After a bit of a break this morning, we turn to our consideration of the seven churches recorded in Revelation 2 and 3. This morning, finishing up chapter 2. But first, if you would turn with me to 1 Kings 16 and 1 Kings 21. Not 22 as I mistakenly put in the bulletin. But 1 Kings 16 and 1 Kings 21, just a couple of verses from each of those chapters. 1 Kings 16, beginning at verse 29 through 33, as we give our attention to the Word of God. In the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel 22 years. Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. And then verse 21, I'm sorry, chapter 21, verses 25 and 26, right after the punishment is prophesied for Ahab and his family. Verse 25. There was never a man like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord urged on by Jezebel, his wife. He behaved in a vilest manner by going after idols like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel. And then turning to the text this morning, Revelation 2, verses 18-29. Revelation 2, verses 18-29. To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching, she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am He who searches hearts and minds and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets, I will not impose any other burden on you. Only hold on to what you have until I come. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He will dash them to pieces like pottery. Just as I have received authority from my Father, I will also give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is said that every man has his price. And of course, we know that this means that if the price is high enough, any man can be bought. And this especially seems to be true with earthly things, earthly possessions. If someone asks you if you'll sell your car, you say, well, if the price is right, sure, I'll sell anything. But a little more deeply, any man's thoughts can be changed if the price is high enough to cause him to evaluate what is really important to him. And if you think about this, obviously it is an attack on commitment. If every man has his price, then ultimately there is no real commitment because any man can be persuaded to change what he is committed to and how strongly he is committed to it. Now, in some respects, this is the situation that we find in the church in Thyatira. But it seems that in this church, not every man could be bought. There were those in the church who were strongly committed to the faith. But there were also those in the church whose commitment only went so far, and because of this, the church in Thyatira was infected. So I preached to you this morning this Word of God. Jesus Christ commands the faithful to stand firm in a badly infected or corrupt church. And in this address, Jesus includes four things. The praise, the problem, the punishment, and the promise. Now once again, as He has with the previous three churches we considered, our Lord identifies Himself in a way that relates to the condition of this particular church. Verse 18 says, To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I believe this introduction has a specific message for this church in Thyatira, which we hope to get to later. But first of all, if we put that all together, He identifies Himself as the divine judge. He is the Son of God, and therefore God Himself. Remember, as chapter 1 points out, He walks among the churches, the seven churches, which represent the entire church of all ages. He is constantly present with His church. And because He is God, He has eyes that are like blazing fire, which also was used to describe Him in chapter 1. But that means that His eyes can penetrate anything. There is nothing hidden from the eyes of Jesus. He goes throughout the earth and He sees what's going on. In fact, with each of these seven churches, He says, I know. I know what's going on. in your church. But Christ's eyesight is not just outward. He also knows what's going on on the inside. He knows, He always knows the spiritual condition of His church. We can't fool Him. He always knows. In Psalm 139, David the psalmist says that God knows everything about him. He knows David's thoughts before he thinks them. He knows David's words, what he is going to say, even before David knows what he is going to say. Boys and girls, Jesus Christ, whose eyes are like blazing fire, can see inside each one of you. And He knows everything there is to know about you. He not only knows what you're doing, but He knows why you are doing it, because He can read your mind. In fact, Jesus knows which of you are really listening right now. And this one whose eyes are like blazing fire can see the infection in this church in Thyatira. But he also identifies himself as the one with feet like burnished bronze. And here we are to think of power. Bronze feet stand for power and strength and especially crushing judgment. As God, Jesus Christ has the power to crush any and everything that opposes Him. This church in Thyatira is dealing with the one who can see who and what they are committed to and what their motives are and the one who can crush anything that opposes Him and challenges the church's commitment to Him. Well, first then, with eyes that can see everything, Jesus sees something in this church that deserves His praise. Verse 19 says, I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. They have been faithful in doing Christian works. Works that show their Christian love. Works that are evidence of faith. Works of charity, demonstrating active love for God and their brothers. Works of service, in which they voluntarily give assistance or help to the poor, to the sick, to the destitute, without expecting anything in return. He also speaks of their faith. pointing to an active, fruit-bearing faith. And then also works of perseverance, enduring persecution and hardship. And Jesus here is talking about those members of the church who were committed to the faith. Those who could not be bought if the price was high enough. But notice that the praise goes on. He says, you are now doing more than you did at first. In other words, you have made progress. You have grown as a Christian. You have not become stale in your Christian walk. Congregation, you may recall that now that this is in contrast to the church in Ephesus, which had not advanced in godliness, but they were commanded to do the things they did at first. They had to go back and start over. They had to remember their first works because they had not advanced. But not this church. God's people were doing more than they did at first. But what praise, huh? What blessed words to come from the mouth of our Lord to hear the Lord say, You have made progress. You have grown. Your commitment to Me has become stronger. Beloved, every Christian makes progress in their Christian walk with the help of God. Every Christian. It's that blessed work of the Holy Spirit called sanctification. which includes being cleansed more and more from the pollution of sin and it includes a growing desire to live in and walk in God's way and to do His will. So does this describe you? I have to ask, does it describe me? Are you making progress in your walk with the Lord? For example, do you desire more and more to take advantage of the means of grace, faithfully seeking the preaching and teaching of God's Holy Word, as well as being faithful in your own personal devotions and in your prayer to God? Do you desire more and more to share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and to help the needy both with word and with deed? And as you look back over your Christian life, are these words true of you? That you are doing more than you did at first. Simply are you growing in faith and in the demonstration of the faith. Jesus knows everything there is to know about these people in the church in Thyatira. They are a testimony to Him through their works. But the situation in the church was far from perfect. As in the second place, Jesus addresses a problem in this church. Verses 20 and 21, Nevertheless, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching, she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. Now, if you think back over the first three churches that we considered, now adding this one, you may notice that there seems to be a reoccurring idea with these first four churches. Along with the Nicolaitans and the teaching of Balaam and now Jezebel is the idea or the promoting of immoral sexual activity and eating food that has been sacrificed to idols. See, these two things were an abomination in the sight of God. And these were the two things you may recall that the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 commanded the Gentile converts to stay away from. The apostles would not load them with any other burdens, for example, by saying they had to become circumcised. But these things they were encouraged to stay away from. But the temptation to participate in these things was in this particular church as well. But also there was a specific teaching being tolerated in the church with temptation to compromise being promoted from within the church. So what was that? What was being taught and tolerated in this church? Now here's where we need to know a little history about Thyatira. The city of Thyatira was not like Ephesus or Smyrna or Pergamum. It was not an important political or governmental city, apparently. It was not well known for being an important center for pagan worship like the other cities. Now don't misunderstand me. There was pagan worship there, as we will notice. But it wasn't considered to be the home of Caesar worship. There was no temple built specifically for a Caesar. There were no other major temples there that drew people and tourists from far and wide. What Thyatira was known for was industry, for commerce and manufacturing. There were a number of different trades that could be found there. For instance, pottery, bronze, cloth, and dye, especially purple dye. You may remember that Thyatira was the home of Paul's convert Lydia, the seller of purple. There were many different trades in Thyatira. And in and of themselves, all these trades were fine. There was nothing wrong with them. But the problem that Jesus addresses comes from the fact that each of these trades had its own guild. And these trade guilds were kind of like labor unions. Maybe not identical, but similar. And boys and girls, this means, for example, all of the pottery makers had their own guild, their own special group, and they would meet together. And this is where it becomes interesting. Each trade guild had its own patron god that supposedly watched over and protected the guild. And if you were in the guild, you had to worship that god and participate in the guild practices. Success for your business depended upon that particular guild and that guild god. The pottery maker would have to worship the pottery guild god and follow the practices of that guild. You see, in order to get ahead in the business world, you had to belong to the guild and you had to get along. You were required to go to the guild festivals and eat meat offered to idols. At those meetings or festivals, a sacrifice was made to the idol god of the guild, and then supposedly that god would give the meat of the sacrifice back to you, back to the people as a gift to eat. And then after the feasting was all over, then the real fun started, the immoral sexual activity. Now, beloved, we need to understand the power that these guilds had there. Whether you had your own business or whether you worked for someone, you had to belong to a particular guild. If you didn't belong, then the guild would make sure that you didn't get any business. That your business would go broke. That you couldn't get a job. You couldn't have your name on the membership rolls without participating in the guild festivals. You couldn't just send in your guild dues and leave it at that. And once you were at the festivities, you couldn't leave early. Plain and simple, in order to survive in the business world in Thyatira, you had to be a full participant in the life of the guild. So then what was a Christian to do? If you didn't participate, most likely that meant there would be no work, no money, no food, only hunger, oppression, and poverty. That was virtually guaranteed. But if you did participate with the guild, That meant that you denied Jesus Christ and you sold out your commitment to Him. It seemed that you were ruled by society no matter which way you turned. The guild controlled the outcome. So what was the Christian to do? Well, in the church, there was a woman whom Jesus calls Jezebel. Now, whether her name was really Jezebel or not, we don't know. Yet it seems that she had considerable influence in the church. She claims as well to be a prophetess. We do know that Jezebel is symbolic for the thinking and teaching of compromise. Again, we read some very descriptive verses from 1 Kings about the original Jezebel, the one that we always think of. She introduced Baal worship into Israel and brought apostasy and spiritual adultery into the kingdom. Well, this Jezebel in Thyatira taught that it was okay to go ahead and participate in these guild activities, no problem, and remain a Christian at the same time. That it was possible to have the best of both worlds. In fact, you would become a better Christian because by experiencing the sin and the deep secrets of Satan, then you can better understand how great the grace of God is. After all, you can't really know how bad something is unless you try it first, right? You can't really know how wicked and evil Satan is unless you participate in his ways. Now, no doubt, beloved, many of us were taught and we still teach our children that if you play with fire, you're going to get burned. Sooner or later. Literally for some of us, and figuratively. For example, boys and girls and young people, if you hang out with the wrong crowd, with others who are not Christians, and who practice behavior that goes against what the Bible teaches, sooner or later you will most likely fall and practice the same behavior. If you drive recklessly, sooner or later you may very well have an accident or cause an accident. And we could talk about many examples here. But again, Jezebel taught that it was okay for Christians. She was a prophetess. Of course, she would say this came from God. it was okay for Christians to participate in idolatrous guild activities as long as you were not sincere. As long as you didn't really believe in these false gods, then you would not be harmed spiritually. It's okay to participate alongside the world in all of their activities as long as you don't really believe what they're doing is right. It's okay. It's like saying it's okay to take drugs as long as you don't get hooked. Or it's okay to go to X-rated movies and watch trash on TV as long as you don't let it affect you. But the truth is, beloved, our surroundings and the activities that we participate in do affect us, either positively or negatively, for good or for bad. What does the Word of God say when it comes to believers mingling with unbelievers? It says, come out from among them and be separate. And beloved, this doesn't mean maybe. As I said this morning, earlier, my dad used to tell me to do something. And he would add, and I don't mean maybe, because he knew that I would consider it an option if he didn't say that. But separation from what we know to be evil is not an option. It's a command. Beloved, this is the very thing that Paul was preaching against in Romans 6. He says, what shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We die to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Well, there were a number of members in the church in Thyatira who followed Jezebel's advice that you can be in the world, that you can participate right alongside of it and not be affected by it. Certainly, you could participate as a Christian in pagan activities, and it won't hurt you. God won't mind. Again, because you'll see even greater how much His grace is. Her teaching was a bad infection in the church. And when the price got high enough, through guild pressure, some sold out their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. The people of God, you cannot divide up your life into compartments and say that your faith in Christianity doesn't affect certain compartments. Oh, my faith is important here on Sunday in church, but it doesn't affect the rest of my life. We cannot say that it doesn't affect my job Monday through Friday. We cannot say that economics is not affected by the fact that we are Christians. That politics is not affected by the fact that we're Christians. That education is not affected by the fact that we are Christians. All of life, all of our life is affected by our Christianity. And our faith is to seize in everything that we touch. Beloved, the church in Thyatira tolerated this infectious teaching. It appears for quite some time. And just like the church in Pergamum, they did not enforce discipline. So Jezebel did her best to get as many as she could caught in her web of deception. And since the church failed to fulfill her disciplinary duty, Jesus announces His own punishment. Verses 21-23, I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am He who searches hearts and minds and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. People of God, if you don't think that what you do in this life affects the next life, and listen to these words again, I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Jeremiah 17.10 says, I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. What you do, what you say, how you speak, how you act, what you believe. It's not that we merit or earn anything by our deeds. We know that. But your deeds, your Christian works, are evidence of a committed life to Jesus Christ. But notice the mercy of God here, even in Jezebel's life. Jesus Christ gave her time to repent. She was apparently a member of the church and through the preaching of the Word with a strong call to repentance and faith, He gave her time to repent, but she wouldn't. And the punishment for Jezebel and for her followers would be severe even to the death of her children, which most likely means the second generation of followers. But one thing is clear, since her children would be put to death, that meant that there would surely be no third generation to follow in her ways. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Jezebel and her followers time to repent. And if you think about it, He gives us time to repent also for those who have not turned to Him in repentance and faith. For those who have not humbled themselves in the sight of God, He gives us time to repent. Every morning that we wake up, His mercies are new. Every new day is the day of salvation. He gives us time to repent. The only thing is we don't know how much time He gives us. Some get more time than others. Many who profess to be Christians don't repent, at least not right away. They go through life not recognizing what's going on in the world, or at least tolerating what's going on, as well tolerating what's going on in the church. They drift through life easily, going along with the flow, not rocking the boat, not wanting to make any waves, instead making life easy. You see, this way they can sleep easier at night. Life is less troublesome if I compromise with the world, taking the easy way out. Beloved, it's easy to never ask how my living looks to Christ who said if you love your husband or wife or mother or father or son or daughter or some organization more than me, you are not worthy of me. We are given time by the grace of God to repent. But don't take up the time. Don't delay. because we know that judgment is coming. Jesus Christ will render judgment in this life as is clear from this text. We don't know how. But if there is still failure to repent, that judgment is a prelude to hell. There will be no third generation, because Satan and his hosts, his followers, will be put away forever and ever. But finally, there were those in the church who had not sold out their commitment to Christ for the highest price. They were not playing with fire. They had remained faithful and committed to Jesus Christ even in the midst of this badly infected church. Beginning at verse 24 to the end of our text, Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets, I will not impose any other burden on you. Only hold on to what you have until I come. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He will dash them to pieces like pottery. Just as I have received authority from my Father, I will also give Him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. These faithful that He is talking to were the ones who said, I don't have to try something to know how bad it is like Satan. They were the ones who understood that situations affect us in some way. They knew that if you give Satan an inch, he'll take a mile. If you give him a finger, he'll take a whole arm. They were the kind that said, I don't have to smoke marijuana to know that it's bad. I don't have to engage in premarital or extramarital sex in order to know that it's evil, that it's wrong. These faithful were suffering the burden of the teachings of this Jezebel and her followers and the burden of being tempted to compromise their Christian faith with these false teachings. But by the grace of God, they stood firm. And they were doing more than at first. And Jesus says, I will not impose any other burden on them. Instead, He commands them to hold on tight to what they have. They are to hold on tight to the truth of the gospel over against the falseness of Jezebel. They are to hold on tight to the fact that in Christ, they are more than conquerors through Him who loves them and gave Himself for them. They're to hold on tight to their inheritance, the inheritance that they have in heaven. Peter talks about that inheritance in 1 Peter chapter 1, the gift of salvation, that inheritance kept in heaven for God's people. It's a priceless inheritance, beloved. We live in a value-driven society and world, but there's nothing with greater value, nothing that is more priceless than the gift of salvation. And to those who overcome, Jesus promises a scepter and the morning star. This symbolizes the warrior king. This was prophesied of the Messiah. In Numbers 24, we find that episode where Balak hired Balaam to come and curse Israel, but he could only bless them. And in verse 17, Balaam prophesies of the Messiah, A star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. Those who overcome will share in his power, in his rule. Our Lord uses in the text the words of Psalm 2. He says he will rule them with an iron scepter. He will dash them to pieces like pottery. Psalm 2 talks about what God the Father would give to God the Son, Jesus Christ, the nations of the earth, the ends of the earth for his inheritance. And now we hear in the text, Jesus says that those who overcome, those who endure until the end, will share in His rule. The bride will sit next to her husband in the heavenly courts. Right now, at this time, it seems that the faithful were ruled by the unfaithful around them. But Jesus promises them that the time would come when the tables would be turned and the faithful will rule the world with Him. God's people. or to trust Him for everything, even economic success, should God choose to give it. Beloved, this was true comfort for the faithful to be told by the Son of God that they would overcome and rule with Him. This was true comfort for those who were unemployed and unemployable in a booming economy. This was true comfort when everybody else could get work simply for the price of burning a little incense, eating a little idle meat and participating in a little so-called harmless sexual activity. This was true comfort for those who were looked upon as being weird and not with it, and whose children went to bed night after night crying for food. To these faithful, Jesus Christ would give a new day, the morning star. Jesus would give Himself the new day of eternity. He is the Sovereign One who alone can promise the success, deliver the success of eternal life. Congregation, this state of the church addressed to the church in Thyatira must be a challenge to each one of us. We are to be challenged by the faithful of that church to live lives of real, honest devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ. To live lives of integrity even though we are under fire from the world and even at times under fire from those in the church around us. And we are to hold fast to what we have, to God's Word with all of its authority and truth, but in order to hold fast to it, you must know what it says. Because if you don't know what God's Word says and you can't defend the message of the Gospel, you will compromise. You will begin to ask questions. Well, what's wrong with that? What's so bad about that? Big deal. But if you do know what God's Word says, you will cling to the truth of the Gospel with all faith and obedience and then you won't sell out your commitment to Jesus Christ for any price by the grace of God. Genuine Christian faith will affect all compartments of life. Remember, beloved, the Son of God has feet like burnished bronze to crush any who oppose Him and He has eyes like blazing fire. These words must have been somewhat penetrating to that culture, especially to the bronze trade. Oh, our guild god of bronze, He's not the all-powerful one? No. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has feet of bronze to crush those who oppose Him. And again, these gods of the guilds were said to watch over and protect the people and take care of Him, But Jesus Christ alone has eyes like blazing fire that can penetrate to the inner recesses of the heart. His penetrating eyes see the hidden motives of agreeing with Jezebel that is being unwilling to suffer persecution for the sake of Christ. But those who play with the fire of the devil and sin will burn forever in the fire of hell with the devil. Through this small church, as Jesus says, all the churches, all those who call themselves church on this earth must learn that Christ will not tolerate those who tolerate that which is false. And as someone has said, those who invite the serpent's venom into His body. Beloved, our Lord's simple message to you and me is this. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you love me, then keep my commandments. Congregation, no compromise. It's either Jesus' way or no way. Amen. Father, we praise You again for the truth of Your Word. That truth that pierces to the depths of our heart, even as we must confess that so often we too compromise in different ways, great or small. We pray that You would cause us to be mindful of our lives in this world. We pray that You would cause us to desire that all areas of life that we engage in are to be flavored. by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that You will forgive us for where we have failed and when we fail. And lift us to greater heights, we pray, to stand more firm on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. Father, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name. Amen.