chapter two book of revelation
chapter two and I'd like to read verses 28 through excuse me 18
through 29 and make some comments now those of you that were here
last week you heard some of these same comments but I've I was
asked to go over it again and I found it a pleasure to go over
it again there's so much said in here Verse 18 of the second chapter
of the book of Revelation. And I might just preface this,
if you will remember the very first verse of this book. And
we're going to find this theme throughout the book. The revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him. Now that's the theme
of the book. It's the description and declaration
and statements of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And he is going
to reveal himself in here in a manner that on every page,
in every chapter, in all the verses, we're going to see the
revelation of Jesus Christ. And in that first chapter, verse
one, the word revelation is where we get the word apocalypse. And
if you take a survey among people today, they will say apocalypse
means war or end of the world. And that word means enlightenment
or revelation. That same word is used over in
the book of Luke, a light to lighten. It's the same word,
book of Luke, chapter 2, a light to lighten the Gentiles. So this
is our light. and we don't want to be people
that look at this and we're going to be prophets. We want to be
able to look at this and say that's what that means. We don't
want to say this is what it means. We want to look at it as it's
fulfilled as it comes before us and say that's what that means.
That's the only job we have. We're not prophets when it comes
to the book of Revelation. We're not going to prophesy when
it comes to the book of Revelation. We're not going to tell people
that's what that means. It is the the description, it
is the person and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in our
day and in it he shares emphatically that he is, will always be, and
forever shall be the great victor. In every statement that he makes
in here, he's a victor. He is the one that had victory
over sin, death, hell, and the grave. And as he appears to these
seven churches, which by no means means seven church ages, Because
as we look at them, we find that as he was revealed to them, the
composite is so valuable to us. The end product of all of those
statements about himself, as he wrote to these seven churches,
are so valuable to us, to the church. That is what keeps God's
people going, is his word to us, his statements about himself. I have no use for a God that
can't do. I have great admiration for a
God who can do. And that's what we read about.
He is the Lord God Almighty. He is not the Lord God Almost. He is going to do his work in
ministry and be successful in every venture he does. Now, we'd just love to have that
in an investor, wouldn't we? Every venture was successful.
We'd love to have that, but we run into people, they're not
successful in everything they do. We're not successful in everything
we do, but he is. And so we look to him and we
desire to worship him. And every time he appears to
a church, he reveals himself in somewhat different manner,
not contradictory, but always complimentary, always making
an addition. And that's just what we do when
we read to the word of God. We're making additions complementary
to the outstanding graciousness and sovereignty of Almighty God.
Never once will we find our view of Him diminishes, but always
the view that God gives of Himself will complement what we've already
known, and we'll see Him as a larger, grander, greater, mightier God
than we did yesterday. So he's just constantly raising
himself as he reveals himself to us. The door is bigger. The
God is larger. His voice is more powerful. And
he stirs his people to admire and to worship him like no one
else can do. He stirs our heart to worship
him. Now, in this passage of Scripture, we're dealing with
a church. It's a church of Thyatira. It was a living body of people
at one time. They had preaching there. They had a group of people that
met together, and they had someone stand before them. In this passage
of Scripture, he is called the angel of the church of Thyatira. They had a pastor. And it was
his responsibility to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, not deviate to the right hand or to the left hand, but
constantly keep this message before the people. And it is
the only message that will encourage God's people and give them a
sense about today that he's still victorious even though the stock
market fell. He's still in control even though
there is a great war. He is an absolute monarch ruling
and reigning and no one can say what doest thou, or move him
one whit to the right hand or to the left hand? Now, as he
reveals himself here to the church at Thyatira, it tells us in chapter
two, verse 18, the scriptures share this with regard to this
great ministry of our Lord to his churches, unto the angel
or to the pastor of the church at Thyatira, write these things,
saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire
and his feet like fine brass. Now there isn't a believer in
this world that does not delight in those words about the Lord
Jesus. He's the Son of God. That was
the confession of the Apostle Peter. And that confession is
the confession of every believer in Christ Jesus. Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And the response that the
Lord Jesus gave to that confession was, Peter, flesh and blood didn't
show this to you. You didn't learn this out of
a book. Now it may be written in a book, and a lot of books
have written about that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living
God, but we'll never know it like we know it when he reveals
it to us. We cannot get the sum and substance
out of the words unless the Lord Jesus Christ reveals that truth
to our heart. And the whole statement made
here in all the Bible is that it is revealed truth. It is not
garnered truth. It is not learned truth. It's
not book truth. It's revealed truth. Now, he
does use his word and is to our great advantage to be under the
sound of the gospel. If people come to me, I don't
know where I stand before the Lord. What's your advice for
me, Norm? Get where you can hear the gospel.
Well, I have things going on in my life, and I don't know
what to do. What do you advise? Get under the sound of the gospel.
Well, things are going real well. What do you advise? Get under
the sound of the gospel. I mean, that's all there is.
That's all we have in the gospel is the message of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified for His people, a Savior that saves, a Redeemer
that redeems, an advocate that actually advocates for us. And
that's the Lord Jesus. He is the Son of God. And we
notice in that passage also that he has eyes are like a flame
of fire. This statement shares with us
the power of his omniscience. Now that's satisfying to the
church to know that God knows. God knows everything. And as
I mentioned last week, so often it's used, God knows about that
and you're going to have to answer for it. My goodness, God knows
what you're going through. God knows what he's revealed
to you. God knows the trials and the tests. God knows the
mountain top that you're on. God knows. And it's a delight
to have a God, as he's revealed in the scripture, that knows
everything about all of his people and comforts them in that he
knows about us. He knows the number of hair on
our head, He knows everything about us. He knows the Word of
God that He's revealed to us, and He knows what we have need
of before we ask. That's the God of this book.
That's the God of heaven. That's the God that's the Savior
of His people. And then it goes on in that same
verse of scripture, He has feet as lichen to brass. There is
a stability about God that we'll find nowhere else. He is stable. He is strong and stable and able. I've been asked to bring the
Bible class this Sunday in trading for Sunday evening because Brother
Mike can't be here. And I've just about decided to
go to David and Goliath and how David was stable in the eye of
great adversity. Didn't give an inch. And he's
a picture of our Savior. stable, stand in the presence
of his enemy and stand there without a movement. Now that
takes the grace of God, but God is stable in all his acts. I
love what we found in the Old Testament with regard to this.
I am God. I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. I change not. And I'll say that
at covers all bases. Don't ever come to me and say,
well, he changed. He changed to answer my prayer.
No, he didn't. No, he didn't do that. He never
changes. He's never changed. He never
will change. He's not changeable. He's unchangeable.
There's not even a shadow of turning about God. He has set
his face as a flint. towards jerusalem is what we
read with regard to the lord jesus he knew exactly from moment
of his conception in eternity past in fact he knew what was
going to happen to him while he is on this earth and he chose
his disciples very particularly just like he chose his people
in christ before the foundation of the world and one of them
was a devil he said that's going to betray him he had someone
already chosen and judas did it because he was chosen to do
it Now, this is the appearance that he gives to the church at
Thyatira, and then he goes on and compliments their works in
verse 19. I know thy works, your work of
love, your charity. It's a great thing. By this shall
all men know that you are my disciples when you have loved
one for another. You don't have to say a word. Man, I have trouble
with you. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. Please. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples if you have love one for another. That's
the display. That's what we have. And then
he goes on to say, your service to God and to others there in
the church, there in the community of Thyatira, your service to
God, your faith in God, these things, as he says, I know all
about it, I know your patience, your long-suffering, I know your
works, what you've done, and your last is more than the first.
That's the great way to go out. Boy, your works at the end are
better than the works at the first. What you're doing now
is more valuable than what you did when you're new Christian. That's the way to go out. Not
a match, but go out as a bonfire. That's what he's saying. You
have progressed. You haven't given up. It's hard
to hear people say, I used to. I used to. Now I know when we
get along in years, there's some things we just can't do physically.
But my goodness, that's not what God meant when we are serving
him. If we're going to depend on our
physical acts to please God, we're already wrong. We're already
wrong. All right, and then he goes on
here, he says, I've got something against you though. Verse 20,
notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee because thou
sufferest, thou permittest. Now, what we permit is just as
important to watch as what we don't. What we allow, what we permit
is just as valuable as what we don't permit. And he said to
this church at Thyatira, you have a problem right there in
the middle. Now, it says that I have this
against you. You have suffered us, that woman
Jezebel, which called herself a prophetess to teach and to
seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things
sacrificed to idols. Now, I cannot find in this passage
of scripture that she was promoting sexual immorality. She was going
far worse than that. I really have thought a lot about
what Brother Rupert Reibenbach said about more sinning going
on Sunday morning in churches than ever went on Saturday night. And by that I mean people getting
up and lying about God. Sunday morning is far worse than
whatever happened on Saturday night. Preachers standing up
and lying about God and saying things about God that he never
would say about himself is far worse. And so the spiritual application
here is far more serious than what we read here. Whether she
did this or not, that is for us to find or to justify or to
even discover. She may have been doing that,
but in our day and time, what the problem is, is what she said
there. Or what is said there, you have
seduced my servants to commit fornication and to eat things
sacrificed to idols, or you have caused them to look at these
sacrifices as something more other than or beside Christ. Now there's the crime. There's
the sin. That's the problem that has developed
here, is that she has led these people. Now, she's a prophetess,
or claims to be, and the first thing that we could say about
that, it would be snuffed out immediately if the scriptures
were followed. I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority
over the man." Now, if that had taken place right to begin with,
they wouldn't have had the problem. But this has happened, and they've
permitted it. It's gone on. It's happened.
Now, what are we going to do about it? Now, she is saying
some things, and I just want to say this. True believers have
no superstitions regarding days. hallowed places, religious relics,
symbols and signs, nor ancestors. True believers have no superstitions
about these things. Christ is our Sabbath, our sin
offering, our high priest, our altar, our mediator, our prophet,
our priest, and our king. We have no superstitions about
days or offerings or any of those things, hallowed places or religious
relics or symbols or signs, nor ancestors. We don't fall for
that. We're not given into that. We
don't want that. That's competition. We don't
want competition. God doesn't want competition.
He said he's a jealous God and he'll not have or share his glory
with anyone. So he's not in competition with
anything. Now, this person that was there,
She brought into the church through her teaching and through her
example, and other people bought into it. And if we looked at
that today, we'd find out that there are several things that
are almost relics, almost idols, almost hallowed, almost religious,
and if we fall for it, there's a superstition about it. And
we'd like to go over some of those things tonight. She taught,
which was not right, and she led the people away from the
simplicity that is found in the gospel. Turn with me, if you
would, to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 11. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, the Apostle Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, warned
about this and encouraged that we never lose sight of the most
valuable, most important, in fact, keep the main thing the
main thing. There's only one main thing,
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. We should have only time spent
on him. We have too little time. Does
anybody have too much time? You just got, you're overflowed
with the amount of time that you have in your life, and you're
just kicking back. You know, I'm not there. And there's so
little time and so much about the Lord Jesus Christ that's
revealed in His Word, we have no time for anything else. it takes too much time on everything
else. So we have such little, now notice
here, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, 2 Corinthians chapter 11,
the Apostle Paul was sharing this, that there's just a need
to spend our time on this subject. And every book that he wrote
was led to right by the Holy Spirit. Every time the issue
came up of a problem, it was always a skewed view of the most
valuable thing brought on the problem. If you have a skewed
view of Christ, then the Lord's Supper is going to be a problem.
You're going to have to discuss it. If you have a skewed view
of end times, then the Lord Jesus Christ is the loser. If you have
a skewed view of works, the Lord Jesus Christ is the loser. If
you have a skewed view of all doctrine, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the loser. And really, we're the loser.
when everything else takes precedent over the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
the loser, and he is left out. And this is what the Lord sent
the Apostle Paul to warn us about. 2 Corinthians 11, verse one,
would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed
bear with me. For I am jealous over you with
godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I might
present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any
means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so
your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ." And what's going to do that? Someone, Jezebel, is
going to come in with someone that is equal or more important. than the Lord Jesus Christ and
his salvation. They're going to come in with
an issue, a burning issue. They're going to come in with
a news item. They're going to come in with
a political issue. They're going to come in with
some issue. And it takes the simplicity out
of the gospel. And before you know it, we're
off on rabbit trails. And that skewed our view of Christ. And he's the loser in our mind.
And in reality, we're the loser. he must have the preeminence. In fact, that's what the Bible
says, in all things, he should have the preeminence. So in every
factor of our life, he needs to have the preeminence. Now
he is preeminent, and he's not gonna succumb if we don't give
in to his preeminence, but how blessed are a people that review
Christ as him having all preeminence. He's in charge. He is the one
that gave himself for me and all subjects. So as the Apostle
Paul was used to write this, he shares with us that it is
there in the church of Thyatira and it's possible today to be
led away from the simplicity of the gospel. And then if you
turn with me to the book of Jude, Jude had an interest in writing
a letter and the Lord changed his the need of the letter. Jude had an interest in writing
about the common salvation. You know why? He just loved it.
He just loved the subject of our common salvation. How God,
it's not common, but it is the same for all people whether you're
Eastern Bloc, whether you're American, African, whether you're
Antarctican, Greenlander, wherever you are, it's the same gospel
to save sinners that are the same in Adam. And the Lord interrupted
him here and says, I had a, verse three, beloved, I gave all diligence
to write unto you the common salvation. It was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before
ordained of this condemnation ungodly men. Now this is the
charge, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and
denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And what
Jude was urged to write here was turning the grace of God
into nothing and making the Lord God small. And that's the charge
against him. And they'll bring that in. Oh,
he's not that way. He's not that. Well, the Bible
clearly says he is that way and then say he's not. And that's
the charge that Jude was used to write here. And he goes on
with some very tremendous statements that are for us to review because
the whole goal of the Lord Jesus Christ is presented spotless.
Now, what are some of the things that Jezebel was teaching and,
as it says there, they were eating things offered to idols, representing
the idol. This, what they were eating,
was representing the blessing of that idol. Now, an idol is
an object of worship. An object of worship. And if
we have any idol, Besides the Lord Jesus Christ, we have another
gospel. He is the only object of worship. I'm reminded of over there and
we're going to get to it eventually in second Kings chapter 18, where
King Hezekiah came to the scene and he started tearing down the
groves where people were worshiping. And lo and behold, he found a
brazen serpent. that these Jews had put up and
were offering incense to it. Now that brazen serpent had been
part of their history for a long time. It was a serpent that God
ordered Moses to make and put on a pole, and the Lord Jesus
Christ used this as an illustration of himself. This brazen serpent
there were serpents all over biting people and God told Moses
You make a brazen serpent put it up on a pole and when people
look they shall be healed Now oh my goodness, there's a whole
bunch of people healed and some people says you know what we
ought to do with this We ought to set it aside This would be
so valuable and in the process of time They made an idol out
of it, and King Hezekiah came along and he just beat it to
a pulp and threw it away. And I can just hear a bunch of
those Jews go, oh my goodness, God ordered that built and he
destroyed it. Well, under orders of God, because
it had become an object of worship. Now, a pastor was told one time,
You've made Jesus an idol. And he complimented that person
by saying, that's the grandest compliment a preacher could ever
hear, because an idol is an object of worship. And if Jesus Christ
is my object of worship, then God's been successful with me.
Now what are some of the objects of worship that Jezebel could
have brought up in this? Because they are issues in our
day. And they could be issues brought
in. And we have to be on guard and
suppress them, put them back. Sometimes the best thing I have
found out is just be silent. Someone, I would like to do.
And I just am silent. I don't have anything to say.
Well, they get the hint. We don't need it. OK. All right.
We'll go on. What is this? representing objects of worship
but Christ. And the moment we follow these
objects of worship we have left off worshiping Christ. And if we've left off 5% that's
still to our shame. If we've left off two and a half
percent, it's still to our shame. What is important besides Christ
is to our shame. Now, one of the things that could
have happened here was they took an unscriptural view of Sunday. Now, I love Sundays. I love meetings. I love getting together. I love
getting together with my friends and my family. I love getting
together and hearing the word of God. I love getting together,
but we're not superstitious about the day. The day Sunday, the
first day of the week, is the day the Lord Jesus Christ rose
from the dead, but he never once instructed anybody in the scriptures
to ever use that as a day to worship. Now, we worship God. If God purposed to have every
one of His people work on Sunday, then let's get together on Monday. I believe she was having a problem.
We have set up such a sanctimonious view about this day. And I mentioned
last week about that fella up in Montana. He had such a view
of Sunday that when it came to carrying a box of pipe fittings
that he needed, he couldn't do it. So he had to have his son-in-law
do it and carry it to the trunk of his car. We can just worship
Sunday to the point we've lost all point of view about Christ. I think as long as we can, it
is a good day to worship. It's traditional to worship on
Sunday. But if you don't worship on Monday,
you're missing a good opportunity. And if you don't worship on Tuesday,
you're missing a good opportunity. Monday through Saturday are all
opportunities to worship God. And there's never been anything
said in the scriptures about you have to worship on this day. Now we go to the Old Testament,
they had to worship on the Sabbath, but we find the conclusion of
that is Christ is our Sabbath. It was an illustration, a point
that God was making in the law. Christ is our Sabbath, our rest. Now there's not a believer in
all of God's creation that doesn't rest in Christ. He makes us to lie down in green
pastures. Now, another thing that could
have been there is an unscriptural view of a building. They went
through a building program there in Thyatira, and I'll tell you
what, their whole attitude changed. And now they have an object of
worship. I have to compliment. I appreciate
more than you'll ever know your patience with our children. I've said this a hundred times,
if I've said it once, I want this place to be a place where
our children enjoy coming. And if we turn this place into
an object of worship, before you know it, we're imposing on
our children. Now, the greatest respect that
our children show is during the services. They're learning to
be quiet. That's the greatest respect that
they could ever give. And once in a while after services,
they do a little running. And if you have a problem with
it, don't bring your coffee in here. I'm serious. I don't want to
impose on them. Now, this is a nice place. It's
so much better than the place we had. If you were there, you
know it. This is a nice place. And it
is incumbent upon us to take care of it. But it is not an
object of worship. It's not a temple. It's not a
tabernacle. It's a place out of the sun. It's out of the wind. It's out
of the rain. It's out of the snow. But it
is a place where we assemble together. And we don't come through
that door saying, oh my goodness, now we're in holy ground. When you step before Christ,
you're in holy ground, but not in this building. Now, we want
to worship him here. We want to worship him in spirit
and in truth, but it is not a object of worship. And if she did that,
she caused those people to commit spiritual fornication and get
their eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ. There could have been
an unscriptural view. We find this at Corinth, an unscriptural
view of the ordinances. Oh my. It almost gets to the
point in some places that you want to carry a platter around
underneath the ordinance so you don't drop any. My goodness. It's representative. It's pictorial. It's the menu with the beautiful
picture on it, but the reality is in the person of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The thief on the cross never
had the opportunity for any ordinance, and the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
to him, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Now they are
wonderful, and they are commanded. My goodness, if you've ever been
saved by the grace of God and never followed Him in the waters
of baptism, you should. And if you've never taken the
opportunity, if you know Christ as your Savior of taking the
supper, you should, because they're commanded. Do this as often as
you do it in remembrance of me. But once you turn it into a spiritual
thing, and once you turn it into a hallowed thing, and once you
turn it into an idol, you've missed the point. And Jezebel
could have been doing that in the church at Thyatira, and having
it permitted by the pastor and the rest of the people, and the
Lord says, I want it straightened up. because it is not right. I am due all your worship." Now
one of the other things that we find, maybe she had gathered
together a group of men and caused them to assume the office of
a deacon. I was amazed as I was looking
at this this afternoon. In the book of of Timothy and
Titus and one of them says let them use the office of a deacon
and the other one they that have used the office of a deacon is
translated that entire phrase is translated for one word I'm
convinced that when King James had this Bible translated that
this office was so entrenched in the recognized church that
they had to put that in because the word that we find translated
is used in other places and it's translated one word, ministered. ministered or to serve in all
the rest of the book. Now who are the deacons and who
are the deaconesses if I can say that? Every believer in Christ
Jesus are his servants. And once you make an office out
of it and elevate people The Lord Jesus Christ said, in my
church, it will not be so. I will not have this. I will
not have big eyes and little U's. I will not have elevated
positions. I will not have that. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the commander in chief. He is the master. He
is the teacher. He's the prophet, priest, and
king. He's the king of kings and lord of lords. And everyone
else bows before him. And there is no elevated positions. There could have been a view,
a poor view, an unscriptural view. They have made their pastor,
in some people's minds, a priest. Oh my goodness. You'll be glad to know that several
people have called about the pews that we have in storage.
One of the most interesting one was a lady called and she was
going to have to talk to her priest. Well, I didn't want to
get into it. I says, how many would you like?
They have a church here in town. How many would you like? Oh,
four or five. We want them around the outside
of the building for the elderly people. The rest of us all stand. I says, whoa. You know, the elevated position,
my priest. Friends, if there's any priest
in your life Besides the Lord Jesus Christ, you have an unscriptural
view of the priest. He is our high priest and we
are king priests under him. But if we ever need anything,
it's going to have to go to him. Our prayers are addressed to
him. Our desires are addressed to him. He is our prophet, priest,
and king. And Jezebel may have had a hierarchical
view, especially if she was part of the hierarchical. You have
a hierarchical view of the priesthood. There are elevated positions.
There's the pastor, and then there's the head pastor, and
then there's a super head pastor, and then there's the archbishop,
and then on and on it goes. So don't fall. There's one pastor,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and thank God he gives us under
pastors or under shepherds. He gives us his word, and we're
just to dispense it. Paul said, I hear something in
the church at Corinth. Some say I'm of Paul, and some
say I'm of Apollos. You know what he says next? They're
nothing. Paul and Apollos are nothing.
One preacher said, they're nothing more than hoes, garden hoes and
hoses. One planted, another watered,
and God gives the increase. He says they're nothings. One
preacher said it this way, I'm a nobody trying to tell everybody
about somebody who can save anybody. So, Jezebel may have had an unscriptural
view about her pastor. One of the things that so often
came up, and we find this in most of the books that the Apostle
Paul was used to write, and that was an unscriptural view of the
law. If I keep it, I am going to get in better with God. My
goodness, we've already made several mistakes there. Number
one, we can't keep it. Number two, we're not going to
get in better with God with the law. The only thing that we can
get in better with God is the blood of Christ. The blood of
Christ, that's the only way we can approach God Almighty, is
in the blood of Christ, in the sacrifice of His Son, in the
person and work and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
unscriptural view of the law is, it's still in effect today,
the Bible says, when He came, He'll put it away, we are drawn
to the gospel, not by the law. We're not driven to the gospel
by the law, it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. The law never brought anybody
to Christ, never has, never will. The law is a schoolmaster. You know what the law did? It
damned. It damned. Every time it's brought
up, it damns us. My goodness, we don't, and I'm
thankful that the Lord God Almighty fulfilled the law, every jot
and every tittle of it. So if we have an unscriptural
view of the law, we have an unscriptural view about God and an unscriptural
view about His word. We're not justified by the law,
never have been, never will be. We're justified by Christ. We
may have had, or that she may have had, an unscriptural view
about repentance and faith. This is one of the things that
so commonly comes up. Oh, I repented towards God and
had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who gave it to you? Well, I got
it myself. Well, then you don't have it. That's only worldly
repentance and faith. Repentance and faith comes from
God. It's a gift of God. It's a gift of regeneration.
When God regenerates His people, speaks life to them, new creation
to them, raises them from the cold slab of sin, He grants to
us the gift of repentance and faith. He allows us to look to God as the offended
party and say, I am sorry, God. And faith, He allows us. by his work and ministry to be
attached to him, our great high priest, and the root out of dry
ground. It's a gift that God gives us
in regeneration. If we say, I got saved because
I repented and believed, is backwards. That's an idol. If you say God
regenerated me and then by His grace I was able to repent and
believe, hallelujah, it's the work and ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Something else that just has
been an easily, and we see it then, we see it through time,
and we see it today, is that people that get hung up on parachurch
organizations. The church isn't getting the
job done, so I'll support this other group. This group that's
helping God be successful. My goodness, all kinds of groups
are out there. And the first thing they want
is in your wallet. Guarantee they want your dollar. They have to get this job done
for Jesus. And the only way it can get done
is if you send in your dollar, or $20, or $100, or $500, or
$10,000, and don't be mistaken, people are doing it. Using these
parachurch organizations to make God successful. You know what? He only uses His church, His
saved people, in the Declaration of the Gospel of Christ. And
these people that are doing that have one goal in mind. Me. Me. I'm going to become important. I'm going to be remembered for
this work. What in the world? You want to be remembered for
your work? Remember for your work? By who? Jesus said to a whole group of
Pharisees, you have your reward right here and right now. We
don't want to be remembered by people. My goodness, I want,
as Paul did, I want him to be remembered. I want him to be
honored. What did John the Baptist say?
He must increase, and I must what? Decrease. Oh, may we keep it that way.
May we keep it that way. Well, as this statement, going
back to the book of Revelation here in chapter two, in verse
21, I gave her space to repent for her fornication and she repented
not. That woman did not realize how fortunate, and I hate to
use that word fortunate, how blessed she was that God gave
her that opportunity. And how did he give her that
opportunity? That preacher in that pulpit where she attended
kept preaching the gospel. That was her only hope. That's
her only deliverance. That's her only means of repentance
is that that preacher continued in that pulpit in Thyatira preaching
Christ and Him crucified. Paul said we preach none other
thing than Christ and Him crucified. We shun not to declare the whole
counsel of God or all the counsel of God. Continue to preach Christ. What did that do? If that woman
was ever going to come out of that pit that she was in, that's
the only thing that would do it, was preaching Christ and
Him crucified. And finally, by grace of God,
we could pray and hope, she finally got struck by God and said, oh
my goodness, look what I've done. I've caused all these people
to take their eyes off the most important one, the Lord Jesus.
The gospel continuously shares with us the most important one,
the Lord Jesus. does not give room to take our
eyes off of him. One wit, I press towards the
mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Apostle Paul says that
I might know him in the power of his resurrection. It just
continuously comes out of the Apostle Paul what was the most
important thing to him, and he is a representative of all the
church. The most valuable, most important thing to all of God's
people is the person Christ Jesus. And this group says, I gave her
space to repent in verse 21 of her fornication, and she repented
not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit
adultery with her into a great tribulation, except they repent
of their deeds. And I'll kill her children with
death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searches
the reins and hearts, and I'll give unto every one of you according
to your works. What's going to happen? The church
of Smyrna is going to hear about this. Church of Philadelphia
will hear about this. What happened when they're in
the book of Acts, what's the two? They sold a piece of property
and an innocence of fire. What's the final words about
that? Great fear fell on the church. Great reverence, great
awe view of God fell on the church. The churches are going to hear
about this, and you know what it's going to do? God is in charge. He hasn't abdicated. He's still
sovereign king, ruler of all, and he will have his way. It will not be thwarted. No man
can say what doest thou no man can provoke him that way so it
goes on here to say in conclusion in the second chapter says uh
but that which verse 23 but that which you have already hold fast
till i come he that overcometh and keepeth my words into in
to 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 to my father
and I'll give him the morning star that's the Lord Jesus I'll
give him the morning star give them he that hath an ear let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches Again, I want
to reemphasize, true believers have no superstitions regarding
days, hallowed places, religious relics, symbols and signs, nor
ancestors. I think there's four times in
1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, don't get involved with questions
that gendereth strife. Stay away, stay away. Can you
just hear Jesmo? Now, what do you think, brother,
about the law? Don't you think we should keep
it? Oh, my goodness. We're dealing with an issue here
that's far bigger than that statement. The issue is let's preach Christ
and Him crucified and hope to God, pray to God. He will cleanse
your heart because this is not in the law. Christ is our Sabbath,
our sin offering, our high priest. He's our altar. I've had people
say, you don't ever ask anybody to come down to the altar. Oh,
yes, I do. In every message, go to Christ. Go to Christ. Come to Christ. Go to Christ. He is our altar. It's not a piece
of wood in front of the building. My goodness. That's where cattle
were offered, sheep and goats on the altar. He is our altar. He is our sacrifice. He is our
mediator. He's our prophet. He's our priest.
He's our king. Flee to Christ. Go to Christ.
He's the only one that we can have as an idol and go home and
say, thank God. He is my object of worship. And He is our object of worship. If we have Him in our mind and
thought, we just don't have the time for everything else. And
you know how much trouble that'll save us? Lots of trouble if we
have Him as our object of worship. We won't get to reprimands, we'll
get to compliments. And I love compliments better
than reprimands, don't you? Judgment must begin at the house
of the Lord though. And if the saints scarcely be
saved, what shall the unrighteous do? That preacher's dad, he and
his son argued all the time over the gospel. And the preacher's
dad finally got to the end of his road. He's in the winter
of his life. He's getting ready to die in
his last words. Oh, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? You know
what he said? In essence, son, you've been
right all along. The gospel is a gospel of free
grace in Christ. It's not a gospel of works.