I could hear everybody singing.
I could hear the scripture reading. I could even hear Robert praying.
I got new ears. Alright, let's turn now to Revelation
chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Let's begin in verse 18. And
unto the angel of the church, in Thyatira write, These things
saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of
fire, and his feet are like fine brass. Lord willing, this Sunday
I want to preach out of Ephesians chapter 4. The believer's motivation,
our constraint to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of the peace is because of our oneness with God in Christ. He gives us seven ones in Ephesians
4. That's what we'll look at. But
many, false religion especially, uses Ephesians 4 to encourage
believers to disregard the truth for the sake of unity. And that's
not what's being taught in Ephesians 4. So I thought it might be good
tonight to look at this chapter in Revelation 2 because we can
see here that the Lord commanded just the opposite of the church
at Thyatira. I've titled this, Works Given
to Christ's Church. And what we're going to see here
in his letter to Thyatira, the Lord Jesus warns every local
church, every preacher and his people together, to continue
in the works that Christ has given us until the end. And we'll
see what those works are right here in this passage. Now, the
first thing we have is the way that Christ presents Himself
to the church. Now, as with each of these letters
to the churches, the letters written unto the pastor, it says
in verse 18, unto the angel of the church at Thyatira write,
that's who is spoken of here, the pastor. And this is especially
important because the problem at Thyatira was due to a false
preacher. That was the problem in Thyatira.
Paul said this, he said, now then we, speaking of himself
and of all Christ's true preachers, those that Christ sent, he says,
we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you, in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. The preacher is Christ's mouthpiece
to speak to His people. It's the responsibility of every
Christ-sent preacher to go forth and preach the truth of God's
Word, to preach the truth of what the Word says. And this
is why He said in Ephesians 4.14 that we, henceforth, be no more
children. tossed to and fro by every wind
of doctrine, by the slight of men, by the cunning craftiness
whereby they lie and wait to deceive. He says, but speaking
the truth, the truth, speaking the truth in love that we might
grow up into Christ in all things, into Christ our head. So this
is the charge that God gives to every preacher This is our
charge as the church of Christ. He says to his preacher, take
heed that you to yourselves and to the flock over the which the
Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God which
he has purchased with his own blood. The only way sheep food
is the gospel. Sheep food is the word of our
Redeemer. And he says to his preacher,
feed the church which he's purchased with his own blood. And he said,
I know this, after I leave, Paul said, he was talking to the Ephesian
church, but it's true, we see it in our day. He said, when
I leave, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. And this is the sad part. He
says, also of your own selves, of your own selves shall men
arise speaking perverse things. He is talking about among Christians,
among those that call themselves Christians. Shall men arise speaking
perverse things? And here is why. To draw away,
to draw them from Christ to make disciples after them, following
them. Now notice here in our text,
from the beginning of this letter Christ reminds His pastor and
His people who sent His pastor, who called His people, He says,
These things saith the Son of God. These things saith the Son
of God. Now in each of these letters
to the churches, we've seen this, Christ addresses Himself according
to the need of that church. He's addressed Himself according
to the need of that church. And by doing that, Christ reminds
us He is our one need. And He reminds us He's able to
meet our every need. Now, we know the church at Thyatira
had a serious, powerful problem because Christ presents Himself
here in the most powerful way. He says, These things saith the
Son of God. The title Son of Man means that
Christ was a real man. And the title Son of God means
that Christ was real God, completely God. Jesus Christ is the God-Man
Mediator. He's the man who is also sovereign
God, absolutely sovereign over all things, doing His will in
the midst of His people and in this earth, everywhere, at all
times. And He is the successful, triumphant
Savior of His people. All the work that the Father
gave Him to do, Christ Jesus has and shall successfully accomplish. Number one, he successfully fulfills
everything written of him in the Law and the Prophets. This
whole book is about him and Christ fulfills everything written about
him. Number two, he successfully put away all the sins of his
people by himself. Number three, he successfully
established perfect righteousness for every one of his blood-bought
children. Number four, he successfully
declared that God is just and the justifier of his people.
Christ did that. He successfully did that. Number five, he successfully
bruised the serpent's head. And he successfully delivers
his child from Satan's bondage when he comes and through the
Holy Spirit regenerates us and converts us. And he shall do
that for each of his children. And number six, He shall successfully
keep each of His children. He keeps us. It's God who keeps
us. And this is the God-man. And
seventhly, He shall successfully present us faultless before the
Father and not one shall be lost. That's what it means when we
read in Isaiah 42, 4 when it says, He shall not fail till
He has set judgment in the earth and the Gentiles shall wait for
His law. This is who is speaking in our text. And then He gives
us here a characteristic of His eyes. Look at verse 18. He says,
Who hath eyes like unto a flame of fire? Fire lights up the darkness. And that's how Christ's eyes
are. He sees into the heart of every person. He knows the hearts
of every person. His people in His church and
those outside of His church. He knows the hearts of men in
every part of this world. He knows the motives of all our
actions. Hebrews 4.13 says, Neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all
things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we
have to do." Now this is our Savior. And then He tells us
something about His feet in verse 18. He says, "...and His feet
are like fine brass." Christ acts in His church. His actions
in His church are like His eyes. Fine brass is pure. It's pure. And everything Christ does in
His church among His people is pure. It's holy. Everything He's
doing. He executes justice. He executes
righteousness for His people in the earth. You can rest assured
of this. Men may not give you justice. Men may not do that which is
righteous. But Christ will execute righteousness
for His people in this earth. He certainly will. He purely
performs that which is right and best for us. And that means
everything in His gospel, It means everything in the hearts
of His people and everything in providence that God is working
towards us, Christ Himself is doing and every bit of it is
just and right for His people. Now that, when we know that,
that ought to make it so and that will make it so. When He
applies this to our heart, it makes it effectual in our heart,
it will make it so we have full assurance that we can cast all
our care into Christ's hand, that we can continue in Him,
we can continue faithfully declaring His gospel in no uncertain terms
because Christ will accomplish His will. He shall. Now secondly,
Christ commends the character and the works of His true church.
Since he knows everything, he knows the character and the works
of his true church. He says in verse 19, I know thy
works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience,
and thy works in the last to be more than the first. Now the
fact that Christ knows and commends these six things ought to make
us continually go to Him for grace to perform these things,
to continue in these things. He commends these things and
the power to do these things comes only from Him. Now, first
He says, I know your works. Works, good works for a believer
are natural. They are spiritually what believers
do. They are spiritually what believers
do. They are the expression of spiritual life. James says just
like the heart beats and the spirit is to life, meaning you
have life, good works are to the believer. And then faith
will always be found to work by love. It's the heart of the
believer. It's the heart of the believer.
Faith always works by love. And good works shall be worked
by each one that God calls because God foreordained that we shall
walk in them. That means we shall. That doesn't
mean that we ought to. That means we shall. He foreordained
the works that we shall do. And good works, now what are
they? They're works that manifest that we believe God is able.
I don't have time to go into these tonight, but if you want
to read what good works are, read Hebrews 11. And you'll find
every one of these works have this in common. They're works
of faith by which those that performed the work believed God
was able to do what He promised. That's what makes it a good work,
the motive, the heart of the matter. And then He says here,
and I know you're charity. Charity is love to God our Savior
and love to His saints, our brethren. The new heart that God puts in
His people is a heart of love. Listen to John. He said, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's what we do. When you're
born of God, you believe that Jesus is the Christ. That's the
necessary result of being born of God. And He says, And everyone
that loveth Him that begat loveth Him also that's begotten of Him.
That is also the result of a new heart. You love Him that begat
you and you love those that are begotten of Him. You love your
fellow brethren. But without this love, without
this new heart, you could have faith and all these other things,
but it's meaningless. It's nothing. You read what Paul
wrote to Titus when he told Titus that men who are in every good
work reprobate. It's good work. The work they're
doing might be a good work in and of itself, but their heart's
defiled. Their heart's not pure. They
don't have this new heart. And Paul said, I might have the
gift of prophecy. He said, I could have understanding
in all mysteries. He said, I could have all knowledge.
I could have all faith so that I could remove mountains. But
if I don't have this love, I am nothing, he said. And he said,
I could bestow all my goods to feed the poor. That would be
a good work in and of itself, wouldn't it? What makes it to
be an evil work? He says, though I give my body
to be burned, though I give all my goods to the poor, and I don't
have this new heart of charity, this new heart of love, it profits
me nothing. Nothing. Now, if you want to
read what love does, read 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It will tell you
all about what love does. And he says, follow after charity.
And then Christ says here in verse 19, and I know your service. This is ministering. It's ministering. The Greek word is the word from
which we get the word deacon. If you look at the Greek word,
you can just see it's deacon. That's the word, deacon. Chiefly,
this respects the service of ministering the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ so that the gospel can be preached. They
sacrifice their money, they sacrifice their time, they sacrifice their
labor so that others could hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then this also respects service in the church so that
the gospel may be preached. The pastor's responsibility is
to labor in the word and in prayer that he might be able to preach
the gospel in spirit and in truth. faithful men and women in the
church that Christ has put into his church and gifted with various
gifts, they are to take care, you are, you are to take care
of everything else, of everything else, so that the pastor can
do those duties he's called to do. You prepare the meeting place. We don't have a building to take
care of, but if we did, you'd take care of the building, you'd
take care of the grounds. Here we have the seats and the
hymn books and all those things. Everything has to be prepared
so we can meet. You handle the offerings. You watch out for
brethren to see if there is a need so that the church can meet that
need and help our brethren. You prepare the elements for
the Lord's table. Ladies, you can prepare meals
and deliver meals when one of the brothers or sisters is sick.
Things like that. All of these things. Whatever
needs to be done for the advancement of the Gospel. To get His people
well so they can get back to hearing the Gospel or just to
help to get this gospel to continue going. This is what we do. This
is our service. This is our chief purpose of
being in this earth is for this gospel to be preached. There
was a dear sister one time and she showed up at church and she
had all these coupons she had And everybody looked at her like,
what are you doing? Why do you have all these coupons?
She said, they're just for the brethren to get. If you can use
some of these coupons, get them. I'm talking about just regular
grocery coupons. She didn't know what she could
do, but she found something she could do. She did what she could.
She took coupons and brought them to church so everybody could
have coupons. Save them a little money on their groceries. Whatever
needs to be done to help brethren, that's what we're talking about.
And then he says here in verse 19, and I know your faith. That
means conviction of the truth, reliance upon the Lord Jesus
for all aspects of salvation, constancy in our profession.
It means dependability. It means fidelity to brethren
as well. Faithfulness is what God requires.
It's required of a steward that he be found faithful. And he
requires that of his people. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. Those that come to him must believe
that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. And then he says here, I know your patience. Patience is perseverance
with a peaceful, believing resignation in the heart to the will of God.
It's not just being calm at a traffic light. It's patiently continuing
in the gospel, knowing whatever comes my way, it's the will of
God. He's doing this in our midst.
And then he commends them for growing in grace. He says in
verse 19, and I know your works, and the last to be more than
the first. Their last works were more than their first works.
That means they grew in grace. As the old man died day by day,
the inward man was renewed by the Lord day by day. And the
Lord grew them in grace, and they sought the Lord, and they
grew in grace. And as they got older, they got
wiser. As they got weaker outwardly,
they were stronger inwardly. And then we ought to... Seek
these things. Seek these of the Lord, brethren.
Because we're dependent on our Lord for everything. And He gave
these things, and He knows these things, and He sustains these
things in His people. And we ought to seek to grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
grow. Living things grow, and we want
to seek to grow in grace. And then two, notice this. He
commended them for these things. We ought to follow Christ in
that and commend those, thank those who serve you in the gospel
in whatever capacity they serve you. Thank God for them and thank
them. A failure to thank somebody is
an evidence of carnality. A thank you is always always
appropriate, especially when somebody is ministering to the
well-being of your soul. That's always appropriate. Thirdly,
let's look here now. He said he had a few things against
them. I have a few things against you.
Verse 20, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee. Now
brethren, pay close attention to this. This struck me. In every local church and in
every believer, there may be a lot of positive things that
can be said, like our Lord commended them here, and yet there may
be need for some serious reproof, for serious reproof. And that
was the case here in Thyatira. Notwithstanding all the good
things that He just said about them, there was a serious problem
here that He had against them. And you think about that. Of
all these things that were said about them, that just sounds
like a faithful church, doesn't it? And yet there was something
here that he had against them. They suffered a false teacher
to teach false doctrine and to seduce his weak saints. Look at verse 20. He says, Because
thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess,
to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to
eat things sacrificed unto idols." Now these seducers were not true
members of Christ's church. These seducers were not true
members of Christ's church. They merely wore Christ's name.
But now those that were being seduced away by their false gospel
were Christ. He said, these are my servants.
They are seducing away. He won't ultimately let his people
be led away. But these people can go astray,
but he'll bring them back. Now, how do false preachers seduce
by their false gospel? Well, Christ compares her to
Ahab, wicked Ahab's wife Jezebel. Jezebel encouraged believers
to unite with others who didn't believe the same as they believed. That's what she did. That's what
I'm saying about Ephesians 4. Folks use that. Endeavor to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And men will use
that and say, now you can overlook the truth to keep this unity. At Jezebel's table there were
children of Israel and prophets of Baal and prophets of the grove. all together at her table. You'll
find that 1 Kings 18-19. And yet, though she preached
this unity, discard the truth for this unity, yet she also
taught no toleration, even cutting off God's true people, God's
true preachers, who would oppose her because they preached the
truth of the Word. No toleration for them. Is that
not the false religion of our day? Is it not? And enemies lay
aside the truth of Christ, uniting together in the name of keeping
the unity of Christ. Now, how much sense does that
make? Lay aside the truth of Christ in the name of keeping
the unity of Christ? What unites us? Christ unites
us. The truth of the gospel unites
us. If you lay aside the truth, you
have no union. You have no union at all. But
in the name of cutting off hate mongers, That's what they call
us, hate mongers. If you preach what this word
says right here, they're going to say, you're a hater is what
you are. That's exactly right. They cut
off Christ through preachers and his people who oppose them
because they simply declare God's word. You know, enemies become
friends in order to cut off Christ and his people. Did you all catch
that when Art read that scripture out of Luke last week? It said
in Luke 23, 12, the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends
together, for before they were at enmity between themselves.
What joined them? Cutting off Christ. That's what
joined them. That's what united them. And
also note this, Jezebel, all false religion, teaches what
they call deep things of God. You ever notice that? There's
always these deep things of God. These deep things that they're
teaching. But look what Christ calls it, down in verse 24. He
says it's to know the depths of Satan, is what it is. Here's
a good rule of thumb for you and me to follow. A very good
rule of thumb. If whatever you hear takes our
focus away from Christ, it's not a deep mystery of Christ.
It's a deep lie of Satan, is what it is. Because the gospel,
we're trying to preach things to warn one another and to encourage
one another to stay focused on Christ and Him alone and not
let any of these things separate us from Him. That's the truth.
That's what is set forth in all the gospel. Now, here Christ
reproves them. Why did He reprove them for this?
Why did He reprove them that they allowed this Jezebel to
preach a lie in their midst. Why did he reprove them? Well,
because when they allowed him to preach this, and if we allow
folks to preach in this place, to preach a false gospel, and
we embrace them, or we embrace folks who preach a false gospel,
by doing so, brethren, we partake of their evil deeds. Look back
two pages, one or two pages there to 2 John. Look at verse 10. I'm sorry, look at verse 9. Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into
your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed,
he is partaker of his evil deeds." You see, the offense here that
they were guilty of was worse than even just allowing a woman
to preach, which Scripture forbids that. But it's worse than that.
It's worse than that. The offense is that they tolerated
this false gospel. And by tolerating this false
gospel, you know what they were encouraging weak believers to
do? To join with that false gospel.
They were making them more susceptible to be seduced away by that false
gospel. Because by not standing up and
speaking against it, and not saying anything, not warning
their weak younger believers that this was a lie, They were
being partakers of that lie. It was as much as saying, yeah,
that's alright, go join with it. And so that's what he's saying
here. This is what he had against them.
Now I try to preach the gospel to you in a positive way. The
truth best exposes a lie. We preach the gospel. That's
our number one goal is to preach the truth. That exposes a lie.
But Christ teaches us here that faithful preaching does expose
liars and it does expose lies. And it must. We must do that.
And now, that stated, let me say this plainly, brethren. The
mainstream religion in our day is preaching the works and will
of men. They're not preaching salvation
by grace. If you have an ear to hear and you listen to what's
being said, it's easy to discern that the truth is not being preached.
Now, they'll say a lot of good things, but they're not going
to preach depravity of man. They're not going to shut a sinner
up to his total, absolute, thorough ruin in the fall so that he can
do nothing to save himself. They preach good works leaving
the sinner to think that he can do those good works by his power
and his will and that by those good works he's going to be made
acceptable to God. And people don't get upset about
that. Nobody hates that message. That message is pleasing to a
man. Now, most religious leaders, and I mean most religious leaders,
and most of their churches are unified in their message. They'll
say they're not, but they are unified. They preach the will
of man and the works of man. And we're not one with them. We are not one with them. I used
to be one with them before God called me by His grace, but I'm
not one with them anymore. By His grace, I'm not. And we're
not one with Him in any way. Why? Because two opposing messages
cannot both be true. Two messages that are opposite
cannot both be truth. Salvation began when God the
Father chose whom He would in the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity. And therefore, if a man comes
and he preaches that salvation is determined upon a man choosing
God by his will and by his work, That's a lie. That's not according
to this book. And therefore, it's not to be
believed, it's not to be embraced by a believer. Redemption is
by Christ bearing and putting away the sin of His people by
Himself. He came and He satisfied justice
by His death and He justifies His people through faith. This
is the truth. And so, the message that teaches
that Christ bore all men's sins but only made salvation possible
based on the sinner exercising his free will is a lie. It's not to be tolerated. It's
not to be embraced by a believer. It's not just off the mark. It's a lie. Regeneration and
conversion is by the Holy Spirit's irresistible grace, by creating
a man anew, by granting him faith and repentance so that we are
made willing in the day of God's power We don't say that we're
not saved. We don't say we're saved against
our will. We're saved. We're willing to be saved by
Him because by His power, He made us willing. And so therefore,
the message that teaches sinners how to be born again or that
message that teaches sinners that regeneration and conversion
is by man's will or by man's power, it's a lie. It's not to
be tolerated or embraced by a believer. And somebody will say, I don't
think you ought to preach in that spirit." Well, then, you
don't like Christ very much, for Christ said, beware of false
prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing. Outwardly,
they appear like they're all in agreement with you and they're
one with you, but inwardly, they're ravening wolves. Christ said
that. My God said that. And I'll say
it, too. And I'm not ashamed to say it,
because He said it. Now, the only thing more damning
to you, to your soul, than that clear declaration of universal
redemption and of your will and your work. The only thing more
damning than that clear declaration is we men preach that same message
but claim to be preaching the sovereign grace of God. That's
the only thing more damning. And I'll warn you this again,
brethren, that the enemy in our day is not like the enemy in
our Father's day. The enemy in our day is so subtle
with his error and his lie that Christ said if it was possible,
they would deceive the very elect. I'm thankful that it's not possible,
but he said if it were so, they would. That's deceptive, brethren.
That's deceptive. Now, if a man believes he was
saved in that garbage, he hadn't repented and he hadn't believed
God. The Apostle Paul's name in Philippians 3, he named all
these things that he had when he was in false religion. He
said, if any man have reason of glory in the flesh, I more.
He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was of the tribe of Benjamin.
He said, as touching the law, blameless, all of these things.
But you know what happened when God called him? He said, all
the things that I thought were gain to me, I now count them
dung. that I might win Christ and be
found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
but the righteousness which is of Christ through faith." And
he said this of those brethren still in it. He said, I would
to God they'd be saved. What does it mean to you to be
saved? Does that mean they are saved, but they're just not as
saved as you? To me it means they're lost.
Own it to you. He said, I would to God they'd
be saved. I bear the record they have a zeal. False religion has
great zeal. Great zeal. but it's not according
to knowledge. Why? They're going about to establish
their own righteousness and they have not submitted to the only
righteousness there is, the righteousness of Christ, brethren. The righteousness
which is the law says, do, do, do, do, do, and you'll live.
The righteousness which is the faith doesn't say there's anything
to do. There's nothing to reach up into
heaven for or nothing to reach down below for. It's in your
heart. When God gives you faith, you believe Him and you believe
unto righteousness. And with the mouth, you confess
unto salvation. That's the gospel we preach.
Alright, let's look here now. I want you to look at this though.
Look at Romans 11. I do want you to see this before we move
on. This is crystal clear. Salvation by grace and salvation
by works are mutually exclusive. They are opposites and they will
never be joined together. They're like oil and water. Now
listen, Romans 11, 5. Even so, then at this present
time also there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is
no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Is that clear enough? They can't
be together. It can't be a mixture. It can't
be partly one, partly the other. Salvation is all of grace and
therefore it's not of works. And if a man thinks he's going
to be saved by his works, he cannot have anything to do with
grace. Nothing. Salvation is by grace, not words.
Now, fourthly, let's learn from how Christ deals with false preachers
and those who join with them. Now, look here in Revelation
2.21. Christ reproves them, the false
preacher, and gives them space to repent. Look here at verse
21. I gave her space to repent of
her fornication, and she repented not. So, that's what we ought
to do, brethren. If you have opportunity to preach
the gospel to somebody who's preaching a lie or believing
a lie or going after a lie, declare the truth to them and give them
space to repent. Trust the Lord to grant them
repentance. And he says, but Christ never tolerates those
who will not repent from preaching a false gospel nor those who
join with false preachers. Look at verse 22. Behold, I will
cast her into a bed He's talking about a bed of tribulation. And
He says, And them that commit adultery with her, I'll cast
them both, her and them that commit adultery with her, into
great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And He
says in verse 23, And I will kill her children with death. That's reprobation. I will kill
her children with death. Brethren, has Christ not done
this in our day? Has He not done this in our day,
in our nation? If you question, if you have
any question whatsoever if mainstream religion has spoken the truth
of Christ in the past 100 years, then answer me this. Why do we
live in Sodom? Why do we live in Sodom? Why
is it that men believe such delusions and hold God and Christ and our
gospel and His people in utter contempt. Why? Christ answers
that for us. He answers that question clearly
right here. He tells us why He sends just
reprobation against liars and those who follow them. Look at
verse 23. He says, after I have done this,
all the churches, this is His true people, they shall know
that I am He which searcheth the reins in the heart. They
are going to know by me doing this by killing their children
with death. My people are going to know this,
that I really do have eyes of fire. I really do see the hearts
of people. I know what their motives are.
Even though they appear beautiful on the outside, He says, I know
their heart. And He says, and I will give unto every one of
you according to your works. The answer to those questions
that I just asked you, this is the answer. It's because God
knows the hearts of those in false religion and those in true
religion. And whether it be sinners who
will not repent from their works of preaching and promoting a
false gospel, or whether it be those who believe on Christ and
hold forth the gospel, God gives unto every one of us according
to our works. That's right. Well, if the man
is preaching a false gospel, an impotent gospel, that cannot
bring forth children, that will not bring forth any children
whatsoever, but is of the harlot of whoredoms and fornication,
God gives the person according to the Word. He gives them the
fruit of their works. A nation full of sodomites that can't
bring forth children. A childrenless gospel, a fruitless
gospel will bring forth fruitless fruit. And if their works were preaching
Christ in spirit and in truth, if there were works of faith
motivated by the love of Christ in the heart, then Christ would
not pour out this great tribulation and kill her children with the
death of reprobation. Can I prove that? Turn to 2 Thessalonians
2. I know this is not fun stuff
to talk about, but I just want you to see this. I want you to
know this. I want you to see it's not my word. 2 Thessalonians. chapter 2 and look at verse 10. Let's look at verse 9. He talks
about those that come after the working of Satan with all power
and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish. Why do they perish? Because they
receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And
for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they
should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Well, who
makes us to differ? Read on. But we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you've been taught, whether by
word or by our epistle. You see that? Christ and His
gospel, He's the only one that makes the difference. Now, lastly,
let's hear Christ's command to us and let's hear His promise
to us who believe. Look here, verse 24, Revelation
2.24. He says, but unto you I say and
unto the rest in Thyatira. Now here he's speaking to his
true church, his true people that he's called out. Now he
reproved them. He did reprove them because they
needed to be reproved. They permitted this false teacher
and this false gospel. Yet the true church here that
he's speaking to, there was something different about them. They did
not hold the doctrine of the liar and their lies. Look at
verse 24. as many as have not this doctrine,
and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak."
Now, if we were all preaching the same message, Christ would
not have here made this distinction between His people and those
who are preaching a lie. You see that? God's true people
hold not the doctrine of Jezebel with her deep teaching of Satan.
We hold to Christ and His gospel. Now, and therefore Christ says
this to it. Here's His promise, verse 24.
I will put upon you none other burden, none other burden, but
that which you have already, hold fast till I come. What's our burden? What's this
burden he's speaking about? What's our responsibility? What
are the works given to Christ's church in this earth right now? What are the works? It's a twofold
work. We are the ground, we're the
pillar and ground of the truth. And therefore, number one, Christ
commands us to speak against all liars and all lies, renouncing
all false religion to all who will hear us. That was the problem
he had with the church at Tyre. And that's what he's showing
here. This is your burden that I put on you. Speak out against
her. Don't allow her to seduce my
servants into her camp. And then number two, We do so
by declaring and holding fast the truth of the gospel. Hold
fast that which you already have. And rest in Christ through faith
till Christ returns. That's the work of Christ that
He's given us in this earth. Speak against lies and hold fast
the truth. Speak the truth, hold forth the
truth and rest in Christ till He comes. Now here's the promise
to all that keep these works of Christ till He comes, till
the end. Look at verse 26. He that overcometh
and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power
over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
As the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even
as I received of my Father." Turn to John chapter 12. What
is this power and this rod that every believer shall rule the
nations with when Christ returns. Christ says it's the same which
Christ received of His Father. What is that? John chapter 12. Look at verse 48. He that rejecteth me and receiveth
not my words hath one that judgeth him. the word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day. That's what Christ
just told us. He said, even as I received of
my Father. Look at the next verse. For I
have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he
gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.
It's our gospel, brethren. The same way Noah condemned the
world and became an heir of righteousness, which is by faith, through the
gospel. That's the same way. It's the
same with his apostles, brethren. Remember what he told his apostles?
He said, I say unto you, you that which have followed me,
you followed me. He said, in the regeneration,
when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. How? By our gospel. By our gospel. That's going to be what determines
who believes Christ and who don't. This gospel, the Word of God.
That's going to be the tell of the tape, brethren. And then
what's He going to give us? He said, He that overcometh,
I'm going to give you something. What's He going to give us? Remember
what He told the apostles? Everyone that has forsaken houses,
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children,
or lands, it's going to cost you to follow Christ. If it hadn't
cost us anything, we're probably not following it. But He said
this, they that forsake all that for My name's sake, for Me, shall
receive a hundredfold. You're going to receive so much
more than what you ever gave up. And you're going to inherit
everlasting life. Now, in our text, go back to
our text, that's exactly what He tells us we're going to inherit.
We're going to inherit Christ, our life, and everlasting life
with Him. Verse 28, And I will give Him
the morning star. Christ is that morning star.
And that new day that's going to dawn and be forever and never
end is going to be given to us by Christ, our morning star.
So, these are the works given to Christ's church. Believe on
Christ, hold fast this gospel which you've been taught, declare
it, preach it, set it forth, and by doing so, expose lies,
expose liars, and nurture His servants, His weak servants from
being seduced by those who would steal them away by a false gospel.
That's the work we have in this earth, brethren. Now He says
this, He that hath an ear. Do you have an ear? Has He given
you an ear? The butter, the man that buts,
he hadn't had this ear given to him. The man who has the but
has the gospel. The man who has the Gospel been
given ears to hear, he hears Him. He hears Him. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Amen.