Show Notes
Revelation 2-3
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen.
[00:00:01] Let me read to you from first Corinthians 4 through 9, and then we will pray together that God would give us grace as we hear his word.
[00:00:11] Paul writes, I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:00:39] God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[00:00:45] Let's pray.
[00:00:48] Our Heavenly Father. Even as the Apostle Paul gives thanks to God for the grace that was given to the Corinthians, we also are thankful for the grace that was given to the Corinthians, for the work that you did among them, the strengthening, the binding them together in your love.
[00:01:11] Even though there were moments of correction and difficulty, even though they faced so many issues within their own, within their life, of their own church, you were there, you were present, you were working in them and giving them everything that they needed so that they would not lack any gift as they waited for the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, his coming again.
[00:01:38] And Lord, we are also thankful for the grace of God, the grace that you have given us for ourselves in every way. We have also been enriched in speech and knowledge as the testimony of Jesus has been confirmed among us, that we are not lacking any gift that we need as we wait, and that you are our sustainer, holding us guiltless, justified, no condemnation until the end.
[00:02:08] Lord, indeed you are faithful, and we ask that you would continue your faithfulness to us now as we hear your Word in Revelation.
[00:02:18] Give us ears to hear and eyes to see, that we might be more and more and more the people you've called us to be, that our light might shine more and more brightly, that you might be glorified, and that the nations might come to you. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:02:41] You may be seated.
[00:02:52] So let's turn in our Bibles to Revelation, chapter two. I'm reading two and three chapters two and three today.
[00:03:01] What we have in these chapters, as you turn there are the rest of the letters that are in the New Testament.
[00:03:10] You might think they stop after three John. They don't really. There's seven more.
[00:03:17] Seven more micro letters. Maybe we could call them tiny letters, little letters to the churches here at the end of Our Bible.
[00:03:26] And these letters are so important.
[00:03:30] These letters are given to these seven churches, to them specifically. And as you'll see, Jesus speaks to each one of them with a knowledge of their particular situation.
[00:03:43] So just as he wrote through his apostle to the church in Corinth and in Thessalonica and other places, and he addresses their particular situations, he does that here as well in Revelation.
[00:03:56] But you'll see in these letters that it's not just for Ephesus or Smyrna or Pergamum that the other churches of these seven are also supposed to hear the churches written to the. Or the letters written to the other churches. Right? So they're all listening to the letters that are given to the group as a whole. And this number seven is a symbolic one, a symbolic one to represent the church as a whole.
[00:04:28] And so it's not just the other churches that are called to hear the letters that are here, but it's us, too.
[00:04:36] We are also called, this is given for us to hear and to think about ourselves. In light of that, we have to think about ourselves. Where are the places that we are falling short in ways that they're falling short?
[00:04:49] Are there places where the Lord shows His favor and promises his blessing and his faithfulness, where he would also say the same thing to us?
[00:04:58] And we can also look at their things that they're suffering, the challenges that they're facing, and ask, are we facing those things?
[00:05:05] How do we respond to them as he calls them to respond to them? So in a way, we're kind of looking into a mirror and thinking about ourselves, even as we think about the work that he did among them.
[00:05:20] The last thing I'll say for as we start before we read, is that this is coming after the big introduction that we had where we have this vision, where John is given this vision of Jesus. And we are reminded that as we hear the words of revelation about the things that are, namely, the time in which these. The letters are written here and the things that will be the time after these letters are written, they are coming from this glorious risen king that we thought about last time, heard about last time, that Jesus, who walks among the seven lampstands, who walks among his churches, reveals Himself and then speaks.
[00:06:04] So it's very important that when we hear these letters, we don't just hear.
[00:06:09] We don't just hear, okay? He. There's this instruction to this church and that instruction to that church. We want to make sure that we're hearing the voice of our Savior, that the words are not separated from the one who is speaking.
[00:06:24] So we must keep him in our minds. And he makes that easy for us, because at the beginning of each letter he reintroduces himself and he reminds us who he is. And he tells us that we were going to center our listening in who he is.
[00:06:40] And that ultimately the problems that we face, the sins that we commit, these will be resolved in the one who speaks to us.
[00:06:50] So let's hear the voice of our Savior to the churches, including in Tucson, beginning here at Revelation, chapter 2.
[00:07:02] To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
[00:07:13] I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who have called them, who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
[00:07:36] But this I have against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
[00:07:42] Remember therefore, from where you have fallen.
[00:07:46] Repent and do the works you did at first.
[00:07:49] If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
[00:07:56] Yet this you have. You hate the work of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
[00:08:02] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
[00:08:07] To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
[00:08:15] To the angel of the church in Smyrna, write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life.
[00:08:23] I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
[00:08:35] Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
[00:08:39] Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. And for 10 days you will have tribulation.
[00:08:47] Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
[00:08:53] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
[00:08:58] The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
[00:09:04] And to the angel of the church in Pergamum, write the words of him who has the sharp two edged sword.
[00:09:11] I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name. And you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, My faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you.
[00:09:26] You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
[00:09:39] So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
[00:09:43] Therefore repent.
[00:09:45] If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.
[00:09:51] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
[00:09:55] To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone with a new name on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
[00:10:06] And to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
[00:10:19] I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
[00:10:29] But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
[00:10:49] Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed. And those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart.
[00:11:06] And I will give to each of you according to your works.
[00:11:10] But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan.
[00:11:18] To you I say I do not lay on you any other burden, only hold fast what you have until I come, the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end. To him I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.
[00:11:44] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and to the angel of the church in Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
[00:11:59] I know your works.
[00:12:01] You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
[00:12:07] Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
[00:12:19] Remember Then what you received and heard, keep it and repent.
[00:12:24] If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you still have a few names. In Sardis, people have not soiled their garments and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
[00:12:40] The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments. And I will never blot out his name of the book of life.
[00:12:48] I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an earth, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. Right.
[00:13:00] The words of the Holy One, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut. Who shuts and no one opens.
[00:13:10] I know your works.
[00:13:12] Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power.
[00:13:19] And yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
[00:13:24] Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but lie, behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet. And they will learn that I have loved you because you have kept my word about patient endurance. I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth.
[00:13:46] I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown.
[00:13:52] The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
[00:13:57] Never shall he go out of it. And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven and my own new name.
[00:14:11] He who has an earth, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and to the angel of the church in Laodicea. Write the words of the Amen.
[00:14:23] The faithful and true witness the beginning of God's creation.
[00:14:29] I know your works.
[00:14:31] You are neither cold nor hot.
[00:14:34] Would that you were either cold or hot.
[00:14:38] So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
[00:14:44] For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.
[00:14:55] I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich. And white garments, so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen.
[00:15:07] And salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.
[00:15:26] The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.
[00:15:36] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
[00:15:42] Amen.
[00:16:00] One of the great challenges of preaching is to know how long passages to pick.
[00:16:08] And you pick a long passage, and then you can see the whole picture, and you can hear phrases that repeat, and you can get a sense of the rhythm. But then there's all kinds of questions that you have throughout.
[00:16:21] Or do you go slow and build it up over time? I don't know if there's really a good answer to this question. You just try different things and hope that the Lord blesses it.
[00:16:31] My plan for today is obviously to look at this as a big whole.
[00:16:38] We're not going to answer every question and look at every detail. Some of them will return back to. Because other things in Revelation refer back to here. In fact, I would say other specific things refer back to here. But really, everything that is coming after this point finds, in a way, a grounding and an origin here.
[00:17:00] In other words, the Lord is speaking to his churches right here in. In their particular places that they are in. There's some symbolism, obviously, but largely, I mean, he's talking to very specific people at a specific time with their own specific circumstances.
[00:17:20] The rest of Revelation is going to help them to understand, but in symbolic ways, the things that he's telling them right here.
[00:17:30] So we can take the things, the instructions they're hearing, the calls to perseverance, the promises that are ahead of them, the dangers that they face, and those are all going to be amplified in what's coming in highly symbolic language, memorable, powerful, wonderful visions, which help us to understand even more what we read here in these two chapters.
[00:17:54] And so it's all connected. And I'll say that at least right now in my mind, is to at some point, to come back and preach through each one of these one at a time. There's so much value in reflecting on the specifics of each one of these letters.
[00:18:10] But today, and I suspect that we're going to go a little longer today, given our theme and all we're trying to do.
[00:18:18] But today I want you to think about this, this broader question about the ministry of the Gospel, the ministry of witness, the work that the Lord is doing among his churches and what he's exhorting them to be.
[00:18:33] We consider the life of the church as a whole. And as we consider ourselves in that light, we see that Christ has put into the world a lampstand.
[00:18:46] Now, what's a lampstand?
[00:18:49] A lampstand is a stand that you put a lamp on. Now, most of our lamps, right, you plug them into a wall. Their lamps largely often were lamps that were filled with oil, a kind of vessel that you'd fill with oil and then you would light, and then it would draw off that oil and stay lit. And so the lampstand is not itself the light.
[00:19:11] It lifts up that light. It bears the light. Now, taken altogether, you can say there's the light. As you kind of look at the whole thing, but taken in pieces, we see that our particular job is to lift up Christ.
[00:19:27] We bear his light as we lift him up. And this is who God has made us to be.
[00:19:33] This is not something that's optional.
[00:19:36] This is not something we do if we have time left over. It's not something that some people do and some people don't. It's something the church does altogether and must do all the time.
[00:19:51] The trouble is, is that we, like these churches, face significant struggles, don't we?
[00:19:57] We face troubles in our own hearts. We face troubles in the world. There's all these different things that are going on.
[00:20:06] And sometimes the dangers are so great and the things that are going on in the church is so bad that there's a risk of no longer being a lampstand.
[00:20:17] We see this in particular with the first Church in Ephesus.
[00:20:21] They have.
[00:20:22] They have loved the Lord. They've been very good about doctrine. They have been careful to recognize the apostolic message as being distinct. And when people call themselves apostles that aren't apostles, they have correctly discerned what is true and what is false. They've not held to the error of the Nicolaitans. Other good things there. But their first love seems to be their love and their work for Christ and witnessing for him.
[00:20:58] They have stopped doing the work that they have called to do.
[00:21:02] And if you stop being a lampstand, well, you're not a lampstand anymore. There's other dangers too. If not only we refuse to do the work of witness, and if our witness is so polluted with hypocrisy and confusion, if we say one thing, but yet we live another way, in sexual immorality, in idolatry, that puts A bushel over the light instead of lifting it up.
[00:21:31] If we fall into false teaching and error, we also have a way of dimming this light.
[00:21:39] We get distracted, we get discouraged. We fear the threats we see. Threats to these churches, threats of violence, threats of tribulation. People who are coming against them and saying, if you don't do x, y and Z, then you will face death.
[00:21:57] One of the disciples of John, a man named Polycarp, not in the scriptures, but we know from church history, he. He faced this himself and many others did. People who were called to bow down to Caesar, people who were called to give worship to the emperor, to participate in imperial cults, to either worship or just, you know, go along to get along, right? You got to make some money. You got to do your business. So just a little idolatry and it'll be fine. These kind of arguments people were falling into anyway. All of these situations, these dangers the church face, as we do, too.
[00:22:43] We read these letters and we hear things about sexual immorality, about tolerating sexual immorality, about idolatry, about compromise, about error, about false apostles and false teachers.
[00:22:58] We hear about those that strike us from the outside, ways our own hearts lead us in bad directions.
[00:23:04] All this that we can very easily say, this is us.
[00:23:10] These are descriptions of the same things that we. That we face. So we have this question, brothers and sisters.
[00:23:19] How do we remain faithful in the midst of so much trouble and so much tribulation, so much difficulty and strife and confusion and darkness and error and danger?
[00:23:32] How do we remain faithful?
[00:23:34] What can guide us in these times so that the Lord might not spit us out?
[00:23:43] For not repenting that the Lord might not remove our lampstand here in Tucson and other places throughout the world, for dimming the light or refusing to be the light, not turning to him in faith and repentance?
[00:24:04] What guides us? The answer is this.
[00:24:07] The same light that we lift up is the light that guides us.
[00:24:12] The same word that we proclaim is the word we have to hear.
[00:24:18] It's all connected to our Lord and Savior. It's all connected to Him. We must know Him.
[00:24:27] How does Jesus do this for us?
[00:24:30] How does he give himself to us so that we might hear what the Spirit says to the churches, including us here?
[00:24:39] Three things this morning, Jesus guides us, and he keeps us by being present among us, by exhorting us and by encouraging us, shooting courage into us, braving us, making us braver with the hope of his Gospel. So let's think about each of these.
[00:25:05] First thing Jesus does to guide us and to keep us is that he's present among us.
[00:25:12] He is the one who walks among the seven lampstands.
[00:25:17] He went ascended into heaven, but that doesn't mean he's not absent.
[00:25:24] He's not far away.
[00:25:28] He walks among his churches.
[00:25:32] This is a truth that's proclaimed in this symbol.
[00:25:39] It's proclaimed as of course a truth, the truth of it that he is present with us and we see it in his actions, even in these letters.
[00:25:50] How do we know? Or what are other ways we know he's present? One way we know is he is intimately aware of the situations we face.
[00:26:00] Jesus of the churches knows the names of the people in the churches.
[00:26:07] He knows exactly what's going on. He knows exactly who's spreading error. He knows exactly who has committed adultery with whom and who. He knows exactly the types of errors that are being spoken, the way in which it's happening. He knows the things in our hearts. He knows the actions. He knows the non actions. He knows where we've been obedient. He knows where we've been disobedient. Down to the smallest level.
[00:26:36] Jesus is present.
[00:26:38] Jesus is not an absent shepherd who doesn't know his people, can't remember their names, isn't around like some shepherds can be.
[00:26:48] He is a perfect shepherd, knowing every single one of us, every single one of us in his churches.
[00:27:00] Not only does he know this situation as he says to each and every church's, each and every church here. I know, I know, I know. I know your works. I know your patient endurance. I know your toil, I know your trials.
[00:27:19] There's a lot of truth in the value of being seen, of being known, of somebody coming to you and knowing the truth about you.
[00:27:35] Have you ever talked to somebody who was trying to help you and you're like, you don't know me.
[00:27:41] Like they're trying to give you advice and it just doesn't apply. Or they're trying to correct you and you say that's really bad, but that's not the bad thing that I'm doing.
[00:27:51] There's just a big disconnect between the way in which they're trying to help and their knowledge of you, the difference of that and somebody who understands your situation, who looks you in the eye and says, I know how hard this has been for you.
[00:28:11] I know this has been a trial for you.
[00:28:14] I know that you're scared.
[00:28:17] I know that you're sinning.
[00:28:19] I know that you've lost your first love.
[00:28:23] I know, I know. I Know. And when they hear it, or, sorry, when they say it, when he says, just zaps. It rings in your heart. You go, yeah, okay.
[00:28:36] He knows me.
[00:28:38] And he does.
[00:28:40] And he just. As he knew every single member of every single one of these churches and everyone that surrounded them. He knows us just as well. Every single one of us. Our strengths, our weaknesses, our gifts, our limits, our history, our past, present, future. He knows it all.
[00:29:01] And not as just some kind of database in the sky which then he accesses when he needs or something like that. He knows it in a way that is intimate and personal.
[00:29:15] One of the ways that comes out, there's many ways, is in verse 17 to the one who. I'm sorry, chapter two. 17 to the one who conquers. I will give him some of the hidden manna. And I will give them a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
[00:29:36] There's a lot of things going on there. I'll just say briefly without going into a bunch of background, a white stone. They were used often for a number of things. Some kinds like tickets for an event, got a white stone. Sometimes white stones were used as a way to cast a vote, deal courtroom verdicts, invitations to feasts, different things going on.
[00:29:59] This is probably some kind of courtroom slash invitation thing going on.
[00:30:06] But he's giving us a white stone as a positive thing, as a welcome thing. But the thing I want you to focusing, focus on is this name.
[00:30:15] Imagine the Lord handing you this stone, this precious, important stone, and it has a new name written on it that no one knows except you and of course Jesus who gave it to you.
[00:30:38] It's hard to say exactly what that is, but there's something very intimate going on there.
[00:30:44] We are not just a mass of individuals that the Lord just kind of moves around on a plate.
[00:30:52] He knows each and every single one of us knows exactly what we need, gives us everything we need.
[00:30:59] And sometime and here seems to speak to those who conquer, to the churches, and to the one who conquers in a very special and intimate way. He knows us.
[00:31:14] And on top of all of this intimate knowledge, he is able to work in the midst of our situations.
[00:31:21] He is not just someone who kind of counsels from afar, but he comes very close and he works. He's rebuking, he's acting, he's knowing, he's speaking, and he's promising that things will happen. For example, he knows the knowledge about.
[00:31:40] He knows the knowledge about the future, about these saints who are about to Experience tribulation.
[00:31:46] This is about to happen. He knows it. And he tells them, don't be afraid.
[00:31:51] He's acting in the midst of it. He's warning them. He's protecting them.
[00:31:55] Or to those who fall into the error of this woman called Jezebel, her error in which she's seducing people claiming to proclaim the word of God. She's claiming to be a prophetess.
[00:32:07] She's claiming to be a prophetess, and yet using the preaching of the word of God as a way to seduce people into sexual immorality and idolatry.
[00:32:19] We saw this when we looked at the Book of Jude. People who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny that Jesus is master and Lord.
[00:32:29] And he says he's going to act.
[00:32:32] He says he's going to put people on the sickbed. He says he's going to put other people to death to judgment her children, likely meaning those who are promoting this error and, and continuing it on.
[00:32:47] He is also able to save Jesus. One of the wonderful things that he knows, he knows the truth about the things that the world will lie about.
[00:33:02] So, for example, to the church in Smyrna, in verse nine, he says, I know your trivial tribulation and your poverty, but you're rich, right? The world will look at them and be like, you're little, you're unimportant, you're weak, you're poor. You don't have any influence, it doesn't matter. And Jesus says, I almost use the 90s phrase there. Whoops.
[00:33:26] Talk to the. All right.
[00:33:29] He says to them, the truth is you're rich.
[00:33:35] The truth is, as a lampstand, you're golden. The truth is that you will be pillars in the temple of God. The truth is you will eat of the tree of life. The truth is, you will receive a crown of victory.
[00:33:48] He knows the truth, and he speaks that truth to us and he encourages us. I'm getting ahead of myself, but this. I'm bringing this up because he works in the midst of these situations in which we're in.
[00:34:01] He comes to us and he speaks to us the truth so that we might have true knowledge about who we are.
[00:34:08] All right, so Jesus is present among us. He's leading us. He's guiding us.
[00:34:13] The only way we will work through these problems or escape from them or find our way a home is by putting our faith in him who speaks.
[00:34:25] We can't do it right now, but if you go back and read, I think you'll see that all of the ways that Jesus introduces himself at the beginning of the letters and have a way of connecting with the particular problems that they're facing.
[00:34:38] In other words, they're not just kind of random ways in which he's talking about Himself as he introduces Himself, for example, as the one whose words of the first and the last who died and came to life, or as he introduces himself as the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
[00:34:59] In these descriptions, we have the solutions for the problems that they face.
[00:35:05] It's worth going back and studying those specifically and individually.
[00:35:09] But take it as a whole, right as we come to see the picture of our Lord, our present Lord, who, as I read, is the first and the last, or whose eyes are a flame of fire, or whose tongue is a sharp two edged sword, who judges and comes as the one who walks among the seven lampstands, or the one who has the seven stars and the seven spirits of God, referring to the Holy Spirit, or the one who has the key of David, who opens and shuts, or the one who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness. This is your Savior who is present.
[00:35:44] Hold fast to Him.
[00:35:48] That is how we hold the light up, by holding on to him, by receiving all of these things that he is giving to us.
[00:35:58] A second way in which the Lord speaks. The Lord is guiding us and keeping us and blessing us is is by exhorting us.
[00:36:07] The Lord Jesus has some hard things to say to the churches, doesn't he?
[00:36:11] Scary things even.
[00:36:13] Especially when he and they are carefully said, accurately said.
[00:36:21] He is not saying that all will be lost if you do one more thing or something like that.
[00:36:27] He's saying repentance.
[00:36:31] And if you refuse to repent, if you refuse to turn, you will be condemned along with the world.
[00:36:40] So there are these hard things that he says and specific things that he says as he speaks and he disciplines. But I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, when the Lord speaks hard words, it is a good thing.
[00:36:56] It can be hard to be told that you're doing the wrong thing. But if you're doing the wrong thing, it's ultimately an act of love. Especially when it comes from one who says, repent, I'll forgive you of your sins and I'll give you the tree of life instead of barring you from it, as Adam and Eve were after they sinned. I will welcome you to it and you will eat, live eternally.
[00:37:25] Here's another way to think about it.
[00:37:28] Sometimes when we're mad.
[00:37:31] We just get mad and we're silent and we don't tell anybody about it. We're just upset.
[00:37:39] There's a time to process your thinking and get your words in order and all that. I'm not saying any of that, but I'm saying, isn't it a blessing that Jesus is mad and then tells us about it?
[00:37:51] How awful would it be to just know that the God of the universe was really upset with you and you just had no clue why?
[00:37:59] Right?
[00:38:01] Maybe I'll try this, maybe I'll try that. I don't know. Here he speaks so lovingly and he says, I understand what you're going through. I know what's happening, but this I have against you.
[00:38:13] He doesn't beat around the bush, praise God. He speaks to them clearly and he speaks to them lovingly. The scriptures tell us that the Gospel ministry in which we proclaim and enact, even in the discipline of the church, comes first from here. The source of it is here. Him who speaks, him who loves in discipline and tells us when we are straying.
[00:38:38] It is a danger, and it is in some ways an act of judgment. When the Lord removes that word from us and stops speaking and says, well, you want to do that?
[00:38:52] Just keep doing it. Not as permission, but is allowing us to continue on in the sins that we commit.
[00:39:00] He gives us what we want as an act of judgment sometimes. So it's an act of grace when he comes into that process and he interrupts it and he says, christopher, stop.
[00:39:09] Tucson, Covenant, stop. Smyrna, Ephesus, all over the world, stop.
[00:39:16] Thank you, Lord Jesus.
[00:39:19] Thank you for speaking to us. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to repent. Thank you for calling us to life in you.
[00:39:28] And so as we examine our own hearts and we ask ourselves, have we been faithful to be those who lift up Christ to the world? Or have we been scared?
[00:39:40] Have we been faithful in praying for the work of gospel ministers in particular?
[00:39:46] Or have we been neglectful?
[00:39:48] Have we been faithful in raising and training people up? Or have we let that slide?
[00:39:55] Have we been faithful in speaking the things of the Lord, including the law of the Lord? Or have we gotten a little tolerant in the way that they were tolerant of the woman, the false prophetess Jezebel?
[00:40:14] Are there ways in which we have allowed deadness and sin to come into our lives? Or like in the last letter, when he talks to the church in Laodicea, they think they're fine.
[00:40:31] They think they're fine. They're rich, they're prosperous. They, they're influential, probably. They have no need of nothing and they don't realize how.
[00:40:43] How bad things have gotten. They've fallen into wealth, they've fallen into affluence, they've fallen into worldliness and these kinds of desires. As we ask that self of ourselves, have we given ourselves over to luxury and worldliness as our top priorities?
[00:40:59] Brothers and sisters, these are our opportunities to repent, to not be sorrowful and walk away, to not be afraid and hide in terror like Adam and Eve did, but to hear the word of the Lord who comes to us and says, where are you, Covenant?
[00:41:20] Where are you, my church?
[00:41:24] And to say, here I am.
[00:41:28] Please forgive me.
[00:41:30] This is another way in which the Lord is present among us and working among us. Praise be to God.
[00:41:37] And finally, the Lord is our guide.
[00:41:41] We are bright for him as we hold fast to the encouragement that he gives. He's with us and strengthening us by encouraging us that we will have a sure victory.
[00:41:57] Pause for a second and try to think about the number or not the number, the various images and things that are promised throughout these letters.
[00:42:05] He says that as we don't give up and persevere in him, repent of our sins and hold fast to him, we will receive the tree of life, the crown of life, the white stone which is rule over the enemies who persecute the church, his confession of our names and the right to be the temple of God in which God himself dwells, and new creation.
[00:42:41] And these things that are promised are not empty promises. They're not. We really hope this works out. This is kind of the game plan. These are absolutely 100% sure things, and we know it because he's already secured them.
[00:42:57] The resurrection has already begun.
[00:43:02] It's already started.
[00:43:04] Jesus as the first fruits of that resurrection, risen from the dead, victorious over sin, victorious over death. This Jesus who speaks, he has the keys to death and Hades.
[00:43:17] He can loose people out of death, turn it, open the gate, out they come.
[00:43:24] In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Hades is the realm of the dead, also the name of the God of the dead. And there are all way too many others that are all involved in this process. But frequently it's said that those who go into this realm don't enter or don't exit. You can't get out. Once you're dead, you're dead. Just now you live in this nether underworld place.
[00:43:48] Jesus says that he went to that place. He died, he went to the grave, and then he rose from the dead. And now he has the keys to Death and Hades.
[00:44:01] He has the power over death.
[00:44:05] He has the victory over the powers of this world. He can smash them to pieces with a rod of iron and his bronze legs as they are symbolically pictured.
[00:44:20] And so when we think about the promise of strength and victory and all these things from the world, we will not believe it. Because our hope and our faith is in this king, this ruler.
[00:44:33] Where do we need courage? We find it. Or wherever we need courage, we find, we find it, and we'll find it in him.
[00:44:42] So let your eyes be opened up. Hear what the Spirit says to us about the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[00:44:50] Hear that he is the Amen, the faithful and true witness. And you can put your whole life in him, even unto death, so that when the what he calls the second death, that is the coming judgment in which all will be judged, he says, we will not face that because we have already died in Christ, as Paul says, and have already and are lifted up in Him.
[00:45:18] The coming judgment of Jesus Christ is not one for us to be afraid of. If our hope is in him, it's the one that will vindicate us as his people, in which he will display his glory in all the world.
[00:45:34] So, beloved, as we examine our hearts, as we look at these, these letters, and as we think about the work of the Lord in gospel ministry, our work of witness, our work as lampstands, let us be encouraged about what the Lord has said, be encouraged that he has spoken, and be reminded that we are who he says we are and where we have fallen short. Let us repent and let us seek messengers who will proclaim these things and lead us in these things, who will speak not false messages which twist and pervert the Gospel and lead us into sensuality and sin of all various kinds.
[00:46:21] Let us pray for those who will speak clearly to us the word God.
[00:46:27] Pray for me, for Pastor Lauer, that we would be faithful messengers and honoring to Him.
[00:46:37] Let's pray together.
[00:46:40] Our Heavenly Father, as you speak, as you reveal Jesus Christ to us, as you give us the revelation of Jesus Christ to the churches, we ask that you would help us to look into these words and to hear what we must hear. Oh, Holy Spirit, work in our own hearts and make us more and more alive and more and more fruitful with the Gospel promise of forgiveness, of power and glory that comes through Jesus Christ and Him alone.
[00:47:13] He who died and who rose again, he who sacrificed his life for our own, he who endured the power of death, the shame of the world, and even the wrath of God, so that we might proclaim, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
[00:47:38] Worthy are you, O Lamb of God, to receive glory and honor and power.
[00:47:44] Lord, we ask that you would strengthen us through these letters, that you would be at work in our own church, here throughout the opc, and throughout your church, all over the world, in every denomination. Lord, may you strengthen faithfulness. May you strengthen a witness. May you strengthen the brightness.
[00:48:08] Help us not to diminish your light with our sin, with our doubt. Instead, we ask that you would be at work in us and that you would continue to do so and to continue to give us a clearer vision of you, of our times, and who we are as we continue. In this book.
[00:48:30] We pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.
