This morning we return to our studies entitled Christ's Message to His Church. Let me call your attention to the word of God recorded in Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two. We'll begin our reading at verse 20. Revelation two, verse 20. hear the word of God. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent. Indeed, I will cast her into a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts and I will give to each one of you according to your works. We come this morning again to the church in Thyatira. As my Bible highlights or headlines it as the corrupt church, many have described this church as the tolerant church. And we shall see that their tolerance indeed opened the door for corruption. We've already seen in our studies the greeting, the description of Christ, and the commendation to this church, which covered verse 18 and verse 19. Two Sundays, two verses. Pray with me. Having looked at something of the background of Thyatira, the presentation of the glorified Christ and his approval of the church, we turn our attention to the second of the three headings, the accusation, which we find in verse 20 down to verse 23. It may seem to some to be a paradox that a church which receives such a glowing praise from the all seeing omniscient eyes of Christ would now be the recipients of a severe condemnation. Remember the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs 15 three. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account." Hebrews 4.13. This church did not follow the Ephesian example. If you look over in the second chapter of the Revelation, in verse two, we find the activity of the elders in Ephesus. It says there, could not bear those who were evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars." Here lies one of the great rebukes our Lord brings to this church. They were not like the Ephesian church. James Ramsey says this, the whole epistle shows how great the evil is of tolerating in the church any teaching which has not the manifest stamp of Christ's authority upon it, no matter what it may be, and how apparent its wisdom may be, or specious or harmless it may seem. If it does not have Christ's approval, he says, it is not good. Beloved, beware of bringing anything into the church of Christ which has not been ordained by him or anyone who has not been appointed by him. This church, I say, was a tolerant church and it became corrupt because of its tolerance. What is it to tolerate something? It's to allow The exercise or presence or practice or act without prohibition or to hinder is to permit something or not preventing or not restraining something. And these in Thyatira did not restrain. They did not prohibit this activity from this one called Jezebel in their midst. It is dangerous. We should not accept anything in Christ's church that he does not allow. We must not allow it either. Now, that is why we practice the regular principle of worship here. Dr. Sam Waldron writes in this, in his exposition of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, as he quotes James Bannerman, who contrast the Puritan doctrine and the Anglican doctrine. And Bannerman says this, in the case of the Church of England, its doctrine in regard to church power in the worship of God is that it has a right to decree everything except what is forbidden in the word of God. In the case of our own church, which can be said of ours as well, its doctrine in reference to the church power in the worship of God is that it has a right to decree nothing except what expressly or by implication is enjoined by the word of God. Has it been prescribed by Christ? Does it have his authority stamped on it? Is it something that he has decreed or something that he has ordered? G. I. Williamson said it this way, What is commanded is right, and what is not commanded is wrong. What about those who minister the word of God in the gathered church amongst the people of God? Well, the ascended Christ, the head of the church, has taken care of that. And he himself gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. What's allowed is what he gave. And this is what Christ has given to his church. He has given these servants to his church. Listen to the words of Steve Lawson. What is widely overlooked is that God established long ago the primary means of grace to be the preaching of his word. In both the Old and New Testaments, the chief method God has chosen to carry out his redemptive work is the spirit empowered proclamation of biblical truth. So our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep has as the head of the church, the church, which he purchased with his own blood, he has by the spirit, by the Holy spirit made qualified men overseers to shepherd the church of God. And that's what Paul was saying to the Ephesian elders. He would say, men, men. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. Acts 20, 29 and 30. And that's exactly what happened. They showed up at church. in Ephesus, and they wanted to teach. Therefore, the elders tested those who said they were apostles and found that they were not apostles at all, but liars. They did not allow them to teach. And herein lies the problem with the church in Thyatira. They were not watchful. They did not take heed to the Lord's flock. Therefore, they received the master's word of condemnation. Here we see the accusation of our Lord to this church. You allowed, you suffered, you permitted, you tolerated. The church in Pergamos had those in their midst that held the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. But the church in Thyatira didn't just have members there who held to the teachings of this Jezebel, but they actually gave her a platform to espouse her damaging doctrines. Her teaching was not edifying. It was seducing. Why is this woman given the opportunity to teach publicly in the corporate gathering? Maybe because she told them she was a prophetess. How did the Ephesian elders determine the liars were not apostles? Maybe they asked questions. Maybe they observed their works in their lives. Maybe they asked them, were you chosen by Christ? Have you been taught by Christ? Have you witnessed the resurrected Christ? Do you display miraculous gifts? The folks in Thyatira may have said, well, you know, You know that deacon Philip, the evangelist over there in Caesarea? He has four virgin daughters who prophesy. Their father is a man with a good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Perhaps this Jezebel is like Philip's daughters. Perhaps this prophetess who has joined us is from a good and godly family, too. Listen to Linsky as he comments on this section concerning these young virgins, the prophetess, those who prophesied, pardon me. All we know about them is what Luke relates here. Being virgins, never having married, they lived with their father, being four in number, they could entertain nine guests without trouble. Virgins, of course, had nothing to do with prophesying. In connection with chapter 11, verse 21, speaking of the prophets who came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, we have described the difference between prophets, quote, prophets, and those who were blessed with the charisma of prophesying. That difference is here clearly indicated. Agamas is a prophet. who was on occasion used by the Spirit for communicating direct revelations and is called, quote, prophet on that account. Philip's daughters prophesied, that is, had the gift of prophecy, the ability to set forth God's will from his word. The gift for which Paul told all the Corinthians to strive for 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 1. Those who exercise this gift were not known by the name prophet in the same way that Agabus was. And a reading of 1 Corinthians 14 makes that clear. So if she makes this claim to being a prophetess and desiring and demanding a place of prominence in the church, if she is mistaken. The people may have looked upon her and said, she has a servant's heart. She's very loving and understanding. She seems to have a lot of faith. And she's so patient. And those are the things that the Lord commended this church for. Perhaps these things were true, and they saw these things in her life. But the people of God there needed a standard. They needed a gauge, a list of qualifications so that she could be first tested. They really needed to know how to conduct themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Things needed to be set in order. Or maybe we really don't know a whole lot about her. She could be an insubordinate, idle, talking deceiver who must be silenced. like Paul tells Titus to do about those in Crete. They can't see and they can't set their eyes on the former days of the church's development. The church has been established with duly appointed leaders. The foundation has been laid. Having been built on the foundation of the prophets, apostles, and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, Ephesians 2, 20. Peter says over in 2 Peter 2 that we have a more sure word of prophecy. They heard the voice from heaven on that holy mountain when they were with the Lord Jesus Christ there, but he says we have a more sure word of prophecy, brethren. And regarding her teachers, the church's teachers, among the list of qualifications in the didactic pastoral epistles, where we derive our doctrines not from this historical as we heard in Sunday's past about how our hermeneutic must operate when we study the scriptures and not draw doctrines from this historical events and historical accounts but More so, the historical accounts must be interpreted by the didactic portions. And in the didactic portions, the pastoral epistles, we have clear instructions about those who should teach and instruct in God's church. We read, the man must be the husband of one wife in the midst of those qualifications given In 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus, he must be. The man must be. The original language is very clear. He's talking about a male person, one who has been created by God as a male. And he must be a one-woman man. And this is the second concern from our text that we see here as we look at this woman, Jezebel. Must be a Man, she was a woman. What is a woman? That question's been asked in our day. What is a woman? Unfortunately, our Supreme Court justice can't give a definition of what a woman is, though that's what God created her to be. An adult female person. A second grader can tell you that. And these are they who are not called to be preachers and teachers in the public gathering of God's people as we come to worship God. I know we live in a day of gender confusion. I'm aware that the debate between complementarianism and egalitarianism is even taking place in the church. However, God has established roles differing for men and women. And when it comes to leaders in the church, whether you call them elders, overseers, bishops, shepherds, pastors, the Bible is very clear. God's word says they must be men. If you think patriarchy is a bad word, you won't like this scripture. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression." 1 Timothy 2, 12-14. Paul takes us back to the beginning. He takes us to Genesis chapter 1. He takes us to Genesis chapter 2. In Genesis chapter one we read, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 28 says, then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish. And he goes on, the birds and living things be fruitful and multiply. Two men can't be fruitful and multiply. Two women can't be fruitful and multiply. Verse eight in the second chapter of Genesis, we read the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had made, or whom he had formed. Verse 15, then the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. And the Lord commanded the man, saying, over every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. And the Lord God said, it's not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable or suitable to him. The opposite of him. I will make for him a companion. God is saying in verse 21 says, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and he slept. and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into it or into a woman and he brought her to the man. And the man said, this is now bone to my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Eve was made for the man. She was made out of the man. She was brought to the man. And she was named by the man. And that's manly dominion. If you Google the word patriarchy, you'll get something like this in 2024. A patriarchal society, family, or system is one in which the men have all or most of the power and importance. They're bosses. They get all the power and all the authority. In a book entitled Women's Ministry in the Local Church, Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt have recorded some very interesting words that speak to our day. And we read, the denial or the twisting. And they're making the argument for the necessity or the need for and supporting the idea or the belief that a church needs to have a women's ministry. a place for women to minister to one another and to the body of Christ. The denial or the twisting of the Bible's clear teaching on manhood and womanhood is one of the central ways that biblical authority is being undermined in our times. That's why Bruce Ware has said, To this extent, that giving in on these issues of gender and sexuality occurs, the church establishes a pattern of following cultural pressures and urges against the clear authority of God's written word. When this happens, the church becomes desensitized to scripture's radical call and forms. Instead, a taste of worldly accolades. To compromise a little thing will pave the way for compromise on much that matters. They go on to say this. Of course, behind and underneath this is the fundamental issue of biblical authority. If you can write off, ignore, or distort the Bible's teaching in this area, as crystal clear as it is, then you can do so with anything the Bible teaches. Indeed, the Bible is so clear and blunt on this that sometimes it's hard for ministers to stand in the pulpit and read aloud certain biblical passages, knowing the kind of reaction they may provoke in hearers who have been steeped in a feminist culture, alien to the biblical complementarian thought world of the scriptures. But if you can change what the Bible says on this, you can make the Bible say whatever you want it to say. Thus, the manhood, womanhood issue becomes a spiritual authority issue. And our pattern in the church going, pardon me, is our pattern in the church going to be to do a hermeneutical twist whenever we come to an issue where the Bible's teaching makes us culturally uncomfortable? Or are we going to let the lion loose? Let God be God, and let his words speak and rule in our lives. So fundamentally, this is a spiritual authority issue. Just think how Women's Ministries has the capacity of dealing with that in a unique way, they say. So we read passages like Titus 2, 3 through 5, where it gives instructions for women to teach in the church. Your gifts, sisters, and abilities are not wasted in the Lord. Don't think that women don't need intelligence and biblical literacy to teach other women. They do. Some women think they don't need to study theology. They don't need to study their Bibles like their husbands do. I'm reminded of, I always think of one of my favorite scriptures in Hebrews 6.10, the Lord is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you've shown towards the saints. And sisters, as you search the scriptures and as you study God's word in order to teach other women, older women, to teach young women how to love their husbands and to love their children, You need to understand theology. You need to understand something about original sin when you're dealing with those little guys. You need to understand those doctrines of scripture that you might understand how to help your sisters and show them what the scripture says about how they ought to love their husbands as the church loves Christ. God is not unrighteous to forget your work. It's the same word that's used when we speak about the man who aspires to the office of a bishop. If he desires this, he desires a good work, the Bible says. So don't think your responsibilities as women is inferior to that of men. God has called you to a different kind of work, a noble work, a glorious work. I remember when I was delivering milk to supermarkets. And I'd go in and there were ladies that worked in the store. And I remember one lady who was over a certain department in the grocery store. And I had invited her to the church. And she said, well, I don't know. I got two little toddlers. They weren't toddlers. I think they were older than toddlers. I got two little boys. And I don't know how they behave in church. They might be all over the place. And she talked about the difficulty of raising two little boys. And she said this. She says, it's easier to come here to work and manage this department in this grocery store that it is to raise those two little boys. It is. The molding of character and the teaching children the word of God is hard work. On top of all the other responsibilities that you've been given, God has given you a great work. Don't ever let anybody tell you that it's demeaning to be a housewife or a homemaker. Male headship is not about oppressive and cruel domination. And it doesn't mean that men are smarter than women or more gifted than women. It just means God has established order in his creation. Unfortunately, this harmonious union has been affected by the fall. Some women pastors will say, In relationship to 1 Timothy 2.12, I didn't usurp the authority. I didn't just take the position of a pastor in this church. My senior pastor ordained me. He said it was okay. The Presbyterian laid hands on me. Well, he or they are wrong. And the Lord's condemning rebuke belongs to them as well. Another point from this verse, not only was this woman in Thyatira an influencing teacher, but she was a self appointed teacher. Verse 20, she calls herself a prophetess or she says herself to be a prophetess. No true prophet of God is self-appointed, nor are leaders in Christ's church self-appointed. Self-appointed. She calls herself a prophetess. What does it mean to be self-appointed? Chosen by oneself. That's what it means. To act in a certain capacity or to fulfill a certain function. Having assumed authority without the agreement of others, I'm going to make myself whatever I want to be, even in the church. And that does not happen in Christ's church. That's not the way things work. God alone calls his servants. And when he lays his hand on a man, as we speak about the men who are called to be leaders in Christ's church, when Christ lays his hand upon that man to use him in the service of the gospel, he gives him a desire, he gives him gifts, he gives him graces. And that man must still wait until the people of God recognize and lay their hands upon him as Christ's gift to the church. This is no popularity contest. We don't select men because they have the gifts of gab or because of appearance. They're very distinguished looking. We go to the scriptures. And we pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he might send forth laborers into his harvests. God's word gives the directions of who ought to preach and teach in his church. Because of a variant reading in some manuscripts, the personal pronoun of the second person, singular in this genitive case, su, sigma, omicron, epsilon, which is translated of you or your in verse 20 would read this way. I have a few things against you because you allow the woman of you or your woman or your wife, Jezebel. And some believe from that manuscript that this is referring to the wife of the bishop in Thyatira, the angel of the church, your wife. You're letting your wife teach and preach in the church. Now, I don't believe that is an accurate reading of that portion of that text, but some in our day would take this to support the forming of husband and wife ministry teams. both being the lead pastors of a church. So you have in our day pastors and pastrix. You see these billboards all over the place when you go down the highway. It's a husband and wife ministry team. They both are pastors. They both have equal authority in Christ's church. And they teach and preach in churches all across our land. However, the majority of Greek texts omit this pronoun and translate this verse, the woman or that woman, this one, our Lord describes this, this, this woman described as Jezebel should remind us of the wicked wife of the wicked King Ahab and first King 16 verses 29 through 33. We, we see the marriage, of Ahab and Jezebel. In 1 Kings 18.4, we read of how Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord. In that same chapter, we read of Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. In 1 Kings 21, verses 1 through 16, we see the king, the wicked king, who coveted the vineyard of Naboth. And because he could not get it, He went home and pouted like a baby. And his wicked wife says, you're the king. You can take what you want. And so she plotted and schemed and lied on Naboth and had him murdered. And they took his vineyard, a wicked queen. And this one who's teaching in Thyatira is likened unto this Jezebel of first kings. This is who our Lord likens this false prophetess to. Listen to Ramsey as he speaks to this. The name Jezebel applied to this pretend prophetess indicates still further the truth character of such teaching. It is equally unimportant and impossible to determine possibly or positively, pardon me, whether this was a real woman or a personification, thus of the heretical agency corrupting the church. The result is the same, he says. And the very identification only makes the application more general and comprehensive. This name is used by our Lord evidently to identify her character and relations to the true church with those of that troubler of ancient Israel, the Queen of Ahab. That Jezebel had been brought by marriage into Israel from the proud and idolatrous royal house of Tyre. At that time, the foremost representative of the world's power. She had brought with her all that haughtiness and cruelty of her family, which was notorious. and we read of it in heathen stories. Together with all their idolatrous attachments, and with all the blandishments of that licentious worship, and all the power of her throne, she strove to root out all pure worship of Jehovah, By giving her name to this corrupting and powerful teacher in Thyatira, Christ declares that what Jezebel was openly and avowedly, she was in reality, notwithstanding all her artifices or her trickery or her guile. And the inference is necessary that all such teachers as employ their influence and worldly wisdom in teaching in Christ's name and what he has not taught, and so corrupting the church's purity and leading her members into heinous spiritual adultery are true Jezebels. And whatever attractions they may clothe themselves and their teachings, just as they who lay the stumbling blocks of worldly conformity are true Balaams, this one, named, applied to such, does more describe their true character. to unveil their satanic nature and the abominable and ruinous influence, then whole chapters of descriptions would have done. There's certain names that bring thoughts to your mind. When you hear names like Hitler, when you hear names like Judas, and when you hear a name like Jezebel, certain things ought to come to your mind. No doubt this thyrtyron Jezebel seduced some in the church to think lightly about participating in the feast and the moral practices of the trade guilds who worship their tutelary deities. You know, an idol is nothing. You have Christian liberty. The Lord understands. She seduced him. I remember growing up in Detroit, and there in Detroit, not in the downtown area, but in New Center area, that's what they call it now, the New Center area. There's a large skyscraper, the Fisher Building. The Fisher brothers were the ones who designed bodies for automobiles. They were the first to create an enclosed vehicle. They also were the first to create a four-door vehicle. But they built this huge skyscraper in Detroit, and it was ornate. I mean, it was covered with marble, and it had a theater and shops and all those kind of things, but there was a large area, a showroom. And you could go in that showroom before the cars came out for the next model year, you could go and see all the brand new cars. And they were there shiny, all in those days, there was a lot of chrome on cars. So, so they were real appealing to the eye. And you could go down to Cobo Hall when they had the annual auto show, and you could see all these brand new cars, the cars that hadn't come out yet, and some cars that were projected for the future. And it's kind of like being in a jewelry store. You know how your diamonds just kind of really sparkle when you go in a jewelry store? Well, that's the way it was with going to these auto shows, into the Fisher Building, and seeing all these cars. And they had such an attraction because of their beauty. The paint jobs were immaculate, and the chrome was glistening. But that wasn't enough. And I didn't understand it when I was a boy, but there was always a woman in a evening gown standing next to the car. Why? Is she going to a prom? But they put those women there to bring further attraction to their product. And all through the centuries, the evil one has used the beauty of women to seduce and to attract. Now, I don't know if this prophetess in Thyatira was a beautiful woman, and that was another way in which she seduced the people of God there to hear what she had to say. The Bible calls her Jezebel. Do you remember right before Jezebel was thrown off the roof, the trellis there, or the balcony? It says she painted her eyes, and she put ornaments in her hair, and made herself beautiful, and a lot of people have linked makeup. Now, I'm not saying that, ladies. I'm not saying that makeup is evil. That's not what I'm saying. But there's something about this, and you think about the harlot in Proverbs, and how she makes her attire alluring and attractive to the eyes of men. And this Jezebel. was a seducer. Beware. I'm always on guard for people who are flatterers. Red flags go up when, you know, it's all right to say nice things about people, but some folks go overboard and you say, you know, where I come from, say, okay, what do you want? Flatterers. The scriptures speak about flatterers, and the tongue of flatterers, and those who speak. But there's a seducing nature about flattery. Turn to Proverbs. This seducer, the Bible warns us about the effects, and it speaks directly to men. So this application, I have two applications, and I'm gonna close. This application is for you. It has some application to women too in our day, but primarily Solomon speaking to his sons about the influence of this kind of seduction. And he says in Proverbs chapter four, Well, verse 23, and this should be your verse that undergirds everything that goes on in your life. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Guard your heart above all that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life. And then we look at Proverbs 7, verse 9. In the twilight, in the evening, in the dark, in the black, and dark night. That's a reminder of John 3, 19, talks about those who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Verse 10, and there a woman met him with an attire of a harlot, a crafty heart. Verse 13 says she had an impotent face. She was shameless. She had no shame about her. Verse 10 says she had a crafty heart, should remind us of the evil one, the serpent who begouthed our mother Eve. Verse 21, with her enticing speech, she caused him to yield. With her flattering lips, she seduced him. Verse 23. till an arrow struck his liver as a bird hastens to the snare. He did not know it would cost his life. Verse 26 says, for she has cast down many wounded and all who were slain by her were strong men. Verse 27 says, her house is the way to hell. Seductress, this one, is who was preaching and teaching the Lord's servants. Now granted, it may not have been a woman named Jezebel. That would have definitely brought red flags flying if someone told you their name was Jezebel and they wanted to teach in your church. They would have been sensitive to that and understood what the scriptures taught about Jezebel. But she had the spirit of Jezebel nonetheless. And she moved about. in this congregation as one who seduced the servants of the Lord to go against what the Jerusalem Council had decreed, that they would not eat things offered to idols and they would not be involved in sexual immorality. Beware, brethren, of the seduction of our age. Some are enslaved to pornography, seduction that will damn your soul. Plead with God if you are struggling with such a sin that you would not be led to the depths of hell, but plead to God for his mercy. Make yourself accountable to the godly men who will come alongside you, who understand the allurement and the seduction of this evil age, and who can take you to the scriptures and pray with you and hold you accountable that you might make it to heaven at last and hear our Savior say, well done, my good and faithful servant. My second application, and I'm going to close. is the pastors. So I'm speaking to three men here and myself. Pastor Sean, Pastor Devon, Pastor Greg. I read an article this past week by a former classmate of mine, which was entitled, True Shepherds Protect Their Flocks. It's our responsibility And should there be any men here today who are aspiring to the office of an elder or an overseer in Christ's church, this word is for you as well. On those men in this church who may one day become elders in this church, true shepherds protect their flocks. Turn to me to Zechariah chapter 10. Zechariah chapter 10, brethren, says this in verse two, for the idols speak delusions. The diviners envision lies and tell false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore, the people wean their way like sheep. They are in trouble because there is no shepherd. God's people are in trouble when there is no shepherd. Just like sheep on the countryside are in danger when the shepherd is asleep. Or if a hireling has been put over the care of sheep, they are in danger because he cares not for the sheep. God has called us to protect the sheep in this place and not allow those Jezebels to come in with their false doctrine and their seduction. Thankfully, God has kept us together and given us a measure of watchfulness in this place. But, brethren, we need to be accountable to one another. We need to make sure that we are holding one another up in prayer that the evil one might not come. He made three points in our responsibility to protect the flock from this kind of thing happening at Grace Fellowship Church that happened in Thyatira. He said, feed the flock with the truth. As the Apostle Paul says, I declare the whole counsel of God to you. And brethren, has it not been so that we have sought by the grace of God with all our weaknesses to open up the scriptures to you and show you from the scriptures how you ought to live and please God in the midst of a crooked and a perverse generation. So brethren, may we continue to do that. May we continue to be faithful to God's word and seek to instruct the people of God. Secondly, he said, expose false teaching. The Apostle Paul did just that. He warned the people of God about those damning heresies and even those who came in and would uproot the faith of some and cause them to make shipwreck of their faith. We must expose false doctrine. Our people, brethren, are exposed to all kinds of things on the internet, on the radio, on the television, and so many stand and say they are, and they sound so good to our people. And they hear things, oh, I've never heard that before. That's profound. That's deep. It's not like the same old ABCs we get at Grace. This is the deep stuff. And we must warn our people about those kinds of influences and seductions. And thirdly, he says, which is most difficult and hard thing to do as pastors, we must be watchful among ourselves in our own eldership. We must make sure each of us is still walking with the Lord every day, keeping short accounts with the Lord, being students of the Word, being given to our responsibility to pray for the flock of God. We must do that and make sure we're not falling. Many ministers have fallen. In my mind, I can think of men whom I prayed with, who is far from the gospel of Jesus Christ now than East is from the West. He says, we must be watchful among ourselves. The apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2 as he spoke to the Ephesian elders, he said, grievous wolves are going to come in, not sparing the flock. So you watch the doors. But he also said, even from among yourselves, your men rise up. teaching things that they should not teach to draw disciples after themselves. Kind of like Jezebel. She was drawing disciples after herself. She was seeking her own glory and her own praise. May God keep us humble. That we might be useful in his kingdom to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. That we might not receive this condemnation that the church in Thyatira received. May God be with us and give us the strength. But we have all things that pertain to life and godliness. And we thank our God for what he has given us to serve his people. Amen. Let's pray. Our father, we thank you for your great love to us. Lord Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice. Holy Spirit, we thank you for the new life you've given us and how you give us the power to will and to do of your good pleasure. We thank you that you are working in us both to will and to do of that. And we know behind the scenes you are working in us that very thing. And so we pray as we Endeavor to obey you and honor you and glorify you. We pray that your name will be praised and glorified in the earth because we love you and we desire to show to a dying world that there is a way to escape the wrath to come. Oh Father, we pray that you would be with us in the next hour, that you would attend your word with your power and your spirit. and that you would indeed make many more hearts your own this day. For we ask it in Christ's name, amen.