Good morning.
Good to see everyone out this morning.
We're continuing our study of the book of Revelation, so if you will take your Bibles and open them to Revelation chapter 2 as we get into our study this morning.
Ahem.
Let's begin with a word of prayer.
Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before your throne grateful for all that you do for us, for your gifts of uh love and tender kindness, for your grace and your mercy that you
shower upon us.
We pray that you will be with us as we go through this time of fellowship and this time of worship and praise, this time of study.
We pray that as we assemble here this morning that we might do those things which are right in your sight and pleasing to your will.
Lord, we ask that you forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory, when we as a congregation do not pursue the things that you would have us to pursue, or we fail to
stand up for the things that we ought to stand up for.
that you will help us to correct our path to always be one of those candlesticks in your kingdom that is shining brightly and in fellowship with you.
Lord, we pray for churches throughout the world that are striving diligently to reach the lost, that are striving to stand for the truth, to combat error, and to serve you
faithfully.
We pray that you will bless them and give them the opportunities to be able to continue
continue in those labors.
Lord, we ask that you be with us as we go through this week, and we pray that we might be mindful of the thankfulness that we are to have each and every day and throughout our
lives.
We pray for safety for those who are traveling, and we pray for our nation and its leaders.
We pray for the nations throughout the world and their leaders.
May they realize where every good gift comes from.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
John is writing to the church in Ephesus in chapter 2, in the beginning of the chapter, and he is writing the words which Jesus gave him to write.
The command to John was what you see right in a book.
and send it to these churches.
So chapter two, verse one begins, to the angel of the church of Ephesus, right?
These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you
cannot bear those who are evil.
and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars." Notice here in this text that John is going to emphasize as Jesus emphasizes it
through him that he is aware of their works.
As an individual, we are judged by our works.
but as congregations, the congregation is also judged by its works.
Can you be judged for that which you did not participate in?
Yes, yes, you absolutely can if you belong to a body that participated in it.
Just because you didn't take an active part in it, the fact that you belong to the body means you have an active part in it.
How do I know?
Hurt one part of your body.
See if the rest of the body responds to that.
See if the rest of the body is somehow connected to the one part of the body that had the hammer land on it.
Guess what?
The rest of the body might not have had the hammer land on it, but it's going to participate in it.
It's going to be involved in it.
Now, you'll notice in this text, as you go through these seven letters, that Jesus differentiates in some circumstances a part of the church in a city that is not being
judged for what another part is doing.
But generally speaking, when you go through these seven letters,
the church stands and falls together.
It is only with extreme circumstances where Jesus says to one part of the church, keep doing what you're doing and the rest of you, and he basically divides out the faithful
from the unfaithful.
But in view of the general view of this, Christ deals with a church as
a unit as an entity that is formed by, individual people and individual groups within it, but the fact of the matter is he deals with the church as a unit.
And they are judged or they are blessed based upon what they all have as a single body.
But notice what else he says.
He says, I know your works, your labor, your patience, that you cannot bear those who are evil.
Sometimes we talk about the fact that you cannot earn your way to heaven, and that statement is true.
And yet, God expects us to work.
Matter of fact, if you go back to the book of Ephesians, as Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus,
Paul will write to these Ephesian brethren, and he will say chapter 2 verse 1, And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the
lusts our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
and were by nature children of wrath just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace you have been saved, and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Now, as Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus, he
says, you once were dead,
You once were in your trespasses and in your sins.
You once were lost, but now," he says, you are alive in Christ.
But notice what else he says.
"'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Not of works, lest anyone should boast.'" Now, you might come to this passage and someone might say, see, our works don't matter.
That is not what Paul said.
I know it.
Our works don't matter.
You can't work your way to heaven.
All those things uh we need to be careful with because the very next verse says, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.
They never do.
never do.
There's a reason they stop at verse 9, because then they'd have to deal with verse 10.
As you look at this text, Paul is saying you are a tool, you are the workmanship of God.
And God intends to put you to work.
Have you ever walked into a shop where nobody has worked?
for decades and it's now become a storage building.
Sometimes people, you know, they build a nice shop, they get all their tools arranged and something happens in life and they're not able go out to their shop anymore.
Pretty soon it gets taken over and you walk by that once well-ordered, organized table that has all uh those utensils, those tools on it, hanging above it, and they're all
covered in what?
Dust.
Does having the tool mean the tool is useful?
No.
ah The hardware store would like you to believe that if you buy the tool, you will use the tool.
And that is strictly not true.
Just because you own it doesn't mean it's useful.
God is not in the business of collecting tools to let them sit on a shelf.
God is in the business of making us workmen in His service.
Now, you go back over to Revelation and John is going to tell these churches, know your works.
And by the way,
He's going to make that statement to all of us.
but their works were not sufficient to cause God to owe them salvation.
That is the true meaning of you cannot earn your way to heaven.
If you show up at a job where you have employment and you work for 40 hours next week, you might even get holiday pay.
But at the end of the pay period, your boss and the company owe you your pay.
because you worked first, now they owe you something in return.
If you do not get paid, you can take them to court and sue them and the judge will determine that they owe you your pay.
Why?
Because you earned it.
There is no point at which we can stand before God and say, you owe me anything.
nor can we stand before God and say, because I didn't do anything you told me to do, I expect salvation anyway.
Absolutely, go ahead.
Absolutely.
But we can't do it.
So, as you look at this text...
John is writing in the church at Revelation, says, I know what you do.
And there are things that you do that are praiseworthy.
Something to remember is when it comes to congregations that are struggling, and they may be struggling with doctrine, they may be struggling with morality, they may be struggling
like Ephesus was with a failure to love as they ought to love,
there's probably still something going on in that congregation that we could actually praise and that is praiseworthy.
There is an example of a congregation in the book of Revelation where there's nothing praiseworthy said.
And there is an example of a congregation in the book of Revelation where there's nothing negative said,
but the rest of them fall in the middle.
And so as we consider the places where we visit, the places where we walk in, the doors, and the places where people who we know attend at a congregation, and they say, you know
what, we're really struggling.
We may be struggling with this or this or this or this, we're really struggling.
Encourage them
to find something they can be praiseworthy about in their congregation.
If for no other reason than sometimes we need to look at both sides of the coin.
John is going to begin in all of the congregations where there is something praiseworthy, the praiseworthy thing comes first.
and then we deal with the problems that need to be dealt with.
You have here in the letter to the Ephesians, know your works, your labor, your patience that you cannot bear with those who are evil.
You have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and found them liars.
You have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary.
This is the church that just keeps moving.
They just keep working.
They are active.
They are continually combating false doctrine, and that which is evil and Ephesus was in a city that had much to combat.
The problem was, verse four, nevertheless I have this against you, you have left your first love.
Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
Jesus will say to the church, you can lose your place in the kingdom of God and in the body of Christ.
As an entity, a church can be lost in its entirety.
And we need to recognize that.
We need to acknowledge the fact that it is possible
for an entire congregation to lose fellowship with Christ.
Now what would that mean for someone who is faithful, who is in that congregation?
Let me say it this way, if Christ has broken fellowship with the congregation, so should everyone who is in fellowship with Christ.
because if you're going to be in fellowship with Christ, you cannot be in fellowship with that which Christ will not fellowship.
Say again.
Ephesians 5 11.
So, as we think about the fact that there is a time and there is a scenario in which someone must depart from the congregation where they attend if they are desirous to remain
faithful to Christ.
We must also acknowledge
that there are a wealth of examples in the first century church in the New Testament where there were an abundance of problems but that there was not yet a command to depart from
them.
You look at Corinth, were there problems in Corinth?
You go through the letter to the 1 Corinthians and somebody said as they were dealing with the book of Revelation, and I thought it was appropriate, if many of us had sat down to
write the book of 1 Corinthians, we would not have begun by describing them as the Church of God.
We would not have begun describing all the good things that they were doing.
We would not have begun in describing their salvation and justification and sanctification in Christ, but Paul does.
We would have looked at all the problems and said there is no way a church in this state could possibly be in fellowship with Christ, and yet it was.
But maybe there's an Old Testament example that we could use in this regard.
You remember when Abraham was met by the Lord?
three beings were coming and approaching the place where Abraham lived.
And Abraham was sitting in his tent in the heat of the day and he observes them coming and traveling by and he runs out to meet them and he begs them and pleads for them to stop and
to come and to abide with him for a period of time for him to be able to feed them and provide a meal and he does.
Long before Abraham realizes that it's the Lord
and two angels.
They sit with Abraham, they listen, and they talk with Abraham.
The Lord reveals to Abraham that within a year he's going to have a son.
Sarah's going to laugh inwardly.
That's going to be addressed, and then they're going to be on their way.
Where are they headed?
to place where Lot lives, to Sodom, and as Abraham is going with them as he's escorting them on their way.
The question is asked by the Lord, should I not tell Abraham what I'm doing?
And so the Lord reveals to Abraham that he's going to bring justice upon the city of Sodom.
What does Abraham ask for?
Lord, if there are 50 righteous in the city.
Surely you will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
And what does the Lord say?
If there's 50, I'll spread the city.
And then Abraham asked for 45.
For 40, 35.
Where does he get to?
an entire city.
And by the way, when you look at what the text actually states, it wasn't just the city of Sodom that was destroyed.
Sodom, its sister city Gomorrah, and seven cities of the plain of Sodom were all destroyed, leaving only one little city.
that Lott and his family escaped to.
all these other cities were destroyed.
and they could have been spared by ten righteous people in one city.
I bring all of that out to point out.
that the impact that can be had on a group of unrighteous people by a small number of righteous people is significant.
and that should be taken into consideration in a congregation as well.
But when you go back again into the Old Testament and you look at the period of the prophets, there is an occasion where God says, I looked for a man in the whole nation of
Israel.
I looked for a man to stand in the gap.
That is to say in the imagery, I looked for one man who would stand up for God and for what was right.
so that the hordes of unrighteous do not run through and destroy my people and I couldn't find one.
When you think about those two analogies.
Lot by himself wasn't enough.
But there are times where God says, I can't even find one.
And when you really look at the record of Sodom and Gomorrah...
You also find that Lot had been quite infected by the sin that he lived in.
And so his ability to stand as the righteous one and his family to stand as righteous ones, in contrast to Sodom, had left.
It was already gone.
Sometimes we have to remember a couple of things.
Number one, when a situation becomes bad enough,
that we're surrounded by those who are doing that which is not right even in a congregation of the Lord's Church.
that we have to prioritize saving our family, and that may mean leaving the congregation.
because you will regret your entire life if you lose your children and your family because you stayed at a congregation where truth wasn't respected.
But further, it does also still point out that the impact of a small, righteous group can be significant within a group of people who have turned away from the truth.
Now, go back to Revelation.
Or we're never gonna get done with two and three.
He says, verse five, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place,
unless you repent.
Over and over, you're gonna see that word, repent, repent, repent.
He says, but this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
We don't know a lot about this group other than from history and tradition.
understand that they were rather loose in their behaviors, both morally and doctrinally.
They were a group of loose people.
And God says, I approve of the fact that you don't tolerate this.
You hate their deeds.
He says, I also hate them.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life.
which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Christ, as he writes to the church, streams into plain ordinary language, repent, do the words, do this, and streams right back into visionary language.
That is the tree of life.
Where is the tree of life a reference to in Old Testament scripture?
Garden of Eden.
He's taking a historical event and a historical place, turning it into a spiritual image to say, I will give you access to immortality and life if you will repent and overcome.
He also says, I will give you to have this that is in the midst of the paradise of God.
You remember the reason that Adam and Eve were put out of the garden after they sinned?
God said that if they remained in the garden they would eat of the tree of life and they would live forever.
So the imagery from Genesis 1 and 2 and 3 is brought forward into the book of Revelation just like so much Old Testament imagery is because these Christians should immediately see
Tree of Life.
Oh, Paradise of God.
I know exactly what he means.
Alright, chapter 2 verse 8, to the angel of the church at Smyrna, write, these things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life.
I know your works, tribulation and poverty.
It was said by Jim McGuigan that there were two words for poor in the Greek.
There's one word that meant poor.
And then there was the other word of the Greek that meant poor.
He says it was a P with about 17 different O's, 17 O's and an R.
That's this word.
These people were poor physically.
They were in deep poverty physically.
He says, I know your works.
I know your tribulation and I know your deep poverty.
They could afford both ours.
Absolutely.
He says, you were deep in your poverty, but you are rich.
So many times we are confronted with scripture that tells us that money is not the standard of being rich.
And John points out, you have no physical wealth and yet you are rich.
He says, know your works, your tribulation, your poverty, but you are rich and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
You remember that as Paul would go through these regions and as he
gave birth to the church and converted those individuals who were in those cities who would follow after him?
Jews from these other cities where he had been and they'd start persecuting the church and they'd start running Paul out of town and they'd start riots and they would do these
things to persecute these Jews who were becoming Christians and even more so the Gentiles who were becoming Christians.
And here in Smyrna, it was still going on.
He says, know the blasphemy of these people, of these Jews who say they are Jews and are not.
A Jew would be one who follows after God.
A Jew would be one who follows after the actions of his forefathers in obedience to God.
And yet he says these aren't Jews.
He goes on to say,
Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.
Now we looked at chapter one and John says these things are shortly to take place.
We look at chapter one and we read that the things which are written, the time is near.
We look at chapter two and he says you are about to suffer.
The entire book is telling the Christians that are going to read the book, this is about to happen.
And in Smyrna, it was coming fast.
And they were already in tribulation.
And this was going to pile on top of it.
He says,
Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.
Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days.
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Now many times preachers will point out, rightfully so, that faithful until death in the Greek means up to and including death.
Now, why is John emphasizing to them the need to be faithful even if it costs them their life if they're only going to prison for ten days?
If you can't survive ten days in prison, you're probably not really where you ought to be in life.
unless the 10 days isn't 10 literal days.
And it's not.
We're introduced here to something that we've already been introduced to, but it's gonna happen again and again and again.
We're gonna keep seeing it.
The seven churches, were they the only churches that were gonna read the letter?
No.
Were they the only churches that mattered?
No.
but they were representative of churches all the way till today.
and there were seven of them and by the way the number seven in Old Testament text, New Testament text, visionary text is a number for the number of God.
It's a number of perfection in Jewish writing so it's a perfect group of churches.
The number for ten is a complete number.
You are going to go into prison until a complete amount of time and some of you are never coming back out.
He says, no matter what happens, when this suffering comes upon you, you be faithful.
You be faithful if it costs you your life.
You be faithful if they threaten you with death, if they say, know what, you renounce Christ and we'll let you back out of prison.
You don't do it.
You say, I'll stay here as long as I have to, but I won't give up that name.
and Christ tells them, number one, I know it's coming.
Number two, I know who's behind it.
Number three, I will deal with your enemies.
Number four, I have a reward for those who overcome.
So many times we think of overcoming as we got through the hardship and we're back on the other side of it and we still remain faithful.
That's not how the book of Revelation uses the term overcoming.
The overcomer is the one who got into the hardship, never was unfaithful, and died.
And Christ says they overcame.
Yes, sir.
Romans 8.
Absolutely.
In Romans 8, you have Paul bringing out some Old Testament Psalms, and those Psalms are there to emphasize, especially towards the end of the chapter, that when the Old Testament
psalmist looked at their situation, he looked at their situation and said, God, you're not doing anything.
We're suffering.
We're struggling, we're dying, we're being persecuted, and we can't see you taking action at all.
And yet the psalmist writer comes out of that and says, but we know that we're going to be faithful no matter what.
We're going to be faithful and you're going to handle it.
That's it.
The psalmist writer realized in view of this, no matter what we do, whether we live or die, whether we suffer or we're blessed, that whatever God was doing, He's going to do.
He's going to do it through however we suffer.
He's going to do it through however we're blessed.
He's going to accomplish His will.
So many times people come to the passage, all things work together for good to them that love the Lord, and they think, all right, it's all going to work out in our favor.
Yes, but that doesn't mean you're going to live through it.
That's just, that's correct.
Just, just ask the apostles.
Now that's what John's writing to this church.
He's writing to them and he's saying, not fear any of those things.
By the way, this is not a new message.
This is the same message Jesus gave to the apostles before he sent them out into the cities of the Jews.
Do not fear those who can kill the body.
Rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
But here He says, you be faithful and I will be one who will be faithful to my promises.
to He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.
John says there are two deaths.
The one who endures the first one endures what everyone endures.
But the one who is faithful when he goes through the first one will never experience the second one.
But he who gives up on his faithfulness will endure both the first death and the second death.
that one referring to judgment.
Now to the church at Pergamos.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, these things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword.
I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is.
Now, can you imagine being the congregation in the city
where John describes the city as the place where Satan's throne is.
Now that's a reputation for a city.
Sodom and Gomorrah, Las Vegas, Washington DC.
He says...
These things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword.
I know your works where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr who was
killed among you where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you.
Christ says, I know what you go through.
where you are.
I know what you've already gone through.
I know that there is one from among your number who has already been killed for my name's sake.
But...
We have some problems that we're gonna have to deal with.
There are so many lessons, and we can't spend time on all of them that are in these texts, but one of them is this, and I think it's worth mentioning.
God judges in view of circumstances.
God judges in view of what someone has and is going through.
but he also judges righteously.
So many individuals want God to just be a circumstantial judge.
You know what?
If you're in hardship and if you're in tribulation and if you're in difficulty and if you're persecuted, you just get a clean slate.
You just get to go on through because look at how hard it was.
And then, you know what?
You've had nothing but blessings all your life and you've had nothing but comfort all your life.
You know what?
You just get a pile of judgments against every tiny little infraction.
That is not how God judges.
God will tell the judges in the Old Testament Israelite nation that you do not side with the poor because they're poor.
You also do not side with the rich because they're rich.
You judge righteous judgment.
But even God, in the Old Testament, established that there was a difference between someone who stole because they were going to starve to death, if they didn't, and someone
who stole something because he coveted his neighbor's possession.
God deals with circumstance in judgment.
And this church is one where God says, know what you've gone through.
but that's no excuse for what you're doing.
He says, I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of
Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
By the way, this is the only text that tells us in all scripture where Balak, the king of Moab, got the idea to tempt
Israel.
Way back in the book of Numbers you read about it happening.
But this text tells us whose idea it was.
It was Balaam's.
The one who couldn't prophesy evil against Israel, who couldn't curse Israel even though he had been paid to.
When Balak hires Balaam to curse Israel and he can't, he instead pronounces a blessing.
He goes and hires him again, says, go curse Israel, and he can't.
And again, go curse Israel, and he can't.
Bailax says, you've blessed them three times.
gives up on that plan.
But then Moab instead gets their women to go to Israel and convince them, hey, come eat with us at our idolatrous ceremony.
and then commit fornication with us at our idolatrous ceremony.
because Balaam told Balak, I can't curse Israel, but I can sure tell you how to get them to curse themselves.
get them to participate in your idolatry and God will do your work for you.
and this congregation had some Balaam teachers in it.
And the church was putting up with it.
When you look at Balaam, and we'll close with this, two things.
Number one, Balaam loved money more than he loved truth.
And number two, Balaam was willing to permit
immorality and evil if it was in his own best financial interests.
Now there's a lesson there for us.
Sometimes people in business say, well, you know what?
I just have to provide what the consumer wants.
Have you ever imagined how hard it would be for a gas station to stay in business without alcohol inside the gas station or tobacco?
I suggest it's probably monetarily impossible in our country
to keep a gas station solvent without alcohol.
You wanna know why?
I've done work at gas stations that are 24 hour gas stations in the technology there in the back room, and guess what happens all night long?
There is one thing that gets bought and sold all night long, alcohol.
Yes,
Can you be a New Testament a Christian and you own the business that sells alcohol and tobacco.
I agree because you're promoting that which is evil.
One of the passages, and we won't go into it because we're already out of time, but one of the passages that I love to reference for people, Psalm 15.
Go read Psalm 15 and go question what that would mean for a business owner because the question that's asked in the beginning of that chapter is,
who will stand in the holy hill of the Lord?
The question is being asked is who can stand with God?
And one of those things is one who does not promote unrighteousness, but also it is one who will swear to his own hurt and not go back.
You know, if you could practice those two things in business.
And in our country, if businesses did practice those two things, you'd have two things.
Number one, you'd have a whole lot of immorality off the shelves and off of the lives, out of the lives of Americans.
Number two, you'd take care of almost every lawsuit that ever happened.
Because somebody would swear to their own hurt, they would promise to do what they're supposed to do, and they would do it, and even if it cost them more than they made, they'd
go do what was right.
Yes, sir.
they conform to the world.
You're being conformed.
Absolutely.
My grandfather uh was fired.
As a matter of fact, it hit national news.
My grandfather was a store manager of the A &P grocery stores in Michigan in the 70s.
In 1973, the state of Michigan decided to put the lottery in.
And the A &P grocery store management ownership decided that not only were they going to put it in their stores,
that they were going to require every single one of their store managers to personally promote the lottery.
My grandfather told his ownership and management, he said, no, I won't.
And they said, yes, you will.
He said, no, I won't.
And they said, well, you don't have a job here anymore.
He said, OK.
And there was a brother who found out about it down in Florida who was part of the A &P Associated Press, not associated with the A &P grocery store.
And he wrote an article in his local newspaper about the man who lost his job because of the lottery coming into Michigan.
And that story got picked up nationwide.
If you find a pamphlet that has Brother Robert Taylor Jr.'s writing on gambling, you will find in there a story of a man who lost his job in the state of Michigan for being fired.
And that was my grandfather.
He had four kids to raise, he had four teenagers at home.
Didn't know what he was going to do.
And the reality is this, many blessings can come.
by you standing for what is right.
And they did in the life of my family.
Thank you for your attention.
We're way over.
Appreciate your time.
yes sir