In the announcements it's our delight to have the Reverend Craig Dennison over with us on behalf of the Trinitarian Bible Society. He's had a busy nearly couple of weeks now, I think preaching nearly every night, but we're glad to have him that he's able to make it across to the Ayr Peninsula and to share with us and I'm going to invite him to come now to the pulpit and to bring God's Word to us. I do thank the Reverend Graham. It is a pleasure to be with you again, to be able to fellowship together around the Word of God. We're turning to Revelation chapter 3, and just while you're turning there, I'll share a brief update on the work of the Society. We do thank you for your continued prayers and your support and interest in the work. We're thankful that the Lord has raised up believers who who remember us before the throne of grace and prayer and pray for the ongoing work. When I began with the Society six years ago, we had 44 translation projects. We now have 115. So the Lord has greatly multiplied the work and we do give thanks and rejoice in this. In terms of the work, I'll not mention all 115 projects here today, but if I can mention one, in specific and it's a very recent one, one that is particularly dear to my heart. I was in India in January to promote this and it is the Hindi Gospel of John. When we do a translation we start by translating the Gospel of John and we print it and we start to circulate it and promote it, make people aware of our translation while the team move on to the rest of the New Testament. and that is printed and promoted while they work in the Old Testament. So we finished the Hindi Gospel of John at the end of last year and we printed it and I was asked to go out and help promote this gospel amongst Hindi speakers. We had never done any work in the land of India to promote the Hindi scripture so this was in many ways a first effort and first attempt. There are 609 million people who speak Hindi. It is the third most spoken language in the world. They do have the Bible. In fact, they've had an excellent translation since William Carey did his work back in the 18th century into the 19th century. And it was a very faithful translation from the original languages, but it is now out of date. Modern Hindi has changed and progressed. And sadly, the modern Hindi Bibles are not translated from the preserved Word of God, the Hebrew Masoretic, Old Testament, and the Greek Texas Receptus New Testament, from which our authorized version is translated from. But they're translated from the modern critical texts, which is ever-changing, ever-evolving, missing verses and parts of verses and minimizes the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ in many places. So we have returned to the preserved text and we are producing a translation from it. So we printed 10,000 copies of the Hindi Gospel of John and we held over 20 meetings throughout India. We had about 25 speaking engagements to summon churches on the Lord's Day. We held some pastors conferences. We held a youth conference. We were invited to a theological seminary to address the students and the faculty. In total, we were able to introduce over 1,500 people. to the work of the TBS in that three week period. And we do give thanks to God that he opened many doors for us to share the word of God. And there wasn't a single piece of negative feedback or criticism that we received about our Hindi Gospel of John. It has been very well received and some pastors have already committed to supporting our translation, and God willing, if it comes out in the near future, they will be using it as their main translation of choice. So do continue to pray for the Hindi translation, for the team who are working on it, that very soon the New Testament will be finished, and then the whole Bible will be complete. If I can mention a little about TBS here in Australia, we have a branch in Australia based in Grafton over on the East Coast, and two years ago we produced this translation or this copy. It's a King James version but we did a special cover to commemorate the first Christian worship service held on Australian soil on the 3rd of February 1788. We printed 5,000 copies, 600 have been sold, it's available to purchase. But the primary aim was to make this available to school children and to Saba school children and so forth. And it has been very well received and they have now allocated funding for a further 5,000 copies. So if you do have access to children, to be able to give these out free of charge, please do get in touch with our office in Grafton and they will be happy to assist you in spreading. the word of God amongst the boys and girls here in Australia. Well, we're turning now to Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three, and we will commence reading from the verse seven. 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. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thy hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thy has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the earth, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 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. Amen. May God bless the reading of his own holy and infallible word. I would like to speak to you today on the church in Philadelphia, and I have entitled this church the persevering church. But before we come to the preaching, let us unite together in prayer. Our Father, we are thankful to thee that we have thy word. We think of many of our fellow creatures who are still left in darkness, who still have not a faithful translation of thy word available to them. In fact, any portion of thy word available We do pray for the proliferation of thy word amongst the nations. We do pray for the spreading of the gospel of peace, and that thou would be pleased to multiply thy word among the different language groups, among the different nationalities, and that thou would be pleased to glorify thy son. But Lord, for us now, as we come into thy word, we do pray for thy help. We do pray for the assistance, the aid, the unction of thy spirit, that thou would be pleased to equip us, preacher and hearer alike, to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save and to sanctify our souls. So forgive sin, bless our time together. In the Redeemer's name we pray. Amen. The sixth letter that the Lord Jesus Christ gives is to the church in Philadelphia. What do we know about this town of Philadelphia? It is situated in a valley, an important center for trade. It was founded in the year 189 BC, but this city suffered terribly in the earthquake of AD 17. The name Philadelphia is a name that's familiar to us and the name means brotherly love. It's taken from two Greek words Adelphos and Philio that mean brother and love. It was given the name by its founder King Eumenes II in honor of his brother Attalus II for his brother's steadfast loyalty. That's where the name brotherly love came from. Christianity had a long-lasting impact upon the town of Philadelphia. Robert Murray McShane notes that in the 1800s, Philadelphia had a population of 2,000 people. And in that town, there were five churches, and 800 professed faith. Sadly, after the events in Turkey in the 1920s, the Greeks left Philadelphia in a mass exodus and there is little to no Christianity in that town today. But in its day, Philadelphia had a church, and Philadelphia had a faithful church, a church that was highly commended by Christ for their faithfulness and steadfast loyalty. Now, one of the striking observations we can make from studying the seven letters to the seven churches is that only two churches received praise from Christ without any rebuke. Smyrna, what I call the suffering church, received no rebuke from Christ, only praise. And Philadelphia, likewise, received praise without any rebuke. The other five churches received rebukes and warnings. Only two received praise without any rebuke. And we have to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is never unfair in his assessment of his churches. If there are things to be praised, he will give praise. But if a rebuke is needed, if chastisement is required, he will give it. Now, just because the church at Philadelphia did not receive any admonition, it doesn't mean that it was a perfect church. Our Westminster Confession of Faith says, The purest churches under heaven are subject to both mixture and error. And the truth is, there's no such thing as a perfect church because of the people who are in it. Yes, we are sinners redeemed by the grace of God, but that doesn't mean we are perfect. We still make mistakes. We still have elements of pride in our heart, our own desires and ambitions. And sadly, lamentably, we can bring these into the church and we can bring error into it as well. But it should be the desire of every church to be praised by Christ, just as this church in Philadelphia was praised by Christ. There's many churches in the world today and they want the praise of men. They want to be recognized by the world as being a good influence in society. They want praise by the other churches for the size of the congregation, for their their wonderful music, and even their preaching. But surely the praise that you and I should desire as individuals, but collectively as a church, is the praise of Christ, to be praised by Him, not to simply have the adoration of men. We want to be praised for doing His will, praised for knowing that our labors are not for our name, but for His glory. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of trying to be people-pleasers rather than God-pleasers. Preachers, ministers can especially fall into this trap. Well, I'll not preach in that portion of Scripture because it'll cause offence, it'll get somebody's back up, so I'll just skip over that and I'll preach sermons that are palatable and easy and won't get me into any trouble. And we're not to do that. We're not to be men-pleasers. In all things, we are to be God pleasers. And such was the church in Philadelphia, praised by Christ. But why were they praised? Well, I believe they were praised for their consistency in the faith. This was a church that could be said to be like Caleb, wholeheartedly following the Lord. Put simply, the church in Philadelphia persevered. They persevered in their love to Christ. They persevered in their duty to Christ and in their service. Persevering is what Christians are called to do. And dear friends, it's not always easy to persevere. We face opposition. We face hostility. We face abuse. But the Christian is called to persevere, regardless of the difficulty, the trials, the tribulations that we have to endure. We are called to persevere. And if he is a Christian, he will persevere. because this is the mark of a true believer. But also collectively as a church, we are called to persevere regardless of the circumstances around us. So let's look this afternoon at Philadelphia, the Persevering Church. Three headings to leave with you here today. First of all, notice the Lord's recognition of their perseverance. In verse 8, the Lord Jesus Christ says to this church, I know thy works. I know thy works. That is a comfort and a challenge as well when the Lord Jesus Christ says, I know. It's a reminder to us that the Lord sees everything. He sees the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as the actions and deeds that we do. And the Lord says, I know you might have done this and there might not have been a response. You might have been faithful and nobody has acknowledged it. Nobody has give you that pat on the back for your faithfulness, but I know, I know. And what a comfort that is to us. Even whenever those who profess to be the Lord's people don't stand with us in our faithfulness, the Lord Jesus Christ says to us those two words, I know, I know, I know you've been faithful. But likewise, the Lord also says, I know when we haven't been faithful. He knows those times when we have failed him and let us down. Other people might not have seen it, but the Lord sees it. And he says, I know. But he says here, I know thy works. So what works did Christ praise them for? Well, common healers generally assume it to be the spreading of the gospel of Christ. That is the works that the churches call to. We are called to go into all the world. We're called to preach the gospel. We're called to make disciples. This is the work of the church not just for the early apostles but the continuing ongoing work of the church. It was the call for the Church of Philadelphia to preach Christ be instant in season and out of season. So I believe that Christ praise them for the spreading of the gospel. He praised them for defending the faith against attack. And we know that they had enemies. We read of this a little later on. He praised them for reaching out to sinners, reaching out to them with the free offer of the gospel, reaching out to them and presenting Christ freely to them, calling them to repentance and faith in the only redeemer of sinners. I know thy works. I know. The Lord comforts them. and recognizes their works. In verse eight, he goes on to say, thy hast a little strength. The Lord acknowledges that this isn't the strongest of churches. He says, thy hast a little strength. We're not told what this little strength was. Perhaps they lacked gift of ministry. Perhaps they didn't have the most educated of scholars or ablest of preachers. Maybe finances were a struggle. Maybe the congregation was getting older and frailer We're not told, but the praise of Christ is that with the little strength that they did have, they persevered. They didn't down tools. They didn't give up. They didn't respond like Elijah and go and sit under the juniper tree. Whenever the temperature rised, they continued to persevere with the little strength that they had. And dear friends, with the little strength that you and I maybe feel that we have, we are called to persevere. We're not called to give up. The praise of Christ is there for them. In verse eight, the Lord goes on to praise them. For keep thy and said, and has kept my word. And dear friend, can I say that this is essential in earning the praise of Christ, keeping his word. Dear friend, you could build the greatest and most majestic looking church building. You could invest in pillars of gold. You could array it with the finest diamonds. And yet in your heart, you could be far from God. And the Lord will not accept, or he will come to you and he will say, you have not kept my word. And you might say, well, I've built you this wonderful temple. I've built you this wonderful church. but the Lord would still be grieved because you haven't kept his word. Keeping Christ's word shows our obedience to him. It shows that we value and respect his word. It shows that we love him. If you love me, keep my commandments. Love makes us faithful to Christ. And this church at Philadelphia, they loved Christ and their love was demonstrated in their faithfulness to the word of God. And likewise, the Lord sees our faithfulness whenever we keep his word as well. But he goes on to say in verse eight, and has not denied my name. These Christians in Philadelphia, they face the same pressures that all Christians face, to deny Christ. Peter faced this temptation in the courtyard of the high priest's house. Paul was brought before Jewish leaders, Roman governors, Greek scholars, and pressurized sometimes to deny the Christian faith. It's one thing to be a Christian privately in the secrecy of our own homes, but are we willing to confess Christ publicly before others? Do those who know us know that we love the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are his people, that we belong to him, that we haven't denied his name? This church had many enemies, no doubt pressurising them to turn from the Christian faith, to deny Christ, but they didn't do it. They persevered. And dear friends, can I say this world will put pressure on you to turn from the word of God, to turn from following the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not cave to the pressure of the world. Let us not deny the name of Christ. Let us persevere. This church was recognised for their perseverance. It was evidenced by their work, by keeping the word and not denying Christ's name. I wonder, dear friends, if the Lord was to write us that letter, maybe individually, maybe collectively as a church, would we be praised for our perseverance on these matters? Or would the Lord have to say to us, I have somewhat against thee? Let us be those who labor for the praise and for the glory of Christ. So we thought, first of all, of the recognition of their perseverance. Secondly, notice the responsibility to persevere, the responsibility to persevere. Whenever we receive praise, it can have one of two effects upon us. It can cause us to become lazy and rest upon our past efforts, or it can inspire us to continue to work hard. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe, wanted to ensure that this church didn't become lazy, so he gave them instruction. He encouraged them to keep persevering, and he gave them some wisdom to follow. In verse 8, he says, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. The Lord Jesus Christ instructs the church that he has opened a door for them. They don't have to open this door. Christ has opened it for them. It's a door that they come to, they'll not find it shut, it's an open door. Nor are they going to have to worry about any man shutting this door on them. It's a door that Christ has opened, and if he has opened this door, it's because he wants them to use it, to enter it, and go through it. Now one of the hardest things to discern as a church is how do we advance? How do we go forward? How do we serve the Lord? And we can maybe ask questions like, what doors should we try to open? And so often we forget that it's not us who opens the doors, but it's Christ who opens them for us. Sometimes we are so determined to see the work of God advance, we try to open doors ourselves. We don't want to be seen as being lazy, so we try this door and we try that door. We want to be seen as a busy church, Rather than praying for God to open doors and waiting for God to open doors, we try to open our own doors, not realizing that perhaps it might be a door that the Lord doesn't want opened yet. There could be times when we are pushing a locked door and the Lord might have it locked for a reason. I remember when I pastored a church in Scotland, in my great zeal, one day I rode out to 17 schools offering to take Christian assemblies in the schools. Only two responded back saying that they would have me. And in many ways, looking back, I sometimes reflect what would have happened if all 17 had said, yes, I would have had a very full ministry going round the school assemblies every month. But the reality is God only wanted me in two schools. And the two schools responded. There were open and effectual doors there. But what does the Bible have to teach us about open doors? Well, there's a subject in itself here. In fact, I have a whole separate sermon on this for another occasion. But can I say it's biblical to wait and pray for God to open doors? And here's the scripture proof, Colossians 4, verse 3. Paul says, with all praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance. So Paul says, pray that God would open a door for us. He doesn't say, pray that some of the doors that we try will be the right doors. No, he says, pray that God would open the doors. Paul, he's effectively saying there's lots of closed doors around us. There's lots of doors that are shut to us. Pray that God would open a door for us. Now, what door did Paul want prayer to be opened? Well, he says in Colossians 4, 3, A door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. He says this is the door that we want open. We want a door open that we can preach Christ to lost and perishing sinners. And dear friend that is the door that we should be praying for God to open to us. Praying that God would open the door to speak to souls in our community who are lost in sin of the glories of Christ and their need to be born again. through faith in him. We should be praying that the Lord would open doors whereby we can invite people in under the sound of the word. We don't have to pray to God for open doors, whether we should become an entertainment center. No, those aren't the sort of doors that we should be praying for. We should be praying for open doors to speak the mystery of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 12 Paul says when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel and a door was opened unto me of the Lord. So who opened the door? The Lord opened the door. Why was Paul there? to preach the gospel. And as Paul was there to preach the gospel, the Lord opened the door. So we say that the open door is connected with the preaching of the gospel, making known the mysteries of Christ. 1 Corinthians 16 verse 9, Paul says to the church in Corinth, for a great door and effectual is opened on to me. So Paul speaks of the great and effectual door that God has opened for him. In Acts 14, 27, Paul and Barnabas, and when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith onto the Gentiles. So again, God opening the door for them. And they had the spiritual discernment to realize that God was opening the door for them. I remember a lady telling me many years ago, high in her youth, she was so keen to serve the Lord. She had all these ideas, pages and pages of ideas. And as this needs done and that needs done and we should reach this group and that group And she had all these ideas and she realized she couldn't possibly do them all by herself. So she says, I'll take this list to my pastor. So she took the big long list of her ideas to her pastor and started telling him all about these ideas that she had. And the pastor stopped her and he said, very graciously, if you don't mind me asking, which of these ideas are yours and which of these are what the Lord wants you to do? And he says, I advise you to go home and pray through your list. And as she went home and started praying through the list, she started stroking them off one by one until there was one thing that was left. She ended up going to study at a college, Christian college. There she met her husband, and her and her husband served the Lord in Africa's missionaries for a number of years. And she said, I had to be shown that it wasn't My ideas, I wanted to see these things done, but it's what the Lord would have me to do. The Lord opened that door for her, meeting her husband and serving the Lord in Africa. Dear friend, can I ask, do you pray for open doors? Do you pray that God would open a door for you to speak the mystery of Christ to some family member, to some friend, to some stranger that you meet? Do you pray for these open doors? What about as a congregation? Do you pray open doors for the church? Open doors for your minister? Is it a constant prayer in your prayer meeting that this week a great and effectual door will be opened for him to preach Christ to some needy soul? That's what we are to pray for. Pray for open doors for ourselves, for the congregation, for the doors to be opened. Sometimes I maybe think that due to maybe being in the days of small things, we can be guilty of a defeated attitude. And we can sit back and say, well, these are dark and terrible days and nothing is happening, so why bother? We are to bother. We're to be instant, in season and out of season. And we're to pray for open doors. The Apostle Paul lived in difficult days. He was persecuted, he was stoned, he was beaten, and yet he prayed for open doors. And he asked others to pray for him, for open doors. So make that a prayer for open doors. In verse 11, moving on quickly here, Paul says to, or the Lord Jesus Christ says to this church in Philadelphia, hold that fast which thy hast, that no man take thy crown. So this is again part of their responsibility to persevere. And he tells them, hold fast to what ye have, that no man take thy crown. Not only was this church to go through the door of service that Christ had opened for them, but they were commanded to hold fast to what they already had. Don't be compromising. Don't be lowering your standards in order to please people and get them in through the door. Keep my word. Don't deny my name. Hold fast. Sadly, in order to get people in, sat in the pews, there's many churches who have given up holding fast. And they will say, men pleasing things to get them into the church. They will stop short of preaching the whole counsel of God in order to get people in. No, dear friend, we're to hold fast to God's word. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying to this church in Philadelphia that it is to continue as it is without change. Well, how is this relevant to us today? Well, we're to continue to be a church that holds fast to the Bible And this is difficult. There's many around us who say they hold fast to the Bible, but they believe some very, very different things from us. We have the Jehovah's Witness who claim they hold fast to the Bible, but they deny the Trinity. We have the Seventh-day Adventists who say they hold fast and they deny hell. We have those even within professing evangelicalism who say they hold fast but they believe that the Jew will be converted just through being a Jew and they don't need to be born again or have faith in Christ, a very real and serious problem. We must be those who are continually studying and searching the scriptures to hold fast to the truth of God's word. So we've thought of their recognition of their perseverance, their responsibility to persevere. Thirdly, and finally, notice the reward for perseverance. The reward for perseverance. First of all, we can note that their enemies will be converted. Look at verse nine. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Now some take this to mean that the enemies of the church in Philadelphia will stop persecuting them. Others take it to mean that the enemies will be converted to faith in Christ. And I believe that is the true interpretation. I believe the open door for the preaching of the gospel here It's not just for the preaching, but for the effectiveness of the preaching, for conversions, following the preaching, even the enemies converted and brought into the church. What an open door. The hard heart of the Jews will be opened. They will join with these believers in Philadelphia and worshiping God. Man couldn't have engineered this, but God can. And surely dear friends, this is what a true and genuine believer wants to see. They want to see even their enemies converted. We want to see those who hate us and despise us and persecute us brought to faith in Christ. Surely we wouldn't desire or delight to see any of them on that other side. To see it spurge and say that sinners will be damned. Let them be damned with our hands around their feet, pleading with them not to go to hell. And let that also be true of our enemies. We can think of Jonah. Jonah's often painted as a missionary. Or he's often painted as a reluctant missionary. Some people say, well, he just maybe didn't want to go and preach. That wasn't Jonah's problem. Jonah's problem was that he didn't want to preach to the Ninevites. He hated the Ninevites. And even whenever God blessed his preaching in a mighty way and there was great revival, Jonah still wasn't happy. because he didn't have a love for those souls. He didn't have desires to see them converted. But we are to pray, pray for our enemies. So the first reward is our enemies converted. Their second reward is that they will be kept from temptation. Verse 10, because thy has kept the word of my patience, 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. Dear friend, surely the biggest fear that you and I should have in life is feeling Christ and falling away from Him, letting Him down, giving in to temptation, ruining our testimony, and grieving our Saviour. Well, the Lord has promised, as Peter said, that we are kept by the power of God. It is He who keeps us. not we who keep ourselves. And the Lord makes this promise to the church in Philadelphia. The third reward is that they will be made a pillar. Verse 12, him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God. Look at the imagery that Christ uses. to describe the persevering church here. He calls them a pillar. He doesn't say you'll be a grain of dust, you'll be a stone, you'll be a brick. He calls them a pillar. That beautiful imagery there, a pillar, strong pillar in the temple of God. What a reward for those who persevere. Well, as we come to a close here today, We live in an age, I believe, where Christians need great encouragement to persevere. We live in a very hostile world. There's many pressures to conform to the world, and there's many churches that have compromised on biblical truth in order to fit in better to the world. I was in India in January and February, and there's many pressures on Christians there to conform to the world. India has a population of 1.4 billion people, but in that 1.4 billion people, there are 73 million Christians. The majority of people are Hindu, only about 5% are Christians, and persecution is on the rise in India. Last year alone, 2,228 church buildings were attacked or destroyed, most often during worship services. 160 Christians were martyred for their faith in Christ. Over 62,000 Christians were forced to relocate. In one state alone, there are 750 pastors that are in prison. And in that state, there are a minimum of three pastors arrested every Lord's Day. Three pastors. Many of the pastors I met, we were having meetings and they were saying, it's not a case of if they come to arrest us, it's a case of when. But despite the persecution and the threat of persecution, the church there is full of faith and fervent in evangelism. One pastor who lives in a very secure compound in a very dangerous area, has a number of young men living with him in his house. He is training them to be pastors and his church has a vision and a burden to plant at 10 churches in the next 10 years. He is sending these young men out and going out himself, preaching in the open air, handing out gospel literature, stopping people on the street to tell them of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is in a place, dear friend, where they wouldn't merely get arrested, but a mob would come and beat them to death. And nothing would happen to the mob because they have the support of the police. I met a pastor and he was beaten within an inch of his life, spent weeks in hospital. Who beat him up? The police. Who can he complain to whenever the head of the police is standing there watching you get beaten with sticks for being a Christian and a preacher of the gospel. And yet the church in India is thriving, the church in India is growing, and the Lord is adding daily to the church there such as should be saved. a picture of the persevering church. Dear friend, can I say Christ praises this persevering church in Philadelphia. He praises persevering Christians. It should be our desire, it should be our heartfelt passion to be a persevering Christian and to be a persevering church. If we are found to be lukewarm today, let us pray that the Lord would quicken the embers within our heart, that the Lord would stir up our souls with fresh passion and fresh zeal to serve him. But if you're here today and you know not Christ and you're not yet a Christian, How can you persevere as a Christian if you're not yet a Christian? Dear friend, you need to begin that journey. And the Lord Jesus Christ issues a very simple word in scripture, one word. He makes it very simple. It's the word come. That's the word that the Lord uses, come. That's the invitation that comes. And there's a promise attached to that invitation. He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Dear friend, there's one of two destinations for us. It's either heaven or hell. Only those who've been born again of the Spirit of God, only those who have come to Christ will be in heaven. So dear friend, come today and begin the Christian life. Persevere, as Paul said, looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.