Thyatira: What's Our Priority? - Revelation 2:18-29

dismissed for children's church teenagers. You

guys are dismissed also. You guys will be back

with Kennan. If you are not in one of those groups,

let me invite you to open up in your Bibles to

Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2 verse

Revelation 2 · chapter mention Revelation 2:18

18 is where we're going to be starting today.

Let me go ahead and just open us up with a word

of prayer. Father God, we come before you today

so thankful, God. So thankful for who you are,

God. So thankful for the chance we have to gather

together, God. Father, I just ask, God, that

you would just be glorified and magnified today,

God. God, would you open our hearts and our minds

to hear from you today, God. God, I pray for

everyone who's not with us today, God. Whether

they're on vacation, God, give them safety, God.

If they're in the hospital right now, God, please

give them quick healing, God. And we specifically

lift up Jeff to you, God. God, we just ask that

you would help his surgery to be scheduled soon,

God. And for the doctors and surgeons just to

have wisdom in treating him right now, Father.

God, above all else, we are just so thankful

for the fact that you are our great God. Lord,

please give me your words to speak this morning

and nothing else, God. We ask all this in your

name. Well, before we jump into Revelation chapter

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

2, there are three things all centered on the

date of August 17th that I want to bring to your

attention. First, on August 17th, we will be

voting on new deacons. That is Jeff Fryer, who

is currently not with us. He is in the hospital

getting his gallbladder removed, so please be

praying for Jeff. Alan Halberstadt is also being

considered. Alan, give everyone a quick wave.

Hey, there we go. And then finally, Christopher

Walton is also being considered. So August 17th,

we will vote on these men. Secondly, on August

17th, at 3 p .m., we have a couple's bridal shower

for Carl and for Cheyenne. Notice that word.

It is a couple's bridal shower. So guys, that

means we're going too. Okay, August 17th, 3 p

.m. for Carl and Cheyenne. It should be really

fun. And finally, this is transitioning us into

where we'll hear more about stuff next week.

But from August 17th through 23rd as a church,

ourselves and then some other churches, some

other like -minded churches are going to be joining

together in what we're calling the Collegiate

Week of Prayer and praying for the University

of Illinois campus as people move onto campus,

as people come back to campus, as they get ready

to start their classes. So that is August 17th

through the 23rd, but let me encourage you even

today. be praying for students, be praying for

campus. We have a very big announcement that

will start to come to light here in the next

week or two. I know we told Joe a little bit

of that this week, and he was pretty stoked about

it. So keep your eyes and your ears open. Look

at social media on Wednesday, even if you're

not a big social media person, after at 9 a .m.

You can find out a little more of our big announcement

coming soon that has to do with campus and what

we're doing there. But please be praying for

God to move at the University of Illinois. I

think that actually ties in really well with

where we're headed today. You know, this summer

we've been going through the seven churches in

Revelation. And about maybe a year, year and

a half ago, there's kind of this trend on social

media to ask the question, what would happen

or what would be in a letter to the church in

America? Like, what would Paul say? What would

John say? What would Jesus say in a letter to

the church in America? What would be covered

inside of this letter? You know, there are all

sorts of different theories on what would be

covered, you know, what would be rebuked or not

rebuked, and I kind of hated that trend because

it started to turn it into kind of a punchline,

this idea of getting a letter that was almost

like a fun thing, right? Like, it would be so

fun because Paul would come and he would call

out all of our sin, it would be great. I think

people kind of miss the fact that not every church

listens to those letters, and that's when they

get, you know, 2 Corinthians, which is actually

not just the second letter written to the Corinthians,

they actually get four letters written to them.

And I think people kind of started to miss that.

But one of the things I love about these seven

letters to the churches in Revelation is that

each letter has an original audience, an original

destination, but it is also a letter to the church

globally, and it is a letter that directly impacts

us on a daily basis. Each one of these letters,

whether it's the letter to Pergamum or the letter

to Smyrna or to Ephesus, reminds us and challenges

our faith. And this morning, as we get ready

to look at this letter to the church in Thyatira,

we are faced with a really simple question. What

is our priority, and what do our works say about

that? Kind of to stick with the theme from VBS,

this idea of magnified. We can say it like this,

Jesus is magnifying the importance of our works,

our actual actions of response inside of this

letter. That's really the summary of the letter

to the church in Thyatira. What is our priority?

What? What should we do with this? And so let

me ask you if you're able to stand with me as

I read to us from the Word of God, the letter

to the church in Thyatira. We'll have this up

on the screen so you can follow along. It says,

Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira,

Thus says the Son of God. That is the only time

in the book of Revelation that he thus says the

Son of God, the one whose eyes are like a fiery

flame and whose feet are like fine bronze. I

know your work, your love, your faithfulness,

service, and endurance. I know that your last

works are greater than the first, but I have

this against you. You tolerate the woman Jezebel

who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and

deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality

and to eat meat sacrificed to idols. I gave her

time to repent, but she does not want to repent

of her sexual morality. Look, I will throw her

into a sickbed and those who commit adultery

with her into great affliction unless they repent

of her works. I will strike her children, her

followers, dead. Then all the churches will know

that I am the one, the one who examines minds

and hearts. And I will give to each of you according

to your works. I say to the rest of you in Thyatira

who do not hold this teaching, who haven't known

the so -called secrets of Satan, as they say,

I'm not putting any other burden on you. Only

hold on to what you have until I come. The one

who conquers and who keeps my works to the end,

I will give him authority over the nations, and

he will rule them with an iron scepter. He will

shatter them like pottery. Just as I have received

this from my Father, I will also give him the

morning star. Let anyone who has ears to hear

listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

You may be seated. That is the word of the Lord,

the church, and Thyatira. And before we walk

through it, let me give you one summarizing statement,

one main point for today. Our lives can either

bring glory to God or glory to sin. It is really

that blunt in this letter to the church in Thyatira.

Either our life is bringing glory to God or our

life is bringing glory to sin. Our life simply

cannot both honor God and also honor and obey

sin. And so today as we look at this letter,

we're going to see kind of three major parts

to it. First, we see a greeting and an encouragement.

Then we see a pointed rebuke of sin, a very specific

rebuke of sin. And then finally, we see some

encouragement and we see the closing of the letter.

And so let's look at this first part, this greeting

and encouragement together, titled in your bulletin,

Pure Judgment of Pure Works. We see that in verses

18 and 19. Pure Judgment of Pure Works. This

is what it says in verses 18 and 19. Write to

the angel of the church in Thyatira. Thus says

the Son of God, the one whose eyes are like a

fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze.

Continuing on in verse 19. I know your works.

Your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance.

I know that your last works are greater than

the first. Let's focus in on verse 18 to start.

Hit Jesus' fourth letter that he writes to a

church, and he writes it to the church in Thyatira.

Thyatira is roughly 30 miles south of Pergamum

that we saw last week, and it's actually the

smallest town, the smallest church also, of any

of the seven that are mentioned in Revelation

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and chapter 3. But there's something

really interesting about that. See, Jesus sends

the longest letter to the smallest church, and

that's intentional. It's a reminder that Jesus

sees all of the churches, and he cares just as

much about the house church of six people who's

in a closed country in Southeast Asia as he does

a megachurch of 15 ,000 worshipers in Chicago.

See, Jesus cares about all Christians. The worth

of a church is not measured in size, but rather

is measured in faithfulness to obey God. In faithfulness.

Renewal and repentance are going to be the main

themes of this letter. But what is Thyatira?

What is this city? Well, Thyatira was built on

an economy of trade guilds. A guild was made

up of all the workers that worked in a specific

area. So, for instance, the bronze working guild,

the baker's guild. We can almost think of it

as a Roman and then later on as a feudal system

form of a union. That either you were a part

of this and you were accepted in society, you

were licensed to do your work, Or you were not,

and then you were shunned. You were not a part

of this. You were an outcast in every possible

way. See, members in a guild were expected to

work together to support one another. If you

were sick and couldn't run your business, this

is how you would essentially have insurance.

It was that the other people in your guild would

make sure you were taken care of. But most importantly

of all, the people in a guild would worship together.

In Thyatira, each guild worshipped a very specific

god, but the chief god that was worshipped in

this city. It was the god Apollos, or the sun

god. And the main industry that worshipped him?

Bronze working. This is really important when

we look at the description that Jesus gives himself.

First, Jesus says that he is the son of God.

It is the only place in all of the book of Revelation

that we see that wording. It's the only place

that Jesus addresses himself as the son of God.

And there's actually a play on words going on

here. See, Jesus is saying your city worships

the god of the sun. But I am the Son of God,

capital letter, uppercase, all around personal

God, who loves you and knows you. As great as

your city thinks they are because they worship

Apollos, the God of the sun, I am the Son of

God and far greater. See, whereas Apollos is

just a fake idol, Jesus is the living Son of

God. He is directly confronting the way that

the town worships. And then look at what Jesus

says about his physical appearance. His eyes

are like fiery flame and his feet are like fine

bronze. Let's start with those feet. Notice the

metal there. This is actually a connection to

the industry of Thyatira. He's saying that he

rules over all things, even the bronze workers

who have all the power and all the authority

in the city of Thyatira. But it's not just a

cultural connection here. Instead, it's also

showing that Jesus is strong and stable. In a

time where this church is struggling, Jesus is

a firm foundation that they can rely on. Jesus

is a firm foundation that we can rely on. And

then there's those flaming eyes. When you read

that, it's kind of a scary description, if we're

honest. You know, you might read that in a book

and it usually means somebody's angry. There's

a lot of intensity there. This is actually a

reference, though, back to the book of Daniel

in chapter 7. And it shows us two things, really,

when Jesus uses this. It shows us his perfect

holiness. And also his perfect piercing judgment.

It shows that absolutely nothing can be hidden

from Jesus. That his flaming holy eyes see everything.

They see the good and they see the bad. Nothing

in the church of Thyatira is hidden from Jesus.

And friends, think about the church in America.

There is nothing in the church in America that

is hidden from Jesus. Jesus sees hearts and actions.

That's what we're going to see in verse 19 where

we read, I know your works. Your love, faithfulness,

service, and endurance. I know that your last

works are greater than the first. See, Jesus

is encouraging the believers by telling them

that, once again, he knows or he has seen their

works. He sees what they're doing. And specifically,

Jesus calls out four things that they do well.

He sees their love, their faithfulness, their

service, and their endurance. But he doesn't

only see that. He also says something else. I

know that your last works are greater than their

first. What does that mean? See, Jesus is painting

a picture here of a church that has stagnated

before and is now starting to revitalize or grow

deeper again. This church is on the upswing,

so to speak. They're growing as believers. They're

having an impact on their community. See, their

works of love, of faithfulness, of service, and

of endurance are seen. They're living different.

They're making an impact. Because listen, every

single day, they are speaking to Jesus by the

way that they live. They may not be the fastest

growing church ever. They're not the most influential

or famous church. That would be the church in

Ephesus, right? This church with this great lineage

of all the apostles. They may not seem super

significant in an earthly perspective, but what

they are doing matters when Jesus tells them

that. He encourages them because their works

support their faith. They're living out maybe

one of the most famous verses in the Bible, James

2 .18, where it says, but someone will say, you

have faith and I have works. Show me your faith

without works, I will show you faith by my works.

That's the church in Thyatira in a nutshell.

They are showing their faith by their works.

And that encouragement to the church left me

wondering and kind of wrestling with something

this week. Do my works, does my day -to -day

living, the way that I love people, my faithfulness,

my service to the people around me, my willingness

to endure in hard seasons, Does that glorify

God and speak to God? Or when I look at my life,

do I find that missing? In other words, is my

life a life of loving people? Is my life a life

of serving people? Is my life a life of relying

on God in good and in hard times? Or is my life

self -centered, focused on what I can get out

of other people rather than what I can give to

other people? Does my view of God change whether

or not I think that God is giving me exactly

what I want? Quite simply, this first part challenges

us with Jesus' pure judgment. Do our lives speak

to the gospel on a daily basis? If Jesus was

to look at our lives as individuals, would he

say, I know your works, your love, your faithfulness,

your service, and your endurance? And further,

would he say, I know that your last works or

your most recent works are greater than the first.

Am I growing in my faith or is my faith stationary

and stagnant? That's what we're left with as

we open this letter. This question for ourselves,

are we growing? Are we growing as individuals?

Are we making an impact on our community by being

faithful to live out our faith day after day?

And then from there, in verse 20, we see a very

sudden shift. From verses 20 through 23, we see

the rebuke of Jezebel, the rebuke of someone

who's leading this church deeper and deeper into

sin. So look at verses 20 through 23 with me

as we see Jesus's rebuke of Jezebel. It says

this, but I have this against you. You tolerate

the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess

and teaches and deceives my servants to commit

sexual morality and to eat meat sacrificed to

idols. Then look at this. I gave her time to

repent. But she does not want to repent of her

sexual immorality. Look, I will throw her into

a sickbed and those who commit adultery with

her into great affliction unless they repent

of her works. I will strike her children dead.

Then all the churches will know that I am the

one who examines minds and hearts and I will

give to each of you according to your works.

So Jesus focuses his rebuke around a woman named

Jezebel. And let me be really clear on this.

This is less of a statement of her actual name

and is more about her character. See, Jezebel

is a cross -reference back to 1 Kings chapter

1 Kings 16 · chapter mention

16 through 19, where King Ahab, an evil king

of Israel, marries a Sidonian, also known as

a Phoenician princess, named Jezebel. Jezebel

leads Ahab away from God. And we read throughout

Ahab's reign that he bows down and worships Baal

and Asherah, two pagan gods. But she doesn't

only lead Ahab away. She also leads the people

of Israel away. Throughout these chapters, we

read that she has struck fear into the hearts

of the Israelites, and they turn from God and

chase after worthless idols. When we think about

Elijah and Elijah's ministry, it happens primarily

under Jezebel, and essentially the reign of terror

that Ahab starts. Ahab and Jezebel lead Israel

into many sins, but two that really stand out

are them leading the people of God into sexual

morality, and secondly, into idol worship. It's

interesting, I think, here that in Revelation

Revelation 2:20–23

chapter 2, verses 20 through 23, those are the

two sins that God is really getting at. The sin

of sexual immorality, and then this idea of eating

meat sacrificed to idols. In other words, giving

approval of worshiping these idols. There's that

close similarity. So we're going to talk about

both of these, but let's start with sexual immorality.

Listen, this is, just to be blunt, a sin. It

has been a struggle for the people of God for

all of time, and it is still a struggle today.

Today, many people walk in sexual immorality.

There is a quiet epidemic sweeping through the

church today, one that happens inside of a home,

on a computer, on a phone. It's one simply grouped

together under the title pornography. I'm not

going to get into the statistics about it, but

it is eye -opening. I'm just going to be honest.

This is something we see often in ministry. We

see men and women struggling with this battle

of sexual immorality. This battle that seems

private. And listen, it is not the only way,

but it is a common outpouring of a form of sexual

immorality. It is a common form of a sin that

leads us further from God and puts up a wall

between us and God. I love how Josh said that

last week. Like Josh mentioned last week, sin

is like a wall that over time builds up the more

that we walk in it. And over time, that wall,

as it builds up, it keeps us from hearing from

God clearly. Whether it's pornography, or sex

outside of marriage, or one of the most common

ones that we see, living together before marriage.

In fact, in college I was talking with a pastor

who spoke at our campus ministry, and he estimated

that 90 % of couples who asked him to do their

weddings were living together and having sex

together before marriage. Friends, it's easy

for us to think to ourselves, sexual morality,

that's a past tense issue. That's an issue outside

the church. Friends, the truth is that is an

issue inside the church too. And what do we see

in verses 20 through 23? We see a pointed rebuke

from Jesus. We see a rebuke from Jesus who sees

all things perfectly with perfect and holy judgment.

And friends, we see then that sin builds up this

wall and keeps us from hearing. From God, clearly.

But there's another thing that these sins do.

The sin of sexual immorality does. This sin starts

to build up shame in our hearts. And shame tells

us that there is no hope and that God could no

longer love us. That we're not good enough for

God. That we don't deserve God because we've

fallen short of God. That we're worse than what

God could possibly accept. And that there's no

way God loves us anymore. And so I thought it

was so cool this week during VBS that we had

a night where our theme was magnify God's love.

And the point of that entire night was really

simple, that God's love can never be taken away.

Listen, we all sin a lot, whether we are strong

with sexual sin or if we are strong with sin

in another area. Maybe we are habitual liars.

Maybe we are lazy. Maybe we are gluttonous. We

sin a lot as humans. On a daily basis, we sin.

But please hear me this morning. Do not ever

let that sin turn into shame. Jesus' rebuke of

Jezebel is not meant to send Jezebel into a cycle

of shame. Instead, it is a call for her to repent,

to make a 180 turn and to live differently, to

stop what she is doing and to go live a life

that is built towards righteousness. But we all

see that that's not the only sin that Jezebel

leads people towards. She also leads people to

eat food that is sacrificed to idols. And I don't

know about you, I was in the grocery store the

other day and I did not see a sign in Schnucks.

or an Aldi, or a Walmart, or Costco, or Sam's,

or any other grocery store that clearly labels

a section that says meat sacrifice to idols.

And so when we read that command a lot of times

in the New Testament, when we read this rebuke,

I think a lot of times we think that was a big

issue in the first century, in the second century.

It's not really an issue anymore. You know, we

don't really deal with that. You know, if I want

to go buy a ribeye today, I'm not going to go

choose between ribeye sacrifice to Zeus and ribeye

cut from a cow. It's just not a thing. So what

is going on? How does this apply to us? Let's

start with this. Let's break it down a little

more. What is the problem with eating this meat

that's sacrificed to idols? The problem is it

gives both a subtle nod of approval to the sinful

idol worship, and also it provided financial

support for the temples that were leading people

astray. In a way, it was giving passive approval

to sin. And it's really easy for us to go out

and give passive approval to sin. We may not

be going out and actively trying to celebrate

sin. We may not be going and finding the closest

bank robber and being like, hey, thank you so

much for doing this. We are so proud of you.

But it's easy for us on a daily basis to passively

celebrate sin. We follow that social media influencer

that posts content that makes us jealous or discontent.

We follow that social media influencer who posts

content that we shouldn't be looking at. There's

a lot of different ways that on a daily basis

we give that passive approval with our right

thumb or our left thumb by giving a like here,

a comment there, by sending this to somebody

else, by sending this to that person. Or maybe

we just watch that TV show because we want to

fit in at the office, even though deep down it

makes us uncomfortable. Let me give you an example.

My freshman year of college, I was coaching basketball

at a small school in rural Wyoming. One of the

unique things being a non -teacher who takes

that type of a position is it is very much a

year -to -year contract. And it is really entirely

up to the head coach if your contract gets renewed

or not. And my head coach was a unique guy. That's

the best adjective for him, he was a unique guy.

And he had an obsession with a show that was

on TV at the time. I'm not going to shame you

if you enjoy the show, I really don't care. But

he was obsessed with Game of Thrones. Like, could

not stop watching it. Would sit there on the

40 -minute bus ride from the school back into

Laramie and would watch an episode. Like every

day at practice, people at practice was like,

I watched this episode of Game of Thrones last

night. This is what happened. And he found out

that I didn't watch Game of Thrones. Never seen

Game of Thrones. It's a college guy. I was a

little busy for Game of Thrones. And he looked

at me at one point and made the comment, if you

don't watch Game of Thrones, I will not renew

your contract for next year. I was like, okay,

well, I kind of enjoy this job. I like having

a little bit of money as a college student, so

I guess I'll try watching Game of Thrones. And

I went over to a used DVD store we had in town.

It was about to go out of business, and I bought

a couple seasons of Game of Thrones. I started

watching through it. And then one night, it hit

me. It hit me that that show wasn't actually

pointing me towards God. It wasn't encouraging

me to go deeper in my walk with God. It wasn't

helping me to know God more. It was kind of just

an empty thing I was putting out in the background

while I was doing homework, and I wasn't... loving

what I was seeing in that show. Friends, I was

giving passive approval, though, by engaging

in this conversation with this guy. By day after

day after day, saying, yeah, I did see that last

night. Yeah, I did watch that. Oh, you thought

that about her. Oh, okay. Deep down, I was giving

passive approval of that. And friends, there's

no happy ending here. When I told him I wasn't

going to keep watching, I did end up losing my

job. My contract was not renewed, despite many

other things. That's a different conversation,

and I'm thankful that it wasn't renewed, because

God used that contract not being renewed to free

up a lot of time for me to instead grow and to

pour into people in my local church and to pour

into other college students. So in the end, it

was great. But my point is this. There's a lot

of ways that we meet sacrifice to idols in our

own way by giving passive approval to sin. We

think to ourselves, well, I didn't go and do

this. I didn't go out and kill somebody. I didn't

go out and, you know, rape somebody. But instead

we give this passive approval to sin. Maybe it's

the brains that we buy with that support causes

that we disagree with. Maybe it's what we say

to our neighbors. Maybe it's avoiding confrontation

with the water cooler by hiding what we really

believe. And listen, when we hide Jesus in our

lives, when we avoid bringing the truth of Jesus

with us every single day, instead of wanting

someone else to fix culture, someone else to

have that conversation for, somebody else to

speak to that person's life, then we are really

allowing sin to grow and to take deeper and deeper

root. It's like we're eating meat sacrificed

to idols. Because see, at any given point in

that conversation, even when I went and told

the guy, hey, I'm not going to watch the show

anymore, I could have gone one step further and

said, and here's why. You also claim that you

are a man of God. But I don't think the images

it's putting in front of us are glorifying to

God. I don't think this show is helping us to

watch and see other people as image bearers of

the God most high that we worship. Friend, why

don't we stop this and instead find something

else to watch together? And it's hard for us

to have those conversations. It's intimidating.

So instead what we do is we just let people keep

going. We let it keep going and keep going and

keep going and keep going. And we hope that someone

else fixes it. And I had hoped that this guy's

pastor would step in and be like, hey, Let's

stop, man. Let's calm down a little bit. Let's

stop. Let's chill. I'd hope that maybe one of

his friends would talk to him. How often do we

do that? You know, we see that friend in our

life who isn't following God. They claim to know

God, but they're not living it out, and we say,

you know, I'm going to pray to somebody else

while he gets through to him. You know, I could

step up, and I could call him out on that sin.

I could walk with him through it. Hopefully his

pastor does that instead. That's how Jezebel's

deception kept growing and growing and growing.

I'm going to be very, very brief in this, but

please understand something. The world wants

something different than what's being given today.

Gen Z is returning to church at record rates.

They want something real, something that's lasting,

something that actually repairs the brokenness

that they experience every single day. Not just

a short -term Band -Aid, which is what the world

can offer. See, here's the thing. The food sacrifice

to idols does make you less hungry. I'm going

to put Debbie on the spot here because she's

a dietician. Debbie, if I was to eat a steak,

whether it is cooked or if I cook it myself,

does it still have protein in it? It still has

protein in it. It still has calories. It still

fills me up. But friends, the difference is one

of these steaks is glorifying to God. One of

these is passively me encouraging sin. And so

friends, let me encourage you. With this generation

that is actively seeking something that's real,

We have to be willing to meet them with what

is real. We have to be bold enough to speak truth

and to speak up about the gospel. And that's

why we're encouraging you to start praying today.

Start praying today for what's going to happen

on campus in the fall. Don't just wait until

the 17th, start today. And as serious as it is

for us to step into this gap and to bring Jesus

to the world around us, let me point out something

else from verse 20 through 23. Notice the specific

audience of this rebuke. It starts off in verse

20 and says this, but I have... this against

you. Who is the you in that? Simply put, the

you is aimed at the church. The you is actually

Jesus speaking directly to the church. He's saying,

hey, I have this against you, the church in Thyatira.

Church in Thyatira, you tolerate the woman Jezebel.

You encourage this and you allow this to go on.

She's not only leading non -believers astray

and profaning the name of Jesus, she's also leading

the church astray with her false beliefs. It's

not just that she's leading them astray, the

church tolerates her. The church lets her do

her thing. See, it's easier, it's more comfortable,

it's more convenient to placate her and just

let her keep sinning. That way she doesn't get

upset, she doesn't leave the church, she doesn't

decide she wants to go somewhere else. It's easier

to do that than it is to rebuke her for her sin.

That's not just a Thyatira thing. Jesus addresses

this in Matthew 18, Paul addresses this in Titus

1, 10 -16, which... Shameless plug, you can actually

listen to our sermon from the fall about that

on Apple Podcasts or Spotify by looking up the

Cornerstone cast and then selecting the episode

Rebellion and Righteousness. And you can hear

a lot more about what Jesus tells us to do when

we're faced with this type of a situation. But

fundamentally, the trap that the church in Thyatira

has fallen into is really easy for us. The issue

is that it is easier to let sin go than it is

to address sin. It's easy to let sin slide. It's

comfortable. But friends, sin destroys. And so

even as these last works of the church in Thyatira

are better than the first, what's holding them

back at the end of the day is their unwillingness

to address sin. They're letting sin destroy the

church. And the same thing is happening today.

LifeWay Research released a survey in June where

they found that 70 % of mainstream Protestant

churches and 50 % of evangelical churches have

never engaged in any form of church discipline.

In other words, they do not rebuke sin. They

do not call out sin. It's just easier to let

it go. And so the optimistic way to read that

is this is good news because Christians are living

their faith out so perfectly that no one ever

needs to address it. Riley, I appreciate your

face right now. That's not really optimism, though.

That's just foolishness. Listen, look at our

own lives. We know we're sinners. We know we

make mistakes. So it's not an optimistic reading

to read that. That 70 % of mainstream Protestant

churches and 50 % of evangelical churches are

just made up of perfect people. Instead, what's

really going on is that churches choose not to

correct sin because correcting sin is hard. Because

rebuking sin, calling out sin, calling out Jezebel,

even in our own lives, requires humility. It

requires love. It requires boldness and courage

to stand for the truth. It requires courage because

that friend, that person may not look at us the

same way. Let me give you one more modern day

example of a sin that's easy to push to the side

rather than address. Gossip is so easy for us

to want to ignore. Gossip is so simple for us

to want to ignore. That comment won't hurt anybody,

you know, or the other answer. How do you even

start addressing this? Where do we even start

with addressing gossip? It's not because it's

so hard to say gossip is wrong. It's hard to

address it because it requires boldness and humility

and genuine love for someone to pull them aside

and say, hey, listen, we're not going to do that

anymore. We're not going to talk like that about

this person. Like, we're just, we're not going

to do that. Hear me this morning out of verses

20 through 23. It matters that we call out sin

and that we correct sin. Jesus, with his perfect

judgment, calls out sin here. And then he gives

a warning in these verses. And this is a reminder

as to why it is so important that we call out

sin. Look at the warning. There is punishment,

which will be death, that is coming to Jezebel

and to those who follow after her. And it's not

just physical death. This is Matthew 7, 21 through

23 death. Let me read you Matthew 7, 21 through

23. It says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord,

Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only

the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord,

didn't we prophesy in your name and drive out

demons in your name and do many miracles in your

name? Think about it. Jezebel in the church of

Thyatira. I was at church every Sunday, Jesus.

You know, I led this. I did this. I led a small

group. I had this super successful ministry,

Jesus. Listen to what Jesus says back in verse

23. Then I will announce to them, I never knew

you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers. Friends,

why is it so important that we take a stand for

truth? We make sure that our lives live out the

gospel. Because we don't want these words to

be true about us. We want to genuinely know Jesus,

genuinely follow Jesus, and be able to rest in

that security of knowing that when we reach heaven

and we see our Savior, he will know who we are,

and he will welcome us, instead of saying, depart

from me, you lawbreakers. It's a somber warning.

It's a hard warning. It's one of the most pointed

rebukes throughout the seven churches. But then

from verses 24 through 29, Jesus shifts back

to address the church as a whole with an encouragement.

See, even though there's this issue that they're

struggling with, Jesus doesn't say, hope is all

lost. No, instead Jesus gives them the promise

of the righteous ruler. A promise of the righteous

ruler. He says this, I say to the rest of you

in Thyatira, that is everyone who is not Jezebel,

who do not hold to this teaching, people who

do not follow her, who have not known the so

-called secrets of Satan, as they say, I am not

putting any other burden on you. Only do this.

Only hold on to what you have until I come. Here's

the encouragement. Jesus sees that there are

believers who do not follow Jezebel, who do not

listen to the so -called secrets of Satan, which

is exactly what the false teacher was calling

her teaching. It was accurate because it did

originate with Satan. Sexual immorality did not

originate with God. Meat sacrifice to false gods

did not originate with God. It originates with

Satan. And Jesus encourages these believers by

telling them, listen, I know it's hard. I know

there's a lot of turmoil. I know I just told

you to rebuke her and to move forward and protect

yourself from her. And he says this, I have no

burden for you. Instead, hold on. Hold tight

and endure. Listen, being a Christian is simple.

So often we want to complicate it. We want to

overcomplicate. We try to add something new to

our faith, a legalism of sorts, something that's

flashy, something that's new, some new practice.

But in reality, this is what we need to do. We

need to hear these words of verse 25 and apply

them. Hold on to what Jesus has given us. Don't

worry about everything else. Don't run after

sin. Don't try to create the newest thing. Don't

try to add that trendy new spiritual discipline.

Run after Jesus. Hold on to Jesus. When I was

in seminary, I was interning at the church I

grew up in in Denver, and I was in a preaching

class over the summer, and one of the assignments

was we had to go... interview a bunch of different

preachers and you know ask what was the best

advice you ever got what was the worst advice

you ever got and i'm sitting there one day eating

some pad thai and interviewing my pastor and

as we're talking i asked me what was the worst

advice you ever got tell me a story from his

intro to preaching class that the professor stood

up and he looks at the class he tells him the

best thing you can do for your preaching is to

take theological risks as you preach take some

theological risks Find that connection that no

one else has ever found before. Take that risk.

Who knows, maybe you'll come up with something

that's good. Friends, that is the exact opposite

of what Jesus tells us to do here. We're not

told to create new stuff for the sake of creating

something new so people think we're trendy and

flashy. We're not told to take theological jumps

to try and create some new way to relate to God.

Instead, we are to stay close to the word of

the Lord, holding fast as Jesus tells us to do.

And so let me encourage you today, let me plead

with you today, Cornerstone. Hold fast to the

word of God. Listen, if you hold fast to the

word of God, then you don't need to worry about

Jezebel because you'll be quick to rebuke Jezebel

anyway. If you hold fast to the word of God,

don't worry about the sexual morality and the

meat sacrifice to idols because you're not going

to be engaging in them. Hold fast to the word

of God. And as you hold fast, look at verses

26 through 29 with me, which says this. The one

who conquers and who keeps my works to the end,

I will give him authority over the nations. Now,

Jesus is going to quote Psalm 2, and he will

rule over them with an iron scepter. He will

shatter them like pottery. Just as I, Jesus,

have received this from my Father, I will also

give him the morning star. Let anyone who has

ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to

the churches. In these verses, Jesus gives his

conclusion to the letter. It's kind of inverted.

Usually it's been, let anyone who has ears to

hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches,

and then Jesus explains some more stuff. Here,

Jesus gives an explanation and then ends with,

let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what

the Spirit says to the churches. Jesus reminds

the believers yet again to stand strong, to endure,

to persevere with the promise of authority over

the nations. And he seals that promise with a

reminder of Psalm 2 .9, which is a messianic

prophecy. It is a promise, a reminder that we

will rule with Jesus after his second coming.

And Jesus goes one step further and backs it

up yet again in verse 28 by referencing the idea

of the morning star. In Numbers 24, we see this

reference the first time. You know who the morning

star is? The morning star is Jesus. The morning

star is Jesus who will reign over Israel and

the world forever. Jesus uses messianic language

in this conclusion. It's a promise and it's a

reminder for us. He's reminding this church,

this church that's cast out, that's persecuted.

He's reminding us in the middle of our struggles

of something that's far greater. He's saying

everyone who has ears to hear, listen to what

I'm saying. Endure and persevere. Hold close

to me and wait for my second coming. And Jesus

can promise peace. And Jesus can make these promises

because he is the ruler of all nations, because

he is the morning star, and because he will return.

This next time, not as a humble carpenter, but

as ruler of all, as the morning star. And that's

why I think there's really two challenges that

we need to take away from this. First, we need

to prioritize repentance. We need to prioritize

repentance. At the heart of the gospel, at the

heart of the good news of Jesus, is this idea

of repenting. It's the fact that Jesus did come

to earth, live a perfect life, and die on the

cross for our sins. He was buried in the tomb.

He was raised on the third day. We see that in

the four gospels. We see that in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15. But then we see something else also.

We see a call to repent and believe. To stop

walking in sin. And to accept Jesus for who he

is. To accept Jesus' gift. of salvation. So friends,

I want to call on you today, if you are here

and you don't know Jesus personally, if you have

not repented of your sin and found new life in

Jesus, today, today let me call on you to do

that. Romans 10 9 challenges us to confess with

our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe it in

our heart with the promise that we will be saved.

Friends, do that today if you've not done that

before. Secondly, if you are here and you already

have giving your life to the Lord. Let's prioritize

repentance still. We may not be actively running

around like Jezebel, purposefully trying to lead

people astray. We may not be starting up our

own sexual cults, for lack of a better term.

We may not be going around giving people food

sacrifice to idols. But friends, there is unrighteousness

in our lives. There are places that we fall short.

There are attitudes in our hearts that we need

to address. Places in our lives where we're not

content with what God has given us. Places in

our lives where we say, God, that isn't good

enough for me and I want more. We begin to be

jealous of other people. Friends, let me call

on you today to remove any of that Jezebel attitude.

I don't mean that in like the really like, I

worked at a Pentecostal school and they were

always talking about whenever like a couple was

caught in the hallways like a little too close

together, like remove the Jezebel spirit. I'm

not talking about that. I mean remove that sinful

attitude. And how do we do it? We do it by going

to God and giving it to God. We do it by going

to God and saying, God, I don't want this. God,

I need your help in this. God, I want to walk

with you and follow you differently. And we give

it to God and then we do a 180 degree turn and

we go differently. Instead of continuing on in

that sin, we turn around and we live differently.

Friends, if you've ever dealt with any form of

habitual sin or sin that seems to just always

follow you that you never seem to get rid of,

then you know what I'm about to say. It's so

easy for us to go to God and say, God, help me

to stop, but then we put ourselves in the same

situation. We surround ourselves with the same

bad group of friends again, with the same set

of decisions over and over and over again, all

the while saying, but God, why didn't you stop

it? Why didn't you stop it? Why didn't you stop

it? Friends, repentance is both us going to God

and taking God's forgiveness, but it is also

us looking in the mirror and making sure that

our lives line up with what God wants. It's us

making sure that we're not putting ourselves

in the same dangerous, sinful situations. I had

a friend who struggled with an addiction in college.

And so we would meet once a week for accountability,

and I would ask him consistently, you know, how

was the week? What happened? You know, et cetera,

et cetera. And finally I looked at him one week

and I said, man, can I just tell you why you

keep dealing with this? He goes, yeah, I'd actually

love to know. I go, because every week you go

with the exact same people to the same place

on Friday night. You do the exact same thing.

You know you're not going to like it in the end,

but you do it every single week. Friends, that

right there is not repentance. We can go to God

and say, God, forgive me. That doesn't mean that

we're really repenting. So let me challenge you

today. Repent. go to God, get God's forgiveness,

do a 180 degree turn. Second application point,

prioritize righteousness. Prioritize righteousness

on a daily basis. We are called to live our lives

differently. We're called to let the world see

our love, our faithfulness, our service, our

endurance. This passage is a reminder of what

our works say about the God who loves us, who

made us, who saves us. What do our actions say

about God? Do we prioritize righteousness or

popularity? And I love, love, love Psalm 34.

which was our theme for VBS. So I want to read

this for us under this point. Because I think

it's a reminder of what it means for us to prioritize

righteousness. It says this, I will bless the

Lord at all times. His praise will always be

on my lips. Let me just start with this, and

I'm speaking from experience here. When I lived

in Kansas City, there was a lot of terrible drivers

in Kansas City. It is one of the worst driving

cities in the world, I'm convinced. It's really,

really hard to get super deep in road rage when

you're actively singing praise to God. So first,

bless the Lord at all times. His praise will

always be on my lips. Secondly, I will boast

in the Lord. The humble will hear and be glad.

And then finally, our theme verse from this year.

Proclaim the Lord's greatness with me. Let us

exalt his name together. Friends, let me just

ask you this. Does your life proclaim the Lord's

greatness? Does my life proclaim the Lord's greatness?

Does my life exalt his name? In other words,

what do my actions say about Jesus? And so this

afternoon, I want to give you a challenge. This

afternoon, take a walk. It's beautiful today.

Take a walk and take a magnifying glass to your

own life, if you will, and examine it. What do

your actions, your words, your love, your day

-to -day living, what does it say about Jesus?

Does it say faithful follower who prioritizes

righteousness? Or does it say, actually, I'm

more interested in fitting in and being comfortable.

I'm more interested in things of the world that

make me feel good. And friends, if you look in

the mirror and you find yourself struggling with

that second part, let me encourage you with the

encouragement I just gave. Go to God. Go to God.

Go repent. Live differently. Let's pray. Father,

God, thank you so much for this letter to the

church in Thyatira, God. God, we confess that

it is so easy for us to get caught up in so many

things, God. But God, specifically, we just...

We confess, God, that it's so easy for us to

get caught up in wanting the easy way out. God,

it is hard to stand for righteousness. But yet,

God, we know that that is what you have called

us to do. God, you have called us to follow you

in righteousness. You have called us to put our

faith entirely in you. And so, God, I ask that

today you would help us to really examine ourselves,

God. Help us to prioritize. repentance or continually

going to you for forgiveness, God, and walking

new, walking fresh, God. And secondly, God, I

just ask that you would help us to prioritize

righteousness, God. Would every part of our lives

scream righteousness, scream you to the world

around us, God. God, with the way that we love

people, the way that we care for people, the

way that we live on a daily basis, I want to

honor you. In your name we pray.