Part 4 Seven Churches in Revelation… A Case Study in Love Grown Cold
GOD’S WAY BIBLE STUDY
The Seven Churches In the Book of Revelation... An Explanatory Case Study of Love Grown Cold
Part 4
Tuesday May 06, 202
Deuteronomy 32:1-4 NKJV
"Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. [2] Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. [3] For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. [4] He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.
What are the biggest obstacles to loving God?
Wrong beliefs about God,
If we believe things about God which are not true, we put ourselves at the risk of
Imagining and loving not the true God, but a figment of our own imagination.
Habakkuk 2:18 NLT
"What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you? How foolish to trust in your own creation- a god that can't even talk!
2. Having unfounded expectations in Him. When those expectations are disappointed, they hate God.
3. Teaching errors about God, thereby misleading people.
eg believing in the power but not in the righteousness of God, the love but not the judgment of God
Deuteronomy 32:3 NKJV
For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God.
Ascribe: to say or think that (something) is caused by, comes from, or is
associated with a particular person or thing
Job 36:3 NKJV
I will fetch my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe righteousness to my
Maker.
Job 34:10,12,17 NKJV
"Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: Far be it from God to
do wickedness, And from the Almighty to commit iniquity.
[12] Surely God will never do wickedly, Nor will the Almighty pervert
justice.
[17] Should one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn Him who is
most just?
Genesis 18:25 NKJV
Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You!
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Jobs' friends' good intentions did not excuse their wrong thoughts and wrong speech about God.
Job 42:7 NKJV
And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.
It’s the thought that counts has a deeper meaning here. It ought to be
the right thought or it will lead to bad outcomes.
Wrong thoughts about God will lead to a wrong world view.
Reasons for a wrong view of God.
Ignorance
Hosea 4:6 NLT
My people are being destroyed because they don't know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.
The priesthood of all believers makes each of us responsible for seeking a true and growing knowledge of God.
Revelation 5:9-10 NLT
And they sang a new song with these words: "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. [10] And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth."
Pastors, teachers and other ministries are given to help us grow in our knowledge of God, but the responsibility remains on each of our shoulders.
You can teach your students, but you cannot learn for your students.
Ephesians 4:11-13 LSB
And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, [12] for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,
Pastors and teachers equip us, so we can do the work.
They build us up, but we need to do the “growing up”.
2. Mistaking “Free” for “Value-free".
21 Century Christians have less excuse for ignorance than previous generations.
Free access to knowledge will not help those who do not value knowledge.
It takes wisdom to know wisdom.
Then it takes effort to
Luke 11:31 NLT
"The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here-but you refuse to listen.
Traveling from Sheva to see Solomon in Jerusalem was not cheap for the queen.
Being part of a rabbinical school was not a cheap venture.
Each of us must do the work… put in the time to study the word for ourselves. Teachers will know those who put in the work not only by their comprehension but by the quality of their questions.
3. Not Spending Time with the Holy Spirit
In addition to, and even beyond pastors and teachers, we have the Holy Spirit.
John 16:12-13 NLT
"There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now. [13] When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
1 John 2:26-27 NLT
I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. [27] But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true-it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
The Holy Spirit is not given as a substitute for teachers and pastors, but as protection against false teachers. The preceding verse was written to combat errant teachers who were teaching from an agnostic worldview.
1 John 2:18-21 NLT
Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. [19] These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. [20] But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. [21] So I am writing to you not because you don't know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies.
4. Conceit, arrogance
2 Kings 7:1-2 NLT
Elisha replied, "Listen to this message from the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver.’" [2] The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, "That couldn't happen even if the LORD opened the windows of heaven!" But Elisha replied, "You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won't be able to eat any of it!"
Conceit and arrogance will not seek to learn of God, but would rather try to make God in its own image.
5. Self-righteousness (No one is as confident as the self-righteous.)
Luke 10:29 ESV
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
A little self doubt is healthy. It makes us more reliant on God.
In order to gain a correct view of God, we need to embrace the total counsel of God.
Acts 20:27 NKJV
For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
God’s Two Sides
There are two sides to God.
He is both our loving Father and the fair judge of the earth.
He is to be loved and to be revered.
He is to be approached with confidence, yet with holiness.
The Bible describes the two sides using
different words… goodness and severity, mercy and judgment.
We must learn of, relate with and preach about the two sides of God.
Half of God is not God. It is a mutant, a monstrosity
Romans 11:22 NKJV
Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell,
severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness.
Otherwise you also will be cut off.
James 2:13 NKJV
For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.
In His self-introduction to Moses, God reveals His two sides.
Exodus 34:5-7 NKJV
Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and
proclaimed the name of the LORD. [6] And the LORD passed before him
and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, [7] keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means
clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."
Any presentation of the God that overemphasizes one side above the
other is dangerous, no matter how noble or kind the intentions may
be.
Desiring to make God more attractive, more approachable, modern
preachers emphasize God’s goodness and diminish His severity.
Wanting to scare people straight, many old time preachers preached
only fire and brimstone. Both fail to reveal why Paul called the whole
counsel of God.
Acts 20:27 NLT
for I didn't shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.
