We're in the middle of a sermon series on the seven letters of Christ to his church that you find in Revelation 2 and 3. And last week we didn't get all the way through this middle letter, this fourth letter, so we're going to kind of do the last half this morning. And so what I want to do this morning as we read it, I'm going to read it in two sections. I'm going to first pray and then read through the section that I preached through last week, and then later I'll read the rest of the text that we're going to hear a sermon on this morning. This sermon was from last week, but I still want to read it just to get the context. The first text that we're going to read is Revelation 2, verses 18 through 23. And then in just a few moments, we'll read the rest of this letter. But let's pray first because we definitely need God's help. Father, we need your help listening to your word. We need your spirit working through the preaching of the word to make us attentive and open our ears to receive this truth of what Jesus speaks to his church. And so we pray, Lord, that you would help us now listen, understand, believe and obey the teaching of your most holy word. In Christ's name, amen. God's word. 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'll 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 heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works." So mark that spot. We'll come back to that in just a few moments after the brief introduction. So they lived a long time ago in a different country and in a different culture. They spoke a different language and they were different ethnically from us. They had different hobbies and habits than we have today. But these Christians in Thyatira in the first century, maybe around 80 AD, give or take, they were like us in many ways. Obviously, these Christians that Jesus is writing the letter to, they had to eat, sleep, work, rest, maintain relationships, just like we do, and These Christians in Thyatira had to figure out how to live a good Christian life in that culture and that situation. And we have to do the same thing. Figure out how to live a good Christian life in this situation that God has put us in. Now last week I mentioned that in Thyatira the Christians would face some pretty difficult situations because people in Thyatira who weren't Christians served many different gods. And their industries, like wool and bronze work and linen and things like that, their industries meshed with their god worship, so each god that they served had a different guild. So for example, Apollo may have been the god of the wool guild, so if you were a maker or seller of wool, you were expected to worship Apollo or whoever the god of that guild was. So that would be very difficult for Christians in that situation. And last week we talked about how Christ commended the church. They were very good at works, good works and love and faith and so on. But Jesus critiqued the church because some of them were listening to this Jezebel person or people who were teaching about sexual sin and eating foods offered to idols. And some people were then compromising their sexual standards and their views on idolatry. That's why Jesus called them to repentance. That's what we talked about last week. So now let's pick it up, and I'm going to read the rest of this letter, starting at verse 24. Again, this is God's Word. Same letter, but just the last part. Verse 24. 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 earth and 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. So that's what we're looking at this morning. So picking this right back up in the middle of the letter in verse 24, Jesus addresses now the rest of the Christians in Thyatira who haven't given in to this seductive Jezebel spirit of committing sexual sin and serving idols. Some in the church did not get sucked in by that teaching. They did not compromise their faith, their sexual ethic, nor did they compromise in idolatry. They stood firm and resisted those things. Now, Jesus also says, you know, the rest of you who did not hold this teaching, what else did they not do in verse 24? It says, they have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan. Or they did not learn the deep things of Satan as they say. You could maybe translate it that way. Now, one thing I want to point out here is that Satan is active again. Remember in the first letters, if you've read them or if you heard the sermons, in Ephesus, as it were, Satan had a synagogue. In Pergamum, he had a throne, and that's where he lived. And here in Thyatira, Satan's deep things are being promoted. I think that old saying is true, that where Christ builds a church, Satan builds a chapel next door. The church is there, but Satan is active as well. But some of these Christians did not learn the, whatever they're called, the deep things of Satan. Now this is hard. I don't know exactly what the deep things of Satan are, but I'm pretty sure they're related to this seductive Jezebel false teaching. That's the context where these false prophets were saying, oh, these sexual sins aren't a big deal, or eating food sacrificed to pagan idols isn't a big deal. Compromise. So I'm thinking the deep things of Satan have to do with this Jezebel false teaching. I could be wrong, but I think that's the context. So let me just kind of flesh this out a little bit and give you an idea of what this might be like. When you were in the Church of Thyatira, maybe these would be something like the deep things of Satan you'd hear. There's maybe a man in the church, and he's very dynamic and persuasive. And he comes up to you quietly one time maybe, during the week when he sees you and he says, you know, you have a really good wool business. Can you imagine how much better it would be if you'd join the Artemis Wool Guild? If you'd wear the Artemis amulets, put that Artemis statue in your marketplace wool stand, and go to Artemis' parties and festivals and party hard like those Artemis people do? If you would do that, you would be learning the deep things of Satan, and it would really help you fight Satan's tactics. Maybe that's one thing that these people would be saying. You can learn the deep things of Satan, so we can know his ways and fight them, but you have to kind of dabble in these sins. And they're very provocative, so they would make some Christians listen. Or maybe there's a woman in the church. Again, just a possibility to get you guys thinking. Maybe there's a woman in the church who is charming and convincing as well. And she's talking to you one time, maybe after a fellowship gathering, and she says, yeah, sexual purity is a good thing, but most Christians define it way too narrowly. In reality, sexual purity means you just have to love someone you sleep with. And the Bible does say we should love others. So think deeply about this. If you love someone and sleep with them, that's great, that's good, that's right. Sexual purity isn't so narrowly defined as saving sex for marriage between a man and a woman. It just means love whoever you sleep with. Isn't that a deep teaching? You have to think about it that way. So once again, we don't know exactly what these deep things of Satan are, but I'm pretty sure that they have to do with this Jezebel false teaching of compromise, sexually and when it comes to idols. But whatever these deep things of Satan are, they're from Satan, Jesus says, they're of Satan, and that means they're bad. The deep things of Satan, of course, as we hear them are whatever it is, we want to avoid that. And it's good. One strength of this church is that they refuse to even learn what some people call the deep things of Satan. That's what it says in verse 24. They refuse to know it is another way to translate this. So whatever these deep things of Satan are, some of these Christians in the church, they didn't entertain it for a moment. They didn't even really consider it. They didn't, you know, Google it and spend hours researching it online, but they just flat out rejected it. They said, we will not even know this. I don't want to. And so these ancient Christians are a good example for us in that, right? We must not be tricked by people who rationalize and justify sin. or somehow lure us into making compromise in Christian faith and life. And we should, like these early Christians, firmly refuse to believe false teachers and whatever their so-called deep insights are. They set a good example for us. But then Jesus moves on in the end of verse 24 and he says, you know, I also, I don't lay on you any other burden. Another burden, what's the first burden? Well, it's probably what's implied in the letter. Keep yourself free from idols and avoid sexual impurity. That's actually what the Jerusalem Council came to the conclusion on in Acts 15. Avoid idolatry and adultery, sexual sin. And Jesus says, that's all I'll put on you for now. No more burden than that. Now, what do you think of when Jesus says burden? It's not the same Greek word, but in Matthew 11, Jesus said a similar concept. He said, maybe you know this, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He doesn't lay heavy burdens on his people. It's light. I know and you know that some Christians can be legalistic. Jesus is not a legalist. He doesn't lay any other burdens on his people. His burden is light. He does care about our obedience. It's clear in these letters. But Jesus is not a law-heavy master who nitpicks about all kinds of tedious rules and regulations and then imposes them on his people. When he tells us to avoid idols and sexual sin, those aren't heavy, harsh, and tedious rules. In fact, those are for our good. Idols and sexual sin are destructive to life. So when Jesus says, avoid them, that's not a heavy burden. That's for our good. But Jesus doesn't lay all these heavy burdens on us. He doesn't give us clothing rules, food laws, regulations about hair, mandates about what Bible to use, or 11 detailed steps to true repentance. He's not a legalist. He doesn't lay heavy burdens on us. Paul said that same thing. Christ has set us free. So we should stand fast in that freedom. And you should imitate Christ and I should imitate Christ and not be a legalist. You should imitate Christ by not laying heavy burdens on yourselves. And not lay heavy burdens on other people. I don't have any other burdens. Just avoid idols and avoid sexual sin. And Jesus does give another direction for the church in verse 25, moving on. Just hold fast to what you have until I come. Hold fast. It's a spiritual term. In Revelation 2, verse 13, the church in Pergamum, those Christians were holding fast to Christ's name. other place in the New Testament says, let us hold fast to our confession or hold fast to the hope we have in God. And here Jesus is saying, hold tightly to the truth of the Christian faith that you profess. Keep practicing good work, serving others and enduring in obedience through hard times. Hold fast to that. Until I come. So what does that mean? Some say, hold fast to what you have until I come, means until he comes to do church discipline to Jezebel, like he says here. And that does make sense. In Matthew 18, remember Jesus talks about church discipline. And then he says, where two or three are gathered in my name, I'm in your midst. So it could be that, hold fast what you have till I come, means till I come and judge and do church discipline to this Jezebel person or people. That could be. But I agree with the commentaries that say, until I come means until Jesus returned on the last day. Until I come again. First of all, I think that fits better with the whole flow of Revelation. Because right away in chapter one, verse seven, it says Jesus is coming with the clouds, using that language. I'm coming with the clouds and everyone will see him. So hold fast what you have until I come on the last day. And also, later in Revelation 22, three times, Jesus says the same thing. Behold, I am coming soon. And that's in the context of him bringing in the new creation and renewing all things. So I would say that hold fast to what you have till I come means until he returns on the last day. If you think about it, some people don't have any goals in life or aim in life. Some people don't have much purpose in life. Maybe sometimes you're one of them, right? Maybe you work, you eat, you do something fun once in a while, and that's about it. You don't really have a why to what you're doing on earth. Why are you here? You can't really answer that question. Maybe you're just drifting. Maybe you just want some more money and a nice house and car, but you really have nothing to live for, no aim, no purpose, except maybe to please yourself. And as you're probably slowly finding out the game of pleasing yourself is a game you can't win, maybe some of you have no aim or purpose in life. But in verse 25, and of course other places in scripture, but in verse 25, Jesus gives his church an aim, a direction, hold fast what you have. That's the purpose in Christian life. I mean, Jesus has saved us from sin and evil and darkness and death. He saved us from the grip of Satan. And he gives his people a way to live, to follow him, walk in his ways and hold fast to the confession and trust and obey him to the end. And specifically in this context, hold fast what you have, resist idols, avoid sexual sin, glorify Christ by trusting and obeying Him to the end. That's the Christian goal in life. So I don't know if you've thought about it, if you're a professing believer, you actually have an aim. When you have a reason to get up in the morning, you have a purpose to live through each day, is to glorify Christ, to trust Him and follow Him to the end. So that when you see Him on that last day, when you see Him face to face in all His glory, He will say to you, well done, good and faithful servant. Christianity gives people a purpose and a meaning and an answer to the why question of living. Now speaking of following Christ to the end, moving on, look in verse 26. This is a tougher one, 26 and 27. To the one who conquers, who keeps my works, probably my good deeds, to the end, to him I'll give authority over the nations, he'll rule them with a rod of iron like pots are broken in pieces. So one thing that Jesus is saying here is there's a reward of grace for those who follow Christ to the end by his grace. And the word here is conquer in verse 26, the one who conquers, or I think a different translation would be the one who's victorious or the one who overcomes. But the exact same Greek word is used later in Revelation 17 to describe Christ. Christ is, remember, the lamb who conquers. the beast and its wicked army. Christ is the conqueror, the victor. And this exact same word is used later in Revelation 12 to describe followers of Christ. In Revelation 12, it talks about Christians who died for their faith, who were martyrs, and it said, interestingly, though they died, they were conquerors of the dragon by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. So Christ conquers. And Christians in Christ conquer, even if they die. Like Christ died. And Paul is getting that in Romans 8. He said, there's no tribulation or suffering or persecution that can separate us from Christ's love. And then he says, in all these hard things, we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. So this conquering is not military. It's not guns. It's not power. It's not, you know, earthly might. But it's a spiritual victory that you can conquer even if you die for the sake of Christ. You win. If you suffer for Him, if you follow Him to the end, you're a conqueror in and through Him. But it is tough, isn't it? What does the one who conquered get in verse 26 and 27? The authority to rule, like Revelation 5 says, they'll reign on earth. But what's really interesting here is if you look at it, Jesus actually quotes Psalm 2, and in Psalm 2, it's the Messiah who will rule the nations with an iron rod and crush them to pieces like pottery. And later in Revelation, John uses this verse in Psalm 2 to refer to Christ, the Messiah, as the one who rules over all. So what do we do with this? If you're a Christian, you'll conquer and rule over the nations. There's different options. One of the views is, the post-millennialist view, is that before Christ returns, the post-millennialist says, this world as we know it will be mostly Christians, and in this world as we know it before Christ returns in a golden age, the world will be ruled by Christians. That's the post-millennialist view. And interestingly, another different view actually has one overlap. Some pre-millennial dispensationalists have a similar view, but their view is that after Christ returns and sets up his kingdom in Jerusalem, in this world as we know it, then God's people will reign over this world as we know it for a millennium. That's the dispensationalist pre-millennial view. So post-millennialists and dispensationalists agree on that one point, that Christians who overcome will exercise rule and dominion in this present world, in this present age. Now, I don't agree with the post-millennialist view or the dispensationalist view for three reasons. First, because these letters in Revelation remind us that the church in this present age is a church that undergoes suffering and oppression and persecution, not conquest and dominion. And Jesus said it, didn't he? In this world you will have what? Tribulation. False prophets will arise, false messiahs. His apostles in Acts taught the same thing. They said through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Christ suffered. Christian in this fallen world will suffer. Or if you want more proof, read Peter's letters. They're basically instructions to Christians to how to handle suffering and oppression in a fallen world. So I don't think that when Jesus says conquer and authority over the nations is in this present age, because the New Testament often talks about the suffering of this present age. Secondly, another reason I don't think that this authority and dominion over the nations is in this present age is because I believe that the words the end in verse 26 have to do with Christ's return. So look at 26. The one who conquers and keeps my works until the end, until I return, that person will rule with Christ. Peter uses the word end similarly in first Peter 4 the end of all things is at hand so persevere in the faith and You know the end of all things by the way when Christ returned would also be Jezebel's end But also the end of the beast and the dragon and Babylon and Satan and the wicked unrepentant people in the book of Revelation That's their end when Christ returns, but it's they're also the beginning of their eternal punishment and so if we conquer spiritually speaking until the end until Christ returns at that point will reign with him and then new heavens and earth Now that's two reasons one more reason why I don't I don't think this these words in verse 26 and 27 refer to Christians having dominion in this present world as we know it is because the word conquer same word the same word conquer in the other letters and They always talk about a blessing of the new heavens and earth, or most of the time. So the church in Smyrna, in verse 9 and 10, who suffers persecution, it says, the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death, by eternal judgment. The Ephesian church, also the Ephesian church, it says, the one who conquers will eat of the tree of life and paradise, the new heavens and earth. And Pergamum, the one who conquers, gets hidden manna and a white stone with a new name. And in Sardis, the one who conquers receives white garments. And in Philadelphia, the last one, the one who conquers will be a pillar in God's temple. And he'll have the name New Jerusalem, which is Heavenly Jerusalem. So all the language of conquering in these letters is in the context of Christ's return in the new creation. So for those reasons, I agree with the view that having authority over the nations and ruling for Christians is not in this present age, but at Christ's return, when He renews all things. If you overcome in faith, and if you keep doing these works that please Christ, when He returns, you'll reign with Him in the kingdom that He brings. Actually, a kind of a side note, in 1 Corinthians 6 and Matthew 19 also refers to believers judging the world with Christ. It's probably part of this at his return. One more thing to think about, one verse to think about in this is Revelation 22, which, you know, the end of Revelation does talk about the end of all things and the new heavens and the new earth. It says, we won't need the sun for light because God will be our light and we will reign with him forever and ever in the new creation. But there still is this great promise. If you overcome, if you conquer, if you stay firm and true to Christ to the end, you'll reign with Him. I mean, you'll be royalty, for real. Biblical language, earlier in Revelation 1, verse 6, you're a royal priesthood. And in Christ, under Christ, through Christ, believers will have dominion over the renewed and restored creation in a way that Adam never achieved. We'll achieve it in the second Adam, in the new creation. And we'll be with Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and we'll reign under Him. And one thing to remember, this is for all believers. Whoever overcomes, whoever perseveres in the faith by God's grace will reign in the eternal kingdom. Men, women, young, old, rich, poor, People from all different nations and tribes and tongues and ethnicities will reign together in perfect harmony. I don't know if you've ever thought about that before. It is hard for us to comprehend, but imagine if you're a Christian in Thyatira or in some other part of the world where other people have constantly been trampling the church and oppressing the church and persecuting the church. The promise Being royalty in the new creation is one that would spur people on to obey Christ, even through those tough times. You'll reign. Stay firm. Now, speaking of the new creation, we're ramping up here. Verse 28, another thing that you get, so if you overcome until Christ's return, you'll reign in the new creation. And, verse 28, the second thing, I will give him the morning star. The star that belongs to the morning, the early star, the bright star right before the sun rise. What does that mean? If you persevere, you'll get the morning star. Well, one thing that's interesting in the prophecy of Numbers 24 in the Old Testament, Balaam predicts that a star comes out of Jacob. And in Revelation 22 later, Jesus is called the bright and morning star. So it could be that if you stand firm, you'll receive, you know, you'll be with Christ himself. That's what Leon Morris said. It's the ultimate reward of the Christian to be with Christ. You'll receive the morning star, Jesus, you'll be with him. Some church fathers said the morning star instead refers to the resurrection of believers on the last day. So if you overcome, Jesus will raise your bodies on the last day like that star rises in the morning. One church father said, as this morning star brings an end to the night, so does it also mark the beginning of the day. So I mentioned this before. There's a lot of symbolism in these letters early in Revelation that we looked at. The morning star, ruling, the white stone manna, new name. All these images point us to the blessings that we have and will have in Christ. And that's the goal, is to see Christ and to be with Christ, our Savior. To with God's help, trust and obey the Lord to the end so that we can see Him and worship Him forever in this renewed world where we receive these blessings in full, whatever they mean. That's the goal of the Christian, to see the one who saved him or her. And that's why we Christians pray today with the church of old, thy kingdom come, come Lord Jesus. But until Jesus comes, we gotta continue to struggle to understand how we should live in this culture that God has brought us in or made us live in. How to follow Christ in a fallen world, avoiding sexual sin on the one hand and avoid idolatry on the other. And that's why, like Jesus says, we need to listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. He'll help us navigate in this world. Like the old hymn says, and I'll end with this, this old hymn says, You saints who hear impatience, your cross and sufferings bore, shall live and reign forever when sorrow is no more. Around the throne of glory, the lamb you shall behold. In triumph cast before him your crowns of glittering gold. Amen. Let's pray.