To turn back in your Bibles to
the book of Revelation chapter 2, if you will, Revelation chapter
2, as we begin to consider and explore the lessons we might
learn from our third church, the church at Thyatira, as our
account renders for us as we are preparing for this message
The title of our message today is The Blessing and Danger of
Good Works. The blessing and danger of good
works in the context uniquely of a church that admittedly is
a very, very complex church. It's a very, how can I put it? It's a mixed
bag. It's filled with good things
as our Lord will enumerate but it also has some very troubling
and problematic elements that will require at least two messages
to deal with. The church at Thyatira is different
than the church at Ephesus, the church at Smyrna, the church
at Pergamos. This is our fourth church. And
the church at Thyatira, while not as large as Pergamos or large
as the church at Ephesus, It's probably best described as one
of the churches that has gotten a real handle on what it means
to serve the Lord. This is a serving church. It
has really understood what it means to respond to the imperatives
of Scripture. Imperatives are commands. They
are not suggestions. They are not options. Christianity
is not coming to church to hear some good advice that you can
take or leave. It is a real, real obligation
and privilege on the part of people who know the Lord Jesus
to actually serve Him. So the church of Thyatira is
well known for its labors in the city of Thyatira and its
infiltration of virtually every field of commerce that Thyatira
was known for. In fact, Thyatira, not being
large, was a city gilded with many many trades from the trade
in bronze to the trade in cotton and to the trade in different
garments. In fact, one of the prominent
things that ancient Thyatira, this is the Turkey area now today,
ancient Thyatira was known for was this unique garment that
was dyed in purple, this dye, purple dye. In fact, the word
in that day was called a turkey dye. It was a turkey red. I don't
have any idea what that color looks like, but that's what they
called it. And it was a prominent dye. In
fact, you guys know a person in the scripture who met the
apostle Paul as he was dealing with his first missionary journey
to the Philippians in Acts 16. Verse 14, a lady who was a seller
of purple and her name was what? Lydia. Lydia. Her and her sisters
were by the seashore and a handful of brethren because there was
no gospel church in that area and they were simply praying
and doing the best they could to serve God until God brought
along someone who knew the gospel and Paul and his companions met
them there And we have some wonderful, wonderful accounts in Acts 16
through 18 around this region of the world. Well, true to form,
as you and I have been learning, our Lord speaks to each of the
seven churches the exact same way. He introduces himself with
a characteristic of his own nature and person, which is specific
to the needs of that individual church. as he did with Ephesus,
so he's doing with Thyatira. And in verse 18, we read, unto
the angel or the messenger of the church in Thyatira write,
these things saith the Son of God. He raises their attention,
calls their attention to one of the premier, not merely attributes
of Christ, but his essential nature. He's telling them that
he is the son of God, the son of the living God. This is the
highest position and office and title that Christ could utter
short of simply saying, I am God. And so he lets them know
this because there is a very unique problem in the church
at Thyatira whereby they need to know him in this placard.
Remember I told you each church got a placard. each church got
an emblem or a symbol or some kind of picture of the characteristic
of Jesus Christ and then the letter was under it like when
someone sends you a letter and then gives you a picture as well
with the letter this picture to the church at Thyatira is
of the Son of God. Now that's a rich concept in
itself worthy of our discussion but they knew precisely what
he meant when he said that. Now remember you and I are third-party
listeners to a discussion taking place between two other people.
So for us, we are deriving from that conversation implications
and ideas that sometimes are explicit and sometimes we have
to draw them out, infer from them what the text is saying.
So that's the whole purpose of what we call exposition, explaining
of the text, Why does the subject talk to the object this way and
say the things that they do so that you and I can get in on
the conversation? Let us never assume that the
conversation is coming directly to us because it's always couched
in a context, right? Always couched in a context.
We don't know where Thyatira is. We don't know what was happening
in that first century. We don't understand the dynamics
in that church individually, but Christ did. And that's what
he's letting them know. He's letting them know he is
the resident lord of the church As I go through the seven churches,
i'm amazed at that one specific point As it uh applies to you
and me Do we really believe that christ is present among us? Do you really believe that in
your own life? Do you walk in what we call a real conscious
quorum deo? Because that's the difference
between an individual walking in the light and walking in the
darkness. The difference between you doing
those things that are pleasing in God's sight because you honor
his person is the difference between you being conscientious
of his presence in your life when you make the decisions you
do. One of the things I'm going to be helping these young men
understand on Monday is what it means to be a principled young
man. a principled young man, not a
person filled with data and information. I'm not talking about an individual
who carries a backpack of precepts and concepts. I'm talking principled,
an individual who knows priority. See, until you and I are clear
on our priorities, you're going to be wasting your time. It doesn't
matter how much information or data you acquire if that data
is not lined up on the basis of priorities of life. If you
don't know what it means to seek first things first, you can waste
your life pursuing knowledge. So very important. And when the
Lord Jesus is walking among his churches, one of the things he's
doing is reminding them that they have a mission and purpose
in view. So as our Lord is because he loves his church, he enters
in with a very clear placard emblem of himself. And he says,
I am the son of God who have eyes like unto a flame of fire
and his feet are like fine brass. These are three to three descriptions. Actually, we have his essential
nature and then we have predicates of his personhood that are being
described here, which we need to take time and develop. But
I won't today. I'll do it next week as it will apply to the
way in which he now is going to penetrate into the church
at Thyatira with his concern. Now, the first thing that our
master does, and these are also very, very, very good relational
techniques, relational principles. He opens up again by saying,
I know your works, right? I know your works. The term means
to be completely aware of and concerned about your works. You're
gone, our term for applying energy, putting forth labor and effort.
I know how you have applied yourself. I know that. I want you to mark
this again. God knows, God sees, and God
cares about how we apply ourselves. If you don't know that, read
for yourself Hebrews chapter 16 verses 18, 19 and following. God is not unrighteous to forget
your labor of love and work of faith which you have shown to
all the saints. So he always says to the churches,
listen, I know what you're up to. I know what your industry
is. I know what your labors are. I'm very much aware that you
are out in the neighborhoods. I know that you are on your jobs.
I know that you're telling people at school about me. I know that
you're actually employing yourself in very, very, very good philanthropic
health. I know you're doing outreach
ministry. I know that, because that's what I've called you to
do. I know you're being evangelical. I know that, because that's what
I've called you to be. I have not called you to circle
your tents and your wagons and just hide and wait till I come.
Remember what my angel told Peter, James, and John, why stand ye
here all day long gazing into heaven? Get about the business
of my father. And so there we are 70 years
later and our master said, I know that you are working. And sometimes
I'm simply saying this, sometimes you and I busy about the work
of the Lord can fail to realize that he has a caring, watching
eye over everything we do. Not for our harm, but for our
good. See, I think that the Lord Jesus
has a greater investment in our labors for him than we do. I think he has much more of a
sympathetic awareness of what it means to actually serve Christ
on a public level more than we do. I think he's more invested
in making sure that you and I understand the returns that come from serving
Christ. But I don't think we are. I think
sometimes we are very much under the assumption that it doesn't
matter whether we serve him or not. I think it was the children
of Israel in their low ebb in the book of Malachi, as we're
closing out the Old Testament, when they said, what profit has
it been for us to labor and to fast and to pray and to go to
church and to serve you? Sacrifices in the morning, sacrifices
at noon, sacrifices at night. And they were saying it doesn't
seem to appear to be any benefit from this. Have you ever felt
that way? Just tell the truth. You're in
the house of God right now. Just tell the truth. And the
point is this, that unless the Lord Jesus Christ gives us tokens
of his presence and of his current concern from time to time, we
can start thinking that way. And then we can start losing
our principle. P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-L. We can start losing our priority.
We can stop understanding that the call for the people of God
is to first seek ye the kingdom of God. And everything else takes
care of itself. Unless you and I are principled
people like that as Christians, we will easily be distracted.
We will look up one day after many years and realize that we
are so far off track and have not accomplished anything that
we initially set out to do for the Lord Jesus. Am I making some
sense? And so the text is very clear that our Lord wants you
to know that he's always, you remember that woman, that little
bitty woman who walked up to the treasury with no one looking,
but our Lord, and she dropped in two mites, and he told his
disciples, look, no, don't pay attention to the Pharisees, because
they throwing their money up in the air, blowing a trumpet
and wanting everybody to see how much they give. I have just given $500. He said,
no, don't look at them. Look at the one who sneaks up,
gives all her life. I tell you everywhere that this
gospel is preached, her name, will be mentioned. Is that a
rate of exchange or what? Is that a rate of exchange? See,
the Bible tells us if we worship him in secret, he will publicly
manifest our personal adoration and service to him. Our master
is laying down this principle here in the church at Thyatira
as well, ladies and gentlemen, as he prepares to speak. Now
notice what he says in verse 19. Again, he says, I know your
works, your charity, your service, your faith, your patience, and
your words, and the last to be more than the first. This is
what makes them so unique, but that falls under another point
we're gonna deal with here in a moment. Let me just share with
you the principle. When he gives to the church at
Thyatira, this acknowledgment, this acknowledgment of their
labors, and he does it in a specific way. I know your works. Your
charity and service. The word charity is love there.
It should not ought to be merely charity in the sense of us, you
know, giving money to a nonprofit organization. The word charity
is agape and it really does truly mean I know your love and the
service that flows from your love and the faith that flows
from your love and the endurance that flows from your love. And
then he says, I know your words. And all he was doing was capping
it off. I know your works. I know the character of your
works. I know the motive of your works. Listen, I know your works. You guys got that? That's what
that means. I know your work. I'm aware of it. And this is
important because the works of the church at Thyatira had now
began to renown and sound abroad to everyone. These are an industrious
people. Now, this is quite interesting
too, because you and I are really a product of our culture. And
as I stated earlier, the church at Thyatira was in the midst
of a culture where people were working hard, they were making
good money, and they were into trade. They were into serving
one another, making things. They were a strong upper middle
class culture that worked hard, industrious, enterprising, making
things innovative. And the church was that way too.
Which means sometimes there are human attributes that we have
when God brings us into the light, which he still continues to use
when once we are in the light. And so you and I need to be able
to make a distinction between human virtues and sinful practices. You understand the difference?
Human virtues and sinful practices. I get this question frequently
when I'm dealing with counseling people on how to raise their
kids, which is a very difficult thing. You know, brand new parents,
the children are born and they're angels for about six months.
And after about six months, then they fall into this ambiguous
pattern. And this ambiguous pattern happens
to be like, they're still angels, but I'm starting to see some
horns rise up. And I'm wondering, should I get
a file to start filing them down so I can keep them in the angelic
state? And over time, the child morphs
into this real problematic element. They're not paying attention
to their parents. I always say to the parents make sure you
understand the human element of your child Contra distinctive
to the sinful things that you have to curtail and work through
You always want to know their nature. How did God make that
person uniquely? There's a human element that
we have to put up with like God puts up with you and me you understand
that a human element and then a You work through that. And
this is what he's doing with the church here. Interesting.
Let's let's go to work a little bit. Interesting. He's actually
doing what is called basically establishing a relationship affirmation
before he actually deals with accusing them about things that
threaten the relationship. In other words, he's affirming
his relationship to them. affirming the fact that he's
with them and aware of and is applauding what they have done
before he begins to render accusations about their relationship. Those
are good rules. I've told parents before about
this little colloquialism and it's not from me, it's out there
somewhere. Rules without relationship equals
what? Rebellion. Rules without relationship
equals rebellion. Pastor, can we turn that around?
Sure, we can turn it around. Relationship without rules equals
rebellion too. You got that? And so the point
is, is that for relationships to be healthy, there has to be
rules. For rules to work positively,
there has to be a relationship. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
is affirming the relationship, is he not? And now he's getting
ready to lay down the rules. That means he cares. He's not
just a despot ruling over people in a detached way, far off, aloof
from them, caring nothing about who they are. He cares deeply.
All whom the Lord loves, he what? Listen to how this works then.
We are looking at point number one. If you can pull up our PowerPoint
for them, point number one. This is so critical of a truth.
The virtues, of good works, the virtues of good works. I know
your works and your charity and your service. I know your patience
and I know your works. The dominant thing in verse 19
are works. And I wanna share with you in
our outline just four basic important principles about good works.
It's very important for you and I to know that you don't ever
put the doctrines of the gospel over against good works and pit
them against one another as if they are mutually exclusive.
The man or the woman that pits good works over against the gospel
has failed to understand the aim of the gospel. And people
often do that because people are lazy and don't want to serve
God. They kind of somehow want to fall over on the category
of simply believing and not responding in faith and obedience to the
believing. And so somehow they can't correlate or can't harmonize
the principle of good works with the basis of faith in Christ. But if you know your Bibles well,
you know, as we've stated before, according to James chapter 2,
faith without works is what? You can be sure of that. You
can be sure of that in the book of James James makes it so vividly
clear And I want you to see this before we move on to our next
observation under this first point the virtues of good works
James chapter 2 verses 15 through 20 Exercises our senses and massages
our conscious and hopefully our heart on this principle as well
the virtue the virtue of Good works. And in fact, I gave you
an illustration of that. Did I not with the woman who
gave all she had? Was that not a good work? Do
you remember that sister who bought that alabaster box of
ointment and poured it upon the head of our master and prepared
him for his burial? Did he not say that was a good
work that she did? Indeed, he acknowledged it. In
James chapter 2, notice what it says in verse 15 and following. If a brother or a sister be naked
and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them,
depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give
them not those things which are needful for the body. What does
it profit for you to tell them to go be warmed and filled? Even
so, faith, this is what we call our parallel clause, even so,
faith, if it hath not works, is what? being alone, abiding
as a seed that never went into the ground and died and brought
forth fruit. And of course, the context is
verse 14. What doth it profit, my brother, though a man say
he hath faith and have not works? Can faith in that sense save
him? James was pushing up against
this notion that you can boast in believing in Christ and have
no heart to serve him. Look at verse 18. Yea, a man
may say you have faith and I have works and James says show me
thy faith without thy works and I will show you my faith by my
works. He argued logically and rationally
for the evidence of faith. Now here's another rule just
in case you don't know it. The evidence of faith is works. And the evidence of grace is
faith. The evidence of faith is works
and the evidence of grace is faith. If a man says he knows
the grace of God, it will be evident by faith in Christ. We'll
get to that here in a moment. But if a man says he knows something
of the grace of God and is ignorant and not committed to the claims
of the gospel, he knows nothing of the grace of God. And if a
man has faith, He doesn't have to go around telling people he's
saved. I've told us this for years, haven't I? Don't go around
telling people you are saved. You don't need to tell folks
you're saved. I'm saved. Don't tell them. Don't tell them
because your next deed might contradict that anyway, okay?
Don't tell them you're saved. Don't tell them you're saved.
Don't go around telling folks you're saved. Forget it. They'll
know if you're saved because the tenor of your life will demonstrate
that you are on a trajectory for glory and that you mean business
about getting to Jesus. And the decisions, again, those
principles will come out in your life and folks will know you
are serious about God. You don't have to tell them.
You don't have to go around telling folks, this is a problem with
our present day church. We talk too much. in that sense and don't
follow it through with the kind of evidences that adorns the
gospel of the grace of God. I know this hurts, but it's just
true. I happen to love preaching what the text is calling us to.
And so this is where we are right now. I believe in the virtue
of good works. Do you? I believe in them. I believe
in the practical evidences of faith. In fact, the next point
I want to call you to is critical because good works rooted in
faith are the work of God. Go with me in your Bible to Ephesians
chapter 2 and just mark these simple principles that underscores
this once again. Now, if the first proposition
is true, that the practical evidence of faith is essential to authentic
faith, then it follows that this authentic faith has to be rooted
in something. And I submit to you that authentic
faith manifesting itself in words is rooted in the very power of
God working in the life of the people of God to produce those
good works. Ephesians chapter 2, you and
I know verses 5 through 8 very clearly. This is our argument
for the true gospel and its impact in saving us by the grace of
God alone. For by grace are you saved through
what? And that not of yourselves, it
is a what? Tell people quickly that your
capacity and your believing on God is a gift. Don't ever tell
people that faith is intrinsic to your nature. Faith is a gift
from God. You don't earn faith. You weren't
born with faith. God gives a man or woman faith. Do you understand that? You understand
that? That's so critical because we
will steal everything we can from God in order to get some
glory. And the difference between you
as a believer and the unbeliever over there is simply God smiled
on you one day and gave you his name. That's all that is. And so the text tells us in verse
eight, for by grace, are you saved through faith and not of
your it's not of yourself. It is a gift of God. Watch this.
Not of words, lest any man should boast. Now, the true gospel always
demolishes human boasting. This is one of the ways you can
actually determine whether it's the gospel. Does it demolish
human boasting? Verse 10, for you and I who are
believers in Christ are His what? It's a beautiful concept right
there. We are His pot, His pottery,
His vessel. He puts us on the wheel and He
shapes us and forms us. He's the potter, we're the clay,
and He's doing His thing. Is He sovereign? Does He run
this universe? Does He run your life? See, He's
the master shaping your life and putting you in a visible
place where people can see His handiwork in your life. And that's
all of grace. Now watch this now. For we are
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto what? So the sphere
of our existence in terms of our union with the Father is
in Christ Jesus. The goal or an objective there
is the good works that proceed from us as a consequence of God
working in our life, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. There it is, that's the last
line. Are the good works to which God has called us, of which God
himself is working out in our life, necessary? Absolutely. He ordained them that we should
walk in them. Our life is a life of faith,
evidenced by word. Third point in our outline, therefore,
The good works of God that he works in our life and works through
us are designed to adorn the gospel. Titus chapter two, verse
10. Titus two. Again, I was saying
earlier to you that sometimes we can become amiss as to why
we serve God. Well, what the apostle tells
us in Titus chapter two is when we serve God and we serve him
with a knowledge of what we're doing, with a clear aim of what
we're doing, What we are doing is adorning the gospel. You know
what it means to adorn something? To dress it up. To make it attractive. To cause it to actually be enhanced. I know that seems wild, but it's
true. If you and I actually live the gospel out in a way that
honors God, people will become attracted to the gospel by virtue
of your adorning it with a life committed to Christ. This is
true. Does that make some sense? So,
you know, we're back in the Beatitudes. Let your light so shine that
men may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.
So let me lay out a little example for you. This is food for thought.
Are you ready? Let's imagine that you have a three Meal dish
three a combination of three things your your meats or proteins
and you got your Carbohydrates and you hope you got some vegetables
on there. Hope you got colors on your plate. We're talking
a food analogy here, right? You are you following me? I'm
not gonna tell you mine. You ought to you ought to know mine
by now if you've been at grace long enough You got to know my
food Propensities, okay the things I like but you've got categories
on your plate and you you love these foods and But when someone
brings that plate out to serve it to you and they serve it to
you on a nasty, filthy dish. Are you going to eat that food?
You're not going to eat it. And so it is if our life is nasty
and filthy. Why would anyone want to eat
what we have to offer? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
This is so critical for you to get. See, because we're servants
of God. We serve people meals. We have
a gospel feast to give to you. We have meat that you know not
of. We have bread from heaven. We've got matter from God. We've
got living waters to give to you. But we dare not give it
to you on a filthy dish or a dirty glass when God Almighty has given
us everything necessary to wash us up so we can present it to
him in a dignified way. Am I making some sense? Titus
chapter 2 then the apostle is dealing with what what we call
the basic structures of life in terms of families and businesses
and companies and things Like that and in Titus chapter 2 we
are told over in verse 10 He's speaking to servants verse 9
servants slaves be obedient to your own what? Verse 9. Do you see it? Say he exhorts
servants to be obedient to their own master in this 21st century
Where you and I are litigious and in fighting and boycotting
and and arguing people of everything this verse doesn't even work
anymore. Ah He's teaching slavery This can't be from God Am I telling
the truth? So your liberation theology would
assert that Paul did not know what he was talking about when
he told believing slaves that to be obedient to their masters.
I assert to you that you have a master one way or the other. Every one of us is a slave to
somebody and you can tell what kind of slave you are by how
you act. You may be under the temporal
limited control of an earthly master. But if you are the Lord
Jesus Christ servant you have a greater master to serve. who
in serving him will dignify him, adorn his gospel, and might just
very well bring your boss to Christ. But if your boss has
heard your mouth before you even came in the building, talking
about how you know Jesus and love Jesus, and you're messing
up on the job, I mean messing up, Because Christianity has
a horrible reputation today for being nothing but lip service,
don't get their own time, don't do the right thing, cheating
and stealing and all of that. We have a horrible record of
that. This is why folks don't want to pay no attention to religious
folks. Because of the terrible testimony that's rendered to
the God. Am I making some sense? I'm just telling you now, you
got to pay attention to this. You got to pay attention. Christ
says, I know your words. I know them. He's not jumping
over this. He's not. Our master has never
been elated by how much you have acquired a right knowledge of
the scriptures. He has never been moved by your
ability to articulate sound doctrine. He knows the whole of your doctrinal
theses can come crashing down by one blatant, scandalous act
of rebellion and disobedience to him. Did you all hear that?
One scandalous act can destroy all of the eloquence and articulation
and development and argumentation of your so-called knowledge of
God. So be very careful. Here's what
he says. He says, let the servants be obedient to their masters
and please them well. Man. In all things. No, Paul, don't say that. Not
answering again. Oh, I can't do that. You know
how you just talk back? because you're an American Christian,
you have no respect for authority, just talk back. Just every way,
talk back. You have no Christian liberty
for that. Are you hearing me? You have
no Christian liberty for that. See, this is the reason why we
cannot reach secular, carnal men and women. And many of them
are on the brink of inquiring. Because they're so famished with
this foolishness out there. But they can't believe us. I'm
making some sense. Now listen to it. Not purloining. Do you guys see that word purloining?
That's old Saxon English. That means stop stealing. Stop
stealing. Don't go around acting as if
you're so broke that you don't have a God. You got to steal time on the
clock, steal food out the refrigerator, steal parking spots, stealing
in the name of Jesus. But in all things showing good
fidelity, that's faithfulness. These same characteristics ought
to be in a relationship of a husband and wife. But he's using this
metaphor for the slaves because the first century culture was
dominated by slaves. Most of the people that came
to Christ were slaves. Watch this. And do this in order
that you may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Do you see that? Do it in order
to make the gospel shine. So then, the virtue of good works
is that without it, our faith is in question. Secondly, the
virtue of good works is that it's rooted in God's purpose,
God's ordained purpose, God's eternal purpose in Christ. And
then finally, nextly, it adorns the gospel. It adorns the gospel
wherever you are. Be careful, therefore, to do
them because people cannot see your faith. And point number
five, one, two, three, four is It will justify you and God on
the last day. First Peter chapter 2 verse 11
and 12. This is going to hurt a little bit. And I tell you
why. Because I think that some people
really do push the envelope and walk the precipice of refusing
to recognize the correlation between good works and authentic
faith. And as a consequence, they have
absolutely no intention, no intention to actually live for the glory
of God in a manner that says, do you know what? The people
that God has put me in contact with every day, we're going to
meet again. I'm going to meet you. You're
going to meet me. We're going to meet our bosses. We're going
to meet our coworkers, going to meet schoolmates. We're going
to meet a lot of people on the last day. On the last day, you're
going to meet a lot of people. And on that last day, those people
are going to be surprised that you in the wrong line right along
with them. And then on the other hand, many
of those people are going to be to their own chagrin, grieved
because you told them and you loved them and you showed them
and they still would not believe. Are you hearing me? Are you hearing
me? Listen to what it says in the text first Peter chapter
2 verses 11 and 12. Here's what the Apostle Peter
says Dearly beloved I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lust you
guys got that I which war against the soul. If for no other reason,
abandon, avert, subdue, suppress the inclination to live like
hell because it wars against your soul when you're born again.
See now, when you're not born again, this is all good. But
when you're saved, living like you used to live apart from Christ
is a major conflict. Now listen to what he goes on
to say. Having your conduct, what? Honest. Oh man, we're already
knocked out, Lord. Honest, there's not an honest
Christian in America. I'm kidding, there are some.
But listen, having your conversation honest, that means having it
clear, having it open, having it not complex, having it not
sophisticated. Don't have people wondering where
you are with God. Having your conversation honest
among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak, Against you as evildoers
They may buy your good words Did you get it Do you say words? It says works They speak evil
against you not because of your good works. They speak evil against
you because of your gospel Your gospel is designed to offend
them. Are you guys hearing me? The
gospel is designed to offend people, but you offset the offense
by loving them, by responding to them in a way of sympathy
and understanding so that they have to struggle with the truth
that offends and the loving person who handed you that truth that
offends. You guys got that? This is all
about, as Paul puts it, commending ourselves to the conscience of
every man. I can reach your conscience with
the truth of the word of God if I live right by God in your
presence. I can reach your conscience with
God's gospel if I live in a way that you know I'm sincere about
God. I'm not playing with God. I'm not a huckster. I'm not a
crook. I'm not a liar. I'm not a cheat.
I'm serious about God. I can reach your conscience.
That's what we're called to do as we live in the sight God who
tries the hearts of every man listen to it that they may behold
your good works which they shall behold I Mean which they shall
behold glorify God in the day of visitation Do you see that? What is Peter saying? There's
a day coming when God's gonna visit us That's another way of
saying he's coming in judgment And in that day, we're all going
to stand before God. And everyone who has been exposed
to you by God's providence is going to glorify God one way
or the other. On the one hand, if you were
so influential in their life as to cudgel their conscience,
even though you didn't see them come to faith in Christ in your
own visible presence, Because you could have gone away from
them and they could have come to christ some other way on the
last day They're gonna say that woman that man was a major influence
on my life. I remember what they said I remembered
how they lived. Yes god You are true and I know
you are true because of what they said and what they did they
will glorify god on that day And they will justify you They
will justify you. That's the day of justification.
God will be justified, His gospel will be justified, and His people
will be justified on that day. Did you know that? Because see,
we're condemned today. We're told that we're mean, we're wrong,
we're bigoted, we're narrow-minded, we're demonic. On that day, God's
going to justify us because we're justifying Him right now. You
guys got that? That's exactly what's going to
happen. And that's why you and I must live for His glory and
understand the state of humanity where they are. Because there's
a day coming when God's going to pull the curtains back, cut
all the lights off. All darkness is going to scatter.
All of the lies and the arguments and the copying and the resistance
will be removed and we will all stand before the blistering light
of God Almighty. And there will be no place for
the workers of iniquity to hide themselves. The mountains will
flee. The rocks will flee. Everything
will flee. And we will all stand before
God. And then God will take the judgment
into account. And our hope is that we are on
the right side of that judgment. As Jesus plainly said, set the
sheep on my right, the goats on my left. And Paul says, do
you know we will judge angels and men? That's what he says. The matter, therefore, then of
our good works is very important, which brings me to our second
point, the danger of good works. OK, this is the thing I want
to start to exercise your senses on now. It's true that good works
can be a danger. Now, they are not generally emphasized
in the scriptures as dangerous to the degree that the scriptures
emphasize Good works as being a token and evidence and in a
necessary Measure by which we can please God the scripture
tells us in John 15 very plainly Herein is my father glorified
that you bear much fruit, right? So we know that but there are
dangers and this will this will now end move us into the main
body of our concern, of which I will just unpack it just a
little bit, develop it today, and we're gonna dive in deeply,
Lord willing, next week, because there's so much to learn here. There are dangers to good works,
not the good works themselves, but what the good works have
a tendency to produce in people who do not keep their principles
clear. Remember principles meaning priorities? Again, Revelation chapter 2 verse
19. Hear it again so we can go into
our point. Our Master says in a very, very, very keen way,
I know your works, your charity, your service, your faith, your
patience, your works, watch this, and the last to be more than
the first. Do you see that? That is a profound
commendation that our Master is giving to let them know that
the nature of good works when we do them on the basis of a
right premise, a right motive, with the right objective in view,
should grow. Our works should grow. You read
it for yourself, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1. But all through
the New Testament epistles, Paul speaks to, under inspiration,
that you and I should increase more and more and more. Increase
more in knowledge, increase more in love, Increase more in service. You remember what first corinthians
chapter 15? I'm just thinking about it now says in around verse
57 that we are to always Abound in the work of the lord knowing
that your work in the lord is not vain abounding abounding
In the works of the lord, so you and I should be uh, keenly
aware that we should not plateau We should be growing even to
your old age. Do you know what the psalmist
says about the old saints? They shall still be bearing fruit,
even in their old age. The palm tree bringing forth
fruit, even in their old age. Lord, let me be so. Don't let
me be a dry tree when I'm 90 years old. If I can write, if
I can pray, just let me do something to keep bearing fruit for your
glory. Listen to it. Listen to it. And
the last would be more. And then he goes on to verse
20, which is now going to cause our concern. Notwithstanding,
I have a few things against you. What he's about to deal with
is the complex consequences of a church that has become extremely
efficient in good works. You guys are doing great works
and you are growing in it. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against you. because you suffer that woman Jezebel. That's the first line. I'll develop
it more fully next week. Are you with me? Because you
tolerate that woman Jezebel. So here we have now sort of a
paradox. Here's the paradox. The church
is commended by the Lord herself for being fruitful in its good
works and growing in them. but he has also exposed a reality
and that's this you are a church that has been given to compromise compromise so on the one hand
you have this burgeoning growing church where you are doing good
works on a very social level, all to be done. Jesus did it.
He fed the 5,000. He healed people. All of those
things are to be done. We are to love our fellow man.
But underneath all of that, which is upfront, behind the scene,
you are compromising in critical areas that constitutes true faithfulness
to Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, I submit
to you, that's the danger of good works. The danger of good
works is this, that you can become so enamored by them that you
think that that's all that's important to God is your good
works. That it doesn't matter whether
or not you maintain fidelity to the gospel, that you tell
the truth about who Christ is and what he did, why he did it,
who he did it for, and where he is now. It doesn't matter
whether or not you hold to biblical principles, biblical truths,
or what have you, as long as you are doing good works. Hey,
God knows your heart. I've been telling you for years.
Yes, he does. Problem is you don't. So now
watch this. This is a glaring contradiction
that we've got to work with for a few more minutes and we'll
come back. Here's the glaring contradiction. You are known
everywhere. for all kinds of labors you cross
land and sea you help folks all over planet earth you got awards
and plaques and you go to ceremonies and they they give you honorariums
and everybody knows Thyatira for being a great great charitable
work but you have completely opened the door to heresy and
false doctrine are you hearing me So I'm going to lay down some
prophetic truths here that are so clear that those of you who
have been a Christian for 20 years will agree with me right
away. You new Christians, you won't
know what this is about, but you older Christians will know
this. Because the trends of the things that have taken place
in the book of Acts, or in the book of Revelation, are trends
that are dominating every century and they're dominating our present
generation as well, and have for the last 100 years. Trends. So under point number two, pull
up point number two, the danger of good works. Point number one
under this heading, feeding the poor, but not preaching to their
souls. Feeding the poor, but not preaching
to their souls. You're jazzed about giving them
a sandwich and a cup of coffee. but you dare not tell them that
they are hell-bound sinners. And if you die tonight with a
full belly, you're going to hell with a full belly. So here again is the tension
that you are allowing your good works now to obscure and to censor
your principle. Remember the principle? First
thing's what? First things first. And so if
I am actually doing secondary and necessary things to the obscuring
of those first principles, I'm actually denying my calling.
I am supposed to feed people, but I'm supposed to make sure
that my feeding them is nothing but a platform and opportunity. I'm trying to get close to them
with a hamburger. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And so we have many, many, many churches that have collapsed
into a diabolical apostasy under the rubric of being known for
good works all around the world. I could spend a whole hour talking
to you about that problem. Many of our churches that were
known for being Orthodox biblically 50 years ago are dead when it
comes to the truth of the word of God. And they're still doing
good works. And they have conferences and
they have meetings and they have celebrations year in and year
out around all that they do. And the gospel is buried. Most
of the time in the treasury. That's a whole nother message. Point number B. If they are feeding
the poor and not preaching to their souls, which is a real
problem for eternity bound men and women. They are fighting
social ills. Now, ladies and gentlemen, there
are all kinds of battles on the front to fight. The battles are
growing too. As I deal with political talk,
like many of you listen to the program on Mondays, I love dealing
with political issues because political issues are the framework
for discoursing or having conversations about how our world works. The
only reason you're not interested in politics is because you're
ignorant of how the devil works. But when you become aware of
how the enemy works, you understand that he works through two systems,
politics and what? And religion. And you've got
to understand both because you don't have a conversation with
anybody who has a little gray matter whereby political things
don't come up. Because politics now has become
the framework by which the government and society now is dealing with
all the moral issues that you and I are intertwined with and
struggling through. So have you noticed daddy politics
and mama politics is in your business everywhere? They're
telling us what's right and what's wrong. And they're telling us
how to do it and how not to do it. And they're telling us the
consequences of not agreeing with them on certain assumptions
and notions about what constitutes the welfare of the state. Have
you noticed that? If you haven't noticed that, then you are the
present day Rip Van Winkle. I know that doesn't work for
you young kids because y'all never read that book before. But stay
with me for about 10 more minutes. I'll be done. What I'm saying
is you cannot go to sleep because we are being brought into slavery
again on multiple levels. We do not walk in our authority
as the people of God. They're being taken away from
us daily. You notice emerging are the thought police. Isn't
that crazy? People that will want to punish
you for what you think. And we call this the land of
the free. You can go to jail or be fined
for what you think. We are a long ways away from
how things used to be. This is why some of y'all scared
to say the right thing on the job. They just kicked Donald Sterling
out of the NBA. just cause he told what he felt
was the truth in his heart about black people. Huh? It's so funny. And I told you
guys on the show, don't y'all go to burning Donald Sterns.
Don't, don't go to burn it. Cause I know you want to throw
your piece of wood in there. He's a bigot. He hate black people. He's a burning, burning my burning,
my burning, my burning, my, and I told you guys, Donald Sterling
is your grandmama. your great-grandmama, your uncle,
your cousin, your sister, your brother, and you too sometime,
truth be told. Now we want to be hypocrites
and hang him high, when in reality, all of our families are filled
with racism and bigoted notions, comfortably talking about white
folks and black folks and this folk and that folk. And now we
want to put on a kind of self-righteous garb and hang him. Forget it. The seeds of racism are in all
of us. This is why we preach a radical
Christ-centered theology that demolishes all ethnic preference. A radical Christ-centered theology
that demolishes all ethnic preference. Look around. Do you understand
what I'm saying? You can't look down your row
and get all one ethnic anything. And we're not going to have it
here at Grace. It's just not going to happen.
Because he has made us one in Christ. And if we are one in
Christ, we bear the same spiritual DNA. So feeding the poor but not preaching
Christ, this here is proselytizing. This is what the Pharisees did,
crossing land and sea, tithing, mint, ruin, come in. And you
know what Mark 8, 36 says? What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his soul? So we can feed
people, but if you don't feed them the Word of God, you have
just sedated their conscience. Are you guys hearing me? Very
important. That's what's going on in religion.
Fighting social ills. What are we going to fight? Abortion?
What are we going to fight? Child slavery? What are we going
to fight? You know, prostitution. What
are we going to fight? There are a thousand social ills. Now, you can fight them if God's
called you to that. But you better know that the
only real, ultimate, lasting solution is a changed heart. Did you guys hear me? It's a
changed heart. Now watch this for some of you
who didn't understand why I gave the caveat to fight. I'm telling
you fight. Because they're coming to kick
your door in. And take your children and make
them slaves of Babylon. Just because you won't fight.
So you can sit up and pretend that they're not coming, but
they are already here. Your children are hearing that
garbage every day. Every day they're hearing the
Babylonian doctrine. And there are going to be times
when you're going to have to move. There are going to be times
when you have to change schools. There are going to be times when
you have to pull them out of school. Because the schools will
be so corrupt, so vile, so wicked, that if you don't pull them out,
you are abusing your children. and let them, when they're 18,
19 years old, determine whether or not they want to walk back
into that cesspool. But they will know your mama
and your daddy did not allow you to coexist in that mess because
they know evil communication corrupts good manners. This is
called preemptive strikes, especially with the young ones. Am I making
some sense to y'all? Especially with the young ones. So some
of you are called to that kind of radical activity. Others of
you to other things. Evil comes into our life. And
you know what that evil does? That evil causes you and I now
to be shaped and molded as a servant for that particular issue. We
got to go to task against that issue with the objective of seeing
God's elect brought out of some of those pits. Let me just remind
you, if you're not persuaded, people are in pits. Are you hearing
me? Pits. Those are pits that I'm
describing. Somebody has to go down into
the pit on a cold and snowy day and bring them out by the power
and valor of the Spirit of Christ. Otherwise, support somebody else
that does it. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So now let's move to our next point. We can feed the poor,
but if we don't preach the gospel to them, we endanger their eternity
bound soul. We can fight social ills, but without it being a
premise for the truth also, we're going to look up 10 years later
and the ills are going to only be worse in a manifold way. Haven't we been pouring money
into social programs for the last hundred years and we're
no better for it? Because the issue is not some
type of temporal band-aid. It's a whole worldview that needs
to change. Hearts need to be renewed. And until that happens, nothing
will be fixed. And by the way, just in case
you don't know where the real major battlefront is, it's in
your home. Just in case you're not paying
attention to me, I'm talking to every one of you that got
kids. If you're not paying attention to me, I'm telling you, don't
go outside of your home fighting the battle. The battle is in
your home. Just in case you think it's out
there, it's in your home. As long as you still are the
guardian of young children, it's in your home. Because their goal
is to get the children. And by the time the children,
18, 19, 20 years old, serving Nebuchadnezzar, they're your
enemy. And you fed them and clothed
them and gave them all that money. gave him cards and put insurance
on the car, you gave him a room and you created your own enemy. Well, see, and the point is that
I know that we are on the brink of the breaking out of a massive
deluge of utter evil. There is an army on the part
of this Babylonian system, our government, our social constructs,
our educational constructs, our entertainment constructs, our
business constructs, that's ready to just break out and bring into
captivity everyone that's not willing to submit to their authority. And see, the church is not an
army today. It's everything but an army.
I told you last week that this gospel is a manly gospel. It's a manly gospel. It requires
heart. It requires men to be men. Do
you know our women will be the best women in the world if men
will just be men? Do you know that? If men will
be men, our women will be the best women in the world. If men
will be men. But men must not morph into some
androgynous, wimpy, sensual, I don't know what. You must not,
you must not degenerate. You must not degenerate. You
must be a man of God. You must love God, love him passionately
and love truth. And then you are going to be
the safest thing to every woman. Every woman can be secure in
the presence of a real, authentically godly man. She can go to sleep
by a godly man. Because while he's a lion, he's
a tame lion. He got your back. He's not going
to eat you up or the children up. Write it down, you young
brothers. Write it down. See this row of
young brothers? Yes. Write it down. See, this is what I'm talking
about doing tomorrow with our young men, teaching them what
it means to be a man, because the battle is so fierce that
we cannot even begin to scratch the surface, touch the hem of
the depths of Satan as he speaks. It's so fierce. It's so fierce,
the depths of it. And our master noted that, didn't
he? As they speak. We'll get into that next week.
As they speak, the danger of good works, feeding the poor,
but not preaching the gospel to them, fighting social ills
without it being a premise for the truth. At least, my brothers
and sisters, be a Trojan horse. See, that's an old book too you
still didn't get. So book two, going on up in there
in that hearse, 10, 12 soldiers. You can even have some sisters
in there, my Amazonian sisters, that can shoot straight. Get
them in there too. And just when you're in the middle
of the city, take the head off that horse and climb out at night
and go after the enemy and destroy every refuge, every stronghold
that's holding your sons and your daughters and your brothers
and sisters and subdue it with the truth of the gospel and be
ready to die for it. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's right. Point number three. And here's
the one that's getting ready to deal with our text. Ecumenical
involvement. Leading to an assumption of Christian
unity. You guys see that? You young
people, can y'all understand that? You guys got that? I want
our young people to get that. I know the word ecumenical is
a little long, but you guys got that? It means, listen to it,
ecumenical means all kinds of religious groups getting together
under the banner of love. Their doctrines are as diverse
as Satan and Jesus is. They don't hold common theological
sets of theories or propositions to save your life. They are all
contrary one to another. But for them, the main goal is
an ecumenical movement whereby we save the world at the expense
of the truth. the assumption of an ecumenical
unity leading to, or the involvement of an ecumenical movement leading
to the assumption of Christian unity. See, you guys hear it
all the time. You hear this, you feel this
power. It's a false power. I want you
to get this now. You feel it. You sense it when you watch it
and observe it. When you see leaders come together.
your Catholics and Episcopalians and your Baptists and your Presbyterian
and your Pentecostals and your Lutheran and all of these groups.
And they come together with all of their regalia on, all of their
garb on. They come there, sit on the panel.
And it all looks like Christianity, doesn't it? It make you feel
so good. We all now loving one another. Isn't that quoting John 17? Didn't
our master say that all we need to do is love one another and
the world will know we're Christians. It pulls on you. Here's the problem. It's all hypocrisy. And it's at the expense of biblical
truth. Which you and I as Christians
have no right to set aside. Are you a Christian? You have
no right to set aside biblical truth for human unity. In that
sense, are you ready? Divided we stand. Did you get
that? As for me and my house, we shall
serve the Lord if the whole neighborhood goes to hell. You guys understand
what I'm saying? We make a circle around our family
and we pray for everybody else, but I'm obligated to make sure
every soul in my house knows the truth. If we can get a family
after a family after a family after a family after a family
walking in the principle, the principle of the truth of the
gospel, we might be able to do something. This is what I'm talking
about. So here we go. Our master is
dealing with a major glaring problem in the church And it's
a consequence of what I just stated concerning the danger
of good works Causing a very very very serious problem to
occur. Let me articulate it. I'll get
to my fourth and final point for the day When you enter into
relationships with people who do not believe what you believe
those relationships become storms intellectual storms Ideological
storms Psychological storms emotional storms. They challenge your convictions
They test your beliefs when you enter into relationships with
people who are not believers in Christ They impact you Watch
this because of your common good works together You do good works
together and they're nice people already told you they're nicer
than you and me And they're nice If Christ didn't give me a love
for the truth of the gospel, I might buy him. But that spirit
of truth rises up in a brother. And all of their nice platitudes. Become nothing. Nothing over
against the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for my soul. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Because they did not receive
the love of the truth that they might be saved, God gave them
over to a strong delusion that they should believe this lie.
That's what you're dealing with when you get together with all
these folks and they start telling you the main thing is that we
love one another. Don't tell us that. So what happens? That experience, that ecumenical
experience starts to seep into your convictions and corrupt
and cause you to compromise your understanding of the gospel.
It has happened to me more than once. People will come to me
and start asking me basic Bible questions about the love of God,
about faith in Christ, about the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. And they have been at grace for
15 years. But what had happened was they had spent too much time
with the enemy. And the enemy began gradually
to erode their convictions. And now all of a sudden they're
struggling with whether or not the Bible is the Word of God.
Whether or not Christ is the exclusive way. Not just a word
we say. He is emphatically the way. To the exclusion of every other
way. which means we can't even have a conversation about another
way. Because if we have a conversation
about another way, I am being unfaithful to my husband. There
is but one way. And then we can follow all the doctrines
all the way down where people compromise. They used to believe
in these doctrines of grace. You're going to learn this on
Friday. Those of you who are in the Friday Bible study, remember
smooth things. Smooth things proper top prophesy
unto us lies Speak to us deceit train us to hate the truth And
that's what false religion does it trains you to hate the truth. It causes you to become now a
Compromiser and it destroys your convictions And it's all a consequence
of consensus and the masses Following a certain trend. Have you heard
it? My deeds are my creeds. Have you heard it? Well, that's
because you're not watching TV that much. That's OK. This is
Rick Warren, the biggest, biggest so-called evangelical preacher
in the world. He sits on the boards of the big companies around
the world doing stuff that I can't even begin to tell you. But you
know what he says? My deeds are my creeds. You know what that means? I'm
not telling anybody anything about Jesus. I'm going to get
you saved by my good works. Did you get that? He took that
from an old Catholic monk who fundamentally said the same thing
when he said, my life is my gospel. But if I have to, I'll say a
few words. Did you get that? In other words,
they have now minimized the essential instrumentality by which men
and women are brought to a saving knowledge of Christ. And that's
the word of God. How are you going to save somebody
just by your life? Are you hearing me? Even Jesus
didn't save anybody by his life. You read your Bible. The word
division comes up in the book of John three times, and they
were divided because of his words and they were divided because
of the things that he said. And they were divided because
of him. This is how you know you're a
true Christian with the true gospel. People don't like you because
of what you say. They don't like you because of him. Do you understand
that? Christ is the great divider. That's right. That's right. Here we go. Here we go. Because
I know you're hungry now. Listen to it. Listen to it. Here
it is. We're done. He says, notwithstanding, verse
20, I have something against you because you suffer, you suffer
that woman Jezebel which calls herself a prophetess to teach
and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things
sacrificed unto idols. Do you guys see that? Well, whether
or not you know it, we have embarked for the third time on the same
cultural trend from two different groups. We have embarked for
the third time on the same cultural trend from two different groups. So now we are now moving into
a concern. Point number three, the compromise
of truth, a foreshadow of our present liberal church. I think
I persuaded you of that. So let me just enumerate the
points here and wrap it up. Point number one, an abandonment
of biblical authority. Here's my proposition. If this
woman called Jezebel, we'll talk about it more fully next week. If this woman called Jezebel
is so prominently Influential in the midst of the church that
Jesus has to call her out by name It's clear that in that
church they have abandoned biblical authority Do you hear me? It's clear point number B the
influence of a charismatic feminism The influence of a charismatic
feminism. What do we mean by that? history has already demonstrated
the pendulum swinging from left to right between the misogynist
hostilities of unsaved men downing our women and dogging our women,
to the other end where women now are running everything, even
to the point of abandoning biblical truth. Why would our master engage
in calling this woman out if it was just a small matter? The
matter here is huge. and underlying this female, this
female, this prominent female in this very liberal church where
they are doing a lot of good works, the spirit of God is pointing
her out. Do you know why? Because the
church has compromised so long that it has failed to actually
institute and enforce biblical authority when it comes to the
position of women in the church. That's right. That's right. There's
no way Jezebel, Martha, Susie, whoever could ever get into such
a prominent place without them abandoning biblical authority.
There's no way. Listen, when you read your Bible
carefully, there's no way that she could have that kind of prominent
authority. That's not her place. Stay with me now. This is, at
this point, this is not even about right doctrine in terms
of what she teaches. This is about her having slipped
in under the auspices of compromising leadership who do not recognize
what the Bible says about the role of women in the church. This is compromising leadership.
And I'm just telling you, and you and I are living in that
day. This is not even about the fact that she has continued to
teach the same trendy cultural evil that Balaam taught and the
Nicolaitans taught. Of course she's teaching the
same trendy cultural evil. Of course she is because she's
not a gospel preacher. Of course she is, because the
only way you can be lifted up to prominence where you are blatantly
violating God's laws is for you to cater to felt needs and affirm
the cultural trends. By the way, by the way, just
in case some of y'all hot got your arms crossed, I don't know
how to, I don't know how to judge you sisters. I do actually, I do. I'll tell
you how I do. I've been married for 30-something
years, have six daughters, okay? Six. So God made me hypersensitive
to women, but it doesn't stop me from telling women the truth.
You have a place, and when you step out of your place, you are
wrong. It doesn't matter how gifted
you are, you are wrong. I'm going to leave this to unpack
it more fully next week. But let me leave you with this.
If you think somehow that some of us pastors are making too
much of the prophetic implications of this text, let me let me let
you hear what Jesus says. OK, watch this verse 21, 22 and
23, and we're done. Are you ready? This is the master's
response to a real problem. Now I gave her space to repent. Pastor, how long? Well, in that
context, we don't know how long. In America, he's given America
at least 150 years space to repent. In other words, the Lord is long
suffering. He's gracious, especially when some of his dumb, silly
sheep in the female category have this inclination to deny
a sound orthodoxy because they feel called until he deals with
them and puts them back in line. See, I know many of them. I know
quite a few of my sisters who thought it was all right to get
on the road and start preaching and leading men and controlling
men and all that because some silly compromising pastor told
them it was okay, God called you. He never calls you to contradict
his word. He never calls you to contradict
his word. So when God lines you back up
as a godly woman, he doesn't take your gift of teaching away.
He puts you in the right lane so you can do the right thing
for the right purpose if you're on the right team. Listen to
it now. I gave her space to repent of
her fornication and she repented not. Did he know this woman? The fornication here is spiritual.
We'll prove it next week. Behold, I will cast her into
a bed. What a metaphor. See, we're dealing
with old and new things. You and I will be going back
to the Old Testament to understand that there's nothing new under
the sun and that when God uses this metaphor, this analogy as
a warning, he's taking us back to the kings to show us how they
sinned and how we're sinning the same way today. Are you hearing
me? Behold, I will cast her into
a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of their deeds. Is God gracious? Verse 23, and
I will kill her children with death. I am he which searches
the reins and the hearts, and I will give unto every one of
you according to your words. Is he serious? This is not a
joke. This is the mind of our savior
when it comes to order and structure and government in his house.
We don't get to tear the law book up and do whatever we want
to do. He bought us. We did not buy
him. He paid for us with the precious
blood of his own life. We did not pay for him. He gave
us his word We didn't give him the word what came the word of
God out from you only or unto you only first Corinthians 14
He said that After he corrected the women Let them keep silent
in the church For it is not permitted for them to speak in the prophetic
office over the men as also said the scriptures. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? I know some of y'all didn't got
thrown back to pre 40s days now. But see, this is not about old
or new. This is about right or wrong. Let's have the offering
and we'll close in prayer.