In the sermon titled 'Smyrna - The Poor RICH Church,' Paul Carrington delves into the biblical account of the Church of Smyrna as described in Revelation 2:8-11. The sermon highlights the paradox of being materially poor yet spiritually rich, emphasizing the trials and persecutions faced by the church members. Carrington draws parallels between the historical context of Smyrna and contemporary persecution of Christians worldwide, particularly focusing on the steadfast faith of believers in places like China. He reflects on the significance of enduring faith in the face of suffering and the promise of the 'crown of life' for those who remain faithful until death. The sermon encourages listeners to focus on the object of their faith, Jesus Christ, and to draw strength from Him amidst trials, reminding them of the eternal rewards promised to those who overcome.

For context, we'll start in Revelation 1 and read verses 9 through 20 and then the sermon text. So if you can join with me, Revelation 1 verses 9 to 20 first. I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars, out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead but he laid his right hand on me saying to me do not be afraid I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore.

Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. Write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.

Now to verse 8 and chapter 2. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life. I know your works tribulation and poverty but you are rich and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you in prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days.

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are indeed in awe as we gather here, as we know that you are indeed in the midst of us and that you walk amongst us even now.

Oh Father, we pray that through Christ we will receive your Word and Lord that it would strengthen us, correct us. Lord, that it would enlarge our hearts. Lord, that it would prepare us for the trials and the tribulations that will come, and Lord, that it would prepare us to stand. And Lord, thank you that you have promised that Our hope is immovable in you, O Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

It truly is an honor to be able to speak to you this morning about this little church here in modern-day Turkey, the Church of Smyrna. We're calling the the rich poor church. Here was a little church in the midst of intense Difficulty and it's only four verses that we're going to be looking at here this morning but in these four verses what we what we get to see is really a portrait of the beauty of true faith when it's tried and when it's tested and and when it's born of God what it actually looks like and what it's able to do in the lives of saints. And it turns out that you possess it. If you're a believer in Christ, whether you comprehend the power of the faith that God has granted to you, you actually possess it.

And today we have this opportunity to look at it from the perspective of a little church and to see the indestructible nature of what faith really is and how enduring it can be even in the midst of some of the most difficult and intense trials And my hope today is that we would be able to not just look at the faith of the saints But to look at the object of their faith who is the Lord Jesus Christ the one that they were looking to You know as I was as I was thinking about this about this text and going through it in my mind So many thoughts came in and even a lot of questions and I hope that we'll be able to address Some of these questions this morning You know, what do you do? For example when You're out floating in the ocean of life and you can't touch the bottom anymore and you you can't actually see the shoreline is your faith able to sustain is there a place or a time where in the midst of the storm the faith that we have in Christ just it can't hold anymore Or is there a time when the winds are blowing and the cords snap because of the pressure?

Or the foundations buckle because it just can't take the weight of what we're going through? Is there ever a possibility that that can happen? You know, the other question is how can I be found faithful even unto death? That's what this church in Smyrna was being asked to consider. And as we look at Smyrna, I just want to also set our mind not only to look at this little church 2000 years ago, but I want to also bring to our attention that today in 2018 there are in many countries, in fact in more places throughout history, more people are actually being persecuted for their faith in Christ and at any other time in history.

And as we're sitting here this morning, thousands of people, brothers and sisters, are not sitting in churches but are sitting in cells or sitting in some sort of other confinement because of their testimony, because of Jesus Christ. And so if you think about it, think of it like this, that Christianity, Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world right now as we speak. It seems so foreign to us as we sit here. But in the last century, in the 2000s, more Christians were killed for their faith than in any other period in history. To think about it like that, we often think of martyrdom kind of going back to the Fox's book of martyrs but it's come right up to our present day what people are suffering and if it's not death there's softer forms of persecution that are being suffered as well where people can't get a job simply because they profess faith in Christ or they're ostracized from society because of their allegiance to the Lord.

And so many people, what history will show is that when we come to the final analysis, though many were unheralded in their life for living for Christ and they died unknown, maybe no testimony, no no book, no movie made about them. What we find is that their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life and that's enough. That's really the most important thing for us to consider. You know, when you think about us here in America, whereas we only have to endure the occasional insult for our faith, the same can't be said of places like China or places like Vietnam or North Korea or places in the Islamic world where the stakes are significantly higher, you know, these aren't, and by the way, these aren't people that are just simply rabble-rousers and revolutionaries, but these are simply mothers and fathers, husbands, wives, even children, employees that simply just want to be faithful and live faithful to their Lord. They're not revolutionaries, that's not their mission, but to stay close to the Lord.

It's not about civil disobedience or political activism, but faithfulness to Christ. And just to put things in context for us, you know, last Sunday when we were waking up if you woke up at around 6 a.m. Or so you'll remember you woke up and it might have still been dark and there was this beautiful blanket of snow. Do you remember that? Last week some of the children should be able to remember that you woke up and everything was sparkling well at that exact same time if you woke up at around six o'clock something was happening across the planet in another world if you will in China and at that same time right then when you were getting up and and looking out and considering what the day would hold Authorities were launching a crackdown in the Changdu Province against this little church called early rain covenant church.

It's an unregistered it's an unofficial church based in China. And while most of China's Protestant churches, you know, they operate underground, this church, Early Reign, has refused to do so. They don't do that. They go out into the streets and they evangelize, they post their sermons online, they do all sorts of other things to openly practice their faith. And what happened was the police came one by one, house to house, because it was evening time, it was around seven o'clock, they were 12, 13 hours ahead of us, and would knock on the door of the pastors homes, and what ended up happening is they went house to house and arrested about 100 of the Saints from this church.

Ran sacked the homes, they did all sorts of other things, they captured every single one of the elders except for one elder, and while they took these people into custody, these people were abused simply for their faith. All sorts of different things happened to them, whether you were a man or whether you were a woman. And what they wanted them to do is force them to sign a document saying that this early-reign covenant church is, quote, an evil cult, and that you will never go back to this place again. And it's easy to say when you're kind of together, but when you're in a cell by yourself somewhere It's the stakes become increasingly difficult and one young lady said it like this. She says we will not forsake Assemblies this is what she said after release I was frightened at first when it happened, but have soon overcome the feeling as we are prepared for persecution." One member of the church, a man who owned a print shop, and he would print off the hymnals and do other things for the church.

That way he had his entire store ransacked and all of his printers confiscated so now he has no means of any livelihood anymore and I mentioned that all of the elders except for one was taken into custody well while this elder was in hiding he he read a handwritten note and he posted took a photograph of it and posted it to social media page for the church website and he says this he says pray that God would give us courage and the strength to deal with this persecution that those in detention would be a good witness and that the church members wouldn't compromise but instead they would know that God is real and that he will protect them. And then of course a couple of days later, I think on Tuesday evening, he was then taken into custody and hasn't been heard of or heard from since. Well welcome to Smyrna, not 2, 000 years ago but in present day. These are real people. These aren't props even for a sermon illustration.

These aren't characters from history, But they're brothers and sisters living, breathing as we're sitting here in different places of the world suffering for the name of Jesus Christ. If you will you could even say that there are thousands of churches of Smyrna scattered all over the globe and they're plundered, they're poverty-stricken but they're also rich in faith and the thing that matters most. And so, it's interesting, you know, you think of us here, it would be accurate to say that here we are in America, and we would be, I think, accurately described as a minority in the sense of we're strangers to persecution but this has not been the testimony as our brother read from Matthew 10 earlier this has not been the testimony of church history nor is it even today what's going on in the broader world And and and what I think we need to learn and what I think this little four verse Section of scripture really is going to be teaching us today is that we're not in this world To have ease and pleasure We're not in this world for the next event when we're gonna get together and do something that's fun and enjoyable or for the next sale or for the next Diversion or the next distraction.

We're not here for that, but we are here as saints For the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to accomplish his will in the earth and what we're to do is we're to derive our greatest pleasures our greatest joy from from knowing that he smiles upon us and that as we sang immovable Our hope remains even in the midst of the most intense difficulty and what I want us to understand is make no mistake That where the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached most purely and where the Saints live Most purely You can mark it down. There will be persecution. That's a given in any context anywhere in the world. And if you want to hear about living life backwards, our brother's been walking us through Ecclesiastes and making reference to this book, I want to read just a final quote from this man by the name of Pastor Wang. Now Pastor Wang is kind of the lead pastor of early rain covenant church.

And before he was taken into custody, now think about the mindset, think about living life backwards. What did he do? He wrote a multi-page letter knowing and seeing what was coming on the horizon, that things, the temperature is increasing. He started to prepare himself, what will happen and and What do I want the world to know? What do I want my church to know?

About why I'm doing what I'm doing, why I preach the way I preach, why I'm even willing to go into imprisonment. Living life backwards. This is what he wrote weeks ahead of now the fact that he's imprisoned with his wife somewhere else at an undisclosed location. He says this, he says, separate me from my wife and children. Ruin my reputation.

Destroy my faith, my life, I'm sorry, destroy my life and my family. The authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in the world can force me to renounce my faith. No one can make me change my life and no one except one can raise me from the dead. This is this man writing ahead and now of course he's in prison and I was this morning just thinking about what I was gonna say this in regards to this man and you know I remember a few months ago our brother, our elder Mike Davenport, on a Wednesday evening, he brought us to our attention this declaration.

Remember that? Those of you that were there, it was a Wednesday evening, and it was called a declaration for the sake of Christian faith in China, and he mentioned how 344 Chinese leaders and pastors had signed this declaration Saying that they will not back down seeing that in February the Chinese government made a declaration they're going to actually cause all sorts of tighter strictures on the churches. These men said, no, we will not bow down to these things. I said, I wonder where this Pastor Wang shows up on the list, if he's even on the list. So I just went online this morning looked up a declaration for the sake of Christian faith And guess who the very very first signatory is It's pastor Wang.

Well now it's come time that he's not only signing a declaration but he's in prison right now as we speak and and this is what we need to know that even though these brothers and Sisters, they're poverty stricken in every sense now. He's been stripped of his family He's likely being tortured for his faith. I want us to see where he's looking when you listen to what he wrote He's looking somewhere. He's looking to the end when he will stand Before his king and and the danger that we have today as I said at the beginning is we begin to just marvel at these people's faith But that's not the object and that's not my intention. That's not what I hope we end up doing today, but it's that we marvel at the object of their faith, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so by way of background to the churches of Revelation, If you remember when we when we kicked off our series the last time we looked at the Church of Ephesus and and there's seven churches that are being addressed in the book of Revelation and these represent really a Totality of all churches their physical real churches that existed But there are representation of all churches that will exist and have existed Really all throughout the course of human history and and a lot of their problems are symptomatic of the problems that we face Even up until this present day. They're not simply things that happened back then But the challenges they faced are very, very relevant to us today. And it was a very critical time in those early days of the Church, where the Church was spreading like wildfire all the way throughout the Roman Empire. But it wasn't without opposition and persecution. It wasn't without pagan influences coming into the Church, and all sorts of other things that were basically affecting the witness of the church.

There was no smooth riding or smooth sailing. Worldliness was a threat from every angle as well. And in the midst of this, The Lord Jesus Christ speaks to his last living apostle, John, who's now in his 90s, and he's doing hard time on the Isle of Patmos in a marble quarry, likely being forced to work. But he's not there for any other reason than for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ That's what he says. And so how does Christ address these challenges in the midst of all of these difficulties?

You know, he he gives what is most necessary and what you most need, what I most need, and that is a refreshed vision of who he is. Do you know that's your greatest need to be brought up daily with a renewed and refreshed, revived vision of Jesus Christ and how most of our problems and difficulties can be solved by looking unto Jesus. That's really what it is. And he causes him to apprehend himself as well as his promises. And what he does when he goes throughout each of these churches walking in the midst of these candlesticks is he's he's accurately diagnosing the true spiritual condition of all of these churches and what he finds is that five are found severely lacking one is basically said it's on life support time almost to close the doors But two are commended and are apparently healthy.

And that's what we're going to be looking at today. One of these churches is by the name of Smyrna. And so in Revelation chapter 2 verse 8, the Lord himself is saying these words. And John is dictating. And he says this, and to the angel of the church of Smyrna, write, these things says the first and the last, who is dead and has come to life.

And where we left off in Ephesus, Smyrna was about 35 miles north. You could either sail there or you could take the roads there And it was a beautiful city actually was only recently renamed Izmir in 1930 but was a glorious city back in those days It was actually nicknamed the ornament of Asia So that gives you a sense of just what level of opulence and reputation that it had. And everywhere you looked it was lovely. They were very proud of all the buildings and everything that they had, the commerce and the economic condition there. Very, very wealthy city.

About 200, 000 people lived there and and because of its its deep harbor it became this commercial center where people would come from all over the world and not only drop their goods and transact But they would come there for religious reasons as well It was also famous for the Olympian Games that were held there the Olympics were were held there and had the largest Theater in Asia so this wasn't just some small city, but it was this beautiful city But but there was a problem there was a challenge in that the architect of the city made a small oversight. When he designed the city as glorious as it was outwardly, they forgot to install drains. And so when it rained or when it flooded the streets would become an open sewer and the smell, you could just, you could hardly imagine it, was so unbearable in this place, even though it was beautiful in every sense. And a lot of the runoff would go out into the sea, into the Aegean Sea, and then of course, depending on what ways the winds blow, blow all the smell back into the city. And so it wasn't exactly the ideal place to live under every condition and today.

It's it's really one of the only cities That's actually a main city anymore, Ephesus. It's a tiny backwater city Pergamos which was the capital of Asia Minor at this time no longer much but Izmir has a population of about 4.3 million people. And there's a handful of churches, maybe between 10 to 20 churches, not totally fully known, but there's also 1, 782 mosques in this city. It's been totally overrun by Islam. And by way of religion, Homer, if you know anything about Greek mythology, he was the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

He was from this place. They actually have a statue dedicated to him as well as a temple that was built for him. And just as Artemis was the great goddess of the Ephesians, they had this this god by the name of Dionysus that was the the god, if you will, of the city. And he was also named Bacchus. So if any of you have ever heard the word Bacchanalian or something like that, something like, let's go to a Bacchanal.

Well, what is that? It gives you a sense of the type of God that this God was. He was the God of wine, the God of wild, drunken revelry. That's who he was. And he loosened the chains of all moral social restraint.

Anything goes was kind of the the philosophy. This life is my portion and pleasure must be sought at all costs. This is what was going on in this city of Smyrna at this time. And to cap it all off, Smyrna had a special relationship with Rome in AD 29. What happened was it beat out seven other cities to become basically the place where Emperor Tiberius would build a temple to himself.

And so they had this imperial cult that was there. And more than other cities, what would happen is that every single year all of the inhabitants and citizens of the city would have to go and offer incense and say Caesar is Lord and they would get a little certificate proving that they've actually done this. And so every citizen would be expected to have that. Well of course to not have a certificate was to beg for trouble and you could imagine the pressure that was against the Christians at that time. You didn't even have to mean it.

You could just say Caesar's Lord and put your little flick of incense in and you're gone. But it begs the question, well what about a Christian? How should a Christian conduct himself? Well in the midst of all of this, we find this little poor, rich church, Smyrna, trying to live. And Smyrna's not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament at all, but where we find the fact that it's just up the road from Ephesus In Acts chapter 19, speaking of Paul's teaching in the hall of Tyrannus, it said this, and this continued, meaning Paul's teaching, for two years so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

And what makes Smyrna unique is that while the other churches had kind of embarked and bought into some sort of survival strategy, what is that? Well, basically self-preservation in a climate of persecution. Let's just go along to get along. Let's just do what we can to attract as little attention to ourselves so that we can survive. Where the mother church, Ephesus, is rebuked for her cooling heart.

Not so Smyrna. And So despite being in the outward, the worst shape of all the other churches, by far, no other church is esteemed higher by her Lord than Smyrna. And so it says these words, these things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life. And it's not incidental that the Lord Jesus introduces himself like this. He doesn't just say, I, Christ.

But he picks the thing most fitting in an introduction, uttered to a church that's going through this severe time of trial and testing. He comforts them with truths about himself. And theologians call this the hypostatic union, where you take the two complete natures of Christ, and he puts them on display. And you can kind of see doctrine in living color doctrine is not meant to just be something on a shelf that we Check off and say we believe but he brings it right in and uses it to comfort the church. Well, what do I mean?

He says I'm the first and the last and Therefore God that's what he's letting them know He's quoting from Isaiah chapter 44 verse 6 where it says this, Thus says the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts. He says I am the first and the last besides me there is no other God. And so, on the one hand, he's saying that I am the author and the end of all things. I'm sovereign. I'm the universal and absolute king over all the earth.

And this is meant to be a comfort and a strength to these people who are there. But on the other hand, look what he says. I was dead and I came to life. This is just as comforting as well because what he's saying is this he's pointing to his humanity he's pointing to the fact that I know what it's like to go through intense trial persecution suffering I was dead remember that but I've also come to life and therefore I'm truly man." He's entering into this suffering. It's almost like you remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and they look in and they see this fourth man.

It's as though he's entering right into the suffering. That fourth man was Christ walking in the midst of them and what he wants him to know that he wants him to know that in your affliction in your affliction even now he says I am afflicted I'm not some sovereign that's set apart looking on or every so often checking in and getting a report but I'm entered right into the affliction of the Saints this is what he wants them to know right out of the gate it is not death to die in that because I live you also will live they can Death can no more hold you than it held me. Because you're putting all of your trust and your confidence in me. And it's so important because we live and we die as human beings. But he died and now he lives forevermore.

And because he lives, we will also live. What do you do with a group of people that actually believe this? What do you do to people that take hold of this and won't let it go? You know that's the question that the Chinese government is likely asking right now. What do we do with these people who won't bow the knee and do what we want them to do?

When he goes on in verse 9 he says, I know your works, your tribulation, and poverty, but you are rich. And what he's saying to them here when he says I know is is not just simply I'm aware of But again, there's this intimate knowledge. I know the spirit of All the things that are going on the motions of your heart I know the difficulty the level of it. I taste it. I feel it with you He says it's not just that you're suffering That I know but the intensity of it.

I'm acquainted with as well He says I know your works and It's interesting to consider that despite poverty, your religion can be excellent in the sight of the Lord. The Lord doesn't look to see what you have, and he can only use you if you've got a certain amount of money or a certain amount of resources available. But whatever you have, your religion can be excellent because you use that for the glory of God and he says I know your your tribulation and what this word means is it means pressing distress I know the straits the dire straits that you're in the burden that's crushing down upon you I'm aware of that. It's like it's like pressing of grapes to produce wine so that the juice comes out of it That's what it's Reflecting here this intensity of the persecution that these Saints were under and what was there? What was their crime?

What was their crime? The refusal just to say three words Caesar is Lord they would not Say that and so their persecution came from nonconformity to this world And what might be helpful for us to to consider is that is the word smirna? Actually means mer so when you think of Mer that's that's the equivalent smirna and mer literally just the same the same word And it received its name Smirna because that was its principal export. That's what it was basically best known for commercially speaking. And it was used, as you know, you can trace the history of myrrh all the way through.

We know that it was brought to the Lord in the time when he was born in Bethlehem. It was the thing that was he was wrapped in when Nicodemus and his friend were taking his body and wrapping it with the herbs. Myrrh was present. It's all the way throughout the, without the scriptures. It's really a picture of suffering in many ways.

And though you can buy it on Amazon today pretty cheaply, back in days in antiquity, many times in many places it was even more valuable than gold. That's how precious this was. But what's interesting, why am I talking about myrrh? What's so important? Or why might this be helpful for us?

Well, myrrh, the myrrh tree is just a tiny, shrubby, unattractive looking plant. Easily overlooked, it's full of thorns, nothing much to look at, not very pretty. But when people harvest myrrh, to get myrrh out of the myrrh tree, you have to go up to the myrrh tree and you have to actually wound the myrrh tree and cut into it and it bleeds out this myrrh over the course of time that you can then harvest. And this is kind of a picture of what the Lord seems to be doing to this church is afflicting them not for just some arbitrary reason but to produce and bring out of them something that's more precious than even gold. Something that when you think of the afflictions and difficulties in your life, they're not arbitrary just happening because God doesn't have anything better to do or he's out of control but those things that are sent to wound us are sent to produce in us this sweet sweet smelling aroma this this incense that that pleases God and he says this he says I know your poverty your destitute of riches is what it means you're he says I know your beggary I know that you have nothing at all.

It's not just poverty, but extreme poverty. Now, this poverty wasn't just because these people didn't know how to work. That's not why. It wasn't because of indigence or laziness that they were poor, but they were poor as a direct result of their tribulation The difficulties that they were going to because what happens when a person comes to Christ when a person comes to Christ? Your family notices Your friends notice your colleagues notice or at least they should There should be a difference in the things that you talk about, the passions of your heart, the things that you're most ready and most excited around.

All of these things begin to change and and the light begins to invade into the darkness and And what this did is it exposed these smirnoons? To suspicion by their neighbors and even the authorities who began to to crack down on them And there was a simple way out of this crushing poverty. There was a simple way out of it. All they needed to do was once per year offer incense unto Caesar and all would be well. What's the harm in a little compromise?

You know, that might have been the question, to just go along, to get along. You know, a man can't be too narrow. Be a little broader in your thinking. This is the way that so often we can even think today, in our present day here in America that by compromising and maybe taking off the sharp edges from the truth when we present the gospel that somehow we can win the one that we're we're ministering to we might we might even win over our oppressor if we would just take the sharp edges off the truth of the Word of God and Oftentimes what happens I know this in my own life and you might be acquainted with this is that above all so often We want to be regarded as as nice And we want to be regarded as respectable, conventional, you know, inoffensive. That's how we go about our lives so often.

But oftentimes by doing so we end up doing a disservice to our Lord and our Savior. Now I'm not talking about being arrogant and going out and just doing things for the sake of being martyred. That's not what the people in China are doing. I don't think that's what the people in Smyrna did, and I'm not advocating for that either. But there's a far greater danger, and that is compromising and going along simply to get along.

And Paul understood this. He wrote these words. He says, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Have you ever suffered even a terse glance for your faith in Christ? It might be worth considering because Paul says all that will live godly shall suffer persecution if you live for Christ Jesus.

Well, what does Christ see? I know your works, I know your tribulation, your poverty, but he says, but you are rich. This is what he says. He says, you've got treasures in heaven, you've got treasures right now in your current state because of your faith in me. You may not have much in the bank of this world, but you're loaded when it comes to the way that I regard you.

You possess the things that truly matter. You know, I couldn't help but thinking as I was going through this, what a thing it would be to be regarded by Jesus Christ as rich. Where he looks at Hope Baptist Church, or he looks at brothers so-and-so, or sisters so-and-so, and you may not be most prominent, or whatever the case might be, but the Lord looks down and he says that sister she's poor yes but she's rich that brother he's poor but the way I look at him I see him as possessing the things that are most important and the things he treasures most are the things that I treasure most as well and it's almost impossible to go through this little four verses regarding Smyrna and not compare with Laodicea another church that will come to maybe in the coming months where here they were a church loaded with resources but destitute of the things that really matter. And Christ actually goes to them, and in my own words, what he says, he says, I want you to purchase what Smyrna has in abundance. That's what he tells this rich church, all that you have, all you are is poor, miserable, blind, and naked.

Go to Smyrna, so to speak, and buy tribulation so that you can actually be improved upon. Do you see that tribulation and difficulty can actually help you? It does in fact help you draw closer to the Lord. And so like many of these people in Laodicea, they had fixed themselves upon having a heaven upon earth, which is a great danger, especially where we live today, to just look for heaven upon earth. They were rich but in their souls they were poverty-stricken.

They really didn't possess anything to be spoken of. And so where Christ designates Smyrna as the poor rich church, He designates Laodicea as the rich poor church. And so it asks the question, you know, how are men richest in God? And I think about this, all of these churches, they had faith. They all had faith at varying levels, but what happens a lot of times is that we have faith, but we don't fully apprehend what we have faith in.

Like we know we sing, but have you ever felt that where you sing the songs, but the words are so far ahead of what I actually believe or the way that I'm living where you open up the scriptures And you read what Paul says to die is gain you read something in history and you see these people that cling to Christ and in the midst of the greatest difficulty perhaps write the greatest hymns and it feels like we're looking over a fence into an experience well, it's because they apprehend something and What I want us to see is that you can have faith But a faith Your faith needs to apprehend more and more the beauty of the object of your faith, which is Jesus Christ. That's how we're to grow in faith and to add to our faith. So that we begin to treasure more Because what happens when we apprehend more of Christ is the things that we look to, the things of this world, they begin to grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. But when the things of this world are so precious to us, maybe more precious than Christ, it leaves us in an emaciated condition in a poverty stricken condition Christians.

Yes but in a poverty stricken condition and People are richest in Christ where they where they value him the most where they esteem the cross the most, where He is there all and all, as we often sing on Wednesdays. And Hebrews describes the saints of old in a similar manner in terms of riches, when the writer of Hebrews says, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered about in dens and in caves of the earth. They were clothed with with sheepskins and goatskins. They didn't have anything overlooked, poverty stricken.

But how does the Lord review them or look at them? Of whom the world was not worthy. It's an amazing consideration to see how God sees things and how we see things. When the Lord Jesus was sitting over by the treasury and everyone was coming in with their massive offerings, he says, you see that widow over there? See her?

The widow? Yeah, the widow. She's cast in more than they all have cast in. See the math, the way that God weighs things is different than the way that human beings weigh things. And so what we want to consider today is what is the kind of religion that God loves.

It's the religion that we see in Smyrna, but the religion that Jesus Christ hates is the religion of Laodicea. This lukewarmness, this passivity when it comes to the beauty and the things that that are of Christ. It's in many ways almost worse than atheism because it pretends to treasure the most valuable thing on earth while not really paying all that much heart service to it. And so unlike the messages to all the other churches, there's no but. I know your works, your tribulation, your poverty, but you are rich.

There's no but. I have this against you. Like all of the other churches, There's nothing like that. He says, I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. He gets right to the source of their trouble and the Lord knows the sources of our trouble.

And here was the challenge is that here they were living as Christians in a pagan culture, right? The pagans were on one side but on the other side you now have the Jews who were also oppressing these saints. It's almost like being between a rock and a hard place, between being between the army of Pharaoh and the Red Sea. Like, where do you go? And we saw this when we look at the book of John.

We've been in John and looking at John chapter 8, you see this virulent, violent atmosphere that's mounting because of the fact that the Jews simply will not acknowledge that Jesus Christ is who he says he is. Now the only religion in the entire Roman Empire that got a pass that didn't have to burn incense to Caesar were the Jews. But the Jews now mount this offensive against the church. And because of this the Lord Jesus says they say that they are Jews, but they're not truly Jews. You know, like when the Apostle Paul, when he's writing to the Romans, he says he is not a Jew who is one outwardly whose circumcision is that of the flesh, But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, whose circumcision is that of the heart.

And he goes on to talk about it's in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God. See what it means to be a true Jew in the sense when Paul ends the book to the Galatians, he says to the Israel of God. Well, these Jews that were sure by descendancy, by heritage Jews, were no longer part of the true vine. I think that's what the Lord is actually saying here. And they saw themselves especially attacked by Christianity because if Christianity is true, well what does that mean about their view of Moses or about their view of the temple or the sacrifices or the priesthood?

All of these things are fulfilled in Jesus Christ And so that would overthrow their religion and that sent them into a frenzy. It's the same thing that sends them into a frenzy in John chapter 8 and as you see it mounting in John chapter 9 and in chapter 11 when they want to actually kill Lazarus because he's been raised from the dead and people are believing in Christ because of him. Totally irrational and to their own destruction. And this is what they end up doing is speaking words of blasphemy and what is blasphemy? Words that are spoken against God.

Well the Lord Jesus has just said, I am God. I am the first and the last he's quoting from Isaiah 44 which says Aside from me there is no other God and they're saying no, you're not God. They're speaking blasphemy But I think you can you know, you can also in this sense speak blasphemy against the people of God because he associates with those who proclaim and profess his name and it says there that that I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews that these grievous slanderings and these revilings that they're bringing against the saints. This is what's happening. And this is something for us to consider as well that all churches, all people that live faithfully for the Lord and keep good consciousness, you must expect slanders and revilings.

It shouldn't be a strange thing to us when these things happen. In fact, you might actually marvel if you go through this entire Christian life without a cross word being said about you, without any revilings, without some sort of grievous slander spoken against you. Not because you're actually doing things that beckon slander, such as living hypocritically, but because you're simply living in a way that you want to please God the most. Well, the Lord says to them in verse 10, He says, do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Well the Lord, He looks ahead being God, He looks ahead, and He sees this gathering storm on the horizon.

And you could say, well hold on a second, wait a second, haven't they already been rendered poverty-stricken because of their faith? Are you saying that things are going to take a further turn? For the worse you know you might expect because of everything you're gone through I'm gonna just let up from you now and everything's gonna be smooth sailing from here on out to the end. You've proven yourself, now it's time to relax and enjoy. But that's not what happens here.

And oftentimes this is what happens for us, even as Christians, is that the Lord doesn't take away the burden but what he does is he makes us strong and Brave to go through the trial and the difficulty that we're going through He doesn't take it away. And why is this? I think there's two reasons I just want to highlight one is because the reason why they they would not back away why they're about to suffer certain things, they're about to go through difficulty, is they were unwilling to compromise. This is very important. They were saved.

You know when The Apostle Paul, he writes in 1st Corinthians, he talks about the fact of some of you were fornicators, idolaters, and you were adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, you were thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, even blasphemers, extortioners. These were the people that were saved out of Smyrna. You could say the exact same culture that existed in Corinth, just over the sea, was the same culture that existed in Smyrna. But Paul says this, and such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. And so these people weren't willing to back away, they knew from what they've been saved from and they weren't willing now to simply just go along to get along.

But just like the people in China, they knew what it's like to live in darkness, but now to see the light. And so you need to mark it down that wherever there is confrontation, wherever the light invades the darkness, there will be confrontation. It may be loving confrontation but it will be confrontation nonetheless because there's this collision that's taking place. There's a collision around what's true, truth claims. What is the source of morality?

What is morality? What is right? What is wrong? You know, all of this, when you preach the gospel, even in the public square, it's this awakening of conscience that happens. People get angry because they spent so much energy trying to suppress their conscience.

And so, these Smyrnans are being persecuted simply because they would not go along to get along. They wouldn't compromise. But there's also, I think, another reason, and it's also where does Christ get the most glory? And where does he display the power of true faith most effectively? Because what does true faith do?

True faith always points to the object held to and it displays the worth of the object. It doesn't just point to it, but when someone's willing to die for their faith you may not agree with them but you understand that they value something is this true it begs the question is this person crazy or are they seeing something that I'm not seeing And when someone's going through a difficulty whether it's someone in a prison cell or someone on a hospital bed, I Know that a few months ago when we had that funeral. I'm looking at our brother leading the funeral I'm asking myself that question. What's sustaining him as I'm looking on right now That's what I'm asking myself that question And unbelievers are asking that question. What is sustained?

How is he able to do what he's doing right now? Is he somehow just steeled himself or is he looking to something differently and more deeply than perhaps I'm actually seeing it. Well these weren't mindless zealots, were they? Just like our brothers and sisters in China aren't mindless zealots, they're zealots, their mothers and fathers, their sons and daughters, their employees, people that are just trying to live peaceable and quiet lives. Well, the Lord says to them, do not fear any of these things which you are about to suffer.

And I want to ask you that question today, what is it that you fear? This enslaving fear that oftentimes can come upon us because what is fear when it's an enslaving fear? It's the exact opposite of faith and I envision fear often like these wild horses just galloping, you know, foaming at the mouth, frothing. They're untethered. There's no stopping them.

That's what happens a lot of times when we allow fear to take over our minds. We go in all sorts of different directions. But what faith does is It almost builds a corral and the horses of fear run into the corral and they're no longer able to just run wild anymore And we may not ever able to be perfectly just subdue all of our fears but faith living true faith can subdue fears and corral them and control them because faith is something that's much more powerful than fear, again, when it's apprehended, when we fully understand it. We take all of our fears captive by the Word of God and we begin to be able to do the thing even though we're in the midst of fear just like that young lady in China she says yes I was afraid but guess what happened faith vanquished all of my fears and I'm going to meet this morning to worship the Lord and so persecution it's difficult isn't it it's difficult Tribulation is difficult when you're on a hospital bed and you're going through difficulty and you don't know what the end is. And a lot of times what happens is we can be so weakened by fear when we're going through difficulty.

Questions in our minds begin to arise. Is God really sovereign? Is this really working for my good? Two months into sitting in isolated confinement in a prison cell, you could ask, is my suffering noticed? Has God abandoned me?

Am I alone? Is it meaningless? All of these questions begin to assault the mind. Is there an end? Will it ever end?

All of these things happen and what God is doing is not punishing you But what he's doing is he's extracting the myrrh From the myrrh tree by wounding and getting the most valuable substance possible out of the actual object that he's bringing through this difficulty. And so he says this, you're going to be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days and you need to remember those riches. Remember what he just spoke about? Those riches? Well that's what the devil is going to try to rob from you.

Those very riches I just spoke about. He's going to try to steal them from you. Your faith. He's going to try to diminish it and crush it just like he did for Job. He's going to do for you.

And unlike today, where you go to prison, you get three square meals a day you you have lighting and all these things prison back then you were only in prison for one of two reasons one reason is you are awaiting trial the other reason you're awaiting persecution you're awaiting execution those are the only they had no appetite for long-term sentences, multiple life terms. That wasn't what they thought was punishment. It was one of the two. You're going to be tried so you can be killed, or you've just been come back from your trial and you're waiting to be killed, maybe in the next day or two. That's what it was back in those days.

And the only thing they needed to do is say those three words, Caesar is Lord and you're home free. You're able to go home. We will even welcome Jesus Christ into the pantheon of our gods. We'll give them a high place in the pantheon, but we need you to just go along to get along and all will be well, says the devil as he speaks to these people. And he talks to them about 10 days and and this is likely just a period of persecution not necessarily specific to 10 days but you know I think it'd be helpful just briefly to look at a man by the name of polycarp and many maybe many of you children have even heard of polycarp And here was a man who would have been in the Church of Smyrna at this time.

He was born in 69 AD, which is three to four years after the Apostle Paul was martyred in Rome. And he grew up in this church. And he would have probably read this letter, of course, you would think so, right? Well, fast forward now, 50 years from the time this letter is written, to 155 AD. And now, Polycarp is not just a boy in church, But Polycarp is the overseer of the Church of Smyrna.

And he was very well regarded, though little formal education. Didn't go to seminary or anything like that, but he was an excellent pastor, and he sat at the foot of the Apostle John. That's where he learned. And some of his friends were Ignatius of Antioch And he was the man who discipled Irenaeus And he was frequently called on to to settle disputes to even throughout the Roman Empire He traveled to Rome for example to turn people away from the heresy of of Marcionism which says that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. Well it came a time of the games I mentioned earlier where they had these games taking place every year the or every four years the Olympic Games and and there's this fevered cry people perhaps got bored and they cried out bring us polycarp well friends of polycarp whisked them out of the city he wasn't trying to be a martyr and he just went right outside the city they tortured a slave girl and found out where he was and these soldiers came they arrested him and he asked you know can I please have one hour just to pray?

He made them a meal. They would eat while he was in the back room, and he was praying for strength. And they took him. On the way as they took him, they tried to dissuade him. Just do what they tell you.

Just get along. But he goes and he appears before this proconsul. His name was Statius Quadratus and with all these onlookers this man wants to put on a show and so he says to Polycarp, swear, Curse Christ and I will set you free The polycarp looks him in the eyes as 80 and six years Have I served him and I have received only good at his hands? Can I then curse him my king and my Savior I? Will cast you to the beasts if you do not change your mind." Polycarp looked at him and said, Bring your wild beasts, hither, for change my mind from the better to the worse.

I will not. Do you despise the wild beasts? I will subdue your spirit by the flames." And very calmly Polycarp looked at him, he said, the flames which you menace endure but for a time and are soon extinguished, but there is a fire reserved for the wicked, Whereof you know not the fire of judgment to come and of punishment everlasting Well that set this man off and he sent his herald into the arena to announce it polycarp admitted to being a Christian and at this What happened is you got a mix of both Jews and heathens gathering together in this fevered pitch to say burn polycarp at the stake. Well, what they did, the Jews, as we're seeing even here, it was a Sabbath day. But it doesn't matter.

They went out, they broke their Sabbath laws and they went out and gathered sticks. It says they were foremost in gathering fire, gathering wood for the fire. They went to the baths, where he used to heat the baths and to the workshops, coming back with bundles of wood. And Polycarp, he removes his outer garments. He was 86, so he had trouble even taking off his sandals, you could imagine.

And they were gonna nail him to this post, this beam. You know, once the fire is lit, the first impulse is to flee, and He says, Leave me as I am, for he who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pyre unmoved, without the security you desire from nails. So he prayed aloud, the fire was lit, and his flesh was consumed. He died, but he died faithful. And that's where we come to verse 11.

It says, be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. Christ is saying you may lose your life, it's true, But you will not lose the crown of life the diadem This is not just a this is not a diadem like you put on a king or on a queen But this is kind of like the they call it a stuff on us Which is almost like a laurel wreath that was given to the the victor during in a contest again that would resonate with the people who live in a city famous for the Olympics. These are true riches that will not be separated from you. And you can imagine this picture almost when they heard this, that you'll be granted this wreath, this laurel wreath of just be faithful unto death just end as you're coming into the stadium and you've got this great cloud of witnesses cheering you on You can endure to the end the Saints that have gone before you You can endure to the end It's so encouraging sometimes to read of the accounts because it it puts steel in our spines as well if they were faithful as Simple flesh and blood the same God that sustained them can can he not sustain me also during my time of trial He says finally he was an ear to hear let him hear What the Spirit says to the churches.

This is a call to universal attention, not just to the Church of Smyrna. Christ wants us paying attention. He says, he who overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death. And this is some mysterious wording. The only place it really shows up it's peculiar to Revelation but it's not the concept of the second death is all the way throughout the scriptures this idea of the lake of fire it's that's what it's defined as a place of everlasting destruction of both the soul and the body.

And Smyrna, while you're poor now, you're weeping now, there is an end. Just keep running, keep running and you'll receive the crown of life. You're the one that possesses the true riches. You're the ones that are going to rejoice forever. You might be right now riddled with disease on your deathbed or afflicted by violence by your persecutors.

There might be terrible disappointment right around the corner some sort of affliction. You might be the one sitting at the deathbed of a dying dear loved one, but one thing I want you to know is that you're untouchable by the second death. It will not touch you. Well, just as natural light is just a shadow of the true light, the natural death is just a shadow of this second death where people who do not bow the knee to Jesus Christ will be tormented as it says day and night forever and ever. This idea of always dying but never dying.

Always in agony in this growing, gnawing pain but no relief. And this is why Spurgeon said that there is no end to its misery is the hell of hell. That there is no end to its misery. Well by conclusion, I just want to say a word to the young ones and maybe for those of you that are outside of Jesus Christ, perhaps some of you that are even careless or a little bit carefree, you know, what's for lunch is the dominant theme on your mind. I want you to know that if you do not have the second birth, you will suffer the second death.

And this death is not a recoverable death. I want you to consider the folly of the man or woman or the boy or girl who fears greatly the first death and yet has little regard for the second death. Remember that in Noah's day the ark was being built and people knew there was an ark but they were drowned. Why? Because they refused to get in to the ark.

And those of us that are trusting in Christ, Perhaps you've been drifting even and growing a little bit cold or in varying stages of of walking with the Lord. Well there's good news that he who is born twice will die only once. Great confidence and because he lives you will live and I just want to say this that that the faith that you have nurture that faith allow it to grow allow it to grow in its apprehension of the object of your faith the Lord Jesus Christ because that's what we're true riches are found don't be deceived into thinking that just having a little Christ well that'll get me through how far can I go to the edge and still be considered a Christian that should not be the theme but rather How can I best order my life to please God? That should be the dominant theme of your life. Jesus said, in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world. And so in Revelation chapter 7, later on John gets this vision, and I'll end here. He sees this number which no man can number of every nation, tribe, and tongue gathered before the throne and he doesn't know fully what's going on altogether. And So it says this, then one of the elders answered, saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes? And where did they come from?

And I, John, said to him, sir, you know. So he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. Listen to this, they shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore.

The sun shall not strike them nor any heat, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. It's not death to die is it when you have Jesus Christ as your Lord the Good Shepherd. So may God help us may he strengthen our faith May He guide us even through difficulty. I remember a year or two ago, Mr. Brown said that you're either in the midst of a trial, coming out of a trial, or about to go into one.

That's really the story of the Christian life and so may we be equipped and prepared to be faithful even if it calls for being faithful unto death. May God give us strength. Father, we come before you this morning. We so thank you for the testimony of these Saints in Smyrna and Lord, the testimony of men and women even up in this present day, Pastor Wang and the congregation there at Early Rain Covenant Church. Those that are imprisoned right now, Father, we bring them before you and ask the Lord that you would gird them with strength, that you would be with them just as you were with the church in Smyrna, entering into their suffering and into their dying and buoying them up and sustaining them through all difficulty.

And Lord, increase our faith, help us to see the object that these men and women, they see so clearly that Lord, we would be weaned from the things of this world and our attachments and our fears, oh Lord, that we would again treasure the thing most worthy, Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh God, we give you thanks. In Jesus name, amen.