Mike Bickle emphasizes that the book of Revelation is primarily about the revelation of Jesus Christ, not just the events of the end times. He highlights the importance of understanding Jesus's messages to the seven churches, which serve as a guide for the overcoming church in facing persecution and temptation. Bickle urges church leaders to familiarize themselves with these messages to avoid being swayed by cultural dilution and to prepare for the return of Christ. He discusses the eternal rewards promised to those who overcome and the need for a church that is deeply rooted in its relationship with Jesus. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a commitment to holiness and a passionate love for Christ.

Quick review, Revelation chapter 1 verse 1 is the revelation of Jesus which God gave to Jesus to show his servants the things which must shortly take place. So God the Father determined how much the Son could reveal about the end time plan. It was the Father's choice, but He gave it to the Son, says you can share this much. Paragraph A, the book of Revelation is called the revelation of Jesus. Now that's so obvious to us, but it's easy to miss and the book becomes about events and the book is not mostly about events. It's not about the plan itself, that's secondary. It's the man behind the plan that the book is about, the book about Jesus. Paragraph A, the book of Revelation is called the revelation of Jesus because it reveals his heart, reveals his leadership. Paragraph B, in the vision that John saw, he is highlighting 30 descriptions of Jesus's majesty, 30 different descriptions. We have those with a little bit of detail, I mean a couple paragraphs on most of them on the website, the 30 descriptions in Revelation 2 and 3. And it reveals 18 eternal rewards. Jesus talks about 18 eternal rewards, that's a remarkable number, I mean there's quite a few eternal rewards in the Bible that we're meant to understand, to be motivated by. Paragraph D, Jesus is only going to return in context to a prepared church. The church will be a bride that's made herself ready by responding to him, meaning he's not coming for a backslidden church that's confused about what's going on, but a church that's deeply rooted in the revelation of what's going on, which is in this book, the book of Revelation. Although it's the whole word of God, but he's coming back for a prepared bride. She understands what he's about, she understands what's happening in that hour of history. Paragraph E, we must understand Jesus's seven messages to the church, I mean Jesus's message to the seven churches. In other words, Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus gives seven messages, and it's really one overall message if you want to look at it that way. It's his instruction on what the overcoming church looks like. So we have seven short exhortations, this is what Jesus says the overcoming church looks like. When we read Revelation 1 to 3, we see the truth that he once emphasized to prepare his church for the greatest revival in history. I mean think about this, Revelation 1 is Jesus preparing the church. I mean there's all kinds of church growth seminars and how to do church. Revelation 1 to 3, Jesus says this is my church growth seminar, right here. And that sounds kind of cute, but it's real, and it's easy to overlook these three chapters when we're seeking to build a church after God's own heart. And as many of you are young leaders, I urge you to familiarize yourself with Revelation 1 to 3 so you don't get swept along with the tide of the culture that is diluting so much of the ministry that's in the visible church right now. I mean so many that are claiming the church and involvement in it, they're being diluted and swept away by the tide of culture. And Jesus makes a very clear, bold, definitive statement about what he wants in the church. In Revelation chapter 1 to 3, and I just urge you to really take it seriously as leaders, as future leaders in the church, these are the things that the church needs to overcome persecution and temptation. So the church doesn't yield in the face of temptation or persecution, they need the truth of Revelation 1, 2, and 3. So make it a personal goal to study these chapters often. Paragraph A, I mean Roman numeral 2, how to apply the seven letters, four different ways. The first way is that we obviously, we apply it individually to inspire wholehearted obedience and wholehearted love, or you can say wholeheartedness. So when I read these letters to the seven churches, and I take it personally, not just as a preacher of something to say, but I want to understand it for my life. It inspires wholeheartedness in individuals. Then you can apply it historically, Jesus was actually talking to seven historical churches in the first century. And then we can apply it universally, these letters to these seven churches are beneficial to the whole body of Christ throughout history, meaning it's not only for the first century and not only for the end time generation, for all believers everywhere, these three chapters are meant to be understood. And chapter, I mean paragraph D, eschatologically, which just means end times, that's just a fancy word for end times. The eschatological view is to prepare the end time church for the events in the rest of the book. I mean that's what Jesus was, one of the things He was doing. He was saying, this is what you need to know to get ready for the events that are going to happen. So paragraph D, to prepare the end time church for the events that unfold in the rest of the book. So forerunners who are church planners and they're leaders in the body of Christ, you want to know these three chapters. Top of page two, common elements in studying these seven letters. Oh, by the way, I'm going through these seven letters so brief. I have a series on the internet where I went 12 sessions on these seven letters. So this is kind of painful for me to do them all in one short 40 minute message, but it's, you can get it on there, it's just the seven letters to the churches in Revelation, something like that is the title. I haven't looked at the title recently, but anyway. And I have in addition to the notes tonight, about 50 pages, supplemental pages of notes to supplement this tonight. And I'm talking to those that are saying, you know, I want to understand more what this is about. Like this is too fast, too brief. And so those 50 pages will be up, probably be a little, a couple of days or maybe a week or two just because of the editing team that's working on them. But I break down the details a bit more. But again, on the website, there's a series 12 messages where we take these seven churches and break them down in a lot more detail. The common elements of every letter, number one, it's a first Jesus calls attention to specific aspects of his own ministry, his own majesty to equip the people. So Jesus reveals something about himself that he wants highlighted in your life that will equip you. And again, these are not just random things. They will equip you to stand in the face of persecution and in the face of temptation. Now the persecution today in our context in the Western world is not physical at this point in time. I believe it will be one day. The persecution today is reproach. We get laughed at or mocked or people in the body of Christ write you off. That's persecution. And if you understand these different facets of Jesus, it will equip you to bear that reproach and to not easily back away just because some cool Christians think that this is ridiculous. Because I found the book of Revelation is the most politically incorrect document on the planet. I mean, it is so maybe not in the strictest sense, but it is politically incorrect. This book and even these things about the churches, they are not popular in the church today. And so understanding them will actually bolster your boldness. So you don't, you won't be tempted to back away because of reproach. You will bear reproach if you speak these truths. I mean, you bear the reproach in the church as well as outside the church. The other common elements to study is the historical context. There's a story behind each one of the seven churches that's quite interesting. I do a little bit more of this on the 12-part series I mentioned earlier. Then paragraph C, Jesus gives affirmation for faithfulness and it lets us know what He esteems, what He is making a point to say, now this touches my heart that you're being true to this. And so this gives us insight what moves His heart. What He wants. Then paragraph D, most of the churches, five of the seven, they have corrections. And these are issues that are present in the church today, these areas that He corrected. And we don't want these areas in our own life or in our ministry. And if they are, we want to lay hold of the grace of God and the word of God and correct these issues in our life. In these seven letters, Jesus highlighted six temptations. There's six specific temptations that He highlighted. And I have them written there. Immorality and idolatry are very important. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans, leaving our first love, having a name that we're spiritually alive but we're actually spiritually dead as born-again believers. And it doesn't mean that they're not born again, but it means in terms of their everyday life, they're spiritually dull. And then a lukewarmness. I have at the end of paragraph D, the compromises that Jesus emphasized the most are three. In these seven churches, He said these over and over. He challenged them about immorality. He challenged them about idolatry and He challenged them about spiritual passivity, about being lukewarm spiritually. Matter of fact, three of the seven churches, that was the number one thing that He corrected them. They were very busy in ministry, but they were spiritually passive in their personal lives. And Jesus appears to John in his resurrected body, He says, tell three of the seven churches in their individual lives, I want them to give themselves to Me in a more concerted way. I love them with all of My heart. But I want them to invest all of their heart in the relationship. And so three times He addresses spiritual passivity. And again, you can see these three issues in the church today. And idolatry, one of the biggest issues of idolatry, according to Colossians 3, is covetousness. Covetousness, Paul said covetousness is idolatry. Or idolatry, you know, yeah, covetousness is idolatry. It's the love of money, trusting in the power of things instead of seeing God as our source. And so these are the big issues in the church today. Then He gives an exhortation of how we should respond. What He wants us to do, some steps, some action steps. And often there's an element of warning in these action items. The warning that Jesus gave the most in the seven churches was against fear. He said it a number of times, do not be afraid. It was the fear of bearing reproach or persecution, fear of having people not like you because you take a stand for morality, you take a stand for the truth about Jesus, you take a stand for what's on His heart. And a lot of sincere believers, they get quiet and they back away. And Jesus said, don't do that, don't back away because you're bearing reproach or you're losing something in the sight of men. Or just fear of rejection, which is the same thing as persecution. Paragraph F, another element is the promise to the overcomers. All seven letters, He pauses and gives a particular promise for them if they overcome the area that they were being challenged in or exhorted to lay hold of. All seven churches, they were being challenged to avoid some things and exhorted to lay hold of some other things. And if they obeyed it, they had particular rewards associated with them obeying those particular exhortations. Now, as I mentioned before, there are 18 eternal rewards listed in here. And on the series that I have on the internet, I've got all the 18 laid out in a description on them with other Bible verses to elaborate on those 18 eternal rewards. I love the subject of eternal rewards. I mean, I take it very, very personally. I see myself in context of these rewards. Meaning they're not theological ideas that are just kind of neat, let's try to put the puzzle together and see what they really mean. I really want them. I mean, I want them for real. And I'm pursuing, I want these specific rewards. I want to understand them. I'm asked the Holy Spirit, searching the Lord, what do these mean? And I picture myself getting them. And I tell you, it changes the way you spend time and money when you see yourself in the storyline of these rewards. It's not just a kind of a vague concept in the book of Revelation. This is real. I really want that stone with my name written on it when the Lord hands it to me. Whoa! You know, I've got a lot of ideas of what that might mean. My ideas may not be right, but I've got ideas, okay. Now rewards, paragraph one, equip people to persevere. Not just persevere against persecution, but to persevere in obedience, to stay steady, to keep signing back up, to go wholehearted for the Lord, to persevere, keep pressing in decade after decade. Rewards will help you do that. Rewards aren't the only thing, but Jesus taught on rewards more than any other man in the Bible. Because when we see these rewards, our heart gets anchored in eternity and we have confidence that our choices matter. Our hearts are anchored in eternity. When we see these rewards and we see ourselves in the storyline of receiving these rewards, we get confidence that our choices matter. The way you spend time and money, what you do with your physical passions, what you do with your speech, what you do with your eyes, really, really matters. How you respond to your enemies really does matter, really does. And when I have confidence my choices matter, then I'm motivated to make them. But when it's like, well he doesn't even notice it and nobody notices anyway and it didn't really work and here I did, I chose this kind of hard thing, this against my flesh and it didn't get me anywhere, and the Lord says, oh it didn't, are you sure it didn't? I remember it and we'll talk about it on the last day and that's good for you. I mean that's how the Lord would talk to His people. I'm not claiming that's a conversation I actually had, but that's the kind of stuff that, of the things that He says. Now these rewards are given to believers. Some commentators, when you read their writings, they make these rewards the automatic reward of every believer, so they're not really rewards corresponding to obeying what Jesus said. If you obey this, you get this reward. They take it out of that arena and they make them general things that are associated with salvation. He's not talking about the free gift of salvation here. That's a free gift. He's talking about God's response to our response as born again believers. We are saved by faith as a free gift, but we're rewarded according to our works. Our works, our deeds, the things we do with love and faith and obedience, that He rewards works, but our salvation is a free gift by faith. Don't confuse those because some people, again, works, like I mentioned, legalism is like a dirty word, works. Works are critical. You just don't want works, you don't want works to earn the love of God. The love of God's free, the salvation's free, but your response to the love of God is works. They move God's heart and He remembers them forever. The money you give, the time you give, the energy you give, the serving, it matters. The cup of cold water is a work. Loving your enemy is a good work, and it really matters. Paragraph H, the angel to the church, if you've read this, each, John is to give a message to the angel to each one of these churches. I believe the angel refers to the apostolic leader over that church in that city. The primary apostolic leader, that's the angel, because the word angel can mean a heavenly being, but it's the exact same word as messenger, to the messenger of the church. And I don't think John is having an angel give him a message, and then John goes and gives that message to an angelic being over that city. I don't think that's what's happening. He's giving it to a human being, the messenger, the angel of that church. I got a little bit more detail on that. Top of page three. Let's look at the seven churches. We're not going to look at all of them, and we're just going to look at a few minutes at a couple of them. And again, I got a 50-page document to give you a little bit more detail, but even that's very minimal, 50 pages, compared to how much truth is in these two chapters of the book of Revelation. Well the church at Ephesus, now all of these churches, all seven of them, are in what is modern day Turkey today. So they're all, you know, we have a number of teams that have gone over to Turkey. They're in the territory of these seven churches. And I believe that what God promised these churches 2,000 years ago, by the lips of Jesus, I think we're going to have a harvest out in Turkey related to some of the things Jesus said here. So I think Turkey looks like a very barren field is going to be a harvest field for the gospel, a very, very powerful one before the Lord returns. Well the church of Ephesus, he, by the way, Ephesus was the third largest city in the ancient world, so it was like the New York City of the ancient world. It's a very big, wealthy city, and they had the greatest revival in terms of the number of people touched. It surpassed even Jerusalem. When I look at the book of Acts, you see first Jerusalem is the big revival, then a few years later in Acts 13, it's the city of Antioch, but in Acts 19 and 20, it's Ephesus, and that revival surpassed all the other ones in the early church. So now it's a few decades later after the great revival, and Jesus says, John, go tell them in Ephesus, I got a few things to say to them, that I see that they work hard, they're diligent, and they stand for the truth. I mean they take a stand and they take a hit for standing for the truth. I mean it makes people upset, but tell them this, correct them for lacking love for Jesus. He says, they don't love me like they used to. Back in the revival several decades earlier, their love, their first love was fresh and alive and they were serving me because they loved me. Now they're serving me, but they're disconnected from me. I mean it's amazing, this is one of the most active, engaged, ministry-oriented churches in the Bible, and Jesus says, but they don't love me the way they used to love me. And that troubles me, John. Tell them that troubles me because I love them. And they're missing out on what I want with them even in this age. Let's go down to paragraph C. He goes, I know your works, this is Jesus speaking to John to go tell the messenger or the apostolic leader of the city of Ephesus. He goes, tell them I know your works, that's good. That means all your ministry. I know your labors, that's your outreaches. I know your patience. Patience usually means perseverance. Sometimes you'll read the word patience, you'll think that they're just being patient with one another. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about not giving up when it's difficult, perseverance. And I know they can't bear those who are evil. That is remarkable, meaning it's really easy, I mean it's so popular in the church in many places where what is evil is being tolerated. But it says those guys, they get troubled when something's wrong. And he goes, I like that about them. They're not quiet and it's not okay with them when something's wrong. I mean something major, I'm not talking about a minor thing wrong. He says, they have tested those who say they are apostles and they're not. And they found them to be liars. He says, they've had ministries come through the city of Ephesus and they challenged them and they, he goes, I like that they did that, that's good. Paragraph D, verse 4, but nevertheless, I have this against you. Tell them that. They've left, you've left your first love. You don't love me the way you did in the early revival several decades earlier. So here's what I want you to do. This is Jesus speaking now. He's telling John to tell them. He says, tell them, verse 5, remember from where you have fallen. He goes, I want you to pause and I want you to take stock on how you used to relate to me back in the early days. I want you to actually remember because oftentimes people are on fire for the Lord for a few years and then some other years go by and they've, and they look back and remember where that fresh encounter with God, meaning where they were really interacting with God in a deep way from their heart on a regular basis. He goes, I want you to remember that and I want that vision rekindled to do that again. Then I want you to repent for the things that you've done that you've lost the vision that I want you to remember about how we used to interact. Then I want you to do the things you did back then a couple of decades ago. So I want you to remember, look it says he exhorted them to remember, to repent and to act. He exhorted them to remember, remember the vision of how we interacted, repent, turn away from the way you're living now and I want you to act. I actually want you to do the things you did then. Spend your time the same way, spend your money that way, I want you to go back and do the things you did then. Well, I was just a young believer then, the Lord says, yeah, I know, but you were connecting with me then. Now you're a successful ministry and I appreciate the work you're doing, but I want the interaction from the heart level in the way we used to have in the early days. Roman numeral five, the church at Smyrna, paragraph A, they were called to the grace of fearlessness and faithfulness and persecution. I mean, right through this letter, he gives them no correction and he affirms their fearlessness and their faithfulness in the face of persecution. He goes, you guys are remarkable, but the reason he shares these affirmations, because it lets us know that he's deeply moved by the fact they're taking a stand. And he gives them no correction at all in this letter. He goes, you guys are doing great. And he reveals himself as the first and the last and the one who was dead and the one who came to life. Now the reason he called himself the first and the last, those are two different titles, and the one that was dead but came to life, these three descriptions, because he's associating these truths about himself with helping them to persevere, to have this grace of fearlessness and faithfulness in the face of persecution. When he says, I am the first, he's saying, I am the source of the blessing your persecutors took from you. He goes, I'm the source, first means the source, I'm the fountain of everything good you have that the enemy has taken, hey, don't worry, I gave it to you, I'm the source. The enemy's not the source, he's the thief. I'm still the source, you're okay, you and me are doing great, so your blessing is secure. I will restore it in my way, in my timing, some in this age, and fully in the age to come because I am the first, I am the source of it all. The enemy's the thief, he's not the source. Some people get confused, and when the enemy attacks through people, they think, oh no, all is done. The Lord says, wait, we mean all is done. I'm the one that gave you that blessing, can I give it to you again? I can restore anything I want. Then when he says, I'm the last, he is saying, I see the end of all things from the beginning. Because I can see the end, there's no surprises. I can assure you that my promises will come to pass because there's no surprises. I see the end of everything. I see the end of the devil, he ends up in prison. The Antichrist gets thrown in the lake of fire. The whole system of sin is bankrupt. It's not going to work, and my people are going to live in the glory of God because I can see the end of the matter. I am the source of the end. Then he goes, I was dead and came to life, and what he's saying, he goes, I suffered a cruel death. I suffered the process of a slow, cruel death. In other words, I get what you're going through because I had a real body that was tortured. I know what you're going through, he goes, and I walked through it. I'm sympathetic. It moves me what you're doing. But he says, but I came to life. He says, not only do I have sympathy and understanding of what you're going through, I triumphed over it. I have power over it. I not only have the power over the thing that's attacking you, I know the way to victory. I know the way and I have the power. I came back alive. He goes, you're talking to the right man here. I am the man that is going to make sure all of these things are restored to you. I tell you, nobody can steal anything from you in the will of God. They can hinder it in a very temporary way. Some people give the enemy so much credit. He doesn't have the power to take anything that he who is the first and the last who died, he understands the process, but he triumphed over death and he came back. That's the one we're connected to. Top of page four. Well, every one of these titles have a whole lot to them to prepare the church to resist immorality and idolatry and passivity, to resist temptation and to resist the persecution, the reproach and the fear of loss, et cetera, Pergamos to the church of Pergamos. He encourages them for their faithfulness that they didn't yield to fear and persecution. He goes, you're standing. I mean, your lives are being risked, but you're standing. But he says, there's something I want you to do. I want you to more completely resist the perversion that's in your culture. He says, some of you are actually dying for the faith, so you're an obedient church, but you're not taking the kind of stand I want you to against immorality and against idolatry. He goes, you're allowing in your midst compromise on that area and you're not addressing it. But he goes, I do see your faithfulness in other areas. I mean, I would think if people are, a church is, I mean, not they're bearing reproach, but people are dying for the faith. You think they'd just be red hot on fire and they were, but he says, yeah, but there's this blind spot in your midst. You're soft on immorality and you're soft on idolatry and it's not okay. I want you to take a stand against those things. I want you to do it in love, but I want you to be consistent in those things. I mean, these are the two big issues in the decades that are leading up to the Lord's return. And again, no one knows when the Lord's return is, but every decade that goes by, this thing is escalating. It's getting more intense. These two issues, not only these two, but idolatry and sorcery, not just covetousness and the realm of immorality and all of its expressions of perversion are going to be dominating the planet and the body of Christ is going to walk in greater purity than any time in history in the face of these assaulting realities that are coming against the church. Determine in your heart, not only are you going to stand for these things, you're going to walk in obedience and purity in these areas. Paragraph B, he says that I'm the one that has the sharp sword. Now again, the description he gives and the reward he promises corresponds to the challenge he gives them. Paragraph C, he goes, I know your works. I know you hold fast to my name. He goes, you're a good church, Pergamos. He goes, you hold fast. Can you imagine Jesus appearing or an angel appearing and saying, oh, FCF, you hold fast to the name of the Lord. Wouldn't that be awesome? Like, yes! But you're soft on immorality. What? You've got a blind spot. You're soft on that area, but you're staying steady about me and you're bearing reproach. I would be devastated. You think, well, how could just one be true and the other be true? Paragraph D, he corrected the compromise of tolerating immorality and idolatry. Of tolerating immorality and idolatry. He says in verse 14, I have a few things I have against you as a local church, because you have those in your midst. And they were leaders. I mean, it wasn't, I mean, they had to be leaders to have a prominence enough to be characteristic of the church, even in a small measure. They hold to the doctrine of Balaam. Who's Balaam? Balaam's an Old Testament false prophet. And Balaam, this Old Testament false prophet, you can read about Balaam in the book of Numbers. Again, on those, that 12-part series, I go, I spend a lot of time developing Balaam and what he was about. Here's what Balaam, the false prophet, taught. He taught people it's okay to be involved in idolatry and it's okay to be involved in immorality. Balaam said, thus says the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, it's okay, it's not a big deal. Verse 16, he goes, John, go tell them, the elders of that church, to repent of that lax attitude towards impurity. Now the opposite, I mean, being zealous for purity is not talking about being mean about it and being rough on people. Some people think zeal means raising your voice and screaming at them and making them feel bad. That's not what zeal is. We're talking about a tender, compassionate, steady, faithful witness to help people renounce immorality in their life. So it's not like lax on immorality or mean about immorality. Those aren't the two options. There's a tender, godly approach that holds God's standards because that's the standard of love. Not because God's mean. It's like He's nice on everything, He forgives people, but He's got one little mean streak when it comes to sex. He invented sex. He doesn't have a little mean streak. He's fighting for love. He knows the only way we can walk in fullness is walk under His leadership in those areas as well. He goes, verse 16, tell them to repent, or I am going to fight against them with the sword of my mouth. What? Could you imagine Jesus fighting against our church? In the name of Jesus I bind you. You can't bind Jesus in the name of Jesus. Somebody says, I don't even know Jesus ever fought people in His church. He's fighting for love. He's fighting for their greatness. He's fighting for their wholeness. He actually loves them so much He's going to intervene, but a lot of folks in the church today have no theology for Jesus talking this way. That's why we need these chapters. They're very, very important chapters. It's Jesus talking about church growth. Roman numeral 7, Thyatira. Well Thyatira was the same as Pergamos. They had the same problem, and it was just a few miles down the road. Paragraph B, He says, I'm the Son of God. I have eyes like flame of fire. Paragraph B, verse 18, and my feet like brass. And He's telling him, He goes, I want you to confront, it's not Balaam in this city, it's Jezebel. And it's not the Old Testament Jezebel. That's another Jezebel. This was a first century woman who was a prophetess in the church. She was accepted in the church in her teaching ministry, but she was very lax on immorality. She said, well, you know, that's not the real big issue. What God's really into is this and this and this, and immorality's not the point. And I tell you, I can hear that tone coming through the body of Christ in the Western world today. And it's the spirit of Jezebel. At the end of the day, the spirit of Jezebel, if you want to use that term, is not a woman. A lot of folks say the spirit of Jezebel is a woman with the control spirit. I go, no, it's not a woman who needs some more people skills. That's not what we're talking about. Spirit of Jezebel is the spirit of seduction and immorality. And more men have the spirit of Jezebel on them than women do. Men are actually more seductive than women are. They do it in a different way. They seduce with their power and their money and the manipulation and all kinds of it. That's the spirit of Jezebel. The spirit of Jezebel is entrenched in the media industry and our culture. It's flashing across the televisions all across the world. It's the spirit of Jezebel. It's not a woman with, you know, who needs some help on her people skills. That's not what the spirit of Jezebel really is. Paragraph C. Jesus says, I'm going to let my eyes of fire, either it's going to be the fire of grace to liberate you or my eyes of fire will be the fire of judgment depending how His people respond. Because He says, I've got eyes of fire, my fiery eyes, that's love, but it's love that's so pure I will intervene with my fire. So it can be the fire of grace to liberate and empower or it can be the fire of judgment because you've resisted me. But He says, tell them my eyes have got fire in them on this issue. So the fire of grace or the fire of judgment depending on how His people respond to His leadership. Top of page five. I mean what's going on today in the cultural wars and the incredible confusion that is happening in the whole arena of sexuality and the gay agenda and the heterosexual immorality in the pornography world. I mean it's not just the gay agenda, it's the heterosexual agenda as well. There's so much that's happening that's bringing so much defilement to our culture. From the biblical point of view and that's the only view that I take as a definition of what defilement is and what defilement isn't is the biblical view. And the Lord says, I want my people with tenderness and love, I want them to show my way and to take a stand and not to yield to the cultural pressures that they were doing in that day. Paragraph D. He says, I know your works. Verse 19. Here's Jesus. He goes, I know your works. You've got a really thriving ministry. Your works. I know your love. You really love people. I get it. I see your love. It's real. I see your love for me. I see your service. You're giving to the poor. You're helping people in need. I see your faith. You're standing steady under persecution and opposition. I see your perseverance under reproach. He goes, I mean, verse 19, what more would you want Jesus to say to your church? You got good works. You got love. You got faith. Yep. Good service. Persevering. Wow. Verse 19. Lord, I want to hear verse 19. Verse 20. Nevertheless. I don't want to hear nevertheless. I have a few things against you. He goes, there's so much I have for you. And he only has them against them because he loves this church so much. He goes, because you allow. And some translations use the word tolerate. I want to use the word tolerate because toleration is the number one value of the humanist culture. They don't care if something's true or false as long as it's permissible. As long as it's permissible, that's the value of the culture that we're all in right now. And my point isn't how bad that is. That is bad. But that's not my point. My point is I want to gird ourselves to faithfully give a witness to the truth with our love, with our life, with our deeds, and to be an expression of the glory of God in the midst of this tolerance. Now there's a definition of tolerance that's very, very good when it means giving people the dignity and the value that is inherently there because they're human regardless what they're doing. The fact they're human makes them valuable. Now that tolerance is good. That kind of tolerance is good. But tolerance shifts over from human dignity to all kinds of other things. And the Lord says, I want you to do this. He goes, I don't want you. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to take a stand against this woman Jezebel. She's seducing people and she's teaching people that immorality is okay. And immorality, the biblical definition of immorality. Here's the biblical definition. It's any sexual activity outside of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. That's the biblical definition of sexuality. And some folks are talking a lot about the gay agenda. And I appreciate that actually, but I'm not as interested particularly in the gay agenda. I said, I mean, I am, I really am. But I said, there's so much heterosexual immorality. There's so much more of that in the church. I mean, I want to address that. I don't mean just the homosexual immorality, but how about the heterosexual immorality? Meaning it's because of love. He's saying, don't tolerate because I love you. That's the spirit of what he's talking about here. He goes, this woman is seducing, it's her teaching that is seducing people. It's not like she's getting everybody in a corner and personally seducing them in a sexual way. Her teaching seduces them. And that's what's going on in the culture. The teaching and the rhetoric is seducing the church today. He says, verse 21, I gave her time to repent. She didn't. Verse 22, I will cast her on a sick bed. I, the Lord, will make her sick. Wait, Jesus can't make somebody sick. Well, he said he is right here. And I will, and those who commit adultery with her, those that partake of her lax spirit of immorality, I will cast them into trouble in their life to wake them up. I'm going to wake them up because I love them. Verse 23, I will kill her children with death. This is Jesus talking. Again, you know, we can't use the name of Jesus to bind verse 23. It's not going to happen. And there's different, there's several levels of application of what this means. Really intense. Roman numeral, Roman numeral eight. We'll just take a minute or two on two more, on Sardis. They have this reputation of being spiritual, but they don't have substance. Look down at paragraph C. He goes, I know your works. You have a name that you're alive, but really you're spiritually dead, which doesn't mean they're not born again. It means they're dull. They're dead in their everyday maintaining of their relationship with the Lord. Their hearts are spiritually dulled. He's not talking about dead in the sense where they are not born again. He's talking to the true church. He goes in verse three, remember how you received and heard. Remember this is the same thing he told the church at Ephesus back in chapter two. He said, remember how it used to be. Remember how you first received from me. Remember how you heard my heart through the word. Remember the things that excited you in your early days. I want you to repent. This is the same thing he told the church at Ephesus, the first church, you know, back in chapter two, paragraph C, Jesus gave this church no affirmation, but he corrected their spiritual passivity. He corrected their spiritual passivity. Let's go to page six. We'll go down to the middle of the page. Let's just spend 60 seconds on this. The church of Laodicea, I mean Philadelphia, this is, I'm out of time. Philadelphia has no rebuke. This is the most amazing church. This church, verse 12, the reward he gives to Philadelphia, it tells you how far God's willing to go with someone that's obedient. He gives them the most amazing promises that shows how moved he is and how far God will go with people that are obedient individuals, but a collective group of people together. It's amazing, but that's for another time. Okay, back to Laodicea. He promises them a deeper relationship with God, a deeper connection with God. Deeper fellowship with God is what he promises them, and he promises them position of authority in the eternal kingdom. Now here's, Laodicea has the worst description, but they get the greatest promise. He tells them, let's go down in verse 16, you know the verse, be your lukewarm, you're not hot or cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. That doesn't mean they're repulsive to Jesus. What he's saying is, you make my stomach hurt because I love you so much, my stomach hurts when I see the way you live. Some people see vomit and think Jesus is repulsed with his people. Verse 17, he says, you say I'm rich, I'm wealthy, I don't need anything. You don't know, and he knows who they are in Christ. Jesus knows who they are in Christ, but he goes, he's talking not about their legal position here, he's talking about their everyday living condition. He says, you're wretched, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked in your everyday condition of how you relate to me, it's horrible. Even though you have all things in Christ, our relationship is deficient in a very, very grievous way. Then look what he says in verse 21, the greatest promise, I mean this is just incredible. He says, if you'll overcome, overcome what? The passivity. He's not talking about immorality or idolatry here. He's saying, I'm talking about your spiritual dullness. If you will overcome it, I will cause you to sit on my throne with me in the age to come. What? He goes, I am so committed to you loving me. If you will overcome this issue, again, it's not immorality, it's not idolatry. This passive, casual, lackadaisical approach to relationship to me, you don't love me with all of your heart and strength. You're casual about me, he goes, if you'll change that, you'll sit on my throne with me. That doesn't mean everybody's going to sit on one chair, so to speak, but he's saying that the extension of my authority in the millennial kingdom, you will be on a throne. That's how strongly he feels about passivity. Matter of fact, he talked more about passivity than immorality or idolatry. Passivity is the one sin in these seven churches that kind of goes unchecked in the body of Christ. Easily, it easily goes unchecked. What passivity? You can't really measure it. You can't get a bottle of it. You can't take a picture of it. It's just, you don't quite know if you have it or not. That's the area that he challenged the most, even more than immorality. That's remarkable to me. Amen and amen.