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All right, so the reason I wanted to read through that chapter is we have the parable there of the pound that was given to the servants, and that's gonna play into the sermon as we go through it. So I'm gonna be preaching basically on the church in Thyatira, okay? We're continuing this series on the seven churches of Revelation. We're now up to church number four that's mentioned there, the church in Thyatira, so please take your Bibles and go to Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two, and look at verse number 18. Revelation chapter two, verse 18. So just a reminder, we're going through these churches so we can see what God commends in the works and things that they do, and also we're looking at the things that God criticizes them of, the things they need to change, the things they need to repent, so we can examine ourselves, okay? So we can look at New Life Baptist Church and say, Lord, the things, the works that we're doing, are you rejoicing in those works? Lord, are the certain things that we're doing that you would be upset about? Are the certain things that you would not be happy about? Are the certain things that you would give us space to repent of? And so this is so important for us to always be willing to examine our church. You know, we can't be so defensive of the way we do things, you know, and just be stuck in our ways. We should always be asking the Lord, Lord, show us as a church how we can improve not just our everyday lives, but how we can improve ourselves as a local congregation, as a church, as a candlestick, you know, that belongs to the Lord. So look at verse number 18, Revelation chapter two, verse 18. The Bible says, and unto the angel of the church in thy attire write, these things saith the Son of God, who have his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass. Now, I love this because we think of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. You know, when someone says, you know, what speaks to you of Jesus Christ, my immediate thought is to go to the Lamb of God, you know, the one who was meek and lowly, the one who came to, you know, seek and to save them which are lost, the one which came to die for my sins, and all of that is true. You know, we look at Jesus Christ through that lens of the great ministry he had for us, you know, 2,000 years ago. But here Christ comes and presents himself in a very interesting way, in a very scary way. I mean, if you saw a man standing before you with eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet unto like fine brass, wouldn't that draw your attention? I mean, wouldn't you go, wow, this is interesting. Like, what in the world? What is this sight that I'm looking at? And we get a little bit of what Jesus Christ is like in his resurrected glorified body there, okay? And he's coming not just there as the Lamb of God, the meek and lowly, but he's presenting himself there as one of authority, one of power, one who is the head of this church there in Thyatira. Just look back one chapter earlier, Revelation chapter one, verse 12. Revelation chapter one, verse 12. We see the description there of John. He says, and I turned to see, Revelation one, 12, and I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were like white as wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. You know, just the way Christ speaks, it sounds like just rushing many, many rivers of water, just a power in his voice. And verse 16, in his right hand, he had seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Look at this. And when I saw him, this is John, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. Man, when John sees the sight of Jesus now, John spent three years with Christ, you know, working with him as his disciple. Okay, he saw Christ. He was, you know, close to the Lord. You know, the Bible describes John as one whom the Lord loved. He was very close with the Lord, and yet when he sees him in his glorified resurrected body there, man, he's fearful. He falls at the feet of the Lord. And the reason I wanna draw your attention there, back in Revelation 2.18, is that this is how Christ presents himself today for us. Okay, just keep in mind the God that we worship, the God that we serve, okay? Please don't let church become this mundane activity that you do. You know, you don't give it much thought. You come to church, you do your part. You know, you do it just to please the Lord, or you just do it to please, you know, your mom and dad or something like that. You know, please your husband, please your wife. No, you come because the Lord Jesus Christ wants you in his church, okay? He wants you to be there, and he's coming, he speaks to you, he presents himself to you with authority, with power. I mean, if Christ was here right now physically, it would all drop down to our faces in fear, like John the Apostle was, okay? So please take this body, and yes, the church is called the body of Christ. You know, take it seriously. You know, appreciate the fact that you have this church. Please never let it become this mundane act, okay? And that's how the Lord presents himself to the church in Thyatira here. Look at verse number 19. He says, I know thy works, okay? So these are great qualities that this church in Thyatira had. They had works, not just the works. He says, you've got charity and charity, you know? What's charity? That's love, but it's more than just the feelings of love. It's love in action. You know, they were putting their love to the test. They were loving the brethren. Then it says, and serve us. You know, this church was a church that served the Lord God, a church that served the brethren. You can see there's unity here in this church. And faith, there in verse 19, hey, these guys held to the promises they found in the word of God. They were a faithful church. They believed the Lord. And it says, and thy patience. Hey, they were patient. You know, kind of like Abraham when we looked at him. You know, many years passing by, you know, Abraham, you know, seeing the promises of God remain faithful. You know, he's called the father of faith. This church had the same attributes like Abraham, not just faithful, but they were patient. They waited upon the Lord. They weren't in any kind of rush. You know, they sat, they are, you know, stuck to the timing, the light that the Lord shown them, and they were patient with the Lord. And this is, and thy works. So why is he mentioned the works again? It says, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first. So Christ commends them for their first works. The first works they were doing early on as a church, but it says your later works are more than the first. You know, as you're going on as a church, you're doing more and more works. You're doing more and more activities. And the Lord is commending them because they're adding to their church, okay? They're not decreasing in their works. They're increasing in their works. And the Lord's saying, man, they were good the first time. And even now at the last, they're even better. They're even more, you know, well done. You know, all these things, you see this church had a lot of things together, right? You know, they had great fellowship looks like, great service, great charity, all these things. They were faithful church, and they were working hard for the Lord, all right? And in saying that, it surprises me, the problem that they had, right? Because you would think this church looks like they're doing so well. You know, what could possibly Jesus, what could Jesus possibly say, you know, that he has to correct them on? Because look at verse number 20. It says, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee. Look at this, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself like prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. God, man, that's horrible. It is horrible, right? That there's this prophetess so-called, that she calls herself, causing his disciples to commit fornication, and eat food sacrificed unto idols. And they have a woman preacher behind the pulpit there. So look, this just shows me, that this church that's messed up, you know, a lot of us, when we see a messed up church like this, you know, we would not give them any benefit of the doubt. But what shows me here is that even Jesus Christ, before he just points out their failures, he says, look, you got some good stuff going on as well. I mean, even Jesus Christ is able to see the positives in the church, even though they're really messed up. I mean, really messed up, really messed up, okay? But they are doing some great works. They do have some great faith. What this shows me then is that there were, you know, this was a church that was kind of divided in their spirituality. You know, you had certain believers that were strong in the Lord, certain believers that were doing everything they can to serve the Lord. But then maybe the church was split down the half, you know, split down the middle, where the other half, you know, are wanting this woman to preach them. You know, and they're swallowing up all the false teaching that's coming their way, you know, through her. And one thing I'm reminded of, because Jesus Christ speaks of their works, you know, being more than the first and stuff like that, this is a hard work in church. And one thing that I've noticed in churches, okay, I'm not saying this is a general rule of thumb, but sometimes some churches can get so busy, okay? There's so many activities, so many ministries, so many works, okay? There is, you know, you start putting other people in authority that should not be in authority, okay? I'll give you one example, and I've seen this, you know, in a local Baptist church here in Australia, where, you know, the church had many ministries, okay? And you know, as you guys know, many Baptist churches have Sunday school as a ministry. Well, this particular church I'm thinking about lost many, many members, okay? And what they should do, and you lose many, many members, you would think you should decrease the activities, you should decrease the ministry, you know, tailor the church to the people that are there, right? The more people there are, hey, the more you can do. But if you've got less people, you're not gonna be able to do the same level activities, otherwise you're stretching people to the max. You're making people do, you know, stretching them to do more and more works because there are other people that were doing them that are no longer doing them. Well, in this case, you know, this church had lost so many people, they also lost many children. And so really there was no need for a Sunday school ministry, okay? No need at all, you know, because there's only one or two kids, all right? Anyway, I visited this church, I won't mention which church it is, I visited this church, and they're, hey, take your kids to Sunday school. And I'm thinking about, I mean, look, I did allow them to go to Sunday school, but I'm wondering, but why? There's no kids here, there's no one. And, you know, there's barely a church there, but then you've gotta pull out an adult, you know, to teach the kids. So you're pulling out half the church literally, all right, because it's a small church, and you're putting someone in place there. Now, here's the thing, that woman had a short skirt, you know? That woman was not dressed appropriately. But this is what happens when you're trying to hold onto works, you're trying to hold onto these ministries, these activities, it sort of doesn't matter anymore, you just put whoever he's able to, you put them, and you put them in some position of authority. You put them in some position in the church, okay? Why? Just to maintain the works, just to maintain the activities. And you start compromising in the authorities, the teachers that you put in place in your church. This is what I think has happened, is that, you know, like us, some churches only have like one preacher, whereas obviously I'm the main preacher, but then I also allow other men in the church to preach and get up and preach, okay? Nothing wrong with that. But then it seems like they had a hole in the preaching schedule, you know? Well, who's able to preach? Well, Jezebel puts a hand up. Yeah, I'll preach. You know, I'm a prophetess. You know, the Lord has called me to preach, you know? And so they put her behind the pulpit. They put her there in a preaching position. That's how I see this playing out, because they're so busy. There's so many other things to take care of, right? And we need to be careful then, as a church, as we grow, as more people get added to the church, you know, we'll be able to do more things. Yeah, great, we'll be able to do more things. But hey, we should never compromise. We should only do further works, further activities, if we have the people available to make that work, okay? We should never stretch ourselves out so far that now we're calling upon people that are unqualified, people that shouldn't be teaching the church, and put them in a position of authority, okay? That's what I believe is played out here, because otherwise they're a very good church, okay? So that there must have been a clear division between people that were there, people that were very faithful, and people that had become very compromising, all right? Now, keep your finger there, and go to First Timothy chapter two, verse 11. First Timothy chapter two, verse 11. By the way, this woman Jezebel was a self-ordained prophetess, okay? Be careful about people that ordain themselves. They give themselves titles in a position of authority that said there, thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess. Jesus says, I never called her a prophetess. I never called her to be preaching behind the pulpit, but she calleth herself. You know, she's self-ordained, right? I'm a prophetess, you know, to teach and seduce my servants. Now, First Timothy chapter two, verse 11. First Timothy chapter two, verse 11. The Bible says, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. Now, we've seen other passages where God commands women to be silent in the churches. You say, well, you know, again, just a reminder, when are they to be silent? When it's time to learn things, right? When the teaching is happening, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, meaning that, you know, she's putting herself under the authority of the preacher, okay? And then there is verse number 12, but I suffer not a woman to teach. Hey, he says, I don't know, you know, I allow not a woman to teach. And what did it say about the church in Thyatira? Jesus says, because thou sufferest, because thou allowest that woman, Jezebel, which called herself a prophetess, to teach, okay? And the teaching of God here is that he does not allow a woman to teach in the church. Look, I will never have, you know, a woman teach here, you know, either behind this pulpit, near the Sunday school. I don't even believe women should be teaching children in Sunday school, okay? Because they're meant to remain silent, okay? Meant to remain silent when it comes to time of teaching. Now, that's not to say women are stupid. Women are dumb. Many women are more spiritual than their own husbands. And there are many women that can be more godly. We see great godly, faithful women in the Bible, okay? But there are roles and there are responsibilities that God has given us, okay? God makes clear distinctions between man and woman, you know? Women should look like women. Women should act like women. Women should act the way God has instructed them to act in the Bible. Men should be manly, right? Men should be the way God has instructed us to be, you know? Men should be clearly men and not effeminate, you know, not watered down. Men should take leadership, okay? And that's what, you know, men are called to take on leadership positions in the home, you know, and even in the church. And then it says there in verse number 12, did I read verse, anyway, I'll read again. But I suffered not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. Why? For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression, okay? Now here's the thing. It's just the natural order of things. God created Adam, man, then he created Eve to be subject unto Adam, okay? Just how God instituted marriage and the family, the same principle there is applied to the church, okay? Where men are to assert authority, okay? Men are to show authority in the church and women are to be in subjection, okay? Now let me just make this very clear. Ladies, I'm not your authority outside of the church, okay? Once church is over, you are fully under the authority of your husband, okay? Or girls under the authority of your father, okay? My authority extends during church and that's it, okay? I'm not here to ask you how to cook a meal for me or do special privileges or anything like that. No, my authority is within the church, okay? Make that very clear. And I do believe women have a lot of good things to do. The Bible teaches that, and I won't turn there, but the Bible teaches that the ladies that are a little bit more elderly, the ladies that are more experienced are to help teach and instruct the younger ladies, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be keepers at home. These things, we won't turn there right now. But hey, women, you are called to teach to some capacity, but you're to teach women of less experience that haven't gone for the same experiences as you, you know? Now, what does that mean? Another thing that I'll never have in this church is we'll never have a women's church ministry. Okay, women's church ministry. A lot of churches have this, where basically they have the women come to church, okay? It's a church ministry. Women come to church, and then there's a woman that'll preach behind the pulpit or something, all right? Just to the women, you know? They try to get around this, and they'll have a woman preach to the women. I would never have that as a church ministry, ever, okay? Why, say why? Because church, okay? Church means congregation. You know, church is the general assembly. Church is the congregation of men, women, and children, okay? So we can't call it a church ministry if it's just for women, you understand? If it's just for women, it's not church, okay? Because you're excluding people from the church. So it's not a church ministry. Now, I have the men's leadership class, okay? On the last, usually the last Fridays of the month, okay? And that is something only men are allowed to participate in, but everyone is welcome. You know, man, woman, and child is welcome. You know, if you wanna come to that, you can come and participate. I call that a church ministry because it's available to the entire church, but only men can participate in that ministry, okay? Because it's about authority, it's about leadership, it's about all those kinds of things, okay? But that is rightly a church ministry. It's available to everybody. It is available to everybody. And again, you've still got a man preaching behind the pulpit, okay? But a woman's church ministry doesn't make any sense because if it's church, you gotta have everybody there. And as soon as you have a woman, now she's having authority over the man, and that would be in contradiction to the Bible, contradiction to the scriptures. Now, let me add one more thing to that, though. Ladies, can you use this building? Absolutely, all right? If there's some activity that you guys wanna do as ladies, you know, you wanna have a ladies' morning tea or something else for people to do, right? Or some type of homeschooling activity. You know, you wanna get the kids together and do some type of thing. Ladies, you have some skill that you wanna teach the kids. You think, hey, instead of just teaching my kids, maybe it'd be worthwhile that all the kids in the church learn. I'm all for that, okay? But I wouldn't call that a church ministry. You know, you can use the building because the building's not the church. The building are the people. It's the congregation. You can use the building if you want. So don't let me discourage you from those kinds of activities. If you guys wanna get together and you wanna use this building, I'm all for it, but it's not a church ministry, okay? It's just something you guys are doing together, and no problem there. For a lady, to show other ladies or to take some leadership in that area, I'm all for that, okay? But it's not a church ministry, okay? I would not be promoting that as a church ministry, okay? Neither is the, you know, men, sometimes we get together and we have our, you know, on Friday mornings, our Bible study. That's not a church ministry, okay? That's not a church ministry. You know, I never stand behind the pulpit, you know, promoting that as something, hey, church, this is going on. You know, you're working to be part of it. No, because it's just a handful of us that get up in there in the morning, and it's just some bit of fellowship, bit of friend and fellowship. I don't call that a church ministry, okay? It's not something that's available to the entire church to come. So for me, church ministry is ought to be something where the entire church is able to, or allowed or able to be part of, okay? And if that's happening, then a woman shouldn't be teaching everybody there, because that includes men as well, all right? So there's something else about this church that this woman's doing, okay? Not only is there a woman teacher, not only is she called Jezebel, now I don't know if her name is Jezebel, literally, or if she's representing Jezebel of the Old Testament, like a type, if you want, you know, of Jezebel and the Old Testament. We'll have a look at Jezebel later on. But one thing I also want you to notice is how is this church different to the church in Pergamos? So if you remember the church in Pergamos, just the previous church before, they were also committed fornication, eating things sacrificed unto idols, if you remember that, okay? And they called that the way of Balaam, if you remember that, how Balaam had instructed Balak to do those things, if you remember that teaching. Just cast your eyes down to Revelation 2, verse 14, please. Revelation 2, verse 14, have a look at this. Because it's very similar, but there is one key difference here in Revelation 2, verse 14. It says, but I have a few things against thee, so this is Pergamos, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication, okay? So what's the difference? Remember how I told you Balaam operated behind the scenes? He wasn't the one doing wrong, necessarily, but he was influencing others to do wrong, okay? Whereas this church in Thyatira, Jezebel's just up there in front of everybody teaching people to do wrong. It's not behind the scenes. Everybody knows this woman is teaching the believers to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed unto idols. It's not a secret. You can't even get away with saying, well, Lord, I didn't know Balaam was in our midst. Okay, I didn't know we had a false prophet in our midst. This is a really bad state for this church because they know full well this woman's teaching heresy. They know full well this woman has taken some level of authority. And this is, you know, men, when you're weak, okay, that's when women will stand up and trample over you, okay? I'm not saying all women, of course not, but I'm taking Jezebels, okay? There are bad women out there. There are women there that just want to destroy men, that want to take authority in churches, and well, there's a lot of them. There's a lot of them out there, especially in the charismatic Pentecostal world. So many women want to put themselves up in authority. They're all Jezebels, okay? And look, yes, maybe on television, the things they teach might contain certain truths, but I tell you what, I mean, if this is the word of God, okay, I have no doubt these women in authority that are well-known and influencing, you know, men, weak men out there, I have no doubt they're also committing fornication and causing people to think sacrifice unto idols. They're saying, oh, no, that can't be true. Well, then the Bible's not true, okay? This is what's happening, okay? These women teach heresy, okay? They teach false doctrine because they've been deceived by the devil like Eve was deceived by the devil. Again, that's not to say men cannot be deceived. I'm not saying that. It's just that women are more easily or more likely to be deceived by the devil than what men are, okay? So, you know, I don't want any woman here to think that I think lesser of them. I do not, you know? If you are doing your role, if you are following after the ways of the Lord, you can be greater than any man, okay? If you're following after faithfully doing your part as the Lord commands, you could be a more faithful believer than any man in this church. You know, if you're doing your part that God has asked you to do. All right, let's look at Jezebel in the Old Testament a little bit now. Jezebel, please go to 1 Kings 16. 1 Kings 16. I mean, if her name was Jezebel in real life, I always think, what are you thinking, parents? Don't you know about Jezebel in the Old Testament? You know, it's pretty well recorded. You know, there's a lot about her in the Old Testament. I mean, and that's why I think maybe this woman isn't, her name's not really Jezebel, but just she's being called Jezebel because, you know, the Lord is reminded of her. She's all the same spirit, in a sense, of Jezebel of the Old Testament. That's how I look at that. But let's have a look at this. 1 Kings 16. 1 Kings 16. So yeah, you can read about Jezebel in the book of 1 Kings. There's quite a bit about her, but I was looking at her life just quickly once again, and there were three things that really stood out to me, three things that made her, you know, show her to be an exceedingly sinful woman. 1 Kings 16, verse 30. And by the way, she married a weak man, a weak king. That was King Ahab, you know? And King Ahab. 1 Kings 16, verse 30. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the sons of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbeil, king of the Zittionites, and went and served Baal and worshiped him, okay? So the first thing you see that Jezebel does is she turns the heart of this king to worship a false god, you know, Baal. Now, Ahab's just a stupid man, a stupid king. Look at verse 31 again. It says, and it came to pass, as it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the sons of Nebat. He goes, look, him deciding to take a wife that was from another people, people that worshiped a false god, for him to sin against the Lord in this way, Baal says it was just a light thing for him. He didn't give it a second thought. It's like, well, I'm gonna marry whoever I want. If she's a non-believer, who cares? If she worships a false god, who cares? I mean, this king Ahab has no spirituality about him, you know? And you see his story, man. This guy's a wimp of a man, you know? This man just allows his wife to just walk all over him. But the first thing that you see there of Jezebel is that she influenced the king to worship a false god, even though he was already wicked, you know, in his heart. But she was able to do that. Go to chapter 18 now, 1 Kings 18, verse three. 1 Kings 18, verse three. What else did she do? 1 Kings 18, verse three. The Bible says here, and Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. Now, Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. I feel sorry for Obadiah, because it says he fears the Lord, right? So it sounds like a man of faith, you know, a saved man. He has a fear of God. Unfortunately, he's working for this wicked king. Unfortunately, he's a governor for the house of this wicked king. But look at verse number four. For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, listen, when it says cut off, it means she's murdered them. She's put them to death. She's killed the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took in 100 prophets and hid them by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. So this Obadiah, this man that feared the Lord greatly, knowing full well what the queen was doing, right, killing the prophets of the land. Hey, she was after, you know, she was persecuting the people of God. She wanted to kill the prophets, not only turn the hearts of Israel against the Lord, not only worship another God, but then kill the people of God, kill the leaders, kill the spiritual leaders of prophets. You know, we see Obadiah just being a great man where he saves 100 of them. You know, it seems like maybe in two caves, 50 in one cave, 50 in another cave, and he would bring them bread and water, you know, keep them safe from the persecution of Jezebel. And so the second sin, great sin she committed was murdered numerous prophets of God, you know? And the last, and we won't go into this because it'll take time to read the story, but the last great sin that I see her commit is she ordered to have Naboth. Naboth had a vineyard, and King Ahab wanted that vineyard for himself. And Naboth goes, no, I'm not gonna sell you my vineyard. You know, it belonged to my father, it belonged to my grandfather, you know, and I've inherited, this is mine, you know? And so King Ahab's all upset, you know, he's all saddened by it. Then Jezebel comes along and goes, what are you doing? You're the king, you know? And she, you know, conspires with a few reprobates basically to make some false witnesses against Naboth, like a wicked man. Then Naboth was taken out and stoned to death, and then King Ahab was able to basically take the land, the vineyard, off Naboth. But basically the third great sin that I see her commit is that she conspired to have Naboth killed and to steal his land and his vineyard. They seem to be the three great sins that we read about in the Bible with Jezebel. And again, the Jezebel that we see there in the book of Revelation, she's self-ordained. You know, she says, look, the Lord's called me to be a prophetess, and I have no doubt that she had the same spirit, the same heart as the Jezebel in the Old Testament, okay? So just there, just to go through Jezebel in the Old Testament in case you weren't that familiar with her, obviously a very wicked woman who basically, you know, ordered King Ahab around. You know, she had the authority over the king as it were, and yeah, just a very wicked, wicked woman. And go back to Revelation chapter two, please, verse 21. Revelation chapter two, verse 21. I personally, I don't see the likelihood that we could ever have a Jezebel in our church. Like that would come up here and actually be in that position of authority. I can't see that happening in a million years. But again, I don't know, generations change, right? Things can change. And so children, please take heed. You know, the days when you're the adults, you know, when pastors are of your generation, you know, take heed of these words of God. I don't want you to cave in. It's already happening in our, you know, look at the churches around us. It's already happening. You know, women taking positions of authority. You know, when I was in Chile, I was in some fundamentalist churches, and of course the men preached the key sermons, okay? But a lot of those churches, Baptist, Presbyterian, you know, independent Baptist even, they had women who would basically coordinate the service. You know, so she would call the pastors to come up and preach. You know, they would do the song reading. They would do the Bible reading. You know, they even gave sometimes little teachings toward everybody. I'm like, I'm so uncomfortable here. You know, it's like, but I wanted to be in church as well. It's sort of like, you be in church or do you put up with this stuff, you know? But it wasn't like obviously a full-blown sermon, but it was enough to make, you know, the spirit within me grieve. You know, the grief and the spirit of God, there's problems here. And I would ask, why is this happening? Where are the men? It's like, oh, the men are too busy. The men are too busy working, and the women want to stand up, and take authority in the church. So, you know, they allow them, boy. And these are supposed to be fundamentalist churches, you know? So let's take heed, because it can happen. It can happen here. We can't allow it, not because we don't like women. No, it's because women have their proper role, you know, in the church and in, you know, in your day-to-day life. So back to verse 21. Revelation chapter two, verse 21. This is Jesus speaking. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. I mean, sometimes I'm like, Jesus gave a room to repent? I mean, again, just the long suffering of God. You know, sometimes our measure of what's mercy and patience is not on the same page as the Lord God, okay? Even Jesus gives her time to repent. I don't know if this Jezebel represents a safe woman or not. I'm not sure, okay? But he's given her space to repent from her fornication, but then it says, and she repented not, okay? Verse 22, behold. So this is one of the judgment of Christ upon her. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. So obviously she was affecting other people in the church, right? And God uses, you know, adultery here as a euphemism that she and her followers, the people that listen to her, will be cast into great tribulation. God's gonna put them through hard trials. God's going to put them through difficulties because they haven't repented of their deeds. Look at verse 23. And I will kill her children with death. Now again, is this physical children? Possibly. She is committing fornication, okay? Also, we can take this as a spiritual sense. The people that are buying into her teaching, people that are buying into her doctrine, maybe children in that sense. But look, there are believers here. I assume maybe, look, let's say Jezebel is not the believer, but that there are others in the church that are following her that are being put to death by Jesus Christ. I mean, look, God can chastise you to the point of death. Okay? If you're that wicked, if you won't repent from such wickedness, God may very well allow you to be put in a tribulation that just kills you. You know, man, what a bad place to be. You know, when we ask the Lord God, can you just kill the wicked? You know, can you kill the reprobates, the sodomites, the child abusers? But you know what? Even Christ can kill his own believers. You know, if they're that wicked, they're no longer any use to him whatsoever. Okay? Because look, you're just better off dead. You know, you're doing that much harm to my church. You're doing that much harm to my name. I'm just gonna let you die. And that's what happens. You know, let's understand who our God is. You know? He gives us space to repent. Let's not abuse the space of repentance that he allows in us. Like, you know, the wrong way of thinking is, man, I'm committing to sin. I'm not being chastised. I'm not going for any tribulation. Maybe the Lord doesn't care about it. No, he's giving you space to repent. All right? And if you don't repent, man, the chastisement will be harsh. Okay? It'll be severe. Even potentially to the point of death. Okay? Take heed, pay attention. Verse 23, Now that can be a blessing. If you're doing great works for God, you're earning rewards in heaven. Praise God. That can be a good thing. But also, Jesus Christ is looking at this false teaching, this woman, the works of iniquity, the works of sin. And he's saying, look, I'm gonna give you according to those works as well. Now let me say this. God will never cast you into hell fire if you're a believer. If you're a son of God, you know, a child of God, he will never cast you into hell. But he could very well penalize you severely on this earth, in this life, with great chastisement and give you according to works here on this world. Okay? Now I do believe there is a double application to this. Please keep your finger, then go to 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse five. 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse five. Because, brethren, let's say hypothetically, we had a Jezebel right now preaching behind this pulpit. Hypothetically, okay? Now, I guess I'm talking to the men here. You know, what would you do? What would you do if we had a Jezebel right here? Just right now preaching. I mean, and let's say I'm away. I'm away at a conference or something like that, right? What would you do? Yeah, I mean, I know you'd expect a pastor to step in, but wouldn't you tell the woman to just shut up, sit down? Actually, not even sit down. Get out of this church. Okay? I mean, I would expect that. I would expect that. I would expect that from myself. Okay? Get out of here. You know, that place church discipline, not just just preaching. Okay, that could be my mistake of allowing someone to do that, but just teaching people to commit fornication. That's what you kick someone out of church about. Okay? That woman should have been kicked out of church for her fornication. 1 Corinthians chapter five, please. Verse five. 1 Corinthians chapter five is the chapter about church discipline, about kicking certain people out of the church, and fornication is one of those things that you're meant to kick someone out of. Look at verse number five. What's the purpose of church discipline? What's the purpose of kicking someone out of church? To deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Okay? So church discipline for an unrepentant sinner may very well cause that person to die. You know, when you kick someone out, you're basically saying, Lord, remove your protection away from that person, remove your blessings away from that person, and just allow Satan to destroy them. That's church discipline. You know, I hope you never have to go for church discipline. I hope if you're even near that point to church discipline, you just say, you know what? I better repent of this. I better fix this up with my church. Get up here, apologize for the sins you've done, so we don't have to kick you out of church. Repent from those sins, okay? Not for salvation, of course, but to maintain good fellowship within the church. You know, I personally don't hate you if you've committed some of these sins, but I fear the Lord, okay? And you know, the Lord instructs us to kick that person out. Otherwise, you may end up with having Jezebel preaching behind the pulpit. Is that what you want? No, we'd rather take the first step and kick them out of the church, and if their punishment is to die, then so be it. But hopefully they get those things right and get back into church, get back into fellowship before that happens, okay? So I do see a double application here. Number one, just a reminder that we need to carry out church discipline, okay? And let me tell you, if I know someone's in fornication, like I've had this experience down in Sydney, I will deal with it, okay? And obviously, I will deal with it in the appropriate way, because obviously, sometimes we're gonna have people that are new visitors, that are living in fornication, they don't really know any better. Of course, I'm gonna be more gentle with those people, but nevertheless, I'm gonna tell them exactly what the Bible says. I'm not going to sugarcoat the message. I'm gonna tell them, look, this is what the Bible says. We can't have you in church as long as you're committing this sin, you know? And let me promise you, I've already made those calls sometimes, okay? I've haven't had to put someone through church discipline, but obviously, if someone's a brother, if someone's well-known in the church, and they've committed these kinds of sins, they are to be kicked out of the church. And not as a secret. The entire church needs to be aware of it, okay? The entire church needs to know exactly why that person's being kicked out, all right? Double application, and I'm just gonna quickly read to you from Psalm 7-9. It says, oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just. Righteous, God trieth the hearts and the reigns. And what we saw in this church here, God said, look, I want the church to know that I try the hearts and the reigns, okay? And what that means is sometimes it's not obvious to us, because we only see the outward appearance. I don't see your hearts. You know, I don't see the inner thoughts that you have, but God sees them, okay? Just a reminder, you know, you may not show wickedness in your physical life. You know, you might be able to hide it from other believers, but just a reminder that, you know, even God can see your inner thoughts, you know, your deepest thoughts and the wickedness that is there. And you need to make sure that you try to clean that out out of your insights, because the Lord's aware of those sins, okay? Now, the second application, I do believe, if you go, if you're in Revelation chapter two, go back there, Revelation chapter two, verse 22. I think it's no, it's not, what's the word I'm looking for? I don't think it's any coincidence that in verse number 22, it says that she'll be cast, or sorry, yeah, cast into great tribulation, great tribulation. Now, that term, that phrase, great tribulation, only appears three times in your Bible, okay? The first time is in Matthew 24, which is about the end times and about the tribulation. The coming of the Lord, that's the first time. The second time is here in this chapter, Revelation chapter two. And the third time is Revelation chapter seven, okay? In Revelation chapter seven, it's after the rapture, when all the tribes, all the nations, you know, of all tongues, of all tribes, nations, you know, appear in heaven, worshiping God at his throne. And the question gets asked where they come from. And, you know, these are they which came out of great tribulation by the way. These are they which came out of great tribulation, the Bible says. So we know that great tribulation, when that phrase is used in Matthew 24 and in Revelation chapter seven, it's about the future events, okay? It's about that time of the Antichrist when he comes and persecutes the believers. And so I don't say, even though this is not about end times, it's about a local church, you know, first century church, I don't believe it's a coincidence that she'll be cast into great tribulation. And I think the teaching here, guys, is that if we are the final generation, okay, we are the generation that goes through the great tribulation we are the generation that sees the Antichrist rise and he starts persecuting believers, that your spiritual walk can determine how well you fare in the great tribulation. That's what I see here in this passage. Number one, if you're walking faithfully for the Lord, you know, you're going from strength to strength, you know, you're getting the gospel out, you're preaching the gospel of the kingdom to the nations, you're not hiding the fact that you're a believer, you're not hiding the gospel, you know, you're not hiding the candle under a bush or anything like that, you know. I truly believe that, look, you could lose your life, you know, we see people in the Bible lose their life and they rule in reign of Christ, we're gonna look at that later on. But I truly believe that God's gonna protect you, you know, God's going to see you through those hardships as long as you walk after his ways, you know, that he will protect you. But for the believers that just fall into wickedness, the believers that are just self-centered, you know, seeking, you know, living a life of sin and just the pleasures of this world, I just see where God's just gonna allow you to perish in the great tribulation. Not perish for his namesake, you're not gonna get any rewards for perishing, you're just gonna perish because you're a bad Christian. But God's like, you know what, there's no point of sustaining you, there's no point of protecting you during this time when the devil or the antichrist persecutes the church, you know, that, you know, you'll just be cast into the great tribulation like this Jezebel and others because you're just not doing anything for the Lord, you know, and you'd rather just purge your guys out in order for the Lord to sustain and maintain the believers that are being faithful toward him. So I do see that double application, church discipline, but also a principle to be found there about the end times, about that great tribulation period, all right. Revelation chapter two, verse 24, Revelation chapter two, verse 24. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, so for those in the church that are not believing the doctrine of Jezebel, basically, and which have not known the depths of Satan, that's how far her doctrine's gone, right, to the depths of Satan. As they speak, I will put upon you none other burden. So it says, look, for those in the church that haven't been influenced by Jezebel, aren't following Jezebel, don't know the depths of Satan as Jezebel does, I don't have any other, I'm not asking anything more from you, I'm not gonna put any other burden, you're already doing the works, you have the faith, you have the service, you have the charity, you're doing well, you just need to get rid of that woman, okay, that's basically what's going on, okay. Verse number 25, but that which ye have already, sorry, but that which ye have already, hold fast till I come. So what do they have again, the charity, service, the faith, the patience, the works, just keep going, keep going till the return of Christ, okay. Now look at verse number 26, and he that overcometh, now I believe the next part is important, because he that overcometh is every believer, okay, anyone that believes on Jesus Christ. But then it says this, and keepeth my works until the end. To him will I give power over the nations, okay. Now, so he that overcometh is one that is saved, but you're only going to be given authority and power over the nations, if you're someone that Jesus Christ said there, that keepeth his works until the end, okay, these things go hand in hand. Again, if you're just a pointless, worthless believer, like Jezebel, like lots in the Bible, okay, you might just perish in the tribulation, okay, you just have just nothing great about you, okay. But if you keep the work till the end, God's gonna give you power and authority over the nations. Now look at Revelation chapter 20, go to Revelation chapter 20, verse four, this just reminds me once again, guys, is that Jesus wants to reward us, he wants to reward us, he wants to give us gifts, not gifts, he wants to give us, you know, treasures in heaven, laying up treasure, he wants to give us positions of authority, okay, he wants to do that for us, he wants us to experience authority over the nations, he wants us to rule and reign with him, it's a big world, okay, Jesus is gonna be ruling from Jerusalem, but he also wants us to be ruling with him, okay. He wants that to be the case, and look at Revelation chapter 20, verse four. And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. Now, this is not Jezebel, Jezebel is not going to perish for the witness of Jesus, these are those that were faithful, right, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and which had not worshiped the beast, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Listen, we're all gonna be there for that thousand year period, it's a long time, it's gonna be longer than any life you could possibly live in this current body of yours, you're gonna live with Christ there for a thousand years, what are you gonna do for a thousand years? What are you gonna do? God wants you to rule and reign with him, God wants you to hold positions of authority with him, okay, and you see, look, there are thrones, and we get to sit on those thrones, as long as we're faithful toward him, as long as we're doing the works that God has asked us to do, okay, and now, what I want you to do now is go to Luke 19, so I had Nicholas read through Luke 19, so let's just look at the parable there, Luke 19 verse 11, Luke 19 verse 11, and again, guys, heaven, even the millennium, even though that's not the new heaven and the earth just yet, it's not communism, it's not a communistic world that we're gonna live in, you're not gonna get the fair share of, like not every believer's gonna be equal, okay, some of you will have authority, I mean, it's all gonna be good, it's gonna be good for everybody, don't get me wrong, okay, but you can do greater things, okay, God can use you in a greater way in the millennium and in the future heaven and earth to come, but the lesson here is in Luke 19 verse 11, because how is it, how can I have the authority? You should desire that, because Jesus wants to give it to you, okay, how can I have that kind of authority? Luke 19 verse 11, and as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear, he said, therefore, a certain nobleman, now this nobleman in the parable represents Jesus Christ, went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return, okay, so Jesus Christ, the kingdom of Christ is not the kingdoms of this world, okay, he gets the kingdom from the Father, he descends and he enforces his kingship over the earth, okay, it's not that our nations and our kingdoms are gonna bring forth the kingdom of God, no, the kingdom of God will come and all other nations and people will be subject unto that kingdom of the Lord. Verse number 12, verse 13, sorry, and he called his 10 servants and delivered them 10 pounds and said unto them, occupy till I come, but his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us, just to cut a long story short, those are the unbelieving Jews, okay, they would not have Jesus Christ to rule over them, they even say that to this day, they don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible. Verse number 15, and it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading, then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound have gained 10 pounds. He said, the Lord expects us to take the things that he's given us, you know, our time, our money, our resources, our skills, our talents, the things you're naturally, you know, good at, he wants us to use those things, he described as a pound and to put it to work, you know, to put it to work for the Lord, for his kingdom, okay, please don't waste your skills and your natural talents for this world, don't waste it for that, waste, you know, use it for the Lord, use it for his work. One day the Lord wants to know what did you do for him, he's going to reward you accordingly. Verse number 16, then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound have gained 10 pounds, and he said unto him, well, thou good and faithful servant, because thou has been faithful in a very little, thou have, sorry, have thou authority over 10 cities, okay? So this man was faithful just because look, just with a little bit, you know, look, Jesus, God's not asking this, putting this huge burden upon you, he says, look, the little that you have, use it to serve me, use it to serve me, all right? So I don't have much, you're like this person in the parable then, you have little, but use it, be profitable with what God has given you. Verse 18, and the second came saying, Lord, thy pound have gained five pounds, okay? And he said, likewise to him, be thou also over five cities. So this man, he received the same pound as the other, but he gained five pounds, okay? Instead of 10, five, so he's been given authority over five cities, now that's awesome as well. Authority over, I mean, that's awesome. You know, this man's a great man of authority, okay? He didn't do as much as the other, but still he has great privilege to serve the Lord. And I just want to show you here that the more you do for the Lord, the greater the authority, the greater the privilege you're gonna have in the millennium and the new heavens and the earth to come. Verse number 20, and another came saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin. For I feared thee because thou art an astir man, thou takest up, thou takest up what thou layest not down and reapest what thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant, thou knewest that I was an astir man, taken up that I laid not down, reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest not thou thy money into the bank, that at my coming I have acquired mine own with usury. But you could have just put into the bank, you could have made some, you know, with the interest, you could have made something on the interest if you just put that into the bank. Verse number 24, and he saith unto them that stood by, take from him the pound and give it to him that have 10 pounds. And they saith unto him, Lord, he have 10 pounds. Like, he's already got 10. So yeah, give him another pound, okay? So what I see here is that God has a set reward. So he has set treasures, set responsibilities and authorities that he wants all of us to take up on, okay? But if you don't work for the Lord, if you don't play your part, if you don't remain faithful for him, you know, the Lord may very well take what he wanted you to hold and give it to another who was faithful for him, okay? In other words, God has plenty, Jesus has plenty of rewards for all of us, okay, to participate in. But it's only gonna be, the rewards will only be given for you if you work for the Lord, okay? And then verse number 26, for I say unto you that unto everyone which have shall be given, and from him that have not, even that he have shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, these are the unbelieving Jews, but those mine enemies which would not, that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. Man, there's a greater punishment if you don't receive Christ as Savior. They'll be slayed before the Lord God, obviously cast into hellfire. He's not saying about that to the one that only had the one pound and did nothing with it. He just doesn't get the rewards. But those that would not have God, Jesus Christ to rule and reign over them, they're gonna be slain before the Lord God when he comes back. Again, he comes back with that double-edged sword that proceeds out of his mouth. Revelation chapter two, verse 27, please. Revelation chapter two, verse 27. Now, notice this about what Jesus is saying to the believers that'll rule with him, okay? He says, these are the words of Jesus. He says, and he, that being the one that Jesus rewards, he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father. Now, it's an interesting thought there because, well, actually, go to Revelation chapter 12 quickly. Revelation chapter 12, verse five. Revelation chapter 12, verse five. Revelation chapter 12, verse five. The Bible says, and she brought forth a man child, speaking of Jesus, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. Something that's very familiar to a lot of people is that when Christ comes back, he's going to come back ruling with a rod of iron, okay? With strength, with authority, with power, you know? Anyone that's in sin, anyone that's committing a criminal offense, they will not get away with it, okay? They're gonna be brought before judgment, and they're going to be punished correctly, you know, with justice. Not like the world today where things are, you know, people are being punished, you know, unjustly. No, it's going to be with justice. Jesus Christ's gonna rule with a rod of iron. But when you go back to Revelation chapter two, verse 27, he says about us, those that are faithful that do the works of God, that he or we shall rule them with a rod of iron. See, Jesus Christ wants to use us to judge. Jesus Christ wants us to make judgment calls on the wicked worlds, on those that commit sin, those that commit criminal offenses. God is entrusting us to carry through the judgment that he's given us. So how am I gonna know his judgment? Then you pick up the Bible and read it. Start now, okay? Because you may very well find yourself in the millennium in a position of authority. You want to know at least what the Bible says today, okay, in order for yourself to do a great job. And of course you will, you know, if you're in that position, because you're gonna have the new, you know, you're gonna have the new body, the new resurrected body. So you are going to be able to adjust correctly, but why wait till then? Start knowing what the Bible says today about sin and about crime, you know? Start learning now. And then it says, I'm almost done there, verse number 28, Revelation 2, 28. And I will give him the morning star, all right? I'm gonna just speed through this. I had a few points, but I'll just speed through this last point. The morning star is a title that's given to Jesus Christ. Okay? Revelation 22, verse 16 says, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. Okay? So Jesus says, look, I will give him the morning star. I will give, basically I will give him myself. Jesus Christ is gonna give us in the millennium a measure of himself, okay? In order to just correctly, just faithfully. Now there is another reference of the morning star and it's not called the morning star, but Jesus Christ is being called, or there's a reference here of the day star. Okay? The day star. It's the same idea. It's the first star that rises in the morning. And it's found in 2 Peter 1, verse 19. Second, I'll just read it to you. Don't need to turn there. 2 Peter 1, verse 19. The Bible says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. So it's saying, look, we've got a sure word of prophecy. We have the scriptures. We have the word of God. It's a light that shineth in a dark place. And that's your job in the millennium. If you're gonna be ruling and reigning with Christ, you're gonna be that light that shines in the world. All right? But then it says until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Okay? Now Jesus Christ is the word of God. Okay? The scripture here is being shown to us as a light that shines forth. But you know, we're being taught here that there's no prophecy of scripture that's of any private interpretation. You see, in the millennium, guys, if you're ruling and reigning with the Lord, if you're being given positions of authority, you're gonna have perfect understanding of the scripture. Now we're striving to have that perfect understanding today. The new man has perfect understanding, but sometimes we've got the flesh. We've got to fight that. It's hard. You know, sometimes we're blinded by our own pride, our own limits, our own flesh. But you know, there's coming a time when the day star will arise in our hearts. It's being spoken about there. The morning star, that being Jesus Christ, we're gonna be, you're gonna have the full revelation of the scripture. And so it's gonna be amazing. I can't wait to hear preaching in the millennium, you know, by God's people, by those that are without the fallen flesh, because they're gonna have perfect interpretation of the Bible. That's gonna be awesome. You know, we strive hard to do that, right? You gotta put the work in, the study in, you know, contemplate things, meditate on things, you know, try to remove heresies out of the preaching, but there's gonna come a time when we're gonna be given that morning star, and that ties in with the judgments, because we're gonna be called to judge properly, justly. Okay? And that's why, you know, the scriptures are gonna be completely open to us at that point in time. We're gonna be able to make perfect judgment, no private interpretation, okay? Unlike Jezebel, all right? And so verse number 29 there, Revelation 2, verse 29, just lastly, hear that half an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. That's to us, okay? Not just this church here, but also the Spirit is speaking these words to us. And God wants us to, you know, want those positions of authority, those rewards in heaven, okay? But he requires us, guys, to just serve him with what he's given us, the pound that he's given us. What pound has he given you? What skills, what knowledge, what attributes do you have? You know, what resources do you have at hand? Please, you know, give them to the Lord. You know, ask the Lord, how, Lord, how can you use me? You know, this is all I can do. Well, good, you know, see, ask the Lord for his leading, how he can use those skills in your life, because I want the Lord to look at you on that day and say, thou good and faithful servant, be that ruler of a ten city, but five cities or whatever. And I'll be rejoicing, you know, if we can all get some level of reward, some level of authority like that. Let's pray.