Well, come back with me to chapters
2 and 3 of Revelation. Remember I said I'm returning
to this book because I think it's so much needed for the day
in which we live. It's given for this kind of thing.
This was the very reason it was given. broken up into seven different
visions. It's seven different perspectives
of the same outworking of the purposes of God. From the beginning
of time, right the way through, seven different perspectives
on different aspects of the outworking of the purposes of God in this
creation. And he's glorious kingdom which
will triumph in the end. And the first three chapters
form the first vision of the book, the first of the seven
visions of the book. And in this first vision, the
chapters one to three, the message that we're being given as the
church of God as the body of Christ, as the believers whom
Christ has redeemed from the curse of the law, as the people
to whom He has given a good hope of eternal life, the vision here
is of a living Christ in the midst of His church, From his
ascension, when he went back to glory, the disciples saw him
go, and the angels said, why are you staring up into heaven?
This same Jesus, whom you see go, he will come again. And of
course, Revelation chapter 1 tells us in verse 7, Behold, he cometh
with clouds, with majesty, with judgment. Behold, he's coming
again. He is coming again. Our King,
our glorious Redeemer, is coming again. But in this time between
His ascension and His return, It tells us in this first vision
of chapters one to three that he's here in the midst of his
people, in the midst of us, amidst all of the situations of this
world. It's news, it's lies, it's deception. I don't think we've ever seen
more lies and deception at a high level in our societies and amongst
our rulers. The corruption that there is,
the absolute Polarization of incredible wealth and incredible
poverty. That is here in this book. It's all clearly explained. Poverty
and wealth. The heights of delights and the
depths of despair of people living in this world, even of believers,
even of God's people. The heights of happiness, the
despair of sickness, the certainty of death. But in it all, God
keeps his people. Why does God keep his people?
Because Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, in John 17, he prayed
the Father not to take his people out of the world when he was
gone from it, but to keep them in the world, but there to keep
them from evil. Who are his people? Sinners. Sinners. Fundamentally, by nature,
by descent from Adam, sinners, those who are enmity with God,
who is holy and cannot look upon evil. Sinners, but his people
are elect sinners, chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, redeemed in time, redeemed from the curse of the
law. What does redeemed mean? It means the price has been paid
to procure the release, ransomed, redeemed. redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ, who died as the substitute of his people,
that the law of God, the justice of God, that demanded the soul
that sins it shall die, he stood forth and said, I will die in
their place, and he did. He bore the curse of the law,
He bore the sin, though He prayed His Father that if it be possible,
He in His human flesh, for He truly was human, prayed, if it
be possible, this cup be taken from me, this cup of the wrath
of God against the sin of His people. Nevertheless, not my
will. but yours be done. And God's
will was done, and Christ died, and the sins of his people were
cleansed away, such that now when it comes to judgment, the
sins of Judah and Israel, which is symbolical of the church of
God, all the people of God in all ages, those sins will be
looked for, it says in Jeremiah 50 verse 20, it says quite clearly,
they will look for those sins and they will not be found. Oh,
the bliss of this glorious thought. You know that hymn? The bliss
of this glorious thought. My sin not in part, but the whole
is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. And his people,
his church are called by the gospel of His grace, they're
kept in this life, they're predestined to eternity, there's a hope,
a hope of heaven. Come, you blessed of my Father,
Jesus said He will say in that day of judgment to His people,
to the sheep, come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world, before the foundation
of the world. He is alive. Now this is the
vision in Revelation 1 to 3. He is alive. He says in verse
1 of chapter 2, These things saith he that holdeth the seven
stars. He's pastors of the churches.
Read the previous verse at the end of chapter 1. in His right
hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks."
His church is, He tells us that that's what they mean. He is
amongst us, He is here with us now, here and now, speaking by
His Spirit's application of His Word. It's through His Word that
His Spirit speaks. He doesn't come with extra-scriptural
revelations to us. No, that's charismatic nonsense,
that is not true, that's an error, that's a satanic lie. This is
the truth of God, how firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid
for your faith in his excellent word. And walking amongst his
churches, he writes to his churches now, but he does it by means
of seven real letters dictated to John to send to seven real
physical churches in western Turkey in A.D. 95. Isn't that
amazing? Those seven churches were lit,
you can even go to these places today. You can go to Ephesus,
you can go to these places today. And yet, these seven letters
apply to us, and they speak to us. They speak to true believers. How often does he say, He that
has an ear, let him hear. True believers are those who
have been given by God's Holy Spirit an ear to hear that which
the natural man and the world all around cannot hear. They've
been given an ear to hear the voice of God speaking by His
Spirit through His Word. And He endows His people with
heavenly strength to continue. And He divinely bestows upon
His people discernment of truth and error. Because Satan would
come as an angel of light and try and deceive, says Jesus,
even the elect if that were possible, but of course it isn't. Because
he gives to his people, his believing people, discernment of truth
and error. The spiritual ability, if you
like, to smell a rat when people are giving false doctrine. Now
last week we saw him speak in these seven letters, telling
the church, and he tells us today, he knows our situation. He knows
where we are. He knows what we're doing. He
knows the challenges that surround us in this world. He knows. Christ
knows that wherever you are in this world, wherever you are,
if you're a believer, if you're a member of a church, or if you're
a scattered pilgrim, as Peter writes to scattered pilgrims,
if you're on your own at the moment in a wilderness separation
from this world, the Lord Jesus Christ who is alive, and walking
amongst us knows your situation. He knows it. He knows it. There's
nothing hidden from Him. And He praises. That's what we
saw last week. He praises. What does He praise?
He praises commitment to His cause, to the cause of His kingdom,
to His service, to following Him, to having a heart set upon
that glory that He has prepared, those mentions that He has prepared
for His people. He knows and He praises. The
living Lord walking amongst us tells us He knows and He praises
those things which are good, those things which relate to
dedication and commitment to His cause and the cause of His
kingdom. Now this week, this week, He gives us other things
in these letters. There are rebukes. He gives us
rebukes. He chastises His people. We're
sinners in this world. We're constantly prone to danger
and to falling. Anybody thinks that they're not
sinners, anybody thinks that they're progressing so well,
their progressive sanctification is becoming so good that, you
know, sin is not a word that could be applied to them, then
I'm afraid they're in great danger because there is nothing worse
and nothing more perilous than self-righteousness. We're sinners.
We're always sinners. The best that we are in this
flesh is sinners. Sinners guilty before God, yet
in Christ, redeemed from that curse of sin. He gives rebukes
to people like us, people in the flesh, who believe Him, who
sincerely desire to follow Him. We fail constantly, but nevertheless,
our objective, our desire, is to follow Christ, to serve Him,
to walk in His steps. He gives us warnings, because
this is a journey, a journey from where we are now to where
we will be, which is eternity, when He comes again, to take
us to be with Him, or when we leave this flesh in this body,
and as He said to that thief on the cross, that penitent thief,
He said, verily, verily, I say unto you, this day, this very
day, You will be with me in paradise, straight out of that body in
agony on that cross next to Christ and into his presence in eternity,
in bliss. You will be with me in paradise,
paradise. He gives encouragements to his
people, encouragements, exhortations to continue, to keep pressing
forward and he makes promises, which are glorious promises,
glorious promises. Is there a will of some rich
relative of which you are a beneficiary, and yet it's not yours now, but
there are promises. You know that one day, huge,
huge, wealth might be yours. I don't think it applies to any
of us here and possibly none of you out there, but you know
the situation. They're definite promises yet
to be realized, yet to be possessed. He makes promises. So then let's
come quickly then to the rebuke that he gives to churches. He
gives them a rebuke because he chastises his people. He corrects
his people. He puts his people through trials
and difficulties to straighten us, to put us on that road, to
head us towards heaven. Ephesus was dedicated to Christ's
cause. The church at Ephesus was dedicated,
that's the first letter, it was dedicated to the cause of Christ,
to his truth and to his doctrine. You read those seven verses again
and you'll see that he has a lot of praise for them. They were
dedicated to the cause of Christ. He'd met with the elders, Paul
had met with the elders of Ephesus when he was going back to Jerusalem
in Acts chapter 20 and verse 17. this is Paul going back to
Jerusalem, from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders
of the church and then in verse 28 he said to them this on the
beach before he said his final goodbye to them. This is the
elders of the church at Ephesus, this church to whom Christ is
dictating a letter via John. He says, take heed therefore
unto yourselves. Be on the lookout, beware. Don't
be lackadaisical, don't be slovenly, don't be careless and slipshod. Take heed unto yourselves and
to all the flock, the church, the people, over the which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which
he hath purchased with his own blood, to feed them with true
doctrine, the truth of Christ. For I know this, that after my
departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. Also of your own selves, you
elders, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years he taught them. they're in a
perilous situation. He'd warned them, and they took
it to heed, and they were careful for the truth of God. They couldn't
be faulted, but for one deadly lapse, and that's in verse 4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee, look at it, because thou hast left thy first love. You've left your first love. You've left that first love,
that love that poured out towards Christ when you saw His love
for you, when you saw what He'd done in saving you from your
sins. That love, that first love, that
preeminent love, that love that's above all else, because it's
a love to Christ above all others. You know, he said, you must love
me more than all these other things. Mother, father, children,
you must love me more. And you would say, what a selfish
thought. And that's the fallen human nature that would jump
to that conclusion. No, the reason is because he is preeminent. He must be first. This is love
that is born of revelation of his glorious person. This is
love born of a realization and an understanding, unlike the
blind world all around us, that God is in everything, and that
our Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate, God in flesh, the
God-man, to whom I owe everything. I owe Him everything, because
He procured my redemption from the curse of sin. He did that
because it was rooted in eternal electing grace. It was accomplished
in time when his blood was shed. You know in Pilgrim's Progress
you see a Christian come with that great burden on his back
and he comes to the cross of Calvary seeking where can he
get rid, what can he do to be rid of this burden and there
The Holy Spirit opens his eyes to see there one dying on a cross
in his place and that that was paying the penalty for his sins.
And that burden of sin on his back, the cords came loose and
it rolled away down into a pit to be taken away forever. He
saw what had happened and how his heart was filled with love
for this one that had done so much for him. He saw by divine
revelation how he loved me. Have you seen that? Have you
seen by God revealing it in your soul how much he loved you? He
says in Jeremiah 31 and verse 3, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. And loving him in response, that's what we do. Why do we
love him? John tells us in his first epistle, chapter 4 verse
19. We love him because he first loved us. Becoming a Christian
and professing faith in Christ is a wonderful experience. If
you've truly seen something of the dreadful burden of sin, and
how it will drag you down to a horrendous hell, and then seeing
that man crucified for you, that man who is God crucified for
you, what a wonderful experience, to know it is well with my soul,
my sin, not in part but the whole, all of it was nailed to his cross,
I bear it no more, I can face judgment confident, That's a
wonderful experience. It's a joyous experience. It's
a rejoicing experience. I might have told you many years
ago, but I was reminded of it the other day. In the spring,
it was generally up north where I lived, it was generally about
April, something like that, the farmer, whose fields we look
out on at the back, he would let his cattle out and they'd
been cooped up in a dark, dingy, smelly barn for the whole of
the winter to keep them out of the weather. and the grass doesn't
grow properly so they couldn't eat that. But when it got to
April or so, a day would come when he would let the cattle
out. And I distinctly remember to this day, those great big
animals, you know, best part of a tonne each if not more,
bounding up the field, skipping like little lambs up the field.
They were so delighted to be out of darkness into marvellous
light. So delighted at that, so it is,
with the soul that comes to the knowledge of eternal life, of
redemption from the law's curse, that the sentence of eternal
death is lifted from me, that there is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. The release papers, with my name
signed by God in eternity, discovering that this God who I only knew,
if I knew him at all, was angry with the wicked every day. This
God to whom we read, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of this God who hates sin and must punish it. That our God
is a consuming fire and will by no means clear the guilty.
That this God in the person of his son, has taken the curse
in my place, and has found a ransom, as it says in Job, isn't it?
Deliver him from going down to the pit, the pit of death and
hell. Deliver him from going down to
the pit. Why? How can God deliver the sinner
from going down to that which he justly deserves? It's because
of this, he says, I have found a ransom. I have found a ransom."
The ransom was the death of his own dear son, who paid the penalty
for that sin. That ransom was paid. no need
to keep the captive captive any longer release him deliver him
from going down to the pit he blessed me with divine thoughts
of good now this isn't just mental ascent it's not just you suddenly
deciding that unlike the rest of the world you're going to
agree that there is a god and yes that's all well and good
and very nice and how nice for you and i hope it makes you feel
better No, no, no. This is joy at what has been
accomplished. Of knowing the perilous situation
that I'm in, as a sinner, under the judgment of a just and holy
God. Knowing that, and yet finding
in Christ, dying for me, dying for me, my sins taken away. It's
love for Him who first loved me. It's God and his children
together. This is it. This is living in
communion with God. God and his children together.
I will be their God and they shall be my people. Like the
best of human marriage, there's attraction, there's soul unity,
there's love sickness, there's a hating of separation, there's
dedication to one another. there's protection of one another,
there's defense of one another, because we are indeed one body. Look at Ephesians 5, where Paul
is writing this, he's about family relationships, but he tells us
that when he talks about marriage, really he's talking about the
relationship between Christ, the bridegroom, and the church
his bride. The church his bride. Ephesians
5 verse 25, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved
the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify, make
holy, and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. This is what Christ has done
for his people. This is what he's done. The Ephesians
knew this. That letter was written to them,
and then there's this letter here. They knew this. They'd
experienced it in many cases. They'd known the delights. We
read right at the start, Jeremiah chapter 2, and in verse 2, the
delights of the espousals, when the heart of the sinner realizes
that Christ has saved him from the curse of the law, the delights
of those espousals. But like many human marriages,
the first love wanes. It's still genuine love, but
it wanes. Sin distorts things. Affections
grow cold. Just the busyness of life and
commitments tend to take away that sparkle of that first love. Couples continue because of the
censure of others, or because of legal restraint, less so in
these days. But no, verse 5, look what he
says to the Ephesian church, and to his believing people everywhere,
remember therefore, if we're in that state, if we're in that
state of having lost our first love for Christ, Remember therefore
from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works
or else I will come unto thee quickly and I will remove thy
candlestick out of his place because you see what you thought
was genuine love might turn out to be might turn out to be false. You know it could well be. This
indicates A marriage in which the first love is either dying
or is already dead. While we remain here, what can
be done? Have we lost that first love
for Christ? That new realisation of what
salvation really is? Well, you know what good marriage
guidance counsel would give? Spend time together. Cultivate
good relationships. Talk. Look out for one another. Seek the other's good. Be selflessly
devoted to one another. And so it is in the relationship
with Christ. Cultivate good relationships.
The discipline of daily prayer and of reading and of meditation,
more than commitment to worldly pursuits. At least a weekly gathering
with other believers to worship. We're on the path to the celestial
city. Avoid distractions to take us
off it. In Pilgrim's Progress, again,
the analogy is made regularly of that path which is a straight
and narrow path, and a difficult path at times. And there are
distractions to one side or the other, and they become lax in
their in their attention to keeping on that track, and they often
are diverted off it. Well, no, this is what we're
being told to do. We need to come back to that
first love. Remember from whence you are
fallen, from that bliss of that first love, and repent, and do
the first. Remember, remember what it was
like. Go back to it. Do the first works. Start again. Then there are warnings
that we're given. God's true church in this world
is on the journey to eternal glory. We're kept here for a
while from the evil by God as Christ prayed. And many aspire,
but not all attain. You know, it says in Matthew,
doesn't it? Matthew chapter seven. Not everyone
that says to me in that day of judgment, Lord, Lord, haven't
we done all of these things in your name? And he will say, Depart
from me, I never knew you. You who work iniquity, you thought
you were doing the right things, but no, you were working iniquity. You were following just religion. Christ warns his true church
to beware of hazards that will keep them from attaining the
goal. What is the goal? The goal is heaven. Look at verse
14 of chapter two. He gives warnings, he gives rebukes. I have a few things against thee,
Because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of
Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. What that's really talking about
is Dabbling with false doctrine. Compromise with false doctrine.
Compromise for the sake of numbers and strength with false doctrine.
You look down at the history of the church and there are instances
in the past where the truth of the gospel as it's declared in
the scriptures has been twisted and amended in the confessions
of faith of churches and they've ended up, for the sake of unity
in large numbers against an opposing world, in compromising and allowing
in false doctrine and worldly religion. You can see it in some
of the great confessions of faith. I'm not a great fan of the confessions
of faith. The Scriptures is our confession
of faith, because those man-written confessions of faith are always
distorted and spoiled by the thoughts of man. Balaam was that
prophet in Numbers 22 to 24. He spoke words of gospel truth,
yet he seduced Israel to commit sexual immorality with the daughters
of Moab, with those who were not the people of God, and hence
the spiritual adultery of Baal worship. Do you know, I've said
it often, that Much, if not most, of what calls itself Christianity
in this country, in our day, is in actual fact 21st century
Baal worship. It has nothing to do with the
Gospel of Christ. There's a spirit of religious
ecumenism. You know, let's all be friends
together, and the one thing you mustn't do is be dogmatic about
doctrine. No, that's the last thing we
want. It's Baal worship. It's Baal worship. The notion
of strength in numbers at the cost of compromise on key gospel
truth. You know what key gospel truth
is. Let me remind you. It's tulip, total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement. Irresistible grace,
perseverance of the saints, those are the fundamental tenets of
the true Christian gospel revealed in this book. Look them up, study
them, make it your life's ambition to get to know them. Sovereign
grace, particular redemption is the truth of God. Don't be
compromised with those that deny it. They blatantly deny it. In
2 Corinthians that Stephen read for us earlier, chapter 6 and
verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye, you believing people,
the church of God, you are the temple of the living God. As
God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come
out from among them, don't mix with them, be separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you,
and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Do we have an ear to hear what
the Spirit says to the churches in these days? Christ warns of
that kind of toleration, of false teaching. He warns again, verse
2, well it's not a warning here, it's praise for them. I know
thy works and thy labor and thy patience, how thou canst not
bear them which are evil, and you have tried them which say
they are apostles and are not, and has found them liars. He
praises discernment. Oh, they say, oh, how cruel.
How can you not allow such and such a views because it's against
what Scripture clearly reveals. Verse 20 of chapter 2, I have
a few things against thee because thou sufferest. You allow that
woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to
seduce my servants, to commit fornication and to eat things
sacrificed to idols. We won't go into details as to
what that means. I'm pretty sure it means primarily
spiritual adultery, going away with false doctrine, away from
the gospel of Christ. Jesus' frequent calls for his
followers to love one another does not give approval to tolerate
false teaching, that which undermines the true gospel. We're not allowed
to do it. He says, don't do it. For example,
there are those who make a big thing of the law and of legalism,
and the law being the believer's rule of life. And I say, that's
not what the scripture teaches. We do not go along with that.
We do not allow it. We do not listen to it. We will
not put up with it. but also to avoid antinomianism. Look at verse 6. Again, praise
for the Ephesians. You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate. Verse 15. You also, so hast thou
also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing
I hate. It's pretty clear that The Nicolaitans
were antinomians. In other words, they taught that
because Christ had redeemed his people from the curse of the
law, by grace he'd saved, that it didn't matter what their condition
was, for Christ has saved us from the curse of the law. They
said, well, let us sin. The more we sin, that grace may
abound. Let's just live as we want, for
we're saved from this. Don't be bothered about it. Professors
of faith in Christ, let me be clear. Are you a believer? If you are, then you're no doubt
worried, you're no doubt concerned often about your sin. You know
something, not all, you know something of what you are in
the flesh, how sin so often dominates your thoughts and your thinking
and your actions. And you tend to despair. Am I
really the Lord's? Listen, listen, the true people
of God always have that concern. We know that we're not getting
better. We know that we're always sinners
in the flesh. But are we happy with it? Are
we contented with it? Is it a state that we like to
stay in? or are we grieved and repenting
when we're aware of it? You see, it's those who habitually
and comfortably violate God's righteousness that will not attain
to God's kingdom. The scripture is clear, 1 Corinthians
6 9-10, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you, but you're washed from it. No. It's those who profess belief
But... they're contented with their
sinful living. The true believer professes belief,
but is constantly grieved by his sinfulness in the flesh and
seeks to be rid of it. And as John Warburton said, he
said, I wouldn't commit another sin if I could help it. I don't
need the law of God to be my rule of life. The law of Christ
is my rule of life. And I wouldn't commit another
sin if I could help it. So avoiding judgmentalism, and
motivated by brotherly love, what should we do? We should
look out for each other. We should foster the good, encourage
it, and discourage the bad. So then, going on, he gives some
encouragements and some promises, and we're running out of time
rapidly. You know how sports fans, cheer on runners in a race,
there's a prize to be won, there's even the honour of finishing
the race, even if you come way down the field. Here we're on
a journey to heaven, believers, we're on a journey to heaven,
grounded in eternal divine love. That's where it came from. And
there are hazards and pitfalls to be avoided. But also, there's
divine encouragement, as Paul says to the Philippians, to press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. There's the goal of heaven when
we die or when Christ comes again for his people. There's the bliss
of heaven. There's freedom from sin, from
the sin that drags us down. There's unrestricted communion
with our God. You know now it's fleeting. It's
fleeting in moments of prayer, in moments of where you feel
God is really speaking to me. But it's fleeting, but there,
unrestricted. Eternal bliss. when all around
the corruption of Satan's kingdom abounds and death reigns. What
a prospect to be free from this. Judgment is certain. Hell is
real. But if God has revealed to you
that he's paid your sin debt with Christ's precious blood,
He encourages you to continue on the narrow way and promises
you the prize at the end of the journey. Look at verse 7 of chapter
2. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the
paradise of God. He promises his people will eat
from that tree of life, from the fruit of that tree, in the
midst of God's paradise. Verse 10, in verse 10 and 11,
he says, Be thou faithful unto death and
I will give you a crown of life. Let him hear what the Spirit
says to him. He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second
death. The second death, that final
separation from God. In verse 17, to him that overcomes
will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white
stone. That's a sign of judgment. That
white stone was a sign of judgment that you're cleared. and in the
stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that
receiveth it. white stone of justification
when brought to his judgment seat. In verses 26 to 28, he
that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will
I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron. As the vessels of a potter shall they be broken
to shivers, even as I received of my father, and I will give
him the morning star. Revelation 3, 4, and 5. Even in Sardis, which was in
a bad way, said they were alive, but they were dead. But there,
there were a few names which had not defiled their garments.
And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. And verse five. I will not blot out his name
out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before
my father. You see, promises. There are
promises of the bliss of eternity. In verse 12 of chapter 3, to
him that overcometh, I will make a pillar in the temple of my
God and he shall go out no more. And I will write upon him the
name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is
New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven. All these are wonderful
promises in verse 21. To him that overcometh, even
at Laodicea, where they were lukewarm and without any Commitment
for Christ. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and sat
down with my father. You see all of these promises
he holds out. Promises of eternal bliss. This
is the end of the journey. This is out of this world. This
world of corruption and of lies and of deceit. God in Christ,
who died to redeem us from sin's curse, is with us, is among us,
is observing us, is rebuking us where we need rebuke, is encouraging
and promising the end of those good thoughts which he has had
for his church from before the beginning of time. Let me remind
you, Jeremiah 29 verse 11, I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, said God. We here, in this world, seeking
to live for Christ and bear his testimony, he says, I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Then you shall call upon
me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto
you, and you shall seek me and find me, when you shall search
for me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. Amen.