Here in  Mark 7 it is talking about the defilement of eating with unwashed hands.  Now let me just interject right here, this has nothing to do with clean or unclean meats.  This has to do with eating clean food though you have dirty hands and you get a speck of dirt on it and you eat it, it is not going to defile you spiritually.  And the intestines will take care of it and it will purge it out into the draught, which is the sewer.

Now, Mark 7:20, “And then He said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.”  Spiritual defilement here again.  Now notice, “For from within, out of the heart of men…”  Now isn’t it interesting that Thyatira He talks about judging the hearts and the reins, and then He says to Sardis that, “you have defiled your garments.”  Then He shows what defiles them.  So the Sardisites are polluting their garments by their own thoughts and their own ways.

Now notice, which proceeds “…out of the heart of men…evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”  Now we are not necessarily told that Sardis is in this particular condition of doing these grievous sins, but they are just so dead that what they are doing is like a walking corpse.

Now let’s look at something else here.  If you’re dead, you have no life in you, which means the Holy Spirit is barely, barely dwelling.  Let’s come to Proverbs 21:16.  “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding…”  Now if you do your own thing and do your own ways, you’re what?  Wandering out of the way of understanding, which then is the way of the Lord, is it not?  Now notice what happens.  “…Shall remain in the congregation of the dead.”  And Sardis is the congregation of the dead.

Now Proverbs 15:10, “Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.”  So that’s why Christ told them, “Look, the minimum you have to do is strengthen the few things that are left and I won’t blot your name out of the book of life.”  So they are right on the verge of committing the unpardonable sin.

Now let’s come to Matthew 25 and let’s look at something else.  Matthew 25 is quite a chapter and I will have to admit that part of this here, which we will cover, we’ll just review briefly.  Let’s begin in verse 1.  “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto then virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.”  Now there’ve been many, many interpretations of it, which is half of the church will go to a place of safety, and half of the church will go into the tribulation.  It’s not talking about that. 

“And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”  Now could we not say that those in Sardis were foolish?  Yes.  And, “They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:”  They thought they could just live on the little bit that they had.  “But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamp” (vs. 2-4).  Now you see, the lamps were actually like little shallow seashells with a little v lip to pour on one side.  And you would put the oil in there and then you had a wick, which would come out on the side.  And then you would light the wick and then it would draw the oil out of this little reservoir in this little dish-like seashell thing.  Now obviously it couldn’t burn very brightly, could it?  No.  So, and it couldn’t burn very long either.  So you had to have extra oil.  And it’s very obvious that if you have just this little reservoir of oil in it, which we can liken unto the Holy Spirit and the light likened unto the word of God, the lamp that lights my way, and all of those other scriptures are valid, and you can put them there.  And it’s really very foolish to expect it to last very long if that’s all you have.  So this is what’s it talking about here.

“While the bridegroom tarried…”  Now here we’re talking about the bridegroom.  “…They all slumbered and slept.”  Showing that they all had their problems and their difficulties.  “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.  and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us our your oil; for our lamps are going out.  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather that them to sell, and buy for yourselves” (vs. 5-9).  Now, we have to come to Christ to buy without money.  Isaiah 55, “All you that thirst come, receive water and food without price.”    

Another thing is true.  Whatever spiritual knowledge and understanding you have and of God’s Spirit, which the oil is likened too, and the flame that is burning is your light because we’re told to what, so let our lights shine.  That is then the Spirit of God working in you producing something likened unto the lamp that is burning.  So you cannot give to someone else of your Spirit that you have up here in your mind.  You cannot.  That’s why we hear many, many, many times… When I go out and visit and I meet someone for the first time, I hear this over and over again.  “I have learned more”, in whatever time they’ve been receiving the tapes and the Care Package and so forth, “than I’ve every learned in the years I’ve been in the Church.”  And this is why we send the Care Package.  Because there’s still time to buy.  So we send it free, and say, “Here, this is a sample of what you have missed all these yon many years”, you see.  And some people are very overwhelmed when they first get the Care Package because there’s a lot in it.  And by the way, we’re working up a Beginners Care Package too.  We send out to new people.  So if you meet someone, you can say well, you can write in and ask for a Beginners Care Package.  It will be in there, Beginners Bible Study 1-2, and Repentance and Baptism, and Grace of God, and belief booklet and things like that in there. 

Now notice verse 10.  This is the one that I don’t quite understand.  I’ve heard many interpretations of it. I’ve heard many things given concerning it.  So let’s read it.  “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut.”  Now this tells us that only certain ones are going to be with the marriage, which ties in with what I brought out during Pentecost, ok?, what we covered earlier this morning. 

Now this is the thing that I don’t understand.  Let’s see if we can understand it this time.  “Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord,  Lord, open to us.  But He answered, and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (vs. 11-13).  Now this is a little different than we have over here, verse 30.  Look at verse 30, “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  These were cast into the lake of fire, the unprofitable servant.  It says over here, the door was shut.  Now it doesn’t say that they are cut off from salvation.  They are cut off from the marriage.  Ok?  It doesn’t say that they committed fornication or adultery.  It says they were five foolish virgins, but is this telling us that Christ isn’t going to marry foolishness?  For those who are not zealous?  He says, “I don’t know you.”  Does it mean that He is casting them off forever?  I don’t think so, but I think He does not know them to be qualified to be the bride.  But obviously they’re not cut off from salvation, because it doesn’t say that there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth.  It just says that they are excluded from the wedding.  Now I think in just discussing it this way I have a little better understanding of it than I had before.  See, it does not say that they have lost salvation.  It says that they’ve lost out on the marriage.  “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (vs. 13).

Now, the next one talks about giving talents to different ones.  He gave five talents to one, two talents to another, they both doubled them.  And let’s read the reward that they have here, verse 21.  “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Now that’s the one who received the five talents and doubled them.  Here they received salvation, plus responsibility but they’re not married to Christ, are they?  No.  Because remember in Revelation 14, which we discussed earlier, those that marry Christ, the 144,000, go with Him wherever He is.  So if these people are given responsibility over five cities or over two cities, then they are not with Christ but they are working under Him, are they not?  Yes, not ala Gerald Waterhouse, please.  Same way with the one with the two.

Now we come to the one who is dead, verse 24.  “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man…”  So this is part of defiling your garments is it not, if you’re accusing God of things which He’s not?  “…Reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed…”  Not realizing that the Holy Spirit would give the ability to reap where you have not sown and give you the ability to straw where it has not been strawn.  “And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed…”  Now see how different that is from the ten virgins.  Just the door is shut.  Here, wicked and slothful servant.  The other ones, the foolish were just negligent. 

“…Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (vs. 24-30).  Now this sounds an awful lot like Sardis, doesn’t it?  Yes it does.  You just have a few things and you need to take care of the few things.  And you only have a few in Sardis.  And this is the first time I’ve ever done a real in-depth analysis, as it were, of Sardis. 

Now let’s come here to Luke 12 and we’ll see something very similar.  This follows right along the line with it.  But suffice to say that the warning that Christ gives to Sardis is very similar to the warning that is given in the parable of the one who received the one talent.  And the one talent is not receiving very much.  And the Sardisites are told that you have the few things.  Strengthen the few things that remain, see. 

Now here, Luke 12:47.  “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself [which the Sardisites didn’t, and the five virgins didn’t, and the unprofitable servant didn’t], neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.”  Which can also show a variation in judgment depending on the individuals circumstances and attitudes and so forth.  “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.  For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:47-48).  So Sardis was not in that group, unfortunately. 

Now let’s finish Sardis here by giving the admonition of the apostle Paul.  There is still hope.  Let’s go to Ephesians 5.  If anyone is spiritually dead but they have just a little spark left, there is still hope if they can be stirred up by Christ and strengthen the things which remain. 

Ephesians 5:11, and I think this fits the Sardisites just as well.  “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness…”  So if they have their works which were dead, are they unfruitful works?  Yes.  And unfruitful works of the self, then which is darkness just like the five virgins the lamps were going out.  “…But rather [expose] reprove them.  For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.  But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.”  And Christ is the light, and the Holy Spirit is the light.  “Wherefore he saith…”  And we can put in here to the Sardisites: “…Awake thou that sleepest…”  Kind of applies to the five foolish virgins too, doesn’t it?  “…And rise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:11-14).  And so for the Sardisite, he better redeem the time because the evil days are coming and he doesn’t have much time because he is nearly dead, and he’s ready to have his name blotted out of the book of life. 

So that takes care of Sardis.  And as I said, I’ve never gone through and studied Sardis in depth before, and we’ve always done what we always did.  We have said, “Wow, that’s got to be the Church of God 7^th Day.”  Well, maybe that applies to a lot of them, but maybe some of the people we knew in Worldwide Church of God are in the condition of dying and could apply to them, you see.  By doing their own way and doing their own thing.  And just like we discussed, and we discuss where ever we go: where did they all go?  Thousands.  I’m glad God is the judge and knows the heart.  We don’t know how many are at home, maybe even some we don’t even know of, who maybe have moved and we don’t know where they are.  Maybe they’re faithfully keeping the Sabbath, maybe they’re just doing things on their own.  Maybe there is hope for them. 

You know if we can come in with some of the things that we can do, kind of like the paramedics, you know when they come up upon someone who’s ready to die?  They can give them mouth to mouth recussitation.  And they can give them heart thumps.  And they can get these electrodes and zap them and their heart gets going again.  Or they can give them, in rare extreme cases, they can give them a shot of adrenaline right directly in the heart muscle and it will start beating again, and maybe there are some out there in that condition.  If we can help them, that’d be something we need to pray about, that they would have just enough life maybe to ask for some help and we can help them.  That would be something if we could do that. 

All right, let’s come here, and we’ve got a little bit of time left and I’ll have to overlap this to #7.  I didn’t think I could do it in six.  But let’s come to the church at Philadelphia.  And this is the church that everyone wants to be.  Why?  Because it is the church that is the purest of all.  Now how many churches have said that they are the Philadelphians?  Well we even have one Church of God labeled the Philadelphian Church of God, but it’s anything but that, see. 

Now again, let’s do the same thing.  Let’s not look for ourselves in the Bible and say that we are Philadelphians.  But let’s look at the lesson of the Philadelphians and see if we can conform our lives to that.  If we happen to fall into any of the other categories, looking to what Philadelphia has done and is doing, that is a pattern for all of the rest to follow in their repentance.  Because all the rest are told to repent except Smyrna.  Philadelphia is not told to repent.  So let’s look at that.

Revelation 3:7, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;”  Who is this?  Christ.  What does this tell us?  He’s fully in charge.  What does this also tell us about the Philadelphians?  They are looking to Christ always.  And understand that He is the one.  Now I did two tapes on the key of David.  And the key of David is actually the understanding or the heart of David, if we could put it that way.  And also the tabernacle of David, which is referred to as the Church by James in Acts 15. 

Verse 8, “I know thy works”…”  Now it’s a little different than the other ones.  The other one says, “I have a few things against you.  I have somewhat against you.  Your works are not perfect.”  But here it says, “I know your works.”  “…Behold I have set before thee an open door…”  And we know that means a means of preaching the gospel.  But also an open door can mean understanding to the scriptures too, can it not?  Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things out of your law.  God reveals them by His Spirit.  So it can mean that as well.  “…And no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name.”  Now we’ll come back and we’ll analyze each one of these things in just a minute.

“Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie…”  And so they are confronted with exactly the same system that Smyrna was.  The synagogue of Satan.  In this case with the Philadelphians, they are not martyred like the Smyrnans.  So the confrontation is a little different.  We’ll come back and analyze that in just a bit.    “…Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (vs. 9).  Now there are some people say that that doesn’t mean worship, that means only homage.  But if you are as Christ is in the resurrection, then God is going to make them come and worship before you.  That’s not to take away worship from God the Father or Christ.  But that is to acknowledge that those at the synagogue of Satan who sought to set up Satan’s system, which we’re  in confrontation with today, they did not have their mission from God. 

But those who were faithful to God in this way…it’s telling us an awful lot, see.  Which also means this, which I will mention here, that the Philadelphians did not take upon themselves to try and politically correct the synagogue of Satan’s system in the world.  That’s why so many people who are getting involved in these things, and the sovereignist movement, and all of those things, they are trying to change it by physical means.  We understand you cannot change it by physical means, or political means, but only by the Spirit of God and Christ is the only one to do that, so rather than be unfaithful to Christ to go out and do His work to try and change it, we remain faithful to Christ and always keep His word.

Now notice verse 10, and this is the blessing everyone wants.  “Because thou hast kept the word of My patience [or patiently kept My word], I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.”  Now a lot of people think this is the tribulation.  This is not.  The hour of temptation … And I have a tape that I did on it quite a while ago, went through the Greek and showed it’s different than tribulation, which I will not do at this point, but I will just summarize it.

What is the time of temptation of the whole earth?  Notice, “…upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”  What is that temptation?  Worshipping the image of the Beast and receiving the mark of the Beast.  Because that temptation is going to come upon us before there is any fleeing to a place of safety.  So the misinterpretation of this has caused people to think, “Boy, if I’m a Philadelphian and I call myself a Philadelphian I’m going to escape the tribulation.” 

Ok, we’ll talk a little bit about escaping the tribulation but suffice to say that…and I’ve also given some things concerning the place of safety.  There will be a place of safety, but just please understand this…and even if it is Petra, all of the foolish of men trying to go over there and, you know, buy shares in a motel so that they’ll have a comfortable place to stay, or go over there and help clean out the caves so they won’t have to live in centuries of dung, you know and all of that sort of thing.  None of that’s going to work because the angels of God are going to be those who will take you to a place of safety just like Lot was taken out of Sodom.  I’ve got a tape on that too, which covers Luke 17. 

Suffice to say, if you know where the place of safety is and you don’t get there did the knowledge do you any good?  No.  If you don’t know where it is and you get there you will find out where it is when you arrive.  Which means that in order to go to a place of safety it’s a matter of faith and trust in God.  And if you don’t go you’re still Christ’s.  You have a different mission to fulfill, and maybe that is to give your life as a witness against this world’s system.  Did Christ die as a martyr?  Yes.  Did the apostles die as martyrs, except John?  Yes.  They tried to martyr him by throwing him in boiling oil.  But he didn’t burn and apparently an angel just booted him right out of the boiling oil cauldron.  Can you imagine the executioner standing there watching this happen?  (Laughter)  So again, let’s not take judgment into our hands which alone comes from God.

But in the book of Revelation we need to understand something very important, like where in it says here, “…keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world…”  Now when it says “all the world” in the book of Revelation it means “all the world”.  That’s why we are living in the age of globalization, see.  And Roger’s going to have a lot to say about globalization of education.  Now you do this.  You watch your televisions, and you watch how many things around there concerning globalization: in economics, in education, and in religion.  It’s everywhere.  When it says “all the world” it means that.  And, “…to try them that dwell upon the earth.”  Is there any restriction to that?  None.  That’s the whole world.

Now notice verse 11.  “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”  And we lived in a time when there were a lot of people doing crown stealing, right?  Yes.  And it’s a man, see.  Don’t let any man.  And who would be a man who would come and steal your crown?  A false prophet who appears to be a true prophet.  And here in the northeast you’ve experienced how many of those?  And people have gone after them, haven’t they?  So we all need to be like the Bereans.  Search the scriptures whether these things may be so or not.  And if it sounds phony, it probably is.  And we need to just label a lot of those men that are going around doing this as vanity filled false prophets who are ravening wolves within, coming around in sheep’s clothing so they can steal crowns.  And that’s the attitude that we need to take toward them.  Now granted that is not very ecumenical.  But we are called to be separate.  Come out from among them and be you separate and touch not the unclean, see.         

Now then verse 12.  “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon Him My new name.  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches” (vs. 12-13).

Let’s go back and let’s focus in on the thing concerning a little strength because this is very important.  You can liken that to a little strength physically because obviously spiritually they have a lot of strength, don’t they?  Also, little strength meaning that you don’t have political power, you don’t have notariety in the world, but your strength comes from God. 

Now let’s go to 2 Corinthians 12, which then tells us if they have a little strength and are succeeding what is it that they are relying upon for their strength?  All right, let’s come to 2 Corinthians 12:7.  “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me…”  This is not a disease.  This is an angelos.  Or, God said, “All right, I’m going to make sure you stay humble”, because he’s going to be afflicted by this demon from time to time, which would come around and cause him great distress.  And how many of the Jews were stirred up wherever Paul went, and so forth.  This is all part of that.  “…To buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.  And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee…” (2 Cor. 12:7-9).  Because see what happens when you have trials come upon you and you see all your weaknesses, then you turn to God, don’t you?  Yes.  But if you have a lot of strength and have a lot of notariety, and if you’re a great personality and you’re all these great physical things the last thing you’re going to do is go to God.  So if you’re weak the first thing you’re going to do is go to God because you know His strength is in Him and not in you. 

“And  He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee…”,  which shows then that the Philadelphia’s are relying on the grace of God continually, correct?  Yes.  “…For my strength is made perfect in weakness.”  For even John the Baptist said what?  “Don’t say…”, he told the Sadducees and Pharisees.  “Don’t say we’ve got Abraham for our Father, because God is able to raise up unto Abraham children of these stones.  See.  So when you’re weak then the power of Christ in you can make you strong through the grace.  That’s what it’s talking about, and the Philadelphians have to be strong, otherwise how can they resist the synagogue of Satan?  And it’s a spiritual battle.  “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my [weaknesses] infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (vs. 9).

Now let’s look at something else.  Let’s come to 1 Corinthians 1 and let’s look at our calling, which means then the Philadelphians understand their calling.  Where as  perhaps maybe the Laodiceans in their own smugness pretty well think, “Well, I’m so good God had to call me.”  (Laughter)  See?  There’s a vast difference in attitude here, see.  Ok.

Verse 26, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble [or that is princes]…”  Why?  Because God takes the things that are nothing in the eyes of the world and makes something out of them through His Spirit.  That’s why God called Abraham at 75 and put him through 25 years of trials before Isaac was born for him to understand that it’s not by flesh, it’s not by power, it’s not by physical things, “…but by My Spirit.”  And by the time Isaac was conceived Sarah and Abraham both understood that. 

Now here’s what God is called.  And this is why, brethren, we have so much trouble in the Church.  I mean trouble with each other.  That’s not doctrinal problems, ok?  Verse 27, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty [or powerful]; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not [that is amount to nothing], to bring to nought things that are…”  So lots of times when our carnality comes out in it’s grandest glorious weakest form, and we offend because we are foolish, or we offend because we are weak, or we cross each other’s paths in a way because we are stumbling around without the guidance of the Spirit that we really need, we can cause problems within the Church.   But with the love of God and the Spirit of God we can overcome that and have brotherly love which is what Philadelphia means.  If we understand our calling, see, that God is going to do something great.  Can you imagine what it’s going to be like when Prince Philip has to bow down and worship before Evelyn’s feet here?  (Ellen, I beg your pardon, Ethel.  We have an Evelyn out our way.  Evelyn Gardner.  She’s a little younger than you.  I think she’s 86.) 

But can you imagine when Christ says, “Hm, Prince Philip...”  And Prince Charles may be King Charles by that time.  “…I want you to come before these people and bow down and worship them.”  “But Lord, these were the nothing and the offscouring of those that we destined to death.  And we wanted nothing to do with them but merchandise them, and take from them, and deceive them.”  And God is going to say, “You either bow and worship or I’m going to break your legs.”  Now you think of that.  Now because of that let’s not get all lifted up.  But God has called us.  We are nothing.  God is the one Who gives us the strength.  And we rely on His strength and His way, and His ability more than anything else. 

So what I’m going to do since we’ve had a long, long session here.  I’m going to end it here and I’ll pick up on the next one and I will finish concerning the church in Philadelphia.  And I won’t spent much time on Laodicea.  They’ve been beaten up plenty enough.  (Laughter)