Category: Revelation

There is a fantastic description of a soon coming event in Revelation 1: 7-8, where it says:

“BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who [f]is to come, the Almighty.”

I am fascinated by the event, but even more fascinated by the description of the Coming Prince. It is something that stirs the hearts of believers of all kinds.

I mention the Coming Prince because you may not be aware of it, but believers are being torn apart, one from another, in our time. Things that draw us together have become far too quiet, while the things that divide us are emphasized over and over, to the detriment of Jesus follower.

Modern disciples must recall that we are not supposed to make unity. The Scripture calls us to “endeavor to KEEP the unity” given by the Spirit at our new birth. Yet, we seem to find this hard to do. Let me illustrate…

Once upon a time a man took a walk and came to a bridge. When he got to the middle of the bridge, he saw a man standing on the rail, obviously about to jump. The man was distraught so he said, “Don’t jump. I can help you.” “How can you help me?” asked the man on the rail. The first man replied with a question of his own: “Are you a Christian?” “Yes, I am.” “That’s wonderful. So am I. Are you Catholic or Protestant?” “I’m Protestant.” “That’s great. So am I. What sort of Protestant are you? Are you Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, or something else?” “I’m a lifetime Baptist,” said the man on the rail.

“Praise the Lord,” came the reply. “So am I. Let me ask you this. Are you Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” “I’m Northern Baptist.” “Are you Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?” “I’m Northern Conservative Baptist.” “Well, call Ripley’s. This is amazing. So am I. Are you Northern Conservative Baptist Fundamental or Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed?”

The man on the rail thought for a moment and then declared, “My father raised me as a Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed.” “It’s a miracle,” said the first man. “Put ’er there, pal. So am I.” Then he asked, “Are you Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed Great Plains Region?” The man on the rail said, “That’s easy. My family has always been Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed Great Lakes Region.” “This is a miracle of miracles. I don’t often meet a brother who shares my own heritage.

One final question: Are you Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed Great Lakes Region Council of 1855 or Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed Great Lakes Region Council of 1872?” The man on the rail replied instantly, “Since the days of my great-grandfather, we have always been Northern Conservative Baptist Reformed Great Lakes Region Council of 1872.” This statement was followed by an awkward pause. Looking up, the first man cried out, “Die, heretic!” And he pushed him off the bridge.

We laugh at that story because it is so close to the truth. If two Christians agree on 79 out of 80 points, they will usually focus on the area where they disagree. We need to remind ourselves of the rallying points of our faith in order to stand together. We need to remember the basis of our unity is not our work, but our Savior.

The truth is that it is possible to FIND Jesus and not FOLLOW Jesus – and that moves from being a PROMISING LIFE to offering a tragically powerless life… because the Christian life IS walking with Jesus, not performing FOR Jesus.

As we look at the beginning of the Book of Revelation, take note of this truth…

Key Principle: We can’t really walk with God if we don’t take the time to gaze at Him – to really SEE Him as He is.

It is possible to get distracted. It is even possible to suddenly become enveloped in the storms and lose our way. Let’s not try to fake it – it happens to Jesus followers all the time.

When Paul wrote to a young church the letter we call “2 Thessalonians” he wrote about three pummeling punches the enemy used in swift combination in order to discourage them any time they appeared to begin to gain ground in the Spirit. The Bible, then, became like the “fight tape recording” of that three punch knockout faithfully preserved so that we might not take the same punches:

• 2 Thessalonians 1 mentioned persecution and affliction deliberately set to ensnare believers just like I find on college campuses and business environments that have grown increasingly HOSTILE to anyone who names Jesus as Savior.

• 2 Thessalonians 2 made clear the enemy was involved in planting the roadside bombs of fake teachings that kept the people of God in confusion. How hard do you have to search the web to find people sharing the Bible God should have written but didn’t – because He wasn’t as “smart” or as “tolerant” as they are?

• 2 Thessalonians 3 revealed the enemy’s age old tactic of discouraging believer’s by helping them to focus on others who claimed to have FOUND Christ, but lived in ways that didn’t FOLLOW Christ.

Relentlessly pounding believers with ominous warnings and the fear of coming trouble, together with constant stirring confusion of false words misdirecting Jesus followers with falsehoods and the sinking discouragement of trying to represent Jesus when loud voices of believers with poor testimonies drown out godly examples – these are three of the classic techniques of our enemy.

Here is the good news: Jesus is greater than the temporary prince of the fallen world. He has not left us without defenses. Redemption has already begun, and it will be complete in His return to the planet. In the meantime, we examine the tapes of past fights to prepare for our own. During our time:

We have God’s Word to reveal to us His direction, correction and encouragement.

But, we have something else we can count on. I believe it is the single greatest secret that helps me in the midst of the storms – and it is what I want to share with you in this lesson from the Word.

We have a lighthouse on the shore that shines through the storms. You’ll miss it if you don’t learn to look for it.

If the swells have overtaken you – our lighthouse can offer you hope, direction and rescue. Our lighthouse is the shining light of our loving, intimate, personal God, and our gaze at Him must be one in desperation – as one who knows he cannot make it to shore without Him.

You heard me correctly. We need to need Him more than we think we need Him now. When desperation wanes, cockiness follows.

When I believe I can pull off the Christian life without Jesus, I show I don’t really understand what the Christian life is at all…

Beloved, I want to remind you of words I have spoken before. They are the “theme music” in the background of all that I preach. I repeat them, over and over, because I need to be reminded of them… Please hear them…

The main point of the Christian life is NOT to tell Jesus you believe what He did long ago – so as to avoid Hell and get to Heaven when you die – it is an intimate walk with Jesus TODAY.

Admittedly, Heaven is a stunning benefit and a deeply encouraging expectation based on the unambiguous promises of the True and Living God – but a new eternal destination not the point (it is a side benefit).

Honestly, Heaven would be a penalty for one who hasn’t learned to love Jesus in this life.

Can I be candid with you about something, now that I am a grandfather twice over? I have heard that not every child LIKES to go to their grandma or grandpa’s house. In some cases, the place seems outdated, stuffy and is full of things they aren’t allowed to touch. Do you know why some children don’t like to go there? The reason is simply because they haven’t learned to LOVE grandma or grandpa. They don’t know how COOL they really are (if people still say the word “cool”). This is the reason my wife and I have become very intentional about making our home a place any kid in their right mind would want to come. (A good idea, right?)

The actual point of the Christian life is to WALK WITH JESUS, to learn to love Him and THEN long to be in Heaven with Him. We aren’t supposed to long for the benefits of the relationship MORE than the relationship itself.

“How can I learn to do that?” You may ask.

I must consciously learn to invite Him to journey through the day, to hold His hand and allow Him to lead through the passage of life. Heaven is an unending version of that reality – but not the beginning of it. We can and should have it today. I want to show you HOW.

By the way, the writer of Hebrews knew this secret.

He wrote that we have a great hall of witnesses that watch us as we live out our faith. The whole time they cheer us on, he noted that we are to be “looking unto Jesus” – not the grandstands, not the cheering crowds – but to the Savior. He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. He endured the Cross that we might enter the journey of life with Him.

John used the same lighthouse to navigate the storm.

For a few moments, will you join me in looking at the first chapter of Revelation?

Look at the first chapter of Revelation, where John gazes Heavenward and gets his instructions to write the book we have today… The opening lines remind us that purpose of the narrative isn’t just to get believers fighting about the meaning of various signs as we approach the troubles of the last days. The narrative teaches us of John’s special GOD GAZING time. He wrote:

1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Don’t miss the opening line: This is the revealing of WHO Jesus is before it is the revealing of what will happen as God closes the human program. Verse one appears to me to be in the order of priority: reveal Jesus and then tell you what Jesus will do. His works follow His character.

Knowing HIM helps you when you can’t understand what He is DOING!

Keep reading:

Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,

Did you see Who addressed the letter to the churches?

Like all things, it started with God the Father.

Revelation 1:4 mentions both the Father and the Spirit, so we dare not pass them by without notice. Remember that although God has many titles in Scripture, He has only ONE NAME. It was so precious over the centuries that Jews ceased to speak it aloud. This name YHWH or Jehovah is, in fact, a contraction of several phrases that can be summarized by John’s words in verse four: “The One Who was and Who is and Who is to come.” (In Hebrew: Asher ha-yah v’hoveh v’yavo).

In short, you serve the ever-present, always NOW God.

He is the God of our Fathers, but, if He tarries, that same faithful God will be the God of our sons. He dwells beyond time – for time is something He made for those limited to the few dimensions that make us HUMAN. He is not like us. The end and the beginning are both clear to Him in the same moment.

Read the rest of the letter that John left us and you will see the Father sits upon the throne of Heaven surrounded by the crystal sea. Ezekiel saw Him moving about on a grand apparatus of wheels, flanked by angels and filled with glory.

• When you behold Him, you will know that He is not a created being – but the very context of all creation.

• He is not the One Who does good – rather the very nature of good is defined by His person.

• When you see the train of His robe and the vastness of His presence you will understand – there is no glory that compares to His.

All creation was made by Him and according to His design. Our very purpose is found in His decree.

The writers included God the Spirit.

Verse four made clear that His throne was surrounded by His own Holy Spirit – whose seven titles likely recall Isaiah 11:2.

1. God’s Spirit is the Spirit of the YHWH (The ever-present NOW God).

2. He is the Spirit of Wisdom (hokmah: practical application of truth)

3. He is the Spirit of Understanding (binah: clarity).

4. He is the Spirit of Counsel (etsah: advised strategy)

5. He is the Spirit of Strength (gibborah: empowering courage).

6. He is the Spirit of Knowledge (da’ath: deliberation)

7. He is the Spirit of Reverence (yiraw: sense of supreme awe).

Don’t rush past the details of WHO the Holy Spirit IS, or you will lose a lamp designed to guide you through the storm.

When you are filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God, you are filled with the One Who is always on time, always up to speed with the facts, always ready to act in righteousness.

When you walk in the Holy Spirit and refuse to feed the insatiable desires of the flesh, you walk in the practical applications of the Word of God. You let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

When you are filled with confusion and under the smoke of enemy fire, the Holy Spirit will bring crystal-like clarity by the Father’s inexhaustible power.

When you face defeat upon defeat and call upon God for understanding, God’s Holy Spirit will advise you on strategies to blunt the fiery darts of the wicked one.

When you cry out in fear of the things of this world, the Holy Spirit will wrap your weakness in the cable-like strength of Hid might.

When you cannot find a path to follow, the Spirit of Knowledge will show you how to cut through the dense thicket and brush of confusion and stir, and move toward the place of God’s peace.

When you yield your heart to the Spirit of Reverence, you will:

• Fear men less than God,

• Love sin less than a deep yearning for the Master’s smile

• You will keep a sharp eye on the immutable, inexhaustible, irresistible God to get through the storm.

The Father’s power and majesty, coupled with the Spirit’s inner assurance are both light sources to fix our eyes upon. But there is MORE…

The third collaborative author is Jesus.

–The lighthouse includes the One Who called Himself “the Light of the world”.

As I scan verses five through seven, I can begin to recite the greatness of our Savior…

He is the Anointed One, because verse five says:

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ,

The term “Christos” is a translation of the word for the Meshiach – the Anointed One. Our Savior has been appointed by God to be our King, our Priest, and our Prophet.

His words tell what is to come. His place is standing for us before the Father. His right is to hold the greatest scepter ever touched – the King above all Kings.

He is the Truthful One, because verse five went on to call Him:

Revelation 1:5b “…the faithful witness”

You can trust Jesus to talk straight about life, about struggles, about YOU.

He doesn’t dither around with “fortune cookie” like sayings. He isn’t some mystic “Yoda” figure.

You need to know as the FAITHFUL WITNESS, Jesus won’t blow smoke at someone He gave blood to save. Your pain isn’t irrelevant to Him. You aren’t a BOTHER to His schedule. Jesus is the witness before the Father that you can COUNT ON to speak faithfully the truth.

With His own breath, Colossians 1 reminds, man received dignity, identity and purpose.

A short time ago I stood at a Youth Conference and a student asked from the floor a question. He asked if his friend who called himself a “gay Christian” was going to Heaven. My answer apparently bothered most everyone in the room. I replied, “Your friend is mistaken. Christian is an identity. Sexual desire and fulfillment is a behavior. In the Gospels, Jesus taught the disciples that the Pharisees who called a woman “an adulteress” were WRONG. She wasn’t an adulteress – she was a woman created by God and loved by Him. So is your friend. His sexual behavior is something he does – but not who he is. God always separates behavior and identity.

If you buy into the world’s framing of “I am gay” you buy into letting someone’s wrong behavior (that is, their sin) name them. You and I aren’t what we feel, what we want or what we do. That isn’t our identity – it is our behavior.

Jesus refused to call a woman caught in the consequences of her rebellion an “adulteress.” He insisted that she was, in fact, a woman. She was a beloved creation of the Father. Her behavior was NOT her identity, and neither is any one else’s. We must stop buying into the deception that a person should be rightly named by their sin. Identity is neither synonymous with sexual desire nor behavioral failure. What we do is not who we are. Until we separate between identity and behavior we haven’t learned to think like the Savior.

Jesus taught the intrinsic worth and dignity of people. The modern agenda to accept desires as definition opposes the way Jesus looks at people.

You aren’t a pedophile. You aren’t a prostitute. You aren’t a thief. You aren’t a rapist. You are a person – created by a loving Father, and in need of His strong and mighty hand to deliver you from bowing down to your desires as though they were your master. I needed that. Everyone does.

Just as Jesus called the Disciples to see the “woman in sin” was a woman who needed God to fix her brokenness, so any friend who has been swallowed in a lifestyle of impure behavior needs God to fill the space in his heart now taken by the idols of feeling and desire. Jesus words to her were simply: “Knock it off!” (Go and sin no more). He didn’t mean “Get perfect!” but rather “stop doing this thing that God has said is wrong, period.”

Don’t ever forget: Satan knows you by your name, but calls you by your sin. Jesus knows you by your sin, but calls you by your name. Our faith is deeply rooted in God’s love of each of us. That is the heart of the Gospel.

Jesus can represent the Father in all things, because verse five called Him:

Revelation 1:5b “…the firstborn of the dead.”

Don’t get confused. The term “first born” in the text isn’t intended to say the Eternal Son of God was “born first.” The expression isn’t about Jesus being “created” though in the Godhead, He IS the only one Who experienced the process of physical birth!

The word had everything to do with RIGHTS and PRIVILEGES in the time of the Apostles. The FIRST BORN was the one who represented the Father in negotiations and contracts. He was the inheritor of all of his father’s estate. He held a position of greater authority than any other son, any employee, any representative. Jesus is the EXACT REPRESENTATION of the Father (Hebrews 1:4). He is the image stamp. He looks, in every respect, like the Father. He said it this way: “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” The term firstborn is a term about the right to fully represent the interests of His Father… and Jesus CAN.

Jesus is the One above every ruler and king, because verse five remarked:

Revelation 1:5b “…and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

There is no rival to Jesus. Every cult, every religion, every revered prophet of men will bow before the Lord of all Creation. Every Prime Minister, every President, every king and queen – all will drop to their knees and bow their faces to the floor in the magnificent throne room of the One God has promised to exalt above all.

He is the One who loved you enough to place His hands willingly down against the wood and evil men drove hard the nails through His flesh. Why? Why would He do that for you and for me? John made it clear…

Revelation 1:5b “…To Him Who loves us”

Jesus didn’t simply honor His Father’s wishes – though He DID do all things pleasing to Him. Jesus turned to His disciples on the night in which He was betrayed and He told them plainly: “Love one another in the way that I have LOVED you.” (John 13:34ff).

It wasn’t simply DUTY that drove Jesus to the Cross. He loved each one of those bumbling followers of His. They couldn’t listen very well, and they slept through their final prayer meeting with Jesus in Gethsemane, even though they knew He was upset about something. These guys had so many rough edges – they could be US! Yet, Jesus made clear He loved them. John included the whole of the church when he wrote “to Him Who loves us.”

Jesus is the One Who laid down His life for us. John wrote:

Revelation 1:5b “…and released us from our sins by His blood—

Think of it! Sin has no hold over you that YOU aren’t giving it.

Acting as a slave to your desires is like living in a jail cell with a door that is unlocked. Jesus unlocked it already.

Before you knew Christ, you were dead in relation to a real connection with God. You could do good things, but you couldn’t do RIGHTEOUS things. You could help people. You could be friendly. You could observe the GOLDEN RULE, pay your taxes and be a faithful spouse. What you couldn’t do, is settle the judicial issue between you and God related to your broken heart. You were born a sinner. It was passed from Adam to you and I by means of our father’s seed. You got more than your nose from him!

Jesus became sin, though He Himself never rebelled against God at all. He did it so that we might have a lamb that was truly spotless of offer up to God and pay for our sin. He took MY place and YOUR place on the Cross.

Jesus didn’t die simply to make us ONE in Heaven, but to bring us together to serve Him NOW! John wrote:

Revelation 1:6 “and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Our Savior welded us together. Forget your social status – all followers of Jesus are happy slaves. Forget your wealth – we are to live as those surrendered to the King. Forget your color – God didn’t want a boring world so he gave us many unique features that make us able to reflect His artistry. Forget yourself: We live for the glory of the King.

Don’t forget: Jesus is coming back. He isn’t done.

This old broken planet, gasping for clean air, shedding some of its wondrous beasts in extinction because of terrible greed, incessantly arguing about one opinion after another, spilling innocent blood because of rivalries, jealousies and mistrust… the earth is about to stand silent when the King arrives…

Revelation 1:7 “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

Songwriters Joel Houston, Benjamin Hastings and Michael Fatkin are credited with the lyrics of a song called: “So Will I.” Perhaps their stirring words will help you to deliberately focus on the Presence of God, and take the time to truly gaze upward to SEE HIM. They wrote:

“God of creation, there at the start, before the beginning of time with no point of reference – You spoke to the dark and fleshed out the wonder of light. And as You speak a hundred billion galaxies are born. In the vapor of Your breath the planets form. If the stars were made to worship so will I. I can see Your heart in everything You’ve made – Every burning star a signal fire of grace. If creation sings Your praises so will I.

God of Your promise, You don’t speak in vain. No syllable empty or void. For once You have spoken, all nature and science follow the sound of Your voice. And as You speak a hundred billion creatures catch Your breath [forming] in pursuit of what You said. If it all reveals Your nature so will I. I can see Your heart in everything You say. Every painted sky a canvas of Your grace. If creation still obeys You so will I, So will I, So will I.

If the stars were made to worship so will I.
If the mountains bow in reverence so will I.
If the oceans roar Your greatness so will I.
For if everything exists to lift You high so will I.
If the wind goes where You send it so will I.
If the rocks cry out in silence so will I.
If the sum of all our praises still falls shy, then we’ll sing again a hundred billion times!

God of salvation, You chased down my heart through all of my failure and pride. On a hill You created the light of the world abandoned in darkness to die. And as You speak, a hundred billion failures disappear. Where You lost Your life, so I could find it here.

If You left the grave behind You so will I…”

When earth is full of drama, gaze up at the God Who will make all things new. Remember, He started this, and He is going to finish it. Revelation 1:8 makes it clear:

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Think of those words.

• God started it all, and there is no other who will bring it all to an end.

• God is not “behind” – He is always NOW.

• God has no rival to subdue – He is the ALMIGHTY.

Now, let’s make this all very practical.

Philippians 3 was written when Paul was under house arrest in Rome awaiting the “justice” that was bound up in the person of Emperor Nero. Things weren’t looking bright. “Fair” was not on the menu. What did he do?

He said: “I want to know Him. I want to know His power. I want to know His pain. I want Him to change me as I study more and more His face, His life, His character.”

In Acts 7, Stephen found himself surrounded by the disfigured faces of angry men even as He testified to God’s great work in the Jewish people over the centuries. They huddled around him, having removed their covering cloaks so they could hurl stones upon him, Stephen fell to his knees and looked up to gaze at the Savior.

Acts 7:55 “But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Beloved, we will never really walk with God as He desires if we don’t take the time to SEE Him.

There are many who don’t look to their own peril. They get swallowed by life’s problems. They may truly know Jesus, but they will fail to follow Him. Their life will not show that Jesus can transform a life.

Their chance to serve the Savior will slip away, and they will waste it all.

Some waste their life because they believe they are too important to bow.

In U.S. Naval Institute Magazine called “Proceedings” Frank Koch wrote:

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities. Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.” “Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out. The lookout replied, “Steady, Captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship. The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship: ’We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.’” Back came the signal, “Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees.” The captain said, “Send: “I’m a captain, change course twenty degrees.’” “I’m a seaman second-class,” came the reply. “You had better change course twenty degrees.” By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send: ’I’m a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.’” Back came the flashing light, “I’m a lighthouse.” We changed course. – As told by: Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 153.

When you truly see the Master as He is, you recognize the privilege of being His servant.

A generation ago there was a story that rocked the world. At about 3:20 a.m. on March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old manager of a bar in Queens, New York, returned to her quiet residential neighborhood, parked her car in a lot adjacent to her apartment building, and began to walk the 30 yards through the lot to her door. Noticing a man at the far end of the lot, she paused. When he started toward her, she turned the other way and tried to reach a police call box half a block away. The man caught and stabbed her. She started screaming that she’d been stabbed, and screaming for help. Lights went on in the apartment building across the street. Windows opened. One man called out, “Let that girl alone!”

The assailant shrugged and walked away. Windows closed and lights went out. The assailant returned and attacked Genovese again. This time she screamed “I’m dying! I’m dying.” This time lots more windows opened and lots more lights went on. The assailant walked to his car and drove away, leaving Ms. Genovese to crawl along the street to her apartment building. Somehow, she managed to drag herself inside. The assailant returned a third time, found Genovese on the floor at the foot of her stairs, and finally succeeded in killing her.

During those three separate attacks over the course of 35 minutes, not one of Kitty Genovese’s neighbors tried to intervene. No burly neighbor picked up a baseball bat and dashed outside to save her life. Worse than that, of the more than 30 people who saw at least one of the attacks and heard Genovese’s screams and pleas for help, not one of them even called the police. After much deliberation, and one phone call to a friend for advice, one man finally urged another neighbor to call authorities, which she did. Police arrived in two minutes, but by then, it was too late.

Interviewed afterward, the residents admitted, sometimes sheepishly, “I didn’t want to get involved,” or “I didn’t want my husband to get involved.” One said he was too tired to call police and had gone back to bed. Several couldn’t say why they hadn’t helped. Many of them said they’d been afraid to call. They couldn’t say why, within the safety of their own homes, they had been afraid to call the police – even anonymously.

Over the years, many of us have heard this story before. That incident may be the defining moment of urban apathy in the latter half of the twentieth century. When it happened, many thought the incident shocking, bizarre – but not typical of the way people respond. It was the kind of thing that would only happen in a big, bad place like New York City. “What was wrong with those people, anyway?”

At the same time, there is much evidence that we are a people creeping away from the most basic sense of civic responsibility. The social media generation has become convinced that giving something a “thumbs up” is the same as taking action on something. I have no doubt if Kitty were crying out, someone would video it on their cell phone, others would tweet about it, and still others would express outrage on Facebook at the actions of the attacker. What I don’t know, what I have no solid evidence of – is that people would imperil themselves to become involved in the violence and stop the man from committing the heinous deed.

In the town where I live a young man was beat up at a late night party of teens. Girls laughed as they recorded the beating, along with the boy being loaded up into a pickup truck. Two other teens took that young man to an abandoned field, doused him with gasoline, and lit him on fire. He died a horrible death at the hands of other teens who didn’t like something he said at the party. We have video of the beating. We have texts about the beating. What we don’t have is a single person who called the police. Many phones – no calls.

If that story is hard to hear, you may find the next letter, that to Sardis, very difficult indeed. They were a people who heard the Word repeatedly, but the calls of the Spirit fell on deaf ears. To introduce the story, take a moment and travel in your mind’s eye two more hours by bus to the southeast from Pergamum to the great and proud “revived city” of Sardis. The message was this:

Rev. 3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

Look at verse 1 and note a few things with me:

First, Jesus was the one holding up all the churches. The existed because HE made them, and He holds them. The church apart of from Jesus is nothing. Enter a church where the Word is no longer preached, and there as a staleness of heart, because the foundation has washed away.

Second, note that in the previous letters, “I know your deeds” was a comforting phrase – HERE IT WAS NOT. Note that God’s evaluation is not the same as the worlds!

Third, notice they had a name that purported life – the reputation was different for most than the reality. What may be surprising is this: They didn’t seem to notice they were lacking life. How could that be?

Remember the story of Samson in Judges 16:20. He didn’t realize his strength had left him. So it is with some churches. They play around with Heavenly power, and God removes it. Since they weren’t depending on it, they don’t realize it until the enemy pounds them!

Charles Dupree wrote these words:

“There was a man named Earnest Heed – Who simply refused listen
But when his wife cooked apple pie – His eyes would always glisten.

Earnest had a few close friends – Named Apathy and Lazy
They like Earnest refused to hear – And drove other people crazy.

One day, Earnest and His Friends went on a trip – For rest and relaxation
Then suddenly an angel appeared – Without an explanation.

He said to Earnest and his friends – Have you realized thus far
That you have gone through all your life – Without realizing who you are?

For You have chosen what you want to hear – In your ears have made no room
For God has spoken many times – And now you are facing doom.

Earnest and his friends passed away that day – With Angel’s words in their ears.
For they had ignored and refused to listen – For many, many years.

The meaning behind this story my friends – Is evident and clear
For when the Lord speaks to you – Make every effort to hear.”

Many of us ignore warning signs. Here is the truth…

Key Principle: When we allow the weakness to spread unchecked by vigilance and defense of the truth, we let the enemy win without a fight!

Think about the words Jesus offered them to recover from this terrible state from verse 2. The message continued:

Revelation 3:2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.

Jesus told the church to “Wake Up!” Think for a moment…

What are the signs of life in a church? How do you know a church that is awake?

(a) Growth of holy influence from the church family to world – IMPACT.
(b) Growth in Biblical world view of long term members.
(c) Hunger to be a witness for Christ, to serve people in Jesus’ name.
(d) Growth in stewardship of time and money.
(e) There is compassion and love for each other.
(f) There is unity. Division and schism is a sign of decay and death.
(g) There is emotion. Only the dead have no tears, no laughter, no music, no sorrow.

What are the signs of a dead church?

• Everything goes back to the past: When a church lives in the past, its reputation and its history, that church is dead. When a church is more concerned with form and ritual that church is dead.

• Everything is about attracting and keeping people here: When a church is more concerned about church activities than that God be glorified through those activities, it is dead. When they try to grow and hold on to people, they become self-focused.

• When it is more material than spiritual, it is dead. A church is either growing or it is dying. If a church is dead, its people are dead because we are the church. We are the instrument God uses. Many people feel if they just show up on Sunday, they have paid their dues to God.

Are there choices that renew “heart health” in such a terrible state?

Revelation 3:2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 4 ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

First, we need to recognize that Vigilance is the opposite of apathy – not simply action. You have to wake up before you do anything else.

The word is used more than sixty times in the New Testament, sometimes translated (as in KJV) “watch” (61 x in KJV). The word means to be alert, and sober as opposed to being sound asleep and unaware of the surroundings.

The 4,000-mile-long Great Wall of China was built to keep invaders from the north. The first wall was constructed by Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, who lived between 259 – 210 BC. But is AD 1644 the Manchus broke through the Great Wall and overran China. They did this by bribing a general of the Ming dynasty to open the gates. As Christians, we must be vigilant that nothing breaches our spiritual defenses. Even the most mature believer can never afford to let down his guard.

Second, we need to recognize the importance for leaders to deliberately build up any point of weakness. This is a leadership issue.

We simply haven’t completed discipleship if people aren’t prepared to stand against the temptation to buckle to evil. For that reason, verse two ends: “I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God”. Leading people to Jesus is not the end game – discipling them to do it again in the face of trouble and overwhelming ungodliness is. We aren’t done until they can stand in the storm and keep moving forward.

Many believers spend their entire life fighting to simply become responsible adults, to grow up and act their age. They don’t make disciples because they struggle to BE one. Leaders must press the cause to move forward. We cannot pander to all those who will not obey Jesus and still grow those who have a desire – but need the training. Many a church must evaluate their work as “incomplete.” The larger problem is when they spend all their time coddling the weak and not growing the strong. I am not trying to be harsh – the weak need love. What they don’t need to do is stop the whole movement of God.

Many believers, and many churches just GET EXHAUSTED carrying those who seem to be stuck in immaturity. After repeatedly getting burned, faithful people “back out” and “burn out” – and distance themselves from what Jesus intended for the Body of Christ.

The cancer of apathy often grows best in the overworked soil of the faithful but worn out. It is hard to get engaged with so many people connected to our lives – especially when they bring their expectations, but not their assistance.

Jesus called the believers back to the beginning.

Revelation 3:3 ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Look at the simplicity of the counsel of Jesus.

First, He called them to remember the pattern of the faith they received, along with the words they were given as they came to Him at the beginning. This is a call to the BASICS.

Second, they were told to OBSERVE (read: JUST DO IT!) the Word and evaluate where they left behind God’s commands. Where that occurred, they were to simply REPENT. They were to change their minds so that they could change their practices. When people aren’t convinced of the heinousness of their sin, they negotiate lessened terms of obedience before God.

If there is a call to leaders in the verse it is this: We who know the simplicity of loving Jesus need to take back the microphone dominated by the programming around us, and call people back to simple repentance, and simple faith. Our faith is not simple because it made of simple issues – it is simple because it requires a fundamental underpinning of surrender.

Recently I dealt with a student in the discipleship program I run, because the student was participating in an activity of Christian liberty that could easily have been offensive to other believers. He was not violating a specific command of Scripture, so I made clear the standard of the school. I told him: “You must take every issue of liberty to sincere prayer. In the presence of the Holy Spirit, you must ask what He instructs you personally to do. If He allows you to participate, you must then be careful to exercise that liberty in a way that will not cause a weaker brother to stumble. He will show you what that means.” When I was finished, a younger man on my staff asked: “How do you know if they will do this as you asked?” I replied: “I don’t! If they want to lie to me, they will do so – but they will know they are not telling the truth.”

We need to press the point that if we aren’t going to be sincere in our faith, there is nothing another seminar, another sermon or another social network post can do to fix what is broke. The cup is impure because the inside is un-surrendered – period.

When all the formulas for success are finished, when every fanciful strategy of men has met its end – what we did walking hand in hand with the Savior is all that will count. The old Amish saying is true: “Only one life, twill soon be passed, only what’s done for Christ will last.” I would add: “Only what’s done WITH Christ will last.” God never asked me to do FOR Him anything He didn’t want me to do WITH Him! His words to Moses were: “I will go with you!” And so it is.

Third, look at what you DO have. In this case, targeting deliberate discipleship with those who ARE following Jesus was essential.

What a fabulous truth! You have SOME who have not offered their lives to Baal. There are others who bow their knee to the Holy One! Some of us, like Jeremiah of old, tend to buy the world’s hard sales pitch. “The church is dying!” they say. “Young people are flocking away from the church!” they claim. The problem is – it isn’t true in the sense they mean it. “Born again” churches are growing in America. Evangelicals aren’t decreasing in the population, only in their influence in Washington!

It is important to recall two things: God supplies the objectives AND God supplies the team! He has unseen workers in the spiritual realm that outnumber those of the enemy, and He is greater than the prince of the air. Keep focusing on what God DOES supply – not what He doesn’t give you. God gives TO you so that God can give THROUGH you. Look at your five loaves and two fishes and recognize the touch of Jesus can make it feed a stadium of hungry people.

Making disciples is not glitzy work. It requires caring, teaching, and investing in lives – and it doesn’t always look that impressive. Brothers and sisters, we are increasingly pulled to view the extraordinary – the bigger venues – and we can easily become unsatisfied when “turning our eyes from small things”. Some in ministry are weeping inside, not because the Temple foundations are smaller than the former days, but because the work God gave us is not as seemingly exciting as the ones featured in the magazines. We are lusting over another man’s field, or coveting another man’s calling. Some Pastors and some churches spend all their time trying to be something they are not – and they are unhealthy and unfulfilled – thirsting for affirmation this side of the Savior’s voice: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

In my experience, many Pastors and leaders of churches have spent too much time fighting the battle of their own significance rather than seeing their flock’s potential. Some tiny country church has in its children’s department the next Billy Graham – but he doesn’t look so wise or sit still very well. Growing him will be hard, and programming isn’t what he needs as much as some godly men and women that will pour into his little life. No gym can disciple, but it can be a vehicle of attraction and a place where someone disciples. So can a field, a tent by a stream, a fishing hole, or a bike path. Jesus didn’t only feed the masses – He quietly walked along and trained the twelve. Long after the miraculous lunch of loaves and fishes was digested, it was the trained men that carried the message to another generation. Discipleship is a mentality before it is a reality. Brothers, some of us may have abandoned our post because we were attracted by shiny objects in “more significant” places – and we have missed the point. Jesus measures as much the completion of the disciple as the number birthed on our watch – both are included in His great commission.

I think we have short memories of the beginnings of our faith.

Discipleship in the Christian context did not have an auspicious beginning. The banks of the Jordan River are, in their natural state, quite steep. They have a distinctive earthy smell of mud – even in the dry season. Access in most places has always been arduous, and it wasn’t always possible to get into the water without getting pretty muddy. By the time you reached the Jordan, immersion was necessary just to look presentable, let alone to have a symbolic experience. Add to that, the water is so cold for much of the year, that every time I baptize people in the Jordan or the Sea of Galilee (since it is the same water) I truly understand why Jesus WALKED ON THE SEA and stayed out of it!

What a place to build a ministry! But the truth is, John the Baptizer didn’t give the slight inconveniences of his work much attention. When you grow up in the harsh Judean Desert, filling up on sweet honey and learning to pick locust legs out of your teeth after supper – convenience just isn’t your main focus. No doubt his appearance was as striking to city dwellers as Jonah after his ‘journey to the bottom of the sea’, and the smell of John’s camel coat was about as appealing as the stench of Jonah’s “whale vomit after shave”. I can tell you truly – I have spent a lot of time with camels, and they have an indescribable odor all their own, especially in mating season!

Our story of discipleship, at least as it applies to the pattern of Jesus’ earth ministry, started right there, along the muddy bank of the Jordan River, just below the poorly spray painted banner that said “Repent” as part of the “John the Baptizer’s clean up sin sick Judea campaign” where Jesus gained his first five followers. I wonder if you have ever really considered the line-up of promising men Jesus had to build ministry upon… by deliberately sculpting them into disciple makers:

• The young disciple John was clearly an immature but brash young man, based on his title among the “sons of thunder”. He had a meddling and status conscious mother – that tagged along and tried to get her sons better seats in the future kingdom banquet of Jesus – on the right and the left. James his brother was no prize either. Yet, Jesus knew that sometimes the immature “Boagernes big mouths” of the group are prophets in the rough. He signed both of them on – in spite of their vocabulary, reputation for impetuous behavior, and well developed muscles in the area of “jumping to conclusions”. He also took on the task of making them disciples under the watchful eye of an interjecting mother.

• Things were no doubt looking up when the ever popular Matthew who made his mark among the ever-valued, highly influential tax collector club signed on. Used chariot salesmen were thought to be more upstanding in the day, making every word that came from that compromising, money hungry snake somewhat suspect by the others. There is no suspicion like that given to a collaborator. Yet, Jesus picked him. Jesus knew that a past is no reason to discount a future. He signed him on with less of an eye on his past reputation and more of an eye on what he could become as a man of influence. He saw leadership where others saw a cocktail of politics and greed in a beard and toga.

• Oh but that wasn’t the only prized member of the Galilee club for rehabilitation! Opposite him at the table was none other than Simon was a Zealot. What a joy to bring into the circle an unrelenting political fanatic, who joined the group because he thought a few of the preacher’s points gave Biblical foundation to his own right wing conspiracy theories. Armed with anger and activism, his constant demonstrations of inflammatory and untactful rhetoric were plastered over his fiery Facebook posts – with each incendiary comment baiting readers and followed by pages of right wing anti-Caesar rhetoric. This, of course, made him an obvious choice for deep mentoring investment. The Master saw in Simon a fanatic – can’t change his mind and can’t change the subject. Yet, Jesus knew that sometimes fanatics make up in commitment what they lack in tactfulness, and commitment would be a prized commodity in the difficult days after the Ascension.

• Then of course there was the deeply reflective and discerning Andrew, who concluded that he found the meaning of life and the long promised Messiah after he heard a single sentence from a popular preacher by the Jordan and spent an afternoon gaining His insights. John the Baptizer called Jesus that Lamb of God – and that was enough for Andrew to “take off a-following”. In a single afternoon exchange with a stranger, he concluded that John’s endorsement, plus a good few hour chat – was worth changing one’s life over! He read an article and changed his life – becoming an expert in an afternoon! He quickly became the first evangelist to emerge from the tribe and get his brother Simon Peter. Jesus signed him on because He knew that the zeal of the quick Evangelism Explosion course, even when thin of broader knowledge, would be an essential character trait for the group in the days ahead. Andrew had guts, and it is often easier to teach truth to those who are bold than boldness to those who are academically steeped.

• Of course no line up, even a sarcastic one, is complete without mentioning the cranially challenged disciple – Simon Peter. He had the distinction of being an accomplished speaker – if you take into account that he seldom opened his mouth except to change feet. Here was a prize that every Pastor should have on the team as they attempt to lay the groundwork for discipleship. Here was a man with ideas – albeit usually the wrong ones. What he lacked in insight, he more than made up for in zeal – and of course we know that usually helps build a work so well! It took, according to the Gosepls, only three calls to get him on board spanning the whole of the Gospel of John, and then he followed – more or less – faithfully. In the heart of his training, Jesus gave him a promotion and told him “On you I will build my church” – and the next thing he did with his new promotion badge is pull aside Jesus and tell Him that presenting the vision of the Cross was not the right direction to go to build the work! Nothing like the new assistant correcting the long time church planter…Jesus brought him on, built him up, and then endured his “obviously inflated” advice. The Savior knew that some people may own their part too quickly, but at least they try to own the part.

We could go on and on… but I think you see what I am trying to say. My brothers in ministry, many of us have looked at our dear well-meaning flock, and our eyes have been trained to pick out every defect in the sheep. We stopped believing in God’s recruiting ability long ago.

Jesus ended the letter to Sardis with this: Revelation 3:5 ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Some WILL overcome. They will not be swept to a place out of the fight. They may struggle, but they will one day experience the warmth embrace of the Savior – a new robe and a permanent and safe home. We must listen to the Spirit’s Words…

When we allow the weakness to spread unchecked by vigilance and defense of the truth, we let the enemy win without a fight.

Dr. Howard Hendricks, when he taught the Book of Revelation would remind his students that the postal route from the first century ran in the exact routing of the seven churches. The best way to remember them was by a learning device, so he would say “Everybody sing please, that sounds pretty lovely.” From the first letters come the names in order of the seven churches.

• We have seen that we must invite Jesus deliberately to daily renew the priority of our “first love” as walking the journey with Him – we learned that from the letter to Ephesus.

• We have seen that fear will distract us from the great commission – we learned that from the letter to Smyrna.

• We looked briefly at the idea that exhaustion comes when we forget the power of God and are distracted by the power of evil – we learned that from the letter to the church to Pergamum.

For a few minutes I would like to look at the letter to the church at Thyatira. The city was sixty miles inland from Pergamum. It functioned as the great city of the Hephaestus metal workers guild and temple for the Greek god of the anvil and smelting process. The people of the town were largely businessmen and tradesmen, and they were facing a problem. Those who came to Christ were called to live distinctly, but they would lose their jobs if they didn’t agree to participate in things that God strictly forbade. They were tempted to look the other way and compromise their beliefs to keep peace in their lives.

Key Principle: When we allow immoral actions to continue unchecked because we don’t want to cause conflict we fail to lead.

Here is the letter:

Revelation 2:18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: 19 ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. 24 But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. 25 Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. 26 He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Thyatira was situated in a valley that connected two other valleys. It had no natural fortification at all and although at this time a Roman garrison was stationed there, their aim was not to defend Thyatira, but to delay the invaders long enough for Pergamum, the capital up the road to be prepared for the coming attack. Thyatira was dispensable in the economy of the day. Though not easily fortified, Thyatira was on a major trade route and was well known for its trade guilds – there were carpenters, dyers, sellers of goods, tanners, weavers, tent makers, etc all making a living from their trade. Lydia in Philippi was a trader of fine cloth and came from Thyatira. (Acts 16).

The guilds of the trades were central union halls for tradesmen to earn contacts to make a living but they were linked with the worship of pagan gods. Each guild had its particular god. Members were expected to attend all its functions and participate in its activities which included offerings, feasts and often immoral behavior. The members of the church in Thyatira were torn between making a living on the one hand which meant having to be part of the guilds and on the other hand staying faithful to Christ and his standards.

How could they have heart health in a place set for compromise of principles?

First, they needed to keep in mind that Jesus was watching every choice they made.

Look at the description of Jesus in Revelation 2:18: “eyes like a flame of fire”. The images of flaming eyes also reminds us that God’s eyes are penetrating, seeing everything, knowing everything. –

• Jer 16:17 – “For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
• Heb 4:13 – And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Jesus mentioned this, because the compromises of the guild were a sore temptation to each believer. I want you to think about the temptation process for a moment, and what Jesus sees:

In his little book called “Temptation” Deitrich Bonhoeffer wrote some insightful words. He wrote:

“In our members there is a slumbering inclination toward desire, which is both sudden and fierce. With irresistible power, desire seizes mastery of the flesh. All at once a secret, smoldering fire is kindled. The flesh burns and is in flames. It makes no difference whether it is a sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, our love of fame and power, or greed for money…At this moment God is quite unreal to us. [Remember those words.] He loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real… Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God… The lust thus aroused envelopes the mind and will of a man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us. The questions present themselves as, “Is what the flesh desires really sin in this case?” And, “Is it really not permitted me, yes, expected of me now, here in my particular situation to appease desire?” It is here that everything within me rises up against the Word of God…. Therefore the Bible teaches us in times of temptation in the flesh, there is one command: Flee! Flee fornication. Flee idolatry. Flee youthful lusts. Flee the lusts of the world. There is no resistance to Satan in lust other than flight. Every struggle against lust in one’s own strength is doomed to failure.

The Bible calls believers to resist the devil but to flee temptation. Far too many are ready to flee the devil but try to hang in there and resist temptation… and neither will work. God was specific about withdrawal – and that is what the Thyatirans didn’t want to do. To withdraw from the place of temptation seemed like it was a surefire way to cut off their income, crippling their future.

Look at the six descriptive phrases of what as GOOD about this church in Revelation 2:19:

• I know your deeds – it was a working church.
• and your love – it was a church with a heart.
• and faith – it was a Biblically focused church.
• and service – it was a need focused church.
• and perseverance – it was a steady and enduring church.
• and that your deeds of late are greater than at first – it was a growing church..

The deadly sin mentioned in Revelation 2:20. The issue wasn’t their instigation of immoral teaching – it was their TOLERATION of it. Look closely at the term in 2:20: (apó-af-ee’-ay-mee: is a combination word “away from” and hiēmi, “send”) – properly, send away; release (discharge). Essentially, they didn’t CUT OFF the cancer, but let it grow larger and more pronounced.

Second, remember Jesus is very strongly set in His standards.

Revelation 2:18 also described Jesus as “His feet are like burnished bronze…” Jesus isn’t flip-flopping around on right and wrong. He is, was and will be the same.

Look closely at the compromise here…Think of the problem as actually a two-fold one. There wasn’t ONE tempted party, there were TWO.

• First, the guild member didn’t want to quit the guild. He was a business man, and the objection was this: Do I really need to leave the lodge to follow Jesus? How will I get work? I will lose all my contacts!

• Second, the church didn’t want to lose the guy and his support and connection to the community. How will we reach anyone in our community if we hold to such standards? If we don’t allow some who are connected to the community to come in, we are going to be irrelevant in outreach!

It doesn’t take many people to raise a ruckus in a church:

A farmer once walked into a restaurant and asked the owner if he could use a million frog legs. Desirous of putting frog legs on the menu more frequently, the owner asked the farmer where he could get so many. The farmer said, “My pond is overflowing with them. Their croaking is driving me up the wall and I’d love to get rid of them.” The owner told the farmer to bring him as many as he could. A week later the farmer returned with an embarrassed look on his face. He held up two scrawny frogs and said, “I was wrong about a million frog legs. These two frogs were making all the racket. I never knew two frogs could cause so much noise.” My point is it doesn’t take many people to call the church to compromise. One is all that it takes.

Here is the problem: Jesus calls His church to purity. We don’t have a right to change the message. We don’t have the right to make it more palatable. We aren’t Jesus’ PR firm, we are His church. Follow the line of compromise won’t have the long term results we desire. It reminds me of a little ditty …

A sailor on duty got frantic when he fell into the briny Atlantic.
After hours in the sea, He was saved Yes-sirree.
Happily hoisted aboard the Titanic

The moral: It is no good getting saved by a ship that is bound to sink just as it is no good following teachers whose doctrines are bound to be condemned at the judgment seat of Christ.

Third, we need to practice seeing things as Jesus does.

Jesus said in Revelation 2:19 ‘I know your deeds, … 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.”

Here is my question: “How can we tell whether a teaching or a doctrine is from God or from a Jezebel?”

Here are some things we can look for:

First, Jezebel doctrines teach that something evil can be good. They bring in a different god’s ideas about good and right. Paul warned the Ephesian elders against such false teaching: Acts 20:29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Second, Jezebel hates God’s true Word – and seeks to discredit it in any way possible. Jezebel hated Elijah and tried to destroy all the true prophets who faithfully spoke God’s word. Christians who are bound by Jezebel’s doctrine similarly have no regard for God’s word.

• They would rather “experience God” rather than study his Word.
• They would rather worship God or fellowship with other believers than sit under solid Biblical teaching- unless it was tailored to felt needs…. Ahab said about Micaiah, God’s faithful prophet in 1Ki 22:8 “I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad”. Jezebel prophets prophesy only good things – peace and prosperity (Jer 23:14-17). They never prophesy judgment. It is unbalanced, unbiblical and wrong.

Look near the end of the letter. To the “overcomer” those who don’t get misled by false teaching, God promised two things:

1) He says that he will give authority over the nations. We don’t have to be worried about the world as it presses in on us. We will have authority over it.

2) He says that he will give them the Morning Star. In Rev. 22:16, the morning star is identified as Christ himself. – but it appears to be used of REAL HOPE.

While faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time, HOPE is believing that character will produce the best end for God’s purposes!

Leaders, when we allow immoral actions to continue unchecked because we don’t want to cause conflict – we kill truth and hope.

We are badly in need of leaders in our churches that will stand for truth. Our schools are in a tenuous spot. Let me illustrate that:

The other day I was standing in the back of a meeting hall beside a College President. He told me something that stunned me. He said the largest Christian University in the world is located in Virginia, and has (including online students) 90,000 students. He said the school costs $1 Million a day to operate. He said I shouldn’t worry because it brought in about $3 Million a day. Then what he said stunned me. He told me that more than 70% of that university’s funding comes through government back programs – guaranteed student loans, GI bill, etc. What do you suppose will happen to that school if the Executive branch of the US government decides to make the acceptance of homosexual faculty and staff a litmus test of whether one can receive backed funds through the US government? How many schools will find themselves threatened with shut down? Will they remain faithful to what the Bible teaches even if they have to close their doors?

Last September, the news carried this article:

A public school district in Massachusetts cut ties with Gordon College following the private Christian institution’s request for the legal ability to discriminate against LGBT community. Gordon President D. Michael Lindsay signed onto a letter asking the Obama administration for an exemption from an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees. It sparked a backlash, even as Lindsay attempted to explain that although the Massachusetts college was requesting the legal ability based on religion to discriminate, it had no plans to do so.

Coming soon, we are going to pushed out of education. It is already happening. In our little town, it has cost our little church thousands to move us out of any government backed program – but we did it because we don’t want to set up compromise.

I believe that leadership will make or break our future as a movement of churches, and as a nation. We MUST develop people:

HARRY TRUMAN ONCE COMMENTED ON THE IMPORTANCE OF POLLS TO LEADERSHIP, WITH THE FOLLOWING INSIGHT, “I WONDER HOW FAR MOSES WOULD HAVE GONE IF HE’D TAKEN A POLL IN EGYPT? WHAT WOULD JESUS CHRIST HAVE PREACHED IF HE TAKEN A POLL IN ISRAEL? WHERE WOULD THE REFORMATION HAVE GONE IF MARTIN LUTHER HAD TAKEN A POLL? IT ISN’T THE POLLS OR PUBLIC OPINION OF THE MOMENT THAT COUNTS. IT IS RIGHT AND WRONG AND LEADERSHIP — MEN WITH FORTITUDE, HONESTY, AND A BELIEF IN THE RIGHT — THAT MAKES EPOCHS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD…“

Finally, don’t only think of quantity as success – remember quality of the work.

Revelation 2:24 says: “But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. 25 Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.

Did you notice Jesus didn’t tell the people who refused to be involved with compromise to worry about their quantity as much as their quality?

I am not arguing against big churches. Small isn’t holy – it is small and MIGHT be holy – or not. Large isn’t compromising – it MIGHT be absolutely faithful to God – or not. My point is that we must remember to focus on the quality of our work – not simply the numbers and stats.

When I started the school at GCBI I wanted to take young people through the 1189 chapters of the Bible. I didn’t give them ten books about the Bible by Christian publishers – just one… a Bible. They read it, they mark it, they work it, they fall into the pages for hours on end… that is the design of the program. If you want to see it in action – you can look up our website and watch all 580 hours of Bible instruction online. It is: classroom.gcbi.net where you sign in as a guest (so you don’t get graded!).

I wanted 12 students. The next year I wanted 12 more. I wasn’t trying to grow the program, that isn’t my focus. What I wanted to do was to the best I could to train them, not worry about getting nationally funded or noticed. Schools now give full credit for the work these students do – but only because they sought out the school. I didn’t reach out… I focused on working the program to become something Jesus would smile at.

Three beautiful roses placed on my wife’s pillow with a little note will do the job well – I don’t have to order three dozen and fill the house with them. We have to get back to understanding what makes our Father smile (Romans 12:2).

When we emphasize quantity and not quality, I become concerned we are becoming like our nation. I think of the words spoken so long ago…In a speech made in 1863, Abraham Lincoln said, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.“

Let’s be careful to focus on doing things God’s way, and let Him be responsible for the numbers game. We need to focus on what Jesus told us to be:

Walt Disney was a dreamer. His crowning vision was EPCOT; Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. He envisioned the perfect city of 20,000 using all of the most modern advances technology. One problem, Walt Disney died before his cream was ever realized. His dream was so big and complex and outside the box that no one else in the Disney company ever caught the dream and had no idea what to do after Walt was gone. What Walt Disney intended as a living breathing perfect city turned out only to be a entertainment center. Disney’s world would only become a place to visit.Jesus left a blueprint for His church so vast, so marvelous, and so innovative. A living breathing expanding organism that would permeate and transform the whole world. The problem is, that as time went on, His followers lost the vision and couldn’t wrap their minds around such a magnificent plan. Rather than a community of loving, passionate follower of Christ dedicated to demonstrating the power of the Christ-transformed life in a dark world, they began to do what they knew best, build buildings and run organizations and develop entertainment centers that would hopefully draw the crowds to hear the story but miss the transforming power of Christ.

When we allow immoral actions to continue unchecked because we don’t want to cause conflict we fail to lead.

I have discovered the trick behind getting my body to run is learning not to listen to it. A few strides into the run, my heart and my stomach both claim I must stop or they will revolt…I must ignore the voices inside and keep running. In the same way, we have to ignore the nagging voice that beckons us to quit when we are doing right. It is possible to grow weary in well doing, and that is why Scripture warns us concerning it.

Key Principle: When we join the corps of the unfaithful because we feel they are stronger – we lose our distinctive call.

An hour and a half’s drive north to the impregnable high cliff city of Pergamum, where the tolerance of error was eroding the truth to a dull and compromised lump.

Revelation 2:12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: 13 ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

The church of Pergamum had some critical issues of compromise of purity. Some supported seductive teachings that drew the weak away in forbidden food and immoral practices. These appear to have been focused on Christian “liberties” without restraint. Not everyone was involved, but a few dominated the many tolerated. That is the temptation now – to allow the voice of the world to become accepted as the voice of God’s people.

Habits for a Healthy Heart:

First, renew your hunger for the Word of God – it will make you resilient when you are getting worn out.

Jesus explains Who He is in Revelation 2:12 “The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this…” Why does He use this title of Himself? In Scripture, the image of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is well known both in this book and in the rest of the Christian Scripture. John used the title “Jesus is the Word” in the opening of His Gospel account, in the same way that he called Jesus the Lamb. Think about Jesus as the Word for a moment…As such, He is sharper than any two-edged sword, and which lays bare the thoughts and intents of the soul (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12). Literally that means that Jesus as the Living Word and the written word both share the capacity to cut into us with truth and divide “why I say I do something” from “why I really do something”. I have in my hands a tool that can do surgery upon my heart and expose trouble I cannot see without the help of this Word.

At the same time, this is the weapon with which Christ will subdue His enemies; a weapon that is provided to no carnal weapon is needed (2 Corinthians 10:4). Those who attempt to stand with any other sword in hand than this to advance His kingdom will perish with the weapon to which they have appealed (Revelation 13:10; Matthew 26:52), which reminds us the church’s growth and advance is to be thoroughly Word-soaked and Word-based. I mention that because there are many ways to draw a crowd and seemingly grow a church – but none that will sustain them like the careful and systematic teaching of the Word of God. The Scripture claims that those who arm themselves with this will find the Word mighty through God. In fact, Scripture is clear that with this weapon Jesus fights against His adversaries (Revelation 19:15, 21); and and makes deliberate wounds that He may heal. The One Who is the Word of God is the Living Incarnation of God’s powerful sword – both a weapon and a tool that brings victory, protection and correction to His followers.

He is the One Who was reaching out to the compromised and exhausted church. What do erring believers need? They need to be lovingly confronted with the Word – Who is personified in Jesus.

Dorothy Sayers wrote, “If men will not understand the meaning of judgment, they will never come to understand the meaning of grace.” This is why GUILT is being slain in our culture by accepting that none of us can be expected to do right. What does a 55 speed limit sign mean? “You can go 60 without getting stopped! What is April 15th? “The day you file for an extension!” Why do we not teach abstinence only in our classrooms? “Because young people cannot be expected to overcome their urges with the will to do right!” The only way to resolve the issues of sin without a Savior is convince our culture they aren’t sinners after all – they are normal for violating standards and the actual problem isn’t them – it is the judgmental people who have standards.

We must remember that if Jesus is clearly explained – He will be offensive to the world, but He will draw men to Himself. If Jesus is carefully examined in the Word for all His claims and His expectations – most will recoil at the idea of bowing before Him – but some will choose to drop to their knees in response. Our job is to clearly show Jesus to the world by exposing what God has revealed in His Word. For that reason, the enemy has pounded away at the deliberate transmission of the Word. Academics question its veracity. Scholars speak with such great complexity about its pages so as to confuse the convinced. Yet those who know its pages well have come to trust it MORE, not less.

We live in a time when new methods – one after the other – have been promoted in the local church to make it more relevant to people. We must look again at our past. In the Book of Acts, the disciples learned to speak the Word; and when they were persecuted, they went everywhere preaching the Word. It wasn’t just from pulpits, it was from Christians, as the Word says: “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). As they preached, the Word increased, prevailed and multiplied. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed (Acts 19:20). But the word of God grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24). The Word and its sharing was the hallmark of the church as it grew.

They didn’t make their reputation on fellowship – but they had sweet time together. They didn’t become known as a vibrant weekly concert followed by a self-help seminar – they presented, explained and applied the Word of God. That is what they were known for, and that is how they grew. Any church or outreach that doesn’t recognize the need for the Word to be at the center of its transformation power will end up pressing further into gimmickry. We must be careful – for the tool for growth and change has been given by God!

Second, trust completely that Jesus is well aware of where He placed us and the conditions in that place.

Jesus said in Revelation 2:13a: “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is…” There was no sense is which Jesus was unaware of the problems we face in our time. When I got in last night, I got a call from a broken-hearted family member of a young girl who grew up here in town. She was a young lady who came faithfully to church as a child, had a Christian education, and came from a solid Christian family. She was not abused, nor was she mistreated by the people of God. She went to a Christian college before creating a disturbance and leaving it in turmoil. She plunged downward and went from one bad situation to another on her own, one man after another – three children and disease and drugs later. She became every Christian parent’s nightmare. If you met her, even now, she would have the ability to speak “Christianeze” with fluency – but the ravages of a sin-filled, rebellious life have taken such a toll on her, it is hard to believe she is the little girl that bopped around the fellowship hall of one of our churches. It was hard to listen to her story – and it was a stark reminder that right under our noses, Satan is staking out a claim on our weak ones. We must be wise and warn them how close His angry hoards truly are.

God KNOWS WHERE WE ARE and because of that, He provided weaponry to stand. We know it well, but may not use it daily. The FIRST TYPE was that armor which must always be at the ready. If there was a lull in the battle, the fighter was not to remove the first three implements. He indicated that in the verb form “always having” the:

• Belt of truthfulness: (alethia: truth as content) vulnerable area, carefully protected (14); Paul was not addressing the truth of salvation (as in v. 17 and the sword, Word), but rather the commitment to truthfulness of the believer!
• Breastplate of righteousness (holy choices): covering heart, able to take direct blows when positioned correctly (14b), breaks your heart when not maintained. In the Hebrew world, the “heart” is the mind! (Prov. 23:7; Mark 7:21). Paul does not refer to self righteousness (Eph. 2:8-9), nor of imputed righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21), but of a life practice of righteousness, or holy living.
• Sandle guard straps fixed in position to provide a firm stand with the Gospel: metal tabs that protected the surface of the foot with cleats to hold the soldier in place. Paul refers to the unmovable faith in the Gospel to bring peace in the life of the lost.

The SECOND TYPE of armor was indicated in the poor translation of “Above all” (v.16). The grammar was NOT indicating the shield is more important, but is linked to the verb form of all of the next three items. They were to appropriate at the time necessary the:

• Blocking shield of faith (theuron; large shield to block arrows; 4.5 feet by 2.5 feet., cp. Psalm 18:30). His reference is not to “belief” as such, but to “trust” that changes our view of ourselves and the world around us. When the battle rages, use the shield. 1) they were effective when locked together; 2) they were effective when held tightly and trusted and all remained in place.
• Helmet of salvation (refers to the protection of the transformed mind) when we understand that our salvation has a PAST aspect: justification; a PRESENT aspect: sanctification; and a FUTURE aspect, our eventual glorification. We must see things through God’s eyes and learn to call the battle by His Word!
• Sword of the Spirit: the WORD (RAMA: From the word “to pour, an utterance”) of God. The “machaira” dagger is not the broad sword, rhomphaia). A specific Word from God that He gives to take a direct shot at the enemy!

Truths we must remember: First, failure to put on the armor is an open invitation for the enemy to shoot at you. You WILL be hit and undefended. You will be wounded because you have not chosen the defensive armor. Second, there is no armor in the back, so don’t turn to run away. Stand up to the enemy with your armor on, resist him, and he will flee from you.

Third, take heart that no resistance against the enemy in the name of Jesus will be forgotten.

Jesus noted in Revelation 2:13b “…and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

You represent the most experienced and qualified servants of Jesus in our town. I am not flattering you, I am laying at your feet the weight of responsibility to be an example of a believer in your words and manner of life. You believers are watching. Churches are noting the behavior of senior saints who have served. Faithfulness on your field includes faithfulness at home in these days and at this place. You must make every attempt to be the winsome representatives of Jesus you needed to be on deputation and on the field. You have not yet completed your assignment. You must be the encouragers – for you have seen God’s faithfulness in startling and unique ways. Whatever your physical limitations – you must use what you can to serve God in prayer, example, encouragement and faithfulness – to whatever degree you are able.

Fourth, don’t let your eyes adjust to spiritual darkness as though it was now normal.

Jesus noted in Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

When you walk into a nice restaurant, it is often dark. In time your eyes adjust to the darkness, and after a time you see it as normal. This is one of the things that made re-entry to your home country difficult when you returned from the field. People’s eyes adjusted to the increasing darkness and they say the degraded humor, the flaunting displays of sensuality as NORMAL. Because you were away, you missed the change and it didn’t seem normal to you at all. Now that you have been here awhile, the temptation can be to allow the darkness to creep in.

You are familiar with the stories of Balaam in Numbers 22-24, where the Word revealed how Balak sent for Balaam, and God used Balaam’s donkey to see what he did not see – the angel of the Lord was preparing to strike him down for his hard and unyielding heart . The story ended in Balaam’s sharing the right words about Israel in spite of himself. Jude 1:11 mentions that story in the context of overtures to sexual sin, and if you read the Numbers account you know why. Because Balak couldn’t get Israel cursed, he plotted to tempt the nation away in lust. It is one of Satan’s very old ploys – to get the people of God drawn into sexual compromise.

Let me be honest with you. I am not expecting you to be caught in sins of sensuality. I believe that many of you – the vast majority of you – have wrestled with the surrender of your will to Jesus and are on good ground in this fight. At the same time, the issue of our heart health in this letter isn’t tossing aside our testimony for a fleeting fling with the neighbor- it is allowing our heart to be enticed into accepting perversion as normal and acceptable. Don’t give up the expectation that believers would walk in purity.

Fifth, taste the sweetness of God’s renewal often.

Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

Don’t be angry with God’s call for repentance and His discipline – He loves whom He chastens. I think of the boy…who hated the outhouse and decided he would push it over.

It was hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and always smelly. The outhouse was located near the creek so the boy decided that he would push it into the water. After a spring rain, the creek swelled so the boy pushed it in. Later that night his dad told him that he and the boy needed to make a trip to the woodshed. The boy knew this meant punishment. He asked his father why to which his dad replied, “Because someone pushed the outhouse into the creek and I think that someone was you. Was it?” The boy responded that it was. Then he added, “Remember when George Washington’s father asked him if he had chopped down the cherry tree? He didn’t get into trouble because he told the truth.” “That is correct,” the dad said, “but his father was not in the cherry tree when he cut it down.”

I LOVE that God is the Author of second chances!

Michael Breissen was a new father, and he was not about to let his wife’s first Mother’s Day pass uncelebrated. But she was a nurse, and on that particular Sunday was working at the local hospital, and they weren’t able to celebrate together at home. So Michael plunked his new son, Jason, in the baby carrier, drove to the hospital, and in front of all the patients and co-workers he surprised Miriam with candy and flowers and balloons that said, “World’s Greatest Mom.” It was a great Mother’s Day. But after celebrating, it was time for Miriam to go back to work, and Jason and Michael to go back home. Michael gathered all the things that had been part of the celebration: the candy, flowers, and balloons. It wasn’t as much fun taking those things out to the car as it was taking them in to the hospital for the surprise. He begrudgingly tossed the candy on the front seat and got the flowers arranged on the floor where they wouldn’t tip over. He pulled the balloons in out of the wind and got everything arranged, and headed home. On the way home, people began to honk their horns and flash their lights at him. He didn’t realize what was going on until he hit 55 miles per hour on the highway. He heard a long scraping noise go down the roof, followed by a loud thump. He watched in horror in the rearview mirror as the baby carrier bounced off the trunk onto the highway and began to slide along behind the car. Michael screeched to a halt. He ran back down the highway to the baby carrier. Jason was okay. As the waves of guilt and fear and relief began to wash over him, Michael fell on the highway and began to sob, which did not stop a passing policeman from writing him up, nor the local newspaper from writing a story about it. A reporter interviewed Miriam, who showed amazing understanding. She said, “It’s so unlike him. He really is a good father.” How many times a week could you just kick yourself for failing? Like Michael Breissen, even though you knew better, you did the stupid thing. And now all you feel is stupid, filthy, wretched to use the language of Paul. But hear where Paul goes from that wretched place.. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” When God looks at you, He doesn’t see a wretch, He sees a son or daughter..

Jesus told the people of Pergamum to repent, and the Word-sword would do its work on those who opposed His holiness.

Sixth, celebrate what God provides for those who don’t give up.

Revelations 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

I love that God reminds us often of His promises! Now God’s promises aren’t like a flawed parent’s promises – they are clear and reliable.

A little girl crawled up in the lap of her Grandpa and cuddled close. Then she looked into Grandpa’s face with those big blue eyes of hers and said, “Grandpa, can you please make a sound like a frog?” Grandpa thought for a moment, then smiled and said, “Ribbit. Ribbit.” Suddenly, the little girl leaped from his lap and ran into the kitchen yelling as loud as she could, “Mommy, we are going to Disney World…we are going to Disney World…we are going to Disney World!!!” The young mom hushed her child and said, “Honey, why do you think we are going to Disney World?” The little girl, gleaming with joy, blurted out, “You said we can go to Disney World when Grandpa croaks!”

Here is the truth! Every jockey pictures being in the winner’s circle. Every football player envisions the Superbowl ring on his hand. Every Olympic participant imagines standing on the highest box and getting their gold medal… and every believer should learn to savor the promises of God for those who endure and serve faithfully.

• He has promised you a “Well done!”
• He has explained a reward that you will be able to cast at His feet.
• Here He reminds you that you will be given a stone of acquittal and face no condemnation.
• He also promised something more…HIDDEN MANNA. Sustenance that will get you through that no one who does not walk with Him will know. It is hidden, because you must follow Him clutching tightly to discover it. It is manna because it will fill you in a world that offers food that does not satisfy.

Remember, when we join the corps of the unfaithful because we feel they are stronger – we lose our distinctive call.

Don’t lose your distinctive call…I want you to picture the biggest stadium you have ever seen. You will be surrounded by people of every tribe and tongue. Worthy is the Lamb! Heaven was promised for you. Don’t be weary or overwhelmed. There is more with God than against Him in the Heavens – and if there wasn’t – yet He is greater!

I hate Halloween, but it isn’t for the really spiritual reasons you may be thinking. I know its history, but what truthfully bothers me much more is the fact that people think that at that time of year it is ok to scare people – and I hate being scared! People jumping out from behind bushes in the dark is not something I find funny. Call me crazy, but I have been in war in the Near East twice, and had a man die in my arms – and I don’t really think most of the gory stuff is the least bit funny – but I admit that I am a bit of a prude.

Let me ask you: “Have you ever been scared nearly to death?” I have had a number of very bad flights that were quiet scary, and that made my work in missions quite difficult for a few years before I found ways to manage the fear. It is true, what they say, “Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child.”

Fear does strange things to people.

Louis Pasteur is reported to have had such an irrational fear of dirt and infection he refused to shake hands. President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison were so intimidated by the newfangled electricity installed in the White House they didn’t dare touch the switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when the Harrisons went to bed, they slept with them on. – Jane Goodsell, Not a Good Word About Anybody, Ballantine.

Some fear is irrational:

Five-year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone. “It’s dark in there and I’m scared.” She asked again, and he persisted. Finally she said, “It’s OK–Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once an idea came, and he said: “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?” – Charles Allen, Victory in the Valleys.

The problem is that not all fears are unfounded. I have personally known people in the Near East who were brutally killed because of their faith – and that is always a nagging concern in the back of my mind when I travel to some areas. Those who have served near ISIS, Boko Haram and Hizb’allah know that some fear probably yields prudent behaviors. It can also play tricks on your mind. Michael Pritchard was the one who said: “Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.”

In this lesson about heart health, we want to talk about fear – and the devastating effect it can have on our witness when we let it drown our faith. We want to look for a few minutes at the church is Smyrna, now modern Izmir on the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea. It was to that church that Jesus wrote a truth…

Key Principle: When fear presses us, it can have a chilling effect on our faithfulness.

It is possible for even long time believers to show more care for comfort than for Christ – and that is a devastating choice! Drive forty miles north from Ephesus to a port city that sat upon a cliff above the sea, with a long slope of land down to the port. The upper city appeared as a crown above the harbor of Smyrna. There was a first century church there, and they were afraid of the rising tide of persecution, so Jesus addressed their heart condition:

Revelation 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: 9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

The church of Smyrna was gripped with apprehension – that much is very clear from the letter. Jesus made clear that He knew their physical troubles and material needs (2:9). He knew the persecution by other religious people (2:9). Instead of promising the church a FREE RIDE in the coming days – Jesus warned the people of greater coming persecution. He said:

• New imprisonments will be ordered (2:10)
• New troubles are ordained to arrive (2:10)
• Some would be martyred (2:10)

Let’s face it, none of us wants to be trapped in a village with no way out as ISIS advances on us. The sheer brutality of the group terrorizes people even before they arrive! Yet Jesus told the church to prepare for trouble, and yet do it with a healthy heart.

We aren’t on the field now, and the enemy isn’t beheading believers in the next village. We hurt knowing that some are facing that, but it isn’t us. How will a letter like this help us if we are not in that kind of persecution? In short, it will help us hear from Jesus on the subject of confronting fear with faith. Before we look at Jesus’ response, let’s set our mind on truth – away from the distractions of the fallen world.

My God is on the throne. Jesus is the All-powerful, unstoppable King. His reign is assured and His power un-assailed. He cannot be defeated and His cause cannot be thwarted. With a mere nod, He opens doors no man can close and closes doors no man can open. Myriads of the Heavenly Host stand ready for His command. He faces the wicked one without even a fleeting moment of doubt and fear. He has no equal. His love has no bounds. His mercy pierces the darkness and His kindness can turn back His enemy’s advance. In other words: Because My Savior is alive and in control – to live by worry is to live against the facts of reality. It is to live the lie swallowed by a fallen world – that God is somehow equaled by and unable to stop evil. He is not. It will last until He has finished allowing it to show whatever facet of Him He desires creation to see through this complex self essay. A day will come when God will blow a trumpet from Heaven and shout “Stop!” and the reign of evil will be permanently ended. That is the truth. That is reality.

John covered that ground in Revelation 1 when He introduced the Savior, and we should as well. When John saw the Risen Christ, and heard His command to write, Jesus’ description was as follows:

Revelation 1:5b “…To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

With His power and coming clearly in mind, listen to what Jesus said to answer the problem of FEAR in heart health…

Heart Health Practices:

First, as we mature we must train to face all of life with a good sense of the history from whence we have come.

Our history will lend us a story of courage. We have to learn carefully that any persecution with the understanding that we serve the One Who suffered even death and then defeated it – so be courageous in Him (2:8). 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this…

Suffering changes people. The persecution of Alexander Solzhenitsyn left him better, while the suffering of Elie Wiesel left him godless, and many would say, embittered. Alexander suffered horribly in the Gulag, but left with statements like:

• Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
• A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.

He learned from his troubles that there was a purpose to life. Even as Joseph of old, life came together in the darkness of a prison.

Wiesel learned the men are cruel and must be throttled by other men. He said: There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

The difference between the two men wasn’t simply the lessons they took from unfair mistreatment and suffering. The difference was in who they met in their imprisoned state. One of them faced Jesus from his Orthodox past, the other never met Him.

Listen to Solzhenitsyn:

It is true that millions of our countrymen have been corrupted and spiritually devastated by an officially imposed atheism, yet there remain many millions of believers: it is only external pressures that keep them from speaking out, but, as is always the case in times of persecution and suffering, the awareness of God in my country has attained great acuteness and profundity. It is here that we see the dawn of hope: for no matter how formidably Communism bristles with tanks and rockets, no matter what successes it attains in seizing the planet, it is doomed never to vanquish Christianity.

If you were to read the middle of God’s speech to Habakkuk in chapter 2, you would notice something strange. In chapter 1, Habakkuk told God He was unfair to make the prophet watch the demise of his society into lawlessness and immorality. God answered by telling the prophet that He was paying attention, and that He was outfitting the cruel and heartless Chaldeans to come and crush the people. Habakkuk couldn’t understand how God could use someone as evil as the Chaldeans to discipline Israel. God told a story and then showed an example in a violent desert storm. The story was about utter destruction and terror the invaders would bring. Out of the ashes of that destruction, picking through the rubble, God made a startling claim. In that very context, He said:

Habakkuk 2:12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! 13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

What? God’s glory will somehow be identified from the ashes left by invaders and butchers? Yes. You cannot stop God. You cannot crush His message among men. You cannot dismiss from the human mind the possibility that there truly WAS a Creator of us all. His after image will still linger after He has been dismissed from the room.

We must make disciples that recognize the Jesus faced death and defeated it. Paul told Timothy as he faced his own that God “rendered inoperative” death. It didn’t mean what it used to mean. It wasn’t an exit from LIFE, it was an exit from the PHYSICAL STAGE into the spiritual – into the place where reality can be seen and understood without the encumbrance of the fallen flesh. As long a physical life is the prize, people will abhor suffering and feel beaten by it. When Heaven is larger than earth, and the prize is walking with the Savior through it all – the reality of suffering will give way to the realization that the prize cannot be take from a follower of Jesus.

Second, we must learn and we must train young believers to recognize that suffering is not beyond the radar of God.

Don’t forget that whatever we go through, Jesus is fully aware of it – so consciously include Him in ever moment of the journey (2:9). 9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)…

We must get back to the basic truth that God is working to make His people ready to be the Bride for His Son. His preparations are deliberate, and His goal is certain.

If you believe God exists to make you comfortable, then you will find Him very absent in your discomfort. If you believe God exists to make your life run smoothly, then you will find God very absent when your life hits a rocky patch. If you believe God exists to make you happy, then you will find God very absent when your heart is broken and your tears are flowing. BUT, if you believe (as the scripture teaches) that God’s goal is to make you holy, so you can bring glory to Him, then in the midst of a trial you will feel His arms around you! ~James MacDonald.

I would add to MacDonald’s list this truth: If we believe the prize is physical life, we will be terribly disappointed as we see God step back and allow martyrdom for the faith. If we recognize the true prize is intimacy with Jesus – a deliberate and profound inviting of His presence to go through every moment with us – we will see their deaths as powerful and painful reminders of the darkness of the lost world, the depth of the snare that has scarred men with such cruelty in their hearts. At the same time, we will note the depth of faith and reward for those who invited Jesus to take their lives and invite them into Heaven – even as His Father did Him.

Note that Jesus told the people of Smyrna that feared the coming suffering and persecution they were, in fact, quite RICH. We must recognize that we have exchanged, even among quite mature Christians, the notions of blessing and curse. A blessing is not that which makes the physical world my friend and life here easy. Rather, it is that which drives me toward an intimate walk with God. A curse is that which allows the illusion of self-dependence – a life where my successes bear me along on their shoulders of victory. With each step of self-dependence, I am being drawn deeper into the delusion and curse that I can “do life” on my own.

Here is a truth that requires spiritual maturity and depth to comprehend…Troubles that drive us to our knees, when they cause us to open up and invite Jesus into our painful and momentary walk, are the doorway to a deep blessing from God and are His gift. It is not the suffering that is the gift; it is the door to response to pain that shows God working in us, the beckoning of His Spirit to open anew to God’s innermost touch to sustain us. That is a blessed moment. That is where the seeds of pain yield the fruit of blessed embrace of God. The prize of life is that deep connection. At the end of life, that is Heaven’s embrace. In our sojourn on earth, this is the closest experience to Heaven. It often comes at first during times of pain and suffering, not times of “victory” in the physical world.

Third, we must learn to be wise and perceptive about the claims of men.

We must learn to perceive times when we encounter the Father of Lies who has planted those who will claim life and relationship with God when they have none – so be wise (2:9b). 9b “…and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

Many claim spiritual life and heritage. They can show in their long institutional past the hand of God – but not in the present of their life and movement. Yesterday’s victories don’t guarantee today’s surrender, nor do they yield today’s intimate walk with God. Let me say it plainly: Some people, denominations and groups are faking it. They HAD a walk with God – a time in their past when they were led by men and women of real and sustained faith – but that was THEN. Now they are simply rehearsing the old days and hoping God won’t notice.

Jesus said some claimed to represent the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – but they didn’t. They were storefronts from Satanism and used God’s name blasphemously, rather than out of a pure heart to honor Him. We must be wise – for the storefronts are still open and many of them have steeples on them. The way to see what people are is not their ads, their facades or the doctrinal statements leftover from a previous generation – but by reckoning where they are TODAY in their grasp of the truth of God’s Holy Word. Some of the greatest schools in America once stood for the Gospel, and now will not allow the Gospel to be spoken. At the same time, we must recognize and be vigilant – for no man suddenly becomes base and no organization suddenly walks away from God. Be wise.

Fourth, we must learn to focus on today’s journey and trust God for tomorrow’s appointments.

When we hear trouble will come, it somehow dominates our thinking and leaves us unfocused about today. Suffering will come, but we must not be consumed with the anticipation of it – but rather walk in prayer (invitation for Jesus to walk beside us) without constant worry (2:10). 10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested…”

Are you surprised that God didn’t hide that suffering was coming? He didn’t tell them to pretend it wasn’t. We cannot prepare for what we don’t reckon could come to us. At the same time, preparation doesn’t require worry. It doesn’t require obsessing over the future. God isn’t trying to coax us to follow Him because we will get rich, have success in the physical world or somehow live out daily lives of bliss. That isn’t His point.

He is the prize – and nothing else. If we forget that, trouble will overwhelm us and nothing else will make sense in life. He will seem CRUEL and UNCARING instead of always good and always loving.

Fifth, learn to view all of life as TEMPORARY. That makes some things more precious and other things more durable.

Hold on to the truth that any suffering of this life is temporary – so do not despair (2:10b). 2:10b “…and you will have tribulation for ten days…Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Paul noted in Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. … 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Looking at both the words of Jesus to Smyrna and the words of Paul to the Romans, we see that the church must constantly reinforce Heaven as our home and spiritual warfare this side of Heaven as our constant nagging companion. A church that is focused on creating the kingdom on earth will be tempted to lose its edge in seeing this as a temporary situation.

Jesus spoke of it in terms of being FAITHFUL to the point of physical death. Paul spoke of it as something we were to wait eagerly for with endurance of the present. How does that match what we said about prayerfully facing today in #4 above? The issue is this: I am not to look for Heaven simply as an escape from the problems of today. I am to look for today to be a practice of Jesus’ presence so that as I look ahead, I see the final prize will be unending intimacy in the presence of Jesus.

Paul wrestled about staying on earth, because he longed to take the next step with God and be in His unending presence. Phil 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if [I am] to live [on] in the flesh, this [will mean] fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both [directions], having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for [that] is very much better; 24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. The longer I live, and the more I meet Christians of our day, the fewer people I know who think like that. I don’t see a longing for Heaven. I see a longing to make Heaven their earth experience.

We must remember that at the end of the Bible there is a NEW DAY that God has prepared for us. I love this way of looking at it:

A Sunday School teacher asked her class of children, “Tell me what you think heaven will be like.” She got all kinds of answers, but I especially like this one from a third grade boy who said, “Heaven is going to be the happiest part of my dead life.”

Yes, it is true. The best of my life, and your life as a believer hasn’t even been seen yet. We need to spend time here, because our world is NEGATIVE but our future is VERY POSITIVE. Life here is but for a moment. One day, Revelation says : 21:5 “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” …and 21:6 “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…”

Sixth, we need to know suffering isn’t a mistake.

You didn’t take a wrong turn if suffering for your faith comes. The Spirit’s leading WON’T BE AROUND SUFFERING – but through it (2:11). 11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…

Finally, trust you were given promises for well beyond the physical world.

We don’t know what life really means this side of Heaven. Stand on the promises of God for the time after time (2:11b). 2:11b “…He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

Mr. Holland’s Opus was a movie about a frustrated composer in Portland, Oregon, who takes a job as a high school band teacher in the 1960s. Although diverted from his lifelong goal of achieving critical fame as a classical musician, Glenn Holland (played by Richard Dreyfuss) believes his school job is only temporary. At first he maintains his determination to write an opus or a concerto by composing at his piano after putting in a full day with his students. But, as family demands increase (including discovery that his infant son is deaf) and the pressures of his job multiply, Mr. Holland recognizes that his dream of leaving a lasting musical legacy is merely a dream. At the end of the movie we find an aged Mr. Holland fighting in vain to keep his job. The board has decided to reduce the operating budget by cutting the music and drama program. No longer a reluctant band teacher, Mr. Holland believes in what he does and passionately defends the role of the arts in public education. What began as a career detour became a 35-year mission, pouring his heart into the lives of young people. Mr. Holland returns to his classroom to retrieve his belongings a few days after school has let out for summer vacation. He has taught his final class. With regret and sorrow, he fills a box with artifacts that represent the tools of his trade and memories of many meaningful classes. His wife and son arrive to give him a hand. As they leave the room and walk down the hall, Mr. Holland hears some noise in the auditorium. Because school is out, he opens the door to see what the commotion is. To his amazement he sees a capacity audience of former students and teaching colleagues and a banner that reads “Goodbye, Mr. Holland.” Those in attendance greet Mr. Holland with a standing ovation while a band (consisting of past and present members) plays songs they learned at his hand. His wife, who was in on the surprise reception, approaches the podium and makes small talk until the master of ceremonies, the governor of Oregon, arrives. The governor is none other than a student Mr. Holland helped to believe in herself his first year of teaching. As she addresses the room of well-wishers, she speaks for the hundreds who fill the auditorium: “Mr. Holland had a profound influence in my life (on a lot of lives, I know), and yet I get the feeling that he considers a great part of his life misspent. Rumor had it he was always working on this symphony of his, and this was going to make him famous and rich (probably both). But Mr. Holland isn’t rich and he isn’t famous. At least not outside our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure, but he’d be wrong. Because I think he’s achieved a success far beyond riches and fame.” Looking at her former teacher the governor gestures with a sweeping hand and continues, “Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each one of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony, Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. And we are the music of your life.”

I want you to know that Heaven will be even better. Some of you will see faces you haven’t seen for fifty years – but your work helped them find Jesus – and your Savior doesn’t forget… you should look forward to that day.

A few years ago I was speaking in a church in Charlotte, North Caroline, for a Pastor friend of mine that I love. He has a great congregation, and it is always fun to go up there and see what God is doing there. Because it was a conference like this one, where I was speaking a number of times over a period of days, we had time to go to some local attractions between sessions on some of the days. We went downtown and looked at some of the inner city section. One morning we went to see the Billy Graham Library and his old home. I really enjoyed reading the displays and looking over what God had done with him through his unexpected career. One of the men with me took the time to take me privately to the old “Heritage USA” ministry center of the “PTL” club not many miles away. What I saw really made an impression on me. I cannot recall ever being in a place so eerily abandoned and left for nature to crush. It was a picture of “Ichabod” – the glory had departed. I don’t know much about the ministry that was once there, and I was a child in the seventies when they were a big deal on TV, but I do know this: property left abandoned will be quickly overtaken by the natural world around it.

It is an important principle for any believer to recall, a fallen world is a hostile place to the created works of man. Let’s face it: If you neglect a home it will collapse around you. If we don’t keep applying enormous effort in upkeep, our lawn, our driveway, our homes, our streets – indeed our entire infrastructure – will become overgrown, worn out, and eventually collapse. It isn’t ONLY our houses…Who doesn’t know that a BODY that isn’t maintained will eventually collapse? I remember learning a lesson in my twenties. Avoid the dentist for a few years to save money, and he will get back every penny in your thirties when you have such pain you have to go and get the “catch up work” done!

Let’s say it clearly: things require maintenance to remain useful and healthy. What is true of teeth, lawns and houses is also true about relationships. They cannot remain healthy without constant tending – expressions of love and communication that keep people connected. Now, stop for a moment and think about the ONE relationship that is most important – the one you cannot afford to be without – the one with your Creator. As believers, we have a relationship with the Living God through the work of Jesus Who died as our substitute. He paid the price of our sin, and bridged the gap between God and I. Knowing Christ gave me live – and UNION with God. Following Christ gave me COMMUNION with God. Remember, about fifteen percent of the Bible is about “finding God” (salvation and rescue), while the other eighty-five percent is about “following God” (messages to believers on life and their walk in the world with God). Our series will be entirely based on the idea of maintaining our heart health, and learning to keep working at a deep and intimate daily walk with the Savior.

Let’s begin with the letter in Revelation 2:1-7 that sets up the whole series – the letter to Ephesus that sets up the MAIN CAUSE for an unhealthy heart – NEGLECT.

Key Principle: When we neglect our walk with God, our heart becomes more steadily unhealthy.

When we open the text, we find ourselves at the main port of Asia Minor in the waning years of the first century. The sun was setting on the prosperous port of Ephesus, and all that was left was a trinket trade and tourism to the “Wonder of the Artemission” shrine on the cliff above. Jesus pulled John to collaborate on the book of Revelation, and in chapters two and three he was commanded to write to seven churches. This is the first of the letters:

Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lamp stands, says this: 2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place—unless you repent. 6 ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Even the quickest survey of the text exposes the church was not walking with Jesus in fullness – because something came up between them.

In some ways, He made it sound like the drift that occurred was not only reversible, it was predictable.

Several years ago a couple was on vacation in Florida and they were floating in the ocean on inflatable rafts. The husband decided to head into the shore but his wife wanted to stay out on the raft and continue to catch some rays. After a short time the woman lost herself in floating along on the raft. What the woman failed to realize was that she was slowly drifting out to sea. As she simply relaxed and let the gentle current take her with it, her situation was becoming more and more dangerous. By the time that she noticed what was happening to her, it was almost too late. She saw that the shore was much farther away than she expected and she began to panic. Fortunately the lifeguards were able to rescue her but the whole situation was created just by being careless. If you look at it another way, she wasn’t being careless at all – she cared about her CURRENT COMFORT more than she cared about what was pulling at her CURRENT LOCATION – until she realized she was in peril. That is more the problem of Ephesus. They were diligent about MANY THINGS – they just weren’t paying attention to the RIGHT THINGS.

Someone has said the great mistake of our lives is trading what we WANT for what we WANT NOW.

Here is my question: In a room full of people, many who have known Jesus as long as I have walked on the planet, how can we keep the Lord’s pleasure first in every situation? How can we redirect the currents that pull strongly to self-satisfaction? How can we re-gain former passion for God and restore a measure of heart health?

Removing an excuse:

Before I can dive into the text, let’s take off the table one of the spiritual arguments for passivity. Occasionally I hear even more mature believers make the argument that “we cannot grow” since it is a work of the Spirit. There is a tricky form of “spiritual victimization” that goes on in our church world, where people make commands of God fuzzy in their mind, as if they are not responsible to maintain heart health. It simply isn’t true. God never commands in His Word idly. If God calls for response from a believer, it isn’t in vain – we must be able to deliver what He has told us we are to do. Yes, certainly we rely on the Spirit’s strength, but we are not passive. Holiness cannot come by osmosis. Distinctive living isn’t haphazard. A spirit-filled walk isn’t by happenstance. Spiritual heart health is a responsibility of the believer, as physical heart health is the responsibility of each man or woman in society. In the same vein, when we don’t work at heart health, it affects both OUR performance in life, and the rest of the community. People who don’t maintain their physical heart end up occupying a bed in the local hospital, while people who don’t maintain their spiritual heart end up needing spiritual nursing from others in the body of Christ. Let’s talk about what Jesus told the Ephesian believers about heart health…He told them they suffered from the single most pervasive problem among believers…neglect of priorities. They simply failed to “keep first things first”.

Why we drift:

Second, let’s think of some of the reasons people get distracted and drift from keep their heart healthy:

Sometimes they settled on a shallow walk of solutions, rather than a Savior. They lacked depth from the beginning, like the soil in Matthew 13:5-7, 20-21 – where they had a specific problem and brought it to Jesus – but they actually didn’t want Jesus… only a solution to the current issue. When it was fixed, that seed that seemed to be taking root in shallow earth seemed to wither away.

Sometimes they felt pressured by the world to please those around them rather than the One over them. Maybe they live with the kind of denial we see in Simon Peter (in John 18). It may have come from fear of reprisal to save self at a momentary difficulty. Maybe it comes where we are supposed to speak up for Christ before those hostile to Him.

Sometimes the sheer level of distraction or hunger from wrong things can cause the mettle of our faith to buckle and we drift away from the reality of God’s power in our lives. Like a shorn Samson, we don’t protect the holy promise of God, and we find ourselves powerless, bound and blind.

How were they to restore Heart Health (and how can we when we are distracted from our first priority)?

To discern God’s answer to the heart problem, we need to dive into the words of the letter we are reading. Jesus offered the following prescriptions in His letter:

First, believers have to recognize we aren’t in our own hands; we are in the hands of the Almighty Savior.

We should be encouraged (2:1a). Jesus is not disconnected from the realities and needs of His people – for He walks in the midst of their faith community and observes their lives. We must learn to speak to Him as One Who knows intimately the work and its needs (2:1b).

Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

Jesus holding His church is a picture of an ENGAGED SAVIOR. That has two stunning implications:

• We live in an age when even Christ followers have lost much of their view of reverence for God, and with it any real fear over the consequences of sin. Our society wants us to believe that God is benevolent and good and would never hold us accountable for our actions – and that thinking has impacted many believers. For that to be God, they need a disengaged Savior. They need a “once a year Santa” figure Who isn’t involved intimately with His people. That isn’t the Jesus described in Revelation 2:1. He is holding the church, and you normally don’t forget things when they are right in your hand.

• For the praying and seeking follower, we should see that Jesus doesn’t need a long reminder when we talk to Him about things – He knows where we are, what we are doing and what has wounded us. We need to see Him as engaged. Sometimes we pray by reading our list and “informing God” as if He doesn’t know all about it. That isn’t the point. We can take courage – we have a Savior Who is engaged and ready to listen!

Second, consider that Jesus knows much more about our labors than we may think. He said:

Revelation 2:2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance… 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

It is clear he knew exactly the amount and type of labor they did for Him. He knew the steadiness of that labor when it became difficult. He knew about every ounce of pressure on their shoulders. The term “perseverance” used here is “hupo-meno” – one of my favorite words in Greek.

He knows what we can bear. He knows when we have endured faithfully, and when we have buckled under pressure. He knows our frame and what load is excessive for us. This should encourage us to press forward in our walk, and in our ministry life of service (2:2a,3).

May I take a moment and talk about “what you can bear”? This is important, and I don’t want to distract from our topic, but I would be remiss if I let this opportunity pass…There is a poem of Solomon that tells us something about each of us as servants of God who have less days ahead of us than behind us. As we age, fear increases. Fear of moral slide. Fear of government failure. Fear of slipping on a wet pavement or in a slick shower. Fear of a doctor’s report or a cell phone company’s bill…FEAR – because we feel weaker and less in control. Solomon said it this way:

Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; 2 before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain;”

The difficult days of life will soon come and only those who prepare with a walk with God will face them well (12:1b) – because our minds will eventually fade – and our “brightness” will slip, as well as our bodies ability to recoup quickly (12:2). Cloudy times will come more rapidly and clarity will slip away quickly.

• Growing too soon weaker and our hands trembling, our bodies are stooping, our teeth coming out and our eyesight failing (12:3). “3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim;”

• “Gumming” our food when the teeth fail (12:4a), failure to sleep well (12:4b) and failed hearing (12:4b). 4 “and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly.”

• Fears of difficult physical challenges becoming very real (12:5) as our hair turns white. Limbs will grow stiff and sexual drives will fail (‘abiyownah: ab-ee-yo-naw’ – a stimulating taste), as a man yields this life and passes to eternity – and is remembered (12:5b). 5 “Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street.”

• The spinal column weakens, the mind becomes dulled and the bowels become unpredictable, in addition to the accompanying heart problems (12:6). 6 “Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;”

• In the end, the body is laid to rest and turn back to dust and memories, while the spirit is whisked into eternity (12:7). 7 “then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

• It all passes quickly, and much that appears to have meaning, really doesn’t! (12:8). 8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

Why mention all this? Because we live in an aging community, we must learn not to feed fear and be often reminded that things aren’t happening outside of God’s control. We can feed on news designed to victimize, and we will not add maturity to the community. It is a natural temptation, but one we must think through and guard against! HOW? Stay close the Master, He isn’t shaky or worried…

Third, Jesus affirmed believers who stood on truth and against error even when the world rejected them.

This should spur us to recognize the value of friends that call us to faithfulness and push us to be active in support of that kind of church (2:2b).

Revelation 2:2b “…and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false.”

Hebrews 2:1 gave early Jewish believers, well versed in the Word, a specific warning to pay careful attention to what they heard, in order that they would not drift away from following the Savior. Verses contextually misused by one generation disarm the next generation.

Fourth, Jesus made a distinction in our heart between walking intimately with God and serving God actively, for they are not the same thing (2:4).

Revelation 2:4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

He knew their work. He even knew their endurance… That tells me that He saw them as hard workers FOR God. Yet, Jesus also knew those who worked so diligently had replaced intimacy with busyness… and it is easy to do. Some people try to make up in volume what they lack in intimacy – and we need to be careful. It isn’t just doing right that God desires – it is doing right TOGETHER with Him. Love for God is often best shown in the conscious invitation of participation in the daily.

Fifth, we must become mature and understand the testimony of the church is at stake not primarily based on its activity, but on where it places its priority (2:5).

Revelation 2:5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place—unless you repent.

The issue was NOT a lack of vigilance against error (2:2), it was NOT a matter of endurance (2:3), and it was NOT acceptance of popular trends (2:6) – the issue was a healthy heart for God. Without that heart – God’s church set aside the essential fiber that held His close to her. On first glance, Jesus offered a three-fold prescription:

1. Remember – recognize what you have left behind (2:5).
2. Repent – change your mind in a way that leads to a change of action (2:5).
3. Return – restore the old works by turning back (2:5)

Jesus simply told cold hearted believers to go back on the road where they left Him and invite Him to continue on the journey through life with Him. The goal ISN’T how far you get… but that you walked with Him for more and more of the journey!

Sixth, believers must prudently recognize the constant call for sensual license in the church.

We must be ever conscious such thinking is ordered in the wrong life- a fleshly pursuit to define an organization of “eternals” (2:6).

Revelation 2:6 ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

We are going to pick this theme up in later lessons, but make a note of this: In every generation of believers, there are those who argue to lessen the standards and loosen the reigns on purity. Yet, Paul’s very first epistle (1 Thessalonians) argued for purity as the hallmark of the believer. Don’t think this pressure is new or recent – it was here since the beginning.

Seventh, believers should recognize the world cannot make sense of what we believe without God opening their ears and hearts.

We must not be disappointed when we see the rapid erosion of all things Biblical in our current culture – this is to be expected (2:7). In short, we have to stop being surprised when lost people act like lost people.

Revelation 2:7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Jesus called on believers to listen with spiritual discernment. We have to desire to hear truth from the gentle wind of the Spirit’s blowing. We are called to overcome, again and again. Look at the words in Revelation 2:7 “To him who overcomes”. You will find them again in verse 11 to the church at Smyrna “He who overcomes”. You will see them yet again in letter after letter. Here is what you should remember: IT IS POSSIBLE to overcome, and some will – but many won’t. Loving Jesus and living for Him instead of the instant gratification of the physical world will be too hard for some to embrace.

When we neglect our walk with God, our heart becomes more steadily unhealthy.

Has there ever been a time in your life, when you were more dedicated to Christ? Has there ever been a time when you were closer to Jesus than you are right now? Have you ever been more surrendered in your life than you are at this moment? Has there ever been a time that you were more committed to living for Christ than you are right now?

Edmund Burke said that very seldom does a man take one giant step from a life of virtue & goodness into a life of vice & corruption. Usually, he begins his journey into evil by taking little steps into the shaded areas, areas tinted & colored just a bit, almost unnoticed by those around him….It isn’t the giant step from virtue into corruption that we need to fear. It’s the little steps that ultimately lead us away from God.

No man suddenly becomes base – but every man becomes that way by the same path, beginning with a step away from intimacy with God.

One of the HGTV shows that has garnered a lot of interest in the past few years is called the “Property Brothers”. The show follows a very predictable format, where an unrealistic couple or home buyer wants more than they can afford in a finished house, and so the hosts of the show take them to some older homes in need of renovation and promise to add into those old places the features of the new homes they like so much. The buyers are always skeptical until they see the design in a professionally prepared three dimensional video, and that is what finally allows people to decide what house they want to renovate. Most of the buyers were NOT willing until they saw the digital designs, but when they could see the vision clearly, they were prepared to sign the dotted line and buy the older homes.

The best way to start a project of any kind is to be able to grasp what the end will look like. That is especially helpful when we have to “make it that way” – as in building according to directions. Many of us confess that we don’t read assembly directions as much as we look at the picture on the box!

At the same time, looking at the END can also be helpful, when thinking about priorities. If we know exactly what the designer intends as the finished product, we see in that picture a clear view of what the designer thought was MOST IMPORTANT. Let’s take a moment and apply that idea to our lives. Since God let us know what the “eternal state” of those who know and follow Him, how can looking at the conditions of that place and time help us? They can show us what God values – what His underlying priorities are. If the world hadn’t plunged into the illegal renovations as a result of rebellion, we could see this in our world – but the original design of our world has been damaged and altered. As we look at the end of the Bible, let’s see if we can compare how life is designed at the end, and use that picture to see God’s priorities and finally ask how we may change how we live today because of God’s priorities.

Key Principle: The “eternal state” of the believer shows God’s underlying design for our lives.

God Suspends some common things in the eternal state:

The record unfolds between things that are MISSING in this place, and the FEATURES the place offers. It is like the vacation brochure that first promises a “break from traffic” (what won’t be there) and a “place to relax” (what will replace it). Revelation 20 offered a look at the final judgment of God. As we open Revelation 21, we see the “post judgment” era – a new time after time. All sin and rebellion has been fully dealt with. Eternity commences with all where they are supposed to be. Look at how the Apostle John recorded it:

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea.

The ecosystem may be significantly different in the final era – because our planet depends on the existence of the sea. It is difficult to know if the “sea” referred to in the passage is used metaphorically – for the Hebrews held the “Yam” as a place of chaos, and that is reflected in ancient language and saying. In any case – it is clear in the text that the OLD WAY is GONE, and a new way has begun. In this new economy, rather than human construction, the emphasis is placed on a pre-fabricated construction of God:

Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

Take a moment and notice the short list of things tossed away with the old world:

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be [any] death; there will no longer be [any] mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

• No Distance between God and man – everyone will walk with God and know Him personally in an intimate way. What a great place to begin the description – our walk with God!!

• No Tears left in God’s follower’s eyes – whatever you have suffered as a result of the fall and sin’s destruction will be wiped away. Remember that when you feel under attack – it will all be over someday soon.

• No death – all separation is over – and all the pain it brings is finished. When you stare at the grave and feel the pain of loss – the world wasn’t designed that way – sin did that.

• No pain – in the context this referred to specifically the pain of the loss from death – that went out with the old when death was finally defeated by the Redeemer.

Some people treat the afterlife like it is a penalty – not a blessing. That isn’t right! I am thinking of a terrible story of Bob and Stan, who were good buddies and baseball friends. One day at a ballgame, they made a vow to each other that, whichever friend died first, that friend would send a message back to earth to let the other friend know if there was baseball in Heaven. Sure enough, one day Bob died. After a while, he sent a message back to earth to Stan: “Hey, Stan, this is your old baseball buddy, Bob. I have good news and I have bad news for you from Heaven.” Stan thought about it and said, “Let’s hear the good news!” Bob said, “Well, the good news is there is a lot of baseball going on in Heaven! I am hitting home runs a mile long and you should see some of the guys in the Heaven League hit a baseball up here, too! It really is baseball Heaven!” Stan smiled and said, “Hey, Bob. What about that bad news?” There was a long pause. Finally, Bob spoke from Heaven and said, “The bad news is……..YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO PITCH UP HERE TOMORROW NIGHT!” That isn’t right! For the believer, death is no penalty any more than birth was. It signals a change in what we do…

The final state is much different than our time…But it is deliberately planned by our Father. Note the way John recorded the words… Revelation 21:5 “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” …Drop down past the measurements of the Holy City, all the way to the description in Revelation 21:22 and following…

Did you notice what ISN’T THERE?

Revelation 21:22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

When we reach the final stage of history, we will be PERMANENTLY HOME. Nothing will need to be renovated or restored. Everyone will be where they are supposed to be…

It reminds me of the story of a new believer, who was on a plane with an intellectual (a man educated beyond his intelligence). He sneered at her reading the Bible and asked if she believed it? “Yes.” “Jonah and the whale story?” “Yes.”
“How did it happen?” “Don’t know, but I’ll find out when I get to heaven.” “What if Jonah isn’t there?” “Then I guess you’ll have to ask him from where you are for me.” – Source: Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

In fact, many of the things that took up our energy to provide in our old life will slip away – and we won’t need to work to keep it all together.

Notice each detail of what is MISSING. When you do, ask yourself, “What does that do to inform my focus as I walk with God NOW?”

1. We won’t need a temple – because God will live with us. Our focus shouldn’t be on the mechanics of religion as much as on the glory and exaltation of God.

2. We won’t need a celestial light – because God’s glory will shine for us. Our focus shouldn’t be as much on “branding” a church as much as showing what God is really like to a dark world.

3. We won’t need a nightlight – for God’s glory never sets. Our focus shouldn’t be on how to make the world see our ministry in some flashes of outreach as much as how we can steadily show them the incredible God that we serve. This should cause us to refuse to curse the night, but rather build constantly operating lighthouses to attract the wandering. Remember, “its lamp is in the Lamb”. When we exalt Jesus, we draw people to the Light.

4. We won’t need a key – for closed gates and locks will be meaningless. Our focus must be on pointing people to the open door, not keeping them focused on the walls. Yes, holiness and repentance are essential, but they are not the primary message – salvation by grace through faith must be.

5. We need no greater accomplishments – the “glory” and “honor” of the nations will be deposited in Heaven’s city of the King. Our focus cannot be to build a wealth apart from His glory, nor a success that is self-centered.

6. We won’t need guilt – for sin will have no more place there. Our focus must be on the forward movement of our walk with God by deliberately setting aside the hindrances. We cannot and must not make those distractions take more from us.

7. We won’t need defensiveness – for everyone we meet will be what God intended them to be. Our focus shouldn’t be on “winning the battles” in the here and now, but rather speaking with the confidence of those who know the end.

There are a number of reasons we won’t need these things – but a big part will be simply because God will complete everything He started at the beginning of the first book of the Bible….

• In Genesis 1:1 God created the heavens and the earth; in Revelation 21:1 God will create a new heaven and earth.
• In Genesis 1:16 God created the sun; in Revelation 21:23 there will be no more need for the sun.
• In Genesis 1:5 God established the night; In Revelation 22:5, God abolished night.
• In Genesis 1:10 God created the seas; In Revelation 21:1 God dispensed with the seas (which may have been a comfort to John who was exiled and separated by seas from his family and friends!)
• In Genesis 3:14-17 God announced the curse; In Revelation 22:3 God rescinded it forever. Satan would no longer touch the earth, let alone crawl its surface. The new earth would yield without question the fruits assigned to it.
• In Genesis 3:19 Death entered the world; in Revelation 21:4 Death will be dismissed forever.
• In Genesis 3:24 man was driven from paradise; In Revelation 22:14, he stands in Paradise regained.
• IN Genesis 3:17 Sorrow and pain grew from the rebellion; in Revelation 21:4, Sorrow will be cut off forever. Tears and pain are satisfied forever.

As an aged Christian lay dying, a friend called to say farewell. “I have just had three other visitors,” said the dying man, “and with two of them I parted; but the third I shall keep with me forever.” “Who are they?”

• “The first was Faith, and I said, ‘Goodbye, Faith! I thank God for your company ever since I first trusted Christ; but now I am going where faith is lost in sight.’

• Then came Hope. ‘Farewell, Hope!’ I cried. ‘You have helped me in many an hour of battle and distress, but now I shall not need you, for I am going where hope passes into fruition.’

• “Last of all came Love. ‘Love’, said I, ‘you have indeed been my friend; you have linked me with God and with my fellow men; you have comforted and gladdened all my pilgrimage. But I cannot leave you behind; you must come with me through the gates, into the city of God, for love is perfected in heaven.’” – The Sunday School Chronicle.

Part of the point of the words of Revelation 21 are to demonstrate that God is going to tear out everything “not built to code” and replace it entirely with what mankind should experience.

Eight Provisions: God’s new build…

Next, what WILL BE THERE? Revelation 22:1 “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”

1. God’s life will flow as a river from His throne to His people – it will be clear, crisp and refreshing. All of life’s thirsts will be quenched! Our focus should be on having our deepest heart needs met by our Master – not our spouse, our children or our friends.

2. Spanning the river will be a tree of life – with its ever changing, always delicious fruit. All of life’s hungers will be satisfied! Our focus should be on training our tastes for the things that please God – and not feasting on things that we know do not.

3. Covering its branches will be bountiful and beautiful leaves – whose oils will produce a healthy and comforting balm for all to partake. All of life’s discomforts will be settled! Our focus should be to see pain and trouble as temporary, rather than allowing ourselves to be swallowed up in this world as though it will never change.

4. The ground will yield no weed – for the curse is forever broken. All of life’s disappointments will be contented! Our focus should be to live with understanding toward those who disappoint and even cause pain to us – they are living under a curse until they are redeemed.

5. Distance from God will evaporate – for we will see Him face to face. All of life’s strain will be eased! Our focus should be to grow our hunger to be intimate with God by asking Him to shape our will toward Him.

6. There will be no need to read the story of redemption – for our very salvation will be revealed on the markers upon our heads. All of life’s insecurities will be erased! Our focus needs to be on building trust in what God has promised in each other.

7. There will be no night for pain to increase and darkness to overcome – for God’s light will shine in unending power. All of life’s anxiousness will be calmed! Our focus should be on prayer and praise to relieve worry and anxiety.

8. There will be no need for rulers – for each will have his place to reign. All ego will recede for there will be One King – and He will be enough! Our focus should be to cede our importance and decrease before Him and that He may increase in us.

One Pastor wrote: There was once a little girl born blind. The only beauty she knew came from her mother’s descriptions of things like the flowers in spring, trees in fall, snow in winter, and the crashing surf of the ocean in summertime. The girl could only imagine what her momma described. At about ten years of age, an experimental surgery was developed and made available to to help the little girl see for the very first time. Oh, what she saw when the bandages were carefully and slowly removed! In a few minutes, after her eye adjusted to light, she ran to the window of the doctor’s office and stood breathless! She cried out: “Mother, why didn’t you tell me it was so beautiful?” Her mom replied: “I tried to, but words just wouldn’t suffice!” I believe that in Heaven we’ll run around breathless, and when some see the Apostle John they’ll say, “Why didn’t you tell us?” and he’ll say, I tried, but words wouldn’t suffice!

The Basis of All Truth

Revelations 22:6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. 7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Our faith is not made up – it was revealed by the God that made us. Our destiny is not the stuff of dreams, but the uncovering of truths revealed by a Sovereign who is timeless and already exists in that place. His Word is His bond, and His Word has been made known. The one who believes His promises awaits His appearing. The one who truly trusts in God’s words concerning the hereafter carefully measures his life in the hear and now. Sloppy living comes from slipping belief. He has promised me a future home, and demanded only that I trust Him to provide it as He said! God didn’t just promise a new day – He explained what kind of future He has planned for us. Want to join in? He has paid your way!

WHY?
By Jack Hyles

I have heard the white-tipped tapping cane,
Which leads a blinded eye.
And then a darkened, lonely voice
Cries, “Preacher, show me why.”

I have caught a fiancée’s burning tears,
And heard her lonely cry.
She held an unused wedding gown,
And shouted, “Pastor, why?”

I have heard the cancer patient say,
“’Tis gain for me to die;”
Then look into his daughter’s face,
And mutely whisper, “Why?”

I’ve heard an orphan faintly say,
Who gazed into the sky,
“Tho Mom and Dad have gone away,
My preacher will know why.”

I have sat beside a tiny crib,
And watched a baby die,
As parents slowly turned toward me,
To ask, “Oh, Pastor, why?”

I tiptoed to my Father’s throne,
So timid and so shy,
To say, “Dear God, some of Your own
Are wanting to know why.”

I heard Him say so tenderly,
“Their eyes I’ll gladly dry,
Tho they must look through faith today,
Tomorrow they’ll know why.”

And so I’ve found it pleases Him
When I can testify,
“I’ll trust my God to do what’s best,
And wait to find out why.”

It is great to know that by looking at the design of eternity, I can see the fingerprints of my God Who prepared it.

Looking back over the history of humanity, there have been, both in business and in other pursuits, a history of well documented blunders. Stepping past the suspect stories of Julius Caesar’s wife telling him not to go to the center on the Ides of March, there are some documented mistakes that the UK newspaper called “The Telegraph” picked up some time ago. They reminded:

• The Coca Cola Company made a series of errors in the early 20th century, when its biggest rival, Pepsi, struggled to avoid bankruptcy. On at least three occasions Coca Cola was offered the chance to buy the company – but never did. The companies have vied for supremacy in the cola market ever since.

• It took 177 years to build, but the Pisa’s famous tower began to lean less than a decade after construction began. The enormous project was planned on unstable soil, and had a shallow three meter foundation which couldn’t support the structure’s weight. After extensive renovations, the tower has now stopped moving for the first time in its history.

• This image depicts a triumphant Christopher Columbus landing in America in 1492. However, the fortuitous discovery which allowed Spain to colonize America was little more than a mistake. Columbus had been hoping to reach China and India, and believed that they could be reached by sailing west across the Atlantic. This is why, of course, he called the indigenous population Indians.

• Captain George Custer had always wanted fame, but the disastrous Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 ensured him a reputation only for arrogance and miscalculation. He had estimated only a small number of Native Americans would fight his troops, but his entire company was killed by an army of thousands.

• Remember the moment in ET when Elliot lures the little extra-terrestrial into his house with a sweet called Reese’s Pieces? Well, you may only know of that particular treat because of of it. Spielberg had tried to get Mars to let M&Ms be featured in the film, but was turned down. After the film was released, sales of Reese’s Pieces rocketed by more than 65 per cent.

• RMS Titanic, the largest passenger steamship in the world, was popularly believed to be unsinkable. The huge loss of life that occurred when it crashed into an iceberg in 1912 was due partly to an inadequate supply of lifeboats, and partly to design flaws – including an unreliable system of watertight compartments, and poor quality rivets in the ship’s hull. After the ship sank, a number of safety improvements were introduced to boat design.

• In 1961, Decca Records auditioned a small Liverpool band in their London studios. Eventually, however, they decided that the group wasn’t sellable. Not long after, they signed with EMI. The group’s name? The Beatles.

• His name is now synonymous with genius, but Albert Einstein was so unsuccessful at school that his teachers believed he had had learning difficulties.

• “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” So said Western Union, the company with a monopoly on the telegraph system, when offered the patent for Alexander Graham Bell’s new invention in 1876. Two years later, they offered $25 million for it, but were turned down.

• If only all our mistakes resulted in medical breakthroughs. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin when he mistakenly left a Petri dish open. The blue-green mould which grew in the dish had released a substance which killed the bacteria around it. It was the beginning of modern antibiotics.

-For the whole article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatpicturegalleries/7079567/Historys-great-mistakes.html).

The history of the world is riddled with such blunders. When we open the last page of the Bible, we see that some errors have much more catastrophic consequences than the slanting of a “campanile” or bell tower, and certainly carry greater import than the loss of soda pop revenues. In fact, the Bible closes with a response to the very errors that began with the introduction of sin to the human race back in Genesis 3.

Key Principle: Truth can be eroded, obscured, theorized, postponed or even ignored.

The lies of sin have led men to errors by lack of trust in God’s Word, lack of clarity about God’s Word, lack of practical living in light of God’s Word, lack of urgent change because of God’s Word, and finally lack of heeding God’s Word out of a sense of personal entitlement. Before we read the final response, let’s remind ourselves of the initial problem from Genesis:

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

If you look back at Genesis 2:25. Man was OK with himself. Woman was OK with herself. No advertisements made them feel inadequate. No self image marred – no need for better makeup or another exercise machine. The issue wasn’t whether they were beautiful enough or felt important enough – they were happy with who God made them.

Enter the tempter (3:1). A series of events led to a “domino falling failures”:

1)     The man was to guard the garden and failed – exposing his wife to the tempter and not governing the parameters of God (3:1b).
2)     The woman entertained the question of God’s authority over her and focused on the one thing God told them to leave alone (3:2-3).
3)     The serpent accused God of holding back on them and they succumbed to the idea that God wasn’t who He claimed to be (3:4-6).
4)     What came from the fall was a LOSS of INNOCENCE – “eyes were opened” (3:7a), DEATH of intrinsic positive SELF IMAGE – “knew they were naked” (3:7b), SHAME – “covered themselves” (3:7b); DISTANCE from God (3:8) and GUILT – the FEAR to be seen of God (3:10).

The bottom line is that man’s pain came from his rebellion – and so does YOURS. When we decide we know better than God, we forgo the benefits of trusting Him to meet our every need. We lose out on blessing. We gain shame, discontent, guilt and a host of problems. If you kept reading the familiar passage, you would see clearly the results from “The Fall” experience:

1)       BLAME: Man tried to blame the woman for his lack of guardianship and leadership (3:12) – the leader blames the followers! Woman blamed the tempter (3:13) – the shopper blames the advertiser for MAKING HER BUY the product!
2)       WAR: God promised to put a battle between the deceiver and man through the Messianic seed (3:15). Every believer that faces pains of the enemy and his warfare can trace the struggle of Ephesians 6 back to this moment – not to mention the PRICE of the Cross!
3)       PHYSICAL PAIN replaced the joy of the reproductive system. A collective groan may now raise from the females of the assembly! The pain of childbirth is not ALL there is to this!
4)       A REBELLION HELPER: Woman was made to AID man in his walk with God – and now she would COMPETE with him and help him by supplying her own rebellion (3:16b). She will want HIS JOB – and struggle with submission.
5)       STRUGGLE: Because of the lack of guardianship and leadership, God ends His dealings with their rebellion in words to Adam – the work I gave you will now be a struggle. The ground won’t cooperate (3:17b-19).

Why do I mention these in a study on Revelation? Because the last part of the story of God’s written and revealed Word is this: there have been some underlying errors that have plagued mankind since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. Five great errors have dogged man – and God calls on man to SEE them and RESPOND appropriately! What are the FIVE ERRORS? First, the text, then the implications:

They are found in Revelation 22:6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. 7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.” 10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. 16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Remember the principle we noted earlier? Truth can be eroded, obscured, theorized, postponed or even ignored. In the final words of the Bible we can see the five lies men have believed – and the five delusions many have lived under:

Lack of trust in God’s Word (22:6,8,9):

In all three verses – 6,8 and 9 the issue is the faithfulness of God’s record. John says that the words were carefully and properly related to him in TRUTH. He claims his record is what he HEARD and SAW  – the things he described in the circular letter we now call the “book”. His personal witness to the events did not imply that he thought HE was infallible – since he bowed to the wrong guy and got corrected two times in glory (Revelation 19:10 and 22:9). The basis of John’s belief in the testimony was the REVELATION by God – not his abilities as an author. John didn’t think, based on his record, that HE was the reason we should believe the message at all.

Peter argued this very point in 2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Peter and John both KNEW they SAW first hand a move of God. Yet, they also knew it wasn’t their VIEW of things that mattered, but the revealed truths accurately recorded because of God’s work in and through them. They saw themselves as flawed, but the Word as revealed.

Here is the truth of it. Satan questioned Eve and implied that God didn’t really mean the things that He said. “Has God really said?” he asked. Anyone that walks closely with God and daily in His Word knows the hearkening to selfish rationalization when they hear it. “Can you really trust that this is the truth?” our world cries out – echoing the voice of their dark master. What they are really saying is this: “Can you really try to tell me that I cannot do what I want?” Lack of trust in God’s Word leads to a lack of belief that any moral system can truly be placed over me. I end up being God in my life – making decisions that suit my own purposes and satiate my own desires. He who trusts in the Lord trusts in His Word- by which He has been made known.

Fundamentally, people have three choices in dealing with the Bible:

• First, we can believe that although God’s Word is revealed truth through imperfect men – its reliability is based on God’s power and ability to communicate – unhindered by the flaws of the men themselves.

• Second, we can see God as lacking the power (or will) to communicate effectively through flawed men. Some of its stories are made up by men, others show some truth of the Holy One. This is the curious modern “Christian” thinker who believes God can raise a lifeless body from a grave, but cannot both record the event flawlessly and preserve the event wholly in history. Power over life doesn’t seem to include power over the facts.

• Third, we can toss the Bible onto the stack of other ingenious, influential and curious fictions of the old world.

I believe the third has been widely adopted in the modern academic world – it is a piece of pure religious sage fiction, and the second in many Christian circles –it is a flawed record of well meaning followers of God. The idea that it is the unhindered revelation of truth is now held among only a handful of believers. I want to be counted among them. God is able to speak through a donkey if He chooses. He can sign His name and reveal His character in the lights of the heavens above. Fallen creation poses no particular obstacle to His ability to clearly show Himself. His Word is truth. Biblically speaking, His detractors are fools – plain and simple. Sometimes people fall for the oldest deception on the planet – contradiction to God’s Word. A knowledge of revealed truth can be steadily eroded by unending attacks – ask any modern university student that is trying to live for Christ on campus.

Lack of clarity about God’s Word (22:10,16-19):

Not all rejection of the Word in our day is because of simple hardheartedness, though indirectly that is at the core of our problem. Some of the rejection is due to the obscuring of the Bible’s true message. When someone turns the Bible into a prosperity manual – using the Holy Writ to encourage the hungers for a better life this side of Heaven – they obscure its real message. Many times when I have talked with someone who “left the faith” the issue wasn’t that God’s Word was insufficient – it is that promises made on God’s behalf by those who purported to teach His Word  – but were NOT Biblical  – were found to be untrue by the defector.

Look at God’s truth. In verse 10, John was told NOT TO SEAL UP the prophecy – not to block the flow of information – in contradistinction to a command issued long before to the prophet Daniel (Daniel 8:26 “The vision of the evenings and mornings Which has been told is true; But keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future.”). The words given to John were to be shared, unfiltered and unhindered. Such a good word should be given to preachers of our day.

We are not to create a church that is a stirring concert followed by a public therapy session. We are to make disciples by the careful and consistent sharing of the Word of God. Every other pursuit of the church must serve that purpose.

The verses that unfold this truth and drive it home to John appear to be 22:16-19:

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

The unmistakable message of the Bible is this: Come to Jesus. He is the Savior, and there is no other! Buddha’s enlightenment cannot ensure your eternal destiny. Mohammed’s rules cannot make you acceptable to God. Animism’s beckoning to the “circle of life” will leave you searching for truth on a fallen planet set for destruction. The message of the Bible is NOT that we have failed – but that He has prevailed! Jesus has CONQUERED death’s hold on us, and broken through the back of the tomb into the place of eternal blessing. We cannot by our sincere works chip through the tomb’s solid walls – only the Savior was able to break it open. The call of the Word is not to attempt a new strategy to attain blessing in the hereafter – but to open our heart to the victor over death and the grave.

Note that in Revelation’s great close the word is repeated… Come. Come. Come. It is the message of the Spirit of God. It is the message of the Bride of the Lamb. It is the message of anyone who CLEARLY hears what the revelation’s true testimony is.

• Prosperity theologians say “get”.
• Psychologists say “become”.
• Sociologists say “empower”.
• Educators say “enlighten”.
• Scientists say “investigate”.
• Religious teachers say “work”.

Jesus simply says – COME! If our message can be reduced to anything, it must be reduced to this… Man is lost without the Savior, and saved only by submitting to His Word and His Work. When the church fouls the message, we hinder the lost from hearing the truth. Sometimes people fall for Satan’s age old tactic of obscuring the truth… “Has God really said?” A clear and crisp presentation of Jesus can easily be obscured by worldly agendas that permeate even the church’s message. Ask anyone who invested in a teacher who put up billboards on the actual date of Christ’s return – and then it passed. Honest followers got sucker punched by well meaning but misguided teachers. 

Lack of practical living in light of God’s Word (22:11-15):

Look again at the words in verses 11-15:

11 “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

This part of the Bible doesn’t sound BIBLICAL! Let bad guys be bad guys? Really? What is Jesus saying – Don’t try to change people with the Gospel? No! He is relating an essential truth – Time is running out people who follow Him will show their allegiance in their lives. They will take their dirty robes and wash them in the stain-cleansing flow from the blood at Calvary. They will trust His work as sufficient for their salvation, and call on God to wash them because of Jesus’ payment at the Cross. At the same time, and this is critical to understand – the changes in a true believer will be evident in the change of their moral choices, ethical selections and practical lifestyle. Jesus didn’t come to make people theologically superior. He isn’t a theory creator.

Many of us have to admit that we don’t change our stubborn and ungodly practices – we simply add the message of sin’s payment to our own stubborn self will. We too often live for self but add “God words” and “Bible verses”. We can talk theology while still comfortably living sinfully. We can expound on Biblical truths from our head, while caging and locking up our heart. That wasn’t God’s intent.

Let me say it clearly: We must stop acting like we know God’s Word if we choose to continue to live immorally. We must stop pretending to be knowledgeable about a God to Whom we simply refuse to submit. We must learn to drop the theology of the arrogant and begin to humble ourselves before the forgiving hand of God! These are hard words – but the time to play is running out! Jesus said that truth unpracticed is dead truth. James records that faith that doesn’t work itself out is dead theory. There are far too many who have fallen to this old error – that God wants a sharpened head and theologically educated tongue. What He wants is a surrendered heart that reshapes the mind, reforms the tongue and redresses the hands. Anything else is short of the goal. If we KNOW the truth – it must drive us to LIVE the truth – or we don’t truly BELIEVE the truth. Salvation is about surrender, not hedging bets on eternity. God wants practical believers – that live out truth. One of the five great errors is simply this: We can believe in our head but not surrender with our heart. It is time to choose, on every level, truth.

Lack of urgent change because of God’s Word (22:7,12,20):

With little fanfare, John closes the book with repeated warning. In 22:7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” In 22:12 he wrote: .” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”  In 22:20 he wrote it one last time: “20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

One of the oldest errors that has afflicted mankind and duped many an intelligent man or woman is this – “I have more time”. I don’t need to accept Jesus today. I don’t need to surrender sin today. I can do it tomorrow, or perhaps next month. Maybe when I am older I will get more serious. Urgency isn’t there. We have been deceived into thinking we have more time. Read the word again.. quickly, quickly, quickly….

Look at your life. Seriously, I ask you this question: “Has time seemed to be moving faster and faster for you?” Are some of you thinking, “Wow, I am getting older a lot faster than I thought I would!” That should be a temporal warning for an eternal problem. We have only this life to make a decision – and the timing on this life is always short and never certain. Truth can be postponed when urgency is suppressed. It is an error many are making… is that YOU?

Lack of heeding God’s Word out of a sense of personal entitlement (22:21):

The final error that has plagued humanity is laying on the face of the passage, but may not be so obvious. It is found in the unpacking of the simple declaration in the final sentence of the written Scripture: Revelation 22:21 “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”

The heart of rebellion manifests a sense of self destiny. When we think in rebellion, we do it OUR way. We believe we “master our own fate”. Grace is not like that. Grace is a gift – and it requires both a GIVER and one who opens their hand, and heart, to receive it. The Bible ends with a grace statement – because at the end of everything, there is a great future to those who open themselves to God’s grace.

• People who believe they deserve Heaven don’t want or need grace.
• People who feel entitled to Heaven in spite of their unrighteousness aren’t seeing things the God does.

They are evaluating themselves against other people, not against the HOLINESS of God. There is nothing fallen man can DO to overcome the gap placed in our path between us and God – and ultimately us and Heaven. The bridge that was built was one of GRACE built with the blood-stained wood of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Despite what anyone may tell you, the main problem on the planet IS rebellion against God – something the Bible calls simply “sin”. It isn’t primarily a political problem as Madison purported in his time – so it lacks a singular coherent political solution. It isn’t an economic issue at it core as Lenin espoused, and cannot be solved by any form of wealth redistribution he and his later comrades attempted. It isn’t an primarily social injustice issue as Roosevelt preached – so no dose of “New Deal” can solve the pains of it. It cannot be solved in Hoover’s austerity, or Nixon’s attempt at control. Politicians fall flat in the face of the problem, for they lack the power to deal with it. It is a SIN problem, a spiritual stain that marks the human heart, darkens the human mind, fouls the human spirit and weighs down human hope. The problem has a solution, but it will be found only in the power of One greater than the problem – a Savior. We do not vote for Him, we simply bow before Him.

Our world is in a SIN crisis, but it is a masked problem. We see the symptoms on every hand – but the underlying errors have become part of the thinking of our day – and profoundly affect every part of our lives. The lies of sin have led men to errors by:

• lack of trust in God’s Word,
• lack of clarity about God’s Word,
• lack of practical living in light of God’s Word,
• lack of urgent change because of God’s Word,
• lack of heeding God’s Word out of a sense of personal entitlement.

We must see these errors in our own thinking and untie their hold on our hearts. It will take deliberate trust in God’s Word and His Promises – and it will take conscious ungripping of strongly held deceptions…

A man went fishing along a rushing river in the floods of spring time. The water raged, so rather than rowing, he tied his small wooden rowboat to a tree and slowly slacked the rope so the boat could move away from shore. When the line unexpectedly untied from the tree, the little vessel was swiftly swept away, and in a flash was dashed to pieces on a rock. Clinging to the wreckage the fisherman cried for help as he was being swept along with the current. A farmer near the shore downstream saw his plight and raced ahead to a small bridge. Lying down, the rescuer hung his arm over the side of the bridge and yelled, “grab my hand.” The fisherman, with both arms wrapped around the wreckage, did not know if he trusted the unseen rescuer enough to let go. He was faced with a potentially perilous choice. Either he could let go of the wreckage and grab the hand above –or he could cling to what he knew and surely perish.

The fact is, we have the very same choice he had.

She got out of bed and pulled on the bathroom door – but the handle came off in her hand. Without her glasses (which were inside the bathroom on the back of the sink), she tried hard to get the long spine of the door handle back into the little hole so that she could turn the handle carefully, and get the door open. An impending sense of urgency welled up inside her, the kind that can only truly be understood by someone who has been urged to drink large amounts of water, and then found the nearby bathroom “out of order”. Without panic, she kept at her task until the door was opened, and she was safely inside. Looking down at her glasses, now no longer so desperately needed, she thought, “One of these days things are going to start out right for me, I just know it.” The funny thing is, she is right. As a believer, we are facing a WHOLE NEW DAY sometime soon! Human history began in a garden paradise – the Garden of Eden. Someday, time will stand still in a new paradise – a garden park of the New Jerusalem.

Key Principle: God didn’t just promise a new day – He explained what kind of future He has planned for us.

We have all seen way too much demise of morality. We have been fed fear on the news and despair in the movies. This generation seems transfixed with a “Zombie Apocalypse”, or some other form of destruction coming soon to a town near you. Facebook rages, day after day, with Obamacare and impending tax cliffs and the demise of the middle class. Politicians look for someone else to blame and another pot of gold to tap to keep themselves in office – so they have more time to blame and search for yet more cash. The country is run by millionaires that want to tell us why rich people are bad. None of it makes sense…. Aren’t you ready for something NEW? Don’t you really want to get this cleaned up and hit the RESET button? I know there are times I really do – and I LOVE life and have great and positive people that fill my days with laughter and joy!

The end of the Bible is about the NEW DAY that God has prepared for us. I love this story, and maybe it can help set the mood of this passage for us:

A Sunday School teacher asked her class of children, “Tell me what you think heaven will be like.” She got all kinds of answers, but I especially like this one from a third grade boy who said, “Heaven is going to be the happiest part of my dead life.”

Yes, it is true. The best of my life, and your life as a believer hasn’t even been seen yet. We need to spend time here, because our world is NEGATIVE but our future is VERY POSITIVE. The story that God began in a beautiful garden – the story that God pronounced “Redeemed” in another garden  – will, one day soon, be completed in yet a third garden. Revelation 21 sums it all up in words like: 21:5 “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” …and 21:6 “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…”

I don’t usually like “The End” screens. They bring a story to conclusion, and then I feel let down. This one is different… really different! The Bible unfolds the tale: All judgment was past. All sin, with its deep and wretched stains, fades into mere memory. The Great White Throne was swept into the shadow of past things. Hades was swallowed in the Molten Lake of forever. Satan and His evil hoards were consumed and perpetually blocked out of God’s land of incessant celebration. God saw that it was time to tear it all away and rebuild the new land of Promise.  When the END comes, the beginning of the NEW DAY of ETERNITY will not bring sadness – but JOY. God describes exactly what the NEW DAY looks like, with no less than ten descriptions…

Our eternity is in a NEW place.

Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”

On author wrote: “Most of my life I’ve lived in older houses where somebody else has lived before. They’ve been nice enough, I suppose, but I’ve always thought that it would be a lot nicer to live in a brand new house, my house, a special place that belongs to me. … this passage says is that a we’re going to have a new home in a new city, with a new heaven & a new earth. It’s all going to be brand new. Unfortunately, heaven has met with bad press by those who do not understand what God has prepared for those who love him. People see heaven as sitting on a cloud wearing a halo, while little angels play harps as they float through the heavens. Others see it as an unending church service, or singing hymns for all eternity. Some think of it as a sort of a celestial retirement city. It all seems like an apparition — so unreal. No wonder so many people see heaven as a place of numbing boredom, or secretly say to themselves, “Is that all there is?”

The fact found in the scriptural glimpse is this: Eternity is something NEW. There is nothing you have ever lived that compares to it. There are words that will completely lose their meaning – like  watches, like historians. There is no time and there is no story to tell – it has been told. God has spoken and we will all know Who He is – and that was the point of human history. We are living in a movie that illustrates to all the cosmos Who God is in all His glory and what God is like in all His nature.

Think about that place with me. Every stain of sin, every evidence of evil will be vanquished! The old order and the old earth will be completely obliterated! The physical quality of our planet will be profoundly changed; the bodies we experience it in will be unfailing! The unimpaired souls – no longer inflicted with sin nature – will shine. Our spiritual investments, stored up for us in this life will be opened for us to enjoy. God revealed it all, and you can’t make up stuff this good! John saw a new heaven and earth – the old atmospheric heaven was replaced. Terra firma was recreated and the physical properties of the new were very different than the old. In our time, we live on a planet dominated by the sea – but the new one is not like the old one. That one feature is a HINT of how different things are going to be in the future.

Even lost men have dreamed of an afterlife. The archaeology of ancient Egypt can demonstrate the reality that Egyptians spent years building the pyramids – a  monument to the afterlife. They used hundreds of thousands of slave laborers, and great families buried their loved ones beneath these ancient monuments with supplies of food, clothing, & other treasured articles  – all in the hope of life after this one. In every culture on the planet, men have shown they love life and thirst for more beyond the short 100 year stint on planet earth. Only recently has a shift been detected…

The unparalleled prosperity and relative security of our time has yielded in modernity a new phenomenon – those who want to make this life into a Heaven existence. The focus on the afterlife has waned in the prosperity of the modern western culture. Some have tried to focus life on the material – an “I want it all. I want it now. Grab for all the gusto you can get. He who has the most toys when he dies, wins” mentality. This gave rise to the need to fix all of life’s disappointments this side of heaven ideology. It has affected even the western church. People are increasingly walking in the door wanting answers to THIS LIFE – with less focus on the next life. They want more counsel on easing today’s pain than encouragement to look to tomorrow’s reward. We are thinking too short and too small – we are not thinking as those historic Christians who paved the road before our time thought.

When Jesus said that He came that we “might have life, and have it more abundantly”, He surely had the joy that I have experienced in my life in mind. He wanted us to see life as more than the medieval “veil of tears” through which one longed for Heaven to put a salve on the open wound of daily horrible life. A healthy view of Heaven isn’t about ignoring earth – it is about perspective. It nags us with the happy question: “What will all this mean in 100 billion years?” We cannot make all decisions based solely on that criteria, or we would not care for many mundane aspects of life in a godly way. Yet it is worth recalling to help put ourselves in perspective. Not everything we stress about is worth the anxiety we are putting into it. Old things will pass away… new things are coming. The same Jesus also reminded: “What profit is there to a man who gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” Christianity is about BOTH this world and the next – for they are tied together in the God that made both –and gave both as a gift to us!

Here’s the great news – eternity will be a NEW PLACE. No sense in asking too many questions about: “Will it be like this?” or “Will it be like that?” – since the newness implies we don’t have anything that can really compare to it. The food doesn’t taste like “chicken”. 🙂

Our eternity is in a PREPARED place.

Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband…9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

When Jesus said in John 14: “I go to prepare a place for you.” He didn’t simply say He would prepare an IDEA – He said it was a PLACE that was being prepared. Look at the text for a description of the completion of the work, and you will find four incredible features:

First, it was HOLY. The term HOLY is the term DISTINCT. It is the word for “something that exists specifically for a purpose, and used properly only for that purpose. It is used in the Scripture for God – Who is absolutely unique and cannot be shaped to be anything other than what He is. It is used for the Sabbath of the Jewish people. It is used of sacrifices. It is used for the believer’s body and the believer’s use of sexuality. This is a city that was made for exactly one purpose – and its unveiling in the future has been foretold in elegant anticipation!

It was a CITY. It was built for cohabitation, relationship, sharing and activity. Eternity is not somber, still, passive and always serenely pastoral. There is a bustling city planned in the midst of the countryside. There will be beauty, but there will be activity. The story doesn’t end on the farm – but in the engaging place of a city.

It was carefully ADORNED. The description of the city was as an “adorned” bride. The gasp of the crowd that is familiar with the first appearance of the bride should be anticipated when God lowers the city into view. The sheer creative genius of the Almighty will again astound us. I remember seeing my bride in her beautiful dress at the back of the church – what a magnificent sight! She was adorned for the day – and so will that city be.

It was made IN ANTICIPATION. The bride dresses for a planned event – and the city is prepared in that same way. It came from the preparation bays of Heaven and was “launched” with every anticipation that those who gaze on it will be overwhelmed. Every part was hand chosen – in the mind of the preparing Savior.

Don’t feel badly about anticipating a new body and a new city. The Bible reminds us: “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21). All creation is waiting for this – and we should be too! Remember to thank Jesus today for the preparations He is making for the world to come!

Our eternity is in a SHARED place.

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

I have some good news and bad news for you. Which do you want first? OK, the bad news – your place in eternity is a shared one. You won’t live alone! The good news – Jesus is your roommate!

The feature of eternity that will occupy us most fully is the company we will keep. It will be great to see, sit and chat with, discuss and inquire from great believers of the ages. Family, friends, and fellow worshipers will amaze us. We will laugh and we will love the ages together. We have never felt so accepted and so complete at any time on this earth. At the same time – we will be transfixed with the sight of the Creator, and the sight of the Redeemer.

At last we say, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for [us], who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).

• There is no need to scrape to gain what is needed – God has made, offered and protected it all.
• There is no need to protect what we have left over – to tuck it in “Heavenly Tupperware” and refrigerate – for there is no spoiling and no fermenting.
• There is no need to repaint – for the colors never fade.

At the end of the day, we will find a NEW DAY in which our Savior will dwell in our ranks, eat together with us, and share life. We were created for a day like this – and in such a day we will joy and revel without end. He will be there – that is all we need remember!

Our eternity is in a COMFORTING place.

Revelation 21:4 “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Think of that place!

• We will live with no more crying, no more sighing, no more dying!
• Funding health care will be a moot point – there will be no hospitals and no grave yards!
• Death will not only lose its sting, but the word will lose its meaning!
• Satan will not be able to get a passport. He will be forever destroyed in the bottomless pit.
• The fallen and rebellious angels will be shattered.
• There will be no need for cosmetics beyond a single balm – words for aging, sagging, wrinkles and blemishes will slip from our vocabulary!
• The water of life will quench our thirst!
• Nothing will ruin, rot, or rust.
• There will be no itching, no blindness, no deafness, no diabetes, no cancer, no heart attacks, no pain.
• We will be together. There will be no divorce, no child abductions, no trgic accidents
• There will be no more bills!

One Pastor told me: There was a five year old girl who was on her first night away from home – she had never stayed the night at a friend’s house before. She found herself a bit nervous, but wanted to give the experience a try. In the daytime, she was fine. As night fell, she began to show her nervousness. Her friend’s mother saw what was happening and asked: “Honey, are you getting homesick?” With beautiful childlike innocence she replied, “No ma’am, I’m getting here sick!”

Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever get “earth sick”? It is a sign of the times if you know Jesus but really don’t think that way… and some of us need to grow to “long for His appearing” more than we long for another car or TV set.

I love the reminder of Paul in Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.“

If you follow Jesus, there is coming a NEW DAY for you. Every wrong done to you in this life will be made right. Each injustice will meet face to face with absolute justice. Every sorrow will be reversed, and joy will wash over you like a thundering waterfall pressing against your deepest parts. Today seems so powerful, but it will fade away….Isaiah long ago foretold: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17). He goes on to say, “They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” (Isaiah 65:23-25). Our eternity is a COMFORTING place.

Our eternity is in a FREE place.

Revelation 21:5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

God built our future home for us, and invited us into it at His cost. His only requirement is that we trust that He is able to do exactly what He said. Failure to trust His Word about this leads to failure to live inside His Word in every other area. If I trust God about what I cannot see, I will learn to trust God about what I can see.

The old preacher, R.G. Lee, used to say: “Heaven is the most marvelous place the wisdom of God could conceive and that the power of God could prepare.”

Notice that verse 6 uses FREE WATER as the illustration of God meeting the need.. Have you ever been in a desert during the heat of the day. In the Near Eastern deserts, where I have spent considerable time – the mid day heat is so intense that an egg would quickly fry on a rock in the open sun. The sound of “sizzle” is all about. God will open up the water hydrant of refreshment – and it will all be FREE to us. It was expensive for Him – but offered freely to us. Our eternity is a FREE place.

Our eternity is in a FAMILY place.

Revelation 21:7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. 8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Look at the terms in the passage for the plans of our future experience. Terms like “inheritance” and “son” unmask the relationship of the future – we will be in a FAMILY place. It is worth noting that even today, being is a family is a daily choice. People choose to come together to build a family, and others make the choice to walk out on one another almost every day in our world – but God illustrated His relationship as one of family. We are related by a CHOICE we made.

Relationship is what makes Heaven… well, Heaven! If the streets were gravel and not gold, if the walls were particle board and not jasper, if mud was knee deep and weeds over our heads, it will still be heaven because we are SONS of the Creator and family with the Savior!

In 1991. British singer Eric Clapton lost his five-year-old son named Conner, after the boy fell from the window of their forty-ninth floor Manhattan apartment. Clapton sequestered himself in agony and finally poured out his grief in song and wrote “Tears in Heaven.” In the song he asks the question: “Would you know my name – If I saw you in heaven? Would it be the same – If I saw you in heaven?

That’s a good question! Will we KNOW one another? In the text there is every reason to believe that we will know ourselves and each other. Our relationships will not be lost, but rather renewed. As John wrote long ago: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Imagine that! Like Jesus! The stench of our fallen nature will be cleansed so thoroughly that we will be capable of intimacy in relationships without stain of selfishness. Even our love and commitment to God will cease to be compromised by ego and evil desire. Our relationships will be unspoiled – because our eternity is in a FAMILY place.

Our eternity is in a BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL place.

Revelation 21:11 having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. 12 It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall…. 18 The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Heaven is filled with beauty beyond our richest earthly experience! That reminds me of a story told by a Christian author:

“A wealthy Christian became obsessed with the notion of taking some accumulated earthly wealth to Heaven. He knew the Bible notes we “can’t take it with us”. He was so transfixed that he continually prayed that God would give him special permission to take some wealth to heaven. After a period of particularly persistent prayer, God said, “Fine, enough all ready! You can take one suitcase with you into heaven.” From that time on the man began to make plans. He began packing his most valuable things. It came about after some years that the man died. Now you know how these stories go… he went to Heaven and met the saint at the gate …. None other than St. Peter, who noted that he was dragging his suitcase behind him. Peter stopped him and said, “Wait a minute. What do you think you’re doing? You’re not allowed to take anything into heaven.” The man replied: “You don’t understand. I have special permission from God Himself to take this suitcase into heaven.” Peter rubbed his beard & said, “Well, that’s very unusual. I can’t imagine God letting you do that. Let me look inside your suitcase & see what’s there.” So the man dragged the suitcase over, and as Peter opened it he was quite puzzled to see that it was filled with gold bars, gold bricks and gold ingots. Peter said, “Well, all right. If God said so, I suppose you can take that in if you want. But why in the world did you go to all this trouble just to bring more pavement into heaven?” (sermon central illustrations, adapted).

Heaven’s wealth scale dwarfs whatever you are thinking! John does the best he can at describing heaven, but he is limited by language and experience. The richness of heaven is so great that they walk on gold, use precious jewels for foundations, and dwell in lavish buildings all made by the Creator of the universe! What a BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL place this will be!

Our eternity is in a HUGE place.

Revelation 21:16 The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. 17 And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements.

Will there be room for everyone? The city alone (which nowhere says it will contain all the inhabitants of the future) was measured as 1,500 miles cubed… room for every human who has ever lived if they had all been saved. Our eternity is in a HUGE place.

Our eternity is in a COMPLETED place.

The record first unfolds what is MISSING in this place, then what the FEATURES of the place are. It is like the vacation brochure that first promises a “break from traffic” and a “place to relax”.

First, what ISN’T THERE? Revelation 21:22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Nothing needs to be renovated or restored. In fact, many of the things that took up our energy to provide in our old life will slip away – and we won’t need to work to keep it all together.

• We won’t need a temple – because God will live with us.
• We won’t need a celestial light – because God’s glory will shine for us.
• We won’t need a nightlight – for God’s glory never sets.
• We won’t need a key – for closed gates and locks will be meaningless.
• We won’t need a confessor – for sin will have no more place there.
• We won’t need defensiveness – for everyone we meet will be what God intended them to be.

We won’t need these things because God will complete everything He started at the beginning of the first book of the Bible….

• In Genesis 1:1 God created the heavens and the earth; in Revelation 21:1 God will create a new heaven and earth.
• In Genesis 1:16 God created the sun; in Revelation 21:23 there will be no more need for the sun.
• In Genesis 1:5 God established the night; In Revelation 22:5  God abolished night.
• In Genesis 1:10 God created the seas; In Revelation 21:1 God dispensed with the seas (which may have been a comfort to John who was exiled and separated by seas from his family and friends!)
• In Genesis 3:14-17 God announced the curse; In Revelation 22:3 God rescinded it forever. Satan would no longer touch the earth, let alone crawl its surface. The new earth would yield without question the fruits assigned to it.
• In Genesis 3:19 Death entered the world; in Revelation 21:4 death is dismissed forever.
• In Genesis 3:24 man was driven from paradise; In revelation 22:14 he stands in Paradise regained.
• IN Genesis 3:17 Sorrow and pain grew from the rebellion; in Revelation 21:4 Sorrow is cut off forever. Tears and pain are satisfied forever.

Next, what WILL BE THERE? Revelation 22:1 “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”

• God’s life will flow as a river from His throne to His people – it will be clear, crisp and refreshing. All of life’s thirsts will be quenched!
• Spanning the river will be a tree of life – with its ever changing, always delicious fruit. All of life’s hungers will be satisfied!
• Covering its branches will be bountiful and beautiful leaves – whose oils will produce a healthy and comforting balm for all to partake. All of life’s discomforts will be settled!
• The ground will yield no weed – for the curse is forever broken. All of life’s disappointments will be contented!
• Distance from God will evaporate – for we will see Him face to face. All of life’s strain will be eased!
• There will be no need to read the story of redemption – for our very salvation will be revealed on the markers upon our heads. All of life’s insecurities will be erased!
• There will be no night for pain to increase and darkness to overcome – for God’s light will shine in unending power. All of life’s anxiousness will be calmed!
• There will be no need for rulers – for each will have his place to reign. All of life’s tension will be relieved!

Our eternity is in a PROMISED place.

Revelation 21:6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. 7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Our faith is not made up – it was revealed by the God that made us. Our destiny is not the stuff of dreams, but the uncovering of truths revealed by a Sovereign who is timeless and already exists in that place. His Word is His bond, and His Word has been made known. The one who believes His promises awaits His appearing. The one who truly trusts in God’s words concerning the hereafter carefully measures his life in the hear and now. Sloppy living comes from slipping belief. He has promised me a future home, and demanded only that I trust Him to provide it as He said! God didn’t just promise a new day – He explained what kind of future He has planned for us. Want to join in? He has paid your way!

Probably one of the earliest memories I have of my father was fear. When I say that, you may be tempted to think of a terrible man who beat his children – but that is not my story. My father has been a great influence in my life, and he has not beaten me nor my mother. Why fear then? Because I knew what it meant to respect him, and to properly fear his response to my bad behavior. Dad knew how to communicate fear. What is funny, is that I have no distinct memory of him ever spanking me at all. I just knew he could, and he WOULD if he had to. I knew where the “Board of Education” hung beside the refrigerator…It was an unspoken fear – unless my mom invoked that terrible phrase: “You wait until your father gets home!” Then it was SPOKEN FEAR.

I want to be clear, because the days we live in are not the days I grew up in. I never advocate harming a child, but rather a controlled form of discipline that a child will deeply desire to avoid in the future. Men need to be very careful when physically dealing with their children. It is possible to exasperate a child – and Scripture warns fathers about that. It is possible to break the fragile spirit of a child by either physical or emotional taxing that is beyond their ability. Yet, equally, we need to say this in our day: It is possible to neglect discipline in a child and think we are being loving, when actually we are acquiescing on a basic parental responsibility. Discipline comes with the package. If you don’t want to do it – please just don’t have children.

Don’t placate them when they want to take control at age two. Don’t look past their cruelty to siblings, house pets and even digital beings. Don’t laugh when they are mean, and shrug your shoulders thinking “Boys will be boys”. If you do, these may become the very children that will beat a young man to death and burn his body – as we have just witnessed locally this past week. If not, they may become the children that will stay out all night drinking and partying, and watch a young man die on the sidewalk – thinking only about using their phone to digitally capture his death – and not call 911. I plead with you – if you don’t want the responsibility of discipline – don’t have children.

Here is a truth worth remembering: Parents who (out of a poorly formed notion of love) refuse to discipline their children, will find their children disciplined by a world that cannot allow them to do everything their own way. It smacks against our common sensibilities today – but part of the job of the father is to create a dread in the child of the penalties of disobedience. It is to act a s a deterrence –  and also to create in the mind of the child a solid line between right and wrong. We have so thoroughly immersed our society in the problems of abuse, we have forgotten Biblical discipline is part of the work of the father. God says so: “He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.” (Prov. 13:24). Other verses support the same principle … “The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.” (Proverbs 29:15) and …”Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.” (Proverbs 22: 15). In the Hebrew Scriptures, the term ROD was used two different ways – as a calamity to the disobedient and as a comfort to those who walked with their shepherd (Psalm 23).

Let me be clear on a further point: When there is no penalty – the line between right and wrong blurs. God’s patience is one of the central causes of men’s disbelief in Him. Because He patiently allows them to continue in sin – they don’t think He is engaged, or they don’t believe He is truly powerful. Both conclusions are false. God is engaged. God is powerful… but God is patient. Don’t let His patience fool you into a false conclusion. This was the point of Peter’s warning:

2 Peter 3:3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” … 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Make no mistake, the idea that God will judge has been deliberately and systematically eliminated from our culture. The modern church, with all its psychotherapeutic sensibilities, believes that God not only WON’T JUDGE but SHOULDN’T JUDGE men. Further, many would argue that even raising the threat is damaging. Yet, the Bible and its truth is stubborn.

Here is the point: God is not in a hurry, but He is not overlooking sin. Judgment day is truly coming, and that is the subject of our passage in Revelation. This isn’t rehabilitation – it is judgment. It will sound harsh to some who have been schooled in God’s love more than His righteousness – but it is nevertheless a proper witness of the truth of God’s Word. The reality is that we are waiting until the Father gets home. Those who are choosing to walk in disobedience are dreading His coming – but those who are walking with Him anxiously await His appearing.

We have been studying Revelation, and in the middle of our study, Father’s Day pops up. What do they have in common? At the risk of stretching the text of Scripture, we must remember that the pattern for parenting is God. He is a Dad – and He knows what being a dad is all about. In one sense, He does what all dads do to get us on track – He threatens response if we keep up our nonsense. In another way, He is not only dad – He is the ultimate judge… it is part of His job.

Key Principle: God loves man, but His justice does not allow Him to look past unpaid sin. His role of judge is just as real as His role as Savior.

Look at the record of the judgment called “The Great White Throne” Judgment – a catchy title based on a detail in the description of our passage in Revelation 20:11: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Here is the scene:

Verse eleven reveals a vast throne, a stern-faced Judge, and people trying to escape His presence. I wonder if God will hold back tears and looked at the rebellious squarely in the face. I wonder if He will sit as a parent of a rebellious and angry teen sits, while their wayward child writhes to get away from the parent’s grasp – and wonder what He could ever have done to create such disdain in their eyes. He loved them, He provided for them – and a jury of their ignorant and rebellious peers had judged Him inadequate.

Verse twelve drew John’s eyes from the throne room to a vista of the earth. Joining those in the courtroom of the damned were those from Hades – the abode of the unrighteous dead. It is a terrible holding place for those not in the Book of Life, but not yet permanently sentenced to the Lake of Fire. Just as believers in the presence of the Savior await their final destination after judgment, so those in Hades hopelessly know what is bad is about to get worse…. They are pushed into the presence of the Judge – those who in life were great, and those who were small. All of them were pulled in together, and shoved in front of the Judge’s bench. The Book of Life was brought out, but their names were not found within. The other books of the deeds of men – the thoughts, the works, the attitudes – every one – were revealed as the Judge made His decision to place them in their final disposition. There was no question of destiny – that was already understood. There was no question of length of term – that was to be eternal. The only question was the specific nature of the torment and terror. Nothing pretty came from that horrible day – except the complete understanding of God as God. Knees bowed in sincerity, but far too late for any kind of reparation.

Verse thirteen says that John’s attention was again pulled away, this time to see those who were drawn from the seas of the earth, and they joined the flow of those who were from the graves of the land and the holding place of the dead who left this life with no effective payment for their sins. The place they were held in was destroyed in the molten lake, according to verse fourteen, and all of them – their names not inscribed in the book that holds record of all those who have had their break and rebellion with God bridged and satisfied in this life – were hurled into their final molten judgment place.

In a world where spanking has become an issue, this message is certain to fall on deaf ears. Love has now been completely redefined by our society as eternal forgiveness – regardless of the egregious nature of the rebellion. So here is the question: Is God bound to OUR sense of fairness and love – a sense that is redefined with each new generation? Here is an even more important question: Are we not bound to God’s terms – since He is the Creator and we are the creature?

I am not selling anything to you. I am simply making this argument: If God is in Heaven, as I wholeheartedly believe He is; If He is the God of the Bible, as I affirm week after week  -then the terms of judgment are HIS TO MAKE. Further, if He opened up His intent for His creation, and explained both the story of the rebellious defection and how to come back into His arms – is He to blame when people choose another path? At what point are we going to admit that the problem isn’t JUST society – it is MY WILL. My stubbornness, my rebellion, my intransigence, my rut is the problem. I don’t WANT a God – because I want to be on His rightful throne in my heart. Even my grammar betrays me. I say “my life” and “my heart” – when the Word reveals that none of those things were made by me or for me. My creation, and your creation was by God’s elaborate design for God’s wonderful purposes. I am His and the plan for my life can be HIS – if I surrender it.

The Bible is not silent on judgment of men and of angels.

In fact, there are no less than SEVEN judgments recorded in the Word. Remember our principle? God loves man, but His justice does not allow Him to look past unpaid sin. His role of judge is just as real as His role as Savior. It is important to note from a thorough study of the Bible, that all men and women who have ever lived must be judged on two bases – one judgment for sin (which determines your destiny) and one judgment for works (which determines our incremental reward or judgment). Both Heaven bound and Hell bound await their appropriate reward or penalty based on their works.

Let’s say it clearly: Judgment after death doesn’t determine destiny – relationship with God before death does. Destiny is determined by prior to death satisfaction of their sin account before God. There are two venues for judgment – one for those who are Heaven bound, and another for those who are Molten Lake bound. People who have a personal and surrendered relationship with God are in the Book of Life and are Heaven bound. They know when they stand before the Judge that He is not going to send them to hell, but rather examine their works and service of Him from this life – in order that He may commend them and reward them. They will come with clear expectations if they have been taught God’s Word.

Those who do not have such a relationship are not in the Book of Life, but they may come with some wrong expectations – but they will not be at a judgment seat for people with relationship.  They made their choice in this life – even if they weren’t making it with a full picture of the eternal consequences. We will see this again in a few minutes…

There are three times God will judge people – and within the three there are no less than seven different groups will be judged.

I. The first is at the beginning of the Tribulation (in Heaven) after the rapture of the church:

The Judgment seat (Bema) of Christ (1 Cor. 3; 2 Cor. 5). The work of Jesus as He deems His Bride fully prepared for the wedding feast in Heaven. This happens after the Rapture, and during the time on earth of Tribulation.

• 1 Cor. 3:13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
• 2 Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Every believer of this age must understand this truth: Your life is not your own. Jesus bought your salvation. When you surrendered to Him as your rescuer (you cried out to Him to be your Savior), you agreed to let the Rescuer take control to guide you to safe shores. From that moment, every action of your life was either a struggle against the Rescuer’s tug of you to shore – or it was an act of cooperation and submission.

A day is coming when every believer will answer for every act of service, attitude of stubbornness, and point of surrender. We will have the work of our lives measured. Our SIN was cared for in this life by accepting the work of Jesus at Calvary in accordance with God’s Holy Word. We trust Christ alone for salvation. Yet, we will still face a works inspection. How are YOU doing as you face that? Are you ready? The trumpet can sound at any moment.

II. After the seven years of Tribulation, when the Messiah comes to rescue Israel (Armageddon) and rule:

We have seen the rapture and the Bema Seat of Christ, but while that is happening, there is a Great Tribulation on earth. God is carefully exposing to Israel that her “would be suitors” don’t really love her at all – and that He is her true Husband. At the end of three pummeling rounds of judgment over seven years, five groups will stand before the judge.

The Judgment of the Beast, False Prophet and Detention of Satan (Rev. 19:20 – 20:3): The  Antichrist and his Propaganda agent will be permanently disposed of, while Satan will be detained for a thousand years.

• Rev. 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet … were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. … 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven… 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

The Judgment of Martyred Believers of the Tribulation (Rev. 20:4): Believers from the Tribulation that were martyred for their faith will be raised and stand judgment and be given reward:

• Revelation 20:4 “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years….”

The Judgment of Jewish Believers Alive at the Second Coming (Daniel 12:1; Ezekiel 20:34-38; Zech. 12:10; Rom. 11:25-27): Jews who survived the wrath of the Tribulation and fell to their knees on the arrival of their rescuer as they received their Messiah will be judged and prepared for the coming Kingdom. Everyone that endured to the end of the Tribulation saw the arrival of the Savior and accepted Him as their Messiah:

• Daniel 12:1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.“

• Ezekiel 20:34 “I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; 35 and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36 “As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord GOD. 37 “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 38 and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am the LORD.

• Zechariah 12: 9 “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, … 11 “In … Jerusalem, like the mourning …in the plain of Megiddo.

• Romans 11:25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” 27 “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

The Judgment of Believers of Israel (Daniel 12:1-4): Raised from their placed of death, believers from before the time of Jesus are raised and judged. People with a relationship with God from the time before the Gospel of Jesus was proclaimed had their sin dealt with by abatement of wrath, finally paid for in Messiah. They are resurrected before the 1000 year rule of Messiah in Judah, so that God can fulfill all His literal promises to the Jewish people.

• Daniel 12:1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. ….”

The Gentiles Alive at the Second Coming (Matthew 25:31-46): Those who survive the powerful conquest of Jesus from the Heavens – for many of them perished at His appearance and word (Rev. 19)  – the remaining will be subject to judgment for both sin and works. Those who knew Messiah as Savior treated His people with love and respect, because they knew His Word and wanted His will. They will enter the Millennial Kingdom. Those who harshly treated God’s people in the Tribulation showed they were at enmity with God and they will be tossed from the presence of the Messiah into hell.

• Matthew 25:31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; …39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; … 45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Remember, their armies have already been smashed by the Word of God when Jesus came back. This is the record of the people of those nations. This is not the record of how their government treated God’s people – but rather how individuals treated individuals. We hear a lot about God judging our nation for our sin path. We hear far too little about God’s personal standard of righteousness for which each of us will individually be judged. That is a mistake. Our behavior counts, not just our Supreme Court’s behavior! That will be true in the Tribulation as well.

III. After 1000 years, when the final rebellion is quelled by God (Rev. 20:10):

We have seen God’s judgment of believers of the church, believers of the time before the church, and both believers and unbelievers of the Tribulation. The thousand year reign occurs… and at the end a short rebellion is again attempted. God again picks up the gavel of judgment…

Satan and His Rebellious Hoards (Rev. 20:10): The final hell – that Lake of Fire – was not created for men, but for Satan and the angelic followers of the adversary.

• Rev. 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

That brings us back to where we started… the terror of the Great White Throne. Look at it one last time:

The Judgment of those in Hades (Rev. 20:5a,11-15) : Those who died without a relationship with God (unbelievers throughout the ages) were raised from the place of their temporary torment to be sentenced to eternal damnation – a punishment meted out according to their deeds.

• Rev. 20:5a The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed….11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

There are four words in the Bible that describe the place of the afterlife before resurrection and judgment– In Hebrew, the term “Sheol” simply means the “abode of the dead” and may refer to the place of the body (the grave) or the “State of the dead”. In the Greek Scriptures, “Hades” is the rough equivalent to the Hebrew Sheol, and is translated both “grave” and Death” in the New Testament. The Greek term used only once in 2 Peter 2:4 “Tartarus” is specifically the abode of the angels that were stripped of their place in Genesis 6, referred to in Jude 1:6. The fourth term, used in the Greek Scriptures is “Gehenna”, is used in the Gospels and by Jesus – a term used twelve times as the “eternal place of the damned”.

It doesn’t take long before we can separate the modern church into two distinct groups- solely on the basis of a single idea. There are those who call themselves Christians, but are actually “universalists” – they believe everyone somehow goes to Heaven. You can agree with them if you choose, but you cannot make the argument that their position is based on any serious literal understanding of the Bible and the God of the Bible. God is the judge- and the Word is clear.

At the Great White Throne you can see it clearly. Stop and think about what we see in these few verses about men who died without the proper and acceptable payment for their sin:

1. They were afraid to stand before God – even after they had been in torment since their death (Rev. 20:12).

2. They couldn’t get away from it – even though they wanted to run (Rev. 20:11).

3. They faced two standards – the Book of Life for their ultimate destination and the “Other Books” for a record of their deeds. If they weren’t in the Book of Life – they were excluded from Heaven. Yet, their deeds would determine the level of judgment they ultimately would face.

4. It didn’t matter how or where they died – they faced judgment (Rev. 20:13).

5. It didn’t matter how important or unimportant they seemed in this life – everyone faced God (Rev. 20:12).

Let me say it plainly. It doesn’t matter WHO you are in this life – or who you think you are. It doesn’t matter where you live or what you do for a living. What matters for your eternal destiny is entry into ONE BOOK – the Book of Life.

Those who do not have such a relationship are not in the Book of Life, but it is clear from the record that some of them will appear before God with wrong expectations – but they will not be at a judgment seat for people with relationship because they chose not to have one in this life.  They made their choice in this life – even if they weren’t making it with a full picture of the eternal consequences. They will come in believing they were GOOD PEOPLE and be tossed from God’s courtroom. Why? Because although God loves man, His justice does not allow Him to look past unpaid sin. His role of judge is just as real as His role as Savior.

Is it fair? Yes, because He revealed it all well in advance of any judgment.

Is it just? Yes, because He has paid the full price for anyone who will surrender being their own God and let Him come in and take over your life.

Is it clear? Yes, His Word has volumes on it… but some won’t open it. They don’t think a real dad disciplines… and they are very wrong. They don’t think sin has consequences, and rebellion a terrible end… they are very, very wrong. Don’t be among them.