Episode 13 - Wisdom

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Good afternoon, My name is Pastor Peter, co founder with my wife Sherry that's sitting next to me here at Eyes to See Ministries International and we are being recorded at Community Media of South Central Pennsylvania. We gather each Wednesday here to have a teaching. And I'm going back and reflecting on the fourth quarter of last year when I asked the Lord what is the Spirit saying to me and the churches for the upcoming year, which would be 2026. And I remember very clearly because he answered me pretty quickly and he said, you need to tell the church, my church, who I am, meaning Jesus and the world. And I've realized as I traveled around there's not many people that really know Jesus because they don't have a personal relationship with him. And we are going to see that in the upcoming teaching I can't get done in one week what we're going to begin to talk about. So today will be more of an introduction. And perhaps I won't promise this, but perhaps I'll fire some questions at my wife and put her on this call. But first let me open in prayer. Father, we are just so grateful, we have grateful hearts that we can be in a personal relationship with Almighty God, all powerful omnipotent God, all knowing, omniscient God, an ever present omnipresent God. I just think of the scripture that says who is man that you should think about us. But you know every hair on her head. I heard this week that if you took a cube, a one foot cube and put sand in it that it would equal between 500,000 and 1 million thoughts. And you know all of our thoughts. So we thank you for the revelation, the reality of what it, what the relationship is when we are true converts, when we are of the way. I thank you today for this message that this word will not return empty. You'll be faithful to your Word and it will accomplish that which you send it forth to accomplish. Which is why every message needs to be based on scriptures. The scriptures have to go forth and if Jesus isn't mentioned, It's not a message to go out. So Father, let you be glorified in all that happens tonight in Jesus name. Amen. The message title, the short title is called the Contrast. Little bit longer title would be Wisdom and Folly contrasted. So we're going to start in the book of Proverbs. We are in the book of Revelation. The contrast that we're going to learn about over the next couple weeks is Christ's message to the church in Smyrna contrasted with his message to the church in Laodicea, the Laodiceans. So if we have time tonight, when we get through with this introduction, I'll continue and give you a little bit a brief history and cultural background of Smyrna and also of Laodicea. I love history. I'm a student of history. I love military history in particular. But I really studied and have a degree in cultural and Social studies. So for most of my adult life, most of my life, I was an unsaved person under the wrath of God, which meant had I died in that condition of my heart, I would have been in hell. But God kept me. And even though I was in rebellion against him my entire life up until age 57, he did keep me. I believe people pray. I know my son and his wife prayed me into the kingdom. So prayers are important. They're very powerful. But my entire life, when I went back and reflected on it after I became a radical convert for Jesus, I realized that even as a little child, everything that I was being led to do, the people that I was in contact with, all would prepare me for that one day when I said, jesus, I'm yours. And when that happened, I know people testified in the church that I went into that. It was like I was shot out of a cannon. Well, I was prepared my whole life, whether I knew it or not. So that when that day came, God had already put a foundation there that he could build on through the Scriptures. And he would confirm throughout, throughout my walk and still is today, and reminds me going back in my own life historically, on how he was present in my life the whole time. So we are going to talk about wisdom and folly a little bit. And this, what I would say is a great chasm between these two churches and how Jesus deals with them. Remember in the book of Revelation, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is Christ. John has written this by the spirit, inspiration of the Spirit, but this is Christ, Jesus Christ's own evaluation of his churches roughly 60 to 65 years after he departed and he ascended to heaven. So what is the contrast, the theme, the spiritually rich church in contrast to the spiritually wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked church. Now, I just want to expound on that a little bit for effect. The spiritually wretched, the spiritually miserable, the spiritually poor, the spiritually blind and the spiritually naked church. Those are Jesus own words that we'll see when we get to Laodicea. And I want you to keep this in mind as we go through this over the next couple weeks. This is the one church that Jesus never gives a comment about. He goes right into the condemnation and he doesn't let up on it. There is nothing good that he has to say about this church. Now, I want you to think about that as we go through this in the next few weeks, because you could. I'll just say I can make an analogy between this church and the current church in America, the current condition of America today as a culture. What do we value? What do we love out of our mouths? Out of our heart speaks the abundance. What comes out of our mouth is what's in our heart. So what are we talking about all the time? Do we talk about Jesus? So as part of this introduction, if you have your Bible, open it up to two Peter 1, 3, and there's some key words that we're going to look at in several scriptures today that ties into these two churches. Ultimately, we are going to get into a message on grace, which we wouldn't be able to. What that actually is and how does the believer, the true believer, actually have the ability, ability to overcome sin, your flesh, the world and the devil? It's only through God, because we can't do it on our own. But listen to what Peter writes. His meaning God. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him, knowledge of God that has called us to glory and virtue. So some of the words we're going to see repeated is divine power, knowledge of God and glory. So just in the for what it's worth category, because we're talking about Jesus evaluation of his church, let's look at what church is church defined and exemplified. Briefly, it's an assembly, a called out assembly. So if I look at the lexical summary, that word in Greek is ecclesia. Ecclesia. It means church, assembly, congregation. In the King James Version, it uses the words assembly and church. In the nasb, the New American Standard Bible, you'll see church, churches, assembly and congregations. This word, the origin comes from a compound of the Greek word ek, which means among, and a derivative of called, so called, of. We go back to Second Peter, knowledge of God that has called us to glory. Now, there's three parts to this definition in this dictionary or the summary. Number one, it says properly a calling out. Number two, concretely, a called out assembly of citizens. Remember, our citizenship is in heaven. That's your calling out number three, specifically of Christ. And I just want to read this to you. This is the church, the community of the redeemed, of Christ, whether being on earth or in heaven, or both, used only of people, not a location, not a structure, etc. It's the redeemed of Christ used only of the redeemed, not of the unredeemed in their midst. So there are unredeemed people within the congregation, within different churches. Some of them haven't had the revelation of Christ as Savior. They have not had the revelation of sin and the true condition of their heart that they actually need a Savior. That's really what we need, the revelation of what do we need to be saved of is our sin. So there's those people in the midst, which is why Jesus gave us the parable of the tares and the wheat. And he said, don't separate them. When the disciples asked him, my angels. The angels will do that at the end. There's also going to be unredeemed in our midst, not just in the world, out in the marketplace, but also within the church, because the enemy will send people into the church. And I know I alluded a little bit to this last week, but a wolf in sheep's clothing. A lot of times when I'm speaking to people, they refer to the person behind the pulpit. Excuse me, but there are wolves in sheep's clothing that are entered into the church and into the ecclesia, into the body of Christ. And their purpose, whether they know it or not, is to disrupt and cause disunity within the body of Christ. Unfortunately, in our travels, it doesn't take long for that disunity to manifest itself. My own personal experiences. There's two churches that I was a regular attendee of, and I was in leadership in both. And when I addressed the congregation and explained to them that I was being called, there's that word called to go elsewhere, to do other things. That entire congregation, including the leadership, never messaged me again. They divorced me as part of their family, their building. I was not offended. The Bible speaks about this, and unfortunately, that's the church, that's Jesus Church. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. Now let's take a look at Ephesians 1:17, 19. This was the inspirational scripture for Eyes to See Ministries International. And in hindsight, I believe it's prophetic that we added the international onto the name of the ministry because the ministry is called to the universal church, not just one building, the church, as we saw that definition, that was in the lexical summary. So Ephesians 1. Beginning with verse 17, remember the words power, glory, knowledge of God. This is Paul's prayer. This is a very powerful prayer for you to pray. It's just part of it. That God, that the God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, capital H in the knowledge of God. Remember, second Peter, through the knowledge of God, verse 18, the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. Remember, you've been called to glory. Peter said, what? What is the hope of his calling? What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in these saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power? Now go back and look at two Peter again. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. If you go and look at Solomon's prayer in 2 Chronicles and 1st Kings, you will see that his prayer mirrors what Peter wrote later and what Paul wrote. Now, that shouldn't surprise us because it was really the author is the Holy Spirit. And then John, chapter 17, verse 3, when Jesus is praying to his Father, he says, and this is eternal life, Father, that they know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. This knowledge is very important for your salvation. The Bible talks about righteousness onto holiness, and it actually says final salvation. Now, we're not going to talk about that tonight. But once you received salvation and you received the Holy Spirit, you now have the Holy Spirit to sanctify you, to separate you, to make you holy if you submit to him. This is why there's the scripture that says, by their fruits you'll know them. And moving forward, at some point, I'll talk about. Because there are people out there that aren't sure if they're saved. And I'm going to give you a list of things that, if you can answer yes to those questions or the majority of them, that you are truly saved. Now, the reason for looking at Proverbs is once a year I like to go through the Book of Proverbs in the beginning of the year. It is what I call the Book of Wisdom. The title is the Proverbs. And I want to give you some key points on an outline from the Bible that I have, because this ties in directly what we're going to be speaking of. But there's a prologue to the Proverbs, which is the purpose and themes of Proverbs. And that's right in the beginning, Solomon writes Proverbs 1:1:7. And then he goes on to give, excuse me, give us 13 wisdom discourses from Proverbs 1:18 through Proverbs 9:18. And I just want to go over some of these. Say no to all enticements of sinners. Now just mark in your bible, see Psalm 1:1:6. It's a short psalm, but you'll see why. Submit to wisdom and the fear of the Lord. Submit to them. Submit to wisdom and the fear of the Lord. Pursue wisdom with its discernment and virtue. Remember the Second Peter spoke about virtue. You will learn the characteristics and benefits of true wisdom. Wisdom as a family treasure. Now you could take this because it's written Solomon's writing this to youth and how wisdom applies in their family setting. But in the body of Christ we are a family, so these are applicable to us as well. And these are the two that tie into this message more directly. Wisdom and the two paths of life and wisdom and folly contrasted. That's where the name of this message came from. So when I go over First Kings, what Solomon asked, and Second Chronicles, in a few seconds, I want you to think about this. The petition, what he asks for, the motive behind what he's asking, and the answer from God. So King Solomon asks for wisdom in First Kings, chapter 3, verse 9. That's the specific petition when he tells God. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish right and wrong. We looked at one of his discourses was going to be pursue wisdom with its discernment and virtue, the fear of the Lord. So Solomon calls himself as the king of God's people, a servant. You'll see Paul use that word over and over. And this is not for today's teaching. But if you look up that word servant, excuse me, in the concordance, it actually means a slave, willing or unwilling, or a bondservant. Some places will refer to that. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish right and wrong. There's his motive to govern God's people as king. This is why we have to pray for our leaders. This is a good prayer to ask for the leaders of the country that you reside in here on earth. And 2 Chronicles 1:10 reads, now give me wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people. For who can judge this great people of yours? It's a question He Asks, you can't do that without knowledge. God's wisdom and knowledge. Now there's a related verse in the New Testament, James 1:5. Now, in verse 11 of 2 Chronicles, we have God's answer. Remember I said the petition, the motive and the answer. Then God said to Solomon, because this was in your heart, his motive. And you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself. Wisdom and knowledge are granted to you, and then God will go on to give them exceeding and abundantly above all that he could ask for, which is a scripture in the New Testament. This is very important when we pray that we understand. Paul said, bring your petition with supplications and a heart of thanksgiving. Excuse me. Thank you. Now, keep all this in mind when we look at the church in Smyrna, the assembly, the group of God's people called in Smyrna, in contrast to Laodicea. Now listen to Proverbs 1:7 verses. If you want to give this a subtitle, you call it the beginning of knowledge. You've heard that word over and over again. Knowledge of who? Knowledge of God. Knowledge of what? Knowledge of God. God's wisdom and knowledge. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding. That's what he was asking God for. And now it's written in God's holy book, Eternal word of God forever. To receive the instruction. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment and equity. To give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. So we can be a young believer, a new believer, a baby Christian. Some people would refer to you as, this is the new convert. And again, a new convert and someone who's not sincere can look the same for many, many years by their fruit. This is why Jesus said to the disciples, don't tear the tears out, because you may be pulling some of the. Some of the weed as well. This is the purpose of one of the purposes of Eyes to See Ministries International. One of my passions for God is to disciple new converts. What I'm finding out is that group keeps getting older and older and they've been in the church longer and longer than what we normally say as a new convert. But what's happening is the sad part about this is these people haven't heard a lot of the things that I was at a meeting, meeting last night and, and they, you know, I discussed, they were asking me for my input however, God's faithful to His Word and he can turn all things to good to them that love him, to them that are called for his purposes. So he will send somebody. I just happened to be the hands and feet and the mouth that got sent into this group last night. And. These are hungry people. These are people that go to church every Sunday and they want more. So they started to gather and now they're looking for people to be able to teach them and take them deeper into the word of God through what God's knowledge of God, wisdom and an understanding. Solomon would write over and over in proverbs, get wisdom and in your getting, get understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. So faith says, if God tells me to do something, I'm going to do it right now. And when you do that, the understanding will be given to you later. A lot of times I found when I go back and look in my journal, had I had the understanding early, I probably would have gotten away of God, what he wanted to do, trying to chisel things off of me through his sanctification process. A wise man will hear and increase learning and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. That's what these people were doing last night. A friend of mine who will be 83 in December, is wise counsel in the word of God for me. So he and I meet every Tuesday and we have church, the two of us. I learn more on Tuesday night than I do the rest of the week. I study the rest of the week and then we discuss it. Because we're looking at the same things every week. To understand a proverb, a short saying, a wisdom, a wise saying and an enigma. The words of the wise and their riddles. The last verse. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. The spiritually rich church, the wise church, the doer of the word, the ones that are listening to Christ. The leading of the Holy Spirit and the foolish church, the spiritually wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. If you're taking notes, mark blind. Because when we get into Laodicea, Christ is going to give an analogy of eyesolve. And there's a reason for that. When we look at the history of that, why, he's telling the Laodiceans what he does for their eyes to be open spiritually. But they're proclaiming that one of the things that they do is make this eyesov to let them make people see. So they're selling an eyes of in the Natural. And Jesus is saying, well, that may be true, but you're blind spiritually. In Proverbs 9, 10, it's repeated, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Remember verse seven in Proverb one, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Now it's written, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy one. Holy capital H and one capital O. This is from the new King James Version, is understanding. So these are a name for God. Isaiah 57, 15 says that God's name is holy, capital H, O L Y. Hosea 4, 6, part A. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. So my question is, what was it that Israel did not know, and why was that lack of knowledge so dangerous? Now I'll repeat that question a little different. What is it that the church in Laodicea did not know, and why was that lack of knowledge so dangerous? The rest of verse six helps to explain. God said, because you have rejected knowledge, talking about knowledge of God, I reject you. Now he goes on a little bit more. And since you have forgotten the law, the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The church in Smyrna is going to be edified and receive exhortation from Christ, and they're going to be given a warning. He's going to prepare them for something. So contrasting the two, I don't see something really bad that he's talking to the believers here in Smyrna, and yet he doesn't give anything good in Laodicea. I really encourage the church to. To read these letters to the seven churches and look at three things. Where am I spiritually as a person? Do I fit into one of these? Because if I'm part of the Ecclesia, then I am the church. So that definition applies to me also. What building do I go to and what do I see in that church, and what do I hear in that church building? And in the universal church? Now there's going to be a remnant, there always has been, of God's people. And we are experiencing right now a great falling away. And I'm not going to get into what that all means theologically right now, but there is a great falling away. And that means that we. That is one of the signs, that we are becoming closer and closer to the point where God's going to call his church out. And when that happens, like we talked about last week, what the Bible says, the restrainer is not here anymore on earth. Now, some theologians claim the restrainer's the Church. Some say it's the Holy Spirit. I say, you can't separate the two. That's my own opinion. But when the church, when the Holy Spirit leaves and the church is gone, it will be God's wrath poured out on the earth for three and a half years, and then Satan's going to pour his wrath out. So it's important when we're looking at this set of verses to note the structure of the verse. I'm not a linguist, but I'm learning through studying the Word of God. I need to look at sentence structure. I have to go back to my elementary school days sometimes to really understand and wrap my head around this. Fortunately, I can always pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the person of God. When I read the Bible, I do that every day. And every day when I read the Bible, I get that immediately because that's God's one of his highest purposes for his people. He's not going to not answer that prayer right away. So several things, and then we'll get into Smyrna. Rejected knowledge. That phrase is parallel to forgotten the law. Rejected knowledge in Hosea 4. 6. And some of the verses following is running parallel to God saying, they've forgotten the law. Now, what is the law? It's the word of God. Who is the word with a capital W? Jesus Christ. Depart from me, you sinners, you wicked of iniquity. I don't know you. Jesus told people, I'm the good shepherd. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. I know my sheep. If you want to study the Bible, and you should, you need to look at the Bible, rightly divided and the more scriptures that you memorize. And if you can't remember them, you have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the comforter who it is written will bring. He told the disciples, when the Holy Spirit comes, he'll bring to your remembrance all the things that I have said and told you. You can ask for that you have not, because you ask not. So that concept, this parallel concept between rejected knowledge of God, which is what Laodicea is doing, for forgetting God's word. This fits the context of the opening verse of that chapter in Hosea which states that Israel failed to acknowledge the Lord as their God. Hosea 4. One, the people did not simply lack knowledge and they actively rejected it. Rejected knowledge runs parallel to forgotten the law. Now, I would encourage you to look at Psalm 91 or Psalm 119. Go through there because you will see a lot of synonyms, similar words for Law. You'll see commandments, precepts, principles, the ways, God's ways, his instructions. You can look these up in the dictionary. I would encourage you to look them up in the 1828 Noah Webster's Dictionary. And you'll see parallels in all these definitions. So they literally are synonyms. You could say the forgotten law is forgot the word of God. Now they didn't. Keeping that in context, they not only forgot the word of God, they rejected it. That rejection is what sends you to hell. Those that reject Jesus Christ are under God's wrath and they will go to hell. They've rejected Christ, the truth, the way, the truth and the life. [00:39:26] Speaker A: And that's Hosea 4, 6 again. Yes, yes, you mentioned it, but you didn't say what it says. Should I give it to him? [00:39:35] Speaker B: Yes. [00:39:35] Speaker A: Okay. Hosea4.6 says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge. I also will reject you from serving as my priest because you have forgotten the law of your God. I also will forget your sons. It's very strong, very strong. [00:40:03] Speaker B: Rejected knowledge of God. Of God. Now I've heard that scripture over the last year and I don't watch these shows anymore. But the marketing world uses a term called the tagline. There are people in the church using that scripture as a tagline for other things. And sometimes there is a broader context of a life principle given within God's word, but we can't take it out of context. And I've heard people with quite large followings doing that lately. So there's a falling away. I'm not going to give you the definitions and we're not going to talk about the apostate church today or apostasy. You can experience the church. You can have an apostate church as an assembly, which tells me, and this is biblically true, you can individually be apostate, [00:41:15] Speaker A: foreign. [00:41:19] Speaker B: So what was God's, what was Jesus? Message to the church and smear. And I'll give you a brief overview because my introduction is almost 45 minutes and I'm still not done. [00:41:33] Speaker A: Pick up next week. [00:41:35] Speaker B: Now, if you teach or if you preach the word of God, that teaching should come out of a week long study, personal study that you do. Which is why my wife will say, you always bring a big stack of papers and you don't get through them all. It's because the message winds up being the overflow. If I'm speaking by the spirit of God, I'm not going to give you 50 pages of my study. So what is this Message to Smyrna. Smyrna was a large, important city on the western coast of Asia Minor. This is where these seven churches are. So if you have a study Bible that has maps in it, if you have one that says it shows you the map of Paul's four missionary journeys, you'll see these churches, these towns, these cities listed in there. I used to think when I read First Corinthians, when I studied what Corinth was as one of the most decadent pagan cities in the world, where it was located and how that happened. And I would think it's only by a miracle of God that a church could be there. That applies to every one of these cities. This is a pagan part of the world that God sent Paul into to minister to the Gentiles, to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of salvation, the gospel, which is the power to salvation, into the pagan world, the Gentile world. And it pushed back darkness. When that darkness gets pushed back, there's an empty void. God is going to fill it. And the same happens with the devil. If I would cast the devil, a demon out of a possessed person, that house is now empty. So I have to use wisdom. I have to use knowledge and wisdom on how to deal with that person. Because there are demonized persons, and I'm not talking about spirits attached to people. There are demon possessed people, demons living in people that understand that if they come up to you and say, I've been tormented, can you cast this demon out of me? You better ask them if they're ready to receive Jesus Christ, will they kneel down, bow a knee and confess? Because they understand that they get more power that way. It's a spiritual thing that we have to understand. I've seen that in other worldly countries, countries out in the world where people are running around casting devils out and that's in their face and they're doing that. But when I asked them one night, what are you doing? And they told me, I said, did you lead them to Jesus? And they said, why? So I don't want to go down this rabbit hole, but we are all members of the body of Christ. And if you don't have somebody that can teach you this in your assembly, that building that, that definition said, wasn't the church, it's the people there. You better be able to have the, the intelligence, the knowledge and the wisdom and foresight revelation from God that if you don't know that subject, find the person that does. That's what that council was we talked about. Smyrna was famed for its schools of medicine and science. [00:45:42] Speaker A: Wow. [00:45:42] Speaker B: I wonder if we could say that in America today. The words of Jesus to the church in Smyrna In Revelation chapter 2, verses 8 to 11 offer insight into the life of a first century congregation. And there's many applications for today's believers. You can be a believer and not be a disciple. You can love God and not have the fear of the Lord. Those are for other teachings. So the message from the Lord Jesus, again, important note. The message was from the Lord Jesus Christ and we'll see that. But keep this in mind. These are the words of him who was the first and the last who died and came to life again. The word. They murdered the word of God. Satan hates God. He cannot kill God. So what will he come to steal, kill and destroy, as Jesus said, God's people and God's purpose. And along the way he's going to take every other person, the wicked. The two groups of people in the world, the righteous and the wicked in God's eyes, Alpha and Omega, you'll see in several places in the Bible means the beginning and the end. That's what this was, the first and the last. In the Greek Alphabet. Alpha or A is the first letter and Omega is the last letter of the Greek Alphabet. It's equivalent to A to Z in the English dictionary. And this is just me. But to me this is like saying Alpha and Omega. The word of God covers everything from start to finish. All things pertaining to life and godliness are found in that book. A couple quick highlights. After commending the church in Smyrna for their spiritual victories, Jesus warned them of the coming persecution. He says they're going to be persecut. There's going to be 10 days. But he tells them to do not be afraid. They have to persevere. What are they persevering in? The same thing you have to persevere in the same thing I have to persevere in. Persevere in the faith. Jesus calls them to remain faithful in their suffering. And he makes a promise to them which we'll talk about he who overcomes. And I'm going to spend a little time on that word. What that means will not be hurt at all by the second death. Now we'll jump over real quick to Laodicea. This is the seventh and final letter to the churches of ancient Asia Minor. In this city of Laodicea, it's the last message. This is a wealthy, industrious city in the province of Phrygia in the lycos Valley. Now, the message again is from the Lord Jesus via an angel or a messenger. And we spoke about this before, likely speaking to the pastor of the church, the shepherd, and that's one theological explanation of this. Or it's an actual angel. So in contrast to the other six churches, the Laodicean church has nothing to commend it, not a thing. Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, all things that pertain to life and godliness. And there's nothing that can be found in this church from the beginning to the ending. So Jesus is going to emphasize a term, lukewarm. We'll talk about that next week. Lukewarm, he will mention three times. That's the apathetic nature of this church. So with their apathy comes spiritual blindness. And I'll get into the analogy that Jesus uses. He used analogies, metaphors, parables to get people's attention from the culture that they were in that they could understand. This one is specific to these people based on a claim that they're making. And there is evidence that that claim was false, that they didn't have that. So perhaps they were rich in material things, but spiritually they were wretched, in a wretched, pitiful condition, made all the worse in that they could not see their need. They're blind. These people are spiritually blind, destitute, wretched, and they can't see their need. What does that mean? They can't see the condition of their heart. They can't see the need for a savior. It's a church filled with self deceived hypocrites. Now keep that phrase in my self deceived hypocrites. Jesus calls them to repent. And I'll read part of this and then we're going to get into detail next week. Jesus says, I counsel you. Remember wisdom. The book of Proverbs says one of those 13 discourses. To seek counsel. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich. And white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness. And salve to put on your eyes so you can see shameful nakedness. Their material wealth has no eternal benefit. So what's wrong with these people? Proverbs 16:2. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes. There's that word, eyes. But the Lord weighs the spirits. And Proverbs 21:2, Every way underlying way of a man is right in his own eyes. But the Lord weighs the hearts. They're blind. They can't see their own condition. And Jesus, like a laser beam, is looking right into their spirit and right into their heart, and they're in trouble. Jesus said, do not lay for yourselves treasures on earth. In Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19 to 20, 21. And then in Matthew 6:33. This is one of my favorite verses, and I'll tell you why in a minute. All the way or but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And I'm going to close on a brief testimony. When I had my encounter with Jesus Christ behind the outlets in Gettysburg, in the woods, in the pouring rain, thunder and lightning, God was making a statement to me because I had. I went down in there seeking to know if Jesus was right. And I went into an environment that the ways of man would say, don't go down and stand in the water under those trees in a lightning storm. I knew that. But I went to seek if Jesus was real. And I got drawn into there. And several things happened. He showed up. I cried out to him. He was there, his presence. I didn't physically see him, but the physical manifestation of what I would learn later was his presence was there. I was in the bankruptcy court. I was poor. I could have been this church in Smyrna. But Jesus was so real to me right then that I would believe. And I never read the Bible. I would be given one in a month from then, maybe a little bit longer than that. When I went in to a local assembly and I saw this scripture. Now, I had responded to Christ. I believe that day in the woods was my salvation. Because I asked God, I need to know who you are, Jesus. And I need you to send me somewhere where someone will teach me that without beating me over the head with fire and brimstone. Because I already know I'm a sinful man. I was admitting that I was wretched. The condition of my heart and I needed a savior without knowing that. So I saw this scripture. Now I have the I responded in this assembly to an evangelist. And I was knocking chairs down from the back of the church before the altar call even came out to get to the altar. And I fell on my knees and I started to confess. Christ. Remember, every knee will bow and every mouth will confess one day. I did that in front of that local assembly. I was not ashamed. I could have cared less if there was a million people in there. It didn't matter. I was running to Jesus. The evangelist didn't know what to do at first. He wound up on an upper platform. He knelt down and laid his hand on me. And then he gave his altar call. But so Jesus was real. When I got a Bible and I saw that scripture and I read the context, I thought to myself, I. I no longer have any anxiety over the things of this world because Jesus Christ, the word of God, said to me, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added onto you. And over time, I became more frugal. I started to get rid of stuff that was addictions, but I clung onto that scripture. And that's pretty much what Jesus is going to tell the church in Smyrna in four verses. I can relate to that church and I'll close on that next week. We're going to talk in detail about these two churches, the contrast. I'm going to read you the scriptures now. You've heard scriptures today. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And the word of God, when it goes forth, will not return empty. So I believe and I know right now I'm going to say hello to a brother in Christ, my spiritual son Ranesh in Kakkanada, India, because he lost his phone. I hadn't talked to him in a while, but he emailed me the other day and said, dad, I've been watching every one of your messages every week from Eyes to See Ministries. He's a pastor. And that's the calling of Eyes to See Ministries is to raise up, edify and equip the body of Christ for the work of the ministry. Father, we just thank you that we can stand steadfast in your word. And Lord, I just pray. I know there's people out there seeking just like I was. The world is seeking. They're using terms that they're spiritual, but they're of the wrong spirit. And I just pray that I thank you that you draw all men and that means people into yourself. You're drawing them into the Word, into Christ. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him would not perish. They would not feel that second death of returnity. So, Lord, I pray that you rend those hearts, draw them in, and I encourage all that you can reach out at 443-386-3941. If you have any questions regarding the Bible, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. Because without Christ, you are under God's wrath. And there will come a day shortly when the wrath of God will be poured out upon all the wicked. It is only Christ's death. The finished work on the cross that is holding back the wrath of God from being poured out right now. It was the death of the perfect lamb of God, his own son, his only begotten son that is holding back that wrath. God hates sin. And if you're a new believer and you don't hate sin as much as God does, you can be saved. You can love God, but you do not have the fear of God. And we'll get into that as another teaching at another time. But Father, I thank you for all those hearts that are being touched tonight and all those people that are seeking answers and there was nowhere to go and now they can. They can come to Eyes to See Ministries International. You can visit Sean at Community Media of South Central Pennsylvania. I'll let him rebuke me later if he needs to. He is. He's a model of what the fruit of the Spirit should look like. A contrite and humble spirit. And if you don't know him, even if you do know him, I'd encourage you to get to know him, get to know Mark a little bit better than you do now. So, Father, we thank you for this message. We thank you for you. And blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. In Christ in Jesus name, Amen. [01:02:43] Speaker A: Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty early [01:02:58] Speaker B: in the morning Our song shall rise [01:03:06] Speaker A: to thee Holy, holy, holy.