and we're going to take more time than usual on our study of the Book of Revelation. You remember God promised to the Lord Jesus Christ, promised blessings to those who read and understand the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation is divided into three parts to pass the present and the future. The present is in chapters two and three which represent the Church age. And then the future begins chapter 4, which we will get on in some time later. Beginning, if you will, turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 3, verse 10. And that's where we're going to begin this morning. And then we'll go back and look at the rewards promised to the seven churches to heath over a comet. We're going to continue to do that. However, in chapter 3 of the Book of Revelation, verse 10, the Lord says to the church Philadelphia the church and revival, the Philadelphia, but the brotherly love church, which supposedly is represented between 1700 and a little after the 1900s. Most preachers seem to think so. And I'm inclined to agree with it. We have during that period of time, we have all the great Bible teachers like Spurgeon, Scofield, Ironside, Harry Hyde, Harry Goforth. No John go forth. That was his name. I don't know if you've heard about him. Do you ever hear John go forth? Anybody ever hear him? He was a Presbyterian. He spent most of his life in China, leading people to Christ, started churches, ordained pastors. He was a Presbyterian. When he came back home to Canada, he realized that his church had fallen apart. He was extremely sad over it. Come to find out that the people in China had the sense of port to the local church, his church, the Presbyterian church just to give them the gospel. Isn't that sad? So we have John go forth and we have Harry Morehouse. Harry, Harry Morehouse. How many of you have heard of him? A couple of you have. You've probably heard of him in this church. The world has not heard of most people have not heard of Harry Morehouse and my opinion Harry Morehouse was the founder of Moody Bible Institute. I've got a story on that in a book I have at home on the life of DL Moody and Moody tells the story in his own words of Harry Morehouse. How many of you haven't heard that story? Well I never had that but I got to book every time I read it I get choked up and I read it about once a month but it's an amazing story. I don't get in that. In verse 10, chapter 3, at the same time that during the Philadelphia Church age, not only were all these great Bible preachers out there like Moody, Morehouse, Iron Side, all of these people sco-field to give us a sco-field Bible. So was the Mormon Church started. So was the Jehovah Witness Church started. So did the Christian Science Church forget. Satan is very busy, isn't he? Every time we do something, he does something better. Every time we lead somebody to the Lord, he'll take two and run on the other way. Satan is very busy. But in verse 10, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast, which I'll ask that no man take thy crown. Lord, make sure He promises, basically, in these two verses here. First of all, He promised that the church will miss the tribulation. Second thing He promises is His imminent return. He is coming back. I come quickly. And the other promise is that or rewards he promised you're going to get and so anyway let's go back if you will and we'll take a look at that we left off last week with the tree of life I don't know if we touched on the crown of life in chapter 2 verse 10 but we're going to save that and in a couple of weeks we're going to look at all the crowns the Christians will receive the crown of life the crown of glory the proud of rejoicing, and we're going to look at that later, but in verse 11 and chapter 2, look if you will, he that overcomes John be hurt of the second death, I think we touched on that last week. The second death takes place at the Great White Throne Judgment. If you're a sage born again Christian, you are not going to be subject to the second death. It's bad enough to die once, isn't it? But to die twice is really a bummer. In chapter 2, verse 17, let's take a look briefly at two of the promises the Lord made by the way. Some of these promises that he makes to the churches are present and future and some are present and guaranteed future. In verse 17, chapter 2, he says, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcometh. That is, whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. you overcome? Well, I get to eat of the hidden manna and we'll give him a white stone and end a stone, a new name written, which no man knows. See, he that received it. So what is the hidden manna and the white stone? These are two things that you get here and now, but are yet future also. So in order to understand what the hidden manna is, can anybody tell me, by the way, what it is. The bread of life? Yeah, absolutely. Let's go, very good, good answer. Go to John chapter six, if you will. Excellent answer. Chapter… John chapter six. John chapter six, verse 31, the Jews said to the Lord Jesus Christ, our fathers did eat man in the desert. As is the written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Very, very, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father gave it you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and give it life unto the world. Verse 35, And Jesus said of them, I am the bread of life, he that cameeth to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Verse 49. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread that comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Amen. Eat of it. Verse 57, As the living father has sent me, and I live by the father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Look up here for just a minute if you will. Jesus Christ is the manna from heaven. However, he said, in chapter 2 verse 17 of Revelation, why is the manna hidden? Now there's more to this than just the bread of life. Let me ask you a question. How did you know about Jesus Christ? Hmm? Somebody told you about it. Somebody told you. And when they told you, what did they use to tell you? The Gospel. The Word of God. The hidden manna is not just the Lord Jesus Christ, it's the Word of God, because you would not know about Jesus Christ if it weren't for the Word of God. Why does he call it hidden because the lost will never understand it. They'll never make sense. The lost will never understand the word of God. I can give you a good example. Rod Parsley is a preacher on TV. He's lost and on his way to hell when he dies. You say, well, that's pretty harsh preacher. They have it is true. He does not understand the word of God. He understands what he thinks it says but he doesn't understand it. Now just before we go on I don't want to spend a lot of time on this go over to Joshua chapter 5 all the way back in the Old Testament. Joshua chapter 5, the perfect type. I'm going to give you a perfect type of a New Testament truth in Joshua chapter 5. Look in verse 12 and Joshua chapter 5. In In verse 12 in Joshua chapter 5 and the manna ceased on the moral the next day, after they had eaten of the old corner of the land, neither had the children of Israel manna anymore, but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Kanan that year. I'm going to give you a typo what I think is a New Testament truth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul said that the Bible would cease, not cease, or tongues would cease, rather. Tunges would cease, and miracles would cease when the Bible was complete. This is a type of the complete Bible that you and I have today, and when you and I put our faith in Christ, we are saved by faith. And then we had the opportunity to serve Christ. We can go in and enjoy the kingdom, but in those last part of this verse. But they did eat the fruit of the land of Kanan that year. As you and I studied the Word of God as a Christian, we get into the Bible, we study it, we read it, we learn it, it is the fruit. It helps us to enjoy the fruit of the Word of God as we serve Him. This is a perfect type of a New Testament truth. Okay, back to Revelation, if you will. I don't want to spend too much time on all these be here forever. Back to verse 17, chapter 2, if you will. He that happened here, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth unto the churches, to him that overcometh, will I give to ye of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows, say, he that received it. does a stone represent? Church, Christ and the Church. It does. However, it goes a little deeper than that. It does. The stone means a boat of approval, a quiddle, a ticket of admission. And when this was written, people in those days understood the meaning because someone was put on trial, and they would pronounce guilty or innocent if they were pronounced guilty, a white stone would have been, or innocent rather, a white stone would have been put in the pot, and if they would count the stones, and if there were more black ones and white ones, then they were guilty, sort of like a jury trial today. And also, it is an admission, like they had games in those days, a white stone would say, you are admitted. It basically, simply means you are admitted into heaven because you trusted Christ the cornerstone of your salvation. Very simple, isn't it? I don't know if you've got any commentaries at home by all the great Bible authors over the years. I've got them all but they don't get into this. They don't attempt to answer these questions. I don't know why but anyhow the answers are usually pretty simple. Verse 26, if you will. Chapter 2, verse 26, and he that overcome it, then keep with my works unto the end, to him, while I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received with my father. And I will give him the morning star, and he that have an earlight in here, what the spirits say up until the sun churches. This verse here are rewards for the future. Notice what it says. Power over the nations. When does that take place? Absolutely. In the thousand year kingdom, you and I, in our new glorified bodies, will rule the world. Think about it. Think about it. You have politicians today all over this world. we drive down the street locally. I saw one place had about 30 signs in their front yard. They must dwell on politics. That would drive me nuts dwelling on politics. They got to be stupid to dwell on politics. There's other things in the world besides evil politicians. The Lord will take care of them jerks one of these days. They remind me of the back part of the horse. I don't know how I got to go there. Think about this someday. You will rule the world and with righteousness, with Christ. Think about it. Paul's versions have started the angel of life. They think they can save you. Yeah, they can't even save yourself. I want you to go to chapter 5 here. Look if you will in verse verse 10. This is a representative church, verse 10, you are in heaven. Notice in verse 10, Revelation chapter 5, and has made us unto our God, kings should read a kingdom of priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Isn't that amazing? You can vote for all the politicians you want to, but someday you're going to reign on the earth with Christ. You have to remember that the earth will be filled with literal human beings, flesh and blood bodies. Most of those are going to reject the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the kingdom, but they won't be able to admit it. But you rule them. You will rule them. You will have power over the nations. And I want you to notice in verse 28, rule them. You'll rule them with a rod of iron. Do that today, wouldn't you? Have a great big rod of iron about that long, about that bigger round. Go down to Washington DC and just beat some heads with it. And do it legitimately, be able to get away with it. Have God's approval. I don't think it'd happen. I don't think you get his approval, but it sure would be a blast, I'll tell you. But anyway, and I will give him the morning star. The morning star simply means, the word star means to scatter, to strew about. And the word morning means bright day brick. In other words, bright and early, you're going to scatter. You're going to have all that power, all that authority. Now, if you will, just go to chapter three and we'll see how many more of these things I can cover before we're going to have time this morning. There are two things in chapter three here concerning the church and sardis. In verse four, thou hast a few names, even in sardis, that have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white. For they are worthy, I think we've already covered that. You will get two garments when you get into heaven. The first one is the white garment of salvation, and the second one is the white garment of service. You will walk in white. Verse 5, He that overcome the same shall be clothed in white remit, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his name, but there are many times I've heard preachers say, well if you get saved and so forth, you're going to get your name written in a book of life. Your name is already written. Your name was written in a book of life long before God even created Adam and Eve. From the foundation of the world, your name was written in a book of life. Your name will remain in a book of life until you leave this earth. And then Even if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, your name will be raced. If you've trusted Christ as your Savior, God said, Christ said, I will not blot. The word blot is a word make-ash means to erase. Turn if you will, to Exodus chapter 32, all the way back in the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 32, if you will. Next at this chapter 32, we have the account of the sin of Israel. They made a golden calf, and they were dancing around half naked and so forth. In verse 30, it came to pass on the moral that Moses said of the people you have sinned the great sin, and now I will weapon to the Lord for chaps, perhaps, and shall make an atonement for your sin, and Moses returned into the Lord and said, oh, this people have send a great sin and have made them gods of gold. By the way, look up here for just a minute. Can you make an atonement for other people's sins? No, absolutely not. Of course Moses being a good guy that he is. Verse 32. Yet now, if thou would forgive their sin and if not, blot me, I pray thee out of thy book, which thou hast written. Moses, the word here is the Hebrew word, make that. I forget the word in the Greek. But anyway, if not Moses said, block me. I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written, already written. Moses's name was there and he was willing to have his name erased just for the nation of Israel. But look what the Lord said. And the Lord said unto Moses, whosoever has sinned against me, him will I block out of my book. How do I sin against God? The sin of unbelief is the ultimate sin. God told Moses, no matter what you do, Moses, no matter what you do, you cannot be subject to taking a name in or out of the book. It's already written, whosoever doesn't believe in me, will have their name erased. Your book is already your name is already in the book of life. A good example would be Luke chapter 16. Remember the account of the rich man and Lazarus and Abraham. Abraham and Lazarus went to paradise. The rich man died and went to hell. His name wasn't written. Was it? God erased it. His name was erased. On down in chapter three, if you will. Let's see. verse 12, chapter 3, verse 12, him that overcome it, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God and how the New Jerusalem and so forth and so forth. What does it mean? Simply means you'll be part of the church, the support, all one, all one unit. I don't know if you've ever built anything but But if you build it right, everything holds everything else together when it's all done. You will be a pillar in the temple of God in heaven. Verse 20, symbolically, by the way, I don't think the Lord is expected to stand there like this for eternity holding up the temple. That's not what I mean. Verse 20, chapter 3, and then we're going to be through here and we'll take up the chapter 4 next week. But in verse 20, behold, I stand at the door knock if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will suck with him and he with me. To him that overcome us while I grant to sit with me in my throne. Even as I also overcame and have sat down with my father in his throne, what does that mean? Well we've already seen the answer to that. It means that you will be ruling with the Lord Jesus Christ throughout all eternity. You will be kings, priests, and rulers. For someplace else I wanted to go. Place in chapter 17, I believe it is, for 17 verse 8 is where I want to go. I don't know if you realize this or not that we spent almost a month on two chapters in Revelation. You imagine how much time the rest of it's going to take. I'm going to be old more out by the time it's over with. But by that time, every one of you should be able to take my place, which isn't any problem. Anyhow, Chapter 17, Revelation, Verse 8, The beast that thou saw as was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into a perdition. And they, that dwell only, shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life, from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not, and yet is. You see, everybody's name is written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, and those whose names are not written in the Book of Life shall wander from about the beast, shall wander about the beast. You know, it's a funny thing, they won't understand the Bible will they? They don't understand the Bible today. I see these people on some of the history channels. Somebody was telling me that they were trying to explain what they were trying to explain. I think Bill was telling me they were trying to explain that. Last week the show on there was trying to explain hell. Yeah, that's it. Hell and they were trying to explain why Cain slew able and they couldn't understand why God didn't accept the Cain sacrifice. That's what it was. who was telling me they saw that, and they didn't understand it. You know, that's a perfect example of someone who is not saved. They will not understand God's Word. They won't be able to write the divide. They won't be able to go from one verse to the next, put the whole thing together so that it makes sense. They just will not be able to do it. You ever wonder how do I prove God's Word is real? I'll tell you, give you one good example. Look over the Middle East at the battle between the Arabs and Israel. And if you look at that and don't believe that this Bible is 100% accurate, you have a problem. Everything that's taking place over there today is already written. It's in there. Everything without exception. It's real. The Bible is real. Jesus Christ was a real, literal human being. history says so. I had a fellow one time say I don't believe in them but I don't know how to prove that I was his dad was a Baptist preacher too. I said let me ask you something. I said that you believe that Israel had their old testament 400 years before Christ was even born complete. He said yeah I believe that. I said do you believe Christ was a literal person? Yeah, I believe that, and I showed him in Isaiah, at least six places, concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I said, that was written over 800 years before Christ was even born. It must be written. He said, I didn't know that. I said, well, you either didn't listen, or your father was a lousy preacher, but anyway, I think I didn't know the Lord right there that day because he didn't know that. But if you look at the Old Testament and the New Testament, compare them together and look at history You should have no doubt in your mind that everything this Bible says is one hundred percent accurate and true If you're here today, and I'm sure you do But if you don't know you're going to have them when you die, just let me show you how easy it is Bible says we're all sinners. It's and represents me my sin. I can go to hell and pay for God said I can, Romans chapter 6, verse 23, or John chapter 3, verses 17 and 18, he that believe it not is condemned already, I can do that, or I can simply believe Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again for my sin. As soon as I believe that, my sins are paid. One hundred percent past, present, and future, I have eternal life, a home in heaven. My book, my name will never be be erased out of the book, it's there forever, as soon as I believe in him, it will never be erased. It will never be blotted out. Isn't it amazing? As soon as you believe. To those who don't believe, as soon as they die, their name will be erased from the book. Just like the rich man, they won't have a name. They won't have a name. Let's have word of prayer, and we will close if you will. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank You for Christ the cross. We thank You for His Word that He gave us and He proves it over and over again. And we thank You for the fact that all we have to do is believe in Him, believe in His death, barrel and resurrection we have eternal life. It's so simple you'd have to be a fool to reject it. It's that simple. If you hear this morning you've never trusted Christ just do it now before we close between him and yourself. They, Lord, I believe you died on the cross for me. And I think important that's all you have to do. You don't have to do that. Just believe it. And when you do, you have eternal life. Your name will always be in the book, never erased. And dear Lord, we thank those that are here this morning and bless each one in Christ's name. Amen. Okay