Latest / Admonition Podcast / Revelation 2-3 (Lesson 4) - Aaron Cozort - Dec. 14, 2025 012
Transcript
- 0:05Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to the book of Revelation.
- 0:17We are in Revelation chapter 3.
- 0:28as we examine the letters that are being written to these churches of Asia Minor.
- 0:37who are the direct recipients of the book of Revelation.
- 0:42uh And yet, we understand that as the books were...
- 0:49and letters were received by these churches, they would then forward, as was commonly the case with Paul's letters and Peter's letters, they would forward those letters from
- 1:01themselves to others.
- 1:03If you go read in the book of Colossians uh what Paul writes, you'll find that Paul sends word for them to forward that letter to the church at Colossae over to the church at
- 1:17Laodicea.
- 1:18oh
- 1:19of the other places where we have reference of the church in Laodicea, and Paul's letter that went to the Colossians would go to them as well after the Colossian brethren had
- 1:30received it.
- 1:31But let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.
- 1:35Our gracious Father in heaven, come before your throne.
- 1:39grateful for the day you've blessed us with, for the life that we have been granted, the opportunities that we have to serve you.
- 1:48We are mindful of your word and what it commands us to do on a daily basis.
- 1:54the things it commands us to be involved in and to abstain from.
- 1:58We're also mindful of your command to worship you on the first day of the week.
- 2:05And Lord, we are grateful that we have the ability, the energy, the uh health to be able to assemble together to do that.
- 2:13And we're mindful of those who, for reason of health, are unable to be with us.
- 2:18We pray that you be with them and help them to recover the desired strength that they might once again be in
- 2:24presence.
- 2:25We also pray for those who are traveling and those who are away from us, and we pray for those who will travel in the upcoming weeks that they have safety and are able to return
- 2:34home safely as well.
- 2:37Lord, we pray that you be with us as we close out this year.
- 2:41May we examine the year that we've had.
- 2:44May we look back at the things that we've done and have left undone, and let us examine and plan for 2026 in a mind
- 2:54mindset that puts your kingdom first, and that may we always seek first your kingdom.
- 3:03We ask that you be with us as we go through this period of study and as we examine this book that was written to encourage the Christians that were about to go through struggles.
- 3:13We pray that we might have the same mindset to overcome as they were commanded to do.
- 3:19All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
- 3:30We were in discussions on the Church of Sardis.
- 3:35Chapter 3 verse 1, the letter opens, and to the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works,
- 3:49that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead.
- 3:54Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain.
- 3:58oh
- 3:58that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.
- 4:04Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard.
- 4:08Hold fast and repent.
- 4:10Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
- 4:19You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white.
- 4:28for they are worthy.
- 4:29He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot out his name from the book of life but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.
- 4:41He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Okay?
- 4:47There's a couple of things here in this text that we need to examine and identify because again chapters two and three are written in
- 4:57They have some of the imagery from the figurative part of the book, from the spiritual visionary part of the book, but they're written in plain ordinary language.
- 5:10And so when you see the imagery, you're quite often getting an explanation of what should we interpret the imagery to mean in the rest of the book.
- 5:22A couple of areas like that is, for instance, here in verse
- 5:27and verse five.
- 5:29So we've mentioned already that in the book of Revelation numbers have significance.
- 5:35The number seven is the perfect number in Judean thinking.
- 5:41The number eight is the number of God.
- 5:44The number of six is the number of man.
- 5:47The number 10 is the idea of completion and perfection.
- 5:52So all of these things are important, but they're numbers.
- 5:56have significance.
- 5:57We also recognize that there are imagery that has significance, like for instance the seven stars, the seven candlesticks.
- 6:06Well here, you're going to find that colors also have significance in the book of Revelation.
- 6:14What color do we have identified in verses four and five?
- 6:22white.
- 6:22Okay, notice verse 4, you have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in what?
- 6:36White.
- 6:38For they are worthy.
- 6:41He who overcome shall be clothed in
- 6:46white garments.
- 6:47And I will not blot out His name from the book of life, but I will confess His name before my Father and before His angels.
- 6:54Go back to chapter 1.
- 7:00Verse 11, John is there, he's in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and he says, heard a voice saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, what you see right in a
- 7:13book, send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, to Laodicea.
- 7:21Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.
- 7:26And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed in a garment down to the feet, girded about the chest with a golden band, his head and his hair were
- 7:36white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire.
- 7:46The picture of white and the use of the term white and the color white everywhere in the book.
- 7:55And this is a challenge to us because this will contradict common ideas about the book of Revelation as soon as you apply it.
- 8:06If you find the picture of white in the book, it's dealing with spiritual
- 8:15purity and righteousness.
- 8:18How do we know?
- 8:19Because John has just described it to be that exact thing in chapter 3.
- 8:27Because he is saying, here's this church, he says, you are dead.
- 8:33You are defiled.
- 8:35You are in a state where you have a very little amount of anything that God approves of left that you can strengthen.
- 8:44and that still remains and yet you have among you some Christians who have not defiled themselves.
- 8:56But rather they will be arrayed in white, they will walk with me and they will be holy and pure and righteous because that's the opposite of defiled.
- 9:10Okay?
- 9:12Here's another passage that will help us from the Old Testament.
- 9:14Turn to Isaiah chapter 1.
- 9:29Isaiah chapter 1 beginning verse 12, When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts, bring no more feudal sacrifices.
- 9:42Incense is an abomination to me.
- 9:44The new moons, the Sabbath, the calling of assemblies.
- 9:47I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
- 9:51Your new moons, your appointed feasts, my soul hates.
- 9:54They are a trouble to me.
- 9:55I am weary of bearing them.
- 9:58When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
- 10:02Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.
- 10:04Your hands are full of blood." He is writing, Isaiah is writing to the children of Israel, and he is accusing them of being defiled.
- 10:16And God says, you may come into my house, the temple, to worship, but I'm not going to accept your worship.
- 10:23You may offer me many prayers, but I'm not going to listen to you because you are
- 10:28Defiled.
- 10:30Your hands are full of blood.
- 10:32He says, verse 16, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the
- 10:44oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow, come now let us reason together, says the Lord.
- 10:51Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be what?
- 10:56As white?
- 10:58as snow.
- 11:02Isaiah uses the picture in the introduction of his book of God cleansing us from the stain of sin and the picture of the person cleansed from that state of sin is what?
- 11:19white.
- 11:21So John takes this imagery, which is not unique to Isaiah, but is regularly seen throughout the Scriptures, and he uses the color white to mean something.
- 11:35Well, when the text tells you what something means, what should you assume it means in the rest of the book?
- 11:43Same thing.
- 11:46And that's going to be a challenge because you know what you've heard about?
- 11:51You've heard all the denominationalists through the years talk about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, right?
- 12:00What color is one of the horses?
- 12:05If you've got four horsemen of the apocalypse and they're all bringing some sort of bad thing and yet one of them is white, you have a problem.
- 12:17The book is consistent in its use of imagery.
- 12:21As a matter of fact, every single time you see anyone on a white horse, it is Jesus Christ.
- 12:32And it is those who are with Him.
- 12:35Every time in the book.
- 12:38So, when you get to the book, and when the book tells you what something means,
- 12:46You must have contextual evidence to indicate that it doesn't mean what it means everywhere else in the book.
- 12:56If there's a picture, a color, a number, and it means something everywhere else in the book, there better be a really strong clear statement in a context to say, well, wait, I'm
- 13:09not using that picture this way anymore.
- 13:11No, right here it means something different because John doesn't do that.
- 13:16because I challenge you, you're not gonna find that.
- 13:19You're not going to find John flip-flopping on the visionary imagery.
- 13:24He's going to use it consistently throughout the book.
- 13:29And right here in the plainly stated passages dealing with the church, white is the picture of someone in full fellowship and righteousness with God.
- 13:44They are pure.
- 13:46and holy.
- 13:47And all throughout the book those who are righteous are described as being arrayed in white.
- 13:59just like John describes here concerning this church.
- 14:04But then consider as well we have the term the Book of Life.
- 14:10This is a picture of God having a record of those who will be judged and those who are righteous.
- 14:20This is not unique to the book of Revelation.
- 14:22You find this terminology elsewhere in Scripture, but here John says
- 14:28I have those who I have written their name in my book.
- 14:33And if I have written their name in my book, then I will confess their name before my Father and His angels who are in heaven.
- 14:46Further evidence given for who's the one writing to the churches, who's the one speaking the message, it's the one who has a father.
- 14:55It's the one who has angels at his beck and call.
- 14:58it's Christ, but further you have this idea that comes forward from Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus says, you will not confess me before men, then I will not confess you before
- 15:11my Father who is in heaven.
- 15:13Well, that terminology is found right here.
- 15:16And so you can have a congregation where Christ says, I'm not confessing that congregation before my Father in heaven.
- 15:26And yet you can have individuals amongst that number that Christ does confess their name.
- 15:34He says, they will walk with me in white.
- 15:37They will receive their reward.
- 15:39But the rest of you?
- 15:41Not happening.
- 15:43Okay?
- 15:43Not unless they repent.
- 15:45One last thing that I wanted to point out is here in verse two, sometimes when we are helping people overcome
- 15:55spiritual destitute lives, spiritually destitute lives.
- 16:01When we are trying to help people get out of the things that they are doing that are wrong, maybe we're trying to restore someone who has fallen, who is a member of the body
- 16:12of Christ, we have here a small indicator of something that we can do that will help them get where they need to be.
- 16:21Notice verse 2, he says,
- 16:24be watchful and strengthen the things that remain.
- 16:30It is a challenge for us when we are trying to fix something that we often want to attack the single point of greatest weakness.
- 16:42We want to correct the single greatest point of failure.
- 16:47And the reality is that most times people
- 16:51will not succeed fixing their greatest weakness until they've focused on building their strengths on their greatest strengths.
- 17:03We all face the reality that we have weaknesses, and if we spend the maximum amount of our time focused on our weaknesses, we will rarely make any significant progress.
- 17:17Yet if we instead challenge ourselves to focus our maximum amount of time on our strengths and turning the strengths that we have into something that is steadfast and unmovable,
- 17:33slowly but surely the weaknesses start to disappear or the weaknesses can be solved by relying on someone else's strengths that cover our weaknesses.
- 17:44when you're dealing with a crumbling bridge, you do not focus first on the crumbling part of the bridge.
- 17:56You focus first on strengthening everything that is already stable because if you begin with the crumbling part, you may find the crumbling part begins to get bigger and bigger
- 18:08and bigger because the strong part starts to lose strength.
- 18:12You stabilize what is strong and then you build toward and fix that which is weak.
- 18:19And we have to do that in our own lives.
- 18:22Jesus even says to do that within the church in Sardis, which is, as he said, dead.
- 18:28He says, you've got a little bit left.
- 18:30You go focus on that.
- 18:31You go build that.
- 18:34And from that, you have a platform to correct the rest of the things.
- 18:39Okay, so there's some insight there from
- 18:42the book of Revelation.
- 18:43Chapter 3 verse 7, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts,
- 18:58and shuts and no one opens.
- 19:00When Christ handed the keys, as it were, of the kingdom to the apostles, and the apostles preached that first gospel sermon there in Acts chapter 2,
- 19:11and they opened the doors of the kingdom and invited people to obtain the salvation that was found within the body of Christ and within the salvation that is found in the
- 19:21crucifixion and death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, could anyone come along later and shut those doors?
- 19:31No, not Rome, not Caesar, not someone that was declared to be a god, not Satan, not the enemies of Christ, not the Judaizing teachers, not the individuals who separated
- 19:47themselves from righteousness and true sound doctrine.
- 19:51None of those people could shut the doors because Christ is the one who opens and no one shuts.
- 19:59And shuts
- 20:01No one opens.
- 20:03The idea of Christ being the one who opens, this is opportunity, this is salvation, this is what you want, but when Christ says, that door's closed, think about it from the
- 20:17perspective of a church.
- 20:20Imagine a congregation where the door's shut.
- 20:24No matter how much you try, you can't get the door open.
- 20:29Christ says, if I...
- 20:31come to you and judge you as a congregation, I'm going to shut off your access to my Father, and there's not going to be a thing you can do to change it unless you repent.
- 20:45Okay?
- 20:46So this picture is of Christ, the one who has controls of the key of David, of the promise and the salvation that was promised through David, and the authority of Christ.
- 20:59but also of opportunity and judgment.
- 21:03Verse 8, know your works.
- 21:05See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.
- 21:11For you have a little strength, have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
- 21:19When Christ says to the church of Philadelphia, I've opened a door for you, I've created an opportunity for you, Paul would describe
- 21:29uh a number of different times scenarios where he described having an open door of opportunity.
- 21:38Christ says, I've set before you an open door.
- 21:41Now, did Christ shove them through it and force them to actually take the opportunity?
- 21:48No.
- 21:50That was up to them.
- 21:52They had to make that choice.
- 21:55But Christ says, door's open.
- 21:58Door's right there.
- 22:00He says, for you have a little strength, have kept my word and have not denied my name.
- 22:06Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie.
- 22:12Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you.
- 22:18Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth."
- 22:29Behold, I am coming quickly.
- 22:31Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
- 22:36He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.
- 22:43I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new
- 22:55name."
- 22:56He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." As you go through this letter to the church at Philadelphia, what's unique about it?
- 23:09No correction, no negative statement anywhere to be found.
- 23:14Yet interestingly, of this church, Jesus does not describe them as having great strength.
- 23:26But what?
- 23:29Little strength.
- 23:31He says, I know that your capabilities are small.
- 23:38Yet in the midst of their small capabilities, the one thing they have compared to all the others is they have nothing to critique.
- 23:51It is a reminder to us that sometimes in churches you have someone whose moral activity is just uncompromised, whose words and deeds are those which are beyond rebuke.
- 24:12I'm not saying they're sinlessly perfect, they never sin, but their actions and their lifestyle is beyond rebuke and yet...
- 24:21their capacity and their abilities are small.
- 24:34weakness, my grace is sufficient, like even though, because he talks about their perseverance, the holding fast, the fact that they are still doing what they're supposed
- 24:45to be doing, that even though they are maybe weak in strength, as he puts it, that it is that they are relying on God like they should through that.
- 24:55I think there's a lot of that, and I think there's also a picture here that's an Old Testament picture.
- 25:01When you see David,
- 25:06come to the confrontation with Goliath.
- 25:10Would you have described David as the one who was strong or the one who was weak in the confrontation?
- 25:19Physically weak.
- 25:23mean, here's Goliath.
- 25:26He's a giant.
- 25:28He's coming and his armaments are so big he's got to have somebody else carry the shield in front of him.
- 25:34He's got a staff that's like a weaver's beam.
- 25:38He's got a sword.
- 25:40He's got all these things.
- 25:41And what did David show up with?
- 25:47Shepard's garments, no armor, and a slingshot.
- 25:52Which one looks weak?
- 25:54Which one only has a little strength?
- 25:59Which one was reliant upon God for their strength?
- 26:05The answer is the one who trusted in the Lord.
- 26:10So David did not succeed because of his strength.
- 26:17He succeeded because he trusted in God's strength.
- 26:24and he did what he could.
- 26:31So many times in congregations that I have been a part of and that I have witnessed through the years, there are some little old ladies who may not have a whole lot of
- 26:43strength to get up and walk around, but they are the backbone of a congregation.
- 26:50They would be described as those with little strength, and yet they are a force to be reckoned with for righteous action in a church.
- 27:01It doesn't have be a lady, but sometimes you have people who physically they're weak.
- 27:06If you look at the things that they can do and accomplish physically, they're weak.
- 27:11And yet here you have strength because of their character, because of their action, because of the soundness of their obedience to God.
- 27:24Philadelphia is a congregation where God says, I've opened the door.
- 27:31Nobody can shut it.
- 27:33But also, he says, I know those who are in your presence who are the assembly of Satan.
- 27:43They are the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not.
- 27:47Now, this is using terminology that Paul used.
- 27:52Paul said they are not all Israel who are of Israel.
- 27:58God has made it clear from the Old Testament all the way to the New that there are those among the nation of Israel that are not His people.
- 28:10And as a result of that, He says, they're Israel, but they're not Israel.
- 28:14They're Jews, but they're not Jews.
- 28:16Because if they were the descendants of Abraham spiritually, they would hear my voice and they would obey me.
- 28:25But rather they are the portion of Israel like those who came out of Egyptian captivity who instead of hearing his voice and being obedient to his voice, rebelled and are
- 28:35destroyed and are judged.
- 28:37So here in Philadelphia, they are dealing likely with some persecution or localized persecution from the Jews.
- 28:46And God says, you don't be concerned about the fact that they claim to be the people of God because they're not.
- 28:55and rather they are a descendant, they are an assembly of Satan.
- 29:02Did you know you could have a group of people who claim to worship the same God you do?
- 29:08Claim to honor the same God you do?
- 29:12Claim to believe in and obey the same God you do?
- 29:16but are in abject rebellion against him so much so that God says they are actually an assembly of Satan.
- 29:26That's what he's describing here.
- 29:29These Jews hadn't gone off and started worshiping Satan in their weekly assemblies.
- 29:36They didn't start reading from some book of Satan on their feast days, but they were in complete rebellion from God.
- 29:45because they would not hear his voice, would not accept his son, they would not do what he told them to do.
- 29:53This picture, by the way, comes from what Jesus said in John chapter 8 when Jesus said, you are of your father, who did he say?
- 30:06The devil.
- 30:08For he was a liar from the beginning.
- 30:11Jesus points out that it is their lies that cause them to be the descendants of Satan.
- 30:21And these people, this congregation was dealing with people like that here in Philadelphia.
- 30:26But then consider as well, he says ah that he's going to basically defeat them, bring them to bow down before the feet of the Christians and know that I have
- 30:41loved you because you have kept my command to persevere.
- 30:45Also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.
- 30:52This terminology here, this picture of Christ saying to the Church of Philadelphia, everybody else is going to go through these trials, but I'm going to set you aside.
- 31:07I'm going to save you from them because of your faithfulness.
- 31:10It comes from the book of Habakkuk.
- 31:14It comes from what God said concerning the judgment that was coming on Judah.
- 31:21And he says, verse 2, then the Lord answered me and said, chapter 2, write the vision.
- 31:30Make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.
- 31:33For the vision is yet for an appointed time.
- 31:36But at the end it will speak and will not lie.
- 31:40Though it tarries, wait for it.
- 31:42Because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
- 31:46Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith.
- 31:56That phrase is going to get used over and over and over and over again in the New Testament to speak concerning the salvation that is found in Christ, but in this context,
- 32:08it's dealing with the salvation from the judgment that was coming on Judea through the Babylonian Empire.
- 32:17And this idea is what is going to be for...
- 32:22found here concerning the Philadelphia church, he says, I'm going to save you out of this turmoil.
- 32:31Now, if you were to think about those who Christ or God saved out of the turmoil of the Babylonian empire, who might you describe as those who were saved out of that situation?
- 32:50You think we're going to talk about people who just happened to have a city that got missed by the Babylonian Empire as they came and barreled through the country and overran
- 33:01it?
- 33:02Don't think so.
- 33:04Rather, you're going to be thinking about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were taken off into captivity, yet they prospered and they were blessed, not in Judea, not
- 33:17by remaining in their land.
- 33:18but by going into captivity.
- 33:21You're going to think about Ezekiel, who was there by the banks of the river, writing back to the captives.
- 33:28You're going to think about Nehemiah and Ezra.
- 33:31Ezra in captivity prepared his heart to know the Lord and to teach his law and to teach in Israel statutes of judgment.
- 33:37Nehemiah is serving at the behest of the king.
- 33:41All of these individuals were saved out of the destruction, out of the judgment, yet they were saved out of it by going through the captivity.
- 33:52They endured the judgment that was happening around them, but they were not judged by it.
- 34:03They rather were promoted by it.
- 34:06And so here you have this picture of God saying,
- 34:12I've got you.
- 34:14You are those who have persevered.
- 34:18He says, verse 11, behold, I am coming quickly.
- 34:21Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown.
- 34:26Again, we're seeing all throughout the book the term coming is not discussing the end of time.
- 34:37It's not discussing the final return.
- 34:41When he says he's coming, what context is he dealing with in this passage?
- 34:47He's dealing with the turmoil and the persecution and the judgment that is coming shortly to pass.
- 34:58He says, I'm coming quickly, but don't worry.
- 35:00I've got you.
- 35:02I know who you are.
- 35:04I know who belongs to me.
- 35:06He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God
- 35:11and he shall go out no more." Now, if we were to believe that everything in the Bible is literal, then we're going to have to face the fact that these Christians were going to be
- 35:21turned into literal pillars in the temple.
- 35:25I don't think that's going work out.
- 35:27They're going to get really tired.
- 35:30And yet, what is a pillar in the temple of God?
- 35:40Is this the only place this terminology is used of Christians?
- 35:45Matter of fact, Paul uses it over in Galatians when he references James, the brother of Jesus, Peter, who seem to be pillars in the church.
- 36:00He's using terminology that is visual of a temple.
- 36:04What would often be the case in temples, especially in the Roman temples, if you were to look at the temple?
- 36:15these columns that would go all the way around and hold up this great ceiling.
- 36:28That is correct.
- 36:30All right.
- 36:30So we have here uh spiritual imagery.
- 36:36The spiritual imagery of being a pillar.
- 36:40The spiritual imagery of a temple.
- 36:44Is there a temple in heaven?
- 36:52The answer is yes and no.
- 36:57Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 3.
- 37:22beginning in verse 11, for no other foundation can anyone lay which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
- 37:30Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be
- 37:40revealed by fire.
- 37:42And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is.
- 37:45Now notice the analogy that Paul is presenting to the Church of Corinth is your faith
- 37:52that the quality of the workmanship of your faith is going to be tested not by the good times in life, but by what?
- 38:02The fire.
- 38:03The trials of life.
- 38:05What happens to a faith made of straw in the midst of a fire?
- 38:13burns up and it's gone.
- 38:15What happens to a faith that is made of precious stone in a fire or gold?
- 38:23It's purified.
- 38:25It withstands the fire.
- 38:27It endures the fire.
- 38:29Now what has
- 38:30Christ just described this church as being those who are.
- 38:34They're those who persevere.
- 38:37They're those who overcome.
- 38:38They're those who are going to go through the trials, the tribulations.
- 38:42They're going to be ah kept faithful by Christ.
- 38:46They're going to be protected by Christ, and they're going to persevere and overcome.
- 38:50They're going to go through the trials of fire, and they're going come out the other side shining.
- 38:56Now notice, he says,
- 38:58If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive an award.
- 39:03If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire.
- 39:08Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
- 39:16Two times in the book of Corinthians, 1st Corinthians, chapter 3, chapter 6,
- 39:21Christ addresses the Christians and the Church, Church collectively here in this passage, Christians individually, as the Temple of God.
- 39:35God did not promise the Old Testament Israelites that there was going to be a day where He was going to come and set up a temple where He would dwell with men.
- 39:45As a matter of fact, you remember in 1 Kings chapter 8 that Solomon made it quite clear that when he had built that magnificent temple, it couldn't hold God.
- 39:59God couldn't dwell in that temple made with hands.
- 40:04and rather the New Testament presents the temple as what?
- 40:12the church.
- 40:14Now you need to hold on to this imagery because he's writing to a church and he says you will be part of the temple of God as a church.
- 40:27And he also says that on him will be the name of my God.
- 40:33Oh, we're going to get to somewhere in the book where some names are being written on people.
- 40:40And in this passage to the Church of Philadelphia, John says, to the faithful Christians, I'm going to write my name on you.
- 40:50To the faithful Christians, he says, I'm going to write on you the name of the city of my God.
- 40:58What's the city of his God named?
- 41:03According to the text.
- 41:10The New Jerusalem.
- 41:13We're going to spend some time with the idea of the New Jerusalem because that's an Isaiah image.
- 41:21But God says, I'm going to write on my faithful Christians a New Dane.
- 41:27It's the name of my God.
- 41:29I'm going to write on the Christians the name of the city of my God.
- 41:34What's the city of my God?
- 41:35The New Jerusalem.
- 41:37I'm going to write on them my new name.
- 41:45All of these pictures we will see throughout the text.
- 41:49He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
- 41:52We're not going to spend a great deal of time on Laodicea.
- 41:54I'm going to mention something as we close and then we're probably going to move on because I think probably Laodicea gets more treatment out of all of the letters of the
- 42:05book of Revelation than any of them.
- 42:07And to the angel of the church of the Laodicean bride, these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
- 42:16I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot.
- 42:19I wish you were cold or hot.
- 42:21So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
- 42:26Because you say I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.
- 42:36I counsel you to buy from
- 42:39that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see.
- 42:50As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent.
- 42:55Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
- 42:57If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me.
- 43:03To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne.
- 43:07as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." We often talk about this church being the
- 43:21lukewarm church.
- 43:23We often talk about the idea of something lukewarm being that which just is unpleasant.
- 43:31But for the Christians in Laodicea, this had a more pointed...
- 43:38aspect to it.
- 43:40From Laodicea you could look one direction and you could see White Calf Mountains.
- 43:48And from the other direction, you could see a city with nice hot springs in it.
- 43:55And the water in Laodicea was horrible.
- 44:00It was something that was bitter.
- 44:04So in the days of the first century, the Romans had, and the Laodiceans, which were a very wealthy city, had said, fine, our water's bad.
- 44:14So they built an aqueduct over to the city that had the white cap.
- 44:18hills and they got fresh mountain water.
- 44:23Nice, cool water.
- 44:27And they built an aqueduct to the hot spring city.
- 44:32And they got hot spring water from that city and they brought both of them to Laodicea.
- 44:40Only problem was when you build the aqueduct and it starts off as nice cold water over in the ice cap hills.
- 44:48By the time it got to Laodicea, guess what it was?
- 44:52was Lukewarm.
- 44:55And when you got the hot spring water out of the other city, by the time it got to Laodicea, guess what it was?
- 45:02Lukewarm.
- 45:05All the riches, all their money, couldn't buy them quality.
- 45:11Christ is using their day-to-day lives, their day-to-day experiences of the water they actually drank and says, this is what you are.
- 45:22You've got something that you could be, which is great, but instead you've decided to allow yourself to just be nasty, worthless.
- 45:35Something that somebody puts in their mouth that there is nothing of value here.
- 45:42because you're relying on your riches.
- 45:44You're relying on your wealth and your prosperity, and you think being wealthy and prosperous means you're good to go.
- 45:53And Christ says, no.
- 45:55As a matter of fact, I will spew you out of my mouth because you have not chosen to recognize that what you need most is me and not what you bring to the table.
- 46:09Okay, thank you for your attention.