Revelation
Part 1
Lesson 10
Kay Arthur
What does God expect when He speaks to the churches?
To believe what He says and obey.
What if they don’t? Is there any consequence to hearing the Word of God with just the hearing of your ears and not a hearing that causes you to live accordingly?
Rev. 1:3Blessed is he who reads, hears and heeds
Rev. 22:7-9 Heeds – teereo: to keep, to heed
Revelation is more than a book that will let you know what the future holds and satisfies your curiosity: we are to listen, to heed, to act upon what it says.
Rev. 2:26 He who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end….
Rev. 3:3 Remember ….and keep it
Rev. 3:8 You have kept My word
Rev. 3:10You have kept the word of My perseverance
Rev. 12:17 Offspring who keep the commandments of God…
Rev. 14:12The saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus
Salvation is just the beginning of your life with Jesus Christ. Your destination is heaven, eternal life, living in the presence of God forever and ever.
In this journey God expects us to keep His commandments and our faith in Jesus Christ.
Rev. 16:15 …keeps his garments
I John 2:3-5We know that we have come to know Him IF we keep His commandments and His Word. By this we know that we are in Him.
I John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
John 10:10 He has come that we might have life and that we might have it abundantly and no one can pluck us out of His hand
John 6:39-40 He promises that He will raise us up on the last day.
Phil. 1:6 He Who began a goodwork in you will be faithful to complete it
Jude 24 Now to Him who is able to KEEP you
Can I be saved and then live contrary to the Word of God and contrary to His commandments, embrace other beliefs and still go to heaven? Or will I simply miss a blessing/reward but still go to heaven?
Who is an overcomer? Is every believer? Can you be a believer and NOT be an overcomer?
An overcomer is one who hears what He is saying and keeps that Word. He is one who hears what He is saying and does the deeds. So, can I hear those words, not keep them, and still go to heaven?
Can I be simply a hearer of the Word and not a doer of the Word and still go to heaven?
What is Jesus’ message to the churches?
There is a blessing for those that read, hear and keep. Walk, heed and do.
“Deed” – ergon: works, deeds
What place does “deeds” have in Revelation?
Rev. 2:2,5 I know your deeds. Remember from where you have fallen, repent and DO the deeds you did at first or else I am coming and will remove your lampstand.
Rev. 2:6You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans
Rev. 2:19, 22 I know your deeds. Repent of her deeds. BAD deed
Rev. 2:23 I will give to each one of you according to your deeds (not your faith)
If I really believe, it will affect my deeds
Rev. 2:26 Keep My deeds until the end: speaking to an overcomer
Rev. 3:1 I know your deeds. Your deeds show me that you are dead.
Rev. 3:2 I have not found your deeds completed – to be brought to maturity/perfection. They started but they never finished
Rev. 3:8 I know your deeds. You have kept My word and not denied My name
Rev. 3:15-16 I know your deeds (bad) Lukewarm
Rev. 14:13 …their deeds follow them. What would be your deeds from the time you got saved until you died? Good? Bad? Have eternal value?
Rev. 15:3 Great and mighty are Thy deeds
Rev. 22:12 ..to render to every man according to what he has done; literally the works he has done – your deeds
Rev. 9:20 They did not repent of the works of their hands, which were evil
Rev. 16:11 They did not repent of their deeds, even though God judges them
Rev. 18:6 Babylon =her Give back to her according to her deeds
Rev. 20:12The dead were judged according to their deeds
Rev. 20:13They were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds
What are the deeds of those who are cast into the Lake of Fire?
Rev. 21:1-5Write, for these things are faithful and true.
Rev. 21:6 I am saved without cost
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit
Eph. 2:8-10 For grace you have been saved..it is a gift of God
We are created unto Christ Jesus for good deeds
Rev. 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit these things. I shall be His God and he will be My son
Overcome: nikao – to conquer, same root word which means victory
What am I overcoming? When I got saved, I passed from death unto life. Jesus is my only Lord and Master, yet I am left in this world.
John 17:15 I don’t ask You to take them OUT of this world, but to keep them from the evil one.
Rev. 21:7-8 But for the cowardly, unbelieving….their part will be in the Lake of Fire that burns….this is the second death which is spiritual.
Cowardly and unbelieving are those that have not overcome and have NOT believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rev. 21:24-27 Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are there
Rev. 22:14-15 Outside the city….not the overcomers.
If I am an idolater, if I walk in immorality after I get saved, as a habit of life, then I am NOT going to heaven. My deeds show who I am and they will keep me from heaven. If I love Him I will keep His commandments.
2 Tim. 2:19 The Lord knows those who are His. Those that are His abstain from wickedness.
How do I overcome the world? By faith
How do I know that I have overcome? By my deeds
You can’t see my faith except through my deeds.
Overcome is used of human powers
Rev. 6:2 Overcome/conquerors. One who breaks the seals
Rev. 11:7 The two witnesses are overcome
Rev. 13:7The beast overcomes the saints when he makes war with them
Overcome is used of God
Rom 3:4 Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.
Overcome is used of Jesus
John 16:33 I have overcome the world! Be of good cheer
I John 5:4Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, which is my faith
I overcome the world by hearing, by believing what Jesus says and I walk in good deeds.
I John 5:3-5 God’s commands are not burdensome to the Christian. He who believes overcomes the world.
Overcomer: a believer in what God says
Jesus, in His message to the churches, lets them know that HE knows what is going on and He understands it, whether they do or not. He gives a promise to those that overcome: overcome the lies, the false, that which is opposed to the will and Word of God
Rev. 2:7 Ephesus left its first love, but they are doing wonderful things. But this church is in great danger and the only one God threatens to remove!
Where is the Paradise of God?
Rev. 22:1-2 The Tree is in the city, in heaven
When Adam believed the lie, he was cut off from the tree.
Can those who have wrong deeds ever go into that Tree of Life? No
Only the overcomers, those who KEEP that first love, those who repent and DO the deeds that they did at first. This is the “man-ward” aspect of salvation. The “God-ward” aspect is that God knows those that are His. How do WE know? We keep, we maintain that first love.
2 Tim. 4:10 Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world more.
I John 2:19 Demas was not of them. He was not an overcomer
John 14:15 IF you love Me, you will keep My commandments
Rev. 2:10-11 Smyrna, be faithful unto death. Don’t deny Christ even when you are faced with persecution. Second death belongs to sinners, those who do not keep the Word of God.
John 12:24-26 He who loves his life, loses it…if anyone love Me, let Him take up his cross and follow Me.
Overcomers will suffer physical death, but not spiritual death.
Rev. 2:17 Repent. Jesus is the manna that we have eaten. You’ve got a hidden name and it belongs to Me and it is precious in My sight.
Eph. 5:5-6No immoral, impure, covetous, idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Gal. 5:19-21The deeds of the flesh are evident…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Rev. 2:26-28 Thyatira, keep My deeds until the end
Rev. 22:16 Jesus is the morning star
Matt. 24: Those that are saved are those that persevere until the end
Rev. 3:5 Sardis I will not erase his name from the Book of Life
Heb. 12:14Without righteousness, no man will ever see God
Rev. 3:12Philadelphia I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God
Who is going to be in the New Jerusalem? Only believers, only overcomers
Rev. 3:20-21 Laodicea He is outside the church. Will you open the door? I will grant him to sit down on My throne with Me!
Who is on the outside? Those who have refused to walk in the way God walks, those who will NOT believe even though they have heard.
This is the word to the churches: It’s not just a matter of making a profession of faith and then living any way I want. I will live walking in His commandments, doing HIS deeds which show my faith.
What glory awaits us!