Well, good morning everyone. Can I repeat the welcome that Alistair gave early on?
We're delighted to have you with us, whether you're here in the building or at home.
And we're continuing today the series where we're looking at the messages from the Lord Jesus
to seven churches in Asia Minor in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
And if you can, it will be helpful to have Revelation 2 in front of you.
It will help you to follow what I've got to say.
This is the kind of church I want to belong to.
There's a real love for the Lord Jesus and for each other.
And that's shown in very practical ways.
People have a really strong faith, trusting the Lord Jesus through all of life's circumstances
and coming together to pray, not just as a routine or going through the motions,
but really as an expression of faith and of dependence on the Lord Jesus.
People are active in serving the Lord Jesus.
There are no passengers in this church.
Everyone wants to be involved and to do their bit in serving the Lord and serving others.
And they've got perseverance.
When they go through difficult times, it doesn't put them off their faith.
They don't drop away.
Rather, it increases their devotion to the Lord Jesus.
And there are signs of real spiritual growth.
It's not a church where people have been enthusiastic for a while and then have thought,
well, take a step back and maybe not work as hard now.
Everyone is doing more than they did when they first became Christians.
And, oh no, in this church, there is flirting with other religions.
There is sexual immorality.
What's gone wrong?
And that's the question we have to ask about the church in Thyatira, which was the one I was describing.
You look at verse 19 of Revelation 2 and you think this is the perfect church.
It's got everything going for it.
There's love.
There's faith.
People are working hard.
And they appear to be growing in their faith.
And then you come to verse 20 and the following verses.
And you realize there is something that is very, very wrong.
And you have to ask, why is that?
Why does the Lord start slating this church, which to begin with looked such a model to all of us?
Well, the short answer is that as soon as you depart from the truths of the Bible,
then you're on a slippery slope and things will continue to go wrong.
Now, as always, it's a little more complex than that.
And we'll think a bit more about the reasons a bit later in the service.
But I think it will be useful to begin with to get a bit of the context of the church to which the Lord Jesus is writing the church in Thyatira.
So we're going to pay an imaginary visit to first century Thyatira.
We get off a boat, maybe, around Pergamum, which is on the southwest coast of Turkey, just across from Lesbos.
And we take the road that leads to Sardis.
We were at Pergamum last week.
Next week we will be at Sardis.
And we're taking the road between the two of them.
It's not one of the great arterial roads that all led to Rome in those days.
But it is quite an important one.
If we're thinking UK terms, we might say it's an A road rather than a motorway.
It was an important road, particularly for trade.
And when we've gone about 30 miles on our journey, we come to the small city of Pergamum,
sitting in a valley between two rivers.
It's the smallest and least important of all the cities that we'll be looking at in our journey around Asia Minor in Revelation.
Now, as we come to Thyatira, the first thing that we see is an army garrison on the outskirts of the city.
This is a military city.
It was first built in the time of Alexander the Great and was built to protect the routes between Sardis and Pergamum.
And in times of peace, it was there to protect traders going between the cities.
In times of war, the garrison that was there was a first line of defence.
If you've got invaders coming, say, from Sardis towards Pergamum and they get to Thyatira,
there's an army there to slow them down.
Now, they're not going to do it for very long because, as I said, Thyatira is in a valley.
It's not in a good position from a military viewpoint.
But it probably leaves them long enough to bring in reinforcements from Pergamum or at least to get the city ready for the attack that they know is coming.
That's why Thyatira was built.
As we go through the passage, we'll see there are quite a number of military references in it.
But let's go into the city.
And the first thing we spot as we get into the centre of Thyatira is that there's a big temple.
It's a temple to the local god who's called Tyrimnus, but is actually identified with Apollo, the Greek god.
And the worship of Apollo is a big thing in Thyatira.
It is the centre of worship for this god Apollo.
Not on the scale of Ephesus or in Athens in terms of big temples and so on,
but nevertheless is a very important part of the city.
And we'll also notice shrines to quite a number of other gods as we move around.
The other thing that we notice in Thyatira is that there are a lot of skilled tradesmen there.
There are a lot of people going about their business doing skilled work.
So there are weavers.
There are leather workers.
There are potters.
There are people working in bronze.
And in the first century, that was the key thing in Thyatira.
It wasn't a big city politically.
It wasn't a big city culturally.
But it did have lots and lots of tradespeople.
And the one person from Thyatira many of us probably have heard of is a woman named Lydia,
who was Paul's first convert in Europe.
And she was a trader in fine purple clothing.
So Thyatira was a kind of upmarket centre for people who went about trades.
And if you were in a trade in Thyatira,
you had to belong to the Trade Association or the Trade Guild.
It's still kind of the same today.
You have trade associations.
They lobby for their members.
They promote the work that they do.
And they set standards.
And they also have convivial events.
These days it might be awards evenings or things like that.
But they have celebrations together.
And that was very much part of the Trade Guilds in Thyatira.
That they got together regularly and they had a party.
And they would start by making sacrifices to Apollo or to the particular god of that trade
and sharing the meat of the sacrifice round.
There would be lots of wine flowing.
And by the end of the evening, people's morals had been loosened
and they were getting involved in sexual immorality.
That was the context.
That was what happened in Thyatira.
And that was the temptation which faced the church there.
If you wanted to be a skilled tradesperson in Thyatira,
you had to belong to the Guild.
If you belonged to the Guild,
you were expected to go along to these evenings and to participate in them.
And the Christians perhaps were feeling,
well, we're not sure if we should really be doing this.
And along comes a woman who's called Jezebel in the passage.
And she says, actually, it's okay.
As Christians, you can go and get involved in these evenings
and you don't need to worry about it.
And how attractive that must have been for many in the church,
feeling a bit goate.
And then someone comes along and says,
it's all right, I've had a message from God.
You are okay.
You can keep going.
So then three things, just to remind you,
it was a military city in terms of context.
The worship of Apollo was a big thing.
And there were lots of trade guilds,
and all of them relevant as we go through.
Before we move on from the context,
let's look at verse 18, which I think is part of it.
Verse 18, as with all the letters in Revelation,
is where the Lord introduces himself.
And he says here, these are the words of the Son of God.
Only time Son of God is used as a phrase in the book of Revelation.
The contrast here is with Apollo, who is the son of Zeus,
the king of the gods.
So in that sense, too, was a son of God.
But this is saying this is the true Son of God,
whose eyes, it says, are like blazing fire.
Again, contrast with Apollo.
Apollo was the sun god.
So he did have, if you like, blazing eyes.
And the Lord Jesus is saying here, I'm like that.
But the purpose of his blazing eyes is that he can see through all the deception
and the hypocrisy in the church.
And his feet are like burnished bronze, it says.
Now, there's a nod to the trades of Thyatira.
One of them was making high-quality bronze.
But it's also, as we'll see later down in the passage,
our reference to the power of the Lord Jesus
and the authority that he has.
And looking back to Psalm 2, which we'll come to later on.
So our introduction, our context, the Lord Jesus gives
is very relevant to Thyatira.
So if that's the context, we then have the Lord's commendation.
Now, we're not going to take a lot of time over this,
but let's just note how positive it is.
It's kind of easy to skip over verse 19 and to say,
this was a dreadful church.
How could such things be happening?
But if you look at what's there in verse 19,
it is a tremendous testimony to the church in Thyatira.
Love, faith, service, perseverance,
and more now than at first.
I wonder if the Lord was to look at our church at Brunsfield.
Could he give the same kind of commendation for us?
Is our love for him evident?
Is our love for each other?
And for those who don't yet know the Lord Jesus,
a reflection on that.
Do we live lives of faith and of trusting in the Lord for everything?
Are we involved in working and serving the Lord Jesus
in doing our part in building up the body of Christ?
And when things are hard, when times are hard as they are just now,
do we persevere?
Does our faith remain strong?
Do we still depend on the Lord Jesus?
And here's the real challenge.
Are we doing these things more now than we did at first
or less than we did at first?
Has our love for the Lord Jesus grown
and all the other things grown along with it?
Or has our love waned,
like the church in Ephesus we were looking at a few weeks back?
And have we lost something of that initial fervor
and zeal and love for our Lord Jesus?
There's a challenge there for us,
even as we look at the commendation in Thyatira.
But I don't want to spend a lot of time on that this morning
because I think it's really important
that we try to get a bit beneath the surface
of what's happening in the church.
And so we then have the Lord's condemnation.
So that's in verse 20.
He says,
Nevertheless, I have this against you.
And what is it that the Lord Jesus has
against the church at Thyatira?
Well, he says,
You tolerate that woman, Jezebel,
who is a false teacher.
So the first thing that he has against the church at Thyatira
is that they're listening to false teaching.
They're not being discerning and recognizing it for what it is.
Rather, they're following it.
Now, the criticism here of Jezebel
is not that she was a prophet.
She actually wasn't a prophet.
It wasn't a criticism of prophets.
Prophets were very much part of the New Testament church
as the full will of God
having yet been revealed through the Bible.
We, in that sense, don't need prophets today
because God's will has been completely revealed.
We have the whole Bible that we can refer to.
But in the first century church,
there were prophets to whom God revealed things
that hadn't yet been written down
and become part of Scripture.
And that was perfectly normal.
Nor, I think, was the issue that Jezebel was a woman.
This is not a passage we look at and say,
Well, this says that we shouldn't have women teaching in the church.
There are others that would do that.
Not this one.
Prophetesses were common in the New Testament.
We start with Anna right at the beginning of the Lord's life.
We go through to the daughters of Philip,
seven daughters of Philip,
towards the end of the book of Acts.
And prophetesses were accepted,
and there's no condemnation of them.
As I say, I'm not saying anything here
about the role of women in general teaching in the church.
But prophets, in fact, Jezebel was a woman
isn't really the point here.
The point here is that she was a so-called prophet,
but she wasn't a genuine prophet.
She was saying,
Here is what the Lord has said to me.
The Lord has revealed this to me.
And it was nonsense.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 14,
Paul talks quite a lot about prophets
and talks about their importance.
But one thing he says is,
You have to weigh up what they say.
Don't just accept that everyone who says,
I've got a word from the Lord,
really does have a word from the Lord.
And in Jezebel's case,
it's very clear she didn't.
What she's teaching,
that it's okay to get involved in idol worship
and sacrifices to idols,
that sexual immorality is all right,
it is clearly against God's revealed will in the Bible.
You only have to look at the Ten Commandments.
No gods and no other gods before me.
Do not commit a doubtry.
And you can see that what Jezebel is teaching
is not in line with the Bible.
How important it is,
whenever we get a preacher or anyone else saying,
Here is what God says,
that we look and see,
Well, is it what the Bible says?
Because if it's not what the Bible says,
it's not God's word and we can't depend on it.
And we as Christians,
we need to be like the Christians in Berea
who search the scriptures
to see whether what was being taught from the front,
in this case by Paul,
really was consistent with what God has revealed.
Because as I said earlier,
as soon as you depart from God's word
and you try to take the scripture
and make it fit in with what you would like it to say
so that you can do the things you would like to do
that other people are doing,
you're on a very slippery slope.
Now that's not to say we can't disagree about things
as Christians.
There are many secondary matters
in which I'm sure many people in this church
would disagree.
Indeed, occasionally at our elders' meetings,
we come across relatively minor matters of doctrine
where we don't have the same viewpoint on them
and that's fine.
But the fundamental truths of the Bible,
the truths of the gospel
and of our God
and of the Lord Jesus
and how we win salvation
through the Lord Jesus,
these are fundamental
and they flow into the way that we act.
And if we get away from them,
then we will be on a slippery slope
to conforming to the world
rather than doing the things
that we know are right.
So we need to guard against false teaching
and this woman, Jezebel,
was bringing false teaching.
I don't believe Jezebel probably was her real name.
It is referenced to Jezebel in the Old Testament,
the wife of Ahab,
who led the Israelites astray.
But I think there was a real woman
and she was leading the church in wrong ways.
We need to be very careful
to make sure that we stick to the truth of Scripture
and don't compromise on it.
So the first condemnation is for false teaching.
Second thing is what I've called dark secrets.
Now this is in verse 24,
if you've got your Bible in front of you,
where the Lord talks about Satan's so-called deep secrets.
What's that about?
Well, we can't be absolutely certain,
but it appears likely that the teaching of Jezebel
went something along these lines.
If you're going to live and be a strong Christian,
be a witness to those around about you,
you need to understand what their beliefs
and their practices are.
You need to understand how Satan has gotten to their lives
and you need to see them in action.
And then once you've seen that,
you'll understand them
and you'll be able to witness to them about the gospel.
So go along to the dinners.
Take part in the sacrifice of the idols.
You know that the idols are nothing,
that they're not real.
You're not doing any harm if you go along
and you get involved in that.
Stay on.
Have a drink or two.
You're strong Christians.
You'll be able to manage the situation
and come out of it well.
Or maybe she's going even further.
And we know some first century teachers did.
And maybe she's saying,
actually, we know that flesh is evil.
Our bodies, they're doomed to destruction.
What matters is not our bodies, our souls, our spirits.
We can do whatever we like with our bodies.
We know the Lord Jesus
and what happens in our bodies,
that is separate from our relationship with him.
Our spirits, our souls are what matter.
Our bodies are doomed to destruction anyway.
Flesh is evil.
Just get involved however you want to
in the activities at these trade guild festivities.
Can't be certain.
She may well have been saying something like that.
She was saying,
you're strong Christians.
Our followers were strong Christians.
You can do almost what you like
and it won't affect your relationship
with the Lord Jesus.
That is really dangerous teaching.
None of us is as strong as we would like to think
in our own strength.
When I was about 16,
my scripture union group from school
went for a weekend away to Alowa.
Can't remember who the preacher or speaker was.
Can't remember much about what he said.
But I do remember one thing.
And at one point when he was speaking to us,
he said that he was in the habit
of buying top shelf magazines from news agents
so he could look through them,
find anything he thought was illegal
and complain about it.
And he said,
I can only do that
because I'm a strong Christian.
Even at that age,
I thought this is a really dangerous thing
to be doing.
Also totally inappropriate
to be talking to teenage boys about.
But someone who says,
I'm a strong Christian,
I can do things
I wouldn't recommend to other people.
Let all of us be aware
that we are not as strong
in our own strength
as we would like to think.
And it's very, very dangerous
if you get involved in things
that you would recommend to others
that they don't
because you think
they're weaker Christians than I am.
You are not able to stand
as much as you might expect.
Paul, in writing in 1 Corinthians,
talks about temptations
and he says,
if any of you think
you are standing firm,
be careful that you don't fall.
And Jezebel was encouraging
the Christians in Thyatira
to be reckless,
to be getting involved in things
that they really shouldn't have
had anything to do with.
And she was putting them
in great danger
and the Lord condemns her
and the church for accepting
what she had taught to them.
We need to be aware
of our weakness
and only with the Lord Jesus
are we ever going to be strong.
Our strength comes entirely from him.
Now I'm not saying
don't ever go on a night out
with your work colleagues.
I'm not even saying
don't ever go on a night out
with your work colleagues
and have a drink or two.
But I'm just saying
in every situation
where you're coming to,
where you might face temptation,
be really careful.
If we keep going on the night out,
I can recall Christians
in many ways
who appear to be
very strong Christians
who had too much alcohol
at a night out
and got involved in brawls
or who said and did things
that were totally inappropriate.
They weren't as strong
as they thought they were.
And there are other situations too
we could talk about.
It's not just talking
about alcohol here.
So let's be aware
of our weakness
and our own self,
our strength in the Lord Jesus
and avoid the kind of thing
that says you're a strong Christian.
You're not going to be affected
if you get involved
in things that are generally
unwise for Christians.
And then thirdly,
the condemnation is for giving
into peer pressure.
This comes back to where
we were at the beginning.
That the Christians in Thyatira
were under a lot of pressure
to be involved
in these trade guilds
and in their evenings.
And not to be involved
probably meant
you couldn't apply your trade
in the city.
You couldn't be involved
in working in it.
There was a lot of peer pressure
involved.
And peer pressure
for all of us
is very dangerous.
Then come back to that
weekend away.
We had an aloha.
The other thing I remember
from it was that
on Saturday afternoon
we had some free time.
And my friend said,
well, let's go to the football.
Now that created
a big problem for me.
I grew up in Brunsfield.
And when you grew up
in Brunsfield in those days,
football was considered worldly.
It wasn't something
that you went to
if you were a Christian.
I was very jealous
of my Baptist friend
who was allowed to go
and watch Hibs,
but I wasn't allowed
to go to the football.
And that's just the way
it was.
So I had a dilemma.
Should I stand up
and say,
well, actually,
I don't go to football matches.
My church doesn't believe
it's right.
Or would I go along
with them?
If I chose not to go,
they might think
I was a bit strange.
I might be left on my own.
They might decide,
well, let's go anyway
and leave Ian by himself.
So there was a bit
of peer pressure on me.
Now, to be honest,
I caved in.
I went to the football.
I enjoyed the football.
Allo Athletic
beat Sterling Albion 3-0.
It was a good game
and I've followed Allo
to some extent ever since.
But I did feel
a bit guilty about it
because I knew
that I was going
against the principles
that were inherited principles
in those days
and I knew
I was only doing it
because of peer pressure.
Now, just to be clear,
if any of my children
had shown an interest
in going to a football match,
I wouldn't have stopped them.
It's not a matter of principle
for me now,
but it was at that time
something wasn't expected
of people in this church.
Now, the peer pressure
that I was under
was as nothing
compared with the peer pressure
in Thyatira.
I might have my Christian friends
think it was a bit strange,
but for them,
it might be the end
of their livelihood.
They might even have
to leave the city
if they wanted
to keep going
in their trade.
And peer pressure
can be something
that makes life
very difficult
for us.
Jezebel and Thyatira
offered a way out,
saying,
you can just go along
with it,
it's okay,
and that was totally wrong.
But we will face
situations in life
where people are saying,
well, this is what we do,
this is normal
in our society,
this is normal
in our workplace,
and people expect us
to go along with it.
And we may say,
or may think,
well, I'm a Christian,
I'm not sure
that's the right thing
to be doing.
And we need to have
the courage
of our convictions.
If we think
we're doing something
or being called
to do something
that's wrong,
we need to stand up
and say,
I'm not getting
involved in this.
And we'll face
all sorts of situations,
some of them
very trivial,
like the one
I talked about earlier,
some of them
perhaps quite serious,
they could affect
our employment
or other matters
in our lives.
We need to be
willing to say,
as a Christian,
as a follower
of the Lord Jesus,
I stay within
the Scripture
and with God's guidelines,
and I don't get involved
in things
that I know
are not right.
And I don't adjust
the Bible
to justify
what I'm doing,
which is what was
happening in Thyatira.
So the condemnation,
false teaching,
dark secrets,
peer pressure,
were leading
to a church
which,
although on the outside
it looked fine,
on the inside
it had gone
for most of the church
totally wrong.
So as the condemnation,
let's look at
the consequences.
What are the consequences
for the church
in Thyatira
of what is happening here?
And we'll go fairly quickly
through the remaining verses.
So there are consequences
for Jezebel
and her followers.
They face judgment.
So it says Jezebel
had a chance to repent,
but she didn't take it,
and she's been cast
on a bed of suffering.
I would take it
this is probably
fairly literal,
that Jezebel
had been struck down
with some kind of illness
and was no longer able
to be actively involved
in the church.
And the message
for those who have
followed her
and have gone along
with her
is that they too
will suffer
a similar kind of fate
if they don't repent.
So there is judgment
for sin.
And we're aware of that.
We're Christians
and we're believers
in the Lord Jesus.
That is fundamental
to our understanding
of the Bible.
A God of holiness
has to judge sin.
There has to be
a reckoning
for what we have done.
But I think there's
a very positive message
here in Thyatira
because the message is
that repentance
brings forgiveness.
And our God
is a God
of second chances.
So even Jezebel,
even this wicked woman
who had been
stirring up the church
and leading people astray,
she was given a chance
to repent.
She didn't take it
but she was given
a chance to repent
and would then
have been forgiven
by God.
The followers of Jezebel,
those who had gone
along with her,
they are being given
a chance to repent.
And if they repent,
again they can come back
into fellowship
with God
and all the good things
that are happening
in the church,
they can be part of
having been restored
to the truth.
And for all of us,
that's a great message.
Repentance brings forgiveness.
All of us are sinners.
All of us are unworthy
before God.
All of us deserve
to be judged by God
for the wrong we've done.
But Jesus died on the cross
for our sins.
And when we put our trust
in him and turn our back
on these sins,
we can be forgiven.
We can come into
a relationship with God.
And if we are Christians
and we have gone astray a bit
and there are things
in our lives
that we're not very proud of,
that we know are wrong,
if we repent of them,
we can also know
God's forgiveness.
If we confess our sins,
says John,
he is faithful and just
and will forgive us
our sins
and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
repentance brings forgiveness.
And then for those
who hold to the truth,
there's a message of hope.
They're under pressure
in the church.
It looks like the church
by and large
has gone along with Jezebel
and there are relatively
few of them
who are remaining
faithful to the Lord Jesus.
And so the Lord says
there's a message
of hope for you.
I won't impose any burdens
except to hold on
to what you have
until I come.
Is this a military
allusion here?
Remember we said
Thyatira,
the army would keep
the invaders away
for a short time
while reinforcements
came to back them up.
Perhaps that's the reference
here by the Lord Jesus
saying,
hold on,
persevere
with the truth
because that will
bring rewards.
Verses 26 and 27
are an allusion
back to Psalm 2
in the Old Testament,
a psalm about
the Lord Jesus,
about the fact
that he is the Son of God
and that he is the one
who will rule
over the nations
and saying
those who are faithful
to the Lord Jesus,
those who are part
of his work,
they too
will have that
exercise of authority
as alongside him.
And then verse 28
he says,
I will give that one
the morning star.
The morning star
probably is a reference
to the Lord Jesus himself,
that they will have
him with them,
they will be with him
eternally.
But the key message there
is that faithfulness
brings rewards.
If we stay faithful
to the Lord Jesus
and to his truth,
then he will reward us
for it.
So repentance
brings forgiveness
for all of us,
faithfulness
brings rewards.
Let me just finish
with three analogies
from the military.
We've had a military theme
a bit going through
today,
and let me make
three analogies
I hope will help
to remind us
of the key points
that I was making
about the issues
in Thyatira.
When you join the army
or I think probably
any of the military services,
you take an oath
of allegiance
to the Queen.
You say that you
will be loyal
to Queen Elizabeth
and to her successors
and that you
will serve her.
And that oath
is an important one.
And it's important
that people stick
to it.
If you're in the army,
it is your duty
to be loyal
to Queen
and country.
And if you come across
anything
that would suggest
that others
are being disloyal,
that there is dissension,
that there is possibility
of rebellion
or mutiny,
then you can't
go along with that
or just accept it.
You have to report it
and make sure
it's dealt with.
So it is here
when there is
false teaching,
when there is
in that sense
rebellion
against the Lord Jesus.
We can't just tolerate
and say,
yes, it's okay,
I don't agree with it,
but let's just
let it ride.
We have to take steps
to make sure
that the truth
continues to be proclaimed.
We have to,
as Paul says,
guard the gospel.
And when you're
in the army,
you have to be loyal
to the Queen.
When we are
in Christ's army,
when we are part
of the church,
it is our duty
as well
to be loyal
to the Lord Jesus
and to serve him
and him alone.
Second analogy,
when you're in the army,
you are strong together.
You are a band
of brothers.
In war,
there are often
great acts
of individual bravery
and we rightly
recognize
and honor them.
But the army
is no place
for bravado,
for saying,
I know this is
the way things
are meant to be,
but I'm stronger
than the others,
I'm fitter
than everyone else,
I'm going to go away
and do my own thing,
I'll go and engage
with the enemy myself
and I won't worry
about what's happening
with other people.
The army,
you're part of a structure
and that structure
gives you strength.
You're strong together.
And in the church,
we're strong
as we are together
and particularly
as we are together
with the Lord Jesus.
None of us
on our own
is strong enough
to say,
I can do things differently
because I'm stronger
than other people.
We need to stay together
as God's people.
We need particularly
to stay together
with the Lord Jesus
and we need to operate
within the structure
that we've been given.
We need to operate
within the scriptures.
We're not to be mavericks.
We are to be faithful
to God's word
and we are strong
when we depend
on the Lord Jesus.
If we start to depend
on ourselves,
we're weak
and things will go wrong.
And then thirdly,
we were reflecting earlier
that today is
Remembrance Sunday.
And on Remembrance Sunday,
we particularly honour
two groups of people.
There are those
who have given their lives
fighting for their country
in various wars,
who have paid
the ultimate sacrifice
for their country
out of loyalty
to their king or queen.
And then also,
there are those
who didn't die
but who had
life-changing injuries.
And we know some of these
can be mental
as well as physical.
So their lives
were irretrievably changed
by being in war.
And they all signed up to that.
When you join the Army
or join any of the armed forces,
you are signing up
to the fact
that you will be
putting yourselves
in harm's way
and you may be
a casualty of war.
And we rightly think on
and honour
those who are casualties today.
We remember those
who have died
we give thanks
for their sacrifice.
We remember also
those who had
life-changing injuries
as a result
of being in the war.
And the money we give
for our coppies
to some extent
helps to improve
their quality of life.
When we come to
the book of Revelation,
the churches in Pergamum
and in Thyatira
appear to have had
similar issues.
In both cases,
there was food
sacrifice to idols
and there was
sexual immorality.
The difference was
that the church
in Pergamum
was a persecuted church.
It was a church
under great pressure
and those
who didn't conform
to the ways
of the city,
they could have been
putting their lives
at risk.
The church in Thyatira
wasn't in that sense
a persecuted church.
church.
The pressures
were not on
people's lives,
they were on
their livelihoods.
And in some ways
that is actually
almost more difficult.
Without in any way
diminishing the sacrifice
of those who died
serving their country,
in some ways
for those who survive
and who've lost limbs
or who've lost
some of their mind
or have lost other things
and have terrible injuries,
injuries,
it is more difficult,
it's a long-term thing
and it is a real struggle.
And so the church
in Thyatira,
they might have said,
well, if we were
in Pergamum,
we would stand firm
for the Lord Jesus.
We would face up
to persecution.
Actually,
the pressures
in Thyatira
were maybe just as strong
because they were
ongoing temptations
and they were ones
that people
could easily
over time
give in to.
We don't face persecution
in any meaningful sense
today.
But we do face
peer pressures,
we do face pressures
to conform
to the world
around us.
Let's,
in the battle
that we all face
if we're believers
in the Lord Jesus,
let's make sure
that we stand
firm for Him.
Stand firm
in His strength
and in His
alone.
If anyone
is not yet
trusting in the Lord Jesus
for salvation,
just take the message
that we brought earlier,
repentance
brings forgiveness
and there is a relationship
to be had
with the Lord Jesus
for all of us.
There is forgiveness
and hope
if we trust
in Him.
Let's pray together.
Father,
we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this
rather solemn passage
we've been looking at
that a church
can in many ways
be doing extremely well
and yet
at another level
it is failing
really badly.
Help us to be
faithful
not just
in our love
and in our service
but also faithful
in our lives
that when we come
under pressure,
when being a Christian
is difficult,
that we don't give in,
that we don't
submit to the ways
of this world.
and help all of us
to have our trust
in the Lord Jesus,
to be repentant
for our sins
and to look to Him
for our salvation.
We thank you again today
for those
we have been thinking of
who have given their lives
or have had
life-changing injuries
in the service
of the country.
We thank you
for their willingness
to be a part
of our great armed forces
and we pray
for your blessing on them.
For those
who are going through
times of injury
and perhaps
will never
be healthy again.
We pray for your peace
and we pray for those
who care for them
that you will give them strength.
Pray for Christians
who are seeking
to help them as well.
For those
who have lost loved ones
perhaps in the more
recent wars
we pray that today
you will be a comfort
and a strength to them.
So we thank you
for your presence
this morning
and we ask for your
continued presence now
in the name of
the Lord Jesus.
Amen.