The Tolerant Church at Thyatira - Part 2

>>If you would take your Bible turn to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2 verses 18 to 29. We are still in this fourth letter to the fourth church here in the seven letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. We are studying what Jesus says to each of these churches. These are His churches. And we should be, we must be working as God's people as a church to see how these things apply to us.

And I know I said this last week, or the last time we were here in these verses, when we conclude these chapters, when we conclude these letters and this teaching, I'm going to combine it all to try to condense what the Lord is saying to us. But tonight we are continuing with this letter to the church at Thyatira. So this is a part 2. And if you've not gotten part 1 you may need to do that because these two messages go together. Now in our part 1 I gave us some background information about the city and the church like I've done with all of these letters, all of these churches. So I'm not going to go back over that information.

But there is one thing that I did give us in the introduction that I do want to repeat as we get into the verses. So far we have studied the church at Ephesus, the church at Smyrna, and the church at Pergamum. I'll say this before I continue, if you've not gotten those messages make sure you do. Because this teaching does all go together. But there's one thing that I--excuse me. But as we move into the 4th church, as we move into this 4th letter we need to make sure we remember that we see a transition right here in these letters. In our part 1 I said that the Bible commentator Charles Erdmann helps us see this transition.

He points out in his material that this letter starts the second group of messages to the churches there in Asia. So I'm really taking his information putting it into my own words. In the first group the church of Ephesus was marked by a great devotion to Christ and to the work of the church. They really would have been an example for us in their commitment to the work of the church. But they had a terrible deficiency. They were deficient in their love for Christ. And then the church at Smyrna was much, much different. Their love and their devotion to Christ was tested by the fire of persecution.

And they passed all of the tests that came their way in relation to persecution. And then we have the church at Pergamum. Their love and their devotion to Christ was terribly compromised by their acceptance of worldliness in the form of sexual immorality and idolatry. But we need to understand that all three of these churches, these first three, they had not totally caved in to the assaults that were brought against them. Although two of the first three were seriously flawed they had maintained their commitment to Christ and to the faith. But things change with the next group.

The condition of the churches at Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea are far more serious. In these churches large numbers within these churches had caved into and embraced the very destructive influences of false teaching. And as we will see there is a digression, a digression in these churches. There is a downward spiral with these churches. There is a digression, a downward spiral in the character of these churches. MacArthur observes that the downward spiral reaches its lowest point with the last church, the church at Laodicea. I guess we can say it like this, with the church at Laodicea it doesn't get any worse.

So, as we study each of these churches in this series we need to see specifically what is going on with each church. Let me give you an example. The church at Ephesus they did everything right but they had forsaken their first love. One of the men of the church has really not been able to get away from that church and that letter and that example. He has repeatedly told me how he has gone back to that because he fears that he would move away from his first love. So that individual letter, that individual message minister to him. But we need to see how they are all related.

How the condition of these churches are related in the downward spiral in their character and condition. But tonight we are going to continue in our study at the church at Thyatira and we will examine, we will continue to examine that Thyatira was the tolerant church because they tolerated a very, very destructive false teacher and false teaching. So the title of the message is a part two, the tolerant church at Thyatira. Now let's read all of our verses together and then as we progress through the message we will continue to go back and look at the verses as I feel like we need to. So let's start with the verses.

"And to the angel of the church Thyatira write, the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, some translations may say deeds, your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter works exceed the first or the first works. But I have this against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

Behold I will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart and I will give to each of you according to your works. 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. 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 that would be the nations with a rod of iron and as when earth and pots are broken in pieces even as I myself has 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. Now two weeks ago we covered the first three points or the first three observations. First their communication in verse 18. Second their commendation in verse 19. I call that a praise report. Third their chastisement we started that was in verses 20 to 23. Now tonight we are going to cover the last two points or observations. Fourth their command in verses 24 to 25.

Fifth their counsel in verses 26 to 29. But there is more we need to look at in their chastisement. So I want to quickly glance over real quickly what we looked at in verses 19 to 23 and then we'll get into what I would consider new material. So number one their commendation excuse me. So number one their communication. Number one their communication in verse 18. Here we see the communication from Jesus to this particular church. And in this communication we saw that Jesus reveals himself as God who has authority over his church.

We saw that he sees everything concerning this people and this church his church and we learned that he has the authority and the ability to judge his church. And for us we must always remember that Jesus has authority over his church our church. Any church all churches are his churches. And yes it's okay for us to say our church but we must always say that remembering that this is his church. And right here in this communication we see that he sees everything about us as well. If he sees and knows everything about the church at Thyatira he sees and knows everything about us as well.

And there are several questions we must be willing to accept an answer here. If out of the study of these letters that our Lord brings correction to us will we receive that correction and obey? If out of this study of these letters and all that we are studying here if our Lord were to bring a warning would we receive that warning? And I guess I conclude those questions and application by saying anything and everything that the Lord would bring to us out of this study will we receive it no matter the cost? No matter the cost. And then number two their commendation. Number two their commendation. This is in verse 19. I'll read the verse again.

He says, "I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance and your latter works exceed the first or the first works." And in verse 19 this led me to ask a question. What type of church do we have here? I mean if we read verse 19 in the way the Lord brags on this church we have to ask what kind of a church do we have here? And I will add to that by saying honestly verse 19 would tell us this is a strong church. Jesus says that He knew them. We know what that means. That means that He intuitively knows them because He is God. This wasn't knowledge that He had to gain or ask about. He is God.

He knew them fully and totally and accurately. And He tells us that they had a love for God and for others. He says that they were faithful and consistent in their faithfulness. He says that their leadership fulfilled their duties within the church and that they had patient perseverance in good and in bad things and bad good and in bad times. Jesus tells us they were also growing in their personal Christian lives and in the work of the church more and more each day each month each year. And we learn that if we pause right here we would and we should say this is a strong church.

But we saw or we begin to see the rest of the story because the rest of the story starts in verse 20 and following and we will see that they really were not a strong church. So number 3 the chastisement verses 20 excuse me verses 20 to 23. Now we really do need to read these verses. Let's read them carefully so as to absorb what they are saying. But I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

I gave her, that would be Jezebel, time to repent but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold I will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works. Notice he says her works. And I will strike her children dead. And all of the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart and I will give to each of you according to your works. Now here we saw that the good news turned into bad news. The praise report of verse 19 turned into a great and terrible chastisement starting in verse 20.

And we saw that this church had a serious issue, a serious problem within. Now compare this with the previous church, the church at Pergamum. They had all kinds of problems from outside the church persecution. But Thyatira's problem and problems were inside the church in the pews, in the small group classrooms, in the hallways. Verse 20 tells us that they tolerated a false teacher. They tolerated a woman teacher in the church. She taught false doctrine in the church. And we saw that Jesus likened her or compared her to the Old Testament figure Jezebel. Listen to how John MacArthur described Jezebel in this woman.

Listen to what he says and I'm quoting John MacArthur. Jezebel undoubtedly was not the false prophetess's real name. Then let me pause there. This woman in Thyatira that wasn't her name. And he continues, "But like the infamous wife of King Ahab, she was Satan's agent to corrupt God's people. Therefore the Lord branded her," I like that term, "branded her with the symbolic name Jezebel." Let me pause with the quote. We even use that name today. If we call somebody a Jezebel, what are we saying? Not good.

Continuing with the quote, "The Old Testament Jezebel was an unspeakably vile woman, so much so that the Bible names marrying her as the most evil thing King Ahab did." We see that in 1 Kings 16. "Through Jezebel's evil influence," this is speaking about the Old Testament Jezebel, "bail worship," which was a false deity. "Bail worship became widespread in Israel." But there is more about this demonic woman, this demonic false teacher in Thyatira. We saw that she led certain Christians. The text says, Jesus says, "They were my people." She led certain Christians in the church astray.

Specifically, she led Christians in this church into sexual immorality and into idolatry as well. Now we don't understand what all that meant, what that looked like. But we know what was taking place. Now at this point we need to remember what we have here. This was a very serious problem and a very serious sin. Really just a whole host of sins were all tangled together that came out of this evil woman Jezebel and it was in the life of the church.

And although we see some similar things in the church at Pergamum, what we have here in the church at Pergamum, with Thyatira, is much more sinful and much more dangerous to the life and the health of the church. Now in our part one we pause right here. But tonight I want to pick up right where we left off and then in our conclusion we are going to answer all of those questions that I posed two weeks ago. There were quite a few. So really I'm just continuing with our outline. Number three, the chastisement continued again verses 20-23.

But tonight we are going to continue by looking at the consequences of the chastisement and there are several details that I want us to see here. First Jezebel, this woman Jezebel had an opportunity to repent. The King James uses the word "space." She had a space, a window of time to repent. Look back at verse 21. The Lord says, "I gave her time, her space to repent." Here we see the grace of God. Now think about that. God is very gracious. We see the grace of God at work in this bad situation. This woman, false teacher, she's as bad as she gets. She was given the opportunity, the time, the space to repent of her sin and her sinfulness.

But notice Jesus says that she does not want to repent. And then second, Jesus revealed the consequences if she refused to repent. Look at verse 22, "Behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works." In other words what she does. Now notice that this verse, verse 22, it begins with the word "behold." Now language scholars tell us that this indicates a transition. This word introduces the consequences of her refusal to repent. So let's look at the consequences one at a time. First, sickness and maybe death. We see that in verse 22.

It is interesting here that this word sickness is not a part of the original text language scholars tell us. That is why some translations have this word sickness italicized. But commentators believe it was placed there by translators to aid in understanding the text. The New American Standard, the Legacy Standard Bible has this phrase of sickness and italics to indicate this rendering of the text. But the important thing to see here is that this was a bed of sickness or a bed of death, not a bed of rest. The consequences. And the second consequences, those who sinned with her. We see that in the second part of verse 22.

"Unless those who have sinned along with her repent," what does he say? "They will be judged as well." But notice one difference in detail here. The text does not say that this is a judgment of death but a judgment of severe chastening. But we would have to conclude that death was a real possibility for them if they didn't repent. And then continuing with the consequences, her children. Verse 22. Now we need to see that these were not this woman's biological children. That's not what the text means. These were her spiritual children. These children are these people in the life of the church.

They are the spiritual offspring of this woman's teaching and influence. And notice this word "pastelence" literally means death. The English standard reads, "I will strike her children dead." Now in the second part of verse 23, notice that we see a shift or a change. Look back at the verse, verse 23. "And I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches mine in the heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works." Notice that the middle part of the verse deals with Christ's reputation or testimony among the churches. I go back to that sentence.

"And all the churches will know that I am He who searches mine in the heart." And this is about reputation. This is about testimony. Yes, but it is more. Here Christ Jesus is underscoring His deity in His Lordship over the church, and this does tie to His reputation and His testimony among the churches. Now right here we have a very, very big lesson that we need to look at. Jesus cares about the reputation of His church. Have you ever thought about that?

You know in raising our girls there are times when they walk out the door I will say, "Remember, you have my name." What you do and what you say is a reflection of me and your mother and our family. You're a shepherd. That's my name given to you. I have a reputation. We have a reputation and what you say and do will reflect upon us. And a lot of times I will continue with that as it relates to the rest of our family. There are times I'll say, "Look, you're members of Grace Life Church of Brookhaven. You're professing Christians.

You've been baptized in your members." And what you say and do and how you live and how you act is a reflection of our church in you. You might say, "That's a big load to carry." It's true. And so what I'm trying to show you is what our children do is a reflection on us. But what we have here is this. What these churches did was a reflection on Jesus. And the lesson here is this. Jesus cares about the reputation of His church because the reputation of His church had a reflection upon Him. You ever heard lost people talk about church fights and splits? You ever heard lost people, pagan people talk about what goes on down at that church house?

You see? And I will add to this by saying today at our time and our city, we need our Lord to come and to search the minds and the hearts of the believers in our churches. We need the Lord to search the individuals, but the context here is the churches. We need that to happen. But before we get a little too high on our high horse, that needs to happen for us first. Remember, church, the Lord cares about the reputation of His churches because that is a reflection upon Him. So notice what we see in verses 20 to 23. Our Lord's chastisement and the consequences of all of these things.

Now let me read verses 20 to 23 again, but I'm going to read them in the amplified. So a lot more words here. Maybe it just paints a brighter picture for you like it does for me. "But I have this charge against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess claiming to be inspired." That's good because that's what she did. "And she teaches and misleads my bond servants so that they commit acts of sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols." Verse 21, "I gave her time to repent, to change her inner self in her sinful way of thinking, but she has no desire to repent of her immorality and refuses to do so.

Listen carefully. I will throw her on a bed of sickness and those who commit adultery with her, I will bring into great anguish unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children, her followers with pestilence through thoroughly annihilating them. And all the churches will know without any doubt that I am He who searches the minds and the hearts, the innermost thoughts, purposes, and I will give to each one of you a reward or punishment according to your deeds." Now what do we need to learn here before we move on? I think there are two things. Of course you could add to this list.

First, remember who this chastisement was addressed to. You might say, "Pastor, that's obvious, the church." Yes, this was meant for the church, but first this was meant for the angel, the pastor of the church. In verse 18 this letter is addressed to the angel of the church at Thyatira. We know that's the pastor. In verse 20 says, "When our Lord said, 'I have this one thing against you,' the you here," in verse 20, "is in the singular." So my point is this, the chastisement was first addressed to the pastor, then the leaders, then the church. Always expect that to happen in the life of our church. Please pray for me. Pray for our leaders.

You see, second, we must see how serious our Lord is concerning false teachers in the church, and especially women false teachers. False teachers and false teaching is a serious thing when found in the church. And when it comes in the form of a woman and false teaching from a woman, things are a lot more serious. You might say, "Are you being unfair?" I am saying that false teaching that comes from a man is one thing, that's serious, but false teaching that comes from a woman is even more serious, and I'll show you why at the conclusion of the sermon. So the chastisement, verses 20 to 23.

Then number 4 in these last two observations are shorter, the command in verse 24 to 25. The command in verse 24 to 25. Let's read those verses. "But to the rest of you in Thyatira," changes to be a little more positive, "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, only hold fast what you have until I come." Here we see that Christ Jesus severely rebuked those in the church of this grievous sin and sins in the church, and now we see that He turns His attention to those who have not fallen into this terrible sin.

That's why I said it's a transition into something more positive. Here we see that Jesus says three things to them. First, He addresses those who are not in sin. Simply these people, these believers did not fall prey to Jezebel's influence. They did not fall prey to her teaching. That would have led her to her immorality and idolatry. It was all tied together. Remember, we learned that a part of her so-called godly teaching involved acts of immorality and idolatry. Most Bible scholars believe this was a perverse false theology which taught that acts committed in the body physically did not affect the spirit of the man.

That is why you find some who were influenced in this day by this kind of teaching that led them to false pagan feasts which involved sexual immorality and ultimately idolatry. They believed that somehow what the body did didn't affect the spirit of the man. But then second, He did not burden them any further. Jesus was not going to give them any additional burdens or commands. They had endured a great burden by not falling into the temptations. No doubt there must have been great pressures from those in this sin, even the Jezebel woman placed upon these believers. We know that these things were inside the church. They were inside the church.

And to some, these things obviously looked and sounded so right. That's why they got involved but yet they withstood the pressures. Then third, He said they must hold on. Notice verse 25, only hold fast or hold on depending upon what translation you have. Now we may not see this but this was, this is a strong command. This word hold on, this phrase hold on, hold fast speaks of a difficult task. Simply it would not have been easy for these believers to hold on in these circumstances. This was hard. So He was saying hold fast, hold on. So notice what we have here. This was a command but this was a command full of great comfort.

Christ was commending them and comforting them all at the same time. We can say that He was commending them while He was commanding them but He was commanding them to hold on, to hold on and to obey Him even in the face of great pressure and difficulties. Remember this was all in the church. Now an application there is a lesson we can learn here. When so many professing Christians are going the way of false teachers and false teaching there can be tremendous pressure and temptations to follow the crowd. That's why a healthy church with healthy leaders who are called and equipped to teach God's word not just once a week but consistently.

That's why the preaching and the teaching of God's word is so important because there are always false teachers and false teaching outside the church and you come into contact with them. You might think this doesn't need to be shared but it does. Be careful what you look at on social media. Be careful what you listen to out there on the Internet. Be careful what you read and what's recommended to you. Be careful because you may not realize it. You may be going down the road of a false teacher and a false teaching. Many times people will come to me and say pastor what about this book? What about this teacher? What about this sermon?

What about this movement? And I'll do my research. My wife will tell you I have stacks of books in my office that I have read and studied because it deals with false teaching or false teachers out there that I want to be aware of. But also this can take place inside the church. We're not immune. We're not immune. And look folks I want you to see how Satan works. He may bring someone in on the fringes with false teaching but he works real hard to bring someone not on the fringes but someone in the center.

I think back to my home church when I first came to faith in Christ there was this wave of faulty, wrong, charismatic theology and teaching that just stormed through the church. And how was that propagated? It wasn't coming in from some on the fringes. It was some who were more in the center and they were having their private Bible studies and they were teaching people in their homes. And I thought, "Look at my home church pastor had to go stomp all that stuff out." And look even though he went and stomped it out and dealt with it there were people who were sucked in. This can also take place in your family, your circle of friends.

I mean some of you can have family that are tied into and believe in false teaching and false teachers and the pressures to listen to that can be difficult. I could continue and go a little further here but I think you understand that. But here we must see the need to hold fast to Christ, to his church and to his teaching. That's why it is vitally important that we consistently teach you the Word. And if I have any, any, any concern here it is not we don't teach enough. So this command. Number five, the counsel, verses 26 to 29. I won't read the verses because of time.

Now here in these closing verses Christ Jesus makes certain promises to those who overcome. The English standard reads, "The one who overcomes and keeps my works until the end." This simply speaks of those who are true believers who overcome these circumstances, those who conquer the difficult times that are before them. And here he makes certain promises to the faithful enduring believers really too. First he promises that they will have authority. He will give them authority to rule. This is a promise which pertains to the future kingdom which was taken out of Psalm 2 verses 7 and 9.

Those who remain faithful and true through these difficult trials within the church Christ says that they will rule with him in the new kingdom that is to come. The text says they will actually have authority over the nations. Again this speaks of Christ's rule in the kingdom to come. Then second he will give them himself. This phrase morning star is a simple reference to passages like Matthew 13 43. This promise is simply saying that these believers will be, that these believers will be a simple reflection of Christ in his glory. And in verse 29 we see a very similar ending or a very familiar ending.

Those who have ears to hear need to hear what is said to the angel, to the pastor, to the church, and to all these churches. Remember these were circular letters. These teachings need to be taken seriously and remembered for their particular circumstance and the future. So here we see great counsel and comfort in these last verses. Jesus promises to those who do and do her to the end that they will be given authority to rule with him and he will give them himself which is best of all. And real quickly an application I want you to understand that that is our future in Christ.

We will rule with him and more than ruling with him we will be given him and we will reflect his glory. What I'm trying to show you is receiving Christ in glory is greater than ruling for him in glory. Now I want to close out this message just as part two the tolerant church at Thyatira. I want to close by doing two things. First I want to close out the letter and second I want to answer those questions I posed in the sermon we had before that long list of questions. Now in closing we must see that this church is definitely further down in the spiral of the seven churches.

The church at Ephesus was characterized by great devotion to Christ and the work of the church but they had one great and vital deficiency they had forsaken their first love. The church at Smyrna was much different. Their love and devotion to Christ was tested by the great fire and difficulty of persecution but they passed the test they didn't get rebuked. And the church at Pergamum they had a love and a devotion to Christ that was compromised horribly by their acceptance of wordliness in the form of sexual immorality and idolatry.

And then the church at Thyatira they had tolerated a false teacher that was so bad she was likened to the worst of the Old Testament women of the Old Testament. The worst of the old, the worst of the women found in the Old Testament. They had tolerated a woman false teacher that was leading meaning in the church into her teaching into immorality and idolatry. And this toleration started at the top with the pastor then with the other leaders. So the tolerant church at Thyatira. Maybe the pastor didn't deal with it because she came from a family that gave plenty of money. I don't know.

But this leads us to deal with a question and a series of questions that we must I think we need to address in our day. What is the biblical role of women and women teachers in the church today? More directly can a woman teach and preach just like a man in the church? You might not realize it but this is a big, big discussion in the Southern Baptist Convention. Now we're not Southern Baptists and I'm not against Southern Baptists. I have many close friends that are Southern Baptists. I am far Southern Baptists. We do not want to have a world without the Southern Baptist Convention.

But this is a very big topic of discussion and debate in the life of the Southern Baptist Convention. The role of women in the life of the church. Particularly can they pastor and preach? This is related to us because in our day this is the issue that the United Methodists have been fighting over. One of the issues and it's part of what has led to the demise of the denomination. You might say pastor, demise, those are harsh words. Anytime any people in denomination move away from what God's word says that is demise. So what am I trying to show you here?

This is an important question and these are important questions because of what's going on in churches and denominations around us and what the Scriptures say in front of us. First, women can teach and minister God's word in the life of the church. Women can teach and minister God's word in the life of the church sometimes and many times better than a man. You might say pastor, are you sure? And in certain circumstances a woman can teach and minister God's word in the life of the church even better than a man. Let me give you an example. You put me in a women's class teaching to women and I promise you I'm going to mess it up.

But you put a gifted, called woman in that woman's class and they're going to shine. I have jokingly said it through the years, I don't speak women. And when I try to speak women I insert my food in my mouth. What about a woman's gathering like a woman's conference? Last year we had our act like men weekend for our men. And this year, this October we're having a gathering for you ladies. And we have Pam Noblett from Grace Life Church of Muscle Shoals, Alabama coming to speak to you ladies and whoever is there. And I promise you Pam Noblett can teach way better than I can.

I think about addressing women and wives and how they deal with their husbands and children. I can only go so far there. So, I'm trying to show you that in certain circumstances a woman and women in the life of our church can preach and teach in those circumstances way better than any man. But to prove that to you I want to turn to a passage. Titus chapter 2. Listen to verses 1 to 5. Titus 2, 1 to 5. "But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine." Now, what does that mean? This is Paul writing to Titus as he ministers to the churches on the island of Crete. What does he say? You teach what is in harmony with sound doctrine.

And notice what he says. "Older women are to be sober minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good." What is he saying? Women in the churches on the island of Crete are to teach. To teach. And what does he go on to say? "And to train young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." There is the reputation thing. What is Paul saying?

He is saying to Titus, "You teach women to teach other women." You get it? So, here in Titus we can clearly see that women can be gifted to teach just like a man and they can be gifted to teach women in a unique way in the life of the church. But notice the audience to women. Notice the context. Women to women. And in dealing with things that pertain to being a godly woman, godly wives, children, the home, and even in their personal life, women to women. So, the first question from last week, "What is the teaching role of women in the life of the church? Can a woman have the spiritual gift of teaching?" Yes.

And if so, what is the role in the church today? They are to teach women. And again, if I get to feeling pretty froggy and I go to teaching women on how to be wives and all that, I'm telling you I'm not going to do a very good job. I can only go so far is my point. Now, the second question from last week, "Would it ever be okay for a woman to teach the Bible from the pulpit in our church?" Well, here we turn to 1 Timothy 2 verses 11 to 12. Listen to those verses. Now, what's the context here? Paul is writing to Timothy who is the pastor of the church at Ephesus. Remember Titus?

Paul is writing to Titus who is pastoring the churches on the island of Greek. Here is Timothy in the church at Ephesus. Paul says to Timothy, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to be to remain silent." Now, is Paul contradicting himself? No. Now, what those passages mean right here is simple. Women are not to hold and exercise authority and authoritative positions over men in the church.

As far as a woman's role in the church, yes, she can teach and exercise authority in teaching, which is what teaching is and she does this with women, not with men. Now, a very important question here. Why is this the case? Is God anti-woman? Is Paul anti-woman? Does God want to keep women down? Is Paul a chauvinist? No. At the very foundation, this is God's design in His design and at its very foundation, this is God's design that is rooted in creation. I Timothy 2, 13-14 says, and I'm quoting verse, "For Adam was foreign first, then Eve.

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." This simply tells us that in the church, the leadership roles and more specifically, the teaching and the preaching leadership roles were and are reserved for men and the simple reason is this. This is God's design and it is rooted in creation and the fall. Read all the verses together. They all go together. Third question. Would we ever allow a woman to give a testimony from the pulpit or maybe from the podium in the life of our church? Would it be okay for a woman to share a testimony of the life of a church?

Well, the question which enables us to answer that question is this. Would that be a violation of 1 Timothy 2, 11-12? Only answer is no. If my auntie or any other woman, any went to Scotland, Drake went on a mission trip, but what I'm sharing with you is if any woman were to share a testimony, that wouldn't violate the scripture, you see? Would they be asserting and inserting themselves in a man's role? No. So, think about that. I think it will all come together. Fourth, the fourth question. How do we handle women like Beth Mohler who have preached from pulpits in churches to men and women? We reject them.

We reject them based on the clear teaching of 1 Timothy 2, 13-14. And 1 Timothy 3, see 1 Timothy 3 gives the qualification, qualifications, plural, for pastors and elders and they're all gendered, it's all male language, okay? So, here's a question that helps us here. Is a woman trying to insert herself into the position reserved for a man? Is a woman trying to embrace and assert authority that is reserved for a man? Beth Mohler does. And if the answer is yes to those questions then they are wrong. And in the case of Beth Mohler and so many others that is what we see.

They are trying to put themselves in a position to hold onto or grasp an authority that was meant for a man again. Is it violating the text? Now, let me give you an example right here. Let me say something right here before I continue. A godly woman will never try to do that. A godly woman that shares her testimony or shares her speaks will never try to get out of quote unquote her lane. You get it? Fifth, is this an issue that we should discuss today? Yes, yes. Not just because of what we see in Thyatira. This is a big issue in many, many churches and because of being politically correct a lot of pastors are caving here.

And look, God's not anti-woman. Paul's not anti-woman. I am not anti-woman. I'm married to one. I live with three. But we just stay under the authority of Scripture. Sixth, does this letter in teaching help us answer these questions? Yes. Because this Jezebel woman, this false teacher, she was rebuked and those who followed her were rebuked. The pastor and the leaders here, they were rebuked. This church was rebuked. This was a serious, serious problem. Now let me pause here and make one more comment before we finish.

Every church, every denomination, every church in every denomination, church history has proven it that moves away from these roles that are prescribed by God. They always die. They always do. They always do. Churches and denominations that embraced egalitarianism is the term. They get the roles warped. They always die. And it's sad. We are watching the United Methodist denomination die. Die. Not just because they've gotten the roles wrong. They've embraced a lot of other things as well. And I don't say that happily. I have family who are United Methodist. So, the tolerant church at Thyatira Part 2. One more thing and then we'll close.

If I start up any questions, feel free to ask. There is no such thing as a dumb question. But I challenge you, get into the Scripture. In my early years as a Christian, my home church pastor stirred up lots of questions. Every time I would leave and say, "Brother, Dennis is wrong." And then after I studied the Bible for a while I would say, "Well, Brother Dennis is right." Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect. I can make a mistake. But, study these things. I'll be glad to help you. So, the tolerant church at Thyatira.