God has an encouraging word for you and me today, through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton as we head to the book of Revelation. Today's message is on the Compromised Church, and as we open God's Word together, know that we're open for you as well, connecting on our website at www.tewonline.org, and this phone number 866-899-9673.
And now, Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to get out your Bibles, because it's important for you and me always not to hear from Don, but to hear from God. This is God's Word. And I've said this, but in case you haven't been with us, and you can't see my Bible over there, but everything I'm reading to you is actually written in red.
Look, the whole Bible, every word in the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is God's inerrant, infallible Word, every word. So would you understand if I said I pay especially, I pay close attention when Jesus says it? So everything I'm reading to you, Jesus is saying. And you know, I'm going to keep saying this to you.
We've got another two weeks in this series on checking your temperature. But I'm going to keep saying this to you, because I want you to get hold of it. So in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, Jesus is speaking to the church. So if you want to put that in to America, he's not talking here to America, not talking to the nation. He's talking to the church, which is part of the nation.
So let's bring it down to you and me. So I am a believer. I've given my heart to Jesus. I am the church. Jesus said, you are the bride of Christ. Jesus tells us a lot about the church. He says, you are the church. He said, come together as a church. And when you go out, be the church. I'm going to preach on that one of these days. So he speaks to us. And there's a lot of yada yada about everybody else.
A lot of discussion and talk about everybody, what everybody should be doing. Jesus is trying to tell us that there is nothing more important than checking your own temperature. You know what Jesus said about the church? He said, we are salt and light. And if the world loses its saltiness, loses its taste, loses its light, it gets plunged into darkness.
We are salt and light. He's talking to us, talking to you, to me. You can't palm this off. Oh, well, those Republicans. Oh, well, those Democrats.
Oh, well, and you can't do it. Jesus is saying, wait a minute now, let just you and me have a little chat together here. And it's pretty straight up. By the way, he tells us this because I believe in many like me do. Right after this, Jesus comes. We've got to look at a lot of things when it comes to the coming of Jesus.
The Middle East and all the things that go on in our world. But he said, most of all, you've got to look at the church. By the way, when he says, look at the church, it's not talking about a building.
You know, that's been one of the beautiful things about COVID. So many of our churches have not been able to meet in their buildings, but the church has gone on. Because the church is not a building, it's a people. You know, it's like your house, right? You can have a big house or a not so big house. What matters is the people in the house. It's your family.
That's what matters. So here is Jesus. I want to just read to you what Jesus is saying to one group of people in a place called Thyatira.
That's the name of the church, the church at Thyatira. And I'll tell you a little bit about it in a minute. So let's read it. I'm going to be in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 18. So look on your iPhone right now, your Bible app.
Or just follow it on the screen. Just watch this. To the angel of the church in Thyatira, Jesus said, right, these are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and your perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you. Church, you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching, she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I've given her time to repent of her immorality, but she's unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering and I'll make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of their ways. I will also strike her children dead.
Can I just stop there a second, because some of you just had a heart attack. That word there in the New Testament refers to the sphere of her influence. Why? Because leaders, adults like Jezebel, influence people to become followers of their bad influence. So they suffer because of her. They're going to suffer the same fate, God says. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each one of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to a teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets, I will not impose any other burden on you, only hold on to what you have until I come back again. To the one who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over all the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter and he will dash them to pieces like pottery, just as I have received authority from my Father. And I will also give that person the morning star. So the one who has an ear to hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Now I want you to get something here.
So connect this here. I'm looking in verse one. Did you notice what Jesus called himself? Look at that.
It's fantastic. He says these are the words of the Son of, what's the word? Jesus calls himself.
He says, hey, excuse me. These are the words I'm talking to you, believer. I'm talking to you, church. I've got something to say to you and I'm speaking to you in my capacity as the Son of God. So just hold on a minute. So when Jesus speaks to us in the New Testament, you'll find this.
I just want you to get a hold of this so you'll see this in the days and months if you haven't already. Jesus speaks from his two capacities. Number one, he speaks as the Son of Man. Every time Jesus lets us know he's the Son of Man, what's he speaking to us? What's his position? What's he saying to us when he says, I, the Son of Man? Well, first of all, he's speaking to us in full identity with us. Why? Because he became flesh.
That's what happened. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. When Jesus came out of heaven from God and was born in Bethlehem, he put on human flesh. He ate like us, walked like us, hurt like us, suffered pain like us, was worried like us, went through the whole gamut of life, was persecuted like us, had parents like us, yet without sin. What's the dividing line for the Son of Man? He was tempted like us, yet without sin. So when he speaks to us as the Son of Man, he's speaking to us in full identity with us.
You get that? Full compassion. Don't sit there, wring your hands, and say God doesn't understand. He does. He sees our challenges. Jesus identifies with us in every way, even the temptation that we all go through. But he not only speaks in full identity with man, he speaks in full intercession with God because he became the Son of Man, because he took on flesh. God granted the full authority for Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, to be the only means by which we in the flesh can come through the Son of Man because of his flesh into the presence of a holy and righteous God.
Isn't that great? So what was going on? This is the Son of Man. He speaks in full identity as God, but he speaks in...
He speaks, listen to me, he speaks in full identity with man, and he speaks in full intercession with God. We were crying out to the Lord. We were repenting to God yesterday, even as I drove back last night.
I mean, I spent, what, 14, 15 hours on the road in less than two days. The whole time with all the traffic and interstates and stoppages and road wrecks and construction and all this, trying to get back home, I just had this incredible sense of power, the blessing of God, because Jesus, the Son of Man, identified with me, with us, with America, with our pain. And he intercedes before God. He takes our petition, and he puts it before God. Isn't that great?
So what's going on here? In this passage, he says, I, the Son of God. That's the second capacity, and by the way, they're equal, not one, two.
They're both equal. This is Jesus saying, he says right there in that verse, he says, these are the words of the Son of God. What is he talking about? Well, when he says, I'm telling you something from my position as the Son of God, he's saying that what he's saying, he's speaking in full identity as God. And what is the full identity of God?
Anyone like to come up with it? Holiness, righteousness. So on a grade of one to ten, where would we put God's holiness?
Not even ten can describe the purity of God's holiness. Jesus is saying, I'm telling you something, church, and I'm speaking to you from the perspective of my divine holiness. That's why he says my eyes are like burning fire. Right now, church, I don't want you to see me as this benevolent grandfather that you make me to be.
I'm not talking to you as the sympathizer. I am the Son of Man, but right now my eyes are like blazing fire. This is hot stuff.
This will burn you up. This is consuming because you cannot in any way drop even the slightest degree below the absolute holiness and righteousness of God. I, the Son of God, speaking to us in full identity as God and speaking to us in full authority as God. In fact, later on he says in verse 27, I have received authority from my Father. What's he talking about? He's telling us I'm talking to you as judge. I am judging you for your sin. Powerful, eh?
Good night. So here he is talking about these believers in Thyatira, and he tells them about what he loves about them. Don't you love that about Jesus? So what did Jesus love about them? He talks about their deeds. He said, I just want you to know I love the way you love. He loved their love for one another.
I talked about that a minute ago when it comes to COVID. Love people, man. Love them like Jesus. So what he's talking about, he's saying to the church at Thyatira, he commanded them for their faith, their trust in him, believing that God is able.
God will do it. He loved them. He commanded them for their service. And look at you guys. I watch you all the time, rolling up your sleeves, going out of your way, looking after children, showing people in and out, standing at the doorposts and at the gates of life, fetching, carrying.
That's what he was saying. He loved them for their perseverance, for keeping on, keeping on. Jesus was saying thank you. And then watch this.
Hey, I love this one. This is like a slam dunk of thank yous. Do you see what he says there? He thanks them for their love and for their faith and their service and their deeds and their perseverance, and then he adds this at the bottom there in verse 9. He says, in fact, you are doing more today than you once did when you began.
You know what he was talking about? He was saying, man, you people at Thyatira, you Christians, you've grown. I know when Jesus came into your heart, you received the love of Christ, but nothing compared to what you are today. You've just grown. You're growing in the grace and knowledge and admonition of the Lord.
Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment, but he insists I interrupt to let you know we're here for you here connecting on our website at www.tewonline.org with resources that help you do what Doc's talking about, growing in the grace and love and admonition of the Lord. Right now there's a wonderful book called I Give Up by Laura Story that's on the front page of our website, that along with the Walking with Giants series. Again, details are there in full on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up for the daily encouraging word devotion from Dr. Don.
It's easy to do. By this time tomorrow you'll begin receiving these emails from Dr. Don with God's word and encouragement in it. Again, that's online at www.tewonline.org, and of course our phone line is available for prayer anytime at 866-899-WORD.
That's 866-899-9673. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. So what was the problem here? Let me tell you just, boom, boom, just a little snippy like that of Thyatira, this place. Thyatira was not an attractive place, flat as a pancake. It really was a military outpost, and in this town, how did people survive? Well, businesses started coming, and they had little markets and donut shops and whatever they had there, and commerce, people began to prosper. It was a very pagan city. They worshiped pagan gods, but remember now, in all of this, there was the church. There's a group of believers, and Jesus just commanded them.
Then he says, but wait a minute, some of you? I've got something to say to you. So what happened? Well, in the midst of all of this, the commercial people, the business community got together, and they began to form themselves into guilds, G-U-I-L-D-S, commercial guilds. So all the donut shop people were part of a donut shop guild, and all the builders and artisans were in a building contractor's guild, clubs.
And get this. If you wanted to succeed in life, you better belong to one of those clubs. By the way, some people have said that was the early start of what we know as unions. There's nothing wrong basically with unions, and unions were designed to protect and to provide and all the rest of it, but you know what happened, don't you? The problem was these clubs, these guilds, began to associate with themselves rules and regulations that were not what God would do. And it finally got to the point at which the Christians were in a real predicament.
Do they compromise or do they stand firm? Hey, you get that? You know there are a hundred illustrations out there, guys. So I went to university for 14 years after I graduated. I get it. All universities, great campuses, most, not saying but most campuses you arrive on, one of the first things you're going to do, you're going to be invited to join a club, a fraternity, sorority. I didn't say there's anything wrong here.
And I'm going to tell you what happens. You and I know this because we've all been there, all of us. It's very important that you belong. So there's so many great things, all the fun, the fellowship, the food. Do you know a lot of these university clubs? They have their own buildings. They've even got Greek letters on them. I mean their own building.
It's got everything in it. And for the four years that you're at university, yeah, you all study together. You do the same ball game together. You all cheer the same team together. But essentially, you operate through the dictates of your club. That's where you belong.
And most clubs have got rules and regulations. You want to belong to us, this is what you've got to do. From initiation rights to behavioral practices to activities, this is what you're going to do. Eight out of ten things, not a problem to a Christian. There are times when, hello? So what do you do?
You've got a choice. You say, wait a minute, I'm a Christian, and I'm going to participate, but I'm not going to compromise my principles. You see, to compromise is to make a concession.
It's to lower your standard in order to. And we've come up with just such cute phrases like, God's not going to mind. Well, evidently he does.
His eyes are like blazing fire. Have you ever heard someone say, get a life, man. You know, God will get over it. We're all going to end up in heaven anyway. I'm just trying to unpack what Jesus said here to the church. So in Thyatira, you had a group of people who were believers, and the majority of them were commanded. In fact, they were growing in their faith. And you see that little word, some of you, some of you? Jesus looked at the church. He said, you claim to be a believer, right?
What is this? Well, we've got all our, you know, unless I do and practice what they tell me to do, I'm not going to be able to feed my children. That's pretty reasonable, isn't it? God, you know, unless I do this, I'll never be promoted. Unless I do this, I won't be able to sit in this section at the football stadium.
Unless I do this, it's not going to look good on my resume. We've got it all. We've got the whole nine yards.
We can put it out there. This is tough stuff because God's saying to us, listen, check your own temperature, church. He's looking at me. I'm telling you, this whacks me over the head. I'm running back to Jesus as the Son of Man. Lord, you understand me. You've got compassion.
You get it all the way, but He didn't. He said, I'm talking to you as the Son of God. What powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word. I pray you've been blessed as we've studied in Revelation Chapter 2 today.
There's more to come. Matter of fact, moving to Revelation 3 tomorrow. But before we move on from the teaching, perhaps there's more than just teaching that has been blessing you today.
Perhaps you've been hearing from the Holy Spirit of God. Before we get away, our pastor has a closing thought, a closing challenge for you and me, Bob. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God. This is exciting news.
If you just prayed to give your life to Christ or rededicated your life to Jesus while Dr. Don was praying, welcome to the family of God. We have wonderful resources. We'd love to put in your hands absolutely free. Dr. Don has prepared these for you, and you need to let us know we can send them to you. 866-899-WORD is our phone number. I go too fast, I know.
Let me slow down. 866-899-9673 will connect you with us. Happy to talk and pray with you and put those resources in your hands that will help you grow in your faith. Maybe you, like me, have been walking with Christ for a long time. We'd love to put some resources and connect you with tools like Walking with God's Giants. It's a powerful series.
Let me let Liz give you all the details, but this could be a perfect way to launch 2021 together. God's intended purpose for us never changed. We are not defeated. We are overcomers through Jesus Christ. The Word of God is alive and is relevant to all times in which we live. There are countless testimonies of people who walked with God in the Bible. They are our cloud of witnesses to encourage us on the Christian journey.
Learn from them. You can walk with God's giants. With your gift of $20 or more in support of the encouraging word, you will receive the first of Dr. Wilton's new dynamic two-part series, Walking with God's Giants. Series 1, Walking with God's Giants is available on CD or DVD and includes four messages on the lives of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and Hannah. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request Series 1, Walking with God's Giants. Thank you for your continued partnership to help us share the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
Two great resources. Remember the details are at www.tewonline.org. While you're at the website, that's www.tewonline.org. Sign up for the daily email from Dr. Don. A wonderful daily devotion with application to Scripture and God's Word and opportunity just to launch your day in a powerful way. Again, that's online at www.tewonline.org. Or you can always call us at 866-899-WORD. The Encouraging Word
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-01-02 15:33:08 / 2024-01-02 15:43:01 / 10