The 7 Churches (The Apocalypse Part 1)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of

Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L.

Moody.

We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of

the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com.

We hope you enjoy the message.

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 1.

This will be part one of what I am planning to be a three -part, maybe a four -part

series on the book of Revelation.

This morning we will look at Revelation chapters 1 through 5 and the events

preceding the coming tribulation period.

Jesus talked about this in Matthew 24 verse 21.

He said, For then there will be great tribulation such as has never

been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks about many things.

He speaks about famine, disease, warfare,

false prophets, the persecution of God's people, even the sun and

moon being darkened.

And then after all of that, the son of man will be seen coming on the clouds of heaven

with great power and glory.

Look at Revelation chapter 1 verse 7.

Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him.

Even they who pierced him in all the tribes of the earth will mourn

because of him.

Even so, amen.

Let's open with a word of prayer.

Our Father, we ask that you would speak to your people this morning through this message.

And may it be brought forth with power, for your word is living and

powerful.

And Lord, thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and power.

For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Lord, forgive us of our sins through the blood of Christ, and be a shelter

for your people in a time of storm.

Deliver us, O Lord, from your wrath, which is coming upon the whole earth,.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Before we get into the events of the tribulation, which, Lord willing, we will do that next week, that

spans from chapter 6 through 18.

And then in 19, Jesus returns.

That will be part 2.

But before we get into that, in order to help us better understand the book of Revelation,

we see in chapter 1, verse 19, what amounts to basically a built -in

outline for the book.

So this letter was written by the Apostle John to the seven churches in Asia

Minor, which is modern -day Turkey.

And Jesus gives this message to John.

Look at Revelation 119.

He says,.

Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and

the things which will take place after this.

So this is, think of it as a three -point outline to the book of Revelation.

The things which John saw, that refers to the vision in chapter 1.

The things which are, that refers to what was happening there in the first century.

This is chapters 2 and 3.

And then the things which will take place after, this is future prophecy, or what

we call end -times Bible prophecy.

So basically, everything from chapter 4 onward, certainly chapter 6 onward,

is future events.

So understand this.

The book of Revelation is a book of prophecy.

Verse 3 tells us this.

Look at it.

Revelation 1, verse 3.

Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this, what?

Prophecy.

And keeps those things which are written in it, for the time, this should get your attention, for the

time is near.

That can also be translated, the time is at hand.

Meaning these things are imminent.

That is they are at the door.

The Tribulation could have happened in the first century.

The Tribulation could start tomorrow.

It is imminent.

These things are at hand.

So Revelation is a book containing future prophecy.

And I just want to define that term.

We hear it a lot.

But what does prophecy mean?

Of course, there is foretelling, preaching, and foretelling, predicting future events.

But in this context, what is prophecy?

Basically, it is divine revelation from God.

Declaring the purposes of God.

And in this case, foretelling of future events.

So in chapter 1, John begins writing this message, which came directly from who?

Jesus.

It is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So Jesus is revealing things that up until this point were either hidden,

unknown, or at least obscure.

Prior in church history, some of you are aware of this.

Prior in church history, the book of Revelation was called what?

It was called the Apocalypse.

That term comes from the Greek Apocalypse.

When people hear that term, what do they think of?

Armageddon.

Armageddon, the end of the world.

The Apocalypse is the end of the world.

Well, yes and no.

First of all, the word Apocalypse simply means revelation.

It means the same thing.

And yes, revelation does tell us about the end of the world, or at least the end of the world as we know it.

Now flip over to chapter 2.

So prophecy is divine revelation from God.

Preaching and telling, declaring the purposes of God.

So John receives this revelation in a vision.

That's chapter 1.

Next in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus has a message to the seven churches

in Asia Minor.

There's a lot that could be said that we don't have time to cover everything in depth.

But it could be said that these letters to the seven churches can be viewed

as pattern churches.

What do I mean by that?

Yes, they were real churches.

Jesus had a message for each one of them.

That's true.

But the application for us today, that no matter what church you belong to,

one of these letters probably will apply to your church.

And Jesus has some words of praise for the seven churches.

And he has some words of warning and rebuke.

Let's just go through these quickly.

First, there is the loveless church.

This is the church at Ephesus in verses 1 through 7.

The church at Ephesus was a good church.

No doubt about it.

They were active.

They were busy doing great things.

But in their activity, while they were busy doing good, to some degree they

lost sight of why they were doing it.

The Lord says in verse 4, nevertheless, after all these praises,

nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

They needed to rekindle some of that original love and passion that they had

for the Lord at one time.

Next is the persecuted church in Smyrna.

This is chapter 2, verses 8 through 11.

They were going through a time of persecution, which was a time of testing.

Jesus has only good things to say about this church.

Why?

Because they are persecuted.

And because the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, 12, yea, in all that desire to live godly in

Christ Jesus, we'll suffer persecution.

What do we know about this church?

They were seeking to live godly in Christ Jesus.

And let me just add to that, that during the tribulation, many of God's people

will indeed suffer.

But those who do will inherit great reward.

The promise to those who suffer and are even beheaded during the tribulation is that they will rule

and reign with Christ.

Next up in verses 12 through 17 is the compromising church in

Pergamos.

This church was putting up with false doctrine.

And the Lord says in verse 16, repent or else I will come to you quickly and

will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Maybe this is a new idea, the idea that the Lord would be fighting against a church.

That's what it says.

Then in verses 18 through 29, you have the corrupt church at Thyatira.

This church was divided.

In the assembly, many of them were faithful, but many others had allowed a female preacher to come in.

And she was leading many people astray in both doctrine and practice.

And we see that she was trying to legitimize sexual immorality.

And listen, with these letters, you think about it, they were written 1 ,900 years ago.

Aren't they so very relevant?

As you're going through, you can probably think, yep, I know a church that fits this description.

Yep, I can think of a situation here that fits.

Look at chapter 3, let's flip over there.

And you can just imagine if this was the situation in Christian churches, how were

things in secular society?

If things were bad in the churches at times, it must have been that much worse in society.

And of course, there's nothing new under the sun, is there?

And this is one of the reasons why God is going to judge the earth.

Because mankind continues to rebel against the commandments of God.

And God forbid a church starts to rebel against the commandments of God, what's he going to do?

He's going to come and fight against that church or remove their lampstand.

Revelation 3, 1 through 6.

Here we see the dead church in the city of Sardis.

This was a church that was faithful once upon a time.

But over the years, things had kind of deteriorated.

And now there remains but only a faithful few.

So, they were basically living on prior reputation.

Their reputation was good because all this good had been done in the past.

They had a name that they were alive, but what?

In reality, they were dead.

Alright, only two more churches left.

Verses 7 through 13, we see the faithful church at Philadelphia.

We want to be this church, don't we?

I think we do.

The faithful church in Philadelphia.

This is the city of brotherly love.

Not the one in Pennsylvania, by the way.

Different city.

Probably knew that.

The Lord says to them in verse 8, You have kept my word and have not denied

my name.

So, why were they a faithful church?

Because they remained faithful to the Bible.

And were not ashamed of the name of Jesus Christ.

You know, sometimes it's that simple.

Remain faithful to God's word and don't be ashamed of the name of Christ.

And here's what's interesting about this letter to this church.

We get a prophetic word in it.

Look at verse 10.

So, this is the Lord's message to the faithful church.

Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you

from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world, to test

those who dwell on the earth.

And we know this is prophetic.

Because of this hour of trial, the tribulation to come.

And then, what's the next thing that he says?

Behold, I am coming quickly.

So, if we take these as patterned churches, I believe we can rightly

conclude that when Jesus returns.

And remember, his return.

All of these things in the end times, they're imminent.

Any generation could see it.

But when Jesus returns, he will keep.

Okay?

He will keep faithful church members from the hour of trial.

I believe that's a promise right here to the faithful church.

I will keep you from the hour of trial.

He will keep his people, who are faithful at that time, from the wrath that has poured

out during the tribulation.

Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.