God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that He saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near

I want to remind you of our purpose. We have a lot to talk about, and some pastors, and I wanted to make this allowance this morning. Some pastors could approach the book of Revelation and just go, bang, bang, bang, highlights, and a month and a half we’re done. I can’t do that. We’ve been now, this is like the fourth, fifth message, we’re still in the first three verses of the book. Landon was joking last weekend, the Lord could come before we finish this series. But this is what I warned you about for years, about why we didn’t deal with this book, because it’s rich, it’s deep, and there’s a lot of stuff to deal with.

But let me give you a reminder quickly of our purpose. We want to go through the book of Revelation in what I call three acts: Christ revealed, the book is about Jesus, not merely from Him; act two, the Old Testament explored and expounded; and then act three, the truth applied. God blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says. We aren’t supposed to just hear it and say, wow, that’s interesting, and go on. It has principles that we must apply in our life.

Now, we noted that verse 1 says, which God gave Him to show His servants, to show His servants. We noted that that phrase appears at the end of the book as well in Revelation 22: The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show His servants what must soon take place. And then verse 20: I am coming soon. Last week, and I’m laboring over this part of the journey, because of the potential confusion created by misapplications of the soon language. We must separate the soon things from the soon coming. It is in one verse, and it’s conflated there, but we have to separate it.

We also dealt with last week this passage, which says: Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. And we said that that can be a word of comfort. It would not have been a word of comfort to the first people, because it has to have the soon, has to have application to them. It also is no good to us. Because if time has no meaning to God, which is true, then we can’t guarantee He will come anytime soon. We don’t know how much longer it’s going to be, because we do not know how much time He has allotted for His purposes.

We also said that we need to emphasize that soon, as it relates to His return, is a reference to certainty, to urgency, and not a precise chronological term. Now let me jump ahead in my notes here. Jesus said He would return, but He hasn’t been soon. He said, I’m coming quickly. And we, in the newer translations, He said, I’m coming soon, but He hasn’t been soon. Now how do we answer this? See, Jesus misled us, which He didn’t do that. He was mistaken, which He couldn’t have been mistaken. The only other third possibility is that soon was never meant to have the kind of connotations we have given it and continue to give it. It isn’t meant to be next week or next month. It simply means, in the sense of the coming, it’s our misunderstanding of the word soon.

Now here I want to give you a big theological phrase called inaugurated eschatology. Those of you who never read religious books would not know that language. Inaugurated eschatology—it simply means the end times have begun, but the end is not yet here. The end times have begun, but the end is not yet here. And we looked at these passages last week, Matthew 24: You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. They’re not the end. They’re just the beginning. And because they’re the beginning, we don’t know how long it will be.

Also, we see this in other passages of Scripture, and I’m a little confused here. No, I’m not. Mark 1:15. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. It’s already here. It’s not something that’s yet to come. It has already come. In Matthew 28, when Jesus is talking about exorcism, He says: If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. The kingdom has already come. Matthew 20, Luke 20:17-18. This is after the parable of the vineyard. And Jesus looked directly at them and said, What then is this that is written? He said, The owner of the vineyard would send the son. They would respect the son. And in fact, they kill the son. And this is then, He goes into this and says, What then is this written? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. You rejected the stone. You rejected me. You rejected the owner’s son. That stone has become the cornerstone. But then He says this in Luke: Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

Now, in dispensational thinking, back in Daniel, there’s this statue. If you’re familiar with some of these things, I apologize if you’re not. But there’s this statue that Nebuchadnezzar sees in a dream. And Daniel interprets the dream and says, This is Babylon. This is Persia. This is Greece. And down to the feet and their ten toes. These ten toes are typically said to refer to ten kingdoms that will rise up in the last of the last days. But in that vision, Daniel sees a stone cut out without human hands, strike the statue and destroy it. Strike the feet of the statue and destroy it. But if you look at many, many reference Bibles, they will tell you that this passage here in Luke is quoted from that passage in Daniel. Or I mean, in Daniel. That means, and I recognize there’s lots of stuff here. That means Jesus is saying, That vision of Daniel is happening now because of my ministry. It isn’t still something yet to happen. It’s already happening in the life of Jesus.

Now, this is important for us to understand. The kingdom has come. We are waiting for the king. But the kingdom is here. This is something. This is what inaugurated eschatology means. The kingdom has come. In fact, we can use these passages and insert that the kingdom has come. And we can then infer that when Jesus instructs us to pray for the kingdom to come in the Lord’s Prayer, He means both a future fullness that is yet to come, and a daily incremental expansion of the kingdom in our time. Notice that in the Lord’s Prayer, He says: Thy kingdom come. What’s next? Thy will be done. Now. Not that will be done eventually. Thy will be done now. That is, each time you and I as Christians submit our will to God’s will, we are advancing the kingdom that has already come. We are waiting for the king, but we are advancing the kingdom as we lay down our lives for Christ.

So then, there are these things coming to pass. The things that must soon take place. I’ve argued, and I’m going to argue again today, those things began to take place in the future. They’re not things we’re still looking for. There are things that have happened to each generation. Now, what we have, we are waiting for the soon return of Jesus’ bodily reappearance. Now, why do I emphasize bodily reappearance? Our Jehovah Witness friends believe Jesus came secretly in 1914. He’s already come back. He came secretly. This is not what the Bible says is going to happen when Jesus comes again. Acts 1:9-11. When He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.’ It is going to be a visible return.

Look at verse number 7 here. Behold, He is coming with clouds. Every eye will see Him. And even those who pierced Him, the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. When He comes, it will be an event that is seen, it’s visible, it’s aware, and it’s clear. Jesus also says in Matthew 24, if they say He’s over there, He’s down there, don’t believe it because His coming will be like the lightning shining from the east to the west. The kingdom is here. The King is yet to take to come and bless us with His presence.

Now, Greg Beal and his commentary, this commentary, which is, I’m not going to be as exhaustive or as exhausting as this book is. It’s 1,200 pages of fine print on just the book of Revelation. Okay? That’s why I say it’s a complex book. This is one commentary. I’ve got six or seven others. This is one commentary, 1,300 pages, 1,200 pages of fine print. In his commentary, he points out that John is making a contrast between Revelation 1 and Daniel 2:28. There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known. In the Greek, He has shown what will happen in the latter days. And what John does is he, knowing he’s in the latter days, that he’s in the last days, he then changes the verse to say, these things will come quickly. Compared to the thousands of years that have happened since John, or since Daniel, to John’s day, it is quickly because it’s beginning to happen. John used the exact same wording, but he substitutes latter days with quickly. The inference being, these things are happening now. And we should not be surprised at that, because later we get over to the fifth chapter, and they do what? The fifth chapter, they open the scroll. Where did the scroll come from? The scroll came from the book of Daniel, because at the end of the book of Daniel, God says, seal up the book. Seal up the scroll and the things that are written in it. And Jesus comes along in Revelation, and He’s unsealing the scroll. It’s the same scroll of Daniel, and it is simply that. This is happening now.

Later on, and I’m not trying to hurry, but I’ve got a lot to say this morning. Later on, we will deal with that kind of stuff and see how it is part of the unpacking. John understands Daniel’s reference to a distant time, the latter days, as related to his own error. Error, not error. Error. And he updates the text accordingly. So then, in summary, we say this. The fullness of the kingdom awaits the bodily appearance of the king, but elements of it have come and are happening. The soon things of Revelation 1:1 and Revelation 22 should then be clearly understood as happening in the lives of each generation. This isn’t something that’s still yet to happen. It’s something that’s been happening all along. These are the soon things that are taking place. Revelation 1:1-19 makes the same point. Therefore, the things you have seen, those that are, those that are to take place after this.

Now then, here comes a reminder. It’s an important reminder. It’s going to come up again in a few moments. If we view Revelation as a future predictive book only, especially fulfilled in our time, we negate its value for the first readers. The first readers, again, verse 3: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep it. It has to have application to the very first people that read it, not just far-off applications for the someday in the history of the Christian church. Whatever we glean from the book must be consistent with what they could have gleaned from the book. And we’ve already seen some of those things. The people who encountered the book of Revelation in the late first century had to have seen and experienced things that the letter describes. It could only be blessed if they were able to obey it. You can’t obey a prediction that’s thousands of years in the future to be fulfilled. They had to be able to glean something from the book to apply it in time. And secondly, they could only add to or take from if it had application to their time. At the end of the book, it says don’t add to and don’t take from. We dealt with that one week. But it can only have application if it applies to them. The book had to have information for them.

Now that’s a lot of review and a lot more information. Now I come to what I want to focus on today for the rest of the message. I want to call your attention to two main points: Revelation’s priority for God’s servants. And then some of the things the readers would see happening. There is overlap in this, but let’s just jump in. Revelation’s priority for God’s servants. God gave this to Jesus to show His servants. To show His servants. To show His servants. The Gospel is in the book of Revelation, but it is aimed at God’s people, not the unbeliever. It is designed, written, given for us, not the world. Now, this is an area where I think we are guilty of creating this perspective once more that leads inevitably to predictions. Revelation is often, has often been, and still is sometimes used as an evangelistic tool. Help people get saved. It was not intended for that. It was not intended to bring the lost to Christ. It was intended to equip God’s people for the things that they see and experience.

Now, the first objection that always comes up is, couldn’t God use the book that way? Pastor, isn’t it possible that somebody got saved by reading the book of Revelation? Well, I want to give you four things that’s wrong with that, real quickly. Four things that’s wrong with that. You could start, you could build a whole message. First, we really have to separate the argument of what God could do with what God says He’s going to do. He could save everybody on the planet tomorrow, but He has no intention of doing that biblically. You can’t make that argument. What we do is we substitute what the Scripture clearly says for what God could do. Well, couldn’t God do that? And here’s where we’re going wrong, especially in the book of Revelation. We separate this idea from God’s intention. We’re not talking about what God could do. What does He intend to do with the book of Revelation?

Secondly, how will you use it as a tool of prediction or as a tool of evangelism? And for most people, because the Gospel is barely mentioned in Revelation, what are you going to do? You’re going to say about the beast. You’re going to talk about the plagues. You’re going to talk about the world burning up. You’re going to talk about all these judgments. And you’re going to try to scare people into salvation. You’re right back to predict these things so people will come to Christ. Well, that brings us to the third problem. You’re not supposed to come because these things are happening or will happen or could happen. You’re supposed to come because you recognize you’re a sinner and you need the mercy and grace of God. When we scare people in, they’re not repentant of their sin. We’ll go over to the book of Luke sometime. And John the Baptist is facing these Pharisees. And he says, Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruits that are consistent with repentance. Show by the way you’re living you’re really sorry for your sin. When we just try to scare people in, so to speak, with these things, they will come for the wrong reasons. They will not live the Christian life after they get here. Children, if there is no repentance before, if there’s no repentance when you begin your journey, there will be no repentance through the journey. And we are commanded to be always conscious of our sins and our failings. This is a great deal.

What’s wrong with the Christian church? We turn this book into a prediction and all these bad things, you don’t want to go through that. And they end up coming for the wrong reasons. Fourthly, the idea, couldn’t God use the book for that reason? The fourth thing is wrong with that because what are you trying to get them to escape? Suffering. Then you’ve already missed the point of the book. The book is written to encourage Christians in their suffering. We just jump around, oh, Jesus, and you’ll miss all of this suffering that’s going to happen in the world. And there’s not one word of mention about the suffering Christians will endure, which is why the book is written, to encourage us in our walk. Through the revelation of Christ and His victory, God’s servants are equipped to endure the persecution and tribulation they encounter as they seek to follow Christ as an example of faithful servanthood. Oh, yeah, you’re going to miss this trial and you’re going to miss this suffering if in fact it happens as we predict, as we think it’s going to happen. You’ll miss that. But oh, by the way, you could die for Christ because of your commitment to Him. This is the contrast that we have to be aware of.

Listen to Revelation 1:5. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead. Do you know, the two things, obviously there are one of them, He died. And two, did you know that the word witness in Greek is the word martyr? He was a martyr. He was a faithful witness. He lived it until… Listen to these passages. Revelation 2:10. 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. Verse 13. I know you hold my name and did not deny my faith even the days of Antipas, my faithful witness. Same word as verse 5. Christ was a faithful witness. Antipas was a faithful witness. He was killed among you. Now, children, what you have to see is that the book begins, begins by telling us it’s written to God’s people and then describes people who have suffered for Christ. Christ was faithful unto death, encourages faithfulness unto death, and commends faithfulness unto death. That sets the stage for the book of Revelation. We’re dealing here not with tools to scare people into Christianity. We’re dealing with tools to equip Christians to endure the suffering.

By the way, that puts it again in the first century, doesn’t it? You know, you’ve heard me say this, you’ve heard other people say it, and we’ve got to be careful we don’t beat ourselves up too much, but it is true. First, 21st century American Christians have no clue what it is to live for Christ. We have no clue. We make everything optional. I don’t have to go to church. I don’t have to give. I don’t have to live holy. I don’t have to have sexual purity. I don’t have to do any of that. I believe. And while we say that, brothers and sisters are dying for their faith around the globe. When you just make this a futuristic book, we miss all of those kinds of things. Now, this applies later in the book. In the passages most well known for the mark of the beast and the Antichrist. Chapter 13, verse 9 and 10. If anyone has an ear, he should listen. If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with a sword, he will be killed. This demands the perseverance and faith of the saints. Chapter 14, verse 12. This demands the perseverance of the saints who keep God’s hands their faith in Jesus. The book is written to encourage Christians to endure their suffering.

In the English Standard Version, there are only four other appearances of the word. And I’m using the Holman Christian Standard for perseverance here. The King James says patience. The ESV says endurance. There are only four other appearances of that Greek word in Revelation. The first one, chapter 1, verse number 9. I, John, partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. He has experienced the same things that we are called to experience as we stand faithful to Christ. And then three other things it appears. And it’s always in letters to the seven churches. The book begins with this mention of endurance. It begins by saying, show the servants what must come to pass. And then we jump right into the seven letters written to seven churches. Here’s the church. Here’s what it’s facing. Here’s what it’s called to. The book is written to encourage Christians in their suffering.

Note, if you will, the first part, verse 9. If anyone has an ear, he should listen. He should hear. You know where that appears mostly in the New Testament? It’s in the seven letters to the churches. Every time He speaks to the church, He says, he that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. He that has an ear. And it’s written to the church. It’s written to the church. In each instance of these opening letters, the focus was on overcoming the challenges to faithfulness that each congregation was facing. And in three of those letters, it uses the Greek word for endurance. The book is written to encourage suffering Christians in their faith.

Now this is important, especially in this subject of the rapture. The rapture of the church. Because the rapture of the church has been portrayed in some circles as a means of escaping suffering. When I first got saved, that was the principal thing. The rapture’s gonna happen. Church is gonna go out of here. The world is gonna go into a period of tribulation. I’m not denying the rapture for those who are concerned. But if we’re spared for suffering, it is a consequence, not the purpose. If the purpose of the rapture was to spare Christians from suffering, the rapture should have happened a long time ago. It should have happened in the first century. It should have happened in the second century. If you really ever want a wake-up call, go back and read some of the marvelous stories of the early church. I read, I finished a book this week, and the guy brought out the end about how this woman named Blandina and this little boy were being tortured by the Romans. And she would not, I mean, and this went on for months, months and months they tortured her. She wouldn’t deny her faith. She stood up and she encouraged this little boy to endure the suffering. Both of them eventually died.

We look at the rapture sometimes and we say, oh boy, we get out of here. We won’t have to go through any of this. I’m telling you this morning, whether you want to grieve me or not, I’m telling you there are Christian people that say, oh, I just can’t wait for the Lord to come because they want to miss the suffering, but they don’t realize that if that were the purpose of the rapture, it should have already happened. Just last year, in Ethiopia was it, they were killing Christians. Why didn’t He come then? It is an American, it is a twisted American view. We American Christians should not be able, should not have to go through any of this. And in our desperation, not to go through it, we resort to all other kinds of things that we think are going to bring the kingdom and a little bit faster into the world.

This book was written to encourage Christians in the face of their suffering. And this is especially true in the first century. Now, verse 10 can also enlighten us to the fact that sometimes the strength we need will only come through God’s vindicating judgment on the wrongdoer. And that does not always come when we wish or as we may like. We were watching this week Nazi Hunters. It was a show about how they tracked down these war criminals. And I had to turn the last one off last night. They didn’t find the guy until 1994. He lived his whole life in Argentina. There’s an area of Argentina in the Ande Mountains and they have these mountains like the Alps and they have lakes like the Alps and they built a city down there that was modeled according to German architecture. The guy left Germany and lived the rest of his life in this atmosphere after all the brutality and the mistreatment that he did. Sometimes, children, the only hope you and I will have is that God is going to make it right in the end. He doesn’t always come in on his white charger and deliver us. Sometimes we are called to be faithful unto death.

Well, here’s a little pep rally. You know. If you can’t be faithful in life, if you cannot serve Him faithfully in the comfort of America, in the religious tolerances of America, you can’t serve Him faithfully now? How in the world will you ever serve Him? Matthew Henry, the great, or the 17th century Puritan commentator commenting on verse 10, says: Those who have killed with the sword will themselves fall by the sword and those who have led God’s people into captivity will themselves be made captive. This is a call for the saints to be people of patient endurance and faithfulness. They need patience to endure such great suffering and faith in the prospect of such a glorious deliverance. But the glorious deliverance is not always before the grave. It’s quite frequently after the grave. This is what the book was written for. You have to keep that perspective or we will not see it as valuable to the first readers. It had to have meaning to the first readers and the first readers were being persecuted for their faith.

The New International Bible Commentary says: Verse 10a accepts the current difficulties. This, I have my note not on the slide, this demands the perseverance, this reality demands the perseverance of the saints. Verse 10a accepts the current difficulties of the reality of living out one’s Christian faith in an anti-Christian world. The second couplet hopes for vindication for saints who overcome the beast’s rhetorical and political threats with patient endurance and faithfulness. This is chapter 13. This is where it talks about the mark of the beast. This is where you and I cannot set that mark of the beast thing in the future somewhere. The first Christians were called upon to resist it. First Christians were called upon to resist it. But God doesn’t always come in and fix everything.

Listen to this passage from Revelation. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? This is a real slap in the face that’s not the right term for people to say, I just don’t believe God judges anybody. Here is a picture of heaven with martyred souls crying out for vengeance. And God says, they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer. Vindication’s coming, but not yet. Until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Now I can’t say it for you and me as American Christians. I can’t say it as broadly. But I tell you this morning, there are people whom God has ordained will die for Him. It’s not just a chance occurrence. He has called them to martyrdom. It isn’t just, well, if I say the right things, they won’t kill me. I’ve got to keep my mouth shut. I’ve got to be careful here. No. There are some people whom God has called, His plan for them is to die for Christ. Now in that moment, what would we do if it were to come to you or me? This is the point of the book. The first people to read it would recognize this in their world, in their time, and they would be encouraged by it.

Now the second thing that I want to show you this morning, if I’ve got my slides correct, well, that’s it. I’m coming back to that. The second thing, so let me go backward. The second thing, so the first thing is the book is written to God’s servants. Its fundamental, main purpose is to encourage us in our sufferings, to correct us as His people. It is not meant to bring people to Christ. There’s plenty of other stuff there to do that. But the second thing is what would the first reader see? If Jesus said these things will soon come to pass, what would they have seen in their time?

Now here we need to pause a moment to consider God’s faithfulness. And I’ll say it like this. The assurance of His eventual return hinges on the occurrence of these smaller events. How do we know God is faithful to come back again? Because He also said this was going to happen, and this was going to happen, and this was going to happen. I’m always marveled. This is just me. John chapter 13. John chapter something there, where Jesus says might be chapter 15. And I really don’t need to do that and show you. You know, I’m sure you trust me on it. Verse 18: If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you’re not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. I always find it incredibly instructive. How could an obscure Jewish rabbi know that his movement would survive his death and that people would hate his followers? How could he possibly know that, and why is it true, even now, 2,000 years later? People hate Christ, and they hate Christians. And the only Christ they like is the one they’ve created out of their own cloth of rebellion. They do not like this Jesus who says, I get to decide who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. They do not like this Jesus that says, there’s a way you shouldn’t live your life. You’re going to be hated. He says, you’re going to be tested. You’re going to be tried. These are going to happen to you as Christians. How do I know He’s coming again? Because these little things, the soon things are happening, and they prove ever how long it takes He’s going to come again. And we should be looking and yes, He might not come to rest. I don’t expect Him personally. The rest of my life, maybe not my granddaddy’s life, because I believe God has work to do on the planet Earth. You do know there’s several thousand languages still who do not have the Scripture in their language. There’s work to do, children. But despite that conviction, He could come this afternoon. Are we ready? Are we living for Him?

Now, we will deal with each of the seven lessons as we move forward. In keeping with today’s points, I’ll call your attention to things happening in the four categories quickly. If the book is directed to God’s people, then it should speak to them. Here’s four things that we can see happening in the book of Revel身 as we put it in its first century context. Persecution, we’ve already talked about. It is happening in America, but it’s still very much covert in America. You don’t really know they’re persecuting you for your faith. You might lose your job, get out of motion, behind your back at work, that kind of persecution. They haven’t burned any churches yet. They haven’t drugged Christians out in the street and killed them yet. So we’re not seeing the kind of persecution. I have a whole lot on Facebook, but I have, through the years, had Pakistanis and people from India do a friend request. If you watch those pages, they post, this pastor was drug out of the church and killed last week. This family, this church was burned down in this city last week. It’s not happening here, but it’s happening on planet Earth. And if there isn’t a change in the attitude of America’s Christians, we may see that kind of persecution. We’re powerless in America, children. Powerless.

I had to go to Stanton last week and on this end, a one-block section of Stanton, there’s this huge Presbyterian church. I’m talking about big. And right across the street is a huge Anglican church. And right across the street from that is this huge Brethren church. I went to Fredericksburg a while back and there’s this huge Baptist church right beside the road. It’s got a 40-foot full digital screen out there beside the road. And right across the street is a church that’s got 500 parking spaces. And this is true all across the Bible Belt that we have no power in our culture. None. Nobody takes us serious in America today. Why? Because we have allowed the cultural pleasures to blind us to the truth of Christianity. People should hate something that we stand for.

Secondly, compromise. You can come in and thank you for doing it. Recite the Apostles’ Creed with us. But when you go out the door, you have to live it. You can’t compromise your practices just because you believe certain things. We’ve said it so many times. We’re not supposed to believe it. We’re supposed to live it. Now, I know this could be tricky so I won’t say that part. False teaching. No pastor in America can today in the 21st century get up and say that person is teaching falsehood. Because people in the congregation will push back and say, well, I like that person. Couldn’t God use them? Couldn’t He use them? Not if they’re telling a lie. We claim the God of truth is using someone who is lying about God. Oh, but don’t talk about that person. Don’t mention them. I like them. I wish I could tell you how many times I have called out a false teacher from the pulpit. Not just something I disagree with. Something contradictory to the historical and this book. And the response is, well, I like them. I like listening to them. They really make me feel good. They’re offering you a false hope if their teaching is not consistent with this book. And this was the problem of the early church and it remains. When we get into those letters, Jesus says, and I’ll close with the last thing. We’ve got to stop. Aren’t you glad the pastor at 68 is in good shape so he can just blare away with the word of God? There’s a joke in there, huh, folks? I’m conceited but not that far, okay? Toleration of error. We tolerate error. Where is it? Pastor, chapter 2, verse 18. *To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: I know your works, your love, your faith, service, and patient endurance. Your latter works exceed the first. Go team! But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman *Jezebel* who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants. Don’t say anything about so-and-so. Don’t you mention them. I like them.* And I’m no good at this. I’m no good at it. I admit it. I’m a coward. But I really should fear God more than you. And if your position is ever, well, I don’t like that. I’m leaving that church. I love you. But you’re making a big mistake because you’re going into a world where the truth is not being declared. These are things that the New Testament church and more that the New Testament church could see happening that prove the faithfulness of God’s Word and encourage us to grab a hold of the endurance that is in Christ.

We have problems the next election won’t solve. Amen? And we turn to this book not to give us extraordinary, wild, weird predictions, but to say, *dear God, may I be strengthened in my heart to endure because *Christ* has triumphed over sin, death, and the grave.* Amen? Almighty God, we thank you for this. Amen.