And we'll stay right there where
Brother Jim just read in Revelation 2. We're talking about the seven
churches that existed at that time in Asia Minor, which is
modern day Turkey. And these seven churches represent
the state and the condition of the church here on earth, the
true church, Churches that were established upon the true gospel,
not false churches. Now, false churches in the world
are known as Satan's tares in the book of Matthew chapter 13.
And people talk about, well, we have wheat and tares, and
they talk about believers and unbelievers, and that's true.
The wheat being the congregation of believers, the tares being
a congregation calling themselves Christian, but denying the word
of God. But these seven churches represent
conditions that exist throughout what we can call the gospel millennium. You know, the millennium means
a thousand years. And that's indicative. You know,
the Hebrews in the Old Testament and as the writing of the New
Testament, the thousand years was not a literal thousand years
on the calendar. It was indicative, symbolic,
of a long period of time that only God knows. And you remember
in 2 Peter 3, you remember what Peter wrote about the Lord's
timing and timing issues. He said, a thousand years is
as a day to the Lord and a day is a thousand years. Well, we're
living in the new covenant gospel millennium. And throughout this
time, it exists between the first coming of Christ and his second
coming. These describe the state of churches
throughout that age. And as we look at them, we want
to do a little self-examination. Is this our state? Here's an
Eager Avenue Grace Church, where there's admonitions. You know,
when he says, for example, in verse 4 of chapter 2, nevertheless
I have somewhat against thee. Well, could we be in that category? And if we are, we need to repent
as a group. We do. And so he spoke of the
Ephesian church that lost their first love. They continued in
the gospel truth, but they lost their zeal and their love for
evangelism, I think mainly, but even in their relationship with
one another, they lost that zeal. And he tells them, he said, don't
do that. He said, repent of that and do
the first works. And now we come to the, Church
at Smyrna, beginning in verse 8. And the church at Smyrna represents
the persecuted church. Throughout the last days, throughout
the gospel millennium, the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ
will be persecuted. Now that persecution will come
in different forms, to different degrees, but it will be a persecution
over the gospel. And that's what he's talking
about. But I want you to bear with me a little bit. I want
to go back into the first church mentioned here, Ephesus, and
verse six, dealing with an issue of this group known as Nicolaitans. Look at verse six. Because I
didn't get to this the last time and I want to deal with it. This
group called the Nicolaitans comes up again with the next
church after Smyrna, which is the church of Pergamos or Pergamum.
And he says in verse six, to the church at Ephesus, he says,
but this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate. Well, who were these Nicolaitans?
Well, essentially, no one knows. And the reason is, is because
there's no explanation given in the text itself, either time
that they're mentioned. They're just mentioned by name.
Now, I think what throws a lot of people off when they try to
understand what it is, is that the term Nicolaitans is capitalized. Now you know in the original
Greek manuscripts there were no capital letters. So the capital,
and of course you would capitalize names in our English, but the
King James translators decided to capitalize Nicolaitans, and
that could be the case, it could not. Most preachers, gospel preachers,
They described the deeds of the Nicolaitans like preachers who
preach grace, but promoted sinful behavior. They said, well, we
believe salvation by grace, and it doesn't matter how you live,
doesn't matter your attitude, you can go out and sin all you
want to, that kind of thing. That may have been true, but
I don't think so. What I see this as, and of course you can
disagree with me if you want to be bold, but anyway, I think the meaning
of this is found in the name itself. Nicolaitans. It's a compound word. The word
nika'o, which is the first compound word, means to conquer. To conquer. to have authority over. And the word laos means the people. We get our English word laity.
You've heard of clergy and laity. Now that's an unbiblical system.
We have preachers of the gospel, we have ministers, deacons and
all that. But to have this clergy laity as if the clergy rules,
conquers the people. And I believe this could refer
to an attempt to divide between the clergy and the laity, creating
a division in which the clergy, men, rule over the people, the
laity. And the reason that I think that's
the case is because think about what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
1 concerning the division in the Corinthian church. Remember
what it was over? Preachers. Some of you follow
Peter. Some of you follow Apollos. Some
of you follow Paul. Some of you don't follow anybody.
You say you follow Christ. And Paul says, oh, how wrong
you are. He says, that's why he told him,
he said, I'm glad I didn't baptize any of you. But you know one
of the most common sinful conditions that pervade even over some gospel
churches, is following men rather than the word of God. I've seen
it happen, and you've seen it happen. People leaving a church
because some man gets discontent, and he takes a group with him.
And they have no reason to leave because the gospel's being preached.
But they follow men. And I believe that's the spirit
of the Nicolaitans. Now, again, it could be somebody
saying, well, I believe grace, but you can say all you want.
But the word means conquering the people. And let me tell you
what you have when you have a group of people who follow a man rather
than following the Lord and his word. You know what you have
there? You have a cult. A cult following. And I've often
said this. The worst thing, and I mean this
now, I don't want you to follow me because of who I am. I want
you to follow me as I follow the word of God, and if I go
against the word of God, stop following me. That's what I want. But here's the thing, and I've seen it happen. When
you follow a man, or a woman, Rather than the word of God,
you've got a cult there. And I've often said this, the
worst thing that can happen to any true gospel preacher is to
have a following for himself. And people say, well, I'm not
going to listen to anybody but so-and-so. We had a man here
last week preaching the gospel, a great gospel message. When
you preach, Jim, Mark, and all, they preach the gospel. And that's
what you want to follow. Not just a man. Start a church
over here for a man. And I believe that's the spirit
of the Nicolaitans. And then in verse 70 he says,
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the church. If you got ears to hear, then
hear this. Now you may not have ears to
hear. You may turn a deaf ear to it. But you're wrong. And he says, to him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst
of the paradise of God. Those who have ears to hear are
alive in Christ. They've eaten of the tree of
life. It's a gift from God. It's not what you earn because
you made a decision. Now going on with that as we
come to the church at Smyrna. You know the word Smyrna? It
means the same as myrrh. gold, frankincense, and myrrh
that the wise men brought to the baby Jesus, or to the two-year-old,
I believe, two-year-old Jesus. But anyway, it's myrrh, and myrrh
was often used to anoint a dead body. That's what they used. And it was a symbol of suffering,
even suffering unto death. So it's interesting. He says
in verse 8, and to the angel, or the messenger, the pastor,
the elder of the church in Smyrna. And the new covenant church persecuted
by unbelievers for righteousness sake throughout the last age,
that's what the church at Smyrna represents. The true gospel church
persecuted by enemies of Christ, enemies of the cross. And listen
to how Christ identifies himself to the church at Smyrna. Now,
and you keep in mind now, this persecution was sometimes even
unto death. Many of God's servants were tortured,
left in poverty, sickness, and died for the faith. Martyrs,
is what we call them. And many of them had. I remember
when the apostle was talking to the People, the Hebrew Christians
in the book of Hebrews, he says you're suffering but you have
not yet suffered unto death. Now that could happen. Paul himself
suffered unto death. He was beheaded because of his
preaching of the gospel. And so listen to how Christ identifies
himself to these people, to these believers, to these children
of God. He says, and unto the angel of
the church in Smyrna write, this is verse 8, these things saith
the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. When the Lord speaks of people
suffering unto death over the gospel for righteousness sake,
often He reminds us, look, Who suffered the greatest suffering
of all? Christ did, for our sins. Christ suffered the just for
the unjust, for our sins, and He suffered greatly, probably
like no person has ever suffered. In the Garden of Gethsemane,
He suffered great clots of blood in His agony in his humanity,
going through something he'd never gone through before, this
pain. And it was real pain. It wasn't fake. It wasn't a hoax. Think about it. And he suffered
unto death. He's the first and the last.
Without him, there's nothing. And he died, but he didn't stay
dead. He's alive. He arose from the
dead because of our justification. God chose us before the foundation
of the world, gave us to Christ, made Him our surety. He willingly
took upon Himself that task and came to earth, became incarnate,
and walked this earth in the derision of unbelieving sinners. The One who gave them the very,
whenever they cursed Him, the breath that come out of their
mouth in that cursing, He gave it to them. And you've heard preachers talk
about this, the very cross that He went to, He made the tree.
He gave them the ability to cut it down and to form it into a
cross. It was all Him. First and the last. The beginning
and the ending. And without Him, there's nothing.
And He died, but He's alive. Because He put away our sins
and established a perfect righteousness by which God justifies us. His
righteousness imputed to us. It was all His work. And these
words were from the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Lord and
Savior who died for our sins and arose again. This would bring
comfort. to believers going through severe
persecutions, even unto death. Remember Christ, who died, but
He lives. Yes, we serve a risen Savior,
and His death is our life, because as our sins imputed to Him demanded
His death as our Redeemer, His righteousness imputed to us demands
our spiritual and eternal life, and that cannot change. And so
he says in verse 9, I know thy works. Now anytime he says that,
and he says that in just about every, in all of these I believe,
except maybe for one or two. Unless he's pointing out their
sinful works. He's talking about works not in order to attain
or gain or earn salvation. He's talking about the fruit
and evidence of God's power and grace in Christ. This is the
work of God in you, for it is God who worketh in you, the scripture
says, to do His will, His good pleasure. We're saved by grace,
not by works. Through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. We're His workmanship. What we do that is pleasing to
God. Now here's what we have to understand
in the context of the scripture. What we do that is pleasing to
God and is accepted with God is the power of the Spirit of
God within us, motivating us, driving us, energizing us, and
even yet imperfect as it goes through us because of the presence
of the flesh, that keeps us from attaining the perfection of righteousness
that can only be found in Christ. So it's the Spirit driving us
even though when it goes through us it's imperfect. And so it
is accepted with God in the Beloved under the blood of Christ. Our
persons and our works. The Bible spoke of that about
Abel. Abel himself and his works were
accepted with God by the blood. The only meritorious thing that
we have to bring to God is Christ crucified and risen from the
dead. It's his blood, his righteous,
that's the only meritorious thing we have. He earned it all. And so he says, I know thy works. And the particular works that
he's talking about at this church, look at, I know thy works and
tribulation. I know your trouble. What kind
of work is that? Are you causing trouble? You
know what he's talking about. He's talking about their being
persecuted for righteousness sake. And he says, I know your
poverty. Many of them were poor. Back
then, and especially in a place like Smyrna that was known, it
was like a center of medicine. Things like that, people would
bring sick people there if they had the money to do so and get
them treated. And many, back then you had guilds
where workers would join a particular guild like a union. And a lot
of times each union worshipped a particular Greek or Roman god. And if you didn't buy into that
idolatry, you got kicked out of the union, you lost your job.
you lost your means of income, and you became poor. And why? Just because you're stubborn?
No, because you refused to bow to the idol gods of Roman Greece. You testified of the one way
of salvation, the gospel of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you wouldn't back up, compromise. And that's why I know that this
is of the Spirit of God and not of man. Because we would compromise
in a second if not for the Spirit of God. You remember Peter when
he denied the Lord three times? The Lord determined that he would
do that to humble the man, but later on he wouldn't deny him. The Spirit of God gave him the
courage, the spiritual fortitude, to stand fast and firm in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and he suffered
for it, and Peter was martyred. He died in the cause of Christ.
So he said, I know your tribulation. Christ told his disciples, in
the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good courage, for I
have overcome the world. When we read about these situations
back in the New Testament, And we find sometimes later than
that and in other countries how true believers, now let me tell
you this, false faith can make a person a martyr. Don't ever
think that it can't. Just because a person is martyred
for what they believe doesn't mean they're saved. I'll never
forget, I think I've told you this several times, when I would
watch the news back in the mid to late 60s, when people were
protesting the Vietnam War, I saw on the news three Buddhist monks
poured gasoline on themselves and lit themselves on fire in
protest of the Vietnam War. Now let me tell you, that's conviction,
isn't it? But it wasn't gospel conviction. So don't think that
a person who is martyred is automatically saved. These were persecuted
for righteousness sake. Christ said, in the world you'll
have tribulation. It's over the gospel now. And
he said, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. The church in the last days will
go through severe times of tribulation throughout the new covenant age
up to the return of our Savior. It's common to all believers
in all generations to some degree. We don't go looking for trouble,
but once you proclaim that Christ and His righteousness is the
one and only way of salvation and there is no other and all
other ways are false, that's a doctrine that the natural man
hates. And if he can do it legally within
the confounds of this particular societal law, he'll come after
you. That's why we, living in the
United States of America, ought to get on our knees and thank
God continually that the Constitution protects us. It may not always. I don't know what's going to
happen in this country, do you? I know it doesn't look good.
It doesn't. There may come a time in our
lifetime. I don't know about me. I'm 70 now. And so I might
get out of here before it comes. You too, Randy. Jim's older than
us. Mark's older than us. David. Robert, you're older than us.
So we may get out of here before it comes. But in all seriousness,
There could come a time in this country, because of the wokeness
of this society and all of this, that it could be outlawed for
us to come and preach that Christ is the one and only way. Preaching against the sinfulness
of our society, against homosexuality and all of that, they'll call
that hate speech. They say, you hate homosexuals.
I don't hate them. But I know they're wrong. It's
sinful. They say you're a homophobic.
I don't fear them. I'm not afraid of them. Are you? But it's wrong. Just like adultery's
wrong. Just like stealing's wrong. And
why do I say that? Because I'm some kind of a prejudiced
guy? No, I say it because it's God's
word. Well, they went into poverty.
If we follow Christ and seek His righteousness and God's glory,
denying any possibility of salvation based on any other ground, we'll
suffer some form of persecution. And that suffering is a strong
testimony of genuine faith. Christ said, blessed are you
when men revile you, say all manner of evil against you. John wrote that the gospel is
an offense to the natural man. They hate it because it reveals
their deeds to be evil. That's their efforts to save
themselves by their works. He said they'll throw you out
of the synagogues and they'll do it because they neither know
me nor my father. We read it in Philippians 1 there
that our suffering for the gospel, it's a gift from God. Just like
faith. It's given unto you on behalf
of Christ to suffer for His sake. I didn't record this particular
verse. You can look it up. I'll look
it up too. There was a point in time, I believe it's in the
book of Acts, where some of the disciples suffered for the gospel
and they walked away praising God that they were worthy to
suffer for Christ's sake. Can you believe that? That takes
the Spirit of God right there. Our tendency would be to walk
away and say, Lord, why did you treat me like that? Why did you
let that happen to me? Suffering over the gospel is
the chastisements of God, according to Hebrews chapter 12. It's the
work of a loving father disciplining and teaching his children whom
he loves. But listen to what he says here
in verse 9. I know your works, I know your trouble, I know your
poverty, but thou art rich. How are we rich? Because we got
big bank accounts? False preachers will tell people
that. We're rich in the grace of God.
We're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. We have an inheritance that's
incorruptible. Rich. Think about it. An inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
us. It's a sure thing. Why? Because what Christ did.
He died on the cross, he was buried, he arose again, he went
through the heavens. And everyone for whom he died
and was buried and arose again will be right there with him. And look here, he says, I know
the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but
are the synagogue of Satan. Now what's he talking about?
He's making a distinction here between the national Jews and
the spiritual Jew. And you remember what Paul wrote
back in Romans chapter 2. This is Romans 2 and verse 28. Essentially, a spiritual Jew
is a sinner saved by grace, whether he's physically a Jew or a Gentile. And Paul made that clear here
in Romans 2 and verse 28. Listen to this. He said, For
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Now he's using the
word Jew. It's a derivative of the term
Judah, which was the tribe of Judah through which Christ came.
And Judah means praising the Lord. Sometimes the spiritual
Jews, which are believers, Jew and Gentile, saved by the grace
of God in Christ, believe in Christ, are called Israelites,
spiritual Israelites. The word Israel means those who
have prevailed with God. How do we prevail with God? By
coming to Christ, pleading the blood and righteousness of Christ.
So if you're a believer, a sinner saved by grace, whether you're
nationally, physically a Jew or Gentile, you are a spiritual
Israelite and a spiritual Jew, a spiritual seed of Abraham.
Listen to this, he says, for he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart. Now what is that circumcision
of the heart? That's the new birth. That's regeneration and
conversion by the Spirit, where under the preaching of the gospel,
the Holy Spirit brings a sinner to believe in Christ and to repent
of dead works and former idolatry. In the Spirit, not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men but of God. So in this church, and
this was especially true of the early church in the first days
of the gospel millennium, There were national Jews who claimed
to be Christian, but they denied the grace of God in Christ. And
what they would normally do, they would say, well, we're saved
by grace, but you men have to be circumcised in order to be
really saved or really righteous. You have to keep certain segments
of the law in order to be really saved. That's a denial of Christ. And look at the language that
the Lord uses. He says, I know the blasphemy.
That's a hard word. They're blaspheming God when
they say that. Look at the book of Galatians
when Paul said, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free and don't be entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. And then he says they're the synagogue of Satan.
Anybody who preaches salvation conditioned on sinners in any
way, to some degree, at any stage, is doing a work inspired by Satan,
because it's a denial of Christ. And so he says in verse 10, Fear
none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil
shall cast some of you into prison. You know, people look at that
verse, they say, well, see there, it's not God doing this, it's the
devil. Let me tell you something. The devil is God's devil. Now
I know that rubs people against the law. The devil can't do anything
that God doesn't determine to do. Look what he says. He says, the devil shall cast
some of you into prison that you may be tried or tested and
you shall have tribulation 10 days. 10 there is symbolic of
a complete period of testing. It's like Daniel was tested 10
days. It's not a literal 10 days. This
is going to occur throughout the whole gospel millennium.
But it will be a short period of time. You remember Paul wrote
in Romans chapter 8, the suffering of this present world is not
even to be compared with the glory that's going to come. That
10 is the, you remember there were 10 plagues on Egypt. That
was a time of testing. And that testing showed that
Pharaoh and the Egyptians were not condemned, but it brought
the people of Israel, the Hebrew children, out of Egypt. And so
this testing for God's people will vindicate them because God
has saved them by His grace. And it will be shown that these
are the people of God. And He says, Be thou faithful
unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. Those who are
faithful, persevere, By the power of God. They don't earn a crown
of life, but they're given a crown of life. That life eternal that
is to know God. And so in verse 11, he says,
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. He that overcometh shall not
be hurt of the second death. You may die physically, but you
will not die eternally. You will not suffer eternal damnation. And all of that's the gift of
God. And listen to me, the only way we can overcome is by the
grace, the goodness, and the power of God in Christ. Okay.