Thyatira: A Church That Tolerated Evil | Revelation 2:18-29 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Of all the churches that Jesus addressed in the book of Revelation, what we are about to read and study together at this time is the longest letter. Simply put, Jesus Christ has more to say to this assembly than any other, and that should prompt us to carefully consider what was taking place in Thyatira that demanded such an extended message. If there was, one were to summarize what was taking place that caused the Lord Jesus to offer this detailed confrontation, it is this, toleration. Toleration. And I say that because that is the very word we will see, at least in the ESV, that serves as a turning point in the scathing report.

And I want us to consider what toleration means, having a proper definition before we explore this letter. To tolerate involves any idea or activity or person that is allowed or accepted when in fact, it is disapproved of. It is something that is disagreed upon. And in this case, you had an entire well, at least a majority of the church that was tolerating something. More specifically, tolerating someone that Christ himself did not approve of.

And the reality of the matter is there are many behaviors that are taking place in the church at large that Christ expects his people to lovingly confront. But that is not always true. If there is a main takeaway from this letter, it is that tolerance is a recurring temptation for the church in every age. And it is something that the individual Christian and the church as a whole must be ready to resist for the sake of Christ's honor. There is that and many other things that we are going to learn as we now begin to read in Revelation chapter two starting in verse 18.

Again, this is the longest letter, but we're gonna read it in one sitting even now before we dissect it. Revelation two verse 18. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, the words of the son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love, and faith, and service, and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols, I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

Behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed. And those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, do not lay on you any other burden.

Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself 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. Father, we ask that you give us ears to hear.

We pray that you would destroy all distraction, any obstacle in our hearts and our minds that would interfere with what you want to say. We believe that you have a word for this church, and we want to hear it with clarity and precision and power. In Jesus' name, we ask these things. Amen. It's clear from the introduction alone that this letter is not gonna be an encouraging one.

We see here just from the beginning that this is a serious warning. And how do we know that? Because the characteristics that Christ chooses to apply to himself, the ones that he highlights are associated with judgment. You can almost translate the first verse in the following way. Before I say anything else to you, oh people of Thyatira, my people, I want to remind you of my authority.

That's why he says, I am the son of God. And why that's important to say from the outset is because he wants to inform this people that it doesn't matter who is saying what in your church. It doesn't matter how many of you approve of what is being taught in my church. I am the one in charge of my church. I'm the one that determines who does what and what is said.

I am the son of God. Here is my authority. And from his authority now, he reacquaints them with his abilities. What does he say? He describes himself as the one who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

Just in case you would reject my authority, let me tell you the consequences of such a thing. My perception is perfect. My discernment and my assessment is something that will warrant judgment Because I am never wrong. I see everything. I know everything.

And I wanna let you know that if you deny my authority, you will have to face my discipline. Eyes are like a flame of fire, and my feet are ready to go to work and to trample on all disobedience. Now this is something for us to consider because Jesus Christ is holy. You're gonna read some things and you're gonna study some things with me that may sound like it's Old Testament. No.

This is New Testament. This is the newest of the New Testament. You can't get any more new than this. We're the last book of the New Testament. So you have some people who say, you know, I'm more comfortable with the God of the New Testament than the God of the Old Testament.

Let me shock you. He's the same God. You can't make that distinction. And people who talk like that, I'm afraid, have not read or studied the book of Revelation. But before Christ underscores any error in this church, he wants to he wants to point out some of the attributes that he admires.

And that's in one verse here in verse 19. What does he say? Well, there are four distinct characteristics that he mentions. The first thing, apart from the general works, is their love. I see your love.

More than that, I see your faith. And even beyond that, I see your service. I see your patient endurance. I mean, if you heard about a church that was loving, that had faith, that was serving, that was enduring patiently, you would say, give that church an a. Christ has a different grading system.

I don't think it's necessary for us to look at these things separately. What I do want to mention is the last part of this comment. Notice what he says, and that your latter works exceed the first. So it's not so much that this church was possessing these wonderful attitudes and these actions, what Christ says is that they were growing and excelling in them. That over time, I see that you're maturing in these areas, that it's becoming more fruitful and fragrant in your assembly.

I love this. I I I praise this. I commend this. And here's what moved me about this. It shows you and I the type of growth that Jesus Christ celebrates in his church.

You know, you talk to ministers today and they love to speak about numerical growth. We have more people attending our services. Well, that could be good. It can also be bad. And then you have others who take pride in the increased giving.

Every member's meaning, you know, the ones that you have maybe once or twice a year. Look at our report. We're having more people give, and and that also can be a good thing. But do you know what Christ primarily praises? The incremental transformation of his people.

That's the kind of growth that Jesus Christ celebrates. It's not so much the size of the congregation, it's the quality of its members. And so he looks at he doesn't mention how many are there. He doesn't mention anything. The thing that he highlights is you individually are growing in your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance.

Here's that applies to us. Number one, does our understanding of success in ministry align with the Lord's? Do we celebrate what he celebrates? Do we focus our investments on what Christ wants us to focus on? Again, for many people, it's let's fill as many seats as possible.

Our concern should be who's sitting in those seats, and what are they becoming, and what do their lives look like once they finish warming those seats for an hour and a half on a Sunday. This is what the Lord is inviting us to, which invites us, I think let's say, for example, every church anniversary we celebrate in November, do we not? I was reflecting and thought we should be able to look back and say the people at Maranatha Bible Church are more loving than they were last year. We have more people serving than ever before. Look what's happening to the members of MVC.

They are able with greater wisdom and greater patience handle internal and external conflicts, patient endurance. And I pray that that would be the trajectory of this church. We will not decrease in our affection, that we will not weaken in our acts of service, but increase as time goes on. Unfortunately, that's all the good Jesus had to say for this church. For the rest of this letter now, he is going to bring up a serious concern.

There is going to be an issue that he is going to target without reservation. His main issue is with a woman. Her name is Jezebel. Or is it? It's very unlikely that this woman's name in this church was actually Jezebel because of the history of that name, because of the scandal associated with that name.

It would be like anybody naming their son Judas, very unlikely. So what we have here is a symbolic label that Christ places on this individual because like Jezebel in the Old Testament, this prophetess was an agent of Satan. And Satan was using her in this assembly to lure the people of God away from the truth. And so she has Jezebel like qualities. You can imagine the shock on her face when this letter was read and she heard Jezebel, and the rest of the church for that matter.

There are three problems that the Lord highlights about this woman. Let's look at them again. The first is here in verse 20, who calls herself a prophetess. You have to read carefully. The issue here is not the practice of prophecy itself.

We see examples of even woman prophets in the New Testament. Rather, this individual is a self appointed prophet. It's as though Christ is saying, I I did not commission this woman. She does not have my endorsement. She is a self proclaimed messenger.

And this woman had the boldness to walk into this church, build trust in fellow members, and telling them, did you know that I'm a prophetess? I hear from God all the time, regularly actually. In fact, I have such a close and unique relationship with the Lord that I have been given access to unique insight and revelation. And Jesus says, she calls herself that. She's not one of mine.

Church, be careful of people who call themselves prophets, especially online. Can I tell you something? A person whom the Lord truly uses doesn't need to advertise themselves. They don't. God is really using somebody speaking through somebody.

One, it's gonna align with his word, and two, you will, if you have even a hint of discernment, recognize this individual is a real thing. This person is a faithful messenger of God's word. So be careful. More and more are we seeing people freely calling themselves different things, including prophets and prophetesses, when in fact, they hired themselves. They are not of Christ even though they speak in his name.

The second thing that is a troubling feature is how this woman was teaching. Look again at verse 20. But I have this against you that you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who one, calls herself a prophetess, and two, is teaching. Again, read carefully. The problem highlighted here is not what she is teaching.

That's gonna be brought up next. The point of contention is who is teaching. You see, the church in Thyatira was violating the clear biblical instruction and mandate that women are not to serve as preachers or teachers in the general assembly of the church. It cannot be any more plain than the words of the apostle Paul in first Timothy two twelve when he says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, rather she is to remain quiet. That doesn't mean that when she comes to church, she's supposed to be mute.

It means that in the context of preaching and teaching the worship time of the church, she is not to do what men alone are called to do, and that is to instruct the people of God with the word of God. It's very possible that this is the first time that some of you heard me quote this verse or heard this was quoted at all in such a plain manner. And so I'm aware that there can be thoughts and questions emerging even now as I'm talking in your heart. Well, let me direct you to a one hour message that we have on our YouTube channel that speaks about in great detail what God says about woman assuming the role of elder pastor and teaching the general assembly in the church. And I'm sure it will be helpful.

And perhaps in the near future, we may have to even revisit that. But see, this is what we can understand at this point. It is completely appropriate for both men and women in informal bible studies and settings to be able to share insights and to be able to express questions. The bible even encourages women to teach younger women how to be good and how to be faithful and to disciple children. But when it comes to the church gathering for corporate worship, scripture clearly and undeniably reserves the role of teaching for men.

And this is yet another example for us of how this series in Revelation is so applicable. Can I ask you something? Are there fewer churches today promoting women to teach congregations and pursue the role of pastor or more? The reality is more and more are embracing this trend. Mark my words.

You listen carefully. That unless the Lord comes and baptizes the wider church in the fear of God again, to position the church, especially leaders, to obey God in everything that he says, not what you like, what he says, whether your flesh is comfortable with it or not. Unless the Lord does that in this age, we are going to see a greater attack on this mandate. And if you're a part of a church like this one that honors and bows its need to the authority of God's word, even in what he says for men and women and their distinct roles in the church, prepare to be criticized. Prepare to be slandered.

By who? The world? I'm not concerned by the world. No. No.

Even churches and ministries that willfully dismiss this command. But here's what we're learning. Why are we going through these series? The series in the the seven churches in the book of Revelation because we wanna know what kind of church Christ wants and the church that Christ praises. I'm not motivated one iota to be a ministry that popular evangelicalism approves of.

I'm not concerned about that. I will stand before Jesus Christ, not before the popular pastor. Christ. And I wanna stand before him faithful, and I hope you do as well. Unfortunately, this church tolerated a woman who was teaching with authority in the assembly, but that's not the only thing.

If teaching as a woman wasn't disobedient enough, she aggravates her offense by what she was teaching. Look here at the last part of verse 20. Not just teaching, but seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. This Jezebel, through her teaching, was comforting and persuading other members, my servants, Jesus says, to sin comfortably. You know, some wonder how was a woman able to climb and have such influence in this congregation.

And there are some, though it's not explicitly clear that that believe that this woman was in fact one of the wives of the elders. Because the Greek word for woman there is interchangeable between woman as a gender and wife, but that's not plain. Either way, what we wanna focus on is the essence of her doctrine. What she was spewing out was that certain sins were permissible, That you can engage and you can indulge in certain ideas, this promotion, this illusion of freedom under the guise of grace. And there's something about her teaching, I believe, that I think makes it so compelling.

Scroll down to verse 24. Notice what the Lord says to this remnant in the same church, and we'll look at that in in a moment here. But verse 24 says, but to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Now the ESV has an interesting rendering of this verse. In other word for word translations like, you you know, the King James and the New King James, the Lord is the one who identifies this teaching as the deep things of Satan.

So here in the ESV says, what others might call the deep things of Satan, and those other ones, maybe you have it in your hand, it's it's the Lord who's saying, this is the deep things of Satan. Either way, what Christ is describing here can mean one of two things or even really both. First, whatever this woman was was conveying and communicating was deeply disturbing and perverse. But it can also mean this, that she was captivating an audience because she claimed that she had deeper insights into spiritual things. And this is something for us to understand as well because it's not about deeper things in the word of God.

We should all long for that. What I'm referring to is the unraveling of extra biblical ideas on the basis of supposed prophetic authority. So it could have been something like, let me tell you some of the secrets to the spiritual realm. Let me unpack for you basic baseless ideas of spiritual dimensions and practices in the scriptures that are in fact not in the scriptures. Twisting truths, twisting illustrations, twisting stories.

In fact, maybe not even in the scriptures at all, completely silent in the Bible. Let me tell you some things that you don't know. Let me exegete my personal visions and my dreams and my encounters. They can't be validated. Just take my word for it.

I'm I'm persuasive in my speech. Am I not? Do I don't I look godly? So let me tell you some things that I've experienced that are applicable to you. Deep things.

Not deep things in the Bible, deep things from your own experience, from your own mind. You know, over the years as a Christian, I I've been approached by people who have invited me to listen to so and so because they're deep. Okay. And when I listen, I find out, yeah, they're deep. They're in deep trouble.

Because they're not saying anything that's biblical. I'll never forget the time. After a few months, maybe close to a year of walking with the Lord, I had somebody, we went to this conference and somebody approached me, we got to know them a little bit. He handed me a USB stick with the series of teachings from this guy. I don't even remember who the man was, but it was a series on miracles, But unique miracles.

Miracles that you didn't think you had access to. And there was more than one sermon on how Christians have the ability on demand to teleport. Teleportation. And this man plucked a couple of examples of how the Lord has done this. But no, no, it wasn't how the Lord can do it, it's how you can do it.

And here's the most shocking part, listening to this in the car with a friend and the worst part is you had people in the live audience recorded, wow. Literally saying, wow. Wow. Wow. Where do you think this man got the confidence to speak in this way?

Think it was from the Bible? No. No. No. No.

It was forty five minutes of let me tell you how it happened to me. How I went from here to here. How I went from this country to this country. How I elevated into heavenly realms and dimensions. You know, you can do that too.

If you have enough faith, deep things. And this church was tolerating it. I want you to be careful because ideas like this are gaining more and more popularity, thousands and hundreds of thousands of views. I even just yesterday, last night, I thought let me just look this stuff up. And I looked it up and there hundreds of thousands of views.

I could barely stomach what was being said and they would pan into the audience and people, wow. They don't know their Bibles. There's no way. And you had a church here who loved this teaching. Christ did not.

And we see here his righteousness, his zeal. You know, listen, as much as love is important, faithfulness is important, service is important, patient endurance is important. You know what we learn from this? Teaching is important to Jesus. It may not be important to you, but it's important to the Lord Jesus Christ and he wants the church to partner with his heart.

And so he demonstrates his zeal for pure truth. But listen, his passion for holiness is beautifully followed by his incredible grace in the following verse. So we look at verse 20. Now look at verse 21. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

You know what this means? This is not the first time that this woman was confronted for her error. I gave her time to repent, implying she was confronted before. Perhaps by faithful Christians in the congregation, maybe directly by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we aren't sure. What is certain though, this is not the first time the Lord is dealing with her.

Relish in the brilliance and the beauty, the astounding patience of Jesus Christ. He doesn't just give us opportunities to repent, he gives you time to repent when it's not your initial response to his invitation. Look how steadfast he is and calm he is. I gave her time. And you and I have to understand that when we look out and see false teachers today receiving millions, even billions of donations, packing stadiums, I've thought this, Lord, why aren't you stopping them?

Why are they growing in their reach and in their influence? And I learned something from this letter. He's giving them time to repent. He's giving them time to repent. And it could very well be before there was a public scandal with somebody who is not truly a messenger of God.

There were private convictions, confrontations, the Lord dealing with them in their hearts, allowing people to come into their lives and speak into their lives. And unfortunately, they do many do what this woman did. With every opportunity received, she refused to repent. Have you ever wondered just in a general sense, why do people refuse to repent? I I mean, if the gospel is preached faithfully, if it's really given as good news, why do people swat it away?

Why do they deny it? I believe in many cases for the same reason this woman did, they love their sin. Notice again in verse 21, I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. The reason why she didn't wanna turn to the Lord is because she didn't wanna give up her lust. And here's something to consider.

It's very possible that her influence in this church provided personal opportunities to indulge in her lust. Did you know that one of the marks of a false teacher is that they are ravously driven by sexual impulses. And they'll use their persuasiveness, their personality, they'll use their leadership abilities to satiate those sexual desires. Here's a mark of a false teacher according to Peter in second Peter two fourteen. They have eyes full of the adultery.

This is in the context of false teachers. And what does he say? They have eyes full. They're leaking in their desire and their pursuit of other people to gratify their flesh. They're predators.

And not just that, he says they have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed, accursed children. Who do false teachers attract? Unsteady souls.

You know what is one sure way of being an unsteady soul? Not being filled with the word of God. Being tossed this way and that way, the newest thing. The the the more handsome preacher, the more beautiful, the more deep. That's how people are are taken captive.

How do these false teachers thrive? How is it that they're so successful? Because they have so many customers. If you didn't have the customers, you wouldn't have the platform. I was listening to an interview the other day of somebody who went out into Mexico and spoke with one of the cartels.

And the cartel admittedly said, most of our consumers are in The United States. If we didn't have consumers, we would be out of business. How true it is even with false teachers? It's people wanting this, And those who are naive, those who are unsteady are frequently taken captive. And this woman could very well have been partnering sexually with people that she was teaching.

And as patient as the Lord is, there is a limitation to it. And for this Jezebel, there were no more chances left. So the only thing she can expect from now on is judgment. And this is what we read next in verse 22. Behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.

A lot of these statements may not be surprising to us, but there is something in this passage that I think would make many professing Christians uncomfortable. I alluded to it earlier. Jesus Christ, even in the New Testament, makes his glory and his reality known. Yes, in his goodness. Yes, in his grace.

Yes, in his forgiveness. Yes, in his healing power. But can I offer you another dimension by real time manifestations of judgment? Are we in Exodus or are we in the New Testament? We're in the book of Revelation.

And Jesus Christ says that he will make himself known to the wider church. What does he say? How is he going to make all the churches know that he is the one who searches mind and heart? Pause. He searches mind and heart.

That is an attribute that solely and exclusively belongs to Yahweh in the Old Testament. Many many Old Testament passages say, the Lord who searches mind and heart. What is Christ claiming here? I'm God. But what is one of the ways that he shows himself to be the living God to his people?

Well, in this case, by striking a false prophet with a sickness, by altering the lives of those who work with her, and by ending the lives of her children. Some debate. Is this her actual children or her spiritual children? Either way, it's not good. So this is something for us to understand.

Yes. The God of the New Testament from time to time, he affirms his holiness. He affirms his power, he affirms his presence by doing what? Shaking a church that tolerates sin in such an undeniable way that other churches would realize and be reminded of the holiness of Jesus Christ. Is that it?

No. Christ has a message not just for Jezebel and her disciples. Look here at verse 24, but to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Isn't this shocking? You had real Christians in this church.

You know what I thought? Why are you still at that church? I'll tell you why. Because they didn't have many options in that time. In that day, they didn't have the luxury of picking up and saying we're going to the church down the street.

There are many obstacles to that and again, very limited options so they had no other choice. This was their church in Thyatira. This is where they went. This is where they could to the best of their ability, obey what Jesus said, what the word of God says, and not to forsake the assembling of the saints. And so the Lord now turns his attention to these Christians who are enduring this.

You can imagine the debates over fellowship. You can imagine the confrontation. You can imagine the atmosphere in that place and he tells this remnant in this church, I wanna encourage you. I do not lay on you any other burden, only hold fast what you have until I come. I gotta tell you, it was like a splash of cold water on my face when I meditated on this passage.

It should move you to the core because this is something about the leadership of Jesus Christ towards the faithful. I'm sure you're aware of Christians who really wanna please God. Like, they really want to honor God, but they have no rest in that pursuit. In fact, they're always burdened. They they always scrutinize their sanctification.

They're running on fumes. They're always thinking what else can I do? What more can I do in order to make God proud? That's how they live. They're miserable.

And though Jesus is very much concerned about our growth, we just heard about it. I see that your works are excelling. Your latter works are excelling more than your former. Yes. He wants us to grow in these things.

It is possible to walk in such a manner. Listen to this. It is possible to so orient your life that Christ will look at you and all he has to say is just keep going. Just keep going. Yes.

Are there times where you'll be convicted because of your limited fellowship with the Lord? Yes. Yes. Will you hear a message from time to time that will ask of you more faithfulness and service in ministry? Sure.

But you know what the Lord is not interested in? Piling on you unrealistic duties and demands. His commandments are not burdensome. And so it's possible to so again, align yourself to the truth of God's word and your life. Your convictions, your priorities, where all Christ can say, keep going.

You're right in the center of my will, and all I ask you to do is remain there. Isn't that refreshing? That refreshed me. And understanding the mercy and the beauty of Jesus' shepherding should empower you, should give you life. He's not there looking, oh, you're doing all that.

I'm asking. You know what? Let me try you know, there are people like, let me let me find something else for you to do because I just don't want you to be there. No. No.

No. He's not like that. Keep going. Keep doing what you're doing. As much as his grace is something that should energize us, there's something else.

Look at the end of verse 25. Only hold fast what you have until I come. Until I come. What is the Lord doing here? He is placing before these faithful believers the reality of his second coming in order for them to be more faithful, to remain faithful, to remain steadfast.

In other words, Jesus Christ uses the truth of his return to keep his people ready. Robust, remaining, abiding, withstanding. How much do you think about Jesus coming back? If we wanna be a healthy church, from what I learned here, I think we should talk about it a lot. I think it should be in our conversation.

I think we should say it frequently. You know, the Lord is coming back. It puts everything into perspective. It lightens the load. It helps you to endure even when there is problems in your church.

Oh, this isn't the end of it. Thank God, this isn't heaven. As heavenly as these meetings can be, this is not heaven. Christ is coming back. Christ is coming back.

And listen, we've been studying churches, have we not? And we as a church wanna be the church Christ wants us to be. But let's be realistic because the Bible is realistic. What does Jesus say? Earlier, he says that I will give to you.

Look at the end of verse 23. I will give to each of you according to your works. So as much as he's evaluating the church at large, every single one of us will have a personal report card. Listen, which is relieving for many of us, I hope, especially for leaders, because leaders can only say so much. They can only counsel so much.

They they can only put on events to formulate fellowship. There's only so much that a leader can do. In the end, we all have to take personal responsibility. Oh, you went to Maranatha Bible Church. Yeah.

Okay. Well, I'm gonna judge the pastors. But what did you do with all the sermons you heard? And what did you do with the opportunities that were given to you? So none of us can hide behind Daniel Ben or Mar Griffin or whatever church you might be representing here as you're visiting.

And we can't hide behind anybody else either. We can't point to the congregation. No. I as much as I'm evaluating the church, I'm going to give to each of you according to your works. Now, what does the Lord do?

We're wrapping things up. He's not finished motivating the remnant. Even wants to motivate those who are enjoying this false teaching. Verse 26, he says, the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. Prize number one.

Prize number two, verse 27. And he will rule them with a rod of iron as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from the my father. Prize number three, verse 28. And I will give him the morning star. Let's break these down.

The first two I get, I think most of us would understand. The only way these rewards make sense is if you believe in a literal millennial reign of Christ. Or else, what does it mean that he will give authority over nations to us? What nations? What are we talking about?

Now? No. Not now. What about, ruling them with a wrought iron? Now?

Rule is this symbolic? Is this allegorical? If you're honest with your interpretation of the scriptures, this is literal. And it can only fit in one segment of redemptive history when Jesus Christ returns to rule and reign from Jerusalem. And what we learn here is based on our faithfulness will determine the extent of our reward, our governing rewards.

Christians are gonna have some interesting things to do in the millennial reign. And here's what we learn from this, If you're faithful with my word, if you're faithful with your judgments based on my word, if you're able to discern between right and wrong and even confront wrong, then I'm willing to promote you in my kingdom. To execute judgment, to make decisions. And so you're gonna have some who are going to do what? They are going to have authority over certain regions.

And some who are gonna share in Christ's authority to execute judgment in the millennial reign. It's the last one that perhaps is the most mysterious. What does it mean by saying, I will give him the morning star? That's interesting. And all these ideas, you can imagine the speculations.

If you just honor the context, I think you have your answer. Does this idea of bright morning star appear in the book of Revelation? Yes. Turn to it in Revelation 22. There's where you get your answer.

Revelation 22 verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. So what is Jesus saying back in Revelation two? I'm gonna give you myself.

I'm gonna give you access to a fellowship with me that will be rich, that will be real, that will be unique, because you paid the price of staying true to my word. You did not tolerate compromise in your life or in the church. And here's how we can translate this to our context. You might even be sitting here today, and I'm closing in a moment here. You might be sitting here today and you have been branded as legalistic.

Not because you're legalistic and somebody's saying, hey, you're you're putting more into the scriptures than needs to be there. No. Because you love the Bible from family, from friends, from even other ministers who think you're too rigid with the word of God. When in fact it's clear the Bible says this about men and this about women. You might be enduring even loss of fellowship and partnership in ministry because of what you believe in.

Because you will not tolerate compromise no matter how it looks. Here's what Christ says to you. You will secure a friendship with me. You will win a friendship with me. And how appropriate is this message for us, especially with our cultural climate?

As someone once said, today, compromising tolerance is seen as a virtue. The more tolerant you are, the more up to date you are with society and with philosophy and with ideology. In fact, the same individual followed it with this, disagreement with evil and ideologies and belief systems and behaviors that are sinful. Disagreement now is generally understood as phobia. You're homophobic.

You're transphobic. You're Islamophobic. If you disagree with it, then you're labeled as crazy or you have an irrational fear. So what does Jesus say? Label them how you wanna label them.

I'm gonna give them the bright morning star. I'm gonna give them myself. You may not have that promotion. You may not get more invitations to preach at certain places, but you'll have me. Isn't that the greatest reward?

Well, how are we gonna answer people and say, what did you hear for Mother's Day at church? I heard about Jezebel. Let me end it in this way. I find it so heartwarming that Thyatira is not only mentioned in this context. There is only one other place in all of the bible where we find the name Thyatira.

Who knows it? It's in Acts 16. Let's turn there. And this is where we'll end. Yes.

We've been looking at Jezebel, but I wanna bring to your attention another woman from Thyatira. And this is when Paul and his missionary team were in Philippi, and they met a woman named Lydia. Acts sixteen thirteen. Let's read together as we wrap things up. I may say that a couple more times.

And on the Sabbath day, we went outside. This is Acts sixteen thirteen. We went outside the gate to the riverside where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the woman who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

Let's pause here. So Paul's in Philippi. And what was Paul's strategy whenever he went to a city? Where's the nearest synagogue? Where are the Jews?

Apparently, there weren't many Jews in Philippi because on the Sabbath, they had to meet by the riverside. There was no synagogue. And so Paul hears about this, so he goes there, he goes, I hope we can find some Jews. And when he arrives with his team, they encounter a band of women. And we learned one of their names, Lydia, and she is a businesswoman.

In fact, this is a little hint that showcases the historical accuracy of the Bible. She was a seller of purple goods. Thyatira manufactured dyes and purple was the color of royalty. It was very expensive. So, she wasn't just in business, she she was in luxurious business.

She was up there. Here's what moves me about Lydia. This is for all of us here, both men and women who are ambitious, who are entrepreneurs, who want to make a living and to be successful at it, notice that her business did not corrupt her worship. Notice that her endeavors, notice that her plans, notice that her job did not take her away from adoring God. So she's here in Philippi and she goes, we gotta worship God.

It's a Sabbath. So she believed in the God of Israel. She didn't encounter the truth of Christ yet, but she she's a seeker and she wants to honor the Lord. And so she she hears about a prayer meeting and she's, you know what? We're gonna go to this prayer meeting.

It's amazing how God blesses obedience. Even if your obedience is limited because of limited revelation. So she comes there and she makes her way there and we learned that Paul meets her. The Lord does a work on her heart, opens it so that she can hear what Paul has to say. And notice what happens here at verse 15, and after she was baptized and her household as well.

So we don't know the exact chronology here, but she's with this band of women, they meet Paul and his missionary team, they hear the gospel, and guess what? She couldn't keep it to herself. She goes home and tells people about Jesus, and they come to Christ. Now they get baptized and it doesn't end there. She urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.

And she prevailed upon us. So she showed fruit of true salvation that she wanted to serve. And the way that she can serve with the opportunity before was to host this missionary team. She says, please please please let me be hospitable to you. What a contrast to Jezebel from Thyatira.

What humility, what grace, what priorities, what devotion to the Lord. And though it may be true that there are Jezebels roaming in our churches and they're multiplying. And with that, there is the tolerance of Jezebel that is multiplying. There are in churches as well. And I, stepping back this morning, going over some of these things, prepared to preach today, was thanking God that this church is filled with May the Lord protect you as you serve him and honor him with your life, and may God reproduce Lidias for his glory.

Let's pray. We've heard your voice today, Lord, and we want to be a church that accepts the right things and rejects that which you reject. Protect us from compromise. We even ask, oh god, that this church would not be a mixed breed. Some who follow you and some who follow strange teachings, some who pursue holiness and others who don't care about it.

Lord, may we be as a unit, as a family, one in the same. So even now, Lord, wash over us these truths with such force that we would all leave here with a oneness of mind and affection and ambition to be an uncompromising church. In our lives personally and as an assembly, protect this pulpit in Jesus' name. Protect our ears. Help us have discernment when people put things into our hands or send us links.

Help us more than anything else, devour this word so that we can create that shield in our hearts. We we know, Lord, we're reminded how much truth matters to you because it's your truth, it's your voice, it's your word, it's your instruction. We wanna honor every part of it. And even, Lord, if there's one person here who who might have been disturbed by what was said, May they have enough integrity to at least look at the Bible and see what the Bible has to say. May all personal or human interpretation or opinions be crushed under the weight of your authority, and may we know true freedom as we abide by your word.

We give you thanks for speaking to our hearts again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen, church.

Let's stand. Let's give Jesus Christ all the glory for speaking to our hearts through this book.