One of the roles of the church is to address the issue of sin. Dr. Tony Evans reminds us that the church should be helping people overcome immorality, not simply ignore it.
You know you're illegitimate when you tolerate it, accept it, excuse it, and refuse to address it. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Seeing is believing, or so the saying goes. But in Revelation, God unveils realities that reach far beyond what our eyes can see. Today, Dr. Evans continues our look at God's message for the church and provides a glimpse of God's heavenly throne.
Let's join him as he gets started. Well, we introduced the book and we began looking at Jesus's message to the seven churches of Asia. The word seven means complete, and so this is a representation, an overview of the church age and the different realities and challenges to it. The key is that he speaks to the church through its given pastor, calls it the messenger or angel, which means messenger, who is speaking the message. He gives the message to the church, but then at the end of each church, he says, to him that overcomes.
So he speaks to the group, but then he concludes to the individual. So verse 18, to the angel, the messenger of Thyatira, the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this, various descriptions of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, I know your deeds, your love, your faith, your servants, your perseverance, the deeds of late that are greater than the deeds at first. But I have this against you, that you have tolerated the woman Jezebel. Jezebel was an evil woman who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bondservants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. So she promoted sinful behavior and idolatry. And the condemnation is not so much on Jezebel, but on the church's tolerance of her.
You have tolerated Jezebel. In other words, you are allowing this woman to steer the church away from me. One of the roles of the church is to address the issue of sin and not to tolerate it. We're to help people out of it.
We're to produce purity from it. But you know you're illegitimate when you tolerate it, accept it, excuse it, and refuse to address it in our own lives or, in this case, in the church. So she's in idolatry. She's in and promoting a righteous lifestyle, but God still gives her an opportunity to turn. And she does not want to repent of her immorality. So this is a refusal. Please remember, a refusal is different than a struggle.
A struggle is something you want to get out of, you're seeking to get out of, but you are unable to, at least on your own. But you want to, as opposed to this particular person and persons that she's influencing who did not want to. One of the purposes of repentance is to limit or remove consequences. I will kill her children with pestilence and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts and that I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
So that brings in the reward sequence again. But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan as they call them, I place no other burden on you. So he says, for those of you who are serious about this, when they were not following the evil one, then you don't have to worry about this burden, because this particular burden is for those who are living in rebellion.
Nevertheless, what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. And he shall rule with them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear. So the goal is to overcome that which is trying to overcome you.
Chapter 3, Sardis. To the aid of the church of Sardis, write, he who has the seven spirits of God, okay, that's the Holy Spirit, seven stars says this, I know your deeds, and that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. So your church has a reputation.
People know about you. The name is, boy, that church is sure alive. But what Jesus thought about the church, and what the people thought about the church, wasn't the same thing. They come to y'all because they think that church is hopping.
They got it going on. Jesus says, y'all as dead as the doorknob. In other words, there wasn't any real spiritual life.
Now that may have been great music and great preaching, but there wasn't any spiritual life there. Wake up, verse two, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die. For I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. Wake up, get up, stop the spiritual sleeping, going through the spiritual motions.
In other words, get real. Stop playing church. Stop playing religion. So remember, verse three, what you have received and heard, and keep it and repent. Philadelphia, verse seven, the angel of the church of the Philadelphia Rite. He who is holy, true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one will open, says this, I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut. Because you have little power and have kept my word and have not denied my name.
So the church in Philadelphia, although small, although viewed as insignificant, was serious. They were committed. I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie, I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I love you. So I'm gonna overrule the enemy straight out of hell who are coming against you, even though you don't seem to have the power yourself. Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of testing, the hour that is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Now, this is an important verse, so let me take a minute about verse 10, as it relates to prophecy. There are basically four views about the rapture. The view we will be teaching you is the pre-tribulational rapture. The rapture of the church will occur prior to the seven-year period of tribulation. There is another view that's mid-tribulation rapture, that the rapture will happen in the middle of the seven years.
Then there's a third one, pre-wrath view. That means it'll happen like two-thirds down in tribulation. And then there's a post-tribulational view that it will happen at the end of the tribulation. Now, I don't want you to get bogged down into that, but one of the reasons—only one, there are a lot of them—one of the reasons we will be talking to you from the standpoint of a pre-tribulational rapture, which you'll understand in more detail as we go along, is the understanding of verse 10 that he writes to this church. Because he says in verse 10, I will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole earth. So whatever he's keeping them from has worldwide implications. But the key point is he's not keeping them merely from the test.
He's keeping them from the hour, the time period of the test. And the time period that will affect the whole world is the tribulation period. So he's keeping them out of the tribulation. So this would be one small way of arguing for a pre-tribulational rapture, but we'll talk about that in more details a little later. I am coming quickly, but hold fast what you have so that no one will take your crown.
Hmm, interesting. You have a crown. A crown is the symbol of a reward. So God has designated a reward for you. Every believer has been designated a reward. He says don't let nobody steal it.
Don't let nobody take your crown. Don't let the synagogue of Satan rip you off for what God has planned for you. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore. And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God and the New Jerusalem, which shall come down out of heaven from my God and my new name. Again, this is, from Philadelphia, special recognition. This is a faithful church, and this faithful church will get public recognition. I'll write on him my name. Everybody will know you're special. Everybody will know you're special, because Jesus is going to publicly identify you as being special.
Why? Because you overcame. More from Dr. Evans on the end of the church age when he continues in just a moment. First though, the message you've been hearing today comes from Tony's teaching series on Revelation, often considered to be one of the toughest books in the Bible to understand because of its complicated symbolism and subject matter. In this 10-part series, Dr. Evans guides us through the heavenly scenes that lie beyond our present earthly perception, explaining the spiritual significance of the revelations God presents to John and how they fit into the earthly timeline we're living in. Through these messages, you'll gain a better grasp of not only what God has in store for the future, but also discover with certainty the answer to the ultimate question, who is the only one worthy and able to end evil on earth? There's a lot packed into this series, and all 10 messages are yours as our gift when you make a contribution to help support our work here at The Alternative. And for a limited time, along with the Revelation sermon series, we'll also send you Tony's brand new book, Trusting God in Turbulent Times, a 30-day devotional guide that'll help deepen your commitment to God as you gain insight into how He works in the difficult moments of life.
This book and the Revelation series are our gift to you in appreciation for your contribution to The Alternative broadcast ministry. Visit tonyevans.org, where you'll find the details for this exclusive offer right on the home page. Again, that's tonyevans.org, or call us anytime at 1-800-800-3222, and one of our resource team members will be happy to help.
That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans will return with more of today's message right after this. It's beyond a Sunday sermon, a chance to really dig into the Bible and the kingdom in a new way, anytime and anywhere, because it's all online. The Tony Evans Training Center, in-depth courses on all kinds of topics, cultural transformation, intro to expository preaching, Jude, John, Hebrews, Old Testament, New Testament, and so much more. These aren't sermons. They're teaching courses to help you engage, understand Scripture, and not just to hear about, but to explore the kingdom of God on your own.
Find out more at tonyevanstraining.org, tonyevanstraining.org. Finally, the seventh church is the Compromising Church. Philadelphia was a faithful church. This is the Compromising Church. You could call it the Carnal Church.
This is the church of Laodicea. The Amen, the Faithful, verse 1 says, Witness, beginning of the creation of God, says this, I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were hot or cold. So because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Coffee or iced tea. In other words, you want something hot or cold.
Nobody normally orders lukewarm Coke or lukewarm tea. So they got all the material things of this world, but they were spiritually uncommitted, carnal, compromising. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and I salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
In other words, get from me true wealth, true riches, true value, not the false thing that you're equating with significance. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, therefore be zealous and repent. So he even gives this Carnal Church the opportunity to get right. Now, this leads us to the third section of the book, which is, of course, the major section of the book. He says, after verse chapter 4, after these things.
Now, after what things? After the message to the seven churches. John is being given now new revelation, new information. This is after he's finished with the seven churches, or to put it another way, after he's finished with the church age.
After that completed period of time, he says, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. So now, see the seven churches are on earth. These are churches in Asia, he says.
So these are churches on earth. But now he's getting a different kind of picture of some activity occurring in heaven, not on earth, as it was with the seven churches. He said, and I heard, like the sound of a trumpet, speaking with me said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things. So after Jesus is finished with the church, thus the church age, I'm gonna show you what's coming next. Thus, revelation, God revealing or disclosing or unveiling what is to happen when this season of history ends. Immediately, I was in the Spirit and behold, a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne.
So he's, he's got, getting what Isaiah got. He's getting a view of this throne. And he who was sitting was like jasper stone and a saudius in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. So you've got this diamond-like environment, a diamond-like environment.
You've got this throne. You've got this rainbow over the throne. Now, you remember when the Bible speaks of these jewels like this, it's speaking of the highest kind of value and elegance.
When you talk about diamonds and all of these kinds of illustrative, valuable jewelry, you're talking about something extremely valuable that God has planted on earth. It says a rainbow. Well, you remember what the rainbow was established with Noah. After the flood and the rainbow—by the way, this is true today—every time you see a rainbow, you are to be reminded of God's faithfulness. The rainbow was designed that God was going to keep His Word. He was going to be faithful to His Word, and He gave him a rainbow as a sign.
So whenever you see, after it rains, you see a rainbow, God is reminding you that He can be trusted and that He is faithful. So he sees this throne. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. Twenty-four was the number of the division of priests and of singers who led in worship of God. So what you have in these twenty-four are those believers who have overcome in the church ruling with Christ around the throne. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. So you've got the Holy Spirit there, seven spirits.
You've got the representatives and overcomers of the church who are there. You've got God on His throne. And before the throne, there were something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, the second like a calf. The third creature had a face like that of a man. And the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
Okay, let me help you out with this. Verse 8, and the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings. Okay, who has six wings? Okay, the angels in Isaiah chapter 6 says the angels have six wings, with two they covered their face, with two they covered their feet, with two they did fly. And if you will look at some other time at Ezekiel chapter 1, verses 4 through 25, it talks about this concept of these awesome angelic beings. Now this is difficult for us because we've not experienced anything like this, except in the movies.
We've not experienced it, and it seems weird to us. But you haven't been to heaven yet either, and you've not physically seen a spirit angel yet either. The 24 elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are You, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things and because of Your will, they existed and were created. So now you've got the 24 elders and, in other words, you've got mankind and angels joining in joint worship of God.
Now that won't be hard to do when you experience God on His throne. I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with the seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to break the seal? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look at it. And one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping.
Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. Now I could start preaching right there. I could.
But time will not allow me today to preach. You and I are all concerned about evil on the earth. Why is evil on the earth? Who is qualified? Who has the integrity, quality, and ability to bring evil to an end on earth? None of us are qualified. And the reason why we're not qualified is we're part of the evil.
Different strokes for different folks, different levels at different times. But we're not qualified. But the question on the floor is, who is qualified? Enter Jesus Christ. Dr. Tony Evans, talking about the only one who is both worthy and able to ultimately bring evil to an end on earth, and the one who personally makes possible God's free gift of salvation.
Tony's back now to explain how we can receive that gift. If you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you can do that right now. Simply go to Him and acknowledge that you're a sinner in need of a Savior, and that you're transferring your trust to Him alone because of His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. In fact, I'm going to say a little prayer, and you can repeat it after me. You just have to mean it for yourself. Heavenly Father, I know I'm a sinner and that I can't save myself.
I believe Jesus Christ, Your Son, died on the cross in my place for my sin, and I now am trusting Him alone to forgive me and to give me the gift of eternal life that He promised to give to anyone who came to Him for it. Thank You for saving me and helping me from this day forward to live a life pleasing to You. Congratulations.
Welcome to the family. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer for the first time today, we invite you to visit our website at TonyEvans.org and click the link at the top of the page that says Jesus.
You'll find plenty of information and resources there to help get your new life headed in the right direction. Well, as I mentioned earlier, today's lesson is part of a series from Dr. Evans on the book of Revelation. Don't forget, for a limited time, we're offering the full-length version of all 10 messages in this series on CD or digital download, along with Tony's brand-new 30-day devotional guide, Trusting God in Turbulent Times.
They're yours as our thank-you gift when you make a donation to help us continue this ministry to a world desperately in need of the good news of Jesus Christ. Call us right away at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center never closes, so don't wait. Again, 1-800-800-3222. Or visit TonyEvans.org to make the arrangements. That's TonyEvans.org. The book of Revelation describes seven seals on a prophetic scroll that'll be opened before the return of Christ. On our next broadcast, Dr. Evans talks about those seals and helps decipher their meaning. I hope you'll join us for that.
