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Reading in route chapter 3.
And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis right these things, says he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast the name, that thou liveth and are dead.
The watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For have not found thy work perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast 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 me. 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. 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, that he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door. No man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength and have 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 thee because I have kept the word of my patients. 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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
It was mentioned close to the last reading in connection with the, uh, the Lord's coming mentioned in the last four churches. And I wonder if it would just be helpful to, uh, have a little overview as to this coming, which means so much to us. And what I'm thinking of, and that is that when the church settle down to the level of the world, they lost the, the, the heavenly calling of the church by doing that.
And so, uh, now we have via Tyra, which ruled for 1000 years and we call it the dark ages. And they had the Lord in the character of I and verse 28, I will give him the morning star. Now the truth of the rapture was lost, was it not during that time?
So what I'm asking is what is the character of the Lord? Is the morning star? Is it? Was it the hope of like the wall dancing? He was their hope and anchor.
And all to sustain them and their hardships.
Uh, I wonder if that could just be illuminated a little bit and, uh, as the last four churches.
Take this up.
00:05:16
Well, as you say, corporately, collectively, the many of these things were lost in the dark ages. The truth of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the hope of the Lord's coming, and other precious truths that the apostles had brought out at the beginning when they laid the foundation. And particularly the apostle Paul, who gives the hope of the Lord's coming and the true character of Christianity and the believer and their calling and so on. But isn't it beautiful to realize that there were individuals all through those periods who were individually in the enjoyment of those things?
And sometimes when you look at the dates of some hymns that were written, you marvel that there were those who were in the appreciation and enjoyment of things that outwardly seemed to have been lost. And so God always has his silver thread and he always has his ones here and there. Things might be lost in an outward way as they were in the dark ages, but God doesn't give up on his own on, on, on individuals. And so I think it's a great encouragement just in a practical note for us today.
Sometimes we feel there's a great deal of giving up, of certain aspects of the truth and so on. And certainly we have to hang our heads and own that we're all a part of the failure and ruin that has come in. But as we were saying yesterday, it's possible for individuals to be in the enjoyment of that which perhaps collectively, uh ha, has been, has been given up. Just like as we noticed in Malachi, there was a little company, a little remnant who were seeking to go on outwardly.
Things were defiled and polluted, the sacrifices, the worship, the temple, all these things, the, uh, God center, all these things were in ruin. But there were individuals seeking to go on. And so as we've said, as Eric pointed out, the overcomer in these last churches, uh, it's, it's, it's intensely individual. It is in everyone, but comes in a different order, as was pointed out, and not to go back over it.
But I, I just think I just wonder, Ron, if part of what we have before us, your question is that yes, those things were for the most part given up, but there were individuals to which these promises were held out and who did lay hold of them by faith amidst the general ruin and declension. Would maybe you have a comment on? I would just say that in generally that was not taught. And I'm only bringing this out, not to be technical about it, but to think of the time that we live and the expectation that we have.
That we know what's going to take place, this the Lord is going to call us. Every St. of God, whether in the tomb or in the sea or alive, are going to be caught up together. And we know that our bodies are going to be changed and we're going to have a body like him, both morally and physically. And so I'm just saying that they have very little light during the dark ages, but it was enough to sustain them and help them to go on through the persecution.
And things that they had the Lord didn't come to them in an inferior way. But just to think of what we know and are taught in the assembly today is a thrill to my soul. And for us. We have had it set before us through godly men and by the Spirit of God, the our hope in its proper context. There were those who had hope. Hope has always been the people of God have always had hope. God has al even in the Old Testament.
Was a little different, but they had hope. How many times does David speak of hope? But the re the reformers had hope before that. They had hope, but they didn't understand the, their, their, their real hope and their calling. The hope of the Lord's coming for his Saints and with his Saints wasn't generally understood. The hope of the Lord's coming as to what we refer to as the rapture and the hope of the appearing, It wasn't, it hadn't been, uh, clearly set forth. They were moving towards the light, but they did have hope and they did have understanding.
That there was something beyond what they had, what their circumstances, something beyond the ruin that they saw all around them. It wasn't clarified yet because as I say, they were moving toward the light and it took some years for it to be brought up. God. When God recovers light, he doesn't flip flop something. He moves us. He moves men back toward it slowly. Uh, the path of the justice is a shining light that shineth more and more under the perfect day.
00:10:07
So they were moving toward it, but they did have hope that, as you say, can't we rejoice that this hope has been fully recovered and that we can sit here this this morning with a clear understanding. And it's not hard. It's not difficult, but with a clear understanding as taught from the Word and the power of the Spirit, the difference between the imminent return of the Lord for us to rapture us away and then His coming back and the fact that we're going to appear in glory with Him.
It ought to rejoice our hearts, and we ought to live in the expectation and joy of it.
Just like to read the last uh.
Times of hymn #119 It was written by Bernal de Clairvaux and his name means Bernard of the clear valley. There was the valley of darkness and of the shadow of death that these dear men walk through spiritually as it were. But uh, there was clarity brought out and it was a work of the Spirit of God that some of them had light. Some of them could see the person of Christ. And as, uh, often as we desire to have Christ before our souls in the sea, something of the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus, the light will shine. And so this dear man, he could write this.
119 It says, we give thee thanks on fainted, O Savior, Friend in need for what thy soul sustaineth. When thou for us didst bleed, grant us to lean unshaken upon thy faithfulness until the glory taken we see thee face to face. He saw the bright in the morning star.
I think, uh, I'm sorry. I was just gonna say that it wasn't the general rule. There was little lights here and there.
And the Lord revealed Himself to those that wanted to see him.
I don't know the year of that one though.
Yes, yeah, Bernard was actually a champion of Catholicism, wasn't he? Uh, sad to say, uh, though he was certainly a true believer, we know that. But there were men like John Hus, weren't there, who was a little bit later, and he was certainly, uh, one of these. I think Jim, what you're saying, uh, is really the key. That is they were moving in the direction of light. What they understood what, what we have with Thyatira is a watershed. A watershed is the concept of a watershed is important to understand, isn't it?
When we drove over from Eastern Washington and we started to go up the Cascade Mountains, we noticed that all the water went east and went from the top of the Cascades and it flowed towards the east. When we got to the top of the Cascades and started to come down the other side, all the water flowed towards the West. And that's what we commonly know as a watershed. And that concept is used in a broader sense oftentimes, and what we have here is a watershed. In other words, there's a fundamental difference that's come in now.
And, uh, with Sayatyra that, uh, there, there was no longer a question of going back to the first Prince of the, to the first days, what we might call primitive Christianity. That was over now. Uh, and furthermore, these people didn't look for a present deliverance, did they? What did they look for? Well, I think we can truly say they look for the Morningstar. They may not have understood it quite, quite well, we do, but they look for deliverance from the Lord at the end of the dispensation.
They didn't understand that very well, but they didn't look to go back to primitive Christianity. They saw that it all was ruined. John Hus paid with his life because he saw that he, uh, counted on the honesty of good conduct from the emperor. And as soon as he showed up, they, uh, they burned him in a stake. That was, that was the kind of, uh, good conduct that you can count on from, uh, from Jezebel. Uh, there was none at all. Uh, but.
He had the Morning Star. He knew that he would be vindicated in the future day.
And he knew, like Luther later on, that what else could he do but honor the Lord, even if he didn't understand the full issue? They didn't look for present deliverance. They didn't look for a return to primitive Christianity. They thought that that was spoiled. They looked forward to that future day. I wonder if that isn't the Morningstar. Now we know it with more clarity, don't we? We know it's the Rapture, but they look for that future deliverance, whatever it happened to be. And the Lord certainly blessed and honored those dear men, didn't He?
They live their their names live in great honor today, and they ought to.
We ought to be careful to read church history. It's, I think I was mentioning to our brother Robert when he was by, uh, visiting with us a couple days ago, that I understood that, uh, when many of the believers, many of the Protestant believers went W over the Oregon trails and the other trails in the mid 1800s, that, uh, they had a little Conestoga wagon, which as I understand was about the size of a piece of plywood, about four by 12, not very big.
00:15:14
And uh, and uh, they had to be pretty careful.
What they took, they had to only take the things that were most valuable to them. And I understand that along the Oregon Trail, you'd often see things thrown off, uh, perhaps an oxidized or or some such thing. And they could no longer carry the things that they valued at the beginning of that trip. So they had to further, uh, prune down the things that they had. But I understood that very, I've understood that many of those, many of those people who went W had two folks with them. The one book was the Bible, of course.
The other book I'm told often was Fox's Book of Martyrs. Interestingly enough, they they wanted to be reminded of what the true character of Jezebel was. They didn't wanna forget what that true character is. And I wanna mention it speaks of in Jezebel in verse 23. And I will kill her children with death. That's a remarkable statement, isn't it? Not only was Jezebel tolerated, as we saw with the Nicolaitans early on.
But now she has been so entrenched in the church that she actually reproduces herself. Remember what it says in Revelation 17, The mother of harlots, the day the ecumenical movement brethren is the mother of harlots calling all of her children back to her. That's exactly what we see here. And I don't mean that that's every denomination of Protestantism. I don't mean that at all. I don't think they started out as children, but they end up as their children.
And they're all coming back to Mother Rome. Now. It starts with these children being born in what they call the church. It's not the church as far as, uh, the body of Christ goes. But, uh, at any rate, I've gotten off the subject a little bit, But I, I wonder if the key isn't, as you were saying, brother Jim, that they, uh, maybe didn't understand the, the truth of the rapture as we see it, but this watershed difference for all these last four assemblies with the overcomer.
Is that they don't look for a return to primitive Christianity. They don't look for present deliverance necessarily, but they look forward to the Lord's final deliverance of the believer. And now we understand that more clearly, thank God. But certainly they had the Morningstar. Wasn't that the assurance that they would be delivered in God's proper time?
We want to go on with this first verse of our chapter here. I would just make one little comment in connection with what Eric said the other day about how the in Acts 20 verse 7 to 12, there's a little dispensational picture there of church history. I sometimes have called it church history in a nutshell. And to just to to show how the Spirit of God has put these things. When midnight came, Paul preached till midnight and midnight came in the dark ages and Eudicus falls down to the level of the street, a picture of the church.
Getting down to the level of the world, what has encouraged me in connection with all that's been said here already this morning is there were still many lights in the upper chamber. God still had His lights here and there who were seeking to go on individually, who were bright shining lights and who they were still in the upper chamber, so to speak. In other words, though things were lost outwardly, corporately, outwardly, yet there were those who were going on in separation. And as Eric said, though they didn't see things clearly, they had an understanding that there was something better and that there was deliverance and glory at the end.
I'd just like to make a comment as this chapter opens in connection with Sardis that he speaks here of these things. Seth, he that have half the seven spirits of God. Now, when I was younger, I used to puzzle at this expression because when you go to Paul's ministry, Paul is very careful to talk about the one spirit as Paul's ministry guards that very carefully. But throughout Revelation, beginning in the first chapter, you have these seven spirits brought forth.
And I would just suggest that what it denotes to us seven is God's perfect number. And it speaks to us of God's perfection in the diversity of the work of the Spirit and connection with judgment. Whether it's judgment beginning at the House of God, as we have in these opening chapters of Revelation, or whether it's the judgments that are meted out on this world later on, God acts. The mighty power that God has always acted in is the power of the Spirit of God.
The power of the Spirit, it's the energy in which he has always acted, but there's diversity in his his actions. It's by 1 Spirit, of course, but just perhaps this is an illusion. Just turn it back to Isaiah 11 for a moment.
00:20:25
Isaiah Chapter 11 and verse one. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall go out of its root. And this of course is prophetic of the Lord Jesus. And notice this. And the Spirit of the Lord that's one shall rest upon him, and the spirit of wisdom that's to an understanding that three, and the spirit of counsel that's for and mighty the spirit that's mighty five and the spirit of knowledge 6.
And of the fear of the Lord that seven so there we get that delineated for us. And so in his actions in judgment. There's there's diversity by the by that mighty energy. But I suggest that this is at least part of the reason why the southeast is brought before us as the seven spirits in different places in Revelation as we enter this third chapter and we look at the church the Lord's address to the Church of Stardust. It's important to see that this is not a description.
Of, uh, the Reformation, many have said, well, that's the Reformation. No, it's not. It is what's the Reformation deteriorated into. It describes really what, uh, existed in the church after the impulse of the Reformation had passed. And So what we have described in Thyatira is what uh, existed before the Reformation, but we have described in Stardust is what existed after the Reformation.
What we have in between is the brothers have been saying versus 24 to 29 in Chapter 2.
Is a little remnant that had been separated inside Tyra and had looked for the Lord to vindicate their faithfulness and so on. And this would be those who would, as you say, the Waldenses, the Albancies, the, the, uh, pre reformers like John, uh, Witcliffe and Hus, as you've mentioned, and even, uh, the Lutheran them, uh, would all be in this category, but, uh.
We know that what happened that wasn't long after God had begun to revive, uh, an interest in the truth.
And these, uh, reformers were used to, to, uh, recover some very important truths, particularly too, and that is the supremacy of the Bible and also salvation by faith. And, uh, they brought this to the church in a, shall we say, in a more wholesale way. There were individuals that had rays of light before that, as you brothers have said, but the reformers were used to bring it to the church, uh, in a more wholesale way. But, uh, because of the tremendous, uh, pressure that was put on them and persecution from the Catholic Church, their faith.
Sales, their faith gave way and they appealed to the authorities, uh, the national authorities in Europe and, and then they established in, under the power and with the money of the, uh, various nations in Europe, uh, the national churches. And that is what gave birth to what we speak of as Protestantism. Sardis describes Protestantism, not the Reformation in itself, not true. Luther and them were at the time of Protestantism, but in the early days of Luther's work.
Uh, it was, uh, totally of God, but what it deteriorated into was something that was dead. And that's why it speaks of, uh, in verse two it says, for I have not found thy works perfect. It should be complete. There was a revival beginning, but it was halted because their faith gave way and they leaned upon the arm of the flesh and the world and God could no longer identify with it. And so we have their, that revival halted for some time, for about 200 years or more.
And So what we have described in Philadelphia, it's important to see that another distinction about this church that we should point out this is the first one that we where we have the Lord does not find one thing to commend.
OK, commend.
And every church, he, he even say Tyra, he found something to commend, but here he can't find anything to command. This is the first of, in the list and it's, uh, it's striking, isn't it? Because it really speaks to us of the deadness of Protestantism or what we might say ecclesiastical deadness. And as we mentioned at the beginning of the meetings, I think that we need to not only lay down, uh, the historical applications so we understand what the Spirit of God is giving to us, but not leave it there.
00:25:08
Bring it home to our own souls in a practical application. Now, what can we get from this for ourselves as far as a practical application? Well, brother and I suggest this.
We can fall and default into forms amongst those gathered to the Lord's name in the sense that we, uh, just do what brethren always did. We don't know why we do it. We just do it because that's what we should do, because we've always done it. Someone wants to be received well, We have a formula. We go through a procedure. We don't know why we do it. We just do that because that's what we're supposed to do, right? We're supposed to do that. There is not to do that. Not understanding the principle upon which we do those things. I'm not saying necessarily they're wrong, but we need to understand.
Why? And so there's a danger for us to have a deadness as well, and justice have outward form, and we pass through the motions without really understanding why we're doing it and have any devotion of heart to go with it. This is important, and we need to let the application of this come to rest in our own soul. But can I just say this, Bruce, to temporary remarks because I agree with you wholeheartedly of what you've just said.
But rather than just push something off as former tradition, we need to be exercised to look into the Scriptures to see why those things were established at the beginning. Because often what we feel is just the way brethren have done it for 100 and some years. When you go back, you realize that godly men like Mr. Darby and those men that God raised up in the revival and recovery of the truth, they didn't just establish forms of things, they were exercised as they looked into the Scriptures.
As to the way that they did things and some of those things we still carry out and so perhaps they can deteriorate. We don't to just form because we don't understand or appreciate the scriptures and the scriptural basis and the exercise that there. I'll just give you a couple of little examples and they're out of context, but just a couple of little examples. I've had young people say to me, why do we always start our meetings with a him? Well, rather than just brush that off as being tradition.
We might realize that brethren, back then, when they began to meet us, gathered to the Lord's name and the leading le, leaving it to the leading of the Spirit, they were exercised about a scripture that says, Let us come before His presence with singing.
I had someone and I'm not saying we should or shouldn't do this. I'm, I'm not saying this, but I had someone question me about why so often there's a cover on the cup on Lord's Day morning. But I'm not saying there should or shouldn't be. But when you look at it, brethren, we're exercised every unclean vessel, every open vessel is unclean under the Lord. I'm not saying that's really a reason to cut, but I'm just saying there were godly exercises back then by men that lived a lot closer to the Lord than perhaps generally we do. And this.
Down at the end of our history.
And let's be very careful and, uh, can I just say this? That's why it's good to go back to those writings. Those I know, they're not inspired, but God caused many of those men to record those exercises for us, their patterns laid down at the beginning. Things lay down for us. And that's why it's good to go back to that old ministry, young brothers, get out Mr. Darby's letters and read them. See what the exercise of soul was that they went through as they were, as these things were being recovered and as they were seeking to meet on the ground of the one body and in a scriptural way with the leading of the Spirit of God.
And the Lord in the midst.
I didn't mean to contradict you. Uh, because I agree what with what you say?
I was just going to say what has been said and we use the word reformation. We'll stop using it when we realize that reformation is walking backward into hell. Is that too strong of a statement?
Well, it's been said that, uh, what, uh, Luther and Swing Lee and some of these ones that were used of God was that they, uh, rose up and God used them to break the power of Jezebel. And there's a type in the Old Testament of that. There was a, a, uh, a very energetic, uh, man that was raised up in Old Testament history to actually break the power that Jezebel had over Israel at that time. His name was Jihu. Everything he did, he did it with his might. He really speaks to us of the reformers.
And God used Jihu to break the power that Jezebel had her and her daughter, she was, uh, controlling things in the Northern Kingdom, but her daughter was controlling things in the Southern Kingdom. And he took care of both of them. And it's a, a, a real picture of the energy and the zeal of these reformers. But alas, sad to say.
00:30:08
Well, they came out of Catholicism. Catholicism didn't come out of them. And So what they did is they started these national churches, but it was just patterned after a lot of Catholic ideas.
Toned down somewhat, but it was quite a bit the same. And so that's when the deadness came in. Dead formality. And, uh, this is where we wanna get an application for ourselves. We wanna be careful they're not just allow ourselves to carry on in a formality that we don't really know why, what we do and when we do it and so on.
Another comment I'd like to make with regard to the seven spirits that are mentioned in the first verse. I think we should have mentioned it earlier in our readings, but each time that the Lord presents Himself to the church that He's addressing, He presents Himself in a character of the very thing that they need. Now keep that in mind as you go through and you'll get a great help. Well, you see, what had happened was in these national churches, they had set up an order of things, what we call the clergy system, the clerical system.
Where the Spirit of God was set aside as far as leading in the assembly. And so now the Lord comes to this church and he speaks to them about the, uh, having the seven spirits of God and the seven stars and so on. So he is the one who has what they need. What this church needed was the liberty and the leading of the Spirit of God, but it wasn't there was set aside. And so that's the way in which he presents himself to them. And they had displaced his authority too.
It's interesting that it's the seven stars here, but they're not mentioned as in his right hand. I think that's significant because in just what you're setting up just what you said, they displaced the authority of the Lord. And so these men rose up and they became the authority on teaching and direction and and so on. And don't we see that the that still Arkansas around us and Christendom on every hand and Mr. Darby made an interesting comment and only an application, but he said.
Dispensationally they sent the sin against the rise of clergy ISM dispensationally with the sin against the Holy Ghost. Very interesting comment. And so here it's the seven spirits of God, but it but the and the seven stars still the elders here, but they're not in his right hand because they had displaced his authority.
That's what really Li liberated Mr. Darby and those that were exercised in that day that here the clergy have bought the church to total ruin. He said how can we go on in total ruin? And so they were delivered out, realizing that the Spirit of God leads and directs accurately, happily, and that's what we need. And if we don't have it, why it brings us even to unhappiness if in the assembly we get into some kind of convulsion and begin to look at one another and lose the.
Sight of the Lord in the midst. Why we understand this and so we thank God that they left because they never would have recovered the truth if they hadn't them.
We can, uh, be, uh, chargeable, guilty of, uh, not allowing the Spirit of God to lead in our meetings too. We can't just point at the denominational order that we see in Protestant Christians on today and say, oh, they set the Spirit of God aside. We could do that here today. Maybe there's someone here that just, uh, loves to speak, just to love to hear their voice go on and on and on and not let the Spirit of God lead the meaning. Brethren, let's put the shoe on where it fits.
The.
Mr. Darby, remember Mr. Darby, uh, referring at his day and, or maybe getting a little ahead of ourselves, but he quoted Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton, we know, was one of the greatest names in modern day physics. And Isaac Newton said I stand on the shoulders of giants. And he referred to the work of men that had gone before him. And he felt that his work, uh, though it was not certainly great, but he felt greatly indebted to those who had gone before.
Well, Mr. Darby and his day quoted that same expression because he realized how indebted he was to these men. We, the, uh, the, uh, during the Reformation, there was certainly a work of the Spirit of God. Let's make no mistake about that. And in a certain sense, those men can be forgiven for, uh, for, uh, uh, they made a quantum step forward, if we can speak of it that way. Maybe they didn't go as far as the Spirit of God would have let them.
00:35:07
But they certainly made a quantum step forward, didn't they? Look at the face of a Luther, uh, in his early pathway. How could he stand there at the, uh, what was called the Diet of Worms before all the, uh, all the Princess and the emperor himself and stand alone? What grace that's up? That was without question, uh, a work of the Spirit of God, wasn't it? Well, later days, perhaps it was not so clear, but there's no question.
That in those days that, that there was certainly a great work of the Spirit of God. It's, and so in a certain sense, I think we have to say those men from our perspective at least, have to be forgiven. Uh, be when, when all I could see was the pulp and so on. When they read of the Antichrist, worst thing they could think of was the Pope. What was the effect of that? The effect was they didn't understand prophecy. And so though men like Isaac Newton and others wrote volumes on prophecy, they didn't understand it because they, their, their vision was so.
So myopic compared to what they had come out of, but I think we can say in many respects they can be forgiven for that, can't they? It certainly was a work of the Spirit of God. And later men like, uh, uh, Mr. Darby, and we can even say John Wesley came in the, the, the Reformation, of course, was largely a work of the 16th century. Uh, and then the work went down as we see here, this is post reformation, as we've been saying, so into the 17th century.
Uh, the, there was a great deal of deterioration. Uh, the name Sardis is a little more difficult to find the definition for, but I have, I found a definition that says the remainder. This is the history of what happened to that remainder in some respects, perhaps not all good, but uh, and perhaps not as as happy as we would like. And so, as I say, in the 17th century, it went down. In the 18th century, there were men like Mr. Whitfield.
And, uh, and the, uh, and the Westlies who were raised up of God without a doubt during the great, uh, evangelical awakening during the 18th century. And so in the 19th century then, as we know and, and uh, we see men like, like Darby and Kelly and others, they realized how indebted they were to those who went before much of the hymnology, for instance, we were speaking about EMS came out of that 18th century, men like Isaac Watts and so on, and Newton came out of that 18th century. And so how indebted.
Uh, we are too to those giants that went ahead and you were saying that they could be, uh, in a sense forgiven. I like the way I like that. And, uh, the reason why I'd like to mention that there is a, uh.
In the history of Israel, a parallel to the recovery of things that we've seen in the history of the church. And it was in two steps in the, in the Book of Kings and Chronicles, in the days when Hezekiah came in, he was a good king and there was a tremendous revival. And then it rose a little higher shortly after his generation when Josiah, uh, became king and the word of God became more prominent. And they were, they kept the Passover with more detail. But in Hezekiah's date is very interesting that they, uh, they kept the Passover on the second month.
Uh, which we're supposed to do on the 1St, but there was provision given in the law that they could keep it on the second if things weren't just right in order. And there were certain other things that came to, uh, light that they were not doing exactly right in Hezekiah's day. And they came and they told the king, they said to Hezekiah that the priests haven't done things just as they ought to, as it is written, Second Chronicles 30, verse 18. And so Hezekiah says he prayed that the good Lord would pardon them all. I like that. Oh, he said, let the good Lord pardon them all, like you said. I mean that it was right desire, but there's a little ignorance connected with it. There was zeal.
And the Lord pardoned them in that, and there was a tremendous revival. But as we said, when it came to the days of Josiah, then the book of the Law was found and they really got more detail. And it says that they kept the Passover as they had not in days, even right back to the days of Joshua, because there was more detail.
Wonderful to note that during this time, uh, even with man's pay or as Eric was bringing out, the Spirit of God was working in individuals and not only in individuals, but think during this time the printing press was developed and so Bibles were able to be mass produced. So the scriptures was gave. Every man was able to have the scriptures before him, before him. He described what a year to reproduce the Bible and written.
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And so God, the Spirit of God, worked in this to prepare the ground for when Darby and other men come in.
They came in with everything prepared for them and that was the Spirit of God that was doing it.
The word reformation is not a scriptural expression, but I think it's enlightening to look at the word a little bit. Isn't it reformation? What does that mean? Well, that's what those reformers were trying to do, was they were trying to reform the existing church. We've seen according to the Spirit of God, that that wasn't the right thing to do, that henceforth there was to be. The church was to be a remnant testimony.
With no thought of returning to primitive Christianity, but looking forward to the future, to the Morningstar. And so the whole principle of reformation in that sense is faulty. The church could no longer be reformed. The Jezebel was deeply entrenched in the professing church in that sense and could no longer be reformed. So I think it's important to recognize that a more accurate term, I think for what took place, uh, if we do start to look at Philadelphia.
Again, it's not a scriptural term, but it's restoration. It's a term I prefer. Because that's really what happened, wasn't it? So the Reformation was only partial, wasn't it? They didn't leave the church. In most cases, they were excommunicated. They wanted to reform the church, and they would have gone back and they've been received again. But that was not according to the mind of God. From henceforth, the true testimony must be a remnant testimony. It could no longer be Jezebel.
But the thought of restoration and and brings in the thought of that which was taught in Scripture from the very beginning, and I think that's what we see in Philadelphia.
I'd like to just make a practical comment too before we move on, just to encourage perhaps those who seek to shepherd the people of God as elders in their local assembly that take the oversight. I had a brother come home from a brothers meeting one time and he's I was staying in his home and he said, Jim, there's one verse I really struggle with taking the oversight willingly. He said, I find that a very difficult verse. So that's just a little aside from what I want to say. But you notice here the exhortation in verse 2 is.
That they are to be watchful and strengthen the things which remain now I believe this is a good word for us in our in our day it's difficult and it's a thankless task to seek to be watchful watchful to keep out those things that are not for the Lord's glory watchful for the sheep we Bruce read us the verse the other day about those that watch for our souls as those that must give an account it's difficult to strengthen the things that remain because.
A shepherd and elder, a Bishop, whatever expression you want to use, they're not always appreciated, are they? You know, I've often said a sheep and I know nothing about the care of sheep. I, I'm a city boy. But I, I do understand this, that when a she, a shepherd goes after a sheep and wants to bring it back to the flock, pull it back with his, his crook or whatever, the sheep doesn't appreciate that the sheep wants to go its own way. I'm not gonna turn to it because you know the verse very well, but it's interesting that there's a reward offered.
In first Peter chapter five, I think it's about the third or fourth verse to those who take the oversight, to those who are watchful, seek to strengthen the things that remain care for the souls of God's people, They're given a they're offered a crown of glory in the coming day. Now I've pondered why it's a crown of glory. You know, the crowns that are offered as rewards are given as rewards. The judgment seat of Christ. They're always in contrast.
A crown of life for one who lays down his life, an incorruptible crown in comparison to a corruptible crown, a crown of righteousness in the day of, uh, for living righteously and unrighteous world. They'll be the part in that righteous reign of Christ. They're always in contrast, and I just suggest this little contrast of the, the elders, the shepherds, the bishops are promised a crown of glory for faithfulness. There's no glory in shepherding the key people of God now.
There's no glory in being watchful and seeking to strengthen the things that remain now. But he says, never mind. You might not be appreciated now, but I'll give you a crown of glory that fades not away. You just go on watch for the souls that and care for the souls that I have put under your care. And he says I'll reward you properly in the coming day. Well, I don't wanna get off track, but just I think because I think there's some here and some brothers perhaps you say, oh, you, you try to watch and strengthen the things that remain in the little assembly. I come from. I'm just not appreciated. I go home from the brothers meeting. I go home from the assembly meetings and.
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I just I'm just not appreciated. Never mind it's for the good of the sheep and the chief Shepherd, when he appears will reward in a proper way.
Because somebody shepherded us more than once, more than one shepherd. And so we may not even go back and thank those who stepped in the breach to help us across the difficult time in our life. But today we're thank God for them. And they're going to be rewarded when the chief shepherd shall appear. Here's all the under shepherds right there with them. And he's handing out these rewards.
We're gonna have some surprises.
Letters are great. I'd just like to refer to Matthew chapter 14 of brother Eric brought that before us yesterday. It says there, uh, just, I'll just read verse 31. It says immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, Oh thou little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? I just wanna bring before our souls. You know, sometimes we think that the Lord, uh, was really scolding these assemblies, but I don't take it that way at all. He may have spoken very sternly to fight higher and he may have spoken sternly, but he never, ever scolded.
His disciples, He spoke kindly to them, and as that Chief Shepherd, He longed for their recovery. So I take it as a yearning, loving heart of the Savior that spoke in this way. And He longed for their recovery. He longed for them to just to take these words to heart and that there might be some affection for himself in the day that they lived in.
I just encourage one another, you know, if we have uh, uh, work of oversight among our brethren, let's not scold them. Let's not scold the sheep in the assembly meetings. We need to touch their hearts and present Christ as the object, bright and fair, and to seek to bring the weight of the word of God to bear upon the issues that need to be brought before their hearts and consciences. But we don't need to scold.
Not too long ago, a few months ago that, uh, he was at the Montreal conference and he was asked to speak. He had an address and he, he said to him himself that he felt that in all the years that he had been given opportunity to have it addressed, this was the time that he seemed to have the most liberty. He said, I really gave it, you know, I just came down in there and, uh, he felt, he really, uh, laid it on the Saints. He, uh, after the conference was over, he was, uh.
Leaving, and as you were going out the door, Mr. Hale caught up to him and took him by the arm and said, Brother, don't whip the Saints.
He said that went right to my soul. He said I thought that was the best meaning I've ever given in my life. Here. He says this to me. He said I had no peace for four days. So finally I accepted that that man was speaking to my heart. Don't whip the Saints. Now, I'm not sure why he told me that story, but I suspect because I needed to hear it.
Where is that verse in Genesis that says lead on softly?
I can't. I can't believe 3232 Chapter 32 Says lead on softly. That's a very good expectation for all of us.
Don't OverDrive the flock, lest they should die in a day.
Over driving, over driving, Jacob said. A wonderful precedent for every father in this room and don't under drive, there is always a beautiful balance. It isn't the children ruling the parents and.
And getting everything they want, that's not leading rightly but to OverDrive. Let's not do that. There's let's keep the balance. But could we have a little word on the overcomer here in Sardis before we leave it?
Well, there's one thought that comes to mind here, and that is the Lord speaks about not blotting his name out of the book of life. Of course, these would be real believers and their Li, their name would be in the book of life. But it's given in contrast to the fact that they were stroked off of those human registers and those church denominations, the annex communicated for their faithfulness and so on. And the Lord is just telling them you, never mind, they may have stroked you off of, uh, their books.
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But I'm not gonna brought you out of my book and that would have been a nice commendation for them to strengthen them to carry on.
In that time I'd like to tell a little story in that regard. Many have heard much about Brother Garvin Seymour, who laborers for the Lord in the lower Caribbean and some here have met him on occasion. And I, he told me a story about his conversion that illustrates this very well. Before he was saved, he was being trained in one of the so-called denominations and if I said the name would be very familiar to most here and, uh, he was being trained to be what they call the lay preacher and he was taking part in this, uh.
Amongst these believers and was given quite a part, but he was not saved, and one night he was saved on the streets of Georgetown, Saint Vincent by a young man who passed him a Gospel tract as they passed on the street.
And Garvin had heard the truth of being of salvation and so on. He'd been to the little meeting room that's still there and, uh, heard the gospel many times and knew the way of salvation. But as a man of 19 or 20, he received this gospel tract. The plowing had been done. The Spirit of God had been working. He stepped over under the TR, the, uh, light, street light, and he read it and he got saved. And he was so excited when he got saved there on the street corner that he immediately went up to the manse where the minister lived, who was the, uh.
The head of this, uh, this, this church in Dickson village and he was ushered into the, uh, study and he said to this man, he said, Sir, I just got saved tonight. And the so-called minister looked at him and he said, you what? He said, I just got saved. I received the Lord Jesus. He said, you what? And as he said it, he reached up and he took down the church records.
And Garvin told me. To this day, I've never asked him why he did it, but he took a red pen and he stroked his name out.
Everywhere it appeared on that, on those records, Gavin said I don't know whether he did it because I had been participating and not been saved or whether I had got saved. He said it was the best thing that ever happened to me. He said I walked out the door and down to the meeting room where the gathered Saints were meeting. And he's been there for, I suppose, fif 5045 years. But I only tell that because I think it illustrates this. His name was blotted out of those church records.
But his name was written eternally in the Lamb's book of life, and the Lord used that incident to exercise him as to being gathered to the Lord's name. And he's a brother who appreciates very much and against all kinds of odds through his life has remained, I believe, very faithful to the name of the Lord Jesus and appreciates the truth of being gathered to his name.
When we come to the Church of Philadelphia, I think it's important to see that this is not another revival in the history of the church, but a, uh, a continuing of the revival that God started through the reformers but had laid dormant or had gone, petered out, I suppose we could say. And so now we find in Philadelphia, what is described here is a full recovery to 1St principles.
And it's a beautiful picture of what happened in.
The 1800s, when men completely separated from denominational order and, uh.
Kept His word and did not deny his name. But notice again the way in which he, the Lord, presents himself to the, uh, Philadelphian Church. He speaks about him having the key of David and the openness. And no man shutteth and shutteth, and no man openeth. He said, wha? What does that mean? Well, I believe it was at this time that God opened the treasure houses or His treasure House of truth and opened it up for the Saints.
And the fact that he would open it and no man could shut it and shut it and no man opens the idea it was a sovereign work. God stepped in and no man could stop it. It says in Job 37, He sealed up the hand of all men that all might know his work. And it was definitely a work of God at this time that God allowed the truth to be recovered to the church. And we're thankful for what we have now today as a result of what happened.
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In what's described here in Philadelphia. Having said that, perhaps we could get what the meaning of Philadelphia is because we've been looking at the meaning of each of these names thus far.
That's well known to be brotherly love, isn't it? And it was a practical expression of the one body. It was not a return to primitive Christianity. By that I wanna be careful. But it was a return to 1St principles, wasn't it? It was no longer possible, as we pointed out, to return to the Act's condition. Some people have tried to do that. For instance, our brethren the Pentecostals have tried to do that. And they said, well, we should have the first days of primitive of Christianity again.
But that's not God's way. What we have is a remnant separated from the whole. And, uh, or, or perhaps they should be even a little more careful there. When we read about, uh, uh, these chapters here, uh, we find that, uh, there's the whole of Christian profession. We spoke of that in a general way yesterday as the earth, for instance, in Second Timothy have spoken of as, as having become a great house. Now, we don't leave that. We wanna be careful with our language here. We don't leave the Christian profession in that sense, do we?
But what we're instructed to do, and Matthew 5, for instance, by parallel at least, is we're instructed to be salt of the earth, that, uh, preserving principle, being faithful to that which God has entrusted to the church from the very first days. And uh, second Timothy, for instance, it speaks of the house might just look at that very briefly because there is some confusion about this and we wanna be clear.
In Second Timothy.
Uh, it says in chapter 2 as we well know, umm, nevertheless, verse 19. Nevertheless the foundation of God stand is sure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ or the Lord it should read depart from iniquity. If we bow to his authority, we cannot connect his name with iniquity.
If a man therefore pure purge or purify himself.
From these, that is these vessels that dishonor, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified in meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. What's the call here to leave professing Christendom? Oh no, of course not. To lead professing Christendom would mean mean to say, I'm no longer a Christian. We can't do that. But what's the call here is to separate the part of the house where the Spirit of God is given his due place.
That's the call. Now that's a little different, brethren, and that's, uh, that's a little different from the concept of the camp, isn't it? That we get in Hebrews 13. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. In a certain sense, that's what we have in the verses we've been reading. Thyatira had become the camp. It had become a system that at one time had its, that God had originated Himself. But it is so thoroughly fallen into corruption.
That he could no longer have his name identified with it. And so the believers were called to separate from that corrupt system. So there's a little difference between the camp and the house. The house, of course, is professing Christendom. We cannot leave professing Christendom and still be a Christian. But on the other hand, the camp is that corrupt system that had its origin in God, but God can no longer be identified with it.
And, uh, so we're called to separate entirely from it. I just wanted to make that point because the remnant is that which is separating from the corrupt system of Thyatira. And even that which was merely a reform of Thyatira. Uh, it's a, it's a, we're called to separate. We don't go back to primitive, primitive Christianity. That cannot be done. It's a remnant testimony now, which means it's of the whole, but it is not the whole.
And that's where many dear believers are confused. But it's a remnant testimony. It's separated from the camp, but it's separated within the house to a place where the Spirit of God is given his rightful place and the Lord Jesus has afforded his proper authority.
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Brother Chapter Brown made this helpful statement when I was a young person. He said the house is bigger than the foundation because man is scabbed on his ideas to it and so on. And so the Spirit of God has free access to go throughout the house to minister to individuals that are not gathered to the Lord's precious name. And I appreciated that because you otherwise you're just kind of lost. You're saying we can't get out of chrysanthemum, we can't get out of the house and that's true.
But, uh, sometimes we wanna think that we have the same liberty that the Spirit of God has, but we don't. He has gathered us out and around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ living glorified man in our midst, and evil is there detected. The Lord knows the heart of everyone that's gathered around him, whether that heart is is moved in affection.
Or whether it's critical or whether I'm looking at my brethren, I'm saying, well, you know, our assembly would be a whole lot better if we didn't have so and so and so and so. If we have that difficulty and we've got trouble within, don't we? Let's bring that down to 0. As we look around this room, there not be a single one that we wished wasn't here because we have a little better. If they weren't, no, it won't work.
The man during the pitcher of water is a picture of the Spirit of God.
Demand is a picture of the Spirit of God. He brought them to the house, but He didn't stop there, did he? He brought them to a certain room in that house. And so the man was in the house, but then there was a certain corner of that house, a certain room in that house where they could sit down in the presence of the Lord Jesus. And I know it was the Passover that was anticipated there, but the Lord knew that was the very spot where He was going to institute the Feast of Remembrance and have sometimes said if they chose any other room in the house.
They would have been in the house, the man was in the house, the pitcher of water was in the house, but had they chosen any other room in the house that night for some other reason, they would have missed the blessing of the Lord Jesus being in the midst as He was on that occasion. Just to illustrate your point, very vital. What you're saying, very vital.
That large upper room.
It's large because it embraces all of God's people. It's an upper room because it's separated from the world. And it's also furnished, isn't it? That's the principle of restoration we were speaking about. You know, so many dear believers today think they have to come up with creative ideas, creative ways of worshipping God. But the room is already furnished, isn't it? God has his way, and that's the way that honors him. So it's a restoration we're talking about, not imagination.
God hasn't forgotten to give us what we need, has he? But he supplied it to us. And there is a ref, uh, not merely a reformation, as we were speaking about in Sardis, but it's a true restoration because the room's already furnished. We don't need to bring our own thoughts. In fact, to the extent we bring our own thoughts, we defile the place, don't we?
So with TARDIS you have what resulted from the Reformation, but here we have restoration in Leia to see we'll get retrogression.
Just like.
To say in closing that it's been a comfort to my heart that we're the work of the Reformation went on was primarily the work where the awakening of the 1800s took place so that the efforts of those that God used to stay the powers that were gonna crunch the light that it wasn't in vain. Their laborers. Is that right?
Right.
Actually, I could sing #166.
Lord, Thou has drawn us after Thee.
Now let us run and never tired #166.
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Lord, Thou had thrown us after the beginning, Now let us run.
And never die.
I pressed the shore, comforting.
Life S powerful. Our soul did, however.
Our present.
Day for wildlife.
Norris and can come.
If thou art there.
Are presentation overwhelmed or fearless dollars and can come in.
Thumb Artillery.
Heartbreak.
To the same.
Our strengths are chilled by all of them. I heard from the big world.
From.
Our experience of our children.
I'm saying blah blah blah.
Blah blah blah blah.
And close the skin on my neck.