Good morning, good to see you all. Get all my ducks in a row here, sorry. If I was as skilled as James, I'd just have it on a little iPad. We'd be good to go. But I haven't developed those skills yet. OK, we are continuing our study in the book of the Revelation. And according to our outline, This will get us two-thirds of the way through our study. Yeah, not really. Okay, let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we are thankful for the opportunity and the freedom to be here. We thank you for your word, for your faithfulness in proclaiming it. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we thank you for the life and the salvation that he provided for us. We thank you for this book, and we pray that you would help us as we study it in these months to see the Lord Jesus as he is, as he is presented in scripture as our Lord, our Savior, and our God. We thank you for this time this morning. We pray that as the exhortations in these letters, may you give us ears to hear, that we may hear what the Spirit says to the seven churches and to us. For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. OK, we come to chapter 3. And I thought what I'd do, if you have your workbook with you, in the back on page 30, there's a wonderful chart. Push it up just a tad. There we go. And it gives us. a lot of stuff because there's a lot of stuff in the book, but it gives us a great overview of what we are looking at and what we're going to be looking at over the next few months. You'll notice at the very top line, it basically gives us the outline that was given to us in the beginning of the book in chapter one, where it says in verse 19, John is encouraged to write the things which you have seen. You see that's the first section, and basically that's chapter one. It's the things that he's seen, the vision of the risen Christ in his glory with all those great descriptions and we're going to visit some of those as we go through our study this morning. And then he says in the second part, to write the things which are. And that's chapter two and chapter three. Those are the letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor. churches that John, no doubt, was extremely familiar with and probably had a relationship with. And so we have the messages to the churches. And then it says, and to write the things which shall take place after this. So this is our three-fold outline of the book. Obviously, it's not as clean and balanced as, say, an outline for the book of Colossians or the book of Ephesians, where it's chapter one through chapter three is doctrinal in the case of Ephesians, and chapter four through chapter six is more of a practical application, exhortations to live out the teaching that was presented in Chapter 3. That's balanced. Three chapters here, three chapters here. We have one chapter, two chapters, and then Chapter 4 through the end of the book. And so it is back-end heavy. As Kelly started his lesson last week, he said that the more he studied, the more terrified he was. And I said to him afterwards, I said, I'm not nearly as terrified of these two chapters as I am when I have to do chapter eight. So we get to these great judgments and all that is there. And so there is a lot to come, the seals and the trumpets and the bulls, the great tribulation, the great judgments that God will bring on an unbelieving world. And then finally, it concludes with with the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ when he comes to set up his kingdom and he reigns. And then finally the eternal state when the new heavens and the new earth. And so this is, I think, and for me, a helpful overview of the book. It helps us know where we are and kind of what's going on. And it lists in the bottom section here some of the more detailed aspects of those parts. I wanted to put this part up. This is the next page in the back of your book. And this lists the seven churches that we're talking about. You see them. This isn't as good a map as James had on his iPad. But it's doable. And you see how these seven churches are arranged in kind of this pyramid thing. Topographically is how it worked out. And where Patmos is, where John was writing from, the island just off the coast near Ephesus. And this is modern day Turkey, Asia Minor. And then it gives us, in this little chart, a bit of a thumbnail sketch of what characterized each of these seven churches. We have the Ephesian church. It says here the cooling church. They lost their first love. They didn't have that fervent love. Smyrna was the suffering church. They were under great persecution and yet they remained faithful. Pergamon was a compromising church. They'd compromised their doctrine and they'd not been like the Ephesians where they would stand against anything that wasn't the truth and against sin. They had compromised. Thyatira was a corrupted church. They'd not only compromise, but they'd let evil come right into the church. Then we have the last three that we'll deal with this morning. Sardis, which was a dying church. Some call it a dead church. And they had a great reputation, but there was no reality there. They had a great name, but that isn't who they were now. Then there's Philadelphia that was a small, it says in the scripture that you have little strength. They were probably a small community with little influence. And so it says here that they were weak in the sense that they weren't big in number and big in influence. And then we conclude with Laodicea, the lukewarm church, that you were neither cold nor hot, but you were lukewarm. They had compromised, they had become complacent. Their testimony was all but gone. In some ways, this characterizes a lot of big churches, not only throughout the United States, but throughout Europe and the world, where maybe there's no life there at all. Okay. So as we come to these letters. There is a format in which the letters are presented. Put it up too high, sorry. There we go. The wording, I have borrowed some from several commentators, including our pastor, when he went through the book of the Revelation Sunday evening several years ago. So basically it can be broken down, and this isn't necessarily the order in which they come. And sometimes some of these categories, if you will, are kind of smudged together. But it always starts with a greeting and the recipient to whom the letter is written. And it usually starts with, to the angel of the church of, it starts in chapter two with Ephesus, the church in Ephesus. or Smyrna, or Thyatira, or in our case, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And then there's always The author is mentioned, and this is pretty standard in this time period, as you consider the epistles when Paul would write. You say, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, to the church at, and then he Romans or Corinthians or Galatians. So this is pretty standard. But what is different here is there is a description of the author. Don't lose sight of that description. Because what is the name of the book? The Revelation of Jesus Christ. This is a description of Jesus Christ, who he is, what his position is, what he is like, what he is doing. And so as we look again at these letters, and as hopefully you read them again, because there's a blessing to those that read this book. And it helps us when we do our lesson and we study and we prepare. So it says, and these things, it usually starts with, and these things says he who, and then it describes some characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the author. Then there is some kind of evaluation of the church. And it often starts with, I know your works. So, and it includes often praise and commendation for good that's going on in the church. There is, of course, the one exception of Laodicea. There is no commendation, there is no praise. There's nothing that the Lord can say good about that church, which is disheartening. Then this evaluation includes a criticism. I have a few things against you. This isn't in every letter, but it's in several of the letters. And then he describes some problem in the church. There are two churches, and it says here, Smyrna and Philadelphia, where there is no criticism. And those two churches were suffering churches. We'll see that in a moment here. And then there's an exhortation of some kind, a command, a call to action, a call to do something, whether it is repent or stir up what you know or turn away from, there's always a call to action. And then there is some kind of promise, in some cases, many promises. And some of those promises include what the Lord himself is going to do. in the church. And then finally, there is always, and each of them conclude with the call to hear. Let he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And this is key. Because it comes up after every letter, we kind of read over it and then move on to the next one. But that's a key that this is important to you and me today. This is a message not just for these seven local churches. These letters are meant for churches down through time even to today and they're meant for us as Christians. to listen to what the Lord says about that church and to evaluate, for me to evaluate my life. And as I drove to church this morning, I did some of that in my heart and my mind. And I said, Lord, where do I fit in this? Do I have a good name? Am I looked at by people and thought, wow, he's really got it together? But in reality, it's not there. And so what does the Lord say to that church? What does the Lord say to me I should do? Do I have little strength? What should I do? Am I complacent in where I am spiritually and in life? Happy with that, not doing anything. What does the word say to me? And so there is a call for each of us to hear these messages. The final introductory thing I wanted to bring to you, and I did get this primarily from Will's sermons, so credit where credit is due. The churches can be grouped with similar issues. The first church, Ephesus, and the seventh church, the last church, Laodicea, were in poor spiritual condition. They had failing testimony and were, in fact, in Laodicea's case, close to going out of existence. And so those two kind of hang together, their messages are similar and hang together. Church number two, Smyrna, and church number five, Philadelphia, are the only churches that They were only commended. They were not criticized. They were not found wanting in any way spiritually. They were spiritually in good condition. But both of those churches were in a situation where they were being persecuted. And we will see some of that with regard to Philadelphia this morning. The middle three churches, are, as Will described them, divided churches. They were part apostate and part obedient and good. There was some good in them. And it kind of is, in some ways, a downhill slope. There was Pergamos that tolerated evil. They allowed it to exist. They didn't deal with it, contrary to the Ephesian church that stood for good, stood for right, and wouldn't tolerate any error. These did. They went, oh, we should just be loving and not really say anything, and as a result, evil was in the church. Thyatira was one step further along. Not only did they tolerate evil, but they allowed leadership to teach evil. It says, Verse 20 of chapter two, nevertheless I have a few things against you. There's that key phrase for you. Because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to sexual immorality and deep thing sacrifice to idols. So they allowed a false teacher in leadership in their midst. And so you see how they had turned. And then Sardis, they were mostly apostates. They'd gone away from their testimony of the Lord, and they were only just a small, if you will, huddled remnant left in the church. And so I will move on to Sardis in a little more detail. So we come to the church at Sardis. Oh, fat fingers. Kind of like trying to type on my phone. The Church of Sardis, and so how does it begin? It begins with who it's to, to the messenger of the Church of Sardis. And then we have the description of the author. These things write he who has the seven spirits of God, The seven stars, the seven spirits of God. What is that? Are there seven spirits of God? It is. It is. most universally held by commentators, that this is a description of the Holy Spirit. It says the seven spirits. Many of them suggest that this indicates a completeness, a fullness of the Spirit. And indeed, our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit work in concert. in God's program, and in his church, and in the Christians' lives. And so he has the Holy Spirit and the seven stars. And the stars, as we found out in chapter one, are the messengers of the churches. And some see those as those that carry the message. of the churches. Some see them as leadership in the churches. But the indication here is that the Lord himself is the one that is directing and working in the church. It's not the picture of a God who starts things and gets them going and then walks away and lets it do its thing. But he is actively involved in the work of the church, in the ministry of the church, and affects the work of the church. And then we have the evaluation. Excuse me. And here is the evaluation and the key phrase again. I know your works. that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful. Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before God. So here he is, he's describing, the situation in the church and here is this church that has had a great reputation, maybe a great ministry. It's interesting that these letters in a lot of ways tie closely to the cities that they're in. Sardis had been a magnificent going-concerned city, a military base, and it was set in a strategic place, but that seemed for a long time to be unconquerable. And yet it was conquered at least three times. And so its reputation, though it had been good, had waned and wasn't what it was. It was empty and gone. Several years ago, Kathy and I had the opportunity to go on, they called it a full colors cruise. It ran from New York City up the New England coastal states and then down the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City. And when we were on the last day of the cruise, we were in Quebec City, and we went on a bus tour, if you will. And we drove by several magnificent buildings. And I don't mean great, but they looked like Churches, I mean stained glass and steeples. I asked the guide that was with us about that and he goes, yeah, those used to be churches. Most of those, there was really nobody left in them and they sold them and now they've become houses. People actually have remodeled and they've become houses. So here were these churches, and Europe is the same way. We could look at churches in downtown Portland that had great influence, and now there is no testimony, there is no life. They're gone. The same thing happens to ministries, to schools, to seminaries. And usually, Vance Havner of years gone by said there's kind of, and I'm trying to bring this I didn't write it down, but he said there's kind of four stages of any Christian work or ministry. There's the man, and then there's the ministry, and then it becomes just an emotion, and then it goes away. And this is kind of what had happened in Sardis. They had started great. They had a great name, a great ministry. They were active and busy. But they hadn't been careful. They hadn't been watchful. And that's why They had slidden into apostasy, if you will. The Lord said that you had started your work, but it says, I have not found your works perfect, complete before my God. Remember, Paul, in writing, and Pastor will get to this in some time, no doubt, in 2 Timothy, as Paul concludes that letter, he says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. The church at Sardis had begun to fight the fight. They'd begin the race, but they hadn't finished the course. It was like the first time I ran the 800 meter race. I started great, and I was, you know what, the 800 meter, it's twice around the track. And the first time, you're going like crazy, and you're out there, and you feel good, and you're running. And you get around to the end of the first lap, and things are still pretty good. Your legs are getting a little heavy, but it's all good. It's OK. And you get around to the second corner of the second lap, and a gorilla jumps on your back. And your legs go away. You started well. But you didn't finish. And so that is the Lord's criticism of this church. But there is hope. It says, there are some that remain. And there are some good things. Although they're ready to die, some of you may have a green thumb, and you could nurse that poor little plant that is on its last legs back to life. It looks like it's dead, but there's still just a little there. The Lord says with Sardis, that is the case. But this is what you need to do. You need to stir up that which is still remaining, that's ready to die. And he encourages them, and there were some in the church, in verse 4, you have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in white." So there were some that had remained faithful and were true and strong, and the Lord encourages them. Then the section of exhortation, He exhorts them to be watchful, to be alert, to strengthen the things that remain. There is good, there is strength. And to remember how you have received and what you have heard. How did they receive the gospel? How did they receive their ministry? By the work of the Holy Spirit and by the Word of God. And he says, remember those things. Remember those things and hold fast to those things

What did the church at Sardis need? They need a powerful work of the Spirit, a work of the Lord Jesus Christ in their midst, and the work of the power of the Word of God. But he warns them, and he says, hold fast and repent But if you will not be alert, hold fast, I will come to you as a thief. And you will not know what hour. This is not the second coming of the Lord. This is the Lord coming in judgment on his church. He goes, I will come upon you. 

So the promises. The promises is that the undefiled will walk with him in white. The white garments, obviously, convey a message of sinlessness, of purity, but also of honor and prestige. The overcomers, and in most of the letters there is a promise to overcomers, and the overcomers are the saints, are the Christians, those who are saved. And it says, to the overcomers shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. 

So, the faithful Christian, will be clothed with white. And we will see this again as we go through the book of the Revelation in chapter 6. There is mention of martyrs who were given white garments. And so we will visit this yet again. But he says, in the latter part of this verse 5, I will not blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. This is not a problem that maybe these people will have their name blotted. This is, I think, in a negative way of saying, you are secure, you are mine. It is a declaration of ownership, I will confess, your name before my Father, a statement of honor, a statement of blessing. And then he concludes with, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. 

Where are we in our spiritual life? The Church of Philadelphia. To the angel of the Church of Philadelphia, write. And then the author. These things says he who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens. This is the Lord Jesus. He is holy. And the situation in Philadelphia is one where this was a key city in Asia Minor. It was on a main crossroads from the east to the west. It was, if you will, as you entered the city, if you were to go down to Troutdale, get off the freeway, go past the outlet stores, and turn left at the light just past the outlet stores to go into little downtown Troutdale, there's a big arch across Halsey, and it says, Gateway to the Gorge. Philadelphia was a gateway east and west. It was a cosmopolitan city. It was busy. It had influence. And it also has been described as an Athens, if you will, of the East. And the reason it was called that is because so many people were there and coming and going. It was filled with temples. It was filled with idol worship, as Athens was when Paul went there. Acts describes it as a city that had temples and idols. to every God, even as Paul said, to the unknown God in case they missed somebody. But here was Philadelphia. And so what does the Lord say about himself? He goes, he who is holy. What do you think of when you think of holy? Well, you think of purity, of without sin. But remember that holiness is more than that. It is, if you will, other than this. He is different than anything else. He is an original. He is not a copy. It conveys that he is God himself. And the second statement that he is true also conveys this. What did he say in John 14 verse 6? I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father except by me. This is the author. This is the one. He has authority. He has the key of David. He rightfully sits as a ruler of the kingdom of God. He has the keys, the authorities. He opens and no one shuts and he shuts and no one opens. Here is the gate aspect And the coming and going, the emphasis here, I believe, is an entrance into the kingdom of God, an entrance into salvation. He opens it. And no man can shut what he opens, but if he closes, it's shut. He goes, I know your works, the evaluation. I know your works in verse eight. And then he doesn't mention any works. He goes back to himself. He says, see, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it. For you have little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name. So here is this little church with great opportunity, people coming and going. But they were small, they didn't have much influence. But the Lord said, I've given you opportunity. I have opened a door in that I have opened the kingdom to you. You have come in, you are saved. but also he has given them opportunity to minister, to evangelize, to proclaim the name of the Lord to the world, to the many that come through there. But they were also in a tough situation. They were being persecuted, but they persevered. Verse nine continues, now indeed I will make I should probably make note, there are three words that in my translation are translated, in each case differently, but they convey the same thing. It's basically the word behold. It's a stop sign in the course of reading, a flashing light that says, look at this. The first one is in verse eight. I know your works. And then it says, see, it says, behold, I have set before you an open door that no one can shut. And then we have it. in verse nine. Indeed, behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet to know that I have loved you. And because you have kept my commandment to persevere, I also keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown. So they were in a place where they were having to persevere. They didn't have great numbers, a lot of strength. They were being faithful. They were keeping the Lord's Word. They were not denying His name. But they were being ridiculed and persecuted, particularly by the Jewish community who thought they had it all together. They had the inside track to the kingdom of God. And the one who is holy and true says, They're not real Jews in the sense of Romans, where it talks about those that are physically the children of Abraham, but those who are spiritually. And that is what he's talking about here. And so, as the clock keeps moving, and so he says, He will come and they will recognize these who oppose you, who think that they are spiritually on the right track. And this little Christian church is off base and they don't know. They will recognize that indeed The Lord himself is the Savior. Reminds you of Philippians chapter 2, where it says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. That time will come. So he tells them to hold on. I should make mention of verse 10. They're told to persevere, but it says, I will keep you from the hour of testing, which shall come upon the whole world. This hour of testing is believed to be the Great Tribulation. And although there is a lot of discussion back and forth, it seems that this verse teaches, as does 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, that Christians will be raptured out and not have to go through the Great Tribulation. If you need more explanation, talk to Will and James. But he says for them to hold fast, to continue, and he says, I am coming quickly. The Lord has said that over and over again, and here we are 2,000 years later. He hasn't come yet, but he says, I'm coming. I am coming. So then there is, um, the promises to the churches, I will set before you an open door that no one can shut. It is, they have been brought into the kingdom and they will never lose that. Salvation is secure. They were given an opportunity and we are given an opportunity to declare the good gospel to the world. I'll make the false Jews to worship before you and know that I have loved you, that he is truly God and that he is the salvation. There is none other name under heaven whereby we must be saved than by the Lord Jesus Christ. and be kept from the hour of trial. He promises to come quickly to the overcomer, a pillar in the temple of God. This city was set on a seismic fault. and had been destroyed by earthquakes along with Sardis and several other cities and then rebuilt. And so a pillar was something that doesn't move that is sure. And so he says, I will make you a pillar. You are set in the temple of God, in God's kingdom. And so he says, you have no need to worry. or to struggle. And then a couple others here. I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, and the new Jerusalem. I will write on him my new name. This declares ownership. You belong to God. God owns you, loves you, holds you. It is identification. I write on you my new name. Christians are identified with Christ. They are solid. Their salvation is solid. And we can trust in that. Got to run quickly to Laodicea, as our time is up. But we'll run through it quick. You'll just have to drink your coffee quicker. No, dad, it won't be lukewarm, though. The Church of Laodicea. These things says the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. How does that describe Christ? It describes him as being the truth. He is God. and he speaks the truth. He is a faithful and true witness. He is the judge and he is going to declare to the Church of Laodicea the truth. And they're not going to like it. But he is the beginning of the creation of God. This doesn't mean that he was the first thing created as some of the cults would have us believe. What he is saying here is he is the author of creation. He is the creator. All belongs to him. He has the right and the power and the authority to declare these things. And so the evaluation, I know your works. And you know these words likely very well. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot, but because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will or I am about to vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say I am rich, and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, but you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Okay, I'll stop there for the moment. The city of Laodicea was in a place where they didn't have a water source themselves. And so they had cold water that would come down from Colossia via aqueducts, kind of like if you drive down I-5 to LA, you will see these great aqueducts shipping water to Los Angeles to help keep that city in water. But as it goes down the aqueduct, it started really cold, but by the time it gets there, it's lukewarm. And there was hot springs where they'd bring hot water. But by the time it got to Laodicea, it would be lukewarm. And so the picture of the very city itself was a picture of this church and of these that were there. They were lukewarm. They were disgusting, if you will, to the Lord. They were spiritually blind. They were self-deceived. They thought they were great, but they were not. They thought they had it all together, that they didn't need anything from anybody. They were self-sufficient, but they were not. Several years ago, probably 40 years ago or maybe more, a survey was taken about the education systems throughout the world and not just how good they were, but what those that were involved in them thought about their education system. And there were those, there were Americans that thought they had a great education system and they were delivering a great education, when in fact, when they were graded, they were very poor. This was the way the Laodiceans were. They thought they were great. But they were very poor. So what does the Lord call them to do? He calls them to action. What you need, he basically says, is from me. Buy gold refined with fire so that you may become rich. Many understand that to be faith. Renew your faith. Get your faith from me, your strength. White garments be clothed. Turn away from your sin. Repent. I salve to see the illumination of the spirit through the word of God that you may see the way things truly are. Be zealous and repent is the call. He says, you're on the verge of not coming back. But he says, Behold, that stop sign, hello, get this, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and sup with him, dine with him and he with me. You know this verse, you've heard this verse. It has been used in evangelism. It has been used in many ways. It is a verse that is really hard, frankly. But let me say this, and I give credit to Dr. Thomas. and his commentary, which James had mentioned. And as a matter of fact, Dr. Thomas spoke here. And you can listen to his sermons on the website. I did. But anyway, he sees this and he believes and he laid it out pretty convincingly to me that this was more than just the door into the church, that the Lord wanted into the church. This was the door of the Lord's coming. Behold, I am coming quickly, the Lord said in some of the other letters. And it's like, the end is coming, people. You need to do something now. And one of the scriptures that he used was in Luke chapter 12, where the bridegroom's attendants were waiting for the bridegroom to come, and they were ready. They weren't sure when he was coming, and they were all ready to go. So that when he came, they were ready to go. And so this may well be And why? Because we have fellowship with Christ now, but the fellowship we will have in the future when he comes for all of eternity is going to be an amazing thing. To him who overcomes the promise, I will grant to him to sit on my throne as I also overcame and sat on my father's throne." A place of honor, a place of rulership, a place of intimate fellowship with the Lord. Let he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says. Our time is long past gone. Let me close in prayer and say, listen to these. Don't just pass over them. These things were written for our benefit as well. Our Father, we thank you for your word. And Father, we pray that you would help us to to read your word with open eyes and open ears, and that we would do the work of evaluating our lives by your grace, and that you, being our Lord and our Savior, that you provide for us all we need for life and godliness, as Peter said. Pray that we would find our sufficiency in You and that we would be zealous again, turn from our sinful ways, and bring honor and glory to You by doing those things that please You. For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.