A BIBLE BELIEVER'S COMMENTARY OF REVELATION Chapter 3

(Transcribed from tapes of a class taught by Dr. Peter S. Ruckman at Pensacola
Bible Institute, Pensacola, Florida)

3:1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he
that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works,
that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and
strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not
found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast
received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not
watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I
will come upon thee. 4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not
defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are
worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and
I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his
name before my Father, and before his angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

     "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write." The word "Sardis"
means "the red ones." And the idea is, they're red from being bloody. They're
gettin' butchered. And this period in church history is represented by 1000 to
1500, and that's a pretty sound classification. You might make it 1000 to
1600, but this bunch is being persecuted and burned and killed right and left,
and they're called "the red ones," the bloody ones.

     And, you know, it's in all these things where the Lord rebukes these
churches. He doesn't pass by the ailing molar and shine up the other teeth; if
you've got a bad molar in your tooth, why, He'll put His finger on it, and
find where the abscess is. These things, when you read this Book of Revelation
or anywhere in the New Testament, it sounds frightfully personal and specific,
compared with modern-day preaching. Modern-day preaching is a kind of, like a
fellow said, they're not no men, they're not yes men, they're "yo" men. They
have a combination of "yes" and "no"; it's never clear.

     Did you notice how clear the Lord is? And how pointed it is? Chapter 2,
verse 23: "I'll kill her children with death." Verse 22: "I'll cast her into a
bed." "I have a few things against you." See how personal that thing is? Verse
29: "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear." It's always personal,
specific, exactly.

     Chapter 3, verse 1: "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write;
These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven
stars." And, of course, by comparison the seven stars are a picture of the
seven churches that represented these seven angels. "I know thy works, that
thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Now, here's a church who's a
dead church, and yet it has a reputation for being a live church. "You have a
name that you live." You have a reputation for being alive, but you're dead.

     Now, God have mercy upon you if you ever pastor a church like that! They
are all over the country. They have a reputation, and that's all they have.

     They call a church building a plant. You know, "We have a large plant."
Did you know a plant is supposed to have life? A plant is supposed to have
life. People say, "Well, we've got a building program, and Falwell up here's
building a $4,000,000 structure." Awww, that's kid's stuff! You ought to see
St. Peter's in the Vatican. They've got $4,000,000 worth of gold in that thing-
-and that isn't counting the building.

     Now, a thing can be a plant, and it can be dead. Many churches are like
an ailing lung with a few cells doing the breathing. As a matter of fact, most
churches are like that. They're like an ailing lung, where one or two cells
are doing the breathing. In real life, there's a few Spirit-filled people in
there, and they just keep the church from becoming an animated corpse. An old
poem says, "Outwardly splendid as of old, inwardly lifeless, empty and cold,
Her force and fire all spent and gone, Like the dead moon, she still signs
on." And that's a picture of many a church.

     Now, Lutherans--they have a name. You know where Lutherans got their
name? They got their name from Martin Luther. If Martin Luther would come back
to Pensacola, and go down to the Siecus sex education Mary Coldonre Animal
High School Neck-your-Neighbor Kids down there in the Parent-Teachers and meet
with that bunch, trying to put that Siecus sex education through, and see that
Lutheran pastor sitting there, trying to put that stuff through, he'd probably
knock him out the window. Martin Luther used to call King Henry VIII "that
damnable rottenness." When Martin Luther wrote to the pope, he called him,
"Greetings, most hellish father." "Greetings, your hellishness," you know.

     Why, if Martin Luther lived in Pensacola, why, the Baptists couldn't
tolerate him!

     Now, they have a name. Do you know of any Lutheran pastors around here
like Martin Luther? They have a name, but they're dead. They're dead.

     You take John Wesley. The Methodists have a name. That's quite a name
they've got. You know, the people who brought real revival to America, they
weren't Baptists, they were Methodists. The Baptists, they just came under
their own in about 1930 under J. Frank Norris; the people who shook this
country up were Methodists. They were Culpepper and Morrison and Sam Jones and
Peter Cartwright and Bob Jones Sr., and that bunch. And, boy, they taught,
man, that if you were richer after you got saved than you were before you got
saved, you were devil-damned!

     You ought to read Wesley! He figured that if you talked more than 15
minutes, you're sinning. If he talked to you 15 minutes, he'd shut his mouth.
He said, "In a multitude of words there wanteth not sin." Too much talk!

     Now, do you know any Methodists in town like that? I'll bet you, if John
Wesley came back into the First Methodist Church, he'd have a heart attack
before he went by the first ashtray!

     Listen, brother, John Wesley believed in holy living, brother. Oh, yes!
That old bird believed you ought to pray to God while you're in your conscious
waking moments, and love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, 60 seconds a
minute, and 60 minutes an hour.

     They have a name, but they're dead.

     You know that Baptists have a name? I mean, why pick on favorites,
brother? The Baptists have a name. Did you ever read the history of early
America, taking Roger Williams and driving him out in the snow, and the
Puritans taking Baptists and whipping them at the stake and throwing them in
jail, and taking ol' John Bunyan and putting him in the Bedford jail for
twelve years because he would preach in a bishop's jurisdiction; his little
old blind girl coming around to him, begging him to get out of jail, and
they'd tell him, "We'll let you out, John, if you'd just quit preaching."

     He said, "I'll stay in this jail until the moss grows in my eyebrows, but
I'll not quit preaching."

     You reckon that's the kind of preacher Brother Pleitz was? When that
fellow left this town, he had a three-page spread for nearly a week in the
Pensacola News Journal about his immaculate dressing. Where is that? And,
"When he read Scripture, it sounded like Heston and Hollywood." Where was
that? Paul said, "Though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge." They said
about Paul his speech was "contemptible."

     And then it said, "He's going high up in his denomination." Where is
that? "He's becoming a powerful figure." Where is that? And, "Folks will be
sorry to see him go, because he just made everybody good!" You love me. I love
you. God loves you. You love God. I'm all right. You're all right. Ta-da. Ta-
da. Ta. Ta. HEY!

     Now, you know something? If I die one of these days, and you hear a guy
get up over the pulpit after I'm dead, and preach about my corpse, and talk
about what a nice, kind, loving man he was, you'll know they've buried the
wrong body! And I want you to sue 'em for slander!

     When you see my cold body lying out there in a casket, and some guy gets
up there and talks about how many friends he made and how much he's going to
be missed because so many people loved him, and all the good he did for the
world, you take that guy down and sue him! I don't want them lying about me
like that!

     I'll tell you, brother, when you go into another church, if that
newspaper doesn't talk about the people you led to Christ, and the folks you
upset with your straight, hard, clear, plain preaching, and the enemies you
made for standing for the truth, and the people who got saved and called to
the ministry and led people to Christ because of your ministry, you haven't
ministered!

     God Almighty help you if you ever leave a church, and somebody talking
about a big radio program you had, and all the little old ladies with little
dogs hate to see you go! Rough ministry, boy!

     All right, Revelation 3, verse 1. Folks say, "You're just jealous." No, I
ain't! No, I'm not! I think that's the most God-forsaken thing that ever could
happen to a man in the ministry. I can't think of anything any worse.

     All right, "That thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." The
Catholics have a name. They have a name. They profess to be the Church that
Christ founded. Ol' Savonarola went out there, and he called the Pope a
"broken tool." The Pope said, "If you quit preaching like that, I'll give you
a red hat," meaning a cardinal's hat.

     And Savonarola said, "I'll take one--of blood!" They burnt him at the
stake in Florence. You go to Florence, and you'll find a star there in the
ground where they burned him at the stake. And the priest got up there and
said, "I separate you from the church militant and the church triumphant."

     And Savonarola said, "You can separate me from the church militant--the
one down here--but you can't separate me from the church triumphant--the one
up there!"

     See? They had a name, see? They had a name. But they're dead. They're
dead. Nothing's deader than a Catholic mass. Some of you folks who have been
saved, you ought to go back to mass some time to visit, and just test the
spirits. But you'd be amazed to see what God has done for you, when you see
the difference between how it feels now and how it felt then!

     I mean, when you go in there now with the Holy Spirit in you and feel
that thing around you like that, it's a strange feeling, man! That guy gets up
there and starts that "Ah dominus fee fi fo fum, e pluribus unum," boy, you'll
wonder what's going on.

     Now, you take the Church of Christ. They have a name--but they're dead! I
believe the deadest building I've ever been in in this town was the Church of
Christ building over on Highway 29, going out where Fillingham lives out
there, out past the Nine Mile Road--way out there. You know, Brother McGaughey
and I were shopping around eight or nine churches, trying to get the size of
the building, the structure, and all this stuff and that. And we ran into that
place and met the pastor there and talked to him about five minutes, just
walked around that building. And that building was the deadest thing! There
wasn't anybody in it! It wasn't during service. But buildings have an
atmosphere about them, you know. And that place there--I have never been in a
funeral home that was any deader! I think, when you walked around that
building, it wasn't padded, but it was like the whole thing was padded with
sawdust all over the ceiling, and all down the sides, and cobwebs, and kind of
a musty, kind of a dry smell there. You could tell that nothing had gone on in
that church for 15 years!

     I think that, after you've been preaching in a church for awhile, it gets
off of you and gets in the walls.

     I believe the next deadest thing I ever walked into was a women's Bible
class they used to hold in Bradley's Bible Book Store. They used to have
women's Bible class back there in the morning some time around 10 or 11. I
came there one morning to buy a book, and just walking in there, and the lady
was just leaving, trying to drift around the bookstore. And I don't know how
you are. You know, if you're an artist, you feel shadows, you know. You feel
'em. And you feel balance, you know, and reflection, and those things--you're
sensitive to them. And if you came in there to that place, that place was just
exactly like McNeal's Funeral Home before a body was brought in--and that was
a Bible study, man!

     Revelation chapter 3, verse 2: "Be watchful, and strengthen the things
which remain, that are ready to die." Boy, the Lord sure plants' em, doesn't
he? I mean, it was dead enough the way it was; the rest of it, if it hasn't
died yet, it's about to go! "For I have not found thy works perfect before
God." It's a great Book, man, it's a great Book! I mean, sometimes you wonder
if it doesn't run around the room at night!

     "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and
repent." All right, hold fast to what you've got that's still alive. "And
repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief." A
picture of the Rapture, and a picture of the Advent. It's a picture of the
Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 5; it's a picture of the Advent in 2 Peter 3. "And
thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names
even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with
me in white: for they are worthy." Now, those white garments--note verse 18--
are a picture of righteousness. Verse 18: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou
mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear" Now,
white raiment that's undefiled and are garments are to be worn, and they
constitute your righteousness. Turn to Revelation 19 for a definition. Now,
God's righteousness is like unto pure gold, but your righteousness is like
unto fine linen. Revelation 19, verse 8. Notice verse 7, this marriage: "Let
us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb
is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.  And to her was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is
the righteousness of saints." So, fine linen garments, white garments,
represent self-righteousness--that is, the righteous things you do for the
Lord.

     All right, now come back to Revelation 16, and look at this warning here
given to somebody in the Tribulation, Revelation 16:15, on these garments,
these white garments. Revelation 16:15: "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed
[is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they
see his shame." Now, regardless of whether or not you make this a Tribulation
passage, the one thing that keeps haunting you if these read these passages is
the fact that every Christian is sewing. And, after you get saved, you won't
appear before the Judgment with filthy rags of your own self-righteousness,
but since Christ is in you and you have His righteousness, then your
righteousness now doesn't go on as filthy rags; it goes on as pure, fine,
white linen.

     And it brings up the problem, how many Christians are going to appear
before the Judgment Seat of Christ in something like a bikini or a G-string?
Because there are many people who just get saved, and then do nothing for the
rest of their lives. And the Bible says, "Lest you walk naked, and they see
your shame." And Paul and John said, "Let us abide in Him that we might not be
ashamed." That is, at His appearing. I know what's involved there.

     But wouldn't it be a terrible thing if that thing is literal like that?
Wouldn't it be terrible if a lot of Christians suddenly appear up there naked
before that Judgment? And you talk about a shame and a disgrace, man!

     QUESTION: That wouldn't be eternal, would it?

     ANSWER: No, because at the Judgment Seat of Christ, the bride of Christ
(Ephesians 5) is said to be without spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such
thing. And spots or wrinkles are on a piece of garment; so, she's clothed. But
it's a terrifying thought!

     All right, Revelation chapter 3, verse 4: "Thou hast a few names even in
Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in
white: for they are worthy." A Tribulation passage in James speaks about
pulling people out of the fire, hating the garment spotted by the flesh. "He
that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment." There's the fine
linen. "And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will
confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." Notice how the
verse is used to prove that maybe you could get it blotted out. But, if you
look at verse 6, verse 6 doesn't say that God is going to blot anybody out.
Verse 6 says that a man who overcomes, he'll not be blotted out! That's why I
gave you the passage in 1 John 5:4 and 1 John 4:4. Because 1 John 5:4 and 1
John 4:4 say that you've already overcome by believing on Jesus Christ. So,
for you, it's a promise--not a threat.

     But when He says "not blot his name out of the book of life," that
implies that there are some names in there that might get blotted out--and, of
course, yours isn't one of them. But it is a pretty good proof text to show
that originally everybody's name is in the Book, there's no special elect,
that everybody's in the Book, and when a man dies without Christ, he's blotted
out.

     All right, verse 6: "But I will confess his name before my Father, and
before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches."

     All right, we're going to stop here, and take a little time for
questions, because I get in that Philadelphia thing, that's going to run, and
run, and run, and run. That's the greatest period in church history. That's
the church of the open door, and that's the church that begins with Martin
Luther, and comes up into the King James Bible. So we'll stop here at verse 6,
and the time coverage with this passage is roughly--and, of course, you know
there's no way to put it exactly; there's nothing in the Bible to tell you the
exact dates--it's roughly between about 1000 and 1500 A.D.

     QUESTION: Are those works? Doing right?

     ANSWER: Yes, personal righteousness. Paul says, having your loins girt
about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. And, when he
says that, that's not a reference to Christ, because the soldier is already
saved.

     QUESTION: When it says, "I will not blot out his name out of the book of
life," was that ordained in there from the beginning, or was it not put in
there until we were saved?

     ANSWER: Well, that's a question that nobody knows for sure. But the way
it comes in, when Moses said, "Blot me out of the book that you've written,"
and Christ says, "Rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven," and Paul
says, "Whose names are in the book of life," Philippians chapter 4, it looks
like when that thing starts, the Lord has a book with the name in that of
every human being who ever lived. And then, depending upon the situation, He
can leave it there, or blot it out. When a man trusts Christ, it not only is
not blotted out, it can't be blotted out.

     QUESTION: In Revelation 19:8 on the righteousness of the saints, have you
ever had it thrown up about it's plural in the Greek, "righteousnesses." I had
a professor who told me that this is a blatant act by the King James
translators who intentionally took their own interpretation.

     ANSWER: When he does that, you say, "How about this 'blatant act' of this
private interpretation of the New A.S.V. in Matthew chapter 24, where it says
that "at the end of the Sabbath," when it's a plural word there that says
"sabbaths"? Therefore, the argument about singular and plural amounts to
nothing anyway; all the new bibles translate the plural of Matthew 28, verse
1, as "sabbath," and it's a plural--"sabbaths."

     They're always doing that. They're always trying to say, "This is so
confusing, and this is so terrible." Well, I've taught that thing for 28 years
in Christian work without referring to the Greek text in that particular
passage--how did I get it right?

     It's always this kind of business. I was reading a Greek teacher today
with some typical propaganda, typical lying, and saying, "This passage over
here, this word 'repentance,' metanoia, should be distinguished between this
word and the other word for 'repentance,' and if you don't get the distinction
between these two kinds of repentance, then you're liable to think that all
repenting is just the same. But there's a great difference between the way
Peter repented and Judas repented." Why, I've taught the difference between
the way Judas repented and Peter repented from the King James text that says,
"Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the
sorrow of this world worketh death." I've taught two kinds of repentance from
the English text without referring to any Greek text. How is it you can get it
right without the Greek?

     And the same writer said, "This word here is in the linear. 'He that is
believing has everlasting life,' which means as long as we are believing,
we're saved; but if we quit believing, we're not saved, and this is what
Christ meant in Matthew 24:13 when He said, 'He that endureth to the end shall
be saved.'" Now, there's a guy who went to the Greek linear tense and then got
a heresy by going to the Greek. If he stuck to the English, he'd have the
truth.

     I'll tell you another one. I read along through there, and in Matthew
chapter 3, it says, "The baptism of him that shall come shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost, and with fire." He said the Greek word "kai" here should be
translated "even" instead of "and," like in "our great God and Saviour,"
"even" our Saviour, Jesus Christ, so he translated it, "baptize you with the
Holy Ghost, even with fire"--making "the Holy Ghost" and "fire" the same.
They're not the same! Now, there's a case where the English would have shed
light on the obscure Greek, because the obscure said "kai," and "kai" could be
translated as "and" or "even." Fortunately, the King James gave you the right
translation, and the Greek scholar gave you the wrong one.

     QUESTION: Do you liken the church at Thyatira as the Roman Catholic
Church?

     ANSWER: Yes. Well, there's nothing but the Roman Catholic Church from
Pergamos up to Philadelphia--that's all there is.

     QUESTION: So, is it possible that the Roman Catholic Church is getting
better, since their last works are better than their first?

     ANSWER. Oh. That's aimed there, as it stands, at the believers in there.
Everything you read here is aimed at the believers in there. There is nothing
in Revelation 2 and 3 that's aimed at the unbeliever. It's aimed at the
believing Catholics. There were believing Catholics in the Dark Ages; they
were called Cathari. There were a lot of 'em. As a matter of fact, about 4
million of 'em.

     QUESTION I have a question about John. Is it useless to pray for unsaved
people to get well when they are sick?

     ANSWER: No. In 1 Kings chapter 13, an unsaved king who set up a false
altar reaches out his hand to grab a prophet, and his hand freezes. And he
says, "Pray for me," and the young man prays for him, and he's well. God can
do that. God can be merciful to unsaved people. And God can be good to unsaved
people. And God can be long-suffering with unsaved people. But God does not
love a Christ-rejecting sinner.

     QUESTION: Why is it not "enduring to the end of your life," but "enduring
to the end of the Tribulation"?

     ANSWER: Because the next verse says, "This gospel shall be preached in
all the world for a witness, and then shall the end come."

     QUESTION: Where are those two verses you mentioned about children?

     ANSWER: They would be in Romans. To show that sin is not imputed to a
child, 5:13 and 4:15.

     OK, Lord bless you all, and gooten nacht. You pray I won't lose these
papers on the way home, OK?

     OK, chapter 3, verse 7, and this brings us down to the sixth church, and
in church history this will bring us to a period of time around 1500 to 1520,
about the time of Martin Luther. And the word "Philadelphia" means "brotherly
love." And this is the church of the open door. And this is the only church of
all the churches that is said to "keep" the word of God. It says in Revelation
chapter 3, verse 8, at the end of the verse, "hast kept my word." So, if you
want to find the word of God that kept true to the original Greek text, like
they say, you'd get it from the Reformation church of the Protestant
Reformation. You would not get it from anyplace else.

7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he
that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth,
and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8 I know thy works:
behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou
hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews,
and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before
thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the
word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which
shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy
crown. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God,
and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and
the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down
out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name. 13 He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

     All right, verse 7: "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the
key of David." Of course, that's a figurative key. Christ said one time the
lawyers have taken away the key of knowledge; that's a figurative key. Christ
speaks about having the keys of death and of hell, and those things are
figures. Of course, there's probably something to it, but it's a figure of
something.

     "Hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and
shutteth, and no man openeth." Now, that opening and shutting, if it's the key
of David, it's probably a reference to the doors being opened and shut. And,
if it's David's key, it's a Jewish thing, so in the passage where it occurs,
it's probably a reference to those keys to the kingdom of heaven that Christ
was talking about to Simon Peter.

     Now, a "key" in the Bible opens a "door,"  and a "door" in the Bible is
an opportunity to preach. For this, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. First
Corinthians 16, verse 9. First Corinthians 16:9; Paul talking about an
opportunity: "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and [there
are] many adversaries." All right, notice 2 Corinthians 2:12 again. Second
Corinthians 2:12: "Furthermore, when I came to Troas to [preach] Christ's
gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord." So that door where it
occurs is a preaching opportunity; and, in this case here, a chance to preach
the gospel. Colossians 4:3. Colossians 4:3. Simon Peter, in the Jewish sense,
uses the keys at Pentecost for the Jews, and at Cornelius in Acts chapter 10
for the Gentiles. Colossians 4:3: "Withal praying also for us, that God would
open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ." So, a
"door" is an opportunity to present or preach the truth, and this Philadelphia
church is called "the church of the open door."

     Look at Revelation 3:8: "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee
an open door, and no man can shut it." So, the Philadelphia church period is
the period where the gospel goes to the ends of the earth; that'll be 1500 to
1900. And that's a match-mate. You couldn't hardly miss that no matter how you
took the Book. Because that's when all the work is done. It's done between
1500 and 1900. And also, during that time, is when Martin Luther's German
Bible is produced, and the King James Bible.

     All right, back to verse 7: "he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and
shutteth, and no man openeth." Now, if the Lord opens the door, nobody can
shut it. And if the Lord shuts it, nobody can open it. If the Lord leaves you
alive, nobody can kill you. And if the Lord takes you or one of your loved
ones, nobody can bring them back to life; they're gone. The Lord's the Opener
and Shutter.

     All right, you have a life until it's time for you to go home. When it's
time for you to go home, you couldn't keep yourself alive if you had all the
doctors in the world. And until then, you're invulnerable. You ought to
understand. Until then, you can't be killed...until then.

     Now, I'm not encouraging you to go out and run out in front of cars or
anything! But, "Don't tempt the Lord thy God." But, when your time to come
comes, it'll come; until it comes, the Lord's got you there, and intends to
use you.

     Folks worry about a lot, about the Lord taking them home. The Lord will
take you home when He's ready to take you home. J. Harold Smith one time was
preaching in a tent in Greenville, South Carolina, and a couple of liquor guys
got upset, because back in those days revival would affect the liquor business-
-it doesn't any more, but it used to. And these two liquor guys got in a car;
one of them got a 38 and went down to shoot him. And they drove alongside the
tent, and got about 10 feet outside the tent, up near the pulpit, and this
first fellow laid that 38 on the window and took a beat on him. About the time
he got up there and beat on him, he said to the guy who drove the car, he
said, "Get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here! Drive the car! Get
out of here!"

     And the guy driving the car said, "Go on! Shoot! Shoot! What's the
matter? Shoot!"

     And he said, "Get out! We've got to get out of here! Get out of here!"

     And the guy didn't know what to think, so he drove out. And he hadn't
gone half a block, and this guy took the 38 and threw it down in the seat and
jumped out of the car and ran back to the tent, and came up on the platform
and said he wanted to get saved.

     And, when he gave his testimony, he said this. He said, when he put that
38 down there on the thing and pointed that thing and tried to pull the
trigger, he said his fingers were paralyzed, and he couldn't pull the trigger.
And he said, "I figured it was just probably my fingers going to sleep, or
numb, or something." So he said, "I let go of the pistol to move my fingers,
and I couldn't let go of the pistol! Then I figured maybe my arm had gone to
sleep, or the nerves or something." So he said, "I tried to move my arms down.
I couldn't move my arms, or my fingers, or my hands. I want to get saved!"

     All right, so if the Lord leaves you, you're there for a purpose. And if
the Lord wants to take you, He'll take you; and until He takes you, you can't
be taken.

     The time I thought about that the most I believe was preaching on the
street. That is, if you want to feel the protection of God around you, I'll
tell you what you do some time. You do like Brother Predis has done a couple
times; you just go to a town and try it all by yourself some time. It's good
to go with a bunch, and that's fine for morale-building, and good to learn how
to do it, and a lot to appreciate in that. But, some time after you've been
preaching on the street for a year, go back to your hometown up north around
Christmastime, and get you a parking space, and then step out in front of that
thing all by yourself--and stand out there and start.

     And you'll feel something you haven't felt before!

     All right, verse 7: "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." Now, have you ever stopped to think about that in connection with your
work here? Now, when you came down here and wondered what you came down here
for, but you supposedly came down here to learn the Bible. And the Lord put
before you an open door. And He said, "You want to learn the Bible? You can
get it." Now, Bob Jones Sr. said this. He said, "He didn't say somebody won't
kick you when you're trying to go through. And He didn't say somebody wouldn't
spit on you when you're trying to go through. And He didn't say it wouldn't be
hard getting through. And He didn't say you'd enjoy it after you got through
it." But the point is that it's open, and you can go through it. The point is,
when the Lord opens the door, it's open, and it stays open until God shuts it.
And you can go through. "I've set before you an open door."

     All right verse 8: "I know thy works." He always begins that way.
"Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou
hast a little strength." You've got enough strength to go through it. And, two
things: "And hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." Now, that's a
good church. And that's the only church in the New Testament that kept the
word of God. The word of God is kept by the Protestant, Reformation church.
Therefore, any Bible from the Protestant Reformation, like Martin Luther's
German or Libertane's French or Cassiodoras'--what's his name in the Spanish
thing there you've got, Brother Ortiz got one--the Valera. Any Bible that
comes out of that Protestant Reformation will have the right text. And those
Bibles there were all over this world long before an ASV and an RV showed, and
the church that did not keep the word of God was the one that followed the
Philadelphia church--the Laodicean church period. So, you can't trust any
bible that came from last period! I don't care who translated. I don't care if
angels translated it; you can't trust it.

     All right, verse 8: "Kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I
will make them of the synagogue of Satan,..."  which we talked about before
"...which say they are Jews,..." profess to be spiritual, as rightly the
spiritual Jews "...and are not, but do lie." It could refer to any number. It
could refer to Roman Catholics who think that God is all through with Israel,
and gave the promise to the Church; it could refer to Seventh-day Adventists,
who think you're saved by keeping the Jewish law; it could refer to Jehovah's
Witnesses who think they're spiritual Jews because they have the Jehovah of
the Jews, see? That "synagogue of Satan" covers a lot of territory.

     "Who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them
to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that
dwell upon the earth." Now, verse 10 has often been used to prove a pre-
Tribulation Rapture, but it's not a very good verse--because, in the first
place, this church age ended seventy years ago, and in the second place, it
would only be a promise for one church, and there are saved people in all
those churches. So, it's not too good a promise. They all use it, but it's not
a very good thing for pre-Tribulation Rapture.

     Now, it is true doctrinally in this sense in verse 10, in that the people
in the Philadelphia church period, in that age, they didn't come into the
"hour of temptation that tries all them that dwell upon the earth," because
their church period ends when the next period takes over, and the ones in the
next period, they get tried. They get tried.

     All right, verse 10: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I
also will keep thee from the hour of temptation." Figurative--not a sixty-
minute thing. It's a period of time. Back where Christ said, "Mine hour is not
yet come. Mine hour is not yet come." Not referring to sixty minutes, but a
period of time.

     "I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon
all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Now, there are two
things about that. That period of temptation, that hour that comes to try,
occurs directly in the Tribulation. And right before the Tribulation, in the
apostasy. For the Tribulation, turn to Revelation 13, and notice the hour of
temptation comes to try all them that dwell upon the face of the earth in
Revelation chapter 13, verse 7. This is the hour of temptation that comes, and
the same expression is used. "Them that dwell upon the earth." Revelation 13,
verse 7: "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and
nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him."  At the end of
verse 10: "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." So it's directly
to that--the Tribulation. It is indirectly referring to the fact that the
Philadelphia church period is over before the real temptation and testing
comes to try the earth in the Laodicean period.

     Come to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and notice before the Antichrist is
revealed there is a "falling away." Second Thessalonians 2. And the
Philadelphia church--whatever it was--was not an apostate church. Whatever
problem it had, it was not an apostate church. The Laodicean church is an
apostate church. Second Thessalonians 2, verse 3: Let no man deceive you by
any means: for [that day..." talking about the day of Christ "... shall not
come], except there come a falling away first,..." COMMA! That could happen in
this age "...and that man of sin be revealed,..." first three-and-a-half years
of the Tribulation "...the son of perdition;..." second three-and-a-half years
of the Tribulation. Notice how those commas set that thing off.

     All right, then the Philadelphia church period is gone before the
apostasy sets in, and the apostasy sets in at the end of the Philadelphia
church period. If I was going to put a time for the apostasy of the
Philadelphia church period to set in and the Laodicean church to start, I'd
make it between 1880 and 1901--but I'd begin it with the RV. But I'll have to
admit there's an overlap. There's an overlap.

     The overlap isn't long. For example, when you get to 1933, there is
nothing. So Billy Sunday and J. Frank Norris and Gypsy Smith and Mordecai Ham
are hangovers from the other century, and they were all born in the other
century. They were born in the 1800s. And if you had any hangover left in this
century, it had to come from Mordecai Ham, Billy Sunday, J. Frank Norris, Dr.
DeHaan, Theodore Epp or Charlie Fuller--and every one of them was born before
1900.

     When you take the Philadelphia church period and study it in church
history, it affects the whole world. As a matter of fact, the missionary
movement all around the world is greater then than any other time. In the
Philadelphia church period, you have Paton in the New Hebrides, you have
Goforth in China, you have C.T. Studd in China and Africa, you have Hudson
Taylor in China, you have Adoniram Judson in Burma, you have Henry Martyn in
India, you have Carey in India, you have Livingstone in Africa, you have Mary
Slessor in Africa, you have Francis Gardner in the Patagonias, and Eastman in
Japan, and then about 50 others. And that's all from that period.

     All right, Revelation chapter 3, verse 10: "Because thou hast kept the
word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which
shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." So the
real trouble comes after the Philadelphia church period. And if you have ever
read many books on revival, you'll notice they always have to keep quoting
back before 1933. I mean, there hasn't been any big revival since 1933. The
nearest thing to revival, an old-fashioned revival, would be the movement on
Formosa after World War II, and the movement in Bangladesh and India in the
last 20 years. But America has not seen a revival.

     If Billy Graham came to Pensacola and preached for six weeks, and left,
you might see something. I don't know. But I know if he preaches in New York
or Chicago for six weeks and leaves, you don't see nuthin'. I'll tell you what
you'll see. You'll see some people saved; and the people who get saved have
these nice, fresh, sharing, total commitment involvement of Christ into my
life--none of which has anything to do with the word of God. Maybe they're
saved. But they're like little milksops, like little babies. And you pick them
up about five years later, and they're reading all the Hollywood literature by
the women writers, and all the charismatic literature by Logos Company, and
they're still little babies. You pick them up about fifteen years later, and
if they're not back in sin, they're demon possessed. That's the kind of
revival we're having.

     Did you know, when Billy Sunday and those guys preached, that 90 percent
of the people who were saved were grown men over 30 years old? After World War
II and Youth for Christ came, all those kids saved, most of them were
teenagers. Do you know who was actually getting saved in America in the last
15 years? Bused in kids under 12 years old!

     I've been in two churches this year where the baptism service lasted for
35 minutes after the thing was over, and the pastor got up and begged his
people to stay, and everybody took off out the door like there was a fire in
the building--because they were simply tired of sitting there 30 minutes after
church and watching kids six, seven, and eight years splash through the pool.

     And then again, we've also checked some of the kids, and some of them
have taken their third of fourth trip through the pool. Got 'em mixed up on
the buses and lost the records.

     Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't have child evangelism. I'm not saying
you shouldn't bus in kids. I'm saying there's something wrong with the country
when the grown men aren't getting right--because the grown men lead the
country.

     Now, when Finney had a revival in Rochester, 300 doctors, lawyers, and
bankers got saved. Now, what do you suppose would happen to Pensacola if a
hundred doctors, lawyers, and bankers got saved? A hundred of them?
Professional men.

     Now, that kind of stuff hasn't happened in America. When Sam Jones would
come to town and preach and leave, all the liquor stores would be out of
business, the theaters would be closed, and when guys would meet in the street
and cuss, they'd look around and lower their voice to make sure nobody heard
their cussin'.

     Now, there is no town that Billy Graham has been in where that's ever
happened. When Billy Graham came to St. Louis and preached after awhile and
left, it wasn't like Sam Jones. When Sam Jones preached in St. Louis, when he
left, there wasn't one liquor store open in St. Louis. You ever been to St.
Louis? A Roman Catholic town? That place has got more liquor than the
Mississippi has got water! And when Sam Jones left there, it was shut down.

     We aren't having revivals like that. This Charismatic thing, this "praise
the Lord," "glory, hallelujah," "glory, glory, hallelujah" stuff is all
floatin' around like this, see--chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp,
chirp, chirp--'way up here. And where is this death, disease, sorrow, sin,
judgment, damnation, hell, suffering, sorrowing, bleeding, dying, persecution,
bloody crosses, self-denial--WHERE IS IT? It isn't there. It isn't there.

     I'll bet you, if you had a dollar for every time you heard a sermon on
the radio on denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Christ,
you wouldn't have enough money to get a bus from here to Mobile. In all these
programs, everybody's all right. And, "How'd you find Christ?"

     "Well, I shared Christ, and somebody shared their experience with me, and
I am in a total commitment to Christ, and Christ is real to me, and glory
hallelujah! Oh, praise the Lord!"

     "Well, thank you. Let's all give her a hand!", you know.

     What is that stuff, man?

     You can't find that stuff in the Bible. Somebody comes in and tells how
they got saved, and it's kind of a, you know, frothy thing. They might have
been saved 30 years before; they've just been going to a liberal church. It's
a retread! And then the guy talks about it for awhile, and they get up and
leave: "Let's give her a hand!"

     What do you give her a hand, for? What do you give her a hand for? That
old sinner, burning in hell if she hadn't got saved? Give her a hand! What do
you give her a hand for?

     The Gateway Church of Christ had a sign that said, "You're OK. God
doesn't make junk." See? You know what that does? It just skips Genesis 1, 2,
and 3. And just pretends that God made you in the beginning the way you are
not.

     Well, He didn't!

     You know, our revival is so low grade, when somebody gets on there and
says, "The Lord looked on me, and I didn't have enough money to pay 'dem
bills, and I went out to the mailbox, and glory to God, there was a check in
there for $300!"

     "WELL, GLORY! A big miracle!"

     Well, that's the check they send out, you know. I mean, that's the
government check that comes every month that the tax payers pay for. Wild,
man! I mean, what in the world is everybody getting excited about? We've been
dry for so long that somebody gets up there and talks about one answer to
prayer--they're applauding him for one answer to prayer. Well, you ought to
have at least three a day. You ought to have at least three a day. Preferably
ten. At least three.

     They're applauding fallen human nature. They're applauding depravity, is
what they're applauding. You can see I'd never make a good M.C. for "Queen for
a Day."

     Revelation 3:11: "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown." Indicating that some of the rewards can be lost
at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

     Now, there are five of those crowns. We've talked about them before, and
we'll talk about them again. But here's a warning that--it looks like, at
least, in 3:11--that a man can lose a crown after he's earned it.

     All right, let's turn to 2 John. The Second Epistle of John, in the back
of your Bible. And we'll get 2 John, verse 8. Second John, verse 8. The big
thing that's coming in, folks, is humanism. Humanism. The worship of man. The
worship of man. And just kind of tying God on as a footnote. Second John,
verse 8: "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have
wrought, but that we receive a full reward." So in the passage there it looks
like a Christian can wrought certain things and build upon the foundation and
then later lose them. And the same thing about losing the crown. But the
context of the passage, there, shows what the thing is connected with. It's
connected with helping out and supporting and promoting unsaved religious
leaders. Verse 7: "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an
antichrist.  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have
wrought, but that we receive a full reward.  Whosoever transgresseth, and
abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ,..." and that doctrine is mentioned in Hebrews chapter 6
and includes all the truths about him "...hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ..." that is, the Scriptural teachings about Christ "...he
hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not
this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed:
For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." So, it looks
like, the one thing that can cause you to lose rewards that you've earned, or
lose a crown that you've earned, is cooperating or supporting or promoting or
going along with religious liberals, or satanists, or people that deny the
doctrine of Jesus Christ.

     Now, some people take this real literally and don't invite them into the
house. See, a Jehovah Witness comes around, and they don't invite them in at
all, you know. They leave them at the door--which I usually do, but it's not
because I'm not hospitable. The thing is, after you've argued with a hundred
of them, you get short-tempered with them. I used to let them in and sit there
and try to reason with them, but I've gotten very short-tempered with them.
Same way with Mormons, you know, and Seventh-day Adventists. A Mormon comes to
your door and starts talking, you know, and you say, "Well, what about that
underwear you're wearing? Would you mind telling me about that underwear?" I
shake up his day bad, you know!

     But back in the old days, I'd invite them in and sit down and talk with
them, but I'd try to talk with them, and then after a while, I'd find out--
like some of you have found out--it's like talking to a post. Now, if there's
somebody else sitting around who can learn, then take your time. Sometimes
there's a younger fellow there who might learn something, and then maybe when
you deal with the older guy, the young guy can learn something. But it isn't a
matter of taking them inside your house; the idea is, you're not friendly to
them. The idea is, you don't say, "Well, the Lord bless you, brother. God
bless you. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!" That's what you don't do. You don't
palsy-walsy with him, don't bid him "god speed." "The Lord bless you, and good
luck, brother," and so forth, and so on.

     If you want to get rid of a JW, I'll tell you one of the best ways in the
world to do it. Bow your head in front of him and pray, and pray in the name
of Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know why that upsets them so bad. But, when you
are ever dealing with one, just bow your head and say, "Let's have a word of
prayer." And say, "Now, dear Lord Jesus," like that. You watch that thing up
there begin to kind of grunt, like this. "And we ask in Jesus' name, the name
of Jesus Christ, the name of Jesus." They'll just shift all over the room,
man, and pretty soon they'll just get up and leave. I don't know why that is;
must be a peculiar kind of demon.

     I went one time about an hour with some Mormons, and found I got the
magic key: I began to call Joseph Smith "Joe." And they left! They left. And
after about 15 minutes they said, "Would you quit referring to Joseph Smith as
Joe Smith?"

     And I said, "Well, you know, ol' Joe had this dream, and ol' Joe went out
there and got the golden plates, you know, and this Moron, this, you know."

     And they finally said, "Well, we're wasting our time here. We can see
you're not a gentleman. There's no use, so forth."

     I said, "Well, what's the matter? After all, you call Abraham Lincoln Abe
Lincoln, don't you?"

     They call Abraham Lincoln Abe Lincoln. So I'll call Joe Smith Joe Smith.
Good ol' Joe.

     All right, verse 12: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
temple of my God." Must be spiritual. Paul speaks about Peter, James, and John
"seem to be pillars" in Galatians chapter 2. "A pillar in the temple of my
God, and he shall go no more out." If he's a literal pillar, I don't guess
he's going to move. "And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the
name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of
heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou
wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to
buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not
appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many
as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold,
I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame,
and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

     All right, last church. This church is Laodicea. It's two Greek words:
Laos, L-A-O-S, which means "people" or "laity" or "common people." The "dicea"
is diceas, meaning "rights" or "righteousness." So the word is, "the rights of
the people." Called civil rights by the colored people, called "human rights"
by Carter.

     And the last church in this earth is going to be engaged in "of man, for
man, by man, of man, of man, the great man, hurrah for man!" "I'm all right,
you're all right," you know.

     And so, when you get up and preach the truth of God, where it goes
against man, then you don't fit the age. The age you live in is characterized
by just "positive," "positive," "positive"--that's characteristic of the age.
It's characteristic everywhere in the age.

     It's characteristic in advertising. Just once in a while you'll find
advertising one another. They say, "This is better than the leading brand."
See? Why don't they just say, "This is better than Chesterfield"? Or say,
"This is better than Rinso"? Or, "This is better than something else," you
know. But the idea is to be positive. "When you think of beer, think Schlitz!"
Well, now, they're not the same word. See? They're trying to brainwash you and
make you think that the only thing that's beer is "Schlitz," or whatever the
thing is. But it's positive! Where you just "think this," "think this," "think
this."

     The words "not" and "no" are very seldom found. When they want to get you
off Coca-Cola and onto Seven-Up, they don't say, "Stop drinking Coca-Cola."
That's negative. Or, "Don't drink cola." They write down, "Un-Cola." Seven-Up.
See?

     The whole approach is based on a positive approach. And that's the day
and age in which you're living. So you're living in a day and age when the big
thing is man. Man has the rights; God doesn't have any rights.

     When the riots broke out in New York and Chicago after Martin Lucifer
Coon got shot, and they began to burn down half those towns, and loot the
stores, that was carried on down South by the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. Southern "Christian." Now the idea was, "We want our rights! We
want our rights! We want our rights!" Women's Lib. "We want our rights!" Gay
lib. "We want our rights!" That's the Laodicean Church. That's the last church
before Christ comes.

     I heard it down in traffic court one time. I heard a colored fellow down
there, caught on some other charge, but traffic court was going on too. And he
said, "I want muh rights. I want muh rights. Gimme muh rights!"

     And that judge said, "I'll give you rights! Two years in the pen!" SPLAT!
Flopped down that thing, you know. It wasn't the pen; he called it something
else, but it wasn't the pen. He called it something else.

     "Two years! You got your rights, brother! BLAP! That's your rights!"

     Now, did you ever hear Paul running around saying, "I want my rights"?
Did you ever stop to think how foreign all that stuff is to New Testament
Christianity? When did you ever find Peter, James, and John and Paul saying,
"I want my rights. I've got my rights. Gimme my rights. Gimme muh rights"? The
only Person who had rights to Paul was the Lord God. God had the rights.

     We haven't got any rights, brethren. Paul said, "You're not your own.
You're bought with a price. You're a slave. Therefore glorify God in your
body. You don't have a right to it. And your spirit. You don't have a right to
it. Which are God's." See that? A Christian has no rights.

     You have a right to go to hell, and the Lord mercifully got you out of
it. And you have a right to suffer and die, and the Lord let you alive. And
you have a right to starve to death and get hung by the neck, and the Lord may
let you live in good health and die of old age. But you have no rights if
you're saved. Your Master has the rights.

     QUESTION: How about using the name like Brother Roloff, "The People's
Church"?

     ANSWER: Well, I guess it's a good sentiment, but I wouldn't use it.

     QUESTION: There's also a guy in Canada who has The People's Gospel Hour.

     ANSWER: Yep. Well, those are good men. They mean well. But it's just a
matter of terminology. There isn't that much to it. But I'd still be leery of
the terminology. I'd be. I mean, "the people," "the people," "the people."

     I'd like to put a sign on the church saying, "The church where
everybody's nobody!" Build us a big membership!

     Verse 14: "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans." Civil
rights, human rights. "Write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and
true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." Now, there's your JW
verse. That's a Jehovah Witness verse. And it's gotten by making the word
"God" the object of the creation. "The beginning of the creation of God," see?
So, Jesus Christ is the beginning of the creation of God. So, Jesus was a God
who was created, see? And that's how they read that thing.

     Now, I've showed you about that "of" before. And sometimes that "of," the
word that follows it, sometimes it's the object, and sometimes it's the
subject. And don't you know a JW would get it wrong? You say, "Well, how do I
know you're going to give it to me right?" Well, you know I'm going to give it
to you right because in Colossians chapter 1 it says, "All things visible and
invisible, created by him and for him," and you know in John chapter 1, all
things were made by him, and without him was nothing made that was made. So,
if you can't get the "of," at least you can get John 1 and Colossians 1.

     Now, we'll take this thing right here: "the love of God." "The love of
God is deeper far than tongue or pen can ever tell." Is God the object of that
or the subject? How many say "subject"--let me see your hands? How many say
"object"? It'll be the subject. The love of God in that case is God's love for
you, right? Well, then, God is the subject. But you see how you can get it
twisted. I mean, take this one here: "The love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts, by the Holy Ghost that is given unto us." "The love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts." Is God the object, or God the subject? All right, if
God is the object, then the Holy Spirit teaches us to love God. If He's the
subject, it's the same love that God had that's put in us. Which is it? See,
it can go either way there.

     Take this one here: "They changed the truth of God into a lie." "The
truth of God." They changed the truth of God into a lie. Is that the truth
about God, or is that the truth that God gave? See? It could go either way.
See how that thing goes?

     Now, you take this: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Is
that God being afraid of anybody? It's obvious in that one He's the object,
see? The fear of the Lord--obviously, that's the object. That's not the
subject.

     Now, you take this one right here: "The beginning of the creation"--and
that's two "of"s--"the beginning of the creation of God." Well, now, if it's
the object, then Jesus Christ is the beginning of the creation of God, and
He's the God that was created. But if that's the subject, Jesus Christ is the
beginning of the things that God created. He's not the first thing God created-
-He's the beginning of the things that God created. Got that?

     All right, try it again. Jesus Christ is the beginning of the things
which God created, the creation of God. The creation of God is Genesis chapter
1. What's the beginning of that creation? Jesus Christ! See that? So in that
passage there, God is the subject, not the object. You got it yet?

     All right, if you don't get it, turn to Colossians 1. All right,
Colossians chapter 1. Now, it comes through real clear here. Colossians 1,
verse 16. Colossians 1:16. Don't you know somebody would start a religion on
that verse? Boy, I'm telling you! You can always tell a heretic by where he
starts. Colossians 1:16--now why not start here? "For by him were all things
created." There it is. He's the beginning of the creation of God. "By him were
all things created." See it? Colossians 1:16. "For by him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all
things were created by him,..." see that? "...and for him: And he is before
all things, and by him all things consist." See? So Jesus Christ is the
beginning of anything that God ever created or made, He's the beginning of it.

     All right, back to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3, verse 15.
Now, this church here is the last church before the Rapture. We have a Rapture
in chapter 4, verse 1. So, this is the church that you are in. You have the
distinct privilege of being born into the seventh period of church history,
the apostate Laodicean church. You missed the Philadelphia church period!

     All right, verse 15: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor
hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." Old English "wert." We'd say, "I would
that you were." "I would thou wert cold or hot." Folks say, "Wouldn't you
change that?" No, I wouldn't change it; leave it right there. I tell them,
"WERT!" It used to aggravate them, just aggravate them to death. "WERT!" "I
would you wert cold or hot. I wist not you wert!"

     Have you ever noticed how much power that old English has to it, boy?
Suppose a guy said, "Unless you folks change your mind, you're liable to be
destroyed." Now, do you see how sterile that thing is? Alongside this: "Except
ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish!" See the difference?

     It's like Abraham Lincoln getting up saying, "Eighty years ago, our
ancestors came over here and started a country." Now, that's not near as good
as "Fourscore and seven years ago, our forefathers..." see? There's a
difference in it.

     Now, this is the King's English. "Where the word of a king is, there is
power." "Wert." "You wert." "I would thou wert cold or hot."

     "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth." Rough book. And the Lord says, "You're lukewarm, and
you make me sick." That's the idea. "I'm gonna vomit!" That thing there--
lukewarm is often used as an antedote for poison to induce vomiting, and
especially with something like a raw egg or mustard in it. And the Lord has
said in so many words that some churches make him sick. "I'll spew thee out of
my mouth."

     They had an old boy named Reverend Page preaching on the radio station
here in town; they kicked him off. He threw beer cans all around the station,
and he told the folks over the air, "All the folks I know who drink that stuff
go out in the alley and puke." When he came out of the station, they stopped
him and said, "Man, you can't talk like that over the radio, saying that
word."

     He said, "Well, I don't know. There may be a better way to put it, but
that's the only way I can think of to put it."

     And the Lord says here, "You make me sick, so I'm going to spew you out."
To spew--just to have the stuff fly all over the place.

     Church members that make God sick: They pray without passion, they sing
without feeling, they sin without concern, they serve without sacrifice.
That's one of those church busters, if you want to bust up a church.

     "Church members that make God sick": Christians that pray without
passion. Just say the prayers, don't ever get in the praying, don't get
desperate. Pray without passion.

     "Sing without feeling." It must be awful nauseating to hear a Christian
standing up and down here and sing, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, Let
Angels Prostrate"--nobody's gonna fall prostrate, let alone an angel!

     "And sin without concern." A Christian's sin ought to disturb him; it
ought to upset him.

     "And serve without sacrifice." This service for the Lord that costs a
modern Christian nothing makes the Lord sick. Make Him sick. David said one
time, "I won't offer the Lord anything that doesn't cost me something."

     All right, Revelation, chapter 3, verse 16: "So then because thou art
lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." It's a
lukewarm church, makes God sick. It's the church of the closed door. Look at
verse 20. Philadelphia is the church of the open door; this church is the
church of the closed door.

     And he says in verse 17, "Because thou sayest, I am rich." Now, here's a
church that thought it was rich, and it was poor. That Smyrna church thought
it was poor, and it was rich. So sometimes they get the orders mixed. Verse
17: "Because thou sayest, I am rich." The last church on this earth will say,
"We own so much property, we have so many buildings, we have so many buses, we
own so much, and we've got two million dollars in the Swiss bank, in the bank,
and the plant's now worth 75 million dollars, and if we had to sell out now,
it would be worth so much, and we've got this $500,000 bond program, and if
you'll send in your letter, I'll give you a title deed to one square foot on
top of a mountain someplace, and put up a new 15-million-dollar educational
plant, you know, we need $17,000,000 this week, now folks, can't you send in a
check for a million dollars, we'll make out all right this week." That's
what's going on.

     "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods,..." got the
buses, got the property, got the buildings, "...and have need of nothing; and
knowest not..." Now, here's God's estimation "...that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Isn't that a condition for a
church to be in? They're the church that has all the property and all the
buses and all the buildings and all the choir robes and all the organs and all
the pianos, and all the air conditioning and all the tile bathrooms and all
the marble floors, and all the stuff on the floor. And that church is poor,
wretched, miserable, naked, and blind.

     And if you fellows ever get out in the work, don't ever get a church like
that! And if you have to have a church that looks as run down as this one
here, at least make sure in God's sight it's not poor, wretched, miserable,
naked, and blind.

     All right now, in Revelation chapter 3, verse 17, he's talking here about
the last church on this earth before the Rapture, and this is the Laodicean
church. Now, I realize that some of my exposition here has been real
inadequate, like places like verse 12, and, oh, places like chapter 2:17, and
because of that, I feel that some of this material here probably has some
doctrinal application to the Tribulation, because you can't apply it to the
Church Age doctrinally. And a lot of it isn't clear to me. And a lot of it
isn't clear to some of the brethren who pretend it is clear, and it probably
won't be clear until after the Rapture.

     But some of it, you can understand, and a lot of it, you can apply. Now,
this church, before the Rapture in chapter 4, is a church that says it's rich
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and the Lord's estimation
of the group in verse 17 is it's poor and blind and wretched and miserable and
naked. It's "burdened with money instead of debt," like a fellow says.

     And if there's anything in the world that shows this condition in a
church, in a local church, it's singing. Nothing will show it any quicker than
singing. Now, singing will show you the spiritual temperature of your
congregation. If your congregation has a hard time, you all have your
problems, and you've probably got more to come, even though you're down and
out, and something happened today that liked to have sunk the ship, and so
forth, and so on--even in that, where the Christian is there, and trying to
serve God, or serving God with a broken heart, or halfway to the point of
tears or a nervous breakdown or on the edge of it, and trying to serve God and
sing, that singing will put out your eardrums! They'll sing! And where they
don't sing, no amount of spiritual condition will atone for it.

     I've been in churches that ran 4,000 in Sunday School, and they sit there-
-and there are hundreds of people there who don't have any financial problems,
there are hundreds of people there who don't have any social problems, or
family problems, or economic problems--and they sit there like a bunch of
stuffed owls on a limb. And just sit there and just blink at you. And that
place is just deader than a hammer! And it's because that bunch is saying,
"Well, I don't have need of anything. I've got everything I need."

     There are some tremendous advantages to handicapped, being handicapped.
Being handicapped, you have to lean on the Lord. I mean, you get your belly
full, and your pocketbook full, and your bank account full, and you tend to
kind of go on your own. That's why the Bible says, "How hardly, children, for
them that have riches to enter into the kingdom of God." If a fellow has
money, what does he need the Lord for? If you've got 12 million dollars, what
do you need the Lord for? If He kills you, you can give it to your children,
right? If He doesn't kill you, you can pay off all your bills with it, and
quit work, right? And if you get sick, you get enough insurance to take care
of all your bills when you get sick, right? Well, then, what do you need God
for?

     So, you see, sometimes the Lord will keep you down, and keep you weak and
broken and sick, so you'll have to depend upon Him.

     Verse 18: "I counsel thee." Here's the advice to this church. "I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire."  Now, we know what that is; that's
faith. Peter says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

     "Gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich." James says, "Hearken,
my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in
faith." So, that's an admonition to get some faith.

     "And white raiment." What's white raiment? Revelation 19, the fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints. So, he's telling that church, first of
all, get some faith, and secondly, get some personal righteousness.

     "And white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of
thy nakedness do not appear." One of the brethren pointed out to me last
night, when the Lord was in Gethsemane, that the young man fled, he had a
linen garment, and fled, and left it, and ran naked--and pointed out that that
might be a picture of some Christian before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Because the old boy, he stayed with the Lord right up to the end, and then
right at the end, when the persecution came, he couldn't take it, and quit,
and lost his linen clothes--lost his righteousness. The Bible said he fled
naked, whoever that fellow was.

     Verse 18: [That] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." Now, I'm not
too sure about that, so I don't teach it as doctrine. But I've often suggested
it and often preach it inspirationally, that when you get saved, you get into
the clothing business, and you begin to sew and stitch. And that some
Christians are going to appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ in a G-
string or a bikini. And the reason why is because they didn't put enough
clothes together on to have any kind of appearance, because "fine linen is the
righteousness of the saints."

     Now, gold is a picture of God's righteousness, but fine linen is a
picture of your righteousness. And so some Christians are going to appear
naked before the Judgment Seat of Christ. And I couldn't prove it
conclusively, but, boy, there is a sure a lot of the Bible aimed that way! I
mean, in 1 John, "Abide in him, that we might not be ashamed at his coming,"
"lest they walk naked, and they see your shame," "the shame of your nakedness
do not appear." "Fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." You've got a
few garments that are white, and they're worthy to walk with me. I mean, all
that stuff is in there.

     Now, like I said, I've had some embarrassing times, but I never had to
walk down Halifox Street at 12:00 noon naked as a jaybird! I hope that never
happens! But maybe there will be some streakers at the Judgment Seat of Christ-
-except, you won't be able to run!

     Now, wouldn't that be a horrible thought? Now, you Christians, think
about that. Suppose you get up there, and you've been saved. And, after you
got saved, you just settled down and just did what you wanted to do the rest
of your life instead of what God wanted you to do. And you come up there, and
there you stand, just as naked as the day you were born, man--in your birthday
suit--before Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Peter, James, John, and Paul, and Moody,
and Torrey, and Finney, and Spurgeon, and Sunday, and Paton, and Goforth, and
the cherubim and the seraphim and the Trinity and Moses and David. Wouldn't
that be something?

     All right, verse 18: "And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou
mayest see." I don't know what that is. "Anoint thine eyes." The Holy Spirit's
the anointing. "And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."
Well, when the Holy Spirit opens a man's eyes in the Bible, it's always to see
the Lord, or see something about the word of the Lord. The Lord opened
Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord with a sword drawn. The Lord
opened up Hagar's eyes, and she saw the spring and the fountain in the
wilderness--type of the Holy Spirit. The Lord opened Elisha's servant's eyes,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw the army round about of horses and
chariots of fire. The Lord opened the blind man's eyes, and he saw men as
trees walking. And when Jonathan got his eyes opened, he understood the truth
about his father. And when Christ opened their eyes, they knew it was Him in
Luke 24. And then He opened their understanding that they might understand the
Scripture.

     So this has something to do with a blind Christian who can't see Christ,
and can't understand the word of God.

     So this Christian here in the Laodicean church doesn't have any faith, he
doesn't have any personal righteousness, and he's blind as a bat. He must be
talking about the Southern Baptist churches in Los Angeles. And, in the
Laodicean church age, that's how they're going to be. They're going to be like
that.

     Now, that Laodicean age, as I said, begins about 1901 or 1880, along in
there. And the precursors of that apostasy are Darwin, Freud, and Karl Marx--
they're the forerunners. And Darwin prepares the intellectuals and the
scientists, and Freud prepares the doctors and the educators, and Karl Marx
prepares the politicians and the economic boys. Those are the big three.
Darwin, Freud, and Marx. And they get that age ready. When that age comes in,
the greatest damage done in that age is done in 1884 by the R.V. committee of
England, which comes to 1901, the American Standard Version. And, as far as
I'm concerned, that marks the beginning of the apostasy of the body of Christ.

     So, on that chart over there, I have four denominations hitting the skids
in 1900. Now, I've got the Baptists hanging on the latest; I've got them
hanging on until 1920, and then down they go. But the Methodists and the
Presbyterians are a bunch of gone gooses. And, of course, the Lutherans
dropped off earlier, and the Catholics dropped off 'way back yonder.

     So, in the end times, you're living in the last days--at least I teach it-
-the last days of the church, the last days of the Church Age. I teach you
it's a lukewarm church that's not upset about anything, and the hardest thing
you have to do in this age is get people stirred up. So, when you get them
stirred up, I'm always happy about it--unless you did something wrong to get
them stirred up. Now, if you did something wrong or unlawful or illegal to get
them stirred up, then we've got a problem. 

     And folks said to me, "Well, how about those students out there? Wouldn't
you rather get rid of them and have, you know, folks with knowledge instead of
zeal?" No, I'd rather have the zeal, and the trouble that goes with it. If I
had to have all zeal, and no knowledge, or no knowledge and all zeal, I would
take all zeal and no knowledge. Now, hopefully, we can get a happy medium.
But, if we can't, I'd rather have you all on fire for the Lord and want to do
something for God and sold out 100 percent and just as dumb as a bunch of
gooses lost in a horse race, as have you all brilliant, cool intellectuals
able to correct every word in the King James Bible, just deader than a hammer.
That's the choice.

     So, you're looking at a Church Age where the church is lukewarm. And if
you don't believe it, go to the average church. I mean, shop around and sit in
the service, and just watch how it goes. And watch that temperature never get
above 65 degrees. And if it ever does, somebody's liable to get thrown out.
You'll say, "Amen!" and everybody will turn around and look at you.

     Our job in the Laodicean church age is to go against the age. And, as far
as that goes, that's the job of every Christian in every age. The job of every
Christian in every age is to find out the outstanding characteristic of that
age and go slam against it.

     I was trying to think of the deadest church I've been in in the last ten
years. I think it was a church up in Michigan. And it was a fundamental,
premillennial thing. There was something about that meeting that was just like
a funeral service, man.

     I've been in some dead southern country churches. Boy, you get into some
small southern country churches in Alabama and Mississippi and Georgia, you
know, where three families have run the church for fifty years, you. And get
in there, and, boy, some of those things are dead, man! I mean, they're so
used to preaching, that no matter what you do, it doesn't impress him. And
they figure, "Well, he'll be over after a little while, and gone, and I'll get
back to my television set and the farm"--you know, that kind of thing.

     Dead!

     I'd rather listen to a nigger Holiness preacher who's demon-possessed,
than listen to Goodspeed or Richard DeHaan. That's right! I tell you about
Richard DeHaan, I can stand about one minute of Richard DeHaan, and I'm ready
to bust the radio set. "And so we see the Apostle Paul went down to Jerusalem,
and when he received the brethren at Jerusalem, he met at a private conference
in Jerusalem, and they told the brethren that the multitude must needs come
together, and nnnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnnn nnnnnnn waaaaaa waaaa waaaa waaa..."

     I'd rather listen to a demon-possessed nigger than listen to that! That's
right! I'd rather listen to some old black boy, just as black as the ace of
spades, down there, saying, "Hey!!! Yo mo!! Come 'an!!"

     Well, the guy believes what he's sayin'!

     A little enthusiasm, man!

     Verse 18: "That thou mayest see.  As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten." Boy, the Lord sure loves some of you, doesn't He? "As many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten." That's what it says, see? And, "Whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth." So, when it gets real rough, why, just look at as, you
know, the Lord showing you how much He loves you. Rough way, isn't it?

     "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore." There,
if you want zeal and knowledge, get the zeal. "Be zealous therefore, and
repent."

     Then a famous verse we use for soul-winning. Which is all right; I use
it; nothing wrong with using it. But in the context, of course, it's not that:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Now, that's the only place in the
Bible where the local church is spoken of as a building. Did you notice that?
You can't find the local church spoken of as a building anywhere in the Bible,
except right there. The only time the church is spoken of as having a door is
the Laodicean church, and the only it's spoken of as having a door, the Lord
is outside the door--isn't that a mess? I mean, the only time the local church
is mentioned as a building, they've got the Lord shut out.

     "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and
open the door,..." Then the individual member in the church has to go to the
door and let Him in. "I will come in to him,..." the individual "...and will
sup with him,..." the man "...and he with me." Now, that goes to show you
revival in the last days is going to get down to an individual thing. The Lord
will have fellowship with you, and the Lord can get into a church if you let
Him in. But when the Lord comes in, He says, "I'll just have fellowship with
those who want me to come in. I won't have fellowship with those who don't."

     Verse 21: "To him that overcometh..." and remember the verses that I gave
you on this from 1 John "...will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as
I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." And this looks
like, at the end of the Church Age, Christ takes His seat. He hasn't taken it
yet in the Father's throne. But He's seated at the right hand of the Father in
all the other passages. But here He is pictured as sitting down with the
Father in the Father's throne. Which looks like He'll do that at the end of
this age. And when He does that, the next thing is the Rapture. And at the
Rapture, He stands up and leaves.

     "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches."

