Two Messages from Christ to Every Church and Every Believer (Part 13 - The Book of Revelation)

Revelation 3:21 — 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. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

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I read an article recently that gave five myths Christians believe about the book of Revelation. These are myths.

1. The Book of Revelation is the Revelation of John

2. All of the Book of Revelation Should Be Interpreted Literally

3. 666 is the Devil’s Number

4. The Book is a Secret Code That Tells Us the Date of Jesus’ Return

5. There is No Hope in the Book of Revelation

If you hold to one of these myths, please discard it immediately … in the trash. We have already debunked four of the five in the first 12 sermons in this series. We’ll get to the number 666 in due time.

When most people think of the Book of Revelation, they never associate the contents of this book with the subject of the local church. Would you have before this sermon series?  Do you now?

I know there are Christians who do not attend and commit to a local church. There are many reasons, some of which are personal. But is that biblical? Sure, there are dead churches, legalistic churches, money-hungry churches, unscriptural churches, churches that teach and believe false doctrines and strange things. There are churches that lack compassion and care. But Christ Jesus has churches that are true to Him.  In some communities, they may be hard to find, but they exist. And every Christian needs … NEEDS … to be in a fellowship where they can grow (perhaps heal), and help others grow.  A place where they can give as much as they receive.

I will not pretend that all churches are good churches. We have Scripture affirming that there are good biblical churches, some that are somewhat biblical, and others that are far from being biblical. There are also some groups that call themselves churches but are not. They have denied the essential foundations of the Christian faith. We have seen all of this in the seven churches. We read a letter to:

• a Loveless Church, the church in Ephesus

• a Persecuted Church, the church in Smyrna.

• a Compromising Church, the church in Pergamum.

• a Corrupt Church, the Church in Thyatira.

• a Church on Life-Support, the Church in Sardis.

• a Faithful Church, the Church in Philadelphia.

• a Lukewarm Church, the Church in Laodicea.

One of the things we learned from our study of these letters is that individual members of the church had a responsibility for the health and direction of their church. Each of these churches was an actual local church in its community. Jesus spoke to the churches because that is where His disciples (Christians) met. Christians in the early days were committed to meeting together. They were committed to each other. They were committed to a local church to grow, to minister Jesus to the world, and to be spiritually led by pastors and elders. If you get one big rock of revelation from these seven church letters, may it be the necessity to be a committed part of a local church and the responsibilities that come from being a part of a local church. 

As individual members of a local church, your responsibility includes helping the church be loving, strong in the face of persecution, uncompromising in the doctrines/teaching of Scripture, uncorrupted by false teachings and the seduction of the world, full of the life of Christ, faithful, and useful to Christ Jesus. That is yours, mine, and our responsibilities. There is a commitment to each other. A commitment to help and watch over each other while we are all journeying towards the celestial kingdom of Christ.  We are not running an individual race, but a team race. We are in this together.

This is one reason why MCBC has a Church Covenant.  We acknowledge the responsibilities we have to God and to one another. An example is, “A Sincere Love: We will nourish a sincere love for Christ Jesus above all else, and in doing so, walk together in brotherly love, as becomes the members of a Christian Church; exercising care and watchfulness for each other, faithfully encouraging one another; always ready to carry one another’s joys, burdens, and sorrows. (Jn.13:34; I Pt.1:22; 4:8)”

Look at our scripture text again in Revelation 3:21–22 (ESV) — 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. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Within Jesus’ seven letters, He repeats two messages. They apply to every church and every Christian. We will look at the first one: “To the one who overcomes I will …” Your translation may use the word, overcomes, or prevails, or who is victorious. What is the message from Jesus? Jesus says to His churches, to us, persevere, overcome, prevail in this life because I am going to do this for you. He promises an inheritance that awaits them.

Remember, a few of these churches were unfaithful, drifting, and on life support. Yet, Jesus gives them this same promise of an inheritance. You may think, “A promise?” Yes, these are promises of an inheritance that He has obtained for them and is holding on to for them.

Someone is reading negatively into Jesus’ words, like, “If you don’t persevere to the end, you will not make it into my kingdom, and you will not receive this inheritance. That is not what Jesus is saying. We must be careful not to read between the lines and add something He is not saying. Just read what Jesus is saying, not what He is not saying. Perhaps you should pause here and re-read that message from Jesus. Read it as a promise, not as a threat. If you are reading it as a threat, and you are one of His sheep whom He died for, then you are still seeing Jesus as a judge rather than a Savior.

I am going to take a pit stop on this race track. There are Christians who have faith with a flat tire. We need to get this faith right if we are going to conquer, overcome, and persevere.

The reason we read the words, “To the one who conquers …” and also think, “Oh, I hope I can overcome and conquer so I can make it in”, is because we do not realize the thoroughness, completeness, and power of Jesus’ work of Salvation. If we believed that Jesus’ work of salvation is what the Word of God said it is, we would not fear falling short of being good enough for Jesus. We would know that He did it all. It is not on us. He paid for it with his blood. He said on the cross in His dying words, “It is Finished.” He was referring to our salvation. It is complete. It is fully paid for. No debt was left on the table. Done!

If we believed (a thoroughly convinced type of faith) that we were not saved by our being good enough and we are not kept in Christ by being good enough, but that is by grace, grace, grace—by Jesus alone as a free gift to those who trust in Him, then we would not doubt our entrance in Heaven.

If your acceptance into heaven, into the heart of God, depends on you meeting some standard of holiness, then you are doomed! And this Gospel we preach is not worth a plug nickel. You don’t have a chance.  Give up now. But if you are depending on what Jesus did for you on the cross, then wear His robe of righteousness. Toss any doubt in yourself to be good enough and say, “Jesus is my Salvation and my Righteousness!”

Psalm 107:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble.” AMEN.

Too many Christians struggle with doubts and fears that maybe, oh maybe, they won’t make it to heaven. Or, that when they do get into heaven, it’ll be in the broom closet or basement of heaven. They are convinced that they will not be in the glorious Throne Room. That is sad. Just read our scripture text this morning. Jesus doesn’t mention the basement or broom closet. He says, “I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” How can He do that? It is because you are clothed in His righteousness and not your own.

Let your heart find rest in God’s Word.

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV) — 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  

Hebrews 10:11–14 (ESV) — 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Hebrews 10:17 (ESV) — 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

You are clean. He has made you worthy. He has made you worthy by His blood—by his sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. Cast off any other thought.  They are enemies of the truth! We are told in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Do not let thoughts and fears that are contrary to God take refuge in your mind.

When we see ourselves as clean and already accepted into the family of God, we read Jesus’ promises from the seven letters not as threats of being left behind, but as what He has prepared for those who belong to Him. Listen to Him. Be stirred and strengthened. Let your faith be free from fear and doubt.

Here are the promises from each of the seven letters to those of us who belong to Him:

• I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

• You will never be harmed by the second death (the eternal lake of fire)

• I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.

• I will give him authority over the nations— just as I have received this from my Father. I will also give him the Morning Star.

• You will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.

• I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God—and my new name.

• I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

This is where I can now pull out of the pit stop area and get back on the track. If we are not fighting to get into heaven, because that has been secured by the Blood of Jesus, then what are we to overcome, conquer, and persevere through? It is not our salvation, then what? In a nutshell, the same things that Jesus was saying to his saints in the seven churches. And the list goes beyond that. We are to conquer and overcome doubts, fears, and questions that question our faith. We are to persevere through temptations to drift from Christ and our daily devotion to Him. We persevere through the mental and emotional unknown, through what doesn’t make sense in our limited insight. Like when evil happens that we don’t understand. Perhaps we see a good person suffer and die, and it doesn’t make sense. Charlie Kirk was used tremendously by God in taking the gospel of Jesus around the world, and then he was murdered at a young age. Leaving a wife and two children. Why?

Some people get caught in the rabbit hole of, why? And they still have not come back. I know people who have been swallowed up by that hole. It devoured them emotionally, mentally, and even physically.

Go back to 911. I knew a married couple who were flight attendants on the plane that was flown into the Pentagon. I worked with the husband’s mother. When this happened, grief overcame me. She couldn’t understand the why. She fell into the hole called 'why' and never recovered.

You need to be cautious when seeking the underlying cause behind tragedies. When we don’t see the purposes of God, we need to trust Him. This is persevering. The devil would like you to spiral into, “Why did God allow this or that? He could have stopped that!” Yes, God could have done something different. He is almighty, but He did what he did, and He had a divine reason for it.

I would like to provide the best biblical example of this. Jesus walked this earth healing people, masses of people of every kind of sickness and disease. He cast out demons, raised the dead, and set people free from oppression and depression. He revealed God to people. He was correcting the destruction that sin had done in people’s lives.

He was 33 years old. His impact had spread beyond Israel. There was nothing he could not do and no one could stop Him.  Good was abounding. Life was abounding. Authentic Love was seen for the first time. And then. And then he was arrested. He was rushed through a devil’s trail. At the hands of wicked men, he was beaten, tortured to the point of death, and then crucified—nailed to a cross, murdered.

Why? That had to be the question on the hearts of the disciples and the multitudes who believed in Him. They must have thought they were going crazy. All this ministry of helping people and doing things no one has been able to but Him, and now he is murdered on a Roman Cross? Why did God let this happen? Why? If you saw Jesus crucified and die, would you have gone home and wept, throwing up your arms and saying, “I’m done with trusting in God. He can’t save his own Son from the evil we live in.” Because it was the plan of God! Acts 2:23, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” It was according to a divine plan from before the foundations of time. We don’t see what God sees and know what God knows. We need to trust him.

Back to the big question: What do we overcome and persevere? If our salvation is secured by Christ, then what are we to persevere through?

• We persevere through the doubts and questions. We persevere through the mental and emotional unknown. Through what doesn’t make sense in our limited insight.

• We overcome the tendency to give up when life is hard, busy, and confusing. You persevere.

• We persevere when the job is draining out every ounce of life, and you just want to pass on going to Church and fellowshipping with believers. You persevere.

• You persevere when the kids are pulling every extra minute from you. You persevere.

• You persevere when you never seem to catch up on the bills or the responsibilities of family, and want to doubt God’s provision and care. You persevere.

• You persevere every time you reach out for a break, and it is just out of reach, or it vaporizes in front of you. You persevere.

• You persevere when your prayers don’t seem to reach God and you are waiting and waiting.

• You persevere when your body is tired and stressed, and you just want to stay home on Sunday morning. You persevere.

• You persevere when you have sinned or neglected your pursuit of Christ, and guilt and shame weigh you down.  Persevere in loving Him rather than giving in to the tendency to surrender to the influence of sin. You persevere.

• You persevere when thoughts tell you that you’re never going to be good enough, or you’ll never grow spiritually, or that you are unable to understand spiritual truths in scripture. Persevere.

• When thoughts tell you that you don’t count, you can’t make a difference for Christ. Persevere.

• When age is slowing you down and there is a tendency to let your love for Christ and love for others to slow down, you persevere.

• When you are in a hole and can’t see the light at the top. Persevere.

Do you hear Jesus say, “Stay Faithful. Stay the Course! I have not left you, I am your Strength!”

The Question is, do you belong to Jesus? Only those who belong to Jesus can claim these promises from Jesus. Only those who are in the family of God have rights to His inheritance. Do you belong to Jesus?

Brothers and sisters who are in Christ Jesus, let us hold fast the faith. Let us patiently endure whatever this sin-broken world throws at us. Whatever our sin-wrecked bodies become. Whatever the evil one plots against us. Whatever we go through, He remains faithful. This is why we can patiently endure to the end. Hebrews 10:23 says this is what we do. We hold our confession of faith. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

But wait one moment. I don’t just want to just finish the course. I want to do everything I can to help others cross the finish line. There is a true story of a woman who joined an endurance competition. It wasn’t a race about who is going to win, though there are always those who “have to win at everything.” This was about being fit enough to endure the course. Like many others, this woman believed she was strong enough to endure this challenge. She wanted to prove to herself that she was strong enough and healthy enough to meet the challenge.

About two-thirds through the course, she collapses. Her body gave out. Her tenacity gave out. She was done. There was nothing left in her. The other competitors kept going and finished the course. Then, as one of her friends looked around for her, she couldn’t be found. He grabbed some friends and went to look for her. They found her defeated. These friends picked her up on their shoulders and spoke words of encouragement into her. They carried her across the finish line. They not only carried her physically; they helped carry her perseverance. They helped her persevere to the end. She needed help to finish the course. With her friends, she conquered.

I don’t just want to finish this journey of faith; I want to ensure that all my brothers and sisters in the faith finish, even if that means carrying them on my shoulders. Praying, encouraging, whatever I can do to encourage, hold them, even believe with them.

This is why I covenant together with my church family. I commit to them. As Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

That “Day” mentioned in Hebrews 10, is the day the Lord returns. We are to encourage one another until the Lord returns. I am not just going to heaven; I am going to encourage other believers and carry them on my shoulders if I have to. I am all in for my brothers and sisters in Christ! That is what we do for each other. What does that look like? It comes in many forms depending on the individual. Encourage with words, actions, and prayers. Amen!