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PENTECOST – 2000
"The Seven Church Harvest" #6
Sardis & Philadelphia
Fred Coulter - May 28, 2000
This is Church Harvest #6, and unfortunately for Church Harvest #5 I got it
cut off because the tape ran out and no room to put anything else on it so
what I’m going to do is I’ll finish up a little bit here concerning Thyatira
and concerning the things with that, then we’ll move right on into Sardis.
So let’s go to Revelation 2 and let’s read just a couple of things here
again that we need to understand.
Let’s read Revelation 2:24. “But unto you I say, and unto the rest in
Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine…” That is the doctrine of
Balaam through Jezebel, the doctrine of committing spiritual fornication,
the doctrine of eating things sacrificed to idols. “…And which have not
known the depths of Satan…” Which means that there were some that went way
beyond as we saw. The depths of Satan or the paternal depth, as we read
yesterday from the book Primitive Christianity in Crisis. “…As
they speak; I will put upon you none other burden”.
Now let’s go to Romans 10 and we will see that Paul, even in the book of
Romans was bringing out something which directly connects with the deep.
Let’s begin in verse 6. Now remember that the Gnostic teaching was,
the secret teaching, it had to come as an emanating energy or angel to you
and this would enlighten you. Now when we read this here in Romans 10
you’re going to see that Paul is refuting that kind of thing along with the
depth. Let’s read it, verse 6. “But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into
heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)” And that
was the whole thing concerning Gnosticism. And when you get into the
philosophical religion of the pagan Greeks, what did they have? They
had the gods that went up into heaven to bring down to mankind. So
this is a reference to the infiltration of this kind of thought into the
Church, though this is quoted clear back in Deuteronomy.
Verse 7, “Or, who shall descend into the [abyss] deep?…” Now the lord
of darkness was the one who, when the sun set, would go into the abyss or
the darkness to bring the sun back at sunrise the next day. Now the
‘deep’ here in the Greek is ‘abyss’. Now what do we have about the
abyss. We have a couple things concerning the abyss, don’t we.
Let’s finish this here and then we’ll see that. “…(that is to bring up
Christ again from the dead.)” And of course that all ties in with the
mythological thing of Isis, Osiris, and Horus. And he was the god of
the dead, and you would have to be resurrected through Horus’s powers, you
see.
“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;”
(vs. 8). And of course God has made this available for all human
beings when you stop and consider the number of languages that the Bible has
been translated into, it’s pretty close to 300 languages. The New
Testament in about 1800 languages, and the gospel of Mark into over 2000
languages. So God has made it available, see, in a language that’s in
your mouth and in your heart. It requires no special esoteric
initiation or knowledge to get to it. It is available to you because
you can think and you can read, and what has been preached has been
preserved for us in His word.
Now, let’s go to Revelation 9 and let’s talk a little bit about the abyss.
While we’re turning there the abyss is the depths of Satan, which we read
yesterday, which was the paternal depths. Now let’s read here in verse
1. “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven
unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the [abyss] bottomless pit.”
The abyss, that’s the same word back there in Romans 10, “…Who shall descend
into the abyss? (that is to bring up Christ again from the dead?)”
Well, He was already resurrected, you see.
“And he opened the [abyss] bottomless pit;…” (vs. 2). Now what came out of
the abyss? Millions of demons, because there are demons in the abyss
who are restrained and reserved for the last time right here in Revelation
9.
Now let’s come over here to verse 11. It talks all about them, tells
all about them down through verse 10 and verse 11 says, “And they had a king
over them, which is the angel of the [abyss] bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon [which then
is Satan].” He is the king of the abyss, or the paternal depths.
So when people got into the deep things of Satan what they did was, they
got into actual Satan worship. And so what He is saying here in
Revelation 2 is that He will have mercy upon those who did not get into the
doctrine of spiritual fornication and eating things sacrificed to idols, and
did not get into the depths of Satan, which tells you that those three
things can disqualify you from being in the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of
God, because if I say kingdom of heaven someone is going to say, “Well, Fred
Coulter is saying you are going to heaven.” I’m not saying that.
That’s what Matthew used to describe the kingdom of God, which is the
kingdom of heaven.
And we also know from Revelation 20 that when Christ returns the very first
thing that is going to happen after the Beast and False Prophet are killed,
is that verse 1, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key
of the bottomless pit [or the abyss, so there’s an angel who’s in charge of
the abyss] and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the
dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a
thousand years, and cast him into the [abyss] bottomless pit, and shut him
up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,
till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be
loosed a little season” (Rev. 20:1-3). Now any tapes I have on the
Last Great Day, I go through and explain what that means. So that is
the abyss.
Now then, let’s look at the opposite of the deep things of Satan.
Let’s come to 1 Corinthians 2, and let’s look at the deep things of God,
because this is what we should desire. And this is why vanity and
carnality can never understand it.
1 Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him.” So I might just interject here,
since we discussed the wedding feast and the guests and the bride and the
groom. Regardless of where we fit into that, and God is the one Who
makes the decision anyway, we are going to have an inheritance so great and
so marvelous that it can’t even enter into our minds to fully comprehend it.
So if you’re not part of the Bride but if you’re a guest, don’t feel
slighted, you know. And I don’t say that from the point of view that I
necessarily think that I’m going to be part of the Bride. I just want
to be there in the first resurrection is what I want to be. Let God do
all the deciding and we’ll be thankful for it. So if you love God,
He’s provided things that you cannot hear of, you cannot see of, and it
doesn’t enter into your mind because you love God. But He’s going to
give you certain scriptures which will give you an inkling of it and that’s
about all. Like Paul said, we view things through a glass darkly.
And even this we view it darkly.
Verse 10, “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God [or the depths of
God].” And what we need to understand here is this: God will reveal
the deep things to us that are contained in His word if we hunger for it, if
we thirst for it. If we go to God…let’s go back to Psalm 119 here for
just a minute. If we go to God with this attitude, and this is
something we should continually pray about because God being so great, and
so marvelous, and His word is so fantastic, and there are so many things put
in there – line upon line, and precept upon precept.
Here let’s go to Psalm 119:18, and here’s what David said. This was
part of his prayer. “Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous
things our of Thy law.” And this is what we want, brethren, out of
God’s word. That we can behold wondrous things. We can
understand it. And here we are living in the last generation before
the return of Christ and we have all the word of God. Think how much
there is for us in the word of God that we yet do not even understand.
Because part of what we’re going to cover today, I’m just going to have to
tell you I don’t understand. I do want to understand but as of this
point I don’t understand. I hope to but God is going to have to reveal
it just like He says here by His Spirit.
Now come back to 1 Corinthians 2:11. And here’s how we know that it’s
not by might nor by power but by God’s Spirit. Therefore we can say to
understand these things it’s not by intellectual genius. It’s not by
brain power. It’s not by cloistering yourself off into a monastery and
all you do is pour over the word of God. No, it’s revealed by His
Spirit. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God.” So that’s how we’re going to understand these things.
But we have to have that open, willing, yielded attitude to God, but at the
same time have our guard set firm that we do not get involved in false
doctrines and wrong thoughts and self-exaltation and vanity and things like
that as I discussed a little bit earlier.
Now let’s come back to Revelation 2 and see something else which right here
in the middle of the seven churches, Thyatira is church #4, of which the
Seventh Day Adventists allude to it in the movie Israel of the Alps, that
they are somehow connected with them. However, most Seventh Day
Adventists today proclaim themselves to be Laodiceans, so… And how
many of you have ever been to a Seventh Day Adventist service? So,
whether they are Thyatira or Laocideans, I don’t know. But the Seventh
Day Adventists services I attended when our kids would graduate from the
class, and so forth when we sent them to Seventh Day Adventist school, the
services are just a bore. I’m sort of debating in my mind, are they
even part of Sardis? I don’t know. When we get into Sardis, you
see.
Here’s the thing, though we have the seven churches here, doesn’t all
of this tell us that we should not judge who belongs in what category here,
see. Let God do the judging. It’s all we can do to judge
ourselves with the word of God. So if we find ourselves in any of the
spiritual condition of the churches where they are told to repent, then let
us be busy about repenting instead of trying to categorize everyone and try
and figure out in our minds who belongs where. Because ultimately God
is going to make the decision. It’s the same way with the place of
safety, you see. Everyone wants to go there. But if everyone got
there, you know we could say, who’s going to be in charge?
Now let’s come to verse 23. “And I will kill her children with
death…” Now these are all of the children of the spiritual fornication
with Jezebel. Now how many of that is, I do not know. “…And all
the churches…” Now here’s a warning for all the churches right in the
middle of the whole sequence of explaining about the seven churches.
“…And all the churches shall know…” And of course this message, when
you go through and read it, it says over and over, and over again, “…he that
has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…”, which then
tells us also that Christ is the one Who is doing the judging, and in
particularly we will find that out right here in Revelation 2:23. “All
the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts:
and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”
Now this means something very special here brethren, according to the reins
that He searches the hearts. Searches the reigns and the hearts.
Let’s look at a couple of scriptures in the Psalms and see how that works.
Let’s come to Psalm 7:8, “The LORD shall judge the people…” So there
we go. Is that not judgment back there in Revelation 2:23? Yes.
“…Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine
integrity that is in me.” Which then is not his own really, but
the righteousness which comes from God. And in particularly for us who
are under the New Covenant, because the righteousness of Christ is imputed
to us as a gift to inspire us to want to draw closer to God. Not to
give us license to sin. But you think of what a tremendous gift that is,
that God imputes the righteousness of Christ to each one of us. You
know, just think what an absolute sinful thing it would be to take that and
turn that around and use it for license to sin. You know as Paul said,
God forbid, or may it never be, see.
Verse 9, “Oh let the wickedness of the wicked [one] come to an end; but
establish the just…” Now is this a prophecy toward the end-time?
Could very well be, because who is the wicked one? Satan the devil.
And the wickedness of the wicked come to an end… all the wicked. “…But
establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.”
And so that’s why it’s important, as I have been doing on the one with the
heart mind connection, that we have the heart of David and the mind of
Christ. Because that’s what God is trying, you see. And here
again we find in this particular case, though those in the first
resurrection will constitute a group, there is no salvation by group because
you belong to it. There is salvation by individually because God has
called you individually and you grow in grace an knowledge individually, God
tries your heart and reins individually, judges you upon your attitude and
your conduct individually, but when the resurrection comes then we will be
part of the group in the first resurrection. However, if you are in a
particular organization, that does not guarantee salvation, nor does it
guarantee you’re going to go to a place of safety. It just means that
you’re affiliating with that organization at this particular time.
Now let’s go to Psalm 16:7. “I will bless the LORD, who hath given me
counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.” So your
reins have to do, I am sure, with your thoughts, and your mind, and your
attitude, coupled with God’s Spirit. Since God’s Spirit is in you God
can know at any time what your thoughts, and your heart, and your mind, and
your attitude is. So this is what it means that “I try the reins and
the heart to give to every man according as his work shall be.” Notice
the attitude here of David, but also this blends right on in to the attitude
of Christ, as we will see here in the next couple verses.
Verse 8, “I have set he LORD always before me: because He is at my
right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my
glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.” Now this right
here is a direct prophecy of Christ. “For you will not leave my soul
in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
Then it goes right on into the resurrection, verse 11. “Thou wilt shew
me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasure for evermore”(vs.
8-11). And that’s what all of this trying the hearts and the reins is
all about. Qualifying for the resurrection, as we saw yesterday, it’s
the Father Who makes us qualified.
Let’s go to Psalm 26, and let’s begin right here in verse 1. “Judge
me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity:…” Now God is always judging
us. Now we need to be careful in it that when we ask God to judge us
that we be sure and have repentance first. That’s very important.
“I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my
heart.” Which God is constantly doing all the time. You see
that’s very important.
That’s why I keep stressing, and have stressed over and over again that
God’s way is a way of life. Just like in my last letter: we walk in
the way of the Lord, see. And we do so because it’s a way of life.
It’s not something we do on Sabbath, or something that we do on the holy
days, but it’s something that runs through everything that we do in our life
all day long. And I know what it’s like working out in the world.
When I was doing real estate loans, boy I had to plow back and forth, and
up and down the roads, and in and out of real estate offices, and
interviewing people, you know. I tell you when you first start out
doing loans and you walk into real estate offices they can spot you just
like that (snap fingers). Cause those real estate agents are used to
that. So here you come with your little rate sheet in hand, and if you
have been out there canvassing, and you are really striving to get a loan
because you know your funds are really low, and you don’t have much money
and you only make it on commission, and you walk in the door and you have
that hungry look, see. You can spot it. (Laughter) So the
real estate agents are very nice but they always have the test, which is
this: they give you the crummiest loans possible. And if you can
qualify these unqualified people and get them the loan, then they will start
doing business with you.
But nevertheless, I had to learn the situation where all of you do in your
work. When you go out in the world and are working, it takes effort to
keep your mind on God’s way. And you have to take special time during
the day, maybe five minutes here or ten minutes there, or whatever, to be
thinking on God’s way and praying mentally and so forth. And I did
most of that as I was driving to and fro from place to place. So God
will examine us and God will prove us, and try our reins and our hearts.
That way then God is directly involved in our lives, see. It’s not
that Christ is way up there, which He is, in heaven. But through the
power of His Holy Spirit in trying our reins and heart and examining us and
with Christ in us then He is right here. It’s the same way when we
gather together to study God’s word. We ask blessing of God on what we
study so that we understand His word. God is the one Who can do that.
Now if we’re not in a right attitude then we end up like Malachi the second
chapter, where because of sin God says He’s going to spread the dung of the
feast upon the face of Levites, you see. And we’ve sat in holy day
services like that too, haven’t we? Yes. So here’s the opposite
of it.
Ok, let’s come back and finish up here Thyatira of Revelation 2. Now
let’s pick it up here in verse 25. “But that which ye have already hold fast…” In other words even the things that you have though they
may not be perfect, you hold fast what you have, “…till I come.” Now
is this an indication that this church is going to be in existence when
Christ returns? Possibly. But the Lord can come upon us at any
time, can He not? So we cannot necessarily say that it’s just at
the second return, though I would say that’s what it means more than
anything else.
“He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end…” Now there
are two ends. Your life, and the return of Christ. “…To him will
I give power [authority] over the nations: And he shall rule them with
a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers:
even as I received of My Father. And I will give him the morning star
[that is a type of the glory that you will have as a spirit being]. He
that hath an ear, let him here what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (vs.
26-29).
Now we’re ready for Sardis. Let’s come to chapter 3. Let’s read
it all the way through and then we’ll come back and we’ll analyze it a
little bit here. Verse 1, “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis
write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God…” Now
these are the seven spirits which go to and fro in the earth, which then
keeps God in communication with what’s going on.
Now right here in this motel that I was staying in over here they had a
little monitor section with four little screens on a big TV which monitored
the front door, the back door, and the side door, and the gate which
goes in and out, which is operated by an automatic lift that you have your
little key card that you put in there to open it, see. So you can be
out there, like it happened to me – my card didn’t work to let me out, so I
pushed the button and the clerk in there looked on the monitor, pushed the
button, the arm raised and I got out of there. Well God has the same
procedure with these seven spirits. They are constantly going to and
fro in the earth, kind of like we could say, roving television eyes.
And they inform God as to what is going on. So what He is saying here
in this is, is that He knows exactly what’s going on all the time.
“…And the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou
livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which
remain, that are ready to die [now this is a pitiful case]: for I have not
found thy works perfect [or that is complete] before God.” They
have incomplete works. “Remember therefore how thou hast received and
heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shall not watch, I
will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will
not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name
before My Father, and before his angels.” (Rev. 3:1-5).
Now I tell you that’s really something, isn’t it? I mean you read
that, this is pitiful, pitiful, pitiful condition. Now, I would have
to say that I do agree that the Church of God 7th Day, in the main, do fit this description. However I’ve seen an awful
lot within other Churches of God who fit this description, so lest we label
an organization, let’s be fair and say that this can happen to anyone
anywhere. But look at it. They are in such a bad condition that
verse 5 He says, “I will not blot his name out of the book of life.”
Which means then if they don’t repent then what is He going to do?
Going to blot the name out of the book of life. So this thing of “once
saved, always saved”, which I’m going to cover in one of the sermons that I
bring in the book of Hebrews, is not true. As we covered yesterday in
Colossians 1, if you continue, see. The condition is not with God, because He’s perfect.
The condition resides with us because we are imperfect. And here they
came to the point that they had a name but they were dead. And I’ve
referred to this at times as a corpse with a pulse. Kind of like a
body on life support. You can actually have someone who is brain dead
but keep them alive on life support. Now they do this to harvest the
organs to sell. And did you know that they have bidding wars on hearts
and lungs and livers, and all this sort of thing? Aside from that.
Now notice, let’s focus on this “to defile”, verse 4. “Thou hast a
few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments…” Now
what does it mean to defile? What, first of all, are the garments?
Revelation 19, the white linen is the righteousness of the saints. So
if you defile the garments you are defiling the righteousness of God, which
means that they are so sloppy in their commandment keeping that it’s all
they can do to keep the remembrance of God in their lives. Otherwise
how could He say that they are dead?
Now let’s go to 1 Corinthians 3 and let’s see another category of
Christians, which I have covered before but now is the time to read it in
the record here. 1 Corinthians 3:11. Now what I want us to
understand in this is that God gives us choices. And our choices are
very important. God gives us free independent moral agency to choose.
How we choose and how we work in relationship to those choices then builds
our spiritual character with Christ in us. Now the Sardisites are in
such a condition that Christ is telling them, “If you don’t strengthen up
just a few little things that remain, I’m going to have to blot your name
out of the book of life.” In other words they will become spiritually
dead forever.
Now let’s notice here beginning in verse 1 Corinthians 3:11. “For
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stone,
wood, hay, stubble;” Now here’s a very good example that you cannot
have a complete carryover, because in Revelation 2 and 3 there are seven
churches. But here in 1 Corinthians 3:12 there are only 6 categories.
Which means that you can’t go pick out these six and apply them to the
seven. You would have to have seven categories and then maybe you
could do it. But gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, or stubble.
Now we’ll concentrate on the wood, hay, or stubble here because those are
problematic.
Verse 13, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall
declare it…” Now this day that declares it is the day of trial.
Not necessarily at the resurrection, because the resurrection is going to be
the finality of it. But as we saw with Thyatira, God is judging
continuously. “…Because it shall be revealed by fire;…” And 1
Peter 4:12 says it’s the fiery trial that comes upon us. How many here
have had fiery trials? Every one of us. How many have failed
their fiery trials? How many have recovered from it? Yes.
Well, if you fail temporarily, that’s getting rid of the dross out of the
gold, silver, and precious stones. You may be rather, how shall we
say, geologically ugly on the outside as a precious stone. And I say
that because when I was up in Idaho we had someone in the Church who had a
ranch and it went back up on the hills behind, and it was actually volcanic
stone underneath. And there were these…what are these rocks that are
spewed out? I don’t know what they call them. I think they’re
moon rocks, but they’re like anywhere from the size of just a little stone,
and they get up to be the size of an ostrich egg. And you take and cut
them, see. On the outside they are ugly. And they have deep pot
marks in it from the volcanic action. But you cut them and you open
them up and they are beautiful crystals in it. Because the heat
refines the stone. And the heat refines the silver. And the heat
refines the gold. So if you’ve been through fiery trial, and you’ve
made it through and you figured that you had failed but God lifted you up
out of it. What He did, he purged away some of the dross. And
with the heat with the precious stone, He has created greater inner
character, just like those rocks which came out of the volcano.
“…The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any
man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself
shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (vs. 13-15). Now this comes the
closest to describing the Sardisites, doesn’t it? They just…those in
Sardis who make it into the kingdom of God, just make it. Be saved.
Then he continues, verse 16. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of
God, and that the Spirit of God is dwelling in you? If any man defile the temple of
God, him shall God destroy;…” (vs. 16-17). Now doesn’t that sound very
close to the Sardisites? That you have a few which have not defiled
their garments, which is telling us what? Most of them have defiled
their garments or they have defiled the Holy Spirit within their bodies
because they are not clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Or
they’ve taken the righteousness of Christ, which is even worse, and they
have defiled it.
Now one of the defilement’s that you find in the Old Testament is to be
defiled because you have touched a dead body. See, so all of the
analogies there concerning Sardis are really something. They
undoubtedly have to be the worst church of any of the seven. At least
the others, they could repent and still retain something. Remember
what He said to Thyatira, “I will give you the morning star.” They
have glory. But here it’s told of the Saridisites, “You have a few who
have not defiled your garments.” They’re just going to make it by the
skin of the garment, if we could put it that way. (Laughter)
“…For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no
man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this
world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise [that is in Christ].
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness of God. For it is written,
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord
knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” Now that ties
right in with what I said about all those who are seeking some great
religions office, see. That’s all vanity, and God is going to turn it
into foolishness. “Therefore let no man glory in men. For all
things are yours;” (vs. 17-21).
Now let’s look at some more concerning defilement. Let’s come to
Ezekiel 36. Now it’s one thing to commit adultery and fornication as
Pergamos and Thyatirya did. It’s another thing to get into the depths
of Satan, which Thyatira did. It is still bad enough like with
Ephesus, they lost their first love. And it’s terrible to be a
Laodicean that you are lukewarm and claim to God you have need of nothing.
But the worse case is the Sardisites who are nearly dead and have defiled
the little bit that they had.
Now Ezekiel 36:16. This may help us understand a little more of
defiling. “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man,
when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their
own way and by their doing:…” So how do you defile the garments of
Christ? By doing your own thing. And obviously then, leaving
Christ out of it because it’s not a live work, it’s a dead work.
“…Their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a removed woman” (Ez.
36:16-17). Now you can’t defile a garment personally any more than
that. I mean that’s descriptive enough in itself.
“Wherefore I poured My fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon
the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:” (vs.
18). So again, when there is defilement God is going to punish…this
blends into something else so we won’t…
Now, let’s come to Mark 7 and let’s see what else defiles. We saw
that defiling is doing your own way and doing your own thing by ignoring
God’s way. Now when God has called you and put you in His way, when
you go do your own thing then you’re walking out of the way of the Lord.
And if you have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ then you are
defiling those garments.
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 7th 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)
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