Ah, good. Thank you. I will, uh, is the volume okay for you? Good, good. Appreciate everybody
showing up on a pretty hot night, but I trust it was a worthwhile time as we worship the Lord and
as we go into his word together. Our passage tonight is Revelation 2, verses 8 through 11,
nestled in between the passages that were read earlier this evening, page 1029 in your few Bibles.
I'd encourage you to look at it and keep it open before you. We'll be referring to the text back and
forth, and I think it'll be helpful to keep your focus on the scriptures there. This is the second
of the letters of the Apostle John to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
Verse 8, and to the angel of the church in Smyrna write the words of the first and the last who died
and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich, and the slander of those
who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about
to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested,
and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown
of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers
will not be hurt by the second death. Hope. I think this passage is about hope. One of my father's
friends used to say, you can live for 40 days without food, four days without water, four
minutes without oxygen, and four seconds without hope. Well, I'm not sure that's true, but it does make
a good way to start the sermon. But we all need hope. Tonight, I want to explore with you seven reasons
which I find in this passage which give us solid foundation to have a hope, especially if we're
facing difficult times. Let's just pray, shall we? Fathers, we're here tonight. Our minds have been
busy with many things. Our bodies are kind of hot and somewhat uncomfortable. But Father, I pray that
you would clear our minds, cool our bodies, and allow us to hear your voice this evening. Father,
I pray that it not be my voice that we hear, but the word of the Spirit, taking your word and applying it to
our individual lives. So be our teacher this evening, we pray. In our Lord Jesus' name, amen.
Now, this brief letter is addressed to the church in Smyrna. Well, first we need to ask, what do we know about
that city? Well, we know it was 35 miles north of Ephesus in Turkey, and it was right on the Aegean
coast. It was the main seat of emperor worship for that whole area. And on the coast is a coastal city,
and a large city. It was probably about 200,000 population. It was a beautiful place.
And there was a lot of anti-Christian movement there in Smyrna. But we really don't know much
else about the city. What do we know about the church that this letter addresses? Well, here again,
we don't know very much. It's not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament. So all that we know is really
what we pick up in the context of the letter that we've read. We can observe that of the seven churches
addressed in these letters, Smyrna and Philadelphia were the only two that weren't criticized.
They were apparently doing things well.
Well, the church, it seems, is in some way in conflict with those who identified themselves
with the Jewish community. And there was a lot of bitter strife going on between those who were Jews
in the synagogue and the Christians. The Jews apparently were slandering the Christians, presumably,
to get them in trouble with the Roman authorities. And in light of that, the church was entering a time
of suffering. For some, it would mean imprisonment. And for some, it would mean death. So even though
the church seemed to be doing well in many ways, it was facing a time of great suffering. And they needed
encouragement. And that is what I believe John is giving to them in this letter. So we want to look at seven
different reasons, I find, to be encouraged and have hope, even in the face of oncoming suffering.
Reason one, did you notice, who is this letter addressed to? It's interesting, isn't it?
To the angel of the church of Smyrna. Now, angel means messenger or sent one. Now, we really don't know
whether this meant human leadership or whether it meant supernatural powers that were over the church,
in other words, angels. We do know that they were in God's hand. And if you'll recall what we read
in Revelation chapter 1, where Jesus is standing amidst the lampstands, which are symbols of his
churches, he's holding seven stars in his hands. And it says, those are the angels of the seven churches.
So we do know that whether the leadership spoken here is human or supernatural, they were being held
in God's hands. And you know, that's a great reason to be encouraged, isn't it? To realize that God,
the Lord Jesus, is holding the leadership of his church in his hands.
Second reason for hope that I find here, you'll notice the letter contains the words of he
who is the first and the last. You may notice as we go through these letters each week,
that each of the seven letters singles out one of the characteristics of Jesus as he's presented to
us in chapter 1. So here he is spoken of as the first and the last who died and is alive forevermore.
Obviously, the apostle John felt that these particular characteristics of Jesus were very relevant to
the church in Smyrna. So we need to explore why. What does it mean that he's the first and the last?
Elsewhere in the book of Revelation, we read that he is the alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet,
and the omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. He goes from the beginning to the end.
Now, it's hard for our human minds to grasp, but God does not move through time the way we do.
For me, this moment is now, and now it's now. And what I said five seconds ago will never be repeated.
I am moving down a timeline, and I am stuck in time. God, however, is not moving through time the way we do.
Now, let's think of that in a few other passages. Remember in the book of Exodus, where God appeared to Moses
in a burning bush? Moses said, well, who do I tell people you are? And God says, I am who I am.
Present tense. I am the one who exists simply because I exist, and I exist in the present tense.
Or one of my favorite psalms is Psalm 90. And Psalm 90, the second verse, says,
from everlasting to everlasting, from time eternally past to time eternally future,
you are, present tense, God.
Isaiah says it in such a wonderful way. If you look at the King James Version,
he speaks of the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity. Most of us have no trouble thinking of God
present geographically in all places at one time. But God inhabits eternity. If we think of the timeline
that we are moving through from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You are the first,
you are the last, you are the alpha, you are the omega. And Jesus captured it so clearly
where he says, before Abraham was, I am. Before Abraham was, I am. So Jesus is the first and the last.
Now, I've thought about this for years. My little brain still doesn't grasp it all.
But I think it's true. And the implication of this is that even while I am stuck in time,
even while I am moving from moment to moment, God sees the end result.
The one who inhabits eternity looks at the end process. Now, I find that great reason for hope,
because God knows the end.
Our third reason for hope is that he is the one who died and was raised again from the dead.
All of the difficulties we go through in life, I think, when we stop and think about it,
are really trumped by the fact that Jesus died and rose again. It makes our problems seem pretty
insignificant and gives us great reason for hope. Now, over the years, it's been my job
to deliver a lot of bad news to patients. I'm a physician who practices geriatrics. And end-of-life
care is kind of where I spend my time. And people tend to come to the end of life, at the end of life.
And we geriatricians sign a lot of death certificates and see a lot of people die.
And many times we have to tell them their life's coming to an end, that they're soon going to die.
And I have had the privilege over many years of taking care of a lot of people of deep faith.
In my particular practice, probably 70% of my patients were believers.
And honestly, it made such a difference in almost every case when you told someone who was a believer
who believed that Jesus died and rose again, that they were going to die,
and someone who did not have that foundation for hope.
So there is hope in knowing that Jesus died and rose again.
Recall what Paul says in Romans 8,
He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
If our hope is that Jesus died and rose again,
we can have confidence that God will continue to pour his goodness into our lives.
And in that, we have hope.
The fourth reason I think we have hope is, recall, you'll see in our passage,
he knows our tribulation.
Jesus knows what we are facing at this moment.
Now, it's hardly a big tribulation, but it's hot in here.
Jesus knows it's hot in here.
He feels with us.
And he knows whatever our tribulations are.
He is not an uncaring, distant God.
He knows that even while we may have many spiritual blessings,
John said, and yet you are rich,
some of us really live in poverty.
And Jesus knows that.
Our poverty does not escape him.
He also knows the other struggles that we face in this world
where we face much opposition.
So we've had four reasons for hope,
which are grounded in this letter.
First, God sent one to lead the church,
who he holds in his right hand.
He is the first and the last.
He's the beginning and the end.
He's the one who died and is alive again.
And he is well aware of what's going on in our lives.
Solid reasons for hope.
Now, we have to ask,
is that hope enough when we're facing really tough times,
when we know that suffering, imprisonment, and death may be coming?
And that's where John moves in the next section of this letter.
I think we will see that even though suffering will come,
God is in control and has placed a limit on it.
When we see difficulties coming,
and the people in the Church of Smyrna saw difficulties coming,
one question we have to ask is,
who is responsible for the suffering that's coming?
A legitimate question.
Before we get into that answer, though,
I would like to observe that first,
who is not responsible?
There's no hint in this letter at all
that the Church of Smyrna had done anything
to merit their suffering.
The suffering we're talking about in this passage
is not a punishment for their sin.
They are not responsible.
So who is?
Well, I'd like to show you
that there are three different responsible parties
to their suffering.
And this is true, I think,
in many cases of suffering today.
On one level,
it would come because of the slander
brought against the Christians,
presumably to the Roman authorities,
by, as it said,
certain Jews who are not Jews.
Now, what does that mean?
I'm not sure that's totally clear.
But I tend to agree with the Apostle Paul
where in Romans 9,
he talks about a true Jewish person
is a child of Abraham by faith,
not by genetics.
There were evidently people
in the synagogue at Smyrna
who were working against the Christians
who were Jewish by physical descent,
but they were not children of Abraham by faith.
Therefore, John says,
they're not really true Jews.
These were the ones who you could say,
yeah, those guys,
they're responsible for the suffering that's to come.
But I think there's another level here
which the passage makes very clear,
and that is,
they were motivated and driven by Satan himself.
The suffering that was coming
was an act of Satan to do that.
Now, we know that Satan is active and powerful.
We read in 1 Peter 5,
be sober-minded, be watchful.
Your adversary, the devil,
prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.
Satan is powerful.
He's clever.
He has great ability to destroy Christians.
But the second thing we need to keep in mind
is Satan has been defeated.
In his death,
Jesus assured that Satan would never succeed.
He was doomed.
So in Hebrews 2, we read
that through death,
he might destroy the one who has the power of death,
that is, the devil.
Now, am I talking out of both sides of my mouth here?
Well, maybe I am.
But I think there's good reason for it.
How can we say that Satan is defeated
and yet at the same time
talk about him having so much power?
A little hard to explain.
But over the years,
I've come to realize
that the best analogy I can come up with
is back in World War II.
I think every historian of World War II,
would say that Hitler was defeated and doomed
as soon as the Allies landed at Normandy at D-Day.
The end of the story was told.
But it took another whole year
of hard fighting,
marching through the fields of the lowlands,
through France and into Germany,
before Hitler would finally surrender.
He was doomed at D-Day.
He was finally defeated a year later.
And perhaps that's a little bit of analogy
of how Satan is today.
He was doomed at the cross,
but his final defeat is yet to come.
And in the meantime,
we are still waging that war.
So there's two levels of responsibility.
One, the Jews who were slandering the Christians.
Two, Satan who was working through them.
But there's a third level here
that I think we have to realize.
And that is,
who controls Satan?
And I would propose that we see in this text
that it is God that controls Satan.
And God is ultimately in control.
But why do I say that?
First, note how it talks of
this suffering is a test.
Tests come from God.
God wants to test his people,
not to make us fail,
but primarily to show us
that by his grace we will succeed.
First Peter 4 says,
Beloved, do not be surprised
at the fiery trial
when it comes upon you
to test you
as though something strange
were happening to you.
But rejoice insofar
as you share Christ's suffering
that you may also rejoice
and be glad
when his glory is revealed.
The second reason I see
Satan is controlled by God
is where it says
that the suffering
will be strictly limited
to ten days.
Satan does not have
unlimited authority.
Now we see that oftentimes
through scripture.
Remember the book of Job.
God allowed Satan to test Job
but put very strict restrictions
on how much he could do.
Last winter you were studying
through the book of Samuel
in the service.
Do you remember how
it spoke of Saul
being afflicted
by an unholy spirit
sent by the Lord?
Very interesting.
How many of you can think of
any time
when Jesus was on earth
and was commanding
demonic presence
to exercising
a demonic presence
from someone
from someone who's possessed
by a demon?
Do you ever remember
the demon saying,
no sir,
I don't think I will leave now sir,
thank you.
I think I'll just stay here.
No.
Jesus had full control
over those demonic presences.
In the book of 1 Corinthians,
Paul tells them
to deal with a man
who's been living in sin
and says,
deliver this man
over to Satan
for the destruction
of the flesh
so that his spirit
may be saved.
He's giving Satan
the job
to eventually end up
in this man's salvation.
Or Paul spoke
of his thorn in the flesh
as a quote,
messenger of Satan.
And what was the result
of that messenger
of Satan?
that he would
grow in his own
dependence on God,
recognize his weakness,
and that his strength
was actually in his weakness.
So in all of these examples,
I think we see
God using Satan
to accomplish
his ultimate purpose.
So we have great courage
from 1 John
when it says,
he who is in you
is greater
than he
who is in the world.
And God
equips his people
with the ability
to counter
the efforts
of Satan.
So our fifth reason
for hope
is God
is ultimately
in control.
Satan
does not
have absolute sway.
Now we move
outside of this passage
into its larger context
for our next two reasons
for hope.
But I had them read,
Kelly,
read Revelation 1
to remember
that beautiful picture
of Jesus
standing among
his church,
the lampstands,
holding the angel
of the church,
the stars in his hand,
and this beautiful,
powerful,
loving Savior
is where the church
begins.
Great reason
for hope.
And where is the church
going?
Revelation 4,
Revelation 5,
where the believers
from all the ages
are gathered around
the throne
worshipping
God
and the Lord Jesus.
That's where we're going.
Now,
it's fascinating
that between
where we start
and where we end
are these seven churches
not always presenting
a very encouraging picture.
Some of them
beset by Satan,
some of them
suffering,
some of them
losing their first love,
some of them
growing cold.
Not a real
nice picture.
But when you see
where it comes from,
where you see
where the church
is going,
there's great reason
for hope.
So,
I think we have
seven reasons
in this passage
for hope,
even as we face
the difficulties
in life.
God specifically
sends his leaders
to be over his church.
Jesus is the first
and the last.
He sees the end result.
Jesus died
and rose again.
Jesus knows
our struggles
in life.
Satan,
though our enemy,
is limited
and controlled
by God.
Jesus,
in all his glory,
stands among
his churches
and the destiny
of the church
will be fulfilled
as we stand
around his throne
in glory.
So,
in light of these
seven reasons
for hope,
how should we respond?
John gives us
two ways.
First,
be faithful,
press on
to the end.
be faithful
unto death.
And second,
he who has an ear,
let him hear.
We are to listen
to what the Spirit
of God says.
We are to be
in the Scriptures.
We are to be
in the public
preaching of the Word.
We are to be
enmeshed
in the Word of God,
listening to it
and obeying it.
That is our response
to hope.
How does God respond?
Well,
we are given
two ways.
First,
he gives
the crown of life
to those
who persevere.
And second,
he protects us
from the second death,
which is
eternal separation
from God,
his love
and goodness.
Remind us
that there are
two options,
eternal life
in God's presence
or eternal death
of separation
from him.
Fifteen hundred
years earlier,
Moses wrote,
I call heaven
and earth
to witness
against you today
that I have
set before you
life and death,
blessing and curse.
Therefore,
choose life.
Jesus,
the one who stands
among his churches,
the one who died
and rose again,
the one who is
in control
of all things
of this life,
even the really
difficult things,
offers eternal life.
If we reject
his offer,
the default
will be
the second death.
It's a choice
we all must make.
And when we have
choose life,
we have every reason
for hope.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Father,
as we look
at our lives,
we struggle
at times.
Father,
Satan is active
in our lives.
The difficulties
of this world
can be overwhelming
at times.
But Lord,
we are grateful
that you give us
great reason
for hope.
Father,
I pray
that we would
each be encouraged.
For those of us
who have chosen
life,
listen to your word
and obey it.
Father,
we have the hope
of eternal future.
Father,
for those who have
never really
come to that point
and have never
really chosen
to follow you,
they have the hope
that we share
if they would only
make that choice.
So we thank you
for the hope
that we have
and pray that
we would be
faithful to it.
We pray this
for our own good
and for your glory.
Amen.
the three months ago now.