I ask you to turn, please, in your Bibles to chapter 2 of the
Book of Revelation. And today we are going to start
with verse 8. We're going to talk about the
church at Smyrna. It's a lot of information to
give about Smyrna. It's a lot of history to give
about Smyrna. So we're going to go ahead and
just pray and we're going to get into the Word.
OK, Father, we do thank you for once again you give us this
opportunity, Lord, to come and gather together as a one
assembly in you. Father, we thank you that your
promise to us is that you will be with us, Lord, where two or
three are gathered together in your midst.
You promise that you will be with us, Father, and we believe
that. We know that you're here with
us. We just ask that there be a
manifestation of your spirit today, Father, not just your
presence, Lord, but that you would be manifested today.
We pray that you would have the that you would get the glory for
everything that is done and said today in this place.
I pray for your wisdom. I pray for your knowledge.
I pray, Father, for your anointing.
Lord, I cannot do this without you.
I need you to teach this lesson today, Lord.
So I pray that you would open your mouth and speak in Jesus
name. We pray, Amen.
So we're at the persecuted church here.
I'm going to just I'm going to read this because it's really
like only four verses, but this is probably four of the most
important and most significant verses that I have ever read in
the word of God. It's so, so impactful when we
dig into this. So let's read it and then we'll
go back and we'll make our comments.
It says into the church, to the Angel of the church in Smyrna.
Write these things, says the 1st and the last who was dead and
came to life. I know your works, tribulation
and poverty, but you are rich, and I know the blasphemy of
those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of
Satan. Do not fear any of those things
which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil was about to
throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you
will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful unto death and I
will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.
Amen. So as we go back, we look at
this history and we and we see that this is a suffering church.
Now Smyrna today is a current day Izmir, which is over in
Turkey. But just to give you a little
background about Smyrna, the name Smyrna actually means myrrh
and it's main and myrrh is actually its main commodity.
Myrrh is an herb that has a bitter taste if you were to bite
into it, but it, it, it diffuses a, a, a sweet smelling aroma.
The city of Smyrna was located 35 miles north of Ephesus.
So as John was sick, excuse me, sitting in the congregation of
Ephesus and he reads his letter when he walks out of there, he
walks 35 miles north and he goes into Smyrna.
Now it's, it's one of the large, it is the largest city in Asia
Minor, major seaport and commercial center, just like
Ephesus was. It's a, it's a very strong
political center of the region. Smyrna has been invaded like
several times, it's been destroyed.
But later it was restored and brought back to life by
Alexander the Great and it became a major metropolis,
metropolis coming, you know, coming under the rule of the
Roman government. It was made of free city.
Now it was made of free city because it was loyal to the
Roman government or to the Roman Empire, and it was.
And it wasn't a political threat because they were so loyal and
there was a lot of advantages for them to come under the Roman
rule. One of the things is that with
their trade and commerce, if they did anything over the seas,
there was a time when the seas were very dangerous and trying
to ship things by sea, there would be a lot of piracy and
things of that nature. But once they came under the
Roman rule, they didn't have to worry about that.
Rome cleaned up those those seas and they get rid of the piracy
and made them safer. And the same thing with inland
travel. If they were traveling on the
inland, a lot of times people would be robbed and it wasn't
safe to travel. But after Rome became a ruler of
Smyrna, those roads became a lot more safe because of the Roman
rule that they that they had. People did not want to cross
Rome. They were, Rome was coming into
its strength as a as a nation, as an empire, and they were and
they were mighty and no one really wanted to cross them.
So Smyrna thought it was a good idea for them to connect with
Rome. So coming under that, that
umbrella, like I said, they became a free city.
And that free city basically means that they were, they had a
lot of autonomy there in Smyrna. They were able to kind of govern
themselves. They didn't have a Garrison that
was constantly patrolling the streets and watching and seeing
what they were doing. They, they kind of took care of
their own business. They made a lot of their own
laws there in Smyrna because they had that kind of autonomy.
It was also Smyrna was also a legal asylum city.
It, it was offering protection for runaway slaves and people
who were debtors and running away from, from their
responsibilities and criminals could come to the region of
Smyrna and they would be protected.
And the reason why Smyrna did this is because they wanted to
build up their population so they could have people come
there and they would build up their population.
They'd become even a larger cities.
Smyrna was a very wealthy city, but it was also a very Pagan
city, Very Pagan. And we're about to find out just
why it is that it was such a, a, a, a city that persecuted the
Jew, the, the Christian so much. And it's because of the fact
that it is a Pagan city and it was a major Center for Pagan
worship and emperor and imperial cults, which is basically an
emperor worship. So they wanted to, whatever
emperor was in was in place. They wanted the city, they
wanted the people to worship them.
That was their God. Smyrna had many gods, it had
many temples, and it had temples to all of these gods, like, and
then just to name a few, you know, Sabelli, Zeus, Athena,
Apollo, but also Aphroditus. And there was a number of
others, you know, that's just some of the gods that they
worship and some of the temples, it was lined with temples.
So Smyrna was one of the a polytheistic city, but the
people willingly, even though they weren't all, you know,
worshipping the same gods, but they all willingly participated
in the mandatory Roman emperor worship as well.
So you can go and worship any God that you say that you want
to believe in, but it was mandated that you would come and
worship the Roman emperor. Now the people Smyrna was free
to go to any those those gods. But there was one day out of the
year where every citizen in Rome had to come to the temple of
Caesar, and they had to burn a pinch of incense.
And while they burn that pinch of incense, they had to say
Caesar is Lord. And in order for them to be
justified that they did it, they actually received a certificate
before leaving certifying that they did that.
They indeed did do so. But now, now we see what the
problem is with the Christians, because there's no Christian
that's going to say Caesar is Lord.
So here comes the opposition. And because the Christians would
not agree to say that Caesar is Lord, they started to, they
started to experience a lot of opposition.
They started to experience a lot of resistance.
And eventually that went into being full out persecution,
torture, everything to try to get them to come in line because
they could not allow themselves, they, they, Rome would not allow
them to not worship Caesar. So because Smyrna was such a
prominent Sinner for these things, the people who would
acknowledge themselves as being Christians, they knew it was
becoming more and more dangerous to worship Christ there in
Smyrna. But remember Jesus who walks in
the midst of the churches and sees what the churches were
going through at this time. He sent a letter to Smyrna
because he wanted to remind them that he is the eternal God and
that He is with them. And he wanted to encourage them
to continue to be steadfast in their faith even in the midst of
all the persecution, in the midst of all of the trials that
they're going through. And they were going through very
heavy trial. What a comfort it is, What a
comfort it is to know that our Lord and Savior is always in the
midst of us and sees and knows what we're going through.
What a comfort that is. It's awesome to be able to know
that we serve a God who knows everything about everything.
And not only does He see it, but He gets in that struggle with
us. I'm reminded of the three Hebrew
boys back in Daniel. They were going through heavy
persecution. They were going through heavy
threats and eventually, because they refused to worship
Nebuchadnezzar, they were thrown in the fiery furnace.
But like I said, Jesus is he. He's a God that not only sees
what we go through, but he gets in the struggle with us.
Because when they threw the three Hebrews boys in the the
fiery furnace for not worshiping Nebuchadnezzar, the Bible says
that Nebuchadnezzar looked in the furnace and he saw not just
the three images that he put in. He said, yeah, there's Shadrach,
there's Meshach, and there's Abednego.
But wait a minute, who was this fourth image that I see in the
fire and he acknowledged that it had the form as of the son of
God. So we go to verse 8 verse 8 now
so that we go to get into this we see that there's this is what
a struggle has come in Rome wanted is one of the the
Christians to worship Caesar. The church is saying they will
not call anybody Lord except Jesus Christ and I pray that we
as the church would have that same mindset that we don't
worship anybody except Jesus Christ, Amen.
We don't call anybody Lord except Jesus Christ.
So in verse 8, he says into the Angel to the Church of Smyrna
write these things, says the first, the last, and he who was
dead and who came to life. So Jesus once again identifies
himself using a description mentioned in chapter 1.
Actually, you can. It's over in chat.
In verse 8 of chapter 1, he says he identified himself as being
the 1st and the last. That means that he's letting us
know that he is eternal. He's letting the children that
the people of Smyrna know that he is eternal.
He's the eternal God. You know, I can't wrap my mind.
I was telling Ted this morning as we were praying every now and
then when I when I tried to think about the fact that Jesus
is eternal and that he is infinite and that I am finite,
it's so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that in his
existence there was no beginning.
He is the beginning and in his in this world, there is no end.
He is the end and He controls everything in between.
And it's so hard for me to wrap my mind around because we are
always looking at how things start and how things end.
When someone invites you to something, the first thing he
says, what time does it start? When does it start?
What time is it over? Because in our infinite minds
that's how we process things. But He's the 1st and He's the
last. There's nothing before him,
there's no existence, there's no power, there's nothing before
him and definitely nothing greater than him.
And he is the last. So he's letting them know that
this God that you're that you're sacrificing yourself for this
God that you, that you love so much that you're willing to
endure this persecution, this tribulation, know that he is
God. He is God and he's able to do
exceeding abundantly and with all that we may ask or think.
And he also says that he is he who was dead.
So this is this is Jesus now saying that I have power not
only over death, but also over my over resurrection.
I have power over death and resurrection.
So I have, you don't have to worry about death because I have
already defeated death. Martha and Mary.
He had to tell them, he said, listen, I am the resurrection
and the life. If you believe in me, though you
were dead, yet you will live. And if you live and believe in
me, you shall never die. He is the resurrection and the
life. And it was important for them to
know that because of the things that they're about to embark
upon, the things that they're about to experience.
So he says here in verse 9, he says, I know your works, I know
your works. He said, I know your works, your
tribulation and your poverty, but you were rich.
And and I just want to talk about these two things because
it's really important, tribulation and poverty.
Now, first of all, the tribulation that you know, that
we usually talk about in, in the context of the way that we
experience tribulation. I mean it, it, it deals with
hardships and distresses, persecutions even deals with
some affliction. And of course the persecution is
that we deal with that we call tribulation.
It, it's usually something that probably makes us more, makes it
more inconvenient for us or, or or or deals with us in a way
where we may have to be diseased more than anything else.
But that's not the persecution they were dealing with.
That's not the, the, the, the, the tribulation they were
dealing with. They were dealing with the
context of the Greek word philipsis, philipsis, and what
this ellipsis was. It was a persecution or a
tribulation, meaning crush or to press or pressure.
It's it's like, it's like the crushing or the pressing of
grapes to get the juice to bust forward.
So these people in their life was being pressed and crushed
every day under the weight of persecution.
And actually in those in that time, the Roman government would
use Philipsis or use this literal crushing or this
pressing was used when they had a criminal and they were trying
to get a confession out of that criminal or they were trying to
punish the criminal. They would use this crushing.
They would lay him down on his back and they would put a large
rock or stone on his chest. And, and, and the, and the more
he would try to breathe, inhale and exhale, the more difficult
it got. The he would just be pressed
under the weight of this rock and eventually he would die of
suffocation. It was a slow death.
It was an agonizing death. It was a painful death.
And this is was the, the, the experience that these, that
these Christians had. It was a it was a crushing, they
were being crushed by this persecution.
But even Jesus himself understands the, the weight
you're being crushed under the weight of, of, of, of, of, of
sin and, and to be crushed under the weight of persecution for he
was persecuted. You know, Jesus was, you know, a
man of many sorrows and he was acquainted with grief.
So he understood this, this whole thing of, of, of being
pressed and pressured. But when he was in the Garden of
Gethsemane, which was actually means pressing or oil press,
when he was there, the Bible says that he was being, he felt
such a weight of the pressing of the things that he knew he had
to go through. If you can imagine that the
things that he knew he was about to experience this, this, this
crushing that he was going to have to be dealing with of going
to the cross. Bible says that he actually
sweated and his sweat was, it was like the drops of blood to
the ground. It's the kind of pressure that
he was dealing with. What also finds out when we
talked about, we talked about Smyrna being meaning myrrh.
Myrrh has to be crushed in order to defuse the sweet smelling
scent. It had to be crushed.
So like Jesus, the life of these Christians were being crushed
under the weight of persecution and was diffusing a sweet
smelling aroma of the gospel of the true life.
If you imagine Jesus when he was being crushed, we could you know
he diffused the aroma of love, of humility.
He diffused the aroma of the gospel.
But then us when we are being crushed, now we too we diffuse a
sweet smelling aroma which lets people know and brings glory to
God our lives when we. Stand under the pressure of
persecution or any kind of trials.
It's a sweet smelling aroma to those people who are watching
what we go through. Our steadfast obedient life is a
sweet smelling fragrance and it brings glory to God, Paul said
in 2nd Corinthians 214 and 15. Paul says now thanks be to God
who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and though and and
through US diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in
every place. For we are to God the fragrance
of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who
are perishing. So we're not just talking about
pressure of losing jobs or being shunned by family or friends or
even being arrested for our faith, but we're talking about
this, this, this crushing, this heavy persecution happening to
Christians. And it's actually happening to
Christians even now in other in other places.
I was reading something recently and I wanted to share it with
you. This is according to Open Doors
of 2026. So it's a recent world watch
list. And it said that over 388
million Christians face high levels of persecution and
discrimination, with roughly 4849 killed annually.
The most dangerous countries include North Korea, Somalia,
Yemen, Sudan and Eritrea, which is in West East Africa, I
believe continent off of East Africa, Syria, Nigeria.
And these are all places where Christians face extreme
violence. That's not an exhausted list,
but it's a face where they it's a place where they, they, they
experience this extreme violence, imprisonment, forced
displacement. They experienced this
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
So the Church of Samaran was facing these this heavy
persecution and yet Jesus himself was with them and they
were doing it for their faith in Jesus Christ.
Now we look at poverty, they use the way he said use the word
poverty, said you also going through poverty, but you were
rich. Now this isn't the poverty that
we know here in this country where you just don't have enough
resources. You know, you have money, you
have things, but you may not just have enough resources.
We have people in our country that are considered not
unemployed, but underemployed. So it's not that they're not
making anything or don't have anything, but it might just be
insufficient for what it is that they may want to do or even what
it is that they may need to do. But this isn't the kind of
poverty that we were talking about with the Christians and
Smyrna and Smyrna. They were dealing with what is
called object, abject poverty, abject poverty.
And what that simply means is that they have nothing, nothing
at all. Not just not sufficient means or
resources, they have nothing at all, nothing at all.
Because of the persecution that they were dealing with.
If they had employment, they were let go from their jobs.
If they were identified as being a Christian, if they were
self-employed, they were boycotted and no one would buy
from them. Their property was confiscated,
robbed and vandalized. If they had money on their own,
it wouldn't matter because they couldn't go and buy anything
because nobody would do business with them.
They were being crushed. The pressure was coming in from
every different way. So they were not only going
through tribulation, but they were dealing with this abject
poverty. Today there is persecution in
the in the job force. We know that we have people that
I'm sure is in the job force that was dealing with some
persecution because you won't use pronouns or because you
won't participate. And if you're working in the
medical field because you won't participate in an abortion or or
or or something of that manner or give or give some distribute
some drugs for abortion where any of those kind of things
because it goes against your belief.
You know Baker's we we heard about the Baker that's over in
Oregon. I believe it was that would not
bake a cake for an LBGTQ. It's L GB TQI get those.
I'm sorry, I get those letters mixed up wedding.
They would not bake a cake for the wedding.
So they ended a lot of heavy fines and actually almost run
them out of business. And a lot of those kind of
things are happening. I mean, you know, what about if
if people get to the point where pastors have to perform these
ceremonies or they go to jail, it might get to that point at
some point. But that's not what we're
talking about here. We're talking about people who
are destitute. These, these, these are people
who have lost everything because they follow Jesus Christ.
They follow Jesus Christ. But we also have to remember
that Jesus puts a different definition on the word rich and
poor because by the world standard they were poor, even
destitute. But Jesus said they were rich.
Jesus said they were rich. And in Revelations interest,
because in Revelations 317, I'm going to go there.
That's the that's the layer of the Church of Laodicea.
Look at what he says in verse 17.
He says, because you say I am rich, have become wealthy and
have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind and naked.
They don't know that they're poor.
They think that they have everything because of the
possessions that they have. They think they have everything
because of the money that they may have.
But Jesus says you're poor. You're poor because you don't
have the spiritual riches. You don't have the riches that
really, really matter. You see, a man's life does not
consist of the things he possess.
The the true riches are the riches that we have in glory.
We have riches in faith, we have riches in in favor with God.
We have riches in his grace. We have riches.
We have an inheritance that's waiting for us that's undefiled
and that's incorruptible. All of their riches in this
world is corruptible. It will fade, it will corrupt.
It can even be stolen or taken, but our riches cannot be stolen
nor taken. We have it that aren't rich.
They are forever. It's everlasting.
And we have it now. We have it now.
I remember a couple weeks ago, so I was working through this, I
was thinking about the songs that our praise and worship team
was singing. And a couple weeks ago they,
they, they sang the song. Give thanks with a grateful
heart. Give thanks to the Holy One
because he has given Jesus Christ his Son.
And now let the weak say I am strong, and let the poor say I
am rich. Not because of what we have, not
because of what we've done, but because of what the Lord has
done for us. Amen.
So we are rich and this is what Jesus was saying to this church.
Naturally and through the natural resources or through the
worldly eyes, you may be poor, but you are rich.
Then he goes on and he says, and I know the blasphemy of those
who say that they are Jews and are not, but our, our, our
synagogue of Satan. Wow, a synagogue of Satan, you
know, as I was thinking about that rich thing as we move into
talking about the, the, the Jews, but this thinking about
the whole thing about rich, you know, that we, we have this
prosperity gospel that is still running rampant even here today,
prosperity gospel. And, and, and when you hear
somebody say that if you're, if you have enough faith, then you
will have health and you will have wealth and you will have
Wellness if you have enough faith.
And if you don't have those things, it's because you don't
have enough faith. But yet Jesus said they are
rich. He never once said, you know,
he, he, he didn't, he didn't rebuke them because they didn't
have wealth. He didn't rebuke them because
they didn't have wealth and say you are are you don't have
enough faith. He didn't do that.
But that's what the prosperity preachers would say that he
would do because they say that you have to have riches in order
to to have faith. But no, he said you are rich.
You are rich. You're rich because you're rich
because you have the riches of glory.
So it flies in the face of that. But when you think about the
missionaries that we have that are living in remote places and
the only thing they have or the that they can depend on are the
donations that people send them. That's all they can can live on.
Or the people that they minister to who have even less than that.
But yet these people are rich in faith.
Even though they don't have a lot of things, they still rich
in faith. They have such a love for Jesus
Christ and they look forward to his return because they know
that everything that they have comes from him.
Every, every need that is met is met by him.
It's an indictment to even have a a message that talks about
someone not having faith because they don't have the money when
there's so many times when Jesus, even Jesus himself was
poor, He didn't even have a place to lay his head, but he
has riches and glory. He made himself, he came and
made himself poor that we would be rich and have the gospel to
look forward to. So he says here, he says that
the Jews, he said that they are, you know, I know the blasphemy
of those who say they are Jews and are not but a synagogue of
Satan. They say they're Jews, but
they're not. Now this is not a statement that
they're saying that all Jews are wrong or all synagogues are a
synagogue of Satan. This is not what this is saying.
This is, this is saying that, you know, these particular Jews
here in Smyrna, he was saying that they were calling
themselves Jews. And those Jews really, when you
say you're a Jew, that means that you're of the people of
God. You're calling yourself a,
you're calling yourself a, a, a, a, a child of God being a Jew,
but yet you hate Jesus, you hate his church.
So you're not really a Jew. And Jesus is saying that, you
know, we were over in Romans, Paul said that you're not Jew.
Those who are call themselves Jews outwardly.
It's a circumcision of the heart that makes 1A Jew a true Jew.
And then what Jesus is saying here is that if, listen, if you
are hating Christians, you're persecuting the Christians, then
you're calling yourself a Jew and you really are not but a
synagogue of Satan. Why?
Because if you're destroying the church, then you're doing the
work of Satan. That's why he calls them a
synagogue of Satan. It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's
amazing when you, you think about how these Jews were
treating the Christians, because now they were exempt, I should
say this, they were exempt from having to do the, the worship of
Caesar. They were exempt from that
because they they have, they're loyal, they're loyal to the
Roman government and they have this agreement that what what
they would do instead of worshipping Caesar because they
are a monotheistic religion. If they're worshipping Caesar,
but instead of worshipping Caesar, they get to just maybe
light a incense on Caesar's behalf or pray for Caesar and
they were fine with that. But the Christians were not
accepted at all by the Roman government.
And because they weren't accepted by the Roman government
because the Jews hated them. So not only were the Christians
being persecuted by the Roman government, but they're also
being persecuted by the the Jews.
And Jesus said, look, I understand, I know what you're
going through. I know that you're dealing with
these Jews who and the persecution and the blasphemy of
the persecution of these Jews who say that they're Jewish and
they're not but a synagogue of Satan.
They're doing the work of Satan, doing the work of Satan.
And then we also go over here now to the verse 10.
It says do not fear any of those things which are about what you
are about to suffer. Don't fear any of these things
that you are about to suffer. Wouldn't it be nice if at that
point that Jesus was said, don't fear any of these things because
I'm about to deliver you from that and you won't have to go
through any of that. I'm sure that's what they would
have wanted to hear. You know, don't fear these
things. You don't have to worry about it
because I'm coming and, and I'm going to take care of it all.
So don't worry about it. But that's not what he said.
Look at what he says next. He says indeed, the devil was
about to throw some of you into prison.
He went on to talk about what is actually going to happen.
He's prophesying the future. He said this is what's going to
happen in the future. The devil was going to throw
some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have
tribulation 10 days, 10 days, but be faithful unto death.
So he goes on and he prophesized about what's coming.
He doesn't say that you're not going to have to go through
that. It would be wonderful if they
didn't have to go through it, but they will.
And Jesus is saying, because you're going to be tested,
you're going to be tested. A faith that's not tested, can
it truly be called a true faith? And, and, and, and, and, and the
hotter we are in the furnace, the furnace of life, the hotter
we are. And our and our, our faith is
being tested. That's what proves who we are.
That's what really proves where we are with our faith.
And in this country, we've been very fortunate to not have to go
through the kind of trial and tribulation and the testing that
this particular church has had to go through.
But there are still things in our life that will really test
our faith that we may have to deal with on a regular basis.
There's things that test our faith.
We, we, we can still find ourselves in the furnace of life
hardships, whether it's financial, whether it's family,
whether it's employment wise. We can find ourselves in a
furnace in a place where it's real hot and our faith is truly
being tested. Get a diagnosis, look at my bank
statement and there's some money that I thought was there and
it's not. There's some things that can put
us in the furnace. But he's saying in this be
faithful unto death. Let's talk about this ten days
because he he mentions this 10 days.
Now some people think that this 10 days is the actual 10 days.
Some people think that this 10 days was a a symbolic of the
fact that there are there were there were 10 emperors who
really delved out like really harsh punishment or persecution
over a period of the years 606364AD pretty much through one
O 5 AAD and and and you know, there was 10 emperors and it
starts with Nero and it ends with the akletion.
But now when we talk about that now that's not necessarily
etched in stone. I mean, because there's nowhere
really in the word of God that really says that this is what he
means by the 10 days. But what we can say, what the
point of this is, is that he's saying that there is a period, a
definite period where there will be heavy persecution.
There will be. And they experienced this.
They experienced it. So he says, be faithful unto
death. How do we respond in this
persecution? How do we, how do we behave
ourselves in this persecution? I think about Job when he was
going through his suffering, the Bible constantly said, but even
though he was going through these things, he behaved himself
wisely. He never cursed God.
He never gave up on God, questioned God, but never cursed
him, never gave up on him. God is not, you know, in the 1st
chapter we saw that he was looking, I'm starting the
earlier chapter early in the part of chapter 2 when he was
dealing with the, the Church of Ephesus, he wanted that church
to return to their first love. He wanted them to return to the
first love. But in this section he's saying
he's looking for them to be faithful in the midst of all the
persecution. Be faithful, understand that
it's, it's going to happen, but be faithful and be faithful unto
death. And I will give you the crown of
life. And that is the reward of those
who endure. The crown of life is the reward
for those who endure. Who go through tribute, who go
through temptations or who go through tribulations, but they
endure to the end. They remain faithful.
They don't turn back, do not as those who turn back to
perdition, but who believe into the saving of the soul.
And that's who. And that's what he is saying
here. Be faithful, Remain faithful.
Yes, you're going to have it and it's going to be tough, but I
want you to be faithful, remain faithful as you go through this.
You know, one of the things that we have to understand is that
there is going to be a time when being a Christian will cost you
something. It will cost you something.
That's why Jesus said count the cost.
You know, could you imagine being a Christian?
You can't. You can't be a wimp Christian
and living in Smyrna. You can't be a weak Christian
and live in Smyrna. But one thing that the Word of
God tells us is that at the time when we need it the most, God
will give us the strength that we need to endure.
At the time that we need it the most, the power of Christ will
rest upon us at the time that we need it to most now.
Now one of the people who were going through this persecution,
heavy persecution, and was actually martyred was Polycarp,
who was the actually the Bishop of of the Church of Smyrna at
one point. He was an older man, Polycarp
was in his 90s. He was actually a mentee of the
Apostle John. So he actually knew the Apostle
John and he had gone through heavy persecution until
eventually they decided they were just going to execute him
because he would not renounce Jesus.
So the saying goes, The saying goes that he continued to
denounce. So they had set a time when they
were going to execute him and they gave him another
opportunity to renounce Jesus. And Polycarp said he said I have
served. I've served them for 86 years
and he's never wronged me. How can I blasphemy my king who
saved me? And as they continue to threaten
him with the threat of burning them to the stake, he says,
you're coming to me and threatening me with fire that's
going to only last for about an hour.
But you're forgetting. You're forgetting the fire that
will last for eternity in hell. What a perspective.
This is going to last for a while.
Yeah, I might. I might feel a pinch.
OK, maybe a little bit more in the pinch, but after a while,
this is going to be over. I'll have eternity with my Lord.
But you on the other hand, you're going to be an eternity
in hell. You're going to feel this fire
forever and ever and ever and ever and ever, which also gives
us an opportunity for them to have an opportunity to repent.
Polycarp, what a perspective. So then in verse 11 here about
to come in here for clothes, he says he who has an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death, shall
not be hurt by the second death. He says he who has an ear, he
who has that spiritual understanding, who actually has
a heart to receive what it is that the Spirit is saying to
you, you have an ear to hear it. And that's opposed to those who
don't want to hear what the word of God says, what the word of
God is sharing. You ever think about how
difficult, how, how crazy it is. And sometimes you can sit in a,
a church session and one person can be sitting right next to
somebody else in the one is hearing everything and it's
touching their hearts and they're responding to it
spiritually. But the other person just
doesn't receive it at all, doesn't hear it at all.
Their hearts are just closed to what it is that the Spirit is
trying to say. But he says here, him who has an
ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
He who overcomes, listen to this last section here.
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death, shall
not be hurt by the second death. You know, for me, this makes me
ponder about what Jesus is really saying.
That's really important. Unless Jesus raptures us before
we die, we're all going to experience death.
The first death. We're going to experience
physical death unless he, unless the church, unless he comes back
and raptures us, we're going to experience that.
But that's all we'll experience because for those of us who were
believers, for those of us who have not rejected Jesus Christ
but received him as Lord and Savior, we will not be hurt by
the second death, by the second death.
That's the judgment that will send those who have rejected
Jesus Christ and have not received him.
That's the judgment that will send them to the lake of fire.
Let's look at a couple verses that tell you that this is about
judgment in the lake of fire. Go to Revelations chapter 20 and
we about to come in for a close here.
Revelations chapter 20, verse 6. He says blessed and holy is He
who has part in the first resurrection over such the
second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and
of Christ, and shall reign with him. 1000 years.
Those of us who are living when Christ comes back, we will be
raptured to go back with Him. But those of us who have died in
Christ before he comes back, we will be resurrected in that
first resurrection to go to be with them.
And the Bible says we'll all be with him in the air.
We'll all be with him in the air, but we will not have to
deal with the second death drop down in that same chapter to
verse 14. Actually verse 12 it says and I
and I saw the dead small and grave standing before God and
books were open and another book was opened, which is the book of
life and the dead were judged according to their works.
But the things which which were written in the books by the
things that are written in the books, the sea gave up the dead
who were in it and the and death in Hades delivered up the dead
who were in them and they were judged each one according to his
works. Then death in Hades were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death and
just one more. We're going to go over to
chapter 21 and I'll start right there, verse 7.
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son. But the cowardly, unbelieving,
abominable murderers, sexually immoral sorcerers, idolaters and
all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
So we as believers, we are those who have overcome.
The Bible says that in first John.
Bible says over in first John chapter 5, four and five that
whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is
the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
Who is he who overcomes the world?
But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
The churches in Smyrna was willing to give their very lives
for the truth. He who overcomes will not be
hurt by the second death. So Jesus is saying to us, yes,
you're going to go through some tribulations while you're here.
You say everyone who live holy will suffer persecution.
If you desire to live holy and with through many tribulations,
we're going to enter into the the Kingdom of God.
But be faithful until the end. Hold on.
Don't turn back to perdition. Don't think that what you're
leaving is better than what's ahead of you.
Hold on to what he's saying because He is the life, He is
the resurrection, and He is the life.
There is no life apart from Him. And we have eternal life in
Christ Jesus. We have it.
So yes, the second death will not, will not hurt those of us
who have overcome. So I pray today that whoever is
listening, that something resonated.
If you're someone who have not received Jesus Christ, I pray
that you will today give your heart to him, give your life to
him. Allow him to come in and help
you to live the Christian life. He's already washed you of your
sins. He's already washed.
He's already done the work. All we had to do is receive it,
accept what He has done, and we can go from the the Kingdom of
darkness to the Kingdom of light.
I pray that someone would do that today.
Praise and worship team, you can come forth.
So it was Jesus who sacrificed it all that we would have this
eternal life. He gave up his natural, his life
and humanity that we would have spiritual life.
I heard someone say not too long ago that when Jesus died on the
cross, his, his divinity, the divine Jesus did not die.
It was the human Jesus that died on that cross.
It was, it was, it was, it was, it was his humanity.
But the fact of the matter is, is that Jesus died on that cross
and it was Jesus in all fullness, in all fullness who
came out of the grave. It was Jesus.
It wasn't just like it was just some spirit that died.
It wasn't that. It wasn't just like it was just
some, some, some. He separated from earth and all
that. No, that's not what happened.
Jesus died on the cross, and because of his resurrection
power, he got up out of the grave in three days because he's
God. But he came that we might have
life and that we would have it more abundantly.
So we thank him today. Lord, I thank you for the life
that you have given us. I thank You that we will not be
touched. Those of us who believe and
trust in You, we will not be touched by the second death.
We will not be hurt by the second death.
I thank You, Father, that You give us hope and that we can
believe and that we can be faithful to You even unto death.
Death is not the worst thing to happen.
The worst thing that happens, Lord, is that we die without
Your salvation. The worst thing that happens,
that we die without being an overcomer, that's the worst
thing that can happen because we'd have to deal with the
physical and the spiritual death, the judgement of death,
that that that puts us into the lake of fire that burns forever
and ever. So I pray, Father, I pray that
someone would hear this today and that they will receive you
as Lord and Savior, trust in you for their salvation.
Believe on you, Lord, that we will count up the costs and all
those things that we lose, all the things, Lord, that we find
to be so precious in this world, that we will come to see that it
means nothing in comparison to what we have in heaven.
So on a night in which Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread.
And when he gave thanks, he after he gave thanks, he broke
in and said, this is my body which is broken for you.
Eat this in remembrance of me. In the same way He also took the
cup, and he said, This cup is a new covenant in my blood, and it
was shed for the sins of many, shed for the sins of many.
Drink this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.
As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, we do show
the Lord's death till we come. Amen, anyone?