(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Men, I'm going to be continuing this evening what I had started this morning, preaching about the messages to the seven churches in Asia. And of course these are literal geographically located churches in what is modern day Turkey at that time known as Asia or Asia Minor. And these churches are patterned churches that could represent what churches today even in 2023 could be like. So if a church has lost their first love, then they're like the church at Ephesus and so forth. And so we should always realize that these things are relevant to us in all ages, at all times, and not to think, well, we're in the Laodicean church age or something like that. No, because not every church is like Laodicea. Whenever I hear a pastor say that we're in the Laodicean church age, I'm thinking, speak for yourself, man, because that just sounds like an excuse to be lukewarm and watered down because we can really be whoever we want to be, right? And whatever we decide to do with what God has given us, that's going to determine what kind of a church we have. And so today we're going to move on from the church at Ephesus and we're going to look at the church of Smyrna. And we'll start out in verse number eight there in chapter two, the Bible reads, and under the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. Now before we move on, I want to just talk about this important statement here. Jesus Christ is the one who's speaking, of course, and there's some important things here. He says that he is the first and the last. And this connects with verses in chapter one and chapter 22 of Revelation, where Jesus Christ says, for example, in chapter one, verse 11, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, right? If you jump back to verse eight, he says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the almighty. Now we know that specifically the one talking here is Jesus Christ. It's not just God in general or God, the father, because he literally says these things say at the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. That's obviously a reference to the son of God, Jesus Christ. And so of Jesus Christ specifically, the Bible says he is the beginning. He is the ending. He was, he is, he is to come. That's stating that he is eternally existent. Jesus Christ never came into being. He never had a beginning. He is the beginning. He never had an origin. He's not a created being. He was in the beginning with God and he was God. He already existed there in the beginning with God, the father and the Holy Spirit. God in his tri-unity has always existed and always will exist as three persons, God the father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit. And so here we see that Jesus Christ specifically is the almighty also, you know, I've heard some cult members like from the Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, say, well, he's not the almighty God. You know, he's the mighty God, but he's not the almighty God or some foolish distinction like that. But the Bible is pretty clear here in verse eight that he's the almighty. He's the first, he's the last, he's the alpha, omega, beginning, ending. So these are some good evidences of the deity of Christ. Obviously other verses in scripture just come right out and just say that Jesus is God. But this is more corroborating evidence from the Bible about the divinity of Jesus Christ. And notice it says, I was dead and I'm alive. Now the significance of that is the resurrection of Christ was not just a sham or, well, you know, he died spiritually or, well, you know, he physically swooned or, you know, he was resuscitated or all the different strange doctrines people have about, well, yeah, he died, but then he had a spiritual resurrection. Look, the bodily resurrection is what the Bible teaches the death, burial and resurrection. What do you bury, a spirit or a body? You bury a body. The death, burial and resurrection is emphasizing his bodily resurrection. But not only that, he says, I am he that liveth, look at verse 18 of chapter one, I'm he that liveth and was dead. He's saying, look, I live, but I was dead. And behold, I'm alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. So not only did Jesus die on the cross, but he was actually in a state of being dead, right? He was dead for three days and three nights. So he spent time dead, the Bible's saying here. He's saying, I was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore, and I have the keys of hell and of death. So Jesus Christ died, he was dead for three days and three nights, and then he rose again from the dead, never to die again, right? To live evermore and to be living eternally. And so the Bible says there in verse eight of chapter two, and the angel of the church and Smyrna writes, these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. Of course, we know it's Jesus talking. He says, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Now, one of the interesting things about the church at Smyrna is that it is one of the only churches that Christ has nothing negative to say about. Out of the seven churches, five of them, he has something negative to say. He gives them some positive encouragement, he gives them some negative things that they need to fix, and then he encourages them more. But here we have a church where he's not saying anything negative, and you say, well, that's who I want to be. You know, we want to be like the church at Smyrna. Well, are you sure though? Because here's the thing about the church at Smyrna, they're going through serious persecution. And this shouldn't surprise us, because the Bible says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. I don't think it's a coincidence that the church that's doing it right, the church that's nailing it, is the one who's going through intense persecution. Because when you preach the Word of God and work hard and do well as a church, well, yeah, you're going to be persecuted. The devil's not just going to take that lying down. And so we've got to be ready to go through some hard things. He said, I know thy works. They're doing good work for the Lord. And tribulation, tribulation is synonymous with affliction, or trouble, or persecution, things like that, more loosely. And poverty, he says, but thou art rich. He's saying, look, you may not have money as a church, but you guys are rich, you're rich in good works, right? The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6 that the people who are rich in this world better make sure that they're rich in good works, because the riches of this world are going to pass away. But he tells the church at Smyrna, you're rich. And then he seemingly changed the subject by saying, I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Now this is not a subject change, because in verse 9, he says, I know your tribulation and poverty. So he's talking about the hard things that they're going through. Then he mentions the Jews being the synagogue of Satan. And then he comes back to fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison. And then he brings up again, you shall have tribulation. So we got tribulation. The Jews are the synagogue of Satan, tribulation. So in this tribulation sandwich, the Jews being the synagogue of Satan are the meat of the sandwich. So this is not just apropos of nothing like, hey, I know you guys are going through tribulation. Oh, by the way, the Jews are the synagogue of Satan. So back to that tribulation. Folks, the reason why this is in context, the reason why this is relevant is because the Jews are the ones who are bringing the persecution in the first century A.D. according to what the Bible actually says. I mean, what does the Bible say? We've got all kinds of history books and, you know, those things sometimes need to be taken with a grain of salt because we don't necessarily have a lot of certainty about things that took place 2000 years ago. OK, the evidence is very fragmentary. There's a lot of missing evidence. And so, you know, history doesn't really become very reliable until pretty recently. So what we can look at, though, is the New Testament. And we can take that to the bank because we know that that's the word of God. And if we say the New Testament, first of all, reading the Book of Acts, all of the persecution is coming from the Jews throughout the Book of Acts. Right. I mean, start at the beginning, read it to the end. The Jews are responsible for the persecution. In fact, as we read the Book of Acts, the Romans are actually saving the apostle Paul from the Jews who are trying to rip him apart and kill him. Now that's not to say that the Romans didn't persecute Christians later. History tells us that they did. But in the first century, when the New Testament is being written all throughout the Book of Acts, it's consistently the Jews persecuting the Christians. And this is reinforced in the epistles of Paul because, for example, in the Book of Galatians, he likens Christians unto Isaac and he likens the Jews unto Ishmael. And he talks about how Ishmael was mocking Isaac. And he said, look, just like back then, the one who was born of bondage is persecuting the son of promise. That's how it is now. The Jews are persecuting the Christians. And so in Galatians, he talks about the same thing. Even in the Book of First Thessalonians, chapter two, he says, For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen. So there's a little bit of an allusion to the Thessalonians being persecuted even by their fellow Greeks, right? He says, You also have suffered like things of your own countrymen. You Thessalonicans, you Greeks have suffered persecution at the hand of Greeks. He said, You also suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews. They are the churches of Judea, which are in Christ Jesus, they've suffered at the hands of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own part prophets, and they've persecuted us. They please not God. They're contrary to all men, you know, other than that, they're great people. But he says, you know, they're contrary to all men, they please not God. They're forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost, First Thessalonians chapter two. And so we see there that the Jews are driving persecution in the first century, for sure in the land of Judea, right? But even as we read the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul goes to Greece, the Jews stir up persecution in Greece. Paul's in Macedonia, the Jews are stirring up persecution in Macedonia, Asia Minor, Jews are stirring up persecution. So it makes sense that Smyrna, which is a city in Asia Minor, the same kind of places that Paul is evangelizing in the book of Acts, they're also suffering persecution at the hand of the Jews, okay? So the Jews have been negative about Christianity historically, of course, and there's been persecution that has been driven by them. That's what the Bible is teaching here. Now, you say, well, no, no, these aren't the Jews, these are, you know, these are the ones that are, they say they're Jews, but they're not, it's not the real Jews. You know, and a lot of our friends in the old IFB so-called, you know, they have this attitude of, well, you know, it's not the real Jews. Well, I want to know who are these real Jews, the real ones? I know the ones who really reject Jesus, they just really don't believe in the Messiah, you know, they just are really liberal, and they just really take a loose interpretation of the Old Testament, and really don't believe Moses, and really don't follow the Bible. Like what does that even mean? The real, well, you know, the real, you know, children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Come on, thousands of years later, you'd need a big old genealogy to prove that, and the Bible says avoid genealogies. There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek, right? We're all one in Christ Jesus, and if you're not in Christ Jesus, you're nothing. You're nobody. You got to get saved to actually have something spiritually, otherwise you have nothing, because you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father, that's what the Bible says. And so the ones who say they are Jews and are not are the ones who say they're Jews. So if somebody tells you, I'm a Jew, I'm Jewish, you know, they're a candidate for this verse. Like in order to be a candidate for this verse, you have to say, I'm a Jew, I'm Jewish. Now you're a candidate for that verse. You say, well, it's the Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, I don't, do they say we're Jews, we meet in a synagogue? No, let's find a candidate for this verse. They have to say they're Jews and they have to have a synagogue, okay? Have you figured it out yet, who we're talking about? Now you say, well, yeah, but there, how can they be those who say they're Jews or not? They really are Jews. Yeah, but the Bible says he's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Romans 2 28, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit, not in the letter whose praise is not of men, but of God. And in Philippians three, three, the apostle Paul writes to Gentiles in Philippi and says, we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So how do you have that circumcision of the heart? You got to rejoice in Christ Jesus. You got to have no confidence in the flesh, meaning you're not trusting any works for salvation. You're not trusting in your flesh or the deeds of the flesh. No, you are trusting in Jesus Christ. That's the circumcision not made with hands. The Bible says in Colossians two that we as Christians are circumcised with that circumcision made without hands. And so they say they're Jews, but they're not because God can see the inside. He doesn't care about that outward circumcision of the flesh or the fact that they say they're Jews. No, no. Are they a Jew inwardly? Are they circumcised of the heart and the spirit? And if they don't believe in Jesus, then the answer is no. They say they're Jews, but they're not. They're actually the synagogue of Satan. The Jewish synagogue is the synagogue of Satan. You say, which one? Yes. Because of the fact that if you don't have the son, you don't have the father. So you're worshiping a false god. If it's not the father, son, holy ghost, it's not God. There is only one God, father, son, and holy ghost, my friend. If you have some other oneness god or some other different god and you say, well, they have the same God, they're just kind of only seeing the father. Now somebody's going to post this and say I'm a Freemason because I covered my eye for a second. But basically, you know, they don't have the son. The Bible says they don't have the father, but they have somebody that they're praying to. It's Beelzebub. It's Satan, the synagogue of Satan. That's what the Bible says. And so he says, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. The implication is that the Jews are the ones who are bringing the tribulation and they're the ones who are causing the suffering because that's what we see in the book of Acts, that's what we see in 1 Thessalonians 2, that's what we see in Colossians. And some people, if I preach a sermon like this, they get uncomfortable even though I'm just up here just laying down facts right now. You know, I'm just laying down, hey, here's what Acts says, here's what Galatians says. And they're like, well, yeah, but I mean, it sounds negative toward Jews. You do what you want with what I'm preaching. You know what I'm saying? Like you can apply this or you can decide what you think this means or what the relevance is in 2043. You know, that's a discussion we could have about the relevance. But here's a good reason to preach what I'm preaching right now. It's in the Bible. Anything that's in the Bible, I don't need a reason to preach it. Say, what are you trying to accomplish up there preaching that right now? Nothing. Literally nothing. I like to just preach the Bible for the sake of preaching the Bible because I don't really know what it's going to do. You know, I get up and I preach a chapter, I quote a verse, I don't know what it's going to do. I'm just kind of throwing verses out there and just, hey, let's see what this verse does. Hey, let's see what this chapter will do. You know, I don't know. You know what I'm like? I'm like a sower of seeds, right? And he reaches into the bag and he throws a bunch of seeds. And he's just sowing the word and you know, some of it's going to spring up and grow and who knows? And you know what? I don't know. I'm not going to worry about the weather. I'm not going to worry about what time of day. I'm just going to sow the seeds and just, you know, anything in the Bible is worth preaching even if you can't figure out a good reason to preach it. Just preach it anyway. Here's a good reason to preach it because God said, preach the word, the whole counsel of God. So anything biblical, I like to preach it. I'm not a fan of this idea of relevant preaching because it kind of makes it feel like something's irrelevant and I don't really know what's relevant and what's not necessarily because there are too many variables, too many people going through too many different things, too many different situations from too many different backgrounds. I don't know everyone in this room and everything about them. I don't know what you need. So I'm just kind of just, I'm just serving up a lot of food and, and, and you know, you just, everybody's going to take what they need, I guess. I think people spend too much time thinking about what, you know, yeah, but I mean, what's the point in bringing that up though? You know, we need to just bring it all up, my friend. Just bring stuff up. If it's in the Bible, it's relevant. Say it, preach it. Why? I don't know. Just do it. And so he says, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Now I, that's a statement that I think about a lot. I like that statement because God doesn't want us to go through life scared and fearing and worrying. You know, when you hear a verse that says, yeah, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. That shouldn't keep you up at night. That shouldn't be something that we dwell on and fear and thinking to ourselves, you know, oh man, you know, what's going to happen is, you know, things are going too good in my life right now. I'm just waiting for it to happen and whatever. Hey, don't worry about it. This is not something to stress about. It's not something to worry about. It's just that in the back of our mind we should know it's coming. That way when it comes, we're not shocked. That's all right. So we just go through life and be happy on Monday. Be happy on Tuesday. Happy on Wednesday. Not sitting around stressing about persecution. Just enjoy Thursday, enjoy Friday, and then all of a sudden when the persecution comes, we don't panic. We just go, okay, God said this was going to happen. Let's remain calm. Remember the simulator and just remember the training and not freak out. That's all. But don't sit there and worry about it and stress about it. Fear none of those things which else I suffer, right? These things are going to happen at some point in your life or at many times in your life. The Bible says fear not. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison. Now notice, not every Christian is going to go to prison. The devil shall cast some of you into prison. In fact, the majority of Christians aren't even going to prison. And not only that, I believe that this passage, although it's talking about literal churches back in the first century A.D. that existed in a literal city called Ephesus or Smyrna or Pergamos or whatever, it still is in the book of Revelation because it has end time significance. You know, obviously talking about tribulation and persecution and being cast into prison could call to mind some of the things that we're going to read about later in Revelation where there's a law that everyone has to worship the Antichrist or receive the mark of the beast and if they don't do it, they'll be killed. So obviously this stuff could have end times significance as well. But guess what? In the end times, everybody's not going to prison in the end times. Everybody's not going to be beheaded in the end times. In fact, the majority aren't even going to. It's some that will be cast into prison. So imagine how silly it would be to stress and worry about this and then it's not even you. And how many things do we worry about in our lives that never even end up happening? And you waste a bunch of time worrying and stressing about things that are just a phantom that aren't even real. And you know, today in America, we have the freedom of speech. We have it. Well, we just don't have freedom of speech anymore. Yeah, we do. Okay. And I've proved that over and over again by getting up and saying things that made a lot of people mad. And you know what? Here I am for 17 years. I've been preaching the word of God. I've done some hard preaching. I've said some radical things, quote unquote, I don't think they're radical, but the world thinks they're radical. And guess what? I've never been arrested for any of my preaching ever. I've never even been indicted. I've never even had the police come and take me down to the station for questioning. Nothing. I just get up and preach and there's no, well, yeah, but your YouTube channel got deleted. Okay. But that doesn't really mean that I'm going to prison just because I went to Facebook jail. Okay. We need to understand that, yeah, private corporations are controlling the media and silencing truth, but from a legal standpoint, we have the freedom of speech and we can get up and preach the Bible to our heart's content and we can preach whatever we want and we're not going to go to prison for preaching the Bible. Isn't that great? And what a blessing to be able to just get up and just tell it like it is. I don't even spend five seconds worrying about, oh man, what if I go to prison for preaching that sermon? It's not going to happen. We have the first amendment to protect us. We have religious freedom. Now you say, well, Pastor Anderson, why are you saying that? Because a lot of people, they exaggerate how bad the government's getting or they exaggerate our loss of freedom in this country and then it becomes like a self-fulfilling prophecy or they start censoring themselves because they're too scared. Like, oh, I don't know if we have freedom of speech. I don't know because I read this website, I was reading on whatever, prisonplanet.com or Infowars or whatever and they said that I don't have freedom of speech and so I don't know. I'm scared now. Now here's the thing. Even if we didn't have freedom of speech, I'm not going to change my preaching. But here's the thing, we do. And I wish that pastors would just use their freedom of speech and not be so scared of a boogeyman that isn't even real. Okay. And then let's say I'm wrong and let's say, cause I think five years from now I'm still going to be preaching hard on set and getting away with it. I think 10 years from now I'm going to be preaching the whole Bible and saying whatever I want and still getting away with it. I think 20 years from now I will still be getting away with it. Whether there's a Democrat or a Republican in the White House, that's what I think. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm totally wrong. Maybe five years from now there's going to be no freedom of speech and the police are going to be showing up and they're going to be padlocking our church and dragging me away in handcuffs. Maybe I'm wrong. But you know what? I'm not going to fear that at all. If it happens, it happens. Chances are it's probably not even going to happen. Even if it is going to happen, well so be it. The devil's going to cast some of you into prison. But you know what, statistically it's probably not going to be me. You say, I don't know Pastor Anderson, I think you've increased your chances a little bit over the years. No, I think statistically it's not going to be me. Maybe it will be me. But you know what? If I go to prison, so be it. I don't want to go to prison, but I'm not going to worry about it. If it happens, I'll deal with it when the time comes. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. I'm not going to sit and worry about tomorrow and worry about five years from now or worry about, you know. And isn't it interesting, whenever we're in an election, it's always like, hey, if the Democrat gets in office, you know, the world's going to come to an end. Hey, if the Democrat gets elected, we're all going to be, there's an article in the Sword of the Lord that literally was saying like, hey, if the Democratic candidate gets elected, you know, we're going to be going underground as churches. We're going to have to be underground. And I'm thinking to myself, you guys are already underground. You guys are already password protecting your sermons and you're not even uploading half your sermons or you upload them with these really exciting, provocative titles like May 28th, Sunday evening service and then you wonder why you have four viewers. You know, because there's no information, there's no title, there's no way for anyone to find it. You guys are already underground. Okay, but they're like, oh, we're going to have to go underground. Let me tell you something, I will never go underground, never, never, literally never. You say, well, what if just every time you get up to preach, they're just going to arrest you and take you, then I would geographically go somewhere else. You know, the Bible does say when they persecute you in this city, flee into another. So yeah, worst case, and I don't believe this will ever happen in my lifetime, worst case, if it became illegal for me to preach the word of God and I just couldn't function as a preacher, then I would consider going to another country and preaching somewhere else. You know, I'd be, I don't know, go somewhere, I don't know where I would go. Baja California sounds great, all right, so yeah, I think, yeah, amen. So here, but here's the thing, whatever, I'm not going to sit around and worry about that, but here's the thing, I'm never going underground. The only time I'm going to go underground is when I'm dead. I'm going to go six feet underground. That's me underground and I'm not going underground before that. And even if the literal great tribulation were happening and the antichrist and the mark of the beast and all that stuff is happening, you know, I'm not going into the woods into your bunker. You have the, you can have your bunker, you know, I know you've only got resources for so many people, use it for someone else. Because if I, if the actual great tribulation were happening and the antichrist is handing out the mark of the beast and all these different things, then you know what that would mean? That would mean that Christ is returning really soon. So why would I go hide out in a bunker for a few weeks or months? Either way, in a couple weeks or months, I'm going to be up in the clouds, right, to meet the Lord in the air. Either I'm going to be the dead in Christ that rise first or I'm going to be the one that's alive and remains under the coming of the Lord. So might as well go out with a bang. Why would I waste my life? It's like, okay, eternity for me, eternity is going to be starting here in a couple months. I mean, you know, like let's say we're in the last days and we know this is the end and the abomination of desolation is there and it's like, this is not a drill. We're in the end times. And I know like, okay, pretty soon I'm going to be in heaven no matter what. By hook or by crook, I'm going to be in heaven. So what do I do? So what if I just like hide in a bunker, yes, I was alive and remained, did it. Or win a few more people to Christ, earn a few more rewards, maybe I'll get martyred, maybe I won't. I think I'll survive. I think that the chances are I'll make it. If I were God, I would let me survive, but I don't know, I'm not God so I don't know. But the point is, who cares? You might as well just go for it at that point. It makes so little difference anyway at that point. It's not like, oh, you know, I could live for decades more if I spend a few months in this bunker. It's all going to be over pretty soon anyway, my friend, at that point, so you might as well just go for it and just sprint for the finish line. There's no reason to leave anything in the tank at that point. So that's why I don't have a bunker, I don't have all the survival gear, or any of that. So he says, behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison. This is not the majority, this is not everybody. Everybody's going to go through persecution. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But does the Bible say, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall go to prison? No, I mean, I've suffered persecution, but I've never gone to prison. You know, I've never been beheaded for Christ, and I'm not probably not going to. And you probably aren't going to either. If you do, then so be it. You know, it's an honor to suffer that kind of martyrdom or persecution for Christ. And so if that's God's will, then so be it. Amen. But the chances are, that's not going to be our fate. And the Bible says you shall have tribulation 10 days, be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. God does expect us to be willing to give our lives. He does expect us to be faithful unto death. We should always plan to stay true to Christ until the bitter end, no matter what happens, even up to and including death. That's what the Bible says, right? Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. But notice he says you shall have tribulation 10 days. Now obviously this is a symbolic number. It could also be obviously a literal number for that church back then, but even that seems unlikely. It's a symbolic number. It's an idealized number. It's probably not a real literal number. It's more like an idea, you know, like 10 days. And what it represents is the brevity of the tribulation that they're going through. Does 10 days really seem like a long time? It's not 10 years. It's not 10 months. It's not 10 weeks. You should have tribulation 10 days. I think the biggest thing that's being emphasized here is the short duration of the trials that we go through. You know, the Bible talks about how we go through many temptations and troubles in this earth, but it's just for a moment because our life itself is just a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Life is really short. And so in the scheme of things, the persecution that we go through, the tribulations that we go through are short. You know, he says you shall have tribulation 10 days. Be faith on to death and I will give thee a crown of life. And notice he says, behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried. And so if you do go to prison or, or even if you do go through any lesser persecution, it's a test. It's a trial to see how you're going to do. And so, you know, you should think about it that way, that God is watching you and he wants you to pass this test. How do you pass the test by being faithful unto death? How do you fail the test by giving in? And it's sad when Christians and pastors will give in when they're not even threatened with death. They're not even threatened with prison. They're just threatened with maybe a few key people leaving the church or they're threatened with a little bit of negative media coverage or they're threatened with some weirdos out in the parking lot persecuting or what's it called? Not persecuting, protesting. You know, a couple of weirdos are protesting out in the parking lot. You know, some hermaphrodite is out there with no shirt on holding up a sign or whatever. That's the weirdest thing that could happen, right? It's like, oh, but yet there'll be literally people who quit the church over something like that. And we've, and by the way, it didn't even happen here. That was another church in Texas, okay, where a lot of bad things happen. But anyway, the thing is, can you imagine quitting the church because I mean, you got over over here, you got Fox's Book of Martyrs and then you got Americans in 2023 quitting the church because there's a hermaphrodite. And when I say hermaphrodite, there's no such thing as a hermaphrodite, by the way, it's I'm joking when I say that because a true hermaphrodite doesn't exist, call a pseudo hermaphrodite, medically speaking, there are pseudo hermaphrodites, but anything that has a Y chromosome that's functioning is male. I don't care if they have a XY or XXY or XXXY, anybody who has a functioning Y chromosome is male. Anybody who lacks a functioning Y chromosome or completely lacks a Y chromosome is female. I don't care if they have 1X, 2X, 3X, that's a biology lesson for you. The Y chromosome has a portion on it that codes for maleness and if that portion is there, that chromosome is there and that portion is there, it's a male. You could have feminine males and masculine females and you could have things go wrong hormonally and you could have all kinds of other genetic mutations and defects, but at the end of the day, God created the male and female, there are only two genders, even biologically. So there is a condition called pseudo hermaphroditism, I don't know if I'm saying that quite right, but the bottom line is that the thing out in the parking lot in Texas, I don't know, sometimes it's hard to tell with these transvestites whether they're coming or going. You know what I mean? You don't know what gender they started, where they're going, you know, just something's wrong with that picture, okay? But imagine quitting the church because I won't call it a hermaphrodite because that's not what it is. What do we call it? All right, I like all those. I can't decide, they're all too good. So anyway, imagine quitting the church because that thing, that blob out in the parking lot and you're going to quit the church. Wow, you're really being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, you can't even walk from your car to the church in America and 99.9% sure that nothing's going to happen to you bad, except that your eyes are going to be corrupted or your ears are going to be burning, but you're going to be okay physically. You might get slimed or something, I guess. What's the worst thing that could happen? You could get slimed by one of these things or something. I don't even think that's going to happen, but you're going to make it. You're going to be okay. You know, there's a bar of soap in the bathroom to wash off the filth. So be faithful unto death. And if you're supposed to be faithful unto death, that means be faithful to walk across the parking lot, to go the gauntlet of protesters. And we haven't had protesters here in like eight years, but a lot of our pastor friends, you know, they do have protesters continually. It may happen again here someday, God forbid, but if it does, so be it, we'll deal with it. Amen. Some of us might even, you know, it might even get us fired up more to the fact that somebody's out there, uh, you know, blaspheming the Lord that might just get us even more fired up and make us want to serve God even more. You know, I think of a loved one that I have that was in one of these churches. And when the, when the real protesting and persecution started, he was kind of a Sunday morning only guy at the time. He ramped it up to three times a week because he just said, you know, I just don't want to miss any of the action. And he's just like, I'm going to be down there three times a week. And because he said, I want to support the pastor. Pastors on the front lines of this battle, the media is raking them over the coast. Hey, I want to support him Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. He ramped up his church attendance. He didn't back it down. He was so much the more, uh, faithful to church. He says, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh should not be heard of the second death. And again, we talked about it this morning that the biblical definition of overcoming is one who believes that Jesus is the son of God. That's what the Bible says. But he said at the end of verse 10 there, be thou faithful on death and I'll give thee a crown of life. Now that right there makes all of the persecution and trials and tribulations worth it. When you get the reward, the Bible says, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. And the Bible says, I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So whatever you suffer for Christ is going to be greatly rewarded someday and it's all going to be worth it. I guarantee it. Not only that, but the Bible says that if you forsake anything for Christ's sake and the gospels, if you give up something, you end up giving up a job or you give up family or friends or, or wealth or whatever. He says that he will repay you 100 fold even in this life, 100 fold in this life, and, and you're also going to have everlasting life in the life to come. You know, but, but we, he'll actually take care of us even on this earth. You say, how can he repay me 100 fold? Well, you know what? You just try it because God's not a liar. And I'm telling you, you, you give up friends, God will give you more friends. He'll give you a hundred times the social life as far as quality of, of what you're looking for. As far as fulfillment or happiness or whatever you want out of life. If you give things up for Christ's sake and the gospel, he's not going to leave you hanging. He will repay you and you'll be rewarded. And when you get to heaven, you'll receive the crown of life. Okay. You'll be rewarded greatly and into the bar. And then of course at the end of verse 11 he says, he that overcomes shall not be heard of the second death. That goes for everyone who saved, everyone who saved because the Bible says, who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God. Everybody who saved shall not be heard of the second death. Second death is the lake of fire, also known as hell. If you're saved, you're not going there. You believe in Christ, you're not going there. At the end of the Ephesus church, he said, uh, Tim, that overcomes what I give to eat of the tree of life, right? Again, the person who saved eats of the tree of life, lives forever, not hurt of the second death. But not only are we going to heaven, we're going to get rewards when we get to heaven. And those rewards are based upon our works. Now here's the thing. There is a, just a binary choice here of heaven or hell. It's one or the other. It's either heaven or hell. There's no, there's no heck, you know, or purgatory or in between place. It's either heaven or hell. That's it. Right? You're going to one of these two places, but once you get through that initial split of am I going to heaven or am I going to hell? And what's that based on? Whether or not you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you've trusted Christ as your savior, you're going to heaven. You could be the lamest Christian ever. You could be just the most backslidden, uh, messed up Christian, but you might be the black sheep of the family, but if you're in the family, you're saved. If you believe on Christ, you're saved. You're going to heaven because it's just an on or off switch. You either have believed on the name of the only begotten son of God, or you have not believed on the name of the only begotten son of God. Those who are not saved are going to hell period. If they don't believe in Jesus, they're going to hell. It's not like, well, they're Jews. So they go to a, you know, an in between place. No, they go straight to hell. Okay? So you've got this dichotomy between heaven and hell, but then within those two different outcomes, not everyone who goes to heaven is getting the same level of reward because Jesus said, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. So we will be rewarded according to our works. The Bible talks about a judgment seat of Christ where our works will be tried by fire. And if our works are gold, silver, precious stones, we will receive a reward. If our works are wood, hay and stubble, we shall suffer loss, meaning loss of reward. Yet we ourselves shall be saved. Yet so is by fire. Okay. Now the Bible says here, be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life. Is every saved Christian automatically receiving a crown of life? Is every saved? Some guy who just got saved and as soon as the protesters show up, he quits the church. And you know, if he happens to be living during the end times, as soon as the anti-Christ is revealed, you know, he's sucking his thumb down in the bunker and he's in the fetal position uh, down in the bomb shelter. Okay. Is he getting the crown of life? No, he's going to heaven, he's saved. But this reward of the crown of life is specifically for those who are faithful unto death. Not every Christian is faithful unto death. The ones who are faithful unto death get a special reward for being faithful unto death. Right? And so going to heaven is the main thing. And you know, you'd rather be the person at the very bottom in heaven than to be the guy who's, you know, in the lowest temperature part of hell because it's still pretty stinking hot there. Okay. Because you know, I do believe that also hell is not going to be the same for everybody. Now it is going to be the same in the sense that it's going to be fire and brimstone. It's not like an episode of the twilight zone or something where everybody's hell is like tailor made to them or something. It's going to be fire and brimstone and damnation. But the Bible does talk about some people receiving a greater damnation or going to the lowest hell. And the Bible does talk about people being judged according to their works and then being cast to the lake of fire. And so I do, and he talks about those who are going to be beaten with few stripes versus many stripes. And that's a parable about people going to hell in different situations. And so the point is that, yeah, within hell, some people are going to be punished worse than others. Within heaven, some people are going to be rewarded more than others. Some people aren't going to be rewarded at all, except at least they're in heaven. They made it. And I like what the guy said to Jesus, you know, bless is he that eateth and drinketh in the kingdom of God. I mean, just, just to be there, just to sit at that table and eat that meal is exciting. It's a blessing. You know, even if you did lose out on all the rewards. But obviously we want to do the platinum package. We want to do the upgrades and everything. We want to earn all the rewards and the crowns and lay up treasures in heaven. Look, the Bible says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust have corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust of corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Now, does that mean we're all going to get to heaven? And God's like, oh, just kidding. We're going to redistribute all the wealth equally. So you spent your whole life laying up treasure in heaven. This guy didn't even barely show up for church. He didn't do anything for God, but you guys are equal because I'm the communist God. Is that what's going to, do you think that's what's going to happen? No, he's going to reward according to our works. We can lay up treasure in heaven. We can, and it's not like, oh, you know, the Bible says on earth, thieves break through and steal, but if you lay up in treasure in heaven, thieves do not break through nor steal. Well, redistributing my wealth up there would be stealing from me and giving to somebody else. That's not going to happen. You know, you're going to earn your rewards. I'm going to earn my rewards and it's not going to be like, hey, we're all the same and there's no difference. Yeah, there is a difference. And so that, that could motivate us to, to work hard and excel and earn rewards and lay up treasure in heaven and earn crowns and so forth because we want to get that crown of life. And so, yeah, there is this dichotomy that reigns supreme heaven versus hell and that's the big one. You got to be on the right side of that. Otherwise nothing even matters. You've got to be in Christ, but then once you're in Christ, you want to work on earning rewards. You want to please God, you want to do better. And so he that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for this message to the church at Smyrna, Lord God, I pray that we would endure whatever persecutions or tribulations that come our way, Lord, so that we can be faithful and earn that crown of life, Lord and, and, uh, Lord, even if, even if death is on the table, Lord, help us to be faithful unto death, but at the same time help us not to sit around and worry about unlikely outcomes, Lord. Help us to just rejoice and, and, and serve you in gladness and enjoy the freedom that you've blessed us with. But Lord, what a shame if we let our freedom go to waste, Lord, help us to use it to give someone the gospel this week, Lord. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen.