THE DANGER OF DISAPPEARING DOCTRINE - Rev. 2:18-29
Come this morning to a study in Rev 2:18-29 covering the fourth church of a list of 7 that Jesus sends messages to. Our third message in preparation for our Spring Revival(Smyrna receives no criticism as it has thrived under persecution)
HUSBAND & WIFE TRAVELING when stopped at gas station. Attendant came out and said, ’Fill er up?’ The husband said yes, please. Attendant asked, ’You have a nice car. What kind is it? ’Chrysler’. Hard hearing wife said, ’What did he say?’ He wanted to know what kind of car we have. I told him it was a Chrysler’. The attendant asked, ’Are you going far?’ Husband said, ’We are just going to Nashville’. WHAT DID HE SAY? ’He asked how far we were going and I told him to Nashville’. Attendant asked, ’Where are you from?’ Atlanta. WHAT DID HE SAY? He asked where we were from and I told him Atlanta. Attendant said, ’Atlanta, I used to know a woman there. She was the meanest, hardest, bitterest, coldest, woman I have ever known in all my life. WHAT DID HE SAY? ’He thinks he knows your mother’.(Good description of a woman we will be talking about in today’s messages: JEZEBEL is what Jesus calls her. HOW DANGEROUS COULD SHE BE IN THE CHURCH?)
Ephesus was commended for taking a stand against false teachers. Pergamum was warned about allowing some among them who accepted these teachings but Thyatira actually allowed them to ascend the into the pulpit.
DID YOU KNOW: We are duplicates of God who is 6’2" tall and 200 lb? Jesus was a rich man? Children of Israel walked thru walls of ice as they crossed the Red Sea? Ministries of Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn and even John Hagee. College friend of working on Masters at OSU visited a Tulsa Christian Bible College called Rhema and interviewed teachers on various beliefs. One that caught her attention was that they believed that their founder, Kenneth Hagen had died three times and chosen to return and that every believer who has enough faith can do the same. THERE IS A DANGER IN DISAPPEARING DOCTRINE.
The concerns of these 7 churches have not disappeared but are seen in churches in our day. The problem of Ephesus is a threat to most Baptist churches: Strong in doctrine but weak in expressing our love for Jesus. The problem of Thyatira is a threat to many charismatic or pentecostal churches.
Handle this study of Thyatira with the same outline we will use for all the churches. PATIENT - PHYSICIAN - POSITIVE - PROBLEM - PRESCRIPTION - POSSIBILITIES.
THE PATIENT (18) And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
1. THYATIRA - continual sacrifice Significance in that this city was continually mowed down by invading armies and then rebuilt again.
a. Located 35 miles SE of Pergamum, the capital city of Asia, and was meant to delay invaders until Pergamum could prepare itself to fight.(lacked any natural fortification)
b. Kept a standing armed garrison from Rome station in the city.
2. Very Small city that was a commercial center. It was a blue collar town. It was loaded with guilds(modern trade unions: carpenters, dyers, sellers of goods, tent makers, tanners, weavers..etc)
a. Acts 16:14 Lydia Paul’s first convert in Philippi was from Thyatira. She was a ’seller of purple’. Traveling saleswoman? They had a thriving industry based in dyeing cloth a beautiful turkey red or purple color.
1) Very expensive since taken from two sources: madder root which grew in Thyatira or the throat of a murex(small shellfish).
3. Secular City with only one religious sight: Temple for fortune tellers which was overseen by a powerful female orator named Sambathe. It directed worship toward the Sun god Apollo. Each guild would have it’s own particular god of choice.
THE PHYSICIAN these things says the Son of God, Who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass.
1. Another portion of the original vision given in 1:12-16 From the end of 14 and the start of 15.
2. Son of God - Only such place in Revelation where He is addressed as such. Some try to say He never made claims to diety, this is one of many places Jesus obviously did.
a. Thyatirans believed the Roman Emperor and Tyrimnos, the guardian god of the city were both sons of the chief god Zeus. Jesus states that the Chief God has only one Son and He is it.
3. Eyes like a flame of fire - (seen eyes like that on my parents whenever I did something really bad)
a. SUPERMAN EYES - see right through anything. Piece the facades, disguises and pretences of people.
1) How often during a day do you catch yourself trying to fool somebody? Put on that you are more important than you really are, that you are not down about something when you are, Sometimes it works with people but NEVER with Jesus. Drop the act and get honest and it will save time for both you and God.
Heb 4:13 There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
4. Feet like fine brass - Brass was the hardest metal they knew of at this time and it is often used in Scripture to speak of judgment. His feet will come to trample sin underfoot and punish all the wrong His eyes of fire can see.
THE POSITIVE (19) I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. (20) Nevertheless I have a few things against you…
1. A long list is given of positive things this church is doing. In many ways this church was doing a lot of things right. Impressive list:
a. Works(active-attendance today)/Love(agape)/Service(met needs),Faith(believed God for great things), Patience(cheerful countenance)
b. Most impressive: They were growing, increasing in these things.
1) Normal Christian life should have a continual pattern of growth.
2) Is my Christian testimony highlighted by a walk down the aisle or tears I cried when I prayed a prayer rather than by a daily testimony to the fact that I am a new creature in Christ.
c. What problem could arise in such an atmosphere of doing right.
Nevertheless I have a few things against you…
An apple may look pleasing on the exterior but if it has a worm in it then it significantly effects the value of the entire fruit. THYATIRA HAD A WORM IN IT.
Letter to John MacArthur: Let me give you a piece of advice that might just save you from the wrath of God: put away your Bible and your books and stop studying. Ask the Holy Spirit to come upon you and give you the gift of tongues.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up from themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. 2 Tim 4:3-4
EXAMPLES OF WHAT WILL BE SWALLOWED: Florida woman teaching her dog to speak in an unknown bark - Pet chicken in Costa Rica raised from the dead - Dollar bills turned into $20’s - Empty gas tank filled - Demons exorcised from pop machines - Gold fillings in teeth and gold dust left around.
Associate Pastor in Virginia: Difficult situation since my uncle has approached us about coming on as an associate pastor at what was the largest SBC in the local association. Lots of growth, excitement: Customary to get at least a dozen hugs each Sunday, exciting praise music, powerful choir, all night prayer meetings, committed believers(one man gave up health insurance & gave amount to building fund until amount reached/debt free huge sanctuary) CHURCH EVENTUALLY FELL APART IN DOCTRINAL TAILSPIN. What happened. Began with a few books, tapes, video, excitement about various ministries and new teachings.(those among you who...) and eventually developed into visiting speakers in women’s groups(laying on floor before special lunch) and men in purple suits getting in the pulpit and announcing ’thus saith the Lord with special revelations’.
The testimony and effectiveness of the church in the community were soon lost and the church split into factions. PICTURE OF THYATIRA
d. No amount of good can outweigh the impact of significantly bad things. Energy or activity does not assure progress because you can go fast in the wrong way.
TWO MEN ON TRIP: Rented car, took off from airport, hour later driver checked map, good news and bad: Bad is we are going the wrong way - Good: we are making great time.
1) Many movements out in the world that are willing to more for a lie than many Christians will do for the truth.
THE PROBLEMS (20) Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a Prophetess, teach and beguile my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
1. Particular problem at Thyatira stemmed from a woman in the church that was allowed to lead them into false doctrine.
a. Symbolic name given is JEZEBEL. Her opinion of herself is that she is a prophetess.
Minister threw Bible to floor: ’I don’t need that Book anymore, I am beyond that. ’I have the Holy Spirit. I AM A PROPHET. God sends my instructions direct.
She said one thing about herself but God had a different opinion.
JEZEBEL!
b. Jezebel is an OT Queen who was married by Ahab.
As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sin of Jeroboam…Ahab took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.(1 Kings 16:33)
1) She led the entire northern kingdom of Israel to replace the true worship of God with the worship of Baal. A god of fertility whose worship included many immoral and licentious practices. She pushed it until it became the going religion of the day.
a) She financially supported: provided for over 800 prophet at her own table.
2) Mean as a snake and had the country trembling: Elijah faced down 480 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel but when he heard Jezebel was after him he ran like he was in the Olympics.
2. Church in Thyatira gave her a platform: So many good things but they allowed/tolerated her ministry among them. How can that man’s ministry be so dangerous, I know some people from the church he spoke at so he can’t be that bad.
a. Teach & Beguile: Someone has said that There is nothing so absurd that if you say it often enough that it begins to be believed.
b. Two things she taught: Idolatry 101 and Advanced Immorality.
1) Idolatry of Ideas: not just wooden images anymore
GOOD GUY GOD: god of wishful thinking - way we would like God to be if we were to create Him - No condemnation, no judgment, no restrictions or rules, no absolutes. Instead He is all love, mercy, goodness, forgiveness & kindness.
GENIE GOD: Way of getting what we want in life. Health, wealth, prosperity, peace, happiness. No room for any suffering, pain, loss, trouble or trials with this god.
IDOLATRY IS ignoring the truth about God and substituting a feeble replacement that we find more likeable or managable.
2) IDOLATRY OF IMAGES:
STATUS: allure of worldly power and prestige. Being #1 matters so much that it becomes what we live for.
THINGS: Amassing possessions, bigger & better things consumes our life.
PLEASURE: Sensuality, Abusive drugs(prescription & illegal, alchohol, tobacco develops into habits and addictions) Appetites(overeating, overdrinking, overspending, oversleeping and just overindulging ourselves in anything) Fanatical Allegiances(sports teams, school loyalties, celebrities, or overzealous towards insignificant issues) IDOLATRY FOR OUR DAY.
TONIGHT:
1. Why what she taught was so appealing to her listeners.
2. Why they wanted to believe what she said.
3. Warnings about what happens if we don’t protect ourselves from false doctrines. Blessings that come to a life that overcomes.
WILLIAM LAW: Anglican priest from England who lived in the 18th century. Wrote a book called, ’A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life’. ’The devout are people who do not live their own will, or in the way and spirit of the world, but only to the will of God. Such people consider God in everything, serve God in everything, and make every aspect of their lives holy by doing everything in the name of God and in a way that conforms to God’s glory.’
Jesus called her Jezebel. How tragic! It wasn’t her real name but it spoke volumes about what she was like. What Bible name would Jesus, Who has eyes that see everything about us, use to explain to the world what your life is really all about? DANIEL(faithful) JOSEPH(pure) SOLOMON(wise) DAVID(brave) JOB(tested & proven) there are other names: Samson, Judas, Ananias & Saphira, Herod, Pilot, how about AHAB: name means ’one like the father’, Christian ’little Christ’ but he sold out and let the filth of sin destroy what could have been.
