Address—Bill Prost
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Could we open our meeting with him #330?
330.
What raised the wondrous thought, or who did it suggest?
That we, the Church, the glory brought, should with the Sun be blessed.
Oh God, the thought was thine, thine only it could be fruit of the wisdom, love, divine, peculiar unto thee #330.
What?
Would you turn with me, please to Revelation Chapter 3?
Revelation chapter 3.
And I would like to read and speak about the this afternoon.
The address in this chapter to the Assembly in Philadelphia.
I suppose most here are familiar with it.
But I can well remember, and I have told this story before, so forgive me if you heard me tell it.
But I can well remember when I started university a good many years ago now, and I had to go to another city to go to school, and that meant another assembly in Toronto, ON.
And I remember after a reading meeting there when I had been there a few months, a brother came up to me. Quite a well taught brother.
And he said to me, you know, Bill.
I sometimes wonder, in the condition that the world is today, if we're not even already past Laodicea.
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I was about 17 at the time and I nodded very wisely and didn't say anything because I had not the foggiest idea what he was talking about.
I'm thankful to say though, that rather than getting upset about it, I decided, well, I better not let that happen again. I better find out what Laodicea is all about. And it led me. I thank the Lord for it.
Into a bit of a study of Revelation chapters 2:00 and 3:00.
Where we have 7 assemblies mentioned all in the same area.
In Asia, and yet all in different states.
And at any time in the church's history, someone could have read.
Through those seven assemblies and been edified, been helped by what he or she read.
They could perhaps have identified where they were and with the assembly with which they were connected.
With some of the characteristics of at least one and maybe more of those assemblies.
Or an individual could have compared what he read there with what he saw around him.
Even if he were connected with something that could scarcely be recognized as an assembly gathered to the Lords name and he could have been helped in his or her Christian pathway.
But there is more here than that.
I don't believe that the Lord allowed the Church to see the prophetic character of these seven assemblies until right near the end, otherwise it would have destroyed the hope of the Lord's coming.
But right toward the end, God, I believe, has shown us how these seven assemblies, taken in the order in which they are discussed in Revelation chapters two and three, give us a panoramic view of the history of the Church right from the time that the apostles passed off the scene, right until the time of the end.
When the church is taken up.
To glory.
It's not our purpose this afternoon to go through all of that.
But suffice it to say that the address to Philadelphia.
Would, I believe, parallel the revival of the truth that God was pleased to give about 180 years ago, or a little better, starting in different parts of the world and raising up godly men who were used of God to restore that precious truth?
The truth of the assembly.
That had been lost, at least in an outward way, lost to the great.
Company of Christian profession lost for centuries. God was pleased to raise up those in the last days who would give us that precious truth back again.
I've spoken on this before.
I hope it's all right to take it up again.
Somehow I feel we need it. I need it, and the Lord seemed to lay it very strongly on my heart.
It's no coincidence that we happened to read it in our reading together, my wife and I, not too long ago. And again, it struck me as to how needful what we read here is for every one of us.
Let's look at it together. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 7.
And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia right these things, saith He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth.
And shut it. And no man opened.
I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.
For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and has not denied my name.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.
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Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God?
And he shall go no more out.
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 cometh down out of heaven from my God.
And I will write upon him my new name.
Either half an year, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
In many of the assemblies that are detailed here in these chapters.
We noticed that the Lord has a difficulty with them. He has a problem which He has to address.
But we notice here in Philadelphia that there is no rebuke, no problem, that he has to take up only encouragement. And we want to encourage each one here this afternoon. This is not put out on the schedule as a young people's meeting, but I can't help but notice how many younger ones there are here.
And of course, from my vantage point, most of you are younger ones. Hope that's OK. But the point is that some of us are getting older, and if the Lord leaves us here, we're going to pass off the scene, or at least find that our energies are a good deal less than what they are now.
God is looking to you to be encouraged in the pathway that we have here.
But I want to point something out right at the beginning. The word Philadelphia means brotherly love.
Brotherly love. I think it's very characteristic that the Lord uses that assembly.
To show and it had these characteristics in the day in which it existed, the Lord used that assembly to bring out the character that God is looking for among believers in these last days.
And brotherly love is very important.
Is there a need to maintain the precious tooth of God? Absolutely. And the address to Philadelphia brings that out. But at the same time, it's to be characterized by brotherly love. And so this address to this assembly is very largely encouragement.
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true.
You know, the character of the Lord Jesus Christ never changes, but in each one of these assemblies, which are addressed in these two chapters, excuse me?
The Lord Jesus reveals himself in a slightly different way.
Why is that? Because he identifies that, shall we say, and we speak reverently that part of his character which is appropriate to the condition of things in that assembly.
And what we find here is holiness and truth. How important that is. And you will notice that holiness is mentioned 1St. And I believe for this reason that there is no point in trying to have truth.
Without having the walk that goes with it. If I had been writing it, I would have said He that is truth, he that is holy.
But the holiness is mentioned first because it's possible to have truth.
A measure of truth in my head, and without the walk that goes with it, what happens?
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It becomes Laodicea. It becomes Laodicea. Christ is left out. The holiness that becomes that Blessed One is left out.
And that is not the character that God is looking for.
He that is holy, he that is true.
Now here in this seventh verse is another expression which perhaps is open to interpretation as to its meaning.
He that hath the key of David, he that openeth. And no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
The key of David What is the key of David?
To find out, we have to turn back to Isaiah, and we might do that for a moment. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 22.
Because there is where the expression the key of David comes from.
Isaiah chapter 22.
1St 20.
And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.
And here it is, and the key of the House of David I will, will I lay upon his shoulder, so that he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Father's house.
And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his Father's house, the offspring, and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons.
In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in a sure place be removed, and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off?
For the Lord has spoken it.
I don't pretend to understand this completely.
But I give you a thought on it. You can decide whether it's from the Lord.
It's very clear, I believe from Isaiah 22, that this man Eliakim, who is a very, very faithful man in that time, is a type of Christ.
And a man who was mentioned a few verses before who was contemporary with Eliakim, a man by the name of Shebna, is a type of the Antichrist.
And he tried to take the place of being that nail in a sure place.
But in the last verse of the chapter it says clearly he's going to be removed.
That is what is going to happen to the Antichrist in the coming day.
But the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of whom the Antichrist is the imposter, the one who tries to take the rightful place of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is going to come into his glory.
What does it say here?
He that hath the key of David.
There is one today who has that key of David, the one who in a coming day is going to reign in power and glory. Today still has that key, even though he's not recognized for who he is and what he is, even though he hasn't taken his rightful place.
For you and for me, he has that key of David.
What does that mean?
In the coming day he will publicly open and shut because he will take his rightful place in this world as the Son of David, and He will rule over all things both in heaven and on earth.
But he has a key right now.
And it's a wonderful thing that you and I are associated with him, so that if he chooses to open a door, what does it say here?
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No man shuteth and shuteth, and no man openeth.
And what does it say in the next verse? I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee. And it should read an opened door, an opened door, and no man can shut it.
Some years ago now.
I had occasion to talk to a brother and it's quite a few years ago now.
Who had once been gathered to the Lord's name?
Very promising brother, as I thought.
But he left over a difficulty.
And I remember having a conversation with him about.
Where he was and what he was doing, He said, Bill, the brethren movement is finished. They were good while they lasted. The movement was good while it lasted. But brethren have been given up. The Lord's given brethren up.
It's finished.
I didn't argue with him on that.
But I said brother, and I knew him very well. I said brother. Suppose that is true.
Is the whole question of brethren what counts? Or is it the truth of God and what is due to the Lord Jesus Christ? I said.
Excuse me, has that changed? Has God's word changed?
Has the truth of God changed? Are not you and I responsible to answer to what God has revealed to us?
Whether or not God has given up, brethren.
Sounds rather foolish to say it this way, but I can almost hear to this day the long silence on the other end of the phone.
He wasn't a brother that showed his emotions much, but he was choked up at the other end of the phone.
He knew, I think, that that was true.
There is an open door and no man can shut it.
And what a wonderful thing it is to have that open door. And I say to you, everyone here, that open door will remain.
Until the Lord calls us home.
For thou hast a little strength.
And it's not denied my name. Why does it say a little strength?
Oh, there are those sometimes who have thought because of the tremendous truth that God has been pleased to Restore to us in these last days, and because of the blessing God has given, that we can turn back the clock.
That we can almost go back to the time of Pentecost and reestablish things as they were in that day.
On one side of the coin.
I want to be careful how I put it.
But an old brother long since with the Lord, made this remark in its absolutely true. He said, Brethren, there ought to be enough spiritual power in every assembly gathered to the Lord's name, to attract every true Christian in the neighborhood.
We have to hang our heads, don't we?
It's not true.
There should be that spiritual power there to attract.
But on the other hand, God says it's not going to happen because when man has been given responsibility and fails in it, God never restores it to its character as it was in the beginning.
He restores it in a smaller way.
To be a testimony to what God did give, but which has failed.
We have to realize that.
And let's remember that.
It's very, very important.
We are a testimony to the ruin and we're part of it. Let's not forget that. And an old brother many, many years ago made a remark something like this and I'm going to quote it. It's not verbatim, but it's close, he said. Wherever there is an attempt to set up and display the position and the unity, there will be nothing but a mess and a failure.
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God will not take that place with us.
In order to have God's strength, we must be in the place of his mind, and that is in the recognition of the failure of the church. Now he goes on to say that where there is the recognition of that failure.
There can be no limit to the blessing God will give, but we must recognize that we are part of the failure. Very, very important.
And so there should not be the idea that, well, yes, we're in the great House of Christendom, and there is a great deal of bad doctrine and a great deal of bad teaching there in that great house. But thank God that there is a corner of that great house where things are done right. And although we may not say it too loudly yet by implication the idea is, and that is where we are.
No, no.
The failure will be most evident.
And most sensitive were the truth is sought to be maintained. But that doesn't alter the fact thou hast a little strength, and God values it. Why thou hast not denied my name.
If I were to ask any true Christian.
And I know a good many of them.
Any true Christian, no matter where they are, what they're connected with, would you deny the name of the Lord Jesus?
I'm sure they would answer a most resounding no.
But do I have the privilege to Connect the name of the Lord Jesus with what is not according to His word?
Is that keeping his word?
It says in the last part of verse 8, Thou hast kept my word, and it's not denied my name.
Pardon me if I sound a little passionate about this, but it has reached into my soul.
For a good number of years, but perhaps more lately.
And I say it very kindly, and I speak to my own heart because the tendency is there too. Is there a thought in my heart? Is there a thought in your heart that I will keep his word as long as it is?
Convenient, and as long as circumstances don't make it too difficult to keep his word.
I have talked to a number of those.
Whom I know well enough to know that they deliberately and willfully turn their back on what they knew to be in God's Word.
And when they were faced up with it.
The excuse was well, but look at the situation I was in and look at what happened to me and look at this and look at that and how could I do anything else?
May I say one thing to you? I don't want it to be understood.
In one sense, I sympathize.
Because I know how hard circumstances can be, and sometimes God tests us by putting us in very difficult circumstances.
And then the question is raised, will I give the Lord the 1St place? Will I honor his word, or will I take a pathway that makes it a little easier so that I don't offend somebody else?
Or I don't make it too difficult for myself.
It can be a very hard decision sometimes. Oh, you say, Bill, How could it be a hard decision?
Anyone that has been through it knows that it is.
And those who in this world of today are giving up their lives for Christ, and there are many of them.
Know how difficult it can be?
Some know the story I'm going to tell, but I know about it first hand because I know the family involved in India who while they were going home from meeting 1 Lords day, were accosted by a wild fanatical Hindu mob who beat them up so badly that the wife who was carrying a baby lost the baby.
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And not content with that, the mob followed them home, went to the brother's place of business, he had a bicycle repair shop, stole all his tools and then proceeded to burn his shop to the ground.
You would say surely that brother was in a very difficult circumstance. What was he to do?
He was badly beaten up too.
He was at meeting next Lord's Day.
Is it meeting next Lord's Day? You and I don't have to face that. But we face difficult circumstances sometimes, perhaps of a different kind, but perhaps just as difficult in some ways.
Thou hast kept my word and not denied my name.
I say to your heart, and I say it to mine, let us never palliate and otherwise keep the peace even among those whom we love the best down here. At the risk of dishonouring the Lord, He is worthy. He is worthy no matter how difficult the path may be. Many of you here come from small assemblies.
It is not easy sometimes to go on and it looks much easier to go out somewhere where there is a lot more fellowship. Some people will say, well look at what am I going to do with my children, How will they get along in that situation? What are we going to do with our young people?
Ah, the Lord is equal to the situation.
Let's trust the Lord and honor Him, and we will find that He is as good as His Word.
Next verse is a difficult one.
Behold, verse nine. I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.
Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Now the apostle John had said this earlier in the second chapter in the address to Smyrna.
Notice verse nine of chapter 2.
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.
Strong language synagogue of Satan.
What does the Apostle mean?
About whom is he talking?
Back at the time of Smyrna, the Lord allowed a series of savage persecutions under the Roman Empire. Why? Because the Church was drifting, Drifting toward the world and losing sight of its heavenly calling. And why does the the apostle call it a synagogue of Satan?
He calls it a synagogue of Satan because.
Satan knows that, humanly speaking, when the church loses the sense of its heavenly calling, it loses everything.
And Satan has done a very good job of that, because the persecutions that occurred in the second and third centuries AD, savages they were, didn't really have the effect that the Lord wanted. And shortly after that.
A man by the name of Constantine came on the scene, made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire, and eventually merged the church with the world.
Looks like a good idea on the surface. Why not have Christians there running the show? Everything would be in good order.
But the Church lost the sense of its heavenly calling and lost its testimony.
And the church is losing it today. Why?
What does it mean when they say they are Jews and they are not, but do lie?
Two things.
Number one.
The Church has imported for many centuries many of the trappings of Judaism into Christianity.
A ritualistic form of service, a clergy or a priesthood that comes between man and God.
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An appeal to the flesh with things like music and beautiful clothing for certain individuals and so on, beautiful buildings, all those kinds of things that were part of the Jewish economy and the Jewish religion, which God did away with under Christianity. Man has brought them all back into the church.
And brought the church down to the level.
Of a respectable worldly religion.
But the second thing perhaps is worse still in some ways.
Because when God put the nation of Israel on the earth, he laid claim to the earth through Israel.
It was right for them to go out with the sword and subdue other nations. It was right for them to go out and tell other people about the true God. Now, they did a poor job of it, but they had that mandate. It was right for them to.
Lay claim to the earth and God used them.
Or wanted to use them?
What is that God's way today? No, God is not dealing with nations per SE today. He is calling souls out of every nation to be part of his church, to follow a rejected Christ, to be apart from this world.
But many believers today are saying we're Jews, not literally, but what are they doing? They're jumping into the political arena. They're saying we have to go out there and fix the world, get it ready for God's Kingdom, Reconstructionism. They call it covenant theology. We have to go out there and fix this world.
Distribute Christian principles all around.
Show the nations how to do it properly. That's what God wants us to do.
Even if you are a true believer, if you are connected with that way of thinking.
Verse 9 applies.
Ouch. Could a true believer be part of a synagogue of Satan? Unfortunately, yes.
He'll never lose his salvation, but he can be doing Satan's work. Oh, how terrible. Let's remember that we are not called upon.
To try and make ourselves a respectable company in the eyes of the world. Now yes, we should be a good friend of the world in the sense of being the 1St to be there and help out and many believers do that. I'm thankful for it.
And we should be there, ready to every good work.
But we should not be working with the world. Why? Because if you're going to work with the world, there is only one level on which you can work, and that's on the world's principles. You can never pull the world up to Christian principles. Rather, the world pulls you down to their principles.
Synagogue of Satan.
And you know, in the coming day, it's not that anyone in that position is going to worship you and me. That's not what the verse says.
But rest assured that at the judgment seat of Christ, God is going to make it clear what He valued. Are you despised or rejected today? God is going to make it clear what He valued. Are you finding the pathway difficult to keep His word or not deny His name?
In a coming day, God is going to make it publicly clear what.
He valued.
Verse 10.
This is beautiful, because thou hast kept the word of my patience. I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation.
Which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
A clear reference to the tribulation. You know many today are teaching that the Church is going to go through the tribulation.
We have to get ready for it and when we espouse so-called covenant theology, we lose the sense of the immediate coming of the Lord and it's the natural thing that we start to think, well, I guess we are going to go through the tribulation. That's what's going to happen to us.
Will every true believer be caught up when the Lord comes? Indeed they will.
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But allow me to say it, and I say it very kindly. I think many are going to get a big surprise when they don't have to go through the tribulation. They're going to get a big surprise when they're caught up, when the Lord comes and they realize suddenly I don't have to go through it after all.
But isn't it nice to have the joy and sense in our souls now?
That's what God wants you and me to have.
And so that's why he says, because you have kept the word of my patience. It doesn't mean that there will be a special class caught up when the Lord comes. Not at all, but rather that those who walk in this way will have the sense of it in their souls.
And will be able to walk in peace. This world is trembling right now. And I suppose it's not saying too much to say that we're here in the United States of America. And those of us from Canada followed the recent election very, very keenly because there was a good deal of disturbance, a good deal of fear. And it seems from what I read that there still is. And not only in the United States, but around this world. Where are things?
Headed What's going to happen? Things are falling apart. Where are we going? What are the world leaders going to lead us into if we're left here?
Isn't it wonderful to be able to rest assured that the Lord is going to call us home before that awful time which Scripture calls the Great Tribulation?
And that brings us to verse 11.
But I want to point something out here that's very precious, and I believe it's important to us. You know, the Lord says in more than one place, Behold, I come quickly. He says it twice in Revelation 22.
But if you look in the Darby translation and I believe it's accurate, the word behold is left out.
You and I would say, well, what difference does that make?
Well, the word behold in scripture has the sense I believe of pay attention. Or as people say many times today, listen up, I want your attention.
And the Lord sometimes has to speak to His church in that tone of voice.
There are parents here who sometimes have to speak to their children like that.
I spoke to a few grandchildren of ours last week in that tone when we were babysitting them for a week. Now they're pretty well behaved, but.
Occasionally I had to say, listen up, I want to tell you something.
But isn't it wonderful?
In the character of Philadelphia, the Lord doesn't have to say pay, pay attention, listen up.
They are walking with him.
I don't want to say this.
There are assemblies addressed in these two chapters where it is not difficult to make a direct application to a particular group. Thyatira is very clearly Roman Catholicism, no question about it. Sardis is very clearly Protestantism. What came out of the Reformation? the Reformation was a work of God, but Protestantism that came out of it was not.
But I would suggest that in Philadelphia and Laodicea, it's not so much a dis discussion of a discrete group.
But rather a character.
The Philadelphia is one who keeps the the Lord's Word.
To the extent that he understands it, I believe there are Philadelphians in this world who are living up to the light that they have, even though they may not know everything you and I have.
And there can be those who know as much as you and I do, but who don't fall into that category because they're not living in the good of it.
Philadelphians are those who are characterized, as it says in Second Timothy 2 and 22, by calling on the Lord out of a pure heart, a willingness to learn.
Those whose will has not been set up against what the Spirit of God is seeking to teach them. How precious that is.
And so here it says I come quickly.
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But then there's an admonition in responsibility. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Somebody made reference to it in prayer a little while ago.
There are those who are taking a crown.
From those who ought not to be giving it up.
There are those in foreign lands today who are taking a crown from those.
In landslake North America and Western Europe that have had the truth of God before them for many many years and yet are saying it's not worth hanging on to, it's not worth walking in.
It's too difficult.
And there are others who are taking that crow. There are others who are saying it's wonderful to be at the Lord's table, to be gathered simply to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to owe no other name but his, to gather on the ground of the one body that expresses that precious unity, so precious to the heart of Christ.
To give to be. Excuse me.
To be where the Spirit of God is given liberty to lead and guide.
There are those who are valuing that privilege.
Hold that fast.
And why do we have to hold it fast? Oh, because the devil is seeking to take it away from us. He seeks to do it. He wants to do it because he knows that that precious truth is precious to the heart of Christ.
And as an old brother used to say it to me in my younger years, he's been with the Lord for many years now, he said, Bill, at the very end of the dispensation of grace, the Lord wanted something for himself.
Something special for himself.
And he raised up those who would bring back that precious truth, so precious to his heart.
And give those who wished the opportunity to walk in the good of it.
John talks a lot about overcoming.
And the encouragement to the overcomer here is some of the greatest encouragement in the whole Bible.
Many years ago I was in a reading meeting and a brother made a remark to the effect that he said, wouldn't it have been wonderful to have lived in Apostolic times when the Church was new, when everything was fresh, when there was perfect unity, and when there was real power in giving out the Word?
And in walking before the Lord.
Another brother, a little older, sat there and a smile came over his face and I can still see him.
He said I wouldn't trade. I wouldn't trade, he said. Not that I wouldn't have liked to live in that time, but he said it's even more precious to be here right before the Lord returns and to have the opportunity to give expression to that which is so precious to his heart just before he calls us home.
Him that overcometh verse 12 will I make a pillar in the temple of my God?
A pillar supports and it doesn't move.
Sometimes in this life, as it says here, we have to go out. Separation is necessary and it's one of the hardest things to separate from evil because in separating from evil by.
Of necessity, I will separate sometimes from those who are insisting on being connected with that evil.
I'm never told to separate, as far as I know from a true believer. I'm told to separate from vessels to dishonor.
And that puts the reference point as the Lord, not as us.
Let the reference point never be us, Let it always be the Lord.
And so we separate from evil, but if there is that which is connected with evil, then there is a going out sometimes and it makes it very difficult.
He should go no more out.
And I will write upon him the name of my God, how precious, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. We don't have time to look at that, but in Revelation 21 we see the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven.
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A picture of the church displayed there in glory during the Millennium. And those on earth will be able to see it, and they'll see Christ in his church in that wondrous display of it. And we will live and reign with Christ. It says 1000 years.
The name of the city of my God.
We don't have time to go into that precious truth, but it's a wonderful meditation.
And then it says I will write upon him my new name.
What is that new name?
I really don't know.
The Lord doesn't tell us.
Many, many years ago.
Long before my time, I only read it.
A brother by the name of Walter Potter.
In a Bible conference here in Saint Louis.
Probably close to 90 years ago now.
Made the comment, he said. I wonder if my new name is Son of Man.
I leave it to your meditation.
It could be. It's certainly a new name. It's a name which the Lord has, which he takes Incarnate. It's the name he takes when he takes his place as head and takes possession of all things He does. So the Son of Man and you and I will be associated with him.
I don't say it dogmatically, I merely repeat what a godly brother sat before us.
May God bless His Word to each one of us.
May He give us the grace in these last days to walk in the good.
And then the character.
What we have here not in any spirit of pride, because if I really have a sense in my soul of the ruin of the church and a sense that I am part of it, the more I know of the precious truth of God, the more I will be humbled.
And how far?
We have come from what God really intended it to be.
We will be humbled at the failure and the weakness in our own souls and the lack of that faithfulness that ought to be there.
But at the same time, that doesn't mean to be discouraged. That doesn't mean to be discouraged. There's not any note of discouragement in the address to Philadelphia. But I will make this as a closing remark, as a word to the conscience.
If we were to go on to the address to Laodicea, we would find there a proud spirit. I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And the Lord's estimate is.
Thou knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
How does that come about?
Among other things it comes about.
From having the light that God gives to Philadelphia, but without the walk that corresponds with it. And then what is going to happen is that if I know something and there isn't the walk with the Lord, Excuse me?
My heart will be lifted up in pride at what I think I know.
And that has been the ruin, sad to say.
Many times of those who knew much of the word of God and the Lord.
Could have used them mightily and did use them mightily.
But in some cases, someone else took their crown.
Because it went to their heads.
And so in one sense, Laodicea is Philadelphian light without a walk that corresponds with it. A walk that corresponds with it will humble me and keep me in that place.
We have time for one more hymn.
#15.
#15 all that we were.
Our sins, our guilt, our death.
00:55:02
It was all our own.
All that we are, we owe to thee.
Thou God of grace alone, verse 3. All that we are is Saints on earth, all that we hope to be.
When Jesus comes and glory dawns.
We owe it all to thee.
May we remember that #15.
All the three, where are they?
All.
Happy.
I wanted to continue.
God.