Okay, so we are at Thyatira, the church at Thyatira. So that's church number four, I believe. This is the last church that's mentioned in chapter 2, so we're starting at Revelation 2.18. Let's talk about a little background of Thyatira. there was a dominance of trade guilds over the local economy. So you had, if you were in a certain profession, you were a member of a guild. If you did a certain craft or a certain thing that you were in a certain industry, something that produced things that you traded, you were a merchant. You had to be a member of a trade guild. And the trade guilds in Thyatira required membership or worship of pagan guides. That was part of being a part of the trade guild. So they held meetings and common meals in pagan temples. And two central aspects of the required worship were eating food, sacrifice to idols, which was which was like meat in the temples that was offered to idols and obviously that was very attractive because it was the best meat and it would be offered in the marketplace at a premium and also illicit sexual relations which was part of worship in the pagan temples with temple prostitutes and So that was required if you were part of a trade guild. And the guide, the local guide or the guardian of the city was Tyremnus. He was a son, supposedly the son of Zeus. And so his worship, worship of Tyremnus was mixed in Thyatira with emperor worship. they were sort of combined because Zeus is the head of the pantheon of gods and Caesar is, he was proclaimed to be the incarnate son of God on earth. And so, with that as kind of background, let's look at what he says, or the letter to Thyatira. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead, and all the children all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold to this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast to what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my words until the end to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church." Okay, so just to review, if we are, you know, if we adopt that there is a typology here that represents Old Testament covenant people history, then Thyatira would correspond to the time of the monarchy. the early monarchy and the covenant, the Davidic covenant. And so you see things like this. Under the Davidic covenant, the Davidic king was said to be God's son. You see that in verse 18, an allusion to that. And then The actions of Jezebel were during the monarchy, during Ahab's reign, and Jezebel led the people into worship of idols and to become involved with foreign gods in ways that amounted to adulterous association again. We've talked about how idolatry and fornication or unfaithfulness are virtually the same thing. And idolatry to God is a form of spiritual adultery because they are covenantally related or married to God. So that amounts to intimacy with foreign gods or with idols is a form of spiritual adultery. So Jezebel led Israel into that kind of unfaithfulness during her time. You have the time to repent and then her judgment. And we think of, you know, it says great tribulation, the great tribulation that was experienced by Israel during the time of Ahab and the three and a half years of drought during that time. Of course, Jezebel was Ahab's wife. And so he mentions, let's see, where is it? The wife. well I don't see it in this translation but anyway so so anyway As we work through this, the very first thing that he says is, in contrast to Caesar being the incarnate Son of God, he wants to make clear Christ is the Son of God, the true Son of God, and assert his supremacy. And then, as he's assessing Thyatira, he says, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patience and endurance, so there's some good things there in Thyatira. And he said that your latter works exceed the first, so they're growing, which is a good thing. But then he says, but have this against you, and what is it? A toleration of false doctrine. So Thyatira is, unlike Ephesus, tolerating some false doctrine. What is the false doctrine? Well, teaching and seducing their servants, sexual immorality, and eating food sacrificed to idols. We've seen that before. So what this false teaching is, is the same as the Nicolaitans and the Balaamites who are, it's a Jewish apostasy and it's idolatry and it is kind of a licentiousness and a toleration of this. So Thyatira, the problem is that they're tolerating this false doctrine. They're not demanding repentance. And again, the message is to the angel, so it's the pastors, the pastoral leadership of the church, either the single pastor or the elders in charge of the church that are not practicing discipline. And so, He has, Christ says he's given her time to repent. So this could be a single woman who could be associated with the angel of the church, even his wife, or it just could be, a woman in the church, and her name doesn't necessarily have to be Jezebel, but he's likening her and what she did to Jezebel in the Old Testament. So he says he's given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. So he says, behold, I'll throw her onto a sick bed. There's a play on words here. I'll throw her into a sickbed. Those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation. This is one of the several times when the great tribulation or a great tribulation is referred to in the book of Revelation. And the term is almost a technical term when you see great tribulation. But it's obvious here That warning of first century church is I'm about to come and I'm going to throw her into the Great Tribulation. Well, it's obvious that that's not something that happens thousands of years later. Great Tribulation is, in every instance where we see it, something that occurs in the first century, not something that occurs much, much later. It makes no sense for John to be warning the church, the first century church, that something's going to happen 2,000 or more years later. And he says, there's a play on words here, I will throw her onto a sick bed. She's inducing people to sexual immorality. And he says, I'm gonna, you wanna go to bed? Okay, I'm gonna throw you into a sick bed. And those who commit adultery, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead. Her children are those who follow her. This is the common Hebrew idiom, sons of, children of. Light begets light, going all the way back to Genesis. Things and people reproduce after their kind. So disobedient people are called the sons of disobedience. Or those who receive wrath are children of wrath. So Jezebel's children are those who follow her teaching. This is akin to what happened to Jezebel. Jezebel recorded in Kings. You remember at Jezreel, she died and the dogs licked up her blood. And then Jehu went on a crusade to destroy all of her progeny so that all of her descendants were utterly cut off. And so he's promising a similar judgment. What was this? Well, I mean, if we think about it, let's relate this to the church today. With what is Jesus so displeased? In light of the background, this sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols, it could be, again, economic consequences. to not doing that in Thyatira and not submitting to an emperor worship. It was something, the situation was like what I think we're going to see increasingly in our own culture and are already beginning to see. And so I like what David Chilton says about this. where he's talking about what this might have been like. And if I can find it. He says, The Jezebel of the Thyatiran Church similarly advocated compromise with paganism. Of course, very pious sounding terminology would have accompanied this. Perhaps the effect that after all there's only one God so any worship rendered to false gods is really offered to the true God. You hear people say that today, that very thing. Muslims worship the same God we do, it's just a different name. Or that by joining pagans in their religious services, one might be able to witness for Christianity. You hear that kind of thing. Or that going along with the Heban will enable Christians to survive rather than be wiped out by persecution. So it's survival that's the issue. Or perhaps that all religions have something to teach each other, and that we Christians should abandon our arrogant absolutism and seek to combine the best of our traditions with the best in the heathen traditions, thus creating a truly universal faith, one which answers the needs of all people and all cultures. So you hear this kind of thing in the church. You hear these rationales, and they're rationales for compromise. and compromises something that the Lord of the church doesn't tolerate. This is the flaw that Jesus is addressing. He gives her time to repent. There's one other really interesting thing that he says here. He says, but she hasn't repented, so he threatens them and her children with great tribulation. Then he says he'll strike their children dead, and he'll give to each one, and he says, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart. The thing that we have to keep in mind, and we're going to see this later as well, is that all people, all Christians, everywhere, all people everywhere, are continually subject to the judgment of Christ, and that Christ is aware, and He is searching, and He knows, and He is watching. All the churches will know that I am He when this judgment comes, on Thyatira, they'll know that I'm the one who searches mind and heart. He judges the intents of the heart, and he knows them, and he searches them, and he's aware of these things constantly. And he says, I will give to each of you according to your works. So, you know, those who say, I've accepted Jesus, so it doesn't really matter what I do, or I can sin, and the grace of God overcomes my sin, so it really doesn't matter. I don't need to attend to works. No, works are an indication of faith, whether we have saving faith or we don't have saving faith. So this is why he is continually saying, according to your works, you'll be judged, because our works indicate the state of our minds and our hearts. And Jesus is assessing our minds and our hearts, how? In terms of our works. So he says, the rest of you who do not hold to this teaching, there are some who don't, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan. To you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. That kind of I don't lay on you any other burden." It sounds like an echo of the Council at Jerusalem's letter to the churches. We don't lay on you any other burden other than, and you give these four things, and two of them are eating food sacrificed to idols. This is what you don't do, eating food sacrificed to idols, and sexual immorality or fornication. He expects the same things. And you also notice that those admonitions through the Council of Jerusalem, what was the context? It was the context of how do we deal with Gentile churches? And in the context of the Judaizers who were saying, you must obey all the law of Moses. No, we're not going to put that burden on you. a burden that neither we nor our fathers could bear. That's what they say. But here's what we want. You abstain from these four things. And those four things were things that were involved in association with idols and pagan worship, the very things that would have prevented Jews and Gentiles from coexisting in common fellowship. But God, but it's God who frowns on any kind of idolatrous practice. And this goes all the way back to the Old Testament. The very things that Greek pagan worship involved were the things that Canaanite pagan worship involved. Worship of idols and sexual immorality with temple prostitutes, which was something that pointed to a spiritual adultery. It's no accident that idolatrous pagan worship involved real sexual immorality because it involved spiritual sexual immorality, spiritual adultery, spiritual fornication. So that was true in the Old Testament. It was true in what they faced in Greek culture, Hellenistic culture in the New Testament. Very interesting that those things were common to both and so God condemns both. Jesus condemns both here. But notice that he says this. The real issue here is something that was deeper than just even what we've talked about so far. It was something that is sort of Satan's strategy, and that is that he deceived us into seeking salvation through chaos. Now, I'm going to quote something else here because I think it's really good. And I could try to summarize this myself, but I think, again, R.J. Rush Dooney, his book, The One and the Many, which is a really deep book. The problem with reading Rush Dooney is that if you're not as well-read as he is, he'll refer to books and things that you've never heard of, and he'll expect that you're aware of them. And so sometimes he can be hard to follow. But here's what he says. Jezebel's doctrine of sanctification through idolatry and fornication was simply a slightly Christianized version of the most ancient heresy in the world, and one which has been manifested in every culture from the beginning, salvation through chaos. I want you to think about that and think about our society right now, and what's happening in our society right now, in American society. Increasing movement toward disorder and chaos, and often by design. And it can't be denied that it's by design. But I think what that points out is that it is satanic. And we have to realize it's satanic. So here's what Rush Nunez says about this. Eve saw chaos, anarchy, and revolution as the key to wisdom and the attainment of divine status. And the original adulteress has had many followers, as R.J. Rushdini points out. Here's his quote. Chaos, as revitalization, has a long and continuing history in Western civilization. You're aware of that? And with the French Revolution, it gained a new vitality as revolution and sexual chaos became the means to social regeneration. In the world of art, the creative artist came to be identified as of necessity with a social and sexual anarchist. This is what art with no form or no rules Pop art, you know, as it was called in the 60s. Architecture with asymmetry as the rule rather than symmetry. Classical order being abandoned in art. If you know anything about art history, you know what we're talking about. And in popular thinking, order and morality came to mean monotony and devitalizing. devitalizing, innervating Pauls, whereas lawlessness means liberty and power. The middle-aged fleeing and sexual license came into being as a grasping after renewal. And now I don't know what he means by this, but I think he's talking about, I think he's talking about in Southern culture. before the Civil War, and Negress prostitutes came to be used as a change of luck device, and a special sin against order as a means of recharging of luck and power. Basic to all these manifestations from ancient Egypt through Caesar to modern man is one common hope. Destroy order to create order afresh, or even more bluntly, destroy order to create order. Now he didn't mention one thing, but the form this is taking in our society is Marxism. And Marxism always advocates revolution. We tear down all existing order. That's what's being attacked. Defund the police. Lawlessness. a whole, you know, the destruction of our legal system. It's integrative. The use of the legal system arbitrarily to enforce rules that go against the laws and are illegal themselves. I mean, that's what we see happening right before our eyes. And it is satanic. And it's the very thing that is referred to here as the deep things of Satan. Because in ancient society, in ancient Roman society, this is what the mystery cults were about. Again, the destruction of order. Satan always brings chaos. It's always a return to chaos. Salvation is always a movement from chaos to order. just as God did in Genesis chapter 1. And as He calls us to do as rulers under Him. And we see that now in His promises here. You haven't learned what some call the deep things of Satan. To you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast to what you have until I come, the one who conquers and keeps my works until the end." What does he give? He says, I will give authority over the nations. Now what he's doing is he's referring to Psalm 2. And he's referring to the fact that statism, the rulers of the earth, represent the kingdom of Satan as a rule. And they are trying to throw off the rule of God. They say, let us throw off their fetters and cast off their chains. But the one enthroned in heaven, how does he respond? He laughs at how absurd it is, this rebellion against God's authority and God's order. And what is his answer? He says, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. Who is he? He is the son of David, Davidic covenant. Who is the son of God? To whom God has given a kingdom. He has installed His King on Zion, His holy hill. That's the answer to the rebellion of the nations representing the rebellion of Satan and the destruction of God's order. His answer is, I've imposed My order through My King that I have installed on Zion. But this is the restoration in establishing Him what has happened. God has re-established the Kingdom of God. And what do we say the Kingdom of God is? What's the definition of the Kingdom of God? The shorthand definition? My definition? It's the rule of God through His image-bearer, man. God mediates His rule through His image-bearer, man. And so this is why the one He's installed is the God, man. and why in union with Him, what's the promise? Well, it's right here. He promises us what the Father promises the Son in Psalm 2. It's a quote, it's a virtual quote of Psalm 2. This is what the Father promises the Son, and Jesus in turn is promising us. the One who overcomes, the One who conquers, and who keeps My works until the end, to Him I will give, that is, the One who perseveres. To Him I will give authority over the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I Myself have received authority from My Father. And so we share in the authority that God has delegated the God-man, the Messiah, His Son, the Son of God, the Davidic King. We share in that rule. That's God's will. And to those who are being persecuted, I want to read you, because I think it's so good, Chilton's commentary on this. You know, this is all, it points to what God promises through the prophet Isaiah. The ones who will not serve us, the nations who will not serve us, God's people, God's covenant people, will perish. Because we are destined to exercise dominion increasingly, progressively. That's begun at the first coming of Christ. It's consummated at the second coming of Christ. But these promises were originally made to Israel, but they're now fulfilled. They're still fulfilled in Israel, but Israel has now been expanded. Not just national Israel, ethnic Israelites. So listen to this, it's really good. For the persecuted and seemingly weak church in Thyatira, this was good news. At the time, they were at the mercy of a powerful economic and political power. We're seeing much the same thing. Can you identify with this? We're seeing much the same thing here today. Stateism and state worship were increasing. Even their fellow Christians were being seduced by false prophets and heretics. To be a faithful Christian in Thyatira meant hardship and suffering, and not necessarily a very glorious, headline-making sort of suffering either. I can remember when I first started doing campus ministry in Fayetteville, Arkansas, there was a group in the church there that would go picket abortion clinics. Okay, so far so good, that's good. But they would try as hard as they could to get arrested. and spend the night in jail. And it would be like this badge of honor, and they'd say, yeah, we got arrested. And it was kind of like they were getting glory by being arrested, by being publicly persecuted. It was something they were looking for. And it was not hard to see the perniciousness in that. It wasn't anything really praiseworthy at all. Because what they wanted was public glorification through persecution. Well, that's not what Thyatira was experiencing. You know, he says, and I think this is just really perceptive, this comment, to be a faithful Christian in Thyatira meant hardship and suffering and not necessarily a very glorious headline-making sort of suffering either. Just the day-to-day grind of faithfulness to God's Word. The fact of being unemployed and unemployable in the midst of a booming economy, when everyone around them could get work for the mere price of burning a little incense, eating a little meat from a pagan altar, and engaging in a little harmless sex between consenting adults. There was no opportunity for a great moral crusade. Everyone just thought you were weird. And night after night, your children would cry for food. No, this kind of martyrdom was not very glamorous at all. But those who remained faithful were promised that they would overcome, that they would rule with Christ. The situation would be reversed. The tables were about to be turned. Christ was coming to save and to judge. The sufferings of these Christians did not mean the end of the world, but rather the beginning. What may have seemed like the approach of a long, dark night was really the herald of Christ's triumph over the nations. The conflicts they experienced were not a sign of Christ's defeat by the world, but simply the assurance that the battle had finally been joined, and the inspired prophecy of Psalm 2 guaranteed that their Lord would be victorious and they with Him. It was paganism, statism, and Judaism which were about to enter the darkness as Christ entered the lights, turned the lights out all across apostate Israel and the Roman Empire. But for Christians, the night was just ending. The redeemed and liberated universe was rushing headlong into a bright day. Christ was about to give these overcomers the morning star. You know, when I was reading this, and it came to me as I was studying for this, I was When I was reading this letter, I was thinking, okay, He's promising them soon relief, and He says, I will come. And when Jesus throughout these letters says, I'm coming, He's not talking about the second coming, because Christ is continually coming in judgment. And the prophets testify of this. The theme of the book of Zephaniah is the day of the Lord, and it's not just talking about the final judgment, but it's God's judgment on the nations that occurs in history. And the book of Nahum is about judgment on Assyria. And the book of Obadiah is about judgment on the nation of Edom. And these are judgments that come in history, not waiting till the final eschatological day of the Lord. God is constantly coming. Christ is coming in judgment because everyone everywhere is accountable to him continually. And so when He says, I will come quickly, and He says it in a letter we're about to look at subsequent to this. When He says, you know, this is coming. If you don't repent, here's what's coming. But listen, the one who overcomes, relief is on the way. I think about what Jesus says in the parable of the widow who prays. and gets relief, and the friend at midnight, where Jesus says, and will God withhold relief for His godly ones who cry to Him day and night? No, He will give them justice and quickly. So the type of persecution that is faced by Christians in history is not... The message here is something that applies to us in our tribulation, in our persecution. Ours is relatively light in this country right now compared to people around the world, but I don't think it's going to be for long. But what we should know is that God knows, God sees, Christ sees, and that He will judge those who do such things. He is watching His church. He's watching over His church. He's watching over His people. And He'll bring relief. And He'll bring relief from that persecution. He'll bring judgment on those who persecute His people quickly. It won't last long. I think that's the rule. And I think we're going to see it here a little later too. Okay, so next is Sardis. Okay, let's talk about a little bit of background for Sardis. Sardis was a wealthy and famous city, but the church there And what we read here in the letter to Sardis, the church had become secularized. It had compromised with its pagan environment so that it was barely distinguishable anymore from its pagan environment. And this was not necessarily known or realized by the people in Sardis. It appeared to be prosperous. The church was wealthy. Precisely because Satan looks at a church like this and says, what's the point in persecuting a church like this? My purposes are pretty well served right now. They've compromised so much with the world that it's no challenge to the world. It's not salt and light anymore. So what's the point in persecution? But they're dead. And in dead, he doesn't mean there's a lack of youth activities It has formal worship, so it's dead. No, that's not what he's talking about. It's dead in the same way that Paul says that the Ephesians, before they were converted, were dead. They are following the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air. They're following that. In other words, they're not following Christ anymore. They're not distinct. They're not holy. They're just like the world. So, one thing that becomes relevant as we read this later, Sardis was built on a mountain that had a nearly impregnable acropolis on one of the spurs of the mountain. And this was set high and it was impregnable because there was no way to get up to it without being vanquished. Because it was set high and it was impregnable. And yet, twice in the history of Sardis, it had been taken unawares and captured by enemies. That history is relevant to what's said to the church here. And I think there's reference to that history because of what he says to the church. So he says, to the church in Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Of course, the seven spirits of God, that's a reference to the Holy Spirit that proceeds from the Father and the Son. And the seven stars are the angels or the leadership of the seven churches. And so, right off the bat, Christ identifies himself as the one who possesses the Holy Spirit and who possesses these, who owns the leadership of the church. In other words, he has authority and he says, I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you're dead. Now right off the bat, can we see... I almost hesitate to talk of particular churches, but I have to say this because the irony is just so rich. We've got Life Church. It called Life Church. I've been to a life church service once when I was on my sabbatical several years ago. And all the things that I would say about having a reputation of being alive, lots of people, lots of activity, lots of excitement, but I don't see any challenge to the particular sins of our culture or of our age. This sermon is 10 steps to financial security. Things like that. That's what the content is. It's not really, what does this passage of Scripture say to God's people? It's usually always topical and it's usually something that doesn't rattle the cage. I know for a fact that people have gone to pastors at Life Church and talked to them about the need to get involved in opposing abortion, and they refuse to do it. It's too controversial. And I want to say, man, that's exactly what's been talked about here. You have a reputation for being alive, but you're dead. You are following the ways of this world. You become indistinguishable from the culture. He says, what is his admonition? Two things. First he says, wake up. Wake up. Realize the danger. You think you're alive. But you don't even realize your spiritual state. And he says, wake up. You're like those people in Sardis when the city was taken over because you'd fallen asleep and your enemies overtook you when you weren't even aware of it. When you weren't even aware there was danger. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have not found your work complete in the sight of my God." They haven't completed their works. There's a lack of works. A lack of works. Remember then what you received and heard. Do you remember what the apostles said when they were challenged? They said, we cannot help but speak of the things that we have seen and heard. And Paul says to Timothy, the things that you have received from me pass on to faithful men who will be faithful, who will be competent to teach others. And Christ is pointing this church to the same thing. He's saying, you've received, what does Jude say? I was going to write to you about our common faith, but then I became convinced that I needed to write to you and exhort you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. God has given us a deposit. We are to contend for this faith that has been entrusted to the church. This is something we've received. And so he says, Remember what you've received and heard. Keep it. And then the second is repent. If you don't wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. And notice that I will come against you. And so this thief in the night thing is not something that's talking about the rapture It's not talking about the second coming of Christ. It's going about, it's a local judgment on this church that is common to how Christ works. He is continually coming in judgment. And so, it's not talking about, I mean, to attribute this, to say this is like, associated with Christ's second coming or the rapture or something like that. It's ridiculous, really, if you look at it in context. But he says, you still have a few names and stories, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Now, what occurs to me when I read that verse is a couple of different things. One is, concept of white clothing, and white clothing is referred to seven times in Revelation, and it always refers to God's salvation of his people by making them like the glory cloud, which shines. In other words, again, it's the restoration of the image of God by clothing our nakedness, our shameful nakedness, because we are sinful. The nakedness exposes our sinfulness. It's a covering, but it's covering in white that mimics the glory cloud and its brightness. And it speaks of righteousness. And it speaks of righteousness both in the sense of imputed righteousness, Christ's righteousness with which we're clothed, and the progressive righteousness to which we attain through our sanctification, culminating in our glorification. So it includes both, and different references in Revelation refer to both of those senses. You can't say that it's just the imputed righteousness of Christ for which we get credit. But also, the actual working of righteousness in us is also referred to as white clothing. And the other thing is that he says, they will walk with me in white, for they have not soiled their garments. And they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. I think of an RUF conference when we were singing a song. At an RUF conference, it was... I can't remember. Let's see. Faithful I would be. Worthy of your love for me. Worthy I would be. That was the essence of the song. We got through singing and the speaker came up and he said, I can't believe that RUF would sing a song like that because we're not worthy. We can't be worthy. And immediately when I heard that, I was thinking of the admonition in Ephesians. Walk in a manner worthy of the calling you receive. That's the command. The song was saying worthy I would be. It didn't say we were. Christ commands us to have that goal, that is our goal, to walk in a manner worthy of, and here he says, he calls people in Sardis worthy. They will walk with me in white for they are worthy. He's not talking about sinless perfection. What he's talking about is the obedience of faith. And there is a worthiness, the ones who are worthy to walk with Christ are those who do have a changed life and an increasing pattern of putting sin to death and a pattern of obedience to life. That's a manner of walking, that's a manner of life that he says is worthy of the calling we've received. Again, it's covenantal obedience. It is blamelessness, to use another term that the Bible uses. But it's just very striking that here's the biblical balance with this terminology. There are lots of people who want to say, well, nobody can be worthy and and we're sinners, but Christ's grace overcomes our sin. And so, again, the pitfall that was some of the heresy that's being taught in these churches is licentiousness, the motivation for which is a notion of the grace of God that means our sin doesn't matter. And that's not true. Isn't it interesting that The New Testament continually condemns licentiousness and the false conclusion that because Christ has dealt with our sin that our sin no longer matters. But it does matter. And those who are saved are expected to live lives of obedience, not without some indwelling sin, of course, but increasing and growing obedience. This is the manifestation of salvation. And, you know, you can't read this and not get that. The warnings of Scripture are constant. and severe about, and Christ is warning his church, he's not warning pagans out there, he's warning his church about the danger of these things. So, I'll come like a pig, you will not know what hour I will come against you. You have some of them, it's all their garments, they're worthy, Then again, here is constant refrain, a call to overcoming, a call to conquer, a call which is really a call to dominion. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels. Recall Jesus' words in Matthew 10 and Mark 8 and Luke 21. Whoever confesses my name before men, I will confess his name before my Father. Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father. He who has an ear, let him hear. What the Spirit says to the church is because if you don't have an ear to hear, what you can expect is judgment. Now, I want to read this, what is this blot out of the book of life? Again, I love how Chilton deals with this, how he deals with the errors. I think there's a better way to express what John and what Jesus mean, actually mean by that. What is this blot out of the book of life? Does it mean that you can Well, he says there are three, and we'll close with this, that there are three common understandings. He says, I will not erase his name from the book of life. This statement has been the source of controversy for generations. Can a true Christian fall away? Can you lose your salvation? At least three erroneous answers have been offered. Number one, those who have been truly saved by Christ's redemption can fall away. And by the way, as I'm reading this, you can laugh at the parts that are kind of humorous. I think there's some humorous parts to it. Those who have been truly saved by Christ's redemption can fall away and be lost forever. This is the classical Arminian position, and it is absolutely and categorically denied by scripture. The nature of the salvation provided by Christ is eternal, and our justification in God's sight is not based on our works, but on the perfect, finished righteousness and substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. And he gives a lot of scripture references. I hope y'all could come up with a number of them. Number two, all those who have, quote, accepted Christ, close quote, will be saved. No matter what they do afterwards, they cannot be damned. I have another term for it, but this is the classic quote chicken evangelical quote first quote position. And it too, it too is opposed by scripture. Those who take this view are attempting to have it both ways. They don't want the predestinating God preached by the Calvinist, but they don't have the courage to affirm full Arminianism either. They want eternal security. They want man to be sovereign in choosing his salvation without interference from God's decree, yet they want the door of salvation to slam shut as soon as man gets inside so that he can't get out. But the Bible teaches that God has absolutely predestined all things and rules sovereignly over all. He has infallibly chosen all who will be saved, extending His irresistible grace toward them. And He has determined who will be damned, withholding His grace from them." And he gives a number of scripture references. The Bible also teaches, however, that there are those who profess Christ and by all accounts appear to be among the elect who will finally apostatize from the faith and inherit damnation rather than salvation. Judas is the obvious example, but he is by no means the only one. The Old Testament provides countless examples of members of the covenant who departed from the faith And the New Testament warns us again and again of the wrath of God against those who break His covenant. Gives a lot more scripture references. As John Murray wrote, it is utterly wrong to say that a believer is secure quite irrespective of his subsequent life of sin and unfaithfulness. The truth is that the faith of Jesus Christ is always respective of the life of holiness and fidelity. And so it is never proper to think of a believer irrespective of the fruits in faith and holiness. To say that a believer is secure, whatever may be the extent of his addiction to sin and his subsequent life, is to abstract faith in Christ from its very definition. and it ministers to that abuse which turns the grace of God into lasciviousness. The doctrine of perseverance is the doctrine that believers persevere. It cannot be too strongly stressed that it is the perseverance of the saints. And that means that the saints, those united to Christ by the effectual call of the Father and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, will persevere unto the end. If they persevere, they endure, they continue. It is not at all that they will be saved irrespective of their perseverance or their continuance, but that they will assuredly persevere. Consequently, the security that is theirs is inseparable from their perseverance. Is this not what Jesus said? He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And here's number three, finally. Everyone in the world is written in the Book of Life, but unbelievers are erased from it after they have passed the age of accountability. This idea is so ridiculous that the Bible doesn't even take time to refute it directly, although the passages already listed demonstrate that it is pure poppycock, to put it nicely. To put it nicely. Where in scripture is there a shred of evidence for an age of accountability? Where does the Bible give any support whatsoever to the following little gem from a well-known Christian scholar? Here's the quote, since Christ died for the sin inherent in every person conceived, A child who dies before becoming a deliberate and conscious sinner does not need to be saved from sin since he has never sinned, and since Christ has made propitiation for his innate sin. Well, and the footnote he puts here is, out of sincere respect for this God-fearing author who has rendered the church valuable service, I shall omit his name. But he says he's a well-known Christian scholar. Now here's his comment. There are at least five theological errors in that one sentence, but let's zero in on the main point. The notion that children are basically sinless or without deliberate sin when they're born and remain in that condition until they reach the mystical age of accountability. In the first place, the true age of accountability is reached at the moment of conception. All men at all times are accountable to God. See Psalm 51.5, surely I've been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Second, all men are under the sentence of condemnation already. Apart from the saving grace of God, they are condemned from the moment they exist because of the covenant of works. That's my edition, sorry. Why else do babies die? Isn't that a great question? If babies are innocent, why do babies die? Third, infants are deliberate sinners. Even from birth, the wicked go astray. From the womb, they are wayward and speak lies. That's Psalm 58, 3. And he gives a number of other references. Now, either the age of accountability doctrine is in error or the Bible is wrong. Which are we to believe? The fact is that the idea of the essential sinlessness of infants is a pagan notion, unsupported by the Bible. It is merely anti-Christian sentimentalism, which refuses to hear the word of God and attempts to replace it with the word of man, or more likely with the word of effeminate poets scribbling mushy greeting cards. It is right on the same level with the sentiment that every time a fairy blows its wee nose, a baby is born. He said, it is the notion that babies are sinless is right on the same level with the sentiment that every time a fairy blazes, we know a baby is born. To conclude this, or that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his name. To conclude this point, the threat stated by Jesus Christ here is very real. Now this is where he talks about what it does mean, and I'm going to say that myself because I think he could do better on that. I think he would agree with this, but the book of life is the book of those who are in the covenant. It's the book of covenant membership. And you can be blotted out of the book of life through apostasy. And Korah and Dathan and Abiram and many in the generation who refused to enter the promised land were blotted out of the book. Romans 11, those Jews who were part of, they were in the tree of life, they were in the olive tree, they were in the covenant, they were broken off because of unbelief in Christ. And they were excommunicated. This is what excommunication is. And so, being blotted out of the Book of Life means being blotted out of covenant status, covenant membership. Because salvation is mediated through covenant membership. And we receive the blessings of God through faith, but what blessings are those? They're the blessings of the covenant. They're the promises of the covenant. They're covenantal. That's what it means to be blotted out of the Book of Life. It's, again, like so many things, our categories are inadequate to deal with the terminology of Scripture unless we understand them covenantally. It's the covenant that brings everything together and makes it make sense. It's that rubric. It's that framework. That's the Scriptural framework. I will never blot his name out of the book of life. Okay, so we finished that. So we're 3 for 9. Next week, Philadelphia. Oh, that's right. Week after next.