Claimed Faith vs. Lived Faith

Foreign.

Happy Friday, everybody. How we doing? How we doing? Yes. Welcome back, guys, to the King's Council Live. You got myself, Riley Meek, Christian Edwards.

What's up, guys?

Yes. Back in the studio today. You guys know what we're about. We're here to talk about. We're gonna have unfiltered conversations as, as we always do. We're going to talk. I'm really excited about today's episode. You know, we always say we, we talk about politics, we talk about current events, but we want to do this from a kingdom perspective. And we're gonna go deep today on what we feel. I mean, it's definitely been a conviction on, on my heart, just with what we've seen in the American church. Part of this too, man. I don't know if you remember, we did, and I think I did a solo episode a few months back and one of those social clips went viral on TikTok and I got a lot of hate for it. And if you guys don't remember what that was, I'd made reference to a lot of Christians being illegal immigrants. And if you're not watching, I'm doing air quotes right now in regards to Christianity. And, and if, if you actually watch the video, you understood what I was saying. But so many people just spew a ton, ton of hate on me because they were referencing it to, like, illegal IM immigrants in America. And I was referring to it as people that identify as Christians but aren't. There's no fruit in their life. Right. That was the reference that I was referring to. And that's what we're going to dive into today. And I'm excited to really dive into this because I think this is something that is very real, especially here in America, on a lot of people that take the title of Christian but have zero fruit in their life. There's been zero transformation in their life. And it is a, you know, it's a bad reputation for, you know, people that actually truly follow Jesus. And so we're going to dive into this day, specifically into the Book of Revelation.

Yeah.

Yes, yes. And one thing I want to be clear on this, guys, is we're to. I know we have a lot of listeners that aren't Christians that listen to this and completely. Fine. But I do want to be clear that this, this episode specifically is not four or two unbelievers. Right? This isn't about atheist. Right. It's not about people that openly would even reject Jesus. That's not who we're. We're talking about at all. In this episode, what we're talking about is people that call themselves Christians. Right. People that say, oh yeah, I'm a Christian and I know we all have those people in our life. You may even be one of them right now listening to this. But the reality is if you look at your life and there is no fruit, there's no transformation, there's no holiness. You're not a Christian. You're not.

Right.

You may, you may take that title no different than a biological male takes the title of female, but the reality is they still a male. Right. And, and if, if you are, are a quote unquote Christian and you, you're claiming that title, but there's no fruit in your life, we need to question this.

Yeah.

Right. And this should, this is something that, again, it, this is not to unbelievers in, in any way. I mean, I'm hoping you're listening and this even convicts, convicts you because this, this walk, this life as a follower of Jesus is something that we need to take serious. Right. There is the reality of hell. There is the, the reality of eternal damnation, eternal separation from Jesus.

Yeah.

And it ain't good. It ain't good.

Yeah.

And I think, I mean, you have been doing well all of last year pretty much. You did a study of the book of Revelation.

Yep. Wednesday morning.

Yes. Shout out kingscouncilbiblestudy.com Just go there and type in your info. You're going to get on our email list essentially. Or you can always go to join kingscouncil.com get on our email list and we'll update you guys. Of Bible study.

Yeah.

These, these shows and even some potential events that we're going to be doing here. 20, 26.

It's a Zoom Bible study. I questions like I can't get to Texas for a Bible study. No, you don't have to get to Texas. It's on Zoom 1. One of the good ways we could utilize technology.

Yes.

Is you know, a nationwide Bible study. Even some people outside the nation who hop on there from time to time.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's a zoom Bible study.

Yes. Yes. But every Wednesday morning, 8:00am Gosh dang it, what time is it?

Yeah, it's 7:00am Central.

7:00Am 6:30.

We hop on for 30 minutes of prayer, then jump right into Bible study at.

I travel every week, I'm in a different time zone, so I always forget what time zone it actually is. So 7 Central. Yes. Yes. Join us live on that bad boy.

Yeah, I used to like it kind of Bothered me a little bit when I lived in New Jersey. And you always referred to everything time wise is central. Central. I'm like, no, Eastern Standard Time, that's like, that's what anybody cares about.

Right.

But now. No, it's central.

Now it's central. Yes. Yeah. So anyways, we're diving into the Church of Sardis specifically, and I think we should just read it.

Yeah.

If you're cool with that. And then we can provide even a little context on it and then we'll dive into this. Because this is a very impactful letter.

Yeah, yeah.

Especially today.

Yeah. The book of Revelation opens with Jesus writing to seven churches. And before I even read this, it's. It's chapter three of Revelation, just the first six verses. But I'm passionate about this. You're passionate about this. And it's not to take jabs at people who are just like fake Christians, you know, for me, even more so. You know, we're starting a new year, but coming off of Thanksgiving, where I love to dive into the history of the church and, you know, prepping a Thanksgiving message, you know, just what, what happened from the time of Jesus all the way to, to the pilgrims, you know, like fleeing England and coming west.

Yeah, right, yeah.

And then Christmas time, you know, St. Nicholas, you know, and just all he had to endure in those times. So literally from the time of Jesus until now, there was so much persecution. I'm talking real persecution. There's still persecution going on now. But when I look at the history of the church and I see their devotion for the Lord, I see how they were unwavering in their faith, like the true believers that they were willing to die for their faith. I. And then I see the church today, I'm like, oh my gosh, it's like half these people call themselves Christians. Are, are they even saved? Because if there's no transformation in, in lives, if there's no, like real love for the Lord, you know, you mentioned it a couple weeks back, you know, Jesus says that you, you show me that you love me if you simply obey my commands.

Right.

That's it.

Right.

And then we see a church that I don't see a lot of, you know, faithfulness in obeying the commands of Jesus, but it, it's, it like, it like irks my soul that the church is in this state. And I'm very grateful to live in a country like America where we have the luxuries that we have. Somewhat like the Church of Sardis back in the day. What? Right, so we'll get into this. I'll read the six verses, I'll tell you a little bit of history about the city of Sardis, the church of Sardis, and then we'll get into this.

Yeah, that's good. Actually, before you even do that.

Yeah.

I think going into this, I just want to be crystal clear, like, this is not about arrogant Christianity.

Right.

This is rooted in, in the fear of the Lord.

Yeah.

And I just want to be clear with that. It's not about, like, legalism and, and, you know, the grace train and there's this balance that we feel like we have that, you know, Jesus came not to abolish the law, but fulfill the law. Right. It doesn't mean that we still aren't to obey the, the rules of the law, but he has now empowered us. He's given us the grace to actually do so because it was impossible without his grace.

Yeah.

Right. And so the, the what My hope in this is that what we'll cover today is that, number one, this will be convicting for you as a believer, because if there is an evidence that Jesus is Lord of your life, then we need to question. You need to question, am I really a Christian? Right. Or have I just taken on that title just because that's how I grew up? Right. Or because I attend church on Sunday? Attending church on Sunday doesn't make you any more of a Christian than going to a fire station and calling yourself a fire truck. Right. It's like this weird analogy, but that doesn't mean just because you attend doesn't mean you become a Christian. Right. This is this, all of this comes back to the just our heart's posture and have we repented? Have we professed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord? And are we actually now on a track to transformation in our life? Because if, again, if you've, if you've made that claim, but there's been no transformation in your life, then we need to question what's going on.

Yeah.

Right. And. And I think that's what we're going to see here. As you read these verses, there's a lot of similarities in the church's artist to the, to what's taking place, especially here in America. Right. And. And I think this is again, just where we need to question ourselves. And I think this is a good thing that for Christians to do. Right. Because, yeah, seven, eight years ago, I would have said, yeah, I'm a Christian, you know, let's go to the club type of thing.

Yeah.

There was zero fruit in my life. Zero. Fruit. Right. And so that's where the heart of this comes from, from both of us, is that our. Our intent is that there's a conviction out of this. None of this comes from. From an arrogant posture of. Of being a follower of Jesus, but more so the fear of the Lord. And if you as a. A follower or as a, you know, Christian, have no fear of the Lord, then there needs to be some questioning.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah. Amen. So the church of Sardis, known as the Dead Church, Just to give a little brief background, it was a very wealthy city in Asia Minor along a major trade route, modern day Turkey today. And I. I have all these notes already laid out for me from the Bible studies I did last year. And it was a city known for luxury and very loose living. So it was a city of money, like glitz, glamour, but immorality. It was the center of the carpet in wool industries. So garments were made there, which, when you hear Jesus speak, he kind of plays on this a bit. And it was also called the cemetery on a thousand Hills, also the City of death. It was known for its huge, massive graveyard. Okay, so Jesus will play on this then, being the dead church now. Well, I'll get into the rest of this after I read this. All right. It's so good. I'm just so good.

Yeah.

Okay, so revelation, chapter three, verses 1 6. And. And this is Jesus speaking. If you have a red letter Bible meaning it, when Jesus speaks, it's in red. You'll notice that these first couple chapters of Revelation, it's mostly red. Chapters two and three, when he's writing to these churches now, verse one. And to the angel of the church of Encardis. Right. These things says, he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know the hour. I will come upon you. You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. And I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit Says to the churches.

It's good. Yeah, it's good. But there's a lot that we want to unpack here with you guys. And I think what's important is we. Remember you mentioned this is Jesus. Right. This is John's getting the revelation of Jesus Christ here. Right. So this is after the resurrection.

Yep.

To be clear on that. And this is Jesus writing these letters directly to multiple different churches. Right. The Church of Philadelphia and Smyrna and Thessalonica and. Go on and so on and so forth. Right.

Yeah.

Good. I was. Can't think of them all, but. But I think this is.

If Thessalonica is not one of them.

It's not.

No.

What is it then?

Yeah, Thessalonica is not one of them. We have Pergamot. Well, Ephesus. We have Smyrna. We have Pergamos. We have Thyatira. We have Sardis. We have Philadelphia. And then we have the lukewarm church.

Yes.

Which is Laodicea.

Laodicea.

Thessalonica was in that area.

Yeah.

It wasn't one of them.

Thank you for correcting me. Jason, edit that out. Just kidding.

I had to go back and look because when you said, I was like, I don't think so, but yeah.

Yeah, Interesting.

Okay.

All right. So it's not Thessalonica. No. But if you think about this, this is Jesus writing to his. His bride. Right? Right. And this is I. It's just amazing. And what I in all of these letters, too. What's cool, every single one of them, Jesus says, I know your works. Right. And this is where we've say this a lot. Faith without works is dead. And he knows our works. Right. Every single one of these letters, this one obviously being one of those. I know your works. Right. So it's not. He's asking them. He's not. It's not a question of what they believe. Right. Or what they claim on, you know, a Sunday morning versus what they do on a Saturday night. Right. It's like, I know your works. Right. And this should get our attention here as. As believers. Like, he knows. He knows what's up.

Yeah.

Right. As much as you try to hide it from the other Christian circles you. You ride in. He knows your works.

Yeah. If you were to compare the Church of Sardis to a church today, it would be a. A big, mega church, thriving. You know, there's something going on every night. There's committees, there's small groups. It's thriving. It looks alive from the outside. All looks well.

But, yeah, you have the reputation of being alive, but you're dead.

Yeah. Now, now think about. There's a lot of churches today that have a reputation of being alive. And you know, if you're not in a particular church, you may not be able to speak on it.

Sure.

But there's just, just from everyday activity, the people that you come across every day that identify as a Christian and I think we're, we're more prone to going down a path because we're in a day and age where you could identify as a freaking furry. You know, people are all about identifying with something and it's so easy to. And you know, the culture we're in doesn't want to correct you and say, no, you're not actually a kitty cat. You don't have to piss in a litter box. Right. They say, oh, okay, let me put a litter box out for my four year child.

Rather than correcting.

Right.

It's. Yeah, they, they become complicit.

Complicit.

Yeah, complicit. Complacent.

Yeah, yeah. So nowadays if people want to identify as a Christian, it's like, okay, cool, yeah, they're a Christian then. But it's like, no, no, that, that's not one that we could just like overlook. We're talking about our souls, we're talking about eternity. And I believe the most dangerous place to be in your life, I think it's more dangerous to be. To have a sense of security, that you're on your way to heaven, that you believe you're a Christian, you believe you've been transformed, you believe you have the regenerated heart. You believe all that, but it's not actually true. Rather than being an unbeliever or just completely flat out rebellious against God. Because why would somebody who believes they're on the, the fast train to heaven actually repent at that point?

Right.

Why would they cry out to Jesus? They, they feel like they got it made.

Yep. Yeah. I mean that's like the Church of Lea, right? The lukewarm church. Right. It's like you rather us be hot or cold. Right, Right. There's a, it's an easier transformation, I guess that'll take split. That will take place. This, I think, in America is just again the challenge that we have here. You know, I get to spend a couple days in Mexico a few weeks ago, right. And it was just like you just. There is a, there's a difference, right. Like when you're around believers in a different country, they're different. Like they're, there's Like I walked in a room and I just sense the presence of the Lord there. Right. And. But there. There's the fear of the Lord there. Right, Right. We're here. It's just like. Yeah. Come check out our disco, you know, worship session and whatever.

Disco. I don't know if that's probably not right.

I was thinking lights and LEDs and, you know, all that.

You're aging yourself.

I know. I'm not that old. Come on. Right. Disco. Right.

But the church's chart, the Church of Sardis had appearance without affection, discipline without desire, rules without relationship, ministry without intimacy and reputation without reality. So activity doesn't equate to vitality.

Right.

Just be. Just because you're active and just because you do have those works that look like you're a fully functioning church doesn't necessarily mean you're a living church.

Right. Yeah. And it's interesting, too. I mean, you brought up the fact that persecution over all these years, you know, back in the day, Sardis at this time is not being persecuted.

No.

Right. No.

It's a very polytheistic culture. So there. There is different gods. And.

But to be clear on persecution, too, we're not talking about, like, what's been taking place in Nigeria. Right. Like, people are. If you are claim a cr. You're a Christian, you will be murdered. Yeah, right. We're not getting persecuted in America. We get people on YouTube or people on, you know, social media that say mean things that ain't persecution. Right, Right. So it. It. What I'm getting at with this is that the culture that was going on there, very wealthy city, you know, a lot of luxury things, comfort. Right. Which ultimately led to a lot of complacency because you can be a Christian.

Yeah.

Right. And it's not that big of a deal.

Right.

Which is such a correlation to just what's happening, what is what America culture is actually like.

Yeah. If it's a polytheistic culture at the time, and keep in mind, it's the Roman Empire, that Christians were still being persecuted. But in that area, if it's polytheistic, it. At the end of the day, the Romans didn't really care who you worshiped. You had to worship Caesar right up until, you know, Constantine came around and actually made it so Christianity was legal, but they didn't care. Even when you read the Book of Acts, they. They didn't care. The dispute between, like, Paul and the Jews and these riots and stuff like that, they were like. They were like, we don't really care. Just no upheavals. We don't, we don't want any uproars, we don't want disturbances. Worship who? Whoever the heck you want to worship. You're, you're going to worship Caesar as lord. Right. You're going to honor and have reverence for whoever the empire is at the time. But as far as your own little religions, like, ah, whatever it is. So in Sardis, it was polytheistic. So there, there's different, different gods and goddesses to believe in. Artemis was the main goddess that was worshiped at the time, the fertility goddess. But it's like, how's that different from today? We're pretty polytheistic.

Yeah.

Today because we may not, it may not be. You know, we worship Apollo and Zeus and the, these Greek gods, but we worship money, we worship family, we worship sports teams, we worship celebrities. So we're very polytheistic as far as that.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And so I think the, the point, or if, even if we even just kind of go down, what Jesus then says next to them is that you have a reputation for being alive, but you're dead. Right. And how many. Many of us. We may even attend these types of churches that have a great reputation for being alive, that they're progressive, you know, they're, they're not standing on what truth actually says. So many more of those. They're, you know, they have the huge worship team, they have the. There's nothing wrong with that. I just want to be clear on that. But it's. You're attending a TED Talk versus actually attending a place to receive correction in your life. Right. And it's like you're going to get inspired versus corrected.

Yeah.

Right. And that's what we see here in America today. You know, lots of resources, lots of big buildings and wonderful. You mentioned just like activities and events and things like that, programs, if we want to call it. But they're dead. Right? They're still. They're not. They're. The fear of the Lord is not there. There's just, there's a, A, a reputation that they are alive, but they are spiritually dead.

Yeah. The point of church isn't to get your cup filled on a Sunday so you could muddle through your week until next Sunday and then get your cup filled again. The whole point of church is to be prepared, to be prepped, to be trained, to go out. Yes. You're to be discipled so you could go out and make more disciples.

Yes.

So as far as a business model, like in the business of church, It's a horrible business model because as soon as you equip, like if somebody, a new believer comes to your church and you disciple them, you equip them, you're supposed to send them out. Right. And they may stay on board and, you know, take a role on staff or something like that, but supposed to be equipped and continue to go on and do ministry.

Yes.

So but as far as if every believer that came in the door, if they got discipled, well, and they, they got fully trained and equipped to go out, to go make more disciples, then, oh, we can't do that. We, we got a $4 million budget that it costs a million dollars a year to keep the lights on in this place. You know, that led wall we bought cost 300k.

Yeah.

You know, the sound system. So that's not what churches do.

Yeah. It's just. Reminds me of the religion business documentary that came out because he, he hit that pretty hard in that it is. It's like their goal is just to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger versus sending out, sending out, sending out, sending out.

Right. The role, the. It should never be and shout out Pastor Ray Dash or just talking about him before we hit, before we sat down to do this, you know, he, he was never concerned with, with growing wide. He wanted to grow deep. Whether there's five people there, 10 people, like people are going to come. People are going to come. That. That's up to God. If you're diligent in what you do as a pastor and, and you know, you're, you're shepherding God, God is entrusted to you, this ministry. And no matter how many people are there, your job is, whether it's one or a million, is for those people to grow deep, for them to be rooted in the word of God, to be disciples, to, to, to fall, to be lovers of Jesus, to have that, that fear of the Lord that you mentioned it, I, I can't stand like pastors that. And I know people are going to keep track of how many people come in. He does that too. Just because he, he's very, He's a bit OCD when it comes to that. He, he wants to know how many people are here and. Because he's always trying to improve.

Sure.

But at, at the end of the day, it's like, if you're not growing deep in the Word, then what are we doing?

Yeah, yeah. The true metric should be, you know, not how many people are attending, but how many people are actually being sanctified. Right. And that's Hard to measure on a mass scale.

Right.

You know, unless you're having those individual conversations, which is, again, if a large church, I think it's wonderful. It means a lot of people want to hear the word, but at the end of the day, individually, it boils down to us as the individual to take responsibility. It's not your pastor's responsibility to help you grow. It is your responsibility. He's there to help equip and instruct. Right. But if you're not taking the action and doing the things that it requires, then you're not going to grow. Right. So. And what's interesting about this too, is that from the outside looking in, like, everything would look great at the thinking of the church's artists. Right. They're growing, things are good. Lots of activities, as we mentioned. But what Jesus tells, tells him directly is that I find your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Right. It's like all these people you got in here, you know, you're. You're a great promoter, good at marketing.

Yeah.

But your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.

Yeah. Well, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about this as individually looking good and clean and polished on the outside, but being dead on the inside. Matthew 23:27, he says, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So Jesus always condemned religious hypocrisy, and that's what it is if you're an outwardly thriving church. I have a reputation for being alive, but it's just in reputation only. It's not truth. It's hypocrisy. And Jesus never shied away from speaking about hypocrisy.

Yeah, yeah. Yes, that is so true. Which just makes me even think again. We are saved by grace alone, right? It's like through faith, by grace alone, we are saved. But that faith should be accompanied with good works, Right? So it's not one should lead to the other. Works never equates to faith, but faith should always equate to works, Right? And I think, I mean, because if. If that was true, the Pharisees would, you know, they. They know the word like the back of their hand, like they memorized it, yet they had no fruit in their life. Right? And so it's not even about knowledge. Knowledge is not power. That. Even though I remember that sign in my seventh grade science teacher's room, knowledge is not power. Right? It's not, it's, it's, it's. Are you going to apply it?

Right? What you do with that knowledge, what.

You do with it is what's power. Right? Right. And that's exactly what this is, is like if, if, if you have faith, then you there better be fruit. Otherwise that faith is dead. It's, it's completely worthless. Right. And in just coming back to like this, in the church itself, activity doesn't equal obedience. Right. Growth doesn't equal holiness. Influence doesn't equal fruit in all of these things. Like, you think of what the progressive church today, it's like, we want to grow, we need lots of activities, we want to have lots of influence. And that's not what, what Jesus says right here. Like, that's not the requirements. Those don't meet the requirements of my God. It's, it's holiness. It's, it's obedience. It's actually being fruitful. Right. And, and I think there's a lot of Christian, you know, people that claim to be Christian that, that can talk the talk. Right. They can have a community of people, but they can still be spiritually dead. And they're using it as a branding tool. That is, I mean, dude, that's for them to be accountable for versus actually getting to the root of it of like, no, this is about holiness. This is about obedience. Right. And ultimately bearing fruit. And that, that, that should be evident that you are a follower of Jesus.

Yeah, yeah. So verse two. Jesus says, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before God. Right. So be watchful. The, the first instruction is be watchful. So examine and protect and strengthen what you do have. So what, what he's saying is it was bad there. The state, being a dead church is bad, but it wasn't completely hopeless. Right. Jesus wouldn't be writing this letter if it was completely hopeless.

Yeah.

Because if you're, if you still have breath in your lungs, if you're not physically dead, there's still opportunities, opportunity to repent and call out to Jesus and, and, and if you weren't ever saved. Right. And this is your first time being born again, but then also those who perhaps walk away or relinquish their salvation or, or go astray. Yeah, something like that, which we've talked about from time to time about, you know, that quote unquote, losing your, your salvation. It's not losing your salvation, but it's if you were born again and walking with The Lord and you become an apostate. Right.

Yeah.

Apostasy is simply renouncing your faith. It's walking away from your faith.

Yeah.

If that faith wasn't once there, then you're not really walking away from the faith.

Right.

And the Bible speaks on apostates. So, yeah, I'm of the camp that you can't relinquish your salvation.

Absolutely. And it doesn't have to be, I renounce my faith. Right, right. Because if. If you just look at the millions of Americans today that claim that they're Christian but are living sexually immoral lives, they're addicted to pornography. Right. They're. They're greedy, materialistic. Like, there's zero conviction of sin in their life and there's not that fear of the Lord that the, like, hunger for actual holiness. They've renounced their faith. Yeah, right.

Yeah.

That's just the reality.

And it's probably not going to be an overnight thing.

Right.

Going to be a slow decay. Absolutely right. And then a deconstruction of the faith, which is a big thing in the church today. This deconstructionism of the faith, where everything is just like being questioned. And exegesis is where you take scripture for what it is. Isis is when you insert your own thoughts and your own ideas as to what the scripture means. And there's a lot of isogesis going on. And it's like, well, I want to take scripture for what it is. I. I don't want it for every verse I read. I don't want to see. How does my. My brain.

Right.

You know, calculate this. Put. Put two and two together here. It's like, no, I just want to take scripture for what it is. And you're definitely. If you are following any pastors or if you go to a church where they're not exegeting scripture, then you need to find a different church.

Definitely. Yeah. I mean, that just. I forget who said this. I wish I remember who this was. But this famous quote is, you know, God made man in his image, and then immediately man did the same thing.

Yeah.

Exact quote.

But yeah, Josh Howerton said it, but he was quoting somebody else.

Yeah. Is that MacArthur?

I think so.

That'd be MacArthur, yeah. Which it's. That's interesting to think about, like, exactly what you're saying. It's like God made man in his image and then we did the same thing to him. Right. Which is like, meaning we're taking our view or our feelings. I mean, Kurt Cameron's a prime example of over the last few weeks, there's just been a lot of talk about hell and the eternality of it, or what some Christians would call, you know, the annihilationism, meaning that eventually, because they feel the character of God is a certain way. Right. Keyword is they feel.

Right.

Right. When you're starting to, to take scripture and it's like, well, I just don't think God would be like that. It's like, no, he's. He's also judge and injustice is served. Yeah, right. And it's not. Josh Howerton did an incredible. Just kind of overview of this and what I loved about that too, just in. We're going a little bit off topic, but just on that topic, specifically about hell in it being. Seems like an unjust sentence that's served. Right, Right. And he laid it out like this where it's like, you know, or the crime doesn't fit the punish or, you know, the, the punishment doesn't fit the crime, so to say. And he laid it out like this. It's like, you know, if I walked out on the street and I stepped on an ant, nobody cares. Right. People like, cool, if I go out and I kill a cat, you know, some people might get mad, you know, maybe I'll get fined animal cruelty or something like that. But if I went out and killed the person there. There's different. Justice. We'll call it that, or ramifications or consequences based upon that sin itself or that crime itself. But what they're not taking into consideration on who that sin or that crime is actually against. Right. Who is an eternal God. Right, Right. And so it's, it's not about the. If, if you choose not to accept Jesus and, and follow him. Right. To deny yourself, we're told to do this, pick up your cross, deny yourself daily. This is a daily act that we have to do to pursue him. It's not that God is, is mean or punishing you by sending you to hell. All of us belong there. Right. And he created that for the demons, but all of us belong there because of the original sin. Right. So it's not a punishment, but it said it's a consequence not, not of the, the crime itself or the sin itself, but of who we sinned against, which is the eternal all creator of everything. Right. So it's, it's, it's more of a consequence on who the sin is against versus, you know, wasn't that big a deal. I just, you know, I, I heard the, I heard the gospel once and I didn't say yes. So do I have to spend eternity in hell? Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. I mean, that's kind of, we laugh about it.

It's not a laughing matter.

It's definitely not a laughing matter, but that's the reality of this. So. Yeah, anyways, yeah.

When Jesus says be watchful, I mean, Jesus was clear throughout scripture where to be ready. Right. Where to be ready for when he comes, where to be ready. Like if the raptor. If you knew, if I could convince somebody that when the clock strikes midnight tonight, the rapture is happening, that's it. If you're going to make a decision for Jesus, it has to happen by then, Right. Or, you know, if you don't go up in the rapture, you have to endure through the tribulation all that. There's still a chance. But if the rapture was happening at 12 o' clock tonight, what would you do?

Right.

If you examine yourself, most of us, I would say even believers would repent. Right. There's probably still some unconfessed sin. We need to be like, David, in that moment, God searched my heart. I. All of a sudden your memory gets better. Maybe there's some of those sins that you're just kind of like, ah, God doesn't care about that. That's not that, that important. And even the, the context of this, oftentimes we just are prone to compare ourselves to those around us. So if I go to church and everybody else is acting worldly throughout the week, but you know, I got up one day this week and I prayed, you're like giving yourself a pat on the back and now you're the, this, this typical Christian because you're better than that guy.

Yeah.

Well, when we look at the church today, the, the church is defunct. It is, it is. And we're also in a day and age in 2026 now where a lot of people are saying, oh, I'm spiritual, I'm not religious.

Right.

Well, I would say that as well, that I'm not religious. We just talked about Jesus condemning like religious hypocrisy and he didn't come to start a religion.

But demons are spirits too.

Right?

Demons are very spir. Right.

But I'm spiritual. Like you said, demons are spiritual. When people are saying they're spiritual, usually those are the ones that are like tree huggers and they're out with nature and, you know, love. Yeah, yeah. That the earth is, is God and things like that. But it's like, wait, hold on, hold on. Like that's not it. I, I Love what you said. Demons are spiritual too. It's got to be the Holy Spirit. But the, the, the church is just so defunct right now. And I, if you're a Christian, I mean this could be one sign that you're a Christian that you pray for people that are in the state y. Where they're, they appear alive and they're actually dead. You may not know who they are. It. I, I'm fairly certain. If I was a betting man, I've been known to place a few bets in my BC days. Maybe one or two of my. Say, come on, maybe one or two.

Right. But not to the point where it's going to affect.

No, yes. No, no. That's not a stewardship in my BC days. If I could.

You were doing it to pay rent.

If I could pay the mortgage or, you know, there's a great parlay lining up, I would say, okay, let's cash in on this.

Yes.

Yeah. Poor stewardship.

Yes.

But I would venture to say there are going to be people we see in Christian, and I'm sorry in heaven, that we had no idea was a believer. Didn't think they would be there. They never saw that one in church. Right. And then we, we're gonna be looking around be like, man, where, Where's Fred? Where's Tommy? Where. Where's. Sound like white names. Where's.

Where he attended every week. Right, right, right. Where's.

Where's Juwan?

Right.

I don't want to be biased towards the white names, but they're just not going to be there. And it's like they were at church. They, they served, they were on staff, they were a pastor. Why are they not here? I, I believe 100% that's going to be the case.

Oh, no question.

If it wasn't the case, why would Jesus be writing these seven letters to these seven churches to which at the end he says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Know who he's talking to there. You, me, everybody who's listening right now. Everybody who has a Bible, everybody who's ever read this verse, this chapter, this passage on the dead church, the church of Sardis. He's saying, if you have an ear, hear what the Spirit is saying because it's a warning to all of us. And guess what? If this doesn't apply to us, we'll move on to one of the other seven churches and make sure that doesn't apply to either.

Right? Yeah, absolutely true. As, as you even.

Well, let me back step church of Philadelphia. That's where I want to be. All right, so that's one of the other six churches with Philadelphia. That's where I want to be.

There we go.

There we go. Yeah.

But as you continue to go through and encourage you guys to, you know, read through this, you know, well, you know, after this, sometime over this weekend, just read through Revelation 3 because it's, it's so cool that I think it's just cool that Jesus is mentioning soiled garments in this, knowing that that's, like, what they're known for.

Yeah.

It's like the detail in this is just so cool.

Yeah. Even being watchful, this city was conquered two times in its history already in the sixth century B.C. cyrus the Great, before he conquered the Babylonian empire, he came through Sardis, and he, he actually offered money to any of his soldiers that could find a way to defeat the city because there was such high, steep cliffs surrounding the city that it seemed like the perfect defense. And one of his soldiers, it was just kind of spying out and saw one of the guards at the top, dropped his helmet down and saw him, like, go down this hidden trail and say, okay, there is a trail that we could get up. So they, they orchestrated, they planned, and they went up this trail one night. Lo and behold, there was no guards up there because they, they were overconfident in the natural defense system.

Right. Yeah.

So they were overtaken. And then 300 years later, Antiochus Epiphanies, he did the same thing, right?

Yeah.

So two times the city was overtaken by enemies because they weren't watchful.

Yes. Yet they, so they become complacent, you know, fat and sassy.

Yeah.

So to say.

And overconfident. Like, if you're overconfident in your salvation, I, I, I know that I'm saved. I don't want to become overconfident in it, though. Every single day, I want to get up and cry out to the Lord. Part of that, denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus daily, is that taking up your cross, that, that's, that's crucifying.

Yes.

Like, like, like putting to death sin in my life.

Right.

Making sure I'm not just turning to Christ, but running to Christ, running to the cross every single day, like I did that first day. I got saved.

Yes.

Right. It's every single day. I don't want to be so confident where it's like, no, I got this. I'm going to put my feet up.

Yeah.

And that's not legalism. That, that's me. That's me. Just my desire for the Lord and my love for the Lord. And I want that because, guess what? When you do that, you have that intimacy with the Lord when you do that every single day. And I want that intimacy.

Yes. And the need to do that too, when you mentioned just be watchful immediately would come to my mind, is like, you know, the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Yeah.

Right. So it's like you.

If.

If you are a. A Christian, you have a very real enemy that is. Is roaring around or prowling around like a roaring lion looking for you to devour. And that's just, you know, why we need to be on the offense every single day. Right. Certainly on the defense. But the thing about defense is, like, we're, We're. We're on guard, which I guess is good, but we're not taking territory. We're not continually advancing the kingdom of heaven, which is what we're called to do. And so when you get up every morning and you know, physically, I just always think of the, the armor of, of God. Right. It's like I'm. I'm picturing myself putting on the Harmon helmet of salvation, the belt of truth. Right. Breastplate of righteousness. Like, man, if we were intentional with that every day this year, what. What would our life look like? Right? Yes. Being watchful.

Yep. Yeah. So. And there was a few good ones in there. When it says that everybody that I find your worst, remember therefore how you've received, heard, hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief in the night. And you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments. Again, that garments reference. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy also in that time to, to worship these, these pagan gods. You couldn't worship them if he had dirty clothes on. Right? So. So they'll. They're going to walk with me. They. They haven't defiled their garments. And know what's beautiful about Jesus Christ is no matter how dirty my actual garments are, he sees me as pure. Yeah. Spotless without a blemish.

No.

Like I'm. I'm in pure white. As long as I. I've repented and I have no unconfessed sin. If you walk around with, like, unforgiveness, if there's unconfessed sin in your life, you need to confess like that, that first act of crying out to the Lord, that first repentance, that, that first confession of sins that doesn't cover everything you do for the rest of your life, Jesus died for, for every sin that that was, is, and will be for sure. But if I have unconfessed sin, I. I want to be forgiven of that sin and I want to be cleansed of that unrighteousness. Right. So it's like if you start dabbling in sin, imagine if we could just have some sort of glasses that we could put on and see people not naked, but like, not with the regular clothes on.

Right.

But just like the garments that. That Jesus sees us in. And we see people who's like, oh, I knew that was a devout believer. I knew he was faithful to Jesus. Pure white. Pure white. Then you see one, it's just got that little. You know, you ever wash, like, it an undershirt, you throw it in with the darks, accidentally, it comes back just a little bit off white. It's like, oh, that person's got a little bit of sin in their life. I hope they nip it in the bud now. Yeah. Because a little leaven leavens the whole loaf.

Right.

I hope they don't go down that path of continual sinning and willful sinning. And then my guess is you're going to see some people who, you know, they. They walk the walk. You think they're the most saved person on earth. At least they think so themselves. And that thing is just black. It's just black linen.

Yeah, yeah. Because in. In scripture, I think it's important for us to remember this, that garments represent how you live. Right. Revelation 16 says, Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments. James says true religion is to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Right. And the world is actually what stains us. Right. And the Church of Sardis specifically, I mean, they just stopped caring about the stains.

Yeah.

Right. And it's. It's again, just back to what we see a lot in a lot of churches is like, there's, there's not correction. There's nothing. I don't know. Correction's the right word. I was gonna say confrontation, because they're just, they're. They're okay with it.

Yeah.

It's like, you know, well, that's fine. You know, you get better. Right. And it's like, no, you need to have a person in your life or surround yourself with people that are going to hold you accountable.

Yeah. Things. Yeah. You know, Lucy and I both wore all white when we got married. Did you? Because of this. Yeah. I mean, looking back at the pictures.

Now, it's like, whoa, I remember that ponytail.

Yeah, I did have a ponytail.

And Jason, if you've got that photo, bro, put it on this thing.

Jace does not have.

Come on, come on, you can do it.

I don't think I've ever posted that anywhere.

Oh, I know I have it somewhere.

Really?

Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna send it to Jace for post production to get it.

In here for some, some Instagram clips.

Yes, please, please, Chase.

But yeah, and it wasn't because, like. And it's kind of funny that that's why a bride's supposed to wear white. Right. Because they're pure and you know, and in God's perfect will. A virgin.

Right?

Yeah. And then you see women who are just hold it up even the night before, before their wedding, come down, oh, sleeping with the, the best man and stuff like that. Come down. That pure white, horrible. Yeah. Horror. Yeah, it is. Oh, man.

And I think what's just with what we're talking about, like correcting and.

You.

Know, having that person that's accountable in your life is so important. Right. And, and when you just think about the leadership role in your life, if you don't have somebody like that, it's. It's going to be so important for you. I mean, we each have that. We are for that, for each other. Because it's, I mean, if, if you're looking to grow, just find somebody else that's gone before you. Right. Not putting your faith in man. Because I mean, you can see it today that so many pastors and who you think are like, holier than thou, like, they got some stains on their garments. Right. So it's not putting your faith in man at all. And I think that, you know, affects a lot of believers and becoming like, oh, well, that just wasn't real. So I don't believe this. It's like, well, then, hold on. Your faith was not in God. It wasn't in Jesus, wasn't in the Word. It was in that human being. Right, right. And that's a very line, a very fine line, I think that you need to be, you know, watchful of as well.

Yeah. And we do have a measure of discernment. You know, discernment is a gift, discernment of spirits. And there's times where you could, you could walk into a church and just be like, something's off here. Something ain't right. And even specifically towards the, the pastor like something's off there, but sometimes it comes out of the blue, you find out, like, a pastor did something egregious, and it's like, oh, my gosh. It's like. It's like, where's my discerner?

Right.

Like, I didn't see that one coming.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah. I mean, we've had that happen in our lives. Not that long ago, it was like, what, the dirt?

Yeah.

How did we not.

Yeah.

I mean, not that we spent all that much time with that gentleman, but.

Yeah.

It's wild. Yeah, it's. But it's.

Afterwards, you kind of piece it together, you're like, okay. I. I kind of see, but at the end of the day, it's like, okay. Didn't expect that.

Yeah. Yeah. So I think what's cool in this, too, is that what Jesus is saying here. He's not just, like, diagnosing the problem.

Yeah.

But he's also. He offers mercy in this. Right. He's like, wake up.

Yeah.

Strengthen what remains. Remember what you received at first. We talked about remembering a few weeks back a lot.

Right.

On the. I was gonna say rest again.

Reflect.

Reflect. Review, relaunch. Right. Just the importance of remembering. Right. Remembering that. That your first love. Right. That'd be Laodicea in that letter. Right?

Ephesus.

Ephesus. See?

Yeah.

Well, I'm glad I've got you here. Should have attended Bible study every Wednesday. But remembering that first love. Yeah. And. And it. And this is why the Bible is so cool, is that it doesn't just give you the rules and restrictions and what you can and can't do, but there's. It's. It's a. It's direction. Right. And that's what Jesus does. Offer us mercy. Meaning, hey, we don't get what we deserve, but instead he gives us grace. Means we get more than we deserve. Right. And that's why it's so impactful and just important that you're reading the Word for yourself and spending that time. Right.

Yeah. So when Jesus goes on and says, he who overcomes. Right. For. For all these churches aside from Philadelphia, he. He lists what he condemns. But if you overcome, you could correct this, so you could still be dead. And this is probably the most dangerous one, because when you're dead, but don't believe you're dead, you're. You're in a pretty dangerous place.

Yeah.

It's kind of like pride and why that's the most dangerous sin and why that leads you down the path of other sin. Because one of the symptoms of pride is you don't know that you're prideful. Yep. So you don't know that you're dead. But there's still hope. I love that just the. The mercy of God is on display here where there's still hope. And. And guess what? You could turn from this. You could overcome, you could repent, you could come back to me or maybe come to me for the first time. And I will not blot out your name from the book of life. I will confess your name and say it's his name. But this is what Jesus said. I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. And then again, it's like he says this after every letter to all the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So important for us to. To take that. This literally. And this book of Revelation, it's so good. It's the only book that promises you'll be blessed if you read it.

Yeah.

Yeah. It says that in chapter one.

Wow.

So it's like, interesting. A lot of people shy away from the book of Revelation. Yeah. Because it can be hard to understand, especially if you're just getting into scripture for the first time. You're like, oh, what.

What the heck is this?

What's this woman on a dragon? Like, this is strange. But you can get on Wednesday morning Bible studies and. Yeah. Replays on the YouTube channel. And if you watch on YouTube and you just put a comment in there or go to the website, get on our email list, you can find a way to get in touch with us. DM me. DM Riley. We have notes for, for every Bible study. Yeah. So I, I know 2025. I made sure that, that my notes were in there. Accessible. Accessible, yes. For folks on Google Drive link. So if anybody wants to go back, just look at all the notes. Yeah. And if it's not me or mine, that there's plenty of great pastors, teachers, there's great commentaries out there. There's great resources. Utilize them. Utilize them.

Yeah, absolutely. That's again, comes back to just you taking the, the first step. Right. It has to be you that. That wants to go deeper and wants to know and wants to understand.

So I, I don't understand a Christian that doesn't have a hunger for the word, because if you really have any.

Well, again, it's. It's back to do you identify as a Christian or are you a Christian?

Right, right, right.

No difference.

I go through seasons where I get up and it's like, I Don't know what to read today, and you kind of lose some of that from time to time. But in general, I. There's a hunger for the Word. Every time I read it, even going through this again, I. I have freaking 16 pages of notes from when I. I taught these six verses. And just going over it again and again. And even last time when I was up, when. Went to church with you, you know that it was the pastor's wife speaking, and she spoke about this like, this is God's word.

Yeah.

No matter how many times you read it, every time you read it, you're getting fresh, Mana.

It's alive.

Yeah. You're getting your fill for the day. And every time you read scripture, God just finds a way to reveal more of himself to you in different ways.

Yep.

Yeah, I, I think I've mentioned it. Oh, go ahead.

I was going to say, which just comes back to just commanding the morning. Right. As we talked about. And it's just like if you're, if you don't. If you're not getting fed first thing in the morning, your first fruits to the Lord, like, change that.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't. There's not an excuse other than it's prioritization in your life. Right. If it's important to you, you will make it a priority.

Yeah. Yeah. It's so good to help with your perspective for the day. You can wake up and in the first 30 seconds of your day, set yourself up for such a stressful day. Stressful day. Right. Your to do list. What. What are you anxious about? What are you fearful about? What's given? What caused you to have the, the restless night's sleep the night before? But I never. I, I pray for Ezzy every night and I pray. I've mentioned it, you know, not every night now because he's. He's getting older and maturing and he's developing like his own prayer life. And so we don't pray, like, every body part every night. Yeah. But when I. I pray for his eyes, I pray for him to, to, to not see life through a carnal lens. To see through a spiritual lens, like Elijah's servant.

Right. Yeah.

Where, you know, Elijah prayed that he may see in the Spirit. And he did. He saw all the, The, the, the chariots and all the, the angels that were surrounding them, protecting them from the, the natural invasion that was happening.

Yeah.

It's like I, when you look at life through that, that lens, it's remarkable. That's like almost miraculous in itself. Just how your perception could change. No circumstance changes, but when your perception changes and you start to see things the way God sees. Sees things, there's so much peace. Why. Why would you ever have a worry in your life?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that, that again, just comes back to the perspective. And also just hopefully the, the conviction here is that if your life hasn't been transformed, once you prayed the prayer, this is where you have to question like, am I truly a follower of Jesus? Right. And if you guys haven't gathered just from what we've been talking about, like the American church here, or excuse me, the church of Sardis is like the American church is a reflection of this. Right? Again, very affluent, very comfortable, especially here in America. Right. So many Christians are seeking comfort versus the, the calling that God has on their life. We talked about this a few weeks ago as well. Yeah, right. We want to be entertained and, and not, not challenged. Right. It's like, I've got so much going on. I don't need to do this too, like. No, no, no. This is, this is priority number one. This should be right. And, and this is where to put a kind of a bow on this. And then I'm hoping you can provide us with just like some practical. What do I do out of this? Yeah, but the, the hope in this, right, it's, it's, this is clearly a warning that Jesus has given us here. But the hope of this is that he says that the one who overcomes will be clothed in white. Right? And he's never going to blot out their name from the book of life. Right? And so, but we have to overcome, right? We have to. The, there is a remnant. There's always a remnant. Right. And the, the point of this isn't to condemn us, but to awaken us. That again, the eternality of hell is real. The judgment seat of Christ is real. The Bema seat. Right? This is like where, hey, we are going to be accountable there. There's the great White Throne judgment, which is, do I get in or not? Right? That's one. And then that for, for followers of Jesus, there's a second judgment that's going to take place. And this is what did you do with what I gave you?

Yeah.

Right. And, and this is where we're going to be accountable for every word we said or we didn't say and every action we did or we didn't do. And at the end of that, what matters is the fruit.

Yeah.

Was there fruit in your life? Right. And, and that, I think, is just a challenge, hopefully a Conviction for our, our listeners here. That dude, let's go freaking till the ground. Let's get some fruit going here.

Amen.

Right?

Yeah, amen.

So what are some practical, like, takeaways?

Yeah. So self examination, Right? It's where we have to be. We should always be inwardly. We talked about that a couple weeks ago, you know, even in the reflect review.

Relaunch.

Relaunch, yes. Yeah. It's contagious.

I know, right?

Yeah. So Second Corinthians 13:5 says, examine yourselves as to whether you're in the faith.

Right.

Like we're literally instructed to do this. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified? So here's some questions to, to ask. 1. Have you placed your faith in Jesus alone for salvation? We, we all know. Maybe we don't all know John 3:16, but for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Right. Romans 10, 9, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Right. So true salvation is by faith in Jesus alone. And this, this faith, this belief, you know, if we, this John 3:16.

Hold on. But even the demons believe, right?

So this believe in the Greek pastuo. Yeah.

Right.

It's different than just, just believing. It's not a head knowledge. It's not an acknowledgment that, yeah, Jesus is real, he died for my sins. It's to, to truly trust in Jesus, to truly rely and depend upon him, and to truly cling to him. That's really what it means in the Greek bestuo, to trust in, to rely on, to cling to.

Yes.

So if that's not your definition of believe, when you read any verses in the New Testament about believing in Jesus, that's how you need to interpret it. Second question is, is, have you actually repented and turned from your sin? Acts 3:19 says, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. And Second Corinthians 7:10 says, for godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. Right. There's a godly sorrow and there's a worldly sorrow where it's like, yeah, I feel bad about it. Yeah, I'm sorry. But then there's that godly sorrow where you're like, no, I, I, I, I just grieve the heart of our Creator. Yeah, you know, and you repent and God is so Good that it doesn't matter. I don't care what you're repenting of. I don't care what the sin was. It could be the most heinous thing on planet Earth. If you truly repent and confess that you're going to be forgiven. Yes.

Amen.

Third question ask yourself, is, do you see evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life? Romans 8:16. The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit, that we are children of God. Right. So the Spirit himself will bear witness with our spirit. So what does that mean? That there's. It's going to be evident that the Holy Spirit lives within you. Right. The. The Holy Spirit is infectious. Like people. You could almost tangibly feel the presence of the Holy Spirit when you're around spirit filled men and women. And then of course, Galatians 5, 22 and 23. Do you have the fruit of the Spirit, the love, joy, peace. I wrote in here, long suffering. But love, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control, longsuffering.

You miss gentleness?

I didn't say that.

No, I don't think so.

Oh, long suffering doesn't flow in the veggie tails.

Right.

So the. The Holy Spirit will. Will convict you, will guide you, will transform you, and there's always going to be spiritual growth by way of the Holy Spirit. It's not just get. 2nd Corinthians 5:17. If anyone is in crises, a new creation, all things pass away, all things become new. But that doesn't mean there's still not growth and still not transformation day by day by day. Right?

Yeah. Sanctification, meaning that the desires of the flesh could still be there. Right?

Right.

It's not. You may not have a radical experience like you had, where it's just like you were delivered from the addiction. For some, it's like, no, we are. We. This is. This is our sanctification process. Right. It's like, well, I still desire to look at porn, or I still, you know, desire to go have sex. Right. Like, that's a real thing, especially for dudes. Right, Right. I imagine women too. But it's like, this is the conviction that the Holy Spirit provides. But again, back to the grace. It's. It's the grace of God that. That allows you to overcome that. Right. And when you feed your spirit and deny the flesh, it does get easier and easier and easier.

Yeah. First Corinthians 10:13.

We're.

We're not tempted any differently than before we're saved or anybody who's an unbeliever. But for us, we had. We. We have a way to fight it.

Yes.

We have the Holy Spirit. Yes. And there's never an excuse for us to. To give in to our sin. If we give in to our sin, it's. We didn't utilize what God has given us to ward off that temptation.

Yep.

Yeah.

Scripture tells us that he will always give us a way out. There's always a way out.

Yeah.

Right. We're sometimes told to flee from sexual temptation. Like, you got to just go get out of that environment.

Yeah.

Right.

Be like Joseph and Potiphar's house.

Yes.

Like, no, I'm out.

Y.

Right.

Yep.

But even with that, this is how good God is. He doesn't say, I gave you the tool. You didn't use it, so you're done. I'm not forgiving you for this. You didn't utilize the tool that I gave you. Still, if we still mess up and still confess and repent and turn to Him, He. He wipes the slate clean.

Yes.

We're back to that. That pure, white, fresh linen.

Thank you.

Right.

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. 4. Do you love Jesus and obey his word? You referenced this earlier. John 14:15. If you love me, keep my commandments. What are the commandments? And you mentioned it's not legalism. No. What. What are the two commandments? Everything boils down to love the Lord your God. Yeah.

I don't know if you're actually asking me.

Yeah. With all your. Your heart, soul, minor strength and love.

Is love your neighbor as yourself. Yes.

Right.

It's easy to love ourselves. Right, right, right.

And Then First John 2, verses 3 through 4, say, now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. It's like, how do you. How do you know. How do you know yourself? If I really know Jesus. Oh, I keep his commandments. It's like, okay. It's pretty black and white right there.

Yeah.

Right. Obedience doesn't save you, but it does prove that you're saved.

Absolutely. Yeah. And. And if Holy Spirit is. Is dwelling within you, it will convict you of sins, of unknown sins. Right. Because there's a lot of things. If you're new to the faith, it's like, you may not even know that. Like, oh, that's bad. Right. But we know those things by reading the Word, but then also just asking the Lord, like, reveal. Reveal these areas in my life, God, that anywhere that I fall short.

Right.

And Holy Spirit will convict you on those things.

Yeah. No question. Closely to the James verse. Faith without works is dead. Yeah. It doesn't mean that like works is a part of our salvation. It's by faith and faith alone.

Yep.

But by grace.

Right.

It's God's grace through faith now. But if we are saved, works, will 100 be the, the natural outpouring, the, the fruit that comes from that?

Yep.

And I mean, keep in mind, when people get caught up in the there's works issue, like we were created, we are God's workmanship. He created us for good works. He's got a plan for us to work out. So if we are saved, if we have true faith, works is going to be a part of it.

Yes, absolutely. That's good. That's good. I never heard that before.

That's good. I just kind of thought about just going to put two and two together. Holy Spirit, to work out like that.

Come on.

5. Do you have a desire for God's word in prayer? First Peter 2. 2 says, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. Right. And that's. That, that's part of the sanctification process. Like we all start as babes in Christ.

Yeah.

And one of the things that I always want to hold on to is that fire I had for Jesus when I was a babe. When you have that radical encounter and it's radical if you're made a new creation, even if you didn't go from like 14 year drug addict to completely sober, delivered in an instant. Even if it's not radical like that, still radical. You're becoming a new creation. Yes, it's radical.

Right.

And then there's. That's why I said there should be a hunger for, for the Word. It's like I, I just had this encounter and this. I was actually able to fellowship and commune with the one and only true God, the creator of all the universe. And you have this intimacy. It's like, I want to get to know him. Yeah. Thank God we have the Bible. Yep. And then I'll, I'll move on. I know we're, we're over time here. Number six. Do you love fellow believers? First John 3:14. Like you said, this is the hard one. It's loving your neighbors.

Right.

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Oh, so that, that's, that's the first John. I mean, you'll notice a lot of these verses. They. Well, Book of Revelation, John.

Yeah.

Gospel of John, John, first John, Second John, Third John, John. All very similar. If you want to know where to start in the Bible? If you just got saved? Start in the Gospel of John.

I thought you'd say Leviticus.

And then John 13:35, Jesus saying, By. By. This all will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, everyone's gonna know you're. You're a Christian. Everybody, I'm sure. I mean.

Yep.

I mean, people sure knew I was a real prick. Yeah. Before. Yeah. Usually say it with a D. Yeah. It doesn't feel like a curse word to me, so I'm not really convicted. I don't want to say it for, you know, for the air here, but is prick any better?

I don't know.

I don't know.

You prick your finger, you can't.

Number seven. Do you persevere in faith? Matthew 24:13. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. Philippians 1:6. He who has begun a good work, and you will complete it until the day of Jesus. If you're a true believer, you're not walking away from your faith. You may have those seasons, but know that God started to work it in you. He's the author and finisher of our faith. He's going to complete it. Right. He's faithful to us. We may have seasons where we're in that valley season, that desert season, but one. One of the ways we know that we're saved is we endure.

Yes.

When it just feels hard to get up and pray, hard to get up and get on. There's. There's times. And anybody who goes to church has seen this happen. There's somebody who doesn't show up a couple weeks. Right. Because they're. They're probably in that season. It's hard for them. They don't want to go to church. They feel like when you're in that season, you go to church and you just get pissed off at everybody who's. Who's praising the Lord, saying. And everybody's dancing, and everybody's like, life is good for everybody. You're just like, right. And then you want to isolate yourself, which is what the enemy wants you to do. Because when you isolate yourself, you could attack more easily.

Easily.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

And that spirit of heaviness, we're told to put on a garment of praise again. It's another act that.

Right.

We need to do. Right. So if you're feeling heavy, put on that garment of praise. Right. And also for anybody that's listening, that's like questioning, am I really saved? I think it's a It's a good thing that you, you are actually even questioning it. Right. Because that's Holy Spirit conviction. Right, Right. So the ones that don't question it are the, you know, they're the ones in trouble, most likely.

Yeah.

Right. It's. But if you're, if you, if you're questioning it, I mean, maybe it's what we've just talked about today is something where it's like, oh, man, I'm not right. I need to wake up. But if, if I think every believer probably has this question at some point where it's like, am I really saved? Is, you know, is this, is this real? That's a good thing, right?

Yeah.

Because I would, I would argue that that's. Yes, you are.

Right.

But also it's a wake up call.

Right?

Like, okay, I want to, I want to pursue my pursuer.

And God wants us to be sure that we're saved. Have no doubts about it. Right. Not to be overconfident in it, not to be cocky about it, but to be sure.

Yes.

Last verse we'll leave you guys with is 1st John 5, 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Yeah, God wants us to, to know.

Yeah.

Like, he doesn't want to say every day like, am I really saved? You know, he wants us to know that he's written this all out. And with all the verses we just went through, it's clear if you're lacking in any of those things, like maybe you're, you're lacking endurance, you're going through something, you're lacking endurance. That doesn't mean you're not saved. If you're in a season, you're lacking endurance that, like, you're fighting the fight, but it just is harder right now. That doesn't mean you're not saved. But ask yourself all these questions and see where you're at with this. Because like, I read that, that first verse in Second Corinthians, we are to examine ourselves. Yeah. To, to make sure. Like, like we check off all these boxes.

Yes. Yes, that's good. So I know we're a little long today, guys, but again, as I mentioned before, I encourage you to go through Revelation, chapter three, the church of Sardis. And yeah, all these John, first John, second John, third John.

Yeah.

Revelation, all great books. A lot of, a lot of scriptures that you just quoted out of them. And so hopefully this was encouraging for you guys. And that's what we're going to continue to do every week this year is, you know, bring a topic or what's going on in the world, but talk about it through a kingdom perspective. Today we wanted it to be like, hey, are you, are you alive? Do you appear to be alive, but are spiritually dead, or are you actually alive? Yeah, right.

Amen. If you have questions about this, if you aren't being discipled, if you don't have a home church, reach out to us.

Yes.

Reach out to us.

Resource you up like no other.

Yes.

So, yes, absolutely. Join Kingscouncil.com Happy to get you all those resources. That being said, you guys have an incredible weekend and we will see you next Friday.

Peace. See you.