All right, we're gonna be in the book of Revelation today. Title of the message is, Keep Your Crown and Oil. The Philadelphia Church Age. Y'all wanna hear some teaching or preaching today? Y'all in a preaching mood or a teaching mood? Whichever, both, let's do both. Let's preach and teach today, amen. All right, dear God, we do thank you. Father, we do pray that you would give us what we need. Lord, speak to us. Speak to me, Father, as I read and preach and teach and speak to all that hear, God. We know you're able to do it, Lord. You ordained this. Now, we thank you. Jesus' holy name, amen. So, the text is Revelation 3. The book of Revelation begins after the introduction with seven churches that John is told to write to. And number six is the church of Philadelphia. And here is what the Lord says to him. I say him, I mean the pastor, the angel of the church. Angel just means messenger, like in the word evangelist, a messenger of God. So each church had a main pastor and that pastor either gets in trouble or he's praised all throughout these various churches. Each church had a main pastor and then whatever other assistant pastors they needed. But he says in Revelation 3, 7, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right. And then he says in verse 11, behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast, which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. This is good news for this church and for this pastor. because the Lord says you have a crown. You're doing good. So what they have to do is just keep doing good. Keep growing. Hold fast means like the word fastened. Get a grip on it. Don't let anybody take from you your crown. Which means How do you get the crown? Through holiness, sacrifice, suffering, obedience. Having this testimony and godliness. Don't let anybody take that from you. Because when they take away your holiness, if you read Ezekiel and other scriptures in the Bible, you're now in trouble. And the Jews said, now, wait a minute, you're telling me a person can be good and be good and be good and be good and be righteous, and then all of a sudden be bad, and then they're gonna die? And the Lord said, yeah. So the goal is, well, think of a race. Here's a person running the race. He's ahead of everybody. And a lot of times they have those memes and things on the internet where the person starts relaxing. He starts celebrating. And then somebody else just runs right by him and wins the race. So you gotta hold on until either death or until Jesus comes. You gotta hold on. Now, if I've looked at the calendar correctly, I believe this is the last Sunday of the year. before the new year. So this is winding up the year. And I believe that's symbolic of the fact that this whole age is winding down. We are coming to the end of the history of mankind before the new world. before the Lord sets up his kingdom. Now, when we deal with these seven churches, since we're dealing with a prophetic book, just like in the book of Daniel, sometimes you're reading literal history, but that literal history becomes a picture of prophecy in the future. Daniel in the lion's den. We see persecution in the coming tribulation and then God delivers the three friends in the fire. The Jews and those in the tribulation period are gonna go through a fiery trial that's gonna try the whole world called the tribulation period. And God's gonna refine many and lead them out of it. Many will die. So in the same way, many great teachers down through history have believed that these seven churches are the seven stages of Christian history. And you could follow through each church age and pretty much get a prophecy of history. And when you get to number six, there is a great revival. And this picture's music and nature, which I could show at another time. Right now, people play in major or minor keys. And when you look at a scale, that's the first and the sixth. But when you see this great revival in the sixth church, something happens in number seven and it's the same with music. In music, it's the diminished sound. So everything's going great and then you get to number seven and everything just tanks. J.R. Graves, the great Baptist writer, which formulated many of the prophetic ideas that Baptists, many still hold today. J.R. Graves in 1883 says, the messages to these churches are all prophetic. Each church with the characteristics and trials given to it, was designed to symbolize his churches during the period it represented. So he calls it a complete panoramic history of Christianity. Now, Graves believed that there were not really seven churches historically, that this is just a picture to prove all of history or to show all of history of Christianity, but other men I believe were right. G.H. Pembert and others basically stated that, yeah, there were seven literal churches and all of this literally happened. There were these seven pastors and all of this is just like it's written, but yet it's also the history becomes a prophecy to symbolize Christian history through the ages. Now, G.H. Pember in 1887 says, in the epistles to Philadelphia and Laodicea, we come to the immediate times of the end. So something happens. at the very end of the age, right before the Lord comes. Philadelphia extends all the way up to the Lord's coming. But there is a break and a division between two types of Christians. Those that eat and drink with the drunken and persecute and smite. the ones who are faithful and ready and careful. So there is a great controversy. It'll be in families. Churches will break up. It'll be all over the world. You're gonna have the Laodicean company of Christians, and then you're gonna have the Philadelphian Christians. The Philadelphian Christians are those that are ready, watching, excited about the Lord's return, wanting to better themselves, wanting to be ready, wanting to have fruit, wanting to evangelize and disciple others and be serious about the Lord and His coming. The Laodicean Christian, as we will see, says, I'm rich, I'm in need of nothing. And the Lord says, you're naked is what you are. Literally and spiritually, you're blind is what you are. Don't think as others have that the Laodiceans are not eternally saved. The Lord shows to the contrary, they are eternally saved. but they're not ready for the Lord when He comes. They're not ready for the Lord when He comes. So they're not gonna win the prize of the kingdom. They are not ready for the Lord. Now, what does Philadelphia mean? It means brotherly love. So the ready Christians who are watching, keeping his word, in typology are called the church of brotherly love. They have love, real love, not fake love. They care about the lost. They care about backslidden Christians. They want people to do right. They have biblical love. The Laodicean Christian is going to call biblical love hate. And they hate the godly Christian. Now, what does Laodicea mean? Because that's the seventh church that's going to prevail. Laodicea means rights of the people. which many interpret to mean what they care about is what they believe. What they care about is how they feel about stuff. What they care about is their own judgments, their own customs, their own rights. I just think this, I just feel this, instead of what does God say? What does God say? Well, my judgment is, what's God's judgment? What does God say about the thing? F.W. Grant, a brethren writer, says Laodicea means the manners, the right or judgment of the people, it's people's rights. He's not talking about good constitutional principles that our Baptist forefathers brought to this country. He's talking about women that want to go kill their baby and says, I have a right to my own body. Nobody can tell me what to do. I have a right. Pember says, Laodicea, people become the judges of what is right and wrong. If you look at the book of Judges, you'll see that the people themselves became the judge of what is right and wrong. It says they did what was right in their own eyes. And you see some crazy stuff happening in the book of Judges. J.R. Graves says Laodicea comes from two words, the people and dyke, which means judgment. So he believes it means the church that enters into judgment. I believe both are true. I believe the Bible is that powerful. I believe what it's saying is Laodicea, they stand for their own rights and judgments instead of the word of God. They're not keeping the word of God. All they care about is their own feelings, their own thoughts about things. And it's the church that enters into judgment. It's the group of Christians in the last days that are gonna enter into judgment. I have more to say about that and probably future messages, but John Gill says the same thing back in the early 1700s. Let's listen to what the Lord says here. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." These Christians at the Lord's coming, I believe, based upon Matthew 24, based upon the book of Revelation here, will be caught at the Lord's coming And they will be either immediately judged, slain, cut asunder, or in mercy. If they're just indifferent, they will be left behind at the pre-trib coming of the Lord. And they're going to go through the tribulation period. And that's merciful. People say, well, why is God giving them that mercy? Well, maybe they're not openly in rebellion. Maybe they're just indifferent, lazy, casual, just lukewarm about holiness, kind of in the middle on things. They're just green, immature. They're just, I'm gonna tell you what, they're just not serious. They're not serious and sober. Everything's a game, everything's play, everything's lazy unless they want to go to run to pleasure or something. You can't get them moving about anything. And somebody might say, well, you got to understand the Lord's coming to the sky before the tribulation period is not him coming down to the earth yet. That's at the end of the tribulation period at Armageddon. So God has every right. If in 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 10 and 1 Corinthians 11, Paul said that many Christians sleep because of their disobedience. God has killed many Christians because of how they dealt with church. If God is in the third heaven and can kill Christians, then if he comes down to the sky for judgment day, when he says judgment begins at the house of God, he can kill Christians. And this idea that when Jesus comes in judgment, he says there's going to be some cut asunder. But you've got so many modern Laodicean Christians, by the way, Laodicean Christians that say, oh, well, when the Lord comes, there's no way I'm automatically going to be raptured. Yeah, you might be automatically raptured, but not every Christian. And just because you get translated up doesn't necessarily mean that you're translated up to glory. You might find yourself in more trouble than you ever realized when the Lord comes. Now, when the Lord comes and you find yourself translated up like Enoch to glory and honor and blessing, praise God for that. But you might find yourself caught up to a terrible judgment. Or you might awake one day and find that people have disappeared, Christians, but not all Christians. And then the Bible says that there's going to be a great lie that many will believe. Maybe it's the UFO alien lie. Or maybe it's a whole bunch of people, Christians begin to say, Laodicean Christians who are now left in the tribulation period saying, well, those were, that's a government conspiracy. There was no rapture. People didn't really disappear. This is some type of conspiracy. Well, you believe whatever you want to believe. You better believe the book, man. You better look back in this book and realize that Christians have been warning about this coming for centuries. Two shall be in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. Two will be in the field. One shall be taken, another left. That God has mercy on some and does not immediately slay you. to wake up and realize that you have not been raptured. Well, that's something you can weep about and probably should weep about. You need to stand up and wipe the tears away and says, God, thank you. Cause you could have just killed me, but you've given me this opportunity to be a testimony in the tribulation period. And it's gonna be a horrible time. The worst time that has ever come to earth. The worst time that has ever been in history. And the Lord says these amazing words, or will ever be. There will be no worse time in all of history or future than what will occur on earth in the tribulation period. But God says, you can then wash your robes and make them white and you can get a testimony. So you better start serving God. If you're left behind, you better get up, start serving God, preaching and telling everybody the truth and try to wake up these Christians and unbelievers. John Gill, Spurgeon pastored his church later. that he pastored, born in 1697. It says, it Laodicea signifies the judgment of the people. The judge will now be at the door indeed. And they that are ready to meet the bridegroom when he comes will be admitted. So the Lord says to you, Laodiceans, if that's the crowd you want to be in, if that's the type of church you want, if you want to be among these people, no man is guaranteed to live another five minutes, let alone another day. If you've been permitted to live and enter the tribulation period, that is a judgment upon you, but it's a merciful judgment. It's a chastening that you might wake up and realize you're not ready. And the tribulation period is meant to sober you On the contrary, on the other hand, what does he say to the church of Philadelphia? Look at it. Unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things sayeth he that is holy and he that is true. I want to stop right there for a second. The Bible says, can two walk together? unless they be agreed. If the Lord's holy and you're gonna walk together in fellowship with him, then we have to be holy, right? If he's true, if he doesn't lie, then if you're gonna have fellowship with the Lord and you can't be living a lying life, a deceitful life and telling lies. These things say of he that is holy and he that is true, he that has the key of David. See, David was promised a throne and the Bible said one day David would have a seed that would be the king of the world, king of the earth and sit on the throne of David there in Jerusalem. And Jesus Christ was of the seed of David. And he is the promised seed, not just the seed of Abraham, but the seed of David. He's going to sit on David's throne. So what this is saying, what the Lord is saying is I'm holy. I'm true. And I have the key. That means I have the authority. I'm the one that's going to sit on the throne. I own this world. That's what he's saying. This all belongs to me. I've got the right to do whatever I want. I am the Lord. And he says that he hath the key of David, and he that openeth, and no man shutteth. And he shuts, and no man opens. That means he does whatever he wants. Now, this is very important because these Philadelphian Christians are doing really good. And God wants us to know if we are part of this group of Christians in the last days, that don't worry, they can't stop you. The Laodicean Christians can't stop you. They're gonna try to hinder you, but every time they do, I just show. that I've set before you an open door. See, look what he says here. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. For thou has a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name. If they have not denied the Lord's name, it means somebody, a whole lot of people have been tempting them to deny, but they've been faithful. They're going to stand for the Lord Jesus. They're going to keep His Word. But there's pressure. There's opposition. The Lord says it's going to come from family members. It's going to come from people sometimes in your own house, God forbid. It's going to come from people you're connected with. Other Christians even. The devil's going to use whatever he can use. And the whole goal is to try to stop you. To try to discourage you. Because the Philadelphia Christian has an open door set before him. But he's got to remember that. He has to keep preaching. Keep moving forward. Keep telling everybody what's coming. Keep doing what God said to do in holiness and evangelism and teaching. And I'm not just talking about a pastor here. I'm talking about everybody. soul winning, handing out tracts, trying to preach to your family, trying to live holy, keeping God's standards, looking for his coming. And the Lord says, hey, just keep it, keep it up. I've said, I'm Lord, says God. I have the key to the throne of David. I have the key. They can't stop you. This is an encouragement from the Lord. They're going to try to stop you. You just keep being faithful. They're going to scream. They're going to holler. They're going to use manipulation techniques. They're going to say, you don't love me. I can't believe that you're hateful. They're going to use everything in the world the devil can throw at you. And when that doesn't work, he brings somebody else. Maybe now you'll turn aside. How about I use your friend? How about I use your mother? God forbid, how about I use your spouse? How about I use your child? Will you compromise for your child? What about your son, Abraham? What about your daughter? Come on, there's gotta be some way I can get you. Oh, the Lord loved his disciples. But right before the cross, that wicked Satan even tried to use Peter. You know, he used Judas, but he tried to use Peter and the Lord recognized it and says, get behind me, Satan. He knew that Satan had somehow deceived Peter to try to hinder him from the Lord's business. Oh, let's rejoice in the fact that the Philadelphia and Christians cannot be stopped. The Philadelphia and Christians cannot be stopped from putting God's word out. The Lord says, I've given you an open door and open door. I don't know exactly when the Philadelphia and church age began, this open door. But I do know that if you read Fox's book of Christian martyrs and other great books from the 15, 1600s, 1700s, they say that there were these reformers that were waking up They say that a man named John Faust invented a printing press. And John Fox in Fox's Book of Martyrs says it changed the world. It became an open door. Are we listening? It became an open door. It broke the stronghold of the Catholic church. Why? Because now you can not only write a Bible that might take years, but you can now print and duplicate it. That broke the Catholic power. Then God did that wonderful thing. He began to put the Bible in English, the universal language of end times. And as Tyndale was choking, he screamed out. Before he was burned, Lord opened the King of England's eyes. And then God gave us that wonderful Holy Bible in the English language, our King James Bible. What an open door that was. It spread to America and America and England spread that thing through every land. They translated that King James Bible throughout all the world. I tell you, talk about an open door that led to one of the greatest Baptist revivals. It led to the first awakening. It led to the second awakening. It led to Baptist spreading everywhere. It led to the word of God. Then all of a sudden you get to the 19th century and they're fired up even more about the coming of the Lord Jesus. And all of this literal truth began to come and they realize Jesus is coming. There's going to be a literal tribulation period, a literal coming of the Lord to this earth. There's going to be a coming to the sky before the tribulation. Then there's coming down to the earth at the end of the tribulation. Oh, Jesus can come in any moment. We better be ready. What an open door that is. Now, in many ways, it looks like the 20th century was absolute Failure if you read history and I did we sat down before and I read every single book I could find from the 1800s and 1700s on History of America history of all of these things and it just book after book after book We just check off another book then we just go from the beginning and that's what we did and I'm gonna tell you then all of a sudden we started reading about the 20th century and all hell broke loose man and Art got polluted. Literature got polluted. Everything got polluted. It's like everything went to hell at the turn of the 20th century. And it only got worse. It only got worse. It's hard to believe that we could still be in any way still in the Philadelphia age. But you got to understand just as the wicked are using the internet, guess what? The righteous are using it. The righteous are preaching in churches all over the world. People are gathering in various parts of the world and listening to sermons. You tell me God hadn't set before us an open door. And obviously our witness is not just limited to the internet. We've got amazing liberty here in America. And even if we didn't have liberty, we still got to preach. We still got to tell people, but we have an amazing opening folks. Wouldn't it be really sad when the Lord looked down and says, I set before you an open door that nobody had before. You had amazing opportunity to tell people about the truth. And you say, yeah, but the devil was sending all of his mess. The devil's always been sending his mess. When Faust invented the printing press, all these occult people wanted to print their wicked books too. But don't worry, before long, you had a Holy Bible in just about every house, and you had Fox's Book of Martyrs in just about every house. And in America, they said when this country was started, they don't know of a woman or child anywhere that doesn't know how to read and write. They were reading these books. It would be horrible if the Lord had to say to us, I have an open door set before you and you just said, Oh, forget it. You know, everything's so unholy and the devil spreading all his lies. So what did you do? You sat down, ate potato chip and watched a whole bunch of junk on TV that was wicked or video or whatever it might be. I'm not saying there's not a wholesome things to watch. Not much. Not much. There's a lot of trash and it's real easy for the Philadelphian Christian to have his crown stolen and he now becomes a Laodicean Christian. Have you ever known a Philadelphian Christian who became a Laodicean Christian? Oh yeah, it's happening everywhere. It's happening everywhere. So listen, Let's keep reading. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things say of he that is holy, he that is true, he that has 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 thou has a little strength, and don't miss this now, and has kept my word. The Philadelphian Christian has kept the Lord's word. And has not denied my name. Listen to what J.R. Graves says, I'm sorry, Grant, the Brethren writer in 1902, F.W. Grant. Thou has not denied seems to suppose some temptation to denial. You're going to have pressure. Being a Laodicean Christian, Don't get the idea. Some people say, you know what? I'm keeping God's word. I'm changing my standards. You begin to disciple somebody. They said, this is awesome. I tell you what, I'm changing this. I'm changing that. I'm learning how to do all these wonderful things. And I tell you what, I'm seeing it in the word. He's opening up light to me. This is amazing. I'm purifying my house, purifying my heart, purifying everything in my life. This is exciting. And then all of a sudden, wow! You find out you meet Laodicea. And they begin to chew you out. They begin to persecute you. They begin to discourage you. They begin to hinder you. And you have to keep on with the word of God. J.R. Graves, 1883, says the key of David. What does that mean? It means the Lord would use his rightful power over the world to restrain opposition to the preaching of his people in the times of the end. You can almost feel sorry for anybody that gets in the way. You can almost say, I wouldn't do that if I was you. I wouldn't try to hinder if I was you. If I'm preaching the word of God, and I'm not talking about just pastors, I'm talking about any Philadelphian Christian. If you're standing for the truth, being faithful toward the truth, getting ready for the Lord's coming and trying to purify yourself and get ready and spread God's truth. Woe to him that gets in your way. Woe to him that gets in your way. J.R. Graves says a testimony should go forth. A last warning cry like that of Enoch before he was taken away from the doomed earth. You knew that Noah was building this ark and he was laboring and building. Before the flood came, Enoch was preaching. and saying, you ungodly people, you ungodly murmurers, you ungodly complainers, you ungodly dreamers. And all my, he began to warn them. You would not believe the judgment that's coming upon you. You would not believe it. Nobody could stop Enoch. You know, they tried to stop Enoch, but they could not stop him. And all of a sudden Enoch says, you would not believe what's about to happen. Bible says he was not. God says, okay. I tried to give you the preacher. I tried to give you the truth. Now I'm going to leave you to your decision." The Bible says Enoch was translated because he had this testimony that he pleased God. And Jude shows what he was doing the whole time before he was taken up. And if you think that's just in the Bible for no reason, folks, it's in the Bible because Philadelphia and Christians are getting out of here. Philadelphia and Christians aren't gonna be permitted to continue. You can't stop them while they're here. But there's gonna time when God says, okay, enough's enough, come up hither. They've made their choice. They've made their choice. I'm gonna take you out of the way He that restraineth, he that letteth will let till he be taken out of the way. Then comes the Antichrist. So what Graves and these other great men of God in early days were saying is there's going to be in the last days, some Philadelphian type Christians, some Enoch type of Christians, and they are going to be the last warning. It doesn't mean God's not going to be shaking the heavens and giving you signs to try to wake up these lazy Christians. But one of the things he's going to do to try to wake them up is he's sending the Philadelphian Christians and they're not quiet. They're not quiet. But you're going to find out that they are going to be accused. They are going to be persecuted. And that's where you get that prophecy in the Old Testament that they're going to get saved from the strife of tongues. They're going to be hated. Everybody's going to be mad at them. And all of a sudden God says, come up hither. And he says, they're going to be caught up to a pavilion up in the sky. Well, what happens when the Laodiceans realize that the Philadelphians are gone? I bet they're gonna clap. I think they're gonna lose some of their own number, because God's just gonna slay some of the Laodiceans. But most of them probably will be left behind. And I believe they'll probably start clapping. And the new agers will come along and said, mother earth is purifying herself. Do you notice the negative thinkers got taken? Do you notice those that are against the LGBTQP movement got taken? Do you notice those people we didn't like anyway? They got taken. That's Mother Earth purifying herself of the negative vibrations so we can have beautiful and lasting peace. Oh, I hope, I hope if you end up being a Laodicean Christian and you're left behind that you don't fall for that garbage. Oh, I hope and pray that you stand up right then and say, I should have preached. I should have preached while I had the opportunity. But now that the tribulation period's here, I'm not playing around anymore. This is all a lie. This is, oh, they're going to hate you like you would not believe. But you stand up and tell them. You stand up and say, I made a mistake. I should have rebuked this mess a long time ago. I should have exposed it for what it was, but I was caught up in it. I let myself get caught up in it, but now I'm going to rebuke it and oh, they're going to hate you. Oh, they're going to hate you. But hopefully many will wake up with you. And I do believe the Bible says there's going to be not just from Jerusalem, not just the Jews. It says a great number. from every nation upon the earth. There is a great revival. These people have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And it says they came out of the great tribulation period. What a blessing. I'm sure they had to be martyred. Most of them. Many of them. Many right now that you might look at or believe and even have proof greatly appears to be a lukewarm, lackadaisical, careless, slothful Christian. Give God a little time. Maybe they'll wake up. But if not, maybe they'll be part of that great revival in the tribulation period. Don't bank on it. Because you might not be allowed to have another day. But here's what he has to say. Revelation 3, But unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or hot. Get out of the middle. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. And I know there's various interpretations you can give of this and we won't get far into it today, but I'll say this. The Lord says, if you can name the name of Christ apart from iniquity. Do you know if you're telling everybody you're a Christian and then you're living like the devil in the world, God would almost rather you just quit naming his name. I, whether thou are cold or hot, but don't sit here and get in the middle all lukewarm and lead everybody else to be lukewarm. It doesn't take much for that type of thing to spread, man. Laziness and carelessness and lukewarmness. Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. That stuff spreads, man. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. And listen to these precious words. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore. And he says, I stand at the door and knock. I think he's got a little I had a whack here, let me read it for you. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. There's gonna come a time when the Lord's gonna look down and he says, I see Philadelphian Christians and I see Laodicean Christians. And then he's gonna come down to the door See, in the very next chapter, John, who leans on the breast of Jesus, was always close to Jesus. A picture of the Philadelphian Christian. John says in chapter four, after this, I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither. Ooh, what a picture that is of Philadelphia going up. Philadelphian Christians go up. The Lord says, I stand at the door and knock. John says, after this, I looked and a door was opened in heaven. The Lord has now come down from the third heaven and he is now down in the sky above the earth. What the older Christians called the presence that's going to be there throughout the tribulation period before he finally descends in Armageddon and comes all the way down. He says, I stand at the door and knock. Well, how is he knocking? I believe one way he's knocking is by empowering the Philadelphian Christian. Remember in Jeremiah, he says, he's raised up watchmen to rebuke people of their abominations and tell them the truth of God's mercy. But the Bible said they would not. They would not walk in the old paths. J.R. Graves tells us again in 1883, he may rebuke them, Laodicea, instrumentally by the agency of the faithful witnesses he's raising up in their midst and protest against their indifference while he foreshadows the fact that he has chastisements in store for them. So right now is the time of Philadelphia to say, guess what? You better get right. You better get right. You better live holy as a Christian. Jesus is coming. If you're not saved, you better get saved. And you better start bringing forth some fruit. You better start telling people about Jesus and you better start standing for Jesus and not being ashamed of his words. That's God knocking. That's one way the Lord Jesus cried. I don't know how close he is. I don't know how close he is to that door opening up. But I believe He has to be very, very, very close. People say, I feel like these people are persecuting me. I feel like they're judging me. I feel like they're doing... There's all kinds of things that the Laodicean Christians are going to be upset about. Persecutions yet await the churches of Christ. The great tribulation and only those who are able to pass through it and triumphantly overcome will be allowed to sit down with Christ on his throne, says J.R. Graves. But it's an amazing thing. J.R. Graves had a great blessing after he wrote this book. It's a sad thing that he had to have a stroke. But a few years after he wrote this book, he had a stroke. And he had to be bedridden. And she says, well, I sure got a lot of time to study. I've been preaching and writing and traveling and minister and going from church to church to church, but I had time to actually sit down and study. And he opened up a book by Joseph Sace. And he says, oh boy, there's gonna be a translation of the Philadelphian godly Christian. before the tribulation period. And I see it now. He says, I've been misinterpreting these warning passages, but before he died, he set the record straight. Listen to this. Verse 10, because thou has kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. People say, well, I'm not afraid to go through tribulation. Understand, it's not just that the Antichrist is going to have technology nobody's ever had in the history of mankind. It's not just that this is going to be Satan's son, just totally possessed, wicked, just doing things that are unspeakable. It's not just that. is that the devil will be unleashed with the most power he's ever had for seduction. So if we're humble, he says in Luke chapter 21, that you need to watch and pray always that you may be a kind of worthy to escape all of these things. And he tells you, you watch what you eat. You watch everything in your life. Don't let the cares of this world cause you to be drunken. Don't let whatever you love cause you to be drunken. because it's gonna come as a snare on all the world. Watch and pray always that you might be a kind of worthy to escape. He says, because thou has kept the word of my patience, they will be kept from the hour of temptation. And the word hour is used in the book of Revelation for a time period, as we see in Revelation 17. So it just means they're gonna be kept from the tribulation period that's coming. Praise God for that. So you say, well, what do I have to do? to be caught up. If it happens tonight, you gotta keep the word. You gotta keep the word. How do I know if I'm keeping it enough? Keep it more. Keep it more. A person running a race, they don't say, I'm going to look behind me now and just see how, I think I'm doing all right. No, no, just go, man. Just go run faster. Run faster toward the end. If you think, I think I'm doing pretty good. Well, don't count on it. Okay. Don't count on it. Just, just continue to try to do better. Just don't stop. How long do I got to hold out? Just keep holding out. The Lord's going to strengthen you and he's going to protect you. Just keep preaching. Keep warning. Keep shining your light. It's the word of my patience, says Jesus. The second coming has revived. The truths about the second coming have revived. What the Lord is telling us here in the book of Revelation, He already told us in chapter 24 and 25 of Matthew, as well as Mark 13, which is much of a repetition Let's read it, Matthew 25. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to the 10 virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise. Now notice, you've got all Christians wanting to meet the Lord, but something happens. Five of them were wise and five of them were foolish. In other words, five were Philadelphian church, five were Laodicean church. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Listen, while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. There's been times in history when you're wondering where the second coming is. Where's the excitement for the coming? Are any Christians even speaking about it? Praise God, there's always been bright and shining lights, but there was a great revival of second coming truth that started. And it has continued. It has continued and it has grown and grown wiser and the light is shining and it continues to grow because it says at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go you out to meet him. People have put out magazines and journals and publications called the midnight cry. in the early 1800s and all throughout the 1800s. I was at a widow's house in Florida. Her husband, William Burns, had died. And all throughout, I believe, the 50s, 40s, 50s, 60s, her husband was the editor of a magazine called The Midnight Cry. teaching the same things just about I'm teaching right now. Get ready, man. We're part of the midnight cry. We're part of this. We are trying to warn you. We're trying to tell you, and God's not gonna let anybody keep us. Grant says, in the language of the parable, even the wise virgins slumbered. But now the time of waking up seems to be at least beginning. What does he continue to tell Philadelphia? That he would keep them from the hour that's coming because they have kept his word of his patience? That's the second coming, folks. In verse 11, he tells Philadelphia, behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast, which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. As I close with a few verses, this is what I'm gonna put before you, okay? If you're daydreaming out there in internet land, Try to wake up and really listen right now. If you've been doing good, try to do better. Paul at the end of his life said, you know what? I'm not perfect. He continues to press on. If you know you're not ready, If your own conscience is telling you you're not ready, that you've been lazy and lackadaisical and slothful and that you've been fellowshipping with the world. Boy, you need to wake up before you die or before Jesus comes before I even finished this sermon. But if you happen to be one of these Philadelphia and Christians and the Lord's looking down and saying, they've already earned a crown. Keep it. Whatever you have wrought, whatever holiness you have, whatever good habits that you have, whatever truth you have, keep it. Because the devil is coming to make a deal, man. He is coming to you. Have you ever seen a good Christian living holy? And you say, I know exactly what happened. Devil made a deal with him and he took it. Devil made a deal with Judas, Judas took it. I've seen people that I said, I don't think they're gonna fall. And the devil came and said, I tell you what, how about I give you this? if you'll compromise. Don't make the deal, folks. You listening, young folks? Don't make the deal. Don't talk to the devil like Eve did. Don't make that deal. Say, I'm not selling out. Get away from me. I'm not selling out. I can't be bought. Get away from me. I got something far more precious. It's like a godly girl. Don't sell out your innocence. Don't sell out your innocence. Don't sell out your purity. And that's the picture of what we're dealing with here. Don't sell out your purity. Peter said, Lord, don't go to the cross. Quit talking so negative. And Jesus looked at him and said, get behind me, Satan. Jesus was not about to let even Peter He was not about, he knew Satan will use anybody, even close to you, to try to talk you out of holiness. Say, what happened to so-and-so? Oh, devil talked him out of it. Let me read this for you, okay? Matthew 16. Right after he said, get behind me, Satan, to Peter, then said Jesus unto his what? Disciples, that includes Peter. That's James, that's John. These are saved people, man. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. He's telling Christians, you'd be willing to die for me. You'd be willing to lose anything for me, for my words, for the hope that I've set before you. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" He's telling every Christian, why would you make a deal with the devil? He promised me the world. He promised me that I could be famous. He promised me I could have all the money of the world. People sell out for far less than that. Judas sold out for a little bit of silver. But Jesus says, if you were offered the whole world, like he was, well, what is that? How long are you gonna live? There was another Faust that made a bargain with the devil. That wasn't John Faust, that was George Faust. To this day, they call it a Faustinian bargain with the devil. I got two Fausts in my history, and I don't wanna be like the bad one. No, no, no, no, no, no compromise. But I'll offer you this, I'll offer you that. What is that worth? How long will I live? It's ridiculous. It's a ridiculous offer, man. Do the math. My Lord died for me. My Lord created, just because he created me, I owe him my allegiance. But he not only created me, he's my savior. He forgave me, has given me eternal life. Polycarp, the early Christian says, all these years I've served him, he's never failed me. and you go ahead and light this thing on fire, because you got a fire coming. After I'm burned up right now, it's all over, but you got a fire coming, man, that you're not gonna be able to put out. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels, and then shall he reward every man according to his works. The Lord says, don't. Don't let him. Bargain with you. I'm gonna come I came the first time he came the second time Be like Moses it says in Hebrews 11 by faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter Are you telling me? If he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter he was destined to be Pharaoh Moses had all of Egypt in his hand But when he came of years, he says, I'm Pharaoh's daughter. I've got all the world before me right now. Nobody on earth will be as powerful as me. But he says, I'm an Israelite. I know what happened. And they've got a promise and they've got a hope. So he says, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Do you see that? For a season. So when the devil comes to you and says, I'll offer you this. If you give up your crown, I'll offer you this. If you give up your purity, I'll offer you this. If you give up your testimony, I'll offer you this. If you'll just quit preaching. Get behind me, Satan. Get behind me, Satan. One day, privately, I'll tell you offerings that the devil has given me. Through emails, wicked organizations saying, I can use you, Joey. People taking things in my life I love. Saying, if you step down from the pulpit, we'll work everything out. Get behind me, Satan. Don't put anything before the Lord's will. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Sorry, God's crown's better. God's crown's better. Second John, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. A couple more verses. Proverbs 23, buy the truth and sell it not, not for any price. Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Again, to Philadelphia, behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. How do they take it? This shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom, and five of them were wise, five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, behold, the bridegroom cometh, go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wives, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, not so, lest there be not enough for us and you, but go you rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. That does not mean they were not eternally saved, Read the book of John, read John 14, read John chapter 15. Look at Paul in Philippians 3. There is a fellowship with the Lord called knowledge. Paul says that I may know him. Paul was in prison saying, I still wanna know him through the fellowship of his sufferings. These other Laodicean virgins, they didn't have any oil. They didn't have the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their life. They didn't have the righteousness. in their life, they didn't have holiness. This is addressed to disciples, man. The Lord said this to disciples. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. Who's he talking to? Mark 13 says, as he sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately. So he's telling Peter, James, John and Andrew, watch therefore, don't be like these foolish virgins. Stay holy, stay on fire. Don't let anybody take your holiness from you. Now, how in the world can somebody take your holiness? Well, they might say, I'll give you this money if you'll go against your standards and principles. But that doesn't work for everybody. So the devil might say, I tell you what, I'll give you this relationship that you care a lot about. And if you want to keep that relationship, you've got to compromise your standards and your values. Maybe they'll say, if you loved me, you would give up these things. In other words, if you'll compromise your holiness to please others, to keep them from being mad, maybe to keep them from persecuting or despising you. Here's what I want you to always say. I try to live by this. God help me. And I hope you will live by it. Watch ye therefore for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. Blessed is he. Blessed is that servant whom when his Lord. When he come and shall find so doing, verily I say to you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delays his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken. Notice his persecution. Hey, those that eat and drink with the drunk and that might be your family members. That might be your grandma. That might be your son. That might be your uncle. That might be your best friend. And you're getting persecuted. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him as portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This is what I want you to live by. 1 John 5, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. So somebody says, if you love me, you compromise God's commandments. I want you to say, you know what? I have no greater love than I could ever have for anybody than obedience to God. Do you know as a mama, there's no greater love you could ever have for your daughter or your son than by keeping God's commandments. It might make them mad. It might make them upset. They might hate you, but your light is shining. And that is the best thing you can do is to say, you know what? My mama kept God's commandments. My mama kept what a testimony, what an example she is for me. Same with a dad, same with a husband, same with a wife. Don't let the devil ever get you. Don't let the devil ever trick you. Always live by that testimony. God cannot lie. This is love, that we keep His commandments.