Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

I Know Thy Works Pt. 6

Oh, Glory. Good to be in His presence; amen? Refreshing! I'm glad the Lord's doing a work in Sheila's life, healing her throat; amen? She has had a rough year battling back and forth and, praise God, we believe that's settled once and for all; amen? Thank God. I'm so glad for gifts like that, otherwise we'd have to listen to people like me singing. But we rejoice in that. Can you say Amen? Turn to the book of Revelation and see what the Lord has for us tonight. We want to talk about the church in Smyrna, and as we were talking about the church in Ephesus today we saw the important factors that the Lord Jesus himself spoke concerning their labor and their patience in opposing what was evil. We saw how God wants the church today not to be neutral, but to oppose evil; to love good and hate evil, Romans tells us. We saw that it's an important aspect to realize--this is one of the ministries of the church. We see it in the book of Ephesians. You remember he wrote to the Ephesians, and he says in Ephesians, the fifth chapter, that we are children of light and the ministry of light does what? It reproves darkness. As children of light we can't walk around in this world neutral. We can't just let things slide. We have to oppose what's evil, what's wrong. We have to speak the truth, and for that, we're going to find out tonight, people are going to hate you. Christians are not going to be popular if they're Christians in deed. And that's something that we need to realize. Nero didn't just kill the Christians because he didn't have anything better to do. Okay? They were opposing the iniquity of the then established kingdom. And as we oppose the iniquity and the sin in our nation, they're going to respond the same way to us. Jesus said, "They hated me, they're going to hate you." And that's what this letter to Smyrna is all about.

We talked this morning about how we, as the church of Ephesus, were commended for the opposition to evil and our stand upon pure doctrine. Remember what he said? He said, "those among you who have tried those that say they are apostles and are not and have found them to be liars" (Revelation 2:2). The church was being commended again because of their stand against false doctrine and false teachers. We can't let that slide. We don't just let it go under the table. The ludicrous statements of people like Bob Tilton and some of these others who've brought a reproach on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those like your Peter Popoff's who stand and proclaim to be moving in the Holy Spirit, while all the while someone's in the back room with a transmitter, bringing them the information about people that they gain from cards, that they filled out prior to the service--and put it off as words of knowledge. "Have tried those that say they are apostles and are not but in fact are liars." Those that have come, stood, and brought another doctrine. He said there would be those that proclaim themselves apostles that will come and bring you a "fresh word" from the Lord. He says though they come as one with a letter, though they receive "revelation" from God, or they say an angel has appeared to them, if they bring any other gospel message than I've brought, let them be anathema: cursed, damned to hell.

Paul was pretty frank in what he had to say about protecting the pure doctrine of God; amen? When we stand today and we speak and say "wait a minute, this guy may be a religious leader of notoriety, but, is he speaking the word of God?" If not, call them what they are: liars. And defend the truth, because "let God be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).

We saw that being the commendation to the church of Ephesus. He said, "I do have one thing against you: You've left your first love." And we've talked about what that first love was this morning, and we're not going to go back over that. Get the tape. You'll find out that what was spoken to us today was brought fresh from the Holy Ghost. You won't find it in Jamieson-Fausset-Brown. You won't find it in Matthew Henry. You won't find it in Adam Clark. You won't find it in the pulpit commentary. You won't find it in any writings historically, but you will find it in the book of Acts. You will find it in the book of Ephesians. You will find it in the book of Revelation. We've received that revelation today as to what that real first love was all about. The first love, as we saw, was the consequence of their returning to a relationship and a zeal for what they were called to do: to be witnesses unto Him. How they were to bring justice, without compromise, in love, and to judge without being judgmental, as we were speaking today. To judge as Jesus always did, with the motive of reconciliation and restitution, not condemnation. Men are only condemned when they reject the truth; amen?

With all of that as a little bit of review, remember what we said. We're not looking at these seven churches from a dispensational standpoint. The dispensationalists would say this, that the first century church, when John was writing, was Ephesus. As time has gone by, and each dispensation manifested itself, we would come into the last days in which I believe we are living. How many of you believe we're in the last days? It doesn't take a genius to look around and figure that out. Here we are in the last days, and they would say, the dispensationalists would say, that the church that typifies us is the Laodicean church. Now how many of you know that many of the character traits of the Laodicean church do apply to us today; amen? How many of you know you don't have to look much further than around you in this building to realize that the spirit of Ephesus is still alive? How many of you are cold? How many of you are lukewarm? No, there's a remnant, praise God. Amen? We realize that not only here, but all around the world there are people like you and I that are zealous for the good works of God--that are on fire for pure doctrine and oppose evil, praise God! Those people are still around and we are just a small segment of it.

It's exciting to see that every aspect of these seven churches was applicable in every generation. The key is identifying where you stand today in relationship to the admonition of the Lord Jesus to His church. Now, you have to put these letters, or the letters to the seven churches, in the context of the whole book, don't you? They are not an entity to themselves. As John is receiving this revelation in the first chapter, he said, "He Who is, Who was, and Who is to come appeared to me." He appeared for the reason of bringing this message, Chapter 1, verse 5, from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead. Now, the fact that He was the first begotten means what? There's subsequent, there's going to be others after Him. He was the first begotten from the dead, and yet we realize, praise God, that we've been begotten, redeemed from the eternal death that's going to be spoken of here to the church of Smyrna in just a moment. It says, "He's the prince of the kings of the Earth and unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us a generation of kings and priests unto God and to His Father." He's speaking to the church. He's talking about our ability, now, to rule and to reign with Christ. The Word of God says we're raised up and seated with Him in heavenly places. Amen? Far above principalities and powers, praise God! We see here that "we are a generation of kings and priests, we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that shall show forth the praises of Him--Who's called us out of darkness into His marvelous light." We're a unique people. We're a people that no one else on the earth is like us. Peculiar, bought with a price: the blood of Jesus Christ.

John's writing to the church and saying, "Here is your heritage, and here's the condition of the church and will be the condition at His coming." He's going to introduce us, of course, into the coming of the Lord Jesus. Following the third chapter, the beginning of the forth chapter, he says, "and after this." "After this." I believe that is where the rapture of the church takes place. "After this," the great voice of God. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and said it was going to be a trumpet that sounds at the last trump, the dead in Christ shall rise and those of us that remain shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, praise God; we'll be caught up, the Scripture says, and we'll see Him as He is, and we'll be like Him, and so shall we ever be with the Lord; praise God! Hallelujah! That excites me! I'm looking forward to it! Is it going to happen tonight, do you think? How many of you think it'll happen tonight? You should! If you don't believe it's going to happen tonight, you're not looking for His return. If you don't believe it's going to happen tonight, you're not loving His appearing. Do you want Him to return more than anything else in this world? I do! I'm tired of all of this. I'm homesick. I'm just a sojourner passing through. This place is not my home, praise God! And I've had people misunderstand me. They think--they say "you know," they've heard me talk about the political system and the depravation of our morals and government and all of these things that are taking place. People seem to think that's unpatriotic. I want you to know something: I'm not a patriot as it pertains to this nation. And people say "It just doesn't sound right." I want to tell you something: I don't even belong to the planet much less the nation; amen? You talk about an alien. I'm an illegal alien. I don't belong here. This isn't my home. It's not fit until it's been purged with the fire of His righteousness. Now, as we perceive these things then, of course, we're on a different mind-set than the rest of the folks around us and they think we're a little strange, don't they? They really think we're insane. They talk about how weak we are intellectually, emotionally, unable to cope, so therefore we fabricate a god and a little sweet place called heaven where we can escape from all of our trials and there will be no sorrow and no tears. "It's escapism," they say, and my answer to that is, you're right! I can't wait to escape, but while I'm here "I'm a king and a priest." While I'm here, "I'm more than a conqueror." While I'm here, "everything my hand touches prospers and every place I put my feet He gives it unto me." Amen? While I'm here, "there's not a weapon formed against me that will prosper." While I'm here, "I'm ten times wiser than anything the world's system can put out." While I'm here, "I'm the head and not the tail." While I'm here, "I'm above only and not beneath." Do you believe that? I don't want to stay here, but while I'm here I'm in charge, thank you; amen!

This is what He's speaking to the Church. This is what John's saying. You have to understand who you are as the body of Christ. I want you to realize that because you're going to come into severe persecution; "don't think it strange concerning the trials that are going to come on you," Peter said. They're coming upon all of the world. Though we are proclaimed ambassadors, though we are proclaimed conquerors, there's going to be those among us that are going to have to endure tribulation. The message to us tonight, by the Holy Spirit, through the church of Smyrna, is this: it's coming on you. Are you ready? Okay?

He speaks to the church. Remember, there's one thing that I want you to note here; to all seven churches there were two common statements that were made. What were they? "I know thy works" and "let him that has ears hear what the Spirit says to the church." Now, each of them was unique, we said, attributes that they were commended for, and each of them unique in the reproofs that were brought. The things that make this church unique is there were no reproofs. It's the only church that was not reproved. Why? I think they were beaten up so bad He just couldn't do it.

When you stop and look at what He has to say about the church--look at the church of Smyrna, let's find out what Smyrna's all about. Smyrna was very similar to Ephesus. It was just north of Ephesus. It was a seaport, as you know; it had much of the trade routes that went through it into northern Asia Minor. Again, at the time of this writing it was known for its crown of glory, ten buildings that are great colonnades that sat upon the hill, that were their government buildings, beautiful ornate buildings. It was the capital of Asia Minor. The thing that made it unique is this, and many of the scholars seem to think that his opening statement relates to this. I don't think that it does. They were looking for some kind of typology to apply. I don't think it does. The fact of the matter is, they were dead and are now alive as a city.

In approximately 400 BC, they had actually become nothing more than a little village. They had been pillaged on numerous occasions. The place had been destroyed and they were literally wiped off the map. As the Roman Empire began to emerge, they recognized a need in their lives and allied themselves with the leaders of Rome. Rome needing, of course, some ports in this area, as their vision was to rule the world, began to pour a lot of their technology, a lot of their power, a lot of their finances into this area and this city was revived, in fact it was transformed. They became one of the centers of Caesar worship. Now, I want you to see the spirit that we are talking about. The capital of Asia Minor was the capital of Caesar worship in the East. That's the spirit that was prevalent here in Smyrna. Everything they had came from the government. Does it sound familiar? All of their economy was intact because of the government of Rome. How much of what goes on in this area is based upon that aspect of the economy? We realize because of that, there was an allegiance to the state. Of course, Christians were being accused of being non-patriots. Whether it was to Rome or to their national heritage. That's why we find Paul penning in the Pastoral Epistles the need to "pray for kings and those that are over you and to pray for the leaders so we could live a peaceable life." With that in context, look what he speaks to the church here as Jesus is speaking through the apostle John, "And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write." Now, some people seem to think that the Bishop in Smyrna at this time was Polycarp. If in fact it was at this time, and I don't know--I think it could be a little bit early, but maybe not, because the thing about Polycarp, this guy lived to be a real Methuselah, if you please, of the church. Polycarp was saved for 86 years. If Jesus tarries 86 years, praise God! Born again; amen! How long have you been a Christian, eighty-six years? Are you looking forward to having that testimony if Jesus tarries? I am! I am! I will only be 108. I saw that lady the other day in France, going at 120, I can whip her, praise God; amen? I saw a lady on television the other night over a hundred years old throwing a shot put. I can whip her too, praise God; amen! What a testimony! Saved for eighty-six years, until he put on the martyr's crown. Can you imagine taking this old boy? Been saved for 80 years and they take him into the theatre, into the arena, and set him on fire.

You can read in "Foxe's Book Of Martyrs" and see those that have gone before us, that have set forth a heritage and a testimony with their blood and the many great men of God "who suffered for His name's sake, counting it all joy," praise God! That's the spirit that I want you to grab a hold of tonight. When the persecution begins to come on the church, in this nation, we're not to be whining, "Why, God? What's going on?" We're to count it all joy that we have been counted privileged to suffer for His name's sake. When they take you into their courts and beat you and say don't you any longer speak in this name--as soon as they let you out, you gather with the saints and begin to praise God, and the place where you gather is shaken by the presence of He who was dead and now lives! We've got quite a heritage. God is no respecter of persons.

The great Polycarp as he was martyred, there are many stories about him, and one of them goes similar to this, "Let us know if His grace is sufficient. Somehow just signal, if His grace is sufficient just hold out your finger and let us know," and as the flames began to lap upon his flesh--any of you who've been burned know the agony, I don't know any more horrendous way to die. As the believers were looking for this signal, is His grace sufficient? The great man of God didn't hold out one finger but two; more than sufficient; amen? More than sufficient! When the enemy comes in like a flood the Holy Spirit raises a standard up against him. Exceeding great, praise God, is His grace toward us. We realize that this could be Polycarp, the angel of the church of Smyrna. You'll find that those things that are spoken, fit what historically we know is true concerning his martyrdom.

"These things saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive," and some people try to draw an analogy with the city itself; I don't believe that. I believe that the issue here is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe there is where those that were questioning the resurrection, the central message of Paul, and John's writing here, and the Lord Jesus Himself is speaking and says "remind these guys I'm alive," praise God! This isn't a fairy tale. This isn't an ideology that weak minds invented to bring them solace in the pressures of life. God did become flesh and live among you. "I am He that liveth and was killed, and behold I'm alive forevermore."

As Jesus is speaking, it says, "These things say the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, I'm all in all. I'm before all things. All things were made for Me, all things were made by Me. Nothing is made that I didn't make, and by Me all things are held together," is the message of Colossians. As He speaks as Alpha and Omega he says, "I'm He who was dead and is now alive." Why is that the message? Why does He start this way? Because many of these people are going to be dead soon. Aren't you glad that you can sit here tonight and not fear death? Aren't you glad that death no longer has any power over you? You see, many people are afraid of dying. The masses are afraid of dying. That's why they invent religions. That's why they invent all of these different heretical statements that you and I hear, that can "get them into heaven." I was just reading a little excerpt in one of my magazines just the other day about a guy whose friend was killed. It was in one of my magazines for the Corvette Club, this guy had been killed out driving his car. As a letter was written in memory of this individual, the person writing it was looking forward to the day that they could be drag racing in heaven. I don't think so. It'd be some good ETs. The slowest we would be traveling is the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second. They fabricate all of these desires, they're afraid of what's on the other side, and we know. We know that the only power that death has is when it is in correspondence with sin. The only power death can have over a man is when a man dies under sin's power and experiences the second death. You see, if you are born once you have to die twice, but, if you are born twice you only have to die once. Amen?

This is part of what Jesus is trying to promote here in this passage and He says, "I am He who was dead and I'm alive. I'm alive. Go tell Peter that I'm risen." Why? It changes everything. It changes everything, because now our perspective is not on the temporal. It doesn't matter what happens in this life. As you're going to see in just a moment, you can be counted a failure in this life, but we are a success in the eternal if our treasures are laid up in heaven; amen? Men look at us, they talk about how poor we are, how deprived we are, that we should have a desire like the rest of the world. The accumulation of the material things. But, He [Jesus] talks about those that were outwardly poor but eternally rich in this passage, and I want you to see it. Frankly, much of what we enjoy in this nation is going to be taken from us. I don't delight in these things. I like the comfort that we have in this nation. I'm not in any way--do not think in any way that I'm a masochist. I'm not looking forward to these things. I don't want to hurt! I don't want even one stripe, much less 39! I don't want a sunburn much less being burned at the stake. Not interested in any of that. I don't believe in asceticism. But, I know what's coming on this nation as we know it today; in our lifetime, it will cease to exist. Hopefully, somewhere in the interim, Jesus is going to come back. He says, get your attention on what is eternal, "I'm He that was dead and alive, I know thy works, thy tribulation and thy poverty." Now check it out, your works, your tribulation and your poverty. I know the blasphemy of those that, say they are Jews and are not, but, are of the synagogue of Satan. We're going to see here what it is that's going to bring the persecution to us in these last days. Those who profess to be religious, those who profess to be the representatives of God, but in fact Jesus himself says their church is the church of Satan, the first church of Satan. Okay?

Oh, you say we're talking about the church in San Francisco; no, we're not talking about that kind of Satan worship. We're not talking about that. We're talking about those who profess to be orthodox, is a way of saying this, they profess to be believers. All of their theology is intact. They profess themselves Jews, they believe in monotheism, they believe in one God. "The Lord our God He is One God." If you don't believe that you're not a Jew. You see, these profess to be Jews but their blaspheming in that they are embracing other gods. We are not just talking about polytheism, we're not talking about pantheism, we're not talking about any of the other 'ism's that were prominent in this culture. We're talking about a people who say "we believe in orthodoxy but, we reject Messiah. We accept the morals of Christianity but we reject the Lordship of Jesus." Does that sound like our culture today? We'll embrace the moral. We'll embrace all of what sociologically will bring us peace, but we want to let our flesh reign in the areas of personal behavior.

What are we back to? Very clearly, the antinomian thought: there are no restraints, there are no laws that apply to us, grace is sufficient, God's love is that we can do anything we want and God will forgive us. Okay? When we're looking at this, we're seeing that these were a people that were saying they were Jews. Now, when we're using the term Jew here, we're not just talking about the Judaizers who were trying to bring people under the restraint of the law. We're talking in the context about Jewish believers, true Jews. Because I want to tell you something, the true Jew believes in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The true Jew, which you and I are. You say, I can't--I'm not a Jew, I don't own a jewelry store. You know just to stereotype, let's stereotype them a little bit. You have to understand who we are. We are the Israel of God. Isn't that what the Scripture says? They are Jews that are those inwardly. We are circumcised in our hearts, praise God! You need to understand that.

When John's speaking here, John is speaking toward those who are professing to accept the complete work of what the Messiah had done, but he said they are in fact, many of them, Judaizers, antinomian. He said they are not the true church of Jesus Christ, so he then earmarks them as the synagogue of Satan. As we look around today there are a lot of the churches that--let's not use the term synagogue. We can look at a lot of them today and say these are the churches of Satan. Why? Because Jesus said if you're not for me, you're what? Against me. He said if you love this world you are the enemy of God. He said the problem with you is this, you're of your father the devil. Why did he say that to them? Because they rejected His word as truth. He said, you search the Scriptures, in them you think you have eternal life. It's the scriptures that reveal Me as the way the truth and the life; amen? So, anybody who rejects that is of the synagogue of Satan. Now this is what we're dealing with today. When you begin to bring that message, guess what you're going to get? Persecution. You see, he's setting the atmosphere of why they're being persecuted. "Why us?" Because of your big mouths; amen? But he said, shout it from the housetops. He said to go into all the world and preach this gospel; amen? He said with it is going to come persecution. When He called the apostle Paul, He didn't say, "I want to show you how great a name you're going to have for generations in the church as you walk in obedience to me." He said, "I'm going to show you how great a things you must suffer for my name's sake."

We need to see here, beloved--and the reason that Jesus spoke this to the church of Smyrna and the reason it's applicable to us today is this: there are many of us that delight in the message that we've heard, especially here in twentieth-century American Christianity, of how we're to prosper, walk in freedom and liberty. We are praying for that great liberty of this nation. Do you know that many Christians in the world today don't have civil liberties? Do you know that most of the world today does not experience the freedoms that we have, the prosperity that we have, but they're still serving their Jesus! And it's not contingent upon personal freedom, personal rights or personal prosperity. It's an eternal work, an inward work. It's looking for a kingdom, a city not made with hands.

Where are we today as "American" Christians? Where are you going to be when things change in this nation and it's no longer popular to be a Christian? I guarantee you, come 1996 Bill and Hillary will be going to church more frequently. What a hypocrisy! Dear God, all those people ought to stay home or repent. I'll guarantee you one thing: you can't be a Christian in this nation and be elected President; I'll tell you that right up front. Impossible! How can you say that, Pastor? Because "there is no fellowship between light and darkness." You cannot stand up before this nation and tell them the truth and have them accept you.

We need to realize what we're facing here--remember why He's writing to this church. It's not just to that little Asian church. It was not just for that day. It's there for our learning. It's to begin to prepare us for what's going to happen as we make the same stand as this church in Smyrna made--remember, it was the capital. It was the capital city. And He said, "I know your works and your tribulation and your poverty." This was an affluent society. Why are they in poverty? I wonder if the bolder you get the more chance there is of losing your job.

What about as this nation continues to go insane with our equal opportunity laws? The insanity that's come into this nation. Go to California--it's crazy--go out to California. Illegal aliens. Total medical care. No questions asked. A citizen has to prove he's impoverished or have insurance. If that's not ignorance gone to seed, I don't know what is. I won't get off on politics and talk about all the stupid things that are going on. This nation is self-destructing in it's own self-righteousness, in it's desire to appear fair but not just. We want to see fair. We're not interested in fair, we're interested in just, in what's right.

These are the things that have been faced in society-- no new thing under the sun--watch this; "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life. Be faithful unto death (Revelation 2:10)." Ten days. What is ten days speaking of? Is ten days a short time, long time? Is it a literal ten days as we know it, twenty-four-hour segment? Much dispute on this. Let's forget the ten days. Commentators can't agree. I don't have any specific revelation on it. Let's say it's ten days. Let's say it's ten years. Let's say ten thousand years, irrelevant. Be faithful to the end; amen? It doesn't matter if it's ten minutes or ten seconds. The real key to this is "be faithful unto death." Establish a heart that says "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Realize this one thing: that persecution is coming, and you're not to fear those things for which you're going to suffer. Now that's a pretty tall order. I talked about my--I don't have any desire at all, but I'm not afraid of them because I know His grace is sufficient. God has never forsaken me. In these few years that I've followed Him; in these twenty-eight years, His grace has always been sufficient. I've found myself in situations that I didn't know that there would be a way of escape, but He always makes the way of escape. Oh, you may not escape physically; you may die. But we've escaped. Because Hebrews talks about in the eleventh chapter towards the end, "those who died in faith," praise God! You know, you can be in perfect faith and die. In fact, that's the only way to die, in faith; amen?

There's been a teaching, an error, in our society in the last years. People have taught that if you have enough faith, praise God, nothing will ever happen to you adversely. That's not true! He said, "I'm going to show you how many things you must suffer for my name's sake." We realize that Stephen was a man full of faith, power, the Holy Ghost; he was stoned to death. Oh, but what a grace, as the Bible says, as the stones were pelting him his face was illuminated and he looked up into Heaven and said, "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." Don't be afraid. When they take you into the courts, don't worry about what you're going to say. Jesus said, "I'll give you the words to say in season." Amen? What might it be? It may be some great profound truth that they say, "we have to let this man go." Or you may jump up and yell "Repent!" and they kill you. He'll give you the words to say. He said, "Don't worry about it, my grace is sufficient for you." "Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Isn't that the only thing we should be fearing here tonight? Not the trials, not the tribulations, not the poverty or the martyrdom. That's over in a moment. The second death goes forever. "A place of outer darkness where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." If you sinned today you had another chance, didn't you? I trust you've repented. Maybe we weren't looking for Him, but we were admonished earlier in this service to turn our eyes to the eternal realm and begin to love His appearing and maybe that sparked something in you for the moment and you had another chance. There's a time coming when there is no second chance. There's a judgment of the second death. Torment beyond anything that the natural mind can comprehend. We hear and try to relate some of these things, and we just can't. We talk about "a place where the worm dies not." I believe one of the greatest judgments found in the Psalms when it says, "You will be forgotten." It'll be a place where no one ever remembers you existed, and for eternity you'll know that nobody cares. And for eternity you'll know there are no more alternatives; it won't change. You'll be depressed, wanting to die and can't; in pain, wanting to have fellowship and no one wants to commune with you. The ability to look into heaven and not go across the gulf and no one in heaven shedding a tear for you. The second death. Words can't depict--but to those of us that overcome in this life of tribulation of trial. Those of us that "endure till the end, we shall be saved" and the second death will have no effect on us. He that was dead and is now alive paid the price. We're a people redeemed. How can any sane man reject it? "I set before you this day life and death; choose life."

Father, in the name of Jesus we ask that the message to the church of Smyrna would ring true in our hearts and that we would see that there are going to come adversities trials tribulations--and if it does come upon us as a people, it will come upon the church. We in this nation will not be excluded. There is a grace that's sufficient. We count it a small thing, the momentary trials and sufferings of this life, that we might have an eternal reward. That that's going to happen should not be counted as a strange thing; it's common among believers. And we're to let the trying of our faith work patience in us, and he that endures to the end shall be saved, and he that overcomes shall be free from the sting of the second death. Death has no power. The grave has no power over He who is who was and is to come, He who was dead and now lives, Jesus who's been made unto me life. Hear the message to the church of Smyrna; no rebuke, they were faithful to the end. No rebukes. They did not compromise the Word, and because of it persecution beyond anything imaginable, and they never judged God. They remained faithful, and He says because of that I have nothing to say in judgment against you. Enter in thou good and faithful servant. Work it in us, Father, in Jesus' name.

As our hearts are focused on the Spirit of God--I trust that you can put together these two churches, the Ephesians church, the church of Smyrna, and begin to grab the overall picture of what's being said now to us as the church. Remember all seven churches, typical of where the church universal is today. There's people among us that are already suffering. In the decades preceding that that we're in right now, the great judgments. One of the greatest areas right now of persecution of the church is in the Philippines. The pastors and congregants are being drug out of churches and killed. We know the oppression that was going on at one time in China, in Russia. In Africa, as Idi Amin was suppressing the Christians, killing them and eating their hearts; he was a cannibal, believed he was made stronger by eating the life of his enemies. It's all in our generation. And the great persecution of America that says you can't pray in school anymore. Tribulation for 10 days. He that's faithful to the end--saved, free from the power of the second death. Stir it in our hearts, Father. Help us to begin to pray for those in the world--this church is bigger than America, it's bigger than this region. Help us to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines and around the world that are being persecuted. That they would have strength to endure. Help us to intercede for them as we have the liberty. They may be interceding for us someday soon. You see, that's the return to the first love of Ephesus that we were talking about this morning. A desire for the whole body's edification, not just our family here in Sterling. The church is much bigger. Where are you tonight in relationship to the second death? Did you hear what was said earlier by the Spirit of God, it's not enough--Listen. If all your doing is standing here tonight saying, "I believe in Jesus," but your life is not orderly--Jesus said don't call me Lord, Lord and not keep my commandments. He said, "If you don't love me more than fathers and mothers, houses and lands, wives and children, you are not worthy of me." If you're making a profession of Christianity, you agree with the theology, but your life is not submitted to His Lordship, you're the member of the synagogue of Satan. You may be here in church tonight but you're going to a devil's hell. You need to deal with that as the Spirit of God speaks to your heart tonight.

I'm going to give you an opportunity in a moment to do something about it, to make a move in faith to break the power of Satan over your life, to acknowledge he that was dead and is now alive, and to say, "Jesus, I believe You are the way, the truth and the life, and that no man can come to the Father but by You. There's no other hope of salvation--and for me to submit my life totally to you. If you're in need of that I want you to slip out of your seat and come right now, we're going to pray for you. You need to be born again. You need the assurance of eternal life. You come right now--the Spirit of God is dealing in your life. You're afraid of what people think? Yes, that's the way people in the synagogue of Satan think. Pride dictates their lives. You need to be free. You come right now. Don't hesitate. Pray Saints, believe God there's people here that are in need. Some of these that have come, we want to encourage them we know their hearts are sensitive, there's some of you that are sitting there--you need to be here. There's people that are here don't need to be here, but thank God for their sensitivity. What are you doing? Does this make you saved? No, this doesn't make you saved. It's an act, it's an open testimony that says I look unto Jesus, I want to be free. We're saying to the community of believers, "Help me, I'm letting you know, publicly, I need help. I want your assistance. I want you to speak into my life. I want you to pray for me. I want you to lift up my hands." That's why they've come. That's why we give a public opportunity. Because, you see, we can't pray for you if we don't know what your need is. As you come, you're saying, "Pray for me, admonish me, encourage me." Salvation is what you do internally, the choice you make internally to walk free from power of sin and the power of your flesh. The brethren are going to come in just a moment. We're going to sing this chorus and as we do, believe the Holy Spirit to finish a work in each of these lives and in our lives in preparing us for the hour that's to come. Let's sing it together.

Hallelujah. Brethren, come please. Glory, glory, glory. In addition to the pastors and the deacons that have come to pray, God's Holy Spirit has put one of these people that have come on your heart, there's not going to be any council that's being given, the Holy Spirit's already counseled; they know what to do. You feel you'd like to come and just pray and to let it be known by your presence that you're there for them. You come and begin to pray with the brethren, now lay hands on these brothers and sisters and speak peace on their lives. Let them know by your coming "I'm there for you, you're not in this alone, whatever you need, come and let me know; I'll pray, I'll intercede for you in the name of Jesus." Let's pray. Brethren pray. Those of you that want to come, you come and pray for these. I know you'd all like to pray. I'm talking about if the Holy Spirit's really put it on your heart. Father, we thank You for the word of life. Stir hearts, Lord, as we prepare to go into the days of warfare, the persecution that's going to be coming upon the church. That that will originate from the synagogue of Satan, the religious people. The religious people are going to be the ones that hate you, they're going to be the ones that persecute you. Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Father, bring peace to the hearts of your children. Prepare us, Lord, with the knowledge of God. Oh, Hallelujah. You can't come anytime you want, you can only come when the Father's drawing you. I'd encourage you, if you need prayer, let someone around you know. If you're in the congregation, turn to somebody next to you and say, "I need you to pray. I didn't go up there, but I'm in bondage, I need help; pray for me." Glory to God. Father, bring life to your children. Yes Lord, make us a holy people, totally separate to You. Free from the world, its cares, its bondage. Glory, glory, glory to God, Hallelujah! Sing it together, Holy--let's worship Him. Ah, Jesus, Lord, move on each heart. Give Him glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Father we speak peace on each life. Sing it again, Holy, Holy, make Him holy, separate in your life. Jesus, bring it to each heart. Lord God, make it real in each of us. O, we give you the glory, Lord. Thank you for it, Father. Just lift your hands up and worship Him. Just recognize His holiness, His greatness. He's totally separate. He's an entity to Himself and we've been called the children of God, we've been made kings and priests, we're a holy nation, we're separate, we have nothing to do with the world's system, a people unlike any other creatures on this earth. They can't think the way you think. They can't relate to the eternal truths. It's alien. You're the enemy to them! Glory. You've got to leave here tonight with that understanding, they are totally opposed to us, they hate us; they hated Him, they're going to hate us; what we perceive to be truth they call foolishness. We're a totally separate people. And the enemy that you're going to face are the religious people, those that say they're believers and are not, the synagogue of Satan. Hear what the Spirit says to the churches, in Jesus' name. Turn to someone and say, "Be holy in Jesus' name." Go in the love of the Lord, God's grace go with you.

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