So we're in our third week studying the book of Revelation.
What we've been saying, because perhaps you haven't been here the last few weeks, what we've been saying about this book that we can we can open up and read a verse out of Revelation and just be kind of blown away and not sure if we want to keep reading.
What we've been saying is some people treat this letter, it's a letter to seven churches, is what it is.
They treat it as a secret code and they kind of over-read it in that way.
And so they use any of the symbolism in there to kind of even like project onto it what they want to say.
And that way they over-read Revelation.
And then what we say is some other people react to that, the way that I've been throughout my life.
And I just won't kind of haven't ever won any part with it.
It was a really strange book of the Bible.
And I hear people making up all this stuff.
And I was like, eh, I'll just stay away from it.
And that way, some of us can under-read the book of Revelation.
And it's not an easy book because there's literal language and there's figurative language, there's metaphors, there's references to the Old Testament, there's symbolism, there's all this going on in it.
Here's what we do.
John was exiled to an island in the GNC, and he is writing this letter.
Some of it that's literal, some of it, he's having these visions, some crazy stuff that we're gonna make our way through.
He's writing it to seven churches.
Last week we spent time looking at four churches that Jesus is speaking, caring, correcting words to.
And then this week we have three churches left that Jesus is speaking, caring, correcting words to.
And so we're gonna read our way through this chapter.
I'll read a little, make a few points as we go.
Revelation 3, 1 through 3, we'll reread what Brad just read for us.
And to the angel of the church and Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
And remember that?
That's even referencing back to the first chapter.
This is Jesus, the image of Jesus holding seven stars.
Beautiful poetic language of Jesus holds these churches, these people that he loves.
Here's what Jesus says: I know your works.
You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Wake up and strengthen what remains is about to die.
For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Remember then what you have received and heard.
Keep it and repent.
If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
Now we have to remember, we can read that verse 3 and go, ooh, wow.
There's a couple of verses throughout this chapter where we can react to it pretty quickly, and we forget that Jesus is speaking to churches.
So some of this is to a church, not to an individual.
So here in verse 3, I personally don't think this is about God coming against a person or individual.
I think this is Jesus speaking to the division that's created between a church and God when that church refuses to root themselves in Jesus.
Now, we can personalize it a bit and say point number one is this our faith is expressed by ongoing repentance inside of God's care of us.
Now, what that means is we begin with God's care of us.
We begin with God's kindness.
God's kindness leads us to repentance.
So what that means is it means that shame doesn't lead us to repentance.
We don't have shame-motivated repentance, or faith for that matter.
We don't have shame in our faith, and we don't have to have shame in our repentance.
The more we come alive to the embrace of the Heavenly Father for us, his caring, that's the beginning point here, even the correction, the beginning point is caring.
The more we come alive to the Heavenly Father, the more joyfully we ongoingly repent.
We don't resist it.
In his kindness, we actually repent with sorrow for our mistakes, but we don't have to resist it because we're not in shame.
We fall back into Jesus' work for us.
This is actually what our faith looks like.
This is an expression of faith that births all the other fruit of our faith, like service.
Imagine verse number one.
Remember, this is a letter.
So imagine this letter showing up in your mailbox.
We always get excited to get letters, right?
You get excited, especially like a personalized letter versus like a bill or junk mail or whatever, but actually a letter.
Imagine that.
You get a letter and you break this thing open, and verse one is you, you know, you have a reputation of being alive.
Imagine that being the opening line.
You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Like that's the letter you get.
Like, thanks.
Thanks a lot.
Appreciate that.
And Palm Springs, uh, Frank Sinatra in the 1940s, he built a desert modern house.
Here's a picture of his house in Palm Springs.
If you look at it, the whole back of the house opens up to that backyard and that pool.
The pool's shaped like a piano, of course, Frank Sinatra.
Is it a beautiful house?
Beautiful house, amazing house.
You can walk in there.
All the furniture is original from the 1940s, it's immaculately held, preserved.
There's a master suite that opens out to that backyard and that pool, there's a kid's room.
You can go, you can go and tour that house.
You can walk around like snobby modern architecture people, and if you do, just talk about the clean lines.
You'll fit right in.
That's all you have to say.
If you're with snobby modern architecture, it's just a clean line.
Look at the clean lines.
That's all you have to say.
The place is renowned.
Like if you're like two of you are snobby modern architecture people, and you're like, I already know the house.
I've been there.
Yeah, we talked about the clean lines.
But it's a museum.
You walk around, it's a museum.
There's there's there's no life in it.
It's dead.
It's all reputation.
Now, last week I walked into one of your houses.
I won't say who, but it was my next door neighbor.
And I walked in the side door, because my children were over there, needed to get my children, bring them home.
I walk in, music's on, the husband's doing the dishes, the wife was getting the kids ready to go somewhere.
So right when I walk in, the smallest little small girl, she runs right up to me.
She looked me dead in the eyes, very serious, and she said, We don't talk about Bruno.
And she very forcefully.
She walked right off.
I think she fell.
Like as she walked away, I think she tripped and fell, and like a lot of people laughed, like all the other kids laughed, and she bounced back up.
Like, there's all this life, right?
Like, like all this life inside of that house.
See, Jesus says the inside of you should be alive.
Not like a museum with a reputation.
See, faith is an inside job.
We should be alive on the inside.
It's not behavioral to begin with, it's inside out.
And see, Sardis, this city, was a city of wealth and glory, but it had lost its power.
It no longer had power like it used to.
And Jesus was saying, You have a big reputation to this church.
You have a big reputation.
People think you're alive because you still look good, but actually, you are not alive as a church.
Because you do not ongoingly repent.
Because churches rest in Jesus, in his sufficiency.
They adore Jesus.
That's what churches do.
Verse 4.
Still talking to Sardis.
Yet, yet, you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
Say, well, how are they worthy?
How's this?
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.
I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Point number two is this we are secured by Jesus' faithfulness and righteousness for us.
That's how we're secured.
That's how our name's in that book.
That's why we're pillars of righteousness.
This week we saw some old friends of ours.
They've been married for a while at this point, but we knew them better and were around them a lot more when they were just engaged.
And when they were engaged, they came to us because of a mistake had been made.
And it was one of those romantic mistakes.
And they were devastated.
They were ashamed.
And they're engaged.
It's just a few months from their wedding.
They didn't know what to do.
One of those types of mistakes other people were probably gonna find out about soon.
And they just got it out of order.
And for her, in just a few months, she's gonna put on a white dress.
That symbolizes purity.
You know what I'm talking about?
Like, nobody makes it about the guy, do they?
Right?
Never a joke about the guy, just the woman.
And she was just particularly she was devastated.
Guilt and shame, just beating herself up relentlessly.
We had the privilege.
We had the privilege in that season of life.
They were already broken.
They already knew.
This is the kind of thing Jesus has correcting, guiding words on.
They already knew them.
They already knew those words, and they were already broken.
What they needed was the promise.
We just got to shower them with that promise.
It's in his kindness that we repent.
These correcting words come out of his care that he holds these seven churches.
I mean, really, who of any of us could really wear white?
I mean, if you if you really if you knew my heart.
Or if I knew yours.
I mean, who, any of us, any of us?
None of us.
And yet we have verse five.
And there's the promise for us, those who conquer, which means those who walk by grace through faith in Jesus, because he clothes us with the white garments.
And he promises to hold on to us.
That's how we conquer.
That's how we live lives of worthiness is outside of, or from the point that he clothes us.
Revelation 3, verse 7.
Second church, Philadelphia.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write the words of the Holy One, the true one.
It's a bit of reading here, let's just hang with me.
Who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens, I know your works.
Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.
I know that you have but little power.
And yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie, behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
So this church is given a really rough time by this group coming out of a synagogue.
This is what's going on here.
Most likely the church was meeting in the synagogue, because that's where churches met in those ancient times.
And then the church probably got kicked out of the synagogue.
When they got kicked out of the synagogue, it would have made them very exposed to Rome because inside of the synagogue they were protected.
Outside, they were not protected from Rome.
Because you, verse 10, because you have kept my word and about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
I am coming soon.
Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
Never shall he go out of it.
And I will write him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Now we could spend four weeks just in this passage.
But overarching here, point number three, hold on to Jesus inside of his hold of you.
We talk about that a lot.
That's how we hold on to him, is the fact that he's holding on to us.
This church in Philadelphia was threatened by this group of people out of this synagogue.
So they would have been afraid, uncertain, very anxious.
And Jesus says, You're going to conquer, you're going to make it through.
Stay true in faith.
Listen to all these phrases of Jesus.
You probably, you maybe didn't pick up on this.
It took me a couple times to reading through it until I picked up on it.
How many phrases of Jesus begin with, like what he will do for us?
Verse 8, I have before you an open door which no one is able to shut.
Verse 8, I know that you have little power.
Verse 9, I will make.
Verse 9, I will make them.
Verse 9, I have loved you.
Verse 10, I will keep you.
Verse 11, I am coming soon.
Verse 12, I will make him.
Verse 12, I will write on him.
The point here is the active agent.
And our relationship with God is Jesus toward us and Jesus upon us.
The text tells us he holds us.
Eternity is before them, but he's holding them.
And their names are secure.
Their security is not in their own work, it is in this Jesus that's toward them and upon them.
So the entire passage here is about undeserved favor.
Undeserved forever favor that we have in God's grace to us.
Verse 14.
And to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write the words of the Amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of God's creation.
And here Jesus speaks to them.
Verse 15 I know your works, you are neither cold nor hot.
Would that you were either cold or hot.
So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
For you say, I'm rich, I've prospered, and I need nothing.
Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
Those whom I love I reprove and discipline.
So be zealous and repent.
See, we see it again in verse 19, right?
Those who he loves.
So out of his care comes the correcting words.
Verse 15 and 16 again is Jesus speaking to this church, a word of consequence.
Same as verse 3.
And this church would have known about lukewarm water.
Laodicea was known for its useless lukewarm water.
Ten miles north was a city that had hot water.
Not hot water was good.
It was good for bathing.
It was good for medical purposes.
But they didn't have hot water in Laodicea.
Laodicea also didn't have cold water.
Cold water was found in the east.
About 10 miles to the east.
Cold water, perfect for drinking.
Hot and cold water meant everything back then.
But Laodicea as a church, they're like their city.
Just lukewarm water.
Just kind of useless.
And here's why.
Verse 17 tells us why.
Why?
Like what's going on in this church?
They're like this, they're useless.
What would that be?
Why?
Verse 17.
For you say, I am rich, I've prospered, and I need nothing.
Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
They don't understand that they are in need and they do need God's grace to them.
Here's the point coming straight out of this context.
Point number four: money and materials are resources.
Jesus is our treasure.
Now I don't love that truth.
Because my heart loves to treasure resources.
I love to use resources, I love to take joy in resources, I love to take security and resources.
I really believe on many days I would be happier and I would finally be okay as a human being if I had a, this is my dream, a three-bay garage.
Just to myself.
Maybe I let other people in every once in a while, but pretty much it's just to myself, like a layer, like a layer.
In bay number one, I would go and find my first truck.
1985 four-wheel drive Toyota truck.
I don't know where it's at, what junkyard, what Central American country it has ended up in, but I would go find it, bring it back, and restore it.
Bay number one.
Bay number two, I would get a fully restored 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser, FZJ 80.
Particularly in Hunter Green.
I've given this way too much thought.
Bay number three, I've talked about it before.
1973 Brittany Blue Ford Bronco.
Thank you.
I've done the math.
Okay?
I've done the math.
Just for the vehicles, we're at about a half million dollars.
Fully restored.
Okay?
I've I've sadly I actually even know the companies in the United States you can source these vehicles from.
That's how bad this is.
Just just a half million dollars.
You know, my family won't have a house, but I'll have three cars.
Right?
That's treasury.
Like, and then and then that I will use that when I don't feel like enough, right?
Or you feel like a failure.
It's like, well, I can go toy around with that dream for a little bit.
And we do it, right?
We do it with cars, we do it with shoes, we do it with crown molding, right?
Just you've done it because you have crown molding in every other room in the house, but you didn't have it in the living room yet.
And you kept looking at it, you thought, man, if we can get, like, babe, if we can do this, like if we can get crown molding in here.
Like, that's really it's gonna match the rest.
And man, that's really when I come home from work and or like our marriage isn't too good, that crown molding's really.
You know what I'm talking about, is we do that.
We do it, we treasure in that way.
It's weird how we do that.
Laodicea's money, our money, it's not the problem.
Crown molding's not the problem.
And maybe you're gonna get that, Brittany Blue, Ford Bronco.
I just want to go ahead and say this.
If you do, please invite me over because it's not the problem.
I want to I want to ride around in that with you, okay?
And maybe maybe you'll let me borrow it.
I just need to throw that out there when we're saying it.
Our money's not the problem.
It's the treasuring.
It's the treasuring of it.
It's the use of it for our heart issues, like enoughness and security, and forgiveness, and righteousness, and justification, self-worth, and peace.
And then here's what Jesus says.
Did you pick up on it?
Verse 18.
So kind, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich.
He's talking about an inner wealth.
Like an inner wealth inside of us that He can give us.
And white garments, so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen.
So he's talking about that sense in us that feels like we're not enough.
Shame.
That could be covered, that could be healed.
And to salve, and salve, to anoint your eyes, so you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.
So be zealous and repent.
Jesus is saying, Come to me for wealth of heart.
The rest is conditional, it's gonna rot.
Right?
Maybe you get the Britney Blue Ford Bronco, you have me over, we're gonna have a great time.
It's gonna put you to work.
It's gonna rust.
It's conditional.
It'll never love you back.
It won't love me back.
Because it's just a material.
And verse 18 brings us two astonishing promises, gospel promises to us.
Great symbols for us.
Currency.
That we have a better currency for our hearts than what this world offers.
That we can have that inner wealth of heart and the gospel and in the image of covering.
That we're covered, that part of us that feels like we're exposed and we're not enough, that I can be covered and healed.
Last few verses.
Verse 20.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne.
As I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
So the knock is primarily a knock of discipline and correcting care.
To his church.
And it's a promise of presence.
He wants to be with them.
He said, I want to come in, I want to be with you, I want to live with you, I want to reside in you.
We see this personalized with Zacchaeus in Luke 19.
Maybe you remember that story.
Zacchaeus is a tax collector, which means he would not have been favored by religious people.
He would not have been living a pure life when it came to living by the Torah, especially when it came to his home and his table, the food he ate.
Because they had all these rules about that.
And he wouldn't have cut those.
And in ancient times, that was the place.
The table was the place you showed your religiosity, faithfulness by how you ate and what you ate.
So it makes sense when Jesus starts to eat with all these people outside of the Jewish faith that the Jews are getting so upset that he eats with gluttons and sinners and drunkards.
And this Zacchaeus hears about this Jesus.
And he goes to find them when Jesus is in the area.
And Zacchaeus climbs a tree to see, just catch a glimpse.
Verse 5, Luke 19, verse 5.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.
So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
And when they saw it, they all grumbled.
All those religious folks.
Religious people, they only ate with the pure.
And Jesus starts to eat with this guy.
He wants to go be with him.
Eat at his table.
I mean, what a revolution of grace and love and redemption.
See Jesus toward him and upon him.
Jesus stands at the door and knocks.
He wants to come in and eat with you.
That's language saying he wants to come into the most intimate core places of your being, of your heart.
That place that feels like a failure.
You don't know what to do about it.
That's where he wants to come in.
Provide forgiveness and righteousness.
That place that feels like you're not doing enough.
You always need to do more.
He wants to come in and grant you peace.
That place that you just always think you need something more.
He wants to bring you inner wealth, or you're just not enough.
He has to provide you an identity secure in him.
See, it's there at that place, that table inside of you that Jesus wants to be with you.
That's the gospel Jesus toward us.
Just like these seven churches that he holds, he holds us.
Any correcting words you receive is from his care.
It's his care of you.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you for your grace and your truth.
That you bring correcting words to our lives, guiding words for our lives.
And it's inside of your care for us, and it's in your kindness we repent.
Thank you that you do not beat us down with shame unto submission, but you love us and woo us and welcome us, shower us because the cross is enough.
All of our sin has been put upon Jesus on the cross, and his righteousness is given to us, so we are forever the beloved.
Help our gaze to move off of ourselves what we want, what we think we need, how good we think we are, or how bad we think we are, and may our eyes and our hearts gaze upon you.
May we behold more of you.
May our hearts be opened up even more this morning to let you into those core, intimate places that you desire to come in and you desire to live and be with us as Savior and as friend.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.