Marcus Mecum - Seven Events of Revelation - Part 2
It says that, "Blessed are those who read and understand this particular book". The Book of Revelations. So, I don't know about you, but I wanna live blessed. You may hate this subject, but we're talking about this book. We're gonna read from this book and as understanding comes, there's a blessing attached to this book.
The sixth event is, "The Great White Throne judgement". Years ago, I preached a sermon on this subject. It was a good message, and I probably should do it again. It's that kind of a staple message I think for believers. But this is the event that will determine who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. The white throne judgement is not for believers. Really, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you will never experience the white throne judgement. The white throne judgement is not a works judgement. So, at this judgement it's not going to be asked, "What was your church attendance like? How many people did you win to the Lord? What was your giving record like? What was your serving like"?
None of the things that maybe we think are gonna be brought up, are brought up at this judgement. The question will be a question of relationship. The question will be, "What did you do with my son? What did you do with the cross? What did you do with the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ? What did you do with it? Did you love him? Did you embrace the cross? Did you have Jesus as the priority relationship in your life"? That will be the number one question around this judgement is the question of relationship. "What did you do with Jesus"?
And when that question is asked there should be a very clear response in your heart immediately. I know what my answer will be to that question. I know what my answer will be to the father. And it will be clear that he is my Lord, and he is my friend. And I gave him my life, and I gave him everything. I gave him my heart. That is who he is to me. And that question determines where you spend eternity. What have you done with Jesus? You say, "What about when the Bible says, 'did you clothe me, and did you feed me, as you've done to the least of these you've done to me'"? That is not dealt with at the white throne judgement. That is dealt with inside of another judgement called, "The bema judgment," or, "The judgement seat of Christ".
And that is where believers will be judged based upon their works. And this is not about heaven and hell, this is a reward judgement. This is where you and I will be rewarded for the things that we do for the kingdom on the earth. There will be a reward and I can promise you, when you get to heaven you say, "Well, I'm not about works, I could care less about works". We're not talking about works to get saved. That's done, that's dealt with. That judgment's over. You're on your way to heaven.
Now it comes time for God to look at your life and say, "After all I did for you. I gave you my son. I gave you the word. I gave you my spirit and I gave you all this stuff. I sent angels down to guard, protect you, look out, all this I did for you. Now, what did you do for me"? You won't wanna say, "Well, I just said it would all be grace and so I just decided to do nothing for you".
That will not be the response you wanna have. You don't have to like me as your friend right now, but take just a second and as a person that's in this room hear what I'm saying. You will want to have a response when Jesus says, "What did you do for me"? You will want to say, "I did something for you. I did something for your glory. I did something that was about more than me. I did something for the gospel's sake, and for the glory of God. I did something with my life". And there's a reward attached to that.
The seventh event and we're done, is where there's a New Heaven and a New Earth. That's where God restores all things. But before we really focus on some of that, I want us to go back to chapters 2 and 3 where we're at now. And I want us to look at these chapters, really these letters that were written to seven churches. And these are seven love letters, is the best way to look at it, that Jesus told John to write to the church. These seven churches actually existed. These were seven real cities that exist and what would be modern day turkey today. And there was a message to the churches then, but the real message is to the end time church.
So, seven love letters, seven messages to the bride of Christ that would prepare us for the wedding that God is talking about in the Book of Revelation. In these seven love letters there's praise. In these seven love letters there's a major focus on encouraging and comforting the believer through the most difficult times. There's a message of a promise that's attached to those who endure. There are corrections that are made in each love letter for the most part. Adjustments that need to be made for the believer to survive in the last days.
So, the first one that's written is written to the church of Ephesus. This is found in Revelation 2:4-5. The church of Ephesus he tells them to, "Return to their first love". They were using their gifts. They were using their talents. They were serving God. They were building the church. They were making a difference. They were involved in outreach. They were generous with how God had blessed them. So, there issue was not that they lack doing, these are not people that lack action. This was not an apathetic group of people. I actually relate most to the church of Ephesus.
The book I studied the most in the Bible of all books is the book of Ephesians. I love the book of Ephesians. It is such a powerful, powerful book. But the idea behind this is you can get so caught up in doing, you can get so caught up in going through the motions that you lose your first love. And so, the encouragement to the church of Ephesus is, you gotta go back to those first moments, those first days, those early years when you fell in love with Jesus. Go back to those days and stir that back up. Fan that flame on the inside of you. You gotta stoke it up back. You gotta keep that love alive.
Don't allow the doing of things to wear thin and you lose sight of your love for God and how he loved you. I can go back to those early years of being a Christian and when worship would come on. I couldn't wait to worship, and tears would stream down my face, and nobody was too radical, and no one was too emotional, and no one was going, it was like, "Man, if they turn on the", I couldn't wait to worship God. I couldn't wait when the preaching happen. I'd pull out my Bible and I had a little notebook and I be taking notes and everything the preacher say I would write down.
And I would go later, and I would restudy what was preached on and what was, I loved it, I loved it. I wanted more of it. I couldn't get enough. But over the years, I started finding myself listening to a sermon, I'd say, "I kind of already heard this sermon. I kind of know where this is going". And I didn't take notes anymore. And before I knew it, "Oh yeah, I've heard this song a hundred times. I don't really like that voice. I think it's this". And I wouldn't worship. And overtime you can lose that love. And this is a condition of the end time church. And so, his inspiration was, "Go back to when he first loved you". If you do not he said, "The lampstand will be removed," which represents the Spirit of God.
I don't know how this works. I do not believe God will ever leave us or forsake us, but I do believe the message is simply this, "Do not think that you go and say a 30-second or two-minute prayer and then you walk away from that, and you walk out the door and you live your life loving everything else, but the things that God loves. You live your life loving the ways of this world instead of the ways of the kingdom". That is not how it works. If you said that prayer and you love God, then you're gonna love his word, and you're gonna love what he does, and you're gonna love his presence, and you're gonna love his standards, and you're gonna love what he calls you to. Not because it's easy, but because out of his love for you, you respond with your love for him.
Number two is Revelation 2, the church of Smyrna. His encouragement with them is to remain faithful. I love this. Because he talks about trials are going to come persecution will hit your life. I believe it's in the very first chapter. John will call himself a companion with us in adversity. So, the early church faced great persecution. John would have been the final living apostle of all the apostles. It's been 60 years since Jesus has been on the planet. He's writing this book and as he writes this book, he's seeing us today, he's seeing the end time church and he's seeing the end time church face similar persecution as the early church.
And so, he looks into the future, and he calls us, "A companion in adversity". And his warning is simple and that is, "You're going to have to remain faithful through persecution". Because a lot of people can remain faithful based upon how they think God should make sure their life works out. So as long as my life is in a way that I think it should be, and I think God should make sure that my life looks a particular way, and my life goes a particular, and if it doesn't, trial hits, pain hits, heartbreak hits, frustration hits, anger hits, doubt hits, unbelief hits, all of it hits, right. Now all of a sudden, I start thinking, "Man, where's God at? What's God doing"?
So, the encouragement was, "Remain faithful in persecution". Because faithfulness is not really seen when everything in the relationship is going well. Faithfulness is seen when there starts to be struggle and tension in the relationship. That's where faithfulness is revealed. A lot of us have a tendency to be really faithful to God if everything is going good, but if it's not going good we pull back on God. Now some of you when things get rough you pray for a little bit, and then it gets better, and you bounce. Same thing. Remain faithful through the struggle. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they're about to be thrown in the fiery furnace. They make a real clear statement, "You can turn it up as hot as you want to we will not bow. We will not bend to your God, to false idols. We refuse to do it and our God by the way, will save us from your fiery furnace, but if not..."
That's the key to the verse, "But if not," I believe God will rescue you, save you, heal you, restore you, redeem you. Do all that stuff, "But if not, I'll still serve him. But if not in the flames burn my life and destroy my life. I've still made a decision that is sovereign, God is in control. God has the final say, and I'll serve him no matter what life looks like. If it's good, I serve him. If it's not good, I serve him. If I'm broken, I serve him. If I'm on the top of the mountain, I serve him. No matter what it looks like my job is to say, 'but if not, you've already got my loyalty, you've already got my heart and I'll serve you".
Side note, Shadrach can say that because he was surrounded with some solid friends. If you're hanging out with unfaithful people, can I help you out? Not far behind them is gonna be you following in those footsteps. I've watched it for years. People love God, have all the stuff they need, the foundation they need, they've got it all. It's all set. But all of a sudden, they start gravitating towards people that aren't as faithful. That's who they're drawn to. That's who they have the most in common with. That's who they longed to be with the most. And so, they start moving away from the faithful and gravitating towards the unfaithful. Shadrach could face the trial that he was up against because he was surrounded by solid friends. I don't know what your life will include moving forward, but I can tell you this, to remain faithful you'll want some faithful people around you.
Number three, the church of Pergamos. Revelation 2:14, this is where God wants to restore balance. This is actually a really important message to give the church, but I'm not so sure I can give it in a way that won't bother many of you. It's really about the church has gotten into weird doctrine. It's gotten off on some tangents. It's really at this point, allowing the culture to tell it what it can be and can't be. That's really where this church is at. And he mentions two doctrines. The doctrine of Balaam which is a doctrine of liberalism. And liberalism is really simple. It's in the name of love you no longer discuss right and wrong.
Okay, it's in the name of love you no longer discuss right and wrong. And so, that doctrine is the doctrine of Balaam. And the Bible says it's gonna find its way into the church. Where you can't say what's right and you can't say what's wrong. You can't say what this book says anymore, because in the name of love you can't say it. You can't talk about it. It's going to be hurtful. That is the doctrine of Balaam, but then it mentions the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which is a doctrine of legalism. And this is for all of you who say, "Yeah, the church shouldn't be liberal".
Okay, that's true. 'Cause our message isn't a liberal message and it's not a conservative message. Our message is a message of the kingdom, and it supersedes all the kingdoms of this world. All the kingdoms of this world. All the kingdoms of this world, all the political forces of this world will bow to the name of Jesus. He's king of all kings, which means his kingdom is greater than all kingdoms by the way. And when your political view becomes greater than this book and the kingdom that this book supports whatever side you wanna jump on, you are in error. But the doctrine of the Nicolaitans is the doctrine of legalism.
This is where church people start to force their religion and they impose their standards on someone to control them. If they don't know the Gods you know, you really think that they're gonna have the standards you have? And legalism is where it's an external forced thing. It's where we see isn't, we don't want transformation from the inside out, when it's external control. I'm externally controlling you, versus praying for you and believing that the same change that God did in my heart, he can do in your heart. And I didn't believe right before he changed my heart either, and I didn't think right before he changes my heart either, and I didn't lean into the right things before he changed my heart either.
There are a lot of things I wasn't doing right before he got a hold of my heart. And so, there's also the idea with this church of restore the balance. Stay balanced. Love the world, but don't be of the world. That's the balance. I can love this world, but I can't be of it. I've got to rise higher. I've gotta go, I can't allow all these different things to pull me down into all of the, just because the culture is saying not what needs to be talked about right now. I can still just keep being faithful to this book. I can still be balanced. I can love people, but I can stand for what's right. I can love people and still say, "I don't think that that's right".
And the truth is, no matter how much you like me right now I'm probably one of the best friends you've got to try to say, "Hey, balance it all out. You wanna find some balance in this. You don't wanna get too caught up being ruled in your mind and in your emotions by the culture that we're living in. By all the division, and all the strife, and all the anger, and all the identities stuff going on. You wanna pull back from all of that and say, 'I know what this book says but I can still walk in love with my brothers and sisters who don't quite believe like I believe'".
Next, you have the church of Thyatira, Revelation 2:20. This is about removing impurity from the church. I love this because it means consecration still matters, holiness still matters, how you live, it matters. It matters. God does care. God is involved. It does matter to him what decisions we make and how we live our life. And one of the best ways to explain what God is dealing with, he's dealing with primarily the Jezebel spirit. But it's kind of like someone that's sick. If someone is sick you create distance not because you don't love that person, not because you don't care for that person, but you have other people you care about. And you stay away from the sickness because if you get sick, you're maybe likely to get someone else sick.
So, the way that Revelation 2 talks of the church of Thyatira you probably are gonna have to distance yourself from people that say they love God but are living an impure lifestyle. You'll probably have to distance yourself from them in order to let them know that you love them, to give them space to repent is what the Bible says. That this Jezebel spirit, the Bible actually says, "Was given a time to repent. Was given a time to get it right". So, it's not that you cut 'em off and say, "They're out. They," but it's, you give them time to heal. You give them time to get right with God. Nonetheless, we have to know that God's word is accurate and what God's word call sin is sin, and our job is to remove that from our life.
Number five is Sardis. This is a message of zeal. Revelation 3:2, we need to renew our zeal. Renew our passion for God's house. You say, "Well, I'm not that zealous". Well, in finishing this point, you're zealous about not being zealous. Most of us need to renew our zeal for the things of God. I wanna go quick.
Number six, nothing negative is really written in this chapter to this church. It was primarily a message on respecting the word. Just holding fast to the word and then if you'll do it, you'll be a pillar. I cannot say this enough, I cannot say this enough, please, please, please this is not about 7 hills. This is not about this church. Respect the word. Love the word. Value the word. Cling to the word. Hold fast to the Word of God and you'll be a pillar in God's house.
Number seven, the church of Laodicea. This is a message on lukewarmness. There's really not much that God says good about this church, and it represents, for the most part, the American church. The Bible says that, "This is a rich church". And that, "They have need of nothing, not even God". And the Bible says, "He would rather us be cold or hot". Because if we're lukewarm the Bible says, "That church makes God vomit. Makes God throw up".
Now, this is not a rules letter written to us. This is a love letter written to us. And because of his great love for us he's given us this book. He's given us these messages so we can say, "In the end times, in the last days, they're certain things that I'mma have to get a hold of in her heart. The enemy is gonna do everything he can, but my job is to read and understand. My job is to listen and understand. And if so, in these end times, in these last days, no matter what's going on in the world I can trust that there's a promise that I'll endure and that the blessing of God will find its way to me no matter what's happening in the world around me".