Six-year-old Letty from Guiana, Brazil was used to playing in the junkyard at her dad's house. He was a scrap collector and metal trader, and this time, Letty stumbled upon some blue phosphorescent powder that absolutely stole the show in her mind. She thought it was cool when she began to rub the powder all over her body, only to find out that it made her sparkle and glow like a cartoon. Unfortunately, later that afternoon, Letty and her father were both in critical care in Rio de Janeiro Hospital, not expecting to make it. You see, the glittery powder was actually cesium-137, which is a radioactive isotope used in cancer therapy equipment. Her father had purchased a casing from a junk dealer, and in that casing held this radioactive material. At the time the article was written, not only were Letty and her father in critical condition, preparing to die, but also around 20 of their friends and family members were also hospitalized because of their contact with the sparkly dust. The next nearest radiological disaster took the lives of only 11 more people, 31, when the Chernobyl reactor in Russia melted down and 31 people lives were taken because of this radioactive material. Churches often sparkle and shine, and they become attractive to spiritual children. Unfortunately, this sparkle can contain fatal toxins, which lead to immense and dangerous spiritual disease. Last week, in the study of Revelation, we looked at God's encouragement to these seven churches, marking three faithful attributes of churches that were faithful to God in the last days. But in the same token that we're looking at churches, some of which were commended for their work and commended for their stand for the gospel, we also are going to see that some of these churches were actually condemned by the Lord. because of their lack of standing for truth, because of their coolness in their relationship with God. And although these churches were churches, they suffered from a toxicity that needed to be destroyed. And folks, I want to say to you this morning that the message I'm preaching today is titled, A Warning to the Church. Now remember, the book of Revelation is about things that are, things that were, things that are, and things that shall be hereafter. Next week, in chapter number four, we're going to start looking at those things that happen after, the things that people most commonly think of when they think of the book of Revelation. But remember, the book of Revelation is an epistle. It's letters written to real churches that were alive during John's day. These churches that were real churches also picture for us churches that would be around in the last days. Some churches are to be commended because their faithfulness to the Lord. Some churches are to be condemned because of their lack of faithfulness to the Lord. Now folks, I don't know about you, but I want to be on God's commendation list, not God's condemnation list. Today I want to share with you four marks of an unfaithful church. And the first one I want you to see is back in chapter 2. Last week we looked at the church of Ephesus from its positive perspective, but in the middle of Revelation chapter 2, in verse number 4, God also gives this church a condemnation. After he commends them for their work and their faithfulness and their stand for sound doctrine and their willingness to faithfully endure trials and troubles, the Bible says in verse number four, nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Now, what is the first mark of an unfaithful church? It is this. We must avoid the displacement of affections. We must avoid the displacement of affections. You see, this church was doing the work that God wanted them to do, but according to verse number four, their heart was not where God wanted it to be. Did you know that it's possible to be doing what you do, serve where you serve, active in your church, faithfully performing the things that you think God wants you to do, and the whole time your affections not be in the right place? What is God talking about when he says that you've left your first love? Well, Mark chapter 12, verse 38 sheds light onto this, when one of the scribes came to Jesus and said, which is the first and greatest commandment of all? Jesus replies, the most important is this. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, with all your strength. And the second is this, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. What does it mean, then, to leave your first love? Well, what it means is that you can continue to be active in God's work while neglecting the most important thing about your soul. Folks, listen, the most important thing is not what you do for the Lord. The most important thing is who you are before the Lord. You see, you are not a human doing, you are a human being. And God says it's possible to continue on laboring, working hard, giving it your best, and yet your relationship with God and others be cold. One preacher said it like this, the church at Ephesus had theology that was both clear and cold as ice. It was heartless Christianity. It was continuing in duty, but failing in devotion. It's like Jesus standing here saying to us, you're doing stuff for me, but why aren't you spending any time with me? You are carrying on in Christian responsibility even more so, and yet your heart for the Lord can be diminishing the whole time. Some of you have read after Nancy Lee DeMoss, who's a woman's conference speaker and speaks to revival. She wrote about 40 evidences of leaving your first love. Now, I'm not going to read them all today, but I selected 10 of them, and I think they're very good. Number one, if you've left your first love, you have no desire to spend time with God. If you've left your first love, number two, you have no desire or time for private worship or prayer. If you've left your first love, number three, you, your corporate worship is dry and you're uninvolved. If you've left your first love, number four, you crave the things of the world more than the things of God. Number five, you talk about everything else other than the things of God. Number six, the things of God make you uptight or uncomfortable. Number seven, if you've left your first love, you enjoy secular songs and entertainment more than sacred songs and entertainment. If you've left your first love, you can find a way to justify your disobedience, number eight. Number nine, you can become judgmental and critical of others. Number 10, we can become greedy and selfish in our relationship with God and things. Folks, what is God trying to challenge us with this morning? It is possible to be in your place, do your service, be faithful to God, and at the same time, inside your heart where no one else can see except for God, there becomes a callousness or a dryness in your relationship with God. And folks, we've got to fight against that. Look, I've tried to make our church what I would call a non-busy church, not a program-oriented church. We've tried to make this simple where there's only once or twice a week to really engage in a program or something of worship. And folks, that's not a heavy schedule. I come from churches where it's Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, visitation on Tuesday. If you missed on Tuesday, that's okay. You can go on Thursday. Every Saturday is busy with something and there's always something going on. That's not what's going on here. But do not let that fool you. Do not let that fool you to think that that doesn't mean that you can be hyperactive in activity, doing something for God. At the same time, your relationship with Him could be growing cold. So number one, we must avoid the displacement of affections. Number two, I want you to listen very carefully. I'm probably going to spend most of my time here, and I'm not sure if I'm even going to get past this point. So you just have to kind of bear with me here, because this is the real substance, I think, of what happens in these churches. The second thing that you see that is a warning to these churches is we must avoid the danger of apostasy. We must avoid the danger of apostasy. Now folks, two different times in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3, there is a warning to these churches about this particular thing. And that is, do not allow false and worldly teaching to creep into the church because of the damage that it can cause to the testimony of Christ and to the individual members. Folks, I've got to tell you, We are living in a day right here and right now where churches have opened up their doors to virtually any teaching or any belief or any practice for the sake of being culturally relevant. In fact, I was at a cross-country meet Saturday morning. I was listening to this guy over at another tent. I wasn't in their conversation. He was talking so loud I could hear him. By the way, Be careful how loud you talk when you're in front of other people. I mean, my goodness, it was a private conversation, but you could hear him from 40 yards away. Anyways, he was talking about his church, and it's a brand new church, and he was telling this lady, he was trying to, I guess he was trying to witness to her, but telling her that their style, their method was to, was to, I think he called it exegete the culture. And we're here to exegete the culture, and so we're trying to be in tune with like what's really going on. And I'm just sitting over there going, man, I so badly want to disrupt this conversation. And say, you know what, your job as a pastor and as a church is not to exegete the culture, it is to exegete the Word of God. It is not to try to find out what is going on out there, and try to be relevant, and try to be hip, and try to answer everybody's needs, and try to have ten steps for this, and this is okay because this is after all just what's happening. Look folks, there has got to be a true north in this world. And the true north in this world, it's got one place where that compass needle falls, and it is the word of the living God. And if it makes you culturally out of touch, so be it. Now let me dissect for you real quickly what is going on. Go to chapter 2 verse 14 real quick. Now to Pergamos he writes this, but I have a few things against you. Because you have them there who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things, sacrifice to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. And this is super interesting. I think when you read about the Nicolaitans, and we'll see that here in just a minute, in fact it's in verse 15, whatever the Nicolaitans were, which is questionable, there's a lot of dispute and discussion about what the Nicolaitans were, I think the Nicolaitans of the New Testament were the Balaams of the Old Testament. And I think you see them tied together. Now, when he writes this about Balaam and Balak here in verse number 14, that may confuse you a little bit. Now, you're probably familiar with the story of Balaam on really one account. Balaam was the guy who was paid by Barak to go and curse the children of Israel. This all takes place in the book of Numbers. I believe it's chapters 22 through 24. And in Numbers chapter 22 through 24, Balaam is put on the payroll of the Amorites. And the Amorites are trying to stop the Israelites from their conquest. And so he hires a prophet from Israel to speak out a curse against Israel. And of course, as you know, he's unable to do that. Balaam is famous for the story of the donkey. You guys remember the story of the donkey? And he's trying to go curse the people of Israel, and the donkey keeps stopping and ramming into things. And Balaam's so messed up, he starts actually talking to a donkey. And if that's not crazy enough, the donkey starts talking back to him. And Balaam, I mean, it's a bizarre story, but you know what's interesting? In verse number 14 of Revelation chapter 2, he doesn't talk about the donkey. He doesn't even talk about being on the payroll of the Amorites. Notice what he says here. Balaam's biggest problem was this, that Balaam caused the children of Israel to have a stumbling block thrown in front of them that led them into eating food offered to idols and sexual immorality. Now, what is he talking about there? Well, in Numbers chapter 25, verse 1 and 2, the Bible says, while Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. And then you skip six chapters later, in Numbers chapter 31, verse 16, it says, Behold these, watch this, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor." Now, what is going on here? It's a little subtle verse that you may have missed in Scripture. I know I had missed it in Scripture as I was trying to figure out what was God actually talking about here, and yet what we learn is this, that when Balaam could not curse God's people, Because God would not let him curse his people the Bible says somewhere along the line Balaam and Amorites got into a room somewhere where they were trying to figure this out and Balaam said something like this Hey guys, look, I can't curse them because God won't let me curse them but here's what you need to do if you will go tempt them and Okay with your women and you will go tempt them with idolatry They will likely fall because that's kind of their track record and lo and behold. That's exactly what the Amorites did They sent their women and they sent their idols into the camp and guess what what Balaam said was true They fell for it. It wasn't that they left God. It was that they started mixing God and other religion Now you want to know what's coming in the book of Revelation? Listen very carefully. A one world church and a one world government. And you want to know how a one world church and a one world government is going to come to power? It's going to come to power through Balaam's advice. Y'all better help me up here, I might get lost here for a little bit. It's gonna come through Balaam's advice. It's going to come through the advice of peak preachers and so-called spiritual leaders that tell the world, here's the deal, we do not have to change who we are necessarily, we just have to be okay with everybody else and what everybody else is doing. Did you know right now, in Dubai, which could possibly be, no doubt, Babylon, and could easily be the place where Antichrist rules and reigns from. Dubai is one of the most fascinating cities in the entire world. And in Dubai right now, for the first time in history, just a couple of years ago, they built one church on one foundation with three buildings on the church. Building number one, an Islamic mosque. Building number two, a Roman Catholic church. And building number three, for the first time in the Arab world's history, a state-sanctioned building of a synagogue. A Jewish synagogue, a Roman Catholic church, And an Islamic mosque on the same church ground, and it's all together one church, and that one church has been labeled by Dubai as the family church, the church of Dubai. This one church. You can go to a synagogue if you want to, you can go to the Catholic Church if you want to, and you can also go to the Islamic Church if you want to. Here's the formal name, excuse me. It's called the Abrahamic Family House. This project was built upon the interfaith dialogue between Pope Francis and Ahmad el-Tayyib, who is the Grand Imam of the Sunni tribes. Other religious leaders signed this document three years ago to promote world peace and human fraternity. Listen, friend, that ought to cause any discerning child of God to have antennas going up in their lives. Wait a second. Wait just a second. Jewish people, Islamic people, and Catholic people do not believe the same thing. And yet, Under the guise of human fraternity, we're going to come together. Folks, can you just not see the Antichrist himself stepping down into the Abrahamic family house and deliver the sermon that will bring the world together under the guise of peace? Folks, we have got to beware and be careful, and you say, what's the problem with all this? The problem with all this is Jesus says, I've got a problem with you bringing in idolatry to my house. Folks, listen, I know it's a confusing day. I know it's a day that's hard to understand, but I am still here to tell you, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through Him. You're not going to heaven because you pray the rosary. You're not going to heaven because you got baptized. You're not going to heaven because you were confirmed as a child. You are not going to heaven because you do the seven or you avoid the seven deadly sins. You're not going to heaven because you follow Allah. You're not going to heaven because of Mohammed. You're going to heaven because of Jesus and Jesus alone. And that and only that must stay in the church and only a church that is faithful to Christ will keep preaching the gospel even when the world thinks the rest is okay. Not only is there doctrinal deviance, there's tolerance of sin. Look, if you will, over here at Thyatira, which comes at the very end of chapter 2. Now, I want you to mark this in your notes. The church at Thyatira receives the longest message of all the seven churches. Now, what was Thyatira's problem? Well, the Bible says here in verse 20, nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel, watch this, watch this important phrase here, who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things offered to idols. Who is Jezebel? Well, obviously Jezebel is used symbolically here as a reference to some teacher that was existing in that church and some teacher that would no doubt be existing in the church in the last days as a woman who taught the people to go into sin just like Jezebel of the Old Testament taught her husband Ahab to go into sin. She was the daughter of King Ephbel of the Sidonians, who was a former priest. He made his way to the throne by murder. Ahab's marriage to her was the first instance of marriage with a heathen princess of a king from northern Israel in the Bible. What did she do? Well, she taught, number one, and she seduced. Did you know in the book of Revelation, the word seduced is used more than any other place in the Bible? And what is the main tactic of false teachers? Seduction. Lies and temptation. How does the church respond to this one? Let me say two things about this. Please don't hate on me for saying this, but there's two problems with Jezebel. First, it was who was teaching. And secondly, it's what she was teaching. Notice it, she called herself a prophet. You want to know why she had to call herself a prophet? Because God didn't call her to be a prophet. The first problem was who was teaching? Please, I say this respectfully and don't get all like this on me, okay? Here's the bottom line. God called men to preach. God called men to lead the church and lead the home. I know that is super counter-cultural, but I just gotta tell you, it's in the Bible. A bishop must then be, first, the husband of one wife. That's pretty difficult if you're a woman, okay? Oh, and by the way, I know in our culture it's difficult to figure out Who's a man and who's a woman but it really isn't hard to figure out both scientifically and biblically. There's a genetic There's a there's chromosomes. There's there's actual DNA outlook folks Look, if you died somewhere and got buried alive or something They dug you up a hundred years from now and saw your sack of bones laying in a ditch They can identify you by your bone structure that you are a man or look this isn't about this is not about a Religion, this is first and foremost about sanity sanity It's about science. And of course, it is also absolutely about Scripture. God made them male and female, and God set the order up as to who would lead the church. So it's a problem, first of all, that the woman was preaching and teaching in church. Secondly, it was certainly a problem as to what she was teaching and preaching in church. And the fact of the matter is, I suppose, if you dismiss what God says about men being pastors, then you might just quickly dismiss anything else the Bible might say as well. This woman led the church into the same stuff the Nicolaitans did with the previous church. Folks, I want to tell you, some of the most popular churches in our country today have got it all wrong. Do you realize in February of this coming year, one of the most popular churches in the United States of America, in Alpharetta, Georgia, is hosting a conference entitled the Unconditional Conference. At the Unconditional Conference, the goal is to help church members demonstrate the unconditional love of Jesus with their LGBTQ plus ABCD audience. In a world that makes us choose sides, they say, experience a conference from the quieter middle. at this conference, our homosexual pastor, Justin Lee, embracing the journey co-founders Greg and Lynn McDonald, who are pro-LGBT, in an evangelical church. I love this statement, folks. I love this statement. Actually, I don't love it. I hate it. It makes me tremble on the inside. We're going to have a conference from the quieter middle. Folks, that's exactly what the world wants you to do. Be in the quieter middle. Stay in the middle, don't get involved, don't pick sides here, just kind of hang out in the middle. Folks, listen very carefully. I am sorry that we have a world that is affirming things that God is against, but I'm here to tell you, I've got some things I want to affirm this morning in case you've got questions about it. I affirm that God created male and female and there's only two genders. I want to affirm today that God said it would be a husband and a wife. That's a man and a woman. I am confirming this morning that a biologically born male and a biologically born female are the only two candidates for a Biblical marriage. I want to confirm this morning that I believe that homosexuality is still a sin against God. I want to confirm that God is right. The Bible's right, and I don't care if the whole world is for it. If God is against it, we should absolutely be against it. I'm not trying to be ugly or unkind, but I'm also just here to let you know I am not going to be in the quieter middle. Folks, if you want to be in the quieter middle, I would highly advise you to find a place that would like to be in the quieter middle. I don't want to be in the quieter middle. I'm tired of people ripping apart the fabric of my country and my world. I'm tired that my kids have to grow up in a world where they can't even go to a public school without being indoctrinated from the time they're four years old from the devil himself. Folks, I'm not for it. I'm absolutely against it. And I'm with God on this. Are you with me? Folks, listen very carefully. This is not difficult. This is not hard to process. It may be hard to live out. It may be hard to be at your office when you have somebody there that isn't believing or practicing like you. But it is not hard to figure out what the position of a Christian and a church should be. And you don't think that that one world church is gonna have a rainbow flag flying in it. And everything from an imam to a Catholic priest to a Baptist pastor is gonna feel very comfortable standing in that one world church. Can you imagine the day they all stand shoulder by shoulder and welcome the Antichrist into the pulpit to lead the world into its ultimate and final chaos? Folks, we better wake up. We better wake up. We need to avoid apostasy. What is apostasy? Apostasy is a drift. It is a turning away from. It is a moving away from. And folks, this could apply to any part of Scripture. Any place a church or a preacher is turning away from Scripture, we should be warned. But I'm here to tell you what I am seeing in our culture today, it is on two fronts. It is on multi-religion or polytheism, and it is on the front of the LGBTQ community. And I've just got to tell you, We want to love people, we want to help people, but at the end of the day, it's still true. It is wrong, God is right, and I'd rather stand with Him than be falsely accused as being in the quiet middle. Listen to Matthew chapter 18 verse 6, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be dropped in the depths of the sea. It's one thing to believe it falsely, it's another thing to teach it falsely. Folks, swimming against the currents of the culture will be hard and will always be unpopular, but as Peter and the apostles said in Acts chapter 5 verse 29, we ought to obey God rather than men. Folks, I'm going to tell you right, I'm just going to tell you, there has been an oppression on me this week, I'm here to tell you. I feel it, I know it, but I'm not going to stop preaching through this book right now. The devil is stirred up. and swarmed up, and the hornets are loose on the church today, and somebody's gotta stay. We're in there with God, and yes, he's going to be stirred up, because I'm reading a book that shows you that at the end of it all, he's gonna go to hell where he belongs and be there for all of eternity. He doesn't like us opening up the Bible and showing people where his end is. Let's stand. Let's stand where God would have us to stand. Let me give you just quickly in almost conclusion if I could, the two other warnings real quick and then we'll be done. Some ways I feel like I said what I was supposed to say. You know, I think I said what I was supposed to say. Forgive me, forgive me. I said what I needed to say. We better watch out. To the last church, he says this and I'm done. You're dead, and you don't even know it. The church is Sardis. You're dead, and you don't even know it. It's one thing to be dead, it's another thing to not even know it. Could there be anything more characteristic of people who call themselves Christians, sit and listen to a sermon like this, and be actually adverse to it? I don't think that's here. But if I took this message on Fox News tonight, I'd have death threats on my life by the end of this day. But I'm just gonna warn you. Don't be in this church playing games. Don't be acting like you're alive when you're dead. The Bible says you must be born again. That means you're dead, but Jesus makes you alive. And you wanna know if you're alive, one thing that's true of you, my sheep hear my voice. And they know me. And they follow me. but a wolf's not gonna hear a shepherd's voice. A wolf's gonna say, he's crazy. He is so out of touch. I'm gonna go down to this church where they have LBGTQ small groups. Fine. That's where the wolf pack is. But friend, if I were you, I'd do what the Bible says seven times in these two chapters. If you have an ear to hear, let him hear. The Spirit of God might be saying to you today, you're actually not even a sheep. And if I'm dead, I'm not alive to God, but God gave me ears to hear this morning, I'd listen. I'd listen. Let's just pray if we could. I don't know that I have an immediate response for those in the church. But all I can tell you is this, the devil is a roaring lion. Man, you may want to bunker down in prayer over your family. over your church. Say, God, we're gonna stand here. We're gonna be faithful to your word. We're gonna be true to the gospel. We're gonna be true to Jesus. We'll be true to the Bible. Lord, help us as we stand in this culture to be faithful. But I do wanna ask this final question. Maybe you're hearing you say, preacher, I don't even know Jesus. I don't know nothing about this stuff you're talking about. I don't know that if I died, I'd be on my way to heaven. I don't know that. I do not have a personal relationship with God. I'm dead. I'm dead in trespasses and sins. But I would like to know what it means to have a relationship with God through Jesus. I would like to know what it means to have a relationship with God through Jesus. If God spoke to you about that today, would I be able to pray for you? Would you let me know who you are by just slipping up your hand? Preacher, I do not know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I don't know Him. I do not know that I'm going to heaven when I die. I don't know that. But I want to know. I want to know. Let's just stand if we could. I'm going to invite you to prayer if you'd like. Some are praying. God's speaking to you. Come on, let's pray. Let's ask God to help us. Be sober, be vigilant. Put up the guard. Build up the hedge. The roaring lion is just looking for an unprotected heart, an unprotected family, an unprotected church member. He just would love that. He would love it. Come and pray. Pray God's breakthrough. Maybe you're that first love. Maybe you're the lukewarm. We're gonna get into some better news next week, at least better news for us. But this is what the Spirit says to the churches today.