Thank you Jeanette. Revelation 3. Revelation chapter
3. Let's read the first six verses. Revelation 3. This is the fifth
word or letter to churches. Revelation 3, let's read the
first six verses. Under the angel of the church
in Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars. I know thy works that
thou hast a name that thou livest and are dead. Be watchful and
strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. I have
not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how
thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If
therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou
hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their
garments. They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment,
and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but
I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. Preaching messages of comfort
and consolation and joy and rejoicing are much more
enjoyable. Preaching words that reprove,
rebuke, convict and admonish and chasing us are difficult. You read with me here that this
particular church at this time, the Lord, didn't have much good
to say to them. Seven different churches throughout these two chapters.
But what is said to each church applies to every church. seven
being the number of perfection. It all applies. Whatever he said
to Ephesus applies to Sardis. Whatever he said to Philadelphia
applies to Thyatira. Whatever he said to all of those
applies to every one of God's people because we all We need
the words of warning, we need the words of promise, we need
the words of rebuke, don't we? We need the words of comfort,
we need the words of admonition, we need the words of exhortation,
we need all these things, don't we? Ephesus, you've left your
first love, and we all do that. And on and on it goes. And he
commended them, he commended most of the churches. Even this
one, there's a few, he said, there's a few. But he commended
them, and God's people need to commend him. I am reminded when I read this,
I need to be reminded, that the first person he addresses in
every letter is the preacher. Right? So what is being said
to the people applies to the angel. The angel is the messenger,
it's just another word for messenger. So what I say to you and what
he says to us, says to me, we all need to know. If we be, our
Lord said in Hebrews 12, if we be without chastisement, we're
not his children. I hate to say anything in rebuke
to my children. I don't do it with Hannah, she's
a grown woman and a mother. But the grandchildren now, at
times, they need a little bit of rebuke. And I hate it. It
grieves me. You know, I'd whole lots rather
commend them. You know what I'm talking about.
But we need it now. And be thankful if you receive
it. The church at Stardust was in
a bad state, obviously. We're in a bad state at this
time. The Lord said there's only a few that we're not in a bad
way at this time. You know, preaching the word
is becoming more and more urgent to me. The older I get, the older
you get. You know, the majority of this
congregation is over 50. It's an older congregation. So much more as I see the day
approaching, not only the nearness of our Lord's return, but you
all are... My, my, John's 80, Nancy's 80,
these people were 50 when I came here. And so we're all getting
old, aren't we? We don't have much time left. This ought to be more urgent
and serious, shouldn't it? The closer we get to eternity.
We all ought to be... Like Hebrews 4 says, we ought
to give them more earnest heed to the things we've heard lest
at any time we let them slip. And so much more as we see the
day approaching. And if we'll be watchful as he
tells us to, we can see that our Lord is near. It's so obvious
the signs of the time. And I preach to some who do not
yet know the Lord. So the message is urgent. However,
I can say this, and I don't know how many preachers can say this,
but the majority of people I preach to, I believe, know the Lord.
I look out over this congregation, and I don't know how many men
can say that, but I can, that most people I preach to seem
to know the Lord. I have confidence that they do.
That's a blessing, isn't it? But even if we do know Him, we
need this, don't we? We need this. We want this. We
want this, Lord. Let the righteous smite me, the
scripture says. It will not break my head, there
will be a kindness to me. So, these words are sobering,
warning and admonition. Verse 1, these things saith he,
who? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the word. And this is his word. He is the
voice of God. And these things saith he. Thank
God that you're reading this. Thank God that you want to read
this. Thank God, thank the Lord that
you're hearing this right now. Thank the Lord that you want
to hear this. You have an interest in it. Do
you know how few people have any interest in God's Word at
all? And so many people feign an interest
in it. It's faked, but you're serious
about this, aren't you? You must be among the chosen
few. Our Lord said, blessed are your ears, they hear. Blessed
are your eyes, they see. Oh, how blessed. We are, if we
take the Word of God to heart. These things saith he that hath
the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. We've already
seen that the seven stars are the preachers, the angels, okay? Stars, because they shed a little
light, don't they? What light do preachers shed? It's Christ, the light, right?
The gospel light. They point the way like stars
or give direction. And that's what preachers are
to do. That's the only thing they do.
Seven spirits. Seven, as you know, the Lord
chose seven as a number representing perfection. The Lord created
the heavens and the earth in six days. On the seventh day
he rested, and it means it was all complete. There's nothing
to be added to it. He said it's very good. Complete. So seven is the number
of perfection. And seven spirits of God, look
over chapter five with me. This tells us what the seven
spirits of God. Symbolic. It's just symbolic. Verse six, I beheld and lo, in
the midst of the throne of the four beasts, in the midst of
the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. So these seven spirits, God is
the Holy Spirit, right? It's one. God is spirit. They're
not seven gods, but God is perfect in his character, perfect in
his will, his works. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. He ordered it. It's all ordered
and sure. Before the world began, he ordered everything. And in
his own mind and will and purpose, it was complete. There's no contingency
plans. There's no plan B. OK? It is all perfectly ordered,
perfectly. And the seven spirits, as we
read there, are the seven eyes of God. Let me just read to you,
if I can turn quickly now, 2 Chronicles 16, 9. The eyes of the Lord run
to and fro throughout the whole earth. It says that in Zechariah
also. Psalm 11, listen to this. The
Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven, his
eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. The Lord
trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth vilest,
his soul hateth. That's Psalm 11, 5. It says God
hates. There's some people God hates.
That's what it said. But speaking of the eyes of the
Lord, what is this talking about? It's God's omniscience, meaning
he knows of, he sees of, omnipresent, everywhere, at all times. We
just read in Psalm 139, if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there.
If I ascend to the lowest parts of the earth, thou art there.
If I take a ship and go to the most remote place, he's there. It's not a word in my mouth he
doesn't know, not a thought in my head, my down city, my uprighty,
before I was born he knew everything. That's what these eyes represent.
His omniscience, his omnipresence, all knowing, all seeing, ever
present, ever present. The wicked, people of the world,
think, as the scripture says, that they can hide from God.
How does he know? He doesn't see this. evil under
cover of darkness. There is no covering of darkness. He said the light and the dark
are the same. There's no shadow under him. So that's what this is speaking
of, back in our text, Revelation 3. So these things saith he that
hath the seven spirits, seven stars, And rather than it's a
great, what should this produce in us? Knowing that God sees
everything, knows everything, every word, every thought, fear. Number one, fear. But for God's
people, comfort. Thou knowest me. There's nothing
I'm going to do, you don't know. Nothing I'm going to say, you
don't know. frame in Psalm 103, maybe one
of my favorite. He said, he remembers that we're
just dust. And like a father, pitieth his
children. Now, the Lord doesn't pity all
human beings, but he does pity his children. He knows our frame.
He knows everything about it. He knows what we're going to
do. We don't know what we're going to do tomorrow. I hope it won't bring reproach
on our Lord our family or whatever. I hope we don't sin against the
Lord, but we probably will. And he knows that. But it ought to produce fear
in us, shouldn't it? Fear. David said, take away my
reproach, which I fear. I fear, David said. I don't want
to bring reproach on the Lord. I don't want to sin against the
Lord. And he's the only one that can prevent us. But this is also
comforting, isn't it? He knows everything I've ever
done, everything I ever will do, and yet my sins and my iniquity. Now you'll smile. He said, I'll
remember no more. I've covered them. The only thing
that God can't see, the only thing that's hidden from the
all-seeing eye of God is God's people's sins. Isn't that good news? But he
knows every sin, every idle word of every human being. And they'll
be held accountable for it. Christ was held accountable for
us. All right, go on. He says, I
know thy works. I know thy works. And while he
commended the other churches, he didn't this one. He said,
you have a name that thou livest, and you're dead. My, my. I know. I know thy works. You have a name. What's that?
Well, child of God. I believe I'm a child of God.
I believe I'm a son of God. Don't you? I believe I'm one
of His children. I believe I'm a Christian. I'm not ashamed to say that. I'm a follower, a disciple of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my, my, my. There are times
when I sure don't look like it or act like it or sound like
it. Somebody once said, if being
a Christian, a child of God, was a crime, would there be enough
evidence to convict you? Is that convicting? It ought
to be. He said, now, there's some that
are actually literally dead in trespassing and sin. I preached
to some who are still dead in sins and have not heard, do not,
and have not mourned and believed and repented and confessed Christ
and believed in baptism. But I believe he's talking to
people that just appear to be dead. They go through a lifeless
time because he said, be watchful. Now, a dead man can't watch,
right? He's talking, they're hearing
him. Are you with me? I think he's
talking, I believe, I believe this is so. They were acting
like they were dead. They didn't show any signs of
life. Like our Lord said, we've mourned,
you haven't lamented, we've piped, you haven't danced. They weren't
dead in trespasses and sins, but spiritually speaking, they
seem to be lifeless. Like the Laodiceans, they were
lukewarm. He said, I would, you were hot
or cold. You're lukewarm. He said, it's sickening to me.
It makes me sick. That's what God said. And we
get like that, don't we? Unfeeling. No feeling. Dead. Spiritually dead. All right, so he says in verse
2, he says, be watchful. Strengthen the things What's
your man? He's talking to me, talking to you. Strengthen. Oh, the deadness that we get
into at times. Do you remember John Newton's
poem? We read it last, I believe it
was last Wednesday. He said this in his poem, "'Tis
a point I long to know. Often it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I his or am I not? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Surely, they can't be worse who
never heard his name. You ever get like that at times?
My heart is so hard. Prayer is a task and a burden.
I turn my eyes within and everything's dark and vain and wild. I'm filled
with unbelief and sin. Can I possibly call myself a
child? A child of God? A believer? A
Christian? A saint? Anybody get like that? We all
get like that. If you're not like that now,
you will be. You have been, or you will be. A name, Christian,
child of God. You know, it didn't take Simon
Peter long to revert right back to that
old fellow that he used to be. And he denied being a disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like that. All the Lord did was
take his hand off of him for a moment. And Simon Peter said,
you're a disciple. I am not. I don't even know that
man. The Lord did that to Simon. Had
Simon Peter do that as a warning to us that without him we can
do nothing? that never to make an idle boast,
never to lift ourselves up above our brethren. He said, they may,
but not me. Don't ever say there's something
you won't do. Don't ever say that. We're all
capable of anything. So the Lord had Simon Peter do
that to warn us to watch, to call on him always. If Simon
Peter had said, Lord, by your grace, I won't leave you. If he'd said that, Lord, Lord
said, you're going to deny me three times before the sun comes
up. Oh, Lord. If only he'd said, oh, Lord,
please, no, don't let this happen. Right? Don't let this happen.
He said, oh, no, not me. Boy, he had a lesson to learn,
didn't he? Our whole life is one lesson in humility, you know,
for a child of God. This is the person that the Lord
will dwell with. To this man when I look, this
woman, he is of a poor and a broken and a contrite heart. Trembleth
at my word. We quit trembling at his word,
we're going to break it. We quit trembling at his word,
quit fearing, we're going to do exactly what he warned us
not to do. That's right. We quit listening, quit hearing. Oh my, how sometimes we don't
show much evidence of being a child of God at all. What is it that
deadens us? What have we been looking at
in 1 John? Overcoming the world. And every single letter to every
church, he ends it by saying, he that overcometh. Doesn't he?
He that overcometh. He that overcometh. Every one
of these people in the world, They were not of the world, but
they were in the world, and they were surrounded with temptations,
enticements, traps, pits, snares, the wows of the devil who's a
master in the art of deception and human nature. And our Lord
said, Simon Peter, Satan hath desired to sift you like wheat. What is it that deadens us? We
know what deadens us. We know, it's the world. It's
the world and the things of the world. This is why Paul, all
the apostles kept saying, set your affection on things above,
not on things of the earth. The things that are sane are
temporal. Keep reminding us that. The preacher in Ecclesiastes,
vanity of vanity of vanity of vanity, the eyes never full,
the mouth never satisfied, don't set your affection on things
that can't satisfy. They're dead things. They're
dead and dying things. This is a dead and dying world
and it deadens us. It has a deadening effect on
us. So he says, and how many times in the scriptures did it
tell us to be watchful? I'm called a watchman. And there
are times that I'm not watching. How can I be a watchman? We're all guilty. Be watchful.
And it's always connected with prayer. Watchful means have your
eyes open. Be awake. Be fully awake. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter
5 with me. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. It
means be fully awake. We have some men in here who
were in the armed forces and I know they served guard duty.
Ron, did you pull guard duty? What were you supposed to do?
Watch. Is it important? Oh, my. The enemy will come in. You're watching. You're standing
guard. That's the enemy coming in and assault. That's what it's
talking about. Your eyes wide open. Be on guard. Look out. Don't
fall asleep. Remember the Lord in the garden?
Right before our Lord went to the garden, went to the cross,
they were arguing about who was the greatest. Weren't they? They were all arguing
about who was the greatest. So, the Lord showed them, you
can't stand watch for one hour. They couldn't watch. He said,
watch. and pray that you enter not into temptation. And he went
off to pray for them. And they fell asleep like that. They couldn't watch. Aren't you
glad our salvation is not dependent on us watching? Aren't you glad
our salvation is dependent upon him watching over us? Because
he that keepeth Israel never slumbers or sleeps. Aren't you
glad? Psalm 121. First Thessalonians
5, he says in verse 1, of the times and season, brethren, you
have no need I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. And
when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and
they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, you're not
in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. God's
people are waiting on the Lord. That's what we're doing right
now. We come in here to watch and to wait, to look at His Word,
to be reminded, have our eyes open, and we're hastening the
coming of the Lord. The more we think about it and
talk about our Lord's coming, the nearer it appears. He appears. Read on. Verse 5, you're all
children of light, children of the day. We're not of the night
or of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep.
as do others. Let us watch and be sober. They
that sleep, sleep in the night. They that be drunken are drunken
in the night. But let us here of the day be
sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, from hell
with the hope of salvation. You remember this story. I've
told it to you many times. Many of you have read it, Pilgrim's
Progress. Pilgrim, a Christian and hopeful,
his friend, were in the way. And the evangelist says, don't
get out of the way. Do not get out of that way. Straight and
narrow way. Don't look to the right, don't
look to the left. Stay in the way. Well, they're
walking along and they look over here and there's a bunch of people
going this byway. Everybody. And they think, that
looks pretty good. No harm seems to be coming to
them. Let's go. So they got out of the way. And
they got into Bypass Meadow. And oh, it was so pleasant. And
they just loved it, and it seemed so peaceful, and they both fell
asleep. And lo and behold, a giant called
Despair came and got them both and put them in the darkest dungeon
in his castle called Doubting Castle, and put them in this
dungeon. And all the time they were in
this doubting castle, in the darkness, full of despair. He
was beating them. He kept telling them, why don't
you just kill yourselves? You're not going to reach the Celestial
City. Look at you. Look what you've done. Don't
get out of the way. They fell asleep. You know the
end of it? Like Paul and Silas, they began
to pray. And lo and behold, Pilgrim, the
Christian, said, there's a key in my bosom called promise. It'll unlock all these doors
in the doubting castle and set us free. Oh, he's given unto
us exceeding precious promises that we might be partakers of
the divine in nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world full of lust. Promises. Promises. But warnings.
Warnings and promises. Don't fall asleep. Be watchful
in the prayer. Call, call, call. Pray without
ceasing or you'll fall asleep and you'll get in Doubting Castle
and you'll be full of despair and you'll think you're not a
Christian. I believe. Be watchful. Be watchful. And
strengthen the things which remain. Strengthen the things which remain.
Hebrews 10. Turn back there. One of the sisters
said, remember that article I said, if I had my way, I would require
adults to memorize scripture. One of the ladies said, do that,
do that. I love that lady. She said, do it, write it down,
make us memorize it. It's a good thing. Why? For reward or so you can
buy it? For our own good. So it will
be recalled to our mind when we need it. Hebrews 10. Look at this. Hebrews 10.22. Let us draw near
with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Brethren, full assurance
of faith is believing Christ. You can't have any assurance
looking to yourself. None. Zero. Like Newton's pole. Don't look for any assurance
in yourself, but look to Christ for your assurance. His mercy,
His grace, His promises. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. He is
faithful, that promise. Let us consider one another,
think about one another, think on things of us, provoke unto
love, to good works. How often have we heard this
lately? Love, love. Brethren, love one
another. Love one another. And good works. Not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. I've
quoted this verse from Jonah 2 verse 8 so many times, I'm
going to quote it until the day I die. It's right before salvation
is of the Lord. Verse 9. They that observe lying
vanities forsake their own mercy. Jonah 2 verse 8. They that observe
lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Those that do or go
after anything but this, forsake their own mercy. Because everything
else is a lying vanity. The deceitfulness of riches,
of pleasure, all of that lies to you. Satan is, he has some
of these things at his disposal. And this is what he uses, and
he entices people. Don't be enticed by them. They're
lying vanity. This is our mercy. What we're
doing right now. Let us consider, not forsaking
the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is, and
those who do are weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker. Where
do we get our strength? Strengthen the things that remain.
How? Their strength, our Lord said
in Isaiah 30, is to sit still. In returning and rest you shall
be saved. Returning where? To Christ, to
the tabernacle where the gospel is preached. In returning and
rest you shall be saved in quietness and confidence. When do you get
quiet except here? When do you have some quietness,
some confidence? When do you ever have any real
assurance and confidence and peace and feeling of safety and
security? But here, under the sound of
these words. In quietness and confidence,
it'll be your strength. But the next line says, but you
would not. You're here, though. You're here. You're here. If somebody's hearing
this, it's not here. Don't forsake your own mercy.
So much more as you see the day approaching. The next verse. Do you know what this is talking
about? If we sin willfully. You know what that's talking about?
Apostasy. Talking about leaving. Leaving. Leaving the gospel. Leaving. Let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall. After we receive the knowledge
of the truth, Hebrews 6 tells us that it's impossible to renew
to repentance. Well, go back to our text. It said strengthen the things
that remain that are ready to die. Ready to die. That's all
of us. We just don't know. We just don't
know. My brother is 21, my sister 42,
my mother-in-law 54, your daughter 25 or 26. We just
don't know. Your son, your son, young. We don't know. My, my. I may go home tonight and I'm
gone. I'm gone. Right? We just don't
know. Oh, that they were wise. And
it would consider this, their latter end. Wouldn't it be wise
to always be thinking about the end? Because it's going to be
before we know it. Things are ready to die. And
there's an old preacher years ago that said this, I preach
as one that may never preach again. I preach as a dying man to dying
men. I've preached several people's
last message. This is pretty important, isn't
it? It's all important. There's nothing
more important. Nothing. Another old preacher
said this, we need to preach as if it's the first message
we've ever preached, the last message we will preach, and the
best message we'll ever preach. It's true, God's Word doesn't
return void. This Word, somebody's going to hear it. This is the
living Word. Somebody, if it's not somebody
in here, somebody somewhere's going to hear it. Yes, sir. This is not vain. This is the
living Word. Another preacher said this. I
think it was... I forget who it was. I love this.
He said, I preach as if Christ died yesterday, He rose again
today, and He's coming tomorrow. Because that's how brief time
is. It's like a sleep. Psalm 90.
Read Psalm 90 over and over and over and over and over, okay?
Read it. It's like a sleep. And then read
Psalm 91. It's just nothing you have to
worry about. You don't need to fear. Fear
God, not terror. And the trump shall sound, verse
3 in our He says, remember how thou hast received and heard
and hold fast and repent. Haven't found your works perfect,
he said in verse 2. Oh, how imperfect, how poor are
our works, huh? And the Lord says much about
works, doesn't he? And I've told you and reminded
us all that salvation is unto good work. He told young Timothy
that they be careful to maintain Preach and teach them that people
be careful to maintain good work. You're not saved by good work,
but salvation is unto it. That's what our Lord did, didn't
he? Went about doing good. Didn't he? I want to be like
him. I want to be worth something.
Not to be saved, but just for his glory. Alright, it says in
verse 3, remember how thou hast received and heard, and hold
fast and repent. Do you remember, brethren, when
the Lord first gave you ears to hear the truth? Do you remember?
What was it like when you first heard the gospel for the first
time? Of God's sovereign electing mercy and grace, and it struck
your heart and pierced your heart, and you thought, that's me! Do
you remember how you first received? Those that receive the Word are
born of God, born of that Word, of His own will. He begat us
with the Word of truth. When you first hear the Word,
say, I believe that. You hear it, you receive it,
you believe it, and you're ecstatic. He says, remember that. Paul admonished the Galatians
one time. He says, where's the blessedness
that you used to speak of? What happened? Who had bewitched
you, he said? What happened? Ephesus, where's
that first love, that newborn enthusiasm for the truth? You're
still a sinner. Still saved by mercy and grace.
Doesn't it thrill you anymore? Remember, he passed by some and
you received him. Remember, He passed by your brother
and He chose you. Don't ever forget that. Don't
ever forget that. Repent. What does repent mean? It means turn right now. Turn
from whatever or whoever, whatever it is. Lay aside the weight of
sin that is so easily beset. Whatever it is that turns our
hearts and our minds from the Lord, from things above, turn
from it or them and lay hold and cling to the Lord Jesus Christ,
come to Christ, right now. Verse 3 said, if therefore thou
shalt not watch, I will come on thee, that means under prayer,
I'll come on thee as a thief, thou shalt not know what hour
I will come upon thee. Meaning, if we're not watching, And we get in such a bad way
that the Lord will bring some affliction or suffering or distress
upon us. That's what this is talking about.
See, the Lord mercifully chastens His people mostly with the Word,
doesn't He? Mostly. Most of the time He chastens
us with the Word and it has its effect, thankfully. But sometimes,
We won't even hear that. So, the Lord will use some severe
measures, as he will, to get, so to speak, to get our attention,
to turn us on. So he says, in words of like
a father, don't make me have to do that. Verse 4, he says, Thou hast a
few names, even in Sardis, which are not defiled their garments.
Sardis must have been a real decadent place. I'm not talking
about the church, but where it was. It was in Asia, you know,
heathen, wild, what is now Turkey. All of these churches were, and
none of them are there now. None of them. Think about that. that all of them were in what
is now modern Turkey. That's a heathen land, heathen. Sardis must have been a vile
place. One time Israel got so bad, Isaiah called them Sodom.
Isaiah called Israel Sodom. Here are you rulers of Sodom,
Isaiah 1. Sardis, that's where we live
in Sodom. He says you have a few names,
there's a few names there who have not defiled their garments,
a few, a few. The gospel we wear, the garment
of Christ's righteousness is our profession, isn't it? It is. We profess Christ as our
robe of righteousness. I'm ashamed that we often bring
reproach on our Lord and tarnish and taint and soil that profession. about what we do and say, don't
we? Or not do and say. Defile our
government. That's what we do. That's what
we do. When we don't witness a good profession, we have soiled
this government. Now, mark you, the perfect righteousness
of Christ cannot be soiled. But I'm talking about this profession
of faith that we claim to have. We ought to hate, like Jude said,
hate even the garments spotted by the flesh. You remember reading
that? We ought to hate it, every spot, every spot. Look at the
next verse. He says, verse, there are few
that have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in white,
for they are worthy. They are worthy. There's not
a child of God anywhere who thinks they are worthy of anything but
reproach and rebuke and reproof and a judgment. It's not a child
of God. Anywhere. David said it. You're
going to be clear when you speak and right when you judge me.
If you send me to hell, you'll be right doing it. I don't deserve
anything but judgment. Brown, didn't he? There's not
a child of God who feels like they're worthy of anything but
damnation. Nevertheless. Don't you like the word nevertheless?
Nevertheless, where sin did abound, grace did much more. Nevertheless,
God calls his people worthy. He said in Hebrews 11, the world
is not worthy of them. The world is not worthy. Christ's
blood makes them worthy. I remember my dad years ago saying
this, what is the value of something? What is the value of something?
Well, it's what a wise man is willing to pay for. A man of
wisdom, whatever he's willing to pay for. Apparently, your
soul, the souls of his people, are of infinite value to our
God. Because it took the blood of God's Son to purchase it.
And since he paid that much, they're worth something to him.
He's going to get glory from them. He's going to. Christ's
blood is what makes us worthy to the Father. And the Spirit's
work in us. It is God that worketh in us
both to will and to do. We don't do these things. We're
not capable. But this new creature, Christ
in us, the Spirit of God is the one that does His thing. And
that new man is worthy. That's what he said. They're
worthy. They're worthy. He that overcometh, the same
shall be clothed in white raiment. Oh dear God. And this is when
we ought to say this. Oh my God. Please. I want to wear that wedding garment. I want to wear that robe of righteousness. I want to be clothed in Christ's
spotless white garment. Do you? He will give it to everyone
that asks for it, everyone that needs it. Like blind Bartimaeus, call on
the name of the Lord, and then when he calls you, for you to
come, throw away those rags. Throw them away and come to him. White Raymond. And he says in
verse 5, I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. Our Lord one time said, rejoice
that your names are written in the Lamb's book of life. And
I will confess his name before my father and before his angel,
the father's angel. I will confess his name. Do you know this man? Do you know this man? And our
Lord will say, yes, I foreknew him. Yes, I loved him with an
everlasting love. Yes, I know her. She's mine. She's my beloved. That's our
child right there. Behold, I and the children that
thou hast given me before his angel. Well, did you hear this?
Did you hear all that? He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the church. All right, you're
dismissed.