REVELATION 2:12-17 PERGAMOS REPENT OR I WILL COME AND FIGHT2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 2:12-17 Pergamos Repent Or I Will Come And Fight

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010.

Here we are in Revelation chapter 2, continuing our study of the book of Revelation. And I know we're looking forward to the things that are to come and the future events that Revelation talks about. But in the meantime, God has us here. Now, the things that are to come are very important and we are looking forward to that.

You know, God wants us to know the things that will take place. He wants us to know what is going to take place on this earth in the future. He wants us to know what is in store for this earth and for those who continue on the earth. And so he gives us the book of Revelation to reveal to us. It's not meant to hide things from us, but it's meant to give us understanding into the things which will take place.

In chapter 1, verse 1 of Revelation, it tells us that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. God wants to show us the things which must shortly take place. And so we understand that the things of the book of Revelation are future things. They're things that are going to take place. They will happen, and they will happen in a time...

It looks like not too distant from now. It looks like these things can unfold at any point, at any moment. And so those future things that the book of Revelation talks about are the things that we're looking forward to. They're the things that we have here on the screen. And we'll start with this on Sundays as we go through Revelation to kind of help us remember and keep the perspective and have a good grasp of the things that are to come.

And so the first thing that we'll be looking into as far as future events for us is the rapture of the church. And we'll deal with that as we head into chapter 4 in a few weeks, where the church is caught up to meet with the Lord in the air. And from there, we will forever be with the Lord. And that's something very exciting as Christians. We're looking forward to that, you know, we'll be instantly removed from this earth and instantly in the presence of Jesus.

Then as the church is raptured, with the church out of the way, then now there's a new season for the earth. It's not the prosperity that they think that is going to happen when all the Christians are gone, but what is going to happen is seven years of tribulation. And it's going to be a time of wrath, a time of death, a time of famine and war and pestilence.

It's going to be a devastating time and many will die during this tribulation period. There's going to be just incredible events that are taking place. And so there's going to be tribulation like the world has never seen.

That seven years will end with the return of Jesus Christ. As the armies are gathered together there in the valley of Megiddo for the battle of Armageddon, Jesus returns and he defeats the enemies there. He wipes out the armies that are there that turn against him and he sets foot upon the Mount of Olives. It divides in two and at that point he establishes a kingdom here on this earth.

And it's for a thousand years that Jesus is on this earth ruling and reigning with the church, his saints alongside of him. We come back with Jesus for his second coming and we rule and reign with him for that thousand years.

During that thousand years, the earth is renewed, it's restored, and so it's going to be beautiful. There's going to be a forced righteousness where the people are kept in the right path. They're kept in obeying God and walking in righteousness. But at the end of that thousand years, there's going to be an opportunity for them to rebel.

Because during that thousand years, Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit. He will not be loose as he is today, able to wreak havoc all over, but he will be bound for that time and God will be ruling and reigning in the world in that time. But at the end of the thousand years, the scriptures tell us, we'll get to it in Revelation, that

chapter 19, that Satan is loose for a short time at the end of that thousand years. And he goes and he gives opportunity to those who, you know, were following God because of the forced righteousness, but they didn't really want to walk with God. They didn't really want to obey God. There will be that opportunity at the end that Satan will lead a final rebellion against

God and he'll take the army to Jerusalem in that rebellion and God will crush them he will put down that rebellion at that time and that will usher in really eternity because at that time there'll be the great white throne judgment

After that final rebellion, it tells us in chapter 20 that all who have died, whether small or great, death and Hades give up their dead and they stand before God. It's for the final judgment. Chapter 20 of Revelation verse 15 tells us that whoever's name is not written in the book of life will at that time be cast into the lake of fire. That will be eternal punishment and eternal separation from God at that time. For

For those who believe in God, they will not be in that judgment, but they will enter into eternity. And chapter 21 of Revelation goes on to tell us that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, a new Jerusalem, and the rest of eternity that God has in store for those who have chosen Him and who have walked with Him. And so we look forward to these things which must shortly take place. They're going to happen.

And that's really what the book of Revelation is about. You can look at it this way. God wanted us to know about these things that are going to pass. And He wanted us to know, it was so important to Him that He devoted a whole book of the Bible to it. He wrote a whole book, the book of Revelation, so that we would know these things which are going to take place. And so these things are important and they're a big part of what God has in store for this earth.

However, before we get there, and those things are exciting for us to study and look at, before we get there, there's some things that God wants to work in our hearts.

We divide Revelation into three sections based on Revelation chapter 1 verse 19 where Jesus tells John to write the things which he has seen. And the things that he had seen at that point was just the revelation of Jesus in chapter 1. And there he sees Jesus. He sees him in his glorified body and he describes him there for us. And so that is the first part of the book of Revelation, the vision of Jesus that John saw.

Then Jesus tells him to write the things which are. So the things he had already seen, that was the vision of Jesus. And then he's to write about the things which are. And we find this in chapters 2 and 3, the things which are, the present time, which is the time of the church. As Jesus is writing seven letters to seven churches in chapters 2 and 3, we find that Jesus,

chapters 2 and 3 deal with the present time, with the church age and the things that are happening within the church. Well, then in chapters 4 through the rest of the book, then he writes down, as Jesus tells him, the things which will take place after this. The things that are going to happen. And so we're going to get there, but in the meantime...

Jesus wants us to focus on some things that are happening right now, some things that he needs to address in our own hearts, some areas that he wants to work in within us and within the church. And so we're spending time looking at each of these churches individually because, well, there's some important application there for us.

As Jesus is writing the letters to these churches, we find that there's four applications of these letters or four ways to apply these letters. First of all, kind of the most obvious is we apply the letter. The letter applies to the literal church that existed there in 95 A.D.,

As Jesus is revealing this to John, he's giving him this vision, he's instructing him to write down these words. There was a church in the city that Jesus is making reference to, and he really had this message to deliver to them. It was really for them to hear and to take heed to. And so that's the first and probably most obvious application of these letters, of course, administered to them and their situation.

The second way that we find these letters apply though is that each letter represents and really describes the general state of the church worldwide at different parts of church history. So for the past 2,000 years the church has kind of been in different stages globally in a general sense and each of these letters corresponds with particular points and particular seasons of

of the church throughout church history. And so we'll be looking at that, not today or not as we look at these books individually, but we'll come back and put them into perspective and see how they fit in a few weeks.

The third way that we apply these letters is that these apply to individual churches today. And so each church, for example, like this fellowship, Calvary Chapel Living Water, is similar to and is described by one of these letters. We are in similar situation to the situation that...

one of these churches we're in whenever Jesus was writing the letter. And so there's the general state of our specific church or individual churches. And these letters apply to those situations, to those churches, and we need to take heed.

And then finally, the fourth application of these letters is our personal application, that these things apply to our own selves and that individually there's things in here and there's things in these letters that describe us, that really, you know, describe our situation, our circumstances, our heart. And so we find great application in what God wants us to do as we find ourselves in those circumstances.

We see this very clearly in something that Jesus says to each of the churches. He says in each letter, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And so He calls out the individual and He says, Hey, individual,

You need to pay attention to what is happening and what I'm saying to all of the churches because you need to know these things and there's things going on in your heart that I want to work in and I want to address. And so that's where we're really focusing as we look at these letters week by week. We're focusing on the personal application and what God wants to say to us and speak to us individually that we might be able to grow and we might be able to learn from these things individually.

and become the Christians that God desires for us to be. And so we pick it up in verse 8, where Jesus begins the letter, and it says in verse 8, And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These things says the first and the last, who was dead and came to life. Here as he begins the letter to them, he introduces it the way that he does in all of the letters. He writes it to the angel of the church in Smyrna.

The word angel simply means messenger, and we discussed this last week. Messenger can be a human being or it can be a supernatural being. We think of angels and of course we think of the supernatural creatures that God has created. But it doesn't have to be a literal supernatural angel like we would think of.

It's probably just a reference to the pastor of the church who is God's messenger to that church. And so he's giving him this message to deliver it to the congregation that they would be able to hear and receive what Jesus is speaking to them. Well, he writes to this church that is located in the city of Smyrna.

Smyrna is also located in what we call modern day Turkey, just like the rest of the churches. They're all there kind of in the western portion of modern day Turkey. It's about 40 miles north of Ephesus. And so we looked at Ephesus last week. It was right there on the coast of the Aegean Sea.

Smyrna as well is on the coast. It's just about 40 miles north of Ephesus. It was a very prominent city and a lovely city. They called it the lovely, the crown of Asia. It was something that they were proud of. It was very beautiful.

And this city still exists today. Unlike Ephesus, which is in ruins, this city has a population today of 3 million people. It's the third largest city in Turkey currently. And so it's still existing, it's still thriving. We also find that in this city, in the city of Smyrna, emperor worship was developed.

Later on in Roman history, there was a worship of the Caesar, a worship of the emperor. And that began here, it was developed here. And Christians suffered greatly as a result of this forced worship of Caesar because the Christians refused to worship Caesar. And so they were persecuted very severely and harshly.

And that was in the beginning stages as Jesus is writing this letter to them and things were about to get worse. They were experiencing difficulty, but they were about to get worse as this worship developed.

Jesus introduces himself to the church there in Smyrna, saying that he is the first and the last who was dead and came to life. And in each of the seven letters, he introduces himself with a piece of the vision that John saw in chapter one. And we read about that vision and the different parts and elements he was seeing, you know, his vision.

head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet like fine brass. And he's describing all of these different elements of Jesus as he has this incredible vision and revelation as he's standing before him. And now as Jesus is writing the letters to the churches, he is taking pieces of that vision and introducing himself with that, which is interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all,

The way that he introduces himself goes along with or corresponds with the message that he is delivering to them. And we'll talk about that in a moment. But the other part that I find interesting about this is, you know, the church is called the body of Christ. And we are a church, but the church is not, you know, this building and it's not even just this group right here. But the church is all believers globally.

And it's interesting, as Jesus is writing to each of the churches, and he introduces himself a little bit differently, and with a little bit part of his description to each of the churches, corresponding with their situation, then as you look at the churches as a whole, you have the complete description of Jesus and that revelation that John sees. And so, we are the body of Christ,

individually, you know, we're members of the body, but corporately, as we all come together, then you see the full picture of Jesus and we are fully, you know, the body of Christ all together. And so it's not just us and it's not just this church. It's not just Calvary Chapel, but globally, we all make up the body of Christ and we reveal Jesus in different ways.

The city of Smyrna was a tough city for Christians. And Jesus here is telling them they're in the midst of persecution already, but that more suffering is on its way. And so it's significant that he introduces himself as the first and the last.

He says, I want you guys to know, it starts with me and it ends with me. I am in control, he is saying. I am on the throne. The first and the last is a description that's really reserved just for God. He is before all things and He is after all things. He is eternal. And so He has always existed. He starts everything and He ends everything. It's all about Him. Colossians tells us that He created all things.

And that in Him, everything holds together. He's the one in charge. He is the first and the last. You cannot escape Him. You can't start before Him. You can't go longer than Him. He's in control. Things begin when He wants and things end when He wants.

He also describes himself as the one who was dead and came to life. And this really applied to the church of Smyrna because very soon they were going to experience severe persecution to the point of death. Many of them would die for their profession of faith. They were given the option to worship Caesar himself

or to die. That would be their option in the near future. And so Jesus introduces himself. He says, look, I'm the one who was dead and came to life. He was dead. It's past tense. He's not dead currently. He did die. He died upon the cross, paying the penalty and the punishment for your sin, for my sin. He paid the price. He died upon the cross, but he resurrected.

verifying that He is who He claimed to be, that He is the Savior of the world, that He is God, verifying that He is the Messiah, that salvation is only found through Him. His resurrection verifies and authenticates that message that He proclaimed throughout His ministry. But He didn't stay in the grave, and He's not in the grave today. In fact, Zach was just there a few days ago, right, Zach? It's empty, right? He was dead.

But now he is alive. He is resurrected. Jesus is calling Smyrna to trust him and be faithful to him because he conquered death, they will too. They will overcome the grave as they are believers in Jesus Christ. It's interesting that in this letter to the church of Smyrna, there's no correction.

In the majority of the letters, Jesus says, repent. There's an issue that he has with them. There's an issue that really needs to be resolved. But here to the church of Smyrna, or the church in Smyrna, there's no correction. And that only happens with one other church in these seven letters, Philippians.

Five out of the seven letters, Jesus says, repent. You need to get right. You need to change your ways. But two of the churches, he didn't offer any correction. He didn't tell them that they needed to repent. Of course, it didn't mean that they were perfect, that they had no problems.

But as they're going through affliction and since they're suffering persecution, it's amazing how affliction and persecution in our life really impacts us in regards to purity. You know, when you're really suffering, especially when you're suffering for the faith, for the name of Jesus,

There's a purifying effect that it has in our lives and it causes us to really focus on the things that are meaningful and to stop playing around with sin and to wake up and pay attention to what's happening so that we don't live in lives that are against God or kind of ignoring God's word in certain areas of our lives.

James tells us in James chapter 1 to count it all joy when we face trials. Why? Well, because God's doing a work in us. There's a purifying that is taking place and he's building his own character into our hearts. And I think it's significant that as he offers no correction to this church that is suffering greatly, that we need to learn from his example.

I think it's worth noting, and just a quick side note, a little rabbit trail here. You know, Christians often kick each other when they're down. We come across another believer who's really struggling or going through difficulty, having hard times, and there's a tendency...

just speaking in general, for in that situation, for a Christian to come upon another Christian who's suffering and to lay burdens upon them and to beat them up with what they're going through and maybe some sin that they perceive in that person's life.

But Jesus, it's very interesting, as he's dealing with the church of Smyrna, I think we need to learn from his example. He encourages them. He comforts them. And he gives them things to hope for. He doesn't kick them while they're down. I think we need to make sure that we don't make the mistake of Job's friends. If you're a friend like Job, please...

Stay away from me. I'm sorry, not a friend like Job, but a friend like Job's friends. Because Job's friends, you remember Job? I mean, he had this huge devastating stuff happen in his life. His kids die. He loses all of his property, all of his wealth, all of his livestock. He ends up, it's just him and his wife. And his wife, you know, she's not the best encourager. She tells him, hey, why don't you just curse God and die? He's got boils all over his body. He's in constant pain. And his friends come to him.

And they, for about 30 chapters, tell him, Job, it's your fault. You're in sin. You're a loser. This is why it's happening. And you're to blame for this. If only you'll repent and get right, then you wouldn't have to go through this situation. They're just kicking him, kicking him, kicking him while he's down. We need to be careful.

The church here is suffering persecution. They're suffering affliction. They're going through hard times. But it's not their own fault or their own doing. It's not that they're in rebellion against God and this is God's discipline. We need to be careful not to assume that. When you look at someone and something's going wrong in their life and they're having a tough time and maybe it's even been for a while that they've just really been suffering and going through hardship.

we quickly come to the conclusion, like Job's friends, well, there must be something you're doing because I'm not experiencing that, you know, and I'm great. And so, you know, it must be something about you, you know, something that God wants to fix in you. But we must not jump to that conclusion. That's the mistake that Job's friends made. Hey, suffering is not always because God is disciplining, but sometimes he's accomplishing other things through the suffering, like in the case of Job and the church of Smyrna.

And so there's no correction here. And there's another important point I think that we should consider. There's two churches that Jesus doesn't offer correction. This one here, the church that is suffering, and then the church of Philadelphia that we'll get to in chapter 3.

And that church there was engaged in the call of God. They were going, you know, 100%, 110%, all engines running, you know, all cylinders firing. They were going for God. They were doing the work that God had called them to do. And I would suggest to you that from that, we could understand that unless you are suffering for your faithfulness to Jesus or fully engaged in God's call, God's command to you is to repent.

God wants us and desires for us to be committed to Him, wholeheartedly devoted to Him. And unless, you know, we're at a point where because of our faithfulness to God, we are suffering persecution and affliction, or that we're fully engaged in the work that God has called us to do and doing the things that God has laid before us, God's call to us is to repent. It's not enough just to kind of be casually interested and involved in the things of God.

He desires for us to live our whole hearts and our whole lives for Him. That's what He desires of us. And so as we look at the Church of Smyrna, there's an important exhortation for us to be wholly devoted to God. And there's five points here that I want to share with you from the Church of Smyrna as we go on in the next couple of verses. The first point, again, focusing on the personal application, point number one is that Jesus knows your situation.

Jesus knows what you are going through and the situations that you face. Look at verse 9. He says, Here, Jesus tells the church in Smyrna, I know your works, I know your tribulation, and I know your poverty.

Jesus is letting them know that he is aware of their situation. Jesus knows your works. He knows what you're doing. He knows what you're involved in. He knows the activities that you practice. He knows what you've been up to this weekend, what you've been doing, whether it's good or bad. He knows your works. He knows my works. Now, if you are

faithful to the Lord, that's a comforting thing to know that He knows.

That the things that we do for Him, they don't go unnoticed, that He sees them. Because often we don't get reward for the work that we do for God immediately. But we trust and we know God says you will be rewarded. And so we look forward to that. We thank God. Thank you, Lord. You know my works. I trust that you know what's going on and what I'm doing. And this is how they're treating me, but I'm being obedient to you and so on and so forth. And it's comforting to know that God knows what's going on in our lives and what we're up to.

But it's also fearful if you are not being faithful to God. If you have some issues in your heart, some things that you're practicing that you know God does not want you to be involved in, then it's a little bit more uncomfortable, isn't it? Knowing that God knows our works and He saw us when we were in that corner or in that situation. He knows what we've been up to. He knows what we've been doing. What God desires for us is to live our lives for Him. He knows what we're doing. He wants us.

to live lives that are wholly devoted to Him. He says, I know your works. But He also says, I know your tribulation. The idea here of tribulation, this word means crushing or squeezing. And so He's saying, look, I know what you're going through and that the times that you're facing are hard, that you're being crushed, you're being squeezed. You know, the walls are kind of closing in on all sides.

And it's getting tight and it's getting tough and there's nowhere to turn. Jesus is telling them, I know what you're going through. And maybe some of you this morning are facing that as well, that there's tribulation, there's a crushing and there's a squeezing that's going on in your life. And man, that's tough, you know, when it's on all sides, like Paul said in 2 Corinthians, you know, we're hard pressed on every side.

It's one thing, you know, when things are tough at work, but then you can go home and kind of relax and just, you know, enjoy not being at work. You kind of leave it, you know, at the doors you leave and you say, okay, you know, that was tough. Man, what a rough day, but that was work. And now I'm home and I can relax and spend time with my family.

But it's a whole other situation when things are tough at work and then you leave work and then you go home and things are tougher at home than they are at work. And then you wish, man, I wish I could go back to work to get away from what's going on here in the home. And then to escape the work and then the home, then you turn to something else and

Often that gets tough. And you know how it is. The walls just kind of close down. There's nowhere to turn where it's not tough, where it's not difficult. You look at your finances. Man, things are tight. Things are tough. You know, you look at your family. Oh man, it's just, it's really rough right now. You look at your work and oh, I'm getting beat up on every side.

Well, that's the idea here of this word tribulation. Jesus says, look, I know you're getting crushed. You're getting squeezed. It's just closing in on you on all sides. And some of you are in that position that you're being crushed right now. And Jesus wants you to know He knows. He knows what's going on. He knows your situation.

In those times, it often feels like we tell ourselves, you know, God must not be paying attention. He's dealing with people that are more important to him. He's, you know, just kind of focused on those things. And he just, he's just letting me go in through this. And I don't know why. But the reality is that he knows. He knows the crushing that is going on. He also tells them, I know your poverty.

And this word for poverty is not just, you know, they were a little bit poor, but it's a severe poverty. He says, look, I know that you are extremely poor, that, you know, you're desperate for your next meal. You're not just, you know, a little bit tight, you have to cut down on the Starbucks.

and cut down on the slurpees unless it's 7-11 day. He says, look, you're worried about your daily food, your daily provision. You're poor. You're suffering extreme poverty.

And so they're in a tough spot. You get the picture here, the church in Smyrna. It wasn't, you know, the most luxurious church. It wasn't, you know, the place where you would go to vacation. This was tough stuff. This was hard stuff. They were being squeezed. Life was difficult. And Jesus writes to them to give them comfort and says, I know what's going on. I see it.

And the reality is the fact that He sees it and that He knows what's going on comforts us because, well, going back to the beginning, He's the first and the last. He's on the throne. He's in control. It's not that, you know, He's just not strong enough to save us from the situations that we're in. But He knows what's going on. He knows what's best for us. And so He's allowing these things in our life to accomplish His purposes.

As Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, that God works all things together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose. Even these bad things that we just can't see any good out of, God works those things for good in our lives.

He also says, I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. And so they're experiencing this crushing and this poverty, and they're just really going through a hard time. In addition to that, there's persecution that's happening from the Jewish people of that city. They claim to be Jews, but Jesus says they're really not. Instead, they're actually a synagogue of Satan.

Now the city of Smyrna did have a big Jewish population, and as the church is experiencing trouble and persecution, a large portion of that was from the Jews. There was great opposition from the Jewish population. And what Jesus is saying is, they're Jewish perhaps by nationality or by heritage, but

But they're not really Jews. As Paul describes in Romans chapter 2, a real Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly, one whose heart is devoted to God, one whose heart is circumcised. It's not about, you know, the outer things or their nationality, but about their heart being devoted to God. And so he says they're claiming to be God's people. They're claiming to be Jews, but the reality is they're a gathering. That's what synagogue means. They're a gathering of Satan. They're...

involving themselves or they're doing the work of Satan. Jesus gives them insight into the inspiration for the attack that they're receiving. He's saying, look, behind the scenes is the enemy. Satan is using them, he's working in them, and they're being used by him to bring this attack against you.

Again, the point here is Jesus is saying, I know your situation. And maybe you find yourself in a similar situation where you're just being crushed. Things are tough and tight financially. You're poor. You're being attacked. I'm trying to be faithful to the Lord. Jesus says, I know what's going on. I know your situation. I'm with you.

He goes on now in verse 10 to give him the second point that I'll point out, which is do not fear suffering. Verse 10 says, do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life. Jesus now goes on after he says, look, I know what's going on. I know your situation. Now don't fear.

Don't be afraid of those things which you're about to suffer. Put yourself in the church in Smyrna's shoes for a moment. Jesus takes the time to write you a letter. And he says, Harvey, don't fear the things that you're about to suffer. Do you think you might fear? I think I would be like, hey, I wasn't fearful before, but now you told me I'm going to suffer. Now I'm afraid.

Now, I was fine before. You didn't have to tell me. I'd rather be caught by surprise, Lord. Now I'm fearful. Now I'm worried. Now I'm anxious about, well, what am I going to suffer? What am I going to have to go through? What's going to happen in my life? Here's the church in Smyrna. They're already being persecuted. They're already in tribulation and poverty. And Jesus is saying, hey guys, it's going to get worse. There's going to be more suffering and you're not to fear it. You must not fear the things that you're about to suffer.

This word fear, it means to cause to run away. Have you ever been fearful like that? You know, you're afraid of something so much so that you run away. That's what this word fear is. It happened to me. It was a while back and my wife and I were in the theater. We're watching a movie together and I get pretty fearful pretty easily. And I don't watch like the horror movies or nothing like that. I can't even watch the previews on those things. And

But we're in this movie and it's not, you know, it's just a regular movie, but there's this intense scene and in the middle of the movie, I got so fearful that I jumped out of my seat and I ran, literally ran out of the theater. I could not handle it. It was too much. I left my wife and she stayed there and I ran out of the theater. And it was at a time where

My thyroid was out of control, and so that kind of amplified the things that were going on. I went out in the hall, and I'm sitting there on the bench, and my heart rate is just going crazy, and I'm kind of like trying to catch my breath, almost hyperventilating, and it just was too intense. I was so fearful that I ran away. And I'm a pretty big scaredy cat, so that happens often. But...

But that's the idea here, that you have this fear that causes you to run away. And so here's what Jesus is saying. The church in Smyrna, they're going through difficulty, but they're looking ahead and they're seeing the signs of the times. They're seeing the climate change. They're seeing, hey, it's going to get tougher. And they were beginning to be fearful to the point that they were considering, maybe we need to run away. Maybe we should stop going down this path.

The word is in the present tense when he says, do not fear, which literally means stop being afraid. And so they're thinking ahead, they're looking ahead at the situation and saying, I don't know, maybe we need to run away. Maybe it would be easier if we don't follow Christ. Maybe it would be easier if we move out from this place. Maybe if we go off in a different direction. Maybe if we don't preach the gospel so boldly. It was causing them to consider, maybe we should run away. Maybe.

Maybe we shouldn't take this stance that we're taking. I think we can relate to that as we look on the news and you see the economic situation and the threat of war and terrorism. I mean, we can look ahead and we can see it's possibly gloomy up ahead. There's some stormy waters ahead and it could get really tough and we could begin to get concerned.

About the things that we might suffer, the things that might happen to us. As we look at the political climate of the United States, really turning against the things of God and the things of Christianity. There's some possible difficult days ahead for us. There's been pastors, personally for me in my life, that have been sharing very regularly and more regularly

in the last couple of years about dark days, that they look ahead and they see things are getting bad and we may come to a point where our nation does not tolerate the things of God at all and we find ourselves under persecution like the Church of Smyrna did, where there's actual persecution, actual martyrdom that takes place. As we look at the world around us, we know things are not getting better, but things are getting worse.

And so there are things for us that we are going to suffer. Like the Church of Smyrna, they were going to experience even more difficulty. The same can easily be said for you and I. As we look ahead, we don't know exactly what's going to happen, but there are tough times ahead. There are going to be sufferings. There are going to be difficulties.

And Jesus is not saying, hey, laugh in the face of suffering, you know, just, you know, forget about it and have a good time or look forward to it. That's not what he did, right? When he was about to go to the cross, remember he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and he's overwhelmed and he's praying and with such intensity that his blood mingles with his sweat, he's dripping great drops of blood as he's praying to God. I mean,

There was an intensity there. He wasn't just kind of goofing off with the disciples at that time. He knew what was to come. And so he was preparing himself and intensely praying to God as he's preparing for that suffering. And so Jesus isn't saying, you know, laugh about it. Don't, you know, don't worry about it. Kick back. Just relax. No, what he's saying is you're going to suffer, but don't let that keep you from walking with me, trusting me and obeying me.

He says, don't let that move you from your position in me. Don't let this persecution and suffering cause you to turn away from me. He goes on to describe, he says, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation ten days. The ten days is up for discussion as far as if that's ten literal days or a certain amount of time. There's lots of good scholars that disagree on what he's actually referring to. But whatever the case, it's a limited amount of time.

The devil is the instigator, we see. There's a real situation that's going to happen and they're going to be persecuted and attacked as a result of their faith. And so Jesus says, don't let that make you stop following me.

And you know, that's a reality for Christians around the world. We don't see it here in the United States and we don't hear much about it, but the reality is that Christians around the world suffer persecution. They suffer great attack. One organization estimates that 200 million Christians in over 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith. It's hard for us to imagine.

to discriminate in that way. But their fundamental rights, their rights to own property, their rights to eat decent food, their rights to live are denied as a result of their faith because of their belief in Jesus Christ. They're persecuted severely.

Another organization estimates that within a one-year time span, probably about 176,000 Christians are martyred around the world. It's a reality. When they make a decision, when they make a commitment to follow God, it has to be for real. Here in the United States, we just like to dabble a little bit. We like to include God in our lives, but it's not like a...

Choose God and die or deny God and live. We don't have that situation, but around the world, that is the situation. And so as he's writing to the church in Smyrna, he says, hey guys, it's going to be tough and the devil is going to come against you. There's going to be severe persecution and difficulty, but don't fear it. Don't let it move you from the relationship with me that you have and that I desire for you.

you know, for us, this may be a situation that we see in our lifetime here in the United States. But regardless of whether we see this kind of persecution or not, the message for us is the same. The point for us is the same. Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28, He says, Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Really the point here for us is whether we see that kind of suffering or any other kind of suffering in our life is that we are not to fear. And if it comes to a point where we face being a martyr for believing in Jesus, we're not to fear. He says, don't fear those who can only kill the body. After that, they have no more power. That's all they can do. For the Christian, that's a favor because absent from this body, we're in the presence of the Lord.

We need to learn to look beyond this life. What we see, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians, are the things that are temporary, the things that are unseen. Those are the eternal things. And we get so caught up on the temporary things, we get so tied to the things of this life and our life here on this earth, that we forget that the reality is, we're eternal, we're going to live forever.

And so Jesus says, look, don't fear those who can kill the body, but they have no more power than that. Fear him who is able to destroy both the body and the soul in hell. That's who you should fear. Fear God. Because he has power not just to kill your body, but he has power to cast your soul into hell. Nobody knows whose phone that is? Alright. He has power to kill the body and the soul.

And so Jesus says to fear God, not to fear man. And that's where we need to be. That's how our heart needs to be. That we must not fear man. We must not fear suffering so that it causes us to turn away from God. Listen, you are important to God. And He knows your situation. He would take you out of the situation that you're in if that's what was best for you. So don't let fear keep you from walking with God.

Trust and know that He has your best interests in mind. He knows what's best for you and He's accomplishing that. So don't let the fear of suffering, don't let those things keep you from sharing His message.

of love and truth to the world. Don't let the fear of those things keep you from being obedient to God and walking with God. Be completely committed to Him regardless of the cost. And you may not come to a point where you have to deny Jesus and live or...

Hold fast to Jesus and die. But we need to have that heart regardless of if we have that question or that situation. And you might think, well, I don't know, if I was in that situation, would I be faithful? Well, again, you don't need to know and we won't know until we're in that position. But what we need to do right now is to have that commitment and have that heart. That I am faithful to God, I'm committed to God.

no matter what the cost. And with that, that leads us right into point number three, which is be faithful until death. There at the end of verse 10, he says, be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life.

Don't let fear of suffering keep you from being faithful to God. That's what he's telling them. Be faithful even if it costs your life. It's worth it. Jesus was faithful even though it cost him his life because he counted it worth it. He said, look, I don't want to spend eternity without Mike Colburn. So I'm going to die. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to be crucified because he's worth it. In the same way,

It's worth it. The suffering that we experience, the persecution, the difficulties that we go through, it's worth it. God is working eternally in our hearts through the things that we're going through right now. Will you be faithful until death? Will you be faithful at all costs? No matter what it takes, will you be faithful to God? There in Smyrna, as I shared earlier, it was developed the worship of the emperor.

And so once a year, Roman citizens there in Smyrna were required to burn incense to the image of Caesar, on the altar to Caesar. And so if they would burn incense to the altar of Caesar, then they would be given a certificate that would show they had performed their religious duty for the year. And that's what was required. And so the Christians were faced with this position. Would they compromise? No.

Yeah, I don't really mean it. I'm just, you know, enjoying the fragrance. I'm not actually worshipping Caesar. I'll just burn it. Or would they refuse and suffer the consequences? And we find historically, as we look back, they refused to compromise. They said, look, we're not going to pretend. We're not going to go through the motions and pretend like we're worshipping Caesar. We're going to be faithful to God. And they suffered the consequences as a result. They were faithful until death.

Polycarp, who is a notable leader of the church in those days and specifically in the church of Smyrna, he was put on trial and they charged him and they said, look, if you swear allegiance to Caesar, then we'll let you go. Just swear allegiance to Caesar and I'll set you free.

And Polycarp, that Christian leader of the time, he responded. He said, look, I've been with the Lord for 86 years. He's never done me wrong. How could I do this to him? How could I deny him and swear allegiance to Caesar? They tried to make him swear his allegiance, but he refused. And so they sentenced him to death by burning at a stake. And check out what happened here. It's amazing. I think it's something to take note of.

When they're going to burn him at the stake, they said, well, we need to nail him to the stake so that he stays there, so he doesn't try to get away during the burning or during the flames. But Polycarp tells them, hey, you don't need to nail me to the stake. There wasn't some clever escape plot that he had. He says, look, he says, let me alone as I am, for he who has given me strength to endure the fire will also enable me, without your securing me by nails, to stand without moving in the pile.

He says, "Look, God will help me to stay here and be burned. God will help me to endure this. I've been enduring all this other fire, this other persecution, this other trouble and affliction, and God's helped me through it all. He'll help me through this one too. You don't need to burn, to nail me to the stake." And so they didn't. They tied him and they burned him.

And it tells us, talking about the Jewish population that we were making reference of earlier, they actually broke the Sabbath carrying logs. A big part of the Jewish population carried the wood on the Sabbath, breaking their own commandments in order to bring the wood to burn Polycarp, who died for his faith. Incredible testimony. He was faithful until death. That's what God requires of you, and that's what he wants of me too.

He wants us to be faithful until death. We may not face that situation, but regardless of if we face that situation or not, that needs to be our heart. We need to have that commitment. We need to be persuaded, convinced in our mind that no matter what, it's worth it. We will be faithful to God.

We will not deny Him. We will not compromise. We will do whatever it takes to be faithful to God, even if it costs us our life. He says, be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. Because again, there's more to life than this life. There's more to life than this life. It's not just here on this earth. There's much more. There's eternity that awaits us.

So he says, I'll give you the crown of life. You be faithful until death. That's our role. That's our responsibility. That's what he calls us to do. To be committed to him, regardless of the cost. To be faithful. And he will give us the crown of life. So we need to be faithful until death. Point number four. Hear what the Spirit says. Look at verse 11. He says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

He says this to each church. And so each week as we cover these churches, we'll have this same point. Hear what the Spirit says. Listen, this is not just, you know, a letter that Jesus wrote and it meant something for them, but God doesn't want to speak to us. No, He included this in each letter because He wants us to pay attention. We're learning here what He desires of us and what He needs to happen in our hearts and in our lives. Jesus desires for you to be committed to Him

in such a way that you are faithful until death. And that the suffering that results, the suffering that comes, does not keep you from being faithful to Him. That even if it costs you dearly or greatly, that you would be faithful. Because it's worth it. He's worth it. It's what He did for us. So listen up. Pay attention. This is what the Spirit is saying to us this morning.

It's not, well, maybe this applies to us. No, this for sure, without a doubt, this is what God wants us to hear. This is the heart that He desires. We too easily get comfortable with lukewarm Christianity, with just kind of being here, you know, devoting Sunday morning, certain times throughout the week perhaps, you know, a little bit here and there to God. But what He really requires is everything.

What he really requires is a wholehearted, completely sold-out commitment to him. And so the fifth and final point is to overcome. He says, He says, He says,

What's holding you back from being faithful until death? What's holding you back from being committed to God in that way? Overcome. The person who overcomes, the person who gives themselves over to God, who surrenders to God completely, he says, will not be hurt by the second death. What is the second death? Well, to understand the two deaths, first, we must understand the two births.

There's two births. The first one is a natural birth. Everyone experiences this, right? Everybody here, you've been born. Everybody has a birthday. We've all been born. We've experienced that first birth, the natural birth. But there's a second birth that is also real and is something that not everyone experiences. It's a spiritual birth.

The spiritual birth is what Jesus was talking about in John chapter 3, where he tells Nicodemus that you must be born again. You must be born again. In order to have life, in order to spend eternity with God, you must be born again. That's the second birth. And so the first birth is a natural birth. The second birth is a spiritual birth. When we're born again, we're new creatures in Christ, Paul tells us. There's a new work that God does. He gives us spiritual life.

Well, the first and second death follow along with that. So the first birth is a natural birth. The first death is a natural death. And that, like a natural birth, is something that everyone experiences. We're all going to die. It's going to happen. Hebrews chapter 9 tells us that it's appointed unto man to die once. It's going to happen. This body will be no more. Now, we're eternal beings. We live beyond this body. And so the second death...

is not a natural death but an eternal death. It's a final separation from God. As I said in Revelation 20:15, "Whoever is not written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire." That's the final death. That's the second death. Eternal separation from God. And so He says, "To the one who overcomes, to the one who is faithful to Me until death, to the one who has that heart that's committed to Me wholeheartedly, they will not be harmed by the second death." Why?

Because, yes, this body will die and will die once, even if it means we're put to death. Either way, we'll have everlasting life. That's what God has promised to us in Jesus Christ. And that's why He said, He introduced Himself, remember, as the one who was dead, but came to life. Because we are for sure going to die, but we have the opportunity to have eternal life. We have the opportunity of everlasting life. All of us are going to suffer.

Whether we believe in God, whether we walk with God, whether we want to or not, we are going to suffer. Jesus does not promise an escape from suffering. He in fact promises that Christians, as Christians, we will suffer. But there's more to life than the things that happen on this earth. We are eternal beings. We will live forever. And really where our focus needs to be is not on the suffering, but on eternity. Let's be committed to God.

No matter what it takes. No matter what it costs. Let's live for Him completely and fully and without reservation. Jesus conquered death so that He offers us eternal life. So let's live for Him. Let's pray. God, I pray for our hearts. I pray, Lord, that You would help us. Lord, in this environment where we live, Lord, You've blessed us abundantly with so much freedom. And Lord, as a result, Lord, we...

We find it so easy to be half-hearted in our commitment to You. I pray, Lord, that You would open our eyes to the reality of the things that are going on, the things that are taking place, Lord, the reality of eternity. Lord, that You would help us to make a full and complete commitment to You. Lord, that we would be wholly devoted, without reservation. Lord, that we would follow You regardless of the cost. Lord, even if it means death.

Lord, that we would be faithful to obey you, to walk with you, to honor you. Lord, looking forward to that crown of life. Lord, knowing that our reward is eternal and it will be waiting for us. And so God, help us to endure. Give us strength. Help us not to fear. Help us to follow you. And Lord, if there's any who have not received your offer of life, Lord, I pray that you would speak to their hearts today.

Lord, that you would bring them to the saving knowledge of you. Lord, that they would receive your offer of life. Lord, that they would not be harmed by the second death. Lord, we pray that you would draw all men unto yourself. In Jesus' name, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.