Through the 7 churches, the Lord tells us the problems the church can face. He didn’t take away these problems, they were allowed to continue so we can learn how to meet with these problems. He teaches us we shouldn’t be defeated by these problems, but to overcome them and become victors.

Previous sermons have discussed 5 churches; the 6th church will be discussed in this sermon.

Rev 2:2
This was the problem of Thyatira Church. They were rebuked by the Lord because they allowed that woman haze Bek who calls herself a prophetess. Jezebel was King Ahab’s wife. She worship Baal and led the people to worship Baal and practise sexual immorality. Jezebel is no prophetess but processed herself to be one.

Many people who preach heresies call themselves a prophet. They tell everybody what they speak has been revealed to them by God. People actually listen to what they say, reinforcing their belief that they’re a prophet of God. But the words they speak differs from that of the word of God in the Bible. When people point out their wrong and they themselves know they have erred in certain areas, they feel they can’t go back and aren’t willing to admit their wrong. They find Bible verses to support their teachings, and they become heretical.
This is the danger of being a sermon speaker. One should not come up with new teachings on one’s own. When you have spoken wrongly, it is best if you can admit your wrong. Don’t keep sinking into your wrong.

But many people allow their mistake to perpetuate, committing more mistakes thereafter. As listeners, this is a danger to us. Some speaker use the words of the Bible and then add on their own teachings. Some explanations are biblical, some are their own. If we’re unable to discern properly, we’d think they’re all words of the holy Bible. Be it the speaker or listener of the word of the Lord, we must be vigilant and discerning.

Ephesus - one of the seven churches - had the appearance of false prophets. But they didn’t have strong influence because the believers of Ephesus were very vigilant, tested them and realised they were false apostles. In the church of Pergamos, some heeded to the teachings of Balaam, causing the influence of these teachings to be stronger. And then the church of Thyatira submitted themselves to Jezebel such that not only believers but also church leaders/people who speak sermons, believed in the heretical teachings.

Why was the influence of the heretics so great? Be it in Ephesus, Pergamos or Thyatira, erroneous teachings were used to lead the people of God astray. What is their source of power? Behind the scenes is the work of Satan.

Acts 13:8-10
From the incident of Elymas the sorcerer and what Paul said to him, we see the work of the devil is to cause destruction in the church. Those who want to come believe in the Lord will be obstructed by the devil. To believers of the Lord, teachings of the Lord will confuse bring doubts to their minds.

Like the church of Thyatira. Not just a handful but a majority were swayed to teach the teachings of Jezebel. Because they treated the teachings of Jezebel as that of the church’s. This Holy Spirit something we have to Not only help and preserve our own faith, do so for the entire church as well.

Rev 2:19
Thyatira was an exemplary church actually. The Lord didn’t deny their good works. They had works of love, Faith, diligent and patient. Not only so, the Lord said their “last was more than their first”. In aspects of love, faith, patience and working for God, they have improved. Society likely welcomed this church because the believers did many charitable works. Why rebuke them? But Jesus rebuked them. Yes they had improved in the aspect of service but they had degenerated in the matter of truth. They hadn’t held on to the truth and teachings they had believed in. Although they knew the teachings of Jezebel was against the teachings of the Lord, yet they tolerated with the teachings of Jezebel. They even taught the servants of the Lord these teachings. Wouldn’t the Lord be angry? This was why the Lord rebuked them.

Why did they tolerate/allow the teachings of Jezebel to be in the church? Because they thought holding on to the truth was not so important. Having love was the most important thing. Love was more important than the truth. Because of that, they use love to accept the teachings of Jezebel. To man, these people are full of love and magnanimous, able to accept people who hold on to other sets of teachings. But the Lord rebuked such love, because such love goes against the word of God. God is love, which continues forever. But the love of God will not contradict the truth of the Lord. The love of the Lord will allow you to hold on to the word of the Lord. But the love of men is different; it tells you there’s no need to hold on to the word of the Lord and accepting differences is more important.

Be clear that only the love of God can save men because it helps us hold on to the word of the Lord.

The love of men is short lived and temporary while the love of God is eternal and endures forever.

Don’t just look at Thyatira on the surface that they’re such a loving church. “Didn’t God give us a new commandment to love one another?” But the love they had caused they to tolerate people who went against the truth.

Why did the Lord still have to rebuke these people? Because such a love is not from God but is from man. Such love won’t save men but cause man to deviate from the truth and be led astray.

So we have to be vigilant when we talk about love. We have to discern and differentiate whether this love is from God or men. Is it a teaching that will enable men to fear God unto salvation or bring men away from salvation?

Rev 2:21-23
Although the church of Thyatira had gone so deviant in accepting the teachings of Jezebel, even though they incurred the wrath of God and were rebuked, we see the love of God. He still gave them the chance to repent. Pitifully, they didn’t repent. “Where has the Lord punished us? Our church just keeps growing and growing. The teachings of Jezebel is our common faith now! It’s welcomed by everyone in church. Why does God allow us to prosper if we really went against His truth?” God was being merciful; His judgement is not immediate. God wanted to give them a chance to repent but they treat the mercy of God as God’s approval of what they were doing. “Since God didn’t judge, means He accepts.” This emboldens them to propagate the wrong teachings.

Today some people have done things that go against the word of God. They say, “But I still have the Holy Spirit and can still perform miracles.” True, a person who has gone wrong may still speak in tongues/have the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is likely grieving in him. The Holy Spirit is giving him a last chance. God’s mercy has a limited time. If we continue to harden our hearts and refuse to repent, the Holy Spirit will leave you. Just like Saul who had the spirit of God in him. He felt he made a small error, that it was alright and continued in it. But after that the spirit of the Lord departed from him. Let’s make use of the time of mercy as an opportunity to repent. Because when the day of judgement arrives, we won’t be able to say to the Lord, “You’re too strict! You didn’t give me time to repent!”

Like the church of Thyatira that had been given time to repent.

“Cast into a sickbed”
They will be cast into a sickbed - one who is in a sickbed can only wait for death. Even though alive, it’s torture.

God gives opportunities to men to repent.

“Commit adultery with her”
Those who commit adultery with her (Jezebel) means those who agree with her teachings, will be put into great tribulation unless they repent.

We all have to go through a great tribulation. This bring fear to us but from another perspective, it also helps us to be vigilant and repent. Those who do so will be able to emerge from the great tribulation unto salvation.

“I will kill her children”
Whose child are we? If we obey the word of God we are His child. If we obey the teachings of Jezebel, we are her child. The church of Thyatira are the children of God but not all the members. God said he would kill a group of people that were HER children. They may call Him ‘Lord Lord’ but God says they’re not His child because they don’t keep His word.

Let us reflect: are we truly a child of God? Yes after baptism we’re a child of God but have we abided by or gone against the word of God?

Only if you’re a son of truth are you a child of God. If you go against the truth and claim to be a child of God, He won’t acknowledge you as His child.

“I am He who searches the minds and hearts”
The Lord is able to see right to our hearts. On the surface all of us appear to have the same faith. Who would know if his faith is real or fake; true or superstition? Only God can look into our hearts to determine whether it’s true faith or not. Believers who truly believe will be saved. But some who believe won’t be saved. A contraction? No. The Lord asks, “HOW have you believed? Tell me who I am.”

In the face of a test/trial/tribulation/persecutions, will we continue to want to believe? Then weaknesses in our faith will be revealed. Our faith will just want this goodness in life. When we say we have faith, we must reflect on whether we have true faith or not.

Hence Paul reminded to examine ourselves to see if we’re still in the faith. Imagine ourselves in a certain situation and think about whether we can still hold on. No one can improve their faith immediately. Peter had faith but failed several times. Abraham the father of faith but also fell a couple of times. He lied several times. He didn’t believe Sarah would be able to have a child and so went through Hagar. Considering these incidents, it seems he doesn’t have faith. But what is faith? It’s the result of learning from your mistakes and changing ourselves.

In this process, we’ll have many weaknesses and failures.

But the basic faith Abraham had towards God was unchanging. In the matter with Sarah, perhaps he used the wrong method. But he was unchanging in his belief that his descendants would be a great nation. It was only in that moment that he thought using man’s method could bring about God’s promise. God corrected him and said it would be through Sarah. Abraham realigned his understand and reinforced his faith that it would be Sarah who would bear him a son.

We have to constantly self reflect, change and enforce.

God is righteous. He won’t treat the sinner as righteous and vice verse. Don’t say we have been judged wrongly. Before God, we are naked. There’s nothing we can hide. The only thing we can do is to improve ourselves before God.

“As many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come.”
Seems like the whole church has followed the teachings of Jezebel but there’s a minority that didn’t. They held on to the truth but weren’t able to stand up against those who believed in the teachings of Jezebel. This shows how powerful and influential the latter were, because even the church leaders propagated it. How were they to overcome? They were the minority but weren’t changed by the majority. The majority had already accepted and believed in the erroneous teachings. They couldn’t change the erroneous teachings, so they preserved the truth they held on to. They were victors.

“who have not known the depth of satan”
Doesn’t mean they’re stupid that’s why they can’t understand. Rather they could discern what was wrong and right.

In the matters of erroneous teachings, we can never retreat.

“I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come.”
They had faith, love and truth. But some changed their faith. Some loved wrongly. Some deviated from the truth. These were the same group of people who held on to the truth but because they dabbled in the depths of Satan, they were defeated instead of being victors.

That’s why Jesus reminded them to hold fast to what they have. If they hold fast now, can you still hold fast tomorrow? Next year? We have to hold fast till He comes.

“And he who overcomes and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations…and I will give him the morning star”
Everyone keeps the commandments of God. Otherwise they wouldn’t be baptised or prayed for the Holy Spirit. They won’t partake the Holy Communion or come for services and offer to the Lord. But the question is whether we can keep these commandments to the end. Victors are those who do. Then God will give them power to rule all nations. A rod of iron will be used to rule over them. They’ll be dashed to pieces like a potter’s vessel. Have we seen this? No.

Using the rod of iron can also mean to shepherd and pastor them. This power is not political but the power of truth. They were under the threat of the evil force. many people have already submitted themselves, unable to overcome the forces of evil. They weren’t able to submit, stand fast and stand firm.

But if we are able to withstand and keep the pure word of the truth to tell others - it can be very difficult, especially being such a small group - “a rod of iron will be used to rule over them. They’ll be dashed to pieces like a potter’s vessel”.

Before the Lord ascended into heaven He said to His disciples to go into all nations to preach the gospel. A difficult task. But why do they believe? Because the Lord told them something very important. “All authority in heaven or on earth has been given to Me. Go preach the gospel to all nations.”

They were weak. They were a small group. But they believed the authority Jesus had was great. Relying on this, the gospel would be able to be preached to all nations. The 12 apostles and disciples were able break through the forces of evil and fulfil this.

We may be small and the task may be difficult. But rely on the power and authority of the Lord. Have faith.

“I will give him the morning star”
Rev 22:16 shows the morning star is the Lord Jesus. The Lord gives us Himself? How? When? The Lord has given His spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the power of the Lord. Actually the Holy Spirit is Jesus dwelling with us in the spirit. That’s why the Lord said to His disciples that the Counsellor the Holy Spirit would come to them. “You won’t see Me anymore but then I will be with you. And I will be with you and you with Me.” Seems like something only written in literature. But Jesus means this in reality. This is something we can experience and others are able to see. When you receive the Holy Spirit, you’ll speak in tongues no one understands. The disciples received the promised spirit and felt the Holy Spirit with them. They knew that even as they were going to die, the Holy Spirit would lead the next generation. From generation to generation, the work of God will continue. But if you don’t esteem the Holy Spirit, as some people have, how can we complete the work? How will we be able to hold on to the end?

The Holy Spirit is like a morning star that illuminates our hearts so we will never be lost. The Holy Spirit will guide us to the day we meet Him. Let us become victors and the Lord will lead us to Him.