Five hundred and thirty-seven, please, five, three,
seven, Saviour, lead me lest I stray, gently
lead me all the way, I am safe
when by Thy side, I would in Thy
love abide.
Five thirty-seven, please.
Book of the Revelation, at the third chapter,
and we're doing these first six verses this
evening.
Revelation, chapter three, first six verses, and you
do know that our Lord is walking in
the midst of the churches here.
Just let us get the scene properly set
again.
And as he walks in the midst of
these churches, these golden candlesticks, as they were
called, he takes note of everything that's going
on in each of these individual churches.
And then he writes these letters to them.
These are our Lord's letters to these churches.
And of course as we have gone through
these churches, we have taken note week after
week that they were actual, literal, local churches.
And that's something we must stress, that these
were churches in Asia.
And to each one of them he sent
a letter.
But we also took note that while each
church was actual and literal, yet in every
letter there is an individual promise given.
He speaks to individuals, for them, that overcome
it.
And then we also noted that it goes
further than that, because we are taught again
and again, He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches.
Because as the Spirit spoke through these letters
of our Lord to the churches, so the
Word comes down the years to us and
we're to hear.
And surely we're to hear to learn.
And then we notice that there's something deeper
than all that.
Not only are they actual and literal, not
only is there an individual promise, not only
does the Word come down the years to
us tonight, but we notice that in looking
at these seven churches, we notice that each
church brought before us a period of church
history.
And in getting the seven churches and the
seven periods together, we're getting the whole span
and scoop of church history from Pentecost until
Christ comes to the air for His service.
And that makes this book deep and interesting
and wonderful.
You see, we notice this, that the first
church mentioned was the church of Ephesus, and
we notice this, that this was a picture
of the period of the church of Christ
stepping out of Pentecost, filled with the Holy
Ghost in love with Christ.
And in the first hundred years of church
history, the church began to lose its first
love.
It began to be taken up with doctrines
and governments and teachings.
It began to be taken up with the
place rather than the person, with the message
more than the master.
And that certainly is the truth of the
first hundred years of church history.
And the second church we looked at was
the church of Smyrna.
I pointed out the word Smyrna comes from
the word myr, which is a rosin that's
gotten by crushing.
And in the next two hundred years of
church history, the church of Jesus Christ went
through a period of persecution and crushing.
Yes, from Nero right down to Diocletian.
There were period after period of suffering for
the church.
And I think that that was brought forth
in that church, that period of two hundred
years of suffering and persecution.
And that covers the first three hundred years
of church history, taking them both together.
And the third church we looked at was
the church of Pergamos.
And you remember I pointed out that the
word gamos was the old Greek word for
marriage.
And the word Pergamos actually means mixed marriage.
And for the next three hundred years, the
church, because of the influence of Constantine, the
church became united to the state in a
very, very wonderful way.
In fact, the state took over the church.
And that was one of the saddest days
of church history.
And the state has its finger in the
pie, and some churches even yet.
The established church is called the state church.
And so this old book, not only dealing
with actual churches and individual members, is showing
us these different feelings.
Last week we were at the church of
Pai Ataira.
And this takes us through nine hundred years
of church history, of the darkest period the
church ever passed through, when the Roman people
power came into real full strength.
And the Roman church took over.
And priests, clerks ruled.
And if you didn't bow to the doctrines
of Rome, oh, they burnt you at the
stake.
And that took us through that dreadful, horrible,
never-to-be-forgotten period, when the people
caught, really murdered and burned, countless, countless thousands
of the best men and women that ever
walked on shoe leather.
And so we're moving on to another church
tonight.
We're moving on to the church of Sardis.
And this word Sardis is a very interesting
one, because it comes, there's a Hebrew word
that is the word Sard.
And some of the old scholars believe that
Sardis was derived from this Hebrew word Sard,
and the Hebrew word Sard means remnant.
Now, if this word Sardis comes from a
word remnant, then this is very well placed.
Because you see, at the end of what
we call the dark ages of the church,
when Rome ruled with an iron rod, there
came Martin Luther, of course, and many more
of the reformers.
And now comes the period of a remnant,
coming out from darkness, and the reformation took
place.
And we get what is known as the
Protestant church.
Now, that's the period that we're covering this
evening, but we've got to take everything with
us.
We must take the literal message first and
foremost.
We must look out for the individual touches.
Then we shall get the historical, prophetical period.
And we're commencing at verse one.
And the Lord is speaking here, he's speaking
to John the Apostle on the Isle of
Patmos, and he's telling John, and on to
the angel of the church in Sardis right.
And again, I've got to point out that
the word angel doesn't mean one of these
white, shining, glorified angels in heaven.
Our Lord would never ask John to write
a letter to a shining angel.
It's an old Greek word that's there and
it means messenger.
There was someone in the church at Sardis
who was responsible for the spiritual condition of
the church, and the letter was to be
sent to him.
Because there were special messengers in each of
these churches.
There are seven angels and there are seven
churches.
God had a messenger in every church.
And so the Lord is commanding John to
write on to the angel of the church
in Sardis.
These things saith he that hath the seven
spirits of God on the seven stars.
You remember when we were away at the
first chapter that we had this phrase before,
the seven spirits of God.
And I showed to you that in an
old translation I have, it's translated the seven
fold Holy Spirit.
And I think that's the proper translation.
And it's very wonderful that it's brought back
here at this particular time.
Of course we know quite clearly that the
seven stars are the seven messengers.
Look at the last verse again of the
first chapter, verse twenty.
The mystery of the seven stars which thou
sawest in my lifetime, and the seven golden
candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels of the
seven churches, or the messengers of the seven
churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest
are the seven churches.
Now let's get this, that the signature on
this letter tonight is the one who hath
the seven fold Holy Spirit.
You see, it's the spirit self-sovereign of
the church that's writing.
Let's get the hold of that.
Although the church has come through a dark
and horrifying period.
When people of Rome was murdering and burning,
remember the Lord was still spirit-filled, and
remember his messengers were still in his hands.
The matter above took its role.
It's the spirit-filled sovereign.
It's the sovereign who controls the messengers of
the church that's talking.
And I think it's brought in in this
place in a very wonderful way.
And so it's the spirit-filled sovereign of
the church, the sovereign who controls the messengers
that's speaking to the church now.
And we begin with the same commencement that
we've had in each of the churches so
far.
I know thy works.
You know how very gentle our Lord is,
even when he's going to condemn us just
a little bit later, or when he has
something really worthy to say to us.
Yet he's so gentle, and he's so kind,
and he's so gracious, that he will give
us marks for whatever honour is due to
us.
He looks at the church at Sardis, this
period that covered the Protestant church coming out
under Luther and many other of the reformers.
And he says, I know thy works.
And then he said this to them, that
thou hast the name that thou livest, and
are dead.
You know, that's what the Lord is saying
to this church that came out in the
Reformation.
And I think that the Lord can still
say this to the Protestant church this evening.
Because, you know, we just sort of love
to butter around the Roman Catholic church.
And I know when it comes to doctrines,
he deserves it.
And I am never hesitant about doing it.
But, you know, we talk about the Protestant
church.
But don't think we just talk about the
Protestant church in Ulster.
We've got a great many church-goers in
this land.
Some belong to the Episcopal church.
Some belong to the Presbyterian.
Some belong to the Methodist.
Some belong to the Baptist.
Some belong to the Brethren.
And some belong to all the other so
-called Protestant churches.
But remember, the great majority of church-going
Protestants in Ulster are as dead as Esther.
Oh, let's face it now.
The churches are stuffed full of them.
Let's just face it.
We've got to be very careful here.
I think the Lord could look down to
say, Thou hast the name that thou livest
and art dead.
Let's try to gather just now what the
Reformation actually meant.
When Luther and Schwingo and many other of
the Reformers that I can name, that doesn't
matter as far as names are concerned, just
what they did at that remarkable period when
the remnants stepped out.
You see, the first thing that they established
was the absolute authority of the Word of
God.
That was one of the things that the
Reformation did.
You see, the Roman Catholic Church had been
teaching and still teaches that you do take
the Word of God, but you must add
to it all the dictates and commands of
the church and that they are as important
as the book.
And we don't believe that.
We believe tonight in this place, in the
absolute authority of the Word of God, without
any poopish nonsense being added.
We just believe in the authority of the
Word of God.
And you know the second thing that the
Reformation did was this.
They brought again to the forefront not only
the absolute authority of the Word of God,
but they began preaching again the total deep
cavity of man.
I think that sometimes we forget, you know,
when the little baby comes into the home
and you see the little one, just about
22 or 24 inches long, dimpled in cheeks,
lovely we see, I think we forget he's
a sinner.
One of our girls, who's here tonight, when
she had her first little baby I wasn't
so well.
Then she was out in a week or
two and I could hear her coming into
the manse one day and I heard her
coming up the stairs and she had this
re-fellow first and she was as proud
of him, why wouldn't she be?
And her eyes were shining, she was a
model now.
And she put him in the bed beside
me.
And she smiled and said, isn't he lovely?
I said, he's a sinner.
She said, he's not a sinner.
I said, he is.
She said, he's not.
He is.
She said, he hasn't done anything, he hasn't
said anything.
I said, I can tell you this, he
hasn't done anything, he hasn't said anything, he
hasn't thought anything.
He is not a sinner by practice.
Oh no, he's a sinner by nature.
There's something inside that re-fellow of yours.
It's an old nature, it's called sin.
And you won't need to teach them to
tell lies or say bad words, he'll look
after that himself.
She was beginning to see things.
She said, by nature, we are children of
God, even as old.
And you'll find that that old nature grows
up in the lads and lasses.
And the further they get on, the more
trouble you have with them.
And some of the young ones at fourteen
and fifteen start bruising.
There's something inside that's all wrong.
And I'll tell you this, the moment you
establish total depravity, you know that unless God
gives them new birth from heaven, there'll never
be anything.
And the Reformation established the absolute authority of
the Word of God and the total depravity
of every being on the face of the
earth.
And I'll tell you the third thing that
the Reformation established, the all-sufficiency of the
cross.
Establish that too.
You know, this is something that has puzzled
the Roman church and the Roman bishops all
their life.
When Christ cried, finished, God was finished.
The sacrifice for sins, forever.
Once, forever.
The papal mass is the greatest diabolical thing
on the face of God's earth.
Jesus Christ doesn't die every Sunday morning.
And the man who thinks he can make
the Savior out of a whiff of and
then put him to death on a slab,
he's deluding the people.
The Reformation established the absolute authority of the
Word of God, the total depravity of sinners,
and the all-sufficiency of the cross.
And of course the great cry of the
Reformation was, justification by faith alone!
And that's what Luther wrote on the side
of the Bible.
He wrote of Romans 5, Therefore be justified
by faith.
And he wrote the word alone.
By faith alone.
You don't need money.
You don't need candles.
You don't need purgatory.
By faith alone!
That's why we stand this evening.
That's what the Reformation brought.
Now, let's trust the Protestant churches now.
Let's trust them.
You know, I had somebody who came to
me once.
He said to me, you know, sometimes you
tear some of these men in these churches
apart as much as you tear the Roman
priests.
I said, I'm determined to do so.
He said, I don't think this is right
of you to do this.
I said, now if I know you rightly,
you're a Methodist.
And so he was.
I said, let me talk to you about
supper for a minute or two.
And all supper at that time, and I'm
not putting a tooth and saying all supper.
I'd love to put a magic of us
in there for you, but I'm not allowed
up in there.
All supper was the precedence of the Methodist
church at that time.
And I don't need to go back down
the years of its horrible history.
I only need to go back to reaching
Don and the Mormons there two weeks ago.
And he denied bluntly all the miracles of
Christ.
And I, if you were listening, you must
have heard.
When he talked about Christ walking on the
water, he stopped.
He said he never walked on the water.
He was only paddling on the edge of
the shore.
Well, when Peter stepped overboard and was drowning,
I wonder how he got drowned on the
edge of the shore.
And I'll tell you this, if you go
to John 21, you'll find that Peter could
swim because he got into the water and
swam ashore.
And you're not telling me that a fellow
that could swim gets excited when he falls
into the edge of the shore, do you?
I'll tell you what supper is doing.
He's doing away with the authority of the
Word of God.
Who calls himself a Protestant, he's a dead
one.
And some of you stick in it, don't
you?
I don't know what you stick in it
for.
I'll tell you what we're going to talk
about on Sunday morning if you come along.
Touch not the unclean.
And the man that tears that book up
and denies the deity of my Lord and
pooh-poohs the miracle, that's unclean.
And the slower you get away from it,
the better.
Of course you know they're denying rights left
and center now.
The cultural depravity of man!
I'll shove it up that peculiar little person.
I'll tell you this is enough.
If I meet you, you're a child of
God.
You're a child of wrath if you're not
saved.
So the whole understanding is darkened.
Paul talks about them being dead.
He says, you have he quickened who were
dead.
Insane.
Dominated by satan.
Held captive by the devil, it is well.
Defiled by flesh.
Without Christ, without God, without hope.
Desolate is the world.
Socially depraved is the world.
Of course you know they're pooh-poohing the
cross just now.
Old Weatherhead.
He's another Methodist.
He wrote a book not so long ago.
And he would scare you with this sort
of writing.
He said that John the Baptist's father, Zacharias,
shut the Virgin Mary up in the temple
and kept her close in there, a prisoner,
until he made her pregnant.
And it was from that that the Christ
of God was born.
That's blasphemy, you know.
That's blasphemy.
Friends, I tell you that this is doing
away with the atonement of Christ.
I said this to one of these old
modernists.
Well, this is, I don't see how this
does away with the atonement.
I'll tell you though.
I said that if Mary had the child
Christ to Zacharias the priest, then she's a
bad woman.
Because she said the Holy Ghost came upon
her.
And I'll tell you what's more.
If she had this child to Zacharias and
hid the Father's name, then the child is
a bastard.
That's English language.
Don't forget the word is in the dictionary.
And I'll tell you this.
If Mary is a bad woman and the
child is a bastard, then the cross is
a farce.
How could a sinful child from a sinful
woman by a sinful man be my Savior?
Tell me.
These are Protestants, are they not?
It's the Protestant crowd you have.
I'll tell you, the Lord would come round
and talk to them.
And the Lord would say, Thou hast the
name that thou livest.
Are they?
We've got a great lot of loyal Protestants,
you know, and I get into trouble for
this.
And they come loyally once a year to
the church, and they're going to get two
hundred dollars.
I'm not on for this book.
I wouldn't mind if it was even super
preachy.
You don't tell me that's Protestantism because I
don't believe that.
I think the Lord would say this again.
Thou hast the name that thou livest, and
thou art dead.
That's what I think.
You see, we get a lot of talk
about the Protestants of us, sir.
See, on one hand, on this platform, I've
got to miss the poopish doctrines of Rome,
and I shall do so.
But on the other hand, I've got to
be fair and say we've got a great
boatload of dead Protestants in this land of
ours who don't care two hoots about the
authority of God's Word, nor the depravity of
man, nor the all-sufficiency of Christ, nor
justification by faith never enters into it.
You see, we get a lot of talk
in this country of ours, if we only
take the Protestants of us, sir.
We get a lot of talk about politics.
Now, I know quite well, and I'm quite
prepared to admit this, there is a place
in the state for politicians.
And when it comes round to the time
for voting, I shall go and vote, because
I think that we need to be representative
in Parliament before the government of the day,
that our voice will be heard.
And there's a place for politicians, all right.
I'm not saying anything like that.
We get a lot of talk about the
border.
And, you know, sometimes there are hooks who
talk, they try to scare us.
And they say, if this border goes, and
Rome takes over this land, then we'll be
back into the dark ages.
Well, I can tell you this, if we
get a lot of supers and weatherheads and
a good lot more of these modernists and
ecumenicalists, we might be.
Because these are the men that's letting you
down.
But I'll say this, while the Church of
Jesus Christ believes in the absolute authority of
God's words, believes in the all-sufficiency of
the cross, believes in justification by faith, the
border never goes.
You get that?
Because that's exactly what I believe.
I believe the men that will hold this
country more than anybody else are the men
who are true to God.
And they won't do it by guns either.
No.
I think it's time that we saw the
enemy.
Oh, I know we've got a lot of
bad boys who are bombing and shooting and
killing and murdering.
But I think the men that have let
this governance of ours down are the men
who stand in pulpits tearing up the Bible.
These are the men.
And some of you, I dare you, you
wouldn't cry yourself up, but stand by an
old fellow that would tear this book up
and spit in the face of Christ who
said in one of his books that our
Lord fluttered, fluttered with Mary and Martha all
the days of his life.
I dare him.
If you're stuck, I'll not get at you.
I think the Lord would come and speak
tonight, wouldn't he?
I'll tell you when the Lord starts speaking,
you have to take notice.
Because he speaks in a way that we
should be spoken to.
And he went on with this.
It's a sad indictment, isn't it?
And then we get the saddest encouragement here.
He says, be watchful and strengthen the things
which remain that are ready to die.
You know, it's time that we woke up
when he says, be watchful.
Actually, one of the translations is awake.
And we need to be awakened.
We need preaching like this to awaken us.
That we might establish the things that are
ready to die.
And I don't think there's any way near
dying in Millstone.
Have a look around this class tonight.
See all the young fellows and all the
young girls with Bibles in their hands.
See all the old folks.
Here we are in a bombed town.
And you had to walk it.
I don't wonder who you get a lift.
You come with the old folks and all.
Don't tell me old folks come under those
cars.
Never mind you enjoy it while it's there.
But see this class tonight.
And I can tell you there's a need
for this word yet.
The only attraction in this class is this
book.
It is certainly not me.
It is the book.
And while this goes on, God will look
after us.
But it's time that we saw the real
enemy.
That we are woke to the facts.
That we establish the things that are ready
to die.
He says, For I have not found thy
works perfect before God.
You see this is what happened to this
remnant who came out on the Luther at
the great reformation time.
You know for a while they were all
justification by faith.
They were sort of red hot evangelists.
Ah, but it began to die down.
And you can see where we are today.
Thousands of so-called Protestants.
You know sometimes when a fellow's going for
a job they ask him, What's your religion?
He's a Protestant.
He hasn't been in church since he was
a baby.
He calls himself a Protestant.
Let me tell you that Protestants stood up
for the absolute property of God's works.
They stood up for the all-sufficiency of
the cross.
They stood up for justification by faith.
Some of these people wouldn't know what I'm
talking about.
They're far darker than Rome.
I would have to say this for the
Roman church today.
They're creeping back to the book.
They would like to know more about it.
Not so long ago there's a monastery out
there towards Newark.
The head man, whoever he is, priest or
whatever you call him.
He came to me and he said, Would
you lend me your tips?
We priests want to sit round the word
of God.
Certainly I lent him the tips.
I'd buy him a tape recorder even.
And for days and days they sit and
listen to these messages.
Are they getting back to the book while
we're getting away from it?
Sometimes I think that if revival breaks out
again it might break out in the Roman
church.
It did it before, you know, with Luther.
And it's not impossible for God to do
it again.
God would have to say, I have not
found thy works perfect before me.
Vote me.
He said, Remember therefore how thou hast received
and heard.
Why, we should always remember the glorious gospel
we received and heard and hold fast to
it.
And repent if we're only becoming a dead
church.
If therefore thou shalt not watch I will
come on thee as a thief and thou
shalt not know what hour I will come
unto thee.
You know, I believe that in the great
many Protestant churches tonight there are hundreds, there
are thousands of men and women who are
dedicated to the church who don't know Christ
who are all dead, empty, formal, lifeless religionists
and if Christ comes they'll be caught out.
There'll be as many of them left as
will carry on the business.
What an indulgent on the Protestant church.
And then the Lord went on to say
this Thou hast a few names even in
fathers which have not defiled their garments and
they shall walk with me in white for
their worth.
You see, I think we've got to see
this looking over the whole spectrum of the
complete Protestant church take our own land.
Bless God there are folks in the Episcopal
church who are truly saved.
I don't know how they stick there but
they're saved.
And there's no doubt at all that there
are Presbyterians saved.
And there's no doubt at all there are
Methodists saved.
I know them.
I think we have to look the way
the Lord looked.
But you know when you gather them up
a half dozen fear in there there's a
few.
He said there's a few.
And there's still a few that love his
works.
There's still a few that say that the
cross covers it all.
There's still a few that know that justification
comes by faith without the deeds of the
Lord.
There's still a few who pray.
There's still a few who give.
There's still a few who is true to
the Reformation faith.
Still a few.
You numbered with them.
I numbered with them.
He said they're worthy.
I want you to get the hold of
this.
After this sad indictment and this saddest encouragement
and the Savior's acknowledgement here we come to
something that's very important.
Now we're coming to the individual part of
the thing.
You can see that.
Verse 5.
But he's not talking to the whole church
now.
He's saying he that overcometh.
He that overcometh this deadness that has come
into Protestantism.
He that's getting out from all this and
touching not the unclean thing.
He that overcometh the same shall be clothed
in white raiment and I will not blot
out his name out of the book of
life.
That's a tremendous statement.
I will not blot out his name out
of the book of life.
This puzzles the young folks sometimes and I
know it puzzles some of the old folks.
Are there names blotted out of the book
of life?
Yes, there are names blotted out of the
book of life.
Isn't that what he's saying?
This puzzles young people.
Now let me take the time to do
this properly.
That's why I rushed that a little bit.
You know from the world began right away
from Adam there's one thing absolutely sure and
it's this.
There are books in heaven.
Literal books in heaven.
Don't make any mistakes about it.
And there are angels detailed out to look
after the writing and the blotting out that's
to go on in these books.
And you have a right to ask me
as the teacher of this class how do
I know that there were books right from
the beginning.
Well I'll tell you how I know.
Let's have a look through this book.
We'll go way back to Exodus.
Book of Exodus.
And we're at chapter 32.
Now if you know Exodus very well you
know this is the chapter where Moses was
away up the mount for a long time.
And when he came back the people of
God were dancing around the golden calf.
You remember that.
Verse 31.
We're at Exodus 32 verse 31.
And Moses returned unto the Lord and said
all these people have sinned a great sin
and have made them gods of gold.
Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin
and this is the only place we have
this dash because he must have thought it
there a minute or two.
Maybe he could carefully go on.
He said yet now if thou wilt forgive
their sin and if not blot me I
pray thee out of thy book which thou
hast written.
So at least you can see that Moses
knew all about it.
Moses knew that his name was in a
book written in heaven.
And he so loved these people that if
they were going to perish then he was
prepared to perish with them.
And that's the true love of a leader.
It is not Moses' courage or love or
grace that we are concerned with.
We are concerned with the book that was
in heaven and his name was in it.
And Moses knew that God could blot his
name out.
Now let's follow this.
We'll go into the Psalms now.
Into the book of Psalms.
We're at Psalm 69.
Book of Psalms, Psalm 69.
And this is the psalm that Peter quoted
after Judas had gone and hanged himself.
Peter quoted this psalm after the killing of
Judas.
Verse 25 says, Let their habitation be desolate
and let none dwell in their tents.
And Peter quoted it like this.
Let his habitation be desolate and let none
dwell in his household.
For they persecute him whom thou hast written.
And they come to the grief of those
whom thou hast wounded.
Add iniquity unto their iniquity and let them
not come into thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book
of the living and not be written with
the righteous.
Now I think you can see that the
psalmist knew not only that there was a
book in heaven but that there were books
in heaven.
You see he talks on the one hand
let them be blotted out of the book
of the living and not written with the
righteous because there's a blotting out that is
going on and there's a writing in that
is going on.
So that the psalmist knew about these books
in heaven.
Now let's go on over to the book
of the Revelation and we're away at the
last chapter of the book of the Revelation
but one.
We're at the chapter 20.
And then we'll go to the last chapter.
Chapter 20 is this wonderful revelation that John
got about the great white throne.
That's great judgement warning.
And verse 12 says And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God.
What a moment it will be.
And the books were opened.
And it says in the last verse, verse
15 Whosoever was not found written in the
book of life.
If the name wasn't there.
It must have been blotted out you see
for some reason.
But if it's not there then they'll be
cast into the lake of fire and this
is something that we should be absolutely clear
about.
On that great judgement warning when the books
are opened if your name is not found
written in the book of life you'll be
damned for all eternity.
Doesn't make a matter where you're about to
summon.
You got that very clear now.
That if your name is not found written
in the book of life you'll be damned.
I think God makes that clear.
Whosoever.
It is the same as John 3, 16.
Whosoever was not found written.
Now I want you to look at the
wording of it.
Whosoever was not found written in the book
of life.
That's the one the Lord was talking about
over there in John 3, in Revelation 3.
I will not blot their names out of
the book of life.
Now chapter 21 of the book of the
Revelation it's the great chapter where we see
our eternal dwelling place, the new Jerusalem.
You know it'll be a new planet.
It'll be coming down from God out of
heaven.
You know this space that's around us is
a tremendous thing.
250,000 miles from here to the moon.
And you know we say that's tremendous and
you know it's really nothing.
Because it's 93 million miles from here to
the sun.
And if you go out towards the planets
in the other direction as we say and
it's hard to get directions in space there
are millions and millions and billions and trillions
of miles that we just can't estimate it
at all.
Space is almost like eternity.
And God is going to let a new
planet down into space.
It's our eternal home.
And it gives all the details.
We have a gentleman in the meeting who
is a mathematician.
When I have any trouble with figures and
counting I just go to him.
I can't do the sums.
And I took the dimensions of this city
and I took them into his office and
I said I want you to count that
up for me.
I want you to count it in miles.
And I want you to count the miles
of this planet taking earth and water.
There's more water than earth as you know.
And I want you to tell me the
difference between the two of them.
Which one's the biggest?
And it took him almost all day to
work it out.
It's a tremendous thing.
And when he had worked it out the
new Jerusalem is 15 times bigger than this
planet, water and land.
So we're going to a pretty good home.
Now it gives all the dimensions and foundations
and constellations.
There'll be no death there.
Praise the Lord.
No shooting at night.
There'll be no fears.
No sorrow.
What a place.
And when it gives all the dimensions and
foundations and illuminations and constellations then it gives
the congregation.
See the last verse.
Verse 27.
And there shall in no wise enter into
it that anything that defileth neither whatsoever looketh
abomination or maketh a lie but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life.
And you get the hold of that you
young people.
There's all the difference in the world between
the book of life and the Lamb's book
of life.
There's two books now.
You see the book of life was kept
right from the very beginning, Moses knew about
it.
And it means this.
At the moment you're born even you only
breathe for a short time.
You only live for a day or two
or a month or two.
Your name is put in the book of
life because you have a connection with life.
We keep a register like this in our
country.
The nurses who are midwives here.
We've got to register all the deaths.
And of course we've got to register all
the deaths.
You see the moment that you had the
connection with life your name was put into
the book of life.
Of course you only have the connection with
life to prepare for eternity.
I hope you know that.
You're not just down here only for making
money and fooling around.
I hope you know that.
The little span of life that you have
is just a short one.
It's like the shuffle of a weaver's shuffle.
Do you ever see it go across the
room?
Well that's just like life.
And you get that little short span that
you'll prepare for eternity.
And God will come round and talk to
you.
And the Holy Ghost will strive with you.
And the light of the gospel will come
to you.
And there may come a time when God
will talk to you for the last time.
And if you harden your heart and turn
your back and leave Christ for the last
time God will block your name out of
the book of life.
You're having no more connections with life.
Everything for all eternity from that moment onward
is going to be death.
Spiritual death, physical death, eternal death.
It will be always death.
You'll have no more connections with life.
And he was warning some of these old
dead brothers and sisters if there's not a
change I'll block your name out.
But the man that were worthy said I
will not block any name out of the
book.
You're only worthy when you accept the Savior.
I hope you know that.
You see, the book of life and the
Lamb's book of life are two different things.
You see, the day that I was born
in the little back street house my name
was put in the book of life.
And then there came a day when, bless
God, I was born again.
And it wasn't the connection with life I
had then, it was the connection with the
Lamb.
I was born because I knew the Lamb
of God had taken my place and died
my death.
And I can remember the moment tremblingly that
I put the arms of my teeth around
Him and He was mine and I was
justified.
And my name was put in the Lamb's
book of life.
Because the day that I had a connection
with life my name was put in the
book of life.
And the day that I had a connection
with the Lamb my name was put in
the Lamb's book of life.
And every name in the book of life
that refuses Christ for the last time reams
up.
That only leaves the same names that will
be in the Lamb's book of life.
Because if you go up to one's house
who don't accept Christ and leave the others
you're going to have a perfect oddity return.
They'll parrot you now.
God will say, you had a connection with
life?
And on the 22nd of November 1932 half
past five in the evening you accepted my
son?
Your name is in the Lamb's book of
life.
But when they open that book on the
judgment morning and your name is not there
if it's not in the book of life
it won't be in the Lamb's book of
life.
And whosoever's name was not found written was
cast in the lake of fire.
Don't you ever think for a moment that
if you get your name in the Lamb's
book of life that you'll be lost again.
Not on your life you won't.
How could a fellow be lost again when
he's in Christ?
You see, if any man be in Christ
he's a new creature.
You see, in Adam all die.
In Christ all shall be made alive.
I was arguing once with some of these
old professors and I said this to one
of them who tried to argue that they
could be lost again.
I said, was I condemned in Adam?
He says, you were.
He says, do you know the wording of
it, professor?
It says, by one man's disobedience by one
man's disobedience sin entered into the world and
death by sin and death passed upon all
men for all sin.
I said, I was condemned in Adam, was
I?
Yes, you were.
I said, I was condemned because I didn't
sin, is that right?
Yes.
He says, you know where I am now?
I'm in Christ now.
Do you think Christ will sin?
You know God has done it wonderful.
He condemned me in Adam.
He justifies me in Christ.
And when Christ fails, I'm lost.
He never fails.
He cannot fail.
For he is God.
Whereas now this evening in Adam condemned, in
danger or in Christ.
You know God could speak to you for
the last time in this Bible class.
And you could sit looking at me and
you know you should be saved.
You know you should be saved weeks ago.
And you can rise slowly and go out
with a crowd and God will blot your
name out tonight and you're damned.
If you'd like to come round and have
a chat with me you can get saved
and there'll be a new name written down
in glory in the Lamb's Book of Life
tonight.
Will you come?
Just don't be an old dead Protestant and
go to hell.
Get saved.
Then you'll be worthy.
And you'll walk with Him.
God bless you.
Sing two verses.
Just two verses.
672.
Am I a soldier of the cross?
A follower of the Lamb?
Shall I fear to own His cause or
blush to speak His name?
First and last, verse 672 please.
Dear Lord, part us in Thy fear and
with Thy blessing for Thy holy name's sake.
Amen.