Intro / Review:
"To [church], from Christ (using descriptive phrases from Chapter 1): I know what's going on there. Here is what you are doing well, here is where you need to repent, I am Coming Soon, do this. Heed the Word of the Lord and receive this promise from the Lord!"
The Progress Report:
- The Commendation and Command (Rev 2:9-10)
3 Statements to Remind Yourself When You Are Suffering:
- God is allowing this for a Reason
- God is in control of every Detail
- It's going to be Worth It
- The Criticism
- The Correction
- The Call (Rev 2:11)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-00:43
Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of Revelation, chapter 2.
00:44-00:52
We are going through the book of Revelation verse by verse, in a series called "Coming Soon." It was a very long week for me.
00:52-00:56
And I don't know about you, but does it work like this for you?
00:57-01:03
When your Monday starts out rough, you sort of feel like it's going to set the tone for the way the rest of the week is going to go.
01:03-01:04
Anybody else like that?
01:04-01:13
Let me tell you how things went Monday, and you understand what a trial it's been this past week.
01:13-01:22
Monday morning, we ran out of the coffee creamer that I prefer, and I had to use one of the other three kinds that were in the refrigerator.
01:23-01:31
And then, I don't remember if this was Monday or Tuesday, because I was still reeling from that event, but the car frosted over, and I was taking the kids to school.
01:32-01:38
So I actually had to go out into my driveway and start the car, and then go back inside and wait in the warm house.
01:38-01:42
For five minutes I waited while the car defrosted.
01:42-01:47
One night I got home from work, and this is when things really started to get rough for me.
01:47-01:55
I couldn't find anything to watch on TV, and I mean not on Sling, Tubi, Amazon Prime, Hulu or Netflix.
01:56-01:58
Could not find a thing.
01:58-02:01
And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I had to make a phone call.
02:01-02:10
and I pulled out my phone, and I saw that it was low on battery, so I actually had to take the charger and plug it into the wall.
02:10-02:11
Can you believe this?
02:11-02:17
I had to make my phone call with my phone tethered to the wall.
02:17-02:19
Like, what am I, Fred Flintstone?
02:20-02:22
Like, now I know how they felt on the Oregon Trail.
02:22-02:31
I made my phone call, and I thought I was going to settle down, I was going to watch some videos on my tablet, then I found out I had to reset the Wi-Fi.
02:31-02:33
Do you know what a nightmare it is to reset the Wi-Fi?
02:34-02:35
Do you know what a nightmare that is?
02:35-02:45
You have to unplug it and wait for 30 seconds while the stupid thing resets, and then you got to plug it in, and then you got to wait like another minute and a half for it to turn.
02:45-02:46
What do we call these?
02:46-02:49
Yeah, first world problems.
02:49-02:57
Because reality is, let's be honest, these are the types of things that get us sideways, and they amount to nothing.
02:58-03:00
We don't really have problems.
03:00-03:04
Not the way the first century church had, but the days are coming.
03:04-03:07
And look, I'm not going to pretend. I'm not going to pretend.
03:07-03:19
I'm not going to get up here and say, "Okay, we're preaching a passage about a persecuted church, so let's pretend we're persecuted so that the passage somehow fits." I believe the days are coming. But let's be honest here. Come on.
03:19-03:21
We have first world problems.
03:22-03:28
So today we're going to look at a church that endured much and was commended by Jesus Himself in my hope today.
03:28-03:35
My sincere hope today is this prepares us for when we really face difficult days as a church.
03:36-03:47
So just by way of introduction, we've seen chapter 1, John was exiled on Patmos because he was preaching the gospel. He endured some persecution through his imprisonment.
03:47-03:52
Jesus Christ appears in all his majestic glory and tells John to write down three things.
03:52-04:01
First of all, what he sees, that was Jesus. Write down the things that are, That's the state of the church. That's where we are now in Revelation 2 and 3.
04:01-04:05
And then thirdly, Jesus says to write down the things that will take place after this.
04:06-04:09
That's the stuff that happens in the future. That's chapters 4 through 22.
04:10-04:17
So, chapters 2 and 3, where we are now. These are progress reports to the churches from Jesus Christ.
04:17-04:23
These were seven actual churches located in Asia Minor, which is today we call it Turkey.
04:23-04:28
And these churches that Jesus is addressing typifies churches throughout history.
04:29-04:35
And the question that scholars and commentators and theologians, the question they ask is, "Who is being addressed here in these letters?
04:36-04:43
Was it just these churches or is it churches through history?" And here's the answer, "If the shoe fits." Right?
04:43-04:44
If the shoe fits.
04:44-04:52
If Jesus is describing something about this church in this letter, then we need to pay attention. Right?
04:53-04:56
So I believe these letters are for all churches throughout history.
04:57-04:59
We should pay close attention.
04:59-05:04
Again, this is a review. Each of these letters follows a general basic format.
05:05-05:07
The format is this. In general, it goes like this.
05:07-05:13
Jesus says, "To this church from Christ," and he uses descriptive phrases from chapter 1.
05:14-05:16
He says, "I know what's going on there. Here's what you're doing well.
05:17-05:29
Here's where you need to repent. Hey, I'm coming soon, so do this." And he closes each of these letters by saying, "Heed the word of the Lord and receive this promise from the Lord." That's sort of the general structure of all of these letters.
05:30-05:45
So let's look at the next one here. Revelation 2.8 "And did the angel of the church in Smyrna write the words of the first and the last, who died and came to life?" Smyrna. Where is Smyrna?
05:45-05:48
Well, today it's the Turkish city of Izmir.
05:48-05:51
And it's not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.
05:52-05:58
Everything we know about this church is found in this passage that we'll look at today.
05:59-06:04
Our best guess is Paul, or one of his converts, planted this church back in Acts 19.
06:05-06:08
We know this church was 35 miles north of Ephesus.
06:09-06:13
And we do know that this city was a place of emperor worship.
06:13-06:20
to the point that if you did not worship the emperor, it was a crime punishable by death.
06:20-06:26
You're talking about patriotism. Like this was patriotism as far as patriotism gets.
06:26-06:33
So Jesus addresses this church and he refers to himself as the first and the last.
06:34-06:36
Underline that in your Bibles. That is so significant. Why?
06:38-06:41
Because that's how God in the Old Testament identified Himself.
06:42-06:49
Isaiah 44.6, Isaiah 48.12, this is another reminder for us from God's Word that Jesus is God.
06:49-06:51
He's not just some prophet or some teacher.
06:52-06:56
Jesus is God in the flesh, and He was reminding the church of this.
06:56-06:57
So let's look at the progress report.
06:58-07:01
First of all, the commendation and the command.
07:02-07:07
Jesus said, "I know," verse 9, "I know your tribulation." I want to stop there.
07:08-07:14
Jesus, in all of these letters, He says, "I know." And when Jesus knows something, He knows something.
07:15-07:28
So it wasn't like Jesus said, "Hey, I heard through the grapevine," or "I saw something on Twitter about what's happening." Jesus knows every single detail that's happening in the church.
07:28-07:32
So when Jesus says, "I know what's going on," trust me, He knows what's going on.
07:32-07:34
I just want to pause here and say there is incredible comfort.
07:35-07:38
This church faced incredible hardship.
07:39-07:43
And there would have been incredible comfort for them to know that Jesus knows.
07:44-07:52
Because there is nothing more comforting when we're going through a hardship than having someone who knows. Right?
07:52-07:58
This past March, our next-door neighbor growing up lost her 27-year-old son.
07:58-08:08
And at the time, my sister said, "I can't imagine what you're going through." She said, "That's my worst nightmare." And a day later, my sister lost her 27-year-old son.
08:09-08:15
There's a comfort that exists in their friendship now, that wasn't there before.
08:16-08:17
Why?
08:18-08:19
Because they know.
08:20-08:24
Do you know what it's like to lose a child like that so suddenly?
08:24-08:28
Well, these two know exactly what it's like.
08:28-08:33
So do you understand there's a comfort when somebody knows?
08:33-08:38
Church, I just want to remind you there's a comfort knowing that Jesus knows.
08:39-08:44
Because He doesn't just know because He's omniscient, which He is.
08:45-08:48
He also knows because He's experienced everything that we experience.
08:49-08:51
Have you ever felt abandoned? Have you ever felt like that?
08:51-08:53
Have you ever felt completely abandoned by everybody?
08:54-08:55
Jesus knows what that feels like.
08:55-08:57
Have you ever been denied?
08:58-09:01
Jesus knows what it's like to have one of his best friends denies and even knows him.
09:02-09:03
Have you ever been betrayed by a friend?
09:04-09:07
Jesus knows exactly what that's like because that happened to him.
09:07-09:25
It gives us great comfort to know that Jesus isn't some, you know, detached deity from heaven that we're down here like, "Well, you don't know what it's like!" He says, "Yeah, I know exactly what it's like." So when Jesus says to this struggling church, "Hey, I know what's going on there," He knows what's going on there.
09:26-09:26
Alright?
09:27-09:28
So how are they struggling?
09:29-09:30
Well, look at verse 9.
09:30-09:32
Three terrible afflictions.
09:32-09:36
He says, "I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.
09:37-09:46
And the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." Stop there. Three afflictions this church was going through.
09:46-09:48
It's all right here in the text. We're not making this up.
09:49-09:50
Three afflictions. Jot these down.
09:50-09:53
"Tribulation, poverty, and slander." It's right there.
09:54-09:56
I wanna talk about these just quickly for a second here.
09:57-09:58
Tribulation is pressure.
09:58-10:00
Literally, that's what the word means, pressure.
10:00-10:03
It's being crushed under a weight.
10:03-10:05
Have you ever felt like that at work or at home in your family?
10:05-10:09
Have you ever felt like you were under such pressure that you almost felt it physically?
10:09-10:10
Have you ever felt that?
10:10-10:15
Like, I just feel this intense, like overwhelming pressure.
10:15-10:16
That's the word tribulation.
10:18-10:21
Interestingly, the word smyrna, The name of the city.
10:22-10:26
That name came from a Greek word that's also used to translate myrrh.
10:27-10:29
You're like, "Wait, myrrh, that sounds familiar." It should be.
10:29-10:39
It's a perfume that was used for the living and the dead, and it's mentioned a few times in Scripture that this perfume is actually an appropriate picture of this church.
10:39-10:43
Because you see, myrrh, in order to make perfume out of it, it had to be crushed.
10:44-10:45
That's sort of what this church was like.
10:45-10:53
It was crushed and gave off an aroma, a perfume of loyalty to Jesus Christ.
10:53-10:58
So this tribulation, this persecution the church was going under, this pressure...
10:58-11:03
As soon as you hear tribulation, as soon as you hear pressure, as soon as you hear persecution, you think...
11:03-11:10
Our minds automatically go, "Persecution is bad. Persecution is a bad thing." But really, really it's not.
11:11-11:15
Because persecution always results in greater purity of the church.
11:15-11:18
Why is that? Because hypocrites don't stick around.
11:19-11:20
Erin and I were talking this morning.
11:20-11:34
She said, "Do you think the events of yesterday are going to keep a lot of people away from church?" I said, "Not at all." I said, "I'm expecting a full house, because I know the type of disciples that attend this church." Is there a reason to be afraid?
11:35-11:38
I guess in our culture today we would say, "Always." Right?
11:39-11:41
Is that going to keep us from coming and worshiping?
11:41-11:42
Never.
11:42-11:46
But you see, persecution brings the purity because hypocrites don't stick around.
11:47-11:47
They just don't.
11:48-11:55
When going gets tough, God's true people, you can't get them out of the church with a stack of dynamite.
11:55-11:55
Right?
11:57-12:07
So he says, "I know your tribulation, secondly, your poverty." "Your poverty," he says, "but you are rich." Now, we talk about poverty, we're being honest here, right?
12:07-12:10
Somebody right now is thinking, "Oh, I know about poverty, Pastor Jeff.
12:11-12:18
One time I had to eat ramen noodles for lunch because I couldn't afford to go to Chipotle.
12:18-12:30
I know about poverty." And the answer is, "No, you don't know about poverty." This word for poverty here is the kind of poverty that you would use to describe a beggar, somebody that doesn't have two nickels to rub together.
12:31-12:33
That's the kind of poverty this is.
12:33-12:34
What kind of poverty is this?
12:34-12:45
We had a fantastic missions meeting yesterday, and Pat Summers who conducted the seminar and gave some help, our church leadership get some direction, permissions for the church.
12:45-12:46
He was telling the story, remember this Russ?
12:47-13:05
About this pastor from Cuba, on one of Pat's trips, he gave him a pen and he said this pastor wept because he so badly wanted some kind of a writing instrument to take notes so that he would be able to give better sermons.
13:05-13:08
"He wept over a pen, people." That's poverty.
13:09-13:11
That's the kind of poverty that's being talked about here.
13:12-13:31
And I have to say this, when we talk about poverty and we talk about the church, in our culture, we have all these preachers and teachers on the radio and on the TV that teach you if you're faithful, if you're faithful, if you have a genuine faith, that God makes you rich, that God wants you to be rich.
13:32-13:34
Let's look at some of these quotes, shall we?
13:35-13:41
Some people come to me and say, "Well, I came here to get some peace, not money." And I tell them, "You need money.
13:42-13:46
Otherwise you ain't gonna get no peace." Some people say it's about peace, joy, and love.
13:46-13:48
No, it's about money.
13:49-13:51
That's a quote from Creflo Dollar.
13:51-13:53
Do you think Dollar's really his name?
13:53-13:54
Something fishy there.
13:55-13:56
Here's from Leroy Thompson.
13:56-13:59
"The Lord told me this is the end time message.
13:59-14:02
He is coming to look for his church without spot or wrinkle.
14:02-14:29
But one of the biggest wrinkles the church has being broke. There's one from, actually two from Joel Osteen here. He says, "If you're struggling financially, then you have not got the victory." Later, "God didn't create you to be average or poor." One more, about all I can stomach. "Why would he, God, want all of his people poverty-stricken, while all of the people that aren't living for God have everything?" That's from Joyce Meyer.
14:30-14:33
Listen, yes, God provides.
14:33-14:48
Yes, God provides in miraculous ways, and I could keep you here until Valentine's Day, telling you stories of the ways that I've seen God miraculously and awesomely provide for our family and for this church.
14:48-14:51
I believe that when you give to God, God gives back to you.
14:51-14:55
I believe everything the Bible teaches about money.
14:56-14:57
I believe it's all true.
14:57-15:01
But the Bible never teaches that if you have enough faith, God's going to make you rich.
15:01-15:06
Or to put it negatively, the Bible never teaches that if you lack faith, you're going to lack money.
15:07-15:09
The Bible never teaches that.
15:09-15:16
And in case you're still on the fence on whether you're going to believe these jokers, I want to encourage you to look again at Smyrna.
15:16-15:17
What did Jesus say about Smyrna?
15:18-15:21
He says, "I know your tribulation and your poverty." Look at this next phrase.
15:21-15:30
Jesus said, "But you are rich." They were dirt poor, but Jesus looked at them, when Jesus is like, "You guys are rich!" What did He mean?
15:30-15:39
Well, He meant exactly what Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in 2 Corinthians 6.10, when he said, "We have nothing, yet we possess everything." That was Smyrna.
15:39-15:41
The tribulation, poverty, thirdly, slander.
15:42-15:43
Slander.
15:43-15:48
The early church had to deal with all kinds of false accusations and slander.
15:48-15:50
A couple of them, cannibalism.
15:50-15:53
You're like, "Yeah, the church was accused of cannibalism?" Yeah, they were.
15:54-16:00
Because there were people that heard, They get together and they eat the Lord's body.
16:00-16:07
We have the Lord's supper, which represents the body and blood of Jesus, but people spun that.
16:07-16:09
Say, "Oh, they engage in cannibalism.
16:09-16:13
They drink blood." That was slander that they had to endure.
16:13-16:17
They were also accused of having orgies because of the fellowship feasts.
16:18-16:20
Last night, we had a harvest party here.
16:20-16:22
It was spectacular.
16:22-16:31
We had, there was food and there were carnival games, and they set up and there was candy, enough sugar to kill a horse, and it was just a spectacular night.
16:32-16:37
But see, those kinds of parties, they do things like that in a similar way in the 1st century.
16:37-16:42
And people are like, "Oh, they're having orgies, they're having these immoral parties." Well, who was doing the slandering?
16:42-16:46
Well, it says, "Those who say they are Jews and are not." Like, well, who is that?
16:47-16:48
We're not really sure who they were.
16:49-16:51
But I do know this for sure.
16:51-16:52
The church knew who they were.
16:53-16:58
that Jesus knew who they were, because he referred to them as a synagogue of Satan.
16:58-17:02
I would suggest to you, that's probably the worst thing the Lord could call you.
17:02-17:07
And here's a group of people that are so wicked, Jesus called them a synagogue of Satan.
17:07-17:08
Slander's rough.
17:08-17:11
I mean, lying is bad enough, right?
17:12-17:21
But when you're lying for the sole purpose of tearing down somebody else's reputation, that's just, that is so wicked, and that is so destructive.
17:21-17:23
And that's exactly what this church was going through.
17:24-17:25
Look at verse 10.
17:26-17:30
He says, "Do not fear what you are about to suffer." Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
17:31-17:38
Like, "Pastor Jeff, do you have anything you can speak on regarding 'I will not fear'?" That was our whole ministry theme last year.
17:39-17:43
Alright? So if you need a refresher, all of our sermons are available on our website.
17:43-17:48
And you can go home and listen to every message last year because this is the theme that we sort of hung the hat on last year, right?
17:49-17:52
Jesus reminds this church, hey, there's more suffering coming.
17:53-17:57
So for you, Harvest Bible Chapel, I want you to jot this down.
17:57-17:59
Three statements to remind yourself when you're suffering.
18:00-18:01
Maybe some of you are suffering now.
18:02-18:04
Maybe some of you will be suffering soon.
18:05-18:07
Regardless, here's three statements I want you to remind yourself when you're suffering.
18:07-18:09
They all come from the text.
18:10-18:10
Again, look at verse 10.
18:11-18:12
Do not fear what you're about to suffer.
18:12-18:17
Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested.
18:17-18:20
And for ten days you will have tribulation.
18:21-18:26
Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life." Three statements to remind yourself when you're suffering.
18:27-18:30
The first one is this, letter A. God is allowing this for a reason.
18:31-18:33
Just because you don't know the reason doesn't mean that there is no reason.
18:34-18:40
But he said that some of you are going to be thrown into prison that you may be tested.
18:41-18:42
That's the reason.
18:42-18:45
And here's the thing that might baffle us about this passage.
18:45-18:48
Jesus didn't stop their suffering, did he?
18:48-18:49
Did he stop it?
18:50-18:54
Some of you are about to be thrown into prison, but I'm going to intervene and keep that from happening.
18:54-18:56
No, listen, you've got to note that church.
18:57-18:59
Jesus didn't stop their suffering.
19:00-19:02
From what I can see here, he simply informed them that it was coming.
19:03-19:11
And the reason you need to note this is because the biggest lie that Satan tells that we believe is this, if God really cared, you wouldn't be going through this trial.
19:12-19:18
And I'll be honest with you, I've been tempted to take the bait many times in my life, thinking down that path.
19:18-19:21
If God really cared, why am I dealing with this?
19:21-19:23
If God really cared, why is he allowing this?
19:24-19:26
Trials don't mean that God doesn't care.
19:26-19:30
Every real church, every real Christian is going to face tribulation, 2 Timothy 3.12.
19:31-19:39
Jesus said, "I'm allowing this that you may be tested." Not an easy pill to swallow, but the reality is if you want stronger faith, and every true disciple does, right?
19:40-19:48
Every true disciple wants stronger faith, The only way your faith gets stronger is by trusting God, that He has a purpose when I'm undergoing a trial.
19:48-19:49
That God's allowing it for a reason.
19:50-19:53
Secondly, letter B, God is in control of every detail.
19:53-19:54
He knows very specifically.
19:55-19:59
He says that you may be tested and for 10 days you will have tribulation.
20:00-20:02
God is in control of every detail.
20:02-20:03
10 days.
20:03-20:07
Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, right Frank?
20:08-20:10
I knew I'd get a hearty amen from that.
20:10-20:24
But see, some people look at this, and I do a lot of reading, but commentators and scholars and theologians and people, I guess smarter than me, but 10 days, there are people like, well, that 10 days, what does that mean?
20:25-20:32
What could that possibly, well, here's one, maybe that refers to 10 waves of Roman persecution coming on the church.
20:32-20:39
And then, I read somebody else this week, it was like, well, no, this 10 days refers to 10 years.
20:40-20:48
Like I said, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but when I read this, and I read it straightforwardly, do you know how I interpret 10 days?
20:48-20:49
Also, it's not just me.
20:50-20:52
I believe in reading the Bible straightforwardly.
20:53-21:01
So Jesus is like, "You're going to prison for 10 days." And I'm like, "Okay, it looks like some of them are going to prison for 10 days." Well, there's a difference between you and Smyrna.
21:02-21:04
The difference is they knew how long they were going to suffer.
21:04-21:05
We often do not.
21:05-21:06
God knows though.
21:07-21:07
See, God knows.
21:08-21:09
I love it, He knows ahead of time.
21:10-21:11
Jesus is calling it ahead of time.
21:11-21:13
You're going to suffer, but it's only gonna last 10 days.
21:13-21:18
There's huge comfort in knowing that God knows the days of your suffering, even the ones ahead.
21:18-21:22
And you're like, okay, I'm with you, Pastor Jeff, but what if it never ends?
21:23-21:28
They dealt with 10 days, and I'm sure those were 10 brutal days, but what if my suffering never ends?
21:28-21:33
What if my suffering that I'm going through is going to last me the rest of my life?
21:34-21:34
Well, look at the text.
21:35-21:36
Be faithful unto death.
21:36-21:40
You and I are called to be faithful even if it's literally for the rest of our lives.
21:41-21:42
We're called to be faithful.
21:42-21:45
You're like, "Pfft, why would I want to do that?" Because of letter C.
21:46-21:47
It's going to be worth it.
21:47-21:48
It's going to be worth it.
21:48-21:49
Look at that last phrase.
21:50-21:52
Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
21:53-21:55
That word for crown, that's Stephanos.
21:55-21:57
That's the victor's crown.
21:58-22:00
That's like the trophy crown.
22:00-22:01
There's your motivation.
22:02-22:02
It would be like this.
22:02-22:11
What if I said to you, "Hey, can I, would it be okay If I pinged you in the throat really hard, would that be all right with you?
22:11-22:12
Just kind of tilt your head back.
22:12-22:15
Let me ping you in the throat as hard as I can, and I can ping hard.
22:15-22:17
How many volunteers do we have for that?
22:17-22:18
Why not?
22:18-22:21
"Well, Pastor Jeff, that'll hurt." What if I said this?
22:21-22:27
If you let me ping you in the throat just one time, I'll give you a winning Powerball ticket.
22:28-22:31
What is it, like 1.117 trillion or what?
22:31-22:32
How much is it now?
22:33-22:33
Whatever.
22:34-22:37
What if I said you get the one point, what is it?
22:38-22:40
I really should have read this before I got up here.
22:40-22:41
That was dumb in retrospect.
22:43-22:47
But what if I offered you the, for sure, it's not a gamble and you're not investing.
22:47-22:50
For sure, this is the winning Powerball ticket and I'll give it to you.
22:51-22:52
You just have to let me ping you in the throat.
22:53-22:57
How many people would be willing to go, how many people would be willing to take the ping then?
22:57-23:00
All of a sudden, "Oh, you're right here, Pastor Jeff.
23:00-23:03
"Don't miss, don't miss, right here." Well, why?
23:03-23:05
What changed? What changed?
23:06-23:07
The reward changed, didn't it?
23:07-23:10
You mean a ping in the throat for nothing? No thanks.
23:11-23:15
Oh, you mean a little bit of suffering for a huge reward?
23:16-23:18
You see, that's the point. That's the point.
23:19-23:32
2 Corinthians 4.17, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." That's the point, is the crown of life outbalances the testing.
23:33-23:36
I can't even wrap my brain around this, church.
23:37-23:41
First of all, I can't wrap my brain around the fact that Jesus Christ died for me.
23:42-23:43
Think about this.
23:43-23:56
The day is going to come for those who are faithful to those who truly belong to Him, the King of kings and the Lord of lords is going to put a crown on your head.
23:56-24:00
How can you think about that and not weep?
24:01-24:03
He is going to crown you.
24:04-24:09
So that's the motivation to persevere no matter how hard it gets, because it's going to be worth it.
24:10-24:11
All right, that was point one.
24:12-24:13
Oh, three more.
24:14-24:15
Marathon day, Pastor Jeff.
24:16-24:17
Well, here's some good news.
24:17-24:20
The criticism and the correction, nothing.
24:20-24:22
But let's not gloss over this too quickly.
24:23-24:24
Pretty significant.
24:25-24:29
Jesus addresses seven churches and two of them received no criticism.
24:29-24:37
How awesome is it that the Lord of the Church looks upon a body of believers and offers no word of "here's where you can do better." He just doesn't do it.
24:37-24:43
Samaritan in Philadelphia, neither one of them receive any criticism or condemnation or anything of the such.
24:43-24:45
So let's get to the call, verse 11.
24:46-24:49
Jesus says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
24:49-25:00
The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death." He who has an ear, again, that's a phrase that Jesus used a lot in his ministry and that just simply means this.
25:00-25:02
If you're tuned in, turn the volume up.
25:03-25:10
The death in this world is entrance into life and a better world for the believer in Jesus Christ.
25:10-25:12
He says, you'll never face a second death.
25:12-25:13
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
25:13-25:15
What is the second death?
25:15-25:15
What is that?
25:16-25:18
Very specifically, we know what it is.
25:18-25:22
Revelation 20.14, Revelation 21.8.
25:22-25:24
The second death literally is the lake of fire.
25:25-25:41
The Bible says, and we're gonna get there, Lord willing, Everyone who has rejected God's gracious gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ, everyone who stubbornly and selfishly has rebelled against their Creator, someday are going to be thrown into the lake of fire.
25:42-25:44
And the Bible says that is the second death.
25:44-25:45
Well, why is it called the second death?
25:46-25:48
Because of this biblical truth right here.
25:49-25:50
Jot this down. Some of you know this.
25:50-25:53
This is going to be new for some of you, but you need to have this in your toolbox.
25:54-25:55
You need to have this tattooed onto your heart.
25:56-26:00
The statement is this, if you're born once, you die twice.
26:01-26:03
And if you're born twice, you die once.
26:04-26:05
If you're born once, you die twice.
26:05-26:07
How many people here were born at least once?
26:08-26:09
Okay, that was a test, very good.
26:09-26:16
If you're born only once, as we all are born at least once, but if you're born only once, you die twice.
26:16-26:18
You're going to die a physical death someday.
26:19-26:22
And apart from Jesus Christ, you're going to die a second death, which is the lake of fire.
26:22-26:25
See, the good news is if you're born twice, you only die once.
26:26-26:26
You're born twice.
26:27-26:31
As Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again.
26:31-26:34
That's the supernatural regeneration.
26:35-26:42
That's when you give your life to Jesus Christ, receive Him as your Lord and Savior, and God's Holy Spirit comes and indwells you.
26:42-26:44
You are born again.
26:45-26:46
God's life is put into you.
26:47-26:51
And if you're born twice, yes, you're still going to die a physical death someday.
26:51-26:55
But the second death will not hurt you, as Jesus says here.
26:55-26:59
No matter how bad it gets, I believe worse days are coming for the church.
26:59-27:00
Keep this now.
27:01-27:02
Save this for a rainy day.
27:03-27:04
Three truths that you can celebrate.
27:05-27:06
Hey, God's allowing this for a reason.
27:06-27:10
God is in control of every detail and all.
27:10-27:15
Someday, someday, I'm going to look back and I'm going to realize it was all worth it.
27:16-27:16
Let's pray.
27:17-27:22
Father in heaven, we thank you again for the glorious reality of who you are.
27:23-27:26
Father, I thank You that You have given us these words of comfort.
27:27-27:30
Father, I believe that the days of trouble are still ahead for the church.
27:31-27:35
But Father, I believe that there are true followers of Jesus Christ in this room.
27:35-27:54
And I pray, Father, that You would equip us, that we can be like Smyrna, that whether we're dealing with tribulation or poverty or slander or ten days in prison, whatever it is we deal with, Let's give off the aroma of Jesus Christ in a powerful way.
27:54-27:57
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 2:8-11
GROUP
What do you personally believe about faith and money (Rev 2:9)? Does “victory in Jesus” mean being rich? How can wrong teaching about money and faith bring harm to the church?
Tell of a time you have been comforted knowing that “Jesus knows” what you are going through.
How would you answer someone who asks you: “How do you trust God when a trial doesn’t seem to be ending?”
BREAKOUT
Pray for the future of HBC, to stand strong when persecution comes.
