Praise the Lord for his mercy and kindness that has brought us here today to rejoice in him together with God's people. We ought not count that a light thing, a great blessing that the Lord brings brethren together in fellowship. and our fellowship is in Christ.

He's the one that brings us together. It's not in our religious creed or in our confession of faith, though I believe he is our confession of faith, but men often write documents and, and, have people to agree to these things and that is the basis upon which they can come together and be part of a fellowship because they have this thought or idea about this, that, or the other. But our thought is Christ and Him crucified. And He is the source, the substance, And the reason that we gather together is to worship him and nothing else. We don't desire that any other name be exalted, any other religious tradition be held up and perpetuated, but that Christ be worshiped. Because if he's worshiped, that's where I want to be. If his name alone is exalted, and crucified Christ is seen as that one in whom we find help, then that is the place I want to be. We're looking at Revelation.

And we're getting to the last of the seven letters to the seven churches, or the seven messages that were given to the seven churches. And of course, you know, there are systems of thought and systems of prophetic teaching that tries to set each one of these churches in a particular age, not that they don't recognize them as churches in their own right, but they have divided this up and they've made this seven ages of the church, and Of course, this last one being the one we're in now. Now, I do not ascribe to that. I believe that these messages to the churches are the messages to the people of God. that we learn from the messages given to each one of these churches, which were individual messages that were given to them at that point in time, but they are for the church in general, that we might learn because all of these things that we see in all of these different churches are applicable to everybody. church, every gathering of God's people.

Wherever there are God's people gathered together, there are going to be various and sundry problems, mindsets, and things that need to be corrected and directed. We're never all going to be on exactly the same page in our understanding, because I've never even always been on the same page I'm on now. with what page, I'm not sure what page is in the book. I think I'm still back at the table of contents. I don't know that I've made it into the book yet as far as understanding is concerned.

But may the Lord give us a mind and heart to receive these things as the Lord is pleased to teach us. And so we come to the church of the Laodiceans, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write these things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and have sat down with my father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Now, as we think on that, and of course, all of these messages to these churches ends with the same thing. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. And so with that thought in mind, I was thinking of a parable that the Lord gave concerning his kingdom.

And of course we know that sometimes the kingdom of God can be synonymous with the church of God, that is the people of God, the kingdom that he has gathered out of the world and gathered together. And of course the manifestation of that greater gathering is the individual gatherings of God's people in various places.

As he said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Now that doesn't mean because people decide to gather up with one another, that God's in the midst of them. That's not what he said. He said, where you are gathered in my name or in my authority.

When the Lord sends, just like when the Lord sends his word, it will accomplish the thing that he sends it to do. And in the same fashion, when he is the one that gathers people together, then he's in their midst. And so what a glorious blessing that is. But he also, As we see and I believe as we see and understand in these messages to the churches and the fact that he ends up with he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear, it seems obvious to me that when he's speaking these general things to these churches, gathered out people of God in these various places, that there is the understanding that there are some in their midst who will not hear. those things that he says. But the message, you see, is to those that will hear. Now, the Lord gave a parable, and of the parables that he gave at this particular time, this one was particularly asked of him by the apostles to tell him what he meant. In Matthew 13, 24, he says, another parable put he forth unto them saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? And he saith unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Will thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, nay, lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares, bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. And then down in verse 36, Well, let me read 34.

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, and I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house. And his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

And he answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. But the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world. And the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of the world.

The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And then shall the righteous king shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. Look what he says. And he, and who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Now, so what do we learn from that, I believe, is that among the saints of God, gathered together in various places in the earth, there are often tares sowed among the wheat. There are men who are caught up in religion because they were raised that way.

There's multitudes of people that they go to church every Sunday. If you ask them why, they'd say, well, I've always gone to church, just a thing. So you can develop a religious habit and carry it on throughout the course of your life, but it may be of no avail. Because the habits that we have, if they're not founded on a desire to do those things that the Lord constrains us to do, then they're not worth anything. You can go through the motions.

And so we must understand that all of these churches that he's speaking to, there are tares among the wheat. That's not a problem to the tares. They're just tares, they're growing, it goes in one ear and out the other. Now the good seed, when they hear that there's tares among the wheat, they say, oh my, I hope I'm not one of the tares. Because they know that they are just like the tares. They know that when they look at them growing, they can't even tell one from another.

He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And so he says to the Laodiceans, begins with this introduction, these things saith the amen. Now we usually think of that as the way to end a prayer. Most people, they think that you haven't prayed if you don't say amen at the end of it. Well, amen is not necessarily an end to a prayer. It just simply means and so let it be. And he is the one who is the so let it be. He said to Moses, I am. If they ask you who sent you, tell them I am sent you. When he stood there in the garden and they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth, he said, I am.

And they fell backwards. And then amazingly, they got up. and they carried out the dastardly deed that they came to perform. Now we know that they, you know, it was ordained of God that they would do that. They didn't have any power to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ, and they didn't have any power not to arrest him. All power's in the hand of the Lord.

And so, you know, and foolishness, in their foolishness they went about, you would think You know, you would think that if you were standing before somebody and the power of his voice and the strength of his person caused you to fall backwards, you'd fall down and worship him. I mean, that's what you'd think, wouldn't you? But see, men won't do that. except one thing happens, and that is that the Lord changes their heart. He didn't see fit to change any of them's heart that night, and they went about and did what they did.

And so it is, the great thing is the Lord does change men's heart, and we can see that plainly revealed on Calvary's Hill where two thieves were crucified, one on the side of the other. You know, I'm amazed. Of course, I understand the idea of people wearing a cross, and you see crosses up on buildings and all kinds of places, and I understand what people are sent forth by this.

I don't necessarily think it's a good thing, We don't need symbols and signs of these things. Certainly don't need to make them into some sort of object of reverence. There's no objects in this world that are to be revered, only Christ. And he's not worshipped with the things men make. He's not made nearer and dearer to us by the things men make. But he's made nearer and dearer to us by the work of the Spirit of God.

But what I was gonna say, I understand how that arises and why people do that and why they think they need to do that, but what I really puzzled in my mind is why a lot of times you see when they have the cross there, they'll have two other crosses there with it. And I've never really been able to comprehend that. Why on earth? I mean, if you're gonna have the cross, the cross is it. The other two, they're totally insignificant. Why would it even have anything to do?

But as we do think of, there was two thieves on those crosses. They're merely the creation of the Lord according to the good pleasure of his will. that he made one vessel under honor and another under dishonor. And one of those thieves died mocking him. But one of them, by the grace of God, had his eyes opened to behold the glory of the king.

And he said, when you come in to your kingdom, How'd he know? How'd he know that? I mean, here's a man dying just like he is, bleeding, crucified on a cross. How'd he have any understanding? This man's a king. How'd he come up with that? He couldn't have known it, except the Lord in his mercy opened his eyes to see it. Because the Lord, you see, even there's a good illustration of the tares and the wheat growing together. And the Lord gathered his wheat, and he'll do so in the final day.

These things say at the amen, how'd we get off on that anyway? The Amen, the beginning and the end. He's the one, so be it. He is that one. And he says, he is also the faithful and the true witness. Now, who is the prophet of God? You know, there's been many prophets as we just, of course, in the Old Testament, there's no more flamboyant and central figure of the prophets given in the Old Testament than Elijah. I mean, he did some stuff that just, it's amazing. Now, how'd he do it? Of course, he didn't do it. The Lord did it through him.

Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, the scripture says. I mean, he's just a weak man, as we see. And we're gonna see in the next chapter, after this great and glorious triumph there on Mount Carmel, he's whimpering away over there, oh no, I'm the only one left. Lord, what's gonna happen to me? I'm fearful. Afraid of Jezebel. But the Lord is the one who's faithful, the faithful and the true witness. He's that one who's the prophet of God. You wanna know who the prophet of God is?

It's not any of these guys running around out here claiming to be prophets. You hear a lot of, oh, prophet so and so is gonna be over here at this meeting. You can count on it. He's not a prophet. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. I don't care if a guy can predict the future and it comes true.

He's not a prophet of God if he does not declare that Jesus Christ alone is the true prophet of God. I mean, that's just all there is to it. Now, you know, the Muslims, they supposedly hold up Jesus Christ as being a great prophet. They deny who he is, however, because he said he wasn't crucified, nor did he rise from the dead. They don't believe who he is. They say he spoke a lot of good things.

Of course, we know, they say they're prophets. a blasphemer uh... i mean a wicked man and uh... we see the wickedness of those things that they embrace through the very words of their own prophet he's the faithful and true witness he's the witness of god he's the one who tells us that which is true he searcheth the innermost workings of the heart and he teaches men what is true And what's the first lesson of truth that he teaches men? What they are.

See, a man won't call on the Lord until he knows what he is. And when he knows what he is, then he knows he needs help. And the Lord is the only one that can give him the help that he needs. He's the faithful and true witness. So somebody comes telling you that you can help yourself, you can get yourself out of depression, you can get yourself out of whatever. You got the power. You just gotta have a positive attitude and you can do it. That's not the faithful and true witness. Faithful and true witness is you need Christ.

Christ alone can solve your problems. the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Now, some have twisted that particular verse to mean that he's the first one that was created by God. What a blasphemous consideration. Jesus Christ is God. He's the creator. He's the beginning of the creation of God. It means that he's the one who began the creation that we see.

Now, you know, whatever the Lord has done, We have no idea of all the things the Lord may have done. I don't know what the Lord's done. I know what he's shown us. See, the things that are revealed belong to us. Things that are secret belong to God. There's things that the Lord has done that we might never know. But he's been pleased to show us himself. in Jesus Christ.

He's the beginning of the creation of God that you have any idea about. You have your life and movement because he gave it to you. Not because of some, you know, some people believe in eternal souls, that you've just always been and that you just came into the world, you know, at some time. Of course, I mean, there's no end to stupid stuff that people believe. Why do they believe this stuff? Because they will not submit themselves unto the Lord. They can't.

They're the tares. and they're gonna grow among the wheat till the time of the end. The evolutionists, knowing all their theories about how the world began, how this stuff happened, you know, just ping, something happened and here we are. He's the beginning of the creation of God and he also says he is the beginning and he said, He's the end. The only reason that anything becomes eternal is because of the eternality of God.

We don't have eternal life in the sense that we have it of ourselves. We live because Christ lives. Our life is the life of Christ. He's given it to us. Now, we don't have some immortal soul that just lives on because it can't be killed. I mean, you hear people say that sometimes. Well, you just got an immortal soul that's gonna live on somewhere forever. Can't find that in the Bible. The scripture says, he alone hath immortality. He's the only one who's immortal.

We have been granted immortality or shall be granted immortality in the day of the resurrection. We've been given eternal life in the essence of it. But the life we have is in Christ. But he is the beginning of all things. In him we live and move and have our being. Without him was nothing made that was made. What a glorious thing it is to even have the knowledge of Him.

See, you can look around you and know that there is a God. That's what Paul said. He said, you know, men, the hidden things, the mysteries of creation reveal the glory of God. Now, men don't, They don't receive it. They don't rejoice in it by nature, but there's not a man alive that can't look around and see what God has done around him. He bears witness every day. But he can't have any understanding of it unless the Lord creates that understanding in him.

Thoughts, where do thoughts come from? Sometimes we get thinking that we can think of stuff. We're gonna think of this, we're gonna think of that. You won't think of anything. Can a man add a cubit to his stature by taking thought? No, because his thoughts come from God. Now, you know, that opens up a can of worms in a lot of people's minds and they get to worryin' about, you know, well, you know, all these, where do the thoughts of darkness come from?

Well, the Lord said that he made all things. I rest with that. I don't have to explain it. I don't know it. I know that in him there is no darkness at all, but he made the darkness and he made the light. and he is the light. The beginning of the creation of God, oh, that we might fall down and worship him as the creator.

See, he's worthy to be worshiped as the creator. If we found out, if there was no such thing as the gospel, if the Lord Jesus Christ had never come into the world and never saved the sinner at all, God would be worthy to be worshiped as the creator, just as much as we would worship him as the redeemer. See, he's worthy to be worshiped because he's God.

That's why, you know, we preach the gospel, not in order to do something for men, but in order to glorify God. That's why we preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the sole source of salvation unto men. It's so that men might be saved by knowing that He is the Savior. Not by something they do, or even something they believe. See, some people think you can persuade God to save you because you believe. You can't even believe unless God gives you faith to believe. The glorious thing is that he does. Because you see, he has wheat that he sowed in his field. And he'll cause that wheat to grow until the time of the harvest. And he'll gather it into his barn. And the scripture says that he'll burn the tares up.

That'll be it. the beginning of the creation of God and the end of the creation of God. Everything that he begins, he can end. And he does end stuff. The Lord said to his disciples, don't fear him who can destroy the body. But he said, fear him who can destroy body and soul in hell. He's one to be feared, because you see, he's the beginning of the creation of God, but if he's the beginning, he's also the end of it, according as he sees fit. He says, I know thy works.

We're gonna have to quit. Where'd the time go? I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wort cold or hot, so then because art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, or I will vomit thee out. Pretty stark illustration there. But the Lord would have his people to be people of God.

That is, those who desire to walk in his way. Not just to get on the train because the train's going to a station somewhere, but to get on the train because they know he's there. See, why'd you get on the train? I mean, if you believe that the train's going to the station, why'd you get on the train? Did you get on the train to go to the station, or did you get on the train to ride with the engineer? You know, do you rejoice in the one who's guiding the train or do you rejoice in the result of what's going to happen?

See, may the Lord give us a mind and heart to seek Christ, to follow Christ. Not the ways of religion or joining up with something or being able to say, well, I'm I'm a Christian. Somebody made this statement. If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? See, there's evidence. The Spirit of God makes and works evidence in people. Now, you may not be able to see it. You can't tell who the people of God are. The Lord knows them, there He is. And He sets them apart. And He works in them, both are willing to do of His good pleasure.

And He said, I wish you were cold or hot. You know, either be for me or against me, but don't sit around and be mealy-mouthed about it. Don't say, I'm a follower of Christ, but then don't do the things that He says to do. May he give us a mind and heart. We'll look at these things.

I would say that, according to some research I've done, that Laodicea was a place, and this is perhaps why this illustration is given here, was a place where there were hot springs. And, you know, the Lord said, because you're lukewarm, I'll spew you out of my mouth.

You're not what I'm expecting. Most of you know that I like a lot of ice in my tea. And nothing bothers me worse than to get a glass of what's supposed to be iced tea and it's got two ice cubes in it. You know what it makes me want to do? It makes me want to spew it out of my mouth. Because I want it to be cold.

When you drink coffee, I'm not a coffee drinker, but I know that a lukewarm cup of coffee is not really what people usually desire that like coffee. They want it to be hot. Now, they don't want it necessarily to burn the skin off of their lips, but they want it to be hot. And the Lord said, I want you to be either hot or cold, but don't be in between. May give us a mind to be so. Somebody have a question or a comment?

Since I know there, we don't have any power over how to do anything, when will the weak know they're not a tyrant? Well, I believe the Lord gives his people authority. understanding of that from time to time as he sees fit to do so. There's no way we can just, you know, there's no way I can say to you, here's how you know and here's other, but I would say this, that a man who's one of the terrorists, he ain't concerned about that.

I mean, he's satisfied being a terror. You know, he hears the stuff and he's got maybe some thought towards it, but it's not a thing that he, that's a driving force in his life. Now as a man who is seeking to follow Christ, he's seeking to follow Christ. It's not just something that he's got over here on the back burner and every now and then he'll go over there and see if it's still cooking. You know, he wants to know.

I mean, his desire day by day is to follow the Lord. Now how can a man be like that, except the Spirit of God works in him. It's just like some of these songs we sing, and the songwriters confess, I feel cold and dead. See, a living man's the only man that can tell if he's cold and lifeless.

You know, have you ever woke up and you wondered if you was dead or not? I mean, have you ever been in a situation like that? And you, you know, if you were dead, you wouldn't be, that wouldn't come across your mind. You wouldn't be thinking about, am I dead? But see, a man that's living, he'll be thinking of that. Am I dead? Because sometimes we feel dead, don't we? I mean, we feel lifeless.

And so if I would answer your question, I guess it would be that you feel, that you have, not feelings in the sense of emotional, you know, stuff, but that you have a desire to walk in the way of the Lord. You don't find much evidence that you ever do, necessarily. And you think as a pitiful person, if somebody is gonna examine you, you'd be saying, man, I hope they don't. Because you fear that they won't find something.

And the tares, they're just going along. They're happy with religion. They're happy to sing the songs and shout and praise and carry on and wallow in the floor and handle snakes and do all kinds of stuff. in the name of the Lord, exactly, because they're presuming that everything's fine. I mean, they've done everything they're supposed to do. I mean, the preacher said, do this, and they did that, they was baptized, and so it all must be okay. But see, the children of God can't be satisfied with that. The wheat wants to know that it's wheat. The tares are happy to be tares.