The Lord's Message to Thyatira

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Revelation chapter 2 as we continue looking at the message that Christ has for the churches.

And as we go through each of these letters, we realize that the message that God gives back then is the same message He gives today. It's a call for the church to repent and to follow His will. Today we look at the fourth church, the church at Thyatira.

It is the corrupt church. And as we go through the churches, you begin to see the degenerating sequence that evolves. It begins with the church being cold and callous. That was the church at Ephesus. They had lost their first love because they had not focused on Christ as the central aspect of their lives.

The church then at Pergamon became the compromising church. And when you become cold and callous, you compromise. And they compromised the truth of God's word. And when you compromise God's truth, you become very carnal. And that leads to being a corrupt church. And that's the church at Thyatira. That's the fourth church. And it receives the longest letter of all the churches. And it is the smallest of all the churches. So the smallest church receives the longest letter. And if Pergamon was flirting with the world, Thyatira was married to the world.

In other words, Thyatira became absorbed by the things of the world, entrenched in the things of the world. So when Christ writes this letter, He writes it to the church. And in those churches, there are saved people and there are unsaved people. Like there are in today's evangelical churches. There are people who are believers and people who are unbelievers. Christ told us in Matthew's Gospel, in the parable of the wheat and the tares, that the tares will grow alongside the wheat in the kingdom age.

And you might not even be able to tell the tares from the wheat because they look exactly the same. But at the end of the age, they will be determined by God Himself as He separates the wheat from the tares. And so like in every church, in every age, there are wheat and tares in the church. Yes, there are unbelievers in Christ's community church. There are people who profess to be Christians. And whether they truly are or truly are not, we won't know to the end of the age. But God knows. He knows everything.

And that's why we preach the Gospel. We call people to repentance and we teach the truth. Because we want you to know for certain that you're born again and that you truly love the living God. And yet these letters to these churches help us understand how to expose error in the church. And so while these letters are given to churches as a whole, they speak of individuals in those churches. And every one of us in the church today can put ourselves in the pew at Ephesus, at Sardis, at Pergamum, at Thyatira, at Laodicea, at Smyrna, at Philadelphia, and we can sit there and listen to the letter and see whether or not these things apply to us or not.

So let me read to you this longest letter and then we'll explain it to you. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write, verse 18, The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this, I know your deeds, and your love, and faith, and service, and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.

But I have this against you, that you tolerated the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bondservants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence. And all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

But I say to you the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them, I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless, what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces. As I also have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Christ is speaking once again. We look at the same outline we looked at, we look at the analyzation of the church, the accusation to the church, or the affirmation to the church, the accusation to the church, the admonition to the church, and then the application for the church.

As you analyze it, you look at the correspondent, you look at the city, and you look at the church. Who is writing the letter? Well, it says, the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this. Christ wants you to know that He is speaking. And what He does, as He's done in the previous letters, is take from chapter 1, one of the character qualities that describes His ministry to the church. And in Revelation chapter 1, verse number 13, these words are recorded, and we studied them.

It says in verse number 13, So, Christ takes that picture, and now writes it to Thyatira. But notice He says something different.

He's not the Son of Man here, He's the Son of God here, okay? Very important. Only time the phrase, Son of God is used in the book of Revelation, is right here. Because when He was talking about the ministry to the church, He describes Himself as the Son of Man, with eyes like a flame of fire, with feet like burnished bronze. Because it spoke about His sympathy, His care and concern for the church. But now, He addresses Himself as the Son of God. Same eyes like a flame of fire, same feet like burnished bronze, but now He talks about it from a different perspective, from His deity, as judge of all the world.

And so, how Christ describes Himself to the church of Thyatira is impressive. Now, picture yourself in the pew at Thyatira, and the messenger gets up, and he begins to read this letter to you. And this is how it begins. The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like burnished bronze, says this. From the very outset, you know that His eyes, like a flame of fire, are like those laser beams that search deep into the soul of a man that knows every hidden secret that you have. There's nothing hidden to God.

He knows everything. He wants those in Thyatira to know that His eyes see everything. There is no escape from the all-seeing, penetrating laser beams of Christ's eye. He sees everything that's going on in your life. All those secret sins that you think that no one knows about, guess what? God knows. God knows. And Christ wanted those in Thyatira to know, you can't hide from me, because I know. And I have feet like burnished bronze. Now, that speaks to the purity and the strength of those feet that, remember, the feet of the king was the place of judgment.

You come and bow before the king. He's talking about coming in judgment to the church. That's why Peter said in 1 Peter 4, 17, if judgment's going to begin, let it begin in the house of God. That's where it begins. So Christ says that He's coming, and His eyes are like a flame of fire, and His feet like burnished bronze.

It pictures the Lord God ready to deal with sin in the church, because that's what He's going to do. He truly, truly gets upset when the church compromises with the world. But when the church becomes married to the world, He comes in judgment. God never tolerates sin. And so He's coming to kill those in the church, so He says, I'm coming to kill her children. He's coming to deal with those who live in sin. And we know the Bible speaks about a sin unto death, 1 John 5, 16, that speaks about the believer that dies because God removes him from this world because he has tarnished his testimony so bad.

But also there are those who live in sin who profess Christianity, but keep living in sin, and because they haven't experienced the sin unto death, chances are they weren't saved, even though they might profess Christianity. And so Christ says He's coming in judgment.

Hebrews 10 speaks about those who come, who willingly sin against Christ and the terrifying expectation of judgment that comes upon them. Now remember, John, John heard Jesus say these words in John 17, the night before the crucifixion, John heard Christ pray these words, verse 13, but now I come to you and these things I speak in the world so that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

I do not ask you take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is true. John heard those words. He knew that they were taken and protected from the world, but now he sees the church married to the world. Remember what he said in 1 John 2, verse number 15, do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. John wrote those words.

He wrote those words based on what Jesus said in John 17. So John now sees the church absorbed in the world. And so as he writes this letter that's given to him by the son of God, he writes this down and knows the turmoil in the church. And so Christ addresses himself as the son of God, the one with eyes like the flame of fire, his feet like burnished bronze. He's coming because he sees what's happening in the church and he's coming to pass judgment on those in the church. And that is the correspondent.

The city, Pergamum, was a small city. It acted as a buffer for Pergamum because Pergamum was such an enormous place and such a wealthy place, Thyatira became a buffer city. So it was destroyed and rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt over and over again. There was a temple built to Apollos, the sun god, S-U-N, and that's why maybe Christ addressed himself as the son of God in the letter. We also know that there was a priestess, a satanic priestess called Sabathie that was reigning there and she would tell people's future for a sum of money.

But Thyatira was a city of much trade. It was a commercial center and they traded in wool, they traded in dye, they traded in copper, and so it became known as a trade city, which is very important because in that city there were trade guilds, there were trade unions, trade associations that you, if you were a part of the city, had to work in, in order to survive, in order to live. And so that became very important to the people in Thyatira. To have a job, to hold down a job, to provide for my family, I would have to be a part of some trade guild in the city and being a part of that trade guild would require you to attend the banquets, the festivities, and all the immorality that went with it.

So this church found itself in great turmoil as they would have to provide for the families, yet be required to attend things that compromised the truth of God. And that's where they were in Thyatira. And so there was this little church, small church, small city, small church. We don't know who the pastor was, we don't know how it began. We know from Acts 19.10 that the word of the Lord spread all throughout Asia. We don't know exactly who started all the churches, but we do know that because of the word of God spreading, people were born again.

We do know from Acts chapter 16, a woman by the name of Lydia, she was from Thyatira. In Acts chapter 16, it says in verse number 14, a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. So we know that Lydia was probably the first convert from Thyatira.

And she would go back to her city and with her family, born again. And there would be a church that would start in that city. And yet in that city, there was a woman, Jezebel. Now I don't believe that that really was her name. I'll tell you why in a moment, but she was characterized as Jezebel was in the Old Testament, who led Israel into idolatry and immorality. And there was this woman who was there and she had grown up in that church and led that church astray. You see, you must always remember that Satan is going to attack the church.

When you go back to Ephesus, you realize that Satan's whole objective was to somehow steal their affection for Christ. They lost their first love.

If you go back to Samarna, Satan couldn't steal their affection, so he tried to suppress them through persecution. Didn't happen because they were clean and they were a pure church who remained faithful to God. You go to Pergamum and you realize that what Satan did was try to snatch their devotion and their allegiance to Christ to compromise the truth. And here, here in the church of Thyatira, Satan's objective was to seduce them through fornication and it happened. You see, Satan is always engaged in attacking the church.

He knows what Christ said, I will build my church, the gates of hell should not prevail against it. But that doesn't mean Satan's not going to try to disrupt the church or to lead people astray in the church or ruin the testimony of the church. So he relentlessly attacks the people of the church. And that's what's happened in Thyatira. So let's look at the affirmation that Christ gives.

So he says, verse 19, I know your deeds and your love and faith and service and perseverance and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.

Now this is amazing to me because this is a corrupt church. This is the worst so far of the four. And yet Christ, because his eyes are like a flame of fire, he knows the inner recesses of every man and woman's soul. He knows exactly what's happening in everybody's life. And he knows that there's a remnant in Thyatira. He knows that there's a remnant there that demonstrates true love for him. It's the only church commended for their love. Only one. Can you believe that? It's the only one. Ephesus was condemned because they had lost their love.

But Thyatira was commended because they had love for God and for one another. And there's a remnant there that truly loved the Lord. And so Christ is going to commend them for that because he knows that. Knowing that, he commends them for their loyalty, their faith. He commends them for their labor, their service. He commends them for their long-suffering, their perseverance. In other words, he commends them for things that are truly worthy. And then on top of all that, he says, I know that your deeds are greater now than when you first began.

Wow. That's an amazing. It's the church you want to be a part of. I mean, they love one another. They love God. They serve God faithfully. They are loyal to God. They persevere. And on top of all that, their deeds are greater now than when they began, whenever the day was they began. What a commendation that Christ gives them. So you say, what's the problem? How can there be a problem in a church like that? If they love the Lord and they love one another, if they're committed to the faith, which they were, if they were persevering, if they were bearing up under pressure, they were steadfast, they were loyal and they were loving and they labored in that love to serve one another and their deeds are greater than when they began.

Then what is wrong with the church? Ah, what they did was that they loved, but they did not love in truth. They did not hold to sound doctrine. They valued, listen carefully, relationship over truth. And when they did that, they tolerated everything that came into the church. So they would tolerate this woman, Jezebel. They would tolerate this woman's teaching because they valued relationship over truth, over sound doctrine. They compromised on the thing that really mattered, what they believed and why they believed it.

See, and that was the downfall in Thyatira. You see, we've told you for years and we'll keep telling you this. It makes a difference where you go to church. It makes a difference what church you attend. It speaks volumes about you. You might not even know that. But where you go to church tells us about what you buy into the most. Okay? And here were the people of Thyatira. Yes, they loved the Lord. Yes, they loved one another. That would make other people want to be a part of that church. That was a loving church.

But they tolerated everything. They tolerated false doctrine. They tolerated false teaching. They tolerated idolatry. They tolerated immorality. You see, they began to tolerate all those things because truth was not high on their priority list. And when it's not, corruption will always happen. And that's what took place in the city of Thyatira. There must be a balance between love and truth. And they were out of balance. The emphasis was the other way. They were sound in doctrine. They would not tolerate any evil in the church.

But they lacked love for the Lord. Thyatira was the other end of the spectrum. Didn't make a difference what you taught, but we loved you. We loved you. And yet, that's where corruption began to grow. And so, you move from the affirmation to the accusation. Christ says, but I have this against you, that you tolerated the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.

And she teaches and leads my bond servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Listen, you are so tolerant. You love people so much, you will tolerate all their evil. They knew what the Bible said when Paul said in 1 Timothy, I do not permit a woman to teach nor usurp authority over the man in the church. They knew that. But they allowed the prophetess to teach and usurp authority over men in the church. They knew the Bible says, flee idolatry.

John said that in 1 John, flee idolatry. But yet they were involved in idolatry, because to them, truth was truly irrelevant to a relationship. They knew the Bible said flee immorality, but they were involved in immoral behavior. They knew the Bible said, be holy for I am holy, and yet they lived in unholiness. You see, the truth to them was compromised. It made really not that much difference to them, because they loved one another. And they said they truly loved God. And yet they were willing to compromise the things that God said.

And thus corruption absorbed the church. It was a church falling further and further and further away from the truth of God. Christ says, I have this against you.

You've tolerated this prophetess, this woman Jezebel. Now nobody names their daughter Jezebel. Nobody in their right mind would name their daughter Jezebel. So I don't think the woman really had a name Jezebel. But what she did was do exactly what Jezebel did way back in 1 Kings 17, 18, and 19. Remember, her father's name was Ethbaal, which means one with Baal. He was the king of the Sidonians, and his daughter was Jezebel. And she married the seventh king of the 19 wicked kings of the northern kingdom.

Ahab was the worst of the first seven. He did more to provoke the Lord to anger than the previous six did. And he married Jezebel, and she incited him to Baal worship. And he followed her into that whole thing. And they killed the prophets of Israel. And they set up a multitude of false prophets and false worship. And Elijah comes on the scene. Remember the story of Elijah? If you were with us on Wednesday night, you know the story. Elijah shows up, and he talks to Ahab. He talks to Jezebel. He tells them it's not going to rain for three, three and a half years.

Well, he tells them it's not going to rain. He didn't say how long, because we don't know that until Luke chapter 4 or James chapter 5. But it ended up being three and a half years before it rained again. And he would have that infamous battle on Mount Carmel. And after that was all over, Ahab ran home to tell his wife what had taken place. And she said, I'm killing Elijah tomorrow at this time. She was such a ruthless individual, godless individual, such a seductress, such a powerful woman that even the great prophet Elijah ran from her.

She was so influential in the land of Israel. And so he ran. He ran into the wilderness and was gone. But he did prophesy that she would be killed. She was a woman who, when her husband came back, was upset because he couldn't have Naboth's vineyard. It was a beautiful, luscious vineyard. After the drought had taken place, his vineyard had began to grow. Because it was beside the palace, he wanted that vineyard. And Naboth said no. So he went home and cried to his wife. And his wife, who really was mother-like, took him into her arms and said, don't worry, honey, I'll take care of it.

I'll take care of it for you, honey. And so she went out and plotted the killing of Naboth and his sons so that her husband could have Naboth's vineyard. Then Elijah prophesied that she would be killed. It's recorded in 2 Kings chapter 9. Happened just like he said. Jehu commanded, throw her down. They threw her down. Her blood splattered all over the walls, all over the land. He trampled her with his chariot. He went into dying. He said, because she is the king's daughter, bury her. But when they went out to get her, the dogs had eaten everything except her feet and their hands.

Just like the prophet said, Elijah, a horrible ending for this woman, Jezebel. But she had led Israel into immorality and idolatry. And this woman, Jezebel, this prophetess in Thyatira, had done the exact same thing. Christ says, she teaches and leads my bond servants, my children, my slaves, astray.

Said, they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. They led my people astray. They led my people into sin. How does she do that? How does she do that? Maybe she reasoned with them, said, look, guys, listen.

You have to provide for your families. If you don't provide for your families, you're worse than an infidel. You're worse than an unbeliever. So you have to work in the trade guilds. But don't worry. It's okay. Because you can come to church on Sunday. You can ask forgiveness from God on Sunday and go back to the trade guilds on Monday. It's okay because it's all done in the flesh anyway. The spirit's good. The flesh is bad. You can come back and ask for forgiveness and it'll be okay. After all, God expects you to provide for your families, right?

And the middle would say, yeah, we got to provide for our families. We got to take care of them. We don't want to be like an unbeliever. And she would seduce them and counsel them. We don't know exactly what she said, but somehow she was able to move the bond servants of Christ to commit idolatry and immorality. And there are, of course, many unbelievers in the church as well, who did the exact same thing. And so Christ says these words, I gave her time to repent and she does not want to repent of her immorality.

That's the patience of God. Why did he do that? Because that's the way God is. I mean, when you sin, do you die? Not necessarily. You're still here, right? And I'm sure you sin today in the way to church or when you got up sometime this morning. I'm sure you sin sometime before you got here, but you're still here. You're still alive, right? That's the grace of God. That's the mercy of God because the wages of sin is death, but you're still alive because God is a God of grace and God, I gave her time to repent.

She was in the church. She can hear the truth, but she didn't want to repent, but I gave her time to repent, but she didn't want to repent. She wanted to continue in her sin. That's the grace of God bestowed upon this woman, Jezebel. She had the opportunity to repent, but she would not repent. God is so gracious. And so God says, behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness.

Verse 23, I will kill her children. And then the end of verse 23, I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. I will, I will, I will. This is what I'm going to do. This is God speaking. I will what? Throw on a bed of sickness. She wants to be on a bed. I'll put her on a bed. I'll put her in a permanent bed, but it's not a bed of, of, of, of luscious immorality. It's a bed of sickness. And some would say, well, this would be sickness as it relates to sexual sin. Maybe so. It could be the sickness of the tribulation that could happen.

Maybe so. But bed can also be translated casket. I will put her in a permanent bed. I will put her in a casket because she will not repent. And those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless, unless they repent that there's that, unless there's that opportunity one more time, listen, here's the warning, but listen, you have the opportunity to repent right now.

So do it. But if you don't, I will do this. God says, I will throw you on a bed of sickness and all those who commit adultery with her.

That could be spiritual adultery because they have turned their back on the one they were truly married to Christ himself. It could be physical adultery as well. But I will do this, the Lord says, and I will kill her children with pestilence. What do you mean? All her offspring, all those who follow her, all those who follow her and engage in the things that she's engaged in. I will deal with them as well. I will kill her children with pestilence and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts.

Everybody's going to know that you can't get away with sin and it not being exposed. Can't get away with it. I'm going to deal with it. So everybody will know. Think about Acts chapter five with Ananias and Sapphira. I mean, they were off on their way to church to worship the Lord and to give an offering to the Lord. And all they did was lie about how much they sold the land for. But nobody knew except Peter because God told Peter. But nobody else knew. And they were off to church in their new duds because they just had just sold their property and they were off to worship the Lord and they lied to the Spirit of God and God killed them in church.

Killed them right there in church. And great fear came upon the church and all those in Jerusalem because all would know that the Lord God is concerned about the purity of his church. God says, here's my purpose.

Everybody's going to know that I see everything and I will not tolerate sinful behavior to continue on without it being confronted, without it being rebuked, without it being dealt with. You must deal with the sinful person. But because they tolerated evil, because they tolerated this woman Jezebel, because they tolerated false teaching, because they were more concerned about the relationship they had with this woman and her children than they were the truth of God, they compromised. And therefore, sin ran rampant in the church from compromise to complete and total corruption in the church.

And God says, I will deal with it. You see, if you read Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 to 12, if you read 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 1 to 7, God says you are to expose sin in order to eliminate sin in the church.

Not to hide it, not to cover it up. That's why when Christ gave the very first instructions to the church, it was all about the purity of the church.

Matthew chapter 18. Before the church was ever born, the church wasn't even in existence yet. And the very first instructions that Christ gave was, listen, if a brother sins, go to him.

Go to him. If he repents, you've won your brother. If not, take two or three witnesses with you. If he repents, you've won your brother. If not, tell it to the church that they might go after him. If he doesn't repent, then he's got to be put out of the church because one little leaven leavens the whole lump. Ecclesiastes 9.18. One sinner destroys much good. This prophetess destroyed much good. One little prophetess leavened the whole lump. One sinning prophetess destroyed much good because somehow, some way, that church in Thyatira would not stand on the truth so as to confront and rebuke and discipline sinful behavior.

You cannot ever be a part of a church that does not practice church discipline or you will be in Thyatira. Simple as that. You will be in the church of Thyatira. Corruption will run rampant in the church. It will overtake the church because you tolerate everything because you value the relationship. But you don't value the truth more than the relationship. And when that happens, corruption overtakes the church. Oh, by the way, same thing is true in your family, right? When you value the relationship of son or daughter, brother, sister, mother, father, aunt or uncle more than you value the truth, the family is corrupted.

It will sink into the church and cause the family to compromise the truth and then it will end up corrupting the family. You got to be careful. We serve a holy God. We bear Christ's name. We're called Christians. We bear the name of the holy God of Israel. And we are called out from the world to live separate lives to be holy. And the one thing that marks the church as distinct from anything else in the world is its commitment to holiness and its commitment to sound doctrine and the truth of God.

And there are churches with different styles of worship. I get that. There are churches with different modes of worship. I get that too. But the bottom line is, are you committed to the holiness of God and the truth of God? Because that's all that matters when it comes right down to it. Because everything stems from your high view or low view of God. If it's a high view of God where truth matters and purity matters and holiness matters, then it matters to the people in the church. But if it's a low view of God where His holiness doesn't matter that much, His truth doesn't matter that much, but your relationship with everybody in the church does matter, then you're going to have problems.

And that was the church of Thyatira. And so God accused them. And then He gives this admonition. He says, But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they called them, I place no burden upon you. Nevertheless, what you have, hold fast until I come. Here's the admonition. Two things. One, repent soon if you're one of her children. If not, you remain strong until I come. That's the admonition. Repent. If you're one of my bond servants and you've been led astray into idolatry and immorality, repent now.

Don't wait. Do it now. Turn from your sin. If you are an unbeliever and you're engaged in this because you're a tear in the church, repent now of your unbelief. Turn from your sin and follow the living God. But if you're among those that remnant of the church that hold fast my name, stay true, stay mighty, stay strong. Remain strong until I come. Because I am coming. Don't quit. You see, in the church of Thyatira, in Thyatira or Pergamum or Smyrna or wherever, there's only one church. There's only one church.

It's the church of Thyatira. There wasn't the first Baptist church on the corner of this avenue and the second Methodist church on the corner of this avenue.

There was one church in Thyatira, one in Smyrna, one in Pergamum, one in Laodicea. There's only one church to go to. You couldn't just quit that church because you didn't like it and go to the next church down the road. There was one church in the city. There was a church at Jerusalem, right? One church. That's it. So you just couldn't get mad and go to another church. You really had to work through issues. Isn't that good? You really had to deal with issues. Today you don't have to deal with any issues.

Just get mad and go to the next church and just take all your madness with you to the next church and then you'll get mad there too. But you see, you couldn't work through the issues because there's only one church to work them through with. And so he says, for those of you who remain, who are true, stay strong. Those of you who need to repent, repent soon. Repent soon. And then he gives this application. He who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces as I also have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has the ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Here's your motivation. Here's your application. He says very simply this. You need to realize I'm coming again. Amidst all the immorality, amidst all the idolatry that was absorbed in the church because Jezebel married the church to the world and the world to the church, there was a remnant.

He says, listen, I'm coming again. I'm going to return. Keep your eyes on me because when I return, I will rule. And I will reign. And you will rule and reign with me. And I will rule with a rod of iron. And in the Millennial Kingdom, when I rule, sin will not run rampant because when someone sins, it's immediately dealt with in the Millennial Kingdom. Not like it is in the church today. When I rule, when I reign, because I have returned, this is what's going to happen. On top of that, listen, keep focused on what you're going to receive.

You're going to receive the morning star. What's that? Revelation 22, 16. I, Jesus, am the bright and morning star. You will receive all of me. You will shine like me. You will be like me. The whole motivation for the remnant was to stay focused on the return of the king. And that is truly the only real motivation one can ever have today. It's the motivation that keeps us persevering. It keeps us true to the word of God that the king is going to come. The king will set up his kingdom. The king will rule.

The king will reign. We will rule and reign with him. We will have authority over the kingdoms of this world. That's what God's promised to the overcomer. 1 John 5, 4 and 5. He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is the overcomer. But he also says that the overcomer is the one, as he says in Revelation chapter 2, is the one who keeps my word. That's an overcomer. That's the victorious warrior. The one who keeps my word, this is my promise to you. The one who overcomes, you will rule and reign with me and you will receive from me the bright morning star.

And then he says, you better listen. He who has ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Are you listening? Do you hear? Do you hear the devastating consequences of sin? Do you hear that? Christ says, if you have an ear, listen, sin will be dealt with and I will deal with it.

Listen, wouldn't you rather have the church deal with your sin than Christ deal with your sin? I would. I'd rather have the church involved in disciplining me than Hebrews 12, Christ scourging me, as Hebrews 12 says. I'd rather be confronted by the church than confronted by the Christ of the church. The devastation of sin is horrendous. That's why he says, repent, repent. I gave her time to repent, she would not. So I'm going to do this, unless, unless she repents. Again, it's that call to repentance for the church, to turn from its sin, to turn from the error and the evil of its way, that it might follow the one true God.

Are you married? Are you married to the world and its sin? Or are you married to Christ and His holiness? And the Lord calls us to respond, to make sure that as a church, as a whole, we understand the deadly consequences of unconfronted sin. It is, that's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, before you partake of the Lord's supper, examine yourself. Because he told the people in Corinth, there are many among you who have died, because they have eaten and they have drank from the cup in an unworthy manner, and they have died.

See, God's serious about sin. See, people say, oh, God doesn't do that today. Yes, He does. Yes, He does. Because God is always concerned about His people, always concerned about His church and the purity of His church. That's His big thing, the bride, that He might present the bride spotless, without wrinkle, before His Father in heaven. He will stop at nothing to purify His church. So as a church, a Christ community church, we need to listen to what God says and heed His warnings.

Let me pray with you. Father, we thank You for today. We thank You once again for the opportunity we have to study Your Word and to be scrutinized by the text, that we might apply these things to our lives. Lord, You said some harsh things to Thyatira, but they deserved them. They lived in sin. They compromised truth. They tolerated evil and the evil woman. They let it run for weeks, months, maybe even years, until You wrote the letter and said, I'm coming. The Son of God says this with eyes like a flame of fire, feet like burnished bronze.

I come because I'm going to confront sin in the church. I pray, Father, for us that we would not compromise the truth, but always stand strong on it. And in so doing, love one another through it, because truly we want to do what Your Word says. Give us the grace, give us the mercy, and give us the steadfastness to continue in Your Word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.