Letter 4
Notes
Transcript
This morning we continue on with letters to the churches
Or we could almost call it the letters to the Church
the letter to the church called Pergamum
Was a difficult letter
This was an important city and an important church
They had passion and they had doctrine for a time
But
They allowed compromise to come into the church and slowly change things
14 ‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 ‘So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
They allowed others to come in and slowly they started to drift what the truth they believed in earlier
Church it doesn’t come all at once and fast
It comes slowly
We see this play when churches stop preaching and teaching the entire word of God
We see this play when churches stop reading the Word of God
This was a church that was more concerned with pleasing the community than we pleasing God
Let us ensure our focus is on pleasing God
This morning we move to the letter to Thyatira
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: 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. 20 ‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 ‘I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 ‘Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 ‘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. 24 ‘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. 25 ‘Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. 26 ‘He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 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; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Well so far this has been the longest
Unlike the other letters to the different cities
This particular city wasn’t much
It wasn’t important city at all
Compared to the other cities it was not much
That is what makes this letter different
It is to one if not the least known church
But before we dive in
It should be noted that it doesn’t matter
It doesn’t matter the church size big or small
It doesn’t matter the church finances big or small
God expects the church to teach and preach the Word of God and to be obedient to His will not their own
So lets get started
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:
The first time we see Jesus described as the Son of God to the letters
That is a term we use and understand it
But The Son of God
This was a position of authority
Eyes of Jesus are like flames
Piercing
They see everything
Even the stuff you don’t want God to see He still sees
The Burnished Bronze feet are a testament to Jesus’s strength and splendor
Jesus sees everything and knows everything
Jesus is strong and majestic and powerful
That Jesus has a message for you church
Wouldn’t it make sense for us to sit down and take note
As I made breakfast yesterday, Katy Nicole has a song in Jesus Name
We have described Jesus as some amazing and awesome and powerful
Here we talk about how Jesus knows everything and Is so powerful
Church it struck me we talk a lot about the power of Jesus
There is so much power in just the name Jesus that nothing else comes close to the power in His name
That is powerful
Jesus has a message church you had better listen up and take note
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.
That same God who sees everything and is powerful knows your deeds
We have said it every week we see those words but how refreshing that is to know that God knows our deeds
We don’t have defend ourselves
That people know we are Christians by our love
That the world knows we are different because of our deeds
We know a relationship with Jesus is not just the works you do
We know that works are a product of faith in Jesus and faith in Jesus does produce works in our lives
Jesus is telling the church that he knows they have walked the walk, they have continued to stay strong
This church had a love that only came from Christ
Because of that love they were able to serve people and persevered
That last part they were growing
Their deeds of later are greater than they started
Church this was a growing church
They had the love of Jesus
But as we will see it wasn’t enough
We know in our preaching and teaching that just focusing on Jesus’s love is not enough
But we need the entire Scriptures to get the full picture
Because if we just preached love there would be no call to repent and as we have seen that is a must when preaching Jesus
This Church as we will see had the love but lacked truth
20 ‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 ‘I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 ‘Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 ‘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.
This is a church who had love and works and was growing in their love but lacked truth and doctrine
This is a church who had allowed someone to come in and begin to change things
Who began to teach slightly different things
This is a church who had a love for Jesus but they had allowed this women Jezebel to come in
This is a lady who teaches a false Gospel
You know it is false because the freedom she preaches and teaches will lead to an eternal slavery in hell
This is a lady who was leading the church astray
To eat thing sacrificed to idols to commit acts of immorality
This is a lady who taught half truths
We say half truths to make things sound better
but a half truth is a whole lie
That is why it is so important to filter everything you hear through the word
Voddie Baucham
“The Lord Told me is no substitude for the Bible Says”
So very true church
This lady in the letter was preaching and some of what she would say was rolled in spekles of truth
Rober Mounce
Exalting Jesus in Revelation Guard against a Morality Problem
Jezebel probably “taught” that there was nothing wrong with a Christian taking part in the guild feasts and celebrations, for it was merely civil. Since idols were nothing, Christians would not destroy their faith by participating.
They would face persecution if they didn’t participate in the things of the community
Not life threatening persecution more economic persecution
Then Jesus says I have given her time to repent
Right here I picture Jesus counting
I am only going to count to 3
I don’t want to cheapen God but that is what I am seeing
Last week it was I am going to give you time to repent and if you don’t I am coming quickly
The wrath of God will be poured out on those who do not repent
Jesus gave this lady time to repent
but she hasn’t so far and so the wrath of God will be poured out on her
We read that and go where is the love we see of God
It is in the I gave her time to repent
And there will be consequences for those who refuse to turn from their sin and trust in Jesus
That is the truth this church was missing
Notice how important it is for those who preach and teach to preach and teach the entire word of God because this lady lead a bunch of people astray and just like her they were punished
God is going to pour out His wrath on a church that didn’t preach truth
Now we could sit back and analyze this wasn’t an important church because it wasn’t an important city
a lie from the pit of hell
a church of God is important to matter the size
And God expects the church to preach and teach truth which includes the love of God being shared with a lost world
that love looks like telling people they must repent and turn from the sin in their life and trust Jesus to get into heaven
There are not multiple ways into heaven
There is only one and it is Jesus
24 ‘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. 25 ‘Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.
For those who do not hold to the false teaching
For those who had remained strong and have the love and the truth of Jesus
hold fast Jesus is coming
There will be no eternal punishment for sin for those who have repented and trusted in Jesus to be their Lord and Savior
For those who walk with Jesus and hold to the teachings of Jesus there will be no eternal punishment
That shouldn’t shock us because these people are saved
Saved people go spend eternity with Jesus in heaven
Where there is no pain or suffering
Jesus then sends this to the church
Hold fast till I come back
Jesus is coming back and it is soon
Each day we are a day closer to Jesus coming back
you and I need to hold fast to His Word
So for those of you who are believers and are struggling with living in a fallen world
Because I know it is hard
Jesus says He knows
Jesus calls us to hold fast to His love and to His teaching
Do not give into temptation
Read your Bibles, Attend Sunday School and Bible Study, Attend Big church, serve in the church, tell people about Jesus
Hold Fast church because
Jesus is coming
That is so very refreshing
26 ‘He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 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; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
To those who overcome
To those who have repented and trusted in Jesus to be their Savior
To those who have done that and held fast to Jesus’s teaching
To those tho have a love for Jesus that is 2nd to none and who have right doctrine
To those who walk the walk and talk the talk with Jesus
He will give them the right to rule with Him
Since we are co heirs with Christ and since He will rule thus we will rule
But more importantly it is Jesus that we are given
When we do all of that we get Jesus
and church there is more power in the name Jesus than on the face of the earth itself
There is nothing better than to know if we have repented of our sin and trust in Jesus
If we continue to walk with Him
If we continue to persevere we will get Jesus
Jesus says that if you have an ear you had better listen
Church that is it
That is the Gospel Message
The message this morning
you need both love and truth
stay focused on Jesus
When Jesus gives you time to repent
Repent
Hold fast to Jesus
CLOSING
Maybe this morning you are here and you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior
I would invite you to the front to speak with someone who can show you through scripture how you are a sinner, how you need saved from your sin, and how Jesus saved you from your sin
Or maybe you are here this morning
Maybe you have all the love and passion about Jesus but this morning are convicted about the truth in your life
Maybe you have compromised in some areas of your life and allowed the world to slip in
I would call you this morning to spend sometime repenting and running back to Jesus
Or maybe you just need to spend sometime in prayer about other things
The altar is open
