Okay, we're going to study Revelation chapter 2 again. And let's remind ourselves of the fact that the disciples had gone to the Lord at a certain point and had asked Him concerning His return. The Lord had been speaking about leaving, going away to prepare a place for them. And there were so many things the disciples did not understand. And so they asked him for signs concerning his coming back. And the Lord set forth a number of things for them to look for in terms of his eventual return to this earth. You know, they would see him ascend into heaven in Acts, chapter one, which is what he told them he was going to do. He was going to leave, and he was going to send the comforter, which did come at Pentecost, as we read about in chapter two of Acts. But the disciples were concerned about indicators of his return. And so Matthew chapter 24 and Luke 21 are two of the more popular passages that have to do with the Lord's answer to the disciples. One of the leading warnings that he gave them in the way of signs was that of deception. Take heed that no man deceive you. And. Then, uh, quite a bit of time passed and the Lord continued to answer that prayer. And I think it's important for us to make the connection that the whole book of revelation is a continuing answer to the prayer of the disciples. When are you coming back? And the Lord gave this, uh, revelation to the apostle John, which is one of the disciples that made the inquiry as to when he was going to return. And I think a lot of times we read the book of the revelation and we don't make the connection that it's written to the church. The whole book is written to the church. And it lays out in detail many of the things that are gonna precede the Lord's return to this earth. Now, in two specific places, the Bible teaches us that we do not know the day and the hour that the Lord is gonna come back. A day and an hour is a very pinpoint Uh, matter. In other words, the day that the Lord is going to come, I mean, that's, uh, what you might call a kind of surgical accuracy in terms of a target. Um, when are you coming back? Well, I'm going to come back this particular day. I'm going to come back this particular hour. And so, uh, When it comes to the day and the hour, the Lord said concerning the church that we would not know the day and the hour. This would be something reserved for Israel. And when you get into the book of the Revelation, it becomes clear when the actual day that the Lord is going to come back. It zeroes in, it hones in on a particular point that he's going to return. And so a person living in the tribulation period can literally calculate the day because it divides the tribulation period into two halves and it gives the number of days that one of those halves is. And so a person who believes the record of God's word would literally be able to sit down and calculate pretty close the day and the hour that Lord would return. And so that information is reserved for the Jews. In the day of the Lord, which refers to the seven years, of tribulation or the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. Now, when it comes to the church, the Lord was very clear that we're not in darkness, that that day should overtake us as a thief. In other words, we know some indicators as to when the Lord is going to come back. And so the language that applies to the church is not day and hour, but times and seasons. And so the Lord is very clear about this. And in first Thessalonians, uh, chapter five, uh, the apostle Paul, uh, writes the Thessalonians and tells them that we know perfectly, we know perfectly concerning, uh, the times and seasons. And because Paul had explained it. He had explained the times and the seasons and how we're not in darkness that they should overtake us as a thief. Also in the book of Acts, chapter one, and it's verses seven and eight, you find that same phrase, time and seasons, there, and The Lord is telling the disciples that it's not for them to know the times or the seasons that the Lord has put in his own power. But then he makes a statement that ought to light us up. He said, but you will receive power. After that, the Holy ghost has come upon you. And so the indication is. At that particular point before Pentecost, the disciples were somewhat in the dark concerning times and seasons. But the Lord specifically said, when the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you're going to receive power. Because at times and seasons, the Lord reserves within his own power, but they would be given the power. When the Holy Ghost came upon them. So it's, it's, it's rather plain there in Acts chapter one, seven and eight verses seven and eight. And so again, um, the book of the revelation. is written to you and I in this church age. It was written in particular to the seven churches in Asia, and I'd like to reinforce these thoughts with a reading of just the first few verses of chapter one. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must surely or shortly rather come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant, John, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy and keep those things which are written therein For the time is at hand. And then in verse seven, it says, excuse me, verse four, it says John to the seven churches, which are in Asia. And so it's very clear that this is a continuing answer to the question of the type of the disciples, uh, concerning his return. When is he going to be? So we are supposed to know the times and the seasons. Now we've read concerning, uh, the letter to the church at Ephesus and then Smyrna and Pergamos. And now we're studying, um, the letter to the church in Thyatira. And again, all of these churches were located in sort of a circular pattern in the western portion of present-day Turkey. And we learned that Thyatira was influenced by idolatry, and we spent a couple of lessons talking about that subject, so we're not going to go back and repeat all of that. Um, we want to pick up at verse 19 of this, the second chapter where the Lord says, I know thy works and charity and service and faith and our patients and our works and the last to be more than the first. The thing that should come to our attention here. is if the Lord knew every detail concerning the church at Thyatira and these other churches, what about here at Calvary Memorial Church? He knows every single thing that's going on. He knows our strengths and he knows our weaknesses. He knows every single member that there is in this church, exactly what we're doing. Whether we understand the ministry or not, whether we're a help to the ministry or a drag on the ministry, he knows concerning what we do in private that no one else would ever know about because of Our artfulness at concealing from the world what we're really all about. He knows all these things. And the value of mentioning this is, um, I guess, uh, a recollection of King David's experience when he was doing things that he ought not. And it was so hidden from his deceitful heart. through his own deceit, that God had to send Nathan the prophet to him to bring it to the surface and force him to see himself as he really was and confess his sin, which he did. And then David made an amazing statement. He said, thou art my hiding place. Many years ago, as I was studying the scriptures and came across that passage, I stopped right there and I found myself musing upon that statement, thou art my hiding place. And as the thoughts began to roll in my mind, the first thing that came to my mind was that God is light. God is light. What an unusual place for the natural man to hide something. I mean, when we have something we want to hide, the first thing that comes to our mind is darkness. You know, what we do, we do in the dark. We hide it in a place where no one can see it. And it's especially true when it comes to sin in the life. We want to keep it in the dark. We don't want anybody to see what's going on. So that's why most sin is practiced in secret is behind closed doors as with the lights out. And David says of all things, thou art my hiding place and God is light. And so how do you understand that then? Well, it's really not complicated at all. It's called honesty. It's called confession. It's, uh, it's what David did after Nathan came to him and exposed him for what he was all about, what he had done. And David entered into the understanding that God himself would take that sin and do something with it. No man can do hide it. He would separate his sin as far from him as the East is from the West. He would take that sin and he would cast it into the depths of the sea. And when David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, the only one that really mattered in the whole situation was God. And here's what God said, I will remember your sin no more. Now folks, that's called hidden. If you want to hide sin. You have to hide it in the light. You have to confess it to God and then he can take it and he can hide it, but you can't, you can't hide it. And so when the Lord reveals to us in these letters to the churches that he knows what's going on, it behooves us to learn something about honesty. If this church is going to have a future, then every individual in it is going to have to learn that nothing is hidden from God, nothing, nothing whatsoever. And the Lord is not the one that ever suffers. His suffering is over when he died for us on the cross, any suffering that goes on. From that point onward, as it relates to you and I, is a loss on our part. And a refusal to be honest with God is a great loss. And no one ever loses, but the person that's doing wrong. Even when you make other people a victim of your wrongdoing, they're not the ones that suffer the most, not in the eyes of God, but the perpetrator of the crime. That's the one that suffers in this world and in the world to come. And so it's a very serious thing to get honest with God, to realize nothing is hidden from him. He knows what's going on. And he says in verse 19, I know thy works. I know thy works. Now there are different types of works that the Bible speaks about. There is the work where the Lord is doing it in you according to his good pleasure. It's him that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now that is one type of work that receives blessing from God. But then there's another type of work and the Lord knows the difference. And you read about it in Romans chapter 10 in the first three verses, Paul said this, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God. And so there's a kind of work that is humanistic where people are trying to feel better about themselves by doing many wonderful works. You know, the crowd that said that the Lord spoke to and, and, uh, and, and let them know that he knew their works. And he was calling in question their relationship with him and whether their profession was honest when they said that they knew him. And the Lord was making it very clear that they didn't know him at all. He didn't know them and they didn't know him. And the first thing they said was, have we not done many wonderful works in thy name? Now in every church, during the church dispensation, this is one of the signs that we need to look for concerning the Lord's coming. Because in the church, you're gonna have people who do not understand the difference between these two works. There are people will go out here and do a lot of things to get pats on the back. They'll give offerings and be proud of it. They'll do many wonderful works to feel better about themselves and think somehow or other that makes them closer to God and is a kind of proof that they do know God and that they're real Christians. And yet the Bible teaches that there are people who do all these things, even preach, even teach in his name. That do not know him and we'll lose our soul forever. And so no one is exempt from these warnings and especially preachers and Bible teachers and school teachers, Christian school teachers. You can be just as lost as you can be as a Christian school teacher or as a adult Sunday school class teacher, or as a pastor of a church. And no one knows it, but God knows it. He knows what's going on. And so that's why Paul wrote the Corinthians and warned them about this very thing and said, no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. It's no great thing then or strange thing that his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their works. And then you've got the classic example of Judas, a disciple of Christ. How could this be? A man who was enabled by the power of God to go out and preach in his name, cast out devils in his name. And there's a passage that says, raise the dead, that the disciples were given the power to raise the dead. He wouldn't have given them the power if they had not done it. there would have been a point. And yet Judas died and lost his soul forever. And so it's very important to allow the Word of God to have its conviction upon the soul, to break us down, to be honest souls with God because nothing is hidden from Him. And so this letter To thigh tire is reminding us once again, as he's already done to the, all the other churches, he says essentially the same thing. And he says, I know that works. And so make sure that your works are the right kind and you're giving the glory to whom it belongs because it's him that work is in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And without him, you can do absolutely nothing. And so it doesn't matter what we ever do in the Lord's work. Our testimony is to be, we've done that, which was our duty to do. We're unprofitable servants. We've simply done that, which was our duty to do. And that's as far as it goes. All the glory goes to Christ. We deserve none of the glory. There's nothing glorious about us in our nature apart from Christ in us. And so when we really own that and we really believe that, then it enables us to protect us from the only enemy that we've got. And that's our own heart. It isn't anyone else. No one else is our problem. There's no circumstance that is causing us to be the kind of human we are. There's only one cause and that's what you are in your nature. And when you stand before God, God isn't going to listen to the excuses. You remember the parables that he gave where people made excuses as to why they did this and why they did that. And his message was to cast them out, cast them out. And the everlasting fire just cast them out. And so, um, you know, humanistic reasoning and trying to justify ourselves as a huge mistake when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. And then he says, uh, I know that works and charity. I know your charity charity is, uh, is a very unnatural. attribute that we find only in the character of God. God is love. And he that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Which means if you're not born of God and know God, you don't know anything about love. The only kind of love that you know anything about is humanistic love. But it's not love by God's definition. The kind of love that the Lord is talking about here is a caring, is a selfless kind of thing where your, your affections, uh, your concerns are the people around you. And that is absolutely unnatural, but it's very natural to God because this is the way he is. He's a loving person. He is love and. And his, his love is manifest in, in his care for us and the giving that he does, which has to do with service. I know that works charity and service service. Service is a, is a giving of yourself to benefit the people around you. I think sometimes you, you have people. who are Christians who think that they exist to be on the receiving end and they don't think enough about being on the giving end. And we've actually had people in this church who have been given much who at a certain point in time would become angry because the giving stopped. And the reason, I mean, there's a point where in people's lives where they're in desperate need and don't have anything, don't have anything to give. But the problem a lot of times is that, you know, as believers try to, as it were, prime the pump and teach the people that are in need what the Christian life is really all about. It's not about forever living that way in need. At some point, you have to get your act together and realize where you've been making mistakes because you've been living the wrong way, thinking the wrong way for a long time. And the Lord wants us to begin by thinking right and getting it right and learning how God thinks. And when that happens, then That kind of thinking turns your life around so that you can become a productive person and all of a sudden be a member of a church where your primary goal and your heart's affection is to be a blessing to the people around you. And not somebody that's like this all the time, but a giver. And so sometimes you have Christians who, you know, profess to be Christians, and in the backdrop of their thinking, the idea is, well, there are those that have, and there are those that have not, and I have not, and I think that Christians ought to love me enough to give to me. Folks, the entitlement mentality did not begin in Washington. It began in the church. It began in the church. And that's why it's important to have teaching like this, because if the government is ever going to reflect the mind of God in truth, then the mind of God has got to be taught in truth in the church. And we've got to understand the root of entitlement. It's humanism. It's the natural heart of man. This is the way we are. And you can't give enough to a human being. But when you get saved and the Lord fills you with his life, then it turns everything around and you don't think so much about getting as you do giving. And then he says that he knows their faith. He knows about their faith. He knows what kind it is. And there's two kinds of faith. See, there's two kinds of everything. There's a humanistic variety and there's the godly kind. And the godly kind is receiving the faith that God has in himself to do what he said he would do. That's the godly kind. How much faith does God have in himself? And the answer is total. It's total confidence. He said, is anything too hard for me? Is my hand shortened that I cannot save? The disciples knew. They said, Lord, thou knowest all things. And they realized that he could do all things as well, because even the winds obeyed him. What was there that he did not know? What was there that he was not able to do? And the answer is, there was nothing. And so what kind of faith did he have? He had the kind that had no element of doubt. There was no element of doubt in the mind of God concerning what he could do. But how about human faith? Is there not an element of doubt in that? Isn't that the reason people go to the auto races? It's because there's always that element of doubt. Will that car make it around the circle? And there's something about the nature of man. He kind of wants to see a wreck. Blood is entertaining. That's what the movies are all about. And, uh, When Evel Knievel decides he wants to jump the Grand Canyon, why do people go to watch him do it? Listen, if everybody knew that he was going to make it, what would be the point in going? So why do people go? It's because of the element of doubt. He might not make it. He could splatter on the other side. And that's why people go. When somebody says, yeah, I believe I can do it. I believe I can do it. Is there not an element of doubt? And the answer is absolutely. Well, what about going to heaven? Do you think you're going to make it? Well, the answer of a lot of Christians is this. I hope so. I think so. Are you saved? I think I am. Well, what kind of statement is that? I will never forget a Baptist preacher. He's one of the first Baptist preachers that had an impact upon my life that was good. His name was Jose Cardoza in the Baptist church, Southern Baptist church I grew up in. And I grew to love that man. And, uh, and one of the reasons I did is because he was absolutely and totally honest with me. And he asked me one day, we were alone spending time together. And he said, why are you saved? And I said, I think so. He said, that's not good enough. That's not good enough. He said, you're supposed to know so. And that's about all he said at the time. And I pondered that for really a number of years. And I never really fully understood the power of his questioning until I ended up down here at Calvary many years ago. And I began to think about faith in a way that was really sort of, I guess, maverick in the way of most teaching. And all of a sudden it dawned on me that there is a kind of faith that has no element of doubt. And there's a kind of faith that always will. And so when it comes to the doctrine of eternal security, how can anybody ever really enjoy that? Maybe the free will Baptists are right. Maybe you can never really know for sure. Until the end when it's all over. And a lot of people actually believe that in Baptist churches. all over this country that you, you never really know till you get to heaven and the Lord weighs the good and the bad. And if the good outweighs the bad, then you're saved. I have heard Christians, even deacons in Baptist church say such things. And so I grew up confused about the subject of faith. I got down here to this church and the Lord changed it. And he showed me how you can enter into the doctrine of eternal security. And he taught me right here in this church that it's not what you think your relationship to him is. It's from his direction as he looks toward you and he knows what it is. The Lord knoweth them that are his. And so the only way you can ever know your relationship to God is to have the faith that God has in himself concerning you. A world of difference. And that is the foundation of the doctrine of eternal security. How can any human enter into the doctrine of eternal security? Well, you have to believe God. You have to believe that God can save you from what you are. And that when he says that he will do it, then you have to believe that he can. Not from your faith toward him, but from his faith toward you, which is absolute. He knows exactly what he can do. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. The question that I had to deal with was, did I believe God? Did I believe in the faith that he had in himself to make that word good to me? And I did. And from that point on, I had a much better understanding of the doctrine of eternal security. So there's two kinds of faith. There's the faith of God. And there's the faith of man. The faith of man has an element of doubt. The faith of God has no element of doubt. And the Bible is written that way and is taught this way. He wants it taught this way so that we're forced in the direction of God to realize that we cannot run around independent from God, enjoying eternal security. It cannot be done. The only way you can enjoy eternal security is to be one with him. You have to let that mind be in you. That was also in Christ Jesus. You can't be distant from God. You have to be close to God. And the closer you are to him, the more you can enjoy the doctrine of eternal security and know that you're saved. Now think about it, God's whole purpose was that of reconciling the world to himself, which means bringing the world to him that we might be like him. And he's the only one that can accomplish that. He can do that by willing in us and doing in us. He can bring us to himself, he can save us. We can't save ourselves, without him we can do nothing. Nothing. We can't even believe without God. We can't even have faith without God. We need his faith. And so when we see that we need him that desperately, then what are we going to do? Our focus is going to become God centered. We're going to run to him and we're going to be like the disciples. After hearing the preaching of John the Baptist, when he said, behold, the lamb of God, which take away the son of the world and the disciples. Uh, John and Andrew went to the Lord and said, where do Ellis now? And the Lord said, come and see. And so they went and I spent the rest of the day with him. That's what we need to do. We need to run to him. We need to find where he dwells. We need to go to him, be with him and never leave his presence and enjoy his promise that he would never leave us nor forsake us. And so the Bible is written in such a way that you cannot enjoy the promises of this book apart from the person who gave us the book. And so eternal life is not a state, it's a person. He is the life. And to think of it as a state, as a ticket to heaven, okay, if you get saved, then you can go to heaven. Well, in the humanist mind, this is all he ever really wanted. He didn't want to go to hell, he wanted to go to heaven. And so a lot of people go through the motions of what they think is going to get them the ticket to get to heaven. And that's all they ever really wanted. And whether Christ was there or not, it didn't matter any more than it matters about him being here on earth. Well, heaven isn't heaven without Jesus Christ. And salvation is not salvation without Jesus Christ. Faith is not faith without his faith. And so the Bible is written in such a way that you cannot enjoy anything that is in the book without him and being one with him. So that's why it's written this way. Okay. Patience. He says, I know thy patience. Well, patience has to do with God's clock. The thinking of a believer becomes radically different when you grow to understand that all time belongs to God. There's always time to do the Lord's will. There's never enough time to do His and what you want to do. And so the believer understands that his life, everything about him, belongs to God. And so the Lord is going to be first in everything. It's not going to be a job or something that you want to do. That's maybe a hobby or something that you enjoy. Sometimes it's very difficult to find people to work here, uh, to be a part of the programs that go on. And the reason is because people do not understand the word patience in the Bible. And what you should learn from that term. Well, what does it teach? Well, patience folks has to do with time. How do you understand that? Well, I can tell you this. God is the author of space, time, and matter. And when he died on Calvary's cross and separated eternity in half. So that you have eternity past and eternity future. How could we miss that all time belongs to him? The earth, the moon, the sun, the motions of the planets. It's a clock. God created them for times and seasons. It's right there in Genesis times and seasons. Time doesn't belong to you and I, we do not know what tomorrow may bring. We might be out here making our big plans to make the big bucks, to have our fun, to do all this stuff, but that's humanism. That's not the way to think. I know the pastor of this church, Brother Kent, some of the things that I learned from him and the way of his life was a great blessing to me. Because he put the Lord first in everything. And when it came to vacations, when it came to things like Christmas, many a time he'd stand up here in his pulpit and he'd say, now I know I'm not going to get any credit from God for this, but he said, Christmas to me is about Christ. And the way I can prove the sincerity of my love is to take my money, my check, For this week, and I'm gonna put it in the collection plate as an offering to the Lord. Because Christmas is not about our family. It's about God's. It's about his work. It's about what's needed in the ministry for the Lord's glory, but I'm gonna tell you something. And don't think that this is just characteristic of the lost, it's characteristic of the saved. Thousands upon thousands of dollars will be spent in this church on children, on junk they don't need. And giving to the church will be a passing thought that'll give a moment or two of silence and meditation and conviction, and very quickly we'll turn our eyes and we'll see those children And we'll say, well, we just can't let Christmas go by without giving back. I see kids tearing into toys, and they'll go from one to the other. And all we're doing is teaching them that Christmas is nothing in the world but materialism. It's not about Christ. So how can we, in a practical way, as parents that profess to be Christians, the real thing, teach our children That what's really important is Christ. It's about the ministry. And we've got amazing ministries here in this place. We have the school, we have the church ministry. We ought to be inviting people to come to Sunday school, to come to the morning worship service, to come to the midweek service. We need to be out here talking to people and trying to encourage them to come. We need to be supportive of the people who do work here and have our eyes open toward those that have needs. We need to support the Christian bookstore. We ought to go down there and buy stuff for Christmas if we're going to give something to somebody. That's where it ought to be bought. In a place where they've got things that you can give people that are really nice. And the benefits goes to the ministry so that we can keep it going. And people ought to be anxious to be a part of the young people's and the things that are done to promote and encourage the young people. And I don't want to give you the impression that that's not going on, because it is. Listen, we had a thing down here Saturday night. Was it Saturday or Friday? Friday night with the young people. I'm going to tell you something. It was for the staff of the school, but the students were basically employed to serve the teachers, the staff of the school. And those kids did amazing. I mean, and it taught them something. It was teaching them without them even realizing that their mission in life is to serve. and to have respect for those that are over them, and let them know that they care about them. And all of these things, I believe, were a part and was manifest in those activities. So it's amazing. And we need to be more supportive of those kinds of things. So anyway, patience is what he says, and then he mentions works, and he says, concerning works, and the last to be more than the first. And the last to be more than the first. This, in a subtle way, is kind of referring back to the church at Ephesus that had left their first love. It's very easy for that to happen to you. Where other loves get in front of love for the Lord. And I think the greatest test of that is, is what is there in our life that would practically demonstrate that he's first? And name it to yourself. What is it? What goes on in your life that would be proof to your own mind and heart that the Lord is first? What do you think about first when you get up in the morning? Is it your job? Is it getting to work on time? Shouldn't be. I believe our first thought should be our first problem. and the only solution for it. And the first and only problem that anybody has is their own heart, their own mind, their own heart. And every day of a person's life they ought to get up and that ought to be the very first thing that enters their mind. I've got a huge problem and it's so huge I'm deserving of hell. I deserve to be cast into hell forever for what I am as a human being in my natural state. And I know that you are the only solution. And I know that I have a nature in me, an old man, that will not go away my entire life as I live on this earth. And so it's an ever-present danger. And so Lord, I want you to go with me. And I'm going to claim that promise that you'll never leave me nor forsake me. And I want you with me everywhere I go and involved in everything that I do for your glory. That would be an indicator. Do you do it? Do you get up in the morning? And can you say honestly before God who knows you see first in your life? Easy first. And there are many other things that are indicators of first love, but these are a few. Our time is young. Um, let's look to the Lord in prayer. Uh, David, will you dismiss this run? so short and times are. that it will also touch our hearts in the way that it is needed for each and every one of us. Yeah.