Deluded & Deceived By Compromise

Transcript

GR 1510
11-30-08
Deluded and Deceived by Compromise
Revelation 2:18-21
Gil Rugh


We're in Revelation 2. It's interesting to me that the book of Revelation is a book which we consider when we think of prophetic matters. And it is. It is the culmination of all the prophecies of scripture, it is the book of Revelation that brings them all together, the climactic revelation from God on how He will bring all things to the conclusion that He has ordained. And this great prophetic book opens up with this extensive section where Christ addresses each of these seven churches individually. He evaluates them and gives them a message and you think, does this fit the book. When you think of the book of Revelation you think of jumping into these challenging prophetic sections and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, as we get to chapter 6; and the return of Christ to the earth in chapter 19. But now he is addressing individual churches. He gives some prophetic assurances and promises at the end of each of these letters, but basically these have to do with the doctrine and practice of various local churches. And I think it draws to our attention the central role that the church plays in God's work in the world today. We place a great emphasis on the individual and salvation is an individual and personal matter. There is no such thing as group salvation. Some groups like some Protestants and some Catholics think when you become part of their group, you are saved by virtue of your identification with that group. But the scripture is clear, salvation takes place on a one-by-one individual action as each individual person comes to understand the gospel through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. And is cleansed of his sin, is born again, born from above. That has to happen individually.

We have to understand that while God's work of salvation happens one by one, individual by individual, God's purpose is to join those that He saves together in a relationship with one another. His purposes for the redeemed are accomplished as they are brought together in relationship with other believers. This was true of Israel in the Old Testament, and there they had a physical relationship but that was not enough. They had to have a spiritual relationship with God and then with one another to be truly part of the purposes of God in the covenants He had established with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Jews who were saved were in a context of relationship with others.

In the New Testament when God established the church in Acts 2 He ordained that there would be relationships established with believers in what is called the local church. And so we are not saved so we can be out here spinning off and doing our own thing, but we are made part of what is called the body of Christ, the church. I Corinthians 12-14 develop this in the context of the body and that picture of the physical body compared to the spiritual body of Christ and all the different parts of the body working together in harmonious unity that enables the body to build itself up in love, to grow, to mature. You cannot grow and mature as God intends if you are isolated out here, anymore than one part of the body can be effective when it is severed from the rest of the body. God's intention is that His people function together. And in the day in which we live it is the church that is the focal point of God's work in salvation and God's work in building a people for Himself.

So we come to these churches and we're reminded, in God's prophetic program, really chapters 6-19 deal with matters relating to the completion of God's program for the nation Israel. But the opening chapters of the book of Revelation and the closing of the book remind us that Jesus Christ was addressing this great truth to the church. And this truth which brings together the plan of God for the future, for His people, Israel, and for us as the church will have a direct impact on shaping our conduct and behavior in the world. And so we have the emphasis to the churches.

We come to the next church in our study. We've looked at the church at Ephesus, the church at Smyrna, the church at Pergamum, now we come to the church in the city of Thyatira. And understand that when God saved a people, He saved them to be His people, to belong to Him and to be a manifestation of His grace and the power of His salvation in the world.

Back up to I Timothy 3, a passage that we've looked at together not too long ago. Paul tells Timothy what his intention is in his writing in verses 14-15. I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long. But in case I am delayed I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God. So you see God's household, God's family today is the church, and particularly focusing on the local church, because that's what the instructions to Timothy, which the first part of chapter 3 has dealt with, elders, deacons, the order to be carried out in the local church. That is the household of God, the church of the living God which is the pillar and support of the truth. So that's what we are in the world. And as Jesus Christ evaluates each of these churches, and now the church at Thyatira, it is how His people are conducting themselves in the handling of His truth and the living out of His truth. We are to be a people, we are the pillar and support of the truth, who are a testimony to the truth, both with our lips and with our lives. We find both being dealt with in these churches. We must have pure doctrine and pure lifestyle. And He evaluates the church in light of that.

So as you come back to Revelation 2:18, we'll pick up with the church at Thyatira. Again we'll see Christ's absolute demand for purity in His church. We'll see the connection again of the purity of doctrinal teaching and the purity of living. And corrupted doctrine does result in corrupted living. And the church at Thyatira will have to be addressed on that matter. It is a church that will have outstanding qualities. If we could only stop at a certain point in a letter like the letter to the church at Thyatira, we would say there is a church that we want to model ourselves after. It is a church that has unbiblical compromise, that has resulted in doctrinal impurity and moral impurity. And you sometimes wonder, how can you get such a mixture in the same local church. But it's the condition of the church at Thyatira.

A little bit about Thyatira. It's the smallest and least known of any of the seven cities we're dealing with. Remember these are seven churches in Asia Minor, which was the Roman province of Asia, Turkey as we know it. We are in a rough irregular circle as we travel from church to church to church. And we come to Thyatira from the city of Pergamum. The city of Pergamum was addressed in verses 12-17. We have traveled about 40 miles southeast of Pergamum. And I encourage you to look on a map if you haven't recently and just get an idea of how these churches are arranged.

This is the smallest and the least known of the seven churches, as I mentioned, and yet this church receives the longest letter, verses 18-29 as we have it in our Bibles. And we will take two studies to look at this letter. We do know one of the main outstanding features of this city, it's not a port city, it's not the commercial center although it does have some commercial significance but not on the level of some of the other cities we've looked at. But one of the prominent features of this city is that it had a number of trade guilds. A trade guild was similar to our unions. What I say about the trade guilds won't have anything against unions, just a comparison for you. But what is a trade guild? We think of our unions. Certain trades were bound together. To work in that trade you had to be part of that guild. And they had them in Thyatira for wool workers, the linen workers, makers of outer garments, those who dyed material. Very significant guild there. Leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers and bronze smiths.

Look back in Acts 16. We meet a significant person who was from Thyatira. Verse 14, a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics. As this she would have been a member of that guild, probably the dyers' guild that dyed the fabric here. She was basically a businesswoman. She is a worshiper of God which meant that she was a Gentile who was converted to Judaism. From the records we have there is not the prominent influence of the Jews in Thyatira that there was in some of the other cities, but there is nonetheless a significant Jewish population and Lydia has become a convert to Judaism. But here she is traveling and becomes the first convert here in Europe as she is traveling with her trade to another place. The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. When she and her household had been baptized she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. She may have relocated here, she may have a second home, she may be the representative. She may have moved from Thyatira here, and be the business connection. We don't know, but an interesting person, becomes the first convert of Paul when he received the Macedonian vision and crossed over to Europe, it's Lydia from the city of Thyatira.

Some believe that maybe she and her family carried the gospel back and were key in establishing the church at Thyatira. That may be so. Probably more probable is this is another one of those cities impacted. Remember when Paul spent three years in Ephesus, we're told that all Asia heard the gospel as workers with Paul. Paul centered in Ephesus but his workers carried the gospel out to other cities. People from other cities that came through Ephesus heard the gospel. But Lydia is from Thyatira.

Come back to Revelation. This is a smaller city and a city we don't know much about. It's interesting to see the prominence and importance of a person like Lydia from Thyatira. These guilds, why do we mention the guilds. Just a point of interest? No, they have a great impact on the city. They are bound together by a common trade. You are a leather worker, you belonged to the leather worker guild. You don't carry on your trade as a leather worker in Thyatira without joining the guild. This was a closed system. I've worked in places when I lived on the East Coast that you did not work in if you didn't join the union. That kind of idea, it just was the way it was set up. The problem was each of these guilds are bound together, not just by their trade but by their worship. Each guild had its own god and involved in belonging to this guild was attending the festival that honored the god of the guild. And here food would be offered to this god and then it was put on the table for the members of the guild to enjoy. Remember Paul dealt with some of these kinds of issues in the letter to the church at Corinth. Can you eat the food sacrificed to idols or not. And that whole discussion. Well here it would be an issue. Paul said you don't have to worry about it in the marketplace where it may have been sacrificed to an idol. Now it's just sold out there as general food. But when you're a member of the guild, you go to the festival that honors the god of your guild and that god is given credit for any success you have, the food is honored to him. You partake of this in the context of it having been offered to that god and identifying yourself as a worshiper of that god. And then these feasts are followed by all kinds of gross kinds of immoral practices.

Now here you put a believer in a difficult situation. You put the church here, remember the guilds I listed for wool workers, linen workers, makers of outer garments, dyers, leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers, bronze smiths. I mean, what are you going to do? You become a believer in Jesus Christ, you are a leather worker and you've been part of this guild, you've been successful in it, you provide for your family this way. Now it's time to go to the festival honoring the god. Well, what will I do? Maybe I could be out of town the day of the festival. Might work once. Next time, pretty soon there is a problem here. If you were part of this guild there are requirements. You have to attend our festival, our meeting, you have to honor our god , our guild won't be successful without that. Now what do you do? You don't belong to the guild, you don't carry on your trade in this city. Now what do I do as a believer?

So you see the kind of pressure that could come to a church and to believers in that church at Thyatira. Tremendous pressure to make adjustments to fit into the world in which they lived. And well you find reasons that this can be worked out. This opens the door for the false teachers that infiltrate the church. They've come up with a word from God that enables you to make the living you need to provide for your family and still be a Christian. Now you can understand the appeal of this kind of teacher or prophetess, as we have in the church at Thyatira.

So the letter begins, to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write. The Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and His feet are like burnished bronze says this. And I have to say, because I'm impressed every week as I work through each of these churches, I'm impressed again how Christ presents Himself to the church. This is His last word to His churches. With the close of the book of Revelation there will be no new revelation given. This is the last book of our Bible because it's the last of the revelation given that God has preserved for us as His scripture. And there is nothing warm and sentimental about this. Warm, I mean in that emotional sentimental thing. You might think that this with the kind of environment they're in, this would be where the Lord would say, come my children, I want to put my arms around you one more time, I want you to know that I care about you and love you and I want you to feel secure in my love and care for you. There is an element of truth in that, but that's not the way He is presented. This is not a warm, fuzzy picture. The Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire, His feet are like burnished bronze, glowing bronze. I mean, this is not the kind of thing you want to run up and give a hug in that sense. I don't want you to misunderstand, there is a warmth and a love in our Savior, but here He comes to address His churches. He addresses them, He addressed the church at Pergamum, remember in verse 12, the One who has the sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth. I mean, the picture here, this is a serious matter. He loves us, He has redeemed us, but He is the Lord of the church, the judge of the church. And His standard is not lowered at all. Circumstances don't change what He requires of us, absolute faithfulness.

Presents Himself as the Son of God. Interestingly this is the only place in the book of Revelation where this title is used of Christ, the Son of God. Now it's implied in other places, several passages beginning in Revelation 1:6, that's the only one we'll look at, He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. So there are several times through the book of Revelation where we have that reference to God the Father and His being the Father of Christ, which of course would imply He is the Son of the Father, the Son of God. But this is the only place where Christ is specifically called the Son of God. In Revelation 1:13, in the middle of the lampstand I saw One like the Son of Man. The Son of Man was a Messianic title drawn from Daniel 7 which emphasized His humanity. Son of God is another Messianic title, it emphasizes His deity, as you might expect. The one identifies Him with humanity, the other identifies Him with God. And He is both God and man. Son of Man was taken from Daniel 7. The title Son of God is a Messianic title, it is recognized as such, it's drawn from Psalm 2. We'll read several verses of this because a couple of verses from this Psalm will be picked up later in the letter to the church at Thyatira. It begins with a reference to the Son of God, Christ identifying Himself as the Son of God, a title which is drawn from Psalm 2. Later the following verses will be also quoted from Psalm 2.

Look at Psalm 2:7, we're in the context of Christ being installed as the King over the earth. The psalm begins, why are the nations in an uproar and the people devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. The anointed being the Messiah, the Christos is the anointed one, the Messiah. So here He is referred to as the anointed, the Messiah. They rebel against Him, He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury saying, but as for Me I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. So His anointed will rule and reign from Jerusalem. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. There is the basic foundation and background for the Messiah being identified as the Son of God. Today I have begotten you. And now verses 8-9 will be quoted later in this letter to the church at Thyatira. Ask of Me, I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the very ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron, you will shatter them like earthenware.

So he begins the letter with Son of God. Later he will more directly connect it with Psalm 2 by quoting verses 8-9 to the church at Thyatira. Come to Luke 4:41, here during Christ's earthly ministry. He is healing the sick, He is casting out demons in verse 40. Verse 41, demons were coming out of many shouting, you are the Son of God, but rebuking them He would not allow them to speak because they knew Him to be the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. So you see they say, you are the Son of God. They knew He was the Messiah of Israel. So the demons have it put together, they understand the Old Testament prophecies. And they know who Jesus Christ is. Most of the people in Israel haven't come to understand it, but the demons know. So you see the connection. You are the Son of God. They knew Him to be the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah of Israel. So to say He is the Son of God identifies Him again in His Messianic role, but it emphasizes the deity that is His as the Messiah, just as Son of Man emphasizes His humanity.

Come back to Revelation 2:18. Look at verses 26-27, you see the quote from Psalm 2:8-9, we'll look at those when we get there, but just so you see the Psalm come together. It begins with this title the Son of God drawn from Psalm 2, in that Messianic context. In verse 18 He is the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze. Eyes like a flame of fire pictures both thorough knowledge, the eyes betray intellect, knowledge, knowing because we've seen, we know. The eyes like a flame of fire, that thorough knowledge, that penetrating knowledge. Sometimes we'll use a similar kind of metaphor. We'll say, his eyes were like they looked right through you, that picture of the thorough knowledge. Like when he looked at me he knew what I was thinking. Those kinds of pictures that we draw. Say the same thing with the eyes. They were like a flame of fire, that purifying, penetrating gaze. Also with the fire brings a concept of a judgment and they see things as they are, they burn away the dross from the silver
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With this are the feet like burnished bronze. And we're going to put this together because then we're going to go back to the book of Daniel and see these two pictures put together, and the picture Daniel had of the preincarnate Christ that we've already seen in our previous sections in Revelation. Feet like burnished bronze also seem to picture particularly judgment. Remember He is the One walking among the lampstands now, going from church to church. And bronze here drawing from that which is symbolic of judgment often in the Old Testament in the tabernacle and temple. Here it is burnished bronze, that purifying picture, it's refined completely and it is refining.

Come back to Daniel 10. Daniel has an awesome vision that we've talked about in the previous study and we're not going to go back into it. But I take it the first part of this is a picture of the preincarnate Christ and the last part then you will have the angel Gabriel who comes to Daniel. But I take it there are two different themes here. In Daniel 10:5, I, referring to Daniel, lifted my eyes and looked and behold there was a third man dressed in linen whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. Now remember we've seen this description in Revelation 1 of Christ. His body was like beryl, His face had the appearance of lightning, His eyes were like flaming torches, flames of fire. That's where we get the picture we have in Revelation 2. His arms and feet like the gleam of burnished bronze, glowing bronze. The sound of His words like a tumult. So you have the eyes that are penetrating, all-knowing, to bring judgment because He knows it all, His judgment is not based on what He sees or what He hears. But He is the Son of God who sees all and knows all. So His judgment is perfect and He will mete out devastating judgment with the burnished bronze feet trampling on His enemies.

Go to Isaiah 63. Here you have a picture of the Messiah coming in judgment. And you have to do some other study on this, but picture of Christ and His return they come from Edom and Bozrah and to the Mount of Olives where He will descend. Who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah? The One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength. It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is your apparel red, your garments like one who treads in the winepress. In other words, He comes and His garments are covered with blood, covered with red. They say it looks like you've come out of the winepress. You know when they put the grapes in vat and then they bind up their garments and they get in with their bare feet and they tramp around on the grapes to squeeze out the juice to make the wine. And we've seen some of these from archeology and so on, and sometimes they show up on the history channel. But here He is, His garments are red, it looks like someone who has been in the wine trough. And what does He say? I have trodden the wine trough alone and from the peoples there was no man with me. I also trod them in my anger, I trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I stained all my raiment. For the day of the vengeance was in my heart and my year of redemption has come. Verse 6, I trod down the peoples in my anger, make them drunk in my wrath. I poured out their lifeblood on the earth. So that awesome picture when Christ comes at the Second Coming in Revelation 19, it's just like He is trampling on His enemies, crushing them under His feet like grapes. And the picture of His garments stained with blood.

Come over to Revelation 19. This is the Second Coming of Christ to earth, which was being described in Isaiah 63. So verse 11, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes were a flame of fire, there we pick up that same picture we're looking at in chapter 2. Here He comes with His all-knowing omniscience to bring judgment, justice to the earth. And the description. You come to verse 13, he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, His name is called the Word of God. The armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword so with it He may strike down the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron. We saw that in Psalm 2. He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. You understand the wicked have been cast into the winepress, so to speak, and as Christ comes in fierce judgment they will be crushed and utterly destroyed. That's the awesome picture.

Now we come back to Revelation 2 and here He comes to address His church, the church at Thyatira. And you have pictured here, like we saw at His Second Coming when He is going to destroy His enemies. You understand, He is who He is. Remember we saw in the statement of Christ in our study of II Timothy 2 that if we are faithless He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself. God does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And He is our Savior. We who have believed in Him, experienced that awesome grace of God that has brought salvation to us. You understand He still is the awesome judge. Now for the judgment for His people, He has borne the brunt of that judgment. But He calls the church to account and in the church there are unbelievers, in the church at Thyatira. And His fiery eyes know all. They may have pulled the wool over others in the church at Thyatira, but the One with the eyes like a flame of fire is not fooled. He knows all. But He comes in judgment, He comes to evaluate the church and what it is doing. So striking pictures.

We as believers, we rejoice that we know God, He is our Father. We come before a throne of grace to receive help in time of need, and we come with confidence to that throne of grace. But we ought never to, don't want to say keep the tension there, but that balance in perspective of who He is. I come with full confidence before a throne of grace because Jesus Christ is my Savior. But I come with humility and I come before the One who requires absolute obedience from me. And no He doesn't understand, He understands that we are but dust, He understands the weakness and frailty of life. He does not understand in an accepting way that we would sin. There is never any leeway for that. He understands the difficulties we go through. He has been in all points tested like we are, yet sinned not, Hebrews tells us. But there is no leeway. We don't want to let this slide over to think He is like the grandparent, the leeway. What's great about grandparents is they don't have the same firmness as parents. I understand that more now that I'm a grandparent. When my kids were young and we'd be with their grandparents I'd tell my dad, Dad, you never let me get away with that. And he'd just smile. Yes, he's the grandparent, doesn't matter. He'd be sneaking something on the side. Dad, they can't eat that right now. Oh, okay. So we tend to sometimes slide over it, thinking God is this way. Oh I sin, but He's like a grandfather, He understands, He doesn't expect me to be perfect. He does, He does. And He expects His church to be perfect. He not only expects it, He requires it. And He not only requires it, but He judges on that standard.

So with that presentation of His person to the church He says, I know your deeds and your love and faith and service and perseverance and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. I know your deeds. And we've noted this repeated emphasis, I know your deeds. You are not saved by works. Sometimes we are so concerned that people not be confused on this that we fail to keep before us, but we are saved to do good works. By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. It's that we are saved by grace. But we are saved as Ephesians 2:10 goes on to say, unto good works which God foreordained that we should walk in them. All the good works done throughout a lifetime could never bring salvation to a lost sinner. But when a lost sinner is saved by grace through faith, his life is transformed and now the works, the deeds. God has ordained them for the believer and they are being done in the church at Thyatira. I know your deeds, I know your works. They are evidence of the spirituality that is present in the church.

There are four tangible areas mentioned. I know your deeds, and he goes on. Your love. This is agape love, that self-sacrificing love that is to be demonstrated both toward God and toward fellow believers. Interestingly, none of the previous three churches had been commended for their love. But the church at Thyatira is commended for their love. Ephesus had been rebuked for leaving their first love, but here the church at Thyatira is commended for their love. I take it that would be manifested in their deeds because agape love is the love of action. If you love Me, Jesus said, you will keep My commandments. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. It's the love of action, of doing. And this was a church that was characterized by love, genuine biblical love, agape love, the love that the Spirit of God produces as part of the fruit of the Spirit in a life.

Faith, I know your faith. The word can mean both faith and faithfulness. Here it probably refers to faith as it is joined with love. But to genuine faith in Christ, faith in the word of Christ manifests itself in faithfulness of life. It does follow through and the ideas become part of one another. But the root of it is faith. They have as a church a genuine faith. Not everyone in the church has this faith. By virtue of being part of the church they are professing this faith. But Christ is going to make a distinction in the church and threaten certain ones in the church with the judgment that comes to those who do not believe. So it is a church of faith, a church of believers.

It's a church characterized by service. This is the Greek word we have the word deacon from, that service ministering to the needs of others kind of service. So here is a church that has some great qualities. It's a church involved in serving one another. It's a church characterized by perseverance. I know your perseverance, the hupomone, that living under pressure. They demonstrated their love and their faith even under pressure. They kept on going, they endured. And that's a good quality for a church. Remember in II Timothy 2, if we endure we will reign with Him. Endurance is a quality commanded, it is a quality required.

And then he goes on and summarizes, that your deeds of late are greater than at first. Remember the church at Ephesus back in chapter 2 verse 5, remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first. The church at Ephesus had declined in their works, the church at Thyatira had grown. They were doing greater deeds than they did in the early days of their salvation. This is a church that was improving, that had gotten better in many ways. It is commendable, their works had expanded. Christ commends His slaves for serving Him and doing greater works than they did at the beginning. Expect that in growth, like we tell our children, we expect more of you, you are older. We grow. We shouldn't be declining, we should be increasing.

Let's cut the letter off there. We're not done though, and now we get that but. But I have this against you, I have this against you. I mean, a church that is characterized by love, faith, service, perseverance, and increasing works for the Lord. But I have this against you and it is serious. You tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess. You tolerate, present tense, this is an ongoing situation in the church at Thyatira. You permit, you allow. There is an emphasis of personal responsibility and accountability here. You allow this woman who calls herself a prophetess. She's not a genuine prophetess, but she calls herself a prophetess. The only other use of this particular word for prophetess is of Anna who was in the temple, remember, when Christ was presented. Here is one who is the opposite of Anna, in that she presents herself as a prophetess. And the church has an ongoing tolerance.

This keeps coming up and we've seen it before in the letters where the church puts up with things it should not put up with. Now here is a church characterized by love. But you'll note genuine biblical love does not tolerate things that Jesus Christ does not tolerate. I commend them for their love, that doesn't mean tolerating this person in the church and their ministry in the church was commendable. This is something that brings serious rebuke.

She is called Jezebel. The infamous Jezebel, the wife of Ahab. Ahab was the wicked king of Israel and Jezebel was his wife who prodded him and encouraged him and was involved in leading Israel into the worst kind of apostasy in the worship of Baal, in immorality, in witchcraft. An awful woman. Come back to II Kings 16. It wasn't that long ago that we studied this portion of the Old Testament, so for those of you who were here you may have it more fresh in your mind. We were going to do I Kings 16 but you're in II Kings so go to II Kings 9. This is the end of Jezebel. And Jehu the new king is going to bring Jezebel to her end. Verse 22, when Joram saw Jehu he said, is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, what peace so long as the harlotries of your mother, Jezebel, and her witchcrafts are so many. You see infamous here. And Jehu is not going to be a godly king of Israel, but he does some good things here at the start when he's taking over. But you see how Jezebel is known. I mean, and there can be no peace in Israel as long as her harlotries, her witchcrafts which are so many. So she comes to her prophesied end down in verse 33. When she looks out from an upper story window and Jehu says, if you're on my side, throw her out the window. So he said, throw her down. They threw her down, some of her blood sprinkled on the wall, on the horses, he trampled her underfoot. He came in, he ate, drank. He said, see now to this cursed woman, bury her. When they go out to bury her the only things left are her skull, the feet and the palms of her hands because the dogs ate her. And verse 36, this is the word of the Lord by Elijah the Tishbite saying, in the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, the corpse of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field and the property of Jezreel. They can't say they won't know where Jezebel has been buried. It tells you what a disgrace this woman in Israel was that God ordained this end for her and prophesied it through His prophet, Elijah. This is the end she is going to come to because she has so corrupted Israel with her harlotries, with her immoralities, with the worship of Baal.

Now when you come back to Revelation 2 you have the name of this woman and we still use it today. Maybe not quite as much today as in the not so distant past. But they say, she's a Jezebel, meaning what? It's not a compliment, it's meaning she's a woman of ill repute, to put it mildly. That's the kind of woman of disgrace. So when you say you tolerate and put up with this woman, Jezebel. She calls herself a prophetess. Here is a woman in the church at Thyatira claiming to be a prophetess. And what does she do? She teaches and leads my slaves, my bondservants, astray so they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. You see, she does the same thing Jezebel did. She lures them away to the worship of idols and she seduces them into immoral conduct and behavior.

By the fact that she claims to be a prophetess, the church puts up with her. That gives her credibility. Remember we talked about false teachers. What happens when you get involved there, their teaching begins to have an impact. So with Jezebel. I mean, the church tolerates, puts up with her. I mean, would the church allow her to give out these teachings, would they allow her to give forth prophecies to teach if they didn't think she was all right. So you see you give her credibility now. And so people become more vulnerable to the teaching that she is giving.

She teaches and leads my bondservants astray. Leads astray, translation of a verb here that means to deceive. Leads astray gives you the idea. She deceives them and thus leads them astray. They wander away from the truth after her teaching. And those being led astray are My bondservants, the dulos. Basically the word means slaves. My slaves she is leading astray. Those who should be obeying Me, submitting to Me, following My teaching, you as a church tolerate someone who leads them away from Me. And so those who are to be My slaves are being seduced by her teaching.

They commit immorality, they eat things sacrificed to idols. Now remember we talked about the guilds. We say, why are they eating things sacrificed to idols. Remember, there may be pressures here just like you when you feel pressures in your job to make compromises. Why? I need the job. This is probably not right for me as a Christian, but what am I going to do. So if you have this kind of setting, now you have someone who is given credibility by being allowed to function in the church, to promote her teachings, and she has come up with a balance that you can be a Christian, be part of this church and still eat things sacrificed to idols. You can go to the festival of your guild and when they offer food to the idol and then give it to you, that's okay. This is an occasion where eating food sacrificed to idols is not acceptable because it identifies you as a worshiper of that idol. So this would be a violation of the standards Paul set down when he talked about food sacrificed to idols. You cannot be even slightly involved in the worship of demons, Paul said. And that's what the worship of false gods is, it's the worship of demons. They are the spirit beings behind all false worship. And here this is what is going on.

And you know what comes out of that then? Immorality because following this worship part of the whole functioning of these guilds and the false worship in them was the immorality that went with it. Somehow it becomes all right because you understand you are a spirit being and your relationship to Jesus Christ is spiritual, not physical. This body will die and go in the grave. God is going to have to glorify it, even if you believe in the resurrection, as some would not. So the physical things aren't what are important. And just because you go through this physically, that's all right. You just maintain your spiritual relationship with the Lord. Well you know this stuff begins to make sense and I'm really under pressure. And I don't think the Lord would want me to lost my job and not be able to support my family. Besides, how would the church get along if nobody can give. So Jezebel says she gets messages from God, she teaches in the church, the church allows her to teach and she says it's all right and it's just a physical thing. And what you do physically doesn't defile you spiritually, because remember it's not what goes into your mouth that defiles the body, it's what comes out of the heart. That's what Jesus taught. So now you're beginning to understand it's just a spiritual thing. It's not what goes into your mouth, it's what comes out of your heart. So you can go and partake of these things sacrificed to idols. And even the immorality that follows that's expected of you, you do it to honor that god but remember that's what you're doing with your physical body. And it's not what you do with your physical body that defiles you. And somehow you see all this and Paul's teaching all of a sudden seems to begin to make sense. And especially when you have the pressure of your livelihood and living. Now here is a way that I can live in my society and it's all right. When I first read this I think, how can any church anywhere tolerate this kind of action. This seems so blatant, we'd never do it. But all they are doing is making the adjustments and the compromises to live in their particular setting. And you can find scriptural support for it. And people who make the adjustment that this is okay.

Verse 21, I gave her time to repent. This has been going on, present tense, you tolerate this, you continue to allow it. It's been ongoing in the church and it's been ongoing because Christ says, I gave her time to repent. This has been going on. We sometimes think the Lord didn't do anything, if the Lord had a problem with her prophesying and teaching He would probably strike her dead or make something happen to her. But you understand, what has been going on is Christ gave her time to repent. But she's not interested in repentance. She does not want to repent of her immorality. She doesn't want to, she's not interested. The grace of God has been manifested, displayed. He's given her time to repent. This is a woman who has been in the church at Thyatira, this is a church, many of the people in this church, perhaps most of the people are true believers in a church that has genuine love and faith and so on as we saw. It's not making any impact on her at all. Nothing. Because she is not interested in repenting. I mean, how many sermons did she hear in the church at Thyatira? How many other people did she hear teach that were true believers? How many people did she hear give a testimony? She's not interested in repentance. She is committed to her immorality, committed to her error. And so Christ intervenes here with warning to the church.

Isn't it sad? You know, it's so easy......... Being a pastor I look at other churches, I evaluate what they do. You know, I'm amazed at how clearly I can see things at other churches. Why did they do that? Why did they allow that? Why would they put up with that? I talk to pastors, one several years ago, had a large church, much larger than ours. And he said, Gil, I know some of the things we have going on are wrong. I just don't have the stomach to deal with it. I mean, these are good people in my church. I just can't bring myself to tell them. He said, I tried to have someone come in from the outside. All he said was repent or you're condemned. I can't do that. What do you do?

So we want to be careful. We have to stop here. Let me just quickly review what we have seen here and we'll be ready for the last half of the letter next time. 1. The Son of God is judge of the church. We never want to forget it. It comes up with every letter, but there's a reason it's repeated again and again. So we get the message. The Son of God is the judge of the church. 2. We must be increasing in our works for Him. I mean, all these good deeds, and we ought to be increasing. That's good. We're not working our way to heaven, but we who are on our way to heaven are working for our Master to do His will, to do His commandments. 3. We must not be tolerant of false teaching, must not allow it to go on. 4. People in the church can be deluded and deceived into all kinds of error. That's why we are not to engage with it, we are not to tolerate it being taught, we're not to allow ourselves, as we talked about in Timothy, to become involved in word battles and disputes over it. The Word of God is clear, it is shut down, we have nothing to talk about on that. We disassociate ourselves from those who won't repent and change. 5. Unbelievers continue in sin because they are unwilling to repent. Total responsibility is on Jezebel, she does not want to repent. The word to will, she is unwilling to repent. That's the problem with unbelievers. They can be in our churches, they can hear the truth, they can be exposed to the testimony of other believers, they can see the work of the Spirit in the lives of believers. Why aren't they saved? They don't want to be. We sometimes think everyone would want to be. No, no, no. Christ tells us, Jezebel didn't want to repent. We say, well maybe they didn't present the gospel clearly enough, maybe they weren't ............... No, Jesus said the problem with her is she doesn't want to repent. And so unbelievers continue in sin because they don't want to repent and be saved.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for this letter. Thank you, Lord, that we can come before you and know you are our God, you have provided your Son as our Savior. We are welcomed and received, we look forward to the joy that will be ours to spend eternity in the glory of your presence. Lord, at the same time we would take the message to heart that you require of us as your slaves obedience, complete obedience. You require of us as the church of Jesus Christ, purchased with His blood, that we be complete in our obedience. Not just be obedient in some ways, in some areas, but, Lord, that we be consumed with a passion to honor you with complete obedience. May that be true of us individually and true of us as a body of believers in this place. We pray in Christ's name, amen.