Sermon – Revelation 2 – Thyatira – Part 2

Last week, we started our look at the Church in Thyatira. We covered the introduction from Christ, His description, and His compliment to this Church. This morning, we will cover the condemnation and the promise to overcomers.
Thyatira was important to the economy of that day. It was on a trade route and was known for its guilds. There were carpenters, dyers, sellers, tanners, weavers, tent makers, and many more making a living from their trades.
In Acts 16, while on his 2^nd Missionary Journey, Paul met Lydia in Philippi; and she was a trader of fine cloth – a seller of purple – and was from Thyatira.
It was difficult for tradesmen to make a living unless they were part of a guild. Each guild had a god, and as a member you would have been expected to attend functions and participate in offerings, feasts, and immoral behavior.
The members of the Church in Thyatira would have been torn between making a living, (as part of a guild); and remaining faithful to Christ and His standards.
This is where the complaint begins … * Read Revelation 2:20-29 *
Immorality grows when people’s hearts reject God and His standards, laws, commands. When a person, church, or denomination declines spiritually, they will face moral decay.
* Read 2^nd John 1:9-11 * … Those who don’t fully follow the doctrine of Christ and at still claim Him are compromisers … individuals, local congregations, and even denominations can compromise; and teach, follow, and promote false doctrines. They may claim Him, but don’t know or serve Him.
Despite the compliment given, those in Thyatira, were misled doctrinally. In short, they were told to do what was wrong to get what they wanted.
This congregation stands as a model of what a permissive church with liberal theology is. They live and act like the world – want their own desires – think Jesus is just something added to their life, instead of being their Lord.
There was a woman who Jesus called Jezebel who was calling herself a prophetess, but was misleading the people.
A prophet is someone who speaks for God; and this can be foretelling the future or sharing the Word of God. A true prophet speaks the truth; and what they say will come to pass. A false prophet does not come from God. What this so-called prophetess was proclaiming was contrary to God’s Word.
This congregation looked good on the outside, but was rotten on the inside. We need to be cautious when we view congregations just based on size or even growth. Is God the One behind it, or is something else? Are they sharing the truth or just tickling ears? Why are people going there; or even anywhere to hear a certain speaker or be part of a certain group? If it is because of false doctrine or ear tickling; or is it because the unadulterated truth is being preached, people are truly loving and serving, and lives are being changed?
This false prophetess was leading people to practice sexual sin and offer sacrifices to idols and eat the food offered to them – all of which is condemned in the Scriptures. It is possible she was teaching that it was acceptable to be part of the trade guilds AND to participate in ALL of their activities.
“After all,” she’d say “you need to make a living and God doesn’t expect you to starve. Don’t be worried, – God has told me it’s alright – It is alright to go and be a part of the guilds and participate in the immoral and idolatrous worship that occurs in their meetings – after all we live by grace and are not under the law anymore.” And who were the rest of the church to disagree with what was being said – they weren’t prophets were they?
The (OT) Jezebel was a queen of Israel at the time of Elijah. She was a wicked woman and was the pagan daughter of a pagan king and had no business being married to Ahab, the King of Israel. When she became queen, she turned first the heart of her husband, then the hearts of Israel, to the worship of Baal.
Her ways were against God. She did away with God’s spiritual leaders and replaced them with the prophets of Baal. She was not to be trifled with. While Elijah was happy to face up the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mt Carmel, you might remember that he fled when he heard Jezebel was after him.
Jezebel replaced God’s word as given through His prophets with a counterfeit one given by the prophets of Baal. She sought to replace the worship of God with the worship of other gods and introduced idolatry, again, to the Israelites.
Both Jezebels tried to replace God’s authoritative word with a poor substitute. That is Satan’s M.O. but with poor quality and lies, what God has instituted … in the End Times, a false trinity (Antichrist, Beast and False Prophet), will be used to corrupt and confuse. Don’t fall for the devil’s lies!
Both were given opportunity to repent. Jezebel had Elijah proclaiming the truth about God, but she refused to listen. The prophetess of Thyatira was given the chance to repent, but she refused. God is a gracious God, even when it comes to such vile offenders who do so much damage.
Jezebel of the OT was condemned by God – and you can read about that in 1^st Kings 22:23-24. She was sentenced to death and those who followed her, and her husband were also condemned to die.
The prophetess is condemned to sickness or death. Her children – those who grew up following this doctrine would eventually find punishment and death because they were following a false gospel.
How can we tell whether a teaching or a doctrine is from God or from a Jezebel? Here are some things we can look for …
Firstly, Jezebel doctrines teach that something evil can be good. If God’s Word says something is sinful, but a “preacher” tells you it is OK, then they are wrong! If someone tells you that you don’t need to pray, read, give, serve, be faithful to Church, lift a finger for the Kingdom, repent, or seek righteousness … then, please, stop listening to and supporting them.
Paul warned the Ephesian Elders against false teaching … Acts 20:29-31
Secondly, this doctrine hates God’s Word. Jezebel hated Elijah and tried to destroy all the true prophets who spoke God’s word. Christians who follow Jezebel’s doctrine have no regard for God’s word. They would rather have emotional experiences than study, pray, serve, or sit under biblical teaching.
They dislike any mentions of God’s judgments and say it is just “doom” and “gloom.” They focus on “love” and “grace” and “mercy” and just want to be positive. It’s a half-truth thing.
Thirdly, the doctrine of Jezebel deludes people completely that they are right. Ahab, when he was trying to determine whether to go to war against Ramoth Gilead consulted God’s prophet Micaiah and all the other prophets in the land who were led by Zedekiah.
These false prophets said they spoke from God and Ahab believed them completely. But they were wrong as Ahab found out. Their prophesies did not come from God and they did not come true at Ramoth Gilead for there, Ahab was killed, and his army routed. Ahab should have listened to Micaiah.
Christians bound by the Jezebel doctrine believe they are 100% right. They cannot see the deception at all. It is like members of other cults or religions – they believe sincerely that they are right – but this doesn’t make them any closer to the truth.
Scary isn’t it!!!! It is scary, because how do we know what is right and wrong. Who is telling us the truth and probably more critical to us individually is how do we tell what the truth is?
There is really only one answer to this, and it is to discover what is found in this book. We’ve got all we need in this book right here. It is God’s word – complete and finished.
2^nd Timothy 3:16-17
How often do we accept what we hear or read, as truth or fact, and do not investigate it? Just because it is on the radio, TV, online, or in a book doesn’t necessarily mean it is true.
How often do you investigate to make sure anyone is telling you the truth; be it those who post online, have radio or tv programs, or even myself?
We need to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), who were said to be open-minded, eagerly listened to preaching, and searched the Scriptures to see if the truth was being told.
If it doesn’t line up with the God’s Word, then it is wrong. It doesn’t matter how eloquently spoken, how sincere the seeker is, or their titles or clout … a lie is a lie.
Don’t just trust what anyone tells you – look to the Bible for answers. The size of a congregation or its reputation; or how charismatic a speaker is, doesn’t necessarily matter when we are trying to determine the truth.
Let’s wrap this up. We have seen that Christ has condemned false prophets or teachers and those that follow them.
To the overcomer, those who don’t get misled by false teaching, God promises two things:
1 … He says that He will give authority over the nations. This is significant because remember the introduction and description of Christ as the Son of Man and having traits of the Man Daniel saw. Both images remind us that God has given Christ ultimate authority over all nations and now he says that he will give this authority to the Church and we will reign with him. We don’t have to be worried about the world as it presses in on us. We will have authority over it.
2 … He says that he will give them the Morning Star. In Revelation 22:16, the morning star is identified as Christ himself. The overcomers are therefore promised Christ himself. This will be the greatest reward of all – we will be with Him for all of eternity!
We need to be students of God’s Word. That is truly the only way to know the truth, to be able to combat lies, and to know if any teaching is true or false.
We will either be overcomers … or … we will follow false teaching, think that we are correct and right and just, but still be lost … Again, we will either hear “well done” … or … “depart from me.” The choice is yours and yours alone!