We're going to take a look this morning at some of the promises to the churches in the book of Revelation. And so let's take a look at some of the promises this morning. And hopefully we have time to cover them all. If we not, we will continue it next week. But take a look at your will. The only one we're not going to cover, by the way, is in chapter 2 verse 10. 10, if you will, we're not going to cover that one yet. Look at the bottom of verse 10 in chapter 2, the Church of Smirna. One of the promises with the Lord made to the churches, fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer. Behold the devil, shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days, a short time. That's what that means. our faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. There are many crowns for the Christian mentioned in the Bible. Actually, I believe there are five. But we're not going to discuss those yet until we get into chapter 4 and 5. However, back up, if you will, and one of the first promises that the Lord made is in chapter verse seven. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth unto the churches. To him that overcometh, what must I do to overcome? Could does anybody know? Believe, that's it, isn't it? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all you have to do to overcome. To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God? Let me ask you a question, what is the tree of life? Do I have to eat of the tree of life to live forever? Is it what I have to do? It's in the midst of the paradise of God, where is the paradise of God? Well, the paradise of God is in heaven. I think I'm going to take a minute to explain something here that I never thought about till just now. Many of you know this already. We need to know where the pair of dice is. I was going to explain the tree, but let me do this if I may. Or let me do this if I may not. In Luke chapter 16, the rich man died and went to Hades. Lazarus also died and went to Hades. Abraham died and went to a place called Hades. You say, well Abraham went to hell. Love he didn't. Lazarus didn't go hell. Hades had two compartments. One was called, has something called, Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. After he rose from the dead, he took paradise. I'm not going to try to prove that but if you want to write down 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verses 1 through what? 4 or 5. Paradise is now in heaven. When anyone dies today, they go to heaven if they're saved. Before the cross anyone who died went to the paradise side of Hades. It's not there anymore. So in the Old Testament before the cross anyone who died went to one of those two compartments. It was either torment which still exists, a paradise which still exists but it's not there anymore, it's in heaven. The Lord took it with him when he ascended 50 days after the cross. The tree of life is in the midst of the paradise of God in heaven. When anyone dies today, who is not saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they go to torment. The torment side of Hades, in Old Testament we're going to get that in a new 10 rather what we're going to get there somewhere down the road but at the great white throne judgment When everyone is cast into the lake of fire, which is prepared for this devil and his angels There's nobody there yet in the lake of fire. It's empty And we're going to prove that somewhere down the road But when anyone dies without Christ lost They go to the torment side which is basically the same as a lake of fire It's not fun, it's not a fun place. I remember some young boys that lived on one side of us, and they were in there everything, typical boys. And my neighbor on the other side had a fire in his backyard he did like to do that a lot. And this young boy loved only one side, one of the young boys just loved to play with fire. And he was barefoot. In my neighbor said, stay away from that fire, Andrew, stay away from that fire. And he walked in the fire. Apparently, no one had ever told him that it was hot. No one had ever told him that a fire would burn you into the fire. And he went running home screaming, well, I would too, but you know what? He learned a valuable lesson. My point is, it's too bad everyone in this world doesn't walk in some kind of a fire, and get some idea of what hell is a really like. What torment is like, maybe it'll make them think a little bit. But anyway, back to the Bible. The Tree of Life. One of the promises to Him that overcomes us, I will get to eat of the tree of life. So let's get some indication what the tree of life is and what it'll be like. turning their bodies to Proverbs chapter 3. And then we'll wind up eventually in Revelation chapter 22. We go to Proverbs chapter 3. So verse 13, if you will, in Proverbs chapter 3. Actually, go to verse 11, if you will. We'll begin verse 11. I want to understand what the tree of life is. Do I have to eat of the tree of life when I go to heaven to stay alive eternally? Well, of course, the answer is no, but we want to understand what the tree of life is all about. Verse 11, Proverbs chapter 3, the Lord said, In verse 11, my son despised not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he corrected, even as the Father the Son in whom he delighteth. First of all, if the Lord, if you're a saved, born-again Christian, there are going to come times in your life when you are going to get a spiritual spanking. It will happen. Where His Lord will turn you over His knee and paddle your little heiny if you deserve it. And sometimes it's going to hurt. One of the ways He does that is by humbling you. You'll do that. that he humbles me quite regularly. Some time ago I played a game of golf and a tournament-type thing, and I played terrible. It didn't bother me. I don't care. But that's one of the ways it's the Lord humbles you. There's little things like that. You get spiritual spanking because you say, if the Lord loves you, he corrects you. Do you have children? I corrected my children. I didn't do it because I hated them. I did it because I loved them. My daughter didn't seem to need it, but the boys did. So if you love them, you correct them. Why do you do that? Because you want them to wind up having a happy life to grow up, understanding what life is all about, how to treat others. And if they don't do that and you don't correct them and you don't discipline them, you don't teach them right and wrong, they're gonna grow up to be nothing but a pain. And then you will suffer. Mark it down. And so the Lord treats us the same way. Happy is verse 13, if you will. On down if you will. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom. And the man that geteth understanding. Now we're going to skip a few verses here. But go to verse 15. She. What is the she? Wisdom and understanding. You see, when the Lord spanks you, He gives you wisdom and understanding. And happy are you when you find it. I'm leading up to something, so pay attention. She, that's wisdom, is more precious than rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. And then on down, verse 18, she, wisdom, is a tree of life to those who lay hold up on her, and happy is everyone that retains her. You see, the tree of life is not a literal tree here, is it? It's wisdom. She is a tree of life. The Lord, by wisdom, has found a deer, by understanding how to establish the heavens. You see, what the whole thing boils down to this. The Lord has wisdom. He's willing to give it to you. Sometimes you need corrected to attain it. But once you get that wisdom from the Lord that he has and he's willing to give you, you will be happy. That's just a simple fact. You know, unfortunately, people who go to church and don't study the Bible and don't believe in reading the Bible and understand that. They just don't get it. Happiness, joy, comes from being content in life. Being content is understanding when the Lord spanks you for doing something that you need spank for. It's a spiritual spanking. My mother's here today and I shouldn't say this but when we rented a home I can remember through the year she always went on the backyard and looked for a switch tree. Not an apple tree, not an apple tree, or a pair tree, or an oak tree, a switch tree, and we always seem to find one with a good switch tree. But okay, enough of that. Okay, go to Revelation, if you would, chapter, let's go back to Proverbs, chapter 11, well I'm not there yet, I kind of lost concentration, I don't know what happened. Proverbs, I lost it yet. Oh, there it is, nevermind. Proverbs, chapter 11. So, if you have any kids, look for a switch tree. Proverbs, chapter 11, if you will, in verse 30, I have a little note here, next to verse my Bible and I say it says good. So it must be good. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that when a soul is wise, look up here for just a minute. Did you understand that verse? One more time the tree of life isn't a literal tree but the tree of life is the fruit of the righteous. Let me ask you something. If your righteous, your righteous comes from God, what is the fruit that you produce? Now I know most preachers will say, well, I don't sin anymore. I quit all my bad habits, but the Bible goes on to explain what the fruit of the righteous is. He that when a soul is wise, we're going to take a little closer look at this in the following weeks because this is one of the crowns that you are winning souls. Now, if you will, just go to Proverbs chapter 13 here in verse 12. Deferath, make it the heart sick, but when the desire comeeth, it is a tree of life. That means happiness and rewards. Once again, I have the word good written next to this verse. Hope, Deferath, make it the heart sick. In other words, if you don't, if the hope that you hope for doesn't happen, you get sick. But if the hope that you desire come, it is a tree of life. So let me ask you a question. What is your hope as a Christian? What is your desire as a Christian to live forever? Jesus said, to give you the desires of your heart if you believe in Him. Yeah. That's right. So you should have one hope and one desire. your hope is to live well on this earth. But that's the wrong hope. Your hope and desire as a Christian is your future home in heaven to your hope and desire to read a book of Titus. But anyway, Revelation chapter 22, if you will, you already saw that the tree of life that we looked at and and proverbs and so forth is not a literal tree. However, in Revelation chapter 22, we also saw that there's a tree of life in heaven. In Revelation chapter 22, this is our future, your future, your home in heaven. This is what it's going to be like, part of it. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb I believe that's literal a literal river in the midst of the street of it you know I'm gonna like that that I'm looking forward to that I was born and pretty much raised on a river I enjoyed it there was a lot of things I enjoyed about the river my brother and I tried to drown a cat in the river a little kitty we put it in a plastic and a paper bag and wrapped it up and through it in the river, because somebody said cats can't swim while we need it to know. I don't know where we got the idea to put it in a bag, but that little kiddie swam. Our delusions were shattered. We knew that poor little thing would drown, and we wanted to see all that, you know, because we were on, did you know that? What do you do now? Verse two, in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, literal. are literal trees, which bore twelve kinds of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. I believe this tree is literal, and remember the tree of life that we've been looking at is not literal, but this trees are literal, but they are all enjoyment, whether it's a spiritual tree of life or a literal tree of life, it's there for your enjoyment. That's what it's all about. The word healing means therapy. You ever hear the word therapy? In other words, when you get to heaven, you're going to be able to eat. Do you like to eat? You'll probably die. I heard a guy say the other day, some people live to eat and others eat to live. Well, that's true. I eat because I have to live. I don't live to eat. But when you get to heaven, you will be able to eat all of these fruits anytime you like. It won't give you eternal life, but it'll make you happy. The Lord has all kinds of things in heaven prepared therapy, kinds of fruit. You won't eat buffalo anymore, by the way. No more fish, I don't think. Well, maybe you will. But if you do eat fish, you're gonna go out fishing catch a fish sandwich, already cooked and everything. Got tartar sauce on it. You won't have to clean fish. Oh, yeah, I'll go fishing in the boat, but I won't catch fish. There'll be fish sandwiches. I'm on a clean fish in heaven. Oh, you ever smell a dead fish? terrible. It smells like politician on this morning. So in other words, there will be a literal tree, but it'll be there for happiness, for enjoyment. That's what he means by the tree of life. Now then, let's look at one more promise. If we have time here, we're running out of because the Dumbledore preacher, Peter, and Lennon about nothing. We also saw in chapter 2, verse 10, the crown, which we're going to look at later, but look in verse 11 of chapter 2 and then we'll be out of time already. In chapter 2, verse 11, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit say it unto the churches, do bet our churches don't do that today, isn't it? I was watching a guy by the name of Rod Parsley on television. That's the way I feel. And this was a previous broadcast, and there were three or four guys laying up on the platform, flailing around like picking a fish. That's what they remind me of. A fish if you throw out of the water, flops around. Anyhow, I don't know what may be bringing it up, either half an ear, oh yeah, what the spirits say up unto the churches. Keep it overcome it shall not be heard of the second death. Does anybody know what the second death is? Think about that if you will. It's bad enough to die once. I mean when you're dead you're dead, right? But how about a second death? Let's take a close look at the second death and then we'll be through this morning, but turning your Bibles, if you will, to chapter 20, if you will, in verse 5, chapter 20 and verse 5, and then somewhere down in a row, we're going to get back on this one more time. But go if you will to chapter 20, verse 5, and then we'll have to pick up on this again next week for some reason we're all out of time but in chapter 20 verse 5 I just thought of something funny but I better not say it but the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished this is the first resurrection we're gonna spend a lot of time on the first resurrection somewhere but this is the first we want to look at nimble foreclose blessed and holy is he that half-part in the first resurrection. On such, the second death has no power. Think of that. Isn't it, you know, your die once? Didn't we pray this morning for people that have bad hearts, cancer, and so forth and so forth? A terminal cancer means you're going to do what? Die. And sometimes you have to suffer pain, a lot of pain, go through a lot of treatments, etc. And then you go to hell, you go to this place called Torments. And then when the Lord Jesus Christ sets up the great white throne He takes you out of Torments, stands you before the great white throne, and then casts you into the lake of fire. That is the second death, isn't that tragic? Before we close, let me just say one thing. I know that you're looking forward to the rapture. I am. I am, but you know what I'm looking forward to? Probably just as much if not more. It's a great white throne. I am looking because my Bible says that when the Lord Jesus Christ takes me home, so shall you ever be with the Lord. And if that's the case, and when he sits on his great white throne and judges those who have criticized him, mocked him, rejected him, I am going to be there. I'm going to be there watching and I'm going to push my way to the front just like people in a parade. Let me see that. I'm going to be there. Get out of my way. I want to see. Get over here Moses. I want to see this because Moses didn't know some of our politicians and have a television. He didn't have Fox News in closing. Let me show you this as we always do. The Bible says we're all sinners. This hand represents me, the sinner, which I am. This represents my sin, which I have. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He died on the cross, was buried, and rose again for the forgiveness of sin. That's what the Bible says. That's the gospel. The Bible also says, all I have to do is believe it. When I do, he takes my sin, puts it to his account, marks it paid, passed the present, and now I have eternal life. All the promises he made to the churches and revelations are mine, everyone, because I have overcome. Isn't that great? The second death has no effect on me, which is the second death is a pretty hot death, isn't it? Pretty sad, isn't it? Not if you put your faith in trust in Christ, it's not. Let's have word of prayer and we'll close this morning. If you look, we thank you for everyone who was here this morning. And we just hope Lord that your Word will mean something, we'll be a blessing to them. They'll understand it. And maybe they'll get the idea that maybe I should tell somebody else. That'd be nice. And if you're here this morning and you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, your Savior, you can do it right now just between you and the Lord as they Lord. I believe you died on a cross from my sin. And if you do that, they're paid. You receive all the promises, all the blessings, and the second death will have no effect. Plus each one here this morning in Christ's name. Amen.