Revelation chapter 2, if you
will, we are dealing with the church at Thyatira for our third
message. You can follow us in your pastor's
commentary, which is also in your bulletin. Thyatira is the
fourth church in the seven churches of the book of Revelation that
we are dealing with. I trust for those of you who
have been with us over these last several weeks that indeed
this study has been beneficial for your soul. I hope so. It is a privilege to hear the
mind of Jesus Christ Himself about His own church. I say that
because everybody and their cat and dog has an opinion about
the church. But it is a privilege and an
honor and a profound responsibility on the part of the church to
hear the mind of Christ about the condition and state and purpose
and goal of his own church. And as we have been looking at
all of the churches, we have come to one church that is, as
I said a few weeks ago, very complex in her nature, very sophisticated
in the areas in which she honors Christ and serves Christ. She
has been a very diligent church in a number of ways. As our Master
said in chapter 2, her works were abounding more and more. What a wonderful commendation
from the Savior that He sets forth in verse 19 of chapter
2. I know your works and your charity. That should be love. That is the word agape. It means
love. I know your love. I know your
service. I know your faith and I know
your patience. And then He repeats, and thy
works. and the last to be more than
the first." A very commendable attribution to any local gospel
church that is committed to the glory of God and the adorning
of the gospel by works of service. But then we saw how our Master
moved into a very piercing indictment of the church at Thyatira for
some very problematic elements that were present and apparently
they would not be dealt with as they ought to. For our master
was extremely explicit in verse 20 as he describes the particular
problem that he is addressing and wants them to address before
he comes in judgment against that church. And he says in verse
20, notwithstanding I have a few things against you and I've told
you before For whatever reason the translators thought to add
that term, a few, that is not a good translation. I have this
thing against you because you suffer that woman Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants
to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And here's where we're going
to take up today. He said, and I gave her space to repent of
her fornications, and she repented not. Then he moves into what
is called a future-present indicative. Behold, I am already about to
cast her into a bed. This here is a metaphor playing
on the irony of her harlotrous ways, as we learned last week. And them that commit adultery
with her integrate what? This is a bed of sickness, a
bed of affliction, a bed of trouble, a bed of pain. Our Master says,
I'm going to throw her. That's what the word castor means.
In a fury, I'm going to cast her into a bed of tribulation.
Her and those that are committing adultery with her, except they
repent of their deeds. Do you think our Master is serious?
You think he's serious about sin when it rules and reigns
in the church and lords over people in the church and particularly
the leadership in the church? He's serious. And when he moves
in to discipline us, we have gone past two stages of judgments. There are three stages of judgments
that God executes in the life of people and the world and the
church. The first is a passive act of
judgment by which he decrees to you and me that the wages
of sin is what? Death. And that's a law that
operates reciprocally in the life of human beings. It doesn't
matter whether you're saved or not, the wages of sin or death,
and therefore the consequences of our actions will fall out. And they will result in this
kind of condemnation if God doesn't intervene. When you and I sin
against God, there is an immutable consequence that falls out. It
may be a death of a relationship. It may be a death in your own
spirit in terms of you losing fellowship with God. When you
break God's law, we break God's law. There's a break that takes
place. And unless God intervenes, you
and I suffer the consequences of it. No sin ever goes unpunished. Do you know that? No sin. All sin affects us either mentally,
emotionally, psychologically, physically, physiologically,
socially, That's why it's not really true that it's just my
sin. It's not just really, it's not
really true where you and I can say, that's my own problem. I'm
not bothering anybody else. Virtually no sin that you and
I commit is exclusive to ourself. Let's suppose you were committing
a kind of sin that ended up in killing you because there is
a sin unto death, right? And I say, as John says, that
we should not pray for it. And then you end up becoming
sick. And then you ultimately die. Do you know that sin affected
a whole bunch of people as a consequence? It affected your family members.
It affected relatives. It affected co-workers. It affected
the hospital, the doctors, the nurses. Everyone that has to
deal with your sorry tale, once you find yourself in the throes
of that suffering, they're affected by it. We are burying people
frequently. And you can tell I'm warming
up for the message, right? So put your seat belts on. We
are burying people frequently. And you know what's so tragic? People will live such a selfish
life that they will not prepare to die as if they are not going
to die. And then when they die, guess
what? We have to deal with the consequences.
It's a tragedy when people think that they're not going to die.
And then on top of that, live a very poor life in terms of
their health. and then die on us and we are
left with the throes of having to put them away in a decent
fashion and bury them, marshal together money. Boy, we're selfish
people, aren't we? Do you know why? Because we're
sinners. We're sinners. And so I say there are consequences.
So our Lord lays it down. There's a natural consequence
of sin in the world when we violate it. Secondly, there is the consequence
of God backing away from us when we persist in our own sinfulness
and allowing that sin then to wreak its havoc in terms of our
heart. Like if you and I persist in
living in our sin and our rebellion against God, you know what it
does? It hardens our heart. It hardens our heart. So then
you know the title of our message is Thyatira, God is long suffering,
but he's not slack. God is long-suffering, but he
is not slack. So there's a sense in which there
are three aspects to the judgment. The decree that comes that says
the wages of sin is death. If you wonder why you're hurting,
it's probably because of a core sin issue. Then there is the
passive judgment of God when he gives people over to their
own aspirations and lusts. We're going to see that here
with Jezebel. It'll happen with you. It'll happen with me. It'll
happen with our children. When we think that we can actually
circumvent obedience to God, our elder talked this morning
about what? Holiness. The holy character of God. That
you and I are not going to have a healthy walk with God where
we simply walk in rebellion against Him and expect Him to endorse
anything that we do. That won't happen. But you and
I can. It's in our nature endemically. to actually persist in our sin
to the point where our heart hardens against God. You know it because when you
come to church, the gospel doesn't affect you anymore. Like you
don't rejoice in Christ anymore. You don't rejoice in the glory
of God anymore. You have no aspiration to hear
his word. You're intolerant of his word. That's what's happening
when the heart is hardening. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
This is critically important for you and I. This is why the
proverb says, guard your heart. Garrison your heart protect it
because of out of it are all the issues of our life We want
to make sure that our heart is consecrated unto the Lord in
such a way that he is able to actually Move it and be pliable
with it so that his will can be done in our life. So Peter
said Sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Let him be your dread.
Let him be your fear Make sure you don't do anything to run
the Lord out of your life in that sense. I And then there's
the final calamity that falls out on a person or people when
God has to simply stop our iniquity in its tracks before it harms
other people. Which brings me then to our first
point as we are working through this whole issue of the Jezebelian
effect upon the church of Thyatira. Point number one in our outline.
Let's see if we can make this work for the next 45 minutes. I, says the Lord Jesus, gave
her time to repent. That's verse 21. Do you see it?
I gave her space. Again, I don't know why the translators
translated it that way. The word is chronos. It's the
term for which we get chronology. That means there's a sequence
of time that unfolds that allows a person to work through their
issues and deal with their problems. You're on a probational period,
if you will. It's not Kairos time. It's not
Horos time. It's not a season. It's not a
moment. It's a specific range of time where God in his nature
backs up and says, OK, You have this much time. So stay with
me for a moment so you can learn something about God. God by nature
is patient. God by nature is patient. That's part of his attribute
as God. He is by nature long suffering. That's his name in Exodus chapter
34 as Moses sought to have the glory of God revealed to him
once again as he had to bring those rebels, stubborn, knucklehead
people through the wilderness. He said, God remind me all over
again who you are. And as he revealed his attributes
to Moses, having hidden him in a rock and shown him his glory,
The Lord, the Lord God Almighty, the Lord God gracious, the Lord
God long-suffering. This is endemic to God's nature
to be long-suffering. That's Exodus 34, five through
seven. And ladies and gentlemen, do
you know what long-suffering means? Again, I'm not so keen
on the term patience. Because in the 21st century,
you and I corrupt terms a lot. We do. We pour into terms our
own ideas and notions so that they accommodate sort of our
own ideas. Like, to me, I think most of
us think patience is God endorsing what we're doing. Like when God
is patient with us, he's basically saying, that thing that you're
dealing with, that you're involved in, it really is a small thing. I really don't care about that.
And I think our kids are often like that with us as parents
too, because we don't get on them real quickly, they tend
to think that we don't really care about the way they're acting.
But they're wrong, aren't they? We really do care about the way
they're acting, but we're giving them time. See, I'm the judge
in my house and I give them time to repent because I really do
care. And I want to see them work through
their issue without me intervening all the time. And God would be
that way with us. It's endemic to his nature to
be patient. Remember what Peter said in second
Peter chapter three around verse 15? And count that the long suffering
of God. leads to salvation, the longsuffering
of God. In the Greek, it's a compound
word. Macro is our prefix. You know what we mean by macro? We're talking about large things
versus micro. Microscopic are small particles
that you have to use a telescope to look at, small particles. But macro are larger particles.
The root word, thumia, is the term from which we get the idea
of a thermometer. So macrothumia is the idea of
God's temperature rises very slowly. That's good, isn't it? Because I want you to see the
truth here in a moment. In other words, while it rises slowly,
it's still rising. And God doesn't become angry.
I don't care who you are in this 21st century that would try to
paint a picture of God as being never angry. God is angry with
the wicked every day. It's just that he's patient in
order for a multiple of things to work themselves out in the
process of time. So I want you to mark some things, some propositions,
some ideas under this first point that I think is so critical.
First of all, it is his attribute and it's not a weakness. Ladies
and gentlemen, don't view the patience of God as weakness. Don't view the long suffering
of God as if he were somewhere trying to figure out how to deal
with your problem. He knew about your problem before
you came into the world. Isaiah chapter 42 or so tells
me that God knows that we were transgressors from the womb.
He knew we were coming out rebelling against Him. So God's not surprised
by your action. He's not saying, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, give me some time to figure out how I'm gonna
address you. He's giving you and me time to
actually come to our senses about our rebellion against His holiness. So, and I think it's very important
for you and I to really park it here and think it through.
Am I the kind of person that really views this attribute of
God, his long-suffering, his patience, as a weakness, a defection
in his character, so much so that I take advantage of it?
Am I the kind of person that continues running headlong in
my disobedience and rebellion against God because he is long-suffering? I would then be asserting that
that long-suffering element in God's nature is a weakness. I
would. But it's a virtue. The second
thing I want you to know about long-suffering as we are contemplating
how God is dealing with Jezebel here in chapter 21 and you and
I will be tying old and new again in order for you to know how
serious this matter is That the whole issue of patience is a
fruit of the Spirit of God, you know that right? I Galatians
chapter 5 verse 22 speaks to love and and faith and goodness
and meekness and temperance and self-control self-control and
Patience as part of the fruit of the Spirit of God even in
our lives many of us Before we were saved were very impatient
people I know some of you are saying after I'm saved too, Pastor.
But many of us, before we were saved, were very impatient people
for a whole lot of reasons that had to do more than with ADHD.
You know that stuff, people always blame us for being ADHD. No,
it's more than that. But many of us were very impatient
people because we were so bent, so hell-bent on our own will
that when people rubbed us the wrong way or did not comply to
our agenda, we were too quick to want to be vindictive. towards
him. Am I telling the truth? When
God saved us, one of those areas he began to work on in our life
and over many, many years, many, many years, many, many years,
we began to discover that there was patience in us and we weren't
so quick to brawl and fight with people. That's God's goodness.
It did not mean we became weak or indifferent or morally neutral
or ethically ambivalent. We still grew in our vital attributes
of godliness, and we are even more zealous today of righteousness
than we were when God first saved us. But we know that if we go
around jumping on every iniquity right away, there won't be nobody
around to even talk to, because we tear it all down. And thus
it is with God, with you and me. But this issue of God's patience
over against a sinful humanity and a sinful people is really
something that you and I better work through theologically because
I think that what it's designed for you and me to do is really
ask the question Do I cherish? Do I respect? Do I embrace to
my own benefit that God allows the sun to rise every day the
same way he did when he started this globe and this universe
without fail, even though the whole human race has gone in
open rebellion against God? I think that you and I ought
to be blown away daily by God's consistent and unending patience
towards us. I think we ought to wake up every
day. Thy mercies are renewed day by day. Great is your faithfulness
to me. I don't deserve it. I didn't
earn it. And here you are allowing your
son to shine on me all over again. Because some days, some days
you and I are the worst sinner on planet Earth. But getting
back to my point, do not take God's patience for weakness. Do you hear me? Do not take it
for weakness. Point number three, his patience
is a stumbling block for the wicked. See, what God does in
his patience is use history chronos time as a platform for revelation. What I mean by that is, time
on God's part, which is a mechanism for Him, it's a tool for Him,
He exists in eternity. He never operates within the
framework of the urgency of time. Time for God is simply a tool
of manifestation. It allows Him to be right about
His judgments all the time. He knows what time is going to
do. It's going to discover whether or not we are His or not. It's
going to discover whether or not we are going to repent or
not. It's going to discover whether or not we are going to prove
ourselves to be God's elect or not. Time is going to prove all
things. You guys understand that, right? It is the great enemy
against the devil. He knows that he has but a what?
Short time. And it's a great enemy against
everyone that's living in rebellion against God. So what God does
with time is Manifest the councils of the heart because we all hide
a whole lot of stuff deep down in the depths of our soul And
it only takes time for it to come up. Are you hearing me? It only takes time for it to
come up. So mark what the proverb says Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse
11 Solomon said it like this sitting on his throne as the
judge of Israel. He said because judgment is not speedily executed
upon the sons of men, it is wholly set in their hearts to do evil."
Did you guys get that? Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verse
11, verse 12. Because judgment is not speedily
executed, it is wholly given over to the sons of men to do
evil. And you and I know this is true in the practical social
context, right? When the police do not apprehend
a criminal right away, doesn't he think he's getting away with
something? And then he persists. And sometimes, as we learned
last week, even in the church, I'm getting ready to point to
a fundamental in the church. If you allow evil to grow, it
becomes fierce. It develops momentum. And then
it starts to try to overtake good. That's the little leaven
of evil. Right now in our third world
countries, we're dealing with that, with the uprising of all
sorts of little bands of jihadists. who are now becoming bold and
very fierce and developing strong military armies and apparatus
to take over certain regions of the Middle East. Why? Because
judgment is not executed speedily upon an evil work. Therefore,
it is wholly set in the hearts of the sons of men to do what?
Evil, evil, evil, evil. And the proverb also tells us
this Just to remind you how important these things are in the, oh,
back to Psalm. Go to Psalm 50. I want you to
mark what our Lord said in Psalm 50. You heard our elder read
this, but I simply want you to see it in verse 16. This will
be a critical point of reflection and meditation on the patience
of God in your life and mine. And then you'll see why God must
judge Jezebel. In chapter 50, Psalm 50, God
explains to the coveted people of God, this is Israel, in her
rebellion, as she often was, that their sacrifices and their
services, their worship didn't mean a thing to him because God
never gets hungry. And then he says over in verse
14, offer unto God thanksgiving, pay your vows unto the most high
God and call upon me in the day of what? And I will deliver thee
and you shall what? But unto the wicked God said,
what have you to do to declare my statutes? Or that thou shouldest
take my covenant in your mouth. Do you see what God is saying?
He's saying to wicked men and women in the church, what do
you have to do with my word? Here you are. You're actually
not only pretending to be part of the covenant, you are speaking
my words. You are taking my words up into
your mouth. Now watch this. Seeing you hate
instructions. Isn't that remarkable? We're
getting ready to deal with it now. See, everybody that goes
to church is not interested in obedience to Christ. They will
take up His law, they will take up His covenant, they will take
up the Bible, they will learn Bible verses, but it's not in
order to obey Christ. And so here God is speaking here
in Psalm 50, much like Jesus is doing in Revelation chapter
2, and exposing the heart and mind of the people there. He's
saying, they take up my word in their mouth, But they hate
what? Instruction. And then they do
what? They cast my word behind them. What a dreadful description of
the attitude that people have towards the word of God. That's
where we are today, though. Do you know if we were to park
it right here? I could spend a lengthy period Indicting this
generation for taking God's Word and throwing it behind their
back on so many levels church folk Do not adhere to God's Word
they play church, but they throw the covenant behind their back
Now, you know when you throw something behind your back you
cursing it get thee behind me Satan. I You do not savor the
things of God, but the things of men. So in the mind of God,
religious folks who pretend to be Christian are actually rejecting
the counsel of the covenant in their life. Verse 18 describes
what happened. When you saw what? Now who is
the thief ultimately? Is he not Satan? Then you consented
with him. You agreed with him. And you've
been made partakers with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil.
Your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your
neighbor, your brother. You slander your own mother's
son. Verse 20 is a description of the whole of national Israel
and its hatred against Jesus Christ. See, Jesus Christ was
their brother. And Jesus Christ was the one
who was born of Mary, slandering your own mother's son. And it's
also a picture of the nation of Israel being a mother type
to the one who came into the world. God says in verse 21,
but these things have you done and I did what? See what I'm
talking about the macro through me of God You were doing these
things you have done these things and you are doing these things
and I kept silent See, I'm just telling you if you and I don't
think God starts after him if we don't have the mind of God
We will assume assert and draw this conclusion because God is
quiet He must be indifferent to or affirming what I'm doing
Nothing could be further from the truth You thought listen
to what he says Because I kept silent You thought that I was
all together such a one as what? You see the problem humanism
The problem is humanism. This is when we bring God down
Take out his database from his mind put in hours and then make
God over in our own image and and we say that God thinks like
I do and Because he's silent on the issue. God must then agree
with me. Sometimes God is silent. Because
the only other thing he can do is punish. Listen to what it
says. You thought I was altogether
such one as yourself. But I will what? Reprove you. And I will
set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you
that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none
to deliver. Whoso offers praise glorified
man to him that orders his conversation, right? That's his lifestyle,
not his words. Well, I show the salvation of the Lord. This is
germane because of this. God has given Jezebel time to
repent. And she did not repent. She would
not repent. She did not repent. In fact,
go with me in your Bible to 2 Kings chapter 21 now. Let me recall
your attention to a couple of things. 2 Kings chapter 21. We
are going back to that point where, remember, Ms. Jezebel
rose up and told her husband that he was the king of Israel
and he could do whatever he wanted. And when brother Nabok told him
that it was impossible for him to sell his land to the king. Yes, even the king. Because God
had given the land to each tribe as an inheritance so that we
cannot just simply arbitrarily give our land away. That it was
to go from generation to generation because God takes care of seed
after seed after seed when you're part of the covenant. I can't
just give you the land just because you're the king. You're not the
sovereign monarch. You're just a petty despot. God's
king in Israel. Now, that's the way it's supposed
to be, but you see, since the days of the kingdom being split
up under Solomon, when the ten northern tribes went with Jeroboam,
two southern tribes went down to Judah and Jerusalem, Israel
has been at war now for decade upon decade upon decade, and
nobody sees God in the church. That means everyone is doing
what's right in their own eyes. and Ahab now operating out of
a hyper-monarchial, super-feminist construct in terms of his government,
is now usurping authority over God's law. Ahab had no right
to Nabal's field. Do you remember what Jezebel
did? She hired base men to charge Nabal with a crime of blasphemy
against God and the king. And they killed him. Did they
not? They killed Naboth. And once
Naboth was killed, Ahab took the field. Do you remember what
Jezebel said to Ahab? Verse 15 of chapter 21. And it
came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, she wasn't
even there. Neither was Ahab at the hearing.
They produced the hearing. They produced the court that
killed an innocent man, but they weren't even there. Jezebel heard
that Naboth was stoned and was dead. Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise,
take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which
he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but
dead. See that? How wicked can she
be? It came to pass that when Ahab
heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the
vineyard of Naboth, the Gentilite, to take possession of it. Now
watch how God intervenes. Watch it now. And the word of
the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet
Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in
the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to possess it.
Ahab, you can run, but you can't hide. This wimpy king who would
not exercise godly rule over Israel but submitted himself
to the demonic influence of his own wife is now in another man's
field ready to take it. And God meets him right there
with the same prophet that warned him before. And God's getting
ready to give to Ahab. All of the judgments that are
going to fall out on ahab and jezebel look at verse 19 I want
you to see this because i'm going to run through this quickly show
you the parallels to christ's judgment in revelation chapter
2 That christ is going to judge the jezebel of thyatira and her
children the same way He's judging here. Ahab jezebel and her children
the parallels are uncanny Listen to it And you shall speak unto
him saying thus saith the lord you have killed and you have
taken possession. And you shall speak unto him
saying, thus saith the Lord, in the place where dogs lick
the blood of Naboth, shall the dogs lick your blood, even yours. Now watch this. And Ahab said
to Elijah, have you found me? Oh, my enemy. What makes Elijah
Ahab's enemy? Because he tells him the truth.
Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Truth is
always the enemy to every ungodly rebel against the authority of
God. Watch it now. And he answered,
he says, I have found thee because you have sold yourself to work
evil in the sight of the Lord. Verse 21. Behold, said the Lord,
I will bring evil upon thee and I will take away thy what? That's
her his seed her seed and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisses
against the wall. Sorry children this is the way
the Bible talks and Him that is shut up and left in Israel
and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son
of Nebat like the like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for
the provocations wherewith you have provoked me to anger and
made Israel to sin and of Jezebel. See, God's getting ready to lay
out the judgment. So remember what I said? God
gives the decree, then God is passive. And over time, he finally
then what? Implements the judgment. And
of Jezebel also spake the Lord saying, the dog shall eat Jezebel
by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the
city the dog shall eat and him that dieth in the field the fowls
of the air Shall eat do you guys see that? But there was none
like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in
the sight of the Lord Here's the last line whom Jezebel his
wife stirred up. I want you to see that because
the next time we read about Ahab and Jezebel Nine chapters over
in first in second Kings nine chapters over. You know what
that means more time goes by See, we're at the end of first
Kings, right? We're at the end of it. God gave the judgment,
right? so, you know what happens for the next nine chapters God
gives us a Parentheses of Elijah doing ministry and feeding people
and healing people and then he jumps back on the prophecy So
Ahab dies Why does Ahab die? Because Ahab was under the curse.
He dies just like God says he's gonna die. He died in war. His
son Ahaziah takes over in chapter 2 of 2 Kings verse 1. Look at
it. 1 Kings 2.1. Then Moab rebelled
against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell through
a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and was what?
And he sent messengers and said unto them, Go inquire of Beelzebub,
the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease. He's
a king in Israel. And he's not going to Jehovah
God. But do you know what's taking place here? The fulfillment of
what Jesus said in Revelation chapter 2. I will cast her and
her children into a sickbed. Ahaziah is in a sickbed now. Do you know what happens? Ahaziah
dies in that sickbed. You know who rises up after him?
His brother Joram. His brother Joram rises up in
chapter 3 and it goes all the way to chapter 8. And guess what
happens to Joram? He also is wounded in war, is
in a sickbed. Guess what happens to him? He
dies in that sickbed. Why? I will kill her children
with death. Just as God says. The judgments
are falling out, are they not? Now, ladies and gentlemen, this
is the part that I want to call your attention to that's remarkable
to me. Remember what I said earlier?
I said the patience of God will either harden your heart or soften
it. It will either humble you or
harden you. Wicked Jezebel, which is now
gonna be the target of our last point before we deal with the
promises of God, have watched God judge her husband, have watched
God kill her first son, have watched God kill her second son,
and when we get to chapter 8, there are 70 sons of Ahab she's
going to watch be killed by Jehu, the judgment of God. How many
of you guys know about Jehu? You don't know about Jehu? You
guys must be new at grace. We've been teaching this stuff
for years. I don't have time, but Jehu is the judgment of God
against every one of Ahab's family members. God raised Jehu up as
the king in Israel. You know what that means? God
had cut off the posterity of Ahab. In other words, the kings
were dynasties, so that father dies, son takes over. Father
dies, son takes over. By the way, that's not how church
is supposed to be. It is, but it's not how it's
supposed to be. Just to give you another caveat church is
not supposed to be daddy starts the church and then daddy's son
takes over I told you last week when you set up a church like
a monarchy you have rebelled against the true and the living
god When you make the pastor the king and make the pastor's
wife the queen you have rebelled against the truth of the living
god That model will destroy any church It will destroy any church
There's only one king in the church, and that's Christ. And
he sits on his throne, and he does rule, he does reign. And
there's only one elect lady. Only one elect lady. And that's
the whole church of the living God. I am the elect lady. You are the elect lady. We are
the elect lady. And the rest of us are brothers
and sisters in Christ as Jesus said. Don't call any man Lord.
Don't call any man father. You are all brethren in Christ.
He's the head. We're the bride. He's the king. We're the servant. Please understand
that. That's why so much stuff is going
on wrong in the church today. These anti-biblical models have
to actually be dealt with. that to be dealt with. And so
what we see taking place in 2 Kings chapter 8 and 9 is the finality
of the judgment. And I actually need you to see
what happens to Jezebel in 2 Kings chapter 9. I would love to, I'm
tempted, but I am not going to deal with Jehu because you need
to learn how God works. Jehu is a powerful, powerful,
powerful, prophetic, prophetic utterance of God's delusion and
judgment on Israel. After he destroys jezebel, which
we'll see here in a moment Jehu gathers all israel together You
know what? He says He says to everyone in
israel now watch this. I want you to get this because
this is getting ready to happen to the church It's already happening.
He says all of you bail worshipers in israel All of you bail worshipers
meet me in the temple of bail Now now those of you who don't
worship bail y'all stay out. I don't want you there. I only
want bona fide bail worshipers These are the folks who pretend
to be Christian. They go to church, but they worship
every idol under the sun. Are you hearing me? From the
zodiac on down to the creeping things on the ground, birds of
the field. You understand? Birds of the
air and beasts of the field. These are the idolatries that
dominate our present culture. With all of the secular allure
that's taking place in our world, this is Romans 1 all over again.
You and I saw this in Ezekiel 8 last week, right? When they
dug a hole into the wall and they saw the pictures of all
the images of those that worshipped those pagan gods in the church
of God. Now, if you want the application,
what I'm talking about is what's going on in the hearts of men
and women sitting right here right now. Some of you have hearts
that are filled with every foul bird. Your heart is not sanctified
to the Lord your God. The Lord just sits there like
every other pagan God on the wall of your heart. He does not
rule as sovereign. Listen, if Christ actually rules
in your heart, nothing else can be there but Him. How can Christ
dwell with Satan? How can light dwell with darkness? How can Belial actually dwell
with the Son of Life? He won't let it happen. Are you
guys hearing what I'm saying? It's critical for you to know
that because there's nothing new. We've been saying that there's
nothing new. You don't escape because you come to church. You
only escape when you come to Christ. That's why judgment must
begin at the household of God first. If you and I are to be
saved, we must take God seriously. You know why? He has eyes as
a flame of fire and he sees it all. See, you and I actually
don't, you and I don't, we don't actually believe that. And as
a consequence, we act like God doesn't see. But again, that's
Ezekiel 8. Remember Ezekiel 8? What did they say? God has gone
far from this place. The Lord does not see, but God
sees. So now watch how it falls out.
Watch how the text falls out in 2 Kings chapter 9 as Jehu
runs out his judgments. He catches Miss Jezebel in chapter
8. Chapter nine, here we go. 2 Kings
9 verse 30, listen to this. Let me start back at, yeah, here
it is. I'm at verse 30. And when Jehu
was coming to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. What did, did he
hear about how Jehu had destroyed the 70 sons of Ahab? Jezebel
heard of it and she, what? Painted her face and tired her
head and looked out the window. So we're getting ready to get
some insight by this text into a real problematic element that
we're going to have to examine ourselves on. Both men and women.
Stay there with me for a moment. Because what you have seen up
to this point is God's judgment. The killing of the king, the
killing of the king's son, the killing of the 70. The killing
of the 70. Here this man Jehu is nothing
but judgment! Wouldn't you think that Jezebel
might have snuck out of town? and went on down the road. But
this is what I mean by hardness of heart. I want to show you
another truth critical to my application to where we are today.
Jezebel is so self-deceived that she actually thinks that she
can flatter the judgment of God. Jezebel is so utterly deceived
as a woman that she actually thinks she can seduce The judgment
of God. Jehu is unmitigated judgment. He is fierce judgment. What jazzes
Jehu is the zeal of God. Come see my zeal for the Lord. And he destroys everything in
his way. He has no interest in this woman. And yet she is so delusional
because she has exercised her seductive powers on virtually
everyone, and they have fallen for her. See, what we are saying
is that Jezebel is a great model of the apostate church, given
over to its seduction. That's the great harlot of Revelation
17. As Proverbs chapter seven, by
the way, she flattered him with her lips and she drew him to
herself. that man void of understanding
she caught him and she kissed him with an impudent face said
this day have I peace offerings with you this woman Jezebel is
trying to flatter Jehu you know what that means she took stock
in her beauty this is why our Lord is intervening in Revelation
chapter 2 because see here's what happens when you and I fail
to actually operate out of godly principles you and I get caught
up in the flesh We get caught up in the beauty of things seen.
We get caught up in the appearance of things. See, now the woman
here is a metaphor for the what? The church. And when you and
I are trapped by looking at the gaudy appearance of the church,
the image and externality of the church, the attractiveness
of the church, or the methodology of the church, rather than the
truth that the church should be conveying, you and I are then
like that man void of understanding being taken in by the harlot.
Revelation chapter 17, Proverbs chapter 7. Make sure you read
it. Because this judgment here that's falling out on Jezebel,
God talks about it in Ezekiel's judgment as well. I'll have to
have you look at it in chapter 23 before we go back. But will
you mark with me, ladies and gentlemen, how self-deceived
can this woman be to think that she's going to avert the judgment
by her beauty? When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel
heard of it and she painted her face and tired her head and then
stuck that mug out the window. I guess she didn't have any confidence
in her body. I mean, she must have been a
little old or something, you know. So I might just stick my head out
there. When you look at the irony and persistence of God's judgment,
See, I'm talking about apostate religion today. Some of y'all
know that, right? Some of you know I'm talking about the superficial,
carnal, materialistic religion that you and I are part of today.
I'm talking about carnal Christians who do not operate by the Spirit
of the Living God with the virtues of the Spirit of God and the
truth of God's Word in their life. We are very much caught
up in material things. You guys do know I'm talking
about that. That there are really only two kinds of women in the
Scripture. The virtuous woman and the harlot
woman. You guys know that, right? You guys do know that. This is
the battle we will always be fighting because in the 21st
century where you and I are, the world demands that you walk
around with your tail out in order to seduce men and turn
them into a piece of bread. The world demands it. Listen,
you can't sell a bottle of water without a naked woman. And what this infers is that we have
very weak men And according to Paul, 2 Timothy chapter 3, around
verse 7 and 8, where it says that there are those who had
denied the truth, who drew away to themselves silly women laden
with sin. They are ever learning and never
coming to the knowledge of the truth. Like Jonas and Jambres,
the false prophets in the days of Moses, these silly women laden
with sin, the actual Greek term means to be small-minded. God! It means to be small minded.
Do I have your attention for a few more minutes? To be small
minded means you do not think like God. You don't. And Christianity presently is
like that. Small minded. Does God occupy
your mind? Does his word, does his will
govern your judgments? Does his book, the explicit testimony
of scripture, advise your conduct? Does God's will really matter
to you? Are you simply operating according to the dictates of
this present culture? I say to my men, to my men, brother,
is a woman nothing but an objectifiable entity by which you somehow vicariously
seek to build up your ego? And I say to my sisters, are
you so small-minded to think that your physical body can actually
save a man? Are you hearing me? Because here
it is, whether you see it or not, how much time you spend
painting yourself indicates that you're small minded. It indicates
that you don't understand the preciousness of the soul, the
preciousness of the spirit, the preciousness of your communion
with Christ, the objective of reaching eternity bound souls
with something far more than the allure of your physical beauty.
See, and until both men and women get past this liaison that goes
on, we are not even coming close to doing church. We're not even
coming close to doing church. We're not even coming, listen,
we're not even coming close. Listen, when you have Jezebelian
types dominating every aspect of the church, everybody knows
in a very, very tacit way, are we not real? Come on, watch this
now. We are not real. We are not real
in this place. And so it's very important for
you to understand what's going on here. So now watch what happens. Now, Jezebel is a spirit that
both men and women ought to kill. Take up Jehu's response. Watch
it. Watch Jehu. Here it is. And Jehu entered
in at the gate, verse 31. And she said, have Zimri peace. who slew his master. That was
kind of a quick retort. She heard he had killed up all
of the kings. She said, now, now Jehu, it ain't
gonna work for you to be killing everybody. And he lifted up his
face to the window and said, here it is. Who is on my side? Who? Do you see the text? All he was concerned about was
who is on my side. That's all I want to know. You
folks in the tower with Jezebel, who is on my side? I know there
has been a searching of the hearts. I know you have heard my judgments
long, long back. I know you know that I was coming.
I'm here now. Have you made a judgment? Who's
on my side? See, now what I like about this
statement is this. In the midst of chaos and apostasy
in the church, there are great searchings of the heart. While
men and women are doing wrong, God's elect are preparing to
do right. While men and women are practicing
evil in the church, God's people are preparing to do the right
thing in their heart. Will you hear me? In their heart.
They can't wait till the door opens for them to get out of
the hell they got themselves into. And what Jehu is doing
is giving them an exit right here. Here's an opportunity for
you to be delivered. Throw her tail out the window
right now. Do you want to make an atonement
for sin? Throw her tail out now. Think it through. Think it through. This was a door of opportunity
for them to escape the powerful, magnanimous, pervasive influence
of the Jezebelian spirit that had dominated all Israel. Remember,
she killed up all the prophets. She ran them all out of town.
She was killing up the seed royal. She has a daughter-in-law named
Athaliah. Right after she's dead, guess
what Athaliah is going to do? Try to do the same thing. This
is the era of this hyper-feminist mentality seeking to take full
control over the church. It only happened twice in Israel.
It only happened twice in Israel. During this little window of
time, it only happened twice. All of the kings were men, but
there were only two prodigious queens, Jezebel and Athaliah. The rest of the women kept their
place, as women ought to do. Remember, it's not the clothes,
it's the role. Isn't that what I said last week?
It's not the clothes, it's the role. God's looking for the role. And so, Jezebel is giving one
last, one last venture, but Jehu is not having it. He said, who
is on my side? Who? And there looked out to
him two or three, what? I love eunuchs. Isn't God ironic
here? Eunuchs. Ain't got no interest
in sex. None. Right there. ready to be delivered from an
oppressive revolt against the true and the living God by a
king and a queen who had no respect for God's law. Eunuchs! Isn't God ironic? They were set
there by providence and they're getting ready to do a great work.
This is called the work of God. This is God's work right here.
You and I ought to take this all spiritually. Don't be going
throwing nobody out the window. I have to do that in the 21st
century because people get it wrong. Look at it. Here it is. He said in verse 33, and he said,
throw her down. And without hesitation, you ready?
So they threw her down. I love it. Some of her blood
was sprinkled on the wall and on the house, and they throwed
on her under her foot. And he trod under her foot. He
stumped her with his chariot and with his horse. Is Jehu serious? You know what we call that? The
judgment of God. And when he was come in, he ate
and drank. He said, go see now this cursed woman and bury her,
for she is a king's daughter. What an infamous end to Jezebel,
right? Go with me back to our text.
Let's begin to close out with some points of application. I
still got a few minutes with you before we partake of the
Lord's table. It's so very important for you
and I to see that time, which God has given us all, is in order
for us to recognize the mercy of God intrinsic to His nature
as well, to also know that God is going to expose those who
are His from those that are not. See, the patience of God, it
becomes an opportunity for some people to harden their heart.
I cannot I cannot, for the world of me, understand why people
would harden their hearts when God gives you an opportunity
to repent. By the way, just in case you think I'm making an
unjust extrapolation between Jezebel and the church today? Ezekiel chapter 23 verse 40. Go there. I've got time. I know
I've got your attention. I want you to see how important
it is for you to tie Old Testament Scripture with New Testament
Scripture so that you can know that both covenants actually
advise each other when it comes to truth. We're almost done.
Ezekiel chapter 23. Notice what it says in verse
40. This is God speaking to Israel. Here's what he says in verse
23 and 24. And you tell me if they're not clear parallels between
the two. Are you there? Listen to Ezekiel
23. I'm going to start at verse 38. Here it is. Moreover, this they
have done unto me, this is God speaking to the church, they
have defiled my sanctuary, that's the temple, in the same day and
have profaned my Sabbath. For when they had slain their
children to idols, amazing, they burnt their children to Moloch.
Then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it. Then
they went to worship God. And lo, thus have they done in
the midst of my house, verse 40. And furthermore, that you
have sent for men, you have sent for men. You called you some
men. Can you see the limousines? You
call for men. From far, Babylon, Persia, India,
Assyria, Egypt, unto whom a messenger was sent. And lo, they came. Why not? For whom thou didst,
here it is, wash thyself, and painted your eyes, and decked
yourself with ornaments. See the whore? That's not one
woman. That's all Israel. That's why
I make the application to our churches today. This here is
a kind of evangelism, calling people from afar. but you're
calling them to an illicit affair. They're not entering into relationship
with God through covenant, they're entering in through seduction
and spiritual fornication. Do you see it? Listen to it,
verse 40. And furthermore, that you have
sent for men to come from afar, unto whom a messenger was sent,
and lo, they came, for whom thou didst wash yourself, and painted
your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments, and you sattest
upon a stately what? This is why Christ said, I will
throw their children into a bed of tribulation. It's the irony
because of the hardness of the heart of the people who play
false religion, engaging in idolatry and fornication, which is always
spiritual idolatry. Do I have your attention? Listen
to the text. You sat yourself upon a stately
bed, must've been like a double king. And here's the abominable
altar and a table prepared before you. Do you see it? You got a
table for your wine and all your delicacies. And then you got
a bed for your acts. Ezekiel was painting the picture,
is he not? Listen, whereupon you set my incense and my oil. Do you see what she did? She
took the oil that God gave her and the incense that God gave
her and used it to lure her lovers. Pastor, what are you talking
about? You're getting way too deep for me. Go back to our text. What we are talking about is
using carnal means to achieve an unlawful conjugation between
men and women in the name of religion. We're talking about
the secular humanistic approach to getting people to thinking
that they have a relationship with God because of the seductive
methods and techniques of the church. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? So now let me go back and close
it out. I do want to close it out here, which will move us
to our second point so we can move forward. I'm just going
to enumerate these. I want you to see them. She rejects
the voice of Christ in godly leadership. See, when our Lord
says in verse 21, I gave her space to repent of her fornications,
and she repented not, didn't you ask the question, how did
he give her space? How did he tell her? How did
God inform Jezebel to stop doing what she did? I mean, was it
an audible voice? Did she have a dream? No. When people walk contrary to
God's word in the church, what does God use? His word. What else does God use? His leadership. God uses His word and His leadership
and He tells His leaders to take the word and go to those people
who are living in rebellion against Him and tell them they must stop
according to, thus saith the Lord. Is that right? So I want
you to understand that, practically speaking, what happened in Thyatira
was that there were some of the leaders whom the Spirit of God
compelled to go to her to tell her that she was wrong in what
she was doing. That's Matthew 10, verse 40.
That's John 17, verse 8. That's Matthew 18, verse 15. If your brother sinned against
you, go to him. Leadership is to go to people
who are operating in a contrary fashion to God's Word quietly
first, and then over time dealing with it with a larger testimony
of witnesses and finally, if necessary, publicly acknowledging
that this individual has refused the counsel of God against themselves. So now here comes a Lord sending
a letter to the church at Thyatira. Isn't that remarkable? This woman
Jezebel has been functioning in Thyatira. Her name wasn't
really Jezebel. That was her epithet, right?
She has been functioning in Thyatira as a prophetess, a leader in
the church, a very influential leader in the church. She has
been told by the leadership, you are out of pocket. You are
out of position. You have no right to be exercising
authority over men. How many of you women believe
that? Yeah. That's what the Bible says. By
the way, by the way, that's what the book says. Do you understand
that? That's what the book says. The
book does not say that women can't teach. The book does not
say that women can't minister. What the book says is that women
are not to minister over men, that they are not to have authority
over men, that they are not to sit in authority over men. That's
what the book said. Now watch this. And yet almost
all of the evangelical church today has taken that book and
cast it behind its back. Are you hearing me? So what are
you going to do? Are you going to let the consensus
of the majority sweep you away in the judgment of God with those
churches that are under the judgment of God right now? Or are you
going to do the will of God? Does God's Word have authority
in your life? This is very serious. It's very
serious. See now, I know that some of
you who really actually don't like this are ready to default
to the argument and the debate of what men and women are equal.
That's beside the point. That's so totally beside the
point. For my brothers and sisters who don't know how to reason
carefully, do you understand that we're talking apples and
oranges when we talk about equality of persons and distinction of
roles? Do you guys understand that?
That distinction of roles does not mitigate equality of persons. That when God made the man, he
made him first, and then he made the woman. And he made the woman
for the man, not the man for the woman. Although the man is
of the woman, the woman is for the man. And they have a complementarian
role to accomplish. And when we violate that, we
are assaulting God himself. Do you understand that? This
is so very important. So very important, because I
know the seeds of Jezebel reside in the heart of all you women.
Yes, it does. Tell the truth, my sister. Tell
the truth. Don't you have to fight against that devil? Yeah. I love
my sisters at grace. I love my sisters at grace. And
the man that's void of understanding, that would love to sleep with
harlots, resides in the heart of every man. And that's why
we must all be utterly dependent upon Jesus Christ. Are you hearing me? Listen, utterly
depended upon Christ for the crucifixion of that old man that
he does not have dominion in the place of God. I just told
some truth today that hurt. This is some uncomfortable truth,
but it's going to save some of us today. See, you know, because
the reason I had to do that, fellas, because I know you have
to go home to your wives. I know that. I know you got to
go home to your wives. And this is not beating up on
women. I have already told you God is very even handed in the
scriptures, is he not? He's very even handed. He exalts
women. He exalts men. He abases men. He abases women. The whole of
humanity by nature is depraved. Not just men, women too. We all
need a savior. Here it is. Here it is. I promise
I get through this and I am. He sent leadership to her. She
rejected that leadership because she is operating out of the spirit
of error and not the spirit of truth. There are only two spirits
in the world point B. You see that first John chapter
4 verse 4 through 6 is clear There's only two spirits in the
world the spirit of truth and the spirit of error And how do
we know that we are of the spirit of truth because we hear God's
Word John says they that hear us are of God they that do not
hear us are not of God apostolic doctrine reigns authoritatively
in the true Church of God ah but this is why Jezebel failed
to take on the office of being a teacher in the church. See, she didn't want to be a
teacher. You know what it means to be a teacher? It means to
be under the authority of men. No, she wants, she doesn't even
want to be an apostle, although some sisters today are trying
to be apostles. She doesn't even want to be an
apostle. You know what she wants to be? A prophetess. I want to show
you the coy, slick, Option here the prophetess and prophet was
the person to whom God spoke directly that meant ostensibly
She could actually operate outside of the reach of apostolic authority
Remember the Apostles are all gone with the exception of John,
right? So all we have is the authority of the scriptures right
and yet still that was there was operating in that first century
prophetic utterance so, you know what she's saying I'm receiving
revelations from God and that are not yet written down. You
can go search the Old Testament and some of the New Testament
epistles that are in extent, but I'm receiving deep things
from God. I'm receiving hidden things.
I'm receiving deep and profound revelations. These are the deep
things of Satan. that Christ is talking about.
Are you guys hearing me? So here's what happens. When
you are unprincipled and your authority is not scripture, you're
not a presuppositionalist, you're not a scripturalist, you'll be
open to listening to any Tom, Dick and Harry who has a revelation.
That's right. Listen to what the text says
over in verse 25. But that, let me see here. Verse 24, but unto you I say
and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine,
in which have not known the depths of what? Satan, as they speak. Remarkable! She avoids discipline. by her self-proclaimed office
as a prophet. And I give you 1 Corinthians
chapter 14 verse 36 through 38, I won't go there, but when Paul
was dealing with that loose band of Christians in Corinth over
speaking in tongues and prophecies, remember what he said? What?
Came the Spirit of God to you only? Or out from you only? As if you have the right and
authority to act any kind of way you want to? This is what's
going on here. Let me help you settle the problem
of prophets and prophetesses whenever they come to you with
a word from the Lord. Are you ready? Reject it out
of hand. Point number one. Point number
two. To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
that word, it's because there is no light in them at all. When
a person comes to you saying, thus saith the Lord, and it is
not explicitly the scriptures, reject them. That's a necessary
discipline for you or else you are automatically equating their
vision, their dream, their divination with the Word of God. You are
making what they say equal to scripture, which in itself is
an abomination. Are you guys hearing me? See,
listen, that's the battle today. Will we be biblical Christians
or will we be a bunch of mystics open up to every dream, vision
and idea and notion that people have? This is why our Master
is dealing with this woman. And I close with a very comforting
set of admonitions in points 3 and 4 quickly. He acknowledges
the faithful and the discerning. Look at verse 24. Are you there?
But I say unto you and unto the rest of Thyatira, as many as
have not this doctrine. Do you see that? And which have
not known the depths of Satan as they speak. Do you see that?
You know what he's saying? You don't hold this doctrine
and you don't know this doctrine. Oh, what a God. The acknowledgement
of faithful and discerning Christians. Here it is. There are three things
I want you to call attention to in terms of a faithful and
discerning Christian. True believers are married to
Jesus Christ and not the world. Point number one. Point number
two, true believers are not interested in the depths of Satan. Point
number two. Point number three, true believers
are radically committed to the gospel. Listen, we are married
to Christ. We are not interested in the
depths of Satan. And for us, the gospel is sufficient. We don't need another gospel.
We don't need another revelation. We don't need another vision.
We don't need another experience. The gospel is a great enough
experience for me. How can I need something more
than the Gospel? Since the Gospel is the power
of God and the salvation. Since God has revealed His glory
to me in Christ by the Gospel. The Gospel justified me. The
Gospel made me born again. The Gospel illuminated my mind.
The Gospel matured me in Christ. The Gospel gives me clarity on
the will of God. The Scriptures themselves are
sufficient to lead me to glory. I do not need anything else. By the way, I'm not interested.
I'm not interested. I don't even for a moment get
interested in people's visions and dreams. I have read so much
of that junk. I mean, I've read it, read it,
read it, read it, listened to it, listened to it, and it is
the most foolish stuff you could ever imagine coming out of people's
mouths in the name of God. Utter foolishness, which causes
my heart to fear. as I close. Fear. You know what
I fear? I fear for people whom God has
not called by His grace and revealed Christ to. Because all of that
madness out there will indeed suck you up and send you to hell. You have no authority to land
your feet on when you listen to this prophet and that prophet
and the other prophet and they are mad. Listen, I'm not saying
that out of sort of a frustration of emotion. I'm saying they are
mad. Their logic is irrational. Their arguments are utterly flawed.
They're filled with contradictions and chaos. Anyone listening to
them ought to examine themselves. They're mad. Are you guys hearing
me? They're mad. So very important,
so very important. Point number four in closing,
the faithful will indeed rule with Christ. Here it is, verse
25 through 27. But that which you have already
hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth
my works until the end, to him will I give power over the nations.
See that? He shall rule them with a rod
of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers,
even as I received of my father. You know what Christ is saying
here? Generally, it is the general tenor of believers to be persecuted
and beat down, maligned, ridiculed, and marginalized. He says, but
hold on, you can rule with me. In fact, we already rule with
Christ. But there's a day coming when we will execute judgment
with him against everything that opposes the truth. You got to
believe that now. And then finally, here's what
he says. And I will give him the morning star. Do you see
that? Oh, who is the morning star? It's Jesus. Do you know
what he's saying? There's a day coming when the
darkness of this pagan world, which now is draping humanity,
and it's becoming darker and darker and darker. Human beings
are becoming more and more reprobate. People are not reasoning right.
It's going to go from bad to worse. We are entering into a
dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark period. We are going back
to the days of judges when every man did that which is right in
his own life But only exponentially because technology is gonna make
it even more fierce You're gonna see some monstrosities occur
over the next decade that are going to be absolutely massive
they will test your faith if you don't close your eyes and
Keep your eyes that are spiritual fixed on Christ You're gonna
be deceived But for God's elect who hear his voice, there's a
day coming when the morning star will rise and we will see him
coming. And when he comes, we will not
be ashamed. And when he emerges as the son
of righteousness, we will be with him. He will be with us. My beloved is mine and I am my
beloved. He will come on his white horse
and all the faithful will come with him. and forever rule over
this world and bring in everlasting righteousness and glory to all
those that waited on Him. That's the promise of God to
His elect. That's the promise of God to
His elect. But believe me, it's going to get darker before it
gets lighter.