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PENTECOST – 2000
“The Seven Church Harvest” #2
Smyrna
Fred R. Coulter – May 5, 2000
Now let’s continue in our study here. We’re in Acts 13. We are
going to look at another false prophet. Now let’s also understand that
false prophets have false writings. Counterfeiters, just like
counterfeiting they like to get it as close as they can to the real thing,
until you find out that it’s totally opposite. And one of the things
that we’ve encountered, one of the things that we have been doing through
the years is that we’ve kept our noses in the Bible and every time there has
been a false doctrine by a false prophet, that’s supposedly in the Church of
God, we bring it out and we examine it by the word of God. That’s how
you test it, by the word of God. You test it by their fruits.
You test it by what they preach. And so part of what we’ve done in
getting the Passover book done is all a result of that very thing, by
following the admonition here that you have tested those who say they are
apostles, and are not, and have found them liars. Consequently then,
their writings will be lies.
Now let’s see another example of this, Acts 13. And you need to
understand that in part of our Church experience in the past, we thought
that whoever was a Jew was just like us except they needed Christ.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of Jewish belief is like
we find here in Acts 13.
Let’s begin in verse 4. “So they [that is Barnabas and Saul], being sent
forth by the Holy [Spirit] Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence
they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, they preached
the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister [that is one who was helping and serving or assisting].
And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain
sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus…” (Acts
13:4-6). Now what does Bar mean? Bar means son. The son of
Jesus. Now was he literally saying he was the son of Jesus? You
know what we have in the mythology today? About Christ, that Christ
supposedly had relations with Mary Magdalene and had children. It just
makes you wonder, you know, there’s nothing new under the sun.
“Which was with the deputy of the country…” Notice they always get in
close proximity of high political power. “…The deputy of the country,
Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired
to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name
by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the
faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul) [which by the way
is the first time he’s called Paul] filled with the Holy [Spirit] Ghost, set
his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the
right ways of the Lord?” (vs. 7-10). Now notice, what were they perverting?
They were using the scriptures in perverting it. And we will see
that’s how they were doing all along. So they really had a tremendous
battle going on right from the start. And what we’re going to see,
what confronted the churches there is virtually no different than what’s
confronting us today. So that’s what they do, pervert the right ways
of the Lord. We’ll see a little later as Paul says the Gospel.
“And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt
be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell
on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by
the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being
astonished at the doctrine of the Lord” (vs. 11-12). Now let’s
understand something. Doctrine is important. Doctrine does
divide because it divides truth from error. That’s very profound and
very important to understand, and we will see that’s how you test the false
prophets, false doctrines. He was astonished at the doctrine of the
Lord.
Now let’s come here and see some of the other things that developed.
Let’s come to…. Well there are many, many different things we could
put in there. Obviously I’m not going to cover all of the scriptures
but we’ll also see something that’s a little ironic just a little bit later.
But let’s come to 2 Corinthians 11 because here is a real summary of how
these problems grew, and grew, and grew, and grew to such a point that they
were misleading those in the church of Corinth. Now we have never
heard what happened to the different elders that were there in Ephesus.
We never heard what happened in the case where Paul brings up Apollos in the
book of 1 Corinthians. But in the last part of 2 Corinthians he was
sort of miffed at Apollos because Apollos didn’t want to come back to
Corinth while Paul was there. Now remember Apollos came out of
Alexandria so we don’t know. We just have to put a question mark.
Question: did Apollos remain faithful? We can’t answer the
question. We have no evidence he didn’t. We have no evidence
that he did. But never the less under who’s ever influence it was, in
Corinth they were not testing the false apostles like they should have.
Let’s begin here in 2 Corinthians 11:1. “Would to God ye could bear
with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly
jealousy…” That’s why you test these thing, see. “…For I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled…” That’s the same word that is used that Simon Magus beguiled
the people. And that means deceived Eve. “…Through his
subtilty…” And how does Satan do it? He always uses the word of
God but twists it. What did he say to Eve? “Yea, has God said
you can’t eat of any of the trees of the garden?” And then she fell
for it hook, line, and sinker. “…So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:1-3).
And I think today the whole thing concerning the Passover is an example of
how complicated false doctrine makes things when you have to straighten it
out. Look at all the things that I wrote in the book, “The Christian
Passover”, and all of them deal with all of the false doctrines. And
understand this, the very first thing that Satan the devil goes after is the
Passover, because he knows that that is the covenant with Christ. Very
important. That’s what he always goes after. Did they have
trouble with the Passover? Yes, 1 Corinthians 11. Did they
misunderstand the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Yes, 1 Corinthians 5.
Has the influence right there. Then that’s only the start. And
so you remove from the simplicity of Christ into the complicated mind
twisting doctrines of Satan the devil.
Now notice what happened, verse 4. “For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus…” So they had a different Jesus then, didn’t they?
Now we’ll see what that is in just a little bit. Preaching any other
doctrine than Christ came in the flesh. And when we get to the book of
Hebrews we’re going to see how so important that is. And the very
emphasis on what Christ did. “…Another Jesus, whom we have not
preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not
received, or another gospel…” And there is another gospel of the
Gnostics. And there are many versions of this. So here it is
right there. So Paul is doing what he should do in withstanding it, in
warning them. “…Which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him [or that is, the Greek really means, You count this as a wonderful
thing.]. For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest
apostles” (vs. 4-5). Now those are the false apostles. This has
nothing to do with Peter because Peter was never the chief apostle.
You read through the book of Acts, it’s Peter and John. Peter, James
and John. Peter, John, and the apostles all together. Now Peter
did exert some leadership, that is true. But when we get to the story
of the Nicolaitans we will see that he never exalted himself in any way to
become the chief apostle. As a matter of fact, when you get to 1 Peter
5, he just says “I am an Elder.” So that’s how he thought of himself.
“But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have
been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Have I
committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I
have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other
churches…” That’s a whole different thing here concerning tithing.
We won’t get into it now. “…Taking wages of them, to do you
service. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no
man…” (vs. 6-9). Why? That was Paul’s way of finding these false
apostles. That was Paul’s way of putting them to the test.
“Let’s see if you false apostles can get along without asking for money like
I am not asking for money of the Corinthians.”
He says, “…for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from
Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being
burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the
truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the
regions of Achaia. Wherefore? [that is “why”] because I love you
not? God knoweth [that is, I do love you]. But what I do, that I
will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion…”
Lesson we can learn with this, among many. False prophets like to come
in and have dialogue so they can have an occasion. Does that smack a
little thing of truth concerning the ecumenical movement? Yes.
Now Paul didn’t mince words. “…That wherein they glory, they may
be found even as we. For such are false apostles [there they
are, being put to the test, being exposed for what they were], deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ” (vs. 9-13).
Because they were not the apostles of Christ. And when you read of the
early Church fathers of the Catholic church that is the end result of
it.
“And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their
works” (vs. 14-15). So that’s what they were doing. They were
coming, preaching another Jesus. They were coming preaching another
gospel. They were coming bringing another spirit, which was what?
Satanic and demonic, not of God. Coming right into the congregations
of God, here in the church of Corinth right where… in the days of the
apostles Paul. I mean when you understand how fierce this was, and how
the battle started early, it’s amazing.
Now let’s continue on and see what he says about them. Let’ come down
here to verse 22. “Are they Hebrews [they weren’t Synthians or
Barbarians]? so am I. Are they Israelites?” Notice what they were doing. They
were going by their genealogy, their pedigree, right? “Are they the
seed of Abraham? so am I.” And I’ve often wondered: from
where did they come from? Obviously from the area of Palestine,
correct? So I have to put in a few questions here. I wonder how
many of them were in the crowds that followed Jesus and saw the miracles?
Where they could go around and later say, “Well I was there with Jesus…”,
and then bring in their false doctrines. Why else would it say
Hebrews, Israelites, seed of Abraham?
“Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool)…” (vs. 23), and
the Greek there means “I speak as one insane”. In other words it’s
insanity to consider that false apostles could possibly bring you the truth
of Christ. Then he goes on showing all that he went through as
compared to them. You know, Paul had to go around, walk around in all
the travels that he did.
Here, let’s come to 2 Corinthians 2. Let’s see what they did, verse
17. “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God [that’s
what they were doing, corrupting it, twisting it]: but as of sincerity, but
as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” Now chapter 4, and
all of these things just in this one epistle. Now we’ll go to
Galatians here in just a second. Then we’ll see the warning that he
gave there. 2 Corinthians 4:1, “Therefore seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness [that is having a
secret agenda], nor handling the word of God deceitfully…” That tells
you something very profound. Have you ever sat in a congregation where
a minister gets up there and he starts speaking and he’s handling the word
of God deceitfully? And the truth is twisted and turned. Now if
he has an NIV Bible, or a New American Standard, that’s very easy to do.
Because he has a corrupted version of it. And yes in our experience,
that is exactly what happened to Worldwide Church of God. That is
exactly what is happening to the Seventh Day Adventist right today, because
they are not fighting against the false apostles that have snuck in.
And they are bringing their teachings.
Now let’s go to Galatians 1. Now a lot of these scriptures we have
already covered. We have covered them in different ways. But I
want to cover it from the point of view that Christ commended the church at
Ephesus because they withstood the false apostles. Now as soon as the
original apostles died then the onslaught began and it was just almost
within just a few years everything was completely, completely upside down.
Now, Galatians 1:6. “ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him
that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.” So
there were many gospels coming around. “Which is not another [cause
there can’t be any but one gospel, you see, that’s what he’s saying]; but
there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ”
(Gal. 1:6-7). What did we see that Elymas the sorcerer did? He
was perverting the right way of the Lord, correct? Here we have it now
perverting the gospel of Christ. How do you do that? We’ll see
that in just a minute.
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Quite
different from the Corinthians. They said, “Oh, well let’s hear this
man out. That sounds interesting. He’s a good speaker.
He’s using the Bible.” Paul says let him be accursed. “As we
said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now
persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men?” That is in
their sins and in their corruption and in their perversion of the gospel and
the handling of the word of God. “…For if I yet please men, I should not be
the servant of Christ” (vs. 8-10).
And I know I’ve experienced that too. Some people get upset with me
because I’m not an ecumenist and I don’t go along with all of these weird
and strange doctrines that a lot of people have. Now there’s one
congregation that I know of down in Texas where they have almost anybody
speak. One man gets up there and says, “Now I want all of you to know
I’m a Trinitarian and we never bring it up.” See. Another man
gets up and says, “I want all of you to know I’m a 15th Passover
keeper”, and they never bring it up. Let’s all get along, let’s all go
along, and what are you doing? You’re walking down the broad way.
You’re corrupting everything and you’re going to have those problems.
Now let’s come here to Titus 1. Let’s see how Paul handled those
things. And let me ask you a question. Do you think we can go
wrong if we follow Paul’s example? No, no. That’s why the church
at Ephesus was commended. Because they put them to the test.
They found them to be liars and rejected them. How else can you keep
the purity of the truth of the gospel of Christ. Now let’s pick it up
here in verse 9, speaking of those who were to be elders. “Holding
fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound
doctrine…” We’re going to see how much doctrine comes up in this.
“…Both to exhort and to [convict] convince the gainsayers.” And there
are a lot of gainsayers. “For there are many [now notice – many]
unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision
[Jews].” Now we’re going to see a little later on how could it be Jews
that were doing this. Very simple. “Whose mouths must be
stopped….” (Titus 1:9-11). That’s a command of Paul, which then he
said these things are the commands of Christ. So when there is false
doctrine that comes up it should be addressed, it should be tested and the
mouth should be stopped. Now we may not be able to stop them
literally, but at least what we can do, we can have our knowledge of the
scriptures correct. We can have the literature, we can have the
studies, we can have the sermons available, which then bring the truth,
which when a person hears it, it will stop their mouths.
Now I got a nice letter from someone who explained their whole odyssey
trying to find the truth. And they and several others were keeping a
15th Passover. They got a hold of the Passover book and
really went through it, and they all kept the 14th Passover and
they said it was such a wonderful thing to do, because after doing it on the
15th we did not have the experience on the 15th that
we had on the 14th and we now know not only by knowledge, but by
experience that the 14th is the Passover. So at least we
can stop some mouths. Not all. Notice, “…Who subvert whole
houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake” (vs.
11).
Now since we’re here in Titus let’s go back to 1 Timothy and let’s see what
Paul did. I got castigated just the other day because I named some
people in one of my letters that were preaching false doctrine. “Why
you’re divisive, why you’re judgmental, why you, you’re not kind, you’re not
loving.” Ok, well tell that to Christ when He pours out the seven last
plagues.
1 Timothy 1:3, “As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus…” Now
here, isn’t it interesting, Timothy is at Ephesus. So Timothy carried
it on until John when he was…he had to leave the area of Palestine. He
came up to Ephesus. “…When I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest
charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables
and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly
edifying which is in faith: so do. Now the end…” A lot of
Protestants take this, which is Gnosticism… “the end of the commandment”.
That means commandments are all done away with. No this means the end
purpose of the commandment. “…Is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain
jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what
they say, now whereof the affirm” (1 Tim. 1:3-7). So you have these
false prophets coming along. They don’t even understand what they are
saying, what they’re affirming.
Let’s come over here to chapter 4:1. Here’s how these things come
along. “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines
of [demons] devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience
seared with a hot iron;…” Then he goes on to explain about some of the
teachings of Gnosticism, which is what they were fighting. “Forbidding
to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth” (1 Tim. 4:1-3). Commanding
vegetarianism, asceticism, all that sort of thing. Boy, I tell you
it’s something.
Notice, come over here, chapter 6:3. “If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and
strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness…” Now that’s a perfect description of
how I felt in Pasadena for quite a few years, seeing all the things that
were going on there. Notice what it says, “…from such withdraw
thyself” (1 Tim 6:3-5). See, you can’t associate with that kind of
thing. You can’t do it. It will backfire on you.
Now let’s come to Acts 20. Paul could see this coming. Let’s
look at the ironic warning that he gave them in Ephesus, which then ties
right into the church of Ephesus and false apostles. Verse 28, he’s
talking to the elders. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves…” Now
that’s something all of us need to do, but especially those who are elders
and teachers. We need to take heed to ourselves. We don’t need
to get carried away with the self. We don’t need to get carried away
with anything and look to any abilities that God has given us as though it’s
something that we have on our own. And that’s why Paul told the
Corinthians there in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “You have nothing you didn’t
receive.” And brethren, when we start…if any teacher, if any elder
starts relying upon personality, eloquent speaking – that is speaking
techniques to move and generate peoples responses…those are all carnal
things. If God blesses, thank God for it. Don’t get carried away
with anything. And I tell you I take this to heart. Believe me,
I do. I do. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the
flock…” Be about the business of God, serving and loving the flock of
God. As Christ told Peter, “Do you love Me? Feed My sheep.
Do you love Me? Feed My lambs. Do you love Me? Feed My
sheep.” “…Over which the Holy [Spirit] Ghost hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God…” With what? The truth of God, the
word of God, that you may grow thereby. “…Which He hath purchased with
His own blood.” See all of those who are Christ’s belong to Him. His
blood brought them in. His Spirit through God the Father and Christ
working jointly together has called that individual, has led them to
repentance, has brought them the truth. Now if we can have a part in
that, that’s fine.
But it’s, you know, always remember the attitude of Nebuchadnezzar.
And we saw this happen too didn’t we, within the Church of God.
Nebuchadnezzar said, “Look at this great Babylon which I have built.”
And when he was warned a year before through the parable, “Don’t do it”, and
bam as soon as he said that he was struck insane. And the lesson was,
when you get lifted up in vanity God will set over you the basest of men.
Have we seen that happen within the Church of God? Yes, yes. All
you need to do is look and see who’s leading it today and you’ve got the
same thing, you see. So no one can be lifted up. Christ is the
One Who has done it.
“For I know this, that after my departing [that means after his death]
shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also
of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things…” Now
that’s about the third time we’ve seen that word, isn’t it? Pervert
the gospel, pervert the way of the Lord. Now, “…speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and
remember, that by the space of three years…” Now you think of that.
This statement of Paul is not what some people would say is a hyperbole.
That is an exaggerated statement for exclamatory effect. This is, “…I
ceased no to warn [you] every one night and day with tears” (vs29-30).
Now he knew what was going to happen.
Let’s come to 2 Timothy 1, and let’s see that it happened. It
happened. Verse 13, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou
hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That
good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy [Spirit] Ghost
which dwelleth in us. This thou knowest, that all they were are in
Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes” (2 Tim.
1:13-15). He names them. Now you think about that. How was it,
and we’ll see what happened here, we’ll see it a little later, how was it
that they were able to turn all the churches in Asia away from Paul.
That’s why when we read Revelation 2 and 3, we look at all of the false
doctrine that is there. And all the things that have taken place.
That’s amazing. That is truly an amazing thing.
So you need to understand this brethren, to really have the Spirit of God,
which you do. To really be of the firstfruits, which you are, is truly
an amazing miracle in itself. You need to think on that, cause there
are a lot of people playing church. A lot of people playing religion
and that’s how all these false prophets got in there, and they quit testing
them. So they left. That’s incredible. We said the same
statement too. Where have they all gone? An amazing thing, isn’t
it? And sometimes you sit back and you think, “Lord, who will be
saved?” But I think this: there will be more saved if we get the
doctrine straight and follow the example of the church at Ephesus and put
all the teachings and teachers and apostles to the test to find out whether
they’re from God or not. Then we can at least have something to fight
with, and it’s a spiritual battle.
Now come over here. 2 Timothy 2:16, “But shun profane and vain
babblings: for they will [Sounds like the church of talking in tongues,
right? Yes.] increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat
as doth a canker[or cancer]: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus.” So
there we have it again now. “Who concerning the truth have erred,
saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of
some” (2 Tim. 2:16-18). So here, what do we have? We have the
teaching of the immortality of the soul, that you’re going to heaven.
Straight out of Gnosticism. So this will really be something. Ok
I just call your attention to 2 Peter 2. You can read the whole
thing. And what these false prophets were doing, and also to Jude
verses 3 and 4. Let’s just stop by there at Jude just before we get
back to the book of Revelation. Jude 3 and 4, and let’s see the
admonition here, cause it’s really quite a thing what happened. And
this battle brethren, it started then and it’s continued right on down to
this day. And then we will see when we come to the church of Smyrna,
that other forces enter into it. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Let’s come here Jude verse 3.
Now he was the brother of Christ. “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to
write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto
you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend…” Now that
means that you have to really put forth an effort, right? Yes.
It is a fight. Now that’s what the days of Unleavened Bread shows us
all about. We have to fight against self, against Satan, and this
world. “…Contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ.” So that was the battle that was there.
Christ commended the church at Ephesus. Now let’s come back to
Revelation 2. He commended the church at Ephesus for trying and
testing them who were saying and claiming they were apostles, and found them
liars. Now they worked, they had patience, verse 3, they labored.
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Rev. 2:4).
Now what does it mean to leave the first love? Now some people
understand the first love being this: when they first come to
the knowledge of the truth and they begin to understand the truth they have
a love and a zeal for the truth. They say that is their first love.
That is one interpretation of it. Just like with the ones here at
Ephesus, they had the gospel preached to them, the truth was there, they
loved God, they worked, they strived, and all of this, but something
happened. There’s another aspect of first love, which is more
profound, which is this: the Greek word for first is protos. So
the first love is to love God with all your heat, and mind, and soul, and
being. That’s the first commandment. That’s what they were
losing. In other words they were beginning to get themselves into a
position where it was more important to be with people than to fellowship
with God. So they began to lose their first love.
Now another way of losing your first love…let’s go back here to Deuteronomy
5 and we will see there’s another way that it begins to happen. And it
has to do with the second commandment. Let’s ask the question: when
into the Christian Church, did idols and images begin to creep in?
Let’s read it here, verse 8. “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing…” Now question: is
that all inclusive? That sounds very complete to me, right? “…Of
any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in
the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor
serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me
and keep My commandments” (Deut. 5:8:10). So if you lose your first
love, what happens? You begin having idolatry of some kind. You
begin slacking off in keeping the rest of the commandments of God.
Let’s ask a question: where does idolatry begin? Before you make any
kind of idol. Now if you lose your first love toward God then what
happens? What do you as an individual do? You begin putting God
off, right? And you put God off when you sin and you don’t want to
repent. That is the beginning of idolatry. And it begins in the
mind. Let’s come to Ezekiel 14. Now later we know they had all
kinds of idols. Statues, crosses, steeples, churches built and filled
with all kinds of mystic idolatry straight out of Egypt and Babylon.
So I bring this up as another view of losing your first love. Now you
may not have a cross. You may not have a crucifix. You may not
have rosary beads. You may not have a virgin Mary but if you have an
idol in your mind then you are committing idolatry and you have something
before God, which then is taking away your love of God. Now there are
a lot of people today who have that. Just the way the world is with
all the activities. I mean just stop and think, all the activities
that are done today on the Sabbath day, which keep people idolized in
activities. Sports, all kinds, whether you watch it or participate in
it. Sales, merchandising, whether you are part of it or whether you
are buying. All the activities of coming and going. And all of
those are idols which cut people off from God.
Now let’s begin Ezekiel 14:1. “Then came certain of the elders of
Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word of the LORD came unto
me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,
and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be
inquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto
them, thus saith the LORD GOD; Every man of the house of Israel…” Now
who is spiritual Israel today? The Church. “…That setteth up his
idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before
his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh
according to the multitude of his idols;” Now does that not sound an
awful lot like “If you don’t repent and do the first works, “I will come
unto you and remove your lamp stand, or candlestick.” Sounds to me an
awful lot like it. So I think that we could include there, idolatry
began to creep in. Now let’s finish here verse 5. “That I may
take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged
from Me through their idols” (Ezek. 14:1-5).
Now when that began to happen…let’s come back to Revelation 2…then God had
to take action. God had to take action, and He did. Now how many
of them in Ephesus really repented? We don’t know. But the
candlestick at Ephesus has been removed. No longer there. Now
then we’re dealing in something, which then we’re talking about a church
which fought off all of the false prophets, all of the false doctrine.
They tried them, they tested them, they worked, they sacrificed. They
loved God and then something happened to where they lost their first love.
And it was so severe that Christ told them to repent. That was totally
different from the rest of the other churches. Let’s read what He says
in commending them back here, Revelation 2:6. “But this thou hast [so
they were commended of this], that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate.” Now we’ll answer that when we get to Pergamos,
that the deeds of the Nicolaitans have to do with the hierarchical
government coming from the top down. So they hated that.
The other part of it was the religious doctrines that came with the
Nicolaitans, which was Gnosticism, coming into the Church. So they
hated that, but they were so busy fighting it that they wore themselves out,
lost their first love, for which then Christ had to tell them to repent.
Now verse 7, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
Now as I mentioned before, the reason that I’m going through the seven
churches leading up to Pentecost is because we find, according to what we
have there in Matthew 13, that the whole plan of God is like a harvest.
And so in counting to Pentecost there are seven complete weeks you are to
count to Pentecost. So likewise we have seven churches here. We
could have had many more because there were many more churches. So
there’s a significance to the seven churches that we have.
Next we come to the church of Smyrna. Now this is a church that no
one wants to belong to today. But it will be reenacted again, because
we find in Revelation 6, the fifth seal, that there is going to come a
martyrdom today. And very few people know it but Carl brought it to my
attention, that there are Sabbath-keepers in the Sudan that are being killed
because they are Sabbath-keepers. So today there are those who are
being killed for keeping the Sabbath. We got an e-mail from a man who
is in Serbia, and he cannot assemble on the Sabbath because his neighbors
count the number that come into his house. When they sings hymns they
have to virtually whisper. The only contact he has is with his
computer. So I hope we can serve people like that. We don’t know
where there are in the world those who are being killed and martyred for
Christ.
Now the martyrdom, let’s read it here and then we’ll go back and see the
martyrdom was also there even beginning with the church which was called
Ephesus. So all these things go side by side. Now let’s read it,
verse 8. “And unto the angel [or the messenger] of the church in
Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and
is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art
rich)…” Now this is just the opposite of the Laodiceans, right?
Laodiceans say, “We’re rich and increased in goods, hurray, hurray, hurray.
Look at how God is blessing us.” I bet the Laodiceans at that time
looked over at the church at Smyrna and said, “Why, you know you’re not very
clever. You’re getting killed. Why don’t you just tone it down a
little bit? Save your life. Why don’t you do like we do?
We’ll just get along and go along.” No they had a real zeal for God.
They were deprived of their property, of their lands, of their wealth.
But they were faithful unto death.
He says, “But you are rich”. “…And I know the blasphemy of
them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan.” So now we come into an organized movement against the Church
of God. And who’s always against the Church? Satan. Now a
synagogue means “a gathering together of those who serve Satan”. And
to say that they are a Jew does not mean that they are saying that they are
literally of the line of Judah. That’s one interpretation of it.
A greater interpretation, which applies and includes more than just Jews,
because we have the Edomite Jews, we have the Ashkenazi Jews and things like
this, which we know today. But as you look out on the world scene
today the synagogue of Satan includes also a lot of pagans and a lot of
those who don’t believe in Christianity in any form. So likewise was
it then that because every Gnostic religion, whether pagan, whether Jewish,
whether Christian, all claimed to be the ones who had the keys of salvation.
And so they were the ones then, the organized ones.
Now, let’s see here, just hold your place and let’s go to 1 John 2.
These were the ones who left the church of Ephesus. They were tried,
they were tested, they left and now then when they organized then they came
back against the Church of God. And they did what the synagogue of
Satan always does. They get the civil authorities involved.
Now here, 1 John 2:18, “Little children, it is the last time: and as we
have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many
antichrists…”, who then all got organized into the synagogue of Satan.
“…Whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but
they were not of us…” Why? Because we tested them, we tried them
and we found them false apostles, see. “…For if they had been of or,
they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made
manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:18-19).
Now chapter 4. Let’s see some of the things that they were preaching.
Verse 1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether
they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God…” (1 John 4:1-2). And that’s the
first thing that they began to change. Now remember, whenever these
false prophets come along, they begin to tinker with the Passover and then
the nature of God. The two of them go one-two. And that’s what
they were doing.
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of an anti-christ,
whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the
world.” So by time we come to Symrna, now it’s organized. “Ye
are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He
that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world:
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” That’s what
happened. “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is
not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the
spirit of error” (vs. 3-6).
Now let’s come back to Revelation 2 again. So here we have the
organized synagogue of Satan coming. Coming after the Church of God.
Verse 10, “Fear none of those things [don’t worry about a martyrdom] which
thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into
prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days…”
Now there are two ways of looking at this, as we will see. Ten years,
or ten different occasions of acute persecution. “…Be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh
shall not be hurt of the second death” (Rev. 2:10-11).
Ok, now let’s look at the first martyr. Something happens…let’s come
back here to Acts 7. There is a power that God gives to those who are
in circumstances like that. Such a great power to preach. A
great power to convict. Let’s just pick up the last part of Stephen’s
sermon, because this is what they had to do. And brethren the time is
going to come, now I don’t know if it’s going to fall on any of us or not.
It may or may not. We don’t know. I think God will spare a lot
of those who are in advanced age. God is certainly not going to put
upon anyone more than he can bear. But you see this is why we really
have to know the word of God. Look at what Stephen did here.
Verse 51, now this is not an ecumenical statement. “Ye stiffnecked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy [Spirit]
Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the
prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which
shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of Whom ye have been now the
betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of
angels., and have not kept it. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy [Spirit] Ghost, looked up
steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the
right hand of God…” (Acts 7:51-56). So God gave him that last minute
strength and inspiration because he knew what was going to happen.
So they took him out and stoned him. And his attitude was “…Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge” (vs. 60). So there’s a perfect example
of loving your enemies right while they’re killing you. Now that would
be hard for me. I know that would be hard for me. But if God
would give me the strength I’m sure He would do the same thing. So we
don’t know what it’s going to be for the situation coming down the road
here, but let’s read some things here.
This is out of a book, “Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain” by Tim
LaHaye. But let me assure you that I’m going to bring you just some
interesting informational things that he has historically. Some of his
interpretations are really way off base but he’s got something here
concerning the persecuted churches, he calls it here.
Smyrna. He says, “This church age saw eight of the ten periods of
persecution under Roman emperors.” Now you need to understand.
Now I need to bring a sermon on this too. I’ve got so much sermon
material I don’t know what to do, and I’m not complaining because I have so
much, but we are living in an age where knowledge will increase so we get
it. In September there is a full-blown meeting of the United Nations
to develop it into a world government. And it will lead to the same
thing that these religionists did against the Christians in organizing the
government to persecute and kill the true Christians. So here are the
persecutions that are listed:
-
Nero
A.D. 54-68
-
Domitian
A.D. 81-96 That’s when John was exiled, then he wrote the book of
Revelation.
-
Trajan
A.D. 98-117
-
Marcus Aurelius A.D.
161-180
-
Severus
A.D. 193-211
-
Maximinius
A.D. 235-238
-
Decius
A.D. 249-251
-
Valerian
A.D. 253-260
-
Aurelian
A.D. 270-275
-
Diocletian
A.D. 284-305
And then all of this persecution wore them out. And then Satan
brought in his subversion of the Church and we will see what happened with
Pergamos when we get there, because Pergamos is the key fulcrum in all of
this concerning the doctrine in the Church.
Now “Diocletian is considered the worst emperor in Rome’s history and the
greatest antagonist of the Christian faith. He led a violent attempt
to destroy the Bible from the face of the earth. Under his leadership
many roman cities had public burnings of the sacred Scriptures.” ( Page 52,
Revelation Illustrated…)
Now I want you to understand what a tremendous blessing it is that we the
whole Bible. Is God able to preserve His word? Yes. Even
in spite of burnings and corruptions? Yes. So that He can give
it to His true people that He calls? Yes, all the way down through
history.
“During the second and third centuries this persecution age saw hundreds of
Christians brought into the amphitheater of Rome to be fed to hungry lions
while thousands of spectators cheered.” Now how many have seen the
movie, “The Robe”, with Victor Mature? Remember when it came down to
being thrown to the lions. I think that the producers of it did
something which was very reflective of human nature. It gave in the
background those who were praying saying, “Oh no, why are we here being
thrown to the lions…”, and all of this. And someone blurted out in
their prayer, “Lord you didn’t tell it would be this way.” That has
always stood out in my mind. Do you remember that from the movie?
Now listen, be guaranteed of one thing. It is never going to turn out
like you figure, so that’s why you have to have faith, you see.
“Many were crucified; others were covered with animal skins and tortured to
death by wild dogs.” You think of that the next time you watch A&E
where it shows the wild dogs of Africa going after their prey. Just
think of Christians under animal skins. “They were covered with tar
and set on fire to serve as torches. They were boiled in oil and
burned at the stake…” Now it is said of the apostle John that the
reason that he was exiled, {to} the Isle of Patmos was because he was to be
killed by being boiled in oil and they threw him in and he didn’t burn.
So they took him out and sent him the Isle of Patmos. “…Burned at the
stake, as was Polycarp in the city of Smyrna itself in A.D. 156. One
church historian has estimated that during this period, five million
Christians were martyred for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Now if it be that many, that’s marvelous, but it just shows you that when
you start adding up all of those who were killed at the reformation time.
Anyone who believes that only 144,000 are going to be in the first
resurrection, you better get off your vanity kick and believe in God and the
word of God, because that’s nothing but selfish vanity to be used to
manipulate people to keep them under your control so that you can make sure
that they feel their one of the 144,000. Now I’ll talk about the
144,000 as we come down toward Pentecost. There’s some very
interesting things.
In spite of all this it was a thriving church. “Evidence of the
supernatural nature of the Church can be seen in the fact that the Church
reached its greatest numbers in proportion to world population during this
period of persecution.” Because something happens when, and I’m sure
it’s God’s Spirit that does it, when other people would see them burned at
the stake and killed and crucified, and slaughtered then God’s Spirit would
be with some of those who were spectators and convert them. You know
that’s something to see all the innocent people lined up and slaughtered.
“In addition to the establishment of churches in many parts of the world,
this church age distinguished itself by it’s production of many hand-copied
manuscripts of the sacred Scriptures and the translation of Scripture into
many languages. Early in this period, the Bible was translated into
Syriac, in what is known as the Peshito manuscripts, which became the
official Scriptures of the Eastern churches and from which translations were
made into Arabic, Persian, and Armenian. In the second century the
Bible was translated into Latin in what is called the Old Latin Version.”
And this Old Latin Version went all the way to Ireland and to Britain.
I mean it’s amazing. “This became the Bible of the Western churches
for more than a thousand years and has been translated into many different
languages.”
“The more the Scriptures were disseminated and used by the people, even in
the face of persecution, the more the Church advanced in numbers until it
was such a dominant factor in the Roman Empire that Christianity was
established as the state church by Emperor Constantine in A.D. 312.”
(pgs. 52-53). Well, that’s where he starts getting off, see. At
that time then the Church was sent off into a place in the wilderness.
So this is a profound lesson for us. We need to understand what this
really is here.
Now let’s go back and look at this. Understand something that is very
important. Let’s come back to verse 9. “I know thy works, and
tribulation…” Let’s understand the lesson from here. Even though
they were killed, even though they slaughtered and burned. Realize
that they overcame. Realize that whatever means of death they were
executed by, or in the future will happen too, that they were victors.
They overcame. So the thing to learn from this is: if you are in
tribulation Christ is with you and in you. Did He suffer tribulation
and trial? Yes. Paul said that he wanted to be counted worthy to
share in the same sufferings as Christ. And yes he did, he did.
That’s what these people did too.
“…And poverty…” Learn the lesson: never set your heart on
riches or physical goods. Never. Because when you are the
poorest materially you have an opportunity to be the richest spiritually.
So this is why when we are living in the age that we are now, if we’re all
repenting Laodiceans, which I hope we all are, then we need to take the same
lesson from the Church of Smyrna and learn it and apply it to ourselves.
You better be rich in Christ, and poor in this world, than rich in this
world and poor in Christ. So Christ knows the poverty. Was
Christ a rich man when He was on the earth? No. No He wasn’t.
So if you’re in poverty, Christ is there with you and in you. “…(But
you are rich)…” That is if you die for Christ, if you’re martyred
because of truth, if you give your live in however it may be then you are
rich indeed.
Here turn the page to Revelation 6:9. Let’s see the time of martyrdom
that is going to be. “And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and
for the testimony which they held…” Now this is in vision. “And
they cried with a loud voice…” This is the only way that God could
show John that at the end time there was going to be another martyrdom of
saints. “…Saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes
were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they
should rest yet…” That is remain in the grave, that’s what it’s
talking about here. “…Yet for a little season, until their fellow
servants also [that is ministers, elders, teachers] and their brethren
[those who are the flock of God], that should be killed as they were,
should be fulfilled” (Rev. 6:9-11).
Now let’s come to Revelation 12, and see how to overcome in circumstances
like that. Revelation 12, this shows that the martyrdom is coming
again when Satan is cast down from the battle in heaven. Verse 9, “And
that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world…” And boy is it set up today.
Oh, it is unreal. “…He was cast out into the earth, and his angels
were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now
is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power
of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused
them before our God day and night” (Rev. 12:9-10). That’s what they
had there in the organized movement of the synagogue of Satan. Satan
leading it, Satan inspiring it, giving it power, giving it strength.
Now notice verse 11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of their testimony…” And God is going to require a
testimony from us. We’re going to be brought up. There’s going
to come a time when it’s going to be illegal to say the name of Jesus
Christ. It’s going to be illegal to use the scriptures. Matthew
10 shows that we’re going to be brought before councils and judges.
We’ll see that in just a minute. “…The word of their testimony; and
they loved not their lives unto the death.” Why? Because they
trusted in Christ. Christ was with them through this. In it in
everything brethren.
“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth
and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,
because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” So that’s when the
persecution begins. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the
earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child”
(vs. 12-13). Coming after the Church in no uncertain terms. And
listen, you can trust me on this, if not trust your government…they know all
about you, whether you answered the census form or not. They can
monitor every phone call, every fax, every business transaction. They
have the global positioning satellites that can find every human being on
earth within a 100 square foot area. So when the persecution
comes…that’s why God has to intervene.
Now everyone wants to go to a place of safety. I do brethren.
You do. But let’s be realistic. Not everyone is going to get
there. So those that go are carried by “…two wings of a great eagle,
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is
nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the
serpent” (vs. 14). And I want to tell you something. There are
going to be a lot of Protestants who expect that they’re just going to be
just miraculously whisked off in a Rapture, but they’re going to be standing
there when the tribulation begins. And they’re the ones, if they have
anything to do with Christ, as well as with the Church of God, that are
going to suffer the martyrdom. They are going to be killed. Why?
Because the Bible says, “He who seeks to save His life shall lose it.”
That’s what they’re doing. And so have a lot of people in the Church
of God.
Now notice, verse 17, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to
make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God,
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Quite a battle. So it’s
going to happen again.
Let’s close by going to Matthew 10, here now please. So don’t worry
about the doctrinal battles we go through today. Aren’t those mild
compared to blood, guts, and gore, and lopping of heads, and the stabbing in
the stomach, and crucifying and burning? Yes. So don’t disparage
of the doctrinal wars.
Let’s begin in verse 16. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the
midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they
will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before
governors and kings [and governors could also mean judges] for My sake, and
for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver
you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given
you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” (Matt.
10:16-20).
Now here’s how desperate it’s going to get. “And the brother shall
deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children
shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved”
(vs. 21-22). Very profound. Now when that happens, when that
happens, then we have to understand this…
Let’s come here to verse 32. This is what happened to the church at
Smyrna. “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I
confess also before My Father in heaven.” So doctrinally they don’t
have to be pure. As a matter of fact many of the things that the
martyrs go through, they just have a love and zeal for God, and God inspires
them to give the conviction and warning to those that arrest them. But
whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father
which is in heaven” (vs. 32-33). And you don’t want that to happen.
Now notice verse 34, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I
came not to send peace, but a sword.” And at the end it is going to
be…{missing words on tape}…which is coming down tremendously with all of the
events of the book of Revelation. So the end-time fulfillment of the
church in Smyrna is going to be just gigantic. “For I am come to set a
man at variance against his father and a daughter against her mother, and
the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (vs. 34-36).
But here is the key. “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is
not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not
worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after
Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and
he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” That’s why it was
said to the church at Smyrna, “Fear none of the things which come upon you”,
because you will live indeed. So that was quite an age at that time.
Well, we did get through it. The tape is still going but I don’t
think there’s enough room for the addresses so we’ll have to listen for
another tape for that.
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