April 14 Sermon: Hold Fast

This week, we look into the message to Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29. Delve into themes of holiness, the dangers of compromising faith, and the rewards of faithful endurance. Understand the call of Jesus against false teachings and the profound importance of remaining steadfast in our spiritual commitments. Tune in as we contemplate how these ancient lessons apply to our modern faith journeys.

Consider these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Revelation 2:18-29:

1. How does the image of Jesus with eyes like flames of fire and feet like burnished bronze enhance our understanding of His role as judge?

2. In what ways does the figure of "Jezebel" in Thyatira challenge us to examine contemporary issues within the church today?

3. What are the implications of Jesus's promise to the faithful in Thyatira regarding authority over nations and receiving the morning star? How can these promises motivate us in our current spiritual practices?

Transcript:

There's been a repetitive theme so far in our time in the book of Revelation. The original audiences of this book, particularly these seven churches that are talked about that, are in Asia. In the second and third chapters of Revelation they are facing coming, tribulation and persecution, and for some of them we've seen that this persecution has already arrived. It is there, it is something that they are dealing with on a daily basis and as we've looked at this, we have seen that this is something that calls to mind the present day as well. While these are written to churches in a particular time in a particular place, we have seen how this comes home for us and as I have been considering preaching through this book, I have really for lack of a better way of saying it come to appreciate how much preaching through the book has helped me to relate to the book better. I've studied Revelation on many, many occasions and obviously, if you're preaching, what you're coming to is you have to figure out how to say what you're going to say. So you're going to have to think about it in a different way, no matter what, but the part that particularly has been helpful for me, as we've been doing this, is that I have to try and bring this home. How does this book that has all of this imagery that we struggle to understand, that's written to these seven churches in Asia? How do we bring this together and find all of the things that we desire from Scripture in it Hope, peace, comfort. How do we do that comfort? How do we do that? And as we've looked at these verses, as we've looked at these passages, we are seeing a good reminder for us that in every time and in every place, it is hard to remain faithful, it is hard to stand up to the temptations of the world and the desires of our flesh that are used by the evil one to move those who have confessed Christ as Lord away from him, tempting us to compromise what we believe. And so these addresses to these different churches are a reminder for you and I, and they encourage us to hold fast to our confession of Jesus as Lord when challenges to fall away come to us us.

So let's get ourselves through our three points here and they will help us move through the text, and then we'll get into this message to this church in Thyatira. The first thing we're going to see as we start off is that we're going to see a statement from Jesus once again, and he is going to remind us, with the image that we see and the words that he says. He's going to remind us that he is holy and that he is the one who is coming in judgment. And our second point of emphasis will be that there is a great danger in compromising the faith In Thyatira. They had tolerated false teaching and it was having a drastic consequence to the church there. And our third and final point is that there's great reward in faithful endurance. There is great benefit to standing up not only to persecution but to false teaching substitution but to false teaching. And so, as we start off, we are noticing a recurring structure. I'm sure you've seen this as well.

When these addresses to the churches start off, it starts with them being addressed by Jesus, and it goes back to some of that imagery that we saw at the end of chapter 1 regarding how Jesus looked in this description that John gave us. And all of these descriptions are calling us back for a purpose to remind us of the majestic nature of who Jesus is. Remember John, let us know that the one speaking in this book is the Son of God, and he does so here and here we see this imagery that his eyes are like a flame of fire and his feet are like burnished bronze. And again, this description of Jesus in the book of Revelation. It isn't meant to help us draw out a picture of what Jesus looks now as he's ascended in heaven. This is intended to help us see his power, his majesty, his holiness, his authority. And so this continual calling back to this description from chapter one reminds us that this is not the word of men, it is the word of God that we are seeing here, and we see that this one who is speaking is coming in judgment. He is the one who is coming, and we can't forget this. Jesus has said I am coming. And so these images that we see here today images of fire, images of burnished bronze these are reminding us of his holiness and his perfect judgment.

And as we dig into these authoritative words to the church in Thyatira, we see that they are being encouraged. As Jesus is speaking here, he's telling them something that they are doing well, and as they were reading these words addressed to them, I have to guess that these would have been words that would have been seen as considerable encouragement. Jesus knows their works. He sees what they have done and it's listed out here what they have done, what their works are Love, faith, service, patient endurance these are wonderful traits for the church in Thyatira to exhibit. They clearly care for others and it's something that embodies them as the gathered people of God there, and each one of these things are traits that we like to see in other people and we also like to see these type of things in ourselves as well.

These are things that if someone were to come to us and say that you have love, you have faith, I see your servanthood and your patient endurance in the faith, that would be one of the greatest compliments that we could receive as believers. And we see also from Jesus here that they have increased in their good works, because Jesus tells them that their latter works have exceeded their first. And, once again, what a fantastic compliment for these people to hear. It's one thing for them to get excited when they came to faith, and they get excited and they love and they serve others. But we see that they have continued in these things. But they haven't only continued, they have increased in them. This is a sign of them growing in sanctification and continually growing in loving others more than themselves. And this is where we desire to be ourselves right To progress, to move forward, to grow. Nobody wants to stay stagnant. We want to grow in these things and the church in Thyatira is being commended for their growth in good works.

As we look at these first two verses and consider our first point for this morning, we see the holiness of Jesus in that image of him as the one with eyes like flames of fire and feet like burnished bronze, and we see that the people of Thyatira deserve to serve him in that holiness by the good works that they do. We see that they deserve this credit for this good stuff that they're doing. And Jesus is holy and his people are called to be holy as well, and they are exhibiting this. The people of God, in all times and in every place, are set apart for good works, like the works that Jesus says that these people are doing in Thyatira. And as we continue on to our second point, we see that, like the other churches, there are good things that they are doing, things that they are lauded for, but we also find that there is great concern in the church in Thyatira, while they have been doing great with their good works growing in them. In fact, we see that they've tolerated false teaching and this is a way in which we see that they're compromising the faith. And so, as we slide into verse 20, we see some very blunt and to-the-point language here from Jesus.

Now, you likely notice that this is the longest address to the churches that we've seen thus far, and the reason is that there is some serious concern about the things that are going on in this church. The compromise that we see has come in the form of eating food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality. Now we've seen hints in the addresses to the previous churches that this is a common problem. There were allusions to it with what some of the other things Jesus said to the churches, and I brought up that this was a common issue in the early church and really, to be fair to these churches, in the New Testament, this is the same thing that we see in the Old Testament when they talk about idolatry in the Old Testament, this is really the same thing that is happening Now.

It isn't described for us in detail there in the Old Testament, but you know the story. The people of Israel were prone to run after the Baals, run after Asherah worship. Well, baal and Asherah were fertility gods, were fertility gods, and so we really don't need the Old Testament to tell us that sexual immorality was what was going on there. How else do you worship fertility gods? Right, that's what was going on.

And so, as we look at this compromise, in the church of Thyatira, we see an Old Testament name that works really well. Right, we just saw that this is something that the people of God have struggled out throughout history, and perhaps it would do us well to have this strong image of one of the people of the Old Testament who really symbolized and showed us the worst of some of the Baal worship that was going on, and that name is Jezebel. That is a well-known name. She is a villain of the Old Testament, right? She was a queen who was notorious for seducing people to idolatry and to sexual immorality. And so this woman in Thyatira she wasn't named Jezebel, but Jesus calls her Jezebel as a way of scorning her for the way in which she is leading people astray, and it also helps you and I to understand, as readers who know the stories from the Old Testament, we can see just how serious her sin is.

She's more than just a lady in Thyatira who's doing some bad stuff. She's a villain of the highest order by calling her Jezebel. What she is doing is just like what that evil queen of the Old Testament did. Jezebel was this queen who led people astray, and so naturally we would think that this is worse because she's a queen. She's at the top. But Jesus equates what this woman in the church in Thyatira is doing with the actions of arguably the greatest rogue queen in all of the Old Testament.

Even though she's just in this church, in this small city in Asia, she is the equivalent of Jezebel because of the way in which she is leading the people of God away from him. And notice here how Jesus describes her. She calls herself a prophetess, and so she is claiming to have authority and to be speaking for God. But by saying she's claiming it, jesus is saying that she is a false prophet because she is not only teaching false things about God, she is seducing people to pagan sexuality and to eat food sacrificed to these pagan gods. So as we move on to the next verse, we see that Jesus says he has been patient with her despite the severity of her sin.

Now, looking at this, I think that we can look at these first six words in this verse as really good news. This woman who's described as Jezebel she's the equivalent of this terrible queen from the Old Testament but yet Jesus has given her time to repent. God is truly slow to anger. He is truly abounding in steadfast love if he's giving this person time to repent. But as encouraging as I think we might find those first six words of this sentence because it shows us God's mercy, the words after the comma are disheartening. Because she refuses to repent. She is hard-hearted, she is continuing in her sin and doing so deliberately. And as I was contemplating this passage during the week, my mind went to this verse specifically several times. Week my mind went to this verse specifically several times the fact that she refuses to repent.

We've all seen people who fall into sin and it is sad. But I think many of us do have a heart of compassion towards people whose sin is made public, a heart of compassion towards people whose sin is made public. We see their failures and we have a bit of a but by the grace of God, there go I type of attitude. We feel for them. We know that we sin every day and we understand the failures of others, because we know our own capability to rebel against God, and so we feel compassion for people whose sin becomes public at times. But I know myself and probably other people as well we have a different attitude when those who have fallen into sin double down on it right, when they refuse to repent or they refuse to acknowledge that it is sin. I'm not talking that we have an attitude of anger towards them or an attitude of judgment towards them. What I mean is that it's sad when believers won't acknowledge that sin is in fact sin, and by the grace of God, I hope that I never double down and justify my sin and lead people astray like this Jezebel in Thyatira has done, and that's why this admonition to the church in Thyatira at the end of Revelation 2 here is so disheartening.

She's not repenting of her sin. She is leading people astray to do the same thing that she's doing Instead of repenting. She's leading people along the same path, and in doing so she's not only justifying their sin, she's causing them to build it up and lead people astray as well. And we can look throughout history and see that this type of arrogance and hard-heartedness has led so many people astray, and we see this in our time as well Instead of acknowledging sin well, instead of acknowledging sin, we double down. We say that it isn't sin and that God's word needs to be changed, or that we need to get with the times and realize that God looks at sin differently now. But we are called to repent of our sin and not justify our sin.

And the most humbling thing about this is that we are looking at this on a macro level here, with the sin and deception of Jezebel. We're seeing it from the top. We're seeing it as something that they're doing and there's a whole bunch of people involved, and we know that we're prone to doing the same thing in our time. And we look at the big sin out there and we see how this is happening in the world. But the truth of the matter is that we regularly do this in our own hearts. I would argue we probably do it every day. We justify our sins to ourselves, or we wouldn't do it.

We do what we see Jezebel doing here refusing to repent. We do it in the silence of our own hearts all the time, and so this is not just a reminder for us to be concerned deeply about sin out there in the world and the things that we see happening. But this verse is also a reminder to us to worry first and foremost about the sin in here. And so, as we remember this passage in the coming week, may we remember that we are all prone to be Jezebel. We are all prone to rebel against God, and it's the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in us that calls us to repentance and helps us to turn from our sin to do what Jezebel refused to do, and that's repent, repent. So may we daily put down the Jezebel tendencies in our hearts and instead rejoice in the fact that God is patient with us. This is so important because, as we see as the passage continues, this sin, and all sin, is not without consequences. We see that Jezebel is going to have Jesus come to her in judgment, and it's not just a judgment of her, it is a threat of judgment for those who follow her as well.

Now, we should read this with a great sense of gravity. We know that sin is serious business, but this shows us this fact in very clear language, doesn't it? Jezebel is going to be thrown onto a sickbed. There is a consequence for her idolatry and the idolatry of those who follow her. It says that they will be put into great tribulation, and this won't be the sniffles that lay her up for a few days on her sickbed. The idea here is that this is serious, and as we look at the words of the text here, we see the word works again. Remember a few verses back. We saw good works it was being praised but here we have works that are being considered as evil, and so, as good as the works were at the beginning of this passage, the works at the end are so evil that the threat is death, and this is a very serious and substantial call to repentance.

Here. Those hearing the words of Jesus in Thyatira are to know that they should avoid the sin of Jezebel or Jesus will come to them in judgment, and this is not for these people here at that time only. This is a word to all the churches that they will know that sin is not some inconsequential thing. It is serious. And that message includes the fact that Jesus searches the hearts and minds of these people. It is more than just their outward works looking good on the outside. It is the attitude and the condition of their hearts that he observes as well, and that he comes in judgment against all those who are in rebellion against him.

And once again it's important for us to remember this overarching theme of Scripture as we read this For those who are united to Christ, there is assurance of forgiveness because of the mercy that we have been shown in the work of Jesus for his people. We're not talking here about a scale with all the bad stuff that the churches are doing. They need to be balanced out with the good and, in the end, hope that the good side is a little bit heavier. That's not the point here, that we need to make sure we're moving the scales so that we have salvation. The salvation that we receive in Christ comes to us not by our works, but by the works of Jesus that are credited to us because we've been justified by grace through faith. But that does not mean that our sin is not without consequences in this life. Sin is serious and any time that we hear a call to repentance, we should take it as a glorious opportunity to turn away from our sin in repentance and faith and be grateful that God has been slow in his anger toward us, because what a great gift that is and what an opportunity it is for us to turn from our rebellion against the one who loves us. He is giving us time to turn away, and so this points us to our final point that there is great reward for faithfully enduring.

Repentance is shown here to have great benefit for the people of God. We see that those who haven't fallen for the deception of Jezebel they're encouraged to stay the course, and Jesus tells them that because they have not fallen in with the deep things of Satan, they're not going to fall in with the deep things of Satan. He is not going to lay on them any further burden. The struggle of staying faithful amid the faithlessness and idolatry of Jezebel is enough of a burden for them. They need to hold fast until the judgment comes, and the reward for standing with Jesus is great. We see that they will be given a share in the coming messianic kingdom. We're told that they will rule with him, just as Jesus has authority. They will have this same blessing, and this isn't suggesting that they will have co-equal power and be the arbiter of who is judged.

The idea is that those who are in Christ rule and reign with him. They are the new nation of people who receive heavenly glory and they are the people of God for all of eternity. It will not end In Christ. They are in his kingdom and they are above all nations and all powers and all rulers and all authorities, and this is a substantial comfort to those who are hearing that they're going to experience the oppression of the state. The authorities that can crush them are going to persecute them. They know this is happening, but here what do we read? That ultimately, jesus is the highest authority and because they are his people, they can know that, no matter what happens to them, they know that one day they will reign with Christ. They will reign with the one who has authority over the ones that are persecuting them. Persecution is coming and they don't seem to have any power to stop it, but one day they will be lifted up with Christ and reign and rule with him. They will be a nation above all power and authority.

And as this passage ends, we see them told that they will receive the morning star. Now this doesn't mean much to us, but there were many Jewish traditions that developed about what it would be like when the Messiah would appear, the promised one. The Messiah became associated with the appearance of a star, a symbol of royalty, a symbol of authority from heaven, that this one is coming to reign. And, as we know, a star appeared at the arrival of Jesus, and now they are being associated with him. They are being associated with him. So this is a reminder that Jesus is the Messiah and that he is in fact the one who reigns over the nations, and they should be seeking him, and they have this promise of being united to him, and so they should be seeking him. Instead of the approval of the world, they should be seeking after the one who is the morning star, and they will receive him.

And this passage ends up in a very familiar way for us he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. We've seen this at the end of every address to the churches in chapter 2 so far, and once again, the idea at play here is this idea that this is vital stuff, and so they should make sure that they pay attention to what has been said to them. And as we close up and as we consider the message to us today, we do well to understand that this is not only a vital message to the churches, then it is a vital message for us. We should hear this exhortation as being for you and I as well. And while these messages in Revelation 2 and 3 are directed at real historical churches in the first century, this message sounds so much like what we face in our time.

The call on the body of Christ is continually to turn from sin and to stand firm for the cause of Christ, and we can so easily become distracted by the things of the world. We are prone to not considering the seriousness of our sin. We can so easily find ourselves lulled to sleep by the times and what is going on around us. But these words should serve as a wake-up call to us individually and as a body of believers, to the importance of repentance and the importance of standing firm in the faith. So may these words of Jesus that we have read this week echo in our ears and may we daily rise to the challenge that is placed before us, and may we hold fast, knowing that the Lord does bless our faithful endurance.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says through the Word to us today, that we might be found faithful in standing against false teaching.

And may our Word and may our good works continue to grow, that our sanctified lives might be a witness to the saving work of the Lord. Jesus Christ, in our lives May we see these words to the church in Thyatira, and may we desire to be faithful that Christ might be praised. Amen. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, we are so grateful for the gift of your word and to know that, in every time and every place, your spirit takes that word and uses it in our hearts to move us towards you, and uses it in our hearts to move us towards you. And so we pray, lord, that this reminder that we have read today and the words of the church in Thyatira might be used in our lives, that we might hear this call to repent and that we might turn from our sin, that Christ might be glorified for what he is doing in our lives. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.