Please remain standing. And you can turn to Revelation chapter 2. We'll read verses 18 through 29. This will be the fourth letter of Jesus to the churches in Southwest Asia. It's the middle one in that chiastic structure. So it seems like everything is pointing to this one. I think it's also the hardest one. So may God bless us as we read this and learn from it. Please hear the word of God with Revelation chapter 2, starting verse 18. And to the angel or messenger of the church in Thyatira write, these things says the son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass. I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience. And as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. because you allow or tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants, to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed, I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your works. Now to you, I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden, but hold fast what you have till I come. And he overcomes and keeps my works until the end. To him, I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron, from Psalm 2. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels, as I also have received 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. This is the word of God. May God, by his Spirit, teach us and convict us according to his will this morning. You may be seated. We are currently walking through the book of Revelation and currently we're in chapter two, looking at the seven letters of Christ to the churches, real churches in Southwest Asia. These are messages that are written for specific historical churches at the end of the first century, but they're meant to be applied to all churches of all time, even churches meeting in Lenexa, Kansas. And these individual churches, as we've seen and we will see, they each have their own commendations. And condemnations, and it represents churches of today, there's a mixture of good and bad, and all churches were not perfected yet. And they represent the same issues that all churches need to be aware of and deal with. And as I said before, we read the passage this morning. If you look at the seven churches, it does line up in a chiastic structure. We've talked about chiasm several times with the Scriptures. There's sort of an X. There's a going in and then coming back out to where we started with. And so if you look at the first and seventh letters with Ephesus, the loveless church that's lampstand was in danger of being taken away. And Laodicea, which is a lukewarm church that has the risk of being vomited out of Christ's mouth. Those are the worst. The first and last. The first and seventh. But then the second and sixth churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, those are the best. Those are the ones who have no condemnations, only commending them. And then you get in the middle, churches three, four, and five, Pergamos, Thyatira, which is today, and Sardis. There's all rather a mixture of good and bad, but there's some general themes with them, I think, as well, dealing with persecution and the temptation to compromise and sin coming into the camp. And so today, we'll look at that fourth letter, which is then right in the middle. The center of these seven letters, it's the city that's the smallest of the seven, but the letter, unfortunately for today, because there's time limits, is the longest of the letters. I also think it's the hardest one to determine and to preach from. But it is the middle letter. And as the middle letter, and even in the middle of the letter itself, there's a unique warning in this letter to Thyatira that's a warning to all the churches. And we'll see that if you didn't notice it already. And as the middle letter, there's a bit of building from the previous letters, I think. Though Ephesus was a church without love, Thyatira will be commended for its love. Maybe surprisingly so when you see the depth of the problems in the church. But though Ephesus hated the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the compromising doctrines, Thyatira tolerated it. With Thyatira, there's continuing to know the persecution that we saw in Smyrna, but without the success of dealing with it as Smyrna had. And with Thyatira, it takes the toleration and compromise we saw last week of the Church of Pergamos, but that toleration and compromise increases, I think, with Thyatira. And so this week, we'll look at the tolerating Church of Thyatira. The tolerating Church of Thyatira, Some people would call it the corrupt church, or even the adulterous church, because they're the result of tolerating the doctrines of the world, even the doctrines of the evil one, and thinking we can get along quite well in both worlds. And in your bulletin, there is a summary by G.K. Beal, and I've been putting those in the bulletin, because I think they're helpful summaries of the whole letter to get a picture of what's going on. His summary of this lamp stand and thigh attire would be, Here, Christ commends the Church of Thyatira for its Christian works of witness, condemns it for its permissive spirit of idolatrous compromise, and exhorts it to overcome this in order not to be judged, but to inherit in time rule together with Christ. That's printed in your bulletin, but Christ commends the Church of Thyatira for its Christian works of witness, condemns it for its permissive spirit of idolatrous compromise, and exhorts it to overcome this in order not to be judged, but to inherit in time rule together with Christ. And in your bulletin, there is an outline with spaces to draw pictures if you're bored or even to take some notes. And we've been trying to look at all seven of these letters with the same outline, because most of the same components are there. We'll look at the city that's being written to, we'll look at how Christ describes himself to this city, which is always helpful to understand what's going on. Then we'll look at his commendation for this church, then his condemnation. which is a little bit more lengthy. Then there's an exhortation to those who are faithful in this church's midst. And then the promise that's given, and all of these promises refer to the end time desires and delights and benefits that come when Christ returns at the marriage of the lamb. So look first of all at the city in verse 18, to the angel or messenger of the church in Thyatira write these things. It's helpful to understand a little bit about the city. And if you're not careful, we can spend too much time. But I think there's two things about this city that helps us, this city in Thyatira. This is not a great city like the previous three cities. It's not a huge city. It's not a large and important city. But two things about this city. It's a market city, and it's a pagan city. It's a market city, and it's a pagan city. As far as being a market city, it's on a main route between cities. And so the emphasis in the city is commerce and industry, I think as well materialism. And maybe as Americans, we can relate to the problems that might be presented to the church in Thyatira through this. So there's commerce and industry and materialism. And one thing that makes this unique, I think it helps us to understand the rest of the letter. The city is dominated by trade guilds. which would be like unions, it'd be like associations of craftsmen, associations of merchants of certain things in industry. And so the city was dominated by trade guilds that oversaw each of the industries. Sometimes we get frustrated in our culture because there's regulations and you have to have a certification from this group of people if you're going to have this job, and it can be frustrating. This is worse, but there'd be Industries of wool or linen or dyes, and you think of Lydia, the seller of purple, who is a native to Thyatira, who is one of the first members of the First Reformed Baptist Church of Philippi in Acts chapter 16. Clothing manufacturing, leather works, potters, painters, bakers, bronze works, all of these things in this city. local artisans with a variety of merchandise, and that's a key part of the city. The second thing, though, is, and this is kind of consistent with everything we've seen so far, this is a pagan city. A pagan city with, again, pressure and persecution on the Christians to be involved in the idolatry and the immorality, even sexual immorality, of those pagan religions. We've been seeing that so far, haven't we? And the way this works together is that each guild, each union, if you will, each guild paid homage to a pagan god or pagan gods. Idol worship, false god worship was wrapped up in the guilds. And if you want to be a part of the guild, you'd have to participate in these things. And if you want to have a job and earn money and be taken care of economically, then you kind of needed to be part of these guilds. So there's the problem. the homage that would be given in these guilds and these meetings that they'd have, and you'd think, why would you be doing this in industrial meetings? But it included attendance at that patron god's sacred festivals, eating meals sacrificed to gods in the midst of the festivals. It's not just eating meat sacrificed to idols the next day in the marketplace, but it's actually participating in the festival and eating the meat sacrificed to false gods, which is which is wrong, and 1 Corinthians 8-10 tells us of that. It would have to lead then to participating in immorality in these pagan rituals, even sexual immorality. And two of the deities that were considered, especially in this pagan city of Thyatira, were considered sons of Zeus, or sons of God. And you might see where that might fit in with the letter that we've just read. And again, if you'd refuse to participate in these guilds, or if you'd be in the guild but refuse to participate in these meetings, then you'd lose your job. You'd be outcast in the society socially, but you'd be outcast economically as well. So there's the greatest problem that we have in this. I think that gives us an insight on the problems that the church is suffering with its compromising. Verse 18 goes on to say, then, as each letter does, as you remember, Christ, who's writing these letters, he then gives a description of himself that refers back to chapter 1. And here he says, these things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass. And I think the idea with chapter 1, with a lengthy description of Jesus, and then with each of these letters, that describes Jesus from that is that Christ's people are made strong and they are made able to persevere by their increased knowledge of who Christ is. If we're going to cling to Christ and serve him in the midst of trial, we have to know him. And so there's descriptions of Christ in chapter one in each one of these letters. And then the idea is that each of these seven churches would respond to Christ's message that he gives them in light of their awareness of who he is, how he presents himself. And we should too. And for Thyatira, Christ presents himself in a way that Christians would be challenged to accept. Christ seems almost kind of scary in his description in this letter. And so it might be a challenge to accept, but it's important for us to see him in this way to inspire us to holy, faithful lives. He is the Lord of all who knows our works. He knows not just our works, he knows our thoughts. He hates all sin and he must judge the unrepentant in his own churches as well as the world. And he bestows his glory on those who conquer in his name by his grace. And there's two things we see in verse 18. He's a divine judge and he's the sovereign judge. He's the divine judge and he's the sovereign judge. For the divine judge, it says, he has eyes like flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass. That goes back to verses 14 and 15 in chapter 1, when there Christ, the vision of the son of man, has said that he looks like this. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as refined in a furnace, and his voice is the sound of many waters. This is not a mere Jesus who's patting children on the head and holding lambs or patting lambs on the head and holding babies. This is the Christ as he is the victorious Christ, who's king over all. And he's coming as judge. As far as the divine judge, and yes, it's from verses 14 and 15 in Chapter one, it speaks of his eyes having flame of fire and his feet like fine brass. And one thing I think it's important with the book of Revelation is there's many references and helps from the book of Daniel. I think there's even that here. This picture of flames of fire and bronze and brass, and even from chapter one, it has to remind us of Daniel's three friends who, because of their obedience and persistence to obey God, were thrown into a fiery furnace in Daniel chapter three. Then King Nebuchadnezzar had some remorse over it. And then you look in Daniel chapter three in verse 24, it says, Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose in haste, and he spoke, saying to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? And they answered and said to the king, true, O king. Look, he answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the fourth one is like the son of God. We assume that is Christ Jesus, the Son of God, being with his people in the midst of persecution, enabling him to deal with it. I think this idea of a fiery eyes and feet like bronze also reminds us of one like the Son of Man in Daniel chapter 10, who is then in a vision, then gives and he unfolds the judgment against the pagan nations, which is what we see in this letter as well to Thyatira. So when it says he has eyes like a flame of fire, it means nothing escapes him. He has flaming eyes that penetrate every heart. He sees all and he knows all. He reveals sin and he burns away its impurities is the idea. With the idea of feet like fine brass, it means there's nothing sinful that can be in his presence. He's a holy king and he will trample all sin under his foot in wrath and judgment. He's a divine judge. And He is coming. He's also a sovereign judge. Notice it says, these things says the Son of God. This is the only time in all of the book of Revelation that the phrase Son of God is used. In chapter 1, it was a vision of the Son of Man, which tends to emphasize His humanity, His suffering servantness that He came, He descended, and He came and saved us and became like us to save us. But Son of God tends to emphasize His deity. His sovereignty. And so here to the church of Thyatira, he says, I'm the son of God. I'm the divine judge. I'm the sovereign judge. And just as the son of God protected his people in the midst of persecution, the fiery furnace in Daniel chapter three, the son of God will do the same for his faithful people now and in Thyatira. Thyatira citizens had two deities that they worshiped as the sons of Zeus, who are considered the sons of God. But Christ alone is the son of God, and he's the only one to trust and adore and to love and to give your affections to. And for the Thyatirans' situation, even in the midst of losing economic welfare, there's only one that you give your attentions to, which kind of shows forth in this letter the ideas of adultery and immorality. It's the idea of, you are my church, Christ tells us. I don't want you giving your affections to anyone else, and he's a jealous savior and king. Also, by mentioning Son of God in verse 18, it links to Psalm 2. I wish we had time. We should have sang Psalm 2 today. It has to be one of your favorite psalms, but Psalm 2 is a psalm where it declares Christ, the Son, as King and Judge over all the Father does. who will execute his authority and his judgment over all the nations. It's a messianic kingship psalm. And he's referred to there as the son. And so by calling himself the son of God, he ties into Psalm 2, which will be quoted at the end of this letter. But he's the divine judge. He's the sovereign judge who's writing to a market city and a pagan city, the church therein. So then you get to verse 19 and you have the commendation. Is there something positive to say to this church? And there is. He says, I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience. And that could be interpreted as patient endurance. It's a word that's used frequently in the book of Revelation. We've seen it already. And as for your works, the last are more than the first. And when you read the whole letter, you're surprised to see how many good things are said about this church. This seems like a mess of a church. You know, churches are mixes of some sort. So initially, he commends them, and G.K. Beale summarizes this as commending them for their works of witness. I'm not sure if I completely agree that's the main thing, but I think he makes a good point. He says they're being commended for works of witness. And the idea is that when you see the words faith or faithfulness and service and perseverance, and especially in the book of Revelation, when you see these words together, it's almost always in the sense of the church's witness before a persecuting world, a persecuting world that has at its foundation its instigator, Satan himself, trying to trample on the church. But it's in the context of being a witness for Christ, either in their love for one another in the church or in their love for Christ and giving the gospel forth. I think he makes a good point. We're to be faithful witnesses, enduring patiently, preserving in our witness and our service for the Lord in the face of persecution as we're pilgrims in this land. And what we learned from Ephesus was, though, that this starts, first of all, the foundation is love. Ephesus had lost their first love, and therefore they'd lost their love of the gospel, and they were being judged as a result. So with this church, I know your works, love, service, faith, and patience. And the last is greater than the first. All of our deeds for our Lord should be motivated by love. And then service, our service for the Lord and his people and our neighbor, which is what the law charges us to do, flows out of that love. And I like the order in the New King James. You have love to service and you have faith to patience and out of our faith should flow patient endurance and due to the love we have for a savior. Again, the word for patience, it means patience and patient endurance. You might remember all the way back to verse nine in chapter one, where John himself identifies himself with his brethren as he's identifying himself with Christ. And he's expressing his situation on the island of Patmos under his own persecution. He's unable to do what he needs to do. He's wrongly being held and he speaks in about the tribulation and the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ that he is in and that we join him in. That's the idea that the characteristic of the Christian life is that you go through tribulation to win the kingdom with great patient endurance and that through Christ Jesus. And so this church in some level is doing this. And it's interesting, Jesus says, your last works are greater than the first. That's in contrast to Ephesus. They had a first love, but it's gone. And now it almost seems like they're growing in this. They have many, many problems, but the church is committed because they seem to be growing in areas. They seem to be improving in some areas, which almost seems contradictory. I think as we look at this, we should learn from this, that we should pray that our latter works would be greater than the first. One of my favorite pastor friends, who I talk to occasionally, when I ask him for prayer requests, he always says, just pray that I would end well. I have a fear that I'll be like others. I will not end well. We should end well. We should be looking to growing in Christ and being faithful in the last, even greater than the first, both individually and corporately, because the Christian life is that of growth and progress and development. As someone, Trey, often says in our congregation, if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward. And I think there's great truth in that. But in these letters, have you noticed that Jesus begins each letter with, I know your works. Christ knows the works of his people. And sometimes we're afraid to talk about works because we do not want to mix in works with grace in what comes to salvation, and we should not. But the fact that Jesus repeatedly says, I know your works, it reminds us that by Christ's salvation, by his grace, by his spirit, by his word, we're able to do good works that are actually pleasing to God through Christ Jesus. with the new heart that he gives us and by his spirit and by his word. And so we should be devoted to good works as Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter five. And our good works are remembered by our savior as we read in Matthew 25. We want to hear good and faithful servant in the end. And though Jesus is going to condemn this church soon, he makes sure at first to commend them, to encourage them in what they're doing well. He reminds us of our compassionate Savior. Yes, he has eyes of fiery fire and feet of burnished bronze, but he's a compassionate Savior. He's a patient Savior. And like a good parent, he tells little Junior, these are the things you're doing well. I'm encouraged by this, even before he has to tell him the things that must be told that aren't so good. We should be the same way with our brothers and sisters and be quick to notice the good things that take place in our brethren's lives and encourage one another. So now we get to verses 20 through 23, and we see the condemnation. Now it gets a little more ugly. little more dicey. I think there's three things in Christ's condemnation of his church in Thyatira. We'll see the problem that he presents, the problem that's going on in this church, but then we'll see Christ's patience, but then Christ's punishment. So you have a problem in Christ's patience and Christ's punishment in these four verses, verses 20 through 23. This is verse 21st. Nevertheless, when you read nevertheless, then you have to, oh, I have to have to prepare for this. And he says, I have a few things against you, which is what he said to Pergamos. In fact, the letter to the church in Pergamos is very similar. Have a few things against you because you allow or even tolerate, I think some of your versions say you suffer. You're putting up with this. You're welcoming this into your church. That woman Jezebel, so now we're using another Old Testament. Last week it was Balaam, this week it's Jezebel. You're tolerating that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants. Notice it's my possessive servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. The first thing we notice, this is similar to last week with what Pergamos was tolerating and compromising with, the false doctrine in their midst, leading them to compromise with the pagan society around them and the idolatry and immorality around them. In verse 14 of Revelation 2 last week, it was, I have these things against you because you have there those 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. So it's very similar. However, with Thyatira, I think, they went further than Pergamos. They compromised further. They tolerated more. They did not just tolerate sinful doctrines and practices in their midst. They allowed it to be taught, and by a woman teacher who is posing as a prophetess. And it's not a surprise then the result would be a seduction of Christ's people into idolatry and immorality. Church history is littered by women teachers and so-called prophets who've been raised up to seduce the church and her people into idolatry and immorality. And scripture is clear that by God's design and by his purposes that women are not called to preach or to teach men or to be pastors in the church. To ignore this is to ignore the clear teaching of the scriptures and the design of God that the scriptures reveal to us about the differences between men and women. Have you noticed that we don't understand the difference between men and women in our society anymore? Well, often we don't understand it in our churches either. But this is what the scriptures teach, and by common sense, we realize men and women are different. They're equal in worth, they're equal in glory before God, but they're designed differently and to do different things. And it's a glorious thing. And in the church, the scriptures are clear that there's to be male leadership in the church and male teaching in the church and male pastors in the church. And so to depart from that, then you're ignoring what the word says, and you're taking what God has designed and misusing it in ways it's not meant to be used, and it's not a surprise then that difficulties arise out of that. And God's design for men and women are different in the church, but also in the home and in marriage, and it's a key to society, not just the church, and rejecting God's design in these ways is related to the toleration and the promotion of sexual and gender perversions in societies, and we see it now. At this point, when this letter is written, the canon was closed. Revelation is the last word. The canon is closed, and a prophet of any sort should not be tolerated within the church. There's no new revelation. We have all we need in the scriptures. We must be satisfied with the riches of scripture and God's teaching and his design and his grace that we have through it by the power of his spirit. The simplicity of the Christian life is wonderful. Oftentimes we can't keep ourselves from sticking with the simplicity of the Christian life. We need something more. Also with Thyatira, not only did it go further, but Thyatira's false teaching and compromise seems to be both greater and it seems a bit different. There's a little bit different emphasis in Thyatira. With Pergamos, you might remember, the reference was to Balaam. And what Balaam did is he couldn't prophesy, oddly enough, he couldn't prophesy things against Israel. But his advice was then to take Israel down was, why don't you get some Moab women, introduce some women to the camp, and then the women themselves whose sexual morality will introduce idolatry into the camp. And that's what happened. And so the emphasis with Pergamos And with Balaam was especially the sexual morality that was going on within the church from the surrounding society. But I think with Thyatira, with the reference to Jezebel, the emphasis is on the idolatrousness of it. The word for sexual morality, even in this letter to Thyatira, sometimes is not used for the sexual morality, but just idolatry in general. Because idolatry, we've said, and adultery are used as kind of the same thing. You're leaving who you've committed yourself to, in this case would be God, and going to somebody else. And so you have the idea of sexual morality and idolatry in the same camp. And I think here, the emphasis with this church, although there was sexual immorality there, I think the emphasis is on the idolatry, the spiritual adultery going on. of going to another because of materialism and wanting to fit in and giving one's heart and obedience elsewhere. With Jezebel, I wish we had time, but back in 1st Kings 16 and following, you see Jezebel, she was a foreign princess, an unbelieving princess who became married to King Ahab, And she incited King Ahab and Israel to compromise with fornication, if you will, with Baal worship and Asherah worship. And so this Jezebel and Thyatira and this Thyatiran church is arguing for a degree of participation in the idolatrous aspects of their culture through these guilds and through the local culture. The Old Testament villainous Jezebel was an unbelieving princess from Sidon. She married King Ahab for political reasons, and she brought her gods with her. And then pagan priests spread the worship and the teaching of Baal and Asherah throughout the land. And the Israelites were seduced in the day of Jezebel with the idea that male and female gods, false gods, mind you, would bring economic prosperity in the land, and especially in the form of your land will become fertile and your wombs will become fertile if you bow down before Baal. And so then Jezebel's ideology, which emphasized an economic prosperity, then swept through God's people, even though it did still include sexual morality. And so I think with Thyatira, the Jezebel of Thyatira seduces Christ's servants, he calls them my servants, to compromise with the world for material gain. Again, Thyatira was an economic hub of a large number of trade guilds, and each guild would then be involved in pagan worship. There's a guild for practically every trade, and to be involved in the economic activity of the city, you'd have to be involved in a guild. And again, that guild would have a patron deity, and you'd be expected, as a member of that guild, to pay homage at the official meetings, which would usually be festive occasions with immoral behavior and ceremonies with food sacrificed to idols. And to not participate meant ostracism, socially and economically. And just as the Old Testament Jezebel urged the Israelites to worship Baal and Asheroth, Alongside of God, the new Jezebel in Thyatira was urging Christians that their faith in Christ did not exclude them from this idolatry in the guild. You can do both. And besides, it's essential to have for prosperous living. What kind of a God would tell you you couldn't participate in the things you have to have to have the money to live? And so this Jezebel, we assume, would encourage the mingling in with these idolatrous practices, the religious services and the feasts. And we're not judgmental. We can fit in, too. We can please God and the world at the same time. We don't have to be different from the world in these cases. Reminds me of the report of Tertullian many, many years ago, being one who rebuked a believer for participating in idolatry because he thought he needed to because of his business. And this man is being rebuked of idolatry because of his business, and he defended himself by saying, well, after all, I must live. To which Tertullian said, must you? Must you? There's no higher calling than our faithfulness to Christ, including our own very lives. And Christians know that neither getting along or having financial prosperity justifies idolatry and immorality. And what we see in this letter is idolatry is seen as adultery, as unfaithfulness to Christ himself. So there's a problem. But then in verse 21, before we get to the difficult stuff, look at the patience of Christ. In verse 21, he's already said, You allow this toleration of this woman Jezebel and she's committing sexual immorality and idolatry. It's in your midst. But then for him to say this, and I gave her time to repent of sexual immorality and she did not repent. See the patience and the restraint and the compassion of our Savior. Jesus gave even Jezebel, whoever she may be in this church, I don't think that was actually her name, gave her time to repent. Even one who was involved with and encouraging and seducing other Christians and professing believers with this vile sin and the effects of it, he gives her time to repent. And I think there's a couple lessons we can learn from this patience of Christ. First of all, we must remember that the goal of church discipline, and we assume there's church discipline going on in this church, the goal of church discipline is to see the repentance and restoration of the sinner. It's not merely to purge sin out of the camp, it's to see the restoration and repentance of the sinner. So if one has to be then turned outside of the church, the desire and the prayer is, and the goal is to see them be able to return in repentance to Christ and be restored. If Jesus can be this patient with a Jezebel, so can we as a church, as we execute church discipline when we have to. A second lesson would be, more personally, no matter what your background is, no matter what your past sin may be, no matter what your current sin may be, Jesus waits for your repentance. And his blood and righteousness covers all your sin. There's nothing you can do that's greater than his grace and his blood and righteousness. And when you come in repentance and faith to this patient savior, who, yes, he has fiery eyes of judgment and bronze feet. But he's also the suffering savior who, though he's the eternal son of God, he took on flesh. and became like us. He lived in our place. He suffered in our place. He kept the law of God perfectly, the law that we break continually. He suffered the penalty of our breaking that law with the eternal wrath of God being poured out upon him in three short hours in our place that we might not have to suffer that. He did this for you and he calls you to repent and he waits for you to repent. If you come and confess your sin, You own your sin. You recognize your sin as as sin against a holy eternal God that deserves eternal wrath. And then he turned to Christ and you see the beauty of Christ. And what he has done for sinners such as yourself. And you give him your life and your will in faith. I am yours, you are mine. And he gives you eternal life. And forgiveness and imputes his righteousness to you. It's never too late. Well, it could be. It's not now. And it doesn't matter who you are and where you've been. For the Thyatiran church, they needed to confess the sin of idolatry and materialism and giving greater affections to something other than Christ. And to turn to Christ with their will and their life and seeing Him by faith as the only one who took the wrath for sin and death, that they might be right with Him. So you have the problem, you have the patience. But then in verses 22 through 23, you have the punishment that Christ proclaims, if you like P words. There was no repentance with Jezebel, just like the Old Testament one. And so we read in verses 22 and 23. Indeed, I will cast her into a sickbed. And this seems harsh. And those who commit adultery with her, that just means those who follow in her teachings are doing the same things, into great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds. Again, repentance is offered. I will kill her children. Her children are the same thing as those who are committing adultery with her. The followers of this woman with death and all the churches. Look at this. This will be an example to all the churches in the center of these seven letters. All the churches shall know that I am he, he is sovereign who searches the minds and hearts and I will give to each one of you according to your works. Why is this seemingly so harsh? Does it seem harsh? Well, I think there may be three simple reasons why this seems so harsh. Number one, Jesus is jealous for his bride. Do you understand that? Do you understand the love of Jesus for his people? You can see on the cross, what has he done to redeem you? What does he promise you? What does he guarantee for you? Our Savior loves his bride and therefore he's jealous for his bride. And he will not stand for her abuse. From outside, he will not stand for adultery from the inside, and he will defend her, and he will correct her. You have to love the possessiveness. It's okay for Jesus to be jealous for his bride. Sometimes we're jealous about things that we shouldn't be. I dearly love that our Savior is jealous for me, for us, and he will not let us go. Secondly, Jesus is jealous not just for his bride, but for his bride's purity. His bride's purity, which makes sense when you love someone, when you love something, you want to see it pure and it pains you and it's not. And he will not ignore sin against her or sin in her. And if a Christian persists in flagrant sin, or a church does without repentance, you can expect chastisement out of this love. but for the person of the church's own preservation and well-being. And thirdly, Jesus is jealous for his bride. He's jealous for his bride's purity, but he's also jealous for his own name. God is sovereign over all. It's not selfish for him to demand to be glorified. He would not be God if he would not demand to be glorified and to be worshiped. And likewise, Jesus is jealous for his own name And when his church or his people walk in sin, it defames him and his name. Compromise and immorality and worldliness dishonors his name. And one, whether it be a church or an individual who names or identifies himself with Christ, if there's sin and public sin, it's scandalous against the name of Christ, and Christ is jealous for his own name. And these are all things we should be happy about. So Jesus proclaims there'll be chastisement on the unrepentant Jezebel, and the co-adulterers are the children of Jezebel. We assume that there's already been some form of church discipline being taken out by the church leaders confronting this woman, but there's no repentance. But she still has influence, and she has seduced and damaged the church, and so she and her followers must be judged. And when he says, I will kill her children to death and all the churches shall know it, reminds us of the original Jezebel, that what happened to Jezebel then could happen to this Jezebel and her followers. If you remember in first Kings, it was prophesied of Jezebel. We haven't even touched the surface of how evil Jezebel was. I'm not even going to go there, but she was evil and her disruption, her sin that brought the nation of Israel was just immense. And therefore it was prophesied that she would be judged with death and eaten by dogs. I guess being eaten by anything would seem bad, but eaten by dogs is like the worst judgment you could have. And that's exactly what happened. And then King Ahab's sons were all killed in judgment as well. And so do you understand, I will kill her children. Judgment will not just be upon her, but on all those who follow her. Beware and repent. This is to be an example to all churches as a warning and an encouragement. And then he proclaims, I am he, which has to be a reference to him being Yahweh, to being the sovereign God of all. I'm he who knows all hearts and minds, and I'm able to judge according to your works. And you don't want to be judged according to your works without Christ. And Jesus reminds his churches of his own sovereignty and holiness. And he calls his churches to holiness and faithfulness, promising judgment if it's not. There are a lot of questions you could ask from this, and oh boy, it's too bad that the time is short. But one question would be, does this mean that a Christian could lose his life if he persists in vile sin? It appears so. I don't think it's something that happens every day. But it appears so from what you read here and elsewhere in scripture. You can look at the church in Corinth. It appeared that there was actual death in the church of Corinth because they were abusing the Lord's Supper or so, which seems similar to now abusing the Lord by participating in the Satan's Supper, if you will, the idolatrous feasts. You can think of Ananias and Sapphira, were they Christians or not? I don't know, but they were judged and it was an example to all the churches of God's holiness. You cannot lose your salvation if you're in Christ. If one's life is somehow this contrary to Christ and there's no repentance, then yes, judgment will come. So I'm not trying to scare you or be wielding the law, but these are things we have to consider. But instead, may we grow in love and faith to serve and to endure our Lord in holiness and obedience and notice it's out of love. And by his grace, and may we praise our Savior that we are not judged according to our works. At the end, it's kind of fearful. I will give to each one according to your works. I do not want to be judged according to my works. I'm very happy to be judged according to Christ's works applied to my soul. I don't want to be left alone and naked to be judged by my works. So we're grateful for that. And by his grace and his spirit and his word and his sacrifice and salvation, he enables us to obedience. May we follow him in this way as his people and his church. In verses 24 through 25, you get the exhortation, which happens at each letter, you have an exhortation. He says, now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, I think we're speaking to the remnant, the faithful in this church in Thyatira, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden, but hold fast what you have, but hold fast what you have till I come. I think there's two things we can see from this exhortation. We can see who the remnant are, and in scripture there's remnant theology. There's always God's people being saved and kept well. You see that in even the times of Israel, where the bulk of the Israelites were running away from God, but there's always a remnant of God that he keeps. There's a remnant in Thyatira. So we know who they are, how they're described. We also know what they're being told. So first of all, who is this remnant in Thyatira? or the ones who do not have the doctrine of Jezebel. It means, yes, this doctrine of Jezebel is in our midst, it's been allowed to be taught. Get rid of it, this toleration that leads to spiritual adultery. But there are some who don't have it, they have not held to it, they do not follow it, they're wanting to kick it out. So we're speaking to you. It also says those who have not known the depths of Satan. Now what does that mean, who do not know the depths of Satan? I think the best understanding of this is this is a play on words that the prophetess, in quotes, was teaching about the so-called deep things of God, and we still have that now. You think of the influence of Gnosticism, where you're looking for hidden knowledge somewhere that nobody else knows about. We have it. And it also has the idea of the spiritual world and the physical world, two separate things. You can do whatever you want to in the physical world. That doesn't matter. It's temporary. The spiritual world is what matters. So we assume that this Jezebel is teaching these things. So she's teaching about the deep things of God. I have higher knowledge than what you're being told. But what Jesus is saying, these are actually the deep things of Satan. These are the depths of Satan. And you haven't known them. So there are some there in Thyatira that have recognized this and they stayed away from it. There's this teaching of Gnosticism type teaching of hidden knowledge and the spiritual being separate from the physical that allows then, it was thought, You could participate in idol worship and immorality and pagan worship, because this is just temporary. It doesn't matter. It's not going to harm me. I can participate somehow in the demonic realm, but it's not going to bother me spiritually, because I know this idol is not real. So what's the big deal? It reminds us of the Israelites themselves who worshiped God by the use of a golden calf. If you read that, they thought, we're going to worship Yahweh with a golden calf. That doesn't end so well. or the Corinthians participating in idol worship feasts as if they could not be harmed by that. The lesson from it is beware of seeking new revelations, beware of seeking deeper truths, or teachers who are going to give you something like this, beware of special means apart from the Word of God to learn what God has to tell you. What's the remnant being told in verses 24 and 25? I will put on you no other burden, but hold fast to what you have till I come." I think the idea is rather than a special knowledge, I'm not burdening you with trying to find something else. I'm not putting anything else on you that you don't already have. No other burden than the simplicity of the Christian life and what you have. It makes you think of Acts chapter 15 at the end of the Jerusalem Council. What are we going to do with these Gentiles? They're streaming in and they're ruining things. They don't want to do all these Jewish rituals and things. We don't like them and so they have a council and trying to preserve then salvation by grace, by faith as well. And so it was written then, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things, the same language, that you abstain from the things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourself from these, you will do well. And it seems like that's part of no more burden that's already been put on you. But I think it goes farther than that. What does Jesus say in Matthew chapter 11 when he's talking to those who are weary and heavy laden? He says, take my yoke upon you. And learn from me. And my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And what are we supposed to be learning from Christ when 1 John 5, to love God means to keep his commandments and they are not burdensome. So no other burden but to love me, Christ would say, and to keep my commandments and the commandments that are told in the word of God. And so then it says, but hold fast what you have till I come. No other burden, but hold fast what you have. What do they have? Well, you think he's talking about the sum total of the Christian faith as deposited in the Holy Scriptures is now is finished in the book of Revelation. Learn from Jesus, know his commands from the word of God. That's what you have, and it's all you need. The simplicity of seeking God in his word by his spirit in Christ and prayerfully And knowing the means of grace in the local church of Christ, which is the ground and pillar of the truth. That's the simplicity of the Christian life. We don't need prophets or prophetesses. We don't need special revelation. Just the simple obedience in God's word by spirit and prayer and seeking the means of grace and the obedience in the local church of Christ where these things are promoted. And he says, till I come. It's just wonderful. If you haven't noticed it yet, all of the encouragement in these letters to the churches have to do with, I'm coming, and things might be hard now, and you have eternal life now, and you have joy now that no one else can have, but when I come, all things will be made right at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and you'll see me as I am, and I'll see you, and I'll make you as I am, and our fellowship will be sweeter than anything you've ever known. Hold on. I am coming. And that's always the greatest motivation. So here till I come, the hope and promises and guarantees secured by Christ victorious first coming when he came as a suffering servant, that will be fully realized in his second coming as judge and king. And it's a great motivator for our love, our faith, our patient, our endurance, and for our holiness and faithfulness in the face of compromise and persecution. And then lastly, look at verses 26 to 29 and the promise given. There's always a promise given for those who overcome. Now, don't get worried. I have to earn my way. It's not that those who are in Christ will overcome. So do it. He overcomes and keeps my works until the end. To him, I will give power over the nations. Wow. And he quotes from Psalm two. Speaking of Christ, the son who is declared king, who is coming as judge, he shall rule them with a rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels, as I also have received from my father, which is what Psalm 2 says. And I will give him the morning star. I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, all of the churches. And so for those who by the word and spirit of God and by God's grace have overcome the false teaching and the compromise and the materialism going rampant in the church of Thyatira and the worldliness and the idolatry, two things, two promises that are given. We will reign with the Messiah's son. We will reign with the Messiah's son and we will receive the morning star. We will receive the morning star. In verses 26 and 27, he says, I will give you power over the nations. Really? And then he quotes from Psalm 2 on Christ then judging and having his kingship over all the nations, and in particular, be fulfilled when he comes. Psalm 2 declares Christ's sonship and his kingship to rule over the nations. It completes the connection. He already called himself the son of God earlier in verse 18, and now it's completed with this connection to Psalm 2 where the son comes and rules as king and judge. It's an amazing thing that whatever persecution or tribulation we might have by authorities in this life, we will reign with Christ. he being the final authority. We will reign with him in the end, victorious with him and vindicated by him. We're also given by his authority now, the ability to go forth with a great commission and to make him known and to live for him. We will reign with the Messiah son as promised by the scriptures in Christ himself. We will also receive the morning star. We will receive the morning star. What is a morning star? It's not as clear as I'd like it to be, but I think it represents the messianic rule of Christ. It's still part of that, will be part of the messianic rule of Christ when he returns. And morning means the inauguration of this messianic reign. Yes, he's risen in the morning, if you will, but he's coming again. And when he comes, then that messianic reign will be inaugurated in its fullness. And so in Revelation 22, 16, Jesus says, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David. I'm sovereign over him as God, but I'm the offspring. I became man as well. The bright and morning star. He is the morning star, he says. And in Numbers 24, when Balaam of all people prophesies, he says, I see him speaking of Christ. But not now, because he's coming. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Moab and destroy all the sons of Tumult. There will be one who will be the rod of Jesse, who will come, the scepter, the rod, all these things are the same thing as the morning star coming out of Jacob. And he will rule and reign and conquer all sin and all enemies of God. And so we read here in Revelation 2, which is quoting Psalm 2, he shall rule them with a rod or a scepter of iron. It's the same thing. It's interesting in ancient Rome, Venus was called the morning star. I realize it's supposed to be a planet, but they call it the Morning Star, and it was a symbol of sovereignty, even in Rome. Roman emperors would claim that they were descended from the goddess Venus. Generals would build temples dedicated to the star of Venus, this Morning Star. And the sign of Venus, the Morning Star, was on the standards of Roman legions. So the idea here is that Christ is the true son of God. Christ is the true sovereign over the world. And to him alone we gather as his temple, and we carry his name and his identity as his servants and soldiers. And in his second coming, he says, I will give him the morning star. We will have him given to us in a way that's never given before. We know him now, but we don't know what it will be like when he comes, it says in 1 John 3, but we rejoice in it and we'll see him as he is and we'll be made like him. At his second coming, at the dawning, as you will, of his eternal kingdom, Christ will be given fully to us and we to him. He will be fully known to us and we will be made like him. We will be glorified by him that we might glorify him fully. What a blessing, despite our unfaithfulness even now. And again, the letter ends with a reference to the delights awaiting Christ's people at his return at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let me just close with an invitation. Considering this Christ, who is the I Am, who is the Son of God, who is the divine judge who must judge sinners with fiery wrath, or else he wouldn't be who he is. but who is the son of man who lived and died and rose again to mercifully and graciously bring salvation? Won't you repent of your sin and turn to this Christ in faith for his mercy and his grace and his salvation? He's the only way. And Psalm 2 closes with these three verses, Psalm 2 does, after speaking of God laughing at the nations and they're shaking their fist at him, Saying that Christ will be coming and judge the world It says now therefore be wise O Kings be instructed you judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Kiss the son lest he be angry. I love that phrase Kiss the son it means he became man so you could you could know him he became like you so he can be kissed and speaks of his humility, but then it speaks of your humility. Kiss the son, bow down before him, and kiss him, kiss his feet in repentance and faith. For salvation, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. When his wrath is kingled but a little, blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and don't let your affections go to anyone or anything else. Let us pray. Dearly Father, we've covered a lot of ground. I pray, Lord, that the focus would be on Christ, however. The suffering Savior, who's the sovereign divine judge, the Son of God, who is the I Am, who's patient and calls for repentance, who wants to be kissed. But wrath has to come if there's not repentance and faith. So I was preparing a sermon, I kept thinking of an old bluegrass gospel song that spoke of a devotion to Christ above all things. I pray, Lord, you give us that, Lord. We see the beauty of Christ and the sovereignty of Christ for who he is and what he has done. And those who are yours would have no greater love or no other love for anyone or anything other than Christ. And those who are not yours, they would come to him this day in repentance and faith. I think about the simple words of, to be his child is worth more than silver and gold. To be his child is worth more than this world can hold. With him keeping my soul, no harm can befall. I am his child, and that is worth it all. Help us to have that attitude about our dear Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.