Church Warnings 2

Revelation 2-3

Please take your Bible and turn to Revelation chapter 2 and we will begin with verse 8 in just a moment.

Understanding the makeup of the church, it has helped us look and examine our own church and those who make it up. As we continue look at chapters 2 & 3 from the Revelation of Jesus Christ, understand that this is Christ speaking to the seven churches of Asia-Minor. Jesus has an issue with 5 of the seven churches and the issues He has are unfortunately common in the church today. Jesus is telling us that before it is too late, we had better start being His church or He will remove our lampstand. Meaning we will cease to be His church and His bride.

The Church is God’s people, whether the universal body of believers or the local body of believers. The church is not a religious organization, but a living organism composed of its members and the various spiritual gifts given to each believer by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, they should not continue to live like the ungodly.

Let’s pray.

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:”

To the minister of the church in Smyrna. Again, this is important to remember, the minister is held accountable and responsible for the church.

In Smyrna’s case, he was responsible for the persecuted church. He is to lead the church in standing against the persecution. He is to stand for Christ and lead the people to stand for Christ as well. He should never deny Christ, and encourage the people to avoid denying Christ, no matter the cost. Lead by example, even to the point of death.

It is from Jesus Himself. It is a subtle reminder that Christ died, but arose from the dead. Christ is saying to the church in Smyrna is that no matter what they experience, it is but a passing episode. Even if they experience death, it has been conquered by Christ. He has been there and triumphed over both pain and death. Therefore, the believer shall live forever even if they are put to death for the sake of Christ.

Revelation 2:9 “‘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.”

Jesus is commending the church, and He does so in four ways:

1. The church rose up under terrible sufferings and afflictions. The cost to the believers was severe. But most believers were holding up under the attacks and refusing to deny Christ. They were faithful to Christ despite all of the ridicule, mockery, cursing, abuse, loss of their property, Imprisonment and even death.

2. The church rose up in poverty. Believers were forced out of their jobs, their property taken away from them and treated as criminals. What happened was Rome made a law that said in order for a person to be a true citizen they had to go before the local government officials and proclaim that Caesar was Lord. Of course, a true believer of Jesus Christ can’t do this, because on Jesus Christ is the one and only Lord. This was the main reason for the persecution of the church in Smyrna.

3. The church was rich in spiritual wealth. They were outwardly poor, but inwardly they were rich toward the Lord and His mission. They were faithful to the Lord in loving Him and loving one another including those who opposed them. They loved their enemies. As we are all called to do. They ministered to all in need. They studied and taught scripture. And lived holy and righteous lives. And because of their faithfulness, their obedience, they were filled with the Lord’s presence. God blesses obedience and because of their obedience, God poured out the riches of His grace upon them.

Can you imagine what it would be like to go through such persecution and still have the peace and grace of God poured out upon you? God strengthened them, empowered them, and carried them through all of the trials they were facing. We all know people like this, who if it were not for the grace, mercy, and peace of God, would never have been able to overcome a tragedy in their lives. Where God continues to minister through their tragedy. Where we read the promise of Romans 8:28 that God causes “All” things to work together for good them that love the Lord and are called for His purpose. We may not grasp it at the time, it may make no sense whatsoever. We must learn to lean not unto our own understanding, knowing tribulations and trials will come. It is however nice to know that when we do go through those dark times, that He promises someway, somehow that good will come from it and that He is there with us as He also promises to never leave or forsake us. Unfortunately, unless we have been through a tragedy, we will never fully understand how important it is to have God’s love, grace, and peace. Once you have experienced it, it is hard to describe and put into words.

4. The church rose up under all kinds of slander. The majority of the slander was coming from who? The Jews in the city. There was a large community of Jews there. they were prosperous and made large contributions to the arts and culture development of the city. As a result, they were influential with the city officials and the local Roman government. They lied, ridiculed, mocked, spread rumors about, and criticized the church. In fact what does Jesus say about them? I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews but are not. What does that mean? Of course, they were Jews physically but not true Jews. The Jewish people going back throughout the Old Testament were God’s chosen people. God had raised them up to be His witnesses upon the earth. But many had failed to believe and follow God. In fact, it was many of the Jews who had Jesus, God’s only Son put to death. They professed to be Jews, they professed to be flowers of God, but they were not. Sounds a lot like those who claim to be Christians, doesn’t it? Title only. Jesus says that they are a synagogue of Satan. This is because they were persecuting the real followers of God, those who believed and worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself. Therefore they were not worshippers of God, on the contrary, they were worshippers of Satan.

This is an important message for us to grasp as the church. We are either an assembly of God, the true living God, or we are spiritual pagans and worshippers of Satan and his world.it all depends on whether or not we believe, worship, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a true church when we stand up for Christ in the midst of an evil and corrupt world, a world that slanders those who live righteous and godly lives.

Look at verse 10:

Revelation 2:10 “‘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.”

Jesus is telling the church that more persecution is coming, the devil is going to use the unbelievers to attack them. Ten days is meaning that their persecution and imprisonment will be brief, for just a short time. God was allowing the persecution and the reason was that the believers might be tried. Tried so that they would draw closer to Him and learn more from Him. Tried so that their faith could be strengthened more and more. So they may be stronger witnesses in the world. What a great witness for unbelievers. When believers face such persecution and come out stronger, they are willing to suffer for the hope of salvation.

Be faithful until death and what does Jesus promise? A crown of life. He is promising eternal life to those who are overcomers, have overcome the things that had separated them from Christ. Have found victory by keeping their pecking order in order. Jesus, Family, and everything else falls into place. Those who have surrendered their lives to and serve Jesus Christ. Those who have accepted the Gospel and are in obedience to it, those He promises will live forever and ever with Him in God’s paradise, or heaven. But, we have to finish the race. Men can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. They cannot extinguish our lives. If we are faithful to Christ, God takes us home to heaven to live with Him for eternity. He crowns us with the crown of life.

Look at verse 11:

11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Who is it that is speaking to the churches? Jesus Himself.

Then Jesus makes another promise to the overcomer. He says, “they shall not be hurt by the second death.”

What is the second death? It is the lake of fire, the judgement of eternal hell and torment from the presence of God forever and ever. The believer who overcomes in persecution will escape the second death, the lake of fire and torment. We may pass through physical death, but as a true believer in the Gospel, we will never go through the second death. We shall be transported immediately into the presence of God to live for eternity.

Revelation 2:12 ““And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:”

The letter is written to the Angel or minister of the church in Pergamos. The church was a corrupt church that was married to the world. There are four things that corrupt a church to become worldly.

1. The church and its members begin to participate in worldly functions.

2. The church and its members allow worldly activities to take place in the church and in their homes.

3. The church begins to baptize and accept people as members who have not truly repented and turned from the world and to Christ.

4. The church and its members allow false teaching and preaching.

These four things are still happening today, and they should not be. Some churches have not only tolerated but celebrate with the world what God has clearly called out as sin.

Nothing corrupts a church any quicker than worldliness. Pergamos was a corrupt worldly church. A church that is a picture of a church married to the world.

If a church becomes worldly, the minister is responsible. Christ has called the minister to lead believers to a life of self-denial and holiness, to deny possessions and the pleasures of this world and live pure, holy, and godly lives. He has called upon ministers to lead believers to focus on heaven and live sacrificially. If the minister is not leading the people of the church to live spiritual lives, and allowing them to follow after the pleasures and things of this world, he is allowing the church to be corrupted with worldliness and he is ultimately responsible. It is the task of the minister to proclaim the truth of sanctification and separation from the world.

The sharp two-edged sword refers to His Word, the Word of God. The one thing a worldly church needs is the Word of God. It is sharp. It will cut through the most hardened heart. It will convict and convince those living like the world of their sins and cut a sharp gash between the sinner and their sin. We are going to be held accountable to The Word. What did we do with Jesus who was the Word made flesh.

Look at verse 13:

Revelation 2:13 “‘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.”

We see Jesus commend the church for three things:

1. The church was loyal to His name despite the environment they were surrounded by. The environment couldn’t be more worldly, it was a cesspool of worldliness, a city of people who were consumed with the pleasures and comforts of the world. How does Christ respond to the city? He calls it the throne of Satan. And even though they were at the throne of Satan, the believers still refused to deny Christ. Once a year they could have made their public confession that Caesar is Lord, but they refused. They could have just quietly gone about their lives and never mention Christ except when they met for worship, but they refused. They wanted their families, neighbors, and friends to know about the Gospel, about Jesus and true salvation. They wanted everyone to be saved and live for eternity. They were quick to share a testimony for Christ, they refused to deny Him.

2. The Church was pure in doctrine. They believed Jesus Christ and the Word of God, they studied and taught it. They neither renounced Christ or His Word.

3. The church was standing firm against persecution. At least on believer had been Martyred. Antipas. Tradition says that Antipas was the pastor of the church and was burned alive inside of a brass bull. The Greek translation for the word martyred means “witness”. Because so many of the witnesses faithful to Christ were put to death, the word martyr developed its current definition. Jesus honors Antipas by giving him the title of faithful. The early believers knew exactly what it meant to become a follower of Christ. It meant the commitment of all they had and were. It even meant the possibility of death.

Look at verses 14 and 15:

Revelation 2:14–15 “‘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. ‘So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”

But, there is that big ole But. But, here is the complaint. The church was guilty of false teaching and allowing worldliness in.

Jesus says that the church is guilty of allowing Balaam doctrine in. Balaam was a prophet who was sought by Balac the Moabite King to curse the nation of Israel, because he feared them. At first, Balaam refused, but accepted the second offer. Three times Balaam curse Israel and each time there were no results, so he came up with a plan and had the Moabite girls seduce the Israeli men into intermarriage and lead them to worship their idols. Israel, though rooted in God became unequally yoked together with worldliness and became corrupted. To break it down further, because of the corruption, the church had baptized some who never repented, or turned away from the ways of the world. The church had allowed some of the worldly to teach in the church. And the church had allowed a mixed membership of believers. Some who lived in holiness and sacrificial commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, and some living worldly lives still seeking the pleasures of the world. The result was tragic. There were those within the church committing sexual immorality, that is, all kinds of sexual sins, and there were those who were participating in drunken parties, even to the point of participating in feast of idol worship. We also have learned all about the false teachers of the Nicolaitan (Nic-O-Lay-Tans). Christ doesn’t care for them in fact He hates them.

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.”

Repentance is more than just an apology to God for us missing the mark or sinning against Him. Repentance is the apology and the action of turning away from said sin to with the purpose of never repeating that sin again. The church and its believers need to repent and change their ways. What does this mean? The church, the true believers need to deal with those in the church who were worldly and lead them to repentance. The church needed to change its practice of accepting people into the church just because they professed Christ. There needed to be proof of repentance. The church needed to discipline those who refused to repent and chose to continue in their worldly living. The church needed to stop conveying a sense of false hope and false security to unbelievers by baptizing them based on profession alone and no true repentance. And the church needs to stop allowing the worldly to seduce, deceive, and mislead other believers in the church.

There is a warning from Christ here. What is it? Christ warns the church that He will come quickly and make war against those who are worldly.

Pay attention, the Lord is not going to punish the faithful believers who are focused on Him and His purposes. He is only going to punish or make war with those who refuse to repent of their worldliness. The anger of the Lord is always against the impure. Christ will never punish the true Christians of a church, only those who are worldly.

The church as a whole is responsible for allowing the worldly to be baptized. Jesus command is to repent and believe in the gospel. True belief always involves repentance - a turning away from the world to Christ – total denial of self – the total commitment to of all we are and have to Him and His mission.

Boy doesn’t this sound like a lot of churches today? We are called to change the world for the one who created the world. It is never ok for the world to change us. We don’t need to tolerate or endorse, we need to repent! You cannot have salvation without repentance. To continue to live in sin is not true repentance. Without true repentance, there is no eternal life. Nothing but dead men walking!

Finally verse 17:

17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”

He who has an ear, let him hear. Jesus is speaking, pay attention.

Just as Israel received manna, God promises to give the true believer the spiritual bread that the unbelieving world cannot see. It is Jesus Christ.

The heavenly bread, Christ Himself, gives life to man. It is nourishing, sustaining, and satisfying. To the ones who overcome, and stop being fed by worldliness, they will be given the bread of life which can only be seen and received by those who have been made alive in Christ.

The overcomer will also be given a white stone. “When an athlete won in the games, he was often given as part of his prize a white stone, which was an admission pass to the winner’s celebration afterwards. This may depict the moment when the overcomer will receive his ticket to the eternal victory celebration in heaven.

Only one thing is clear in reference to the white stone. It is the means of being admitted into heaven, into God’s presence. It does not say it the reason for being allowed into God’s presence, it is saying, Jesus will provide the overcomer or true believer with the white stone which will serve as our ticket into heaven. Jesus is the reason, not the stone.

The new name is a personal message from Christ to the ones that He loves, which serves as their admission pass into eternal glory. It is so personal that only the person who receives it will know and understand what it is.

You know how people who are in love will give each other new names, like pooky bear, snook’ems, or stud muffin? Jesus is so in love with us that He is giving us a new name and we are the only ones who are going to recognize and understand it.

The church member who has an ear must hear this message to the worldly church. We can never overcome the attacks of the world unless we heed the message. Hearing and heeding are our only hope of ever conquering the world and preventing its desires and false teachings from entering the church.

Let’s Pray.