Revelation 2:18-29 “Consequences of Compromise”

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They are commendations for their good works.

That we would learn from the encouragement they get in their suffering.

That we'd learn from some of the stinging rebukes and warnings that he gives to his church.

You're going to start to recognize some of the themes in this fourth letter this morning from previous ones.

But then we're going to hear some new challenges.

As we move this morning to the end of Revelation 2,

in the church at Thyatira at verse 18.

This is God's holy word for his holy people made so by Jesus' holy blood.

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 sickbed.

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 as your works deserve.

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.

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.

Imagine this morning that you're a man named Doc,

a dentist who just moved to Thyatira, okay?

Imagine, imagine.

Immediately you join the local dentist guild

because it is the only way that you can be approved

to do your job and have connections.

And shortly after you come to the city

is the annual Thyatira Dentist Guild feast.

It's a big deal and you're loving it.

You're mixing and mingling over appetizers.

As you talk to people, you're thinking,

oh, this is the place I need to be.

Everybody I need to know is here.

But then you're seated

and they begin offering each of the dishes

that you're about to be served to Apollo,

the patron god of Thyatira.

And everyone there is taking a turn,

doing the sacrifices, praying to Apollo.

Apollo and it's coming around the table to you.

You're confused.

And so you rack your brain.

You excuse yourself to use the restroom

and you get, of course, your cell phone out.

Of course, that's what they would have done.

And you realize you have only one Thyatira number

in your phone.

It's the man you met at church yesterday.

He invited you to come to Bible study

that he leads at his house tomorrow.

And so you call him up

and you tell him about the food

being sacrificed to Apollo

and you whisper, what do I do?

Don't worry about it, he says.

Just say it.

Just go along with it.

You don't really mean it anyway.

And man, God has you there in this city

to make money, right?

Your family needs it.

Hey man, the church needs it.

All right, you say.

And you're about to hang up and he says,

hey doc, you sound pretty uptight.

Let me just tell you,

when the women come out,

just relax and enjoy yourself, okay?

Remember that you're not actually doing anything

and your wife never needs to know.

Just have fun.

Okay.

You sit back down at the table.

You missed the sacrifices.

You skipped out on that one.

But sure enough, as dinner starts,

women come out.

Things start to get more debaucherous.

And you're unsure.

I mean, you would have said no before,

but the guy from church,

he said it was okay.

He seemed to know.

He leads a Bible study.

Now imagine you're Sally, okay?

Switching stories.

You're a freshman at Thyatira University,

the fighting Jezebels.

Mm-hmm.

You don't want to play them next weekend.

You're a little nervous.

It's your first week on campus, right?

And you're dying to get in with this one sorority,

this group of girls that you've always heard about.

They're really cool.

They're in.

But they're good girls.

I mean, even the senior girl leading the college class at church this morning

said they were good.

And you get to the first party,

and you're a little bit uncomfortable as you pass statues of Zeus on your way in.

You kind of look over,

and the senior assures you they're just to make sure everyone feels welcome.

That's really important, right?

Yeah, I guess so.

Well, as the night goes on, though, your discomfort returns.

Guys start bidding on girls like it's an auction,

and then they are disappearing with them.

And your blood pressure's going up.

You're desperate.

You turn to the senior girl from church,

and you say, what do I do?

And she says, oh, oh, no.

It's just the initiation.

It's really no big deal.

Just go with it.

Once you get in, you'll be glad you did.

It's what we all did.

And, you know, it's not what you really mean in your heart.

So it really, it means nothing.

Plus, once you're in, you can tell them about Jesus.

Something doesn't sound quite right to you,

but you're up next.

And the senior from the church surely knows better than you do.

She says it's okay.

Walk out now.

Miss out forever.

Feel that tension here?

If I do what I think is right,

it is definitely going to cost me.

Plus, I don't want to be thought of as judgy.

I mean, aren't we supposed to be loving to people?

Well, Jesus understands, right?

Well, Jesus writes to the church in Thyatira.

He's going to give you some direction.

And he says, look, what you need to know is that I am the true ruler,

the son of God.

Not the son of an emperor.

I am the one who is really in charge here.

In fact, I have eyes like a flame of fire.

They see everything.

What you do with your bodies and what's going on in your hearts.

In my bronze feet, they're secure.

In that pure judgment, unmoved, firm.

I am never wrong.

And I'm telling you, Jesus says,

you've got some things confused there in your church.

You've allowed compromise to slip in unaddressed.

The bottom line that Jesus is about to point out

is that compromising our commitment to the truth of Christ

is as deadly as losing our love.

And we've heard about that.

See, Jesus, here's how he does it.

He starts by commending the church.

This church is doing great things.

There's no question.

They have the love, the right heart.

They're serving others.

Even when it costs them,

they are bearing up under suffering.

And y'all, they're growing.

They're getting better as it goes.

Not getting complacent with what's been done in the past.

They're not resting on their laurels.

This is a great church.

Remember, the church in Ephesus had done many good things,

but they had left their first love.

That was Jesus' serious indictment.

In Thyatira, they have the love and the good works.

They've kept them both.

If you moved to Thyatira for college

or to open a dental practice,

you would have shown up here on Sunday morning for sure,

and you probably would have loved it.

In fact, they probably would have invited you back

to their Wednesday night church family dinner.

They really loved one another.

And they loved Jesus.

Praise the Lord, right?

We don't get many churches like this.

But you see, many churches are known

either for their passion for love

or for their passion for truth.

And Jesus is reminding us

that this is not an either-or situation for His church.

It must be a both-and.

Jesus is not pleased

when we go serve everyone in our community

but have no commitment to the good news of Jesus

in His Word.

And you know churches like this.

At the same time,

Jesus is not pleased

when we defend the truth vigorously

and teach it consistently

but never live it for those around us.

And you know churches like that.

We need to have both a deep care,

love for people

and a devoted clarity on truth.

In fact, we don't even need to balance.

I hate that idea.

Balance those two into this more mushy middle.

No.

No, we must have a passion for both,

not a balance of either.

Otherwise,

your lack of truth

will actually mean you love people very poorly.

Or your lack of love

will mean no one will listen to your true message.

When you tolerate lack of love

or lack of truth in your church,

you undermine both of them.

That's tough.

Late Pastor Tim Keller says it this way,

love without truth is sentimentality.

It supports and affirms us

but keeps us in denial about our flaws.

On the other hand,

truth without love is harshness.

It gives us information

but in such a way

that we cannot really hear it.

In contrast to those two,

God's saving love in Christ, however,

is marked by both radical truthfulness

about who we are,

even calls our sin,

sin,

and yet also radical,

unconditional commitment to us.

He loves and rescues sinners, right?

Right, both of those.

The merciful commitment strengthens us

to see the truth about ourselves and repent.

The conviction and repentance

moves us to cling to and rest

in God's mercy and grace.

That's how it's supposed to work

in Christ's church

that's reflecting Him, right?

Full of grace and truth.

As Paul says to the Ephesians,

it's speaking the truth in love

that we grow up into Jesus.

That's how it happens.

But in Thyatira,

they've compromised on the truth.

How have they done that?

What's going on?

Well, there's a woman,

Jezebel,

almost certainly not her name,

who is being tolerated,

who's being left alone,

who's being allowed a platform

in the church.

Jezebel,

it's important to know

that she's not just everyone

who disagrees with you

on the color of the carpet, okay?

It's not like that.

Jezebel comes from the name

of a wicked queen

in the Old Testament.

She married King Ahab,

the king of Israel,

and she brought with her

into God's people

the god Baal

and the fertility goddess Asherah.

They did,

the Bible says,

more evil

than any other royal couple,

and they suffered

the consequences.

You may recall

in their battle

with the prophet Elijah,

they did not like Elijah,

they had God's people

famously limping

between two opinions,

wavering back and forth,

worshiping Yahweh,

but also bowing down

to Baal for their crops

and Asherah for their families.

See, Jezebel preached

divided loyalties,

compromise,

selfish idolatry,

and she was torn apart

by wild beasts

as she tore apart

God's people.

You do not want to be referred to

as Jezebel.

Nonetheless,

here in Thyatira,

they're just allowing

such a woman

to tear God's people

apart again.

Just listen to

the description of her.

Jezebel calls herself

a prophetess.

She does that.

And she's teaching

and seducing my servants

to practice sexual immorality,

to eat food sacrificed

to idols.

I gave her time

to repent,

but she refuses

to repent

of her sexual immorality.

Jezebel is self-appointed,

right?

She's unrepentant

in her false teaching,

in her idolatrous living.

Wow.

I mean,

awful.

awful.

You might wonder,

how did she ever

slip by the elders?

Well,

that's

the subtlety

of compromise

within the church

sometimes,

isn't it?

Jezebel is

all of those

awful things

that are easy to see,

but she's also

church-going.

She's there.

She's Jesus-affirming.

I mean,

she affirms everyone.

She's culture-engaging.

All those

good things

until in an effort

to engage

and affirm

and love,

you throw out

the window

truth

and you compromise

the primacy

of Jesus.

See,

one compromise

on the truth

of God's Word,

one step

to do

what seems

right in your own eyes

to decide

that should be

the standard

and pretty soon

sin drags us away

and we didn't start there

but here we are now

at an idolatrous

orgy

and we didn't even

mean to.

We can miss

things like that too.

Worldliness

sneaks into the church

because it's the air

we breathe

in our culture

because it

makes sense.

It seems right.

Christian author

David Wells

writes in

losing our virtue,

worldliness

is that system

of values

which displaces

God and His truth

from the world

and which makes

sin look normal

and righteousness

seem strange.

It starts to make

sin look normal

and righteousness

seem strange.

I mean,

everybody's doing it

even on Sunday

even on tests

even church people

it seems normal

but that's not Jesus

you're worshipping

and bowing down to.

It's Apollo.

It's success.

It's pleasure.

That's not

God's design

for your sexuality.

It's perversion.

It's pornography.

It's self-love

rather than

other love.

Jezebel

would have you believe

that you can have it

both ways.

You can have

both of those things.

You can worship

Jesus on Sunday

but chase money

your own way

on Monday

she says

totally fine.

You can take

your phone

to look at

your Bible

one minute

and the next minute

on the same phone

objectify women

or go to youth group

but do with your boyfriend

what the Bible says

do only with your husband.

It seems normal.

It's deadly.

It's deadly

and Jesus wants

to warn us

against it.

Jesus says

that line of thinking

that pattern

of compromise

has deadly

consequences.

Verse 22

Behold I'll throw her

onto a sickbed

and those who commit

adultery with her

I will throw into

great tribulation

unless they repent

of her works.

And I'll strike

her children dead

and all the churches

will know that I am

he who searches mind

and heart

and I'll give to each

of you

as your works

deserve.

See Jezebel

has rejected

her chance

to repent

right?

She was no part

of it.

The teacher

at the church

has settled

on going this way

despite calls

to repent.

but notice

those cooperating

with her

are in big trouble

too.

Elders

elders

everyone

in the family

should be

watching out

to guard

the church family

from false

teaching

that leads

to false living

but it is

especially

our job

to watch over

the church

of Jesus

in this way.

We must take it

seriously

and I'm so glad

that we lead

with grace

here

as we engage

people

we ought

to

but inside

the church

while we do that

we must also

protect the truth

and protect

the flock

from those

who would attack.

how does

this Jezebel

get tolerated?

How will we

guard Southwood

against being

a vibrantly

alive church

that is

dragged away

to her death

by compromising

the truth

of the gospel

as is happening

in churches

in this city

and this country

every day?

see that's

the second

level

of warning

those complicit

with Jezebel

but then

there's one

more group

and it's

one all of us

need to listen

carefully to

he says

all of us

need to be careful

not to become

her children

not to become

the next

generation

following

her ways

because it

will be

deadly

for you

too

this is

dentist

doc

with his

career

in the

balance

this is

sorority

Sally

with her

social life

in the

balance

this is

each of

us

considering

a compromise

and Jesus

searches

and he

sees

everything

and he

says

every church

should know

this

that's a

strong

warning

so what

do we

do

am I just

supposed to

be scared

what do I

do if I've

been compromising

if right now

I look at my

own heart

and life

and I'm

like oh

I see

it

the word

here is

repent

three times

that's the

solution

whether it's

received or

not

in other

words

maybe

repent

sounds like

a church

word to

you and

you feel

like it's

a dart

being thrown

at you

no

no it's

exactly

the opposite

repent

is saying

to you

don't

turn and

run

from

Jesus

he

sees

turn

run

to

Jesus

he

forgives

that's

why you

can be

called

to repent

see

see

Jesus

wants

your

heart

I want

to make

sure

that I

don't

miscommunicate

with the

stories

that I

told

earlier

trade

guilds

were the

heart

of the

economy

in

Thyatira

they were

normal

right

everybody

was in

them

these

were

everyday

groups

where

compromise

could

creep

in

for

Christians

who

understandably

wanted to

have

successful

careers

wanted to

get along

in their

community

so listen

the Bible

is not

warning you

specifically

you don't

see trade

guilds

in this

letter

it's not

it's not

saying

that's

where the

evil

is

it's not

warning you

specifically

against

professional

organizations

all PTAs

are evil

no

that's

not the

message

it's

it's

not saying

watch out

for sororities

the only

young

people

who

compromise

are in

those

no

please

don't

hear me

saying

that

it's

not

even

saying

all

those

self

appointed

teachers

who

don't

have

authority

you know

they're

online

these

days

and

it's

true

they

quite

often

make

biblical

sexuality

seem

old

fashioned

and

they

go

off

on

their

own

they

decide

they're

enlightened

they

affirm

nearly

everything

and everyone

they're

subject

to

no

one

but hear

me

work

is

good

friends

are

good

online

teaching

can

be

good

it's

not

those

things

themselves

that

Jesus

is

warning

against

it's

the

divided

loyalty

that

they

espouse

it's

the

compromise

that

they

require

of you

to

participate

and to

get

what

you

finally

realize

you

really

long

for

that

that's

the

thing

it's

the

compromise

they

sometimes

ask

you

to

make

that

actually

reveals

something

it

indicates

that

in

your

heart

you

don't

actually

trust

God

to

care

for

you

you

don't

actually

believe

that

God

is

the

one

that

you

most

need

do

you

see

that

that's

that's

why

Jesus

is

so

concerned

that's

what

Jezebel

does

he

doesn't

want

it

happening

to

his

people

it's

so

seductive

Jezebel

convinces

you

to

follow

Jesus

keep

going

to

church

and

something

else

have

it

your

own

way

remember

food

sacrifice

to

idols

sometimes

is

it's

nothing

they're

not

real

gods

after

all

right

but

if

you

act

more

loyal

to

your

career

than

to

Jesus

as

Lord

watch

out

that's

the

warning

I

don't

know

what

following

Jesus

will

look

like

for

Doc

the

next

time

the

food

comes

by

and

it's

his

turn

to

offer

it

to

Apollo

I

mean

there's

more

than

one

good

answer

there

but

keeping

Jesus

first

may

cost

him

when

you

start

to

commit

adultery

for

the

sake

of

getting

what

you

long

for

advancement

connections

the

security

that

you're

not

finding

in

Jesus

now

you

know

that

you've

left

Jesus

truth

to

compromise

for

your

desires

so

I'm

not

sure

what

what

Sally

will

do

or

say

to

her

new

friends

there's

more

than

one

good

answer

but

keeping

Jesus

first

may

cost

her

regardless

Jesus

is calling

your heart

back

to him

today

he says

repent

if you

have been

compromising

and you

see that

turn

from the

compromise

come back

to the

one

who knows

it all

yeah he

sees it

he knows

it

and yet

he has

still

given his

life

for you

because

he loves

you

come

back

be

forgiven

and washed

clean

and set

free

to live

with him

and for

him

he's not

running

you off

he's

drawing

you

back

what about

if you're

resisting

compromise

if you're

saying

pastor

I've

been

there

but

I'm

really

I'm

holding

fast

to

Jesus

then

listen

at

verse

24

to

the rest

of you

in

Thyatira

who do

not hold

this

teaching

or learned

what some

call the

deep

things

of

Satan

to

you

I

say

I

do

not

lay

on

you

any

other

burden

only

hold

fast

what you

have

until

I

come

it's

a warning

from love

for you

too

hold

fast

keep

it up

don't

let go

of

Jesus

he's

worth

it

he's

coming

in love

for you

so keep

resisting

hold

fast

even

when

you're

called

intolerant

by your

neighbors

please

make sure

you're

loving

in your

truth

even

when

people

leave

your

church

for one

that's

nicer

even

when

your

kids

miss

out

on

opportunities

that

you

can't

afford

to be

involved

in

hold

fast

that's

going

to be

hard

I don't

know what

it's

going

to be

in

your

life

but

Jesus

says

hold

fast

I'm

holding

you

and as

with

the other

letters

Jesus

then closes

with a

promise

it is

really

really

beautiful

here

just a

couple

minutes

want to

try to

give you

a picture

of it

and before

the promise

don't miss

who are

among those

receiving

them

who are

among

those

who

conquer

many

of those

who

conquer

are those

who

compromise

and then

repent

who

come back

not to

their own

perfect

record

what are

you coming

back to

when you

repent

you're

coming

back

to

Jesus

remember

in all

of these

letters

Jesus

is the

conqueror

and we

keep

his

works

till

the end

listen

it's

so important

to me

that you

hear

me

say

none

of the

strong

words

that you've

heard

from me

or that

we've

read

from

Jesus

were

meant

to

shame

you

to

chase

you

away

that's

not

the

intention

they're

meant

to

call

you

home

it's

a

gift

to

us

that

Jesus

tells

us

the

danger

of

our

sin

so

that

we

can

not

despair

but

see

how

much

we

need

our

savior

he

says

everyone

who

hears

these

words

today

can

be

one

who

conquers

it

doesn't

matter

what

your

track

record

is

you

can

repent

today

you

can

turn

to

him

and

that's

what

it

means

then

you

trust

the

conqueror

and

you

too

are

one

who

conquers

and

receives

two

great

promises

here

first

Jesus

will

give

authority

over

the

nations

that

we

will

rule

with

him

the

picture

is

from

Psalm

2

of

God's

king

the

son

on

his

holy

hill

you

won't

be

trampled

down

forever

he

says

even

if

it

costs

you

today

you

may

be

mistreated

you

may

be

marginalized

today

but

one

day

you

won't

be

I

will

set

all

things

right

and

you

will

rule

with

me

hold

fast

!

then

finally

I

will

give

him

the

morning

star

now

the

morning

star

is

the

one

that

comes

out

before

dawn

just

before

sunrise

so that

you

know

that

daylight

is

coming

even

if

it's

still

dark

at

the

moment

in

Revelation

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

chapter

22

Jesus

makes

it

very

plain

and

clear

that

he

himself

is

the

morning

star

the

one

who

shines

in

victory

so that

you

can

know

in

the

midst

of

your

darkness

that

your

day

of

light

your

triumph

is

coming

too

so

listen

he's

saying

you

who

suffer

you

who

sacrifice

to

hold

fast

to

Jesus

to

cling

to

his

truth

and

love

no

matter

what

it

costs

you

or

what

you

give

up

you

will

get

Jesus

and

he

will

be

worth

it

in

fact

you

who

repent

today

even

for the

first

time

of

your

compromise

you

will

get

Jesus

and

he

will

be

worth

it

you

may

lose

career

you

may

lose

friends

you

may

lose

money

but

you

will

never

lose

Jesus

the

morning

star

the

first

fruits

of

your

resurrection

victory

the

light

shining

in

the

darkness

that

will

never

be

overcome

you

having

trouble

remembering

that

are you

in one

of those

situations

or circumstances

in your

life

where you

think

that

sounds

good

today

but

I'm

not

going

to

be

in

church

tomorrow

pastor

and

it's

not

going

to

be

quite

so

clear

to

me

what

it

looks

like

Jesus

gives

you

himself

today

in

the

present

so

that

you

will

remember

that

he

has

given

himself

for

you

in

the

past

on

the

cross

so

that

you

will

know

that

he

will

give

himself

to

you

in

the

future

forever

never

to be

taken

away

from

you

that's

what

he's

doing

at this

table

he said

it

to his

disciples

this

way

the

night

that

he

was

betrayed

and

he

was

taken

away

from

them

he

took

bread

and

he

broke

it

and

he

gave

it

to

his

disciples

as

I

ministering

in

his

name

give

this

bread

to

you

and

he

said

take

and

eat

this

is

my

body

given

for

you

do

this

in

remembrance

of

me

in

the

same

way

after

supper

he

took

the

cup

and

said

this

cup

is the

new

covenant

in

my

blood

shed

for

many

for

the

forgiveness

of

sins

drink

from

it

all

of

you

for

as

often

as

you

eat

this

bread

and

you

drink

this

cup

you

proclaim