So this morning, we will be in Revelation chapter 2. We'll be in verses 18 through the end of the chapter. That's verse 29. So as we begin, I want to kind of outline our approach to the passage this morning and how we'll be moving through the text and using our time together. We're going to approach the text in three stages. The first is the longest of the three. We're going to be going through the letter to understand what it is that's being communicated to the original audience. And secondly, we're going to ask what was the church in Thyatira expected to do in response to this letter? What was their call to action? And then thirdly, we'll consider our own understanding of this text within our current context and what our call to action. would be in light of this truth. So let me read the passage for us. And I'll begin in verse 18, chapter two, verse 18. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, the words of the son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am He who searches the mind and the 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 to what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star, he who has ears to hear. Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So beginning in verse 18, this contains the greeting of this short letter. And this is where we see the to and the from. This letter is written to the church in Thyatira. I want to try to help us frame this up in our minds a little bit, because in our context, when we hear the word, or when we hear the phrase, the church in Thyatira, most of us likely picture a church building located centrally in the city of Thyatira, maybe something like Thyatira Bible Church. where all the believers of the city come together and worship. We naturally imagine it in the same way we might think of Anniston Bible Church today. But it wasn't like that in the early church. This wasn't Thyatira Bible Church, or FBC Thyatira, or any of the denominations of Thyatira. Without dedicated church buildings where the saints would come to meet, the early church met in homes. And it was this way for nearly the first 300 years of the church. Personal homes are built for families. They're not built to house large numbers of people. So if you think of your own home, we're a modest size group of people, but how many of us would fit into your home? We wouldn't all fit in there. We would need a number of homes for us all to meet there. So the size of the gathering would be limited to roughly 15 to 20 people. And what you would have is multiple gatherings that would meet in homes throughout the city. So while it's not known exactly, it's estimated that the population of Thyatira at the time of this writing was about 25,000 to 50,000 people. Again, this is not known, but the Christian population at the time would have perhaps been a few dozen to a few hundred believers. With the gatherings being limited to roughly 20 people in a home, The church in Thyatira, what Jesus references is the church in Thyatira, would have been spread out over multiple homes in the city of Thyatira. He's referencing a network of home churches with shared leadership and oversight. There's a connectedness that exists among this network of home churches. So this letter is to the church in Thyatira, to the entire community of faith that's spread throughout the city of Thyatira, and it is from the Son of God, from the Lord Jesus Himself. And I think it's important to note by way of reminder that this is His church, this is Christ's church in Thyatira. He's the head of the church, the head of the entire faith community in the city of Thyatira, and she belongs to Him. Now when Bob was introducing this series, teaching through the chapter 1 of Revelation, we saw a description of what John sees when he turns around to see the voice that was speaking to him. We get a list of striking features. And then there's this letter. We see two of those features are taken and he uses them to describe himself to these believers in Thyatira. And those two features that he describes himself with are He has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze. These descriptors that the Lord uses of Himself here are highlighting to the readers that He sees them. And this is drawn out in verse 23. Having eyes like a flame of fire points us to Jesus as the one who searches the hearts and the minds of men. He is all-seeing. Having feet like burnished bronze points us to an image of strength and purity, highlighting the unshakable justice and the absolute moral purity with which the Lord executes His judgment according to what it is that He sees. And, as we see in verse 23, this judgment is according to deeds done, according to their works. Jesus introduces Himself here as the all-seeing judge who searches the hearts and the minds of men and then carries out his judgments in complete and unshakable moral purity. The fact that Jesus is highlighting the moral purity of his unshakable judgments and his ability to carry out these judgments on the basis of what he observes as he searches the hearts and the minds of men you would think had to have at least been a little concerning as they start this letter to the church in Thyatira. It would be as if I came up here And since, you know, we've been here, I think we started our first Sunday here, might've been the first Sunday in January of 24. So we've been here about a year and a half, but still not well known by many. So I might want to introduce myself to you. And I would say, I'm Eric, or maybe to give you a little more information, I'm Eric Howard. And then maybe I want to share a little interesting fact about myself. And so I might say, I always have trouble staying under my allotted time whenever I'm teaching. And so you might think that's kind of a curious and weird thing to say. Of all the things about himself, he would go with that one, unless that one pertains most directly to me in this immediate circumstance. And then your brain starts connecting dots and you think, okay, it's no time to panic. Maybe it's a short letter. And then you see that it's the longest letter. It's the longest of the seven letters. And they gave the longest letter to the one who always struggles to stay under time. So these describing features that the Lord uses of himself to the church in Thyatira might have been a bit curious and had them feeling a little apprehensive right off the jump. As we keep moving through the letter, we see in verse 19 that Jesus knows So, like we were just talking about, Jesus has eyes like a flame of fire. He sees all, knows all, nothing escapes his vision. Jesus' knowledge of their works is not partial or still being formed in any way. He uses the Greek word oida, which references a settled and certain, a complete and fully formed knowledge. That's different from another word that we see in scripture that's used for knowledge or to know, which is gnosko. That references a knowledge that grows over experiential things. So over time, it would grow as you learn things through experience. But this is Oida. This is him referencing a complete knowledge of them. He knows them. He knows their works. He knows their love and faith. their service, their patient endurance. And with his eyes like a flame of fire, he knows them fully and perfectly. And after that greeting, we might expect that there's some bad news coming. Since there were allusions to judgments and feet of burnished bronze, which are actively carrying out these judgments in all purity and holiness, but instead they receive a commendation. There's good news. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter works exceed the first. This is actually very good news. I believe this is Jesus describing the current condition of this church and not a representation of how they used to be. For one, the word to know is speaking to what Jesus knows to be true regarding all of these things, and this verb is in the present, not the present, it's in the perfect tense, which conveys that this was something that he has known from some point in the past, and this knowledge continues into the present. Something else that leads me to this understanding is that he says that your latter works exceed the first. So what does that tell us? That there's growth. There's growth taking place within the community of faith from the first works until now. They are growing in the exercise of love through faith. And this love manifests itself as service and patient endurance. This is a great commendation to this church in Thyatira. They are truly walking in the one another's. So maybe their apprehension begins to ease a little bit. There's something of great significance that we need to talk about when we're talking about the city of Thyatira. And this provides the likely backdrop for how the church is excelling in the one another's within the body. Thyatira, though not a particularly large city, it was a trade hub. So you had cities like Rome and Ephesus that were much larger, but Thyatira's place in that region was being more of a trade hub. In fact, Thyatira is mentioned in the Book of Acts in reference to Lydia. She was a seller of purple goods from Thyatira. They had these organizations called trade guilds in Thyatira. They were woven into the fabric of the culture. Trade was a central aspect of what went on there, and the trade guilds directly influenced and directed trade. So the guilds were a central element of Thyatiran culture. For us to understand what a trade guild was, probably not all that familiar, is that it's kind of like a labor union mixed with a social club and a pagan cult. There was an economic element. Their ability to participate in the trades was very much dependent upon their participation in the guild. There were meals and social networking. There were also patron deities and rituals. There were sacrifices offered to the gods of the guild. Idolatry was a key element of the guild. To offer sacrifices to the god of the guild was an act of worship, and many of the guilds also participated in sexual acts in worship of the gods as a part of the life of the trade guild. And I think it's telling about the human condition that the gods that we invent are worshipped by the manifestations of human depravity. It would seem that the church in Thyatira would have been taught about the sinful nature of these types of activities and practices, the ones associated with the guilds. Clearly, participating in idol worship was not something that they ought to be doing. And clearly, participating in orgies and sexual acts with temple prostitutes would have been taught as darkness in the clear teachings of the apostles. What would happen if someone chose not to participate in the guild? due to these idolatrous and sinful activities that were woven into the fabric of the guild. Well, if you didn't participate, then you were blackballed. We might understand that today as being cancelled. You're not going to be able to sell your goods. Trade happened through participation in the guilds. It was going to be extremely difficult to earn money apart from guild participation. This creates significant financial hardship for those in the church who make their living through the trades. This creates the cultural backdrop for the church in Thyatira to thrive as the church. Although not explicitly stated, it makes sense to me that this was the foundation for the commendation that the church in Thyatira receives. As your brothers and sisters are suffering hardship, you are living out your faith. as love for one another. You are caring for the needs of those who are struggling as a result of foregoing participation in the guild on the basis of idolatry and gross sexual immorality and those things that are woven into the life of the guild. So after receiving a commendation like that, if you are among those comprising the church in Thyatira, what's the one word you would not want to see? The commendation turns on this word, but, that we see in verse 20. But I have this against you. As I've said, as we read this letter, we should understand this to be a relatively new development. The church in Thyatira is characterized by the good things that we've been talking about. I know your works, your love, faith. your patient endurance, and your service, and that your latter works exceed the first. But something has changed, and this change is a threat to all of it. To help us understand this, think of the movie, The Lion King. Now, I've given you roughly 30 years to see it. Hopefully you're familiar, but if not, it's okay. We're going to explain the key elements and how I'm going to apply that to the message today. The movie begins with Mufasa. He's the king and everything is running as it should. The land is lush. There is an understanding that he presents to his son Simba, who cannot wait to be king. And he presents this to his son Simba regarding the circle of life. We all need one another. Things are presented as being harmonious throughout the land. And then, of course, you've got the bad guy. You've got Mufasa's brother, Scar. He wants to be the king, and through killing his brother and scaring Simba away, Scar becomes the new king of the land. And this is where we are right now, I think, in the text to the church in Thyatira. Even though Scar is king and Mufasa is dead, there is still a level of harmony that exists in the land. that was established under the reign of Mufasa. But because Scar is a self-centered leader, things begin to turn for the worse. Scar's leadership was tolerated and allowed to continue. Eventually, the lushness of the land turns desolate, the animals leave, and then food becomes scarce. I see this text in a similar way. The land is still lush, He says, I know your works, your love, your faith, your patient endurance, your service, and that your later works are exceeding the first. The land is still lush, and there is still harmony because harmony was established through their obedience. But now there's a threat to all of this. In the movie, it was Scar. In Thyatira, it's a false prophetess that Jesus references as Jezebel. It's not thought that her name was actually Jezebel. That's not a name that was in use because of the negative connotations that were associated with it. So whenever you think about Jezebel, what are you thinking about? You think about idolatry. You think about sexual immorality. She was King Ahab's queen in the days of Elijah the prophet. These were not good days. in the land of Israel. And Jesus uses this name to highlight the coming desolation that is certain if they continue to tolerate this woman Jezebel in their midst. And this is where the trade guilds come back into our discussion. If we just read this without an understanding of the trade guilds, it would seem very odd to us that anyone would listen to her or tolerate this message. How could the church in Thyatira, with all these good things that are going on, and with the spiritual health and life that's going on among them, how could they even listen to this for a minute? Because the message was tied to making their lives easier. This woman, Jezebel, was likely involved in the trade guilds, and she was saying that Christianity and participation in the guilds were not mutually exclusive. You can do both. We don't know the exact message, but I would imagine that it fit into the general category of turning God's grace into license to sin. In our Men's Sunday School class we recently finished a study through the book of Jude and in Jude chapter, well there's only one chapter, but in Jude verse 4 we see that these false teachers who have crept in unnoticed, they have perverted the grace of God into sensuality. This message focuses on a twisted and upside-down understanding of the grace of God that would promote sin, and say that God's holiness is not offended by it. It's the same idea that Paul speaks to in Romans chapter 6. After laying out in chapter 5 the amazing grace of God, he anticipates that there would be some who would seek to pervert the grace of God in this very same way. And so he says in chapter 6, verses 1 to 2, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? May it never be. How can we who died to sin still live in it? As long as there is the gospel of God's grace, there will be those who seek to pervert this grace for the purpose of living according to their fleshly lusts. And that's what this woman was doing as she was bringing this message to the church in Thyatira. And why would they listen? because life as a Christian in Thyatira was difficult. We shouldn't be so quick to think. I would never listen to that message. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute and think about the temptation that would exist if you're struggling for basic provision. Perhaps you used to be quite affluent, but now, since becoming a Christian, you've stopped participating in the guilds and you can't find work. and you find yourself being somewhat dependent upon the kindness and the love of the saints for the things that are needed. Then the message comes to your ears through this woman, referenced as Jezebel, that allows for you to be a Christian while also participating in the trade guilds. This is the culture, and if you're going to survive in this culture, you've got to participate in it. God would want you to thrive, right? Does God want his children to be poor and hungry beggars? That doesn't sound what God's like. So the message of syncretism finds a footing in the church as this message begins to resonate. And perhaps a way we can understand syncretism would be where we take the popular and most pervasive elements of the culture and the cultural worldview, and we try to marry those with the gospel. Perhaps the difficulty was ratcheting upward for these believers in Thyatira, and so the message of syncretism finds its footing. It's not hard to imagine how this message begins to spread. We still see it today. As long as there are people wrestling with the truth of the gospel, there will be those who seek to turn the gospel of grace on its head. They start with a starting point that is other than God's starting point. This is easier to do when you have the levels of Bible illiteracy that we see today. There are people filling churches this morning who claim to love a Lord and a Savior that they don't know and they do not obey. People don't know what the Bible actually teaches and so whenever a syncretistic message hits their ears they are likely to listen to it. intently. And what's the end of the gospel? This is where it starts, and if we're going to get the gospel wrong, it's likely to be right here at the start. And don't answer this one too quickly. Who is at the center of the gospel that you've believed? If we turn the mission of God on its head, and we say that the end result of the gospel is that I would be fulfilled in my mission, to be fulfilled, to be healthy, to be wealthy, to be happy, to have a spouse that makes me look good, to have my children who make me look good, to have a job that pays me a bunch of money and acknowledges my hard work and builds me up higher and higher. If that's what I think the end result of the gospel is, I've turned it on its head. I'm not only speaking to the prosperity gospel, I'm speaking to any version of the gospel that puts man and man's mission at the center. Syncretism brings cultural norms and expectations into the gospel and weaves it all throughout. It is a perversion of the gospel, which makes life easier for the one that's in it. But Jesus explains here in verses 21 to 23 that it's not an acceptable gospel at all. This woman has been given time to repent of her seductions and her lies, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. So what is her end? Desolation. She may look like she's thriving now, but be assured that Jesus has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze. He speaks to the bed. Sexual immorality happens on a bed, but Jesus says that she will be thrown onto a sick bed. And those who commit sexual immorality with her will be thrown into a time of great difficulty and tribulation unless they repent of her works. She was given the opportunity to repent, but she wouldn't. So now the call is for all who would listen to her and to participate in her works to repent. Those who show themselves to be her children, those who do not repent of these deeds of darkness, will be struck down dead. What's the outcome of this? It's that all the churches would know that Jesus is He who searches the heart and the mind and He will give to each one according to their works. There's a great warning here. It would be like if someone sent a letter to be read in the land of all the subjects of the kingdom just after Scar had become the king. You are tolerating him as king. And yet this will lead you to desolation and destruction. You should therefore not tolerate His leadership. Get rid of Him and those hyenas too. If you don't, then you're going to lose all that you have. All the good that you have right now will be a fading memory. And in verse 24, the Lord begins to speak to the rest of the church in Thyatira. The second group, those who do not hold this teaching. To them, he says, continue what you're doing. Resist and refuse to give an ear to these perversions of the gospel of the grace of God. Hold fast to what you have until Christ returns. He commends them as a community of faith at the very beginning of the letter, And then he speaks against that which is threatening to bring about desolation. Act right now. Do not tolerate this woman, who likely would have been there whenever this letter was being read. She is bringing lies, and those lies will bring about destruction. If you are listening to her, repent and turn back to the truth. But those of you who are not listening to her, Keep on holding fast to the truth of the gospel. Reject these attempts to weave syncretism into the gospel. These are attempts to thread elements of the culture into the lives of the people who are the servants of the Lord. What is it that awaits the one who conquers? Remember here the temptation is to avoid difficulty now by making cultural concessions on the gospel. The lie is that you can participate in all of these elements of the culture and follow Christ at the same time. The call here is to reject this lie and repent if you've believed it. The call is to endure. Endure to the end. And then Jesus says that he will give authority to the one who conquers over the nations, to rule them with a rod of iron, even as he has been given authority from the Father. In verse 28, Jesus says, I will give him the morning star, which is a reference to himself. This one who patiently endures to the end and holds fast to the truth of the gospel and purity of message to him, Jesus will give himself. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is who Jesus is really speaking to in this letter. Those with ears to hear. Those with the ability to hear, to receive, and to respond to the word of the Lord by faith. Those who have the ability to hear and to discern spiritual things by faith. That's the audience in this letter. Those with the ears to hear will heed the message. They will pursue holiness, the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Through a love and a devotion to God that's expressed as obedience to the message of the Lord, whichever group they find themselves in, they will hold fast to the pure gospel and reject any cultural impurities which pollute it. However, some don't have ears to hear. False converts. And there are many false converts in the visible church today. They will not listen. They will do the only thing that they can do. They will continue to serve their own lusts for sexual pleasure and for riches. They will reject the message of future destruction that's coming and awaits those who do not repent. Jesus says He will throw this woman onto a sickbed and those who commit these acts with her will face tribulation if they refuse to repent in the same way that she has refused to repent. And then they will be struck dead, eternally judged. But those without ears to hear they will pridefully deny this warning just like people have always done following the leadership of their father, the devil. God won't do that. That's not what God's like. The children of God are made manifest on the basis of what they do with what God has called sin. Do they confess it? Do they agree with God in regard to sin? Or do they deny sin and self-justify? This was a little bit of a longer passage, so the thought is important, though, to take the time to walk through and to understand what's being said, and I hope that we do understand it. This is the first goal of Bible study. It's often skipped or hurried through, but we must first understand what it is that's being said to the original audience. Our next goal is to understand the proper response of the original audience to this text. Think about the original audience to this letter, the church, the collective community of faith throughout the city of Thyatira. What would they have been expected to do with this letter from the Lord? When they heard this letter read, what should they do? What's the response to be of those with ears to hear? They were to evaluate themselves in light of the word of the Lord. The audience is those with ears to hear. There's no choice of what to do for those without ears to hear. Prideful rebellion against the Lord is the only option for them, so that's what they're going to continue to do unless the Lord grants them life and living faith. They were to look at the two groups that are being identified by the Lord, and they were to make a determination in regard to which group they fit into on the basis of their works. In verse 23, Jesus says, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the mind and the heart and I will give to each of you according to your works. Jesus identifies himself as having eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze. He sees all and not only does he see all, he knows all. He searches the mind and the heart and nothing is hidden from him. Those that have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches are to conduct a sober-minded evaluation of their lives because Jesus searches the heart and the mind and nothing is hidden from Him. There are two groups that make up the audience here in this letter. The third one we referenced are the false converts. They are not the primary audience for this letter. So those with ears to hear are going to find themselves in one of two groups. There are those who are tolerating the false prophetess Jezebel who is seducing and leading the servants of the Lord into idolatry and sexual immorality. She is twisting the grace of God into a license to sin. She's convincing some that grace permits present sin rather than empowers the present pursuit of holiness. The message is that holiness can be compartmentalized. Holiness is something that you can do when you're gathering with the saints of the Lord, but God understands that you have to earn a living. You have to eat. You've got to participate in the culture so that you can thrive in the world. If material wealth is your goal, you will make the concessions to get it. If authority and power are your goal, you will make these concessions. If your aim is to be liked by men, you will make these concessions in regard to participation in the culture. Surely God doesn't want his children to suffer and to struggle in poverty. Plus, if you have a lot of resources, then you can be a great help to the church and be generous to those who need it. If I'm hearing this letter read, I need to be doing an honest assessment of myself in light of the word of the Lord. Am I in this group? Have I believed this lie? and been led down this dangerous and destructive path. So what's the call to this group with the ears to hear it? Repent immediately. Turn away from that which is sure to bring about desolation and destruction and return to the safety that's found in the truth of the gospel of the grace of God. The warnings are given as a way to light the fire of repentance, so to speak, in those who have the ears to hear it, but have been deceived into believing lies. And then there's the other group. Am I in the group that Jesus references in verse 24? To the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, this false teaching that this woman Jezebel is using to seduce and to lead the first group astray, this group is continuing to keep the works of Christ. Jesus doesn't have any word of correction or rebuke for them. He only encourages them. So no rebukes or corrections. I don't have anything else to lay on you, but He only encourages them to hold fast. Hold fast to what it is that you have until the return of the Lord. And this is their call to action from the Lord. Keep going, saints. Keep on walking faithfully. What awaits you is so much better and so much more glorious than whatever might be gained by compromises here on the earth. There are two groups, and every reader or listener was to find themselves in one of those two groups. The first group is the group of cultural compromise, characterized by compromising the pursuit of holiness for participation in the mission of man. The call to this group is to repent. They are not beyond repentance. There is a genuine call to them to respond in sorrow in regard to their sin and to confess their sin, to agree with God in regard to their sin. Those with ears to hear are to hear this call of the Lord and respond in faith and repentance. In the absence of repentance, there is a promised tribulation and then eventual death, which would prove that they did not have ears to hear in the first place. They were false converts. The call to the second group is to persevere, to keep on. And as a fuel for their perseverance, he speaks to them of the glories that await those who conquer. And now here's the last aim of Bible study. After we've studied the passage, For what it's communicating to its original audience, and we've looked at the desired response of this audience to this word, now we need to be sure to evaluate ourselves in light of the word of God. And isn't the call to us the same as it was to the church in Thyatira? Those at Anniston Bible Church with ears to hear can be divided up into two groups, and those two groups are still the same two groups that we've been talking about this morning. The particular poles of the cultural moment might look different, but the groups are still the same. There is the group that has misunderstood the grace of the gospel. And they see the grace of the gospel as God's help to them to pursue the things that they desire. The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life. They look at the grace of God as helpful support for them in their mission, the mission that they are on, apart from Him. And then there's the group that has not listened to this teaching. They've not soiled their garments. They rightly see the grace of the gospel as empowerment to pursue holiness for participation in God's mission and fellowship with Him and with one another. This is not for participation in my own mission, it's participation in God's mission. The vision is clear and there's a right view of grace. So in an open and honest, sober-minded evaluation, where do you find yourself this morning? Do you see holiness as a part-time pursuit? Maybe a Sunday morning pursuit or like a jacket that you can put on when you need it or take it off when it makes you uncomfortable. Is it only one of the things that you do when it ought to be the one thing that shapes and informs all of those other things that we do? The call to you this morning is that you have misunderstood the grace of God and the Lord calls you to repent. Evaluate every aspect of your life in light of holiness and participation with Christ in the fellowship of God. Your participation in the culture is directed and dictated by the word of the Lord. And what I would like for us to consider this morning is the great danger of adopting some other gospel that flips the grace of God from that which fuels us in our service to God's mission and instead makes it that which serves us in our mission. This is a gospel that puts self at the center and it sees God's role as helping you to be successful in your mission. When you aim at anything less than the holiness of God, you will undoubtedly make concessions. If you are aiming for wealth, you will sacrifice the pursuit of holiness and justify disobedience to the word of the Lord to attain it. If your desire is to gain the attention of a man or a woman, You'll justify pursuing something besides the holiness of Christ, thinking that it will help you get what it is that you want. A self-centered gospel that perverts the grace of God will always lead us into cultural compromise. Let me say that again, as this is a primary takeaway from this message this morning. A self-centered gospel that perverts the grace of God will always lead us to cultural compromise. Have you been deceived into believing that we can play at the things of God while devoting ourselves to the pursuit of the things of the world? Do we have the freedom to trifle with the things of God while chasing after the things of the world? We do not. You wouldn't be the first to be deceived by this lie, but you must repent today. We must be devoted with a singular focus to the mission of God. This is the great problem in the church today. We want to be considered right with God while also making the world and the things of the world our pursuit rather than holiness. And this requires an upside down gospel that puts you at the center. It makes God your servant. We must repent. But let me end our time together this morning in the same way that Jesus ends his letter to the church in Thyatira. He speaks to those who have not listened to this teaching. The call this morning for you, if you're in that group, so if you're in the first group, the call to you this morning is to repent. If you're not in that group and you are instead in the group that has not listened to that teaching that would flip the grace of God on its head, the message to you this morning is to keep going, brother. Keep going, sister. It might be hard, and you might be tired. You might be hurting, struggling to see the mission clearly. You might be frustrated. You might feel buried under a mountain of losses, but let me remind you that in Christ, you've already won. And so now, to be clear, we will not do this perfectly. We will stumble. We will think things that we wish we had not thought. We will say words that we regret. We'll fall short, and we will hurt other people. We absolutely will, and that's just the nature of sanctification as an ongoing work. No one's there yet, but keep going. In spite of all of our imperfections, we can agree on our common pursuit, the pursuit of holiness, and we can walk together and we can be an encouragement to one another in this pursuit. So let me encourage you. Keep going. Keep on prioritizing the worship of God and participation in His mission. Keep on devoting yourself to time spent in the Word every day. Keep on reading, meditating, studying, and seeking to apply it to your life by faith. Keep on in your devotion to prayer. Keep on guarding your thoughts and what it is that you allow into your mind to influence them. Keep on making holiness your pursuit as you trust that God will give you what's needed for you to serve Him in His mission. Keep on confessing your sin. and repenting of it in godly sorrow. Keep on loving one another, seeking to be used by God as a life-giving light to encourage holiness in others. Keep on being humble and teachable, knowing that you are completely dependent on the grace of God to empower you to participate in His mission, and keep on resisting and refusing to compromise in this pursuit knowing that all other pursuits are inferior and do not endure. Your reward for patient endurance in the mission of God is great, co-heirs with Christ, ruling over the nations. We will receive the morning star, which is Christ himself. Hold fast, faithful ones, and keep going. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.