Revelation 10-11
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here we are in Revelation chapter 10 and 11 we have two chapters uh today as we continue to walk through this book together the other night I was uh lying in bed and I was having trouble sleeping and it's because I was cycling through a bunch of worries which I may shock you that pastors are human but uh we are and I was worried about paying bills and worrying about all the stuff on my to-do list and just was.
If you've ever been in this cycle where you just see can't seem to break out of it you just keep worrying about it and there was no offramp I just kept going and kept going and then I all of a sudden because I'm immersed in this book right now uh this book came to mine and it just pierced through the cycle I was able to have off-ramp and to consider a lot of what we've been walking in these pictures especially these last few weeks and the weeks that are to come of of judgment that is poured out on those that don't know Christ.
And then the overwhelming Grace that he bestows upon the Church that we don't deserve at all that we would get the new heavens and the new Earth at the End of This Book and I started to think about my neighbors and friends and coor not coworkers but neighbors and friends and different people in my life uh that don't know Christ where judgment is going to fall upon them and it made all of the worries that were in my life seemed so much smaller I was like looking at Everest.
And then looking back at my worries and it was an antill I mean just by comparison in stature and in scope and seriousness and weight it just seems so small and insignificant by comparison the heaviness of these chapters that we're walking through I think many of us don't want to sit in them they're uncomfortable I think many of us want to get to the end of the book get to the end of Revelation and uh and get to the final two chapters and sit in that.
And while those are good I think it's a disservice to our own souls to just skip to that I mean the Revelation chap 1 says that blessed are those who read this and that's not just the letters of the beginning and the final two chapters at the end it's also these pictures of judgment so my hope is that with all the things that each of us have going on in our lives that we would not simply just move on but we would let the uh seriousness of these chapters Pierce through and remind us of what's at stake especially.
For those that don't know Christ and that's my hope today as we walk through two more of these chapters we be reminded of that so let me pray for us and then we'll walk through these chapters together heavenly father I pray that you might help us sit under the authority of your word that we would not look away but we would embrace the reality that judgment is coming and what that means for us as Christians as we think about this may you open our ears and our hearts to receive your word we ask this in.
Jesus name amen all right so let me Ori where we are because we've been going through a lot and I just want to help us see where we are in the Book of Revelation so we got through the letters to the seven churches and then in chapters 4 and five the next part of this Vision that we've kind of called CH uh part two of the book that there's this vision of the throne room that John is seeing the throne room and he's seeing the glory of.
God and he's seeing uh the lamb that is to be worshiped in Praise that we just sang about Christ and then a scroll is presented with Seven Seals and those uh Seven Seals are unveiling the Judgment of God upon the Earth and chapter 6 through 8 it's each scroll is being open judgment is falling upon the Earth and we've looked at that to see that that uh is uh judgment that is poured out over history and also especially at the end of this present age and we got to.
See in chapter 7 this uh this interlude this pause this break from The Narrative because you can't read Revelation sequentially like this is this break from The Narrative that looks at uh what is going to happen to the Church and in chapter 7 we got to see that the Church will be sealed and protected on the day of final judgment the final judgment will be poured out on those who don't believe but God will protect his Church from this final judgment.
And then the seventh seal is opened in chapter 8 and that is the final judgment that is poured out uh on the earth at the end of this present age now last week we see another set of seven not just Seven Seals but seven trumpets which you're going to see in this book there's seven uh these parallel narratives of of of seven and and and Chad Walkers through these first six trumpets which is again another picture of God's judgment being poured out on the earth.
Now we are to right before the seventh trumpet and we have another interlude another Pauls and the narrative that takes you away from that and positions you and looks at something different and that's where we pick up in verse one of chapter 10 then I saw another Mighty angel coming down from heaven wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head and his face was like the sun and his legs like pillars of fire he had a little scroll open in his hand and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and called out the loud voice like a lion roaring.
So we get this Vision this part of the vision of the Mighty Angel and in this he's got one foot on land and one foot on sea and this is really symbolic of the whole earth that what he's pronouncing is upon the whole earth just like judgment is poured out on the whole earth what he's about to say from this little scroll is for the whole earth now this little scroll is different it's different than the scroll that's already been uh shown to us this is something uh different and it says.
When he called out with seven Thunders the the when he called out the seven Thunders sounded and when the seven Thunders had sounded I was about to Rite it but I Heard a Voice from Heaven saying seal up what the seven Thunders have said and do not write it down so John as he's been doing he seeing all of this he's writing all of it down he's getting ready to do that and the angel says stop the only thing that you can write down is that you can't write this down I just find kind of a humorous part of this.
So we don't get to hear that it's just for John verse 5 and the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and what is in it the Earth and what is in it and the Sea and what is in it that there would be no more delay but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel the mystery of.
God would be fulfilled just as he announced to his servants the prophets so this is imagery that comes from Daniel chapter 12 one foot on land one foot on sea signifying the whole earth that's about to receive judgment the picture here is the trumpet is about to sound the seventh trumpet is the end and there's no more delay and the Church as we've seen throughout this book is is in the tribulation the Church is suffering longing for the justice of God to fall upon the Earth and what he's saying is this is just a little longer.
But it feels so long right now that though though it feels so long what he's trying to help him see is that in the grand scheme of time it's not as long as you think years ago my wife and I when we first got married we moved to Louisville Kentucky and we decided to get a dog and uh uh was across the river up in Indiana so we said all right let's go we'll go on this day the day came.
Then all of a sudden uh we looked at the weather and it said tornadoes and my wife who newly married looking for my leadership said hey maybe we should wait till tomorrow and at 23 with wisdom and insight I said no don't worry about that and I quote tornadoes are a bunch of hype cuz I'm from South Carolina and you know like it's just we're we're not used to that kind of action I was like there's a bunch of hype and you know it might blow over uh a car it's fine we'll we'll be we'll be good.
So get in the car driving up the interstate get cross over into Indiana in the river and all of a sudden the sky looks bad and I turn on the AM radio uh which is a type of radio for those of you that don't know you you turn it on it's a different frequency anyways turn on the AM radio and hear about these tornadoes it's really bad and then we took cover in a gas station and the winds were pounding the gas station I mean this the building is shaking my wife is literally clinging to a toilet questioning everything in her life up to this point preparing me.
For fall it felt like forever felt so long it was 2 minutes turns out that was a very serious storm I mean a few miles over it was an F4 mile wide tornado took out our entire town when it blew over us it was thunderstorms it picked back up in Western Kentucky and it was tornadoes again and in the middle of all of that it just when you're in a storm like that it feels so long but it's not as long as you think and the Church is in a tribulation it's it's it's long in.
For this to end it's longing for the suffering to be over but in the grand scheme of time it's not as long as you think that's what he's conveying here to endure a little longer until the seventh trumpet sounds verse 8 it says then the voice that I heard from the heaven spoke to me again saying go take the scroll that is open in the hand of the Angel who is standing on the sea and on the land so I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll and he said to me Take and Eat It it will make your stomach bitter.
But in your mouth it will be sweet as honey and I took the little scroll from the hand of the Angel and ate it it was sweet as honey in my mouth but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter and I was told you must again prophesy about many peoples and Nations and languages and Kings so this I would argue is a pretty clear illusion alluding to Ezekiel just as Ezekiel took the scroll and ate it and it was sweet.
But the difference here is that John takes it and he eats it and though it's sweet because the word of God is sweet the prophecy of God is sweet it sat on his stomach bitter because this is Judgment though the Judgment of God is good it is fierce it is bitter and that's what's happening here but then you get this verse 11 at the end of this chapter where it says You must again prophesy about many peoples and Nations and languages and kings and like much of the Book of Revelation the different commentators and theologians who looked at this have different opinions on what that is.
But I what I'm looking at this and I'm reading these commentaries I'm reading this passage I think what's Happening Here is both the warning of judgment and the reality that judgment is coming but also the reality that every it says peoples and Nations and languages and Kings need to hear the Gospel that every tribe Nation tongue needs to hear the go the Gospel so as the Church suffers and endures in the tribulation we should labor to take the Gospel to the Nations we should take the Gospel to our neighbors we should take the Gospel to those who desperately need to hear about Christ that's the tension of the Church that in one side we are.
Worshiping and proclaiming come Lord Jesus come when we see the injustices of this present world we say come Lord Jesus come but also in the very next step say Lord help us I got friends that don't know Christ I got family don't know does know Christ there are nations that don't know Christ come Lord Jesus come and help us labor to see as many as possible be spared the fierce wrath that is going to be poured out that's the calling for the Church in the middle of the tribulation.
So that's the end of chapter 10 then it continues into chapter 11 which I'll be honest chapter 11 is probably one of the most difficult chapters in the Bible to understand and interpret it's definitely probably the hardest in the Book of Revelation but I'd argue probably one of the most difficult in the Bible so there are two main ways I think to look at this chapter you can look at it and say that what we're about to read are very literal pictures of a brief tribulation that happens right before.
Jesus comes or the language here is symbolic of what's going to happen to the Church throughout the whole tribulation so I think those are the two main ways to read this if you read the first way where this is a very literal tribulation and these pictures are literally pointing to something that's going to happen right before Jesus comes back I think this this is how you have to read this that what we're about to read is is that one day in Jerusalem uh currently where the Dome of the Rock is that's the.
Third holiest site in Islam that sits on the Temple Mount where the temple used to be that one day that's going to be actually torn down and that a temple is going to be rebuilt there and then when that happens there'll be a a period of time for 3 and 1/2 years of intensified suffering and tribulation upon the Church and that in that day in that time there will be two Christian Witnesses at the temple who are martyred and killed by an evil figure.
Now some are going to say that's the Antichrist even though that word doesn't show up at all in the Book of Revelation not once some are going to say that that's the man of lawlessness that comes from second Thessalonians but an evil figure will rise up and we'll strike down these two uh Christian Witnesses these two Christian witnesses will uh lay dead for three and a half days as the world celebrates their death and then they will resurrect and rise.
Then that will begin the return of Christ now that is if you take that approach and honestly that is a that that is a Fair Way absolute to read this text that is not the way that I read this text that is not the way that Chad who also preaches reads this text um so we're not going to preach from that position again Christians if you came to our training weekend have disagree these kinds of things the good news is is this doesn't affect your salvation and it also does not affect what we're supposed to do as Christians in response to passages like this.
So pick up in verse one then I was given a measuring Rod like a staff and I was told rise and measure the temple of God and the Altar and those who worship there okay this is similar to to Ezekiel 40 which if you in our Church there's a bunch of us who are doing a a 2-year Bible reading plan if you read this morning you came across that passage and it's just kind of I think in God his Providence line that up that's nice.
So and if you want to be a part of the Bible reading plan come talk to me I add you to it so I think this is imagery here from Ezekiel chapter 40 when uh the Temple's being measured but John is being told to measure the temple here in verse two it says but do not measure the court outside the temple leave that out for it is given over to the Nations so he says measure the temple but not the outside Court this is.
For the Nations and then it says and they will trample the holy city for 42 months and I will grant authority to my to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth so then we get this picture of Jerusalem being trampled for 42 months these two witnesses that are prophesying during this time 1260 days that's 42 months that's 3 and A2 years I think the language here when it's talking about the temple is not talking about the literal temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem I think this is language throughout the New Testament.
For the Church Peter in 1 Peter chapter 2 talks about the temple being the the the Church of Jesus Christ that the Church of Jesus Christ making up this spiritual Temple uh Christ being the Cornerstone I think this is New Testament language for the Church which will include not just the Jews but also the Gentiles Every Nation tribe and tongue then we get more imagery here we get this 42 months and what I would argue is is the 42 months is a pretty clear reference to uh The Book of Daniel from chapter 7 through chapter 12 in Daniel 7 a ruler is prophesied who will one day persecute God's people.
For a period of time that's called uh a time times and half a time which when you get to Daniel chapter 12 we learn is around 3 and a half years 42 months or 1260 days now throughout Church history as we've looked back at the Book of Daniel prophesying about this seems to be very clear that he's talking about a very specific time later around 167 BC in 167 BC when the Greeks were ruling over the Jewish people a ruler named Antiochus ivth or or he called himself Antiochus epiphanies which means.
God manifest he believed himself to be Zeus reincarnate started to fiercely persecute the Jewish people for three about three and a half years he fiercely persecuted the Jewish people killed tens of thousands of Jews this is called a period of time called the maban Revolt which you ever heard of the Jewish history books first and second mccabes that's this period of time have you ever seen Hanukkah celebrated they're celebrating this time period that from 167 BC to 164 BC the Jewish people were intensely persecuted.
And then Antiochus went into the temple and he slaughtered a pig on the altar to Zeus which is desecrating the temple if you know the Old Testament law pigs were run clean this was a direct shot to desecrate and make uh fun of the Jewish faith make fun of the Lord so people look at this Daniel chap 7 to 12 and they say that points forward to that time period when that prophecy was fulfilled so when that's being referenced here here's what's happening as Christians who know their Old Testament we.
See 42 months we go that's Daniel chapter 7 that was fulfilled later in this time period but this time period was a time of deep tribulation for the people of God and that points forward to the age when the Church also will be trip will be under tribulation meaning that this is an example of the tribulation the Church is going to endure that's what's happening here I would argue Chad showed this picture last week that when you see this sign in the mountains.
When it finally there maybe no imagine a sign you're driving there's a car and there's a mountain and there's rocks falling if you've men that from last week it was a sign that helped picture that if you are driving through the mountains and you see a sign that has rocks falling you don't literally look at that sign and look at every single part of it there it is woo and think that's it I'm looking for those exact rocks on this exact formation it's a picture that's meant to warn you of hey.
If you're driving through the mountains be weary it of the dangers that are awaiting of Rock's falling and I would argue that when you read 42 months here what's happening here it's meant to draw you to Daniel then to the period of time of tribulation as a future picture of what the Church is going to endure between Christ's first and second coming and again that's debated and Christians disagree but I think that's what's happening here it's meant to draw your mind to this is the period of time of the tribulation.
So that the Church can understand that in the middle of the tribulation the Church is called to as we suffer witness because when you pick it back up in verse three it says and I will grant authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth the language here of two witnesses is the Church this is Jesus when he says where two or more are gathered in my name this is the Old Testament uh saying that you need two witnesses to declare something to be truthful this is.
Jesus sending out his disciples and pairs of two this is the language of the Church these two witnesses when you pick that back up as we witness in the midst of suffering verse four it says these are two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth and as we've already seen lampstand in the Book of Revelation is the Church and language of two lampstands here is to convey this is the Church that is suffering in the tribulation and declaring the glory of Christ to the Nations this language of two olive trees is a reference to Zechariah 4 it's two Olive Tree language here in the Old Testament is talking.
About uh the uh uh kingly and Priestly leadership and ultimately this being fulfilled in the Church so what you have here is in verse three the language of Prophecy even uh tagged with clothed in sackcloth this the language of prophet and get this to Olive Tree language which is both Priestly leadership and kingly Leadership and what you have combined is Prophet priest and King which was perfectly displayed by Christ but the Church embodies those roles as we witness both Pro all three Prophet priest and King.
So the language here is the Church witnessing as we are called to in the midst of suffering we endure verse 5 and if if anyone would harm them fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes if anyone would harm them this is how he is doomed to be killed again this is a picture of the Church advancing even under trials not being defeated and that ultimately as the Church advances throughout history The Gospel spreads and enemies are and foes are defeated continues they have the power to shut the sky that no rain may fall during the days of they're prophesying and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to.
Strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they desire and it's like if you're reading through this you're just like what breathing fire like what plays but if you look at this and understand that Revelation is packed with imagery from the Old Testament pack with references to the Old Testament the language here is of Elijah who when he prophesied shut up the sky and no rain fell upon the land and it's the language of Moses who water and uh the N turn into blood and the plagues falling out on Egypt this is references to both Moses and Elijah Elijah being a prophet Moses being a prophet and a priest this is witnessing.
Uh sharing the Gospel Fire coming out language for the Church witnesses as she suffers and is persecuted verse 7 and when they have finished their testimony meaning when the Church has taken the Gospel to every tribe nation and tongue the Beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them now we're not going to get into the Beast this week Chad's going to get into that next week but I do want us to.
See here that what's being referenced here is that towards the end right before Jesus comes back the Church is going to suffer great LLY now I think the language of killed here doesn't mean completely dead I think it means deeply persecuted and suffering but that is what's going to happen ultimately what's going to happen with the Church before Christ comes back verse 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street on the great City that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt where the.
Lord was crucified for three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and Nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb and those who dwell on the earth Will Rejoice over them and make marry and exchange presence because these two prophets have been a torment to those who dwell on the earth and again I argue this is language that towards the end the Church is going to suffer I think the language here of three and a half days shows that it's going to be actually brief that towards the end of this tribulation.
When the Church suffers immensely it will be brief before Christ comes back as the Nations uh rage and pl lot in vain and celebrate the demise of the Church at the end verse 11 but after 3 and 1/2 days a breath of life from God entered them and they stood up on their feet and great fear fell on those who saw them then they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying to them come up here and they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies watched them and at that hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake and the rest were.
Terrified and gave glory to the God of Heaven the second woe has passed behold the Third Woe Is to come and I would argue the language here is this is the resurrection that before the third W before the final trumpet before judgment is finally poured out on the earth the people of God will be resurrected this is the language of 1 Corinthians 15 with the trumpet sounds and the Church being resurrected I think this is also imagery from Ezekiel chapter 37 this Breath of Life entering into the people of.
God being resurrected being spared the Judgment that is ultimately to come then we get this beautiful celebration 15 onward it says then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign forever and ever and the 24 Elders who sit on their Thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God saying we give thanks to you Lord.
God Almighty who is and who was for you have taken your great power and begun to Reign the Nations rageed but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for the rewarding and for rewarding your servants the prophets and Saints those who fear your name both small and great and for destroying the Destroyers of the Earth this picture of the Church in Victory worshiping Christ and judgment falling down upon the Earth verse 19 it finishes it out.
Then God's temple in heaven was opened and the Ark of his Covenant was seen with in his Temple there were flashes of lightning Rumblings peels of thunder and earthquake and heavy hail and then we get another picture of God bringing judgment upon his Earth all right that's a lot in chapter 11 you read it you're just like man and I I I do think that this is a good way to to read this but I don't want to get lost in trying to figure out the who what where.
When why and chart off this out I think what's more important am the complexities is that the Book of Revelation is very consistent that Jesus is coming back that he will judge the world that his people will ultimately be sealed on the day of judgment and be spared the Wrath of the Lamb that will be poured out but in the middle of this tribulation in the middle of this longing in the middle of this waiting the Church is called to witness that we should.
Look at the pictures of judgment In this passage and let that sit upon our souls that there are people in our lives that will not be spared these horrifying pictures and as Christians you can't just move on from that you've got to sit in that reality one of the things I many of you know this I love music um I love Christian music that celebrates Christ and makes much of him I also love music made by those who aren't Christians the lyrics don't always glorify Christ.
But some of it's very beautiful years ago I was at a concert for someone who's very much not a Christian someone who's an atheist and he explained one of his songs that was about he said listen this song was about the fact that there is no God and as soon as we Embrace that reality the whole world's going to be a lot better off and I heard thousands of people just joyously celebrate and I just sat there as a Christian seeing people celebrate this Blasphemous statement and it's like I couldn't enjoy the beauty of the music without understanding that there are thousands of people right.
Now that are celebrating celebrating something like this because they don't know Christ and those thousands of people unless a Christian stands before them and pleads for them to trust in Christ that those joyous screams will be turned into screams of Terror when the Judgment of God falls upon them and as a Christian you can't you can't walk away from that reality you can't do that we have to sit under the reality of the Gospel and realize and be burdened by this that there are people that are one day going to receive this this picture of Wrath that one day.
When that wrath comes upon them they will not be one day closer to the end of that wrath they will not be one day closer to the end of that Eternal judgment so you can't read these chapters s under them and think man that's really sad I wonder who's going to win the game today because that's what we do we're uncomfortable with these pictures we don't want to sit under them would rather just skip to the end and celebrate these pictures of the new heavens and new earth without sit sitting under the reality of the Judgment that you have friends you have neighbors you have co-workers you have family members we have people in our.
Lives that are going to endure this and we because of nothing that we have done not because we're good not because we're awesome not because we're deserving but because because of God's free Grace kindness and mercy that's bestowed upon us that we don't deserve will be spared all of that as the rest receive judgment you cannot sit in these pictures as a Christian and be unmoved by them and not be motivated that while we are celebrating come Lord Jesus come please.
God this Injustice this evil this world it needs to be finished come Lord Jesus come and the very next breath we say and Lord until you come use me to declare the Gospel to ears that are closed eyes that are blinded so they might taste and see that you are good and experience the goodness of the Gospel now and be spared the Judgment that is to come that is abundantly clear from this book so as we look at these pictures of judgment we should worship and we should praise that one day we will be sealed as the Church.
Because of the lamb and his blood that was poured out for us that because we trust in the Life death death and resurrection of Jesus we will not stand in judgment because Jesus Took the Judgment we deserve but we should also hustle and be motivated and be eager to take the Gospel which means that you should regularly you should walk through your neighborhoods and pray that you should walk and see households that you actually have learned their names and you should pray.
For them God I pray that they might understand who you are that they might understand the the grace and the mercy God right pray for opportunities that I might be able to declare the mystery of Christ to them it means that that there is a woman from your work that you've been meaning to invite the community group there's a guy from your shop that you've been meaning to invite to your community group and you shouldn't delay you should go and you should ask and you should compel them you should say come we're going to eat dinner.
And then we'll talk about some things and then get them there or be up front I don't know what your style is going to be but you should invite them to come and experience Christ in your community group that we should risk the relational Capital that we have with people even if it makes it awkward even if you think if this doesn't go well and I take them out to lunch and I share the Gospel with them and they rejected they might go and they might talk badly about me they might.
See me as the weird Christian you should say none of none of that matters because the pictures of judgment are real that I want to literally stand in the path before them in judgment and do everything I can to say Jesus is better come and see the lamb who was slain for you that you might behold him for who he is that we should some of us should risk the comfort of just being here and prayerfully consider leaving here pray prayerfully consider planting a Church prayerfully consider leaving to go and start a kingdom effort somewhere else.
Because there are other people that need the Gospel that some of you should consider to risk your safety and your comfort to pray and say God do you want me to go to the Nations do you want me to go to a people that so hates your name that so is opposing the Gospel the risk the very safety of my myself it would risk the very safety of my family because every nation tribe and tongue needs to hear the Gospel we cannot leave the Book of Revelation without understanding the Eternal reality of what awaits those who don't believe this is true.
So Matt's going to come up here and I just want us to sit in that reality and don't run from it I want us to pray and I'm going to give us a few moments in silence to pray and I want you if you're a Christian to consider what's at stake here yes our lives are busy yes life is hard and yes people will receive judgment and that is a Monumental Eternal event that is going to come and you as we say every week the Church is plan a.
For declaring who Christ is there is no plan B it's us in this city we should embrace the reality to call and take the Gospel so if you're a Christian I want you to sit in silence and pray and ask God what do you want me to do what do you want me to do Lord what is obedience look like for me who do you want me to go and talk to who where do you want me to go and I want you to sit in the silence.
Listen to the Lord and the stirring and if you are not a Christian everything I just talked about it's true judgment is coming but Christ loves you so much that he took the Judgment for you that if you place your faith in Christ you will be sealed on the day of judgment you'll be in Christ for eternity and don't run from the uncom the discomfort of this picture but run to Christ instead so bow your heads close your eyes sit in silence.
For a few moments and then I'll close this in prayer Heavenly Father we we do not want to be a people that runs from pictures of judgment we don't want to be a people that believes these pictures are true and then in our callousness and our self- interest or unwilling to be obedient to your will to make disciples in our city to make disciples of every nation I break the callousness of our distracted Hearts so that we would see the Eternal reality of everyone arounds us that needs you.
And if there's anyone here Lord that has not believed this is true compel them to a faith rooted in you trusting in the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus on their behalf so that we might be praising you in the day of judgment an unworthy and undeserving people Lord may you motivate our hearts towards faith and repentance and obedience and worshiping you in Jesus name amen.
Revelation 8:6-9:21
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here grab a Bible and go to Revelation chapter 8 we're going to start in verse 6 and uh I put the the page number up there wrong it's page 597 um but we're going to be in page 597 on one of these blue Bibles uh and we are in Revelation chapter 8 did I say six verse six 86 all right you know good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here we are looking at what are known as the trumpet judgments being poured out by.
God on Earth and we have been working through the Book of Revelation and we are with John as he is seeing a vision of the throne room of God so he sees him who is Seated on the throne and he sees the lamb who is Christ come to he who is Seated on the throne and take the scroll from his hand that is sealed with Seven Seals and he has been the only one worthy because he has conquered through his blood to make a people.
For God so this is Jesus who through his sacrifice has rescued and redeemed a people he comes and begins to break the seals we went through the Seven Seals on this scroll and in the seventh seal suddenly there's silence in heaven for 30 minutes and trumpets are handed out to seven angels and that's where we are in chapter 8:6 it says now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them so John is seeing Seven Angels standing with trumpets getting ready in the Old Testament trumpets have two primary functions and one of the things you need to know about the Book of Revelation is that it is pointing forward towards things that.
Are going to happen but it is so often pointing back to prophecies in the Old Testament that much much of the Old Testament shows back up in the Book of Revelation that it rolls forward and so I heard one Pastor put it this way he says you'll read the book of Revelation you'll think huh that's new and he said no it's not because the Old Testament already told you some of this it already Proclaim some of this this is already connecting back much of what we're going to.
See today connects to the Book of Joel and there are direct references to the Book of Joel from some of the creatures that are here some of the locusts that we're going to see some of the different things that are showing up and in the Book of Joel we get this picture of what we see throughout the Old Testament which is what trumpets are used for and trumpets so often in the Old Testament are used for warning to sound an alarm there's a place where.
God says is the trumpet not blown and people aren't in the city aren't terrified like that's what it sounds an alert it sounds an alarm there's a trumpet that is to be blown to tell people a war warning and then trumpets are blown to call people to worship and those are two primary functions that we see in the Old Testament of trumpets so they're warnings and they call for worship and in the Book of Joel we see both of those show up and this passage this whole uh chapter in the next chapter chapter eight parallels Joel in some way.
So I want to read this from Joel to try to help you see how the Old Testament considers trumpets Joel chap 2 verse1 says blow a trumpet in Zion sound an alarm on my Holy Mountain let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming it is near trumpets sound an alarm but 14 verses later he shows us what else trumpets are used for blow the trumpet and Zion consecrate a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people.
So trumpets so often are shouting a warning or an alarm but they're also blown to to call people to worship and going to see that that's what's happening here that there's a warning but a call to worship and John is seeing this take place he's seeing a vision of this and what can happen when we look at the Book of Revelation is there are some things that are very clear God is the one on the throne through Christ's work in history they are playing out judgments on Earth that's very clear.
But then we start getting into questions like well when does do this happen and how exactly does it play out and the text doesn't tell us all of that and that's where Scholars and uh people of different theologies will will debate some of how this plays out and for our purposes we don't want to get bogged down in zooming in too far on all of this because I think we'll miss some of what God has meant to show us because at the end of chapter nine it's not going to say and here's.
When all that'll happen it actually directs our attention somewhere else there's an expectation that comes out of these trumpets that there's this moment where it's like John holds his breath waiting for something to happen and it doesn't happen and so it tells us why the trumpets are blown not just when they happen so there are some people who would think it's playing out over history there's some people who thinks that it's going to play out really specifically at the end of History there's some people who fall in the middle on that and we're not going to spend a ton of time we're going to just.
Look at the vision with John and then we're going to see what the expectation is but he's seeing us sign when I moved to lychburg Virginia my wife and I lived in Virginia for a little while we started seeing this sign when we drove around so I'm spent all of my driving years in South Carolina I was not prepared for this sign Y what is that even communicating like a deer crossing sign is like hey heads up deer might come out what is this hey you might die like what do you do is it saying drive faster to dodge them is it saying they might be on the road like I saw those signs.
I was like I don't know what to do with this information was actually we were watching the news one night and there was a part of a mountain that had fallen into the road like the sign told us it would and they're out on the news reporting live talking about this road that's closed it's got a you know a big rock in the way it's down to one lane and this guy comes around the curve and is just staring at the reporters and just plows right into the to the stones.
And then he gets out and they're just like come over here hey why'd you do that and he was like I was looking at you guys and he completely failed to see the sign now that sign is a picture of a real thing and much of what we're seeing in the Book of Revelation is a picture of a real thing it's pointing to Something Real the question is how is the picture is he seeing the actual thing playing out or is he seeing a picture that will play out in a different way and some of it is unclear in the Book of Revelation just like in the Old Testament and Daniel he sees a goat.
And that goat represents a nation it's not going to be a giant goat it's going to be a nation and there's some places where we go maybe this is just a picture that's very Vivid but it's pointing to a real thing sometimes it's like no I actually think he's seeing the real thing playing out in the future but it's not always clear in the text doesn't always tell us and the point of that sign is not to go I wonder what kind of rock that is that fell the point of that sign is.
Look out pay attention and we're going to see that that's what this text is doing doing as well because at the end of chapter 9 it's going to draw our focus on something very specific that helps us understand why this is here and how this is helpful so we're going to pray we're going to hear some uh in just a moment we're going to pray and then we're going to hear some trumpets that are calling us to warning and worship and we're going to.
See the expectation the why in this text this morning so let's pray Lord help us to hear and respond to heed the warning and the call to worship and respond in Jesus name amen so as we read this we're going to just see with John as he sees this play out now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them the first Angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood and these were thrown upon the Earth and a.
Third of the Earth was burned up a third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up so John says he his trumpet's blown and he sees the Earth and hail and fire which um mirrors some of the seventh plague on Egypt but it happens over the whole earth and a third of the earth is burned up now in the trumpets we're going to see a lot of things happen to a third of the Earth in the seals we saw some things happen to a fourth.
And so this is increasing in intensity but it is still most of the earth is okay most of the earth is not facing this trouble but a third of it is and so we see both God's judgment playing out but also his Mercy at work because it could be all of the Earth at this point but it is not all of the earth it's a third of the earth is facing this but that's cataclysmic it's massive scale but he says he sees hail and fire which could be lightning could be fire.
But it is certainly burning mixed with blood that's terrifying a storm but blood so not not like regular rain and then the Earth is burning and that's what John sees when the first trumpet is blown the second Angel blew his trumpet and something like a great Mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed so he's seeing the Earth and something like a burning Mountain which.
If you've ever seen these like movies about like asteroids or whatever hitting the Earth that's what this brings to mind for me is like how what it look probably looked like to him is this massive thing slamming into the ocean and God in some ways in the trumpets is undoing Creation in the in the seals we saw much of what was playing out was happening to man kind there was some famine but a lot of it seems like it was happening specific to humanity.
But right in these first four trumpets we're going to see things playing out in creation suffering under the Judgment of God and it says a third of the ships a third of the sea became blood a third of the living creatures in the sea died which would cause shortages on food and massive shipping issues and problems as this plays out on the earth the third Angel blew his trk ET and a great star fell from heaven blazing like a torch and it fell on a.
Third of the rivers and on the Springs of water the name of the star is wormwood now in the Book of Revelation and throughout the Bible there are times where stars are stars and there are times where stars are pointing to Spiritual Beings this star specifically has a name wormwood and seems like this may be a spiritual being the next star we'll read in in our reading this morning is is definitively a spiritual being a third of the waters became wormwood and many people died from the water.
Because it had been made bitter wormwood is a plant that it doesn't take much of it to make a whole bit of drinking water bad and they knew about wormwood the plant and it would sometimes get into their drinking water and cause problems and so they're saying there's a spiritual being or a star that comes down and specifically strikes a third of the drinking water of Earth which would call massive problems and like I said some people are saying would look at this and say this is PL out of time some people think it would be playing out more potently at the end some people think it plays out very very quickly at the end.
But as I was researching some of this currently two billion people on earth live in places where they don't have access to good water 1.7 billion people which is right around a fourth of the earth drinks water with feces in it and 5 100,000 people a year die from diarrheal diseases and conditions caused from Bad drinking water most of them are children that's currently this is taking on a third of the earth becomes undrinkable through the Earth's water this is massive problem and and John is watching as these trumpets are blown and the Earth is suffering Ing and I think it's easier.
For us at this moment to imagine what this is like given the past few days I don't know how close things came to your home I'm assuming there's a greater percentage of our Church population that is doing okay is here than the ones who still have massive power problems but I know some of y'all still have power issues and travel issues but I don't know if you've seen videos and pictures of some of the ways that what happen happens when the earth and the weather starts giving out starts causing problems how quickly literally powerless we are.
And so John is seeing this play out on the earth as judgment is being poured out as warning is going out to the Earth chapter uh verse 12 the fourth Angel blew his trumpet and a third of the sun was struck and a third of the Moon and a third of the Stars so that a third of their light might be darkened and a third of the day might be might be kept from shining likewise a third of the night so things that are as regular as the Sunrise become not as regular anymore things that would be normal and like clockwork and we could set and travel by and set our calendars by suddenly there's.
There's problems and Jesus says there will be signs in the heavens and there'll be great distress of Nations and some of these things that are coming upon the Earth will start causing massive problems and so we're seeing cataclysmic things playing out as this judgment is poured out on the earth and John is witnessing it then I looked and I heard an angel crying an eagle sorry an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead so John in this Vision suddenly sees an eagle flying overhead and the eagle is crying out whoa wo wo wo to those who dwell on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets that the three angels.
Are about to blow so we have four trumpets and then an eagle flies by and says it's about to get worse those were Trumpets the next three are woes meaning despair despair despair Agony that woe upon them this is Curse that's going out over the world wo wo wo at the next three trumpets in our reading today we will look at two of the woses we will cover the next two trumpets in chapter nine the fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star fallen from Heaven to Earth and he the star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
So this star is an Angelic being he given a key to the shaft of the bottomless pit he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit and from the shaft Rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace and the Sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft this section also lines up pretty closely with some of the imagery and and wording from The Book of Joel there's a shaft a bottomless pit and and throughout the Bible this idea of the Abyss is some place that is a holding cell sometimes connected to the idea of shol or Hades.
But other times it seems like it's a specific place for Angelic beings second Peter 24 says this for if God did not spare Angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy Darkness to be kept until the Judgment or Jude verse 6 and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling he has kept in Eternal chains under gloomy Darkness until the Judgment of the great day or Luke 8 where.
Jesus is interacting with a person who's demonized Jesus then asked him what is your name and he said Legion for many demons had entered him and They begged him not to command them to depart into the the abyss so Jesus interacting with demonic creatures they say don't don't send us to the pit don't send us to the abyss' and in the Book of Revelation we see a spiritual being is given a key to open this up smoke begins to bow out.
But that's not it that's not all verse three then from the smoke came Locust on the earth and they were given power like the power of scorpions on the earth I don't know if you've ever seen Locus I would encourage you to to Google Locust I don't know if I would encourage you to Google the Locust from The Book of Revelation because you might go down some weird YouTube hole but just looking at Locust so you can see what it looks like.
When they swarm and cover and he says that smoke begins to billow out of this shaft he sees this Angel this star has given a key opens the shaft the shaft is open smoke begins to bow out and if you're a good Jewish person like John you know what this shaft is you know what this pit is you know what's kept there and your heart begins to beat fast because you don't want this pit opened but it's opened smoke begins to billow out it covers out the sky.
And then sudden it's not just smoke but you're going to hear that there's a warror of wings as Locust begin to come out they were told not to harm the grass of the Earth or any green plant or any tree that's a weird command for Locust it also just want to pause for just a moment it's one of the things when you're reading the book of Revelation that helps us see that we're given pictures and we don't exactly know a timeline.
Because they're told don't harm the grass but we just read in the first seal that all the gr or the first trumpet that all the grass burned up so has there been time or was that just the picture that John got and it it's representing something that's happening that's where we some run into some interpretive questions where we're trying to walk with humility and understand what this text is getting at for us but these locusts are sent out and they're told you're not here.
For the grass you're not here for the trees don't harm the grass or the Earth or any of of the Earth or any green plant or any tree but only those people who do not have the Seal of God on their foreheads if you'll remember back to last week There's this moment where the world cries out and says who can stand before the wrath of God who can stand in the day of judgment and then say pause in the in the seals where there are sealed those who belong to.
God they're sealed on their forehead he marks them as His and then we get this picture of this countless multitude gathered around the throne standing Before the Throne and before the lamb so the question goes out who can stand and then we see this countless multitude standing and the text answers itself it says those who've been washed by the blood of Jesus can stand they're the ones who will make it out and so there's this picture of this protection over the people who belong to.
God there's a picture of protection over them in the face of this torment that is coming verse five they the Scorpion Locust were allowed to torment them for five months but not to kill them and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone and in those days people will seek death and will not find it they will long to die but death will flee from them okay this is referring to a real thing that is going to take place in those days people will long.
For death and they'll seek death and they won't be able to find it the question is interpretively will they be able to see these creatures or these spiritual creatures attack them in a way that is unseen so there's some who would read this and go I think it's going to be something where these are literal material creatures that are loosed on the world the text doesn't tell us the text tells us that these creatures are loosed on the world but it doesn't tell us how they're going to show up.
Because throughout the Old Testament there are pictures where angels are sent to do a job but the people don't see the angel the angel sent to do a thing and it shows up in a material way there's a plague that shows up in first Corin uh 1 Chronicles chapter 21 it's called a plague there's disease and death but then David gets a glimpse behind the disease and sees an angel standing over Jerusalem holding a sword but I don't think everybody saw that David was given eyes to.
See that it was God carrying out this judgment and so it's possible that this will be carried out in that way John gets to see the revealing of what is really taking place but there's going to be torment poured out on those who don't belong to the Lord in a way that they don't see the text doesn't tell us and I think either one of those is a fair reading of this text but the point isn't how is that going to play out the point is it is going to play out and why is the.
Lord telling us and we're going to keep moving forward so we can see yall they long to die but death will flee from them there are things worse than death and God is actually showing them Mercy in the middle of their torment because once they die it's over and we're going to see that the text is holding them out for something God is holding them out for something and we're going to see that in the text CH uh verse 7 John is going to describe to us what these creatures.
Look like in the vision that he saw in appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold their faces were like human faces their hair like women's hair their teeth like lion's teeth they had breastplates like breastplates of iron and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle they have tails and stings like scorpions and their power to hurt people for 5 months is in their tails they have a king over them the angel of the bottomless pit his name in Hebrew is abadin and in Greek he is called aolon that's destruction and Destroyer why does.
The text take the time to describe these creatures to us one is because John sees it and he's supposed to write what he sees two is I think that if he had written they were terrifying you wouldn't have come up with the right horrific picture and he tells us not only they're terrifying he tells us they look like Locust but they look like horses they have human faces and the hair of women and I don't know if that makes them alluring or just chaotic I don't know what that looks like I don't know.
If he's like they're oddly like I I don't know what this is what woman's hair means like on a locust that's running around biting people with lion's teeth and stinging them with a scorpion's tail but he's looking and he says they sound like horses for battle they look like they've got breastplates of iron they're flying around swarming and it is terrifying the Judgment of God that's being poured out on Earth verse 12 the first woe has has passed behold two woes are still to come there was a time limit on that one.
Verse 13 then the sixth Angel blew his trumpet and I Heard a Voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God saying to the sixth Angel who had the trumpet release the Four Angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates so there's bound angels in the Middle East at the river Euphrates and they're commanded to be released so the Four Angels who had been prepared for the hour the day the month and the year were released to kill a.
Third of mankind y this is not chaotic this is scheduled and decreed by the ruler of the universe this judgment is set they've been prepared for this exact moment in the creation of these beings he bound them here and when it hits the right time they're released talks about those four creatures and then it says this that uh so the Four Angels who had been prepared for the hour the day the month and the year were released to kill a third of mankind.
So they're sent out to kill a third thir of mankind in World War II about a tenth of the earth died so what they're sent out to do is three times worse and it talks about these four angels and then it says the number of mounted troops so it immediately jumps to this picture of an army was twice 10,000 time 10,000 I heard their number that is 200 million the US has 100 no has 1 million sorry has 1 million uh people that can put in uniform.
If we had to put everybody in uniform we have a 500,000 standing army person standing army and we have another 500,000 that we could get geared up right around there it's 1 million China has a 2 million this is million sent out and this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur and the heads of the horses were like Lion's heads and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths by these three plagues the.
Third of mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the sulfur coming out of their mouths for the power of the horses in their mouths and in their tails for their tails are like serpents with heads and by means of them they wound so John writes what he sees 200 million armed soldiers on horses that have lion heads that spew fire and their tails are snakes and they're set loose in judgment to kill a third of mankind not all of mankind the.
Third God's judgment is restrained and we're meant to see with Clarity God's judgment God's rule over Humanity the reality that this is coming whether this is a vision of something that he got to see the spiritual reality behind it but it'll play out on Earth physically in a different way or whether or not God at this point has peeled back the the barrier between the two and is releasing things it I don't know and I don't know if that's the point of the next.
Because here's where it goes next it moves our attention on purpose we've seen six trumpets and two woes and then the text says this the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and Idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or walk nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts I said there was an expectation in this text John sees all this play out he says I've seen a vision of what's coming I've seen this picture of judgment on the world.
And then John goes and they didn't repent there was an expectation that they would see the Brokenness and the wickedness and the failure of their sin and their false gods and John says they they did they didn't repent they didn't turn from it they they kept right on doing the same stuff they went right back to it these judgments were a warning and a call to worship repent for the kingdom is at hand a warning and a call to worship and it says they don't heed the warning and they don't change their worship you have lived through moments that shook your world you've lived through moments where there was pain where.
God shook you in your pain in your distress there are moments where the things you had planned on and counted on that were normal and we set fell apart y we live through a global pandemic that suddenly your life just changed and you had to change what you were doing and where you were going and we had this weekend where we saw just a just a moment how fragile we are how incapable we are to stop things my brother-in-law is in Asheville it's accessible by air right.
Now they don't have celf service we don't know how he's doing he doesn't have any ability to let us know we don't have any ability to find out a h a tree fell on my mother-in-law's house massive one in the middle of the night this is all over the place where trees are down and people don't have power and there's no way to get to them and roads are closed and we just down where my brother and my family lived they told some people it's going to be a couple weeks we don't know how we're going to get power to you just we have these moments you've had moments in your life where things suddenly.
Just changed where the whole world changed around you we have these moments where in the middle of pain and distress and fear and doubt we're shaken and we can see that we aren't in control and John is saying I'm watching this play out on a global scale but how often as soon as things go back to normal do we just run right back John says I watched them y'all they didn't they didn't change they didn't acknowledge that they were small they didn't acknowledge that their gods are terrible and cannot accomplish anything how often have we gone right back to the way we were interacting our our our internet usage our phone usage run right back.
To our sexual sin how many of you have had a moment where you had this scare and you prayed and you said Lord I'll change and then as soon as things got a little bit better you just went right back you have this moment where you're like oh I can just see clearly but we go we go right back they go right back to their Idols in the middle of fear and doubt what do you run to what is the thing that comforts you that makes you feel.
Okay some of us in the middle of this when we're seeing that we don't have control I found myself going I'll be more prepared next time I'll get ready some people have just the big conclusion you came to was not that God judges the world and our time here is short and my neighbors don't know Jesus the big conclusion we came to was I'll get a generator some of us over the past few days have just eaten more carbohydrates than we've eaten in a long time we saw that in the pandemic some people went into their house.
For three months and ate some people went in their house for three months and did push-ups because we're running to the things that help us feel like we got a sense of control in the world and John's saying I'm watching the world and they they don't repent and they keep worshiping the same stupid stuff they've been worshiping that has no power they're worshiping demons and they're worshiping stuff that can't see or hear or walk or talk or do anything and God is shaking the world and there's an expectation that they'll turn and you can almost feel John being like they they don't don't.
So my hope for us as we read this is that we hear the trumpet sound an alarm for coming judgment and call us to worship something good those who are sealed are sealed not because they're the good ones they're sealed because Jesus shed his blood for them what he's holding out to the world is a repentance where he does the work to cover you to save you to make you whole to make you good to protect you to keep you this reads like a parent that you talk to that goes I don't know they were rebelling.
So so I I grounded them and they kept doing the same stuff they snuck out so I put alarms on the windows and I took away their phone and they kept doing that so I sent them to a thing to try to help them and I'm just trying to help them tell them I can see where they're headed and it's not going to go well I love them so much it's not going to go well I know where they're headed and all they did was get more rebellious and keep running to the other things they kept figuring out ways past it they kept running back to the same stuff and they got mad and mad.
And mad at me we're going to see that in the Book of Revelation that Humanity doesn't as this continues they don't do anything but respond to him and say how dare you and God in Mercy is only playing this out on a third and there's an expectation of repent see it and come see it and come hear the call and come turn away from the things that won't provide that won't save that won't fix you that don't help you that have promised you life over and over and over and over and over again and have never once delivered turn from your sin and come and John says they don't repent.
But I'm hoping that we do I'm hoping that we get to look ahead and go okay I don't want these same things I've been running to I Want Jesus the only one who can redeem who can save who can heal and who can help I'm hoping that we turn from sin and turn our eyes up and worship and that we take seriously this call let's pray Lord may we respond in Repentance May today we turn away from our sexual sin our sexual immorality May.
Today we turn away from our Idols of wood and stone paper our Idols of money and success our Idols of comfort and control may we turn away from worshiping what is evil and demonic in the world may we repent and Lord May we worship and for the person in here today who has not trusted in you may they repent and may they see the glory of Christ in protection and Redemption through the work of your son that it is not about what we do.
But it is about what you have done for us and may they turn to you in Jesus name amen the band is going to come back up and Church family we're going to take communion communion is for Christians and it is where we get to practically repent and worship on a regular basis it's where we get to be mindful of the sacrifice that was made for us y' when Christians walk in a life of repentance we don't walk with our head down our foreheads are sealed we belong to Christ through the work that he has accomplished we get to come and say.
Lord I'm a sinner and I need mercy and then we get to receive Mercy that we get to be covered by the work of Christ that when you feel moments when you go I don't deserve this Praise Jesus yes in amen you don't deserve it oh you don't deserve it but he's so good he's so kind he's so loving his Mercy is great his love is great his Mercy is Rich he is a redeemer and it's to his praise of his glorious Grace.
And so when we come in Repentance we come in Repentance and worship that we come and we say Lord I'm in need of a savior Praise Jesus that I have one if you have not placed your faith in Jesus communion is not for you but Jesus can be if you'll trust in him if you'll tell him I need to be forgiven I need hope and help you can say Lord I don't want to face judgment I don't want to chase after the same stupid stuff I want you and I need help and he'll help you he'll save you he does not let anyone down who calls on the name of the.
Lord none will be put to shame so if you say I want to trust in you then you are covered and healed and helped so Church family take a moment reckon with your sin and your fragility and then come and know that it's been covered and that you are cleaned and that you are welcomed with the Lord and you are sealed and may we worship Jesus together.
Revelation 6-8:5
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here we're in Revelation chapter 6 vers uh actually chapters 6 all the way through 85 we got a some territory to get through today um so you can turn in your Bibles uh towards the end and follow along there the text will also be on the screen so we've jumped into this part two of The Book of Revelation and we've been saying that it's going to ramp up a little bit like it's just it's going to be.
If you haven't read the book of Revelation before it's about to get a little wild and we've been going up the roller coaster a bit and like last week chck got us to the top but like we are woo like it's I mean it's we are descending down jumping into it starting in verse one and for the next few months are going to be in this and my encouragement has been for you to go into if you weren't here for training weekend or.
If you haven't gone back and listened to the content that was Tau at training weekend uh that's on our website now I would encourage you to do that because at times you might be like what's happening um and we don't have all the space on a Sunday morning to to cover all what's happening but the next two months that training is going to be crucial um because it's it's covering things in this book from a uh uh perspective in in in different areas that we don't have space on a Sunday morning to cover.
But I will say one of the things we did say in training weekend and how to read this part of the Book of Revelation from chapter 4 onward is how to understand this uh phrase that shows up the tribulation we've already seen it a few times we're going to keep seeing it this idea of tribulation some will view the tribulation what we're seeing in chapter 4 onward as a period of time that happens right before Christ returns and then there are others that.
Look at uh chapter 4 onward and look at the tribulation and and we'll see actually this is the uh a description of events that happened between Christ's first coming and his second so the whole of Church history uh and Chad and myself both take that position and if you're like wait what encourage you go back listen to training weekend we went through this and I'm going to preach this from that perspective that this is actually uh covering the whole uh that what we're going to.
See is pointing to events that happen between Christ's first and second coming not just before he returns and the reason I'm doing that is cuz I love you because earlier this week week I try to do all the things and and we have a teaching team where these sermons are preached and and I watched uh a little bit of Isaac and Chad's Joy evaporate I don't know if they'll ever get it back I think that's I think that's just gone so it's going to be a lot easier we're just going to preach from that perspective.
But I would encourage you to uh if you want to know more about it to go back to our training weekend so there's the cavat as we launch into this next phase last week cck kicked us off in verses four and five witnessing the throne room scene where John sees the glory of the Lord how worthy he is to be worshiped and his unworthiness and there's this desire for a scroll with Seven Seals to be opened I'll show you a picture of it this is one we showed last week we don't know.
If this is exactly what it looked like but this is a little bit of a helpful picture that this scroll needed to be unsealed it needed to be opened and there's this moment where no one is found worthy enough to open the scroll and and when this happens John weeps it says began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and he's weeping because this long awaited thing has not happened yet if you've ever done a a a a puzzle like a long one or it took all weekend or it took a week and you spent the time putting the edges together and connecting the pieces and everything it's satisfying.
But then you get towards the end those final few pieces and you're starting to get a little concerned because it doesn't look like you're going to have enough and then you finish it and there's two pieces that just aren't there yet and you're like you I mean you're what what's happened you look underneath the couch you you berate your children because you think they might have taken them like what where are these pieces you're just left unsatisfied there is a missing piece of the puzzle.
For John and he is weeping because it has not happened yet and the question that we left kind of last week and this week is why why is he weeping because the scroll has yet to be open what what what is happening in him that's what we're going to examine as we walk through these chapters and my hope is that as we as we look at this that we too with John would long for what's about to happen in these chapters we should long.
For the Scrolls all Seven Seals to finally be open so me pray and we'll walk this together heavenly father I pray that you give us ears to hear what is certainly difficult I pray that you would open our hearts that we would not combat your truth but we would be open towards your word and that it would sink into our hearts and it would mold us and shape us into your image we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so chapter 6 verse one.
Now I watched when the lamb opened one of the Seven Seals and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a loud with a voice like thunder come and I looked and behold a white horse and its Rider had a bow and a crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer so what we're shifting into here is Judgment that is unfolding and that's what these seals are going to start to unveil when this first seal is opened a white horse emerges.
Now there two different ways to look at this first seal the first is is that John is being told to come and see and he comes and sees this part of the vision and then this part of the vision there's a rider on a white horse and that is Christ and and Christ appears on a white horse later in the Book of Revelation this is Christ on a white horse conquering what's conquering is the Gospel advancing that the Gospel is advancing it's going to conquer every tribe nation and tongue that's one way to read this the.
Second way to read this is that come is a horse is being summoned with a rider it is not Christ and it is an angel and this is launching immediately into judgment and what's happening here is that the first judgment upon the Earth is nations against Nations it is war between the peoples now you read the arguments on both sides and they're very very compelling they just star it's like oh that looks that's yeah that you make a good point there and the good news is is it doesn't really change how you interpret all this.
Because it's true that the Gospel advances and also God does bring judgment nations rise and fall so you know I I don't have to pick a lane here because it doesn't really change how you view it and if that annoys you you then I'm just giving you a warning you're going to be annoyed for the next couple of months because the Book of Revelation can be quite difficult at times so that's the first seal then we get to the second one chapter 6:3.
When he opened the second seal I heard the second living creature say come and out came another horse bright red its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another and he was given a great sword so the second seal is opened and it is a rider on a bright red horse and this is clearly judgment unmistakably because peace is being taken from the earth now if you think the first one was the Gospel advancing.
Then This is war between nations if you thought the first one was actually war between the Nations what H was happening here is conflict between individuals peace is being taken from the earth and and and people are fighting against one another and this is God's judgment upon Nations that rebel against him against peoples that rebel against him that that God turns them over to their sin and that Strife happens this is what Jesus is prophesying about in Matthew CH 24 when he is speaking about the uh end times in this present age and he speaks about wars and rumors of wars.
So that is the second seal that is opened here verse 5 when he opened the third seal I heard the living creatures say come and I looked and behold a black horse and its Rider had a pair of scales in his hand and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying a quart of wheat for a Daenerys and three quarts of barley for a daus and do not harm the oil and wine.
So this third seal is opened and out comes a black horse and this judgment is famine the pictures here is is a of famine scales being brought out here to to weigh food that's what happens in a famine a court for of wheat for a Daenerys a Daenerys is a day's wage so working all day just for a little bit of bread I mean we feel it right now with inflation like we looked yesterday and the eggs of God back up in price I like no.
But I haven't worked all day for a carton of eggs I don't think anyone in this room works all day for a little bit of bread so this is severe this is severe famine and the and the the the picture here do not harm the oil and the wine is likely a picture of what happens in a time of famine in a time of famine you don't need Vineyards you don't need olive Groves you need wheat or you're going to die and everyone's going to die.
So it's don't harm the wheat don't harm the olive Groves don't clear out The Vineyards Don't Make Way for wheat Fields no but this is a picture of famine another picture of God's judgment that happens upon the Earth verse 7 when he opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creatures say come and I looked and behold a Pale Horse and its Rider's name was death and Hades followed him and they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pest and by wild beasts of the Earth the fourth seal is opened and its writer is death with Hades following and the.
Picture here is of rampant death upon the Earth this is the kind of death that you see in history like the black plague where a quarter to a third of Europe died because of pestilence because of plague and it's a picture again another Vivid and difficult picture of God's judgment upon the Earth when the Nations Rebel when the people's rage and plot in vain then we get to the fifth seal now those four horse are what are commonly called uh The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse you've ever heard that before.
So that shifts into the fifth seal and the fifth seal is not judgment it's actually a cry for justice jce so verse 9 when he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar The Souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne this is Martyrs this is Christians uh throughout history that have uh leveraged their literal lives to proclaim the Gospel and have been killed for the Gospel this is the martyrs and it says they cried out.
Verse 10 with a loud voice oh Sovereign Lord holy and true how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth there's this Cry For Justice oh how long oh Lord verse 11 then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete who were to be killed as they themselves had been so they have this deep cry.
For justice when how long Lord when will you avenge our blood and says he says you need to wait a little longer and and note the language here until the appointed time when every last martyr has died that the the Gospel even today advances with the blood of saints so there is God is for pre-ordained for ordained that the Gospel will advance and he will come back after the last martyr has spilled their blood for the sake of the Gospel reaching every tribe Every Nation every tongue all right it's possible at this point you're like goodness I mean this is heavy you may be visiting.
For the first time and you're like wait what it's like that's a lot I I feel this when I read this this is a lot and you may be thinking is this what we've got for the next couple of months are these types of heavy pictures of judgment and the answer is yes that's this is this is exactly what we're going to see you want to know why John is weeping because no one's able to open the scroll this missing piece of the puzzle that has not happened that's left him in as Chad said last week ugly ugly crying ugly tears do you want to know why the the the martyrs are crying out avenge.
Us oh Lord how long oh Lord it is because they understand the evils the injustices the Brokenness and the sinfulness of this world they uniquely understand it I mean goodness the at this point when when John is writing down what he is seeing he's the last of the Apostles the rest have been murdered some brutally beheaded crucified upside down flayed alive burnt alive I mean he's had Brothers and Sisters in Christ who were thrown into pits where wild beasts tore them apart at this point he in his in his life tradition tells us that he was they tried to kill him they tried to boil him alive and he survived.
So he set a front row seat to some of the most heinous parts of the sinful condition of humanity and when you've been there you long for justice and a goodness y'all if we came back here next week and 50 people were just missing and they were some in prisoned some hanging in the Gallows children that need to be raised cuz they're now orphaned for the sake of the Gospel that puts a whole new understanding on what's Happening here because this is the reality.
For these churches that are receiving this book of Revelation it's the reality for many churches throughout history it's the reality for many churches across the world today so when they are asking how long when John is weeping bitterly it's cuz they want Justice to come down they long for it therefore it would be a lazy reading of the rest of this book to not understand all of the pictures of judgment from their perspective and the persecution that they are enduring and that's important.
For us to understand as we continue to read this but we should along with them for the return of Christ that God would write every wrong this leads into the opening of The Sixth Seal which regardless of whether you think these are playing out at moments in history or over time as a series of events in history or right before Jesus comes pretty much everyone is on the same page when we get to the sixth and seventh seal this is this is at the end these are pictures of right before Christ returns.
So verse 12 when he opened the Sixth Seal I looked and behold there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth the full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the Earth as the Fig Tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale the sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up and every mountain and Island was removed from its place then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone slave and free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains calling to the mountains and rocks fall on us.
And hide us from the face of him who is Seated on the throne and from the Wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand there is a day coming when the fierce Judgment of God and its final form is going to come and the picture is the Earth being torn to pieces and from the mightiest most powerful King Kings prime minister presidents generals down to those who are not in power and those who are poor everyone will be asking.
For the mountains to fall upon them to Shield them from the wrath of God that is pouring out on them they will long for an end to it to not see see his Fierce wrath and then there's this question at the end of this who can stand who can stand when this happens now that question is what gets answered by chapter 7 who can stand then we get chapter 7 now chapter 7 is an interlude this is a pause so if you try to read Revelation as a chronological this happened and this happened this happened you're going to run into some problems and chapter 7 is one of those problems.
Because this is not you need this is not like a typical movie where this event this event this event this is more like a you ever seen a Christopher Nolan movie Inception Interstellar Dunkirk it's like this happens then we're this point in the story and this point in the story and this point in the story I mean this is so we are not following between the sixth and the seventh seal we are jumping out to something entirely different and that's what's happening here with this seventh between the seventh seal with chapter 7.
So let's pick up in verse one in this interlude after this I saw four Angels standing at the Four Corners of the Earth holding back the Four Winds of the earth that no wind might blow on Earth or sea or against any tree so here God is holding back judgment we have this imagery of angels here holding back the Four Winds the this is the wind here is judgment and four is reference to the four corners of the Earth this is the whole fullness of the earth that the angels are holding back judgment upon the earth and the question is is why why are they holding back verse two.
Then I saw another Angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the Seal of the Living God and he called with a loud voice to the Four Angels who had been been given power to harm Earth and sea and saying do not harm the Earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the the Servants of our God on their foreheads which again this is why you can see it's clearly not chronological here because he says don't harm the sea the Earth the sea or the trees.
And if you go back to the Sixth Seal a lot of a lot of trees were harmed like that the imagery there is there's a lot of harm going on so this is not this is completely detached and there's this all right this isn't going to happen yet until until the ceiling of God's people so we're going to see what that is up at verse four and I heard the number of the sealed 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.
Then we get this long list 12,000 of the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben 12,000 from the tribe of GAD 12,000 from the tribe of Asher 12,000 from the tribe of napali 12,000 the tribe of anassa 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000 from the tribe of Levi 12,000 from the tribe of issachar 12 000 from the tribe of zebulun 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph 12,000 from The Tribe of Benjamin were sealed he he hears this this 144,000 and this long list.
And then verse 9 after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing Before the Throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches es in their hands verse 10 and crying out with a loud voice salvation Belongs To Our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb and some of you may be thinking what you may have never read this before and you're like huh some of you have read this 50 times and you're like what what what is happening here.
Because at first glance it's like what this is crazy confusing to us the 144,000 here I'll be honest can be pretty wildly speculated and go in some pretty uh crazy directions I mean it can go in some actually heretical Jehovah Witness directions okay so I think that the New Testament and really the the context of the Book of Revelation gives some clarity to what's actually happening here so I think here the this 44,000 is the full number of the Church for those who have placed their faith in.
Jesus between Christ first and second coming this number is figurative it is not literal it's not it's certainly not literal when it comes to the the the tribes of Israel this isn't literally talking about ethnic Israel if you want to have that conversation one with me later certainly can I'll give you one of the reasons why it's not this isn't even the 12 original tribes this list of tribes is not the original 12 list of tribes this matches nothing from the Old Testament.
So this is not the literal Israel as rest of the New Testament teaches Israel in its truest form has always been the people of God who have faith in God you're not a Jew by birth only means belong to the people of God is to be a Jew by faith and when you see Romans chap chapter 10 and chapter 11 Galatians chapter 6 and all these other passages that show that the Church is brought into the Gentiles are brought into the true people of.
God in Israel but this is not literal Israel and this isn't a literal 144,000 this number is symbolic of fullness a fullness so 12 is a number that's symbolic for completion you have 12 tribes of Israel you have the 12 uh disciples so this is a number four completion here and the number here is 12 * 12 * 1,000 it's symbolic of complete and what's important to note here is that John heard that number and that number points to the symbolic reality that this is those who will place their faith in Christ over the span of Church history.
But then he hears that and then he sees a number that cannot be counted a number greater than 144,000 it cannot be counted and this is not just ethnic Jews this is every tribe Every Nation every tongue this is the Church of Jesus Christ so who is being sealed is the Church of Jesus Christ who will not face the ultimate Judgment of God so what is the ceiling here the ceiling is God's protection upon the people who will stand at the end of chapter 6 on the day of judgment the Church of.
Jesus Christ will the Church of Christ will stand because of God's sealing upon them this is Assurance to the Church y'all this is good news to the Church this is meant to encourage us that we will stand like there there are times where I go up and I and I put my son to bed and he looks at me and he says Dad what what if somebody he's like really upset what if somebody comes in and tries to hurt us in the middle of the night and I and I have to tell him like buddy you are my son you belong to me you are a carry you you out of every little boy in.
The world you're the most important little boy the most special little boy to me you I love you buddy if somebody comes into this house to hurt you I'm going to break every bone in their body buddy you know Daddy has guns right just it's it's going to be okay and it's to assure him you're you're you're sealed you're okay God is saying you the Church will stand you you will you will be sealed on the day of judgment so that goes into.
Verse 11 and all the Angels were standing around the throne and all and around the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever amen at the thought of this praise God that he seals the people of God from judgment glory and honor and power and might be to you oh God forever and ever.
Verse 13 then one of the elders addressed me saying who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come I said to him sir you know and he said to me these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation they have washed their robes and made them white and the blood of the Lamb so has this exchange with the Elder who is this it's like you know th this is those coming out of the Great Tribulation again the Great Tribulation being the period of the Church and the trials of the Church faces to advance the Gospel and he says they're the ones coming out of this and I love the imagery.
Here the ones coming out they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb y'all this is the Gospel that if you everyone comes in this world broken deserving the Judgment of God God loves us so much that he sent Christ to be crushed for our sins then he claims a people for himself and he washes his people in the blood of the Lamb that Christ's blood stands for us by faith in what he has done.
For us on the cross and the empty tomb and that blood washes us and renews us our sin is washed and we are made white in the picture here is the righteousness of Christ all the good works of Christ are credit to our account and it's just a celebration praise God for the good news of the Gospel that saves that will make us stand on the day of judgment verse 15 therefore they are Before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence they shall hunger no more I thirst anymore the sun shall not strike them nor any.
Scorching heat for the lamb and for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be there Shepherd and he will listen y'all he will guide them to Springs of Living Water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes that's what awaits us in Christ y'all and we don't deserve this at all we deserve judgment but he saves us and he redeems us and he sets us apart and what awaits us is no more hunger no more thirst no more scorching heat no more trials that we will be with the lamb we will be with Christ our chief Shepherd who guides us to Living Water who wipes away tear from I mean every.
Pain of this present life will be a distant memory what a beautiful gift that God gives us that we don't deserve now that's the interlude so put that scene there now we're back into the seals in chapter 8 and we're going to see the seventh seal open in the first five verses when the lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them and another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censor and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the Saints on the golden altar.
Before the Throne and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the Saints Rose before God from the hand of the angel now we're going to get into trumpets that's coming up but but I want to focus on right here is this picture of the prayers of the people of God that are being offered up like incense and the prayers of the people of God are being gathered in this sensor and they're they're being they're being gathered here so here are the prayers.
And then listen to verse 5 then the angel took the sensor and filled it with fire from The Altar and threw it on the earth and there were peels of Thunder Rumblings flashes of lightning and an earthquake and that is the final judgment and what I want us to see here is that the prayers of the people of God and the Church of Jesus Christ throughout history have been a prayer and a longing for justice a prayer and a longing for.
God to wrong to write every wrong a prayer for justice and all of that gets stored up in the sensor and then God hears those prayers and at the right time when Christ comes he answers those prayers and those prayers are converted to Fire and judgment that is poured out on the earth that is one of the long missing puzzle pieces that John is weeping to see happen he's longing to see that happen the the Church has longed to see that happen however I think.
If we are honest I think many of us don't long to see that happening I don't think we love this I think one of the missing puzzle pieces about the new heavens and the new Earth I think we long for that and I think many of us just want to skip to chapter 21 and 22 but this piece of Justice coming down judgement on the earth I don't think we long for that I think that the reason for this is that many of us in the west have largely been insulated from Injustice I don't think we've actually endured the type of Injustice that the global Church endures right.
Now that the Church has endured for 2,000 years so I don't think we really celebrate this kind of picture of judgment largely I think you make an exception I think the the black Church in America for centuries has done a better job with this but I think largely in the west we just don't have a category for this we don't have a category for experiencing Injustice and longing oh how long God before you bring Justice upon the earth I don't think that's our heart cry I mean this world is broken and marred by sin I mean goodness y'all the the Ukraine Russia War General estimates hard to get estimates in a war like that a.
Million people dead what's happening in Israel right now and has been for the last year I mean you go on and on and on and on and on and I think we see some of that and what's Wild is that I can get on my phone and see somebody being blown to bits and another part of the world I not looking for this stuff sometimes just shows up you read this story and then I flip the next thing and oh the Gamecocks and that's way more fun to.
Look at and I think we're largely insulated from the reality of Injustice that happens in this world and I think that honestly our faith is a little too comfortable and our lives are a little too comfortable CU I think deep down we just we kind of like it here and we kind of like this present moment and we kind of like this life a little too much in a way that we're not willing to leverage our lives in a way that would make us uncomfortable they willing to support and get behind Mission efforts where people are literally putting their life on the line to.
See the Gospel move forth and the reality is the the whole rest of the Book of Revelation is going to be very very heavy and my hope is is that we wouldn't turn away my hope is that we'd see that this moment in history for the Church and our context is pretty unique that we haven't had to experience the things that our brothers and sisters have across the world right now that are being persecuted and throughout history and that we wouldn't turn away from these pictures of judgment.
But we would actually submit our hearts before the Lord and ask God to change our heart so that we might look at the Brokenness of this world and the haer in this world and the vess of this world and all of the things that happen in this world and we might begin to weep like John and say how long before you come Lord please come and that might end up into a humble praise that says thank you Jesus that you're going to make this right and thank you.
Jesus even though I don't deserve to be a part I don't deserve to stand that I will but we need that heart shift to make it through the next two months in a way that will help us see the glory and the goodness of God in his judgment the band's going to come up and the reality is is that we need to start to do that work today we need to start to do the work on our soul they would not turn away from these pictures of judgment would.
But would embrace them the reality real is is there some of you live a life that is storing up wrath for every person that's ever harmed you you live angry you live bitter and the reality is you you're not trusting in the Judgment of God you're not trusting in the actual that there is a God who will bring Vengeance and it is not you and some of you need to repent of your desire to bring judgment upon others you need trust in the Judgment of the Lamb I think many of us need to prepare ourselves through repentance over the next couple of months and what we're about to.
See that the parts of us that don't want to look and examine these parts of Revelation but also don't want to look at the injustices of this present age we need to submit that to the Lord and ask God to change our hearts in Repentance that the Wars that are that are happening right now where millions are giving their lives and are dying that there are people right now that are in famine and we have full bellies that there are babies being killed by the millions in utero every single year that there is mass oppression of the poor all across this world that there is ethnic and racial hatred and every part of this world.
That there is flagrant celebration of sin and Rebellion all across our culture in this world that we should look at all of it with tears and say Jesus please come Lord how long but that's going to take work and that's going to take the Lord slowly beginning to change and reorient our heart towards Justice in a way that needs to happen but that first comes through coming to Christ because there may be some of you that have never fully put your faith in Christ and he has spilled his blood.
For your sin so that you might stand on the day of judgment and if you can hear this and walk away the Scriptures say woe to you but it gives the invitation to say Don't run from Christ run to him that he might cover your sin and your Rebellion you don't deserve it none of us deserve it but the offering is there that you might not stand stand in your own sin in the day of judgment but you might stand under the Seal of.
God and the rest of us boy oh boy at every moment that we start to read some of these pictures of Judgment at every ter in our community groups and on Sundays in our private reading we should go praise God I don't deserve this I don't deserve the stand but I'm thankful that you let me stand because of what you did for me we need to prepare ourselves for the next couple of months and God willing God will change our hearts and it will result in the type of worship and honor that our savior deserves.
Let me pray heavenly father I pray that you might begin that work today Lord we are humbled by how intense these texts are help us not turn away from them help us embrace the reality of judgment that is coming so that we might stand so that we might act now so that we might be motivated to see the Gospel Advance now but Lord we need your work and we need your grace and we need you to go to work in our hearts to help us be the people that you've called us to be we ask this in.
Jesus name amen.
Revelation 4-5
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here grab a Bible and go to the Book of Revelation uh we're going to look at Chapters four and five together today we are working as a Church through the Book of Revelation we have finished part one of the Book of Revelation which is the letters that were specifically written to the seven churches uh in Asia we we see that the whole book is a letter but then there's these specific addresses and we've worked through those seven specific addresses.
Now we are in part two uh as we've labeled it I mean we're just trying to as we're walking through it this section is a shift in the Book of Revelation and chapter four and five are a major shift in the Book of Revelation towards what is coming next and we are seeing with John a vision and multiple Visions are going to be playing out and this was to these letters were written to the Church in distress they were written to a Church where people had placed faith in.
Jesus they'd heard of the hope of the Gospel they'd heard of forgiveness and they'd Place their hope in Christ and then life got worse life got harder there was persecution and difficulty they were not well received that it caused them problems and and this is written in the middle of difficulty and T tumult and problem and tribulation for them and then John is able to see what's really going on it's a Revelation it's peeling back now there are some things that happen as we move forward in the Book of Revelation that there are differing views on and differing approaches to and we had a training weekend this past Friday and all of that is online.
Where we tried to quickly uh give a lot of information um and so if you were here you maybe still have a hangover from it I don't know but we gave a lot of information as quickly as possible to try to just say these are some of the ways to view the Book of Revelation to try to understand it and some of the things that we're not going to get into fully on Sundays because we don't want to lose the the big picture of the Book of Revelation as we get caught up in some of the smaller things.
But we did want to help our Church family uh be able to navigate that so that's online you can watch those uh you can watch them in 05 speed if you need to um to just try to slow down how how quickly we were trying to get through some stuff um my my sons recently asked me the question what does it mean to be worthy now their primary concern at the time was why Iron Man can't lift Thor's hammer they hit me with I was like that's deep.
And then I was like oh okay well but that's a worthy question and honestly that's that's what's being taken up in the text that we're looking at today is this concept of worthiness and in some ways in the midst of difficulty and trial and and chaos one of the questions we have is who's who's going to fix this who's in charge around here you ever been in the middle of just cting you're like who who leads this thing who's in charge around here who's going to fix this and and in the middle of difficulty and where there's those that are oppressing others and there are situations where the people in power are are exerting their.
Influence for their own gain and for difficulty of others there's that uh that age-old play uh playground question of says who you say this isn't fair you can't do that and someone looks at you and says says who you and what Army and we're in this moment with these churches there's difficulty and and John gets shown by God here's who says and here's who's worthy and here's who and what army that's that's what's beginning to happen in the Book of Revelation is as history's going to unfold and his judgment's going to unfold and his salvation's going to unfold who's sitting on on the throne and who's the one carrying out history and we're about to.
Get that answered and by God's grace and by the work of his Spirit may we see it and believe it Revelation chapter 4 after this this is after Jesus's addresses to the Church after this I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I had heard speaking to me me like a trumpet said come up here and I will show you what must take place after this okay so he originally in chapter one he hears a voice that sounds like a trumpet and this is John experiencing things.
And then trying to articulate it to you so a voice like a trumpet he turns to see where the voice came from and he sees Christ standing uh in seven lampstands and then we get the the letters to the churches and he says I hear that first voice again and it says come up here and he says he looks and sees a hole in heaven a door standing open in heaven that he's actually seeing through now not just into the sky.
But into God's spiritual reality and he's being called up and one of the things that we're going to see in the Book of Revelation is that we want to ask the question all the time what happens next and he does say I'm going to show you what must take place after this and there are things that are going to for John be in the future taking place and carrying out and some of them are still in the future for us certainly.
But the better question as you're reading the book of Revelation is not just what happens next but what does John see next and we're going to say that repeatedly as we go through the Book of Revelation because there are certainly things that they're shown that have already happened but right now we're seeing things that he's going to get shown what's to take place and we're seeing with John what he sees next verse two at once I was in the spirit.
Behold a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne so he and once is in the spirit which I transported pulled up Suddenly he's there and the first thing he sees is a throne and one seated on the throne so we've entered the Heavenly throne room and when we read the book of Revelation there's a lot of pictures and a lot of wild to us pictures fantastic pictures and it's real easy to get caught up and going what is this what is this what does this mean what is that.
But the first thing we should do with John is be overwhelmed with John we should see with John what he sees even in this text from Verses 4 to 8 there's a whole lot of phrases in Greek that don't even have a verb it it just is like and a throne and 24 Thrones and seven torches like he just is it it's just and this and this you can almost feel John being overwhelmed like so we're going to just to take this in with him he sees a throne and he sees one seated on the throne and he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian which are two stones that are Reddish.
In color and also have design and swirl to them and some of what John's trying to do is just put words to what he's taking in and he's trying as best he can to describe something Indescribable and to put to pin Indescribable Beauty and we're going to see that as he goes through and he doesn't even really try to overly tell us what God looks like he just says he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and a Carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald what does that even mean rainbow would bring to mind beautiful Kaleidoscope of colors.
But then it has the appearance of an emerald which is a stone which is green but if you look at emeralds it maybe it meant it's a rainbow but it has depth and texture and was Jagged but glorious that this is around the throne but he's overwhelmed with what he's seeing and around the throne were 24 El uh 24 Thrones and seated on the Thrones were 24 Elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads so he sees a throne prominent.
And then he notices oh there's 2 four other Thrones with 24 elders and there's some some discussion the text does not tell us who these 24 Elders are sometimes it tells us later there's golden bowls full of incense and it says those are the prayers of the Saints whenever that happens I'm always like thank you but it just says there's 24 elders and so there's some some discussion some people trying to dig into what does that mean I will tell you that it's.
If we had to know he would have told us so there's some relief there that we don't have to know who the 24 Elders are some argue that it's 24 Heavenly beings and that there's some good argument for that some good uh every everything else here is a Heavenly creature and later they're going to when they're doing some of the the stuff that we just read together that was underlined they don't include themselves and those that are ransomed they seem to be talking about it as.
If they're separate from it there are others who look at this and say that they it seems like it's possible that it's the 12 apostles and the 12 heads of the tribes of Israel they they have crowns and white robes and and throughout the Book of Revelation white robes represent what Christ has done for us that he's covered us and so they say that it looks like it's the 12 apostles and the 12 heads of the tribe of Israel which would mean that John is here and John is also there on one of the thrones potentially.
If that's true which I don't know if he noticed and I don't know what you would do I think if you were the one on the throne you'd give yourself one of those like but what we're to see with John is there's a throne and there are 24 Thrones but it's going to become evident that those 24 Thrones serve this throne and that these who have more power than any King on Earth has ever had these 24 that have more Authority more ability more capability more wealth more honor than any King on Earth has ever had are completely and utterly joyfully subservient to the throne and he who is Seated on it around the throne.
This is verse four were 24 Thrones and seated on the Thrones 24 Elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads from the throne came flashes of lightning and Rumblings and peels of thunder and Before the Throne were burning seven torches of fire which are the seven spirits of God and we're going to into that again today and we've seen it already a couple times and our understanding of that is that's a reference to the Holy Spirit that there are imagery given to us that represent the Holy Spirit and seven being complete and full and utter and finalized and there's this picture of the Holy Spirit present.
But there's lightning and thunder and Rumblings and torches y'all this is terrifying I don't know if you've ever been near lightning when it strikes and thunder goes off at the same time not like you see a Flash and then you hear the rumble but when it's like and you go he's the throne is issuing forth power I don't know if you can feel with John how fast your heart would be beating and how overwhelmed you would be trying to take all this in and Before the Throne there was as it were a sea of glass like Crystal which is a similar description to what uh Moses sees in Exodus chapter 24 and around the throne.
On each side of the throne are four living creatures and this is about to be similar to some of the stuff that Ezekiel was able to see full of eyes in front and behind the first living creature like a lion the second living creature like an ox the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature Like an Eagle in flight and the four living creatures each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night they never cease to say.
Now those creatures are terrifying they're full of eyes in front and behind all around they have six wings and he says it's like a lion like an ox Like an Eagle in Flight like a man is it a man no it's like a man some semblances there some some pictures of it and oh these are around the throne praising and glorifying God and if you look through history how much Humanity has used Lions Eagles oxes and humans in our imagery to show our own dominance we put it on Shields we put it in you know over mailboxes at the foot of stairs that go up to where you're going to sit like this is what.
We do the Roman Empire had a an the Roman Eagle the United States has an eagle we put Lions we put oxes on things we we have this imagery and John says I saw the most terrifying version of all of those and they Worship the Lord and they never cease to say holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come holy meaning set apart on completely other on his own and he's not just set apart he's set apart set apart set apart he's above and beyond above and beyond above and beyond he's glorious glorious glorious he's holy holy holy unapproachable holy who was and is and is to.
Come which is a bit of an odd phrasing he was he exists in all the past all eternity he is now and it doesn't say and who will be says and who is to come meaning that he is always and he is and his being will forever exist and exert its existence he is Holy and he is eternal and whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is Seated on the throne who lives forever and ever the 24 Elders fall down before him who is Seated on the the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever they cast their crowns Before the Throne.
So there's 24 Thrones but they get off of their Thrones take their crowns Off cast them down in front of him and they say no it's your glory it's your honor they're going to say that he's worthy and so that these Thrones even though they're granted this Authority in joy and in worship they acknowledge no no no no it's all you and I I've heard people before it usually comes across as a lament or a complaint and I've felt it before myself.
But they'll read passages like this and go is that all we do is that all that happens in heaven we just worship and first of all I don't think so um there's going to be a new Heavens A New Earth I don't think it's going to be just like this all the time but I do think this will be the best part and to say is that all we do is actually a failure to understand what worship is what praise is and how wonderful it is.
Because you naturally praise things as you enjoy them you naturally praise what you love and the truth is part of the enjoyment as CS Lewis says the consummation of it the the full and final version of the enjoyment is the praise of it that we actually can't really enjoy something without praising it I you do this you'll watch moms do this with their kids I watch my wife do this with our children all the time she stares at them and then she just goes they're.
So cute like it would hurt her to not say it but you do this you fall in love with someone and you just it just comes out you just say these things some of you did this yesterday watching sports something amazing happened and you didn't just go my I noticed that was quite good even that would be a form of praise it would just be a muted form but what you do you jumped up you yelled you were excited it's part of it it's part of the enjoyment.
And So True Praise true worship is true fulfilled delight and made all the better by how much better the thing we're praising and worshiping is so to have true fulfillment and Delight in the one who is ultimately worthy y'all that's Heaven those are your best moments in life when you're so caught up in how wonderful something is you're taking out of yourself those are your most free moments when you're just looking at the ocean or the sky and you're just going.
Look at that look at how wonderful that is and you're just free from yourself for a moment and you're just caught up in something that's bigger than you and something that's better than you and so to say is this what we're going to do Lord I hope so I hope that we'll be so caught up in how gloriously worthy he is that we're just it's overwhelming to us and we get to Delight eternally in his glory and his goodness and that's what they get to do and they say this.
Verse 11 worthy are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and Power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created so they say He's Worthy glory and honor and power to receive glory and honor and power like he's worthy to for it to go to him for it to defer to him for it to be about him he's worthy of it he's equal to it it's worth it and then it says for.
So why here's why you created all things and by your will they existed and were created there's not one single thing that exists that does not owe its existence to God there's not one thing it exists by his permission at his will when you hear people periodically say things like well if there is a God when I meet him I'm going to ask him this you hadn't slurped in one greedy breath into your nasty little lungs without his permission you know ask him anything that's not how it works he's worthy.
For he created all things this presumption of us that we're going to your brain that he gave you that is a small derivative of his brain has worked out logically some sort of inconsistency in him that you're going to stand before him and he's going to go oh neat you got me that's not how it works he's worthy because everything exists at his pleasure all of us he gets to sit on the throne we don't he's worthy then I saw in the right hand of him who was Seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with Seven Seals.
Okay so we have a throne we have a king Seated on the throne he has a scroll in his hand we're to understand this is some sort of Royal declaration Royal edict something that's going to be put into the works something that's going to be applied to existence and it's sealed with Seven Seals now we don't have a lot of familiarity with this but a scroll would be rolled up wrapped with some string and then sealed with a special type of wax and you weren't allowed to open it unless you had the authority to break that seal this is sealed with Seven Seals an example I found this online just try to help you picture.
It and there are other pictures online that may be a better representation but that's just try to help you understand what it's talking about it's sealed with Seven Seals meaning someone has to have the authority to to break those seals to to carry out this command to receive this command to to to take it forward that's what he's holding in his right hand and I saw verse two a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice okay he's Seated on a throne he's holding a scroll in it as we find out is going to be the unrolling of History the unrolling of judgment the unrolling of Salvation like it's going to be the carrying out of.
God's plan and he says he sees a mighty angel now we don't know what this Angel looked like but he was given the description Mighty so if if I said I was hanging out at a restaurant and these four guys come walking in and then a mighty man walks in behind them what what made that one Mighty it's like well he had a hard time fitting through the door like I there's some something that differentiates and so he sees this Angel and says this Angel has more Authority more power more something there's something that declares the greatness of this Angel as this Angel steps forward and this Angel says and I saw a mighty angel.
Proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals there's this declaration that Echoes out this question that Echoes out into we're going to see into all existence verse three and no one in heaven or on Earth or under the Earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it okay no one in heaven all Heavenly Creatures none of them step forward on the earth the best of our power think tanks Kings Governors athletes Heroes nobody steps forward under the Earth.
So all the dead and all the enemies of God that are sealed in the abyss which we're going to get to see more of as we work through the Book of Revelation so not all of them are there but some of them are there and so it's saying that in all layers of creation all layers of existence no one steps forward so this declaration goes out who is worthy and here's the answer and I don't know how long they sat but verse four says and I began to weep loudly.
Because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it John says I started to ugly cry I made a scene John is weeping he is heartbroken that the Unworthy of existence the unworthiness of creation the unworthiness of humanity would stop God's plan that what God had designed for the world what he was going to carry out that no one can carry it out and John says it broke me John's just weeping he's just crushed and you've got to understand that you're included in the no one of verse three you don't get to walk to the throne and say hand it over I've got this.
And if you think background somewhere in your head well maybe you wouldn't think that if you were there seeing the throne seeing him who is Seated on it seeing the mighty Angel making the Declaration hearing the lightning and the Thunder and the Rumblings there's not one of us that would go none of us are worthy we have fallen short we have sinned legitimately we're not even worthy for some of the promotions that come up at our job and that's like how many people John is weeping verse five one of the most beautiful verses in all the Scriptures and one of the elders said to me weep no more and Church hear that hear that with.
John weep no more behold the line of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its Seven Seals there's one coming who can walk to the throne who can reach his hand out who can take something out of God's hand and Carry Out history weep no more he has conquered Here Comes The Lion of the tribe of Judah here comes the root of David the one who was promised throughout the Old Testament that root of David language is that there's the fulfilled Messiah the promises that were made to David have been carried out the lion of the tribe of Judah has come the what the.
Prophecies have told us what the prophets have told us has been accomplished someone has conquered someone is worthy someone can approach the throne and he says Behold The Lion of the tribe of Judah so he says look it's the lion of the tribe of Judah that's Jesus the Fulfillment of the prophecies to David and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain John says I was told.
Look there's the lion and I didn't see a lion I saw a lamb that had been slain praise God that Jesus comes to us in conquering he was first conquered for us that he comes to win us back not as the lion who carries out God's Vengeance but he first came as the lamb who would be slain so that we might be forgiven that John says I looked and I saw a lamb as though it had been slain standing Before the Throne as a lamb covered in blood a lamb that's been crushed a lamb that's been sacrificed that's the lion of the tribe of Juda that's how he conquers he conquered through the cross that.
When it looked like Humanity had won that our sinfulness had conquered that he was just going to be swept away and gone he was dead and buried but he rose again and what did he do he walked to the throne and said I'm ready because he's conquered and that's who John sees and that's our hope is that Jesus who was conquered walks to the throne and is going to carry out history with seven horns and with seven eyes which are the spir seven spirits of.
God sent out into all the Earth so it's not a normal looking lamb it's a lamb that has been slain but it has all authority all power that's what seven horns is and with seven eyes it's filled with the spirit it's got the spirit of God and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who is Seated on the throne John who has teary eyes a swollen face who's been weeping loudly he's got snot running out of his nose sees as the lamb approaches the throne and takes it and he's going yes and he knows who the lamb is he's saying take history.
Jesus do it carry out God's will let's go and for a Church that's in the middle of turmoil and difficulty and Brokenness and we're saying what is happening who's in charge who's going to carry this out is there anyone worthy can anyone save can anyone do this Jesus can and he comes to us the Conquering lion he comes and is first conquered in our place for our sins so that we might be able to carry forward with him because he could show up and just conquer us in our sin.
But he loves us so much that he comes and rescues us and has conquered for us to pay our debt a debt that we could not pay to give us a hope that we could not have gained on our own that Jesus is the one who can approach the throne and when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 Elders fell down before the lamb okay he's God you got to see his divinity when this happens they're not allowed to worship not.
God in front of God that's insane Jesus Is God who came to Earth to rescue us he's the son of God and he has given Divinity and glory and honor he it belongs to him he had it before the world began and he exists with it forever and they worship and praise the Lamb when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 Elders fell down before the lamb each holding a harp and Golden Balls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints that your prayers are brought before.
Jesus and for those reading the book of Revelation John's saying hey guess what you know how you've been tired and hurt and sad and hungry and before you go to bed at night you've just plead with the Lord can I tell you something I saw it make it to him can I tell you how precious it is it's in Golden bowls can I tell you that there are Elders that hold it out before Christ he hears it he knows that he sees it he's aware can I tell you that he's conquered can I tell you that he's good that's what John is saying.
See this picture I saw it can you see it with me and they sang a new song There was a moment where no one was worthy because Christ hadn't gone to the Cross he had a will to fulfill and then there's a moment where the song changes in heaven because Christ has done what he was sent to do worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for so God was worthy because he's the Creator Christ is given worthy.
For you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God ransomed means to be bought out of slavery so he paid the debt with his blood he paid the debt we're enslaved to sin we owe a debt in order to get out of debt someone has to pay the debt the payment has to be paid in blood we can pay it in our own confidence in ourselves we can say I got this I'm good enough I'll pay my debt and you can through destruction through death through God's Wrath you can accept the payment of your rebellion and your sin or.
Jesus can pay it through Grace and through his blood on our behalf and we can be ransomed out of slavery we can be ransomed away from the guilt that we have and we can be brought to God you ransomed a people for God from every tribe and language and people and Nation y'all do you know how beautiful that is do you know how how much the world this is a new idea how much faith has always been be this type of person learn this type of language it it belongs to a people group y'all know the center of Christianity has moved throughout history from Jerusalem to Europe South America yall know that there's not rules.
On skin tone or dialect what happens to your skin in the Sun or what happens to your skin when you get out of water like those aren't rules here there's not rules about what your hair looks like or what eye color you have he's got every tribe and people in language and Nation belong to Christ and all of them in their tribe language Nation tongue will cry out the glory of Christ because they all belong to him he created all of them and he's purchased out of them all of them that there's not a single unrepresented people group around the throne in heaven this is one of the reasons why we send missionaries to places.
Where people aren't reached because we know that God's got someone there someone's coming out someone's going to sing his Praises from that from that language somebody's going to be there it says that he's done it and we get to see it later in the Book of Revelation it says you've made them a kingdom and Priests to our God priests were the ones who got to stand before God directly got to relate to God directly and it's saying your whole Kingdom of people who get to relate directly to.
God and they shall reign on Earth Christ is worthy because he paid the debt rescued people for God and finalized what God's plan was which was to have a people that belonged to him then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands he's just saying an uncountable all of a sudden uncountable Angels saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing he's worthy of all of it it all belongs to him all of history and all of existence.
Will cry out to the glory of Christ and I heard every creature in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever and the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshiped the appropriate response to God on the throne and the lamb who was slain to Christ the Conquering King is worship and praise and glory and honor and blessing forever and ever.
If you ever have in any moment where you think is it worth this is it worth the effort is it worth the repentance is it worth the energy is it worth giving my money to is it worth is it worth laboring for is it worth giving up this promotion so that I can go be a part of this is it worth saying no to everything so I can say yes to Christ the answer is it is eternal worth it that God who reigns forever is worth glory and honor and praise and Christ who died to redeem a people.
For himself is worth all glory and honor and praise and blessing and might and power forever and ever and ever and ever and ever he is worth it and he is worthy and the only appropriate response is worship so that's what we're going to do we're going to take a moment together as a Church and we're going to worship and if you've never surrendered to Christ can I tell you that in the Book of Revelation he will conquer with a sword.
But by God's grace the way that he conquered for us is that he was conquered for us that he is a lamb who was slain so that you might be forgiven so that you might look and say God I'm not worthy but Christ is and my hope is in him I've fallen short I mess up I've caused so many problems I've hurt so many people I I'm covered in guilt but I have a lamb who's paid my debt who's ransomed me with his blood and my hope is in him.
And then Church we get to sing he's worthy which means that we're included we're welcomed he's worthy I'm not worthy He's Worthy the question before God is who is worthy and you're going to get there and you're either going to say I think it's me and be wrong or you're going to stand and say it's Christ he is worthy he is worthy I'm not but he is and my hopes in him and my trust in him and I tell the Lord this all the time.
When I see my sin so clearly I say if you don't save me I won't be saved if you don't forgive me I won't be forgiven if you don't help me I won't be helped because it's all on your glorious Grace that I have hope but if you have Jesus you have hope because he is worthy let's pray Lord Jesus you are worthy of all things you're worthy of all of our time of all of our energy of all of our money of all of our hope of all of our effort of all of our might of all of our mental capabilities you're worthy of all things you're worthy of all glory and all pra.
Praise and all power and all wealth it all is yours may we trust you and may we praise you and may we Delight in you and may for a moment through the power of your spirit may this place get so close to the throne room that we can see you that we can know you that we can feel you and that we can worship you that we can join with the song of Heaven to the praise of your glory amen the band's going to come back up we're going to join in singing with one another this is one of the reasons why we sing and praise on Sundays and it's one of the reasons why.
We should take it seriously that you're being invited into something gloriously wonderful something that exists in eternity something that belongs in front of the Lord right now it's not a time to talk it's not a time to text it's not a time to do anything else it's time for us to try to set our hearts for just a moment to get them so out of the the mess that we're in all the time where we just see things here and to just.
For a moment raise our eyes and say Lord help me see a door open to Heaven may I see your throne for a moment may have been caught up in how worthy and glorious you are so as a Church family we're going to take communion we're going to take a moment where you just recognize that he is worthy and that you are not but by his glorious Grace he was slain for us if you're a Christian communion is for you it's where we we.
Remember the broken body the shed blood of Christ on our behalf if you're not a Christian communion is not for you but you can trust Christ and he will be for you he will rescue and forgive if you need forgiveness he grants forgiveness and mercy because all glory and honor and power goes to him so if you're not a Christian I we' invite you to place your hope and trust in Jesus and if you are a Christian we'd invite you to take a moment.
And then take communion as a Church family and then we're going to sing together and if you have a gluten allergy we have gluten-free back there.
Revelation: Laodicea
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Morning my name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here um we say that regularly uh I'm just one of the pastors we actually don't have a lead Pastor it's a team of five different pastors we also say Elder uh as the New Testament does that oversee different areas of our Church and I'm thankful for that I'm thankful for Isaac Hill who uh oversees families and students and uh facilities and helps with operations he was up there getting that room ready.
For our fourth and fifth graders uh I'm just thankful for the service that he does of our Church thankful for Matt Freeman who was just leading worship he's one of our pastors uh and in the the Church of our size and to be able to have a Sunday morning and the way they worship I'm just I'm thankful for the work he puts in I'm thankful for Chad Phillips who tells good jokes and no he he over SE Community groups and our operations and he puts.
So much effort into leading our Church and I'm thankful I get to preach alongside of him I ever see teaching and counseling and care and spiritual formation and then we have Raz Bradley who often times is less visible uh he just is he works behind the scenes a lot so a lot of the times you don't get to see him working as a pastor here he serves in a bunch of different capacities and oversees different things in different seasons one of the things I appreciate about what Raz brings to our team and I say appreciate in a LoveHate kind of relationship way is uh Raz is very straightforward he just is uh I think part.
Of that is uh he's not from the south I think Southerners we we dance around things a little bit sometimes he's from Australia I think uh is a little more of a straightforward culture I think raz's personality is a little straightforward I think that uh often times it's Holy Spirit empowerment because every now and then when we're in Elder meetings or every now when again we're deciding to do a thing uh it's helpful for him cuz I know it's like I can.
See it coming I can see his face and it's like his beautiful stupid face it's about to come and he says a thing and he's like no no no it's very straightforwardly tells us we this is we're this is foolish we should not do this and he's done that so many times in so many helpful annoying and awesome and beautiful ways over the years but I appreciate uh what he brings the team in this very straightforward when he seees something that is wrong he's going to say something he he's going to call us to account and that straightforwardness uh uh at times like you know like anyone like we all make mistakes and at times.
It's it's uh not good but a lot of times it is really Holy Spirit in power because that's what our God does with us sometimes sometimes he he he looks at us and he straightforwardly calls us to account he calls us uh out in our sin and that's what Jesus does today in this seventh letter and the final letter in this part one we're walking through the letters that Jesus wrote to these new testament churches he is very straightforward with the Church of leoda and it is a straightforward rebuke.
Today we get to look at this final letter before we move on to part two of Revelation and as we look at his straightforwardness and calling them to account we as the Church get to see that how that applies to us and that's all we're going to do today so I'm going to pray for us then we'll walk through the text together heavenly father I thank you for the goodness of the Gospel that we just celebrated and saying that all we have is you our only hope is you.
But that means we need you to confront us in our waywardness to confront us in our sin and foolishness so that we might behold you in faith and walk that out in Repentance and the good works that you have in store for us we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so we pick up in chapter 3 verse 14 and to the angel of the Church in leody deia write the words of the amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of God's creation.
So in standard form in these letters he introduces the Church it's the Church of leoda this is this little route that we've shown that goes through Asia Minor that goes through the modern day Turkey this is the last stop on this route and this Church in this city is like many of the other cities that we've seen before it it is wealthy it is very Pagan very GRE or Roman and Pagan worship has great uh wealth and prosperity and trade that runs through it.
So very similar to everything we've seen thus far and then Christ in the next part as he does in all these letters he describes himself and he says the words of the amen now we're used to that word we say at the end of prayers we may not realize what it actually means in the Hebrew it just means truly so be it it's it's it's it's we pray this thing and so be it in accordance with your will as the New Testament Church as we pray in accordance with Will.
So be it this is a statement that Christ is the amen he is the one that makes things happen he's The Sovereign ruler and Reiger over all things he is the one that makes things to be and it calls him the faithful and true witness that Christ is faithful and he is true and he sees it Witnesses everything this is a sovereign Rule and a sovereign sight amongst the churches amongst the people of God and then it says the beginning of God's creation this is a statement that Christ along with.
God the father and uh God the Holy Spirit was at the beginning this is the God who made all things out of Christ and The Trinity all things came to be out of nothing this is a sovereign ruler and reigner of all all things from beginning to end as it is in this book and he describes himself and then he leads into a very very sharp rebuke probably the sharpest rebuke of any of the letters that we've seen thus far and it's only rebuke there is no encouragement in this letter not an ounce of it he goes straight into this heavy rebuke.
Now I want to read the whole rebuke to give some context for all of what he's saying and then we'll go through it verse by verse he says I know your works you are neither cold nor hot would that you were either cold or hot so because you were lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth for you say I am rich I have prospered and I need nothing not realizing that you are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire.
So that you may be rich and white garments that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and sound 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 okay so this first part he gives three pictures hot water cold water and luke warm water he says I know your works.
Okay he's describing their Works he says your works are neither cold nor hot what that you either cold or hot so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth there are some people who will suggest there's some archaeological evidence that uh that shows that above Leo deia was a city called heropolis and that city was famous for its hot springs and that uh the aqueduct system that the Romans have would take hot water like from that City and transport it down to Le oia.
But by the time that it made the sixmile trip down to leoda it actually was lukewarm water which is useless I mean hot water is hot it's useful for bathing and cleaning cold water is useful because it's it's good drinking Source but lukewarm water well that's useless and and that's I mean that lukewarm water breeds bacteria and sickness now I'm not an archaeologist and archaeology nerds with the Bible disagree on whether that happen or not it's possible it did it's possible it didn't guess what it doesn't matter.
Because it still makes sense to us too because everyone gets the illustration hot water is useful I like a hot shower cold water is useful i' like to have a cold drink of water I don't want a lukewarm drink of water because I'm not a psychopath I don't take lukewarm showers because no just no we all get what he's saying there hot and cold water is useful lukewarm water is useless but here's where it takes a turn and somehow I would I would argue how some misinterpret this how some have taught this is.
So what is being said here is you need to be hot like on fire for Christ and if you're like hot water like you're on fire for Christ that's useful you need to be hot or you to be cold which means you be distant you can be hard and atheist but what God really despises is the middle ground he doesn't like lukewarm faith if you claim Jesus in name only and you just go through the motions God hates that will spit you out of his mouth which is the language Old Testament Prophet language of judgment.
So be hot on fire for Christ or be an atheist but don't be the middle ground and that is how this gets taught sometimes and some of you that may be your understanding of this text what I want to do is push on that a little bit to reshape this in a way that I think is more true to what the text is actually saying here so my guess is is the reason that some folks will come up with this illustration that says hot on fire cold distant from.
God lukewarm Middle Ground has a little bit to do with how we understand the word lukewarm in the English the word itself definition one temperature lukewarm definition two unenthusiastic that's how we understand this word but I think we need to put the cart before the horse and not this is true for any text that we study if you're at home reading your Bible it's not what do I feel that the text is it's not what I think it is is what is the text saying itself and here what does.
Jesus mean when he says hot cold and lukewarm and that's the work that needs to be done here so uh what is he getting at I think very uh simply hot and cold are useful lukewarm is useless is it your works are not useful I oh that you'd be like hot and cold water all that you your Works o lead Deans would be useful but they're but they're not they're useless I think that's directly what he's saying when he's he's keeping it encamped in hot cold.
And then lukewarm and he says if your works are to be found like lukewarm water useless then I'll reject them which leads the next question okay then what does he mean when he says lukewarm what does he mean in this illustration when he says useless works because what I what I don't think is being argued here I don't think God's desire is for you to be on fire for Christ or to be hard and atheist I don't think that's what God is saying here I don't think he's saying that be either or not I know I think he's saying let your Works be useful let them not be useless.
And then he goes on to Define what this uselessness is starting in verse 174 you say I am rich I have prospered and I need nothing not realizing that you are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked these leody Deans part of their lukewarmness is that they are wealthy they are rich and they are prideful and their richness they believe themselves to be self-sufficient because of their wealth not in need because of their wealth which is on par with this city leoda is a city that was rich around 60 AD there was an earthquake that hit this region many of the Cities uh got aid from Rome to be able to rebuild their cities Leo deia.
Said we're good we will handle this ourselves and and that's that cultural probably ethos that was in that City probably trickled down to this Church that's what culture does it impacts us and the way that we view God and others in this world so they are rich and they're prideful in it and their self-sufficiency and they think we we're good we don't have need we're doing okay as a Church and Jesus says you are not I mean wretched pitiable poor blind naked goodness that man alive G A lot of times we have this picture of.
Jesus as this traveling Sage who like Scoops up babies and gives kisses and warm hugs and he is that our God is gentle and he is kind and he is wonderful and he's also a prophet I mean the the these this this is Old Testament uh covenantal language for being morally bankrupt wretched evil pitiable you are pitiful and miserable poor you are spiritually poor you're spiritually blind you're spiritually naked you are pitiful and wretched I mean just imagine listen imagine the force of that hearing that right like.
If I just decided to point at someone in the room and then put my finger on someone and said you are wretched you are pitiable you are poor you are blind you are naked if I said that it would be a little unnerving it would make this a little bit awkward we would not like that you might not come back right this is confrontational Christ okay he does this sometimes this is one of the more aggressive times that we see it and he calls them to account in a very straightforward manner.
Because here's the thing I don't think they knew this about themselves that's what the text seems to lead right I think they thought we're good we're great we're awesome and they're not in it fake the facade of of of being great is hiding the fact that that beneath the surface there's something deeply morally wrong and broken in them to where they're not living out their faith the way they're supposed to a few years ago there was a music festival called fryfest and this Festival was build as like the most luxurious ious Music Festival on a remote island in the Bahamas like it was it's going to be great music it's going to be.
There's going to be luxurious food and AC and accommodations it's going to be great and everyone got really excited about seeing Blink 182 on an island in the Bahamas and overpaying to go see them and they did it they showed up the Bahamas ready for the luxurious Festival experience and when they got there they were like FEMA disaster tents for housing it was uh uh Styrofoam boxes of cheese sandwiches and not even like toasted cheese sandwiches like bread cheap cheese bread closed here's your luxury and like immediately everything unraveled I mean just complete utter disaster people I mean it was actually a safety issue they didn't have enough bathrooms they have Wall I mean it.
Was bad it ended immediately when people arrived and it was buil as I mean they they they sold it as this is awesome and it's great and beneath the surface it was garbage and this Church this is the reality they've deceived themselves they think they're okay they think they don't have need they think they're fine and Jesus is standing in the in front of them and saying you're not okay in fact you're much worse than not okay and you need to.
See the reality and get rid of this facade this fakeness and this you are wretched and poor and pable it is an aggressive call up but then Jesus moves into in verse 18 he moves into language of the Gospel he says in verse 18 he says I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich in white garments you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and SV to anoint your eyes.
So that you may see this is language of the Gospel he he's speaking about the richness of the Gospel right come to me for for gold don't these Earthly riches that have deceived you into thinking that you're okay it it leave that come to me and I will give you gold and richness I will give you the goodness of my righteousness these white garments this is language of the righteousness of Christ that when you come to Christ in your sin you put your faith in him and what you receive is the perfect righteousness of Christ that stands.
For you and the Riches of of the gifts of the Spirit that are lavished upon us and the riches that await Us in eternity and he said I'll give you I'll give you Sal I'll give you ointment for your eyes you're blind right now you don't see this but I'll give you ointment I will open up your eyes so that you can see your spiritual reality so you will not continue to uh Wander from me towards blinding yourself with riches he gives them the Gospel and in.
Verse 19 he says Those whom I love I reprove in discipline so be zealous and repent which I appreciate two pictures here the first is this that Those whom I love I reprove and discipline y' God disciplines Those whom he loves God's kindness in a lot of ways in seasons of our life is discipline and I I think that we're infected by uh bad feel olical streams that flow in and out of our country that God shows his Blessing through the gifts that he gives you through material things and it shies away from both a Theology of suffering.
But a Theology of God that shows that he disciplines Those whom he loves which is a a broad category for a lot of things I I I think when you sin and you make mistakes you run to God for forgiveness but then you don't want the consequences of your sin to come to bear and some people live under the consequences of their sin for years and that's God's kindness to discipline us that's his kindness to show love to us through discipline I think sometimes we endure hardships we endure endure sufferings and we we we begin to question the goodness of.
God where are you God why aren't you giving me this thing why isn't this working out in the way in which I want it to and it's hard for us to see that in those Seasons that God is refining our faith through the fires of Trials and and and it's disciplining Us in the same way that I I love my children and one of the ways I show love to my children is I disciplined them you ever been around a nine-year-old who's undisciplined at three it's like um how much damage can you do you need to work on this before it gets out of hand at nine it's like goodness gracious this is you've show.
You've not loved your child you certainly don't love everybody else that has to deal with your child now but God did disciplines those me I love that picture this is a new testament beautiful picture of God the second part here is be zealous and repent be zealous and repent so now we're getting a more full picture of what's Happening Here they are a they are a people who have been primul self-sufficient in their wealth but they're also not zealous they lack a Zeal.
For the works of God I think this and I'm not a English uh uh expert on the on the language but I if I had to guess this is probably where the Bible and this happens at times impacts the English language if you go deeper into this and if you really want to do a deep dive on this later go nuts this is great but I think the deeper you go into this I think it it seems that this this zealous language that later informs what lukewarmness is actually impacts the English language in a way that one of our.
Second definitions of that word itself is a lack of zeal is unenthusiastic so there is a a lack of zeal that's a part of this right it's you're self-sufficient in your mind in your riches and building your life on riches and you lack Zeal you are not zealous for the works of God and we should be we should be zealous but we live in a culture that actually has really made that word a no no word it's a pejorative it's like you you don't want to be zealous that's a bad thing especially as a Christian religious Zeal is bad.
But the the Bible doesn't see it as that way the Bible sees it as good uh Romans 12:11 says do not be slothful in Zeal be fervent in spirit serve the Lord we should zealously and enthusiastically serve the Lord we should be eager to do the good works that God has given us we're saved by grace through faith but then he sets apart for his works that we should walk in them we should be zealous for that Titus 214 says who gave himself.
For us this is Christ to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify himself a people for his own possession that's the Gospel right that Christ saves us and then he redeems us for what for his own possession who are zealous for good works that we should be zealous we should eagerly and zealously enthusiastically we should have this Zeal for being obedient to the Lord and doing the good things he has set out before us so this is the problem of leosia this is this this is the picture here this is what he.
Jesus means when he says lukewarm you are pridefully self-sufficient in your wealth and building your life upon riches and you do not see your need and you are not zealous for the good works that God has called you to be zealous in this is your problem and therefore you are unrepentant now here's the problem for us as we read this letter many of us may go man these letters have been rough like God but I dodg a bullet here because I ain't wealthy oh man uh uh you know I'm here every Sunday and in groups.
So I'm doing the things guys I'm doing it and I think that if we try to excuse ourselves from one of the most aggressive calls to repentance that Jesus has in the New Testament I think we misunderstand that American Christians have more in common with the leod doans than we believe I think that on two fronts I think the first front is indeed wealth y'all in the history of the world in the history of human history there is which is a good way of saying that there is more widespread wealth.
Now than ever it's not even close there there have always been wealthy people there's always been a King Solomon and there's always been a Bill Gates there's always been super rich people but never in history until now is there more just widespread General wealth now one of the ways that's been measured for years is GDP which is gross domestic product you go country by country you can look at gdps but econ those in economics who study this will say a more accurate way of understanding this is something called pppp GDP which is purchasing power parity this measures how much the the uh per capita on average.
But individual in a country can purchase and that's a better measurement for how widespread wealth is in a nation and we as a nation in the PPP rankings are number eight and some of you are like America's number one in everything not everything it's just it's not just fun fact we're eight that's still very high on the list and for our country country of our sides that's a that's very high so this is a helpful measurement to see not just who in the top 1%.
But where is the widespread wealth and we're number eight at about $76,000 in spending power per year $76,000 okay now that's about $20,000 more than countries like Japan and Spain which we look at as oh those are prosperous countries and they are youever visit them beautiful and there's a widespread wealth there as well and we're $20,000 more ahead of them we are double the PPP average of Greece we are triple the PPP average of Costa Rica we are five times greater than the highest PPP average in uh the richest country in Africa which is South Africa five times an entire continent in this country.
Now inflation certainly has hit hard I feel that every time I order groceries from Walmart plus every time my wife and I were doing it last night into this morning just like oh man the cart's getting bigger oh man and you know and then we wore them and and then they get delivered which is not a thing that happened ever until 10 minutes ago right I mean think about that like it like and listen if you want to talk to me about this like I will I I've done I've done that like going into Walmart is one thing especially with children who want to grab things going to Walmart with a hungry stomach you can.
Just add things to the card but when you're on the app and you're just hitting the things you save money in the long run but hear that right and I think everyone's got some version of this it's like man this is so expensive so hard but it wasn't until 10 minutes ago that you could get on a phone that was connected to a broader internet Universe where you could order groceries that came from all across the world and spices that came from all across the world that you can make meals in a in a in a in a shelter in a home that you could actually I mean goodness that wasn't a thing until until.
10 Minutes ago and that is widespread I I could do this on 15 different examples of the things that we take for granted the things that we think are just oh man that shows yeah we're not you're not you're not Bill Gates but but you are you are wealthier than almost any person that has ever lived by experience by what you can actually purchase and I and I I feel that y'all I feel that as as a person as a pastor and my wife as a teacher and we are literally dragging down the average of PPP in America by by spinning power I I I feel this and I know that some of you might.
Say but you don't know me you don't know my situation you don't know what I depend upon you don't know the government services that I have to depend upon to make ends meet and I get it by comparison to the rest of this country you may not be killing it as the kids say you you may not be spending like everyone else but just in reality the fact that we have a social safety net in our country that that provides for I mean aund over a hundred years ago before the Great Depression like.
If you if you didn't have means you starved that was for thousands of years backwards you didn't make it there there was an ability to to you you better seriously you if of past 100 years ago you would have hoped there was a Church nearby because that was the only one that was going to help me and the reality is I'm thankful for our safety nets I'm thankful the fact that people can get food I'm I'm thankful for all of that.
But you have to understand that in the grand scheme of the Church's history history where we are this Church our Church is wealthier than the overwhelming majority of churches that have ever existed and it's not even close so any bit of us that wants to distance ourselves from lead DEA because we're not wealthy I think is folly I think we're very much in this exact same category and when I think about how comfortable we are even in these difficult times this passage terrifies me this passage soers me and it terrifies me it terrifies me to think that.
Jesus looking at us and looking at everything that we spend money on and everything that we have from phones to to three meals a day and for us to find our sufficiency in the material things of this world to terrifies me to think of Jesus looking at our spending and saying in reality you are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked that if Jesus could walk through our budgets he could walk through our spending statements we walk through our cash receipts.
Look at everything that we spend money on and ask the question is this to the glory of God is this to the glory of God I I I would feel the overwhelming weight of conviction when I read this and the reality is is that I'm thankful for his grace and his Mercy because in our self-sufficiency in looking to material things for joy happiness contentment Etc Christ calls us to account through a text like this which means we get the opportunity to turn to come back to him we get the opportunity to sit down before the.
Lord with our with our budgets and our spending and say God how can I use this for your glory how can I use this for your goodness how can I not rely on the things of this world but rely upon you as my Lord and if you want help doing that we have a financial care team that that will do that they will sit down with you they'll help organize budgets they'll help you look at everything that is that is in your budget categories or maybe lack of budget budget categories.
But needs to be a budget and we'll sit and look at this and go how can you do this to the glory of God how can we find our sufficiency in him and not our things so that Christ would look at us and our approach to riches and he would say you are not re wretched but you are Christ exalting you're not pitiable but you are uh admirable in how you Steward what I have given you that you're not poor in Morality In the way you approach money.
But you are rich in Godless that you're not blind but your eyes are open to the spiritual reality of every dollar that is spent that you are not naked and baren but you are submitted to Christ having his righteousness cover us and Empower us for the good works that he has with for us when it comes to how we spend so we get that call there and we should receive it and then the second thing he says is what what about Zeal are we the kind of people that are merely fine with checking boxes whether that's attendance at Sundays in groups whether it's reading the Bible whether it's fill in the blank I'm doing the.
Things Lord I'm doing the things or are we coming to God out of a posture that's been so infatuated with Christ because God you saved me when I don't deserve it and you set me apart for good works God what do you want me to do how can every ounce of my life and every ounce of my energy how can every aspect of my life be used for your glory God show me what to do what do you want for me is EV to spend every day starting and praying saying saying.
God what are the things you have for me embolden me make me zealous for the things where I might be obedient to your will and sanctification might be obedient to your will and the things that you have for me he says be zealous and repent and we can we can receive the rebuke of leody deia and we can be zealous for ultimately what God wants for us now it's a it's a hefty rebuke as some of these rebukes have been in these letters.
Now the text is not it's not saying you need to work harder now Jesus isn't saying be zealous now because you got to get right with me it's not the Approach at all no is is this is anchored in the Gospel that as every week as we walk through one of these letters that we see the grace that covers us we come back to Christ who saves us not of our own doing but what he has done and and then we.
Look at the call to repentance and we shouldn't run away from that we should embrace it and say no absolutely Lord help me trust not in myself help me be zealous and then hear what he says next in verse 20 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 that after this intense rebuke we have this wonderful picture where he says I'm here like like a.
Father who has rebuked his child I mean because she really messed up he really stepped in at this time she runs off to her room and she closed the door in tears fearful because what they have done God comes the door and he hey you still still part of this family come to the table when you're ready come dinner's ready come on down how good is our God right how wonderful is our God that even when we are wavered even when we do mess up that he stands at the door and he knocks and he says you still have a place at the table Yeah you messed up youve banked your life on riches you've.
Not been zealous for what is good but you can come to the table and you can take part in this meal with me come he says come 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 he with me goodness gracious our God is so good he invites us to repent he invites us to Fellowship in our repentance and then he holds out this reward this is the final reward of these letters that we.
See and these seven letters he says in verse 21 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 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches y'all to the one who conquers the language that he's used in every letter to the one who conquers to the one who conquers the one who hears this rebuke responds in Repentance who fights daily to die to themselves and their desires to trust in Christ and conquers all the way to the end the picture that we have here of what's waiting.
For us in the new heavens and the new Earth because every one of these pictures is in the new heavens and the new Earth it's in Revelation 21-22 that's where this is going he says I will grant him to sit with me on my Throne as I conquered and sat down with my father on his throne it is the very language of reigning with Christ when Christ resurrected he ascended to the right hand of God the father and one day Heaven comes to Earth and he says.
If you conquer you'll Reign too if if you conquer if you hear the call If You Hear Me Knocking at the door if you come back to the table if you walk this out if you persevere if you make it to the end you will reign which we need to hear and believe because so much of our lives are spent on on building these little tiny kingdoms for ourselves these little tiny kingdoms where we can Reign and the God of the universe is saying put that aside.
Look to me I'm I have a kingdom that never ends I have riches that you cannot possibly begin to understand and if you will conquer to the end you will reign with me that's what is awaiting us but to get there we've got to heed the call to repentance and remember the Gospel and we trust in him and we submit Our Lives to not be a people that are infatuated with the security of riches and not be a people that are overly comfortable and content in this life that we lose the hustle to be zealous.
For the works that he has for us but we own the call to repentance there and we respond to the knock at door at the door and we come back to him and we walk this out until we reign with him again and Kell going to come back up we get to sing one last song we get to remember that we don't love the world and the things that it has to offer that the most beautiful and wonderful person we could.
Behold over anything this world has to offer is Christ don't leave part one of this series I I if if you for seven weeks have sat in each of these texts and are unmoved are unmoved by the call to repentance My Hope Is that God would soften your heart right now that you'd hear the knock at the door and that you'd respond and that you see that the path that he has for you is far better than anything this world has to offer.
So Church sing that wholeheartedly right now and then leave this place today with a faith that's based in what God has done for us and with a repentance that mirrors the very heart of what God wants for us amen.
Revelation: Philadelphia
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Here want to welcome you my name is Isaac I'm one of the pastors here at mil City and uh we have been working our way through the Book of Revelation and we've kind of broken it up into three parts uh the first part being the seven letters written to the seven churches um and so we are on our second to last letter this morning and uh as I Was preparing uh for this sermon I was talking to Ben Johnson and if you don't know Ben he's the director of uh 1040 hope it's a missions organization um that we partner with and uh they rent some office space from us uh during the week.
They specifically do Mission work in the 1040 window um which is the latitude numbers uh and if you go look over it's in kind of the Middle East in Asia Northern Africa and it's some of the hardest places to reach with the Gospel because it has some of the most hostility um there's also some of the least amount of missionary presence there so we're super happy to partner with them but I was talking to him about some of the mission work uh that they are doing and he was recounting to me a story uh about uh one of their local house churches and uh in this house Church they've got about 30 or 40 people.
And the reason that they meet in houses is because the area that they are in uh is uh hostile to the Church uh primarily to to Muslims converting over to Christianity so that's why they can't meet out in the open they meet in houses they can't do like we do we're very blessed to be able to come and gather like this but through this the work of this Church to be faithful in evangelism and to to spread uh the message of the Gospel one of the local uh military personnel that was around this Church had placed faith in.
Jesus super encouraging uh to hear that through the work of this Church this man had come to Faith um but he had when he had signed up to join the military he had signed a statement saying that he wasn't going to do that so he was following Jesus and being faithful to that but he was in opposition to his government and what he was working in and it turned out unbeknownst to the Church at the time time that the government had sent in one of its agents undercover to play the part of a converted Christian to try to get inside of this local Church community uh and this agent basically was a spy coming to.
Spy on this local Church and after about uh 6 months or so of being around this local Church eventually uh this agent from the government he outs that this military personnel has converted and he's participating in this local Church community uh and this guy ends up getting kidnapped the Church didn't know where he was at for several days um and when he does turn back up uh he recounts how uh he had been taken he had been kidnapped that he was beaten up by uh the the military and that how he was fired.
And then he was forced to sign a a statement for kind of public record saying that uh he had just kind of gotten beaten up by some street thugs uh and so this guy is left without any way to support himself and the people that he used to belong to because he claimed the name of Christ he now was uh treated with disdain and he was now treated like he didn't belong now thankfully this local Church is doing the work of generosity that the New Testament calls us to and they're supporting this uh man and he's still working to try to find some work.
But it's kind of hard for him because he's been flagged by the government uh and so it's hard for him to find a job uh but uh he's also kind of gone to the local Pastor there and just said hey I've got time if there's anything I can do to serve our Church let me know so on one hand the story is it's super encouraging it's encouraging to hear about the faithful witness of this Church as they uh seek to share the Gospel and it's encouraging to hear the move of the spirit to work in this guy's life to bring them to repentance and Faith.
But there's also much grief in this story that this man had lost what he belonged to that what he was used to was taken from him that that no longer were people that were familiar faces to him they treated him like he was an outsider and today we're going to be reading about a Church uh that was treated as if they didn't belong so let's pray and then we'll dive into our text Father we thank you very much for your word and the way that it instructs us that it leads us it guides us and ultimately it reveals to us who you are and what you are doing in our lives and in this world.
To rescue and redeem a people for yourself may this uh passage this morning be an encouragement to us may it point us to who Jesus is and may that give us strength to live our lives in faithfulness to him in his name we pray amen so our passage today is Revelation 3 uh: 7-13 so if you got your Bible you want to go ahead and turn there uh if you're using one of the blue Bibles that's available in the seat racks it'll be on page 596 um and as we've been working our way through these uh letters to the seven churches um there's this pattern of commendation and rebuke that.
Jesus has things that he points out that's good and Jesus has things that he points out that is bad well particularly for this Church he only has Commendation he only has things that are that he wants to uh encourage in this local Church so today this morning for us is going to be a very encouraging morning there's no rebuke for us so let's get started in verse 7 and to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write so this letter is addressed to the Church in Philadelphia and I know that some of you are thinking that you didn't realize that Pennsylvania was prophesied about in The Book of Revelation.
So it's not in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania uh the seven churches they're addressed to uh uh seven local churches in Asia Minor uh and that is modern day Turkey if you're looking on a map uh but this uh specific City Philadelphia this is the only place in the New Testament uh where this Church is referenced you're not going to find it in the book of Acts you're not going to find it in uh any of the the Epistles so our contextual understanding of this Church really just comes from this place this passage in the Bible.
And then there's some general information that we can learn just uh historically from the city itself of Philadelphia so regarding the city itself it turns out it's very similar to all the other cities that we have been studying uh throughout these letters in terms of its prosperity in terms of its success and the religious practices would have been pretty much just the same as the rest of Rome that they would have been polytheistic worshippers they would have had Pagan practices.
So this is where this Church is located and then from the context of this letter itself we see that there is apparently this Jewish population in this city that's established enough to have a local synagogue and uh it seems from the letter as we'll get on to here in a minute that the the Church's difficulty and hardship mainly comes from this local Jewish synagogue but I think it is also safe to assume that they would have felt some of the same pressures uh and some of the same effects of being monotheistic worshippers in a polytheistic Society.
So it was some of that contextual understanding let's continue on to uh the rest of verse 7 where Christ describes himself and to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write 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 so in this we see three main descriptions of Christ so let's go through them one by one first he calls himself the Holy One.
Now the word holy it just means to be set apart by or for God that's just the Baseline definition so that idea is definitely here that Jesus is set apart by and for God of course ultimately in his life death and Resurrection but this specific description of being the Holy One has an extra note of weight when uh when looking back at the Old Testament that title Holy One is used to refer to the Lord the Lord of Israel and so uh in the book of Isaiah we.
See it show up 25 times alone just in that one book and so this Title Here of holy one gives us the idea of that Jesus is Calling himself Lord he is The Sovereign ruler over all things so that's this first title that he gives himself Jesus is the Holy One the second description is that he is the true one Jesus is true in the Gospel of John Jesus says I am the truth that there is no falsehood in him.
And if you're if you're here today if you've ever uh had an experience where you've been around somebody that was a liar or maybe you just have been deceived by a lie before you know that feeling of like the rug being tugged out from underneath your feet just every sense of stability just gets taken away but Jesus he is the essence of what is true that that's how he is describing himself there is no lie there is no falsehood in him and we're going to.
See how that's a particular encouragement to this Church so that's the second descriptor that Jesus is the true one this third one that he uh gives this description to himself isn't about who he is rather what he has Jesus says that he has the Key of David who opens and no one will shut who shuts and no one open opens now this is a little bit harder to understand uh the the imagery he here of a key it has to do with authority in the same way that.
If you have a key to something the assumption is that you have the right to access whatever that key gets you into so for instance if you had some kind of physical commodity that you wanted to keep safe and secure you take it to the bank you put it in some kind of security deposit box and they give you some kind of key we live in a digital age it might be a digital key but the point being that you have access and by having that key you are given the authority and the right to what is in it.
So this is what's talking about with the key so now we need to understand what is he talking about when he says he has the Key of David because I don't think he means that he has authority over David though that would be true he's getting at something more here David he was the king of Israel that's the David that's being referenced here King David of Israel and Israel they were in the Old Testament the people of God that's who they were as the nation.
So David as king he was the one who had authority over the people of God and the nation also belong to him as king that's how that relationship would work that the king he would rule over the people and the people would belong to him and his rule so in this context in this description of Jesus he's saying that he has authority over the people of God but there's more detail to it cuz he says who opens and no one will shut who shuts and no one opens that in context here regarding the opening and the shutting we get this picture of.
Jesus not only having authority over the people of God themselves he has authority over who belongs and who doesn't he has authority over who is and who isn't that's the description that Jesus gives himself here when he says that he has the Key of David and this also is going to be a very encouraging description for this Church as we will see here in a second so Jesus he describes himself as the Holy One the true one and he has the Key of David in other words he's the.
Lord above all things he is without falsehood he is the essence of what is true and he has authority over the people of God who is in and who is not and after this description now we're going to get to in verse 8 and N we're going to start to see some of the situation that this Philadelphian Church is in so let's continue on verse eight I know your Works behold I have set before you an Open Door which no one is able to shut I know that you have.
But little power and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name 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 so this is where we get the most amount of information about what this Church is specifically facing about the difficulty and the hardship that they are encountering and there's a couple things that we need to understand to know what is going on here.
So first when Jesus refers to the synagogue of Satan he's referring to the local Jewish synagogue in this city um there's another time that this shows up in the Gospel of John Jesus is talking with some of the Jewish uh religious leaders and he says that they are of their father the devil now to them to the religious leaders that would have been mindboggling they wouldn't have been able to really process exactly what was just told of them CU remember they were the people of.
God they weren't the people of the devil so this would be outlandish this would be ridiculous this would be crazy the Jews were the people of God so how could Jesus say this how could he say it there in the Gospel how could he say it here but what we see through the accounts of the Gospel is that they miss Jesus over and over again they don't understand him and ultimately their blindness to who Jesus was leads them to murder him and I didn't know.
If you know this you don't murder your friends you don't murder those who you belong to you murder your enemies just how it goes so there's that first so this synagogue of Satan it's referencing this local Jewish synagogue these men who had rejected Jesus the second point of clarity here Jesus says that uh they say they are Jews and are not but lie so here the language that Jesus is using he's not uh referencing ethnically Jewish that's not what he's talking about.
Now the the the Jews in the synagogue they absolutely would have they would have been proud of the fact that they came from the lineage of Abraham that's what they were staking their claim on that they came from Abraham but Jesus he means something else he's referring to Jew in the sense of belonging to the people of God the nation of Israel they were the people of God that was used as the channel by which the Messiah would come to bring Redemption and rescue however what we.
See in Romans when Paul writes about this he says for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly nor is circumcision outward and physical but a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the Heart by the spirit not by the letter so Paul who before his conversion he would have fit right in with this local Jewish synagogue he would have been right there with them persecuting this Church cuz remember he did persecute the Church but after his conversion this last letter that he writes he's helping to clarify that Jew is in reference to the sense of belonging to.
God it's not an issue of ethnicity or genealogy or circumcision it's about faith that's what Paul talks about it's what he gets at in all of his letters that belonging to the one true God it's about faith in Christ so Jesus in this letter here he's also encouraging this Philadelphian Church saying that these ethnically Jewish people who are combating you they've actually rejected Jesus as the Messiah that they don't belong you belong to me you belong to the people of God.
And so we see here that this Jewish this local synagogue here has beef with this Church and the main issue that the the Jews had with the Christians is that the Christians would have included Gentiles and they were saying we belong to the one true God the Jews they didn't like this cuz they didn't think that was a part of the plan the plan that they thought was going to happen was that they as a nation were going to be uh uh taken up they were going to rise up above all other nations and they would bow down before.
For the Israelites that's what they kind of understood God's big plan to be God his plan is different remember Jesus comes and he declares the Gospel to all people that the Gentiles come in so they they didn't like this the Jews thought they were the ones that belonged the Christians now are coming saying we belong to the one true God and obviously there are some Jews here in this local synagogue who are causing a headache with the Church and even though we don't know exactly the words that they were saying to them it would have involved some version of of you don't belong we belong you aren't in we're in it's not you it's us.
That would have been some of this language that would have been used with this local Jewish Community to these Christians in this Church now these letters are written to specific churches inside of the first century but we can take the content of the letters and determine what is applicable to us today and uh I don't think Colombia is a onetoone to to Philadelphia here and uh I though I think the general trajectory of our culture is uh heading in hostility towards the Church we are nowhere near where these local churches are at there are other places in the world like we saw in the story um of recounting this missionary work in the Middle East.
There are places where the suffering is just as real as they're experiencing but even though we're not a onetoone comparison I do know that there are some of you that because you claim the name of Christ you are suffering because you claim the name of Jesus whether it be in your workplace whether it be with your families whether it be with your friends that you've experience loss and difficulty I know there's a there's a guy in our group that I have conversations with him often about he's in the workplace he works in it and he's kind of over a couple people and he's trying to figure out what does it.
Look like for me to share the Gospel with them so that I don't get fired because they go complaining to the bigger boss that I was using my position to try to co them into believing this stuff because you name the you claim the name of Christ you've been in difficulty I know that some of you when you profess faith in Jesus that it caused riffs in your family relationships that simply because you claim the name of Christ that now there's tension between you and your parents your brothers your cousins whatever it might be or maybe your belief has cost you to lose friends you start believing this stuff you start speaking the language of.
The Bible and they say you know what I look we we had a good run as friends but this stuff really isn't for me so bye you felt the cost of following Jesus and Jesus in this letter he's encouraging his Church that as the true one he's encouraging by calling out the lies in this local Church that they're experiencing from the synagogue that Jesus as the one who has authority to say what is true and what is false he's confirming for the the Church that they are walking in the truth.
Now this encouragement that Jesus gives is not just in the way that he addresses the men of a synagogue but also in the way that he commends the Church itself so he says that I know your Works says you've kept my word you've not denied my name similar to the Church in Smyrna they're said to have uh little power so in other words this people they don't have influence this local Church they don't have influence they don't have respect to the people around them.
Okay it's not comfortable belonging to this Christian Community here in Philadelphia however they're commended because they have kept the word of Truth they've kept the word of Jesus they haven't denied his name they've held fast to the Gospel that was proclaimed to them and they haven't Deni their allegiance to Jesus just to make their lives a little bit easier and specifically here Jesus says I know your works and we don't know exactly what it looked like for them to hold on to the truth and not deny his name.
But Jesus sees them and to somebody who's been Faithfully following Jesus even in the midst of suffering especially in the midst of suffering and difficulty that's an encouraging thing to hear that Jesus knows where they are he sees them and what they are experiencing and in the same way he sees us he knows what you and I are going through if you if you're here today and you feel like you've been putting every ounce of your energy and effort to try to keep the word of Christ and not deny his name he sees you he knows take the courage that he's giving to you here.
Now there's this intense line in verse 9 where Jesus says I will make them come and bow down before your feet now Jesus isn't saying that the Jews are going to come and worship the Christians that's not the language that's being used here God's the only one who's ever stated as worthy of worship the language here is Vindication language so in the end the endurance of this Church Church to remain faithful to Jesus will result in them being Vindicated and that.
Jesus Will declare his love for his people that's what he says he says they will learn that I have loved you the Christians in this Church who have felt out of place because of the slandering of this local synagogue because of the Pagan practices of the city and the culture around them and the idol worship that was running rampant they're told by Jesus here who has the authority to say who belongs and who doesn't Jesus says that at the end he will.
Look at them and he will say I have loved you if we are to endure to the end Jesus will look at you and he will say I have loved you let us take this encouragement to the end that Jesus Will declare this love for us he will declare that we belong to him and only he has the authority to say that so now that Jesus has spoken to the Church about what has been true for them what they've been experiencing.
Now he's going to talk to them about what is to come verses 10 and 11 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 I am coming soon hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown so this first thing that we run into difficulty with is Jesus referencing this hour of trial and there is much debate over what specifically this is referring to and this uh really goes back to the conception of the Church itself and trying to understand exactly what is uh being talked about here.
And all the different opinions they really kind of fall into two main camps that either it's referencing just the General Life suffering and difficulty that we all experience uh or it could have been referring to a or could be referring to a specific suffering uh at a specific time in the future from When It Was Written those are kind of the two main camps but it doesn't really matter uh what camp you fall into to understand that Jesus says that he will keep those who have kept his word.
So we know that to be sure from this text and we don't have time today to get into all of the details that are wrapped up in this but if the words amillennialism premillennialism pre-trib post-trib any Tri whatever you want the if any of those words mean anything to you this verse is right in the middle of that debate and if you're interested in learning more if you feel like uh you want to understand the different views I would love for you to call Chad he's on vacation I'll have his number up on screen.
But seriously we've got we've got a training weekend that's coming up on the 13th that is going to be heavily dealing with this we don't have a ton of space on Sunday morning uh to walk through all of these different views but you should definitely if you're interested in knowing more uh about the different ways the Church has interpreted the Book of Revelation sign up you can go on to our website uh and you can learn more about that stuff but we're going to continue on I do think there are even though there's some maybe some ambiguity with that there is some specific things that we can take from this text this passage here.
First in the same way that the Church keeps the word of Christ right he said because you have kept my word about patient endurance so they've kept the word Jesus will keep them from whatever this hour of trial specifically is and just like we saw it doesn't really matter exactly what the hour of trial is the language is clear that Jesus Will keep those who keep his word and that word keep will mean different things depending on what interpretation you decide you want to hold to.
But the point is clear Jesus keeps those that belong to him so secondly this hour of trial is said to try those who dwell on the earth now this Earth dweller language here it shows up several other places in the Book of Revelation this is the first time and then there are like five or six other times it shows up and every other time it is specifically referring to those who don't belong to Christ it's very clear from the context that's referring to those who don't belong to Christ.
So whatever this specific time of trial is it's meant specifically for those who don't belong to Christ which especially makes sense because Jesus is going to protect he's going to keep those who belong to him so I think those are some things that we definitely can understand from that verse now let's continue on into verse 11 Jesus says that he is coming soon now I think we would do well not to import our own understanding of soon to the one who is called Alpha and Omega that is the beginning and end.
Jesus as the creator of time let's not import our own understanding of soon to his understanding of soon but what is clear what is plain is that Jesus is coming and here he's using this as an encouragement for this local Church remain steadfast because I am coming he said hold fast as to what you have several years ago my younger brother and I we were helping our dad build some cabins out of the camp that he directs and we were working on installing some metal sheet roving uh and this one cabin we had gotten all the main panels done and I guess we must have been come back from lunch or something cuz we were.
All on the ground about to make our way back up onto this roof to finish it up and my little brother he heads up first he gets with the ladder climbs up makes it up to the ridge my father he's right behind him and he makes it up about halfway and then I'm right behind holding up the rear I'm very at the top of the ladder about to step out onto the roof and as I'm getting there my father he slips and he starts to fall and you know.
When you slip and you fall you reach out for something trying to grab something but there's not really much there for him to grab it's just an empty roof and my little brother he sees him he sees our dad about to fall and he reaches down and he grabs him and if you've seen the difference between my father and my little brother my little brother loses he starts to go down too and he throws his arm up and he grabs onto the ridge and they're holding fast to what they have this is all they have and they're holding fast.
Because if they don't hold fast both of them come tumbling down into me and all three of us end up off of the roof now we're all very tall so it wouldn't have been that far of fall for us but the point being that they it was second nature to them in this hour of trouble to hold fast to what they had so that they wouldn't fall down and that's what Jesus is encouraging them to do he says hold fast to what you have and what they have here are the words of.
Jesus and his name that's what they've already been commended in hold fast to the Gospel this Gospel reality that Jesus as God comes as man to pay the cost for our sin to pay the cost for what you and I have produced in this world and by going to the Cross he pays the record of our debt so that we could be redeemed so that we could be purchased and freed and that in raising a new life that he has new Resurrection Life.
And if we would walk in faith with him we could participate in that new Resurrection Life as well and he reigns on high with authority over all things authority over us that that is the Gospel truth and if we would live by faith in that truth holding fast to it Jesus says that what old ultimately results is receiving a crown and a crown here is referring to a reward like a runner who wins the race and has given a medal that.
Jesus he's encouraging his Church to patiently endure all things and to hold on to what is true so at the end they will receive their reward and if there are any of you in this morning this morning that are here that are suffering because of the name of Jesus hold fast to what is true because there is a reward however my fear is that most of us are not in those types of situations where we are suffering there are some for sure.
But I think most of us most of the time are safe to claim the name of Christ and that might be a weird thing to be afraid of but when we feel safe we start to let our guard down and though the physical world around us might not be a threat against us because we claim the name of Jesus most often in our life there is the reality of a spiritual war that is ever present and that's some of what this book of Revelation is doing.
For us it is revealing we're going to get into this in part two but it's beginning to reveal to us the weight of what is at stake of the cosmic Battle of good versus evil that is taking place that you and I are a part of if we would open our eyes to see what is going on so when we don't hold fast when we begin to let our guard down we start to loosen our grip on what is true.
Then we begin to compromise but let us not be people who compromise let us be people like the Church in Philadelphia who are commended for keeping the word of patient endurance and not Den denying the name of Christ because the reality is something Greater is Coming Jesus is coming so Jesus ends this letter with a promise to the ones who would conquer verses 12 and 13 the one who conquers I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God 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 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches in the Old Testament the temple it was the place where God's presence resided it's where God's presence resided with his people and this first promise that's given to the one who would conquer is that they will become a pillar in the temple of.
God now I don't think Jesus is saying here that we'll become a physical real pillar of a building and we actually learn at the end of Revelation that there is no physical temple in in Revelation 21 John says I saw no temple in the city for its Temple is the Lord God the almighty and the lamb that there is no need for a physical Temple where God's presence could come to reside behind a veil to be with his people because God's presence will fully be with his people.
When he comes to to live with us so there is no place but this language here of us being a pillar gives us the idea of this security and this belonging to the presence of God if you've ever looked at a building and saw a pillar holding it up you thought that belongs there and that is secure there and that's what we see here that we will belong and be secure in the presence of God when he comes to dwell with us you ever been on a long road trip and uh you've been nearing the end sorry I lost my place in my notes that's not where we're at forget what I just said that.
Is our that is our future if we are to hold fast to the Gospel that we will be secure in the presence of God and that reward is so worth it to hold fast so that's the first promise the second promise that Jesus gives is that he will inscribe three names on us now at first that sounds a bit strange it sounds a little weird at first but it's a beautiful promise names uh hold great significance in the Bible because they give a word picture.
For who you are that's what words are that's why Jesus he uh renames Peter to be Peter he was cus but then he's Peter because he's the rock upon which the Church is built that names they give you word picture of who you are so the first name that Jesus writes on us is the name of God signifying that we belong to him that if we endure and hold fast to the Gospel then we would be those who our very essence would be that we belong to.
God that would be who we are as his people my wife and I were in the process of adopting right now and when the time comes when we're placed with a child our name our last name Hill will become its last name because he or she will belong to us that's this picture that's being given here that in the end that God's name will be describ will be inscribed on us that we will belong to him and this idea of this inscription this being written on gives me the sense of permanence that never will be be cast out from from it.
But forever we will belong to the almighty God so that's the first name that's written on us the second name written on us is the name of the New Jerusalem so in Revelation chap 21 later in the chapter than where we referenced earlier it says and he and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain this is John so Jesus carried John away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from.
God having the glory of God its Radiance like a most rare Jewel like Jasper clear as Crystal the wall was built of Jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of Jewel the first was Jasper the second Sapphire the third agot the fourth Emerald the fifth Onyx the sixth Carnelian the seventh chrysite the eighth Barrel the ninth topaz the 10th chriso pra the 11th jasin the 12th amethyst and the 12 gates were 12 pearls each of the gates made of a single Pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass what a place what a city.
And the name of that city is written on those who conquer because we will belong there Church family if we are to hold on to what is true we will belong there no longer will we live in cities that push out the Church push push the Church out of the synagogues that practice Pagan rituals that bow down to Idols we will belong in our home whatever feelings of misplacement you have right now it's because we don't belong here we belong there you know that feeling you get.
When you're driving home from long trip you start to pass the signs on the interstate Columbia 20 M 20 miles and that there's that little sense of comfort that starts to creep in and then you see your exit number and it starts to intensify you feel it more and then you pull into the drive you walk into your house and you're washed with a sense of belonging when the end comes when we are there we will be washed with a sense of belonging this final name that is written on us is what.
Jesus calls my own new name now this is similar to the promise to pergamum describing a white stone with a new name on it but the difference being being here that Jesus calls this his own new name in chapter 19 of Revelation Jesus comes writing in to conquer his enemies and it is said that he has a name written that no one knows but himself now it's possible it's referring to this name and that would be my understanding but it's also possible that it's referring to a different name there's a little bit of difficulty.
If it is going to be that name at the end of Revelation uh because it says that no one knows it but it's written on us but in numbers chapter 6 in the Old Testament the Lord is talking with Moses and he says so shall they put my name upon the people of Israel but they weren't actually marked with a name on their body the point was the significance of belonging to the Lord and I think that is what is ringing true here that.
Jesus is saying that my new name will be on them because they belong to me and this picture that we see of Christ at the very end what does he do he conquers every force of evil every bit of sin death Hades Satan and every enemy of God is conquered by Jesus if you're in a battle do you want to hear that you belong to the defeated or to the Victor and the promise of Jesus to those who would endure is that we would belong to the one who is Victorious over every inch of Darkness that you and I ever have or will ever face in this life what beautiful promises given to us to.
Encourage us to hold fast to what is true to hold fast to the Gospel and not deny the name of Christ but to endure the band's going to come back up and as we close I want us to have ears to hear this as John says The Sovereign Lord who is without falsehood or lies who has the authority to welcome in those who belong and keep out those who are his enemies he knows our work the ways in which we have kept his word and not denied his name he will vindicate our patient endurance and he will protect us from the hour of trial that will test those who do not believe we will forever.
Be secure in the presence of our God belonging to him belonging to his City and belonging to the Conquering son let us hold fast to this that we might receive our reward Jesus is coming.
Revelation: Sardis
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer and I'm one of the pastors here we are in the Book of Revelation still in part one walking through these letters that Jesus wrote to the churches uh and we are going to be in the letter to Sardis this morning it's on uh it's in chapter 3 veres 1-6 you can uh turn in your Bible too there you can also just follow along on the screen uh one of the more famous battles of the Revolutionary War was the Battle of Trenton.
So it was the winter of 1776 at this point in the uh War uh the Americans the Continental Army was losing battle after battle they were pushed out of New York City they were pushed out of New Jersey into Pennsylvania and the morale of the troops and really the the whole cause itself was very low they were beginning to question whether George Washington was the man to lead him and the winter came and typically at that time and even still today in some parts of the world.
When there are is a war going on during the winter you uh you stop fighting because the winter is hard to survive it's hard to fight in the winter time so you just really hunger down for the winter survive and then when it starts to warm up again uh the battle begins again but the American Army was the morale was so low uh that they began to uh as they began to question George Washington he realized they needed a victory they needed something to really boost the morale as they could head into the warmer months in fighting again.
So they decided to take back Trenton New Jersey so they crossed uh the the Christmas of 1776 they made their cross uh the Del over the Delaware River that's the picture of George Washington on the Delaware River it's that battle and then the morning of December 26th after the uh British and really their mercenary Army the hessan Army were recovering from a day of celebrating Christmas and eating and drinking and being married they invaded Trenton caught them completely off guard and they won a huge battle only five American soldiers there were only five casualties there were over a thousand on the other side and it turned the war it boosted the morale it raised their.
Belief again in George Washington but it it taught a very important thing in military history two things you cannot get complacent you cannot get lazy you see the British had won battle after battle after battle and they got complacent and lazy and the second thing is you have to keep watch they they were unprepared they were celebrating they didn't have the people in in place to To Be watchful for the enemy to come in and then they were taken the same is true.
For us as Christians uh we're going to look at another letter today we're going to look at a rebuke of the Church at Sardis and we're going to see that Sardis is a Church that has become complacent that has become lazy that is not watchful and is actually on the verge of spiritual death and as we look at Christ's rebuke of this Church we as Christians should be reminded of what is at stake for us as Christians and the danger that we might fall into and becoming complacent becoming lazy and not being watchful.
So let me pray for us then we'll walk through this together heavenly father I pray that you might help us see your truth today that you would open our eyes and our heart to receive your word that you might call us into faith that you might call us into repentance you might call us into worshiping you over the things of this world so that we might not be complacent in Jesus' name amen all right kick up in verse one 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 so as in each of these letters there's the introduction of uh the Church this is the Church of Sardis and the City of Sardis Sardis was a uh a city that was known for also its riches and prosperity very much like some of the other churches that we've seen so far Sardis was the ancient capital of an uh ancient empire called the lydian Empire and like many empires the lydian Empire had its rise had its Hay Day.
And then eventually it was taken over first by the Persians then later the Greeks and the Romans but the Romans knowing the history of the city and really liking this city it was a favored City in the Empire they very much they loved this city and therefore it had lots of of wealth it had lots of prosperity had elements of pagan worship that we saw in some of these other cities but that's the city of Sardis and then as we typically get in these letters we get a description of.
Jesus him describing himself he says the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars now we've seen this description before we saw it all the way back in chapter one now it was very clear in chapter one The Seven Stars are the seven angels who are on guard in these Seven Cities but in chapter one when I said the seven spirits uh when I walked through this it was uh this is debated this could be uh uh seven other Angelic uh uh Spirits in heaven with.
Jesus or it could be the Holy Spirit as I've spent more time in this I've grown stronger in my belief that the right interpretation of this is that the seven spirits is just uh apocalyptic metaphorical language for the Holy Spirit and that's what he's talking about here seven is is a number of fullness completeness uh in an apocalyptic literature like this I think this is a reference to the Holy Spirit so Jesus saying the words of him Jesus who has the Holy Spirit and the Seven Angels this is him reminding the Church at Sardis I am present among you I.
See you now typically he shifts into a commodation to encourage them that's what we've seen in each of these letters that is not what happens in this letter there is no encouragement for Sardis he goes straight into rebuke so he says I know your works you have the reputation of being alive but you are dead he says you you're known for being alive you're known for being a vibrant Church but you're not you're actually dead this is very similar to how.
Jesus spoke to the Pharisees when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees he would call them whitewashed tombs that you have the appearance of godliness but you lack the power of God it's all appearance but you don't have the power you look alive but you are dead when I was a kid I watched a movie that came out called the others it's about a family that's being haunted in a house and the whole time they're trying to figure out why they're being haunted who they're being haunted by and at the very end what they learn is is that they're actually dead they're the ghosts they're the ones that are haunting the family that is there and it.
Would have been so much cooler had the six cents not come out two years before it and just completely ripped the plot away from that movie for their own purposes but that imagery of just walking around thinking you're alive but you're actually dead I mean that that's what happens there have been people for thousands of years who claim the name of Christ who claim to be Christ Christians who thought they were alive but in fact they were spiritually dead they did not belong to.
God and this city seems to have this reputation for being alive it's possible that other cities looked at Sardis as a shining example of what it meant to be a Christian it's possible that they themselves just said but well I guess if we call ourselves Christians we must be Christians but Christ sees through all of that and he says no I see your heart you're actually spiritually dead you have the op appearance of godliness the appearance of power but you lack my power that's the problem with this Church and I think we've seen I think.
If you if you've lived in the South long enough you've probably seen some of that right when I was in my rebellious teenager phase following the ways of the world drinking doing drugs all kinds of stuff I used to see people that were like this that they they had the appearance of godliness they were churchy they were put together they were outwardly religious but then I'd see them in their private life or I'd see them outside of the Church they were gossips they were very judgmental they they were weren't very happy people very self-righteous and like.
For me and many others was like I I see both I mean this is this is hypocrisy and then after becoming a Christian and walking with Jesus all these years I have to ask myself the same question which is a haunting question to ask yourself as we have unbelievers all around us in our neighborhoods in our workplaces in our lives and we said we we represent Christ we say we're Christians but where are we being Hypocrites where are we having the appearance of godliness.
But we actually don't have the power of God it's a question we should ask ourselves it's a question that every Christian should wrestle with because I don't think uh Sardis was very aware I don't think they were self- aware I think they were blind to their own spiritual reality the very spiritual Decay that was within them and Jesus is Calling them out and saying you have the appearance but you like the power and in verse two he says wake up 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 he tells them you need to wake up wake up which commentators will say this is the language here is a play on their history you see that the city of Sardis was a an ancient Capital that was a complacent because they were an acropolis they were a fortified city on a hill this is a picture of modern day Sardis and uh in Turkey right there the city was built on a giant Hilltop.
And when you are on a giant Hilltop and you have enemies below that try to fight it's very hard to be taken and they were complacent and that what is what led to them being taken by the Persians and then later the Greeks and the Romans and it's the play on their history to say oh you you you've grown complacent here you think that you're okay but you are not just as the leian empire fell just as the British hessan Army in Trenton fell the Church can get complacent and asleep believing that they're.
Okay when they're on the verge of spiritual death so Jesus says wake up which is similar to the language that Jesus uses in First Peter when he speaking through Peter and Peter's writing to the churches in 1 Peter 5:8 he says be sober minded Be watchful wake up Be watchful your adversary the devil prows around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour you need to wake up you do not realize what is at stake you do not realize that you you have an enemy who wants to destroy you who wants to.
See the Church be crushed you need to wake up to the spiritual reality that you are unaware of and he says you need to strengthen what remains and is about to die strengthen what remains and is about to die for I have not found your Works complete in the sight of my God so Jesus is warning them now he is not uh taken their lampstand which is the language that he uses in the letter to Ephesus that we read back in Chapter 2 that there's a judgment that fin.
Finally comes where Christ takes the lampstand he takes the power from the Church that you might appear to be a Church you might call yourself a Church but you're actually an apostate Church you're a Church in name only that you have the appearance but you lack the power altogether he has not done that yet with this Church there seems to be a a a flicker of like a like a candle that is just barely alive that's slowly beginning to flicker In and Out In and Out in and out that's where they are and it's like you're getting ready to be completely snuffed out you're getting ready to be completely spiritually dead you got to strengthen.
What remains and what he means by strengthen what by uh what remains he says your Works uh he wants the works complete in the sight of God so what he's calling them to and the call to strengthen what remains is to do good works to do good works that's what he means by he says your work is not complete now he's not talking about Works based salvation Works based righteousness that's not what he is talking about here because in the very next verse in verse three he says.
Remember then what you received and heard keep it and repent he says remember the Gospel remember the Gospel of how I came I saw you in your sin and I came and I live the perfect life that you could not live and I went to the Cross to have my blood shed for your rebellion and then I Rose from the grave and the resurrection giving you the ability to walk in the newness of New Life in me into eternity remember the Gospel that saved you and out of the Gospel that Sav that changed your heart walk in the good works that I done and provided.
For you that's the language of the New Testament when you get to Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8-10 we're very familiar with 8 and N for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is a gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast that it's by grace that we've been saved through faith and we will beat that drum because that is the Anthem and the Heart of the Gospel that we are saved by grace through faith your Works do not save you.
But you have to keep reading on to verse 10 when he says for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them that you're not saved by your Works you're saved by grace through faith but in Christ Jesus has prepared good works for us to be obedient in them as Luther once said your good works is not for God it is for your neighbor there are these works that God has prepared.
For us that we would walk in them James in the New Testament he's writing to some Churches it's clear from the context he's writing to some churches that have uh have started to just claim faith and live in waywardness claim faith and not do the works that God has called us to in James chapter 2: 18- 19 he says but someone will say you have faith and I have Works he's quoting someone you have faith and I have works and then he says show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my Works he says we're not petting Faith against works we know that order.
But the faith will have fruit the faith will display works and he goes on to say you believe that God is one you do well even the demons believe and shudder so the demons know that Jesus is Lord the demons can articulate the Gospel but they're unregenerate and they're enemies of God so you can claim to be a Christian you can claim that Jesus died on the cross for your sins but if you don't you don't have the fruit that bears that out your confession is meaningless.
If you belong to Christ if your heart has been changed by him you're going to bear that fruit you're going to look a certain way you're going to act a certain way they go together I and I know many of you know this I'm a Gamecock fan all right so and The Season's approaching now I'm a Gamecock fan and some of you might say well so am I and if that's true I will know it by your works I will know it by the fruit like I I will I will know it.
Because you won't be the kind of person that plans an event a wedding a birthday on a Saturday in the fall and what what happened recently is my daughter's birthday is this Saturday and I've been very busy lately and I failed really is a failure of leadership in my house and we we planned her birthday party on her birthday and then one of our friends said hey uh did you know that that's the first game of the season the first home game and I was.
So first off I was so embarrassed so I felt I felt the The Sting of failure and I just said I man I just I guess we'll do our birthday the next day and we we have we have we have pushed her birthday because I'm a fan you don't do that that's just I just if you're if you are overly optimistic right now if you're like oh boy have you seen Lenor sellers I don't know I think I mean this is like it might be Heisman I don't know.
If you're overly optimistic and if you're so used to being completely disappointed and crushed that you can endure years of suffering and loss I know the fruit of your belief that's just I know it that's that if you believe something you're you're going to embody that and if you believe in Christ you're going to embody The Works what it become what it means to be a Christian and that that's what's being called out here he's trying to get Sardis to see that.
If you believe this then you need to work you need to your Works need to be complete in the sight of God you need to remember the Gospel that saved you and set you apart to live out the good works that he has for you and he goes on to tell them 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 that is the language of Christ's return that's the language of his return that's the language of his return and his judgment one of the passages we're going to use a lot as we go through the Book of Revelation is.
Matthew 24 Jesus has a teaching that is forward-looking to the Future and what awaits the Church and in that teaching he says in verse 42 and 43 therefore stay awake same language stay awake wake up stay awake for you do not know on what day your lord is coming but know this that if the Master of the House had known in what part of the night the thief was coming he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into same language.
Jesus comes like a thief in the night you do not know the hour any of us could die tomorrow Jesus could come back tomorrow you do not know when you do not know the hour so do not sit on your hands stay awake wake up that's what he's trying to impress upon the Church Sardis now the good news is is that in Sardis there seems to be a few the very the minority who have stayed awake and he has this to say to them in verse four yet you still have a few names in Sardis people who have not soiled their gments and they will walk with me in white.
For they are worthy so the language here is descriptive imagery and it's fairly blunt to the point that if you belong to me if you have faith you have you will have a white garment this is the language that you see throughout the Scriptures of of righteousness that you'll walk in righteousness that you'll that you'll have the righteous of Christ that covers you and that faith faith will initiate the good works that you will walk in but if if you're Wayward it is the language of SPO of SPO soiled garments impurity is the picture here Chasing After idols not Faithfully following Christ.
But he's trying to help the rest of that Church see you you're you're flickering you're nearing the end and you need to wake up now in these other letters that we've already read we get some context for what he's actually talking about we get some context for uh what what type of sin that need to repent of we see uh idolatry is something that is prevalent in this Church we see sexual immorality is prevalent in some of these churches and certainly this being a similar City that might be also true.
But we don't know that for sure we don't actually get what we get are two sketches you have the appearance of God without the power and that they are asleep and they are complacent so I want to take both of those sketches that that you are have the appearance of godliness but you lack the power of God and this idea of being asleep and complacent and lazy and I want to apply those to our context because if Jesus wrote a letter to uh the American Church.
If he wrote a letter to a Church like us what would he say in those two different categories and I want to think about this I want this to be something we think about as we head into community group this week to think about all throughout the the week the first category appearance without the power how might we be tempted to have the appearance of being a follower of Christ but lacking the power that comes with that I think for some that is following all the rules checking all the boxes and outwardly you're doing all the things you're taking all the steps.
But inwardly your heart has grown cold because what Christianity has been for you is a bunch of boxes to check off it has been a legalistic list of things to do but it actually isn't about meeting and knowing and beholding who our God is it is not that those boxes of reading your Bible and prayer and uh being faithful to worship on Sundays it's not that those are bad those are actually good but the heart posture behind those is I do these things to prove as opposed to I do these things to know who our.
God is and that's the appearance of godliness but without the power I think for others that's going to be uh helping others not to the glory of God helping others not because we look at Christ who in our helplessness saves us and redeems us and sets us apart so that we might look to others and help them too you like to help others not for that reason but because it makes you feel good or worse it makes you look good and that serving others is actually not about faithfulness to Christ it's about a way to make yourself.
Look more presentable to others I think others others would listen to sermons on behalf of others I think that's a thing listening to a sermon and thinking oh man Chad's moving today he's got jokes he's got illustrations boy oh boy I hope Tim hears this just old Tim he needs to hear if he he just if he's sitting right there I hope he's listening and it's like oh Ma'am Spencer's preaching today he's clear most weeks and just I hope I really hope that Tina is just I I hope she's listening and it's like sister you need to.
Listen brother you need to listen if you're consistantly thinking about other people who need to hear this or need to hear teaching to hear truth but you're not actually listening with open ears to have the truth impact your own heart and out of the Overflow of your own heart care for Tim or care for Tina which by the way this is just names guys I don't I don't even think we have we might actually I'm not going to do that I'm not going to try to guess.
If there's a 10 or 10 in the room but if you're constantly listening for other people not listening to hear the word of God impact your own heart it's a problem I think another way we have the appearance of the power is like a faux concern for other people in a way that like praying is I need we need to pray for this person what it really is is like gossip and slander is I we need to pray for for this person.
Because air their dirty laundry I think what's actually more prevalent especially in younger folks is can I get with you I got got to process this because do you you not believe what just happened I just can I process with you and it's like I I I think process is code for I just want to gossip and again I'm not against externally processing I'm an external processor but you know discretion because airing out other people's laundry is not okay it's the appearance of I care about them.
But it does not honor God I think another way we do this is showing partiality which is something that happens you see that clearly the Book of James is being called out being partial to others because of who they are what they have one of the things I've seen over the years is is partiality to having cooler people in your group just I just want I I just want cooler people in my group more put together people in my group I.
Listen I've I've had folks that have come to me come to other pastors and just they go in some version of the speech and it's like yeah you know I've been going to this group for a few months and like I just you know I don't know like I just I mean can I like go can I go see other groups like I just because you know and they're trying to be careful with their words but it's like guys I just you know there they these people I they're they're nice they love.
Jesus but like I just they're you know we're just different you know and they like we're just different stage different different personalities and it's like oh you think they're lame it's just you can say it like you they're not cool enough for you and you know we we're very much against group hopping and we have to give this speech it says no no like I think you should stay I think it's okay for you to be around people that are are different than you I think it's.
Okay to be around people that aren't as aren't think the same as you I think you should stay but we do that we want folks that look like us we want to talk to folks that look like us we want to talk to folks that have the same skin color as us we want to talk to folks that have the same class as us we want to talk to folks that dress the same as us that talk the same as us.
Because that's more comfortable but that's partiality and it's sin and you might think oh I'm a social person I'm welcome people in but if it's the exact same type of people every time that certainly is the appearance of godliness but it is not the power of God at work it's about your own interest and not the interest of others and you may think you can hide behind those appearances but Jesus sees right through it I think the the second category this a sleep been complacent.
Jesus in Matthew 24 in that sermon he continues when he gets to verse 48 he says but if that Wicked servant says to himself my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards which is just language that as a part of the story that Jesus is telling is that they're just there the master is gone I'm going to do what I want I'm going to beat my servants I'm going to eat I'm going to drink the master of that servant will come on a day.
When he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the Hypocrites in that place there will be weeping and nashing of teeth that's language of judgment and if you go deeper into that cuts him into pieces and you try to look at the original text and what it says it means cut him into pieces this is language for judgment y'all that Jesus is getting at if you're a away.
If you're if you're not awake if you're asleep and you're complacent and I think we can do this in a number of ways you can spend your days seeking the pleasures of this world eat all the finest meals and drink all the nicest drinks and you can eat and drink and be merry and just seek pleasure and be complacent to not have a hustle behind you and sit on your hands but you're asleep and Jesus is trying to open your eyes to.
See no no no this is not this is not this is not what the Christian Life is supposed to be about it should not not be about enjoying the pleasure of this world I think sometimes we can make excuses for how hard it is to serve it's hard like I'm it's hard to serve on a Sunday or it's hard to serve and and be like it's hard for me to be at group don't you I work I work 8 to 5 9 to5 it's hard.
For me to get the group I work six days a week it's hard for me to serve on Sunday and it's like y'all the people of the New Testament I don't know if you know know this they also worked hard like you know what happens if they don't work in this context they die they don't eat there's no government that's going to give any type of of safety net if if you don't work you don't live these people worked and we.
See evidence in the New Testament and the early Church history that they hustled that they worked and then they gave themselves away to others they regularly gathered together as a Church they did not neglect the Gathering of the Saints but they leverag their lives for one another they leverage their lives the mission of God going forward and it's like but that's that's that's exhausting yes it is and it should be it should be so much so that you have to actually commit to carving out a day of rest where you actually do rest before the.
Lord so yet it is you should hustle you you should serve we we should be that kind of people we should not be asleep we should not be complacent we should be marked by this I think this happens with folks who spend listen if you spend more money on entertainment on Sports on concerts on movies that whole category in a budget if you spend more money on that than you do giving to the local Church giving to missionaries giving to Orphan orphan care you spend more money on enjoying the things of this world than giving to the kingdom of.
God you have misunderstood the Gospel youve misunderstood the kingdom values that God calls us to and I'm not against those things I I enjoy a good concert I was in the queue to go see uh Zack Bryan in May and and you know what it didn't work out because our budget's not wasn't we we we we're I'm not perfect we got all our problems but we just like this this isn't going to fit some like I don't know who Zach Bryan is is that a new Christian artist it's not just disclaimer I think you can.
Listen we can do you you you can be the kind of person that another way we do this is that you can you can sense the Holy Spirit calling you to do a thing and then box him out and I I I'm trying to grow in this because I for years I would just be ah you know I don't know like I that could is that I think that's probably just my conscience I maybe not I don't know it's just a thought move on.
And then I just keep driving or I keep walking or I keep doing and I'm I'm I've grown to a place where when I sense something like this this leading I just I try to pause and go all right God I don't know if that's me I don't know if that's to you but if it is make it clear right now all right I'm going pull around drive back and go talk to the guy but listen if you continue to box him out like that you make it to a place where he doesn't speak anymore and you don't want to be there there are a lot of different ways that we can lure ourselves to.
Sleep with the cares of this world there's a lot of different ways we can lure ourselves to sleep by not listening to God there's a lot of different ways we can lure ourselves to sleep by not being faithful to the good works that God has called us to and here's the reality you can live a good Moral Moral outward life morally looks good asleep complacent and when you die there will be people at your funeral who will say man that was a good man what a Godly woman that was and you can live that type of life where everyone around you and yourself would have thought man what a Godly Christian that was.
Jesus sees right through all of it because the most haunting thing you could ever hear is after you die standing before Jesus and he says depart from me you worker of lawlessness I never knew you and that should sink in for us because here's the deal I don't think Sardis was aware otherwise Jesus wouldn't need to tell them I think they thought they were fine I think they thought that they were okay and they didn't realize they're marching towards spiritual death which is way worse than physical death I think they believe they have the reputation.
For being alive I think they had the reputation that they thought they were being faithful but this letter is meant to confront them and say your outward appearance your complacency will not stand for you in judgment repent turn back to the God to the Gospel that saved you and walk in the works that he has for you and then therefore receive the final picture vers 5 and six the one who conquers which is how each of these letters end the one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments and I will never blot his name out of the book of life I will confess his name before my.
Father and before his angels He Who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches now we get this reward here clothed in white garments that's the Eternal righteousness of Christ upon us but we get this language I will never blot his name out of the book of life now the book of life it's the first time it's mentioned it's going to be mentioned six other times in the Book of Revelation it is this book that has existed before the very foundations of the world before.
God created the world there was a book where God had predestined names there are people there are Christians whose names are written in that book it breaks our brain we can't mathematically work out that equation but that's what the Book of Revelation makes abundantly clear clear that there's a name there's a book with all names of those who are faithful in following Christ and what he's not doing here is he's not saying you better you better just work to earn your spot in that book that's not what he's getting at we would take this in the context of all the other passages of how we are saved by grace through faith.
But passages like this don't miss this are a motivation to live out the calling that he's bestowed upon us in faith to be obedient to the good works that he's called us to not to try to earn favor with him but to worship him and to glorify him and he's saying do you know it's at the end the book will be open and Jesus Christ will read from the book he will read your name before God the Father see that picture and live life towards that picture you probably picked up on.
Listen this sermon or if you've ever listened me preach I like football it's a great hobby of mine I love college football and I love pro football I think they're both great the argument between which one's better college or Pro is dumb because both of them are great for different reasons but that's not the main point what happens between college and pro is there's one event that overlaps one event that combines the two together and that is the NFL draft all right every April NFL teams pick players from the best players from college and I'm such a nerd.
Because cuz I will follow like mock drafts to see if the Colts like who are they going to draft I don't know is it going to be we need really need a tackle this year oo like I just get it's sad I know but it I get really into this but when you follow the draft you sometimes follow these storylines that there are these players that come out of really difficult uh families and neighborhoods and situations and they work really hard in high school.
And then they finally get recruited and they get a scholarship and they go to college and not everyone plays at Alabama and they go to a college they have to work throughout the summer and grind and if you've ever seen College athletes whoever been in college and seen how they work they wake up early at 5:00 they work out they stay late they they work hard and after everything they've done after years of suffering and trials coming from very difficult situations and working hard to play this game on a day in April one day they.
Finally hear their name called and they are now a part of the National Football League the most elite level of football in the world and there's these videos their families that are crying that are hugging that are hooting and hollering and celebrating and listen you watch that and if you don't get chills I don't know what's wrong with you it's awesome to see some of these players who their lives have been changed and guess what it's for a game it's for a game that one day is probably going to give him CTE or chronic pain right it's.
For a game and that is such a small just tiny picture of one day you're going to stand before God the father and if you belong to Christ Jesus is going to read your name he is going to call out your name before God the father and all of the Heavenly hosts and the angels and you're going to enter into the new heavens and the new Earth with life with God forever that is worth every suffering every trial and changing the way we live that we might walk in the good works that.
Jesus has for us so hold out that picture receive the rebuke that Jesus gives us and wake up because what awaits us is better the band's going to come up we're going to take the Lord's Supper when we come to take the Lord's Supper from the table we're reminded that on the night that Jesus was betrayed he took bread and he broke it and he said this is my body that was broken for you he took the cup of the New Covenant he said this is my blood that was shed.
For you that as often as you eat this and you take this you you remember my death until I return which means the meal is looking back at the cross and what Jesus did for us but it's also looking forward to that day that day when we will sit at the table of God when our name is read out loud in eternity with him there are some of you here that have the appearance of godliness you have the appearance of being called a Christian.
But you lack the power of God because your life has been one that is faking being a Christian but actually doesn't belong to him and I want to say so clearly to you right now now please do not take part in this Meal please come to Christ come in your sin come in your Rebellion Jesus wants all of it he wants to cover you with his blood and he wants to give you the power of God which will change every aspect of your life and yes it may make it far more difficult.
But the reward that awaits us is far better so don't come to the table come to Christ and if you are a Christian you have failed I have failed we have rested in appearances and we have gotten complacent but guess what he offers repentance and he offers forgiveness so as you come to the table think of the ways we have become complacent ask for forgiveness joyfully come to the table take part in the Lord's supper and walk in Repentance in the good works that he has.
For us when you are ready come to the table there's gluten-free back that back corner over there.
Revelation: Thyatira
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here if you will grab a Bible and go to the Book of Revelation it's the last book of the Bible it's on page 595 if you have one of these blue Bibles that's in the this the I don't know the Rack in front of you sorry um just couldn't find the word uh we are working through the Book of Revelation which is a letter the whole book is a letter written to churches in uh Asia which would be modern day turkey and uh there are sections of the of this entire book that's a letter that are specific addresses to different churches it was written to the.
Church in a time of distress in a time of persecution and in a time of difficulty and we find that it is helpful for us in the time that we're in as we study through this that we might gain encouragement and be emboldened to endure and to pursue faithfulness just as these churches were called to so if you will we're going to looking at the address to thota and it's in uh Revelation 2 starting in verse 18 and to the angel of the Church in thyra write the words of the Son of.
God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished Bronze in the beginning of each of his addresses to each of these churches Jesus references some description of himself from the first chapter of the Book of Revelation and this is a reference this eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze is a reference to uh chapter 1 in verses 14 15 and 16 it's a description of what Jesus looked like when he showed up to speak to uh John John sees him and immediately Falls over John says like I was dead just killed over and it's actually not just a description of.
Jesus here but this description is very similar to the description of who ends up being referred to to as the man in linen from Daniel in the Book of Daniel which is another apoc apocalyptic book from the Old Testament there's a man in linen who shows up who has a very similar description in Daniel chapter 10 I would encourage you to go read it but it seems as if Jesus shows up and interacts with Daniel then he shows up here and interacts with John and he is proclaiming what is going on that's what he's referring back to this picture and he refers to himself here as the Son of.
God it's the only place in the Book of Revelation where he is called the son of God and he's going to directly quote Psalm 2 later in this address to thyra and in Psalm 2 it's a Psalm about the Son of God so we will we will look at that a little more as we get to that section in this letter but Jesus is writing to this Church and he says this verse 19 I know your Works your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter Works exceed the.
First y'all that that's great listen to that I know your works I mean I see you I see you I know what you're doing you were love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter Works exceed the first we could spend the whole morning just looking at that and considering how blessed it would be to be a Church where that's a a fair description of what is going on and our hope would be that we'd be a Church like that that we would have works that we would have love and faith and service and patient endurance and that we would continue to grow and develop in service and works it doesn't stop.
There but it's a wonderful uh encouragement and acknowledgement of what this Church is doing and so he then goes to to verse 20 but I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetes and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to Idols so he says you're doing this great I have this against you and he's going to call them to repentance uh I do think it's helpful.
For us to see that this is one of the ways that we can be confused about how things work that we can look at our own lives or we can look at the Ministries in the churches around us and the people around us and say well look at how good the ministry is therefore God must be cosigning all the things they're doing that you could look in your own life and go well I know I've got this sin I've got the struggle.
But I just LED one of my co-workers to Christ so God must not care this must be fine and I just think this is helpful that he can look at this Church and so say this is great but this isn't and that he would be continually doing that with us as well that he would be looking and going yeah no this this area of your life is good but this is the area I want to talk to you about where I can call you into repentance where I call you into Joy would he call us to himself as we'll.
See later now if you're unfamiliar with the Old Testament you might just think that Jezebel is just a lady who's in this Church and that's her name he called her out by name that's highly unlikely that her name was actually Jezebel what he's doing is referring to a figure from the Old Testament and her name was Jezebel that's how we know that's who he's referring to she's in second king a First Kings chapter 16-2 and she is welln there's so much packed into.
When he calls her Jezebel that it's startling to them it'd be like if he wrote a letter to us if I said hey Jesus wrote us a letter we're going to read it and it says well done I'm so proud of y'all y'all are doing great you're multiplying groups you have like 75 people who volunteer in Kid City not at one time but overtime I don't know if y'all know that we have like 75 people that volunteer in Kid City and we need like 125.
So if you're not one of those consider this your invitation to begin serving in Kid City but he writes and says you're doing great I have one thing against you you have your group coaching system overseen by Hitler we would be startled he would have packed in a lot of information I especially would be startled because I oversee our group coaching system but he's packed in so much when he refers to her as Jezebel what he's doing is Jezebel was the the queen she was married to King Ahab and she was uh there's a there's a word theologians ed.
For this the worst she was just awful she actively uh um attacked and assaulted the prophets of God actively fought against worship of God brought in prophets of Baal she at one point has 400 prophets of Baal she's oppressing the people of God and she's enticing them into idolatry and false worship it actually says in First Kings it says that there was no King like Ahab Who Sold himself to do evil the way that he did and then it says as his wife enticed him.
So Ahab was a terrible King Who Sold himself to do evil and his wife enticed him into it and so when he says that you have the prophetess Jezebel in your Church he's saying there's a lady in your Church who's enticing people to do evil now there are some who would think this is like a concept that Jezebel doesn't represent an actual person I I don't I don't read it that way I think I think that that's okay if that's kind of how someone takes it.
But it says who calls herself a prophetess which makes me think this is an actual they're tolerating that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess that there's actually a lady in this Church in this congregation who is claiming to speak on behalf of God and is saying it's okay to sin that's what she's doing you look and say what was she doing well she's enticing them seducing them just like Jezebel of the Old Testament into sin into false worship it says is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols and we spent some time talking about food sacrific to Idols last week.
Because these are the same two things that he talks to pergamum about they would have had in all these places if you had a job and you worked in a guild you would have a God over your guild and all these cities would have Gods over their cities and then you had the Roman gods and it was a whole Pantheon of gods and and what Spencer said last week was everybody was fine with Jesus as long as you played along with the rest of the gods they didn't mind.
Jesus being added to the pantheon it only became a problem when you said no Jesus Is God and none of these other ones are and we're not going to participate that messed up your livelihood that messed up your participation in Civic things in the city it caused you a lot of problems to not just eat the meat meet sacrifice to Idols not just participate in these sacrifices and she is somehow saying that this is okay there also at this time was a lot of sexual immorality and sexual sin that was practiced in Worship in temples and at festivals to these false gods many of them are fertility Gods many of them are are about blessing.
The crops and about rain and all these things and they would have these sexual practices that went along with it there was also cultural sexual practices that were perfectly fine in the Roman Empire that are not perfectly fine in the Bible and so for those people who were becoming Christians apparently we don't exactly know what Jezebel this lady this prophetess was telling them but she was stepping in somewhere and saying this thing that the Bible says is bad isn't actually bad that's.
Okay and I'm speaking on behalf of God and he says you shouldn't have tolerate her which means that we can't every time somebody writes a book has a TV show has a Church wears a suit says something clearly and nicely and helpfully in some ways is able to articulate an idea and claims to be holding a Bible while they do that we can't just go along with whatever they say we have to know the text and if they're undoing things the text says we should not tolerate it you can't just go.
Well he says she's a prophet says he's a prophet I don't know he's got a big Church we have to to know what is true and follow it so he's correcting her he says this verse 21 I gave her time to repent but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality behold I will throw her onto a sick bed 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 and I will give to each of you according to your works.
So he says judgment's coming for her judgment's cominging for those who follow and practice with her and all the churches will see it and take and take warning now we might be a little uncomfortable with the idea of God specifically addressing and judging someone in the middle of their sin but y'all God is the judge and he will judge us eternally and sometimes he lets us wait until that moment when we Face Eternal judgment and other times he brings about judgment in life.
But God is the one who is able to author judgment whenever and however he sees fit now he says he's going to throw her on a sick bed which is a little bit of poetic justice he's saying she loves a bed she'll stay in one she'll suffer and be in bed and get what she's got coming to her then he say says I will throw her onto a sick bed and Those who commit adultery with her I will throw into Great Tribulation unless they repent of her works.
Now it's possible that she was doing some sort of weird cultish prophetes had a harm thing and was actually committing adultery with people we've seen that in a lot of places where someone sets up a cult claims to be a prophet they end up with seven wives or 10 wives or 120 wives or whatever it it's possible this is actual adultery but I think the way it says unless they repent of her Works she's going to be punished and unless they repent of her works I think it's more talking about the adultery of idolatry that they are participating with her in this adulterous approach to worshiping.
God and following God they're in the Church and they're committing adultery against Jesus that's the way Ezekiel talks about it the Old Testament has set precedent for this Ezekiel says for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands with their Idols they have committed adultery meaning that the people of Israel and the people of Christ belong solely to God that we're meant to have our affection solely for him and when we commit a idolatry it is akin to committing adultery that we're giving our love to something or someone other than him.
And so it's not just like well I'm a Christian and I'm sinning here and it's not that big a deal I know I broke some rules but it's like no your heart is going Wayward to love something else when you have someone you belong to this is a bigger issue but he's going to bring judgment on those who have participated with him and then he says I will kill her children now it's possible those are her real actual children I think it is more likely it is those who have begun to follow this idea that this idea is going to die out that her her pursuit of this and those who are following her.
Where this idea has multiplied is going to he's he's going to have it die out and potentially have people actually die and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart and that I give to each according to your works I want to highlight that and I will give to each according give to each of you according to your works the the Bible is very clear about that that we will be judged according to our works that will be judged according to our Deeds.
Jesus says this in Matthew 16 he says that he'll he'll repay us you'll get recompense according to your Deeds according to your work Romans says this second Corinthians says this Peter says this James says this this is true that what we do matters but there there's a way for us to mistakenly read this text and act as if what we do is the operative thing in Salvation that it's the thing that rescues us or fails to rescue us that either we're good or we're bad that either we've done the works or we haven't done the works.
But that's not the operative thing in this passage and even when Peter talks about this this is not how he talks about it this is what he says when we read First Peter 1 because I think he says it so clearly and if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's Deeds okay he's a father he judges impartially according to your Deeds what you do what you have done what you haven't done the things that were good that you did the things that you should have done that you didn't do the things that you should not have done that you did do he's looking at your deeds.
And if you aren't uncomfortable you don't have a good gauge on your Deeds just throwing that out there if this doesn't give you some pause and some consideration about how you spend your time and how you spend your money and how you spend your life and what you care about then maybe you don't have a good gauge on what your life looks like or has looked like over time conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your Exile that we should consider the fact that he looks at our works he looks at our deeds and we should have some fear that you.
When you set your budget should should operate in fear when you consider your time and what you care about and what you devote yourself to you should operate in some level of fear knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things such as silver or gold Ransom is buying someone out of slavery but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot why does he look at our Deeds why why do we care about our Deeds.
Because we already belong to him if you belong to Jesus you've already been ransomed your sins's already been paid for your debts already been covered it is not if I'm good enough I might get Jesus it is because he's already claimed me and made me his through the work of the cross through forgiveness and hope now I want to operate in fear trusting him following him living life towards him and you'll see that In this passage in Revelation cuz he says this unless they repent of her works and he says I am he who searches mind and heart those give us some very clear handles.
For understanding how this him judging us by our Deeds works you he says unless they repent he doesn't say because they've already done this meaning that you had a shot and you're awful Jesus doesn't show up y'all if y'all don't know Jesus I need you to know this about him he doesn't show up and say hey real quick I've come to Earth and I'm gathering the good people who hasn't commit sexual sin who hasn't committed idolatry who hasn't loved something other than me who are the good people raise your hands good little boys and girls.
And then those people raise their hand he goes good y'all can come with me that's not how it works the reason part of the reason that's not how it works is that no one would raise their hand a Liars would but they'd be immediately disqualified nobody qualifies it's not because they've sinned it's because they won't repent it's not because they've sinned it's because they won't repent he says unless they repent meaning that they can turn to him and ask for forgiveness and he'll Grant it.
Because he's already paid the debt with his blood he even says this about Jezebel he says I gave her time to repent but she refused uses to repent of her sexual immorality I gave her time and she refuses I held out repentance for her if Jesus came to me and said that Church over there has a jezebel and she's teaching she says she's a prophet she's not she's lying about me she's teaching them to commit sexual sin you know what I'd say get her and there's a moment where.
Jesus would look and say no she has time to repent not yet I'm trying to get her but but not like you're talking about not judgment I'm trying to get her to come back to me I'm holding out repentance so that she might have life and forgiveness and Praise Jesus that in our lives there's a moment where he says no I'm giving them time to repent Oh Praise Jesus that he's looked at me and not come in and just brought the hammer down.
Because I'm wicked but he said no I'm giving him time to repent and he holds out repentance and that's the operative thing here and that's why it matters that he says he searches heart and mind and judges our works I can judge Works without having to see heart and mind you can judge Works without having to see heart and mind he judges our works as he sees our heart and mind meaning he judges our works accurately because there is a way to do Works where our heart and our mind are not in love not in love towards.
Jesus not in devotion not in worship not in anything there's a I think there's like 10 or 15 movies that work like this where somebody places a bet they're going to go get the ugly girl and make her prom queen and they've made a bet they're going to do this and so they begin the movie begins with them like asking her out telling her she's pretty buying her flowers giving her chocolate taking her on dates now if we're just judging the works this guy likes that girl.
But we know about the BET and we know that's not really what's happening now at some point in the movie he does start liking her it's usually when she like lets her hair down and he's like I didn't know your hair could touch your shoulders girl like you know whatever and then he he finds out she's like a person which we were surprised too I didn't know she was a person and she's like a real person with a soul somewhere in the middle of the movie and you're like wow I didn't know that about girls.
And then so she he starts likeing her she finds out about the bet they break up and then the end of the movie is him telling her that he cares about her buying her flowers holding a boom box outside her house whatever and he's doing some of the same works that he did at the beginning but his heart's different and there's a way for us to do religious works because we love ourselves and there's a way for us to do religious works.
Because we love Jesus and we're loved by Jesus and that's why he says we get a chance to repent he sees our hearts and judges our works because you can do a lot of religious works and not love Jesus you'll get really tired of it and you'll be very frustrated but you can do it so he says this verse 24 but to the rest of you and thyra who do not hold this teaching who have not learned what some call the Deep things of Satan to you I say I do not lay on you any other burden only hold fast what you have until I come he says y'all shouldn't tolerate this.
But those of y'all who haven't run along in it I'm giving them time to repent there's a chance to repent there's judgment coming yeah hold on hold on to the Gospel hold on to what you believe now that phrasing who have not learned the Deep things of Satan is weird he doesn't explain what it's referring to uh I think it's talking about what Jezebel has been teaching and promoting either he's just referring to it as that but he says who some have called I think it's possible that she was giving some insid or knowledge she maybe had she was saying I know what Satan's really up to.
And so you could bring to her things and she would say no that's not a big deal because that's not how Satan works so you can sin here but it's not sin but she was teaching the Deep things of Satan so that they might avoid what Satan's doing I think it's possible that is that I think this letter is applicable and helpful to us because we live in a culture that has lost its mind when it comes to sex in the lifetime of some of the older Saints in this room culture has moved.
So far I talked to Miss Louise periodically and she she grew up on the tail end of World War II remembers moments from that we talk about rationing and those sort of things the cultural approach to sex and sexual immorality from that time to now I mean in in my lifetime it's like Whiplash it has moved so far I have a few quotes from Carl Truman I think he's he's thought a lot about this written a lot about this studied this in his book Strange New World he says it this way he says indeed it can seem as.
If things that almost everybody believed as unquestioned Orthodoxy and I love this phrase the day before yesterday are now regarded as heresies advocated only by the dangerous lunatic French the culture has moved so far that now a normal Christian sexual ethic isn't just that we're more moral than culture that's the way it used to be that culture might have thought we weren't fun but at least thought we were more moral it's moved past us now to where it's like like no y'all are crazy and that's harmful it's hurtful and regressive he says it this way a little further on talking about the sexual Revolution he says the sexual Revolution didn't just say let's expand the.
Boundaries it says let's get rid of all the boundaries altogether and then it's begun to require the positive repudiation of traditional sexual mores positive repudiation means that you have to actually now think that traditional sexual moras are bad we have to get rid of them begun to require it to where belief in or maintenance of such views which we would hold as Christians has come to be seen as ridiculous or even a sign of serious mental or moral deficiency we now live in a culture that considers our approach to sexual ethics as less moral and harmful.
Because our culture has moved so far of been told that everything's okay everything's open to us it'll bring joy it'll bring satisfaction it'll bring fulfillment it'll bring happiness y'all if it would have it would have already done it there's not much left for us to do and our culture is just saying well you just need more you need better you got to push in that direction and we have cultural pressure to move and if you want to find a Christian Prophet or prophetess who will tell you you that some sexual sin is not sexual sin you can find it you can find it there's whole denominations who have changed their stances on things that the.
Church has held for thousands of years I saw a clip of Reverend Brandon Robertson this past week wearing one of those collars which I'm just so thankful I'm not a part of a tradition where I have to wear a collar you guys our tradition used to wear ties I don't even do that but I like that collar he's wearing that and he says he says I don't have a lot of time to answer this question but in short no premarital sex isn't aent.
And then he goes on to describe how the Bible talks about it but he's not actually describing how the Bible talks about it because that's not how the Bible talks about it the Bible is very rigid when it comes to approach to sexuality and honestly all honest intellectual thinkers understand that people who aren't Christians look at the Bible and go yeah I know why y'all hold to those restrictive sexual views your stupid book tells you that the only people that you're going to.
See un trying to undo it are people who want to be in the Church but are trying to be a prophet or prophetess that's saying these things are okay now uh that's all over the place uh the Baylor which was a Baptist College is a Baptist College it's Affiliated kind of loosely they're not all Christians there and they but it's a Baptist School in their uh November 23rd uh 2023 last year they ran an article in their student paper called don't Ruth the ring it's.
Okay to have premarital sex yeah that's wicked and harmful in his book called losing our virtue David Wells describes worldliness this way and I think it's helpful he says it's the system of values in any given age which has at its Center our fallen human perspective which displaces God and His truth from the world and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seems strange it thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong and for that reason makes what is wrong seem normal y'all we live in a culture where we don't have temples set up to Gods the way that they did.
But we absolutely have gods that are held out to us in our culture that must be dis must be served sexually must be worshiped in this way way the God of self the God of personal freedom where nobody can tell me what I'm allowed to do with my body and who I am that I've got to look inside of myself and discover myself and that anybody who puts any restrictions on me is evil the God of Pleasure the whole point of life is to suck the juices out of it to make all of life.
So wonderful and pleasurable and so good and if you're wasting your time if you aren't and if you're facing any suffering you've got to get rid of it and you've got to get rid of those people and you've got to get rid of that stuff and anything that hinders you has got to be gotten rid of because we've got to worship this God this is why our culture is so committed to abortion because the gods of self and pleasure deserve sacrifice they demand sacrifice.
If we're going to have those we have to have this and the Bible teaches that sex is good it's a gift it's powerful and therefore has a lot of restrictions around it it's meant for a man and a woman Inside the confines of marriage you don't have to have sex to be a whole person it's just a blessing that's given to us you don't have to have it for fulfillment it's not at the level that we've placed it at but it is a good gift.
But there are restrictions around it because it's powerful not because it's bad I have power tools at my house I like them one day I hope to own a few more of them they make working much easier but I've never once plugged in a circular saw and handed it to my six-year-old and said have buddy and that's not because I think circular saws are bad just think he shouldn't be messing with them it's not in the right context and that's the way.
God treats sex and the invitation is to repentance and joy but we have a culture that worships it we have a culture that pushes us on it and I love that he uses the word you tolerate Jezebel because I think for all of us we need to consider how much our tolerance of sexual sin has shifted how much your tolerance of innuendo sexual jokes what you'll watch what you'll repeat what you'll read what you'll think about what you'll consider what you'll correct and not correct and people in your community group I think our tolerance has shifted and we've become much more tolerant of things that are wicked.
Because we're soaking in a culture that that has overblown all of this stuff and we also ought to take very seriously as we speak on behalf of the Lord in our community groups as Christians what we tell people is okay and not okay and what you look at someone and go well that's not that bad everybody does that as if you are a prophet or a prophetess who can step into the Scriptures and untie it when we ought to hold rigidly to what the Bible teaches about this.
Because it's good and it's for our good and it's for our hope and it's for our joy y we've been enticed we've been lied to we've been tempted and there's an opportunity for repentance he doesn't say if you've never failed here you're welcome he says you're welcome but you got to come you got to turn away from it he calls us to conquer if you're in the middle of sexual sin conquer walk forward in Repentance ask for help and then overcome it we've got to get rid of it.
But he says this the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end to him I will will give authority over the Nations there's this invitation into repentance that he holds out for us because of the work of Jesus and then this call to walk in that in Victory we don't have to be slaves to sin that we get to conquer we get to hold on to what is good until the end and then he says something that I find to be absolutely insane to him I will give authority over the Nations and he will rule them with a r Rod of iron as.
When Earth and pots are broken in pieces even as I'm myself have received Authority from my father that Jesus looks and says that Christians who conquer and hold on and fight and repent and follow will rule the Nations I'm uncomfortable with that if he said I will rule the Nations and you'll get to be there buddy I'd be like that's great he says you'll rule the Nations just like I rule the Nations and he's referring he actually quotes Psalm 2 read some of Psalm 2 to you Psalm 2 starts off by saying the Nations rage and plot in vain that they hate.
God and they're trying to overthrow him and then it says God laughs at them which is comforting to me God's not shook he does not care that they are raging against him he holds them in derision and then it says this verse 7 Psalm 2 I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me you are my son okay so Jesus just said Son of God only time he says it in Revelation then he quotes this Psalm so he's the son.
Today I have begotten you ask of me and I will make the Nations your heritage and the ends of the Earth your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel that's the exact quote that he just said you'll get to participate in this as well now therefore oh Kings be wise be warned o rulers of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way.
For his wrath is quickly kindled blessed are all those who take refuge in him Jesus says it's not just that y'all get to be there you're going to reign with me and I love the visual imagery he says he has a rod of iron a rod is what a Shepherd would have to defend against anything that would harm the Sheep they were made out of wood Jesus has one that's made out of iron meaning it's not broken and probably it hurts worse I think that's included as.
Well but you can't break it and then what is he fighting with his Rod of iron clay pots my sons I have a 9-year-old and a six-year-old they have us we play would you rather if you're not familiar with the game would you rather is you give someone two choices and you find out about them you give them weird scenarios and you say would you would you rather and they pick we do this like we're riding around the car and stuff stuff like would you rather live in outer space or at the bottom of the ocean Would You Rather Have Eyes in the back of your head or taste things with your fingers weird stuff.
That just is like okay my six-year-old hasn't quite grasped the game fully yet he likes playing but when he makes up his own they come out a lot like this would you rather I give you an entire pepperoni pizza or we hang you upside down and set you on fire I'm always like I'm going go with the pizza buddy every once in a while he's surprised really yeah is there something I don't know about the pizza like would you rather have a rod of iron or be a clay pot like this is this picture of the this the disparity between.
Jesus and his authority that he wields and the Nations is so drastic they don't stand a chance his authority is complete it's it's uncontested and there's a way for us to be in the middle of distress and the middle of our culture swirling around us and for us as Christians to look at each other and lament in fear and say we're losing we're losing losing and Jesus says no I'm holding a rod of iron and the nations are clay pots and one day you'll hold it with me we don't lose.
So hold fast the only way to lose brothers and sisters is to be standing unrepentant before the King when he comes walking in holding his Rod but the call to us now is a promise of coming judgment and rescue but the call to us now is of obedience and repentance that we would turn from this and that we would come and then he says this verse 28 and I will give him the Morning Star he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches which immediately makes us ask what is the Morning Star sounds great I'm sure.
If he's given it to us it'll be great but what is it you work through the Book of Revelation and all these promises that are made to the churches in the first few chapters we're going to see them show up at the end that's why we all every time we get to this section in this book we go let me show you where it shows up there's only a few that don't clearly show up in the end but Jesus says this Revelation 22: 16 I.
Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David the Bright Morning Star Jesus says stop committing adultery stop running after sin stop thinking your sexual sin and your idolatry is okay and then he says you'll reign with me and I will give you myself that we get Jesus he's the prize do you hear how loving and gracious and intimate and joyfill this is that he says I'll give you the morning star and we work through the whole book of Revelation going what is that and at the end he goes it's me it's me you'll get me and y'all that's the.
Hope because there's nothing better than Jesus so may we repent and may we hold fast in the middle of a culture that is swamping us with calls to sexual sin calls to promiscuity calls to pornography and things that will steal Joy from us may we repent may we quit those Works may we hold fast to what is true may we make it to the end and may we get Jesus let's pray Jesus the opportunity to repent is held out to us.
Because of your work on the cross and the promise of a future hope with you where you Reign and we Reign because we belong to you and you belong to us as held out May your spirit move may we hear what the spirit says to the churches may your spirit move so that we would repent of sin so that we would hold fast to what is good and may we love you more than we love anything else so that the promise of getting you at the end fixes our eyes and holds us will you keep us.
Lord in Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up we're going to respond in worship to Jesus if you consider your Works before the Lord if you find yourself convicted of sin do not tell yourself I'll do better I'll make my work works good enough take your heart to Jesus and say I Repent forgive me give me Grace and may you Empower me to walk forward let's.
Revelation: Pergamum
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Of the pastors here we are continuing to walk through the Book of Revelation uh we are in part one which is the letters that Christ wrote to uh the churches in the Book of Revelation so we're going to be another letter this morning in Chapter 2 verses 12- 17 you can turn your blue Bibles to page 595 the end of that Bible is the Book of Revelation you can also follow along on the screen uh because the text will be on the screen.
For today so in the Old Testament feels a little boomy yeah all right there we go if not we'll get a handheld uh in the Old Testament uh during the Babylonian exile King Nebuchadnezzar took the Israelites removed them from the promised land and then brought them into the kingdom of Babylon now when he did that he took their identity not only did he remov them from the promised land where they were he also enforced customs and values upon the people of.
God so the the Jewish people had to live under the reign of a king who conquered them who killed many of their brothers and sisters removed them from their land and then had to do whatever he said up to the point where at times he's telling them you have to worship and bow down to an Idol and you can read the book of Daniel you can see how the people of God some of them resisted this but this idea of of living under the reign of your arch enemy of being forced to take part in things of of being persecuted in this way this is how you impose your identity and your values Upon A.
People and conform them into your image and and make them do what you want them to do this is is true of the Babylonian exil is true throughout history as well now what we're going to see today in this text is that we also have an enemy that we have an enemy that seeks to do the exact same thing that seeks to rule and Reign Over us to get us to worship idols God makes this clear Jesus makes this clear to the people of pergamum the Church of pergamum and as we walk walk through this letter.
Today we're going to see how this is also true for us so I'm going to pray for us then we'll walk through the text together heavenly father I pray that you might help us sit under your word and not just witness it and walk away not just be hearers of the word but be doers of the word because we worship you as the one true God and that brings us into obedience and Delight in you and we ask this in Jesus name amen all right.
So start starting off in verse 12 and to the angel of the Church in pergamum write the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword all right so in each of these letters it starts out by introducing uh the Church and this is the Church in the city of pergamum so we've shown this map the last few weeks uh that if you take the Book of Revelation these different cities Ephesus Samina pergamum each of these in order it's going to be a route where these are being dropped off each City and pergamum is very similar to smear and Ephesus.
So the last two weeks we walked through those letters and we got to see uh cities that were affluent that had wealth and we also saw cities uh that had lots of pagan worship so like Ephesus pergamum is just like that it has wealth and affluence but it also has temples dedicated to Zeus it has cult worship it has all types of idolatrous practices so this city is very similar to some of the ones we have already seen so that's pergamum.
And then in the order of these letters Jesus then describes himself he says the words of him this is Christ talking about himself the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword that is Jesus telling the people in the Church of pergamum that he is the one that will bring judgment sword is Judgment here and the sword of his mouth is what we're going to see throughout the Book of Revelation that this is his word of judgment and what he is giving out the gate is I am the one who will bring judgment I will bring judgment by my word upon those who are not faithful to the end who do not conquer as.
We see at the end of these letters so Christ describes himself and then he launches into the next section which is in many of these letters a section of encouragement where he's commending them for their faith verse 13 he says I know where you dwell where Satan's Throne is now pause for a second this is the encouraging part and out the gate he says I know where you dwell where Satan's Throne is yet you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even the days of antibus my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells.
So we get some intensity in Christ and his speech here he says I know where you live you live where the Throne of Satan is you dwell in the midst of Satan and I just want to imagine what that would be like to receive that right Christ wrote a letter to us and he says I know where you live you live in Columbus IA where the Throne of Satan is I hope that would jar you I hope that would wake you up to what he has to say next.
Because I think what happens is is we have this U almost cartoonish view of Satan that's influenced by culture that says that Satan's down in hell and he's torturing Hitler for all the things that he did but that's not a Biblical picture of Satan at all Satan's domain is here he rules here and he seeks to deceive Nations and deceive Christians here and Christ is in in in seriousness is is telling them this I know where you dwell you dwell where Satan Reigns where his throne is.
But he he commends them he encourages them he says but I see your faith you have not left the faith you have not capitulated and bowed down and bow the knee to uh the false God of Caesar you stayed faithful even the presence of our great enemy and he's encouraging them in this and you can tell from this that there's great persecution that is happening in this Church which I think we should try to understand with because this is more foreign to us we don't understand this type of persecution.
But just imagine if you showed up on Sunday for worship and all of a sudden 10 people were gone because they were arrested and awaiting trial which that's a reality not here but in churches across the world in China and other Church other nations that are oppressing Christianity to be able to absorb kind of the the the the fear that might set in and the anxieties that might set in on a regular basis when you think about are we next am I next is our family next that's what the people of pergamum were living in and and we.
See an example of at least one person anpus who was martyred who was killed for his faith in Christ has Comm mending the faith of antibus when I was in seminary I had to read this book called uh letters to pergamum uh it's historical fiction so it's it's fiction uh but that genre takes really uh uh historical elements that were true about that time and and their context in the same way that the chosen that if you're familiar with that show is fiction it's based on Source material the gospels and has true elements and true cultural elements.
But the whole backstory a lot is fiction so that's what this is this letters to pergamum is just like that it's a book that really helps uh you see how the New Testament world was how letters were going back and forth and really the intense persecution that the early Church was facing and the main character in this book is Antipas now we don't know how Antipas that but they kind of build this backstory and they imagine based on historical evidence of how Christians were persecuted in this time and I want to read a section.
For this because I want I want us to help help us get to understand what they were facing and the intensity of their persecution so we don't know this this we don't have evidence of this is how Antipas died but this is how certain Christians were persecuted so here's what it says it says as he was standing before Caesar it says then the slaughtered carcass of a magnificent bull was carried in and laid before him they then forced Antipas to place himself inside the emptied carcass folding his legs within its body the carcass was chained together fully encompassing Antipas within it lifting the carcass with a metal pole the guards rigged it up.
So that it stood over the nearby fire whose Flames burned low but hot I don't know if you caught that description but he was put inside of an animal and slowly cooked to death now again we don't know how antus died this is how Christians were persecuted in the New Testament world and it's Insidious and it's evil and it was a reality and one of the reasons why that they would kill people slowly kill Christians slowly was with the goal of getting them to recant.
Because if you kill them slowly maybe the pain will set in and they will forsake Christ and bow the knee to Caesar that's what's at stake here with this Church and what they're facing the declaring allegiance to Christ yielded the enemy to come in Satan to use with all of his power manipulating governmental forces to torture God's children with the goal of getting them to recount and the faith of Antipas is highlighted here but it also shows the cost of following Christ in pergamum and Christ commends them.
For their faithfulness yet after this in the typical form of these letters he follows this encouragement with a rebuke and that picks up in verse 14 it says but I have a few things against you you have some there who hold the teaching of balum who taught baac to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrifice to idols and practice sexual immorality so also you have some who hold the teaching of the nicians all right.
So in looking at verse 15 I and others who are way smarter and more educated than I have looked at the original language the the Greek here and it it seems that What's Happening Here is that this is all the same false teaching it's not one and then you get to verse 15 then we have the teaching of the nicadan what's actually here is the nicadan teaching is what is in verse 14 this is all one together now we first heard about the niad and false teaching two letters ago in Ephesus and these are the only places in really the New Testament where this is mentioned we don't have any historical evidence to go on.
That tells us what the nicadan false teaching was we have this right here and it is a reference to an Old Testament story in the Book of Numbers chapters starting in 22- 24 so in this Old Testament story we have a reference to that this false teaching resembles what happened with balum and bailo now I would encourage you to go and read this story in the Old Testament if you're not familiar with it it's a powerful story but when the people of.
God make their Exodus from Egypt and are wandering in the wilderness they eventually come near to the kingdom of the moabites and the king of the moabites baac he certainly has heard about what God has done just as all the surrounding Nations have heard the power of God what God did to the Egyptians so he goes to a prophet named balum and he appeals to him and he asks him and he actually doesn't ask him he offers money to pay him to curse the Israelites.
So bam goes to the Lord and the Lord says no you will not curse my people and when you read the story he seems like a hero because he doesn't curse the people in fact He blesses the Israelites so when you read it it's like oh bam is a good guy until you get to numbers 31 and when you get to numbers 31 you see that while he F the letter of God's command and not cursing the Israelites he certainly disobeys the heart of it and what he does is he instructs Balo to get the moabit people to intermingle with the Israelites and to lure them into idolatry and sexual immorality that's what happens he.
He he takes his payment takes the advice B takes the advice and then he goes and he gets his people and they intermingle with the Israelites and they them men to sexual immorality and idolatry that's what's being referenced here so the hearers of this letter many of them would have known this story so when they heard balum they would have immediately thought oh false teacher because balum is like the the original false teacher in the Old Testament in the same way that.
If I if I said you're being a Judas I'd say you're being a traitor right you're you're committing acts of betrayal as a side note I was going to mention uh Benedict Arnold here this became a whole thing this week because I thought that everyone knew the history of bened arold because not everyone's on my history nerdom level but I said this and Isaac and Chad were like hey man I don't think everyone knows that Benedict Arnold was like the OG American traditor and I was like and this is going to shocked some of you I was like no he definitely was and I went hard after it and turns out not everyone knows that.
Ben Arnold was the like type the American original traitor so that's just free for you some American history there but that's in the same way the people would have heard this they'd have heard balum and they would have thought oh oh immediately went to false teacher immediately went to oh this is a guy who sold out the people of God for money and and led them astray one commentator he says that balum became proverbial for the false teacher who for financial gain influences Believers to enter into relationships of compromising unfaithfulness.
So that's what immediately what comes to mind in the context they hearing this now in mentioning this this type of false teaching that is both idolatry and sexual immorality in the context of the GRE Roman culture and the city that they were in and the culture that they were in this would have been some deliberate involvement some deliberate involvement in offering food to idols or a a feast uh that was uh uh in the presence of Idols as an act of worship mixed in with this would have been sexual immorality which would have been prostitution which would have been uh um homosexuality would have been orgies would have been all types of sexual practices.
So that's what's being brought to mind here as Jesus is rebuking them now when it comes to uh food that is offered to Idols it's helpful to know that the New Testament on this because the New Testament over and over again is going to mention food offered to idols and there's some Nuance in what's happening there as you read the New Testament you're going to see this is a problem that in many of these GRE Roman cities like pergamum uh they had temples like in in pergamum there was a temple to Zeus and the people would go and they would offer food to these Idols often it was meat that was offered to these idols.
And that was an act of worship now where this gets complicated in the New Testament world when you look at First Corinthians you see Paul as as as he's trying to explain this is that while it's explicitly forbidden to go to the temple and offer food to Idols that's clearly sin and idolatry what happens is is that same food that meat once it's been offered is later put back into the marketplace and it's sold at the marketplace and what was happening in the in the New Testament churches was the knowledge that that same meat was in the marketplace.
Now and that Christians were going and buying and eating that meat now it's clear from the New Testament that that meat in and of itself is not sinful it's just meat but was happening is that some Christians were uh being tempted and lured back into idol worship and Paul makes the argument he says hey it's not worth it don't just avoid meat altogether you have the freedom as a Christian this is just meat but don't do this don't engage in this.
Because it might cause your brother or sister to stumble so that's some of the Nuance here of of how the New Testament is thinking about food offered to Idols but when you get really in the context directly of pergamum itself what seems to be tied up in this is not what's happening in the marketplaces it's not the conscience issue it's actually people going to the temple and offering food or more likely eating feasts in the presence of Zeus and and and that being idolatrous worship mixed in with that sexual immorality.
Jesus says you need to understand this is not okay and any false teaching that's promoting this judgment is coming upon that he warns them of this do not be lured into just as the Israelites were lured into idolatry practices and sexual immorality do not be lured into offering food to idols and sexual immorality now as we read this and as we read all these letters we need to be careful not to directly read ourselves into every part of the story okay.
Because there is a context here we are not being persecuted like these Christians were there's some differences between us and the Church but here's what makes our culture very similar to this culture and what makes it harder for us as Christians living in this culture people are fine with Jesus they are people are fine with Jesus as long as Jesus stands alongside the pantheon of other gods so for the Roman culture they actually were fine with Jesus as long as he stood beside Zeus Aphrodite that that they were found with.
Jesus just ad him to the pantheon ad them to the rest of the Gods but what happens in the New Testament and what happens in what we see here in pergamum is the teaching that says no no no no Jesus demands worship to him and him alone these Idols are not real they are false gods the one true God demands allegiance to him and to him alone and when the Roman Empire heard that they said oh no no no no no no that's not.
Okay now you will bow the need of Caesar and you will take part in these practices and you will eat the meat that that that's what's happening I thought our culture is similar because our culture is fine with Jesus I I'm sure there there a small angry minority that's not found with Jesus himself but the rest of the culture is actually fine with Jesus as long as he stands amongst the pantheon of the other Idols in this culture as long as.
Jesus is alongside of every other false God in this culture it's fine but the moment that you say no Jesus demands worship to him and him alone that is when we are very similar to the Romans and their culture and our culture says no no no no you can have Jesus but you're going to eat the meat you can have Christ but you're going to take part in the idolatrous practices because that's not okay and that shows up in a lot of different ways I want to highlight one in particular that we spent a lot of time talking about.
But I think it is actually very important well we don't have temples and uh dedicated to false gods that live we don't have uh little wooden Idols in houses what we talk about a lot is there are Idols of the heart that there are things that we worship in the place of Christ they get our affection our worship and our desires above God we have a lot of those and one in particular that shows up a lot in our culture is the idol of the American dream it is it is a it is something that is.
So infused in the very fabric of our culture it's is the mechanism by which funds the very things that we do regularly what happens in our culture that we're so surrounded by this that at a very young age you can grow up up and what's emphasized is do well in school excel in activities which in and of themselves are are fine they're neutral in fact they could be very good when Direct in the right place but that's not what our culture says not to the glory of.
God don't do well in school and don't excel in activities to the glory of God to make much of him and being faithful in what God has given you no no no it's to so you can move to the next part of the American dream for some that's going to be College where you can work hard and get a degree and make lots of money and for others that's going to be trade school trade school and our a trade listen to a bunch of micro podcasts start your own business at 25 and boom you can start making money and what happens along the way is that this gets reinforced over and over again that.
So many of the movements of our culture is make sure that you're uh that you're leveling up here make sure that you're purchasing this goodness gracious our economy is literally built upon uh people going crazy at Christmas time and buying all the things and the whole and and and and everything's going to shut down if that doesn't happen it feeds itself and we're so uh uh unaware of how it's it's pervasive in our lives that every movement that every uh stage of life is just another part of worshiping that Idol until you can secure the type of retirement that you want on that beach on that mountain wherever fill in the blank that this feeds.
Itself all over place and it's all around us and while we're not being burned at the Stak we're not we're not being burned at the Stak we're not being persecuted for not participating in this we're not facing the same level of persecution the moment though that we start to point out from the Scriptures that we should not worship the God of money that we should not go hard after the American dream that's true we should work hard and we should be successful to the glory of.
God and the purposes that he calls us to and being sacrificial the the the the moment that we start to press on that the moment that we start to say we should pass up on the luxuries that our peers have that maybe we shouldn't have always the newest and the nicest things that maybe you don't have to go out to lunch every day of the week that maybe the place you're renting right now is actually while it isn't as great as the apartment complex down the street this it's it's fine it's sufficient.
For your needs the moment that we say that you probably shouldn't have Amazon boxes showing up to your house every single day the moment that we start to press on the reality of all of the materialism and the uh and the uh things that make up This American Life that everyone in this culture seems to so desperately want because they are worshiping the moment we start to press on that there's a part of us that says oh no no I work hard.
For what I what I make you you take your giving check and pound sand like I'm I I want to make sure I mean there's always going to be orphans there's always going to be needs I know I always be given more but the moment as I got my own kids I got my own future the moment we start to press on this there's a part of it that just says no and alongside that desire within us to say no our friends neighbors co-workers family members and a whole culture of advertising that's pushing along the way saying.
When are you going to ditch that old car because it's a piece of junk when are you why don't you take part in all the nicest vacations don't you see your friends having fun on Facebook their vacations are amazing they're smiling all the time they never post a picture of the bad part of their vacation where they argue the whole way down there no they're very happy take part in this you should eat that all the time it's amazing you should eat Dukes every day the week du's Patti is amazing go.
For it treat yourself this happens y'all and our heart gets captivated by worshiping this Idol and over and over again cultural forces surrounding you say are you going to eat the meat are you going to participate are you going to take the bind now go all day on the American dream we do that a lot but there's all types and I'll just do a couple that are very quickly but there's all types of of Idols that are set up in our culture that are vying.
For our worship and places of Christ one of them is is the is the philosophical idea of freedom and autonomy versus submission to Christ so as Christians we we see the Gospel teaches that we are once slaves to sin to the desires of the flesh Christ through faith and what he did on the cross in the empty tomb we place our faith in Jesus and he brings us out of slavery into freedom but that freedom is in submission to him while slavery to desires and to Idols does not yield Joy slaver to Christ and service to Christ is freedom and what happens is is the moment we start pressing on this that actually.
God has spoken and he's spoken through his word and the Scriptures teach that that this is how we submit to the Lord by loving God and obeying What He commands the moment we start pressing on that cultural forces say uhuh don't tell me how to live my life don't tell me how to spend my money don't tell me what to do with my body no because I'm I'm a free person and the moment we start pressing into B it's like no no no culture is saying are you are you.
Okay with this are you gonna are you going to are you going to teach this because are are you going to take a bite of this this happens with that this happens with sexual immorality itself at a young age kids early and earlier getting exposed to sex and sexual sin and every step it's just going to be do do you want to participate do you want to take the B are you going to look at pornography are you going to start sleeping around are you going to be doing the things your peers are doing and this continues on into adulthood are you going to participate are you going going to be that weird person.
Jesus is fine okay you can have Jesus but are you going to participate here because if you don't participate here you're weird you're backward you're arcave the same thing happens with lgbtq ideology we did a whole sermon series on this last fall Theology of sex plus if you're not here for this I would encourage you to go back and listen to this we spent a lot of time talking about this got to tell some of my personal story in this so I'd encourage you to go back.
Listen to that but what's at play now is it used to be in the 90s and the 2000s that it was just like you know everyone lived their own lives and so much of the fight from that time was just saying hey you just live let us live our lives and let you live your life that's not the lay of the land anymore the lay of the land is no no no no you need to approve of this and if you don't you're a bigot are you going to participate.
Jesus is fine but the moment that Jesus starts to push on this and say no Romans 1 do not engage in this also do not approve of this the moment we start to that Jesus starts to press on this the culture says no and very angrily so are you going to participate in the idols of the day I can keep I'll just do a few more this listen if you're in high school and college you're going to feel this there is an idol of pleasure that shows up.
When you're in high school and college a lot of times it shows up and in partying and doing drugs I felt that as a kid I did it because I thought that's where satisfaction was because the friends were saying are you are you going to be cool you going to do this you going to participate in this and you're going to feel that if you're in high school you're in college you're going to feel this temptation to participate people will say yeah.
Jesus is fine but are you going to participate are you going to eat the meat are you going to drink are you going to get high are you going to participate in the idol of pleasure this happens over and over again you feel this at your workplace so much of the there's so much uh waywardness when it comes to the use of words whether it's gossip or whether it's crude joking in your workplace and it's like yeah if if you kind of stand back as a Christian and you don't participate in the crude joking and you don't participate in the gossip and you don't participate in the slandering of your co-workers and they kind of.
Come to you next you just say I'm actually I'm good like I'm I'm not going to talk about Tina I might think about Tina I'm not to repent of the thoughts I about Tina but I know better than to speak about Tina what are you doing participate come on don't be weird this happens over and over and over again now here's what we failed to I think some of us are aware of this I don't think this is foreign to I think we I think many of us you probably get this here's what we fail to.
See in all of them that behind all of the cultural forces that are seeking to lure and entice you into rejecting Christ into uh uh submitting yourself to the aous practices of today behind all of it is the work of Satan and the Demonic forces of evil are behind they're behind it pulling the strings luring you into sin and we just we don't see the Unseen spiritual reality that's at work that the enemy is at work seeking to lure us away from Christ that the the Demonic have beded down in our lives and are using cultural forces all around us to get us to take a bite to eat the meat of idolatry that is.
All around us but what we don't see is that there is a hook in that meat and in that hook will it will drag you and pull you away from Christ and seeing that he is good and seeing that he is better and it pulls you into a idolatrous worship to the point where your heart grows hardened and cold that is what's on the line here and we sometimes fail to see the Eternal consequences behind the seemingly ordinary rhythms of life that are deep in the trenches of spiritual warfare we just don't.
See it and Christ is trying to open our eyes right now to see do do you not see what's happening here this is not neutral ground and none of this is cute that your heart is on the line and the more that you yield the idolatry of the day the more that you go to the temple the more that you offer the further away you're going to rft and he's trying to warn them because they are false teachers all around the people of pergamum who are saying it's fine it's fine it's fine and there are false teachers all around us that are saying it's fine it's fine and Christ is saying it's not it's not.
You need to have your eyes open to the reality that it's a play that there are all sorts of idolatry and sexual immorality that's built in that that the the culture is going to say that Satan is going to preach that is for your good that is for your more human flourishing but Christ is standing in the middle and he's saying it's not I am better that's why we should heed the words of what he says next when he says in.
Verse 16 therefore repent repent if not I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth which is a picture of judgment he says judgment is coming it is coming coming upon this false teaching and these false teachers and if you follow the ways of these false teachers you will be swept up in that judgment so he says repent which just means to turn to turn from ulous practices and turn back to Christ and after he gives that he says in.
Verse 17 the the next and the final part of this letter that we see in all these letters to the one who conquers verse 17 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who conquers I will give some of the Hidden mana and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it now in each of these final rewards that we.
See in each of these letters to the one who conquers is a futur looking in the new heavens and the new Earth gift that God is going to give to his people to the to those who conquer into the end now there are three mentioned here hidden Mana a white stone and a new name now you can get into the weeds of like all right what is the hidden Mana what is this Whit Stone and let me tell you if you want to there's all types of commentaries there's all types of takes on this and pretty passionate takes I would I would imagine at some point I to be honest I don't know with 100%.
Certainty what each of these mean I I can take a step back and very generally look at these rewards and and see what they mean and they're wonderful you see Mana in the Old Testament that was when uh the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness and God gave daily provision Daily Bread Mana that came from heaven and and the picture here of the Hidden Mana that awaits us is that there is a day coming where you're not going to be trying to actively fight the sinful desires to go and eat the meat of the temple to go and eat the things the culture gives you to go and be satisfied with lesser things that only.
Rob you of Joy now there is a day coming where you will have eternal satisfaction there will be Eternal Provisions that are wonderful and beautiful and you will only enjoy those and all of the Lesser evils that V for your attention and your affection will be forgotten they will be a distant memory there is a day where hidden Mana is coming and there is a day where there will be a wh Stone I that that's either some bit of permanent marker permanent security permanency some will say it's it's an invitation to to an eternal banquet both of those are true that one day you will sit at the table of.
God one day you will have a permanent place before the Lord and on that white stone there is a name a very person personal name that only you and your savior know now new names in the Bible uh mean new identity so when Simon is called Peter he takes on a new identity Peter you are the Rock in which I will build this Church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against you that in the new heavens and new earth.
Jesus will give you a personal name that redefines your eternity and it's wonderful we get these glimpses of Eternal offerings that are given to us that are eternally better in each and all of these that we see in these letters and everything that is glorious about the new heavens of the new Earth everything that is glorious about eternity with God that has to be held out in front of us because the enemy is over here dangling all sorts of idolatrous practices all sorts of meat on hooks that are seeking to rob you and Rob me of that and what.
Jesus offers is better it is better now and it is better then I want to close with John chapter 6 Jesus as he's teaching about how he is the one who will satisfy in John 6: 31-35 he says our fathers ate the Mana in the wilderness as it is written he gave them bread from Heaven to eat and that is the picture of the Old Testament the story of the daily Provisions that were given to the people of God verse 32.
Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from Heaven he says my father is the one that gave this he's the one that gave this good gift for the Bread of Heaven is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world so he redefines this now then the New Covenant of Christ I know this going to shock you he's talking about himself he says.
For the bread is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world and the people he just he he reels them in he says he gets him excited they said to him sir give us this bread always and Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger whoever believes in me shall never thirst I'm the one that satisfies if you eat of me if you believe in me you will be eternally satisfied and that is what we get to.
Remember as we come to the table the band's going to come up and we're going to prepare to take the Lord's supper and communion is a meal of rembrance we we remember that on the night that Jesus was betrayed he took bread and he broke it he said this is my body that was broken for you and he took the cup of the new covant he said this is my blood that was shed for for you that as often as you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return.
Now look what Jesus was saying there is that we remember the Bread of Heaven who came and gave his life for us to free Us From Slavery to sin so that we might eternally enjoy him because it also points forward to a day when we will sit at the table of God and we will eternally enjoy our savior but the reality is that is an invitation that some have rejected and there is a possibility here that some of you have not actually accepted the invitation the Christ is offered himself.
But your whole life has been geared towards idolatry has been geared towards uh slavery to the things of this world and Christ Is Lifting your eyes to see the Eternal reality of right now that he is better and he's worthy of your life he's worthy of your faith he's worthy of Your Surrender so the offer right now is don't come to the table it has come to Christ and to place your faith in him and to eat of the Bread of Heaven through faith in him.
If you are a Christian you have participated in idolatry we have sinned but we have a wonderful Savior and he invites Us in Repentance to come up to the table to remember what he did for us to remember that that he died for us to free us from it and that we get to leave this day actively walking away from the idolatry that so wants our affections and our desire so as you are ready come to the table there's gluten-free in that back corner.
Let me pray heavenly father I pray that you might help us see the Eternal reality of the enemy who wants to lure and entice us towards sin and unfaithfulness and waywardness and I pray that we wouldn't stand for it we'd stand firm in the Gospel that you died for that sin that we might flee from idolatry that we might flee from sexual immorality that we might flee to you and find refuge in you the Bread of Heaven and I pray if there's anyone here that has not placed their faith in you I pray they would.
Today in Jesus name amen.
Revelation: Smyrna
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here in 1942 Nazi Germany was marching its way across Russia and winning and Russia was consistently retreating and being pushed back they the the Nazis had stalled out a little bit in the winter of 1941 but by the middle of 1942 they were moving and they made it to Stalingrad which is a strategically located City on the vulga river and it became clear to the Russians that they couldn't lose Stalingrad that.
If they did they would have lost a very strategic position that the Germans would have gained a very strategic position and so they said we we we can't we can't lose here they issued order number 227 which is it had more to it but basically it's known as the not a step backward order they just said can't cannot lose here does doesn't matter how how much it takes how hard it is how much suffering there is we don't take one step backward and the battle.
For Stalingrad lasted 5 months and cost 2 million lives but at the end of it the Russians held Stalingrad and Germany had broken themselves on their Eastern front and as I read is we're studying together the Book of Revelation and we're working our way through it we're in Chapter 2 today we're going to go from verses 8 to verses 11 if you have one of these blue Bibles it's going to be on page 595 and as I read this letter this address of.
Jesus to the Church in Smyrna it feels a little bit like that he's telling the Church you can't lose you can't take a step backward even though it it's going to be difficult even though there's hardship even though there's death you have to hold on and so the hope today as we read this letter to the Church in Smyrna is that we would be emboldened and incouraged to hold on to remain faithful to not Retreat to not fall back but to.
See how gloriously good Jesus is and hold on that's the hope for this morning let's take a moment to pray and then we'll begin reading the text Lord we ask for your grace we ask for ears to hear what the spirit says to the churches and we pray that as we Face tribulation and difficulty that you would help us to be faithful faithful to you in the midst of whatever we face and we ask this by your grace and by the work at the cross and in.
Jesus name amen chapter 2: 8 the the whole book of Revelation is a letter that's written to seven churches and then in the Book of Revelation there are specific addresses to the different churches we are looking at Smyrna and the way these letter letters are written is that it would have most likely traveled kind of the route you would have taken to deliver the letter so it goes to Ephesus which is the first letter the first address goes to Ephesus.
Then up to Smyrna and there's a road that runs Ephesus was the chief Port of Asia Minor at this time goes Ephesus up to smyna then up to pergam and then on around and there's a road that runs that Loop so it seems as if it was just basically the way you would have delivered it Smyrna is the only one of these cities that still exists it's ismir now and it's written to Smyrna it says and to the angel of the Church in Smyrna right Smyrna probably had about 200,000 people it was a beautiful prominent City they actually have coins printed that we found uh that have been discovered that say Smyrna.
First in Beauty and in size which is just bold but that's a pretty good like if you're going to if you're going to have a city slogan that's a pretty good one like Chicago was like we're windy good anything else n that's it stick with that one Casey's is it's it's a time for Life whatever that means Columbia is famously hot which would be a good way to sell chicken but it doesn't sell a city very well it doesn't make me want to live there.
But Smyrna first in Beauty and in size sounds nice it was a very prominent City it was a wealthy City and we're going to see that the Christians got none of that they got to participate in none of the goodness of the wealth and the prominence of this city because this is what he says we're going to see in just a moment but first Jesus begins by referring to himself he says to the angel of the Church in smyna write the words of the.
First and the last who died and came to life Jesus begins by telling them who he is but also it's a little bit of why they should listen we're going to see in all of these addresses to the different churches that he's going to talk about himself but it's out of his nature and character and goodness and who he is that his commands are going to be able to be founded it's where they're going to stand it's going to be based off of who.
Jesus is some of what we talk about as a Church is we want to be Gospel fluent which is that we want to remember that everything's about Jesus and what he's done and that the reason that we do the things that we do come from him they come out of him or they they find their meaning in him and that's how these are written that Jesus is saying this is who I am it's like if you went to a conference they always tell you before someone gets up and speaks who they are what they've done and in some ways they're saying here's why you should.
Listen this person has three phds they've been in this field for 30 years they're never just like here's some guy they always tell you what what it is that would make you want to listen and and Jesus says the words of the first and the last who died and came to life we should want to listen in in these two phrases we have such Ain and beautiful doctrine of Christ he's the first and the last the beginning and the end he was there at the beginning through whom all things were made all things hold together and all things are returning back to him at the very end of days we will.
See him because he's the end of days he's the Ancient of Days he rules over all things he's the first and the last and he's reminding this Church of his sovereignty we're going to see that this Church is in the middle of difficulty and it's really good for him to look and say I'm in charge I rule over all of it and we believe that as Christians if you don't know that we believe that about Jesus if you're new to this we believe that.
Jesus is God who rules over all things but it's not just that it's not just that he's the first and the last but he died because he took on flesh specifically to pay the debt of our sin if you don't know much about Christianity it's Poss possible for you to think that what Jesus wants from you is morality he wants you to be good that this whole point is that we would get together and learn the rules and do them and be good people.
But the reality is we're sinners in need of Grace and Jesus came to live on our behalf and to die in our place so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in him and then fulfilled for us because of the work of Jesus so if you think it's just about morality and you learning some rules then the death of Christ makes no sense but if you understand that you are a sinner in need of a sacrifice then the death of Christ makes perfect sense.
So this is the ruler of all things the first and the last who died and came to life so that in the resurrection of Jesus we see the confirmation of God's work in him and the truth and reality that we can actually be forgiven of our sins see if he just died we might still have some question marks but he came to life how do you know you're forgiven Jesus Reigns the sacrifice was accepted he died in my place he rose again I get to be dead to my sins and alive in Christ and that's all right here as.
Jesus describes who he is he says this I know your tribulation and your poverty but you are rich meaning that they are materially poor but spiritually wealthy uh Jesus tells a story when he's on Earth and doing his Earthly Ministry he tells a story about a man who was the opposite who was had material wealth and spiritual poverty but he says to this Church they're blessed that they're uh actually physically Earthly poor but eternally spiritually rich I know your tribulation tribulation is difficulty I know that you're facing trouble I know that things are hard which is beautiful.
Because in the middle of trouble sometimes it's easy to think does he even know what's going on and he starts off with I know what's going on I know what you're facing 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 that's a reference to those who would be ethnically Jewish but that do not worship or follow Jesus that's what he means by those who say they are Jews.
But are not this this idea is brought out in the as Jesus is the Fulfillment he's the the promised Messiah he's the true son of Israel he's the true Israel then all of those who are belong to Abraham belong to Abraham by faith Roman Romans tells us this Jesus talks to a bunch of Jewish men and he says that they're not really Jewish they're not following their father Abraham they're following their father the devil it's the same idea that because they don't worship.
Jesus because they don't follow Jesus they're not really included in the Covenant people because he has come to fulfill the Covenant and they have rejected him so they are ethnically Jewish but not spiritually included in the Covenant he says that there a synagogue which is the like a Jewish Church but they they would say it's a synagogue of God and he says no they're actually on the other team which is similar to what he tells them in John chapter 8 the Christians in Smyrna it didn't matter.
If you were Greek or Jewish things were not going well for you if you were Greek originally Greek and became a Christian Smyrna was not a good place for that it was a place that had a lot of worship of other Idols worship of other gods it actually had won the right to be the place where they put the temple to Roma the temple to tiberias the temple to Caesar where they would worship Caesar as Lord in SM when you became a Christian it messed up your ability it's one of the reasons why a lot of Christians were poor it messed up your ability to work.
Because in order to be in the guild to be a silver smith to be a carpenter you had to worship that God it'd be like if if Amazon had the God of Speedy package delivery and you had to and when you clocked in at Amazon burn some incense to the to the package delivery God in order to clock in that's how it worked or in order to keep my dad build swimming pools and I grew up in in a family where we built pools.
But it'd be like if in order for him to keep his licenses he had to to worship the God of the ocean or the God of floating or whatever but he had to somehow do that or otherwise he would lose his licenses that's what happens for Greek speaking Greek people who they they they're Christians now and they can't worship these false gods anymore they can't burn incense to them and and suddenly they said well you can't work and so there's no real place.
For them and the rule in Rome was everybody everybody absolutely everybody worships the Roman gods except there was one group of people they made an exception for and that was the Jewish people because everybody else was polytheistic and when the Romans conquered them if you're willing to have a bunch of gods you could just build another Temple to another God didn't bother you and also since they conquered you that God might be better the Jewish people were the only people who didn't do this they were like oh y'all conquered us.
But you going to be in trouble this land doesn't belong to you it's coming that's what the Jewish people did and they wouldn't worship the other gods and so the Romans decided they were either going to have to kill every person who is ethnically Jewish or let them just have their one God and that's what they did so when Christianity started anybody who was ethnically Jewish Roman Empire just saw them as another form of Judaism you had Pharisees you had Sadducees.
Now you have Christians and so they just left them alone well the Jewish synagogue started saying no these Christians don't belong to us and actively turning them over to the Roman authorities to be executed so if you were Greek you lost family you lost prominence you lost your job it's what often happened especially in places like Smyrna and if you were Jewish you got kicked out of the synagogue you were uh actively being told on by other Jewish people that this person only worships one.
God and they're not part of us so they should be in trouble and you lost your family you lost your livelihood and suddenly you have this group of people who loves Jesus and loves each other and has tribulation in poverty and that's who Jesus is talking to he says I know what's going on and I know it's awful right now verse 10 do not fear what you are about to suffer okay that sentence would not help me that much like if you went to the doctor and they walked in and said don't worry you're about to suffer it'd be like they didn't teach you about this day in doctor school I think you're supposed to.
Word that differently this what does he mean honestly as I look at it I'm reminded of the way that my dad used to do stuff with us we would when we were little we would go and have to like get a shot we were going to the doctor we going to have to get a shot or something and we would ask cuz you you ask is this going to hurt and I think a lot of parents would say no it's not that bad that's not what my dad would say my dad would.
Look at us and go yeah it's going to hurt they're going to take a piece of metal about this big and Jab it in your arm it's going to poke a hole in your skin you are going to bleed it is unpleasant you ever been stung by a bee yes sir it's like that except you have to watch it happen and then he would say but you're going to sit there and you're going to be still and you're going to keep it together.
Because if you wiggle it's gonna be worse and it's worth it and it gave us courage I think that's what Jesus is doing he's encouraging the Church not the way we use encouragement like you did so good that's the kind of encouragement I like what you so good look at you doing the the good stuff this is the encouragement where he's actually giving courage you're about to suffer get ready don't be afraid look it in the face square up now I think he's going to tell us why they ought not to be afraid I think we're going to.
See that in this text and I don't think it's the type of answer that we want but I think it's the answer that Jesus so often gives and it's actually better than what we want so here's what he says do not be afraid do not fear sorry do not fear hear what you are about to suffer 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 be faithful unto death and I will give you the Crown of Life all right we got to answer a few questions.
So that we can understand what's going on here he says behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison how how does that work I don't know if y'all know this but we have three enemies the World the Flesh and the devil and the devil actively Works to oppose the Church and he does this in a lot of ways but one of the ways the enemy works is through sinful men through political powers and so yes it's going to be the synagogue it's going to be the Jewish leaders handing them over to the Greek authorities.
But what The Book of Revelation does is a revealing it pulls the curtain back and one of the things Jesus is pulling the curtain back on right now is to say that's the enemy at work the Jewish people they're not your problem they're not the issue like it's they don't know it but they're worshiping Satan by the way that they're going about this they're on his team and it's the devil that's at work against you here and so he's saying you're going to face opposition he's going to throw you into prison that you may be tested.
For 10 days that you may be tested sorry and for 10 days you will have tribulation now that and for 10 days at first makes you go okay well good it sounds fairly short and it is possible he means a literal 10 days but also in the Book of Revelation as we continue going we're going to see that a lot of numbers are used and most of them seem to be um symbolic and so 10 days here most likely means a fix fixed relatively short period of time that.
Jesus knows the amount of time it's fixed he's not in the dark on this he knows the amount of time and it's fixed but he also if you said okay well it's going to be short he says be faithful unto death some of the shortness will be due to death not how we would describe escape and I think it's possible for us to look at situations like this and say why would God allow that what why is he letting Satan do that to this Church and I think there's times in our lives where we're saying that about our situation why is he allowing this why is this happening why is this working this way why.
Isn't this working the way it's supposed to I think it's also possible because of the way our culture thinks about suffering and difficulty is for us to say there is no good God who would allow us to suffer and so we're going to immediately run into problems in passages like this where he's telling them don't fear go suffer unto death and I think it's possible for us to to say well if I'm suffering I know that Jesus wants me out of it.
So that what he wants for me is to escape the suffering but a passage like this says Maybe not maybe he wants something so much better for you than escaping suffering and what that is is faithfulness that leads to life because that's what he says be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life now that's interesting and we're going to see as we keep going that that he has a specific way that he thinks about life and death a specific way that we are to think about life and death.
But he says go until you're dead dead and then I'll reward you with life that Crown there there's two words in the Greek that get translated Crown at times there's Stephanos and diadema diadema also gets translated as diadem at times but it's it's a way that we will take that word and translate it to Crown sometimes in Stephanos we translate to Crown but it also is a laurel that they would reward someone it's like a gold medal like a trophy it's what they would reward you with.
So he's saying I will reward you with life you'll earn life life now he's the first and the last so these Christians who were going to face execution you'd say the last thing they saw was the Executioner no Jesus is last oh he died yeah and was immediately crowned with life that's what Jesus is saying saying here don't fear go face death and I'll Crown you with life I'll be at the end the Executioner will show up at the end to meet me that's what.
Jesus says and don't fear to follow my footsteps because I went from death into life he died and came to life and so he's saying come follow me all the way to the end follow me be faithful all the way to the end come face death and be rewarded with life from the one who face death and owns life that's what Jesus is Calling them into he says he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.
Now it's Jesus speaking but now we see it's also the spirit speaking because Jesus and the spirit speak together so this is the spirit speaking to the Church it's also Jesus speaking to the Church because 's Unity between Jesus and the spirit I also love that all of these passages say he who has an ear let him hear I think it's possible in our culture because of the way we've been trained to be consumers if I go to a restaurant and I don't enjoy the meal I don't once think that might have been my fault I think that's their fault the people who cooked it and I think it's possible.
Because we're trained in this fashion to somehow let that infect our approach to belonging to a Church to show up and consume you go hang out with your group and and things aren't good with your group and it's their fault not yours you you show up be a part of a Church for a while you gather on Sundays and you guys just don't like that how they whatever like they exist apart from you like you don't belong to them there are people who stand up here.
But they're part of the US you guys we've gathered to sing we've gathered to study the word and I I want to as graciously as I can tell you if you've moved from Church to Church to Church to Church it's quite possible that they don't have a mouth problem you have an ear problem and what we ought to be asking for his ears to hear and showing up here preparing ourselves to participate in what it looks like to gather with the people of.
God to sing with the people of God and to make much of the Lord Jesus but he says he who has an ear to hear Let Him hear and then he says this the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death that word conquer is going to be used repeatedly in these letters and it is a violent word it is a word that calls for action it's a word that calls for grit it is a word to help you understand what is actually happening that you have a Real Enemy and that we are facing off in a real high stake issue and he says the one who conquers will not face will.
Not be hurt by the second death Okay so we've heard about the first death because he says be faithful unto death but now he's talking about a second death did y'all know that did you know that you can die twice Jesus knows it and this is what we get so often we don't get why does this happen what we get from Jesus is why it's worth it to fight through what he's he doesn't tell them why they're going to face suffering why they're going to face tribulation why he's not going to just stop it there what he says is here's why it'll be worth it I'll Crown you with life and you won't face the.
Second death but we need to understand what the second death is the Book of Revelation in chapter 20 says this uh Jesus is Conquering everybody at the end we're excited to get to this part of the Book of Revelation it's excellent Jesus conquers Satan he conquers the Beast he throws them in the Lake of Fire and then it says says this in ch 20:14 then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire this is how much Jesus is the last of all things he kills death they were thrown into the Lake of Fire this is the.
Second death the Lake of Fire or again in Revelation 21 6-8 and he said to me it is done I the Alpha and the Omega that's the first and the last the beginning and the end to the Thirsty I will give from the spring of Water of Life without payment the one who conquers will have this Heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son but as for the Cowardly the faithless the detestable as for the murderers the sexually immoral Sorcerers idolators and all liars their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the.
Second death everyone faces death but not everyone faces death faithful to Jesus and not everyone faces the second death which is eternal dying there is eternal life and there is eternal dying and so Jesus looks at this Church and says be faithful unto death and the second death won't touch you you focus on me you love me you follow me and the second death won't touch you that we get to look to Jesus who died and Rose to life and we get to die and rise to life that the Church in Smyrna gets to die and rise to life that they get to.
Look to him this is how he thinks about it this is why he says weird things when you're reading like the Book of Matthew The Book of Luke I want to read Luke 12 he says I tell you my friends do not fear Those Who Kill the body and after that have nothing more than they that they can do okay that's not a human phrasing if someone was like you don't want to go there it's really dangerous if you're telling somebody hey don't go to that that part of the city don't go to that place it's really dangerous it's really rough right.
Now and they looked at you and said what what do they do just kill the body yes exactly that's what they do well can they do anything else or is that it that's what else would what you know what go I don't I don't know what to tell you Jesus doesn't have death in mind y'all know everybody dies there are very few people who haven't and all of us are going to unless Jesus returns the first death isn't the thing he has his eyes on and it's not the thing he wants us to have our eyes on it's the.
Second death it's Eternal death Eternal dying Eternal punishment this is what fuels mission all they can do if we send missionaries to the hardest places in the world that don't want the Gospel all they can do is kill the body and create Victors that's all they can do we we support the international Mission board we support 1040 hope it's actually a member of our Church that started 1040 hope it's designed to send missionaries to the 1040 window which is the hardest place to send missionaries we want some of you by God's grace.
For him to get a hold of your heart and take you somewhere else to tell some other people about Jesus and we want you to do it without fear knowing that the worst they can do is kill your body and after that they have nothing more they can do that's what he says I'll warn you whom to fear fear Him who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell yes I tell you fear Him and some of you right.
Now are so worried about your body what you're going to eat what you're going to drink what you're going to put on where you're going to live and you've given no thought to Eternal death but Jesus is more to be feared than anything else he's more fearful than anything else he's better than anything else but he's more be feared because he's the last this letter went to the City of Smyrna there was a young Christian there who was actually a disciple of John named polycarp polycarp eventually becomes a leader in the Church in Smyrna and is martyred in the City of Smyrna that's not in our Bibles it's in our Church history and we have.
Some of his sayings written down some of his letters written down and we've got an account of his death that does say that there were some miraculous things it happened since it's not in the Scriptures we don't exactly know doesn't have the same Authority but about 50 years after this letter went out six years after this letter went out they were uh again persecuting Christians in Smyrna he's known as the 12th martyr of Smyrna but they were coming they went and got him from his home he was about 86 years old they bring him in front of everybody and the authorities at that point seemed like they were a little bit felt a little bit.
Bad about executing an 86y old and so they said we just need you to recant we need you in front of everybody to make a sacrifice to Caesar and to say Caesar is Lord and polycarp says if you imagine for a moment that I would do that then I think you pretend that you don't know who I am hear it plainly I am a Christian not going to do it they keep pleading with him they say just recant just say that you don't follow.
Jesus just say that you Jesus that uh Caesar is Lord he says 86 years I have served Christ and he never did me any wrong how can I blaspheme my king who saved me they told him they would feed him to wild animals he said bring them out they got so frustrated with him they said we're going to burn you at the stake and he says you threaten with fire that burns for a short time and is soon quenched you don't know about the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment that awaits the Wicked.
But why are you waiting come do what you will and they burned him and stabbed him with Spears and he died and he was crowned with life and he's been alive ever since and it seemed that he had read the letter that was written to a city and he knew about death but he also knew about the second death until he face death without fear I'm I'm burdened as I teach this because I think there's a I think there's a couple of ways.
For us to hear this my My Hope Is that you would hear it and that you would be so convinced of the glory of Christ of the reality of death and Eternity that you would trust him with everything and that you would follow him with everything and that you would do whatever he tells you to do My Hope Is that a year from now two years from now 3 years from now some of you aren't here because you're somewhere else telling people about.
Jesus because you've gone to go plant a Church you've gone to go Pastor you've gone to go be a missionary that's that's my hope my hope is that some of you who are facing fear right now at work to to articulate this sort of things would begin to tell people how good Jesus Is My Hope Is that for someone who came here today because you think that what is needed from you is to be good is that you would trust Jesus and his sacrifice that he died and that he rose and that you would be made I think there's a way.
For us to listen to this though where we go neat and we go home because none of us are facing this kind of tribulation or persecution none of us have watched someone be burned to death and have a moment right before where they could have just burned a little incense and gotten sent home I think it's easy for us to just hear this and go that's great yeah Praise Jesus we'll sing a song and go home I think there's a way.
For us to sit right now and tell ourselves I would do that I'd be faithful into death but again you're going to leave and I don't think anyone's going to try to kill you today for being a Christian there's a there's a song by King's Kaleidoscope that's always stuck with me one of the lines in the song is Judas sold you for 30 I'd have done it for less and Jesus here says be faithful unto death and that's what actually all of us want is that in.
If facing death we would hold fast to Jesus and until we Face death that we would hold fast to Jesus but my fear is that none of us are close to death and that we're not going to be persecuted into faithfulness but we're going to be comforted out of it and then instead of being faithful unto death we're going to be faithful until money we got to raise and suddenly we just aren't going to follow Jesus The Way We Were faithful until relationship I've love.
Jesus I'm following Jesus until you get a boyfriend or a girlfriend and then well I I'll reject him here because the stakes don't seem as high but we're playing the same game with our souls will be faithful until difficulty suffering we won't stick it out in a marriage we won't stick it out with our Church faithful to following Jesus until suddenly your group is difficult and complicated and hard to deal with and they're Sinners and instead of being faithful to Jesus in those things and repentant to.
Jesus in those things and obedient to Jesus and those things we'll tell ourselves no I still love Jesus I'm just not doing that part and I feel like it's really easy for us to say booyfriend is Lord and burn a little incense money is Lord and burn a little incense Comfort is Lord and burn a little incense my time is Lord and burn a little incense what I want my preferences are LED and burn a little incense and not realize that we're doing it and the hope is that we would be people who with Clarity would.
See how good Jesus is and be faithful unto death and every step from here to there that's my hope that we would gain courage to face whatever the Lord has in front of us knowing that he knows the time he knows the situation he has it planned out and one day we'll stand before him as the last of all things and if you trust Jesus we're crowned with life and it will have all been worth it let's pray Jesus you are sovereign you're the.
First and the last you died and came to life so that we have hope in any circumstance that we're in for life and joy and peace and rescue we have hope in any circumstance we're in for forgiveness so Lord may we see you and Lord in so many ways we fear the first death we think about the first death build our lives around all the things that will protect the body and fail to see our hope is eternal Jesus we trust you in all the ways that we fail to forgive us to redeem us to help us we ask that you would give us ears to hear.
So that we might hate sin and love you that we might not compromise and Lord I pray that you would help us to be faithful unto death to the glory of Christ in Jesus name amen as the band comes back up I would encourage you to take a moment to ask the Lord to help you hear what the spirit has to say to just take a moment to Bow your head and say Lord what what do you have to say where do I need to grow where do I need to repent where do I need to believe where do I need to trust what would you have me do and just take a moment to.
Listen and then we're going to sing and Praise Jesus.
Revelation: Ephesus
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastors here we are in the Book of Revelation we are in chapter two verses 1 through 7 we introduced the book last week and what we saw was that while there are quite a bit uh there are a lot of parts of the Book of Revelation uh that may seem confusing and some of them actually don't just seem confusing they are confusing uh that there are some that uh are debated there's lots of things that may be unclear that there's really one thing that's crystal clear and that's the big picture of Revelation and we said last week that this is an apocalyptic book which means.
It's in the apocalyptic genre of of literature in the Scriptures and it's a letter written to A persecuted uh group of churches telling them to endure because Jesus is going to return he is coming back so as we walk through this book we're going to walk through in three different parts we're going to see that big picture over and over again now we're in a section of Revelation uh part one of this series is the letters and over the next seven weeks we'll be walking through seven letters that.
Jesus has written to these churches and we're going to be able to look at these letters and learn from uh what we see in them uh I've got uh uh a couple of Brothers my older brother is 18 months older than me so we grew up sign by side together and uh one of the things that uh I learned very early on is that he uh was going to make a lot of mistakes that I was not going to make he just aggressively made lots of mistakes like did not care at all about the repercussions he just went.
For it I would watch him get in trouble over and over again and make all these mistakes and I was like I I I'm not going to do that well partially I wasn't a Christian for a long time and I was like I'm just going to do it better and not get caught but I became a Christian later on and I was like I'm not going to follow in these same mistakes I'm going to learn from his mistakes and that's what we get to do with these letters we get to.
See the these churches as older brothers and the faith saints that we're walking with Christ and we're going to see some of the things that Jesus is going to uh encourage but also call out in these churches and we get to learn from all of it and that's just what the next seven weeks get to be so we're going to look at one the first letter today pray for us then we're going to walk through this uh together heavenly father I pray that you would open our hearts to receive your word.
God I pray that you might impress upon the reality of the good news of the Gospel and what that calls us to whether we are in Christ and we belong to him and all the words that we just sang and celebrated whether that's true for us right now I pray that you would uh impress the word upon us that we might respond uh and not just be hearers of the word but be doers of the word but there may be folks here that have not really tasted and seen that you are good they have not placed their full faith in following you and I pray that you might help them.
See uh the the truth of the Gospel so clearly this morning we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so uh before we jump into the first verse of chapter 2 uh these are the seven letters written to these Seven Cities Ephesus smea pergamum thyy Sardis Philadelphia and leoda and I just want to point out something that I think is really cool so this map is modern day Turkey it's coming there so in the order that these letters show up and that.
Jesus is addressing them you kind of see Ephesus SME pergamum all the way down to leoda it's a big loop I just think that is is is is helpful to see that these are letters that would have gone from City to city in modern day Turkey but as the Scriptures will refer to it as uh Asia so uh what we're going to see in the order of each of these letters there a general template for how these letters are laid out the very beginning you're going to.
See the Church so you go ahead and go to the next slide yep nope not that one there we go so you're going to see a pattern for each letter you're going to see the Church being addressed then you're going to see Christ describing himself then for the majority of the letters we're going to see a commendation Jesus encouraging these churches for what he sees in them there's a couple that don't really get get that because they're struggling but usually we're also going to.
See a rebuke that follows that Commendation and this is a correction calling them to uh return to following Christ there's a consequence for not repenting for not turning back to Christ and how he addresses it and then it ends with a promise for those who conquer so every letter is going to end with a promise for those who conquer the one who conquers and we're going to see a shade of Eternity in each of those endings so that's the general layout.
For these letters and actually all applies to this letter today so let's kick it off in verse one to the angel of the Church in Ephesus right all right let me pause there so it says to the angel of the Church and it's like wait what what Angel so some will look at this and they won't interpret that as Angel meaning a Heavenly being the Greek word for Angel is ang and when it's used in the New Testament it can either mean an angel Heavenly being or messenger.
So some will say well actually what's happening here this is a this is a messenger this must be maybe the pastor of the Church this is someone who is who's going to read the letter to the Church then actually this is Messenger but I would say that's probably not the case because the whole rest of the Book of Revelation Angelas in the Greek means angel means heaven Heavenly being so I think it's actually right to interpret this as this is an angel someone who's watching over a Heavenly being who's watching over this Church and some of you'all might think that's kind of weird some of you might have like flashbacks to touch bying Angel episodes.
And that's just like so like in your mind when you when you when you hear the word Angel like you just that that's where your mind goes so let me be very clear this is not weird at all and we have to remove any bit of like medieval art or Hallmark card or niit cage in the City of Angels like anything that comes to mind that might confuse our picture of what a a Biblical picture of what an angel actually is.
Because when you actually read it about angels in the Scriptures it is normal they're all over the Scriptures they're Heavenly beings and they're also very powerful and terrifying Heavenly Creatures and then when they show up in the Bible people are afraid because they're so powerful but they're sent here for our good like God sends them for our good they serve on behalf of God and they serve his people and since we are indeed in a spiritual war against evil against unseen uh as we saw in the flesh world and devil series The Three enemy series that we have an enemy who seeks to destroy us.
Because that's true it is actually comforting for us as Christians to know that God sends heavenly beings these angels to take care of us so the whole book is addressed to the seven churches but in each of these individual intros you're going to see an angel included in all of them so to the angel of the Church in Ephesus in Ephesus okay so let's pause there for a moment in the rest of these letters we don't have a lot to go on.
When it comes to the Church he's writing to but we do in this one we actually know a lot about Ephesus if you go to Acts 19 and 20 you see the story of how this Church began that Paul shows up and he meets some of the Disciples of John the Baptist and he shares the Gospel with them and this Church begins and it like explodes I mean it's a you should if you have time to read it this week it's a beautiful story of.
God working in a very Pagan City a very lost and broken and dark city Ephesus is one of the largest cities in the Roman EMP Empire and it is also a very dark city because it is where the Temple of Artemis is which is one of the ancient wonders of the world but it's also a place where there's a lot of cultic worship a lot of uh dark uh uh uh arts and magic and Witchcraft and this is this is the the the culture of Ephesus and the Gospel starts to spread through it.
So much so that he flips the city upside down and people start repenting of all these dark and wicked practices we read in Acts 19 it says also many of those who were now Believers came confessing and divulging their practices and a number of those who had practiced magic Arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all and they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver that people just start repenting of these Pagan practices and they start trusting in Christ and it starts to really upend the local economy.
So much so that these silver smiths in Ephesus they start to to realize their business is being threatened because part of their business is making silver shrines that they can sell to people to go devote it to the false God Artemis and they start a riot to persecute the Christians in response so you go and read this this week it's you see uh God mightily at work and you you can read in Acts 20 Paul's speech to the Ephesian Elders it is wonderful.
And then you keep flipping in the New Testament and you get the book of Ephesians one of the uh richest New Testament letters both for its theology but also its call for Christians to in unity love one another well and you see some of the Dynamics at play and some of the encouragement that that that Paul is giving to this Church who's who's following Christ in this wonderful way and then later you get to First Timothy and you see that Timothy was a pastor in this Church.
So we got some history to go on here and some context to go on here and about 30ish years later we have this letter being written to this Church so it's no longer just a Church plant that just started it's an established Church so that's the background in Ephesus and then Christ gets the description in the next part of himself he says the words of him who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
So Christ gives a description of himself self where he holds the Seven Stars we learned last week do the seven angels that he's Sovereign in in his oversight and his care of the Church but also he walks among the lampstands we learned last week the lampstands are these churches lampstand is another word for Church here and I just find it so deeply encouraging that our savior both provides oversight and Care over these churches and he walks among them and he's present with them and he and he sees their good works I also love the imagery here of the lampstand itself and the the Old Testament.
When you read about the Tabernacle this is the the uh the structure where God ruled and reigned from amongst the Israelites we saw this in the book of Exodus a while back that there's a lampstand in the Tabernacle and it symbolizes the light and of God and then Jesus building upon that in the New Testament in The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 he says you talking about his followers you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.
But on a stand and it gives light to all in the house in the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven and it's just this picture that the Church Bears the Light of Christ that's what James 1 talks about he's the father of lights and this lampstand is God's power his glory his goodness his all of his character his light is shining through the Church.
So he walks among the seven lampstands all right that's a description of Christ then he shifts into the next part which is his Commendation his encouragement of the Ephesians no yes the Ephesians verse two 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 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.
So Christ who's present among amongst the churches walks amongst this lampstand he just says I know your works I see your good works and I think that's a that's that's an encouragement to us that he sees it I think we know that I think I think theologically like we know we know God sees it he sees it he sees it but no he really does he sees he's present when you are faithful to him I got my my oldest uh my oldest I she doesn't often.
See this sometimes but I know I can hear her upstairs I can see sometimes how she loves and cares for her siblings she's a really good big sister and every now and then I just get to tell her that hey I love how you took care of your little sister here I love how you treated your little brother here that's what God's doing he's like I see this I I see your good work I see the way that you are being faithful and that's an encouragement uh to them.
But it's also an encouragement to us but uh we get this this General description we don't get all the good Works they've been doing but we get this General description of these works and he starts up with by saying your toil your toil so I want to focus on that for a moment uh toil here is not just general work this is the idea of very burdensome work the same Greek word in the original language for toil here shows up and also in 1 Corinthians 15.
When Paul tells the Church to be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor your toil is not in vain so this is grinding it out work burdensome work now we don't get all the specifics for what that is but given the context of Ephesus and what Church is's writing to this certainly would have been in the face of a pagan culture repenting of these dark Works repenting of worshiping Idols this would have been and loving one another.
Well in unity as we see in the book of Ephesians this would be uh seeing the lost and having a broken heart for them and declaring the good news of Jesus Christ to them and that is burdensome work and that toil has continued for decades since this Church was established and Christ says I see it I see your toil and I also see your patient endurance he says your patient endurance anytime this uh phrase patient endurance this endurance shows up in the New Testament most of the time it's talking about endurance in the face of Trials suffering and persecution that's the type of endurance that he's talking about and it's just like you you.
See this that the Church for thousands of years has endured I mean you can read about the modern missions movement that started in the 18th century from William Cary onward all these missionaries who went went out and started to plant churches in other countries and they had spouses and and and children die in the mission field they were arrested they were they were sick they were persecuted and they endured and that's what the Church has done for 2,000 years that is endured and Christ says I.
See your endurance in the face of persecution in the face of riots in the face of all the things you are facing I see your endurance and he sees how they fought back against the ties of false teaching that's another thing that he says here he says and how you cannot bear with those who were evil but have tested those who call themselves Apostles and are not and found them to be false and they've pushed back against false teaching which is something that Paul warned them about.
If you go to Acts 20 you read about his you read his whole speech that he gives to the Ephesian Elders at one point he tells them that I know that after my departure Fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and from among your own s will arise men speaking Twisted things to draw away the disciples after them he's like this this was going to happen that false teachers were going to come in like wolves to destroy the flock.
Now in verse 6 of chapter 2 when you skip down a little bit we actually get the name of the false teaching that is swept through this Church and it's clear that it's in other churches as well in verse 6 it says yet this you have you hate the work of the nicians which I also hate so this false teaching that is swept in is a group of people called the nicians now we don't have a lot to go on on what this false teaching is later we'll Le we'll read the the letter to pergamum and we'll.
See a reference made to balum but we we really don't have a lot to go on both in the Scriptures but also in Church history we don't know much about this I would like to think that's because at some point it got stomped out but there's not a lot to go on as far as what exactly is being taught here but this is not a shock both Paul has told them this is going to happen and this is just what happens in the New Testament Church and it's what happens in Church history that as the Gospel spreads the enemy is at work and he spreads all types of false teaching and along with false teachings.
Comes uh the all types of Disobedience uh uh desire the flesh this is all kind of linked together in a way that opposes the Gospel of Christ moving forward like I the Church I used to be a part of we had a uh so we were connected to a a mission movement in Ethiopia and one of our elders he went with a team to Ethiopia and they went to which is the remnant of the old Ethiopian Church uh the Ethiopian Church started in the book of Acts.
But later on it kind of got lost and what was left of the Ethiopian Church in a lot of the tribal areas is just kind of leaders thought of themselves as the Ethiopian Church but they didn't actually even have the Gospel they didn't have the Scriptures they didn't know Christ so this elder and this team they went to meet with a bunch of Ethiopian Elders leaders in this area and they just played a tape that shared the Gospel in their language and they all placed their faith in.
Jesus and then they went back to their Villages and they LED all their people to Christ and that's happening all over Ethiopia that's happening all over the continent of Africa and has been for decades and it's wonderful and it's beautiful but right alongside the Gospel moving forward in Africa is a false teaching one of America's worst exports the health wealth and Prosperity Gospel and it is ravaged parts of Africa false teachers going around getting people to worship creation and things and money over Creator this is what happens and it is our responsibility as Christians to stand in the face of that and to declare what is true to call out what is false and to.
Hate those teachings I do think that's a helpful clarification here to hate those teachings that Jesus doesn't say hate the nicians he says hate their works so we should hate those teachings we should never celebrate or condone any evil like that against the Lord whether it's the greed of materialism that comes out of the Prosperity Gospel well it's a celebration of of sexual sin we should never celebrate that at all we should hate those works and we should declare what is true and that's what this Church has been doing they have withstood against false teaching they have declared what is true.
Jesus sees that and he commends that but then verse four he shifts into his correction and his correction starts in verse four but I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first so this Ephesian Church that you can read about that was planted That Grew that was vibrant it seems from the text it's very clear they have abandoned the love they had at first now there's a lot of debate over what he means by the love you had at.
First and some will say this this must be uh love for God and then I'll read other commentators and say well actually this is probably love of one another but I look at both of those arguments and I say first first John John the same John who's recording this this what Christ is telling him here in 1 John chapter 4 says we love because he God first loved us if anyone says I love God and hates his brother he is a liar.
For he who does not love his his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen and when you read that you read other passages that you see that the love of God and the love of one another are linked together you cannot have one without the other so I'd argue I think this is this is both they've abandoned the love they have at first a deep love and affection for Christ and how that changes our hearts in a way that we might.
Look at others too and love them and they've abandoned that that one of the primary marks of what it means to be a Christian is love they've they've left them and this is what Christ warned about in in a teaching that he gives in Matthew 24 he says and then talking about in the age to come and then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another and many false prophets will arise and Lead many astray and because Lawless will be increased the love of many will grow cold and that's what's happening in the Ephesian Church that the love of Christ in them has grown cold I think that's got to be.
One of the one of the most brutal things to receive from Christ to hear you've abandoned the love you had at first and yet I would argue that if he could address the American Church I think he you'd probably have the same message I think you'd look at all the churches and collect this I think you've abandoned the love you have at first I think we do this y'all I think we do this in a lot of different ways I think one of the ways we do this is we have a love of our own interests over the interests of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ I've been in this class right.
Now on biblical peacemaking so I've had to read all these books on peacemaking and all these stories of Church after Church after Church after Church where Christians just cared more about their own preferences and their own interests and then it caused a division in the Church that grew into factions where brothers and sisters who loved each other for decades began to take sides and ripped them apart and I had sent these lectures where I listened to story after story from the person who's lecturing and my other classmates across the country who are seeing this happen over and over again and I think that there's a part of us that just wants our own way.
Our own interest and our own preferences and we forget the love we had at first we exchange the love we had at first that unifies us for our own ways I think this happens with an exchange with the love of the material as opposed to loving Christ and loving others that we love material things we love uh uh Financial uh means of buying things a buddy of mine and I are are flipping a house right now and we've been so we've been put in any extra time we got we just kind of over there working on this house getting contractors in and one of the reasons this house sold.
For what it did was not just because the house itself was in disrepair it's because the neighbor's house next door was a disaster the yard was completely overgrown it's a mess one day a few weeks ago I was over there and I and I saw the neighbor she was out mowing the grass I was like yeah sweet I walked over there introduced myself got to know her and I listened to what the really story of this house the story of of the last 10 years.
For her and I heard all the painful things that led to this house being in disrepair and I just told her at the end I was Hey listen like if you if you want some help like we can like we can come over here we can we can you know we can mow some grass we can pull some vines off this house we can do all kinds of things she said absolutely I'd love that and I left and I called my buddy and I was like dude we're going to fix this house and we're going to be able to flip our house.
For a lot of money and the next morning I just felt the overwhelming conviction of the Holy Spirit where it was just like you were only excited because you could make more money and you didn't once pray over this woman woman you didn't once share Christ with her the only thing you cared about was was the material right in front of you and I was like w was me I was like I and I I started I've reconnected with this woman and been able to pray with her ever since.
But just that's in US y'all that's in us this this love of things this love of money this love of riches where we just that's that's what we care about that's what we prioritize in a way where we don't love others well at all it's so much in drained the very fabric of our culture and and we just we eat it up in a way where it just makes us forget the love we had at first and if we're not careful you'll keep doing that you'll keep doing that until your love grows cold and your heart is Stone and all you care about is riches that will one day go into the ground I think.
We do this with comfort that we have a love of comfort that we that we exchange for the love we had at first and I think that shows up in a lot of ways I think we just like being comfortable I think that we're uh comfortable and and we know that we're called to be everyday missionaries we talk about that a lot we're called to share the Gospel with those who don't believe but in order to do that we have to be uncomfortable.
Because most of us are just that's not a comfortable thing for us to do and it ain't comfortable for them either they ever done it and it's like ah I think I'm just going to love him well and I think I'm just going to be friends with him them and be Salt and Light it's like yeah but you can't friend someone into the kingdom and make the Gospel look sweet and good by the way you love you should do that but the Gospel is a message and its words and you have the words of Christ.
So richly in your heart that you could look for those moments to declare who Christ is to them but I think we love Comfort I think we love comfort in a way that makes us not generous I think that we love the structure of spending the budgets that we have I think we the idea of giving more towards the local Church towards missionaries towards orphan care towards all these things that we should do in order to both kill materialism but also to be obedient to the.
Lord it's like no but I love the Comforts I love being able to level up I love to be able to have the vehicle I want to be able to have the house that I want to be able to have all the things that I want I love being comfortable and we do this we do this with uh not just uh uh our spending but we do it with our schedules so many of us are locked in it's like I don't have time I don't have time I've got all these things and a way that.
If God was to begin to press on these things would you be willing to give this time up for this person in the Church who needs your help would you be able to give this thing under your schedule up for this person who's broken at work who needs you to sit with them and pray over them and share Christ with them oh I don't know I think we're too comfortable and if you do that over and over again your heart will grow cold and you will exchange the love you had it.
First I think we do this with political ideology which matters right now and the craziest political season of my life you don't even have to follow politics and you know it is absolutely wild right now I mean the last month has been Bonkers but what happens is one side is selling you on a messian figure who if you elect him is going to save I mean how many times I've heard this is the last election how many terms I've heard that you.
If you want to save your country how much I've watched these rallies where a Messianic figure is worshiped it it's worship and then on the other side you've got a set of ideals and philosophies and ideologies that many of them are so antithetical to the message of the Gospel if you just vote for these ideals and these things you're going to be saved and so many people are so angsty and worried right now so many Christians are angsty and worried right.
Now because someone is going to save them and it's like if you have that heart posture and if you lost the thread of what it means to be a Christian and a broken world that we don't belong to that we have a kingdom that's not of this world if you lose the thread on that your heart will grow cold and you will lose the love you had at first and your life will be oriented around a temporary country and not the Eternal kingdom of.
God I'll give you a few more we do this with individuals we abandon the love we had at first for individuals and this can be any different kind of thing how many times we've seen someone that all of a sudden they just disappeared from our Church it's not a unique story to us and then you get to know what's you investigate and you find out they've been dating someone and they been dating someone that doesn't love Christ and they've sacrificed and they've given up following.
Jesus for a person I mean you do this with children big problem in the American Church right now is a lot of people who's who are who involved in the Church and then the last child leaves the house and then they just fade away and the whole time being involved in the Church was not about following Christ and being changed by him and being in love with him and loving others it was just about the morals and the values you could instill in your child.
And when they're gone they're gone I mean we do this I I could do this all day but we a't got the time I'll do one more there's um I think I think that I think we do this with uh theological correctness we love theology we celebrate theology we teach theology all theology is is knowing and loving God that's it and it's beautiful it's wonderful but I think what happens is is that there are some people that that's not the goal what's actually the goal is being correct and it's being right and Theological correctness is just a John stot talks about this as U he talked about this as like as a as a battle.
That they're they they they sniff the battle and all of a sudden they they come alive and it's just about winning it's just about being right and some of these folks that go really hard after this that they they're so cold and they're so uncharitable in how they speak and they're so unloving and in the pursuit of being right you're exchanging the love you had at first over something is so rich and beautiful you should ask yourself the question what are the things that are getting your best energy what are the things that are getting your affections you should ask the.
Lord right now what am I exchanging for the love I had at first what am I fing what am I chasing after in a way that is growing my heart so cold that I'm abandoning the love at first and you should listen to what Christ says when he says you you've abandoned the love you had at first and that question should haunt us in a wonderful way that calls us to take account of what we love over God and others.
Then we should heed what Jesus says next in verse 5 when he says remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the works you did at first if not I will come come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent and he calls us with an opportunity to turn that's what repent means to turn from the from the things that are capturing our affections and our worship and turn back to Christ to the love we had at.
First but don't miss the warning that he gives there he says if you don't do this I will remove your lampstand and what that means is is that the power of God will be removed from that Church the power of God the light of God the love of God the movement of God the work of the Holy Spirit within the local Church will be removed and you will just be a social club or you won't exist and while we don't get the full history of what happened in the Church of Ephesus and the wonderful things that flowed out of that Church most certainly it is very clear at least geographically that he removed his lampstand.
Because that part of modern day Turkey does not have a Gospel centered thriving movement of Christ which is a warning to us that if we abandon the love we had at first he will remove the lmst his power will not be present here he does not need this Church Not For a Moment and if we're not careful to take account of the things that we are chasing after our love will grow cold and God will leave this Church and there are countless stories of churches in this city and churches all across the country and whole denominations that have abandoned the love they had at.
First and God's power is no longer with those people so we should receive that Stark warning let me finish out the rest of this letter he says yet this you have you hate the work of the nicians which I also hate which is a tag back to the Commendation he said earlier says you hate those works and then verse 7even hear this he who has an ear let them hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of.
God and each of these commendations and each these uh uh endings you're going to see a picture of Eternity and he says if you do this if you return to me if you recapture the love you had at first one day you will eat of the tree of life now that is a picture First Genesis 1:2 of Eden the Tree of Life gave eternal life to Adam and Eve until they rejected God for lesser things but there's a picture at the end of this book in the final chapter of the Bible in Revelation 22 that says.
Then the angel showed me the river of the Water of Life and this is the new heavens and the new Earth this is where all history is going flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb to the middle of the street of the city also on either side of the river the Tree of Life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations and that's a picture that.
If we stay rooted in the love we had at first through toil and patient endurance if we chase after Christ over anything else what awaits us is that picture that one day we will be in the new heavens and the new Earth eternally eating of the Tree of Life eternally soaking in the presence of Christ beholding him for who he is for eternity that's that's what awaits us and that should motivate us to see the Lesser things that we chase after and say I don't want that I want Christ.
Because he's better and because that's where it's going and that should be the motivation and the heartbeat behind every bit of repentance that we're about to do when we take the Lord's Supper Matt's going to come up and he's going to lead us and we're going to take the Lord's supper and it's a moment y'all to remember that the reason we have have the love that we had at first is because Christ 2,000 years ago broke bread and he said this is my body that was broken.
For you and then he took the cup of the New Covenant and he said this is my blood that was shed for you that as often as you eat and drink this you do this in remembrance of what of me on the cross who died for you so that you could experience the love of Christ in you from now into eternity until he returns and makes all things new and we as Christians get to come to this meal and we get to think about the things that we have chased after the Lesser things that are capturing our affections and our worship and we get to repent.
Because Christ paid for that and his blood is sufficient to cover all of our sin all of our idolatry and we joyously come to the table remembering thank you Jesus that that sin is covered and Lord help me repent so that I can enjoy the love I had at first both now and to Eternity but there are some of you where this meal isn't for you some of you have not fully trusted in Christ as your only hope You' not tasted and seen that he is good and I.
So want you to see that love for this life is empty and hopeless and I think you might know this I think that that for some of you you realize there's a part of you that's chased after this life and you realize it isn't satisfying it doesn't bring hope it doesn't bring joy and doesn't been fulfillment and God in his sovereignty has led you to hear and I hope that you hear so clearly this morning that God has something better for you it's him and my hope is that you'd.
For the first time experience the love that he offers and that it would change your life so that you might one day eat of the Tree of Life with his Saints with his Church let me pray heavenly father I pray that you might stir in our hearts towards faith and trusting in you but also repentance God may you change our hearts may we not have our lampstand removed because we in faith and in Repentance turn from the things that capture our worship may we not walk away from your word without taking an account of the things that steal our love from you may return to the love we had at.
First and may that help us be the people that you want us to be in Christ's name amen.
Revelation 1
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning it's not just said we're in the Book of Revelation the last book of the Bible so if you flip to the end you're going to find it you can follow along with us we're going to be in chapter one today uh we're doing Revelation three parts the part one is uh the letters which we'll get to uh in a little bit uh but this is also just a disclaimer this is my first sermon back since being back from sabatical and I just we have we have a teaching that we uh was the.
First opportunity to preach this and and work on this together and I was amped like I just was so excited to be back so I don't know what's going to happen I'm I'm excited about the Book of Revelation but uh but also I might we'll see what this goes I just this is a this F for what happens next um I Heard a about a poll that was done that asked uh preachers what is the book that you are least excited about to preach and it was the Book of Revelation and they also asked members what is the book you most want to hear preached and it was the Book of Revelation.
So why why the discrepancy why the why is that response uh this is one of the most difficult books in the Bible to interpret uh because it is apocalyptic literature okay so we'll get to more of that in a moment on what that means for this book but that makes this more uh welcome back is that bad all right we'll do this like rat battle style which fits with how amped I am all right so it's one of the most difficult books in the Bible to interpret.
Because it is apocalyptic in nature in fact GK Chesterton once said he said St John saw many strange monsters in his vision he saw no creature as wild as one of its own commentators and it's like yeah you you read a lot of different commentaries a lot of different takes on this book you can get some pretty wild takes Martin Luther once said uh in the most blunt fashion which is that is Martin Luther what he would do uh he said many people have brewed stupid things in their heads in trying to understand this book.
So there are a lot of opinions on this book and I would say some strong ones out there and and what happens is is that this book and the content in it also kind of shows up in in popular culture so when I grew up uh in the 90s Left Behind was the book series I mean like it transcended culture I mean it was just a really popular book series so popular that they made a movie out of it so popular that years later they made another movie with Nick Cage in it.
So if you didn't know that Nick Cage is in a Christian film that deals with some of the things that is in the Book of Revelation and what happened was is that kind of seeped into a lot of our thought like I my brother one time he went to uh he showed up to youth group and there were like two or three kids it was a big youth group it two or three kids and he said what happened and the kids looked at him and said dude you missed it man the Rapture happened.
For a moment they had him like he just because there's just like oh that was the that was the the the air of the day was just like oh no it's it's happening right and some of you like okay I that's fine you obviously grew up hearing about these things I don't really know anything about the Book of Revelation and I'd say well actually I think you know more than you think uh it shows up a lot in uh references all over the English language the imagery of the Pearly Gates of Heaven which shows up in a lot of bad jokes that that comes from the Book of Revelation you ever heard of the number.
666 And some of the evil mystery that surrounds that number that comes from the Book of Revelation if you've heard the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that comes from the Book of Revelation in fact the popular use of apocalypse actually comes from The Book of Revelation so there's a lot going on there and some of you are excited to be in this book maybe a little too excited all right so when you get a group tone it down a little bit you might scare some.
Okay so some of you are nervous and you're nervous because you have a fear of the future and and uncertainty some of you are nervous because you maybe have been a part of churches or small groups or Community groups where this became a divisive subject which is as Matt just prayed it's not going to be for our Church uh we're going to be unified in this but before we really jump into all the details that are going to be in this book in chapter one I want to give a little bit of an overview and I want to help us.
See the big picture because there's a lot of debate as we're going to get into this in the series a lot of debate and and discussion over some of the finer details that are throughout this book but while some of that is debated and some of that may be less clear there's one thing that is abundantly clear there's a main big picture that we cannot miss that we're going to see in chapter one that's going to guide us throughout the rest of our time in Revelation we're going to.
See four things that make up this big picture of the whole book so let me pray for us and then uh we'll walk This Together heavenly father I pray that you might help us have hearts to receive your word that it might mold us and shape us and conform us into your image in a way that helps us behold you for who you are in Jesus name amen all right so uh verse one the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place all right.
So a few things out the gate it's Revelation not Revelations it's a common mistake just the one not a plural set of Visions just one Revelation I had a a professor in college who got super annoyed when people would put S at the end of it so we like just emphatically would say Revelations we like just draw it out you could just see it was fun uh for people who are in a Bible class but that it's just the one so Revelation singular in the Greek word.
For that word uh Revelation in the original language was apocalypsis apocalypsis which you can guess that's where we got the word apocalypse from apocalypsis in the Greek just means revealing that's why we call it Revelation so next time uh if you want to fund Jesus Juke at work right in the office or the shop wherever you work if someone starts especially if it's about the election they start talking about oh this person gets elected the apocalypse is happening just kind of Juke on in and say.
Well actually I just learned that apocalypse comes from the Greek word apocalypsis which just means revealing it's actually the revealing of Jesus Christ you have a few minutes where I can share you the Gospel of Jesus Christ you will you will be a big hit at work that's just that's bonus content y'all that's for free all right so it's a revealing of Christ the main figure in this book it's about Christ and his revealing and specifically what's going to happen in the end of this age.
So it's going to be talking about things that are present but also things that are to come some of you may be familiar with that language of eschatology which you might hear throughout this series and that is the the uh study of the last things in the end of this page and that's what Revelation is going to be a lot focusing on so Jesus is the main figure of this Revelation and then I want us to focus on the first part which I think is the.
First part of this big picture that is crucial to understanding this book and that is that this is an apocalyptic book this is an apocalyptic book which means it's it's apocalyptic genre the style of writing is apocalyptic and that's important because that's different sometimes uh you may have an approach that thinks the Bible is just all this you know it's all the same literature but it's not actually they're different styles of writing W in the gospels are a biography of sorts really a theological biography that focuses on the last three years of Jesus's life and communicating bigger theological points The Book of Proverbs is wisdom literature.
So you would read the gospels different than you would the pro Book of Proverbs and other wisdom literature in the same way you read apocalyptic writings different so the Book of Revelation the last part of of Daniel the book of Daniel 7 onward parts of the Book of Ezekiel these are apocalyptic writings which means you have to approach them differently and in apocalyptic writings there's a lot of symbols a lot of symbols that point towards a very real fulfillment a very real future and that statement in and of itself that it's symbolic that points to a real future that's going to be examined over and over and over again throughout this series.
So when we study this book when we read this book together you're going to see a lot of images a lot of symbols you're going to see the scroll and the lamb some of the things we just sang about you going to read about the Seven Seals the 144,000 the seven Trumpets the seven bowls and there's a lot of debate over what each of these symbols mean and that's a part that really drives a lot of Christians crazy because I mean some people just like can I just have like a straightforward Narrative of how this is how.
Jesus is coming like can we just get that maybe you're the kind of person that in English class you know yall were reading animal farm and Animal Farm is you know it's it's a it's just points to a bigger story and the other kids in class were like yeah and like you know the pigs represent communism and they get all into it you're just like I could it could oral have just written a straightforward paper on how communism was bad you're the kind of person just give me just tell tell me what it tell me what it is right.
If that's your posture then parts of this series May annoying but I I want to ask you and invite you to really have a a humble posture that God has chosen to reveal this to us that God has chosen to uh speak in a way that shows how he's going to make all things new like this and that maybe we should just have a humble posture that says okay there's some mystery here I'm trying to figure this out but we should have a posture of humility as we approach some of these symbols and what you're going to.
See is that in apocalyptic literature like this a lot of these symbols are going to repeat themselves like you're going to see similarities between them over and over again they're kind of repeating making a bigger picture of what is actually how God is going to make all things new it's similar to a mosaic a mosaic is a is a big picture that's made up of a lot of smaller pictures and so if if there was a mosaic of Nick Cage it would be Nick Cage's face with a bunch of pictures of him in from all his movies and all the crazy stuff he's done and it makes up this bigger picture.
So a lot of ways that's what apocalyptic writing is like and that's what the Book of Revelation is like it's a lot of individual pictures and what happens is is that we might focus on those little pictures that are fuzzy and get lost when we what what we need to do is to to step back and see the bigger picture of what's happening so as we walk through a lot of the symbols in this book in this apocalyptic book we need to keep that in mind and we're going to spend some more time in this actually even going we're going to have a training weekend on September 13th which you want to mark your calendar.
You can sign up for that but we're going to have a night that we will do things a little bit different than we do on Sunday morning to to dive further into this so we can understand this book correctly so this is apocalyptic genre it's crucial for us understanding everything that follows all right I've just been the first verse and we got to keep going because we got a whole chapter to go through all right so he made it known it continues by sending his Angel to his servant John who verse two bore witness to the word of.
God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw all right so who is this John uh there's some debate on this uh but Church history has largely agreed on this this is the same John the Apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John first second and third John he probably wrote this at the end of his life when he was exiled on the Ireland of Patmos around 85 to 95 uh ad under the reign of Dom Mission.
So that's some background on who this Revelation is being revealed to first so we're going to see that John is recording this and Jesus and an angel throughout this book are revealing this to him all right verse three blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near all right pause if you were like me and you're not excited about this book.
For fill in the blank reason we we're wrong what it just said blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy you are blessed to read this book you are blessed to sit under uh this word we so we get to repent and change and have a better attitude otherwise the fall is going to be super long you guys verse four John to the seven churches that are in Asia all right here comes the curveball this book is not just apocalyptic it is also a letter that's the.
Second big thing you need to see this is an apocalyptic book and a letter it's a letter so why it's part one is called the letters Revelation Chapter 2 and chap three are seven letters that are written to seven different churches we're going to sit in each one of those letters to to see what uh John has to say to those churches but also what it means for us as well so in typical New Testament letter fashion John starts with a greeting he says grace to you in peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.
So fairly normal start very similar to language in the rest of the New Testament in the letters that are written and from the seven spirits who are Before the Throne and it begins a lot of this coming up all right and it says and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of Kings on Earth okay seven what seven Spirits what is John talking about I'm going to tell you something three words that you're going to hear l in this series I don't know I don't know.
For sure now is is it seven angels who are in the presence of God is that what's happening here or is this language for the Holy Spirit because seven as we're going to see throughout this book is a number for completion and this is the fullness of the Holy Spirit I lean that way I think that makes the most sense especially because in a lot of letters there's you see trinitarian language father Son and Holy Spirit and that's all right here.
So it makes sense that it is but I'm not sure and there's a lot of debate over that and you're going to hear that a lot this series I don't know some people interpret it this way some people interpret it this way so there'll be a lot of this as we walk through this book and I'll just say this if you come across anyone that is like really really sure of themselves B Revelation like you you're on YouTube like deep in YouTube and all of a sudden someone just says like I I have the secrets of this book I'm going to show you how it's going to happen how it's going to go down like.
And subscribe or whatever book you may have came across where there's such certainty and how they understood the Book of Revelation may I suggest that you keep scrolling because they have an arrogance that 2,000 years of Church history doesn't have brothers and sisters for 2,000 years have just had Parts just gone I don't know and that's okay it's it's a difficult book to interpret so I would suggest that as we study this together to be careful about what you watch and be careful about what you read.
Because there are a lot of wild takes and I bet you that person also has a YouTube channel on the Illuminati and chemtrails like that there some of that goes hand in hand so just Revelation is not that simple as we're going to see so then we get this beautiful Declaration of the Gospel continues say to him who loves us and that is the love of Christ and has freed us from our sins by his blood that's the atoning work of Christ's blood that covers our sin and made us verse six a kingdom priests to his.
God and Father the Church is a kingdom of priests a holy nation declaring the Gospel and the glory of God to him be glory and Dominion forever and ever amen that's a pretty good start to the letter and he's not done like he just exalted that's the gopel right there he spent a whole sermon on that right there and he's like I that's not I I need one more amen then he goes in verse 7 behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will.
See him even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will whail on account of him even so amen what we kind of see here is that first Declaration of the Gospel is a celebration of what Christ has done for his Church but the second amen is a declaration of what God is going to do when judgment comes to those who don't believe he this is Christ coming on the clouds that's Daniel 7 apocalyptic language Jesus coming on the clouds Judgment Day language here every I will.
See even those who murdered and pierced Christ that judgment comes to all unbelievers from every tribe nation and tongues out the gate we see it's also a warning for those who do not believe those you do not need the warnings that are found in this book then we get this quote from Jesus in verse 8 that shows up later in the Book of Revelation I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come the almighty and that language there Alpha and Omega is the.
First and last letter of the Greek alphabet and it just is is a statement it says I'm I'm the beginning I created all things and I am the end bring this to its conclusion Christ is God verse n i John is John's appear here I John your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus the.
Third thing I want us to see this is an apocalyptic book and a letter written to A persecuted people written to A persecuted people so John says your partner in the tribulation that is the trials sufferings and persecution of himself and those seven churches in that time onward that that's what he means by tribulation here he's talking about the present real sufferings and persecution that they are enduring that's going to be important for us to remember they were enduring heavy persecution.
When the Church began shortly after there was persecution in Jerusalem and the Church spread all across uh Asia and uh uh Europe and then Emperor like Nero came along around 65 665 May and absolutely persecuted Christians in some absolutely Insidious ways the kind of persecution that arrested tortured and then burnt Christians at the stake at night as literal human torches for the streets that's the kind of persecution the Church was enduring all the way to do Mission which is what we think is the time that John is writing in the Church is enduring heavy persecution I mean John is on Patmos and we know from we can uh tell from Church history that he's there.
Because he was exiled it's part of his persecution after there's some debate on this but some Church historians uh will read sources and say that he was actually Bo he's the only disciple that wasn't martyred but he was actually uh boiled in oil and then in Patos Exile so this is written to A persecuted people that context is going to be incredibly important for understanding a lot of the language that is in this in fact I would argue that there are churches all across the world that are currently being persecuted in ways that are that are heavy and severe they actually love the Book of Revelation they love it they.
Because it is a comfort to them to know that Christ will come to judge all those who have opposed him and to know that Christ is coming back so it's important context all right verse 10 it says I was in the spirit on the Lord's day this is John talking which again you could post up we're not going to be in Revelation for a full year but you can do a whole sermon on that right there because this is the only reference from the New Testament to the Lord's day and it's kind of beautiful.
Because the Lord's day is this that's the day it's Sunday it's the tradition where uh the Church chose to uh worship Christ on Sunday it's kind of our Sabbath where we get to worship Christ and we see the early parts of this tradition beginning here and that's the reason we meet here even now but again got to keep going I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying write what you.
See in a book and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus these are the seven churches Ephesus and to smea and to pergamum and to thyra and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and leoda so we're going to see that this is written to a bunch of persecuted churches over the next seven weeks as you sit in each of these letters so while worshiping the Lord he gets this prophetic Vision he hears a voice sounds like a trumpet it's booming write this to the seven churches.
And then he turns around and seas verse 12 then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man clothed with a long robed with a golden sash around his chest the hairs of his head were white like white wool like snow his eyes were like a flame of fire his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace and his voice was like the Roar of many Waters and his right hand he held Seven Stars from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
Wo welcome to apocalyptic writings I mean there's a lot going on there John receives this Vision he starts writing it down and he sees Christ the glorified ascended on high Christ and all of his majesty and it's a terrifying beautiful picture his clothes are white his hair is white his eyes are like fire his voice is like a roar of a r raging River it's a powerful picture and then he talks about the seven lampstands and the Seven Stars and it's like.
Okay what does that mean and once we get past chapter 2 and three we're going to see lots of pictures like this and that's kind of the difficult part of interpreting these book is what what what does that mean however we get thrown a bone here because Jesus just tells us what it means early on so verse 17 when I saw him I fell at his feet though dead which catch that he just so overwhelmed he falls on his face before the glorified Christ.
But he laid his right hand on me saying fear not I am the first and the last and the living one it's just just the the so terrifying so Wonder and then puts his right hand on says fear not that's our savior right there he says I I died and behold I am alive forever more and I have the keys of death and Hast write therefore the things that you have seen those that are and those uh those that are and those that are to take place after this as.
For the mystery of the Seven Stars that 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 we get some interpretive help there Christ seven lampstands are the seven churches that we're going to read about over the next seven weeks and the Seven Stars the seven angels that reside over those churches which we'll get to that in the coming weeks as well.
So when you look at the images here from chapter four onward they paint a picture of the Revelation of Christ and how he's going to bring an end to all things before he makes all things new and there's a lot of symbols there's a lot of there a lot of content in it can make your head spin a little bit and as we read the rest of the letter what what the danger of what can happen is that we can get lost in some of those details I heard one pastor like people forget this is the Revelation of.
Jesus Christ not the Revelation of the War of the Worlds and that is right it's a Revelation of Jesus Christ and I think what Left Behind did in really a lot of of writings like that is it put so much focus on some of those fuzzy details that have been debated for over 2,000 years of Church history that it really made the American Church lose thread of what this is all about so as we go through the Book of Revelation here is the big picture this is an apocalyptic book and a letter written to A persecuted people telling them to endure.
Because Jesus is coming that's the big picture it is an apocalyptic book and a letter written to A persecuted people telling them to endure because Jesus is coming back that's the big picture of Revelation that is Crystal Clear we may have some differences of opinion on some of the Minor Details of this book but there is no debate on how that is the big picture what's happening and I love that I'm so thankful I'm so thankful you go back a few verses and says fear not Christ puts his hand on him says fear not I'm the.
First and the last and the living one that's that Alpha and Omega language he says I'm it I'm the first and last he I I died and behold I'm alive forever more and I have the keys of death in Hades right therefore the things that you have seen those that are and those that are to take place after this to a people who are suffering deeply the effects of tribulation and trials to hear that Christ is coming back is incredible news it is incredible to hear he is coming back that that is what's going to help them endure that knowledge that certainty that Christ will come and he will make all things new and he.
Will judge the wicked that is good news to a people who are suffering so deeply and so we're going to walk through a lot of this vision and we're going to see all the different parts and then we're going to see at the end how Christ comes and how he comes to make all things new and if he flip the final chapter of the Bible in Revelation 22 you get these pictures of the Church of Jesus Christ and just we've we've.
So clung to these in the hope that is bound in verse 12 chapter 22 says Jesus says behold I am coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done I am the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last the beginning and the end in a time of suffering to know that the God who rules sovereignly over all things is I am coming and and and and weay for recompense it's going judgment will come.
But I'm also going to make all things new and the final verses of the Bible this verse 20 says he testifies to these things saying surely I am com soon and John says amen come Lord Jesus the refrain of the Church for 2,000 years come Lord Jesus the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all amen there is certainty Christ is coming and we we may have some some disagreements I'm sure on how all that's going to unfold but he is coming which means that this present moment though painful at times this present life though filled with suffering at times it pales in comparison to what awaits that the present suffering that is very real.
That we feel right now that feels so long it is going to end and there is a day coming where there is no more pain where there is no more death where there is no more suffering where there are no more trials Christ will make all things new and the Church of Jesus Christ for 2,000 years has collectively rejoiced saying come Lord Jesus make all things new come that's the hope that we have and some of you are are feeling the effects of suffering right.
Now some of you are physically suffering you're physically feeling the effects of your body decaying and wearing away and the physical loss maybe chronic pain you if you feel that suffering some of you are suffering emotionally there is deep sadness and maybe even depression that you are living in right now some of you are suffering spiritually maybe it's doubt maybe it is spiritual warfare that you are just you feel on a very everpresent basis some of you are suffering relationally that following Christ has cost you relationally with friends with family.
And while we're not being burned in the streets like the New Testament Church we feel it we feel the very physical and emotional spiritual we feel the reality of suffering now and I want to help us see so clearly in this series that Christ is coming the resurrection that awaits us is a reality that is what awaits us there is a day coming where there is only endless joy and all the pain of this present life is dist that what awaits us.
Because that is true we can't endure we can't hold on a little longer we can struggle and strive because we know that while the pain that we feel now in this present life is real it is but a moment and what awaits us is eternal and the Church for 2,000 years has held on to this letter with that hope in and that's what we're going to do in this series we're going to get into a lot of the details but we're going to keep the main thing the main thing Christ is coming and that is incredible news.
For the Church of Jesus Christ band's going to come up and we're going to behold God and His glory for who he is and worshiping y'all I brought joy to my soul to hear our Church sing this morning rejoicing in what Christ is going to do but the reality is this letter is not just for the Church it's not just for the Church to be told of how Christ is going to come back it's also a warning the reality is is that some of you may not know Christ you may not belong to him you have not tasted and seen that he's good and surrendered your life completely to him you don't belong to him.
And this wonderful mysterious Incredible Book is a warning to wake up and see the truth of the Gospel that Christ loves you so much that it came to rescue you and give you life with him for eternity that offer is for you to be spared of all the warnings all the things that are warned about later on in this letter that is offered to you and there's no better thing that you could do than right now to lay down your life and surrender to that savior a savior who is fearful and wonderful.
But also will put his right hand on you and invite you in the faith of him my hope is you would not leave today you would not leave this series without placing your hope in him so that you might experience the joy of Christ's Church worshiping and dividing in him for eternity let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for the good news of the Gospel that saves we thank you that you're not leaving us here in our sin but you came to rescue us through faith alone in your life death and Resurrection.
But you are coming back help us right now believe that if there are Christians here that are suffering May that truth be so but it may Pierce through whatever is in their life that they may so behold you in your glory for who you are and for what you're going to do if there's anyone here that has not placed their faith in you Lord may you do it may you pierce their heart maybe you win them over to Faith and use they May Delight in you.
For eternity we ask this in Jesus name amen.
Three Enemies: Stand Firm
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here uh grab a Bible and go to Matthew chapter 6 we are finishing up our series three enemies today um we have been taking some time to consider that as Christians as those who are trying to follow Jesus and be uh conformed to his image that we have enemies that are at work against us to keep us from doing that and the the three enemies that we've talked about are the World the Flesh and the devil that the Bible is going to tell us that all three of these in different forms and different Fashions and in different ways are at work against us.
Our hope in this series is to try to help develop a radar for these enemies that we would be aware of them we would be looking for them we would begin to notice where they're at work in our lives it's it's like when you went to buy a vehicle and you found one that you were like this is this is one I'm going to I'm going to drive and as soon as you got it you realized you started seeing them everywhere you're like everybody's driving a black Saturn what the heck.
But you started noticing them all the time because you now had found one and saw it on the road and now you see it everywhere and that's kind of what we're hoping is that we would begin to have some sort of uh awareness of these enemies so that we might not be caught unaware or offguard but that we might be able to respond to them so here's what we've said I'm going to we're going to take a minute we're going to get to Matthew 6.
But but we're going to uh catch ourselves up a little bit on what we've been talking about so we said we have three enemies and they work this way together deceitful ideas that play to disordered Desires normalized in a sinful Society so that Satan lies one of the primary ways that he works is that he lies he puts deceitful ideas out there and that he's working against God's truth because all truth is God's truth and all truth ultimately is going to lead us to Christ as we find what is real in the world we're going to be led to God's glory his creation and the work of.
Jesus so the enemy is anywhere but home he's trying to work us anywhere uh but Jesus he's lying and that we have disorder desires that you and I want to sin that there's part of us that wants to pursue sin and so we want to believe some of these lies and the problem with lies that we believe is that we think they're true you the thing about blind spots is that you can't see them and so sometimes you're like no that's not a lie that's true and it's like right.
But you believe it but it's not true and so the enem is lying there's part of us that wants to believe it and then it gets normalized in a sinful society that collectively were surrounded by other Sinners who also believe lies it's a little bit like uh when you're running late for class and you're hustling and then you see someone else who's in that class and y'all laugh and immediately slow down because now you're not late by yourself you got a teammate and it changes the whole thing and that's the way this gets normalized in a sinle society is that we we.
Look around and go well they're doing that and they're doing that and I'm not treating my money the way that person treats their money and I'm not treating my spouse the way they treat their spouse so I'm doing okay and we normalize sinful patterns that's the way the enemy works and so what we've said is we've spent a lot of time talking about the way these enemies work what they do how they show up and then we've given some responses some practices uh in a way that we would respond against these things and our hope.
Today is to spend more time time on the practices to be a little more practical today so here's what we've said we' said we've got deceitful ideas disordered Desires in a sinle society and so as we've talked about this we said we have deceitful ideas which means that we need truth and then we said okay so if we need to fight against deceitful ideas and we need truth then we need to read the Bible specifically the way we talked about was that we need to live in the Bible you need to know your Bible you need to know what's there it needs to be uh familiar to you.
And so that we want to be people who read our Bibles know our Bibles memorize our Bibles this is honestly this series is a little bit odd for us we're still studying the Scriptures but most of the time as a Church we just work straight through a book of the Bible because we want to know our Bibles and as soon as this week's over next week we pick up with another book of the Bible we're just going to work through it.
Because we want to be people who know and believe our Bibles we want to fight the lies with truth we have disordered desires and we want to respond with faith trusting that Jesus really is better than everything else that he really is better than the thing that I'm wanting and so that we would be people who confess and repent practice self-control follow the lord in obedience so that we would be people who know our Bibles and that respond with self-control and obedience and confession and repentance that we would practice these things that have been a part of the Church forever.
And then we said we live in a sinful Society we need a counterculture we need to be particularly here what we've said is join a community group belong to a people who are trying to follow Jesus together that you need good peer pressure you need people who uh believe that you should be reading the Bible and following Jesus and expect that from you so if the enemy works this way deceitful ideas uh show the whole sentence deceitful ideas that play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful Society what we want is biblical truth that leads to Faith that is normalized in a.
Jesus loving Community that's what we want biblical truth that leads us to to respond in faith that's normalized in a Jesus loving Community now if you've been here for a while if it's your first day we're glad you're here welcome also I'm running through a whole bunch of stuff we've been talking about for a long time and I'm going really fast you're like what is going on a recap of like five weeks just so that we're all tracking but if you've been here a.
While and you read that you go wait a second that's what y'all say all the time yeah that's what the Church has been doing forever y'all this is from the book of Acts this is Acts 2:42 it's the Church has just been the Holy Spirit has just gone to work and it says this and they that's the new Christians devoted themselves to the apostles teaching what's the apostles teaching that's the word that's turns into eventually becomes the gospels and the letters and it's it's the teaching of the Old Testament in Light of Christ.
So they devoted themselves to the word they devoted themselves to the Bible and being devoted to it meant they practiced it that these were people who had just repented and were now practicing what it meant to follow Jesus they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellow Fellowship what's that that's each other the other people who are following and practicing and following Jesus and some of you were like I like my Bible but I don't like people yeah but your Bible that you say you like is going to tell you that you have to love those people it thankfully tells them to love you too and you need to belong you need to be.
A part of following Jesus together you're like well people are difficult yeah and you're being a little difficult in this conversation if I'm being honest welcome to the club you need to belong you need to participate in what it's like to belong to people we need to walk this out together and then it says to the breaking of bread and the prayers the breaking of bread would have been sharing meals in homes it also would have been the intentional meals gathered around communion this idea of Jesus's broken body.
For us this was a Gospel people that shared life together and the prayers and so that's what we're talking about today practices and prayer because that's where I had you turn in Matthew 6 we're going to look at a prayer and we're going to see that as we've talked through these enemies that we ought to be mindful of them on a regular basis in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid one of the Best Westerns ever Butch and Sundance are hired to defend somebody who's going to pick up payroll he runs a mining company he's got to go pick up payroll got to return it and he needs protection.
When he has all this money so they he they're going with him to go pick up the payroll and they're riding down the mountain and Butch and Sundance are back there behind him talking and Sundance says I'm telling you they're hiding in the trees and Butch says no no no they're behind the Rocks sudden he says no it's the trees he says no it's the Rocks they said well you watch the trees I'll watch the Rocks finally the the guy who's hired him stops and turns around and says morons I got morons on my team which I heard my dad quote to me like a thousand times in my life whenever me and my brothers.
Were doing something stupid this just came out of his mouth I got morons on my team and then he says they ain't going to rob us going down the mountain cuz we ain't got no money going down the mountain they're going to rob us when we're coming back up the mountain and they're morons because they were looking for enemies that weren't there I would like to submit to you that we might be morons of a different fashion we are not looking.
For enemies that are there that we're Trucking along not being aware of these enemies at play in our lives and I want you to see as we look at the model prayer that Jesus teaches that he's aware of them and he intends for us to be aware of them in our normal everyday life as we follow him that we ought to be Christians who are mindful of our enemies as we seek to follow Jesus so we're going to talk this morning about practices and prayer let's pray pray.
And then we'll jump into Matthew 6 Lord we ask for your help we pray that you would uh multiply the effectiveness and helpfulness of us studying this together that we would be people who are aware and watchful of our enemies but not fearful that we would be people who understand the victory in you but then get to apply it and live it out as we practice what it looks like to follow you and Lord we specifically today ask that you'd help us to wrap our minds around this more personally in the situations that we're facing and to learn to pray as you've taught in.
Jesus name amen so what Jesus teaches in the model prayer is not a magic formula of something to repeat it is not a mantra to say over and over again it is a model he specifically says right before this don't just say empty phrases but he gives them a way to pray that would teach us how to pray and if you're learning how to pray it's an excellent pattern to follow so I'm going to read it all the way through.
Then we'll go through it in pieces he says pray then like this this is Matthew 6 starting in verse 9 we're going to go through verse 13 pray then like this Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil so go back to verse n he says this is how you ought to pray and he starts with our.
Father in heaven Hallowed be your name both acknowledging the connection that we have to God that he's our father that he loves us that he cherishes us that he cares for us that we can approach him and that he's holy that he ought to be honored revered and respected and then he says your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven that we are to be mindful that he's the king of all things and that we want his kingdom to advance and we want more people to follow.
Jesus and we want his will to be done in the world around us and and in US many of our prayers should be let your will be done in me that I might look the way I'm supposed to and that the the relationships I'm in and the world I'm in might look more and more like heaven as we follow you and he says give us this day our daily bread that we might pray about the needs we have and be aware of the provision that he provides daily to be thankful.
For it but expectant on it and dependent on him and this also means that this is a normal daily prayer that he expects this to be a regular way that we pray and then he says this and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil y'all that's our three enemies he says that we're supposed to ask for forgiveness of sins our debt to him is sin other places will say forgive us our trespasses or forgive us our sins as we forgiven those who've sinned against us that's what that is that we would repent of sin we be aware that we're Sinners.
Lead us not into temptation we're to be aware that there's a world around us both filled with people that tempt us and situations that tempt us that are calling us into sin that we'd be mindful of that and Deliver Us from Evil some of the versions will say evil one or have an as they say this can be translated evil one it's this personification of evil it's Satan it's the enemy that we would be delivered from the enemy that Jesus says your normal daily way to pray is to be mindful of your three enemies I I have found in my relationships with people and talking with people that a lot of times we're aware of.
Some of these some of you may not pray like this at all ever about any of them a lot of us are aware of some of them so that you're may be aware that you're a sinner you like I'm messing everything up and I'm I'm the one who causes so much trouble and I'm the reason everything's wrong and you might might be able to clearly sometimes see your sin some of you that one doesn't show up on your radar at all you're great everyone else around you is the worst.
If they would just listen to you when you talk their problems would be solved and it's like hey yeah you might want to start praying that you could see your sin and that you would be forgiven and that you'd be forgiving that you'd see your sin some people notice Temptation you're aware of it you see patterns and situations that you get in that cause you problems you talk to parents sometimes they see this one for their kids my kids great but they just they've been hanging out with a badg crowd my precious little perfect little gold-hearted angel just hanging out with some bad people it's like I think they're like.
Second in command to that team like I yeah there's some Temptation yeah you need to be aware of it but it's not the only thing there are other things as well but some of us are completely blind to this you don't you you maybe know that you're a sinner but you don't think at all about patterns and systems that you have set up and things that tempt you some of you do most of your sinning after 10 p.m. go to sleep some of you need to.
Look and realize hey I I hang out with a bunch of morons and I act like a kiss some new friends change some of your patterns change some of your habits be aware of some of the Temptations around you some of us are mindful that we have an enemy you'll talk to some people sometimes that are aware that there's an enemy they'll be mindful of that a lot of us aren't a lot of us because we're westerners Americans we maybe have a place.
For the enemy because the Bible says it but no real functional process for how we would think about that or pray about that and so it's like yeah the devil exists and he does things but there's no he doesn't lie to me and there's no way that I'd be have to be worried about that there are some people who overthink it I've talked to people before and they're like yeah Satan was in my toaster what was he how why what maybe you just need a new toaster like I don't even know how you're processing through this.
But for most of us we're not thinking about that at all we're not watchful and sober minded as Peter says that we would look out for an enemy who wouldn't want us to follow Jesus wouldn't want us to have joy wouldn't want us to raise our kids to love Jesus wouldn't want us to read our Bibles wouldn't want us to fight through for what is good would actively try to keep us from belonging to people and repenting of sin that we have an actual enemy and we're blind to that.
Jesus says no this is how we ought to pray this is what normal should look like and what's beautiful about this one of my favorite things that I find so encouraging about it is we just get to pray like that all the time we don't have to be investigators all the time figuring out exactly which one it is we just get to be aware that all of those enemies are usually at work in most situations they're all there helping if you'd say this is 100% me it's like maybe I mean you're a sinner you're 100% involved.
But I would say enem is probably at work I'd say there's probably some the world at work if you say no this is 100% the world like if if I wasn't tempted at all I'd never SE a yeah but you were there and you sin so I would think you're involved the enemies involved like they're all involved there was a movie I watched when I was probably 11 I maybe watched this I don't know 450 times it's the movie major pain.
So that maybe tells you a little bit about my my life growing up in the movie major pain uh it's a it's a guy who is like a very good military leader person killed a lot of folks at the beginning of the movie he gets told that he there's nobody left to kill and he's got to go run an ROTC program with children he actually looks at him and says there's got to be somebody needs some killing they say no you got to go run this.
For children at one point one of the kids comes to him in the middle of the night scared says there's a bad man in his closet there's a monster in the closet he walks over and says that closet he says yes he pulls his gun out and just shoots into the closet pow pow pow pow pow pow pow puts his gun up looks at the little kid and says if he's still in there he ain't happy and that's the way I feel about this a little bit we we got three closets we got three enemies we don't have to open them all up all the time and figure out exactly what's going on we can.
Trust the work of the spirit to help us see some of that but we also get to just shoot into every closet we get to say Lord please forgive me I know I'm a sinner I know I'm wrong I know specifically I sinned here forgive me of that but I also know that I don't always think about things right so help me help me turn from my sin help me run from my sin please forgive me help me to be gracious.
And then you get to say Lord help me keep me far from Temptation I don't know exactly know all the ways that I'm in the middle of this and I'm trying to figure that out but help me guard me and then Lord I don't know where the enemies at work here but I know he's a liar and I know he hates me and I know he hates you and so for protect me deliver me from the work of the enemy here.
Let me not listen to him let me listen to your spirit and we just get to pray all three and we don't have to go well I don't know if that's involved or that just just normal prayer is all of them so here here's what we're going to do with the time we have left we're going to do two case studies for lack of a better way to put it we're going to take two topics and consider them and we're going to consider how the practices how the enemies would be at work how the practices and praying will help us fight against them.
So how's the enemy at work here how are the enemies at work here and how does following these practices and praying in this way help we're going to take two they may or may not perfectly apply to you but we're trying to walk through this thought process so that in the situations that you're facing in the struggle that you're facing you can see a little bit of okay I can see how this works together and I can see how we would pray.
So that's what we're going to do the first one we're going to talk about is sexual sin or sexual Temptation now we talk about this topic a good bit and part of the reason we do that is because our culture never shuts the heck up about it it's not like it's our favorite thing to talk about it's just that we're we're going to talk about it some when we gather together and then you're going to go hear a thousand messages on this topic during this week there are some things that we can just tell you the Bible says and nobody else is arguing we can teach you about David and what he did we don't.
Need to tell you that over and over again because nobody else is trying to tell you David did something different they don't care but when we tell you what the Bible says about this you're going to go out and every ad you watch and every show you watch is going to preach a different message and so we talk about this some so we're going to talk about this this morning so first how are the enemies working together well Satan's lying and he's put some things out there that are culturally accepted some of the lies are in order to be a full happy human you have to be sexually satisfied otherwise you're deficient as a person.
Uh sexual desire is just it's like an appetite it's like hunger you get hungry you eat you get thirsty you drink we have desires fulfill them this should just be something that just happen s it should be cheap and easy and free that's one of the lies then on the other side you have this is so supremely important to real genuine relationships in love it's the Bedrock of all healthy relationships and it's essential to existence cheap easy free essential to love and existence and fulfillment which both of those can't really be true that's not how stuff works it's either special or it's not it's either everywhere or it's like you.
But this is what's put out in front of us and then we have disordered desires so you have your own desires some of our desires aren't even physical or sexual they're I want to be liked I want this relationship to work I I want to be normal I want to participate in what life is supposed to be like so you not even really your own desires but just what the world told you you're supposed to chase after I want to have uh this relationship continue I want I want I want this to be special I want to be loved I want to be desired and we participate with our own disordered desires.
And then our culture co-signs all of this non-stop it leads to misery added into that is now the belief that these desires actually Define who you are whatever you feel here is actually essential to your soul so free easy like hunger also the core of your identity we hear those so much we hadn't even considered the fact that those can't coexist so how do the practices help us well if we're reading our Bibles we're going to see a few things one sexual immorality is sin sin is destructive.
So the idea that this will help you in some way be fulfilled complete help your relationship help your uh dating help your whatever make you feel happy make you feel full fix your identity no it can't because misplaced it's sin now we're told that it's not gross or evil it's a gift given to marriage it's a covenantal gift meaning that you're supposed to participate in it fully and Covenant you're saying all of me belongs to all of you and whether you know John Legend is playing in the background or not I don't know.
But that's what you're saying like I'm fully yours All of Me belongs to all of you it's a covenantal ceremony but if that's not true it's destructive this is where Paul says that you're you've got you're becoming one flesh that there's a union that's taking place and so it's meant to be something that only happens inside of a marriage so you're reading through this and you're starting to see the Bible's in forming a picture of something you know what else it says it's not essential to being a human Paul says I wish everybody were Lov like me didn't need this weren't burning with passion and could just focus on.
Jesus not have to get married and just be missionaries and get after it and tell people about Christ and not worried about what their husband wanted their wife wanted not be caught up in domestic duties and raising children that's what Paul says so it's not a essential to you existing and being healthy or happy so you're studying the word this is changing you you're waking up in the morning and reading your Bible we're supposed to live in the Bible so you're reading this at night before you go to bed you're writing verses down and putting them in your pocket and memorizing them you're listening to this as you go to work.
Because you've got to get this in your head and you're studying the Scriptures all the time and it's not all the stuff the Scriptures talk about but you keep running into these things that are helping you that are helping reframe and change you start realizing wait if the Bible says this and the Bible's true then that can't be true you start repenting you you gather with your group and you actually start confessing things to them start telling them what's going on you tell them the lies you've been believing you tell them the frustrations you've been feeling you tell them the sins and you get to confess not.
Because you've got to get all that out to get fixed but because Jesus is so good that when we bring these things to him he heals us he redeems that we've got to turn away from sin in a way that rescues us and so we're confessing not just to them but to Jesus we're walking out in Repentance what it means to follow Christ and then we have a group of people who start asking us questions we don't want to answer somebody in your group says.
Okay you want me to start texting you at 10: all right you want us to all start going on your dates and you never get to see this person alone again and you're like no and they're like well do you want to keep sinning and you're like No And it's like well I'm your new third wheel I really like putt putt we don't want you to to pursue sin we don't want things to fall apart for you so we're invested we're coming we want to be a part of this with you we're going to start praying.
For you and pleading for you and expecting that you would love Jesus more than you love this sin and so that's what starts happening and then you start praying asking for forgiveness specifically confessing to the Lord what's going on praying against patterns and temptations and understanding that there are situations you get yourself in asking the Lord to help and you start praying hey Lord I know that the enemy lies to me and I know that he doesn't want me to love you more than I love this and in the name of.
Jesus I want to listen to you not him so he doesn't get to mess with me he doesn't get to mess with my thoughts he doesn't get to claim parts of my soul I don't get if I don't belong to him I belong to you so Deliver Me From Evil and you start praying that regularly the second one I want to talk about as a case study is marriage again one of the reasons is that our culture does not help us here.
Because if you are married you have married a sinner they have too but it's way more obvious to you that they are but that's how it works it's difficult it hurts it's hard at sometimes extremely hard and the enemy lies if you were really supposed to be married it wouldn't be this difficult you've made a mistake divorce will fix this and it's actually your only route to happiness you can't live your whole life this way you're going to be miserable forever this is the only way to fix this they've changed they're not the person you married they'll never change.
Jesus can't fix this which often those Lies come in at the same time and they can't both be true that this person's changed but will never change if Jesus is going to stand over you and make you stay in this marriage then he's more like a prison Warden than a savior and do we really trust him should you really trust him is he really good which is as old as the garden we have disordered desires I'm so angry I'm so hurt I don't want to have to do all the work to fix this I don't think it's fixable I anything that cosign my desire to get out feels.
So true so good so helpful and we're surrounded by a world that makes divorce easy as easy as it can be it's it's extremely difficult you're supposed to be happy as defined by you at this moment and anything that stands in the way of that is the enemy should be removed so how do the practices help us and how is praying help us well for reading our Bibles we will first be confronted by how absolutely good Jesus is how kind and merciful helpful and forgiving how Sovereign and trustworthy that he loves us.
So much that he would come and die to make us his and that he hates sin and everything that tears us apart and that he loves us so that he's with us mercifully and graciously in the midst of this difficulty that he can be trusted we'll also see that marriage is a covenant not a contract and that it's based off of Christ's love for the Church which means that even in the middle of difficult marriages we can still display his goodness.
Because our world understands why you would stay in a good marriage and our world understands why you would leave a bad one Christians get to point to Jesus as we stay in by what is by all worldly standards bad and say I'm holding on to something that's more true I'm holding on to something that's more good and I'm TR trusting that Jesus can go to work here and I'm trusting that he's good enough for me in the middle of this difficulty and I'm trusting that he can work in this person's heart and I can stay and grow to be faithful.
So you begin to repent knowing that you're not 100% right in the situation and that even if you're the one who primarily has been sinned against that there are things where you need the Lord to work in your heart and how you're responding to that and anger and frustration and bitterness and is asking the Lord for help and mercy and Grace you're confessing but you're also asking for his work in you to be faithful and to trust him and love him more and you have your Church family around you every person in our Church.
When you come to them to talk about marriage difficulty should be heartbroken with you and should say stay in every person say you you need to you need to let's lament but let's keep fighting let's keep pressing in towards what is good because that's how the Church is meant to work now these may not have applied to you it might have applied too much to you but this is how we want to walk out what it looks like to follow Jesus we want to be people who practice these things things who are in our Bibles who live in them abide in them y'all my my group comes to my house I I host a community.
Group every week I move my trash can from my pantry to a spot where it's easy for everybody to know where it is and then like a I walk into my P Pantry 37 times while my group is at the house holding trash I I kid you not I have carried my trash can set it down grabbed a piece of trash walked to my pantry because I know where it is and I live here this is where it is all the time that's the way we ought to be with our Bibles we ought to know where things are it ought to be.
Second nature for us to be able to walk and just be a part of what the Scripture says we ought to know it we ought to live and abide in the Bible that's what we're going for we want to be that kind of people we want to be people who are genuinely repenting who love Jesus and see that he's good he's calling us into hope that he loves us so much he would die for us so that he's trustworthy with everything and we ought to not trust ourselves.
So much and know that Lord there's stuff that's wrong with me and I need your help and I know that you're actually more trustworthy than I am because I'm not willing to put up with pain to pull me away from what's broken but you were willing to die to do it Lord I need your help and then we need our Church family you remember in middle school when two people if you went to a home school this may not have happened this way.
But if you're in public school uh two people said they were going to fight well usually it was one person that said something but there was like a runner you know uh middle schoolers aren't the best at communication until there's going to be a fight and then communication lines are crystal clear so somebody would go to one and say hey Mark said he's going to beat you up and they you look you know they say oh are you scared well I'm not scared all right you walk back Mark he said he ain't scared you back and forth Mark say there going to be two hits he going to hit you and you going to hit.
The ground you got a group of people around well uh you go back hey Mark he said why don't you go outside and practice falling down he'll be out in a minute and at the end of the day wherever it was playground behind the gym whatever there was a circle of middle schoolers and Mark and the other guy were inside the circle and you might think that this circle is just sinful and we you've made promises you've confessed you following Jesus don't don't get out of this you want to stay in you want to keep fighting you want to keep pressing towards what's good we're meant to gather around each other.
When you try to leave say no no no no no no no no no stay don't run after something stupid Jesus is so much better I know you can't see that right now but he's so much better don't don't go any don't go anywhere that's our hope that we would be people who believe biblical truth that leads to Faith that is normalized and Jesus Ling Community that's what we want and y'all we have three enemies but we have one savior who has defeated all of those enemies who has redeemed us from sin who judges and rules over the world that he has a kingdom that is coming and that his his will will be done.
On Earth as it is in heaven he will fully consummate this at some point it will fully belong to him and that we get to follow after him trusting him to go to work in us and go to work in our Church family and get to pursue after the work that he's already accomplished on the cross and getting to participate in it and so our hope is that we would stand firm in our one savior as we Face Off against three very real enemies that we need to be mindful of.
But not fearful of because we have a king let's pray Lord we need the work of your spirit we need your help Lord we thank you that there's forgiveness through the work of Christ this is not about us earning anything but it is about us getting to participate in the Glorious Redemption of Jesus to the praise of his glorious Grace Lord we're tempted tempted to believe lies tempted to pursue things that will harm us tempted to chase after things that will destroy our souls and lead us away from you tempted to believe in.
So many ways so many times that something else is better than you and we ask that you would lead us away from Temptation and help us to see how gloriously good you are and father we have an enemy who lies to us who tells us you don't really love us that this situation won't get better that we are broken and it'll never get fixed that that our Church family doesn't want us around that we're a burden that nobody cares about us that all these things things on repeat that this would satisfy me this will fill me up.
If I could just have this I'd be happy and we pray in the name of Jesus that you would shut his mouth you would strike him on the cheek and break the teeth of the enemy and that we would be people who would pray mindful of our enemies but oh so much more mindful of you our glorious King that our eyes will be set on you and that we would not fall prey to anything else we submit this to you in your grace and your sovereignty in.
Jesus name amen this morning we get to celebrate baptism baptism is a public profession of Faith it's a outward sign a representation of something that has already happened inwardly this is displayed in the way we go about baptism the person doesn't get in announce to you hey I used to be messed up but I'm fixing that now and then bathe themselves in front of you there's actually people who are in there with them representing the Church representing Christ they are baptized backwards.
Because they're buried in their sin buried with Christ y'all if they don't they're dead they were dead in their sin and they're buried with their sin if they don't come back up they actually die that's what it's representing so we bury them and then we raise them again washed and risen to New Life In Christ that when he was buried they were buried when when he died for their sin their sin died and they get to walk in newness of life.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus and they have a hope of Resurrection that is what baptism is proclaiming and we praise Christ for his salvation and we praise Christ for his hope and we praise him specifically for Two Souls today that get to join us in following Jesus in faith and baptism proclaiming that their hope is in Christ.
The World
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning uh it is great to be here for this time of worship with you all on the Sunday morning that's a little bit muggy outside but nice and comfortable inside and uh if you're new here I want to welcome you my name is Isaac I'm one of the pastors here at mil City Church we're glad that you decided to join us this morning uh if you haven't been with us for the past several weeks we have been working our way through a series called three enemies and we have been focusing on how the script Scriptures uh specifically highlight three enemies that are Waging War against the kingdom of.
God and Waging War against our formation as people into the image of Christ and so uh we're towards the end of the series and so I want to quickly recap what we have talked about thus far to make sure uh that we are all on the same page so Chad started us off in week one to help us understand that the things that we do do things to us that the regular rhythms and habits of our life are forming us into something and that we have to be careful.
Because we might think that there's neutral ground but there's not neutral ground either the things we're doing are helping form us into the image of Christ or deform us away from the image of Christ and then in week two we spent some time outlining how uh the the three enemies themselves the devil the Flesh and the world work together in a unified strategy that it's not Randomness it's calculated and we have this phrasing um that we have been using to be helpful from uh a pastor and a Christian thinker who's on the west coast he says uh that the strategy of these enemies is deceitful ideas that play to disordered desires that are normalized in.
A sinful society and so those are the three enemies at work that first it's the deceitful ideas that we have a real spiritual enemy a real spiritual being with agency is at war against us and his main mode of operation is through sewing lies that he lies to us and that then we talked about that we accept the lies because we have disordered desires that the Bible calls this the Flesh in us that we want it to be true because there's a part of us that really wants it to be true.
And then you get a bunch of people that are believing these lies and then they become this becomes accepted as the Baseline truth in our cultures and in our societies and this is what Scripture calls the world and this is our Focus this morning so let me pray and then we'll Dive In Father we thank you very much for this opportunity that we get to open up your word and we get to admit that we don't don't get it on our own that we need help.
And so this morning through your spirit would you be teaching us your truth and instructing us in your ways that we might find the freedom that you provide Jesus name amen we are going to be spending most of our time this morning in 1 John Chapter 2 verses 15-1 17 so if you want to go ahead and turn there uh if you don't have Bible with you uh you can grab one that's in the seat racks and if you're in one of those blue Bibles it's going to be on page 592 uh several years ago we worked through a series in.
First John and so if you haven't had the opportunity to go back through our archives and listen to that I would encourage you to uh to get a fuller uh explanation of this whole letter um but just for this morning we're just going to be in chapter 2: 15 to 17 and uh before we begin I want to give a quick little bit of context for this passage as we begin and so this book of the Bible is written by John it's written by the Apostle John and he's writing a letter to a local Church and the tone of the book is not really negative he's very encouraging to the Believers who are there.
But he does highlight in Chapter 2 a little bit later than where we're going to be at this morning that there is seemingly a group of people who have left this local Church and that by chasing the things that are against Christ chasing after the things of this world they've revealed their true colors that they never really belong to Christ and the first place and then John goes on to say that not only that that they're also seeming to be putting pressure on this Church.
For the members to come and follow them in their teaching rather than to follow Jesus and so this is the situation in which John finds himself writing this letter to the local Church so let's dive in into verse 15 do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not not in him now I don't know about you but when I come across a verse with this level of intensity it forces me to self-reflect that.
If you thought that Raz is blunt have you met John John just said that if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him this forces me to ask myself some questions and so that's what we get to do this morning and there are two specific questions that we're going to be asking ourself first is what is the world that's important to know it's important to understand that and second what does it look like to love it what does John mean to love the world.
So first let's start with what is the world now it's important whenever we uh are reading Scripture that we have an understanding that we're all coming in with our own contextual understanding we're all coming from different places whatever our history is at maybe you've got a lot of Bible teaching maybe you don't whatever it is it doesn't matter where we come from maybe you've never even heard of the idea that the world could be an enemy and maybe you've only ever heard of the world as an enemy it doesn't matter either way we're going to come to Scripture to define the word and the idea.
For us we're not going to import our own understanding and so a couple weeks ago as we were doing a bird's eye view approach to these three enemies and their strategy um I referenced Strong's exhaustive Bible concordance which is basically just a big concordance of definitions of ideas and words that are in Scripture and he used this definition he said the present condition of human Affairs an alienation from and opposition to God they when talking about the world and the context that John is speaking of In this passage he says the present condition of human Affairs an alienation from an opposition to.
God so even though there is a way to talk about the world in which it's the physical world the things that we see in touch like trees and rocks and sticks and stuff like that specifically what John is talking about here is not the physical things we can see but something deeper than that something beyond that and this is why some translations will translate this word age or as Paul says in Ephesians 2 he says the course of this world and Paul in Colossians 2 as he's been building this understanding and this idea of the world he says this he says.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ so the way that Scripture defines this enemy me the world is that it's helping us understand that it's the agreed upon or underlying assumptions or philosophies which inform a way of life that is based on empty deceit and human tradition and not according to Christ that this is what the world is as John is referring to it.
So in our framework of the strategy of how these enemies work together the world of Scripture talks about it as the enemy of God is what happens when you have a whole society that is putting lies on repeat repeating lies to itself over and over again that first it starts on the individual level with lies that you and I believe to be true and that part of us wants to be true because we have that flesh remember these are the first two enemies we talked about the lies.
And then us accepting it but it starts with me on the individual level then you get enough people that are believing these lies and then a whole Community or Society then begins to believe it and it becomes the accepted Baseline truth and then what happens is that then Cycles back to us to reinforce in us the lie that we started to believe in the first place this is how this idea of the enemy of the World plays back to us that it starts with an individual fleshly desire that's.
Then formed into a collective societal worldview of apart from Scripture that Fe then feeds back into our fleshly desires and it's this cycle that goes and continues on for those of you that don't know me I grew up uh on a summer Campground and bethl Christian Camp that's about 15 minutes from here great Pace to grow up when you're a little kid you get to run around and have fun uh but one of the opportunities that you get is that during the summertime you get to work on staff.
And so for several years I got the great opportunity to work as a counselor uh when when kids would come for week of Camp I got to work with a cabin of kids each week and one of the things that I loved especially with the younger kids that are like seven years old is that us as staff we talk to them about the legends of the lake ninja and so we had the legends of the lake Ninja at bethl and all the staff they'd all be in on it you know we'd come up with silly stories lives under the dock eats turtles.
For breakfast you know all sorts of crazy things and uh believe it or not it doesn't take much when you get a bunch of adults communicating to seven-year-olds that there's a lake ninja that exists 24 hours in they're totally sold out a lake ninja exists they're start they're having their own side conversations about a lake ninja we we weren't even instigating them they come up and ask us questions Mr Isaac Mr Isaac you know Lake ninja does he do this does he do that where is he am I going to be.
Okay I you know there might be some 25-year-old kid that thinks there's a lake ninja still I don't I don't know but it's funny it's funny to think about some seven yearolds um being convinced of this lie um but the reality is is that there were enough people around them especially those that they looked up to that were kind of perpetuating this lie it was harmless and it was fun and we laugh at a seven-year-old but the reality is is that we're all in the same camp that we're all in the same boat.
When it comes to the way of this world we fall prey to this and are impacted by this way more than we would like to admit that we don't want to admit it but we are way more affective Ed and influenced by the way of this world then we would dare to admit and so that's what we get to look at today and this is also why in that sermon a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the specific weapon that this enemy the world uses against us is that it's the ability to cosign belief and practices and the ability allows us the ability to hide that we can just throw up our hands.
And saywell if everybody else is doing it this is why Adam gets to say it was Eve's fault and why Eve gets to say it was the Serpent's fault do we just get to try to sh the blame onto somebody else and hide and mask ourselves so with this understanding of the world we come to our second question what does it look like to love the world we're going to continue on in the passage 1 John chap 2 verse 16 for all that is in the world the desires of the Flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the.
Father but is from the world so John is going to categorize what our love of the world looks like in three umbrella terms he's going to say that what the love of the world looks like is the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride of life and so what we're going to do is we're just going to work our way through one by one so first desires of the flesh so last week if you were with us you know that Raz spent some time talking about what is the Flesh and we talked about this idea that it's that part of us that is naturally drawn towards the things that are.
Part from God and I think John has some of that in in view here um but I also think he's also talking about our physical flesh that you and I are made as real people that we have bodies and I think what's helpful in tying into this is that he says this Greek word here for desire is epithumia and it can also be translated other other places in Scripture as passions or lusts even different translations of the Bible as they're trying to help us understand this idea uh going to read a couple different translations of this word this phrase desires of the flesh.
So the NIV is going to say the bels of sinful man the new English Bible is going to say all that panders to the appetites the New Living Translation is translated the lust for physical pleasure or as one commentator put it and translated it what the body hankers for and so this is this idea that's being built up and for me personally I think that the word lust is the most helpful translation that really sets the tone of what he's trying to work and get at.
Because lust is the Twisted form of love lust is just the Twisted form of love desire is just the Baseline thing that we feel but lust is then what we begin to do with it and so lust is this desire that's turned toward myself for satisfying my physical senses especially at the expense of someone or something else that it's us wanting to satisfy our natural bodily Cravings specifically the way in which we pursue our own ends and self self-sufficient independence of.
God As One commentator put it so what does this look like then for us if John is saying that this is what the love of the world looks like what does that actually mean for us what are some of the things that John has in mind here well one very sure way that I think one very sure thing that I think John has in mind here is our approach to sex that we're physical creatures and sex involves physicalness and the way in which we engage in sex is going to help us understand whether or not we have a love.
For the world Scripture teaches that all sexual encounter outside the Covenant of marriage falls in the category of sin or Falls in this category of Love of the world and the reality is even once you get married it's not like it's some magic trick that makes your sex life all pure all of a sudden you still have to work at it you have to learn with your partner how to honor and love each other so the way Scripture talks about the world's approach to sex is that it's us taking advantage of someone else.
For the sake of our own pleasure that's this idea of lust it's me and my desires taking advantage of you or something someone else something else for the sake of my own pleasure I think that this the clearest simplest example of this in our culture is hookup culture so hookup culture is pounding this line to our heads over and over and over again that sex doesn't really mean anything sex might as well be like a piece of bubblegum you unwrap it chew it spit it out just instant little moment of pleasure that's all it is I mean.
If you haven't already just pay attention to whatever current TV series you're watching through whatever movies you like to go watch at the theaters just pay attention to the way they talk about sex is that the truth or is that a lie so here's what I think has happened we as people we have a natural drive for sex it's an eight to being a human and Scripture teaches that it has a proper place that is beautiful but at the individual level the lie that's been believed is that sex is just a physical interaction with somebody a transaction.
If you will that's all that it is and then you get a whole community of people that are believing that lie that that's all that sex is and you have a culture whose world view removes any sanctity from sex any depth to what it actually is between two people and then this culturally accepted lie then reinforces for the individual that they can participate in sex in whatever they way they want cuz I mean it's just physical interaction that's it and then you track that over the past Century over the past 150 years.
And then you land us where we're at now in our modern Western culture totally confused no Baseline whether it be sex in a dating relationship whether it be hookup culture whether it be adultery pornography whatever it does it doesn't take long in Reading Scripture to come to an understanding that God's way for sex is very different than what our culture teaches so I think heal question for us in understanding do we love the world is are we shaped more by our culture's approach to sex sex or by Scriptures are we shaped more by our cultures approach to sex or by Scriptures of course we have more than just bodily desires.
For sex so under this umbrella that John is talking about he also uh has other things in mind like the consumption of food so whether it be related to our body image or just pure Indulgence it's also very easy for us in our day and age to have a very unhealthy approach to food we understand that food is good how we actually understand that it's very good it's great at sustaining us it gives us energy it's great at creating spaces around the table.
For Fellowship it's wonderful but it's also so easy for us to just binge out on a row of Oreos just to scratch the itch our approach to alcohol fits into the same category substance use fits into the same category we live in an overstimulated world and we could talk for a long time about all the possible ways in which the world is a could be a Temptation for us to just give into our bodily desires but I think we get the picture that the individual level we've been believing lies about the way in which we're supposed to engage with our physical desires.
And then that's manifested itself into a culture into a moment and that it says that's what you pursue that's what you live for is to satisfy your physical pleasures and then that reinforces for us and it becomes the Baseline the accepted Truth for us this is what is at war against our formation into the image of Christ so that's the desires of the flesh John also talks about the desires of the eyes now obviously our eyeballs don't have desires in and of themselves.
But our eyes are the way in which we observe the world around us and if you were to sum up this idea into one word I think John is trying to talk about greed or covetousness this idea that whatever we see we believe that we need it and that I have the right to have it for my own I think the grocery store is a prime example of this just to help us understand the layout of a grocery store is specifically designed.
For you to see stuff so you can spend the money on it you know where all the name brand stuff is it's not on the bottom right hand corner of the Shelf tucked away you know in that spot of the store where the lights a little flickery so it's hard to see anyways no right on the eye Lev shelf right there for you to see well maybe most of y'all's eyes the level shelf if it's me I'm like one shelf above Craig he's all the way at the top they haven't they don't have anything.
For Craig but we get it what they understand that whatever we see we're going to want I read a short study done by the University of Southern California that stated most mascots for cereals marketed to children look down at an average angle of 9.6 de somebody in some Kellogg's meeting was sitting at the table they were asking the question how can we sell more Frosted Flakes and a guy was like well you know when mom takes the kids into the grocery store and they're walking down the aisle I really think we need Tony the Tiger to just lock eyes with little Johnny that's just what we need I know some of you next time you're.
In the Cal aisle you're going to look around and try to see if it's true I mean heck you make it all the way through your grocery shopping Adventure which is an adventure for sure and you finally make it to the checkout line no it's not done whole plethora of little candy bars soda pop magazines whatever it is anything that our eyes can latch on to just so that we can take it and I mean could our current age of technological advancement reveal any more of our propensity to be drawn to the things by our eyes we're all carrying around in our pockets at all times this little device that shoots flashy little eyes lights.
At our eyes just to get us to pay attention to it there are whole marketing departments that are predicated upon the fact that you have a desire of the eyes I mean if you have the Amazon mobile app I think one of the recent updates there's a whole section of the app that literally is just short form video content of people having other things just to see if you want to buy it you can sit there and scroll on the Amazon app video after video of just people owning different things just to.
See if you want to buy it at the individual level we believe the lie that what we see with our eyes can ultimately satisfy us and we should pursue to go get it I just need that next thing and you get a whole community of people believing this lie and you have a cultural worldview that's built an economic green machine that panders to our Covetous nature rather than instilling the character of contentment so John is highlighting that the way of this world entices us to want more and more and more all I need I just need that next thing.
And then it'll be and I'll be Satisfied we should be careful and ask ourselves the question what are we looking at what are we drawn to by the things of our eyes so that's the desires of the eyes lastly John talks about pride of life the word life here is the same uh word that's used in Mark 12 uh the story where Jesus is with his disciples in the temple uh and the poor lady comes to drop her two coins in the offering.
And when she goes to put the coins in Jesus gets his disciples attention he says see that right there she has given all she had to live on that's that same word live on it's that same word as life here in the Greek but the point is the stuff that we have it's our our stuff whatever's yours and this idea of Pride here is it's the arrogance and the things that I have as being s sufficient to sustain me and then I boast in them.
If the lust of the eyes is worshiping what you don't have the pride of life is worshiping what you do have and we live in a culture of abundance we know this I mean for most of us that are here today we're living like the kings of old we got fridges that are stocked with the finest of foods we got entertainment available at our whim privacy fences as castle walls to defend any enemy Invasion on my perfectly manicured lawn all at 2.75 in just beautiful and this is what is sold to us as the good life and not only that that we should take pride in it the fleshly part of us believes that I.
Have the right to be prideful and to boast in what I've got CU after all I've worked for it haven't I well you get a whole community of people that believe that and you come up with something to the effect of the American dream which is predicated on my backbreaking work to accomplish for myself a kingdom in which I can boast to the world to show that I'm capable and I made it and that in turn just fuels in us this desire to work toward Independence we just celebrated Independence Day I love being in a country in which we can gather without fear of harm to worship it's fantastic.
But on an individual level Independence that's not in the vocabulary of Scripture Scripture says that every good and perfect gift comes from above everything that we have is simply a gift to us it has nothing to do with the fact that you work for it your paycheck has nothing to do with the fact that you work for it it is a good and perfect gift to you the house you have the lawn you have I don't whatever it is it's not.
Because of your work it is a good and perfect gift to you it's on loan for us to us for the time that we have here and this lie that's been perpetuated to the point of full acceptance and belief that what I have is mine wages war against the idea of dependence upon our creator in all things even in the smallest of things like the shirts that are on our backs so this is the cultural moment that we're in this is the world that we're influenced by and we're way more influenced by it than we would dare to admit and maybe you feel The Angst the pressure of John's statement that.
If you love the world the love of the father is not in you you have to ask the question what do we do what could we do against this well as John finishes his thought in chapter 2 verse 17 he says this and the world is passing away along with its desires all that we just talked about it's all going to fade away but whoever does the will of God abides forever what God is working to build is going to last forever what.
God is working to build in your life and in my life that's forever that right now what he's doing in you to form you into the image of Christ that lasts forever I'm not saying when you die I'm saying forever for all eternity and one day there's going to be a new world a new heavens and a new Earth that's created and the way of this world will be no more there will be no more desires of the flesh there will be no more desires of the eyes there will be no more pride of of Life there will just be satisfaction and contentment and the love and goodness of our.
God and this is why Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of sin because it's real bondage that he's wanting to point us to the one who actually satisfies and fulfills our deep need and is one who is worth boasting in so this is why in Romans 12 Paul can say do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind it's not worth conforming to this world it's not worth believing the lies that are accepted by our culture we should reflect and consider in our own lives in what ways are we loving the world rather what Paul says is worth it is that we need to let.
Transformation in our life take place by the renewal of our minds and in this section of Romans Paul just spent 11 chapters detailing the most he he gives the most detailed picture of of what God is doing of who Jesus is and what he's done in the Gospel the renewal of our minds is directly tied to who Jesus is and what he's done Paul is encouraging the Church that the daily rhythm of reminding ourselves and rehearsing the Gospel is the power by which there is transformation.
If you feel the weight of this in your life if you're considering ways in which maybe you fallen prey to the love of the world and you want transformation how does it take place the daily rhythm of reminding ourselves and rehearsing the Gospel what a gift that we would be able to remind ourselves of the love and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus so this is why here we have Community groups this is why we exist as Church Church family together in order that inside of that Community we might constantly remind ourselves of the truth that we're called to engage in regular rhythms of what we would call as life on life with other.
People that we're sharing in everything whether it be the good stuff the bad stuff the ugly stuff it doesn't matter because in all of it we want to be pointed back to Jesus as being better than everything else that this world has to offer cuz he is because remember all the stuff of this world Fades away but he lasts forever in our group one of our members was uh encouraging their friend to come out and hang with us hang out with us and you know she was pastoring her a lot wearing her down most effective tactic there is and eventually her friend decided to try it out she was hesitant at.
First didn't stick right away but as she continued to be more and more involved in what we were doing she began to express to us that she's never been a part of a community that's loved her in this way and in this way she was experiencing the Gospel of Jesus in a whole new light she never had before that simply by the daily rhythm of being around people people that are trying to regularly remind ourselves of the truth of the Gospel that there was change this is the power of regularly committing ourselves to a group of people that are set on pointing each other to the truth and goodness and love of.
Jesus this is why we do it this is why it matters so as we close I want I want to end with a couple questions to leave you that I hope you consider so that wherever you're at specifically in your life right now this can start to take root so if you're here this morning and you're you're already committed to a group here which Church family that's all of you if you didn't know that I want you to ask yourself this question in what way do I need to be more connected to my community group in what way do I need to be more connected to my community group.
If this is a space where we're going to remind ourselves of the Gospel don't we want to be there don't we want to be as connected as we possibly can so I don't know what the step is for you I don't know if it's in your willingness to confess sin I don't know if it's signing up to bring something other than just drinks to events I maybe it's reaching out to someone to learn how you can time of discussion maybe it's just showing up more regular L to the rhythm of the group meeting time I don't know what it is.
For you I don't but I know you can ask yourself that question and I know that the spirit of God can work to equip you and encourage you and strengthen you in fighting against this enemy of the world that would love nothing less than to convince us that the desires of the Flesh and the desires of light dies and the pride of life is worth something maybe you're here this morning and you've been around with us a little while on Sunday morning.
But you haven't gotten connected to a group yet if that's the case for you I want you to ask yourself this question what is keeping me from taking the next step of connecting to a community group here at m city what is keeping me from taking the next step of connecting to a community group here at Mill City maybe you've come by and you've never stopped by the connect Corner maybe you have stopped by the connect corner but you never showed up to a group I don't know what it is.
For you and I don't know what's kept you back I don't know if it's fear I don't know if it's apathy but ask yourself the question what's kept me from being connected to this group of people that is seeking to remind themselves of the Gospel of Jesus day in and day out whatever it is it's not worth it so the band's going to come back up and as you're reflecting on your question if you you get an answer this morning if you feel like you have a response don't wait.
If you're in a group and you feel like you know this is the next step you need to take grab one of your group members and just say hey this is what I'm going to do don't wait cuz by the time Wednesday night rolls around there's a whole bunch of time that's going to happen between now and then there's a whole bunch of world that's going to happen between now and then maybe for you the next step is just stopping by the connect corner.
So you can figure out which community group meets close to you so that you can show up you should go stop by take that step this morning our volunteers don't bite you don't have to be afraid of them but let's not miss any opportunities that could be given to us to be more connected to Church family as God is working to redeem a people from this world let's participate in the things Everlasting not the things that are going to fade.
The Flesh
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning it's good to be with you this morning my name is Raz U if you've been with us the last few weeks you'll know we're working our way through a series called the three enemies this is an old theological Paradigm used to illust whoa don't do that this is an old theological Paradigm used to uh illustrate the various ways that we as Christians have to combat certain elements that are at war against us and so we have these three enemies we have the world which represents external forces everything which is outside of us and uh kind of influences us we have the flesh that which is the internal sort of carnal desires that we.
Have and we have the devil who represents spiritual forces so we have a war and we have these three different battlefields that the war is being fought on simultaneously today we're going to be focused on the internal war that is the enemy of the flesh but before we get too far into that I kind of want to sidestep a minute and give a pretty good-sized illustration to help us think through a lot of the stuff we're going to be talking about.
Today but before we get to that I want to define a couple of terms be before we get into all so this kind of an intro to an intro to an intro to the point today yall just going to have to bear with me um there's a couple of words that we need to uh Define before we can move on on and one of those the first one is sanctification in Christianity uh the theological word sanctification refers to the process by which a Christian becomes holy uh literally the word sanctify means to make holy and there's plenty of references to this in the Old Testament you you would have heard uh times where the they're.
Commanded to sanctify the altar or sanctify the temple those kinds of things before they get into ritualistic practices and that is to make something holy so that it is presentable to God when you apply that word to Christians though it refers to a process a process by which Christians throughout the course of their entire life become more and more like Jesus in the first week uh when Chad was introducing the I guess the whole series uh he talked about the idea that you are being conformed into something you're being conformed into something what is it.
Well sanctification refers to the process where Christians are being conformed into the image of Christ there's another big important word and that word is justification justification is a legal word and it refers to an act of God to declare a person as righteous in contrast this is not a process this is a transaction it's a moment in time it happens immediately upon the time when a person places faith in Jesus legally we believe that Jesus Takes our guilt and our punishment.
For us that we are washed clean and that we are accredited with righteousness that's justification and it's separate and distinct from sanctification we believe as a Church that we are justified through faith alone in Christ alone and not by works legally our guilt is taken by Jesus at the moment we place faith in him boom saved forever sanctification however refers to a process a lifelong process it takes time the fight against the flesh that's the the second enemy that we're talking about is one where Christians wage war against their own desires and it's integrated with that idea of sanctification becoming more and more like Christ over time.
Now historically there are three umbrella category views of sanctification that's three different ways that uh people have read the Bible and thought I I think I fig can figure out how this is going to work um and inside of each of those categories there are subcategories we're not going to worry about subcategories today we're going to stay high level I'm G to borrow an illustration that I learned from a former CIU president named Robson mcquilkin um he died a few years ago I've read a bunch of his books I don't.
Remember ever reading this illustration in his books uh but he delivered a a sermon this one time and the illustration is stuck with me ever since um so this is borrowed it's from him but I don't know where for you to find it if you have want to go look for it here here's the idea suppose you're on a skiing trip you pack up your snow skis and you get to the mountain and you look up the mountain and you know some way somehow.
If I'm going to enjoy my skiing I have to get to the top of the mountain now in the early days you didn't have much choice you were going to strap those skis to your back just like this and you're going to have to hike your way all the way up that mountain this is the first view of sanctification this view is rought with effort It Is by Blood Sweat and Tears that you're going to suffer each and every one of those steps struggling the entire way that you try to climb that mountain this is the Christian Life as it is most commonly misunderstood by most people four steps up slide down five steps up.
Face plan fall back down it's all up to me I'm on my own I've got to climb this mountain it's all my effort now to my knowledge there is no Evangelical Church that officially takes this position but it is a common misunderstanding amongst Christians and non-Christians alike about what it looks like to be a Christian do better try harder more effort everything is up to you don't fail in the Christian Life though as you know there is no reaching the top by effort no matter how hard you try you are not going to be perfect.
But in 1935 thanks to some American Ingenuity of course everything changed go to any ski resort in the world and this is no longer the option go anywhere in the world and you're going to arrive and you're going to see a giant steel pole a massive police system a steel cable and this magic chair in the sky that does all of the work work for you this is the second view of sanctification I don't have to do anything it's all up to.
God in this view I have no autonomy I have none of the control I could actually try if I wanted to but it wouldn't do anything I can't steer this thing I can't make it go faster I can't make it go slower just straight to the top that's how it works God does it all for me now just for the record this is also an incorrect uh view of sanctification but at this point we have two views we have one view where it's all up to me and we have one view where it's all up to.
God effectively these are two ditches on either side of the road that represent the big mistakes we can make in understanding sanctification I want to introduce you to a lady who tried that first option she tried to do it all on her own realized she couldn't and so she switched strategies she decided she was going to let God do it instead her name is Carrie Underwood she sings a song it's called Jesus Take the Wheel the chorus goes like this Jesus Take the Wheel take it from my hands cuz I can't do this on my own I'm Letting Go she tried doing it all on her own she realized that wasn't working.
And so she switched she said I've had enough of that give me the chairlift I don't want to do this anyway now we shouldn't be too surprised that if there's two ditches on either side of the road you could crash into one and then crash all the way into the other if you refuse to put your hands on the steering wheel we'll call these the carry mistakes well luckily there is a third view of sanctification a more accurate view uh installed in the US.
For the first time uh in 1958 just before the 60s Winter Olympics is a new kind of lift called the pommer lift now if you've never been skiing a pommer lift looks like a frisbee on a stick and uh it it's a little bit harder to use in a chairlift you you arrive and uh you get handed this Rod you've got to grab onto it and kind of stick it between your legs and it's going to tow you all the way up the mountain.
But you've got a little bit of work to do with a pomel lift you're going to have to hang on you're going to have to dodge obstacles you can see that it just kind of goes up this up the side of the mountain and there's nothing stopping skiers from coming in between there's nothing stopping you from just dropping off you can hit potholes I've been on ones where you've got to navigate over Bridges and stuff in this in this scenario you have a great deal of individual responsibility.
If you want to make it all the way to the top of the mountain the lift the machine is the part that is providing power you don't provide Power but if you were to let go you would not find yourself at the top of the mountain you would find yourself back down at the bottom but if you're committed to Hanging On Tight you'll be dragged all the way up the mountain closer and closer in the analogy sense to the likeness of.
Jesus over time now it's not a Perfect Analogy they never are but it is kind of like that and the point here is that the first two views are incorrect when we talk about Christian Living being conformed into Christ likeness it's not all about you it's not all about your effort and it's not all up to God either but instead there is this third option where you are an active participant but it's God's power that provides the mechanism for you to make the journey possible at all this is the correct way to think about sanctification this is how you should think about the lifelong journey the lifelong process of what it looks like.
For you starting where you are now to be conformed more and more into christlikeness for the rest of your life so as we turn today to the second enemy The Flesh we're going to keep this in mind and the reason for doing so is that when it comes to making application points later on we run the risk of functionally viewing the Christian Life functionally making the mistake of believing that first option that it's all up to me that I have to do better that it's on me I've got to go away and do better try harder and I can't make any mistakes and that would be a misunderstanding.
But we do have an enemy we are fighting a war and effort is required but the trick we have up our sleeves is that we don't have to win on our own the power doesn't come from us much like the PFT the power comes from the spirit and we are just an active participant so with that in mind let's talk more about this second enemy The Flesh uh couple weeks ago Isaac introduced a key phrase it comes from John Mark comr and it says the deceitful ideas play to disorted design desires that are normalized in a sinful society that kind of encapsulates all three those deceitful ideas we talked about them last week that is.
Satan and his lies they play to disordered desires that's what's inside of us the Flesh and that is normalized in a sinful Society we'll talk more about that next week that's primarily coming from the world so last week Chad delved into the idea that the devil is involved in all of this we're fighting a spiritual war and his primary role in that is as the deceiver the one who SWS lies but those lies appeal to us because we have disordered desires.
When he lies to us and he says this is the thing that will make you happy you deserve it everyone else has it the only reason it appeals to something is that there's already something inside of us something internal we're going to look at two places where the Apostle Paul talks about this today both of them in letters that he wrote to churches and we're going to start in Galatians 5 if you go to Bible that'll be the place to stick to.
Today I'm going to go to Romans 8 later but for for your purposes just stick to Galatians 5 now Paul uh has a very distinct theology when it comes to those who are saved and those who are not saved frequently in his writings he he splits everyone into two camps and he has a number of different ways of labeling those two camps so we're going to start a little kind of not even a scoreboard it's just a checklist of each of those sometimes he'll refer to the old self versus the new self sometimes he'll refers refers to those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ sometimes it's those who are under the.
Law and sometimes it's those who are under grace but there's a line in the middle and that line is either side of when someone places faith in Jesus uh in Galatians 5 it talks about the conduct of the people who fall into each of those categories uh it's distinct from each other because the conduct of the Believers is not like the conduct of the non-believers now I'm hoping that as we read this some of it at least will be kind of familiar we had this OB section of this as a memory verse I don't know two two months ago or.
So but we're going to start reading from verse 16 and as we do I want you to pay attention to the spirit and the Flesh and how he kind of puts them in opposition to each other they're highlighted on the screen in yellow and green I was going to use a different color but it's kind of hard to see so just bear with that um but attention to those two words he says but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident that is the observable Behavior associated with the second enemy The Flesh that Associated behavior is evident we can see them sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity Strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions Envy drunkenness orgies and things like these I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit.
The Kingdom of God and now the next section we have a little song for in kid city to make it easier to remember it says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control hey it's pretty nifty against such things there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit.
Let us not become conceited provoking one another envying one another you know as I was originally writing this um just in like sermon construction mode you have to provide some brain breaks for people you have to make jokes every now and then and I I really wanted to make a joke here at this point in time but it kind of hurt a little bit um I wanted to make a joke about you know in kids City we have this song fruit of the spirit love joy peace patience kindness good and faithful hey and the whole idea is that we get to teach kids Scripture and in this case the fruits of the spirit and my.
Whole joke was going to be about we had another song and it was called The Works of the Flesh and we would teach the kids The Works of the flesh The Works of the flesh are sexual immorality impurity and sensuality idolatry and sorcery enmity and strife hey yall know it jealousy fit of anger rivalries dissensions and divisions and envy and drunkenness and orgies it wasn't going to be a good joke and I'm not going to make it but the reality set in and it kind of made me sad.
Because the whole point of the joke was to say we were're going to teach that song but it wasn't going to be popular and then I realized something about popular music and it's that every popular song these days is about one of those things pluck one out of the list write a song about it and you're going to be on the Billboard 100 and it just kind of made me think how pervasive this stuff is and how even though we wouldn't in theory joke about kids knowing those songs they already do.
Because we're already there so anyway what is Paul saying here we have an internal sin nature in us we believe lies and they manifest in ways that seek gratification to the self Paul calls us to participate in fighting against that so let's bring back up our table that we had we're going to add a couple things we see that those who are in Adam in the old self and under the law are characterized as living by the Flesh and they have the works of the Flesh and that big old list.
And then on this side we have those who are the new self in Christ under grace in the spirit and they have the fruit of the spirit and they're characterized their conduct is characterized by these things now in case you were inclined to defend Carrie Underwood's honor earlier I think it might do well to check in on her how is she doing she released Jesus Take the Wheel in 2005 uh 10 months later she released another hit single and I wonder was letting go of the wheel such a good idea in her next song she sings I dug my key into the ins side of his pretty little souped up four-wheel drive I carve my.
Name into his leather seat she has a long name by the way she took a Louisville Slugger to both headlights slashed a hole in all four tires but it's his fault maybe next time he'll think before he cheats girl I don't know if letting go of the wheel did much good for you Paul tells us that the works of the flesh are evident there's a scoreboard for these things how's your enmity how's your Strife how's your jealousy fits of anger much have we been practicing much peace patience kindness gentleness self-control as it turns out letting go of the wheel bad strategy.
For sanctification so if the flesh if the flesh is this internal sin nature we have the propensity within ourself to seek after self-gratifying things and we know the signs of the flesh the various list of things that show evidence of f fleshly living then what kinds of things can we do to combat them I'm going to put Romans 8 on the screen starting in verse one there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that's justification we talked about this earlier.
If you're in Jesus legally the transaction has happened boom you no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus you have been credited with his righteousness verse Two for the law of the spirit of life has has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death you see this ju the position again the old and the new the law of sin and death and the law of life and the spirit of life for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likness of sinful flesh.
For sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit this is the important part for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit for to set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God it does not submit to God's law indeed it cannot for those who are in the flesh cannot please God and he keeps going on so let's bring up our scorecard table thing again we can add a few things on the left those who are in the flesh have set their minds on the Flesh and that leads to death and is hostile to God and on the right we have those who are in Christ they set their minds are set on things of the spirit and that leads to life and peace as they are indwelled by the spirit.
Notice that it is your mind that is set on either the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit it is the things that our minds are set on that drive us to do one thing over the other that's why we made such a big Point that's why Chad made such a big point last week of why we have to know what we believe because that helps you combat the lies that the enemy feeds so much of this is a mind game Satan's lies are Mind Games the fight with the flesh is a mind game worldly influences and temptations are Mind Games.
If you consistently flood your mind with sexual immorality that will lend itself towards works of the flesh if you consistently flood your mind with idolatry envy gousy your actions will become self-gratifying fighting against the flesh begins with controlling your mind what kinds of things do you let in what are you consuming on the internet what kind of books are you reading what kind of shows are you watching on TV what kind of music influences you who are you surrounding yourself with and what is the content of those conversations.
If you can control what your mind is set on based on the inputs that you're feeding it that will in turn control the kinds of outputs you get now in contrast if you consistently flood your mind with love goodness patience kindness the kinds of things that benefit others that will also affect your actions these are also influenced by the kinds of things that you allow into your mind in the first place what you consume on the internet in songs on TV and from others more we talk about this the more we stray into what we're going to be talking about next week which is the world and the external influences.
But my point here is that you have control over what you allow into your own mind and in doing so you have some control on the way and the format in which you are being conformed into Christ likeness now as I said at the very beginning there's a false application that can come in somewhere around this point there's an application that says of all of this that if I want to be a good Christian I have to go away and I have to do all the things I have to be loving I have to be joyful peaceful patient kind good faithful gentle and self-controlled I have to do all of these things and not do.
All of these things and that if I fall short if I give into something if I get drunk if I have a fit of rage if if I'm envious if I'm impure if I'm not doing all the good things and I suddenly do something bad then I'm a bad Christian and God's not going to have me that would be a false application that believes something like that first view of sanctification that it's all up to me that I'm on my own I provide all the power and I have to work really hard.
For this thing instead how we should be thinking about this is is much more like the third view of sanctification um a little bit further down in Romans 8 and verse 13 says the following for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the Deeds of the body you will live let me read that with e with emphasis but if by the spirit you put to death the Deeds of the body you will live the spirit is that Palmer lift and you putting to death the Deeds of the body is hanging on to that pel lift and staying Vigilant and not letting go like.
The pomt rider I must contribute something to this uphill climb lest I lose grip of the power that actually gets me there and I end up falling to the bottom so then what does it look like to be an an active participant and what does it look like to combat the enemy of the flesh there are two practices that are as old as they come in the Christian Life uh the first one of those two is one of the fruits of the spirit it's self-control manifests itself in a bunch of different ways I think that more of this stuff than we realize more of this stuff than we give credit to is inside of our.
Control it takes focus it takes controlling our mind just like we talked about but being an active participant is filling our mind with these things and not filling our mind with these things it's no surprise then in this mental game that in the sermon of the mount Jesus says if your eye causes you to lust rip it out if your hand causes you to sin cut it off uh Paul says it differently he says crucify the Flesh and put to death what is Earthly in you doesn't matter how you take it they're all pretty violent they don't sound fun it's not supposed to be pleasant.
Because there's things in us that we love and don't want to let go of there's things in US these pervasive disordered desires that are very hard to let go of it's not likely to be easy but we are called to find the in inputs in our life that drag us back into these works of the Flesh and eradicate them uh maybe for you that is eliminating social media maybe it's moving the computer out of the office and into the living room maybe it's ending a Netflix subscription maybe it's limiting your involvement with certain friendship crowds some of us should delete Facebook Instagram snap Snapchat or Worse Tinder and Bumble.
If you don't know don't look it up some of us should not own a smartphone some of you should stop talking to that guy or that girl some of you should probably stop drinking and you probably want to argue with me in the same way that I want to argue with me because a lot of those things are not on the list their neutral territory there is nothing wrong with Facebook sure there is nothing wrong with a beer there's nothing wrong with a glass of wine at dinner there is nothing wrong with Netflix no.
But are they consuming your mind or is the part of it that consumes your mind the wrong part do you have control over this them or do they control you part of following Jesus is being con and being conformed into his likeness involves crucifying the fleshly desires that we have that is the not fun part of this but we are told it leads to life there's a second practice in the Christian Life that is as old as time and that is confession and repentance it sounds like two things they're very closely linked on I'm just going to treat them as one we read earlier in Galatians 5 that was the whole part about the works.
Of the Flesh and the fruit of the spirit here's a whole bunch of things that are of the flesh here's a whole bunch of things that are on the Spirit uh and the very next sentence in our modern Bibles it split up into chapter six but when he wrote this letter there was no chapters he was just continuing his single thought uh he continues in the very next sentence he says Brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression then you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted bear one another's burdens.
And so fulfill the law of Christ we talk about bearing each other's burdens at mil City a lot so often when we do that we talk about tangible things nothing wrong with that someone's having car trouble someone needs babysitting someone needs financial assistance someone is sick those count those are bearing each other's burdens but look at this context he's just said don't do the works of the flesh do the works of the spirit if you see someone caught in transgression The Works of the flesh.
Then you who are spiritual go and restore them bear one another's burdens part of being an active participant in our sanctification part of clinging onto that pomt as we're being dragged up a mountain is having an attitude and a self-awareness and a self-control and an attitude that confesses and repents when we fall to these works of the flesh that is how we combat them that's how they lose their power it's how we can be conquering them by not hiding them anymore it's also the responsibility not just the thing that they could choose to do it is the responsibility of those we surround ourselves with to call us out of these patterns.
When they see it that's where Paul says you who are spiritual restore your brothers in a spirit of gentleness if you see your buddy he's on a pomt a metaphorical pomt and there is an obstacle in front of him and he's not paying attention you say hey wake up there's an obstacle in front of you I see you are about to hit it two hands on the palm lift Dodge that thing do not fall back into that we believe it so much we wrote it into the mil City membership Commitment.
If you've ever been to a m city class we have a one-page document that says here's all the things we believe and as a Church here's the way we apply them and point 10 reads the following confession and repentance will noticeably mark my life it's the self-awareness part I fully expect to be confronted and corrected as God allows by other members of the family and my community group to see sin in my life we need that self-discipline the self-control but we are going to stumble and we need those around us those who we've surrounded ourselves with to call us to repentance and bring us back to the Gospel the war against the flesh is not.
An easy one Satan is on the other side and he is going to tempt you over and over again with lies provoking you to giving into your own fleshly desires and they're different for each of us but by the power of the spirit we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus away from the works of the Flesh and towards the fruits of the spirit so there's elements in there of self-control but also through the restoration of our brothers and sisters and the power of confession and repentance we gain ground on that internal war against our own flesh I am not telling you do better try harder I am also not telling you do nothing.
As if God is going to do it all for you and that you have no responsibility to fight sin I am telling you that effort to fight sin is not in vain so as a Church we are going to wage that war against our own sinful flesh by pursuing the age-old practices of self-control and confession and repentance and in doing so we are conformed day by day year by year more and more into christlikeness we push away the old self and we put on the new self let's pray.
God we pray that you would continue day by day to strengthen us to empower Us by your spirit so that we may walk in the fruits of the spirit in self-control and in confession and repentance continue to build us up more and more to be like Christ each day it's in his name we pray amen uh Matt's going to make his way back up and we're going to have an opportunity this morning to take commun communion communion is a practice of the Church reserved.
For Christians for believers if you're not a Christian or you're not a Believer you're not a Believer yet I would encourage you to just stay where you are and consider what your next step towards Jesus might be if you are a Believer for the Christians in the room we're going to tape the bread we're going to dip it in the juice we're going to confess sin and repent we're going to pray that God would continue to empower Us in the fight against the flesh the stations in the front the stations in the back.
If you're like me and you're gluten-free we're headed to that corner um but everyone else go ahead and take communion.
The Devil
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here if you will grab your Bibles and go to John chapter 8 we're going to be all over the place this morning as we kind of are trying to understand a concept um and look at uh as we kind of continue this series in the three enemies um we began the series by pointing out that you are developing into something you are growing into something uh you were getting better at something it might be sitting on the couch it might be being mean to your spouse.
But you're getting better at something and what we want to as Christians get better at and grow into is the image of Christ we're trying to grow into Joy we're trying to grow into life and we're trying to develop and follow Jesus and be made more into His Image that's what we looked at the first week the second week we discussed that we have three enemies Satan the Flesh and the world are three enemies of our soul that are at work to keep us from growing into the image of Christ and we uh Isaac introduced us to this this phrasing from uh um a was a pastor.
Now he's just kind of a thought guy book writer person um John Mark comr we don't agree with all the things that he would teach but we thought he worded this really well and so we uh this is kind of what the three enemy strategy is together which is decept deceitful ideas that play to disordered design desires that are normalized in a sinful society and that's kind of the three at work together that the enemy lies that we personally want to believe the lies there's part of us that wants to sin we have disordered desires.
And then they're normalized in a sinful Society that's kind of where we are and so today we're going to look at Satan which is is just translated it's the the adversary so sometimes we might just refer to him as the enemy even though we have three that we're talking about we might be the enemy the adversary we're going to talk about Satan and how he lied so as we begin this this morning I'm going to pray and then we're going to jump in to Jesus's words in John 8.
So pray with me Father we've been lied to and we come in this morning as people who are believing lies we're believing lies about you we're believing lies about our world we're believing lies that fr name up our interactions with our families with our Church family that frame up our interactions with money and work with sacrifice and joy and so we ask that in the name of Jesus that we would hear truth this morning that we would see truth this morning that we would grow in truth this morning and that you would by the work of your spirit begin to un undo all the areas where lies have begun to take root in our souls.
And we ask this in accordance with your mercy in accordance with your power and to the glory of Your Great Name in Jesus name we pray amen John chapter 8 Jesus is teaching and in verse 30 is where we're going to pick up it's on F page 522 if you have one of these blue Bibles it says says that many of the people who had heard him believed in him and so in 31 it says this so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him.
So they've just come to Faith just come to trusting in Jesus is who he says he is they they don't fully know what that means but they're trusting in Him he's the Messiah that he's from God and he says if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free and they answered him we are offspring of Abraham and have never been in ens slaved to anyone how is it that you say you will become free this is interesting.
Because The Offspring of Abraham was enslaved at one point it's also currently under Roman occupation but they seem to be making this a very literal like we're not the the people of Abraham aren't slaves we're not enslaved right now like what are you talking about I've never been a slave I'm a free agent I can do what I want what are you talking about they mean it really practically really earthy and he says verse 34 Jesus answered answer them truly truly I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin the slave does not remain in the house forever the sun remains forever.
So if the sun sets you free you will be free indeed so Jesus says I'm not talking about Earthly bondage I'm talking about eternal bondage I'm talking about Sin they're like we we're offspring of Abraham we're not slaves he says oh have you sinned he like oh probably it's like yeah every one who sins is a slave to sin your soul is enslaved to this and and he says the slave isn't free the son is free and that's himself he's the son.
So if the son sets you free you'll be free indeed so he's saying that he's going to set you free from sin he's going to work to set free from sin which is our other enemy The Flesh which desires sin is sold under bondage to sin and so he's saying he can set you free from sin he ultimately does this by paying the penalty of sin the price of redemption which is buying slav slaves Freedom price of redemption at the cross where he pays the penalty.
For our sin so he saying you can come to me and be set free I know verse 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham so he's saying I know that you are Jewish I know that you've come from Abraham yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father so he says I know your offspring of Abraham.
But you're doing what you've heard from your father that's going to be important later but he says you've been listening to your father and you're doing what he's told you to do they answered him Abraham is our father this is getting these are the people who just believed and now it's already tense you ever feel like that like I just became a Christian why is Jesus all up in my business I already did the thing it's like yeah this is what he's doing he's working these things out.
So he says they say Abraham is our father Jesus said to them if you were Abraham's children you would be doing the works Abraham did but now you seek to kill me a man who has told the truth that I heard from God this is not what Abraham did he says no no you're you're not you're wrong you are doing The Works your father did so he's all right so this father that they've been hearing from this father they've been listening to is not Abraham he said no.
If you were If Abraham if you were really his children you'd do what he did but you're not your penny takes it back to their father they said to him we were not born of sexual immorality we have one father even God so they say okay well if Abraham's not our father God's our father Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me for I came from God and I am here I came not of my own accord.
But he sent me why do you not understand what I say it is because you cannot bear to hear my word you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of Lies but because I tell you the truth you do not believe me.
Okay so in us trying to understand the devil this is a helpful passage where Jesus is talking and explaining something about him first of all Satan is real he has a real personhood he's a real entity it's not an idea or concept or like a a vague Force out in the world Satan is a real spiritual being Jesus treats him as real the Scriptures treat him as real we see Jesus interact with him he's throughout the Scriptures a real being he is spoken of in some ways the way we speak of as of Hitler that Satan uh is leading this Rebellion against.
God so it's Satan and all of his demonic forces and so that when I say we speak of the way we speak of Hitler like you might could have read a a newspaper article that says Hitler invades Poland but if you looked at the picture it would not be like Hitler running into Poland it means Hitler and his forces Hitler as a figurehead Hitler as working against the world and that's the way Satan has spoken of some in the Scriptures he's a physical being like a spiritual being an entity he has personhood.
But he's not omnipresent and so when it talks about Satan a lot of times it just means all of his forces at work against God but he's saying that Satan himself is a liar and the father of lies and he's a murderer and a liar so his aim is destruction his aim is death but his strategy is lies we see this in Genesis he's working towards death but he lies this is what he's doing he's working towards destruction he's working towards death and his strategy is lies he's the.
Father of lies he's the father they've been listening to so they're listening to lies believing lies and acting out of that that's what he's talking about and that all lies ultimately find their Source in Satan which makes sense because God created reality and reality exists we have reality there are certain realities in life life we're not in the Matrix this isn't a simulation we have reality which means that we also have unreality so we have reality we have unreality this is why we'll say phrases like that boy's in.
For a real reality check because reality is what you run into when you're wrong this is why we can say you'll get a dose of reality what we mean is you're about to realize you're wrong and reality it will teach you because there's reality and there's unreality Now by God's good design for us we can hold unreality in our minds this imagination this is how we build things how we come up with ideas so we can think about a thing that doesn't really exist.
But it also is the thing that lets us believe lies so we have three things we have reality truth we have unreality imagination or lies so we have or and we have what we think what we believe this is why Jesus calls us to Faith calls us to believe in him and sometimes I think we frame that up like there's a whole lot of things we could believe in and Jesus is one of those things and he's saying hey believe in me like.
If you went to the grocery store and you were buying cleaning products there's like a whole wall of cleaning products and all of them are saying pick me now all of them will help you clean there's not one there that's going to make things dirtier they're all going to help you clean you're trying to figure out which one's the best and I think sometimes we think that's what it's like with Jesus that all these things are good or all these things are helpful or all these things will work in life.
But Jesus is saying he's the best but the reality is Jesus is saying he's the truth that there is one reality that God created the world and that Jesus Christ is the way back to God that he's the reality and that everything else is a lie everything else is untrue and so it matters a lot what we think it matters how we frame up the world because we have reality and we have unreality and Jesus is calling us back to him and we're doing this all the time we're thinking all the time we're framing the world up all the time in order to help you kind of wrap your head around this I want to.
Talk about maps and math and I know somebody here is like finally I've been wanting to talk about maps and math well you're welcome today's your day all of us that live in this area wherever you live it's a real place there it's an actual City actual buildings that you can run into roads that you can ride on and then all of us are building a map in our heads all the time we're constructing our own map so that we can travel around you do this in your house you have a pretty good map of your house like you don't usually you're not sitting in the living room and go I'm going to go to.
The restroom and point to your front yard but go to the restroom you know where your bathroom is so you'll point the right direction but the bigger the map gets the maybe the fog or it gets for you and you might be the type of person who just points in random directions and stresses people out Spencer does this periodically from up here he'll be like over in kids City and you can see people twitch because kid City's that way but you can do this you can have you have this map in your head that you're building all the time and we build it differently.
When you start talking to to somebody you'll realize the way their Map works is different than yours every time I'm talking to miss Louise and I'm trying to find a place trying to go somewhere she will she will use Road names I don't have all the road names memorize Miss Louise has all the road names memor I don't she use Road names sometimes you might talk with someone and they'll use directions they're like well you're going to head north and you're like I I'll make sure to bring my compass they'll say things like.
Well that's where the Old Farm buau used to be it's like oh how what I often have to talk to people and I'll say things like they'll be telling me stuff and using Road names or whatever and I'll say do restaurants tell me where the closest Bojangles is this this works well because sometimes I learn about new restaurants but I know where restaurants are you're like you know where the Arby's and Casey is yes I know where the Arby and Casey is.
Now you can get me there but we're building this map if your map in your mind is right you'll get where you want to go if the m map in your mind is wrong you'll be led astray this is how it works with reality and unreality and you're building a map of your world not just a physical map but you're building a map of your world with Concepts like freedom and fairness and joy and hope and the purpose of life you're building that in your mind all the time that's Maps math one of the things I love about like spaceship movies or science fiction movies is at some point in the movie.
If it's a good one there's a moment where math becomes immensely important they're like talking through things and like we can get these people home and someone raises their hand in the back and they're like not if you want them to have air they're like what do you mean and they're like math or there's like a guy with a whiteboard and he's just been mathing it up he runs in all sweaty and he's like the math and we're all like if they do a good job we're like the math.
Because we know that math is meant to correspond to reality that's the point they're doing all this math so they know how much time they have how fast they can travel if they come in at the right angle will they burn up this is just Pro tip I know we've got some teachers in here if you teach math this is how to teach math make them watch one of those videos first day and then when you give them math problems and they get it wrong just be like oh your astronauts are dead anybody else want to try that way you keep fifth graders with the intensity cranked up.
So they know why math is important the point is we're working working out something that corresponds to reality and what I need you to know is when it comes to your life you're doing the math and you're making the map all the time and if it corresponds to reality you'll get where you want to go alive and if it doesn't you'll be led astray and burnt up and it matters and Jesus says I am the way the truth truth and the life.
But this is how the enemies at work he's lying he's the father of lies and here's how his lies work I have been a part of two surprise parties in my life like planned surprise parties not just like an impromptu hey we're having a party but like a planned surprise party one I was the surprise e like I walked in and people surprise which is fine and two I was one of the surpris ear I hid in a house and I got to be like surprise.
But I think the best surprise party job is the person who distracts the person who's going to be surprised you're in on it but you don't have to crouch down in a dark house for a long period of time you're just the person who's going to keep them busy you're going to go to the movie with them or whatever but your job one job is they can't go home till the designated time or whatever you've got to keep them distracted.
If you go and the movie sold out you've got to come up with something else it doesn't matter what it is anything else will work you can deflate your tires you can be like let's go to another movie you can be like hey let's go eat you can be like I really suddenly need to start a stamp collection let's head to the post office you can come up with whatever you want it's anywhere but home and that's Satan's goal anywhere.
Jesus anywhere but reality so if that's complete Rebellion aggression promiscuity wickedness you're harming people great great but if it's distraction comfortable nice quiet suburban American life where everything's fine and you're good and you're nice enough and you're not one of those bad people out there fine anywhere but home anywhere but Jesus believe anything but Jesus this is why the lie of all roads lead to God is a great one because anywhere but Jesus it it that's the ways it worked and this is what he's doing he's lying.
So Jesus is going to say this is why Jesus calls us back to the truth when they ask Jesus in John six what do we need to do to do the work of God he says this this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent he's calling us back to reality he's saying you need to trust in me you need to know that I am your hope I'm the way the truth the life Satan wants any other way anything that's not that is not the truth it's a lie and it doesn't lead to life.
So we've got the way through truth to life or we have any other way through a lie to death it's the way it works Revelation 129 this is the enemy this is what he does it's all over the place and the Great Dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan the deceiver of the whole world we're in 2 Corinthians 11 but I'm afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ or Titus 3:3 he says.
For we ourselves were once foolish disobedient LED astray slaves to various passions and Pleasures passing our days in Malice and envy hated by others hating one another or Romans 1 when it's talking about how the world works this big thing that it says is that they exchanged the truth about God for a lie what lie any lie anything but reality Works anything but Jesus Works 2 Corinthians 4:4 in their case the God of this world has blinded the what blinded the what Minds what would we expect you to blind eyes.
But he's at work in our thoughts he's at work in the world of ideas he's at work in what we believe so he blinds the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God this is why second Corinthians will say things like this Same Same Book same letter just later for though we walk in the flesh we are not Waging War according to the flesh so flesh there just means physical IAL body that we have physical bodies we're not Christian war is not against physical bodies it's not like all right y'all we're going to do PT training next week.
And then we're all going to get our guns and we're going to go attack those unbelievers and that's not what this is we can just get rid of those bad people that's not how this works at all the war is not against flesh and blood it's not a Waging War according to the Flesh and it says this for the weapons of our Warfare so we said we have three enemies we're waging a war are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds that's a verse y'all we have weapons we're in war and our weapons have divine power.
So I don't know if you pictured yourself with weapons well now they're like glowing like you pulled the sword out and it's like it's got divine power and it's got divine power to do what destroy strongholds a stronghold is like a tower or a castle something that's meant to keep you out something that's been built and planted and rooted it's here it's not going anywhere and he says no we have weapons of divine power that I mean obliterate them we read this we like yeah let's go.
And then he keeps going we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ where is the war happening in your mind it's happening in what we think and what we believe and the arguments and opinions I don't think when he's saying we destroy arguments he means get your YouTube apologetics video going and start destroying people I don't think he I don't think he means that but he does mean we need to undo arguments undo opinions we need to we need to step into the realm of the spirit to believe what is true and what is right and what is good and what is.
Real and that we actually have power to do that but the war is happening in what is true and what is a lie and this is happening in your mind all the time Dallas Willard is a pastor and he says that we truly live at the mercy of our ideas that your life is framed up by what you think by what you believe by how you think about your world we're truly living at the mercy of our ideas Spencer went on sabatical and in my head I realized a couple weeks in that I was just repeating to myself I'm going to be really tired after this.
Because it just I had to take on extra stuff but I I was busier and I just kept saying Yeah I'm going to be tired after this I'm going to be tired after this and then I got convicted the spirit helped me but he was like why why why are you saying that over and over again there's no no mercy no Grace no work of the spirit no strength you're that important like it was like like 15 different ways I was told yeah shut up.
And then I was just framed up with I was like all right I'm gonna think of a better way to think of that and I decided we'll be a better Pastor after this and when he's back I'll feel like a superhero cuz I won't be as busy that's the have framed it up I've started saying it that way in my head but we're at all times living at the mercy of our ideas and we have big ones that frame up the world we have like World constructing ideas uh I was reading a book by Carl Truman He calls this the social imaginary.
But it's where we've collectively come up with ideas like freedom justice fairness like there are things that we kind of all agree to so that someone can yell at you that's unfair and they're they're they're throwing a concept at you telling you to imagine the same idea and there are ones that we've culturally agreed to some of them are good and in in line with reality some of them aren't there are things that our culture has agreed to that other cultures haven't and there are things that other cultures have agreed to that are culture hasn't like we don't talk about shame a lot I doubt you've ever looked and been like I've shamed my my.
Ancestors I just don't think you've said that but if I'm watching a movie of a samurai and he's like on his knees in the rain and he says I've shamed my ancestors I'm like like oh no don't do that I actually probably have shamed my ancestors but I've never talked about it never even thought about it because I'm riding around on the you know my horse smoking my Mars and being a free American I can do what I want ain't nobody ain't no me.
But me you know like that I don't have any ancestors I'm trying to shame or live up to or whatever we just don't think about it it's not the thing that we've framed up but we have things that we have framed up that we've agreed to and we've held up in our minds but there are other ones there are some that are line with God's grace his goodness his reality if you find any truth and you pull that thread you'll eventually get to Christ that's how this works.
Because all reality belongs to him and so we have things that are mixed with truth we have some things that are good some some freedom is good but absolute negative Freedom which is that nothing should ever impose on me and anything that does anything that has a claim on me or tells me I can't be the most me I can be is e evil well then you can't have children you can't get married or you'll be married for just as long as that doesn't impose on your absolute freedom uh we've got the idea of consumerism running out there I have more stuff I'm more happy we bought into that we have the sexual Revolution that.
My sexual desires give me an identity tell me who I am and that no one can ever tell me I can't pursue those and that if I'm sexually fulfilled as a person then I'm a real person we have that does that line up with God's reality and truth and goodness does that lead towards life or destruction we have the idea that if I was in power if I had more power if I was more respected if my political party was in power.
Then I'd have joy I'd be at peace everything would be good we've had that one for a long time all of these things the enemy has worked to bring in lies I want to show you how some of this works more personally we have the big ones that we believe but they're also what do you do with those so let's just think about the LIE I'd be happier if now you can put in whatever your if is it's possible that when you fill that out you said I'd be happier.
If I was more obedient to Christ but I doubt that's what you've been repeating to yourself I think you've probably been saying something like I'd be happier if I had more money more house more car more whatever I'd be happier if things would be better if I had more power if my relationship was better My Romance was better I was in this relationship out of this relationship out of this relationship and in that relationship whatever I'd be happier if something now most good lies have some truth in them like.
When I run out and try to you know deal with my boys and I'm saying what is going on like why are yall screaming and hitting each other or whatever if one of them looks at me and goes I I'm not even here I'm at school it's like that's terrible there nowhere close like you got to you got to at least you know get close change it just a few places so the truth is you might actually be a little bit happier.
If I'm not going to argue with that a little bit sure if your house was bigger I bet you'd like that okay if people respected you more yeah wow who wouldn't like that nobody's like I wish I was more disrespected that's nonsense but these things the thing that you're repeating the thing that you're saying over and over again your head you're hearing repeated the lie that the enemy is feeding you is kind of true but there's more to it my son has an egg allergy uh he can't eat cake.
Because there's egg baked in he can have icing most of that's just sugar so he likes icing and we have never been like we're going to build our whole diet around this kid who can't eat things that's crazy so we would eat pizza and feed him Beans and we would have cake and give him scoops of icing we' just be like here this is probably not good for you but that's fine he likes icing if he sees cake what you see is the icing he can eat the icing.
But there's death baked in and that's what the enemy has done he's iced a cake with something that's kind of true and there are all these assumptions baked in there's death baked in so I'd be happier if blank well there's a whole lot of assumptions that if we can drop this down you'll suddenly go oh wait hold on a second I'd be happier if blank okay I deserve this Jesus is withholding God is withholding this or uh since I'd be happier with it and I know that.
God wants me to be happy therefore I should have blame he he actually wants me to have it he wouldn't stand in the way of it we'll say things like if it were really a sin I'd feel convicted it's actually just an indication of how far our hearts are from Jesus that you feel nothing as you blatantly sin uh if I don't get this I'm G to waste my life being miserable I only have so much time we're going to live.
For eternity if this doesn't change I can't put up with this forever I can't deal with this forever there's assumptions in all of these things about where the good life is where Joy is found where hope is found whether eternity exists whether Jesus actually saves whether he's actually good and that he actually has our good in mind all of those things are baked in and all we're doing is repeating the the icing over and over again and so we're eating the whole thing.
But there's death baked in this is all over the place and all these lies are ultimately lies about Jesus because any truth is going to lead us to him so any lie is going to point away from him and all of them are about Jesus any lie that you're believing I can like you can sit and consider it for a while and you can see how ultimately that makes an accusation about God about what is good about who he is about what he does about what he promises about what he provides about whether or not There's Hope in him about whether or not there's satisfaction in him about whether or not there's joy in him.
And so the enemy is not just accusing us and tempting us but he's constantly lying about Christ and we see that in the garden that's what he shows up and does twists a little lie a little Hal truth a little question a little something Tobit the hook that ultimately begs the question is God really good can he really be trusted so we repeat things to ourselves and a lot of them are a little true most of them are a little true I'm the worst have you got some evidence of that I'm a terrible sinner yeah Bible tells you that I'm going to ruin everything maybe you do ruin some stuff you've made bowling less fun.
One time I know no nobody wants me around I'm a burden to my group a little bit sometimes that's the nature of relationships if they're real all of them have some bit of Truth with a wicked conclusion one of the questions I'll I'll talk with people when I'm counseling them sometimes is I'll just say would the Holy Spirit tell you that would the Holy Spirit draw that conclusion every time the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin calls you a sinner whatever he's he's pulling you back to.
Jesus he's pulling you back to repentance he's pulling you back to Joy if he says you're a burden to your group if the Holy Spirit says it well he's correcting you on something but he's going to press you into your group probably first through repentance or gratitude but the enemy is going to say you're a burden to your group get out go die alone he's going to have some kind of terrible conclusion something's going to be baked into that some kind of assumption about.
God assumption about his people I'll show you a lie that I think a lot of you here or repeat to yourself on a regular basis in some form and it's this one I've been married for 15 years this past may I wrote my wife a card all it said on the front when I opened it up was I love you asterisk how you think that would have gone over I didn't give her a car that did that I had to explain later it's going to be a sermon illustration.
Okay no I don't do that but that asterisk changes the sentence but some of you here yeah yeah okay yeah yeah Jesus loves you yeah yeah your group will say well you know Jesus loves you and you'll go had that little asterisk you'll do it to yourself when you're working through sin you go I know Jesus loves me and it's like there's some fine print and the fine print is usually technically kind of Jesus forgives me asterisk I'm welcome here asterisk and you you accept it.
Because you think it's about you but Satan has just lied about Jesus not you that his Mercy's not enough that his love isn't enough that his redemption's not enough that when Ephesians says that he washes the Church so that she doesn't have a spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing that somehow you've snuck in as what a spot a wrinkle a blemish a such thing that you're somehow in on a technicality that you're somehow welcome on a technicality that you don't really belong here these are lies From Hell from an enemy that wants to leads you to hell that wants to pull you away from.
Jesus that wants to pull you away from joy that wants to tell you you're kind of forgiven is and want you to live in a world where there's no glorious mercy and Grace from the King where there's no Redemption and joy where you're only dragging around as kind of some little Mark on your group on your Church on the people of God and you don't really belong here and you'll show up on Sundays and go nobody talks to me and never even think about the fact that you talked to no one that we're some how just not really the one who's really included not really the one who's really welcome and he's told us this.
Over and over again these lies about I'll be happier if I can get out of this marriage I can't put up with this anymore I can't stand this anymore everybody hates me my spouse hates me they'll never forgive me this person dislikes me this person I mean it's all over the place you have been lied to you have heard the lies from the father of Lies you've been lied to a lot so what do we do we said early on we're going to talk about our enemies.
But we were going to get practices things to do to help fight against this stuff well the first thing to do is this you need to know Jesus Colossians 2 2-4 says Paul's writing and he says he's praying about the Church he says I pray that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to to reach all the riches of full Assurance of understanding and the knowledge okay this all stuff in our head of God's mystery which is Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments you need.
Jesus and you need to know that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and truth and reality are in him they're in him and he says I'm saying this so that no one would delude you with a plausible argument because the arguments will sound pretty good they've got some truth in there they got some reality in there but just enough to pull you astray just some asteris to get you away and he's saying no I want you to know Jesus if you don't know.
Jesus you need to know Jesus and y'all if you belong to Jesus he has defeated the enemy he says that we're in an unpluckable hand you're not going anywhere this is what 1 John 3:8 says say whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil he came to win and he did on the cross Colossians 2:15 says he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open Shame by triumphing over them in him that him is.
Jesus and it says that he nailed to the cross our debt the record of our debt the enemy has nothing on you anymore you you do not lose Paul Paul in Romans is writing a letter he talks all this theology talks about all these things and when he's ending his closing remarks he's saying say hey to this person say hey to this person and he just includes this the God of Peace will soon Crush Satan under your feet Jesus wins he has already disarmed the enemy and he will crush the enemy.
But then we're told things like do this so you won't be outwitted by Satan that we won't be uh blind to the schemes of the devil or 1 Peter 5'8 says Be sober minded Be watchful your adversary the devil prows around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour I love that because sober minded means think clearly and As Americans none of us think that thinking clearly is watching out for the devil none of us are like I just got to be on guard against the devil I'm trying to think clear that's not we're not trained that way in the west.
But Peter says you need to he's writing to the Church not that the devil will steal your soul but that you'll believe his lies and he'll rob you of joy and fruitfulness and relationship and delight and rest and worship he's not going to take you ultimately to hell he can't he can't if you belong to Christ you aren't going to be condemned but he can help you mess up your marriage he can help you choose sin he can help you leave a Church or tear one one up.
So we need to Be watchful so what do we do first first thing you need to do is know Jesus second thing you need to know your Bible so happy to get to say that I feel like there's a little bit of like really this is going to end with read your Bible yes yes it's going to end with read your Bible y'all did you see what Jesus said to the people that first believed in in John 8:31 so Jesus said to the Jews who have believed in him.
If you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free and then he goes into a big discussion with them about how they've been listening to the lies of Satan they believe and he says you need to know the word because you've heard so many lies that you're outdoing the works of Satan you need to know the word y'all that word abide means live you need to live in your Bible you know how you go to someone else's house and you're like where's the trash can or you need a spoon and you open what should be their spoon drawer and you're like.
Idiots Ziploc bags and spatulas close it and then you go where your spoons but in your house you don't do that you know right where everything is cuz you live there you need to know right where everything is because you live there when the enemy shows up and tells you something you need to go nope that can't be true that can't be true because Jesus told me something else that can't be true because Jesus told me something else he says this here hold on a.
Second I'll get there hold on hold on wait wa wait wait wait that thing about yeah I'm the worst yeah yeah watch this watch this watch this watch this I was dead in my trespasses and sins this is the beginning of a good sermon I'm the worst yeah yeah yeah but God being great in Mercy with what the great love that he had for us he's shown steadfast Grace to us that he's at work to show immeasurable Riches of his kindness in the future that I have a hope of an eternity don't get me going we got to know where it is this is why.
Jesus who can every time he speaks it turns red letter just so y'all know when he speaks it's it's Bible every single time when he's Tempted By by Satan in Luke and Matthew do you know how he responds every single time he quotes Deuteronomy because he's showing us if you want to not believe lies you better have Bible in you you better have the word of God in you you better live here I don't know what lies you're believing but I know you're believing.
So I don't know what you've had on repeat in your head that is working to lead you out of your out of faithfulness out of peace out of joy out of Grace I don't know what you've been repeating in your head that's leading you towards sin I don't know what you've been uh making okay in your head that you know the Bible says isn't okay I don't know what it is that you're working towards or that's allowing you to be unfaithful or that's robbing you of the grace and the joy of belonging to a Church or belonging to a people or repenting of sin I don't know what it is.
But I know it's there and I know that we need to live here and by God's grace enjoy what he's purchased for us in the cross let's pray Lord we've been lied to we've been tricked the enemy's baited the hook and we've bitten and we ask that by the power of your spirit that right now you would begin to help people hear the lives you'd begin to help them hear what they've been repeating to themselves over and over again what they've bought into about the good life about Joy about Hope about Eternity.
For those who do not trust you may they see the truth the enem is trying to get them anywhere but Jesus we ask your spirit to be at work and we praise you for rescuing us and calling us back to the truth may we be a people who love your word in Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up we're going to sing and celebrate the victory of Christ I I don't know what your Bible reading looks like I don't know.
If reading's really hard for you I don't know if you don't know how to read There are apps that will read to you there are ways to memorize Scripture but we've got to live here we've got to abide in it we've got to act as if our joy and our life depends on it because so much of it does and it all points us towards Freedom towards Grace towards hope and I would encourage you sometime this week to get to a quiet place get your phone away from you get a blank sheet of paper and ask the spirit what lies have I been believing he loves to answer that question.
And then get your face here and see what's true.
The Three Enemies
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there we owe Our Lives to you because without you we want to be here this morning so we're grateful that you've come to be here on this Father's Day with us if you are new here I want to welcome you my name is Isaac I'm one of the pastors here at m city and we're glad that you decided to uh be here thank you that's my grandparents in the back give me a shout out.
So but we're glad that you decided to be here uh last week we started a new short series um that we have titled the three enemies uh and we are going to be focusing on uh through the next couple weeks how the Bible highlights the reality that we are at war that this is not a peace time for us and if you were with us last week Chad uh did some introduction and laid some groundwork to talk about and and help us understand the idea that the things that we do are doing things to us he talked about the idea that there is no neutral ground.
And if you were with us or if you listen to it uh you might have been a little confused as to why we titled the series The Way We did CU he didn't talk about any enemies that we have but fear not we have not made a mistake today this morning we get to talk about all three enemies and so our goal this morning is to um take a bird's eye view Approach at what the Scripture talks about and offers in terms of um who they are and how they're working together against the kingdom of.
God in our lives and so with this idea of this kind of like wartime language um if you're ever in war which uh some of you may have been but for most of us we've been in peace time um but a reconnaissance mission is a helpful tactic and trying to understand who your enemy is and how you can be successful in your uh work against him and so that's what we're going to do today is that we're going to go on a recon mission we're going to go to try to gather uh information about who and what our enemies are.
And then also specifically look at what is their strategy how do they work together um to to Lobby attacks against the kingdom of God and specifically those of us that belong to that Kingdom so let's pray and then we will Dive In Father we thank you for this opportunity that we get to ga gather together that we get to sing praises to your name and worship and honor you and recognize that this life is not about us but about what you're doing and we pray this morning that as we open up your word and we seek to understand more about you uh and specifically as we seek to understand more about the enemies that are.
At work against you that it would be helpful for us and that your spirit would be at work in our lives to uh convict us of our sin and help us to confess our need for Jesus so we pray this in your name amen so in the Bible you're not going to come across like a chapter and a verse that just clearly says there are three enemies of the kingdom of God and they are blank blink blink you don't really see that rather throughout the whole Narrative of the Scripture it's going to refer to these enemies over and over and over again and there are however a couple of of spots where they are talked.
About in Consolidated space and one of those is in Ephesians chapter 2 that we just read um as a responsive reading earlier and that's where we're going to be first this morning so if you open up your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 2 if you didn't bring a Bible with you this morning you can use one of the blue Bibles that's in the seat rack in the seat in front of you uh if you use one of those Bibles it's going to be on page 568.
And so first we're going to read through it and then we're going to uh go back through and identify how Paul talks about the three enemies here so chapter 2 verse one and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of Disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by Nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind.
So these three verses as Standalone when you just read those three they are a pretty big Downer they don't exactly inspire a whole lot of Joy they don't exactly inspire a whole lot of excitement when you read them and that's because they are talking about the reality of mankind apart from the work of Christ of course we got a sneak peek at what Paul says later in these passages earlier when we read through it um but this is the reality of us as people apart from.
Jesus and him ushering in the kingdom of God that we're dead in our trespasses and sins and specifically Paul is going to highlight three enemies at work against that kingdom of God so let's go back through and we're going to work our way through to identify them first and then we're going to spend some time defining those enemies and looking throughout the Scriptures to help us um build a foundation so let's go back to the top you are dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world that's the.
First enemy that Paul talks about here and that we'll spend some time on today the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air and that title isn't used all over the place Paul specifically uses it here um but the language that we're more familiar with is the devil or Satan okay that's who he's talking about there the spirit that is now at work in the sons of Disobedience and then in verse three among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and mind that the flesh is The Last Enemy here that Paul is going to talk about and that we'll.
Spend some time in today so these are the three enemies that we are going to focus on and work to Define this morning and then what we're going to do after we Define them is we're going to talk about their strategy how do they work together against the kingdom of God that's it's not just scattered in random okay there's a real strategy at play the way that they operate is um unified and they work together so we'll see that um as a quick heads up we are going to move fairly quickly through the definition of all of these enemies.
Because if we were to try to spend all the time to build a robust understanding this sermon would be at least four sermons long and you don't want that and I don't want that the next three weeks what we're going to do is we're going to spend um some time in each enemy taking a deep dive to look into it so first this morning we just need to do enough work to have a foundation for what we're going to talk about.
So first we're going to talk about um the prince of the power of the air that that's going to be the first one the devil or Satan and the first thing that I want us to understand based on the way that Scripture talks about um this enemy is that he is a real spiritual being okay he is a real spiritual being it the Scriptures does not talk about about him as if he's just like an idea it it doesn't refer to language as.
If it's an analogy talking about something else um it he's not the boogeyman that's like just the thing that's kind of in the closet that you blame stuff on as to why you're afraid but it's a real spiritual being with agency that has effect in our lives and so that's an important thing that we need to understand um as uh you read throughout the Scriptures you'll come across language like the names the devil or Satan and in Scripture names are important the definition of a name will give you insight into what is trying to be communicated about this person or this being.
And so specifically here Satan or Satan in the Hebrew it means adversary that's what it is he's referred to as the adversary and of course that's where this language of enemies comes from is that we have a great adversary who's working against the kingdom of God um and this shows up all throughout the Scriptures it shows up in the Old Testament history it shows up in Old Testament poetry it shows up in the prophets it shows up in the gospels Jesus talks about them all the time it shows up in Acts Epistles Revelation you get the idea from beginning to end this enemy this real spiritual being is talked about as a reality in our.
Lives uh the the other name that he's talked about that talked about by that we are familiar with is the devil and that Greek word diabos it means false accuser or slanderer okay that's who he is he's a false accuser and a slanderer and it's a Greek word so it doesn't show up in the Old Testament but it's all throughout the gospels that Jesus refers to him by this name it's in the Epistles as well it's in Revelation once again you get the idea that this being this real spiritual being with agency is talked about all throughout the Scriptures there are a couple other places in Scripture that begin to talk about kind of how.
He operates some and so we'll look at some of those to continue to build out a foundation in Luke chapter 4 um this is a popular passage where Jesus is about to go into the Wilderness where he's going to be tempted and so Jesus is headed out into the Wilderness and he says that he was being tempted by the devil so one of the things that this enemy does is he tempts okay he is a tempter that he tries to lure people away from the way of.
God in John chapter 8 Jesus is talking with some Pharisees and he's going to help them understand this reality about who this enemy is he says he that's the devil was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies that the enemy he lies and he's a murderer this is how Jesus is talking about this enemy.
And so what I want us to see and kind of each one of these enemies we're going to talk about kind of their main weapon of attack that they use to Lobby against us in the kingdom of God and specifically here what I want you to see and want us to see this morning is that lies are his main weapon against God's kingdom and specifically against us as we seek to follow Jesus I mean you see this in the way that.
Jesus talks about him he calls him the father of Lies you see this in the name the devil false accuser that's lies or slanderer that's spreading lies about somebody or even in Temptation tempting somebody is a lie about something that's better than Jesus so this idea of he's a liar is kind of we're going to use that to build off of um that this is his main weapon of attack against the kingdom of God and so that's the first enemy now the.
Second enemy that we'll talk about is the flesh um in uh the Greek the word is SARS and it has several different uh meanings and so first of all it can just mean flesh like you and I would use the word so it just talking about like Skin and Bones like we have or or whatever but it's it when when Paul is talking about it in this passage and throughout the rest of uh the Scripture as it's trying to communicate this idea of this enemy it's going to be talking about something that is deeper and I was as I was doing some reading and trying to put together a good definition I came across what.
I thought was the best definition from uh Strong's exhaustive Bible concordance and the definition that he gave is the seat of sin in man the seat of sin in man that in other words there is a part of us that we've all felt you've all experienced it that feels drawn towards the things that either the Bible itself says isn't good or even we would just intuitively know isn't good you don't even have to believe in Jesus to know that this part of you exists this flesh in you the way that Paul says it in Romans he says that I do the things that I don't want to do and I don't even do the things.
That I do want to do in other words he's talking about that reality that there's a part of us where sin is at work and the language that the Bible uses about this enemy is the Flesh in Galatians Paul says walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
So you can see here the desires of the flesh are against the desires of the spirit they're opposite from each other in Romans Paul says put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires or as Peter puts it in 1 Peter chapter 4 uh so as to live for the rest of Time In the Flesh that's this flesh here no longer for human passions so hopefully you're seeing here this connected idea that the main kind of weapon that this enemy has against us is what Paul Paul talks about in Ephesians 2 as the passions and the desires of the body and the mind that this is the.
Way that this enemy works against God's kingdom and against us specifically in our lives is that it plays off of our desires as people so that's the second enemy the third enemy is the world and similarly to the flesh it has several different meanings the Greek word here is Cosmos that's where we get our word Cosmos from and so first of all it can just be talking about and referring to uh the physical natural world as we know it the trees the grass the universe all that kind of stuff.
But once again it's working to communicate at something deeper when the Scriptures are referring to the world as an enemy and also once again I found that the most helpful definition that I could come across was from the Strong's exhaustive Bible concordance and it is the present condition of human Affairs an alienation from an opposition to God the present condition of human Affairs and alienation from and opposition to God the way that James puts it in chapter 4 he says do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with.
God so once again we're seeing that these ideas are opposed to each other that the language of the Scriptures is that the world is against God's kingdom and the way that it's going to be talked about in Colossians chapter 2 Paul says this he says see to it that no one one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ or as he writes in Galatians 4 in the same way we also.
When we were children were ins slaved to the elementary principles of the world in other words there are agreed upon and underlying assumptions or philosophies which inform a way of life that is based on what Paul says is empty deceit and human tradition that we as people we love knowing why things work and why things happen and we do that with the world itself and apart from Christ what Paul is saying is all of the philosophers and the great thinkers who have been trying to consider what is this world why does it exist how does it work he says.
If you work to the bottom of their system what you'll come to is empty deceit that apart from Christ and apart from the Scriptures you will come to empty deceit and ultimately it's just it up to human tradition if you will and so the main weapon that I want us to see that this enemy uses against the kingdom of God and against us is the idea of co-signing beliefs and practices co-signing beliefs and practices in other words it's a place that provides us the ability to hide I mean everybody else is doing it right that's the language we get to use.
When we're talking about the world so these are the three enemies like I said we were going to work through them quick we just quickly tried to identify them we were going all over the place in the Scriptures to try to work to have a foundation and so we have the devil we have Satan that's what we're going to refer to him as this morning we have the Flesh and we have the world and so now with an understanding of who these enemies are.
Now we're going to spend some time to understand how do they work together how does the fact that the devil lies and our flesh has a craving and desire for the things that are against God and the world just makes it Easy by being an echo chamber of itself and its own bad ideas how do these work together and to do so I'm going to turn to Genesis chapter 3 it'll be up on the screen here and we're going to read the.
First seven verses of Genesis chapter 3 this is the very beginning of the Bible this is this is right as things are getting started and what it's going to highlight is it's going to show how these enemies have been at work from the very beginning so chapter 3 verse 1 now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made he said to the woman did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.
But God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die but the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who is with her and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked so the first character we come across here in this story is the serpent and uh the serpent he's talked about he's referred to as a serpent in Genesis and in Revelation and then in one spot in second Corinthians the serpent is referencing this enemy the devil or Satan uh and so first we're seeing him at work here and now when we read this passage and we read that there is a serpent who is talking we're a me like our radar is up like.
Okay what's going on here and the reality is that the original readers of the text also would have been like whoa whoa whoa what is going on here um because we know that snakes don't talk and so when this snake is talking we're thinking what is going on um but in talking with Chad and trying to figure out how do you how do you quickly kind of talk about this without getting too deep in the weeds um he mentioned this beautiful thing that I never considered they're in Paradise Eve is just.
Now discovering the world maybe for her snakes talk she's figuring it out and maybe even more important than that they're in Paradise they've never been hurt she's never been deceived so why would she question what is going on so if if you're uh prone to skepticism when you come across these kinds of texts hopefully that's a helpful framework for you as we continue on but anyways we see here this serpent the devil who's going to come in and he's going to start to be really crafty he's going to be.
So so crafty the the serpent doesn't just come in and he doesn't just come and tell a bold face lie that's totally out of left field right he doesn't say something ridiculous because Eve probably would have caught on rather he takes some ideas that she's already heard about from what God has told Adam and Eve and then he begins to twist it and then he begins to turn it into a lie but not so much that Eve catches on to what he's doing.
And so this is the first enemy at work from the very beginning that he's taking what is truth and he's beginning to turn it into a lie and he's lying to Adam and Eve about what they really need what's really good for them oh and Eve starts she doesn't see the Trap and she walks right in notice in verse six when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a Delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise this is a part of the craftiness of the lie that he appeals to desires that already exist within Eve right the tree is good.
For food Eve's thinking oh this is going to be really good this is going to taste great it's a delight to the eyes I mean it looks good and it's Desir to make one wise and I mean I'll be better off if I have it how many times has that been the reasoning before we fallen into some kind of trap that we've thought that looks good and it's going to feel so good and I mean I'll be better off for it.
So it it'll be okay in this moment she's bought the lie that's been sold to her that she needs this above what God has offered to her and so this is how we see the flesh the second enemy at play in this story last we see Adam here in this story right at the very end and it's bad enough that apparently he was just sitting there watching his wife eat from the tree that he knew that she would die if she ate it.
So we don't know all the motivations that's going on in Adam's heart and in his mind but nonetheless when Eve eats what does Adam do oh no you can't do that you can't do that no no I mean if everybody's doing it I might as well and at this point at this point the entirety of the human race has accepted this lie that's been told and they followed their passions and their desires and they've created a world that's built upon empty deceit and human tradition rather than the word of.
God and it's possible you're thinking to yourself yeah but that was only like two people so but turn three chapters later in Genesis and God says that every intention of man was only evil always so we see here this work of these enemies together that they're not just random and Scattered that we have an enemy the devil who is lying he's sowing deceit and specifically lying to the things that are a part of us that we want even though they're wants that are opposed to the way that.
God has called us to be and then as we start participating in them together oh how easy it is and we know this when you're hanging out with a group of friends and they're all doing something and maybe you're on the fence but you go ahead and do it anyways but if you were by yourself you never do it so with this idea of this strategy John Mark comr he was a pastor on the west coast and now he's a a Christian Author and he wrote a book called live no lies and in that book we wouldn't um prescribe and agree with everything that he's written in the book.
But he does condense this idea down helpfully to real short phrase that we'll put up on the screen here he says that the three enemy strategy is deceitful ideas that play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful Society deceitful ideas that play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful society and basically that is a really condensed way to talk about the fact that the devil lies and that we accept those lies because there's a part of us that really wants it and that creates societies and cultures where lies are perpetuated and it becomes easy to accept them as truth this is the strategy at work last week Chad mentioned the idea.
That there is no neutral ground in this life and I want you to see this in the Garden of Eden where life was great people got along I mean there are only two of them but still if you've had a roommate you know they had access to the presence of God himself and this strategy worked if you can look at your current at the current state of the world if you can see how things function in your house at your job with your friends on social media and you're you think that you're more capable than they were in the garden of doing.
Well enough I would urge you to re-evaluate you oh she heard one lie one how many lies have you heard in the last week if you watched an episode of a TV show it's at least 327 so to see this idea in today's age in today's culture let's look at kind of the big three that are prevalent money sex and power and we're going to see how these things have been lied to to us first with money oh money money money money we're told that we need money we need the big house we need the shiny car we need the sweet vacay we need the newest phone.
And then we'll be happy if we can make it to there I'll be Satisfied then but for anybody in the room who has ever been blessed with the nice stuff who has ever been blessed with the healthy bank account maybe there's a moment where you're like oh yeah this is great but how quickly does that fade when you get the new car you're driving down the road you know one one one elbow on the window hand on the ceer wheel you know what I'm talking about and you.
Look and you see the other car on the road look at that that's nice it's got features that my car doesn't have or the new house you just got your friends invite you over you come walking in 10 foot ceilings I've only got nine three three bathrooms how soon is it that we when we get the stuff that we automatically just want to get to the next level this is the lie that's been sold to us this idea of consumerism that you just need more has it worked yet are you satisfied are we happy as people no what about sex we're told that.
If our love life was just better then we could be happy if I could just get out of this relationship then things would be good if I could just get into this relationship things would be good what happens when that honeymoon period wears off you still satisfied then how quickly do we jump once again into the objectification of other people for our own pleasure that we've been sold this lie that this is what we need to be happy this is what we need to be fulfilled and there's a part of us that wants it and this culture that we live in that glorify sex are we happy yet have we made it yet has the.
Experiment worked yet what about power we're told that if we could just get things done my way we'd be happy whole buddy if my co-workers or boss would just listen to my ideas this place would be so more efficient if my party could just make it into office then this country would be back on track then all would there there there finally be peace maybe for a moment things were a little easier for you but is that Brokenness and tension in your soul rectified.
When you were able to get your decision did you not just immediately want and another decision to be yours as well this lie that we've been told in this day and age that if it could just happen our way have you looked on the internet is there peace really no we're currently living in a world that makes it so easy to pursue our passions and desires as we're lied to over and over by an enemy that would like nothing less than.
For us to be slowly dayby day deceived D and pulled away from the truth of Jesus this is not neutral ground this is a war zone and if we're tempted to believe the lie that there's not really danger out there that the things we participate in aren't really against us that there's not really a part of me that desires to chase after things that aren't of Christ if we're willing to believe that then we're going to be willing to participate in habits and rhythms of life that slowly pull us away from the truth that.
Jesus offers through the Gospel so to have a moment of honesty and vulnerability about how I've seen this show up in my life I'm going to talk to you about how I've seen it show up in my life um for those of you that don't know me I like to build and I like to make and I like to fix stuff up um and even if that's not not your thing cuz I know there's like three other guys in the room that that's their thing.
But we all have stuff that we like we all have hobbies that we enjoy and we love watching other people do the things that we enjoy right I mean there's whole entire industries that are built off of this idea and so with modern day um technology you can go on YouTube and you can watch anybody do anything and so that's one thing that I like to do I like to watch other people build online and they and uh what I noticed happening.
Well I noticed being able to look back but I didn't notice it in the moment is that by engaging in this habit and Rhythm and thinking that it was in the neutral zone or the neutral to good Zone I let my guard down and then all of a sudden what started to happen is this I started to believe lies that engaging in this practice over and over and over again in my life it had just become a rhythm in my life that there were lies that I would just start to accept as truth I just I deserve this I mean it's earned I've worked hard I I I need this.
Because I need rest I mean this Jesus stuff it's cool and it's great and all but there's not like real rest there that's just like work rest is here where you can vegge out on the couch and just flip through other videos of people doing stuff or the lie that sweet saw that that guy has on that video that's what I need and unchecked I began to believe lies and I wanted it it was a part of me that wanted it I wanted to throw off the responsibilities of life and be able to just sit and just disappear.
And then is easy enough to justify if you remember any of the stats that cck gave last week of how much times people spend on their devices it's like I'm not eight hours come on three okay so at this point we've only talked about the problem we've only talked about how everything is scary and it all wants to kill you and that's not exciting it doesn't feel good it does not feel good for me to stand here and tell you about how I have believed lies and that there's a part of me that once it to be true and I've Justified myself and it's the same.
For you as you're beginning to think in your own head it doesn't feel good and if you're beginning to feel some of the weight and the urgency of this or maybe last week you you heeded the encouragement of chat to really evaluate your time how you're spending your time and you've looked through it and you've begun to feel this need for something different I think there are two bad responses that we're tempted to fall into and what we're going to see is how Paul offers the Gospel as the answer to those.
So first you might be so overcome by guilt that it crushes you as you begin to consider and think oh my all this time that I've wasted look at oh I I believe that lie are you joking me look at look at the things that I want nobody can know that about me look at the way that I justify myself in this world I just it's too much this I'm worthless I'm unlovable this is how it's going to be forever that's a lie and this is how Paul responds with the Gospel back in Ephesians 2.
Verse 4 but God being rich in Mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable Riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus that this morning if you belong to Christ.
If you belong to Jesus which Church family that's you you belong to Jesus that God doesn't need to use lies to call you to himself what does the verse say what's his motivation his love that his great affection for us stirred him on towards Mercy that he would send Christ that he would send his son Jesus to come rescue us and do the thing we couldn't because on our own we're just going to believe lies and do whatever we want and justify ourselves with the world at the cross.
Jesus Takes the weight of guilt at the cross Jesus Bears the weight of our sin and it's through his resurrection that we're Made Alive and that is true for you if you are in Christ that we don't belong to the way of this this world any longer Paul says that we have been raised with him and seated with Christ in the Heavenly places Church family you are seated with Christ in the Heavenly places we don't belong here anymore we belong to him and his truth is what has changed.
For our lives and all of this has been done to show us himself as Paul puts it so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable Riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus this is what Chad was talking about last week with the idea of beholding Christ that this is what God has been working to do in his rescue mission for us is to show us himself who he truly is his great love and mercy that he has.
For us that he would come to rescue us and that we don't need to live in guilt we need to live in Praise because of what he has done so the second way that I think it's possible for us to have a poor response is that when we hear about these different enemies or we look at our own life and see the ways in which we messed up we start to puff up my chest yeah tighten my shoes dust myself off let's get after it that's you thinking that it's up to you I've been there and that's a lie it's not up to you we've replaced.
When we believe that we've replaced the idea of our effort to behold Christ with our the idea of earning Christ you don't earn Christ he came for you and this is how Paul responds to this with the Gospel in verse eight for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
For good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them our Salvation from the strategy of these enemies is not found in our own making you don't need to go figure it out it's been figured out for you you haven't been called to save yourself you haven't been called to fix yourself you've been called to trust Jesus that he really loves you and that he really came for you and that the power at the Gospel that the power at the cross and at the resurrection of.
Jesus is real power in your life to affect change it really is the truth of that if we would walk in faith is real power in our life it's not found in you it doesn't mean that we don't have to pay attention all throughout the New Testament watch out stand firm trust doesn't equal apathy real trust shows up in real ways in our life but we've got to remember the truth that it's not about us it's not about our earning that's nothing he's already come.
Let us come behold Christ and what he's done the band's going to come back up and as we continue this series as we continue to dive deeper into each one of these enemies and the work against us we're going to be talking about different habits and different practices different rhythms of life that are offered to us in the Scriptures ways in which we can remember the Gospel but I would urge you that as we do that you don't take those good works that.
God has prepared beforehand for us and turn them into your way of earning your right to Salvation do not do that these rhythms of life these habits that we're going to talk about in the coming weeks are about ways for us to come and behold the glory of Christ to remind oursel of the truth so that we would stop believing the lies that we would stop giving into our own desires and that we would stop justifying oursel in this world because a greater truth has come and he's come in love and power to transform us.
Let me pray father we thank you that you have come to rescue us out of your love and that you haven't just rescued us and then left us on our own but you've called us into a new life a new way of living and would we step into that in our everyday life would day after day we come back to the truth of who Jesus is and what he's done for us and as we take those Steps of Faith would you honor that and build us up and transform us to.
Look like Christ we come before you in praise and thanks because the work that you have done for us we love you amen would youall please stand and sing and worship.
The Things You Do, Do Things to You
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here we are starting a new series today we just finished up the book of Philippians and we're starting a series today entitled three enemies uh most of the time we just work through books of the Bible and then about once a year or so we will take some time out to study a concept something that's found in the Scriptures but just kind of batch some ideas together something that we think we ought to consider and study together.
And so we for the next five weeks will be looking at our three enemies now this and then we're going to go into the Book of Revelation and so um we're going to study through the Book of Revelation together again and I think it will be a lot of fun and a lot of really helpful stuff and uh exciting and disappointing all at the same time because if you're looking forward to like charts and dragons and stuff we're not going to do that.
But there's a dragon but he won't be on a chart okay anyway sorry lost my train of thought here we are going to spend the next five weeks talking about the three enemies and just spending some time studying this concept together and in some ways this series is going to have two intros because this morning we are not going to talk about the three enemies Isaac is going to introduce that concept from the Scriptures next week what we're going to talk about this morning is formation specifically the idea of spiritual formation this idea that we are meant to be growing into and developing into something something and the reason we're going to start there is.
Because that is what our three enemies are stopping so we need to understand what we're trying to do so that we can then understand what the three enemies are Waring against because we're meant to be growing into Christ likeness that if you're a Christian you're supposed to be slowly and by degree developing to look more and more and more like Jesus as As Romans 8 says we been predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that we've been set as.
Jesus is at work in us to make us more and more and more like him and so that's our hope is that we would grow into looking more and more like Jesus now spiritual formation that phrasing isn't going to be found in your Bible but the concept is this idea that we would grow to be more like Jesus from the moment Jesus tells his disciples come follow me he's saying come pattern after me come know me come look like me and I want to show youall in 2 Corinthians as the passage we'll consider some the morning as we.
Look at this idea Paul's been talking about this concept of a veil that is in between uh the hearts of those who don't know Jesus and Jesus he's been talking about this thing that stands in between our ability to understand him he's been using an example from the Old Testament and this is where we pick up in verse 16 it says but when one turns to the Lord that's Jesus the veil is removed so there's nothing in between us and Jesus anymore that.
When we come come to Christ that's gone there's nothing in between us and it says now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom he's been talking about the law and he's saying we're invited into Freedom we're invited into joy and forgiveness and hope that that's what Jesus brings that he died on a cross to forgive our sins and that when we turn to Jesus we're forgiven that we're made whole that we're made new we're free 18 and we all from from this position of freedom from this position of forgiveness with unveiled face beholding the glory of the.
Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of Glory to another so that you are slowly and by degree if you belong to Jesus and as you Behold Him and are en raptured with the Gospel you're becoming more and more like Christ you're being formed transformed into the image of Jesus and this is our hope that you would grow to be more like Jesus to be more patient more kind more joy filled more at peace that you would grow to set your eyes on.
Jesus more that you would know him more that you would love him more that you would turn away from sin and turn to him that we want this for ourselves and for our spouse and our roommates and the people in our group I'd love for them to be more like Jesus all the time but this is our hope and the reason we're going to focus on this idea of form formation this morning is because our three enemies are going to attack our formation they're going to work towards our deformation we're wanting to be formed in the image of.
Jesus but there's going to be this constant push to be deformed to be pulled in the opposite direction so we're from one degree or another being confirmed into conformed in the same image transformed in the same image as Christ and it says from this this comes for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit so as we consider this idea of formation this morning the first thing I want us to understand is that there is no neutral there is no sitting still I think sometimes we frame it up like I can be intentionally I can work to be formed into the image of.
Jesus or I can just kind of hang out sometimes I'm just you know just doing normal stuff and then you know I do some of the formy things I read my Bible or whatever like I can be doing that but a lot of times it's just normal stuff but the Bible doesn't really give us a neutal when it comes to formation that you are developing into something all the time you are growing into something all the time you're being formed into something all the time.
So that's where we're going to look at this morning we're going to consider this idea of formation this idea of deformation and we're going to try to take seriously what it means to grow into Christ likeness and at least understand this concept this morning so let's pray as we We Begin trying to consider this God we ask for your help um this concept is simple I I don't think there's too much that we will have a hard time understanding but Lord changing will be harder and evaluating Our Lives will be harder.
And so we ask for the grace and the work of your spirit to help Us in Jesus name amen if you will turn to Proverbs chapter 24 I want to show you an Old Testament picture of this concept of this there is no real neutral there is no sitting still it's found in the Proverbs there's a book about wisdom it'll be on the screen as well but it's Proverbs 24:34 he says this I passed by the field of a sluggard a sluggard is a lazy person who has rejected the weight of existence rejected the effort that is called out of them to have dominion and rule over the Earth that we were sent to have.
Dominion and to to bring uh order to chaos and a sluggard has rejected this so I passed by the field of a sluggard by The Vineyard of a man lacking sense and behold it was all overgrown with thorns and the ground was covered with Nettles and its stone wall was broken down so it's supposed to be a Vineyard but it's not being tended to so the wall is broken down it's overgrown it's not producing fruit it's not producing what would have been some life some Joy something production something to add to the value of existence it's not doing any of that it's all overgrown it's falling down.
Then I saw and considered it I looked and received instruction he said I I just saw the example and I learned which y'all if you can learn how to do that is wonderful I I have an older brother had the the wonderful experience of getting to be not the first one and so I saw and considered it I looked and received instruction I watched my brother go through high school before me and I'd be like yep okay don't say that that's what he's saying is he's looked at the life of the sluggard and he's saying I'm I'm learning from it.
And so let's do that today as well let's look and consider let's see here's what he says a little sleep a little sleep Slumber a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man what's the sluggard doing nothing if you texted him said what you up to he'd respond nothing and he would think he's sitting neutral nothing just not do anything I'm you know just hanging out but what's happening around him not nothing something.
Because the world's been subjected to futility we've been set loose into Decay we've been set loose into disorder things are falling apart without work without effort things get worse they don't sit still that's just how the world works it's spend the next month just doing nothing sit on your couch you would say I I just didn't do anything I just sat just hung out nothing but did your body do nothing or did you get stronger at sitting better at being weaker like I could go to work at nothing and they say muscle weighs more than fat.
But watch me I think I can lose muscle and gain fat and gain weight I think I can do it I think if you let me do enough nothing I'll get bigger somehow by just sitting and you say eating was involved yeah what else are you doing while you're sitting guys come on but we would be doing nothing we would just say I'm not doing anything but what's happening around us is our relationships are falling apart our house is falling apart and our bodies falling apart there is no real neutral that's not how sin works in the world that's not how the Brokenness works in the world that we don't just uh have things order.
Themselves and organize themselves without effort takes no effort to be disordered disorganized to have Things Fall Apart takes effort to fight that constantly and that's just a rule in the world and we develop and grow in these things we become better at them so that by doing nothing we can grow stronger at being weaker y' I love naps love them they are a wonderful gift to humanity it's like sleeping but just shorter and at any time you want it's excellent when I go on vacation I don't like sleeping in I hate sleeping in it messes up my whole life.
So when I go on vacation my ideal like vacation schedule is wake up at the same time that I've been waking up in general I want to beat the sun I want to be awake when the sun's coming up or right before it unless it's coming up too late and then I got to get up earlier but then I want to eat lunch and go to sleep I've always thought I could be a missionary wherever they have cestas because that's the schedule I want to operate on.
If you let me go on vacation for a week I'm going to do that if I get to set my own schedule I'm going to take a nap every afternoon and can I tell you what's going to happen to me Monday when I'm back in the office I'm G to eat lunch and go sit down at my desk and be like my body's going to be like time to turn off because I've practiced it I've trained it I've grown into something and that's how this works that the world around us is always falling apart and that we are always developing into something something is happening in us and this isn't just physically around us.
In us it's Also spiritually so the first thing I'm trying to help you understand is that there is real no no real neutral there is no sitting still and that deformation doesn't take effort chaos does not take effort but it's not just chaos in the world it's also in us the New Testament picks up this idea in Galatians 6 so Paul writing to a Church has been talking to them about the Fruit of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh which we'll get more into over the next over the coming weeks this idea that we have the spirit at work in us and we have our flesh at work in us our own physical.
Desires our own desire for sin our own desire for wickedness he's been holding this up and then he says this in chapter 6 he talked about that in chapter 5 chapter six he says this verse seven and 8 do not be deceived which whenever you see that in your Scriptures go ahead and know maybe you've been deceived this is an area where Paul thinks people can get tricked where you can whether or not the sentence makes sense to you be somehow tricked in your own mind that you're not operating like this is true.
So he says here's a good way that people often get tricked do not be deceived God is Not mocked for whatever one SWS that will he also reap that's just a agricultural analogy seeds grow a plant so what kind of seeds do we throw out that's the kind of plant we're going to grow whatever you sew is what you're going to reap I love the way I've heard uh Law Enforcement Officers say this you play stupid games you win stupid prizes it's the same thing what you're sewing something you're putting something out there you're planting something you're doing something what's coming back what are you getting out of that whatever you seow is what you.
Reap and this is what he says he carries this out for the one who SWS to his own flesh Will from The Flesh reap corruption but the one who SWS to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life and the way he's been talking about that in Galatians 5 this idea that the Flesh and the spirit are opposed to one another the way he says it here is look there's no real neutral we either growing in the spirit to be more like.
Jesus we're sewing to the spirit to get love and joy and peace and patience kindness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control we're either developing more to look like Jesus or we're swing to the flesh gratifies our gratify our desires we're growing in strife and anger anxiety frustration sin lust we're developing these things things in ourselves and so you'd say okay yeah but I'm not doing either one of those I'm just watching TV I'm right in the middle Netflix it's right in the middle and no there's there's no middle what's going on in your heart it's possible that that could fit in a zone of rest and joy and it's also possible that it.
Fits in a zone of gratifying the desires of the flesh there's no real middle we aren't sitting still and there is no neutral we're being formed into something we're growing into something we're developing into something one of the questions is I think worth asking for your life is what are you currently reaping you you've been building the life that you have no one has had more impact on your life than you now there are people people and things and circumstances that have an impact on your life certainly.
But a whole lot of your life is how you respond to those circumstances how you react to them what you do with them where you put them in your mind and your heart and your soul but nobody's had more impact on your life than you you have developed your life to this point in so many ways so what are you reaping are you reaping love and joy and peace patience and kindness gentleness is that what your heart does your does your life.
Look like a harvest of Joy a festival of peace and faithfulness or does your life look like you a whole lot of frustration a whole lot of constant anger a whole lot of sadness a whole lot of cynicism but a whole lot of sin what do we that's what he calls corruption in this passage Everything feels broken Everything feels corrupt Everything feels diseased what are we reaping now I'm going to go ahead and assume that if you got to pick which you were reaping we would want to.
When we're clear-headed choose love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gist we'd want all these things that come from the spirit we want all these things that come from Christ and if you're a Christian you certainly do you don't want to se to the Flesh and sin and lust and gluttony and all these sort of things that we could Chase off that way so how do we do this what's God's picture for formation what's his recipe.
For formation when he's trying to develop a character and a people what does he call them to and I think one of the best examples of that is found in Deuteronomy 6 and this is where we'll spend the rest of our time Deuteronomy chapter 6 part of the Bible Moses is telling the people a few things before he sends them into the land so he's giving them the law but he's now saying you're going to go be a people you're going to go develop into something you're going to go be formed and he gives them basically a game plan.
For formation Deuteronomy 6 starting in verse four here o Israel the Lord Our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might now when Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is in the law he says this to love the Lord with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength with all your mind with everything you have and so I also want you to.
See that even though they were given the law and they were being told to go practice the law their ultimate aim was a love for the Lord that their heart would be enraptured with a love for the Lord so their aim isn't different from ours they would be in love with the Lord and they would grow to be more and more like him and that's our hope is that we would love the Lord and grow to be more and more like him.
And so he's going to outline for them how to do that now they're talking about the law which ultimately wasn't effective in doing this and we needed Jesus to change our hearts we needed Jesus to come and rescue us from our sin and to be at work inside of us but here's what he says and these words that I commanded you today shall be on your heart so they need to be inside of you you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them.
When you sit in your house and when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise eyes you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your Gates how do you form a people intentional repetition this is what you're going to think about this what you're going to talk about when you wake up when you go to bed.
When you're walking when you're sitting this is what you're going to put on your hand this what you put on your face this is what you're going to put on your doors it's going to be everywhere and it's going to be all the time it's going to be repeated do you run a marathon by trying really hard well once you go to run it you're certainly going to have to try really hard but I can't go out today and just try really hard to run a marathon you know that just kills you that's actually where we got marathons from the.
First person who ran one died and then we run them together to like laugh mock this child or whatever who had to go deliver that message just Flex on him year after year no you you learn how to run a marathon by training really hard you practice that's how we get good at anything my son recently started taking karate and he likes it and so I'm a good dad he was born in the 80s and so I was like you got to watch Karate Kid you're welcome I'm G to help I'm going to jump start your training have a seat.
So we watched Karate Kid and one of the best the best part other than like the sweep the leg and kicking the kid in the face or whatever whatever at the end uh the best part though is when he does he makes him do wax on wax off and paint the fence and sand the deck and all these different things where he makes him do all of this work at his house and if you've never seen the CATE kid first of all.
Second of all the the point of this is muscle memory it's repetition so he makes him do these things over and over again to finally the the main character Daniel is just has a fit and just says I've become your personal servant I'm not you're not teaching me anything and they have this little Showdown where he's like show me wax on wax off show me these things and he starts throwing punches at him and Daniel because he you know painted a fence or whatever.
Now it's how to knows how to block punches it's a bit of a stretch but he did practice the Motions over and over again he repeated it over and over again he repeated these moves over and over again so that his body would just respond and that's how you learn something it's through repetition that's how you get good at it and the reality is in your life you are a black belt in something you can do it without thinking expertly because you've done it over and over and over and over and over again and we're reaping our lives through our practiced habits.
So what are we repeating what are we practicing because you are building a life and you are being formed and you are developing into something you are working to become the person that you are what are you working on there's a a Catholic author who was considering this idea and the concept of formation and growth and his name is RJ Snell but I love this quote he says we become Who We Are by what we choose to do again we become Who We Are by what we choose to do again I've heard it put another way the things you do do things to you.
So if you forgive again or you're becoming a forgiving person if you work hard again today work hard again today you're becoming a diligent person if you stick it out through the marriage again today this week you fight through again for another month you were becoming a faithful person we become Who We Are by what we choose to do again through repetition and through practice that we can become honest not by telling the truth once but by telling the truth repeatedly even.
When it's difficult that we can become people of in integrity and people of kindness and people of gentleness and people of grace through repetition we are knowingly or unknowingly developing a life cultivating it sewing and reaping so what are we repeating what are you repeating what are you practicing one of kind of a case study something that I would like to put out in front of you when we consider our habits and practices as people as adults age 65 and above watch more than four hours of TV per day Millennials watch an average of 3 hours and 38 minutes this says of AD supported TV per day.
So if you're paying to not watch ads that's not in here 15 to n year old 19 year olds watch less than two hours of TV per day but that doesn't mean that they're not doing something it says this according to a January 2024 survey the average American spends 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone each day which is about one day a week adds up to 70 days per year in 12 years of a person's life in total spend on their phone that's average.
So I'm assuming some of you are below average and you're like three and a half hours a day some of you are well above average and you're like eight or something I don't it says 7 hours and 50 minutes consuming media daily consuming media the average American 7 hours and 50 minutes consuming media daily y' cell phones like this this access to information the internet computers all of this stuff you know we're beta testing it for Humanity because this showed up in my lifetime we're the ones running a a a big test to.
See how it goes what's it like when we raise children like this what's it like when we spend eight hours a day consuming media how well does that work and I would just argue not so good but you're spending eight hours taking something in if there's anything that we're doing this with that we have when we walk by the way when we lie down and when we rise that's on our hand and in between our faces it's this I I would argue that we are I mean crushing this kind of command I mean we're we're making the Israelites.
Look pitiful by how good we are at this when it comes to our our media usage J.R Vasser I quoted uh no Jr baster says this he says we're trapped in consumption without contentment so we're consuming we're not content he said this and it stuck with me he said no one ever gets off their couch after scrolling through Facebook for an hour hour or two hours gets off their couch and says I feel so alive that is what I was made.
For I found my purpose it's like yeah no it doesn't doesn't seow joy and peace and life into US it doesn't consumption of media doesn't this isn't good for us it's not working towards joy for us uh Adam Gibson is one of the pastors over at Midtown downtown I've heard him relate this story a few times but he said he was talking to a a guy who just said he was struggling he said I'm just tired life's just too much it's just too much I'm.
So frustrated I spend the whole day just being frustrated I just want to not have to deal with people I want to not have to deal with frustration I want to not have to deal with difficulty I just want to sit and be not bothered I want to just be able to turn my brain off and be not bothered and as a pastor I talk to a lot of people who some form of that lament this everything's too hard it's too much I can't take it I don't want to do any more of this I can't live like this he said he was talking to the guy and he asked him he said.
Okay well how much TV do you watch per day the guy said none like almost zero he said I'm too busy I'm running non-stop having to do all the things I got to do to just exist finally Maybe by like 9:00 I can turn my TV on so every night he goes okay will you watch TV at 9: he said yeah he said till when he goes I don't know nothing really I mean I watch TV from like 9: till maybe I go to bed at midnight and she said.
Okay so three hours a day So Adam said he looked at him and said 'd do you think if you practiced anything for three hours a day you'd get good at it you just told me you want to sit turn your brain off and not engage well you're practicing that for three hours a day Y what are we doing for hours a day what are we rehearsing what are we practicing what are we developing in ourselves I am not musically talented at all honestly I have started playing a harmonica and I've gotten a little bit more to where I can hear notes and stuff I can start kind of picking this out on harmonica.
But I can tell you if I practiced it for three hours a day two things would happen one I would get better at the harmonica and two my wife would go to prison for murder and how good I got at the harmonica is just the gap of her patience but if we do anything for two hours a day three hours a day four hours a day pick a thing if you worked at the piano if you worked at stitching if you ran.
If you exercise if you practice karate don't you think you'd get good at it and y'all we have patterns and practices that we are running through for hours and hours and hours and hours what are they what are we sewing what are we developing into when we consider media when we consider the fact that average is eight hours taking stuff in what's it telling you what's it telling you about the purpose of life what's it telling you about how romance should work what's it telling about who you are and who.
God is what's it telling you about where Joy is found where life is found where hope is found where fulfillment is found because you're rehearsing these things in your mind whether you know it or not you're rehearsing these you're repeating them you're talking about them as you walk by the way as you rise and as you lie down this is what we've got going on and you may say well I read my Bible on my phone I watch sermons on my phone.
Listen to them I have a a missionary podcast I listen to whatever and I would just say that's great the phone as a tool is fine you might do something weird like make phone calls with your phone and I would say great it's good but I also know that for many of you used to just could leave your house without it you just walked out into the world like a free person and now I know that you've headed back home to go get it.
When you've left it on the counter because it's become a part of your soul and I would say I think if I had to guess that your positive interactions with your phone are lower than your time wasting nonsense of your phone where you're turning your brain off disengaging from the world or engaging in some things that actually aren't producing fruit that's just our phones zoom out we're becoming black belts and something we're developing something you've got habits and practices and things that you've rehearsed over and over again year after year after year are you frustrated are you angry you spend.
So much of your time being so annoyed with how aggravating everybody else around you is well what are your habits what are you repeating do you tell yourself continuously that you shouldn't have to put up with this do you when you're alone rehearse arguments in your mind things you should have said things you should have done what you're going to say next time do you do you repeat in your mind over and over again the wrongs that have been done to you that's your repetition that's your rehearsal do you talk about them to other people can you believe what they did can you believe this can you believe that do you understand what's going on.
Here is that what's pouring out of you that what you talk about as you walk in the way as you sit in your house how much of your TV watching is violence retribution Revenge they finally get what was coming to them is this what you're rehearsing for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and then you read your Bible for five minutes twice a week because you're so busy and then you say I don't know the Lord just hadn't taken this anger away it's like.
Well you've been painting that fence like a lot you're good at it we struggle with anxiety I'm just so anxious and not about things I just feel this constant anxiety but y'all we've set up our whole lives to be anxious you know people used to walk places Outdoors to get places you know it took a while you might spend an hour in traffic every morning well that's Ani anxiety inducing and if you're in traffic while listening to a lot of noise even.
If it's songs and stuff you like that still is a whole lot of input but maybe you're listening to like talk radio and it's telling you who's evil and who needs to be fired and I don't care if it's sports or politics it's telling you who's evil and who needs to be fired like it's these aren't joyful things that we're partaking in then you deal with normal stress like work and relationships and all these sort of things but on top of that you take in I don't know a thousand milligrams of caffeine you're like I don't know feel.
So amped up it's like yeah you're drugged like I mean you've wound yourself up you go home and unwind you take on more emotional stress than any normal human throughout the course of history would ever have to deal with because we watch good dramas this Show's so good but all it does is tie us into an anxiety knot and then release it a little bit but sometimes not even release it just to keep you going and so you deal with more do you know how much emotional stress humans used to have to deal with in the evening whatever your family was doing.
But they're already there doing that now and you're trying to watch some guy get murdered or whatever you watch a horror film and then you go lay in your bed and you take your phone and listen to a murder podcast and then you're like I don't know I'm having a hard time sleeping I've been having anxiety attacks it's like yeah you wound your body up as much as you possibly could we have practiced habits and I'm not saying that any one of those things on its own by itself and it one little time is bad.
But I'm saying that when we go for hours and hours and hours and hours and this is what our life looks like and we don't have slow time or calm time or restful time or time away unplugged from all these things and then we're just like I don't know feel like a crazy person it's like yeah this is we've actually when you watch like old like a movie from the 80s or whatever and they show how they would like brainwash or torture somebody they would have flashing images in front of their face we do that to ourselves go spend an hour on Twitter.
See if you don't seem uh X I don't know see if you don't seem TW Twitchy afterwards you get to where you don't even read a whole tweet it's like three sentences and then the next thing and the next picture and the next thing and then you feel amped up it's like yeah we're practicing it we're working on it we're becoming really really good at it and we're reaping it people who struggle with depression what are your habits what are your practices I know.
For a lot of you you constantly repeat to yourself how bad everything is how bad you are how much of a failure you are you constantly repeat to yourself all the horrible things that happened in your life how they've impacted you how they've caused uh markings in you that you can't get over how they how how uh you're going to fail at everything nobody loves you nobody wants you nobody wants you around everything's going to fall apart this is awful you're this is this is what you think about and whether or not you're talking about it I don't know.
But probably if people picked at you a little bit they could get it out of you this is this is what you're rehearsing I mean honestly if you had taken the Declaration of Independence and rehearsed it as much in your mind as you've told yourself all this stuff you'd have it memorized by now you you can work anything into your mind and get it there and have it sealed to where you would never forget it and and you think that you're saying maybe humble things about yourself.
But actually if you belong to Jesus you're lying about him we're going to talk about that more in the coming weeks but you're lying about who he is and what he does and what he's done for you and what he does for people and where our hope is if you had a friend that talked to you the way you talk to you maybe you'd see it you'd actually be like I got to hang out with them but when I get there they're going to tell me I'm stupid and that I'm the worst and that I'm going to ruin everything that I'm it's all going to fall apart and every time you try to talk about.
Something good you know like why don't we go to a a theme park and they're going to say something like sure it's fine eventually the sweet release of death will take us so maybe maybe we can do that on a roller coaster today I hear they don't check those things all the time you hear about what happened at Carwin it's like oh my goodness you could hear it from somebody else but this is what we're rehearsing in our minds and we're becoming really really really really really really good at it.
So if we're cynical we've practiced it if we're angry we've practiced it some of you do this in arguments you know the moves you're going to make as soon as something happens you know where you're going to go because you've practiced it and we've gotten so used to it that it feels normal to us and we're out of control in our eating and our habits and our lusting and all these things but we've practiced them over and over and over and over again and you have become what you've practiced to become you ever worked a job where you had to answer the phone all the time.
And then you answer your home phone the way you do it your job wacky ways a vacon go but you do that without thinking because it's rehearsed and we're doing that in our our lives in so many ways because we've rehearsed things that aren't true things aren't Gospel things aren't hope-filled things aren't Bible things they're just a bunch of things that are helping us reap corruption and we keep telling ourselves that a whole lot of them are just neutral when they aren't all these things promise you something they promise you some sort of solution some sort of cure some sort of hope they give you something to do.
But none of them actually deliver this is one of the reasons why we periodically will give people Gospel replace replacement homework for the thoughts that they're having and the things that they're repeating to themselves will say repeat these things that are true about Jesus it's not like some neat little trick it's that you don't believe these things and you need to begin to rehearse them because you're already rehearsing a bunch of other things so what do we do with this we'll go back to.
Second Corinthians where we began Second Corinthians 3 here's my hope for us from this week I want you to go evaluate your life I want you to go think about what what am I waking up with what's my morning routine what's my bedtime routine what do I talk about what do I think about what's in my heart what am I walking in the wayin what am I teaching to my children either verbally or through practice what am I teaching them about money and about life and about joy and about hope and about fulfillment and about.
Jesus what am I teaching the people around me what am I practicing how long do I I sit how long do I engage disengage reject enjoy what what's going on and then as we continue the series we're going to talk about practices things that we're supposed to practice repeat and do over and over again as Christians but one of the things I want you to see and understand is this Jesus does the work so it says and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the.
Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of Glory to another so we need to practice things but our practice is all beholding practice for this this transformation this comes from the Lord who is the spirit he's the one who does the work he's the one who's at work in us to make us different to make us whole and to make us hope filled and all we're trying to do is Behold Him but so much of our Lives is not spent in any sort of position to.
Behold the Grand Canyon is it's not something you do it's something you see you behold it but you still got to drive there it's like a waterfall a waterfall will cleanse and refresh you you got you don't do anything but you got to get under it and if you were dry and Dusty and thirsty and exhausted and you said I'm dying over here and I said well there's a waterfall right there and you like well I I don't have the energy to Waterfall right.
Now no it's water it's falling we just got to get you over there you just got to be in position so the practices that are given to Christians are not things that are meant for us to build Our Own Strength they're meant for us to see the strength granted to us in the lord they're not meant to be things that forgive us and help us pay back our debt they're meant to be things that help us know our forgiveness and the debt that was paid they're meant to be things that help us.
Behold The Glory of Christ and so we're going to spend several weeks talking about what our enemies are and what are the practices that we get to combat our enemies with what are the things that we get to repeat but all of it will be beholding practice delighting in Jesus practice and then he goes to work in us but this week I want you to evaluate your time I want you to see what you're getting good at I want you to start knowing what you're a black belt in I want you to ask what reaping we're going to spend some time in our groups going through that as.
Well let's pray Lord we're being formed and so often we're being deformed that we're practicing things that do not produce joy and faithfulness and love and service and kindness we're practicing things that do not produce peace in us we're practicing things that are antithetical to the Gospel oh Lord I ask that you would help us to behold to Delight in you and your goodness and your glory we don't do the work you do but may we have practices that get us there that help us to.
See you to enjoy you to know you to participate in the work that you have accomplished on the cross we ask this in Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up and we're we going to take communion which is a tangible practical reminder that's not about you we take communion on a regular basis because we want you to know it's not about you it's not about your work and your effort and your labor but it's about Jesus who forgives Sinners who died to pay your debt who rescues and brings hope.
So if you're a Christian I want you to take a moment to ask the Lord to help you this week to see what you're practicing some of you some of these things are in your mind now to ask the Lord to help you to repent to change and then I want you to come take communion and remember as best you can to Behold our savior on a cross who loves us enough to die for us but who doesn't stay there who Rises we're told that.
When we celebrate communion we Proclaim his death until he comes that we're in between two points that he died for us but he's coming back for us that we have a hope set eternally in Christ and so that we get to be people who are forgiven redeemed restored and one day fully free and rescued but may we grow to look more and more like him so as you take this take a moment to behold how good he is and if you're not a Christian communion is not.
For you because you do not yet have Christ but we would invite you to know Christ because all the things that you're chasing will not satisfy will not cure will not heal will not fix you can only reap corruption so when you're ready we would invite you to come and take communion.
The Secret to Contentment (Philippians 4:10-23)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Guys this morning my name is Matt if we haven't met yet I'm one of the pastors here you normally see me leading in worship but today I get the opportunity to preach and I'm excited about it we are we got a whoop whoop we got multiple whoops let the record show the room was full of whoops we are uh closing out our Series in the book of Philippians today and this this is really been an encouraging season uh for us as a Church just walking through this letter together almost half of the Year doing that and excited to we're going to be in chapter 4 beginning in.
Verse 10 and we're going to take it all the way to the end of the chapter today so if you don't have a Bible just grab one of those blue and white ones in front of you we're going to be on page 571 and if you don't have a Bible we want you to so take that one with you that's our gift to you we want everyone to have the word of God but excited to hop in today um I grew up in and around the Church uh maybe some of you did too uh how many of you have heard of something called a life verse like a like a.
Let me little maybe a little show a hands okay a life verse okay I I I'm not sure where I first heard it or even where I decided that I need one but somewhere around like the first or second grade I I kind of decided on one for me you know obviously I lived a whole bunch of life up until that point uh but the one that I settled on is smack dab in the middle of the passage that we're looking at.
Today and this is it I can do all things through him who strengthens me or the way I memorized it was this I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength that was it for me that was my life ver so you can imagine little second or you know little relative little second grade Matt taking a math test pick up the pencil I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength okay I'm on the playground I'm about to walk up and talk to a girl I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength I just said it over and over and over again.
Okay well one of the things that I did on my wreck football team was that I was the kicker obviously right with this build stereotypical kicker right here uh but I I can't remember who we were playing but I can close my eyes and remember this one game it was a big game there were lots of people there I had family from out of town there were friends there and it's like okay this is a big game it's a big moment and I.
Remember we had to kick off first so I walked out there I put the ball on the tea I backed up did my did did my Paces what I say I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength guys I ran up and I smoked that ball 15 yards left and out of bounds it was so so embarrassing I I was mortified I like I had friends there people were going to talk about this even more than that I said the words you guys I said it where where was where was my strength you know and here before before you start making a whole lot of fun of me.
For doing this I'm not the only person right I'm not the only one I'm not the only one now you've seen this right you've seen this verse on a Christian poster or on a T-shirt and when you see it you're tempted to think okay anything that I set my mind to I can do through Christ you just think about the things in life it's like well they'll be bigger and better and more amazing if Christ is the one who gives me strength I can do anything with.
God on my side and at face value I don't Flinch at that idea that if God were to give me the strength to do something literally anything I could do it the question we've got to answer this morning is is that what Paul meant when he said it or as he's writing to the Church at Philippi is there more to it that we're missing without the rest of the context given to us in this letter and the answer is when we start really reading into it seeing it in the context of the letter it's actually way better news than acing a test it's way better news than winning a football game.
So that when we get to the Apex of this passage where it says I can do all things through him who strengthens me it's actually way better than we could possibly imagine so let's pray together as we jump in that God would help us see it clearly what was the intention behind that verse let's pray together God we are grateful for for the opportunity that you have given us to open your word together this morning and see a beautiful reality that.
If we will hold on to and cling to it has the ability to sustain us through this life and into the next so help us to discern your word well we need your Holy Spirit to help us do that amen okay so again we're going to be in Chapter 4 verses 10 through the end now we're going to spend the bulk of our time in those first four verses okay we're spent a ton of time there and then we'll use the rest of the letter to kind of explain some of what's going on.
Okay you with me we tracking all right so as I mentioned earlier this is this is a letter we've been studying it together and it's a beautiful letter that Paul is writing to his friends and I want us to see that right out the gate this is correspondence between friends these are people who genuinely love and know and care for one another so before it was a book of the Bible before we read it as a theological Trea Z it was a letter among friends and it's beautiful this letter is Paul celebrating his friends being faithful he's commending them to be continue to be humble servants to to stand firm in the good news of.
The Gospel to be unified to serve as examples this is a letter of joyfield Thanksgiving it's a joyous thank you note that's what this letter is remember how we began this is Philippians 1 3-5 it says I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always and every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now it's a thank you letter he's thanking them for prayer he's thanking them.
For encouragement for partnership but we don't get the bulk of what Paul is thanking them for until we get to the section that we're looking at today so let's hop in okay Philippians 4 4 beginning in verse 10 we're going to take each of these verses kind of Chunk by chunk here verse 10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me you were indeed concerned for me but you had no opportunity he said I rejoiced in the.
Lord greatly he's rejoicing in their concern for him now that word for concern in the original language is referring to the same idea that we've seen throughout the letter that's have the same mind you know we've seen that over and over and over have the same mind it's referring to partnership and what we're going to see a little bit later in the section he's specifically talking about a financial gift that they gave to him that they were concerned for him this was a thing that they had done in the past it's a thing that they were continuing to do.
See Paul was a missionary and there were times where Paul was on one of his missionary Journeys he would come to a city and he would work work as a Tent Maker he would work a job to provide for himself to be able to do Mission work there were other times where Believers in the city would just provide for him in a way that he didn't have to work he had more time to spend building up the Church and sharing the Gospel.
And so when F when Paul first came to this area the Philippian Believers were able to support him they were able to meet his needs and along the way they've continued to do this when he was in another part of the world they sent finances there and here we are again it says they have another opportunity they had no opportunity but they do now Paul's in prison we talked about that it's been a main theme that we've carried through this letter that Paul is in prison in Rome and what these Believers did is they sent one of their best apodus to go be with Paul to strengthen Paul to be an encouragement and to send.
A financial gift Paul's in prison and it's not like our prison system is today where your food's taken care of your clothing all those things are provided for you that's not the case here he was under house arrest and he had to have other people provide for his needs and time and time and time again the Philippian believers who love Paul care for Paul step up and they send gifts they encourage Paul by sending Financial gifts continues on verse 11 see it in context you were indeed concerned.
For me but you had no opportunity not that I'm speaking of being in Need for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content he says not that I am speaking of being in need it's like what Paul you you are in need you're you're in prison like you have you have literal needs but what he's saying here is that he's learned in whatever situation that he's in how to be content content that's the word that we need to focus in on that's actually what we're talking about.
Today and really is the main point of this passage it's contentment where does it come from how do we have it um the word for content in the Greek has several meanings that I help uh that I think help us understand what Paul's getting at when he says that he was content satisfied sufficient independent and that you hear that it says whatever situation to be content that sounds nice right to be satisfied for all things to be sufficient and across the room we want that nod your head.
If you want that you want to be content in all situations we just have a hard time understanding how and so we actually need Paul to coach us up which is funny again because it's coming from a person who's in need of help that means we're already getting a hint at what Paul's going to talk about here that the root of his contentment isn't in his situation it's not the root of the contentment isn't because he's so happy about the finances it doesn't logically make sense.
If you read it that way there's something more at play continues on to verse 12 he says I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret to facing plenty and hunger abundance and need so what's happening here you can see it Paul's just expanding on that phrase where it says whatever situation he's just expanding that in in this verse he's saying he's saying I know how to abound I know how to face plenty I know how to have abundance.
But then he he also says the opposite as well he says I know how to be brought low I know how to have lack I know how to have hunger and the truth is for Paul that's not just fluff we have so much of Paul's experiences given to us in the New Testament that backs up this claim he's experienced all of this in his life that there were times where Paul had relative ease I think specifically about his time in Corinth.
Okay Corinth was a wealthy City there were a lot of Believers there um he had people he could network with he was a Tent Maker it was a PO like there were so many things that in light of Paul's life that was a relative easy time he would probably look at that and say I there was abundance there for me but on the other side there are parts of Paul's story that are explained in Scripture that are horrifying to us terrifying to think about going uh and living in in fact there's this little picture we get of this in 2 Corinthians 6 it's Paul writing to the Believers.
When he was maybe in abundance or a little bit more of ease here's what he writes in second Corinthians uh 6 this is verse three says we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry but as Servants of God we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance in afflictions hardships calamities beatings imprisonments riots labors sleepless nights hunger what what Paul is saying here to the Believers in Philippi is that in whatever situation whether he's in abundance or he's in a season of lack he's figured out how to be content and that sounds great right that no matter what you face you can be content.
But again catch the spectrum that he draws he says I've learned how to be content when I'm brought low when I'm facing hunger when I have lack I think most of us in the room would say we need some help there that when we're facing lack when we're struggling when we're facing trials we wrestle with this idea of being content right we look at that say okay Paul Paul yes coach me up I want to find contentment in the midst of those situations.
But that's not the only thing he describes he also says that he's figured out how to be content when he's abounding that he's learning the secret to facing plenty and abundance even the phrasing feels odd to our ears right like facing plenty like oh no I've got too much stuff and money but here's this is it seems ridiculous right facing plenty but here's where we need to lean in what Paul is saying right here is that abundance does not lead to contentment that.
If contentment were fixed by having having a bunch of money and stuff this sentence would be structured differently the problem is that for most of us in the room we don't actually functionally believe that that's true that if we're honest we would all admit that our life circumstances would be better if we had more money or more stuff or more success Etc like you you name it at least you would admit that you'd have an easier time being more content if you had those things.
See we live in a culture that's hyper fixated on selling us this lie of abundance on proposing solutions to our lack of contentment if you don't have enough money here's a way for you to make make more maybe you should go get a master's degree maybe you should pick up these three side hustles you should invest in this business don't like the way you look here's a diet that you can do here's some pills that will help you should exercise maybe you should take up CrossFit or something or you need to be in a relationship here's how to meet people here's how to maximize your compatibility or maybe the key to your contentment is to.
Dump the person that you're with and find somebody else that meets your needs maybe you need to wear these types of clothes maybe you need to drive this kind of car sure your house is fine but you know what would be more fine a bigger house guys this is literally what Instagram and Facebook and Tik Tock are built off of find out things about you and exploit that to pull you in our culture is constantly screaming at us a million ways to be content and in some ways we've bought the lie and the worst part is we know that it's a lie.
When you finally got the promotion were you making enough money to be satisfied or did you want more when you finally got the new car and then your kids destroyed it it's the worst you you know you have those moments you buy a new car you just walk outside you just look at it make sure it's still there yes here's the thing this is this is the easiest way to show you U that we've bought it okay easiest way ways to show that we've been fooled.
When you daydream about your future what's different when you think about future you or future your family what's different for many of us it's a just a nicer house or more money in the bank or Le honestly just less struggle less struggle to pay our bills maybe it's more vacations it's us we just have more abundance and that we'd be more content and our life experience would tell us that we'll never actually be satisfied we'll never have enough experience enough get enough to be content and I I do want to make this distinction between happiness and enjoyment of something and contentment it's.
Okay to be happy and to enjoy the good gifts that the Lord has given you in relationships and fin it's okay to be happy and to enjoy those but contentment while they're similar they are different contentment is something different it's soul level and what Paul is arguing for here is a contentment that's not circumstantial or to say it another way there is no circumstance that could or should change the type of contentment that we have not lack nor finding contentment in abundance what Paul is saying is that his contentment is secure regardless of what he faces in life.
So you go how what what's what's the secret Paul what's the sec to contentment and then we find ourselves back at verse 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me all things can that mean the ability to Ace a test or to win a football game sure if Christ gives you the strength and the ability to do that yes but that's not what Paul's talking about here when he says all things he's talking about all circumstances all situations that he can endure any and all circumstances through Christ who gives him strength and the way that he can face them is finding his contentment in Christ.
If he's in a season of lack he can find contentment if he's in a season of abundance and plenty his contentment is unchanged the secret to contentment has everything to do with knowing Christ it's not about our circumstances so how how can that actually functionally be true for us how do we find contentment in Jesus like I said at the beginning this is a letter right so this is in context he's actually already given the Philippians he's given us the answer to where we find our contentment he did it back in Chapter 2 I want us to.
Look at it Philippians 2 beginning in verse 5 so if you've got your Bible you can follow along we'll have the words up here it says this have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth and under the the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father he's given us the answer right here Paul begins this section by saying uh have the same mind back in verse 5 he says have the same mind this is similar to what we get in our section in chapter four where he's talking about the concern it's the same language Paul says make this your focus make this your aim.
And then he just goes on and he shares the good news of the Gospel Jesus was is and forever will be God of the universe alongside of the father and the Holy Spirit but he left the riches of Heaven to come to Earth to be like us to be with us he came to teach to love to heal to warn yes but he came for verse eight the reason that Jesus came is to die on the cross for our sins.
Because what we believe as Christians is that we are separated from God because of our sin but because of Jesus's perfect life of obedience he could be the sacrifice necessary to pay for our sins but that's not the end he didn't stay dead he rose from the grave defeating sin death hell death no longer has a grip on those who belong to Jesus and then he ascended into heaven and now he sits on the throne rule ring reigning interceding loving waiting.
For the day that he's going to come and bring his Church home to be with him for eternity hear this the ground of our contentment in Christ is the good news of his life death Resurrection Ascension and return that Jesus lived the life that you couldn't live he died the death that you deserved he rose from the grave giving you eternal life in him he has ascended to heaven to prepare for you a place and one day he's coming back to give you what more do you need to be content than that on Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand The Rock won't move there is no contentment that the.
World can offer you that is better than the good news of the Gospel and here's the thing what we're saying is our contentment is strung out into eternity it's hooked to it it's Eternal it's unchanging but so often what we do is we Pull the Rope and we try to tie it to something temporary and we do it all the time sometimes we're not even think about it but we take the Eternal and we try to tie it to something temporary um Tim Keller uh he's a pastor that we quote a lot.
Because he's very wise and he has a great way of helping us understand things and explain things here's here's what he says this is a he talks about our culture like this he says if our culture is pushing an idea over and over again imagine it's like a driving rain like a torrential downpour rain blowing in sideways puddles everywhere and if you're a Christian trying to follow Jesus and you've got an umbrella you've got rain gear you've got boots on you're doing everything you can to protect yourself from those things.
If our culture is that kind of storm even with all of our protection on we still somehow end up wet even trying to follow the lord do the things that we're supposed to do we still somehow end up wet the ability to remain content in our culture is unbelievably difficult so even for those of us who are in Christ we forget this truth in the dayto day right we become discouraged we get tough news we stress out about our bills we have a desire.
For more and different stuff and so like we we face this we'll feed look at this we'll feed our discontentment with all manner of things and we'll look to fulfill our contentment with all manner of things we get messed up on both sides of this but because we believe that the Gospel is actually good news for all of life we do have a solution when we realize that we're off where our contentment or lack thereof is being driven by Our Lives what we need to do in those situations is we need to preach the good news of the Gospel to to our situations we need to.
Remember the good news of the Gospel in the midst of our situations let me show you a little bit of what this looks like okay maybe you are discontent because you've been in and out of relationships but all of your friends are happily with significant others they're in good relationships they're married dating's been a joke for you but you have this desire you want to be with someone you want to share life with someone maybe you can't even be in romantic relationships.
Because of your life situation and you're just sad you're frustrated you're jealous and the truth is those are all those are all human relation like those are those are human responses we're going to feel those things the question is what happens when that starts driving deeper into our soul we start thinking it's not fair why can't God let me be happy like everybody else and so you start thinking well if I could just have a partner then I would be content what about what about a job.
Okay maybe you're a teacher right maybe you're a teacher you have a principal who never acknowledges your hard work at all you're on a faculty and staff where people have plastic faces or they'll be nice to you in the breakroom but then they're spreading lies and gossip about you among the other teachers you go into a classroom of 20 ungrateful middle schoolers who can't stop going what's up brother it's like just stop it already what's what's the answer where's contentment found I need a new job I need a new school I need to get out here.
Then I'll finally be content and the truth is we can't talk about examples without talking about what's in this passage he's specifically talking about lack of resources and abundance of resources let's talk about money for a second let's talk about lack let's say you're broke you're working two jobs just to make ends meet maybe you're in a spot where you've deferred your student loans for the third time because you think it's going to sink you that rent is coming up and you think you're going to be evicted meanwhile you.
Look on social media and your friends are living it up every weekend buying the newest everything what's the answer when will you be content well I just need a new job I need to figure it out I got to make more I got to save more I got to keep grinding and figuring out how to make more money then I'll be content what about the person that's got it all what about that person they think to themselves I've finally reached the Pinnacle.
When you finally got the promotion now it means you've got to work some weekends you're away from your family it meant that in your abundance you actually got to buy a beach house but your phone's blowing up because the water heater just broke and your tenants are blowing it up okay even in our abundance There's issues maybe maybe that's too far-fetched for us okay maybe we're over here just being like hey the abundance for me is I can finally just buy groceries on a regular basis.
So you drive to Aldi but you're jealous of all the people who are going to Trader Joe's and Lowe's Foods like we just we just want more if I just work harder if I do more what we can't be content in all of these examples the answer to discontentment or the place for finding contentment is found in circumstances but we know we know deep down we know it won't actually fix it that being in a relationship is that a good thing yes is being able to provide.
For your family financially a good thing yes but these circumstantial things are not strong enough to be the foundation of our contentment they're not Paul says it has to be Christ so we preach the Gospel to our circumstances to the person who wants to be in a relationship what if you remembered that Jesus chose you for himself brought you into a relationship where you're close to him forever that he's offered you a relationship where he promises to meet every need you'll ever have that he won't fail you like some boyfriend or girlfriend not only that he's brought you into forever family where you can have real love and real companion companionship with his people.
And then one day you will grieve that no longer because you'll get to go be with him and with his people forever that's good news and it helps us fix our aim and our contentment on Jesus to the teacher to the person who's frustrated in your job what if you remembered that Christ has saved you and he's called you into an eternal mission where you get to work for him you're not just a teacher you're a Gospel wielding soldier who has the ability to share the Gospel with all kinds of people that.
When your boss speaks negatively about you God speaks truth over you and everyone who's watching gets to see what a Believer looks like when their contentment is in Christ it's a display of the Gospel and that's good news in the midst of what you're facing to the person who's struggling in their finances what if you remembered that in Christ you've been richly provided for with the greatest thing that you will ever need your salvation and that was given to you at the overwhelmingly costly sacrifice of Christ you've been brought into a family where you're a coair with him and he will supply all of your needs he's G he's giv same thing here he's giv.
You a family of people to come alongside you and to help you in your time of need you may be broke but you have everything we need in Christ you can be content and brothers and sisters who have swallowed the lie that more is better that you'll find contentment and satisfaction and having more money more stuff if you think for a second any of the example that just came to your head that I'm offering you some second rate cheap alternative to the good life to the stuff you actually want oh that you might.
See the costly gift of Christ who gave himself so that you might know him and love him and be in relationship with him that you might sing with confidence the words of the hymn How Deep The Father's Love For Us I will not boast in anything no gifts no power no wisdom but I will boast in Jesus Christ his death and Resurrection why should I gain from his reward I cannot give an answer but this I know with all my heart his wounds have paid my Ransom the answer to our discontentment is in Christ.
So we preach the good news of the Gospel in the midst of those situations and circumstances um Augustine was one of the early Church fathers and he said it like this our hearts are restless until they find rest in you until we're resting completely fully in the finished work of Jesus we'll Chase all kinds of other things to find our contentment or to alleviate our discontentment we must fix our eyes on Christ any and all circumstances so what do we do.
When we are discontent we repent and we find our contentment in Jesus it's as simple as that that where we see it where whether we are chasing contentment in something we ought not to or we have found ourselves discontent and sitting in it we just repent we confess it say father I don't want that and we look to find our contentment in Jesus that's the strength he's giving us I can do all things through him who gives me strength Jesus strengthens our ability to find our contentment in him regardless of our circumstances and he's working in it.
Now here's what we're going to do we're going to Pivot and I just want to take us to the end of the letter we're going to move kind of quickly from this point because what I believe is that we get an opportunity to to see what can be a direct implication of a people who find their contentment in Jesus Paul's saying he's found his contentment there and if you look at the Philippians you would argue I I think they're getting a picture of this too I think they're understanding.
So let's look at it verse 14 yet it was kind of you to share my trouble and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the Gospel when I left Macedonia no Church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only even in thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit I have received full payment and more I am.
Well supplied having received from a patis the gifts you sent a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God this is just Paul recounting his partnership with the Philippians when he first showed up they helped meet his needs he went on on to another city they met his needs when he is now in prison they have met his needs they sent aaod dius with yet another gift and what I think we see here one of the downline effects of a people who have found their contentment in Christ is that they are also generous they're also generous that's true of Paul his contentments in Christ he gave his life away he left being a Pharisee.
To follow Jesus to do all these missionary Journeys where he was beaten he was bruised he was all those things happened to he gave himself away for other people he he served as an example for people like the Philippians that they would be able to see his example his contentment in Christ and his generosity and so one of the ways we might would say that is that Christ centered contentment leads to Christ centered generosity those who have found contentment in Jesus whether they are in abundance or in lack will ultimately Express that through being a generous people some might even say that they will live generously and here's how.
If you believe that your contentment isn't based off of your life circumstances if it's not based off of your life circumstances then you can be open-handed with anything and everything that you have and God uses that incredible ways that's what Paul's talking about in verse 17 verse 17 it says not that I seek the gift I seek the fruit that will increase to your credit that God works and does something in a group of people who are generous and that that generosity actually leads to more people being generous it's this downline effect of.
When you find your contentment in Christ you can be open-handed with anything and everything and guys I've I've been the recipient of this I've been the recipient of this there was this time where Katie and I first got married where uh we were we were about to start the last week of the month we didn't have a whole lot of food we we were both working multiple jobs to be able to pay the bills and so we just prayed and said.
Lord would you please provide food for us please provide for us and he did there were four different people in our Church that week who brought us food and guys I'm not talking about like a can of green beans it was just four desserts it was a banana pudding it was a peanut butter pie it's the good stuff you know what I'm saying like provide in our lack but also in our abundance before Katie and I had kids we met had this great plan that we were going to do a 17-day trip to Europe Ireland Germany Italy Live It Up costed us a lot of money we went and had a great time we came.
Home to realize that we had missed a credit card payment we were we were so embarrassed you guys but we we told we told our community group what was going on we asked them to pray and within a couple of days one of our group members showed up to our house with boxes of groceries we had just been in Europe did we deserve that no but people who realize that God's been generous towards them will in turn be generous towards anyone and everyone it's been most recent with our adoption of our son Joseph who uh growing you know a lot uh the amount of clothes that we have been given by people in this Church.
And you've seen it I know stories of people who have just given other people cars who have paid bills for people who have stepped in in incredible ways it it's beautiful when you see it this Church is full of stories and you may even hear that you may be going well that one time I talked to my group they didn't meet my needs I I do want to I'm sorry but remember the the Church is full of a bunch of people who are just trying to find their contentment in Christ.
If you're if you're still kind of feeling some of that just go talk to them just go talk to them have a conversation forgive one another and let's keep being generous we're not going to do this perfectly but we can seek to be a people who are generous in giving and in receiving verse 15 uh Brandon we put 15 back up there it's kind of cool look at this real quick he says the Philippians know that in the beginning of the go El.
When I left Macedonia no Church entered into partnership with me in giving and in receiving generosity goes both ways people who are content can be generous in giving and can be willing to receive it's all about finding our contentment in Jesus and then he finishes with this this is verse 19 and my God Will Supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in what in Christ Jesus that's where contentment is found guys this isn't the Prosperity Gospel this isn't you give $100.
God will give 200 back to you that's not what we're talking about here what we're saying is that the finished work of Christ is everything that you need to be content and he supplies that graciously and then Paul just rolls it up and praise verse 20 to our God and Father be glory forever and ever amen at that point Paul can't can't stop himself it just rolls up in Praise so just a couple of handles for us as we close first one is this be content in Christ like I knew that I knew that before I walked in.
Today thank you be content in Christ but no I'm serious seek it seek after that's what Chad talked about last week think on these things and practice these things that you would do the things that stir your contentment for Christ that you would read your Bible that you would pray that you would be actively involved in your community group and with Church family and you would stop doing the things that cause your contentment like complaining like being jealous like being on social media all the time that we would do these things that are necessary and that we would preach the Gospel to our circumstances.
Second thing is this give your money away it's one of the best ways to grow in your contentment is realizing that you have everything that you need in Christ if you're content in Christ you can be generous that's why we unashamedly call our Church family to give on a regular basis that's why we do our give project every year at Christmas time what you have is not meant to just terminate on you if your contentment is in Christ you can give you can be generous and the last thing is this display the Gospel display the Gospel here's the last couple verses and we'll close um yeah there we go 21 greet every saint in Christ.
Jesus the brothers who are with me greet you all the saints greet you especially those of Caesar's household the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit he finishes with this family this family greeting greet all of those people we receive your grace and your gift and we see that there are people in Caesar's household that are coming to know the Lord that are hearing the Gospel it's it's this picture that we've seen all throughout the letter you guys a group of people who are filled with joy in Christ who are willing to suffer.
For the name of Christ who are willing to be humble servants who want to serve as examples to the world who are willing to do the things that are necessary to find their contentment to be generous he says keep doing these thing these things mil City I see this all across our Church family I hope that this letter has been an encouragement to you let's keep doing these things let's be a people that in this community will suffer for the name of the Gospel let's humbly serve everyone around us let's find our contentment in.
Jesus let's be a generous people so that we might see more and more people in the city come to know the good news of the Gospel let's pray God we need your help we need your help to find our contentment in you because we are so easily distracted we will so easily untie from the Eternal and try to tie our contentment to something temporary help us to see Christ as more valuable Christ as better that we would find our contentment in you it's in the name of.
Jesus we pray amen uh Raz and heart are going to come back up here and we're going to take communion as a Church family communion is a picture of what we just talked about it's Christ's body and blood that were shed to provide for our greatest need it's a generous sacrifice that calls for a response so we go to the table and we take the bread and the juice to remember that everything we need has already been provided for us in Christ.
And then we return to our seats in gratitude to continue to be a people who are content in Jesus and will be generous towards the world and so they're going to play for just a little bit uh Believers in the room whenever you are ready you can go and take communion if you're not a Believer we don't want you to go take communion but we do want you to find your contentment in Christ he's done everything that is needed for you to be content in him confess your need you need a savior come to Christ.
Today but Church family Believers whenever you are ready there's two tables at the front there's two tables at the back you can come get the bread dip it in the juice as a reminder of his broken body and shed blood for you whenever you're ready.
Godly Discipleship (Philippians 4:8-9)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Well good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here grab your Bible and go to Philippians chapter 4 we are working our way through the book of Philippians if you don't own a Bible or didn't bring one with you there should be one in the seat in front of you we're on page 571 in one of these blue bibles if you don't own a Bible take this one home with you that is our gift to you we want you to have a Bible uh we're going to pick up this morning reading what we read last week.
Because these ideas are tied together what we read last week talks about the peace of God and today it's going to end with the God of Peace and so he's pulling this big idea through this understanding of what peace looks like as we relate to God and as we're in God and this is what we read last week Philippians 4 starting in verse 4 rejoice in the lord always again I will say rejoice so he gives these two commands to Rejoice to feel and show Joy let your reasonableness must be known to everyone the.
Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus so last week what we looked at is that we're called to rejoice and we're told to not be anxious and we're told to be reasonable and let that be known to everyone and so I just wanted to ask how how'd it go this week how was your.
First non-anxious week in a while when you felt anxious and you just thought no Paul told me not to so I'm going to stop now how was your constant joy and your rejoicing in everything how how excited was your spouse at your new found reasonableness we looked last week that these are things that we're called to do as if we have some agency in them they're not things that we're just at the whim of circumstance but they're things that we actually participate in that we are to be non-anxious we're to be joy-filled we're to be reasonable and these are things that we do that we participate in that you have some handle on the controls.
For now it doesn't mean that we never mourn it doesn't mean that we never have anxiety inducing circumstances but even in those situations what he's calling us to is to be people who know that we have a Lord that's what we looked at last week that the Lord is at hand so that even in our anxious moments we're handing those things off we're prayerfully giving them to the Lord that's his reasoning don't be anxious because the Lord is at hand he's near that we rejoice in the.
Lord and so we can't go into what he's about to say and forget Jesus he's continuing this idea but he anchored everything in we belong to Jesus we have a Lord this is specifically for Christians this isn't just good human advice it is if you don't know Jesus what we're going to talk about this morning will help you but it's Anchored In Christ and it is ultimately true in Christ for Christians and so let's look at what we are going to study this morning as he continues this idea.
So he says the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Jes in Christ Jesus and then in verse 8 and N in some ways he's answering how and what so if he just told us to be rejoicing in the Lord and to not be anxious you might want to ask well how do we do that and he's carrying this idea forward he's telling us a little bit of how we're going to do that.
But also if you just said okay I'll do that and began to approach in faith participating in what Jesus has done for you because it's not ultimately something we do but it's something we get in Jesus we participate in it and if you didn't hear the sermon last week I would encourage you to go listen to it and study back through it because it is helpful to try to understand what we're talking about today but something that Jesus has done that we participate in.
But it's also answering what so what do I do now if I'm not anxious what do I think about it's kind of what he's going to talk about all right I usually spend my time being anxious and Surly so now what do I do and well I'm glad you asked he's going to tell you finally Brothers whatever is true whatever is Honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there is any Excellence if there is anything worthy of Praise think about these things what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the.
God of Peace will be with you so last week the peace of God which surpasses understanding will guard our hearts and minds and this week he ends with and the God of Peace will be with you that we'll be enjoying the peace of God which ultimately you want we want to be at peace we want to be guarded by his peace we want to be with the God of Peace and y'all beautifully wonderfully he's a God of Peace not of torment and destruction he's the.
God over all things but ultimately as you know him and follow him and he works things out he works them out towards peace which is wonderful but the two commands here are think about these things and practice these things those are the two commands think about these things and practice these things think about these things he hey and practice these things those are the two commands those are the two things that are actually we're told to do here everything else is just describing those ideas it's telling what these things are.
But we're to think and we to practice and y'all that's how life works you think and you do stuff and the way you think affects the way you do stuff is that new is that helpful to know uh like I coach flag football and sometimes I'm coaching excited little like six and seven year olds and sometimes I'm coaching a group of head cases that have just like spiraled in on collapsing in on themselves like a dying star like they just things start going poorly and there are times where things aren't going.
Well but they're thinking about other things or they're having fun or there times when things aren't going well and they had even noticed yet or there are times where things aren't going well but they're determined and you can see it in their body language because they're six and seven but there are other times where like the plays over and we're telling them to get off the field CU something bad happens and they're coming back like this we have one kid who really he will like crawl in on himself and he just standing there and I have to be like come on we need you it's early you can't be crying yet.
But the way he's thinking is affecting how he's going to practice what he's going to do how he's going to be on the field and that's true for you too and so this morning we're going to spend a good bit of time thinking about how we think and then we're going to talk about how that applies to how we practice but most of our time we'll be on thinking about how we think and ultimately if we could think better things would be better that's profound write that down all right.
So let's look at how we think finally Brothers Paul's going to tell us what to think about whatever is true whatever is Honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there is any Excellence if there is anything worthy of Praise think about these things y he said whatever ever six times you know that's not impressive my teenager can do that too but he could have just said whatever is true honorable just pure he could have said it one time.
But he goes out of his way to shove whatever in front of each one of these things he says it six times and what he means is whatever whatever you can find that fits these categories anything he means for you to search he means for you to be uh paying attention looking for it whatever would fit in this category he means for it to be Broad and intentional find it and think about that look for it search for it also if you're like.
Well does this count does it fit one of the categories because he said whatever fits the category so meaning all truth is God's everything that is lovely is God God's everything that is pure is God's we're not to limit it to some sort of like our understanding of some sort of like he just means like Bible things now he means all of all things that fit these categories belong to him and those are the things to consider and to think about and to enjoy and to appreciate to hold in our mind.
Because the way we think affects us so let's look at this what he says he says whatever is true meaning that you should think about things that are real and right and honest that we should care about truth we should care about what's valid in situations we should search for truth we should uphold truth we should defend truth we should speak truth he says whatever is Honorable that's probably not one we think that much about we don't live in an honored culture maybe some of you are from more of a shame and honor culture and maybe you consider it more or you consider it a lot.
When your parents or grandparents are visiting but whatever is Honorable whatever upholds something good whatever lifts up whatever brings respect whatever is respectable I think sometimes we just think well you know just don't hurt anybody and as long as it doesn't hurt anybody it's okay but no some things are just dishonoring they're crude or vulgar they're not honorable and we're to think on what is honorable whatever is just whatever's right whatever's fair whatever's good whatever points to God and his righteousness whatever is pure clean holy unsullied whatever is has integrity and goodness about it and isn't marked and marred I love that lovely is in this text whatever is lovely this word is only used.
Once in the Greek uh New Testament in Philippians right here that's it it's used once in the uh Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament in Esther to describe the clothes she wears to go see the king it says she put on her this word love leas and it means whatever's fitting whatever has Beauty to It Whatever has wholeness and goodness to it whatever is delightful think about those things commendable those are the things that should be repeated and should be celebrated whatever is commendable whatever you should clap.
For whatever you should want to repeat and see more more of now what if that's all you thought about be pretty nice if you only thought about what was commendable only thought about what was lovely set your mind on what was pure and honest true just if that's all that would fit in your head if that's all that you would run through your mind and consider what if on the way to work you just thought about true commendable lovely things you're sitting in traffic people are honking and you're like that sounds like a Ford American engineering that's a good horn right there way to go Detroit or whatever like I mean you're just you're thinking.
About what's true and good and right like you you just this is what fits in your head wouldn't that be nice is that how we think no no no no no unfortunately it is not when it comes to what it's true so often we just repeat what we hear or repost what we've read Christians should care about whether or not what they're saying is true but so often we've participated in slander we we don't care at all to re research things that would take time we're supposed to be people who care about truth.
But we just repeat a thing so often we ourselves lie or skirt around the truth or avoid the truth or don't deal with the truth we can do this in a ton of ways you can do it in ways where you say things if you're a Christian like well I'm no good or I'm a failure all this is going to fall apart everything's going to go poorly if you belong to Jesus that's not true but you're repeating it so we we lie honorable and pure we'll consider those together how much of our joking TV watching upholds Purity and what is Honorable how much of the things that we participate in are crass or vulgar or.
Just repeated because they're impure and disgusting how much of what we think about is pure versus impure I mean this would exclude honorable and pure is going to take out pretty much all sexual references whatsoever because it's either dishonoring or it's impure or it's both if we wouldn't happily say it in front of the most honorable respectable people we shouldn't rehearse it in our heads you we have whole devotions to dishonorable things we have things like peopleofwalmart.com is just pictures of people at Walmart that we want to make fun of.
So much of what we've done throughout our lives is just dishonoring people and even if you're not saying it he's saying don't think about it don't rehearse that in your mind so much of our gossip if you got past slander you escaped that one because what you're repeating is true well welcome to dishonoring someone but it's real yeah but you know one of the beautiful things that the Proverbs say over and over again shut your mouth it's one of the most wise things you can do it's just keep something to yourself what's what's your point in repeating it are you talking to them about it to draw them towards.
Jesus to lead them into repentance to give Grace to help them to love them or are you just saying a thing y'all don't you know how much we love that someone goes hey have you heard you immediately lead in your heart starts beating faster I haven't heard it but I'm so excited and it's never like I heard their oldest son made the Honor rooll apparently he is a bright and talented lad you would be like why are you telling telling me that has I don't care.
But if they had told you something negative you wouldn't ask why have you told me that because that's you wanted to participate in the joyful Delight of dishonoring somebody whatever is just so often we focus on what is wrong what is evil what is broken so many of the shows that we watch so many of the podcasts that we listen to are just a deep dive into Brokenness a a vois approach to wickedness we run that around in our head lovely I'm willing to bet that the last time you use that word it was sarcastic lovely.
So often we focus on what is hateful what is rude what is ugly those are the stories that we circulate and those are the things that we focus on commendable think about the last time you left a restaurant had you spent your time focusing on what was commendable the last time you went through some sort of service or participated in anything was your job there thinking what can we what can we praise what's commendable here doesn't that just sound stupid when I said it you're like oh only idiots would do that yeah happy idiots.
But are we focusing on what there is to celebrate I love this he puts this whole list he says to stretch for it to reach for it to think about it and then he he kind of sums it up if there is any Excellence if there is anything Worthy of Praise y' aren't we so good at the opposite of that all this stuff can happen and you'll focus on the one thing that wasn't worthy of Praise or the one thing that was non- excellent and Paul says flip it you could go through the worst day was there anything excellent was there anything worthy of Praise think about it what are you rehearsing in your mind.
I will tell you most of the list and the things that we repeat to ourselves about our situations our jobs our spouses our children our houses are not the list of all the Excellence that we find all the things that are worthy of Praise if I asked you to I could give you a little notepad I could send you home I could send you home over this week and I could say I want you to write down everything that annoys you I want a list.
For your house I want a list for your children and their friends I want a list and their friends parents I want a list of the school I want a list of your spouse your roommates your boss your professors I want a list I want a list for your car I want a list for the type of shoes you wear like I want a list y'all all many of us would be doing is just writing down what we were already thinking about and we'd be.
So good at making these lists you can tell me real quick what you don't like about your house or your car or your body or the way you dress or the way you talk or the way your spouse Acts or the way your kids are because we're really good at focusing on whatever is not excellent and is not worthy of Praise but if I sent you home and said I want you to make me a list of everything you like about your house everything you like about your spouse everything you like about your roommate everything you like about your professor your school your kids you could make that list too this is what you got.
To understand you could make that list too and at the end of the week after you've rehearsed that over and over again guess who would like their house their school their car their children more did your house change oh just the way you think did so Paul says if you want to be at peace if you want to be Joy filled nonanxious people can I take tell you what to think about think about what's really really good think about anything you can find that's worthy of Praise anything you can find that is excellent repeat that rehearse that can I show you how we think about this I'm to we're going to put thinking up here.
So this is thinking we're going to take a moment to think about our thinking often the way we think about it is we don't consider our thoughts much at all actually we don't consider much at all how we're approaching in our thoughts things what we think about ours we have circumstances the things that happened to us or have been done to us or the kind of life we live and then those things affect our thoughts and then really it affects our quality of life.
But mostly we just kind of think circumstances thoughts quality of life it look like this yeah that's it quality of circumstances quality of life thinking that your circumstances affect what your life is like and that affects how you think that's really mostly what we think about and I said that backwards a second ago but I'm going to fix it in a second so I said it the fixed way but anyway if I said let's talk about how you think and you rehearsed.
For me all the negative things going on you wouldn't think that your thinking was the problem you would think that the problems were the problem and you would tell me that if you said I'm stressed out in traffic I'm stressed out at work I'm stressed out at home I'm stressed out at whatever and I said well you need to think better you'd be like no I need not traffic not work not home like you would want to work on the things that we making you no my thinking is is secondary to the circumstances.
But we know that's not actually true because you've ped it at a birthday party before your own birthday party you've cried at prom now you might say no no no no the circumstances were the problem but you know what I'm talking about you can be miserable in a mansion so it can't just be circumstances and quality of life and we know that we think in our situation that it's really just circumstances quality of life affects my thinking but we know that's not actually true.
Because Paul can sing in prison we know that too so we know you can be miserable in a mansion we know you that Paul can sing in prison and we would understand that there's a category for that but when it comes to us we think it's just circumstances quality of life affects our thinking but that's not what Paul says Paul says the Lord affects your thinking which affects your quality of life because Paul anchors everything in the Lord the reason we can think this way is.
Because the Lord is imminent he's near he's good the peace of God is prot protecting us through Jesus so it's the Lord than our thinking in the quality of life another way to put that would be the Lord changes reality which changes our thinking which changes quality of life now I'm going to explain this a little more I'm G press in on this but here's one of our biggest hurdles when it comes to think happy thoughts it sounds so stupid it's one of our biggest hurdles like.
If you're watching a TV show the character that is perennially Happy is the stupid character like one of my favorite movies is Oh Brother Where Art Thou and they find out that they're going to be arrested for a lot longer they're going to have to have a much longer prison sentence and one of them grabs the other guy and he says I'm going to be 84 years old and his buddy next to him goes well I'll only be 82 there's a there's this TV show The Middle my wife and I like watching and there's a the the middle daughter named Sue is just happy the whole time and everything terrible happens to her non-stop she's.
The most resilient character in the in the show and she's just non-stop happy but you're watching at her and going what a how could she be happy she should be miserable like us look at how awful her life is but she's just happy things are just good and so one of the things that we reject this is I'm just being real you want me to just sit around and think happy thoughts well I don't have happy thoughts to think because of the stuff going on in my life I'm just being real and I will I'll I'll give you that I'll give you that.
If you don't know Jesus if you don't know Jesus and you want to tell me your circumstances are so bad that you have to think this way I'll allow it I'll still tell you if you would think this way it would be better but I'll allow it but if you want to tell me that you're a Christian and you're just being real that's why you have to think this way I would say you don't understand reality or you don't know Jesus.
Because he has stepped in and changed reality for you that this type of thinking is worshipful thinking it's to the glory of God when you're like well I'm just being real I'm just facing up to all the stuff going on I just got to I got to set my mind to deal with all this struggle and this difficulty I just got to think about the fact that everything's bad and I just got to you know I got to get my brain wrapped around it and it's like no you actually don't you get to just think about the stuff that's good to the glory of Christ do you know why.
Because he takes the stuff that is bad that's what he does that's who he is that's why in this last passage we read it said the Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be made known to God that he gets the bad stuff we get the good stuff to the glory of Christ because he's the one who redeems and works how wonderful is that how beautiful is it that.
Because of Jesus coming he takes all of our sin all of our Brokenness all of our doubt he dies on the cross and then he rises Victorious and we just get Victory not sin despair Brokenness and everything else and your Ultimate Reality if you belong to Jesus is that not your current circumstances your current circumstances do not Define reality for you Jesus does and so the idea that everything's going to be terrible and everything's going to fall apart and all of this is bad and everything's broken and everything's busted is not true.
If you belong to Jesus and at some point it becomes an assault on his character so thinking like this is worshipful Christian thinking and it makes things better so not only are we worshiping in our focusing on what is good and beautiful in the world because that's what we get and focusing on what is true and what is just and what is pure and what is lovely and honorable because that's what we're called into as people who belong to Jesus not only is it worshipful.
But it also makes life nicer in some ways Jesus has sent you out because of the work on the cross to pan for gold that's your job if if you and I went to pay for gold and we came this rocky area this little stream running through it we're going to get dirt and stuff we're going to pile it up and we're going to sift it in the Stream and you said these heels are full of gold because that's how you talk and I said looks mostly like it's dirt you might not say.
But you would think well of course and also shut up but it's going to be mostly dirt but we're looking for gold because that's what we're here for and then as we went if I kept coming over to you and going look at all these rocks I found you would be like throw them away do you think they have gold I'm like no they definitely don't have gold look at these they're rocks you would stop it leave me alone if I said mostly what I pick up is dirt you would say stop saying this to me you're the worst gold panning partner I've ever had.
If I piled all the Rocks up and if I said hey it's actually way easier to find rocks and it is gold have we thought about just being rock collectors if I said I found one piece of gold but it's not even that good of a piece and it's not nearly as big as all the Rocks I Found Jesus has set us out to search for anything excellent if there's anything worthy of praise that's what we're looking for everything else goes to him everything else that's anxiety inducing everything else that's broken everything else that's terrible everything else is sad everything else that's despair inducing everything else that's going to overwhelm us isn't ours it's his.
You get what's lovely you get what's true you get what's honorable y'all when Jesus says on Earth as it is in heaven that's what we're at work for because you know what's true and what's honorable and what's pure and what's lovely all that stuff gets to be ours for eternity because all of that stuff makes it into eternity and none of the other stuff does there are scars in eternity but they're not on us they're on Christ he gets everything broken he gets everything bad and we we get everything Joy filled and hopeful to the glory of Christ it's not silly it's worship it's not stupidity it's God-honoring and it's joyful and non- anxious which.
I'm gonna be honest with you right now you could use more of so think about these things today go pay pay for gold and every time you find anything say thank you Jesus that's what I get that's what my life gets to be about that's the goodness that I'll get to have for eternity I got just a glimpse of it now but you know we're painting for gold now the streets are paved in it that's that's how this works and it's to the glory of Christ and it's.
Because of the work of Christ and because of the hope of Christ and we get to set our minds on Christ and so the rest of our circumstances and stuff don't dictate the level of our joy and they don't dictate our anxiety because we have a king who rules and Reigns and saves and so we get to run around free y'all if my two boys were stressed out worn out if they could recite to you our financial and budget troubles if they could tell you all the.
If they if I had to if I was like all right boys come in here sit down me and your mom got to argue through something y'all need to listen and you know help us out join a team we would be taking the weight of what we're supposed to and shifting it over to them and it's not theirs to hold they actually get to be free it's to my glory and credit if my sons be bounce around happy and joyful we understand that on an Earthly level and y'all it's to God's glory and credit.
If we're joyful in the midst of circumstances in the midst of difficulty if we are able to set our eyes on him and know that he's this good because of the work that he does and because he's the one who carries everything that's difficult I think sometimes we think well I've got to be real serious and I got to take this seriously and I got to focus and I got to do all these things and he's expecting so much from me he's expecting worship from you you're free he's good and in the midst of your circumstances he's good and that's why he says this next.
So he presses them to think this way and then verse n what you have learned and received and heard heard and seen in me practice these things some of those you could find in the book of Acts a lot of them you'll find in the in Philippians he's saying do the things we talked about do the things you saw do the things I've told you what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the.
God of Peace will be with you Paul writes this from prison for proclaiming the Gospel he is not saying that all of your circumstances will be delightful and therefore you will be delighted he does not say hey it's all cupcakes and rainbows no he says Jesus is good Jesus is Lord we get to look for what is beautiful and lovely and true and good and then we get to go forward in this mission to proclaim the Gospel this big picture narrative of who.
Jesus is free and and full and hope filled because of Jesus so there will be suffering but not misery there will be difficulty but not Despair and some of us don't even have that much suffering but we've added and brought in a whole lot of Misery we don't even have that much difficulty but we have a whole lot of Despair and we're supposed to be flipped on that we're supposed to Face suffering and difficulty without misery and despair without anxiety and Brokenness without depression and downheartedness we're supposed to endure and long.
For what is good and hold fast to what is true and hold fast to what is right that's why the the the apostles in Acts chap 5 says this then they left the presence of the council rejoicing which we were commanded to do last week that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name they had just been beaten and they walked out going we get to bleed for Jesus I'm going to limp home for Jesus with genuine Joy because it's not about their circumstances there's a bigger story there's a bigger hope that in the midst of that they got to say you know what's wonderful you know what's worthy of Praise You Know.
What's excellent one day when we stand before the king we'll have held fast to Jesus in the midst of persecution isn't that wonderful isn't that beautiful and so some of you are facing very tough circumstances with your kids with your marriage with your home with your money some of you are facing VAR tough circumstances with your health some of us are needing to press further into the mission of God to see our neighbors and co-workers come to know Christ we're needing to step out in faith into some difficult territory and we get to do all of that saying everything that's good is a gift from the.
Lord that I'm going to receive and everything that's difficult and painful I'm going to look for what's good and I'm going to hand the rest to the Lord and I'm going to keep moving forward because Jesus redeems and Jesus is King and ultimately my story is one of Victory so if you can change how you think things will get better and for Christians it's how we ought to think as we worship our King and then we ought to go forward in all the things we're called to do.
But as people who who minds are set on what Jesus has done and the natural occurrences that happen in life that come down from them the gifts that come from all the work that he's done let's pray you are a God of Peace So for all those who come to you are welcomed into peace and so Lord where we're anxious where we're down where we're low where we're difficult to get along with frustrated and angry and fighting for our own way oh.
God may we see the Gospel may we see the hope that is in Christ and may we begin to change our thinking to be worshipful and focused on what is right and good to work towards Justice not just focus on Injustice to work towards what is true not just focus on what is not true that we might work towards honoring others in our thoughts and our words that we might work towards what is pure and good and wholesome Lord may we focus on what is lovely and commendable and by your grace may we.
See what is excellent and worthy of Praise in Jesus name Amen in all of this the hope is that the God of Peace will be with us that we will ultimately get to Delight in and enjoy him this isn't just about making our lives function a little bit better although it will but our hope is that we will Delight in and enjoy the Lord because he is good we get to celebrate baptism this morning which is a proclamation of what we've been talking about this hope that we have in Christ that he did the work that he has covered our sins baptism is not hey I'm about to get to work I'm about to clean.
Myself up I'm about to accomplish things you don't baptize yourself you don't get in here and wash yourself in front of everybody and we all go good you finally got your stuff together that's not how this works other people get in here who are Christians who are representing Christ representing the Church representing his people and you are baptized by them because baptism is a a picture of what Jesus has done that he has washed you that you have been buried and you were dead in your sins.
But that he was buried in your sins and that he rose so you get to rise and when you come up you're clean and you're made new and whole that's what we're celebrating that Jesus Christ is King that he still forgives Sinners that he still gives hope and that's our Eternal reality and so may we be joyfill people who celebrate well the goodness of Christ I'd like to ask Katie to come up now as we go into celebrating baptism.