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Thyatira The Church That Tolerates Sin, Part 2 (Revelation 218–29) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Let's open our Bible to Revelation chapter 2. Chapter 2
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of Revelation verses 18 through 29 forms the text of
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  Speaker 1: the letter to the church in Thyatira. And we'll dig
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: into it by way of a brief review and then
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to the new things, and I trust God will bless
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  Speaker 1: you as we do that. Let me say to begin, though,
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  Speaker 1: that it is certain that not all churches are alike.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, if you go from church to church, you
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  Speaker 1: will go through very different kinds of doors into very
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  Speaker 1: different kinds of environments. They will differ in worship style.
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  Speaker 1: They will differ in music. They will differ in liturgy.
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  Speaker 1: They will differ in theological emphasis. They will differ in
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  Speaker 1: doctrinal considerations, convictions. They will differ in programs. But most
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  Speaker 1: significantly and sadly, they will differ in how they deal
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  Speaker 1: with sin. Though the Lord Jesus Christ has clearly called
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  Speaker 1: His church to be holy, called His church to be pure,
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  Speaker 1: and intolerant of sin to be a chaste, virgin bride,
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  Speaker 1: and then having married, as it were, the groom, a pure, blameless,
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  Speaker 1: spotless wife without blemish. Even though the Lord desires the
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  Speaker 1: holiness of His people and the purity of His church,
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  Speaker 1: even though the Lord says that if you know anyone
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  Speaker 1: in sin, go to your brother and tell him about
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  Speaker 1: his sin and ask him to repent, even though we
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  Speaker 1: are to be that direct in the church, still churches
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  Speaker 1: through history and even today have defied the will of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord of the church and tolerated sin in uncountable ways.
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  Speaker 1: It is in fact typical, I suppose, of churches By
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  Speaker 1: that I mean that the majority of churches are tolerant
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  Speaker 1: of sin to one degree or another. Such a church
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  Speaker 1: was Thyatira. And so the message of this church is
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  Speaker 1: a very relevant message to any church that tolerates any
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  Speaker 1: kind of sin. It made it especially difficult to be
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  Speaker 1: in that church if you were devoted to holiness because
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  Speaker 1: it was the only church in town, as was the
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  Speaker 1: case in the early church. There was one church per city,
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  Speaker 1: and you went there because that was the only church.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't like it is today where there are a
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  Speaker 1: myriad of options for everyone to take, most of them
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  Speaker 1: tolerating sin to one degree or another, so you very
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  Speaker 1: rarely ever find one that confronts and deals with sin
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  Speaker 1: and is intolerant. But in that day, if you were
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  Speaker 1: a serious Christian and you were pursuing holiness and you
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  Speaker 1: believed the church should be pure, you were sort of
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  Speaker 1: stuck if you lived in Thyatira because that church was
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  Speaker 1: the only place to fellowship. Now this kind of church
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  Speaker 1: is still common today. There are more options, but most
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  Speaker 1: of the options probably aren't much better than where people
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  Speaker 1: find themselves because most churches tolerate sin to some degree.
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  Speaker 1: To do so, however, is to be in direct disobedience
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  Speaker 1: to the Lord of the church. In the case of
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  Speaker 1: the church at Thyatira, they were tolerating false teaching. They
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  Speaker 1: were tolerating a woman who had usurped a place of
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  Speaker 1: leadership in teaching, preaching, called herself a prophetess. They were
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  Speaker 1: tolerating the evils of idolatry. They were tolerating sexual sin.
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  Speaker 1: Not only were they tolerating it in the church, but
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  Speaker 1: there were certain people in the church who were advocating it.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't just a mild tolerance, it was an advocacy.
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  Speaker 1: Thus the church had been significantly corrupted, and as I
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  Speaker 1: told you last week, it wasn't long until it went
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  Speaker 1: out of existence. The seriousness of their involvement with sin
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  Speaker 1: can be seen in verse 24 where you see the phrase,
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  Speaker 1: the deep things of Satan. They had managed to plunge
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  Speaker 1: themselves very deeply into satanic things. This church, with its problems,
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  Speaker 1: this letter to the church suits many churches. throughout the
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  Speaker 1: history of the church and many churches today. It is
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  Speaker 1: a permanent word, as it were, to churches that compromise
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  Speaker 1: with sin. And I want to note for you, there
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  Speaker 1: can be much that is good as there was in
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  Speaker 1: this church, but the fatal tolerance will eventually destroy the church.
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  Speaker 2: Now let me briefly review what we looked at last time.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, the introduction gives us the correspondent or
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  Speaker 1: the one who writes to the angel or the messenger,
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  Speaker 1: the one who had been sent by the Thyatira church
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  Speaker 1: to John the Apostle to get this letter and take
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  Speaker 1: it back, to the messenger of the church in Thyatira write,
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  Speaker 1: and here comes the correspondent or the author, the Son
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  Speaker 1: of God who has eyes like a flame of fire
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  Speaker 1: and His feet are like burnished bronze says this, It
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  Speaker 1: comes from the Lord. He is depicted in the terms
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  Speaker 1: of His description in chapter 1 in the vision of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: particularly noting verses 14 and 15 where He there is
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  Speaker 1: described with regard to eyes like a flame of fire
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  Speaker 1: and feet like burnished bronze. We note for you that
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  Speaker 1: that is a picture of judgment. He is seen in
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  Speaker 1: His judgment character. His eyes like a flame of fire
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  Speaker 1: are like supernatural divine lasers that penetrate to the depth
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  Speaker 1: of the church and see the fatal flaws. Nothing is
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  Speaker 1: hidden to the lasers of His vision. And His feet
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  Speaker 1: like burnished bronze are the feet that trample out judgment.
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  Speaker 1: It is interesting to note that here He is referred
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  Speaker 1: to as the Son of God where in the vision
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  Speaker 1: in chapter 1 He is called the Son of Man.
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  Speaker 1: That is a significant change. The Son of Man is
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  Speaker 1: a title that denotes His humility, His sympathy, His tenderheartedness,
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  Speaker 1: His love, His care for the church. The term Son
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  Speaker 1: of God sees Him rather in an unsympathetic way as
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  Speaker 1: the one who as God must judge sin, not the
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  Speaker 1: one who as man demonstrates compassion on the sinner. So
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  Speaker 1: here he comes writing to Thyatira in a rather terrifying
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  Speaker 1: and threatening imagery. Secondly, we noted last time the city.
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  Speaker 1: Thyatira was halfway between Pergamos and Sardis. It had been
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  Speaker 1: Roman since 190 B.C., or going on 300 years. For
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  Speaker 1: many centuries it was only an unprotected military outpost that
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  Speaker 1: stopped the ongoing armies that were coming after Pergamos and
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  Speaker 1: fought them off for a little while so the Pergamos
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  Speaker 1: folks could get ready to fight. And so it got
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  Speaker 1: destroyed and rebuilt over and over and over and over again.
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  Speaker 1: Then eventually when the Romans took over and brought in
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  Speaker 1: the Roman peace, it had a period of peace and
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  Speaker 1: under that period of peace became a commercial center developing crafts.
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  Speaker 1: It became the city with more guilds that would be
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  Speaker 1: unions of craftsmen than any other city in Asia Minor.
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  Speaker 1: It became a center for wool and a center for
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  Speaker 1: developing a beautiful purple dye. It came out of a
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  Speaker 1: madras root and I told you it came out of
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  Speaker 1: a little sea creature. You will remember a lady by
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  Speaker 1: the name of Lydia, the first convert in Europe who
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  Speaker 1: was from Thyatira who was a seller of purple goods.
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  Speaker 1: Each of these guilds that developed in the city had
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  Speaker 1: a deity. The people were very religious in the ancient world,
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  Speaker 1: and as you know, it was a polytheistic world where
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  Speaker 1: there were many gods. And each guild developed a god
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  Speaker 1: of its own, and they would not only do their craft,
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  Speaker 1: but they would worship their deity.
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  Speaker 2: That would include feasts and festivals.
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  Speaker 1: That would include certain sacrifices that were offered at whatever
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  Speaker 1: temple served to worship this God. And it also included
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  Speaker 1: sexual orgies. And so the guilds were not simply labor
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  Speaker 1: unions as such or or amalgamations of people in a
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  Speaker 1: certain craft who were doing their trade, they had become
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  Speaker 1: religious organizations as well.
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  Speaker 2: And so here was a city.
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  Speaker 1: With no dominant deity, with rather many deities sort of
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  Speaker 1: fitting into all the various kinds of trades that were there.
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  Speaker 1: It was not a large city and even today only
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  Speaker 1: has about 25,000 inhabitants. As I noted last time, it
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  Speaker 1: was the smallest of the seven cities that have the
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  Speaker 1: letters here.
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  Speaker 2: Thirdly, we take a look at the church.
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  Speaker 1: It just identifies the church in verse 18, doesn't tell
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  Speaker 1: us anything about it.
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  Speaker 2: There are two texts that we could look to.
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  Speaker 1: Acts 19... 10 says that because of the ministry of
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  Speaker 1: Paul in Ephesus, the word of the Lord sounded out
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  Speaker 1: through all Asia Minor. So during the time that Paul
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  Speaker 1: had those three great years in Ephesus, it's very possible
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  Speaker 1: that the power of the church in Ephesus that spread
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  Speaker 1: everywhere else hit the little town of Thyatira. And the
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  Speaker 1: church may have been born because some emissaries from Ephesus
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  Speaker 1: came to that town and planted that church. There is
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  Speaker 1: also that other possibility with regard to the lady named Lydia.
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  Speaker 1: She was from Thyatira, she went to Philippi. When she
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  Speaker 1: went to Philippi, according to Acts 16, 15, she heard
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  Speaker 1: Paul and Paul gave her the gospel and she was saved.
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  Speaker 1: It may be that having been converted under Paul along
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  Speaker 1: with her traveling companions, her household, that they went back
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  Speaker 1: to Thyatira.
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  Speaker 2: And were in fact instrumental in starting the church. We
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  Speaker 2: don't know.
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  Speaker 1: But this church was threatened, not from the outside so
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  Speaker 1: much by persecution, but from the inside by compromise. The
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  Speaker 1: disaster in this church was not some onslaught from false
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  Speaker 1: teachers on the outside, but an onslaught of false doctrine
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  Speaker 1: on the inside. It wasn't evil men from the outside,
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  Speaker 1: it was evil people from the inside. This church was
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  Speaker 1: not suffering from being shot at, it was deteriorating on
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  Speaker 1: the inside. And I shared with you last time that
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  Speaker 1: if you can understand the guild concept, you might get
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of a feeling of what was happening.
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  Speaker 1: If you wanted your job, you stayed with the guild
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  Speaker 1: and they would have a pretty strong hold over you
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  Speaker 1: and you would be forced to engage yourself in all
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  Speaker 1: of the functions of the guild which meant the feasts
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  Speaker 1: and festivals and ceremonies and maybe even the sexual sin.
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  Speaker 1: And if you didn't do that, it wouldn't be unreasonable
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  Speaker 1: to assume you might lose your job. And so there
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  Speaker 1: was some pressure put upon these Christians in this regard,
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  Speaker 1: Satan wanting to see to it that the compromise was made,
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  Speaker 1: had a woman in the church who is identified here
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  Speaker 1: by the name Jezebel. This woman found a platform in
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  Speaker 1: the church and taught everybody that to commit sexual sins
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  Speaker 1: and to get involved in idol worship was okay. And
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  Speaker 1: so the church actually had an internal spokesman advocating this,
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  Speaker 1: which took the monkey off everybody's back and let them
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  Speaker 1: be free, they thought, to engage in the guild idolatry
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  Speaker 1: and immorality while at the same time calling themselves Christians
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  Speaker 1: and attending the church. So this church was really struggling
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  Speaker 1: for survival because of the corruption on the inside. Fourthly,
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  Speaker 1: and lastly in our review, we looked at the commendation
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  Speaker 1: in verse 19. It's quite remarkable. He says, I know
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  Speaker 1: your deeds. That's the note of omniscience. He knows everybody's deeds.
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  Speaker 1: After all, his eyes penetrate like a flame of fire.
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  Speaker 1: He says, I know your deeds. The record is clear.
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  Speaker 2: I am omniscient. Nothing escapes me. And I know in
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  Speaker 2: knowing your deeds, your love and your.
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  Speaker 1: Faith, or better, your fidelity, your faithfulness. your service, and
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  Speaker 1: your perseverance. He identifies those four things. I know your love,
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  Speaker 1: that is you demonstrate sacrifice to one another out of love.
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  Speaker 2: I know your fidelity, your faithfulness. You have not abandoned Christ.
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  Speaker 2: I know your service. You are involved in activity. You're
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  Speaker 2: meeting needs.
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  Speaker 1: You're doing ministry. You may even be operating spiritual gifts.
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  Speaker 1: And I know your perseverance or your endurance, you've hung
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  Speaker 1: in there, you've been faithful when there has been some
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  Speaker 1: hostility and some persecution.
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  Speaker 2: This is all very commendable.
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  Speaker 1: And then at the end of verse 19, even more remarkably,
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  Speaker 1: he says, and your deeds of late are greater than
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  Speaker 1: at first. That probably means greater in number and not
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  Speaker 1: so much greater in kind, but greater in number.
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  Speaker 2: There are more of them now than before.
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  Speaker 1: You're doing deeds that demonstrate your love and faithfulness, your
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  Speaker 1: service and your perseverance. This church may have had in
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  Speaker 1: the community a very good reputation. In fact, it may
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  Speaker 1: well have been a very popular church. After all, if
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  Speaker 1: it tolerated people attending the feasts and orgies and festivals
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  Speaker 1: of the guilds, it certainly wasn't calling for any dichotomy
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  Speaker 1: between the church and the world.
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  Speaker 2: If they were.
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  Speaker 1: Busy meeting needs and doing deeds of sacrificial love and
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  Speaker 1: enduring hostility.
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  Speaker 2: They must have had a reputation as a somewhat noble bunch.
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  Speaker 2: And so he says... For these things I commend you.
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  Speaker 1: What is noticeably absent in the commendation is sound doctrine
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  Speaker 1: and holy living.
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  Speaker 2: And here were the two fatal flaws.
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  Speaker 1: There was a lot of love and faithfulness to the
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  Speaker 1: gospel and to Christ in a personal way. There was
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  Speaker 1: service and there was endurance of difficulty and trial. But
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  Speaker 1: there is very, very clearly diminishing interest, emphasis and conviction
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  Speaker 1: about sound doctrine and holy living.
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  Speaker 2: And that's really the key.
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  Speaker 1: Now that brings us to the fifth point as we
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  Speaker 1: dissect our way through this letter and that is the condemnation.
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  Speaker 1: This is really remarkable, the condemnation. Verse 20,' But I
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  Speaker 1: have this against you.' That in itself is a frightening statement,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it? I mean, if there's any one thing that
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  Speaker 1: would be to my mind unimaginable, it would be to
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  Speaker 1: get a letter from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself telling
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  Speaker 1: you that He was against your church.
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  Speaker 2: But that's the case.
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  Speaker 1: This was a church that named the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: This was a church that claimed to be identified with Him.
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  Speaker 1: This was a church that claimed to be sharing His
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  Speaker 1: love and being faithful to His gospel, a church endeavoring
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  Speaker 1: to serve Him and endure for His sake.
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  Speaker 2: This was the church of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And the letter comes and says, I have to tell you,
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  Speaker 1: I'm against your church.
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  Speaker 2: And here's why.
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  Speaker 1: I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel,
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  Speaker 1: who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads
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  Speaker 1: my bond servants astray, so that they commit acts of
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  Speaker 1: immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. This is why
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  Speaker 1: I'm against your church. You have this woman Jezebel, and
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  Speaker 1: you tolerate her. Now as I noted for you last time,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think her name was Jezebel. Nobody names their
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  Speaker 1: daughter Jezebel. Somebody got the point last week and I
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  Speaker 1: turned around to shake hands with a lovely lady tonight
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  Speaker 1: when Clayton told us to do that and I said,
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  Speaker 1: I'm John, who are you?
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  Speaker 2: She said, Jezebel.
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  Speaker 1: But she was kidding. Nobody names their daughter Jezebel. You
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  Speaker 1: didn't know whether to laugh or not, did you?
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  Speaker 2: You thought....
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  Speaker 1: Jezebel was not her name, but Jezebel was a way
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  Speaker 1: to identify her.
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  Speaker 2: In one word, it tells us everything we need to know.
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  Speaker 1: Jezebel was a woman in the Old Testament who led
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  Speaker 1: the people of Israel to commit sexual sin and worship idols.
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  Speaker 1: And this woman is identified as Jezebel because she did
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  Speaker 1: the same thing in the church. The end of verse
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  Speaker 1: 20 says that she led the bondservants of Christ to
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  Speaker 1: commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
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  Speaker 2: She was very effective.
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  Speaker 1: You'll notice that phrase in verse 20, leads my bond
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  Speaker 1: servants astray. I just need to note for you, she
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  Speaker 1: was leading true Christians astray. That's a designation of believers.
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  Speaker 1: My bond servants, those who are my own slaves, who
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  Speaker 1: belong to me, true Christians. And it does pose the question,
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  Speaker 1: can true Christians commit.
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  Speaker 2: Acts of immorality? course they can. Of course.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, the Apostle Paul
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  Speaker 1: says to Christians, do you not know, verse 15, that
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  Speaker 1: your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take
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  Speaker 1: the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?
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  Speaker 2: May it never be!
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  Speaker 1: Or do you not know that the one who joins
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  Speaker 1: himself to a harlot is one body with her? For
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  Speaker 1: he says the two will become one flesh, but the
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  Speaker 1: one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit
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  Speaker 1: with him.
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  Speaker 2: Flee immorality.
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  Speaker 1: Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body,
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  Speaker 1: but the immoral man sins against his own body. Probably
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  Speaker 1: a primary reference to venereal disease. Or do you not
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  Speaker 1: know that your body is a temple of the Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
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  Speaker 1: and that you are not your own? For you've been
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  Speaker 1: bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body.
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  Speaker 1: He's telling Christians, don't commit fornication. The assumption is it's
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  Speaker 1: very possible. Can Christians also wind up eating meat offered
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  Speaker 1: to idols? Can they go to an idol feast and
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  Speaker 1: eat that which is offered to a false deity and thereby,
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  Speaker 1: the implication here is, thereby engage themselves in some kind
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  Speaker 1: of celebration of that deity?
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  Speaker 2: Of course they can.
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  Speaker 1: Paul says to the Corinthians, how is it that you
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  Speaker 1: think You can come to the table of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: after you've been to the table of demons, 1 Corinthians
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  Speaker 1: chapter 10.
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  Speaker 2: They were doing it.
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  Speaker 1: They would go worship the idol and then come worship
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. They would go to the feast of the
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  Speaker 1: idol and then come to the table of Christ. This
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  Speaker 1: woman had succeeded in leading true Christians to engage themselves
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  Speaker 1: in idle feasts and sexual sin. The sexual sin probably
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  Speaker 1: connected to the orgies going on in those idle feasts.
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  Speaker 1: This is very serious. This woman has committed a very
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  Speaker 1: serious sin. To show you how serious, go back to
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  Speaker 1: Matthew 18. Just to remind you of the seriousness of
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  Speaker 1: leading Christians to commit sins, In Matthew 18 verse 6,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: our Lord is referring here to Christians, not to little babies,
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  Speaker 1: but little ones here refer to His children, so identified
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  Speaker 1: in verse 4. Verse 6, whoever causes one of these
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  Speaker 1: little ones, that is Christians, one of the little ones
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  Speaker 1: who believes in me, not babies, babies can't believe in him.
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  Speaker 1: But whoever causes one of the Christians who believes in
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  Speaker 1: me to stumble, that is to fall into sin. If
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  Speaker 1: you lead a believer into sin, it is better for
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  Speaker 1: him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck
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  Speaker 1: and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: You're better off dead.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: You'd be better off to die a painful, horrible death
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: than to cause another Christian to sin.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Verse 7. Woe or....
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Curse, damnation, judgment, that's what the word means, to the
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: world because of its stumbling blocks. Listen, whenever the world
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: does something to make a Christian sin, woe to that
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: person who does that.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: This is serious.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: The world around us pumps out filth In music and
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: in media, whether it's books or television or films or
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, the world tolerates all the sin and
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: the filth and it pumps it out. And when it
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: causes a Christian to stumble, God remembers who caused that
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Christian to stumble. And he says, woe to the world
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: because of its stumbling blocks, for it is inevitable that
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: stumbling blocks come, but woe to that man through whom
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the stumbling block comes. If you are doing anything to
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: make a Christian sin, woe to you. And then in
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: verses 8 and 9 he says, before you do that,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: you better cut off your hand, your foot, or take
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: out your eye. Because if those are the things... Defecting
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: your sin, you'd be better off without them. And then
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: in verse 10 he adds, don't look down on or
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: despise one of these little ones. What our Lord is
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: saying there is it is a matter of grave seriousness
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: to Him when anybody causes a Christian to sin. Now
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: go back to Revelation chapter 2. Now we understand why
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: He said, I have this against you. I am against
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: you because you are tolerating a woman who is putting
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: stumbling blocks in front of My little ones and My
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: own bondservants.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: That phrase is there for a reason.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: He wants no doubt in anyone's mind that she is
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: causing Christians to be led astray. He says, you tolerate
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the woman Jezebel. You don't deal with this. This is
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: not a pagan deity, this woman. This is one of
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: their own people. Now let's look at her for a moment. Jezebel,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: she is named because like the original Jezebel, she was
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a seducer. And she seduced God's people. She was Satan's
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: agent to corrupt God's people. This woman in Thyatira... was
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: named for the notorious daughter of a man named Ethbaal,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: named after Baal. He was the king of the Zidonians.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: And she came into Israel, you remember, and she married Ahab,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the king of Israel, and she brought in Baal worship.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I just want to show you enough of the story
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: so you'll not forget it. 1 Kings 16, verse 30 says,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: He was no prize either.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: And it came about as though it had been a
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: serve Baal and worshiped him. So under the influence of
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Jezebel he erected an altar for Baal in the house
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: of Baal which he built in Samaria.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: And Ahab also made the.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Asherah, that very strange thing is some kind of an
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: idol to a woman, a female god. Thus Ahab did
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: the kings of Israel who were before him. Boy, that's
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: saying a lot, isn't it? This guy was the worst
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of all of them. And what contributed to that was
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the woman that he married.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Jezebel, a pagan.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Second Kings chapter 9 verse 22, you don't need to
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: turn to it, I'll just mention it to you, says this,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: it came about when Joram saw Jehu that he said,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, what peace so
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: witchcrafts are so many? A Baal-worshiping harlot who was a witch,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: that's Jezebel. She was a vicious, wicked, perverted woman. And
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: she brought in Baal worship with all the accoutrements, feasts, idols, orgies.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: The priests of Baal, by the way, were wicked sex perverts.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: That's what the worship of Baal was.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: So this woman in the church being called Jezebel is
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: not getting a compliment. She had successfully seduced the members
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: of the church, some of them into idolatry and immoral
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: sex activity, and so she symbolically is called Jezebel. Now
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: remember what I told you last time, the way she
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: probably did this was to say, look, The pressure is
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: on you because of the guilds. They want you to
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: be engaged in all the activities including the ceremonies and
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the feasts and the festivals and the orgies, and you
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: need to do that.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: She probably took one of two tacks.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: She could have taken the dualistic approach which says the
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: spirit is the only thing God's concerned about. The flesh
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: is flesh. It's wicked anyway. The spirit is good. The
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: flesh is wicked. You know philosophical dualism? And you can
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: just go with your flesh and do whatever you want.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: The flesh doesn't matter. It's only the flesh anyway. You
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: can't do a thing about it. It can't be changed.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: It can't be altered until you die and go to heaven.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: So let the flesh be the flesh. You can satisfy
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: all they want. Keep the Spirit for God, and you're fine.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Or she may have sort of embellished that with the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: idea of grace. It really doesn't matter what you do.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: You're going to be forgiven anyway. God will forgive it.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: God loves you. Your sins are all forgiven. You can't
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: lose your salvation, so don't give it a thought. She
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: may have even added, and you know, the deeper we
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: go into that stuff, the better we'll understand it. And
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: we can't lose because no matter how we get involved
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: in that kind of stuff, even if we go to
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the deep things of Satan, Satan can never conquer us
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: because we are safe in Christ. So you have nothing
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: to fear and maybe learning all those deep things about
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Satan will help you to help somebody else sometime. Who
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: knows what kind of concoction she came up with. But
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: she got a platform there. And she was teaching and
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: leading people astray. Now there was obviously a preliminary thing
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: that the church never should have allowed, and that is
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: they never should have allowed a woman to have that
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: kind of a place to begin with, even if she
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: was telling them.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Things that were right.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Because very clearly in the Scripture it says that God
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: does not allow a woman to teach in the church
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: or to take authority over the men. Now if you
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: want to know what God thinks about these kind of ladies,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: let me take you back one more time to 2
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Kings chapter 9. Whether it's the Jezebel of the Old
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Testament or the Jezebel of Thyatira, listen to the record
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: of what happened to Jezebel.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: He said, verse 33, 2 Kings 9, throw her down.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: What does that mean? Well, they threw her off the wall, actually.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: They threw her down.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: on the horses and He trampled her underfoot. When he
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: came in, he ate and drank and said, see now
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: to this cursed woman and bury her for she is
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: a king's daughter. They went to bury her, but they
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: found no more of her than the skull and the
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: feet and the palms of her hands. Therefore they returned
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and told him, and he said, This is the word
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: of the Lord which he spoke by his servant Elijah
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the Tishbite, saying, In the property of Jezreel the dogs
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: This is Jezebel. They threw her off the wall. She
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: was crushed.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: The dogs ate her, and they made her remains manure.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Now note again, This Jezebel, being so identified, is going
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: to get the wrath of the Lord. To make matters worse,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: it says she calls herself a prophetess. She claimed her
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: message was from God.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: My, I wish.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: We could have the time to just take a little
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: digression and look at all of the cults that have
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: been started by women who said they were prophetesses who
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: had a message from God.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: They are myriad. But it was not from God. It
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: was from Satan. It was doctrines of demons and she
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: was a hypocritical liar who was under the control of
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: seducing spirits. Amazingly, amazingly, she was effective in this church.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: And she was teaching and leading the very bondservants of
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ astray. And they were engaging in immoral activity,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and they were going to the idol feasts. And in
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: verse 21, this is grace upon grace. I gave her
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: time to repent. Is that not gracious? The Lord says,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: I gave her time to repent. And she doesn't want
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: to repent of her immorality. When people are in sin
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: and darkness, they love it, don't they? John 3 says,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Wickedness is its own prison. I gave her time to repent.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: She doesn't want to repent. That is a blunt, final statement.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: So, verse 22, behold....
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I'll cast her upon a bed. You see the italics
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: of sickness? That's just a guess. It's as if the
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Lord says, she wants to go to bed, does she?
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I'll put her in bed.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's a bed of sickness He's talking about.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: The luxurious bed where she committed and advocated her perverted vice.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: The reclining couch at.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: The idol feast where she ate things offered to false gods.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: She wants a bed, I'll give her a bed. And
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: the name of the bed is not sickness, the name
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: of the bed is hell. The name of the bed
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: is hell. It's a bed of death.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: If it is a bed of sickness, it's a bed
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: of sickness unto death.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: There is a finality at the end of verse 21.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: She doesn't want to repent. There's also an indication, I
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: gave her time to repent, that the past tense form
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: of the verb says the time is what?
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: It's over. This is a settled thing.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: She wants a bed, I'll give her a bed, a
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: bed called hell. She can lie down there forever. And
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: they repent of her deeds. He can't say, I want
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to send all the people who commit adultery with her
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: to hell because some of them are what?
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Are Christians. Christians. I'll give her a bed, all right.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: He leaves it unnamed. She'll get a bed.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: The implication, a bed of death, a beer, which is
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: another word for a casket, and the ultimate bed, hell.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: And for those who have committed adultery with her, I'm
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: going to throw them into severe trouble. This is God's chastening,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: isn't it? And some of them may even die in
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: that unless they repent of her deeds. They weren't doing
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: even their own deeds. They were just joining in and
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: doing hers. Trouble for all those who followed her because
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: they didn't repent. Some people want to take that... concept
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: of great tribulation and make it the eschatological tribulation described
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: in chapters 4 to 19, I think that's really not
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: what He's saying. This is not the great tribulation, this
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: is great trouble, severe trouble which can be best defined
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: in Hebrews 12 as the chastening that God brings on
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: His own who engage themselves in sin. If they don't repent, stop,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: turn around, go the other way, they're going to have
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of trouble with Me. And God scourges every
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: son that He loves when that son falls into sin.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: And so the promise here is a promise of severe
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: judgment on the woman and great chastening on those who
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: followed her. But there's another group in verse 23, a
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: completely different group. and I will kill her children with pestilence.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: That leads me to conclude.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: Back in verse 22 that when He says, I'll give
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: her a bed, He means a bed of death, a casket,
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: a grave, hell, because here He says, I'm going to
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: kill her children. What does He mean?
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: I don't think He means His bondservants who were following her.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: He means the second generation of her falsehood. It tells
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: me this, that this thing had been around long enough
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: in this church.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: remember we're.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: In 96 A.D. and this church has been around for
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: forty years... this thing has been around long enough that there
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: is a second generation of people propagating the same stuff.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: That's her children.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: She has begotten a generation who are advocating the same thing.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Offspring of her debauchery. And the Lord says, I'll kill
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: them and I'll kill them with a pestilence, a plague. Literally,
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: I'll kill them with death. I'll kill them with death.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: Very severe judgment. I want my church pure. Your church
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: isn't pure.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: You have a woman there named Jezebel, she's leading My
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: bondservants into sin. I'm going to give her a bed,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: all right, a bed of death and a bed of hell.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to take all my bondservants who are
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: following her into that sin and if they don't repent immediately,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: I'm going to chasten them severely. And it may even
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: cost some of them their lives like Ananias and Sapphira
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: and the people in Corinth who died for corrupting the
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Lord's table and the people that John writes about in
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: 1 John 5, 16, who had sinned a sin unto
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: death for which you couldn't pray and expect them to
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: be delivered alive.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: From the consequence. I may take their life, it will
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: be great trouble as I chasten them.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: And then I'm going to take her children, the second
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: generation of false prophets and prophetesses who are propagating the
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: same stuff and I'm going to kill them with death.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: Very serious.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: You get the picture that Christ wants His church pure
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: and if He has to, He'll kill false He'll kill
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: a false prophet.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: To remove them.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: The message to us is powerful. If you call yourself
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: a prophet, you better be speaking the truth. You better
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: not be leading God's people into any error or any
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: sin or any form of idolatry or any form of
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: immorality or you are bringing upon yourself death and hell.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: If you are a Christian and you're following some false
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: prophet or false doctrine and you're engaging in some kind
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: of sin, you had better repent or you're going to
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: find yourself in great trouble. And if you're the second
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: generation and you have sat at the feet of some
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: false prophet and you're spouting off that same stuff, you're
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: going to get the same sentence, and the Lord may
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: kill you with death too. Jezebel had a time to
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: repent and didn't do it. He cries out to those
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: who had followed her to repent while they had time.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: And that's the message that he wants the church to hear.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: If you're involved in sin, you must repent. You're in
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: danger of death. You're in danger of chastening. And then
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: in verse 23 he says, And when it happens, when
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: she dies and all her children are killed and the
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: believers who followed her in sin are in deep trouble,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: all the churches will know that I am He who
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: searches the minds and hearts.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: Everybody's going to know. When I do it, everybody's going
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: to know. We don't have any record. of when it happened.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: We don't have any record of when God killed Jezebel.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: We don't have any record of when God killed her
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: second-generation propagators. We don't really have any record of the
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Great Tribulation, but we do know that it wasn't very
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: long until this church went.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Out of existence.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: The Lord wanted everybody to know about it. All the
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: churches will know that I am He who searches the
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: minds and hearts.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: What does that mean?
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: All the churches are going to know that if there's
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: any sin anywhere... I will... what?... find it, right? They're all going
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: to know because I assume this, I assume that what
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: the churches knew about this church was probably verse 19.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: They probably had a reputation as a loving, faithful, serving,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: persevering bunch.
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: And that may have been the word.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sure something about this Jezebel may have trickled out,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: but he says, when I move in, everybody is going
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: to know that I can find the fatal flaw. They're
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: all going to know it. It's going to be public.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Everybody's going to be warned about tolerating sin. That statement,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: they'll all know that I am He who searches the
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: minds and the hearts, is really an Old Testament designation
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: for God, that I am God, that I am God
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: who is omniscient. I am God who knows everything. I
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: am God from whom nothing is hidden. Jeremiah 17, 10 says,' I,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: to give to each man according to his ways.' And
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: that seems to be where this particular part of the
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: verse was drawn. You find the same thing taught in
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Psalm 7 verse 9, Proverbs 24, 12, twice more in
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah chapter 11 verse 20, chapter 20 verse 12.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: God is the one who searches the heart, searches the mind,
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: He knows the deep reality and He will find it.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: He has intimate knowledge, He has perfect knowledge to the
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: very depths and no evil can be hidden from Him.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: His judgment is accurate and His judgment is based on
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: perfect understanding of every single detail. Your church may have
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: a great reputation, the Lord is saying, I know the
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: truth and when I move against you and people start
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: dying and people start having tremendous trouble and this church
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: eventually passes out of existence, everybody is going to know
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: that I know the truth about sin in a church.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: And then the warning is broadened at the end of
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: verse 23,' And I will give to each one of
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: you according to your deeds.' And now he's talking to
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: everybody in the church and everybody outside the church, but
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: primarily everybody in the church.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: I' ll give to each one of you according to your deeds.'
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: Why does he say that?
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: Because I can only imagine that instant panic set in.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Because you're sitting in church while this guy reads this letter, right?
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: And you're feeling good about love and faithfulness and service
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: and perseverance and everything is fine.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: He reads Jezebel and everybody's ears perk up and she
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: knows who she is. And then we hear about the
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: second generation of her children propagating the same stuff and
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: they know who they are. And then we hear about
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: the people who are following after her in that.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Same sin and they know who they are.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: And he says, I just want you to know I'm
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: going to kill her, I'm going to kill all the
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: people who propagate her message the next generation down and
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: I'm going to bring.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: Big trouble to those of you who are following it.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: And there are some dear folks sitting there in fear
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: because they think they're going to get gobbled up.
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: In this tremendous judgment.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: And so He qualifies it and says, I'll give to
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: each one of you according to your deeds. You don't
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: have to panic if your life is right. That's always
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: the basis for future judgment. You say, now wait a minute,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: are we going to be judged on works?
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely right.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: We will be judged on our works. That's not new
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament. You go back to Romans where
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: you have the great teaching of salvation. Romans chapter 2
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: verse 6, who will render to every man according to
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: his deeds. God will render to every man according to
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: his deeds. We will be judged on the basis of
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: our works. Second Timothy 4, 14, remember that comment about
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Alexander the coppersmith who did me much harm? The Lord
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: will repay him according to his deeds. That is, always
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: has been, always will be the divine principle for judgment.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Matthew 7, you will know them by their fruits.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: It's the same thing. Their deeds are the issue.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Matthew 16 verse 27, for the Son of Man is
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: going to come in the glory of His Father with
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: His angels, listen to this, and will then recompense every
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: man according to his deeds.
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: We're going to be judged by our deeds, by what
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: we've done. In Revelation 18.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Verse 6, pay her back even as she has paid
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: and give back to her double according to her deeds.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: Revelation 22, 12, same thing. Behold, I am coming quickly.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: My reward is with me to render to every man
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: according to what he has done.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: You say, now wait a minute. Is that salvation by works? No.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: The principle is this, your deeds demonstrate your spiritual condition, right?
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: God can look at your life and see your deeds
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: and know whether you're His.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: That's what James was talking about in James chapter 2
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: in what is a clear passage, not an unclear passage.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: You have faith? and I have works.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Verse 18,' Show me your faith without the works and
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: I'll show you my faith by my works.' That's the
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: only way you can show faith, by works. He goes
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: on to say, faith without works is what?
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: It's dead.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: How can you say you have faith if you don't
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: produce anything? Saving faith makes you a new creation, being
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: a new creation manifests itself in some kind of works, deeds.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: So He says, I'm just looking at your life. You
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: don't have anything to be afraid if your deeds are right.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: You don't have anything to be afraid of if your
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: life is right. If there are deeds of genuine conversion,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: all outward acts reflect inward life. And if I have
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: the life of God in my soul, it's going to
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: manifest itself on the outside.
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: A dog will act like a dog and a cat
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: will act like a cat and a Christian will act
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: like a Christian because that's their nature.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: So he says, on the one hand, judgment must begin
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: at the house of God, as 1 Peter 4, 17 says,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: but it is discriminating judgment.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: I'm going to come. Some people are going to die.
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: Some people are going to be chastened, and some people,
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: nothing's going to happen.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: In fact, you're going to be blessed because your life
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: is right, but I'm looking at your deeds, and by
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: your deeds, I can tell your spiritual condition. God can
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: look at your life and say that's not a Christian.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: God can look at your life and say that's a
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: disobedient Christian because there are some righteous indications and then
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: there are the sins. And so He knows there's a
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: believer in sin. He can look at some lives and
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: say there's a believer living in a holy way. He
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: just looks at the works and He can see what
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: produces them. So you have this, in one sense, broad
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: sweeping warning, I'm going to give you exactly what your
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: deeds earn. But on the other hand, it's a comforting
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: thing for those people who may be in a state
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: of panic saying, my life is right as far as
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: I know, Lord. Are You going to come in here
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: and blow me away with everybody else? Well, he answers
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: that in verse 24. Here is the command... the command,' But
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: who do not hold this teaching who have not known
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: the deep things of Satan, as they call them, I
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: place no other burden on you.
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: I'm not talking to you.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Hey, you folks, you folks who don't hold this teaching,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: you folks who haven't gone out there and engaged yourself
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: in what they call the deep things of Satan, I'm
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: not putting a burden on you. When He says, I
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: place no other burden on you, that's a very important statement.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: We'll note it in a moment. But these are words
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: of comfort.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: They're very reminiscent to me of some words in Malachi
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: and I can't resist reminding you. Malachi the prophet, the
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: last prophecy of the Old Testament. Malachi is really laying
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: it on them about judgment, judgment, judgment. And there's some
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: good people and they're just beginning to feel like they're
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: going to get caught up in this judgment and they're
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: going to get devastated along with everybody else. So in
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: Malachi 3.16, there's a wonderful, wonderful text. It says in
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: Malachi 3.16,' Then those who feared the Lord spoke to
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: one another.' Yeah, you know what they said? Boy, I
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: hope we don't get caught in this judgment. Wow, what's
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: going to happen to us? And you can tell there
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: was just conversation going back and forth. And the Lord
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: was eavesdropping and He gave attention and heard it. And
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: a book of remembrance was written before Him for those
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. He says, look,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to get you. You'll be mine, verse 17.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: On the day that I prepare my own possession, I'll
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: spare them as a man spares his own son who
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: and the wicked, between one who serves God and one
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: who doesn't serve Him.
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: God knows the difference.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: When He sweeps down against His people, His church in judgment,
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: He's not going to judge everybody. He's going to give
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: everybody according to their deeds and He knows the righteous
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: from those who are sinful.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: And they'll be Mine, King James says, on the day
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: that I make up my jewels. and I'll spare them.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: You've got nothing to be afraid of even though the
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: day of the Lord is coming burning like a furnace
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: in chapter 4 verse 1. And arrogant evildoers are going
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: to be like chaff and they're going to be set
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: on fire.
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a horrible thing. But don't fear.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: If you know Me and love Me, then you're going
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: to be all right because I know who you are
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: and I know how to divide between the righteous and
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: the wicked. So he says in verse 24,' I say
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: to you, the rest who are in Thyatira who do
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: things of Satan as they call him, I place no
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: other burden on you.' What do you mean, I place
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: no other burden on you? No other burden than just
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: the burden of having to be in a church like that.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: That's a big enough pain.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: I'm not giving you any more burden than just to
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: have to see those that you care about and those
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: that you love go through this. No other burden than
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: having to live with this group and resist this group
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: and their incessant solicitation and ridicule and pressure because you're.
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: Being holy and you're being faithful.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: I'm going to come down in judgment on Jezebel and
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: those who propagate her stuff in the second generation and
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: I'm going to destroy them and I'm going to chasten
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: my children who follow after her, but the rest of
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: you have nothing to bear. There's no burden for you
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: other than the burden of just having to endure all
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: this junk going on in your church. He says, you
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: don't hold this teaching, the erroneous, debauching doctrine of this
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: woman You have not known the deep things of Satan as.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: They call them.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: At first you'd look at that and you'd say, you
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: haven't known the deep things of Satan and you'd assume, well,
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: that's a term the Lord gave to that.
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: The Lord called.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Their engagement in these feasts and festivals and sexual stuff,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: deep things of Satan, but it says it isn't the
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Lord's title, they're the deep things of Satan as they
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: call them. In other words, they were saying, yes, we
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: are engaging in the deep things of Satan. This is
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: the perverseness of this kind of doctrine. They're actually saying,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: we're claiming to be involved in the deep things of Satan.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: We're involved in Satan's domain. We're out there in those
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: feasts and festivals and fornication. And we're right there firsthand
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: seeing Satan at his depth. But it doesn't matter because
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: we're spirit and the Spirit is God's and that's only
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: flesh and that's only body and what's the difference? And
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: no matter what we do with our body, it can't
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: touch the Spirit and it can't touch our eternal salvation
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: and Satan cannot overpower us and we cannot lose our
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: salvation in this unbelievable libertinism and license. had found its
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: way into some complex kind of system of theology that
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: they had developed in which they even announced that they
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: were into the deep things of Satan and they were
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: triumphing because their spirit was still redeemed and they could
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: still come and worship God.
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: They could engage in cultic.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: Forms of religion, boast they were unharmed by being involved
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: in the deep things of Satan. They were free, they thought,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: to engage and explore the sphere of Satan. They were
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: proud that they were doing it because it was only
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: their flesh and the flesh is nothing anyway, it's bad,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: you can't change it. And their spirit was immune and
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: unharmed and belonged to God and so forth and so on.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: This is probably the dualism that fostered this. So He says,
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: you dear folks who don't hold this teaching and you
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: haven't known the deep things of Satan as they call them,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to do anything to you. I'm not
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: adding another burden to you. You've got enough of a
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: burden having to live with these people. Nevertheless, verse 25 says,
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: what you have hold fast till I come.
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: Why does he say that?
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you why he says it, because Paul made
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: a very important observation in 1 Corinthians 10. It's this,
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: let him who thinks he stands, what? Take heed lest
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: he fall. You don't want to get too sure that
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: you're invincible. I'm calling for some spiritual integrity here. Hold on,
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: hold fast, krateo, strong, mighty grasp.
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: The idea, it won't be easy.
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: You're going to have to hold on for dear life
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: like a guy hanging on a rope.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: Over a precipice full of fire. Hold on because the
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: blast of hell.
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: Coming through this woman and her second generation children is
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: hard to fight off and it keeps coming and it
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: keeps coming and the church tolerates it.
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: Until I come. Is that referring to the Second Coming?
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: Well, probably in the case of Thyatira, it was referring
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: to His arrival there to wipe those sinners out. But
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: certainly in a generic sense, the Lord is saying to
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: all of His church, there's always going to be sin around,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: hold on and be faithful till I arrive. Then finally,
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: the council. And now he turns to the good folks there.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: I guess I kind of feel they must have been
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: in the minority or they would have overruled the rest.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: Certainly if it was a Baptist church, they could have
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: voted the woman out. Verse 26,' And he who overcomes
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: him I'll give authority over the nations.' And He shall
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: have received authority from my Father, and I will give
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: Him the morning star. There's so much here, it's so wonderful.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: As in the other letters, John closes with a word
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: to the true Christians, and it's a word of promise.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: And He who overcomes, and I'm not going to reinterpret
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: that every time, that just means a Christian, 1 John 5, 5.
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: 1 John 5, 5, he who overcomes is the Christian.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: To the true Christian who overcomes the evil, who overcomes Satan,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: enduring to the end, John says, our faith is that
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: which overcomes, the one who believes is the overcomer, 1
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: John 5, 5. And he who keeps My deeds, that
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: means who obeys.
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: There's two evidences of saving faith.
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: Saving faith triumphs, it never abandons, you never lose it,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: you never give it up, you always overcome. No matter
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: what comes against you, you never lose your faith. You
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: continue to believe. Who is the one who overcomes the world?
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: Whatever is born of God overcomes the world and you
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: overcome by believing, constant faith. So the true Christian has
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: an unending faith and has a pattern of obedience.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: His faith is.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: Made manifest in his works. So to the true believer,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: he says, I want to give you two things. First,
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: to him I will give authority over the nations. If
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: you endure in constant faith and a pattern of obedience
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: to the end, whatever end, the end of your life
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: or the time when Jesus comes, to the end, I'll
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: give you authority over the nations.
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: Wow. What does that mean? I believe that that clearly
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: can be understood only one way. You're going to reign with.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: Christ in an earthly millennial kingdom. If you don't have
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: a millennium, this promise makes no sense. If you don't
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: believe in a thousand-year millennial kingdom, what in the world
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: is he talking about?
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: Because this is taken.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: Right out of Psalm 2. And Psalm 2 verse 7,
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord.
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: He said to me, Thou art my son, today I
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: have begotten thee. Ask of me and I'll surely give
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: the nations as thine inheritance and the very ends of
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: the earth as thy possession.
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: You say, oh yeah, that's in heaven, that's in heaven.
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: When we all get to heaven, when we all get
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: to heaven. No, it isn't.
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: The next verse, Thou shalt break them with a rod
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: of iron, thou shalt shatter them like earthenware. And there
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: isn't going to be any nation full of people getting
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: bashed around with a rod of iron or broken like
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: a pot in heaven. It's got to be on earth.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: It has to be a millennial kingdom. There isn't any
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: other explanation. And the first thing he says to them is,
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: you've had a lot of problem here and you've been
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: beaten up, but when you get to the kingdom, you're
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: going to get to do some of the beating.
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: That's what he's saying.
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: You've been hammered, so get ready for your time to
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: take your own hammer and sit on the throne and
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: rule with me.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: You say, who gets.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Hit with the rod of iron during the Millennial Kingdom?
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: The nations that come against God, the nations that fight
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: against Christ, the rebellious wicked nations, the ones that would
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: attack the sheep.
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: You see, you even have here, you see that word there, rule?
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: It's the word poimane, from poimane which is a shepherd.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: And what He is saying is, I will shepherd them
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: with a rod of iron. A shepherd has a rod,
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: but He always had a wooden rod. But Jesus says,
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: when I get to My kingdom, My rod is going
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: to be made out of iron.
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: And what did the shepherd use the rod for?
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: Many times the sheep would be being attacked by wolves
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: or whatever wild animals and he would use the rod
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: to smash that animal and fight that animal off who
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: came to attack his sheep. And he says, there's coming
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: a time in the kingdom when the nations of the
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: world are going to move against me and my people
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to wield a rod of iron and
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to use that rod and I'm going to
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: smash them like clay pots and you're going to be
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: there with me.
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: You're going to be ruling with.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: Me, protecting my people in the kingdom, protecting holiness and righteousness.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: That's the first promise, millennial participation. You're going to be
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: in my kingdom. You're going to share that great time
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: when the nations of the world are forced to bow
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: the knee to Jesus Christ and He rules as King
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: of kings and Lord of lords. When the whole curse
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: is reversed, when the lion lies down with the lamb
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: and the children can play with the poisonous snakes because
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: they're no longer poisonous. when the desert blossoms like a rose,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: that great time when peace fills the earth and wisdom
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: and knowledge of Christ and whatever rebel raises his ugly head,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: the rod of iron comes out and you're going to
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: be there shepherding with me and using with me that authority.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know what that means.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know how true Christians are going to do that,
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: but we're going to be there as co-shepherds.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: In a sense, co-disciplinarians. with our Lord.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: He took it right out of Psalm 2, this quote,'
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: I' ll give authority over the nations and He shall rule
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: them with a rod of iron as the vessels of
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: the potter are broken to pieces as I also have
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: received authority from my Father.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: Jesus said, you.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: Remember back in John 5, the Father has committed all
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: judgment unto Me and He's now saying to us, and
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: I'm going to share that judgment with you as together
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: we rule the nations of the world. There is no
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: explanation for that other than a millennial kingdom.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: And we'll be there.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: And then he gives another promise in verse 28,' And
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: I'll give him the morning star.' Some people think that
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: the morning star could just be a reference to Daniel 12, 3,'
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: They that lead many to righteousness shall shine as the
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: stars forever.' Or even Matthew chapter 13, I think, isn't
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: it verse 43? Then the righteous will shine forth as
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: the sun in the kingdom of their father. And when
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: He says, I'll give you the morning star, maybe He's
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: just saying you're going to glow with glory, you're going
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: to shine with Shekinah. But I think there's a better explanation.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: Chapter 22 of Revelation, this is so wonderful. Chapter 22
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: of Revelation, verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent My angel
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: to testify to you these things.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: For the churches, I, Jesus, get that? I am the
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: root and the offspring of David, the bright, what? Morning star.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: Now when you go back to Revelation chapter 2 and
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: He says, I'll give him the morning star, who do
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: you think He's talking about?
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 2: I'll give you Jesus. That's what He says. I'll give
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 2: you Jesus Christ. That's what He's talking about.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: Peter said in 2 Peter 1 and 19, if we're Christians,
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: the morning star has already dawned in our hearts.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: And someday in the future we'll have Him in His fullness.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: So for the.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: True Christian, even in the church that tolerates sin, the
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: promise of reigning with Christ in the Millennium, the promise
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: of the great reality that Jesus Christ becomes His own.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: And then the final words, verse 29, He who has
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: the churches. All revelation, even when authored by Christ, is
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: inspired by the Holy Spirit. And that verse just means
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: listen and pay attention. Now, listen carefully as I close.
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: Several things stand out. I'm just going to mention them. One,
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: The seriousness of sin in the church and how God
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: reacts to it.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: Did you get that message?
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: Verses 20 to 23, the seriousness of sin in the
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: church and how God reacts to it. The second thing
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: that stands out in this passage, the evidence of true Christianity.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: Verses 24 to 26, I know who the rest of
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: you are. You don't hold false doctrine. You're not involved
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: in these kinds of sins. You're holding fast. Your faith
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: is consistent and overcoming and your life has a pattern
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: of obedience that shows up in the way you live.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: That's the evidence of true Christianity. The third thing I
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: see here is the wonderful, gracious promise of God to
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: His own. He gives them the kingdom and He gives
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: them Christ. Powerful, powerful instruction. That church must have been
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: shaken to its foundation. The tragedy is we don't have
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: any reason to believe that it changed. May churches today
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: who read and hear this same message make the right choices,
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: that they may know the blessing of God and not
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: His judgment.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: Let's pray.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: Father, thank You for our time tonight. What a blessed
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: time it's been. We're so grateful for Your Word. It's
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: so clear, so penetrating. Thank You for taking us through
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: this great text.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: And Lord, make us faithful as individuals to deal with
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: sin as we know it in our church. And may
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: we be faithful that we might.
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: Be instruments by which the church is made and kept pure.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: We pray, Lord, that all of us might be true
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: Christians with continuing faith and obedience.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: Who await kingdom authority in the great millennial future and
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: who await mostly the personal possession of the Morning Star Himself,
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: even Jesus Christ, who now is ours by faith. and
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 2: then will be ours by sight. We pray that you'll
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: work in every heart here, Lord, to the application of
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: this truth in Christ's name.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 1:06:42
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• 1:06:46
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• 1:06:47
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• 1:06:52
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