one who is willing he did he was motivated by love no one forced him to do it Jesus is the one who is able his wondrous ability to to convert the prophecies into triumphant realities that’s who Jesus is Worthy to take the book and carry it into execution and break all its seals therein that’s Victorious and Jesus is the victory one but that Victory is all focused in on him being the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world you would think that maybe in heaven that would be just a thing in the past that was all done that is the focus of Heaven because everything that’s why Jesus becomes the center of everything everyone is looking at him the four living creatures the 24 Elders the father is looking at the son that Jesus is Center so in other words he becomes the most important person in worship we cannot lay him aside he cannot be a footnote he has to be first and foremost always that’s why unless you come to Jesus and repent of your sins and trust him as Lord and Savior you cannot be saved there’s nothing else to save you in all the universe from the beginning of time till now Jesus is the center he is worthy to take the book and carry into execution all that is sealed therein so yes Jesus deserves deserves to be worshiped because he is the Victorious one but there’s a third thing in our text from verse 8 through verse1 14 that Jesus deserves to be worshiped because he is the only worthy Savior and Lord three beautiful songs now are sung at the end of of this chapter three songs of praise and worship are sung in heaven but I want you to notice the content here that there’s three groups that are in a sense ahead of each one of these songs the first group is the Saints the first song sung is sung by the Saints notice in verse eight when he had taken the book and the four living creatures and the 24 Elders fell down before the lamb each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the Saints so what do we have here we really have first of all the chosen musical instrument is a harp in Scripture it was the traditional instrument associated with the Psalms of the Old Testament it is associated with joy and gladness just quickly take your Bible and turn to the song book in scripture Psalm 33 Psalm 33 look at verse number two just highlighting a little bit about especially the harp but the context in which the harp is used 33 ver number two it says give thanks to the Lord with the liar sing praises to Him with a harp of strings so we see this is the chosen instrument and then SS 71 there were so many Psalms I said I just pick two Psalm 71 look at verse number 22 it says I will also praise you with a harp even your truth oh my God to you I will sing praises with the liar Oh Holy One of Israel so every time you look in scripture of course you have a lot of uh cartoons with somebody you know playing a harp and everybody you know angels are flying all over the place that’s like a common thing right well that’s where it comes from right here but the harp is definitely an instrument that is connected uh to Joy and gladness that um it is a musical instrument of choice employed in scripture in direct praise and worship of God but I want you to notice also in the end of verse number eight it says and each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the Saints just think about that all the prayers of the Saints are in heaven that God hasn’t missed one of them that no person’s prayer falls on a deaf ear for God’s ear is open to catch the faintest whisper of an appeal before his throne so of course who would be the group of people that would praise the Lord the most or at least first it would be the Saints the Saints who prayed to the Lord on all kinds of occasions petitions intercessions supplications weak after week day after day pleading with God and yet it all comes to this moment that prayer should always bring to our mind that the door of God is always open and the incense raises in a sweet odor Before the Throne of God the lord loves the prayers of his Saints even as the psalmist says may my prayer be count Ed as incense before you lifting up my hands as the evening offering and of course in verse number nine it says to us here and they sang a new song saying everything’s new in heaven everything’s new in heaven a new song because the sh Saint should be most of all of all creation filled with gratitude and praise for what Jesus Christ accomplished on their behalf what’s interesting in our text is it’s the smallest choir but the longest song so the Saints sing up a storm and what do they sing they sing in verse number nine a new song saying worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals see because the lamb is worthy and then also in verse number nine for you were slain the lamb has been slain it’s a done deal never again will it have to happen and then in verse number nine because the price of the blood has purchased the Saints and the purchase for God with your blood that Jesus Christ had to purchase souls for the father in order to be saved there could be no other way to be saved to be redeemed to be bought back from something again this whole thought of redemption and purchasing by the blood of Christ is all over the word of God we find in Galatians where it says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written curses everyone who hangs on the tree and of course 1 Peter 1:19 but with Precious Blood as a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ so we are redeemed not by human wealth but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and of course that precious blood means that he shed his blood unto death he had to die it couldn’t just B any death it had to be a particular death it had to line up with all the sacrifices of the Old Testament it had to be the shedding of his blood because life was in the blood and Jesus had to actually really die and take his life back so the New Testament consistently declares that it cost the death of Jesus Christ to rescue men from The Dilemma and slavery in which sin had brought them there’s no way you can be bought back from the slavery of sin because sin is your master you’re in under its control the only one who could rescue you and purchase you from that is Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 6 says for you have been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body in verse number nine of Revelation chapter 5 and purchase for God with your blood men from every tribe tongue people and Nation this verse alone wipes away racism it wipes it right away the the the platform that people talk about to cause division amongst people in in our country and in the world is horrific when you read this Jesus died so that there might be people from every people group among his peoples everybody’s going to be there from the inner city neighborhoods to the suburbs to the country folk to the mountain people and desert people to the remote tribes like the mooch tribe in Papa New Guinea and the taliabo people in Indonesia Christ has purchased specific people people from every tribe and tongue and people and Nation so that they all belong to him if you belong to God I better not touch with you I I better not touch you or mess with you because you’re God’s possession he died in your place he purchased you he owned you but he is a good Master he’s a good Master everyone belongs to God so that’s why we become a family of God no matter where we came from no matter what our background what our skin color what our our culture is the kind of food we eat the way we dress it does it matters little it matters nothing to God you’re redeemed your soul has be been redeemed by the blood of Christ so we are all Brothers and Sisters in Christ in God’s family but it’s our job to gather them to gather the people that did hear the gospel yet it’s our job to do that we should never be content to leave the unreached people unreached our commission is not just to make disciples it is to make disciples from every nation I think some some of the frustrating things that I experience when I witness is that sometimes I can’t speak the person’s language Lord is there an authentic gift of tongues today that I can speak the language I never studied and you know languages are hard man especially when you get older those those uh brain cells that’s supposed to learn language when when you’re young they’re gone they’re gone I did a a a program with my daughter one summer we wanted to learn Arabic and she was picking up like this about a couple years later I I says you remember some of that stuff and she’s rattling all the stuff out I don’t remember a thing you know how to say A man was swimming you know and she’s like rattling the stuff oh I I I didn’t forget that languages are so hard but thank the Lord for every every language there is there are languages that are dying too every day so the the number’s getting shorter and uh but people from every if you if you have two languages then you have two responsibilities to speak to people in English and Spanish or whatever language you’re speaking and and try to reach them that is the job that he’s given to the church that why that’s why we’re still here see Jesus Christ is the one who purchas with his own blood his children and then it says gives us a promise in verse number 10 you have made them to be Kingdom and priest to our God and they will reign upon the Earth see that’s Triumph see the the Lord has will make us Kings and Priests and we will reign with him now I’ll talk about that later on in the rest of Revelation talks about that in other places but this first group the Saints are promised they’re cared for they they see what God’s done for them and now they have a responsibility to go out and win the world to the Lord Jesus Christ but there’s a second group and I want you to notice in verse number 11 and 12 the second song is sung by the Angels the Angels Sing of the seven Great possessions that belong to the Risen Lord you know I I was thinking about this like you know the Saints sing first US I understand that there the shortest song but the the the longest um things are said there and the angels do you know the angels have been viewing what the Lord has been doing from the beginning of time you think they’re not anxious you you think they’re not waiting for this moment they’re waiting to break out in worship to the one they’ve been watching all along and maybe no more than anything else like it says in Peter they they attempted to look into these things the Angels but some of the things were closed even to the angels so some of these things are new to the angels the breaking of the seals they didn’t know it was there next now they know now they’re going to know the rest of it and then notice what it says in verse number 11 then I looked chapter 5: 11 I and I looked and I heard the voice of many angels notice what it says here around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands and with a loud voice what did they say Worthy is LAM that was what that was slain there it is again the center of Heaven is the work that Jesus Christ did on the cross even by the Angels because the Angels benefit from his death on the cross also and what did they pray they pray actually seven things they said Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power that to Jesus belongs power it says in 1 Corinthians 1:24 but those who are called by those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and it says here that riches re Jesus to Jesus belongs riches The unsearchable Riches of Christ see there is no promise that Jesus Christ has made that he does not possess the resources to carry it out he’s very rich also wisdom that to Jesus belongs wisdom again in Corinthians not only is Christ the power of God but he is the wisdom of God and might that Jesus to Jesus belongs strength that Christ is the strong one who can disarm the power of evil and overthrow Satan and establish his government over the whole universe and then honor to Jesus belongs honor that good kings are honored by their people the day will come when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord and they will give him honor don’t you think we should do that right now we can’t give Jesus power or riches or wisdom or might but we can give him honor it’s also to Jesus belongs glory to say that Jesus Christ possesses the glory glory is to say that he is divine that he is God there is just no one like him he is the god man and then blessing to Jesus belongs blessing the Angels couldn’t wait to sing this song so the Saints are are singing the angels are singing and if you notice in the text an innumerable amount of angels you know when you’re in a group of people and there’s a lot of people there and a lot of people are singing you kind of say wow this is amazing could you imagine there in redeemed resurrected bodies with Angelic beings singing and we already know they have loud voices right they’re going to be singing from the the bottom of their heart about Jesus Christ who was slain before the foundation of the world because it benefits them and it benefits us but notice in verse number 13- 14 there’s a third song that is sung and this song is sung by the whole creation this is the great tower of Praise In this passage verse number 13 and every created thing which is in heaven and on Earth and on the the under the Earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and Dominion Forever and Ever every is praising God everything that was ever created is praising God every Poss possible being in heaven every living creature the elders the myriads of angels and every other Heavenly being not even the the Land of the Dead Hades is beyond the reign of the Risen Christ all of nature is praising him and you redeem Humanity Ben benefits more than any anyone else from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ because we were created in His image that image was shattered by our sin and by sin that we inherited from Adam and we committed ourselves and what happens Jesus Christ came to remove the sin to forgive it move it out of the way so when we die we won’t die in our sin we will die in the Lord and we go into his presence so redeem Humanity more than anyone else benefits from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that means redeemed Humanity ought to be praising the Lord all the time here in the church look what it says in verse number 14 last verse and the four living creatures kept saying amen and then what happens to the elders remember who represent all Humanity they fell down and they worshiped see this is worship this is what happens when you come into the presence of God none of these other things that many people are implementing in the church today are they’re worthless they distract from real worship I think one of my favorite songs during the year year is especially in the holidays is handles Messiah I love that song I didn’t love it at first but I’ve after I listened to it like 100 times or more and then I went to see it done live many times I I began to realize what’s the main what’s the center of that song for a child is born a son is given to us and his name will be called wonderful counselor Mighty God Eternal Father Prince of Peace that’s Jesus Christ see Jesus is the lamb slain he is at the center of all Reverend worship and praise should we not always Delight in him and watch to see how we can magnify his glorious name in every part of our daily living and why do we do that because he’s worthy that’s where God brings us to the place where you say he’s worthy nobody can compete with Jesus Christ nobody should change our mind about who he is and what he’s done and if you don’t know him yet as Lord and Savior you have not come and bowed before him as a sinner who needs saving come to him he’s not only the Lamb of God and the line of Judah the line of Judah is the tough part the Lamb of God is the is the part that draws you to him and his s sacrifice so you can be saved and forgiven of sin and you can someday be with him in heaven and worship like this and now worship here on Earth until that day comes so I pray that for us and for myself that nothing in this life will distract me from growing in my worship and praise of the Lord because there’s so many distractions this is the biggest distraction you know some people you know they bring their phones to uh church and they they look up the scripture and that’s good but the problem is is that there’s too many distractions beyond the Bible on your phone that’s why you know what we need to have a bring your paper Bible Sunday and leave all your electronics in your car and at home Sunday shouldn’t we do that should we vote on that right now I think we we should matter of fact we should the elders are going to talk about that next Elder me paper Bible Sunday uh of course if you bring your electronics you’ll be arrested only kidding only kidding let’s pray Lord thank you this morning Lord you have been so patient with us kind to us and Lord we see a passage like this in Revelation and and Lord we’re we’re almost Blown Away by it what’s taking place in your presence in heaven is overwhelming to know that all these that are there are there and worshiping you and praising you because of this one thing that Jesus did on the cross it’s the center of all human history and the center of a whole universe and Lord even the Bible says the creation even groans for the Redemption that it would be made new again and it’s all focused in on Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who was slain for us and now Lord we also come to the place where we partake of the Lord’s table and Lord in in the Lord’s table Lord we know that it is why did you leave us that ordinance because it’s the focus of the Gospel that you came into this world taking on human flesh and still having your deity there and yet laying aside your majesty and glory with the father so you can be with us on Earth you can show us who the father is you can show the power of God over creation and demons and and uh disease and death and then Lord but you humbled yourself to go to the Cross to die there for us to take our sin upon your body and then to pay the full price for all our sin what what what what did it take for that for you to die for all the sin but you did Lord and you finished it and you satisfied the Justice of the just judge your father and you died and shed your blood to wash away it all from our account and you put your righteousness on our our slate that we’re saved by another’s righteousness yours not ours we had none to save us and then you Rose again to De feat the devil and death itself and you send it into heaven and you’re praying for your bride your church you’re preparing a place for us that where you are we may be and Lord we look for forward to that day make us and keep us faithful to that day so Lord we can serve you and be aware of people around us who don’t know you yet so we can give the gospel to them we can show them Christ and Lord that you would save you still saving people still save people use us to do that help us not to leave the unreached unreached and so Lord this morning as we consider the Lord table make our hearts ready so we can receive the elements of your INF fleshman and then also the shedding of your blood that is the focus of the gospel and I pray this

  • Worship Around God’s Throne in Heaven

    Worship Around God’s Throne in Heaven

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    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    am okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation chap 4 as we continue continue into in this great tremendous book of the Bible last book of the Bible you don’t have to fiddle around to find where it’s at it’s in the last book of the Bible and uh turn to chapter 4 and we’ll be looking at today worship around God’s throne in heaven let’s pray Lord this morning as we come before you as your people lord always make us ready to receive your word because that’s what we need the most from our soul we need to grow in Christ we need to mature in our knowledge and wisdom we need to be useful in your kingdom until you come back lord and I pray Lord that you would pour your blessing upon us so Christ is exalted so the word of God is understood and so people change as the spirit of God moves their mind and will to put into practice the word of God and I pray Lord you to bless us in that way in Christ’s name amen chapter 4 and before I get there um when analyzing The Book of Revelation we regard we have to take regard to its structure that the Apostle John uses uh a key phrase four times thus dividing the book into major divisions based on four visions that John is given and the phrase in the spirit occurs in Chapter 4: 2 immediately I was in the spirit it says there and it is used in the Old Testament regard regarding the prophets as they experience revelatory minist the revelatory ministry of the holy spirit of God conveying to them the word of God so the Book of Revelation is really talking about God’s final unveiling the esatas the last days therefore Revelation is about God’s final unveiling of the last days about the things that will come to pass Hereafter not things after after chapter 3 here not things during a long time of history but it is culminating it’s a culminating period of the last days so in the Book of Revelation there are four Visions each is a separate Vision so then Revelation is really a series of separate apocalyptic Visions put together in the catalog in it they have loads of symbols another really legitimate way of communicating uh difficult things to human beings and the four Visions with their symbols will have some connection to the last days so further that the outline for the book of uh book this book that is built around the four Visions together with the introduction and chapter 1 and the conclusion in chapter 22 it emphasizes the centrality all throughout of Christ throughout the whole book the entire portrayal is about the godhead specifically about Jesus Christ and so far we have actually examined the first Vision today we will begin to examine the second Vision the second vision from chapter 4 verse1 to chapter 5 in verse number 14 is a vision about worship around the throne in heaven and then in chapter five the lamb but in chapter four is specifically about God the Father look at verse number one it says after these things that’s after the first vision of Christ in chapter 1 and the seven churches I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I had heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me said come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things so did this take place uh on Earth here no the first three chapters was on Earth but now we see here this is going to take place somewhere else it’s going to take place in heaven see there’s a door in in heaven again this is an apocalyptic Vision given to John about what’s happening in heaven so that means that something that has been before veiled is now being opened and uncovered for us today to see it the Apostle John hears a voice and that voice says come up here and that is the voice of Jesus and it will show it says come up here and I will show you what will take place after these things and what he is means here that John in uh this apocalyptic experience where he is standing now in heaven and this is one not seen on Earth but from and in heaven and this vision of course whether John was in the body or not um is not mentioned here like it’s mentioned about Paul when he was thought caught up to the third heaven but here in chapter 4 brings us really to a third division in this book and where it says I will show you what must take place after these things so John begins to describe what will happen after the church age that’s what he is talking about and John gets invited into heaven and this is seen by many as the Rapture of the church actually it is a precursor to the Rapture of the church heaven will open verse number one of chapter 4 there will be a voice like the sound of a trumpet come up here there then the Saints will be caught up to heaven of course that’s mentioned in Thessalonians and in Corinthians and after the church is taken into heaven God pours out his judgment on the earth and that begins in chapter 6 onward so chapter four and five are sign ific before chapter 6 because it’s now pulling back the curtain for us and the stage is set and the events of the future are soon to become a reality and the director is ready to say action and so the focus is not earth now we’re being transport transported to Heaven this morning you know that right in this chapter that’s what happens were being transformed transported into heaven now my wife my wife was reading something and and she came across this quote and I thought I’d like to quote it to you right now I’m not going to tell you who the quote is from but it’s a very to me it was a very impactful quote this is what it said there’s a great Gulf between the Christianity that wrestles with whether to worship at the cost of imprisonment and death and the Christianity that wrestles with whether the kid should play soccer on Sunday morning that’s where we’re at today is it not but real but Christians really make a have to make a decision that e either we worship God or we worship something else because if if that takes place we’re saying to our kids going to church is not that important but I tell you what in the long run soccer is not that important because people forget when they get older what what they ever even did at that age but worshiping God is important and so when we come to chapter four revelation we see the importance of what’s going on in heaven because God wants that to start going on right here right here now so I want you to notice in verse number two all the way to verse number 10 I’m not going to read everything I just want to highlight some words notice it says in verse two immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne and then verse number four around the throne and then verse number five out from the throne and then verse number six Before the Throne and then verse number nine it says and when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and then notice in verse number 10 to the four to 24 Elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him see this chapter is about worship and you really do get the idea very quickly that the heart of chapter 4 is the throne too and the one who sits on that throne in fact all the way to chapter 5 verse 1 14 we have this theme the throne in heaven and the lamb and this is God on the throne and this God is to be worshiped and he will be worshiped whether he is worshiped now or afterwards he will be worshiped but for believers who are going to see the wrath of God fall on the earth we ought to be engaged in worship of God and Revelation 4 is teaching about spiritual worship to worship means to ascribe Worth to it includes using all we are and all we have to praise God for all he is and all he does worthy it says in chapter 4: 11 are you oh Lord Our God to receive Glory and honor and power so as we are taken from this Earth to heaven we get a glimpse of the grander of the central room of the Heavenly Palace and the one who sits on the throne the throne that is raised up and the one who sits on the throne is a ruler he is a king he is a judge God the Father sits on the universal Throne a throne which stands for dominion and Rule and kingly power and sovereignty the throne is used 13 times in chapter 4 and even more or then there’ll be more in chapter 5 that Christians of all ages need encouragement especially concerning how our life will work out and the first guarantee that we Christians have for victory it’s this God is on his throne and no one can Dethrone him so this this Lord’s day as we are transported into heaven pay close attention to three Central reasons why God the father is to be worshiped they are simple but they are also profound the first one is this God is to be worshiped because he is the king he is to be worshiped because he is the king and that’s from verse one through verse number five and because God is the king over all things he is to be praised by his creatures and if you notice reading in Psalm 148 everything is praising God even the heavens above the Earth because everything’s created by God so there are four things that informs a Saint’s praise and worship for God as king four things here’s the first one look at verse number one and it’s the plan of God it says after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me said come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things so the voice of Jesus calls John up to heaven where he has opened a door which de closes the interior of Heaven and the throne part of the blessing actually of reading and understanding The Book of Revelation is to be able to hear and to be shown the plan of God what’s next in God’s program that’s what the Book of Revelation is about and not everybody knows this only the church knows this the church at least the church that is paying attention to what’s going on because in chapter one what was in chapter one these this is what we have seen in Chapter 2 and three that’s the present Church age and chapter 4 verse number one what must take place after these things after the church age so here’s an anticipation of the future which is yet to find fulfillment and here is the prophecy that will take place after these things which are presently happening right now in the church age we are still in the church age and the Lord speaks so that the church is not left at all in the dark and are uninformed but they’re actually encouraged that God is telling us his plan this is what I’m I’m going to do this is what comes next it’s good to know that because most people don’t know that in fact there there more in the dark today than ever before a second thing that informs a believer’s praise and worship is found in verse number two and three and this is the person of God John is seized by the Holy Spirit and is allowed to see the throne room of the Heavenly Palace and his eyes focus on the throne and the one sitting on it look at what it says in verse number two immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne so it’s similar similar to what the Apostle Paul experienced when he was caught up to the third heaven where it says in 2 Corinthians chap 12 verse number 2 to 4 I Know a Man in Christ who for years ago whether in the body I don’t know or out of the body I don’t know but God knows such a man was caught up to the third heaven now the third heaven seems to be the place where God dwells the first Heaven the second heaven and the third heaven and then Paul says I don’t I Know a Man in Christ he says I don’t know how I don’t know if I was in the body or not but I was caught up to paradise and I heard inexpressible Words which a man is not permitted to speak speak so that was Paul’s experience John’s experience was a little bit different John can only tell us what God is like he is but beyond description he’s Beyond description in appearance scripture in other places tells us like when Paul said to Timothy now to the king Eternal immortal invis isible the only God be honor and Glory forever and ever amen and then again in in Timothy he says who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see to him be honor and eternal Dominion amen see one thing is sure is that the one seated on the throne can only be the king of all Kings who rules and judges the whole world but John could only tell us what God is like he can’t tell us about his form for that reason for the reasons I just said in those passages but I want you to notice what God is like and how it’s described in Revelation look at verse number three and he who was sitting was like a jasper stone that’s means a translucent Rock uh some people say this is more like a diamond it it’s representative of the one sitting there Who is majestic and who is Holy and who is completely pure and then it says also a jasper stone and a Sardis in appearance now a Sardis in appearance that is a blood red stone which represented the Wrath of the one sitting there and the Judgment of the one sitting there and the Redemption of the one sitting there that the Jasper and the Sardis stones are like actually are the first and the last stones in the high priest breastplate meaning that he is the first and he is the last and it shows too the goodness of God and the justice that he has in his judgments and then notice in verse number three and there was a rainbow so this is around the throne it says and there was a rainbow around the throne a rainbow of colors like the Halo of green encircling the throne representative of God’s hope and mercy and faithfulness remission of God’s covenant with Noah a covenant keeping relationship with man showing that God is utterly reliable in his promises now actually take your Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 9 first book of the Bible again not easy not hard to find chapter 9 verse number 11 this is where God said to Noah listen I’m not going to flood the whole world again and the sign I’m going to give you is going to be the sign of a covenant an agreement I’m making with Humanity with the world that this will not take place Genesis 9 look at verse number 11 it says I establish my Covenant verse number nine with you and All Flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the Earth look at verse number 12 God said this is the sign of the Covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive Generations in verse 13 I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the Earth it shall come about when I bring a cloud over the Earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud now I don’t know about you but when you see a rainbow you have to stop and see it it’s magnificent and when you see a rainbow it reminds us that God is powerful he is reliable and he is faithful that’s what it means so in other words he’s still reminding Us by this bow in the sky that he is active in his creation he is still speaking he is saying I’m still there I’m on the throne and this is my description description here of like emeralds in appearance the of the picture that describes God in a flashing Gem of colors like colorless Crystal which would refract a rainbow of Prismatic colors now Ezekiel Saw the same type of thing where it’s recorded in Ezekiel as the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day so was the appearance of the surrounding Radiance such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God so Ezekiel is saying that when you see that you’re seeing the likeness not the form but the likeness of God himself that he is the one Speaking that this is what the prophet Ezekiel Saw and it caused him to what it says when he saw this I fell on my face and when I heard the voice speaking he knew immediately it was God there was no doubt at all in in his mind that it was him so John does not mention any form only his description shows God the father is the king like no other and he is a king that is majestic he is a king that is Indescribable he is a king that is awesome he is a king that is reliable he is a king that is powerful and he is a king that sits on the throne he is ruling and no one at all what soever can thwart his rule he is God I like what the psalmist said he says oh my soul oh Lord my God you are very great you are clothed with Splendor and Majesty covering yourself with light as with a cloak stretching out the heavens like a tent curtain that’s who you are Lord that’s the one I worship see so we learn to praise God by these very things that not only God is showing us who his person is but he’s showing us his plan but he’s also showing us the Privileges that come to those who worship him and have been redeemed by him now notice in verse number four we see now in verse number four the Privileges the third thing that informs the believer’s praise and worship is the privilege or the blessings that God gives to those who are his it says there are 24 lesser Thrones around the central throne occupied by 24 Elders look at verse four Around The Throne were 24 Thrones and upon the throne I saw 24 Elders sitting now who are they well I believe this is who they are men when you read a commentary on this you go for three pages on what people think it is but I tell you what I think this is what it who they are they are the redeemed of both the Old Testament and New Testament they are the 12 Patriarchs and the TW Apostles which encompasses the complete people of God that’s what it’s talking about the complete people of God in fact if you look over to Revelation 21 you find out that these two groups are put together and one is represented by the gates of uh what’s going to be in the Eternal City and the other one represents the found foundation of the city look at at Revelation 21:12 it says it had a great and high wall with 12 gates and at the gates 12 angels and names were written on them which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel and then look at verse 14 and the wall of the city had 12 Foundation stones and on them were the 12 names of the twel Apostles of the Lamb so here we we have these two groups of people being brought together all right to represent the complete people of God from the Old Testament and the New Testament now remember no one Moses couldn’t got saved if it wasn’t for the cross and we can’t get saved if it wasn’t for the cross he was looking forward to it we’re looking back to it but no one could get saved unless Jesus died on that cross no one could go to heaven and be with God unless Jesus died on the cross so this is the complete people of God and what are their privileges the Privileges are only for the redeemed people of God and here’s the first one in verse number four it says the 24 Elders were sitting that means the redeemed are granted to sit on Thrones as coair with Christ that the Thrones promised by Jesus to those who forsook all and followed him see these are people that are already promised those things things and then the redeem are the ones who wear white garments in verse four clothed in white garments we already seen that before in our scriptures and their Pro the promise is to those who have been faithful those who have been faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ through thick and thin through persecution and good times they have been faithful to the end and then also the redeemed are the ones who wear the crown right it says golden crowns on their heads now this is the Stan his crown this is the Stevens Crown this is the wreath that was the symbol of heavenly honor and Authority given to those who were faithful unto death they lost their life for living for Christ for preaching the gospel see these are the blessings that come to those who are God’s children who are God’s people so these are the redeemed people of God now if you’re in that category then you are also uh blessed by God and have privilege given to you by God yet future some of them but that’s what our hope is and that’s informs our worship when we can praise God for what he’s going to give us and then there’s a fourth thing that informs our praise and worship and that’s found in verse number five and that is the the bill I’m calling it The Billow of God or the power of God notice what what it says there out from the throne comes flashes of lightning and sounds of peels of Thunder now what does that sound like you know what that sounds like that sounds like the same thing that happened when God showed up at the bottom of the mountain when Moses went to get the Ten Commandments what does it say there listen what it says so it came about on the third day this is in Exodus when it was morning and there were Thunders and lightning flashes and a thick Cloud upon the mountains and a very loud trumpet sound and all the people were terrified why God showed up that’s why they were terrified and the Bible says and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they stood at the foot of the mountain so the same thing we see here that God is there this is who God is the has been telling us all along this is who he is that he is a god of power he’s a god of power that nobody can go up against him at all whatsoever that he is the one who is the Victor and we are the victors because we have been saved by the the Lamb of Jesus Christ and that’s going to be in chapter five and then we see the seven lamps of fire the seven angels who stand before God waiting to do do his bidding who are Before the Throne now we already saw things uh from coming from God Before the Throne around the throne a lot of activity going around this Throne that God sits on and we see that he has a myriad of angels that minister to him and do his bidding they’re waiting for the Lord God to say to them you go do this you go minister to that person you go watch out for that person you do this and that’s what we see the Angels doing the angels are ministers sent by God to even for the Saints for us for our protection yes they are still there they are still doing those things but we see these angels that are ones that are listening and looking and are aware of what God wants them to do they’re very wise and powerful angels more powerful than us and more wiser than us and have more ability than us but they’re not us they have not they have no one who saved them God had to save us now some of the angels we know have fallen and were uh led by Lucifer who was now um Satan demons bad demons but there’s also good good Angels good angels that are working on God’s behalf and they’re surrounding God’s throne and they’re doing his bidding whatever he says they do so just getting back to this these flashes of lightning and uh this this Earth trembling we see this is the expression of God’s Terror striking signs uh in his presence and the power that threatens vengance on those who are the enemies of his his people and that’s going to come up in verse number of chapter 6 so the the first central reason that we are to worship God is because God is definitely a God who is the king but secondly we see the second central reason we are to worship God is because he is the Holy One Look at verse 6 through 8 we see here in in verse number six it’s the sea of glass before the Throne there was standing like a sea of glass like Crystal now the sea of glass like Crystal really has the picture that there is some kind of distance between God’s creatures and the 24 elders and the one sitting on the throne this is a sea it’s vast and usually seas are are violent and moving this is completely calm that the sea of glass like Crystal separates the Transcendent God from the people in other words it expresses his Holiness and Purity and separates him from his creation and this is a separation between King and subjects now we know someday as it says in Revelation later there will be no sea that means the separation that will be between God and man will be taken away and we will we will be in his presence we will be his subjects and he he will be our God we will worship Him and there will be no in between there will be no separation between us and God and that’s going to be a glorious thing to look forward to for the people of God now we see the also the four living creatures in verse number four it says and in the center and around the throne four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind now that was their position they were now center around the throne so they’re closer to God than other people are even the 24 elders and they again they’re the highest order of the uh cestal beings who do God’s bidding now we we’ve saw angels like that throughout the the word of God and cherubim are their names and seraphim and if you just think in your mind of of what the scriptures say about them we know that in the Old Testament they stood guard in front of the Tree of Life they stood at the end of the Ark of the Covenant in the temple they LED Worship in Isaiah chapter 6 they bore God’s Chariot in the heavens in Ezekiel and Psalms and in Samuel and in Revelation they lead worship right here that’s what they’re doing they’re leading worship and they they stand as Sentinels at God’s throne in verse number six and they take the lead in the outpouring of Judge the Judgment of God starting in chapter six these are angels that are doing God’s bidding and then notice the description of them in verse number six and seven it seems like they have six wings and are full of eyes and it says in the center and around the throne four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind having eyes all around means that they have V vigilance over God’s creation they are wise creatures who joyfully fulfill the tasks assigned to them by the Lord that’s who they are and then it goes on in the description it says in verse number seven the first creature was like a lion and a lion was the noblest of God’s creation but it was the Supreme amongst beasts and then it says like a calf the strongest of God’s creation Supreme among cattle and the third creature had a face like that of a man and that is the wisest of God’s creation Supreme amongst all creatures and of course like a flying eagle that’s the Swift this of God’s creation so speed in carrying out God’s Will and they were Supreme among the birds though so these four living creatures stand for everything that is strongest and wisest and Swift swiftest in nature the whole creation man beast and bird is pictured as one glorifying the God who sits on the throne doing his will without question quickly wisely and complete obedience and submission but with joy they’re glad they’re there see the reality of the sovereignty of God is that it produces encouragement to the obedient but Terror to the disobedient that’s God’s sovereignty but what’s their main function look at in verse number eight here’s their main function and the four living creatures each one of them having six wings and full of eyes all around and within and day and night they do not cease to say holy holy holy is the Lord God the almighty who was and who is and who is to come that these four living creatures function for which they were created constantly engaging in praising and worshiping God and so that’s what you have going on in heaven so if you don’t like doing that you’re not going to be happy in heaven and of course the Bible doesn’t tell us everything what’s going on there but he tells us enough to know that this is what’s going on see it’s a song it is the song of the living creatures that reveals the awesome message of our text the song is the repetition of a single word holy three times the word is sung in succession the significance of the repetition of the term holy can be easily missed it represents a a kind of a peculiar literary literary device known as repetition the repetition is uh is in a form of emphasis it’s emphasizing something so when we want to emphasize the importance of something in English what we have several devices that we can choose from we can underline it to make it important or we can print in italicized uh italics to be make it important or we can bold face or we may attach a ex exclamation mark or even set it off in quotation marks all of these may be used to bring what is important to the reader’s attention but when the Bible repeats something to the third degree it elevates its important to a superlative decree that only once is the characteristic of god mentioned three times in succession the Bible says that God is Holy Holy Holy not that he is merely holy or even holy holy but he is Holy Holy Holy Bible never says that God is love love love or Mercy Mercy Mercy or wrath wrath wrath or just justice justice justice it does say that God is Holy Holy Holy and the primary meaning of holy is separate it comes from an ancient word that means to cut or to separate and to translated into kind of contemporary language would be to be A Cut Above the Rest to say that God is holy holy holy is to say that God is transcendentally separate that he is far above and beyond us and Transcendence really describes God in his consuming majesty and his exalted loftiness it points to the infinite distance that separates him from every other creature that he created he is an infinite cud above everything else undescribable compared to anything else so holy holy holy calls attention to all that God is and it reminds us that his love is Holy his Justice is Holy Justice his Mercy is Holy Mercy his knowledge is Holy knowledge his spirit is Holy Spirit and the revelation of Holiness stimulates those who live in his presence to worship him and give him glory and honor and thanks and it leads those who know him to praise him in his Holiness and in his Purity so everything in the universe Praises God everything in the in the Universal throne room is permeated by the Holiness of God when you get to the end of Revelation and it talks about all these gems what you see is the holy city and the Holiness of God permeating through all the city that wherever you go the radiance of his Holiness is seen everywhere you can’t ever get away from it ever get away from it see that’s the second central reason not only that God is King that we worship him but that he is Holy that’s why would Worship in here’s the last one the third central reason is God is to be worshiped because he is Creator and Sovereign Lord verse 9- 11 we see in verse number well we hear we here we have the vision of God on his throne and is it’s included with a United and combined song of praise and worship the four living creatures which represent God’s creatures all right and God creatures what do they do they worship God and then notice that the praise is twofold in verse number nine it says this and when the living creatures give Glory and Honor thanks to him who sits on the throne and to him who lives forever and ever that means these these the first thing is the four living creatures speak of glory honor and thanks to the Sovereign Eternal God who seats sits on his throne they’re speaking in other words back to God and saying you are the one who is to receive Glory you are the one who is to receive honor you are the one who is to receive thanks and then secondly the 24 Elders representing redeemed Humanity what happens to them notice what happens to them it says the 24 Elders they fall down before him Before the Throne of God who sits on the throne and what do they do and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns Before the Throne saying worthy are worthy are you our Lord Our God to receive glory and honor and power you created all things and because of your will they exist and were created so in this p Mage what did they do this is the worship scene they fall down before the throne the only thing they could do they take off their crowns and they cast them before the throne in complete joyful submission because he is the one who is the finisher of creation all things are his by creation and because of that we are to worship Him chapter 10 verse number six says something similar it says and swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the Sea and the things in it and there will be uh there will be delay no longer why why is it important for us to praise God as the Creator because we are his creatures we are created in His image we are the highest creation of God we’re on the top of the pile and if the top of the pile doesn’t praise God there’s only one place you can go there’s not going to be a lot of people that are not going to be comfortable to go to heaven because they don’t praise God now they don’t care about God they don’t live for God they have their own way of getting saved they have their own way and philosophy of life and no one’s going to change their mind right they’re not going to like heaven but Christians right now we need to start like in heaven because that’s where we’re going and believe me it’s going to be a place that’s far beyond what’s recorded with human words when God is there on the throne and we are there and we’re worshiping him and we’re praising him and we are completely doing it with no distractions with a resurrected body with no schedule no watches on our wrists no iPhones in our hands to beep and whatever it vibrate and all the other things it does we are going to be there in full attention with a full full joyful heart in full submission to our Sovereign God who sits on the throne has always sat on the throne and always will sit on the throne so the vision of the truth of The Sovereign God is he is eternal he is the King on the throne he is Holy he is the Transcendent God he is Creator and Lord and he protects his people and they worship him he visits punishment also upon the disobedient and God conquerors for men’s souls he is the Victor therefore we are victorious so worship remember is wanting more of God that’s what worship is and if you don’t want more of God then you got to check your heart you got to check where you are spiritually because the final goal of every Christian is to be allowed to see our Lord face to face that’s what it says in first John right that’s should be the desire of our heart as our tent pegs get get looser and looser in this world we want to go we want to go and be with the Lord that’s what we want that’s where the spirit of God is bringing us you know what and there’s nothing at all important here that you have to do to keep you from going there so do you want more of God yes do you express the worship of God in your life do you take Serious worship where any other distraction that would bring you from meeting together as God’s people to worship and hear the God is going to take you from it and become more important see we have to change our priorities we really do we have to examine our heart because there’s nothing more important than this right here in fact you know why you were saved to worship God so this passage really should cause us to be part of a Christianity that wrestles with whether to worship our Lord at the cost of imprisonment and death and fall down to worship God Before the Throne in complete and joyful submission why because he is worthy to receive glory and honor and power that’s why amen let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for this passage of scripture thank you Lord that we were able to peek into heaven and to see what’s happening and to see that everything around You Praises you everything will one day praise you and give you honor and glory and exalt you as the King of Kings and the Lord of lords as the creator of all as the one who is Holy in all things so I pray Lord today Lord move move all our hearts closer to you move around our things that we think are important that are not so important and Lord I pray that we would be people that enjoy more than anything else in this world even in these bodies that we’re in now and the circumstances that we’re in to come and enjoy you in worship so I pray Lord do this and mature us in Christ that they’ll be they’ll come time in our life that all we’ll want to do is be in your presence and be with you and we know Lord the only thing holding us back from your presence is our bodies and it could be that those who don’t know you will not go into your presence but will go away from your presence because of who you are so I pray Lord that you would reach out and save those who don’t know you grant them faith and repentance that they may come and Believe In Christ Alone and I thank you Lord this morning for the word of God that exalts you Lord where you ought to be

  • Laodicea: The Lukewarm, Proud, Self-Satisfied Church

    Laodicea: The Lukewarm, Proud, Self-Satisfied Church

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    okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation chapter 3 Revelation chapter 3 we’ll be looking at verse 14 to the end of the chapter and as I’ve been saying along the way that because Jesus is The Sovereign over his church and he is walking amongst and among the lampstands which are the churches and he holds the Seven Stars in his right hand The Messengers the leaders of the church and that the church it’s Main mission is to hold the light to hold the light of the Gospel to the community that they are planted in and if they don’t hold the light we see the message is consistent through all the churches then he will come and remove the lampstand and that’s Jesus who does that so you’re going to see Jesus and hear him say that I am coming to you and will will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent repentance is in a consistent theme throughout all these messages to the churches Jesus G Jesus gives a message to each Church the first war he warns the Ephesians church for declining love the second he warns the church at pergamum about about allowing truth to slip by tolerating bad Doctrine and of course the third warning is compromising with sin within the church that’s the Church of thra and then the fourth warning is our lord Jesus gives is to the church at sardus and that’s the warning of spiritual deadness because the church became apathetic to spiritual things and then the two churches identified in Revelation as having no warnings or condemnations are Samar and Philadelphia but today we’re going to be looking at the last of the seven churches lead DEA and we’ll be looking at how the Lord examines that church let’s pray Lord this morning I pray that as we look in your word that we would see in your word ourselves that we would be able to identify things that we don’t normally see if you weren’t reading scripture if you weren’t listening to preaching and I pray Lord as the spirit of God I identifies those things in us maybe good maybe bad may be sinful maybe not but Lord I pray that whatever it may be that we would be humble enough to come before you in Repentance Wanting You Lord to move upon us and move us in a direction that honors your name especially in the L days in which we live these last days Lord we need the light of the Gospel to go forth in a dark ever darkening world and Lord we need to use us to be able to communicate to others not only by our message but I pray our message would be backed up by our Lifestyle by the sanctification you’re producing in our life and Lord as we look at each one of these churches Lord we see ourselves in each one and in each part of History we see the church moving in and out of these things Lord but maybe the leodan church is the church that is the end time church the church that has everything going for it it seems but they’re wanting in a big way so I pray you would help us to see that today as we look at your word and I pray this in Christ’s name amen so this Lord’s day we’ll be looking at the church of lead deia this is a lukewarm proud self-satisfied church and it was such a church that was nauseating to the Lord another way to say that is that the sense of need for the Lord himself was gone the church could be characterized by its indifference and its being comfortable in the culture and comfortable in its own success that Jesus Christ is The Sovereign over his church and walks amongst his people and is present in their midst examining their spiritual condition to see how are they doing and as we take a look at this church at l l DEA the city was located about 40 Mi southeast of Philadelphia on the road to colossi and it stood at an intersection of three highways where the main traffic routes went East and West and north and south so that means the strength of this position of this city brought this particular church and City and Community enormous wealth and among the residents could be found bankers and Merchants and financiers in fact there was a school of medicine there and it founded the famous I medication and it was probably the Med medical school of Leia that developed what they called the perian eye powder famous in the ancient world and it is fair to guess that this was the dried mud of the thermal Springs of heropolis which could be mixed with water and form a dressing effective an effective remedy for ey inflammation so lead deia was a natural Fortress and it posed a challenge to anyone who would want to invade it although lead DEA had a serious weakness that the water supply came principally through vulnerable aqueducts from Springs six miles away to the north and that and that means that these aqueducts would the water would enter them from the hot springs possibly of heropolis and they would become lukewarm by time they got to the city or it would be the the Cool Waters that came from colossi by the time it got to the city it would be lukewarm so a place with its water so exposed it could scarcely stand a siege for the enemy Army all they had to do is is block up the aqueduct in order to keep water from going to the city and just in a few uh matter of a week they can conquer the city because there would be no water left historical records showed that Leia de sea uh its importance and its wealth is was very well known especially in its banking industry and the main product of the city was a glossy black wool from a strain of long-haired black sheep bred for trade there so these features these features in this city provide really a pattern of of scornful imagery found in chapter 3 the black garments ex exported all over the Mediterranean world the famous I ointment the city’s wealth really formed a basis for the writer stinging reproaches for all its wealth the city had very poor drinking water now as in all of the churches the first way it starts out is number one Christ’s character is highlighted now I want you to notice in verse number 14 of chapter 3 it says to the angel of the church in lead deia right the amen the faithful the true witness the beginning of the creation of God says this so here is this church was facing uh an examination by the Lord Jesus Christ but first it always gives a picture of the Lord’s character and there’s three things here in the Lord’s character Jesus is the amen now we use amen all the time and amen really has the understanding of being that which is true or that which is indeedly true the term points to the stability of God that the Lord Jesus Christ is is not unstable or fickle in his character and it is often translated so be it and that is the fixed and final revelation of God it is the self designation of Christ he calls himself the truth well amen is equal to that where Jesus says in John I am the way I am the truth so in other words all the promises in in Jesus are yes and amen meaning they are certain to be fulfilled our Lord is steady he is unchangeable in all his purposes and promises and that means for us for any church that the Lord is Dependable in his character and absolutely reliable and trustworthy second thing it says about the Lord in verse 14 is that he is faithful and true witness that means Jesus here the testimony of Christ on Earth is absolutely reliable and genuine and therefore his testimony never falls short of the truth that God’s testimony to men ought to be received and fully believed if not it will be swift but true against those who are indifferent and lukewarm to the things of God and this means that for us today is that the Lord is Dependable in what he says and then the third thing it says about the Lord is that he is the beginning of the creation of God and that is that Jesus is the uncreated son of God who is eternal as the father and is superior to Creation prior to Creation in fact he is the first cause of creation the Creator the governor of the universe and because he is the source of the creation of God if it had not been for him there would be no creation so all creation exists only in reference to Jesus Christ this is found found all over the New Testament in Colossians says all things have been created through him and for him and before he is before all things and in him all things hold together John 1:3 all things came into being through him and nothing came into being that has come into being that has not come into being through Christ see Jesus is also the creator of the church he is the head of the body he is the first fruits of the resurrection and all those who believe in him and follow him as Lord and Savior will also be raised to live with him in the new Heaven and the new Earth so the church exists only in reference to him creation exists only in reference to Christ in the church he is the first in time and position that means the church exists only in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ that means for us that the Lord is Dependable in who he is and what he has done he is Dependable in what he says and he is completely Dependable in his overall character now that these three characteristics may strongly it may strongly suggest to us that the major concern or reason for the development of this lukewarmness in this congregation is the neglect of these doctrines they were neglecting the sufficiency of Christ that he is reliable that he is faithful that he’s a true witness they are neglecting the inherent authority of the word of God they are neglecting the special revelation of All Things by God through Jesus Christ they were NE neglecting those things and moving away from those things and again the Lord is about to evaluate the church’s spiritual condition just like the church at Sardis he has no commendations this is number two Christ commendations to this church none the lord of the church has nothing good to say not one encouraging word that his skillful eye finds not even the smallest grain of a good word that’s not good so also this church does not seem to be plagued by any false teaching or under any kind of persecution or religious opposition there seems to be no outside threats to this church everything seems to be somewhat normal if you look at it again this kind of situation is always deadly to spiritual progression it is the kind of situation which makes people comfortable and when people feel comfortable and safe they begin to neglect what is really important that’s why the Lord’s always stirring up the church he’s always stirring something up so we don’t get too comfortable so to them prosperity and success equaled God’s favor now is that always true sometimes it’s true but most of the time if that’s what you’re depending on then you’re in trouble so this is the message of the health wealth and prosperity movement but it’s not only that movement it can happen in any church at any time but in this church the Lord has nothing good to say about it so now look let’s look at a verse number 15-1 17 and this is the condemnation of this church look what it says says in verse 15 chapter 3 of Revelation I know your Deeds that you are neither cold nor hot I wish you were cold or hot verse 15 so in other words the Lord knows their real spiritual condition even if they can’t discern it themselves and in this case they can’t discern it that Jesus has infallible and complete knowledge of their state of affairs and not to be cold or hot is a very precarious position to be in it’s a neutral position it’s it’s a it’s no position actually no conviction no stand they’re taking it’s it’s really it is hard to find out where someone is actually where they stand when they land somewhere in the middle right especially when it comes to doctrinal truth which is by nature propositional it’s by Nature dogmatic so the reality is their faith and life die down to only intolerable tepidness and by by the way people would take this passage to mean I would rather you be cold in opposition to me or hot and on fire for me but that’s highly unlikely it is better to interpret this passage of scripture by its historical and geographical context which is leod deia got its water either from the hot springs of her a Polish and cool to lukewarmness or the cooler Source in colassi and warmth to lukewarmness in other words this water was nauseating which represented their depl horable spiritual condition you ever get a bottle of water from your car when it was boiling in the Sun what do you do drink it down like it was fresh no you don’t you know what you do you go get a cold one inside that’s what you do there’s something nauseating about lukewarm water it represents here the bad spiritual condition of these people so our Lord’s point to them is something like this you are providing neither healing for the spiritually sick nor refreshment for the spiritually thirsty Matthew Henry that old commentary said he said this if religion is worth anything it’s worth everything and lukewarmness is inexcusable so to be half-hearted to be double-minded to be indecisive to be tolerant of everyone’s opinion or just comfortable in the status quo is totally unacceptable in real Christianity It Was Elijah in First Kings who said to the people how long will you hesitate between two opinions he says if the Lord is God follow him and if baale is God follow him see in other words he’s saying you got to make a decision you can’t straddle the fence Joshua even said the same thing to the people after getting into the promised land and right and knowing that be people weren’t where they ought to be spiritually he said to them in the end of Joshua vers the CH last chapter if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord choose for yourselves today whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served which were beyond the River or the gods of the amorites in whose land you are living as for me in my house we will serve the Lord in other words Joshua was saying is you got to land somewhere you can’t hover over the airport too long before you run out of fuel you got to land where you going to land you’re going to land on serving the lord or you’re going to land on getting into some kind of idolatry cuz there’s no uh other choices there’s no middle ground you have to land somewhere either you serve God or you don’t that’s that’s the bottom line spiritually there’s not many choices so you’ll serve someone whether an idol of your own desire or making or the Lord the true and living God so the church at Le DEA was like a spiritual chameleon accommodating accommodating themselves to the moods of the time to the whims of the culture to the wind of the doctrine that was going all over the place and then Look what Jesus does he gives a diagnosis of the church identifying the illness and the disorder in that church we’ll at verse number 16 so because you are lukewarm there’s that word and neither hot nor cold their condition is critical but it is not terminal there is a way to get out of this and the lukewarm beverage just like a lukewarm be beverage is not the norm it is outside the norm and either people order a hot drink or a cold drink usually when something is lukewarm something has gone drastically wrong that the spiritual condition is distasteful to the tongue that the church I laid the sea is was lukewarm and therefore was totally ineffective and distasteful to the Lord nauseating that’s how tepid water is isn’t it it causes only disgust and causes one to finally spit it out you rinse your mouth with warm water and you spit it out you don’t sit there and enjoy it so this is the picture how nauseating and and distasteful this condition is to the Lord now if anybody else was examining this I would say oh well that’s your opinion but the Lord is examining this and if you look at again verse number 16 it says the I will spit you out of my mouth see God God has disgusted with lukewarm believers and if the condition persists he will spit them out of his mouth I don’t know how clearer you can be and how this is an illustration that is quite Vivid if there’s a failure of repentance then this church must perish for it’s better for this type of church to go out of existence because it it is no longer a New Testament Church it is a social club that makes people feel good safe and comfortable and even if you go back to the prophets like Amos what does Amos say to the people back then he says woe to them who are what at ease in Zion woe to you when you get too comfortable and the reason for this tepid condition is found in right here in Revelation 3:17 lukewarmness will eventually lead to ignorance especially as to where one is spiritually and just as lead DEA was far from the source of lifegiving refreshing water geographically they were they have drifted away from the lifegiving refreshing water of Jesus Christ now in verse number 17 what how does the lead Dean people see themselves what’s their diagnosis of themselves look what it says in verse 17 because because you say I am rich and I have become wealthy I have need nothing so that’s how they see themselves in fact this is kind of a quote used by the leans to express their evaluation of their own church see they are saying something they are saying they are saying we have become someone we have arrived at stability we are self-supporting and we are self-sufficient the Lord should be proud of us that we need him very little that we don’t have to call on him for the big things we’re taking care of the big things and the little things yet the church had lost its discernment to see spiritual reality they are saying our accomplishments and wealth is due to our own exertion see the church’s claim is false it it actually it acquits itself because they’re wealthy and yet their wealth had led them to have a false estimate of their own spiritual condition their wealth became an illusion to them it has judged itself and found itself doing fine how you doing I’m doing fine well what does that mean that you’re doing fine well you know what they weren’t doing fine and anybody who’s in this lukewarm condition spiritually you are not doing fine matter of fact you’re on the verge of getting spit spit out by the Lord see because this church was materially rich they assumed that they were spiritually rich and the two don’t often go together you know for your information after the earthquake of 60 and 61 ad this wealthy City rebuilt itself without the aid of Imperial Rome so Rome was very much uh acceptable and very uh reasonable with this particular City because they were able to rebuild themselves at after the earthquake without any help at all no help at all and of course the church was right there rebuilding itself and why in verse 17 they say I am rich I’ve become wealthy I have need of nothing they don’t even need the Lord so this church may have acquired large and beautiful facilities developed special programs of many kinds featured a variety of musicians and artists and even gained a measure of political power they concluded we don’t need any help so their boastful pride and their selfish self their self-sufficiency rendered them blind to the truth this is not a good condition to be in and and the problem is is that living in such a wealthy country like America this is not very far from us falling into so we have to be very careful they were saying that listen we we are a great church and self-organized but they were not a great church and the question in my mind is how does a church get into a nause nauseating position and not even know it well look at jesus’ prognosis in verse number 17 he says this you do not know that you are wretched and miserable now just think of that for a minute if somebody told you you were wretched and miserable I think that would be enough to say okay why do you think that yeah the Lord gives five descriptive adjectives five aspects of one of the same disport dis um deplorable condition this church is in and he says that you are wretched that means you are extremely wanting that you are miserable that you’re extremely pitiful that you’re poor you’re extremely spiritually poor and you’re blind in fact you have spiritual cataracts because all the light is shut out from your eyes you can’t even see what’s going on and then the last one you’re just downright naked and you don’t even know you’re naked how painful such an evaluation would have been yet they could not discern themselves they couldn’t even see their own spiritual condition that M material riches often does breed spiritual poverty and spiritual blindness it also breeds which leads to a false Assumption of one’s spiritual well-being getting to the place where you’re handling it you’re taking care of it and you know what happens when people feel that way they don’t pray they don’t pray the way they ought to because they don’t really feel a need to prayer there’s nothing pressing in their life to pray and so you have a church that really stops praying as a group they’re off doing other things that are seem more important not necessarily sinful but more important but do become sinful so what’s the counsel of the Lord number four what’s the counsel the Lord gives this church in verse 18 notice what it says I advise you to the Lord in other words gives a therapy to the problem and this is his counsel as the great physician Christ speaks in their own language and says to them you have been shopping at the wrong store you have obtained imaginary wealth that will pass away with this temporary World instead the Lord says to them make a trans transaction with me for Spiritual wealth he says I advise you to buy look what it says from me gold refined by fire now Christ becomes the source of the true remedy to those who want spiritual Goods of true quality that must be and come from the Lord himself and so there’s like three musts this is what you must do and look at the first one he says here I advise you buy from me gold refined by fire so the must is that that’s what they ought to do to buy does not imply that we can buy any good work or Merit purchase God’s free gift or anything like that but that from Christ true and Lasting riches can be purchased with the currentc of faith and trust and dependence on Christ that to buy gold refined by fire is a picture of obtaining Purity through the refining process this usually includes the purifying effects of suffering and trials and what it produces and that is a faith of high quality capable of withstanding trials and capable of also getting through the discipline of the Lord so if this comfortable lukewarm church is to renounce all self-righteousness then persecution will get the dross out of their heart and produce a p pure and refined Faith because look what it says in in verse number 18 I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that that you may become rich this is real wealth when you are refined by God and usually through trials and suffering then you may become rich and find genuine faith in Christ so that’s the first M must the must to get cleansing from Jesus Christ so that you may become rich and then secondly you must get in imputed and imparted righteousness from Jesus Christ in order to be cloth and white look at verse number 18 it says and buy white garments so that you may be cloth you may clothe yourself and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed so they were clothed in the finest Earthly Garb and yet before God they were spiritually exposed and naked and ashamed and so Jesus further cels them to purchase white clothing they were remember in the business of selling black clothing a figure likely of course based on the fact that LE de was famous for the shiny black Woolen materials and garments that came out of that region and Christ off offered infinitely wider garments the garments of righteousness covering their nakedness with an inner inclination towards righteous deeds in line with a new heart so that at Christ’s return they would not be utterly disgraced but be found clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that these garments would clothe the Christians so that they would no longer be naked and ashamed see righteousness is a symbol of white garments the clothing of the Heavenly Kingdom you find that in scriptures especially in Revelation where in Revelation 4:4 says they’re clothed in white garments and a Golden Crown on their heads Ephesians I mean Revelation 19 says that for the it says he has it is given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean for the fine linen is the righteous AXS of the Saints in other words this particular Church we’re lacking in Holiness and a disposition towards righteousness it could be that the Lord is also exposing those who are lukew as not Believers in the church they don’t have the clothing of Christ’s righteousness to protect them in the Judgment they need Christ’s righteousness why so that they may be clothed in white and then there’s a third must in verse number 18 they must bu isav to anoint the eyes so that they may see and actually the Greek word means around cake a small cake prepared as an eye remedy and it would would be like iav on the that are is applied to the the eyes in and in fact the there was a mineral found in the copper mines in the surrounding areas which got the attention to of the Physicians and they noticed that the copper Miner’s exceptional eyesight was attributed to a mineral found in the mines well they went and found what the mineral was and they started making a compound with this mineral to make the ey Sav called uh foran powder mixed with oil applied to the eyes as a doughy paste that means like a c uh and then put on the eyes in order improve eyesight of course symbolically speaking if the leod Deans applied the isav Jesus offers they would be able to see the lukewarm condition that they’re in and subsequently repent of it so their Earthly accomplishments were actually meaningless and they needed proper spiritual vision most in uh are in common agreement that the anointing of the eyes is a spiritual anointing that the eyes sa pictures the spiritual gift given by Christ to the believer and the spirit provides the illumination following uh conversion which furnishes spiritual vision and removes self-deception in other words they’re able to see their own spiritual condition and evaluate it and repent on their own so this lukewarm church was lacking spiritual discernment of spiritual matters and they could not see see they must and we must see our our spiritual blindness when it occurs and we must repent and receive spiritual healing from Christ alone that’s what we must do so what is and number five what does Christ’s rebuke and Challenge and promise to this church well the Lord does definitely rebuke them in verse number 19 of chapter 3 what’s what is the rebuke it’s chastisement if you don’t repent it says Those whom I love I reprove and discipline therefore be zealous and repent so here’s what the Lord says listen what does the Lord reprove and chasen the Lord explains what he’s doing that those who have those he has affection for he rebukes and disciplines them the Lord rebukes those he loves as a father deals with his children when he dearly loves them so the Lord does here and reprove is more of a verbal correction and discipline is more of a physical Cor rection but what is so note noteworthy here in this this verse is that Christ’s love for his children is not quenched by their sin they still have a chance and what is the chance well it is the time frame in which they repent repent notice what it says Those whom I love I reprove and discipline therefore be zealous and repent that means do it at once rush to repentance this is decisive repentance that will end all lukewarmness and the Lord is expecting and expressing love of a friend the word for love here is not Agape it’s the word fileo it’s the word uh where I have a deep affection for you so it is here to discipline in order to educate to discipline in order to chastise to discipline even in order to whip you have you ever been chastised by the Lord where the Lord comes into your life and puts a trial or a suffering or a pressure within your life for the reason of getting you to the place that you’re not getting to because you don’t see it I remember in my case early in my Christian walk a very serious thing happened in my early walk and it was so heavy in my life I found myself not being able to sleep walking the beaches of Florida at 2 3 o’clock in the morning asking the Lord what do you want from me what do you want from me I didn’t even understand that God was even disciplining me back then I didn’t know enough but I found out later he was cuz some very uh skilled mature Believers showed me the Hebrews passage that we read this morning and said to me listen if you are one of God’s kids you will be disciplined and I was several times that was not that was one time there were several times that were very significant in my life it’s part of running the race well it’s removing those things which we we read this morning and prayed for which will slow you down and hinder you from making good progress in your Christian walk see it’s in other words the heavenly father School of discipline it will teach us things that are extremely important to us though uh through our troubles that we could not easily receive if everything was going well for us all the time see if you get disciplined by the Lord you know what’s the amazing thing it says in Hebrews to Those whom the Lord loves he disciplines and scourges every son whom he receives but not only that it says in Hebrews 12:7 it is for discipline that you endure God deals with you as with sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline and what does discipline do it really helps us not to forget that God loves us it helps us not to despise because of the character of God when he does discipline we end up saying Lord if this is what you need to do in my life at this time I’m going to accept it because I know it’s not going to last forever and I know it’s going to do what maybe I’ve been praying for Lord Make Me holy make me Godly make me more mature well how does that happen it doesn’t happen by everything going good in your life it happens when the curveballs come right that’s when it happens s because of what it throws you off a little bit and then you you don’t have your equilibrium you’re a little off balance and and you don’t know what to do and then you know what it does it drives you to your knees and say Lord what are you doing I need your help that’s what I do I need your help that’s what it does so here is the most plain and convincing evidence that you truly belong to God’s family when God disciplines you that the heavenly father who is deeply concerned for his children chastises them that’s why a parent if it says in Proverbs if a parents doesn’t discipline their children it says you hate them so however painful it may be at the time uncomfortable discipline is necessary to rid us of unnecessary weights in our life of entangling sins of spiritually bad habits for what reason to produce maturity in us that bears the characteristics and the image of Jesus Christ see chastisement is applied to All God’s children not to kill us but to correct us to show we really and truly belong to the family of God as legitimate sons and daughters and special objects of God’s care and love isn’t that good understanding to have that no matter what’s going on in my life if this trouble came in my life it is because my good father who loves me through Christ Jesus put that there to make me more mature sure to make me more like Christ to put off any kind of indifference and lukewarmness that could have gotten in my life so zealous repentance in the place of lukewarmness which means lukewarmness does not have have to be terminal keep on turning from sin make it a practice and a habit in your daily life to deal with your sin in fact the proper response to the Lord’s discipline actually leads to a quite a favorable Place matter of fact some have called this it leads to the hour of Grace in other words Jesus is not far off from you and I and we learned that maybe more in disciplin than any other time he is he is waiting for us to come to him and Jesus keeps knocking as a friend asking entrance to our life well look what it says it leads to actually to the Lord’s Fellowship the Lord’s rebuke leads to the Lord’s fellowship if we respond in proper repentance in immediate repentance look what it says in verse 20 this is this famous passage of scripture you hear people quote all the time it says behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me now I don’t know about you but that is a favorable passage of scripture this is a concluding verse for all the churches and if they listen to Christ’s evaluation of the church good or bad and willing to repent Jesus Takes a position outside the church and will always come in if we invite him he is always ready to forgive he is always ready to repair he’s always ready to restore a repentant heart into what into sweet fellowship with Christ and his sheep so what if the Lord stands at the door he’s knocking at the door it means to knock and knock and knock and but look what else he does he calls with his voice you know what that means you have to listen and when we’re caught in lukewarmness we’re caught in indifference in this in that indifferent spiritual condition we stop listening listening is so important right it’s so important discipline should get us to the place where we start listening because if we listen it says if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me so these three things what they do is they move the will and the heart to open the door the Lord the Lord’s power of love and grace in in the word of God and by the word of God which is not only the power to save but the power to move our will to do what we ought to do spiritually as a believer and the picture is quite striking that the Everlasting King comes from his throne to ask Beggars like us to receive him and then what does the Lord do it’s it’s it’s kind of like I think broken up into two things Fellowship on Earth and then Fellowship in heaven look at look what it says in in verse 20 I will come into him and and will dine with him and he with me that this is table Fellowship some said maybe this is also connected to the Lord’s table where we sit around the table of the Lord because we’re at peace with God and we enjoy fellowship with God now there’s two views to the door one is that this is a call to the individual heart in the present that the church and its in it it actually the church and its individual members are being addressed here but it may be used to invite a sinner to repent and believe in Jesus Christ I think it leans that way that the Lord is standing knocking and calling with his voice and what does he want us to do he wants us to rush towards him in Repentance he wants us to answer the door and if we don’t want to do that we have to ask the question well what’s exactly holding us back Are you So Satisfied and comfortable and safe that you you think you’re like this church you don’t need the Lord you got it all under control you’re spinning all the plates and keeping them spinning or you feel so proud and self-sufficient and that you don’t really need anybody or maybe you’re just self- deceived as to your own spiritual condition and then others believe that this this is the eschatological door and and I believe that both could be uh you could understand it as both that Christ presents himself as right on the verge of entering and so furnishes incentive for the church to heed his command that the eschatological door through which Christ will enter at the second coming it really pictures and stresses the urgency for people in the church and outside the church to seek the right relationship with the Lord because the grace of God has limits the grace of God will not always be available it’s going to end someday so while it is available don’t turn from it run toward it run toward it and so if a person responds to the rebuke of the Lord if that leads them into fellowship with the Lord it will also lead to the promises that the Lord has look in verse number 21 it says this is this is fellowship in heaven he who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with me on my Throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne that is absolute amazing promise that Jesus will give his children a pure gift of Royal Grace he will make every Victor sit down on the throne in company with him to reign with him he gives miserable Beggars like us who repent and keep the faith This Promise the one who overcame Jesus who died as a Victor Jesus Christ who finished his work on the cross never have to do it again and Jesus the reigning King we are Victors because of the victory he won so as a son shares the Throne of the father we share the Throne of the son that’s even hard to wrap your mind around but that’s the promise in fact 2 Timothy 2 says if we endure we will also reign with him if we endure we will reign with him and of course Revelation does kind of end with listen those who did not uh worship the Beast and His Image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years so the promise of reigning with Christ is a reality because remember the Lord is trustworthy is reliable he does not lie to his children and these things may seem in a way wow it’s hard to understand that but it is true that’s the promise that he gives to us that’s the promise and of course he always ends with this look what it says in verse 22 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches so in other words God’s children’s they have ears that perk up when the word of God is being taught they perk up that’s what they do they listen they hear they don’t just hear anything they hear what the spirit says to the churches and the spirit says the what the spirit says to the churches is found right in the word of God so the word of God becomes a central part of their life so this morning morning you know what you need to ask the Lord to show you your true spiritual condition what’s your true spiritual condition and ask the Lord to reveal to you your spiritual blind spots areas of sin you no longer see or don’t even know their sin and ask them to show you and Rush to repent of your lukewarmness if you see yourself in that place because it’s a nauseating place to be before the Lord get cleansing from Jesus so that you’ll be spiritually Rich get righteousness from Jesus so that you’ll be clothed in white Heavenly garments and get spiritual vision from Jesus so that you may see to be able to receive his promises that that he has for you and those are the things that give us the motivation to take another step to breathe another breath to get up another day and serve the Lord until he takes you home right that’s really what the scriptures there for and I just pray this this morning that you and I would would would Heed These Things take them serious in our life and put them into practice and when we do when we do and the discipline of God comes our way we will respond in the right way and we will be blessed by God amen amen let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for the word of God because Lord in it we find the treasures of life in it we find what is necessary for spiritual growth and Lord when if ever we come to a place where we are living our life in a way where it looks like we really don’t need you then help us remind us that we’ve we’ve fallen into lukewarmness and Lord you’re not happy with that at all and that it would drive us and to rush to repentance to put that sin to death and to never want to go back that way again I pray that you would do that Lord thank you for the word of God that reveals our own Hearts the own conditions that we may fall into from time to time but Lord you always give the way of repentance so Lord when we live our life I pray we would always hear you knocking we would always hear your voice and we would always respond to you in a way that honors you I pray that for us not only individually but as a church and I ask it in Christ’s name amen

  • Philadelphia: The Church that Remained Faithful to the  Savior and His Word

    Philadelphia: The Church that Remained Faithful to the Savior and His Word

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    okay this morning let’s take our Bibles and turn to the Book of Revelation if you’re not familiar with your Bible just turn to the back part of your Bible it’s the last book in your Bible and we’re looking at chapter three chapter 3 before start I’d like to just say that people come up to me and they say to me I was just talking to a Brethren this morning and they said to me Pastor what could we do for you and I says there’s two things you can do you can pray for me and you can be faithful those are the two most encouraging things that you give to anybody who ministers the word of God is just be faithful and pray because prayer PR is the most powerful thing we can do as Believers to keep ourselves and each other walking on the straight and narrow serving the Lord with all our heart giving him the glory for everything T takes place whether it’s on the bad end or the good end and then taking the next step bring breathing the next breath until God takes us out of here amen that’s really the most encouraging thing be faithful be prayerful in fact when we come to the Church of Philadelphia this morning that’s exactly what you find you find a faithful Church a church that remained faithful to the Savior and his word right to the end so that’s what we’re going to look at today let’s pray Lord this morning as we come to your word we know Lord there’s nothing like it this has been written by the spirit of God as he moved upon holy men to write exactly what you wanted and you preserve the word of God right up until this very day and right to the end you will so we know this morning we have the word of God in our hand Lord let it get into our ears and down to our heart and let it move our will and change our mind and I pray Lord Jesus that we would become holy and godly people people and that you Lord you would be blessed by our life and that we would learn to bless you by our life so Lord give us receptive Hearts today as we look at the very word of God to us and I pray this in Christ’s name amen as I’ve been saying along the way we’re looking at verse 7-13 and we’re looking at the church at Philadelphia remember these are the seven churches there’s one more church after this church that we’ve looked at and this is Christ who is walking among his churches examining them to see how they’re doing and then giving an evaluation about what’s really going on actually what does God see going on in that church and in the hearts of those people and the Bible of course tells us that the church is a lampstand it holds up the light of the gospel that’s the job of the church and then God has in his right hand the Ministers of the church and he comes among them and he evaluates them so far we looked at the church at Ephesus that was the Church of declining love the next we looked at the church of pergamin that was the church allowing truth to slip by tolerating false Doctrine then thirdly the warning is to the Church of thura allowing uh compromising with sin within the church allowing it to go on without doing anything about it and then we looked at the church at Sardis the church that was warn for Spiritual deadness because the church became apathetic and indifferent to spiritual things that can happen to us this Lord’s Day I would like to look at this second of the two churches identified in Revelation that had no warnings or condemnations now of course it should come to our mind I want to be like that church I want to be that way but it doesn’t just happen it doesn’t just happen see it should be of great interest to us as to what is going on in this church that brings no condemnation from the Lord remember the Lord is has piercing judgment he pierces right down to the the the intents of your heart and to have no criticism from the Lord I want to be like this church see again Jesus Christ is The Sovereign over over his church is walking amongst his people and that means he is personally present he is in our midst and in order to and while he’s in our midst he’s examining our spiritual condition to see how we’re doing and then this church at Philadelphia this was a city it was named after a man named Atlas Atlas was called philadelphias and the city was named after him of course we we get the word Philadelphia from the word brotherly love maybe that has nothing to do with the name of the church maybe it does but Philadelphia was a a a city of tremendous potential in as much as its mission in earlier days had been to spread to the city of the door of opportunity to promote Greek culture over against the Hebrew culture so helenismo achievement of the Greeks in social and political and areas like the Arts and Science and philosophy and morals and religion that tried to they had an open door to do that in that area of Asia Minor it was famous for its Vineyards and hot springs and the City was destroyed by an earthquake during the reign of tiberious and earth earthquakes were frequent in that area and very unstable it still is the area of turkey uh it still is today therefore many people lived in rural areas around the city of Philadelphia and sometimes the city was called Little Athens because of the prevalence of idols and paganistic gods that were in the city and were worshiped dionisis was the god of wine and that was the city’s Chief deity so the church in Philadelphia had enjoyed freedom from Pagan persecution and from heresies within the church but as was true of Samara the other true the church that had no condemnation the Jews had created difficulties for the Christians in Philadelphia so this morning as we look at every Church there is a certain pattern that the Bible uh lays out for us and the first part of the outline is that of Christ’s character is always highlighted before the Lord gives an evaluation and so let’s look at the highlighted passage verse number seven of chapter 3 it says and the angel and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write he who is Holy who is true who has the Key of David who opens and no one will shut and who shuts and no one opens says this says the Lord all right the Lord’s character in other words is put before the evaluation because Christ’s attributes have something to do with the evalu uation of this church and there’s three vital things highlighted concerning Christ’s person first one is that Jesus is the Holy One in verse 7even he who is Holy and of course that is linking Jesus to the Old Testament designation of God which reminds uh us of God’s crowning attribute that of being holy holy holy that that attribute shines through all the other attributes of the Lord more than anything else and that Jesus is God and none but God is absolutely holy meaning that he is separate from what is common he is different so in our context it speaks of the Messiah Holiness here is not necessarily emphasizing Christ’s sinless nature as much as his role as God’s servant who is specifically set apart for a certain task in the world in fact when you read the book of Acts you’ll find that it says many times in Acts several times that it’s referred to Jesus as your holy servant Jesus and again your holy servant Jesus is a common phrase of Jesus because he is different he’s holy and when Jesus preached the real cost of believing him and following him when that large crowd was following him and they finally left because he gave a clear indication of the Gospel would it meant to follow him they all left and 12 guys stood there and Jesus said to them Simon Peter Jesus talking to him said Lord uh Jesus said are you going to leave to and he says where where are we going to go you have the words of eternal life and then they said this we believe that you have come we have come to know that you are the Holy One Of God you are different you are not like the other prophets you are not like the other priests you are not like the other leaders of Israel you are different they knew that Jesus is the one who is separate and different and thus to say Jesus is Holy is to say that he shares the being of God he is God a second thing look in our text in verse 7 it says this about Jesus Jesus is the true one in other words Jesus is the genuine one Christ is the real deal absolutely faithful to his word actually the terms holy and true appli to Christ and it’s mentioned in Revelation 6 and verse number 10 where the those crying under the altar those martyred saints that triggered the wrath of God were crying out and what were they crying they were crying this in Revelation 610 and they cried out with a loud voice saying how long oh Lord holy and true so here are the Martyr Saints alive under the Throne of God and they’re crying out Lord you are the Holy One you are the true one so their cry leads the world to recognize that this is the Judgment of God because they have persecuted persecuted the followers of the Lamb so the two attributes holy and true together may suggest that God is Holy and he is a god of great wrath because it implies Holiness implies Purity it implies Perfection it implies absolute uprightness therefore God is against all impurity he is against all immorality he is against all unrighteousness and because he is true he said that he would do something about all these evils and judge and avenge them and he will do that because he is Holy and true in fact if you read through the word of God you find out that that jesus’ nature answers to his very name where the Thessalonians when they heard the gospel the Bible said they turn from their Idols to the living and true God well how do they know that because God showed them that they show showed that these idolators now knew who the real God was so the living and true God and living not only means that he is alive but he is active he is involved he’s personal he is the god who orders all things in heaven and on Earth and of course living is given in contrast to all the dead Idols who neither can be alive or active dead ID dead Idols simply do nothing in fact if you read psalms you’ll find that in the Psalms it says Idols can’t speak they can’t see they can’t hear they can’t smell they can’t feel they can’t walk all and you have to carry them around right and it says and those who make them will become like them everyone who trust in them will become like the idol or The God they serve that’s how they’ll become like but Jeremiah the prophet said but the Lord is the true God he is the Living God he is the Everlasting in King at his wrath the earth quakes and the Nations cannot endure his indignation that’s who Jesus is and then there’s a third designation of his attribute in verse number seven of Revelation 3 and notice what it says who is true who has the Key of David he has the Key of David now anyone who holds keys anyone who holds keys to something also has the wherewithal to open and close something right I remember when when I was in in the Marine Corps I was part of a task where we did uh nuclear security and the nuclear security codes came out every single day and with the nuclear security codes came the cipher lock door codes which changed every day so you really had to keep on top of things and you had to go through several Cipher lock doors to actually get to the weapons and these were massive very uh strong doors and if you didn’t know the code you couldn’t get in but once that door shut behind you you couldn’t get out somebody had to let you out so it was kind of a devast it was kind of of a sober type of thing but I know I’m so glad somebody at the other end had the uh the keys to open those doors whether it was electronically or not so Jesus his faith fulness is described in relationship to possessing the Key of David and the key in David’s time King David’s time which we read this morning was of course eliakim Authority was transferred to shna who was removed from his office because he was Unworthy of his office and the Bible tells us in Isaiah that we read this morning that he the Lord will entrust the keys of David the Key of David to eliakim and it says I will UST entrust to him the keys with authority and he will become the father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of Judah then I will set the key of the House of David on his shoulders to do what when he opens no one will shut and when he shuts no one will open that becomes an important theme in this particular passage of scripture so he he was over the household of David in the Old Testament but what does that mean for us it means that Christ he is the heir of the Throne of David and he will replace all the less worthy stewards of the House of David who have abused their trust in God’s spiritual house and he will reign over Israel Forever In fact when you read in the gospels right in the beginning of the Gospel of Luke where the angel is telling Mary everything that Jesus is going to be and do it says this and he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the Throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jac forever and his kingdom will have no end so Jesus keeps the key to the kingdom of God both the Earthly and the Heavenly Kingdom he opens and shuts according to his will so the key that is spoken of here is one key with double power and that Key’s double power is that of opening and shutting and that person who has the keys has the authority to open something and then shut something and no one else could do that except this person so the authority to open and close the door to the kingdom of God rest with Christ and he decides who is and who is not to be admitted see the power is described to us in chapter one of Revelation where it says that he has the keys of hell and death and keys and locks were symbols of power and authority authority which no one could question so the open door given to this church at Philadelphia was the open door of missionary work it was the open door of of preaching the gospel that once the Lord opened that door to preach the gospel nobody could shut it not even the opposition that was against this church so Jesus only has the key to open the door of the gospel and when it is open no one no thing no demon can stop it see there is a question that does come up when you’re studying this portion of scripture and the question is this wait a minute is is someone trying to stop the spread of the Gospel yes someone’s tried to stop it look at Revelation chap 3 verse number n what it says it says behold I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but lie so here’s a group of people the Jews who claim to be the children of Abraham and think they are already Heirs of the Kingdom because they’re Jews but they have made a great mistake and what’s what’s the mistake they make it’s the mistake a lot of people make they have rejected the one who has the keys wait a minute if I can’t get into the kingdom of God if I want to get into the kingdom of God I have to go to the one who has the keys Jesus is the one who has the key and if the Jews don’t come to Jesus the Messiah and they say that Jesus is the Messiah is not the Messiah then they lie because Jesus is the Messiah and these Jews failed to acknowledge that Jesus was the Messiah he was the way into the kingdom of God as I was saying to our students this morning in our membership class Jesus is the only door there’s not many doors there’s not many ways to God there could be millions of religions in the world but there is only one way exclusively and that’s Jesus and Jesus has the key so if you try to get in any other way with any other philosophy of life you’re not making it I don’t care how good people think you are I don’t care how good you think you are are you’re not getting into the kingdom of God unless you come to Jesus Christ as your lord and your savior so the bottom line is that Christ the true David has the key of the Supreme government upon him and he has the authority the absolute authority to open or close the door to the kingdom and no one can countermand him no one can and the reason why is because Jesus alone has the authority to admit to the New Jerusalem to the new city of David that will be and Jesus the true Messiah is the New and Living Way into the presence of God if you don’t go to Jesus who holds the key to the kingdom of God well then you are locked out you see if you haven’t come to Jesus you will be you will remain locked out and that’s the bottom line and that’s really the hard part of the Gospel but the point is come to the one who has the key so he opens it up to you by repentance and faith and he let you in so your sins can be forgiven you can be made right with God and then you can go on and live for him the rest of your life and just for your information there’s always opposition to the gospel there’s never been a time that there has not been opposition to the gospel so our prayer should always be that the Lord Jesus would fling open the door for preaching the gospel for sharing the gospel and that he would give us gospel success that should be our prayer in fact the Apostle Paul in Colossians said pray for me that God will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned so there we have opposition and success of the Gospel together he preached the gospel and he got got him put in jail but the gospel still went out people still got saved and people are going to get saved why because Jesus opened the door to the gospel and the door is still open today and I don’t think Jesus would have given an open door for the gospel to this church at Philadelphia if it were not for their High view of Jesus the Messiah they had a high view of God and they also next had a high view of the Great Commission that God gave them to bring the gospel now in saying that let’s look at Christ’s Commendation to the church beginning we’re going to look at it in a second but what is God’s or excuse me God’s condemnation to this church and of course I already said that there’s none again the Lord is about to evaluate their spiritual condition but the church at Philadelphia had no condemnation Jesus the evaluator doesn’t condemn this church for anything his skillful eye finds no criticism so you would have to ask another question why would the Lord give this church an open door that no one could shut why not only did they have a high view of God but now let’s look at the Commendation to this church we find this in verse number eight of Chapter 3 of Revelation now before I look at that the Lord knows everything about us he knows everything we do everything we are going through he knows everything and I want you to notice in verse number eight what it says I know your Deeds I know your Deeds behold I have put before you an Open Door which no one can shut because you have little power and have kept my word and have not denied my name now if you just not notice there that the Lord is evaluating the church but there’s three characteristics of their faithfulness that is highlighted in verse number eight in other words the Lord’s giving them reasons why he gives them gospel success remember the other churches didn’t have the gospel success that this church had what’s the first reason look at verse number eight and I think it’s this their faithful dependence on Jesus is says because you have little power you have little power now you know what that means that means that this church is probably has little influence it has little weight in the city of Philadelphia and the members were probably from a lower class like it says in in Corinthians not many mighty not many noble was part of their congregation they weren’t a rich Church in fact they weren’t a large Church they had they had they weren’t a strong Church in the sense they were limited in resources it says they had little power so what does that mean they drew their strength from the Lord they learned that when they are weak God is strong and God’s power is perfected in weakness see when you know you are weak you learn to depend on the one who is strong and that is not only Jesus Christ holding the key to get into into the kingdom but to remain walking in a way that you will honor the Lord he has to give you that strength so we may also draw out from this that to Bear quietly may be a Divine calling as much as the call to Hope largely that God is always at work in quietness the size of the church has no bearing on God’s working among them this is a small Church this is a small church so the Christians are comforted with the assurance that the design of their enemies would not be permitted to succeed that their cause would survive and that many from the city would continue to enter into the redeemer’s fold and come into the kingdom of God so they’re certain uh that and there are always certain times and places where the door of the Gospel is open and the door of the Gospel is closed and so they were Faithfully depending on Jesus but look at the next characteristic of their uh faithfulness in verse number eight because you have kept my word that’s the second reason why he’s given them gospel success faithful in keeping jesus’ word obedient in spite of being little they would not let go of what they learned from the Lord they were not interested to entertain new beliefs and new thoughts the strength of the church does not consist of worldly wealth and worldly wisdom and worldly power but the strength of a church any church is faithfulness to God’s word and their profession of the name of Jesus Christ so the little power that this church had was effective against the United powers of Satan and its World system and even hell itself to stop that church from preaching the gospel so this kind of little but dependent power is prized by Jesus the church was not careless it was not prayerless it was not immoral it was small but faithful it was small but depending on Jesus and then notice a third reason why God gave him gospel success their faithful determination verse verse number eight because you have not denied my name so these Believers were firm in their purpose and their will and their intention to stick to God’s word and keep holding to the correct teaching about Christ and the correct gospel message and even when under the pressure of the government and Jewish opposition to not to denounce Jesus as Lord they did not but they kept faithful they didn’t deny the Lord in fact the use of the verb here in the aist tense the verb for denied points to a particular historical situation where these Believers were called upon to denounce Christ and they didn’t they didn’t denounce not mentioned but they didn’t do it they had proved themselves to be faithful to Christ they were faithful to confess Christ before men so just remember faithfulness has always been the test of divine blessing rather than success faithfulness rather than success so because one is faithful God grants this church several things other churches were not granted this also could be how the Lord’s power is displayed in their weakness by bestowing upon them gifts that only God himself could give them now what what what do I mean by that look at the end of verse number eight of chapter 3 he bestows upon them three Divine favors or promises and the first promise is undeniable entrance uh it says behold in verse number8 I have put before you an an Open Door which no one can shut to put before them is the sense that it it is in the perfect tense which in indicates A continuing condition that is going on in the church so no matter what happens to them no one could shut the door to the kingdom of God also they they proclaimed the message of Jesus Christ the Messiah that actually unlocks the promise of the Kingdom to all who repent and receive Jesus as their lord and savior so the encouragement for us is because Jesus has done this he has his foot in the door you know what happens when somebody puts their foot in the door right you trying to close the door but the foot doesn’t allow you to close it so you got to deal with this situation I don’t know if that’s happened to you before but Jesus has the foot in the door when it comes to the gospel that he has the foot and the door for evangelism and missions so again we should let uh broadcast the seed of the Gospel everywhere for that reason it’s going to fall into hearts and it’s going to save people that’s what God says so they had this Divine promise that they were going to bear fruit and then secondly and notice in verse number nine they had a Divine promise of vindication an exoneration now this is an incredible passage of scripture it says in verse number nine behold I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say that are they are Jews and are not but lie I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you now that’s incredible what the Lord is doing there and my friends you you have to look at this and say this is UN this is incredible what the Lord is doing that the Lord will declare that his children were not to blame or guilty of lying but will make the real Liars acknowledge that the Believers of Christ were actually right that Jesus also makes them Bow Low before them and then makes them know whom God really loves now Christ says that quite literally I will make some not all some of those who are of the synagogue of Satan now who are the synagogue of Satan it’s that phraseology is is pretty much in your face all right the Jews who thought they were right with God and in the Kingdom because they were children of Abraham God says no your your your synagogue is uh where Satan dwells Satan’s your father you don’t have the father who is in heaven so in other words that right here I will give some of those who are of the synagogue of Satan meaning that he will give some of them as converts they will eventually come to recognize Christ as Lord and bow down to the philadelphians acknowledging that you are right that Jesus is the Messiah that he is the son of God and here’s the gift that Jesus gives to the faithful church that these Jews vicious haters of Christ of the synagogue of Satan they will drop to their knees and bow their heads and come to the this this church and confess Jesus as the Holy One the true one the one who has the Key of David and some of these Jews joined themselves to Christ’s faith faithful Church wow but at the same time some of them will be humiliated by this because Jesus Will humiliate his enemies it says in verse number nine I will make them come to bow down at your feet so all will bow to Jesus some in Glad salvation others in bitter submission and that’s a true statement in fact just take your Bibles quickly and turn back to Philippians 2: 9-1 this this is a verse that goes right along with this because when you come excuse me and think about what the Lord is actually doing you see here in this particular text in of Philippians chap 2:9 through 11 it says for this reason also God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father you realize that’s going to take place someday everybody in heaven and hell will declare that Jesus Christ is God he is the holy and true one of God so Jesus Will Proclaim whom he loves before his enemies and that’s what it says in our text and make them know that I have loved you that Jesus has a has a general benevolence for all people but a particular love for his children and this will be a great day of humiliation for all religious non-religious unbelievers another God will honor Believers before the face of unbelievers see Christ also promises that because they have been faithful to endure persecution just as he did he will be faithful to keep them from the hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole world and that brings us to the Divine promise of protection and exemption look at verse number 10 of Revelation chapter 3 back to Revelation it says because you have kept my word the word of my perseverance I also will keep you from the hour of testing that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth and you know that little phrase my perseverance I believe that fa phrase deals with the Lord’s endurance is it not Jesus who endured the suffering Messiah who came to his own but his own did not receive him he endured the rejection of the Christ of the Cross so the Jews to the Jews the cross was a death trap to the Gentiles it was silliness as it says in scripture to the Jews it was a stumbling block to the Greeks it was of course silliness foolishness but to the Christians it is the power of God and the wisdom of God the gospel so the Lord’s way of delivering those who keep his word he shuts them away from the trials that will come upon others why because he says to them you you didn’t go beyond what was written you didn’t allow the world system to press you into its thinking you did not hold to the Traditions or the Commandments of men you were faithful to my word and because of that because of that I’m going to protect you see there’s no greater praise that can be given to any church than that they hold fully and completely to the word of God In fact when you read the gospels what does it say if anyone loves me what they will keep my word and and if you look at the opposite of that in also the Gospel of John he does not love me he doesn’t keep his his word so loving Christ and keeping his word go go together like hand in glove you cannot separate them somebody can’t go do what they think they ought to do contrary to what God Said in his word and say they’re a Believer and say they love God because they’re saying by what they do they don’t love God so Christ’s promise to the Faithful Is I will exempt you from the hour of testing that is coming on the whole world now because we know Revelation is going to get into that I believe this is referring to uh further the tribulation that comes upon the whole world and I believe here the church will not go through the tribulation the seven-year tribulation and therefore will be exempt from the trials of tribulation but I also understand that other believers believe that the church will go through the tribulation while they and while they are going through the tribulation they will be protected from the trials of tribulation but I have a question why would the Lord want the bride of Christ who’s already perfected and purified to go through the tribulation I find no reason to say yes to that question that they should I believe the the word the Lord is going to rescue the church all right because I see in scripture it’s teaching that the day of the Lord first is triggered by The Rapture the catching away of the church the the church the Saints in the air to meet the Lord and it says will forever be with the Lord which triggers the start of God’s Wrath identified by the apostasy people leaving what they believed and rejecting Christ and the revealing of the man of sin and then consequently the coming of Christ for the church is followed by an extended period of time in which God releases all his judgments within that tribulation period And so God’s children the church in whom he loves will be caught up to himself before the seven-year tribulation I believe that’s what the Bible teaches and then he Christ will come the second time at the end of the tribulation that’s the second coming and what will he come with he’ll come with his mighty angels and with his Saints who’s that that’s us that’s the church and what are we going to do we’re going to come back and we’re going to rule on this Earth with Christ for a thousand years while the Lord does his work see that’s God’s plan and I believe that’s what he does to his church that he loves now getting back back to Revelation the next thing we see is Christ’s counsel to the church verse number 11 it says of course this is a promise of the soon coming with one command it says I’m coming quickly verse number 11 hold fast what you have so that no one will take your crown in other words the command is for us to remain ready to remain faithful to remain committed can you do that can we do that until Christ comes until he he sets off this next part of his program can we just be remain following him remain faithful remain committed see the Philippians I mean the philadelphians are told to hold fast to what they have until Christ come the Lord’s saying listen hold on I’m coming I’m coming he’s saying here and I’m coming quickly he will take them to a place where no one can take away their crown so in other words to faithful Believers God’s going to give a crown now don’t misunderstand that because the crown is not a symbol of royalty it’s what they call a floral wreath wreath that goes around the head which was placed on the head of the victors of those and like those who finish a race and win and a conquering General who wins a battle he’s has a crown placed on his head and everybody knows when they see that crown that guy won that guy was Victorious I want to be like that guy see the Lord promises the church I’m going to give you that for being faithful but then that’s not done Look What the Lord does the fifth thing is that Christ challenges and Promises this to the church in verse number 12 he says this this is like one concluding challenge to them he says he who overcomes verse number 12 that to he who P perseveres to the end with God’s help because he keeps his word and does not deny his name remember he is the god who is Holy and true and keeps his promises and because he keeps his promises and because you have been a church that honored the Great Commission and honor the name of Jesus Christ I’m going to give you three special promises and they are very special in verse number 12 I’m going to make you a special class of residents look at what it says in verse 12 I will make you may I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he will not go out from it anymore so in other words he the Lord is saying I will make you a permanent resident a pillar in the spiritual temple of God P pillars are strong symbols of strength and stability they make the structure look strong and stable and per perent something you you run to and hide in because the pillars are holding everything together and remember historically earthquakes dispersed these people leaving their home situations unstable so they would have fled to the countryside to establish a more stable residence but David looked forward to a permanent and stable dwelling with the Lord even in when he wrote in the famous psalm 23 surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life and what and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever that’s permanent residence the promise to the Overcomer To the victor is that they will have a secure and prominent place in the temple of the New Jerusalem that all True Believers will enjoy a place in God’s holy presence forever in which all the Saints on Earth one day will be eternally secure with God that’s the first thing he says to them I’m going to give you permanent residence where I am secondly in verse number 12 of he uh Revelation 3 he says this I’m going to give you a special brand of ownership that means that all believers will receive a permanent name tag written with God’s own hand that will include the following information look at our text in verse 12 I will write on him the name of my God so in other words the name tag depicts complete ownership for his bonder servants for his faithful and they are sealed with the Seal of the father and the son and the spirit and it depicts ownership and Security in other words God will protect protect and keep those who bear his name and God’s name written on them an indication of the their Eternal relationship with God I own you I’m going to give you some name tags and nobody can take them away from you I’m going to write them on you I’m going to tattoo them on you nobody can erase them that’s what God’s going to give to his faithful people and then there’s one other thing in verse number 12 he’s going to give them a brand of citizenship do you know you have to be a citizen to get into heaven know we have a whole bunch of things going on in our country today that you don’t have to be a citizen just come in we’ll take you no you got to it’s not going to happen with Heaven you have to be a citizen right and if you enter in through to the kingdom of God through the one who has the key Jesus Christ then not only will he give you permanent residence not only will he brand you with his ownership but he will also brand give you a special brand of citizenship in verse 12 it says I will write on him and the name of the city of my God the New Jerusalem which comes down out of Heaven from my God and my new name that’s what I will do with you that all True Believers will receive a permanent resident tag written with God’s own hand that will include the following information that I just said the name of the city of my God and my new name Revelation just turn quickly to revelation 21:3 because of course this is setting us up for what’s going to happen in the rest of Revelation some of these things in Revelation 21 in verse number three it says and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the Tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them see that’s God’s goal for all of us that there’ll be a new Heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells the New Jerusalem will come down to the new Earth and there will be no more separation between God and man we’ll be one with him we will worship him and it will be a time that can’t even be described by human words that God’s presence in the city is the greatest blessing that we could ever hear with our ears and Ponder with our mind God is not just a visitor there nor are we just visitors we are permanent occupants in the kingdom of God and we are there so God’s people may live in his presence and enjoy him forever and ever and ever don’t you want want that to be you don’t you want that to be you in other words to the Conqueror will be given the assurance that he belongs to God to the New Jerusalem to Christ and that he will everlastingly share in all the blessings and privileges that are given to him by God and what’s the last verse in uh verse number 13 of chapter three this is how he always ends it he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches are you listening are you listening have you put yourself into the equation yet are you the one who entered in through the door of Jesus Christ who has the key to the kingdom or are you trying to work in it work it out on your own what what are you trying to do you got to get ready today Jesus may come for his church tomorrow it looks that way all right we’re talking about global stuff going on here we’re talking about you know uh one world leader One World Currency One World Government we’re we’re seeing that it’s happening everywhere all across Europe and into the United States it’s happening Christ is close do not put off one second of thinking about it if you hear the spirit and the spirit speaking to you respond to the spirit and believe in Jesus today if you haven’t and then go on Faithfully to serve him be ready when he comes be ready and know what the Lord’s asking us to do just to be Fai faithful can you do that it seems easier than it sounds he’s asking us to be faithful so the church who remains faithful to the Savior and the gospel and the Great Commission will be rewarded by God will be rewarded by that’s what you see in this chapter and I pray I see many remnants of things being said here in our church and I don’t want to see that at all get messed up but it takes all of us so it doesn’t get messed up right to be faithful in this part of New Jersey not an easy part of the country but I do know one thing about New Jersey you can go out every day and share the gospel to people who never heard anything you’re talking about matter of fact some people say I never heard anything about Jesus I don’t even know who Jesus is you know that’s amazing so do we have an open door yes do the people in New Jersey need the gospel yes and who’s the one who’s going to give it to them snbc CNN Fox News no we’re going to give him the gospel so let’s be faithful that’s why I’m really thankful about our our moral evangelism that we we set up that table there and get a chance to talk to a bunch of people it just uh it’s just an amazing thing when you get with when you get to share with people the gospel and see what God’s going to do amen let’s pray Lord thank you this morning I pray Lord if there’s anybody here that needs to sit down that we may share the gospel with them so they come to Jesus who has the key of the kingdom and they can believe in him I pray you would do that and Lord I pray also Lord you would keep our church faithful you keep us prayerful you would keep us Lord as your people on the path where we are doing the things you asked us to do we’re holding to your word we’re lifting up your name and Lord all the promises that you say you’re going to give your faithful church that’s going to be ours and so Lord every day as we get up as we go out our door as we get into our day I pray Lord that we would always be mindful that you may come that day and know in our heart to be ready and I pray this

  • Sardis: The Church Standing at Death’s Door

    Sardis: The Church Standing at Death’s Door

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    all right let’s take our Bibles and turn to the Book of Revelation Book of Revelation last book in the Bible and we’re looking this morning at Chapter 3 of Revelation verses 1-6 let me have a word of prayer as you uh are turning there and let’s uh be ready to receive God’s word today let’s pray father this morning Lord we thank you so much for um your kindness and your goodness to us your patience with us your longsuffering with us and I pray Lord that as we look at the word of God that Lord you would deeply impress it upon our hearts that you would allow us to see ourselves In this passage that if there there’s anything that we need to turn from and repent of if there’s some change we need to make by way of repentance that Lord by your holy spirit that would take place and Lord we would learn to live in this world as a real believer and Lord we know that you told us already that it’s not going to be easy to be a believer there’s going to be trials and tribulations there’s going to be suffering and Lord there’s going to be many dangers but Lord you’ve given given us your spirit you’ve given us the word of God you’ve given us the church all all as means of Grace Lord to keep us strong walking on the straight narrow so Lord when we do breathe our last or you come Lord that we would be pleasing in your sight and Lord we’ll drop off these bodies and be in your presence and then we’ll be perfect we’ll have glorified bodies when we’re Resurrected and Lord will live with you forever and that’s the plan you’ve you’ve always given us in Scripture it hasn’t changed no matter what the world does it will not change it’s on track and we’re part of that and that’s exciting and I pray in Christ’s name amen okay this morning chapter 3 verse of of Revelation as I’ve been saying all along that Jesus is the head and Sovereign over his church and as the head he is walking amongst his church that’s called in scripture the lampstands and then he holds the Seven Stars in his hand The Messengers The Leaders the Elders of the churches and of course remember the job of the church is to Bear light to hold the light to share the light of the Gospel in the area that these particular churches in all the churches since then have been established along the way and so there’s always one great great mission of the church and that is to share the light of the Gospel that is the main mission that will always be the main mission because that’s how people come into the kingdom of God they come in because they have to believe in Jesus Christ as their lord and savior he is the only way the truth and the life no one can go to the father but by him so if you look again in chapter 2 verse number five at the end of that verse it says or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent each church that has a warning to it also has connected to it this whole understanding of repenting turning from the way you were going and thinking and doing and turning to Christ and following him and obeying him in the way he says that we ought to live our life if we’re are really believers so Jesus gives a message to each Church the first warning was to the church at Ephesus and he said to them listen you are you were a church of declining love second he warns the church at pergamum of allowing truth to slip by tolerating tolerating bad Doctrine and then a thirdly a warning is to the church at thra that we looked at last week and that was a church compromising with sin in within the church so there’s dangers that come out from outside the into the church and then ch ch dangers right inside the church so we see that thra was a church that became corrupted from within so this Lord’s day this morning we will examine this fourth warning of the Lord Jesus Christ to his church and this warning is of spiritual deadness becoming apathetic indifferent to spiritual things it’s a church standing at death’s door it’s the church called Sardis let me give you some background to this church we already I already said that Jesus is The Sovereign and head of his church and walks among his people and is present in their midst he is present this morning in our midst and he’s examining the spiritual condition of his churches how are they doing how are they living and as we take a look at Sardis it’s located some 30 miles Southeast of thura and according to some historians it was the place where the dying of wool was discovered the economy of of this city was very good which produced a lot of wealth it also traded actively with other parts of the known world and it was known for Woolen Goods jewelry colored dyes this city was geographically situated in a very strategic place it was built on the Acropolis and was able to defend itself quite well however there were several times the city fell because of self-confidence and failure to watch as far as its worship its inhabitants practiced the immoral worship of cibil and the ruins of the temple if you were to travel there today are still there syil was the painon deity of Sardis who was believed to possess special power of restoring the dead to life ironically Sardis is also famous for its necropolis which is known as the cemetery of a thousand hills and the reason for that is because of the hundreds of burial mounds visible on the skyline from seven miles away maybe that’s a little bit ironic for the Lord to have a city like that when the deity is claiming to raise the dead when there’s so many dead according to the One Source a guy named Ramsay he called the place the city of death because it was a city of softness a city of luxury a city of apathy a city of morality boy that sounds like today some refer to Sardis as the zombie Church the Church of the Living Dead live bodies with dead Souls inside now of course that’s that’s quite a place let’s see now the the pattern is similar than like the other churches there’s always first and a a highlight of Christ’s character and that’s what we’ll look at now in verse number one notice what it says to the angel chapter 3:1 to the angel of the church and Sardis write he who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars says this I know your Deeds now just stop the first part of that verse it tells us there that in as far as the character is of the Lord is concerned is that he has he’s the he to the angel that has the Sardis has the seven spirits and the Seven Stars so this church was facing a thorough examination by the Lord Jesus Christ and it in this case the church was had fallen asleep because of its wealth and past success now he said he has seven spirits now that’s referring already I’ve mention to the holy spirit that that is given to his church with its VAR with his various powers and Graces and operations and even though the effect of the workings of the Holy Spirit are varied from church to church there is a dispensation and a measure of the spirit given to every Minister and every Church body so that they may carry out the work of the Lord in their area if the holy spirit is grieved or quenched by a particular body of Believers and they find themselves languishing in their their Christian walk and in Ministry then they are to be reminded that Christ has seven spirits and the spirit is without measure to whom they may apply themselves for the Reviving of their dead State and the so they can work again amongst the people and then it says here that he has seven stars and it also true that Jesus Christ has uh seven Ministers of the church and in his hand they are therefore accountable to their lord Jesus Christ which should make them faithful and zealous to carry out the work of the light of the Gospel so his ministers are given the message we have the message already and he’s given them the gifts to be able to communicate the message and they are to use those this the message and their gifts for the good of the people and for the edification and the building up of the church from stealing people from the darkness of the world and the world system into the church which is the kingdom of God’s Dear Son again the Lord is about to evaluate their spiritual condition and unlike the other three churches if you notice secondly Christ’s comem uh Commendation of the church Church there’s none there’s none there’s no Commendation the Lord uh has no Commendation for this church that Jesus the evaluator and judge doesn’t commend this church for anything and I am sure that’s not that’s not good sign when the lord of the church has nothing good to say not even one encouraging word so the Lord’s skillful eye can’t even find the smallest grain of a good word for this church as a whole so the church doesn’t seem to be plagued by any false teaching or under any kind of persecution or even religious opposition there’s no outside threats to this church everything appeared to be normal now this kind of situation is always deadly for any Christian in any church when there’s no spiritual progression and you can’t see it it is kind of a kind of situation that lulls people to sleep spiritually and deadens their spiritual faculties so they can’t discern between what is God’s way and what is every other way what the world is doing and what God wants them to do they that kind that’s seems to get blurred in fact maybe this is the kind of atmosphere that the Christian church has been operating on and in for many years in our time it’s like a church who succumbs to the dictates of the modern woke materialistic society that we now live in and that’s a deadly thing because it produces not spiritual growth but it’s it produces actually deadness in the church and there’s a third thing and this is Christ’s now condemn condemnation of the church in verse number one he says this I know your Deeds that you have a name that you are alive but you’re dead so in other words the impression that this church was given not only to its own congregation but to to the surrounding uh community is that they were alive now how could that be well from a human standpoint this church had a reputation of being active it could have very well been a large church with a wealthy congregation with many programs and many activities in other words they had a kind of beehive reputation if you ever looked at a beehive right the bees are in and out and in and out in and out in and out all day and they don’t stop and there’s a lot of activity there’s Vitality even see Sardis this church claimed to be a healthy Fellowship in a successful Church they look good on the outside but remember looks can be deceiving see this is the kind of church that if anyone was looking for any kind of help they could go there because they had probably had a Ministry to help that person they can even attend there and they could call that church their home but I want you to notice the reality of this church in verse number one it says and this is Christ EV valuation I know your Deeds that you have a name you are alive but you are dead this is what the Lord is saying to the church you’re dead Brethren there’s a real Paradox here because what seems real from the vantage point of the human evaluation was not the spiritual reality according to the great physician Jesus Christ his diagnosis was you are a spiritual corpse you’re lifeless you’re useless you’re ineffective even though from the outside you look like you’re alive and you’re active and you’re well see we can get along and be busy in our Christian Life and we can be doing things we can be ministering we can be doing all those things but inside you’re dying because you’re not using the means of Grace to continue to grow and so that’s what was happening here see the condition of a church church is not always known by judging outward appearances and performances Jesus sees what’s what is going on in the core of the congregation he sees what is going on in the heart and we need to be reminded that Jesus is concerned very concerned with the inward character of his children and the inward character of the church and the driving motive for everything a church does should be a the approval of God why are we doing this because God says to do it and this is what God approves us that’s why we’re doing it and we’re keeping that no matter what else other people want us to do we can’t do that and many times what happens is that when a church does not allow the world to get in they do not allow themselves to get comfortable and to be kind of in a state where everything seems to be going all right a church like that is someone who’s always looking at themselves and examining themselves and asking themselves are we pleasing the Lord or are we not and a church does not exist to gain approval from the present culture or the most popular Evangelical Trend no that’s not where we get our approval from from and usually today if you don’t get approval from usually those kind of things you’re looked at they don’t look at you anymore they don’t pay attention to anymore a lot of times those churches will not be the larger churches they will be the smaller congregations that stick to the word of God and they know what the word of God says and they’re willing to do it even the word of God tells us woe to you when men speak well of you for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way they were giving into the false prophets back then and they were speaking well of them so the question we must ask is does what we are doing or attempting to do meet with God’s approval based on the word of God this is how the Lord evaluates their deeds now if you notice in verse number two he says this or the end of of verse number one it says no I know your Deeds that you have a name that you are alive but you are dead he’s he’s looking at their deeds and this is how the Lord evaluates Deeds Christ knew their deeds their works that they were not full verse number two it says wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die for I have not found your Deeds complete in the sight of my God now that’s an interesting passage of scripture because uh it means that your Deeds aren’t full they’re not accomplished an interest an interesting way that we can interpret this passage of scripture is that for I have not found your Deeds bringing about scripture in my sight in other words what I’ve written in the word of God is that what you’re doing or are you ignoring that are you setting that aside because you think something something is more important than that see the Deeds of this church were not fulfilling God’s purpose and not measuring up to this God’s standard and not in line with the word of God possibly three things or several things could could have gone wrong maybe they stopped hearing no longer receiving God’s word maybe the ministers were no longer preaching the whole Council of God that they were no longer doing things with a heart that loved God and loved people that they no longer had a desire to Go Make Disciples and teach them to be obedient to the word of God they simply wanted to avoid opposition and persecution by compromise blending in giving in every wind of and of Doctrine every novel thing that came down every cultural think teaching that was pressing upon the church they let it in so when spiritual spiritual apathy and indifference begins to take root in a church body it starts to act like spiritual cancer it eats away on the inside until finally it leads to death see the church loses its ability to fight against Pagan influence and worldly viewpoints they really don’t know what’s right and wrong anymore see the church loses its ability to whole firm the word of God and the church church churches fight to win the world for Jesus Fades away no evangelism failing to have regular corporate prayer the church loses its Zeal and passion to serve the Lord wholeheartedly now from our perspective things can be going right but this is the Lord’s evaluation and this can happen to any congregation and that’s the point in these churches of revelation we have to care be careful care ful that this doesn’t happen to us because if it starts happening to us individually and we come together it starts becoming like a cancer it just spreads and thankfully and the key verse of course in verse number two is in the sight of God see I have not found your Deeds uh complete in the sight of God the Lord’s looking on Earth seen and he sees your heart he sees your Deeds he sees how you’re really doing you can come and you can talk with me and you can tell me everything’s going good and right and everything’s fine well and dandy but on the inside the Lord will say no you’re not true with yourself you’re not seeing it the way it ought to be seen because you haven’t been doing this in my sight and you haven’t been doing that in my sight and you’re doing these other things in my sight that you know are wrong and you think no one sees you you think you could hide from God you cannot hide from the Lord so Christian people may go to church and may be involved with many activities and Ministries and that is good but if it is not done before God and to live wor worthy in his sight then the smell of death is already beginning to pollute the air and we we all have to be careful about that because it could happen very very quickly now with that in mind what is God’s counsel to the church Christ’s counsel and correction to this church and thank the Lord that he always has counsel to the church because he loves this church he loves his people and he’s not going to let them get away with just living any old way especially when their Witness Goes Bad the point of a church is to be a witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ if that goes bad the Lord’s going to step in and what he does with this church of sardus he says listen I’m going to give you the model of how to be rescued from this death how to be rescued from this cancer now in the military when a combat team is in trouble on the battlefield and has run out of options and every measure of winning the fight has failed they have one last thing they can do they get on the comms and they call for the qrf the qrf is the quick response team and that team is specifically trained these soldiers are highly trained to go in and rescued these combat soldiers that were in distress and rescue them so their life can be spared and not be killed by the enemy well in the same way the Lord Jesus has given to his church a means to be to be rescued from spiritual death and I’m calling the method of rescue the Q the qri the quick response imperatives and why I’m choosing that is because the Lord gives five imperatives In this passage that helps us to be able to be rescued from a church or us ourselves standing at death’s door and the imperatives are are quite simple but they must be implement it if you don’t call out and put them into practice then you’re not going to be rescued the Lord may just let that church die but why would we want that to happen if we know that the Lord’s given us to not die so look at the first thing in verse number two here’s the first imperative it says in verse number two of chapter three wake up where’d to go buddy there’s a young preacher right there very good it says wake up and the word actually means to watch to be alert to be alive to Rouse from Sleep To Be watchful to alert be alert once again and it’s not with sleepy eyes as one just being awakened but being Wide Awake Wide Awake in order to see what is really happening I remember uh Jane and I my wife and I being at the deases doing the discipleship and it was about 10 o’clock at night and Denise says hey do you want a a shot of Cuban espresso I so sure one 10 o’clock it was so good I said can I have another one I never went to sleep that night I never went to sleep that night it was so powerful that it just kept me waking I I’m a coffee drinker but that’s the sense here to be wide awake I don’t know if you ever be it’s 2 o’clock in the morning you’re wide awake I mean you know and uh you don’t know why sometimes but you are and you get a book to read or you do something and you just uh that happens sometimes the Lord wants his church to be that all the time and there there are other several passages of scripture that have a similar exhortation for example 1 Thessalonians chap 5: 6 this exhortation for Christians to be V Vigilant in the light of the coming of the Lord and this is what it says it it says so then let us not sleep as others but let us be alert and sober for those who sleep do their sleeping at night and those who get drunk get drunk at night but since we are of the day let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of Salvation now it’s interesting how this passage the one here in Revelation and the one also in Romans all refer to the Christian life being a fight a battle and believe me if you’re a soldier in a battle one thing you don’t want to be is someone who’s asleep because not only could you get killed but your brothers who are fighting with you can be slaughtered also so you have a great responsibility upon you because of that the Christian life is difficult you cannot do it on your own you have to have the spirit of God you have to have the word of God you have to have the Church of God those are the things God’s given us so we can fight together so we can be awake and stand and be sober about what’s going on around us also the word sleep can also be taken figurative figuratively to mean to be indifferent to things to be careless about spiritual realities so how can a Christian be prepared well let us not go on sleeping let us watch instead let us keep awake that’s how and just think for a moment that the passages I the passage I just read in 1 Thessalonians 56 it says there let us not sleep as others do so there are the shameful multitudes on Earth that are in profoundly deep sleep they know nothing of the joys to come and are oblivious of the evils that shall happen to them they do not have the knowledge of God nor do they fear God but are blindfolded by the by the ignorance of the world they also do not realize that they are standing on the brink of hell and that the anger of God Burns against them because of their sin they’re asleep they are indifference they are unconscience they are spiritually dead that’s why any kind of things that the world wants to give the church we really don’t need we need the word of God because everything the world’s going to give us is just dead stuff and it’s not going to leave to any kind of spiritual health or growth it’s actually going to pervert what God says is true again in Romans you don’t need to turn there but Romans 13:11 it says do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to be awakened from your sleep for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed the night is almost gone the day is near therefore let us lay aside the Deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light there’s the armor again the Warfare again and then it says let us be properly as in the day not in carousing or drunkenness not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality not in strife and jealousy but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh in regard to its lusts that’s what we’re to do while we stay awake because those things will L us to sleep and they will drag us down and they will drag the rest of the church down too so do you see with what a contradiction it is to be asleep like this and at the same time call yourself a Christian and awake see if these are asleep then they cannot be alert never alert to sin and temptation of the enemy never alert against themselves and the lust of the Flesh and the lust lust of the eyes in the pride of life never alert for opportunities to do good never alert for opportunities to instruct the ignorant to uphold the weak to comfort The Afflicted to come to the aid of those who in need never alert for the opportunity to glorify Jesus for times of communion for times of of uh alert to his promises that we hold on to and of course alert just for the word of God to take place and do its work in our heart so there these are are many who are never alert to spiritual realities of this life and the life to come they are not alert they are asleep so simple admonition let’s be alert so we’re we prove not to be asleep you see who believes are not part of the sleeping masses outside the faith upon whom God’s Wrath will come we are to be awake we are to be the ones who knows what’s going on we are to be the ones who who recognizes what’s going on on the outside of the church too so it doesn’t get into the inside of the church so that’s the first one get away here’s the second imperative and it’s this in verse number two strengthen the things that remain which are about to die so in other words make stable the rest of those not actually dead but still in grave danger take a strong immediate effective measure in order to shake off the the creeping death and stand solidly against the inroads that are causing you to die being comfortable being materialistic had made them soft and will make us soft being content with mediocre Christianity we can our witness for Christ not holding firm the truth the Great Commission becomes the great Omission they were incomplete in their works and did not measure up to God’s standard but what are they to strengthen what are to are they to reinforce well we find that in verse number three which also gives us the third imperative so remember what you have received and heard that’s what they’re to keep what they received and heard now what did they receive in here well when we get back to the Bible we received and heard the word of God right we get back to taking seriously what God thinks we run everything through the grid of scripture and Obey it and practice it then hold on to it and never let it go so what are we what have we received and what have we heard we heard the gospel the gospel needs to be continually recalled to the mind that’s why daily we ought to be preaching the gospel to ourself and the gospel is to that we have we that we have received we are and heard and preached to oursel that Christ died in your place as your substitute that Christ took the wrath of God and that you deserved for your sin and paid the full price for it that Christ shed his blood unto a cruel bloody death so that sin all of it could be washed away so that you may be for forgiven by God that Christ rose again defeating Satan and death so that he may give eternal life to all who believe that’s what we receive don’t let go of that don’t let someone mess that up and then notice the fourth imperative in verse three so remember what you have received and heard and keep it it is not just acquiring scriptural knowledge it’s much more than that it’s becoming fully convinced of the truth in your heart in the depths of of your soul having deep convictions about the word of God that no one can move you on it is to hold the scripture as the reliable standard of all faith and practice in other words the word of God is sufficient continually calling the truth to mind in order to keep it guard what you received and heard protect the greatest treasure that you and I will ever receive on this side of Eternity is the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ and when you when you believe in something you act upon it don’t you if you believe in a certain diet to lose weight you will read and study about it you will ask people who have implemented the diet about their advice and about their experience you will not be satisfied with just knowledge you want to see results you want to practice what you now know and if you if if I say when you firmly believe in something you will definitely act upon it you will remain in it you will talk about it and you will want to pass it on if you are fully convinced of the truth in your heart heart and the depth of your soul then you will hold it fast and never let it go and know that this is the end of the road when it comes to truth the word of God that when you read it and study it you find out this is God’s word so we can’t set aside scripture in favor of Novel philosophies scientific theories experimental behavioral and counseling techniques political correct and other similar fads of of the modern woke opinion that we live in today can’t go there neither can we supplement Biblical teaching with entertainment and ideas uh that drawn from secular sources all such things stem from a loss of confidence in the sufficiency of scripture those who aren’t convinced the Bible is sufficient revelation of truth will continually be looking elsewhere Elsewhere for more Revelation and mystical experiences and Satan will be right there to help you and then one last imperative here notice in verse number three it says this so remember what you have received and heard keep it and repent there it is again true repentance is one true remedy for the death that’s set in Repentance demands change putting off the old soil garments the old wrong thoughts and putting on the clean garments repentance means a change of Lifestyle a change of conduct a change of of course because attitudes and habits must be biblical there must be a change how does repentance look like it looks like waking up staying awake spiritually it looks like reinforcing what you already know it’s like remembering what you received it’s like keeping it it’s like holding to the things God’s given us and if these five Q our eyes that’s the quick response imperatives are not implemented swiftly then you will be ready then you will excuse me not be ready and you will die so Christ judgment may catch someone by surprise and unprepared so if you look at verse number three again if the church does not wake up and accomplish these things then the Lord will take drastic measures verse number three it says of chapter 3 therefore if you do not wake up I will come like a thief and you will not know what hour I will come to you now this is not necessarily a reference to the second coming but it does have to do with that because we are getting ourselves ready for the Lord’s coming that’s what we’re looking for right we’re looking for him to come we’re we’re on the brink of him coming so what would we do were’re to wake up and be ready for that the admonition is still be ready Be watchful be laboring and the scriptural admonition for us Christians is to be ever watchful even even in light of the second coming listen what it says in Matthew 24:24 or 42 it says therefore be on the alert for you do not know which day your lord is coming But be sure of this that if the head of the house had known at what time of night the thief would come he would have been on the alert and would have not allowed the house to be broken into for this reason you must be ready for the son of man is coming as at an hour when you do not think he will the Lord never told us the day and the hour he’s coming we don’t know if it’s going to be in the morning in the afternoon or the evening but we know he’s is coming so we must be ready right and you have to be awake and alive for him to come right so I I I I really pray from this teaching and from the word of God that it will make us watchful and ready to meet the Lord at any time and that while you are waiting to meet him you will be laboring diligently on his behalf until he comes until he comes now there’s a fifth thing in verse number four Christ does have a commendation for a few people now notice what it says in verse number four Revelation 3:4 but you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments H the picture is one of spiritual contamination of their Christian Witness by accommodating being accommodating to the culture and the fattish trends of pagan culture and sin the sinful life that is all around them and always pressing against the church in our lives Christ gives specific notice and Assurance to this small faithful group and what did they do they stayed morally pure they kept holding on to the word of God they didn’t follow sleep sleep or become indifferent to spiritual truth and in fact the scripture goes on to say at the end of verse number four they are worthy they are worthy because their profession mats their message and their practice you got that their message that they received matched their practice in life growing in Holiness and those uh who stood firm for Jesus both in confession and conduct the Lord calls them worthy and he says to them at the end of verse four and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy don’t you want to be worthy don’t you want to be the kind of people they’re talking about there I want to be the few right the few the proud the worthy right that’s what we ought to be because that’s what God called us to be and that’s what we’re we have the ability to be in the spirit of God now saying all that I thank the Lord he always ends with this a challenge and a a three-part promise and This Promise is extra ordinary and notice what it says in verse the end of verse number four this three-part promise first the promise points to the genuiness of those who hold fast and re remain awake and ready for the Lord’s return in other words that they will be clothed in perfect righteousness it says in uh the end of verse four and the beginning of verse 5 they will walk with me in white for they are worthy verse 5 he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments all right in other words that God will show that these are worthy because of the clothing that they’re wearing that I give them to wear the clothing the white of these garments symbolizes the Purity that comes when one has been washed in Christ’s blood only those who have allowed Christ to cleanse them from their sins will be clothed in white not everybody will be but only those who are in Christ’s presence will be they will be part of the banquet where those who are in white robes will be noticed and they will be accepted so that’s what the Lord says to us there’s a genuiness that’s going to take place for those who are cloth the Lord will give you clothing to show you are indeed genuine secondly the second promise in verse number five is the promise points to security of those who hold fast and remain awake and ready for the Lord Lord Lord’s return your names will never be erased from The Book of Life notice what it says and I will not erase your name from The Book of Life in other words God’s Divine registry you know when you’re reading the Old Testament you have these name after name after name that you can’t pronounce you say to yourself why is that you know why because God is interested in names and I tell you what do you want your name on this registry you better want it there it better be there because if it’s not there oh that’s a sad place to be see The Book of Life refers to the Heavenly registry of those who have received salvation in Christ the book symbolizes God’s knowledge of those who belong to him you know cities used to have Registries and only those whose names were recorded were considered citizens and allowed a permanent dwell a Dwelling Place there well here the Lord is saying listen I’m going to give you security because you’re going to know your name is written in my book because not because of anything you did or could have done but but because you believed in Christ and not only have you believed in Christ you followed him the rest of your life you were awake you were awake see some have suggested in Christ’s statement that he will never erase certain names leaves open the the possibility that he might erase some names it may imply that people can lose their salvation in other words can a name be written in the book and then later erased well that would be very shaky theology to base one’s understanding of this uh Theology of Salvation on this symbol so it is best to take Christ’s statement at face value those who remain faithful to him are promised future honor and eternal life and they are guaranteed citizenship in heaven you know if you you finish the Book of Revelation you’re going to find that Revelation chap 22 has another set of books right at the Great Wide Throne judgment and at that judgment there’s two books there is the book of men’s works and deeds for it says the books were open see and and why is there a book of works because even those who didn’t believe Christ will be judged fairly by our just judge about how they did live their life he’s a fair judge so that’s the book of works but the other book is The Book of Life it says and another book was open which is the book of life and in that book is not a record of Deeds it is a record of names it’s a record of names see The Book of Life only comes into discussion to show that the names of these dead are not written there this book has already been mentioned in several parts of Revelation but it contains names of all who have true spiritual life Revelation 3:5 he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments and I will not erase his name from The Book of Life Revelation 13 this book will be also uniquely belong to the Lamb of God and is related to his death where it says in verse 8 of verse chapter 13 and all who dwell on the earth will worship Him everyone whose name has not been written in the F from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain and then your name must be written in this book in order to enter the Eternal City the Heavenly sinner City Revelation 21: 27 it says and nothing unclean no one who practices Abomination and lying shall ever come into it but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life so even in the ancient world it is built on the role of the citizens of the city or Nation thus those written in it are citizens of heaven and God’s special people so what are we to rejoice in today because your name is on the right role because you are Joy joyfully assured of Heaven what does it say in Luke 10:20 nevertheless do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven see God’s very interested in your name he’s interested in names and all that I know is the only way you can get your name on this registry is not by Good Works it’s not by being religious it’s by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life repenting of your sins believing in and then following him the rest of your life that has to go with it a real disciple is someone who learns follows so that’s what happens those names who are recorded in heaven have sins forgiven your name written down in heaven a possessor of eternal life a partaker of the divine nature born of God passed out of condemnation into everlasting life and how blessed state it will be to be saved it is a blessed state to be saved now to be delivered from the wrath of God so if you are in Christ then your name will remain indelibly recorded in God’s book God’s registry forever forever but that’s not it there’s one other thing that the Lord promises look at the end of verse number five of chapter 3 the third promise points to our acceptance before God it says and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels and in other words that Jesus claims he knows you and he will claim he knows you before the father and before the Myriad of angels in heaven father this is one of mine this is one who followed me this is one who kept my word this is one who believed in me he is mine she is is mine see Christ will announce to the host of Heaven that these Believers belong to him don’t touch even now no one could touch us but someday in heaven could you imagine that the Lord turning and saying Lord I I know I know you I I know you’re one of my children I know you see Christ is he’s he’s amazing when he gives his promises even in the passage we read in our scripture reading uh this morning if anyone acknowledges me publicly here on Earth I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven but it goes on to say but whoever denies me before men I will deny him before my Father in heaven it’s going to be one group or the other so if you didn’t want to live for Christ here why would you want to go to heaven if you didn’t want to honor him here of course imperfectly but that was the direction of your life why would you want to be in the presence of a holy God see it’s going to be one group or the other which which group are you in this morning see the Old Testament book of life was a a register of all who held citizenship in the Theocratic community of Israel also Greek and Roman cities kept lists of citizens according to their class and tribe if one was not listed there was no entry into the City and if they found your name wasn’t there and you try to get in they would expunge you they would throw you out so Believers can have no greater reward than to stand in heaven with Christ and him announce your name you are mine these are mine and to have one’s name written in the book of life is to be numbered among the faithful citizens of the kingdom of God there’s no greater encouragement than that but there’s no greater rebuke too if you don’t think your name’s there and if you don’t think your name’s there talk with me and maybe we can get your name on that list now the last passage and and I’ll close notice what it says he has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches now it says that after every church but the question I have is those who have ears and hear knows what the spirit says to the churches and they do what the spirit says to the churches right so they don’t become dead and useless in God’s Kingdom so do you need this morning to implement the qri of to revive and wake up to reinforce what you received and heard the gospel to remember and receive and and uh hold to the gospel to keep it to repent and change if you need to do that today need to do that but if you hear what the spirit says to the churches and you believe in Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and you are following him your name will be in the Lamb’s Book of Life and you will be accepted as a citizen of the kingdom of God now if that’s not encouraging to you I don’t know what is I can’t help you let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for the word of God Lord your promises are things we have to think about every day because Lord we do get knocked from Pillar To Post in this world we do get knocked off track we do at sometimes become indifferent and comfortable too comfortable and Lord sometimes we don’t look at the Christian Life as a Warfare sometimes we think I think we got it I think we can handle it but Lord those very thoughts are things that are dangerous so Lord I pray this morning that whatever you have to do in the hearts of your people you would do that if you have to bring them into repentance that someone here needs to come to Christ I pray that they wouldn’t put it off one second more that today would be the day of salvation but for those who are saved Lord that you would encourage their hearts you would give them eyes to see you would make them awake so Lord when they look at their own life they can identify very quickly what’s wrong and then quickly take care of it and get back into walking with you but Lord if those some have fallen asleep and are not awake they’re doing their own thing and not following you I pray that you would get a hold of their heart and bring them to a place where they see clearly again so thank you Lord for all that you will do and how you will use use your word in our life on a daytoday basis let us always grow so we lift up your name and glorify your name and the church will continue to be the light because of our witness because we are turning from our sin and we’re practicing righteousness and I pray Lord we be found with white robes to be worthy I pray that for us help us to do that for the sake of Your Great Name and I I pray this in Christ’s name name amen amen okay this morning we do have the Lord’s

  • Thyatira: The Badly Infected Church

    Thyatira: The Badly Infected Church

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    this morning let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation Chapter 2 and we’re continuing to go through this incredible book as I’ve been saying more up to date than tomorrow and tells us really that Satan um his tactics have not changed from the beginning of time he just uses different people in different circumstances uh to be able to do the same exact things and so we should be aware of that as Christians so this morning Revelation chap 2 and we’ll be looking at verse number 18 through 29 the largest message of the churches uh the Church of thura let’s pray Lord this morning as we again look at your word and the privilege to be able to see with our own eyes to open our Bibles and see the text that I’m going to be preaching on this morning so I pray Lord that you would engage our minds um engage our Wills that we lord would be gripped by the word of God and that we be guided by its very principles and that we would be moved away from the things the world wants to press upon us knowing Lord that you will make very clear in the word of God what things actually please you and what things actually don’t and I pray Lord we would have that same kind of clarity in every decision we make in every circumstance we find ourselves that looks confusing give us Clarity so Lord we can do the right thing and we can know that we honored you and um so Lord I pray we know we can change sometimes our circumstances but we sure can respond to them in a way that honors you and I pray this in Christ’s name amen Revelation 2: 18 before I get there this is really a church that is badly infected not everybody’s infected but a church that’s badly infected it was Steve Green who sang six years with Bill in Gloria gai if you know anything about Christian music and they would on their time off get to know the crews that uh put all the the the speakers up in the large auditoriums and they were they would be called riggers they would rig everything up and um Steve Green was saying that one day he was talking to one of the riggers and he says what what was your fear when you’re up there so high hundreds of feet in the air uh walking on these 4in beams they said oh we’re not afraid of that we’re afraid when there is a false ceiling underneath that we think we’re being safe but we can easily fall through it and fall hundreds of feet and die he that’s what we fear and he he kind of that kind of took him back because what he what they said is that it it lured us into carelessness we would be careless when our mind played tricks on us uh and so he says that that’s what we fear um Satan’s business is not so much in scaring us to death as persuading us that the danger of a spiritual fall is minimal see that’s the danger the danger is when we are getting numb to the things of God and we become careless to what the Lord really wants us to do and so we we get the sense here the reason why this church got infected is because we’re going to find out in a little bit why but it it came into the church and the people stopped holding fast the word of Truth and they began to become careless and so you know even with your own health if you become careless with your health well disease something’s going to follow that’s not good right it’s the same thing in every area of your life but especially in the spiritual area when we have so much going on around us everywhere we go and we’re getting bombarded every day with all kinds of stuff all kinds of information and how do you know if it’s true or not some things you read say wow that sounds pretty true then you find out that’s not true at all everybody is going through that but I tell you what when we come to the word of God we know this is the truth and when you know the truth you can discern the error all right so the point is we have to hold to the truth so we don’t become careless and so we know what pleases God all right so now was just keep that in mind and remember that Revelation is a book where the Bible is telling us in the first teaching Us in the first three chapters that Christ is walking amongst his church he is evaluating his church he is coming along his church he calls his church the lampstands because the lampstand is of everything that holds up the light the light of the Gospel which the world needs and if the church doesn’t hold that up no one’s going to hold that up so we have to hold it up but if we let infection get in the church The Gospel Light gets a bit dim and sometimes it even goes out and the Lord is the one I mentioned in the first message he’s the one who removes churches and starts another one over there because they give up on the truth they let the world get in they let other things get in and it becomes infected and sometimes to the point there’s no recovery so here the lampstand represents the church and the Bible tells us that the Lord has in his hands the angels of the church or The Messengers of the church and we know those are the elders and the pastors uh of the leaders of those churches and the Lord is concerned about them that they stay uh in the truth and preaching the truth so Jesus gives a message to each of the churches and the first warning we saw in Ephesians that the church was a declining church the church at Ephesus because the church became Loveless they they let fell out of love uh in the sense of they weren’t loving Christ as they ought to secondly we were warned of the Church of at pergamum uh allowing truth to slip tolerating bad Doctrine and influenced by the culture and so that is another thing that happened and then we had a good church that we mention and I’ll mention that when I get to the uh Church of Philadelphia so some of the churches were influenced by their culture resulting in becoming indifferent to holding tightly to the truth and declining in their relationship to Christ so that means that the current message of false teachers became louder and more persistent than the word of God itself and often the result of this downward spiral was following false teachers following something that was not true playing ultimately with immorality because it seems like idolatry and immorality are hand and glove they go together and Satan uses both of them and he does it very effectively so that means the standard of spiritual integrity and impurity and Purity was downplayed in the church it’s kind of like the the false ceiling that played tricks on the mind of the riggers some just stopped holding fast to the truth and became careless now this church is different than the church at pergamum thra was 40 miles Southeast of pergamum it was called the lydian city and the reason for that is because Lydia who was a dire of purple mentioned in Acts chapter 16 was from thara right so in that City there were many things going on uh the Bible does say that the gospel went to her uh and she heard the message she received the message God opened her heart and she believed so she she was a believer in thra and so that City kind of was named uh as a lydian city because she was a prominent member of the church a wealthy member of the church and often possibly had the church in her house not being the leader of the church but opening her what she had giving it to the Lord so the word of God can be preached in the church it was the smallest of the Seven Cities the smallest church but the longest message and because of its position in a valley it was richly agricultural but lacked really necessary features to protect itself from Invasion it often was armies would run over it because it was a a road to the other place they were going so many times it was taken over and overrun and destroyed it had a healthy com Commerce which in turn produced a multitude of worker guilds uh examples like linen workers and wool workers and Dyers of wool and fabric leather workers and people who made out Outer garments uh potters and Bakers and bronze Smiths were part of the church and became significant really on really what the Lord’s going to say to the church but one thing that really was important is that there were these guilds in in the community and so everybody in some way became a member of these guilds like our unions and they would unionize everything and get everything together so people have all the work and they were Distributing work and and so it was kind of like listen you help us we’ll help you but what happened is that in these meetings that they would have these Guild festivals they called it they would uh eat food that had been offered to one of the Gods and in this case it was the god of Zeus and of course to part if you didn’t participate in that you wouldn’t get business and if you didn’t participate you could have lost your job so this was a lot of pressure on this community to be able to have some connection to the guilds without compromising and without being careless with what they knew to be as Christians also these gilds participated in grossly immoral activities that often followed these feasts so these trade gills were something like our unions as I mentioned and each trade Guild had its own God and members of The Guild were pressured into participating into the Pagan feast and often often these feasts uh just become a an immoral Gathering so consequently Christians faced a real problem they could not buy or sell unless they were in some way participating with trade business guilds if they refused to participate then they would be shut out and therefore could not make an income to support their families and would have to move away to someone other place so they were left left with the choice of having to leave their homes and families for somewhere else to make a living or somehow give into these Guild practices now just keep that in mind it’s it’s important for the background and let’s look at Christ’s character that is highlighted in verse number 18 of chapter 2 it says and the angel of the church in th write these are the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a fire of flame and whose feet are like burnest bronze now the church was facing a sobering examination by Christ Jesus by King Jesus and in this case the church was toying with sin as a ro result the clear lines of what pleases God and what does not please him was blurred and became very cloudy but we see here the Lord’s understanding and clarity has no cloudiness to it in fact if you notice it says these are the words of the Son of God why is that term used Son of God really is is a clear title of the Eternal and the only begotten Son of God but the Son of God emphasized Christ’s Divine character as opposed to Apollos son of Zeus see so this is like an inyour face type of thing of the present gods in the land so Jesus is the true Son of God not Apollos and this surely is true of the deity and the sovereignty and the authority of Jesus Christ that must always be reestablished in the minds of God’s people if sinful practices are to be dealt with in a scriptural manner as God intended Christ must be Lord in our life he must be the master not sin not the culture not of circumstances not trade guilds or unions or people trying to press on us things that are we know are not right to do and so it it leaves us in a very tough position but one that we must make a choice and then notice it says here that Jesus is the one with pure judgment in verse number 18 it says that he is not only the Son of God but he has eyes like a flame of fire no one can hide from the Discerning Eye of the Lord the car characteristic Des description here denoting his piercing his penetrating and perfect knowledge that is Christ has a thorough insight into all persons and all things all circumstances that he sees all actions he sees all thoughts he sees all emotions his penetrating eyes sees all the deceptions of the false prophets and false teachers in fact in verse number 23 of chapter 2 he says I will kill her children with pestilence and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the mind and hearts see that’s what the who the Lord is he searches our mind and heart he can he can know he knows exactly what’s going on in the Deep recesses of your mind he knows that and sometimes you may even hear people say you know what the people will say to me or any preacher boy you were talking just just to me today did you know something about my life for you before You Preach Today I said no I don’t I don’t know but God knows and he knows exactly what you need and he know knows how to press it upon the heart that’s who Jesus is he has piercing and penetrating eyes and knows everything that going on now that’s of course practically I need to be living that way I need to know that God knows everything that’s going on he knows what I’m thinking right now he knows what goes on in my private uh closet he knows everything that’s going on on my job and in relationships with people how could I hide that from him I cannot hide it from him and the Lord will not allow you to hide it if you’re a True Believer he will not allow you to hide it he’s going to bring it to the surface he’s going to bring it out and that may be tough for a person when they are they come under God’s scrutiny because they can’t get away with it he hems them in and for good purpose because you’re you are a child of God you are to to live for him you’re you’re the light and the salt in your face family on your job you’re the go places and represent Jesus Christ and then notice in verse number 18 too Jesus is the one with purifying judgment vers the latter part of Verse 18 and whose feet are like burnish bronze see this characteristic attribute signifies that the ongoings of his Providence are steady they’re awful they’re all pure they’re all holy and as he just judges with perfect wisdom he acts with perfect strength and steadiness that the Judgment of the Lord exposes all the impurities that would be in our hearts like when metals are heated causing the impurities to rise to the top so they can be scooped away and the pure metal could be left that’s what the Lord does when he judges us as remember this he’s talking about the church here he’s talking about Believers here he’s talking about those who claim to know him here so the Lord is about to evaluate this church and its spiritual condition and he’s to do it quite accurately but Jesus first sees something commendable in this congregation let’s look at what he sees Christ’s Commendation of this church in verse number 19 many admirable qualities right there listed in one verse in chapter 19 so as I before I read that the Lord has a a comp comprehensive knowledge of what people do that is admirable to him he knows all the good things you do he knows the little things that you do every single day of your life and so Jesus is always fair and his evaluation of people he sees some good things going on in this church and these things every Christian should should do and look what he says there’s two inner motives he comes up with he says I I know your Deeds I know your Deeds that they were busy in sacrificial Ministry to others they were doing things to build the church also he says I know you’re love it’s it’s quite amazing uh that this church is commended for love but it is especially when we discover the Terrible Things That Go on among some of the professed members so nonetheless the church had a disposition of doing good to men doing good to the Brotherhood especially those of the household of faith they had love and then he says I know your faith that they were committed to the right message love motivated their service Faith enabled their endurance to keep on and to display it with thankfulness with humility with willingness and with availability and then he says I know your service these people were focused on the needs of people they cared and looked at out for one another and verse 19 he says then I know your perseverance that they they were a group of people that beared up under the heavy load of trials they were tough they had their minds set that no matter what happens we are not going to quit and then he says in verse number 19 notice what he says at the end and that your Deeds are of late are greater than the first now that’s that’s an incredible compliment that means that they were progressing these were advancing spiritually and growing in Ministry growing in love and good works were on the increase in this local church they were better than when they first started off Bo that’s a great compliment are are you better than when you first started more mature than when you first started and trusted Christ are you more ready to have love and faith and service and perseverance in your life is that growing in your life or is it not there in your life these were advancing and Lord saw that very clearly and he commended them for it so with these admirable qualities everything though was not as it ought to be and let me remind you that those believers who hear and apply correct biblical Doctrine will understand that God is serious about his children living in Purity he’s serious about that and Satan got this church to tolerate become careless in not only a teaching that was against the word of God but practices in their daily life that was against God’s character and what a Christian ought to be so let’s look thirdly at Christ’s complaint and condemnation of this church and verse number 20 of Revelation 2 but I have this against you you tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a propheus and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrifice to Idols whoa the state of this church was that they were being infected from within not from without from within of course without had something to do with it but the danger was that this false propheus within the church was being tolerated by the church they were permitting her to do those things maybe it could be that she was very popular person a wealthy person some even suggested I was reading in church history that she could have been the wife of one of the leaders of the church that was hard to substantiate but it’s not too far-fetched see this the penetrating eye of God sees all this and he says you tolerate this woman Jezebel she was a self-proclaimed Propst that means she was not called by God she was a self-proclaimed teacher that means that she shouldn’t have been teaching in the church for one thing she wasn’t male if she was because it says she’s also a self-proclaimed leader in the church and then what does she do she leads her bond servants astray she leads a Christ Bond servants astray so that means she’s not handling God’s word accurately probably not using the word of God at all she is a prominent woman who claimed the gift of divine prophecy and leading God’s people into Pagan worship and Pagan feasts which often lead to sexual promiscuity so she is moving people away from true worship to false worship so in other words we could say it like this some people were looking the other way because they didn’t want to lose their jobs they didn’t want to lose their businesses so the church was allowing this woman Jezebel to teach in the church she was teaching that immorality was not a serious issue and not a serious sin issue and the participation in the Pagan Feast of the the cult trade gilds where Idol meat was sacrificed to pagan gods and eaten was also not sinful now she’s called Jezebel now whether that is her name or not we don’t know but I believe what John is doing it says he’s just like the old test and Jezebel now I know that you don’t usually name your dog Jezebel nor do you name your children that sometimes you name your cat that sorry about cat meaning that some people of course they may not know anything about the name Jezebel but anybody who at one time people did know what Jezebel meant that’s why they didn’t name uh give that name to people that they knew and loved and by John’s use the name Jezebel we can really get an Old Testament picture of her extremely Wicked and twisted character Jezebel is really literally evil personified but with makeup on she looks good she presents herself well she’s able to get people to listen to her so she’s probably very good and have a m has a Mastery of the language and the culture she knows how how to weave things in and out and who was Jezebel in the Old Testament she was the wife of King Ahab that we read that passage this morning that was the scripture reading who was Notorious for promoting idolatry and adultery in Israel so Jezebel is really used symbolically as a powerful influential evil in the church at the theat that Jezebel the daughter of King sidon was the great Seducer of I of Israel by idolatry and like her father she was Swift to violence and Murder She was dedicated to bail worship as her father was and his name was B eth Bell expresses his idolatry and then also Jezebel seduced the weak Ahab her husband the king of Israel Beyond calf worship to that of Bale worship which was a violation of the first and second commandments to have no other gods before me and you shall not make any Graven IM image and you shall not bow down nor serve them and then she was also a propheus of Baal now the passage we read uh in second in First Kings chapter 21 you notice that in that passage of scripture it says that her husband was doing evil in the sight of the Lord as his wife was instigating him so must had some kind of power over him to do the wrong thing and once he realized he was doing the wrong thing you know what the Bible says this is what it says surely there was no one like Ahab Who Sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord because Jezebel his wife incited him and then it says this he acted very abominably in following Idols according to all the amorites had done whom the Lord cast out before the sons of Israel and it came about when Ahab heard these words that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted and laid in sackcloth and went about despondently then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the tishbite saying do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before him and because he humbled himself before me I will not bring evil in his day see even evil King Ahad when he repented of his sin and repentance becomes the key for it becomes the cure to the disease is when we turn from what we know and recognize that is wrong and evil and do it God’s way right even he did that and God responded to repentance that’s amazing passage of scripture so really no the whatever a person falls into as a Believer they can be rescued by God by repentance by turning genuine repentance putting off the sin confessing the sin coming to God humbling yourself saying Lord I have sinned against you and whom I was supposed to love and I want to turn from it I want to put on righteousness I want to put on truth I want to put on the garments that are pleasing to you and leave aside the sin so the spiritual enemy at TH ATA lured God’s servants in the same way as the bites in pergamum the church before this and the nicians which led people into immorality and Pagan worship so by false Spirit spiritualism Jezebel’s false teaching led her victims into the darkest of fleshly sins as though things done in the flesh in her mind Were Somehow outside the true person and therefore of no consequence she separated some people say this is a a sense of a bit of gnosticism she separated what goes on in your flesh has nothing to do with your relationship with God what goes on in your mind has nothing to do you can separate the two they you can’t separate who you are what you think is what you are right and people say well it’s really if Jesus says if you love me you’ll do what I say what we do we show our love to Christ so this church was tolerating a habitual sinful person they are tolerating crooked Doctrine they are tolerating her sinful practices so Satan who’s behind all this within a whole new group of Christians in a different Geographic iCal place under entirely different circumstances can lead people into the sin of immorality idolatry greed and idolatry and loose living under this propheus would actually defile the church and make it unhealthy infect it with these things so it was a badly infected Church see the Rune of sin has not left Humanity irreligious people are very religious everywhere you look bumper stickers t-shirts bookstores talk shows give evidence that people are created for a relationship with God now of course sin has not removed spirituality it has simply warped it and this is a very this is very dangerous for us because it is easy to think that if you are religious then you must know God see that is a lie right out the pit of Hell and has been the destruction of many because they have formulated their own religious system and their own God so it could accommodate the way they live that’s a liee and Satan of course remember is a liar from the beginning and he’s good at it so Brethren immorality is always sin and displeases the Lord and leads all to all kinds of other sins this woman Jezebel was encouraging acceptance and participation with the seemingly harmless and culturally accepted practices already being done all around them as normal so the habitual practice of that which God opposes is a failure to take sin seriously and we live in a very promiscuous promiscuous Society with many Temptations we have more sexual sins going on today than ever before and each one has a title each one has a letter and people have become numb to what is right to what is wrong what is wrong is right what is right is wrong what is acceptable but the Bible still calls us to be different even if we live in that time at in that place and most people have a moral and ethical standard they do but when they do not acknowledge God’s standard for Morality they are Guided by their own decra degrading passions to make their own standard and when people live by their own standard their own desires instead of God’s word it is evidence that either they’re spiritually careless or they do not know God at all it was the Lord who said through the Prophet Jeremiah that when people move away from God’s word then they live according to their own desires and this is what the Lord said in Jeremiah because you have forsaken my law which I set before them and have not obeyed my voice and walked according to it but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Bales the idols as their fathers taught them so God does not accommodate himself to our lifestyle but demands that we confirm our ways by his ways and of course this really should not the case with a real Born Again Blood Bought Spirit indwelt believer because they know God they’re Kingdom children and therefore their standard for living is not their own but the Lord’s it was Reverend Henry skugal in his very good little Trea called True Religion small little book titled the life of God and the soul of man he wrote something that that’s worth quoting here he says it is the highest Folly to regulate our an actions by any other standard than by that which we must be judged if ever we would cleanse our way it must be by taking heed that therefore according to God’s word end quote so to summarize that quote with this passage from Colossians s it’s a Spirit-filled empowered person rules his body and is not caught in the grip of uncontrolled sexual desire where it says therefore consider your members the members of your Earthly body as dead dead to what to immorality to impurity to Passion to evil desire to Greed which all amounts to idolatry no one can be involved with this kind of lifestyle without sinning against God cheating his fellow human beings and then of course even his own Brothers and Sisters in Christ that ignorance of God’s demonstration itself uh leads to idolatry not the ugly obvious idolatry of statues and shrines but a subtle idolatry of refashioning the true God into an image that fits our lives in other words we profess to know the god of the Bible but in fact we know only the god of our own imagination so religious people religious people’s thinking is often rooted in a wrong view of God when they form in their minds such a God as suits their own desires and passions and think that God to be such a one as favors and agrees with them when in fact they do not know God at all and are far from loving our great God and savior that Reigns in heaven and does whatever he pleases see people may have a right Bible they may have right words but in reality living under the influence of a god they’ve invented and they fashion a God that thinks and looks like them a God who is just fine with their lifestyle and choices and in their deception and believe me it is self-deception they worship man-made gods in their own hearts and then they think like this well I’ll just repent of my sin and God will forgive me now that may be the case if it’s a real repentance but sometimes it’s not real repentance sometimes it’s it’s saying I’ll sin and repent so God forgives me God’s a forgiven God but that’s presumptuous sin you’re committing another sin now and presumptuous sin is you think God is going to make a decision based on your way of doing things and it’s completely opposite and Many religious people have mistaken ideas of God that they are form that are formulated outside what we find in scripture and why is that because as the psalmist wrote these things you have done and I kept silence you thought I was just like you and then it says this I will repr reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes let me tell you how it really is God will say to them see so when we think of that realize that in this point that the Lord condemns this church because they were doing all these good things but there was a portion of some of them not all of them in the church that were allowing the church to be infected and if you allow the infection to start and you don’t do anything about it what happens it takes over and it kills that’s what it does it’s a cancer this is cancerous sin that enters the church now look number four Christ’s counsel and correction to this church look what it says in verse number 21 and this does display before us the patience of god notice what it says I gave her time to repent verse 21 I gave her time so in other words the Lord extends time to us even while we’re caught in a sin he’s saying listen I’m going to give you time to see what you’re doing that is evil and wrong so you can repent of it genuinely and come back and serve me and do the right thing the patience of God the longsuffering of God giving God time for this woman who’s already leading people to stray to repent but what does she do notice in verse number 21 I gave her time to repent and she does not want to repent of her immorality so the L Lord gives her time to repent of her teaching to repent of her deeds and idolatry and immorality and to repent of following and the people who are following her to uh repent of that so God in in his long suffering gives Sinners time to repent to get right with him because repentance is when you say I’m done going my way I’m turning around and I’m going God’s way and if one does not repent if one does not repent then God God’s patience must be replaced with his Justice and judgment will come so in this case that we have here in scripture there is no will or desire to repent and it’s a sad thing when people dig in against what is true and what is right in their life it’s actually a very ugly thing to see that when a person knows the right thing to do and and because of the pleasure they’re receiving from the situation they’re in and and Satan always tempts for pleasure they they say oh I’m having more fun now than serving the lord so I’m just going to keep going on this but when Grace ends and it will Judgment follows see God’s extending Grace to people longsuffering to people and then what do we see in verse verse 22 the powerful Judgment of God it says behold I will throw her on the bed of sickness and Those who commit adultery with her into Great Tribulation unless they repent of her her deeds and I will kill her children with pestilence and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the mind and hearts and will give to each one of you according to your Deeds so he’s saying to them listen I will do this I will even get her followers who will not repent and this is the Judgment that’s going to come upon them because I know everything that’s going on I search the mind and I search the kidneys you say wow what kidneys the word heart can be translated kidneys because people thought back then that your heart was more of thinking and and will that your kidneys were your Deep Emotions and some have translated that in in certain Bibles which is not a bad translation because God has to reach down and squeeze your kidneys or some people call I don’t know if a gizzard it’s a kidney but I heard the old some old preacher saying and God reaches down and squeezes your gizzard and he squeezes it till it hurts so you repent because he knows that’s the right choice and that’s what will be helpful for you and that’s will stop the infection so his righteous judgment brings back into view an accurate understanding of who the Incarnate God has reveal himself to be and that is Christ the one who searches the minds and the hearts that’s what he does and then number five verse 24- 29 it says this that Christ com his Christ’s command and challenge to this church what is it now what is so great about this passage of scripture we started out with all the good things the church was doing right but not everybody got caught up in this sin and these sins some people definitely held to truth and didn’t get caught up in it and they were called the Overcomers they’re called the conquerors they’re they’re the ones who who defeated in their own heart and mind The Temptations of this particular teaching and this particular woman and notice in verse number 24 there’s one command that God gives and notice what he says in verse 24 chapter 2 but I say to you the rest who are in thra who do not hold the te this teaching who have not known the Deep things of Satan as they call them I place no other burden on you and then no notice in verse 25 NE nevertheless what you have hold fast until the end so this group of conquerors who who who are they really well there are those who have the Lord’s word and hold fast to it in true faith and obedience they did not give in they knew it was right it was clear to them no matter what the consequence were they were willing to be that tough people secondly those who did not get to know the Deep things of Satan they did not practice the false teaching and give into to the license for fornication and adultery and eating at idol Feast Satan always wants to get people to worship what is false and things that are not true but you know what if you think about it to study the shallow depth of Satan is deadly to study the Deep things of Satan is deadlier still so Satan will always lead one to destruction and usually through the door of some kind of pleasure Promise by worshiping a God who approves of everything you want and by satisfying the sinful CRA Cravings of your heart that’s what he does so these people the these conquerors did not give in to the Deep things of Satan I think that that also refers to the the power of this message that was coming to them through this woman it was from the pit of Hell and it had had all the force of Hell coming against him to grap grapple with them and and pull them in and some thought to prove the depths of Satan one must plunge into them to understand them well that that’s just foolish foolishness that’s just deceptive reasoning to know what is murder to know what murder is you don’t need to kill some person especially when you know God’s command on the matter Thou shalt not murder you don’t know you don’t to know know what the Deep things of Satan is you you don’t need to plunder into his depths especially when you know from scripture he’s a liar he’s a roaring lying seeking who he may devour and then we find in Revelation 12 verse number n it says that and the Great Dragon who was thrown down the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world he’s he’s a Deceiver once we know that why would we listen to him when we know the truth we’ll identify him quickly and also these conquerors to realize fornica what fornication is you don’t need to commit fornication especially when you know God’s will on the matter and what is God’s will on the matter Thessalonians says for this is the will of God your sanctification that is that you abstain from sexual immorality so that means that young men and young women if you want to know and do God’s will will abstinence until marriage that’s it that’s what God’s will is but that’s not the message you’re getting out there matter of fact marriage doesn’t even come into the conversation very much anymore marriage is too complicated too many things go that no we’re going to be separate and if we don’t like ourselves down the road we’re just going to go our separate ways with everything intact it’s my stuff it’s your stuff so it’s abstinence in fact the Bible says in Hebrews 134 marriage is to be held in in honor among all and the marriage bed is to be undefiled for fornicators those who are not married who committing sexual acts and adulterers though who are those who are married and con uh commit sexual acts apart from their their marriage partner God will judge so why would anybody expect that God’s not going to do anything when that’s what he said he would do because it’s false teaching it’s deceptive teaching it’s teaching that is infected your life will infect your family will will infect you for a long time and it’s very hard to recover from it unless you repent right now so the Holy Spirit has has given you the ability to be in control of your body and its passions that’s what it says God is working in US Purity and we are to work out that Purity in our thought life and in our daily relationships and in our activities so so it is God’s will that every Christian is to know how to act in the manner of sex as it is pleasing to God and not only that Thessalonians tells us that sexual impurity without repentance actually rejects God for it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 consequently he who rejects this is not rejecting man but God who gave his holy spirit to you anyone who treats sexual sin as no big deal is actually treating God and His word of no account see whoever despises the teaching about Holiness is not just despising some human rule but despises God himself and those who justify loose living do not hesitate to set God aside and sin against God who is present at the moment to go on to live in impurity is a direct insult to the Divine giver and a sin against the Holy Spirit who is the power of God unto Holiness so someone who is a Christian who falls into sexual sin they’re already in the flesh they’re already somewhat ignorant of what God says in the word of God they have grieved God’s spirit and quenched God’s spirit so that they have no power to overcome what they’re getting involved with and now God is against them and God will judge their activity see that’s not a good place to be but God wants us to know that if we get in that place we can repent of our sin and get back to walking with him again but I want you to notice something at the end of verse number 24 it says says this at the end of verse number 24 chapter 2 it says but I say to you the rest of you who are in thra who do not hold this teaching who have not known the Deep things of Satan as they call them I place no other burden on you that little phrase no other burden on you I said wow what does that actually mean what does that actually mean those who know they do have a soul burden and there’s no other burden that God’s going to give them once they know their soul burden and what’s their soul burden as you’ve been teaching Us in the word of God to hold fast the word of God that’s their soul burden that means to hold fast the true word of God against all wrong Doctrine and all dangerous practices of sin and the Lord says hold to that that and I’ll will give you no other burden that is the burden that we have the Lord’s not going to Heap upon us more than that and then notice what he does he says okay those who are conquerors I have two promises for you I have two promises for you verse number 26 I will give you power over the Nations it says he who overcomes and he who keeps my Deeds until the end to him I will give Authority over the Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the Potter are broken to Pieces as I also have received Authority from my father he is saying to the Overcomers Christ promises privileges similar to those of that himself because it says in Revelation 19:1 15 that Christ will strike down the Nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he says listen all you who are conquerors you’re going to be with me doing the same thing so it’s talking about the rule of Christ on Earth and that when Christ rules that those who overcame those who held fast to his word you have a promise when that time comes when that end time comes you will be with me my Saints will participate in the destruction of the evil forces in the ruling Nation and Christ speaks here with authority that his word has force and finality to it it has a command about it and therefore it is better to listen to than any false teaching so that means the whole point of the rod of iron ruling with the rod of iron that means there’s still going to be evil in the world when Christ rules you don’t rule with a rod of iron unless there’s evil so the image here is Christ shepherding these nations with an iron scepter a shepherd’s Club in other words which kills the enemies of the sheep that the shepherding is is not the care of the sheep here but the destruction of their predatory foes so here it describes the Furious wrath of God Almighty who overcomes his enemies with ease and establishes his government on Earth Messiah will destroy the unlawful nations with the word of his mouth and he will rule with absolute Authority and we will rule with him that’s what Revelation 20 verse4 says that’s the privilege that we have the privilege to judge the privilege to Reign we will reign with him a thousand years the privilege of being priests and rulers where it says in Revelation 26 but they will be Priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years so we will join Christ in ruling the Earth that’s the promise that is given to the Saints who live in a situation where there’s infection all around them but they hold forth the truth and they’re not pulled down by it they’re not deceived by it they just keep serving the lord and stepping putting one step in front of the other breathing in and out and doing the Lord’s will and then notice one last thing what it says God promises I said the first promise is that we’ll rule with him second promise notice in verse number 28 he says I will give you the Morning Star he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches who is the Morning Star well look at Revelation 22:6 who’s the Morning Star Revelation 22:16 look for yourself see it in your own Bible Revelation 22:16 it says I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David the bright and Morning Star so what does the Lord promise US himself that he will be our God we will be his people and there will be no more separation between us and him forever and ever it’s hard to your mind around it but that’s what the Bible says but until then it’s going to be a battle to hold a line to be faithful so the remaining believers who did not fall under the spell of this apostasy were Bright Lights of faithfulness and Doctrine who would continue as a lampstand in the church to uphold the light of the Gospel until Christ comes so what are we to do we’re to hold fast Christ’s word and works till the end that means we need to know the word of God secondly we need to flee temptation to live a holy life that should be our ultimate desire to live a holy separate life different from everybody else around us different from the world different from the one we used to live also we are to look to the Future when we will rule and reign with Jesus on Earth that will happen happen and then we need to learn to love Jesus and be quick to repent of sin when we fall into it because it shows you love Jesus when you do that the one who died in your place the one who took the wrath of God for you the one who shed his blood unto death to wash away your sin the one who rose again to give you eternal life the one who is seated in heaven right now praying for us so we don’t fall the one who seated in heaven right now preparing a place for us that where he is we may be the one who’s seated in heaven who is PR PR preparing to come back and get his church his bride and take it back with him where we will have the great beam of seed judgment where Christians will be judged from the time they trust to Christ to the end of their life how are you Liv living your life that should all be in our mind matter of fact we should be telling ourselves that every single day you say well I understand that well tell it to yourself preach it to yourself every day until nothing else can get in and that you know where you stand and you become strong you hold hold to the truth I’m not letting go on this no matter what you do that’s how you should feel and I should feel amen amen let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for the word of God it is the most awesome book on this Earth because it contains your mind it is written by your spirit it’s been protected over the ages it has been scrutinized burned banished and yet lord it’s still here and it still has the truth and thank you Lord that we have the proof of that that every single day of Our Lives we can read it grow in our understanding put the things into practice because we have the power of the spirit of God to do that and then to live for you so our congregation can continue to uphold as a lampstand to uphold the light so other people have not heard the gospel yet can hear it and believe and those who have heard it and come to the church can grow in their faith and become strong and realize the deception that’s all around them and the affection that can easily come into our spiritual life and to know the truth to be able to repent of their sin and head off that infection so they become healthy productive Christians in Christ Church I pray for this and for all of us in Jes Jesus name amen

  • Pergamum: A Church Engaged in Compromise of the Truth

    Pergamum: A Church Engaged in Compromise of the Truth

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    okay take your Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation we’re looking at Revelation 2 verse 12-1 17 as we move through this great book that is more up to date than tomorrow we could learn many things that the Lord wants us to know about how to live in the world that we live in no matter how crazy it gets let’s pray Lord this morning as we come to your word we thank you that we have the privilege of having your word of being able to read it hear it preached study it carry it around with us and I pray Lord that we would never ever take that for granted and I just pray Lord that not just carrying your word and reading your word but actually getting an understanding of your word so it applies to our our everyday life so Lord your goal for us we know by the spirit of God is to for us to live holy and godly in the middle of a perverse and crooked generation and I pray that you would enable us to do that that we would be the lightbearers that we would be the ones who would be the Witnesses in our families and on our jobs and in our communities and even in our churches so Lord the the light never gets diminished and people are always drawn to Jesus Christ for real genuine salvation and real conversion and brought into the family of God and made new by the spirit of God and by the word of God God I pray that for us as a church and Lord to always remind us who we are and I pray this in Christ’s name Amen Let me just read the passage this morning in Revelation 2 verse 12-1 17 it says in the angel and to the angel of the church in pergamum right the one who has the sharp two-edged sword says this I know where you dwell where Satan’s Throne is and you hold fast my name and did not deny my faith even in the days of antibus my witness my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells but I have a few things against you because you have there are some who hold the teaching of balum who keep teaching Balo to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel to eat things sacrifice to idols and to commit acts of immorality so you also have some who in the same way hold to the teaching of the nicians therefore repent or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him who overcomes to him I will give some of the Hidden mana and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which is which no one knows but he who receives it now in this passage of scripture we come to a place and remember that that Jesus is standing in the first chap three chapters of Revelation in the middle of his church and he’s talking to his church he’s evaluating the church and he’s giving accurate judgment to the state of the church as we saw in chapter 1 verse number 20 it says As for the mystery of the Seven Stars which you saw in my right hand and the Seven golden lampstands the Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches and the Seven lampstands are the seven churches so Jesus Christ is the head and Sovereign over his church and as head he walks among the lampstands you didn’t know that Jesus W walked among the churches do you to evaluate to see how they’re doing and he holds the Seven Stars The Messengers or the elders the leaders of the churches in his right hand so the the lampstand represents the church so there is a is a revelation from God concerning the church and he says the church is like a lamp stand the lampstand holds the light so the church holds the light and shares the light in the area that local church actually sits and the one great mission of the church is to share the light you’re going to hear the Lord say if you don’t bear the light then I will remove the lampstand if you look at the verse five of Revelation Chapter 2 it says or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place so the lampstand that’s the mission to Bear the light and the gold is the value Christ died for the church the church is valuable to him you are valuable to Christ and we know that the the seven is always a symbol of uh the Church of Jesus Christ that constitutes uh local bodies and and of course the number seven represents a completion so that here in all these seven churches it really represents the entire church so he’s talking about the whole Church of Jesus Christ whose main mission is to share the light so Jesus says to the Apostle John John I would like to speak to the church and when when you get get it John then give it to the churches give the message to the churches and so Jesus is talking to his church so that they as lightbearers can fulfill their mission in these latter days until the end so this Lord’s day we proceed to the second warning but the third Church so turn with me of course you should be in your Bibles now in chapter 2 verse number 12 it says to the angel of the church in pergam right now it’s important to have some background information when we consider uh the Church of pamman we have to know where people live what’s going on where they live the city of pergamum means parchment uh this is where of course parchment was manufactured and pergamin was one really one of the largest libraries in that part of the world apart from the library in Alexandria it was the official capital of Roman province of Asia for two and a half centuries and of course it was 7even miles north of samarina and an early geographer named strabo called this area of peram the richest land in myia in that Asia Minor it was a natural position of strength combined with its religious significance as a temple site so it was a desirable place to store wealth it was a very wealthy City and in fact and usually its wealth was used to build temples and altars to Greek gods the shrines of Esopus is there that was the noted God of healing and health and attracted many uh people to that Empire not only to uh observe and worship but also to study medicine and of course we know that particular symbol is also used today under umen um yenus pergam uh really attained the height of power and Glory he stru he constructed the altar of Zeus which stood on a hill 800 feet high and above the city it could be seen for miles and it it is an image of an altar and if you notice in verse number 13 of chapter 2 it says where Satan’s Throne is especially since pergamum was the chief Center of worship for the four greatest pagan gods Zeus Athena dianus and Esopus however it may be that in Revelation it is also referring to that in pergam it was the center of Emperor Worship in Asia at that time that means that if you consider that that if Satan’s Throne is there that means he picked that place to set up camp that he already captured the religious institutions and the political institutions so he is in full control of what’s going on there in pergamum so pergamus was really fam is for the worship of the god of healing and it had a center four Healing Arts the center had a medical school and trained celebrated Physicians throughout history and of course here the god Esopus Esopus was worshiped and the idol Esopus was shaped like a serpent a symbol still used of course in the medical profession today now I’m giving this background information because it is directly related to the second warning given to this church and the second warning is this don’t compromise with the world don’t let the C culture press the church into its thinking or into it into Its Behavior that’s the message compromise have you ever thought of compromise I heard a story once of compromise and the story went like this a man started in a fishing business and he hung a sign out of his business and the sign said fresh fish for sale today he invited his friends to the opening they all congratulated him on the Enterprise but one suggested his sign might be improved and said and he said why today of course it’s today not yesterday or tomorrow so the man of the fishing business removed the word a second said why for sale everybody knows that you have a store that sells fish so we they know it’s for sale so he removed that word another complain why the word fresh your integrity guarantees every fish to be fresh and finally only fish remained on the sign but the objector says why the sign I smell your fish two blocks away see the church that tries to satisfy everybody ends up by pleasing nobody in fact the world expects the church to be different when the church is just like it they says oh okay but when the church is different they expect that so put your sign up and stand by it compromise is trying to satisfy everyone but when it comes to truth especially the word of God you must put up the sign of Truth and stand by it however that is not an easy thing to do especially when we live in a society where truth is very much in question everybody has their own truth and every truth is seems to be as valid as the next person’s truth well that can’t be true there’s only one truth matter of fact there’s only one truth in everything else is a lie everything else is false but still a Christian has to hold to the the truth and stand by it now I want you to be aware how much influence the culture the culture actually has upon the church so at least you can examine how the world and its culture demands can it actually press itself on the church and even get into the church and become part of the thinking of the church and so now the Lord is examining this church and so let’s look first at as the Lord is using the same outline in all these churches let’s look at the character Christ character highlighted highlighted in verse number 12 notice what it says the Church of pergamum to the one who has the sharp two-edged sword says this so what does that mean here that means that Jesus Christ is the judge in this instance that Jesus is the one with the great sword this two-edged sword the sword of his mouth symbolizes the judg that can come when he speaks the word the church was facing a sobering examination from King Jesus and in this case the church was toying with the world and as a result religious compromise immoral sinful practices entered into the church and became normal in the church the word of God the Bible says here is a sword it is a weapon weon both of on the offense and the defense it is in the hand of God able to slay both sin and sinner it is a sharp sword that means that no heart so hard that it cannot cut it it can divide aunder between Soul and Spirit as it says in Hebrews its sharpness is the symbol of omnipotent power which will devour the Lord’s enemy when it descends in judgment also the Bible says the sword is two-edged it turns and cuts every way there is an edge of the law against the transgressor and there is the the edge of the Gospel against the the despiser and there is an edge to make a wound and an edge to open in a Fester wound in order to cause healing there is no escaping the edge of the sword of the Lord Jesus Christ if you turn the side to the right hand it has an edge on that side if you turn to the left hand you fall under the edge of the sword on that side it turns every single way the word of God cannot be escaped that’s the point Point either it will cut to save or it will cut for judgment so the sword for the faithful because there’s two groups in this church there’s the faithful group and there is the Unfaithful group The Sword for the faithful group inspires courage and trust and it dispels fear that they would be under the Judgment of that sword but for the Unfaithful now these are people in the church claiming to be Christians claiming to believe in Jesus claiming to follow him well for the Unfaithful the sword presses them to repent because they were more in tune with the world’s system and the culture under the power of the evil one than hearing and holding to the word of God God so that is the character highlighted here before we look at the Commendation to the church and this is the next thing in verse number 13 what is the Commendation well Jesus really gives a two-fold commendation so Commendation for some of the faithful because remember some are not Jesus is faithful to his faithful ones and he’s faithful to them right where they live wherever they live and notice what it says in verse 13 I know where you dwell I know where you dwell you have to consider that Jesus knows who you are he knows where you live he knows where you dwell and Jesus knows what you’re facing and he knows it with an intimate knowledge now where does the church reside it says in verse number 13 I know where you dwell where Satan’s Throne is so the Lord knows it is a very hard to live for him as Lord where there is direct satanic opposition against Believers the Lord knows that and the church was sit situated in a very dangerous environment Satan’s Throne was there and probably referred to pergamum as the chief Center of worship for for the top gods of that time Satan dominated and influenced the city he considered it his ruling throne and say established himself at pergamum as a permanent resident Satan did not simply reside in pergam him uh his seed of power for nothing his power was active so that he can actually rule as king and his rule was active in both the religious realm and the political realm which is he’s doing today too he’s very active in the religious realm matter of fact that’s where he deceives the most because truth supposedly is supposed to be being dispelled to people and of course the political realm we can all see that happening crazy stuff going on today he’s behind all of it so that’s his mode of operation to and his goal is this to get people to worship him instead of the true and living God to follow what he says and not what the Lord says and if you can get the church to do it well the world is no problem and you know what does he get the church to do it yes so in other words we have to be strong and and faithful to the word of God and to the truth and we can conclude that these Christians were directly up against Satanic opposition and they knew it now how would you respond how would you respond how do how do we respond now in the in the day in which we live well these Believers did respond and they’re a good example for us today so here’s the positive Commendation this is what they are doing right in other words and this is good and right for all Christians in all ages and here’s the first first Commendation notice verse number 13 that Christians must be faithful where they live to defend Christ’s name notice what it says you hold fast my name so another words they kept holding to the correct teaching about Christ to hold fast jesus’ name included the Revelation by which Jesus Christ was made known and by faith believed in in which the believer constitutes the desire to follow Jesus and confess him as Lord for the rest of their life that’s the cost of being a Believer it’s not popular it’s going to become less popular to be a believer so to hold fast God’s name means not to pollute it or to defame it or to profane it now how does one actually pollute to fame profane the name of God well by living an ungodly Life by living an immoral idolatrous life that compromises with every novel teaching blowing through the world oh we accept everybody we accept everything you believe just come just come and we accept you now the question would be is God concerned about his name now he expects his church to be concerned about his name but what happens or how does God think when we’re not concerned about his name because we’re not living a Godly life and a holy life and continuing to hold to truth well I want you to take your Bibles real quick go to Ezekiel chapter 36 and I want you to notice something in in Ezekiel this is in incredible because God’s people Israel was supposed to do something you know what they were supposed to do they were supposed to live before the other nations in a way that honored God that’s what they were supposed to do isn’t that what we’re supposed to do today if we’re going to be lightbearers that’s what we’re we’re supposed to do notice in Ezekiel 36: 21-23 notice what it says I can’t give you the whole history behind this but God called the nation his people to live in a way before the Nations and they didn’t do it look what it says in Ezekiel chapter 36: 21 but I had concern for my holy name which the house of Israel had profaned among the Nations where they went verse 22 therefore say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord God it is not for your sake oh House of Israel that I am about to act but for my Holy Name which you have profane among the Nations where you went I will vindicate the Holiness of my great name which has pro has been profaned among the Nations which you have profaned in their midst then then the Nations will know that I am the Lord declares the Lord God when I prove myself holy among you in their sight so what did what didn’t they do they didn’t live for God they didn’t do what the Lord said and God was giving him everything so that would take place they didn’t do it so the question is is God concerned about his name emphatically yes he is but he wants his people to be concerned about his name by the way they live so a faithful Christian represents the true and living God in the place where they live by living a different life a different life of Hope Holiness and adhering to sound Biblical teaching that honors the lord’s name in thought in speech in Word In Deed in lifestyle can’t have two things going on as a Believer you got to be the same all the time not perfect but the same heading in the direction to want to honor God and honor his name and wherever you go you honor his name so that means where where you go I can’t do what other people do I can’t speak the way they do I can’t pursue what they do so I may lose out on some things some may may you but you know what that’s what God wants us to do and that’s what makes us different and believe me the world wants us to be different not in a direct way but in an indirect way they expect us in other words to be different oh you’re a Christian oh oh then you read the Bible oh yes of course do you go to church every single Sunday and Worship the Lord oh yes I do that do you witness to people oh yes I’m starting to witness to people are you Faithful in your family are you being a a better husband now that you’re with Christ or a better wife now that you’re with the Lord are you raising your kids to love and uh know the Lord and teach them the ways of the word of God are you doing those things yes I’m doing those things but if the world detects you’re not doing them they won’t believe you and if you’re not doing them God knows you’re not doing that see being different God is commending the church for being different for holding fast his name but there’s a second Commendation notice in verse number 13 the first one of course Christians must be faithful where they live to defend Christ’s name secondly Christians must be faithful in their witness notice what it says and you did not deny my faith so under tremendous pressure they did not deny the essential gospel message that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord and He is the master of my life now that Jesus is God the pre-existent Son of God who became flesh who dwelt Among Us at a fixed point in real history and then in his love he demonstrated on the cross for Sinners died in their place took the wrath of God for them satisfi the Justice of the father and then ascended to the father and now in heaven seated at the right hand of the father he’s praying for his church he’s preparing a place for us that where he is we may go and he’s ready to come back and get the church see this testimony that they were saying they were saying this your gods are not Lord and your Emperor is not the Lord but Jesus Christ Alone is the Lord not only do I profess that I witness that every day in my life so they stood true that Emperor worship was false and that the reality was that Satan wanted people to worship him through all these other means and not Christ himself so they continued to say curios Yus which means simply Jesus is Lord see they were saying yes to God’s rule yes I’m willing and I want to be ruled by the Lord that’s what I want in my life my faith means in in the the phrase here in the passage means the faithful Christian did that faithful Christians did not deny the doctrine of Christ even under the threat of holding to Christ could mean death you see see the threat looming over them in this church was if you continue to hold to Christ as Lord then you could lose your occupation you can lose not only OCC your occupation your wealth you can lose your family and yes you can lose your very life that Christians are not to compromise the truth to accommodate to the culture and to the pressure of the world systems and and I even include this to the pressure of the Neo Christian the new Christian and the new Christian they have emerged today from those who set aside scripture or twist or redefine scripture to accommodate cultural Trends let’s redefine it so it makes it easier to take can’t do that can’t do that right and yet people do it right it’s happening all the time in the world compromisers tend to be open-minded that’s what they say they tend to be Progressive they tend to be tolerant but I tell you what they’re not tolerant and tell them the truth and they’ll be in your face screaming at you while you’re such a narrow-minded person because you hold to the truth but you know what that’s all right that’s all right because if you know the truth they can say anything and do anything it’s not going to change your position with Christ it’s not going to change your destiny it’s not going to change uh anything at all with your relationship with the Lord and that’s the most important thing even if they take your life now we don’t necessarily live in with a thought that maybe I can die for Christ today but these people did and there may come a time that I don’t think it’s too far to think that may happen it’s happening in other countries and in the world that more Christians are being martyred today than ever in human history and we hear nothing about it nothing about it is it coming here I believe it is so Christians are not the compromise and notice the example that’s given in verse number 13 look at the example here’s an example of faithfulness in a hard place if you look at the end of verse number 13 their Pastor was killed for his faithful witness for Christ he was not willing to tolerate or compromise the church’s testimony to Bear the light and the true message of the gospel of Christ notice what it says that even in the days of anpus my witness my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells you think Satan wants to kill Believers you better believe he does you better and if he could he would but the Lord notice the Lord didn’t stop this martyrdom he didn’t stop it and why didn’t he stop it because Antipas had an eternal perspective on life he knew where he was going in fact when you when you think of it what does the what does the Bible say about how God looks at death what does he say in Psalms precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Godly ones why they’re going to be with him they’re going to be out of this world out of this mess all right and then also in Revelation when we get there it says and I heard the voice from Heaven saying in Revelation 14:13 write blessed are the Dead who are in the Lord from now on yes says the spirit so that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them see in other words that for me to live as Christ is what to die is gain that that that that that thinking is not from the world that thinking is from the Holy Spirit from the word of God see that’s the way we think we have an eternal perspective on life we know where we’re going I pray you know where you’re going when you die whether it’s today or tomorrow or 10 years or 100 years from now Christ himself in fact in scripture is called the faithful martus the faithful witness and where did his faithful witness lead to a cross on C on Calvary to die in our place so to those who are faithful to him he gives nothing less than his own name to them that’s what he does what we can glean from this portion of scripture is that culturally often the the culture often tests our faith and to what we believe and how we live also many of the pressures of life come from Satan himself and remember this that he we a web within cultural structures and ideologies with the intention of being a stumbling block to Believers that’s what he does and believe me he is good at it he is good at it we have to be good at the word of God we have to be better at the word of God and know what he’s doing so some in the church because of the cultural pressures we’re doing the opposite and we’re saying no to the rule of God our own culture accommodates this thinking and the result has been it has not just thrown God out of about everything but this satanic system working in the mystery of iniquity behind the scenes has gagged and bound him and has said to him we will not conform to your natural and spiritual Norms like family and gender and religion and morality you are not Lord and Master Of Our Lives we are master of our own life and that philosophy is called cultural relativism see usually when it comes to morals it is the moral code of of a society that determines whether a certain action is right and wrong usually it is held that there is no moral truths or Universal truths that hold for all people at all times everywhere so then that means that it would be arrogant for us to judge the conduct of other people instead we we should adopt an attitude of Tolerance toward the practice of other cultures the mindset often expects and sometimes even demands that Christians be tolerant while they themselves are intolerant and often very hostile when others don’t agree with their lifestyle choices see without Brethren without the standard set by the one who is all wise and loving and all powerful then in reality one cannot know what is right and wrong for everyone until Because unless they follow God’s standard and God’s standard because he is the creator his standard is for everyone at all times everywhere and for the followers of of Christ it’s not merely merely a theory instead it’s really a true standard to live by our standard is the authoritative the inherent the infallible the trustworthy word of God which gives us Timeless and Universal principles to live by the word of God is God breathed religious and and social and cultural views moral views change from generation to generation from year to year from day to day see Jesus Christ had a serious complaint against this church because some were holding instead of the true doctrine of Christ which leads always to practical Holiness and a Godlike lifestyle some were holding to a false doctrine of Christ which was manifest in their Unholy and ungodly lifestyle see true Doctrine true doctrine that rises from the word of God by the Holy Spirit always leads in the direction of a holy life always leads in the direction of a Godly life it never leads out of that it leaves into it in fact in in the Epistle of Ephesians what does it say there it says we’re we’re chosen for salvation and for Holiness we are elect before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless so we’re elected to be holy we’re not elected to Believe In Christ and then go live our life any way we want into moral immoral conduct and just do anything and believe anything we want and accept everything no we don’t do that we honor the Lord we hold to his name we hold to the doctr true Doctrine that’s what we do as Christians that’s what the Lord is commending in the church but notice back in your Bibles in Revelation chapter 2 verse 14 and 15 here’s the criticism and condemnation that the Lord has towards his church notice what it says in verse 14 but I have a few things against you a few things against you we’ll look at those in a moment that means the state of the church is that they were tolerating two groups of Heretics those who hold to the teaching of balum and the Nicolo nicians notice what it says in verse number 14 behold these caused the sons of Israel through the Council of balum to trespass against the Lord in the matter of poror so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord now see balum is is really a a picture of a false teacher teachers who promote the thought that there was nothing wrong with Christians conforming to the world standards and what’s the first thing the Lord has against them notice verse 14 it says that they have listened to and given into the compromised a compromised morality who hold to the doctrine of balum now the doctrine of balum had to do with several things this compromised morality included two things if you notice in the text to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality that these false teachers by repetition by repetition in verse number 14 which is a really a key thing it says and they hold to the teaching of Baum who kept teaching repetition is key to get people to believe something that’s even false so this is what happens here what the people actually got engaged in several things after this repetitious teaching slaying animals offered to Idols then eating Pagan food and Pagan religious rituals and then secondly engaging in sexual activities with Pagan women related to their religious practices see they gave in and they allowed the influences of pergamum stronghold of idolatry to seduce them to compromise and what did they compromise well and or why did they compromise it’s really simple why would you why would you allow that if you know the truth well this is the reason why and this is where compromise comes in it’s really quite simple why they would compromise it saved them from trouble in other words one commentary put it like this let’s go along to get along did you ever hear that before for let’s go along to get along see we know that we are starting to compromise when we do what the world applauds when accepting what we once found repulsive when consenting to what was once wrong and sinful but now it is all right to do and there’s a long list of those things so if a culture or a world system or the Neo Christians say it’s all it’s all right it’s it’s all right to have children transition into a gender that they were not born in if it means lopping off body parts and accommodating them then that is a good and a loving thing to do no need to get parental consent for that no matter how insane and irrational that is the true church must expose it as evil and affirm the Divine standard and what is the Divine standard that God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female see God has given from the beginning only two genders male and female there’re not 47 genders as some are claiming so if the culture has already placed women in all kinds of positions they seldom occupied before and move them away from the main role they were created for to influence their home then it would be no problem placing women as Elders in God’s Church which is only mandated for biblically qualified men no matter how much pressure is put upon God’s Church to set aside the doctrine has no big deal to argue when scripture has not changed from its original intention if you read the passages it’s a trustworthy statement If any man aspires the office of overseer he aspires a good work and the overseer then must be above reproach the husband of one wife he must be one who manages his own household well keeping his children under control with all dignity if a man does not know how to manage his own household how is he going to manage the church see God has first dibs on pronouns right the proper use of pronouns that men are he and women are she right now it’s always clear when you get the scripture oh that’s pretty clear that’s clear matter of fact most people know it’s clear but they just go along with it if the neoch Christian say that we should welcome and affirm and I’m pressing the worm affirm the sexually immoral into the church membership who are confessing Christ and living in a habitual immoral life at the same time and if you don’t accommodate them and affirm them you’re unloving well Brethren you see see where I’m kind of getting to that this is the side society which we live in we have to hold to the truth because all false teachers prove Pro to have similar qualities that one of them are they have the ability to persuade others that their position has equal or Superior validity to what that person presently holds to they do it through what persistent teaching repetitious teaching you know some have called this Mass formation you ever hear of mass formation Mass formation is really when 30% of the population is moved to believe a new narrative propagated 24 hours a day seven days a week by the secular-minded information machine a repetitive brainwashing to condition people in order to get them to believe the new Nar narrative regardless if that narrative is true or not true that’s what happens Satan’s been at that for a long time he really has in fact false teachers use inflated words that are empty for speaking out arrogant words of vanity it says uh in 2 Peter 28 they are good at speaking by using flowery language Excellency of speech often lofty stories coupled with descriptive phrases and yet their words are puffed up lies Hollow because it is only their own ideas and opinions in other words they’re full of hot air they have inflated words about their own insights to breathe that too often as toxic air it will lead to no good thing so what do they teach divide people by hate race education by economic status by approving Smash and grab crime with no punishment by promoting transgender ideology by promoting abortion on demand no matter what age the child is by changing the vocab and the meaning of words that’s what they do and Satan has been about it this thing for a long long long time and so when we think about these things we have to remember that this is a perverted path because it says in scripture they put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel that’s a stumbling block to get you to think other than to to start saying you know maybe that’s not that bad maybe that’s all right letting the church we we’ll let that one in that’s not a big deal do you know what happens when that starts happening everything else starts happening when culturally accepted practices are LED into the church that are not are sinful and they become normal and everyone starts believing it and accepting it and even practicing it that’s what the Lord is saying to the church you’re doing this balum has taught bik how to lead Israel into sinful ways that does not honor my name and ends up actually in that case with balum when God held judgment on them 24,000 people died because God held judgment on and if it was not for one man who took a spear and thrusted through man and a woman who were living that lifestyle before the nation of Israel he threw he cast his Spirit through them and they both die and God said okay stop it after 24,000 people died so in other words if that happens and the sword of God’s spirit is against that then that’s the result that’s the first thing and notice the second thing in verse number 15 and this they have not only listen led to this repetitive teaching and it caused to compromise morality but now also they listen to it and they it leads to a compromised theology to hold it says to the doctrine of the nians now it’s very similar this doctrine of balum and nians are very much alive today man we don’t recognize those needes but the same thing it leads to giving up the truth and living any way you want that’s what leads to and so that’s what’s going on here it says in verse number 15 so you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the nicians Nicholas means one who conquers the people matter of fact the church father irus who was the Disciples of the Apostles writes that Nicholas who was made a deacon in the church was a false believer and became an apostate and because of his credentials he was able to lead the church astray like balum he led the people into immorality and to wickedness and to defame the name of God so in other words this teaching of the nicians involved immorality and assaulted the church with sensual Temptation even Clement of Alexander says they abandoned themselves to pleasure like goats leading a life of self-indulgence their teaching perverted Grace and replace Liberty with license in other words Doctrine mattered little Behavior mattered less so both these teaching walk softly on immorality and sound Biblical teaching with like intermarriage with unbelievers as it was in the Old Testament and compromis with Pagan worship so the bottom line is for money uh and pleasure and power they compromise the truth because not only does John bring up uh balum and the results of what he did but also Peter brings it up the Apostle Peter and Jude brings him up and what what what did Jude say like balum they will do anything for money they will do anything for money they love to earn money by doing wrong so in other words follow the money and you will figure out who’s getting paid off right it’s still the same today so the habitual practice of that which God is opposed is a failure to take sin seriously and be sure of this any compromised morality and theology will destroy the witness of the church and invite the very Swift Judgment of God so the end result of false teaching it’s not only compromise but it’s dimming the light of the Gospel which the church is supposed to uphold and what does it lead to it leads to judgment it leads to destruction it leads to death that’s what it leads to and not a good death not a death where somebody dies and they’re precious in God’s sight a debt that sends them away from God forever in eternity now saying that just look at verse 16 here’s the counsel that comes with a warning it says therefore repent that’s the first thing repent to get right with God or lose out when Believers tolerate worldly and Pagan views and sinful practices the church faces the possibility of losing their testimony and influence in the world the church fails to be different when it compromises with the world and notice notice this what happens if the church does not repent what does it say in our text it says or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them not against the whole church against this group of Believers so-called professed Believers that were seducing the church giving into compromise letting these things in and corrupting the truth of the word of God and defaming the name of God that’s what they were doing could you imagine that the the sword of Christ coming against those who claim to be be in Christ his word what what is his word there’s truth and Power in the word of God in the word of God there is conviction of sin in the word of God there is the invitation always the invitation that leads people to the demonstration of the love of God centered in the Cross of Christ that everybody anyone could be rescued if they believe in Jesus and there is this this assurance that comes from the word of God that Jesus is the only way one must be saved there is no other way that very thought of it being uh exclusive is very very offensive to the world and then there’s a last thing there’s the last thing verse 17 Christ really challenges with a two-fold promise now the promise is not for those who are Unfaithful the promise is not for those who are compromised the promise are those who hold the name of Christ and are witnesses for Christ to the end even their life notice what it says in verse 17 he who has an error let him hear what the spirit says to the church vers es to him who overcomes to him I will give some of the Hidden mana and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it see in other words Christ will sustain his faithful ones with spiritual food it says here hidden Mana I will give some not all some of the Hidden Mana meaning meaning of course Mana is the food it was the Heavenly food sent by God to the children of Israel in the wilderness and it typifies spiritual food provided by the word of God now in contrast to those in the world who offer a sacrifice to eat the food offered to idols instead Christians are going to enjoy the Heavenly food which comes to them from the bread of life Jesus Christ himself see he sustains us with the food of the word of God that’s what he does and then secondly notice white stones I will give him a white stone that’s hard to interpret but I I believe that Christ will receive his faithful ones stones were used in ancient times to render a verdict uh a whit Stone a person would be acquitted quiddle and a black stone somebody would be condemned or some would suggest that like it’s like an entrance ticket into a Heavenly Feast well whatever the meaning here it’s hard to nail it down I I believe that we know that is the Lord receives and accepts his faithful ones right he says I will give it this is a direct right from the word of God himself I will give it and and in any case the stone points to acceptance and victory in Christ Jesus the high priest who has offered himself on our behalf to be saved so false Doctrine and worldliness all always go hand in hand with worldliness leading the way Christians today tend to forget that if I want to call it modernism was not first of all a theological agenda but a methological agenda every modernist we’re not trying to hit at the core of biblical Faith which it’s really not even happening today it’s simply Satan is simply trying to do this he’s trying to make Christianity more palatable to the entire world come in we’re just like you is that true that’s not true does doctrine actually divide people yes because EI there either there’s truth and error there’s nothing that between right you so you you have to hold to the TR to the truth and I pray that we never get to the place where Jeremiah Prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament the prophet said this an appalling thing an appalling and a horrible thing has happened in the land that the prophets prophesied falsely and the priests rule on their own authority and my people love it so so when that happens then that is exactly what’s happening here is that this compromise has gotten into the church so Jesus is talking to his church and why is he talking to them in this way this is direct language this this really shoots from the hip it gets to the core of the heart why is he saying this so the lightbearers of the church can fulfill their mission that’s why that the the foundation for Christ’s call of repentance is the Lord is coming and he is the righteous judge he’s coming with a sharp sword if you don’t repent so there’s really several things number one get right with Jesus today if you don’t know him but if you’re a Christian and your thinking has been more influenced by the world and what the world is saying is the right thing to do and not by the word of God you need to repent too and you need to get to the place where you say I want to know so much of the word of God I want to be saturated in my mind and heart by scripture so when I hear error I know it immediately and not that I would know it and hate the person dispelling it but I would want them to see the light of the Gospel that I see and come to Jesus Christ as their lord and savior right that’s what we want that’s what we want let’s pray Lord thank you this morning Lord the word of God often is very hard but Lord thank you that truth is hard but when we receive it as truth it transforms us it sanctifies us it makes us more like you it leads us to a life of godliness it helps us to discern between what is true and what is not it enables us Lord to stand firm and I pray Lord as we do so that we can uphold the name of Jesus Christ and we can go out into this world and be good Witnesses for Christ and as we do that Lord you would strengthen us knowing that we have a hope that you are for us and that you’re going to feed us with your word and you’re to accept us into your presence thank you for those things those are the promises that will never fade away and I pray this in Christ’s name

  • Smyrna: A Church Passing Through Actual Martyrdom

    Smyrna: A Church Passing Through Actual Martyrdom

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    let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation Chapter 2 and we’ll be looking at verse 8- 11 this morning as the Lord the exalted Lord communicates with the church of samna which a church which is a church that is actually passing through martydom that means people are actually dying for the their faith and Jesus is not rescuing them from physical death before I look at this text there is a event that happened in another part of the world a man named fui who loved to teach about Jesus he worked as a school teacher and also a Bible he would teach Bible lessons to the children who lived near his Farmland in Africa militants of the Allied Democratic forces noticed fuel’s gospel teaching and they ordered him to stop they ordered him to stop twice and warned him that they would kill him if he continued but fuell because he loved the Lord and loved the word and loved to teach did not stop sharing the word of God and when the Allied de Democratic forces uh the ADF soldiers caught him teaching the children Bible lessons for the third time they murdered him right in front of his wife Georgine and their three-year-old son Andre militants then took Georgine hostage but then released her a short time later and says do not go back to your Farmland see the Family Garden was the main source of food to teach to feed her family physically and Georgine was afraid to return back and feared another attack but soon she decided she had to return to be able to feed her children and when she arrived at that Garden Spot Miltons confronted her and they said to her we told you that you are not to come back here and eyewitnesses heard them tell [Music] Georgine we already killed your husband husband now we’re going to kill you also and they did so an aunt took in fuli’s and Georgina’s Georgine’s three orphan children but she struggled to care for them on her own voice of the martyrs stepped in and expanded uh her sewing business into a training school and extra income came in to take care of the needs so they were driven from their home killed because of their faith in Christ you say well Pastor when did that happen long time ago 2022 that happened and over estimated a Times article estimated that 150 million Christians are uh slaughtered uh since 2030 uh 2013 for their faith in Christ probably the best citizens that you could have as Christians and yes they kill them why is that well we’re going to find out some of that today in our text and so I’d like you to look at chapter 2 of Revelation in chapter 1 we saw saw in chapter 1 remember the Bible is saying that the lamp stands recorded in verse number 20 of chapter 1 represent the church so here in Revelation from God uh is really Revelation from God concerning the church and the word of God tells us that the church is like a lampstand and what does a lampstand do a lampstand holds the light the church holds the light and then shares the light the light of the gospel of Christ the only only light that can save us from Eternal destruction so the one great mission of the church is to share the light so you’re going to see Christ saying to the church if you don’t bear the light then I will remove your lampstand and just like we saw last week in Revelation 2:5 it says in the middle of that verse or else I’m coming to you and will remove the lampstand out of its place unless you repent and the reason they had to repent is because it was a church that declined in their love for Christ and became a church of loveless Orthodoxy this Lord’s day I would like to look at at this church one of two churches identified in Revelation that had no no warnings given to it no condemnations given to it no criticism was given to this church so so it should be of great interest to us as to what is going on in this particular church that brings no criticism from our Lord again Jesus Christ The Sovereign head of the church is walking among the people evaluating the church and that means he is personally present every time the church meets in every for every uh instance that the church comes together the Lord is in their midst and and he’s in their midst in order to examine their spiritual condition to see how are they doing how are my people doing as we look take a look at samna and if you look at verse number 8 of chapter 2 it says and to the angel of the church in Samara right see samarina this city is located 35 miles north of Ephesus not very far away from the church we looked at last week and this great City had great wealth and Beauty possessing a stadium a library the largest public theater in Asia Minor it had Pagan temples of Apollo civil Aphrodite and Zeus in addition to that it had an enslavement of pagan gods and it had the worship of Caesar or Emperor worship was also prominent there was a large Jewish population that lived there that seemed to have considerable influence upon the political Affairs of that area in fact the group acted as a watchdog and constantly informed the Roman authorities about the activities of Christians this of course heightened persecution against the Christian Community the Jewish leadership along with some Gentiles formed a mob and called for the death of a local Pastor named polycarp who was a disciple of the Apostle John polycarp was the pastor of samarin and he was martyred in ad.

    155 more than 80 years after his conversion he was an old man like what is this man going to do he’s not harming anybody at least but of course from the Jewish community and from the politics he was harming someone because polycarp would not say that Caesar was God in fact some of the Council of the Roman government came to polycarp and said polycarp just say Caesar’s God and and you we’ll leave you alone they came to him I think several times it’s written in the uh Apostolic fathers he wouldn’t do it so on February 23rd 155 they burned him at the stake and that happened six years after Revelation was written so s samarina the very word means my and myrrh is the perfume used to embomb dead bodies so this is a church that is actually experiencing martyrdom for their faith would you stay in that church if they take out the pastor and that the rest of the church wouldn’t bow their head and say that Caesar was Lord or the emperor was Lord it seems so simple it seemed something easy to do and the Lord would forgive me but not to these particular people they were strong in their faith you have to be strong in your faith to live in in that environment so what we see first of all as we see in every Church represented is that we first have Christ’s character highlighted look at verse number eight it says to the church to the angel of the church in samarina right the first and the last who was dead and has come to life says this so this is a characteristic of Christ see the Lord’s character is put before the evaluation and Christ attributes have because Christ attributes have something to do with the evaluation of the church in every Church you see that it has something to do with the evaluation it says here that he’s the first and last that Jesus Christ Our Redeemer is the first and the last that he is the first for by him all things were made and he is before all things with God and is the Eternal God Jesus knows the S samarin situation and it is he who will have the first word and the last word in all matters of life and death and time he is the last for all things are made for him and he will judge all as the last word on everything he is the beginning of the story and he is the end of the story and that means he is the final word on everything in everyone that’s who Jesus is Judgment has been given over to him in fact this is not a new saying uh John is really C bringing the saying into this text from Isaiah because this is what Isaiah said thus says the Lord the king of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts I am am the first and I am the last and there is no God besides me and then it says something else in verse number eight of chapter 2 it says not only that Jesus is the first and last but he was dead literally the Lord became dead he has also come to life we know that see but it’s so emphasizing the resurrection of the Lord the Lord doesn’t rescue these people from martydom he already rescued them from final death and they knew that they knew that this life was not the end and literally live again Jesus was dead and he was a man and he died for our sins and by dying purchased salvation for all of us and he is alive he is God for he rose again for for our justification and by his life by his life apply this salvation to us and he ever lives to make intercession for his Saints so death has never phased Christ he went right on living and if you look back at chapter 1 verse number 17 it sayso not be afraid I am the first and the last and the living one I was dead and behold I alive forever more and I have the keys of death and Hades so the historical book of Acts when you read that book you’ll find right in the beginning of the book what does it say there it says in Chapter 2 it says because you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor allow your Holy One to undergo Decay he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ he was neither abandoned to Hades nor did he his flesh suffer decay in other words soon as Jesus died life was coming next that Jesus was raised up again so we’re reminded from this description of Our Lord that we do not worship a dead man because Jesus Christ is alive and he’s able to work on behalf of his children and he always does as the Lord rose in victory over death and Satan so those under Satan’s suffering or Satan’s tribulation and those who will be martyred for Christ will triumph over Satan and death finally so now the Lord once he gives a description of himself that he’s the resurrection and the life that even if you die physically and even if you’re martyred and even if you get your head cut off for me for my sake you will live because I’m the resurrection in life I’m the first fruits you are the first fruits after my resurrection if you believe in me you will rise too see that’s that’s not fantasy that that that’s reality because this is what the Lord’s done for us see unless you’re convinced of that you cannot belong to Samina I can’t belong to some manner if unless I’m convinced of that so what’s Christ criticism of the church secondly he doesn’t have any there is no criticism for anything in this church his skillful eye finds not even the smallest grain of a bad word so when when I consider that when I look at that I says I I begin to think Lord if the Lord has nothing to warn this church about my mind immediately wants to know why well the Lord begins to give condemnation a commendation to this church in verse number nine this is thirdly see the Lord knows everything about us he knows everything that we do he knows everything that we think he knows everything that is is going on there’s nothing that is going to escape the watchful eye of Our Lord we ought to live there and remember that every single day so here the Lord reveals how their life and experiences how it would be living in samarina three things they are experiencing and Jesus is very aware of their conditions in verse number nine notice he says I know your tribulation so the first thing is suffering it is the word in Greek that means distress hard circumstances it meant to be crushing being crushed beneath the weight of something the word samarina I already said related to myrr that they anointed bodies with but it also m is also a a a fragrance when crushed produces something quite Pleasant in smell it’s similar uh to when the churches suffer when she’s doing what is right and pleasing the Lord and persecution comes down on the church for some reason it smells sweet to the Lord Paul recorded something like that in second Corinthians where he says this but thanks be to God who always leads us in Triumph in Christ and manifest through the sweet Aroma of the knowledge of him in every place for we are a fragrance of Christ to God Among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing to one Aroma in death to death and to another Aroma of life to life so in other words when when a a Christian stands for Christ and is at the point of being killed for their faith and they get killed for their faith it is a sweet Aroma to God why because it’s not death that we he’s worried about or we should be it’s life it’s life life see so there is real sacrifice in remaining faithful to Jesus every Christian is none of us are promised a Rose Garden when we become Believers the Lord right off the bat says if you become a Christian you will suffer persecution in some way or another in at to some level or another in some instance or another at some time in your Christian Life there will be some opposition to your faith what are you going to do when that happens you’re going to cave in give in blend in or you’re going to be someone who shines brightly the gospel no matter if no one likes it what’s the next thing they’re experiencing in verse number nine he says not only I know your tribulations but I know your poverty in other words there suffering made this body of Believers poverty stricken most likely because they had their property stolen from them because they were Believers but you you know you may be poor as far as material wealth of the world is concerned but you may you could at the same time be spiritually Rich he’s able to say I know your poverty but look at what he says right after that in verse number n in verse number n says I know your pro poverty but you are rich wait a minute what’s going on here I thought just says that they’re poor but Jesus says you are rich what does he mean by that he’s he means that you’re rich spiritually so all the indicators point to some kind of financial hardship that they’re going through samarina also had guilds like our unions which regulated Craftsmen and because of the extreme hatred of Christians when a Christian took a stand for Christ often their jobs and businesses were on the line and that’s what was happening take a stand for Christ and they take away your house take a stand for Christ and they take away your property take a stand for Christ and they close down your bank account are we not close to that here in the United States could that not happen to us when it just happened right there in Northern Canada not necessarily from a Christian perspective from standing against the government and they they freeze your bank accounts what kind of power is that that’s what was happening to these belever Believers and perhaps Jews and pagans had pillaged their their property because it’s already recorded in Hebrews chapter 10 listen what it says there it says for you show sympathy to the prisoners and accept joyfully the seizure of your pro property knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession a lasting one see that’s an eternal perspective on life so Breen consider the strength of your faith to accept joyfully the seizure of your property man that’s tough that’s tough to think about well the passage in Hebrews tells us knowing that you have a for yourselves a better position a lasting one it’s looking Beyond this life so if poverty equaled God not being near for blessing then this church was in severe trouble but look at verse number nine Christ says to them but you are rich and many who are rich in the Earthly realm are often poor in the spiritual realm some who are poor outwardly are rich inwardly and that means physical poverty has nothing to to do with spiritual wealth nothing this church was rich in the things money could not buy so what are some riches not obtained by money well what about the riches of God’s grace towards you remember the parable of the rich man he says he began to re reason to himself what shall I do since I have uh no place to store my crops in the Gospel of Luke then he says this is what I’ll do I will tear down my Barns and build larger ones and there will I store my goods and I will say to my soul Saul you have many Goods laid up for many years to come take ease eat drink and be married but God said to him you fool this very night your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared so is the man who stores up Treasures for himself is not rich towards God we’re rich in faith we have so great a Salvation Christians are rich in Good Works words recorded in Timothy instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix their Hope on the uncertainty of riches boy is that not true a bag with holes in it but focus on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy instruct them to be rich in Good Works to be generous and ready to share we’re also rich in privilege we are not M merely children of a president or a prime minister or a king but we are Christians are children of the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and we are rich in hope we have a hope that nobody else has we have a peace that no one can take away we have a joy that is unspeakable that God gives us that’s rich so when God’s people are lacking in the temporal wealth for the sake of Christ the Lord makes it all up to them in spiritual riches which are much more satisfying and enduring and Jesus sees in samarina congregation a strong and a spiritually healthy church and even as James records listen my beloved Brethren he says do not did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he promis to those who love him but if you notice back in our text in verse number nine the last part of the verse not only did God know their suffering not only did he know their poverty but he also in verse number nine knew they were being slandered for their faith it says there I know blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not but are of the synagogue of Satan religious slander they most likely were slandered by false teachers who had claimed to be Jews but really were not all through the book of Acts the Jews responded to the preaching of the Apostles and once they got done preaching they would blaspheme what they said in other words that in this text these Jews these These are Act ual Jews only Jews not Christians not descendants they’re descendants of Abraham by physical birth but not spiritual birth that these Jews very religious but Jesus reveals who they really worship and follow in verse number nine but are a synagogue of Satan synagogue really literally means a coming together an assembly a congregation this was an assembly all right an assembly of the devil but they were the religious people you know all religions are an assembly of the devil doesn’t matter what they call themselves unless they have the true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ they are an assembly of the devil that means all religions are recruiting for his kingdom and not for Christ and he’s trying to rob people who know the truth out of the Kingdom of Light to his kingdom see Jesus told the Jews who claimed that they were children of Abraham to and considered themselves to be in the crowd of the kingdom of God and Jesus said to them if you were if you were the children of Abraham you would be hearing God’s word and you would be receiving God’s suffering servant if you were listening if you were really hearing you would do that and of course Pastor Dave just was mentioning in in John chapter eight of these particular Jews U and Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me but see you cannot hear my word because your father’s the devil and these are respectable religious people these are the ones who are teaching and and leading the community and God finally says to them he who had he who is of God hears the words of God and for this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God that’s who these people were so these Jews think that they are in The In Crowd but Jesus tells them they are in the outside crowd they don’t have ears to hear now you remember what it says at the end of each one of these passages those who have ears to hear listens what Christ says to the churches so hearing has a lot to do with understanding Christians have their antennas up they can hear God and when the word of God is speaking to them they are listening they are receiving it they are thinking through it they’re adding to their knowledge every time the word of God is being preached so these Jews in Samar bitterly oppose Christianity and were motivated by Satan to instigate a attacks against the church and and again don’t misunderstand at this point any church any Gathering any assembly that does not preach the gospel the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is to be a synagogue of Satan a gathering of satanic people good people religious people that he uses as pawns to dispel lies because there not hearing from God they’re getting it from the world and from their own flesh and from Satan himself and and forget this not that the true that the true gospel message has always been very Troublesome to the religious community and why what’s the reason for that the gate to heaven is narrow and the church can’t stand behind multiple points of view to be legitimate also if the Christian Gospel is true everything else is a lie if Christ Alone saves then those who do not believe in him are doomed see the narrowness of the message is very offensive to the world and to the religious community the church can’t lead Sinners to Salvation if it presents one road as being as good as any other road so living in a pluralistic society you don’t everybody believes their own way so their opinion is this is equal and and uh to the next person’s opinion right well that can’t be true that’s ridiculous that that’s logical fallacy so the B bottom line is this the gospel is exclud elusive the gate is narrow Jesus is the only way and the devil can disrupt he will cause dissensions he will inflict pain and bodily harm and can influence and tempt to do wrong but he’s defeated and he knows that but I must say this that there is a real enemy which rails against Christians and until he’s finished that will continue to happen so the political class often always repres misrepresents the Christian even in their day in Revelation and uh that the Christians were really they were convicted of or they were represented as being cannibals because they would say eat my body and drink my blood in the Lord’s table they would also be accused of gathering where or in orgies of lust because they would call their Gathering an Agape Feast a love Feast also they were accused of tampering with families because conversion often split families and it it does the until today they were they were considered to be the real atheists because they no longer believed in images and they worshiped one God and they were politically disal disloyal they they would not say Caesar or the emperor is Lord only Jesus is Lord and they were called also in incendiaries because they taught that the world would end by fire well where did they get that from well the Apostle Peter says this but by this word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men so you can see that this little church was under some heavy satanic assault and there was plent plenty of ammo in the political realm in the religious realm to come against them and all also you can see that only real disciples only real Disciples of Jesus Christ could possibly stay in a church like this no wouldbe disciple would understand such a place and the reason for their many troubles because some people would conclude hey if this is going on I guess God God’s not here if our pastor is being murdered for the faith and people are being murdered for their faith I guess God’s really not here but that’s not true that’s not true so they’re being slandered in all these areas but how how are Christians being slandered today well if you listen to the news Christians are intolerant they are anti-choice they are anti-lgbtq they’re extreme right-wing nationalistic bigots they are unbendable they are anti-establishment and they cling to their Bibles and their guns that’s that’s said every day on the news in some place or another so it’s just a matter of time that when it comes it becomes very personal and very close to home so there’s also a bunch of loaded language they call it today that they want us to comply with and they want us to use this new vocabulary a woman’s really not a woman you know there’s no gender differences and if you don’t use this new language then you are persecuted for it you’re ridiculed for it and you could lose your job for it and this this is true for every believer the world is is no friend to those who love Christ The Gospel message is always a thorn in the sight of a Godless Society so what is the Lord what’s the counsel the Lord gives us in verse number 10 of chapter 2 here’s the counsel to the church two commands he says number one don’t fear and then number two be faithful unto death those are commands scripture the Risen Christ conquered the worst that persecution can do to you take your life that’s why it starts out saying that Jesus is the resurrection and the life he died and he’s alive you’re dead and you’re going to be alive the Lord is not promising here health wealth and prosperity he does not dangle before them the promise that they shall find all things easy and pleasant in their life he shoots from the hip telling his faithful witness how it really is and then Jesus gives them four heads up verse number 10 here’s the first heads up you’ll suffer in some way notice what it says do not fear what you’re about to suffer he already says that you will suffer secondly verse 10 Satan is behind the persecution Believers behold the devil is about to cast some of you in prison so in other words the devil meaning the accuser he acted through the Jewish accusers against Christ and his followers Satan is the real instigator behind all of it he’s the manipulator behind all of it and the Lord lets him do that he’s on a Long Leash for his own purposes he lets him do that also a third thing he says in verse number 10 he says so that you will be tested the purpose of satanic opposition is to test us see the same event is often both a temptation of the devil or by the devil and a trial from God to us that Christ will used the devil’s evil intention to refine and reprove his children in order to reveal their faith their loyalty their love for Jesus as their lord and savior and then he says also their suffering won’t be long look at the end of verse number 10 and you will have tribulation 10 days see in other words Jesus is in control of the duration of time to which they will suffer persecution there will be an end to it there’ll be a beginning to it there’ll be an end to it now the end could be martyrdom so the short time of persecution is for the faithful and he gives them a grounds for Relief that the time of trial will be short the duration of their Joy will be forever and then the Lord gives them a challenge in verse number 10 the Lord’s challenge has a twofold promise to it first the challenge in verse number 10 at the end of the verse notice what it says be faithful unto what death be faithful unto death I I I read this and I think to myself can can I be can I actually do this can I be faith faithful unto death I it’s simple to say when things are nice and pleasant it’s easy to say it’s easy to read read something like this but what if it was reality what if there comes a time when the crosshairs are pointed at all Christians all churches and the weaponization of the government we become the target what can we do you know what we could do be faithful unto death because we may not be able to save our life and Jesus doesn’t save their life but he gives them two great promises see we have to prove oursel to be loyal and true to Christ to the extent of being ready to die that’s hard to get your mind around to be faithful onto death is really having a forward-looking faith a faith that calls for a full evaluation of our present life our goals our Pursuits in life light of what may be approaching it’s a defining moment in history when we will see Jesus coming on the clouds of power and then finally being in the presence in his presence maybe at physical death so so some questions arise before we look at the promises what what are we doing to get ready for the day when your hope is revealed is if Jesus was revealed today what have you been doing to prepare yourself for that day how does your daily routine connect with that day how how’s what you are doing today an expression of your faithfulness and loyalty to Christ no matter what comes well look at the two crowning promises in verse number 10 the end of the verse it says this be faithful unto death and I will give you a Crown of Life here’s the Greek words Stefanos it’s the Steven’s Crown remember Steven was the first martyr in the book of Acts why was he martyred he just simply gave the history of Israel preach the gospel and they stoned him to death this this Crown is really an adornment worn around the head and showed often an award to a victory in an atic athletic contest or it was also someone who achieved success in life possibly in running a race they were given a reward they were given a crown to wear to see to show they were the victors they were the winers ERS but you know not only Steven was the first martyr but in ad. 64 James the brother of Jesus was martyred by Nero and then the other James in 66 ad was martyred and then if you just look over to chapter 2 look at verse number 13 it says I know where you dwell where Satan’s Throne is and you hold fast my name and did not deny my Faith even in the days of anpus my witness my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells so we have people being martyred for their faith all over the place do you know that Time Magazine did an article and said in that article that the number of Christians martyred doubled between 2012 and 2013 and the article estimated that 100 to 150 million Christians have been martyred every year in recent decades in Nigeria in Syria in Iraq in Rwanda in Sudan and that’s not even taking into account the persecutions impris imprisonments and tortures how come we never hear about it in the news nobody’s bringing it up if it wasn’t for the voice of the martyrs if it wasn’t for the fox’s book of Martyrs and if it wasn’t for the Open Door Ministries we wouldn’t hear none of this and the Lord says to them I’ll give you a crown of life this is a reward of eternal life and it symbolized is Victory and I will give that to you for being faithful and it has been consistent in the word of God that present trouble always brings future reward even James says blessed is the man who perseveres under trial for once he has been approved he will receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promised to those who love him a crown for being faithful to the very end that’s what the Lord asks us to do he asks us to be faithful the very end so do you hear do you see Jesus says he who runs well till the end will receive a Crown of Life and he says these who hold in there who keep going who walk with me all the way They will receive this reward Jesus is holding out hope to them of eternal life and Jesus gives counsel to his church so that they are light bear bearers that can fulfill their mission that churches can fill their missions in the latter days until the end so present trouble persecution leads to the reward of a Crown of Life so Jesus up to this very day never offers to us an easy Road he puts before those who will repent of their sin and believe in Jesus that there will be a cost some loss some deprivation some suffering some uncomfortable uneasiness some humbling of self some killing of our passions and desires and personal goals will happen as a Believer you know what that’s all right because the Lord has it all under control for he says there will be pers utions and in the age to come eternal life and there is an age to come which is a vast unending season of existence it’s called eternal life in the Bible and it is not a reward for forsaking outward relations or inward affections or enduring other difficulties for Christ’s sake eternal life is always and only out of the mercy and the pure grace of God to those he gives it to and the reward that he gives is certain because he’s paid the full price and then if you notice in verse number 11 of chapter 2 he gives the second promise notice what it says in verse 11 it says he who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death they may be killed and martyred in the first death which is physical death but he says here you will not be hurt by the second death and that’s the death you really have to be concerned about so you see the great leveler is not physical death the great leveler is the second death and this is the final judgment that separates the unbeliever from from God’s mercy and his loving kindness forever and this second death is not death meaning Annihilation this is spiritual death complete separation from God to a very real existence in eternity if you turn it over to Revelation 20 which we read this morning look what it says in verse number six Revelation 26 again it brings up this second death and it says in Revelation chapter 20:6 blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection over these the second death has no power but they will be Priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years and then notice over to chapter in chapter 20 to verse 14 and 15 it says then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire and this is the second death the Lake of Fire so in other words there is going to be a conscious existence separated from God’s mercy and God’s love and existence only experienced in God’s Wrath some people say is God God in hell is God in hell is God in the Lake of Fire yes his wrath is there and that’s all they’re left with and believe me according to scripture that is a horrible place to be even in this world every day we experience the goodness of God the rain showers on the just and the unjust God’s Mercy is everywhere in this world and people just spurn it but it’s the Christian who understands the mercy of God to the point where it says in Romans chapter 12 I’m going to give myself over you as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God because of his Mercy because he didn’t give me what I deserved he gave me his compassion he gave me his grace that saves me and because of that I’m willing to give myself over to you Lord that’s what I’m willing to do because I understand what you’ve done so the second death is eternal torment death and Hades are joined with the false Trinity in the eternal torment of really the complete stages by which God eradicates evil from all eternity their names are not written in the book of life because they rejected God’s call to repentance they ignored God but the saved and the unsaved have responded to the call of God and the sacrifice of the land and that has determined their Destinies the saved escape the second death and where do they head they head for Bliss they head for heaven they head for the presence of God while the unsaved on the basis of their choice in the Judgment of The Sovereign God head to eternal torment so these promises the promise of the Crown of Life the promise of not being hurt by the second death are for those who have ears open who really listen to the holy spirit of God and respond to the message they realize they have to do something when they hear this they can’t just sit in silence they have to be ready to obey Christ because look what it says in verse 11 of chapter 2 it says that he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he overcomes will not be hurt by the second death that’s the inside crowd and the outside crowd well look at the outside crowd in Revelation CH 21 verse number 8 this is the outside crowd revelation 21:8 for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and Sorcerers and idolators and all liars their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death that’s the end of the story and we know the beginning of the story we know the middle of the story and we know the end of the story so that you know that means that we’re privileged as Believers to know these things but I just want you to really think if our time that we live becomes a samarina time would we be willing to die for Christ that is no easy question to answer but I believe that you can answer it I believe you can and that’s only be going to be based on how loyal and faithful and obedient you are to Jesus Christ and how convinced you are that this is true and everything else is a lie amen amen amen let’s pray Lord this morning Lord your your word always is sobering and Lord as I think about it and even as I was studying about this a heaviness came over my heart because Lord I would think of my own life even Living in America where things are so easy Lord would I be that person who could say honestly I could die for you Lord I pray that you would work on all of us con concerning this question because the reality of it may be it could happen in our day and Lord we know that you are the resurrection of life so the second death can’t harm us and if we live this way we do have a rewards Crown a Victor’s Crown and I pray Lord we would look towards that increase our faith make us sober-minded people help us to be serious about our life I pray Lord that the light of this church would not go out but we would all together hold up as the church holding up the light of the Gospel so we would be able to broadcast it and and scatter it all over the place so people would hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ and that they we would see them come and believe and trust you and live for you Lord that’s my prayer today and I pray that you would use this word on our hearts today to make us more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and I pray this in your name amen

  • Ephesus: The Church of Declining Love

    Ephesus: The Church of Declining Love

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    okay let’s pray father we do thank you so much um bringing us together today uh to be able to once again to be in the word of God what what a privilege it is to have scripture in our hands to be able to read it study it and Lord uh just to be able to think about it and make it part of our practice as we learn what is said in the word of God and how it applies to us and I just pray Lord that we would always when we hear the word of God put oursel in the equation asking ourselves the questions that are needed to see if we’re con committing a sin uh that the scriptures identifying before us and if so Lord help us to repent of it and I pray you would bless our time together in the word of God amen amen all right so we’re going to look at Revelation chapter 2 uh verse 1-7 and I want to to start off by as we look at this uh chapter at these these seven verses that it’s really about this next section is about a church that declines in their love for the Lord just think about that for a minute Christians who Christians who have moved away from or abandoned love for the Lord um that I I I wonder sometimes though the first churches the church at Ephesus um why is why is it first and I think because this is the most Grievous sin that we can commit as a Christian that we don’t we’re not living our life as we’re uh as growing in our love for Christ maybe our life has become mechanical or um it just we’re numb to the truth um we’re just so familiar with things that we really don’t respond to them the way we ought to um that’s not a good thing uh before the Lord and we’re going to find out that the Lord um is one who walks among among his churches he’s right in the middle of the church he’s examining the church he’s looking at the church his church that he died for and those he shed his blood for and is saying how are my people living how are they serving me how are they worshiping me and he takes that extremely serious and I think we ought to too and I believe the scripture is going to remind us that we ought to but one I I ran across the story that this is one this is how one dear man learned to love the Lord he said one morning as he was going to work I was thinking of the words Simon son of Jonah lovest thou me and he wished with all his heart that he could answer that question that Peter did that Peter says I do love you Lord but he said I felt sad because I honestly could not then this thought came to me he said well if I cannot say so much as Peter perhaps I could turn it around a little and make it easier so he began to think there is one thing I could not say I could not say to myself Lord thou knowest that I do not love you and I found some comfort in that At Last I grew bold enough to look up to the Lord and say Lord thou knowest that I want to love you more then I began to think of his great love for me I thought of his life on my behalf I thought of his words he spoke in the word of God I thought of his cross and the agony he paid and the price he paid for me and almost before I knew it what what was happening I looked up and says Lord you know I love you and at that very moment he says the consciousness of the Forgiveness of that sin and New Life flooded his heart now I don’t know about you but maybe at one time in your Christian Life you’re going to find yourself there that you really honestly can’t answer that question but the Legacy of Heaven and the inexhaustible Riches of God’s love belong to all who trust and love his son so pursuing our relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important goal of the Christian Life Beyond anything else it’s actually the very thing that fuels everything out else here in Revelation Chapter 2 the Ephesians church church got knocked off their course by good and Noble and spiritual Pursuits in fact they were doing the things that were vital and important to the ministry of all churches and yet their love for Jesus was declining now we can’t forget that chapter 1 2 and three all go together the seven churches of Asia selected from a greater number than existing are each analyzed by the Lord and their spiritual condition is laid bare Christ follows a general pattern for all the seven churches as he speaks to them two exceptions are notable however each church as a whole is commended except two Sardis and leysia each church as a whole is criticized except to Samina and Philadelphia so a careful study of each of these letters giving attention really to the background and the location of each church and the kinds of things said to each church and the spiritual counsel that’s presented by the Lord will prove should prove to be very rewarding for us as we examine ourselves in our own church so he says to John Jesus says to John I would like to speak to the church and when you get it John when you get what I’m telling you get it to the churches the seven letters to the seven churches this is what ought to be in a church and here’s a pattern of all Church Ministry Jesus gives the state of the church whether by Praise or by rebuke or by warning or by promise therefore as the Lord walks among his church and that’s the picture we’re getting here he is not far away he’s right here as he walks among his churches he’s examining them and he continually knows their Works he knows their sufferings he knows their sins his eyes are as the a flame of fire so he sees with penetrating discernment and inaccuracy to which no one can attain if we were to judge the church ourself we probably would be too lenient on us or maybe we would judge inaccurately or maybe we we would even be too severe on ourselves therefore as we think about the Lord only Christ can judge the church properly and be sure of this he does and as the Lord examines the first church we’re going to look at this morning the Church of Ephesus the church the people of the of Ephesians the Lord first gives a commendation and then secondly he gives a criticism thirdly he gives counsel and then lastly he gives a challenge so before proceeding to the passage of scripture just some background about Ephesus Ephesus was a thriving commercial City in Asia Minor today of course modern day Turkey its religious life centered around the worship of the Greek goddess Artemis or Diana we we hear that we see that in the book of Acts in chapter 19 it was the god the goddess of it was the fertility goddess cult and her Temple was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World so many people came to that area just to see this and even to worship this cult and like other large cities it had problems with crime and immorality and in spite of these conditions the gospel flourished there under the ministries of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle John and Priscilla and Aquilla aided Paul in the evangelism and the found ing of this church so in other words it was kind of a famous Church everybody knew about it it was famous because of the people who actually founded it and preached there but now I want you to look with me at the passage because each passage also has gives a characteristic of Christ a characteristic of Christ is highlighted look at verse number one of chapter 2 it says to the angel of the church in Ephesus is right the one who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this now as we look at that we have to ask of course the question what do the Seven Stars and the SE seven lamp stamps represent well you got to go up to back to chapter one in the last verse verse 20 of chapter 1 it says As for the mystery of the Seven Stars which you saw in my right hand and the Seven golden lampstands the Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches and the Seven lamp stands are the seven churches and of course the stars are the elders or the pastors or the leaders of those churches and so the Lord is is walking amongst the church and Jesus holds this church in his right hand really the hand that symbolizes protection but also it is the hand that shows shows how dear the church is to himself Jesus also is smack in the middle of the church the Lord prows the ground and as he does that he is there for the needs of his church when we pray he is listening when we have needs he is providing he’s giving us spiritual gifts he’s giving us the word of God He Is sanctifying Us by his spirit so the Lord is providing for the needs of his church right here he is doing it and emphasized in verse number one is really the sav the sovereignty of the head he walks among the lampstands he holds the Seven Stars in his hand The Messengers and the leaders and the pastors and the Elders of those churches and he does that because he has the place of authority and honor in the church also the Lord sees and knows everything going on in the church and he is very keen on what is in the hearts of his people which is the most important in the church what is going on in your heart when I can’t see your heart I don’t know like the old preachers to say I don’t know the Scruples of your mind and heart I can’t see that but Christ sees it and we know what’s going on in our life sometimes and we could hide those things from everybody else but here in scripture you cannot hide those things from the Lord you cannot hide secret Sin from the Lord you cannot hide uh even a declining heart from the Lord you’re just going through the motions you’re really not serious about your Christian walk you don’t you you don’t take it as something that is a high priority so Jesus sees his church and what does he see secondly in verse 2 and three the commendations Christ perceives in his church the Lord says something very encouraging about this church at Ephesus and notice in verse number two it says I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance that’s the first part of verse number two what what is he saying to them you’re you’re a hardworking Church you have good deeds and you labor in your good deeds to the point of exhaustion enduring even the burdens and you’re doing it with great patience so in other words the Lord is pleased with their good works and the exhaustive toil and their patient endurance secondly in our verse two it says and that you cannot tolerate evil men meaning that it is it’s a it’s a church that has separated themselves from the world and they could not bear evil they’re unwilling in other words to put up with people that are good for nothing when it comes to spiritual things they have uh it could also mean that things are not as they ought to be spiritually in these particular people morally they can be off track spiritually they are off track it’s it’s we can even say uh say it like this it’s like people who are cowardly soldiers when they’re supposed to go to war and they back off and don’t go or a lazy student who wants to get AIDS but they don’t study or possibly a dis graceful church member they’re living a secret life and they’re giving a nice face to everybody else so Jesus is saying listen I’m pleased that you do not tolerate evil men meaning it’s a church that to uh carried out church discipline and then also it’s a pure Church which exposes heretical teaching the end of verse number two and you put to the test those who call themselves Apostles and they are not and you have found them to be false that means they were doctrinally sound unwilling to put up with false teachers especially the nickol aans from verse number six which we’ll look at later on that Jesus was pleased with their discernment to expose evil and doctrinal error and then also they were an enduring Church in other words they weren’t quitters it says at the end of the verse and you have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake and have not grown Weary at the end of verse number three so they refus to give up even when facing opposition and hardship and they did it all because of the name of Jesus Christ and Jesus was pleased with their stamina of bearing burdens and hardships on account of his name and of course in verse number six of Revelation chap 2 it says it was a church that hated what God hated yet this you have said that you hate the Deeds of the nicians which I also hate so you can say there hey that’s the kind of church I want to be part of man they are they are on the ball doctrinally they they are they are doing what they ought to do and they’re doing it in the name of Jesus Christ so we could conclude that these things that the Ephesian church is doing and we can say they’re a strong biblically Orthodox church with strong conviction s it was disciplined it was sound in faith they were its accuracy towards Heretics so they were doctrinally sound and just think of that for a moment you can have a church like this a church may have every wheel turning and the Machinery of ministry moving at a steady rate yet something very important May Escape their notice and I believe that our church can be commended for these things we have been growing in sound Doctrine we have been getting better at organization of our time and our Ministries we should always be striving in these areas but we should always be diligent and careful to make sure make sure that the very important things do not Escape our notice and if you notice in this section of scripture that the Lord’s assessment of what does not please him comes next so the Lord and this is really really this is a thing that will ruin you and will ruin a church and scripture will be really telling us about the kinds of things that Jesus approves of in the church and the kinds of things that he disapproves of or and he rebukes in his church and these are the kind of things that we ought to love and the kind of things that we ought to hate so thirdly I want you to notice the criticism Christ pronounced on the church in verse number four look what it says in your Bibles but I have this against you that you have left your first love that’s a sad passage of scripture but it’s one that we ought to take to heart because he’s talking to us I say wow a church can be Orthodox in all their behavior and Ministries and lack love to the Lord how is that a Robertson said that this early love proof of the new life in Christ has cooled off in spite of their doctrinal purity the great physician puts his finger on the problem and diagnoses the condition this criticism is singular but a very serious one it’s declining love it’s waning love of his people these not these are not we’re not talking about people that are not his these are his people this is his church this is no complaint of an enemy but this is a complaint of a dear wounded friend our Lord Jesus Christ there dis Spurgeon of the last century said will we grieve a em Manuel will we grieve him whose heart was pierced for our Redemption brothers and sisters can you and I let Jesus find out that our love is departing because this is departing love they left so the Ephesian Church along the way of running the Christian race and fighting the the Christian Warfare got distracted away from their Devotion to Jesus in other words they stopped pursuing the goal of the Christian Life the goal of christlikeness through a personal ongoing relationship to Jesus Christ we don’t want to become the Church of loveless Orthodoxy we don’t want to become a church like that so the Ephesian Church they seem to have settled into a cold Orthodoxy with surface strength but no depth in their love for Christ and what is more important depth for Christ or Surface strength I would say this death for depth in Christ gives you surface strength you can’t Reser reverse those when you go to Ephesians when he’s talking about the gifts he’s saying listen here’s a gift and the strength that God gives you to perform that gift can’t reverse those things the condition this church has fallen into is critical but it’s not hopeless and the reason why it’s not hopeless is because Jesus is speaking to them he’s talking to his church through the gospel uh the Apostle John and this Greek word left really means to abandon these Believers have abandoned they have departed from their first love for something else and be sure of this Brethren anytime we depart from our first love we depart to something other that would be the object of our affection we cannot have a there’s no void there we can’t leave a void we will love the Lord or we will love something else but one thing you can’t do you cannot love the Lord and something else you can’t love money and God or whatever whatever else you want to replace in there it can happen see the Lord is calling us for wholehearted devotion that we really want to give him when we love him now I I say to myself what could be the triggers of departing love in in any church not just the Ephesian church because the Ephesian church I could say it could be physical weariness because of the Relentless relentlessness of ministry but here they weren’t wor weary in the Ephesians church so that wasn’t part part of it it could be mental fatigue because of the resistance that we are displaying as Believers against the pervasiveness of of wickedness and evil in our culture and the remaining corruption that’s still in our life we’re always fighting that battle that could be wearisome it could be that we’re spiritually spread thin because of the constant fight for doctrinal Purity we’re always F the church is always fighting for doctrinal Purity and soundness look at our culture today we’re fighting everything we’re fighting the their stance on abortion we’re fighting the lgbtq mindset that has pervaded our culture we’re we’re we’re fighting things like women in Ministry and being pastors when the Bible uh clearly forbids those things we’re fighting all these things all the time it never stops and it’s never going to stop it could be that they’re weary in in the sense they’re battle warn being a Christian you could be battle warn struggling with your own sin Oh I thought I put you to death what what are you doing back here and you’re you’re constantly battling things or it could be just being familiar with the things of God I go to church I read my Bible I witness when I can you know I’m I’m trying to put things into practice but you’re doing it in a way it’s like you’re a robot there’s no heart in it so maybe all these things and more but a church who moves away from its first love will be sus susceptible to de develop misplace affections and will be at risk of cooling off and even becoming coldhearted and hard-hearted in some cases so many things can easily be given to the throne of our own hearts and crowd out our affection for God and the things of God as the Bible says in Timothy the love of money could do it the love of pleasure can do it the love of self can do it all those things things could do it but we can’t forget and I I believe this comes out in this passage of SC scriptures that Jesus is a jealous God he is jealous for his church he’s not going to let us go along with this and not come and address it so understandably Jesus points out their departure of their first love the fervent and passionate love that they had for Jesus and his gospel when they first received him had waned and they were just going through the motions now if our love has grown the least bit cold then we have done a terrible wrong toward our best and closest friend can there be greater grief grief in the church then that our Lord would find this against us that we have left our first love so so God takes special notice of the way and the manner in which his people think of him and attend his service and worship [Music] him it’s like a marriage couple who feels helpless while their marriage grows cold and distant from W want of attention even while it retains its its formal boundaries and its predictable duties so Christians may feel helpless while the hot flame of their Christian love dies down to an ash coated Ember that all the while they deny no G Cardinal truth nor relinquish their ongoing Christian respons abilities or Ministries but inside they’re dying and they know it and they feel they can’t escape so if someone were to ask you uh what does love look like in the Bible as a Christian well the Apostle Paul or the Apostle John would say if you love me you’ll keep my Commandments and that if you love me has to come first before keeping the Commandments also John would have said but by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe his Commandments and then of course Galatians Paul would say in Galatians for the whole law is fulfilled in one word in this in the statement you shall love love your neighbor as yourself of course the two great Commandments to love the Lord first before you love your neighbor see it’s always been from the Old Testament to the New Testament it’s always been love for God always you can never got away from it in any place in scripture so see my friends if you love Jesus you would not follow it would follow actually that you would love the children of God too because love is the crowning virtue of the church and just as life within the tree causes the fruit to appear so that so the life within the believer produces beautiful fruit we cannot cause fruit to grow but we are earnestly asked to cultivate and weed and prune and protect so the fruit fruit of the love of the spirit comes through because if when you read Galatians the first thing when it talks about the the fruit of the spirit is but the fruit of the spirit is what love why is that first it’s first for a very good reason because it is the fruit that the spirit of God first produces in our life see we think that we love God before we became a Believer we didn’t love God before we became a Believer but when we find out he loved us first then we love him right CU then we find out what he what he’s done for us what he has accomplished on our behalf so you have to ask how are we doing as far as growing in biblical love love is the badge of the Christian Community and Christians May advance in in many areas of the Christian life but without growth in the most important Christian distinctive that is that of being loved it profits nothing whole chapter is written about that in 1 Corinthians 13 so when love begins to diminish and grow cold and sin increasingly manifest itself we will look more unlike Jesus than before so one of my professors Robert Thomas who’s with the Lord now he said this Jesus calls members to return to the actions prompted by love that they as a church had Formerly Known so look at verse number 5 of Revelation chap 2 this is the council Christ prescribes notice what it says in verse number five and it starts with this word therefore remember from where you have fallen remember from where you have fallen so this is the first point of his counsel Christ admonition for immediate correction you cannot let this go on too long before you slip too far away remember from where you have fallen the church had lost their bearing and needed to regain them again the church’s previous condition is a alluded to in this way from where you had fallen their departure from uh their first love is now viewed as a fall from their previous position and you know when we back slide it’s not the Lord who has moved or Chang changed his love for us or toward us it is we who have moved away from the Lord and here’s the subtle truth love can grow cold while outward religious performance still appears to be acceptable even praiseworthy so it’s easy to be satisfied if IED with religious performance is it not what Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day was in Luke 11 listen what he says he says woe to the Pharisees for you pay tithe and menth and Rue and every kind of green herb and yet disregard Justice and the love of God they disregarded it Jesus says you you should have done done both both so when the love of God is not there and Wayne is uh it’s waning in our hearts we don’t do ministry the way we ought to we just we just do it because we have to and that’s that’s the worst thing that could happen so the danger and problem is external religious performance can subtly replace true inner faith and heartfelt love and Mark this down the greatest danger to any real church is declining love which displeases the Lord aren’t we supposed to Colossians chapter 1 learn how to please the Lord in all things so when we’re doing things that displease the Lord that’s not a good place to be in fact the word right there remember in verse number five it’s a an imperative command but as I was doing my research I find out it’s not just an imperative command it is a durative imperative now you say what what’s that well it simply means this we have to continually remember it’s to be constant in our impulse toward recovery that’s that means we’re preaching to ourselves the very things that we ought to know from the word of God and we’re not stopping it every day we’re getting up and you know we’re saying Lord thank you so much that you died in my place you took the wrath of God for for me you satisfied the Justice of the father you shed your blood to wash away my sin that you Rose again to give me eternal life you’re in heaven praying for me and keeping me you’re preparing a place for me and where you are I can go every day you say that until the doctrine takes hold and grips your heart and convinces you you of all the things that you ought to know and ought to do but to do it with a heart if you ever sense a distance in your Christian walk with the Lord if you ever sense a coldness or a you’re distracted into some other area that is important and not necessarily looking sinful and you drift away from the Lord you have to do this you have to remember continually what the Lord’s done for you that’s what you have to do now it seems simple but it’s a discipline that we have and remember means to recall your faithfulness of earlier years and you take inventory of those things you remember when you first came to Christ and he saved you and you had a joy in your heart and a love in your heart and you love the word of God and your you love life and God’s opening up the whole world to you in other words you keep bearing in mind the loving relationship you once enjoyed and make a clean break with your present manner of life and you recall past Joys even past sufferings how the Lord brought you through them you recall attitudes you had back then how God was changing your mind in your world view how God brought you into new experiences and new relationships with people because you came to Christ I wouldn’t even know you people if I I didn’t know Christ you wouldn’t even know me we would never meet very rarely we would me but now I know people from all different uh cultures and backgrounds and ages and situations and that becomes the body of Christ that’s the most exciting thing you wouldn’t have gone some of the places you went if you weren’t a Christian see at at one time nothing diverted your attention from him you were never weary of hearing of him and hearing from him you were once zealous and to serve him and to tell everyone you could about what Jesus had done for you in your life you couldn’t get enough of Jesus Christ you couldn’t get enough of his word in his gospel and every time you heard the gospel preach you were excited about it but now maybe perhaps sermons are too long you’re thinking more of lunch than the word of God your Christian Life is kind of dull you have a spiritual appetite of being excited with novelties and Satan is trying to itch your ears with new doctrines once you were never displeased with Jesus but because of a sickness or a loss of a job or a family problem or a disappointment in life you were not so much interested in him and you cooled off and you kind of blame the Lord for all those things and at first you would have blessed the name of the Lord in everything but now you grumble in your homes at the slightest problem you were once consecrated to him in zealous joyful service and when someone asked you to serve you were right there to serve all that drips of either departing love or a love that you still are growing in in the love in the Lord Jesus Christ and signs of departing love in in any assembly in our assembly too several things could be obvious number one if you’re not serious and and you’re not serious or you’re unprepared for worship you stay up way too late the night before not prepared in your mind you’re drifting all over the place you’re not paying attention at all matter of fact you may not even be interested you you think that’s just because you’re still in the flesh that’s a spiritual problem or if you never plan never plan in your schedule to pray with your brethren in a public prayer meeting you never plan it I always say plan it because I think that’s the problem when it comes to prayer you don’t plan it put it in your schedule and plan it and you have if you have not done it get to get to it because you know what when you don’t pray with the Brethren that’s a sign of declining love if Ministries have only a few faithful workers and it’s like pulling teeth to get people to serve that’s a sign of a church declining in love if you serve more out of Duty than obligation an obligation then love for the Lord and the Brethren that’s a sign of declining love serving with half-hearted initiative that’s a sign of declining love so remember the beginning and compare them with your present State for the Ephesian Church The Way Forward was going backward evaluate you and I need to evaluate where you where you are now and where you were then and then ask yourself self how am I really fairing with my Lord have I fallen in any measure like the Ephesians have I abandoned my first love so if we’re there if you feel like you’re there what do you do well look back at verse number five of chapter 2 because he gives the second point of counsel he says not only remember remembering is the first and followed by another imperative command repent and we hear that word all the time the Lord’s counsel is by way of command and here it is an urgent appeal for an instant change of attitude thinking and conduct before it’s too late in other words repent completely and do decis decisively the first works and remember when you repent you always have to name it name your sin Lord It’s declining love that’s my sin and then you have to drop it that’s repentance right and you got to prove that you dropped it there’s got to be a change repentance is always a change of mind a change of of attitude to change of Direction and then also you have to replace your sin with righteous Behavior Lord I pray my declining love would be replaced by a love that is intense for you from the bottom of my heart and then of course in verse 5 it says it’s you you return and you repeat and do the Deeds you did at first and notice does not say repent and get back to the get back to your first love it says repent and do the Deeds you did at first this is practical repentance for in doing the first works you will prove that you have come back to your first love not doing more things it refers to the quality of how you do them from the heart Duty motivated by transparent love for the Lord and one another the church finding Delight in the two great Commandments to love God with your whole heart and soul and mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself because they go together and then what does the Lord do he gives them counsel he show them he shows them first who he is he shows them identifies their sin very specifically and then he gives them a challenge and notice in verse number five through verse 7 Christ’s challenge with a warning and a promise what’s the warning look at verse number five right in the middle of the verse the Lord pades with a warrant uh persuades with a warning or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent now now he’s talking he’s talking to the whole church and he’s saying listen if you guys as a church as a body do not get back to loving me the way you ought to I’m going to come and remove your church there’s a lot of Church buildings that are now daycares right there’s a lot of church buildings there are art art museums too but I tell you what there’s no people coming there to hear preaching anymore see God does that God closes churches because he knows what’s going on in the church for it to close he tells them if you don’t repent this actually will happen I will cut down the lampstand and that holds the light so that it will be unable to hold the light and share the light with the geographical area in which it sits the one great mission of the church will be to shut down U that local church unless they repent so Christ can do no other Christ cannot allow his church to uh to be apart from the love that we’re talking about here in scripture if the first love has been abandoned and there is no repentance then the church shall be left in darkness left as a sputtering candle in a dark Wilderness until it goes out now this may mean that the Lord removes the faithful ministers who he holds in his hands who bring the word of God to that community he removes them to another sphere it may also include that the Lord will cut loose its usefulness to preserve and uphold the truth if love doesn’t return and further it could mean the Lord uh if he Wills takes away from the church her very existence as a church and closes its doors repentance will prevent a church from losing its W witness that’s what a church is supposed to do when they see this is happening so the Lord’s call to remember to repent and to do the first Works did Ephesian Church do that we know it the church did do that but today and the reason why we know that is because there’s a section written the church fathers where Ignatius uh was arrested a Church Father Ignatius was a disciple of one of the Apostles the Apostle John I believe and he was arrested taken to uh by Rome to be executed and on his way to Rome the people from Ephesus went to meet and greet him and uh comfort him in his trial and situation and um he was so encouraged by that he wrote back to to the Ephesian church and in this letter he said he praised their love commending them as a church characterized by faith in the love of Christ Jesus our savior so they were still they have repented of it by that time but today there’s no church in Ephesus it’s just a bunch of ruins now when God closes the church here he opens it over there right right he’ll he’ll he’ll bring another group of people that are faithful to him and are serving him and love his word and another way we know that they did repent is in verse number six if you look at verse number six uh it says this is kind of a hopeful sign that they still had time to repent because they still hated what the Lord Jesus Christ hated in verse 6 yet this you um this you do have that you hate the Deeds of the nicians which I also hate the nicians had misplaced affection for the practice of idolatry and immorality so that they served other gods and loved the glorification of fleshly desires and the Ephesians hated their doctrines and their sinful practices they propagated as the Lord himself hated and also the Lord persuades with the promise look at verse number seven in other words a promise to every Church who has ears open ready to listen to the Holy Spirit notice in verse 7 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him who overcomes so the promise is to those who are Overcomers actually it is the word too those who are victorious those who are conquerors overcome overcome comers ultimate Victory are in God and God alone and what he has accomplished for them because if you look over quickly to chapter five of a of Revelation in verse number five and six see it’s it’s Jesus who accomplished Victory by bearing the curse for sin on the tree and then has granted to those who believe in him access to the tree notice what it says in verse number five of Revelation 5 and one of the elders said to me stop weeping behold the lion that is from the tribe of Judah the root of David has overcome so as to open the book and its Seven Seals and I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slain there it is we overcome because of the slain Lamb of God who died in the place of Sinners so the Victor the Conqueror has a promise to them and only the Victor shall receive a reward as a gift of the Lord’s abounding Grace in verse number seven what is that that I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God there’s the gift that’s to have access to the Tree of Life to partake of the fruit to the enjoyment of eternal life see remember Adam expelled from the Garden of Eden and forfeited access to the Tree of Life in Genesis because of his sin of Disobedience here in Revelation Christians regain access to the tree of life through the last Adam Jesus Christ see that’s the gift and as I said to our membership class you know what there’s no better word Than Paradise I mean even if you’re not a believer of paradise yeah man that sounds good right but here this is a promise reality of the promise of paradise and access to the tree of life right we read in Revelation CH 22 what was that access it says then he showed me a river of the Water of Life clear as Chrystal coming from the Throne of God and and of the lamb and in the middle of the street on either side of the river was the Tree of Life bearing 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month and leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations so the Lord’s promise to those who continue continue I will bring you closer to the center to the very tree of life that is in the presence of God so see brethren we need to heed the message of the Lord Jesus Christ who communicates through the word of God to us to the church and why do we need to heed it so we remain a light-bearing community of obedient believers who are continually growing in our knowledge and love for our Lord Jesus Christ that’s why we need to heed this I don’t believe we’re here as a church yet and I don’t believe that we’re heading there but we have to be cautious that we don’t head there and we all have to do that together so do we hear do we see he says he who runs well till the end will receive a Crown of Life he says these who hold in there who keep going and walk with me all the way they will have this reward and so there’s always hope that Jesus gives counsel to his church so that they as light berries light be erors continue to fulfill their mission in these latter days in which we live so will you be there in Paradise will that be your reward will that be our reward as a church I believe that we need to be careful about this and so we must never forget that there is always one who walks among the churches unseen but seeing all things so let’s hedge against together as a church the sin of declining love so we it’s not found amongst us amen let’s pray Lord thank you again today Lord your word again so convicting it’s so exposes us us but Lord thank you Lord when you expose us you just don’t leave us there you build us up you tell us what to do and you tell us Lord that we need to hedge against this this very sin that you displease of the most of anything else I pray Lord that whatever we do however long we are here as a church that we would always grow in our Liv love for you I pray Lord that would always be evident by our Joy by the peace of God that you give us and by our availability to serve you and Worship You from the depth of our heart and Lord if we see any inkling of declining love that Holy Spirit you would convict us immediately of that and that we’d run to you in Repentance and Lord you would warm our heart Lord so help us to remember and continually remember the things that you’ve done for us and how you brought us where we’re at and always give you praise for it and never forget that the core of the Christian life is to love the Lord Jesus Christ to love our God with all our heart with all our mind with all our soul with all our strength and to love our neighbor which goes right with that command and I pray this that morning for us as a church in Christ’s name amen let’s

  • The Exalted Christ Unveiled

    The Exalted Christ Unveiled

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    amen let’s take our Bibles we’re going we’re heading to Revelation this morning but I want you to take your Bibles first and turn to Psalm chapter 34 and as you turn there let me have a word of prayer this morning Lord we thank you for this for this day Lord even for the warm weather the hot weather and I thank you Lord for air conditioning that we can sit in here in comfort and we can read your word and we can listen to your word and we can find out more about what you have revealed especially in a book like Revelation Lord as we move through this book Lord give us Insight uh to who you are and what you’ve done so our worship would become much sweeter and more intimate than ever before and I pray Lord that you would all as the bless the book starts out that if we read the book if we listen to the book and Obey what you written in the book we have a blessing that comes from you that you’re near to us and thank you Lord for that and I pray in Christ’s name amen Psalm 34 before I read that aw toer in his booklet worship the missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church he said the most normal thing moral beings could do is worship because we were created to worship he also said that worship is an attitude a state of mind a sustained act subject to degrees of perfection and intensity he further said you will find four factors in true worship number one boundless confidence in God number two appreciation of God number three Fascination in the things that God does and how he presents himself and then adoration adoring God for all those things you’re learning you cannot worship a being you cannot trust or know nothing about confidence is necessary for respect and respect is necessary for worship see the problem lies in our perception of God we either see him big or we see him small and far too often we have too small of view of God now right here in Psalm 34 I want you to notice something in verse number 1 2 and three it says I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually being my mouth my soul will make its boast in the Lord The Humble will hear it and rejoice and then verse three oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together that word magnify doesn’t mean to make God big you can’t make God big he’s already big but you can see him big that’s what magnify means that the Hebrew word magnify also can be translated become great that we should see God as great sometimes in the church we’re so familiar with hearing about God that we do not see him as great as he is and the next vers is in verse 4-8 of Psalm you see it demonstrated there when people see God as great they tend to practice his greatness in how they interact with him and in so doing not only do they see God great but they get a taste of his goodness notice what it says in verse number four I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears verse vers five they looked to him and were radiant and their their faces will never be ashamed verse six this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles and verse seven the angel of the Lord encamped around those who fear Him and rescues them and then in verse number eight oh taste and see the Lord is good how blessed is the man who takes refuge in him now I’ve been just mentioning the last couple weeks in two messages on Revelation about the person who is blessed by the Lord it is those who hear read hear obey and Obey God’s word concerning who Jesus is and what he does now let’s turn back to revelation and we’re looking at chapter 1 verse number 9 through verse number 20 last book of the Bible so all those verses that I just read really indicate to us that the word of God will bring us to a place where we have a high view of God and if you have a high view of God you will have a high standard of living in other words you will live a holy and a Godly life you will be policing yourself about the things that you know are wrong and sinful in your life and need to be put to death and put be put off you that’s what what will happen to you when you are when you see God great and you you have a high view of God now when we get to revelation we see Jesus Christ to see Jesus Christ as the Apostle John did is truly amazing which we’re going to see this morning yet even John the Apostle John the Beloved Apostle is shocked by the character of Jesus which he got a glimpse of first of all in the Mount of Tri Transfiguration where his not eyes saw something quite amazing there but not to the extent that we have recorded in the Book of Revelation so what’s the situation in Revelation if you look at verse number nine we’re kind of given that because we’re still in the introduction of the book it says there in first revelation 1 verse number nine I John your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and the and Kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus now that is the situation he says that he is their fellow brother and partaker in Tribulation and companion in the kingdom and companion in steadfast endurance that John shares together in the suffering for the kingdom of God and the Church of God all according to the plan and the purpose of God in other words he is saying listen as I live my life I I am waiting for the kingdom of God just as you’re doing but in doing so you will run into persecution he said there I’m on the island of Patmos and he’s there because of the word of God and the testony of Jesus now what’s going on what’s happening in the church at the time of the Book of Revelation at the time this was written there’s a two-fold reason why John was exiled to a small rocky Island used as a penal settlement by the Roman authorities the island of Patmos was a place where offenders were sent to serve their sentences usually hard labor in the rock quaries of and of course the Roman authorities would put him there this island is about 16 M Square I think it’s like 10 mil long and 5 miles wide it’s uh in the aan sea about 40 miles Southwest of malius and 70 Mi Southwest of Ephesus at that time so the Book of Revelation comes at a time when it looks like that the church was coming to an end here we have the last Apostle John he’s on an island right he’s confined because of two things because of his preaching the word of God and his testimony about Jesus Christ and that’s why he’s there and it looks like by the Roman authori hey this is the last Apostle the church is kind of like puttering out yeah we we’ll just end him that’s what we’ll do so John was exiled under the reign of Doman now that this is a terrible situation but let me just give you a little bit about this ruler at that time the mission was a strong military leader he repelled it says invasions from many of the cities that would come and attack them and even something later Emperor Emperor said that he with increasing difficulties other Emperors after him couldn’t do what he did in his military might It also says uh is recorded of him that he’s a master builder he’s a clever administrator and he he is someone who governed his Empire with a strong hand but it’s recorded historically that they thought something was really wrong with him in his head he enjoyed catching flies and stabbing them with a pen and he’d like to watch Gladiator flights uh between women and dwarfs or small people and during his Reign he was so suspicious of suspicious of the plots against his life the number of Imperial spies and informers uh increased as did the number of casualties or deaths among the Roman officials in other words he put them to death domian was the first emperor to have himself officially TI titled in Rome God the Lord he insisted that other people hail his greatness with acclamations like the lord of the earth invincible glor y Holy One and thou alone now when he ordered people to give him Divine honors Jews and no doubt Christians bed at that the resulting persecution of Jews is well documented but that of Christians is not in fact flavius Clemens uh Council in ’95 and his wife Flavia were exiled and executed respectively by Dom mission’s order and many historians suspect that it was because they were Christians so then it is no surprise that the Apostle John was exiled for two reasons for preaching the word of God and for testifying about Jesus Christ his person and divine works as Lord and savior and so we are in a day today in our own country where it is becoming increasingly even dangerous to claim that you’re a Christian and especially to give testimony to Jesus Christ just saying to us that it will it may cost us more than we think to be a Christian it may cost us in our day to be a Christian on your job with your family in society with government this has never been like this before it’s increasing becoming difficult to live your Christian Life out with at the same time knowing that if you do trouble’s going to come your way and so we have to be all right with that we really do matter of fact if you look at Revelation look at chapter 6 and verse number n this is what happened happens when people preach the word of God and give testimony about Jesus Christ in verse number nine of Revelation 6 it says when the lamb broke the fifth seal I saw beneath the altar The Souls of those who have been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained and then in Revelation 20 in verse number four the same stuff the same thing is happening there it says then I saw Thrones Revelation 20:4 and they sat on them and judgment was given to them and I saw the souls of those who have been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the Beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead or on their hand and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years so for these people in the tribulation these are the tribulation s to testify about Jesus Christ and to preach the word of God men almost you’re going to get your head cut off or you’re going to be killed for your faith see are are we willing to live there God gives us the grace to live that way so living for Christ May cost us something even even the Lord told his disciples remember the word that I said to you a slave is not greater than his master if they persecuted me what does he say they will persecute you if they have kept my word with uh they will keep yours also so the admonition for all believers no matter really when you live is to remain faithful to not compromise the truth even when persecution and suffering comes and to remain one that Faithfully perseveres in the faith you just keep going no matter what you don’t throw in the towel you don’t drop out of the race you press on even to the end why why do we do that because Jesus is coming that’s why and we know he’s coming we don’t know when but we know he’s coming that’s why and that’s how John could do it and that’s how all the apostles can do it and that’s how all faithful Christians do it when they know the word of God and why do we do that too because the most faithful witness whoever walked this Earth was Jesus Christ himself and he did that for us so that’s the admonition now let me before I even look at Revelation this morning let me just present some helpful information moving forward in the study of Revelation that’s important for us to know kind of like some housekeeping things number one we know that the author of this is the Apostle John even though he does not mention himself as the Apostle John uh John came to Ephesus shortly after PA Paul’s marom and oversaw the churches in Asian Minor until his Exile so he’s the last living Apostle he’s around 90 90 between 90 and 100 years old he’s old there his audience is the seven churches of asiia minor specifically and the the character of the book is that it is the most prophetic book in the New Testament and Revelation describes the events that close world history as we know it and culminates in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ the major themes in Revelation we’re going to see as we go through it is the return in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and in uh the old test concerning the Old Testament out of the 44 verses in Revelation 278 make illusion to Old Testament that’s a lot and the book draws upon books like Daniel that’s why we read it this morning Isaiah Ezekiel Psalms all those books are drawn into to the book of re Revelation you’re also to see the theme of the wrath of God and then the future work of God that Revelation is primarily intended to describe the end the events that will end world history so then that should be quite interesting to us and we should be uh have our radar up and listen very closely to what the Book of Revelation will say to us also one of the purpose stat statements of Revelation is that John records the Revelation given to him by Christ is also to rebuke Believers concerning sin and to encourage them to hold fast until Christ comes and of course describing again that which will proceed and follow his coming so we see in verse number 19 of Revelation chapter 1 there it’s broken up into three parts it says number 19 part number one would be the things which you have seen in verse number 19 also the things which are right that would be the churches the seven churches the whole church age and then part number three would be verse number 19 and the things which will take place after these things so the the Revelation in the beginning kind of gives us an outline of the whole book and the the four views that people use to handle the Book of Revelation the first one is the predus view and that view maintains that the book describes the first century conditions in the Roman Empire and um it’s usually not taken literally uh that the judgments uh Came Upon Jerusalem in 70 AD and then another group would take the book Revelation as continuous or historical The View treats the book as a panorama of church history from John’s time until the 2 Advent uh finding correspondence between the seven churches and the various epics of church history like Revelation is the a Chron I Le of western church history then there would be the idealist and this view maintains that Revelation depicts the Eternal conflict between good and evil in every age and that the details should not be pressed too much and then there would be the futuristic um handling of Revelation and this is the best approach if you um if one is committed to the literal Dramatical historical literal interpretation of the Book of Revelation but I do think in some ways all those four views are presented somehow in uh The Book of Revelation but not to the extent that they would uh be defined as they’re mentioned so it the futuristic view views the book as focusing on the last periods of world history culminating with the return of Jesus Christ to the Earth and so so Revelation chapters 4-22 speaks primarily of the future and events of the end of History leading into the Eternal State and of course all the views would end with the Eternal State that’s where it all ends so we wouldn’t disagree on that one but usually between uh the Lord’s coming and all the details and texts that people would disagree on but I believe handling revelation uh taking a futuristic view which is a literal hermeneutic of the book handling of the book I believe that’s the best way to handle it and that’s the way I’m going to handle it all right so this morning um the outline of the book is built around four Visions together of course with the interr inter in introduction that I’m dealing with still and then at the conclusion in chapter 22 it emphasizes the centrality of Christ throughout the entire book that is a book about Jesus Christ all right you can’t get around that wherever you go in this book so the first Vision starts in verse number nine and that’s where we we’re going to start this morning and we’re going to look at today the first thing is the exalted Christ unveiled the exalted Christ unveiled so the the first thing we see after where we the situation where John was we see now John is in the spirit on the Lord’s day and we have a prophet under inspiration notice what it says in verse 10 of chapter 1 it says I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet now the Lord’s Day could be reference to Sunday the first day of the week because the Lord’s Day commemorates the rising of Jesus from the dead and it was on Sunday that the holy spirit of God was poured out on the church the day of Pentecost or some say some think that the Lord’s Day put the Apostle John in as a spectator uh to see in in to see the scenes that will take place during the Lord’s day now I believe that the first is preferred because it is the most natural reading and Sunday was already decided as a Christian practice the first day of the week must be dedicated to the Lord so while John was in the spirit as it were lifted up above and beyond the things of time and space he heard a claring call of Jesus that sounded to him like a great trumpet trumpets are significant both in the Old Testament and the New Testament in fact when the law was given it’s recorded in Exodus it says there was thundering and lightning flashing and a thick Cloud upon the mountain when Moses came down with the Ten Commandments and it says a very loud trumpet sounded so all the people who were in the camp trembled God was speaking and everybody knew it and then also in the New Testament we see we when we read a book like Thessalonians for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will R rise first so this trumpet that that he he equates with the voice of God and when the voice of God sounds it will be with the unmistakable Clarity of God’s speaking and what does the voice say to John in verse number 11 here’s the prophet’s Mission saying in verse 11 write in a book what you see and sended to the seven churches to Ephesus to samarina to pergamum to thoy to Sardis to Philadelphia to Lea so when he saw he was to write and then he was to send what he wrote to the seven historic churches in Asia Minor so John saw the exalted Christ in this verse vision and these churches all these seven churches represent in some way the various types of churches that exist throughout church history and we’re going to find as we start in Chapter 2 you have to ask the question where does our church fit in there like does our church line up with the characteristics in each one of those examples that the Lord gives and he evaluates the church and so John now comes to the place where he meets the Divine messenger and notice in verse number 12 it says then I turned to see The Voice that was speaking with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands so John immediately senses the presence of a person speaking directly to him now the first symbol he saw was uh seven golden lampstands and the basic symbol for lampstand was a a candlestick holder or a stand that held an oil lamp and notice here he doesn’t see a light he saw something that held a light or that held a candle or that held a lamp so the lampstand is not made of wood or stone or silver but it is made of gold and gold is a symbol of the preciousness of the thing and the lampstand is that of its mission and the gold as to its value the gold symbolizes the preciousness of each church because we’re going to find out that the lampstands were the churches and of course a lampstand has a job to do another symbol is seven in our passage and there are seven churches there were more churches than that but not all of them mentioned are mentioned and that means that seven is symbolic of the Church of Jesus Christ that constitute that really constitutes not only the seven churches there but also the words the number seven means completion so it represents the entire church and I believe the church from its beginning to its end when God takes it out in the Rapture of the catching away of the church from the earth before the Antichrist comes so he’s talking about the whole Church of Jesus Christ and and whose mission was to be the light so the lampstands are to hold the light so that it will dispel light in otherwise a dark place which is the world that we live in if it wasn’t for the church if it wasn’t for the preaching of the Gospel the world would be a very very dark place even darker than it is now and the church is the one who holds up the light so that light can be disseminated through everybody who would see it and then hear the gospel see the churches of the Lord are lampstands as bearers of his light which is to benefit the entire surrounding of that church and ultimately the whole world they are not themselves the light but they their light is that of Christ’s Spirit who works by means of the word of God making them instruments of Illuminating others by the preaching of the word of God now as John has given the mission there’s something that the Lord does in a very specific way he shows John what no one else has has ever seen you know what he’s so shows John he shows John himself that’s what he does so John’s Vision gives a description of the glorified son and I want you to notice in verse number 13 notice first the position of the exalted Christ it’s described to us in verse 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like the son of man clothed in a robe reaching to his feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash so in this in the vision there is one standing in the middle as if the churches were in a circle and Jesus is standing smack in the middle of the churches and look what we see here one like the son of man now where did that come from that comes from Daniel chapter 7 and verse number 13 where we read this morning I kept looking in a night vision and behold with the Clouds Of Heaven one like the son of man coming and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him the term son of man is an important designation because this term refers to Jesus Christ it is a term Jesus used to link himself to the prophecy of Daniel and then in the New Testament he brings it up in Revelation in almost every case he uses that title to refer to the second coming Daniel records finally in Daniel chapter 8 so he came near and where I was standing and when I he came I was frightened and fell on my face but he said to me son of man understand the vision pertains to a time of the end Daniel was told to seal up the prophecy Revelation it says open up the prophecy so now we have what was going on in Daniel being sealed and now right in our own Bible it’s opened up to us this is what the Lord is doing so Jesus one like the son of man is seen symbolically in the middle of his church Jesus is right in the middle what is he doing he’s walking around in the church he’s working in the church and he’s walk watching the church that Jesus controls in other words the destiny of the churches he is the lord of the church he is the head of the church so watch what he says about the scripture says about the Lord Jesus who’s the head of the church in verse number 13 see now we see the person of the exalted Christ described in verse number 13 of chapter 1 he says and in the middle of the in the middle of the lamp I saw one like the son of man clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash now when you read something like that you have to say who’s that talking about or who wears garments like this well if you look in the Old Testament High priests were garments like this Kings were wore garments like this prophets wore garments like this judges wore garments like this and I believe that all these things symbolize all in the Lord Jesus Christ that he’s all those things he’s Prophet he’s priest he’s King he’s judge that’s who he is and that’s what the picture that John is going to get and then notice it says in verse number 14 his head and his hair were like white like wool like snow and his eyes were like a flame of fire he begins to describe the Lord Jesus Christ that one somebody who had a long robe on the longer their robe was the more Authority they had Jesus has the robe down to his feet so he has the ultimate Authority and then it tells us here that had his hair and his head th this means that it’s not only saying that there’s old age included here not of course symbolically that this is no young one he is the Ancient of Days he is the one who has honor and dignity he is absolutely exalted to the highest place that there is and having his hair and had mentioned like this means that he has absolute and total wisdom it is the wisdom of Eternity and the maturity of steadfastness of age remember Jesus is the god man and so therefore he understands the human part of what someone goes through and here through the times he has obtained uh wisdom but he is also God he knows all things and the one he is the one who is always ancient because he is before all things so included in that is his his Purity his Antiquity his majesty his authority and then notice the next thing in verse number 14 and his eyes were like a flame of fire that means he is absolutely omniscient he is using eyes to syb symbolize he knows you he knows all about you he knows his church he knows all about what’s going on in the church he knows the condition of the church because he’s right in the middle of it and his eyes are piercing and penetrating full of righteousness to the one who sees exactly what’s going on on you cannot pull the wool over the Lord’s eyes cuz he knows exactly what’s happening then in verse 15 it mentions his feet his feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to Glow in a furnace now bronze and Brass represent symbols of judgment and sin his feet also represents that of a king sitting on his throne ready to judge irresistibly ready to judge and impartially ready to judge if anyone will judge fairly it will be Jesus Christ he goes he has all the records he has all the wisdom to do that and remember one day at the great white Throne judgment they will be standing before Jesus Christ people will be resurrected standing before the Lord and the Lord’s going to open the books and he’s going to to say okay let’s see how your life went but for those who know Christ that’s not going to happen because Jesus took your penalty he paid the price for your sin he washed your slay clean you are now made pure in the presence of God but Christians will be judged on their works not for salvation but how they lived after they became a Believer that’s in Corinthians the word of God teaches us that so anyone being condemned by this one who sits on the throne will either fall at his feet or Bow Low before the feet of a king meaning that it’s a picture of the destructive force that the King has to those he’s judging and then notice in verse number 15 it mentions his voice that this one speaks as one who has absolute Authority his voice is not just loud but it has force it has finality it has a command about it in other words you better listen when he speaks I I believe when Jesus actually speaks as a glorified Christ you must listen there’s no way that you can not listen because his voice it says in verse number 15 his voice was like the sound of many Waters I don’t know if you ever been to Niagara Falls youever been up to either on the New York side or the Canada side right when you’re by the falls you can’t even talk to someone next to you it’s roaring and the steams being heaped up all around you it’s it’s a it’s a amazing to see it if you never see it you need to see it maybe this summer that’s your vacation Falls impressed even partially to deafen people who stood around it by the Roar of its Waters and you see when you hear preaching of God’s word you are hearing the voice of God and when you hear the voice of God it is speaking of the voice of his will if God has complet and finally spoken in his son which he has from Hebrews who has unique Supremacy over all things and finally uh in that we must follow absolute with absolute trust and obedience and must be it must be given to him ongoingly for the rest of our Our Lives it really brings us to worship and if not if obedience and Trust trust is not given to Christ then the consequences are bound to be awful instead of blessing of the word of God it is exchanged for Terror that the voice of Christ rises above the babble of the world and in solemn Majesty makes itself heard when Christ speak people must listen to him and then back to revelation 1:1 16 his in his right hand he held Seven Stars so his his possession and protection of the messengers of these churches the Lord protects them and His Hands protect them and then notice in verse 16 and out of his mouth came a two-edged sword so Jesus speaks authoritatively to his churches but remember it’s not only the churches he’s going to speak to in Revelation it’s going to be the rest of the world and his word is razor sharp this two-edged sword means that it cuts both ways and can even slice one in half that his word is effective it is sent forth to save those who believe and condemn those who do not believe the word of God is always going out to do those two two things to save or condemn that’s what the word of God does and the word of God can be very can be very effectively and ACC accurately diagnose your spiritual Vital Signs and unmask you for who you really are so the word of God is piercing the sword enters in with ease and is able to penetrate to the very innermost core of the heart the of your being and one thing is definitely clear that the word of God can cut through the defenses lay Bear all the inward most thoughts and intentions and secrets of the heart either to make changes or make it impossible to avoid God’s righteous judgment so God Almighty is perfectly aware and can deal with us and all people not according to what we appear to be but according to what we really are and what he knows us to be see there’s no getting around what Christ sees there’s no getting around the fact that the word of God is powerful and when it goes out it will not come back void it will go out and accomplish all the the purposes of God that he intended to do now people don’t necessarily believe that but if they don’t believe it they will believe it one day see the key is do you believe it are you holding to that because the power of His word is also given to blast his foes it says in Revelation 2 verse number 16 and he says he he Wars against those who do not repent with the sword of his mouth that’s how he does it now one of the most amazing things in this description of Jesus Christ is this last one in verse number 16 it says and his face was like the sun shining in full strength well wait a what’s the admonition in scripture No one who sees God the face of God will live John’s living John hears what’s going on here see the to to see the face of God in the Transfiguration the face of Jesus Christ Shone like the sun and here the glory of the Lord Jesus is unveiled in all its majesty and it all its Splendor it’s as the Sun at noon too intense for mortal eyes to behold but if one is in the spirit on the Lord’s Day lifted above their normal circumstances he’s able to see the face of Jesus Christ now this is quite different than any part of the Bible he displays his glory to John and then his glory to the churches so what is the Beloved apostle response to such a betrayal of Christ what would your response be if you saw Christ in this way well the appearance of such awesomeness and Brilliance of the manifestation of the exalted Christ unnerved John all he could do if you notice in verse 17 and when I saw him I felt fell at his feet like a dead man and I don’t know about you you know there’s books written about you know I I went to heaven and I spoke with Jesus and Jesus met me in my bathroom when I was shaving and all that kind of stuff that’s not true if you meet Jesus you will be on your face because you have met the most awesome being person that you will ever meet in fact if you did a little bible study of falling on your face you will find that those who saw Jesus pre-incarnate glory in the Old Testament you know what happened to Abraham Genesis chapter 17 he falls on his face when God speaks to him you know what happened to manoah when God spoke to manoah and his wife both of them on their face before God thinking that manoah the husband is thinking that God’s going to kill us now because saw his face of course he didn’t because he was giving them Revelation on what they’re to do Ezekiel sees and hears the voice of God what does he do he falls on his face trembling Daniel he sees God he falls on his face the disciples in Matthew 17 verse number 6 that was the great that was the Transfiguration of Christ remember Peter James and John went to see Jesus and then his face it says shown as the sun so bright and then Peter says oh this is a good place for us to be we should be I’m going to build these little thing and before he he just got snuffed out because he didn’t know what he’s talking about uh then it says there and then the cloud overshadowed them and a voice says this is my beloved Son whom I am well pleased listen to him and when they heard that voice the Bible says that the disciples heard and they fell on their face and were terrified what is amazing about this in Revelation and what John saw is that they saw in the Old Testament Jesus pre-incarnate glory in the New Testament they got a glimpse of his glory for just a short period of time here John saw Jesus in his post Resurrection Glory that is completely different that means the way Jesus would come before his people is now different that in our resurrected bodies we will be in in the presence of God we will Behold Him we will be people who will worship Him from the depths of our soul and that’s going to be a great day when that happens but even now as Christians we are to Worship the Lord in the right way and have a high view of God and if you don’t have a high view of God after reading these passages of scriptures then you may have to check yourself because now the Bible tells us about the works of the exalted Christ portrayed and verse number 17 the second part of the verse says and when I saw him well I fell on uh when I saw him I fell at his feet like a dead man and he placed his right hand on me saying do not be afraid I am the first and the last now wow what does he do here what’s his work comforting his ministers his right hand of of authority is laid on John and is it a Touch of a rough person no it’s a gentle touch and then it’s a personal acknowledgment to John to say who he is and what he has to complete because of who he is and he says to John John I’m the same one that walked with you on the earth I’m the same one except you see me differently because I’m glorified so remember my hand when remember you when you laid down my chest during the Lord’s table he says there gently don’t be afraid and then the personal acknowledgement of who he is and what he has completed notice the second part of verse number 17 I am the first and the last look at verse number 18 and the living one I was dead and behold I am alive forever more and I have the keys of death and Hades that Jesus says to John John I’m the god of old I’m the God who spoke to the prophets the God who starts and finishes I am the Lord of creation and of all history I have Sovereign control over all things and over over all dominions even the Dominion of death and Hate that’s who I am John so the Book of reev Revelation actually connects the actual possession of the keys of death and Hades with Jesus victory over death where it says down in verse number 18 of chapter 1 and the living one and I was dead and behold I’m alive forever more to have the keys to death in Hades is to possess Authority over their domain who has that Authority no one has that Authority except Jesus Christ he’s been given that Authority see death claims the body Hades or Hell claims the soul and Jesus says I have the keys to these domain I can open and shut them I have a plan of how history concludes and eternity begins that’s who I am now this is important to know before you get into the rest of the Book of Revelation and it was important for John it’s important for us if you skip this you miss a lot of what’s going to happen next and so once he sees that and once he understands who Christ is now in his glorified State that’s why he’s not supposed to be afraid because if you notice in verse number 19 it says here’s your mission it says therefore write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after these things that’s the three-fold division of Revelation so John he sees Christ he’s comforted by Christ he sees the exalted Lord and now you think he’s motivated to do the job I think so if nothing will motivate you this will motivate you and so what Jesus does actually uh for John and for those who read and hear and obey the word of God is he interprets for John to those who hear read and Obey this Revelation and notice what he says in verse number 20 as for the mystery of the Seven Stars which you saw in my right hand and the Seven golden lampstands now not only does he Comfort his ministers not only does he interpret for those who are obedient to him but now he shows us that he is the one who controls his ministers and the church because the son of man is standing ing in the middle of the seven churches and has the Seven Stars in his right hand and that is that this star of this church he’s saying and the star of that church and the and then of course the star of the other churches they’re all in my hand so what are the Seven Stars well it tells us right in verse number 20 it says the Seven Stars are the angel angels of the seven churches and the Seven lampstands are the seven churches so if you just think about it and I’ll mention that more next time is that Jesus is walking amongst his church and you’re going to find out in the seven churches what he does with them is he evaluates them them he lets them know what he’s pleased with and what he’s not pleased with and when he says to the church I’m not pleased with you he also says this repent of the things that I’m not you’re I’m not pleased with in your life and get it right so you can receive the blessing now the word angel of course means messenger one who was sent I I believe that it’s talking about a human being like an elder a pastor a leader of a church of a local church and so why are these letters addressed to messengers of the churches what you have is this that Jesus is holding the leaders of this church in his his hand and he he speaks through them to the church it’s like a little theocracy every church is based basically a little theocracy when Jesus Christ is the head and speaks through the human leadership of that church he is holding the stars of the church and thus controls the churches so see when you think about the word of God you’re finding out in the word of God that we have to be very careful that when we are organizing the church and leading the church we are doing it in a Biblical way not letting the culture press upon the church where we’re making decisions because of what the culture is doing or because what the the state is doing or because of what the government’s doing no we do it because this pleases Christ that’s why we do it he is holding the stars of the churches and thus he controls the churches so in the next two chapter 2 to chapter 4 Jesus Walks among his churches as Lord who seeks to amend their virtues and even more than to expose their faults however Christ loving evaluation of his churches must precede the day of Judgment of the world and why is that because of what’s written in First Peter judgment first must start at the house of God so God evaluates his church first and judges them first before he moves judgment to the world this is it says this in 1 Peter 4:17 for it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God and if it begins with us first what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God so after reading after hearing this introduction in Revelation it should cause us to have a higher view of God than we had before and move us to real worship that includes boundless confidence in Jesus an appreciation of Jesus and what he has done on our behalf a Fascination about Jesus that he even reveals himself this way to those who are his family and that he it brings us to adoration we fall down too and adore him in worship for all the great things he has done so it it is not a time it’s not a time to fear Jesus is the first and the last we don’t have to fear life it is Jesus who who’s alive forever more he’s the resurrection of life and we don’t have to fear dying because Jesus holds the keys to the grave and death and if we know him as Lord and Savior we have victory over the grave amen so that’s just an introduction let’s pray Lord thank you again for such an awesome book for the privilege Lord to be able to have the word of God in our hand to be able to read need it to be able to hear it and Lord even the privilege that we have to obey it thank you Lord we do want to be people who have a high view of God and because we have a high view of God we have a high standard of living that our living portrays Holiness and godliness we know it’s not portraying Perfection but the direction of our life and so we thank you Lord for the truths found in this first chapter of Revelation Lord as we move forward Lord continue to increase our understanding of who Jesus is what he is has done and what he is doing and Lord even strike even fear in our heart to tremble when we are confronted with your character because of how awesome you are and how great you are and Lord there is no one like you there is no one like you never was never will be you are the Lord of lords and the king of kings and we bow before you this morning in worship and I pray in Christ’s name amen let’s