Bible Study - August 5, 2020

We're recording here so we have it. Last week, you know, we got through Revelation 7, and we talked, if you remember, about the 12 tribes of Israel, and they're all listed there in Revelation 7 in the middle of the chapter, and 12 tribes are listed there, but notably Dan isn't listed, and Ephraim isn't listed. And I mentioned that, so this week, if you would be thinking about, and they'd be doing some research and study as to why, perhaps, is Dan not listed in that in that list of 12 tribes there in Revelation 7. So as we begin tonight, let's talk about that before we get into the church's hardest, and see what we can learn, and what we, you know, if we can discern from the Bible, you know, why Dan might not be there, and what lessons we can learn about that for us.

Anyone's got an idea or thought about it?

You can hit your microphone there if you want to talk. Yeah, Mr. Shaby, I had heard, I don't know if it's accurate or what, but I heard in the past that, you know, the reason Dan's not there is because Dan being heavily Catholic at this point might be very heavily influenced by the resurgence of the, you know, the Holy Roman Empire and the beast and all of that, and maybe they come along later. I don't know if that's accurate, but that's something I heard. I don't know if that's true or not. Okay. Well, who, where do we say modern-day Dan is? I mean, modern-day Ephraim is United Kingdom, modern-day Manassas is United States. Where is modern-day Dan, do we think?

Don't we consider Dan to be over in Ireland? Yeah. That area? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, given that, what you said, Ireland is a very, very Catholic country, right?

And right next door is England. That was a very Catholic country until the middle eight and the, you know, 14-1500s when Protestantism came about. It was out of England that the Bible began to be printed in English and made available to everyone in the Catholic Church had to, had to, you know, back down from their 1260 years of suppressing the Bible and suppressing translations and having that in the hands of local people. So you look at that and you see, you know, there's England that, through the message where it came from, but then if indeed that's Ireland, has remained thoroughly and completely Catholic. So that's, you know, that's one thing, but it points back to some of their history, too. Anyone else have an idea on that? Mr. Shaby? Yeah, Sharon? Yeah, I did, I listened to the ABC classes on Revelation a while back and I'm looking at notes. So to add to what Dave said, that's what Mr. Antion said, that Dan is heavily Catholic and it's Ireland and that they'd be in the midst of causing the persecution. And he also referred back to Genesis 49, where Dan says, I will wait for my salvation. I'm not somewhere around verse 16, 17, 18. Yeah, let's turn back there. Genesis 49 does Jacob's prophecy for his sons for the end days. Yeah. Is that that's what you're talking about, Sharon? Sorry, I muted myself again. Yes. Okay. Genesis 49. Okay.

Yeah. Oh, we can read. Yeah, verses 17 about Dan. Not a very auspicious prophecy about him, right? Dan shall be a serpent, by the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heels so that its rider shall fall backward. I have waited for your salvation, O Lord. So you read that and boy, if you're Dan and you hear your dad saying that about you, you might think, whoa, I'm not sure what that means for me in the last days. But, you know, when you look where Dan is and if indeed they are Ireland, right? Some people believe they're Denmark and they actually call it Danmark, but as someone pointed out this afternoon, you can kind of watch the trail of Dan with the word Dan and the dns that lead, you know, all the way through Europe and then over to Ireland. You know, we see a picture of Dan that isn't very good, if you will, in that prophecy. And, you know, if we look at where Dan is today, certainly as Sharon and David pointed out, you know, that they appear to be a very, very staunchly Catholic country that will be part of that beast power and, you know, that little beast that we talked about and, you know, that woman's Jezebel that we talked about in the church at Thyatira.

You know, not a good thing, but is there something else maybe in the Old Testament that would indicate Dan would go that way? Anything that might indicate that that would be the, that that prophecy would be fulfilled and there's something about Dan that was in there, I don't know, for a lot of other things. Mr. Shaby, there's in the book of Judges, it talks about Dan. Dan was the well, the tribe that first set up idolatry. I think he's in Judges 18, and it said that basically that they set up idols and they had idolatry basically until the day, until they went into captivity. So they were like the first tribe to really set up organized idolatry. Yeah, yeah, exactly. If you look at Judges 17 and 18, you know, of course you had Moses, you had Joshua, then you had the Judges where everyone did what was right in their own eyes. And then in chapter 17, you kind of have this story of this man, Micah, who becomes someone's priest and there's little gods in their house and the tribe of Dan comes through. In chapter 18, they kind of invade the house, they take the idols, they take the priests, they go to this little city that's in chapter 18, of Judges somewhere that talks about they're a safe and secure city and what Dan does is they go through and they pretty much destroy the city. They burn it down and then they set up their idols in that city. They're the first tribe to depart from God and they didn't wait. They didn't wait for God to get into their land. They took matters into their own hands and then set up these idols as well. You know, I think it's... well, let me stop there. Any other comments on that?

Yeah, so in my research with this, I did find... I found a site that referenced Amos 8, 14, those who swear by the sin of Samaria who says, as your God lives, O Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives, they shall fall and never rise again. So I thought that was tied into that. Yeah, very good. Also in 1 Kings 12 where Jeroboam put two calves. One was in Dan.

Yep. Okay. Now we have this pattern. We have this pattern when we see the tribe of Dan, you know, going to idols and associated with those things.

You know, there's two sins that God talks about a lot among many others. He talks about idolatry, and he talks about sexual immorality. And we've talked about that, you know, with Iotyr and these churches that the messages of the churches that we're talking about and, you know, in the spiritual element, certainly idolatry, we know what that is. And we might not have the kamoshes today or the boleks or the veils that we bow down to, but there are idols, you know, that are all over. When God talks in Revelation at the end about, you know, idolatry and sexual immorality, and no idolatry will be in the kingdom, He's not talking about just bowing down to our little man-made idols that they would have had on their shelves. He's talking about any idol, you know, that we would look to and trust in and turn to from, you know, instead of Him. And so we have to be on guard about you know, the idols in our lives and being watchful that we aren't falling prey to, you know, something that we may be trusting in God more instead of God. Dan just was blatant about it. Dan, you know, God would look at that as treasonous. Dan betrayed. Dan turned against God. So when we look at that and we see where Dan is today, they're still there, right? They're still there in Ireland in that same state.

You know, if you kind of understand, like I would say, they're not 12,000 that, you know, I'm not going to steal 12,000 from that, you know, from that tribe to be part of the 144,000.

How about, how about Ephraim? Ephraim's not mentioned there either. Joseph is mentioned, but Ephraim isn't mentioned. Go ahead, Bob. Oh, all right. Thank you. Thank you. I was shaping up. When I looked at this one, I started it in December, because I was curious. When I read Revelation 7.4, it says there that all the tribes of the children of Israel, so all to me is 12. It appears like it is the 12.

And then the clue that I got was Manasseh and Joseph are of the same tribe, so to speak, because Manasseh is actually a half-tribe, and the other half is Ephraim. So if you count the 144,000, my math says that Manasseh is 6,000, and Ephraim is 6,000, so that makes 12,000 for Joseph, and the remaining 12,000 will still be damned, although his name was not in the list, so it will still be all tribes of Israel, but that was not mentioned explicitly, but there are 144,000, the number from all children of Israel, from all the tribes of the children of Israel. So to me, the clue was in summary, Manasseh and Joseph are actually kind of a mix, like an obfuscating number, but I treat Manasseh as 6,000, and Ephraim encapsulated in Joseph as another 6,000, because they will make up one tribe. That isn't what the Bible says, though. It says Manasseh 12,000 and Joseph 12,000, and Dan is obviously is notably left out of there. So I would say, I was in Hosea the other day, and I mean, most of that book talks about Ephraim and its problems with idols and worship of the things of the world. I mean, most of that book is, you know, representing that and everything that they did wrong. So I would say that's probably an example of the things that Ephraim is suffering from very similar to Dan with idol worship and money and things of the world. Yeah. But, Roshavi. Yes, go ahead. Someone's here, Rick. Go ahead first. No, go ahead. The thing is, speculation, of course, it says 12,000 from Manasseh 12,000 from Joseph. But Manasseh is of Joseph as is Ephraim. So could saying Joseph mean also saying Ephraim? Because Ephraim is that when you do the two brothers, he became the primary brother, though he was the youngest. Hence, he became the head of the two. So he could be called Joseph because he's the old, though the youngest, he became the oldest, the greatest of the two. But it doesn't say Ephraim, so there's my speculation. Someone's ringing their bell. It's not written. I don't know. As Bert said, Ephraim had its things with the idols as well. Ephraim is part of that story in Judges 17 and 18.

When you read back through that as well. No, they got their priests from Manasseh.

Wasn't it from Manasseh? Yeah, they made from the house of Manasseh. Maybe it's the 1st Kings 12 one. They're mentioned. Ephraim is mentioned in there as well somewhere in there. I'll go back and read all of it in detail. The question is, why do they say Joseph? Because Joseph is not a singular tribe. Yeah, to tell you the truth, I don't know. Someone's ever heard an explanation for it. It's just noticeable that God said that. So put it that way and didn't use the word Ephraim there. Unless it's half and half and Manasseh has 12,000 of its own and another six half of Joseph. I mean, who knows? Who knows? Some of these things, we're just going to have to kind of wait and see what God had in mind and exactly how he's going to seal exactly 12,000 from each of these tribes.

Mr. Shelby? Yes, Elaine? No, Sharon, sorry.

Hi. It's not exact in terms of Joseph and Ephraim, but I came across Ezekiel 37-16.

I think about the two sticks right on it for Judah, and it says, and take another stick and write upon it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim. So like I said, it's not exact, but in a way, it sort of equates. Interesting. What was that word? Ezekiel 37, you said? Or 36? Ezekiel 37-16. Okay. As for you, take a stick for yourself and write on it for Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions. Then take another stick and write on it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions. Interesting. Okay. Okay. That may be part of what is going on there. So, okay. Good.

Hey, Mr. Shavey. Yes. This is Randy on a line. I'm doing great. So anyway, the lessons of Ephraim in 1 Kings 12-29, it says, therefore, the king asked, advice made two calves of gold, and said to the people, there's too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. And I set up one in Bethel, and the other I put in Dan, 1 Kings 12-29. And then it goes further down here. It says in Judges 4-5, Bethel was an area known to belong to the tribe of Ephraim. In fact, the prophet Hosea related that Ephraim was one of the worst tribes when it came to idol worship and dishonoring God. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. Their drunk is rebellion. They commit harlotry continually. Her rulers, dearly love, dishonor. The wind has wrapped her up in the wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. And that's Hosea 4-17-19. So it was Ephraim was their drunkenness of idolatry as well. There you go. There you go. There's a pronouncement on Ephraim, so very good.

Which could be the reason that Ephraim is not specifically mentioned. They're in revelation.

You know, again, when you look at the sins of Dan and Ephraim, you know, very, very important lessons for us, you know, to make sure that we are staying free of idolatry and allowing God to, well, making sure that we don't fall into that category and that we are trusting in God and that as we get closer and closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ, as he works with us, that we are willing, that we allow God to show us our idols and that we're willing to put them away as he sees that because I think we're all guilty of that.

We just may not realize exactly the things that we have that we put before God today, but certainly as time goes on, God will reveal those those to us. Okay, anything else on that? You know, one of the questions that came up this afternoon too, or one of the points was, you know, that happened way back at the beginning of, you know, after Joshua died and the days of the Judges. So why would God, you know, I think we've kind of answered it, why would God still be holding Dan accountable in Ephraim back at the time of, you know, before Jesus Christ's return?

I think we've answered that, you know, a little bit where Dan is concerned when we look at who they are today and how they still cling to that false religion and will be part of a society that would probably, that would probably be against his brothers and against his, you know, against the other tribes of Israel as far as England and Ephraim.

But I think it shows, you know, that some sins are so real and so violent, God's eyes, that there will be punishment, you know, for them. We have the example of King Manasseh, you know, of Judah, and even though, and he's the one who, of course, led Judah into child sacrifices to Molech, and King Manasseh later repented.

But God said that his sin was so vile, so odious to him, that Judah was still going to have to go into captivity and be punished for what they, for what King Manasseh did, as well as the people following him did that. So, you know, God looks at some of these sins that we do and the things that people back then did, we just have to make sure that we keep our eyes focused and always focused on the fact that we need to become purer and purer and purer.

So, okay. Is there anything else on that? I think we've covered that pretty well. Let's... Yes, yeah, right. I just thought that it's had... it says that Ephraim is God's firstborn. So, to me, that means he's taken the mantle of Joseph and put it on Ephraim. So, you know, Ephraim is now in place of Joseph, but like we just saw all the things we were saying about how that had been. Maybe that got reversed and it went back to Joseph. Maybe that might be, you know. That might be. And there's a reason Ephraim's name isn't there, but maybe that's what God is showing. He's just going to put the name of Joseph on it, and it's because of Joseph's faith instead of Ephraim.

I don't know. One of the things we get on the UCG page, which says that there's a wonderful redemption for the tribe of Dan, because they're listed first in Ezekiel's listing of the tribe in Ezekiel 48. I think that's something for them. Yeah, you know, yeah, thank you for bringing that up. In Ezekiel 48, Dan is going to be there, right? God doesn't, just because he doesn't steal 12,000 of the tribe of Dan, doesn't mean they're wiped out, right?

They're not eliminated from Israel. He doesn't allow any of the tribes of Israel to be completely eliminated. So when you look at Ezekiel 48, you see Dan is there, and he does have territory in the millennium in that chapter. So Dan will be there. They're just not listed in where they are sealed, but it does not mean that God is going to completely eliminate Dan.

They will, you know, while we pray that they will repent, that they'll be part of the 12 tribes of Israel going forward, you know, part of them that will be loathing themselves for how they live their lives apart from God, you know, during this time. Mr. Shaby, I think that also goes for Ephraim. You know, Ephraim's there in chapter 48 as well, and we also know that the throne of David, where that's located, it's got to be a throne that continues until the return of Jesus Christ to be that last time.

Yep, and God has originally blessed Ephraim, you know. The blessings on Ephraim and Joseph have inured to Ephraim and Asa well, as opposed to what Dan, the prophecy for Dan, was. As Sister Tommy says, to show God's grace, he mentions them first. The usual of God has never mentioned first. The usual of Judah is. So he's dealing with them very, very shifting. And maybe that's why he has it there. Dan will be there. Don't think they're eliminated. They will be there. They'll be part of Israel in those days, in that day.

Okay. Okay, good. Want to head over to Revelation 3? We'll kind of look at the Church of Sardis. We didn't get too far on the Church of Sardis this afternoon, so we won't get through it. I mean, as I started putting together the Bible study on Sardis, boy, there's an awfully lot. There's an awfully lot in the message to the Church of Sardis that we can talk about.

You know, we think of Sardis, and I think probably everyone, you know, would say they know the part where it says, you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. And that's kind of the legacy of the Church of Sardis. They are one of the two churches in the messages that God really doesn't have a whole lot good to say about in there. Of course, He cautions them, and He encourages them to turn their lives around and to turn their spiritual lives around to Him.

But it's a very telling verse. You know, as we begin the Church in Sardis, I want to talk about a couple things. I haven't talked much about the cities themselves, like the city of...you know, we know much about the city of Laodicea, and it was like in ancient times. I do want to talk about the city of Sardis a little bit, because it has a history that goes to this message of the Church of Sardis as well.

But before I even get into that, I want to, knowing what this message is, I want to remind us all that, you know, all these messages, all the seven messages to the churches can apply to any single one of us, right? It's not just because we may be living in the end times, doesn't mean we only look at Philadelphia and only look at Laodicea and say, that defines all of us in this church. You know, we have those who, when we read the book or the message of the Church in Ephesus, it's like, oh wow, that hits me.

That hits me. That's what I need to do. I need to take heed of that message. Same thing with Smyrna and Pergamos and Thyatira. As we see ourselves in those things, and as we see ourselves, we have people, and it might be ourselves that we look at and say, oh wow, even though I'm living in the end time, you know, what God is saying to these churches in this, in these areas, I have to pay attention to. That's the same thing with Sardis. You know, we do have people when he's talking, you know, about those who have a name and they are dead.

That's something we want to say, wow, and I'd say, oh wow, Sardis, that was a really sorry era. You know, we want to take that seriously and look at ourselves because, you know, in the Church of God today, there will be some who God would say, you know, kind of meet the definition of Sardis. So when we read it, you know, let's, let's pay attention to it and know that it applies to us today as to it.

It's a very, it's a very, it's a very, I guess, eye-opening, eye-opening, you know, message that's given. Let me talk about the city of Sardis. If you go back, I'm just going to do a general thing here. The city of Sardis, and then in times before Christ was born in 500 BC, it was a very notable city on earth. It was a very wealthy city. It was a capital of Libya at that time.

It had very fertile land. It was rich in agriculture as well as other products that were there. Sardis was the place to be, you know, as time went on, it was conquered by Rome. An earthquake hit it and decimated the city, but Rome built it back and it became a city in its own right after that up until, you know, through the Middle Ages. It was, you know, again, a wealthy place, a good place to live. They even had a bishop there that's kind of famous, as you read some of the history, the bishop of Sardis, certainly not a part of the Church of God, but someone notable at that time.

But then in 1402, they were conquered and they were pretty much decimated, and there wasn't an earthquake that destroyed them, but the city was never rebuilt again. It just simply wasn't rebuilt. It wasn't like it was covered over by water. It wasn't, you know, like the earth opened up and swallowed everything and you couldn't build it again. It just never got built after it was conquered that time.

And today they say there's a little village on that spot that's called Sirte, S-E-R-T, but it's kind of like there, Sardis, but it's just a dead area. So when you kind of look at their history in general, you can see you've got a name here, you know, that you're alive, but you really are a dead city and your time, your past is behind you.

Your good time is behind you and you've allowed, you've been allowed to just be, you've just been allowed to die. And so that's kind of the message that we have here as we look at at the message of the Church of Sardis as we begin here. And Christ, you know, talks about it.

Chapter 3 then, in verse 1, it says to the angel, again, the messenger of the Church in Sardis, right, these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. You know, we reference back to Revelation 1, you know, where we talk about the seven spirits of God, the seven stars, you know, Jesus Christ walking through the seven churches.

So he's got eyes on this church in Sardis, you know, he says, and he says when he says to all seven churches, I know your works. Again, if anyone thinks that what our works are unimportant, you know, they're dead wrong. God watches what we do with what he gives us and the spirit that he gives us. He says, I know your works, you know, so they did have works. He says that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

And so we have this, we have this picture of a church that, you know, has the name of the church of God. But God says you're a dead church. You have the right name. You do some things, but you're a dead church. And that's an alarming thing to hear from God.

You know, if God was to look down at us and say, I see what you're doing, you're carrying my name, you say you're of me, but you are dead. You know, that should get our attention. And as we, you know, look at this, you know, we want to pay attention to what God is saying here. Now, I know you know, but let's look at a few other verses, you know, that talk about dead because God doesn't talk about just dead as in there is no physical life.

He's talking about there's no spiritual life left in you. You are, you're a dead church. There's nothing, nothing spiritual about you. And what you kind of see, you know, in the Bible where it'll talk about people who are lagging spiritually. And then, you know, we talk about sleeping, you know, we talk about the ten virgins. They slumber. We know all ten virgins slumber. We're kind of asleep. And often when you are in a wealthy city, you know, like Aleya Tassia or like a Sardis, you know, you can kind of like fall asleep.

You get kind of comfortable in what you're doing. And you can kind of let down a little bit to just think everything is always going to be fine. You know, and that isn't the case. It's time for us to kind of always pay attention to what's going on.

But God says you're, you have a name that you're alive, but you're dead. Let's go back and look at just a few verses here in Matthew 8.

Matthew 8 and verse 22.

Now this is where Jesus is calling some people to follow Him. And one by one, you know, they have excuses. You know, He calls one and one says, hey, wherever you go, I'll follow. And verse 20, Christ says, well, you don't know what you're saying. You know, I don't even have a place to put my head down at night. And you're saying you'll follow me. And then verse 21, it says another one of his disciples said to him, Lord, let me go first and bury my father. And what he was saying is, you know, I have a responsibility to my family like they did in those days. I want to work with him until he dies. And then I'll put everything aside and I'll come and follow you. And Christ responds to him this way. He says, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. And that's an interesting response, you know, that Jesus Christ had to the man. So what do you think he was saying there? I mean, maybe the man didn't understand what Christ was saying, but what do we make of that when Christ, you know, when he makes, says, let me go and complete my responsibilities to my dad, then I'll follow you. And Christ says, you know, let the dead bury their own dead.

Well, maybe, you know, maybe what he's saying there is, you know, when Christ calls us, you know, he opens the door to us and he brings to us life. He brings to us light. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. You know, before God opened our minds, we were, you know, we were basically dead men. We were living in sin. We didn't even know any better, but we were going nowhere and we had no future. It wasn't until God opened our minds to understand the truth that we realized there is life, there is eternal life, and who we were before was dead spiritually, you know, and headed toward dead physically and did more, you know, the second death as well.

So, but that's so, you know, when Christ comes into our lives, we're alive. So this man, you know, Christ is saying, follow me, you know, I'm calling you follow me. And the man says, no, I got to go back. I need to wait. I need to count my time and do that later. And Christ says, you know, they'll let the dead, you know, let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.

You've got life. Your job now is to leave your past behind and follow me. And we can see that spiritual concept of dead, you know, in Ephesians. Paul says it a couple times pretty clearly in Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 5, if we turn back there. In Ephesians 2, in verse 1, you know, this is the chapter where it talks about Satan being the prince of the power of the year in verse 2.

But in verse 1, you know, it says, Paul writing, he says, and you, that's, that would be, you know, the people in Ephesus, that's you, that's me, and you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. He made you alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. You know, so when we were dead, spiritually dead, we talk about the church in Ephesus, you know, he says, you got a name, got a name, but you're dead.

Over in Ephesians 5, in verse 14, verse 14, you know, it says, therefore he, Christ says, awake you who sleep. And we are well aware of the symbolism of sleep. Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. So there you equate sleep with the dead, you know, come out of your spiritual lethargy, come out of your spiritual doldrums, you know, you're headed toward death, and come back to the light, come back to the life.

So, you know, we see this, we see this in here, and we know what he's talking about. He's talking about, here's a church that's becoming spiritually dead. If we look at them, you know, if we just look at them on the cover, we might see a church that looks okay, right? They got the name, Church of God. They are keeping the Sabbath, keeping the Holy Days.

They're kind of doing the things that they need to do. But God doesn't look at just what we do physically. It's like, where is our, where are our hearts? Are our hearts in what we do? Are we giving all of ourselves to him? Or are we just going through the motions? You know, often I'll say in a sermon, you know, are we doing things? Because we really know that we need to, because our heart is with God, or do we just check off the boxes?

Oh, I've got to be at church on Sabbath, or I've got to tune into the webcast on Sabbath, or I've got to pray my, you know, 15, 30, 45, whatever it is, minutes in the morning. I've got to do this, but my heart's not really, I just got to do it, right? Because that's just kind of what I do, and if long as I do it, you know, God's happy.

Well, you know, he knows our works, but if our heart isn't in it, it really, it really leaves everything empty, if you will. You know, I'm going to pause here, but let's go back to Isaiah 1. You know, there's a set of scriptures there that every time I read it, it kind of, it just kind of gives me the, it doesn't really give me the chills, but it's always kind of a wake-up call the way God writes what he writes here in Isaiah 1, you know, verses 12 to, well down to what is it here, down to about verse 19 in Isaiah 1. He's talking to his people here, and you see people that are doing the things that God tells us to do.

I mean, we know what to do. We know how to keep the Ten Commandments, but as Christ showed, it's more than just physical obedience. It's the whole, it's the whole man and the whole spiritual keeping them as well. In Isaiah 1 verse 12, in verse 11, he talks about, you know, these sacrifices, and he kind of makes the inference, you know, do you think that I was having you bring sacrifices just because I liked, you know, seeing animals being killed and whatever?

Now, here's people doing sacrifices, but God sees they're not really getting what he meant for them to understand when they do these animal sacrifices. In verse 12, he says, when you come to appear before me, who's required this from your hands to trample my courts? You know, you come in to my courts, you come in to do the things, but you're not really walking with me. You're not treating with respect.

You're just trampling it. You're just, you're just here. You're just kind of showing up. He says to bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, I can't endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. You know, you're doing the things.

You're here on these new moon festivals or whatever they are, however they were, observing those. You're coming on the Sabbaths. You're doing the assembly. You're not forsaking the assembly of the shells together, but what does it really mean? God says it's futile. You're not getting it. You're not really doing what you were called to do. You're not putting your heart into it, and so I cannot even bear to see you doing these things because you kind of, you have a name that you're alive. When I'm looking at you and in the inside, you're dead.

Your new moons and your appointed faiths. My soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I'm weary of burying them. When you spread out your hands, I'll hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I won't hear. Your hands are full of blood. You know, your heart isn't with me. You haven't... you're not doing my will. You're not seeking my will.

You're just going through the motions. The outward cart looks really good, like on those Pharisees, right? The outside looks very good, but God says, clean the inside of the dish. I want all of you clean, and not just what you do. So then He says that there in verse 16, wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good.

Seek justice. Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.

Well, He's kind of there, and those verses kind of sounds like James 1, 27 that we read. You know, pure and undefiled religion is this. You know, keep oneself unspotted from the world, and you know, care for the the fatherless and the widows and these things. And God is saying, you know, it's the love that comes from within. That's what you were called to do. And I don't see any of that happening. I just see you going through the rote routine of what you do, but it really means nothing to you. In verse 18, you know, He calls for the people to come back. You know, it's like, you know, come now. Come now and let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. You know, I'll forgive you. And boy, through this message to Sardis, we're going to see the word white show up a number of times as we look at this message to Sardis. Though your skins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I'll clothe you in the garments that I want you to be clothed in.

If, verse 19, you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land. So, you know, we look at that and therein, Isaiah, we have a picture of a people who have orcs, can't fault what they're physically doing, but God says they're empty. They're empty. They're lifeless. They're dead. And so, as we open the book, the message to Sardis, we have a very, very sad picture, if you will, being out on that church.

And again, as we, you know, as we look at ourselves, knowing that there are some in the church, wherever that may be in the world today, that this message would, this message could define them. And we want to make sure that that's not us, that we're just not going through the rote and just doing the things, but don't have our hearts in what God wants us to have, so, or wants us to be and become.

Let me pause for there, because I've said a lot. Yes. Oh, it makes me think of, you can do the right thing for the wrong reason or without the right intent. Yep, that's a good way to put it, do the right things, but for the wrong reasons and not, yeah, and not with your heart in it. I see another light go on there. Okay. Well, you know, it's that, that, let's, let's go on then, let's, let's look at verse two, because in verse, in verse two, in verse two, you know, God introduces a, a, a, a thought here.

He says, be watchful. We're going to talk about that word watchful for a little bit, because we've talked about that a number of times. You know, we're all aware of the verse where Christ says, watch, you know, watch, watch and pray that you may, that you may be worthy to escape all these things. And we've talked about that for as long as you've been in the church, you know, we, it's not just watching world news.

Yes, we need to be aware of what's going on in the world. And, and that can be encouraging as well as a little disconcerting sometimes when we see the world marching on in the work in the way that it is.

Today we look at events in the world, and we can actually see, you know, the things that are prophesied in the Bible, and some of the attitudes that are there and some of the governmental type actions that we read in revelation, we can kind of see those in very, very bud-like forms in the world today. So we know what's on the horizon and where the world is moving, and it lets us know that the Bible is real, it's prophecy that's coming about. You know, that can be encouraging to us as we see the end grow near, and sometimes it may be a little terrifying to us to realize, oh, this time that I've heard about all my life could be upon us, and, you know, however many months, years, whatever God is, you know, from the time until the time Jesus Christ returns.

But that gives us, that should get us inspiration too, because we know perfect love casts out fear, and so it's time for us to grow closer to God and have that encouragement and that zeal, because we know that it'll only be Him who throws us through us. If we rely on ourselves, we'll fall flat on our face. But as you look at verse 2 there, He opens it up with, Be Watchful, and we'll talk about, we'll talk about that a little bit.

But then as you come down, you know, to the middle of verse 3, you know, He says, Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. So He comes and couches verses 2 and 3 around this concept of watching. And for the church in Sardis, that's kind of a meaningful thing for Him to talk about. As He looks at this church that's dead, He tells them the first thing, even before He says, Repent is, Be Watchful.

And so, you know, He may well mean watch world events, but more the way that we talk about watch, watch what is going on with you. Open your eyes, you know, to what is going on. Do a little bit of introspection. See you through my eyes. Watch your actions. How are you? You know, how are you? What is your spiritual be?

Oh, spiritual lifelike. Be watchful, we might say, and be alert to spiritual danger. You know, could we be on a dangerous road? Because certainly, you know, there are any number of things out there in the world today, and who knows how many more, but there will be so many more that confront us between now and the return of Jesus Christ that we could find ourselves on a dangerous path that could start off very, we might say, innocently. But then attitudes develop, and all of a sudden we find ourselves more at odds with our brethren, more at odds and more judgmental about each other, and all of a sudden we're on that dangerous path like Balaam was, and then we find ourselves off totally away from the church and the body, and we've lost.

You know, we've become spiritually dead. So, you know, Christ says, be watchful. And he's talking about, as we look at these two verses, our spiritual lives. So it's a very good definition he gives of what our spiritual life is, but let's look at a couple verses here on watchful, just to remind ourselves nothing new that really you're gonna receive.

But let's go back to Matthew 24, because in the Olivet prophecy, as Jesus Christ talks about everything that is going to happen, the four seals, the fifth seal, the sixth seal that we've talked about, the seventh seal, you know, that's going to occur. In Matthew 24, he also talks about being watchful. And in verse 42 of Matthew 24, he always says, watch, watch therefore, for you don't know what hour your Lord is coming. Watch, you know. Doesn't mean keep your eyes only on the sky, and, you know, be aware when we see what we've talked about, Christ coming, you know, in the clouds with glory and honor, with his armies behind him.

Doesn't mean just keep your eyes on the sky. It means watch what you're doing. Keep your eye on yourself. Watch out for spiritual danger. Watch out for who you are and what you're doing, and keep yourself on the path to the kingdom. Watch therefore you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Um, yeah, verse 46, you know, it's, it says, blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. And that gives us a clue. What are we doing with our lives? How are we living our lives? Are our works, are our works of faith? Someone, I think it was actually Paul this afternoon, who, you know, we know that faith without works is dead. And I think he, he said, and works without faith is dead. What are our works? What do we do before God? You know, we, blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. God wants to see us living the life he's called us to. He wants to see that we have indeed been growing, and that our heart is growing closer and closer to him. And one by one, these little idols that we, we have in our lives, that when God makes us aware of them, we cast them out. We don't harbor them. We don't make excuses for them. We get rid of them because there will be in his kingdom no one who is an idolater. He says in Revelation 21, per se, there will be no one in his kingdom who is sexually immoral. And it doesn't mean just a physical act. It means the things that we've talked about, that all our religious things, or all the things that we see that can live close in the world, that we have separated ourselves, that we have become people who are defined by true religion. We are living, we are wearing those white garments that that Christ wants us to wear, and that we become virgins, you know, virgins not defiled with other women, but virgins, the pure people that God wants us to. So, you know, we see in Matthew 24 verse 42, what we're watching is what we're doing. There's a spiritual element to all of this. You know, in Matthew 25, we have, you know, beginning of the chapter there, the parable of the 10 virgins. And again, we can kind of just compare that to Revelation 14. When God talks about the first fruits, here's the 144,000. These are first fruits, they are virgins. You know, they are not defiled with other women. And these people, the 10 the 10 here, meet that definition. They are virgins. They have undone, you know, they have not, they have, they're not compromising with the world. They're not allowing beliefs of the world and other religions to compromise and taint and to pervert their ways. They are living by God's way carefully and diligently. But, you know, half of them, all of them are asleep, all of them slumber.

Half of them, unfortunately, just too, they're in too deep of a sleep. And they find themselves on the outside looking in when the door is closed. And even though they knock hard, they knock hard, they have a price to pay and a process to go through, you know, for having not been been ready. But in verse 13 of Matthew 25 to this group that, you know, is found, finds itself on the outside of the door knocking to come in and Christ says, I don't know you. He says, watch, watch therefore, for you don't know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

And again, it's the same thing he said there in verse 42. You don't know. Be ready at all times. Always be in a state of readiness. Always make sure you are growing in the grace of knowledge. Always be sure you're on the correct spiritual road, that you have your mind, your attitude, and your heart headed toward the kingdom of God is what he's saying. Pay attention to your spiritual state and know where you are going. And don't let yourself get off on little paths and let little things take you away and off of the path that all of us that all of us are to be to be on.

Let me I didn't turn to this verse in the afternoon, but let's go ahead and turn to Daniel 4, verse 3. And I marked the verse down here in my notes that talks about Christ as a watcher. And I thought it was interesting as I was putting this together. You know, Daniel 4, we have the story of Nebuchadnezzar. And you know, God, you know, God, Nebuchadnezzar was full of pride, and we always have to be on the lookout for pride in our lives and not allow pride because pride is really at the seat of all of our sins. So if it's judgmentalism, if we're thinking we know more than the next person and we're looking down at someone, it's always pride that's in the way. So we need to kind of pay attention to that. But here's Nebuchadnezzar, and he thinks just because he's so great, all these blessings have come upon, you know, his kingdom. And God, you know, pronounces this on him that he's going to be a beast for seven years. And you know, in verse 13, in verse 13, you know, Nebuchadnezzar, you know, says this. He says, I saw the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. And he cried aloud and said this. And I just thought it was interesting that even, you know, if that's Christ, or if that's an angel, or whoever the holy one is, that God inspired that word watching to be there to a watcher, you know, and I don't know what that means. But I think you should tie these words together and see their meanings of the Old Testament and how it ties to the New Testament. It gives us a concept of just how important this word watch is, you know, to us today, to all people, all times. But certainly in this day, this day and age, and when we look at the church in Sardis, you know, we don't want to look over and gloss over it. You know, we want to be sure that we are watching in the correct sense of the word that God would have us be watching.

Let me pause if there's any comments or questions about that. In regards to being watched, Brother Shaley, there was a verse that recently I heard and God added a little more understanding. There's a verse in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 9, where Paul says, we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels, as well as to all men. And the word there for spectacle means we're a theater. So before God and his angels, we need to be a holy theater, a pure theater. It's a work, yes, but the word spectacle there is very, very enlightening in regards to agrees with what we're looking at. Yeah, that's a very interesting verse.

I think the God has displayed us, the apostles, last as men, condemned to death, for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both the angels and the men. Yeah, God's eyes are on us, right?

We are being watched as how do we live our lives? Very good.

Okay, let's... any other comments? Okay, let's go on in chapter 3 then. We were in verse 2, and we will... what time is it here? Okay, you know, being watchfully says...

go ahead. Yeah, James? Yeah, yeah, yeah, not just to comment on that, you know, be watchful.

It just makes me think about one of our responsibilities, and that is to be watchmen.

And, you know, part of our responsibility also is to preach the gospel as a witness, which is kind of being a watchman. You have to... if you're gonna trump it out a message, if you're going to relay that, you've got to know what you're looking for in order to warn others. So it's kind of a responsibility for us. So we've got to really know what to be looking for.

Yep, very good. Now we've got to be watching ourselves, right? We can't... we can't just talk the talk. We've got to be walking the walk. Yeah, exactly. Very good. Okay. Okay. So he introduces these two verses here with being watchful, and then he says, and strengthen the things which remain. So he's telling them, you know, you're kind of dead, but there is some life in you, you know, you're kind of like on life support, if we might say that today, but it's like, you know, there is some life in you. You got to strengthen the things that remain, right? But, you know, when we strengthen the things that remain, that has to come from our desire.

That has to come from our determination and commitment to God. God will give us everything we need. He will give us the life. He will give us the life. He will welcome us back.

He will forgive our sins. He will make our garments turn them from red to white, as he says. But we have to put the effort into it. So he's telling the church there, you know, there is life. Don't give up. I don't want you to, you know, God's not willing that any should perish, that any should die spiritually or physically, right? So he says, strengthen the things which remain. And we know what the word strengthen means. And if we're going to strengthen ourselves, there's things that we have to do.

You know, if we find ourselves weak physically, you know, we could go to a doctor and, you know, and he'll tell us, but we don't really need a doctor to tell us. If we've been eating a diet that's ridiculous, if we never get up and exercise to strengthen ourselves, we have to start doing the things that lead that lead to physical health and physical strength. It's the same thing spiritually. We have to start doing the things that are there. You know, they were, they had a name that they were alive, but their heart wasn't in it.

And God says, strengthen the things, you know, which remain. There is something there, there is still life. Find it and work on it. You know, there's three more times that in the New Testament that this word strengthen appears. But let's look at a couple of them here, because God is always, you know, we should always be aware of the times that we should be strengthening ourselves. And we're aware sometimes when we feel spiritually weak and we feel a little distant from God.

And, you know, we find ourselves just, you know, things just don't seem to go as well. We just don't have the bounce in our step. We just don't feel the way that we know that we should. And we know something's wrong. And the problem is us. It's not God.

We've wandered away. We've allowed ourselves to become weak in some way, and we need to strengthen ourselves. In Hebrews 12, in Hebrews 12 and verse 12 is one of those places that the same word strengthen shows up. In Hebrews 12 and the verses leading up to it, you know, talks about chastening. And God will chasten us. He's going to get our attention. He's not willing that we would die, so he's going to rebuke us. And of course, we learn a lot of things about the way we respond to chastening in our attitude toward it. Are we, do we get mad? Do we pout?

Do we walk away? Or do we think, you know, oh, thank you, God. Thank you for drawing my attention to that. I need to correct that. And I need to get to work on it. You know, that's not what you have called me to be. And if I'm really committed to being who you want me to be, that has to be out of my life. Hebrews 12 verse 12, therefore, you know, the author says, strengthen, strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees.

You know, you're kind of wobbly. You're kind of like looking like you're going to fall over. You kind of look tired and worn out and tired of life. Get that life back in you again. And we know how to do it. We've talked about, you know, how to read, you know, to do the first works again and the type of things that we can do to to energize ourselves spiritually. And he says, and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

So, you know, it's like make straight paths for our feet. You know, that that's our responsibility. We have to ask God, you know, order my steps. How or and this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to get myself back into spiritual shape, and I'm going to make myself do these things, and I'm going to make myself do what God wants me to, and hey, I'm even going to ask Him, how do I do it? If we don't know how, if we find ourselves at sorts and we find ourselves distant, you know, simply ask God. He's willing, He's willing to help us in whatever we do. Sometimes, you know, I look at myself and I think, do I even ask God what what I need? Am I asking Him or am I just expecting Him to give me? And He says, ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you.

Sometimes we just have to ask God, teach us, you know, teach us how to have faith, teach us how to, you know, teach us how you want us to approach you, teach us, you know, the Apostle said, teach us to pray, teach us how to do this, teach me how to strengthen myself, give me your Holy Spirit, and let Him see that your heart is there. And like a good Father, when He sees our hearts is in the right place, He's going to do whatever, He'll give us whatever we need to get there. Because it is, for the Sardis Church, and it is, you know, for us, a matter of healing. Not so much physical healing, but in some cases, well, in those cases too, but spiritual healing. That's what we're, you know, that's what we're looking for. And sometimes we need that spiritual healing that can only come from God, and that we have to, we have to strengthen ourselves, just like He says to this Sardis Church. Strengthen the things that remain, go into that overdrive, and make that your priority, as it should be, to get yourself in line with God and what He wants us to be.

It's always amazing to me. It's 8.29, and that's exactly where I stopped in the afternoon, so I'm going to stop there for now, and we'll pick it up next week and finish the Church at Sardis. But there is a lot, there is a lot in this message. So we'll spend some time in Sardis and then move into Revelation 8, I guess, next week as well. But let me pause there for any comments or anything, anything that anyone wants to say.

Mr. Shady. Yes, sir. Going back to what you quoted, Chris said in Matthew, to the fellow that said, we're going to wait for my dead eyes. You know?

To relate that back to Abraham, God told him to leave his family. Get out of there.

In my own life, recently, because, you know, I've heard the Muslims, some of the things you said, it occurred to me how many times I've been moved away. And it is important to kill away from the things that are going to trip you up. If I stayed up, I moved down to Florida when I was 12.

If I had stayed up in go to Kentucky, I wouldn't be in a church.

I had to be moved. And recently, I've got a lot of relatives. There's over 40 of us.

Very close. We're very close. But I moved from college up into Conanto County. So I moved again.

And I think I understand the importance of getting away from all of the temptations and the problems that hang you up. That's what I'm learning about this. Yeah, very good. You know, I think what you say, I think God will move us from place to place. Are we willing? And if you decided, hey, I'm going to stay here at all costs, you can see what your spiritual life would have been like. But you moved where God wanted you to, like Abraham did. And yes, you have to be willing to do that when God wants us to. Yes, very good.