The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Revelation, Part 8-Letters to the Seven Churches, Part 4

[0:00] Let's pray together. Loving Father, we pause now to acknowledge your grace and goodness, and you are permitting each of us to be here this morning, none of which we believe are here by accident.

[0:15] And we ask that as we engage the text, we may sense the mind of the Spirit and be able to understand what is being set forth, the critical nature of it, and what our response to it is to be.

[0:31] Thank you for every gracious provision that you have made for us. We confess our unworthiness, and we confess that we have been made worthy in and through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for which we will be forever grateful.

[0:46] We pray and commit this time to you in his name. Amen. We are going to begin chapter 3 of the Revelation account this morning.

[0:57] And it has to do with the church at Sardis. And there are only a couple left, Philadelphia and Laodicea, and we will probably assign a separate session to each of those because they are extensive, as is the letter that is addressed to the church at Sardis as well.

[1:17] And because we are departing from a traditional kind of interpretation of the Revelation, I want to buttress our statements with some propositions, I guess you would call them, that I trust you will be able to keep in mind because they will prevail and have a direct bearing all the way through this book of the Revelation.

[1:53] And when I say we are departing from the traditional futurist position, I mean by that we are assigning the entirety of the book, beginning with chapter 1, concluding with chapter 22.

[2:08] We are assigning all of it to the future. And the traditional position for futurists, those, for instance, of the Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary, Ilk and others related to that, is to make the church present in the first three chapters and be involved in the letters to the churches.

[2:35] In fact, they are involved, and they are those to whom these letters are addressed. And their thinking is, because as you read those first three chapters, the church is everywhere present.

[2:52] But that does not compute with the standard futurist eschatology, which is just the doctrine of last things, because they insist that the church will not be here for the tribulation, that the church is going to be raptured out.

[3:10] Well, we agree with that as well, but their thinking is that the church is raptured out after the church is no longer mentioned in the first three chapters, because it's gone.

[3:23] And then, what is actually prophetic begins with chapter 4. And that involves the Great Tribulation. So the position that we are taking is contrary to that, in that we see the entirety of the book as future.

[3:43] None of the events that are described in the Revelation, and they are absolutely overwhelming, many of them, we believe none of them has occurred yet.

[3:58] They are all in the future. And they are going to occur as certain as history is history. This will be a reality in the future.

[4:10] Because as someone has said, prophecy is nothing more than history in advance. And that's exactly what it is, because the God of heaven is behind it. So, I'm going to provide you, before we actually engage the text of chapter 3, with some review and explanatory comments, whereby we will attempt to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, because these propositions that I'm going to mention now, and there are 12 of them, but I'll get through them as quickly as I can, the essence and what is behind these 12 propositions is going to surface time and time again as we go through these 22 chapters of Revelation.

[4:55] In fact, they are so important insofar as the chronology is concerned, that perhaps halfway through the Revelation, I may take time and reiterate them once more.

[5:11] They are that important. So, let me begin with one that I have already mentioned, and that is the entirety of the book is all future. And we believe that this answers to consistency.

[5:25] We do not see the rationale or the logic nor the justification in saying, well, the first three chapters is for the church and the body of Christ.

[5:36] But they are raptured at the end of the chapter and then the Great Tribulation begins in chapter 4. What I am going to present, I think, dispels that idea and I think adequately so.

[5:49] So, first of all, bear in mind what we are saying. The entirety of the Revelation 1 through 22 is all future. And we are then saying that the first three chapters do not refer to the church age.

[6:07] And the reason that so many think it does is because the word church is found there a number of times and it would seemingly be a logical conclusion for them to reach.

[6:18] So, we are saying that the seven churches that are represented in chapters 2 and 3 are also not to be interpreted by the various stages of church history from Pentecost onward.

[6:33] Now, that is referring to the Preterist view that says everything in the book of Revelation is history. Everything that is recorded here has already happened.

[6:48] You just have to know where to find it as you plow back into history and look at certain events that transpired and if you are able to make the connection you can see that the events described in Revelation have already happened.

[7:01] So, of course, we deny that as well. We are taking the position that these seven churches that are described in chapters 2 and 3 are actually seven Jewish assemblies that will be in existence at a future date after the rapture of the body of Christ.

[7:32] Well, if that's the case, then why are they called churches? Because we ordinarily associate things Christian with churches. But you need to understand something about the derivation of the word.

[7:44] In the New Testament, the word for church is ecclesia and it means simply a called out group for anything. Sometimes it is applied to the nation of Israel, referred to as the assembly in the wilderness, which was clearly Israel, and there it is ecclesia, at least in the Septuagint.

[8:04] Sometimes the word ecclesia is used in reference to a group of townspeople such as we have in Acts chapter 19 who are just a bunch of pagans and they all pour out from their houses in town and fill the stadium where Paul is presenting his ministry and his message and they are referred to as a church and all it is is a motley crew of civilians who are there to see what's going on and to raise a fuss and they are called a church in ecclesia because they are a group called out for a specific purpose.

[8:39] That is all the word church means and yet we have so identified the word church as to mean just one thing nothing more than a group of Bible believing Christians who gather together to worship that is a church and that's all the church is.

[8:58] No, that is not true. That is a church but the church can be a whole lot of other things as well. So, the body of Christ made up of believers who gather together probably on mostly on Sunday mornings to worship we do not have a corner on the word church.

[9:16] In the same way, we don't have a corner on the word gospel. gospel. The word gospel just means good news. And it isn't necessarily associated with what we think of as the good news which relates to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

[9:31] That's the good news that we call the gospel. But the word gospel existed and was in use long before Jesus was ever born and became the basis for the gospel, the good news.

[9:44] It just means good news about anything, whatever. So, it's important to understand that. And in this case, particularly so in connection with the church. So, we are convinced that these seven churches or seven Jewish assemblies do not now exist anywhere.

[10:06] But they will. Where will they come from? Where will these Jewish assemblies originate?

[10:18] they will be the result of a massive turning of Jewish people to the Messiah that their ancestors rejected.

[10:33] Only this time around, when Yeshua HaMashiach is presented by the 144,000 Jews, they will receive a different answer from other Jews, different from what Peter and Paul and James received 2,000 years ago when they were persecuted for presenting Jesus as the Messiah.

[11:00] And these Jewish people will consist of a massive turning to the Messiah, and there will be a major result of the 144,000 that we will see when we come to Revelation 7 and Revelation 14.

[11:21] The 144,000 will surface from the utter devastation of the Russian invasion of Israel depicted in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

[11:35] This is principally what we are now studying in our monthly prophecy study when we gather for breakfast and a Bible study. This is what we are looking at.

[11:47] This Russian invasion of Israel could happen any time. In fact, the way things are going in the Mideast right now, particularly in Syria and Iran and Iraq and Turkey, the stage could very well be set or is in the process of being set for Russia to invade Israel and Ezekiel says they will come to take a spoil.

[12:20] Now, we don't know if it's going to be oil or resources or whatever, but they are coming. And, as a result of the Russian invasion of Israel, the prophecy of Ezekiel makes it clear, the Russian troops are going to be absolutely decimated.

[12:40] There will be no survivors. It's going to be horrendous. You can read about it, Ezekiel 37 through 39, and it's our subject of study, as I mentioned, when we meet monthly.

[12:56] There is every possibility that this is going to involve nuclear activity. We do not know that for sure, but we do know, and Benjamin Netanyahu has made no bones about it, he said, they have no desire to employ nuclear weapons ever.

[13:19] However, if they are convinced that the survival of the state of Israel is in the balance, they will with great reluctance release their nuclear arsenal.

[13:40] Now, I don't know if that will result in what Ezekiel talks about when he says that Israel will need seven months just to bury the dead.

[13:57] and that when a Jew is out in the land and comes upon a bone that belonged to one who had fallen in battle, he is not to touch it.

[14:16] All he can do is flag it and reference it. We don't know why that is so. Cannot see any connection with that at all when it was written hundreds of years before Christ was ever born.

[14:33] But they are not to touch. Could it be that these elements are radioactive and contaminated and cannot and should not be touched?

[14:44] They are simply flagged for the hazardous material group to come along and properly dispose of. I'm not saying that's what it is. I'm saying that if it isn't that I have no idea what it is.

[14:57] Because Ezekiel is very specific that when he comes upon something like that he's not to touch it. He's to put some kind of a notification there that will flag it and identify it and it will be cared for.

[15:10] Seven months in burying the dead. And my estimation of this and this is just the way this is a wise man put together and I in no way shape or form am ready to take this to the bank but I'm saying that this in my estimation fits the scenario and I'm not guaranteeing that it is true.

[15:32] It's just the way I see it. I've been wrong before. Could be wrong again. But as a result of the utter devastation of this invading force of Russia to Israel it is also going to constitute an enormous spiritual awakening among the Jewish people.

[15:57] And they are going to understand that it was the God of old who fought for their fathers fought for them this time too. They will acknowledge and recognize Jehovah and the atheism that so characterizes so many Jews today in Israel.

[16:16] will be abandoned. And these people are going to turn almost wholesale to the one true God. And among those who are turning will be 144,000 elite Jews, 12,000 of each of the 12 tribes.

[16:35] It's in Revelation 7 and it surfaces again in 14. They are going to constitute a tremendous international evangelistic force.

[16:47] And the result of their success will be more and more Jewish people embracing Yeshua HaMashiach as their Messiah. and they are going to be the people who will constitute these seven churches that do not now exist but will exist then in Asia Minor which is present-day modern Turkey.

[17:17] Now we're talking about a considerable time frame here because they are going to be in existence. These Jewish assemblies are going to be in existence for a certain period of time before the events of the revelation that follow chronologically are going to take place.

[17:33] But I do not have a timetable to offer because I just don't know. But I do know there is going to be time for Israel and these seven churches to ebb and flow spiritually and morally.

[17:48] They are going to be a repeat of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. And what was it that was most characteristic about Israel in the Old Testament?

[18:00] Up and down, up and down, up and down. Idolatry, repentance, restoration. Fall into idolatry again. Repentance, restoration.

[18:12] Fall into idolatry. They seem to have a penchant for that. They were so susceptible to the idolatries of their surrounding neighbors that they constantly fell into it.

[18:23] and then they would cry out to God. Oh, God, we're sorry. And God would hear their cry and send a deliverer, a rescuer, and deliver them. And they would be grateful and everything would be wonderful for a while.

[18:36] And then they cut loose again. This is the history of Israel. And you know something? It's the history of humanity. It's the history of individuals.

[18:47] individuals. We all, to a person, we all run hot and cold. And some of us are lukewarm.

[19:01] That's later for the church of Laodicea. Let me hasten on through these. That was item six.

[19:12] Item seven. These seven churches will surface in the biblical Asia Minor, today's modern state of Turkey. A period of time will be required from the establishment of these Jewish assemblies to the time they will fulfill the sad state of spiritual demise depicted in chapters two and three.

[19:30] There are only a couple of churches that Christ has anything good to say about. And most of them are condemnatory. Point number nine.

[19:44] Israel throughout the Old Testament repeatedly ran hot and cold in relation to their God and their flirtation with idolatry. We just talked about that. It only takes one generation for apostasy to set in.

[19:57] That's all it takes. It takes one generation for that generation to drop the ball. To make the next generation to ill-equipped and ill-prepared.

[20:12] This is precisely what has happened in the USA. And it tends to happen in all the nations all over the earth.

[20:24] Each generation tends to fail to pass on to the next generation the values, the principles, the priorities, and everything associated with it.

[20:35] people. We're usually too preoccupied with self-centered interest to take that much care and concern for the next generation.

[20:47] And God knows our public schools have not even come close to doing it. these seven, referred to as the seven churches of Asia Minor, will be in various stages of spiritual fidelity and infidelity that are described here in chapters two and three.

[21:13] The frequent reference to Jews and to things Jewish is unmistakable and is found throughout the book.

[21:24] I've stated before and so say I now again, there is only one book in the New Testament that is more Jewish than the book of Revelation. And that's the book of Hebrews.

[21:38] Revelation is intensely Jewish and it is undeniably, intricately connected with the book of Revelation and the book of Genesis.

[21:52] They go hand in glove. They are just mates and we will see as we go through the Revelation how many things there are that are reminiscent of the very first book in the Bible that we find in the last book of the Bible.

[22:07] In addition to things Jewish, an overwhelming presence of the supernatural will be seen time and again, particularly through the activities of fallen and unfallen angels.

[22:22] Now we have little connection or association or identification with angelic beings today. I'm not saying they're not around or that they're not active. I'm just saying that we are not aware of their presence or their activity the way they will be front and center during this time.

[22:42] they do not characterize the church age. They characterize the age of Israel and that's where they will be seen more definitely.

[22:53] The presence of angels surfaces begins actually begins in chapter one and verse one and will be found throughout the book. Their order and identity of those involved include chapter one and verse one.

[23:09] And here we have without spending the time on it but just reminding you in the very first verse we have God the Father gives the revelation to his Son Jesus Christ.

[23:23] God the Son is the immediate recipient. This is Revelation 1.1. And then the bondservants are those to whom Revelation is written including the Apostle John who is writing the content.

[23:40] So we've got Father, Son, Angels, and John. Four entities involved in receiving this information. And each one of course plays a very very important part.

[23:52] Father, Son, Angel, and John. The reality of all twelve of these propositions that I've given you and more could be added of these must be kept in mind when reading and understanding this book that is now before us.

[24:09] So let us go now to chapter 3 and verse 1 and deal with this church at Sardis. The angel of the church at Sardis.

[24:20] And be reminded we are talking about a Jewish assembly. I'm not saying that there are no Gentiles in it. There may very well be. But principally it's going to be a group, Jews who have just recently come to faith.

[24:37] And I think that their wake-up call will have been the manner in which God preserved the nation and fought for them against the Russian invasion. And by the way, Ezekiel makes it very clear.

[24:50] In fact, there is one verse in Ezekiel, I don't remember, I think it's maybe chapter 38, one verse sticks in my mind, maybe it's, I don't, I don't, I don't recall. But the text says that one sixth of them, of the invaders, will survive.

[25:10] And that's a mistranslation. And you read alternate translations that render it more correctly, none of them survive. There aren't any survivors.

[25:21] the vanquished don't pick up their implements of war and return home. The vanquished don't return home. They are all slain there on the mountains of Israel.

[25:36] And the mountains of Israel is that which runs right down the center of the nation, all the way down into Africa, and becomes part of the Great Rift.

[25:50] that's where that's going to take place. So, in verse one, to the angel, and I take it that this is an actual angel. This is not a pastor, even though the word angel means messenger, and there is a sense in which a pastor could be and should be a messenger.

[26:10] But I think these are angels that are actual angels. angels. And one thing that I base that on is that in the very first verse, in the very first chapter, we've got an angel involved.

[26:26] These supernatural beings with which we are so unfamiliar. All we know is what we read about them. They are shrouded in all kinds of mystery. But make no mistake about it, they are a created entity that in many respects is elevated above humans.

[26:45] in power, in wisdom, in strength, in intelligence, and in so many ways. We are inferior to them. Yet, angels have never been nor ever will be subjects of redemption.

[27:01] But humans are. And we are redeemed, and angels that have fallen are not subject to redemption as far as we can determine. So, these angels are going to be part and parcel.

[27:13] They're going to play a very big role. And we will see again, a time and again, where the designation star is going to be used. And I saw star.

[27:24] What's that star? It's a symbol. What is it that it's a symbol of? It's another word and another name for angel.

[27:37] And the part that they are going to play. The place is going to be flooded with angels during this tribulation period. star. And even our usage of the word star.

[27:50] How do we use that term? When you talk about a movie, what do you say? Who stars in it? Who's the star? Why do you call that person a star?

[28:03] They are the principal character. They are the principal person. They are the star of the show. stars. That's what these angels are going to be. They are going to be the principal characters involved.

[28:18] They are going to be stars. And when the text uses that word, we will see how it relates to and associates with angel. And another term that is assigned to angels is spirit.

[28:31] Because angels are spirit beings. they do not possess a physical body that is fixed for them like ours is fixed for us.

[28:44] Yet, make no mistake about it, angels obviously have the ability to assume a physical body and look just like a human being.

[28:57] In fact, there are a number of places in scripture, in the Old Testament and in the New, when those entities, that the text clearly reveals, are angels.

[29:11] People who saw them called them men. Because they looked just like men. But they weren't men. They were angels who had the ability to assume a human identity.

[29:28] And they are going to be stars in the book of the Revelation. All that means is they are going to be principal players in the cast.

[29:40] They are going to be up front. In other words, next to Jesus Christ, angels are going to get top billing.

[29:52] Think of it that way. he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

[30:03] Now, this sounds like two different entities, and I have to check this out in the Greek. I'm sorry, I neglected to do that and completely forgot about it. But the word and in our English version, and the word in the Greek is kai, and it is used just thousands of times in the New Testament.

[30:22] And we spell it a-n-d, but in the Greek it is kai, k-a-i, and many times kai is translated and means even, even. And I think that's probably the way it should be here, but I have to look at it and confirm it.

[30:36] Because if that be the case, then what he is saying, he who has the seven spirits of God, even the seven stars. So we are saying the seven spirits and the seven stars are one and the same.

[30:50] They are stars in that they are principal players, and they are spirits in that they are angelic beings. This one says, this, I know your deeds that you have a name, that you are alive and you are dead.

[31:06] dead. Now, please understand that when he says these angels and that he has them, and I jotted a note down here that is, I think, very important and indicative as to what is meant here when it says that he has them.

[31:30] It does not mean that they are there simply simply in his presence. It means that he has them by way of possession and he has the use of them and can dispatch them as he will.

[31:48] That's the meaning. They are resources for this one that he is going to implement in accordance with his will, which he most certainly will do.

[31:59] and here we find the I know, and this is used in all of the addresses of all of the churches where Christ is speaking and he says, I know.

[32:10] That means I don't think about it, I don't suspect it, I have a hunch, he means, I know your deeds, that you have a name, these are the people of Sardis, the congregation, the Jewish congregation of Sardis, I know you have a name, that you are alive.

[32:27] That means you have a reputation of being alive. And everybody thinks of you as being a living, dynamic church. But you're not.

[32:39] You're dead. You're spiritually dead. This could be said of a lot of churches. It could be applied to a lot of different congregations.

[32:51] Are we somehow immune to this? Of course not. A church and a community can appear to be active, a lot of coming and going, a lot of activity, but never confuse accomplishment with activity because they can be pulled apart.

[33:14] A church can be a very, very busy place and accomplish next to nothing that's worthwhile. That's the church of Sardis. You've got a reputation for really being something, but you don't live up to it because inwardly you are really spiritually dead.

[33:34] Now, this is a warning to individuals and not only to churches. This means, if I may just inject a Wiseman opinion here, this means people in a congregation who just go through the motions, ho, hum, routine, day in, day out.

[33:54] You attend, you sing the hymns, you know the language, but you don't take this thing called faith all that seriously.

[34:06] You're not about to let it dictate your life to the point where you actually make decisions based on what the truth of God says. You know, this could be true of any of us.

[34:21] It could be true of your pastor. It could be true of anyone in the pew where we just become so inundated and so accustomed and so used to it that we just kind of go through it automatically.

[34:38] But inwardly, there's no real vitality there. There's no real life there. It's just ho-hum, business as usual. So what? And we just don't take it seriously.

[34:52] Sometimes, sometimes I think that's a pretty accurate picture of Christianity in general. We make the profession, but the performance is lacking.

[35:10] so often our decisions are based not only on our own preference, but on our own convenience.

[35:22] If it's convenient for me. That was this church at Sardis. You have a name that you are alive, and you are dead.

[35:35] It is a serious thing to realize that Jesus Christ, when he examines a congregation, whether it's Grace Bible Church, or one of these seven churches, when he examines them, he is not fooled at all by window dressing, by the trappings.

[35:55] He knows what's really there and what isn't. And that's a scary thing as an individual, to know that God who knows everything knows you through and through.

[36:06] And he sees through our phoniness and our pretense, and the excuses that we make, and everything else. And these are all the kinds of things that just keep us from really taking our faith seriously.

[36:19] Sardis had this problem. You have a name that you are alive. That is, you have a name that you are spiritually vivacious, but you're spiritually dead.

[36:32] dead. He's not saying that they're not saved. He's just saying that their salvation certainly isn't contagious.

[36:46] Wake up! This is a call to arms. Wake up! Strengthen the things that remain. It's like saying, you know, you're almost down the tubes.

[37:00] but you have a little bit remaining that is worthwhile. Make the most of that. Strengthen that.

[37:12] Gird up your loins. Do what you can with what you've got. Wake up! This is a spiritual awakening that he's calling them to.

[37:24] Strengthen the things that remain which are about to die. You don't have, you know, he's saying, you people as hard as you don't have much going for you and what little you've got left is in jeopardy.

[37:41] You're about to lose that and everything's going down the tubes. Will you wake up before it's too late? I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God.

[37:56] kind of gives you the impression that, you know, you've started a lot of things, but you haven't finished, you haven't finished up anything.

[38:09] You haven't finished through on anything. You've started this, you've dabbled in this and dabbled in that, but you haven't brought anything to culmination. It's a sad commentary.

[38:21] memory. Remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent and if therefore you will not wake up, and here he's recognizing human volition.

[38:43] He's saying, I'm trying to awaken you, but I'm not going to make you wake up. I'm not going to force you to wake up.

[38:56] Whether or not you do, that's up to you. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.

[39:10] Do you know, does not this sound remarkably like the Gospels, particularly Matthew 24? Well, of course it does, and it should, because it's Jewish.

[39:23] What do you expect? It's Jewish, and the warning is there. You know not at what hour your master comes. And it's the same thing, the admonition that is given to the foolish virgins and the wise virgins.

[39:45] I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. And this is just so indicative of what has already been said.

[39:56] And I'm not going to turn to these references for time's sake, but I do want to get them on the record. And those of you who are obtaining this material by digital recording can look them up at your leisure.

[40:10] But these references tie in with this watchfulness in Luke 21, verses 34-36. Mark's Gospel, chapter 13, verse 34-37.

[40:25] And what Sardis had heard, he says, remember what you have heard. What Sardis had heard is in Matthew 24, and verse 14. You'll find references to this in Matthew 24, verse 43, Luke 12, verse 39, 2 Peter 3-10.

[40:45] And as you read those, you have to be struck with the fact that all of these are in a Jewish context. And Christ as a Jew is talking to his fellow Jewish brethren.

[40:58] Well, of course, that's what we're saying. It's all connected, and it's all Jewish. The church, of course, is gone. The church is not only gone before chapter 4 of Revelation.

[41:12] The church is gone before chapter 1 of Revelation. We don't know when that's going to be, but it could be at any time. So we're completely out of the picture. This is a referencing back to the earthly time that Christ was here, issuing the warnings that he did in Matthew 24 and 25, and they all tie in unmistakably with this content here in Revelation.

[41:35] You have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments. Now, he's not talking about literal, actual garments.

[41:48] He's using garments as a metaphor, and the garments that he's talking about is their lives. He's not saying, well, some of you, some of you have avoided getting mud on your white robes.

[42:05] No, no, no, that's not what he's talking about. But he's using the analogy of a white robe because everybody could identify with that, and everybody knows what it is when it's soiled. But the meaning and the implication is spiritual.

[42:17] And he's just using an everyday word with which they are familiar to make the association and the connection. He's talking, he's not concerned about their laundry, okay?

[42:29] He's concerned about the condition and the cleanliness or the soiled nature of their heart. And their life. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

[42:47] Now, I don't know about you, but right off the bat, we ought to see a distinction there. What is it about people in the body of Christ that makes us worthy recipients of the grace of God?

[43:08] Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You are not worthy and I am not worthy either. None of us is worthy of the grace of God.

[43:22] If we were worthy of the grace of God, it wouldn't be grace. It would be merit. We are unworthy. worthy. That's why we need grace.

[43:34] Grace addresses our unworthiness, not our worthiness. But here, he's talking about being worthy. Where does this come from? Well, it doesn't come from the body of Christ.

[43:46] You won't find this in Paul's letters talking about our being worthy. we are made worthy. We are made acceptable in Christ.

[43:59] But we are not worthy or acceptable in and of ourselves as we are. We just aren't. We're sinners. That's all there is to it. But here he's talking about worthy. And if you associate this, as I'm convinced we should, with the gospels, worthiness comes into play in the Jewish theology under the kingdom dispensation.

[44:28] It is not part and parcel of the church which is the body of Christ at all. Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

[44:39] Well, you know, keep the commandments. Why did he say that? That's a Jewish answer to Jews because there was worthiness associated with keeping the commandments.

[44:53] That's not what we tell people. When someone says, how can I be connected or associated with God? Are you going to say, well, keep the commandments? And do you know, there are, of course, people who name the name of Christ who will actually tell people that.

[45:09] And it's a completely wrong message. We don't tell people keep the commandments, do the best you can, try harder. We tell them, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

[45:22] Because you're keeping the law, we're trying to keep the commandments is not going to cut it. That's not going to make you worthy. It was an entirely different message on the other side of the cross as it was delivered to the Jew in a covenant relationship with Jehovah, which we Gentiles have never had and do not need.

[45:47] This is entirely different. We are going to see as we move through this how the Jewishness of this book is just going to scream out at us.

[45:59] And I just can't believe that I haven't seen it more clearly after all these years. But it's there and it's undeniable. The solution of course is to repent.

[46:14] that's an Old Testament message. It's a New Testament message. God sent Jodah to Nineveh to announce yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

[46:27] The people repented. They changed their mind. They believed the message. You see, the basis for repentance, and by the way, don't ever think for a moment that repentance is just for unsaved people.

[46:43] Christian, you will never outgrow your need for repentance because all repentance means is that you change your mind.

[46:56] You change your position. About what? About anything. It doesn't necessarily even involve salvation. It just means you change your mind. And the reason you change your mind is because you get information information that now reveals that what you used to believe about something is not true.

[47:18] And you scrap that. And you embrace what the new information tells you is true. You change your mind. That's what repentance is. The word is metanoia, and it means through the mind.

[47:33] It's a mental process. We all live and function on the basis of receiving information about anything. About politics, about war, about love, about anything.

[47:45] You receive information, data, and from that information, you process it. You mull it over. You think about it. You compare it with what you already know.

[47:57] And you make a decision based on that information. And the information, information, either confirms what you believed previously.

[48:08] So you say, well, now I believe that more than ever. Because I've got confirmation of it. I've got additional evidence that buttresses my former position, and I'm sticking to it.

[48:21] Or, you say, this completely contradicts everything I've always believed. I used to think thus and so, and thus and so, and that that's the way it is.

[48:35] But now, this new information I am hearing tells me that's all wrong. What am I going to do?

[48:47] It sets up a conflict internally, a struggle, where you begin computing and thinking, could it be?

[48:59] How could I have been wrong all this time? How could I have not seen that? Or, we can say, I don't care what the new information is. This is what I've always believed, and this is what I'm going to keep on believing.

[49:13] My mind's not only made up, it's bolted shut. What are you going to do with somebody like that? That's called being unrepentant. And salvation isn't the only thing that calls for repentance.

[49:30] Repentance is always, I can't tell you, I've lost track of how many times I've repented, especially about doctrine and about my interpretation of scripture. I've had to change my mind so many times on so many things because, Marv, it's going to be embarrassing, but that won't fly.

[49:51] You can't preach that anymore. How can you preach something that you no longer believe is true? You've got to scrap that. You've got to change your mind. You've got to change your mind.

[50:02] Yeah, but what are people going to say? Well, as I've said, you've already suspected that I'm not perfect. You knew that all along, didn't you?

[50:16] So, why should it be a big deal if we come to a doctrine or a position and we say, this is what I used to believe? I don't believe this any longer. Now, you may be thinking, well, boy, if we're going to do that, how do we know that what else you're teaching isn't true also?

[50:33] Good question. You don't. You don't. I'm not giving you any guarantees. I'm just saying, check it out with the Scripture and see if these things are so.

[50:47] Be a Berean. Search the Scriptures and see whether these things are so. And if they are so, they're not so because I say they are. They're so because they're so. It doesn't make any difference what I say.

[50:59] Truth is not determined by who believes it. It's determined by its inherent truthfulness, whether it is true or not. And somebody believing it doesn't make it true.

[51:11] It doesn't make any difference how smart they are. It doesn't make it true if it isn't true. You can't believe a lie and make it true because you've got a high IQ. Repentance is always in order.

[51:26] We ought to always be ready to say, Lord, I want to be a Berean and if what I believe about thus and so is not so, I want to know it. Bill Fay adopted that question. Remember that? If what you believe, if you discover that what you believe is not true, would you want to know it?

[51:48] God help you if your answer is anything, but yes, sure, sure I would want to know it. And the person who says, no, I'm quite satisfied with what I believe now and there is no possibility that I could be wrong.

[52:06] You just, you don't know what to do with somebody like that. You say, well, excuse me, God. Wow. He who overcomes and they are those who are going to be worthy.

[52:23] And this is a behavioral mood. This is a behavioral mood. This is performance. This is not grace orientation for the body of Christ. This is performance related, specifically addressed to Jewish people who occupy a covenantal position with Jehovah as the only people in the world who do.

[52:44] This is their special niche. It is for our learning, but it is not for our adoption. Principles, they're cross-dispensational.

[52:55] Like I said, you never outgrow your need for repentance. Anytime you change your mind about anything, you have repentance. And it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sin. It just means you change your mind.

[53:06] I saw these new Ford's advertised on TV and I was convinced that that was the nicest looking thing that I ever saw and I was going to go down to the dealership and buy one.

[53:17] And on my way, I passed a Chevy dealer and I thought, well, I might as well stop in there. And you know what? I changed my mind. I'm going to buy a Chevy. What did you do?

[53:29] You repented. Oh, you say, oh, wow, that's not repentant. Yes, it is. That's the meaning of the word. You change your mind. Why did you change your mind? Well, because you got information, you looked at this Chevy and you and by the way, I'm a Toyota man myself.

[53:43] I wouldn't buy one of them. But this is just makes my point. You know, it's a beautiful thing and God gives us the ability to repent. And listen, repentance is always God's way to his heart.

[53:57] When you repent of anything, you are coming from a position of untruth to a position of truth. And nothing delights the heart of God more than for his people to walk in the truth.

[54:14] He is a God of truth. God is stuck on truth. He loves it. And he loves for his people to love it. God is a God of God.

[54:25] So, we're going to be talking about the overcoming and the clothed in white garments and erasing the name from the book of life and confessing the name before my father.

[54:37] Doesn't that sound? Yeah. Sounds like it's gospel. And it is. And we'll look at that comparison as well. And clothed in white and blocking the name out of the book of life.

[54:50] And Jesus said, and I will confess, that is, I will admit, I will acknowledge his name before my father and look at this.

[55:04] And before the angels, they're coming into play again. Not going to be able to get rid of these angels all the way through the book of Revelation. It's going to be just amazing. I tell you, we are in for something.

[55:16] And I just I'm not about to be so presumptuous as to tell the Lord when to come or when not to come. But I sure hope we get through with this book before he comes.

[55:31] Because there's going to be some really great stuff coming. Would you stand with me, please? Please. Father, once again, we've been woefully deficient in what all needs to be expressed.

[55:50] And we just ask that you might be pleased to take the content that we've shared and use it as one more building block to the truth that lies ahead.

[56:02] We want to learn line upon line and precept upon precept so that we can come to some wonderfully grand conclusions that honor you and encourage and comfort us.

[56:16] We can ask for nothing more. And we bless you for all that you've revealed and will reveal in the name of our wonderful Lord. Amen.