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God and the Lambs as well. I know that source divine of joy and love. No Tonkin tell yet know that all is mine.
I see those here in my heart and all of God, everyone. I am from here calculator.
It's not used for anything.
A Reaper of them and praying and all of us don't. Come on.
Oh, OK, there's a bit of a blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Blah, straight. Thank you. Bye.
Blood flowing on my hands right now.
And the rest of the instantiating my heart and.
Let's suggest that we start and read chapter 3 of Revelation.
Revelation chapter 3, verse one.
And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis right these things, saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast the name that thou livest, and art dead.
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou has received and heard, and hold fast and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess His name before my Father and before his angels.
00:05:07
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
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 shut it, and shut it, and no man open it. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast the little string, and has 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. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved you, 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'll 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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
And unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write.
These things saith thee, Amen. The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou Wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knoweth not.
That thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked.
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayst be rich and white raiment that thou mayst be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with thyself, that thou mayest see as many as I love. I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice, and open the door.
I will come in to him, and we'll Sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Mm-hmm.
Well, as we have been reading in chapter 2, the Lord Jesus himself addressed the seven churches. He himself addressed those that were responsible to maintain a testimony among the in this world that would be of a true character and that which was not according to the character that they ought to have been walking in. In connection with that testimony, He addresses those different issues and so.
In Chapter 3 we begin with the Sardis, and Sardis was what came out of the Reformation. And so it means Sardis, that means the remainder means a remnant. And so they came out of Roman Catholicism and really became and began in I believe 15/27/28, something like that. And so the Reformation began.
And, uh, as soon, uh, petered out because, uh, there was such persecution of the Roman Catholic Church against the, uh, reformers that they sought the protection of the governments of Europe. And it ground down to, uh, uh, a little bit of a, a trickle, you might say. And then was really established in connection with the Protestant churches. So Protestant means Protestant means to protest. And so they were.
In a protest, perhaps you might say, against the Roman church and they were trying to reform it.
And then you have in connection with Philadelphia in, uh, I believe it is 1827 or 1828 began and it was, there was a, a recovery of the truth of God. The Spirit of God began to work. And instead of the, the, the reformers went part way and, uh, what was delivered and the responsibility of man fell down to the level of the world, you might say in the testimony was, uh, really not as clear as it should have been.
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But the Spirit of God intervened and approximately 200 years before the Lord's coming here, you have the truth recovered, all of the truths of Christianity in their entirety, recovered in the prophetic line of things and dispensational truth. And so Philadelphia, the name means brotherly love and God has intervened. But approximately 20 years later, and Mr. Darby.
In his writings has said it, another of the old writers have, uh, commented that, uh, the strength and the power of Philadelphia, uh, continued for 20 years. And then in 1848 the Open Brethren division took place. And, uh, Mr. Darby says that was the beginning of Laodicea. And so these three churches, 4 churches, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea continue on to the end right until the Lord's coming and so.
Even you might say that the false church continues past the time of the coming of the Lord, and we know that the lazy and condition of things in the professing church will continue until that the coming of the Lord and the appearing of the Lord. Let's just look at Matthew chapter 25 and just point that out.
Matthew 25.
And, umm.
Verse 10 while he went to buy the bridegroom came that the coming of the Lord Jesus at the rapture, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgin, saying, Lord, Lord open to us. But he answered and said, Verily, I sent you, I know ye not. And so we're called to watch and to wait for the coming of the Lord. And we know that professing Christianity will continue after the true church is raptured.
So it's, uh, instructive. The Spirit of God wanted us to know that he was not surprised. The Lord is not surprised of the history of the church and the decline. And so may the Lord give us grace and help to recognize where we are in church history just before the Lord comes. And the character of the day is the latest Sia, indifference to the glories of Christ. And here Laodicea, the name means the people's rights.
And so the democratic principle has crept in into spiritual things. And sad to say, even in the assembly, I have a right. I have, I have, umm, opinion. My opinion is just as much, uh, a part of, uh, the assembly as your opinion. Well, that's not how God has organized the assembly. And so here we have the instruction given to us to continue until he comes.
Well, to see the prophetic picture like you mentioned, Brother Robert, but uh, we can always take this too as applying to ourselves individually and there is profit in it. And so when he says thou hast the name that thou liveth in our dead, and in verse two, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for have not found thy works perfect, that really should be complete.
Before God.
It's so easy, brother, and to hold on to outward, uh, things that are in connection with the testimony without being real in our souls. And so there's a, a great danger of that in our Christian testimony to, we always did it this way. Why shouldn't we continue to do it this way without knowing the basis in the scriptures for doing it? And may the Lord help us and stir us, our dear young people especially, but.
Those of us who are older too, we need to know the scriptural basis. That's why we're talking the other day about the foundation work, how important it is to know where the foundation lies. Because you're not building on the foundation, it's not gonna last. Outward forms will last a little bit, but they will fall away. So it's so important to know the reason.
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Why we do certain things is there a scriptural basis and to understand it be watchful strengthen the things which were remain is is the word because he said thy works were not complete before God and so the Reformation period was that way tremendous work of the Spirit of God in the times of Martin Luther how the truth of the justification by faith and.
Of the authority of Scripture, tremendous things, and we have to thank God for those men that God used in a marked way.
But like you say, Brother Robert, then they started depending on the protection of earthly powers and things were compromised. Lord help us.
Found a, a word of encouragement. There are some books on the, in the BTP display about some of those reformers and, umm, it's very instructive. It's very helpful to read about the history of some of those reformers. And I would encourage you if you haven't read some of those histories to read them. Umm, there are, I think there's a book there, the Heroes of the Reformation. There's one on William Farrell, one of the most faithful.
And true to the truth reformers and read some of those stories, you'll understand a little bit of what the Spirit of God, the the measure of work that the Spirit of God did at the time of the recovery of the truth. It was a miracle. It was a miracle for them to come out of the darkness of Roman Catholicism and to recognize the all sufficiency and the authority of the word of God, the word of God, the Roman Catholic Church suppressed it burned.
We refuse to allow even the priests to read it. And so it was a real work of God and recovering that, and then the Lord, as you we know, intervened and in His grace and his power.
The truth was recovered in its entirety. And so this is a very significant expression. As you mentioned in the end of verse two, I have not found my works complete before God. They went part way. And so you say we can apply it to our lives Practically, have we gone part way? Are we saved? To be saved, to know that your sins are forgiven, yet you're no longer guilty before God is the beginning of Christianity. You've just stepped inside the door, but now you need to know what all of your blessings are.
We've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, in Christ. What are they? We need to know what they are. We need to enjoy them and savor them. And that's really what he's Speaking of here. They, they knew a little bit of the truth. They had fought against the tyranny of Rome, but they didn't complete the work, you might say, and come leave it in, in its entirety. So God has called us to go forth therefore unto Him.
The person of Christ, without the camp, without organized religion unto him, without the camp bearing his reproach.
And so that's a place of reproach outside of organized religion gathered to His precious name. That's what God has called us to do.
Well, to see how God used instruments, isn't it like you mentioned? And I too encourage young people to get a hold of those books and read them. They are really wonderful that William Farrell, like you say, he was from Switzerland, I think, wasn't he?
France.
They said that he had red hair and he had the boldness to go in while the priest was celebrating the Mass. And he would go into the pulpit in the Catholic Church and start preaching right when the Mass was being said. And it says that the people wondered if there's a demon because of his red hair and.
They were in they were frozen in their place in fear and they listened to the gospel being preached in clarity. It's it's amazing some of the stories, brother, and maybe you and I wouldn't do such things, but God used those men in a marked way. Thank God. And he does that, brethren, but we don't know human instrument is the measure of our faith rather than it is God's precious word. And so as it came clear and clearer with time.
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Thank God for every, uh, truth that came in clarity.
So he mentions in verse, 4I thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. There is always in every time those who stand out that act in the simplicity of faith in the Lord based on the precious Word of God. They just don't go simply with the flow.
Like we say, Martin Luther was a man.
Tremendously used of God, but he is not the measure of our faith. Rather, and he went so far and we thank God for what he recovered was an instrument in recovering, but that is not the measure of our faith.
That he married a spiritual woman. Her name was Catherine and she was a former nun. And, uh, so there's a little story about, uh, Luther's Katie in that, uh, book rack. And it's a wonderful, uh, wonderful story for young sisters to, uh, read. I think it would be an encouragement to you to think of, uh, the, uh, way that she supported her husband and his work for the Lord and his boldness.
And uh, she had medical experience, she was able to help him in his infirmities and so on. But uh, here he says in verse three as well, we need not pass over it, but hold fast and repent. So why they didn't come go in completeness and umm, they didn't, uh, follow through and learn all of those doctrines that the Spirit of God would lead them into the knowledge of and walk in total separation to Rome. They tried to reform it.
Why? He says, hold fast what you have. And remember that word, that little expression means to seize it, to hold it fast.
Tenaciously, because the enemy is seeking to remove it from you, to rob you, and to rob Christ of your, uh, enjoyment of it. And the other is to hold it fast to the heart, to hold the truth with affection, not just with the knowledge of what it is. And so they were told to hold fast. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. So this gives us the indication that Sardis will continue until the appearing.
And so he comes at the rapture. He doesn't come as a thief. He comes for his bride, He comes for all those that were redeemed, and he'll bring us to be with himself. He'll come for the Saints, and he'll not come to the earth, but he'll come in the air. He'll meet us and we'll meet him in the air. But when he comes as a thief, he comes as one that comes to deliver the judgment and to deliver his Saints, those that are of the godly remnant in the children among the children of Israel, the Jews, He'll deliver them from their enemies.
But he will judge false professing Christianity, and so this is what is referred to when he comes as a thief.
Helpful to distinguish because sometimes that's applied to the rapture. But if you look at First Thessalonians chapter 5, it is very clearly put that it whenever it speaks of the Lord's coming as a thief, it's not the rapture that's involved, it's His coming in power and glory at the end of the tribulation. Sometimes they say you don't want a thief to come to your house and you don't wait for them.
It's for the world that doesn't want him to come and doesn't wait for him that he will come as a thief. But notice this verse First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse two. It says yourselves, know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. The day of the Lord is the day of His coming in power and glory to establish his Kingdom in judgment.
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Verse 4.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. So when it's the coming of the Lord as a thief, it's talking about His coming at the end of the tribulation. Important.
Well, that the reformers didn't understand that distinction and so they will know that there are King James translation was translated and became available in 1611. But those that translated this Bible that we have, we're not clear on the distinction between the rapture, the Lord's coming for his Saints, and this coming as a thief at the end of the tribulation period.
They didn't know that distinction. And so even if you look at some of the hymns that we have, uh, some of them, they're not entirely clear. I know that Mister Darby clarified, some of them made them a little clearer, but umm, they didn't have that enjoyment. And they're wonderful to have the truth revealed to us, the light that it's the person of Christ that we're waiting for. And the Apostle Paul was used of God to give the distinction, to teach the distinction between the rapture, between the coming of the Lord for his Saints.
And his coming as a thief. And in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the 2nd Epistle of Thessalonians, he teaches it very distinctly. And so particularly if you read in the new translation, you will have those distinctions made very clear. So I very much encourage you to read the epistles, those two epistles, and be clear. It's a part of Paul's doctrine, a significant element of Paul's doctrine, the coming of the Lord Jesus for his Saints.
It's really.
My word that would bring in those Christian truths that we know and are recovered. I just say this too, that with Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia, in each of those assemblies, the word is address. Hold fast, or hold that fast, that which we have. And so we do realize that Thyatira went thus far, Sardis went thus far. But whatever truth of God there was, it was to be held fast, to be tenaciously clung to, and then God would give further light.
Perhaps the greatest exercise or burden we should have today is what we're giving up, letting go of the truth of God that he's revealed. Thinking you mentioned the other day, Brother Bob, and your meeting about the Church of the living, uh, the House of God, which is the Church of the living God.
Sardis had a name to live and was dead.
Empty, dead, formalism and ritual. But the Church of God should be a living, vibrant witness to God here in this world. He's a living God. And as we read in First Timothy, we see that life lives.
And so that's the characteristic of of the life of the believer. But that's what Sardis in a collective way, they had a name to live as profession, but they were dead. It's almost tougher to deal with that sometimes than that. It is open opposition.
I remember my meeting with my brother Eric. Neighbor's funeral of a prominent Protestant denomination.
Scriptures were open, the scriptures were read. It was fairly flat service, if I can put it that way. We're speaking to some of the family at the, uh, at the table. Remember my brother seeking to bring the Word out and share the simple gospel.
No response, no opposition, but I just thought of that verse. The name to live and aren't dead. So important it is that we have the truth of God and the living in a real way in our lives.
Alright brother.
They gave me a book.
And she said I should by all means read that. Don't put it away, read it all the way through. It's something that I'll never find anywhere else. So she gave me that book and I read it through.
It is a story that takes place right now.
00:30:01
A young man of is 20, from Dutch.
Of Holland.
He went through.
The recovery.
Wars in Africa.
Uh, to save the.
The country of Holland to keep his influence there, but uh, he got the real rough training there and real tough and he came out of it and he got saved.
And he preached in Holland then?
Every groom that he preached there was breaking full, but he preached only the gospel.
And that really woke me up. I said, well, what we have to do and what we are called to do today is preach the gospel. We are not preaching the gospel. It's it is any one of us among brethren.
The book is called Anne, Brother Andrew the Bible Smuggler. Did you read it?
It's really some it's R, it goes on, it still goes on. He is still preaching. He he got such an attention that the.
Governments of communism sent him an invitation to come to their Congress, which started in Poland. So he bought a ticket to Wausau. And then he started out preaching and he had an interpreter with him, very good interpreter.
And the halls where he preached. Full, always full because.
He only preached the gospel.
And that that work is still going on today among those who are capable and willing to preach the gospel anywhere. He started out in the middle of communism in Warsaw.
And.
They even gave him an invitation pages hotel.
And he started out giving out tracks and started out preaching and preaching and, and he just.
Just wouldn't quit and then it went on. So he went through all the communist little communist countries in in Europe there from 1:00 to the next to the next to the next. And we were the halls were full of breaking full and he still doing it today.
But I never heard any birds in there.
I successfully speaking with preaching the gospel.
Getting out and and I I include myself of course.
We thank God for those who preach the gospel and they stand before God and we do too. And in the measures that the Lord gives us opportunity, we too should take opportunity to preach the gospel. But I find that that it is a privilege not only to preach the gospel, but there is something further is.
What is called, we mentioned it the other day, a discipleship leading souls on, not just getting them saved, but leading them on in the truth of God. And that's what's so important.
Are really? They suffered reproach, didn't they? They they preach Christ. They preached what they knew that the Word of God was the living Word of God and it was the Word of God that had authority. They preached that.
Salvation was by grace and partly because Luther was so in instrumental in translating that epistle to the Romans and he he could preach from the epistles of the Romans, but then it, uh, they were treated as those that were criminals. And so the Spirit of God gives us encouragement. Isn't it nice in Revelation chapter, uh, three here, verse four, he says, thou has a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled our garments and they shall walk with me.
In white for they are worthy. They were treated like criminals. Some of them were murdered, but the Lord Jesus uses this a little expression. I may have mentioned it the other day with me. Would you want to walk with anyone else but with the Lord Jesus, he says they're going to walk with me. And those that were lifeless in the Roman system and that persecuted them even under death.
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Why they had no lights, but those that were persecuted, the persecuted ones. White speaks of righteousness. It's the color of victory. And it's the color that the Lord Jesus comes on a White Horse in Revelation chapter 19. And those that come with him are garbed in white. Raiment is of color of purity and victory. So isn't it nice that the Lord recognizes them in this way?
Perhaps it doesn't need to be clarified, but we don't want to be misunderstood. I don't want to.
Must, uh, confuse anything.
The reformers in the work of God is not what is being referred to allow us to name, to live in our dead. That's empty, dead. Formal Protestantism has come out of it, not the work of God. That's not dead, that's active and living. And there's overcomers in every period of time. So just to clarify that point, this is the end result that came out of it. That was such a sad thing. But we do find that every history of the, uh, church's age, there are those that overcome, overcame.
And the conditions in which they were found. And so in all 7 assemblies there was something to overcome. Let me just say that because we do need to distinguish between what is the pref the profession at large, and that what is the work of God within.
The denominations that became deadened, uh, they might have blotted their, the names of those faithful ones out of there, umm, membership books, but the promise is in verse five, I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. And so it's a contrast. And there were those who were faithful and they were excluded.
And so they are the ones that are the overcomers in verse five. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. What a promise.
A faithful individual, faithful individuals that he had raised up and called out, umm, the result of the the Reformation, a dead system, dead religious system. But there were still individuals that had life. And so he seeks to encourage them where they are. But then when it comes to Philadelphia, it's a company of those that he calls out.
And, uh, the, it's a fresh start, you might say. And so there's a, a brand new start. There's a work of the Spirit of God and a work of power and all of the truth is recovered. And so he speaks to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia and he doesn't, umm, uh, have anything really to, uh, criticize and to rebuke Philadelphia for the reason is that they were so weak.
And the testimony was, uh, weak. It was, uh, still weak, but it had a little power, a little strength. I believe that's the proper translation.
And uh, so they, it's, uh, it says in verse seven these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David and that openeth no man shutteth, and shutteth no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, though for thou hast a little strength, a little power, and hast kept my word, not denied my name. And so the holiness of God.
The righteousness of God and not walking in fellowship with unrighteousness was really restored to the, uh, Saints of God. And then the truth of God and the truth, the Lord Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And so to walk in all of the truth, not just some of it was recovered. And then he that had the key of David, really the prophetic scriptures were uh, read, searched out diligently and understood. And so dispensational truth was rediscovered.
It was recovered to the church at that time and so it was given to the those and they, as the testimony was raised up of those that left those dead systems in Sardis and uh, that represented Sardis and they left those systems and they were gathered by the Spirit of God under the precious name of the Lord Jesus, and they knew something of the holiness of God, the truth and the prophetic.
00:40:09
Part of the the scriptures. They understood what was written to Israel and for Israel, and they understood the distinction of where the church, umm, what the church's part was during the day of grace, that we are not a part of Israel.
Read the, uh, beginning of the meetings that they had in the early 1800s. Their purpose primarily was to study the prophetic scriptures. And as they did so, they came to the realization that Israel is not the same as the church, that they are two distinct things, and then they realize.
The truth that the church is the body of Christ. It's not a.
Formal organized institution that men make and that's why they came out in simplicity to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus as members of one body to be exercised and led by 1 Spirit. That little expression in verse eight that you mentioned, Robert, thou hast a little strength and people sometimes despise.
The littleness of the testimony and the apparent lack of any outward power. But I have found it helpful to go back to Acts chapter 4 in the beginning of the Church's history. What was characteristic of the testimony then?
Acts chapter 4 and verse 33 it says.
With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all tremendously beautiful in that the testimony of the church in those early days of the church's history beautiful but just to point out in our verse eight of our chapter that word strength.
Is the same word power in Acts 433? It's the same word. So it's the same power that's working in US today only because of the ruin of the testimony. And I want to explain what I mean, because sometimes people call protest against the use of the word the ruin of the church in the eyes of God.
The Church's whole there is one Body is a truth that is true just as much today as it was on the day of Pentecost.
But what has happened if I go out down the street here in Mayfield and one Christian group and then there's another Christian group and then there's another, if I ask some person on the street, where do these Christians meet?
They would never guess that there is one body. Why not? Because the testimony to that truth is in ruins. But we recognize that, brethren.
And we gather in simplicity and recognition of the truth that the body continues to be just one. But they there's not great power in manifestation to that testimony. There's a little power, yes, it's the same power. It's the power of the Spirit of God that dwells in US and it's beautiful to recognize it, brethren, even though.
It is, perhaps through the eyes of many, something that's despicable, but still it is that power.
Open door The Darby is the open door.
I remember asking Brother Chuck Hendricks on that one time. He's emphasizing it should be opened, not open. I said, well, what's the difference? He says, well, if it was opened, it was closed. Now it's open. You remember Ernie has his day. He shut up the doors of the temple and his son Hezekiah opened the doors of the temple. The doors were shut. You might say the truth of the House of God here particularly I think is the thought. But that was a shut up. It wasn't open, but now.
00:45:01
Said that in government there's two figures, there's the sword and there's the key. And to the assembly here was given the key of David. The key is what opens doors. And now the truth and light of the House of God. The Saints of God were able to walk according to the truth of what had been revealed. And it's a wonderful privilege as many days, the church's history, the full light of the truth of God, of my word, as Christ said, it wasn't known, it wasn't understood to be walked in, but God is graciously allowed that we might have the whole truth and we might be able to walk in it. It's a wonderful privilege to realize the door has been open. He sat before us an open door.
And so as such, we should be able to, uh, walk in the light and go to the whole truth of God.
Not nearly an open door, but it's a deliberately opened door. We don't realize how much God is for us. This verb here I have set before. The open door is the same verb we find in verse 9 where it says I will make them a synagogue of same same verb. It's God is deliberately given us opportunity.
So the beautiful thing about Philadelphia, thou has kept my word and not denied my name. Beautiful to connect that those two things, brethren. And Psalm 138, a verse that is sometimes read and I think it's so beautiful I'll just read it.
Psalm 138, verse 2.
He says, I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth.
For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Imagine, brethren, His word has been magnified above all, his name, His word, if we can put it in the term that sometimes we use.
Is good as his name. It's been exalted above his name.
He's true to His word, we can count on it in that beautiful wonderful to realize. And so how important it is that His word be the norm of our thinking. So often we accommodate things according to human wishes and consideration of one individual and another brother, and it's not about us.
It's about that glorious man, the Lord Jesus, and so it's His word, and he's exalted his word above his name. So shouldn't we put importance to His word? This is the norm.
And to know the Word of God. And so it's one of the things that characterized Philadelphia was that the Spirit of God exercised these brethren, young and old alike, to diligently read the Scriptures. And so they were identified as those that were men of the book and women of the book. They were characterized by a thorough knowledge of the Word of God.
Can I just give you a little illustration of it? Uh, the, it's still possible perhaps today to have that knowledge of the scriptures, that enjoyment of the scriptures. I know, I wish all of us did, but I went to, uh, the Funeral Home of, uh, at the time of my mother-in-law's passing to go to be with the Lord and, uh, sat in the room with the funeral director and went over arrangements and so on. And he said, well, who will you have to speak at the funeral? And, uh, I could arrange somebody and so on. I said, well, we.
Won't need anyone. Uh, we have, uh, other arrangements. And he, by way of, uh, just a thought that came out of his mind and he said it. He said, well, you know, I don't know where you come from, but he says, I don't know about these brethren. You know, these brethren, it's just about anybody that knows the word of God. They come up and they, they take a funeral and it seems like they can, all those brothers, they can all come and they can all stand up and, and give the gospel and, and.
Give a funeral. Well, the man is a believer, but he's in one of these systems in Sardis, but he's a real true believer. Isn't it wonderful to be characterized by knowing the Word of God, knowing the principles of the Word of God, and enjoying the Word of God? And you and I have advantage. We have written ministry that those that were raised up at the time of the recovery of the truth were teachers, and they wrote down what they were teaching and what the Spirit of God had revealed to them.
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And I would just encourage you that are younger.
Is to buy those books, acquire those books of ministry on each book of the New Testament, each book of the Old Testament. Have yourself a little library and get acquainted. You and I should know the word of God inside out. We should know it and enjoy it.
So that God's Word and God's name are very closely aligned, because his Word brings before us his authority.
His name brings before us His honor. If we deny His authority, we dishonor him. And as as we treat His word, so we treat him, so we find the two linked very closely together.
We need his word today more than ever because prominent today is man's opinion. Everybody has an opinion. They every man has it thinks he has a right to his own opinion. He has a right to be wrong.
There's no such thing as a right to be wrong. Uh, but we're, we're flooded the Christian markets, the so-called Christian markets are flooded with opinion, with psychology, as if God's word is not sufficient.
And, uh, God's Word is sufficient.
Unless, uh, remember that we have the Spirit of God to give us the understanding of the word, to give us the sense of the glory of God and that we should be dependent on the leading of the Spirit of God and, uh, in, in coming to a knowledge of the work Job.
Between His word and His words, Harris kept my word. If we could just read a couple verses in John 17.
John 17 and verse six, and the Lord's Prayer. I have manifested thy name, that is the Father's name, under the men which thou gave us me out of the world thine they were, and thou gave us them me, and they have kept thy word.
Verse 8 for I have given unto them the words which thou gave us me and they have received them and I've known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou did send me. You probably could help on this brother John. But there's two different words here isn't there is logos and rima that the word of God would be more embracive and inclusive. That was kept my word as I understand it. It would it would include all of Christian doctrine, if you will. It's it's Christ's word. The words are more specific as a different word for commandments, but there are specific instructions.
And directions given to us. Well, we need to keep those as well. The disciples there in John 17. They have received the words and they're so there are specific instructions in Scripture that we can follow. But here it would seem to bring in and again as you mentioned that the seven churches are seen in their life bearing testimony. You don't have the truth of the one body and so on brought out. But in this expression, my word, I take it here that it would bring out the whole truth of God, all of Christian truth and this little assembly in in Philadelphia and weaken this they they clung to it. And so there are specific instructions, but there is that body of Christian doctrine of Christian truth that we are to keep.
To know too, that at that time the truth of what it was to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus was recovered. And so for where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. And they read the Scriptures and they understood the truth that it was the Spirit of God that was gathering them in the energy of the Spirit to where Christ was in the midst. That they didn't have the intelligence to gather themselves to the name of the Lord. That's not the scriptural term at all.
And, umm, there are those that set themselves up and, uh, set an invitation up of the truth of the one body. And those are the terms that they use, uh, that, uh, we gather to the name of the Lord, but that's not a scriptural term. We are gathered by the Spirit of God unto the precious name of the Lord. And so is brother mentioned. It mentions the, the name speaks of the authority of Christ and Christ is in the midst. And when there are, umm, actions that, uh, are necessary and part of the assembly and reception or in the putting away or whatever it is, it's done in the name of the Lord, in his authority. And when we come together in the presence of the Lord to remember him in his death.
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We come to where he is in the midst and we recognize his authority and conduct ourselves accordingly. And so they came in holiness and truth with a proper understanding of the what the key of David would speak of those prophetic scriptures and they valued his word. And then he says they understood and he encourages them in verse 10 that I will keep the from the hour of temptation which will come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.
So we have those that, uh, today think that the church is going to go through the tribulation period. Well, it's not true at all. And here you have a verse of scripture that you can use to, uh, as assurance for your own soul and for those that you might come into contact with in the Christian testimony that are not clear. He's going to keep us from the hour of temptation. He's going to remove us and he's going to try them that dwell upon the earth. There's another expression 10 times it's used in the Book of Revelation, the earth dwellers.
It's a time when he's going to bring judgment to those that have a love of the earth. And he expresses again, he says, I come quickly. Behold, really shouldn't be there. In the text he says 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. He shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, 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.
He that had the ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. So there's a real encouragement given to those that will walk in the truth and to those that will hold fast what has been delivered to the church until the time of the rapture. And he says that there's going to be a danger, as it were in verse 11, that there are going to be those that will try to remove some of the knowledge of that truth or some of the testimony of walking in that truth. And he says, be careful.
Everyone of us is susceptible to being deceived and to have the truth released from our grasp. And if we release our grasp of it, someone can take it and our crown would not be, uh, as complete. So the Lord desires to give a reward, a complete reward to those that He has that, umm, walk in all of the truth.
Just wondering if I could share some thoughts that I've been enjoying this morning regarding verse 9. The whole level makes it down 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 love that I have, I have loved thee. Umm, if we, if we go back to verse eight, one of the umm, umm, characteristics of this church, I mean what they were enjoying was liberty.
I have set before the open door which no man can shut, and it was a time when the Spirit of God was working and He was exalting Christ, and man, as it were, was not getting in the way. Satan's when when God set aside Judaism as a way in which man was defined blessing before God, Satan took it up, so God set it aside.
When Satan took it up as an instrument to continue to further ******* fear, and everything that man found himself under under law. And here we see that the effort of the enemy during Philadelphia was to bring back the principles.
Of Judaism.
Introducing the first man once again.
Umm, as you might say, the source of blessing and umm, it, it says umm, which say they are Jews. What I'm I'm not sure that I understand that, but I'm going to give just a thought. Umm, we don't the the the Jews were those that had set themselves up to attain under of righteousness on their own standing and on their own ground. Could we turn to 1St current the 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 we're going to find.
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An amazing contrast.
That is characteristic of Christianity.
2nd Corinthians 3 says verse 3.
Umm, phrase.
For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ.
So in our first.
Those that would try to bring Judaism influences back into the church, we're saying we are Jews. What is characteristic of the church? We are epistles of Christ.
And that's a there's, that's a, that's a wonderful contrast because it is the life of Christ in us that God is looking for. This time in the history of the church must have been characterized by the spirit of Christ, but there was an attempt here to reintroduce the principles of Judaism.
Umm by.
Straight from the synagogue of Satan. So when God set aside Judaism, Satan took it out. And we have to be very, very careful.
That our Christian lives aren't lived on the ground seeking to produce righteousness in the first man, but to realize that our righteousness is in Christ and that was just reflected from our lives would be his life.
They rejected the order of things, didn't they? That was Judaistic. And so a dedicated priesthood and the laity is really an imitation of those Jewish, that Jewish order of things. And so only an ordained priest could.
Take part in the Roman church and so on. Those things have been imitated out of Judaism and the fancy buildings.
And the Spirit of God never gives us an indication, anything other than an upper room, a little picture of those that are separated from the street level of the religious systems of this world and the moral systems of this world. Uh, the assembly is given the picture of meeting in an upper room, a large upper room. But umm, they refused because of the word of God. Anything that had to do with the Jewish order of things. I believe this is what the Spirit of God is teaching there.
But we might continue on into LA to see it. Here we have a few minutes and he speaks to the latest Ian's. And this is the day that we find ourselves in. And as we said earlier, it's a time in which we live where the rights of Christ are set aside and the personal rights of man are inserted as being of a higher caliber or a higher authority in our lives. And so the latest SIA means the rights of the people.
So we live in a de, a democratic society and it has an effect upon us all throughout Europe there's democratic societies and in the Western Christian world is characterized and it creeps into the assembly. I have rights, but no, you know, I think often times of what dear brother Norman Berry used to say to us as young people, and he said it and openly as well. He had a little expression that, uh, when you got saved, you gave up your rights.
You gave up your right to choose the day you got saved. You gave your life to Christ. You accepted Him as Savior, and you also accepted Him as Lord. And now you look to the head in glory, the one who is the Lord Jesus Christ. You look to him and you ask Him for direction, but it's not personal preferences, not personal rights. You gave up your rights the day that you got saved. Now you have the rights of Christ to uphold.
And so he speaks in this way and shows them really what, uh, how far they, they had fallen. And so after the height, the glory of those days, after the recovery of the truth, Mr. Darby said it was only for a brief 20 years that there was really that power, that little power. We know it continues on until the end. But really what characterizes the day that we live in? And we need to be honest about it, brethren.
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Is indifference to the glory of Christ.
Desire to be as the Philadelphians.
But to qualify ourselves as Philadelphians is really led to see a in spirit. So let's be careful how we talk about these things to be exercised in view of the truth of God. Lord help us bread and.
I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. That is what characterizes the Christian profession today.
Oh, brethren.
How needy we really are, and we don't realize it. And no, it's not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, as you say. This is what goes on. Actually, there will be, like you say, the false church that will remain in the world after the rapture.
And they will go through the tribulation, but there will be a point in which they will be spewed out of his mouth.
He will. He finds that so distasteful, the indifference says to his person.
Christ is Lord of all, and when my ideas, my thoughts, brethren, I don't think we realize how much we've been affected by the spirit of the age that we're passing through. And I think it's best if we can recognize it and confess it to the Lord.
And allow the Lord to.
Uh, help us to, as it says in first John one, we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse. You can't cleanse yourself. He does the cleansing. And I sometimes wonder if the way the Lord is passing us through trials of different sorts and everywhere I go, there's trials.
Sometimes when I go to a place and the brethren tell me about their problems, I say, can't you please tell me about somewhere where there's no problems in this world? You get so weary of it. But there is no place, brother. You can't escape His discipline, his faithful. And even though we may be like these latest ends, He is faithful and He's working with us, brethren.
Let's recognize his hand in it. It's not, uh, a particular person, but it's, it's all over the place, brother. And, and he's allowing different trials in different ways. Tell me the person that has no problems.
There, there isn't such a place. There isn't such a person. The Lord is dealing with this, he says. I rebuke and chasten those that I love.
The Luke's Gospel Chapter 9 and just some of the little expressions that are used right at the end of that chapter. Maybe you've noticed them yourself that, uh.
In verse 58, Luke 9, verse 58, Jesus said unto them, Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my Father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God. And another said also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me.
Let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. The Lord. And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God. Well, you know, there was really a lack of the right priority on the part of the first one. He, he said it was more important to go back and and bury his Father in natural things. Natural relationships had more of a hold upon him.
01:10:05
Then really the Lord's affections. And so the, the Lord that uses this term or the, the Spirit of God records it me first. But then in the next one in verse 61, it's really a lack of commitment. He just wanted to bid them farewell. They're at home. So we have this, uh, spirit of things that has crept in, perhaps, uh, silently, you might say, and gradually, but, and it's wonderful to have the privilege of giving the Lord Jesus the first place in our lives in the day that we live in. Very shortly, it's going to be too late. We're going to be with him and like him. Our bodies, the very same bodies that we have will be glorified, will be with him and like him. But now in the day of his rejection, we have the ability and they have the.
Privilege of giving him the first place in our lives and not the second place, not the leftovers. Would be wonderful to be able to have his approval in this day. He speaks to the overcomer and he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will Sup with him and he with me. And so there's he uses this little expression again with me.
Nice to have communion with the Lord, to sit in fellowship with the Lord and enjoy the communion of the Son of God. It's the highest degree of fellowship can can be had a man with the Son of God.
Noticed yesterday that the word to Smyrna was, I know by poverty, but thou art rich. Hear the word delay of the sea, as thou sayest thou art rich, but I know you are poor. Poverty. You recall at the end of Colossians 4 there where Paul writes that when they uh, had received that epistle and read that epistle, they would cause that it also be read in the epistle to the Laodiceans as the antidote. Really, I take it to the issue that they had there. Maybe we could just read a couple verses or one verse in the third chapter of Colossians.
Mm-hmm. That would probably be brought to bear on the state of the Laodiceans.
Colossians, chapter 3 and verse 10, verse 9. The old man's put off. Verse 10, have put on the Newman, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, von Norfrey. But Christ is all and in all, or Christ is everything, and in all. But in Laodicea Christ was nothing, and in no one.
A esteemed Christ of he was outside the door has been mentioned. His glory was irrelevant and not a consideration for the, the uh, that that assembly. But it says here in the, uh, at the beginning, the way the Lord presents himself to the Laodiceans, verse 14. These things set the Amen. Of course, he's the one that will fulfill all the promises of God, but I just thought it very simply. He's the last word and let it see. They thought they were the last word.
They always have something to add, but no, the Lord is the last word and his word is, is the, the declaration, the final, the final answer. And he's the faithful and true witness laid as he was neither faithful nor were they true. And so the Lord answers, uh.
All that he was, they were not in the beginning of the creation of God. I'll just say this because there might be some that have encountered those of that blasphemously teach that the first creation of God was Jesus the Son of God. But the creation of God is different than the creation by God in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth and we know from John's gospel all that that there was nothing made. Umm and without him was not anything made that was made. The Son of God is set forth as a creator. He was not a created being. The say so is blasphemy.
It's an attack upon his person, but the difference is is in the proposition. The creation by God is what God did in a in acting and bring it to to pass. But the creation of God, it is everything is according to God. It's like the House of God. Everything is according to his thoughts and his will in his mind. Reading second Peter chapter 3 about looking for incoming unto the day of God. What's the day of God? Well, that's what follows the day of the Lord not subduing evil, but the day of God is everything will be according to God's thoughts and holiness and truth and righteousness and the exaltation of Christ.
The day of God, everything is According to him. So the beginning of the creation of God, as it says in Colossians one, that the Christ is the beginning, glorified Christ. And this is the way that he presents himself. Everything is according to God's thoughts, beginning with Christ, and we belong to this new creation. And so that's an answer to these issues. And frankly, some of them can get rather petty. And you find in Colossians how, when the truth of the new creation is brought to bear there.
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Where there is neither Greek nor Jew.
Racial considerations set aside.
Circumcision or uncircumcision ritual considers considerations irrelevant. Barbarian recipient. Well, barbarian is was one that umm was unlettered. Uh, Sisypheans been called a, a barbarian. The the Barbarians barbarian. It was the low end, you might say, of, of culture. Well, how many times? Frankly, brethren, these things can come in and get us messed up. We're not here judging one another on cultural or bond or free social status.
No, we've been brought into a sphere where Christ is everything. And so Laodicea, they needed this line of ministry that that Christ was the preeminent one. They were full of themselves and Christ was nothing. And so he has to rebuke them very sternly.
Five speaks about, uh, if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new and all things are of God. That's the beginning of the creation of God, isn't it? Christ and resurrection is the beginning of a new creation and that's what is referred to here, isn't that right?
New creation race.
Tragic to think that at the end of the Christian testimony here he is outside of a closed door knocking and it's exercising, brethren, the way he says it here in verse 20. If any man, he doesn't say if you all inside there can hear me and open the door. No, he doesn't say that. If any man, it's individual overcoming.
And so if you hear his voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will Sup with him and with and he with me. It's it's individual, the whole verse. And so it's a individual call. And today are we individually making time to listen to the Lord? We've spoken about it before in these meetings, the importance of taking.
Time or making time to read the scriptures to listen to him. Oh how important it is to have fellowship with him. This is what is presented here in verse 20.
Here and lay to see it had forsaken him. That's why he was outside the door. But he hadn't turned his back on the door.
And we may forsake the Lord. He never forsakes us.
2IN verse 21, that he to him, the individual that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne. So the Lord Jesus right now is seated on his Father's throne, and so he's waiting till his enemies be made his footstool, but in the future day he's going to sit upon his own throne.
And he will reign in righteousness in this world after, as our brother said last night, after he mops it up and he cleans it up, he's going to clean it. It'll be so clean. He'll cleanse it with judgment. He cleanse the earth by a flood in Noah's day, but in the day at the at the appearing, he's going to cleanse it by judgment. And so he's going to have those that are with him and then having faithful and even in the day that we live in indifferent to his glory.
Always something else is more important than the Lord. The Lord's things, those that are faithful, he says he gives them as a motivation, as an encouragement. They'll sit with me in my throne. I was thinking a second Timothy in connection with this second Timothy chapter 2 and verse 12. And he says, uh, we might read verse 11. It is a faithful saying. For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer with.
01:20:05
We shall also reign with Him if we deny him. He also will deny us if we believe not. Yet he by the faithful, he cannot deny himself. Well, in this sense, in verse 12, I believe He delights to give a full reward, a crown to everyone, and the ability to sit with Him in the expression of His delight in those that have, uh, suffered with him and for His cause.
But he may have to deny us a reward if we do not associate with him in the time of his rejection. And we really shirk from that, uh, walking in truth that he would desire for us to associate ourselves with, in him, uh, with him, in fellowship with him, We may be denied that, uh, reward, that full reward. So we'll reign with him. If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. I believe this is a, a real encouragement the day that we live in.
Individual faithfulness, The Lord.
Values and I say, we said before, he's not going to reward results. He's not looking for results, He's looking for faithfulness. And if we're faithful to the truth of the word of God that we know he's not going to say you were legal. He's going to if the affections are right, if the heart is right, if it's taken up with Christ, he'll be very, very expressive in a future day in telling us what it meant to his heart of love.
Question about that suffering. If we suffer, we still also reign with sin. Is that suffering for righteousness sake? Is that can that be physical suffering with and enjoying Christ in spite of it? What? What's the could you expound on that suffering?
Include all of it and suffering reproach. I believe uh, we could apply that to umm.
That verse in Hebrews 1313 that we all so often think of. You know that. Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp bearing his reproach. And so they're suffering the reproach of Christ for the name of Christ. And there is a tendency in the day that we live in to, umm, dull the edge of the sword, you might say, and take the sharp edge off of that reproach, and not be associated only with the name of Christ.
It's uh.
In any measure that we are following or rejected the Lord and if you follow him, there's going to be reproach, there's going to be suffering connection with it. I often think of the verse and, and, uh, Revelation one where he speaks about the Kingdom and patience. Uh, there's 33 words there that are connected.
And, uh, chapter one of Revelation, verse nine, I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, you recognize his authority because he was rejected and cast out. There's gonna be two other words that are connected with that.
Uh, is tribulation and patience. You're not gonna see things rectified immediately. You're gonna have to wait for it. So it might mean suffering in the meantime.
Closing That is normal for a Christian to walk in all of the truth of God. It's normal for a Christian to read the scriptures and enjoy all of the truth. That's normal for a Christian to be gathered by the Spirit of God under the precious name of the Lord Jesus. That's normal Christianity. And So what he's addressing here is an abnormal state of things and those that would rise above it and overcome.
There's a reward. That's a wonderful encouragement, isn't it?
Exercise, brother.
Can we sing #77 at the appendix? O Christ, he is the fountain Jeep, sweet, well of love, The streams on earth. I've tasted more deep. I'll drink above #7 seven on the back.
Oh God.
Around.
$39.25.
48 hours. Is there anything else?
OK, I'm on my dream. Oh, I'm afraid.
To come back on your head and you're going to get it. There's aircraft around.