in the second chapter of the
book of Revelation that our brother read to us. I want to read beginning
with verse 8 and read down through verse 11. And I believe here
that we have this letter to the church of Smyrna that will be
a challenge to our hearts this morning. And unto the angel of
the church in Smyrna write, These things saith the first and the
last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works in 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. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast
some of you into prison, that ye may be tried. And ye shall
have tribulation ten days, Be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life. 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. Smyrna, like Ephesus, was a rich
coastal city. It was located about 35 miles
north of Ephesus on the Aegean Sea. It was a loyal city to Rome,
and it was also a place of emperor worship. The city built a temple
for the worship of the emperor Tiberius. And in a word, Smyrna
was a wealthy and powerful and pagan city, entirely given over
to idolatry. But in His merciful and kind
providence, God was pleased to send a preacher to Smyrna to
start a church there, a gospel church that was planted there
in this wicked, idolatrous city. And we have no way of knowing
for certain who this preacher was and who started this church,
but in all likelihood, It was established by Paul during his
missionary journey when he was at Ephesus. And this church had
remained faithful unto God for many years. It had tremendous
hardships, many trials, and afflictions. It was sound in doctrine, it
was strong in faith, and in a spiritual, very healthy state. So much so
that there was nothing in this church that needed to be corrected. And when our Lord gave this letter,
dictated it to John the Revelator to give to the church at Smyrna,
he did not in any way, shape, or form reprimand this church
like he had the other churches that he had written to. Now I'm
not saying there's any similarity between this church and the church
at Smyrna as far as this particular part is concerned. The part about
this church being sound in doctrine and strong in faith and spiritually
in a healthy state, I would agree that this church is similar. But I'm not saying that there's
nothing here that doesn't need to be corrected. I'm sure that
they say the largest room is the room for improvement, and
I'm sure that there's certainly room here for improvement in
the things of God. And there are those that need,
I think, to look to themselves and look to their hearts. Scripture
says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are
the issues of life. And if you're careless and indifferent,
cold-hearted, May the Lord be pleased this morning to lay his
hand upon you and draw you back into faithfulness. Now the sole
purpose, I believe, of the Lord's letter to this church was to
encourage this church to be faithful. unto him. And so as our Lord
dictated this letter to John, he did so to comfort and to strengthen
this church in the midst of her earthly trials, and to encourage
her to persevere in the faith of the gospel. And though this
letter, I think, was addressed particularly to the church at
Smyrna, I think historically it was intended by Christ to
be a message to us today, and there certainly is a great need
of encouragement to be given. Now this church, as we mentioned,
had great trials. The fact is they had lost their
pastor, Polycarp, and he was called upon to renounce Christ
And as the flames leaped upon him, he cried out, eighty and
six years have I served him, and he never wronged me. How then shall I blaspheme my
king, who saved me, and recant? So he had stood steadfast, but
they had suffered great loss, and had experienced hard and
difficult trials. Now we live in a free society
and no longer fear many of the persecutions that were experienced
by early churches and the people of God in days gone by. God's
providential powers, and we give Him praise for that and have
no idea how long it will last, but God's providential powers
have restrained wicked men. But it is still desperately true
that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. If we follow Christ and seek
to live in this world for the glory of Christ, we shall suffer
abuse at the hands of Christ's enemies. And our Savior has told
us plainly, in the world you shall have tribulation, but in
me you shall have peace. And I think there's four things
in this letter to comfort and encourage the Lord's churches
in the midst of their afflictions and the midst of their troubles.
First of all, our Lord Jesus Christ calls our attention away
from our troubles to Himself. Second of all, our Savior assures
us of His constant care of us in verse 9. And third, the Lord
graciously quietens our fears in verse 10. And fourthly, the
Lord Jesus Christ encouraged us to persevere. And so we take
note here in the text that these things saith the first and the
last. Who is it that's speaking these
words? And our Lord says that I'm saying
these words to you. I'm the living Christ. These
things saith the first and the last. So as the letter opens,
our Lord Jesus Christ calls our attention away from our troubles
to who He is and to himself. And then to the angel of the
church in Smyrna, he said, do you write these things? I am
the dead, I was dead, and is alive. Now, beloved, we need
to learn to, as Moses, you remember in the Old Testament, Moses cast
the tree into the bitter waters of Merah to sweeten those waters. We need to learn to cast the
gospel of redemption, the story of the redemptive work of our
blessed Lord Jesus Christ, into the stream of all of our bitter
waters in our life, and it will sweeten them. Now, if we could
just learn to meditate upon and look to Christ with believing
hearts, rather than meditating upon our earthly woes and the
problems and difficulties we face on this earth, I think it
would give us far less trouble. We would find a sweetening of
the waters that we must tread in in this world. Everything
in this world is temporary. Christ, who is the first and
the last, is eternal, and He has secured for us an eternal
inheritance in glory. Let every troubled believer look
away from themselves and away from their trouble, and let them
look to the Lord Jesus Christ, our eternal, unchangeable Savior,
and our troubles will seem somewhat more insignificant. The Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior, is the first and the last. I like
this. He is the first, for by Him all
things were made. He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist. Christ is the first, for He is
Himself God. from everlasting to everlasting,
and he is the last, for all things were made for him, all things
will be brought to their final end by Christ, and all things
will be judged by Christ, and all things will show forth the
praises of Christ. Christ is the first, for he is
the foundation laid in Zion, and he's the last, for he's the
topstone, the chief cornerstone, and the headstone of the corner
in his spiritual temple, which is the church of the living God. He is the one who was dead and
is alive. You remember the verse of scripture
in Romans 8 that says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It is Christ that died. It is Christ that died. He died
for us. The Savior died. Now beloved,
There is no cure for a despondent heart like the knowledge of redemption
by the Lord Jesus Christ. No cure like the redemptive work
of our Savior. Get your eyes on the Lord and
get your eyes off of the things of the world. and the troubles that you have.
Whenever you look for something to comfort your heart, encourage
your faith, revive your soul, and cause your spirit to leap
with joy, meditate on these two things. First, he was dead, and
second, he's alive. The Lord Jesus Christ was dead.
He died as our substitute, you know, under the penalty of our
sins. He died to satisfy the offended
justice of God for us and to put away our sins forever. He
cast them behind His back as far as the east is from the west,
never to remember them against us anymore. By His death, the
Son of God purchased salvation for us. Christ died for us. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 when he was relating the facts of the gospel. He said,
according to the scripture, Christ died for us. He was buried, and
God raised Him from the dead. And then we know that our Lord
Jesus Christ, that He is alive. He lives forevermore. to apply salvation to all of
His elect. To apply salvation. Aren't you
glad that the Lord is still saving sinners? And Christ is alive
to grant repentance and faith. He's alive to do that. He's alive. I like the verse of Scripture
found in the first chapter of the book of Revelation. In verse
18 it says, I am He that liveth and was dead. I'm the one that
is alive and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and
of death. He's alive. He's alive. He's seated at the right hand
of the eternal majesty in heaven. He's alive. And so, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. His
life. His vicarious life. He lived
that life in order that we might have a perfect righteousness
given to our account. And He lives, the Bible says,
to intercede for His people. In Hebrews 7.25 says He's able
to save to the uttermost all that come
unto God by Him, seeing that He ever lives to make intercession
for them. So He lives to intercede for
His people, to pray for them on their behalf. What a blessing
that has been through the years to know that our Lord Jesus is
praying for us. and that He is always heard by
the Father. He is Jesus Christ the Righteous.
It says in 1 John, it says that if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Think of it. The one who's praying for you
is absolutely righteous. No sin was ever found in the
Lord Jesus. He became sin. He was made sin
for us. But He has a righteous life that
He intercedes for us through. And then He lives to protect
His own. You remember a couple of weeks
ago we preached out of John 10 and talked about the security
of the believer in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, My sheep are in My hands. No one can pluck them out. which
gave them He is greater than all, and no man can pluck them
out of His hand. We told you what Arthur Pink
had to say about the sheep being in Christ's hand, and the Father's
hand over the hand of Christ, holding and securing the sheep. But this is possible because
our Savior lives. He's the one that was dead, but
He's not dead anymore. He's alive now. And surely when
we are aware of what Christ has done and is doing for us, we
can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowning world. Now in verse 9, if you want to
look at that verse, he said, I know thy works, and tribulation,
and poverty. but are rich, and I know the
blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are
the synagogue of Satan. So in this chapter our Lord assures
us of His knowledge of us and of what is going on in our lives. He knows all about our tribulation
and our poverty. He knows all about that. Scripture
makes clear that He does. And I think these words are very
comforting when spoken to troubled hearts. And I know that it's impossible
to go through this world without having a troubled heart now and
then. Even though our Lord says, let
not your heart be troubled in John 14. Let not your heart be
troubled. If you believe in God, believe
also in Me. For in My Father's house are many mansions. If it
were not so, I would have told you. And I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come receive
you unto Myself. And we're told not to have an
unbelieving heart, but it seems to me that it's almost impossible
to live in this world and face what we do from day to day, and
not at times have a trembling, unbelieving heart. And I think
that probably there wouldn't be a one of you that would deny
what I say. Doctrinally, some people say,
well, you're not to be unbelieving. But we've often said that many
times we're unbelieving believers. And God's people do tremble.
God's people are fearful. like other people. David said,
when I'm afraid, I'll trust in the Lord. And he said, I'll trust
in the Lord and not be afraid. And so we need to hear what our
Lord says here. Well, first of all, I think the
Savior gives us five words of assurance here. Number one, He
says, I know thy works. Now, Christ is the omniscient
God. We know He knows all things.
Nothing he does not know about us. And he said, I know your
works. I know your works. I know what
you're doing. And I know that you're doing what you do out
of love toward me. And I know that you're doing
what you're doing having the object of my glory in your heart. You're desiring my glory. And
the way you conduct yourself And this is your motive, that
you love me. And that you can say to the Lord
as Peter did, Thou knowest, Lord, that I love thee. Because our
works show forth love to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I like
that verse in Hebrews that says that the Lord is not unfaithful
to forget your labor of love and your work of faith, work
of patience. He's not unrighteous to forget.
He knows. He knows. Now, this is terrifying
to a hypocrite. He knows your works. He knows
your heart. He knows what's going on. He
knows how it is with you. Oh, may we be true to the Lord. He knows that the strength by
which we perform our works for Him is the strength which His
own grace supplies. You know, Paul said, I am what
I am by the grace of God. He said, yet not I, but the grace
of God which was in me. And he said, I labor more abundantly
than you all, yet not I. It was the grace of God. And
so, the Lord knows that. And He knows that our works are
performed from a sincere heart. He knows all these things. Now, he says, secondly, I know
thy tribulation. In the world, he said, as we
quoted a while ago out of John 16, 33, in the world you will
have tribulation. You are going to have tribulation
in the world. Now, Scripture says in Acts 14, verse 22, that
we must through much tribulation, Enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Expect it, brethren. Sisters in the Lord, expect it.
Tribulation, trouble. Now, the word trouble in the
scriptures means more than a headache. We've got to understand that.
Tribulation means more than a fellow having a little setback. It's
a strong word. It suggests the Roman whip. The
word suggests the crushing of wheat under huge millstones. And the people of God in every
generation suffer for their service to God. You cannot, as one old
prophet of God said, serve God in any generation without sacrifice. There's going to be sacrifice
to serve the Lord. And so these people they sacrificed
and so they had tribulation and I told you about their pastor and it is the confession of Christ
that causes our trouble and conflict in this world and confess the
people of God are a confessing people are they not they confess
that they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And
then they confess before men in the waters of baptism. They
are buried with Him in the watery grave, and rising with Him from
the grave, we identify ourselves with our Lord and publicly declare
allegiance to Him. God's people is a confessing
people. We confess Christ when we defend
his honor amidst his enemies. You're confessing the Lord Jesus.
We confess our Lord when we press his claims upon his enemies.
And we confess the Lord Jesus when we make his gospel and his
glory the rule by which we live in this world. Well, he says, I know your poverty. It was not uncommon in those
early days of the church, when a man was baptized, he lost his
job, lost his livelihood. Sometimes all of his goods were
confiscated. He was looked upon as a dead
man to the world. And so there is a price to pay, and this church
had paid the price, and they were poor. Now, Beloved, there's something that
I think we should think just a little bit about. That believers
frequently lose much by following Christ. As far as material things,
temporal things, there are times when a man has to say, I can't
do this, I can't do that, but I can't do this other. There
are decisions that God's people make, may or may not help their
wallet. May tend to poverty. But I want
to point this out to you because we have many in our day and time who feel like that if you're
not wealthy, prospering, that there's something bad wrong with
your spirituality. You cannot gauge your spirituality
and your faithfulness to God by material things. You cannot do that. And you cannot
judge whether or not God's blessing is upon you or not by how much
you got in your wallet or your bank account. You cannot. This
church, their poverty. Our Lord said, I know about your
poverty. I know about it. I know that
you paid a price. Scripture says you cannot serve
God in maiming. You got to pay a price sometime.
for what you believe and what you stand for. But our Lord had
a tremendous statement He made to them next. He says, but thou
art rich. What? What do you mean, Lord? That you know our poverty, but
at the same time, you're declaring that we're rich. Well, they're
rich toward God. They suffered tribulation and
poverty But there was no reason for them to pity themselves concerning their poverty because
our Lord said that they were rich toward God, rich in spiritual
possessions, rich in grace. They were rich in the Lord Jesus
Christ. All things are yours, Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 3.21. All the riches of God's grace
are in Christ. And all the blessings of God's
covenant are ours in Christ. And we're heirs of God and joint
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are yours. So you're
rich. And so whatever price you pay,
forget it. because you're rich. And then
our Lord, and we must go on here, he says, I know the blasphemy
of them which say they're Jews and are not in the synagogue
of Satan. Here our Lord assures us that
he knows his true people from those who are just mere professors
of religion. He knows them. You know, the
Bible says, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this
seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And there was a large
Jewish population in Smyrna. And they had settled there because
it was a good place to do business. And they built a synagogue there.
And these Jews were filled with hatred for the true Israel of
God. These Jews, their minds were
blinded to the gospel, and they did not believe that Jesus Christ
was the Messiah. They hated the true Israel of
God, the people of God in that city. And they blasphemed Christ
and accused his people of horrible crimes before the Romans. And
these physical descendants of Abraham thought they were the
people of God, but our Lord calls them the synagogue of Satan.
said you're the synagogue of Satan. God calls those who rejects
the Savior and persecutes true believers the synagogue of Satan. They are not his people. They
are not his people. Now, this text I think has a
wider application than just those Jews in Smyrna. These are those assemblies which
are set up in opposition to the truth of the gospel. Though they
call themselves Christian churches, is it possible maybe they're
the synagogues of Satan? Satan presides over them, he
works in them, and his interest is served by them. And how would
we identify these synagogues of Satan? Any church that equates
morality with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and says you
can substitute the one for the other, synagogue is Satan, brother. That's what that is. Now you
think on that. There isn't only one righteousness
that's going to get a man to glory. That's the righteousness
of Christ. Oh, so and so's a good man. Well,
he may very well be a good man, but moral righteousness is not
enough to get you to heaven. You must. And the Jews, they
followed after that. They followed after that. The
scripture says plainly that they followed after and what they
followed after they did not attain. Because they sought it by the
keeping of the law. And the only way to have a righteousness
that will get you to heaven is believing unto righteousness.
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and believing his righteousness.
Now God's covenant people, the true Israel of God is the Church
of God, Christ's spiritual seed. A man's family tree, outward
religious exercises, and profession of religion and doctrinal creed
have nothing to do. It is a matter of the heart.
It is altogether inward and spiritual. It's the circumcision of the
heart. They are not all Israel, which
are of Israel. And you remember Paul in Philippians
3.3, he said, we are the true circumcision. We worship God
in the spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. That's the true Israel of God,
brethren. The true Israel of God. They're
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and their relationship and regeneration
in and through the Spirit of God is that which makes them
true believers. So it's most comforting to believers
in the midst of their earthly trials to hear the Son of God
say, I know, I know, I know who my people are. And so the Lord
knows whether we're His or not. And I believe if we're His through
faith and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we're definitely
His. Okay, now He says, fear none of those things. Fear none
of those things that are coming upon you. So our Lord has said
enough to our hearts to graciously quieten our fears. He said the devil is going to
cast some of you into prison. Fear none of those things. Now
he didn't say exactly how he was going to do that or how he
was going to bring that to pass. How the devil was going to do
this. He didn't say anything about how he was going to do
it. He just said, the devil's going to cast some of you into
prison, that you may be tried. My, what a trial that would be,
to be cast into prison for your faith. Well, we're going to see
just a few moments as we finish up this message, we're going
to see that the end of faithfulness, the measure of true faithfulness,
is death. Be thou faithful unto death,
and you'll receive the crown of life. He said you're going to have
tribulation ten days. Now that's an indefinite, it
is I understand, an indefinite period of time, a definite period
of time, but it is indefinite as to how long really it's going
to last. But the significance of this
statement is, is that it's not going to last very long, 10 days.
So whatever that means, 10 days brethren is how long it's going
to be. So he said fear not. It's only going to last a while,
just last a little bit. So it's not going to be long.
As long as we live in this world, we're going to suffer. Our Lord
here plainly warns us that the longer we live in this world,
the more our sorrow will increase, and he's talking in particular
about the evil which we must suffer at the hands of wicked
men. Our blessed Savior says, fear
none of those things, though Satan roars against us, he cannot
devour God's elect. No matter how great our sufferings
on this earth may be, Here are four facts which should quieten
our fears. Notice this. First of all, and I'll just hurry
with this, our sufferings in this world are governed and regulated
by the Savior. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. He said,
there's no testing taking you, but such is common to man. But
God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tested above
what you're able, but will with the testing make a way of escape
that you may be able to bear it. So all of our sufferings
are governed and regulated by the Lord Jesus Christ. And then,
as we mentioned briefly a few minutes ago, those things that
we suffer will not last long, just a while, just a little while,
and it'll be over. And then thirdly, the purpose
for our trials is to prove our faith. God allows temptation,
the trial and tribulation that we may be tried. God sovereignly
uses Satan, his vicious attacks, to prove his people. He sovereignly
uses them. Do you remember the case of Job? God's people, like Job, you know
Satan, he was given permission by God to try old Job. The devil is God's devil. He
controls him. He's under his power and authority.
Aren't you glad he is? Aren't you glad he is? But this will prove, this trial
of our faith will prove whether or not we have the true grace
of God or not. Shortly, trial is going to come. As some of
you have experienced, trials will come and it will prove whether
or not you really belong to the Lord or not, whether you are
really in Christ or not. And all who receive or endure
temptation will receive a crown of life. Our Master in verse
10 said, Be thou faithful unto death, I will give thee a crown
of life. Now this is not a promise of
a special crown for martyrs. All who belong to Christ will
receive a crown of life. All who belong to Christ will
receive a crown of life. Paul said there was laid up for
him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous
judge would give him at the last day, and not to him only, but
also to all of those who loved his appearing. The crown is eternal life itself. Faithfulness is the one thing
God requires of His people and faithfulness is the one thing
that all believers, that all believers give. God's people
are a faithful people. Once a sailor sailing through
a storm made this statement, God you may sink me if you will,
you may save me if you will, but whatever happens I'll keep
my rudder true. God's people are pressing onward
toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. If you
find somebody who's made a profession merely, but they're not pressing
on in the way, they're not believing God day by day, and walking in
the ways of the Lord, then they leave a terrible witness and
testimony to the fact that, I mean, these words are prophetic. They
are not the true people of God. The believer's attitude is, Lord
do with me as you will, I'm pressing on. I'm going in the direction
you'd have me to go. And Christ promises the crown
of glory, eternal salvation. Be faithful, brethren. Be faithful
unto death. You know, in your times of fellowship
with the Lord, closet time, call it whatever you will, There are
times of driving along when you're praising God and giving glory
to God and worshiping God and you get very near the Lord. You
have sworn allegiance to Him. You have given Him yourself.
Oh, surely you have. In intimate times with the Lord,
surely you have made vows to Him. and submitted yourself to
Him. Now, brethren and sisters in
Christ, God, because of what He's done for us in Christ, deserves
that we be willing to lay down our lives, faithful unto death. And so we have perseverance encouraged. Arthur Pink said that God's people
will persevere, yet they must persevere. And they will. I want to say just one more thing
about verse 11. Here's a promise to those who
persevere to the end. Those who are conquerors and
more than conquerors in Christ. Now brethren, if we overcome
in this world, it'll be because we've overcome in Him. There's
no overcoming outside of Him. Our overcoming is in Him. Our
Lord Jesus said in John 16 that He spoke these words to the disciples
and said that, He says that, Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. Now I believe that because our
Lord overcome the world, that we also will overcome in Him. Now there is no overcoming outside
of being in Him. I want to read just out of 1
John here, a couple of verses out of chapter 5. For whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? And so, there's no overcoming
apart from being in Him. There's no conquering apart from
being in Christ. The conquering is through the
Savior, and the overcoming is in Him. Now, He said, that he
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches, and he that overcometh shall not be heard of the second
death. There is a second death, Death in itself is a result of
sin, and physical death is tormenting to men, but there is a second
eternal spiritual death, which is the death of the body and
the soul in hell. This second death has no claim
upon God's elect, because the death of Christ was their death
to sin, and they will never suffer the second death, because Christ
died for them. The judgment of God fell on our
Savior, and He died in our room instead in place. And so there's
no second death awaiting the children of God. Physical death? Yes. But then the Lord Jesus
said, they that live and believe in Him shall never die. He said,
do you believe this? Well, God's people that live
and believe in Him, even though these bodies, they put off these
bodies, they'll only put them off for a while, there will be
a resurrection from the dead, God's people will be raised incorruptible
to live all eternity in a body likened to the body of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But no eternal death for God's
elect. God's elect live forever, having
the very life of Christ. He said, because I live, ye shall
live also. So brethren, may this serve as
a word of encouragement to you, to be faithful unto death. Be faithful if you have to lay
down your life. Remember, fear none of these things. And I think
of the many things that I hear about from day to day, from week
to week, that might befall our nation. Seems to be a spirit
of fear gripping the hearts of people everywhere, talking about
Fear, fear, I'm talking about real fearful things. I know of
people who cannot sit down and listen to the news anymore. They just cannot do it because
of the fact that they feel so trembly and fearful when it's
over, when they've listened to it. And beloved, we do know that
there are some very, very difficult matters that our nation is struggling
with at the present time. Very serious problems, no doubt. And there is such a thing as
men's hearts failing them for fear of what's coming on the
earth. And we know that this thing could
erupt any time. We're living in dangerous times,
trying times, and difficult times. And the people of God need more
than ever to anchor themselves. Anchor themselves. There's not
going to be any more revelation. This is it. Read the book. Study the book. Look to the Word
of God. Meditate upon the Word of God. And believe what the
Bible says. And I hope that this Word today
struggling as though it was, will be of some help to you to
face a frowning world and Satan's rage. Be thou faithful unto death,
I'll give thee a crown of life. Be faithful brethren. Stand behind
Aaron and support him as he preaches the gospel here through these
next six weeks and if God in his merciful kindness will allow
I'll come back to you. Now I want to