Address—Doug Buchanan
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We open our meeting with #22 in the back of the book.
#22IN Appendix.
Thou Holy one and true.
Our hearts in thee confide and in the circle of Thy love, as brethren, we abide.
The Holy One.
You're not going to have to turn your Bibles to very many portions this evening. If you're worn out of looking through your Bibles, we're probably just going to be in one book, couple chapters, the last book of the Bible.
Revelation.
Topic is about.
The Church of Philadelphia and the Lord Jesus.
Walking among the candlesticks.
Observing. So we're going to start out in the first chapter where we have the Lord Jesus presented.
You know, we I wasn't here for the rest of the conference. So I think you had Hebrews chapter one and in that chapter you have the Lord coming down.
Becoming a man passing angels by.
And then he goes back to heaven again, and he passes by angels a second time, and then he takes us up there.
Well, in this book.
We don't often think of it this way, but you have the Lord Jesus at least prophetically coming down and walking among these little light bears these testimonies and observing what he sees. And that's what I want us to look at. We have a commentary of what the Lord Jesus sees as he looks at the different testimonies during this period of that church.
So let's start reading in verse chapter one of the Revelation.
And in verse.
10 John says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice and a trumpet.
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and last. And what they'll see is write in a book, and send it under the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamus, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia.
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And to lay the sea out. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.
And being turned I saw 7 golden candlesticks.
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like the Son of Man.
Clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the paps with the girdle and it goes on. I won't read the whole description but passing on down verse 18.
The end of verse 17 says fear not, I am the 1St and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death.
Write the things which thou hast seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be after hereafter, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Just brief comment about this. John got this revelation. This is a amazing revelation here of Jesus.
Nobody else could Fit this description but Jesus being once dead, alive again and so on and so.
The Lord.
Through the apostle, John gives us a prophetic history of what was to happen after him.
Now that is an amazing fact that God could tell us beforehand everything that's going to happen and give to us something that we can read right now, here, today.
And realize that the Lord Jesus is walking amongst us here today.
That is in spirit, and he tells us.
He said it a long time ago, but it's applicable right now.
You know, we when we return from conferences, sometimes we ask people, well, how was the conference?
And we get a little report.
And 90 some percent of the times everything is pretty good, usually thankfully, rather than enjoy it. And so on.
And we hear what ministry was given.
And people expressed their opinions. That was a good meeting that really touched my heart.
And different comments like that.
What I want to bring before us this afternoon is.
What the Lord thinks about this?
He's looking down here.
What's he saying about this conference?
What's he saying about our life testimony?
It's here.
We're going to read it. It's very brief, but it speaks a lot.
Isn't it amazing that he would do that? He did it, but it's applicable right now.
So we have these seven addresses or these 7 messages that were revealed to John and he wrote them. Now I can well remember when I was a young person, first time getting a hold of the truth of this.
How it was a marvelous display, these chapters 2:00 and 3:00.
These seven Churches is a marvelous display of the course of the history of the church since Pentecost down to the end times.
And.
I can remember getting all enthused about.
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The seven dispensations and how there were seven testimonies in the church period. And you have you make these charts and you have the the starting with Ephesus, which started and how the church history began and they left their first love and and going on down through and that's true.
It's wonderful that God would do that and reveal this to us in this way.
But I want this afternoon to dwell on something that are him suggested.
Thou Holy one and true.
Now that hymn was written by a brother in fellowship at the Lord's Table.
Lord Cecil was his name.
These hymns that we sing in our Little Flock hymn book are many of them.
Are from those that have gone through life and laid hold of the truth of God.
And applied it in their lives.
And develop thoughts and expressions that are marvelous.
Put together in poetic form so we can sing them. And no, I grew up in the meeting.
I was raised.
In this environment.
And I think probably the majority of you were, too. It's a great privilege to have that kind of a upbringing, to be taught these things from your youth up. But sometimes, you know, we take things for granted.
And don't appreciate them. Like the saying goes, you don't appreciate water until the well goes dry.
Things like that.
We need to appreciate what the Lord has told us about the times we're living in.
So let's turn on over then with Chapter 3.
Hopefully this is the last time you have to certain page in here this afternoon.
Not that I am not in favor of reading scriptures.
Very much, very much so.
Wonderful. Let's hit go on, then down to. We're going to skip the the the first addresses and go right straight to.
The the message to Philadelphia.
Chapter 3 and verse 7.
So this is John.
Who?
Got this message.
You know, it's interesting that.
When he wrote these seven addresses or messages here.
That he wrote them using symbolic terms sometimes.
What we read about how the Lord appeared and.
Is symbolic language.
His.
He gird about with paps of golden girdle and so on, and these are figurative or symbolic.
Terms.
A lot of it's plain and simple, but it's mixed in.
With symbolism. In fact, that's what the 1St 2 verses of the book when it says signify in chapter one at the beginning there it really is, the word for symbol.
And so God or the Lord Jesus wrote this couched in terms so that only those who really have a desire.
To lay, hold and to obey and follow the truth will really get the message.
This Book of Revelation is probably the least well understood book in the Bible, and yet there's probably more books written about it than about any other book. People want to tell what they know about this book, and they don't all agree.
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But there's something special in this book.
For those who are close enough to the Lord and to His word.
To figure it out.
There's a verse in John that says if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. That's the principle here behind this.
That's why the Lord has written.
This book.
In a way, he did.
Literal and symbolic language.
Chapter 3 and verse seven and to the Angel of the Church.
In Philadelphia, right these things, says he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that open us, and no man shut us, and shut us and no man open us. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door.
And no man could shut it. I'm going to just stop there for now.
The Lord Jesus presents himself in these seven different churches.
In a different way.
And what I want to emphasize this afternoon is the Lord's side of it.
Why does he why does he take this character of being the holy and the true?
If you go over to the the last church, it says.
The faithful and true witness.
Because.
That church was pretending to be a certain kind of witness and they were saying I am this and I am this and I'm not that. They were basically pronouncing about their own spirituality.
That's a dangerous thing to do, by the way.
Tell the Lord.
What kind of a person you are?
In everyone of these he starts out. I know thy works.
That's interesting, I'd forgotten it was in all of them. But it is. I just checked it out. I know thy works. We don't have to inform the Lord what and who we are or what we've done. He knows.
Not that he may not want to hear things from us.
So when he speaks speaks to Laodicea, he speaks about their witness.
He speaks of himself as the faithful and true witness, I think because they were occupied with being a witness.
Now we are to be witnesses. I can't. You can't find fault with that.
But here, what is it that the Lord?
What is it that he says about this church, this testimony?
He says I'm the faithful and true.
I really think we enjoyed that this morning at the breaking of bread.
We had before our souls the Lord Himself.
I I said that wrong. It's the holy and true. Sorry, the holy and true. Sometimes we read in the remembrance of the Lord.
The verse from Psalms I believe it is. Come, let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
When we get into the Lord's presence, we're in holy. We're in the holy position.
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That isn't necessarily scary.
If you're on good terms.
If there's no problem between two people.
Holiness is a good thing. It's only when somebody is in disobedience.