Book of Revelation has, of course, become extremely
relevant to us at this time because I
believe that we are on the verge of
seeing the fulfillment of these things that are
written in the Book of Revelation.
And I believe that it could happen most
any time as far as the beginning of
this series of events that will be taking
place.
In the heading of your King James Bible,
it says the revelation of Saint John the
Divine.
That's not quite accurate.
The first verse tells you who it is
the revelation of.
It doesn't reveal anything to you about Saint
John the Divine as far as the future
is concerned.
It tells you that he was on the
island of Patmos and he had this vision
that he was commanded to write.
But it is really a vision of Jesus
Christ and the future of Jesus Christ.
It is about the person of Jesus.
He describes him here in chapter one as
he sees him in his glorious, glorified form
as one day we shall see him.
In chapters two and three, we see the
revelation of Jesus as he relates to his
church.
In chapters four and five, we see the
revelation of Jesus Christ as he receives the
glory, the honor, the dominion, the powers that
he purchased through his death upon Calvary as
he there purchased the redemption of the world.
In chapters six through eighteen, it reveals Jesus
Christ in his great judgment that he will
bring upon the world for the sin, the
unrighteousness of man.
In chapters 19 through 21, we see the
future of Jesus in his kingdom reigning as
King of Kings and Lord of Lords forever
and ever.
And of course, in the last chapter, that
eternal reign of his kingdom in the new
heaven and in the new earth.
So it is the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
It is revealing to us what he is
presently in his relationship to the church, future
in the completion of the redemption of the
world, the judgment of the world, his coming
again and his kingdom reign, and then the
eternal reign of our Lord.
So in verse one, the revelation of Jesus
Christ.
Some people say you shouldn't really try to
get into the book of Revelation.
It's all in symbols.
Nobody really understands it.
And so, so many pastors, so many churches
stay away from the book of Revelation and
do not endeavor to understand it.
Believe being that it is all locked up
in mysteries and symbolisms, and there is no
way that you can really understand the book
of Revelation.
That's exactly opposite of what the word revelation
means.
It's the Greek word apocalypse, and it means
the unveiling.
It's taking the wraps off so that you
can see.
And by ignoring the book of Revelation, the
church is being robbed of a great blessing.
Because right here in the beginning in verse
three, it says, blessed is he that reads
and those that hear the words of this
prophecy and keep those things which are written
therein for the time is at hand.
So we're going to read it as I
read it, you're going to hear it.
And if you'll just keep it, you'll be
blessed.
Now, here is the route by which the
revelation came.
It is the revelation or unveiling of Jesus
Christ, which God gave to him to show
unto his servants, that is to us, the
things which must shortly come to pass.
And he sent and he signified it by
his angel unto the servant John.
So there is an angel that is more
or less guiding John through this book of
Revelation.
As he is revealing these things to John
and as he is showing John the future
glory that is our Lord Jesus Christ, actually
the glory that he has now, but the
glory whereby we shall be with him and
see him.
Jesus prayed in John 17, Father, I want
for those that have been with me during
this time of my humiliation to be with
me in glory when I am glorified by
thee, with the glory that I had before
the world ever existed.
And that's the prayer of Jesus for you,
that you might be with him there when
he is glorified before the world, before all
men.
For we read that one day every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God
the Father.
You may not want to bow your knee
now.
You may not want to confess now that
Jesus Christ is Lord, but one day you
will.
Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess.
But if you wait until then, it will
be of no value to you.
It will not bring you salvation then.
To do it tonight, to confess Jesus Christ
as Lord tonight, can bring you eternal life.
It can bring you a share and a
part in the kingdom of God.
If you wait, you will bow, but it
will have no value as far as you're
concerned.
You will be eternally condemned as we will
get to that in chapter 20.
And we see the fate of those who
have rejected Jesus Christ as the Lord of
their lives.
And you surely don't want to be in
that crowd as we read about the things
that will happen.
So now John is opening the book, John,
to the seven churches which are in Asia.
Grace unto you, and peace from him which
is, which was, which is to come, and
from the seven spirits before his throne, and
from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
the first begotten of the dead, and of
the prince of the kings of the earth,
unto him who loved us, washed us from
our sins in his own blood, and has
made us kings and priests unto God and
his father, to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever.
Amen.
So first of all, John is wishing to
them the grace and peace of God the
Father.
He describes him in his eternal nature.
God is eternal.
In eternity, there is no time.
Everything is now.
It's hard for us to grasp this concept,
because everything that we experience in this time
continuum has a beginning, has a present, and
has a future.
But outside of the time continuum, in that
eternal realm, there isn't a past or a
future.
Everything is now.
Hard to conceive of that, but soon we'll
be having the Rose Bowl parade.
Let's say that you get tickets, grandstand seats,
that'll be set up at Lake Avenue and
Colorado Boulevard.
And you say, Chuck, got tickets, got a
couple extra.
How about you and Kay going?
I said, well, that sounds interesting.
Haven't been to a Rose Parade since I
was in college.
So we get up early, early, and we
head up to Pasadena.
And we have things to read, we have
a radio to listen to, a little portable
TV, and want to, you know, just sort
of keep up on everything.
So we are settled now in our grandstand
seats, and we're waiting, bundled ourselves up, it's
cold.
And presently, we hear the sound of bands.
We look up Colorado Boulevard towards Orangewood, and
we see that the first car, the president's
car, is coming.
And in front of him, there are these
guys that are walking down with a banner,
you know, and president of the Rose Parade.
And he comes by, does his old thing,
you know.
And then we find that the bands start
to come, and the floats start coming by,
and we are oohing and aahing over these
floats.
They're absolutely gorgeous.
You can't imagine how they could put these
things together like that, the ingenuity, and we're
just enthralled.
And as we are watching the floats go
by, we see this one float from Alhambra,
and it has won the president's trophy.
And it is indeed a beautiful float.
And as it goes by, we clap, we
cheer, and all, and the crowd is excited
because of the beauty of this float.
And it goes on past, and here come
more bands, and horses, and floats, and someone
comes running up.
And they see us in the stands, and
we look down, they say, hey, has the
Alhambra float gone by?
Oh yeah, about five minutes ago.
Oh no, I wanted to see it.
Well, I'll tell you what, get in your
car, go on up the street, go ahead
in the street, you know, get off in
Sierra Madre, and you're probably able to see
it go by.
But the interesting thing is, to see what's
past, you have to go ahead.
You see, it's passed, it's already gone.
But to see it now, you have to
go ahead to see what's past.
Interesting.
So, we get back into it again, and
pretty soon, someone comes running up and says,
has the Long Beach float gone by yet?
We say, no, according to our program, it
should be here in about five minutes.
Oh, I want to see it right now.
Well, go back on the parade route, and
you can see what's ahead.
You see, we're at one point, and we're
watching the thing go by.
And so, with us, part of it is
past, part of it is future.
But if you want to see what's past,
you got to go ahead.
If you want to see what's future, you
have to go back, because we're at a
fixed point.
So here we are at a fixed point
in time.
We're watching things go by.
But God is outside of time.
Now, if you could get in the Goodyear
blimp, and if you could go high above
Colorado Boulevard, look down on the parade, you
would see the whole procession.
You'd see the president's car up here, and
you would see the street sweepers in the
back following the last horses and all, you
know.
And you can see the whole thing moving
down Colorado Boulevard all at once, because you're
above it.
God being outside of time can look down
and see the whole process at once.
He can see Adam eating the apple, if
it was, that forbidden fruit.
And God can see the end, the Battle
of Armageddon, as far as the end of
things in their present order.
And God can look down and see the
whole thing happening at once.
And that is why God is able to
talk about things that haven't happened yet, as
though they have already happened, because in His
dimension they have.
So He looks down from His vantage point,
and He sees the future.
And so God said, that you might know
that I'm God, and there's no other God
like me.
I'm going to tell you things before they
ever take place, so that when they do
take place, you will know that I am
God.
And so God has told us, the book
of Revelation tells us things that are yet
future.
So if you want to see what's going
to happen, then you can just turn to
the Bible, and it will give you the
future as it's going to be coming.
And that's what we have in the book
of Revelation.
God, who is outside of time, is going
to tell us now things that are going
to be transpiring, that haven't yet transpired, but
they will be transpiring in the very near
future.
So God's eternal nature is expressed in the
words, which is, which was, which is to
come.
He's all of that at once.
When we get into the fourth chapter of
the book of Revelation, as the cherubim are
about the throne of God, as they are
worshiping God, they say, holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, which is, which was, which is
to come.
Again, describing that eternal nature of God.
He's all of those things at once.
From the Holy Spirit, the sevenfold complete working
of the Holy Spirit as was manifested in
the life of Jesus and is prophesied of
Jesus in Isaiah chapter 11.
And then from Jesus Christ.
Now, when he gets to Jesus Christ, John
just sort of goes on.
I mean, he has been with Jesus.
He has come to the realization that Jesus
is the eternal God, that which was from
the beginning, which we have seen, which we
have touched, which we've handled, which we've gazed
upon.
And he's so enthralled as the realization of
who Jesus really is, hit him.
In describing Jesus, he said, who is the
faithful witness?
That is, he is a faithful witness as
to what God is the faithful witness of
God.
Do you want to know what God is
like?
Look at Jesus.
He's a faithful witness of God.
Now, Jesus said through the power of the
Holy Spirit, we will be his witnesses.
And he expects us to be his witness
through the power of the spirit.
But he was a faithful witness of God.
When Philip said to him, Lord, just show
us the father and we'll be satisfied.
Jesus said, have I been so long a
time with you?
Haven't you seen me, Philip?
Don't you realize if you have seen me,
you have seen the father.
Why?
Because he was a faithful witness of what
God is.
And so as we see Jesus weeping over
the consequences of those in Jerusalem who reject
him as the Messiah, we see God weeping
over the lost.
They came to the realization that when Jesus
was walking down the road and he would
put his arm around them as they would
talk, that God was putting his arm around
them and talking to them.
And so the faithful witness of God, he
is the first begotten of the dead.
He is the first fruits of those who
will rise from the dead.
And he is the prince of the kings
of the earth.
To him who loved us, washed us from
our sins in his own blood, has made
us kings and priests unto God and his
father.
To him be glory and dominion forever and
ever.
Amen.
Behold, John said, he's coming with clouds and
every eye shall see him.
Those who say that Jesus has already come
and there are those who teach that he
has actually set up his kingdom reign.
We're in the millennium.
Beg your pardon, I was hoping for something
much better than this.
We are told that Jesus is going to
take a great chain and bind Satan and
cast him into the abuso when he establishes
kingdom upon the earth.
And if Satan is changed and in the
abuso today, the chain is too long.
He's got too much freedom.
He's coming with clouds and every eye will
see him.
They also which pierced him and all of
the families of the earth shall wail because
of him.
Even so, amen.
Interesting prophecy in Zechariah chapter 12.
As Zechariah prophesies, they shall look on him
whom they have pierced.
This is before Jesus was ever pierced.
And in the 13th chapter, Zechariah said, and
they will say unto him, what are the
meaning of the wounds in your hands?
And he will say, these are the wounds
that I received in the house of my
friends.
Smite this shepherd and this sheep will be
scattered.
And so they will look upon him whom
they have pierced.
And then the voice, I am the alpha,
the omega, the beginning, the ending, saith the
Lord, which is, which was, which is to
come the almighty.
So God sort of putting his stamp on
the end of the salutation, declaring himself the
first and the last, alpha and omega, beginning
and the ending.
So John now describes the conditions by which
he received this vision.
I, John, who also am your brother, I'm
a companion in tribulation and in the kingdom
and patience of Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us we have need of
patience, that after we have done the will
of God, we might obtain the promise.
James said, have patience, brethren, as you wait
for the coming of the Lord.
For the husbandman is waiting for the complete
fruit of harvest.
Peter said in the last days, there would
be scoffers who would come.
They would say, where's the promise of his
coming?
Since our fathers have fallen asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning.
But he said, God is not slack concerning
his promises, as some men count slackness.
He's faithful to us.
He's not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance.
So John said, I'm with you.
I'm just waiting patiently for the coming, the
kingdom that Jesus has promised.
But he said, I was in the island
of Patmos for the word of God and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
According to early church history, the early historian
Eusebius, all of the disciples, with the exception
of John, suffered a violent death as a
martyr for Jesus Christ.
Some of them were beheaded.
Some of them were tied, their feet tied
to a mule that ran through the streets
until their brains were dashed out on the
pavement.
And they, all of them died violent deaths
with the exception of John.
Peter was crucified upside down.
He said he wasn't worthy to be crucified
as his Lord.
John, according to Eusebius church history, they attempted
to boil him in oil, but God miraculously
helped him.
He wasn't really affected by it.
And so they exiled him to the rocky
Craig called Patmos, an island there in the
Aegean sea.
I, John, your brother and companion, patience, waiting
for the coming of the Lord was in
the island called Patmos for the word of
God, for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And I was in the spirit on the
Lord's day that would probably better read.
I was in the spirit unto the day
of the Lord.
That is the Lord took him in sort
of a time capsule ahead unto the day
of the Lord, the day of God's wrath
and judgment, the day of the kingdom of
God being set up.
So John was taken by the spirit into
the future where he was then seeing the
things that were going to transpire in the
future.
Now think of yourself as living in the
first century.
The fastest thing you know is a horse.
Think of watching a modern warfare with that
kind of a background and mentality.
Try to describe tanks firing their cannons.
Try to describe jet planes screaming through the
air.
You see, you'd have to use figures that
were familiar to you because there weren't vocabularies
for modern jets or things of that nature.
So John takes a trip into the future,
sees these things and then endeavors to describe
them in the language of his day.
And when you look at it like that,
John did a fairly reasonable job as he
attempted to describe the things that he saw.
So I was in the spirit unto the
day of the Lord.
I heard behind me a great voice.
It sounded like a trumpet.
It said, I am Alpha and Omega, the
first and the last.
And what you see, write in a book,
send it to the seven churches which are
in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos,
to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, to Laodicea.
And I turned to see the voice that
spoke with me.
And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
And in the middle of the seven candlesticks,
there was one like unto the Son of
Man.
Now notice, here's a voice that's saying, a
strong voice like a trumpet, it's saying, I
am Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last.
What you see, write in a book.
Now, we read up in verse eight, the
description of God, the Father, I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Now Jesus is declaring, I am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last.
Because as John turns to see the one
speaking to him, he sees Jesus Christ.
So I turned to see the voice that
spoke with me.
Being turned, I saw the seven golden candlesticks.
In the middle of the candlesticks, one like
the Son of Man who was clothed in
a garment down to the foot.
He was girt about his breast with a
golden girdle.
His head and his hair were white like
wool, as white as snow.
His eyes were like a flame of fire.
His feet like unto brass, as though it
had been burned in a furnace.
And his voice as the sound of many
waters.
Now keep your, there, look at that again.
Let me read a vision of that Daniel
had of Jesus.
He records in Daniel chapter 10, verse five.
And as I read Daniel's description, sort of
follow along in the description that John gives.
Daniel said, then I lifted up my eyes
and I looked and behold a certain man
clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with
fine gold of Uphaz.
His body also was like burl.
His face as the appearance of lightning, his
eyes like lamps of fire.
And his arms and his feet were like
the color of polished brass.
And the voice of his words were like
the voice of a multitude.
Here is John seeing the same Lord that
Daniel saw some 500 plus years earlier, as
Daniel describes his vision of Jesus.
And it is interesting how closely it dovetails
with the vision that John had.
Now he had in his right hand seven
stars.
Out of his mouth went a sharp two
-edged sword.
His countenance was like the sun that shines
in its strength.
And when I saw him, I felt that
his feet as dead.
He laid his right hand upon me, saying
unto me, fear not.
I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I'm alive forevermore.
Amen.
And I have the keys of hell and
death.
Now you say, well, look, Chuck, already you're
into these symbolisms.
You know, you're reading about these golden candlesticks
and you're reading about seven stars in his
right hand.
And who can understand these things?
Well, it's interesting.
Just read on.
The Lord explains to you what he is
seeing.
The Lord said to him, verse 20, the
mystery of the seven stars which you saw
in my right hand and the seven golden
candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels or the
messengers of the seven churches.
And the seven candlesticks which you saw are
the seven churches.
So the mystery is solved.
The book itself solves the mystery for you.
It tells you that this Christ is walking
in the midst of his churches.
He is holding the ministers in his right
hand.
And so the vision is explained.
But verse 19 is the key verse.
This is the key to the understanding of
the book of Revelation.
If you miss verse 19, the book is
going to be a mystery to you all
the way through.
But if you will look at verse 19
and realize this is the key to the
interpreting and the understanding of the book, then
you're going to be all right.
Write the things which you have seen and
the things which are and the things which
shall be hereafter or metatauta after these things.
Three divisions of the book.
John was to write first of all that
which he had seen.
What did he see?
He saw Jesus standing and walking in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks holding the
seven stars in his right hand.
So he describes Jesus as he sees him
in that glorified form, the face and like
lightning and and all he describes him.
As we move into chapters two and three,
we move into the things that are.
And as we move into chapters two and
three, we'll find that the things that are
are the things of the church and its
witness to the world.
The seven churches of Asia are representative of
the seven major segments of church history.
And you will see church history reflected in
these seven churches.
Now, there were the seven churches.
These are the things that were going on
in these churches.
And as he describes the things that are
going on in the churches, he was dealing
with actual issues that were happening at that
time in the churches there in Asia.
However, it also does align perfectly with the
seven periods of church history in the order
that they are given.
Had they been given in any other order,
they would not have been in alignment with
church history.
The third is that you will find conditions
of Ephesus today, conditions of Smyrna today.
We began the service talking to you about
what is happening right now in Indonesia and
the great persecution and the of course, it's
happened and is happening in many places in
Africa right now as the Islamic terrorists are
attacking Christians throughout Africa.
It's happening in the Sudan and probably more
Christians were martyred for their faith last year
than almost any year since the great persecution
under the government that the church of Smyrna
experienced.
You will find conditions such as were in
the church of Pergamos, Thyatira and so forth
going on today.
So there's a threefold application, the local application
when it was written, the historic application.
And then even today, you find these conditions
that are happening in the various churches throughout
the world today.
You'll find the church of Ephesus, you'll find
the church of Thyatira and Sardis in Philadelphia
and Laodicea today.
So as we look at the things which
are the messages of Jesus to the churches,
we'll discover we have a church history in
advance.
Now, in each of these messages to the
seven churches, there is first of all, a
description of Jesus as the author of the
letter to the church.
And the description of Jesus is taken from
this description in chapter one.
And the description will actually sort of tie
with the conditions of the church.
In other words, Jesus to the church of
Ephesus, unto the angel of the church of
Ephesus write these things, saith he who holds
the seven stars in his right hand, who
walks in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks.
That's going to come into play in the
message.
We hear a lot today about the history
of the church.
And there are people that talk about the
history of the church and, you know, the
early church fathers and their teachings and so
forth.
And we sort of hold them up in
reverence.
It's much like the nation of Israel was
holding up their history in reverence.
They were almost a sacrosanct kind of a
thing.
The history of our fathers and our fathers,
this and our fathers.
The truth of the matter is that the
history of Israel stunk.
Their fathers were rotten to the core.
They were constantly turning away from God and
they were being judged of God over and
over again because of the things that were
going on.
In fact, when Stephen was standing before the
council and Stephen is talking to them about
their history, he said, which of the prophets
did not your fathers kill?
And you are worse than they are because
you've killed the one that they prophesied was
going to come.
So it's one of those things that church
history is not a glorious thing to behold.
I'm ashamed and embarrassed at church history.
In fact, one of the things that you
hear today when we talk about how horrible
the terrorists are and their war, you know,
against nations and against people, hey, the church
history is just as bad.
And so we don't hold up church history
as some paragon of virtuous people and all.
There were a lot of problems and notice
this is before John is even dead.
Jesus is writing to the churches and he
is pointing out the many problems that existed
in the church.
And as he is pointing out these problems
that were existing in the church, he calls
on them to repent.
And all but two churches, he calls on
them to repent because things were so bad.
And this is at the very beginning.
And they didn't go up from there.
They've only gone down from there.
So in each of the letters to the
churches, Jesus describes himself with a part of
the description taken from chapter one.
Then he declares his knowledge of their condition.
Jesus knows exactly what you're going through.
Thirdly, he gives a word of commendation.
There are good things about them.
But then he gives a rebuke for the
wrong things.
And that rebuke is to all but two
churches.
Finally, he tells them the necessary corrections that
must be taken.
And then he exhorts them to hear what
the spirit would say to the church.
And finally, he gives a special promise to
those that would overcome.
So these are the things you want to
look for in each of the churches as
Jesus addresses the seven churches.
Under the angel of the church of Ephesus
write, these things saith he that holds the
seven stars in his right hand, who walks
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
We had that description of Jesus in chapter
one.
I know thy works, thy labor, thy patience,
how you cannot bear them which are evil.
You've tried them which say they are apostles
and are not.
You've found them liars.
They had discernment going.
You have born, you have patience for my
name's sake.
You've labored, you've not fainted.
You'd say, wow, that's a great church.
Like to be a part of a church
like that.
That's a going thing.
Jesus said, nevertheless, I have this against you
because you have left your first love.
They were still going on with the motions,
but the emotion was gone.
And it is a sad and tragic thing
when a person loses that first love, or
actually, I should say leaves that first love
because you don't lose it, you leave it.
If you lose something, you don't know where
to find it.
If you leave something, you know where to
go back and get it.
And Jesus tells them where to go back
and get it.
He said, remember from where you have fallen,
repent and do your first works or else
I will come unto you quickly and remove
the candlestick out of its place.
What is he saying?
He is walking in the midst of the
seven golden candlesticks.
He said, you've left your first love.
If you don't return to that first love,
I'm going to remove the candlestick out of
its place, or I will remove my presence
from the church.
How important is it that we maintain that
first love?
So important that if we leave it, he
said he'll leave.
He wants that love.
It's a tragic thing.
When you read in the Old Testament where
God cries out to the nation of Israel,
what did I do wrong?
What did your evil did your fathers find
in me that they turned away from me?
And I believe that Jesus is saying the
same thing to his church.
What did I do wrong?
What evil did I do that you turned
away from me, that you turned from that
love that you once had for me?
As Jesus cries out for love and for
the love of his church.
And so he said, if you don't return
to that first love, I'm leaving.
But what you do have, again, he goes
back to the positive.
He said, you hate the deeds of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Now notice Jesus didn't just say nice, cuddly
things to all of the churches.
But where they were wrong, he spoke of
the wrong that was there.
Now, a lot of times, you know, when
we are dealing with the church today and
problems that are in the churches today, and
we speak out against doctrines or positions, people,
oh, you're not walking in love, brother.
Well, then Jesus didn't walk in love either,
because he was rebuking them all.
And if there are things that are wrong,
you shouldn't just try and sweep it under
the carpet, expose it and get rid of
it, and let's do what's right.
And so Jesus is rebuking them for these
things that are wrong.
But Ephesus had this good thing.
They hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
Now, we're not sure exactly what the deeds
of the Nicolaitans were.
Some say that there was a false teacher
by the name of Nikolai that people were
following after him.
The word Nicolaitan comes from two Greek words,
niko, which is to conquer or to rule,
and laos, which is over the laity.
And so there are many Bible scholars that
believe that Jesus is referring here to the
establishing of a priesthood in the church.
Jesus had abolished the priesthood.
He was the great high priest after the
order of Melchizedek, and he is our great
high priest.
And there is one mediator between God and
man, the man Christ Jesus.
And so the establishing of a priesthood, the
Nicolaitans, is the ruling over the laity.
Jesus actually died in order to make a
way for you to come directly and have
direct access to God by him.
And for anybody else to put themselves in
a position between you and God, Jesus said,
I hate that because I am the way,
the truth, and the life, and no man
can come to the Father but by me.
And then Jesus said, he that hath an
ear to hear, let him hear what the
Spirit would say to the church.
And then the special promise to him that
overcomes, I'll give to eat of the tree
of life, which is in the midst of
the paradise of God.
When Adam and Eve sinned, there were two
trees in the garden that are notable.
There were many, many trees.
But of all of the trees, you may
freely eat except that tree in the middle
of the garden.
And in the day that you eat of
it, you will surely die.
Satan came along, said to Eve, can you
eat of all the trees here?
Oh yeah, except that one in the middle
there.
God said, if we eat of that, we'll
surely die.
Oh, you don't believe that, do you?
You surely won't die.
You see, this is Satan's tactic.
It always has been.
Hath God said, he first of all questions
the word of God.
And watch out when a person begins to
question, did God really say that?
Is that God's word questioning the word of
God?
Secondly, he contradicted the word of God.
You will not surely die.
Contradicting what God said.
And then he begins his lie.
And Jesus said he is the father of
all lies.
God knows that the day that you eat
thereof, you will be wise as God's knowing
good from evil.
And he's trying to keep you from something
that is beneficial and good.
And Eve saw that the tree was pleasant
to look upon, beautiful fruit, looked delicious, had
a great aroma to it.
It was delicious to eat, the lust of
the flesh.
And it would make her wise like God,
the pride of life.
And she did eat.
And she gave to Adam and he did
eat.
And God came to commune with man.
There in the garden, Adam and Eve tried
sowing fig leaves to cover their nakedness, which
they suddenly realized that they were naked.
The consciousness of good and evil began.
Have you ever felt a fig leaf?
They're sticky.
They're like sandpaper.
I think I would have chosen a banana.
But God called to Adam and he said,
Adam, where are you?
I do not believe that that was the
voice of an arresting officer.
I don't think God said, Adam, where are
you?
But I think it was the sob and
the cry of a heartbroken father.
Adam, where are you?
What have you done?
They offered their excuses.
God told them the consequences of what they
had done, what it was going to do.
They were driven from the garden.
And God put a cherubim over the to
guard the gate of the garden, lest they
would return into the garden and eat of
the tree of life and live forever in
that sinful body.
What does that mean?
There was another tree in the garden, a
tree that the fruit would give you perpetual
youth, the tree of life.
And God had to guard the garden now
from man returning and eating of that tree,
probably had some kind of an antidote to
the bacteria that was in the first fruit
that caused the aging process, the mutating of
cells and death that ensued.
But here they had their choice.
Tree of death, tree of life.
How tragic that they would choose the tree
of death rather than the tree of life.
The interesting thing is that God evidently has
transplanted this tree.
No sense going over there looking for it
because we read to him that overcomes.
Well, I give to eat of the tree
of life, which is in the midst of
the paradise of God.
One day we will live and reign with
him forever.
Let's bow our heads father.
As we look at.
The church and we begin looking at the
history of the church.
And we see the flaws, the failures, even
from the beginning.
May we take to heart your messages to
the church, even as seven times you said,
he that hath an ear to hear, let
him hear what the spirit says to the
churches.
God, give us ears to hear what you're
saying to your church.
And Lord, we realize that.
There are those here tonight.
Who have been playing around with their eternal
destiny.
Like Eve, they've been listening to the voice
of Satan.
They've been deceived.
They've questioned your word.
And Lord, they're headed toward destruction.
And Lord, we are getting so close.
To the time that these things are going
to begin to transpire as we get into
chapter four and five and on through Lord.
We realize that it could happen any day.
The witness of the church could be over
tonight.
And you could catch away your church.
And we would begin the next section of
the book.
The things which will take place after the
church things.
And even as Bob saying.
I wish we'd all been ready.
Lord, we realize there are those that are
not ready here tonight.
And we ask that even now your Holy
Spirit would speak to their hearts.
And even as Satan has been speaking and
blinding their eyes to the truth open now,
Lord, their eyes.
And let them see how horrible is the
future of those who do not know Jesus
Christ.
And are not walking in fellowship with him.
And may this be the night, Lord, where
they make peace with God.
And where they receive your offer of eternal
life.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Speak now, Lord, to their hearts.
And may they respond.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
So we all stand.
Tonight, you know the condition of your own
heart.
And Jesus knows.
He said, I know your works.
You know where you stand with him.
He knows where you stand with him.
And he's calling many of you like he
did to the churches here to repent.
To change.
To make a change.
To turn your life over to him.
Before it is eternally too late.
Before you experience what we will be reading
about when we get to chapter six.
When God's judgment begins to fall upon the
earth.
And so I would encourage you right now.
As the Spirit of God is speaking to
your heart.
If you're not sure about your salvation.
If you're not sure about your relationship with
Jesus.
Or if you know that you're not really
right with God.
Maybe you've left your first love.
Maybe the fervency that you once had for
the Lord is not there now.
As the way sings, I want you to
come and I want you to stand down
here at the front.
And I want to have a word of
prayer with you.
And I want to pray that God is
going to work in your heart.
And that things will be right between you
and God when you leave this place tonight.
You can leave it with the assurance that
if you would die tonight, you would be
with the Lord.
Or if the Lord would come for his
church tonight, you'd go with him.
To be with him in his kingdom forever.
Christians be in prayer.
And I encourage you now.
Step out right away.
Come on forward as they sing.