Jeff Miller

December 16, 2018

Coming Soon!

In Heaven: The Worthy One

Jeff Miller

December 16, 2018

Coming Soon!

Intro / Review:

Who is Worthy?

The Worthy One is Sought one. (Rev 5:2-4)

1 John 5:19 - We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

2 Corinthians 4:4 – In their case the god of this world has blinded 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.

The Worthy One is Found. (Rev 5:5-7)
The Worthy One is Worshipped. (Rev 5:8-14)

Review: Ps 148:7-10 | Ps 150:6 | Psalm 68:1-4

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:40-00:46
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Revelation 5.
00:48-01:01
The title of today's message is "Coming Soon in Heaven, the Worthy One." While you're turning there, I'm going to give you a pop quiz.
01:01-01:03
You ready? You ready?
01:04-01:07
One question. Here it is.
01:08-01:11
You're going to tell me what these three events have in common.
01:13-01:18
1517, Martin Luther posted a document on a door at Wittenberg.
01:20-01:26
1871, Patrick and Catherine O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern.
01:27-01:32
1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo.
01:34-01:35
Those three events, what do they have in common?
01:37-01:46
You're like, "Um, I had nothing to do with any of those?" Here's what they had in common.
01:49-02:00
One event kicked off a huge series of events, right?
02:01-02:07
In 1517, when Martin Luther posted that document on the door at Wittenberg, that changed church history forever.
02:09-02:23
That cow, Catherine O'Leary's cow, that kicked over a lantern, started the Chicago Fire that burned down 2,112 acres and 17,500 buildings.
02:27-02:34
And the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand brought the entire world to war.
02:37-02:39
That's what we're going to look at in this text.
02:39-02:50
That's why this is one of the most important passages in the entire book of Revelation, because what you're going to see here is one little event that takes place in this passage.
02:50-03:01
One event is going to have the largest implication of any event that has ever occurred, or ever will occur, in the history of the earth, and that is not an exaggeration.
03:02-03:09
This one event in this passage will ultimately be the biggest event in history.
03:11-03:24
We're going through Revelation verse by verse, and last week we saw after Jesus gave John these messages for the churches, Jesus invited John to heaven.
03:24-03:30
And not just to heaven, but also forward in time to heaven.
03:30-03:46
Jesus said, "I'm going to show you what's going to take place after this." And in Revelation 4, John, again taken forward in time to heaven to see what's coming, he saw the throne in heaven.
03:46-03:49
He saw the One who was seated on the throne.
03:49-04:01
He saw what was going on and who was around the throne in heaven, and He saw the worship that was being directed towards the One that was seated on the throne in heaven.
04:03-04:21
Revelation 5, look at verse 1, "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.
04:23-04:32
God Himself, seated on the throne, is holding in His right hand, the Bible says, a scroll, or a deed.
04:35-04:47
Now inside there was writing, outside there was writing, On one of these deeds, inside would have all the details of the deed, and the outside would have the summary of what was on the inside.
04:49-04:54
This is important, you can't miss this, because this is the beginning of the end here, folks.
04:56-05:01
This deed is the title deed of the earth.
05:03-05:06
You know how you have a title to your car, right?
05:07-05:13
It's a piece of paper that says, "This car belongs to me." Maybe the bank has it, but you know what I mean.
05:14-05:15
It belongs to me.
05:15-05:17
Or maybe you have a deed to your home.
05:18-05:24
It's a document that says, "This property belongs to me." Well that's what this document is.
05:24-05:27
It is a title deed to the entire earth.
05:28-05:30
Who owns the earth?
05:32-05:37
It says that this document was sealed seven times on the edge.
05:37-05:44
And just to sort of give you an illustration, it would be like if it was rolled, and then a seal was put here.
05:44-05:46
Then it's rolled again, and a seal is put here.
05:46-05:48
And it's rolled again, and a seal is put here.
05:48-05:55
That way, when you unrolled it, you had to break one of those seals every time you unrolled it.
05:55-06:01
And this one was sealed seven times after each portion of text.
06:02-06:04
We're going to get to that in a second, the significance of that.
06:04-06:09
But there's a question that comes up that has to be answered.
06:09-06:10
Look at verse 2.
06:12-06:29
John says, "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?'" That's the question. That's your outline today. Who is worthy?
06:30-06:39
Who's worthy to open this?" Understanding that opening this meant more than just unrolling a piece of paper.
06:40-06:45
The question is, who is worthy to reclaim the earth?
06:47-06:48
Who's worthy to cash it in?
06:50-07:01
You see, that completed the transaction, is when you showed up on your property with the deed and unrolled it, and said, "Look, this is mine." The question is, who's worthy to do that for the earth?
07:03-07:06
So write this down. Number one, the worthy one is sought.
07:06-07:08
The worthy one is sought.
07:10-07:13
Again, verse 2, this strong angel.
07:14-07:17
I imagine they're all probably pretty strong compared to me.
07:18-07:37
I'm proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" Who is worthy to take the scroll and therefore take the earth back from the enemy?
07:38-07:45
Who is able to defeat Satan once and for all and reclaim the earth from him?
07:46-07:50
The question is, who has the right to do such a thing?
07:50-07:53
Who has the character? Who has the power?
07:54-08:02
Who has the authority to take the earth back from Satan?" You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.
08:02-08:04
It sounds like you said it a couple times, and I just want to be clear.
08:05-08:10
It sounds like what you're saying is Satan is in possession of the earth.
08:11-08:22
And I want you to understand there is a sense in which he absolutely is in possession of the earth." Look at a couple of verses here with me. 1 John 5:19, John wrote this earlier.
08:23-08:26
He says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
08:26-08:31
In that sense, the earth is Satan's.
08:32-08:33
In that sense.
08:34-08:35
Again, 2 Corinthians 4.
08:37-08:40
Look at what Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls the enemy, the devil.
08:41-08:45
He says in their case, "the God of this world." He's talking about Satan.
08:46-08:47
Satan is called the God of this world.
08:47-08:50
Little g God, but he's called the God of this world.
08:52-08:52
Why?
08:54-08:56
This is going to be an easy sell.
08:57-09:03
He's called the God of this world because sin is so pervasive and destructive.
09:04-09:06
Do I need to convince anyone here?
09:06-09:12
Sin is pervasive and destruction, and that's exactly how Satan wants it.
09:12-09:16
Because it undermines God, it attacks what God loves.
09:18-09:21
How did Jesus describe Satan in John 10.10?
09:21-09:25
He says He does three things. He steals, He kills, and He destroys.
09:25-09:26
Does that sound familiar?
09:28-09:30
Have you turned on the news lately?
09:30-09:33
Do you see what man is doing unto man?
09:35-09:38
Stealing, killing, and destroying.
09:39-09:39
Why?
09:41-09:45
Because Satan is the God of this world, because of the dominance of sin.
09:46-09:51
"Steal, kill, and destroy." That's a perfect summary of what we see.
09:53-09:54
Like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, though.
09:55-09:57
This is God's earth, isn't it?
09:58-10:02
I thought the earth is the Lord and the fullness therein, Psalm 24, 1.
10:04-10:06
It is. But it's sort of like this.
10:07-10:12
It's sort of like a man owns a piece of property, and he has the deed.
10:12-10:16
He bought the property, he has the deed, he has the ownership, and he goes away for a while.
10:16-10:22
And while he's gone, a pack of criminals are squatting on his property.
10:23-10:29
And then he comes back to claim his property, and he sees all these criminals there, and he's like, "This ain't gonna work.
10:31-10:40
They have no right to be here, because this belongs to me." And you see, that's sort of the scene that's happening here in Revelation.
10:42-10:57
This is God's earth, He created it, but Satan and his dominion, every Christ-rejecter, every spiritual criminal, so to speak, is squatting, claiming ownership to what belongs to God.
10:59-11:00
So who's worthy to take it back?
11:02-11:06
Who is worthy to take this back from Satan?
11:07-11:13
Notice he says, "Who's worthy to break the seals?" This is important. Just put this in the back of your memory here.
11:14-11:16
We're going to talk about this next time we get back to Revelation.
11:18-11:35
But every time a seal is broken on this scroll - we're going to see this in Revelation 6 - every time a seal is broken as the scroll is unrolled, each broken seal brings a manifestation of God's judgment upon the earth.
11:37-11:47
In other words, as the scroll is unrolled, Each time one of the seven seals are broken, an act of judgment from God comes on the earth.
11:49-11:50
Again, you'll see that in chapter 6.
11:51-11:52
Look at verse 3.
11:54-11:59
John says, "So the question is, who's worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" That's the question on the table, right? Who's worthy?
11:59-12:01
Who's worthy to do this? Who's worthy to take it back?
12:01-12:02
Who's worthy?
12:02-12:16
Verse 3, "And no one in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it." No one was found worthy anywhere.
12:18-12:20
Don't we have somebody in heaven that can take this back?
12:22-12:23
No one was found. How about the earth?
12:25-12:26
John says no one was found there.
12:28-12:30
How about under the earth? Did you look under the earth?
12:31-12:33
Did you look under the earth?
12:34-12:56
You might find somebody there." And John says, "No, there wasn't even found somebody under the earth." No angel, no Old Testament hero, no Moses, no Abraham, no Noah, no New Testament apostle, no famous church leader, no one.
12:58-13:01
Who is worthy to take the earth back from Satan?
13:02-13:04
John says, "We looked." No one.
13:06-13:07
Look at verse 4.
13:08-13:16
John says, "And I began to weep loudly." Because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
13:19-13:20
Why did John weep?
13:20-13:26
By the way, this is the only passage in the entire Bible that says there's weeping in heaven, and it happened one time here.
13:27-13:30
But when John was in heaven, why was he weeping?
13:30-13:42
In the Spirit, I believe John saw in a deeper way the devastation the curse of sin has had on the earth.
13:42-13:43
It has had on everyone.
13:44-13:45
I mean, we see it.
13:46-13:54
We turn on the news, get on the internet, you can see the destruction that sin has caused on the earth.
13:55-14:04
And I believe John, from his perspective in heaven here, I think he saw the whole picture of how ravaged the earth was with sin.
14:05-14:09
The way evil has destroyed everything beautiful God has created.
14:11-14:13
I think John saw that.
14:14-14:15
Satan's having his way.
14:16-14:20
Sin has ruined everything. Sin continues to ruin everything.
14:20-14:26
And sin is always going to ruin everything as long as sin is around.
14:27-14:31
And now this scroll, this deed is presented.
14:31-14:33
It's in the right hand of the one on the throne.
14:34-14:35
And John knew exactly what that meant.
14:38-14:39
Who can reclaim it?
14:40-14:41
And no one was found.
14:41-14:45
So, John wept.
14:46-14:48
And I believe that He wept for us all.
14:50-14:56
He wanted to see sin and sin and death ultimately destroyed, don't you?
14:58-14:58
Don't you?
15:01-15:07
Think of all that sin has caused on the earth, can you?
15:08-15:11
Can you think of all of the devastation that sin has brought?
15:11-15:14
I want you to think about sin that man commits to man.
15:14-15:19
And when I say "human kind," think of sin that we do as people to each other.
15:21-15:27
Think of all of the results of the curse.
15:28-15:31
The fact that the whole world is under the curse of sin.
15:31-15:32
Think of all the results of that.
15:34-15:35
Think of every abused child.
15:38-15:39
Think of every murdered baby.
15:42-15:43
Think of every sexual assault.
15:46-15:48
Think of everyone who has suffered and died with cancer.
15:50-15:52
Think of every family that's had to deal with autism.
15:54-16:00
Every bit of pain, every bit of heartbreak, every bit of disappointment.
16:02-16:04
And John in heaven taking all this in.
16:06-16:09
Who's worthy to open this scroll when no one was found?
16:09-16:13
and at this point John's weeping. He's saying, "Can't anybody fix this?
16:15-16:19
Can't anybody take the earth back from the one who's destroying it?
16:19-16:22
Is this it? This is it? This is the way it's always going to be?
16:22-16:39
Nothing but pain and abuse and death? This is how it's going to be?" And he wept. "How can it end like this?" No one found worthy means that this is an absolutely hopeless situation.
16:42-16:47
It looks like evil won. And that's that.
16:49-16:50
Your love.
16:52-17:04
Now, but number two, write this down, "The worthy one is found." "The worthy one is found." Verse 5, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more!
17:05-17:18
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'" Notice it was an elder that speaks to John, not an angel.
17:20-17:23
This elder would have known what all of this meant.
17:23-17:25
He also knew who was stepping up.
17:26-17:28
The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.
17:29-17:35
Those are two very specific Old Testament terms referring to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
17:37-17:42
And this elder says, "Hey, hey. The lion? He conquered.
17:45-18:01
He conquered, so he can reclaim." And at this point, I'm just trying to put myself in John's shoes here, that this elder's like, "The lion? The lion can do it." Yes! Send out the lion!
18:03-18:04
I want to see the lion come out.
18:05-18:06
Bring out the lion.
18:06-18:09
I mean, who has a chance against the lion?
18:10-18:11
Right? Really, who has a chance?
18:11-18:12
The answer is nobody.
18:12-18:13
Who has a chance? Bring out the lion.
18:14-18:15
Right? Let's get the lion.
18:15-18:17
Let's get the lion. Look at verse 6.
18:18-18:43
"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." Instead of a lion, John saw a lamb.
18:45-18:47
Interestingly, in the Greek, it's not just any lamb.
18:47-18:48
The Greek is very specific.
18:48-18:49
It's little lamb.
18:50-18:51
He saw a little lamb.
18:52-19:01
So not only that, we're expecting the fiercest creature on the planet, and instead we get the meekest.
19:03-19:05
A little lamb. And not just a little lamb.
19:07-19:10
You see, John said that he was standing as though it had been slain.
19:12-19:14
His scars must have been visible in some way.
19:15-19:19
He had death wounds, but he was very much alive.
19:22-19:23
I was going to say I wasn't expecting that.
19:23-19:24
I thought you were letting the lion out.
19:26-19:28
But understand what's going on here.
19:28-19:36
You see, this conquering king first became the suffering serpent.
19:38-19:40
Don't miss this, because this is...
19:41-19:43
Here's the significance, and it's huge.
19:44-19:51
It was Jesus, as the Lamb of God, He paid our redemption.
19:52-19:58
So it is Jesus as the Lamb of God that must reclaim the scroll.
20:00-20:01
It says He had seven horns.
20:02-20:04
Horns, that's used throughout the Old Testament.
20:04-20:05
It's a symbol of power.
20:07-20:09
An animal's horns is the animal's power.
20:10-20:11
Think of a bull or think of a ram.
20:13-20:14
Power. He had seven.
20:14-20:15
Seven is the number of perfection.
20:15-20:16
We see that throughout Revelation.
20:17-20:19
What this is saying is this lamb had perfect power.
20:21-20:26
Oh, he was a little lamb, and he looked like he was slain, but his power was perfect.
20:28-20:29
He had seven eyes.
20:29-20:31
We've talked about that a couple times already.
20:31-20:32
A seven perfection.
20:34-20:36
Specifically, this is the Holy Spirit.
20:36-20:39
He was perfectly indwelt by God's Holy Spirit.
20:39-20:43
And this is actually a direct reference to Zechariah 3 and 4.
20:43-20:49
I'm not going to go there today, but it's a fulfillment of some of the language used there.
20:51-20:53
Verse 7, this is the big moment.
20:54-21:02
Verse 7 is the document on the door at Wittenberg, Cal kicking the lantern, assassination of the archduke.
21:02-21:04
This is that moment right here, verse 7.
21:06-21:08
"And he went..." the lamb.
21:08-21:18
He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne.
21:20-21:23
This is the act that ends it all.
21:25-21:28
This is the beginning of the end.
21:30-21:35
This is the kick-off to a completely one-sided game.
21:38-21:45
Yes, yes, yes. Christ is exalted. He has the name that is above all names.
21:45-21:52
Absolutely true. Jesus Christ is reigning on the earth through His people.
21:53-21:55
But not yet. Obviously not yet.
21:56-22:00
Is Jesus Christ reigning over all of the earth? Right?
22:00-22:01
Otherwise there would be no sin.
22:03-22:06
Reigning through His people, but not over all the earth.
22:06-22:17
with this act right here, the moment the Lamb takes the scroll from the one seated on the throne, this is the beginning of the end.
22:17-22:23
This is going to usher in when He truly rules over all of His creation.
22:25-22:32
The victory of the cross of Jesus Christ cannot be overstated.
22:35-22:46
When we talk about victory in Jesus, I want you to understand that it's bigger than we can understand.
22:48-22:49
Look at verse 5 again.
22:52-23:02
Very specifically, it says, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered..." He's talking about Jesus' death and resurrection.
23:03-23:12
Look at this phrase though, "so that he can open the scroll." Don't miss the significance of this.
23:13-23:20
In other words, because God became a man, which we'll be celebrating next week, spoiler alert.
23:20-23:29
Because God became a man, because that man, Jesus Christ, died on the cross, and because Jesus Christ rose from the dead victorious.
23:32-23:34
The Bible says, first of all, we are forgiven.
23:36-23:36
And that's awesome.
23:38-23:43
For anybody who would receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, if you haven't done that today, today's the day.
23:44-23:45
I don't know what you're waiting for.
23:46-23:46
Today's the day.
23:47-23:49
I don't know if you have another plan, but there isn't one.
23:51-23:51
Today's the day.
23:52-23:59
But because Jesus Christ conquered, if you receive Him, your sins are forgiven.
23:59-24:02
God will completely wipe your record clean.
24:02-24:05
You are forgiven. I will remember your sins no more.
24:07-24:10
Totally cleansed. That is awesome, but that's not all.
24:12-24:15
Because Jesus Christ conquered, He gives us also the gift of eternal life.
24:17-24:22
He doesn't just say, "I'm not going to punish you." He says, "I'm going to give you eternal life.
24:23-24:27
You will live with Me eternally." That's awesomer.
24:29-24:30
And I'm sure that's not a word.
24:31-24:32
That's awesomer.
24:33-24:34
But that's not all.
24:35-24:40
Because Jesus Christ conquered, not only are we forgiven, not only do we have eternal life, He transforms us.
24:42-24:44
I'm not the person that I used to be.
24:44-24:46
He's completely changed me.
24:47-24:53
And when you receive Christ, we were talking to a man this morning about this very thing, when you receive Christ, He changes you.
24:54-24:56
And that is awesome-er!
24:57-24:58
But that's not all.
24:59-25:01
Sounds like a really bad infomercial, but this is all true.
25:02-25:03
But that's not all.
25:03-25:11
Because Jesus Christ conquered this salvation, this forgiveness, this eternal life, this transformation is available for any and all who would believe.
25:12-25:13
It doesn't matter who you are.
25:13-25:15
It doesn't matter what you've done.
25:15-25:18
It doesn't matter how bad you've been or how good you think you've been, but you haven't.
25:19-25:21
It doesn't matter what you have or what you don't have.
25:23-25:25
It's available to everyone.
25:25-25:27
And that is awesome-er.
25:28-25:29
But that's not all.
25:31-25:35
Because, listen to this, this is where it gets real.
25:36-25:47
Because Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead and conquered that victory, made him worthy to redeem the entire earth back from Satan.
25:49-25:50
And that is awesomest.
25:53-25:54
So where do we go from here?
25:54-25:56
Number three, the worthy one is worshipped.
25:56-25:58
You totally saw that coming!
26:00-26:03
As soon as Jesus takes the scroll, it's over!
26:03-26:06
It's over! Satan is as good as defeated.
26:06-26:08
The curse is as good as reversed.
26:08-26:09
It's over!
26:11-26:13
And all of heaven knows it!
26:13-26:14
It's over!
26:15-26:16
So it's time to worship.
26:17-26:18
Look at verse 8.
26:20-26:37
"And when He had taken the scroll, four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." Four angels, 24 elders, we saw them last week.
26:37-26:44
They once again, they fall down, boom, on their face in awe and worship of the lamb.
26:46-26:48
Musical instruments are involved now.
26:48-26:49
We got harps involved.
26:49-26:51
It also says that they have bowls of incense.
26:52-26:54
These represent the prayers of the saints.
26:54-26:58
Psalm 141. Luke 1. 9-10.
27:00-27:01
Don't gloss over this.
27:02-27:08
In these bowls, the prayers of the saints, every so far unanswered prayer.
27:10-27:15
I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand because I promise you every person in this room would put their hand up.
27:16-27:22
How many of us have prayed and prayed and prayed about something and felt like God didn't hear?
27:24-27:26
Or felt like God didn't care?
27:27-27:31
Or felt like maybe He forgot?
27:34-27:36
We all have these prayers, don't we?
27:37-27:39
Maybe you've been praying for healing for someone.
27:40-27:42
Maybe you've been praying for strength and encouragement.
27:43-27:44
Maybe you've been praying for provision.
27:45-27:49
Maybe you've been praying for God's presence in a deeper way in your life.
27:49-27:59
Maybe you've just been praying, "God, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." And I want you to know, every single prayer that has been lifted up in Jesus' name, not one of them has been for God.
28:01-28:07
And I want to encourage you, keep crying out to God with your prayers because they are securely stored.
28:07-28:08
They're in these bowls.
28:09-28:10
He's holding on to them.
28:11-28:18
And one day, even if it's not on the earth, one day, every prayer in Jesus' name is going to be answered.
28:19-28:20
One day.
28:21-28:23
You might not see it here, but you'll see it there.
28:26-28:52
Look at verse 9, it says, "And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open the seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." They sang a new song.
28:54-28:55
Why is this a new song?
28:55-28:57
Because there's never been a song like this song.
28:58-29:00
There has never been a song like this song.
29:01-29:02
Like, what do you mean?
29:03-29:23
I was trying to think of a way to illustrate this, and I really think this will resonate with if not all of most of us. I'm a big Penguins fan and if you are then you're like me. When the Penguins win a regular season game you cheer don't you? Yeah.
29:25-29:35
What about when the Penguins win a playoff game? Don't you just cheer a little bit more? Well do you remember when they won the Stanley Cup like all all those times they won the Stanley Cup.
29:37-29:43
When they won the Cup, that prompts the highest level of cheering, doesn't it?
29:43-29:45
Because they hit the ultimate.
29:45-29:47
It doesn't get any bigger than this.
29:47-29:48
They are the champions.
29:49-29:55
And if you'll pardon the analogy, it's like that with praise.
29:55-30:00
Because we praise God every time a prayer is answered, don't we?
30:01-30:16
We praise God every time a soul is saved, but this praise in Revelation 5 is the Stanley Cup version of praise because Jesus is about to step out and claim the ultimate victory.
30:17-30:18
Does that make sense?
30:19-30:25
The praise is higher than it's ever been because the fulfillment of the victory is finally here.
30:28-30:58
Verse 11, "And 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, 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.'" Now there are five hymns in chapters 4 and 5.
30:59-31:04
And what you have to see, if you kind of take a panorama view of it, the praise is building and building and building and building and building.
31:05-31:08
In chapter 4, verse 8, we saw this all started with four angels singing.
31:09-31:10
It's like a quartet, right?
31:12-31:14
Then the 24 elders join in in verse 10.
31:15-31:17
Okay, getting a little bigger, got choir now!
31:18-31:20
In chapter 5, verse 8, here come the harps.
31:20-31:23
Now we're getting the music involved, the musical instruments involved.
31:26-31:32
Here, we have myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands.
31:32-31:34
What he was saying was, "I couldn't count them.
31:34-31:35
I couldn't possibly count them.
31:35-31:38
I couldn't even ballpark a guess of how many they were.
31:39-31:53
There were hundreds of thousands, millions, who knows, but the entire heaven was full of angels lifting up their voices." You're like, "Wow, it doesn't get any bigger than that." Yeah, it does. Look at verse 13.
31:54-32:18
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." Every creature everywhere.
32:20-32:23
What do you mean "creature"?
32:23-32:25
What do you mean creature? I mean, we've seen angels, right?
32:26-32:28
And we've seen people worshipping. What do you mean by creature?
32:28-32:31
And I'm going to tell you what I believe that means, and you're going to laugh.
32:31-32:34
And then I'm going to show you what the Bible says, and you're going to feel bad for laughing.
32:34-32:37
And then you're going to apologize and offer to take me to lunch.
32:39-32:41
That's how the scenario played out in my mind.
32:43-32:48
When it says creatures, I believe he's talking about animals.
32:50-32:52
Pastor Jeff hit the eggnog early. No.
32:54-32:55
No, look at Psalm 148.
32:58-33:03
"Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures in all deeps." Look at the end.
33:03-33:08
"Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds." Who's called to praise the Lord?
33:08-33:10
What does the Bible say who's called to praise the Lord?
33:10-33:11
Doesn't it look like?
33:12-33:15
Doesn't it look like the Bible says the animals are going to be praising the Lord?
33:16-33:19
And you're like, "What's that sound like or look like, Pastor? I have no idea.
33:19-33:26
Neither of my dogs are saved, but the Bible says it's going to happen.
33:26-33:29
I don't know what that's like. I can't wait to find out.
33:31-33:33
You know the very last verse in Psalms, you know what it is?
33:33-33:36
The very last verse, Psalm 150, last verse in Psalms.
33:36-33:42
"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Praise the Lord.
33:44-33:50
So when it says creatures, I believe somehow, And those are just a couple examples.
33:50-33:58
Because of what the Psalms say, I believe that somehow even the animal kingdom is rising to praise to their Creator too.
34:00-34:18
Verse 14, "And the four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshipped." It's time for Jesus to reclaim what is rightfully His.
34:19-34:29
You see, the Lion has conquered as the Lamb on the cross.
34:31-34:38
Now it's time for the Lamb to conquer as the Lion on the earth.
34:40-34:40
He's coming back.
34:42-34:48
He's about to take the scroll and right every wrong on the earth.
34:48-34:55
He's about to pour out His wrath on His enemies and finally fulfill every promise to God's people.
34:57-35:00
I want you to stand as the worship team makes their way forward.
35:00-35:02
In just a minute we're going to lift up your voices.
35:06-35:13
Did you notice verse 12, it says, "They were saying with a loud voice." It's okay to be loud.
35:15-35:17
Because that's how the worship is in heaven.
35:18-35:24
But let's stand for a prelude of the heavenly chorus we will someday join.
35:24-35:26
Look at Psalm 68 verses 1-4.
35:27-35:32
Psalm 68 says, "God shall arise.
35:33-35:48
His enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him as smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God.
35:50-35:51
But the righteous shall be glad.
35:52-35:54
They shall exult before God.
35:54-35:56
They shall be jubilant with joy.
35:57-35:58
Sing to God.
35:58-36:00
Sing praises to His name.
36:00-36:03
Lift up a song to Him who rides through the deserts.
36:03-36:05
His name is the Lord.
36:06-36:08
Exalt before Him." Are you ready?
36:08-36:09
Are you ready?
36:09-36:10
Let's do it.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 5

GROUP

Explain why John wept (Rev 5:4). Specifically, what evils on earth are YOU wanting to see eliminated?
Why do you think God the Father (on the throne) didn’t just open the scroll? Why did it have to be the Lamb (Jesus)?
What as-of-yet-unanswered prayer of yours will you see - for sure - answered in heaven?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

Jeff Miller

December 9, 2018

Coming Soon!

In Heaven: The Worshiped One

Jeff Miller

December 9, 2018

Coming Soon!

  
    Intro / Review:

  The Throne and the Worship.

On the Throne: The Worshiped one. (Rev 4:2-3)
     
Around the Throne: The Worshipers. (Rev 4:4-7)
     
24 elders
4 living creatures

Torwards the Throne: The Worship. (Rev 4:8-11)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:40-00:43
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Revelation.
00:44-00:57
We are going to be in chapter 4, and the title of today's message is "Coming Soon in Heaven, the Worshipped One." Today, we are going to heaven.
00:57-01:07
Well, we need to clarify some things, because when it comes to heaven, let's be honest, there are a lot of very weird ideas about heaven.
01:07-01:32
Some people think heaven is you get a white toga and a harp and you sit on a cloud and That's it. And you know This week I was I actually googled this you can do the same if you're interested Googled our books about people who claim to have been to heaven and come back Do you know how many books there are?
01:32-01:36
Heaven is for real. 90 minutes in heaven. My time in heaven.
01:36-01:39
To heaven and back. Miracles from heaven. Proof of heaven.
01:40-01:42
There are a lot of them.
01:42-01:44
Let's just say I'm a little skeptical.
01:45-01:51
Oh, when it comes to heaven, there are, even more than books, there are dumb jokes about heaven, right?
01:51-01:53
You've heard some of these dumb jokes, haven't you?
01:54-02:37
A man dies, and he appears at the pearly gates before St. Peter, and Peter says, "Well, in order to get into heaven, you have to answer like this question or whatever like those are so dumb but here today we're going to get a real account of somebody that was actually there and his name was John and this is such a significant passage because this passage gives you the most details about heaven in the entire Bible all right so just a quick review to get us all caught up on the same page we're in Revelation verse by verse, and John the Apostle was exiled on the island of Patmos for preaching the gospel.
02:38-02:48
And while he was exiled, basically he was on a prison island, and while he was exiled, Jesus Christ appeared before John in all his majesty and all his glory.
02:48-03:04
And he said, "John, I want you to write some things down." He said, "I want you to write down the things that you see, the things that are, and the things that will take place after this." Well, the things that you see, number one, that was glorified Jesus Christ.
03:04-03:08
That was Revelation chapter 1. We covered that. Done.
03:08-03:15
Number two, Jesus said, "Write down the things that are." Those are the messages to the churches. Done. We finished that.
03:16-03:21
So all that's left is number three, the things that are to take place after this.
03:21-03:25
So when you think about it, we are two-thirds done with Revelation already.
03:25-03:40
So let's look at Revelation 4.1, where John says, "After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven." Stop right there. He says, "After this." After what?
03:41-03:47
After the church age. After the era that we live in now.
03:48-03:58
I'd like to remind you that the church is nowhere mentioned Revelation chapters 4 through 19 as the tribulation is described in detail.
03:59-04:26
Because just like Revelation 3.10 promises the church will not be present on the earth to endure the events of the tribulation. So look at the rest of verse 1. John says, "And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this.'" Whose voice is that? It's the voice of Jesus Christ.
04:27-04:31
Well, how do you know that? Because John says it was the voice of a trumpet.
04:31-04:33
It sounded like a trumpet.
04:33-04:39
And that's the same phrase that he used in chapter 1, verse 10, to describe the voice of Jesus Christ.
04:40-04:46
So Jesus Christ tells John to come up and see what is going to take place after this.
04:47-04:51
And understand, church, in a way that it just baffles my mind.
04:51-04:57
but John is translated through space and time.
04:58-05:13
I don't think Jesus just had a TV screen and said, "John, I want you to watch this quick video I put together about the end of the world." Jesus literally said, "I want you to see what's going to happen." He took John forward through time to watch these events.
05:14-05:18
"I want you to see what's going to happen at the end of the world, John.
05:18-05:21
I want you to see what's going to happen after the Church Age.
05:22-05:32
And in a real sense, for all intents and purposes, you can say that John experienced the rapture here, symbolizing that the Church Age was coming to a close.
05:32-05:35
John sort of went through his own personal version of the rapture.
05:36-05:45
Now, to this point in the Bible, there are very few specific details regarding the last events of the earth, the tribulation, the judgment of God.
05:45-05:48
We see glimpses here and there, and there's prophecies here and there.
05:48-05:57
We can try to take all of these pieces and put them together, but there's very little overall to go on to this point in the Bible.
05:57-06:05
But now, now at Revelation, everything is about to be revealed in absolutely astonishing detail.
06:05-06:09
And all of these events of the tribulation kick off in heaven.
06:10-06:15
Specifically in chapter 4, which we are looking at today, Everything in chapter 4 centers around the throne.
06:16-06:17
God's throne in heaven.
06:17-06:24
So if you're taking notes, if you have one of those outlines, we're going to be talking about the throne and the worship.
06:24-06:31
So number 1, jot this down, "On the throne, the worshipped one." The worshipped one.
06:32-06:34
Look at verses 2 and 3 with me, please.
06:34-06:42
John says, "At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
06:43-06:57
And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald." First of all, John sees God Himself on the throne.
06:57-07:10
Now, everything he sees and describes, all through Revelation, it absolutely just astounds me that he doesn't really give a description of what God Himself looks like.
07:11-07:18
Aside from two colors, he said the one seed that I'm throwing had the appearance of, he says, first of all, jasper.
07:18-07:20
Like, what's jasper?
07:20-07:25
Actually, if you go to Revelation 21, verse 11, you'll see that that is crystal clear.
07:26-07:27
It's what we would call a diamond.
07:28-07:32
He says carnelian, that's a dark red ruby color.
07:32-07:46
So what John sees on the throne, he can't see God, in a sense in which he could describe God, but the appearance he saw on the throne had this diamond and ruby appearance.
07:46-07:58
But then did you see he said, "And around the throne was this rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald." So there's this rainbow around the throne, but somehow green was the dominant color.
07:58-08:11
And I'm trying to imagine what this must have looked like, and the best thing I can come up with is if you looked at a rainbow through green tinted glasses is the only thing that I could compare it to.
08:11-08:17
But when you think of the rainbow, in our day, it's a symbol that's been hijacked.
08:18-08:24
But I want to remind you the original purpose of the rainbow is it's a sign of God's covenant.
08:25-08:36
Back in Genesis 9, verse 13, God says, "This is a sign of the covenant." This is something that stands as a symbol of my faithfulness and my promises.
08:37-08:39
Why did God choose a rainbow for that?
08:39-08:41
Do we have a picture of that rainbow?
08:42-08:46
Why did God choose a rainbow as the symbol of His covenant?
08:47-08:54
I believe that it's the perfect balance of colors that remind us that God's attributes are always in perfect harmony.
08:55-08:56
And here's what I mean by that.
08:56-08:58
Is God a God of mercy?
08:58-08:59
Is God a God of mercy?
09:01-09:49
he is. Is God loving? Is God loving? Absolutely he is loving. But let me ask you this. Is God a God of angry judgment? He is. You see the problem is we as people we go to one side of the spectrum or the other don't we? There's some people like God's just loving, God's just like he doesn't care what you do and and God accepts everything about everyone and sin's not an issue. God's But then you have people on the other end of the spectrum that's like, "God's always angry, and he's going to strike you down for this, and he doesn't like that, and he's mad about this, and he's mad about that, and God's just always up in heaven stomping around, and he's just so mad about everything that we're doing." That is not an accurate representation of God.
09:50-09:55
Yes, He is loving. Yes, He is angry and judging.
09:55-10:01
But the rainbow reminds us that His attributes are always in perfect balance.
10:02-10:06
God's a God of grace and God's a God of discipline at the same time.
10:07-10:10
So on the throne, what He sees is the worshiped one.
10:11-10:15
Number two, draw this down around the throne, let's talk about the worshipers.
10:16-10:20
The worshipers, and you're going to see there's two types of worshipers highlighted.
10:20-10:23
First of all, let's talk about the 24 elders.
10:23-10:25
Look at verse 4 with me.
10:25-10:40
"And around the throne were 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with gold crowns on their heads." The 24 elders. Who are the 24 elders?
10:40-10:42
Well, a lot of people say, "Well, these are angels.
10:42-10:51
These are angels around the throne, and they're not angels, actually." You're like, "Well, how do you know they're not angels?" Because angels are never described in the Bible as sitting on thrones.
10:52-10:57
Angels are never described as ruling. Angels are never called elders.
10:58-11:00
Angels are never depicted wearing crowns.
11:01-11:13
The best conclusion, if you're reading the Bible straightforwardly, as we are committed to, is that these 24 elders are human representatives of the church.
11:14-11:16
Where did you come up with that? Well, from the text.
11:17-11:20
It says, first of all, they were wearing white garments, right?
11:20-11:22
The clothes of righteousness. Does that sound familiar?
11:23-11:31
If you've been with us through the series, Jesus promised Sardis, and He promised Laodicea, Revelation 3.5.18.
11:31-11:35
He gives the white garments of righteousness to His people.
11:36-11:40
He already promised that to the church, and now we see a group wearing white garments.
11:40-11:46
Like, "Well, that must be church." Also, the crown, the crown of life, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory.
11:46-11:48
He promised it to Smyrna, Revelation 2.10.
11:48-12:17
he promises to Philadelphia, Revelation 3.11. So based on what these people are wearing, it looks like these are representatives of the church. You're like, "Well, why are there 24?" That is a really good question. Well, the best answer we have, again reading the Bible straightforwardly, if you just jot this down, 1 Chronicles chapters 24 and 25, you can go back and read that sometime, 1 Chronicles 24 and 25 in your Old Testament, the number 24 is used to show So completeness and representation.
12:17-12:23
And something that's true in the Old Testament and the New Testament, elders are representatives of the people.
12:24-12:25
That was true in Old Testament Israel.
12:26-12:28
They had elders that represented the people.
12:28-12:30
That's true in the New Testament church.
12:30-12:32
That's true in this church.
12:33-12:38
We have elders who represent the people of the church.
12:38-13:26
So these elders, in Revelation 4, elders represent the raptured and glorified church. Now I just want to remind you as we're going through this passage and we're looking at these colors and seeing these scenes, John is just describing to us what he sees. He's sort of taking it all in and describing. He's not spending a lot of time explaining. Do you catch that? John's not like, "Well, I saw this and here's exactly what that's all about. He's just like, "Look at this! Look at this!" Look at verse 5. Verse 5 says, "From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder." Stop there for a second. Lightning and thunder are associated with God's judgment.
13:27-13:30
We're going to see that again in Revelation 8.5, 11, 19, 16, 18.
13:31-13:33
We're going to see that. We see that throughout the Old Testament.
13:33-13:37
Lightning and thunder are associated with God's judgment.
13:37-13:47
And John says, as he sees this awesome God seated on the throne, from this throne are coming lightning and thunder and rumblings.
13:48-13:51
And what's going on here? I'll tell you what's going on.
13:51-13:54
This is a preview of the judgment that's about to come.
13:55-14:03
In other words, to put it in maybe terminology we'd be more familiar with, we would say this, God is revving His engine.
14:03-14:05
That's what's going on in this passage.
14:05-14:12
God has His car on, but in park, and He is pumping the gas of judgment.
14:13-14:17
At this point in heaven, God is about to unleash His judgment on the earth.
14:18-14:20
And when John sees Him on the throne, God's just sitting there.
14:20-14:27
"Roar! Roar!" And that's the thunder that John hears coming from the throne.
14:28-14:29
Awesome.
14:30-14:31
Look at verse 5, second part here.
14:31-14:44
He says, "And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God." These torches are some manifestation of God's Holy Spirit in all His fullness.
14:44-14:45
We've talked about that.
14:45-14:54
There are not seven Holy Spirits, but Isaiah 11.2 talks about the sevenfold attributes of God's Holy Spirit.
14:55-15:04
Verse 6, "And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal." What is the sea of glass?
15:04-15:14
Well, the sea of glass is a metaphor, because there's no sea, there's no water, as we understand it in heaven, according to chapter 21, verse 1.
15:15-15:25
But this sea of glass, jot this down, you can read this again later, Exodus 24.10, it refers to a pavement of glass or crystal.
15:26-15:34
That's what that's talking about, is this giant pavement of glass that's around the throne of the Almighty.
15:35-15:36
He sees these 24 elders.
15:36-15:42
The second type of worshiper that he sees are four living creatures.
15:43-15:52
He continues in verse 6, "And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
15:53-15:55
Now, these living creatures become key players in Revelation.
15:55-15:58
And when we say "living creatures," they're not animals, okay?
15:59-16:15
The Greek word "zoon" literally means "living creature." You're like, "Well, who are these living creatures?" Well, Ezekiel 1 describes these same beings, and Ezekiel 10.15, Ezekiel identifies them.
16:15-16:16
They're cherubim.
16:16-16:22
These are angels who are often in Scripture associated with being in God's presence.
16:23-16:26
They're angels that are associated in Scripture with God's holiness.
16:27-16:30
And he says they're full of eyes. We see that again in verse 8.
16:31-16:31
Now, they're not omniscient.
16:32-16:36
He makes a point to remind us that these angels know what's going on.
16:36-16:39
They see what's going on.
16:39-16:54
Verse 7 says, "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." Again, he uses the word "like." It's a comparison.
16:54-16:56
He's doing his best to describe what he sees.
16:57-17:04
And actually, if you go back to Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 1 tells us that all of these cherubim have all of these attributes.
17:04-17:10
They have many faces that have this appearance of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle.
17:11-17:13
Again, John didn't really explain it, did he?
17:13-17:16
He just described it, just as Ezekiel did.
17:16-17:34
So what do we have? Bottom line, we have angels, and we have people gathering around the throne of the Almighty to bask in the glory of the One who is seated on the throne, who's revving His engine for judgment on the earth.
17:35-17:37
But this all leads to number three.
17:37-17:39
Draw this down towards the throne.
17:40-17:42
We see who's on the throne, we see who's around the throne.
17:42-17:45
Let's see what goes towards the throne. That's the worship.
17:46-17:46
The worship.
17:47-18:10
It says, "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, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.'" that day and night, they never stop.
18:11-18:16
This endless worship isn't some obligation.
18:18-18:21
There's nobody standing around this throne looking at their watch.
18:22-18:29
There's nobody nudging the person next to them, saying, "Mike, how much longer do you think this is going to go?" That's not happening.
18:30-18:40
What is happening is a loving, worshipful compulsion that's saying this is just getting better and better and better and better.
18:40-18:45
And you're going to see that in the text, especially as we go into next week, spoiler alert.
18:46-18:49
But if you want to put it into perspective, I want you to think about it this way.
18:49-18:50
Can you think of a time?
18:51-19:00
Can you think of a time that you were in church or maybe you were at a church conference or some congregational setting?
19:00-19:07
Can you think of a time, and I can think of it many times for myself in this church, Can you think of a time that you worshipped in church?
19:07-19:11
And when I say worshipped, I mean really worshipped.
19:11-19:12
Can you think of a time like that?
19:12-19:20
Just think of a time in your life that you were like, I just remember worshipping and I felt God's presence.
19:21-19:27
And the more I felt his presence, the more I just poured myself out in praise and adoration.
19:28-19:31
And maybe in that moment, you just felt so much joy.
19:32-19:38
And maybe you just, you had tears running down your face because you thought about how awesome he is and what he's done for you.
19:39-19:42
And you, have you ever been to a worship service like that?
19:43-19:44
Show of hands, who knows what I'm talking about?
19:45-19:46
You know what I'm talking about.
19:48-19:54
Worship in heaven is that, times a trillion, every day.
19:55-19:59
And in a place that's timeless, you're not going to get bored with it.
19:59-20:03
We're just going to get more and more and more excited about it.
20:04-20:15
So the first song that John hears in this worship set that continues into chapter 5, you don't want to miss next week because it just gets even more awesome, if that's even possible.
20:15-20:20
But the first song of the worship set we see worships God for, first of all, His holiness.
20:20-20:21
Do you see that?
20:21-20:21
His holiness.
20:22-20:23
Holy, holy, holy.
20:23-20:24
What is holiness?
20:25-20:27
That's a whole other sermon series.
20:28-20:31
Holiness is the summation of everything that God is.
20:32-20:36
Like, what's the number one characteristic that can be used to describe God?
20:36-20:38
Holiness is the top of the list.
20:39-20:41
Holiness is the green in that rainbow.
20:42-20:46
Holiness means that God is separate from evil.
20:46-20:49
He's untainted, He's pure.
20:50-21:00
Isaiah 6.3, the angels were singing, proclaiming rather the same thing, "Holy, holy, holy." That means there is nothing like God.
21:00-21:01
There is no one like God.
21:01-21:03
And there's nothing that compares to him.
21:03-21:10
There's nothing you can point to and say, "Wow, that's a lot like God." Because God is in a complete league of his own.
21:10-21:11
That's holiness.
21:12-21:15
You see, the next thing he prays him for is his power.
21:16-21:20
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, his power.
21:21-21:22
God has no weakness.
21:22-21:29
God is the only person who has ever existed never will exist that can say, I do whatever I want to do.
21:30-21:35
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 115, verse three, it says, "Our Lord is in the heavens.
21:35-21:39
He does everything that He pleases." He does.
21:40-21:44
God is able to do whatever He wants.
21:44-21:46
And do you know what He wanted to do?
21:47-21:47
He can do anything.
21:48-21:49
All right, we've established that.
21:49-21:50
He can do anything.
21:50-21:51
And do you know what He wanted to do?
21:52-21:53
He wanted to die for you.
21:54-21:55
Let that sink in.
21:55-22:00
He wanted to suffer and die for you.
22:01-22:05
What God wants is to save you from your sin.
22:06-22:11
What God wants is to bring you into a relationship with Himself.
22:12-22:16
He is able to do everything that He wants.
22:17-22:23
And to save us from our sins, the way He accomplished that was by coming to the earth as a man, Jesus Christ.
22:23-22:32
dying in our place on the cross, taking our sin on Himself, resurrecting from the dead to defeat death and to give us the promise of eternal life.
22:33-22:39
The God who has the power to do anything and is answering to no one has chosen to do that.
22:40-22:42
He's also praised for His eternality.
22:43-22:45
I'm going to be honest with you, I don't even know if that's a word. Is that a word?
22:45-22:49
It is now. Alright. Somebody get Webster on the phone.
22:49-22:50
Eternality.
22:51-22:58
"Who was, and is, and is to come. He is the great I Am." He is the great I Am.
22:58-23:02
Ten trillion years ago, He was the great I Am.
23:02-23:06
And in ten trillion years, He will be the great I Am.
23:07-23:10
He's not getting weak over time. He's not getting better over time.
23:10-23:15
He is always 100% perfect at any time.
23:16-23:18
Then the song changes a little bit. Look at verse 9.
23:19-23:29
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever..." Stop there. Did you see the song change?
23:30-23:32
Glory, honor, thanks.
23:32-23:33
You're like, "Wait a minute. Thanks?
23:33-23:45
I can understand why somebody like me would be thankful to God because I was heading to hell in my sin, and God rescued me through Jesus Christ.
23:45-23:48
I can understand why I'd be thankful, but why in the world are these angels thankful?
23:49-23:52
They weren't saved from their sin in the same way that I was.
23:52-23:55
What are they thankful for?
23:55-23:57
I'll tell you what they were thankful for.
23:58-24:00
They were created to know God.
24:01-24:05
And if you know God, you understand that that's enough to be thankful for. Amen?
24:06-24:09
I think that's all they were thankful for, and that was way more than enough.
24:10-24:14
The privilege of being in the presence of the one on the throne.
24:14-24:23
Verse 10, "The twenty-four elders fall down before Him, who is seated on the throne and worships Him, who lives forever and ever.
24:23-24:35
They cast their crowns before the throne." So the elders on cue join the praise, and it says they throw their crowns before Him.
24:35-24:36
You're like, "Well, wait a minute.
24:37-24:41
If you've been with us, we've talked about this a couple times in this series.
24:42-24:48
Jesus gives us a crown, right? We've already talked about that in depth.
24:48-24:55
So, if Jesus gives us a crown, why would we just throw it before Him?
24:55-25:00
Why would we do that? I mean, isn't that crown just going to be glorious and awesome?
25:00-25:03
And yeah, it is. But here's the thing.
25:03-25:09
When you see the one who is seated on the throne, your crown doesn't look so shiny all of a sudden.
25:09-25:13
You see, the crown is a reward for faithfulness.
25:13-25:26
You have this crown, and you're like, "He gave this to me because I was faithful." But then in heaven, you're going to realize more than you ever have, that the only reason you were able to be faithful is because He was faithful first.
25:27-25:27
Right?
25:28-25:35
You realize in heaven, more than you ever will, that we have nothing, that we weren't given. Right?
25:36-25:38
What did you bring into the world with you?
25:39-25:42
Every single thing that you have was given to you.
25:43-25:48
You realize when you're before the throne that, I mean right now you might be, "Look what I accomplished.
25:48-26:17
I've been on the mission field, and I did Bible translation, and I led these people to Christ, and I baptized these people." And there might be a sense in which you're like, "I accomplished some things." But then when you're in heaven, you're going to realize like you never realized before that every single thing you accomplished was only done because He willed it and He empowered it.
26:17-26:20
And you're going to go, "Yours!
26:21-26:22
This is yours!
26:23-26:31
The glory is yours!" And I would suggest to you that this is going to be one of our greatest joys in heaven.
26:32-26:34
Some people are thinking, "Oh, I can't wait to get that crown!
26:34-26:43
I can't wait to get that crown!" I think even greater than getting the crown, I think an even greater joy in heaven is that day that you're gonna take it off and throw it at the feet of Jesus.
26:44-26:45
I think that's gonna be your greatest joy.
26:46-26:51
You are worthy, you are awesome, you are glorious.
26:52-26:56
And what a privilege it was for me to know you and serve you.
26:57-26:59
The elders praise God, verse 11.
27:00-27:08
Worthy are you, there it is, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.
27:09-27:19
For You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created." Actually, in verse 11, in the Greek, the definite article is present.
27:19-27:31
Literally meaning, they were saying, "The glory and the honor and the power is what you deserve to receive." Look at the content of their worship. Look at the lyrics of their song here.
27:32-27:34
For you created all things.
27:35-27:39
I'd just like to point out to people that don't think creation is a big deal.
27:39-27:54
Like, "I don't know why churches get all fussed up about creation, and did God literally create man? I don't know why people..." For those of you that think creation is not a big deal, I'd just like to point out to you that the topic of creation is the content of worship in heaven.
27:55-28:03
They said, "By your will, they existed and were created." Your will. Your will. Interestingly, do you know "will" here?
28:03-28:10
This is the last use of the word in the Bible. Your will.
28:10-28:12
And here's why this is so significant.
28:12-28:14
Do you know the first time this is used in the New Testament?
28:15-28:16
It's when Jesus taught us to pray.
28:17-28:20
"Father in heaven, hallowed holy be your name.
28:21-28:24
Your kingdom come." What's the next line? There it is.
28:24-28:26
That's the first time that's used in the New Testament.
28:26-28:43
"Your will be done." taught us to pray, "God, your will be done. Let your will be done. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And here, this is the last use of that word because this is the ultimate and final answer to that prayer.
28:44-28:46
God says, "You've been praying for my will to be done?
28:48-28:48
(Growl)
28:48-28:50
Your prayer is about to get answered.
28:51-28:53
Ultimately and finally.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 4

GROUP

Of this description of heaven, what surprised you or stuck out to you the most?
How would you respond to someone who says, “I really don’t care for the music part of church, I just come for the sermon.”?
Don’t give a “Sunday School answer - what would you really say to such a person?
List the reasons God is praised from verses 8-11. Which one of these fires you up the most? Why?
Why is “creation” a subject included in worship in heaven? What does that say about how we should view the doctrine of creation?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another to grow as worshipers - on earth as it is in heaven!

Jeff Miller

December 2, 2018

Coming Soon!

To the Lukewarm Church: Come to Christ!

Jeff Miller

December 2, 2018

Coming Soon!

  
    Intro / Review:

  Progress Report: Laodicea. (Rev 3:14-22):

The CRITICISM. Your lukewarmness makes Jesus Spew. (Rev 3:15-17)
     
The COMMAND. Go after what Jesus Offers! (Rev 3:18-20)
     
The CALL. Be Seated with Jesus. (Rev 3:21-22)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:40-00:45
Open up your Bibles with me please to Revelation chapter 3.
00:47-00:51
If you're visiting with us, we're going through the book of Revelation verse by verse.
00:51-00:58
And we started in chapter 1, naturally, and we saw John the apostle was exiled on Patmos.
00:59-01:02
It was a prison island, and he was exiled there for preaching the gospel.
01:03-01:30
And while he was there, Jesus Christ showed up in all His majestic, radiant glory and said, "John, I want you to write some things down." And this section that we're looking at now, Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we're calling it "progress reports." These are reports that Jesus had for seven existing churches in what in that day was called Asia Minor, today it's the region called Turkey.
01:30-01:37
And in these letters, just like the other letters in the New Testament, these are messages for all churches of all time.
01:38-01:41
So today, we are going to be in Laodicea.
01:41-01:43
Look at verse 14.
01:44-02:04
"And the angel of the church in Laodicea writes, 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.'" Now back then, just like in our day, Cities were known for having a great characteristic about them.
02:04-02:04
Right?
02:05-02:08
There was something great about the city that everybody knew.
02:09-02:10
You know what I'm talking about?
02:11-02:12
Let's just take Pittsburgh, for example.
02:13-02:16
Pittsburgh is known for being great for what?
02:16-02:17
Shout it out.
02:18-02:19
I heard somebody say steel.
02:20-02:20
Right?
02:21-02:25
The steel city, right, were known for being great because of the steel city.
02:25-02:26
Did I hear somebody say robotics?
02:26-02:28
Sounds like somebody in the field.
02:28-02:34
Actually, that's very true. What else is Pittsburgh known to be great for? Bridges!
02:35-02:46
What's that? Potholes? No, great! Great! We're going for great! You know what, let's just stick with the stuff I have in my notes. How about that? I had sports, right?
02:46-03:28
City of Champions! And the Pirates. City of Champions! Then I thought of other cities that are known for something. I thought of Las Vegas. I mean, a lot of people think of Las Vegas as Sin City and it certainly has plenty of that but there's a lot of entertainment even family entertainment in Vegas and Vegas sort of has this reputation for being great for its entertainment and what about what about Cleveland okay not all cities are known for something great but Laodicea it was known for really three things one it was a it was a banking Number two, it was known for its black wool industry.
03:28-03:33
And thirdly, it was known for producing a special medicine that goes on your eyes.
03:34-03:38
The reason I'm telling you that is all of these things come into play when we get into this letter.
03:39-03:40
Spoiler alert.
03:41-03:43
Let's talk about the church, though. That's the city.
03:43-03:49
The church, outwardly, this church would have been the most impressive of all the churches.
03:49-04:03
outwardly. But inwardly, you're going to see it's the most distressing of all the churches. Of all the seven churches, and this is seven of seven that we've looked at, this is the only church with zero praise.
04:04-04:08
Jesus had nothing good to say about this church.
04:09-04:19
So Jesus introduces Himself. If you look at these terms, first of all, Jesus says that He is the "Amen." It's used only here in the Bible to describe Jesus Christ.
04:20-04:37
It's a transliteration of the Hebrew word for "truth" or "certainty." In modern vernacular, we would say, "Jesus is the 'take it to the bank.'" When Jesus makes a promise, take it to the bank that He is going to fulfill His promise.
04:37-04:41
And actually, the Bible says every promise of God is found in Jesus.
04:41-04:43
Did you know that? 2 Corinthians 1.20?
04:44-04:54
All of these things that God promises, every single thing is dependent upon Jesus Christ being who He is and accomplishing what He accomplished.
04:54-05:01
Every promise in Jesus Christ, every promise in God's Word rather, is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
05:02-05:09
When Jesus says, "I'm the Amen," we cannot possibly overstate the magnitude of such a statement.
05:10-05:12
He says He's the faithful and true witness.
05:13-05:17
Jesus is true because everything He speaks is truth, and vice versa.
05:17-05:20
Everything He speaks is truth because He is true.
05:21-05:24
And Jesus says He's the beginning of the creation of God.
05:25-05:33
Now this word for "beginning" in the Greek literally translates, "He is the source of creation." That's what that means.
05:34-05:41
Literally, the Greek word is "source," or you could say "origin." Jesus is saying that He is the source of all things created.
05:43-05:47
Church, I'd like to remind you that the truth of creation is foundation to everything we believe about God's Word.
05:48-05:51
Everything finds its foundation on the truth of creation.
05:52-05:55
Every false philosophy is grounded in evolution.
05:55-06:02
If I don't believe God created me, then He has no authority in my life, and His Word has no place in my life.
06:03-06:07
But Jesus says He is the beginning of the creation of God, the source, the origin of God's creation.
06:08-06:10
So let's look at the progress reports.
06:11-06:13
Number one, get right to the criticism.
06:13-06:15
Like I said, there's nothing praiseworthy, no commendation.
06:15-06:16
There's criticism.
06:17-06:24
Jot this down, "Your lukewarmness makes Jesus spew." You're like, "Really, Pastor Jeff? Spew?" That's what you're going with in your outline?
06:24-06:25
That was the nicest way we could put this.
06:27-06:31
"Your lukewarmness makes Jesus spew." Look at verse 15.
06:32-06:33
Jesus said, "I know your works.
06:34-06:36
You're neither cold nor hot.
06:37-06:41
Would that you were either cold or hot!
06:42-06:47
Stop there. This temperature language is a reference to Laodicea's water supply.
06:47-06:51
You see, water was actually piped into the city through several miles of aqueducts.
06:51-07:01
So when it finally arrived into the city, it wasn't like cool and refreshing, or it wasn't like a hot spring like some other cities had.
07:01-07:08
It was kind of lukewarm and nasty and kind of useless as is.
07:09-07:15
The obvious temperature figures of speech here Jesus is using, "hot," refers to being on fire for God.
07:16-07:20
Fired up, walking in the Spirit, serving Him with joy.
07:21-07:26
Jesus said, "That's not you." "Cold" refers to rejecting Christ, right?
07:26-07:38
Completely disinterested in His Word, completely disinterested in His work, completely disinterested in His kingdom, want nothing to do with Bible, Jesus, church, anything that's cold.
07:38-07:42
Jesus said, "Here's the problem. You're neither.
07:42-07:48
And I wish that you were one or the other." They didn't reject the Gospel outwardly.
07:48-07:54
They weren't standing outside the church with signs saying, "I hate the Bible" or something like that.
07:54-07:58
They didn't reject the Gospel, but they weren't saved either.
07:59-08:03
Like, "Wait a minute, how do you know they weren't saved?" Well, like I said before, there's no commendation.
08:04-08:15
Some of you that were with us when we studied the church at Sardis, Jesus said, "You're a dead church," but do you remember Jesus said, "There's a few of you. There's a few of you that are still walking in the Spirit." There's a few of you.
08:16-08:18
Leodicea didn't even get that.
08:19-08:27
Jesus didn't even say, "There's a few of you." And another reason I think there's nobody saved in this church at all, jump down to the end of verse 17.
08:27-08:29
Look at this list where Jesus describes it.
08:29-08:30
We're going to get to this in a couple minutes.
08:31-08:39
But Jesus said, "You are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." Does that sound remotely what the Bible calls a Christian at all?
08:40-08:41
No, it doesn't.
08:42-08:45
So I think there was nobody in this church that was truly saved.
08:46-08:47
You had a church full of pretenders.
08:48-08:50
Well, they thought they were saved.
08:51-08:54
That's the problem. That's the deception of lukewarmness.
08:54-08:57
The deception of lukewarmness is this, "Hey, I'm good enough.
08:58-08:59
I go to church, right? That's good.
09:00-09:03
I'm not opposed to the gospel. That's good.
09:03-09:13
Lukewarmness is good enough." And you see, that's why Jesus said, "I wish that you were hot or cold, but you're lukewarm." Maybe you have the question that I have, like, "Wait a minute.
09:15-09:20
Why would Jesus rather they be cold, completely rejecting Him, than lukewarm?
09:20-09:22
Why would Jesus rather they be cold?
09:22-09:26
as lukewarm is at least closer to hot, right?
09:26-09:29
Like, why would Jesus rather they be cold than lukewarm?
09:29-09:30
I'm going to tell you why.
09:31-09:39
Because the cold church, as bad as it is, will just wither and die and not affect anyone.
09:40-09:40
Right?
09:41-09:43
They're not going to reach out and affect anyone.
09:44-09:52
But the lukewarm church does more harm for the kingdom of Jesus Christ than just about anything else.
09:53-09:55
Why? Because it's attractive.
09:56-10:03
It's attractive to people who want to believe that lukewarm is okay.
10:04-10:10
So you see this big church full of lukewarm people, like, "Hey, this is fantastic.
10:10-10:14
You know, I've been looking for a little religion to make me feel better about myself.
10:15-10:19
I've been looking for a church to attend, but not to serve.
10:19-10:28
I'm looking for a place that isn't going to step on my toes, it's not going to hold me accountable, it's not going to challenge me.
10:29-10:32
Welcome to the first church of Laodicea.
10:32-10:37
You can attend here, and you can have a little religion, but let's not get too radical about it.
10:38-10:42
"Dang, how do I sign up for that?" That's the problem.
10:42-10:55
Look at verse 16, Jesus said, So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." Their condition made Jesus sick.
10:56-11:00
And I don't mean He is physically able to get sick.
11:00-11:01
He's God. He's Almighty.
11:01-11:05
But we don't have to explain what this means, do we?
11:06-11:07
It's like coffee.
11:07-11:09
Hot coffee is great.
11:09-11:10
Who's with me on that?
11:10-11:11
Hot coffee is great.
11:12-11:13
I love this church so much.
11:14-11:16
Hot coffee is great, right Mike?
11:16-11:18
How many people here like cold coffee?
11:19-11:27
Some of you like the frozen iced mocha frappuccino thing, whatever you call it.
11:27-11:28
I don't know what you call it.
11:28-11:29
I don't drink that kind.
11:30-11:31
But my wife likes iced coffee.
11:32-11:35
How many people just have a real passion for lukewarm coffee?
11:36-11:36
Anybody?
11:37-11:37
No.
11:38-11:39
Of course not.
11:39-11:40
Because you're intelligent.
11:41-11:44
Lukewarm coffee is gross.
11:45-11:51
And Jesus said to this church, "You're like lukewarm coffee to me, church. Gross!
11:52-11:56
I wish you would either..." Here's what Jesus is saying. I'm trying to wrap your brain around this.
11:56-12:04
He said, "I wish you'd either get fired up and follow me, or I wish you'd just stop pretending." Okay? Lukewarm.
12:05-12:08
These are the hardest people to reach with the gospel, by the way.
12:08-12:12
the hardest people by far to reach with the Gospel.
12:13-12:18
Lukewarm people are even harder to reach than people who reject Jesus outrightly.
12:18-12:24
Because rejecters, you see, at least they're not deceived about their condition.
12:24-12:26
They're not pretending. They know they're lost.
12:26-12:29
And they can at least see that they have a sin problem.
12:29-12:33
That's why my brother Mark Horton and I, how many years did we go to the prison ministry?
12:33-12:35
We've had this conversation.
12:35-12:39
That's one of the things we liked about prison ministry, Sin was not a hard sell in there.
12:40-12:49
You go in there, like, "Listen, you've got a problem with sin." And they're like, "What is this sin thing you speak of? I have no idea what you mean." Right, Mark? It was an easy sell, wasn't it?
12:49-12:55
Like, they were like, "Yeah! Yeah! I've got a real sin problem!" Lukewarm people don't see that.
12:55-13:05
They're like, "What are you talking about? I go to church every week." And there are people sitting here, week after week, who are lukewarm.
13:05-13:08
And the question this morning is, are you one of them?
13:09-13:17
Is there somebody here this morning that says, "You know, I like to come to this church, as long as there's nothing else going on." I'm really not going to get involved here.
13:18-13:24
I don't really carry the worship or the truth from the Word with me when I leave.
13:24-13:26
It just kind of stays there.
13:27-13:32
And there's really nothing about my life that looks like a Jesus follower throughout the week.
13:32-13:35
None of my co-workers would guess I go to church.
13:36-13:39
I spend next to no time in prayer.
13:40-13:41
Small group? No, no, no.
13:41-13:42
I'm not getting into small group.
13:42-13:45
I'm not into the whole prayer and accountability thing.
13:45-13:46
No, no, no.
13:46-13:50
Getting into the Bible myself, like spending time in God's Word myself?
13:50-13:54
No, I'll just wait for church when they read it to me there.
13:56-13:58
You're not opposed to coming here.
13:58-14:04
You might even like coming here, but that's really the beginning and end of what you consider to be your walk with the Lord.
14:05-14:05
Are you lukewarm?
14:06-14:07
Who would confess that today?
14:09-14:12
Who would confess that quietly in their own heart right now and say, "You know what?
14:12-14:19
I'm not against the Gospel, but I am so far from being fired up for Jesus Christ." Who would confess that today?
14:20-14:26
You can admit to yourself right in this moment, right now, like, "Yeah, you know what?
14:26-15:04
I'm lukewarm. You're right. I'm lukewarm." And the real tragedy is you'll leave all about it. What's for lunch? Where do you want to go to lunch? And go on and live a life being self-deceived and ultimately be somebody who stands before Jesus and fulfills the hardest words in the entire Bible. Matthew chapter 7, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy and cast all demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?
15:05-15:18
Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.'" Those words were not addressed to gospel rejecters.
15:20-15:27
Those words are being addressed to lukewarm people who thought they had a thing going on, but had nothing going on.
15:28-15:36
Jesus said, "I never knew you." Yeah, you looked busy, and you thought you were, but you never had the relationship with Jesus Christ.
15:36-15:38
How about you? Are you lukewarm?
15:39-15:42
Why is there so much lukewarmness in the church?
15:43-15:45
Look at verse 17. Look at the first part.
15:45-15:58
Jesus said, "For you say, 'I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.'" We'd be completely honest, of these seven churches that we've studied, Some of you have been with us for all seven.
15:59-16:00
Some of you have caught up online.
16:00-16:05
Of these seven churches, which one do you think sounds like the most like the church in America?
16:05-16:05
Which one?
16:06-16:06
Right here, right?
16:07-16:07
I am rich.
16:08-16:09
I prospered. I need nothing.
16:11-16:13
How many of us have said that going into Christmas?
16:13-16:18
"What do you need for Christmas?" "I don't need anything." "I've said that." Let's be honest.
16:19-16:22
We live in the Wexford, Cranberry area.
16:23-16:26
Most of us here are not far out.
16:27-16:29
Let's be honest, when was the last time you really needed something?
16:30-16:32
I mean, really needed something.
16:33-16:34
When was the last time you were desperate?
16:35-16:42
When was the last time you were completely broken before God over your own heart's condition?
16:43-16:46
When was the last time you cried out to God for provision?
16:47-16:54
When was the last time you were on your face, tears soaking your floor, saying, "I need you, God!
16:54-16:59
God, I need you now, and nothing else can save me, God.
17:00-17:02
Nothing else can help me, God, it has to be you, God.
17:02-17:04
I so desperately need you.
17:04-17:09
When was the last time anybody in this room has been in that state?
17:09-17:12
And I think we're more like the lukewarm church than any church.
17:13-17:19
And we think, well, yeah, we do have an advantage being so financially secure.
17:19-17:20
We have this advantage.
17:21-17:23
And Jesus said, that's a disadvantage.
17:24-17:24
It's a disadvantage.
17:26-17:31
For you say, "I am rich, I prosper, and I need nothing." Jesus said, "That's your problem." Look at the next phrase.
17:31-17:41
Jesus said, "Not realizing that you are wretched, "pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." Jesus said, "That's your true condition, "and that's really, again, the tragedy of lukewarmness.
17:41-17:45
"You don't recognize how bad off you really are." That's the tragedy.
17:45-17:46
You're just numb to it.
17:47-17:55
Right now, and it's frustrating as a preacher, because right now, there's some people sitting here, and they're like, "What's he talking about? I have no idea.
17:56-18:01
How much longer is he going to go? How long does he normally go?" Just like, not even there.
18:02-18:17
Or if you do have some sense, "You know what, he's right, I'm not really that serious about my Christianity or whatever." If you do have some sense about that, the danger of lukewarmness is you don't care enough to do anything about it.
18:18-18:20
You just get in the car and you're like, "Shucks, he was right.
18:21-18:25
I should be more fired up for Jesus." And then go time to the Stiller's play.
18:26-18:26
Right?
18:27-18:29
So that's the condemnation.
18:29-18:29
Let's look at the command.
18:30-18:31
Go after what Jesus offers.
18:32-18:32
Alright?
18:33-18:35
Who's ready for some good news at this point?
18:36-18:36
I am.
18:36-18:37
The command.
18:38-18:39
Go after what Jesus offers.
18:39-18:40
Look at verse 18.
18:41-18:59
"I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments, so that you may clothe yourselves, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and sad to anoint your eyes, so that you may see." What incredible graciousness on the part of our Lord.
19:00-19:05
Even a church in this condition, Jesus still calls them to Himself.
19:06-19:10
And here's the three things the city was known for that Jesus was offering them.
19:10-19:17
Do you see that? Gold, clothes, that's the black wool, and sight, that's the eye medicine.
19:17-19:19
Now you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
19:20-19:22
You're talking about Jesus and I can't wait for you to buy from me?
19:22-19:28
Like Jesus is selling these things?" Well, He's not teaching you can purchase these things with money.
19:28-19:33
This is actually an invitation, much like the one in Isaiah 55, verse 1.
19:33-19:35
Same invitation in the Old Testament.
19:36-19:38
"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
19:38-19:41
And he who has no money, come, buy and eat.
19:42-19:48
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." It's the same kind of invitation.
19:49-19:51
You see, the purchase price is to recognize your condition.
19:52-19:55
The purchase price is to recognize how desperate you really are.
19:56-19:58
These three things quickly, first of all, gold.
19:59-20:01
What's the gold referred to?
20:02-20:04
Gold refers to the priceless riches of salvation.
20:05-20:10
1 Peter 1.7 talks about our salvation in Christ being more precious than gold.
20:10-20:11
That's what he's calling them to.
20:12-20:16
He goes, "Hey, you wealthy people that don't think you need anything, I think you need Me. Come to Me.
20:17-20:18
Come to Me for salvation.
20:20-20:20
The white garments.
20:21-20:23
God clothes His people with white garments.
20:23-20:25
We talked about that back in chapter 3.
20:25-20:27
Verses 4 and 5.
20:27-20:28
The significance there.
20:28-20:32
God not only forgives you of your sin, He makes you holy.
20:32-20:33
Isn't that awesome?
20:34-20:41
God's not just like, "Ok, you're forgiven." He says, "I'm going to make you perfect." And we talked about that.
20:41-20:43
You can listen to that whole sermon online.
20:44-20:45
That's what the garments refer to.
20:45-20:46
He makes us holy and righteous.
20:47-20:48
He makes us perfect.
20:49-20:50
Then the eyes have...
20:50-20:52
See, they thought they could see, but Jesus said you're blind.
20:52-20:57
And the Bible uses that terminology so often talking about spiritual truth, right?
20:57-20:59
Like John 9, verses 40 and 41.
21:00-21:01
Spiritual blindness.
21:03-21:08
There were people literally that had Jesus right in front of them and they couldn't recognize Him for who He was, for who He is.
21:09-21:12
People today have God's Word right in front of them.
21:12-21:14
and recognize it for what it truly is.
21:15-21:19
And Jesus said, "Hey, if you come to Me, I have a medicine that can fix that.
21:19-21:25
I have salve that I can put on the eyes of your heart that can make you see who I am.
21:26-21:30
Come and get these things from Me." These were very, very hard words from Christ.
21:31-21:33
I'm sure it was hard for the church to hear.
21:33-21:40
I'm sure this church that thought everything was rocking, I'm sure this was a bucket of cold water in the face to them.
21:40-21:47
And I'm sure that there are people here today I'm like, wow, I was looking for more of a "be a nice co-worker" type of sermon.
21:47-21:49
I wasn't expecting this. This is hard.
21:51-21:53
Why is Jesus being so hard?
21:53-22:00
Why is Jesus hitting us between the eyes so hard?
22:00-22:01
Why is He doing that?
22:01-22:03
Look at verse 19. Here's why He does this.
22:03-22:14
"Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent." The reason these words are hard is because Jesus loves you.
22:14-22:21
If Jesus didn't love you, and He saw your lukewarmness, He'd be like, "Those people make me sick.
22:21-22:30
I want nothing to do with them." But it's because He loves you, that right now if you're feeling this sting, He's pursuing you.
22:31-22:37
See, stuff is never going to satisfy you, but we live in this backwards mindset, don't we?
22:38-22:40
and we have enough of Jesus, but we need more stuff.
22:41-22:44
When the truth is we have enough stuff, we need more of Jesus.
22:46-23:04
And the reason Jesus is so passionately going after this church, and every church that this message is preached to, is because He wants you to know, and you're going to discover this at some point, that your money can't give you what Jesus can.
23:05-23:07
The money can't give you what Jesus can.
23:08-23:10
Oh, I'm rich, I've prospered, I need nothing.
23:10-23:12
How helpful is that when a family member dies?
23:13-23:18
Suddenly it doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank because that money doesn't do anything for your inner peace, does it?
23:18-23:19
But I know someone who does.
23:21-23:21
Jesus Christ.
23:22-23:27
You see, when your marriage is falling apart, it doesn't matter how big your paycheck is.
23:28-23:29
Jesus can fix that.
23:30-23:39
You know, when you lose your job, this job that you've tied so much of your time so much of your life, and this job has sort of become your identity, and then you lose the job?
23:40-23:43
And you're like, "I'm so lost right now, because this job was like my everything.
23:43-23:48
This job was my identity." And it doesn't matter how much money you stashed away from that job.
23:49-23:54
Who or what is going to be able to truly establish your identity?
23:54-23:56
The answer is Jesus Christ.
23:57-24:07
When you're facing addiction, whether it's to a substance or pornography, or whatever your addiction is, and you find that your money and stuff can't break that addiction, you know, Jesus can.
24:08-24:10
His Holy Spirit can.
24:11-24:14
And we see that Jesus is fired up for these things.
24:15-24:19
And Jesus is saying these harsh words purely because He loves you.
24:20-24:23
And He wants what is best for you.
24:23-24:25
And He is what is best for you.
24:26-24:32
So open your eyes and wake up and mourn over your sin for real.
24:32-24:34
and not just repent.
24:34-24:36
Did you see what the text says?
24:36-24:48
Jesus said, "Be zealous and repent." Don't repent like somebody is saying, "Okay, you're right, I guess maybe I'll think about trying harder, doing things different, making some changes." Zealously!
24:49-24:51
Like, "I am going to go after this.
24:51-24:56
Number one priority. Nothing else matters." Be zealous and repent.
24:57-25:01
And allow Jesus Christ His rightful place as the Lord of your life.
25:02-25:03
Look at verse 20.
25:03-25:06
Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
25:06-25:21
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with Me." A lot of times this verse is used in an evangelical invitation sense, but it's bigger than that.
25:22-25:26
Jesus was knocking on the door of the church.
25:27-25:29
And that says a lot about His character, doesn't it?
25:29-25:30
This is the God of the universe.
25:30-25:33
Do you think He couldn't find a way in if He wanted in?
25:33-25:35
Do you think He'd have a problem kicking the door down?
25:36-25:37
I don't.
25:37-25:39
But this speaks a lot about His character.
25:40-25:41
Jesus doesn't force Himself in.
25:42-25:45
He's not standing outside angrily screaming.
25:46-25:51
He's just like, "Hey, I'd like in." Is there anybody in the church that will let me in?
25:51-25:58
Because I would love to come in and hang out with you guys, and eat with you guys, and fellowship with you guys, and be a part of what you guys are doing.
25:58-26:00
I would love to be a part of that.
26:00-26:02
Is there anybody that would let me in?
26:03-26:06
Today, if you hear the knock, open the door.
26:06-26:14
Repent of your pride and your self-sufficiency and your gross, sick, nasty lukewarmness.
26:15-26:18
Open the door and let Christ reign in you.
26:18-26:22
And you see, that's not just going to have an impact on you, which is awesome.
26:22-26:27
It's not just going to have an impact on you, it's going to have an impact on the entire church.
26:28-26:31
If you'll open the door, if you hear Him knock.
26:31-26:33
That's the command, go after what Jesus offers.
26:34-26:36
And then number three, finally, the call.
26:37-26:40
The call, be seated with Jesus.
26:40-26:42
Look at verses 21 and 22.
26:43-26:51
Jesus said, "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.
26:52-26:58
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." That last verse, we've seen every letter, right?
26:58-27:16
Jesus said, "If you're tuned in, turn the volume up." But look at the previous phrase where Jesus said, "He will grant you to sit with Him on His throne in the same way that He conquered and sat down with His Father on His throne." Is your heart able to fully embrace what a statement that is?
27:16-27:21
In the same way Jesus sits down with His Father on His throne?
27:21-27:28
Jesus said, "You can sit with Me like that." What? Reigning alongside Jesus Christ for eternity.
27:29-27:36
You know, all of these promises that Jesus has given to the churches, these are all promises for you, if you accept them.
27:37-27:42
Just a quick review, remember in Ephesus Jesus promised the Tree of Life, to live for eternity.
27:43-27:46
The Spirit of Jesus promised you would not ever face the second death.
27:47-27:50
In Pergamum, Jesus promised that God would give you a new name.
27:51-27:54
And God always renames His people with great significance and purpose.
27:56-28:03
To Thyatira, Jesus promised the Morning Star, that's Himself, but He also promised authority to lead, to reign with Him.
28:03-28:13
To Sardis, Jesus promised white garments, that's the holiness that only God can give you, the perfection that we all so desperately long for that God freely provides.
28:14-28:20
In Philadelphia, Jesus promised you could be a pillar in God's temple, and He was going to give you some sweet tattoos.
28:20-28:22
Then we get to Laodicea.
28:22-28:33
Jesus said, "You can sit on the throne alongside Me." So you've sort of put all of these things sort of into one basket, if such a thing were possible, if they make a basket that big.
28:33-28:37
Can anything compare to these promises of Jesus Christ? Anything.
28:37-28:39
Can you think of something greater?
28:39-28:41
They'd be like, "You know what, Jeff? That sounds good.
28:41-28:43
But do you know what would really sound cool?
28:44-28:49
Is if Jesus offered... let's hear it." Can you think of anything greater than these promises? No!
28:51-28:59
So the question today is, are you willing to forfeit all of these things He so freely and lovingly and graciously wants to give you because you're willing to be lukewarm?
29:00-29:01
I'd like you to bow your heads, please.
29:02-29:04
I'd like you to bow your heads and I want you to close your eyes.
29:04-29:09
And I want you to do this because I don't want us looking around or distracted.
29:09-29:11
I just want you to bow your head and close your eyes.
29:12-29:18
And I want to ask, who today is willing to take an honest and serious look at themselves?
29:19-29:23
Who here today is going to have the guts to admit, "You know what? I'm lukewarm.
29:23-29:30
I'm certainly not opposed to church, but I'm certainly not fired up for Jesus Christ." Is there somebody here that would be willing to admit that?
29:31-29:33
Is there somebody here that says, "That's me.
29:34-29:48
And I'm feeling it right now, and I'm feeling the sting of God's Word, and I'm feeling the invitation that Jesus Christ gave Laodicea, that He's giving to me, that He's calling me to something better, because He loves me.
29:49-29:55
My lukewarmness and my stuff and my complacency won't save me, it won't change me, it won't help me, but Jesus will.
29:56-30:02
If that's you today, if that describes you, this is not a repeat-after-me kind of thing, but I want to lead you in a prayer.
30:03-30:05
And I want to just sort of give you the concepts.
30:05-30:11
Right now, if you're just in a place, you're like, I'm going to pray these words, and I'm going to mean them from my heart.
30:11-30:13
I invite you to do that.
30:13-30:14
But today has to be the day.
30:15-30:16
First of all, pray to the Lord.
30:16-30:20
Say, "God, I confess I am lukewarm." Pray that.
30:21-30:32
From your heart, in your words, "God, I confess I'm lukewarm." And now, if this is you, if this is describing you, would you please confess before the Lord this truth?
30:33-30:35
God, change does not happen without you.
30:36-30:37
Can you confess that?
30:38-30:39
"But God, I can't change myself.
30:40-30:44
Only You can change me." Can you confess that before the Lord?
30:45-30:55
And now, if this is you, I want you to pray the most dangerous prayer you'll ever pray, but it's also the greatest prayer you'll ever pray.
30:56-31:08
At the same time, can you pray, "God, whatever it takes, set me on fire for You." Whatever it takes, set Me on fire for you.
31:09-31:33
God, if you have to take something away from Me, God, if I have to face a trial that brings Me to the place that I have nothing else to do but fall on My face and cry out to You, God, if You grant Me to not sleep because the Holy Spirit is taking Me down to the mats, Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.
31:33-31:36
We pray that. Set me on fire for You.
31:37-31:40
Heads bowed, eyes closed, between you and the Lord.
31:41-31:46
If you prayed this prayer today, would you just raise your hand as a way of acknowledging that before the Lord?
31:46-31:48
Would you raise your hand? Thank you. Thank you.
31:48-31:49
Many here, thank you.
31:50-31:53
Many here are taking that honest assessment and look.
31:54-32:03
And Jesus pointed out so clearly that it is the man who cried out to God for mercy, that went home justified before God.
32:03-32:08
The Father in heaven, you saw what was going on before any hands were raised to acknowledge.
32:09-32:10
You know God.
32:10-32:16
And I pray today that there are people here that can hear the sound of Jesus Christ knocking.
32:16-32:34
There are people here that would see Jesus as the priceless treasure that He is, and have their eyes open to the completely irrational foolishness that it is to reject Him, to walk away from His promises and everything that He offers.
32:35-32:37
How foolish, how sinful.
32:38-32:39
And God, I pray that today is a new day.
32:40-32:49
This is the first day of a different life for people who maybe are starting to get as sick of their lukewarmness as Jesus Christ is.
32:50-32:54
Father, for all of us, set us on fire for You.
32:55-32:57
Be our pearl of great price.
32:58-33:01
In You we live and we move and we have our being.
33:01-33:04
Be our Lord, our King, our Savior.
33:05-33:06
All to Your glory and honor.
33:07-33:10
We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 3:14-22

GROUP

Do you think Jesus was addressing SAVED or UNSAVED people in Laodicea? Defend your answer!
How does Rev 3:17 describe the American church? Explain.
Why is Jesus so “hard” with the way He speaks to this church? How is He being loving and gracious (Rev 3:18-19)?

BREAKOUT

Are you, or have you been acting, lukewarm? This is your wake-up call. What’s your plan to repent (Rev 3:19)? Pray for one another!

Jeff Miller

November 25, 2018

Coming Soon!

To the Faithful Church: Keep Holding On!

Jeff Miller

November 25, 2018

Coming Soon!

Intro / Review:

Progress Report: Philadelphia. (Rev 3:7-13):

The COMMENDATION: Your Faithfulness brings security. (Rev 3:8-10)

RAPTURE 101

What is the Rapture? - The rapture is the future event when Jesus Christ descends from heaven to gather his people, those who died and those living, to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, to receive their glorified bodies and be kept from the 7 year Tribulation on the earth.

3 New Testament passages teach the Rapture:

John 14:1-4, 1 Cor 15:51-54, 1 Thes 4:13-5:11

The Rapture is NOT the "Second Coming".
When is the Rapture?
Why I Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture:

It's the most Straightfoward understanding of the biblical language.
1 Thes 5:9 - For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ...
We never see the Church in the tribulation in Revelation!
Many of the common arguments against pre-trib rapture don't have Substance.

The COMMAND. Hold on Securely. (Rev 3:11)
The CALL. Security is for Eternity ! (Rev 3:12-13)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:39-00:41
We're going to go after God's Word. Are you ready for that?
00:42-00:44
Alright, I hope that's why you're here.
00:45-00:46
One of the reasons you're here.
00:47-00:52
I heard a story, I'm sure you've heard this before, it's been circulated a lot.
00:52-01:01
But the man who was, he was having some hard times, and somebody suggested to him that maybe he turns to the Bible for the answer.
01:01-01:17
And the guy had never really been to church that much, and he didn't really know anything about the Bible, But he knew he had one sitting on a shelf somewhere, so he pulled the Bible off the shelf, and he didn't even know where to start reading, so he flipped through and he put his finger down to Matthew 27.5.
01:18-01:36
It says, "Judas hanged himself." He's like, "Surely that's not for me." So he flips over a few passages, and he puts his finger down on another one, and it says, "Jesus said, 'Go and do likewise.'" 10.37.
01:38-01:56
The guy says, "No, no, no, this isn't the message for me." And he turns over a few more pages, and puts his finger down and reads right on John 13.27 where Jesus said, "What you are going to do, do quickly." I think we see the obvious problem, right?
01:57-01:59
But you know, some people read the Bible that way.
01:59-02:03
They just sort of open it up, and we're just going to take whatever I open up to and read.
02:03-02:08
I've talked to people that read the Bible that way, and they're proud that they read the Bible that way.
02:09-02:14
But the problem is you don't look at the context when you read the Bible that way.
02:15-02:18
And context gives understanding to the meaning of the words.
02:19-02:24
And that's why at Harvest Bible Chapel, we believe in verse-by-verse expository preaching.
02:29-02:37
If you just cherry-pick what verses you want to look at The truth is you can make the Bible say whatever you want it to say.
02:39-02:50
But when you go through verse by verse and allow God's Word to speak for itself, then there's a real sense in which you're hearing what God wants to communicate, not what the preacher wants you to think.
02:50-02:51
You know what I mean?
02:52-02:54
So, let's let the Word of God speak.
02:55-03:01
We're going to be looking at some tough stuff today, but I know I'm in a room full of people committed to that kind of thing. Amen?
03:02-03:03
All right, let's pray.
03:04-03:09
Father in Heaven, Your Word is exalted even above Your name according to You.
03:10-03:13
And I pray that we would take it as seriously as You do.
03:16-03:18
I pray that Your Holy Spirit would be our teacher.
03:24-03:31
And that while this is an extremely tough thing What we're looking at today, it's extremely important.
03:32-03:39
And I pray that we would be rid of any preconceived notions and just come with the expectation of what did God say?
03:41-03:43
Help us, Father, to go after that.
03:44-03:45
We pray in Jesus' name.
03:46-03:46
Amen.
03:48-03:50
Open up your Bibles to Revelation 3.
03:50-03:52
We're going to be picking up in verse 7.
03:53-03:55
While you're turning there, just a quick review.
03:56-04:03
In Revelation 1, John the apostle was exiled on the island of Patmos because of preaching the Gospel.
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And while he was there, Jesus showed up in all His glory and majesty and He told John, "I want you to write some things down." In the section we're in, in Revelation 2-3, we're calling it "Progress Reports." This is Jesus reporting on the condition of the church.
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speaking specifically to seven churches that were in Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey, but just like all the letters to the churches in the Bible, these are messages for all churches of all time.
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Okay, so today, as much as it pains me as a Pittsburgher to say, Today we're going to be in Philadelphia.
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Don't worry, this is a good Philadelphia.
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And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia writes, "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." Let's talk about Philadelphia.
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This was the youngest of the seven cities.
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And today, the city still exists, but it is called, and I practiced and practiced this, and I'm sure I'm going to butcher it, Alishir.
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But like Smyrna, Philadelphia didn't receive any rebuke from Christ.
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You're going to see that.
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Like Smyrna, these churches, Philadelphia and Smyrna, they were both the smallest and weakest churches of the group.
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They both dealt with what Jesus referred to as the synagogue of Satan.
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They were Jewish false teachers.
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Or they said they were Jewish.
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But they certainly knew who they were dealing with.
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But I want you to see how Jesus introduced Himself.
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Look at these phrases.
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Now previously, when Jesus introduced Himself to these churches, He used phrases sort of drawn from the description of chapter 1.
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But here He uses phrases drawn from the Old Testament.
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And so Jesus refers to Himself as the Holy One.
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That is huge.
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Because if you know your Old Testament, there's only one person who is referred to as the Holy One, and that is God Himself.
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And that phrase is used of Jesus Christ throughout the Gospels in different places.
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Jesus is the Holy One.
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And here Jesus is saying that He is God.
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Jesus said He's the True One.
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He's genuine, authentic, and real.
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I'm the way and the truth and the life, right?
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No fake news with Jesus.
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But the interesting phrase here, Jesus said He has the key of David.
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And He says, "Who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens." What is that all about?
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Well, "key" in the Bible refers to authority, right?
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You get that.
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At your workplace, some of you probably have keys to the workplace.
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And when you're issued a key, it says you have the authority now to unlock and lock doors.
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You certainly see that in Scripture.
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So what are the keys of... what's the key of David?
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Well in 2 Samuel chapter 7, David was promised that one of his descendants would rule forever.
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And Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of that.
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God said, "David, one of your descendants will be an eternal king, ruling forever." Jesus is that descendant of David in the flesh.
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So, because Jesus has the key of David, He's pointing out here that He alone determines who enters the kingdom.
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This is huge.
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That's why Jesus said, "Who opens and no one will shut." Jesus is saying no one can shut out those that He is opening the door for.
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This is great news.
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Because right now, if you are willing to turn from your sin and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, If you're willing to do that right now, then the door is open for you.
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He is opening the door for you, and no one can keep you out of heaven.
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That's what he's saying.
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Like, "I want to receive Jesus." Nobody's going to intervene and say, "You can't. You can't enter heaven." Jesus is like, "You can't shut a door that I'm opening." But you see, the inverse is true too.
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He says, "Who shuts and no one opens." "Who shuts and no one opens." In other words, no one can get into the kingdom if Jesus shuts them out.
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So if your plan is, and I've talked to people like this, if your plan is, "Yeah, I'm going to heaven, but not through repenting from my sin, not through receiving Jesus as my Lord and Savior, not through allowing God to be my everything." You ain't getting in apart from Jesus Christ." You're like, "Yeah, I am." No, you are not!
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Jesus said, "That is a door that I am shutting, and you are not going to open that." He alone has the authority to determine who gets in and out of the kingdom.
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Let's look at a progress report.
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Progress report Philadelphia.
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First of all, number one, jot this down, the commendation.
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Your faithfulness brings security.
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Your faithfulness brings security.
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Let's pick up in verse 8.
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Jesus said, "I know your works.
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Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut.
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I know you have but a little power.
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"Yet you have kept My word and not denied My name." Stop there for a second.
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That open-door security, Jesus brings that up again.
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They knew all about that in Philadelphia.
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But Jesus said, "I know you have but little power." Now, some people look at that and say, "Well, Jesus was criticizing them." "Oh, look at you, little church, you're just so little and tiny." He was actually commending them.
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"Yeah, you were small in and of yourselves, but they obviously found their power in Jesus Christ." Which led to the next thing, where Jesus said, "You have kept My Word." "You've kept My Word." They didn't deny the Word like so many do.
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They didn't distort the Word like many others do.
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They didn't dilute the Word.
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They kept His Word.
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And again, that's why we're committed to expository preaching at Harvest Bible Chapel.
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We want to keep the Word of God.
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Not deny, distort, or dilute.
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And in so doing, keeping the Word, they have not denied His name.
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Look at verse 9.
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He goes on, "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." These Philadelphians stood strong against the same false teachers that we saw in Smyrna, this synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not.
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But what's this, "they will bow down before you"?
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Well, it's not to worship.
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Jesus wasn't saying they're going to come and worship you.
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This is actually a sign of submission that you see a lot in the Old Testament.
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If you want to jot these references down, Isaiah 45.14, Isaiah 49.23, Isaiah 60.14.
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We're not going to look those up today, but you certainly can.
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But in all of these passages, you see people coming before Israel and bowing down because they recognize who Israel's God is.
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So what is Jesus saying here just to sum it up?
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Jesus is saying, "They will realize that they never should have messed with you because you are Mine." Some of these people might even come to repentance as a result.
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As I was working on this this week, I was thinking, this incident in high school.
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We had this really sweet substitute teacher.
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Just this sweet older lady the nicest human beings on the planet.
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Certainly not any of the kids from our youth, but you know how some high school kids can get a little disrespectful substitute teachers.
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You know what I'm talking about?
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Anybody know what I'm talking about?
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Okay. Not excusing it.
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I'm just saying I've seen it and may or may not have been part of it when I was in high school.
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But there is this really sweet substitute.
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By the way, when I tell this story, I'm not one of the kids in the story, OK?
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I'm not one of the kids.
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It's not like I heard this from a friend of mine.
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I'm asking for a friend.
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It's not like that.
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So we had this really sweet substitute teacher.
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Where did this story start?
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Where's it going?
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We had this really sweet substitute teacher, but there were these two boys in my class that got really belligerent and disrespectful with her.
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Just really way too far over the top, disrespectful.
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And later on, in gym class, we had this gym coach.
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Now, Jay, it's not the one you're thinking of.
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We had this other gym teacher that was almost as scary as the legendary, almost.
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His name was Mr. Brocchetti.
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Now, you remember him.
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Well, these boys come into gym class.
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And Mr. Brocchetti grabs these two boys.
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He goes, hey, I want to talk to you guys.
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And they're like, OK.
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He steps in.
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He laid them out.
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Yeah, he was like, you have no business treating any faculty here like this.
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You should be ashamed of yourself.
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You don't ever treat one-- and he was just like-- I mean, I was in the next room, and I had chills down my spine.
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And I'm like, why in the world is he-- I mean, it's great to have teachers standing up for each other, but why in the world was he so, like, all over these guys, it didn't hit me until he said, "By the way, did you know that she's my mother-in-law?" And I'm like, "They're dead."
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(audience laughing)
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Well, see, that's sort of what's going on here.
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Jesus is like, "Those people that messed with you, "they're gonna regret that.
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How do you think those boys treated that substitute teacher from that day forward?
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When they found out, they were probably like, "Can I get a pillow for your back? Would you like me to erase the board for you?" They probably bowed down before her, didn't they?
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That's what's going on here.
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You don't mess with Jesus people, right?
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You just don't do it.
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Because you might look real tough in the moment, but you don't mess with Jesus people.
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So, verse 10, "Because you have kept My word about patient endurance..." Oh, here it is.
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"I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth." They have been patiently enduring trials they've been standing for Christ, and since they passed the test, Jesus promised that He was going to spare them from the ultimate test.
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The ultimate test is the seven-year tribulation that we're going to be studying in Revelation that picks up in chapter 6.
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So today, today we are going to talk about the rapture.
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You knew it was coming, right?
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to have a sermon series through the book of Revelation without talking about the rapture.
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And Revelation 3.10 is one of the clearest teachings in the whole Bible about the rapture.
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And when you mention the rapture, it's always controversial.
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It's often neglected.
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It's seldom taught, but it's majorly important.
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And there might be some people here that disagree, and that's okay.
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If you would like to share with me sometime your views on "In Times," you can buy me a steak dinner somewhere and explain them to me, and I'll be glad to listen.
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But, as I am committed to believing and teaching the Bible straightforwardly, we're going after.
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All right? So this is Rapture 101.
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Rapture 101. You ready?
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Okay, first of all, what is the Rapture?
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This is sort of a generic definition I came up with.
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The Rapture is the future event when Jesus Christ "descends from heaven to gather His people" - those who died and those living - "to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, to receive their glorified bodies." Do you know the Bible says we're going to get a glorified body that's just like the same body that Jesus Christ Himself has?
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Philippians 3.21.
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Where were we? Yes.
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"So caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, receive their glorified bodies, and be kept from the seven-year tribulation on the earth as described in Revelation.
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This hour of testing is Daniel's 70th week.
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Daniel 9:25-27 in the Old Testament.
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The Bible talks about there is a future seven-year period on the earth of tribulation when God pours out His judgment on the earth.
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and it lasts for seven years. That's the Tribulation.
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There's three New Testament passages that teach the rapture.
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John 14, 1-4. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 51-54.
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And 1 Thessalonians 4.13 and I'd say to about 5.11.
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The whole section talks about the rapture and the day of the Lord.
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But just to clarify, sometimes when we talk about rapture, people immediately think, "Oh, that's the second coming of Jesus." And it's not. Those are two separate things.
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"Well, how can they be two separate things?" Well, with the rapture, Jesus comes for the saints.
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In the second coming, Jesus comes with the saints.
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Revelation 19.14.
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The rapture is imminent.
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The rapture can happen at any time, any second, unawares, like a thief in the night.
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The second coming of Jesus really isn't like that because it comes on the tail end of seven years of signs that are written down and clearly outlined.
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So the second coming of Jesus to somebody that knows the Bible isn't really going to be a surprise.
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He says, "Here's exactly how it's all going to happen.
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Not so with the rapture.
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The rapture is imminent." So that's a little bit about what the rapture is.
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The next question we need to look at is, when is the rapture?
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And that is the controversy, isn't it?
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Except there are some people that believe that the rapture isn't going to happen at all.
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But the people that do believe in a rapture, the views are based on when it takes place in relation There's pre-, mid-, and post-.
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Pre-tribulational means people believe that Jesus will remove His church before the tribulation.
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Mid-tribulation means that in the middle of the seven-year tribulation, that's what, three and a half years?
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Midpoint, Jesus is going to take His church out.
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Some believe that the rapture happens post or after-the tribulation.
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What I want to share with you today is why I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture.
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Meaning, I believe, because I believe the Bible most straightforwardly teaches this, I believe that Christ will remove His church, remove the saved, before the tribulation in Revelation.
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Before these horrible events that start in Revelation 6, that Jesus will remove His church.
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And you say, "Why do you believe that?" Go ahead.
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I'm so glad you asked.
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I'm going to give you three reasons.
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With some sub-points, right?
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Letter A, jot this down.
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It's the most straightforward understanding of the biblical language.
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It's the most straightforward understanding of the biblical language.
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I want you to look at Revelation 3.10.
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I just want to break this down very clearly.
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Again, I believe and I teach the Bible straightforwardly.
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I'm not making things up.
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I want to just echo what God has already said.
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Okay?
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So look at Revelation 3.10.
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Jesus said, "I will keep you" - we'll talk about that in a second - "from the hour of trial." The hour of trial means there's a definite period of time.
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And Jesus said that "is coming" - that means it's yet future.
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So Jesus says in the future there's going to be this set period of time that will be a trial.
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But the debate is over the phrase "keep from." Some people say, "Well, Jesus isn't saying He'll remove the church." Most people say that what Jesus is saying is He'll preserve the church through the tribulation.
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That's what He's saying.
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The church goes through the tribulation, but Jesus is just going to protect them through the tribulation.
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There's a couple problems with that view.
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First problem with that view is the wording itself, because the Greek for "keep from" literally means "out or away from." It means "take away from." That's literally what the word means.
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If Jesus would have meant, "I'm going to preserve you through the tribulation," He would have used other words, but that's not what the Greek means.
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Okay?
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But there's another problem with this view that Jesus is going to preserve His people through the tribulation.
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The other problem with that is believers in Christ during the tribulation aren't going to be preserved.
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They're going to be slaughtered.
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People that come to Christ during these events are going to be murdered for their faith.
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So in what sense was Jesus preserving them?
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If they get killed anyway.
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I've even heard people argue, "Well, Jesus is saying God wasn't going to do it.
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Like, that's the comfort.
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Like, God's like, 'You know what?
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Satan and the Antichrist are going to kill you, but it's not going to be me.' Like, 'Oh, thanks. I feel so much better you're appointing somebody else to murder me.
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That doesn't make any sense.
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Okay, back to Revelation 3.10, "I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming..." Look at the next phrase, "on the whole world." That's global.
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And that's how we know this tribulation is yet future because this has never happened yet.
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There has never been a worldwide global tribulation.
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But one is coming.
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Look at this last phrase, also very key here, church.
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"To try those who dwell on the earth." Those who dwell on the earth, you're going to see that phrase a lot in the book of Revelation.
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Those who dwell on the earth, and every single time that phrase is used, it's talking about unsaved people.
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People who don't know the Lord.
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Those who dwell on the earth.
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So Jesus said the purpose of the rapture, The purpose of what he's promising in verse 10 is that unbelievers are going to face the ultimate test.
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And as we go through Revelation the rest of this year and next year, you're going to see many people pass the test.
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You're going to see in Revelation, there are going to be countless people that turn from their sin and receive Jesus Christ.
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I get asked that question a lot.
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Do people get saved during the tribulation?
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Absolutely they do.
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Some say it's probably the most fruitful time of evangelism in history.
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So some people are going to repent, and some people are going to refuse to repent.
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Jesus said this hour of trial that's coming in the whole world is to test unbelievers.
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He's going to put you through the tests if you don't know Him.
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So again, straightforwardly, it's exactly what the text says.
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Jesus promises to keep His church out of the future time of testing that's going to come on unbelievers.
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That's what the text literally says, and that's why I literally believe in a pre-tribulational rapture.
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There's another text too, by the way.
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1 Thessalonians 5.9.
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Look at this verse.
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It says, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." At first glance you might think, "Well, God has not destined us for wrath.
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That means God doesn't want us to go to hell." And while that is a true statement that God doesn't want us to go to hell, that's not what this verse is about.
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If you look at the context of this passage, 1 Thessalonians 5.2, he's talking about the day of the Lord, which is a time of judgment on the earth.
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The whole passage is not about hell.
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The passage is about judgment on the earth.
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The wrath that we are not destined for, spoken of in this verse, is the tribulation.
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He's saying, "You're not destined for that, church. You're not destined for that." Because earlier in chapter 4, he talks about the rapture.
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God's going to get you out of there.
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So again, straightforward understanding of the biblical language as the church is removed before the tribulation.
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Letter B, another reason that I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, We never see the church in the Tribulation in Revelation.
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We never see the church in the Tribulation in Revelation.
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Did you know, I'm sure you've been counting, the church is mentioned 19 times in Revelation 1-3.
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19 times. And it's not mentioned at all during the Tribulation.
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In fact, after chapter 3, the next mention of the church in Revelation isn't until chapter 22.
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So the question is, why is there absolutely no mention of the church and Revelation during the Tribulation when the book starts with so much about the church?
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Doesn't that seem weird?
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Like Revelation 2 and 3, the series we're on right now, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, and then you get to Revelation 3, and there's no mention of the church at all?
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Chapter 3, chapter 4, all the way to chapter 22?
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The church is pretty conspicuous by its absence during the tribulation.
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The third reason, letter C.
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Many of the common arguments against the pre-tribulation rapture don't have substance.
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I just want to share a couple with you.
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Maybe you've heard these.
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First I've heard people say this, "I don't know why you believe in the rapture because the word 'rapture' is not even in the Bible." You know that. The word 'rapture' is not even in the Bible.
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That's true.
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The word "rapture" is not in the Bible.
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But neither is the word "grandpa." That concept's certainly there, right?
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But it's true, you know, "rapture" is not in the Bible.
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It's not. I don't know how to explain to you why.
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Because the word "rapture" comes from...
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Our English word "rapture" comes from the word "raptura," which is a Latin word.
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That word is not in the Bible. You're right.
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But, hang on...
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1 Thessalonians 4.17, the Greek word is "harpazo." Now the Latin word "raptura," "rapture," that means "carry away." That's what the word means.
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The Greek word "harpazo" means the exact same thing.
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Okay, so for the person that's like, "Rapture's not in the Bible," like, yeah, you're right.
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It's a Latin word, "harpazo." But now that I think about it, it would be a lot cooler thing to call the rapture, don't you think? Harpazzo. That sounds so Italian or something. Right? Jesus is going to come back and he's going to harpazzo his church. Just me? Alright. It means the same thing.
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Here's another one I hear.
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"Why would the church be exempt from suffering?" Have you heard that one?
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Like, you believe that Jesus is going to remove His church?
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Whoa, whoa, why do you think the church is exempt from suffering during the tribulation?
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That's an easy one.
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Because Jesus said the church would be exempt from suffering during the tribulation.
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I think that because he said it!
31:14-31:16
Listen to this. This is huge.
31:18-31:31
Throughout the Bible, suffering and persecution on God's people come from the world, not from God.
31:34-31:37
Yes, God disciplines His children. That's a different thing.
31:38-31:42
Suffering and persecution scripturally only comes from the world, not from God.
31:42-31:56
Listen, also through the Bible, God has this track record of separating His people from the people that He's judging on the earth.
31:56-31:58
You see that throughout the scripture.
31:59-32:07
When God's going to judge somebody on the earth, He removes His people so that they don't bear the brunt of any of that.
32:07-32:11
They're like, "Man, can you give me some examples of that?" I can give you several examples from that.
32:12-32:13
Remember when God judged Sodom?
32:15-32:16
What did He do with Lot and his family?
32:17-32:18
Get out of there. Right?
32:20-32:22
What about Noah and his family?
32:22-32:24
God was going to judge the world with a flood.
32:26-32:28
He said, "No, I'm going to protect you.
32:28-32:32
I'm going to remove you from the blast zone." Right?
32:34-32:35
What about...
32:35-32:36
Remember when Israel was in Egypt?
32:37-32:38
God was sending the plagues.
32:39-32:40
What happened?
32:41-32:42
Egypt got the plagues.
32:43-32:44
Israel was unaffected.
32:44-32:48
God was separating His people from the people that He was judging.
32:49-32:54
And then when Israel went out into the wilderness, do you remember there was this rebellion led by this man named Korah?
32:54-32:57
And Korah and his rebels were judged.
32:59-33:05
But God separated His people from that so that they weren't in the blasting zone of judgment.
33:07-33:26
So the point is, though many people will come to Christ during the tribulation, when the judgment starts, God will again separate His people from judgment on sinners by removing His church before the tribulation.
33:27-33:31
So the church will not be the object of God's wrath.
33:36-33:38
I said all that to say this.
33:40-33:44
I believe that Revelation 3.10 means exactly what it says.
33:46-33:52
That Jesus promised the church, "I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming in the whole world.
33:53-33:54
Try those who dwell in the air.
33:58-33:59
That's Rapture 101.
34:00-34:02
Let's get to the criticism of this church.
34:03-34:04
Oh, actually, there is no criticism.
34:05-34:06
One of only two, right?
34:06-34:08
Smyrna didn't receive any rebuke or criticism.
34:09-34:10
Philadelphia doesn't either.
34:11-34:12
So let's get to the command.
34:13-34:14
Look at verse 11.
34:15-34:27
The command is, "Hold on securely." "Hold on securely." In verse 11, Jesus said, "I am coming soon." That sounds like a great title for a sermon series through Revelation, doesn't it?
34:27-34:43
"Coming Soon." "Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown." Because of their faithfulness, Jesus commands them to hold on to the love and loyalty to Him that caused them to endure their hardships.
34:46-34:48
By the way, just a quick reminder, That's how God works.
34:49-34:55
He secures believers by giving them persevering faith.
34:57-35:03
In other words, the only true faith that there is, is enduring faith.
35:05-35:06
That's the only kind of real faith.
35:09-35:10
And that's the great thing about trials.
35:13-35:17
Because trials and hardships and adversity, It shows you how genuine your faith really is.
35:20-35:20
Do you love Jesus?
35:22-35:23
Do you live for Jesus?
35:23-35:24
Is your life about Jesus?
35:26-35:27
Do you trust Jesus?
35:29-35:30
We'll find out.
35:31-35:32
We'll find out when you face a crisis.
35:34-35:36
We'll find out when you go through a hard season.
35:36-35:39
We'll find out when you hit a financial crisis.
35:39-35:42
We'll find out when you get a bad health diagnosis.
35:44-35:44
Don't you really trust Jesus?
35:46-35:49
That's a wonderful thing about trials, church.
35:50-35:58
It shows us how strong our faith is, or it shows us that maybe we don't really have faith like we think we do.
35:59-36:01
Jesus talks about the crown.
36:01-36:09
He says, "Hold fast to what you have so that no one may seize your crown." We talked about this last week.
36:09-36:11
You can never lose your salvation, but you can.
36:12-36:18
"Forfeit rewards with unfaithfulness." That's a whole other sermon.
36:19-36:25
The point here simply is Jesus is calling the faithful to hold on to their faith.
36:26-36:27
Don't give up.
36:28-36:30
Finally, the call.
36:34-36:35
Security is for eternity.
36:37-36:38
Look at verses 12 and 13.
36:41-36:46
Jesus said, "The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
36:47-37:10
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." That last phrase is familiar. Jesus said it to every church.
37:11-37:15
In other words, if you're tuned in, turn the volume up, right?
37:16-37:18
Let's talk about this other language here for a couple minutes.
37:19-37:34
Jesus said, first of all, "The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God." Pillar obviously represents stability, it represents permanence, it represents a place of honor and respect.
37:34-37:36
We still use that phrase today, don't we?
37:37-37:38
I talk about somebody as a...
37:40-37:42
That guy's a pillar in our community.
37:42-37:43
You guys all know what that means, right?
37:46-37:52
I was talking to Mark Wirt last night, and I just asked him to pray for his family.
37:52-37:56
His father passed away after a long battle.
37:57-37:59
Just lots of ups and downs over the last couple of years.
38:00-38:02
He passed away a couple of days ago.
38:04-38:11
And talking to Mark on the phone, He said, "You've been a pillar in our church, Mark." And he knew what that meant.
38:14-38:25
So how awesome is it that Jesus says to His people, "You're going to be a pillar in God's community." "Me?" "Yeah, you.
38:27-38:29
A place of permanence and honor." Wow!
38:32-38:40
Jesus said, "Never shall he go out of it." That's security, church.
38:40-38:41
Security and eternal glory.
38:42-38:44
There's no chance of getting kicked out of heaven.
38:45-38:46
I've had people ask me that over the years.
38:47-38:49
Like, what happens if I sin?
38:49-38:55
I'm in heaven, and like, ten million years into heaven, I mess up and sin, is God going to kick me out?
38:55-38:57
Jesus said there's no chance of getting kicked out of heaven.
38:58-39:08
He says, "Never shall he go out of it." If that wasn't secure enough...
39:08-39:11
You see, Jesus promises that He's going to give you a tattoo.
39:13-39:15
Actually, He's going to give you three of them.
39:17-39:20
And you're like, "Yeah, Pastor Jeff, I'm not really into tattoos." Well, that wasn't up for debate.
39:22-39:24
Because Jesus is giving them out, and you're going to be in that line.
39:25-39:36
Like, "What's this tattoo?" Jesus said, "I will write on him the name of my God." Jesus is going to write God's, you don't, do you realize how awesome that is?
39:37-39:38
Jesus is gonna put God's name on you?
39:40-39:45
The name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, so like the address is going on there too.
39:46-39:55
And if that wasn't enough, Jesus says, "I'm gonna put my name on you too." I am so ready for that.
39:58-40:00
Like, what's going on here?
40:00-40:04
Well, again, this is something if you think about it, we totally understand this too, don't we?
40:05-40:10
We write our names on things that we own, that we value, that we don't want to lose, right?
40:11-40:11
Don't we do that?
40:12-40:13
Like a book.
40:13-40:15
If you have a book that you loan out, what's the first thing you do?
40:15-40:18
You're going to write your name and address in the front so you make sure you get it back.
40:18-40:19
I want that back.
40:20-40:24
Some people write their name in the tag of their coat, right?
40:24-40:33
I don't want to lose this. I want to make sure that people know that this is mine." That's what the Lord is going to do to you!
40:34-40:54
He's like, "I am going to write my name on you because you belong to me." Everybody just goes, "Yeah, me too!" Now church, we are closer than ever to the Lord bringing history to a close.
40:57-41:02
Like the Philadelphians, let's hold fast to what we have.
41:04-41:05
Let's stay on mission.
41:07-41:23
Church, today let's be thankful for the reality that before God unleashes these astonishing acts of judgment on the earth that we're going to be studying in Revelation, Jesus is going to come to escort His people to heaven.
41:24-41:24
Let's pray.
41:28-41:37
Father in heaven, our hearts and minds can barely handle these promises that You are going to come for Your bride.
41:37-41:42
You are going to remove us from the blasting zone of God's wrath.
41:45-41:46
You're going to put Your name on us.
41:48-41:58
What can we say as we close our time of studying such an awesome passage of promises from Your Word, but thank You.
41:59-42:01
Thank You, Father, for Your grace.
42:02-42:05
Thank You, Father, for Your deliverance.
42:06-42:09
Thank You, Father, for the reality of these promises.
42:10-42:11
Oh, we are fired up, Father.
42:11-42:31
We are excited and we pray, Father, that it just fires us up to let even more people know about Your awesome love and the awesome rescue mission that Jesus Christ accomplished by dying on the cross for our sins.
42:32-42:36
By raising from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life.
42:36-42:38
It's in His glorious name that we pray.
42:39-42:40
Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 3:7-13

GROUP

What is the Rapture? What reasons were given in the message for a “Pre-Tribulation” Rapture?
How is the Rapture different from the Second Coming? Compare 1 Thes 4:16-17 and Rev 19:14.
How are trials and hardships good for your faith? Be specific!?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

Jeff Miller

November 18, 2018

Coming Soon!

To The Dead Church: Wake Up

Jeff Miller

November 18, 2018

Coming Soon!

  
    Intro / Review:

  Progress Report: Sardis (Rev 3:1-6):

The CRITICISM. Wake up! Because you're Dying, not thriving. (Rev 3:1-2)
  
Live in the past
Come to get not give
Compromise on doctrine
Ignore doctrine completely
Have no accountability or challenge to grow

  
The COMMAND. Stay woke! Because the Lord is Coming. (Rev 3:3)
  
The CALL. Walke in white! Because you Belong to Christ! (Rev 3:4-6)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:40-00:51
Several years ago, before our family moved out to Chicago to plant this church, we have a very good friend. He is Nathaniel Geiser. He is a veterinarian.
00:52-00:54
We've known him forever, grew up together.
00:55-00:59
And before he moved to Chicago, he said, "I would like to spend some time with you guys before you go.
00:59-01:06
Let's do something that we can all do, you know, you two and the kids, obviously." So, being a veterinarian, it sort of made sense.
01:06-01:10
we went to Living Treasures Animal Park.
01:10-01:11
How many people know what Living Treasures is?
01:11-01:12
Right?
01:12-01:16
It's a little zoo up between Butler and Zaleno-- I think that-- or Butler and Newcastle, rather.
01:16-01:17
I think they have another one somewhere.
01:18-01:19
But anyways, we went to Living Treasures.
01:20-01:23
Well, we got to the part where there's the bird enclosure.
01:23-01:33
You know the bird enclosure, where you go in and you get the little thing of seed, and you go in and the birds just so trustingly land on your hand and eat from your hand?
01:33-01:36
well, Erin is not a big fan of birds.
01:37-01:37
She's just not.
01:38-01:41
And so Nathaniel was like, hey, you know what?
01:41-01:42
I'll take a kid.
01:42-01:43
You take a kid.
01:43-01:44
We can still do man-on-man coverage.
01:44-01:45
Erin doesn't have to go.
01:45-01:46
And we'll take the kids in.
01:46-01:47
I'm like, that's a great idea.
01:48-01:52
So Nathaniel was watching Owen, and I was supposed to be watching Cade.
01:53-01:55
And Cade, he was little at the time.
01:55-01:56
We've talked about this.
01:56-01:58
He was little at the time it happens.
01:59-02:00
Unfortunately, it happened to us.
02:01-02:11
But he was walking along the path, and there were these big decorative rocks, and he kind of stood up on top of one of the decorative rocks, and he jumped and spun around right on top of a cockatiel.
02:12-02:13
He didn't even know.
02:13-02:14
He just kept going about his business.
02:15-02:25
And I'm standing there, and the cockatiel was like-- it was just like feathers, and it was this big cloud of feathers, and then it stopped.
02:26-02:28
And I'm like, glad that's over.
02:29-02:34
Well, then I noticed this red scarf forming around its neck.
02:35-02:36
Yes, it is what you think it is.
02:38-02:40
Well, I'm gonna rewind here a second.
02:40-02:46
When I came in to the zoo, the girl working there knew us.
02:46-02:58
I didn't know who she was, but as soon as I walked in, she's like, "Hey, Pastor Jeff." I don't know who she was, but I'm like, "Hey, how's it going?" And, you know, so now I'm thinking, I gotta go talk to that girl.
02:58-03:01
and tell her what happens, and she knows me.
03:02-03:06
And she knows I'm a pastor, and for some reason that just felt like it made it a lot worse, I don't know.
03:07-03:45
So I went back to the front where you buy your ticket and get in, I said, "I'm so sorry, but I've got to tell you something." She's like, "What's the matter?" I said, "My son killed one of your cockatiel." And she was like, "Well, why do you feel so bad about it?" And I'm like, "Because usually when my family goes to the zoo, we don't kill the animals." And she said, and here's the point of this story, she said, "Are you sure it's dead?" And I said, "Let me put it this way. I'm no expert.
03:46-03:52
But my friend that brought us is an expert veterinarian, and he said the bird is dead.
03:53-03:59
I'm just going by what he said." I want you to think about that question and that scenario.
03:59-04:06
She said, "Are you sure it's dead?" And look at this church here in Revelation 3, we're in Sardis.
04:07-04:09
Look at verse one, partway down.
04:10-04:26
Jesus said, "You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead." Now, if the community in Sardis at this time would have heard Jesus' words, They would have asked Jesus the same question that that woman asked me.
04:27-04:40
"Are you sure it's dead?" And I would suggest to you, just as I was with an expert in the field, I would say that Jesus Christ is the expert on the health and vitality of the church. Amen?
04:40-04:44
And if Jesus says a church is dead, the church is what?
04:45-04:49
It's dead. It doesn't matter how the church looks to the world.
04:49-04:54
Jesus says, "I know your reputation. I know what everybody thinks about you.
04:55-05:09
But here's the reality. You're dead." It doesn't matter how a church, it doesn't matter, listen, it doesn't matter how this church looks to the world, the only thing that matters is how a church looks to Jesus Christ.
05:10-05:11
That's all that matters.
05:13-05:15
We're going through Revelation verse by verse.
05:15-05:16
Just to get us all caught up here.
05:17-05:19
Revelation was written by John.
05:19-05:22
He was exiled on the island of Patmos for preaching the gospel.
05:23-05:30
In chapter 1, Jesus shows up in all His majesty and all His glory and just completely overwhelms John.
05:31-05:40
And Jesus says, "John, I want you to write some things down." And the things that John wrote down we have in chapters 2 and 3, we're calling them progress reports for the churches.
05:41-05:46
These were written to seven churches in what was called Asia Minor at the time.
05:46-05:48
Today we call it Turkey.
05:48-05:52
But these messages are for all churches for all time.
05:53-05:55
Look at verse 1 again. Let's pick up chapter 3, verse 1.
05:56-06:08
"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.'" Pause there for a second.
06:08-06:10
Sardis was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world.
06:11-06:15
And in John's day, it was very prosperous, but it was decaying.
06:15-06:20
And the church was sort of like the city in which it resided.
06:21-06:26
And speaking of the church, interestingly, in this letter you're going to see here, there's no mention at all of persecution.
06:26-06:28
We've seen that throughout, haven't we?
06:28-06:31
Persecution, persecution, persecution, you're standing strong.
06:31-06:34
There is no mention of persecution in this church. Why?
06:35-06:41
Because Satan pays no attention to a church that is paying no attention to Jesus Christ.
06:42-06:49
Satan's like, "Not even going to waste my time on that one." That's how bad you're going to see this church was.
06:50-06:52
Jesus identifies Himself as the One.
06:52-06:55
You see that He has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
06:56-07:00
The seven spirits, that refers to the Holy Spirit in His fullness.
07:01-07:06
I brought this down, Isaiah 11.2 talks about the Holy Spirit.
07:06-07:18
One Spirit, who talks about the Holy Spirit in a sevenfold manifestation, His attributes, His character, and the seven stars are the seven messengers.
07:18-07:23
We talked about that. Are those messengers pastors? Are they actual angels?
07:24-07:27
And the answer is, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
07:28-07:34
We're not so caught up on who's delivering the message as much as we are caught up on what does the message say, right?
07:34-07:36
You with me on that? Okay.
07:37-07:42
So this intro really serves to remind the church what it lacked, and that's the Holy Spirit.
07:42-07:49
Jesus said, "Here's what you need, the Holy Spirit." So progress report, Sardis.
07:49-07:58
The outline's a little shorter this week, unfortunately, because Sardis has the dubious distinction of having no commendation whatsoever.
07:59-08:05
Jesus really didn't have anything praiseworthy to note about this church as he did the other churches.
08:06-08:09
All right? So we're going to get straight to the criticism.
08:09-08:11
Drop this down in your outline. The criticism.
08:11-08:18
"Wake up, because you're dying, not thriving." Look at verse 1 again, where we left off.
08:18-08:26
Jesus said, "I know your works." You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
08:27-08:29
Again, this church would have been well attended.
08:30-08:32
It would have been well spoken of.
08:32-08:42
And as we look through this letter, you might get this picture in your head of this little church that only has, you know, like eight members and like, that's a dead church.
08:42-08:43
That's not the picture at all here.
08:44-08:51
Jesus said, "Your reputation is alive and popular." And that's where all the cool people go to church.
08:52-08:54
You have this awesome reputation in the community.
08:55-08:59
Everybody's going, "Things are really happening at that church." That's the church to go.
08:59-09:00
That's the church to take your kids.
09:00-09:02
That's the church you want your kids to go to youth group.
09:02-09:03
Things are really happening at that church.
09:03-09:05
And Jesus is like, yeah, you know what?
09:06-09:06
You're dead.
09:07-09:07
You're dead.
09:08-09:10
Let's talk about dead for a second.
09:11-09:12
Think of the human body.
09:13-09:15
When is a human body dead?
09:16-09:19
Someone say, well, a human body is dead when the heart stops.
09:19-09:19
Is that true?
09:20-09:26
No, because there are people whose heart have stopped and they use those electric things, what are those called?
09:27-09:27
Yeah, thank you.
09:27-09:29
The defibrillator pads, you hear, clear.
09:29-09:31
and they shocked their heart back into beating.
09:32-09:34
So a stopped heart doesn't mean you're dead.
09:35-09:39
Some people say, "Well, you're dead when you stop breathing." No, that's not true either, is it?
09:40-09:47
Because there have been people who have stopped breathing, who have been resuscitated, and so that's not true either.
09:48-09:49
When is a body dead?
09:50-09:56
Here's a very exact, clear, no bones about it, telltale sign.
09:57-09:59
A body is dead when the spirit leaves it.
10:00-10:02
When the spirit leaves the body, it's dead.
10:02-10:08
And the church, the Bible says the church is a body and Jesus is the head of the body.
10:09-10:11
And the spirit is what?
10:11-10:13
The spirit, the Holy Spirit.
10:14-10:19
The problem with Sardis was the Holy Spirit was not alive and active in the church.
10:20-10:22
And that wasn't the Holy Spirit's fault.
10:23-10:27
But you see, if a dead body is going to have the appearance of life.
10:28-10:38
Like Sardis, like this church, if a dead body is going to have the appearance of life, it isn't from within, it has to come from some external force to make it look alive.
10:39-10:40
Here's what I mean by that.
10:40-10:43
When I was a kid, I saw this really stupid movie.
10:43-10:47
It was called "Weekend at Bernie's." Now, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand if you've seen that.
10:47-10:52
I will take the heat for admitting in front of all of you that as a kid, I saw that movie.
10:52-10:55
I can tell by the looks on some of your faces, Some of you have seen it too.
10:56-11:01
But if you haven't seen it, Weekend at Bernie's is about this guy named Bernie.
11:01-11:05
And I can't remember why, but he died.
11:05-11:10
And for some reason, it was very important that everybody thinks that Bernie is still alive.
11:12-11:13
Okay, I don't remember what that reason is.
11:13-11:21
So there were these two guys that were taking Bernie around with them and they were making him look like he was alive to everyone.
11:21-11:29
So everybody's like, "Oh, there's Bernie." And they were like grabbing his hand and they're like, "Hey, how are you doing?" And that was, like I said, it was a dumb movie.
11:29-11:31
But where was I going with this?
11:31-11:32
Oh, here's where I was going with this.
11:32-11:35
Some churches, some churches are like Bernie.
11:36-11:36
They're dead.
11:37-11:41
They look alive because they're being manipulated from the outside, not the inside.
11:42-11:43
Like manipulated how?
11:44-11:49
Talent, you get some really five-star, A-plus talented people that make it look like things are happening.
11:50-11:51
You're putting on quite a show.
11:52-11:53
Creativity, same way.
11:54-12:02
money, all these external things that we can pour into the church from the outside that makes it look to the whole community, wow, that's the place you want to go.
12:03-12:11
And Jesus is up in heaven going, "You're dead. You're dead." It's like watching Weekend at Bernie's again. Not that Jesus would watch it.
12:11-12:14
So, when is a body dead? It's when the spirit leaves.
12:14-12:16
But here's a bigger question. What kills a church?
12:17-12:19
Well, it's never swift like a heart attack.
12:20-12:23
It's always slow, like a type of cancer.
12:24-12:26
I had a whole giant list.
12:27-12:28
I'm just going to give you five here.
12:28-12:30
Jot these down. Five things that will kill a church.
12:30-12:32
Five things that will kill a church. I'm going to go through these quickly.
12:32-12:34
I could do a whole sermon on each of these.
12:36-12:37
Five things that will kill a church.
12:37-12:40
Number one, I'm sorry, little letter "a" on my outline.
12:40-12:42
Living in the past. Living in the past.
12:44-12:45
Tradition trumps everything.
12:46-12:59
"Oh, we can't do that. We've never done it that way." "Hey, let's think of some new methods of outreach and evangelism." "Let's think of some new ways we can reach our neighborhood for Christ." "Oh, we've never really done it that way." And tradition trumps everything.
13:00-13:01
That will kill a church.
13:02-13:04
Letter B, coming to get, not give.
13:05-13:08
Some people view church as the place where you go get services.
13:09-13:10
They'll watch my kids.
13:10-13:15
They'll disciple my teens, taking that responsibility off of me or whatever.
13:15-13:20
but they look at church as this place where you get services, where you get entertained.
13:20-13:23
It's as if the church is a football game.
13:23-13:25
Now, how many people have been to a football game?
13:25-13:28
If you've ever gone to watch a football game, let's talk about the Steelers.
13:28-13:30
Sorry, let's talk about the Steelers.
13:31-13:40
If you've ever gone to the Steeler game, I know I've been to like a couple in my life, but the couple times that I've gone, I've never walked in the front gate and they came and asked me to play.
13:40-13:43
Nor did I show up expecting to play, right?
13:43-13:45
You don't show up to this dealer game expecting to play.
13:46-13:48
And some people look at church that way.
13:49-13:54
"Look, I just show up as a spectator." That's not the way the church was designed.
13:54-14:00
Church is a body and individually we are parts of the body, all working together as a body.
14:01-14:05
This "get" not "give" focus makes us lose sight of the mission of the church.
14:06-14:13
If our mindset is we go to the church to get, we go to the church to get, we go to the church to get, We're not thinking about, "How do I reach out in the community?
14:13-14:26
How do I get involved in missions?" That's just not even on the radar, when the mindset is, "Church is the place I go to receive, not give." Letter C, what kills the church? Compromising on doctrine.
14:26-14:32
I really don't need to explain this one, because Jesus has explained this one repeatedly throughout these letters, hasn't He?
14:32-14:42
All these churches - not all - all this teaching we've seen in these churches of tolerating false teachers and compromising on doctrine, That will kill a church.
14:42-14:45
Start saying, "Well, I don't really believe that creation is literally true.
14:45-14:49
I don't really believe that revelation is literally true the way it's...
14:49-14:57
I don't really believe that Jesus literally died and resurrected." And you start compromising on those things, that will kill a church.
14:57-15:03
Letter D, in the same vein, not just compromising on doctrine, but ignoring doctrine completely.
15:03-15:04
Like, how does a church do that?
15:05-15:20
A church does that when the preacher gets up and doesn't say, "Open your Bible." A preacher gets up and says, "I'm going to tell you how to be a better employee at work in three easy steps.
15:20-15:34
You work with people that are negative, and you, by having a positive attitude, can change them, and you can make the workplace a positive attitude." Hey, I'm all for a positive attitude in the workplace, but that's not a sermon, okay?
15:35-15:41
Because that left out the most important thing the Holy Spirit uses, That's the Word of God.
15:42-15:48
Pep talks, motivational speeches, nothing offensive, nothing challenging, nothing calling to repentance.
15:49-15:52
The Holy Spirit of God works with the Word of God.
15:52-15:53
That's how He chooses to work.
15:54-16:06
That's why at Harvest Bible Chapel, whether it's me or somebody else gets up in this place for sermon time, it's going to be, "Open your Bibles too!" And we're going to look at a passage and see what God said.
16:06-16:08
Why? Because that's how the Holy Spirit works.
16:09-16:12
kill a church if you just have sermon time without the Bible.
16:13-16:17
And then letter E, have no accountability, no challenge to grow.
16:18-16:19
Have no accountability, no challenge to grow.
16:20-16:28
Small group is just fluff. We play games, we do crafts together, we watch TV, we watch Monday Night Football together, that's our small group.
16:28-16:32
Look, there's nothing wrong with playing games or doing crafts or watching TV, there's nothing wrong with that.
16:32-16:36
But when that is the focus of your small group, there's something majorly wrong with that.
16:37-16:40
Your small group wants to get together and do those things, great, do it.
16:41-16:44
But if that's the only thing your small group ever does together, that's a huge problem.
16:45-16:47
So all of these things, and like I said, I had a whole list.
16:47-16:51
I had about six or seven more that for the sake of time, I cut out.
16:51-16:53
All of them can really go under one heading, and that's this.
16:54-16:57
That's when a church does whatever can be done that doesn't require the Holy Spirit.
16:58-16:59
That's when a church is dead.
17:00-17:02
We'll just do whatever we can do that we don't need the Holy Spirit.
17:02-17:03
I'll call you if we need you.
17:04-17:05
That will kill a church.
17:06-17:09
"Well, Pastor Jeff, these are hard words." Well, Jesus is not done yet.
17:09-17:09
Look at verse two.
17:10-17:20
"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." Jesus is saying to this church, "You got to wake up.
17:21-17:38
You got to wake up." About a month or two ago, I was taking my Sunday afternoon, I go into like this little coma for a couple hours on Sunday afternoon and the smoke alarm went off and Erin runs in, she goes, "Wake up." And I was still like three quarters asleep.
17:38-17:42
I went out and was fidgeting with the smoke alarm thinking it was a false alarm.
17:43-17:52
And Aaron goes, "Wake up, there's actually a fire." We found out that one of my sons, I'm not gonna say who, but it's the older one, set fire to a garbage can.
17:52-17:57
And I go in the office and the whole garbage can's, whoo, how awake do you think I was then?
17:57-18:03
But the point is, urgency, "Wake up!" And that's Jesus in this passage.
18:03-18:05
He's like, "Listen, there's a real danger.
18:05-18:08
Don't just take the batteries out of the smoke alarm and go back to bed.
18:08-18:09
You got a problem here.
18:10-18:12
Wake up." Same urgency.
18:13-18:15
He says, "Wake up and strengthen." Do you see that?
18:15-18:22
"Strengthen what remains." It's like the campfire is out, it's smoking, and there's a few little embers.
18:23-18:27
Jesus said, "Those need gas on them." Like, well, how does that happen?
18:27-18:28
We're gonna see that in the next verse.
18:28-18:30
Jesus is gonna tell us in the next verse.
18:31-18:36
But each previous church was commended in some way, shape, or form for their works.
18:37-18:37
Not stardust.
18:38-18:57
What did Jesus say about their works? He says, "For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God." "I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God." Jesus here is highlighting a truth that we all can resonate with, and that is this, "Incomplete things are lame, aren't they?" Incomplete things are lame.
18:58-19:00
Most of you are convinced by that, but some of you are not.
19:01-19:02
Incomplete things are lame.
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If you're not sure about that, I'll give you some exercises you can try this week.
19:08-19:09
Pay half of a bill.
19:09-19:11
You get the electric bill, just pay half of it.
19:11-19:15
They're like, "You didn't send complete payment." They know that incomplete things are lame.
19:16-19:29
If you come to my house for dinner, like, "What are we having?" Like, "Here, chicken." "Oh, good, I love chicken." I'm like, "I'm glad you like chicken because it's half cooked." "So hungry?" "Students, do half of a school assignment." Turn that in.
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Is your teacher gonna be like, "Well, you did half really well." Or is your teacher going to be like, "The trombone on the price is right." Ya boom, boom, boom, boom.
19:39-19:41
Like lame, lame.
19:43-19:54
Or imagine if Aaron's at work and I'm taking care of the kids and she comes home and she goes, "Jeff, did you feed the kids?" And I said, "I fed half of them." Lame, lame.
19:55-19:57
Or what if I just stopped the sermon now?
19:58-20:24
Like, "You're loved." And then later this week, somebody says to you, "Hey, how was church?" You would say, "Lame! It was lame! He preached half a sermon!" So, do you understand why when Jesus looks at these incomplete works, He's like, "Lame! Your works are lame because you're not finishing them!" What are incomplete works? Half-hearted? Wrong motives?
20:25-20:29
Maybe Sardis had great intentions, but no follow-through.
20:29-20:44
Some people were unsaved, some people lost their passion, but almost all of them, almost all of them in Sardis were just phoning it in and to them, Jesus said, "Wake up." That's the criticism, "Wake up." Number two, the command.
20:45-20:50
The command, "Stay woke because the Lord is coming." Stay woke because the Lord is coming.
20:51-20:54
Justin, Katie, is that, "Stay woke," is that still a cool thing that the kids are saying?
20:54-20:55
Fresh?
20:56-20:58
When I was putting this outline again, Justin, I know you'll appreciate this.
20:59-21:10
When I was putting this outline together, I thought to myself, "This might be the only chance in my ministry to have'stay woke' as a sermon point." And do you think I could pass that up? I could not.
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It's in the text.
21:12-21:16
"Stay woke because the Lord is coming." Look at verse 3.
21:16-21:21
Jesus says, "Remember then what you received and heard.
21:21-21:23
Keep it." That's the "stay woke" part.
21:23-21:25
"Keep it and repent.
21:26-21:33
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.
21:34-21:39
The question from the previous verse, how does a woken church strengthen what remains?
21:40-21:42
First of all, Jesus says, remember what you received and heard.
21:43-21:44
Well, what did you receive and hear?
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The answer is the gospel.
21:47-21:49
Get back to the gospel, right?
21:50-21:53
Ryan Stroop, when he preached last summer, that was like the whole sermon, right?
21:54-21:55
Get back to the gospel.
21:55-22:00
Get back to when Jesus called you out of darkness into light.
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Get back to that.
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Get back to the gospel.
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Turning from my sin and by faith, receiving Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
22:08-22:09
I am born again.
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God's spirit lives within me.
22:11-22:12
I'm an ambassador for Christ.
22:12-22:18
I have the gift of eternal life and all of the promises of God's word are mine.
22:19-22:21
Jesus said, "Remember that?" He says, "Keep it.
22:22-22:29
"Keep that." Not what so many churches are guilty of, that we need to be on our guard.
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Not go after something new.
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You know, not just churches, but I think a lot of people do that.
22:36-22:37
It's the idea that, well, things aren't right.
22:37-22:39
I got to find something new.
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I got to grab onto the new thing or...
22:41-22:43
No, get back to the foundation of God's word.
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Let God's truth be alive in you.
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And then he says to repent.
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We talked about that last week in Thyatira.
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Quick review, remember we said repentance You can have regret, that's like, "Oh, I was wrong, my bad." You can have remorse, that's, "Oh, I was wrong, my bad, and I feel really bad about that." Neither of those are repentance. Repentance goes to the third level, where you say, "Oh, I was wrong about that. I feel really bad about that, so I'm going to do something different about that." Jesus calls this church to repent because right beliefs are no good unless you live them.
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Jesus warns them, He says, "If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief.
23:26-23:33
You will not know at what hour I will come against you." Matthew 24.42, Jesus said the same thing earlier in His ministry.
23:33-23:42
"Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Do you see that? Stay awake. Stay awake.
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Because when it comes to the return of Jesus Christ, we all fall into one of two camps.
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The Bible says there are those who love His appearing.
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There are people, followers of Christ, who are looking forward to His return.
23:57-24:02
Is today the day? Is today the day Jesus is going to come and make all things right?
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Is today the day He's going to start what He promised He was going to start?
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Is today the day? There are people who are looking for that.
24:10-24:14
Who, like I said, the Bible says they love His appearing. That's one camp.
24:15-24:19
The other camp, however, Jesus showing up was going to be like a thief in the night.
24:19-24:22
Unexpected. I wasn't ready for that.
24:23-24:25
I mean, the promise is sure, but the time is unknown.
24:26-24:28
Like a thief. Like a thief in the night.
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That's a phrase used repeatedly in Scripture.
24:33-24:43
If somebody's going to break into your house, it's not going to be when you're expecting it, when you're ready, when you're up cleaning your rifle.
24:45-24:46
That's not when the thief shows up.
24:47-24:50
A thief shows up when your guard is down, when you don't think he's coming.
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For many people, that's how Jesus is going to seem.
24:54-24:56
His return? I wasn't ready.
24:58-25:03
Look, in about 15 minutes, your life on earth, as you know it, is going to be over.
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Could you imagine, Jesus Christ returns, and you are living in sin.
25:11-25:15
Could you imagine Jesus Christ returns, and you are living an unrepentant lifestyle?
25:16-25:19
That's the worst thing a Christian can imagine.
25:20-25:27
Being engaged in some Christ-dishonoring activity, and then Jesus shows up, and you're like, "Wait, wait, wait! I need more time!
25:27-25:31
Honestly, Jesus, I was going to repent of that. I really was.
25:31-25:41
I was going to repent of that, and it's too late." So the point here for staying woke, the remedy for faithfulness in the present...
25:41-25:49
To kind of sum this all up, the remedy for faithfulness in the present is the past and the future. That's the remedy.
25:50-25:51
The past and the future.
25:52-26:05
Jesus is saying, "Look back at the glorious promises that I so lovingly and graciously gave you when you received me, and look ahead to the reality that I'm coming back." That's how you stay faithful in the present.
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Look back and look ahead.
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And finally, talk about the call. "Walk in white, because you belong to Christ." "Walk in white, because you belong to Christ." Look at verse 4.
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Jesus said, "Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments.
26:25-26:30
And they will..." Here it is. "...walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
26:31-26:39
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments." Stop there for a second. What's all this garment stuff?
26:39-26:44
Well, first of all, Jesus acknowledges there's a few faithful people in this dead church.
26:46-26:49
Okay, that's about as close as we get to commendation for Sardis here.
26:50-26:53
Jesus is like, "Well, you're not all off the rails.
26:54-26:59
You have a few people..." I love how he says, "You have a few names." He knows who they are. He knows their names.
27:00-27:08
He goes, "You have a few people that are faithful, and that's a great thing." Because this concept of garments, it symbolizes character.
27:09-27:15
Isaiah 64.6, Jude 23, garments in the Bible symbolize character.
27:15-27:35
And what Jesus was saying to these faithful, He said, "You sought to keep yourselves clean, truly clean, in a church whose members mostly have not." And if you legit seek to follow Jesus Christ, The Bible says you will someday be clothed with white garments.
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And these white garments symbolize purity and holiness.
27:39-27:41
This is a whole other sermon.
27:42-27:48
But these white garments, they're the same brand of clothes that Jesus Himself wears.
27:50-27:52
It's a transfiguration, right? Matthew 17.2.
27:53-27:55
Those were the garments Jesus was wearing.
27:55-28:02
The angels, Matthew 28.3, were described as wearing these radiantly white garments.
28:03-28:07
One of the words we throw around a lot in church is the word "grace".
28:08-28:11
There's a lot of ways people define it, but here's my favorite definition of grace.
28:12-28:14
Grace is God giving to us what He requires from us.
28:15-28:19
Grace is God giving to us what He requires from us.
28:19-28:22
And top of that list is holiness.
28:22-28:24
God requires you to be perfectly holy.
28:25-28:27
Show of hands, how many people here are perfectly holy?
28:28-28:31
Not in and of yourself, none of us are.
28:31-28:33
But God requires it.
28:33-28:35
So like what, nobody's going to heaven? No, no.
28:35-28:36
Here's where grace comes in.
28:36-28:39
God gives to us what He requires from us.
28:40-28:43
God requires us to be dressed in holiness to enter heaven.
28:44-28:50
And He bought us these white garments, perfect holiness with the blood of His Son.
28:50-29:02
Look at the rest of verse 5. He says, "And I will never blot his name out of the book of life." Now, "I will never blot his name out of the book of life." Some people look at this verse and say, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
29:03-29:14
Does this mean you can lose your salvation?" People have launched into all kinds of weird stuff from this, which I think is so fascinating, because this verse is not a threat.
29:14-29:15
This verse is a promise.
29:16-29:21
Jesus is making a promise, "I will never blot your name out." Think about it this way.
29:22-29:44
I've had this conversation with Cade many times in the past, where I said, "Cade, you are my son, and nothing will ever make you stop being my son." "Nothing will ever make you stop being my son." Now, when I had that conversation, he didn't walk away from that conversation going, "Stop being my son, stop being my son." Wait a minute, do you mean there's some way that I can stop being his son?
29:45-29:48
He never thought that because he knew exactly what I meant.
29:49-29:51
Nothing will ever stop that.
29:52-29:54
And Jesus is making a similar promise right here.
29:54-29:56
I will never blot your name out of the book of life.
29:56-30:00
Some people are like, "Well, it sounds like Jesus is threatening their salvation." What?
30:01-30:02
Do you even Bible?
30:02-30:08
In the same way, nothing can make you stop being a child of God if you are a child of God.
30:08-30:13
There's so many verses about this in the Bible, but John 10.28, it's one of my favorites.
30:13-30:22
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." If you're truly saved, nothing can take that from you. Nothing.
30:23-30:31
Because Jesus said, "You're in His hand." So answer me, church, what is powerful enough to take something from the hand of Jesus?
30:33-30:34
What's strong enough? Nothing!
30:36-30:37
Does that sound like security to you?
30:39-30:40
Because it sure sounds like it to me.
30:41-30:42
And that's what Jesus is saying here.
30:42-30:45
Your name is never going to be blotted out of the book of life.
30:46-31:03
And finally, Jesus said, "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." That last phrase Jesus said, "If you're tuned in, turn the volume up." But that "I will confess His name before my Father and before His angels," you're like, "Well, that sounds familiar." It should. Matthew 10.32.
31:05-31:06
Jesus made that promise.
31:07-31:08
What a day that's going to be for you.
31:09-31:11
follower of Christ, what a day that's going to be for you.
31:12-31:22
Jesus said that if you confess that Jesus is yours before man on the earth, he will confess that you are his before God Almighty.
31:23-31:29
Can you imagine Jesus Christ before God, you're standing right there and Jesus is like, "She belongs to me.
31:30-31:40
I love her. She is so faithful and she is mine." Jesus is going to say that to God. And the angels too. Which is also cool.
31:41-31:56
So as I close, it just really hit me this week that Sardis' situation as a church, right here at this point, Jesus wrote this, their situation as a church was exactly like a situation that I was in personally many years ago.
31:57-32:07
Many years ago, Aaron and I both, before we had kids, we went to the place where we went to work out, the Cubs Hall up in Butler, the old YMCA.
32:08-32:15
And Aaron was in one part of the building, there's like the ladies part, and I was in the men's part of the building and exercising.
32:16-32:23
And I felt really, really sick, just like sick to my stomach, felt really like dizzy.
32:23-32:25
And I mean, I was working out hard.
32:25-32:27
It was like treadmill and weights.
32:27-32:29
And I was like really hitting it hard.
32:29-32:31
I'm like, well, maybe I just exercise too hard, right?
32:31-32:33
maybe I just kind of, I don't know.
32:34-32:35
What's the medical term for that?
32:36-32:38
I exercised too hard, I had no idea.
32:39-32:41
I just felt worse and worse and worse and worse.
32:41-32:48
And I found out later, I found out later that I actually had a lethal amount of carbon monoxide in my system.
32:50-32:51
You're like, well, it wasn't lethal, you're still alive.
32:52-32:53
Look, that's what the doctor said.
32:53-32:56
The doctor said you have a lethal level of carbon monoxide in your system.
32:56-33:02
But getting back to before I knew what was going on, And I just thought maybe I exercised too hard or whatever.
33:03-33:07
At one point, I remember in the locker room, I laid down on the bench.
33:08-33:13
And I thought to myself, if I can just rest for a couple minutes, maybe I'll feel better.
33:13-33:19
And I put my head down on the bench, and I closed my eyes, and I thought, just a couple minutes, just let me rest for a couple minutes.
33:20-33:26
And just then, there was nobody else in the building, and I found out later this definitely was not Aaron.
33:27-33:29
But just then when I laid my head down, I heard a door slam.
33:30-33:36
And to this day, I believe that was the Lord opening and slamming a door to give me a wake-up call.
33:36-33:43
But I want you to just focus for a second me in that moment on the bench, putting my head down, closing my eyes.
33:43-33:44
Freeze right there.
33:45-33:48
The door slams, and I have two choices here.
33:49-33:52
I can go back to sleep, or I can wake up.
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If I chose to remain, I would be dead.
33:56-33:58
I would not be here today.
33:59-34:01
if I chose to remain.
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But by waking up and moving, and Erin dragging me up the steps and out the door and to the hospital, she drove me to the hospital, she didn't drag me all the way to the hospital, but she did drag me up the steps.
34:17-34:19
But getting up and moving, I lived.
34:20-34:23
And the ministry that the Lord wanted to accomplish through me goes on.
34:24-34:29
And some of you today, right now, spiritually, are lying on the bench.
34:29-34:38
Some of you today, right now, are on the bench, and you're thinking, "I'm just going to lay my head back and rest a little." And that could be a death sentence for you.
34:39-34:45
And this message is Jesus slamming the door, saying, "Wake up! Get moving!
34:45-34:53
Get out these doors today and live your life for Jesus Christ." You bow your heads with me, please.
34:54-34:58
Father in heaven, I pray that today is a wake-up call.
34:59-35:14
Whether it's somebody listening here in this room, or somebody listening to this podcast later, there are people right now who are just laying on the bench, not wanting to strengthen what remains, not wanting to remember what has been heard and has been received.
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Father, I pray that we would take Jesus' words today as a wake-up call.
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just as this church was in its final breaths.
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There might be some people here in their final breaths.
35:27-35:30
Father, I pray this is a wake-up call for our church.
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That as we continue to talk about facilities and expansion and building and ministry and staffing and all these things, Father, we know that they're important, but they can't take the priority of making disciples.
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They can't take the priority over loving You, loving Your Word, allowing your Holy Spirit to change us and challenge us and grow us.
35:53-36:03
Father, we pray that you would find this church to be alive in the eyes of Christ, by His grace, by His power, just getting healthier.
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It's all for your glory, Father. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 3:1-6

GROUP

Have you ever attended / visited a “dead” church? What made you think it was dead? Describe it (no names, please!).
What did Jesus mean by “incomplete works” (Rev 3:2)? How do you evaluate works that are “complete”?
Specifically: how can a few believers in a dead church help wake the rest up (Rev 3:2-3)?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

In Heaven: The Worthy One

Intro / Review:

Who is Worthy?

In Heaven: The Worshiped One

Intro / Review:

The Throne and the Worship.

To the Lukewarm Church: Come to Christ!

Intro / Review:

Progress Report: Laodicea. (Rev 3:14-22):

To the Faithful Church: Keep Holding On!

Intro / Review:

Progress Report: Philadelphia. (Rev 3:7-13):

RAPTURE 101

To The Dead Church: Wake Up

Intro / Review:

Progress Report: Sardis (Rev 3:1-6):

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Intro / Review:

Who is Worthy?

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

The Throne and the Worship.

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

Progress Report: Laodicea. (Rev 3:14-22):

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

Progress Report: Philadelphia. (Rev 3:7-13):

RAPTURE 101

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

Progress Report: Sardis (Rev 3:1-6):

Audio Transcript