Conclusion on the Seven Churches

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God took a nation of slaves and He did everything possible to elevate them to the stature of a great nation… only to have His own people turn against Him. So, God made their name a matter of scorn and reproach among the nations.

 

Think about this: Jesus came to earth as a Jew. He came at a time when the Romans despised the Jews. Jesus came to Earth to share the suffering that His people were experiencing. But, His own people and the Romans put him to death! 

 

Pilate put the title of Jesus on the cross in three languages.

 

John 19:19    Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

 

John 19:20   Many of the Jews read the sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.

 

John 19:21   The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that his man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

 

John 19:22   Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.”

I love this point: A pagan governor recognized who Jesus was and He declared His title in three languages so that everyone might know the true identity of Jesus. Jesus is still king of the Jews, but the term “Jew” is not a race….. it is a type of heart, an attitude.

 

Romans 2:28   A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

 

Romans 2:29   No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

 

This is why Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan in Philadelphia. This is why Jesus declared those claiming to be Jews were liars. The point here is that God is not perplexed about the church we attend. God is not concerned about our biological heritage. God does not respect our ethnicity. God is not impressed with our education or possessions. To God, the human race is one race. When it comes to race, there is no distinction as far as he is concerned between Jew and Gentile. (There was a distinction at one time, when Israel was appointed as the trustee of His covenant, but He later abandoned this distinction.)

 

However, there remains a sharp distinction between the children of Abraham and the children of the devil:

 

John 8:39   “Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did.

 

John 8:40   As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.

    

John 8:41   You are doing the things your own father does.” “We are not illegitimate children (like you are),” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

 

John 8:42   Jesus said unto them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own;  but he who sent me.

 

John 8:43   Why is my language not clear to you? Because (of your self-righteousness) you are unable to hear what I say.

 

John 8:44   You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

 

We see that salvation boils down to an attitude. Those who love “truth” keep searching for more truth. God’s children have an attitude of “tell me more!” I want to know everything about God that I can absorb!

John 3:19   This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil.

 

John 3:20   Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

 

John 3:21   But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

 

Don’t be fooled. “The synagogue of Satan” controversy has not ended. The conflict with self-righteousness continues in most churches.

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