It was the church at Smyrna that
he said, I know you're poverty, but you're rich. Poor compared
to modern religion and some people in the world. Revelation 2. Revelation 2, again. Now remember, After every word to every church,
seven churches, he said, He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches. This must be vital, mustn't it?
Everything he says is urgent. So much more as we see this day
approaching. I need to remind you that most
everything that's written in the Revelation has already come
to pass. It was written 2,000 years ago.
And he said, write the things that thou hast seen and that
are now, that's back then, and the things which must shortly
come to pass. And it's no new book. Still the
gospel is of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the time is short. So this
is vital to the church. Now he says to every single Church
also, to him that overcometh, after every letter, to him that
overcometh, that overcometh. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10
about the children of Israel, said they were overcome, they
were overthrown in the wilderness, meaning the places they passed
through, that's where they wanted to stay. And they were overthrown
by the world that they passed through. And that's, who is he
that overcometh? Sin, the flesh, the devil, this
world. Who is it? Those that believe. Faith. Where does faith come
from? Where does this overcoming faith come from? The Word. Faith cometh by hearing the Word. Verse 12, this is to the church
at Pergamos. Pergamos. Smyrna, you remember,
was myrrh, sweet-smelling savor to our Lord. Well, Pergamos means
a tower, a high place to flee from the enemy. And the church
is, as it were, a city of refuge. Now, the church is not our refuge,
but Christ is, but the church is where he meets. The church
is where he's promised to be with two or three people that
gather together in his name. He's promised to be there. Proverbs
18.10 says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. And the people
run into it for safety. Let me quote that right to you. I didn't quote it perfectly.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth
into it and is safe, like the city's a refuge. And the word
safe says, will set aloft, set above, set high, like that upper
room, remember? Mount Zion is the church, city
set on a hill. Mount Pisgah, where the Lord
took Moses to view the promised land, that's the church. And
so the name of the Lord is a strong tower. Our Lord said throughout
the Deuteronomy, He said, a place I've chosen to put my name there. He said, go there. Go there. That's where I am. And He'll
set you above this miry clay, out of the slime pits, set your
feet on rock so that you won't be overcome. Pergamos, that's
what the name Pergamos means. Pergamos. These things, verse
12, saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges. Sharp sword. Turn to Revelation 19 with me.
Scripture speaks a great deal about the sword, doesn't it? Those of you who read it. A great
deal is spoken of about the sword. Revelation 19, the sword of the
Lord is His Word. The sword of the Lord is His
Word. He that hath the sharp sword,
two-edged sword coming out of His mouth. Look at Revelation
19 verse 11, I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And
he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness
he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
on his head many crowns." That's where we get that song, crown
him with many crowns. Down in verse 13. Clothed with
a vesture dipped in blood, his name is called the Word of God.
Verse 15. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations. A sharp sword. Let me read to you from Psalm
45. This is good. Psalm 45. David
writes it. He says, My heart is indicting
a good matter. I speak of things that I have
made as touching the king. He's going to talk about the
king of king. Not talking about himself, but
Christ. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips.
Therefore, God hath blessed thee forever. Speaking of Christ.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty. With thy glory
and thy majesty, and in thy majesty, ride prosperously because of
truth and righteousness. And righteousness in thy right
hand shall teach terrible things. Your arrows are sharp. The sword
is sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. The people shall
fall unto thee." And he goes on and on. This is the psalmist
says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness.
So, the sword in our Lord's mouth with two edges is the Word of
God. The Lord created everything by
His Word, didn't He? He made everything out of nothing.
He created everything by the Word of His power. All God had
to do was speak. And He still upholds all things
by the Word of His power. All He has to do is say, let
there be light. And there is light. His word
is his power. And God speaks by his word, and
he slays, he breaks the heart. It's a two-edged sword. He said,
I kill, and I make it light. I wound. Sacrifices of God are
a broken heart. What breaks the heart? The word,
the gospel, the truth. And I heal. I, the Lord, do all
these things by my word. So the Lord uses His Word, a
two-edged sword. Alright, look at our text back
in Revelation 2. He said in verse 13, I know thy
works. He said that to every church,
didn't he? We looked at that. I know thy works. Again, true
faith worketh, doesn't it? Faith which worketh by love. The Lord is not unrighteous,
forget your labor of love, your works of faith and labors of
love, Hebrews says. Faith which worketh by love.
And the work that the church is principally involved in is
the work of the gospel. We work by love to God, to His
glory, to His truth, to His people. To His people, the work of God.
Let me read this to you in 1 Corinthians 15. I've been reading through
that book and this is fresh on my mind. Read 1 Corinthians 15
if you haven't read it in a while. It talks about this is the gospel
and he declares the gospel. It's a long chapter. And he's
talking about the end and we're all going to be changed and death
will be overcome by victory and sin. And the very last two verses
say, thanks be to God. which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord." What we're doing right now and what we do when we take
this gospel out into the world. He says, your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. My word will not return void. It will accomplish that where
unto He sends it. So, our Lord's word is the sword
that He uses. It's a two-edged sword. He said,
I kill, I make alive. Our Lord, remember our Lord said,
suppose ye that I am come to send peace on the earth. How
many times have I quoted it? How few people know that, what
the Lord said. How few people know why the Lord
really came. You do. Suppose you that I'm come to
send peace on the earth everybody's gonna be singing that we're gonna
sing it Sunday peace on earth Goodwill toward man. What does
that mean? Does that mean everybody's gonna
be at peace? No war no That's never gonna
happen man's never gonna have peace with man False prophets
say peace peace when there is no pain Our Lord said there's
no peace. There is no rest for the wicked,
right? What he's saying is he that? will obtain peace is here,
Christ, who will make peace how? Blood. Violence. That He will suffer the violence
that we deserve. The sword of God's justice entered
into Him. Christ said, you suppose I've
come to bring peace on earth? Nay, rather, but a what? A sword. I have come to set a
man at parents." He's come to divide and conquer. Right? That's what the Scripture
said. So be it. So be it. It was on
the Lord's side. He said, I know thy works. He
said, the work of the church always has been, the church is
to do one thing, it's the pillar and the ground of the truth.
The church is to go forth with this truth. The preacher of the
word, every one of these angels or preachers or messengers were
to do one thing, preach the word. He told young Timothy, preach
the word, Timothy. That's it. That's it. The gospel is his power. Those who have felt that sword,
have had their own hearts broken and felt the power of that sword,
they know, and so they preach it. Why don't men preach the
gospel exclusively and do nothing else? Because they've never felt
the power of it themselves. But those who have, do. They
preach the word. Now, God's people are nonviolent. God's people are not brawlers.
They're not fighters. They're peacemakers. David even
said that. They're for war. I'm for peace.
What was David doing, going out and killing innocent people?
No. He was defending God's people.
Joshua did and went through. Was Joshua killing innocent people? There are no innocent people.
These were people, all they had to do was submit. All they had
to do was bow to the God of Israel. That's all. Psalm 2, read it for yourself.
Psalm 2 said, I've set my king on my holy hillside. And the
last two verses said, Be wise now ye rulers, be instructed.
Kiss the son lest he be angry. Bow. That's all you've got to
do. unless she perish from the way
when his wrath is kindled but a little. Let's the Lord Jesus
Christ of Scripture who has not changed, same yesterday, today,
and forever. Joshua, Jesus, the Christ, the
Lord. I remind us all what he's going
to do when he's coming the second time. Well, alright, so he says in
verse 13, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where
Satan's seat is. Satan's seat. I know you dwell
in the midst of a sinful, dark world that's held captive by
the God of this world. I know where you are. You're
right in the middle of it. And religion is his seat. Now let me show you how many
times it speaks of this. Look at verse 2. We've already seen
this. I know your works, your patience. You cannot bear them
which are evil. Who? What? What are you talking
about? Those that are liars. Religious liars. They say they're
apostles and they're not. Verse 6, you hate those that
have the deeds of the Nicolaitans. We're going to see what that
means in a moment. Verse 9 and 10, I know your works. I know
the blasphemy of them which say they're Jews are not, the synagogue
of Satan. They've cast you into prison.
Be faithful. Verse 13, it's Satan's seat. Verse 15, the Nicolaitans. Verse
20, These things, notwithstanding you have a few that suffer, that
woman Jezebel calls herself a prophetess to teach, seduce my servant,
commit fornication. Verse 24, I know you have those that have
not known the depths of Satan. Chapter 3, verse 9, Behold, I will make them of the
synagogue of Satan. They say they're Jews, and they're
not, and do lie. I'll make them come and worship before thy face."
You see how many times? And, you know, I remind us that,
you know this so, that the modern, educated, sophisticated, supposedly
world scoffs at all talk of Satan or the devil, they make fun of
him. All the while they're in his
captivity, doing his work, held captive by him at his will. And
there's only one who can take them, take captivity captive,
and it's Christ. And they scoff at him, too. They
mock at him, too. We don't do it. We know. We felt
that. We felt it. We've been in captivity to the
God of this work. Martin Luther, Which many have
great respect for, even people in the world who don't believe
what he believed. They have a great respect for him, and they study
him in history and all that. Well, Martin Luther battled,
stood firm like these people here. He wasn't martyred. They
wanted to kill him, but the Lord would not allow that. The Lord
kept him safe, and he died of old age. But Martin Luther was
in his study one day, and his study is still over there in
Germany. And he picked up his inkwell,
he used to write with a quill and ink, and threw it at the... he said he was throwing it at
the devil. People scoffed at that. But if you've felt any of the
assaults of the guy of this world, you know he's a very real, We're
not wrestling with flesh and blood, spiritual wickedness in
high places. Isn't that what the scripture
says? And there's an ink spot on the
wall of his study over there, if you go over there or not.
Don't go there, but if you do. You dwell where Satan's seat
is and you hold fast my name. Now, the last chapter Revelation
is the last chapter in this book. And in this last chapter of the
last days, perilous times. Perilous times. If you read that
in 2 Timothy 3, it doesn't talk about so much arm-to-arm, hand-to-hand
combat or things like that, but just as in the days of Noah. We're going to look at the church
at Philadelphia. that was tried, and all people
are tried by the great hour of temptation that will try everybody
upon the earth. What's that? It's now. Stay tuned. We're going
to look at it. It's the God of this world, with
the things of this world, and the religion of this world. How
did he come to the first man and woman in this world? as an angel of light, disguised
as a wolf in sheep's clothing, right? And so in these last days,
it's more prevalent than ever, Moses, Joshua, David, Gideon
came through the land. Gideon is such a type of Christ. You know what the people shouted
when they were overtaking Jericho? The sword of the Lord and Gideon. And those walls came down. The
sword of the Lord went through the land, killing, conquering,
capturing, defending the kingdom of God, taking the kingdom from
Satan, giving it to the Lord. The sword is the word of God
and the truth. The truth is what God uses. The
truth is what God used then, the truth is what God uses now.
By mercy and truth, men depart from addiction. And that's the
gospel in two words, isn't it? All right, verse 13. He said,
I know where you dwell, even where, and you haven't, you've
held fast my name. You have not denied my faith. You've held fast my name and
have not denied my faith. Listen to this in Malachi, right
at the very end of the Old Testament. Listen to this. You've held fast
my name and has not denied my faith. Listen to this. Our Lord
said, a book of remembrance was written for them that feared
the Lord and that thought upon His name. They shall be mine,
saith the Lord of hosts, in the day I make up my jewels. I will
spare them as a man spareth his own son who serveth him. Serveth what? His name. This
is all for his name's sake. His glory, His honor. We make
mention, His name is exalted. We don't take the name of our
Lord God in vain. We worship His holy name. We
fear His name. Listen to this, unto you that
fear my name, shall the Son of righteousness
arise with healing in His wings and will tread down the wicked.
This is all through the Scripture. The name of God is blaspheming
now more than ever in the history of the world. You know it's so. Why? Religion is to blame. Their fear, God says, of me is
taught by the precept of man. but unto you that fear my name."
And he said, you have held fast my name, you have not denied
my faith. What is his name? Lord. He's
not a figurehead. He is Lord. I mean, he reigns
and rules. He is sovereign. It's not like
that fellow in Roanoke and that mega church said, you control
the one that controls you. That's what he said. That's what
that First Baptist or that Fuller fellow used to preach. It's what
that pastor said. You control the one that controls
you. That's the doctrine of the devil.
Our Lord is Lord in whose hands our breath is
all our way. The one that controls everything
and everyone. Lord Jesus, that means Savior. Matthew 1.21, call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from what? Sin. That's why He
came. That's what He did. That's where
He is now, and that's who He's coming back for. We haven't denied
His name. We believe His name is Jesus.
We know it means what it says. They say, Christ, Messiah, Covenant
Head, Second Adam. You haven't denied my faith.
My faith. You know, the faith of God's
people is called the faith of God's elect. That's what it's
called. You've read it. Delivered to
the saints. That's what it says. Faith's
not of yourselves. Everybody says, just decide for
Jesus. It's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's to
them, Peter said, who have obtained like precious faith through the
righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a gift. It's not
of yourselves, not of works, lest any man should boast. We're
His workmanship. It is God that worketh in us,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Faith is His gift. It's a supernatural, miraculous
gift of God. It's not an act of the human
will. Anybody who says so is a false prophet. It's a false
gospel. Brethren, will worship is just
as bad as Mary worship. And that's what all of religion
preaches. Will worship. Man's works. This is all through here. This
is what this is talking about. You haven't denied my faith. You
haven't. You've stood true. It's the truth,
the faith of Christ, the faith of Christ. We insist on that
little word, of, don't we? Why? Because it's written there.
The life I live, I now live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and died for me, lived for me and died for me. Faith
of Christ, what does that mean? His faithfulness, the just shall
live by His faith. We contend for that. You can
change the whole truth with one little two-letter word. The faith of Christ. The faith
of God's elect delivered to the saints. All right, look at verse
13. He says, you dwell where my martyr Antipas, my faithful
martyr was. He was slain among you where
Satan dwelt. Now I remind you that it was
religion that killed the prophets. Wasn't it? It was the Jews that
killed their own prophets. The apostles, what about the
apostles? It was the Jews. Religious. What about the martyrs? Good Christian people. Roman
Catholics and so on, right? This Antipas, do you know anything
about him? Nobody does. Nobody does. Even John Gill doesn't
know. That's good, isn't it? He's a little-known fellow who
died contending for God's truth. He was killed, and God honors
his name forever. that anyone who stands for my
name and for my truth and suffers persecution, I will honor him
forever. I told that story of Stephen
being stoned and the Lord standing up. Oh, that sends chills down
my spine. The Lord stood in his honor. Antipas, we'll meet him someday. My faithful martyr was slain
among you where Satan dwelt. But, verse 14, I have a few things
against you, because thou hast there them, in that church at
Pergamos. And our Lord said, there must
be heresies among you. And I remind you, everything,
all these churches go together, really, it all applies to every
church, the church. He said, you have them there
that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balaam to cast a stumbling
block for the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto
idols, and to commit fornication. And verse 15, you have the doctrine,
some that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing
I hate. Now Balaam, go back a few pages
to Jude, the little book of Jude, just back two pages. Balaam,
you can read it for yourself over numbers, but Balaam was
a prophet for hire. He was a hireling. And if you
go back and read him, this story, you'll have a hard time finding
out what's evil about him. You'll have a hard time finding
out anything he said that you disagree with. He even prophesied
of Christ, didn't he, John? If you've read it. You see, this
is exactly what Paul warned about to the Ephesians and the Corinthians,
he said, Satan, don't marvel if his preachers or his apostles
or false apostles have transformed themselves into angels of light,
because Satan himself came and disguised a nice man, using the
Word of God, and deceived the first man and woman. That's his
great deception, that's his masterwork. of disguise. He's deceitful.
He disguises himself and his ministers transform themselves
into ministers of righteousness, angel of light. All right, look
at this. Balaam was a false prophet. Our Lord said so. What was wrong
with him? Well, he seemed to speak the
truth, but he was for hire. He was doing it for money. And somebody like that won't
profit anybody. Look at verse 4 of the book of Jude. One chapter. A certain man crept
in, unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Ungodly man, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness. This is Nicolasia. It's Nicolasia
there. Denying the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ. Denying what? Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof. Look at verse 7. Verse 7. He said, "...even as Sodom and
Gomorrah, the cities about them in like manner, gave themselves
over to fornication and strange flesh." Verse...it goes on, "...filthy
dreamers speak evil of dignities." That is, they talk about the
devil and they're under his control. Verse 11, "...woe unto them,
they've gone in the way of Cain." Remember, verse 11. The way of
Cain. There are only two religions
in the world. I don't care what they call themselves. It's either
works or grace. And sometimes the religion of
works is a little bit hard to, it's so close, like much of reformed
religion today. There's a couple right back there
that came out of it. Reformed religion. They have the doctrine
of, they talk about grace, but it's not grace. In the way of Cain, they ran
greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, a profit for hire. And this is very, very relevant
because there's a man in the midst of the churches we know,
the hireling. And he fled and perished in the gainsaying of
Korah. That shows everybody has something to say, Korah. Revelation
17, go over there. Now it talks about Balaam causing
people to commit fornication. And I have no doubt that it literally
happened among the children of Israel, no doubt. Because when
the pulpit, when a sovereign God who God's law is not preached. A sovereign God who will punish
evil, who calls sin, sin and evil. When men quit preaching
that, then immorality abounds. Society will go to pot. No pun intended. You know, when
men quit preaching a sovereign God who will punish sin, who
calls sin, sin, says, this is evil, this is evil, this is evil,
this is abomination. When they quit saying that and
they start saying, peace, peace. When they start saying, God loves
you just like you are. No, he doesn't. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. He hateth iniquity. He hateth
all workers of iniquity. That's what God's Word says.
And when the pulpit quits preaching the truth, God's Word, a holy
and sovereign God who will by no means clear the guilty, will
punish sin, and sin as sin, then society will become amoral. No
right, no wrong. Right? And it will give way to
this. And preachers, because they're
hirelings, they're afraid to say things for fear of running
people off. And that's that. But this is
talking principally about spiritual fornication. All through the
book of Revelation and the Old Testament. A great deal is said
about adultery and fornication, spiritually speaking. God's people
are supposed to be his bride, but they go after idols and other
lovers, like Homer. And he said they're adultery,
meaning they go after things, they commit adultery with stocks
and bonds and material things. He said, you're supposed to be
in love with me. And this fornication is a good
picture. Because God says it's an abomination,
and what it is, is making the flesh feel good without
love. No love. It's feel-good flesh. And doesn't that describe religion? There's no love for God. There's
no love for His truth. It's all about feel-good religion.
Doesn't that describe it? Revelation 17, did you go there?
How long have I been there? Look at verse, Revelation 17
verse 1. Come hither, the angel said. Talk to me. Come hither,
I'll show you the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed
fornication. Inhabitants of the earth have
been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. What's that
talking about? Religion. It's intoxicating. It's feel good. It's flesh. How
do they appeal? Proverbs 7 talks about that woman,
the harlot. She decks her bed, she perfumes
her place, she has purple and gold and silver and says, come,
it's love, love, love. Not the love of God. It's flesh, it feels good. Look at verse 5. Upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery of Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots,
abominations of the earth. Verse 6, I saw the woman drunken
with the blood of the saint, with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus. But John was impressed. See there? I saw her, I wondered
with great admiration. Look at that building. Look at
that beautiful temple. We were driving by Roanoke just
last night. We went out to dinner. Someone
said, what's that big, those big spires, those big golden
spires lit up in the skyline of Roanoke? I said, that's a
whore house. Is that too strong? That's what this said. It's a Catholic cathedral that's
full of abomination. Look at, you know, it talks about
the many waters. Verse, where did we see that?
Verse two, or verse one. The great whore sitteth upon
many waters. Look at verse, where is it? Verse 14, look at verse 14, yeah,
verse 14. These shall make war with the
Lamb, the Lamb shall overcome them. He's Lord of Lords, the
King of Kings. They that are with Him are called
and chosen and faithful. And he saith unto me, the waters
which thou sawest, where the horse hid it, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Have you ever looked
at the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean? There's a lot of waters
in them. Our Lord said, many will follow
their deceitful ways. So many people, it looks like
a sea of people. You know what we ought to be
saying, who am I and what is my house that you brought me
here? Really, I should. I was going
to go on and show so much there, but... Well, chapter 18, verse
2 says, Babylon has become the habitation of devils and the
hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and
hateful bird. And all nations have drunk of
the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Kings of the earth
committed fornication with her. It's rich. Religion is rich. It's in bed with politics. If
you put a cross on your sign or a fish on your sign, you'll
make more money. You know that? But you wouldn't do that if you
knew God. All right, look at this Nicolaitans
here. It says in our text, verse 15,
you have them that hold the doctrine of Nicolaitans. What's that?
This thing I hate. Well, it's licentiousness. All the men agree that it's those
who say, let sin that grace may abound. Paul had to deal with
that. It's a spirit of antinomianism. It just doesn't matter how you
live. We're saved by grace. It just doesn't matter. I've seen that. I haven't seen
many, but I've seen a few. And it's awful. It's shocking. I remember as a young believer
seeing some people that profess to be believers doing things
without shame, without reservation. And it shocked my young... I didn't know much, but I know
we ain't supposed to be acting like that. That's the Nicolaitans, and our
Lord said, I hate that. It brings great reproach upon
the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ saves people
from their sins. How can we that are dead to sin
live any longer therein? And Jude said, we hate even the
garment that's spotted with the flesh. Isn't it? And so we say,
Lord, look at verse 15 of 16, repent, or else I'll come unto
thee quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Repentance is an ongoing, lifelong
thing, isn't it? Believers never quit repenting.
Our Lord said to His disciples, except you repent. What's that
mean? It's godly sorrow. Over what?
Sin. And we say, Lord, take this sword
right here, with a sharp-edged sword, and wound me, and heal
me, and kill me, kill this lust in me, and heal me of it. Lord,
take the world, operate on me, and take it out of my... Kill
this old man, mortify this old man in my members. There's only
one way you're going to do it. And that by the cross. He said, I hate that doctrine.
Repent. And it's a lifelong, daily thing, an attitude of brokenness,
contrition, sorrow over sin, calling on the Lord, pleading
with the Lord, needing Christ, calling on the Lord, calling
on His Spirit, lead me, guide me, protect me, lead me not into
temptation, deliver me from evil. Lord, take the sword and fight
for me. And verse 17, "...he that hath
an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. Him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna." I was going to turn to Isaiah
29 with you. It says, the book will be delivered
to him that's learning. You say, read it. He says, I
don't understand. The book will be delivered to
another and he says, I don't know, it's sealed. It's hidden manna. What's manna? What was manna?
Bread come down from heaven. Who's it for? Who did the Lord
send manna to? Who got Israel? My people. His people. It was white and
round. I'm giving you a clue to the
next thing. Stone. But the manna came down for God's
people. They were sustained by and lived
by that manna the whole journey through the wilderness. And so
are we. But we don't live by bread, physical
bread, but by the Word of God. What's manna? It's Christ. Didn't Christ say, I am the bread
of life. I am the bread of God, the bread
come down from heaven. I am. Hidden. Is he not hidden to the wise
and the prudent? Is he not? Do you not see Christ
on nearly every page? Do you not? Can we not open a
page? I'd like to do that sometime,
just... and look for Him. He's there. But He's hidden to
the world, isn't He? But He's given us the hidden
manna. Those that believe, overcome,
given us this hidden manna. And I'll give Him a white stone.
Now I searched and I couldn't find anywhere in the Bible any
white stone but one. And our Lord said, the kingdom
of heaven is like a man looking for goodly pearls. He's looking
for good things. And that's people, they're looking
for this and looking for that. But he finds one pearl of great
price. And he sells everything he has.
He said, I have to have that. This is a pearl that the poorest
may wear. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. The him that overcomes. The him
that believes. I'm going to give you the pearl. You're going to
have Christ in you, and you're going to be in him. The pearl
of great price. I looked up the definition of
a pearl, and it says it's a hard, glistening object. in a mollusk,
in a living creature. That's a good thing. When our
Lord was transfigured, it says His raiment was white and glistening. He's the pearl of great price.
He said, I'm going to put a name in that stone. that no man knoweth
save in him that receiveth it." Now go to, in closing, Revelation
19. I'm going to put a name in that
stone, and no one knows it except those that receive it. What's
that? Well, you didn't suspect that that stone would be anything
but Christ, did you? So what's his name? That's him.
What's his name that he puts in this stone, this white stone,
that no man knows save him that receiveth it? Well, look at verse
11. I saw, we read this. His name
is faithful and true. Verse 12, his eyes is a flame
of fire, on his head were many crowns. He had a name written
that no man knew but he himself. Didn't our Lord say, no man knoweth
the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. What's his
name? Verse 13. That no man knows except
those that receive it. Verse 13. He was clothed with
a vesture, dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word. As many as received
him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. which
were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not
of the will of man, but of God. That Word was made flesh. So
actually we're coming back to the beginning. Coming back to
His Word. In the beginning was the Word. What does a church do? They preach
the Word. They believe the Word. How do
they overcome? By the Word. What is the Word?
It's Christ Himself. You didn't learn anything new
here. These are things you already knew. You know Christ. You know
His Word. You know His truth. It's all
about Him. It's hidden from the wise and prudent, but oh, bless
God, He's revealed it unto us and our children. Thank the Lord. Father in Heaven, thank You again
for Your blessed Word. Thank You for what we do know. We know in part, we preach in
part, but we thank You for that part that we do know. We thank
You for revealing Thy Son, not only to us, but in us. Christ
in us, the hope of the Lord. Christ in us, by faith. Christ
in us, in love. Christ in us. Thank You, Lord.
O Lord, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. In Christ's
name. Amen.