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Yeah. Yeah. what a wonderful day it is to
be together on this day to worship the Lord, and not just as individuals,
but instead as the family of God. Now, we are here to worship
with you, but first let me just offer a special welcome to our
visitors. If we haven't met yet, I'd love to meet you, and I'll
be out under the portico right after the service, so long as
I don't get blown away or anything like that when these gale force
winds. Today should make us extra grateful
for it. Nice, wonderful sanctuary like
ours where we can gather. I joked around and said I had
a head full of hair when I walked out of my house this morning.
and a lot of it is a lot of things going on something starting back
up tomorrow and then it starts back up uh... also started to
set up a vacation by the flier about that uh... devotionals
are back up and running monday to friday at our bible study
prayer meeting of bible study which is wednesday at six forty
five and we would love to see you there for that. Youth group,
Little Lambs, all those things. Now, one thing is immediately
after church, youth group, okay, and youth group age students,
you and your families are invited to stay and have lunch with Elizabeth
and Will and the rest of the youth group, and that's gonna
be at Providence Hall, so if you have any questions, see either
Will or Elizabeth about that. Now, I'm not gonna make any more
announcements because we had a treat this morning as the men
offer special music, so I'm gonna invite them up now. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd
come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew
you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd
come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd
come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come.
I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd
come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd
come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd
come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come.
I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd
come. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come. I knew So, Bye-bye. so um I love you. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ben, so much for that.
What a wonderful reminder as we come together to worship now. This morning speaks of the salvation
that we have in Jesus Christ. It serves as a wonderful reminder.
of what the Lord would have us do. In Psalm 130, we read that
the psalmist writes, out of the depths I call to you, O Lord. Lord, listen to my voice. Let
your ears be attentive to my cry for help. O Lord, you should
keep an account of iniquities. Who could stand? But with you
there is forgiveness, so that you may be feared. I wait for
the Lord, I wait and put my hope in his word. I wait for the Lord
more than the watchman for the morning. Israel, put your hope
in the Lord, for there is faithful love with the Lord, and with
him is redemption in abundance. My friends, of course, we know
that every Psalm points forward to Jesus Christ, and this, speaking
of Israel, it's not about some plot of land in the Middle East.
Instead, it is about the people of God. It is about the seed
of Abraham. As we know from Relations 3,
all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ are the
seed of Abraham, God's true Israel. This is talking about us, and
the promise is just as real today as it was then. This is the same
Lord that we serve, the one who doesn't keep track of our iniquities.
Because if he did, how could any of us stand? No, we couldn't. Instead, in him there is love
and redemption, and he bids us come to him. So let us do that
just now as we go to him in prayer, after which we'll pray the Lord's
Prayer and then confess the Apostles' Creed together. But let's go
to him now. Our God and our Father, we praise you that you have given
us this time, this opportunity, the ability even to be here gathered
together as your people so that we can pray, so that we can lift
up songs of praise, so that we can go to your word. Father,
in all of these things, it is our desire to glorify you, to
be transformed by this time even. and to leave here has changed
people. Father, we can't change ourselves. We can't turn the lights on in
our minds or in our hearts. We need you. We need your Holy
Spirit to guide us so that this time would be pleasing to you,
yes, but also, Father, so that this time would transform us. So please, be with us now by
your Holy Spirit. We pray these things in Christ's
name and we also pray as he talks in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. What is it that
you believe? Jesus Christ, his only son, our
Lord, who was conceived by the Holy born of the Virgin Mary, suffered
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. The third
day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits
at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From this he
will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Christ, The resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen and amen. Now let's continue
our worship. I'll take it back and hold it. And stand in with
me as we turn to number 213, crown him with many crowns. Number
213, please. uh uh But every time for me, I thank
you that the sun has to stay through all eternity. In the
glory of the Lord, may all beings accept the sun. Praise to the death of the sun, And it's to be strong. Into the
heart of the beast. This is a gift that the hearts
of men and of the sexes of men shall receive. We who hold the
gifts of the Holy Spirit shall not stumble. Oh, when you sit at the gates
of hell, you'll never be free. and you may be some children,
come on down to the children's club. Or you sit there. Now sit over here. I'll step
to you, okay? All right, guys. All right, there
we go. You got the same one? Here we go. You got it? I think you
got enough room in your back. Pick your feet up a little bit.
Watch your nocks. I've been right on that before,
it's not us. All right. So now we can't see
each other. See, I actually trust my wife
on some things. Anyway, how are you guys doing this morning?
Good. All right. Let me ask you guys
a question. You ever got a bad grade or bad
report card at school? Yeah, guess what? I did, too. I actually got a
lot of bad grades when I was your age. But anyway, when you
have to bring home a bad grade or bad report card, are you excited
or are you nervous to show your parents? Nervous, that's right. So imagine your grades, for instance,
are all Ds and Fs. Don't raise your hand if they
actually are. But that's not good, right? No, it's not. When you go home and show your
parents all these grades, they open them up and they say, wow,
you got straight A's and B's. Isn't that great? What do you
guys probably think? You're thinking, well, I must
have gotten the wrong report card, or someone put the wrong
name, right? But you look at it, and it is, in fact, all straight
A's. Your parents aren't just going crazy. But it's actually
not your work. We'll come back to that. We're
in 1 Peter, chapter 2, starting in verse 20. He committed no
sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled,
he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not
threaten. But continued entrusting himself
to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed,
for you were strained like sheep and now have returned to the
shepherd and overseer of your soul. So, the reason I brought
up grades and a bad report card is that that's how and how we
open that one, and all of a sudden straight A's, that's kind of
what Christ did for us. We, in fact, are full of sin
from the moment we're born, actually. But that moment that Christ died
on the cross, he took them all away from us, and we are able
to live in righteousness with the Father, and that's what we
call sanctification. You guys are gonna learn a bit
more about what exactly that means, but to go, I'll leave
you with this. Sanctification is what allows
you to be viewed as being washed white as snow. beautiful as the
lamb. So, you'll learn a bit more about
that in that catechism question in Children's Church, but you
can ask prayer with me in the distance. Dear Lord, I thank
you for this day, this wonderful Sunday that we get to come together
as your church to gather and lift praises to you. Lord, I
ask that as we all go forward with this worship, as these children
go to Children's Church and we stay in here, that you allow
us to remember that we, in fact, have not washed ourselves by
the snow, and it's you As we read from the psalmist
about waiting on the Lord, maybe you're waiting on the Lord for
someone, Take this time to consider those
things. Eternal God and Heavenly Father,
as the psalmist was right in the eighth psalm, so we say now,
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. And we begin this way as we come
to you because truly there are none beside you. No one compares
to you in power and might. As you're seated in all of your
holy grandeur above the cosmos, as your word says, holding the
universe in your very hands, ordaining and maintaining all
things, no one compares to your power. No one compares to your
knowledge. No one knows like you do. Understanding
all things. Knowing the words before they're
even in our hearts and minds, much less on our lips. No one
knows like you, no one hears like you hear. Hearing not just that which is
audible, those groanings of our heart. Those moments where there's hurt
and loss and heartache too deep. Too frightening to even say out
loud, you hear these. Father, all of these come as
a result of the fact that no one loves like you do. No one
forgives like you. As we read from your word, if
you should count iniquities, who could stand? Certainly none
of us. No people at all. In fact, we
know that in the history of history, there has only been one. He was perfect, your Son and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Though he had no sin in him,
he became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. Father, we don't deserve any
of this. We did nothing to earn it. We've certainly done nothing
to work our way into your favor, and yet you give and you forgive. You love and you provide. You're close to us, not just
in our obedience, but Father, in our proneness to wandering.
You come and get us, and you hang on to us. Oh, Father, in
light of all of these things, first, we ask for forgiveness
for those times where you were leading. Those times when we
would run ahead of you or behind you. Those times where we would
twist your word even though we may not even know you. Please
forgive us for those times that we have fallen short. Father,
also, we come praising you. Work in our hearts and our minds
that we would remember who you are. Not a cruel dictator, as some
would have us believe, and certainly not the god of the world around
us. Exists to be no more than some
cosmic gene. Instead, you are the holy one.
He called us to be holy. And of ourselves, we can't, but
in Christ we stand. And so Father, we come now standing
in Him. Please hear our prayers. We know
that you do, but Father, please attend to them. For those things
that are up front and obvious, people that are sick, those that
are struggling, we think of the Harris family even now, we pray
for mercy. We think of others who have had
surgery or will be having surgery, all of these situations. We pray
for the obvious. But Father, right now in this
moment, this moment as I've been given
the honor to offer this pastoral prayer, I pray for those things
that we're too scared to even think about, much less face. I ask for those things that we're
too frightened to ask for. because I know that you're not
just the God of the universe, you're our Father and you love
us. Father, these things can be so varied. We can become confused. So in light of these things,
we pray that you would draw us back to yourself. Let us see
with your eyes, let us hear what you would have us to hear and
let us be transformed as a result. Not only for our good, that we
desire that, but for the good of your kingdom, so that those
around us would see and know that we're different, not odd,
different, that we have that which the world promises but
never delivers, that we have peace. And sure, not because
of us, but because of you. So Father, please work in our
hearts to that end, work in the hearts of your church universal
to that end, so that the world around us will know and see that
you are the everlasting God, that your Holy Spirit still fills
and guides, sustains and comforts, and that your Son and our Savior
truly is the greatest friend we could ever possibly have,
but he's the one that has gone ahead of us. He's the one that
has risen again and all out of love. So Father, please work
to that end, help us to hold on to you, and we pray it all
in Christ's name. Let's take our green Bible song
books now and continue in our worship and turn to number 263.
As we sing, it's actually Psalm 121, but it's Bible Psalm number
263. God shall guard from everything.
Please stand with me. Thanks for watching! I can't stop it. I can't stop
it. Even in the midst of such a scenario
as this day and time, somehow our motivations are aligned,
and somehow we reach our goal. We are still on the brink of
a very complicated, Father, as we consider you, we
know that what we just looked up is true. You hang on to us
and work in our hearts and in our minds and in our lives. You
provide all that we need. So, Father, in light of that,
now as we return to you out of I pray that you will bless the
gift and the giver that you would grow your kingdom as a result.
And I pray it all in Christ's name. um so Okay. Okay. Okay. um We don't want to do what they're
saying. We don't want to do what they're saying. We don't want
to do what they're saying. We don't want to do what they're
saying. We don't want to do what they're
saying. We don't want to do what they're saying. We don't want
to do what they're saying. We don't want to do what they're
saying. We don't want to do what they're
saying. We don't want to do what they're
saying. We don't want to do what they're saying. I don't know. I'm. Thank you very much, choir. I
should have made this ask a question, but the choir just looked it
up. Do you want to change? Do you want to be like God? Do you want to remain like you?
I hope that it's your desire that you would be captive to
the word of God, that you'd be transformed. And not just because
you've got to, but because you get to. It's with the understanding
that God tells you what he tells you in his word and has the desires
that he has for you, not out of a sense of conformity, but
because he loves you. So I hope that you have that
desire. Who knows what's best? I hope that you have that desire.
So thank you, choir. Well, it's good to be back with
y'all as we continue along in our current series on the book
of Revelation. Now, the last time we were together,
last week we had the Lord's Supper, and so I really focused more
on communion instead of the book of Revelation. But the last time
we were together, we were in chapter two, and we were in Pergamon,
right? Jesus led her to the church in
Pergamon. Maybe you remember, some things about Pergamum, that
it held some interesting things, right? It was an extremely wealthy
city. Also, that it held a temple to Caesar himself, right? Not
just gods and goddesses, but to Caesar himself, okay? That's why Jesus talked about
Satan's throne being in Pergamum. Also, he talked about how immoral
of a place Pergamum really was, that it was this den of sin and
debauchery. Hence, Jesus said that's not
only where Satan's throne is, Jesus said, Okay, so let your mind wander
a little bit. How bad of a place does it have
to be for Jesus, when he looks at it, to say, oh, Pergamon,
that's where the devil lives, okay? Now, with that in your
mind, you're gonna imagine this would have had a profound effect
on the church in Pergamon, resulting in many things, including them
trying to take the philosophy of the world and somehow, someway
fit it into scripture. Somehow, someway take the philosophy
of the world because the world is corrupt.
God isn't. The world is temporary. God's
eternal, the world is full of sin. God is holy. And the end
result of their attempt to do this was the promise that Jesus
made, not a threat, a promise that if they didn't turn back
to him, if they didn't repent and turn from this, that he would
wage war More against the false teachers, yes, but more against
all those that follow them. Jesus means business, y'all,
when it comes to this stuff, when it comes to his word. Remember
that the terminology he used, he called himself something,
he said he had something, he said, I am the one with the double-edged
sword. And y'all, that kind of sword was used by warriors in
battle, yes, but it was also used by executioners. So what
Jesus is really saying here to them is he, they didn't turn
back to him, he was gonna wage war against the false teachers
and he was gonna execute that church. Again, it's not a threat,
it's a promise. Now obviously the application
for us is that we need to make sure that we're not doing what
they were doing, trying to fit the church into the world and
vice versa with its philosophies and its ideas. And just like
the warning to Pergamum is for us, also the promise Jesus says that he actually gave
them this wonderful promise that if they would turn to him, if
they would trust him, and he promises you this too, you know.
If you'll just turn to him, Jesus promises relationship and reward,
his presence in this life, but also eternal reward. And he gave
them this calling to hang on to the truth. And so with this
in mind, we move on today from Bergamot Revelation chapter two, verse
18 is where we will start. But before we read anything,
we need to pray because y'all, I'm just going to tell you right
now, there's some controversial stuff here. So the session this
morning, it didn't give me tingly feelings on the inside to preach
some of what I'm going to preach today. Might make some of you
very, very upset. I told Isabella and Amanda last
night when we were doing our devotionals as a family, that
when we prayed, we prayed for the day because I said, this
is some stuff that's kind of heavy stuff. But I even, in a
moment of weakness, thought, well, maybe I'll just ride around
it. And you didn't bring me here to ride around stuff. You've
brought me here to preach the full counsel of God's word, and
so that's, by God's grace, what we will do today. But we need
to pray first, so let's go to him. Our God and our fathers,
we come to your word today. We come, again, facing a major
deficit. We bring all of these preconceived
notions with us, these ideas. Father, we bring the effects
of the world with us. We bring those things that would
burden us. We bring so many things that would take us away from
you and would pull our attention away from you, and I don't know
what this means. In terms of attention span, I mean in terms
of our hearts being heavy and our minds being dead. The fact
is, I'm just getting started here, but there may be people
here that are already at the restaurant they're going to,
and whichever one it may be are sitting around the table in their
minds, and you know that, Father, so I pray that you would pierce
through all these things that we would hear, that we would
understand, and that, Father, as we come to these difficult
parts, that we would realize This is your word, it's not ours
to write, it's not ours to bend, and certainly not ours to skip
around. But instead, let us be captive to you. So Father, by
your Holy Spirit, please guide us in these things, and we pray
it all in Christ's name. Amen. So, Revelation chapter
two, beginning in verse 18. Hear now the word of the Lord.
It says, write to the angel of the church of Thyatira. Pause
it really quick, remember the angel is the pastor, right? Jesus
is saying this to John, he's writing it down, he's gonna give
it to the pastor of Thyatira, he's gonna tell the church, right?
So, write to the angel of the church of Thyatira, thus says
the son of God, the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and
whose feet are like fine bronze. I know your words. But I have this against you.
You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess
and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and
to eat meat sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but
she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Look,
I will throw her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery
with her into great affliction unless they repent of then all the churches will know
that I am the one who examines minds and hearts, and I will
give to each of you according to your works. I say to the rest
of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who haven't
known the so-called secrets of Satan, as they say, I'm not putting
any other burden on you, only hold on to me. and He will rule them with an
iron scepter. He will shatter them like pottery.
Just as I have received this from my Father, I will also give
Him the morning star. Let anyone who has ears to hear
listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. We'll stop reading
right there. May God bless the reading of
His holy, inerrant, and infallible word. Amen and amen. Well, let's just be honest as
we get started here. There's some serious stuff going
on in Thyatira, isn't there? Difficult, difficult things,
very serious. And remember who we've just heard. You know, oftentimes
when we talk about God's Word, we talk about, you know, Paul
wrote that. Remember the paradigm here. John is the writer of the
book of Revelation. All he's doing is recording,
okay? This is Jesus speaking and John recording that which
he hears from Jesus. So we're getting the direct word
of God from the living word, Jesus himself. And I just have
to say, this doesn't mean that this section that we've read
is more Bible than something Paul did, right? It's all God's
word that he breathed out. But this is who's speaking, we're
hearing Jesus, okay? And I mentioned this last week,
and I think the week before, but here's the reality, y'all.
If you hear this and you find yourself saying, wait a second,
I'm gonna kill all of her children and you know, waging war, that
doesn't sound like Jesus to me. You're saying that and there's
a distinct possibility that you've been listening to far too much
of the world's philosophy about who Jesus is supposed to be and
what Jesus is supposed to be like. You realize the world has
always done this, right? Whether it was when he was here
and it was the Pharisees or sends it in when people misrepresent
it. The world has always known this
with Jesus and will until it's returned. But don't fall into
that trap. If you want to know Jesus, Okay, if you wanna understand
what Jesus is like, the example I've used is the Jesus seminar
back in the 60s and 70s where all these scholars got together,
none of them believed God's word. They got together, they voted
on the red letter statements in God's word to decide what
they believed was true or not, what Jesus really said and what
they didn't, and they would vote on each one of the statements,
and it was said of them that they went to the well to find
our Savior, and they looked in and saw. What do you see when
you look into a well but your own reflection, right? Jesus
looked just like that, imagine that, isn't that something? Don't
do that. Look, here's the thing. Listen
to Jesus. If you wanna know what Jesus
is like, I promise you, he tells you who he is and his word. Go
to the source, okay? But getting back to Revelation
2, these are strong words. But there's strong words from
Jesus for a very serious situation. So let's just go ahead and ask,
what in the world is going on in Thyatira? Well, first, let's
talk about the city itself. It's not the same as Pergamos.
It is well-known. It is influential, but it's not
as important, you might say, in some aspects. But it was a
major city, and it was very important in one aspect. So you can't tell
from this map, but Bathyatira, just like the other seven churches,
are in what's modern-day Turkey. And if we did have a map of the
Roman road system, you would see that at Bathyatira, you're
looking at a major intersection of two central trade routes. Everybody wanted stuff that came
out of Asia, okay, because of the wealth of their resources.
And Thyatira just happens to be at a major, major intersection.
So that results in two things. Number one, they had a major
Roman garrison that was situated there. So a big chunk of the
Roman army was put right there because of the ability to mobilize
them. There's another thing going on.
Because these are two major, major trade routes, what you
found in Thyatira, though it's not as prestigious as Pergamum,
it was very wealthy because you found a gigantic tradesman's
guild. These were skilled craftsmen. If you were going to live there
and if you were going to do business, you had to be a part of that
tradesman, As it was with Pergamum, and
any major Roman city for that matter, you also found something
else, and that is immorality. The worship of false gods and
goddesses was a really big problem. So just like Pergamum, the church
existed in this morally corrupt society, and it faced the temptation
to be like the world. To accept the things of the world,
the things that society accepted, the church faced that temptation
to do. To believe what society believed. And what they faced
wasn't just temptation, it was pressure. Serious pressure. Pressure that in some ways we're
unfamiliar with, but in other ways not so much. I said this
just this past week in a daily devotional, but y'all don't make
the foolish mistake of thinking that the Bible, even though it's
thousands of years old, that it's not relevant, because this
is a wonderful example of how relevant it is to you and me
today. Because look around you. Think about the world that you're
living in. Aren't you pressured to accept the things that the
world accepts? Doesn't the world go on this
constant campaign to deny what the Scriptures say
instead, except what the world is telling you. Aren't you pressured
to practice what the world calls tolerance, even though the world
that we're living in, y'all hashtag tolerance, tolerance in our world
isn't very tolerant, is it? You're fine as long as you do
what they tell you to do, but if you step out Getting back
to the world, doesn't it reject what God's word says? Doesn't
it praise that which is evil and mock that which is good and
pure? Y'all, again, the term used is tolerance. But don't
be deceived. The world doesn't want tolerance. It's the same way in Thyatira
2,000 years ago. They didn't want tolerance. It wants you to conform to its
agendas and its ideas. Conformity to it, not God's word. And what the world says to you
is things like be kind, be accepting, be tolerant. But what they really
want from you is to just consume. Consume, do not question. Why? because of the wickedness in
the world and its bankrupt philosophies that don't ever do what they
say, that's part of it, but y'all, you realize you're in a world
full of slavery? As Cicero, Rome's poet and philosopher,
lamented, right? Cicero very wisely said of the
world around him, as he said of slaves, he said, slaves, they
don't desire freedom. Slaves just desire to own other
slaves. That's the world around you.
It wants you to conform, and it dresses it up as all these
different things. And when you look at what was
going on in Thyatira, though we're not there yet, we might
possibly be. That's what's going on in Thyatira 2,000 years ago
with the tradesman's guild. Remember I said they had these
major guilds there? Look, the fact of the matter
was this. If you didn't conform to Roman society, if you didn't
worship the gods that they worshiped, if you didn't make dolphins,
if you didn't eat the meat sacrificed to idols like they did, then
you were not permitted as a tradesman. And y'all, eventually, though
it's not quite there yet, what would eventually come is, if
you didn't step in line and do what they told you to do, you'd
be arrested. You'd be executed. So put all these things together,
and it's safe to say that Thyatira was not an easy place to be a
faithful follower of Jesus Christ. And it's in light of those things
that we need to think about what Jesus said here before he said,
oh, it's a little harsh. With that in mind, consider what Jesus
said to them and what's going on. He starts out in verse 18,
right to the angel, I already talked about that. But look at
what he calls himself, he names himself as the son of God and
then he gets into this business about eyes like a fiery flame
and feet that are like bronze. Now, what is he even talking
about here? We go, cutting to the chase and
being short with it. Realize that eyes burning like
fire. One thing, and that is judgment. That's what Jesus is talking
about here, that he is being or will be the judge. He is the
judge, but he is coming to judge. Now, pause here just a second.
Can you think of anything more antithetical to the world's philosophy
and the world's idea of Jesus and the idea of Jesus being the
judge? The idea of Jesus holding people to account? That's the
exact opposite of what the world tells you about who Jesus is
when it's not mocking him. But don't listen to them, listen
to Jesus. He says that he has fiery eyes, eyes that are like
a fire flame and feet that are like bronze, right, or like fine
bronze. The reason that we say this is
like judgment is because fire, that's kind of obvious, right?
But the bronze thing, some people say, is that getting to Nebuchadnezzar's
dream? No, no, no, no. This goes all the way back to
the design of the tabernacle and later the temple. You know
what, the pillars were made out of, that were covered with, And that's important because
outside of the temple is where the judges would go to pass judgment. That's what Jesus is referencing
here when he says he has feet like fine bronze. He says I'm
coming and I'm coming with judgment. And this business of eyes ablaze
with fire, it really goes back to this other thing that he says
here in verse 19. He says I know your words. Y'all,
the short of it is that Jesus sees. He knows what's going on
there. He has watched them. And it's
not all bad what he sees. Consider what he starts out with
there. Then he sees their works, their
love, their faithfulness, their service, their endurance. Then
he says, I know that your last works are greater than the first.
So in some ways, things are really moving along. In some ways, Thyatira
is a picture of the church in the United States where you can
see some really good things happening, right? People being helped, things
that are going on in the church that didn't previously go on,
and there's some really good stuff happening. But, though
Jesus starts there and says, hey, I see these things, I know
your works, these are good. He then moves on to the real
issue. And y'all, the real issue is in verse 20. He says, but
I have this against you. you tolerate the woman Jezebel,
who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants
to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to Ida." Okay, let's be honest, right? This is heavy stuff. Let's ask
some obvious questions, right? that he refers to as Jezebel.
The fact is is that we don't know. We really don't have any
more information about her. I'm gonna throw a little curveball
here. The reality is Jezebel may not even be her real name.
When Jesus uses the term Jezebel, it's possible, but this is in
Asia, okay? She's probably not a Jew. She's
probably a Gentile, so the idea that she would really be named
Jezebel by her parents, if she was a Jew, that's a real problem,
but if she's not, it's highly unlikely But this is a term that
Jesus has given to her. Okay. Jezebel, who encouraged bringing
back the Asherah bulls, who encouraged worship in the high places, which
is a nice way of saying she encouraged child sacrifice and debauchery. That's what Jesus calls this
woman that is being dealt with here in Thyatira, or in fact,
is not being dealt with. She's caused major problems,
and we gotta consider how she's doing it. Well, first off, she's
going around, and she's calling herself a prophetess, and she's
teaching. The first thing is the prophetess thing, but think
about what she's teaching first before we deal with how. What
she's teaching them is the philosophy of the world. It just so happens
that what that philosophy is, is sexual immorality and meat
sacrifice and idols, realize that those two things perfectly
coincide with so much of what Roman worship was of Roman gods
and goddesses. It's still an agrarian society,
even though there's skilled workmen, but they had to grow crops, so
they worshiped gods and goddesses of fertility, and the way that
they did that was not good. It involved sexual immorality.
She's encouraging them to do that. She's telling them to eat
meat sacrificed to idols. In other words, she's telling
them, look, why don't you just step into line with what's going
on in the world around you? Sound familiar? It should, that's
what we dealt with a couple weeks ago with Pergamum, didn't we? Pergamum was doing that. But
does it sound familiar in terms of looking at the church around
you in the United States these days? The church around you that
tells you to ignore God's word, they wouldn't say it in so few
words, they'd just simply dismiss it. And they do it under wonderful
pretenses of being accepting and kind and tolerance and all
of these different things, but y'all, this is the philosophy
and the theology and the practices of hell. And she's the one that's
out there calling herself a prophetess, and she's teaching it. This idea
of eating meat sacrificed to idols, it wasn't just worship,
it was this idea that you gain power from it. And sexual immorality,
well, y'all, you need to realize this is ancient Rome. Had this
talk with somebody this past week, we were talking about Jesus
coming back, and they were of the persuasion that the world
is just gonna continue to fall apart, and Jesus eventually has
to come back. If you were here at the beginning
of our series, You find the Lord of the harvest
returning to a field of wheat. There are weeds, there are tares
that have to be separated, but we find the Lord of the harvest.
Nevertheless, I was having this talk with this individual, and
I said, well, what makes you reason that? He said, well, look at what's
going on in the world today. It has never been so nasty, so wicked,
so terrible, all of this dysfunction of the people. And I said, really?
You ever looked into ancient Rome? Y'all, I'm not saying that
this is a clean place that we're living in in terms of sexual
immorality and that kind of stuff. Certainly we have problems, but
rewind 2,000 years, every perversion of sexuality was glorified and
became a religious aspect of worship. Okay, and we're not
just talking about homosexuality or infidelity, we're talking
about the extremes of sexual impression, the highest level
of sexual I'm not trying to make y'all blush, y'all. I'm just
pointing out how ancient Rome really was. As wicked and terrible
as our society is, y'all, ancient Rome, it crumbled from the inside
out. It rotted from its own corruption
and wickedness. And this woman that Jesus is
calling Jezebel, whether that's her name or not doesn't matter.
She's come in and she's teaching the church in Thyatira. That's the first problem. What she's teaching them is also
a major problem, but the first begins with the fact that she's
their teacher. I'm getting a little bit ahead
of myself, and I'm showing my hand, but what this all comes
down to is the fact that there are major issues with her, not
just as an individual, but with her and what she is doing. Again,
she calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and deceives
my servants. That's what Jesus says about it. And y'all, this
exposes two main issues. And this is the part that's controversial
and the part that I wish I could skip over because both of them
are controversial. But the reality is this prophecy has ceased.
Number one and number two, men are to teach and preach. Let
me explain again, because I know this is controversial. If you're
going to leave, just wait until I'm done, but take the first. about God's Word is informed
by God's Word. We go to God's Word to interpret
God's Word. And you can find it all over the place. Deuteronomy
4-2, I like it. When it says, do not act on what
I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands
of the Lord your God that I give you. Y'all, it's this idea that
God's Word is enough, that it is sufficient. If we were to
fast forward in Revelation, not add to or take away from this
scroll. In fact, Jesus promises destruction
for anybody that does. But it's the very simple idea
about prophecy, that if prophecy exists now, as it previously
did before God turned and finished, well then that must mean that
God is still revealing his word. And the reality is that God has
revealed his word in all of its entirety. The Bible speaks of
this in many places. Again, Hebrews 1, 1 and 2, it
says, in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the
prophets, and many times in various ways. But in these last days,
he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of
all things, and through whom he also made the universe. Do you
get what is being said here? That the old way of God using
prophets and prophecy, it has come to an end. We have the entirety
of God's word, and it's been said in so many ways. But y'all,
if you wanna hear a prophecy, If you want to hear the voice
of God, and this is not original to me, if you want to hear it,
pick up his word and read it. Prophecy has ceased. And that's
the first issue that's going on with this woman who calls
herself Jezebel. And I just had to address it because, y'all,
especially on the line of revelation, there's a lot of false teachers
out there that claim to be prophets. We just had another one of these
blood moons, right? I'm sure that Hagin in his sleep
was saying, Israel, Israel, Israel. Because that's his thing, y'all.
He's written books about it. And according to his books, the
world, the rapture should have come, I don't know, decades ago, and
it didn't. He's still got a typewriter or a word processor or a ghostwriter
or something, but y'all, stay away from this stuff. You wanna
know why people don't read the book of Revelation, Last Stairs
into Death? Because they get into this prophecy stuff. And
it's like an empty hole that you fall into and you never stop
falling. But that's just part of the problem.
And I know that's controversial. But something else is exposed
here that's even more controversial, and it's that second thing that
I said. And it's the fact that she's teaching there to begin
with. Y'all, God's word is as clear as crystal on this subject.
And I hope that this doesn't make you angry. If it does, then you're gonna
need to take it up with Jesus because he's the one that spoke
it and God is the one that breathed out his word and Jesus is the
living word. But y'all, it's not mine, I just preach it. That's
why you brought me here. There's lots of places that talk
about this. 1 Timothy 2, 12 says, I don't permit a woman to teach
or to usurp authority over a man. This is talking about the church
and what goes on in the church. There are those that would twist
us and say, oh, well, this is just Paul expressing his personal opinion.
Well, how about we go back to what Jesus said in Revelation
chapter two about Jezebel showing up and teaching in the church?
This isn't just Paul's opinion, by the way. This is God breathing
out his word. Peter said that Paul wrote scripture. The church
understood that Paul wrote scripture. We should understand that too.
You can also go to chapter three if you'd like even more evidence.
First Corinthians 14, they all say, And it's not about quality
of personhood. It's not about how women are
inferior men, or men are better than women. Y'all, it's about
the basic way that God has set up the world to work. And the
reality is, is that nowhere in God's word will you find women
teachers. Except for Revelation chapter two. And it ain't working
too good. Okay? Because again, despite
the clear teaching of scripture, we find this woman, Jezebel,
who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives by service. That's what we find. She's come
along, she's called herself this, and she has been teaching, and
what she's been teaching has been disastrous, and y'all, I know by default this makes
me a chauvinist and someone who is not inclusive and all those
sorts of things, but this is not about me and it's not about
the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. This is about the living
Word of God and what God commands. This is not about interpretation.
This is not about culture. That's why, if you were to go
on reading in 1 Timothy 2, you would see that this is not about
what women were like 2,000 years ago, or what women are like now.
This is about the created order. That's why, when given reason
for this, God said, through the apostle Paul, for Adam was first
formed and then Eve. This has nothing to do with quality
of personhood. It has everything to do with
God's design. And the reality is that Thyatira
should have seen this coming a mile away. And when women showed
up and started teaching the church, they should have said no. Because the reality is this,
what applies to them applies to you and me. Don't listen to
female preachers. It violates the clear teaching
of God's word. And I'm not going to apologize
for saying this because it isn't about my preferences. God's word
is clear. Don't listen to female preachers. It's hard to think of something
more inflammatory in today's world, but also, my friends,
it's necessary to hang on to the truth of the Bible. Don't
listen to female preachers, that's our lesson from Thyatira, and
also don't listen to anyone claiming to be a prophet. I don't care
how popular they are. I don't care how many books they've
written. God's word is closed, and if they come to you and claim
to be a prophet, they're liars and false teachers. Do you understand
me? It's interesting that the modern-day
prophets who come bringing prophecy in their own, part of me wants
to be catty and say, you know what, I don't mind somebody claiming
to be a prophet as long as we apply the Old Testament principles
to prophecy. You know, in the Old Testament, there were really
two major rules, that if you showed up and called yourself
a prophet, fine, but if you're wrong, we get to execute you,
and oh yeah, if you ask for money, we get to execute you as well.
How many modern prophets do you think there would be if we abided
by that principle? We must learn from Thyatira. And we must learn from Thyatira
because of the principle that's pointed to here. This is the
next thing on your paper. I've said this before, but let's
say that you're visiting and you never come back again, or
you're a regular, and you didn't know this was the position of
this church, or me, though if you watch devotional, you should.
But let's say, oh, he's a chauvinist, and I'm never coming back here
again. That is your choice. But you know, I've said this
to you for seven and a half years, I've said it through 22 years
of ministry, I'm gonna say it again now. If you leave and you
never come back, you'll remember one thing, remember this. If
I get hit by a bus this afternoon, Chuck of ice falls off an airplane
wing and kills me, or I choke on the taco soup or whatever.
If you only remember one thing that I've said, remember this.
God never, God never condones what his word
forbids. That applies across the board,
including to prophecy and to female preachers. And because
God never condones what his word forbids, look at verse 21 and
follow me again. Remember, y'all, Jesus doesn't
play around. He said, I gave her time to repent,
but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Look,
I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery
with her into great affliction, unless they repent of her works.
So you see, Jesus still gets a chance. But verse 23, I will
strike her children dead, then all the churches. that I am the
one who examines minds and hearts and I will give to each of you
according to your own works. Y'all, this isn't imagery. Jesus means what he says and
says what he means here. This isn't just an idea of death. He says I'm coming to execute
those who have maintained her teaching and your church along
with it. And y'all, there's a reason I'm
gonna show my pictures of ancient Thyatira, and what they thought
was the church there, it's now ruins. Heed the warning of Christ. This
is the angriest we ever see Jesus get right here, and he's angry
for a reason, but thankfully, in equal proportion to his furious
warning, he comes with his call to repentance and endures it.
Look at verse 24 and following. He says, I say to the rest of
you, Thyra, who do not hold to this teaching, who haven't known
the so-called secrets of Satan, now pause it for a second. We
don't know exactly what this means. This probably had to do
with some of the terminology that Jezebel was using. It probably
had something to do with a cult that had developed around her.
We just don't know. But despite this, Jesus said,
I'm not putting any other burden on you. Only told all. Hold on
for what you have until I come. Y'all, Jesus calls those who
are wrapped up in this sin to repent. But for those who aren't,
he tells them, hold on because I'm coming. And y'all, 2,000
years later, the message is still the same for you and me. Look,
I said it last week when I served communion, I'll say it again
now, this is the last thing on your paper. None of us can be perfect on
our own. If we could, Jesus would have never come. He would have
just been called to try harder. All of us are sinners, some of
us are saved by grace, but if you're wrapped up in something
you know you shouldn't be, cry out to God and ask him to save
you and he will. That's the promise of Revelation 2. to help you
resist temptation, and then resist temptation, and you've been given
power to do this, not because of you, but because of what we
find in 1 John 4, where we're told, little children, you're
from God, and you have overcome them, for he who is in you is
greater than he who is in the world. This is talking about
the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence in you to help you.
The beauty of knowing Christ is that He understands us, and
by His Spirit, He ministers to us, so if you're caught in a
trap, if there's a great failing on your part, if you are avoiding
Jesus, then repent and turn to Him. But let's say you're not,
because Revelation 2 speaks to both. Hang on to Jesus, hold on to
what you've got. That's what Jesus says. I remember
being a kid, when I go down to my grandfather's, inevitably,
I would end up in the river working on a boat or something like that.
And I remember being thrown a line and he was pulling on something.
I couldn't see anything. I'm just thinking, I hope I don't
get smashed. And I remember him saying, hold on to what you got.
Wasn't about my ability to hold on or anything like that. It
was about me trusting that he knew what he was doing and that
he was gonna show up. Y'all, that's what Jesus says to you
here. In this world of ours that mocks, in this world of ours
that is so confused, hang on to Jesus and take heart. As he ended so alive, the one
who conquers and who keeps my works to the end, I will give
him authority over the nations and he will rule them with an
iron scepter. He will shatter them like pottery.
Just as I received this from my father, I will also give him
the morning star. Listen to what the Spirit says
to the churches. Y'all, what this is referencing
is Philippians 2. The day is coming. And at that
time, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, heaven on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. But you'll notice
what it says there. This is not about what's just
gonna happen when he comes back. It says every knee should bow
in heaven and on earth and under the earth. That means a time
is coming when even the people in hell will bow and acknowledge
Christ and the sorrow and the sadness is that it will be too
late. If you do not know him, turn to him today. You don't
have to talk to me, but if you want to, we will talk, and it's
the most important thing ever. But if you do, hang on. Trust in his word, not the philosophy
of the world. Trust in his word and receive
his blessings. Let's pray. Our Father, we praise
you for your word, that we don't have to rely on ourselves, that
we don't have to figure everything out instead. We need to trust
you. Father, in this world of ours
that would say your word is hateful, and I'm sure in many places I
would be considered guilty of hate speech right now. And yet it's your words, not
mine. Father, let us hold on to your word as we hang on to
you in this wicked world of ours. And if any do not know you, get
hold of them now, Father. And I pray it in Christ's name, amen. Let's now close our time together.
We've sung about, or we've just read about Jesus coming with
judgment, being the king. So let's close together by singing
hymn number 332, lead on, O King. Please stand and breathe with
me. Oh, dear. See you in a bit. When I prayed in preparation
for this sermon, one of the things that I prayed was that I would
not get in the way of the clear teaching of God's word. If anything
that I said is too controversial or seems too harsh or too difficult,
before you go, I don't mean today, and we are to be captive to it.
Rest in his favor. Receive now the benediction.
May the grace and the peace and the love and the fellowship of
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit be upon
you both now and forevermore. Amen.
Revelation 2: Thyatira
Series Revelation
Greetings and welcome! This is our Lord's Day Worship Service for March 16, 2025. Today we continue in our series on the Book of Revelation in chapter 2 with the Letter to Thyatira and a warning about female preachers, teachers, and prophetesses. Thanks for joining us!
| Sermon ID | 3162520372814 |
| Duration | 1:17:28 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Revelation 2:18-29 |
| Language | English |
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