If you will, turn with me in
your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 2. I don't know that I'll get to
cover all these verses, but I'm going to try to cover verses
18 through 23. This is our Lord speaking to
the angel of the church of Thyatira and what He has to say to that
church. Now, we've been, each church,
Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos, been kind of just going up that
GNC coastline. But with Thyatira, we have to
come back a little bit. He didn't just take them in an
order and go up the coastline, but he fell back to this church. It's located south of Pergamos. There was a road that started
at Sardis and went all the way to Troas, and it included Pergamos
and also Thyatira. Now, this little city was inland
from the Aegean Sea about 50 miles. And today, if you wanted
to locate it, it's in modern-day Turkey. And it's due south of
Istanbul, Turkey, and due east of Athens, Greece. So if you
just looked at it on a map, Brought them two points together, that
would be where Thyatira is. Thyatira was the home of Lydia
in the Book of Acts. And you remember it said she
was a seller of purple. Well, if you read a little history
on that church, you'll find out that this purple dye, that whatever
it was they got this dye from was common to that city. And to this day, I think they
recognize it today as Turkish red, but it's a purple, a deep
purplish red, and there's nowhere else you can go and get that
dye. So this city was famous for that dye, and Lydia was a
seller of that dye. But this city was also known,
and this is something I didn't know until I got into reading
some of the history of it, it's known for its guilds. Anybody
here know what a guild is? It's a union. It's a union. And all of these workers in this
town of Thyatira belonged to these guilds. If you wanted to
work in that area, you had to belong to the guild. Just like
in some places in Ohio where I grew up, if you weren't union,
you didn't work on any big projects. You had to be union or you couldn't
work. Just that simple. And that's
the way it was here. And these guilds, they included
wool workers and linen workers and leather workers and tanners
and potters and on and on the list goes. Well, you say, why
bring that into a Bible study? Well, I'll tell you why. Each
guild had a God. Each guild had a God. And if you belonged to that guild,
you had to participate in the worship of that God, or you didn't
work. You didn't work. What kind of an application would
that have today? Well, you go where a big clique
is in some major denomination, and they're running something,
and you try to get hired and tell them what you believe. Same
thing. Same thing. That's what was going
on in Thyatira. It was a city not so much of
idolatry. All those Roman and Greek cities
were filled with idolatry, and Thyatira was no different. But
the main thing in Thyatira was these guilds. So if you wanted to practice
your trade there, you had to belong to one of the trade guilds,
and your membership implied that you worshipped the god of that
guild. And as a part of the worship
of that God, you were expected to attend their pagan festivals, eat the food that they offered
under their idols. Now listen to this. Some people say this is not right
to even mention this in the audience of children, but I want my children
in here to know. They made them practice and participate
in gross orgies in these festivals. Now, if you didn't, you didn't
work. You didn't work. Brother Don said, God sent that
Thyatira had to face problems like this every day. It was a
part of their everyday life. I'm talking about believers in
this church. And so it is in our day with saints today and
bearing degrees. We do the same thing in this
degenerate age. We have to put up with those
things. One of our members here was talking
to a guy, and he'd made the statement that he'd rather be an atheist
than a Calvinist. And then he applied for a job,
and one of our members said, well, I hope you don't mind working
with an atheist. I mean, I hope you don't mind
working with a Calvinist, because if you go to work here, you're
going to have to work with me. So we deal with the same thing
today that we dealt with back then. And then even worse than
that, he tells us that there was a prophetess, a woman preacher,
and that they suffered to preach, who claimed to have all the answers. Whatever your problem was, you
had an answer to it. Our Lord called her Jezebel. You tell that woman Jezebel. That wasn't her name, but it
was her name. It wasn't her name that she was
recognized by, but that was the name that our Lord gave to her.
calls her Jezebel, and he compares her to King Ahab's wicked wife
because she encouraged the patronage of false religion to get along,
to get along in society. It's okay to compromise. It's
okay, you know, to go there. It's okay to participate in whatever
they participate in. It's okay to engage in all sorts
of pagan festivities. All right, now let's take these
verses one at a time. That will kind of give you an
overview of what it is we're going to talk about this morning.
But let's take these things one at a time, and we'll go as far
as time will allow us. Revelation 2.18, 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." Now this verse speaks of the
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were talking, Richard and
I, just a little earlier about that. This is God. When you talk about Jesus, you're
talking about God. He's God our Savior. That's what
the Scripture says. He's not just our Savior. He's
God our Savior. And apart from His deity, He
couldn't save anybody. God must take to Himself union
with human flesh and a human soul to accomplish the redemptive
will of God. So this one talking here is the
Son of God. This is the Son of God. Our Savior
is God Almighty. So this verse speaks of the deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing so, he assures us
that he who walks among the churches, even Thyatira, even Pergamon,
even Smyrna and Ephesus, this one who walks among the churches
and holds their pastors in his hand is no less than the Son
of God. That may not comfort anybody,
but it comforts believers. I'll tell you that. Upon this
fact, the church draws comfort and assurance in these situations
and in times of trouble. All right, verse 19. I know thy
works and charity and service and faith and thy patience. And now he mentions works again.
and thy works, and the last to be more than the first." Believers
serve the Lord. Did you know that? They serve
the Lord. They work in His kingdom, and
they give themselves to be used as God sees fit. That may be
just to work a job. And be honest in your profession
to give to those that have need. He talks about some of his people
that way. Working that which is good with
thy hands, that them who have need might have of your abundance. So the Lord commends them on
five things. And these five things are strong
evidences of a new nature and a new heart. First, he speaks
about their charity. Now, a lot of folks use that
word charity and love interchangeably. But charity is talking about
active love. It's not talking about a love that's just a passion,
a feeling. It's talking about active love. Well, what do you mean? Well,
he said, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church
and gave Himself for it. How did He love the church? Gave
Himself. That's active love. That's charity.
And that's what the Bible teaches when He's talking about loving
your brethren, that's what He's talking about, an active love.
Active love. True love is not just a good
feeling or a sweet sentiment. It's actively seeking to give
what it can to manifest itself to the object of its love. And
of all the gifts of God to chosen sinners, he says charity is the
greatest, even greater than faith. Charity. And you remember he
looked at Peter, and Peter had already He said more than he was able
to do. He overloaded himself with some
statements with the Lord. But now the Lord's risen, and
He calls Peter in, and he comes in on the bank, and he's got
some fish there on the fire, and he feeds them, and they know
that this is their Master, rose from the dead. And our Lord looked
right at Peter, and He said, Peter, do you love Me? Do you
love Me? Now listen to this, feed my sheep. Is that charity? That's charity.
And I tell you, we love him because he first loved us. Now if his
love is active to us, what's our love going to be to others?
Same kind of love. Same kind of love. Active love. Secondly, he commends them for
their service. The service that he's talking
about here is support and promotion of the gospel in the local church
and whatever is required to maintain it. When he talks about service,
that's what he's talking about. You know, under the priesthood
economy, there was some common priests, and their job was to
maintain that priesthood, to maintain the tabernacle, to see
to the sacrifices, to see to the cleansing, to move this thing
and all of that. Everything it took for that thing
to be moved and to be a part of their worship belonged to
those common priests. Peter said, he made us kings
and priests unto God. We do the same thing in a spiritual
sense. as priests of God. We support
the preaching of the Gospel. We support and maintain this
building here where we meet. And we care for one another. If somebody needs something,
all they've got to do is let me know. I'll do everything in
my power to see to it that you're relieved of it. Paul said, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God, which
is... What's he talking about, presenting
our bodies a living... He's talking about setting ourselves
on fire? Or what's he talking about? No. Here it is. Present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. You see that? That's your reasonable
service. Reasonable by the gifts and callings
of God to you, and His mighty working in you, and all that
He's done and is doing for you. In the light of that, I don't
care what He calls on us to do, it ought to be reasonable. Good. I like that old illustration
that Henry used to give about the man who found that pearl.
And he wanted to buy that pearl, that pearl of great price. And
this fellow that had it, he said, the fellow that wanted it, he
said, well, what do you take for that pearl? He said, all
that you have. And he thought about it, and
he said, well, he said, I have $4,000. But I'm going to have to keep
a little bit to support my family. Oh, he said, you got a family?
One family. And he said, well, what I make,
I have to maintain my job. I have to be able to feed. Oh,
you got a job? One job. When he got all done, he looked
at the man and he said, well, I got to have that pearl. He
signed off on everything and gave him that pearl. And then
the man looked at him. He said, now, you can go ahead
and drive my car home. But if I send somebody over to
borrow it, you won't mind, will you, if they drive my car? If I send somebody over that
has no home, you won't mind letting him sleep in my home, will you?
You won't mind feeding him. You won't mind giving him a job.
See, that's reasonable. All that the Lord asked of us,
I'm telling you so little, so little that we do. Is it not reasonable no matter
what He asks us to do? It's just our reasonable service,
our reasonable service. And then thirdly, He commends
them on their faith. Faith consists of three things.
First of all, of hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. That's how it comes. And it doesn't
say faith came. It says faith cometh. Faith is
maintained by hearing. It lives on hearing. Secondly,
it consists of understanding. John said the Son of God has
come and given us an understanding. Of all the people on this world,
we understand why Christ had to come, why he had to become
a man, why he had to die on the cross. Why must he be raised
and intercede for us in glory? We understand those things. And faith has a third part, and
that's commitment. Faith commits itself to what
it hears and understands, it believes. That makes sense. Believers believe. That's why
He calls them that. And then, fourthly, He commends
them for their patience. Patience is the fruit of tribulation. Well, you say, in what respect
is that? Well, Scripture said, tribulation
worketh patience. How does it do that? Because
each time God lets you get in trouble, He gets you out. And
after a while, you patiently wait on the Lord. You wait on
Him, because you trust Him. You mature. You get sick, and
you realize, this is my Heavenly Father, and this is my Savior,
and He's going to save me. He's going to save me out of
every situation, out of every circumstance. He's going to save
my soul. And then, though it's not directly
stated here, there's a fifth work implied, and that's perseverance
and a growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
last time he speaks of the works, he speaks of the works at the
beginning, and he kind of defines those works, and then he gets
down here to the end, and he mentions their works again. And he says that these works
were more than the first. And what he's talking about there
is a growing in grace and knowledge of Christ. The older a man gets,
the more he hears, the more his faith grows. He gets fixed. He gets set. He gets established
is the word he uses in the King James versions. Established. He's not blown about in the wind. Not tossed to and fro. He knows what he believes. Knows
what he believes. Now, having commended his church,
he now speaks to them of a great error. Verse 20. 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. I gave her space to repent of
her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I'll cast her into
a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into 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 searcheth the reins and hearts And I'll
give unto every one of you according to your works. And I want to
say some things here that I believe need to be said. First of all,
this woman gave herself the title of prophetess. God didn't call
her to be any kind of prophetess. God didn't call her to be a preacher.
Historians say she preached at the shrine of Sambath or Sambeth
and was well accepted of the society there, known by everybody
around. But the Lord calls her Jezebel,
not that that was her name, but because of her compromise and
because of her comparison to King Ahab's wife, his wicked
wife. And she's identified here in
her character and ministry. Now, the first thing I want you
to understand here is that her station, according to the scriptures,
cannot be. Cannot be. This church should
have known that from the outset. They should have known beyond
a shadow of a doubt, God doesn't call women to be preachers. Any
woman who stands up in a church and say, the Lord's called me
into the ministry, and I went to that university, and I got
me a degree, and the church there recommends me, and I'm accepted
all over as a prophetess or a woman preacher is a liar. Now, that's
just so. That's just so. And I'm going
to give you some scriptures here this morning. 1 Corinthians 14.34. He said, let your women keep
silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto
them to speak. Now, how could God call a woman
to speak when it's not permitted for her to speak in the church?
He's talking about public speaking here, not talking in conversation. But, he says, they're commanded
to be under obedience, as also saith the law. This is in perfect
agreement with the law. And if they learn anything, he
said, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for
a woman to speak in the church. Then again, this time we'll go
to the pastoral book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11. Let the women learn in silence
with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach
or to usurp authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam
was first formed, and then Eve." What's that mean? That means
man was not made for the woman, but the woman was made for the
man. That's what that means. She was made to be a helpmate,
not a leader. Not a leader. Not even under the law was she
ever permitted to rule over a man or teach a man or counsel a man. And God didn't call this woman
into the ministry, nor does He now. And it's contrary. Here's what I want you to see.
It's contrary to nature, number one. That's what He's talking
about when He's talking about He made the man first and then
the woman. It's contrary to nature. It's contrary to the law of God.
And it's contrary to the gospel of Christ. Although they did not, for the
most part, believe what this woman preached, yet they tolerated
her preaching to satisfy the guilds and to satisfy society at large
where they lived. And by embracing this woman as
a preacher, And a believer, this church become partakers of her
evil deeds, as did Israel under Ahab and his wife Jezebel. The popular accepted and practiced
religion of that day was idolatry and superstition and gross immorality. It was perfectly accepted in
the days of the Roman rule to have brothels and to have houses
of prostitution, and most of their pagan worship included
sexual activities of some kind. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
If I'm to be true to the souls of men and true to the Word of
God and the Gospel of God, I have to warn you about false prophets,
false religion, and the danger of compromise. The religion of
our day, worldly religion, traditional religion, mainstream religion,
is a religion of man's works and man's will and man's glory. All you have to do is turn it
on and listen. It's totally contrary to the
grace of God, to the will of God, and to the glory of God.
And in our day, free will works religion is unified in every
denomination throughout the world. They all agree on man's free
will and works for salvation religion. And it's contrary to the very
character and the glory of God. And one cannot have any part
in it without compromising his faith and His God and His hope. As we see this pagan idolatry
pictured in this prophetess Jezebel, we easily see the compromise
and danger of it. It's much more subtle in our
day. Much more subtle. But the results are the same,
and the compromise is the same, and the danger is the same. Oh,
preacher, what could it hurt? What could it hurt? We live in
a free society where men and women are considered equal. It's
accepted everywhere. Ask anybody, they'll tell you.
We live in a society where same-sex marriages are recognized by the
law and accepted. We live in a society
where men and women live together apart from marriage, and it's
acceptable. We live in a society where young
men and women experiment sexually before marriage. They're given
all the details in school and the means and the opportunities
to practice it. Surely, if society approves of
it, the church ought to. That's what this prophetess taught. And that's what the prophetesses
of our day are teaching too. Well, if that's what you believe,
you better listen to this. Here's what the Lord said about
it. He said, I gave her a space to repent. Evidently, The preacher
at Thyatira brought a message on him. And she was given a space
to repent, but she repented not. And now he said, I'm going to
cast her into a bed and all of her followers with her into a
bed of tribulation, a bed of trouble. And I'll kill her children
with death. That almost sounds like a contradiction,
don't it? Not if you know what death is.
He's talking about spiritual death here. I'll kill your children
with spiritual death. I'll give them over to strong
delusion to believe a lie. I'll leave them just as they
were born in their old nature. And all of her converts and followers
with spiritual death are dead while they live. Dead
while they live. giving over to a reprobate mind
to believe a lie and be damned. Give them up to vile affections.
Let Johnny and Johnny sit back there and hold hands and smile,
or Sally and Sally, whichever it is. Give them over to do what
they want to do and feel good about it, comfortable with it,
unashamed of it. This is being taught in our schools
today. Did you know that? And it's being
taught as acceptable. It's being taught as something
good. It's compromise, all of it. He said, I'll let them be filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, and covetousness.
I'll leave them where they are without any understanding. Compromise is the first step
on the ladder that goes down to the pit. Compromise. And it's usually something little.
Just something little. Well, we won't make an issue
out of that. And then next time it's a little
bigger, well, we won't make no issue. It'd be a shame to split
the church on that. Compromise. I'm telling you,
it's the first rung on the ladder that goes down to the pit. Compromise. Jesus Christ came into this world,
died on a cross, was raised from the dead, and ascended into glory
to intercede for us because God will not approve of compromise. Now, that's exactly right. That's
exactly right. And the comfort and assurance
of every believer is that Christ accomplished our salvation and
now intercedes for us in glory, having not compromised and never
will compromise. And God can be just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. And he declares in the remission
of our sins, he declares God perfectly righteous. He didn't
compromise.