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Well, good morning. I think Andy's coming in as soon as he comes in and we'll get started.
I thought he was. Maybe he wasn't. Good? You waited for me?
Yes, sir.
Yes.
You were sealing the door.
I was sealing the office.
Stephen, will you open us up to the Word of Prayer?
Heavenly Father, thank you for this time. We've come before you this morning to hear your Word opened. God, I just pray that you would open the eyes of our understanding, so that we would hear the Word and apply it to our lives, so that you would give us the right wisdom as He opens it up and teaches us.
Amen.
Revelation chapter 2. Good morning.
We're going to read verses 18 through 29. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, whose feet are like burnished bronze, says this, I know your deeds, your love, your faith, and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.
But I have this one thing against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and they eat things sacrificed to idols.
I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.
And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the church will know that I am He who searches the minds and the hearts, and will give to each one according to your deeds. But I say to the rest of you who are in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them, I place no other burden on you.
Nevertheless, what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give the authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces.
As I also have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star, and he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Well, we get to another church, and this will finish out chapter 2, and I don't think we will finish it today, but we will make a good shot at it.
We have to understand the historical significance of Thyatira. Where was it? Well, obviously it was in Asia Minor. It was part of the Lydian Empire. If you remember back when we were in Daniel, we talked about Cyrus the Great, his predecessor and uncle, father, depending on what historical document you read, Astages, was the king of Lydia.
And eventually, when Cyrus the Great comes to power, he conquers this area, and Thyatira was one of those cities, and it was taken into the Persian Empire. Later, Thyatira is then reestablished as a major city in the time of the Greeks by Seleucid Empire.
If you remember, we talked about the Seleucid Empire. Seleucus Nicator, who was the first one, he defected from the Ptolemy Empire and started the Seleucids. So when he defected, he set up this city somewhat as a buffer between the great city Pergamon.
So if you had armies coming from this side, they would hit Thyatira before they got to Pergamon, because Pergamon would have been a major city, and it was basically a buffer city, and we're going to run these people over before we give Pergamon time to leave.
Well, obviously, later on, Lysimachus takes that area, it's set up, and it becomes a major port city, I mean a major trade city. It's very significant because it's not on the port side. It's further inland.
And those of you that know anything about the Book of Acts, what do we know about Thyatira? There was a young lady who was from there. What was her name?
Lydia.
Lydia, yeah. It's interesting. Her name was Lydia from Thyatira. The ancient empire was Lydia. And what was her trade that she did that was so important?
The Seller of Purple.
The Seller of Purple, which is a major thing that took place in Thyatira. There were two ways of making purple. Purple was highly wanted in the ancient world, and not only was it highly wanted, it was very expensive to do, and there was two ways of doing it.
Both of them were expensive, one less than the other. One way was doing it, which some believe that in Thyatira was done with the madder root. Not madder as in M-A-T-T-E-R, but madder, M-A-D-D-E-R.
It was done with the root. They would crush it, get the dye out of it, and then they would then obviously have to boil it. They would put it in the wools to make, like she was a seller of purple cloth.
But there was also a very, very expensive way of doing it, and with it not being on a port, then Thyatira would then have to import these specific type of snail that would come in. They would then have to extract the snail from it, dry them out, then crush them and extract the dye from the shell and then use it with ammonias and other things.
They would bake it. Imagine what the outside of this city smelled like, all right? You had to have thousands of those snails to make an ounce of dye, and they would have to bring these mollusks in, snails, and they would have to dry them out, crush them, then boil them, and this is what the ancients say.
Part of that boiling process was done with human urine, okay? So imagine outside the city, you've got thousands of crushed mollusks, snails, and they're being boiled for 10 days because that's how long it took to get whatever, and then they would have to then extract that dye from it, and then obviously they would then begin to dye the wool and stuff, which does lead to another very important thing about the city of Thyatira.
It was filled with trade guilds. So if we think of Ephesus being very, that would be basically the entrance to Asia Minor. Remember, all the dignitaries, if they come in, they had to report there. It wasn't the capital, but it was basically the de facto capital for political purposes.
It was on a port. Smyrna was on a port, very wealthy. Pergamum was the place where the ancients worshipped Augustus and all these other major idols. But then as you got further inland, those would be the elites.
So as you get to Thyatira, you're getting now to the blue-collar workers. You're getting to where you had the wool made. You had bronzemen, tinsmen, silversmiths, stoneworkers, dye makers, clothing makers, that kind of thing.
And inside the city, not only did you have that's what was going on with all these different textiles, but you had what they called in the ancients what was called guilds. In modern day, we would have said they were basically unions.
So if you wanted to be part of the wool guild, you're going to have to be associated with those people and the idol or patron god that they worshipped, which leads to all types of idolatry. Also in Thyatira, you had just every type of industrious building, thread making, instruments for tools.
I mean, it was just filled. So just imagine this is the blue-collar town, and it is filled with hardworking, average Joe Blows. That would have been Lydia. I mean, that would have been Thyatira. But when we need to understand that it also was the home of the, and this is when we get to part of the chapter 18, verse 18, that the son of God was also considered in Thyatira the son of Zeus, which was Tyromenus.
That was his name. So that's when we get to the part where it says the son of God. Why is this the only time Jesus refers to himself in the book of Revelation as the son of God? It's the only time. In my conclusion, it's in sharp contrast to what the people thought in Thyatira of this Tyromenus, this god, this son of Zeus, who was the patron god of the city.
Now Jesus says, no, no, no, no, no. I want you to look. I am the son of God. I'm the one who counts. I'm the one who has eyes like flame of fire. That's what he is making that contrast, and obviously you wouldn't know that if you didn't know anything about the city.
But the city patron god was, good morning, was that of the son of Zeus. Who was Zeus? He was the god of gods, remember? Everything proceeded from him. All the other gods came from basically his loins.
Well, Jesus here says, I am the son of God, and I'm the one who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet are like burnished bronze. Remember back in chapter 1 we talked about, because every time we get to a letter to one of the churches, he refers back to himself in the opening chapter.
What were the eyes of the flame of fire? What does it represent?
Judgment.
Sure.
And able to look into the hearts and know. Remember, in every one of these letters it's I know.
I know.
Now, if we just stop right there, that's kind of neutral, because some of those are good, but then sometimes it's bad. So he knows whether it's bad or good. He knows what's going on, and not just a, and I think I said this last week or the week before, it's not just a cognitive awareness of what's going on.
He has intimate knowledge of what's going on, not only within that church, but within the hearts of the people. So if we go back to Ephesus, Ephesus, Jesus says, but I know you have left your first love.
I know you've got all these things you're doing well, but you've left your first love. I don't believe that the church of Ephesus had any idea they had left their first love. I think he was able to look into their hearts and say, look, this is what you think about yourself, but this is what I am telling you.
Look, everything from Ephesus from the outward appearance was good, was it not? It was great. They were putting out false teachers. They were fighting for truth. They were holding fast to the confession.
They were doing all of these things, and Jesus says, yeah, but you've left your first love. And they had, from my understanding of it, there was no way for them to understand, because all of the externals looked so right.
Now we get to Thyatira, and he says, I had the eyes like a flame of fire. Once again, being able to look into the hearts and minds and the motivations of these people, and he says here that he has feet like burnished bronze.
Why would the Son of God need to be appearing with feet like burnished bronze? It is a reference back to the hot coals.
What's that?
The hot coals.
Well, it would be hot coals certainly refining the bronze, but the bronze not being unrefined, now we have the feet of the Son of God glowing with brass, and what does he do when it talks about in the book of Isaiah, I think it's in chapter 63, he comes in and he says he's going to trample on top of his enemies, and it talks about the Son of God when he comes in his Messianic figure.
He's going to trample and put them down under the winepress, and it talks about his road. It does talk about it at the end of this book, but it talks about it also in Isaiah 63. His road has been splattered with the blood of his enemies where he's trampled on them with his feet.
The Son of God has feet like bronze, and he will crush his enemies. He will trample them down under his feet. He will not let them continue to go on in the condition that they're going. I mean look, last chapter, I mean last church in Pergamum, what did he say?
I'm going to make war with you with what? The sword that's coming out of my mouth. Well now he's telling this church, I've got eyes like flame of fire, and I've got feet like bronze, and these feet I've got can do some stomping.
And he says here, I know your deeds. I know your love, your faith, your service, and your perseverance. Is that not a wonderful thing to hear from the Son of God? I would love to hear that. Imagine from the lips of the Son of God, him saying, hey, I know your deeds.
I know your love. In other words, he's saying, hey, what you've been doing is good. What you've been doing has been faithful. And then he says here, and I know your love. What did he say about Ephesus' love?
He said in Ephesus, hey, your love was not real great. Here he's saying, but I know your love and your faith and your service. All of these things here that we could look at other churches and say where they had not been, he's saying this church is doing well.
Hey, he even says that their faith has been good, their service, what's that service? Is it service to him or service to one another? I'd say it's both. Look, if you love Jesus, you're going to love God's people.
And if you love Jesus and you want to serve him, you're going to serve God's people. Now, we all can't serve in the same capacity. But is there a desire to serve? Should be. Should be. That's why when we get in conversations, either on the job site or speaking to customers, people that I work for, contractors, yeah, you know, I love Jesus, but I just don't go to church.
I don't like the people.
Really?
That's like saying, hey, man, I like you, but I don't like your wife. How long is that relationship going to last? It's not. Yeah, you can't say you love Jesus and not love his people. No, we all don't always get along.
But you have to love God's people. It says they will know that you're my disciples by what? Your love for one another. Your love for one another. And if you love someone, you're going to want to be with someone.
It says here in your faith, look, they had held fast to the confession of their faith. And it says their service and their perseverance.
Is that King James, Mike?
Held fast.
Held fast. Yeah, held fastest. Yeah, they held fast. They persevered. Does anybody else, where it says perseverance, does anybody else's translation say something else? Does everybody say perseverance?
Patient endurance.
Patient endurance. Okay, yeah, they had endured. Hey, imagine hearing this from the Son of God.
Yes, sir?
Where were you guys at in Revelation?
Chapter 2, verse 18. Actually, just started verse 19. I'm sorry, brother.
No, no, no, it's my fault for walking in late.
He says here, imagine hearing this from the Son of God. And I know your needs of late. They're better than the first. Hey, man, this church sounds awesome. This church sounds, this is what I want to hear.
Hey, I know when you came to faith, I know when you placed faith in me, when this church was planted, when your elders were installed, you had deacons do it, but you know what? It's better now than when it began.
That would be awesome to hear. And if we were to stop here, that would be great. But you have that conjunction. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel. Is Jezebel a real name?
Is Jezebel a woman in the church causing havoc? Is she standing behind the pulpit preaching as a prophetess? Well, I don't believe her real name is Jezebel. Because of the constant looking back to the Old Testament, we have, I don't think there was people in that day and time naming their children Jezebel.
Okay?
That would be like naming your son Beelzebub.
So, who is Jezebel? Jezebel.
Go ahead.
Is Ahab's wife?
It was.
In this case or in the Old Testament?
In the Old Testament.
Okay, yeah, Ahab's wife.
Yeah, she didn't live that long. So, what we know about Jezebel in the Old Testament is she was Ahab, evil king of Israel. There's something we do hear about Ahab that we don't hear about any other king in all the Old Testament.
If you read King, I think it's chapter, 1 Kings chapter 19, it says that Ahab sold himself to doing evil. Sold himself. Not all the other ones. Hey, this king did evil in the sight of the Lord. He was more wickeder.
That's even a word. I'm sorry, King James, wickedness. More wickedness than all the others. It says that Ahab sold himself to doing evil in the sight of the Lord. Now, Ahab married Jezebel. Jezebel was a pagan.
Jezebel was the daughter of a Sidonian king. And as she came in and married Ahab, what did she bring with her?
The Baal worship.
The Baal worship. And she wanted to make Baal worship the worship of the northern kingdom. She wanted everybody to bow down to them. And we all know further on into the storyline of Ahab and Jezebel, she wanted all the prophets killed, and, you know, Elijah and Elijah, Elijah and Elijah.
But she did something that Ahab was unable to do. Ahab wanted a vineyard by a man named Naboth. Anybody remember that story? Naboth had a vineyard that Ahab wanted. And Ahab said, hey, buddy, I want your vineyard.
And if you read it, it's kind of funny in the way that he coins it. Hey, man, I like your vineyard. It's better, but I'll give you another vineyard not as good. If you give me yours, I'll give you one worse.
And he says, well, one, I can't do that because this is an inheritance of my father, and under the Mosaic legislation you didn't sell those. It was inherited and you kept your inheritance. And he said, I can't do that.
So Ahab leaves. He goes back to the palace, pouting, moaning, complaining. Jezebel says, well, honey, what's wrong?
Oh, I want Naboth's vineyard.
Well, you're the king, honey. The king gets what he wants.
Well, no, I can't do it that way.
She says, I got you, honey. Mom will take care of you. So what does she do? She deceives Naboth, sets up a party for him to honor him, and the Scripture says they get two worthless men to come in, and as he's sitting at the front of the table, two men come in and say this man is blaspheming God and the king, and they stone Naboth to death.
Two things you didn't do. One, you could probably get away with talking bad about the king, maybe, but it's one thing you didn't do in Israel. You didn't blaspheme God. If you blasphemed God under the Mosaic legislation, what happened?
You were taken outside the camp and stoned. So he was stoned, and she gives the vineyard to Ahab. Well, Elijah is then sent by God to go to Ahab, tell him, hey, look here, what you've done is wrong. Your wife has done this.
Basically, he tells him if he doesn't repent, he's going to kill him. In short, in all of his posterity, well, Ahab actually repents. He actually comes and he's repented. He said, I did not know what she did.
He repents. God tells Elijah, hey, let it go with him. But because of what he's done, I'm going to kill all his kids. It will happen to his kids. It goes on. Ahab dies in battle. This takes us into second kings.
There's a battle. Ahab dies. Some other kings rise up. But then God calls a man named Jehu. He tells Jehu, he says, you're going to be the next king. He says, but you've got to go clean up all that mess.
So Jehu gets some guys together. And it's interesting how if you read that, he gets these men. They come up to him. As he comes up to them and says, hey, are you here for peace or war? He says, if you don't want to make peace, come with me.
And that's how he gets those men. Those men follow him. They go to where Jezebel is at the palace. This is some three years after. It says it's three years. About 17 years later, this is taking place.
He comes in to where the palace is at. She's up there on the balcony, basically. She's done put on her makeup. And those two men say, basically, what are you here for? And she says, hey, have you come to bring peace?
And he says, hey, throw her off. And those two men throw her over the balcony. She splatters on the ground. And it says that he then tramples on her. I don't know who it is. I have a suspicion that she's trampled on by maybe Jehu stomps on her.
Blood was splattered on their clothing and on the wall. And they leave her down there. And he decides he's going to go upstairs and have dinner right now. Jehu goes up. They eat. He's got a woman's gut splattered all down beneath.
Him and his men go up. They eat, I guess rejoicing. And they say, oh, you know what? We've got to get her a proper burial. We've got to get her a proper burial. She was the daughter of a king, wife of a king.
So by the time they get down there, there's nothing left but her scalp and the palms of her hands. That was fulfilling the prophecy that God had given Elijah that she would be spread. The dogs had eaten her, that she would be spread over the land of Israel and she would not have a proper burial.
And they spread all over Israel. You know what that means. The dogs ate her and then defecated her out all over the place. Now, I think the story ends there. It goes on. And Jehu is then told, hey, send to Samaria a document saying, hey, if you want to make peace, I want the heads of the sons of Ahab.
There was 70 of them. They said, okay, whatever it is. We don't want war. And it says that this gives you an idea of the range of these children were. It says that they were still under their tutors, their guardians, and their rearers.
And they bring him a basket with 70 heads. That was to fulfill the prophecy that God said, I will kill their children. Remember, he said, I'm not going to kill Ahab, but the children that he has with Jezebel, all of them.
Hey, and there was no descendant left when Jehu got done. Now, Jehu went off the deep end too. But this is telling us what we understand about Jezebel. Jezebel was a woman that wanted to lead God's people off into idolatry, and with that idolatry, with Baal came sexual immorality.
And in this text here, that's how we should understand it. It says that this church is tolerating this person called Jezebel who claims herself to be a prophetess. Imagine the reader of this letter, I believe that he certainly didn't stand up there without reading it first, and read through that and goes, man, this Lord's Day worship, I'm fixing to call someone out in this body that everybody's going to know who I'm talking about.
I'm fixing to make a spectacle of this person. And he calls herself, I'm sorry, who calls herself a prophetess? Well, were prophetesses, were some prophetess legitimate in Scripture? Yeah, name a couple, anybody know?
Yeah, yeah. And we even have Philip's daughters who prophesied. They did it in Acts, but they didn't do it in the assembly. What was the instructions from Paul of how women should conduct themselves in worship?
Certainly what did usurp the pulpit? What is it saying here?
It covered silent obedience.
Sure, and we take that as, hey, they could sing, they could voice. It means they couldn't stand behind the pulpit and couldn't usurp the authority that God had given the man over the flock, the preacher, to teach the people.
They could not teach men. It puts men under submission. It's just God's ordained order. But what is happening here? This person has usurped the authority of the preacher. She has now raised up a coup, basically, within the church, and it says she calls herself a prophetess.
Jesus didn't say she was. Jesus said she calls herself that. And here's what she's teaching, and here's what she's leading. She's leading them to go astray so that they would commit acts of immorality and eat things offered or sacrificed to idols.
Now, there's two ways of understanding this part here. Are we going to understand this as she was really leading them to go, you know what, it's okay to go worship idols. It's okay to go to these pagan temples.
You can go to these pagan temples, and you can involve yourself in whatever oblations that need to take place so that you can continue to make money. You know, if you're going to be a stone worker, you're going to have to continue to have your work coming from these contractors.
You're going to have to go. You're going to have to make oblations to this deity, and then on top of that, stay in good standing with that guild or that union so that you can continue to make money to provide for yourself.
God wants you to be happy. He wants you to be wealthy. He wants you to be prosperous. And this is just something that you'll have to just put aside so that you can continue to provide. Hey, the church depends on your money.
The church depends on your money coming in from your hard work so that we can continue to do the service we need here in Thyatira.
So like the female Jolos?
Got a crown of victory. You've got DNA of a winner running through your veins. So, or, and obviously inside those guilds, we said this before, there was nefarious deals made. They would agree with one another for work, and then, hey, you know what?
We're going to consummate this deal with a prostitute. And that's what they would do. It was common practice, okay? This is not something that was unheard of. This is what happened. Or could she be saying, yes, you need to go do these things.
You need to go to these temples, do these things, continue to bring money, and is the section of morality a metaphor for just breaking the covenant with God in Old Testament terms? Remember, what did it look like in the Old Testament?
How many times did God tell his people, quit being a harlot. Quit playing the whore with the nations around you.
Quit.
You are breaking the covenant with me. And then God finally got tired of it, and what did he do with the northern kingdom? He gave them a writ of divorce and said, I'm done with you, okay? Is that what this is saying?
I'm not sure, okay? I'm not sure. Certainly, there is a physicality of what's going on within the city that would say, yes, she was promoting them to go to these temples and to eat food offered to idols.
Is she telling them to engage in sexual immorality? Maybe. But it's hard for me to say for sure that's what it is when you go back up into verse 19 and he talks about all these good things about these people and their faith and their love and their perseverance and their love and deeds and that there was actual sexual immorality like that within the church.
So, don't know. Don't know.
Just a question about that. By going back up there, could she probably be, would she actually have been in the church or could she have been like Jeremiah just a someone on the street?
No, no.
I believe this woman was in the church. I believe this woman was in Thyatira, the local assembly.
Now.
It just seems hard to believe that they can have everything up above and allow, to have someone to actually listen to them.
Sure, but it says some. Some are going. So, you have two groups of people within the church. In every church.
You've got the faithful. You've got the mediocre. Inside that mediocre, you might have some of those that, eh, kind of a little loosey goosey with how they're going to worship. Worship the way that they want.
Listen to false teaching. Give ear to it.
You begin to give ear to false teaching. I'm not saying just hearing it. When I say give ear, actually going, okay, that's got relevance. That sounds right. And then you begin to embrace that false teaching.
Once you embrace that false teaching, then what do you do? You begin to follow that false teaching. That's what he's saying here. There are some of them that are embracing and hearing what this woman's saying, and she is in the assembly and needs to be departed from.
Because he does go on to say, not only does he, it says, I gave her time to repent. So, I ask myself this question reading through this, had church discipline been instituted and taken through on this woman, had she been put out of the assembly, excommunicated, and now she has her another little following pulling those people away from the assembly because it says here, we've given her time to repent.
When you do church discipline, okay, corporately, you don't just say, hey, we're going to excommunicate this person not before any counsel. Any time that happens, you counsel a person. You don't just go, hey, I went to you, brother.
You don't want to listen. Me and Keith went to you. Nothing's wrong with you. Me and Keith went to him. I called you to repentance at 9 .30 this morning. You ate too many donuts. You ate too many donuts.
You're a glutton. So, now me and Keith came to you at 12 .30 at the end of service, by the end of the afternoon before the academy class were excommunicated. Okay, that's not what we're talking about.
We're talking about, A, this person obviously had followed some false teaching. She embraced that false teaching. Not only did she embrace that false teaching, she did not obviously heed the words of Paul.
How did the church of Thyatira get planted? Through the preaching of Paul. You don't think Paul sent them instructions on how the church should be governed? So, not only did she go, okay, I want my voice within the church.
I think that what I'm saying will be more beneficial. Look, I've got more clout than that elder pastor teacher in there. Look how tolerant we are. We can be so tolerant. We can continue to bring money in.
Man, you just do a little bit of this. You don't even need to mean it when you go there. You know, those food offered to idols, really, idols aren't anything anyway. Paul said that. See the twisting of the words?
Twisting of the words. So, yes, I do believe she was a real woman within the church. Had she been put out? I don't know. But we do know this. There was a confrontation at some point that this girl, young woman, old woman, whatever you want to call her, had, was told you need to repent of what you're saying and doing.
And because Jesus says, He didn't say the church gave her time. What does He say? I gave her time. I gave her time to repent. And what does He say right after that?
She doesn't want to. She doesn't want to.
She doesn't want to repent of her immorality. So now we have a woman here who has raised herself up to be the mouthpiece inside a group of people, put themselves in opposition to the orthodox teaching of what the church of Tyre was teaching, and she says, You know what?
I don't want to repent.
I don't care.
I don't care what Jesus says. I don't care what Paul says. I don't care what John said. I don't care any other pastor that was here before me. I don't care what they say. I'm going to do what I want to do because this is going to benefit me and people will like me.
Is that not the attitude and actions of false teachers? They don't care what God says. They don't care. And then He says, Behold. And then we'll wrap it up. We've got about five minutes. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.
Okay.
He says, I'm going to throw her on a bed of sickness. I think that bed of sickness is in reference to immorality. Look, where did the immorality? Does anybody say couch? I think some translations say couch, on a couch of immorality.
Look, where in the pagan temples, there's couches and the beds is where the sexual immorality. He says, Look, she wants to continue to go on down sexual immorality. She wants to continue to play the whore and the harlot with all of this.
I'm going to throw her, not only in a bed, I'm going to throw her in a bed of sickness that will cause her to die.
It's interesting how it's kind of that throw metaphor.
Casting, yeah.
Casting Jezebel out of the top of the roof.
That's the connection, yeah. And who's going to do that? Jesus said he's going to do it. I'm going to cast her. I will throw her on a bed. Well, who was the instrument by which God used to throw Jezebel out the window?
It was Jehu and the people that followed him. So God's doing this. Jesus is going to do this. And he says, I'm going to throw her into great tribulation. Okay, here it is, great tribulation. There it is.
The words, two words that have caused books upon millions to be sold. Great tribulation. I'm going to throw her into a time, and those that follow her, into a time of trouble that is supposed to cause them to repent.
We're going to see as we get further on in the book of Revelation, when we get into the seals and the trumpets, that no matter how much tribulation God pours out, no matter how many seals are opened that cause a third of the trees to be burned and a third of the fresh water to go away, or when you get into the trumpets where the release of demons, you know what, no matter how much tribulation and trouble God puts on someone, it says time and time again, they were unwilling to repent.
They will say, hide us from the Lamb. The wrath of the Lamb. Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. It says, I'm going to try to go into the rocks. I'm going to try to hide under the rocks. I'm going to try to go into the caves.
You know what? You know what they should be saying? I should repent. Quit hiding. Lay yourself out naked and bare before the Lord and repent of your immorality. Well, that's not what she does. And that's not what they do through the whole book.
And it says here, I'll throw them into a great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. What was her deeds? Sexual immorality and eating food. Offer to idols. Why don't we stop right there, because we can talk about the killing of children next week in verse 23.
We got any questions, clarifications, outbursts of anger, letters to the editor, write your demonstration.
I got one on that part where you were talking about Jezebel and, you know, was she disciplined, was she not disciplined? When he writes he says, but I have this against you. The you he's referencing to is so much the body and not the leadership because he says, you know, I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel.
Obviously, you know, that would kind of be a rebuke.
It is.
To the church it was too loosey-goosey. In many ways you could take Pergamum and you could take this church. There are some similarities, you know. Was Pergamum, did they not do what they were supposed to do with sexual immorality?
Falling bail and the teaching. Yeah, they didn't do anything about it. So Jesus now has to come in and rebuke them for that. Same thing here. There is a similarity. Whether it was physical or was it a spiritual immorality, to me it really makes no difference.
It really makes no difference whether it's physical immorality or idolatry of the heart. They come hand-in-hand.
And he's saying, look, you need to not tolerate such things. The other churches are compromised. This church here is very tolerant of immorality. I mean, we do have, in both these churches, we have pictures and illustrations of the church of Corinth.
It's like, man, did Paul not address these very things in Corinth? And he did. What were they doing? They thought that, hey, it was okay for a man to be sleeping with his mom in Corinth. And what did Paul say?
This guy can't be a friend.
Put the wicked one out from among you. Let him be turned over to the destruction of the flesh that his soul may be saved. And I would even say this right here, even to Jezebel, whatever her real name is, okay, this Jezebel, in many ways we could say that's what Jesus did to her.
I gave her time to repent, and she won't. Now I'm going to kill her. Same thing. Turned her over. She had time to repent, but she didn't. What is the responsibility if someone comes to us and we're in sin, and they point specific sin out, and they point out and say, this is what the Word of God says, this is what you're doing, and I'm telling you under the authority of Scripture, you need to turn from that.
What is our responsibility as believers? To repent. And if we don't, if we give God two fists and two fingers, he has the right to kill us, to strike us dead, throw us into a bed of tribulation.
What he was saying, though, is this more like towards the leaders who are allowing this? Because right here at the end when he says, if they don't repent of her deeds, is that more from, like he was just saying, the leadership of allowing all of this?
I think the tolerant part is to the leaders. I think those who don't repent of their deeds are the ones that are following those deeds. It's twofold. Look, it's always I've got 35 seconds. It is the responsibility of the leaders of the church to keep preaching fidelity to Christ.
It's your responsibility in your own heart to stay fidelity in Christ. But when someone begins to get off of that path, it's the responsibility of the leaders when they recognize that as shepherds to put you back on that path.
Don't say, okay, well, I'm going to let it kind of run its course. Let me see. You know, Johnny is having some problems. We're going to let him do his thing. If he loves the Lord, he'll come back.
No, no, no.
That's not the responsibility of the leaders. Jesus said, if you see a sheep straying, what do you do? You go after that. And this is an inference drawn from the text that they begin to go this way, and the leaders were tolerant of that, thinking it would correct itself.
False teaching doesn't correct itself. It opens up the door because with every false teaching is just a little bit of truth which then makes it set the hook. And once that hook's set, then they can add all these appendages and twist scriptures to make it work.
And we've got to go. Keith, you'll close us?
Father God, as we have heard from Your Word this morning, the importance of the necessary steps that happen when there's something in the church that needs to be dealt with, and someone particularly who might be teaching falsely or leading astray the people of God that they be dealt with.
Lord, we know that that's a difficult thing, and it happens in churches.
All around the world today.
I pray, Lord, that we would, as a church, stand fast to the truth, hold fast to Your Word, and love You, and seek to always do what You command us to do. Thank You for Brother Mike and his teaching. Let it now that You would bless him and bless us as we go into worship together in Christ's name.