Hi, this is Pastor William. On behalf of the members of Providence Baptist Church, I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and thank you for joining us. It is our joy to share God's truth, and we trust that the preaching of God's Word will always bless His people. But we humbly remind you that no recording can ever replace biblical corporate worship or true Christian fellowship. So we encourage everyone everywhere to commit themselves to the service of God's kingdom in a local church. And we pray that the Lord keep and bless you as you continue to earnestly seek Him. Amen. Amen. Please be seated and turn with me again to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2 in our study of this vision that's given to the Apostle John. And the Lord, in his vision, is commanding John to write. And then he's writing to, specifically at this time, writing specific little snippets that will be letters given to the churches. Now, this isn't individual letters that went out individually. But this is one big letter the entire book of Revelation went out to all of these churches And then these little parts paragraphs snippets these little pages, whatever Whatever you want to call it these parts were focused specifically at these particular churches We've looked at Ephesus and Smyrna and last Not last week, but the week before Pergamum and today we're looking at Thyatira now remember I wish I had a map here, so just imagine with me, the island of Patmos is where John is, about 60 miles to the northeast. There would have been Ephesus on the coast there of Asia Minor. North of that would have been Smyrna. Northern still would have been Pergamum. And now we turn to the southeast a bit, and that brings us about 40 miles. That brings us to the city of Thyatira. Now, remember Pergamum and Ephesus, they were politically important cities. Smyrna was an important city, too. It was a prominent city, but not as politically as Pergamum and Ephesus. Well, Thyatira is neither. It is small and, I mean, one might say it was insignificant. It was a little more than an outpost. If you think about it, if you ever get a chance to look at the map and look at the mountains and the rivers, Thyatira is an outpost to the southeast of Pergamum. Now, Pergamum is politically significant. So you would have put Thyatira out there. It is a pathway, because of the valleys and the rivers there, a pathway for commerce, but more importantly, there was a garrison of Roman guards that were posted out there. Not because they could really defend the eastern border, they were more like a speed bump for anybody that was coming in to attack. So that would have given the king or the governor of the province there, would have given them time to respond because Thyatira is in the valley, so it was at the bottom. It didn't have an elevated position, so it was difficult to defend So, the soldiers there, the only thing that would have slowed down an invading army was just the grit and the training of the soldiers there, which is significant for Roman soldiers. But still, they would not have stopped an invading army, but it would have given them time to respond. That's where Thyatira is, so it's not an important An important city in that regard. It is not politically distinctive, but it is commercially important. That's the big thing that Thyatira is known for. The trade guilds and how much commerce went on there. Archaeologists have uncovered trade guilds for potters and bakers and cobblers and weavers, metal workers of all kinds. If you could think of a trade from first century culture, then you probably had a guild there working in Thyatira. The most important, one of the most famous one, the one that we get from Scripture Acts chapter 16 it mentions Lydia who heard the preaching of Paul and the Lord opened her heart and she believed and Lydia was a trader of purple cloth from Thyatira so purple cloth was expensive there were different grades of it you know different different qualities of the cloth and the color of the dye. But she was a dealer in this, and that's how she made her living. And she obviously traveled, so her business was extensive, and she had a home in Philippi and Thyatira, so she was doing well for herself. So this is what we know of Thyatira. It was a small city. It's the smallest city that we will look at in our study of Revelation, but it does get the longest letter. So with that, let's go ahead and take a look at the text. This is Revelation chapter two. We'll be reading verses 18 through 29. 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 is 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 their works, of her works. And I will strike her children dead, and 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 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 what you have until I come. and the one who conquers, and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen 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 churches. So here we see that structure again, we have the introduction, we have the content and the conclusion, and in that introduction you have the command from Christ to John to write, and who he's writing to, and then you have the description of who the author is, which is Christ. And you have what he says to them, the rebuke and the commendations. And this one starts off, we remember in Ephesus, he started off by saying, I know your works. And in Smyrna, I know your affliction. And in Pergamum, I know your dwelling. Those are the first things that Christ says to the city. And then here we're back to works. I know your works. Now that covers everything that Christ is saying to his churches. I know what you're doing. I know the circumstances that you're living in, where you are in the affliction that you are under. And I know your works. I know what you're doing now. That's not to say that we are saved by our works, but our works are important. Salvation brings us into a right relationship with Christ, with God, and it enables us to do the things that are pleasing to the Lord, because we're doing them for His glory. You can do good works all day long, but if you do them for the wrong reasons, your motives matter. If you do them for the wrong reasons, they're not for the glory of God. then they're not good works. They're not good works. 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17 read, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. So here we have everything we need to do good works. Israel had everything they needed to serve and worship God properly. But simply having the information does not do it. It will not save you. It is by His Spirit, by His Word, that we are equipped to do these good works. And Christ knows them. He knows our works. If you are a citizen of His kingdom, then you have everything at your hand. You're fully equipped. You just have to go, rightly divide the Word of God, apply it to your life. If you are His citizen, then you should be about His work. Not for our glory, but for His glory. As Matthew 5.16 says, let your light shine, that the world may know they may see your light and glorify the Father who is in heaven. So it's not for your benefit, it's for the benefit of the kingdom. In addition to their works, Christ commends them for their love and their faithfulness and their service, and this word that's used for service is indicating a service done for others to help them, and for their patient endurance, their love, and their faithfulness, their service, and their patient endurance, and all of this is growing, growing in good works. It's as if God is saying, it is as if Christ is saying, good job. But all of that, brothers and sisters, does not excuse you from what follows. Above all of this, Christ says their latter works exceeded their first, but that does not excuse them for what He is about to rebuke them for. So they can have everything right and still tolerate sin and be wrong. This is the church you would think was a model that other churches would follow. Love, faithfulness, service, patience, endurance. But He says, I have something against you. So let's take a closer look at this letter and pick some of these things out. In verse 18, And to the angel of the church of Thyatira write, The words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. Now this is the description that Christ is giving them. And as always, it's referring back to something that was given in chapter one. In reference to the son of God, in the Jewish thought, if you were the son of something, then it doesn't simply mean that you were descended from them, but you have the essence of who they are. So in Isaiah chapter 57, verse three, When it says that they were the sons of the sorceress, that means that they had that spirit about them and that they were practiced sorcery. And in Mark 3, verse 17, speaking of the sons of thunder, it meant that they have that characteristic about them, that they were loud, that they could be intimidating. So it's that essence that carries that meaning with it. So it's the same here, the Son of God carried that divine essence and that divine authority and has eyes like a flame of fire. We spoke about that in several sermons back revelation chapter 1 verse 14 eyes like a flame of fire he's his eyes are penetrating his gaze is penetrating nothing can be hidden from him he does not need the light of day to see he sees everything even into the darkest the darkest places that we have nothing can be hidden from Christ nothing can be hidden from his gaze and then His feet are like burnished bronze. Remember, we also spoke about that. This word, the word is kal-ka-leh-bah-nan. It's a difficult word. It only appears twice in scripture, in two verses, and it's right here. And what it means exactly is kind of difficult, but certainly it means some sort of gleaming, refined metal. gleaming refined metal but it gives you the impression that this is something right out of the furnace that is hot and it's gleaming like fine brass burnished bronze you may have a different translation but that's what most of them were and this is if you remember from our study from chapter 1 verse 15 this is in reference it is associated with sacrifice and judgment from the Old Testament with the bronze altars so Christ is divine he sees everything and he's going to bring judgment Nothing can be hidden from Him, so you cannot get away with the little sins that nobody else knows about, because He knows, He knows. Verse 19, I know your works, your love, your faith, your service, your patience and endurance. So here, they had love for God and for one another. They had faith, they were trusting in God. They were serving, they were busy serving one another. And they were suffering well. They were suffering well. These are the things that Ephesus was doing, but had no love. They had no love for one another. But even in this city, he says, I know your works, your love, your faith, your service, your patience, your endurance. Even in this unimportant city, his people are not left abandoned. The Lord knows what they're doing. And these are essential, commendable qualities. As I mentioned earlier, most people would look at this church as an example. And they are growing in these things. Your latter works exceed your first. your ladder works, it means they're growing in these things, and we are called to grow. 2 Peter, you can write this down, and I'm not gonna read it, but 2 Peter 3.18, we're called to grow in our knowledge of God, and Ephesians 4.24, we are called to grow in our own personal holiness. So growth is necessary. In fact, without growth, what do we call it? You would be stagnant. There may be no life in you. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and is teaching and seducing My servants to practice sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. So even though they are growing in their love and their faith and their good works and their perseverance, that does not excuse them from the sin that they tolerate. This is a serious issue. despite all the good. This is a series, remember Matthew 23, 23, where Christ tells the Pharisees, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. You are so diligent to pay attention, to give credence to all the little details of the law. You even tithe from the spices that you grow in your garden, but you neglect the heavier, weightier things of the law. So even though The Christians in Thyatira are diligent in their love, their faith, their servant, their patient endurance. They are not excused from the sin that they still tolerate, which is they tolerate that woman Jezebel. And we'll get to more of that as we move on. But you know Jezebel, who she was, and what she's known for from the passages that we read earlier. Verse 21, I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. I gave her time to repent. implying there that she was called to repentance, that somewhere the elders at the church were engaging with her. So she had opportunity to repent, but she refused to repent. This is the same God, brothers and sisters, that we read about through all those Old Testament prophets. This is the God that called Israel back over and over again, calling them to repentance. and yet they refused. It is God that chastised them with drought, with pestilence, with fire, and yet they still refused to return to Him. Genesis chapter 6 verse 3 says that God says that He will not strive with man forever. There comes a point in time where you either repent or God turns you over in your sin and leaves you. You choose your path and he lets you continue on it. Verse 22, behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of their works. So Jesus is telling them, unless you repent, this is what I'm going to do. This is what I'm going to do. He's going to throw her on the sickbed. This Greek word here is also used for a banquet couch where they would have their feasts. It says, your point of sin is going to be the point of sickness. This is where your judgment is going to come from. Or this is how I'm going to judge you. That your punishment will be right there at the table where you have shamed my name. And we know from 1 Corinthians 11 that the Lord often used sickness and even death to chastise his people. It sets an example for those around. We'll see that later as we go. And he speaks of committing adultery. Now, this is both in a sexual nature and in a spiritual nature. This is what Jezebel was teaching them. These two are always equated through Scripture. and idolatry, the worship of false gods associated with adultery, because it's the worst kind of betrayal between people. And it's even worse, it's a worse betrayal with God to worship false idols. Now, keep in mind, brothers and sisters, especially in verse 23, where it says, I will strike her children dead. This is Jesus Christ. This is the Messiah that is saying this. And He brings judgment. This is not the meek and mild standing outside the door of your heart, waiting for you to invite Him in, Jesus that is preached in so many churches. Yes, Christ could be meek and mild. Yes, His burden is light. But the fact of the matter is, he's the same one that wields that same rod of iron that struck down Jezebel from Israel and fed her flesh to the dogs. That's the same God. It's the same God that destroyed Israel and sent them into captivity. Not once, but twice with Babylon and then with Rome. The same God that destroyed all of the ten tribes of Israel and just dispersed them and never brought them back. This is the same God. He's not the God that stands out the door waiting for you to open. He's the God that eventually kicks in the door, blinds you, knocks you off your horse and blinds you, and demands obedience. This is a God who is sovereign. Christ is watching. He sees with eyes like flaming fire. And He says, stop sinning, or He will crush you with those feet of bronze. That's serious. It's serious, and you cannot rest on the fact that you have love and faith and patient endurance, and you have service to others. Those things are all good, but you also need to stop sinning. And continuing in verse 23, I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and will give to each of you according to your works." Now this idea of children, I read different commentaries on what this might mean, but basically what it refers to is those who embrace her teaching. Those who embrace her teaching. Now, when you think of children, you think of the next generation, which means that your actions don't just affect you, but they affect those downstream from your timeline, and the things that you teach affect others, as we mentioned earlier. But what the passage is talking about here was strike her children dead. It's not just her offspring that this is talking about, if she even has any. But this is referring to those who embraced her teachings and held to them. He has given them time to repent, but if there is no repentance, then chastisement comes. And there's no repentance after chastisement, then destruction. And look at this, that all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and the hearts. He's going to make an example. I've had this conversation with my oldest a couple of times. You've got a lot of little ones that are watching you. So be an example. I'll make you the example and that's what the Lord is saying here repent be an example of repentance look the mark of a Christian the mark of a Christian is not in his sin or in how little he sins the mark of a Christian is in how he repents when the Lord calls him on his sin because we all sin but we don't all repent The mark of a Christian is in repentance, and it sets an example for the other Christians that are watching. And the other Christians will look, and they will see, oh, she repented of her sins. And now they're continuing to grow in their love, and the Lord is blessing it more. But that's not what happened. What happened was, oh, They had all these good things, all these good characteristics, but they refused to repent of this sin that they were holding on to, and the Lord destroyed them. There is no church in Thyatira today, brothers and sisters. In fact, I could not find a source that would say how many Christians there were. I mean, there may be some, but it's insignificant at this point, which means that at some point, the threat that the Lord made about taking away the lampstand, that happened at Thyatira. which is further proof that we are to learn from all of these words, from all of this. Verse 24, but to the rest of you in Thyatira, the rest of you, the ones that aren't embracing the sins of Jezebel, these are the faithful ones that are uncompromising, to the rest of you who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, there are the Gnostics, and others who claim that they had the deeper secrets, the deeper knowledge, and you really had to learn the deep knowledge of God to really get to that next level of Christianity or to get into the next level of heaven. There's some doctrine today that are like that. Some false religions today that teach that there are different levels of heaven based on who you are or how much you know or how much work you do. And that's what, some commentary said this is what this is referring to, the deeper things. And like, remember Revelation 2.9 in Smyrna, the Christians that were afflicted by Jews, and Christ called them a synagogue of Satan. Now they're calling themselves a synagogue of God, but he's saying, revealing them that no, that's truly a synagogue of Satan. And Paul does in other places, 1 Corinthians 2, he does speak of the deeper things of God. But here he's saying, this is not the deep things of God that she's teaching. These are the deep things of Satan. They're not godly. Jezebel is not teaching the deep things of God. But then there are other commentaries who believe that she was actually teaching satanic things and saying that you can't truly understand the grace of God. You can't truly walk in Christian faith unless you've experienced the true sin. You have no reference for the contrast. It's craziness. But he says, I say to you, those who aren't doing this, I say to you, I do not lay any other burden on you. You might, I do not lay any other burden on you except that you hold fast, verse 25, until I come. There's no, you can't really separate those two verses there. So that's the only thing he's demanding of them is that they hold fast to what they've been taught. This current battle will not last forever. So if you grow tired, do not grow discouraged. Rest, revive, do what you have to do and re-engage in the battle at the point where you are at. Lord lays no other burdens on them. Verse 26, the one who conquers, and you all know my preference to the King James on that, the one who overcomes. I just like that word better. The one who overcomes and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nation. So those who endure until the end will rule with Christ. We will see more of this, we'll expand more on this as we move through, as we progress through Revelation. You'll especially see it at chapter 12 and 19 and 20. But it's echoed through all of the letters. This idea of if you overcome, then there are blessings. But there are blessings at the end only for faithful allegiance. Faithful allegiance to Christ in the midst of this hostile world. This all sort of has the echoes of Psalm chapter two, verses eight and nine. I'll read 7, 8, 9. It says, I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son, and today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. And you shall break them with a rod of iron, dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. So we see some of that here as we continue in verse 27. 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 the Father. So this is divine authority. We see it spoken of. This passage from Psalm 2 was always considered a messianic passage, pointing to the Messiah to come. And this word that's used for rule speaks, it's mostly related to shepherding, shepherding a flock. The word is related more to shepherding a flock than actually to governing a nation. And this rod, it speaks of absolute power and victory over his enemies. And the staff, remember the staff of a shepherd was used for a number of things. One of those things was defending the flock. Another thing was to corral them and to herd them the way that you wanted them to go. And then finally, or not finally, but verse 28, I will give to him the morning star. So these are some of the blessings that are given. They will rule with Christ and he will give them the morning star. And then finally in verse 29, he says, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. We've heard this three times already. Three times already we've heard Christ tell us, us particularly, if you have the ear, if you're listening, hear what I'm saying and learn. Hear what the church is saying. We're not just to hear it, but to do it. Remember the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7. at the ending there, 24 and 25, the storm beats against everybody, but the wise man prepares by hearing and doing, by hearing the word of God and by doing what it says. So we are called here to learn from this. So what can we learn from this passage? Well, I would pay particular attention to this woman, Jezebel. page when when Christ chastised Pergamum remember in that letter last time when Christ chastised Pergamum he said you have those among you who hold to the teachings So there were some Christians among them, or some brothers among them, some who professed, some who may have been Christians, may not have been Christians, but they held to the teaching of Balaam, which was a teaching of compromise, compromising with the world. Well here, in Thyatira, he's telling the whole church, he's not just saying, hey, you've got some of these in you, amongst you, who are holding to these teachings. Here, he's telling the entire church, you tolerate that woman Jezebel. That Greek word for tolerate is it means you allow, you permit, you know, and you allow it to continue. Now, put that in modern context when we're called to be tolerant. Understand what that means. Christ is saying here, as I read this and I see what's going on there, it seems to me that Christ is saying, you need to be careful what you tolerate. You need to be careful what you tolerate. The world's definition of tolerance, brothers and sisters, and hear me clearly on this, the world's definition of tolerance is not the same as the biblical virtue of still showing love and compassion to those you disagree with. That's a biblical virtue of tolerance, is that you don't crush somebody just because they disagree with you. You still respect them. They still bear an image of God. But that's not what the world means when they say tolerate. When the world says they want you to be tolerant, what they expect is that you to validate their sin and their error as equally true as what you believe. That's what the world means when they say that they want you to be tolerant. That you are intolerant. No, the fact that we're not persecuting you shows that we are tolerant. We're not the one forcing you to bake me a cake that says Jesus rules on the top. That's not what we're doing. And then there are so-called Christian, liberal so-called Christians, who may or may not be Christian. All I can tell is by their actions and what some of them call us to when they speak of tolerance is not a biblical virtue of showing love and compassion to those who disagree with you. No, what they expect from you or what they're calling you for is an intellectual paralysis that refuses to express clear, objective truth from Scripture. That's not tolerance. That's cowardice. So be careful what you tolerate. Be careful what you tolerate. Yes, as Christians, we are to be tolerant. We are to show love and compassion to those who disagree with us. But we are not given an ounce of room or an inch of room to compromise on what God has told us to do. There are some things, brothers and sisters, as loving as he is, there are some things that Jesus Christ will absolutely not tolerate. And one of them is holding on to your secret sins. Jezebel is one of them. The teachings of Jezebel. It's one of the things that he will not tolerate. Now, that brings us to the question of this particular woman, Jezebel. Is it a real woman? Is it a real person that he's speaking of here? He speaks of that woman. There are some commentators that said that that translation could be just as well translated as your woman. As if he's speaking directly to the person that he's writing to, if you believe that he's writing to the pastors, telling this pastor in this church that your woman, your wife or your mistress, whoever this is, it's your woman who calls herself a prophetess and she's not, and she's leading my people astray. So, is it a real person? An actual individual? I believe that the language is clear that yes. It's a real individual person. Remember, this is not a city the size of Pergamum or the size of Ephesus. You know, there's not 100,000 people here. There's not a lot known about the demography of Thyatira at the time. I read different things from 20 to 50,000 people possibly living in this city. So it's small. So it's small. But the language here, I think, is clear that it's pointing to a particular individual. And this is probably not her real name. I'm quite certain that it's not her real name because it's referring, same as Balaam, it's referring to the example that was set by the Jezebel of the Old Testament. So I'm sure she didn't choose this name for herself either. The name Jezebel means chaste. It's where we get the word chastity from. It means to abstain from sexual immorality, which is kind of ironic when you think that's exactly what she was leading the Israelites into, and that's exactly what this woman is leading the Christians into. It's a reference to that Old Testament false prophetess that we read about in 1 Kings this morning. Keep in mind, remember when we talked about Smyrna. Smyrna was a big city, 150, 200,000 people at the time. There was still one church, one Christian church. There wasn't the Presbyterian church on one corner and a Baptist church on another corner and a Pentecostal church. No, they were all together. Did they all argue about baptism and tongues and all that stuff? Yes. They just continued to focus or they continued to be united together. They continue to be united as Christians. And there was that one elder, well, there was multiple elders, but there was that one, they called him the bishop, probably because he was the most senior elder, Polycarp. Remember we spoke about Polycarp. That's an actual person that was in Smyrna at the time. John knew him. John was writing the letter to him or to the church there. So he would have gotten that letter and all the Christians would have known Polycarp. Now Thyatira is a much smaller city. Same thing, one church, one body of believers, one body of elders, all united, all serving together. They would have known who this person was. It wasn't like, hey, you're tolerating this spirit of sin in your church. No, they would have known this is a woman. This is the woman that Christ is talking about here. Now, her name's not Jezebel, but she's the one that's teaching people to do these things. They would have known who Christ was talking about because of what she was doing, because her actions would have pointed her out, and nobody would have been able to hide or deny it any longer. Nobody would have been able to argue about it. Well, let me teach you about the finer points of the deeper things of God and how Jezebel is right. No, Christ just laid it out for you, brother. You're wrong, and she's in sin for teaching others to sin. She was teaching others and seducing him, as he says, seducing his servants into practicing what was the culturally acceptable sins of their day, which included a lot of sexual immorality and participating in the pagan feasts, which often led to the sexual immorality, often led to drunkenness. and lasciviousness and temple prostitution. And in some way, this woman was teaching them how to incorporate that, I use my air quotes, how to incorporate that into their Christian worship, or how to keep it compartmentalized so that you don't mix them up, so that you can justify yourself when someone calls you out for being a hypocrite. In ancient Israel, Jezebel led God's people to worship false gods, and she slaughtered, as best as she could, the true prophets and the true priests of God. Well, we have no indication that this Jezebel is doing that, but it's the same spirit. It's the same spirit. So the spirit that leads people into sin, when he has the opportunity to bear his claws, I use he in the general reference here, when that spirit has the opportunity through the government or through whatever to bear its claws, it will draw blood. Thyatira, this woman that Jesus calls Jezebel, was doing the same thing. Leading his people into this kind of sin. Now remember the trade guilds I mentioned. Thyatira had all these trade guilds there. So if you wanted to work, if you wanted to work a particular trade, you had to be a part of the trade guild. Well, to be a part of the trade guild, well, there was some things you had to do. You had to participate in their feasts. You had to go to their parties. You had to be a part of what they were. And the trade guild had a god that they served. And it wasn't Christ. It was some God of shoemaking or God of baking or God of tanning or whatever it was. They had a God that oversaw them and blessed them. And so you had to worship that God to be a really, to be a part of it. They included a lot of festivals and sacrificing meat to gods and then feeding on it, and that's what this is referring to. This eating food or meat sacrificed to gods is referring to participating in their ritual feasts. Not just buying meat at the meat market, but actually participating in their feasts. Participating in the sexual immorality, the temple prostitution, and the fertility orgies that they would have. This woman was teaching Christians how to practice sin with a clear conscience. Today's culture, we talk about the spirit of Jezebel. Now, I don't think there's any one spirit that is named Jezebel, but we speak of that, and the spirit of Jezebel is nothing more than the spirit of the Antichrist. That's what we're talking about. And in today's culture, that spirit does the same thing. It tries to lead us into compromise. It tells you that you can compromise with the world. I mean, after all, you gotta make a living, right? It would be hard for you if you didn't. And this same spirit teaches us to tolerate sin in our life in order to get along. And this I remember reading in one commentary, that very point was made. Oh, I can't remember the church father, but when he called somebody out on their sin of participating with the guilds, they told him, well, I have to live. And his response to him was, do you? Because what's the other alternative? that they might martyr you, and then you go get to spend eternity with the Christ that you proclaim, that you profess to love? Do you have to live? I mean, my response is, don't threaten me with a good time. If you're gonna string me up, like Polycarp said, what are you waiting for? Bring on the beast, bring on the fire. I have something waiting for me that you don't know about, that you don't know. But this is the same spirit today that calls us to compromise, to get along. The same spirit that says, as a Christian, you can support homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Or you could be a homosexual and still be a Christian. Now, let me put that in perspective for you, brothers and sisters here. If there is a person who struggles with same-sex attraction, I put that in the same category as a person that struggles with opposite-sex attraction. It's sex outside the bounds, it's sin. It's a man and a woman together in a marriage, period. I don't care what kind of sexual temptation you have outside of that, it's wrong. And so you're struggling with it, Struggle. You know, the homosexual is going to struggle with it. The heterosexual is going to struggle with it. We all struggle with lust from time to time if you're a breathing, heart-beating person. So struggle with it. Don't sin. Jezebel says, oh, but you can if you participate in it right. You've got to do it the right way. It teaches us to compromise, support abortion. The Jezebel spirit says that, oh, as Christians, you can support abortion under certain extreme circumstances. Listen to the logic of that. It's okay under certain circumstances to kill a baby. No, it's never okay. It's never okay. And I think Scripture is pretty clear on that. But this is what our modern day Jezebel does. Well, we cannot take ourselves out of the world, brothers and sisters. I understand that. And we talked about that some this morning in our Sunday school lesson and how to struggle through the issues of your Christian liberty. But there are those who will teach you that these things are okay. That homosexuality is okay in the eyes of God. That same sex marriage is okay in the eyes of God. That living together before you get married is okay. That fornication is okay. That pornography is okay. Rated R movies are okay. Now, I'm not gonna slam all your rated R movies because I know some of them are rated R because of violence. Look, it's your conscience, brothers and sisters, before the Lord, but there are some things that are just not okay with God. Find out what those are. If your spirit is convicting you on something, then wrestle with God about it, as Jacob did, until you know what you are to do. But don't just turn a blind eye to it, pretending like it's okay. because they're not. A little drunkenness is not okay. A little fornication is not okay. A little pornography, it's not okay. I don't care if you're still growing and all of those other things. Those are good, but it doesn't excuse the sin. That's what we're getting from this letter. It's not okay. We have liberty of conscience on certain issues, brothers and sisters, but we are never, ever, ever given our own personal prerogative to compromise on objective biblical commands. That is not liberty of conscience. That's rebellion. And the Lord says He is going to crush it. Well, William, you're just intolerant. I try to be. I try to be as intolerant of sin in my own life as I'm telling you to be in yours. But I struggle with it. I struggle with sin just like all of you do. But we're called to struggle. Jezebel tells us, no, you don't have to struggle. There's an easier way. You just have to know the deeper things of God. Christ makes it clear that He will judge her. He will throw her onto a sickbed, strike her children dead, throw them into great tribulation. Are those all not the same things we read through all the Old Testament prophets? God is a God of mercy and compassion. This is the same God. Some may not like this Jesus, so they may not preach this Jesus. They don't want to hear this Jesus preached. He gave her time to repent, and He gives us time to repent. He gave Israel time to repent, but that time is not indefinite, and it's not set by you. It's not set by me. He has eyes like flaming fire, and He pierces all the darkness. You cannot hide the sin from Him. He sees you. He sees everything about you. And you can fool me, you could fool your parents, you could fool your spouse and your neighbors, but you can't fool Christ. He knows. And in Revelation chapter 19, 15, he says that he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. With those big feet of burnished bronze, he brings judgment. Jesus Christ is not an absentee landlord where we can just get away with the things that we want to get away with while we're waiting, like the servant whose master went away, and then he begins beating and mistreating the other servant because he doesn't know when the master's coming. And Christ says he'll come like a thief in the night. What does that mean? That's pretty straightforward. He's going to come at a time when you're not expecting it. Jesus is not an absentee landlord. He's not gone away. He's here. He's in this vision, standing among the lampstands, showing John the apostle and showing all of us by the fact that he maintained, that he protected his word and brought it to us, showing all of us that he is active in his churches. And we know it to be true. We see churches all over the place that spring up and burn away. Churches that have endured forever, and then they just fade into oblivion. The Lord takes this candlestand away from them. He trims them. And that's what He promises to do. It is the God of mercy and the God of compassion. We see that echoed through all those Old Testament prophets, and now we see it echoed in this final letter, that there's two things that He promises. This God promises that He is going to punish every single sin. None of it goes unpunished, even your idle words. Even the things that you don't think are sin. He promises mercy and compassion to those who repent. We must remember that we live in the light of this. As Christians, we must pursue personal holiness and the good works that He has laid out before us, knowing that He sees everything and knowing that Christ will not fail to notice when we achieve those good works, when we grow in our faith, and when we fail and fail to repent or refuse to repent. He will not let that go unnoticed. He will not let it go unpunished. In this letter we see the character of God, just as I mentioned, all present through Scripture. He promises to reward those who remain faithful to the end. And we shall see that. We shall see that victory. We will rule with Him. We do rule with Him now. As we proclaim the Gospel, the gates of hell can't withstand against us. And so we go out and we're ruling with him and we're plundering this kingdom of Satan's. And he says, I will give you the morning star. Now many people, many commentaries have made many suggestions about what this morning star means. Some even saying that this is something that we've forgotten. We know what it refers to in our culture. And even in that culture, the morning star, it's the first star you see at night. And it's the star that's still shining in the morning because it's the brightest star in the sky. But I think the best interpretation or the best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself. And the best interpreter of John is John himself. And in Revelation 22, verse 16, Jesus says, I am the bright morning star. He promises those of us who overcome, who continue until the end, whether it's the end of your life or whether it's the end of this age and the Lord comes back, if we persevere and overcome to the end, He promises unity with Himself. Seated at high places, ruling over the nations, you are His, He is yours. And He promises you the most glorious gift that He has. himself. Glorious union with Christ, we shall shine as the light of the world. Like I mentioned earlier, I read earlier in Matthew 5.16, that we shine as light in the world. This is our promise from a God who lets nothing, who nothing slips past Him. He doesn't miss anything, brothers and sisters. and He promises to reward us. He promises to reward those who persevere. And look, some of those rewards are here and now. There's blessedness to living a holy life, a freedom of conscience. Yes, Jezebel promises lots of pleasure with sin, and brothers and sisters, there is pleasure in sin, but there's no abiding joy.