You are the reason that all the
earth moves. And you know that's what it's
gonna be. That's it's name, that's our
Father's name. Excellent hymn. Hymn of worship
and praise and hymn of great comfort to God's people. Our Father's wise bestowment
sometimes includes pain as well as pleasure, toil as well as
peace and rest. And that's what he gives to each
day, what he deems best, loving. This is something the world is
absolutely ignorant of. You'll notice I gave you—we're
continuing. Our study of the letters to the
churches, the next one is found in Revelation chapter two. I
hope you took the time to read over this. You'll know the reason
behind the hymns we sang. That being the theme of this
next letter, persecution and suffering in the church. And
this this map I thought you might be interested in it showing the
various. Churches that are our Lord is written to hear. And
the revelation. And. Interesting note but you
might be interested in this. This country that where all of
these churches were scattered. You remember. The church suffered
persecution right after Stephen was stoned. In Acts chapter eight
it talks of Luke records how the church suffered persecution
was scattered throughout the world and this is where seven
churches ended up in the land of Turkey. This is modern day
Turkey where these churches once were and this land of this country
of Turkey. is a land of some three hundred
thousand square miles roughly the size of all the southeast
United States Kentucky Tennessee North Carolina South Carolina
Georgia and Alabama is that big seven churches pretty much closely located together there and one
on the on the coastal region there. This one we're going to
look at now, Smyrna, was a port city. But I thought to myself,
and like I said last week, these churches are gone. And it would be about like seven
churches within a geographical region, southeast. Danville, Lexington, Ashland,
Rocky Mount, Crossfield, Tennessee, Piteville, and Cherokee, North
Carolina. Those seven churches. No. No more. Gone. So I thought there's
an interesting note there. It brings it a little more, makes
it a little more real to us to see that these were actual churches.
were people like you and me who actually attended worship services. And now they're gone. Now this
is a message of real comfort to the church. This letter to
the church at Smyrna and the one at Philadelphia, the one
to the church at Philadelphia, the only letters where the Lord
does not rebuke the people. The only one. Philadelphia was
found faithful, he said. They were faithfully keeping
God's Word or preaching it, teaching it, attending to it, living by
it. And in this church at Smyrna,
the Lord commends them for their faithful forbearance or faithfully
enduring trials and afflictions and hardships. And the early
church, I'll remind you, the early church was greatly persecuted
and tormented by various Roman rulers and the world at large. greatly persecuted to the point
of extinction. And scripture has much to say
about the trials and afflictions and hardships of the child of
God, as I said, which most of the world is totally ignorant
of. They deny it altogether, don't they? Modern religion denies
that altogether as not being from the hand of God at all,
but being the persecution of the devil. We'll see differently
here in a moment. All right, look at verse eight
with me. It's where we begin. Under the angel of the church
in Smyrna, in case you're interested, the man's name, or this angel,
this pastor, his name was Polycarp. Polycarp, he was a disciple of
John, and this Polycarp was martyred. We have record of this. This
is factual. This man was truly, indeed, the
pastor about this time. And he was martyred and buried
in his sepulcher. His tomb is still in existence
over there in this town today. And this town of Smyrna is now
a city in Turkey named Izmir. And it was once a very beautiful
place. Many people lived there, six
hundred some odd thousand people. Now, listen to this note. As
of the early 1900s, thirteen Islamic mosques were there, two
synagogues, Jewish synagogues, two Greek Orthodox, no Christian
church. Once a busy, thriving New Testament
church, gone, gone, gone, persecuted and martyred to extinction. And
that made me think, made me utter a prayer to God to preserve our
little place here for our posterity and for our children. He may
not. He may not. And this persecution
may be just as real in our day as it was then. Now, these things
saith... Look at it. Our Lord is giving
his salutation here. Under the angel of the church
in Smyrna. Right. These things saith the first. The first. Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday. He who was in the beginning,
who was the Word, the Word was God. He who is the Alpha, or
from the first moment in time, before time, He was the first
and He was the foremost. He's God over all. He's the first.
He says, these things say of the first and the last. And Christ is not only the first
Word, He's the last Word. He's the Alpha, He's the Omega. He's the last Word. and the finisher. He's called the creator, and
he says in the end he's going to destroy it all, too. He created
it, he's going to put it all away. He's the first, he's the
last, and he's all in between of God's eternal purpose in creation,
in salvation, and of everything. Listen to what Dr. Gill says
about this. This is good, I couldn't improve
upon it. He says that the Lord uses this term as a way of speaking
comfort to the hearts of his This is a term he uses often
throughout the Old Testament scriptures. I'll show you these. He said in Isaiah, if I can find
it, he says in Isaiah 41, verse 4, I am the Lord, the first and
the last. Isaiah 44, verse 6, he says,
I am first, I am last. Beside me there is no God. Verse
twelve, he says, hearken unto me, I am he, I am the first,
I am also the last. Mine hand also hath laid the
foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath stand it.
When I call unto them, they stand up together in attention. I am
the first, I am the last. Any doubt of the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ? For all those numb-skulled fools
out there who insist that this is a separate, that God is Jehovah
and Jesus Christ is just another one of his sons, he proves it
right there, doesn't he? I'm the first and I'm the last.
And this is proof of his proper deity. Gil says he's true and
proper deity. He's expressive of his eternity.
also of his dignity and of his excellency. He's the first and
last in divine predestination, in the covenant of grace, in
creation, in the business of salvation, in his church, by
whom and for whom are all things in it. He's the head of the body,
the son over his house, the firstborn among many brethren, the first
and the last, and all in between. He's everything. Christ is all.
And he's writing this letter to the church. And he says this
by way of great comfort. You need to listen up. I'm he. I'm he. I'm writing this letter
to you personally. And I thought about this, too.
You know, great credibility is given to someone who is first.
You hear all the time talk about, well, that man was first in his
field. Right? He's pioneered. reading and research
he's first in his field. Christ says I'm first in everything. And the last. You know a man
that ends up surviving everyone. The last survivor. You know everybody
wants to sit and listen to the words of a wise old sage. A man
who's the oldest on earth. Christ says I'm the last. I'll
be around when everybody else is gone. I'm the first. I'm the
last. All right. He says and I was
dead. These things saith the first and the last, which was
dead." And he says this by way of comfort to those who will
soon suffer this death. This church at Smyrna was soon
to be martyred, most everyone in it. And he says this for their
comfort, those who will suffer death themselves. Christ encourages
them by telling them about his own death. I died. I died. I was dead. You see, Christ came
and lived because we died. Right? You have to be quick if
you were dead. Christ came and lived because
we died in Adam. And Adam all died. And Christ
came and died that we might live. He said, I died that you might
live. And he says, I died, but I'm
not dead any longer. I'm alive. I like that. I'm alive. The angels came to
the people who were at the Lord's tomb and said, Why seek ye the
living among the dead? If you look at the margin sometime
in that passage, it's Luke 24, verse 5. It says this in the
margin, Why do you seek him that liveth among the dead? We don't worship a man on a cross. He ain't there no more. He was. but for a brief moment in time.
And we don't worship him like that anymore, do we, Joe? We
worship a living Lord. We don't worship a statue. We
don't worship a tomb. You can have all the dirt that
came out of that tomb. It won't do anything but serve
to make you dirtier. He's alive. He lives. And he
alone—we studied it in 1 Timothy, didn't we, last week, and 2 Timothy
this week—who alone hath immortality? He whom no man takes his life."
He said, I'm alive. He who hath abolished death and
brought life, life to us, the Lord of life. And we don't worship,
listen to this too, he says, I was dead and I'm now alive.
We don't worship a book either. This is just dead inanimate objects. No life in this book. We don't
worship a book. We don't worship a doctrine.
Calvin's dead. I believe what Calvin believed,
but he's dead. A doctrine? We don't worship
a religion, a denomination. We worship a person, a real,
live, active, living Lord who reigns and rules and watches
over all. and live and he lives right now
and he wrote us a letter to prove that he's alive. He wrote us
a letter. What if somebody you used to
know and they died, you received a letter in the mail from them?
Huh? And I, you see, and many people
question this as being the Word of God, but let the potsherds
strive with the potsherds of the earth. God's people know
the handwriting of their Heavenly Father, don't they? You know
they say that handwriting is just as peculiar, just as, what's
the word, just as peculiar to you or just as personal or individual
as a thumbprint. These handwriting experts say
that you cannot perfectly forge any length of somebody's handwriting. You can do it a name or whatever. For any length of time, in writing
a letter or whatever, everybody's handwriting is individual. Do
you know the Lord's handwriting? Huh? You do if you've read it. It's individual. It's not the
handwriting of a man. And I thank God that you've received
this as it is in truth. Not the words of men, but as
it is in truth, the Word of the living God. You know His handwriting,
don't you? He lives. He wrote us a letter, Terry.
wrote seven letters. No, he wrote more than that.
He wrote us a whole book. Now look what he says here. He
says the same thing he said to the church at Ephesus. I know
thy works. Verse nine, I know thy works. Now again, he says that he is
observant and mindful of our works. Antinomianism has no place whatsoever
in the mindset of a true child of God, no place whatsoever.
So let nobody say that works are unimportant. What the Lord
calls good or clean, he says, let no man call uncommon. He
says, I know your work. He's mindful of them. And so
let no one call this unimportant. And this ought to shame. He says,
I know your works. This ought to shame the slothful. and he commands the active. I
know your works and he also knows our lack of them. So that is
both a word of comfort and a word of conviction too. But you know with this church,
this church, the Lord commends them for their service to Christ.
The Lord commends them. Just two of them, like I said
Philadelphia and this one, were commended by the Lord. for their
work and here's what he said I know your work and I know your
tribulation and poverty I know your tribulation and poverty
Christ knows listen to me now Christ knows what his people
are going through he knows every single case he knows every single
event and happening an incident in the life of his children He
knows it all he knows the trials the troubles persecutions afflictions
pain the sorrow the suffering the depression he knows it all
one. He's saying. That's how he knows he sent them
and he's saying John along these lines of tribulation and persecution
he said in John fifteen. You remember when the Lord said
in John fifteen of the world's going to hate you. Going to hate
you. He said, They hated me. He said,
Disciples not above his Lord. If they hated me, they'll hate
you. He said, Now you remember when this comes upon you. Remember,
I told you it was going to happen. And you'll get great consolation
out of that. We read about it. We sang about
that consolation. Faith's sweet consolation. Well,
the Lord is sending me. What a blessing that he gives
me what he went through to confirm my relationship with him. That's
what trials are. He sent them. The modern health
and wealth gospel of our day is nothing more than the doctrine
of devils. The modern health and wealth
gospel of our day is the doctrine of devils, because the devil
is called the God of this world, is he not? Our Lord called him
that. The God of this world, why is that? Because it's the
God that the world worships, but not only that, but he uses
the world to tempt people with. He even did it to our Lord himself.
Didn't he? He said it to the Lord himself,
the Son of God, if thou be the Son of God. He said, you bow
down and worship me and I'll give you all of these kings.
I'll give you all the riches that your hearts desire. That's
the doctrine of devils. God wants you to be healthy and
wealthy. That's the doctrine of devils,
isn't it? Don't you be rich? Didn't Christ say, how hardly
shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven? How hardly?
It's a hard thing, isn't it? As man, it's impossible. But
God, all things are possible. But he did say, how hardly shall
they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven? Now, that's
the doctrine of Christ. Now, the doctrine of devils says,
how hardly can they be believers who don't have riches? Right? You must not have any faith if
you're poor, if you're in debt. Well, I'm the apostle of releasing
canceled debt. Didn't you know that? I'll release
unto you canceled debt. Well, the great apostle and high
priest of our profession, the Lord Jesus Christ, said, I'm
sending you poverty. Perhaps. Maybe, maybe not. But poverty is even from the
Lord. He maketh rich, he maketh poor, doesn't it? Isn't that
what the Scripture says? And the Lord says here, I know
your poverty. I know, you know, the world's
wealth, the world's wealth, health and happiness is not the portion
of the believer necessarily. He may, God may be abundantly
gracious and feel your cup overflowing with these things. He knows who
to give it to and who not to give it to. But the world's wealth
and its health and happiness is not the portion of the believer.
You can count on it, you'll lose your health and a great portion
of your happiness in this world. He does that to wean us from
this world. He does it to wean us from this
world and make us desire another one, right? If you found your
portion and your happiness here, why would you want to go to another
one, huh? If everything was all hunky-dory and happiness here,
And everything's going real smoothly all the time here. Why would
you want to go to heaven? What could heaven offer you that earth
doesn't? Well, isn't that what modern religions say? So consequently,
they have it. Do you remember reading this
article by Richard Sibbes? I read it to you. No good thing
will he withhold. Whatever's good for God's children,
they'll have it. They'll have it. If disgrace be good, they'll
have it. I tell you, this world is so
ignorant. You do err not knowing the scriptures, nor the power
of God, Christ said to those Pharisees who made it their living,
reading and transcribing the word of God. He said, you don't
know the word of God. You've got it committed to memory,
but you, well, most of them don't have that, but you've got it
committed to memory, but you don't understand it. You've got
the letter and you haven't got the spirit of it. If disgrace
is good, they'll have it. If crosses be good, they'll have
it. If misery be good, they'll have it. Because he sends suffering from
the hands of the world so that they'll not find their portion
and happiness in this world. Isn't that the wisdom of our
heavenly Father? that he weans us from this world.
Let me read you several portions of Scripture. If I don't get
any further, this will still be so profitable to you. Listen to this, 2 Corinthians
4, verses 15 and 17. All things are for your sake,
that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many
redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not,
that though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. You're dying. We heard that Sunday
morning, didn't we? Man's going to his long home.
Keepers of the house are trembling. Strong man's bowing down. Right? The inward man is renewed day
by day, though. The inward man's growing stronger
and stronger. Isn't this light affliction? Let's put it for a moment. It
works for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory. If only
the Lord of glory would open our eyes like he did that young
servant of Elijah. Show them, Lord, show them. That they that be for us be more
than they that be for us. Show them, Lord. We need to see
that. Second, listen to this. Paul,
who suffered more than any man with the exception of our Lord
Jesus Christ himself. He said, I received a thorn in
the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, but it was for
my good to humble me. And I besought the Lord to take
it from me. He said, no, my grace is what you need. It's sufficient
for thee. So Paul said, well, I got my
answer. Most gladly, therefore, will
I write a glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
dwell in me. Therefore, listen to this. Listen to this. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak then I am
strong." Oh, false apostle of our day,
have you never read 2 Corinthians 12? Apparently not. Either that or Paul didn't have
much faith. That's what they'd say about
this man, wasn't it? Going through trials and troubles and didn't
have the victory. You don't have much faith. Claim
it, Paul. I'm claiming it. Weakness. Persecution. Glory in it. That's what I need. Philippians 1 verse 29, he said,
It's not only given unto you to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, but to what? Suffer. Listen to II Thessalonians, chapter
one. Listen to this. He says here,
Paul is the writer again. He says, listen to this now,
listen to this. Would you listen? You're going
to get some comfort out of this. Paul said, We glory in you and
the churches of God for your patience and faith and all your
persecutions and tribulations that you endure. Which is? Persecutions and tribulation
that you endure, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment
of God. Like one man said, that you may
be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffered.
Like one man said to a woman who was going under great trial
and affliction, a believer, he said, the Lord must love you
a great deal. Would anybody out there understand
this at all? except the child of God, who has experienced and
experienced that consolation. God, the all-powerful, sovereign,
all-wise, loving, heavenly Father, sends all things, and he sends
them on purpose, working together for our eternal good. And he
said, I know your poverty. I know your works. I know your
tribulation. I know what you're going through.
I know your poverty. Now, he says, I know. If you ever
go to your dad, go to your dad and say, and pour out your heart
to him, explain your troubles and your problems to him, say,
Dad, so and so, or Dad, this, I'm in trouble, or Dad, this,
or Dad, that. He says, I know. I know. But, Dad, you don't understand. I was over there. He said, I
know. I know, he said. I know. Isn't
that enough? Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. He knows. I know your poverty. Now, according
to this world, he would be mighty thoughtless and powerless if
he didn't do something about it. If poverty was a bad thing,
in other words, poverty was a bad thing and God is God and he loves
everybody like he says he does, why in the world doesn't he do
something about it? But no, evidently, it's a good
lot that he has for some of his people. Would you listen to me,
those of you who are of meager means? Huh? Consider this. Like I said, I remind you, I
came back from a land where the people have very, very little,
but everybody in here is rich. Those people down there have
very little, but they're very, very zealous toward the things
of God. They have very little of this world's wants, but they
have the one thing they need. They have a clean shirt on their
back, food and rain, a few tortillas to eat a day, and they got a
big white grin on their faces. That's a terrible rebuke, isn't
it? What would a man give in exchange for his soul? That's
the question our Lord asked. What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? Let me ask you the opposite question. Would you give your soul for the world? He said,
no, I wouldn't do that. What about the world? Would you
give the world for your soul? That's another question entirely,
isn't it? Would you give up everything for the sake of your soul? He
said, I know your property, but you see the parenthesis there?
I know your property, but you're rich. You see that? I know your property,
but they aren't rich. Solomon said, Proverbs 13, 7,
there is he that maketh himself rich, but has nothing. There is he that maketh himself
poor. He has riches. Christ said, Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Unsearchable
riches of Christ. Unsearchable. The song says,
Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, wealth that can never
be told. Why don't we rejoice in them as we should? Because
we can't tell. Wealth that can never be told.
Riches exhaustless of mercy and grace. Precious. More precious
than gold. Never, never rust. And if Christ
is truly all to you, we say that. Is that so much religious rhetoric
on our part? If Christ, though, is truly all
to us, then we have everything. If Christ is all, then everything
else is nothing at all, is nothing. Now, he says, I know you're poverty,
but you're rich. Remember, you're rich toward
God. If I could take this and burn
it in our hearts right now, I would. It doesn't seem to be making
an impression on anybody. The Lord said, we may be poor. I know this. I sin it. But you're
rich. I'm giving the world to the world,
and they're going to get what the world's getting. Destruction. I'm taking it from you that you
might have what the world's not going to get. Eternal, everlasting
riches. You're rich. My Father is rich. Things are full of meat, do it.
It's enough to know I've got it when I need it. Right? You're rich, not in this world,
but in real riches. That which is seen is temporal.
That which is not seen is eternal. Gold and lever rust. Bags which
wax not old. Treasures where moth and rust
and thieves cannot get to. Lord God, impress this upon us,
that we never murmur or pine or complain. If Christ is all
and you don't need anything else, that's what, that's where we
need to get to and that's the point we need to come to. If
Christ would be all to us, we won't need anything else. Like
the old woman sitting, sitting looking at a crust of bread,
that's all she had in all of her cupboards. She said, well,
all of this and Christ too. Think of that. Man, if I don't
eat this right now, I'll just thank him. I'll eat bread, real
bread, living bread, manna from heaven. Our Lord himself had riches.
Oh, he was rich. Yet for our sakes he became poor.
All right, he goes on to say, I know, I know, I know, I know
all about it. Our Father knows. There's real
comfort in that word, I know. It says it twice, I know. It
says, now I know the blasphemy of them which say they're Jews.
I know the blasphemy of them that say they're Jews and are
not. They would say they're good Christians.
Now he's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. He is a Jew, which
is one inwardly. And true circumcision is not
outward. True circumcision is that of the heart. And true Christianity
is not because you say so. True Christianity is in the heart. And he says, I know all this
talk. I needed this, Joe. Buddy, I needed to hear this
when I read this. He said, I know what's being
said. I know what's going on in my
name. I hear it all. Sometimes I wonder, Lord, don't
you hear these blasphemers? And I want to call down fire
from heaven. Lord, kill that man. How could you let him? I know,
he says. Payday someday. The Lord doesn't
pay all his accounts in March. Time is of no essence to him.
It is to us, isn't it? Why, why, why, why, why? We're
in a hurry. Lord, no hurry. Everything's
right on schedule. It's coming. And to him, it's
just as sure as it's already happened. I know, I know, I know. He's aware of all the false prophets
out there, and I cry. I have to cry with David constantly.
David cried this over and over. This is what he does all through
this psalm. Lord, don't you see what they're doing? Don't you
see what they're doing to me? That's what we read in Psalm
43, wasn't it? Lord, that evil man, that wicked Arminian. And the Lord sovereignly allows
all this to happen. He knows. He sovereignly allows
it. Why? First Corinthians 11, verse
19. He says, There must be heresies
among you. There must be. Listen to this. There must be heresies among
you that they which are approved might be made manifest to you. In other words, God sends heresies
out there, Violet Bird, and he sends them strong delusions they
believe a lie. God sent all this. Do you believe
that? That's what he said. He said,
there must be heresies among you that they which are approved
might be made manifest. Joe Parks, he sends out, he puts
his way out false prophets all over the land so that you'll
know a true one when you hear him. Right? And then you come and hear the
truth, and you say, that's it. Ain't no doubt about it. Right?
That's the reason he does that. He says, there must be heresies
among you. He does this for our good. And when I want to call
down fire from heaven, he's got them out there for my good, so
that I'll see. And he's put this crooked stick
out there, a false prophet, a false witness, so that I might see
the true witness, the true witness. And the Lord allows all this
to go on for the sake of his people, that they might truly
appreciate the true gospel and the true and faithful witness
and the true word of God. They might truly understand,
comparing the scriptures with scriptures, that they are wise. The Lord allows all this to happen.
And the Spirit bears witness with our spirits and convinces
us right in the face of the enemy. He prepares us a table in the
presence of our enemies. He prepares us, I mean, rock-solid
truth in the presence of madness. Right? The war, the madness going on,
the craziness, people frothing at the mouth all around us, while
you're sitting quietly, looking at, considering the Word, bound
to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has chosen you from the beginning. That's what he
said right on the back of saying, God, they didn't receive the
love of the truth, so God sent them a strong delusion. He said,
oh, I thank God for you. Thank God for you. You believe
the truth, which is able to make you wise, which will set you
free from all that out there. He said in verse 10, he says,
Fear not. Don't fear any of these things.
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer, and you are
going to suffer at the hands of these people. Don't be disturbed
by all of that. all that he says. In that article that letter I wrote
I anticipated some opposition. I was pleasantly surprised at
all of the positive comments that I got, positive response.
I got more response for that than anything else. But I got
a hate call last night and the man called me every name in the
book. And it hurt. He called me a liar. He said, You don't have a loving
bone in your body. He said, You're a bigot and an
unlovely fellow. All I did was quote scripture
after scripture to him. He never quoted one to me. Not one. He
revealed his utter contempt. Like I said in the article, utter
contempt for the Word of God. He said, I don't want to hear
any more of you quoting scripture to me. He said, I'll have you know I'm
a Southern Baptist. He said, I'm a biblical scholar.
But at any rate, it hurts, it did. It always does when people
argue with you and won't believe the word of God, which is so
clear, it clears the nose on your face, isn't it? It clears
the nose on your face, black and white, and red all over. And it hurts, though, when people
don't, and you're perplexed, you're puzzled, but the Lord
sent them. The Lord sent Shimei to curse you, David. But you know right on the back
of hanging up with that fellow, well, I went to bed. I didn't
stay there long. I woke up this old man and I
couldn't sleep a wink. Why? The Lord just poured Scripture
after Scripture after Scripture. Woke me up in the middle of the
night just pouring Scripture after Scripture after Scripture
into my mind and my heart, convincing me. That man, he's the liar. He's the ungodly one. Just Scripture
after Scripture. Had to get up and write them
all down. Convincing me. Persuading me. that God is true
and every man's a liar. And don't worry about that. Don't
fear these fellas. Fear none of these things which
you shall suffer. Don't be disturbed by it all. He says don't fear
the future. I know you ought to fear him
who holds the future. Right? Don't fear men, fear God. Don't fear the future, fear God.
If you fear God, you won't fear anything else. Right? You fear God truly, you won't
fear anything or anyone else. Because you'll know of him and
through him and to him and for him and by him and under him
are all things. Right? And who is he that can
harm you? And he said, but you shall suffer.
You shall suffer. Fear none of those things which
you shall suffer. You shall. Count on it. And count
on him to deliver you from them. The devil, who's a roaring lion
who seeks whom he may devour, walks about the earth, he's going
to cast some of you into prison. Now, this literally happened
to the church at Smyrna, and it spiritually happens to us. It casts us into prison. The devil will imprison us just
as really. We're in prison to sin and lust
and fear and guilt and all these things aren't seem like we under
the would seem like he does have us under his dominion doesn't
it? Christ said no. No. He's on a leash. I let his leash
out. I let him bite you a little bit.
So you come running back to me. Right? You got out there thought
you was okay, sheep. The Lord sent his faithful watchdog.
Even the devil's his pit bull. Isn't it? Even the devil will
do his bidding. His faithful watchdog. Get on
back to Christ now. The devil means to run you away
from him. All the while in God's good providence he's sending
you to him. Such is the power of our great
Lord. And he says ten days he'll do this. And this I think alludes
Dr. Gill or John, John Gill said
this, that this ten days represents a period of ten Roman rulers,
and it did. I looked it up in Foxe's Book
of Martyrs. There were ten rulers in Rome that persecuted the church
for a period of time, and they went through this, and it martyred
the church to extinction, all of these churches anyway. He
said, but be faithful unto death. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I'll give you a crown of life. He said Christ didn't he
say in Philippians two Christ was obedient on the day of even
a death of. What could we possibly suffer
worse than that. Chances are like it like of a
better word chances are our death will be peaceful. Pretty much even at the hands
of cancer. We watched him and women You
watched believers die at the hands of a ruthless disease,
but they died in peace. Smile on their face. Don't fear
death. Don't fear death. Remember this.
Christ arose victorious over death. He said, I've conquered
it. There's nothing to fear. Oh, but look at that dark tomb.
Oh, if somebody had come back from the dead and tell us, Christ
said, I did. Here I am. I've been there. I'd
be afraid of. I've been there. Just like a
little child with his father, you know. The child is fearful
of the unknown. A dark room. The daddy says,
I'll go out before you. I'll go in there. I'll prove
to you. I'll go in there. And he goes in the room and he flips
the light switch on. Say ain't nothing in here. Come
on to bed. Be faithful unto death. Don't
shrink from it when your time comes. Now listen to this. In light of this fool, this false
prophet today, who claims to be what he's not, we're not following
a man, a myth, a cult figure, a madman. We're following the
holy and righteous, good and lovely Son of God. And he never
leads anybody into any kind of fanaticism. He never gives unreasonable
or unlovely commands. Everything that he commands is
good, it's right, it's holy, it's just, it's honest, it's
true, it's best for everybody involved. That's how you know
a true prophet. That's how you know a true man
of God. Is he leading us into fanaticism, into self-destruction,
into sin and wickedness? That's false prophet. Hereby
you may know the doctrine, whether it be of God, Christ said. Does
a man speak of himself or God? Does his teaching promote love,
peace, humility, sacrifice, service, even love for his fellow man?
Fruit of the spirit of lovely life? That's God's will. Now
he says, Be faithful. Don't fear any of these things.
Be faithful and I'll give you a crown of life. I'll give you a crown of life.
In other words, I'll crown this life. The crown or the coronation
of this life will be real life. You ain't lived yet. It does
get better than this. It does. Much exceedingly better. Unspeakably better. Paul said,
unlawful to utter. If I could tell you about it,
I would, but you couldn't be understanding of it. Real life. Life more abundant. What is it
you enjoy about this life? You know, everything is good
and holy and just and right and true, happiness, pleasure, peace,
comfort, love, fellowship. Multiply that one million times. You've got heaven. You've got
what Christ is about to give to his people. Multiply it without
a shade of sorrow, without a tear. Multiply it. Everything good
about this life, every good and perfect gift cometh from above. and multiply all of this good
and right and holy and good that's in this world, multiply it a
million times, and you've got life, real life that you're about
to start living. We haven't lived yet. We get
a little taste of it every now and then, like right now. I think
you're enjoying this message like I am. A little bit of taste
of life, real living, what this thing's all about. Someday he's
going to crown you with here. Enjoy. Come on in. Just enjoy. Verse 11. He that hath an ear. Did you hear this? Did you hear
that? He that hath an ear. Let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Let him hear. Christ is alive. These are the
things he said. If you heard it, Christ is alive. He reigns.
He rules. He controls all. Everything comes
your way. He sends it. Remember that. He's
alive. He's coming again. He sees all. He knows all. Don't worry about
it. He controls it all. All right? He sends it all. Whatever befalls me, he sent
it to me for my good. Don't fear. Did you hear? Don't
fear. Oh, but don't do that. Stop that. Don't fear. Don't fear man. Don't
fear trouble. Don't fear the future. You don't
have to bear past trouble. You don't have to bear your present
trouble. And you sure don't have to bear future trouble. Don't
fear the adversary. Fear God. Fear God. He's nigh
unto them that fear him. And he that overcometh, just
believe Christ. Who is he that overcometh? That's
what 1 John 5 says. Who's going to overcome it? Somebody
say it. He that believeth. This is what overcomes the world.
Faith. Faith. Belief in Christ. Trust
in Him. He that overcometh shall not
be hurt. He's not going to hurt. You say that to your child when
you're going to get something good for them, a vaccine. It
may sting a little, but it's going to keep you from that second
death. I'm going to vaccinate you. I'm
going to give you a little bit of poison. Everything, every trial, trouble,
sin even. You believe that? Now, God doesn't
tempt us with sin, but he allows it for our good. I like that thought. I'm not
charging God with sin at all. I'm just saying I like the thought
that he allows me to fall at times, so I'll look up and he'll
rescue me out of debt. And it'll make his salvation
and the gospel that much sweeter to me. If I didn't, I'd get high
and lifted up, wouldn't I? I'd be filled full of pride.
I'd think I some self-righteous... I would be a self-righteous Pharisee,
which I'm so prone toward. But he mercifully and graciously
at times lets me see what I am. Everything. It won't hurt. It'll hurt temporarily, but it'll
work a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory for you.
All right, stand with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you
so much for the promises of your word. What a sweet, sweet love
letter you sent to the church at Smyrna and you sent to us
through them. We thank you, dear Lord. It's
signed, it's sealed with a kiss. from the Master himself, the
lips of him whose grace pours from those lips. And we see grace
written all over these pages. And how we thank you for the
grace that's in Christ and the mercy. Our Father planned it
all. How we thank you. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.