Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
“Florida Conference 2005, Part 3. The Church at Sardis.â€.
Saturday AM, March 5, 2005
The first of the seven spirits = God the Holy Spirit as the power system.
The second of the seven spirits = God the Holy Spirit giving us the ability, as He gave our Lord, to apply doctrine to experience in the various testings of life.
Understanding – binah = the perception of doctrine.
The spirit of Counsel – `etsah = plan or purpose.
Number five – the spirit of strength, ISA 11:2, gebuwrah = both motivational and functional virtue, produced by God the Holy Spirit in the incarnate Christ, produced in His humanity resulting in impeccability.
Number six – the Spirit of Knowledge – da`ath = our Lord’s ability to interpret the trends of history during the First Advent, or discernment.
Number seven – the fear of the Lord – yirah = the fear of the Lord meaning awe, respect.
The seven stars = the teaching pastors of the Church-age, seven being the number of completion and the finished work.
Not every pastor is a star because the function of a star is to give light and not every pastor is giving light to the Church.
The pastor-teacher is called a competent minister of the New Testament, 2CO 3:5-6, but their sufficiency and adequacy is not from themselves but from the Mentorship ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The pastors of the Church-age are called stars because the stars in the celestial heavens were actually once the voice God used to communicate His word all over the earth.
Before the scriptural record there was the Stellar record, the record or the witness of the stars.
1. A false reputation for spirituality and maturity is a sign of cosmic involvement related to the function of hypocrisy.
2. To live by one’s reputation with people apart from integrity and virtue is to be a cosmic believer.
3. The only reputation that counts is the believer’s reputation with God. We cannot be deceived.
4. It is impossible to have a good name or reputation with God apart from consistent residence and function inside the PPOG, and that includes consistent perception of Bible doctrine.
5. The believers of Sardis involved in the cosmic system talk a good fight, which means they have been exposed to excellent doctrinal teaching.
6. To talk a good fight, the believer only has to know the doctrinal vocabulary.
7. It is easy for the cosmic believer to talk a good fight, but it is difficult for the positive believer to fight a good fight.
“Keep defrauding” – pres-act-imp – katabrabeuo = to act as an umpire “against” you.
The judge at the games is called “brabeus.”
The prize was called “brabeion.”
1CO 9:24 do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize [brabeion]?
Phil 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize [brabeion] of the upward call in Christ Jesus.
Moses was in conflict with them in Egypt and in the desert with Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Jeremiah was fighting with them in Judah.
Ezekiel faced them and called them “foolish prophets” that have followed their own spirit and have seen nothing.
The apostle Paul called them “preachers of another gospel,” Gal 1, and purveyors of the doctrines of demons, 1Tim 4:1.
2PE 2:1 – false prophets who arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies,
PSA 94:8 Pay heed, you senseless among the people; and when will you understand, stupid ones!
JER 4:22 They are foolish, they do not know me, they are stupid children and they have no understanding of doctrine,
JER 10:21 For the shepherds have become stupid and have not sought the Lord; therefore, they have not prospered and all their flock is scattered.
The Pharisees were basically the religious spiritual leaders!
The Sadducees were primarily into politics.
The “shoulder” Pharisee – he wore his good deeds upon his shoulder and paraded the good that he did.
The “procrastinating Pharisee” – knew “what” he should be doing but he could always come up with a spiritual reason or maybe even a Bible verse to put off doing something good.
The bruised and bleeding Pharisee who thought it was a sin to look at a woman and therefore, whenever women were around he would bend over and close his eyes and he kept running into walls.
The “hump-back tumbling” Pharisee – he wanted to demonstrate his humility, so he slouched way over and bent his back and walked around all day in that so-called humble position.
COL 2:18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement.
The “ever reckoning” Pharisee who kept count of all of his good deeds so that he would know what God owed him in terms of blessing.
The “fearing” Pharisee who did what he did because he was scared to death of going to Hell and being judged.
The God-respecting Pharisee who did what he did because he thought it was right to do it, and he had integrity to some extent.