Revelation 3:14-22

We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, and it is my great joy and pleasure to be leading us through the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation.

We're calling our study The Hope of Glory because that's where all of this is leading.

And we're very excited about this study and you joining us for it.

We're on the last of the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor.

Today we call that area Turkey, the country of Turkey.

And what an amazing combination of literary styles revelation is already proving itself to be.

It's apocalyptic means unveiling or revelation itself.

And so it's divine revelation.

It's God revealing to us things that we couldn't know on our own.

It's prophetic as well.

So apocalyptic literature, prophetic literature.

This is God saying, Thus saith the Lord, and either foretelling things that are to happen in the future or forthelling, speaking a word into a specific time period in a specific church.

And as we've been looking at these seven letters to these seven churches, we recognize and understand that there were indeed these historic churches in these seven cities.

And yet the message somehow or another transcends just their time and speaks to us as well.

So it's apocalyptic literature, it's prophetic literature, and it's also epistolary.

That means it's a letter, and the whole thing was meant to be circulated throughout the region there and across uh through across time throughout the church.

And so we're benefiting from it and all of its uh genres and literary styles that it contains.

Now the images are amazing.

Uh anybody who's taken any time with the book of Revelation uh can just be your mind, your mind can just be blown by the visual images and the metaphors that are at work here.

A series of symbols in action, uh, as one writer puts it, candlests symbolizing the churches, stars symbolizing the angels, there are thrones, trumpets, there are scrolls, seals, beasts, dragons, horsemen on horses, lakes of fire, and then ultimately there is this amazing scene in the last three chapters, which you can't wait to get to, of the new heavens and the new earth, where there won't be any sadness, there won't be any sickness, no viruses, yeah.

No sorrow, no despair, and no injustice.

Man.

Looking forward to that.

Because there, uh, when Jesus the Lamb is sitting on his throne in the new heavens and the new earth, justice will roll down like a mighty river, and the righteous Lamb of God will have established his throne permanently and completely as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Now, the revelation, this amazing book, is not meant to, as some would use it, make people worry or fret about the future.

Uh it's not a prophetic puzzle that we're supposed to piece together.

Um, it's not some kind of um numerical code that we're supposed to crack.

That's not it at all.

Over and over again, as we've broken it down into these seven different visions, and today we finish up with the first of the seven visions, chapters one through three.

What we find is that Jesus is being revealed to us more and more and more.

And it's the story, really, isn't it, of how all of God's purposes will one day uh be realized and people from every tribe and tongue and nation and people group will be joining together in a great chorus before the throne of God to worship him.

Now, some, just a little side road before we get started today, some have asked about the significance of some of the numbers in there.

And certainly the number seven uh recurs over and over again.

And so we've got here we are in the middle or toward the end of the seven letters to the seven churches, and Jesus is said to be walking among seven lampstands or candlest hands and holding seven stars.

So it is there some significance to that?

And um yes, a little bit, but not something we're supposed to fixate on, but it is at least interesting, as uh Kevin De Young, who's a Bible teacher and a pastor and a theologian, says seven's the number of completeness, especially in a spiritual sense.

So John writes to seven churches, real churches, as a representation of all churches.

So it's a completeness, if you will, of the message and the intended audience.

Uh Deoung goes on to say there are seven um spirits, seven judgments, seals, trumpets, bowls, seven lamps.

The phrase Lord God Almighty occurs seven times, as does the phrase the one who sits on the throne seven times.

The word Christ appears seven times.

Prophecy is mentioned seven times.

Peoples, tribes, languages, nations are mentioned seven times.

The Spirit or the Holy Spirit is mentioned seven times in relation to the seven churches, and another seven times in the rest of the book.

So the name Jesus, for instance, is used 14 times, which is two times you guessed it.

Yeah, seven, that's right.

And Christ is called the Lamb 28 times, which is four times.

That's right, you guessed it.

Thank you so much for helping me with that.

Four times seven.

So seven is everywhere.

Certainly seems to be the number of completion.

And uh one of the great reasons why this makes the perfect book to to sort of complete the canon, to, to uh close out uh the Bible, if you will.

And it has been called God's final word to us, which is really great.

Um, Jesus himself is being revealed, and uh as he comes and and and John the Apostle is is taking uh these messages from Christ to these churches, we do see uh pattern, common elements of the seven letters.

I'll put these up on the screen.

We've done it each week, but I'll remind you there's the city church name, the reference to Christ, the commendation of the church, the accusation against the church.

In a couple of cases, uh, these last two things I just mentioned may or may not be there.

There's no commendation, for instance, to the church uh here in Laodicea.

Um, there is also in most of the letters an exhortation to the church, a motivating promise uh to the church, or sometimes promises, and then a summons to hear and to heed.

And so this is really great.

Here's the map as well.

I'll throw that up there, reminding you that these seven churches did indeed exist in space-time history in a very specific region of geography, uh, Asia, as it was called uh back then, Asia Minor, it's often called, um, to the south of Bithynia.

And as you can see there along the Aegean Sea, which is the blue part of the map there.

So the pink and the red uh is the area that would be called Asia Minor back then.

And Ephesus was the first letter.

You can see it in yellow.

Each of the uh city names are in yellow, and so we've actually made the route.

It's a horseshoe-shaped route, and it was an old Roman postal route, as well as a lot of market was done there, a lot of trade was done along those old Roman roads.

Laodiceus sat about 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia.

You can see it there on the map in the Lycus Valley.

Near Hieropolis and Colossae, the city was established by the Seleucid king, uh, Antiochus II, sometime in the middle of the third century BC, and he named it after his wife.

Her name was, of course, Laodicea.

That's how they say it, not Laodicea, but Laodicea.

The city prospered immensely, not so much because of uh anything contained within it, but just like every real estate agent will tell you, uh, when you make a wise real estate purchase, the first three things you consider are location, location, location.

That's exactly right.

And that's why Laodicea prospered so much, had great um fertile ground for um uh the growing of their crops.

And uh it was actually known for three things uh in terms of its its sort of reputation, finance, fashion, and phrygian powder.

Yeah.

So finance, lots of banking went on in Laodicea.

Uh fashion, there was a massive textile industry because of the fact that they could grow you know cot all kinds of cotton.

They had sheep that could graze there, so they could they could harvest the wool, and there was a rare form of black wool that was quite uh quite popular in that time.

And uh, and so so you have these these two things, finance and fashion, that are at um at the center of the the sort of uh wealth of Laodicea, and also this Phrygian powder.

What's that you say?

Well, Phrygian powder uh was a world-renowned eye salve, like a you know, thing, the ointment that you put on your eyes, and supposedly had medicinal propos uh properties, and people would come from everywhere to get some of that, so it's quite popular.

Laodicea um had a history of having been devastated by an earthquake.

That whole region was given to earthquakes, but AD 60 in particular, the um the city was pretty well devastated.

But the fact that it was so wealthy, they turned down um the generous offer of the emperor to come and help them rebuild.

They didn't want to be beholden, is my guess.

Uh, but they uh also saw themselves as completely self-reliant, and so they paid for their own um, you know, uh uh sort of getting their buildings rebuilt and the rebuilding of their society, their culture, and their economy.

So, what do we see here as we look at this text?

Well, let's read it first, and then we'll come back and take a take note of these elements that we see in each of the letters.

It begins with the fact that, yes, it's to the angel of the church in Laodicea, and Jesus says to the Apostle John, here's what you're to write to that angel or that messenger.

And I'll remind you that that that that could be indeed an angelic being, a heavenly being.

Uh, it could also, though, as messengers, it could also mean uh sort of a reference to the leadership of that church.

Either way, it works.

The idea is this message needs to get to this church specifically.

And so what Jesus wants John to tell them is uh write this the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God says this.

Remember, he's always beginning by establishing uh not only who the letter is to, but who the letter is from.

And Jesus calling himself the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

There's three things right there, we'll explore in just a second, but that's that's really powerful.

Um he says, verse 15, I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot.

I would that you were cold or hot.

So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, interesting, he changed the pattern there, I will spit you out of my mouth.

And the word there for spit is vomit.

I will just spit you up, okay?

Because you say, and then this is the evidently the claim the Laodiceans were making, because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Interesting, all three of those things correspond to their the three things they were so proud of, you know, their finance, their fashion, their phryan powder.

I advise you to buy from me, Jesus says, and this is interesting too.

Buy from me, and he's got three things gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.

And the third thing is he says, Buy from me, I salve to anoint your eyes that you may see.

Wow, it's interesting.

How Jesus connects what he says to them to all of those conditions upon which their pro their pride stood.

Isn't that interesting the way he does that?

But then he says an interesting thing in verse 19 Those whom I love I reprove and discipline.

Be zealous therefore and repent.

And so we see that whenever the Lord reproves us, whenever the Lord disciplines us, what motivates him is not that his nerves are so afraid and he's so worn out, and he's we've exhausted him by our constant nagging, begging, and cajoling, but he's motivated by his love for us.

That's interesting thing to ponder, isn't it?

Yeah.

Well, verse 20 is probably the most famous verse in this chapter.

You've seen it, uh it's inspired many paintings, and it's this Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and will dine with him, and he with me.

Really beautiful, beautiful picture and image there, and you can see why it inspired so much.

21.

He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne.

Can you imagine sitting down right next to Jesus on his throne in the heavenly realm?

He who is King of Kings, he who is the lamb on the throne.

Imagine him saying, Come sit with me.

I mean, the real trivial version of that is the real hallmark, you know, sort of romantic.

When we sit on Santa Claus's lap, we go to the mall on Santa's lap, or when we climb up in the, you know, the lap of our mom or our dad or whatever it might be.

But here's the king of the universe, the Lord of Lords, the one who created everything out of nothing, and he's inviting you and me to, as we overcome, to sit on the throne with him.

Wow.

Just as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

Remember when Jesus died on the cross, rose again, walked with his disciples, you know, for those several weeks, and then ascended back on high and sat down at the right hand of the Father.

That was beautiful.

And to do that, to be that close to the Father, for us to be that close to Jesus, what an what a what a gift.

What a hope of glory.

Not vain glory, but what a hope of real, pure glory.

The way glory is supposed to be.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

And that closes out chapter three, and it closes out the seventh letter, the last letter of our seven letters in a row.

Now let's jump back.

We know that uh the church has been identified.

Let's look at these common elements in the letter again.

Uh, the church has been identified as Laodicea.

We've talked a little bit about that.

But what about the reference to Christ?

What does it mean that he's the Amen?

Well, the word literally means verily or truly.

And you remember in the gospel records, Jesus used to say it not once, but twice whenever he was going to say something really important.

He'd go, verily, verily, or truly, truly, or in some of your English translations, it's Amen, Amen.

And it's really all the same word.

What it means, it's as if Jesus is saying, Heads up, listen, this is really true.

You can count on this being true.

So Jesus is saying that he not only knows and has and points to the truth, but he is the Amen.

He is the truth.

And so it blows away all the confusion in the world, all the different messages, the cacophony of competing autobiographies, everybody wanting their own story to, you know, put it out front, and everybody to sort of, you know, make them the center, and we're all trying to make ourselves the center of the universe and all this sort of thing.

And he says, no, no, stop everything.

I am the Amen itself.

That's that's that's an amazing claim that he's made.

Um, the same thought is expressed by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:20.

2 Corinthians 1:20

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ.

And so through him, the Amen is spoken by us to the glory of God.

Isn't that awesome?

So there is a sense, brothers and sisters in Christ.

There's another sense in which every Christian is called to be a little Amen, you know, to have our lives so filled with Christ, you know, to have the life of Christ blossoming and blooming so much in us that when people look at us, they're stunned by the fact that there's this person at rest in the middle of a chaotic world and a confused world, a bankrupt, morally bankrupt world, there's this person that's different, that seems to be strangely at peace and at rest.

Wow, w what's why is that true?

And of course, the idea, Jesus said, is that they would see our good works, they would see our character, all of that, the fruit of the Spirit at work in our lives, and they would glorify God our Father who is in heaven.

Now he also says there that he's the faithful and true witness.

What does that mean?

Well, here again, a striking claim on the part of Jesus.

He was he was faithful and true as a witness.

That means he was faithful in suffering, and he was true to the message, to the content.

And that's so important for us as well, as little amends, as as a uh as a collection in the church.

Uh each local assembly.

Here's the village chapel, here's the village chapel, East Nashville, the village chapel, Hillsborough Village.

Here's here's our sister brother and sister churches around Nashville and around the world.

We're each to be sort of a collection, reflecting the glory and the character of the one, the the Amen.

And we're a collection of little amens going, Amen, Amen, Amen, yeah, and just doing exactly uh what Jesus would do if he were us, thinking the way he would think, seeing others, the way he would see others, being faithful and suffering, being true to God's mess message, his life, his teachings, his suffering and his resurrection prove these descriptive claims to have been both reasonable and accurate.

Now, what does it mean then?

The next thing he says there, he says three things about himself.

He also says he's the beginning of creation in the New American Standard, and your English Bible may have it as the ruler of creation.

Um and the idea here is that uh Jesus, as John himself, who's writing this, who's who's taking these words down and going to disseminate this, uh, he also wrote John's gospel.

And in the first chapter of John's Gospel, he says, in the beginning was the word.

And it mirrors, reflects, doesn't it, what we read in the very first book of the Bible.

The book of that we call Genesis, the book of beginnings.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And so Jesus was with God the Father in the beginning.

The Holy Spirit was there as well, we're told, in the book of Genesis.

So the triune God, altogether, part of this creation event.

And also, we would just say throughout Scripture, we see all three of them at work throughout the scripture, the meta-narrative and the, you know, as you run down from one book to the next, it's all pointing to Jesus, it's all pointing to this hope of glory that we have in Jesus.

That He is the origin source of the creation of the universe.

This is quite a conspicuous claim for anyone to make, and it would be completely outrageous.

If it weren't true, he would be a complete megalomaniac, deluded in every way if it weren't true.

But if it's true, we should take him seriously.

And everything that he says, everything that he does, all the promises that he makes.

If all of this is true, brothers and sisters, this is amazing.

Great news because of who it he is, who it is that's making this claim.

That is amazing.

Perhaps the one who could walk on water, perhaps the one who could break a little lunch pail full of food up and feed 5,000 people with it, perhaps the one who could raise three other people from the dead, as we have on record in the Gospels, and himself, of course, defeat death.

Perhaps the one who could heal every disease that came along his way and cast out demons controlling even the immaterial world, the spirit realm, if you will.

Perhaps he is indeed who he claims to be.

And I seek to persuade you he is.

Well, in the common elements of the seven letters, we also have the commendation of the church.

And what do we find here for Laodicea?

Well, frankly, we don't find anything.

Zip.

Zed.

Nada.

Nothing.

Nothing there at all.

Probably not a good sign for Laodicea.

Probably a very sobering letter when they got it and read it.

Remember when your mom used to say, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Well, this is Jesus literally doing that, okay?

He's not, he doesn't have a commendation for them.

Um they're so self-reliant, they're so deluded by thinking that they're self-sufficient, like a lot of people might even be today in our own day and tell.

I don't need that.

I don't need God, I don't need forgiveness, I don't need grace, I don't need mercy.

Yeah?

There are people that are literally that way in our world.

And along comes Jesus with this series of letters, and it's just a very stark difference in this letter that there's no commendation at all.

He says, I know your deeds.

He knows them intimately.

He knows his church.

But they're not without hope.

I want to say this because it's very important.

Because even the worst among us, the worst sinner among us, and you can think of probably lots of other people, uh, but if they're listening, they might be thinking of you, and they might be thinking of me for that matter.

But the worst among us, he can save.

And that's what's remarkable about the gospel.

And that's what's such good news for me about the gospel and for you as well.

How about the accusation against the church, as we see that on the list as well in the exhortation?

Well, the accusation, I want you to know, is motivated by his love for the church in Laodicea.

So when he leaves it blank there, when he leaves it silent, doesn't have a commendation for them, and they'll likely read all of the other six letters themselves.

This whole book, Revelation, will be, you know, passed around.

It'll be what they call an encyclical, and they'll all get to read what Jesus or yeah, what Jesus says through the Apostle John to each of the churches.

And so when they get to their own letter, they're going to be going, he didn't say anything good about what's going on.

And so as their ears open up, if they have ears to hear, what they'll hear is that Jesus, motivated by his love for them, seeks to awaken them to the sobriety of their condition, the dire sobriety.

You know, he wants, because he loves them, he wants to awaken them to what would be the best for them, what would be good for them.

In other words, Jesus always has our highest good in mind, even when he's saying something stern to us, or when he's disciplining us.

And he makes that very clear in this letter, doesn't he?

Whom he loves, he disciplines.

We receive the rebuke, the re you know, the the the the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

And we need to understand that's God saying, I love you.

I love you enough to tell you what you need to know, the truth about what you need to know, the truth about your condition right now.

They couldn't see that they were poor, blind, and naked.

They were spiritually impotent because they had become nominal, complacent, self-reliant, indifferent to the real issues of faith in Christ, and therefore ineffective disciples.

Lord have mercy on me, Lord have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on the church in the West, the church around the world, that we would not be so deluded and so self-reliant, and become poor like that, and become blinded like that, and become so vulnerable and naked like that, spiritually speaking.

They were neither hot nor cold, neither cold nor hot.

He says it both ways, and that's interesting, isn't it, because of where Laodicea sat.

I didn't tell you this before, but being near Hieropolis, Hieropolis, a city, you know, uh within a dozen miles or so, uh, really well known for its hot springs and the medicinal purposes of those hot springs, as well as the comforting nature of hot springs and all that sort of thing, just a little ways up the road, you know, Hieropolis.

But but also Colossae, not too far down the road, you know.

Um and indeed uh the Apostle Paul uh was at Colossae and started helped start a church there, wrote his wrote a letter to that church, mentions Laodicea in that letter, as a matter of fact.

And so, but but Colossae known for its its refreshing cold water.

And so here's Laodicea, and it's it's sort of not too far from where there's some hot water that's really being used in a great way medicinally and in a in a great way to comfort people as they just get a hot, warm bath.

And then there's Colossae just down the road.

And they had to, you know, they they had that refreshing cool water.

And what what Laodicea had to do was import this water because they weren't on a body of water, they had to import this water via aqueduct or piping of some kind.

But by the time it gets to Laodicea, whether it was hot or cold, by the time it gets to Laodicea, it's it's so vivid and real in illustration and appropriate in illustration, it becomes lukewarm.

So it's neither refreshingly cold nor medicinally hot.

Lukewarm is the kind of thing that would just make you nauseated.

And that's exactly what Jesus said he would do because they were neither hot nor cold, or cold nor hot, and lukewarm only in their faith, it would sicken, it would make him nauseated about him.

His reaction would be so disappointed that he would spit them out of his mouth.

John Stott says, Perhaps none of the seven letters is more appropriate to the church at the beginning of the 21st century than this.

It describes vividly the respectable, nominal, rather sentimental, skin-deep religiosity, which is so widespread today.

Our Christianity is flabby and anemic.

We appear to have taken a lukewarm bath of religion.

Oh that's a stern word, but I got news for you.

Uncle John loves us, he really does.

And uh he loves us enough to tell us the truth.

And I love you, Village Chapel.

I love you enough to tell you the truth, too.

When we study through books of the Bible like this, we come across a passage like this, it's important that we not just sweep it under the rug, that we take it to heart, that we listen up, see if any of that might be applying to us as individuals or as a church, either way.

We also have here an exhortation, as you can see from the list of common elements and a motivating promise.

The exhortation while their condition was dire, um, and their lukewarm spiritual condition had lulled them into this delusion of self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and all that sort of thing.

They become bland, uh impotent spiritually.

Um, they were financiers, they were uh physicians, and they were members of the fashion industry.

And it's so amazing that Jesus then says to him, Well, you're you're you're poor, you're you're blind, and you're naked.

And there they were with all that phrygian powder that was supposed to be so good, medicinal properties for people who had eye trouble, and yet Jesus calling them out.

You may be wealthy, you may have phrygian powder, and you may be a textile industry city, fashion industry city, but you really are not strong in any of the ways you think you are, certainly not in any of the ways you need to be.

And that's what Jesus calls them out.

And he says to them in verse 18, which is really interesting, he says, buy from me.

What you need to do, here's the exhortation is buy from me.

And I don't think that's to be taken in some, you know, we get so some of us get so literal.

Does that mean this is works instead of grace?

Or, you know, is this uh I thought you said grace was opposed to earning.

And well, grace is opposed to earning, and I don't think that's what he's saying here.

I think this is a literary device.

What he's saying is, you need a new source.

You need a new source for your water because it's all just lukewarm.

Um you need a new source for your wealth, for your sense of security.

And you should turn to me for that.

Buy from me three things gold, garments, and medicine.

And again, gold refined like fire, 1 Peter 1:7.

1 Peter 1:7

So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In the olden days, ancient times, the goldsmith used to put a bunch of gold ore that they got out of the mine, they put it in a big old vat, turn the heat up, and keep turning the heat up.

And as gold is a very, very heavy element, the gold as uh as the entire vat of ore and uh would would heat up and melt, the gold would sink to the bottom and the dross would float to the top, and the goldsmith would scoop off the dross and keep turning up the heat and keep scooping off the dross until the goldsmith could look down into the vat and see the pure gold, and in the pure gold, the goldsmith would know it's pure.

How?

His image reflected in the gold.

Same thing true with us that the image of Christ might be seen in us.

Medicine, uh, you know, this this medicine, this phrygian powder, just a good illustration of the fact that they needed to be their eyes needed to be opened spiritually.

And those white robes, I love that.

There they are on that textile and fashion industry city.

And you need white robes, you need the white robes that that that belong to the people of God.

The people who have been robed in the righteousness of Christ.

And we'll see this used again as an image.

Um, the motivating promise.

Um, there really are two.

Uh behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him.

Ah, I will eat with him and he with me.

And I know it's been the focus of a lot of evangelistic sermons before, paintings and books and things like that.

But don't miss this.

The eagerness of Jesus to dine with you and to dwell with us.

Do you understand what's happening here?

Okay.

We all, you know, try to, oh, this is, you know, this is a verse about this or about that or whatever.

And sometimes we miss the whole meaning behind the whole deal.

He he's standing at the door.

He he wants to come in.

Do you understand?

And to to your your room and the room of my heart as well, see?

And I've been a believer since I was five.

But he's still what he's still knocking at the he still wants to fellowship with me and to dine with me.

I love this book, Gentle and Lowly.

Uh, Dane Ortland has done such a great job.

He says Jesus isn't waiting for you to trigger his heart, he's already at the door, knocking, wanting to come into you.

Do you understand that, village chapel?

That's where he is right now.

Eager to come in and dine with you.

You see, I've been running the other way.

Well, I have too before.

But that's why all of life is repentance, and that's why Jesus calls the church at Laodicea to repent.

See?

And that's available to you.

That that gift of repentance is available to you and to me even now.

The other motivating promises to the one who overcomes, I'll grant him to sit on my throne.

We already talked about that a little bit, and uh uh, which is so such a beautiful and powerful image, isn't it?

The summons to hear and to heed is that last common element of this uh particular letter.

He was ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

Most of I'll say this for the last time now, most of us have two ears.

The question is, what are we doing with them?

Are they just for some place to hang our jewelry?

Are they just for a place to prop up our glasses and hold them up?

Or are we using these ears to hear?

Not only these acoustic listening ears, but the ears of our heart to hear from God.

I pray that you're, as we study verse by verse through these books, I pray that you're prayerful and the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, just as I pray he will speak to me.

JC Ryle.

It costs something to be a true Christian.

Let that never be forgotten.

To be a mere nominal Christian, to go to church is cheap and easy work, but to hear Christ's voice, to follow Christ, believe in Christ, confess Christ, requires much self-denial.

It will cost us our sins and our self-righteousness.

Gotta let both go, folks.

And our ease and our worldliness.

Are we ready to give all of that up for him?

The one who can give us the true riches that we really desire, where our soul flourishes.

Yeah.

We began this journey through the seven letters with the Apostle John as our guide.

Do you remember where he was in chapter one when Jesus began speaking and dictating these seven letters?

Do you remember where John was?

He had seen Christ in this first vision.

And what he did was in chapter one, it says, He actually, verse 17, fell at his feet as a dead man, and he then Jesus laid his right hand on him and he said something to him as as he led into these letters.

Jesus puts his right hand, that's sorry, right hand, puts his right hand on him and says, Don't be afraid.

You know, I've so many times tried to just imagine as I listened to him say, Do not be afraid, if I actually could come to the place of believing that when I'm anxious about the future or about the world around me and the chaos of the world around me.

And my anxiety is me just saying, I'm not sure God's gonna get this right.

And sometimes when I'm angry, I mean there are some things to be angry about in this world.

Righteous anger exists, that's true.

But sometimes anger starts to eat us up and it's the kudzu that covers us over and starts to choke our soul out.

And uh sometimes it's us getting to the point we're so angry, so obsessed with our anger, that we're just mad that God let this happen or didn't keep that from happening or hasn't made this happen.

We're just angry with God.

And here comes Jesus and says, Don't be afraid.

I've got this.

Revelation was not written so that you would be afraid and worried about the future.

Revelation was written so that you and I would fall at his feet in wonder and worship.

Um, this one who is the good shepherd, who has his right hand on us, who doesn't want us to be afraid.

Eugene Peterson says, for as long as we avoid recognition of our lostness, we are prevented from experiencing the elegant profundities of foundness.

That's right.

Well, if we were able to summarize the contents of these seven letters from Jesus to his churches, what might that look like?

What does Jesus think of his church?

What is Christ's desire for his church?

And how does Jesus see his church as it is being transformed?

You know, and the what's his vision for the church?

I'm gonna quote from pastor and Bible teacher Scotty Smith, who's actually gonna speak for us next week on chapter four and open up that whole second vision here.

Chapter four opens up with the the vision of the of heaven's throne.

And this is awesome.

I can't wait for Scotty to uh to open that, open that chapter up for us.

But here's uh what Scotty in his book Unveiled Hope, which is about the book of Revelation, says about the seven churches, the bride beautiful.

Jesus sees a passionate first love relationship with the Lord Jesus, which spills over into all other relationships.

See, that's what Ephesus needed.

Smyrna needed to become this church of glad willingness and preparedness to suffer for our bridegroom.

Pergamum, uh, to gain that growing knowledge of the truth of the gospel and a commitment to defend the faith once and for all, delivered unto the saints.

Diatira, oh, to have that purity of heart and holiness of lifestyle driven by love, empowered by grace, sardis, uh, to have an aliveness, awakened, you know, to an alive uh aliveness in Jesus, generated by his real presence in our midst and hearts.

And Philadelphia to have a commitment to follow Jesus into a life of other-centered living through evangelism, missions, and cultural impact.

And Scotty, great job on this one too.

Uh Laodicea to have an undivided, wholehearted allegiance to Jesus, which treasures communion with him more than the comforts of the world, more than anything else.

We were designed and created to be overflowed with wonder and to express our worship to Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Holy One.