Again I would like to turn your attention to the seven churches of Revelation to learn from them as a church how we can please the Lord.
These seven churches were established after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Christians saw the Lord died on the cross, all their hopes and dreams were destroyed, but when He arose from the grave it sent waves of excitement through Christians around the world.
If you will notice, the churches all started off good, but we see spiritual erosion in most of them over a period of time.
The church of Thyatira was no exception.
As Jesus spoke to this church, He paid her three compliments.
His Word lets us know that...
(1) This church was a glowing church.
In verse 19 we see these words, “I know thy works..."
The church of Thyatira started out being full of good works.
The people had that GLOW about them that made it apparent that they loved the Lord and wanted to do something for Him.
They could not do enough for Him.
For example,
Illus: It is a wonderful thing when a man meets a young lady, and falls so madly in love with her that he works for her the rest of his life.
If he worked for anyone else like that, he would charge them, but he is willing to work for her just to please her.
Why?
Because he loves her!
The church of Thyatira loved the Lord. The people were willing to work for the Lord.
It was a GLOWING church, but also...
2. It was a going church.
We read these words in the middle of verse 19, “I know thy...charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works..."
They did not just sit home and play scrabble, they were active in serving the Lord.
They found those who needed help, and went from place to place helping them.
They were a GOING church.
Also...
3. It was a growing church. In the last part of verse 19, we read, “...and the last to be more than the first."
Anytime you find believers who are excited about the Lord Jesus, they will want to share that joy with others which produces a GROWING church.
But, as time went along, like many good churches, the church of Thyatira began to compromise.
Satan knew about all of the exciting churches mentioned here in Revelation that were started after the resurrection.
He wasted no time getting his foot in the doors of these churches.
He knew then, and he knows now, that godly churches, where people are on fire for the Lord, can do his cause irreparable damage.
So he got God's church to compromise the TRUTH for ERROR.
We live in a world today where compromise has become a way of life FOR MANY CHURCHES.
For example...
Illus: These compromising churches remind me many politicians who feel they have been sent to Washington to compromise their core values.
They feel if they can compromise, then they get part of what they want, and the opposition gets part of what they want, and that is better than nothing at all.
What ever happened to the politicians who took a stand for the truth and stood up for their convictions - win or lose, they STOOD!
Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Anyone can compromise, but not everyone can STAND!
The church of Thyatira compromised with the ungodly people around them.
Let us look more closely at this church that compromised.
Look at...
I. THE SOURCE.
In verse 20, we read, "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest (allow) that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to TEACH and to SEDUCE my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols."
The source of the problem was a wicked woman in the church.
The Bible refers to her as Jezebel, because she was so much like the Old Testament Jezebel, who was one of the vilest women who ever lived.
She even set up the worship of Baal, and led God's people away from Him.
• The Old Testament Jezebel combined the altar of Jehovah with the altar of Baal.
• Today’s church is doing all they can to combine TRUE WORSHIP WITH FALSE WORSHIP.
For example…
(1)Do away with the old Hymns that talks about the blood of the Lord Jesus and replace it with some of this jitter-bug music.
• Do away with the JOY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT and replace it with this night club dancing
• Do away with GODLY LIVING and profess to be saved and still live in sin.
That is, if you were to talk to a cultist, he would not start off his presentation with false teaching. He would begin by quoting scriptures that you are probably familiar with.
For example...
Illus: Many people are surprised when Mormons come to their homes and talk about Christ Jesus.
The Mormons are quick to tell you that they believe in Jesus, but what they will never tell you, is that the Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus of the Bible.
• The Jesus they believe in is a man who once was like we are, but whom through his good works became who he is, and God placed him as ruler over planet earth.
• Then they teach that if we will do good, God will likewise give us our own planet to rule the way Jesus rules over His.
The Bible does not teach that!
The Bible teaches the deity of Christ. Jesus did not BECOME good! Jesus IS good - past, present, and future.
The woman who was causing the trouble in the church of Thyatira was mixing false teaching with Christianity, and was seducing many of God's servants.
Did you know that some of the cults we know of today were started by women? (For example, Christian Science, which is not scientific, nor scriptural, was started by Mary Baker Eddy.)
Many feel the reason this happens is because women are usually more emotional than men, and are more prone to be led by their emotions and experiences than by the Scripture, and that leads to serious trouble..
Illus: Did you know that lawyers often prefer to have women on a jury?
For example, when the two Mendez brothers, of California, who shot their parents, went to trial, the jury was full of emotional women. They saw those two young boys every day, and when they heard their stories, they decided they could not convict them for murder. There was no doubt that they killed them; they confessed, but when the women came out of that jury room, they said they felt sorry for them, and they just could not bring themselves to convict them.
When we operate our jury system on emotions instead of the cold facts, we soon get a polluted government.
The same thing can happen in church. When the church operates on emotions and not on the facts of God's Word, we can get a polluted church, and that is exactly what had happened to the church of Thyatira.
Jezebel had tugged at the heart-strings of their emotions, and she was doing things contrary to the Word of God and no one would stop her.
• God made women more emotional because if He had not, society would probably be very dry-eyed.
• Men, on the other hand, hardly ever shed a tear, and you usually have to show them something in black and white, in order to convince them of something.
God knew we needed both, so He made men and women different from each other emotionally.
WHO WAS THIS WOMAN JEZEBEL?
Notice, the Bible says she called herself a prophetess. God did not call her, she called herself.
For years we never heard of people in the church in recent years calling themselves PROPHETS and APOSTLES.
We read about them in the scriptures, but several decades ago we started hearing people who claimed they were---
(1) Prophets
(2)Apostles
We do not have prophets and apostles today like they did in the scriptures.
NOW LET ME PROVE THAT TO YOU FROM THE SCRIPTURES
WHY DON’T WE HAVE PROPHETS TODAY?
Because we now have a Bible that is COMPLETE.
If we still had prophets today we would have prophets who are preaching things that would be equivalent to the Word of God but is not in the scriptures.
Such as, men who claimed they had a vision and God showed them this or that.
That definitely is ADDING TO THE SCRIPTURES.
Revelation 22:18-19 we read, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
If we still had prophets today if he spoke…
• He would have to add to the Word or why even bother to speak
• He spoke and said something different than the Word of God, he would be taking away.
So, we do not have prophets today!!!
In this church age in which we live we have a BIBLE THAT IS COMPLETE and ministers are commanded to PREACH THE WORD.
(2)Also, we do not have, apostles today….
To be an apostle you would have to say I WAS HERE AFTER THE RESURRECTION and I PERSONALLY SAW THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR.
No man living can make that claim.
Let me explain…
After Judas betrayed Christ Peter proposed choosing a new apostle and set the qualifications.
Not everyone could be considered for an apostleship.
(1)Candidates needed to have been with Jesus during the whole three years that Jesus was among them. That is, he needed to be an eyewitness of Jesus’ baptism when the Heavenly Father validated Jesus’ person and work.
(2)He needed to have heard Jesus’ life-changing teachings and been present to see His healings and other miracles.
(3) He needed to have witnessed Jesus sacrifice Himself on the cross and to have seen Jesus walk, talk, and eat among the disciples again after His resurrection.
These were the requirements to be an APOSTLE. And no man living can meet these requirement.
• Paul validates his apostleship in 1 Corinthians 9:1 am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?
• Also we seen of the other twelve apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
These apostles were to be able to takes these personal things they knew (Not Hearsay) and share it with others to be able to validate that Jesus was…WAS WHO HE SAID HE WAS.
The Gift of Apostle Was Limited to the Twelve and a Few Others
The church was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
Paul wrote the following to the Ephesians about the nature of the church.
Ephesians 2:19-20 now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.
These apostles and prophets were the foundation on which God’s church was built.
Only the first generation of Christians would meet this requirement.
This Jezebel claimed she was a Prophetess which she felt this would gain her credibility.
God said she was allowed to TEACH and SEDUCE His servants to commit spiritual fornication and eat meat offered to idols.
Illus: Suppose your child came home from school, and you found out that the school system had taught your child transgenderism and encouraged your child to want to change their sex. Would that upset you? It should!
No wonder the Lord appears in verse 18 with "...EYES LIKE UNTO A FLAME OF FIRE..." and "...HIS FEET ARE LIKE FINE BRASS;” God loves the church, and the church is His bride.
When people or Satan try to lure His bride away from Him, He is ready to step in and do what needs to be done to stop it, because that is something the Lord takes SERIOUSLY.
God says in His Word that He is disturbed about their allowing that woman JEZEBEL to do this and get away with it.
Look at...
II. THE STUBBORNNESS.
In verse 21 we read, “And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."
• We can all be thankful that God is not "hotheaded," like some people are.
• That is, God does not have "a short fuse."
He is a patient God. He says that He had given the church of Thyatira, “...a space..." or a long time to repent, but they had not.
The thing that would have pleased the Lord would have been for that church to come to their senses, and to refuse to have anything to do with the SEDUCER who was called Jezebel.
Illus: One of the top News Anchor on Fox News told why she got a divorce from her husband. Her husband had cheated on her and she said what made situation even worst he cheated with a woman she thought was her very best friend.
Illus: Let me ask you something. Suppose your mate was lured by someone of the opposite sex, and your very best friend was befriending the one who had lured your mate away from you.
Would you not be somewhat disturbed that your best friend could associate with someone who had done you so wrong, and had destroyed your marriage?
When anyone makes a vicious attack on God's church, God makes it clear that He does not expect us to condone the evil by associating with that person.
We do not hear much preaching or any preaching on “Shunning”.
But the Bible does teach it…
Look at---
• In Titus 3:10, we read, “A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition REJECT."
• In II John 10-11, we read, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, RECEIVE HIM NOT into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."
• In Romans 16:17, we read, “Now I beseech you, brethren, MARK THEM which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; AND AVOID THEM."
• In I Cor. 5:11, we read, "But now I have written unto you NOT TO KEEP COMPANY, if any man that is called a brother be a FORNICATOR, or COVETOUS, or an IDOLATER, or a RAILER, or a DRUNKARD, or an EXTORTIONER; WITH SUCH AN ONE NO NOT TO EAT."
• In II Thess. 3:16, we read, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye WITHDRAW yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us."
What are all of these verses of scriptures is teaching?
They are teaching that Satan knows that one of the best ways to destroy a church is to send someone into the midst of a church, who is walking contrary to the Word of God, and get the people to follow him/her instead of following the Lord.
Illus: What has happened when you have a church "split"? Usually one or two, if not more, people have gotten another handful of Christians wrapped around their little fingers, and they demand their way, even at the risk of completely shutting the doors of the church.
They couldn't care less what the Word of God teaches. They have concocted their own teaching and that is all they care about hearing.
Now, the same Bible that tells me to love you, and tells you to care for me, is the same Bible that tells me that when you oppose God's Word, I am to WITHDRAW, AVOID, NOT EAT WITH, REJECT and NOT RECEIVE YOU.
NOW LET ME SAY SOMETHING ABOUT BEFRIENDING SOMEONE!!!
One of the reasons for this is perhaps this person that is being SHUNNED will come to their senses if they are being shunned…
A strong Bible church knows how to take a STAND AGAINST THESE JEZEBELS!!!
So often, in many churches, pastors have to take a stand to keep the church afloat.
You would think the congregation would rally behind him, but instead, many times, they rally behind the individual that has done everything he/she can to destroy God's church.
In other words the FRIENDSHIP of that person THAT SHOULD BE SHUNNED becomes GREATER THAN THEIR FRIENDSHIP FOR THE LORD!
To hear some tell it, when people, like "Jezebel" in the church of Thyatira, attempted to destroy God's church you would think the pastor, who has taken a godly stand, was a mean fellow.
So often he is accused of being "MEAN STREAKED." He is accused of having to have things his way.
It is not supposed to be anyone's "way." It is supposed to be "Thus saith the Lord!
Our loyalty and devotion should always be with God and God's man, who is willing to stand for what God’s Word teaches.
God was upset with the church of Thyatira, because the people were standing with wicked "Jezebel," who was anti-God and out to destroy God's church.
The best way I know of to get in trouble with God is to attack His church.
Why?
Because the church, as imperfect as it may be, is the only institution that God has ordained to carry out the mission of reaching the lost world for Christ, and when you attack His church, you are attacking Him!
The Christians in Thyatira were stubborn, and would not get rid of "Jezebel."
We have looked at….
• Their source (Jezebel)
• Their stubbornness (Refusing to obey)
Now let us look at…
II. THEIR SENTENCE.
Look at verse 22 where we read, “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds."
Because they would not repent after God had given them sufficient time, He vowed to cast them into a bed of great tribulation with her.
We have many today who profess to be Christians, and they are living contrary to what the Word of God teaches.
There is something they need to be told, "You reap what you sow!" God said to the church of Thyatira that had become involved with "Jezebel," that her judgment was to match her sin.
The church can allow all kinds of UNGODLY TEACHERS and SEDUCERS to come in and teach damnable doctrines, but they had better be prepared to suffer the consequences.
In Gal. 6:7-8 we read, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8. for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
Notice, the sentence proposed upon them also will affect their children.
Look at Rev. 2:23, where we read, "And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he who searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works."
The children that are mentioned in the church of Thyatira have been raised in the evil influence of Jezebel, because the adult Christians allowed her to remain among them.
Illus: A man was very influential in a church. He had been a faithful Christian for many years. Then he got involved with another woman in the church. What they were doing became common knowledge, but because of his large financial contributions and his influence in the community, he was still allowed to play a very active part in the church. The church refused to judge him. One day he got the news that his only son, a teenager, had been killed in a new car he had bought him. He was devastated! Weeks went by and finally he was back in church again. Then he stood before them and told the congregation that God had been dealing with him a long time about his sinful lifestyle, and he would not repent. So finally God had gotten his attention and he asked his wife, and the church to please forgive him.
We cannot shake our fists in God's face and get away with it. He will give us time to make things right, but if we do not, he knows exactly what it takes to get our attention and when He does, verse 23 tells us, “...and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works."
Conclusion: However, not everyone in the church of Thyatira was seduced by "Jezebel".
One of the things we can all be thankful is that God deals with us individually.
These who have not been seduced by JEZEBEL God made this promise.
In verses 24-29, He makes them this beautiful promise. "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
I. THE SOURCE - VERSE 20.
II. THEIR STUBBORNNESS - VERSE 21.
III. THEIR SENTENCE - VERSES 22-23.
