Shut The Door And Keep Your Grip

All right, we're in this series, The Future is Ancient, and looking at the wisdom that we can glean from the letters that Jesus spoke over, or to seven different churches in the book of Revelation. And as we dove into this the first number of weeks, we've gone through Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum, and I've got a map I'll show you, we've shown each and every week, but those are all of those places up there, our Pergamum Thyatira is the one we're gonna deal with today, Thyatira. Today, the title of the message is this, Thyatira, shut the door and keep your grip. Shut the door and keep your grip. Turn to the person next to you and say, shut the door. And then turn to somebody else and say, keep your grip. All right, the book, the letter that we're writing to is a church, this message is to a church that's in a city that was somewhat unremarkable, it would be like a flyover city in the United States, not one of the main great big cities like in Ephesus would have been considered at that time. Yeah, God had raised up a church in this place and in a city that had so many different opportunities that were unique to them that weren't in the other churches. Earlier this year, I went with a group from Emmanuel and we went to Thyatira and this is a picture of us out in the Agora, which is the marketplace. Now this era, this has not been excavated much like we saw in Ephesus where there's deep excavation.

In fact, the era that it was found in here is more the Byzantine era, the relics that were around there were from the Byzantine era of the church. So several hundred years after the early church, but enough to stand in that space and hopefully in years to come, they'll do more excavation and more archeological digs and the like. Enough to know the area, see the Agora, the marketplace, that was a place where people would have their trades passed back and forth. And then in Thyatira at the time that Jesus was writing to them or speaking to them, Thyatira was known for its trades like bronze makers and potters and leather and textiles and in fact, one of the people mentioned as one of the first converts in the book of Acts under Paul was a woman named Lydia. Lydia was one of those weavers and mentioned earlier in there, she came from Thyatira. Now each of those trades had what was called a guild. We would know them more like a union today that if you wanted to participate in that arena, then you had to have licensure from that union. You had to pay dues to the union. Now, the unions of that day were connected to religious political worship and we'll look into it a little bit more, but you do need to know that if you had a job, you would actually have to participate

in some form of that political worship that was going on. And in order to receive money in their economy, they had to participate in festivals and idolatry and that kind of thing. And the church is caught in this tension of how do we follow Jesus without compromising? How do we do this without compromising? And Jesus speaks directly to the people and he speaks to the issues of that day. So why don't you go ahead and pull your Bibles out to Revelation chapter two with me. How many have your Bibles? Let me see them, wave them in the air like you just don't care. All right, bring your Bibles to church. Paper Bible revolution on its way. How many have your digital version? I'm not gonna, there you go. So you're like, oh, no shame, no shame, reading the word we've got on the Emmanuel app as well. Revelation chapter two, Jesus is speaking and he says, verse 18, write this letter to the angel of the church. Remember what the angel is? It's the pastor of the church. To the angel of the church in Thyatira, this is the message from the son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze. Now I wanna pause right here

because when it comes to what he's saying, he declares, I think it's kind of interesting that Jesus would declare who he is to his audience. He says, this is the message from the son of God. This only happens one other time in Revelation. Why would Jesus mention son of God? There are many different titles, but in particular, the reason that he did this is that Thyatira, town of Capernaum, economy was controlled by the worship of Apollo. Apollo, in Greek mythology, was a twin brother of Artemis, the son of Zeus. He was literally called a lowercase s, son of God. You would see these Apollo statues and big places of worship actually throughout the entire region, including Thyatira. So if that's the son of God that everybody is supposed to worship, Jesus now is declaring to the church that lives in that community, I am the capital S, son of God. How many know there's a difference between a lowercase and a capitalized version? And so Jesus is making a very clear statement right out of the gate to the church. Listen, this is who is talking. I'm not just another one of the mythology groups of people, just ancient religions. I'm not just lumped in with everybody else. I am the son of God. And he says, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze. Now this is, again, it happened in chapter one as well, where it gives a description about himself, but it's these eyes of fire and feet of polished bronze that you can find as well in the book of Daniel and the images of Jesus in Daniel. You'll find him there. How many know Jesus isn't just in the New Testament. He's all over the Bible and the people in the church that are gathered together know this. And this is what I want you to hear today, that before we hear what Jesus has to say, Jesus wants to make sure we understand who he is. Like, this is just another message on Sunday morning. Pastor Nate, hurry up. I got lunch to eat. And we can fly past Jesus saying, hey, listen, this isn't John talking to you. This isn't one of the disciples talking to you. This isn't the pastor at the church talking to you. They're only messengers of what I'm saying to you. And I think there's a need, even in this hour, when we have so many messages that come at us throughout a

given week, where we have so many voices in our heads, to remember that when Jesus talks, we should stop and listen to him. Like, hey, wait a second. He's talking to you. Turn to the person next to you and say, he's talking to you. All right. Verse 19. He says, I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. Now, Jesus is going to address something. Don't go ahead in the chapter yet. Don't go ahead in the message, because Jesus pauses and he gives essentially six things that are like, I see you. I notice you. He says, I know the things you do. Another version says, the works that you do. All the things that you do when you're not in church. I see what you're doing where you're taking care of the poor. I see what you're doing when you're sharing your love with your family. I see what you're doing when you get up on Monday morning and you don't feel like get up on Monday morning and you go to work to pay the bills for your family. I see what you do. Jesus wants them to know he's not a distant idol-worshiped God that's sitting off in some corner, like Wizard of Oz, waiting for people to come to him. Jesus says, I know and I see you. He's the great God who sees. And what does he see? He says, I've seen your love. Your love. He uses the word agape there. Those of you that know the difference in the different Greek words of love. Love is the unconditional love of God. He says, I see you've got my love in you. You're looking like me. You're treating others like me. And then he says, I've seen your faith. Faith, of course, according to Hebrews, we can't have faith based on what we see. Faith is the evidence of things we don't see. Jesus sees your faith. Some of you have been walking in faith for a while and you haven't seen the result of your faith yet. I want you to hear Jesus say to you, I see you. I see your faith. I've seen it. Some of you are like, well, then do something about it. No. I mean, no, he's got his own time and his own seasons. He says, I've seen your service. The word there is the acronym, the same word we get the word deacon from. And It's those who serve, those who take care of others. I'm grateful for people in my life that serve and take care of people. My mom did that as she raised me. I've got a renewed appreciation for Jody, who served and took care of our family

and did the little things that nobody is looking. How many know it's not easy raising kids nowadays? It's not easy trying to juggle everything. And many people have a couple incomes, a couple jobs going on, and they're trying to juggle everything else. And Jesus just says simply, I don't just see you lifting your hands in church. I see the things you're doing for your family. I see what you're doing for the church as well. The people that show up for Team Emmanuel in the middle of rain, and you're showing up for when everybody else is running out, you're running in. And I would just say as a pastor, I'm thankful for Team Emmanuel and kids and in our lobbies and for our production team and for our worship and for our youth. And I'm grateful for all of you that are serving. And Jesus would say, I see you. I see you. He says, I see your patient endurance. He says this over and over again with the other churches as well. And it has to do with persecution when it's hard and you endure and you don't become a hangry version of yourself, that you don't become a rage monster, that you're becoming, you're patiently enduring. How many are waiting for something better ahead of you?

You're persevering through some of the difficult things in life. That's what Jesus is referencing here. And then he says, I see your constant improvement, your spiritual growth. I love this. As a father, as a coach, as a pastor, one of the things pastors do and what coaches do is they can, they celebrate improvement and progress. You're not where you used to be. Do some of you remember where you used to be? Do you remember where you used to be? What your mindset used to be? When it was all about you? When you had narcissism deep in your soul and then Jesus got ahold of you and over time of picking up that cross, he irons the narcissism out of you and now all of a sudden you start seeing other people. I would just say, hey, this is amazing. God sees you. Jesus sees you. He notices your growth. Nudge somebody and say, I'm glad you're growing in the Lord. Go ahead and tell him. I'm glad you're growing in the Lord. You're not who you used to be. But then he says this in verse 20, but, everybody's got a but, an exception. Everybody's got a, oh yeah, all these things are great,

but now I'm gonna address something and a good coach doesn't avoid everything. A good coach is gonna build up, but they're gonna address something that needs to be addressed and it says there in verse 20, but I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman, that Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. Jesus is addressing something that they were avoiding. That church was avoiding addressing this. In fact, the word permitting in the ESV is tolerate. It's neglecting to stop it. It's allowing it to continue. It's leaving the door open. And I would just say this today, that if you leave the door open, it's not gonna get better. And Jesus is addressing something that had snuck its way into the church and it was affecting the members of the church and so the door had been cracked open. How many know you don't wanna leave the door open? Remember the story of Cain and Abel when Cain was anger in his heart towards his brother Abel and God gives him a warning ahead of time and he says, hey, listen, sin is crouching at your door and it desires to have you, wants to take over. That imagery of something on the other side of the door, this church has let into the church

and Jesus now wants to address that and he talks about a woman in particular, there's a label, Jezebel, but we'll talk about the label in a moment, but something's going on in the church where there's an influence. that is leading people astray, this woman who calls herself a prophet. We don't know, she's not on staff apparently, but she's a part of or connected to the church somehow, and she has spiritual language. She says she speaks for God, and she's teaching a heresy to people in the church, and the result of her teaching is that people's actions were they were committing sexual sin, and they were participating in idol worship, food sacrifice to idols. So this label Jezebel actually is lifted out of the Old Testament. It's a title of somebody that everybody in the church would have understood if they knew the Old Testament at all, that a particular character in the Old Testament that did something to Israel, and she was married to a guy named Ahab. Ahab was considered to be the worst king in all of Israel. And he marries the daughter of a foreign king who served a god, a foreign god named Baal, or Baal, or Ba'al, and that foreign god made its way in, and Jezebel had an influence after the marriage on them.

Let's look at it in 1 Kings 16, verse 30. It says, but Ahab, son of Amri, did what was evil in the Lord's sight. Even more than any of the kings before him. And as though it were not enough to follow the sinful example of Jeroboam, another evil king, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ephbaal of the Sidians. And he began to bow down in worship of Baal. First Ahab built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria, and then he set up an Asherah pole, and he did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than any other kings of Israel before him. Now what happens? He marries this woman, and then something happens to both Ahab and all of Israel. I've been reading through the chronological Bible this year and looking at the various perspectives at the same time of the kings of Israel and Judah, and then the prophets that were speaking to the leaders at that time. And one of the things that God was addressing is the kings were leading all of Israel astray, and they were allowing foreign gods into their midst, which God outlaws into law. He says, you can't serve two gods. You can only serve one God. Can I get an amen to that? Well, here's what happened

with Jezebel's influence with Ahab. He was already a bad guy, but now she brings her gods with her, and there were two stages of what happened. The first stage was that she wanted to get Yahweh worship, which is our one true God, to coexist with Baal and Asheroth. She wanted coexisting religions. But eventually, the second stage would kick in. She wanted to kick out those that served Yahweh and replace that with Baal worship. And it's worth noting that Baal, I have a picture of a depiction of Baal. Baal was considered to be a god that owned everybody, the land, the economy, and was known as a fertility god, believed to enable agricultural production and human reproduction. It had control over the weather and making it essential to control rainfall by how much you worship that god. And Asheroth was also a fertility goddess of the Canaanites. Now, I want you to notice something about this ancient thing. God didn't have anything to do with it. And so what does he do? He confronts it. And there's the great story of the prophet Elijah who comes in and he actually had declared there would be no rain. I mean, you know, Baal thought he was in charge

of the weather, but God, the real one true God took care of this, okay? He steps in and then he says there will be no rain. And then there's this big confrontation on Mount Carmel where all these prophets of Baal were trying to sacrifice before their god and nothing worked. And then Elijah comes up and he fills this moat around a sacrifice with water to prove that what God was about to do was stronger than Baal. And then fire comes down and consumes it. And then all. The prophets of Baal were killed, and Elijah goes on the run for his life. Jezebel sends troops after him, and he runs to get away. Here's the point of the whole thing. When we're reading in Revelation this name Jezebel, what Jesus is saying to the church is, listen, this ancient pull or seduction of Jezebel, not only upon Ahab, but upon the whole nation, has now woven itself into the church. And he's beginning to say, I'm not going to have anything to do with that, just as I didn't in the Old Testament. There is a version of Jezebel influencing this church in Thyatira. And she is not submitted to God's authority structure. She's kind of around the church, but she's not following the pastor. She's speaking to the people. Now, the pastor is getting judged right now, too, because the pastor let it go, and so did the people.

She's influencing the church. The door is cracked open, and she's permitted or allowed to influence this New Testament church. What would Jezebel influence look like today? I was looking at some of the data this week. And the average person in America is on screens, get this, 49 hours a week. 49 hours. That's the average American. Some of you are like, whew, I'm not average. I do more than that. Some of you are like, you're on the screen all the time. Phones ring in the middle of a church. Left the door open. Turn your ringers off. But think about this. The amount of just social media, OK? Think about TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and all of that. That's just one amount of time. But then you've got media, like shows that you might want to watch on YouTube or Netflix or all the other platforms. You can watch so many things. The QR codes lead you to other things. And you're watching how-tos on YouTube on how to cook your chicken on your grill and how to put the house back together again. Everything is on a screen. But what happens is when we're on those platforms,

algorithms are beginning to shape what we see. And those algorithms begin to move our mind to different places. Remember what Paul said in Romans 12? Don't be conformed by this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is the battle between Baal and God in our minds. Our thoughts are shaped by algorithm. And yours are going to look different than mine. I mean, my algorithm thinks I should see certain things. And your algorithm thinks you should see something different. I'm pretty sure not everybody here sees what I see every week. When I see all these tutorials on how to get rid of the bulge or how to deal with a balding spot in your hair or, I mean, I'm sure not everybody else is getting those. It must know me somehow or I don't know what's going on. But it's actually catered and shaped to move you. And the more extreme it is, the more you have to watch it, want to watch it. And it begins to tweak your journey, your thinking process, and move you to a certain place. And TikTok politics and conspiracies and crypto influencers and proteins and peptides and brain health and all the things, 72% of today's teenagers use AI companions. And 31% of them prefer AI companions to human beings. You think that's going away? By the time you came to church today, chances are you've been discipled by algorithm.

49 hours of it, and I get 35 minutes once or twice a month. The gods of the age are pushing us to accept the Baal and Asherah poles of our day. The gods of sexuality pushing us to allow and tolerate behaviors that Yahweh and his word calls sin. Things that five years ago you would never even watch. Feel embarrassed to go scroll by, now become a regular part of your routine. They tell us how to think about all kinds of subjects that God's word is already spoken. Things about your body, about how to raise your kids, let your kids do whatever feels right for them. No, no, no, no. You train up a child in the way they should go and it's not by algorithm, it's by the word of God. There's pressure. If you wanna be accepted, to be in the guild, to be in the union, the socially acceptable world means you to participate in. There's pressure and the church in Thyatira had people that were being swayed away from truth by a twisted voice. I don't know what those voices are that are moving you. Verse 20, he says that this Jezebel teaches them to commit sexual sin. Jesus says there are consequences for her and everyone who follows her. Now this isn't gonna be the nice teddy bear Jesus here. He says, I'm gonna judge people. There's consequences, not only for the one that does it,

but those that follow the one that told them to do it. Verse 21, he says, I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality. Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person and I will give to each of you whatever you deserve. I don't know about you, but I'm like, Lord, mercy, please. Mercy. Now Jesus is actually kind in this in that he's allowing for repentance to change. But if we don't change, even though we feel bothered, convicted, this could be in church on a Sunday, if we don't change, all we do is feel convicted, but we never change, we get the consequences we deserve. That's what he's saying. Some people are like, that church service was so good. Great word, Pastor Nate. And my question is, did you change? Did you do anything with it or are you just hearing it all the time? Am I another one of your algorithms? Now I get encouraged when I read that he's the one who searches out thoughts and intentions of every person. Because I talk to him, I confess my sin to him. My heart is right before him.

I'm not a perfect person, but I'm reminded of 2 Chronicles 16, nine. The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. He actually, when he goes and looks and he sees me, he's gonna help me get stronger because I'm endeavoring to change and turn to him. But he also says this when he's talking, not everybody in the audience is doing it. Not everybody is full of sin. You know, when you preach on sin in a church, I'm not trying to kill everybody. I only want the Holy Spirit to hit the one that needs it, not the one that needs it. I only want the Holy Spirit to hit the one that needs it so they can be set free, right? So Jesus is essentially saying, I know it's not everybody. And he moves on in verse 24. He says, but I also have a message for the rest of you. He's talking to us, right? In Thyatira, who have not followed this false teaching. And then he references deeper truths as they call them, the depths of Satan, actually. I'm gonna continue in what Jesus is encouraging us with, but he does reference this delusion, this heresy that people were beginning to follow. It's a reference to a heresy that was being taught by. thumb that basically viewed the serpent or Satan as the hero in Genesis. So they were taking, even amongst Christians, they were trying to say, there's more secret

knowledge. See, the serpent was trying to help Adam and Eve get more secret knowledge, and God didn't want them to have it, and so I've got that secret knowledge, come with me. And that voice of the serpent still is in action today, and voices of people that are trying to lull people in the church away, did you hear about this, this secret thing in Revelation, and they make a whole doctrine about it. And Tucker Carlson puts it out on a podcast and everybody believes it. I'm just telling you, be careful, because Tucker Carlson and anybody else out there, if they are not under the authority of Jesus, if they are not submitted in a church and not under authority, then their advice is not something that you want to follow for the rest of your life. This is not something you should be following. I'm not coming after Tucker in general, I just said a name that popped into my head. I'm just saying this, we've got to be careful about the people we listen to. Ah, I better watch it, I'm going to start going down the route. The secret sect, this heresy, is another term for it, is Gnosticism. And they'll twist truth, and evil will be called good, and good will be called evil. And the Jezebel of Thyatira had led some astray. But Jesus has a word for those who didn't take the bait. They closed the door and stayed faithful to the Lord. They didn't let them in. He says this in verse 24, I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come. To all who are victorious who obey me to the very end, to them I will give authority over all the nations. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give them the morning star. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.

He says I'm not going to hold back anything, I'm going to help you go on, but I do expect you to do this. Hold tightly to what you have. Keep your grip. Turn to the person next to you and say keep your grip. In other words, don't let go. People will come along and they want to steal what you have. Don't lose your faith, your focus. Stay focused. Jesus is coming again. And to all who are victorious, the people that hang in there, they obey to the end, and He says I'll give them authority to smash clay pots. That's actually a quote from Psalm chapter 2. And Jesus is pulling, if you want to do a little research this week, read Psalm 2, 8 and 9. But all the way through, this could be laid over this entire passage where Jesus is addressing the church at Thyatira. He's essentially saying, listen, I'm going to conquer the world and you're going to be with me in it. Thyatira, you're kind of an inconsequential, overlooked city that nobody talks about. But in the end, if you hold on, I'm going to make you part of my winning team. You get the rewards with it. And He says, and I will give them the morning star. The morning star is Jesus. This is Jesus. Jesus is saying, hey, listen, I'm not just asking you to be a part of an organization, but I am the morning star and I will come and be with you. The morning star was something to look forward to, aspire to. It had to do with authority and it had to do with messianic leadership and how Jesus would be the Messiah.

It also had to do with the culture around them in the Roman, Greco-Roman era of that time, that the Caesars, the Roman Caesars, they saw themselves to be stars. They called them morning stars. And Jesus is saying, hey, listen, all those brutal rulers, those Caesars, those Roman emperors and the people that are crushing the world, they may have power, but they have a power that stays. out there. He says, I will give you me. I will be your morning star. I will step in and have relationship with you. This is the promise of Revelation. It's not about the end time signs and wonders. It's not about all the things that happen. Really, it's about Jesus saying, I want to be with my people. No matter where you are in the planet, no matter what you're going through, whatever your experience has been, I want to be with you. It's relational. Jesus wants to be with us. And finally, he says, anyone with ears to hear, must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To the churches, the plural churches, not just the church at Thyatira. But he's saying, out of all of this stuff, listen, what is the Spirit saying to you? Out of all the things that I preached this morning, what is the Spirit saying to you? Let the churches hear and understand what he is saying to the churches. He's saying, for all of us to shut the door. Everybody says, shut the door. I got an old Christian song in my head. Shut the door, keep out the devil. Shut the door, keep the devil in the night. Shut the door, keep out the devil. Light the candle, everything's all right. It's in my head. I can't get it out. All day long. Shut the door. Everybody says shut the door. We can't let compromise in the voices into our lives. We need to be aware and deal with the voices that are taking our soul and our spirit and our values and watering it down or changing

it into something else. Be aware and do something about those voices that sneak inside the church. Where's the door cracked open in your life? Are the people you listen to the most submitted to Jesus and under his authority? Repent, do something and change direction. And then he essentially says, hold on. Everybody say, hold on. Keep your grip. Don't let go of it. People want to, I used to do a fumble drill with, when I coach football with our kids, because I wanted to teach them, hold on to the football. And the enemy wants to knock the football out. And I would just say, don't let go of what God has given you. Don't let it slip away. Moms and dads, stay on fire for Jesus so your kids can see you. Stay on fire for Jesus as you get older and your body changes and things aren't the same way as you used to. I don't have as much energy as I used to have. So at this stage of my life, I've got to give everything I can. And I don't want to lose my grip on my relationship with the Lord. I want to keep the purpose clear in my life. I don't want to just go into relax mode and let somebody else take over. I want to do what God is calling me to do in this moment. I want that for you. Keep your grip. Would you stand with me today? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Church, can you just lift your voices before the Lord right now, even your hands where you're open. Allow the Holy Spirit begin to speak to you. Let the living words of Jesus speak into our lives today. What is he saying to you? Is he saying, hold on, hang in there? Is he saying, hey, I see you. You haven't compromised. You haven't given in. Don't lose heart. Stay in the journey. Perhaps you've cracked the door and you've got to shut the door. You've got to get some of that influence out of your life that's actually eroding the purity of what God

has put in your story. What are those things? What are those things? Hallelujah. We're going to sing in a moment, but before we do, Father, we just come before you right now. We ask, oh God, that you would move amongst us. Holy Spirit, help us understand, hear and understand what you're saying to us as a church. And I pray, God, that we would be more than hearers. We would be doers with what you've put inside of us. Father, I thank you that you know us better than we know ourselves. In fact, you said in your word, Lord, that you look around and you see the works that we do. And for those that have been laboring, and those that have been serving, and those that have been given their best, I pray, God, that you would see them and strengthen them. That you'd be reminded that you are for them and not against them. That the eyes of the Lord that are searching throughout the whole earth, Lord, that you would strengthen those, those of us that look to you. I pray, God, strengthen them. And then I pray for those in the church, oh God, that perhaps we've allowed the algorithms of the world around us to move. and affect how we see things. I pray, oh God, that you'd help us to close the door. Help us, Lord, to shut the door and keep the devil out. And Lord, let the kingdom of God rule and reign in our souls. And Lord, it's not easy in an age, Lord, where it's all around us. I pray that, Lord, you would give us your spirit. Lord, that you would give us your strength, that you would give us the love for the word of God, that you would give us a love to stay

and pray in the spirit, that, Lord, we would not just operate out of our flesh, but the fruit of the spirit would flow out of us and how we treat our spouse and how we treat our kids and how we treat our co-workers. I pray, God, Lord, that the kingdom of God would come on earth as it is in heaven, and your kingdom would be stronger than the kingdoms of this world, that, Lord, every knee is gonna bow someday. Every knee is gonna confess. Tongue is gonna confess that you are Lord, and I pray in Jesus' name that, Lord, we would be ready for those moments, ready for your return. Have your way, Jesus. Have your way, Jesus. We thank you, Father.