I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Revelation chapter 2. In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation,
the Lord Jesus speaks to His churches concerning such things
that were and which should yet come to pass throughout this
gospel age. In speaking to His churches, He reveals things and as he talks
to individual churches, at the end of each paragraph when he's
done speaking, he makes this statement. He that hath ear,
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. So even though he's talking like
to the church at Ephesus, which we've already looked at, He's
talking to all his churches throughout the gospel age. And what he says
to them applies to us. And it applies to all the other
churches in whatever age they exist. But he speaks to his churches
concerning these things. And what he has to say is both
to us as individuals and applied by his spirit to all his churches.
Now this morning, I want us to consider our Lord's words to
the church at Smyrna. Smyrna lay due north of Ephesus. If you look at it, there's a
big sea, a big inlet that comes up, and then Ephesus is right
here on the coast, and then there's a large piece of land that goes
out into that of sea, and then Smyrna is on the other side of
that big piece of land that goes out. So they were both seaports.
These were coveted seaports because of the protection of that land.
And they both were very prosperous. Smyrna, the church at Smyrna
was about 45 miles from Ephesus. Not too long a distance in our
age, Quite a distance if you had to walk. Now, I've decided to cover the
four verses concerning the church at Smyrna in two lessons. In
our lesson this morning, I want us to look at the positive side
of what he says to this church. And even the negative parts that
we'll look at next week, the Lord willing, is positive to
us. because it's knowledge that He's
given us. But I want to dwell this morning
on the positive side of the condition of our Lord's church and or churches
throughout this gospel age. So let's read now verses 8 and
9 of Revelation chapter 2, and this will serve as my text for
the lesson this morning. Revelation 2, verse 8. And unto
the angel or pastor of the church at Smyrna write, these things
saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive. I know thy works and tribulation
and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan." Now, the first thing I want you to see here is the
source of the things that are being said. He which was dead
and now is alive. This is God our Savior. This is the all-wise God in a man. If you can imagine such a thing.
Almighty God, clothed in human flesh, but knowing all things. And when it comes to, and this
is what we're going to talk about this morning, how the Lord's
seeing His church. He's seeing the condition of
His church. Everything that we see, we see by faith and we see
what He sees. Does that make sense? When he
says, this is what I see, that's what we see by faith because
with natural eyes, you don't see these things. Natural men
don't see these things. But faith sees through his eyes. It sees through his eyes. And
these are the things that he says. Paul begins his letter
to the Hebrews by telling them that in these last days, in this
gospel age, God has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed
heir of all things, and who is the brightness of His glory and
the express image of His person. We're never told in the Bible
to pay any attention to men's opinions, but it's the first
thing they give you. It's the first thing. When you
talk to somebody about what they believe, they'll say, well, that's
your opinion. This is mine. We're not told
to pay any attention to man's opinion. In fact, Paul said,
let every man be a liar. That's what he is by nature.
So you might as well accept that fact. Let every man be a liar
and God be true. Never told to pay any attention
to man's opinion or man's ideas or even the long accepted principles
of this world. Multitudes of men together, that's
nothing but the majority of man's opinion, and his opinions are
so varied that they don't even make sense when you sit and consider. Christ will speak by His Spirit
through His apostles, to His pastor-teachers, and to the church. Both pastors and people will
receive Christ's Word through the inspired writings of the
apostles. That's just how it is. Just how
it is. A man comes along and he says,
well, that was good for thousands of years ago, but we live in
the modern age and we have to change our way of thinking. Oh,
no. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. You may change, but he's not. He's the same. What he's
determined to do then is what he's doing right now. In fact,
the scripture said, he worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Peter said, the word of the Lord
endures forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Now, the Lord speaks and the
apostle writes by divine inspiration of the condition of the church
at Smyrna. And he has a lot to say about
the character and conditions of this church. But this morning,
I'm going to just confine myself to three things. First of all,
he says, I know thy works. I know thy works. Evidently,
this was a healthy church. It received no rebuke from the
Lord. It was a healthy church. And a healthy church is a working
church. His church is not dead. It's
not dead. If you find a group of people
who don't care whether they preach or not, they don't care if anybody
believes or not, they don't care if anybody comes and joins or
not, they're deader than a hammer. His church is not dead. They're
alive from the dead. They're not blind. They can see. They're not paralyzed. They can
move. Noah was moved by God. God spoke
to Noah and he moved with fear and built the ark. Christ's churches
are alive. Of all the people on earth, they
have great expectation. They have every reason to have
hope. Every reason. And he says, I
know thy works. A healthy church is a working
church. We're not dead, lifeless bodies existing in indifference
to the things around us, indifference to the commandments of God, indifference
to His commandment to minister His gospel and to feed His sheep
and assemble ourselves together. We're not dead. We're alive.
We're alive. You find a group of men, I don't
care what they believe, you find a group of men who are dead in
those things, they're dead. They're sure enough dead. Churches of our Lord are alive
from the dead. They've been called out of darkness
and deceit and lies, and they know their Lord, and they know
the condition of men around them. But more so than that, they know
the Lord Jesus Christ, and they know the true and living God.
And they have hope. They have hope. Where is this working? I know
thy works. Where is this working? Well, I'll tell you this, the working of the church is
like a beggar telling another beggar where he got his food.
You see a church like that, it's alive. It's alive. I used to work right in the heart
of Lexington, Kentucky, right in the inner cities where our
business was located. And I learned a lot about beggars.
They just come in off the street and they're begging for food
and begging for this and begging for that. Most of them just wanted
a drink or some drugs. But I learned something about
beggars. If you give to one beggar, five more are going to show up.
Because that beggar is going to run and tell every other beggar
he knows where he got this handout. That's what believers are like,
beggars. They get this and we're going to tell everybody we know,
look what the Lord gave me. Look what the Lord gave me. One preacher used to say preaching
is just one beggar telling another beggar where he got his bread.
And when God saves a man, I mean truly saves a man and regenerates
him and convinces him of sin and applies the blood of Christ
to his guilty conscience, persuades him that Christ is both willing
and able to save his soul, that man's desire from that day forward
would be to have everybody he knows come to Christ. Everybody
he knows. Isn't that what you feel? in
your heart. I want folks to come. They may
not come. I may ask them. I might make
myself a pain asking them. But I want them to hear. I want
them to know. That's my desire. And I believe
that was one of the things the Lord, when He looked at this
church at Smyrna, He said, I know thy works. I know thy works. A man who don't care how he lives,
And this is another thing, when he says, I know thy works, he's
talking about how this man lives in this world. A man who don't
care how he lives and how he talks and how he acts and how
he appears to men, that man's not yet called of God. God works
in men. When God saves a man, that man's
a new creature. He's not the same as he once
was. And from that day forward, that man will begin to change
everything about him. Now, the Lord says, I know thy
work. Nobody else may know. Nobody else may recognize them,
but God does. You know, this world looks on
us sometimes, it looks on us as hypocrites. My mother used
to say that. I'm not going down there. That
whole place is full of hypocrites. Probably are. Probably are. And when the world looks on us,
that might be what they see. A hypocrite. A man brainwashed. Crazy. But that's not how the Lord sees
you. Not how the Lord sees you. He says to His church, I know
thy works. He knows our works, Ephesians
2.10, because we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in. He knows our works, Philippians 2.13, because it is God which
worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. God's works are evidence of saving
faith. And James said, faith without
works is dead. There. But here, he says, I know
thy works. I know thy works. He knows our
works even when we don't. He said to his disciples one
time, he said, I was hungry and you fed me. He said, I was thirsty
and we gave you to drink. And they looked at each other
and they looked back at him and they said, we never saw you hungry. We never saw you. When did we
give you to drink and give you to eat? He said, as often as
you do it unto the least of these my brethren, you've done unto
me. They did the works of God and
didn't know it. Huh? But he knows. He knows. I know thy works. All right, here's another thing
he said. I know thy tribulation. Nobody that truly knows the Lord,
and especially a church that ministers the gospel of God's
sovereign grace in Christ, is exempt from tribulation. You mean a healthy church is
a troubled church? You bet it is. You bet it is. You cannot have a healthy, vibrant
church where the gospel is preached in its uncompromised glory, where
men and women are grounded in gospel truth and God is proclaimed
in all of His glory and not suffer persecution. Every man recorded
in the Word of God who preached the gospel suffered persecution,
every last one of them. Well, what kind of persecution?
Well, a husband believes and his wife don't. And I tell you,
when somebody don't believe this gospel, they let you know it. They let you know it. Very few
keep it to themselves. A father believes, but his children
don't. You've got trouble. A church
is established in a community. They believe, the community don't.
You're going to have trouble. You're going to have trouble.
Our Lord said, in this world ye shall have tribulation. Tribulation to the believers
like the wilderness was to the Israelite. There was trouble
everywhere. They were in the land of trouble. They were in
the land of drought. They were in the land where no
food was. in a place of tribulation, a
place of trouble. Unpassable seas, bitter waters,
famine of bread, no water. Yet Israel must pass through
it being led of God and being assured of his presence and his
preservation all through that wilderness. And thus it is with
us, his church. We're going to have tribulation,
but God's going to deliver us out of it. And the more He delivers
us out of it, the more patient we are with it. And the more
patient we become with it, the greater our hope becomes. Listen to this. Paul said, we're
troubled on every side. This was an apostle. This was
one of the greatest preachers who ever walked this earth outside
of our Lord. This man, Paul, wrote nearly
half the New Testament. He was the greatest evangelist
ever recorded. And this man Paul said, we're
troubled on every side. He said, the Holy Ghost bears
witness of it everywhere I go. I get whipped and beaten and
stoned and shipwrecked and on and on and on it goes. We're
troubled on every side. But he said, we're not distressed. We're persecuted, but we're not
forsaken. We're cast down, but we're not
destroyed. The Lord bringeth down, and He
lifteth up. Isn't that what Scripture says? Religion said, come to our church,
we'll fix all your troubles. The Bible said you must, through
much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Religion moans and groans over
their troubles. Paul said he gloried in his. Was there anything in that harsh
wilderness which God could not or did not overcome to preserve
his people? Stood there at those bitter waters
of Mara and looked at it and, oh, they wanted that water so
bad. They thirsted so bad. And they went up to that water
and it was so bitter you couldn't drink it. God said, cast this tree into
the waters. That tree is His cross. Toss
this tree into those waters and those waters will become sweet. There was an impassable sea.
God split it. They found a pool of bitter waters.
God made it sweet. They were about to perish from
thirst. God said, smite that rock, Moses. Water gushed out
of that rock. was enough to satisfy all their
flocks and all those people, and I'm told there was over a
million people out there in that wilderness. And then the New Testament says
that rock followed them. Followed them. Just as Christ
follows us. He made bread to rain down in
the morning, quail in the evening, and the shoes never wore out.
Forty years. They traveled walking, walking,
walking. And them shoes never wore out. And neither shall the tribulation
in this world do anything except reveal unbelief and further glorify
our God who preserves us through. That's all they can do to us.
He said, I know thy tribulation. Now let me get just a little
more personal. You and I have inward tribulations. Spirit and the flesh don't get
along. They're contrary, the one to the other. Trouble produced by the flesh,
evil thoughts, wicked imaginations, lust for the flesh. These are
things that nobody knows but those who make up his church. They have these inward tribulations. Well, our Lord says, I know your
tribulations. And he may be the only one who
truly knows them. He may be. And then thirdly,
he said, I know thy poverty. But thou art rich. Now, if you
want to apply this, as some of the old writers did, to a physical
poverty, I won't argue with you. But I will do this. I'll leave
you to chew on that bone by yourself. Because I believe by his next
statement that here he's talking about spiritual poverty. He's
not talking about actual poverty. And in reality, I did some research
on the city of Smyrna. It was known for its wealth.
This city was known for its wealth. Now, Ephesus was known for its
temples and its idols and all of these things. But Smyrna was
known for its wealth. And I hardly believe that these
members in this church were physically poor. But here he says, I know thy
poverty, and this poverty is spiritual. And I know that by
what follows. But you're rich. You're rich. Every believer knows and believes
himself to be a bankrupt beggar. If you don't know that, you're
not a believer. This is the process when God
saves a man. He convinces that man. The Holy
Spirit of God convinces that man through the preaching of
the gospel that he's a beggar. He has nothing. He's a sinner. He's depraved. He has nothing
to recommend himself to God. Nothing whatsoever. He's a bankrupt
beggar. And apart from Christ, he's nothing.
He has nothing. No potential for anything. And
even what little he has acquired, he can't take with him. But he's rich. He's rich if he
believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. That man is rich beyond your
wildest imagination. How many times does he talk about
according to the riches of His glory, according to the riches
of His grace. But God, who is rich in mercy,
and for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and sin, hath quickened us to gather with Christ.
Riches, riches, riches, riches, riches, all through the Scriptures
it talks about. Our nature is a sinful nature.
We are by nature a child of wrath, even as others. And being a natural
man, we won't receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're
foolishness to us. Our natural mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. Psalm
39.5 says, Man at his best states altogether vanity, and Job said
he drinks iniquity like water. Bankrupt beggars. We have nothing. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
I was raised in religion, and I know what they say. They stand
up in this pulpit every week of the world and brag on men. They brag on them, brag on their
service, and brag on their righteousness, and brag on their faithfulness,
and brag, brag, brag, brag, brag about men. I'll tell you what,
if the Holy Spirit ever convinces you of sin, that bragging will
go out the door. You come before Him in the spirit
of prayer, and you won't be able so much as lift up your head.
You'll be like that old man who stayed way back. He didn't run
up front. He stayed way back in the back,
and he couldn't so much as lift up his eyes. Lord, have mercy
on me, thee sinner, thee sinner. And the Lord said, I know your
problem. I know what you are. I made you what you are. I know
what you are. I know your poverty. But you're rich. You're rich. Every religion except the religion
found in the hearts of chosen sinners bases the whole of their
doctrine on a presumption that man is not depraved. Every one of them. Every one
of them. If man is not depraved, he does
not need the Holy Spirit, he does not need the Word of God,
and he does not need a preacher. If man is not depraved, he does
not need a new birth. If man is not depraved, the Word
of God is flawed, and God is found to be a liar. And preachers are false prophets.
But men are depraved, and Christ knows that He is. He said, I
know thy poverty. But they aren't rich. They aren't
rich. Rich in the wisdom of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ, and the redemption of Christ.
Rich in understanding. Rich in mercy and grace. You
know, it talks in Revelations, and we'll get into it a little
bit later on, but he talks in there when the beast is judged
of God. It talks about how the merchants
mourned over his loss. Mourned over his loss because
making the idols and making all the trinkets and making all these
things is what made them rich. He was their hope. He was their
glory. And when he was judged of God,
they mourned. They mourned. We're rich in the redemption
of Christ and rich in understanding and rich in mercy and grace.
Do you know the scripture says that the believer is an heir
of God? I'll tell you, I sit sometimes
in my chair in my study and I'm just, I can't comprehend that. I can't comprehend that. I'm
an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Well, what's
that mean? Well, he said Jesus Christ was
appointed heir of all things. If I'm a joint heir with Him,
I have all things. And that's what Paul told them.
He said, y'all in here fighting over who was converting under
whose ministry. He said, don't you know the world
is yours? Men don't believe that. Men don't
understand that. Do you? I wonder sometimes if
I do. And I study it every day. God
would take this country, one of the greatest countries in
this world, I believe. God would take this country and
sacrifice the whole nation for one of his elect. I can show you that in the scripture. He said, I've sacrificed people
and nations for you. Oh, my soul. Rich in understanding. Heirs of God. Joint heirs of
Christ. Believers have vast holdings
in their Lord. You know God orders providence
with you and mine. David said, this is the day the
Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it. Why? Why would you rejoice in
it? Because He had you in mind when He ordered it. Oh, heirs of God, you're rich,
He said. Not only will God sacrifice a
nation for His people, But he'll preserve the wickedest nation
on this earth for the same reason. He did Egypt. He did Egypt. Because he had
a purpose in Egypt. And he sent his elect to Egypt,
and they prospered in Egypt, and Egypt kept them from dying
during that drought. He preserved that wicked nation,
no other reason than to preserve his elect. And he does yet to
this day. Oh, my soul, we're so rich in
these things, and we don't know it. Thou art rich. And then he says
this, and I'll stop. Blessed are the poor, for theirs
is the kingdom of God. Theirs is the kingdom of God.
I know you're poverty, but you're rich. You're rich beyond your
wildest dreams.