Laodicea — Robert B. Thompson

Lord, as we come unto you this day, we are so appreciative of all the good things that you have done for us, Lord. Many things we know, most of which we don't know, but we thank the Lord for your watchful care over us that is just marvelous and we appreciate it.

We appreciate your presence this day and that we can be here in health and safety to worship you. Lord, we pray for each family represented here that your presence and your blessing will be with them, to keep them at home and on the highway, Lord, safe and healthy in Jesus' name.

Lord, be with each one and give us a heart for God, I pray. Bless the little children, Lord, as they're being taught, and for those of us here, Lord, I pray that everyone will get something. By your Holy Spirit, just guide what is said and perceived, Lord, that we all may partake of Christ's word in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated. We'll turn in our Bibles to Revelation, Revelation, the third chapter, and we're going to read all this about the church of Laodicea, which is verses 14 through 22 of Revelation 3, starting with verse 14 through 22, to the end of the chapter.

Christ's Message to the Church at Laodicea

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other.

So because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. You say I am rich, I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich, and white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline, so be earnest and repent.

Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Laodicea is one of the seven churches in present day Turkey, and you can go there and visit the ruins. All the seven churches are in present day Turkey, and it is said that it was prosperous city, and I believe if I remember correctly they were famous for having an ice salve that they produced in Laodicea.

The word itself is suggestive of the idea that laos means people, and laodicea comes from the idea of words, so it's kind of the voice of the people, or you might say democracy. Democracy, as a church, it's interesting that to this church of democracy, it's the only one of the seven churches about which the Lord has nothing good to say.

It's the only one. And while all of us believe in democracy because we are children of those who rebelled against the tyranny of Europe, and so democracy is kind of a sacred word to us, and certainly we all enjoy our freedom to speak and to comment, but nonetheless it can be very much against the kingdom of God, because it teaches us that man has a right to do what he pleases, and this is the opposite of the kingdom.

Oswald Chambers and Abandonment to God

In fact, Audrey and I were watching a VCR last night of Linna Strada's, it's very good if you can get her to loan it to you, it's on Oswald Chambers, it is excellent, excellent on the life of Oswald Chambers, and he went through a four year period which he said was hell on earth, this is before he went to Egypt as a chaplain, and he said he had a dark night of the soul, and what God was after was for him to relinquish his right to be himself, so to speak, to do as he wanted to, to just give up and yield everything to God.

Of course out of that came his very famous expression, my utmost for his highest, well he didn't get there overnight, it was a long hard struggle, he was a very promising artist, my goodness, his works are masterpieces, but God required of him, he wanted to serve God among the artists and show Christ to artists, he was very much into artists, studied art at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and the video shows some of his pictures and they're astonishing, as good as any you'll ever see, oil paintings, but the Lord wrestled with him and he with the Lord until he was willing to give everything that he is to God, everything, it took him four years to finally, not that he was in rebellion, these things go so deep in your soul that you can say I want to give myself to God and yet it isn't quite finished, it isn't quite done, and it takes a lot of subjective wrestling with God to where you come out into the light and you know that you have given everything to God.

He only lived to the age of 43, but between him and his wife, who then lived after that until 1966, and since he died, oh she must have outlived him, what would you say Lynn, by 50 years or so, and she's the one, he didn't write, she's the one that put out all the books, and so I say between him and his wife they have had a profound effect on the church of Jesus Christ, because one man was willing to surrender himself to God to the extent that he would do, abandon to God was his idea, just abandon and completely abandon to God.

These are the words, and I say that because of Laodicea, because as Christians in America we try to combine the idea of democracy and Christianity, and they are opposites, because in democracy we do what we want to do, so rule upward, by pole if you please, and in the kingdom of God the rule is from the top down.

We do what God says, we obey him implicitly, even though it means, well, to the loss of our life if need be, and many Christians have paid that price, so the Lord had nothing good to say about the church of the voice of the people, interesting isn't it?

Seven churches, this is the only one, and yet to this church the greatest promises are made, and that's just like the Lord. These are the words of the Amen. Now this idea of being a faithful and true witness needs to be thought about.

We use the word witnessing incorrectly, and I don't say there's any harm done, except that we lose sight of what it means to be a witness. There's a big difference between witnessing and preaching. Not everyone is called to be a preacher, but everyone is called to be a witness of God, and I do not mean by that preaching.

Oswald Chambers said it's not do and do and do, it's be and be, and then Christ will do, and so it takes many years to make a witness. Witnessing is not passing out a tract and telling somebody about the four steps of salvation, that's preaching, that's evangelizing, and that is one of the gifts of the Spirit.

Witnessing is what we are, and the church of Jesus Christ in America is strong on evangelizing, but our witness has merely been destroyed because of our love of money and immorality and other things. We are not bearing a good witness to the world.

I wonder sometimes how the Muslim people, and many of them love God sincerely, and I wonder how their attitude would be toward America if we were a righteous nation serving God, because that's what they don't see, and that's why they call us the great Satan, and rightly so.

But they do, many of them, they're not all terrorists, I know because I've been in correspondence with a Muslim, and this individual was attracted to our website because of the emphasis on righteousness, and this individual said, that's what we believe, that's what we believe.

Why can't we get together? What we believe is fearing God and walking in His presence. Probably the greatest verse in the New Testament on witnessing is found in Matthew 7, where Jesus said, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify God.

That's where every Christian is a witness. Not every Christian is called to evangelize, I know that's taught, but I can't help it. It's not scriptural, and God has called me to preach the scripture, not people's ideas.

Evangelism is a ministry. We all have different ministries, but we all are called to be a witness of God by showing compassion, by practicing righteousness, by telling the truth, by being free from the love of money.

This is what the Muslims are looking for. This is what the Quran teaches, and this is what they're looking for. They don't accept Jesus Christ because they don't see righteousness. I'm talking about the Muslims, I don't know much about other religions, but I'm getting acquainted with this one, because of this person whom I'll call Ibrahim, although that's not his name.

Ibrahim has really given me insight into the Muslim religion, and I'm not about to be converted, but it's helped me to see what the world is looking for in the church. And we're supposed to bear a witness of Jesus Christ, and we can send tracts all over the world, and do as we like, but when our nation is characterized by drugs and alcohol and violence and murder and abortion and covetousness and idolatry and immorality, forget it.

There's no witness. There may be all kinds of preaching, but there's no witness. It takes many years to make a witness, to show other people about God and his ways requires that you know God, not just about God, but that you have interacted with him in many situations and pressures, and have come to know him, and then you can show by your life and what you say.

Oh, hallelujah. That's very meaningful to me, because I think of these millions and millions of Muslims, and they're waiting to see something in the church of Jesus Christ beside a love of money and immorality.

They're waiting to see something better. So God may have something great for the Arab people, the children of the desert. They really are brothers of Israel. But the reason this is on my mind is because during the last three weeks, two people on the email have commented to me, one sent me about three email messages insisting that I change my message so that it's more palatable to people.

The Standard Is Scripture, Not Popularity

And Brian has read them all, and his conclusion was, no matter what you did, they would never receive it. And that was more or less my conclusion, too. And then this morning as I checked my email, there was a very good letter from a fine thinking person, and you could tell, I mean, it was not ranting or railing, it was just a calm statement.

He said, you're going to cause people to be discouraged. And this was also said by a distinguished minister whom I respect, and was a little surprised. So I pondered that, I pondered that. And then I thought, the issue is not whether people are attractive.

The issue is not whether people are discouraged. What is the issue? It's whether it's scriptural. That's the only issue. The reason, you can imagine, there's no need for anyone to be discouraged. Jesus always stands ready to help the perused read in the smoking flax.

But you wouldn't have to be particularly brilliant to say, if you had a nation of people who have been taught that if they're saved by grace and it doesn't matter how they behave, at any moment they're going to be caught up to heaven so they won't suffer, and then some dude comes along and tells them unless they take up their cross and follow Christ they're not a disciple, which is equivalent to not being a Christian, by Bible definition, it's no wonder they would be not attracted.

It's no wonder they would be discouraged, because how am I going to take up my cross and follow Christ? I've got a family, I've got a mortgage, I've got a job that's killing me, I've got people that are depending on me, I'm in the computers and if I don't work 15 hours a day, then other companies are going to get the jump on me, or I'm working for the government in Washington D .C. and it requires that I get there at dark and come home at 9 at night, but if I don't I can't keep my, but what is this take up your cross and follow Jesus, I'm discouraged, I want to serve God, but that's what's causing it.

Not the Bible, not that Christ won't help us, it's the contrast between our standard in America and the Bible standard, Christ will help anyone who wants to be helped. Now, I say that because notice what he says to the church of democracy, these are the words of the Amen, but what does Christ say Amen to?

God's word, God speaks, Christ says Amen, God speaks, and people in democracy say it's too hard, I'm discouraged, I'm turned off, they don't say Amen. The only issue is the scripture, the only issue is the scripture, there's only so much, we knew a minister once said you have to bait the hook, you have to bait the hook, well we were in his church and he sure baited the hook, in fact I personally think he baited it with an elephant, because there was no way you were ever going to get the hook out of that man's preaching, there's no way, and when you fall into that trap, boy you're there to stay, because you've won people by easy preaching and you've got to keep them that way, you can't suddenly turn on them and say, well you've got to be a disciple if you're not a Christian, you've got to tell them the truth straight off and trust the Holy Spirit, do you say Amen to that?

The Holy Spirit is not going to bump the rivets on anything except the word of God, he's not going to bump the rivets on man's tradition, so either you do it by yourself and your talents or you trust God, but there's something about being a faithful and true witness, it costs something, because the majority of church people will stone the prophets, they always have, and Jesus had to fight the religious people, and everybody that's ever done anything that's always in the church, not that church people are bad, they're not, but to get half way into God leaves you open for Satan, because he's interested in people that are religious but as long as they don't do it too much, these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and you think the time when the Lord moved on Jesus to multiply bread and fish, thousands of people, this is the best show in town, this guy is going to be king, I mean he is the next one in the democratic convention, this is the next one, man feeds the poor, and then the father said, don't tell them about your body and blood, he knew what would happen, he never batted an eye, Amen father, now listen you guys, I'm going to tell you something, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you, when is the next meal, we don't want to hear, dude, we don't want to hear about eating your flesh and drinking your blood, forget it, that's against the law, you know it, you don't drink blood, so what are you talking about, greatest back door in revival in history, I don't think there's another preacher that ever had 5 ,000 people ended up with 12, maybe so, faithful and true, then it says in Revelation in the NIV, it says the revelation of the rulers of God's creation, and I know why they translated are he ruler, they were afraid we'd think that Christ was a created being, but it's not true to the Greek, it really should be the beginning of God's creation, because it's talking about the new creation and Christ is the first born from the dead, he is the beginning, the are he, the beginning of the kingdom, the new creation of God, that doesn't make him a created being, but the NIV out of deference to scholarship translated are he ruler, which it can be by a stretch of the imagination, that the ruler is kind of the head of the parade, but Christ is the first born from the dead, the first of a whole new world, and when he died on the cross, the whole Adamic race died with him, and the only thing you can do to really please God is to take your place on the cross and recognize that it's over, they ain't no more, and until you do that, you're beating a dead horse, God isn't going to take the Adamic race any further, it's finished, it was finished on the cross, it's dead and over, it was only meant to be a prototype in any case, so if you want eternal life, you have to become part of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, that's what being born again is all about, and that race is still human, but it's a transcendent human race, but it will endure forever, so you can spend your time on that which is already over, oh you say, but people are still being born, I know that, but God speaks in a timeless vision, and what he says eventually comes into what you can see, but when God speaks, it's as real as money in the bank, more real in fact these days, it's more real than money in the bank, it's already done, and God already has finished with the Adamic race, and has brought into being a new race beginning with the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is the beginning as it says in Colossians, the firstborn from the dead, the beginning of the creation of God.

Salvation in Christ Rather Than Religious Profession

How important to say a thing like this, to Adamic people who are walking around, pounding on their chest like King Kong, imagining that somehow their dust is significant. You'll never be significant until you become part of Jesus Christ, you're not good if detached, you're just dust.

See democracy tends to feed our inflated ego, it's over, the new race is here, join the group, they're going to live forever, and they are significant, that's why it says there's no more sea, there's no more mass of Adamic creatures living like grass, and then dying, living and dying, and breeding and living and dying, it's over.

What matters is Jesus Christ and him alone, get to be part of him, and your life will take on significance. Stay apart from him, and you'll grow old and die, and never have found significance, you will have missed it all.

It's all in Jesus, there ain't no more. I know your deeds, now we've had, this is what Christ says to the churches, we would expect him to say from present day teaching, I know your theology, I know you believe in the virgin birth, I know you believe in the blood atonement, I know you believe in the bodily resurrection, I know you believe in the literal return of Christ, because we think that's how we're saved, it's by theology, there's no salvation in theology, unless it brings you to the man, because the salvation is in the man, not what you believe in your head.

There are people who believe the facts of religion who are wicked, and the demons themselves understand the facts, there's no life in the facts, it's got to bring you to the man, the life is in the man, and so our stress on we're saved by belief, or saved by faith, meaning we're saved by belief in religion, is false, it is not true, there's no, only as we come to Jesus, you know there's a great difference between religion and Jesus, I've been thinking about that, I guess Ibraham got me thinking about the difference between religion and Jesus.

People have been murdered in the name of religion, Jesus never murdered anybody, it's fine to be religious as long as it doesn't interfere with your salvation, as long as it doesn't keep you from walking with Jesus, the thing is in Jesus, we make a religion because we have to have something to adapt to and make sense in our daily life, but it can so easily occlude, that means bar out, opaque out, our vision of Jesus, and there's nothing except in him, and all religion and all the artifacts of religion and it's architecture and everything else will one day be gone, that's why it says in Revelation 21, I saw no temple therein, only scaffolding, they'll be done away, and if you don't know Jesus, you won't have anything going for you, I know your deeds and we have a teaching and we need to get it up off and out of the shelf that God does not see us except through Christ, or we're covered with the blood so that God cannot see us, there's no scripture for being covered with the blood, the blood doesn't cover us, it forgives us, we are not shielded from God's sight, I know your deeds, he knows everything you're doing, hey this is a great day, sometimes I run afoul of tradition, you know what you do, go back and find your belief in the Bible, if it isn't there, then get rid of it, it isn't going to stand, the days to come are too pressured, too immoral, too dark, it's an age of moral horrors, our traditions are going to vanish like a drop of water in a hot stove, make sure you've got Bible for what you believe, God says I know your deeds, I know what you're doing, I know everything about it, and I say hallelujah, because there's salvation in that, because that means I won't be doing a lot of stuff God doesn't see and he doesn't approve of it, I want God to know what I'm doing, every stick and stone of it, how about you?

I don't want to be hidden from God's sight with my own fig leaves like Adam and Eve, forget it, I know your deeds, there's comfort, there's salvation in that, and you are neither cold nor hot, now he could tell from their deeds they weren't cold or hot, you want something that runs afoul of our current culture, it's this idea, we much prefer that people be well rounded, we don't like extremes, we like people that are predictable, that are comfortable, that are not way off in religion, and on the other hand, we don't want people that are totally wicked, as one lady said, she was on her way to Las Vegas, she said I like it a little dirty, but I don't want it real dirty, Americans can buy that, you know, I don't want a wicked guy around me, a satanist with satanic marks on his forehead, I don't want anything to do with someone who's worshipping the devil, but on the other side of the coin, I don't want anything like you're talking about Oswald Chambers, I don't want to abandon my one and only life to God, not knowing what's going to happen, I just don't like extremes, I don't want to be wicked, and I don't want to be overly righteous, oh glory, how do you feel about that?

Don't you think it's really better to be well rounded? You wouldn't like people to refer to you as a religious fanatic, would you? Say that person, they're way off, all they talk about is Jesus, I guess that's all they know, they don't know anything except Jesus, why don't they get a life?

The Danger of Lukewarm Christianity

But Jesus says, wicked or really wicked or really righteous, I can't do anything with you, how many like their coffee hot? How many like their iced coffee? On a hot day, there's worse stuff to drink, how many like coffee that's neither hot nor cold?

Or tea or anything else? Well you don't like stuff lukewarm, did you ever drink a cup and thought the water in the kettle was hot and you poured it out and made your instant and everything and drank it and it was lukewarm, what do you like to do?

Spit it out. Well, it is somewhat humbling to know we are all in the mouth of Christ, but that's what we assume if he's going to spit us out, so if you want the Lord to swallow you, get off, get off the middle thing, it is not, you're going to be in the days to come, you'd be like the ship that Paul was on with the prow beached up on the sand bar in the back part being broken by the waves, that's what's going to happen to lukewarm Christians in the days to come, the wicked are going to be better off than you.

You want to know why the Republicans have not gotten farther than they have with impeachment and the China gate and the rest of it? I'm going to shock you, they're not wicked enough and they're not righteous enough, now think about that, they're not wicked enough to have the brains to outsmart the wickedness that's going on, and they're not righteous enough that God is with them, they're just lukewarm to try to keep from getting bumped out of office, think about it, and that's the way it will be in the future, you're going to have to know God, you know there's people that get arrested for what I would call non-violent crimes such as drunkenness for example, or cheating on their income tax or something like that, and you know that sometimes they get put in cells with Satanists, now just think what that would be like, if somebody found out that you were a believer in Christ and spent their time with their incantations cursing you, you better be, you better have more than that Satanist has, you better have more of God than he does of Satan, don't you agree?

So that's the kind of thing we're coming up against, we're not going to get anywhere unless we're really wicked, or really righteous, and those in the middle, Christ says oh Lord at least I'm trying, you know, well it's true, I've spent a lot of time doing things I shouldn't, but I go to church and I'm not really out in the Satanist group, and the Lord says oh cool, my job is to preach the Bible, your job is to believe it.

What are you supposed to say? Amen, Brother Thompson, I never heard him that wise, but amen, that's what the book says. I wish you were one or the other, I wouldn't say that, but since the Lord said it, I'm saying it in his name.

Wealth, Self-Sufficiency, and Spiritual Poverty

You say I am rich, now you'll never hear a church say they're rich, never, and we don't say we're rich because we have quite our need of expansion right now, we do not have room enough for our young people, and we're very concerned about it, and the leaders, both of the girls and the boys are distressed because there isn't enough room, and I'd like you to pray about that.

I'm not asking you to give, I'm asking you to pray about it. You've always been generous, and I'm not up here banging on you about money, but if we had it, and we'll get it in God's time, he's been so good to us here, we need room for our kids.

We don't have it. There's not enough room in the old church in the house to do the job. We need more property. We need more buildings to fit our kids, and a Sunday or two ago, there was only seven spaces left in our parking lot.

Seven. Seven more people attended church in cars than we would have had. Anyone after that would have had to park in the street. That's the way churches usually are, if they're healthy and growing. So they don't usually say they're rich.

Which tells me something about this church. Somehow it was very popular. Had plenty of money. It was like in the tabernacle where the two builders of the tabernacle had to go to Moses and tell the people to quit bringing it.

We've got more than we can ever use, which is rare, but that's because a lukewarm gospel appeals to people. Like the man said to me, you can't just say it in some way that will attract people. So people have been attracted here, and they gave.

I didn't need anything. Isn't that wonderful? Except that the Lord was not pleased with it. I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. I've got plenty of room for the kids, I've got real estate I can rent out, lease out.

I don't need anything. Marvelous. But, you do not realize that you are wretched. Now, that tells us something. Because in the Song of Solomon, the Lord raves about his bride. Raves about her. Raves about her.

Particularly in the sixth chapter. Raves about her. Oh, she's the only one of her mother. Oh, she's this, she's that, and the next thing. And then we get over to the fifth chapter of Ephesians. And the Apostle Paul says that the Lord has purchased to himself a church, a bride, without blemish.

Unblemished bride. Well, you know, the Son of God has never been married before. Never had a man married before. So this is a new thing for Jesus, getting hooked up with a bunch of people. He's always had it pretty much his own way.

You know, he could get up in the middle of the night if he wanted to, and drink coffee, and read, or anything he wanted to. He had things pretty much his own way. He didn't have to ask anybody what they thought.

This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to do this today, Father. Okay, good. It all belongs to you anyway. Do it. Now he's getting hitched up. Well, now, that's pretty heavy. And as far as I know, it'll never happen again.

I mean, this is she. This is the one. And personally, I don't think the Lord knows who she is. There's some things the Father keeps in his own counsel. I think from the beginning of the church era, the Lord was saying, is this the one, Father?

Is this the group? Some things only the Father knows. So, this bride, it says in Ephesians 5, she will be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. She will be an integral part of him, a counterpart of Christ forever, a helper suitable for him.

I'll tell you what, she will have overcome, just as he has overcome. I'll tell you another thing, she'll be a worker, she'll be a helper. That's what it says about Eve, I'm going to make a helper suitable.

But most important of all, she will love him. She will love him. He's not going to marry someone who doesn't overcome. It isn't going to happen because then you have a mismatch. Here the Lord is, God is everything, and he's got a bride that doesn't feel that way.

And she says, I wish you wouldn't be that religious. You're going to be the same. You find that at the last, second to last verse of this chapter. To him who overcomes, even as I overcame, that's heavy.

And Jesus said the same thing in John 14, 3, where he said that she may be with me, where I am. That's not in heaven, it's talking about in the presence of God. So she's going to be Miss Universe for sure.

I mean, this gal is going to be something else, according to the scripture. Now, what's this coming to the church and saying, you're wretched? That ought to tell us something, what is it? The church on earth is not the bride of the Lamb, because he doesn't refer to his bride as wretched.

He sings songs about her in the song of Solomon. One look at you, and I'm overcome. Feed me with apples, I'm sick. And now he looks at her and says, you're wretched. Not the same gal. So, what does that tell us?

That the church on earth and the church of Jesus Christ are not the same set of people. I like to say the church is within the churches. Now, that's important to remember, because sometimes we think, well, I run a church all my life, and I'm a regular church mouse, and I'm always there, and I pay my dues, etc., and so on.

That is not it. That's the church on earth. To be a part of the bride of the Lamb, you have to overcome as he overcame. Now, he'll help you do that. Well, you've got to mean business. I mean, you go climbing that ladder, and you're hanging on like the cat in the chitting bar.

But the Lord's underneath you to catch you. He'll take care of you. But I mean, you've got to give it your best shot. And you're climbing up the wall. The Lord's up there ahead of you, and he's on the top rung, and he's holding you.

He looks over, and here you come. Weary with a battle. Exercising patience. Graggling up. You look down. He says, don't look down. Don't look down. It's high up here. He finally looks over, and you've got your hands on the top bar.

And then he starts down. He gets down quick, and then he goes around quickly like that and gets under you, just in case you fall. Let me tell you, it's the way it is. She's got to love him. She's got to overcome as he overcame.

Christ's Pattern of Overcoming

He's got to have somebody who can march with him. I don't say she'll be as great as he. She'll never be as great as he. That isn't the point. He had things to overcome. She has things to overcome. Christ had things to overcome.

Obedience was one area. We know about the three things in the desert. The question of food. The question of the authority and glory of the world system. Tempting a man who by nature is a king. And finally, the desire to act in a religious way to prove your spirituality.

And that followed him all through his life. Come down from the cross. Come down from the cross. And then the humiliation of it all. And then the envy. Envy. Putting up with envy and the malice continually.

And the perversity of the religious people. It's not even conceivable. After he raised Lazarus from the dead, they wanted to kill Lazarus because of the testimony. That's utter perversity. It's perversity in its fallest form.

This Christ had to endure and keep a heart full of faith and love toward God. Not become bitter. Not become resentful. Not become unforgiving. Not flash out. Constantly challenged with this thing. Constantly challenged with it.

And then to be crucified in the humility of it all. Not even strong enough after being up all night and beaten to carry his cross. He didn't even have that. And for a man not to be able to pull your end of the log is somewhat embarrassing as I'm finding out at my great age.

It's embarrassing. He's only 33 years old. Then he gets somebody else to help him. Pick him up out of the mud and help him carry his cross. The Son of God had things to overcome. And he doesn't want a bride that is a marshmallow, never has overcome, self-seeking, self-centered, kind of religious, kind of believes in God, accepts the blood atonement, wants to go to heaven to be with Jesus.

But the slightest thing that comes along becomes full of malice and envy and jealousy and bitterness and backbiting. Knowing better than this, still continuing to gossip, still continuing to live in the material realm.

She's not up there when he looks at the cross. She's way down there. I didn't even start it up the ladder. There's no marriage there. There's no marriage there. He's going to marry one who is as terrible as an army with banners.

One who has learned of the Father and trust in the Father and has over and over came. He looks and says, boy, you did it, didn't you? Of course, he had to help her. But he had to do it. He doesn't do it all for you.

He didn't do it all for Oswald Chambers in the Dark Night of the Soul. And I imagine Oswald Chambers is one of those rare Christians that really did it. The Lord looks across at him, okay, I can live with that.

And Oswald says, I trust in God and I give myself to God. And Jesus says, I trust in God and I give myself to God. And Oswald says, I love you, Lord. What needs to be done? That's what Christ is going to marry.

Not one that he looks at and says, you're wretched. You don't have a heart for God. You're trying to hedge your bets. You've got one foot in the world and the other one in the kingdom. Don't you know that?

Don't you understand that? Don't you know you're wretched? What has blinded you? Can't you see your condition? Can't you measure it against the word? No, you cannot say amen. You say, what can I say that will attract people?