Rudge, Dan: Christ In The Assembly ~ Matt 10

Now let's pray and ask God for his help tonight. Our Father, we thank thee that we've been able to sing, sing of the Savior. Our Father, we thank thee that we've been able to sing of the fact that he is mine. Father, this is a marvelous thought, that the Lord Jesus, the Lord of life, the Lord of glory, the creator of heaven and earth, should be called mine. How we thank thee that he was willing to leave heaven's glory to come down to this earth, to lay down his life for us, in order that we might have our sins forgiven. Our Father, we praise thee this evening, that each one of us that have trusted him can call him Savior and Lord. A friend that sticks closer than any brother. Our Father, we thank thee for such a Savior. Wonderful he is to us. We thank thee just for another opportunity tonight to take thy word and to read from it. Our Father, we recognize that we've been under the sound of much teaching over the past few weeks. We thank thee for it. We realize that we have much to learn. We've been challenged by much that has been said. But we pray that tonight thou would just open our hearts and minds once again to listen, and help us to be receptive to this precious truth, that where two or three are, having been gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. So we ask for help tonight to listen, to understand, to put into practice the things that we learn. Our Father, we thank thee for the gospel which has been sounded out from this place today. We thank thee for those children that were here listening to the good news concerning the Lord Jesus. Our Father, we ask that they might realize that this is a message for them, that they need the Savior just as much as anyone else. We pray that they might find him and trust him even today. We think of the gospel as it goes forward in many places. We do ask thy blessing upon it and pray that thou would just strengthen thy servants as they seek to speak well of the Lord Jesus, as we ask these things in his precious name. Amen. Now we're going to read, first of all, please, from the Gospel by Matthew, the Gospel by Matthew in chapter eighteen. Gospel by Matthew, chapter eighteen, verse fifteen. Moreover, the Lord Jesus is speaking, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Now, verse twenty might read also, for where two or three are, having been and are currently gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of. That's the New Testament principle that we'll be thinking about tonight. Now back, please, to the Old Testament, just to show you that it's not a New Testament principle alone. Deuteronomy and chapter twelve. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter twelve. uh We'll break in. Deuteronomy twelve verse four. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God, but unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come. And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks. And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. Now drop down again, verse ten. But when ye go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. Thither shall ye bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord. Verse thirteen says, take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest, but in the place which the Lord shall choose, in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee. And you could go on, and you could look at many verses throughout the book of Deuteronomy which speak about the place which the Lord chooses to place his name. And God will, I'm sure, add a blessing to the reading of his word. You might want to turn just back to Matthew in chapter eighteen. that's where we'll spend most of our time tonight. Especially verse twenty, where two or three are, having been gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. I just want to say two or three things before we start, which are important for us to understand. Matthew chapter eighteen verse twenty is a most important verse. But it says, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. It is talking about the presence of the Lord Jesus with his people. Now, it's most important to notice this. When you read through scripture, it's often mentioned that the Lord Jesus is with us. His personal presence. Now, notice this, in Hebrews chapter thirteen. it says, he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That is speaking about the personal presence of the Lord Jesus with his own at all times, and that is true. But Matthew eighteen twenty is not talking about that. In Matthew chapter twenty eight, the Lord Jesus says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always. This is the presence of the Lord Jesus working with his servants. And we can depend upon that promise. He is with his own always, and he cooperates and works with his servants always. But that's not the presence which he's speaking about here. In Ephesians chapter two, the Word of God says this: in whom, in Christ, ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. It's talking about the church. And there in Ephesians chapter two, we have the abiding presence of the Lord Jesus with the church, universal, which is his body. But here in Matthew chapter eighteen, the Lord Jesus is not talking about his personal presence with his own. He's not talking about his cooperating presence with his servants. He is not talking about his abiding presence in the church. He is speaking about manifesting, demonstrating, showing his presence in the midst of his gathered people. You want an illustration? John chapter twenty. You remember the occasion where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. I want to ask you two questions. How much do we appreciate the presence of the Lord Jesus in the midst of his gathered people? How much? I'm not going to say much more about this tonight, but can I ask you this? Do you really believe that he's here? Do you believe that? That puts me under a serious amount of pressure, because he's here and listening to what I'm saying concerning his word. But he's here. You know, I wonder when we meet tomorrow evening in the prayer meeting, do you sincerely believe that Christ is there? For he is. When we meet on Wednesday and we're going to discuss a Bible reading, Psalm twenty four, do you really believe that he's there? In the midst. In the midst of his gathered people. Can I just say this? How differently we might act if we really believed it. There are a number of things that I would not be thinking if I really believed that he was here. There are a number of things that I certainly would not be doing if I really thought that he was here. I tell you, when you take a meeting like this and you speak, sometimes the saints think that you don't see much. You see it all. And you think to yourself, they're really not listening. But Christ is here. And he's interested. And there are all manner of things which we could speak about. Would all these things happen really if we truly believed that Christ was here? Well, he is. And he's gathered himself in the midst of every gathering of God's people. One last question. How much do we appreciate his presence? But what about this? How much do we sense his presence? How much do we actually feel the presence of the Lord Jesus in our midst? Have you ever been in a meeting when you've said to yourself on the way out or during the meeting or whatever, Christ was there. We felt his presence. As the gospel was preached, it went out in immeasurable power, and it was said by all that were there, Christ was there. We felt his presence. We enjoyed a sense of it. Can I ask you this? Christ is here. But how in touch with him are we? How much can we really feel and sense his presence amongst us? For I sincerely believe this. He is here. Now, those are things to challenge us and things that we want to think about tonight. Now, two things by way of introduction. You might have thought I was already on my introduction, well, I just kind of started, really. Two things by way of introduction, which I think are important to say. It has ever been and always been God's desire to dwell or to fellowship amongst his people. It's not just a New Testament truth. For example, go back to the past and you will find that God dwelt amongst his people in the tabernacle. It was his desire to fellowship amongst them. Exodus twenty five verse eight says this, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. That was God's desire in the past. Now, in the present, it is still God's desire to fellowship amongst his people. And so we read in First Timothy chapter three, that thou oughtest to behave thyself, says Paul to Timothy, that you might know how you ought to besa- behave yourself in the house of God. And we've read in Ephesians two, the assembly is an habitation of God through the Spirit. God dwells amongst his people. But you know there's a coming day in the future when God is going to dwell amongst his people. In the eternal state, so says Revelation twenty one, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. So it's always been God's desire to dwell, to fellowship amongst his people. But I want to say this too, not only has it been God's desire to fellowship, to dwell amongst his people, but it's always, always been God's desire to dwell in the midst of God's people. Not just to dwell amongst them, but to dwell in the midst. And so when you come to the tabernacle, you find this, that God's people were arranged around the tabernacle, with the tabernacle in the midst. You see, it's God's rightful place, is it not? To be in the midst. And so Christ says, there am I in the midst. It speaks about one who has prominence. He's the focal point of the gathering. He is the one around whom we all revolve. Christ is in the midst. And it's lovely, I encourage you to do it. There are a number of scriptures which speak about Christ being in the midst. Do you remember in Luke chapter two when the Lord Jesus, as a young boy, was sat in the midst of the doctors, and he was asking them this question and asking them that. You remember in John chapter one, John the Baptist said, in your midst stands one whom you do not know. Think about the cross at Calvary, John nineteen, They crucified him and two other with him on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. Sitting on earth in the midst, standing on earth in the midst, lifted up between heaven and earth in the midst. Come to heaven. He's in the midst. That's his rightful place. That's where he should be. The center. Revelation five says, I beheld, says John, and lo, in the midst of the throne stood a lamb as it had been slain. Interesting, isn't it? Christ's rightful place in the midst of his people, in the midst of the assembly. Can I ask this? Challenge yourself. Would it be true to say that Christ is the center of your life? Would it be true to say that Christ is the center of the life of this assembly? Would that be true to say? For that's his rightful place. What would it be like if we didn't really have a true sense of Christ in our midst? What would our lives be like? What would the assembly be like? I wonder if it would be a little bit like Sardis. Sardis was an assembly, and Christ was not in the midst. They had more important things, and says the Lord Jesus to them, dead. Dead. Christ not in the midst. Self-centered, if Christ is not in the midst. Powerless, if Christ is not in the midst. Just traditional formality, if Christ is not in the midst. And so I seek tonight, as we think about these things, that we might see the truth of what we're looking at. You know, this is most important, most important truth that we need to get to grips with, Christ in the midst. Now, I want us to think about two things. We've been reading in the New Testament from Matthew chapter eighteen, and we've been reading in the Old Testament from Deuteronomy chapter twelve. Now, what I want to do is I want to look at this principle of God placing his name in the Old Testament and encouraging his people to gather to it. And then we're going to look at the same principle in the New Testament, and we're going to compare them. You see, some would dismiss what we've read in Matthew chapter eighteen. Where two or three are, having been gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst. They'd say, now hang on, read the context of Matthew eighteen. It's discipline. Right. It is. It's in the context of the discipline of a believer. Right. And so they say, well, that promise that the Lord Jesus has made can only apply to that situation. Not so. For you see, that principle which the Lord Jesus lays down in Matthew chapter eighteen, God has set out. God has set out in the Old Testament a principle which we need to heed. So go back to Deuteronomy chapter twelve, and it says this, one verse particularly that we read, verse five. It says, unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there. Even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come. Now notice this, Deuteronomy twelve verse five. God has chosen a place. That's important. God chose the place. And the place would be somewhere where he would declare and place his name. Now I want you to see the similarity of Deuteronomy twelve verse five to Matthew eighteen verse twenty. Look at this. The place was chosen by the Lord. That's what Deuteronomy twelve verse five says. The parallel in Matthew eighteen is this, where two or three uh are. We'll come to that later. Then in Deuteronomy twelve, the place was to be Israel's gathering center. So it says, thither thou shalt come. The parallel in Matthew eighteen, gathered together. Deuteronomy twelve, God would place his name there. The parallel in Matthew eighteen: unto my name. Deuteronomy m twelve: the presence of the Lord would be there. His habitation. The parallel in Matthew eighteen: There am I in the midst. And so you see the principle runs throughout the scriptures. Now notice this, that in the Old Testament, the place where the Lord placed his name was characterized by these things. We read some of the things in Deuteronomy chapter twelve. That place where God placed his name and gathered his people to was characterized by certain things. Number one, it was characterized by worship. That's verse six of Deuteronomy twelve. For it says that they brought their burnt offerings, and they brought their sacrifices, and they brought their tithes. Worship. Now just apply that to the local assembly. You see, the place where we are gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus, we gather for the purpose of worship. There's the parallel. Now the beauty of it is this. We worship in heaven. They never did. But we gather for worship. Deuteronomy sixteen verse two would suggest this, that not only did they gather for worship, but they gathered to commemorate. So Deuteronomy sixteen verse two says, thou shalt sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God in the place where the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Commemoration. They remembered the Passover. Now let me ask you, what do we remember? We remember him. And when we gather ourselves together on a Sunday morning to break bread, we commemorate what Christ has done for us. It's lovely, isn't it? You can see all these things. More. The place in the Old Testament where God placed his name, and this time, you forgive me for jumping around Deuteronomy, but it's all throughout. It's marked not just by worship or commemoration, it's marked by reverence. Deuteronomy fourteen verse twenty three. The place was marked by reverence. You see the importance of that? That when we gather together unto the name of the Lord Jesus, our gatherings should ever be marked by reverence. Now that's true, isn't it? If we expect, if we believe that the Lord Jesus is with us, then we show reverence. We're careful about what we say, about what we do. Now here's a difficult one for you. Deuteronomy twelve verse twelve says this: In the place where God has set his name, ye shall rejoice. I'm saying it's difficult because I haven't got much rejoicing here, but that's what it says. In the place where God placed his name in Deuteronomy twelve, the people were to be gathered, they would remember, they would rejoice. There was joy. And when we gather ourselves together unto the name of Christ, we're happy, aren't we? We're joyful. We're rejoicing in what we have. We have a living Savior. One more thing, I could have given you loads, I know. Forgive me, I've given you enough already. But also, Deuteronomy twelve verse fourteen, it says this: In the place which the Lord shall choose, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there shalt thou do all that I command thee. This place was marked by obedience. It's the same here. As we gather to the name of the Lord Jesus, all we seek to do is gather in obedience to the word of God. And so what I'm trying to show you is this, that the principle that God lays out in the Old Testament is very similar to the principle that we see in the New. So let's think about it. Come with me to Matthew chapter eighteen verse twenty. Here is the principle which the Lord Jesus lays out. I'll keep saying it. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. You know, just before I look at that verse in a little bit more detail, can I say one or two things that are different? I know we've been comparing the Old Testament principle with the New, but have you noticed the differences? For example, there's a difference, there's a difference with regard to the place. In the Old Testament, God chose to place his name in one place. But in the New, where two or three are gathered unto my name, there am I. And so in the New Testament, there are a number of places where God has chosen to place his name, but it's dependent upon him. Have you noticed a difference in the name? In the Old Testament, God, Jehovah, placed his name. When we come to the New, the Lord Jesus says, gathered unto my name. Of course, he's God, but we gather unto specifically the name of the Lord Jesus. Now we're going to start to get a little bit uncomfortable, you forgive me, but sacrifice. Back in the Old Testament, they would gather together and they would worship, and they would worship by sacrifice. And the sacrifices would be slain. Now, does that happen today when the assembly gathers together? When we meet, is there sacrifice? You see, Hebrews chapter ten. that's where we are, isn't it, says, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. Listen, the Old Testament sacrifices, they've gone. But this place where we gather unto his name is still marked by sacrifice. For the word of God says this, by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Still marked by sacrifice. Have you thought about the priesthood? In the Old Testament, the priests were there, and they were from one specific family. They were a separate priesthood, and they were the ones that had the right and the privilege to approach unto God. You know there's still a priesthood today, here in this assembly, but praise God, we're all priests. There's not just a privileged few that can approach unto God, but we're all kings and priests. And so Peter says, ye are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood. I said it might get uncomfortable. You could just mention music. Really? That got your attention. In the Old Testament, the place where God placed his name and the people gathered to was marked by music. It was devoted to the service of God. It was used in the temple worship, but do you know, when you come to the New Testament, there's no mention of music. It's gone. Except that the Word of God says this, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. We sing, and we sing accompanied by the Spirit of God and by understanding. Interesting to see the differences. Now, Matthew eighteen, I want you to see the context. I'm not going to take the verse out of its context because it's most important. So notice this. The Lord Jesus is speaking about, and he mentions in verse seventeen, the church. He says, if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. The Lord Jesus is speaking about the church. In Matthew chapter sixteen, he speaks about the universal church. You remember he said to Peter, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Speaking about church universal. But in Matthew chapter eighteen, he's speaking about the local church. Now just look at the verses and work down them with me, because I'm trying to show you where it all fits in. In verse fifteen, what you notice is this, that in this situation the Lord Jesus is talking about, one brother has sinned against somebody else in the assembly. That's verse fifteen. Jump to verse nineteen, and what you find in verse nineteen is that two or three have come together from the assembly, and they've prayed concerning that matter. Now, this is most important. In verses twenty and eighteen, you notice this, that these brothers who are praying, they've been gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus. Why? So that the assembly might bind or loose what has already been decided in heaven, as revealed by the word of God. You see, there's a conflict between brother and brother, and brethren are getting together and they're praying about it. But what should be done has already been decided in heaven because the word of God reveals it. And so as these brethren get together, they're praying, they're gathering in the name that the assembly might bind or loose what's already been revealed in the word of God. And so in verses seventeen to eighteen, you see this, that the entire assembly is going to be responsible for the ultimate decision that they make. But the decision that they make should be according to what the word of God reveals. It's the decision about what should be done concerning this brother that sinned. And then notice the beauty of this. In verse twenty, the Lord promises to be in the midst of the believers at what must be a difficult time. That's the context of the verse. Now these are the most important things. In verse twenty, where the Lord Jesus says, where two or three are, having been gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst. I sincerely believe this. His promise is conditional. He may not be in the midst. And you say, how do you read that? Condition number one is this. The gathering must be spirit gathered. That's key. I'll read it again. Where two or three are, having been gathered together. And you can't see this on the surface, but the indication of the Greek is this, that another has done the gathering. That God's people have been acted upon to be gathered. It's not that just two or three Christians have got together and said, well, here, let's make a church. That's not the idea. It's that Christians have been brought together by the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God has brought them together and gathered them. So you see, man has nothing to do with the creation of the gathering. God does. And in the Old Testament, the people didn't run around and say, the Lord has placed his name here. God chose. And it's the same. We see numerous companies of God's people, and praise God, they are companies which have been gathered together by the Spirit of God. Now that's most important. Do we fulfill that condition? Praise God, this assembly's been here for a long time. And there was a time, I've forgotten the date that was established, but it's out there on the notice board, isn't it? It's on the, it's on the sign. When the Spirit of God gathered saints together simply, and an assembly was established. Now that's the first condition. It must be spirit. Now, number two, it must be this gathering Christ glorifying, and that's it. If the Lord Jesus is to be present in the midst, then the gathering must be spirit gathered, but it must also be Christ glorifying. You say, how do you know that? Because of this. The Lord Jesus says, where two or three are, having been gathered together unto my name. Then there am I. Unto his name. The name always speaks in scripture of character. It's who he is, and his name is worthy. His name is wonderful. His name is beautiful, says James two. But here's the key. If we're gathering together unto his name, then the point is this, we are representing the one whose name we gather to. We represent Christ. We are here to glorify him. And so you see, when we gather, we should be gathering in consistency with his character. You see how challenging this is? When we gather together, we should be demonstrating the character of the Lord Jesus. So we're marked by love, and we're marked by grace, and we're marked by compassion, and we're marked by humility. That's gathering unto his name. But not just that. We don't gather in consistency with his character, but we gather in consistency with his mind and his will. Therefore, we seek to obey what Christ has laid out in his word. Now that's difficult, isn't it? If we're gathering ourselves together for tradition, if we're gathering ourselves together because there's something I want to get out of it, it's not meeting the condition of glorifying him. And so when the assembly gathers together, it must be meeting for the purpose of glorifying Christ. Now, you might say to me, impossible. How can we all possibly gather together and be just like Christ? Sometimes I have an off day. True. So how is it possible? Well, doesn't it just bring personal responsibility? That we are all personally responsible to be displaying something of the glory of the Lord Jesus when we come here, when we gather together unto his name. But I think this. For instance, the Word of God says, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. And there's me out there, and I'm doing all this, that, and the other. I'm sinning. And then I come into this place and I gather with the saints, and quite frankly, I'm not displaying the character of Christ. You should have seen what my life was like yesterday. What does that mean? I think it means this. When the assembly gathers together, we always gather with the express purpose of glorifying Christ. The Spirit of God has gathered this assembly together. He's here. But let me say this. For individuals who maybe are not glorifying Christ in their lives in the way they should be, then I sincerely believe that those individuals might not sense, they might not experience the power of the presence of Christ in the way that others might. I believe that. Oh, that's difficult, isn't it? If it is as an assembly, we're saying to ourselves, well, we just can't feel the presence of Christ. We've got some soul searching to do. But it could well be that you as an individual are in some way affecting a real sense of the presence of Christ in our midst, and we need him. How can we possibly preach the gospel and tell folks about him if we haven't got a real sense of him amongst us, we need to feel his power and his presence, and may God challenge us to live lives that seek to glorify him, and that when we gather ourselves together, we're seeking to glorify him. Can I just speak about Laodicea? They gathered themselves together in absolute dependency upon themselves, because they said, we have need of nothing. Do you remember that? We have need of nothing. We've got this. We've got riches. We've got jobs. You should see the ornate flower, flowery work around the church that me- building that we gather in. Boy. We don't need anything. And where was Christ? You see? We must gather to glorify him, but also in dependency upon him. Now, I'm going to finish by giving us some practical lessons concerning Christ in the midst. But just before I do, may I say this? We gather together unto his name. We do not gather together unto the brethren. And we do not gather together unto the Plymouth brethren. They're very nice, I know them. There are a number of assemblies in Plymouth. They're lovely believers. But we do not gather together unto the name Plymouth Brethren, or Baptist, or Church of England, nothing of the sort. For as soon as we begin to gather to another name, we're not gathering to him. Do you know, somebody told me of a conversation they were having with a believer. It was at an airport. The plane was late. And this brother sat down and he was chatting with another brother, and and he he said to me, we really enjoyed sharing the things of Christ. That was lovely. And then as this other brother stood up to leave, he said, oh, where do you go? What church do you go to? This brother said, well, we, we just gather as Christians to the name of the Lord Jesus. He said, I know, but what church do you go to? He said, I'm a Baptist. And do you know what? As soon as that brother had said, I'm a Baptist, in came the division. You see that? It started to divide. All of a sudden, Christians were in camps, and he couldn't anymore. He felt as if there was almost a barrier, and yet they'd just been enjoying the things of Christ. Listen, we don't gather to the brethren, we gather unto the name of the Lord Jesus and him alone. Let's remember those things. The practice. When I was thinking about how you really start to practically understand what it is to have Christ in the midst, I couldn't help but think of the churches, could you? The seven churches. Out of those seven churches, there were five that were bad and two that were good. Forgive me for saying that. You know what I mean. There were two of those seven churches which the Lord Jesus did not have a negative word to say about. There were five that he did. Now, let me suggest to you that those five assemblies were possibly assemblies that did not have Christ in their midst, in the rightful place that he should have had. Think about this. In Ephesus, there was a deficiency of love. Christ not in the midst. In Sardis, there was no life. Christ not in the midst. In Thyatira and Pergamos, there was no light. They had imbibed false doctrine. Christ not in the midst. In Laodicea, there was a deficiency of loyalty. I've got everything I need. Christ not in the midst. But... in Smyrna and in Philadelphia, we have two churches that were marked by suffering at Smyrna, and submission, that's Philadelphia, and my, was Christ in their midst. Forgive me, but I want to just speak about Smyrna, they had Christ right in the midst. Now don't think, of course, that it's going to be easy because Christ is in the midst. Because we can really feel a sense of his presence and power, don't think that'll be easy. For look at Smyrna. Revelation two verse nine, the Lord Jesus says, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty. Verse ten: Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. I just want to speak about Smyrna. In Smyrna, Caesar was God. Because in Smyrna, worship of Caesar was compulsory. You had no choice. Every single year, a Roman citizen had to, had to burn a pinch of incense on the altar, and he had to publicly acknowledge that Caesar was lord. In Smyrna, they worshipped. Let me tell you something more. When you took that pinch of incense and you burnt it on the altar and you acknowledged that Caesar was Lord, you got a certificate. And on the certificate it said this, look, I have year, date, I have declared that Caesar is Lord, and you put it on your window. If you didn't have the certificate, you could be in all sorts of trouble, all sorts. Thinking about getting a job? Well, let's see your certificate. Thinking about getting anywhere in Smyrna? I need to see your certificate. Thinking about living in Smyrna? Well, don't, because if you don't obey Caesar as God, it was treason. And guess what? In came the death penalty. To not declare Caesar as Lord was to say, burn me at the stake. That was the result. Think about the Christians in Smyrna, will you? Think about the Christians there. They couldn't possibly say, with Christ as their Lord, they couldn't say Caesar is Lord. And so the Lord Jesus says in verse nine, look at it, he says, I know thy works and tribulation. Absolutely. Tribulation is a pressing, a pressure on every side. Boy, were they under pressure. Under pressure to bow the knee to Caesar. The testimony was going to be crushed. Then says the Lord, and I know your poverty. They were poor. Well, why were they poor? Because you couldn't have a job unless you bowed the knee to Caesar. Your house would be taken away from you if you didn't bow the knee to Caesar. These believers, they were homeless. These believers, they were penniless. The word poverty means this. Destitute. They have nothing for Christ. He was in their midst, and they were willing to have nothing just for him. Praise God that the Lord Jesus says this, but you're rich. You are rich spiritually. And then he goes on to say, verse ten, you might think to yourself, well, Lord, they're under a bit of pressure here. They need a break. But God says this, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Look at that. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison. You might think that the persecution was going to stop. Not a chance. It was going to get worse. These believers were going to be cast into prison. They were going to be tried. Their faith was going to be tested. And, says the Lord Jesus, tribulation ten days. I believe it. It was literal. Christ was saying to them, listen, it's going to get worse, and there's going to be acute tribulation for ten days. Then says the Lord, be thou faithful unto death. Look at that. This is the degree of faithfulness which Christ expects. Keep on proving yourself faithful even unto death. And as I close, let me say this. History would tell us that during these ten days, there was a believer by the name of Polycarp. Read about him. And during those ten days, Polycarp was arrested on the charge of being a Christian. On the charge of following Christ. And it was almost like the scenes outside Pilate's judgment hall. The mob arranged themselves around Polycarp, and they hauled him before the Roman governor, and they said to this Polycarp, proclaim that Caesar is Lord, and he would have none of it. And they were beginning to ra- ra- rain down the blows upon him. And one Roman soldier took pity on him. He was an old man. And he said, Polycarp, listen, just proclaim Caesar is Lord. If you'll just do it, we can get rid of all this mob. You know what Polycarp said? He said this. eighty six years I have served Christ, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me? That's what he said after eighty six years. He was burned at the stake for Christ. Now here's the thing. Christ was in the midst of his life. Christ was in the midst of that company of believers, because as far as they were concerned, Christ was worth more to them than any material wealth. Christ was worth more to them than even life itself. And that's why Christ would say, be faithful, even unto death, and he would reward them. I trust that Christ might challenge us. I'm not saying give up the material wealth. I'm not saying give up the job. I'm not saying give up your life. What I'm saying is this, he's worth it. And we need to spend time with him and learn to put him more centrally in our lives as individuals, but as an assembly. For we need to feel the power of his presence amongst us. May God bless his word to us. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank thee that Polycarp could stand and say, Christ never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme the king that saved me? Our Father, we thank thee for the wondrous person of the Lord Jesus. How we thank thee that he saved us. No more judgment for sins. No more fearful looking for judgment, but rather we thank thee that there's a day coming when we shall be with him, and we shall see him, and we shall be like him. We thank thee for all the blessings that we have in him. We pray our God that what we've considered tonight might challenge us. We seek our God to feel a sense of the power of Christ in our midst. We believe he's here. Our Lord and Savior. Our God, we want to feel a sense of his power and his presence. We pray that thou would help us to learn tonight. Teach us what it is to feel his power and presence amongst us. And so we thank thee for thy word. We pray thou blessed to us. We thank thee for this assembly. We thank thee that it's been gathered by the Spirit of God over many years. We thank thee for the testimony which goes forth from this place. We thank thee for all that's been done to glorify him from this place. We pray thy blessing upon future testimony for his glory. Amen.