The Book of Revelations (Chantilly Sermon)

Revelation 1:1 CSB – The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,…

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

Revelation 2:10 CSB –  Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

The Focus: Jesus

Revelation 1:1 CSB – The revelation of Jesus Christ

The Audience: His Suffering Servants

Revelation 1:1-2 CSB – The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw.

Revelation 1:9 CSB – I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

Be Faithful When Tempted

• When Tempted by Moral Compromise

Revelation 2:15 CSB – “teachings of the Nicolaitans”

Nicolaitans = Victory Promisers

Revelation 2:6 CSB – Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Revelation 2:15 CSB – you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 So repent!

• When Tempted by Legalism

Revelation 2:9 CSB – 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, Jesus said:

“‘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.

• When Temptation by Hypocrisy

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

Romans 12:9 CSB – Let love be without hypocrisy.

• When Tempted to Tolerate Sin

Revelation 2:19-22 CSB – 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,

Romans 14:22b CSB – Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

Revelation 2:20 CSB – 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….

Revelation 2:26 CSB – The one who conquers and who keeps my works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations—… I will give him the morning star.

• When Tempted by Distractions

Revelation 2:4-5 CSB – 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.

Be Faithful: Keep Your Eyes on the Lamb

Revelation 4:1-2 CSB – After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door….Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there was a throne in heaven and someone was seated on it.

Revelation 4:8 CSB – Day and night they never stop, saying,

Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God, the Almighty,
who was, who is, and who is to come.

Revelation 4:11 CSB – Our Lord and God,
you are worthy to receive
glory and honor and power,
because you have created all things,
and by your will
they exist and were created.

Revelation 5:1 – Then I saw…

Revelation 5:6 CSB – Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne

Luke 9:23-24 CSB – Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it

Philippians 2:5-7 CSB – 

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

6 who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
7 Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,

Galatians 2:20 CSB – I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Colossians 3:2-4 CSB – Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory

Be Faithful: Suffering is temporary. Victory is Real

Revelation 11:3 CSB – 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 CSB – These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

Revelation 11:5 CSB – If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies; if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

Romans 8:37 CSB – No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Revelation 11:6 CSB – They have authority to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the days of their prophecy. They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague whenever they want.

Revelation 11:7 CSB – When they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war on them, conquer them, and kill them.

Revelation 11:8 CSB – Their dead bodies will lie in the main street of the great city, which figuratively is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

Revelation 11:9 CSB – And some of the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will view their bodies for three and a half days and not permit their bodies to be put into a tomb.

Revelation 11:10 CSB – Those who live on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

Revelation 11:11-13 CSB –  But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. 13 At that moment a violent earthquake took place, a tenth of the city fell, and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake. The survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

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

Be Faithful: Heaven Will Be Worth It All!

Revelation 21:1-2 CSB – Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

Heaven: A Perfect Place

Revelation 21:27 CSB – Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Heaven: A Joyful Place

The next picture Jesus gives John is of a Wedding.

Revelation 21:2 CSB – heaven is… the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

Heaven: The Place that Feels Like Home

Revelation 21:3 CSB – Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

John 14:2-3 CSB – 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 CSB – He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.