Well we now come in this look
at the book of Revelation, this series on the book of Revelation
to chapters 2 and 3. And I've entitled this Letters
for Today's Local Churches because I intend in this one message
to try and summarize the whole lot. Now you may wonder why,
that's far too ambitious a thing to do normally, but it's not
very long ago, it's not much more than a couple of years ago
that I preached a series of seven separate messages on each of
these letters. I also preached at one of the
new focus conferences on the letter to the Philadelphians.
So I think For the sake of making sure that this series doesn't
get bogged down, I want to summarise these letters fairly quickly
in one message. So bear with me and try and keep
up with me as we go through these things. We're in the first vision
of the seven that our Lord Jesus Christ gave by John to his church. Seven visions in the book of
Revelation. Each vision is a different perspective
on God's sovereign rule over the whole time from when Christ
first came to when he comes again, to which we look as believers,
we look towards that. And this is the first in chapters
one to three, and the vision is one of the living Christ in
the middle of his churches. Now you remember last week, we
were focusing on this one. Who is Jesus Christ? And what
is he doing now? And where is he now? And that
he is in the midst of his churches. You know, we use glib phrases.
We so easily like that phrase, where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst, or it's just
a glib... It's a fact. It's true. If you have faith,
you know this is true. Our Lord Jesus Christ has said
he will meet with us as we meet like this. seeking to worship
God, seeking to glorify the gospel of his grace, seeking to lift
him up, he says he will be here. He is living now. His message
isn't just a message that lives on in history, you know, like
the message of certain historical characters lives on in history,
and oh, there are lessons to learn from that, you know. No,
it's not like that. He is alive. You know, I know
the charismatics go over the top with their arm waving and
their choruses and all that sort of thing, and I'm not suggesting
for one minute that there's a shred of truth in what they do, but
the fact of the matter is, our Lord Jesus Christ is alive. He is alive. He is risen from
the dead. He is here in the midst. We're
one of those not seven, but the perfect number, God's churches,
God's fellowships of his people, wherever they may be. He is here
in the midst. The seven churches to whom he
told John to write, and writing to the angel, he's writing to
the messenger, he's writing to the pastor, he's writing to the
preacher of those churches. You know, when God draws a company
of people together, he raises up one of them, he raises up
someone, he gives them someone to be his angel, his messenger
to that church. I honestly do not see this thing
of pastors and co-pastors in the scriptures at all. Yes, elders
in big churches, yes, deacons to serve, but he gives his message
to his pastors to give to his churches, and he burdens them. And he gives them a clear message,
like the Levites were burdened with the Ark of God, they had
to carry it in them alone. And God burdens his angels with
his message to give to his people. These were seven real historical
churches. There were many more churches
at this time in the New Testament, but these seven are typical.
they're typical of all churches in all times from when Christ
first came to when he's coming again. Some say, some commentators
say that these seven churches are typical of the unfolding
of church history, so like the Ephesian church is the first
two or three centuries. And then the second one is the
golden days when there was no error, that's the church at Smyrna,
lovely, there's nothing wrong with it. And then the church
at Pergamos, errors started to creep in, that's like the fifth
and sixth centuries. No, I don't believe that at all.
I don't believe that for one moment. I think trying to do
that is about as profitable as what Paul says about debating
genealogies. Do you know in one of the epistles
he talks about the futility of just picking over silly little
details to no actual profit at all. So no, we're going to dismiss
that. These letters are symbolical of everything Christ has to say
to his church in all generations, from when he first came to when
he comes again. So they speak to us now. They
speak to us now. Are you ready to read these letters?
Oh, listen, listen. The postman. There's a letter
just, doesn't it happen in your house? In our house we're having
breakfast and we're, kalunk, we hear the letterbox go, the
postman's just been, we must go and see what's happening.
The postman's come. The postman's come to his church.
There are some letters here. Look, who are they for? Who's
it, who's it, oh that one's for you, this one's for me. Who are
they from? Oh, I recognise that handwriting,
yes. What are they about? Is it junk
mail? Can we just put it on the side
straight away without opening it? It goes straight in the bin
to go back into the recycling. Or are these important? Are these
important? I'm expecting a letter in a couple
of months from my main pension provider to tell me how much
he's lined up for me and how much we're going to get to live
on in our retirement as of next year. You know, that letter is
not junk mail. That letter's very important.
It's going to be anticipated and it's going to be opened with
great expectancy. You see, these letters are important
to us. Nebwith Grace Church, and anyone
who joins with us by the internet or any other means, these letters
are important to us now. They're not just a historical
record of stuff we can learn from the past. You know what
they say is the biggest lesson of history, that we never learn
the lessons of history. No, it's not just, it's now.
It's Christ in the midst of his church speaking to us now. They're
from the living Christ. Look at verse 18 of chapter one.
and envisage he's saying this to you and me now. He that John
saw in that vision, he before whom John fell at his feet as
dead, He whom told John not to fear, for he is the first and
the last, the cause, the upholding, the reason for everything. And
he says, this Lord Jesus Christ says to us now, he's in the midst
of us, he says, I am he that liveth and was dead. Oh, praise
God that he was dead. Do you know if he didn't die,
you and I have got to die the second death? Do you know that?
If he didn't die, you and I have got to die the second death,
but because he died, if our trust is in him, we don't have to die
that second death. He lives and was dead, and behold,
he is alive forevermore. And because he's alive forevermore,
those who are in him are alive forevermore. Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom, said the thief on the cross,
who'd never done a good work in his life, And Jesus said to
him, truly, I say to you, this day, you shall be with me in
paradise. He says, amen. He says, I have
the keys of hell and death. You need to know this one. He's
here in the midst. Now, look at chapter two, verse
one. Unto the angel, the pastor of
the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he, that's
him, that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. Seven stars?
His pastors. We know that. Last verse of the
previous chapter tells us. The seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches. They're the pastors of the churches.
Who walks in the midst of the seven golden candles. He's here
now. In the midst of us. This is who it is. He's holding
the stars, the pastors. He's giving them his message.
He's walking in the midst of his churches. And it's not just... His message that lives on, but
He Himself lives on in the midst of us. This is eternal reality. Remember two weeks ago, eternal
reality seen by the revelation of God. We see just mist spiritually,
but He clears that mist and shows us into the glorious sunshine
and blue sky of eternity. It's hidden from natural sight. It's revealed to the eye of faith. hidden from natural sight, revealed.
Let me ask you a question. Did you ever receive a letter
that's more important than these letters to the seven churches? Did you ever? You didn't, did
you? No, it's to all his churches in all ages, including us here
now. And he speaks to every condition
of his people. It's his people that he's speaking
to. Who are his people? They're believers. How does Paul
know that the Thessalonians are elect? Because of sanctification
of the truth and belief of the truth and sanctification of the
spirit. setting apart by the Spirit of God, and believing
the truth of the Gospel of His grace. They're all ears. You
know the illustration last week of the dog, Henry Mahan's illustration
about what it is to obey. The dog, it's all ears. His people
are all ears. My sheep, said Jesus, hear my
voice and follow me. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. Simple as that. Are you one of
his sheep? Do you hear his voice speaking about this thing, about
that thing, about that? Is he speaking to you? Hearing
it? Do you go, oh no, I'm going to
disagree with that. No, I don't think that's right.
No, not for now. No, that doesn't fit my situation. Or do you say,
this is my Lord Jesus Christ speaking to me now. I'm going
to hear him. I'm going to follow him. I'm
going to try, in the weakness of my flesh, but in that spirit
of that new man that is given by the Spirit of God, I'm going
to seek to follow him and obey him. He speaks to, look at this,
them that have an ear. Now follow some verses with me,
if you can, if you can't it doesn't matter, doesn't matter. But chapter
2 verse 7, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches. Chapter 2 verse 11, he that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Verse 17. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Verse 29. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Chapter 3, verse
6. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to his churches. Verse 13. He that
hath an ear. Getting familiar, isn't it? Let
him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Verse 22, he
that hath every single church, he says, he that has an ear,
let him hear. Who does he speak to? He speaks
to his people. What is the Bible? Is the Bible
about, you know, wise things? As I was listening to somebody
say yesterday, is it just about wise things that we can learn
lessons from, lessons from? It's about Christ. I determined
to know nothing else among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What is it to preach the whole
counsel of God? Is it to preach the wisdom of
the Bible alongside some gospel thing? No, it's to preach Jesus
Christ, for He is the wisdom of God. He is made unto us, of
God He is made unto us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. There is no wisdom outside of
Him, for in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
He speaks to us, and His people hear Him, because He gives us
of His Spirit. The natural man doesn't receive
the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. If they're spiritually discerned,
you must have spiritual discernment to receive them. And how do you
get that? Only by the grace of God. The
Holy Spirit comes and opens eyes. And he says, he that has ears
to hear Let him hear. If you have ears to hear what
Christ says, then what is the exhortation? Let him hear. Don't ignore it. Pay attention. Let him hear. Then secondly,
who is it to? Him that overcometh. Verse 7
again of chapter 2. To him that overcometh will I
give of the tree of life. Verse 11. He that overcometh shall not
be hurt in the second death. Verse 17. he that overcometh,
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and
will give him a white stone with a new name written verse 26 he
that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end will I give
power over the nations and he shall rule with me. Chapter 3
verse 5, he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white
raiment. Verse 12, he that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple
of God. Verse 21, him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on
my throne. He that overcomes, how do you
overcome? Not in the strength of your flesh,
but in the strength of his keeping, looking to him Look unto Jesus. Let us run this race that is
set before us, says the epistle to the Hebrews. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Looking unto, to
overcome. How did Peter overcome the waves
of the stormy Galilean sea? As long as he looked to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He that overcomes, he that perseveres
to the end, my father will keep All of my people, said Jesus.
There's no one can snatch them from my father's hand, for he
is greater than all, persevering to the end in the strength of
God's keeping power. Then thirdly, chapter two and
verse 24. But unto you I say, and unto
the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine and
which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will
put upon you none of the burden. Who else is he speaking to? Those
not embracing false doctrine and the depths of Satan. They're
not perfect. None of us are perfect. We're
all sinners. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God. We're not sinless but we're not happily settled in Satan's
falsehood. We've been plucked as brands
from the fire. We've got just as much tendency
as anybody else to go after falsehood, but we've been plucked by the
grace of God as brands from the burning, as logs, burning logs
out of the fire, and that burning has been extinguished. No, we're
not perfect, we're not sinless, but we don't stay settled in
the evil doctrine of falsehood. That's who he's speaking to.
He's not speaking to those peddling Balaam's doctrine, he's not speaking
to that woman Jezebel in verse 20 of chapter 2, he's speaking
to his people to steer clear of it. And verse 19 of chapter
3, this is who else he's speaking to. He's speaking to those that
he rebukes. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
If you're experiencing the rebuke and the chastening of God, if
it's pricking you in your conscience when you hear him speak, it's
a sign that you're one of his people because as many as he
loves, he chastens. This is his believing people,
albeit disobedient, some needing chastisement and correction,
but they're his from eternity. He's not speaking to the peddlers,
the salesmen of false doctrine that always, everywhere afflicts
the church. And what does he say? This is
it, this is what we want to look at in the time that we've got
left, that he knows our situation, that he commends what is good,
that he warns us against things that are bad, that he exhorts
us, encourages us to continue, and that he promises us a glorious
reward. First of all, he knows. He tells,
we read them, he tells every church. If you read these letters
yourself, and we haven't got time to look at every single
one because it's just a short sermon, But he says to everyone
he knows. He tells every church that he
knows their works and their situation. He knows our works. He knows
all about us. He knows how we assemble together. He knows what we do in our private
lives. He knows what we are in our witness
to this world. He knows us. He knows us inside
out. He knows our situation. He knows
our trials. He knows our efforts in his kingdom.
The infinite, omnipotent God, even now, knows everything. He's here in the midst. walking
in the midst of his candlesticks. He knows everything about our
situation as we seek to maintain a witness. When everything else
seems against us more often than not, as we seek to maintain a
witness to the truth of the gospel he's revealed in scripture, not
the man-made gospel of Ichabod, of Departed, not that gospel,
his true gospel, he's here in the midst and he knows every
detail. Nothing is hidden from his view. So we need to consider these
letters as personally relevant to us as individuals and as a
church and to all who join with us via the internet now. They're
personally relevant to us. They're personally directed by
the living God manifested in the person of his son through
the ministry of his Holy Spirit. He knows our situation. He knows
everything that's against us. He's ordained everything that's
against us for our good. Do you know that? Isn't that
comforting? He's ordained it all for our good, for our eternal,
everything! Because what do we know? All
things. We know this, all things. All things. Everything that seems
bad, everything that seems good, everything that seems indifferent.
If we believe what our God says, all things work together for
good to those that love God, who are called according to His
purpose. The trials, the tribulations,
the troubles, everything. is all for our eternal good.
He has one purpose, and that's the successful completion of
his mission to take everyone that the Father gave him in sovereign
grace before the beginning of time, to be with him in that
eternity of glory, to inherit that kingdom prepared from the
foundation of the world. And in that mission, he will
not fail. Then he commends. Then he commends. He knows us, and he commends
that which is good. There are some churches where
he's got nothing to say that's good. To the church at Sardis,
he's got virtually nothing to say that is good. To the church
at Laodicea, he's got nothing to say that is good. But to the
others he's got some things to say that are good. He commends
where he sees dedication to his cause. I know thy works, and
thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil, and hast tried them which say they are apostles,
and are not, and found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience,
and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. He commends
dedication to his cause. He commends their works of charity
and of faith. He commends their patience, their
long-suffering, their putting up with trials of providence. Some have experienced extreme
poverty for the sake of Christ. Others had experienced extreme
violence and persecution and rejection and hatred by those
around them for the sake of the gospel of grace. Patients in
trials of providence, in trials of spirit, and yet they'd maintain
discipline. They'd maintain discipline. You
know, what is it to maintain discipline? Is it to get out
the Spanish Inquisition and pry into people's private lives?
Not in the slightest. But it is this. It's to guard
what we believe. to guard what we believe. I tell
you, with God's enabling, as long as I'm enabled to stand
here, there's nobody else coming and standing here that I don't
trust not to peddle false doctrine. You know, in a few weeks' time,
Harry and I will be changing pulpits again, and it's because
I absolutely trust him. to preach the truth, and he trusts
me to preach the truth there. But there are many others I could
tell you of who, no way would I allow this meeting to go ahead
and them to come here and speak to you. Because that is allowing
falsehood to be propagated. And Christ commends where his
people have been diligent to keep out falsehood, and he has
against them, as we'll see shortly, places where they've allowed
falsehood to come in. guarding the pulpit, guarding
what is taught, guarding the truth that's believed, guarding
that which goes out in the name of the church. That's it. He
commends that to maintain correct doctrine and applying discipline
to be sure of that. You know, what is it that we're
so strict about? We're intolerant of what I would
call primary gospel error. You know the absolute core essentials
of the gospel we cannot compromise at all. The fact of sovereign
grace, utter sovereign grace. The fact that Christ died for
his particular people above all else, not universalism. That's
what we stand for. The truth of the gospel, the
precepts of the gospel is what we stand for. We're a church
in the wilderness world. Revelation 12 when we get to
it shows us this. But in that wilderness world,
Revelation 12, 6, it's a place prepared of God to feed her there. However tough it seems, it's
a place prepared of God to feed her there. It's a place of trials,
the wilderness, of hardship, of loneliness, of opposition.
And Jesus doesn't say, oh let's take them, let's send in a helicopter
and get them out of there. John 17 verse 15, the Lord Jesus
the night before he was crucified prayed to his father, I pray
not that thou shouldst take them, his people, his believing church,
us, out of the world. No, he doesn't pray that we be
taken out of the world, but that whilst we're in this wilderness
world, we be kept from evil, from the evil, from the devices,
the wiles of Satan. You see, what we believe, in
this world, as the Church of the Living God, and what we do
in response to it, and how we live in response to it, the testimony
that we bear in response to it matters. And Christ sees it,
and he commends the good. You read these letters. Where
he sees good practice, he commends it. He commends it. You know,
there are those around, there always have been, these who sort
of try and give some kind of higher, deeper understanding
of true faith. and they say, oh, the flesh is
so corrupt that the outworkings of our faith in these bodies
just don't matter at all. It doesn't matter what you do
because everything that you try to do in the flesh is going to
make you think you can earn some righteousness in the flesh and
therefore, you know, you're not looking at Christ. Beware of
that. Beware of it. My friends, beware
of it. We need to be so beware of this.
We are spirit But we live in physical bodies, and we're here
in this wilderness world in physical bodies, and whilst in the flesh
there dwells no good thing, and whilst in the flesh we are nothing
other than sin and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, yet in the
Lord Jesus Christ we are called to put off the old man with his
deeds, to put on the new man that's renewed in righteousness.
It does make a difference how we live. It does. It makes a
huge difference. So he commends the good and then
he warns us against some things, A, B, C, D, E, F, six things.
Things which if tolerated in the local churches and things
which if unchecked will cause the church to wither and die.
You know you go around this country and you see places that were
once gospel preaching churches. all over the place. Many of them
have been turned into private houses, little chapels in the
countryside. Places where we used to think,
ah, there is the name of Christ upheld, there is Christ preached
and glorified, there is Christ alone the centre of everything
they do. And now, they've withered, and they've died, and they're
a pathetic sight. They're a sad, sad sight. And the only sign you can put
above the door is Ichabod. What does Ichabod mean? Departed
glory. Why is it departed glory? Because
the Gospel of Christ isn't clearly preached anymore. If the Gospel
of Christ isn't clearly preached, the glory of the place has departed.
For the glory of the place, the glory of the church is the Gospel
of Christ. He is the glory of the church. If he's not preached,
it's Ichabod. The glory has departed. He says
these things to us now, as a church, as a company of his people, and
to those joining with us. There are many out there on the
internet who regard themselves as members of our church and
we ought to treat them and consider them as much members of our church
as if they were sitting here with us in this room now. And
he says this to us all. He says, beware. Beware of apostasy. Now, big words, big words. Look
at verse four of chapter two, the letter to the church of Ephesus.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee. What's he got against
them? They have left their first love. What was their first love? The
Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of his grace and his redeeming
love for them. That was their first love. You
know, when you knew that you had a soul that was burdened
with sin that must face a God who must be angry with you as
he's angry with the wicked every day, when you know that it's
appointed to man to die once and then the judgment, and in
that judgment there will be nothing other than condemnation, depart
from me. I never knew you. Those are the
words to those outside of Christ. And then you see in the Lord
Jesus Christ, we're going to be sharing bread and wine, that
you see that God came in a body that he might save me from that
condemnation. He came in a body that was to
be broken because the law demanded the soul that sins, it shall
die. The blood which is the lifeblood
must be poured out. to take that life away, to pay
the penalty of the law for sin. And we say, well, he had no sin.
No, he didn't. He had no sin whatsoever, but
he was made sin for his people. And when God made him the sin
of his people, in that mysterious way, I don't understand, but
I believe it because the scripture tells me, when he made him the
sin of his people, he punished him. He poured out His wrath. He satisfied His justice on His
Son. And where the wrath of God has
fallen and has burnt that ground, it can no more burn me if I stand
there. He did it that He might make
me the righteousness of God in Him. And seeing that, Oh, how
my soul loved him. How my soul was knitted to him. How my soul needed him. How he
was my necessary food. How I must have him above all
other things. All other things can fade, but
I must have him. It doesn't matter about hardship
or trials or prosperity or poverty. It doesn't matter. I must have
him. He's the pearl of greatest price.
And that's how I felt. That's my first love. But he
says to some, to many, to us perhaps, you've left your first
love. You know, in a marriage, you
can experience great times, that initial love, that first married
love, that initial love, doing things for one another is not
a burden in any sense because the love drives it. But as time
goes on, The wife, and this isn't meant to be a man-woman illustration
at all, but it's just an illustration from marriage, but the wife,
she's a good wife, she's a dutiful wife, she keeps the house clean,
she cooks food, she takes care of the needs of the home, and
she looks after her husband, but the love has waned. The love
has waned. You know, It's like we can have
outward forms of Christian behavior. As a people of God, we can have
correct doctrine. But the first thrill of the gospel
love has gone cold. What does he say? Repent. He
says this to us. ye then be risen with Christ.
Aren't you? Aren't you as believers? Seek
those things which are above where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. When you're away, those of you that have ever,
that have been married and that you've been away on business
somewhere else for an extended period of time, and you find
that your heart is yearning to be home with your wife and your
family, you know, set your heart on those things. Set your affection
on things above. You're dead, your life's hid
with Christ in God. First love. First love. Repent
of it. Christ is our all. Secondly,
compromise with false doctrine. He warns against this. Look at
verse 14. I have a few things against you
because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who told Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of
Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols. Now, I've got to be
very brief in summarizing this. We could go back to numbers 21
to 25, but let me put it in a nutshell. Balaam was given the commission
by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel. And he tried because
he was going to get paid money to do it. He was going to get
paid for it. That was his motive, was his
belly. He wanted good things for himself. And God wouldn't
let him. And every time he opened his
mouth as a prophet, God put words of blessing on Israel in his
mouth. He couldn't. But do you know what he did?
We read later in Numbers, he persuaded the Israelites to compromise
with false doctrine. And though he couldn't curse
them, he persuaded them to compromise with false doctrine. Is that
not what happens in so many churches? In an attempt to be friends with
everybody that calls themselves a Christian church, they so dilute
The basic thing that they're supposed to believe and uphold,
that they become nothing. The church is withering. It's
dying. The primary gospel truth of sovereign
grace and particular redemption, effectual salvation, that salvation
that gets the job done, is watered down so that we can be friends.
with those that call themselves evangelical. They're Bible-believing
churches in our area. We'll be friends with them. Let's
remain popular with them. Let's not fall out with them.
Let's try and be friends with everybody. And the gospel offence,
what gospel offence? Christ died only for his elect.
How's that for an offence? Come on, religious folks, any
out there listening, you call yourself believers. Does that
offend you? Christ only died for those whom
the Father gave to him. He did. He didn't die for everybody
to give everybody a chance. He died for those whom the Father
gave to him. Does that offend you? Well, we need to stick to
that. Because to compromise on that
is following after the doctrine of Balaam. Persuading the true
people of God to go and compromise with that which is false religion.
Look what he says. I'll be very, very quick. 2 Corinthians 6, right, be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light
with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what
part hath he that believeth with an infidel, or what agreement
with the temple of God with idols? Come out from them, be separate
from them. Thirdly, antinomianism, antinomianism,
verse 15 of chapter 3, the Nicolaitans They were people who said this,
let us sin that grace may abound. Let us sin. Any who think they
can commit immoral acts flying in the face of the precepts of
God's law and his gospel are antinomian. And what does God
say about that? Let me remind you, 1 Corinthians
6. Nine and ten, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed. You know? It's absolutely clear. If you
truly have the love of Christ in your heart, that love constrains
your outward behavior. It constrains you to seek to
put off the old man with his deeds. Next one, fourth one. Tolerance of false teachers.
Verse 20 of chapter 2. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants
to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols."
I think there really was a woman. Whether she was called Jezebel,
the name is used because Jezebel was the wife of Ahab in the Old
Testament in the time of Elijah. She was a deceiver. She was a
wicked, evil woman. But he says, you haven't exercised
discipline in your church to stop this woman teaching falsehood
to my people. And despite, he commends them
for their diligence, their charitable service, he commends them for
all those things, but rebukes them, and warns them, because
they're tolerant of a woman preaching and teaching deception. And the
natural tendency of us all is to say, oh, let's not make a
fuss about it, honestly, do we have to be falling out about
things? Let's not judge one another. We'll only be seen as bigots
if we say, I'm sorry, we're not having that, that's not true.
Christ said to his people, Matthew 7, 15, in the Sermon on the Mount,
beware of false prophets. We welcome all We preach the
gospel to all who will hear, but we will not tolerate any
peddling of falsehood in people's pursuit of their success, whether
it be more numbers or whatever it is. No, he warns us, absolutely,
do not tolerate false teachers. Chapter 3, verse 1, to the angel
of the church at Sardis writes, These things saith he that hath
the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works,
that thou hast a name that thou livest. Oh, there's a good church.
Go there, there's a good church. Do you know churches that have
names like that? There's a good church. They've got a good pastor,
and elders, and deacons, and a nice building, and everything
else that goes with it. You have a name that you live.
The Lord Jesus Christ says this, you're dead. You're dead. To churches like that he says,
you're dead. because of hypocrisy, because
of mere formalism, because mere lifeless outward orthodoxy. They
go through all the outward movements of believing and of being a Christian
church, but he says, you're dead, you're dead, you're dead. It's
natural to the human spirit to pretend. It's natural to the
human spirit to try to give an impression of godliness. We need
to pursue true godliness. For example, observing ordinances. You can observe the ordinances
absolutely. We have unleavened bread, there's
no yeast in it, symbolical of the body of Christ. We have real
wine, which is symbolical of that perfect, immaculate blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are exactly the right things.
But do you know, if we do not discern in our spirits the body
and blood of our Lord, we eat damnation to ourselves if we
partake of it. The mere outward form is just
deadness. He will say, depart from me, I never knew you. And
then finally, I know this is such a rush through, but please
bear with me and look back at previous messages, look back
at these things. Finally, lukewarmness. Look at chapter 3 verses 15 and
16. He says to the Laodiceans, I know thy works, that thou are
neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were one or the
other. I wish that you were either hot or cold. Have we become lukewarm? He says you're lukewarm. He even
says, look, this Christ in our midst says this to those who
are lukewarm. He says I'm going to spew you.
Ooh, ooh, language, language. He says, I'm going to spew you
out of my mouth. You know, lukewarmness, lukewarm
coffee is unpalatable, isn't it? Ugh, it's neither hot nor
cold. Lots of things, lukewarm, it's
unpalatable. Lukewarm water, I know somebody
that likes lukewarm water, I can't stand it myself. Lukewarm water,
ugh. Jesus says, I'll spew you out
of my mouth. He wants us to be hot or cold,
not sitting on the fence. Are we just Sunday morning followers
of Christ? I know we only have this service.
Are we just Sunday morning followers of Christ? If we are, you know,
our Lord Jesus Christ says to us now, in his letter to us now,
beware, I'll spew you out of my mouth. But there must even
at Laodicea be some who are his true people because he counsels
a return to him. This is a letter to the angel
of the church at Laodicea. He counsels them to return to
him. This is what he says to us. He rebukes and he chastens
those he loves. Verse 19, as many as I love I
rebuke and chasten. Are you hearing any chastening?
Anybody else out there? Am I? Well, it's because he loves
us. Let's return to him. Can you
hear him? Will you repent? Look what he
says. This is verse 20. It's a verse taken completely
out of context by the Arminians that say that Jesus is pathetically
standing at the door of every man's heart, knocking on it,
hoping that they're going to open it to them. But if they
don't, he can't do anything about it. He's not talking about that.
This is his church he's speaking to. And he's saying to those
that have gone lukewarm in the faith, he's knocking on the door.
You want fellowship with God? If you're a true believer, you
want fellowship with God. You want God to be your God and
you to be his people. And he says, I'm knocking on
the door, open. Oh, let us open. Let's open to him. And he'll
come in and he'll sup. He'll sup with us. He'll have
fellowship, intimate fellowship with us. Let's return to him. And then he gives all those warnings
and then he exhorts everyone. He exhorts to hear and to repent. He exhorts to hold fast what
we've got and not let anybody take it from us. He exhorts us
to keep going, to be watchful for error and falsehood. He exhorts
us to look for his coming. Do we live looking for his return
and to be utterly committed to him? Look, verse 18 of chapter
3, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that
thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that thy shame of thy nakedness do not appear,
and anoint thine eyes with thyself, that thou mayest see. He's exhorting
return to him, come to him, embrace him, he exhorts these things
and he promises so much. Chapter 2 verse 7, the fruit
of the tree of life in heaven. That's an allusion to the Garden
of Eden, where they ate of the fruit of the tree of life in
fellowship with God. And it's a picture of heaven.
It's a picture of that state in heaven. He'll take us to be
with him in heaven. He'll give us verses 10 and 11
of chapter 2. A crown of life and escape from
the second death. A crown of life! We will not
go into that second death. that second death of judgment,
for He has borne that in our place. Verse 17 of chapter 2,
He will give us manna, manna, what's the manna? Christ, I am
the bread that came down from heaven. And He'll give us a white
stone of justification. In the Roman courts, there was
the black stone of guilt and the white stone of justification. If you were given the white stone,
you were exonerated, you were freed, you were justified. He
says, I'll give you that because you're justified in Him. before
the judgment seat of Christ. In chapter 2, verses 26 to 28,
he promises that we, fallen creatures like us but redeemed and saved,
shall rule with Christ, our morning star. In chapter 3, verses 4
and 5, he promises us the garments of salvation, walking with God
forever, will be clothed, will be clothed in the garments of
salvation. In verse 12 of chapter 3 he promises
the permanence of his kingdom in the New Jerusalem. In verse
21 of chapter 3 he promises intimate fellowship and communion with
God. I know that's been such a rush
and I apologize for that, but do you have ears to hear what
he has said to his church here and now? Verse 3 of chapter 1,
blessed Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words
of this prophecy, and keep those things written therein. Blessed,
the blessed of God, if you hear them and keep them. Matthew 13,
16, Jesus said, Blessed are your eyes, for they see. Most don't,
but blessed are your eyes, for they see. Blessed are your ears,
for they hear.