Don't you love to sing those
hymns? Singing hymns is an integral part of the worship service.
The Lord commands it. We need it. It does us good. Paul said in Ephesians, speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. If you're down,
if you're out, if you're depressed, if you're sorrowful, if you're
sad, singing will do you well, do you good. Let's look at Revelation
2, the Revelation chapter 2. I hope you've read
chapter 17 and 18 as recommended. We'll read verses 18 through
29. Revelation 2.18. This is the
Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Unto the angel, or preacher,
pastor of the church in Bytira, 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. I know thy works, and charity,
and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, the
last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee, 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. And I gave her space to repent
of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her
into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great
tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill
her children with death, and all the churches shall that I
am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. And I will give unto
every one of you according to your works. But unto you, I say,
and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine,
false doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan
as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden than that
which ye have already. till I cometh. And 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 ship me, even as I receive of my Father. And I will give
him the morning star, He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches." Okay, pray with me. Our Heavenly
Father, thank you again for bringing us here. We cannot thank you enough because
we do not realize fully what a blessing this is. Your people have been chosen
by you, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
sanctified in Christ Jesus, preserved in him, kept by the power of
God, the gospel, the truth. Sanctified by this Holy Spirit
of God, set apart from a world that's to be destroyed and preserved. Put in Christ the ark of salvation. Oh, Lord. We can all say, surely, that
David of old, who am I and what is my house that you brought
me here? Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the truth. We are sanctified by thy truth,
set apart by thy truth. We thank you for it. We ask that
you would cause us to love it and to stand for it, to hold
it fast until you come. In a day where men turn away
their ears from the truth unto fables, may we hold fast the
form of sound words and be faithful unto them. May
we all die in faith. is my prayer, our prayer. Thank
you for these, my brethren. Thank you for your people everywhere,
the churches. You've written these words to
the churches. What we're about to look at,
what we just read, the Spirit of God, the Son of God saying
to the churches, O Lord, give us ears to hear, a heart to receive. We want to be in that kingdom. We want to be in your church,
the church of the living God, the assembly of the saints. God
is to be feared, to be had in reverence in the assembly of
the saints and all them that are around about them, that,
Lord, Lord, unite our hearts to fear thy name, to glorify
thy name, to bless thy name, to worship thee in a day when
thy name is being blasphemed. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
every good and perfect gift. Thank you for material things,
for temporal blessings, but the greatest blessing of all is what
we've just been thanking you for. Son of thy love, the gospel
of our salvation, the word of truth, thank you for it. Open
our ears tonight, our hearts to receive it, and go away from
this place giving thanks, praising thy holy name. Bless your people
everywhere, those going through troubles and trials especially.
We pray for them. Lord, forgive us of our sins.
Forgive us. Forgive us for Christ's sake.
Amen. Let's sing number 317. We're
going to sing it to the tune of I Love Thy Kingdom. 317 written, I believe, by Charles
Westley. This is a good Him, charged to
keep, have I, a scriptural term, charged to keep. A charge to
keep have I, a law to glorify, Who gave His Son, my soul to
save and make it for the sky To serve the present day, my
calling to fulfill And the end of my hours in gates to do Harm me with jealous pain, As
it lies I'm moving. Handle thy burden, don't be there,
The sick shall come to thee. Tell me to watch and pray, Day
to night shall be mine. and let me bare my cross betray
the rest who will come around. Thank you, Julia. Thank you, John. We'll go back
to Revelation 2 now. We'll continue this study in
these words to the churches. It's a pity that we do this on
Wednesday night. Someone once said, if you want
to know the true Church, visit them on the week, midweek service. These words to the Church have
never been more relevant. All of them. But this one here,
and the next one, and the next. All of them. We are indeed in the last day,
the last of the last day, the final hours. That's very clear. Our Lord said you can discern
the time. You don't know the day when our
Lord shall return, but you can discern the times, the signs
of the time, the nearness. We've clearly seen the warnings
to every church. Elder Allen Jellett preached
through this book not too long ago. put his notes into book
form. Very good. Sister Helen gave
me the book, loaned it to me. Thank you. I was hoping I wouldn't
have to return it. But Alan summed it up. These
farewells, these mournings to the churches are apostasy. Leaving
your personality. Compromise with false doctrine.
Antinomianism, that's a Nicoletian doctrine, licentious living. Tolerance of false teachers,
that's what we're going to look at tonight, this fourth letter.
Hypocrisy, formalism, we talked about some having a name, but
they live, but we're dead. And lukewarmness, so that sums
up these warnings, things, yes, against his people, full of promises,
full of commendation to his church. Remember, after every single
letter, he says, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what
the Spirit sayeth to the churches. We pray together. Lord, give
us ears to hear, and more importantly, a heart to receive. You remember after the parable
of the sower? Remember that? Our Lord, he says
he cried. He that hath ears to hear. Now,
if the Lord cried, try to imagine His voice. Can you try to imagine His voice?
His voice is like the sound of many waters when He cried out
aloud for everybody to hear. He that hath ears to hear. Let
Him hear. My, my, we need to hear this.
So much more as we see the day approaching, right? And Lord,
give our children and others that have not heard Thy voice,
give them ears to hear. I remind us that the last words
to the last church, Laodicea, was about lukewarmness. And that's
what the way you become when you quit hearing. We're listening
indifferently. Paul warned the Hebrews of being
dull of hearing. He said, you ought to be teachers,
but become dull of hearing. So, Lord, give us ears to hear. Okay? Thyatira. This is to the church at Thyatira. These things, verse 18, sayeth
the Son of God. These things saith the Son of
God." Listen to Hebrews 12. It says, "...see that ye refuse
not him that speaketh, for if they escape not who refuse him
that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn
away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice And then
shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more
I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. These things say
of the Son of God. This is not some cunningly devised
fable. These are the words of the Son
of God to his people. The world is not hearing this
tonight. They won't hear it then. They don't have ears to hear.
Scripture says, in God's sovereignty, He has shut their ears. Oh, blessed
are our ears. Today, in Hebrew, how many times
does it say in Hebrew, today, if you will hear His voice, harden
not your heart, as in the provocation. And after every single letter,
He says, Him that overcometh. Him that overcometh. And that's
what he said about the Israelites. They were overcome. They were
overthrown in the wilderness by the world. So, how do you
keep from being overcome, overthrown? How do we overcome? Faith. Believing. Where does that come from? The
Word of God. So this world, the God of this
world, would lull us into a sense of false security. Wouldn't it? Peace, peace? There's no peace. False religion. God loves you.
That's a wonderful plan for your life. God doesn't want anything
bad happening to you. That's not the God of Adam. Okay. He says here in our text, these
things say of the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a
flame of fire. In that same chapter, Hebrews
12, it ends this way. The New Testament, mind you.
It says, Our God is a consuming fire. Men say that God has changed,
that He was this way in the Old Testament, but not the New. That's
not what the Scripture said. He changes not. Our God is a
consuming fire. His eyes, He sees. Does God not
see what's going on today? And this is why Peter said, take
into account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. He's
long-suffering to us, his people, his elect, not willing that any
should perish. So that gives me hope, thinking
that there's somebody else, maybe one of our own, that he's going
to bring into the ark. Don't you hope? I want him to
come, but I want others to come to him. Don't you? These things
saith he that hath eyes like a flame of fire, that seethes
through life. Our message Sunday morning from Luke 8, about all
secrets shall be revealed. That's what the Lord said. Oh,
there's nothing here that shall not be laid down. That's what
our Lord said. So, his eyes are like a flame
of fire, his feet like fine brass for strength, For solidity, he
doesn't change, he doesn't move. Same yesterday, today, and forever.
What is the description of Jesus Christ? These are descriptions.
This is the Christ description, portrayed by himself, declared
by himself to be altogether different from what you're hearing today. You see how blessed our ears
are? We're hearing of the true Christ, because this is salvation,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
as He is. Our eyes are going to see Him
as He is someday. Right now, many imagine Him to
be what He is not. But God's people know Him from
His Word revealed. Verse 19, now to the church,
he says, I know thy works. I know thy work. Whatever is
done in his name is a good work. Whatever is done for his people,
for his glory, for his church, for his gospel is a good work
and acknowledged by him. The Lord acknowledges it. Even
our Lord said a cup of cold water. Didn't he? I got a little cold,
and I had to warn you about it. Many of you warned me, don't
shake my hand. I don't care. We're in this thing together.
I'm not worried about it. Don't you worry about it. I'm thirsty. Thank you, John
Davis. You will receive a profits reward.
Isn't that what the Lord said? The Lord is not unrighteous,
he says, to forget your labor of love. Anything done for Him,
He acknowledges it. Shouldn't we? Shouldn't we? I know your worth,
the Lord said. I know what you know. You know, we're to do what we
do as unto the Lord, not for recognition, he says. He knows.
He will repent. He will repent. Nothing done
for him will go unrewarded. Nothing done against him will
go undelivered. I know thy work. Now, there's
charity, he said. Your gifts, your love, proving
the sincerity of your love. A woman just today, a hearer
on Mixley, sent a rather sizable gift to this church and to the
Carpets, another gift. This is just a lady who hears,
in North Carolina, who hears on Mixley, and she overheard
us talking. The Lord knows, and she's stuck. She can't get out of it. She'd
love to be here. The Lord knows. He knows, and
he commends that. He says in verse 19, I know your
service. What service? Whatever is done.
Cleaning the building. Is that necessary? I wrote an
article, I haven't put it in our bulletin yet, but about the
priests in and around the temple who had various jobs to do. Now
the Lord loveth the cheerful givers. But these things were
duties. They were a requirement. It was
necessary. It was a reasonable service.
Why? It was needful. And it was an honor. It was a
privilege to be a priest and to take part in the care and
the upkeep and the maintenance and the provisions for the temple.
What do you think the Lord would have done if one of those priests
said, I'm doing it. I'm not doing it. Let so and
so do it. Well, under the law, He killed him. Or halfway. The sweetest dirt under the rug.
Oh no. No, whatever is done, we do with
all our might as under the Lord. The Lord sees it. He knows. He
knows. The servant. Cleaning, the nursery. I thank the ladies for pulling
time. Men don't do it. Men couldn't
handle it. They'd kill off all our children. I remember the church years ago
in the beginning, maybe you may or many probably remember, maybe
not, there was no nursery. And it was hard to listen to
the message with screaming babies. It was hard. And the nursery
is a wonderful thing, a good thing. Thank those who keep it,
the Lord. He doesn't thank us, but he does
commend us. Doesn't it? I know you said it.
How much more should we? He's commended us for us. We should thank everybody, commend
everybody for whatever they do for us, for the cause of Christ,
maintenance around the building. Who hasn't despised a day of
small things, the Lord said? Small things need to be done.
Somebody's got to do them. I'm sure glad they get enough.
God does not despise small things. He takes note and he commands
every act. He's faithful. He's very faithful. He's just. That's what it means
to be just. He will let no good deed go unnoticed. That's just. I want to be like
that. You said, I know your faith.
Verse 19, I know your faith, your patience. And we're going
to look at this in the next letter after this, I believe. The Word
of My Patience. He talks about patience in nearly
all the churches. Patience. What is that? Well,
it's humble submission to God's will. Did you read Brother Philpott's
article in Sunday's book? You'll not read a better article
on the will of God. Go back and read it. It's a wonderful
article. Read it again. It's worth reading
again. It's a refrigerator article. It talks about the will of God. Whatever happens, it's God's
will. And patience is submitting to that will. Believing it is
His will. And bowing to that. And not murmuring
or complaining, but saying, Thy will be done. I have a couple
of men here. Well, all our men, but a couple
in particular, you know who they are. Every time they pray. Lord,
not my will, thy will. That's a good way to be of you.
That'll keep us from murmuring. What did God get angry at Israel
for? Murmuring and complaining. Everything he did for them was
his will and was good for them. Keeping them from the Word. I know your patience, he said,
and thy works again, verse 19. He brings it up again. Are they important? He brings it up again. Oh, we're
not saved by our works, but we're saved unto them. We know what
the Scriptures say. We don't glory in them, but God
is glorified by them. That's what our Lord said. Here
it is, you're probably glorified. And we don't glory in them, but
God commends them, so should we. I know your works," and he says,
the last are more than the first. The last, meaning the works in
the end. His church had probably been
around a while, and he says, here in the end of your days,
your works are even more than in the beginning. Now, isn't
that wonderful? They didn't grow old and tired
and complacent. unmoved and uncaring and unzealous. Isn't that wonderful? We've got
to fear that now. Losing the zeal for the truth.
That happened. He said your last works are greater
than the Bible. We should become more zealous
the closer we get to glory, shouldn't we? The shorter the time to come. All right, verse 20. Now he was
commending them, and now he says, notwithstanding, notwithstanding,
I have a few things against thee. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee. The Lord does not flatter, but
he tells the truth. And he chastens those whom he
loves. He commends those that need commending, and he rebukes
when the world rebukes his need. That's good. We need that. Don't trust the flatterer. Our
Lord doesn't flatter. He tells the truth. And he chastens
those he loves. Chastening is good. It's correction.
To a few things. A few things. We think we have
many things wrong with us. Our Lord said, I just have a
few things. In that mercy, I have a few things. Let's read verses 20 through
23 again, and we'll run over to chapter 17. He said, I have a few things
against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servant, to
commit foreign opinions. and to eat the things sacrificed
on the isle, and gave her space to repent of her fornication.
She repented not. Behold, I will cast her into
a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of their deeds, and I will kill her children,
her offspring, her fruits with death. And all the churches shall
know that I am He, Try it, search it, but it reigns in the heart.
And I will give unto every one of you according to your work. Now, go over to Revelation 17.
And every true preacher I have read and known in the state I
have, down through the years and even now, agrees that this
is primarily speaking of Roman Catholicism. Very clearly. You'd have to be deaf, dumb,
and blind to see how clearly this applies to Roman Catholicism. Drunken with the blood of the
martyrs and so forth. Now I'm going to show us how
it applies to just false religion in general. But look at Revelation
17. Revelation 17, I hope you read verse 1. Revelation 17. He says, there came one of the
seven angels, which had seven vows, judgments, and talked with
me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment
of the great four that sitteth on many waters. I don't, you
know, we have children in here, but they know what that word
means. They know these things, and parents need to instruct
them anyway. These are biblical terms, aren't
they? But I'm going to show us how this is spiritual, speaking
of spiritual now. Verse two. He says, or verse
one says, this great whore, the false religion sits upon many
waters. Look at verse 15. He said unto
me, the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, or false
religion, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. for how many there are. That
is the whole world like as in the days of Noah. Remember? Remember
our Lord said it will be as in the days of Noah. What did God
say about the world in the days of Noah? He said God looked down
upon the sons of men, upon the earth. He says the whole earth
has corrupted my way. Didn't it? It's filled with violence. That's what he said. So this
false religion covers the whole world. All right, look at verse
2. It says, The kings of the earth
have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of their fornication. Speaking
of commerce, of trade, Influence and so forth with this great
religious poor, as she called it, false religion, primarily
Roman Catholicism. It's a multi-multi-billion dollar
place. It's a city, the Vatican City.
It's a city all its own, and its influence and its wealth
and its riches reaches all over the world, and everyone, all
the leaders and everything courts her influence. Because people
all over the world are in this. That's what this is talking about.
All right? Look at verse 4. The woman was
arrayed in purple and scarlet color, decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand. It's no accident
that they use these golden cups in all their ceremonies. Read
on. and her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication. Verse 5, upon her forehead is
a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother. And who
do they pray to? Hail Mary, Mother of God, pray
for us poor sinners. Who's this talking about? Very
clear, isn't it? You have eyes to see, ears to hear. Abomination. I saw, verse 6, the woman drunken
with the blood of the saints, with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus. Roman Catholicism tries to deny any blame for the martyrs. Can you
believe that? And they had even canonized Martin
Luther. They canonized Martin Luther,
meaning the Lady and the Saints. Mother of Harlem. I saw the woman
drunken. And John, he said, I saw her,
I wondered with great admiration because of her beauty and her
grandeur. Look at all of this. How can someone
like John be Well, verse 9, it says, here's
the mind which hath with me seven heads, talking about seven heads,
seven mountains. Rome is literally called the
city of seven hills. It's clear, very clear. Chapter
18, verse 2. Says, he cried mightily with
a strong voice, saying, Babylon, the greatest of us fallen, has
become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit,
and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Isn't that, doesn't that describe
it? And they've uncovered some, some
of the corruption, some of the, this goes on in it. They've uncovered
some of it. But brethren, it's just the tip
of the iceberg, if you would. uncover it, you would see it's
a mass of corruption. And it's not, that that isn't
the exception, what they see of these priests. Now, is it
the exception? It's the rule. And he says in verse four, come
out of her, my people, that you be not partaker of her sins,
that you've seen not of her plagues. Verse seven, oh, how much she
hath glorified herself. And now you're going to see this
is not just talking about Roman Catholicism. Any religion, any
so-called church that glorifies itself is false religion. It glorifies
man. Read on. She's lived deliciously.
So much torment and sorrow give her. She saith in her heart,
I sit a queen. That's very clear. Now the early
writers, John Gill, men like that, Matthew Henry that I love
so dearly, Matthew Poole, John Calvin and others, they did not
experience what we're seeing in our day. Religion of women, dominated by, led by women, They
didn't see that. They would never have dreamed
seeing and hearing what we're seeing. Prophetesses, pastors,
preachers, so-called women? Women? Hmm? Now this is clearly speaking
to us in these last days. And what good is this for us? What should we learn from this?
To take a stand against it, to not be insensitive to it, to
not be silent about it, if asked, if an opportunity arises, to
take a stand for it. That's what he's saying here.
Don't tolerate it. Don't do it. Be intolerant of
it. Thyatira was the city, the hometown
of Lydian. Okay? You remember the story
of Lydia? I love that story. Paul wanted
to go into Asia and preach. That's where Thyatira was. But
the Lord said, no, go down to Macedonia. Well, he went down
there to Philippi. That's where Lydia was. She was
from Thyatira. She was away from home on business,
selling purple. Down by the river, she was a
worshiper of God, seeking the Lord. She was down by the river
with some women praying. And that's where Paul was sent.
You tell me election's not true? Predestination, taking a redemption,
the Lord sent Paul straight down to that riverside for Lydia,
for one sheep. Okay, did she go back home to
that time? Well, you know she didn't. Well,
what happened? Could be. It could be, we don't
know, but it could be that she, like the woman at the well, remember
the woman at the well went back and told all the men, come see
a man, stop this to cry. That woman at the well didn't
stand up in the pulpit and start preaching. She just talked to
everybody in the street. Come hear this preacher. And
they did. And the Lord saved some of them. It could be that Lydia went back
to her hometown and began to tell everybody, I've heard the
gospel. Maybe he'll come here and preach. And Paul or somebody
went there to preach, didn't they? Because how could they
hear without a preacher? And so the Lord sent a preacher
to Thyatira, and the Lord raised up a church there. What do you
say in preaching? That women have a role in the
church. A vital, vital role in the church,
in the body of Christ. They can and should be outspoken
witnesses to everyone they come across. But you can't do it up
here. You can't do it right here. They're not permitted. Do you
know where that is? Do you know where that's found in the scripture? Could you answer somebody? Need
to know. Not permitted for a woman. But
1 Corinthians 14, don't it? This is where it's found. We'll
go first to 1 Corinthians 11. Look at this. Speaks about the
role of a man and a woman. Man being the head of the woman. Oh, how they hate this. Godly
women don't. Believing women don't. 1 Corinthians
11 says in verse 3, I would have you know that the head of every
man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. What do
you think about that, Robin? Is that all right with you? It better be. Right? All right, look at 1 Corinthians
14. These are the verses you need
to learn. You need to commit to memory.
Commit to memory. This will be your memory verse
for Sunday, okay? You really need to know. You
need to be able to give somebody a reason, an answer, that asks
you the reasons. I hope it's in you. It asks you
a reason why you believe that women aren't supposed to teach.
It's not our opinion, it's God's Word. We're not bigoted, we're not
biased against women. What's that big word that somebody
said? Misogynistic. I mean, hate women. Misogynists. That's it. We're not misogynists. I love
women. I'm married to one. This is God's Word. 1 Corinthians
14, verse 34. See, this thing is prevailing
in our day. It's dominant. Verse 34. 1 Corinthians 14, 34. 1 Corinthians 1, 4, 3, 4. 1, 4, 3, 4. Can you remember
that? Let your women keep silence in
the churches. It is not permitted for them
to speak. They are commanded to be under obedience, as also
saith the law. If they will learn anything,
let them ask their husbands at home." How can a woman be a pastor,
a preacher, when she's got to ask her husband? It's a shame for women to speak
in the church. Is that what it says? Tell them
what God's Word says. Y'all are old-fashioned. Yes, we are. 1 Timothy 2, 1 Tim 2, 1, 1. 1 Tim
2, 1, 1. You can remember that, can't
you? 1 Timothy 2, look over there,
1 Timothy 2. Scriptures could not be clearer, but the Scripture
says they will turn away their ears from the truth. We won't
have this. It's not that they don't see
it, just we won't have it. 1 Timothy 2, 11. Habit 110.211. Let the woman
learn in silence with all subjection. I suffer not a woman to teach,
to usurp authority over the man. Teach men, teach over the men,
but to be in silence. Is that what it said? That's
what it said. Why? Why does the Lord not permit
women to be preachers and teachers in church over men? Why? Because he doesn't. My dad used to say to me, because
I said so. And buddy, if I had questioned
that, I'm really in trouble now. God, who learned that in Romans
9 when people said, well why does he find fault if everything
is according to his will? How can he blame us if everything
is according to his will? Who are you to reply to this
guy? Number one, it's because the
Lord said so. That's just the way it is. Number two, the reason
being is that man is that type of Christ, and the woman is the
bride, his church. He was formed from Adam. Was
she not? 1 Corinthians 11 talks about
that. That the man was not of the woman, but the woman of the
man. And the woman was for the man. Right? She was created for
him, for his service, a helpmate. That's a picture of Christ in
the church. She was made from Christ, crucified,
and made for him, for his service, for his glory, to serve him.
being the wonderful husband that he is, he serves us. Yet we were
made for his service, his glory. That's what it even says there
in 1 Corinthians 11. He's helped me. And Christ, the
head of the church, the head of his bride, in his presence,
we're not going to be doing any speaking. He's going to speak. And we're
going to ask Him questions. And we're going to hear Him,
we're going to learn from Him that He's going to lead us and
we're going to follow Him. Right? So that's why. That's
why. We're all, the bride is a kept
woman, aren't you glad? If you're a kept woman, you've
got it made. That's what we all are, kept
by the power of God. What's that? Christ. So, you
know, we could go on and on with it, but... All right, go back
to our text in Revelation 2. But this dominates modern religion
today, doesn't it? And he called her Jezebel, verse
20 of chapter 2. A few things against the word
supper, that woman Jezebel. Supper means allow, means be
tolerant, put up with it. And I don't know how this could
have happened in a true church. I don't know how, but I do know
that the application to us is that we cannot tolerate this
at all. Cannot even give any, cannot be indifferent to it.
We've got to take a stand again. It's all error. No. We can never
become insensitive to to falsehood. Like sin, it's like what they're
trying to force on us and our children, the existence of Sodom
and Gomorrah. Don't get insensitive to that. Brother Jellig, and we've been
corresponding back and forth about this, And he said in a
letter to me, he said, tolerance of everyone and acceptance of
all perversion, even within the so-called church, is today portrayed
as real Christianity. And those who call themselves
Christians should be tolerant of and permissive of everything
in the name of love for Christ. No, Christ said it's the opposite. opposite. We're not hate mongering,
we don't advocate any violence or any hatred or anything like
that, but we're not to be insensitive to it, not to be tolerant of
it, but to speak out against it. And it's not hate to warn
people, it's love. They call us homophobic, they
fear homosexuality. I don't fear those people, but
I do of these things, right? I fear for our children because
of that. Don't you? Well, somebody ought to tell the truth
about it. Somebody. Is this not relevant? It certainly
is now more than ever. He said of false religion, and
brother, you would have a hard time Finding a church, so-called,
in Franklin County, Virginia, that will stand up, preachers
stand up like me right now, saying what I'm saying. If you pin them down to tell
people publicly, is this wrong? Are these people lost? They're not going to say it.
They're not going to say it. And we've got to. For the sake
of God's truth, for the sake of souls, we're trying to warn
people. Repent. Turn from your evil ways. Right? Don't hate people. Don't hate people. That's why
we take a stand. We try to hope the Lord will
grant them repentance. God doesn't save people in their
sin. He saves them from it. Well,
he says in our text, he says, she calls herself a prophetess,
verse 20, and seduces my servants to commit fornication. That is,
men who are supposed to be preachers, his servant. He thinks sacrifice
is unidle. We've dealt with this before.
I'm not going to deal with it anymore tonight. But he gave
her his face. The Lord is so merciful, isn't
he? So merciful. His face to repent,
and she repented not. God's not going to be blamed.
And behold, I'll cast her into a bed. And all of religion is
in it together. False religion. They commit adultery with her
and break tribulation except they repent of their deeds. In
verse 23, I'll kill her children with death, meaning offspring. Whatever's produced in false
religion will die the second death spoken of chapter 19, second
day, all of her offspring, all of her so-called converts will
be killed, destroyed. Only those truly in Christ. And you've got to know, look at this,
verse 23, I am he which cert the churches know, churches know,
See that? All the churches know, they shall
know I am he that searcheth the rain and the hearts. And I'll
give unto every one of you according to your work. He just commended
the church for their works, for his gospel. And those who believe
in and glorify their own works, man's will and all of that, they
will be dealt accordingly. Verse 24, I say unto you, unto
you I say, unto the rest in thy attire, as many as have not this
doctrine, which have not known the depths of Satan." Oh, the
depths of our God's glory and mercy and wisdom and grace, but
oh, the depths of Satan's deceptions. This is what he's talking about,
his wiles, his trickery, his cunning, and I've said it so
many times, that if he deceived Eve, Do you not think that women
today, and men, are just easy pickings? Nothing. You just have to dangle
a little carrot out in front of me anyway. Got to. If he deceived
Eve, this was the most upright woman ever. the depths of his wiles and his
deception. He's a master of the art of deception. The depths of Satan. Those of
you who have not known the depths of Satan, oh Lord, thank you
for delivering us from those depths. I will put upon you none
other burden than that which you have already. Hold fast till
I come. Hold fast. Are you all going
to hold to that old Yes, we are. I'm not going to budge an inch. I love Martin Luther. I'm going
to stand beside him and say, here I stand. I'm not going to
budge an inch. I'm not going to give an inch
of ground here. Not an inch of truth. I'm not
going to compromise in one area, not one word. I'm not going to
tear off one offense of this gospel. Not one sharp edge of
his word, not going to pare it off at all. I'm going to hold
fast. Whatever God's word says, sound
form, sound word, I'm going to say it. Say it with love, with
the glory of God and the souls of men. Hope that they will hear
it and repent and turn from it. Hold fast till I come. And he
said, surely I come quickly. Verse 26, and he that overcometh,
again, that's faith. How do we keep from being tolerant? How do we keep from being deceived?
How do we keep from being insensitive? The Word. What you're hearing
right now. Right now. And it says in verse 26, He that
keepeth my works. Oh my. What did Christ do? What
did Christ do when He was on this earth? He went about in
the glory of God, serving His people. That's the works of Christ. That's what we do. That's what
we do. His works. We preach His works,
don't we? And hold to His works as our
salvation, as man's salvation. And we're about the work of preaching
the gospel. That's what Christ did. That's
what we did. That's what the church does. And that's all this
church is going to do, by the grace of God. That's all it's
going to do. me to keepeth my works to the
end, to him will I give power over the nation." What's power? Come on, man. 1 Corinthians 1,
the gospel. Romans 1.16, the gospel is the
power of God. There is no other power but the
word of God, the gospel of God. The gospel. So he gives us the
gospel, which hath power. We don't have any power, and
we never will have any power, but the word of his power. And
this is what we have, the sword of the Spirit. Okay, that's what
he's talking about. He hasn't changed the subject
at all. The gospel's power over the nation.
God has a people out of every tribe. I just heard from somebody
in San Francisco, California. That's where this whole thing,
a lot of it, started. Well, actually, it migrated from
England over to California, New York. and then pervading the
whole country. But San Francisco, back in the
60s, back then they said 40% of the population was homosexual. In 1960. I just heard from a
man there. He's been listening to us. He
said, I've got no place to go if you're the government. He said, we've been listening
to you all. We've been listening to Henry Manning and others.
He said, can we start supporting your church? Well, sure you can. God has a people here and there,
out of every nation, kindred, tongue, under heaven. And this
gospel is the power of God that brings them into the kingdom
of God. Verse 27, He shall rule them
with a rod of iron. That is, he who preaches God's
gospel, this rod of iron, this gospel of Christ, who is the
rod of iron, will break these vessels to pieces, will break
their heart to shivers. Even as I received of my Father."
You see that? Where does that come from? Psalm
2. You know that verse. You know the verses. God says,
I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion. He said, Ask of
me, I'll give you the heathen for thine inheritance. Thou shalt
break them with a rod of iron, and bash them in pieces like
a potter's vessel. Serve the Lord with fear. Fear the Lord's beginning wisdom.
That's what we preach here. That's what every true church
preaches, the fear of the Lord. Rejoice. Rejoice, like I say, in the Lord,
with trembling. Kiss the Son, not his cheek. speak, lest he be angry. That's the Jesus Christ of Scripture. That's who men need to know.
And once you get to know him, that's how you worship him. And
that's who you preach. And that's what you do is worship
him. So he says, now give him the morning star. What's a morning
star? Do you see any star? When you
wake up in the morning, what star do you see? All other stars
are completely obscured. You don't see any stars in the
sky. You see one bright and morning
star. Let me read to you where this
is taken from. I believe it's Psalm 37. It says
this in Psalm 37. It says, fret not thyself because
of evil. Be not in disagreement. They're
going to be cut off. Trust in the Lord. And it says,
Commit thy way unto him, trust in him, he's going to bring it
to pass, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,
thy judgment as the new day sun. Now, he that hath ears, let him
hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Thank you, Lord,
for letting us hear these words and plant them on our hearts.
And then, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
Let us declare the truth with love, but without compromise. Amen. Thank you buddy. I didn't know
I had to.