The Persecuted Church - Revelation 2:8-11

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible.

Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. Well, we are continuing this week with our look at the letters to the seven churches. We began last week by looking at the church at Ephesus, one in which our Lord described as a church that had left its first love. So the next church that John writes to is one that is being persecuted for following Christ. And naturally, we tend to think of persecution as being a negative thing. You are not going to hear anyone that says they want persecution or they enjoy persecution. But in the book of Matthew Chapter five, our Lord says something that should cause us to think a little differently about it.

He said in Matthew Chapter five, verses 10 through 12. Blessed are you, those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So Jesus said it is a blessing to be persecuted.

And we know that Jesus is God and God cannot lie. So he's speaking truth and he's saying that it is a blessing because there is a great reward. What this lets us know is that I try to stress so often that our eternal state is far more important than our current state. But the thing about it is so many people are focused on the here and now they're clinging on to this side of life so tightly that they're not thinking about what's to come in the future for eternity. And we do have an eternal existence. And for those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, we're going to live eternally in his presence. And he's going to grant us rewards and he's going to reward those who are willing to go through persecution, who are willing to suffer for righteousness sake.

That is something that we need to keep in our minds. Reminds me of an account that I once heard of the underground church in China. And this was a church that would actually pray for persecution. I said earlier, I don't know of anyone that actually desires persecution, but there actually was this church that I don't personally know of any of them. But they said they will actually come together and pray for persecution to come to them.

And I think they were very well aware of this passage that I just shared with you. And the reason why they they long for persecution is similarly to the disciples in the book of Acts chapter 13, where it says they were feel the disciples were filled with joy by the Holy Spirit as a result of persecution. So that may that be the mind of us all today, that when we are persecuted for being a follower of Christ, that we will be filled with joy by the Holy Spirit to be counted worthy to suffer for being a follower of Jesus Christ. So today we're going to look at the fact that we should expect persecution as the church that we're going to look at this persecuted church. We're going to look at why are Christians persecuted?

And then we're going to look at what is the result of the persecution? So turn your Bibles with me to Revelation Chapter two. We're going to look today at verses eight through 11. Revelation Chapter two, verses eight through 11.

And the passage reads as follows into the angel of the church in Smyrna, right? 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 into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful unto 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. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this great word, Lord. We thank you for speaking to us through the divine holy scriptures. It is my prayer, Lord, that all things that are spoken, that it be nothing but sound doctrine. May you be honored and glorified in all things in your name. Jesus.

Amen. The persecuted church, the church at Smyrna, we see back in verse eight of our main text that. Our Lord says and to the angel of the church in Smyrna.

Right. So we talked before in Chapter one of the fact that there are angels that our Lord is addressing these letters to. But we don't believe that these are actual literal angels in terms of the heavenly angels. On the other hand, we think that these are probably pastors of the local church because it really doesn't make sense that Jesus would give a message to a human being to then convey to one of the heavenly hosts in an angel. So we think that the word angel is simply another way for saying a pastor, the pastor of the church in Smyrna.

And many believe that this is likely one of the disciples of John by the name of Polycarp, who was a bishop of Smyrna during this time period. And here in Smyrna, this church was in a greatly persecuted time of its existence. It was in a wealthy city that had little time for Christians. We are seeing today in our society that there is becoming more and more hostility towards Christians in our nation. There was a time in which even when people were doing wrong, even when people wanted to see and they still respected the authority of the Church of Christ, they still respected the word of God. But then over time, we saw as things changed and over the period of some decades, we saw that respect go more to well, we're just ignoring what the church says and we're just doing what we want to do. But now we've seen that go to a point of not just ignoring the church, but there is an hostility toward the church.

There is a disdain toward those who say marriage is only between one man and one woman. There is a hostility toward those who say that taking the life of an unborn child is murder and is seeing there's a hostility toward those who say we must follow the word of God. And so we see that growing in our society today. And we should not be surprised if it's going to continue to grow into outright persecution, meaning not just being canceled on Facebook or being canceled on YouTube or losing a job, but even to the point of physical torture, even to the point of imprisonment, even to the point of losing one's life for being a follower of Jesus Christ. And it is already happening in parts of the world today, and it has happened for thousands of years since the church began, since Jesus Christ was on the earth. People have been losing their lives and being persecuted for being a follower of Jesus Christ because many in the world do not have time for Christians. And so that was the climate, the condition of what this church in Smyrna existed in.

The city of Smyrna was founded about three centuries before Christ by Alexander the Great, and it was a city that was a commercial center of Asia Minor, which is present day Turkey, and it was located on a route from India and Persia to Rome. And as we look at the different dispensations of the church ages, we call this the persecuted church from 100 to 312 A.D. Notice that our Lord in this passage says he is the first and the last who was dead and came to life. This is pointing to Jesus Christ in saying that, yes, he died on the cross, but he rose again.

So he's declaring here that he is the first and the last, the one who was dead and has come to life. And we must trust in him because he is God and he has power over sin. He has power over death.

He has power over all things. So when co-workers don't have time for you because of your Christian faith, when family have little tolerance for you because of your Christianity, we must trust and look to our Lord, look to the cross, look at what Jesus died and put faith and trust in him. Because you may be one today that because of the fact that you are walking the straight and narrow path, that when it comes to family gatherings, they don't look forward to you coming around. They tend to clam up and they seem uneasy because they know what you stand for. And the thing about it is sometimes we wonder, we say, well, is it that the person just doesn't like me? But what it is is for those who love seeing, they sense the Holy Spirit that is in you and that Holy Spirit, the presence that is there, it could fix them is what is happening. They're being convicted of their wrongdoing and it makes them uncomfortable.

And so they look forward to you leaving so they can get on to to their getting drunk and into their swearing and filthy jokes and crude things that comes out of their mouth. They don't want you around because that Holy Spirit that is living in you is bringing conviction to them. But when that happens, we shouldn't feel bad.

Don't feel bad for ourselves. Yes, our heart goes out to those who are in the world because we want them to come to Christ. But the Bible says for us to rejoice because, as I said in the opening, Jesus said, great will be your reward. We serve a Lord who died, but he conquered death in the resurrection. And we can trust in his word when he says that blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness sake. And that is exactly what the people at the church in Smyrna were facing as those throughout the city were hostile toward the Christian faith. So Jesus goes on to say in verse nine, 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. So the works that they did at this church, our Lord is commending them for them. He said, I know your works, but then he goes on to talk about tribulation. This time period that we're talking about here today with this church at Smyrna is probably the greatest time of persecution to the church. It is the time in which Satan recognized that the church was having a huge impact on a sin falling world. And the thing is, the more that this church was persecuted, the more it overcame. And we will see as we go through these passages today, Christ had no words of condemnation for this church. Unlike the church at Ephesus, it had not left its first love. But Satan realized that persecution would not destroy the Church of Christ. You see, Smyrna was in an economic hub with a lot of commercial activity.

This was a bustling city with a lot of money flowing through it. And those that took a stand for Christ would lose their jobs or their businesses were boycotted. And this led to those who were rich going bankrupt. And so therefore, the people at the church in Smyrna had little assets.

And this was a time in which people were saying the people who were not in the church, they would say, why don't you avoid this persecution? All you have to do is just burn a little incense and just say Caesar is Lord. And you can keep your business. You can keep your job.

You can stay rich. They said, why don't you just do that? Even if you don't believe it, just do it just to appease them. But the people at Smyrna said, no, we are remaining true and faithful to our Lord. No matter what comes, we are not going to deny our Lord. We're not going to deny his word. We're not going to declare that Caesar is Lord because Caesar is not Lord. We're going to declare that the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob is the one and only true God. And whatever comes, let it come.

If only they would just say Caesar is Lord. Today, in our society, people are saying, why don't you just go along and say it's OK for a person to change their gender? Why don't you just say that a woman has a right to take the life of her unborn child? Why don't you just say that two people can marry one another, even if they are the same sex, even if you don't believe it?

Why don't you just say it? And therefore you can protect your security financially. You can protect your business.

You can make sure your family is taken care of. You can not be canceled on social media. Why don't you just say those things so that everyone will like you, so that nobody will be upset with you? But I'm calling on Christians today to be like those at the church at Smyrna to say, no, we're not going to deny our Lord. We're not going to deny the truth of his word.

Whatever may come, let it come. Because, he said, blessed are those who are persecuted, even if it means to the point of death for standing for righteousness. We are going to stand on the truth of God's word.

Because, he said, there is great reward that is coming and for those out there and there are many so-called churches today. That are compromising and they are going with the woke agenda. They are hanging Black Lives Matter signs outside of their churches and inside of the churches. An organization that says there should be no father in the home. An organization that is antithetical to the Christian faith, but yet they are virtue signaling by saying, OK, yeah, we're good with the Black Lives Matter organization.

We're good with going along with same sex marriage. Jesus is calling us to stand true to his word, just as the church at Smyrna did. Because the church of this time was characterized by material poverty, but spiritual power.

Because they stood for the truth, they lost their material wealth. But they had spiritual power, which is in contrast to many churches of our age, which are the opposite, which have material wealth, but spiritual weakness. It reminds me of a church I heard about in Texas in which there was a couple who moved to the area and they were looking for a church home. And so they scheduled to visit this church to have a tour. And this guy, as he was taking them through the church, he pointed to a particular section in the church and he said, this is the millionaire section. And the man stopped and he said, what?

What do you mean? And the guy once again, he said, this is the millionaire section. This is the section for all the people who give a certain amount of money, who are millionaires in the church. They have their own special privilege and they can go in and out of special entrance.

And so they were looked at as elevated above the others. But that is not the way the church and the body of Christ is to function, because anyone that knows Christ is rich in the things that money cannot buy. Anyone that knows Christ has true joy. Anyone that knows Christ has true peace, has true contentment.

Anyone that knows Christ has eternal security. If you look around today, if you don't believe me, just look at Hollywood where you have all these celebrities that are just filthy rich and look at how many of them have no joy. Look at how many of them are going through divorces or have gone through multiple marriages. Look at how many of them are overdosing on drugs. Look at how many of them are committing suicide and they're taking their lives because they don't have joy.

They don't have peace. They don't have contentment because they don't have Jesus Christ. And I wonder what the prosperity preachers of our age would say to this, because again, Jesus is saying that you may be poor in material, but you are rich because you have Jesus Christ.

It totally goes against the prosperity gospel. But if you have Christ, you are the richest person in the world. And I recall my late grandmother, who lived to be 98 years old, and she didn't have a lot materially. She didn't have a fancy car. She didn't have a fancy home. She didn't have much money. But my grandmother would always tell me, she said, I'm rich.

She would just sit back and smile and she said, I'm rich. And she said, because I have Jesus Christ. And that is that should be the mind of us all that we are rich if we have Christ. Because the things of this world cannot bring what Jesus Christ can bring. And so if you've never received him as Lord and Savior, if you were there today, if you're out there and you're searching for joy, you're searching for happiness, you're searching for peace. I'm going to tell you, the only way you can find it is going to be in our Lord Jesus Christ. And it may be in the sense that there will be a temporal time of where you may not have much, but you can have true joy. You can have true peace. You have true contentment in knowing that you are eternally secure if you would come to Jesus Christ.

But if you continue looking for the world to satisfy what you have craving inside of you, you're always going to come up empty because nothing can fulfill it. But our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice also, our Lord said in this passage, he says that he knows the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Now, this is this is a very strong words here that our Lord is conveying. But this church here was was afflicted by false teachers who claim to be Jews. And let me share with you what the definition of a Jew is in the New Testament, in the book of Romans Chapter two, verses 28 through 29. The text tells us there, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.

You see, folks, we have to realize that it is about the heart, not legalism. And what Jesus is conveying through these passages is that you may be an ethnic Jew. But what he's trying to get across is that only by accepting Jesus Christ makes you truly a Jew. Otherwise, if you reject him, you are of the synagogue of Satan. And so they were being infiltrated by those in the church at this time who were claiming to be Jews, but were not because they rejected Christ as the Messiah. And so Satan, if he could not destroy the church from without through persecution and he tried to do it from within by sending in false teachers. And he's doing the same thing in our time today.

Where we have. False teachers in pulpits every Sunday that are given messages that are not of God, that are leading people will astray, that are tickling itching ears. But any church that preaches a gospel other than the gospel of Jesus Christ is a false church. And two things that you often see almost guaranteed to see in a false church is the false doctrine of Christ and the mixing of law and grace. And practically all cults adhere to at least one of these. And our Lord says that you are truly a Jew.

If you have in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, he's truly the Messiah. And so there are those during this time period, this church at Smyrna that were battling with the so-called Jews who were claiming to be of the faith, but were not. And so Jesus is commending them. He says, I know what you are doing and I see how you are resisting those who claim to be of the faith and are not. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles, and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage, and the significance of Lesson Israel, just to name a few.

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's message. First, he said, Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. You will have tribulation 10 days.

Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. This is one of the passages that I think a lot of people who believe in a post-tribulation rapture point to. I think this passage influences their idea, their belief that we as the church go through the tribulation. But I need to remind you that again, this was a letter that was written to a literal church at the time in which John was alive on the earth and that church was in Smyrna. So Jesus is sending a letter by way of John to the people in Smyrna, this church at Smyrna to tell them you are going to have tribulation and he says you're going to have it 10 days. So this is not talking about the future tribulation that is yet to come. Although there are often parallels in the scriptures where there is a foreshadow of a prophecy of something that is yet to come.

But here again, we must remember that this is talking about a time that was about to truly take place and as we are here today in the year of 2023, this is something that took place approximately 2000 years ago. And so Jesus is telling them suffering is coming, but he says do not be afraid. Now, how often do we hear that in pulpits today? And again, this was coming from Jesus Christ that they were about to go through a period of persecution, a period of suffering. But today we have too many feel-good sermons from from pulpits today. I'm not saying that you can't ever give a sermon to help someone to feel good, to encourage a person.

Yeah, we need that. But our Lord is encouraging them through telling them, though, yes, suffering is coming. He said, but don't be afraid. He said, I'm going to bring you through it.

You're going to come out on the other side better. And so that's what we need today is for preachers to stand up and tell people suffering and persecution is coming. If you're going to stand for Jesus Christ, if you're going to follow him, you need to be warned that there is going to be a time of suffering. I knew a young woman who came to Jesus Christ. She got saved and she said shortly thereafter that it seemed as though after she came to Christ. She started suffering more in life than before she was a Christian and she was confused. I mean, her life was not great by any means before she came to Christ. And that's why she accepted him because things in her life were were spiraling in a bad direction. But she said, it feels like I'm suffering even more now. And so it had to be explained to her that there is going to be a temporary period of suffering because Satan is now coming at you when you were out there in the world. He didn't need to mess with you because he already had you. You were not part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

And so he just let you go on about your way. But the things that you suffer then was just the natural result of sin. You see, sin has natural consequences.

It doesn't even mean that God or Satan needs to intervene to bring anything upon you. Sin is just naturally going to bring about suffering. The Bible says there is joy in seeing for a season. There is pleasure in it for a moment. But after that moment of pleasure, then the consequence comes, then the suffering comes.

And so that's what she experienced. But but once you come to know Christ, once you receive him as Lord and Savior, especially those who have been out in the world for a number of years, then Satan really gets upset. That really makes him angry when he realizes he's lost the soul to Jesus Christ. And so he unleashes his his wrath and he comes at you.

And there is persecution that comes as a result of it. And so this young woman, she was she was suffering from Satan attacking her through other people and things in her life. But she had to be encouraged to know that you stay strong in the Lord. Keep your eye on the cross and keep your eye on eternity as to what is to come. And when she realized that, she understood that then she got that joy, then she got that peace, then she got that contentment even in the midst of her trials, even in the midst of a storm. And that is why the Bible says he will give you a peace that surpasses all understanding because Jesus Christ is Lord. He says, trust him and follow him even through your your storms that you are going in, you're going through.

And so that is what this church at Smyrna had to be reminded of. And so our Lord is saying that there is going to be a period of tribulation. Now, there's a reference there of 10 days and there are a lot of different theories out there as to what these 10 days represent.

I don't want us to get bogged down by that. Just simply know that it is a period of time in which our Lord is say there is going to be persecution. But I will share one theory, which is that it could mean 10 periods of persecution under Roman emperors. Remember that Rome was in power at the time and there were 10 emperors of Rome, beginning with Nero, who reigned from 54 to 68 AD. This was the time in which the Apostle Paul was beheaded in the time in which Peter was crucified. Then there was Domitian, who was from 81 to 96 AD.

This was the time in which the Apostle John was exiled when he wrote the Book of Revelation that we're going through now. Then there was Trajan, who reigned from 98 to 117 AD. This was a time in which Ignatius was burned at the stake and then Marcus Aurelius from 161 to 180 AD.

This was the time in which Justin Martyr was killed. And so I won't go through them all, but there were 10 emperors all the way down to the last one, which was Diocletian, who was from 284 to 305. And Diocletian was considered the worst of the Roman emperors. And so some believe that this is referring to these 10 emperors of Rome that would bring persecution to the church. And then there are some that think, well, Diocletian was the worst. And so some think the 10 days refers to the last 10 years of the period under Diocletian. Again, we don't know for sure. And I don't want to get bogged down with the exact meaning of that, other than the fact that our Lord says it's going to be a period of time in which you're going to suffer persecution.

But he says, be encouraged, do not give up, do not lose hope. Diocletian, again, the worst of all of these emperors, he led a violent attempt to destroy the Bible from the earth. That was how wicked this man was. He wanted to completely wipe out the existence of the Bible, the word of God from the entire earth.

And that just shows the hardness of his heart. And we see today there are people like that who they love their sin so much. And they hate God. Those who claim to be atheists, they know with inside of them that God does truly exist. The thing is, is that they don't want to obey him.

The thing is, they want to go their own way. They want to see him because they love their sin. And so they hate God and they want to try to pretend as though he doesn't exist. And so they put all this time and energy into claiming that he doesn't exist, even though they don't believe he exists. But yet they put all this time and energy into it.

And I know me personally, I'm not going to put a lot of time and energy into something that I know is not real. But the thing about it is they know deep down inside he is real. They know deep down inside that he is the supreme creator. They know deep down inside that they are going to have to answer to him. They know deep down inside that he is Lord and that they can't just do what they want.

They can't just follow sin. And so that hardness of heart in Diocletian, he held many public burnings of the scriptures. During this time of the second and third century, hundreds of Christians would be brought into amphitheaters in Rome, and they were fed to hungry lions as thousands of spectators cheered on. You know, it's unfathomable for us to think of that today. But just think about how today we go to sporting events, we go to football games and you look in there are tens of thousands of people and they're standing and cheering. Well, in the same manner in that time, same kind of a stadium, same large number of people. But rather than a football game going on, they're watching Christians being chased in and pulled limb by limb apart and eaten by lions. And the people were cheering them on because of their hatred, because of their disdain for Jesus Christ. Many Christians were crucified during this time. Some were covered in animal skin and tortured to death by wild dogs.

Some were covered with tar and set on fire to serve as torches. Polycarp, who we mentioned earlier, the bishop in Smyrna, was boiled in oil and burned at the stake in Smyrna in 156 A.D. And a church historian has estimated that five million Christians were executed during this time period. But the church reached its greatest numbers in proportion to world population during this time, which is an evidence of the supernatural nature of the power of our great Lord. It was a time in which many hand-copied manuscripts of the scripture were distributed throughout.

The scriptures have been translated into many languages during this time. And Christianity grew in the midst of persecution to the point that in 312 A.D., Emperor Constantine established it as the state church. And so the more this church was persecuted, the more it overcame. And this is a reminder to us that Satan cannot destroy the church because Jesus said, I will build the church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. But again, folks, being a follower of Christ does not mean we are exempt from suffering. It does not mean we are exempt from persecution. And that is a thing that I've talked about it in the past, but people get confused by because they think that, well, why should we not go through the tribulation? And I explained to them that Jesus says that the church is not appointed to his wrath.

So therefore, there is no purpose of us being here. We're not appointed to his wrath because by definition, the church has received Christ as Lord and Savior. His wrath is going to be poured out during the tribulation upon those who reject him as Lord and Savior. And then I hear people say, well, what about the people in China today? And throughout church history, people have have suffered. They've gone through persecution. So why do you say we don't have to go through the persecution? But you have to understand, we're not saying that the church does not go through persecution. We're saying that the church does not go through God's wrath. There is a difference because what the church at Smyrna faced, along with other churches in the world, even today, is not the wrath of God. God is not pouring out his wrath on his believers. They are facing the wrath of Satan. And there is again, we're not exempt from that.

We are blessed in this nation that we don't have to face it to to large degrees. But we shouldn't be surprised if it's if it will come in the future, if the Lord tarries, that we will reach that point that we can be killed for our faith. But again, that is not God's wrath. That is Satan's wrath. So when we talk about the seven year tribulation that is coming, the Bible makes it clear and we'll see this in the weeks to come as he's pouring out his judgments. Those are the wrath, wrathful judgments of God, and he does not pour that out on his believers. But these in Smyrna who were being persecuted, tortured, they were facing the wrath of Satan. And the thing about it is sometimes God does allow that to happen.

Oftentimes, we've seen numerous examples of it throughout history that he does allow it. And we may scratch our head sometime and wonder why. But we must remember what the Book of John, chapter 15, verse two says. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away in every branch that bears fruit. He prunes that it may bear more fruit.

So sometimes we go through times of suffering and we are being persecuted and it doesn't feel good. But it could be that God is allowing it to happen to have the pruning effect, because anyone that is familiar with plants and trees and how things grow, that when it is producing, if you go and prune it, you clip it, it will put out even more. We have these rose bushes in front of our house and I see my wife and she goes out and prunes it because these rose bushes, they are already producing beautiful blooms, beautiful flowers.

But when she goes out and prune it, then it comes out to even more. There is an abundance, there is an overflow. And that is what we see at the church at Smyrna. When they were persecuted, then the faith increased. Bibles were being copied and manuscripts were being distributed. Then the faith continued to grow.

They became supernaturally empowered to spread the gospel and it continued to grow and grow. And so I want to encourage you today that maybe you are going through a time of persecution. I faced it even within the church. But what happened is it caused me to step out into areas of ministry that I probably would have not previously thought about.

And so therefore I began to do even more for the Lord. And so when you're going through that period of pruning, no, it does not feel good. It is painful.

You don't want to go through it and you want it to end. But think about maybe God is encouraging you to stretch out more, to do more for him, to bear more fruit, because those that are faithful to Christ, even unto death, are going to rule and reign with him. And that is what our Lord is declaring in verse 10 when he says, I will give you the crown of life. So keep your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, even during times of persecution. Verse 11, he says 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. So Christ often use this statement in his parables, and it implies three types of individuals. Those without ears.

Those who are dull of hearing and then those who are willing to hear. So what I mean by that is I remember when I was playing basketball back in high school on my high school basketball team, a coach had called a particular play on defense that we were to run. And I ran the wrong play because I had made a mistake shortly there before there and then. And my mind was sort of on that mistake. I was replaying that in my head and I wasn't concentrating on what I needed to do. And that is why, folks, we need to remind ourselves, don't look back at the past. Don't wallow in spilled milk or as they say, water under the bridge. But we need to be focused on what is to come the future.

Don't worry about things that we can't go back and change. But my mind was on something that I had already done a mistake. And so I wasn't thinking about the right play. And so my coach, he yelled out to me that I was running the wrong play and he called a time out and he brought me over and we came together. And he said, you know, Brian, this is what we're running. Do you you know the play that we're running?

Make sure we're on the same page. And I even nodded to him that, yes, you know, I understand what play we're to run. So following the time out, we go back out on the court and lo and behold, I run the wrong play again. And so my coach is over there pulling his hair out and he yells and he pulls me over at the next dead ball. He's like, we just called a time out to talk about that.

What are you doing? And you see, the problem is I heard sounds, but I did not perceive what he was saying. I did not digest his words because my mind was somewhere else. My mind was distracted on something else that I had already done in the past that cannot be changed. And a lot of people today, their minds are distracted by things in the world.

Maybe it's something that you did before that you can't go back and change. Or maybe it's just things that are going on around you that you are being distracted by. But Jesus is saying, pay attention and listen to what I am saying. Hear the words that I am telling you because these things are true.

These words are true. And he says that the one who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. And if you're not familiar with this doctrine, you may be saying, well, what is what is this about the second death? I thought we were appointed to die once. Revelation chapter 20, verse 14 and 15 says, then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death. And anyone not found reading in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. As I always talk about, your eternal state is far more important than your current state. Every single person that has ever been born is going to exist forever. You're either going to exist in the presence of our Lord or you're going to exist in the lake of fire, separated from God.

And that is the second death. Even people that have died that never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Bible tells us they are going to be resurrected from the dead. Their bodies are going to get up from the grave, just like those who are saved are going to get up from the grave. But the saved are going to go into the eternal presence of our Lord. But those who rejected him and have died, along with those who are alive at his second coming, who reject him, they are going to stand before Jesus Christ at the great white throne judgment. And they're going to be judged and cast into the lake of fire to be eternally separated from God. But believers, those who are believers in Jesus Christ and those who are overcomers need not fear this death. And so the Lord has given us that assurance that no matter what you're going through, no matter what kind of suffering or persecution, hear the word of God and overcome by accepting God the Son. So as we wrap things up for this week, we should expect persecution when we become born again. Again, accepting Christ is not going to result in all of our earthly problems going away. There are people who will turn on you.

There are going to be family, friends, co-workers who are going to turn their backs on you. But Acts Chapter five, verse 40 through 41. This is the last passage I want to leave you with today. And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. May it be in our hearts to rejoice when we are going through suffering because of being a follower of Jesus Christ.

He says there's great reward waiting in eternity. And there are people, many who have died. These people that we were talking about today at the Church of Smyrna who suffered, they're all now gone to glory. They're with Jesus Christ, living in his presence, and they're all there living in the joy and peace and contentment of our Lord. And there's there's their spirit is there. But there's a day that's going to come when their bodies are going to be resurrected at the rapture of the church.

And they're going to receive a glorified body. And that is the existence that they will go on into for eternity. And so I look forward to us as believers being united with those brothers and sisters who who died in the faith and being joined with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So Jesus says, hear his words and do not be afraid.

You will overcome and you will rule and reign with him. And how, Lord, we look forward to that day when we will live in your presence, when we will come before you face to face, Lord, when we will take the crowns that you present to us and we will then place them back at your feet as a sign of worship, as a sign of adoration for what you have done for us. And how, Lord, we thank you for your great and powerful word. How, Lord, we thank you that even in the midst of persecution, even in the midst of trials, that, Lord, you are coming back again.

And so we look forward to that day. And, Lord, we just give you honor. We give you praise. We give you glory. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for our sins, for standing in our place, Lord, and taking on the punishment that we deserve, for paying a debt that we could not pay. So, Lord, we are forever grateful. And as we depart from this place on today, Lord, until we come together again, we remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, blessings over your great nation of Israel and unto you, the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our website, GodFirst.org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel, and seek first the kingdom of God.