and draw your attention this morning back to Revelation 2. We are now on the letter to the fourth church, the church in Thyatira, and we'll read from God's Holy Word, His inspired Word, His inerrant Word. God breathed, given to us for our benefit, to teach us, to reprove us, to lead us in righteousness, to equip us as we deal with these things in which we live in this world, preparing us for that which is to come. Revelation 2, verse 18, this is the longest of the letters to the churches. Out of the seven churches, this is the longest. We'll read through the end of chapter 2. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, and your love, and faith, and service, and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat foods sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation." unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. the one who conquers and who keeps my works, and to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, and when earthen pots are broken, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, Heavenly Father, Sovereign Ruler, we come to You this morning in thanksgiving for an opportunity to come to Your Word, to worship You, to gather together as a body of believers, and to praise You, to seek to lift You up here this morning, to look to Your Word, to be fed by it. Lord, I pray, give us ears to hear. what you would say to us here this morning. Through your word, in your name we pray. Amen. Leonard Ravenhill once made a statement that the church today is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity. Whereas the true church, and changing this just a little bit, he called it the early church, But the true church throughout all ages has been married to poverty, prisons, and persecution. Do you see the contrast there? A true church in this world is married to poverty, prisons, and persecutions. Now we've been blessed here over the last few hundred years here in America to wear this degree of poverty to the degree of persecution has been minimal. But throughout history, this has always been the case with the true church. Whereas the false church has always been about prosperity, personalities, and popularity. And we find that even in the early church here at Thyatira. We cannot be under the false notion that what we always see on the surface is where or what the heart is about. A true Christ-centered church will not be marked by popularity and growth. Now these things may attend the churches, the true churches, They may have prosperity in numbers. They may have growth. They may even have a sense of popularity. But they are not the marks of a true church. The marks of a true church are balanced proclamation of the love of Christ and the truth of Jesus Christ. Even those churches that are true churches, that have popularity, that have prosperity and growth, if they are a true church, they will be marked by a preaching and teaching of the truth of Jesus Christ and His love. There is not a lifting of one over the other. Love without truth is what led to compromise in the church at Pergamum that we looked at the last time we looked at these. And that leads to what we see in Thyatira, not just compromise, but a corruption within the church. We cannot turn a blind eye or cover one eye to the sin that's going on in the world around us. We can't turn a blind eye or we can't become accustomed to the sin in our culture. We can't think we are so strong as Christians, that we are so in the Word, so faithful, that we can't be seduced by the world. We cannot flirt with the world. We can't take the attitude that we must be experienced in the things of sin to reach those who are involved with those sins. I think we will see, as we view our text here this morning, we will see the great danger in this type of attitude. The letter that we're going to look at from Thyatira follows the same general pattern or structure that we see in the other letters, so there's nothing new there, but there are some deep things for us to see, to observe, and to take to heart what Christ says to the church here in Thyatira. Verse 18, to the angel of the church in Thyatira. Well, where was Thyatira? What was Thyatira? Thyatira was about 45 miles east of Pergamum, which is the last letter to the church that we looked at. It was in a valley surrounded by mountains connecting the Hermas and the Caiacus rivers. It was first mentioned back in 290 BC, where it was listed as a military outpost for troops to protect Pergamum, which was a much greater city. Remember when we talked about that last time, how great Pergamum was, how important a place Pergamum was to the empire there. Well, Thyatira was a city that offered some protection. Some of the commentators, when you read about Thyatira, there's not a whole lot that we know about Thyatira, but some of the commentators mentioned that this city was frequently conquered over and over again throughout history because it was not in a geographically defensible location. It was down in a valley. Usually cities that were defensible were built where? Up on a hill, right? Higher elevation. Well, this was down in a valley, but it was in a valley that connected Pergamum to Sardis. There was a Roman road that spanned the distance between those two cities. And this was where Thyatira was located in between them on this Roman road through this valley. And to protect Pergamum, The commentators have looked through all the historical accounts and found that Thyatira seemed to be a city that was constantly being conquered as people were marching towards Thyatira. It may have been a city that gave a pause enough time while Thyatira battled and was being conquered for Pergamum to sure up their defenses. So this is where Thyatira was located. It didn't have the famous temples. There were some temples there, but it wasn't famous for temples like some of the other cities that we've looked at. This valley, that Roman road there, it became a very important commercial center. In between Pergamum and Sardis, this road, people traveled. It became a marketplace as people traveled to and from different locations. There is evidence of Thyatira being known for a dye that was created from a root, that when it was processed, it gave a dye that turned things purple. And purple in this day and time was very important to those officials, those leaders who were in positions of authority, liked to wear purple. It was a sign of an elevated status. It was expensive. More trade guilds were in Thyatira than any known other city during this time period. Archaeological research has discovered evidence of these when they've excavated the area around where Thyatira was. There's evidence of guilds for baking, bronze workers, clothing, cobblers, weavers, tanners, dyers, potters, and slave markets. On the super-thin surface, these guilds that they contained here may have seemed fairly innocent. Well, they provide jobs, they provide for economic growth, they provide for someone to make a living and to prosper as a citizen of Thyatira. Well, each guild had a patron god or goddess. And here's where the underbelly of these guilds starts to show itself. What's underneath that super thin surface level. Membership to these guilds necessitated patronage or honors to be given to the god or goddesses that were the patrons of those particular guilds. This can be described as worship by joining in sacrificial feasts that were done within the walls of the temples, these small temples to these patron god and goddesses of these guilds, and eating the foods that were sacrificed to the idols dedicated in those temples. These feasts took place in the temples, and as we read, food sacrificed to idols. After the feast and the celebration had gone on for hours, participants, or worshippers we could call them, or adherents to these guilds, often indulged in immoral practices, orgies, and all other types of depraved sexual immoralities as part of their worship to those gods and goddesses. Very difficult for a Christian a true Christian to make a living without being part of these guilds. This is what Thyatira was about, was trade, economic opportunity through the marketplace, and to be benefited by those, you had to be a member of the guilds, and through that, you would be called upon to take part in these things that we've talked about. Those Christians who refused to partake in these guilds were jeopardizing their livelihood and physical necessities for life. They were looked at as outcasts in the societies where these guilds were so important as it was in Thyatira. We don't know for certain how or even when the church in Thyatira was founded, We looked last time, I believe it was the last message on the letter of the church at Pergamum, and maybe the ones before that as well, making reference to the fact that Paul on one of his missionary journeys, Acts tells us that all of Asia heard the word of the Lord. So it's possible that some time, some people were there, and they heard the word of the Lord and took it back to Pergamum, or excuse me, to Thyatira. Now we only have one other mention of Thyatira in Scripture. And it's mentioned only this once, which has led many people, many commentators, many expositors to believe that this is probably the start of the church within Thyatira. If you want to turn real quick to Acts, Acts 16, verse 11 through 15, says, so setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neopolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in the city some days, and on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and they spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods. who was a worshiper of God, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. This supports some things that we historically know about Thyatira. The Bible is a history book. It is full of history. That is often said it is His story. This is the story of God. This is His book. It's going to be full of history. It can't be but full of history. And so we learn some things and have some things that we know from archaeology and from other sources are true of Thyatira. The discovery of guilds. and the fact that one of those guilds was for dyers and here we have Lydia in another place having traveled from Thyatira to market her goods which were dyes and things made out of those dyes which were purple. Thyatira produced a root which became purple dye. Lydia was saved through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ from the lips of Paul. And it wasn't just her who heard and believed on the Lord. It was her whole household. And they were baptized. and took that gospel, I'm sure, back with him. I think the commentators may be on to something here. That she and her household took the gospel back to Thyatira. And who knows what happened to her thriving purple dye business as a result of that. We don't know. Well, it's here in Thyatira that the Lord sends His message. Verse 18, excuse me, the first verse of our text here, but verse 18. The second part says, "...the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze." In all of the previous three letters we have looked at, we see John seeing Christ himself, Christ revealing himself to John in this vision in terms of his attributes and they're represented by this vivid imagery that we've seen in the opening part of each one of these letters. The words of him who holds the seven stars and walks among the seven lampstands in his letter to Ephesus. The words of the first and the last who died and came to life in his letter to Smyrna. The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword in the letter to the church at Pergamum. But here, Christ refers to himself as the Son of God. We have here in this opening of this letter what I believe is the first reference back to Psalm 2, where we find the psalmist recording the words, Psalm 2 verse 10 to 12, Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." This is not kiss a son. This is not a small s son. This is kiss the son. Christ Jesus being prophesied hundreds of years before He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. to any in Thyatira who heard how Christ referred to Himself in this letter. Picture yourself sitting here in the congregation and the angel of that church, the pastor of that church, standing up and addressing this letter from Christ Himself to you. The words of the Son of God. Fear should have immediately fallen on the church in Thyatira. There is something here in Thyatira, something beneath the surface that would draw the anger of the sun, whose wrath is quickly kindled, according to Psalm 2, in his set ablaze. The words this congregation heard, and by extension all of us are to hear, are the words of the Son. For unto us a child is born, but what? A son is given. This is the eternal Son of God who writes this letter to the church in Thyatira. And this is further intensified by what comes next. In this description that John gives of his vision of Christ in our text, Christ tells him to write to the church in Thyatira the words of the Son of God who has eyes like flames of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. This once again, if you remember, refers back to Revelation 1. Each one of these letters has a picture of Christ that refers back to what is already stated in Revelation 1. And if you remember back to what we talked about with these eyes like flame of fire, these eyes that burn through every conceivable mask that we can put up over ourselves. These blockades to hide from others what is going on inside, in the inner man. Our inner thoughts, our inner intentions, these eyes of Christ burn through everything that conceals that to others. They penetrate to the very heart and soul of a man. He returns to this in verse 23 of our text, and he says that he searches the hearts and the mind. Now literally what he's saying here is he is searching the kidneys and the heart. The kidneys were thought at this time to be that which was the center of emotion. and the heart the things of the mind. So he's searching the heart and the mind, the emotions and the thoughts and the intents of men. The innermost, think about where your hearts and kidneys are. Does anybody here see my heart and kidneys? They're on the inside, right? But this is where Christ searches with his eyes that are like flaming fire. He burns through His eye, His sight burns through that which is hidden into the very innermost parts of a man. They may be hidden from everyone else except this Son of God who has eyes like flames of fire. Jeremiah 11, 20 says, But O LORD of hosts who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, Later in Jeremiah 1710, I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruits of his deeds, which is almost an exact quotation of what we read later in this letter to Thyatira. And not only with eyes like flames of fire, but feet of burnished bronze. He is ready to tread down his enemies and to conquer them. Revelation 19.15 says, "...from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread..." It's not he may. He might. "...he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty." This is who's writing the letter to the church at Thyatira. Can you imagine sitting under that? Hearing these words addressed to you? Well, you better imagine it because these words are addressed to us. This is the Son of God who has a message for us. Not just to the church at Thyatira. Well, in verse 19, we find the commendations. Christ here commends the church in Thyatira for some of their works of faith, service, and patient endurance, and even that their last works, those which they've done more recently, are greater than those which they did at the very first. Commendable things, right? This is a church that appears to be on the move. There's things happening in this church. They're growing, they're serving the community. They're serving the needs, maybe serving the needs of widows and orphans. There appears to be life and vitality in this place, and that life and that vitality appears to be growing by the commendations that Christ gives them. But is this not similar to what we see in so much of the professing church today? Exponential growth of love and service, We see all that appears to be right on the surface. But there's something insidious that is brewing on the inside, something not at all right and not aligning with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the inner workings of what we only see as the facade. There are works being done, but are they being done in spirit and in truth? And at that point, we, in verse 20, come to the condemnation, from the commendation to the condemnation. But I have this against you. What a fearful thing for them, and for you and I to hear, that Christ, the Son of God, who sees our innermost being, has something against us. Christ, who is the Son of God. Christ, who has eyes like a flaming fire, seeing to our hearts and our minds where there is nothing hidden. Christ, who has feet like burnished bronze, ready to tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of the Almighty God. You and I, in the church at Thyatira, are under His authority. He is the Son. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry. You are under His all-knowing eye, are we not? He searches the heart and the mind. You and I in the church in Thyatira have no power over his omnipotence. He is the one who will judge and conquer those outside of him and those who are against him. And this is the one who says to the church at Thyatira, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching. Some have speculated that this is the wife of the pastor. Some have speculated that this is a teacher or a woman who has been accepted as a pastor of sorts within the church of Thyatira. She calls herself a prophetess. Whatever she was, she was tolerated within the church at Thyatira. Accepted by many in the church as a leader, and she was seducing others in her practices. Now she was most likely not named Jezebel, but of the sort of a Jezebel that would have been well known to everyone who had ever read the scriptures. There is a reason you don't name your child, your girls, Jezebel. There's a reason. She was guilty of the same thing as Jezebel, who was identified by name in the accounts we find in 1 Kings and 2 Kings. If you want to turn here, I'm going to read it, but if you want to turn here, you can. 1 Kings 16, 29-33, In the thirty-eighth year of Asa the king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel and Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him." Jezebel. Ahab, the king of Israel, united himself to an idolatrous seductress. by the name of Jezebel. And she brought idolatry to the people of God and to their king. She seduced him and the people to worship and build places of worship to false gods and led them astray into utter idolatry, eating foods offered to idols, sacrificing to idols, and giving themselves over to sexual immorality in veil worship. And she killed, according to scripture, the prophets of God. That was one of Elijah's accusations against Jezebel. She killed the prophets of God. In 1 Kings 18, we have the history of Elijah confronting Ahab, the king, who had married Jezebel. We have recorded the history of Elijah's going up against 450 prophets of Baal. And you will remember, if you remember this story, the preparation of the altars and the prophets of Baal and how their god Baal was called upon to answer by fire and light the sacrifice aflame. They waited all day. and there was no answer from Baal. Even to the point of cutting themselves with their sword and their lances. This was a practice they had in Baal worship that they would cut themselves and bleed and that would be a way to call upon their god Baal to answer them. All day long, no answer. No answer by fire to light the sacrifices on fire. Then Elijah made an altar to sacrifice. and he put the animal upon it. And three times, Elijah filled water vessels with water and poured them over the altar, over the sacrifice, and he created a trench around this altar. And there was so much water from him filling these pots, these earthen vessels, three times, that it had just pooled in the trench that he built around this. The whole thing was just saturated with water. And he called upon the Lord God Jehovah, and he answered in fire. And the fire not only burned up the offering and the wood, but it licked up all the water that was left in the trench. God answered. And after this, Elijah had all of the prophets of Baal taken down by the river, and he slaughtered them. God judged them for their sin, and through the prophet Elijah bore witness to their wickedness, and he slew them in judgment and wrath against them. And Jezebel found out about it, and she called for the death of Elijah, the wife of the king of Israel. called for the death of God's prophet for executing those who were idolatrous. Do you see how deep seated this seductress, this woman Jezebel, had become within the culture of the nation of Israel? We read in the scripture that was read for us earlier, how she schemed and murdered through treachery and lies. to obtain for her husband the vineyard that was possessed by a man who said, God forbid that I give up the inheritance of my father's. And finally, in 2 Kings 9, and I'm going to turn here and read this. In 2 Kings 9, we see her demise. Verse 30, When Jehu came to Jezreel, you remember Jezreel, that's where the vineyard was, right? Jezebel heard it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head, and looked out the window. Now why did she paint her eyes and adorn her head? She was a seductress. She was. And she looked out the window. And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, Is it peace, you zimmery murderer of your master? And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked at him. He said, Throw her down. So they threw Jezebel, they threw her down. And some of her blood splattered on the walls and on the horses, and they trampled her. Then he went in and ate and drank, and he said, See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter. But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When they came back and told him, he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite. In the territory of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel." and the corpse of Jezebel shall be dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, this is Jezebel." There was no grave to remember her by. That is a picture of God's wrath against what she did. Don't even give her a place of memory. her body, her blood, everything that she was, is to be dung on the field, possibly the field, the vineyard, that she stole by murder and treachery from the one who owned it to give it to her husband. This is who the Lord likens the woman in the church at Thyatira to. Obviously, there was a terrible problem here. She is one who is against the Lord. Her life can be said to be summarized as synonyms of the life of Jezebel. She is seducing Christ's servants. He calls them My servants in verse 20. She is seducing Christ's servants to eat food sacrificed to idols at these feasts and to practice all kinds of sexual immorality and perversions and teaching them that it is acceptable within Christ's church. All kinds of excuses, I'm sure, were present that she gave. as they often are in all of us when we compromise with the sins of the world. we must know what is later in the text referred to as the dark things of Satan. So I'm sure that she was saying, listen, if you're going to minister to these people, if you're going to be of service to these people, you've got to get to know what it is that they're about. You've got to figure out what the dark things of Satan are. You know, if we want to reach someone who is involved in a sinful lifestyle, well, maybe we need to get to know a little bit about that lifestyle. Maybe we need to dress the part, act the part, so that we can reach them. Is that not the excuses that we make? We have to be like them. Well, we can't half-heartedly turn a blind eye to what is really taking place to reach them and show them Christ. We have to remain faithful to what Christ says is right and holy. We can't partake of sin to reach those who are in their sin. We have to be a light against the darkness. We don't become darkness to somehow reach those who are in darkness. Well, how does this appear in our world today? How does this appear in our church today? Because it's there. It's there. Acting, dressing, speaking like the world. Our pastor gave us a reference of this several weeks ago when he talked about a pastor that just blatantly cusses all the time. One that they're flipping birds, him and his wife at each other in front of church members, in front of... It's not what Christ says is holy. That's not what's edifying to each other or to the church. What about minimizing sexual immorality in the world? Are we guilty of that? Think about this. Do we really not think that there's a problem in the church today with minimizing these things? Think about this in your own heart. Do you see homosexuality the way that God sees it? Do you see it that way? Transgender ideology, which in reality is saying, God made me wrong. He made a mistake when he made me. The creature telling the creator, you made a mistake. What about abortion? Does it sicken you? Do you hate it the way that God hates it? We talked about this a little bit last time. But does it sicken you, the murder of babies who are conceived and are image-bearers of God? And for what reason? For following after the lust of the flesh? And aborting babies? Killing babies? Well, what are you willing to do for the love of money and wealth? for following after the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. Is there any capitulation with the world there? In our own lives, in the lives of our church? In the lives of the professing church around us? Compromising with the world so that I can live a life of ease? So that I can put more money in my bank account? so that I can have friends that do worldly things and celebrate with them and not be looked at as an outcast? Are we, as the professing church, like those in Thyatira, willing to turn a complete blind eye, to cover up our sight and participate in those things that God calls wicked? And what caused His wrath? These things that causes His wrath to burn hot against the people that participate in them? Well, Christ says He gave Jezebel time to repent. But she refused. So He will visit her with His wrath. He will take her bed of immorality with which she practices her immorality and turn it into a sick bed. He'll take the harlot's bed and He'll make it into a bed of sickness unto death. not just physical death, but eternal death, because she will not repent. And those who are committing adultery with her, He will visit with judgment and wrath by bringing great tribulation unless they repent of sin, their wickedness, and their idolatry, even her children. Now this, I think, should probably be viewed as not her literal children, but those who have grown up underneath her teaching. She had embedded herself in the church at Thyatira. And this church was probably old enough that there was a second generation of people growing up within this church. Little kids. growing up under her teaching, under her leading, whatever her position was in this church, and a second generation being seduced into idolatry and sexual immorality. They too who follow after her will be punished with judgment and eternal death unless they repent. Now, why is this done? The last part of verse 23, if we look there, last part of the verse tells us that it will be done so that all will know that Christ is He who searches the heart and mind and will give to each one according to their deeds. In verse 24 and 25, Here Christ says to those in the church who have not given in to the ways of the seductress, hold fast. Hold fast. I place no other burden on you, no other burden, but to stay true to the one way, to the one Savior, to the one purpose until I come. Don't bend. Don't drift. Don't slip. Hold fast. Hold fast. 1 Corinthians 10-12, Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall. Hold fast to Christ. We don't stand on our own. We stand when we are united to Christ. Hold fast to Christ. Hebrews 2.1, therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away. I believe it's the King James that says, take heed, lest ye drift away. It's a nautical term. It's tying the ship to the dock, lest it be swept away by the ocean currents, by the currents of the sea. You take heed, you tie yourself to something that is immovable. That's Christ. Hold fast, hold fast. And then verse 26 through 28, the promise to the one who conquers. I will give authority over the nations, and to rule with a rod of iron is when earthen pots are broken to pieces." Once again, for this and the understanding of this, I think we need to go back to Psalm 2. I referenced this earlier as being the first. This is the second reference to this. Listen to what Psalm 2 says, verse 7 through 12. I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, You are my Son, the Son of God. the one who wrote this letter to the church at Diatyra. You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all of you who take refuge in Him. Remember the man who owned the vineyard. God forbid that I give away the inheritance of my father's. That's the inheritance that Christ was given, that we share in. We take part in all of this, in all of this that Christ promises in victory because of our union with Him. is given to Christ to do this, to judge, to conquer, to reign. And once again, we go back to that verse that we talked about in the very beginning in our study of these first seven chapters of Revelation. We referenced it since then several times. And I think if I was to go back and look, I probably would have said this is something that I want you to keep in mind or keep in your heart. Revelation 17, 14. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. This is how we receive the promise that Christ made to his church. We are with him, united to him. How do we have authority over the nations? Because we're united to the one who has given authority over all things. How are we gonna rule with this rod of iron? It's when the earth and pots are broken in pieces, as the same thing that Psalm 2 says about Christ, right? So how do we receive this? We receive this because we're united to Christ. His victory is our victory. Not because we won it, but because He won it. His power, His worth, His beauty, His sacrifice, all these things, because we are united to Him. And then lastly, the promise is, I will give Him the morning star. You know, this morning star throughout history is always referred to that star that appears as the promise of the new day. The star that says to us, see this light? The true light is coming. It's going to appear. It's about to appear. This is the break of day when we see this morning star. And that truly is Christ who appears even now to us in promise of the day when all of heaven shall be lit by His brightness. And He's even referred to refers to himself in Revelation 22, 16. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. This is, remember what we said in Revelation, what is Revelation really about? The very first verses, the revelation of Jesus Christ. He sent his angel, the messenger, to record these things for us. John was given this vision to record for us that we might know something about Christ. And what is it? I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and morning star. And he'll give that to us. for eternity. And once again we see the command. Verse 29, He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Seven time repeated phrase throughout these letters, these seven letters, it's in every single one of them. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Well let me ask you before we leave, Do you have any need of repentance today? Anything that you need to repent of? I believe we see here from our text and other places in Scripture that God is long-suffering with the wicked. He is. We often are led away by those like Jezebel, by those who are worldly, to the belief that God isn't a judge, He's not angry with the wicked every day, because we aren't immediately visited with His wrath upon the occasions of our sin. Now we have instances in Scripture where God did immediately visit people with His wrath and struck them dead. Jezebel, the Old Testament Jezebel, Oh, he was long-suffering for a brief time. And then he used Jehu to put her to death. An extreme death that we read about in 2 Kings, prophesied by Elijah the Tishbite. But this is not commonplace with God. where we sin and we're visited with wrath. We sin and we're visited with wrath. So people like a Jezebel, a worldly seductress, lead us to believe and try and seduce us to think of God as all love, all caring, no righteousness, no holiness, no judgment, no wrath. Well, he's never visited you with wrath before. He's not ever going to visit you with wrath. He'll just take you as you are. He'll just accept you for whatever you want to believe. That's not what scripture says. But that's what the world would have us to believe. That's what the Jezebels in the world would have us to believe. Don't be fooled. Christ says in our text, I gave her time to repent, but she refuses. She refused to call sin what it was. She loved her sin and the things of the world more than she loved the Son of God, who saw into her innermost being and sees into our innermost being. And then he says, behold, he doesn't just say, you know, she refuses. So I'll do this or I'll do that. He says, behold, look at what I do to her. Look at this, behold this, behold my wrath. I'm going to take that bed that she so loved, that bed of her harlotry, and I'm going to make it her sickbed and I'm going to slay her in sickness for the wrath that I have against the sin that she commits. I'll judge her. I'll condemn her to everlasting death. Don't miss this. Behold this, God is a wrathful God. He has every right to be, and the only way anyone will ever find themselves outside the wrath of God is to have the bright and morning star. to be united to Christ, to overcome in His death on the cross, by His victory over death, we will escape death. Don't take God's long-suffering to be His looking over sins that are committed. Don't miss it. Repent while there's time. Don't refuse to repent and believe the words of our Lord. He's given to us, He's given them to us, He's preserved them for us that we might look to Him and live. Is there anything that our church here, our church throughout the nation needs to repent of like Thyatira? I think we do. I think we're too in love with the world. We're too easily seduced by the Jezebels of our time. We're too seduced by the world's offerings of health, wealth, and prosperity. Popularity, comfort, false promises of nothing that have eternal value. See the Naboth, the guy who owned the vineyard, he understood that there was a really important inheritance that he had. Really important. He wasn't willing to give for pleasures in the world or for some money. He wasn't willing to give up this inheritance. But yet the church has been seduced throughout our country and throughout the world with giving in to the world. There are churches that are taking polls to find out what worldly people want the church to be. They're forsaking that truth whereby those people who are worldly might one day gain an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away, better than earthly wealth, earthly power, earthly popularity, all that that's going to burn away in the fire one day. Repent. and believe the truth of Jesus Christ. We have promise after promise in these seven letters for those who persevere, for those who conquer, for those who trust God, who stand fast, who hold firm to the truth that He's given us until He comes again. I lay no other burden on you I'm not telling you to be at peace with the world. You hold fast to My truth until I come. That's it. That's what's expected of you as a Christian. Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor, and stand for His truth. Hold fast. Right love is grounded in truth. The only way I know truly how much Christ loves me is to understand the payment He paid on my behalf on the cross. How deep was my sin that He paid for? Love grounded in truth. Hold fast to that. Hold fast to that. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the time that we've had. I pray, Lord, that you just hide it away in our hearts that we might meditate on it this week. Lord, continue to feed us from your word. Lord, that we might grow strong in the faith. looking to You, casting aside the cares of the world and those sins that so easily beset us, and let us look unto You as we run this race, as we walk through this wilderness, waiting until that day when You come again. and you take us unto yourself, Lord, that we might just dwell in your brightness and your glory and worshiping you for eternity. In your name we pray, amen.