going to deal with Smyrna tonight.
The second dealt with Ephesus last Sunday evening. And deal
with the second church. There are seven churches in Asia. And I've told you that Asia is
what is known as Turkey now. And this particular congregation,
this particular church was in a place that is now called Ismar
in Turkey. it's on the GNC and this church
in Smyrna was probably Paul was a person that probably founded
it established this church when he was on one of his missionary
journeys is what they say you know when you read study on it
but also know this let me read these scriptures then and then
we'll look at it verse 8 And unto the angel of the church
of Smyrna write, These things saith the first and the last,
which was dead and is alive. I know your works, your tribulation,
poverty, but you are rich, and the blasphemy of them which say
they are Jews and are not. but are the synagogue of Satan.
Fear none of those things which shalt thou suffer. Behold, the
devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be
tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days. And be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that
overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. This is one of those churches
where the Lord Jesus, this and Philadelphia is the two churches
that he found no fault in whatsoever. Nothing wrong with them, nothing
wrong with them. There was an old man named Polycarp
and I've read several things about him. He was at this particular
time pastor of the church here in Smyrna at this particular
time when this was written. And he was, he sat under John
the Apostle, the man who wrote the revelation. He sat under
the Apostle John's ministry. He's converted under John's ministry. And he was 86 years old, and
I read about his martyrdom. He was 86 years old. And they
brought him before the tribunal and they said, if you'll deny
Jesus Christ, He said, we'll let you live. He said, He never
denied me when He bore my sins. He's never denied me in all the
years that I've been a Christian, been a believer. He's never failed
me. And I will, if He didn't deny
me, I will not deny Him. And they took His life when He
was 86 years old. You can look it up yourself,
killed him, martyred him, 86 years old. It would take a cruel,
cruel person to slay a man when he's 86 years old for his faith
in Christ, wouldn't it? It would take a cruel man. But
I tell you what, there's a lot of cruel people in this world
and Satan has always said he has rage, his hatred and his
enmity for the church and for the Lord Jesus Christ people,
but he uses people to carry out his will and do what he wants
done. And the conditions at this particular
time in history, when the first two centuries after our Lord
ascended back to glory, The church, the saints of God
were under great, great persecution. They run them all out of Jerusalem. Then they run them, they went
to Rome and they run them all out of Rome. And there was, they
made sport, there was sport to persecute and kill and slay Christians. And Paul the Apostle was one
who did that very thing until God saved him. And he tried,
Satan tried, raised and tried to destroy the testimony of Christ. You read through the book of
Acts and look at all the things they've done. They killed James,
Herod had James killed. And he would have killed Simon
Peter but the Lord came and got him out of prison. They imprisoned
Paul for years and let him go and he had his head cut off and
roamed. So I mean that Satan raged at
the church and tried his best to wipe it out. And they talked
about the people of this way. And I tell you what and he's
still, he's still against the church and if he can't destroy
it by pain, by causing pain, or by persecution, you know what
he'll do? He's wily. He's wily. He'll destroy a church by pleasure. He'll make people enjoy pleasure
so much. Be pleased. That's what the preachers,
all they're interested in is pleasing men. They're an instrument
of the devil. If you get up to entertain people,
and He said so many times, preachers are entertaining people on the
road to hell. But I tell you what, if He will
try pleasure, then He'll try pride. Make you proud of who
you are, make you proud of the church, make you proud of everything
that you've accomplished. And then he'll make you, he'll
have fullness of bread. So you'll sit back, and like
we ate a big meal yesterday, a woman says, time to go home
and take a nap, ain't it? And that's what he says, fullness
of bread, pride and pleasure. If he can't get you one way,
he'll try to get you another. And I'll tell you what, but he
wrote this letter, our Lord Jesus sent this letter to Sister Smyrna. And look what it says here. And
the angels, the preacher, those that are there, he said, this
particular time is Polycarp. And look at what our Lord says
about himself. He said, I'm the first and the
last. I was always first. Always been first. I was first
in eternity with my Father. And I'll be the last one. And
I've always been. Never has been a time when I've
not been. And he said, I was dead. Yes, I was dead. Now I'm alive. I'm alive. I'm alive. Yet dead,
but yet liveth. That's one of the mysteries to
me of the Godhead. How that, you know, when you
find in John chapter 3, it says this. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
while He was on this earth, He said, I'm with my Father in heaven. He is standing there talking
to people. He was on earth and He is in heaven at the same time. That's what makes Him so precious.
That's what makes Him so glorious. That's what makes us worship
Him. Because about the time you think you understand a little
about Him, you dive in the deep end and you can't come up unless
He brings you up. But oh my, he the one who was
alive even while he was dead, the everlasting one, the everliving
one, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the one who conquered
death. I said this morning, he came
out of the grave and he left death dead at his feet. And He's
able to say, and tell these people, you be faithful unto death. You
be faithful unto death. And I'll give you, I'll give
you. I'll be the one to give it to you. I won't send somebody
else to give it to you. I'll give you a crown of life.
I'll put a wreath on your head, which is a crown of life. Now
look what He says about them. He said, I know your works, and
listen to what else He says, your tribulation, and your poverty. I know your tribulation. And
you know these people were extremely, extremely poor. I know your poverty. These people, because they were
believers, they weren't allowed to work. They weren't even allowed,
they had to meet in caves and whatever else or any place they
could find. And they had extreme poverty.
They had no way to make any money. Noah had no way, it's against
the law to hire one of them. And I tell you what, and he said
here, these people lost their jobs when they were converted,
lost all hope that they had of ever working again when they
were converted. And people back in those days
were usually very poor anyway. But when you profess Christianity,
that meant greater poverty and greater tribulation. And I'll
tell you, we absolutely know nothing about suffering what
some people has over the years. They were unusually poor. Paul
took up, he said over in the book of Acts, they took up a
great big offering for all the poor saints, all the poor saints
that were ever in Jerusalem. They were so poor that people
had to send money to take care of. That's how poor they was. And I tell you what, they suffered
hunger, they suffered imprisonment, they even suffered death. There
was a Roman emperor named Domitian. What he did is he built himself
a great big temple. And he built it over there where
they all could see it in Turkey. And he said, set up an image
of himself and he had to burn candles there and you had to
come and worship there just like Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar and
Belshazzar built that great big 70-foot statue told if you don't
bow down and worship his statue you're going in the fire furnace
or in the lion's den and that's what they told these people you
either bow down and worship the emperor or you're gonna die And then they would watch for
people to go by there. This was serious business. I'm
telling you what, very serious business. And these people, he
said, I know your tribulation. I know what you're going through.
I know the pain you're going through. I know the trials you're
going through. I know the heartache you're going through. To get
up in the morning and not know where your meal's coming from
that day. Get up in the morning, go out
here and start begging. Get up and you don't know if
they're going to catch you and capture you and put you in prison
and cut your head off. You don't know. They got up every
day facing things like that. But our Lord says, now don't
pity yourselves. Don't pity yourselves. Look what
He said. I know your works and your tribulation and your poverty.
But look what He says, but you're rich. You're rich. Oh my. What made them rich? They weren't
rich in this world's goods. They weren't that. He said, you're
rich. What made them rich? Christ made
them rich. Knowing Christ made them rich.
They were rich in grace. They were rich in spiritual possessions. Oh, they possessed the grace
of God. They possessed faith. They possessed
peace of heart and peace of mind. They possessed peace with God. They had spiritual possessions.
They had spiritual gifts. Oh my! They possessed the faith,
beloved, that would make them able to face death. There was a man named Hugh Latimer. He had to stand before King Henry. King Henry the 8th. You know
they would have preachers that would come in. They would have
them come in and preach before the King. They had Hugh Latimer
come in. He was a minister to the King.
He'd come in one time and you know Henry the 8th had how many
wives? Six wives? Seven wives? He had a bunch of
them. He'd have one killed and that's how the Church of England
was established because he couldn't be in the Catholic Church, so
he had to start his own church because he had so many different
wives. But anyway, to make a long story
short, Jules Latimer stood before him and he preached from where
Herod took his brother Philip's wife and John the Baptist said,
it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. And he preached
to the king, he said, it's not lawful, it's not right, it's
not Profitable for you to have a wife so many wives and killing
them and doing all he just took him to task I mean preach to
him. He said I'm mr. Latimer I'm gonna give you a
chance. I'm gonna give you this opportunity To come back next
week, and I'm gonna give you an opportunity to change your
message Well, mr. Latimer came back the next week
and It's the same thing before the king and he says, don't you
know who you're speaking before? You're speaking before the sovereign
king of England. You know what Latimer told him?
He said, I'm also standing before the king of kings and the Lord
of lords. Who's your king? And they took
him out and burned him at the stake. Oh, listen, I've been an average
preacher here that walked up there and said, oh, King, you're
the most wonderful fellow ever was. But oh, I tell you, God's
made some people, He's gave some people some faith. And these
people had those spiritual possessions. Oh, they possessed repentance.
They possessed forgiveness. Forgiveness of all their sin.
To deny Christ after He bore all your sin. After He bore all
the sin away and forgives you of every sin you've ever committed
and the wars you've not committed yet? Forgive us all, even all the
sin of unbelief that we have. Forgive us all. These people
have these wonderful spiritual possessions. You're rich. Oh,
they had the righteousness of Christ. They may have been poor
and dressed in old rags, but as far as God was concerned,
they had on that beautiful shining garment, that white garment. Oh, they were justified. Oh,
the Roman emperors may not have justified them, may have killed
them, but they were justified before God Almighty. They were
holy before God. They possessed Christ. And that's
why they said, and I believe they really believe this with
all their heart, that Christ is all in all. Huh? Oh my. You know, our Lord Jesus,
They possess Christ. I was this young man come to
the Lord Jesus one time. That young man come running to
him and said, good master. Called him good master. Why are
you calling me good? There ain't nothing good with
God. And he said, what good thing
must I do to inherit eternal life? And he was real wealthy.
And our Lord said, I tell you, if you want life, if you want
life, if you're serious and you want life, you want Christ, you
want me, you go sell everything you've got, sell it all, and
then you find poor people, find people like this right here in
their poverty, and you start giving it away. Did he do it? No, he didn't do it. And that's
what our Lord, I'll tell you what, that rich man fared sumptuously
every day. Fared sumptuously every day.
And there said old Lazarus, he was a beggar. He said, outside
the gate. Big chariot come out of there
and service opened the gate and let that man come out of there
and he's a big entourage and he's wealthy, oh my goodness,
wealthy beyond measure. Well, he fared sumptuously. There
laid old, there sat old Lazarus, there sat old Lazarus right beside
him. Oh, sat by the gate. that he
was so full of sores he was full of sores he had pus running out
of his legs and the dogs would come up there and lick his legs
and lick the sores on his body but one day that rich man died
and the scripture said in hell he
lifted up his eyes And Lazarus died. And he's the one who had the
true will. And they took him to glory. So I'll tell you what, we don't
know nothing about poverty. But I do know this. That spiritually,
without Christ, we are poor. But with Christ, we are like
these people here. We are extremely, exceptionally,
absolutely rich beyond degree. You can't measure the wealth
that we have in Christ. And what comfort for these dear
saints here when our Lord Jesus Christ told them, I know you.
I know your works. I know what tribulation you're
going through. I know your poverty. But I know also that you're rich.
You are very rich. And then look what he said else.
He went on to say that now. and the blasphemy of them which
say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
When he says they say they are Jews and are not, but are the
synagogue of Satan. Now what in the world when he's
talking about they say they are Jews and are not? What's he talking
about? that these people claim to be
Jewish people. And they were Jewish people.
Jewish by nationality. Jews by religion. But you know
who persecuted our Lord Jesus Christ and who persecuted the
early church? Jews. Paul was a Jew. He said he was a Jew, a Hebrew
of Hebrews. And I persecuted the church beyond
measure. I was a Pharisee above many of
my equals. But oh, they were Jews by nationality,
Jews by religion, but they persecuted Christians. Before the Romans,
they vilified, they rejected our Lord Jesus Christ, and they
still reject the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care how black their
hats are, I don't care how long their coats are, and I don't
care how bushy their beards are, and I don't care how many prayer
closets and synagogues they go to. They still reject Christ. And there's only one person in
this world that can save any soul on topside of God's earth.
And that's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Jew or Gentile, bond
or free, male or female. He's the only one that can do
it. Huh? Oh my. When next time you get
to talk to a Jew, I tell you, if he professes to be a Jew,
you ask him, say, let me ask you, say, first thing you need
to ask him is, where's your priest? Every Jew, if he's going to worship
God, he's got, the first thing he's got to do is he's got to
have a priest. Then he's got to have a sacrifice. Then he's got to have an altar
on which to put that sacrifice on. If he ain't got them three
things, he ain't got nothing. Ain't that right? And we got
all those things in one person, the Lord Jesus. Oh my! And they considered themselves,
and John said here, oh they say, well we go to the synagogue.
You know what God said about them? He said, that's the synagogue
of the devil. That's the synagogue of Satan himself. They considered themselves to
be a synagogue of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He
entered the ministry, He entered into the synagogue in Nazareth,
and He stood up that day and read from the scriptures, from
that scroll. He stood in the synagogue and
did that. Paul always went to the synagogues wherever he went
and preached Christ to them, preached the gospel to them,
and then people would come out and they'd start a church. That's
how churches were established. But oh my, they considered themselves
the synagogue of God, but our Lord says here they were the
synagogue of Satan, the accuser of their brethren. It was they,
Jews, that slew Stephen. They persecuted Saul and Barnabas. They hated Peter and John and
called them before the Sanhedrin I don't know how many times.
And they certainly hated our Lord Jesus Christ. But do you
know what a true Jew is? I'm going to show you two places.
Look in Romans 2. Look in Romans 2. I want to show
you what a true Jew is. They're not the ones in Israel
and they're not the ones in New York City. I'll take that. I'm going to show you who a true
Jew is. You're looking at an absolute son of Abraham right
now. Our Lord Jesus Christ in John
8. I could take you over there and show it to you. Well, you
know, they said we'd be Abraham's seed, Abraham's children. He
said if you were sons of Abraham, children of Abraham, you'd do
what Abraham did. You'd believe me. But you don't believe me. You
don't believe me. You don't understand what I'm
talking about. And they said, well, then you're in bondage.
He said, oh no, we're never in bondage to anybody. We're Abraham's
children. Our Lord said, oh no, you know who your daddy is? Your father is the devil. And he's a liar and he's a murderer
from the beginning. He said, that's who your daddy
is. And you're going to do his works. That's why he looked him
square in the eye and said, your daddy is the devil. He looked them Jews in the eye
and said, your daddy is the devil. Oh my! But now look here in verse
28, talking about a true Jew now. Not these ones that just
claim to be Jews. And this is our Lord Jesus, this
is the apostle and Christ taught him the gospel. For he is not
a Jew which is one outwardly, claiming to be one. Neither is
that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. That's not true
circumcision either. But I'm going to tell you who
a Jew is. Which is one inwardly. And circumcision of the heart.
God taking that dirt and filth away from the heart. Entering
into that covenant of grace. And circumcision is that of the
heart. And it's by the Spirit. It's not by the law. Whose praise
is not of men. If you keep the law, men will
praise you. But if God does something for
you, you end up praising God. And I'm going to show you another
one in Philippians. Look over in Philippians 3. I'll
show you who a true Jew is. You're looking at a... God said,
you know, you'll have seed. And we're his children. We're
the children of Abraham. But here's a true Jew too over
here. Philippians 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. to write the same things to you,
to me indeed, is not grievous. It's not difficult for me. I don't think it's a hard thing
for me to have to say the same things over and over. But for
you, it's safe. It needs to be done. And he says,
beware of dogs. Old barking dogs. Old sorry dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
the concision, them that are crosses all the T's and dots
all their I's and until you do that, you ain't nothing. But
now watch this now. For we are the circumcision.
And listen, how do we worship God? We worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus. I have no confidence in the flesh. That's a bunch of Jews in here
tonight. I mean the real things. God took
that heart. I never will forget, I might
have told you this. We was up in Babscott, West Virginia
and Earl Cochran was pastor up there way back when. Scott was
preaching up there, Tim James was preaching up there, and I
forget who else it was. But I remember Tim got up and
he preached a message. And I forget, it was one of the
minor prophets, they call them, I don't think there's a minor
prophet, that's what they call them. But he said anyway, Rinse your heart
and not your garments. Because when the Jews would feel
like something had happened that was very dramatic and very heart-wrenching
or something, they'd just rip their garment right over their
heart. And God said, rend your heart, not your garments. It's your heart where the problem's
at. It's your heart where the sin's
at. It's your heart that where I
deal with. It's the heart that I speak to.
It's the heart that I have to have. It's the heart. My son,
give me your heart. And boy he wailed away on that. It was wonderful. I don't remember
everything he said but I do remember what he preached on there. That
was absolutely. And then look what our Savior
said. Now that's what I'm telling you. Beloved, next time you go
to New York City and you see all them Jews running around
in their black hats and their long coats. and them curls hanging
down under their hats, and them big old bushy beards. You look
at him and say, well, if you get an opportunity, I'm telling
you, you know, they may have to go home and wash themselves
after they talk to you. They have to go home and take
a bath, you know, cleanse themselves. But anyway, tell him, say, you
know, I'm a Jew, I'm a real genuine Jew. And quote these scriptures
to him. And say, why does that make you?
If I'm the real deal, why does that make you? Just like these
folks right here in the synagogue of Satan. They say they're Jews! No, they're really not. They're
really not. And our Lord Himself was of the
Jewish nation. And then look what He says there
in verse 10. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. And He's telling them, He said,
you're going to suffer. You're going to suffer. There's no doubt
about it. You're going to suffer. But don't
you fear none of those things that you're going to suffer.
Don't be afraid. Don't fear. You're going to suffer.
You're going to suffer. And I tell you what, and that's
one thing about every believer, sooner or later, he's going to
have some suffering. Nobody else may never know what's
going on in a person's heart and life. In their heart and
in their soul. What they may get up and go through
in one day. Just suffering in their mind.
Suffering in their heart. And soul suffering is the worst
kind of suffering you can go through. I mean we lose family
members in that but boy oh boy. Suffering. And our Lord says
don't be afraid of suffering. Don't be afraid of it. And then
he goes on to say here now. Behold the devil. The devil shall
cast some of you into prison that you may be tried. The devil
shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried. You know,
when Peter was put in prison, who put him there? thought it
was the devil but it was he's behind all the persecution of
the Lord's people behind the Romans behind the Roman persecutions
behind the Jews that was persecuting was the devil himself he's the
accuser of the brethren And he wants so much to destroy the
Lord's people. He thought he had it, he thought
he had this thing whipped when he had Christ crucified on the
cross. He said, I believe I've got this thing under control.
Until Christ rose from the dead. Well he said, he'll cast some
of you into prison. And oh my, Satan would be tempting
these believers But God, by these afflictions, by these trials,
by these sufferings, would be proving and trying them. And that's what he says, that
ye may be tried. That you may be tried. This is
going to happen, that you may be tried. That you may be tried. I'm putting your gold in the
furnace. I'm going to put your gold in
the furnace. And I'm going to try it. And when that gold has
been tried, I'm going to bring you back out. And I'll tell you
what. And then he says this, and you
shall have tribulation. And then he gives them a certain
amount of time. He says, you'll have tribulation
ten days. It'll last ten days. Now why
did he say ten days? That gives us a definite period
of time. A definite period of time. And
when that time would be full, and it shows that it's ten days,
it shows that it's just going to be a very brief period that
this is going to happen. But it would last for ten days.
Ten days. And trials are often in the scriptures. Called a short season to encourage
saints. to endure. I want to show you
two scriptures, Matthew 24, 22. Talking about, I'll try to wind
this thing up here, Matthew 24, 22. We don't know what's going
to happen for this. I do know this, I do know this,
that there's people that despise religion, hate it with a passion,
hate Christianity with a passion. In America, people that's in
positions of power. The trials are often called for
a short season, like 10 days, to encourage saints to endure.
Look what our Lord said in verse 21.
For then shall be great tribulation, which such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. And listen to this, and except
those days should be shortened, say ten days, except those days
should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. to listen to what he says, but
for the elect's sake those days shall be short. Oh my! Let me show you the second
one over here in 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4.17. I love this verse over here.
2 Corinthians 4.17. 2 Corinthians 4.17. Look what it says. That's what the Lord says about
it. You know, He said, though your faith be tried as gold, He said, for our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, whatever it may be, to us it don't seem
light. To us it don't seem short. To us it seems very heavy. To
us it seems very dark. But in the light of eternity,
in the light of what Christ did for us, in the light of how long
we're going to spend in eternity, whatever happens in time, snap
of a finger. That's what he said. For our
lot of affliction, listen to this now, which is but for a
moment, it works for us, it's working in us. causing in us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And you know how many saints
went and faced these things knowing that when this is over, I'm going
to go be with Christ. Paul said when they were getting
ready to kill him, the time of my departure is at hand. Time of my departure is at hand. They come and got him that morning.
Time of my departure is at hand. And all that is laid up for me.
The crown of righteousness. He said, but I tell you what.
He said, I fought a good fight. I kept the faith. And beloved, I believe he laid
his head on that block and never batted an eye. All he could think
was, I'll be with Christ just in a moment. I'll tell you what,
you know I love to preach on those things and deal with those
things. But God knows, if those things happen to us, how are
we going to react? We won't know until it happens. And old Scott
used to say this, he said, it'll be a rare, rare occasion when
you'll have an opportunity to honor God through a great trial,
through a great fight of afflictions. He said, not everybody gets that
opportunity, but if He ever gives you that opportunity to honor
Him in a great fight of afflictions that you're going through, a
great tribulation, that's a great blessing to be
able to honor God through what you're going through. not bald go crawl up in a corner
and ball up and get in the fetal position said oh lord i just
i can't believe you let me go through this you know it's like
this pandemic god went on a vacation let this thing go on the way
it does i'm sorry i'm sorry but i tell
you what if we can't take sickness in this world we certainly won't
be able to face