All right, we're going to be looking at the three remaining churches of the seven churches in chapter three, the Church of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. So let me pray for us and then we'll jump in. Gracious Father, we thank you for this afternoon. We pray, Father God, that we would be able to meet you through your word.

Help us to hear your voice. We know, Father God, that ultimately we can only be fed, Father, when we're with you. So help us, Lord God, not to simply go through the motion, but this opportunity would be an opportunity for us to really seek you, to know you, to worship you, that we may continue to fall deeply in love with you.

And we pray that you would anoint this time and that your word would be spoken, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so the remaining three churches, the Church of Sardis, so we're going to jump right into it because there's a lot of material. The Church of Sardis, again, every single one of these letters has different titles of Jesus that was mentioned in chapter one and is repeated and is related to what he has to say.

And this one is no different. The first one is that Jesus is introduced to us as one who has seven spirits of God and the seven stars, right? And again, I'm not going to spend too much time here. Can you see? I shouldn't have used the blue. Can you see the blue?

You can see it? Okay. Next time I'll use a different color. It seems like it's harder to see. Well, seven, obviously, you know, it represents the number completeness. And in the previous chapter, it tells us that the seven stars, they represent the seven messengers or the seven different spirits.

And again, I'm not going to go too deep into that because basically it signifies God's sovereignty over the churches and what he's about to say. This church, one of the harshest rebukes out of the seven, some of you might say that the harshest rebuke is to this church. I think the harshest rebuke is to the Laodicean church, but it's obviously debatable.

It is one of the harshest rebukes. In fact, I don't think there's an argument that it's either between Laodicea and this particular church. And the reputation that they had was they were alive, but in reality, they were dead. It says Jesus who walks among them, knows them intimately and not just their reputation.

So we've been hearing over and over again, it's this Christ who is in the midst of them, right? That this is not a God who is far off and he's watching from a distance and say, "Hey, these guys are not behaving correctly." The scripture says that this is the body of Christ.

And the vision that John sees is that Jesus is in the midst of them. So again, obviously an application for us as a church that Christ, even though we can't physically see him, if we are his church, his presence is real among us. And so that's why he's able to say over and over again, "I know your deeds, right?

I know what you're doing. I know what your reputation is, but I know who you really are." And so he says, "Beyond the surface of reputation, this is how everybody else sees you, but this is who you really are. You have the reputation of being alive, but you're really dead." And it's, again, it kind of reminded me of the fig tree in Mark 11, verse 20, where Jesus sees it and he goes forward and thinking that there would be fruit and there's no fruit, right?

It has an appearance of life, but in actuality, it was actually dead. In 1 Corinthians 10, 12, we are warned that when you think you stand, be careful because that's when you fall. And so the danger of this church was that they did not recognize where they were because they were believing their own reputation, because other people said this about them.

And because maybe these people had particular titles or maybe they did something in the past or maybe they had a famous evangelist as a pastor. I don't know why they had this reputation, but for whatever the reason, they believed it and they were unaware of it. And so you have a reputation, but in reality, that's not who you are, right?

But the only explanation that is given for why this church is dead is given in verse two, right? In verse two, it says, "Wake up and strengthen." No, this is... What is this? Okay, sorry. In verse two, it says, "I have not found your work complete." Let's see how long it takes before...

Oh, there you go. Okay. So the only explanation given to us of why this church was dead and not alive is that their works were not complete. It doesn't mention about any particular heresy. It doesn't talk about any particular sin that they're tolerating. It just says, "Your work is incomplete." You started this work, but you haven't completed it.

It kind of reminds us of the book of Haggai. Some of you guys who may know the book of Haggai, the book of Haggai is written where God calls this man, Haggai, to prophesy against the nation of Israel because 16 years prior to Haggai's ministry, God basically allowed the nation of Israel to come back and rebuild the temple.

And when they came back, they were met with some resistance from the Samaritans. And because it was difficult, they weren't received with fanfare and there was opposition, so it became very difficult. And every time they would try to build the temple, there would be these antagonists, the Samaritans, and that's part of the reason why there was such animosity between them.

And so after a while, they got tired and they quit. And so as a result, Haggai is sent to prophesy against the nation of Israel, basically saying that your work is not done. You've forgotten about the temple, which is the very reason why I sent you. And so the passage in Haggai, okay, let me wait until it comes up.

Wow. Oh, wow, that was what, 15 seconds? All right. I'm just going to read this passage to you because it's kind of consistent or reminiscent of the text that we're looking at. Haggai 1, 7-11, God speaks through Haggai to the nation of Israel. "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Consider your ways.

Go up to the hills and bring wood and build a house that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified,' says the Lord. 'You looked for much and behold, it came to little. When you brought it home, I blew it away.' Why declares the Lord of hosts?

Because of my house that lies in ruins. While each of you busies himself with his own house, therefore the heavens above have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills and on the grain, the new wine, the oil on which the ground brings forth on man and beast and on all their labor.'" So basically God says to the nation of Israel, the reason why you're frustrated in your commerce and in your homes is because you haven't completed the task that you were sent to do, which is to build a temple.

We don't know exactly what the work was in Sardis that Jesus is referring to where their work is being is incomplete. But all we know is whatever it was that God sent them to do, they forgot about it. Maybe they started enjoying church and they just started going through the motions and taking care of their children and maybe they weren't evangelizing.

It doesn't specify what the problem is. But because of their incomplete work, even though they may at one point may have been alive, he said in God's eyes now they are dead. So the call to this church is to repent. And this is the same exhortation that he gives to all the churches that he has an issue with.

He doesn't say do this and do this. He says first and foremost, whenever God has something against, the first thing that needs to be rectified is repentance. And repentance basically means is owning up to that sin. If we don't recognize our own sin, our repentance would be disingenuous. So the first thing he calls us to and he points out what the sin is and then he calls to repentance as he does to all of them.

And more specifically, he calls them to wake up from their indifference. Whatever it takes to strengthen what they do not have before it dies. There are certain things that they have that hasn't died yet, but it's in danger of dying if they don't pay attention to it right away.

So like the church of Ephesus, they are to remember. And so remember he says the same thing to the church of Ephesus. They lost their first love. And what are they to do? Not to innovate, to find new things or new ways to do something. He says no, to remember.

The reason why you've fallen away and why you have abandoned your first love and why you have a reputation of being alive but you're actually dead is because you're forgotten. You've forgotten who saved you. You've forgotten what God saved you from. Or maybe you didn't forget, but it no longer has an impact on you.

The fact that Christ saved you from your sins, it's old news. It's not new news. You've kind of moved on from that. It's kind of like the honeymoon was over. Now you're just going through the grind. And so the remedy that Jesus gives to this church, which consisted with all the other churches is to repent, to wake up from where you are, recognize the situation that you're in.

And again, he's not talking about idolatry. He's not talking about sexual immorality. He says your work is not complete. You just kind of drifted out. You're not completing the task that God called you to do and to remember and to obey. And he says the present condition is because they become dull in remembering what they have in Christ.

They've forgotten who God is in their life. And as a result, the consequence, if they don't repent, that he will come, he will come to them like a thief in the night. Let me stop here for a second. And I'm going to revisit this later. Who does he say that Jesus' second coming is going to be like a thief?

Do you remember where he says that before? Are Christians going to receive Jesus' second coming like a thief? He says exactly the opposite, right? That you ought to stay sober and awake so that when he comes, he will not be like the thief, that you ought to watch and be careful so he would not overtake you like the world.

But here it says, if you don't wake up and repent and you continue in your state, he said when he comes, it's not going to be this, wow, Jesus is coming. It's not going to be a welcome sight. And so the idea, the imagery of thief coming in, thief is coming in unexpectedly to do damage, right?

So the idea of Jesus' second coming is for judgment. So again, and I want you to think about that for a second because he's writing this to the church. He's writing to the church and yet he says, if you do not wake up, you don't repent and you're not restored where you ought to be, his second coming, he's going to come with judgment, right?

And I want you to think about that for a second because there's this tension in every one of these letters where God brings judgment, where his judgment sounds like a judgment against non-Christians, okay? And I'm going to revisit that. And I don't want you to just dismiss it and say, well, he's going to come like a thief, but you know, we're Christians, so we're no longer under judgment of God.

So therefore, even if we don't wake up, even if they don't repent, since we really believe, he really won't overtake us. So he must be talking about some other people, not talking about us, right? But I want you to read that, read this text carefully to see if he's, if he is talking, he is talking to the church.

So how do we reconcile this, a warning given to the church to wake up and repent, to restore the first love, to repent, right? But again, I'm going to come and revisit this, but I want you to understand the tension that's not just here, but in other passages as well, right?

But for those who are faithful and the ones who repent and conquer, Christ promises three things, right? They will be dressed in white, right? Their names will not be blotted out in the book of life, and Christ will acknowledge them before God and his angels. So I want you to think about this too, right?

He's talking to the church, and he says if you don't repent, he's going to come just like he's coming to the rest of the world to bring judgment upon them. But if you do repent and you continue, right, and you are restored, he says you will be dressed in white.

What does dressed in white mean? Your sins are forgiven, right? Your sins will be justified. Their names will not be blotted out in the book of life. Whose name is blotted out in the book of life? Non-Christians. Do you understand what I'm asking? He's talking to the church. He says if you do not repent, right, only those who repent and are restored, their books will not be blotted out in the book of life.

And then thirdly, he says Christ will acknowledge them before God and his angels, right? Remember Matthew 10, 32, "He who denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father. He who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father." Who is he talking to? Non-Christians, right?

He's distinguishing between Christian and non-Christian, yet he's talking to the church who have a reputation of being alive, and if they don't repent, then restored. All of these judgments are things that he has said to non-Christians. So how do we reconcile this, right? Well, I'm going to revisit this later on.

Because, well, I'll revisit this later. The Church of Philadelphia. Jesus is described as the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens. Now this is not described in chapter 1. There's a new description of Christ, but it's particularly related to this church.

The term "Holy One" is a common term used in the Old Testament to refer to God the Father, right? And clearly here, it is saying that Jesus Christ is God. So if anybody says Jesus is Son of God, Son of Man, but not God himself, this is one of the texts that you can come to.

He's called the Holy One, right? This title only belongs to God, God the Father. And so he's called the Holy One, and he's also called the True One, right? It's added to refer to Christ as a true Messiah who has the key of David. And the key term, "key of David" is referenced to the Messianic complete reign.

In other words, the key of David meaning that the prophecy was that the King of Israel, Messiah, was going to be a descendant of David. So to have the key of David means that Jesus is the fulfillment of that, right? So he's the true Messiah who is the Holy One.

So he's not only Christ, he's God himself. And that's the identity. And this is a clear fulfillment of prophecy. All right. You're going to have to give me a second. Which is mentioned in Isaiah 22, 22. There you go. This is a Messianic prophecy about when Christ comes that this is going to be fulfilled.

And it says, "I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open." So clearly this is in reference to Christ and his fulfillment. So not only is he the fulfillment of the prophecy of the descendant of David, but he's the Holy One, the True One.

Now why is this title important to them? This church and Smyrna are the only two churches that have no negative remarks on the church. And so if you notice that both churches were heavily persecuted. They were enduring an intense amount of suffering. And both churches are only given commendations.

The reference again of the synagogue of Satan is to highlight the persecution primarily coming from the Jews. So this was an area where the Jewish community was sizable. And the synagogue of Satan basically is reference that if you didn't cooperate. So if you came around and you started proclaiming the gospel and you started saying Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, what happened to you as a Jew?

You get kicked out of the synagogue, right? If you get kicked out of the synagogue, what would your life look like? I try to think about what that would be familiar, like similar to today. Maybe get kicked out of Facebook. I don't know. You know, what's a community that we belong to that if you don't, if you're not part of, you'll be maybe being kicked out of the church could be, right?

But you have to understand that if you were a Jew at that time, the synagogue was where your children went to get education. That was your school. That was where men got together to fellowship. That's where women got together and they lived, they shared things together. So a Jewish community typically was not integrated into the Gentile world, right?

So everything that you know about what it was like, the Jews would not even sit and eat with the Gentiles. So if you were rejected by the synagogue, basically you were shunned. You might as well just pack up and live outside the city because everything that you needed to survive, it was centered around the synagogue, right?

So if that's what he says is synagogue of Satan and they kick you out, pretty much your life is done. Not only your life, but your family, whatever business that you were running, education. I mean, you were basically shunned from everything, Facebook, Instagram, Costco, church, everything, right? You just could not, you wouldn't be able to function.

So when Jesus says, "I am the one who opens and shuts," right? It's very much related to what was going on in this particular city because they're being kicked out of the door of the synagogue. And we see the same thing here where, I think I have another passage.

John chapter 10 verse 9, where Jesus says, "I am the door," right? And it sounds a lot like how he described himself here. And the reason why he says that, "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." And the very next "I am" statement in John chapter 10 is, "I am the good shepherd." Does anybody know what happens in John chapter 9?

I know you guys are all thinking it, but for the sake of time, John chapter 9 is where the blind man gains his sight, right? And as a result of that, he has this encounter with the Jewish leaders and then he gets, what happens to him? He gets bold, he's like, "Do you want to be a disciple too?" And then they get angry, he said, "He gets kicked out of the synagogue," right?

So he gets kicked out of the synagogue. Remember, even his parents were afraid to confront the Jewish leaders because they knew if they didn't cooperate with the Jewish leaders that they would get kicked out. So they kind of took the fifth, right? We don't know. I mean, clearly he's our son and he was blind, but now he sees.

But as far as who did it, I don't know. You better just go ask him. So they basically take the fifth, but the guy who has his eyes open, he's bold. He's, you know, he's like, "Do you want to be his disciple too?" So he gets kicked out of the synagogue.

So that, for a Jew, that would have been the greatest fear. So imagine if you were a blind man, you know, that you couldn't be a part of society. So you were already outside of the synagogue, right? You were already outside. So all of a sudden he gets healed and now he can have a normal life.

And then the Jews are saying that if you don't deny Christ and say he didn't do it, we're going to kick you out. So can you imagine the temptation that he might have been in because gaining his sight meant everything for him. Everything in his life would have been restored, but he stands up to them and says he gets kicked out.

So it is the very next section where Jesus says, "I am the door." Right? I am the good shepherd. It's not the synagogue. All the Jews are trying so hard to appease the synagogue leaders because they think that that's where they're going to find life. And Jesus is telling them, "I am the door." And the very next "I am" statement is, "I am the good shepherd." So even if they kick you out, right, I will open and no one will shut.

And I will shut, no one will open. And that's basically what's happening also in this church in Philadelphia. So the door that Jesus is referring to, obviously, is the kingdom, the kingdom of God. That though they may be shut out of the earthly doors of the synagogue, the true house of God, only Jesus has power to open and shut.

And as a result of their perseverance and not compromising, they will be rewarded for not denying him. And they will be kept from the hour of trial. Now, we could spend a lot of time here talking about what this means because some will interpret this as pre-trib. Doesn't this say that the church is going to be preserved from the tribulation?

So this is one of the verses, it's not the only verse, it's one of the verses that is used to describe pre-trib rapture. He's going to come and deliver the church and clearly he says he's going to save us from the time of trial. But some interpret this as a rapture to save them from the tribulation.

Some, me included, believe that this means that Jesus will give them strength to persevere through these trials. Not he's going to save them so that they don't experience these trials, but through these trials that he's going to strengthen them so that he may persevere. And the reason why I believe that, and again, we can spend a lot of time talking about this, but part of the reason, and I'm going to make my case here, at least three points, Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17, 15, where he says, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one." Secondly, Jesus repeatedly exhorted and promised that those who conquer or abuse, that says this exact same thing in different ways.

He doesn't say those he snatches away that doesn't experience the suffering, but he says those who, in the context of severe suffering and persecution, who do not deny Christ and perseveres to the end, he says those will be saved. So he will allow the church to be tested. And then finally, thirdly, the post-tribulation view seems to fit better with other parts of scripture where we are commended for suffering for Christ.

So where Paul considers it an honor, right, that he was chosen to suffer for the name of Christ. So suffering, at least in the way that we see it in the New Testament, is given to a special selection of people. So it's not that because he loves us, he's going to preserve us from the suffering, but because he loves us, he's going to preserve us through the suffering.

Now again, I can spend a lot of time here, but I think this is more, again, my view is that we are going to go through an intense period of tribulation, and he's going to test the church, and those who have the reputation of being alive but really dead are going to be tested and found that they were never really alive.

And then there's people who lost their first love, and they don't repent, right? And so all of these churches that do not repent, that do not conquer, that they're going to go through these tribulations, and they're going to be found that they were, again, that in the end that they were not alive.

And obviously it might bring us more peace to think that before the real stuff comes, that we're not going to be here. But I don't see that as consistent with everything else that I've seen in Scripture, nor in church history, right? Nor do I see that, what's going on.

So because you and I live in a comfortable society where we don't understand persecution, and we say, "Oh, he's going to preserve us from that," there's a whole world of people who are going through intense suffering today. They're not being preserved in the sense that they're not being rescued from that.

They're going through it, right? The only reason why it's difficult for us to have it in our world is because we don't experience this suffering. And so we think preservation means that he's going to keep it this way, and that we're going to have a nice and comfortable life, you know, and this is such a blessing, so we're going to be here, and the next thing we know, we're going to be up in heaven.

I don't see that as consistent with what I see in Scripture. I believe that that persecution we see in the Middle East and in India, and that's spreading all over, is going to eventually come here, right? And those of you who've been around long enough, can you imagine the kind of prejudice that the Christians are experiencing today?

I mean, it's still minimal compared to what's going on in the rest of the world, but if you told me 30 years ago the type of things that would cause you to get fired at your job or a radio announcer or an athlete says something about his faith and will get him banned and business shut down, rocks thrown at, 30 years ago, it would have been ridiculous.

So 30 years from now, where will we be? 30 years from now, where will we be? Who knows, right? And I think that the Scripture prepares us, right? Everything that I see in Scripture is a warning and encouragement to prepare us, because there's going to come a time where it's not always going to be this easy, right?

Where we are going to be tested. For those who persevere, it says, they will be given a big crown, and the coming of Christ, though it is a threat to some churches, but it says to them, it's going to be a welcome promise where they will receive a crown.

They will be made pillars of the temple of God, and they will never be sent out of it, right? Instead of these Jews, the synagogue of Satan that's casting them out and making their life difficult, and he said, no, you are the pillar, they are not. So Jesus will write on them three things, the name of God, right?

Which means that they belong to God. The name of God's city, indicating that their citizenship is in God's kingdom. And it says his own new name, that he will become completely new creation directly united with Christ. So that's the reward for this church for their suffering. In other words, salvation.

Everything that he describes here is what every single genuine born again Christian is going to have, right? Is there any Christian that doesn't have the name of God, who doesn't have a citizenship in the kingdom? So the distinction he's making is between a Christian and a non-Christian, those who repent and those who do not repent, right?

He's not describing a different level of Christians are going to have the name of God, and different level of Christians who persevere are going to have the citizenship in heaven. This is what he says about all Christians, right? But all Christians who persevere in the context of suffering, who doesn't deny Christ.

And then obviously, I think you know, we all know much about this Laodicea because so much, so many sermons are given on that. Jesus is referred to as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. So the Amen is mainly an acknowledgement of whatever is true and binding.

Here the Amen may be a connection to the conclusion of the seven letters. So some commentators believe that the reason why he's addressed as Amen is because he's concluding the seven letters. In either case, it's relevant to this particular church. Christ faithful and true witness is in contrast the unfaithful witness of the Laodiceans.

And then Laodiceans became rich because of natural resources, and we're going to get into that in a minute, but Jesus is reminding them that he is the beginning of God's creation. So every single one of these titles to these churches have something directly related to what he has to say to these churches.

The Laodicean church was rebuked for their arrogance, and that's what led them to lukewarmness. It says that they didn't see, because of their wealth, they didn't feel a need for anything. And that's where, at least here, I don't think that's the only thing that leads to lukewarmness, but at least in this particular church, it was their wealth.

It was their self-sufficiency, that they weren't like the other who are poor, who are needy. Because they had money, they couldn't get whatever they needed. The Laodicea was a very wealthy area, and they were known for three particular things. They were known for their banking, their garment industry, and their medical school.

And all of that is reflected in the rebuke of this church. The city was a very important trade route, which naturally brought the banking industry. So remember, if you looked at the seven churches, you know how it kind of went in a circle like that? So Laodicea is in the bottom of that, and so it was an important trade route.

So if you wanted to trade toward the east, you had to go through this particular city. And it just happened that they had a lot of natural resources, so they were able to make a lot of money. So because a lot of money was being traded back and forth in this particular city, the banking industry was very strong in this city.

And because of their natural resources, they had particular natural ailments. So the salve that he's talking about is a particular medicine that you can only find in this city. And then the garment that he talks about to wear white, again, is in contrast to the garment that they were selling there.

So all of this has direct relevance to the wealth, the cause of wealth in this particular city. The natural resources led to medical fines and specific garments that could only be produced here. And he says their problem was they were neither hot nor cold. Now this doesn't mean that Jesus is saying that I'd rather you be completely worldly or on fire for God.

That's not what hot and cold means. God is not saying to the church, "I'd rather have you living in debauchery, like all out, getting arrested, or on fire for God. Since you're neither, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth." He's referring to something very specific in this city.

This city was known to have a hot spring that ran through. And by the time it went through, obviously at the end of it, it would become lukewarm. But obviously if you have a hot spring in the city, it would often be a place where people would go in, take baths for mineral and for health reasons.

It also had a cold water spring that didn't go through the city, but they had enough money to make an aqueduct that would bring them into the city. So if you had hot water, it would be used for medicinal purposes. If you had cold water, it would be used for refreshing, for drinking.

And he says, "Either one would be useful, but because you're neither," he says, "I'll spit you out." So think about that imagery. He doesn't just say, "I have this against you." No, all the other churches where he says, "Yet I have this against you." You have all these things, but yet I have this against you because you tolerate the Nicolaitans, you tolerate Jezebel.

He says to this whole church, "I can't stand you." Isn't that basically what he's saying? When he says, "Spit you out," like what would you spit out? He's something you put into your mouth that you just can't stand for even a second. He's not just taking it out, he's spitting it out.

So that's why I think the harshest judgment, criticism, and rebuke is to this lukewarm church. What was at the core of this problem? Their wealth blinded them to think that they were well off, but Jesus warns them that they are really wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. What caused them to be, forgot to use these extreme descriptions of this church, wretched.

Francis Chan believes that these are descriptions of non-Christians. I don't know if you've ever heard him preach on this, but he basically says a lukewarm Christian isn't a Christian. But I want you to understand the tension where he may be getting that. Wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked. If you think that's a Christian, that would cause a lot of problems.

If you think it's a non-Christian, it would also cause a lot of problems. But that's how Jesus describes them. He can't stand them. The only way to truly become rich, he says, is to seek Christ. Buy gold refined by fire from him instead of going after the wealth of the world.

Buy white garments rather than the black garments that Laodicea was known for to clothe their nakedness. Nakedness obviously is a reference to their shame. Instead of flaunting their wealth and wearing these elaborate garments to show off, he says, you're actually naked and in shame to come to Christ and to wear the white that he gives.

Buy salves from him and not to put their confidence simply on the medical salves that was found in the city to really see with spiritual eyes. And then that passage, I think the memory verse for this week. Oh, what is this? Okay, I went too fast. Oh, sorry. Yeah.

Jesus promises to restore intimate fellowship with the church if they repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and I will dine with him and he with me. And so that promises where Jesus, where is Jesus in this church?

In every church he says he's in the midst, but here he's, where is he? He's standing outside. He's standing outside the church knocking to be in their midst, to get in. And he says, I will fellowship with you if you open the door. Obviously that's a call to repentance.

If you recognize your lukewarmness and you repent and you open the door, then I will come and commune with you. In other words, there's no communion now. Repentance must take place. And again, I want to talk about what I originally started with, this tension between justification and sanctification. But before we even get to that, think about like every one of these letters, what he says, in particular what he says to that church of Ephesus, the church of Sardis, and even to the other churches, that this was meant for us to read.

This was not something that was written 2,000 years ago, oh, these churches had these problems. He's talking to the lukewarm church. He's talking to a church that's doing everything that seems to be right, but they've abandoned their first love. He's talking to a church that has a reputation of being alive, but in actuality they're dead.

He's talking to a church that are doing some things great, but they're tolerating wickedness in the church, and they're just kind of sweeping sin underneath the rug, and they're not dealing with it. So they're defiling the temple of God. There's certain parts of the church, they said, and every single one of them that he points out, he says, if you do not repent, there's serious consequences.

And the consequences that he tells us is not just a slap on the hand. In fact, they're so severe, it kind of, that this is what causes us to take a step back and say, are they Christians? I want to deal with that just a few minutes before I break you off into your small group.

That tension between the justification and sanctification, we can err on both sides. We can look at this and say, yeah, that's pretty serious. If you don't repent, he's on the outside, and he's going to come like a thief. And only those who conquer and repent, that he's going to put his name, or he's going to be the citizen.

He's making a distinction between Christian and non-Christian. So we can just kind of err on this side and just dismiss this because one saved always saved. We can't lose ourselves. I mean, you're in a reformed Calvinistic church, so you know that one saved always saved. Salvation is not earned, so you already know all of that.

So we can falsely feel security, just kind of gloss over, even if we are guilty of all of these things, we can just kind of gloss over all of these things and hold it on to a security. And yet, we see texts like this and warning like this, and we just, something in us just kind of, this is not applying to us, or it's not real.

Now the reason why I ask you to think about this is because this tension, anybody who studies the scripture carefully is going to come out with this tension. We are told that we have absolute eternal security, we're saved by grace and not by works. And yet, we see warning after warning after warning of lukewarmness, of being worldly, of tolerating sin, of having certain reputation but not being true.

And the consequences are judgment. And yet the scripture says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So what do we do with this tension? So if you're not paying attention to scripture, you can just live in licentiousness and say one saved, always saved, and then not live with this tension because you're not really reading the scripture.

Or you can live in this other end where you've heard that you have absolute security and you're not looking into scripture. So you can live with security, doing whatever you want. But if you're studying the scripture like we're studying it and going through verse by verse, you know that there's a tension here.

Though we're saved by grace, there is consequence for living in sin. And it is not just a slap on the hand. So I want you to look at some of these verses. Revelation 2, 5 says, "If you don't repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent." So what is a lampstand in the Church of Ephesus?

We are the light of the world, right? So it's kind of like if you're the salt of the world and if you lose its flavor, what good is it other than to be thrown and to be trampled? Does that sound like a Christian? He says if you don't renew your first love, he will remove his lampstand.

So there's that tension. He's talking to Christians. And yet he says the consequence of unrepentance is removal of lampstand. Revelation 2, 16, "Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth." Revelation 2, 22, "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." Talking about the sin of Jezebel and idolatry and those who follow along, right?

So again, these are all warnings given to the church. He's not writing to pagans. He's writing to the church, to the angel of the Church of Ephesus, to the angel of the church of Laodicea, right? Angel of the church of Sardis, right? He says, "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." He's talking about the church, right?

So there's this tension in the scripture of absolute security in Christ, and yet there's a strong call to repentance and live righteous holy lives, or there are serious consequences, right? So in order to deal with this tension, different groups have come up with different theology to try to answer this tension.

So you have one group who teaches salvation by works, right? Because the scripture says you have to do this. You have to repent. You have to redo what you did at first. So call to repentance isn't just feel bad, right? Call to repentance is to redo what you did at first.

So salvation, you have to work hard at it. So that's how they reconcile. And so obviously, you know, obviously that's a contradiction to justification by faith alone and not by works. Clearly we've been going through that in the Book of Romans. But that's how one group have tried to embrace these passages or try to reconcile.

Some have embraced Arminianism, which believes that salvation can be lost. You may look at these passages and these warnings that said, "We're writing to the church, but he says if they don't repent, he's going to come like a thief and bring judgment." And yet the scripture says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, so therefore they must have lost their salvation.

So that's how that group has reconciled this. Clearly this is also wrong, right? And again, I'm not going to go through the doctrine of justification. We've been going through this, you know, for months and months and months through the Book of Romans. Some have differentiated between people who are only saved but is lacking baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So the Pentecostals have reconciled this tension between justification and sanctification by there are some people who are saved, but then some people who have not been baptized by the Holy Spirit, so they teach the second baptism of the Holy Spirit. So if you happen to go to a Pentecostal church, they're always praying for a renewal of the Spirit, refilling of the Spirit, because they believe that that's where the tension comes, that there are some people who have just been saved but have not been baptized, and that's why they're not living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, or full of the Spirit.

And that's how they dealt with this tension. Some embrace this false dichotomy between born-again Christians who can identify a specific date for their salvation. So based upon Scripture, all these...