Come up with us. Thank you. And what did that
verse say about chilly winds not blowing anymore?
That must be a future time. Well, we did spend
a few days in Florida. Someone remarked about
that up here. I attended a class with the Moody
Graduate School, which was held at their Keswick
Conference Grounds in St. Petersburg, Florida.
And I just want you to know that it was so delightful
to hear it was snowing here. You know, it makes
the trip all that sweeter when back home they
have cold, snowy weather and you're in Florida
or someplace like that. But I'm glad it melted
in time for us to get back too. It was a good
week. Thank you for praying for us, those of
you who did that. And we return to the Cincinnati
area on Friday, I say we, that's my wife and
myself, return to the Cincinnati area on Friday
afternoon in order to spend a few days with her
family. And while we were there, enjoyed the
Tall Stacks Festival. I don't know if you've
seen anything about that in the network news
or not, but this is the year when the paddle
wheelers of America, the steam powered paddle
wheelers, river boats, congregate at Cincinnati.
They do this every four years. And I tell you,
down on the riverfront yesterday, on the Ohio
River, it was absolutely spectacular. And St.
Paul, Minneapolis, were well represented by three
boats. The Jonathan Paddleford. What were the
others? What is the Josiah Snelling? And then
there was another one that I had not heard of
before that was there from our area too. And
so they'll be back in a couple of weeks. Somebody
asked if I wanted to get back home. on one of
those ships. And I said, if I just had two weeks,
I would love to do that. That'd be quite a trip,
wouldn't it? I think they had come the furthest
of any of the 17 vessels that were there at the
riverfront. Well, how many of you have in your
hands a copy of the notes for tonight? Would
you wave them at me? My, you look like a bunch
of Pentecostals. All right, good. I'm glad you've
got them. If you need one, there's probably a
stack by the door there. and Usher can get one
for you. We are continuing our study tonight
in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. This is the second
part, and we have a third part that will address
another section of the seven letters to the churches
of Asia Minor. Let's just remind ourselves where
we are in our study. Can you see that okay? If
not, you're too far back and need to come forward.
In this rather simple outline we have the chapter
numbers here along this line, and you can almost
get all of that on I think. And tonight we're
dealing with the messages here in chapters two
and three. Christ is in the midst of the church,
in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
And you can see where we're headed as we continue
our study, but right now we're talking about
the things which are. You may recall in the last
verse or the next to the last verse of chapter
1, John is told to write about the things that
he was seeing, had seen, that is the vision of
the Lord Jesus. He does that in chapter 1. The
things which are, chapters 2 and 3 address that,
the things which are in the letters of the seven
churches. And then the things which shall be
after the things which are. And that section
begins with chapter four as you see here in this
outline and goes through the rest of the book.
Those are the more prophetic chapters of Revelation
as we look at the book. Now we'll just zero in
for a moment on these first chapters. Again,
we have the vision here of Christ in glory and
then chapters two and three, the letters to the
seven churches. Christ is in the midst. and the
church is on the earth during this time. There
are reasons to believe that as the Scriptures
unfold in Revelation, the church is removed from
the earth and is taken up into heaven. But very
clearly the church is present on earth as we
come to chapters two and three of the book. Now
I think you have on one side of the page the
grid that we've been working with as we have
studied these letters to the seven churches.
We talked about the description of Christ that
is found in each of the letters. We saw that
that description in about half of them goes back
to the first chapter. as Jesus appeared to John.
And there are other phrases describing or Jesus
uses really to describe Himself which are drawn
from the Old Testament. But He is addressing
each of these seven churches as the Lord of the
church. He has something important to say. Because
of His awareness of the characteristics of the
churches, Jesus addresses them with specific
words. focused on their peculiar circumstances,
and each letter, after telling about Himself
in these verses that are up here already on the
screen, Jesus goes on to say to them, I know
your works. Now why is that? Because He's in
the midst of the lampstands, He's observing them,
He knows how the candle is burning, that candle
of testimony as it were, and so He says, I know
your works. Now while on the one hand that may
seem a little threatening to us. On the other
hand, it can be quite an encouragement to know
that our Lord sees everything and knows everything
regarding our service for Him. Jesus knows what
we're doing, and you may be in some Sunday school
class and you feel like nobody really pays attention
to me. Now, Emily does pay attention to you.
You may not realize it as fully as you ought,
but she does pay attention to you. You may feel
like, well, I'm an usher, nobody notices me.
We all do, and especially when you're gone. You
may feel like, well, I witness to people, but
that's just such a small thing. Listen, there's
nothing that we do that goes unnoticed by our
Lord, and one day He will reward us for all that
we're doing. That's a great encouragement to
me, and I hope it is to you as well. Some of
the issues or identities in these letters that
we're going to look at tonight are difficult
to understand. We don't have the historical or
archaeological data to interpret them without
some questions remaining. So if you're hoping
that in our brief look at these letters, we're
going to answer all your questions about them,
you need to dispel that notion right now. In
fact, if we preached a message on each of the
seven letters, it took seven weeks to do it,
which I chose not to do in our study this time.
We would still have questions remaining because
there are some of these phrases and ideas that
are still mysterious to Bible scholars as to
what was really meant. Now had we been living
in Ephesus or in Pergamum or one of the other
cities and we read the letter, we would have
known exactly what Jesus was talking about and
there would have been no questions. But we're
2 ,000 years later and not everything about those
churches is known. And the content of the letters
serves several purposes. First, to address the
seven congregations of that day. That's obvious.
There were seven churches. Jesus is talking to
seven literal congregations in the seven cities
of Asia Minor that are named here. There are
Bible scholars who also understand these letters
to include a broad and general progression of
the church age. In other words, as they look
at what Jesus said to that church in Ephesus,
they say, you know, that letter seems to describe
generally what the church was like in the first
century when the apostles were gone and up until
that time when the persecution became so severe
in the Roman Empire. That sounds like what the
church in general was like in that day. And there
are others who look at the Church of Pergamum
and they say, well, boy, that sounds like the
church in the first two or three hundred years
after the apostolic period and after the first
century. And so as they look at the general characteristics
of the seven churches, there are some scholars
who see that it rather outlines the progression
of how the church developed. degenerated, frankly,
in some of the periods of church history in the
last 2 ,000 years. And if you approach the seven
letters that way, then we today would be living
in the Laodicean period, which is not to say,
I trust, that all of the churches of the Lord
Jesus Christ are like the church at Laodicea,
but Christendom in certain aspects. can be described
as a lukewarm church like that. Now I'm not going
to develop it that way, but some of you are familiar
with that. If you're interested in finding out
more how that falls out, let me know and I'll
suggest a couple of books to you. We want to
spend more time though talking about the characteristics
of the seven churches as they apply to all believers
in all ages. Each church today has some people
somewhat like those in the seven churches. In
other words, in Grace Church, Roseville, broadly
speaking, we would have Christians who would
represent these seven different churches, would
be like these seven churches. And so that's the
way primarily we're going to look at it. First,
let's look at the church at Ephesus. You will
notice an outline on the other side of the page
that you may be looking at. We have written down
a key word. left blank on your copy to describe
each of these churches. The words that I've chosen,
you might choose other words or even better words,
but these are the words that I would use to describe
generally the seven churches. Ephesus, the busy
church, the busy church. Notice the commendation
that Jesus gives as we turn to the second chapter.
We're not going to take time to read all of the
verses here, but I want you to notice he begins
by saying, I know your works, your labor, your
patience, and that you cannot bear those who
are evil, and that you've tested those who say
they are apostles and are not, and have found
them liars, and you have persevered and have
patience and have labored for my name's sake
and have not become weary. And then together
with verse 6, But this you have, you hate the
deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
And so if you outline this, you have something
like seven commendations of Jesus to the church
at Ephesus, the busy church. He says, I know
your works. This means good works, good deeds
that they had done. I know your labor. This takes
the idea of work to the extremity of exhaustion.
It means to toil until you're ready to drop.
These people were busy, hard -working Christians.
He says, I know your patience. That is your steadfastness.
They are the kind of people who would not quit.
They just kept pushing ahead. He commends them
for their opposition to evil. They were alert
to corruption in the church and they exposed
it. He commends them for their spiritual discernment.
They knew the truth. And in light of that, they
examined their teachers. You could say that this
was an orthodox church. They were militant defenders
of the faith. Again, Jesus commends them for
their labor without growing weary, and He says,
seventh, that they hated the Nicolaitans. Now,
literally, that word means to conquer the people
or the rule of the people. And this is one of
those concepts that's hard to really pin down
in these seven letters. What were the Nicolaitans?
Was this a movement in the church in that first
century to separate the clergy from the laity
so that the clergy sort of ruled over the laity
which developed into a priesthood? Well, it's
really hard to know. Some people say, no, it
means that the people were seeking to rule. It's
the rule of the people. It was the church seeking
to be a democracy. And so, as I say, it's hard
to really understand what the Nicolaitans were.
But this does seem clear. The people who were
following this idea were people who believed
in loose, sensual living. Whatever their doctrinal
position was, their moral position was a bad
one. They believed in living loosely and immorally
and sensually. And Jesus commends the church
because they hated the Nicolaitans. We would
have to say after looking at this that the church
at Ephesus is one of the best churches in the
world. There are not many churches that could
come up to the level of what Jesus commends this
church for in these verses. But there is a word
of condemnation as found in chapter 2 verse 4.
The condemnation is that the church in its busyness
had left its first love. It had left its first
love. It was not as intense. It was not as exciting
as that first love for Jesus which they had exhibited
early on in their history when Paul had been
there some forty years before this and had lived
among them for three years and when Timothy was
their pastor. They had lost something from those
days. Still a good church in so many ways. Jesus
says, you've left your first love. Now we may
just gloss over that a bit, but just suppose
that your spouse came home one day to you and
said, I don't love you anymore. I'm going to
continue providing food. I'm going to continue
living with you. I'm going to continue doing
the things I need to do around the house. But
just know this, I don't love you like I used
to." How would you feel about that? Would that
make you feel good about your marriage? Of course
not. You would be stunned. You'd be heartbroken.
And that's the way the Lord Jesus felt. Here
were people going through the things that needed
to be done and they were working hard at it,
but they had lost their love for Him. And so
He corrects them in verse 5. Basically He says,
remember, Call to your mind what our love was
like before. And repent, that means change your
mind and direction. And return to the first works.
What does he mean by that? He means go back to
those works that were motivated by your love,
the intensity of your love, and recapture that.
Let there be a genuineness and a vigor in your
love. Or else, he says, I'll remove your lamp
stand." Now what does he mean? Well, he means
he's going to remove ultimately the church. You
say, wait, you mean Jesus would actually put
a church out of existence? That's right. Listen,
sometimes when churches close their doors and
sell their property, it's not the devil that's
done it. It's Jesus Christ. Because that church
has refused to repent. and return to Him and
love Him first. And history records this is exactly
what happened eventually to Ephesus. The city
was destroyed about 200 years, 150 years later
after this letter was received. The Goths came
in and destroyed the city. It never did recover.
Its marble from its fabulous temple of Diana
and its other pagan temples. It was all queried
by the Turks and the Italians in medieval times.
The beautiful river on which it was located in
its day filled in with silt and became a malarial
swamp. You know, it makes us stop and ask the
question, what is going to happen to the great
cities of America if the Church of Jesus Christ
abandons them? We need to remember that God has
us here in the St. Paul area to represent Him,
and our being here is not only important to Him,
it is important to this city. And it is important,
I mean, each of the local churches of our area
is important. Several years ago, I preached at
an anniversary of my home church in Kansas, and
one of the things that I... told them that day
was that the city, that town in Kansas where
it's been located at that time, I think it was
45 years or so, that that town should give thanks
to God, because for those four decades and more,
that town had been blessed by a gospel preaching
ministry. It hadn't always been the church it
should have been. It hadn't always been as effective
as it might have been, but the gospel had always
been preached there. Do you think what would
happen to the Twin Cities if every gospel preaching
church just closed its door and left and was
no more? I want to tell you something. In a matter
of weeks, this city would know a difference in
its moral climate. It would know a great difference.
Well, the church at Ephesus, the busy church,
we need to be careful of being busy for Jesus
and not having a fervent and intense love for
Him that motivates that. You say, well, I've
lost it, Pastor. What do I do? Just what Jesus
said. Remember like it was one time and repent
and return. Get back to that point of loving
Him with genuineness and intensity in your heart.
Smyrna. Number two, Smyrna, the suffering church.
The suffering church. The commendation is found
in verse 9 where Jesus says that He knew the
works of this church. He knew the tribulation
that they were passing through. This word tribulation
means grinding pressure. Here was that city where
Caesar was named as God first. It was a city
that prided itself on emperor worship and the
heavy hand of Rome. was on this church because
of its loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
says, I know your poverty, however they were
truly rich, but in earthly things they were in
utter destitution. They had very, very little.
Jesus speaks about the blasphemy of the false
Jews that were in that city. There apparently
was a large Jewish population there that fanned
the flames of antagonism toward the Christians.
Now why would they do that? Well, probably several
reasons, but among them, it took the pressure
off of them, the pressure of persecution. They
were able to focus it on this new sect, which
they too despised, and therefore they were relieved.
but Christians suffered, the suffering church.
You'll notice there is no condemnation from the
Lord Jesus to this church. There is no correction
to this church. But there is a command, and it
is this, do not fear, Jesus says, verse 10. Do
not fear any of those things which you are about
to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw
some of you into prison. Now is that just a figure
of speech? Is Jesus just saying, well, there's
going to be some bad things happen to you, we
sort of call it the devil around heaven? No,
of course not. Jesus is saying there is a literal
devil, there is an evil personage, a fallen angel
by the name of Satan, and the book of Revelation,
by the way, deals at length with him, and persecution
comes from his hand. within those boundaries
that the Lord allows. The Lord is sovereign over
Satan. But Jesus says the devil is going to bring
suffering. Some of them are going to be thrown
into prison that you may be tested, he says,
and have tribulation ten days. Hard to know just
what ten days means here, but we know this from
what Jesus says. It's a limited time. Suffering
is not forever. Suffering is for a while. There
should be encouragement to them. And Jesus says,
be faithful unto death. Do you remember Polycarp,
the man that I quoted a few weeks ago? He was
one of the leaders of this church in Smyrna.
He was burned at the stake, or they attempted
to burn him, and the flames were blowing the
other way and so one of the soldiers pierced
him with a sword and he died. His body was burned,
but he would not renounce his faith in the Lord
Jesus. The suffering church, be faithful he says
unto death. Folks, I don't know what the future
holds any more than you do. I'm not a prophet.
But as things look, there is persecution coming
to faithful Christians in our nation. I don't
know if it's next year or five years from now
or ten years from now or when it's going to be.
I rather think it may be sooner than later. But
there is suffering coming. And not just for the
church in our nation, although it may strike
us the hardest, because we're not used to that.
But I believe that suffering is coming to the
true church worldwide. We look right now at what's
happening in places where the church has suffered,
like Eastern Europe and Russia. And we give thanks
to God for the open door that is there, and we
are amazed that literally it is true there is
more freedom in Russia today to preach the gospel
than there is in the United States of America.
That is absolutely true. They are begging for
Bibles in their schools. They want the Bible
taught in their schools, not because they're
eager necessarily for evangelism, but they want
some kind of a moral base, and they know they'll
get it from the Bible. But on the other hand,
we read statements like I did today in the airplane
coming back in which Edward Shevardnadze warns
that there is a dark cloud hanging over Russia
and that Yeltsin's time is quickly running out
and the forces of darkness, that's his term,
he says are gathering strength. Who's he talking
about, the reporter asked. He's talking about
people who are the extreme communists and worse.
who are plotting to take the country back. Will
they succeed? Only God knows. But it could be
that suffering will return to those people, too,
after this brief and happy interlude when the
gospel can be preached. My point is that the
Church of Jesus Christ worldwide may become the
church at Smyrna, the suffering church. And we,
I believe, will be among those. And we need to
listen to what Jesus says to the church. Be faithful.
Know that when suffering comes, it comes under
God's hand. It comes for His purpose. It comes
from the devil. But Jesus is in charge. It will
be a limited time. It can only last as long as
His lifetime. That's for sure, right? Beyond
that, it's glory. And we need to be ready if
we become the Smyrna, the church of Smyrna. Let's
look at the church of Pergamum. I would call
this the compromising church. Jesus has a word
of commendation, and my goodness, this sounds
good. Look at verse 13, I know your works and
where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Interesting
phrase. This is the place that up on top of a
hill there in the city they had a huge altar
that some archaeologists say was in the shape
of a throne. And that altar was dedicated to
Zeus, who was the chief god of the Roman and
Greek pantheon, the head honcho of their pagan
gods. That may be what this phrase refers to,
the throne of Satan. Because listen, idolatry
and Satan and demons are always connected. You
write it down, they're always connected. And
Jesus says, I know. where you dwell, that's where
Satan's throne is. You hold fast to my name and
did not deny my faith even in the days in which
Antipas was my faithful martyr. And so one of
their people had been killed. We know nothing
about Antipas except what Jesus says about him
here. And can you imagine a commendation greater
than this? My faithful martyr, who was killed
among you where Satan dwells. And so there is
a tremendous commendation, but... Jesus doesn't
stop there. He goes on now to give a very strong
condemnation to this congregation of people.
And he says that there are some of them who have
embraced the doctrine of Balaam. You remember
Balaam was that false prophet who was hired by
Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel. Remember
that back in the book of Numbers? He could not
bring a curse upon Israel. God would not let
him speak it, but in the end he suggested in
place of a curse a compromise, a moral compromise
for the people of Israel, and it worked. Here
he refers to those who are following that kind
of teaching, and so I'm calling this Pergamum
the compromising church. Because here is a church
that compromised with the world and with its
values. There was social compromise and moral
compromise in the church. Now, I want to say
that compromise can be a good thing. In Acts
chapter 15, we see the leadership in the Church
of Jerusalem and Barnabas and Saul and others
gathered and there was compromise. It was important
compromise and it pleased God. In fact, people
who never compromise on anything are divisive
and they're miserable to live with. On my trip
last Sunday evening from the leg from Cincinnati
to Tampa, I was sovereignly placed beside a husband
and wife who disagreed on everything. There was
so little compromise in that marriage. I said,
Lord, can you get us there in a hurry? Whatever
she said, he disagreed with it. Whatever he said,
she had another point of view. We were served
a wonderful meal and had coconut cake for dessert.
And when it was done, she made some comment about
the coconut cake. He said, that wasn't coconut
cake. She said, of course it was coconut cake.
He said, that wasn't, there was no coconut on
my cake. She looked over on his plate, which
was still there, and there was coconut all the
way around the area where the dessert was. She
said, there's coconut right there. And she said,
I've got it sticking in my teeth. I mean, they
couldn't get along on anything. When you're married,
you learn that compromise can come in pretty
handy sometimes. There's a place for compromise,
but not when it comes to essential things. You
don't compromise the faithfulness of your marriage.
You don't compromise. That's essential. And so
it is spiritually. There are times when compromise
is good, but not when it comes to essential doctrine.
That, we cannot compromise. Not when it comes
to clean, moral living. We dare not compromise
that. And here some held the doctrine of the
Nicolaitans. Again, that was a group that seemed
to profess Jesus Christ on the one hand and live
immorally on the other hand. It was inconsistent
and a compromise that Jesus Christ condemns.
And there is a word of correction in verse 16.
Jesus says, you repent or I'm going to discipline
you. He says, I will fight against them with
the sword of my mouth. Here's a church that Jesus
Christ is going to war against. How would you
like to be in that war? God forbid and deliver
us from that kind of a war. I'm calling Thyatira
the idolatrous church. If Pergamum compromised,
Thyatira just took it all in. Here we have the
idolatrous church, and that is the reason that
some identify this with the Church of the Dark
Ages that brought in the idols and its false
doctrine that went with the idols and which is
still with us today in certain forms. the church
at Thyatira, the commendation in verse 19. Jesus
again knows their works, your love, your service,
faith, and patience. And as for your works, the
last are more than the first. Here seems to be
a church that is deeply involved in doing social
good. Here's a church that knew and understood
the needs of the city in which it was living,
and it was trying to meet those needs, but there
is awful condemnation. Down to verses 20 to 23,
they tolerated what Jesus calls the evil of Jezebel.
Who in the world is Jezebel? Well, you know who
Jezebel was in the Old Testament, that queen
that Ahab married, and she brought with her into
that marriage all of her idolatry, and it only
further reinforced the wickedness of that bad
king of Israel or Samaria. She was the one who
fought against Elijah, the prophet you recall,
Jezebel. Well here Jezebel seems to refer to
a wicked false teacher or maybe it's a pseudonym
for that teacher. But this teacher was seducing
believers into doctrinal and moral error. Here
is idolatry with its demonism and moral perversion.
And by the way, where you find idolatry, you
will find moral perversion. Now why is that?
Because of the works of darkness and demons.
It's all a part of the same stew. This Jezebel
claimed to be a prophetess and apparently claimed
to have special revelation from God in addition
to the Scriptures. Anything, by the way, that's
in addition to Scripture and is claimed to be
his authority is a lie. And it always results
in error. It always results in error. And Jesus
gives a word of correction, verses 26 to 29.
The false believers in this church, in this congregation
will face judgment. But Jesus says, I said 26
to 29, didn't I? I meant 24 to 25. Somehow my
computer messed up here, or the person who programmed
it maybe. 24 and 25, the false teachers will
face judgment. What does he say? To you I say
and to the rest in Thyatira as many as do not
have this doctrine and who have not known the
depths of Satan as I call them, as they call
them, I will put you on you no other burden but
hold fast what you have till I come. And so there
was a remnant in this church that was told to
hold fast until Jesus would come. An idol. What
is an idol? We may pride ourselves that we don't
have idols in our church. Remember, an idol is
anything that takes the place of God. Traditions
can become idols in churches like ours. Traditions
can become idols. They're more important than
God in some churches. New ideas, church growth.
I mean, you can go down the list of lots of different
ideas and movements that come along. And if we
put those in the place of God, I'm not saying
all these things are wrong, but if we put them
in the place of God, then it becomes idolatry.
And we are like the church of Thyatira, the idolatrous
church. Did I give you that word? The idolatrous
church. Now let's move ahead to the church of
Sardis, which I'm calling the sleeping church.
There is no commendation at all to this church
unless you look at verse four and decide that
that might be. You have a few names even in Sardis
who've not defiled their garments. And they shall
walk with me in white for they are worthy says
Jesus. But to the church as a whole there really
is no commendation. There is condemnation. Jesus
says the last part of verse one. I know your
works that you have a name that you are alive,
but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen
the things which remain that are ready to die
for I have not found your works perfect before
God." Here was a church that had a reputation
for something, but there was no reality to it.
Isn't that tragic when that happens? Oh, and
that can happen in a church. A church can become
proud of its past and seek to live in its glory
days. And it has this reputation that everyone
looks to and they say, oh my, what a church.
When you get close to it like Jesus was doing,
it's a dead church in the inside. There's no
reality there. By the way, that can happen to
Christians too, can't it? He says, you have a
name? that you're alive, but the truth is you're
dead. Your works have not been brought to completion."
And so he gives them words of correction in verses
two through four. He says, be watchful. Strengthen
what yet remains. Shake off your complacency.
Remember, hold fast. He says, repent or else.
Here we have another or else. He says, I'll come
as a thief. What does he mean? Unexpectedly.
I'll bring judgment." He's not coming here in
His return. He's saying, I'm going to come unexpectedly
and I'm going to bring judgment to you, not salvation.
This isn't the rapture. This was a city that
was well -known for its wealth, Sardis. They
boasted themselves in wealth. And you may recall
that I said that it was a church that was built
with cliffs around it going up over a thousand
feet. It was a complacent... Lethargic city,
only twice in their history had they ever been
overrun. And they felt in the day that John was
writing the letter to the church in that city
that they were still secure. And because of their
advantage up there in the cliffs and because
of their wealth, they thought, you know, life
is wonderful. Everything is beautiful in its
own way, you know. They were sitting on top of
the world. And here's a church that has gone
to sleep in the midst of that city. They took
on somehow the characteristics of their culture
around them. And Jesus corrects them with strong
words. He says, hold fast or else. The church
at Philadelphia, a wonderful church. I call this
the missionary church. If Sardis was the sleeping
church, here's the church that is alive to its
opportunities. The commendation is long as verses
8, 9, and 10. Christ knows their works. He says
that He's given to them an open door, which means
an open door of opportunity. Despite their little
strength, He says they've kept His Word and they
did not deny His name. The idea seems to be that
the church in the city of Philadelphia was a
small church in number. They had little influence
in the world, and yet Jesus commends them for
using everything they had. It's like the old
statement says, God plus one is majority, right?
So here you have a little band of believers apparently
who were really on fire. Here's a group of people
that didn't have a lot. They weren't like the
church at Sardis. But they really were aware
of what God wanted them to be about. Jesus commends
them because He had set before them an open door
and He gives them a promise. He says, their enemies,
by the way, a church, if it's going to do something
for Jesus Christ, is going to have its enemies.
You can count on it. The church at Philadelphia
did. Jesus says one day their enemies would come
to acknowledge. their error, and would also acknowledge
Christ's love for the church. And Jesus gives
a wonderful promise in verse 10, because you've
kept my command to persevere, I also will keep
you from the hour of trial which I'll come upon
the whole earth to test those who dwell on the
earth. He uses a technical term there at the
end. Literally He says in that last phrase, to
test the earth dwellers. I'm going to talk about
that on some other evening. But here is a term
in Revelation that is referring to unregenerate,
unsafe people. It is a term describing those
whose whole life is wrapped up in the world,
the earth dwellers. Now because of what Jesus
says here and the way He says it, there are a
lot of Bible teachers, and I'm among them, who
would say that this verse not only refers to
the historic church of Philadelphia, but it refers
to the church in our day that's faithful to Christ.
And it's a wonderful promise to believers that
they will be kept, that we will be kept from
the hour of tribulation that is coming upon the
earth dwellers. In other words, that seven -year
period of God's wrath that we poured out upon
the earth. I believe that it is another verse
that underscores that teaching that says the
church will be taken out of the world before
that time of tribulation of God's wrath is poured
out upon the earth dwellers. Now, Jesus has no
condemnation to this church, but there is a command.
He says, hold fast, verse 11, I come quickly,
hold fast what you have that no one may take
your crown. Suggestion is that We can lose our
reward. Jesus says, don't lose it. Hold fast.
I'm coming quickly. Good words. We want to be
faithful to the doors of opportunity that Jesus
Christ has given us. And though enemies may arise
from time to time, know that the Lord is in charge
and He's with us. And He says to us, hang in
there. Don't let anyone steal the crown, the
reward that you may have for your faithful service.
And then finally, the church at Laodicea. This
is undoubtedly the wealthiest church of all of
them. And I would call this the apostate church.
The apostate church. There is no word of commendation
at all to the church at Laodicea. Jesus speaks
condemnation to them that is strong. It is powerful.
He says, I know your works. He says, you're lukewarm.
And their lukewarmness nauseated Christ. You
may recall that this city had no decent water
to drink. This is the city that I told you about
that arranged for water to be brought in from
springs about six miles away. And the viaduct,
the viaduct, the aqueduct that brought the water
Parts of it are still present today. And some
have said that the water apparently was not even
good from the springs because there's limestone
deposit left by that water that used to run in
that aqueduct. But you see, that water would
start out cold at the spring, and by the time
it flowed through that aqueduct all those six
miles under that hot sun, it became just tepid
water. That's the picture Jesus is drawing upon.
He says, you nauseate me. Have you ever tasted
the water in Florida, along the West Coast? It's
sickening. You can't wait to get back to Minnesota
and have a decent drink of water. It's terrible.
It has all kinds of minerals in it, and you do
well to make sure it's cold. If you drink it
tepid, I think you would get sick. Jesus says
here, you, he's speaking now to people who profess
his name, a church. He says, you make me sick.
I don't know about you, but those are words that
strike me." He says, I know your words, your
works. You say I'm rich, you need nothing. He
says, you don't recognize that you're wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Let
me just tell you something about this city. Laodicea
was famous for its wool. There was black wool
that was grown in that area and they made clothing
from that. It was a city that was famous for
its medicines, several kinds of medicines. And
one of them involved a pill that they made which
had to be crushed and mixed with water and then
that was put on your eyes. It made sort of a
paste or a salve like stuff. And it was very
famous in that day, supposed to have healing
qualities for the eyes. Now notice Jesus' correction
to them in verse 18. I counsel you to buy from
me gold refined in fire that you may be rich."
Here's the richest church of all of them. Jesus
says, you're poor. What you really need is gold
from me. He's talking about spiritual righteousness.
He's talking about being spiritually right with
Him. He says, buy from me white garments that
you may be clothed at the shame of your nakedness.
may not be revealed." He says, you need garments.
They're famous for their garments, see? He says,
you buy for me white garments, speaking of righteousness
again, in the book of Revelation at least, as
we'll see later, and anoint your eyes with eye
salve that you may see. They're spiritually blind,
and now he says, you need salve for your spiritual
eyes. You see how he draws upon that cultural
background in the city and addressing them? He
gives a word of command. He says, be zealous.
The word means be hot. Be hot. Repent. And then
verse 20, that famous verse of invitation of
Jesus knocking at the door, wanting to come in.
Notice where Jesus is in relation to the church
at Laodicea. He's not inside the church. He's
outside. That's why I call it the apostate church.
There's a church that has the name across the
top. but no Savior inside. It's just like the
modern liberal churches today that have their
names across the top, and they have their bank
accounts, and they live off of them and their
wealth from years and years in the past, but
there is no Savior in them. They have no gospel
to preach. They are apostates. They are the church
of Laodicea, and they nauseate Jesus Christ.
Better that they would take His name off of them.
and to be what they are. And so we see that these
churches represent churches like we have today
in our world, and they represent Christians.
And I say this broadly like we have at Grace
Church. I don't know about you, which church
do you like to identify with here? There are
phrases from several of them that are highly
words of commendation, high words of praise.
But if there's one church that I would like us
to really say that that's our model, it would
be the church at Philadelphia, wouldn't it? Wouldn't
you agree with that? The church that's awake
to its opportunities, the missionary church.
Did I give you that name by the way, the missionary
church? The church that sees itself as a mission
center. The church that understands its mission
and why it's there, and God help us to be that
kind of church. Jesus tonight is looking at our
candlestick, and I would hope that He could say
about us some of the things He said about that
church. As He looks at my life, as He looks at
your life, Jesus would undoubtedly have some
words of commendation. Our Lord, even in some
of the worst churches, found something to say
about them, and He would about you too. and about
me too. I would hope that whatever he would have
to say by way of condemnation would be few and
far between, but if he needs to say it, let him
say it so that we can hear his words of correction
or command and repent. I don't like the or else,
do you? I don't like the or else. I want to walk
with the Lord and I know you do too. Let's stand
together as we dismiss in prayer. Well, which
of these churches most describes you? Just tell
the Lord right now in your own heart of hearts,
Lord Jesus, as you look at me, tell me what I
need to hear. Write upon my heart the message
that you want to share with me and give me a
heart that's sensitive. that will hear what you
have to say and respond to you. Lord Jesus, do
that for all of us tonight, and as we go from
here, may we this week be like those Philadelphian
Christians. Open for us, Lord, doors of opportunity.
And if you close doors, help us not to fret about
that, but to go on and to remember your promises
to those who are faithful. I thank you for this
faithful congregation and for these people who
are here tonight, and I pray your blessing and
the fullness of the Holy Spirit in their lives,
in their homes, in their each individual situation
this week. In Jesus' name, amen.