Christ's Message to His Church: Smyrna Revelation 2:8-11

Eureka Baptist Church iconEureka Baptist Church

1 view

0 comments

00:13
Last week, we looked at the first church in Jesus' address to the seven churches of Revelation.
00:21
This church was the church in Ephesus. His evaluation of this church was a mixed review.
00:28
On one hand, they were faithful. They were specifically faithful in upholding the truth.
00:34
And what is necessary for any church that upholds the truth is to fight against false doctrine.
00:41
What Jesus told the church in Ephesus is that they fought off two problematic groups, the false apostles and the
00:49
Nicolaitans. The false apostles were those who claimed to be true apostles, but of course were not.
00:56
And the Nicolaitans were those who believed that the grace given by God was given as a license to sin.
01:03
The church in Ephesus rightly rejected these false teachings, and Jesus praised them for it.
01:12
But there was a problem with this church, and that problem was that they started to assume the gospel.
01:20
They started to assume the sound teaching of Scripture, and they missed the whole point of sound doctrine.
01:28
The point of learning the truths of Scripture is to love God. This is the greatest commandment, as Deuteronomy 6 .5
01:37
says. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
01:44
This is what God cares about more than anything for us. He would rather have someone who knows less about the
01:52
Bible and truly loves Him rather than someone who is full of head knowledge but does not delight in Him.
02:02
What Jesus told the second generation of the church in Ephesus, one generation removed from the period of the apostles, is that their love had waned.
02:14
The zeal for the Lord that the previous generation had, they had lost, and He told them that they needed to repent.
02:22
They were on the path to apostasy. They succumbed to what some have chronicled.
02:31
The first generation treasures the truth. The second generation assumes it.
02:36
And the third denies it. At the heart of the learning of Scripture must be a deep love for God.
02:45
So the words are very clear, not only to the church in Ephesus, but to us. We are to be sound in our teaching.
02:52
We are to fight false doctrine with all of our might. But we should not stop there.
02:58
Our aim should be to love the Lord more every day.
03:05
As the people of this church do this, Eureka Baptist will be healthy for many years to come.
03:11
Now this leads us to the second church, the church of Smyrna, this church that Jesus addresses in verses 8 through 11.
03:22
And just as there was much for us to hear with Ephesus, there's going to be much for us to hear this morning as well. So at this time, I encourage you to turn with the
03:28
Bible with me to Revelation chapter 2. Once again, verses 8 through 11.
03:35
If you do not have a Bible, we do have the red Bibles in the pews for you to follow along. This sermon is once again titled,
03:44
Christ's Address to His Church. Christ's Address to His Church.
03:49
And this edition is Smyrna. And we'll begin by reading the text.
03:55
Verses 8 through 11, Revelation 2. These are the words of the
04:00
Lord Jesus. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life.
04:09
I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich and the slander of those who say that they are
04:18
Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
04:26
Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for 10 days you will have tribulation.
04:37
Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
04:44
Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
04:52
Here's our big idea. What the sermon is calling you to do, what he's calling our church to do, understand that Jesus delights in the church that endures persecution.
05:06
Jesus delights in the church that endures persecution. We're going to see one reason why, and I'm going to share that reason why at the very end of the sermon.
05:17
But Jesus begins His address, as He begins all the addresses, to the seven churches.
05:23
Let's see what He says once again. In verse 8, He says, And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write the words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
05:32
What we see here is that Jesus addresses a specific church. And that church, of course, is
05:38
Smyrna. The city of Smyrna is named after a substance called Smyrna that was used to create perfume.
05:46
The city was located in modern -day Turkey in the region known as Asia Minor. And this city is still around today, but goes by a different name,
05:56
Izmir. The city was a destination place in the ancient world. It was a place known for its advancements in medicine.
06:06
It also had great beauty that visitors traveled to see. Even though the city was quite a ways away from Rome, they allied themselves with Rome.
06:17
Their admiration for the military victories and advancement of the Roman Empire led to their primary religion.
06:25
Their primary religion was emperor worship. And in a little bit,
06:31
Jesus will address another false religious group in this community. The church that Jesus is addressing followed him in this hostile environment.
06:41
Unlike Ephesus that is mentioned several places in the New Testament, here in Revelation is the only mention of the city of Smyrna.
06:50
Somehow the gospel reached this area, and a church was established there. Once again, as Jesus addresses this church, he addresses an angel.
06:59
Now, as I have already explained the last two weeks, he is not addressing a spirit being sent by God from heaven.
07:08
Rather, he is addressing the messenger that belongs to the specific church.
07:13
Once again, the word angel is used here because the word angel can mean spirit being or messenger.
07:21
The messengers that Jesus addresses in his address to the seven churches are the pastors of the representative churches.
07:31
So he addresses the pastor who will pass this message on to his church.
07:38
Then Jesus does something at the end of verse 8 that he does in each of his seven addresses. He says something concerning himself.
07:46
Something glorious about himself. In the second half of verse 8, he says, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life.
07:58
This sounds similar to something he said in the first chapter of Revelation. In verse 8, where Jesus refers to himself as the
08:05
Alpha and the Omega. Alpha is the first letter of the
08:12
Greek alphabet, while Omega is the last. What Jesus said in that verse, and what he is saying here, is that everything in the world goes through him.
08:25
He was here before history began. And he will always be the one sovereign over the grand story of life.
08:35
No human writes the story of human history. The devil does not write the story.
08:44
Only God the Father and his Son, Jesus, do. As Jesus addresses the church of Smyrna, this is what he is saying concerning himself.
08:54
He created everything. He is writing the grand story of history. And as the writer, evil will be defeated, and he and his people will be victorious.
09:06
He reminds the church of Smyrna of this comforting truth, and he reminds all of us this as well.
09:13
We will see why he reminds them of his sovereignty over history in the coming verses. Now we get to the place where Jesus addresses this church in Smyrna.
09:23
What you will notice in this address is that Jesus does not use the sandwich approach as he did with the church in Ephesus.
09:31
Once again, the sandwich approach is a way of offering criticism to another that is meant to build a person up rather than tear them down.
09:40
In this approach, you start by saying something positive, then you offer the criticism, and then you end by saying something positive.
09:48
With Ephesus, he told them, you're upholding the truth. You're fighting against false doctrine, but then he told them, you're not loving the
09:55
Lord the way you should. But then he closes by saying, you're upholding the truth.
10:01
OK, so he gave them the sandwich approach. But as Jesus addresses Smyrna, he has only good to say about them.
10:10
Now certainly, they were not a perfect church. No church is. But largely speaking, there were no glaring shortcomings with this church.
10:18
So let's see the praise and instruction that Jesus gives them, started in verse 9.
10:24
He tells them, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.
10:30
And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
10:37
Once again, as we saw one week ago, Jesus knows everything. And because he knows everything, he is able to give a perfect evaluation of this church.
10:48
He tells them that he knows two things about them. He knows the tribulation they are facing, and he knows that they lack material wealth.
11:01
They are poor. Later on in our journey through the seven churches, we will see a wealthy church that Jesus addresses, the church of Laodicea.
11:11
But here, we have a poor church. Now remember, Smyrna was a beautiful place. It was a destination place.
11:17
It was a place that people wanted to go to. But just because a church is located in a wealthy area, does not mean the church itself is wealthy, like in this case.
11:29
But you'll notice that he says something. As he's addressing their poverty, he says something that the
11:35
ESV, that's the version we use here at this church, the ESV puts something in parentheses, and it says, even though you're poor, you are rich.
11:46
He tells them that they don't have much materially, but they are wealthy in the most important way.
11:55
They have spiritual wealth. Spiritual wealth means that they are mature in the faith.
12:02
Unlike the church in Ephesus, they love the Lord and are living out their faith vibrantly.
12:10
You don't have to have much in this life to be successful in the only way that ultimately matters.
12:16
That is, to be rich in your relationship with God. Proverbs 15, 16 says, better is a little with the fear of the
12:27
Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. There are lots of people in our world who have lots of wealth.
12:35
And look at how troubled their lives are. Think of golfer Tiger Woods. At one point,
12:41
I remember hearing that Woods was worth more than $1 billion. Yet if you Google his name, you will see that his life is full of trouble and has been for a long time from his own self -inflicted actions.
12:56
With wealth comes great temptations. And with wealth, you don't know who your true friends are.
13:03
And you don't know who you can trust. Some of the loneliest and trouble -stricken people in the whole world have lots of wealth.
13:11
And what Scripture endorses is being content with what you have and holding on to the most important one, the only one who fully and forever satisfies you, the
13:24
Lord. The joy of the Lord is probably shown more in those who have little than those who have much.
13:30
This is so because no one can accuse them of being joyful in the Lord only because of his great gifts he has given them.
13:39
This is what Satan thought with Job. The book that Job, it's in the poetry portion of Scripture, this great story.
13:49
Satan thought that Job was only happy because of the great gifts that God had given him.
13:55
But Satan found out this was not true. God allowed Satan to take everything from Job but his life.
14:02
And what happened is that Job praised the Lord, even though the great gifts that he enjoyed were gone. And what this shows is that there are wealthy people who truly love the
14:12
Lord. There's nothing inherently virtuous about being wealthy or poor.
14:18
But what is virtuous is do you truly love the Lord as we saw one week ago?
14:27
But what's interesting is that God is very much glorified when the world looks on and they look at a person or they look at a church that is poor.
14:36
I've seen churches that are very poor. I went to Macedonia about 10 years ago.
14:42
This church, if you looked at their offerings, they might be a couple hundred dollars a week.
14:49
They might bring in like $5 ,000 a year, maybe $10 ,000 on a very good year. I mean, think about that.
14:55
They're barely scraping by. The pastor hardly makes anything.
15:00
He has to have another job. And yet this church was so faithful. It was quite a sight to see. When the world looks on at that, they can't accuse this church of just saying, oh, they just like your gifts.
15:11
That's why they follow you. No, they love the Lord. And it was so obvious, this church that I saw.
15:20
The church in Smyrna did not have much, but they were rich in the eyes of Jesus because of their great faith.
15:27
And what we must understand is that no matter the place of a Christian, you will be seen as poor in the world's eyes.
15:34
It doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter your title. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you will be seen as poor in the world's eyes.
15:43
James 2 .5 says, listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
15:54
The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4 .13 that the world views Christians as the scum of the earth.
16:03
Think about that. You are poor in the world's eyes.
16:09
Now it is true that some in the world will be drawn to you because of your righteousness, but more will be turned off by you.
16:17
The Bible tells us that Christians will be hated by the world. And the church of Smyrna experienced this.
16:24
Not only were they materially poor, they had a big target on their backs as followers of Jesus.
16:31
In the second half of verse nine, Jesus said that they had been slandered. What does it mean to be slandered?
16:38
Slander is similar to gossip, but it's a little bit different. In Jerry Bridge's book,
16:44
Respectable Sins, this book, by the way, is focused on those sins that Christians tolerate.
16:51
He makes a helpful distinction. He says that gossip is sharing true information with someone who has no business knowing, while slander is spreading false information.
17:04
The Lord hates slander, as Proverbs 12 .22 says. Lying lips are an abomination to the
17:10
Lord. And this is what the Lord will do to that person as Psalm 101, verse five says.
17:17
Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly, I will destroy. In Smyrna, there was a group of people saying false things about the church, and Jesus identifies this group as the
17:30
Jews. Now, earlier I mentioned that the main false religion in Smyrna was emperor worship.
17:37
Now he describes another dominant false religion, the Jews. The Jews were the ones who claimed to follow the
17:44
Old Testament, but really made their own religion. The religion was not from God, it was man's own tradition.
17:54
And we know what Jesus thinks about this religion from what we saw in our journey through Matthew. Everywhere in Matthew we learned that he hated this false
18:02
Jewish religious establishment, this self -righteousness religion that they created.
18:11
It was a works -righteousness system built on pride. It glorified man to show what wonderful works, in quotations, what wonderful works one did to receive approval from God.
18:24
But as Isaiah 64, six says, the Lord viewed these works as a polluted garment.
18:33
The NIV says, filthy rags. That's what the works are like before God.
18:39
He's not impressed. Jesus the Messiah disapproved of this
18:46
Jewish religious sect, and they were every bit as bad as those Romans in Smyrna who worshiped the emperor.
18:53
They were closer to the truth because they believed some things about the Old Testament that were correct, but they were every bit as bad as the emperor worship that happened in Smyrna.
19:07
We must understand this about false religions. Every false religion is run by one,
19:14
Satan. He does not care what diversion from the truth one subscribes to.
19:21
He is working with all of it. Every false religion has the same goal, and that goal is to defame the true
19:28
God and to lead people away from him. In doing this, he leads people to himself.
19:36
The book of Revelation describes a final one -world religion in Revelation 17, and we see this ecumenical movement being shaped right now in our world.
19:50
We don't know when it will take its false form, but it is happening. In the name of inclusiveness and diversity, religions that are very different are united, and this is what's so interesting is that to believe in one religion over another, it means that this religion is false.
20:08
They don't come together. You can just worship whatever
20:13
God you want, and it all ends in the same place. Anyone logically thinking can see, oh, that's not right, not even close.
20:21
But in the name of inclusiveness and diversity, religions that are very different are united.
20:27
You see this on bumper stickers, coexist. One of the most prominent places this is seen is with the
20:35
Roman Catholic Church. The papacy has become a place of promoting inclusiveness, which is interesting.
20:42
The previous popes would never have done this. This pope, Pope Francis, is very much doing this.
20:49
And this was seen a few years back through a child's encounter with the pope that was recorded on tape.
20:55
In this encounter, a child approached the pope, and this child had an atheist father who just died, and he asked
21:02
Pope Francis if his father was in hell. The pope asked the boy if his dad was a good man, and the son said yes.
21:10
The pope said his father is not in hell. Not only is that against the
21:16
Bible, it's actually against Roman Catholic teaching, which of course this church does not believe in.
21:21
But it's interesting, he was a bad Catholic in that response and yet they just looked the other way.
21:28
And everyone needs to see this. The pope is a part of this demonic inclusiveness that says that all religions lead to the same destination.
21:37
At the center of all of this is Satan. At the end of the world, all of these ecumenical religions will come together as one under the leadership of the false prophet.
21:47
The false prophet will direct people to worship the Antichrist, and anyone who worships the Antichrist will really be worshiping
21:53
Satan. So as Jesus addresses the church in Smyrna, this
21:59
Jewish religion is not the Jewish religion of old, where the true prophets of God led the people of Israel to follow the
22:07
Lord. No, this new Jewish religion present in Smyrna is the religion of the
22:14
Pharisees, the false self -righteousness Judaism that Jesus condemns.
22:23
These Jews in Smyrna had the goal of putting to an end the true faith, the ones who were truly following the
22:30
Messiah. Jesus is making it very clear in verse nine who these
22:36
Jews in Smyrna were really following, as I've explained. He calls them a synagogue of Satan.
22:43
A synagogue was a place that the Jews around this time met to worship.
22:49
But now their worship was misplaced. These Jews rejected the Messiah, and they were really following the devil.
22:57
During Jesus' ministry, He told the false Jewish leadership in Jerusalem this very thing in John 8 .44.
23:03
He told them, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.
23:12
By opposing the Christians in Smyrna, these Jews were doing exactly what Satan wanted.
23:20
And Jesus, in His typical fashion, does not hold back in calling a spade a spade.
23:28
He calls these Jews in Smyrna what they really are, a synagogue of Satan. It wasn't like, okay,
23:35
I don't want to offend them. Let's not say this. No, He calls them a synagogue of Satan.
23:40
Could there be any more offensive way of saying it? No. And to this point, the
23:45
Christians in Smyrna had endured the persecution from these Jews, and Jesus praises them, calling them spiritually rich.
23:56
What Jesus told them is that it has not been easy enduring these Jews working on behalf of Satan, but they had.
24:03
They have endured. But their suffering was not done. And He calls them to continue to persevere through the great trial that was on the horizon, as He explains in verse 10.
24:18
Jesus says in verse 10, do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for 10 days you will have tribulation.
24:30
Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. What Jesus tells them is that some of those from the church in Smyrna were soon to face imprisonment because of their faith in Jesus.
24:42
What Jesus explains is that the one ultimately responsible for this is the devil. And it's interesting that Jesus changes titles to describe the evil one.
24:52
At the end of verse nine, He calls the evil one Satan. And here in verse 10, He calls him the devil.
24:58
The word Satan means adversary, while the word devil means accuser.
25:05
Why is he called accuser? Because he's an accuser. Who does he accuse? He accuses Christians.
25:11
Revelation 12 .10 calls him the accuser of our brothers. The devil accuses God's people.
25:17
He tells God's people that you are guilty because of your sins. And he tells God that they are guilty because of their sins.
25:24
But this charge always goes nowhere when it is made against a true believer.
25:31
As Romans 8 .1 says, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
25:39
And Romans 8 .33 and 34 says, who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
25:45
It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died.
25:51
More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us.
25:59
When Satan accuses a believer, it ultimately goes nowhere. When Satan tries to destroy a believer's faith, it goes nowhere.
26:08
This is so because a believer is firmly gripped in the hands of Jesus. This is probably my favorite verse in the
26:14
Bible. John 10 .27 and 28. My sheep hear my voice.
26:21
I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them from my hand.
26:32
That eternal security that a believer has, no one can snatch believers from his hands. Satan can't do it.
26:41
And 1 Peter 1 .5 also says that by God's power, you are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
26:51
He is the accuser and the adversary, but the tactics of the evil one ultimately fail because you through faith are guarded by God's power.
27:03
In verse 10, Jesus is warning the church in Smyrna of what is about to come upon them. They are about to experience
27:09
Satan's wrath. He tells them not to fear. In verse 9, he encourages them by telling them that through tribulation to this point, they had been spiritually rich.
27:21
And this encouragement is a reminder of the strength that God had given them in the past so that they would rely on him for strength with what was coming.
27:31
Jesus tells Smyrna that they are about to experience enormous suffering. He tells them specifically what's going to happen.
27:39
He tells them that the devil is going to throw some of them into prison for 10 days.
27:46
We don't know exactly the humans who are going to throw them into prison. It may be the unbelieving
27:52
Jews that Jesus already described in verse 9. It may also be the Romans who worship the emperor.
27:58
Whether it's the unbelieving Jews or the Romans who worship the emperor or someone else, the one behind this is very clear.
28:07
The devil. The devil is the one who is going to throw them into prison.
28:12
And we need to be reminded of this, by the way. As we live in the world we live in, we can sometimes look too much at flesh and blood.
28:19
You know, like these are the evil ones. And yes, they are the evil ones. But who's the greatest evil one?
28:25
It's the one behind it all. It's the devil. And we need to understand that. We need to remember that.
28:31
He's the one who's doing all this evil. And he's using human instruments to bring about his purposes. And what's interesting here is that historically what
28:42
Jesus is saying may have more than just the church of Smyrna in mind. As I mentioned one week ago, some theologians believe that each of these churches, each of the seven churches that Jesus addresses not only addresses a historical church, but also a period of time in church history.
29:03
This period of time this may be describing is the period of Roman persecution that the early church endured.
29:09
This took place from 100 AD to 300, from the reigns of Nero to Diocletian.
29:16
Many early Christians were killed by the unbelieving Jews and the Romans. One of these was a man who was a pastor of the church in Smyrna.
29:27
And his name was Polycarp. What is interesting about Polycarp is that he was discipled by the one who wrote this book, the apostle
29:36
John. John discipled Polycarp. 65 years after John wrote
29:44
Revelation, Polycarp was martyred by the Romans. His last words were this, 80 and six years
29:53
I have served Him and He has done me no wrong. What the world saw from the church of Smyrna and many other churches during this period of church history is the genuineness of the faith that they had in Jesus.
30:11
They were willing not only to live for Jesus, but to die for Him. By the way, the only way you're willing to die for Jesus is if you live for Him.
30:21
I remember having a conversation with a roommate of mine years ago and he wasn't really following the Lord. And he said,
30:27
I would die for Him. And I think the Spirit led me to say this, but I said, will you live for Him?
30:33
You're only gonna be prepared to die for Him if you first live for Him. These faithful servants, the church of Smyrna, were willing not only to live for Jesus, but to die for Him.
30:47
And this is one of the greatest arguments for the truthfulness of Christianity. Look at the suffering the disciples endured.
30:55
Look at the suffering of those in the early church. Many went to their death for the sake of Christ. They knew that they were not living for a fairy tale.
31:04
They gave their lives serving the risen Lord. And if Christianity were false, these men would have not risked everything for Him.
31:14
You only risk your life for something that you believe is true. As it has been famously said, they did not die for a dead man.
31:27
They did not fabricate the reality of who Jesus was, who the Bible says He is, who this book says
31:33
He is, is who He really is. And these people had true faith.
31:40
And the purpose of this great trial of being thrown into prison for 10 days is to test their faith, as Jesus said in verse 10.
31:50
He already told them that they had strong faith, and this strong faith is going to show itself during the persecution that they are about to go through.
31:59
And we need to understand this. When the Lord puts you through trials, there are multiple purposes behind it.
32:08
One is that He wants to show your true faith. When life gets hard and you still walk with the
32:13
Lord, that shows that you really belong to Him. He also sends trials in order to grow you.
32:22
As Jesus says in John 15 too, every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
32:28
He takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit.
32:35
So you are proving your faith and growing your faith when you go through a trial.
32:42
What Jesus is telling the church in Smyrna is that they had already endured trials and now they were about to endure the severest trial yet.
32:50
And the previous trial prepared them for this greatest trial. Now Jesus tells them the reward that awaits them for enduring these trials.
33:00
As He says at the end of verse 10, be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
33:07
Okay, what's the crown of life? James 1 .12 also uses this terminology.
33:15
There James writes that blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which
33:23
God has promised to those who love him. Both Jesus and James describe receiving this crown through endurance.
33:32
The crown of life is not a literal crown. And we sing that hymn sometimes, crowned with many crowns, or sorry, it's not crowned with many crowns.
33:41
Holy, holy, holy is the hymn where it talks about throwing the crowns before the throne. When the
33:47
Bible describes a crown, it's not describing a literal crown. It's communicating some spiritual truth through the crown.
33:55
And the spiritual truth that this is communicating is eternal life. The crown of life is eternal life.
34:03
You have eternal life as a believer, now and forever. And when you endure trials without forsaking
34:10
Jesus, as the church in Smyrna did, you show that you are one who has eternal life.
34:18
Everyone in this room is facing a trial of some kind right now. Some of you are facing a great trial.
34:26
As you endure and do not forsake Jesus, you are showing that you are a heaven -bound person.
34:34
Think of how encouraging that is. You are a heaven -bound person.
34:40
We are not supposed to have heaven on earth. We're supposed to have heaven when heaven comes. It is true that this life has joys for believers and give thanks for the many gifts that you have.
34:54
But with the blessings, there are also trials that come. It is guaranteed that you will have them and the
35:00
Lord promises to bear you up through them. Psalm 55, 22 says, cast your burden on the
35:06
Lord and He will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
35:12
As you show your true faith through every difficulty, including the difficulty of persecution, the hostility that will come from the world as you follow
35:22
Jesus, as you endure it, He is glorified. So this is what
35:28
Jesus says to Smyrna and this is what He says to our church. The Lord Jesus wants Eureka Baptist to be strong in the face of persecution.
35:39
And we've been preparing ourselves for that. We want to be a church that is ready when it really hits hard.
35:48
And it's already here in some measure, but when it really hits hard, we need to be ready. As we live in this devil -ruled world, we should expect persecution, especially in the days in which we live.
36:00
2 Timothy 3 .12 says that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
36:06
Our world is moving in a different direction than we are. And I often use the illustration of the river, the
36:14
St. Croix River, especially in the spring when it's going so fast. That's the way the world is going. And Christians are taking our canoe upstream.
36:24
We're going in the other direction. We're going upstream as the world just keeps going here. There's going to be tension.
36:30
There's going to be friction. There's going to be hostility. Our world thinks that we are the problem, that we are the haters, that we are the ones that should have fingers pointed at, that we are the ones behind the times, that we are the ones that offer nothing to society.
36:50
And you feel this tension. And instead of trying to run from the trials, we need to stand stronger than ever in our faith, trusting that the
37:01
Lord's will will be done in our lives. We need to trust what 1
37:07
Peter 4 .14 says. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
37:17
These are the words that Jesus wants us to hear. Jesus wants Eureka Baptist to be a church strong in faith, a church that is full of love, as we saw last week, full of love for Him and His people, and a church that is able to withstand persecution when it comes.
37:35
We need to listen very carefully to what Jesus says as He calls us to do in verse 11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
37:43
Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
37:50
He wants us to listen closely to what He and the Holy Spirit are saying to us. And as you hold strong in your faith through the opposition that comes your way, you are a conqueror along with Him, as He says in verse 11.
38:04
Jesus conquered through the cross and His resurrection, and you conquer along with Him as you show your true faith through the opposition that comes your way.
38:16
And we live in a world where we want to be comfortable, right? I mean, it's human nature.
38:22
We don't want to stir the pot. We don't want to have conflict with other people. But how can you avoid it?
38:28
You can't. I'm just telling you that right now. It's going to come. Don't run from it. You're going to have relationships that are over because of your relationship with Christ.
38:38
You're going to have tension that's there. You might not get a promotion because of your faith in Christ.
38:44
You might lose your job because of your faith in Christ. I mean, there's lots of things. You might be insulted because of your faith in Christ.
38:53
And we can be tempted to say, okay, I'm just going to stay out of trouble. Be a bold Christian.
38:58
That's who we're called to be. We're not called to be secret Christians. We're called to be bold. Live out your faith.
39:05
And then trust the Lord. Lord, You are doing something in my life. You have a plan for my life. I'm just going to follow
39:10
You, and You are going to take care of me. And no matter what, I'm just going to keep walking with You. And I know that I will be secure in You.
39:17
That's the mentality we individually have to have and we as a church have to have in these days in which we live.
39:26
And it's a precious truth that the people who live like this, there's such a bright future.
39:32
And it's the understatement of the century to say that. You have the brightest future possible in Christ.
39:39
Think of the future that's coming. As he says at the end of verse 11, the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
39:47
Well, what's the second death? Well, Revelation 20 .14 says that the second death is the lake of fire.
39:55
You don't have a reservation in the lake of fire because you belong to Christ. Your reservation is in heaven. Your name is written in heaven.
40:03
And as you live out your faith, you're just showing that. You're a resident of heaven. You will be there one day.
40:09
Trust the Lord on this journey. What a beautiful reality this is.
40:16
And all these opponents of the church in Smyrna, and all these opponents of us, the Lord will do right.
40:23
We want people to come to Christ. We share the gospel with them. But at the end of the day, any opponent you have, if they do not repent and follow
40:30
Jesus, their future is hell. But that's not our future in Christ. And praise
40:37
God for that. Understand that Jesus delights in the church that endures persecution. And in this text, we have seen
40:44
Jesus give us one reason why. That reason is that your faithfulness to Him remains even at a great cost.
40:53
Your faithfulness to Him remains even at a great cost. And may strong faith that is able to endure opposition from a hostile world define each of us individually and Eureka Baptist.
41:12
Now next Sunday, we are going to hear Jesus address the third church,
41:19
Pergamum. And He has much for us to hear there as well. And I look forward to looking at that with you.
41:25
But at this time, let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in heaven, what a wonderful God you are.
41:33
And we give you praise and we thank you for your wonderful word. We need it every day.
41:39
We need to hear the unfolding, the preaching of your word every single week. And it's meant to fill us up.
41:47
It's meant to encourage us. It's meant to challenge us. It's meant to convict us. It's meant to save. And I pray that if anyone here does not know
41:54
Christ, I pray that that person would believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved. He went to the cross.
42:01
He rose from the dead so that that person may be saved. And I pray for that. And I pray also
42:07
Lord that every believer here would be strengthened, stronger in the faith to be able to withstand any opposition that comes, every trial, including the persecution that we saw today, that the church in Smyrna experienced, that every believer should expect to experience as we follow
42:25
Jesus closely. So strengthen us Lord and apply this to everyone right where they're at.