1. "What you want from a doctor depends on how you see yourself. If you think you're perfectly healthy, you want to be interfered with as little as possible. But the sicker you know yourself to be, the more willing you are to undergo a difficult or drastic remedy."

2. "The reason that Christianity is exclusive is that Jesus is unique. He's the creator, the ruler, the judge, the savior. There is no human being like him. There's no religious leader like him. There's no philosopher or teacher like him. Jesus is incomparable."

3. "To follow him faithfully, you must care most about what Jesus himself says about you. You must give more weight to his verdict on you than to anybody else's verdict on you."

4. "When he sees their lampstand flickering, he doesn't snuff it out, but he trims the wick and pours in fresh oil."

5. "You must never excuse a lack of love in your life as if it is balanced out or compensated for by other strengths and spiritual priorities you bring to bear. No matter what else you've got going on, if you lack love for other believers, Jesus finds you lacking."

6. "It is possible to be completely mistaken about your own spiritual condition. It is possible to think you're doing great when you're doing terribly. It's possible to think you're rich in spiritual terms when you have not a cent to your name."

7. "Don't disable and leave battery-less your own spiritual smoke alarm of your conscience. That little faint beep that's going off in the back of your head seemingly once every 30 seconds or so. Attend to it, figure it out, go find the source."

8. "Jesus is not only the physician, he is himself an utterly infallible spiritual x-ray. Whatever you can hide from others, you can't hide from him. Whatever you can keep bundled behind a facade, he sees right through."

9. "Repentance is the only proof that your faith is real. If you say you believe in Jesus but you do not turn from your sin, you do not believe in Jesus."

10. "The reason Jesus calls persevering faith conquering is precisely because of all the opposition and hardship you face here and now. What looks like total apparent defeat is actually victory. Being faithful to the end, even at the cost of your life, is a victory for both you and the truth."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 2:1, how does Jesus describe himself to the church in Ephesus, and what does he say he is doing among the seven golden lampstands?

2. According to Revelation 2:4-5, what specific accusation does Jesus bring against the church in Ephesus, and what three actions does he command them to take in response?

3. In Revelation 3:1, what contrast does Jesus identify between the church in Sardis's reputation and their actual spiritual condition?

4. According to Revelation 3:15-17, how does Jesus describe the spiritual state of the Laodicean church, and how does their self-perception differ from his assessment of them?

5. What specific counsel does Jesus give to the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:18-19, and what reason does he provide for why he reproves and disciplines them?

6. Looking across the seven messages, what phrase does Jesus use at the end of each letter (e.g., Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22), and to whom are these messages ultimately intended?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Jesus begin each message by identifying himself with specific titles and descriptions (such as "the first and the last," "him who has the sharp two-edged sword," or "the Amen") before delivering his diagnosis and prescription to each church?

2. In the sermon, the preacher noted that Jesus commends the Ephesians for their doctrinal discernment but rebukes them for abandoning their first love. What does this teach us about the relationship between sound doctrine and genuine love in the Christian life?

3. How does the imagery of being "lukewarm" in Revelation 3:15-16 illustrate the danger of spiritual self-deception, and why would Jesus prefer that someone be "cold or hot" rather than lukewarm?

4. Throughout these seven letters, Jesus repeatedly calls the churches to "repent" with warnings of judgment if they refuse. How does this emphasis on repentance relate to the nature of saving faith according to the sermon's teaching?

5. What is the significance of the promises Jesus makes "to the one who conquers" at the end of each letter, and how does the sermon explain what it means to "conquer" in the context of the Christian life?

Application Questions

1. The sermon emphasized that we must care most about what Jesus says about us rather than what others think. In what specific area of your life are you tempted to value human approval over Christ's assessment, and what would it look like to prioritize his evaluation this week?

2. Jesus commended several churches for their endurance, love, faith, and service. When you look at the believers around you, what specific evidence of God's grace do you see that you could affirm and encourage this week, and how will you communicate that encouragement?

3. The Christians in Pergamum and Thyatira faced pressure to compromise their faith in their workplaces through participation in idolatrous guild practices. What pressures do you face in your workplace, school, or community to publicly express allegiance to values or ideologies that conflict with your faith in Christ, and how can you remain faithful?

4. The sermon outlined three steps for repentance: agree with God about your sin, acknowledge and confess it, and abandon it by taking practical steps away from it. Is there a specific sin the Holy Spirit has been convicting you about? What concrete step can you take this week to turn from it?

5. Jesus warned the Laodiceans that they were self-deceived about their spiritual condition. What practices can you implement—such as reading Scripture as a mirror, seeking counsel from mature believers, or confessing sins to others—to guard against spiritual self-deception in your own life?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Numbers 25:1-9 — This passage recounts the incident with Balaam and Balak that Jesus references in his rebuke to Pergamum, showing how idolatry and sexual immorality led to God's judgment on Israel.

2. 1 Kings 18:20-40 — This account of Elijah confronting the prophets of Baal illustrates the call to exclusive devotion to the Lord that Jesus demands of churches compromising with idolatry.

3. Psalm 62:1-12 — This psalm, referenced in the sermon, teaches believers to wait on the Lord and pour out their hearts to him, modeling the posture needed to persevere in faith amid trials.

4. Hebrews 12:3-11 — This passage explains that God disciplines those he loves, reinforcing Jesus's statement in Revelation 3:19 and helping us understand divine rebuke as an expression of fatherly care.

5. Revelation 21:1-7 — This vision of the new creation shows the fulfillment of the promises Jesus makes to those who conquer, including eating from the tree of life, dwelling with God, and receiving an eternal inheritance.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Doctor Analogy: What We Need From Christ Depends on How We See Ourselves

II. Christ's Authority: The Divine Identity of the One Who Speaks

III. Christ's Affirmation: Commending the Good He Sees in His Churches

IV. Christ's Rebuke: Diagnosing Spiritual Sickness

V. Christ's Command: The Call to Repentance

VI. Christ's Promise: Eternal Life for Those Who Conquer

VII. Responding to the Great Physician: Letting Christ Do His Work in Us

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Detailed Sermon Outline

How'd you feel the last time you went to the doctor?

Maybe it was just an annoyance, a speed bump in your schedule. You're young, you're healthy, you just had to get a physical for some position you're applying for. Or maybe you were in acute distress. Extreme pain sent you to the ER or to urgent care. It turned out you had to have surgery.

It blew up your whole week, your whole month. Of course, in the end, you were glad it happened because if they didn't address whatever it was, the consequences would have been far worse down the road.

Or maybe your most recent trip to the doctor was your 30th this year. You've been on a diagnostic quest that you're not yet at the end of. You're experiencing difficult, even debilitating symptoms, but no doctor can seem to figure out what's wrong with you. The last 29 times so far this year, you were disappointed.

Buy your visit to the doctor and you expect to be disappointed again. What do you need from a doctor? You need them to discern what's wrong with you and to know the remedy, to be able to connect you with whatever medication, treatment, therapy it is that's going to help you with that remedy. It also helps if they're kind, if they're compassionate, if they actually take time to hear your whole story. What you want from a doctor depends on how you see yourself.

If you think you're perfectly healthy, you want to be interfered with as little as possible. But the sicker you know yourself to be, the more willing you are to undergo a difficult or drastic remedy. This morning we continue our series in the New Testament book of Revelation. We're gonna cover all of chapters two and three. The passage starts on page 1028 of the Bible's around you.

You can go ahead and turn there. In this passage, the risen Lord Jesus speaks directly to seven churches in the ancient Roman province of Asia Minor. And throughout these two chapters, he is doing the work of a master heavenly physician. In all seven of these messages to these churches, the church goes to the doctor, and the doctor delivers both his diagnosis and his prescription.

Jesus prescribes remedies for these churches that will cure them from the inside out. And He's going to reveal spiritual problems that they're blind to, that they didn't even know needed fixing in the first place. I'm going to read the whole passage right now so you'll be helped by opening up a Bible and following along. Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen.

Repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have. You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: the words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 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 ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. Enter the angel of the church in Pergamum, write: the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon, and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

I know your works. Your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.

And all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron.

As when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then what you 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. Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

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.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: the words of the holy one, the true one 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. Because you have kept my word 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'm 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 on him the name of my God and 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. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation: 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 cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth.

For you say, I am 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.

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. These messages to these seven churches all have more or less the same structure.

Each one opens by addressing the angel of the church in the name of the city. Some interpreters throughout history and even a small minority today. Understand these angels to refer to human church leaders. But in all the other 67 times Revelation uses this word, it refers to a heavenly being. And these angels are themselves represented by heavenly bodies.

They're symbolized by stars in both chapter 1 verse 12 and here in chapter 2 verse 1 which gives further weight to the idea that they're heavenly beings. Then each message ends or nearly ends in the same way. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the church For one thing, this statement shows us the inseparable, unified working of the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are the words of the risen Lord Jesus himself. And yet Jesus himself says, Hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

So what the Son says, the Spirit says. What one person of the Trinity says, the whole Trinity says.

Says. But this conclusion to all these messages also shows us that even though each message is addressed to a specific church, it is intended for all the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Each message to a church is for all the churches. Everyone who can hear is exhorted to listen to every message.

Sometimes commentators will make a big deal out of local circumstances, hypothesizing about water flows into Laodicea and this kind of thing as if the circumstances of the town or its recent history were a kind of clue to understanding the message. That's not really the case. All of these, of course, there's some local flavor, local variety, but all of these Christians in all of these cities were in fundamentally similar circumstances. They were a tiny persecuted minority, they were dealing with Greco-Roman emperor worship and all kinds of other stuff that we're gonna consider. What they had in common was much more important even to their current spiritual circumstances than anything that set them apart.

So this concluding phrase means that the risen Christ speaking in the power of the Spirit intends these messages as much for our church as for any church. What Jesus said to all these Christians 2,000 years ago and 8,000 miles away, he says to you right now. Those are the first and last elements of each message. Now, in the rest of the sermon, I'll build the outline around the five inner parts of each letter. We're not going to walk through the letters one by one.

We're going to kind of put them together, put it all into one structure, and consider kind of the overall message by putting all the letters together. There's some variation, but we can group together the pieces of each message as an answer to this question. What does it take for a sick church to get healthy? What does it take for a sick church to get healthy? Christ's message gives us five answers.

These are really the body of each of these messages. Five answers. Number one, Christ's authority. Number two, Christ's affirmation. Number three, Christ's rebuke.

Number four, Christ's command. Number five, Christ's promise. Christ's authority, affirmation, rebuke, command, and promise. Point one, Christ's authority. After his address to the angel of each church, Jesus introduces himself not by name, but by pointing to some aspect of his person, his work, his divine dignity.

He reminds each church who he is and therefore how they should relate to him before he gives them any specific instruction. I'll read again through all seven of these at the beginning of each message, then we'll just meditate on some of their themes. Chapter 2:1, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2:8, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life. 2:12, the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

2:18, the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

Chapter 3:1, the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. 3:7, the words of the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

3:14, the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. Creation. That phrase, the words of, could also be translated thus says. It's the way the Greek Old Testament translates that phrase whenever it shows up all throughout the prophets, thus says. And of course, all throughout the Old Testament prophets, it's thus says the Lord.

That phrase is indicating that the words to follow are spoken with full divine authority. The one who's addressing them in these messages is the living God. Now, almost all these descriptions, when Jesus identifies himself, are drawn from the vision of Christ that John saw back in chapter one, verses 12 to 16, which we considered a few weeks ago. We could distill their significance into one sentence. The Lord Jesus Christ is God himself, our creator, savior, and judge.

That's what all these images combine to teach us. We see that he's God himself from his flaming eyes, as we considered a few weeks ago. We see that he's God himself from the fact that he has the seven spirits of God, meaning the Holy Spirit is his spirit. We also see Jesus as divine being in that he refers to himself as the amen. We say amen to confirm the truth, to confirm our endorsement or agreement with a prayer.

Jesus is the amen. He is truth himself. He's borrowing a phrase from Isaiah chapter 65 verse 16, the God of truth, which is literally the God God of Amen. Jesus is saying that he himself is ultimate truth. He is truth in person, truth incarnate.

He doesn't have to appeal to some other standard of truth or authority. He is himself that truth. And Jesus introduces himself as the creator of all things. He calls himself the first and the last, the source and the goal of creation. Then in 3:14, this phrase, the beginning of God's creation, doesn't mean that Jesus was the first creature to be created, but that he is himself the the beginning of the act of creation, the beginning of the work of creation.

He is creation's beginning by virtue of being its creator. He is creation's origin and therefore ruler. Jesus also identifies himself as our savior. He reminds us that he bore faithful and true witness during his incarnate mission. And when he died and rose again, like we saw last time, he did all of that.

In order to accomplish our salvation. Finally, he's the judge of all. He tells us in 3:7 that he holds the key of David. He opens and no one will shut. He shuts and no one opens.

This describes Jesus's sovereignty over the fate of every individual. Meaning, he alone grants access to God. He alone determines the length of our life and the time of our death.

He alone admits to heaven and rejects from heaven. Many people today criticize Christianity for being so exclusive as if it's a kind of evidence of malice, mean-spiritedness. They say things like, How can you say there's only one way to God? How can you say everybody has to believe in Jesus? How can you say everyone has to believe the same stuff you believe?

The reason that Christianity is exclusive is that Jesus is unique. He's the creator, the ruler, the judge, the savior. There is no human being like him. There's no religious leader like him. There's no philosopher or teacher like him.

Jesus is incomparable. That's what he's reminding all of us through the ways he reintroduces himself. No one can credibly claim what Jesus claims of himself. Christianity's exclusiveness is not arbitrary. It's a necessary implication of what Jesus says about himself.

This Jesus is the only real Jesus and he's the only one who can talk like Jesus. This. This is why the Bible teaches that you must believe in him to be right with God.

Now, why does Jesus introduce himself in these authority claiming ways? Why does he front his authority at the beginning of these messages? It's to teach us to care what he's about to say about us. People in the West today, especially in America, will often kind of present this rugged front of, I don't care what anybody says about me. As long as I'm satisfied with myself, that's the only person I have to prove.

That's the only person whose verdict I need to care about is myself. But that doesn't really work. That's not really how we live. That's not really practical. Plus, the only people who really don't care what anybody else thinks about them are sociopaths.

We all care deeply and care more about what certain people think of us.

Friends, parents, a mentor, a boss, someone whose romantic attention you're trying to gain, you care deeply about what some people think about you. But here's what all these statements of Jesus about himself are telling us: To follow him faithfully, you must care most about what Jesus himself says about you. You must give more weight to his verdict on you than to anybody else's verdict on you. You should pay more attention to what he says is right with you and what he says is wrong with you and how to fix it. That brings us to point two, Christ's affirmation, Christ's affirmation.

In every single message but one, Christ begins the body of the address by encouraging the church about the good that he sees in their life. Look first in chapter 2 verses 2 to 3.

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. Similarly, down in verse 19 of chapter 2, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. Jesus also commends multiple churches for persisting in bold public witness in the face of opposition. So, for instance, in chapter 2, verse 13, I know where you dwell where Satan's throne is.

Yet you hold fast my name, and you do not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells. Jesus named Pergamum the place where Satan dwells because apparently this is the only city in which a Christian has recently been put to death for their faith.

That makes Pergamum the most obvious local outcropping of the power of Satan on earth. So, what was most likely the cause of the conflict between Christians and local authorities was that Christianity was perceived as exclusive. It was perceived as contrary to their common interests. It was perceived as actually taking away from the fabric of society where everybody has to worship all these gods to keep all the gods favoring us. And if you Christians are taking away worship from those gods, you are public enemies.

You are a threat to order. So there's a kind of opposition from the broader culture. We also see that there are in at least some places where hostility is between Jews and Christians. The language John uses to denounce some of these Jews, calling them a synagogue of Satan or they say that they are Jews but are not, this is probably turning their own accusation against Christians on its head. So some Jews who didn't believe in Jesus would have been at pains to distance themselves from Christians.

Saying, well, you, Roman government, shouldn't give them the same protection you give us. They don't really, they're not real Jews because they believe in this weirdo, crucified Messiah guy. So John is turning their insult, he's turning their denunciation back on them. This is not a sort of generalized statement of anti-Jewish feeling or something like that. It's a specific kind of turning the tables of a charge being leveled against Christians.

Look down at chapter 3 verse 8. 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. So Jesus is commending the church in Philadelphia there for holding fast to God's word amid opposition. He also commends the church in Smyrna for faithfully enduring poverty and slander.

That's in 2:9. And some of those in Sardis for the purity of their devotion to him. In 3:4, in all of these commendations, Christ shows an intimate and detailed awareness both of the church's trials and of their imperfections. In the face of trials, he offers encouragement to persevere. In the face of glaring imperfections, he still commends the good he sees.

Jesus does not cancel these churches. He does not write them off. He doesn't just cast them away. He starts by commending the real spiritual fruit that he sees in all of them. When he sees their lampstand flickering, he doesn't snuff it out, but he trims the wick and pours in fresh oil.

What does Jesus commend these churches for? Works, toil, love, faith, service, endurance, holiness, doctrinal discernment, public confession, That's a little mini snapshot of authentic Christianity. If you want to know what real Christianity is, what following Jesus is meant to look like despite all of the church's many and continual failures, look to what Jesus himself celebrates. And Jesus is able to discern real though imperfect Christianity, really flawed yet people really following. Him.

Real Christianity involves both doctrine and devotion, truth and love, purity and perseverance, faith shown by its works. If you want to see more good in the believers around you, start by affirming the good that you already see. If you see something, say something. If you notice God's grace and gifts at work in a person's life, then celebrate those gifts and graces to their face. Encouragement tends the fire.

Every fire needs fresh fuel and if you want that fuel to be the most effective, you put it on the fire where it's already burning strong. That's what encouragement does. It adds more fuel to the fire in order to strengthen what's already strong. The world, the flesh and the devil oppose every single step that every one of us takes in faith. It's so easy to underestimate how much encouragement each of us can use.

It's so easy to underestimate how much good encouragement does.

Right now, the book I've been writing on Ecclesiastes is going through the editing process. Thankfully, my editor likes it. He told me he really likes it. He even told me one part of it made him cry. That was a good part to cry at, so I was encouraged.

I'm confident my editor is for me. So when he assigns me some harder edits, like, for instance, making the whole first half of the book a little happier, I'm motivated to do my best. I'll give it a try. I'll think about it. I'll get counsel.

I'll milk Ecclesiastes for as much happiness as I can get out of that sad part.

My editor's encouragement to me helps motivate the change he wants to see in me. Encouragement motivates growth and change. It strengthens trust. It builds affection. It can spur people to change far more than a direct rebuke can.

These passages offer us a precious window into the heart of Christ towards struggling and suffering Christians. Even amid our sins and struggles, Jesus sees good, cherishes good, and celebrates good. If Christ were to send you one of these personalized messages right now, what good would he commend?

If Christ were to send one of these letters to us as a local church, what good would he celebrate and encourage us for? Brothers and sisters, we should strive to build up a culture of godly affirmation in the church. The key point there is the standard is that it's not about what we like, it's about what Jesus likes. The standard is not our preferences but Christ's character. So whatever you see of him in fellow church members celebrate and encourage.

But of course, when Christ looks at these churches, the encouraging stuff is not the only thing he sees. So point three, Christ's rebuke. Christ's rebuke. In five out of the seven messages, Jesus rebukes his people. He identifies serious flaws and calls them out.

He brings their spiritual sickness to light and delivers his diagnosis in the hearing of all the other churches and everybody else listening in.

There's no remedy unless you first figure out what's wrong. Let's start by considering Jesus's first three rebukes, so in 2:4 to the Ephesians. But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Now, Jesus had commended the Ephesians for their endurance and for rejecting false apostles. They had both discernment and staying power.

But they lacked love. And I think the love here that's in view is love for other believers. That's why Jesus tells them in the next verse to repent and do the works you did at first, meaning works of love that show their love for other believers. Love for the truth is necessary but not sufficient. It's not enough to love the truth.

You have to love God's people too. You must never excuse a lack of love in your life as if it is balanced out or compensated for by other strengths and spiritual priorities you bring to bear. No matter what else you've got going on and you've got to show in your spiritual portfolio, if you lack love for other believers, Jesus finds you lacking. To those in Pergamum, Jesus writes in verses 14 and 15 of chapter two, But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The fundamental issue here is idolatry, worship of false gods. Back in the book of Numbers, during Israel's sojourn in the wilderness, Balaam enticed the Israelites into worshiping false gods and associated with that was practicing sexual immorality just like here. So John's chief concern is the people's exclusive devotion to the Lord, which is expressed in worshiping only him and being chaste, faithful, sexually pure. In ancient Asia Minor, Christians were a tiny and marginal and often persecuted minority.

Again, the dominant religious culture around them wove polytheistic practice into the fabric of daily life. For instance, if you worked in any kind of trade or profession, it would be normal to belong to a guild. There were guilds of goldsmiths, winemakers, fishermen, athletes, bankers, and so on. And these guilds would frequently host dinners. At those dinners, they would offer a sacrifice to whatever their sort of patron deities were, asking those gods to bless their work and make them prosper.

So, in many instances, as part of your job, you were expected to participate in idolatry. This is probably the primary situation John has in view when he mentions food sacrifice to idols. If you refuse to participate, you ran the risk of losing your job. In other words, one of the places Christians were most vulnerable to compromising their faith was their workplace. Sound familiar?

You had to to publicly express your allegiance to the gods of the culture in order to continue reaping its economic benefits.

Another way that idolatry tempted Christians was in the growing presence of emperor worship. This was kind of a rising religious trend in the Roman world during that time. For instance, Ephesus had a temple dedicated to Julius Caesar who had died only a few decades earlier, honoring him as a god. So in order to show yourself a loyal citizen, you might be expected to participate in civic festivals that honored the emperor as a god. If you were a believer back then in one of those cities, what would you have done on that civic holiday?

Some professing believers in those circumstances became so compromised, so mixed up in the local idolatrous culture, that they were indistinguishable from it. That's what Jesus rebukes those in Sardis for in chapter 3 verse 1. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. He's saying that most of those in the church have no real spiritual life in them.

He's saying they have the appearance, the reputation, they're thought to be Christians, they're known to be Christians, but they really are dead. Not. These are sharp and stinging words. They're meant to jolt their hearers awake. Now, the pain isn't the point, but it is part of the process.

If you're new to Christianity, maybe you're a new believer or you're exploring the faith, this aspect of a relationship with Jesus might seem strange to you. But look down at Revelation 3:19.

It's also on the front of the bulletin. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Love motivates rebuke and rebuke expresses love. Every parent knows the resistance that kids put up to any necessary medical intervention. The child gets a splinter in their heel, you want to tweeze it out, but they are kicking and screaming and rolling all over the couch and they won't hold still nearly enough for you to, you know, insert some sharp object into it to pull it out, right?

Or they get a big scrape, large, bleeding, well, if only you can wash it out and put some ointment on it and put a big old band-aid over it, they're gonna be fine, but they're kind of protecting their knee. What do you think you're doing, mom? Don't touch it. You're making it worse.

What the parent knows, but the kid doesn't, is that this is only a minor pain and it's gonna do a lot of good. What the parent also knows, and the kid doesn't, is that if you don't address this now, it's gonna be a whole lot worse later. The choice with that kind of injury is not between No pain versus pain. It's a little pain now versus a lot more pain later.

Jesus rebuking his people. Jesus calling out your sin. Jesus showing you what's wrong with yourself. You can put up a fight. Or you can listen and submit.

You can hear what he says. Don't cover your ears. Don't try to cover the wound. The choice is a little pain now versus a lot of pain later. We need to consider one more of Jesus' rebukes.

Look at chapter 3, verses 15 to 17.

To the Laodiceans, 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 am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Jesus' point in verse 15 is based on the fact that both hot drinks and cold drinks have their uses.

They each please and refresh because they differ from room temperature. His problem with the Laodiceans is that they do not differ from room temperature. They are indistinguishable from the world around them. That's why he says he's going to spit them out of his mouth or even more literally, vomit them. Out of his mouth.

What do they think about themselves? They say they're rich, they've prospered, they need nothing. Apparently, they take their material wealth to be able to stand in for spiritual wealth. They take it that their material wealth somehow makes them independent, autonomous, self-sufficient. I've prospered, I need nothing.

In a word, they're self deceived. This may be the scariest of all these rebukes. It is possible to be completely mistaken about your own spiritual condition. It is possible to think you're doing great when you're doing terribly. It's possible to think you're rich in spiritual terms when you have not a cent to your name.

How can you guard against and overcome that kind of spiritual self-deception? One, read God's word. Use it as a mirror. Hold it up to your life. Expect it to reveal spots and blemishes.

Expect it to offend your pride. Expect it to show you stuff you have to work on. Also, practice spiritual self-examination in prayer. Pray back to the Lord what David says in Psalm 19:12, who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent.

From hidden faults. Ask the Lord to show you what you aren't seeing about yourself. Seek counsel, ask mature believers to help you see in yourself what you can't see. Confess your sins to others. Avoid the temptation to present a kind of whitewashed front to those believers who otherwise could be a real help to you in overcoming besetting sins.

And when you feel the faintest inward conviction. Don't silence it, but amplify it. We just got home from a couple day road trip. I was hearing the faint beeping showing one of the smoke alarms somewhere in our house is losing its battery. Couldn't figure it out last night, figured out finally it was in the basement this morning.

So I went down, took the battery out, note to self, change battery in basement smoke alarm. Now, whether this act is wise or foolish depends on whether I follow through. Don't disable and leave battery-less your own spiritual smoke alarm of your conscience. That little faint beep that's going off in the back of your head seemingly once every 30 seconds or so. Attend to it, figure it out, go find the source.

Why does Jesus rebuke us? Because he loves us. For what purpose does Jesus rebuke us? What's he aiming at in delivering these rebukes? Point four, Christ's command.

Christ's command.

That command is that we would repent of everything he rebukes. All of Jesus' diagnoses of our spiritual problems lead to one simple prescription.

Repent, meaning turn away from sin. Five times Jesus urges these churches to repent and he often warns of the consequences that will follow if they don't. For instance, 2:5, Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Or 2:16, Repent, then, or I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Therefore, repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. And in verses 21 to 23, he calls the followers of a false prophet to repent. He calls her Jezebel to align her with the Old Testament queen who led God's people into idolatry and immorality. And he calls her and all her followers to repent with dire consequences if they won't.

Look at chapter 2, verse 23.

I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. Jesus is not only the physician, he is himself an utterly infallible spiritual x-ray. Whatever you can hide from others, you can't hide from him. Whatever you can keep bundled behind a facade, he sees right through. The basic point is that repentance is the only way to be restored to a right relationship with God.

When Jesus rebukes your sin, when you come under conviction of sin, repentance is the only proof that your faith is real. The warnings that Jesus attaches to these commands warn of judgment to come against these churches. Jesus' point is not that Christians can fall away from faith faith. Instead, his point is that repentance is the proof of faith. Repentance is what shows real faith.

If you say you believe in Jesus but you do not turn from your sin, you do not believe in Jesus. Jesus's warnings about a future coming and judgment may refer to some act within history or may refer to his coming at the end when those who reject him will be rejected. Either way, repentance is has a deadline. Repentance and faith all throughout the New Testament are two sides of the same coin. To turn to Jesus in faith, you must turn from sin.

I remember visiting Ukrainian believers, spending a couple of weeks there back in the summer of 2006, helping out with some evangelistic outreach with a local church in Kiev. And one of the things that stuck out to me about those Ukrainian believers is that the way they describe conversion is by saying they repented. So you ask someone how they came to faith and they'd say, oh, well, when I was 18 years old, I repented. You could practically call them repenters instead of believers. That's a deeply biblical way to talk.

It's a lot more biblical than certain other phrases you might fill in the blank like asking Jesus into your heart. I repented when. That way of talking is profoundly biblical. Looking at Jesus' rebuke of the self-deceived Laodiceans, remember, they think they're rich but 317 Jesus says, you, are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. But look at Jesus's solution, his counsel in verse 18.

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. Jesus is urging them to exchange their poverty for his riches, their nakedness for his garments, their blindness for the sight that only he can give. That's the essence of the good news. We've all forfeited infinite spiritual wealth by rebelling against God, by rejecting him, by turning our backs on him and trying to rule ourselves instead of being ruled by him.

And what we deserve is the judgment that Christ himself threatens to carry out, the judgment that he himself promises to bring on all those who persist in sin. In terms of what we've earned and achieved and deserve before God, it is only judgment. It is only condemnation. But this exchange where we who have nothing can get everything is the heart of Christianity's message. It's what Jesus came to preach and to accomplish and then to send his followers all throughout the world to proclaim.

Because he became incarnate and lived a perfect life and died on the cross and paid the full penalty for our sin, we who have nothing can buy from him. How, if we're miserable and pitiable and poor, blind, and naked, how are we supposed to buy from him? It's a metaphor for his riches being so abundant that we who have nothing to offer can get everything from him. That's what it means to become a Christian. It's to trade in your poverty for his riches and all you have to do is recognize your spiritual poverty and come to him asking for his fullness.

What it means to become a Christian. If you're not a believer in Jesus, I would urge you to to go through with that great and marvelous exchange today. Turn from sin and trust in Jesus to save you. How can you repent? This holds for whether it's initial repentance coming to faith for the first time or the ongoing repentance all of us as Christians need to do.

It's not easy but it is simple. Here's three steps. Agree with God Acknowledge, abandon, agree, agree with God against yourself about your sin. Acknowledge, confess your sin to God, name it to him in prayer, and ask for forgiveness. And then abandon, abandon your sin, turn from it, run from it, take practical steps to help you begin a new trajectory away from it.

And toward pursuing Christ's own character. Agree, acknowledge, abandon. That's what you need to do with any sin you're aware of in your life. But in these messages, Jesus doesn't leave us with what we need to do for him, as important as that is. He closes every single one with what he promises to do for us.

Point five, Christ's promise. Christ's promise. At the end of each message, Christ promises eternal resurrection life to all who believe in him. He promises permanent possession of and utterly secure participation in the coming new creation. Here again, as with Christ's references to himself, we're going to start by just hearing them all back to back.

2:7 To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. 2:11 the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.

2:17 To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. 2:26-28, the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. 3:5 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. 3:12 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 on him the name of my God and 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. 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.

When Jesus makes these promises to the one who conquers, he's addressing every single believer who perseveres in faith. He's saying that to maintain your faith to the end despite sin, suffering, and opposition is to win. It's to defeat Satan. It's to defeat the world. That doesn't mean you'll experience only blessing here and now.

The reason Jesus calls that persevering faith conquering is precisely because of all the opposition and hardship you face here and now. So these promises are for every single person believer who maintains their faith until the end. And in Revelation, those who specifically die for their faith are said to conquer. What looks like total apparent defeat is actually victory. Being faithful to the end, faithful to the truth, even at the cost of your life, is a victory for both you and the truth.

So here Jesus borrows military and athletic imagery to portray the faithful Christian life as victory. What does Jesus promise to those victors, those who conquer? He promises everlasting life that death can never touch. He promises satisfaction of all of our deepest yearnings and desires. That's what the image of eating from the tree of life is meant to convey.

That's what Adam and Eve were denied after their sin. That's what he's going to grant to every believer. We'll meditate on that more in our message tonight. Christ also promises security. He'll make each of us a pillar in God's temple.

A pillar doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't wander off, doesn't get lost. It stays there in God's presence. This is ultimate security, ultimate stability. Jesus promises also that his verdict on us will prevail over the world's verdict.

In 2:17 he promises a white stone. The cultural background there is when citizens would assemble to give judgment in some case, a white stone would symbolize a favorable verdict. You're exonerating someone, showing them to be in the right. Jesus is saying that he himself will pronounce that favorable verdict over every believer. And then in chapter 3, verse 5, when he promises never to blot out our name from the book of life.

One background to that is the Old Testament teaching that God has written all of the names of his chosen people in his book. But another background for that is that in the ancient Greco-Roman world, when the local government would carry out a capital crime, carry out a capital sentence on someone who commits a capital crime, part of that act would be removing their name from the register of citizens. So presumably, this would happen to Antipas when he was killed. His name is symbolically blotted out, forgotten, removed from reckoning. God is saying, Whatever the world does to your name, however they might seem to erase you or destroy you, that will never happen with me.

Another image of security is that believers will even reign with Christ. The kind of authority over the nations that Psalm 2 promised the Messiah as we heard of earlier in our service. That's an authority he will actually share with us. We'll rule over the nations who formerly persecuted us. And finally, Christ promises that we will be possessed by God.

And permanently dwell with him. That's all the language of having a new name written on us. Why do you write a name on a piece of property? There's even names written on the pillars of the Old Testament temple. Why write a name to show possession?

To show who it belongs to. Jesus is saying that we will permanently and perfectly belong to the God who has loved us and redeemed us and brought us to dwell with him forever. All this calls for hope. All this calls for endurance. All this calls for persevering and trusting in God's promises.

When you're tempted to doubt, when you're tempted to despair, fight back with God's promises. Two specific postures that can help with that, both from the Psalms. First, pour out your heart to the Lord. As Psalm 628 exhorts us, Trust in Him at all times, O people, pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Take the bottled up spiritual pressure inside you and release it to the Lord.

Use prayer to God, even raw, anguished, gritty prayer, as an emotional pressure release valve for your deepest struggles. Secondly, wait on the Lord. Also in Psalm 62, verses 5 and 6, For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, I shall not be shaken. Waiting on the Lord means looking for Him to act, expecting Him to act, and trusting that He will act in His good time.

It means trusting His character and His promises despite any apparent evidence. To the contrary. It means refusing to let his apparent delay cause you to doubt his heart.

Where do you see yourself in Christ's messages to these seven churches? What in your life would Jesus himself commend?

What in your life would he rebuke? And what would he tell you to do about it?

Let the great physician do his work on you. Whatever spiritual sickness he has diagnosed in you, he alone has the cure, and he alone is the cure. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for these words of encouragement, of promise, of rebuke. We pray that they would do their work in us so that we would be thoroughly equipped for every good work. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.