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let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation Chapter 2 and we’ll be looking at verse 8- 11 this morning as the Lord the exalted Lord communicates with the church of samna which a church which is a church that is actually passing through martydom that means people are actually dying for the their faith and Jesus is not rescuing them from physical death before I look at this text there is a event that happened in another part of the world a man named fui who loved to teach about Jesus he worked as a school teacher and also a Bible he would teach Bible lessons to the children who lived near his Farmland in Africa militants of the Allied Democratic forces noticed fuel’s gospel teaching and they ordered him to stop they ordered him to stop twice and warned him that they would kill him if he continued but fuell because he loved the Lord and loved the word and loved to teach did not stop sharing the word of God and when the Allied de Democratic forces uh the ADF soldiers caught him teaching the children Bible lessons for the third time they murdered him right in front of his wife Georgine and their three-year-old son Andre militants then took Georgine hostage but then released her a short time later and says do not go back to your Farmland see the Family Garden was the main source of food to teach to feed her family physically and Georgine was afraid to return back and feared another attack but soon she decided she had to return to be able to feed her children and when she arrived at that Garden Spot Miltons confronted her and they said to her we told you that you are not to come back here and eyewitnesses heard them tell [Music] Georgine we already killed your husband husband now we’re going to kill you also and they did so an aunt took in fuli’s and Georgina’s Georgine’s three orphan children but she struggled to care for them on her own voice of the martyrs stepped in and expanded uh her sewing business into a training school and extra income came in to take care of the needs so they were driven from their home killed because of their faith in Christ you say well Pastor when did that happen long time ago 2022 that happened and over estimated a Times article estimated that 150 million Christians are uh slaughtered uh since 2030 uh 2013 for their faith in Christ probably the best citizens that you could have as Christians and yes they kill them why is that well we’re going to find out some of that today in our text and so I’d like you to look at chapter 2 of Revelation in chapter 1 we saw saw in chapter 1 remember the Bible is saying that the lamp stands recorded in verse number 20 of chapter 1 represent the church so here in Revelation from God uh is really Revelation from God concerning the church and the word of God tells us that the church is like a lampstand and what does a lampstand do a lampstand holds the light the church holds the light and then shares the light the light of the gospel of Christ the only only light that can save us from Eternal destruction so the one great mission of the church is to share the light so you’re going to see Christ saying to the church if you don’t bear the light then I will remove your lampstand and just like we saw last week in Revelation 2:5 it says in the middle of that verse or else I’m coming to you and will remove the lampstand out of its place unless you repent and the reason they had to repent is because it was a church that declined in their love for Christ and became a church of loveless Orthodoxy this Lord’s day I would like to look at at this church one of two churches identified in Revelation that had no no warnings given to it no condemnations given to it no criticism was given to this church so so it should be of great interest to us as to what is going on in this particular church that brings no criticism from our Lord again Jesus Christ The Sovereign head of the church is walking among the people evaluating the church and that means he is personally present every time the church meets in every for every uh instance that the church comes together the Lord is in their midst and and he’s in their midst in order to examine their spiritual condition to see how are they doing how are my people doing as we look take a look at samna and if you look at verse number 8 of chapter 2 it says and to the angel of the church in Samara right see samarina this city is located 35 miles north of Ephesus not very far away from the church we looked at last week and this great City had great wealth and Beauty possessing a stadium a library the largest public theater in Asia Minor it had Pagan temples of Apollo civil Aphrodite and Zeus in addition to that it had an enslavement of pagan gods and it had the worship of Caesar or Emperor worship was also prominent there was a large Jewish population that lived there that seemed to have considerable influence upon the political Affairs of that area in fact the group acted as a watchdog and constantly informed the Roman authorities about the activities of Christians this of course heightened persecution against the Christian Community the Jewish leadership along with some Gentiles formed a mob and called for the death of a local Pastor named polycarp who was a disciple of the Apostle John polycarp was the pastor of samarin and he was martyred in ad.
155 more than 80 years after his conversion he was an old man like what is this man going to do he’s not harming anybody at least but of course from the Jewish community and from the politics he was harming someone because polycarp would not say that Caesar was God in fact some of the Council of the Roman government came to polycarp and said polycarp just say Caesar’s God and and you we’ll leave you alone they came to him I think several times it’s written in the uh Apostolic fathers he wouldn’t do it so on February 23rd 155 they burned him at the stake and that happened six years after Revelation was written so s samarina the very word means my and myrrh is the perfume used to embomb dead bodies so this is a church that is actually experiencing martyrdom for their faith would you stay in that church if they take out the pastor and that the rest of the church wouldn’t bow their head and say that Caesar was Lord or the emperor was Lord it seems so simple it seemed something easy to do and the Lord would forgive me but not to these particular people they were strong in their faith you have to be strong in your faith to live in in that environment so what we see first of all as we see in every Church represented is that we first have Christ’s character highlighted look at verse number eight it says to the church to the angel of the church in samarina right the first and the last who was dead and has come to life says this so this is a characteristic of Christ see the Lord’s character is put before the evaluation and Christ attributes have because Christ attributes have something to do with the evaluation of the church in every Church you see that it has something to do with the evaluation it says here that he’s the first and last that Jesus Christ Our Redeemer is the first and the last that he is the first for by him all things were made and he is before all things with God and is the Eternal God Jesus knows the S samarin situation and it is he who will have the first word and the last word in all matters of life and death and time he is the last for all things are made for him and he will judge all as the last word on everything he is the beginning of the story and he is the end of the story and that means he is the final word on everything in everyone that’s who Jesus is Judgment has been given over to him in fact this is not a new saying uh John is really C bringing the saying into this text from Isaiah because this is what Isaiah said thus says the Lord the king of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts I am am the first and I am the last and there is no God besides me and then it says something else in verse number eight of chapter 2 it says not only that Jesus is the first and last but he was dead literally the Lord became dead he has also come to life we know that see but it’s so emphasizing the resurrection of the Lord the Lord doesn’t rescue these people from martydom he already rescued them from final death and they knew that they knew that this life was not the end and literally live again Jesus was dead and he was a man and he died for our sins and by dying purchased salvation for all of us and he is alive he is God for he rose again for for our justification and by his life by his life apply this salvation to us and he ever lives to make intercession for his Saints so death has never phased Christ he went right on living and if you look back at chapter 1 verse number 17 it sayso not be afraid I am the first and the last and the living one I was dead and behold I alive forever more and I have the keys of death and Hades so the historical book of Acts when you read that book you’ll find right in the beginning of the book what does it say there it says in Chapter 2 it says because you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor allow your Holy One to undergo Decay he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ he was neither abandoned to Hades nor did he his flesh suffer decay in other words soon as Jesus died life was coming next that Jesus was raised up again so we’re reminded from this description of Our Lord that we do not worship a dead man because Jesus Christ is alive and he’s able to work on behalf of his children and he always does as the Lord rose in victory over death and Satan so those under Satan’s suffering or Satan’s tribulation and those who will be martyred for Christ will triumph over Satan and death finally so now the Lord once he gives a description of himself that he’s the resurrection and the life that even if you die physically and even if you’re martyred and even if you get your head cut off for me for my sake you will live because I’m the resurrection in life I’m the first fruits you are the first fruits after my resurrection if you believe in me you will rise too see that’s that’s not fantasy that that that’s reality because this is what the Lord’s done for us see unless you’re convinced of that you cannot belong to Samina I can’t belong to some manner if unless I’m convinced of that so what’s Christ criticism of the church secondly he doesn’t have any there is no criticism for anything in this church his skillful eye finds not even the smallest grain of a bad word so when when I consider that when I look at that I says I I begin to think Lord if the Lord has nothing to warn this church about my mind immediately wants to know why well the Lord begins to give condemnation a commendation to this church in verse number nine this is thirdly see the Lord knows everything about us he knows everything that we do he knows everything that we think he knows everything that is is going on there’s nothing that is going to escape the watchful eye of Our Lord we ought to live there and remember that every single day so here the Lord reveals how their life and experiences how it would be living in samarina three things they are experiencing and Jesus is very aware of their conditions in verse number nine notice he says I know your tribulation so the first thing is suffering it is the word in Greek that means distress hard circumstances it meant to be crushing being crushed beneath the weight of something the word samarina I already said related to myrr that they anointed bodies with but it also m is also a a a fragrance when crushed produces something quite Pleasant in smell it’s similar uh to when the churches suffer when she’s doing what is right and pleasing the Lord and persecution comes down on the church for some reason it smells sweet to the Lord Paul recorded something like that in second Corinthians where he says this but thanks be to God who always leads us in Triumph in Christ and manifest through the sweet Aroma of the knowledge of him in every place for we are a fragrance of Christ to God Among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing to one Aroma in death to death and to another Aroma of life to life so in other words when when a a Christian stands for Christ and is at the point of being killed for their faith and they get killed for their faith it is a sweet Aroma to God why because it’s not death that we he’s worried about or we should be it’s life it’s life life see so there is real sacrifice in remaining faithful to Jesus every Christian is none of us are promised a Rose Garden when we become Believers the Lord right off the bat says if you become a Christian you will suffer persecution in some way or another in at to some level or another in some instance or another at some time in your Christian Life there will be some opposition to your faith what are you going to do when that happens you’re going to cave in give in blend in or you’re going to be someone who shines brightly the gospel no matter if no one likes it what’s the next thing they’re experiencing in verse number nine he says not only I know your tribulations but I know your poverty in other words there suffering made this body of Believers poverty stricken most likely because they had their property stolen from them because they were Believers but you you know you may be poor as far as material wealth of the world is concerned but you may you could at the same time be spiritually Rich he’s able to say I know your poverty but look at what he says right after that in verse number n in verse number n says I know your pro poverty but you are rich wait a minute what’s going on here I thought just says that they’re poor but Jesus says you are rich what does he mean by that he’s he means that you’re rich spiritually so all the indicators point to some kind of financial hardship that they’re going through samarina also had guilds like our unions which regulated Craftsmen and because of the extreme hatred of Christians when a Christian took a stand for Christ often their jobs and businesses were on the line and that’s what was happening take a stand for Christ and they take away your house take a stand for Christ and they take away your property take a stand for Christ and they close down your bank account are we not close to that here in the United States could that not happen to us when it just happened right there in Northern Canada not necessarily from a Christian perspective from standing against the government and they they freeze your bank accounts what kind of power is that that’s what was happening to these belever Believers and perhaps Jews and pagans had pillaged their their property because it’s already recorded in Hebrews chapter 10 listen what it says there it says for you show sympathy to the prisoners and accept joyfully the seizure of your pro property knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession a lasting one see that’s an eternal perspective on life so Breen consider the strength of your faith to accept joyfully the seizure of your property man that’s tough that’s tough to think about well the passage in Hebrews tells us knowing that you have a for yourselves a better position a lasting one it’s looking Beyond this life so if poverty equaled God not being near for blessing then this church was in severe trouble but look at verse number nine Christ says to them but you are rich and many who are rich in the Earthly realm are often poor in the spiritual realm some who are poor outwardly are rich inwardly and that means physical poverty has nothing to to do with spiritual wealth nothing this church was rich in the things money could not buy so what are some riches not obtained by money well what about the riches of God’s grace towards you remember the parable of the rich man he says he began to re reason to himself what shall I do since I have uh no place to store my crops in the Gospel of Luke then he says this is what I’ll do I will tear down my Barns and build larger ones and there will I store my goods and I will say to my soul Saul you have many Goods laid up for many years to come take ease eat drink and be married but God said to him you fool this very night your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared so is the man who stores up Treasures for himself is not rich towards God we’re rich in faith we have so great a Salvation Christians are rich in Good Works words recorded in Timothy instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix their Hope on the uncertainty of riches boy is that not true a bag with holes in it but focus on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy instruct them to be rich in Good Works to be generous and ready to share we’re also rich in privilege we are not M merely children of a president or a prime minister or a king but we are Christians are children of the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and we are rich in hope we have a hope that nobody else has we have a peace that no one can take away we have a joy that is unspeakable that God gives us that’s rich so when God’s people are lacking in the temporal wealth for the sake of Christ the Lord makes it all up to them in spiritual riches which are much more satisfying and enduring and Jesus sees in samarina congregation a strong and a spiritually healthy church and even as James records listen my beloved Brethren he says do not did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he promis to those who love him but if you notice back in our text in verse number nine the last part of the verse not only did God know their suffering not only did he know their poverty but he also in verse number nine knew they were being slandered for their faith it says there I know blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not but are of the synagogue of Satan religious slander they most likely were slandered by false teachers who had claimed to be Jews but really were not all through the book of Acts the Jews responded to the preaching of the Apostles and once they got done preaching they would blaspheme what they said in other words that in this text these Jews these These are Act ual Jews only Jews not Christians not descendants they’re descendants of Abraham by physical birth but not spiritual birth that these Jews very religious but Jesus reveals who they really worship and follow in verse number nine but are a synagogue of Satan synagogue really literally means a coming together an assembly a congregation this was an assembly all right an assembly of the devil but they were the religious people you know all religions are an assembly of the devil doesn’t matter what they call themselves unless they have the true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ they are an assembly of the devil that means all religions are recruiting for his kingdom and not for Christ and he’s trying to rob people who know the truth out of the Kingdom of Light to his kingdom see Jesus told the Jews who claimed that they were children of Abraham to and considered themselves to be in the crowd of the kingdom of God and Jesus said to them if you were if you were the children of Abraham you would be hearing God’s word and you would be receiving God’s suffering servant if you were listening if you were really hearing you would do that and of course Pastor Dave just was mentioning in in John chapter eight of these particular Jews U and Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me but see you cannot hear my word because your father’s the devil and these are respectable religious people these are the ones who are teaching and and leading the community and God finally says to them he who had he who is of God hears the words of God and for this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God that’s who these people were so these Jews think that they are in The In Crowd but Jesus tells them they are in the outside crowd they don’t have ears to hear now you remember what it says at the end of each one of these passages those who have ears to hear listens what Christ says to the churches so hearing has a lot to do with understanding Christians have their antennas up they can hear God and when the word of God is speaking to them they are listening they are receiving it they are thinking through it they’re adding to their knowledge every time the word of God is being preached so these Jews in Samar bitterly oppose Christianity and were motivated by Satan to instigate a attacks against the church and and again don’t misunderstand at this point any church any Gathering any assembly that does not preach the gospel the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is to be a synagogue of Satan a gathering of satanic people good people religious people that he uses as pawns to dispel lies because there not hearing from God they’re getting it from the world and from their own flesh and from Satan himself and and forget this not that the true that the true gospel message has always been very Troublesome to the religious community and why what’s the reason for that the gate to heaven is narrow and the church can’t stand behind multiple points of view to be legitimate also if the Christian Gospel is true everything else is a lie if Christ Alone saves then those who do not believe in him are doomed see the narrowness of the message is very offensive to the world and to the religious community the church can’t lead Sinners to Salvation if it presents one road as being as good as any other road so living in a pluralistic society you don’t everybody believes their own way so their opinion is this is equal and and uh to the next person’s opinion right well that can’t be true that’s ridiculous that that’s logical fallacy so the B bottom line is this the gospel is exclud elusive the gate is narrow Jesus is the only way and the devil can disrupt he will cause dissensions he will inflict pain and bodily harm and can influence and tempt to do wrong but he’s defeated and he knows that but I must say this that there is a real enemy which rails against Christians and until he’s finished that will continue to happen so the political class often always repres misrepresents the Christian even in their day in Revelation and uh that the Christians were really they were convicted of or they were represented as being cannibals because they would say eat my body and drink my blood in the Lord’s table they would also be accused of gathering where or in orgies of lust because they would call their Gathering an Agape Feast a love Feast also they were accused of tampering with families because conversion often split families and it it does the until today they were they were considered to be the real atheists because they no longer believed in images and they worshiped one God and they were politically disal disloyal they they would not say Caesar or the emperor is Lord only Jesus is Lord and they were called also in incendiaries because they taught that the world would end by fire well where did they get that from well the Apostle Peter says this but by this word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men so you can see that this little church was under some heavy satanic assault and there was plent plenty of ammo in the political realm in the religious realm to come against them and all also you can see that only real disciples only real Disciples of Jesus Christ could possibly stay in a church like this no wouldbe disciple would understand such a place and the reason for their many troubles because some people would conclude hey if this is going on I guess God God’s not here if our pastor is being murdered for the faith and people are being murdered for their faith I guess God’s really not here but that’s not true that’s not true so they’re being slandered in all these areas but how how are Christians being slandered today well if you listen to the news Christians are intolerant they are anti-choice they are anti-lgbtq they’re extreme right-wing nationalistic bigots they are unbendable they are anti-establishment and they cling to their Bibles and their guns that’s that’s said every day on the news in some place or another so it’s just a matter of time that when it comes it becomes very personal and very close to home so there’s also a bunch of loaded language they call it today that they want us to comply with and they want us to use this new vocabulary a woman’s really not a woman you know there’s no gender differences and if you don’t use this new language then you are persecuted for it you’re ridiculed for it and you could lose your job for it and this this is true for every believer the world is is no friend to those who love Christ The Gospel message is always a thorn in the sight of a Godless Society so what is the Lord what’s the counsel the Lord gives us in verse number 10 of chapter 2 here’s the counsel to the church two commands he says number one don’t fear and then number two be faithful unto death those are commands scripture the Risen Christ conquered the worst that persecution can do to you take your life that’s why it starts out saying that Jesus is the resurrection and the life he died and he’s alive you’re dead and you’re going to be alive the Lord is not promising here health wealth and prosperity he does not dangle before them the promise that they shall find all things easy and pleasant in their life he shoots from the hip telling his faithful witness how it really is and then Jesus gives them four heads up verse number 10 here’s the first heads up you’ll suffer in some way notice what it says do not fear what you’re about to suffer he already says that you will suffer secondly verse 10 Satan is behind the persecution Believers behold the devil is about to cast some of you in prison so in other words the devil meaning the accuser he acted through the Jewish accusers against Christ and his followers Satan is the real instigator behind all of it he’s the manipulator behind all of it and the Lord lets him do that he’s on a Long Leash for his own purposes he lets him do that also a third thing he says in verse number 10 he says so that you will be tested the purpose of satanic opposition is to test us see the same event is often both a temptation of the devil or by the devil and a trial from God to us that Christ will used the devil’s evil intention to refine and reprove his children in order to reveal their faith their loyalty their love for Jesus as their lord and savior and then he says also their suffering won’t be long look at the end of verse number 10 and you will have tribulation 10 days see in other words Jesus is in control of the duration of time to which they will suffer persecution there will be an end to it there’ll be a beginning to it there’ll be an end to it now the end could be martyrdom so the short time of persecution is for the faithful and he gives them a grounds for Relief that the time of trial will be short the duration of their Joy will be forever and then the Lord gives them a challenge in verse number 10 the Lord’s challenge has a twofold promise to it first the challenge in verse number 10 at the end of the verse notice what it says be faithful unto what death be faithful unto death I I I read this and I think to myself can can I be can I actually do this can I be faith faithful unto death I it’s simple to say when things are nice and pleasant it’s easy to say it’s easy to read read something like this but what if it was reality what if there comes a time when the crosshairs are pointed at all Christians all churches and the weaponization of the government we become the target what can we do you know what we could do be faithful unto death because we may not be able to save our life and Jesus doesn’t save their life but he gives them two great promises see we have to prove oursel to be loyal and true to Christ to the extent of being ready to die that’s hard to get your mind around to be faithful onto death is really having a forward-looking faith a faith that calls for a full evaluation of our present life our goals our Pursuits in life light of what may be approaching it’s a defining moment in history when we will see Jesus coming on the clouds of power and then finally being in the presence in his presence maybe at physical death so so some questions arise before we look at the promises what what are we doing to get ready for the day when your hope is revealed is if Jesus was revealed today what have you been doing to prepare yourself for that day how does your daily routine connect with that day how how’s what you are doing today an expression of your faithfulness and loyalty to Christ no matter what comes well look at the two crowning promises in verse number 10 the end of the verse it says this be faithful unto death and I will give you a Crown of Life here’s the Greek words Stefanos it’s the Steven’s Crown remember Steven was the first martyr in the book of Acts why was he martyred he just simply gave the history of Israel preach the gospel and they stoned him to death this this Crown is really an adornment worn around the head and showed often an award to a victory in an atic athletic contest or it was also someone who achieved success in life possibly in running a race they were given a reward they were given a crown to wear to see to show they were the victors they were the winers ERS but you know not only Steven was the first martyr but in ad. 64 James the brother of Jesus was martyred by Nero and then the other James in 66 ad was martyred and then if you just look over to chapter 2 look at verse number 13 it says I know where you dwell where Satan’s Throne is and you hold fast my name and did not deny my Faith even in the days of anpus my witness my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells so we have people being martyred for their faith all over the place do you know that Time Magazine did an article and said in that article that the number of Christians martyred doubled between 2012 and 2013 and the article estimated that 100 to 150 million Christians have been martyred every year in recent decades in Nigeria in Syria in Iraq in Rwanda in Sudan and that’s not even taking into account the persecutions impris imprisonments and tortures how come we never hear about it in the news nobody’s bringing it up if it wasn’t for the voice of the martyrs if it wasn’t for the fox’s book of Martyrs and if it wasn’t for the Open Door Ministries we wouldn’t hear none of this and the Lord says to them I’ll give you a crown of life this is a reward of eternal life and it symbolized is Victory and I will give that to you for being faithful and it has been consistent in the word of God that present trouble always brings future reward even James says blessed is the man who perseveres under trial for once he has been approved he will receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promised to those who love him a crown for being faithful to the very end that’s what the Lord asks us to do he asks us to be faithful the very end so do you hear do you see Jesus says he who runs well till the end will receive a Crown of Life and he says these who hold in there who keep going who walk with me all the way They will receive this reward Jesus is holding out hope to them of eternal life and Jesus gives counsel to his church so that they are light bear bearers that can fulfill their mission that churches can fill their missions in the latter days until the end so present trouble persecution leads to the reward of a Crown of Life so Jesus up to this very day never offers to us an easy Road he puts before those who will repent of their sin and believe in Jesus that there will be a cost some loss some deprivation some suffering some uncomfortable uneasiness some humbling of self some killing of our passions and desires and personal goals will happen as a Believer you know what that’s all right because the Lord has it all under control for he says there will be pers utions and in the age to come eternal life and there is an age to come which is a vast unending season of existence it’s called eternal life in the Bible and it is not a reward for forsaking outward relations or inward affections or enduring other difficulties for Christ’s sake eternal life is always and only out of the mercy and the pure grace of God to those he gives it to and the reward that he gives is certain because he’s paid the full price and then if you notice in verse number 11 of chapter 2 he gives the second promise notice what it says in verse 11 it says he who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death they may be killed and martyred in the first death which is physical death but he says here you will not be hurt by the second death and that’s the death you really have to be concerned about so you see the great leveler is not physical death the great leveler is the second death and this is the final judgment that separates the unbeliever from from God’s mercy and his loving kindness forever and this second death is not death meaning Annihilation this is spiritual death complete separation from God to a very real existence in eternity if you turn it over to Revelation 20 which we read this morning look what it says in verse number six Revelation 26 again it brings up this second death and it says in Revelation chapter 20:6 blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection over these the second death has no power but they will be Priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years and then notice over to chapter in chapter 20 to verse 14 and 15 it says then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire and this is the second death the Lake of Fire so in other words there is going to be a conscious existence separated from God’s mercy and God’s love and existence only experienced in God’s Wrath some people say is God God in hell is God in hell is God in the Lake of Fire yes his wrath is there and that’s all they’re left with and believe me according to scripture that is a horrible place to be even in this world every day we experience the goodness of God the rain showers on the just and the unjust God’s Mercy is everywhere in this world and people just spurn it but it’s the Christian who understands the mercy of God to the point where it says in Romans chapter 12 I’m going to give myself over you as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God because of his Mercy because he didn’t give me what I deserved he gave me his compassion he gave me his grace that saves me and because of that I’m willing to give myself over to you Lord that’s what I’m willing to do because I understand what you’ve done so the second death is eternal torment death and Hades are joined with the false Trinity in the eternal torment of really the complete stages by which God eradicates evil from all eternity their names are not written in the book of life because they rejected God’s call to repentance they ignored God but the saved and the unsaved have responded to the call of God and the sacrifice of the land and that has determined their Destinies the saved escape the second death and where do they head they head for Bliss they head for heaven they head for the presence of God while the unsaved on the basis of their choice in the Judgment of The Sovereign God head to eternal torment so these promises the promise of the Crown of Life the promise of not being hurt by the second death are for those who have ears open who really listen to the holy spirit of God and respond to the message they realize they have to do something when they hear this they can’t just sit in silence they have to be ready to obey Christ because look what it says in verse 11 of chapter 2 it says that he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he overcomes will not be hurt by the second death that’s the inside crowd and the outside crowd well look at the outside crowd in Revelation CH 21 verse number 8 this is the outside crowd revelation 21:8 for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and Sorcerers and idolators and all liars their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death that’s the end of the story and we know the beginning of the story we know the middle of the story and we know the end of the story so that you know that means that we’re privileged as Believers to know these things but I just want you to really think if our time that we live becomes a samarina time would we be willing to die for Christ that is no easy question to answer but I believe that you can answer it I believe you can and that’s only be going to be based on how loyal and faithful and obedient you are to Jesus Christ and how convinced you are that this is true and everything else is a lie amen amen amen let’s pray Lord this morning Lord your your word always is sobering and Lord as I think about it and even as I was studying about this a heaviness came over my heart because Lord I would think of my own life even Living in America where things are so easy Lord would I be that person who could say honestly I could die for you Lord I pray that you would work on all of us con concerning this question because the reality of it may be it could happen in our day and Lord we know that you are the resurrection of life so the second death can’t harm us and if we live this way we do have a rewards Crown a Victor’s Crown and I pray Lord we would look towards that increase our faith make us sober-minded people help us to be serious about our life I pray Lord that the light of this church would not go out but we would all together hold up as the church holding up the light of the Gospel so we would be able to broadcast it and and scatter it all over the place so people would hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ and that they we would see them come and believe and trust you and live for you Lord that’s my prayer today and I pray that you would use this word on our hearts today to make us more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and I pray this in your name amen