Beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the One who has eyes like flames of fire and feet like fine brass, He is the Son of God. This is the only place in Revelation in terms of the letters that the title Son of God is used. And why is it? Now we've been talking a little bit about these cities and that there's something about the cities and the way that Jesus writes to them that makes sense to them. So if you would go to Thyatira back then, it wasn't a very important city, it wasn't a very great city, in fact it didn't last all that long, and this church really did not exceed in power or importance. It was a city that was out in the middle of a plain, it was easily conquered, it was very easily overthrown and overtaken. It was filled with guilds, with all kinds of craft, metalwork, ironwork, clothwork, wickerwork, woodwork, and you can go on and on. But there was all guilds there, we'll call them sort of trade unions of that, and each one of them had a pagan god associated with them. But the main temple there was for Apollos, or Tiramis. And he was the son of Zeus. So in the city where the son of Zeus is worshipped, God says, I have placed my beloved son, Psalm 2. the Son of God. God is speaking, the Son of God is speaking, Zeus is quiet, and Apollos can do nothing about it. This is your God, this is your Savior. And do you see Him? He's dazzling, He's majestic, He's offensive, He's intimidating. He's not the Jesus that the world wants, soft and cuddly, kind and effeminate. No, He is the one who judges the living and the dead. He is our anointed King, as Psalm 2 says. He is our priest who gave Himself up for us, who died so that He would take the judgment. Who will judge us? Well, Jesus will judge us. Who will condemn us? The one who took our condemnation upon himself. In all things we are more than conquerors. We will fear nothing, for the Lord God is with us. Of whom shall we be afraid? Jesus comes to the church in Thyatira and says, this is who I am. This is who you need to be in me. I am the Son of God. I am the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And in me you are more than conquerors. I have praise for you. But I also have a calling and commendation and condemnation for you. And so let us hear what the Spirit says to the churches this morning under the theme Christ calls the church in Thyatira to hold fast until He comes. First the commendation, and then the calling, and then the comfort that He brings. I am the Son of God. I am the one whose eyes are like a flame of fire. I can see into your hearts. I can see right and I can see wrong. My feet are like fine brass. I stand among you in glory. I know you. I am the great and glorious Lord of lords, a king of kings, and beloved in Thyatira. I know you. And you know how I know you? Remember that song we used to sing when we were kids? They will know we are Christians by our love. And isn't that what Jesus says? I know your works, your love, your service, your faith. and your patience. Just the opposite, right, of Ephesus. You've lost your first love. And then we talked about that vertical love. Had they lost the thrill, the excitement, the great deep love of God who had saved them from sin and death and hell, either from the depths of paganism and heathenism, or from the depths of Judaism without Christ, making one new man, and now they had lost, because of losing love for God, their love for one another. They weren't burning in that, and Thyatira is just the opposite. They are a church that is burning with love for God, and that's overflowing with a desire to serve one another. I know your works. Remember what James said, show me your faith, I'll show you my works. For faith without works is dead. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you abide in me and I abide in you, then you will bear fruit. But if you do not, my father will prune you out, as we're going to see. But when I look at you, I see the works of righteousness. I see the works of faithfulness and of love. And then when you add to that, he says, I see your service, then that word there could better be translated ministry. I see your ministry of the church. Now in my pastor life, I got to deal once with someone who died out of a trade union. And I was actually quite astounded and amazed. The care that that trade union took care of the man's family who died. Now, it didn't have a Christ-centered, there was no prayer, there was really no comfort they could build, but anything you need, we'll be there. We'll make sure that the funeral arrangements are taken care of. I actually had to meet with the union leader and the family together to put together the services. And I thought, oh, there is something here And it's the way the world works. And there's something good about it, okay? But the ministry here is different. It's when the church does something rooted in faith, rooted in worship, they're in that place where Apollos and Zeus and Hermes and all these other gods are worshipped. There is the people of God in the beauty and the marvel of their worship. They're glowing. Jesus says, I see you in the way that you take care of one another. that we minister, serve one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, that we gather together as we read in Hebrews, and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up the meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching. See, they were not going to be able, as good Christians, to abide very long in the guilds unless they made some changes, as we're going to see. But if they held fast and held true, then they were going to lose their jobs. They were going to lose their income. To become a child of God and pray, give us this day our daily bread, might mean you might not get your daily bread the way you're used to getting it. And that's a burden, that's an oppression, that's a persecution. But no matter, because if I go to the people of God, I'll be taken care of. I'll be loved. I will be served. What a beautiful thing. That is a power. The communion of the saints is so important for the church of Jesus Christ. If we are the frozen chosen, if this is just the tombstone over the grave of the dead, then what does it mean? But we are called to be alive. And beloved, I think Jesus in many ways would say that to you in Zion. We see that together when a sister has a baby and the meals come. We see that together, how you gather together during a time of a funeral, and the kitchen is busy, and the fellowship hall is busy, and the people who come to bring their comfort and to bring their words of peace, and in a Christian way. When we have a funeral and we're all together. When the deacons, always by God's grace, have enough to take care of those who have need. When the ministry of the church can continue. When we see that this is a place where men love women, properly, generally speaking. And women understand who men are generally, properly speaking. It doesn't mean we need to grow in these things. Of course we do. We need to get better at them. We need to understand these things. And we're going to talk about those relationships But I think we would be able to say with some confidence that some of the things that we need to be doing by God's grace, always to Him be the glory, through the power of the Spirit, always a recognition of His work in Him, because of the saving work of Jesus Christ, we are more and more becoming a loving community. I don't know always about the patience part that Jesus saw in them. Are we always patient with one another? We are strong in our faith. We can be reformed. We can be very much like the Ephesus church. This is wrong and this is right. But we need to be patient with each other. I think we could grow in that. But we need to continue to grow in that in part because of the world that needs your work, your service, your love, your faithfulness. That's why God has the church. That's why he has put Jesus Christ in Thyatira, and in Sheffield, and in Dundas, and in Cambridge, and all around Canada. The communities have a place to go to be cared for, to be loved. It starts with us. Whatever you do, so to the least of these, my brothers, you do to me. We learn that together, and then we grow in that beauty and that marvel. Hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Love one another, that your joy may be full. Let them know that Jesus reigns here, that He is great and that He is glorious. And patiently endure in a world that ridicules us, that doesn't understand us, that doesn't love us, that wants sometimes the money we give but not the hope and the faith and the courage and the scripture that we give. Because fundamental to all of those works is their faith in Jesus. They see His service, His work, His love, His faith, and the patience of Jesus. To walk on this earth, to be ridiculed, laughed at, scorned, So misunderstood. How could He be so forgiving? How could He be so kind to us? Even just this morning, how many sins did we not commit? And yet He says, I love you. And He says, I love you so much I gave you a baptism this morning that you could remember all of this. I have you baptized. Remember, I've washed you clean. Now don't get dirty again. I've washed you clean so that you can be good and right and true and innocent. Let them know you're baptized. Let them know you are Christians by your love. I commend you, church in Thyatira. And I hope and I think that Jesus would say on some level the same to us. I commend you. Nevertheless, verse 20, there's that big word again, nevertheless, I have a calling for you. 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 to eat things sacrificed to idols. So behind this we hear the Decision made from Acts 15 some call that the first synod some call that the first General Assembly if you're a Presbyterian But remember that the churches came together because Paul and Barnabas came back and said look we are baptizing Gentiles and then there was that discussion. Well, shouldn't the Gentile men be circumcised and after much prayer and discussion? They decided no the men do not need to be circumcised They need to integrate into the grace and the beauty of the marvel of Jesus Christ baptism is enough which we have just seen, but for this time we say, stay away from meat that's been offered to idols and still has blood in it, and to abstain, to keep away from sexual immorality. So this is now being affirmed by Jesus. This is what we decided as churches, you need to stay away from it. Now what's also interesting is that the first level of Jesus' unhappiness with the church is not Jezebel first of all, but he says, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman. Notice that. Ephesus was commended because when you see heresy, you get rid of it. Jesus is saying, I gave you the keys of the kingdom. I've given you the key of preaching, but you're allowing this woman who preaches falsehood. So now we have two levels of problem, right? In that age, in the apostolic age, some women were given the gift of prophecy. Remember Philip's four daughters? There's nothing wrong with that. But she continues to preach. She's been given authority. Paul had written, I permit no woman to have authority in the church. She may not be preaching, but you're letting her preach. But not only are you letting her preach, you're letting her preach this false doctrine. So what really is this false doctrine? It's you can be in the guild and you can be in the church too. There's so much grace. That grace will abound. There is enough grace that if you need to make a living, and from time to time you need to go to the pagan celebration and hang out at their barbecues and then be involved with the orgies and the horrible stuff that happens afterwards, no worry. Christ's blood is strong enough. It's deep enough. You can have both. But the word of the Lord had already come through the apostles, through Jesus Christ to the churches. You may not do that. No, you may do it. And by the way, notice it's not to the elders, first of all, it's to the church, beloved. All of us need to stand on guard for heresy, certainly to the elders. The keys of the kingdom have been given to the elders, but for the sake of the church, it's been given to you too. It's not okay when you see something wrong to sit silently by, or to simply go to church and go, oh, she's preaching again. Oh, well, we can just keep going. And it's interesting for us, right? There's all of this love, and all of this activity, and quite often that's what happens with a loving, active church. They get tired of doctrine. Because doctrine makes it harder to love people, and it makes it harder to get along with people. But you need both. Loving goodness without a moral heart is useless. We need to love people, but we need to bring them the truth. We need to bring them the good message. Because what you're doing when you eat the food sacrificed to idols, is you're acknowledging these idols. You're telling everybody else, well, I ate with you, so really what you're doing isn't so bad. You don't need the Son of God. It's okay to have Apollos, the son of Zeus. And you may not do that. It destroys, but it also destroys us. We stop being brilliant light. We stop being razor sharp for the things of the truth. And slowly but surely, we always go away. Why did he use Jezebel? It's interesting so far, right? We've had the Nicolaitans, we've had Balaam, and now we have Jezebel. And I think I've said that before, I think between Ahab and Jezebel, those are two names that I don't think any Christian would ever name their children. Especially Jezebel. Jezebel has connotations. She is the daughter of Ethbael. Ephael and Amorai get together to make a treaty and bring Ahab and Jezebel together. So they marry the kingdoms together and Jezebel comes with 400 prophets of Asherah and 450 prophets of Baal. We always remember the 450 of Baal, but we forget the 400 of Asherah. Supposedly Baal would sleep together with Asherah in the great Greek, or sorry, pagan Otherworld, and then that would make the ground pregnant. And so how would we get them aroused? Well, then we do those terrible and wild and horrible sexual things, and that gets them aroused and they want to be together. This is the kind of religion Jezebel brought to Israel. And remember on the day that she died, when Jehu came, do you remember what she did? She made herself up like a prostitute, trying to win Jehu to seduce him so that he won't kill her. Now do you understand? And again, what we talked about, right? That if you don't understand the Old Testament, it's really hard to understand the book of Revelation. But now we bring it from 1 Kings 21, then 25 through 26, and then 29, and we think of the horrible ordeal of how she had innocent Naboth killed, and in that we have a picture of how the innocent Jesus is killed, not by the wicked of the world, but by the leadership of the Church. So now this woman has decided that she is, by the way, she's a self-appointed prophet. This is anarchy. We've just kicked God out of the church. We've just said to Jesus Christ, yeah, you're the son of God, Lord of lords and king of kings, but we're gonna let her appoint herself against your word, against the normal order of things. And it's bad enough what she's preaching, but you're allowing it. And Jesus says, I see her, and I know her, and I told her, you have time to repent. We think of Ezekiel 33. It is not the will of the Lord God that any should perish, even this woman. And by the way, some people think that the way that it says that woman, it's actually a idiomatic way of saying wife. Some people wonder if she's the wife of the angel of the minister to whom the letter is written, or a pastor's wife. I don't know, we don't know for sure. What we know is that she's illegitimate, and that what she's preaching is absolutely illegitimate. And the church is allowing it. Now, a couple of things. We've talked about the danger of idolatry and eating food offered to idols, and how that pulls us away from God. But in two of the churches at least, and one more it's alluded to, that sin of sexual immorality keeps coming up, doesn't it? Why is that, beloved? I'm not going to tell you what the sexual immorality is. We have a bit already. And there's prostitution and all these things. But what's the big deal about that sin? Because you live in a world that always says, well, what's the big deal? We're two consenting adults. What does it really matter how I think about myself sexually or what I do with my body? But what does Jesus say to the churches through Paul? Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit lives within you. Flee immorality. You were bought with a price. Why is Jesus so concerned about proper sexuality? Because, beloved, it kills our relationships. It kills marriage. Whether you're active before marriage and then you get married, you bring sinful things into the marriage. And what is it about sexual immorality? It's always about me and my pleasure and my lust and me getting what I want from somebody else. You exist to make me happy. even beyond that kind of sexuality. It moves us towards narcissism. It moves us towards paganism, hedonism, shame, disgustingness, and then people are left at the end of it. It's because that's the lie of Satan. It's fun. It's a good time. Nobody gets hurt. And what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 7? That when you join yourself to the prostitute, you've joined your soul to her soul. And if you're married, you join your wife's soul to her soul. The whole beauty, the marvel of what God has given to us in sexuality is the joining of souls, beloved. One man, one woman who love each other so much, I have no other way to say I love you than to join my soul to you. I have no other way to say I love you than to join my body to you. I love you, not what you give me. And when marriage gets destroyed, then families get destroyed. And when families get destroyed, young men get destroyed. Why do you think pornography is such a problem in the Church of Jesus Christ? Because, young men, Satan wants your soul. I just read this week an article that said that part of the reason that young men in the Church of Jesus Christ are not going into ministry and not going into missions is because they feel such horrible shame about that sin. By the way, Jesus says, I can forgive Jezebel. By the way, Jesus says, I can forgive all of you who are in that sin, just don't do it anymore. And even if you stumble and fall, come to me. That's what baptism teaches us. I am a forgiving God. Christ died on the cross for this sin too. And in that grace, you will find a new start. In that grace, you can start again. In that grace, you get your soul back. And you find a good Christian woman. And women, we know that you're starting to struggle with this sin as well. And other weird things about sexuality. Or there's such an unhappiness because the men aren't doing it properly and your duty is now taken away that you think you don't have to love your husband anymore. And Satan laughs as our marriages become without affection. It's so sad. It's demonic. Protect yourselves, beloved. You need to hear this today. It's not just okay, and we cannot not just talk about it anymore in this world of darkness, because people are going to be coming from the outside with aberrant views of sexuality, and God has placed you here on this earth underneath the Son of God, with the Son of God in you, with the Son of God before you and behind you, and He's going to use you to teach Him what love is. How to join souls together. What a happy marriage can be. Why this is so important. And I'm uncomfortable preaching this a little bit, and I hope you're a little bit uncomfortable hearing it, but we will get more comfortable with it. Because we need to stop talking all about the bad thing. Let's talk about the beauty that marriage can be. The marvel of what love really can be between a man and a woman. What dating can be. And then we can really understand what singlehood can be. Then we can actually reach out to a widow and a widower because they who really love somebody who lost them. What that really can be. Don't forget. Hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Because Jesus says, Jezebel, if you don't repent, it's kind of interesting, if you're not going to hop out of bed, I'm going to put you in a sick bed. That's literally what it's saying. And all of you who hop in bed with her, you're going to be in that sick bed too. And I will kill you. This is Jesus. I will kill you, wherefore do the nations rage? Why do people plot in vain? Therefore, kings, be wise, be warned. Rulers of the earth, give ear. Come with awe and serve the Lord. Mingle joy with trembling fear. Kiss the sun, his anger turn, lest you perish in the way. For his wrath will quickly burn all who trust and bless to it. I'm always amazed when the church sings Psalm 2 and you sing verse 4 with such gusto. Let them perish in the way or his wrath will quickly burn. So what kind of church do you guys go to? It's pretty brutal. No, it's the truth. We're not singing this because we like it. We sing it because we love the one who says it. We're singing it to you. We're singing it to each other and we're singing it out into the world. Jesus Christ is going to come again to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. There will be sheep and there will be goats and There is an eternal glory for one, an eternal shame and horror for the other. We need to warn him. Isn't there a graciousness in Jesus? He could have just left the church in Thyatira and walked on by. No, he says, I stand there with my burning eyes and I see it. Jezebel, stop it. Thyatira, boot her out. Tell her to stop preaching that way. When she repents, receive her back in. All of you who have Followed her and jumped in bed with her Get out of the bed get healthy Get well, this is my calling for you and then he finishes up and He says now I say to you and the rest of Thyatira as many as do not have this doctrine Who do not know the depths of Satan as they say so basically what Jezebel was saying is I know the deep things of God These are the truths that you can know. And Jesus is saying, deep things of God, these are the deep things of Satan. Don't listen to her. And those of you who haven't listened to her nonsense, hold fast to what you have till I come, and he who overcomes and keeps my works, notice there's the works again, so they're related, until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel. As also I receive from my Father, I will give him the morning star." Revelation 22, 16. I am the morning star. I will give you myself. I am the Son of God. I rule Thyatira and I rule over everything. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Hold fast to me. Hold fast to the truth. Don't give in to Jezebel. Don't give in to the guilds. Don't give in to the oppression and the seduction. And I will give you my power. Yesterday we did pre-marriage class together, or Friday, and we were talking about Genesis 1. One of the things that always intrigues me, when God says to Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, I have given you dominion over all of the earth. How would we have done that all together? If we just took Zion, and all of you were visiting here this morning, and we were going to rule the earth together, how long would that last? Go to one congregational meeting and see how long that would last. We just can't get it together. But if we were perfect in Christ, and we thought after Christ, we would be joined to Christ, he would rule through us, we would rule with him, he says. So 1 Corinthians 15 says Jesus will rule until he has defeated the last enemy, death, and he gives the kingdom to God, he receives it back, and now he says, you'll rule with me. And part of the interesting thing is the language there is you are already ruling with him. If you walk with him, The gates of Hades can't prevail against you. We are part of the light of the world. We are the ones who rule with Jesus Christ. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. That's what Jesus is saying to you. Yours is the kingdom of God. Yours is the kingdom of heaven. You will be filled. You will be righteous. I know you're not eating bread, he says to Thyatira, perhaps to your fill because you're not hanging out with the guild. But I will take care of you. I am with you. I will give you myself. You will live with me in glory. You will live with me in the new heavens and the new earth forever. And all of us, millions of us, thousands upon thousands of us, will rule together in beauty and perfect harmony. That which we strive for in marriage, which immoral sexuality tends to break, we will have without the need for marriage because we will be so intimately, beautifully, harmoniously one in Jesus. One in the Spirit, one in the Lord, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Hold on to my works, Jesus, as I died on the cross for you. I laid in the grave for you. I was forsaken for you. I rose again from the dead for you. I ascended into heaven for you and I am coming to get you and I will come again to judge the living and the dead and my kingdom will have no end. Yes, he shall rule them with a rod of iron. They shall be dashed like pieces, like the potter's vessel. You will receive blessings upon the works of the works of Christ in you. But, as we have said, he who searches the minds and the hearts will give to each one of you according to your work. So we can stand before God on the great day of judgment, on the day that you die, with your works hanging around your own neck, and your neck will break, and you will die, and Jesus's eye will kill you. Or he says, I died for you. You can come with your works and your sinful works upon my neck. Give me your burden. Give me your load. And I will take it and I will give you rest. I will give you authority. I will give you power. I will give you the bright and the morning star. I will give you myself, one in the spirit, one in the Lord, and they will know we are Christians by our love. Amen.