Kingdom Purity (To the Church in Thyatira)

We thank you that in Jesus we have all things, all that we need to live for you, Lord. And you’re there to supply us with what we need. You’re there to forgive us when we fall. Lord, thank you for your abundant goodness. Lord, you deserve all praise and all glory for who you are and what you have done in your son, Jesus. And Lord, we just ask that you would give us just a clear heart and mind to hear from your word.

We pray that we would surrender to your spirit.

God, that you would have your way in us, through us.

Lord, we pray that you would bless our tithe and our offering. Lord, we know that it’s not a small thing, Lord, to obey you. But you honor our obedience, multiply our obedience, Lord. So we just pray that we would cheerfully give, trusting our finances to you. God, knowing that you take care of us, you meet our every need. God, we would cheerfully and generously give to your kingdom always. And we pray that in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Well, good evening.

We’re going to be in Revelation chapter 2.

For the last time, it’s a big chapter. It had a lot of churches in it, in the book of Revelation. And here are these little sub-letters to churches. And we have just a few more of these letters to look at. But tonight we’re looking at the letter to the church in Thyatira. So if you want to turn to chapter 2, verses 18 to 29.

18 to 29. 18 to 29.

18 to 30. 18 to 30.

18 to 30. 18 to 31. 18 to 31. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. But we serve a holy God. Separation. You see another picture of that in the Old Testament. When someone was sick, whether it was a young child or an adult, what did God as a good physician require they would do if they were sick? They got to go outside the camp.

God can’t be among that which is not like Him, that which is holy. So Jesus is talking to us here about kingdom purity. Are we pure? Are we holy before God as He is holy?

Now Jesus is speaking to Thyatira, and this city is different than the ones we’ve looked at. The ones we’ve considered are very obsessed with the imperial cult, you know, worshipping the living emperor.

They have a lot of fancy, magnificent structures, temples to their pagan gods. That’s not the case in Thyatira. Thyatira has been called the least remarkable and least important city in Asia Minor. You have all these fantastic cities, and then we come to Thyatira, and it’s the smallest, least impressive city we’ve got going.

What is significant only about Thyatira is its guilds, trade guilds. So think like wool, linen, leather, pottery, metalworking. Think about dyes. When Paul is evangelizing in Philippians, in Acts chapter 16, we’re told that the Lord opens the heart of Lydia, who is from where? Thyatira, and she does what? She deals in purple goods and dyes. So this is really a city that thrives on commerce. It thrives on industry.

Now why is that significant? Well, it’s significant because, while they weren’t obsessed, they weren’t obsessed with pagan idolatry and gods and imperial cult, it still had a great influence on their lives. And so they worship particularly Apollo. And Apollo, the sun god, he’s the son of Zeus. But Apollo is for them the patron god of the guilds. So who is it that blesses and keeps the guilds and their work? Well, it’s Apollo. So guess what? If you wanted to be a part of a guild where you could do your craft, and you could trade, and you could barter, and you could sell and make money, guess what you really needed to do if you lived in Thyatira? You needed to worship Apollo. And you need to celebrate Apollo at these festivals that they would hold, which would certainly be forms of worship, and would give themselves to licentiousness and to sexual sin.

So it was expected of you to participate. You can imagine where this is going. No participation in worship to Apollo. No membership in the guild. No membership in the guild. No money. No money. No food. No roof over your head. So it’s amazing that Jesus picks this description of himself to talk to the church in Thyatira. He says to these Christians, I am the son of God.

It’s so important, right? Because they’re worshiping Apollo, Zeus’ supposed son. And Jesus, you know, is the son. He’s not a son. He’s the son. And in John 1.14, we read that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us as we have seen His glory, the only Son from the Father. And this Son is what? Full of grace and truth.

In Romans 1, Jesus is the one that was promised beforehand through the prophets and the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son who was descended from David according to the flesh, but He was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

So, Jesus is not just a son in mythology. Jesus is saying He is the Son of God and as the Son of God, He is full of all truth, but He’s also full of all power.

So, Jesus says He has eyes like fire. Eyes like fire. Jesus has a penetrating gaze. Jesus can see deep down into every heart and mind. Jesus knows what’s going on in every life. And Jesus is well aware of what’s true and good and what’s not true and good in you. Amen. And in me.

But Jesus also says He’s got feet like burnished bronze. So, Jesus doesn’t just see that which is evil and unholy and wrong. Jesus has the bronze feet, the strength to stamp out what’s unholy and what’s wrong. So, who is like Jesus that is truth, but also has the power to execute all things that are not good and true? Amen. Amen. Can Apollo stand against this Son?

Can you stand against this Son? And I think we want Jesus sometimes to be the super approachable, down-to-earth guy and He’s super friendly and all that. And Jesus is, by His own description, He’s gentle and lowly. But He’s not gentle and lowly to those who are unholy and impure, to those who are not of Him. And just, Jesus is to them a terror and a danger. And Jesus wants us to see Him that way. We need to have a healthy fear of who Christ is in His whole person.

Compromising leads to a lack of devotion,

a lack of willingness to suffer, a lack of labor for the kingdom. But friends, when we compromise, what is Jesus telling us just as much? We become unholy.

We’re unholy and impure before God when we compromise. And we do, we think, we are that which is against God.

But it’s this impurity that God won’t tolerate. And I want to remind you of a simple but powerful verse that we looked at years ago in Matthew. In the Beatitudes, what does Jesus say? Who is it that gets to see? God. He said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Only they shall see God. So kingdom purity, friends, if we are pure, if I know Christ really, if I have that purity within me, here’s what God’s Word tells me, here’s what this passage tells me, is that purity, it should really improve and grow within me. It should improve and grow within me. Kingdom purity grows and improves kingdom purity. Verse 19, if you look at it with me, it says, I know your works, your love, your faith and your service, and your patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. Now that’s kind of an amazing little statement because it’s in a nutshell, I think, the fullness and the beauty of Christian discipleship. Okay? Because he says, Hey, you love me and you have faith in me, so you’re inwardly right, and so outwardly, you’re doing all the things you’re supposed to be doing. You’re not doing stuff to earn salvation, nor are you just loving me, just to say you love me, and that doesn’t really play itself out. It’s this beautiful picture of you being transformed by your relationship with Jesus and faith and love, and then that comes out in service and in suffering in the church and in the world. But the best part of that compliment is Jesus says, your latter works exceed the first.

You see why that’s so important? He doesn’t say, you were doing all these things, but then you were happy with some growth. You were happy with some knowledge. You were happy with some service. They were doing the only thing that Jesus wants us to do for his disciples, and that’s grow and grow and grow and improve and improve and improve. And I think when I read that, I feel convicted because I know in my own heart, heart and life, I feel like, I’ve read enough of the Bible. I’ve read it through. I know what it says. I mean, how much more can I pray? I’ve shared the gospel. I’ve loved my enemies well enough, haven’t I, this far. I’ve given to God a lot. A lot. But friends, we can’t do that because that’s not biblical discipleship, is it? Jesus calls us to grow. He calls us to grow abundantly through and through. Through, on, to the end. Healthy, living things grow, don’t they? Healthy, living things grow. In our fish tank at home, which affords me so many sermon illustrations,

we had, you know, very, very healthy aquatic grass in there. And it was beautiful. It was like neon green. It was just so alive. I mean, like, it was beautifully green. It just popped. And we made some adjustments in the tank. And it’s beautiful. And it’s brown. And it’s shriveled. And we don’t know what to do. And it’s not the thing that it was. It’s not getting better. It’s not staying the same. It’s getting worse. It’s getting worse.

I want to say to you, there’s a terrible danger, I think, that I’ve seen the Christian life as a static religion, like all the other ones in the world. Alright? There’s this list of do’s and don’ts. And I’m going to try my best, which only leads me usually to despair because I don’t meet, you know, the requirements the way I think I am. Right? Or it gives me a false hope because in my own mind, I think I have lived up to the ideal of said religion. But Jesus’ religion is much more intimate. Jesus’ religion, I want to call it organic because it’s alive. Organic things live. And it’s based on the power of the person of Jesus and the Spirit knowing Him. And I want to use the word visceral to mean extremely emotional and I can feel Christ and I know Him. It doesn’t live up here. Like, do I need systematic theology? Do I need knowledge? Do I need the intellect of it? Absolutely I do. But in the context of knowing Christ and walking with Jesus. It’s not just learning about Him. It’s becoming like Him as I walk with Him. And I don’t want discipleship to be something else. I don’t want to be content with it being something smaller. How does Jesus say it in John? He describes it as walking

abiding with Him. And what does He say to the one who walks and abides with Him? You bear much fruit. And what happens, does Jesus say, when we don’t walk with Him? When we’re not in this ongoing relationship of knowing Him, of being with His person, of letting His person improve my person and growing up more and more in Christ? He says that I shrivel up and that branch gets what? It gets snipped off and thrown in the fire. So Jesus, Jesus doesn’t give us the option of this kind of third way of I am saved, I’ve done some stuff, I’m good enough there, done.

Jesus expects the latter works to exceed the first. Jesus expects the latter to exceed the first. So let us forsake a mindset that we may have that says I’ve given Jesus enough. I’ve given Him what I want to give Him when He’s called me to keep following and keep growing and improving and improving and improving. And I’m not saying that like, why don’t y’all figure it out? I’m saying that like, let’s figure it out. Because it’s hard, right? But it’s what we’re called to. It’s what we’re called to. It’s the soul calling of the Christian life.

It’s a question of what you are and what you are not.

What are you and what are you not? And friends, if we are, if we are holy because Christ has made us holy, that holiness will grow and flourish. It will.

And if we’re not holy and it’s not there, what happens, and we see this throughout so many New Testament letters and we see this in so many examples in these churches, is people, they end up shriveling up and dying.

So if being holy and pure is synonymous with knowing God, being God, belonging to God, it’s really fitting that Jesus gives such a harsh rebuke to this church because they’re not valuing holiness the way that they should. Valuing what it means to be God’s and grow up in Him.

And He says, you tolerate this woman Jezebel. Now that tolerate there, it means like you, you’re kind of just, you’re looking away. You just, you know it’s there, but you just, I don’t want to deal with it. You know, we’re just not doing it. And guess what that passivity is when we just kind of let it live on. It’s approval is what it is. Who is Jezebel? Well, if we go back to the Old Testament, we learn that Jezebel, she was the daughter of a Gentile pagan king and Ahab marries her and she wreaks 19 different kinds of havoc on Israel. All kinds of wicked. 1 Kings 21, says, there was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel, his wife, incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols as the Amorites had done whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel. So she killed the prophets. She, if you remember, murdered Naboth because Ahab wanted his land and he threw a fit. So she, you know, framed this man and had him killed so she could take his land away and she was in all things and all ways wicked. Wicked.

God wouldn’t stand for it. What is God’s command to His people in the Old Testament? And Peter repeats it in the New Testament. Be holy for I am holy. Be clean because I’m clean. Be different because I’m different. And eventually God’s had enough and God raises, He raises up Jehu and He sends Jehu out to assassinate Jezebel’s son and Jezebel. It says, Joram said, Make ready. And they made his chariot. Then Joram, the king of Israel and Haziah, king of Judah, set out each in his chariot and went to meet Jehu and met him at the property of Naboth. And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace can there be? So long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many.

And what does Jehu do? He pulls back an arrow. It says in his full strength and he sinks an arrow right into the heart of Joram when he drops dead. And just a few verses further, we find that he goes and approaches Jezebel and she’s thrown out the window and dogs eat her and nothing’s left but her feet and her hands and her head. And you say, Well, that’s brutal, isn’t it? No, it’s not brutal. It’s a clear reminder to all of Israel and to us, God is holy and He will not let that which is unholy pollute His people in the Old Testament, nor will He allow

for it to exist in the new. So we’re not really told who this Jezebel is in Thyatira, but she’s some woman and she has effectively led a group, a camp of people in this church in Thyatira to intermingle with pagan religion, with sexual immorality, to participate in these feasts that pay homage to Apollo and these false gods.

Friends, if we would improve in holiness, we can’t tolerate sexual sin today any more than God allowed for it thousands and thousands of years ago. And we can’t tolerate it It’s not surprising in it. That’s the very thing that we’re told to do today is to be tolerant. Be tolerant of everything except for that which is, you know, biblical, right? Be tolerant of what other people want to do with their bodies. Be tolerant of other people’s decisions to whether it’s adultery in all of its forms or even divorce. And I know we talk about it a lot, but we kind of have to because it’s just the culture in which we live. All versions of LGBT, we’re told, you should not, you should not say anything against these things. You should tolerate them. And it’s not just happening in the world. If we look at denominations, whether you’re talking about Methodism or Episcopal Church or strands of Presbyterianism or even strands of Baptist churches, so many, what happened somewhere along the way that those churches are like that today? Someone kept their mouth shut.

Someone tolerated it and said, you know what? We’re doing our thing. We’re doing our thing and they’re doing their thing and we’ll just let it be. But what happens is sin’s never happy with just a little foothold, is it? It gets bigger and it gets bigger and it gets bigger till the whole thing is gone. So you’ve got to ask yourself that question as a follower of Jesus, where am I planting seeds in my life that’s leading me towards sexual morality? And maybe it’s fostering a relationship with a woman that’s inappropriate and that happens. There’s a, a very, very famous pastor who, you know, he’s dealing with that right now. I got put on leave for that. It happens all the time in ministry. No one’s above it. Absolutely no one is above falling in that way. And I have to say, at the same time, we can’t be afraid of confrontation. You should, we should as a church be able to approach one another in our sin and say, hey, that’s not okay. You can’t do that. You can’t, you can’t say that. Hey, I see a relationship forming there and that’s not okay. A lot of it has to do with what we’re willing to assimilate in our hearts and minds. I mean, we, you can’t disagree with me. We live in an entertainment-driven society, don’t we? Very much so an entertainment-driven society and we have to be more and more careful about what we put in our eyes and in our ears because inevitably it assimilates. It assimilates. Darcy and Dawson were watching some goofy kid movie about, about a cat rescuing a magician out of a hospital. It was the silliest cartoon. It was goofy and it’s funny. Ha, ha. And I come back in and it had auto-started a new show and it was this drama, this LGBT drama of these two like lesbian teenagers and they’re like sitting on the bed and I’m like, where’d the cat go? Like, where’d the cat go?

And I think there’s this, there’s this tendency for us to say, well, that’s just what entertainment is today, you know, and so I’m just going to watch it because it’s there and I can filter it out. Friend, can I just ask you to have a little bit more humility why you think you can see images you shouldn’t see, hear words you shouldn’t hear, whether it’s filthy jokes or just foul language and think somehow you’re not going to assimilate that into your heart and you’re not going to be easier on it than you would otherwise. You inevitably approve of those things that you find entertaining and those things that you find yourself around over and over again. Oh, the pastor said we’re not allowed to watch movies. The pastor didn’t say that. The pastor’s saying Jesus’ eyes are on fire and his feet are burnished with bronze and he stamps out that which is unholy. That’s what the pastor’s saying. You have to take holiness serious.

So Jezebel died. So Joram died. So this Jezebel and Thyatira and her followers were thrown on a sickbed and killed.

Be holy because I am holy. Be holy because I am holy. And I think we have to think about just practically how do I deal with that? And I think it’s interesting we’re here where we’ve been before because if you think about the church in Ephesus to go back, remember what their problem was. It was all truth and no love. Remember Jesus was like, you’re so committed to the truth, but you don’t love me. And we got to Pergamum and their problem was the opposite. It was like all love and no truth. So what’s the response when people press in on Christian sexual ethics? When people inside the church want us to adjust sexual ethics? When it’s more than that and it is on, let’s, you know, the inerrancy of the Bible. Stop talking about it. Stop taking it so serious. Or, hey, that’s fine if you think Jesus is a way to heaven. That’s your religion. All those kinds of things float around inside the Bible. So I don’t think today we have like, can we worship Zeus on Sunday too? I don’t think we’re dealing with it that way. I think you and I deal with the God of self, the God of culture that says, be softer on what you believe. Don’t force your thing on me. Let’s all just have our own way. That’s the God, I think, pressing in on the church. So I can’t be, all truth and no love, right? That’s a baseball bat. And I can’t be all love and no truth. That’s a dead wet fish. Well, what do I do? Well, how do I respond to that as a Christian? Well, you just do what Jesus said. Let’s just repent. Let’s just go to Jesus. Let’s stand firmly on the truth. Let’s have the character of Christ and say, no, we can’t do that here. I can’t do that in my life. You can’t do that in your life. We have to firmly stand on the word of God and, let the chips fall where they may. That’s the calling on your life, on my life as Christians, as church members, is to be faithful to the purity of the gospel and all that God calls us to do.

When we were in Mexico last year, I was thinking about this. You know, one of the main things we did was we gave up those water filters. It’s a simple little thing. It’s really just like layers of, like netting of like cotton fibers in there. It’s not very complicated at all, but he would always, you know, the missionary we were with, he would always say to these families, like, look at your water there. It looks good, doesn’t it? It’s fine to drink. But you get up closer and he reminds them, what are those little swimming things in there, right? It’s mosquito, you know, larva. And you folks are drinking this and it looks like it’s water, but it’s not pure. It’s not clean. It inevitably gives them parasites and leads to death for a lot of them. And so it’s through running it through, it’s through that filter that it becomes clean. Friends, it’s the same thing. You and I can’t define our own truth. We can’t say what’s clean and pure. Jesus is the standard. God’s Word is the standard. And that’s where we have to live and that’s where we have to stay no matter what.

We can only be near God because Jesus is holy and He makes us holy in Himself. That’s the only reason. Friends, we want to part with Christ. We’re parting with God.

Living with a fear of God is healthy because it reminds me I need to live to repent. Repentance isn’t that thing I do when I got saved. I got saved when I was six years old and I repented of my sin. No, I got to repent probably tonight of something I’m going to do wrong and I got to repent tomorrow. I’ve got to be by God’s grace in a constant state of improvement of growing up in holiness because that’s God’s will. For every Christian.

I want you to see the second thing here that Jesus says to this church.

In verse 24, He says, But to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. I only hold fast what you have until I come. So there’s a reminder for us. And again, I said this, whenever Jesus repeats things, it’s because we really need to hear Him. And what has Jesus said again? There’s two kingdoms. There’s not like Zeus and Apollo and all these other ones and all these various religions. It’s Jesus and it’s Satan. There’s two kingdoms. So any kind of variation of the Gospel and all these changes that Jezebel’s doing, it’s not some flavor of Christianity. It’s the deep things of Satan. He just writes it up. Put a hard line in the sand there.

So the burden for them, those people, Jesus says, is you don’t need to repent. You need to forsake it. That’s why some of you are sick and that’s why some of you are going to die because you’re not taking holiness serious. That’s their burden. But He says to all of you other people who are not doing that, I don’t have a greater burden for you. So what’s their burden? What’s the burden then if I don’t have this burden of throwing off, you know, this wicked, idolatrous, twisted, perverted version of Christianity? Well, Jesus says it’s this. It’s just holding on to what you already have in Christ Jesus. It’s remaining committed to who Christ is and what you have already.

So we talk about holiness and it grows in you and it improves in you. But what Jesus reminds us here, and I think it’s really important we see this, it doesn’t just happen to you. It doesn’t just happen to you. Jesus says, hold on to it.

Maintain it. Some folks are really good at maintenance, you know, on their landscaping. It’s always beautiful. It’s always looking good. I’m not a maintenance man. I need to be better as a maintenance man. But Jesus is saying in your own Christian life, you, we, each of us have a responsibility to be the maintenance man. To grow in, work out, you know, what we have.

It’s the opposite of just believing Jesus is going to do something in me and through me. Jesus says, you’re going to do something because of what I’ve done in you and through you. Maybe you’ve heard this phrase before, let go and let God. You know, we say that all the time. And that’s fine, I think, if what we’re saying through that is, hey, you’re worrying too much. You’re not trusting the Lord. You need to, you know, trust God for, you know, something and stop trying to take matters into your own hands. That’s not what that phrase originally, when that phrase started to be said, it was in the context of holiness. So if you feel like you’re an immature Christian, if you feel like, you know, you’re not really where you want to be in terms of spiritual maturity, it’s because you’re not being passive enough. You need to let go and let God make you holier. It’s called Keswick theology or maybe what’s referred to as higher life theology. And the idea is, is that holiness is something that happens to you. The problem is, it’s entirely, you know, harmful and it leaves you disillusioned because you’re thinking, Lord, I don’t know how to not any better than I am right now. Like, I’m just here not doing anything, but I’m not feeling any more holy. The problem with thinking that way is it’s not biblical, is it? Because we’re all born again into the same Christ. We all have the same spirit. We all have the ability to bear all the fruits of the Spirit. The Scriptures say to you, study and be approved. The Scriptures say you pray without ceasing. You bear fruits. You make disciples. You love your enemies. You resist sin. You abstain from every form of evil. You hold fast to your confession. You work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So J.I. Packer on this says, instead of, you know, letting go and letting God, you should just trust God. Trust God and get going. And I think that’s a short but powerful way to say it. If we feel like we’re lacking in the Christian life, it’s not because we’re waiting for God to give us what’s called a second conversion. Okay? It’s because maybe we’re just not going and doing and obeying. And maybe it’s because we have some bad theology. Friend, God calls you to, in His Spirit, in His power, labor and work for Him. I think it was that. Like, perfectionism then? Like, I can achieve perfectionism in the Christian life? No, you cannot achieve perfectionism. It’s impossible. I knew a man who once said that he didn’t want to work with drug rehab anymore because, you know, he was a Christian perfectionist and he just couldn’t handle people that, you know, couldn’t get it the first time. That’s awful. That’s awful. That’s always stuck with me. I’ve heard that when I was, you know, a kid. Christian perfectionism is not biblical. Sanctification is. And sanctification is this extremely long and drawn out messy process of you and I believing and obeying. And sometimes, guess what? We don’t believe and obey.

But God uses our errors and He uses our sins to show us and to teach us and to grow us. And it’s through a great many seasons and trials and valleys that the Lord brings us to perfection. It’s through… It’s through, you know, the coal being tried that it becomes a diamond. And so, friends, in the same way, we can’t passively sit back and think, God, I just want to be more holy. Can’t you just make me more Christian today? Jesus says just walk in the Spirit. It’s just a command. Walk in it. Do it. Keep fighting the good faith. Run the race. You know, I think when we’re feeling, which is a lot of times, like, I don’t feel like I’m doing it enough. I don’t feel like I’m doing it right. The struggle is the win. I think when there’s something in you that says, I’m not okay with being where I am. Lord, I’m going to keep believing. And that sin that seems to keep kicking me, I’m going to keep kicking in the power of the Holy Spirit till I overcome it. Because that’s a victory I’ve been given in Jesus. As Paul says in Colossians 1.29, for this I toil, doing what? He says, I’m struggling with all His energy, that He works, that He powerfully works within me. Friends, walk in obedience. You know, that old saying I think is relevant here as much as it is in any other context of failing to plan is planning to fail. Like, yeah, that’s so generic. And it is super generic. But it’s so relevant here. You cannot think that you’re just going to unconsciously wake up and go to work and be a dad and, you know, be a mom, do what you do, and you’re just becoming more Christian. And it’s happening, man. And people are like, wow, you are really more like Jesus. Like, what have you been doing? It’s just been happening to me. It’s been happening to me. It’s a daily decision to do what? Die!

The Apostle Paul says, what is your spiritual worship?

It’s to be a living sacrifice. It’s a daily conscious choice to walk in the holiness, the holiness of Christ.

It’s not going to just happen. And so I’m going to super practical note on that because I think that’s like, okay, great, I’m going to go out here and be a victor then. Well, it takes like hard work. And I think seasons that we are

growing in victory are those seasons where we are taking inventory of our lives a lot more. For me, I think the best seasons of victory I’ve had are when I’m really married to God. I’m really married to a journal, be it a paper one or a digital one. Because in said journal, I don’t just read my Bible and go like, oh, that was nice for today. But when like pen is in hand and I’m writing out the truths that God’s teaching me, they stick a lot more. Or in my prayer life, when I’m like writing out, I’m struggling here in this area. Lord, I need victory in this area. Lord, I’m praying for this to happen for your glory. It’s amazing. It’s amazing when you’re actually living with a conscious budget, if you will, of your own heart and the things going on around you, how much more you can really see God working in your life. And that’s true, isn’t it? With money or even weight loss, right? Does anyone’s finances just whip into shape? No, they don’t just whip into shape. They whip you and you’ll find yourself under a mountain of debt or literal weight. If you don’t work, to do well. And so if all that sounds very, I’m looking for the word, like anti-God, because that sounds like you’re saying you’re saving yourself and you’re doing all this. Friends, that’s just not the case. If we believe Christ saved us and Christ is our holiness, the proof will be in our laboring in that because we believe it’s there and we believe God’s working in us and through us. Period. Period.

Last on that. Super practical again. Good books. Last week we said we’re giving out books we believe are good and are useful for your Christian life. So we have a couple and they’re on this subject. Sanctification. How do I actually grow? So if you’re going, I need to know how I grow more. I need to put my hand to the plow on that. Chris has a couple of those wonderful books on sanctification. So take one, but make a plan is the point. How am I holding on and maintaining the Christian life? And all that Christ has given me.

Final verses here.

He says, the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my father and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. John, or again Jesus, is referencing Psalm 2. And in Psalm 2, 9, it’s a messianic passage talking about Jesus as the one who has the rod of iron. Jesus is the one who crushes and rules the nations. So think about how amazing this verse is. Jesus is saying, you all, if you conquer, you’re going to have a share with me and my ruling and reigning over the nations when I come back. Now, I don’t know about you, but that makes me terribly curious. Like, what in the world does that look like? That Jesus is sharing his authority and power with me and I’m ruling and reigning with him over the nations? I don’t know. And I would be purely just making things up if I said anything about what that looks like. I would like to imagine what that looks like. I have no idea. All I know is this. Jesus says, if you walk in holiness and you remain pure, guess what you’re going to have? My power. You’re going to live in with me and my power and my rule when I return.

Jesus says also, if you walk in purity and you remain committed to me, I’m going to give you the morning star. Now, that’s super cryptic. There’s only two things that help us understand that. Peter says that the morning star will rise in your hearts. And then Jesus, at the very end of Revelation, he refers to himself as the morning star. So is that a way that Jesus is saying if we remain pure, we will receive him? I don’t know if it’s true, if he’s saying we’ll receive him or he’s saying we’ll receive the light and the glory that come with possessing Christ. Whatever it means, friends, Jesus says to us clearly, be devoted, walk in holiness and purity. I am holy, therefore you must be holy. And the promise from Christ to us is the eternal presence and power of God. Be holy for I am holy. Again, Matthew, Matthew 5, 8. Who is it that sees God? Who is it that sees God and God is not a terror and a dread that Jesus will be to a great many people when he returns, but rather a joy to see him? Who sees God? It’s the pure in heart. And friends, it’s not your purity. It’s not my purity. It’s not your holiness. It’s not my holiness. It’s trusting in Jesus who is pure and who is holy and who shares his holiness with us. He is with me and he calls us to faithfully walk that out together. Be holy for I am holy. Let’s pray.

Father, help us be

lazy and nothing. Pray that we would have or just

the passion the desire

that we can only have because we’re yours to Lord, fight sin to resist the evil one or to walk in purity to make advances in Christian maturity to be more and more usable to you.

Lord, whatever excuses we hang on to or just carelessness, Lord, what we ask is that you just remind us of how good and beautiful and pure and holy your son is and that our eyes and our minds and our hearts will be turned to him and to him alone.

So Lord, just convict us where we need conviction.

Convict us where we need to labor.

Convict us where we need to repent of sins that we are just kind of okay with them hanging out. Things that we just pass over in our own hearts.

Different things in our character. Different things that we know in our minds we’re not dealing with, Lord. Different vices. Different attitudes. The way we treat people. Lord, whatever doesn’t look like Jesus, Father, we pray that we would in the power of the Spirit turn from it and we would walk in holiness. Lord, that’s our prayer. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Preacher: Chad Cronin

Passage: Revelation 2:18-29