Midweek Bible Study | Revelation 2:18-29 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Revelation chapter 2 is where we're gonna be this evening so if you would take your Bibles and go to Revelation chapter 2 we are making our way through the book of Revelation we are taking our time I'm not in any rush as I have said before Jesus can teach it himself if he returns in the middle of this Bible study and do a far better job than I could ever do so until he comes again we're going to be looking through the book of Revelation as it relates to endtime events this is the apocalyptic book that God has given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the Apostle John who writes on the island of Patmos all these different visions and things that he sees and hears and you have to imagine this guy in his now in his 90s is overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds that he is exposed to as the Lord shows him these things that are to come and we are in chapter 2 and chapter 2 and three have to do with seven letters that Jesus dictates to seven particular churches so I'm gonna go back to the board here and again just orient ourselves I'm not going to rehash everything I did last week but this is the timeline of events from the book of Revelation and the only part we need to be concerned about right now is revelations one two and three known as the church age this is where we presently are it is the time between when Jesus ascended back into heaven and left then ministry to us to continue and the time of the rapture when Jesus will one day sound the trumpet and believers who are alive at that particular time will leave planet Earth and we will be taken up in the twinkling of an eye to be with the Lord and that is known as the rapture when we are taken from the earth that we don't experience death we get a glorified body on the way up to heaven so it's going to be an amazing day when that happens and what the earth is going to look like when all believers have been taken is going to be a very strange and unusual thing but that's where we are right now the church age we're living in this time period when we are awaiting the second coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ is in two stages the first stage is he only comes in the clouds sounds the trumpet calls the church up and then the second part of the Second Coming is after the seven years of tribulation when he returns to the earth the Saints come with him and he rules and reigns for a thousand years that's the Millennial Kingdom but I'm getting ahead of myself what we need to concern ourselves with right now chapters 2 and 3 revelation where Jesus dictates seven letters to seven churches and we've been talking about how these seven letters aren't important for us to understand in three ways number one that these churches are literal in existence each church was an actual Church located in Turkey during the 1st century AD we're talking about again this particular area in the block right there and what is Asia Minor or today Turkey just south of the Black Sea and we have these seven cities that are each going to get a letter from Jesus and they're listed here in Revelations two and three and starting with Ephesus it goes in a clockwise direction Ephesus gets the first letter Laodicea gets the last and so in addition to these being literal churches in existence they also are spiritual in relevance we read each of these letters with the idea that each church represents spiritual issues relevant to believers today we're going to make application every time we go through these these letters and then thirdly its historical and significance because when you look at the timeline of events and although not everything in the book of Revelation is in chronological order a lot of it is and so when you're looking at revelation two and three you're heading into a time period where you're looking at the historical timeline of the church when I say historical it depends where you're standing in that timeline for us much of it is historical but still because of where we are on the timeline some of it is still prophetic it's in the future and when we speak about the historical timeline this is what we're talking about these these seven churches are a picture of an aspect of church history because as Jesus begins to dictate these letters he is pointing out different things that we now have the perspective looking back on church history to recognize yeah that that represents a time period that represents a time period that represents a time period so starting with the Church of Ephesus every event every major event in church history serves to be a bookend of that particular time period and so for example Ephesus you have 33 AD where Jesus rose from the dead ascended back into heaven and the new testament church was born and a hundred eighty roughly 100 AD is when the Apostolic age ended the last of the Apostles died and so Ephesus represents that time period in church history and Smyrna the suffering Church 100 312 ad Pergamos 312 to 606 ad and on down the timeline so last week we finished with pergamus we got through Ephesus Smyrna and Pergamus and this is where Pergamos is located and I just want to real briefly recap the issue of Pergamos that we find here in chapter 2 between verses 12 and 17 and so just as a quick summary again each of these letters Jesus introduces himself with a title he makes the commendation he commends them about something he he also complains about something and at least out of five out of the seven churches two of them don't get any complaints from Jesus and then he mentions a reward for those who are true followers of him and so when it related to pergamus 312 to 606 ad it represents in church history the period of the state church the state church and so Jesus's title in that letter between verses 12 and 17 was him who has the sharp two-edged sword he commends the fact that they have not renounced their faith despite the martyrdom of a guy named Antipas was not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible his complaint however is that there's a marriage of the Church in the world from the root word gamos gamos means marriage polygamy polygamous monogamy Monogue um so that's where we get our English from that root word in the Greek gamos Pergamos and his reward to this church is that they will receive some of the hidden manna and a white stone with a new name now again I'm only recapping this because each of these time periods folds into the next and so if you don't if you don't know a little bit about pergamus we can't get into phi attire which is the next letter we're gonna read here in a moment so important events 312 ad - 606 ad what what are these things that are happening 312 - 606 as we move into the next letter which starts in verse 18 the church at Thyatira in 312 ad Constantine becomes emperor of Rome there was a big power struggle over who would be the rightful emperor in Rome and after a few different battles Constantine emerged in 312 ad as the emperor of Rome after a battle that he had successfully won and as many of you know from history he claims to have had a vision of a fiery cross and and he heard in Latin the words go forth and conquer and so Constantine took it upon himself that there must have been the Lord who appeared to him in this vision and and told him to go forth and conquer and so he became a convert to Christianity remember the Roman Empire was was predominantly almost exclusively polytheistic and they had adapted their worship of many gods from the Greek Empire before them and they just renamed the creek gods and added a few and so Constantine for him to come out as a as a convert to Christianity was a very unusual thing in those days and what he ends up doing is the elevates Christianity with favored status now it is now Christians are protected they're not persecuted like they were I mean by the thousands Christians are being killed by Roman emperors before Constantine and now they have protected favored status and again as we mentioned though that doesn't really make for a very you know heart relationship with Jesus when it just becomes a government you know favored status because then everybody just wants the government favorite status and you don't really necessarily want Jesus and so what begins to happen is the Roman influence of the Roman Empire begins to corrupt the the purity of the Christian faith and and Christianity ends up looking more Roman than it does Christian now again this this in history is playing into you if you've ever wondered why is the Catholic Church referred to as the Roman Catholic Church it's because it has its roots in Rome and it has its roots in the fact that after Constantine elevates Christianity this favorite status then it becomes a state religion and three you know the state religion in 380 AD by Emperor Theodosius the first who issues an edict in Latin called defeated cat-cat Alika and basically he then declares Catholic Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in this time period 380 AD and several practices began during this time period that became traditions of the Roman Catholic Church such as during this time period between 312 and 606 AD such as praying for the dead okay that's a Catholic doctrine purgatory it has no biblical basis okay now I'm gonna say some things tonight about the Roman Catholic Church I'm not saying it too you know in I'm not about just trashing different faiths or religion I'm just simply about pointing out what the Bible says about things and some of the practices that are inconsistent with what the Bible teaches if you really believe that the Bible is the handbook for faith and practice then you have to evaluate every religious tradition or religious practice through the grid of God's Word that's important for everybody to do I I shared with you on Sunday about my own faith tradition growing up Methodists taught that if you're sprinkle as an infant you're good to go and that was taught as water baptism but despite the fact that John Wesley tried to make some good arguments in favor of infant baptism at the end of the day my own tradition conflicted with Scripture when I began to look into the Bible to see well when are people actually water baptized they're actually water baptized as a testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ when I was two weeks old I could not make a testimony of faith in Jesus Christ so as wonderful as it was that I was sprinkled that was really more of a dedication despite what my tradition called it that was not really water baptism and so then I was baptized later so there's going to be things in your life if you have any exposure to religious tradition or rituals of any kind if you haven't been exposed to that and you're kind of coming into this fresh then welcome to the family and you you know you don't necessarily have some you know baggage to unpack but for those of us who've been exposed to religious tradition religious rituals you have to begin to examine those things in light of Scripture or what does the Bible actually say about this and then you have to begin to decide what you will practice that is scripturally based and then let go of those traditions that have no biblical basis and that's hard sometimes because people have their whole identities wrapped up in their faith traditions and those things can be rich in different ways but if they're not biblical why are you doing it and that's what everybody has to ask that himself or herself why do we do the things that we do you know I've shared this story before but it comes to my mind as I talk about this kind of thing how this little girl saw her mom as her mom was putting a pot roast into the pan or mom cut off both ends of the pot roast and then put the pot roast into the pan and the little girl said to her mommy why are you cutting off both ends of the pot roast she says I don't know I just saw my mom do that all my life my mom would just cut off both ends of the pot roast and then put the pot roast in and discard those ends that she cut off I think it just makes it juicier I don't really know why don't you go ask grandma and it's a little girl went to Grandma grandma mom cuts off both ends of the pot roast before she puts it in the pot she said you did that too why do you do that she says you know frankly I don't even know it's just tradition I saw my mom do that she just cut off both ends of the pot roast before she put it in the pot I think it makes a juicier so why don't you go ask your great-grandma so a little girl what ask grandma great-grandma my mom and my grandma both cut off the ends of the pot roast before they put it in the pan they say it makes a juicier they learned it from you why did you do it she's all my lands no it doesn't make a juice here I just never had a pot big enough to put it in but it was just generation after generation they were just doing stuff that they saw done didn't have any real basis they just did it because they saw it and that sometimes what happens in our faith traditions we do things just because we see it we hear it we learn it but it doesn't really have any biblical basis and so we need to decide what we're going to retain whether or not it's biblical during this time period the traditions of the Catholic churches is praying for the dead the worship of saints and angels the worship of Mary and priests wearing robes and collars to separate themselves from the laity that's what started to creep into the church and so what ended up happening is that the the church the the the Christian Church started then taking on these religious rituals and traditions as the state-run church with its capital in Rome and then it migrates into the Roman Catholic Church in 606 AD now one of the things that Constantine did when he became Emperor was he relocated the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium and he renamed Byzantium Constantinople and that became the capital of the Roman Empire and that became the seat of the state church and then in in 606 AD what began to happen is that things took on a life of their own as the Roman Catholic Church emerged before I recite some of that let's take a look at where we're heading now which is the Church of Thyatira so we're moving from pergamus now to Tyrel and if you'll read with me here from chapter 2 verses 18 to 29 it finishes out chapter 2 here's what it says Jesus speaking here he's dictating this to the church in Thyatira verse 18 and to the angel or pastor of the church in Thyatira write these things says the son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass I know your works love service faith and your patience and as for your works the last are more than the first nevertheless I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols and I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent indeed I will cast her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into Great Tribulation unless they repent of their deeds I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts and I will give to each one of you according to your works now to you I say and to the rest in Thyatira as many as do not have this doctrine who have not known the depths of Satan as they say I will put on you no other burden but hold fast what you have till I come and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end to him I will give power over the nation's he shall rule them with a rod of iron they shall be dashed to pieces like The Potter's vessels as I also have received 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 so we come now to the Church of Thyatira which is nicknamed the idolatrous Church in my Bible it has a subtitle the corrupt Church you can pick whatever you want it's not endearing whichever one you choose and the time period in church history that this literal search ends up reflecting is between 606 ad and 1517 ad now in 606 the Roman Catholic Church emerges and is ongoing today and in 1517 you have the Protestant Reformation where Martin Luther a a Gregorian monk takes issue with a lot of the doctor of the Roman Catholic Church in fact he has 95 problems with the doctor in the Roman Catholic Church that is in in the Reformation opinion a combination of the Word of God and human man-made rituals that have been added to the Word of God and thus have corrupted the simplicity of Scripture and have made faith not just in Jesus alone by faith alone but has made it something more than that it becomes a works oriented religion whenever you add anything to the the fact that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone if you add any human component to that you've just corrupted the the message of the Cross and it's easy to happen when faith traditions and rituals start to take on a life of their own which is what happens during this time period and and so the Protestant Reformation is Martin Luther's objection so he nails his 95 thesis he has 95 objections to the Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church he nails it on the the the door of the Wittenberg Church in Germany in October the 31st 1517 and thus the the Protestant Reformation begins and the Protestant church splits off for the Roman Catholic Church let's talk more about that next week but but let's focus on the beginning and then the the time period between 606 and 1517 first a little bit about Thyatira the only other reference to fiat ira this city outside of the book of revelation is one reference in the book of Acts Acts chapter 16 verse 14 a woman by the name of Lydia fault Paul's first con to Christianity in the city of Philippi a woman by the name of Lydia was from Thyatira her occupation the Bible tells us in acts 16 gives us a little bit of insight into the city's famous commodity because in act 16 it says that Lydia was a a dealer of purple cloth this particular city Thyatira was known for its purple dye it's what made this city famous and it was derived from a shellfish that was indigenous to the area by crushing this particulars shellfish it would make this purplish reddish purplish die today that color is called Turkish red Thyatira is situated about 30 miles halfway between Pergamus and Sardis and Thyatira was first established as a Macedonian colony by Alexander the Great after the destruction of the Persian Empire today Thyatira is the modern city called a Kassar and it has a population of about 50,000 the city was riddled with idolatry that's going to be obviously the theme of this this letter to this church Jesus is calling out their affection for idols and that's what fire tyre was known for and so Jesus alludes to it in this letter by by mentioning the name Jezebel he calls out a woman named Jezebel we'll talk about that in a moment and if I attire was known for having a temple for fortune tellers presided over by a powerful female Oracle so it could be that Jesus is referring to this particular woman or what Jezebel represents from Old Testament Scriptures there were more commercial guilds in Thyatira a guild is kind of like a Union than in any other Roman province because they were such an industrialized city that was known for their great commercial trades so they had guilds for dyers wool workers linen workers leather workers Tanner's Potter's Baker's and bran Smith's they all had their own little union and that's just what was happening in Thyatira now during this particular time period 606 to 1517 let's talk a little bit about the the emergence of the Roman Catholic Church here here's a list of just a few things how to use small font to get it all in a few things that were introduced into the church because of the Catholic traditions the first thing I want you to note is that the title of Pope was given to Boniface the third by Roman Emperor focus in 606 ad that's why for purposes of a time line we talked about the emergence of the Roman Catholic Church in 606 ad now you you talked to a died in the wool Roman Catholic they will say what are you talking about the Roman Catholic Church was was way before 606 ad your centuries off and Peter was our first pope that's what they will tell you but what we're talking about here is this that in the first several centuries since Constantine and Theodosius made Christianity a state religion there were different bishops who oversaw different churches in the regions of the Roman Empire but something happened in 606 AD that made the Roman Catholic Church much like the modern Roman Catholic Church today and that is that when Boniface the third became Bishop Emperor focus wrote a letter to him making an imperial edict as the Emperor of the Roman Empire at the time and focus said to Boniface the third eye now deem you as the Bishop the universal bishop over all churches of the Roman Empire and thus he gave him the title Pope and so that's why when we talk about the emergence of the Roman Catholic Church we're gonna date it over 606 AD although the Roman Catholics will say no it's first century because was our first pope but this is what happens here in 606 ad Sabine e'en who was the last Bishop of Rome dies he's replaced by Boniface the third and then focus makes this Imperial decree of the Roman government proclaiming Boniface the third as the head of all churches so he is given this universal title and Emperor focus then transfers the title from Constantinople back to Rome and Boniface the third then takes his position as bishop of rome universal bishop or pope over the church and Catholicism is formally born in its final evolved form but the east okay so now you have a separation of the Roman Empire you have those who disagree in the east with Constantinople as the capital and those who embrace this in the West with Rome as the capital and there becomes a bit of a power struggle in in the centuries to follow the East Constantinople never accepts Rome's claims and finally split fellowship with Rome in 1054 ad forming the Eastern Orthodox Church versus the Roman Catholic Church in the West but you have all these other doctrines too as you see listed on the screen there you have the doctrine of kissing the Pope's foot which was proclaimed in 709 ad as a ritual and by the way if you go today to st. Peter's Basilica in Rome there's a bronze bronze statue of st. Peter's si seated and people who make pilgrimage there continue to touch or kiss his feet so much so that over the centuries the toes on the right foot of the Apostle Peter are gone they've been rubbed off they've been rubbed off by everybody making pilgrimage and touching at bronze toes our God now off of Peters feet because of people touching and kissing his feet because they're recognizing him in their tradition as the first pope also the use of holy water was implemented in 850 ad mechanical praying with beads or rosary invented by Peter the Hermit in 1098 d transubstantiation established in 1215 ad what is transubstantiation if you don't have a Roman Catholic background you may not be aware that when Catholics take mass they take the elements the wafer and and the cup they believe that there is a miraculous event that happens whereby when one ingests the wafer and the cup the wine that it miraculously becomes the actual flesh and blood of Jesus now I've had people as I have explained this I've had some Roman Catholics email me so don't email me please I get enough emails unless you have a happy email but but I've had Roman Catholics email me and saying that is not what we believe and I've had to actually cut and paste out of the route of the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church their own doctrine in print this is what Roman Catholics believe that when you take the wafer and the cup of wine that you that that there is the belief that I don't believe this I don't believe Scripture teaches us but there's this belief that you are actually ingesting that it becomes miraculously the flesh and the blood of Jesus and it is it is because in John chapter 6 Jesus when he's teaching his disciples he talks to them about eating of his flesh and and and drinking of his blood and and some leave him because they think this is a difficult teaching and Jesus clarifies in the end and he speaks about how these things I've spoken to your spirit in other words he's saying that we have to we have to be consumed with him but it isn't the literal idea that we're consuming him by like partaking of his body and particular his blood but we in a faith in a spiritual sense if you really are a follower of Christ we must be consumed with him that he can't just be relegated to the fringe of our lives we have to be consumed with him that's what he means there in John chapter 6 but the Roman Catholic Church took it to be very literal and then therefore teaches transubstantiation that there's this this this molecular thing that happens in the process of receiving the communion elements whereby you were actually in jazz the flesh and the blood of Jesus I don't believe it but that's what transubstantiation teaches and then the Bible is forbidden to laymen only the priests can read the Bible I was 12 29 ad in fact those of you who grew up Catholic you know if you're old enough to know that the mass was completely taught in Latin up until the 1960s I mean you could if you would go to Mass before whatever the year was and then in the mid-60s you would sit there and hear the entire thing in Latin and not even even understand a whole thing anything about it so not only were Catholics discouraged from reading their Bibles because you you're not able so they would say to interpret it the way that a priest could okay which isn't which isn't true you've been given the same spirit and you can read your Bibles understand your Bibles and pray for understanding the same way that I can as a pastor or any priest can but you know the Bible is forbidden to lamb and only the priests could could read the Bible so I you know I can't tell you how many people with Roman Catholic backgrounds would come to Cornerstone and say to me that's so refreshing to bring my Bibles I've never understood my Bible and that's because you're not encouraged to read your Bibles you're encouraged to listen to a priest telling you what your Bible says but you know there's only one mediator between God and man and and it's Christ Jesus and I only am trying as a pastor to be a facilitator teaching using a gift of teaching - for us to study God's Word together but as I've said on many occasions remember Paul pointed out the fact that the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians because the Bereans searched the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true even the Apostle Paul commanded a group of people for their diligent pursuit of the scriptures to verify what he was saying was true I encourage you to do the same thing don't take what I say face value read your Bibles for yourselves study your Bibles there's great resources out there now lexicons in' and greek and hebrew that will translate for you and and you can read your Bibles and become educated what the scriptures say this is important for all of us to grow in our faith to know God's Word now in the Church of Thyatira here Jesus identifies himself as the Son of God but he identifies himself as the Son of God with eyes aflame and feet like brass this is the only time in the book of Revelation that the title son of God is used and Jesus uses it in conjunction with his eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass because he is introducing himself in this letter as the righteous judge when his eyes are on fire he's upset about something okay that's the idea feet of bronze bronze is a medal in Scripture that is always meaning judgment he's coming here as the righteous judge he wants to judge this church because of their idolatry and and so he comes here with anger towards Thea Tyra's sin but he commends them he commends them about five things in the text here he commends them for their works their love their service their faith and their patience and he adds there in verse 19 the last are more than the first in other words their good works are increasing and he likes that about them and he commends them for these different things it is remarkable by the way that none of the preceding three churches were commended for their love but Thyatira is in addition to their works and their service and their faith in their patience the word service in verse 19 is the greek word Iconia we get our English word Deacon deacons serve in the church they are lay ministers they are people who use their gifts to minister to people and and Jesus is commending them for all this you're ministering to people you're loving people you're serving people you have faith you have patience but then he has this big complaint and the complaint against them is that they are tolerant of sin and in particular they are tolerant of this Jezebel issue where Authority is is equal to Scripture there they seduced God's people with idolatry and a system of works now again there's there's a matter of interpretive debate as to whether or not Jezebel is a real person or only a biblical type from the Old Testament in the Old Testament in first Kings chapter 16 were introduced to a woman by the name of Jezebel Jezebel becomes the wife of the seventh king of Israel his name is King Ahab Ahab should never have married her why because she was a pagan idolatrous woman she was not a Jew who worshipped the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Bible says that she was the daughter of a king of the sidonians whose name was Ethel f-bomb means her dad's name means with bail so his very name is a pagan name she is the daughter of a pagan King and Josephus the first century Roman historian says that earth Bal was a priest of the occult and so this is the kind of home that just about grew up in and in fact in second Kings 922 it specifically says in second Kings 922 that Jezebel practiced idolatry and witchcraft names those very things a had the king of Israel Mary sir guess what she introduces this from her own upbringing into the nation of Israel and Ahab acquiescence and he promotes idolatry in the land of Israel this time and it's a very terrible time it's a low point in Israel's history all the idolatry is the result of Jezebel's influence to the king of Israel now when Jesus calls out this church about the Jezebel problem he either means that there is a literal woman and some some commentaries believe that there was a literal woman in the church whose name was probably sympathy and that she's like a Jezebel because she has the same spirit or Jesus is actually saying that you are allowing idolatry in the church similar to the time of Jezebel and when it can be a combination of both that she was a real woman in the Church of Thyatira who so persuaded the believers to engage in a system of idolatry that Jesus compared her to the Jezebel who had married King Ahab and seduced the nation into terrible idol worship either way it speaks of a bad thing idolatry idolatry in the church and they tolerated now listen you you have to be aware that when you look at this particular timeline in church history that the Roman Catholic Church again I'm not saying anything to disparage I'm just pointing out the facts there are a lot of idols in the Roman Catholic Church a lot of icons a lot of statues a lot of praying to these things praying to Saints praying to Mary idolizing people in that sense and so it fits here in the timeline of of church history the Roman Catholic Church is steeped in idolatry it is a works oriented religious system I know that there are some Roman Catholics who truly believe in Jesus and they're going to heaven I get that there are true believers in every you know there there are some misguided Methodists and some true believers there are some misguided Baptist and true believers there are so you know in every aspect of religious circles you you do have people who are true believers but unfortunately in the Roman Catholic Church the the combination of a love for Jesus as Savior and the adaptation of idolatrous practices make for a very corrupt religious system if I if I can say it that way I mean again I you know I'm probably gonna get emails on this but I'm just I'm just trying to speak the truth there needs to be an understanding that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ it has nothing to do with how many good things you do or penance or ways that you try to compensate by doing other good things to make up for the bad things Jesus Christ died for all the bad things were all bad people who all need a Savior and that's how you get saved by trusting Jesus Christ you need to stop praying the merry need to stop praying to different Saints the rosary beads are youth useless you can't pray somebody out of purgatory they make a decision and they die and their fate is sealed so they need Christ now that's what you what you should be praying for them and all this other stuff that have been incorporated in the Roman Catholic Church have done nothing more than corrupt the true and simple message of Jesus Christ and faith in Jesus Christ alone okay and those of you come out of that background know what I'm talking about you know more than anybody what I'm talking about and and so Jesus says here in this letter in verse 21 and 22 is as I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not I will cast her into a sick bed into Great Tribulation unless they repent now I don't believe he's suggesting that all Catholics are gonna end up going through the Great Tribulation rather it means that anyone within the church who is found to be in spiritual fornication of works and idols because that's what it really is rather than a personal relationship of grace of the Lord Jesus Christ will suffer tribulation to believe in a religious system of works that denies the finished work of Christ is a corrupt religious system now he shares rewards here and I know our time has escaped us so let me just mention on the reward side here verses 24 and on Jesus speaks to the rest who do not have this doctrine so again there's a remnant there's always a remnant who have not known the depths of Satan who hold fast to what you have until I come throughout time God has always had his remnant everywhere those who hold fast to him when others may not and the promise that Jesus gives the Church of Thyatira for their faithful perseverance are twofold number one power over the nations or authority to rule believers will one day rule with Christ in Revelation 20 verse 4 John's says that he sees a vision here of people on Thrones who have been given authority to judge and that's the Saints we judge with the Lord in administering his justice in the earth during the Millennial Kingdom and the second thing that he promises here in this letter to those who overcome to the remnant he says I will give them the Morningstar now in revelation 22:16 you can just write in the margin to your Bible there where talks about I'm gonna give him the morning star to those who overcome in revelation 22:16 Jesus says that he himself is the morning star so he's basically promising the ultimate prize to faithful believers himself that's what he's saying here but there's a special meaning to Morningstar when he uses this language here when he talks about the morning star it is actually a fulfillment of one of the last passages of the Old Testament in Malachi chapter 4 verse 2 where the Prophet Malachi makes this glorious promise of the rising of the Sun of righteousness ASUN with healing in his wings and Malachi sees the day when Jesus the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings will come as the morning star of a filmin of the Prophet Malachi to bring ultimate healing to our souls and so the Church of Thyatira Jesus has some complaints and he has some commendation but he always ends with a reward to all who overcome verse 27 he shall rule them with a rod of iron they shall be dashed to pieces like the Potters vessels as I also have received 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 we'll pick it up there again next week let's pray let's ask the Lord to bless what we've heard Lord take your word now and minister to our hearts in whatever way we need to receive it today as we leave here tonight may we take to heart these things what are you saying to us he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches we want to have a hearing ear Lord to hear what would you be saying to us tonight how would these things apply to us maybe some have come out of a tradition that has been very works oriented and maybe this is new Lord the idea of just trusting you by faith that what you did on the cross satisfied the wrath of God and made the way possible for us to be forgiven and to be saved deliver us from a system of works where we think we have to work our way to heaven thank you Lord that you've taken that burden off of us where we can't do anything to improve upon the cross so why are we why are we always trying to work our way there instead Lord may our good works show that we are saved not doing good works because we think that helps us to be saved we love you Lord and we thank you that you first loved us and gave your life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins we praise you together in Jesus name and everybody said amen and amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers

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Length: 43min 36sec (2616 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 25 2020