{"id":18959,"date":"2018-08-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-011-asking-for-the-ancient-paths\/"},"modified":"2018-08-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-011-asking-for-the-ancient-paths","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-011-asking-for-the-ancient-paths\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 011 – Asking for the Ancient Paths"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18959","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 011 - Asking for the Ancient Paths","sermon_date":"20180819","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5982,"sermon_slides":5985,"sermon_mp3":5986,"sermon_id":"819181332534","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"2:23-29","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nAsk for the Ancient Paths\u00a0\u00a0 8-19-18\n\nRevelation 2:23-29\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 11\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0\u00a0 If we open our Bibles to the Book of Revelation chapter 2 and verse 23.\u00a0 The Title of our message this morning is Ask for the Ancient Paths.\u00a0\u00a0 We continue to move through the Book of Revelation, having launched the series a few months ago, we looked at sort of the background of the book in our first lesson together.\u00a0 We moved through the prologue which is a fancy way of saying introduction to the book, chapter 1, verses 1-8.\u00a0 And along the way we\u2019ve seen that the Book of Revelation is intentionally divided into three parts.\u00a0 John is told to write down the things that he had seen, the things that are and the things that will take place after these things.\n\nPart 1, the things that he had seen, the tremendous vision of the glorified Christ that John saw in chapter 1.\u00a0 Then he\u2019s told to write down the things that are and that\u2019s the section that we\u2019re in now.\u00a0 Seven letters to seven very real and struggling churches in the first century there in the Asia Minor area, an area today that we would call modern day Turkey.\u00a0 Spiritually today, in the 21st<\/sup> century probably one of the darkest places on planet earth.\u00a0 And yet 2,000 years ago that was once the home of seven very real churches that Jesus addresses.\u00a0 Each letter to each church has an outline to it that has eight elements.\u00a0 We\u2019ve talked about those eight elements and we\u2019re using that sort of as a template or a rubric, if you will, for\u00a0 understanding all of these letters to all of these churches.\n\nWe\u2019ve seen the words of Christ to Ephesus, the loveless church; the words of Christ to Smyrna, a persecuted church, the words of Christ to Pergamum, a compromised church, and last time I was with you, last Sunday, we were looking at the words to Thyatira, a corrupt church.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen, first of all, the destination of this letter, it\u2019s to the church at Thyatira, there\u2019s where it exists on the map.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen how Christ describes Himself to the church.\u00a0 In each letter to each church Jesus highlights imagery about Himself already revealed in chapter one, that relates to what each church is going through.\u00a0 Jesus describes Himself to this church as the Son of God, eyes like a flame of fire.\u00a0 Why He describes Himself that way will become obvious as we move into our verses this morning.\u00a0 And feet like burnished bronze.\n\nAnd then Jesus, as He does with each church in general points out what each church is doing well.\u00a0 He\u2019s done that with Thyatira in verse 19; he\u2019s highlighted her deeds, her love, her faith, her service, her perseverance, and that her deeds were actually increasing to the glory of God.\u00a0 But then in verse 20 comes a word of rebuke, they had tolerated something; they had opened the door to something.\u00a0 It\u2019s analogized to the teachings of Jezebel, a very wicked queen in Old Testament times that brought \u00a0unparallelled \u00a0idolatry into the northern kingdom.\u00a0 As much as Thyatira had going for it they had turned a blind eye to something, a blatant sin involving immorality and idolatry which was taking place in their very midst.\n\nAnd so, with all of these letters Christ gives a word of exhortation.\u00a0 He tells Thyatira and those connected to this Jezebelian doctrine to repent of their immorality, how He had actually given time for them to repent, and yet they had not done so.\u00a0 And thus Christ, beginning in verses 22-25 begins to describe the consequences for a lack of repentance in God\u2019s people.\u00a0 These consequences, we have noted, have nothing to do with eternal security; we teach the doctrine that once saved always saved.\u00a0 We are in the Father\u2019s hand, we are in the Son\u2019s hand, we, as God\u2019s people are in the double grip of grace and nothing can forever change that according to John 10:27-29.\u00a0 [John 10:27-29, \u201cMy sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; [28] and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. [29] \u201cMy Father, who has given them<\/em> to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them<\/em> out of the Father\u2019s hand.\u201d\n\nHowever, there are things that we do as God\u2019s people in the area of sin that can cause us to lose a lot of things of value, that don\u2019t necessarily relate to our one day arrival in heaven.\u00a0 There are things to lose as a Christian through disobedience; there are things to gain as a Christian through obedience.\u00a0 These are consequences that relate to heaven itself and these are the kinds of things that Jesus is articulating here for the church at Thyatira.\n\nNotice, if you will verse 23, and this is a touch place to start on Sunday morning, isn\u2019t it, verse 23, but that\u2019s where we left off last time, verse 22.\u00a0 [verse 22, \u201c\u201c\u2018Behold, I will throw her on a bed\u00a0of sickness,<\/em>\u00a0and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.\u201d]\u00a0 Verse 23 is not exactly what you would call seeker friendly teaching.\u00a0 Jesus says this, \u201c\u2018And I will kill her children\u201d now \u201cher\u201d is Jezebel and \u201cher children\u201d would be those influenced by her doctrine.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.\u201d\n\nNot notice this word, \u201cI will kill.\u201d\u00a0 What is that even talking about?\u00a0 I believe that this is talking about something that has been called by many \u201cmaximum divine discipline.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhom the Lord loves the Lord\u201d what? \u201cchastens.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 12:6, \u201cFor whom the Lord loves he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.\u201d]\u00a0 And many times that chastening can be of such a severe quality that an individual can forfeit their very life under the chastening hand of God.\n\n1 Corinthians 11:30 talks about this in Corinth.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cFor this reason\u201d drunkenness and disorderliness at the Lord\u2019s table, \u201cFor this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep,\u201d which is a euphemism or a polite way of saying God took some of you home early.\n\nOf course, we have an example of this with Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1-11, they lied to the Holy Spirit in that infant church and they were slain in the Spirit, meaning that God came in with maximum divine discipline and terminated their natural lifespans.\n\n[Acts 5:1-11, \u201cBut a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, [2] and kept back some<\/em> of the price for himself, with his wife\u2019s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles\u2019 feet. [3] But Peter said, \u201cAnanias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some<\/em> of the price of the land?\u00a0 [4] \u201cWhile it remained unsold,<\/em> did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.\u201d [5] And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. [6] The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.\u00a0 [7] Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. [8] And Peter responded to her, \u201cTell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?\u201d And she said, \u201cYes, that was the price.\u201d[9]<\/a>Then Peter said<\/em> to her, \u201cWhy is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.<\/em>\u201d [10] And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. [11] And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.\u201d]\n\nPeople say well, obviously Ananias and Sapphira were unbelievers.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so, because in verse 11 it sys \u201cgreat fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, why would the rest of the Christian church and world be afraid of what happened to an unbeliever?\u00a0 When they began to understand that God brought discipline to the point of death to a BELIEVER, that\u2019s what had a purifying effect on the infant church.\n\nAnd of course, this issue of maximum divine discipline, we need to be very careful with this because many people will take this to say that all Christians who are having health issues, and we heard many of them this morning, didn\u2019t we?\u00a0 Health scares, health issues, cancer related issues, doctor\u2019s appointments, I mean, are we saying that every single one of them is under maximum divine discipline?\u00a0 That would be a faulty conclusion from the Word of God.\n\nPaul himself, who was not under divine discipline, Galatians 4:13 suffered from frequent illnesses.\u00a0 [Galatians 4:13, \u201cbut you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time;\u201d] I\u2019m reminded of Job, Job who had all of those maladies come against him, including a skin condition, which was of such a severe quality that he had to break potsherds or pottery to scrape himself for some sort of alleviation.\u00a0 Are we saying that Job was under divine discipline?\u00a0 Not necessarily at all, in fact Job was a very righteous man.\u00a0 If there wasn\u2019t any sin in his life, he got up in the morning and offered the appropriate sacrifices and prayed to God that there would be no sin in the life of his children or his household.\n\nSo not every health issue that comes into a person\u2019s life is maximum divine discipline.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is we\u2019re living in a fallen world.\u00a0 The body itself has been cursed by original sin.\u00a0 God speaking to Adam and Even in Genesis 3:19 said, \u201cFor dust you are, and to\u201d what? \u201cdust you shall return.\u201d\u00a0 The fact of the matter is, unless we\u2019re the rapture generation, which I hope we are, I can\u2019t guarantee that, the mortality rate is still 100%.\u00a0 Death is going to get every single one of us because we live in a world that\u2019s groaning and crying out for redemption and renewal.\n\nSo, we should not assume that all diseases, all sicknesses are some sort of form of divine discipline.\u00a0 That was the error or Job\u2019s counsellors, so called (they weren\u2019t very good counsellors as far as I can tell).\u00a0 Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, they all said well Job, you must be in this condition because there\u2019s got to be some kind of sin in your life and if you would just confess that sin to God these problems would stop.\u00a0 What a simplistic way of looking at life.\u00a0 What a simplistic way of looking at the world.\n\nBut having said all that there are occasions, like here in Corinth or the church at Thyatira where God basically makes a determination after a grace window of repentance that the behavior is so outrageous that God actually moves in and terminates people\u2019s natural life spans, like He did Ananias and Sapphira and takes people home early.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here in verse 23 where He says, \u201cI will kill\u201d now look at this, \u201cher children.\u201d\u00a0 You say well what did the children do wrong?\u00a0 Well here I don\u2019t think it\u2019s talking about her physical children; I think it\u2019s talking about her spiritual children.\n\nJohn 8:44, Jesus said to the Pharisees, \u201cYou are of your father the devil,\u201d he\u2019s not saying there that Satan is the physical father of the Pharisees; he\u2019s saying he\u2019s become your spiritual father.\u00a0 You\u2019re in his spiritual lineage.\u00a0 And this maximum divine discipline was not only to come upon Jezebel herself but also those who had been influenced by her doctrine and her teaching, her disciples if\u00a0 you will, here spiritual lineage.\u00a0 \u00a0And it\u2019s very interesting what he says here, \u201cI will kill here children with pestilence,\u201d [Revelation 2:23] and I started to think about that, that\u2019s something that God uses quite a bit in the Bible.\n\nIn fact, back in Deuteronomy 28:21 there are blessings and curses in the Mosaic Covenant for the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And one of those curses would be the Lord will make pestilence cling to you.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 28:21, \u201cThe LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it.\u201d]\n\nAnd in that great end time invasion, Gog and Magog invasion in the last days, Ezekiel 38:22 describes God dealing with the aggressors with \u201cpestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him\u2026.\u201d [Ezekiel 38:22, \u201cWith pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.\u201d]\u00a0 Why is God dealing with such severity?\u00a0 You see the answer as you continue on in verse 23, look at what it says, \u201cand all the churches will know that I am He who searches minds and hearts.\u00a0 I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 2:23]\n\nThis maximum divine discipline is not just for those in Thyatira, it\u2019s for the rest of the churches to learn a lesson from this.\u00a0 In fact, when Ananias and Sapphira were slain in the Holy Spirit, and by the way, do we all understand that being \u201cslain in the Holy Spirit\u201d is not a good thing but a bad thing?\u00a0 I had many students of the charismatic variety that told me wow, how did your weekend go?\u00a0 It was a great weekend, I got slain in the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And I used to think well why are you still alive if you\u2019ve been slain in the Holy Spirit.\n\nBut when that slaying in the Holy Spirit happened, maximum divine discipline, it says, and I quoted the verse earlier, \u201cand great fear came over the whole church and all who heard of these things.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, what was happening in Thyatira would also be learned in Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea and every other church in the known world for that matter.\n\nGod says, \u201cI am He who searches hearts and minds.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 2:23]\u00a0 One of the things to understand about sin is sin has a contaminating influence.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of like yeast, the Apostle Paul says, Galatians 5:9 that works its way through a lump of dough.\u00a0\u00a0 [Galatians 5:9, \u201cA little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.\u201d]\u00a0 If it\u2019s not challenged and counteracted it begins to have a contagious influence.\u00a0 We grossly underestimate the power of sin.\u00a0 We think we can negotiate with it, we think we can overpower it, we think sometimes we can control it.\u00a0 And I think many times we ought to go back to Genesis 4:7 and learn what God said to Cain who was contemplating murdering his brother.\n\nHe said in Genesis 4:7 sin is desiring you, seeking to control you, but you must control it.\u00a0 [Genesis 4:7, \u201cIf you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.\u201d]\u00a0 Before it gets out of control and begins to dominate your life you\u2019ve got to get it under control and thankfully in the church age we have the resources in Christ, such as the Holy Spirit, the new nature, etc. by which we can say no to the sin nature.\u00a0 We sort of play this game of how close can we get before we go over the edge and pretty soon, if we\u2019re not careful we find ourselves in a situation that\u2019s unmanage\u00ad\u00adable because that\u2019s the nature of sin. \u00a0I mean, if sin weren\u2019t as bad as we think it is then\u00a0 why would Jesus have to come into the world to pay the\u00a0 ultimate price to deal once and for all with the sin problem.\u00a0 I mean, if it was really not that big of a deal why did Jesus do what He did in terms of being a blood sacrifice?\n\nAnd so Thyatira, you just haven\u2019t gotten this under control and if it\u2019s not under control in Thyatira pretty soon it\u2019s not going to be under control anywhere and so I am bringing maximum divine discipline so all the churches will know that I am He who searches minds and hearts.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:23, \u201c'And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus, early on in this letter, we saw it last week, Revelation 2:18, is described as the one who searches hearts and minds, He has eyes like a flame of fire, He is qualified to diagnose maladies within the church and the deal aggressively with those maladies because he is the one who knows, who sees, who perceives what is happening in churches and in our individual lives.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:18, \u201cAnd to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s interesting here at the end of verse 23 he says, \u201cI will give to each one of you according to your deeds.\u201d\u00a0 I think this subject of deeds or good works we sort of have a tendency as Protestant Christians to underplay because we all understand Ephesians 2:8-9, that we are not saved by good works but we\u2019ve saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:8-9, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;\u00a0 [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d]\n\nSo somehow in our thinking we start to think well, the good deeds aren\u2019t important, they aren\u2019t significant.\u00a0 May I just say to you that in God deeds and works that He does through the believer are very significant.\u00a0 In fact, how many times have we seen this word \u201cdeeds\u201d or \u201cworks\u201d in these letters.\u00a0 He\u2019s very interested in their deeds.\u00a0 We, as Christians, are not saved by good deeds but we are saved unto good deeds, which God has determined in advance for us to accomplish.\u00a0\u00a0 Ephesians 2:10.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:10, \u201cFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.\u201d]\n\nIn fact, I thought of this verse as I was preparing, Paul speaks to the Christians and he says, \u201cFor we all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Well why is that necessary if I\u2019m saved and going to heaven?\u00a0 To evaluate our good deeds, not for salvation but for reward.\u00a0 \u201cFor we all must appear\u201d Paul ways \u201cwe,\u201d that would include himself, \u201cand Paul, you\u2019ll notice when you study him he uses this future judgment of rewards as a motivational tool for himself.\u00a0 [ \u201cFor we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.\u201d 2 Corinthians 5:10]\n\nHe says in 1 Corinthians 9, I beat my body lest I preach to others I might be disqualified for the prize, speaking of the doctrine of rewards.\u00a0 \u00a0[1 Corinthians 9:27, \u201cbut I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0This is very big in his thinking, \u201cFor we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,\u201d notice the word \u201cmust,\u201d this is mandatory, \u201cso that each one may be recompensed for his\u201d what? \u201cdeeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 5:10, \u201cFor we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.\u201d]\n\nThere\u2019s a reward and there\u2019s a loss of reward for the Christian in heaven who is not saved by good works but is saved for the purpose unto good works.\u00a0 And you say well, I don\u2019t really see in my personal life a lot of deeds or works as a Christian, what\u2019s the problem, do I need to make my flesh try harder?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice in verse 23 that there\u2019s an answer to that question because he mentions first of all, \u201cI am he who searches hearts and minds\u201d and then he says, I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 2:23, \u201c\u2026 and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.\u201d\n\nIn other words, what is happening in the heart and the mind dictates what we do.\u00a0 I found this little ditty here recently as I was preparing.\u00a0 It says, \u201cWhatever is in your heart determines what you say.\u201d\u00a0 And this 2 x 2 slab of mucous membrane between our gums, called the tongue, gets out of control at times, doesn\u2019t it.\u00a0 And we say Lord, give me tongue control and the reality of the situation is we don\u2019t need tongue control, we need heart control.\u00a0 We need mind control or mind discipline.\u00a0 In other words, what\u2019s coming out of the mouth is simply a reflection of what is already happening in the mind and the heart.\n\nJesus spoke about this, did He not.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFor the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.\u201d\u00a0 If anger and cynicism and sarcasm and anxiety are the things constantly spilling out of my mouth as a Christian then maybe those are things that have taken root in my heart and my mind and my soul.\u00a0 And I have to go to God with those things and submit them to Him and ask for Him to change me and as goodness and graciousness and thanksgiving fill the heart, isn\u2019t it interesting how the speech or the deeds change.\u00a0 You can tell an awful lot about people just by letting them talk.\u00a0 You begin to see exactly what\u2019s happening already in the heart, and as Christians we ought to be people of such gratitude towards God for what He has done that what should be normative, not perfect but normative out of our mouths and it should be praise and edification and uplifting and building up rather than perpetual cynicism and doubt and self-centeredness because our hearts should be filled with the things of God.\n\nHe goes on in verse 24 and he begins to describe the consequences to a greater extent.\u00a0 He says, \u201c\u2018But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them\u2014I place no other burden on you.\u201d\u00a0 There were those within the Thyatira church that were following the Jezebelian teaching, but there were others that were not.\u00a0 So, Christ is very clear here in verse 24 that the consequence will not impact those who do not hold to Jezebel\u2019s teaching.\u00a0 In fact, he says of that group within Thyatira, I don\u2019t know if they were a majority, I don\u2019t know if they were a minority, but there were some in that church that wouldn\u2019t compromise.\u00a0 Christ is very clear, \u201cno other burden on you.\u201d\u00a0 This consequence only relates to those following Jezebel.\n\nAnd it\u2019s very interesting here that he describes the teachings of Jezebel as the self-called, verse 24, \u201cdeep things of Satan.\u201d\u00a0 The word for \u201cdeep\u201d here is the Greek word [can't understand word] and let me tell you something, Satan has teachings; Satan has doctrines.\u00a0 You get into the occult, you get into the kingdom of the cults, you get into the teachings, for example, of Mormonism, they\u2019re very deeply into that, the teachings of Islam.\u00a0 Any false religion has a quality to it where you can go deep into those teachings.\n\n1 Timothy 4:1 talks about in the last days some will depart from the faith, and will follow doctrines of demons.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 4:1, \u201cBut the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,\u201d] What does the word \u201cdoctrine\u201d mean?\u00a0 It just means a teaching.\u00a0 Here at Sugar Land Bible Church we have a doctrinal statement, we have teachings that we promote because they come from the Scripture.\u00a0 Well, the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of the demonic, they have doctrinal statements too.\u00a0 They have their systematic theology text books just like we do.\u00a0 And we have the capacity, separated from God, to go deep into those teachings.\u00a0 A lot of people spend their whole lives deep into the teachings of the underworld.\n\nBut it\u2019s very interesting what Jesus said.\u00a0 He said they\u2019re teachings of death are so-called deep meaning they\u2019re not really deep at all.\u00a0 They have the illusion of depth.\u00a0 Just like in Revelation 2:2 He says you\u2019ve got people in your midst in Ephesus that are so-called apostles.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:2, \u201cI know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false.\u201d]\u00a0 In other words, they weren\u2019t really apostles at all.\u00a0 And Jesus here is using this expression \u201cso-called\u201d in fact, of Jezebel, she\u2019s a \u201cso-called\u201d prophetess, verse 20, but she\u2019s really not a prophetess.\u00a0 He uses the same idea here, these are teachings that people think they\u2019re going deep into but they\u2019re depth is \u201cso-called\u201d depth.\n\nIn other words, what he\u2019s saying is this is an artificial substitute.\u00a0 And what a glorious thing it is to discover Jesus Christ and to come out of those systems and renounce them and instead exchange them for true depth which can only be found in Christ.\u00a0 What a joy it is to come out of an artificial substitute and embrace the real thing.\u00a0 In fact, when Paul was involved in planting many of these churches, back in Acts 19:19 it describes the wholesale conversion of many people in Ephesus.\u00a0 And it says, \u201cAnd many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver,\u201d which in that day was a lot of money.\u00a0 They had invested themselves in these occultic practices; today we would call them palm readings, weegie boards, tarot cards, horoscope, false holy books, and they found Christ and Christ revealed Himself to them and as they began to grow in their new-found relationship with Christ they took all the paraphernalia and they just got rid of it.\u00a0 The fastest way to get rid of it is to burn it.\n\nI don\u2019t know why a Christian would need or want anything like this in his or her apartment, his or her house, on his or her computer, or I-phone, or I-pad, the biblical pattern is just to get it out of your life.\u00a0 It\u2019s not there to do anything other than to drag you away from Christ. And if you want to go deep into something go deep into Jesus Christ.\u00a0 This word \u201cdepth\u201d is also used to describe the depth that\u2019s available in the person of Christ.\u00a0 Ephesians 3:18, \u201cmay be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,\u201d you want depth, Jesus is available.\n\n1 Corinthians 2:10 says, \u201cFor to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths\u201d that\u2019s the same word, \u201cthe depth of God.\u201d\u00a0 One of the things that has always impressed me about the Bible is the Bible is simple enough for a child to understand and yet simultaneously it is deep enough for a theologian to drown in.\u00a0 God communicates so simply because He desires that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 2:4, \u201cwho desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.\u201d\n\nThe teachings of the Bible are not complex, they\u2019re very simple.\u00a0 This is why the little children gravitated towards Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And yet at the same time you can get into certain doctrines of the Bible and you can get beneath the surface and you can begin to plunge the depths of those things.\u00a0 Why wouldn\u2019t we be able to do that when Colossians 2:3 says, of Jesus Christ, \u201cin whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.\u201d\u00a0 You could spend your whole life trying to navigate the things of God and discover that you\u2019ve just barely scratched the surface.\u00a0 That\u2019s the nature of omniscience and an omniscient God.\n\nYou Thyatirans, you\u2019re foolish by trafficking as you are in false religion thinking that\u2019s going to somehow give you depth; it\u2019s so-called depth, it\u2019s an artificial substitute; renounce it, it has nothing to offer you.\u00a0 It certainly has nothing that could edify you and build you up.\u00a0 Go to Christ and that\u2019s where you\u2019re going to find depth.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice, verse 25 as he continues to speak to this remnant that had not embraced these so-called false teachings.\u00a0 Look at verse 25, \u201cNevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.\u201d What does He tell the folks within the church that hadn\u2019t compromised?\u00a0 What does He tell them to do.\u00a0 Does He give them a whole list of new do\u2019s and don\u2019ts?\u00a0 Does He give them a new spiritual maze to go through?\u00a0 He just says \u201chold fast\u201d to what you have.\u00a0 In other words, do what you already know is right.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of the Book of 2 Peter where it constantly says remember.\u00a0 In fact, I like to think of\u00a0\u00a0 2 Peter as a finger, your index finger, you tie a string around it to remember something, when I leave the house tomorrow I want to remember such and such and you tie something around your finger to remember it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s all 2 Peter is doing: \u201cremember,\u201d not giving them brand new truth, a new complex set of ideas, just do what you already know to be true.\n\nAnd this really takes all the pressure out of ministry when you think about it.\u00a0 I used to think very early on in my ministry that I had to teach something new every week.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is the majority of people you\u2019re preaching to probably can\u2019t even remember what you said last week.\u00a0 Do people really need something new?\n\nDr. Toussaint, when he was teaching through 2 Peter, when I had him as one of my professors at Dallas Seminary, he said look at how it emphasizes just to remember.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to come up with something new, all you need to do is to exhort people to do what they already know to do.\u00a0 Most people I would say know already what they\u2019re supposed to do; just exhort them in what they already know.\u00a0 Just cause them to remember!\u00a0 We put pressure on ourselves that we need not do. What many of us need to do is simply to be encouraged or exhorted in what we already know.\u00a0 I\u2019m reminded of Jeremiah 6 and verse 16, where I got the title of this particular sermon.\u00a0 Jeremiah says, \u201cThus says the LORD, \u2018Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And there you will find rest for your souls.\u201d\u00a0 Do you want rest?\u00a0 Do you want invigoration?\u00a0 Do you want nourishment?\u00a0 Do you want encouragement?\u00a0 Do you want victory?\u00a0 Then just go back to what you already know to do that\u2019s right.\u00a0 Hold fast, no set of complex spiritual criteria imposed on these non-compromisers.\u00a0 Just do what you know to be true.\n\nAnd yet today what you have with people is they constantly want to hear something new.\u00a0 Let me ask you a question: what is there to really say that hasn\u2019t already been said?\u00a0 By my way of thinking what\u2019s new is not true and what\u2019s true is probably not new.\u00a0 The Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 1 and verse 9 says, \u201cSo there is nothing new under the sun.\u201d\u00a0 Do people need something new?\u00a0 They really don\u2019t, they need to be directed back to that ancient path, the path that\u2019s well-trodden, that\u2019s well-served its purpose for multiple generations and just go back and walk in that path.\n\nBut what did the folks in Jeremiah\u2019s, the Book of Jeremiah, say? Jeremiah 6:16, when they were told to seek for the ancient past, they said, \u201cWe will not walk in it.\u201d\u00a0 [Jeremiah 6:16, Thus says the LORD, \u2018Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 We\u2019re tired of the old way.\u00a0 It\u2019s not sophisticated enough.\u00a0 It\u2019s not complicated enough, it doesn\u2019t appeal to my sense of pride enough, I want to devise my own spirituality.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of Acts 17:21, the Mars Hill crowd.\u00a0 It says this: \u201c(Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)\u201d\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t new it wasn\u2019t exciting enough, there was no audience for it and so they just craved with itching ears something new.\u00a0 And yet what is the Bible saying?\u00a0 Seek the ancient paths, walk the ancient paths, be satisfied with the ancient paths.\n\nThis is one of the reasons I never really fit in well with the world of evangelical academic scholarship.\u00a0 Part of the reason is in evangelical academic scholarship they told me when I got to the dissertation phase of my academic career they said you need to write a dissertation, and I said what\u2019s that.\u00a0 And they said you need to come up with something new, you need to contribute to the conversation, you need some fresh insights.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s a problem with that because I really don\u2019t have any fresh insights.\u00a0 All I know is what God has already said for the last 2,000 years, all the way back to the time of Moses 3,500 years ago.\u00a0 I mean, what is there to say that hasn\u2019t already been said.\u00a0 What is there to say that\u2019s of a new quality.\u00a0 But I was able to graduate because I decided to react to somebody else who thought he was coming up with something new.\u00a0 So because he thought he was coming up with something new and I was responding to what he thought was new they said you\u2019re coming up with something new so that passes.\u00a0 So welcome to evangelical scholarship.\n\nYou know, may we not be like the Athenians where we always think that\u2026 our ears are always itching.\u00a0 You know, whole ministries revolve around this today.\u00a0 Give me some new insight about some hidden part of the Bible or this or that.\u00a0 Some people are going around [can't understand word] for probably twenty years, some kind of hidden mystery code in the Bible.\u00a0 But the Bible reveals all of these things that you don\u2019t find in the Bible and you say well, I don\u2019t find that in the Bible.\u00a0 They say you\u2019re reading the Bible wrong, you need to skip every other word and if you skip every other word you\u2019ll see a hidden message, and then when you skip every other word and it doesn\u2019t work out they say well, you\u2019re reading in the wrong direction, you need to read backwards, skipping every other word and if you do that you\u2019ll see what I\u2019m talking about. \u00a0\u00a0I mean, skipping every other word in the Bible\u2026 I\u2019m having a hard enough time trying to understand what the Bible says, I don\u2019t need something new, I don\u2019t need something novel.\u00a0 What I need is to go back to the ancient past and to find it and to walk in it.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice as we move into verses 26-28 he gives promises to overcomers.\u00a0 Take a look at verse 26, look at what he says.\u00a0 \u201cHe who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end,\u201d now one of the things we talked about is the overcomers.\u00a0 We believe in Revelation 2 and 3 is a synonym for all Christians; all Christians are overcomers, so these are prophecies that typically come from the last two chapters, in this case the last three chapters, designed to encourage us in the present because no matter what struggles we\u2019re having today we\u2019re on the winning side of history.\n\nSee, like becomes bearable, life becomes livable if you know the final outcome.\u00a0 The final outcome is we win.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because there\u2019s something great within us?\u00a0 No, because of the One we are yoked to, united to, by way of faith.\n\nBut one of the things that\u2019s very interesting if you look very carefully at verse 26 he says, \u201cHe who overcomes,\u201d which would be a believer, and then he says, \u201cand he who keeps My deeds until the end,\u201d so now he is adding another clause there related to our deeds which would relate not to salvation but to reward.\u00a0 And I believe he is speaking here of, first of all, rewards or privileges I should say, that will come to all Christians.\u00a0 All Christians are going to experience these privileges, however, some will experience them to a finer degree, or a greater degree than others because some, within Thyatira, had fallen into false teaching and false doctrine.\u00a0 Others hadn\u2019t.\u00a0 All the believers will arrive in heaven; all the believers will experience these privileges, however, as I\u2019ll show you in just a moment some will experience them at a higher level than others.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s why he adds that little clause in verse 26, \u201cto the overcomers\u201d which would be the believers \u201cand he who keeps My words until the end.\u201d\u00a0 He is dealing with privileges to all but there\u2019s a greater quality to it to the believer that perseveres under God\u2019s grace.\n\nAnd what He promises are two things: the first is given in verses 26 and 27, the second one is given in verse 28.\u00a0 What is promised here?\u00a0 Authority over the nations.\u00a0 Look at what he says there in verse 26, \u201cHe who overcomes and keeps My deeds till the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; Verse 27, \u201cAND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority<\/em> from My Father;\u201d you\u2019ll notice that this, depending on what Bible translation\u00a0 you are using is in quotation marks.\u00a0 Some of your Bible translations have it in caps, all capitalized letters, which means he\u2019s quoting from the Old Testament here.\u00a0 And I believe the section of the Bible that he\u2019s quoting from is Psalm 2:9, one of our great Messianic prophecies in the Bible about He, Jesus, \u201cshall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'\u201d\u00a0 And in fact this is how Jesus is described in the Book of Revelation, He is the conquering King.\n\nHe\u2019s coming back to this world, not to be born in a manger this time around, not to be trodden down and mistreated by the various inhabitants and kings of the earth, not to be rushed through the judicial system so a great judicial mockery can take place where the Hebrews of that time period rushed them through the judicial system to kill Him, mistreated Him, mocked Him by striking Him with their fists saying which one of us hit\u00a0 you, thrusting the spear into His side, beating Him on the back with 39 lashes.\n\nSee, all of that is a thing of the past when Jesus comes back.\u00a0 He\u2019s coming back in fulfillment of Psalm 2:9. [Psalm 2:9, \u201c'You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall shatter them like earthenware.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Revelation 12:5 speaks of this same posture when it says, \u201cHe is a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.\u00a0 And it\u2019s authority that He will receive over the earth from His Father.\u00a0 And guess what Jesus is going to do with that authority?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to share it with us, and so you, as a Christian, will be in a position to exercise authority over the nations of the earth, not because Jesus needs our help, but it\u2019s part of the privileges of the child of God.\n\nI don\u2019t know how to get this idea across any clearer than I can say it as follows:\u00a0 We are destined as God\u2019s people for authority.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well, you don\u2019t understand, at my job I\u2019m mistreated.\u00a0 I\u2019m in a body that\u2019s breaking down.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is all that is just temporary.\u00a0 When Jesus comes back He will assert and exert His authority over planet earth and because you\u2019re His child you\u2019re right there ruling and reigning alongside of Him in delegated authority.\u00a0 We start to get a glimpse of this and isn\u2019t it interesting how the petty things of this world have a way of just sort of fading away into obscurity.\n\nThe Corinthians were so carnal that they were suing each other in front of pagan judges.\u00a0 And what does Paul say?\u00a0 \u201cDo you now know that we will judge the angels?\u00a0 How much more the things of this life?\u201d 1 Corinthians 6:3. You\u2019re all upset and uptight over these little skirmishes that take place amongst Christians; get your act together Corinthians, don\u2019t you know you\u2019re going to be sitting in judgment on the angels and you can\u2019t even put together or handle the minor issues of this life?\n\nBut I did say, going back to verse 26, that this is not just for the overcomer but it\u2019s also for the overcomer who keeps my deeds until the end.\u201d \u00a0I believe all Christians will rule and reign but some will have a greater degree of authority than others.\u00a0 Jesus, in Luke 19:17 says this: \u201cWell done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing you are to be in authority over ten cities.\u201d\u00a0 And then a verse or two later in verse 19, Luke 19:19, \u201c\u2018And he said to him also, \u2018And you are to be over five cities.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Can you imagine modern day educators dealing with that one?\u00a0 I thought everything was supposed to be fair.\u00a0 I thought everything was supposed to be equal; one guy gets five cities, one guy gets ten, where\u2019s the fairness in that God?\u00a0 It kind of shows me that God is not a socialist, like we think He is, a socialist being a very nice word for Marxist.\n\nGod rewards people based on their faithfulness to Him.\u00a0 There\u2019s a group in Thyatira that had succumbed to these teachings, if they were believers they\u2019re ruling and reigning but in a minimal sense.\u00a0 The non-compromisers are ruling and reigning in a greater sense.\n\nYou see, everything that\u2019s happening in your life right now, as a Christian, is preparatory for the authority that you\u2019re going to wield alongside Christ in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 As someone has called this life as merely training time for reigning time.\u00a0 Every trial, every setback, every heartache God has designed it in your life to prepare you for what He has just around the corner that you can\u2019t see, ruling and reigning under His delegated authority.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s my future a few problems come into my life,\u00a0 you know what\u2026\u00a0 under God\u2019s grace I can submit to those because God is using them to prepare us for the future.\n\nBut there\u2019s a second blessing that we have that goes right alongside with the song that we sang earlier, about our relationship to Christ; they will be given, verse 28, the morning star.\u00a0 Look at verse 28, second blessing, \u201cand I will give him the morning star.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now the Book of Revelation is self interpreting; you don\u2019t have to come up with some meaning of \u201cmorning star\u201d based on our sanctified imagination, just watch how the book itself interprets itself.\u00a0 You know who the morning star is.\u00a0 How do we know that?\u00a0 Because Revelation 22, the end of the book, verse 16, says, \u201cI, Jesus,\u201d so it\u2019s clearly speaking of Christ, \u201cI Jesus\u2026 the bright morning star.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 22:16, \u201cI Jesus have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.\u201d]\n\n2 Peter 1:19 also speaks of Jesus Christ as the \u201cmorning star.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSo, we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.\u201d\u00a0 Who is \u201cthe morning star\u201d?\u00a0 The \u201cmorning star\u201d is the greatest gift you could ever have; it\u2019s Jesus Christ Himself.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t we say earlier in Colossians 2:2-3 that, \u201care hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAll the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,\u201d what else is there to have besides Christ.\u00a0 I mean, you have Jesus you have the whole thing.\u00a0 And He\u2019s speaking of the time period when we, because sin won\u2019t be an issue, have unbroken fellowship with Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get any better, you can\u2019t get any higher than that.\u00a0 Jesus says I\u2019m going to give you Myself, not in sort of the darkened way you have it now because you walk in sin and easily we can break fellowship with Christ, not lose salvation but break fellowship with Christ.\n\nThink of a situation where you\u2019re walking with Jesus and you could never get out of fellowship with Him.\u00a0 And you have access to all the knowledge and treasures found in Him.\u00a0 \u201cWe have been blessed,\u201d Ephesians 1:3, \u201cwith every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re going to have authority and you\u2019re going to have an unbroken relationship with Christ Himself.\n\nNow why is Jesus Christ called the morning star?\u00a0 I found this explanation, actually that slide there shows you where He\u2019s called the morning star. Revelation 2:28, Revelation 22:16, 2 Peter 1:19. \u00a0[(2 Peter 1:19, \u201cSo we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.\u201d \u00a0Revelation 2:28, \u201cand I will give him the morning star.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 22:16, \u201cI, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.\u201d]\n\nBut I found this explanation here of why Christ is called the morning star, taken from Grant R. Jeffrey\u2019s Book, Apocalypse: The Coming Judgment of the Nations, <\/em>p. 83.\u00a0 He writes concerning this verse, \u201cChrist\u2019s final promise to the Overcomer is that \u2018I will give him the morning star.\u2019 Just as the morning star refers to Christ Himself, it also describes a star that appears just before dawn, while night still lingers. Like the morning star, Jesus will come for His bride, the church, without warning before commencing the great and terrible Day of the Lord.\u201d\n\nI love it!\u00a0 Before morning breaks there\u2019s a precursor to it of this morning star showing up at the darkest time of history.\u00a0 We look at the world and we say wow, it\u2019s getting pretty dark.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t we say all right, it\u2019s getting dark!\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s getting pitch black which means this is the perfect time for the morning star to show up.\u00a0 The fact of the matter, beloved, is things in this world are not falling apart; they\u2019re falling into place.\u00a0 There is a black dark spiritual tapestry across our world today which means I can\u2019t think of a better environment than for the morning star to arrive, take His church into the Father\u2019s house, out of this world, before the great and terrible day of the Lord, which we will be reading about in the Book of Revelation.\n\nThis letter to Thyatira concludes, as all of these letters do, with an exhortation to listen.\u00a0 Look, if you will, at verse 29, \u201cHe who has an ear,\u201d very familiar, \u201clet him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u201d\u00a0 As we\u2019ve talked about one of the most ancient commands that God gave to the nation of Israel is to listen, to just listen and receive and stop being so busy and running around and putting out fires all the time, which most of our lives are like that, it\u2019s part of living in a fallen world.\u00a0 But just to have a moment of just listening to the eternal Word of God.\n\nDeuteronomy 6:4, \u201cHear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!\u201d It\u2019s hard to listen.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t like to listen to be honest with you.\u00a0 I guess that\u2019s why I chose an occupation where I could do the most talking.\u00a0 [Laughter] But the fact of the matter is it\u2019s in the place of listening to God that we hear the voice of God, we hear the Word of God, we receive the sustenance for our souls that we so desperately need.\n\nIt reminds me of the Book of James, James 1:19-21, \u201cThis<\/em> you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and<\/em> slow to anger;\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve told you before that I hate that verse because it\u2019s the opposite of how I am, I want to talk fast and listen less regularly and I want to get angry fast.\u00a0 But verse 20 says, \u201cfor the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.\u201d\u00a0 Where is all this anger that we channel?\u00a0 Where is it all going to end anyway?\u00a0 It\u2019s not achieving anything.\u00a0 [21], \u201cTherefore, putting aside all filthiness and all<\/em> that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.\u201d\u00a0 Simply be in a place of humility and dependence and listen to the voice of God.\u00a0 God can speak many, many ways.\u00a0 He can speak through private Bible reading.\u00a0 He can speak through sermons, I hope and pray He does some of that here today.\u00a0 He can speak through teaching.\u00a0 He can speak through Spirit filled, Spirit led conversations where you take your advice to someone who knows the Word of God and knows how to apply the Word of God to your circumstances.\n\nAnd rather than always putting our hand up and asking a question to God and asserting ourselves maybe it\u2019s just time to listen.\u00a0 But sometimes listening involves silence, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 In fact, I found this little ditty this week also.\u00a0 LISTEN and SILENT are spelled with the same letters.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 So may God help us here at Sugar Land Bible Church to simply listen to the Word of God, receive from God what He might say as we seek for that ancient path, that well-trodden path and walk therein.\n\nOf course, you could be here today for the very first time; you may have never received Jesus Christ by way of faith as your personal Lord and Savior.\u00a0 Jesus, when He died on that cross was thinking about you as a person.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t just thinking about the world as a whole, He was thinking about you as a person and as an individual. And I believe if Jesus had died on that cross and you were the only person on planet earth He still would have died on that cross.\u00a0 That\u2019s how badly He desires a personal relationship with you.\u00a0 And you can enter into that personal relationship with God, which is what life is all about.\u00a0 A person is really not complete without God through Christ in their life.\n\nAnd how do you enter into that relationship with God?\u00a0 You can\u2019t on your own terms, that\u2019s what the Bible teaches.\u00a0 Sin erects that wall, that barrier, that border between fallen humanity and God which cannot be bridged other than what Jesus did for us.\u00a0 Jesus stepped out of eternity into time, He bore the wrath of God in our place for sins that we could never compensate for.\u00a0 He bridged the gap between God and man which man has no ability to bridge on his own.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say climb up to God; what He says is God has reached down to humanity through the person of Jesus Christ and what He did through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.\u00a0 And He asks humanity to simply receive what He has done as a gift.\n\nAnd there\u2019s only one way to receive a gift from God; it\u2019s by faith.\u00a0 Hebrews 11:6 says, \u201cWithout faith it is\u201d what? \u201cimpossible to please God.\u00a0 Faith is another way of saying trust; it\u2019s another way of saying reliance, dependence.\u00a0 The Spirit of God convicts a person of their need to trust in Christ and in the quietness of their own mind and heart they simply rest on that promise.\u00a0 They don\u2019t join a church to get the promise, they don\u2019t give money to get the promise, they don\u2019t do a bunch of good works to get the promise, they simply receive it by faith.\u00a0 It\u2019s not even necessary to walk an aisle, join a church or any other such thing to receive it; it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust in Him and His sufficiency and what He\u2019s done for you.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s something that you\u2019re doing then on the authority of the Word of God, right now as I\u2019m speaking you\u2019re changing your eternal destiny.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful today having completed Revelation 2, looking very much forward to next week, Revelation 3:1-6 where we\u2019ll learn of the church at Sardis and like the church at Thyatira help us, Father, to take these ancient principles, apply them to our lives as we walk before You as Your people this week.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t