verses eight through eleven. The Lord Jesus Christ is dictating
a letter to the Apostle John to be written by divine inspiration
and read in the churches. It is a letter particularly addressed
to the pastor of the church at Smyrna. Verse eight, our Lord
says, and to the angel, the pastor, the messenger of the church in
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 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 you may be tried. And you shall
have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of 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." Now, our text opens with
a declaration of God's sovereign goodness, grace, and mercy. Smyrna,
like Ephesus, was a rich coastal city. It was located about thirty-five
or forty miles north of Ephesus on the Aegean Sea. It was a loyal
ally of Rome, even before Rome gained its greatness. Smyrna
was a place of emperor worship. The city built a temple for the
worship of the emperor Tiberius. In one word, Smyrna was a wealthy,
powerful, pagan city, entirely driven over to idolatry. The
vices and vileness that were common throughout the Roman Empire
were most common in Smyrna. But in His merciful providence,
goodness, and grace, the Lord God had been pleased to send
a gospel preacher to this pagan, idolatrous, vile city. And the
Lord God had a people there whom He had chosen from eternity,
redeemed by the blood of His Son, whom He called out by His
free grace. And right in the middle of this
pagan city, God established and raised up a strong gospel church. Oh, what a blessing, when God
is pleased to invade a town and establish His kingdom amidst
men who deserve His wrath. Now, we have no way of knowing
for certain how this church began, but in all likelihood, because
of its near proximity to Ephesus, It was established by the Apostle
Paul during his ministry at Ephesus that we read of in the nineteenth
chapter of Acts. This church had remained faithful
for many, many years amidst great hardship and trial. It was found
in doctrine, strong in faith, and in a spiritually healthy
state. of all the seven churches mentioned in these two chapters,
Revelation 2 and 3, the church at Smyrna is the only one to
whom no word of reproof or correction is given. There appears to be
nothing in Smyrna that needed to be corrected or changed. The
singular purpose of our Lord in writing this letter to the
church at Smyrna was to encourage His people there to remain steadfast
and faithful in the midst of difficulty. The Lord Jesus, who
knows all things, knew what severe trials awaited this congregation
particularly. This church at Smyrna was wisely
then prepared to face their trials by the Lord Jesus, who walks
in the midst of the golden candlesticks. One example of the trials and
persecutions the church at Smyrna had to face was to be seen in
the martyrdom of their pastor, Polycarp. Polycarp was a faithful
disciple one who was a disciple of John the Apostle. He was faithful
as the servant of God for many years, and at last was burned
at the stake in the year 165 A.D. His persecutors required
him simply to do one thing. They said, just say, Caesar is
Lord. That's all you've got to do.
All you have to do is say, Caesar is Lord. Recognize Caesar as
a God like everybody else in the world does. That's all you've
got to do. Now, you don't have to deny that
Jesus is God. You don't have to deny that the
gospel is a gospel of pure and free grace. All you have to do
is recognize there's another God beside your Jesus. And Polycarp
refused, and for that he was burned at the stake. Now, remember,
this letter was addressed historically and particularly to this church
at Smyrna. But it is intended by our Lord
Jesus to be a message for you and I today. Though we no longer
have fear of such persecutions as they endure, we no longer
have any fear of the immediate being put to death as Holocaust
was, and as many others have been throughout the history of
God's Church. Today, God graciously, wisely,
providentially restrains the venom that's in men, so that
in His good providence, He has prevented that kind of persecution. Do not get the idea that the
venom no longer exists. Never get the idea that the worldling,
the ungodly, the religionist who does not know our God no
longer despises the gospel of his grace and those who preach
it. That never changes. But God graciously restrains
the wicked from ditching the evil that sends them to the destruction
of his people in this society and in this day. Yet it is still
true. Our Lord Jesus tells us all that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And
you can bank on this. If you and I believe on the Son
of God, if we follow the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully, we will
suffer abuse at the hands of our Lord's enemies. He told us
plainly, in the world you shall have tribulation. And there's
no escaping that. Our Lord Jesus Christ dictated
this letter, then, for the comfort and strength of His people in
the midst of their earthly trials, and to encourage us in the midst
of trials, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of opposition, in
the midst of things seeming to be opposed to us and against
us. He writes this to encourage us with strength of faith to
go on steadfast in the faith, following Him loyally. In this
letter, our Lord declares two things in particular that I want
to call your attention to this evening. First, in verse eight,
the Lord Jesus calls our attention away from ourselves and our troubles
to himself. Look at what he says. And to
the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These things saith the
first and the last, which was dead and is alive. The church in Smyrna was a flock
of harmless sheep in the midst of ferocious wolves. It was the
object of malicious slander, reproach, and persecution. The
troubles were many, they were numerous, and like all of us
in times of trouble, these saints of God were prone to despondency. They were prone to become somewhat
hardened in their difficulties and somewhat discouraged in the
way of faith. I received a letter from a very
dear friend yesterday, going through some difficulties, a
very private note, that he said to me, he said, I'm getting a
little discouraged. Our Lord wrote this letter for
that purpose. For you who get a little discouraged,
lest we should dispatch In order to prevent that from happening,
the Lord Jesus says in this opening verse of verse 8, do not look
upon your troubles, don't look upon your difficulties, don't
focus your attention on your circumstances, but rather turn
your heart to me, look to me. These things sayeth the first
and the last, which was dead and is alive. Oh, children of God, if we could
learn to meditate upon and look upon our Lord Jesus Christ with
believing hearts, rather than musing over our troubles,
rather than wallowing in our self-pity, rather than looking
at our circumstances and our difficulties, oh, that would
lighten the burden we carry every day. Everything in this world,
everything, both its joys and its heartaches, both its delights
and its troubles, everything in this world is just temporary. It's not going to last long.
So let us not set our hearts and our minds upon those things
that are vanishing away, but rather upon that which is permanent
and eternal. Set our hearts and minds on things
above, on Christ, for our life is hid with God, for we're crucified
with Him and risen with Him. that every troubled believer
look to Christ, his eternal, unchangeable, immutable, unalterable
Savior, and his troubles will become far, far less significant
than he imagined. The Lord Jesus here declares,
I am the first and the last. That's a statement repeated through
the book of Revelation a number of times. He is the first, because
all things were made by Him. He's the Creator. He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the first because He is Himself God, eternal, from everlasting
to everlasting. And He's the last, for all things
were made for Him. All things were made specifically
for the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as our Mediator
and Redeemer. Everything, everything that is,
has been, or shall hereafter be, is directly made for the
glory of Jesus Christ. All things in their final end
shall be made to bring forth honor to our Redeemer. I can't
begin to explain that. I can't begin to say it in such
a way as to make you understand it. But we can bow to Scripture. We must believe Him. And the
Scripture makes it plain, Bob, whatever it is that we experience,
whatever it, joy or sorrow, pain and bitterness or happiness and
delight, whatever it is, God brought it to pass for the glory
of our Redeemer. Whatever it is. And one of these
days, we're going to see how. All things ought to be judged
in that light. One of these days, our Lord Jesus
Christ is going to show forth his praise in everything. Christ
is the first because He's the foundation in Zion. He's the
last because He's the topstone, the chief cornerstone, the headstone
of the corner in His spiritual temple, the Church. In the Book
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is first, preeminent, and He's
last. He's the sum, totality of all
things revealed. In the church and kingdom of
God, He's the firstborn among many brethren, and He is that
one who shall at last be revealed in His fullness and glory when
He comes again in His kingdom. And then our Savior particularly
would have us to dwell and meditate upon His most glorious character
and work as our all-sufficient, unchanging, exalted Mediator
and King. He is the one, He says, who was
dead and is alive. Do you remember back in the book
of Exodus when the children of Israel came to the waters of
Marah and were thirsty? They'd been in the desert, and
they had no water to drink. And they came to the waters of
Marah, and they looked on those waters with all the excitement.
What delight! Can you imagine what it is for
a parched mouth and a swollen tongue to see crystal clear water? and then walk toward the water
and see death around it. And you realize that if you drink
the waters, death is in the water. What disappointment! Why would
God mock us? Why would God bring us here with
this thirst and show us this water and give us hope, only
to mock us? And the Lord God heard His servant
Moses, and He said, Moses, take this stick, bear it by the water.
and cast it into the water. And Moses picked up that stick
and cast it into the water, that dead fallen tree, and he cast
it into the water. And the tree cast into the waters
made waters, those bitter waters of Marah, to be sweet. And the children of Israel drank
and were refreshed. Oh, what a picture of instruction
for you and me. In the midst of bitterness, Whatever
your bitter circumstance is, whatever your trouble is, whatever
your heartache is, children of God, cast into your bitter waters
the blessed work of Christ your substitute, the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and your bitter waters will not only be sweet,
they'll soon become refreshing to your soul. Cast them in and
be refreshed. Whenever you look for something
to comfort your heart, to encourage your faith, to revive your soul,
and cause your hearts to dance with joy, lift up your faces
to Christ Jesus the Lord, your crucified Redeemer. He says,
I am He that was dead. I listened briefly to a preacher
the other night. Sherman and I left here and had
to go out for a little bit after services. I turned on the radio
waiting on her. to come out of Wally World, and
I was listening to one of these nuts over in Lexington. He was
talking about the death of Christ. Oh, what a sad, sad thing. What
a sad thing. I recall listening to a preacher
years ago. He said, there was a big old
crocodile up here, running down his feet. If I'd have been there,
I'd have stopped him. I'd have stopped him. I wouldn't have
let him crucify my Lord. Our Lord said, you'll be just
now. I'm he that was dead. Dead. He made this world. so that in this world he might
come to suffer death as our substitute. And the death of Christ, while
we weep for the sin for which he suffered, and weep because
of our iniquities that he bore, let us never, never, never look
upon him as some kind of a pathetic failure who was put to death
against his will. That is contrary to the word
of God and contrary to the character of God. Jesus Christ our Lord
died, and blessed be God, He died for the accomplishment of
our everlasting salvation, and He accomplished it. So whenever
you come to the bitter waters that you experience in this life,
look afresh to the crucified Son of God and understand He
suffered hell for you. He endured the wrath of God for
you. And our affliction, our light, compared with what He
suffered for us, and that which we are called upon to suffer
in His name, we suffer not as those who suffer the wrath of
God as He did for us, but rather those who are the objects of
God's mercy, grace, and love. And He causes us to endure these
things for our good, that we might be partakers of His And
then our Lord says this, I am He that is alive. Having died under the penalty
of sin as our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ rose again
for our justification, and He is alive forevermore. Turn back
to Romans chapter 5 for a moment. Hold your hands here in Revelation
2 and turn to Romans 5. The Apostle Paul, by inspiration,
reasons like this. He said, Christ died to obtain
salvation for us. And He said, now, Bobby, if He
died and justified us by His death, be assured He's going
to live to apply it to us affectionately. Listen to what it says, Romans
5, verse 10. If when we were enemies we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, you remember that, don't you?
We lived in this world with our fists shoved square in God's
face. We had our little aimed at God's heart as though
we could somehow put an end to God being God. We were determined,
if we could, to be God ourselves. But when we were enemies, the
Lord God came and conquered us by His grace and reconciled us
to Himself. Now then, now then, if God did
that for us when we were His enemies, you reckon He's going
to let anything happen to us now? If, 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. Now, this
is what it says. The Lord Jesus Christ, who died
to obtain salvation, set now upon the throne of glory to see
to it that we who are redeemed by His blood possess His salvation
forever. to save His elect, to give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given Him, to give life to
His people, those whom He knows from eternity. He justifies by
His grace and saves by His power. He lives to intercede for us
in the midst of all our days and all our ways. I like to think
about our Lord's intercession. I like to think about things
that are just too big for me. I don't understand. I don't understand
all about it. Somebody says, well, he constantly
pleads our cause. Well, yeah, but he doesn't say
anything. But he always has us on his heart, always has us on
his mind. Like the high priest in Israel
wore that breastplate with the names of the twelve tribes of
Israel, representing our Lord's constant bearing us on his heart,
bearing us on his shoulders, caring for us, interceding for
us. This is how the Apostle John
reasons. He says, my little children, these things lie down to you
that you sin not. And if any man sins, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and
he's the propitiation for our sins. The Apostle tells us in
Hebrews that he ever lived to make intercession for us, and
since We're assured he's able to save to the uttermost all
them that come to God by him. This is what God's people are.
They are men and women who, in their helplessness, sin, depravity,
and need, come to God. They come to God by faith in
Christ the Mediator, and all who come to God by him, he's
able and he will surely save. That means you and me. All who
come to God by him, he's able to save to the uttermost. lives
today and reigns in heaven, reigns upon the earth and reigns in
hell and in all deep places, so that he might protect those
to whom he's given eternal life, so that they might never perish.
Surely, when we are aware of what Christ has done and is doing
for us, we can, as the hymn writer puts it, smile at Satan's rage
and face a frowning world. All right, now here's the second
thing, look at verse nine. Our Lord Jesus here assures us
of his constant care. I know thy works, and tribulation,
and poverty, I know. But you're really rich. And I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews. and are not, but are the synagogue
of Satan. More tender, reassuring, comforting
words could not have been spoken. Our Master, He who loves us,
says, I know, I know. A few years ago, leaving here, Danette Burr, Danette
Hardeman, most of you will know her. Kissed me on the cheek. She and Aaron had been married
just a little while, just a little while, and she went home. She said, we're going to have
a baby. So that beautiful girl, I've
known her since she was gay. She went home, had an aneurysm,
had a stroke, spent the rest of her life Just a complete invalid. Finally regained a little bit
of motor skills where she could communicate slightly. And I wrote
to her parents and to her and her husband. And I said to them, if I could do anything to help
you, I would. I know I can. I want you just to know I love
you and pray for you. And I want you to know this,
just let me remind you, he who loves you and your daughter infinitely
more than I do, is the one who sent it, and he's the one who'll
take care of it. You understand what I'm saying?
Children of God, whatever it is that comes your way, our Savior
who loved us, and gave himself for us, brought it to pass. And this is what it says to you.
I know. I know. If a child just hears
Daddy say with compassion, I know. I know. That means I'll take
care of it. I'll take care of it. You want
to pray about anything? Wife has a mean or a loving He looks
at her with compassion and tenderness and says, I know. That's enough.
That's enough. You take care of it. Will you
listen to me? Our Savior says to you and me,
I know. I know. He says, I know your
works. I know the motive of them. The
love of Christ constrains us. He said, I know that you do what
you do for me by the strength and grace that I alone give you.
And I know that your works are performed for me, for my glory,
with a sincere heart. Isn't it amazing the Lord Jesus
constantly, in the midst of difficulty, reminds us of that which we're
most likely to mention before Him, most unlikely to mention
before Him? Believers, they don't talk about
their works. They don't talk about that. Not
believers. Self-righteous religionists do. Believers talk about His
work. But the Lord Jesus turns and
talks about our works, and mentions them continually. And He says,
in the midst of speaking about persecution in Matthew chapter
ten, He says, if a man offers just a cup of cold water in the
name of a disciple, I'll remember it. I'll remember it. I know
your works. And then He says, I know your
tribulations. This is our Lord's legacy to
his people. He told us plainly, in the world
you shall have tribulation. He told us plainly that we must,
through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of heaven. For
God's people, this world is a place of unceasing sorrow. And we do
ourselves terrible disservice to expect otherwise. We have great joy in our Redeemer,
great joy in the gospel, great joy in His goodness and mercy.
But in the world, and from the people of the world, we must
expect nothing but bitterness and sorrow. Believers are soldiers
in hostile enemy territory. Conversion is the beginning of
a conflict, a conflict with the world, a conflict with my flesh,
a conflict with the devil, and the conflict is unceasing. Our
Lord Jesus tells us constantly of these things, and these folks
at Smyrna experienced it. In those early days of Christianity,
it cost something. In the eyes of the world, at
least, to confess Christ, it cost something. It often cost
a man his job, often cost him his family, often cost him his
life. And so our Lord Jesus says, I
know your tribulation, but this is addressed to you and me. And
Skip, it's going to cost you something, and it's going to
cost me something. Our Lord said, Blessed are you
when men persecute you for righteousness' sake. And what he's talking about
now is persecuting you for the gospel's sake, not Not because
you act proud and pompous and self-righteous and try to rub
your religion in everybody's face and try to make them see
and understand things the way you do. No, no, no, no. But simply
because you confess that the only hope a sinner has before
God is the blood and righteousness of Christ. Simply because you
confess He alone is Savior, He alone is God, He alone is Lord. There's no way of life but Him. In doing so, He had declared
to the whole world their gods, and their religion, and their
works, and their righteousness are just a stench before God,
and damning. And they're going to fight you
for their gods. They'll kill you for their gods. They'll do
everything. Bank on it. In the world, you'll have tribulations.
When we confess Christ before men in our baptism, in defending
His honor, in proclaiming His gospel, in declaring who He is
and what He accomplished, We must expect persecution from
men to one degree or another. And the Lord Jesus says, I know
your poverty. They had been brought to poverty because of their faith
in the Son of God. You going to walk in this way?
Yes, sir. Well, you can't work here walking this way. Oh, now
wait a minute now. No. I'm going to walk in this
way. You're going to stick by this
stuff? I won't do business with you
anymore. Wait a minute. I'm going to stick by this. I'm
going to stick by it. You can't serve God in that.
You can't do it. We as believers must never allow
any thing taken from us or offered to us to bribe our hearts away
from Christ and His worship. Just don't do it. Just don't
do it. Pastor, that doesn't happen.
I've seen it happen so many times. I can't begin to tell you how.
So many times. I've seen folks for a promotion. job, better position in society,
move away from the worship of God, the people of God, and they
say, well, I'll take the gospel with me. You know what I've seen?
Say what I've seen, Larry. I've never seen this happen.
Never. Never. But I'll be different. We'll see. We'll see. But the
Savior said, but thou art You mean you've lost your job?
You've lost your house? Your wife's forsaken you? Your
family's forsaken you? Neighbors ridicule you and despise
you? And the Son of God says you're rich? Oh, yes, I'm rich. I'm rich. I'm rich beyond description. I have all things in the bound.
Everything. Everything I need is mine. Everything that has been is mine. Everything that is is mine. Everything that shall be is mine. That's what God said. Read 1
Corinthians chapter 3, and add to that, I have all the riches
of His grace given me in Christ Jesus. And then the Lord Jesus
says, I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not. but on the synagogue of
Satan. I know everybody claims to be
my people. Everybody claims they're mine.
And they're in the majority. The whole world laughs at you.
The whole world laughs at you, you folks. Nobody pays attention
to you. And nobody else may know this.
But he says, David, I know that you're mine. They're just synagogues
of sin. That's enough for me. Is it enough
for you? That's enough. That's enough. Amen. Let's turn to number 497. Number 497. I'll ask you to stand together
as we sing, and I can read my part of this.