The Big Idea: Jesus Wins

Revelation 1:1, The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.

A Revelation of and from Jesus Christ

Revelation 1:3, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Keep asking….

1) What does this reveal about Jesus?

2) How does this help John and other first century Chrisitans

…be faithful unto death, and you will receive the crown of life. Revelation 2:10

Jesus Wins. Be Faithful When Temptations Increase

1. Temptation of victory-promisers

Ephesian church

Revelation 2:6, But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Pergamum church

Revelation 2:15, Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore!

2. Temptation of legalism

Revelation 2:9, To the church at Smyrna,

I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Matthew 15:8-9,

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.

3. Temptation to be Phony

To the church is Sardis

Revelation 3:1, I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up!

4. Temptation of tolerating sin

To the church in Thyatira

Revelation 2:19-22 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering,

5. Temptation of misplaced passions

Revelation 2:4-5, Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.

If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Jesus’ answer to temptation—Hope!

Revelation 2:7, Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:10b, Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

Revelation 2:17a, Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna.

Revelation 3:12a, The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it.

Revelation 3:21,To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Revelation 4:1, After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven.

2 Peter 2:18, 19 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people…. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity.

Jesus Wins. Be Faithful In Hardship—When Opposition Intensifies

John 3:19-20, This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

Revelation 2:10, Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

Revelation 11:3, Jesus tells this story to John, And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Revelation 11:4-6, They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.

Strange turn…

Revelation 11:7, Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.

Revelation 11:8, Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified.

Revelation 11:9-12, For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

Hebrews 12:3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Encouragement for us, today

Acts 20:24, The apostle Paul, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

2 Timothy 3:13, …everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Hebrews 12:3 says, Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:4, In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Jesus Win. Keep Your Eyes Fixed on the Upper Story

1 Corinthians 3:18, So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Revelation 21:1-2, Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Heaven– a new place with “no sea”

Heaven—a place filled with activity

Revelation 21:2, I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God

Revelation 21:27, Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Heaven—a place of joy and learning

Revelation 21:2, I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Ephesians 2:6-7, And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Heaven will feel like home

Revelation 21:3, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

John 14:2-3, My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Revelation 21:4, He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 …the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.