God's Final Call, Part 5

We discovered Dr. Yusef years ago as we have grown as Christians in our lives as the Holy Spirit has led us closer to the Lord year by year. What we have yearned for and been drawn to more than anything is the truth of the Gospel.

The absolute total truth because there is so much going on in the world that is apostasy. We praise God for Michael Yusef and for his life in allowing the Lord to work through him to us and feed us with the truth. And as said in your programs, you always use the word passionately proclaiming and compromising truth. And that is exactly what you do and it is critical in this day and time when we are trying to stand firm for the Lord in a time that though there is so much evil, we know that the opportunities abound to help bring as many as possible to Christ. Praise the Lord for you and your ministry and God bless you. The world wide impact of this ministry by visiting ltw.org.

Many see the last pages in the Bible as some of the most dramatic, mysterious and confusing words in the entirety of God's word. People often focus attention on the judgments and the bowls of wrath and the apocalyptic events instead of the practical words for living life as a Christian. We thank you for joining pastor and bestselling author Dr. Michael Yusef for this episode of Leading the Way. Up next, dive right into chapter 2 of Revelation as Dr. Yusef helps you see the challenges addressed by Jesus as he spoke to the church in Thyatira. A church facing issues similar to those we face today. So why not dig in, hear the words of Jesus for a challenge to have the discernment regarding false teaching and most importantly to remain faithful to God in the face of the changing church and culture. Listen with me now as Dr. Michael Yusef takes you to the words of Jesus in Revelation chapter 2 right here on Leading the Way.

I want you to turn with me please to the book of Revelation chapter 2, 18 to 29. The amazing thing about this letter, it's the longest letter of all the seven to the least significant town of all the seven. Thyatira was a town of least significance when you compare it with the others, Ephesus and so on, the ones we've been looking at. Thyatira was a town that was founded by Alexander the Great. This little town, this Thyatira, it's only claim to fame is that it was the headquarters for all the trade unions, all the trade unions. Thyatira's main industry was wool and dyeing of wool, particularly the purple color dyeing of wool. The patron saint, well actually in every city they call him the patron god, the patron god, the god of Thyatira was the god Apollo.

Read all about Apollo when you have time. But in order to understand the extreme danger that that church was in, in order to understand the extreme danger that many a church in the 21st century is in, you must understand the nature of those trade unions in that town. You see, to hold a job in Thyatira, you have to be a member of the trade union. If you are a leather worker, you have to belong to the leather workers union. If you are in business of dyeing wool, you have to belong to the dye workers union. If you are a bronze maker, you have to belong to bronze workers union.

But that's not where it stops. Each trade union organization had their own patron god, their own god. Every union has their own god, but that's not the worst of all.

Each patron god must be worshipped and honored in a pagan festival. That's not the worst part of all yet. Wait, wait, wait. As soon as that festival is over, you have to eat the food that was offered to these idols.

But that's not even the worst of all yet. Because Paul said we are free. You can eat or you don't eat, depending on your conscience. But after you offer the sacrifice to that god, and after you eat the meat that was offered to that god, then you have to participate in the sexual immorality with temple prostitutes at that festival. Now you understand the incredible, severe challenge that the church members in Thyatira were facing.

For the Christians in Thyatira who refused to participate in these pagan festivals with its sexual immorality to follow, means that they lose their job. What would the believer do? What would believers do? What would the church members do?

What would the mega church pastors say? Well, one of them, a false teacher, said, No problem. No problem.

See, I come from that part of the world. No problem. You need to be part of these festivals so you can witness to them. See, no problem. How else would you witness to the pagans without being there, participating in these things, which run contrary to the word of God and the nature and creation of God?

You can actually have the best of both worlds. You can practice sexual immorality in their festivals and then go to church on Sunday. It's okay. No problem.

No problem. You actually can invite them to come to church with you, and invite them to come to church because our pastor is so progressive he never talks about sin, so they will feel good. They will get them feeling good about themselves. He never convicts people of sin. He never tells them about sin. He says, that's old-fashioned. Don't miss the irony of this false prophetess who was propagating this deception.

I'm going to come back to her in a minute. But this particular church, the church of Thyatira, they were facing the biggest threat. Their biggest threat.

The biggest threat. Their biggest threat was not from the pagans. Their biggest threat was not from the hostile religious, blindly religious Jews.

No, no, no. Their biggest threat was not from the government. Their biggest threat was coming from the church. It's coming from the inside church. What was happening in the first century church? The first church is happening in the last church. I believe with all my heart we're the last church before Jesus comes back. And full circle in 2,000 years, what was going on in the first church? What was happening in the last church? Today I don't have three-point sermons.

I have four. Those of you who are taking notes, write them down. First of all, in verse 19, you see Jesus' commendation.

Again, I'll give you the first letter of the same so you can remember them. In verses 20 to 23, you see Jesus' concern, deep concern. The word concern is really kind of anemic, but I had to get a word that goes with C. Thirdly, in verses 24 to 25, you see Jesus' command. And then, finally, verses 26 to 29, you see Jesus' counsel. And here you have it, commendation, concern, command, counsel.

Remember those. First you look at Jesus' commendation. He praises them for their love, faith, and service, and perseverance.

And, in fact, they're progressing and doing well with that. The believers in Theatara, the faithful ones, are really working hard. And we are seeing throughout the series of messages, I've been telling you, that nothing you do for Jesus is wasted on Jesus. And he said himself in the Gospels, not even a glass of cold water that is done in his name is going to be forgotten.

Not one. And that is why the Bible said that God loves the cheerful giver. Do you think God loves the stingy giver?

Yeah! But he has a soft spot for the cheerful giver. That's really what the word means. Something else I don't want you to miss.

Please don't miss this. This church in the first century was commended by Jesus for their love. Like other churches we've been looking at, that church was faithful to Jesus. This church was not ashamed to identify with Jesus. This church was never denying the faith in Jesus. They would never say, I'm not a Christian. They'd always identify, and like in the South, they're probably going to church. All of these qualities about them was commended by Jesus.

Was commended. These people did not just talk about love, they practiced love. They were faithful in practicing their love. They probably had soup kitchens for the hungry. They probably had homeless shelter for the homeless.

They probably gave generously to the needs of others. Their faith and love was in action. And Jesus said, this is great!

This is wonderful! According to Jesus. That is why he immediately goes to his deepest concern about the church. Secondly, his concern. He moves quickly to say, I have this against you.

What is it? You are totally lacking in discernment. And your lack of discernment is showing in accepting false teachers in your midst. They have baptized immorality into the church. They have confused the truth with falsehood. Their lack of discernment allows false teachers to teach in the church unabated.

And here's that indictment. It's an indictment by Jesus, not by anybody else. Not by another preacher, but it is by Jesus. You tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself prophetess and she teaches and leads many of my servants. He's talking about believers now. Leading my servants astray.

So much so that they are up to their eyeballs in sexual immorality. Of course, we cannot be sure if that woman actually name was Jezebel. Or it was just a throwback to the Queen Jezebel, the wicked, evil Queen Jezebel. Who was married to that weak and vacillating King Ahab, the King of Israel. Queen Jezebel was not Jewish.

She was Saro-Phoenician. She came from the north in the Lebanese area and was not Jewish. And she worshiped Baal and she brought Baal to be worshiped by the Jews, by Israel. And King Ahab just let her walk all over the nation. You remember that this was all happening during the prophet Elijah. And you remember in Elijah called fire from heaven and God sent it. And then he destroyed all the prophets of Baal and made her so mad she wanted to kill him. By the way, did you know that there is a magazine now called Jezebel.

The description line of this magazine goes like this, your guide to everything hot. I wonder whether that includes hell. That tells you something about our culture today. A false preacher in Thyatira, like her Old Testament counterpart, succeeded in misleading believers, leading believers astray. Just like Queen Jezebel of the Old Testament brought Baal worship into Israel. This false teacher was bringing disaster to the New Testament church.

In the first century there was a dreadful, dreadful heresy that was invading the church. And that's why you're going to understand all of this teaching when I tell you about it. It's called dualism. Dualism.

Can you say that with me? Dualism. D-U-A-L-I-S-M. Dualism.

What is dualism? It was deadly teaching. It is deadly teaching and it's invading many a church today. It was in the mainline denominations when I used to be part of that. Now it jumped into the evangelical church.

Here's how it goes. Since God is really interested in the spirit or the soul of the person, therefore, watch out this one, as soon as they go to therefore, you need to run. Therefore, it doesn't matter what you do to the body, right? I mean it sounds good, doesn't it?

It's a lot of poison. So you can do with your body whatever you want. My body, my decision, right?

You heard that? And Jezebel was saying, Hey guys, don't deny Jesus. Hey guys, don't renounce your faith. Hey guys, don't turn your back on your Christian faith as long as you remember that God doesn't care about your sex life. Some people in the church probably saying, Hey, don't judge her. Don't be judgmental.

She's entitled to her opinion. She's raising a lot of money for the church. She's recruiting a lot of people and the church is filled because of her. Please listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 18, 6. He said, If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me.

We're not talking about people outside. Those who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to hang around his neck one of these millstones and be drowned in the deepest sea. That's why when I stand here, even though I've been preaching for 50 years, I stand with trepidation.

I never want to mislead anyone. If it's not in the word of God, you're not going to hear it from me. Beloved, lack of discernment is no excuse because it will lead people astray. So when you hear a preacher say, All that sexual immorality stuff in the Old Testament is all associated with pagan religions. But now in the New Testament, God doesn't care and grace will cover it all.

Send to your heart's content. And when you hear that, you do what? And that is why, thirdly, Jesus commands them. He commands them. He doesn't suggest. He's not saying, Hey, here's something you can take or leave.

Here's a recommendation. No, no, no, no, it's a command. He doesn't give them an option. He commands them.

He commands them to do what? He commands them to repent. Isn't gracious how God is, how gracious he is. He's gracious.

He's gracious. He gives them one more opportunity to repent. He gives them one more opportunity to turn around. He gives them one more opportunity to turn their backs on sexual sin. He gives them one more opportunity to turn their backs on that false teaching.

And if they don't, they will face the bed of suffering. Oh, I'm going to go quickly to what he says to the faithful ones. The faithful ones who refused to be defiled by this false teaching, he said, Hold fast until I come. Stand firm until I come. There was his commendation, concern, command, finally his counsel. Look at verse 26 with me, please. Verse 26. To those who overcome, he will give them authority over nations.

Now, beloved, that's incredible. Just think about it. You know, I hear the media sometimes, you know, they say, The president of the United States, the most powerful man on earth.

I check them. He heads up one nation. They call him the most powerful man in the world. Jesus said the faithful ones are going to rule nations in the plural.

In the plural, not just one nation. Some believers sometimes get so bogged down, they forget that we're going to reign and rule with Christ. Some believers are so busy with the trash of this world, they forget about the gold that awaits them. Some believers are so bogged down with the mud of this world, they forget the awesome power that will be ours to exercise.

Amen. Why is Jesus saying that only the faithful ones are going to exercise power over nations? Why? Why only the faithful ones?

Why? Why only the faithful ones? Because the faithful ones, when they reign and rule with Christ, they're going to enforce the righteousness and the holiness of Christ. They're going to have Christ's delegated authority.

We have some of his delegated authority now, but then we're going to have the full delegated authority of Jesus. Question. How in the world will the unfaithful believers enforce the righteousness and the holiness of Christ when they're not living it here and now? They'll make a mess of it. They'll make a mess of it.

They're making a mess of it here, they'll make a mess of it there. One of the things my mother literally drummed into my ears in the early years of growing up, those who honor me, I shall honor, says the Lord. And beloved Jesus repeatedly in the gospel, repeatedly, I don't know how many times, I didn't count him, is saying he who is faithful with little is going to be faithful with much. He who is faithful with this earth goods is going to be faithful with the eternal goods.

He who is faithful in this life will be given great authority in the life to come. And secondly, Jesus said that he will give his faithful ones the morning star. Can you say the morning star?

What's the morning star? Jesus. You're going to have no less than Jesus himself. It means that we're going to share his glory, glory to God. Listen please, when you turn your back on the darkness of this world, you will receive the light of his glory. When you give up Jezebel, you'll receive Christ. When you resist the allure of Satan, you're going to receive the morning star himself. When you turn your back on sin and compromise, you will receive the glory of Jesus. I don't know about you.

You don't want to shout? Give him glory. Two things I pray to God you'll never, never, never, ever forget. Discernment will keep you from falling into false teaching. Don't forget that. Please don't forget that.

Write it down. Write it in your Bible. And secondly, faithfulness to God's word will give you a share in his glory. Will give you a share in his glory. Lord Jesus, with all my failures and with all my foibles and with all my shortcomings and inadequacy, I come to you together with my brothers and sisters and in the old words of the Archbishop Cranmer, in the 1400s, O God, without you we're not able to please you.

Mercifully grant, mercifully grant that we seek to please you with every ounce of energy and with every moment of time that you give us. Thank you for being part of this Leading the Way audio with Dr. Michael Youssef. Did what Dr. Youssef say today bring up some questions about how you can follow Christ closer in your life? Well, connect with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor for answers at ltw.org slash Jesus when you fill out a brief contact form. Now, you may also consider Dr. Youssef's new book, God's Final Call.

The Bible reveals how the early church experienced and gracefully endured severe persecutions, and today we're also seeing a growing wave of hostility against Christians. In his new book, God's Final Call, Dr. Michael Youssef takes you to the compelling and comforting words of Jesus in the book of Revelation. You'll be challenged to faithfully run the race of faith, reclaim and renew your first love, and follow Jesus more closely and faithfully. He who has ear, let him hear. It means that Jesus' message is for all, all who hear it.

It's meant not only for the members of those seven churches, but it's meant for everyone who reads the Word of God in the book of Revelation in those seven letters. Be one of the first to get a copy of God's Final Call when it's released. Pre-order your copy today and learn more about the content when you go to ltw.org. It'll be shipped to you the moment it's released, when you give a gift of any amount to the ongoing ministry of Leading the Way. ltw.org. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Learn how to connect further by calling 866-626-4356 or online, ltw.org.