Book of Revelation chapter 2, verse 18 to 29.
We're in to tonight. Let's read the whole letter to
the Angel of the church and Thyatira write and these things
says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, his
feet like fine brass. So very powerful titles he gives
himself. It starts to tell you exactly
when he presents himself what's coming.
I know your works so he knows love, service, your faith and
your patience. As for your works.
The last are more than the first verse. 20.
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you
allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.
Remember Paul, whenever he would write Paul the Apostle and he
would say because Jesus had made him an apostle, a lot of people
today make themselves apostles. That's dangerous to teach, and
this is what she was doing to teach and seduce my servants to
commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
Now here we see God's grace, and I gave her even her time to
repent of her, but she did not of her sexual immorality and she
did not repent, so she refused. Indeed, because of that I will.
This is Jesus speaking, cast her into a sick bed and those who
commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they
repent of their deeds, I will kill her children with death.
Now, that's not something you're kind of like, Oh yeah, Jesus was
at church the other day. He said I will kill her children
with death. So that's what we did in Sunday
school this last Sunday. We talked about Jesus killing
children with death. No.
So we understand the language here is powerful.
And he's saying those who follow this false prophetess who
followers who refuse to repent, they will suffer.
And the term, the language here is pestilence, sickness will
come upon them. And it's a judgement of God.
All the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds
and hearts. So God searches our thoughts and
our hearts. And he says, I'll give to each
one of you according to your works.
Now do you, I say unto the rest in Thyatir, as many as do not
have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, Wow,
how bad is it? As they say, I will put on you
no other burden, but hold fast what you have till I come.
And he, whoever comes and keeps my works until the end, to him I
will give power over the nations.
He shall rule them with a rod of iron.
Speaking of Jesus, they shall be dashed to pieces like the
Potter's vessel. Second coming of Jesus.
He comes as a judge, as I have also have received from my
Father. I'll give him the morning star.
Now He says this, if you're listening, He wears an ear.
Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Take note of what I said today there are many people who claim
to be prophets. We see them advertised all the
time coming here, prophets so and so prophetess.
It's a big thing. Today we have the travelling
minstrel show, people coming around and calling themselves
prophets of God and they tell us that God talks to them, gives
them special messages, and this is usually in addition.
No one else is getting that message, No one else is being
told this stuff. This is in addition to what God
has already given to us in His word, the Bible.
Hebrews chapter 1 says this, this one long ago God spoke many
times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.
He used the prophets. Now in these final days you and
I live. He has spoken to us through His
Son. God promised everything to the
sun as an inheritance. Through the sun He made the
universe and everything in it. The sun reflects God's own glory
and everything about Him represents God.
Exactly. John 11.
In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, the Word
was God. Would you take note of this?
The Church of Fire Tyra fell to following, in this case, a false
prophetess. Jesus gives her a label Jezebel,
even though that's not her name. Later on, when Fire Tyra didn't
learn from this woman Jezebel, they followed another false
prophet, a guy who claimed to continue continue to receive
continuing and direct revelations from God apart from
Scripture. Now the Bible doesn't say this,
but God is telling us this. This is called the Monetarist
heresy. And what happened after
following that person? The Church of Thyatira
disappeared in the end of the 2nd century.
Gone. The danger of this should be
obvious. No matter how sincere the
individual may appear and be a giving, giving teaching is right
or wrong. How is teaching governed by you,
by us to be right or wrong? Well, it was just impact, man, I
felt this. Nope.
Well, they're popular. They're going around church, the
church, the church is going wow this, but oh wow should see what
happens. No, a given teaching is right or
wrong based upon the authority of the Bible, not the
personality, not the claims of an individual.
I know the Bible doesn't say this, but I'm telling you, God
has spoken to me. I've experienced it.
I felt it. No, no matter who they are.
Hear what Paul says in Galatians chapter one, verse 8.
Let God's curse fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches
any other message than the one we told you about what we have.
Even if an Angel comes from heaven and preaches any other
message, let him be forever cursed in the background of
Thyatira. Thyatira means continual
sacrifice. It's located again in Turkey, 40
miles southeast of Pergamos. It was a small city.
It was easily conquered over and over and over because it had no
natural defences, so the city was repeatedly destroyed and
rebuilt. It was a commercial, commercial
profitable location due to its location being on the
thoroughfare, a major route to most of the prominent cities.
Historically, this period of Fire Tyre and church history
covers from the time of 600 AD through to the 1500 AD.
Again today there are churches like this.
The flavour of Fire Tyre can be still seen in some quarters, the
city of Fire Tyre, as were many others.
In the day of John's writing, John's about 90 odd years old,
9293 old. He's on the Isle of Patmos.
He's been exiled, had many trade guilds.
Thyatira was a commercial city, so they had what they called
guilds. I don't know if they use that
term in England at all, and they operated throughout the city.
Guilds is the same as we what we would use the term a union.
You've got to be a member of the union.
Each Guild over a certain enterprise had a deity, had
their own God, the God of the carpenters, the God of the this,
the stone Masons, and so forth and so on, in whose honour
feasts were held. And the feasts included feasts
of meat that have been sacrificed to that idol.
And then following that sacrifice, part of the worship
of that idol would be to involve the prostitutes that were linked
to that Guild, to that union, to the, to that that God, that
deity. Now to hold a job or to be in
business in Thyatira, you had to belong to one of these guilds.
Christians didn't because they didn't couldn't work, couldn't
get a job, couldn't sell, couldn't buy, couldn't prosper,
couldn't have a business. So maybe you were like this as
many of them became Christians and you had this thriving
business. Well, the moment you receive
Christ, you found out I can't do that anymore.
And, and and so your monetary support and all those that were
linked to you gone cut off. It was from Thyatira.
You remember in the book of Acts chapter 16 that a woman called
Lydia came from and she was a seller of purple for the
Fremantle Football Club. That's where it's it's has this
and it's made out of these snails they use and, and, and it
was only purple was used for for royalty.
So I just wanted to elevate again just which football team
you should be following. This letter is the longest
letter written to the smallest church.
The title Jesus always gives, gives it says this is it.
And then you go, whoa. He's saying that this is how
he's presenting himself gives us the flavour of the letter.
Verse 18. It's the only place, the only
location in the entire Book of Revelation that we find the
term, the title the Son of God. John is about to write a letter
of great warning and impending judgement to this church.
That's the title Jesus gives himself to put on the opening of
the letter to this church is he who is saying these words is
none other than the Son of God himself.
Bit of a bit of white there. Jesus called for his church, our
church, to every church that names the name of Christ, to be
holy and to maintain its purity by dealing with sin.
Psalm 119, David tells us how not to keep sin in their heart.
Do you remember that as a youth? How do I not keep?
By by having your word, your word, by by hitting my heart
that I may not sin against you. And so by having the word of God
as the central theme in the Church of God, it's what sin
will keep us from this and this book will keep us from sin.
Jesus said in Matthew 18 verse 15, if another believer sins
against you, go privately point out the offence.
If the other person listens and confesses it, you've won that
person back. But if you're unsuccessful and
take one or two others with you witnesses, go back again so that
everything you say may be confirmed by two or three
witnesses. This is where the term where two
or more are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of.
It's in the context of actual church discipline.
If the person still refuses to listen, hear what Paul says.
Can you imagine this today? Take your case to the church.
Then, if he or she won't accept the church's decision, treat
that person as a Pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
Wow. Imagine church discipline always
has two motives or objectives. One, to call sinning believers
to get the person who is sinning back to righteous living to get
them to come back. Look, hey, I know what you're
doing, but you, you can't live together.
It's just, it's not right. So you guys need to sort it.
You need to separate. You need to work out on this
relationship what you're going to do, get married and get
married. But you can't just live together
and come to church. We can't have that.
So it's the call sinning believers back to righteous
living. I'm using that as an example.
Secondly, it's to remove, if necessary from the church those
who stubbornly cling to this sin.
Well, I, I don't care what you say, we're still going to live
together and we're going to come to church.
It can't happen. We're sorry.
You know you, we love you, and Jesus died on the cross for you.
But you can't do that. We can't have you coming here
now and just staying here and just living immorally.
It's it's, it's fornication, it's wrong, it's wrong before
God, Thyatara made of blue. They tolerated sin.
That's all right. They had false teaching in their
midst. Spiritual and physical adultery
was occurring. Thus Jesus description of
himself at the beginning of this letter is titled the Son of God.
He comes to this church as the divine judge.
Look at the wording as he talks about has he ended this?
He talks about he he shall rule them with rod of eye and he's
not talking. You know, hey, you guys, we're
just going to hang out together and we'll negotiate things.
No, it's strong language. Look at the description of who
he says. We see that pick that up from
chapter 1, the description John saw of Jesus.
He says eyes like a flame of fire, eyes that are that see
everything I know, I know what's going on.
I see every thought, I see every mood, every motive, every
action. If you drop down to verse 23 for
a moment, remember Jesus says I am he which searches the reins.
That's the Greek word nephros. Those of you into medicine would
know the term kidney nephrons or the working of the kidney.
It's through that that's the that's the part of the kidney.
So it's it's a place where the range, the thoughts are are here
and your heart. It's the term cardia.
It's the Greek word cardia. It is I know your your nephros
and your Cardia, your thoughts and your motives.
The deep part. I know what's going on.
It says he's feet are like fine brass.
Brass is always through the Bible, symbolic with judgement.
After seeing all that we think, say and do, Jesus now says
judgement will come to those who reject the warning.
He says, I'm giving you time, but they didn't change.
He is about to give as though his feet were in a wine press
pressing out the wrath of God. Feet of brass.
Jesus is trampling out not wine, but impurity.
I'm going to crush it out. Why such a big deal over this
title? Why such detail on the matter?
Good question. Because the church, remember the
pastor of the church got this. Then he said, hey church got a
letter from John going to read it to you.
Everyone listen up. That'd be great because the
church needed to know who was about to examine every DNA
thread of this spiritual condition.
You know, the Bible searches our heart.
You ever sat there and gone? God's just nailed me.
I've sat there. And you know, David did that and
he tried to get away with a few things, tried to get away with
adultery, tried to get away with murder.
And Nathan said you're the man. You're the man God.
God's word gets to us. The church needed to remember
His authority, who He is, was and is to come, and that He knew
everything about this church and every individual believer.
The question is this, is it possible to be a church that had
love, They did, works they did, patience they did.
You'd still be easy or compromising on sin.
They did. You see, appearances can
deceive. It matters not what the church
thinks of itself. Doesn't matter what we think
about Calvary Chapel, Secret Harbour.
It doesn't matter what the community thinks of Calvary
Chapel, Secret Harbour or Thyatira.
It doesn't matter what other churches think about us.
What matters is what Christ thinks about us.
Only Christ's eyes see the church, this church fire, fire
as it truly is. I know your thoughts, your
motives. As I said, look to verse 19.
This church had a lot going for a lot of pluses, a lot of ticks.
They're a busy lot. They're involved in sacrificial
ministry for the sake of others, but it's still the works.
Programmes were on the increase and they had faith, love and
patience. This was not mere religious
activity, but Jesus. But I have this notwithstanding,
he doesn't just go, Oh yeah, you know, you know, isn't that the
problem with you and God? God doesn't allow you just to
bowl along. It's it's just a just carry on
as you are. He doesn't do that, does he?
No, because he's changing us from day to day to to be to be
more like his son. He says in verse 2420 to 24.
Notwithstanding God gave them in verse 21.
Jezebel and those who are following a time to repent, but
they refused. Sin had nestled comfortably in
the church and it was allowed to grow without eradication.
The church had love, faith, works and patience.
Patience, but it didn't have holiness.
One Corinthians 11, Paul says verse 12 to 14.
But I will continuing continue doing this to cut the ground out
from under the feet of those who boast that their work is just
like ours. Paul said these people are false
apostles. They have fooled you by
disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
But I'm not surprised, Paul said.
Even Satan can disguise himself as an Angel of light, so there's
no wonder his servants can do it by pretending to be godly
ministers. In the end, they will get every
bit of punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
In Matthew Chapter 7 verse 15 to 16, Jesus said beware of false
prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep.
But really, Jesus says, they are wolves that will tear you apart.
You can detect them how? By the way they act.
Jesus said. Just as you can identify a tree
by its fruit. You don't pick grapes from thorn
bushes or figs from thistles. So what's the fruit of a false
apostle? False prophecies, false
doctrine, false teaching. Soon as you hear that, you go
hang on a minute. What's going on here?
They're they're saying there's something ring, ring, ring.
There's something wrong here. God's love does not mean we
tolerate sin. Don't ever get that.
It's not tolerant. It deals with it.
Love requires and gives discipline.
Jesus says in Revelation 319. As many as I love parents, I
rebuke and chase them. Be zealous therefore and repent.
So if I don't discipline my child, it's a show that I'm not
loving them. Oh well, I know I let them go.
No, you're not loving them because you only discipline and
go the hard yards with someone to show that you love them and
you don't want them to get hurt. It's actually child abuse when
you don't discipline your child. No one wants to confront, rebuke
or discipline believers today, do they?
Paul said to Timothy on Timothy 520.
Those who sin should be reprimanded.
Hear what Paul said to Timothy in front of the whole church.
I got you guys line up. Imagine they have a liner.
Yeah, there's the mob. They're up here today.
This will serve a strong warning to others.
This is Paul writing to young Timothy while he was pastoring
an Ephesus. Thyatira was allowing one of its
members to teach outrageous licence, and apparently no
attempt was being made to restrain her.
She was let loose. Thyatira here was the opposite
to Ephesus, moral depravity and erroneous teaching.
Who is this Jezebel? A real woman?
Her name was not Jezebel, but she was a real woman.
Prophetess, self proclaimed title.
Jezebel who Jesus is referring her to that spirit.
In First and Second Kings we find about this woman called
Jezebel. She was the wife of Ahab, one of
the worst kings. Jezebel's father was F Bal, the
priest of Astarte, which was the same God as Aphrodite Venus.
Each one of those deities encouraged gross sexual
immorality under the guise of worship.
She personally supported 850 prophets, false prophets, and
haunted, down and killed the prophets of Jehovah.
I have her husband did absolutely nothing to stop his
wife. In her evil ways.
She wore the pants she dominated.
Why? Because he was weak, spineless,
and a tragic reflection of a man.
He was not a man. This woman in Thyatira, who was
operating in the same scandalous, bold and brazen
manner, was manipulating and beguiling the servants of Christ
to indulge in immoral practises. It's all right, It's all right
because God has revealed this to me and I'm revealing this to
you. This is what you can do.
Wow, can we? Yes.
Verse 24. This woman and her followers,
there are always those who will follow such a personality.
Bit like the suckerfish on the underbelly of a great white
shark. They all prided themselves on
their mature experiences of life.
Well, I've experienced what I've learned, and this is what I
believe. It doesn't matter what you've
experienced, what you've learned, or what you believe.
What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say?
Creating a spiritual aristocracy.
Her and her followers in Thyatira.
Jesus said this because he knew everything that was going on.
Remember, He just pulled it. This is what's happening.
He uses the term she's teaching the deep things of Satan.
It's the Greek word deep there bathos.
Remember as a kid reading about the bathosphere, the bathosphere
was remember the the thing always the, the, the
submersible. It just exploded.
Well, it was Bathosphere was the first machine, submarine,
submarine built to go down into the depths of the ocean.
And here, the Greek word here, bathos, this is the
profundities, the intellectually deep.
This is what she's teaching. Man, we had a great meeting.
She taught it the other night. Oh, man, we hadn't heard those
things. How deep?
Yeah, deep. All right.
Dark. Jesus says, oh, put on upon you
no other burden barrows, which means white.
These words come from the same Greek word basis.
Jesus is saying. This woman is claiming to
profess some new deep things, but I cast upon you no other
deep things. There are no deep things.
Do you know that, that you already have a need?
Now we learn the Bible. We grow in our knowledge of the
Bible. We grow in our knowledge of God
through the Bible, but there's not parts.
Oh, that's only for certain people.
That's where during the dark ages was.
Just remember, only the priest knew this stuff.
This, this was in that period. Don't be fooled by this and this
academia, academia theology talk.
Well, you wouldn't know. You wouldn't understand.
Remember the Pharisee in the the public and that were praying
together and once in a while. I'm glad I'm like this guy.
I'm I'm learning and I'm religious and the Republican
needs to beat his chest and say, oh God forgive me.
Who was closer to God? Who was more righteous.
Be careful what we have each one of us is all we need.
This is not a book about only certain levels of class can read
certain passages. There's no new thing.
Solomon said that there's no new mystery to be revealed.
Be careful because it's going to come in this day in which you
and I live. They'll be travelling,
travelling, proper tests and prophets, travelling, bringing
the next new thing. There's no new mystery revealed.
Jesus says beware of any who claim to have such.
Psalm 23. The Bible says the Lord is my
shepherd, you living translation.
I have everything I need. The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want this woman was teaching deep things.
Indeed Jesus said you know how deep they are.
They're the deep things of Satan.
Things you shouldn't talk about, know about or touch the church
like I have of the original. Jezebel was allowing this woman
to make to commit great sin. She was allowed to get away with
it. That was the problem.
Where were the leaders? Ephesus hated the works of the
Nicolaitans, could not endure them.
Pergamos had some who held the doctrine of Balaam and
Nicolaitans, but Thyatira, it allowed them.
They were part of the programme. So what's the application?
This church either had a poor conscience or a very feeble
courage like I have no spine. It did have very poor
leadership. Verse 20 because Jesus said
because you allow this woman shouldn't have been allowed
during this period of church history, as I said before
covered by Thyatira. The following things came into
being. The doctrine of purgatory, Latin
as the only language for prayer of worship, because who was
going to learn it? Only this group, prayer to Mary
was introduced. She was given during that
period, the title of Mother of God.
The celibacy of priests came into it.
This select secluded special group, the sale of indulgences.
That means you could buy indulgences and then when you
send you say, I don't worry, I've covered that.
Here's why I bought that off the church.
That's how the church was built and run.
The doctrine of transubstantiation came into
being. That means when you take
communion, the, the, the bread and the, the wine actually turns
into the body and blood of Christ.
They taught the Bible was forbidden to be read by lay
people. And in that during that time
came the infallibility of the Pope.
What the Pope said when not what this said.
Well, Keith, I'm not into any of that stuff, and that's good.
The fornication spoken of here in this letter also covers
idolatry, the worship of other things before God doesn't have
to be a God. You make it a God.
What or who gives you your cues, your passions, what directs your
life? I think many in Australia today,
their God is money. They, they, they work and throw
it. You know, we work now more hours
than the Japanese people did look at our our our society now
how how many the shifts of the hours that we're working,
working, working. We're driven can't serve God and
mammon. So there's another one that
they're serving. Jesus has told us intimately
that he searches our minds, our thoughts, our motives.
He tells us in verse 25 to hold fast till I come today this
evening. Are you looking for Jesus return
or does this return even figure in your thinking?
I pray that you think about it every morning when you wake up,
every night before you go to bed, hold fast to his word.
Jesus says. Jesus says in verse 28 he will
give you the morning star. That is the title of Jesus.
You get Jesus, you get him. His gift to you is he himself
because you stuck with him, you listen to his voice.
You did not tolerate false teaching.
Philip. One time, said Jesus, if you
could just show us a photo, What's God the Father like, man?
We just want to know what God's like.
Philip. It's the closest I think
anyone's coming to get in a slap across the face.
Jesus said to Philip, Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the
Father. The Bible, God's Word, is for
you and I to keep straight, to keep our focus on Jesus, not to
be deceived. In November 18, 1978, there was
a massacre of 918 people. It was called the Jonestown
Massacre, the People's Temple. Guyana Jones was a minister and
then one time he got his Bible and he threw it to the back of
the stage where he was on. So I don't need that anymore
because God speaking now directly through me, 918 people
followed him, women, men, women and children.
Jones developed a belief called translation in which he and his
followers would all die together and would move to another planet
for a life of bliss. Mass suicides were practised in
which his followers pretended to drink poison and fell to the
ground. My question has I read that for
the first time? When it occurred was when he
threw the Bible to the back. When he stopped using that,
where were the people who sat there with Bibles in their
hands? Should all go up and walk down,
but they stayed because they listen to someone over the word
of God. Jesus warns us of false
teaching.