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Let's get into Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 24 it says, But unto you I say, and unto the rest of Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan. The title for the sermon this morning is The Depths of Satan. The Depths of Satan. In fact, this chapter is the chapter that has the mention of Satan as the name of Satan more than any other chapter in the Bible. And when we look at Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3, we are looking at these seven churches that John is writing the book of Revelation to. He's got a message for every single one of these churches. And in Revelation chapter 2, we're going to be looking at four of those churches. And three of those four churches are under attack of Satan. Three out of four churches. I think that's a pretty interesting ratio. If we think of three out of four, the first four here. In fact, even the first church is suffering some difficulties. But what we can definitely pick up here is that Satan's eye is on the churches of God, and he's going to reach down to his depths to see how we can attack our church. And what we want to look at today, and we're going to look at several things, but what we also want to look at is how Satan, what Satan uses to attack his churches. So let's start there in verse number, let's go to verse number, let's start with verse number seven. Okay, there's a reason I want to look at this. So we've got four churches, but I want to break this down a little bit. And when we're introduced to each church, there are many things that are common amongst these churches that God speaks about. Let's start there in verse number seven. It says, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. First thing I want you to understand is that when we gather together for church, the Holy Spirit wants to speak to the churches. All right, look, I believe that you can go home and read the Bible for yourself. You have the Holy Spirit living in you. There's nothing that I'm going to teach that you yourself cannot learn by reading the Bible and having the Spirit of God lead you. But that doesn't mean church is not important because the Spirit wants to speak to the churches. And then it says, following that, it says, To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. So every single church, every time a church is mentioned, it's spoken about to him that overcometh, a term like this. And what I want you to quickly do, keep your finger there and come with me to 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5. So the first thing we're going to be looking at in this chapter is the references to him that overcometh. And God gives us a promise to those that overcome. He gives a promise to those every time a church is mentioned. So we're going to look at these references first. But I want you to just remember we've gone through the book of John and we went through 1 John, 2 John, 3 John for a reason. Okay, John is harkening back to the previous writings that he's done to help us understand the book of Revelation. In 1 John chapter 5, look at verse number 5. 1 John chapter 5 and verse number 5. 1 John 5, 5. Who is he that overcometh the world? So we want to know who that person is. To him that overcometh. Yeah, all right, I want to overcome, what do I have to do? Do I have to be a pastor? Do I have to start a church? You know, what is it that I need to do to overcome? Do I need to get rid of all my sins? Does that mean that, am I the overcome if I do that? That says here, who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Brethren, are you saved? Have you believed on Jesus as the Son of God, the one that came to die for his sins? If you're saved, you are here that overcometh. In fact, go back to the previous verse, number 4. For whosoever is born of God, have you been born of God? Have you been born again? The moment you got saved, you were born again. For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, our faith on the Son of God is what makes us overcomers, okay? So when we go back to Revelation chapter 2, come back with me to chapter 2. To him that overcometh are the saved, those that have been born again, those that have their faith on Christ. And that's it. If that's you, you meet the qualifications to have these promises laid out for you in the book of Revelation. So look at verse number 7 again. He that hath an ear, let him hear with the Spirit, safe unto the churches. And by the way, there are times when I preach a sermon and people say to me, Pastor, was that sermon for me? Or Pastor, I was just thinking about that topic this week. I don't know that. I'm not trying to preach to you like one person. I don't know what you're thinking during the week, but the Spirit of God knows. And look, you know, it's so important to be in church because you might be going to prayer to God and say, God, I need an answer to this question. Lord, I'm wondering this issue and Lord, can you please speak to me? And God goes, yes, I'll speak to you. You know, I'll make sure the pastor or the preacher gets a message by the Holy Spirit of God and he's got, you know, come to church on Sunday or Wednesday and you'll hear what I have to say and then you miss church, right? You're like, God, speak to me. Well, come to church because the Spirit also speaks to the churches. And then it says, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. And brethren, this is wonderful because the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lost access to the tree of life. Remember that, okay? Why do they lose access to that tree of life? Because if they ate of that tree, they would live forever and they could eat of that tree before they sinned but once they sinned and had a sinful flesh and a sinful nature, God did not want mankind to continue to live forever in a sinful condition, okay? That was removed from Adam and Eve. Well, what you'll find many times in the book of Revelation, what Genesis introduces, Revelation concludes. You'll find a lot of similarities between Genesis. I mean, it makes perfect sense for Genesis to be the beginning and for Revelation to be the end of the scriptures. But God is telling us we're going to have access to that tree of life meaning that we're going to be able to live forever. Now, I don't believe we have to eat unless obviously physically eat of the tree to live forever because we're already saved. We've already overcome the world. In fact, I'll just quickly read to you from Proverbs 3.18. Don't need to turn there. It says, I got the wrong reference. What's the reference that says the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life. Proverbs 11.30, okay. What's it say? The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life and here that win of souls is wise. At least I can quote it to you. But the Bible speaks of the tree of life as well in a spiritual sense. You know, each of us have the ability to give people access to the tree of life. That is the fruit of the believer. Bringing others to faith in Jesus Christ. Bringing others to overcome the world. By their faith on Christ. And here that win of souls is wise. And I appreciate soul winners. I appreciate when you get the chance, anybody, to speak the gospel of Christ to your fellow man and you see a soul saved. Hey, you're wise. Hey, you're fruitful. Hey, you've offered somebody the tree of life and they've eaten of that. They've eaten of that tree of life and now they have eternal life, spiritually speaking. But in the book of Revelation, we find out later, when God creates a new heaven, new earth, I think it's chapter 22, where we actually physically have access to a tree of life, okay? What that means exactly, I don't know. But symbolically represents, obviously, that we're going to be living forever. Alright? Now come with me to verse number 11. Revelation 2.11. Hear that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Hear that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second death. Hear that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second death. And of course, Revelation 20.14 says, in death and hell, we're cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, okay? So what is the second death? The lake of fire, okay? Where death and hell is cast into. Look, the moment you're saved, you can't lose your salvation, praise God. You can't even be hurt. Like you can't even put a fingertip into the lake of fire, into hell. No, nothing. There will be no hurt. There will be no pain. You've overcome the world and you've also overcome the lake of fire, the second death. Praise God, you know, once you're saved, you're always saved. Come with me to verse 11. Hear that half an ear, let him, did I just read that one? Yeah, verse number 17. Verse number 17, please. Hear that half an ear, let him hear with the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and give to him a white stone and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saying, saving he that receiveth it. You know, another promise that we have is when we go to be with the Lord, he's going to give us a new name. He's going to write that name on a white stone, something personal between you and him. You know, so there are names that, you know, obviously my children have names. You know, sometimes I won't say the names because they can be embarrassing, but between myself and my kids, I have like a little nickname for them, right? Something special, something personal between the two of us, okay? It's not a nickname that everybody calls them. It's just something, and sometimes it's something descriptive about them, okay? I'll give you one name. I'll give you one name because you won't know who it is. But for one of my kids, it's fat baby. And they're not a baby anymore. But it's something personal, right? Something personal between me and that one individual, all right? Well, you know what? There's going to be a name, something special between you and Christ. And we know that many times in the Bible, God gives people new names, right? Abram became Abraham. And Jacob was given the name of Israel. Hey, and when God gives a name, God is very mindful about the meaning behind the name. And I wonder what kind of meaning God's going to give you, you know? Hey, what kind of life are you living for God? I truly believe the kind of life, you know, the faithfulness, the service, the work that you do for Jesus Christ will be reflective in the definition of that name that he gives you. So I hope it's a great name that you receive. That would be exciting to know what Jesus Christ calls us. Look at verse number 26, please. Now, this one's a little bit different. Okay, but it's similar. It says in verse number 26, And he that overcometh, so that's, yep, I'm saved, and keepeth my works unto the end. Okay, so now there's something else. Okay, yes, you're saved. But now the works that you do for Christ is going to matter when it comes to this promise that he gives you. Okay, and what is that promise? To him will I give power over the nations. Now we saw in chapter one that God makes us kings and priests. Well, depending on the work that you've done for the Lord in this life is going to affect the kind of power and authority you have when we rule and reign with Christ. Obviously, those that gave everything that gave their whole life were ultra sacrificial, right? The kingdom of God was first in their minds and hearts. They're going to have the greater positions. Hey, when it came to the 12 apostles, they asked Christ about this and Christ said that each of them is going to rule over the tribe of Israel, one of the tribes of Israel. So the different levels of authority that I joke around that I'd like to hopefully have some authority on the Sunshine Coast. It's a nice place. But it is a nice place, right? But then, don't forget, God's wrath is going to fall apart. Geographically, it's all going to change anyway. I reckon in the millennium, everything is going to be a nice place. Everything is going to be wonderful to rule from. But anyway, depending on your works, we're going to be given different levels of power over the nations, different levels of authority. And look at verse number 27. And he, now Jesus is speaking to the churches. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. So we know that when Christ comes, he's going to rule with a rod of iron. But now he's telling his believers, you're going to rule with a rod of iron. Forever, we're going to be the governments. We're going to be the authorities on the land. We're going to be passing laws. We're going to be making judgments. I'm not interested in politics. I'm not interested in politics because of how wicked our political realm is. But when it comes to Christ's political realm, it's the laws of God. It's the laws of God. It's the glory of Christ. And it says, as the vessels of a potter, shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. That's like, you're going to have the authority to take a piece of pottery and just smash it. Like, what we're trying to say here is, hey, if someone's broken God's law, they're going to face a full brunt of discipline according to God's ways, according to God's laws. And look, we know when we read the Old Testament, we see the laws of God, the death penalty is one sure way to carry out punishment. It brings fear into others to not do the same. And look, you know, that's just the reality, that we're going to have that power and authority. And then it says in verse number 28, and I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Say, what is the morning star? Well, Jesus Christ, if you know the Bible, he is the morning star. He refers to himself as the morning star. So in what sense do we then receive the morning star? And I think this is quite interesting. Can you keep your finger there? And come with me to Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter four, please. Malachi chapter four, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter four. And while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Revelation 22 16, where Christ says, I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David and the bright and morning star. So who's the bright and morning star? Jesus, okay. And what does that represent? What does that mean? Now, what is the star of the morning? Let's put it that way. What is the morning star? When we think about it from a, not speaking of Christ himself, but when you think about it from creation's point of view, what is the star that we see in the morning? What is the morning star? It's the sun. Exactly. It's the sun. Okay. It's the morning star. Now, what I wanted to show you here is Malachi chapter four, verse number one, Malachi chapter four, verse number one, just to show you how interconnected the Bible is. Okay. Malachi chapter four, verse number one. It says, For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, save the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch. So we can say that the wicked will be judged greatly on this day. It kind of sounds like, you know, the authority that we're going to have to, to carry, you know, like a sword, like a potter's vessel being smashed, right? That there's great authority, there's great judgement upon those that are wicked. But then it says in verse number two, But unto you, that fear my name, shall the sun, S-U-N. Okay. Or the morning star, if you want. The son of righteousness, arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. So there's going to be a growth, there's going to be a maturity. Hey, we're going to be fine and lifted up, you know, as Michael said, like kings and priests. And then it says in verse number three, and ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, sayeth the Lord of hosts. So again, God is telling us that his believers, his people are going to have this authority over the wicked. That's great power. There's like, think about that power that you're going to have when you rule with Christ. But I want you to notice that in Malachi, it speaks of the son of righteousness. And of course, what Christ is saying is, because we're going to receive the morning star, or the son of righteousness of himself, again, the idea that we rule and reign with Christ. Christ is the one that gives us the authority and the power to judge and rule over the nations. We're ruling with Christ Jesus, right? We're not our own little sovereign nations. No, we all take commandments from the morning star or the son of righteousness. All right, so those are the promises that God gives you if you're saved. I mean, look, you thought man, okay, I'm saved. I'm not going to hell. I'm going to heaven, woo hoo, eternal life. There's so much more coming. There's so much more coming. We can't even express just how wonderful, how deep and how meaningful these things will be. But there's great promises to come for those that are saved. And I hope you do get busy working. I want to see you with great authority. I'd love to see that. I don't mind serving under you guys in the millennia. It's going to be awesome anyway. Whoever has done most for the Lord Jesus Christ will be rewarded for your service. All right, let's go back to verse number one now. I just wanted to cover that, so we're not hitting those points again. But Revelation chapter two, verse number one. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus writes. Now very quickly, come back with me to Revelation chapter one, just in case you weren't here last week. Revelation chapter one, verse number 20. Now when Christ speaks of the angel, the church of Ephesus, it says here in Revelation 1 20. The mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven candlesticks, which thou sawest are the seven churches. Just a reminder in Revelation 1, okay. So seven candlesticks represents churches. They're churches. And the seven stars in the hand of Jesus, on his right hand, are the seven angels of those churches. So when we come back to Revelation 2, and verse number one. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, we go well there's an angel over our church. Now a reminder, the word angel means a messenger, okay. Even Jesus in the Old Testament sometimes is referred to as an angel. Not because he's not God, it's because he was sent by the Father as a messenger. And we often think, okay, angel, angel, that's our heavenly host, those are the seraphim and the cherubim. And yeah, it can be those things, okay. But it can also just be a normal man, okay, a normal man. So when it comes to the angel or the messenger of the church of Ephesus, who is the one that brings the message to the church? It's the pastor, all right. So it's the main preacher of that church. And so, you know, I don't really want to be called an angel. Wow, Pastor Kevin, the angel of the church. I'm just the messenger though. A human being messenger that Christ uses to teach his church. And then it says in continuation of verse number one, These things save he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. So, you know, those are the seven pastors of the churches who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. So again, a reminder that Christ is in the midst of his churches. Christ is in the midst of us this morning. Christ is here. And I'm glad you're singing strongly for Christ Jesus. I'm glad you're singing faithfully to God. And I'm glad you're paying attention faithfully for God. Okay, Christ is in our midst this morning. Verse number two, it says, I know thy works and thy labor. So it's a working church, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and has found them liars. You may recall in 1 John, I think it's chapter four, we're instructed to try the spirits. Okay, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And so this church is doing that. Thou hast tried them that say they're apostles. All right, and that's why it says, you can't bear them which are evil, right? Like when someone walks in and goes like, I'm a pastor, I'm a preacher. You know, I'm not like, I'm not like all like falling all over him. Oh, come here then come and preach and teach us. We want to know who you are. Like, oh, but I mean, I'm an independent Baptist. I've been a pastor for 20 years and I've been going to this. Okay, but I still got to try the spirits, right? I still want to make sure that we're not going to receiving some evil messenger into the church. And so this church was very, the Ephesus church was very zealous, you know, making sure that they're allowing the right people to preach and teach their church. And has, that say they're not apostles, they're not and has found them liars. Verse number three, thou hast borne and has patience and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. So is it a working church? It's a very busy working church, right? They're laboring, they're not fainting. But this is the scary part because I want to labor for Jesus. I want to labor for his glory. I want to labor for his kingdom. Okay, and the scary thing here is a church can get so busy in activities and ministries and service and we can think, man, we're just pleasing the Lord. But then he says in verse number four, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Guys, you guys are so busy, but you've forgotten to love me. You've forgotten to love Jesus. That is a reality, that can happen. That, look, men, this can happen for us. I'm talking about going to work, being so busy. Oh God, we've got to pay the bills, we've got to take and of course you do. But you get so bogged down with your work, maybe become a workaholic and you forget your wife, you forget your children, okay? Hey, they need your love, they need your attention also, okay? And look, a church can get so busy and be like, oh, we're doing this ministry and we're doing that work and we're doing this and look at all the great things. You've forgotten to love Jesus though, you know? And I'll just read it to you because we've got so many passages to turn to, but Matthew 22 verse 36, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The first and great, the greatest commandment of all is that we ought to love God. Can we get so busy as a church that we forget to love God? We can. We can think we love God. Look at all the things we're doing, God, but we forgot him. You know, at this point, your attention starts to turn toward man. Maybe we do things out of expectation. What would man think? What does brother so-and-so think? I better get busy. I don't want to disappoint Pastor Kevin. Hey, don't worry about it. Do it for Jesus. I want you to always have that mindset. Do it for Jesus, all right? And if Pastor Kevin forgets to thank you, doesn't matter. You did it for Jesus. Doesn't matter, right? The gratitude, that service goes to him. We want to make sure our love is toward him. Matthew 6 24, just read it to you. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. The word mammon is riches. You cannot serve God and riches. You know, if you make your life about seeking how many riches and possessions and wealth can I amass in my life? The Bible says you can't love God. And there are churches that have great riches, don't they? Great wealth, great possessions. I'd say they can't serve riches and God. So it's, you know, we have to be careful. Okay, because there is large sums that come into church sometimes. All right, and you know, and this is why a pastor cannot be greedy for filthy Luca. It's one of the qualifications. Because our hearts and minds need to be on Jesus and his kingdom. And then verse number five. So when we lose our first love, what's going to happen? What's going to be the result of that? Verse number five. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, so they used to love him, that Christ was their first love, but you've fallen from that. He says, and repent and do the first works. So hold on, this church is busy. God, you spoke of their works and their labor and you were congratulating them on that. They were doing great works. But now it says, look, you've forgotten not just the first love, but the first works. Can a church get so busy with works that they forget the first works? I say, what are the first works? And look, if we don't do the first work, we'll talk about it in a moment. If we don't do the first works, he says this, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. God says, look, if you don't, if you keep this, if you go a long time, you go, after I've told you and warned you and given you time to repent, if you're as a church not doing the first works, Christ says, I'm going to eventually come and take away your candlestick. Christ says, I'm going to eventually come and take away your position as a church before me. I wonder how many churches are running that are not candlesticks. What is the point of a candlestick though? To light a flame, to show light. Are we the light of the world? That's what we're meant to be. Christ came as the light of the world. We are now the light of the world. Christ said that to us. Okay, as a church, we need to be a candlestick, a candlestick that burns brightly, that shines the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we're not doing that, Christ is going to come and take away that candlestick. I mean, it gives you time to repent. It gives you space to get things right. He's still thankful for the works that you're doing. But look, once the candlestick has been removed, how can we say that Christ is walking in our midst? There's a lot of churches that are running today and Christ is not in the midst. There's a lot of churches today that don't do any evangelism. No soul winning. Nothing. You can't tell me that's a legitimate church of Christ. It can't be. At some point, if that church has been running like that for a long period of time, that candlestick must have been removed. Remember what we read earlier? It said, when we're looking at the overcometh, and each of these verses are to a specific church. But I want you to remember what it said. Let's go back and I'm sure you call. But it said, I'll give you an example. If you look at verse number... I'm losing my place here. Sorry Brevin. Oh yeah, look at verse number seven again. So this is to the church of Ephesus. We're still looking at the church of Ephesus here. But I want you to just remember another point. Here they have an ear. Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now it's to the church of Smyrna. Now Christ is saying, look, it's to the churches. What that means is, as we read about this when it comes to a very physical church in present time in Ephesus, the Ephesian church, it's that message is still for all the churches. We can't get to a point where we're like, oh, well don't read the book of Romans because that's for the Romans. Don't read the book of Ephesians because that's for the Ephesians. Don't read the book of Colossians. That's for those in Colossae. And don't read the book of Matthew because that's for the Jews. And don't read the book of Mark because apparently that's for the Romans, apparently, if you speak to some theologian. And before you know it, you're not going to be reading anything in the Bible. Well, what's for me? No, no, what the Spirit saith to the churches. Look, every epistle, every message, every book of the Bible is something that we can learn and gain and teach from. And look, Ephesus, it's a great church. Like read the book of Ephesians. It's a great church. When you read many epistles in the Bible, a lot of churches have major problems. But when it comes to the Ephesian church, there isn't any major problems that have been pointed out. It's like a deep doctrinal study, the book of Ephesians. Like that church is receiving the meat of God's word. But even a church that's doing well, even a church that has the meat of God's word can deteriorate over time and forget their first love, which is what happened here, what we're reading about here in Revelation chapter two. So, if you can keep your finger, then come with me to the book of John. Come with me to the book of John chapter four, please. John chapter four, verse number 34. John chapter four and verse number 34, please. John chapter four and verse number 34. I don't want to lose our candlestick. That's why I'm always thankful for those that go sowing. How you're keeping the flame burning, praise God. Keep it burning. What are the first works? Well, look at what Christ says in John chapter four, verse number 34. Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Now, the context of this is he's speaking to his disciples after speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. And then many Samaritans are making their way to Jesus because they've heard the testimony of the woman they're making. He goes, all right, look, I'm coming to finish the work. Then he says in verse number 35, say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. He's telling his disciples, look, the Samaritans are coming to us. It's time to go and reap of the harvest. We've got to go and do the work that our Father has given us to do. We need to finish the work. And brethren, as long as we are living and breathing, we have work to finish. You say, what work? Lift up your eyes. Just look around you. So many people are on their way to hell. I got another complaint yesterday, soul winning complaint. So I'm glad it's coming back. I used to average one complaint per week, at least one per week. It's coming back. Awesome. I like it. Someone in Biwa is criticizing us for going soul winning. You know, don't you know that Biwa already has a Baptist Church? How dare you come and step into another person's area? And I'm like, look, the gospel has no limitations. And he said something like, oh, you know, this, you know, I'm just paraphrasing a little bit, but he says something like, you know, you know, the actions of your church wants me to stay away from your church. I'm like, yeah, stay away, please. We don't want anyone to come here and put out the lights of the candlestick. We don't need anybody to come here and discourage our soul winning efforts. Look, yeah, Biwa, we've got to Biwa. I don't care if we're in the Little Mountain, Caloundria, Biwa. Our goal of our church is to preach the gospel or to give every door on the Sunshine Coast the opportunity to hear the gospel. And not just Sunshine Coast. What did Jesus say? Jerusalem, Samaria and unto the utmost part of the world. Hey, we've gone soul winning in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Caboolture, Gympie, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra. Even the states. Where else have we been, bro? Wagga Wagga, anyone else around church? Bridgetown. Where's Bridgetown? No one knows. But we were there. We were there preaching the gospel. Because this candlestick continues to burn brightly. And if you can see the candlestick all the way to breach on the other side of Australia, we're doing pretty well. We're doing pretty well. And yeah, I don't want anyone comes to say, oh, you should just welcome everybody. If you're going to discourage soul winning, I don't want you here. You can go and join the church that has lost the candlestick. You can hide your candlestick. You can hide your light if you want. Okay, but that is not the job of this church here. I came to start this church to shine the glory of the gospel of Christ. It's what saved me. It's what saves us. It's what our community needs to hear. So if we forget the first works, Christ is going to give us some time to get it right. Okay, but we better take that opportunity and not be like, oh, I got Christ is okay with us not soul winning. There's a lot of great IFB churches that have started their churches with soul winning efforts, preaching the gospel. And then they're like, oh, our church is big enough. We don't need to do that ministry anymore. You're going to lose it. You're going to lose the candlestick. You're going to lose your effectiveness for the glory of Christ. Now, can someone tell me what I'm up to? Because I don't know anymore. Verse number Revelation. Oh, yeah, sorry. Oh, yeah. So, okay, back to Revelation chapter 2 now. Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 6, please. Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 6. And by the way, I love Jesus's approach. He spoke highly of them, spoke positively, then gave him the negative. Okay, and now he's also going to give them positive. All right, he says in verse number 6, But this thou hast, that thou hatest. Oh, it's sinful to hate. He goes, look, you hate. Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Oh, Jesus, you also hate? He goes, look, I'm congratulating you for hating the things that I hate. I don't, he goes, look, I hate the deeds or the doings or works of the Nicolaitans. I say, what are the Nicolaitans? I don't know. Okay, but I'll tell you something, their works were wicked. Okay, I don't know. People will say, oh, this is probably what it was. We don't know. Honestly, you can come up with a million guesses. No one truly knows what they were. But one thing we also find out later, we'll see this later, is they also introduced false doctrine into churches. And God says, I hate this. And he's so thankful that the church, at least in Ephesus, are being mindful of the kind of doctrines and influences that are coming from external places. Look, God hates wickedness. God hates false doctrine. Okay, and if anyone wants to try to creep into this church, you know, we better hate that as well. It's not a sin to hate the things that Christ hates. That's the right place to be and to love the things that Christ loves. Okay, that's exactly where we want to be. But we will come back to the Nicolaitans soon. Let's look at verse number eight. We already read verse number seven. We looked up here the overcoming for that. So let's go to verse number eight. And so the church in Smyrna writes, these things are, yeah, before I keep reading, sorry, I was going to say that, right? So Jesus gives positive, then negative and positive. There's a term in business. I got taught this. When you need to give someone critical, when you have to give someone like bad news, you want to sandwich it. It's called the positive sandwich. That's a compliment sandwich. So given, hey, it's all going good, but you need to fix this. But in case it gets so discouraged by that, it's like, oh, but no, you're doing good too. So in the sandwich, right, the two pieces of bread, that's the positive positive and the meat in there, that's the thing that you need to fix. Okay, that works really well, by the way. So if you're like an employer, your supervisor on the job and you need to give your employee, someone that's under you like bad news, just follow Jesus' example. Positive, negative, positive. Okay, and people receive it very, very well. Okay, anyway, verse number eight. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna writes, These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works. This is a busy church. But then it says this, and tribulation. So they're having difficulties and poverty. Look, the church in Smyrna was a poor church. Okay, a poor church, from the perspective of the world. Okay, there probably wasn't a lot of people, maybe not a very large church, maybe the people that were part of that church were on the lower social level, like class, right? They weren't able to really afford great things for the church. But I love what Christ says in, in, in our parenthesis, but thou art rich. See, from Christ's point of view, they are rich. They might not be rich on, they're not, in fact they're not, they're not rich on the earth. But they're rich in heaven. And so, brethren, look, if God gives you riches on the earth, praise God, it's by his hand. But really, you can see where the heart of Christ is. He wants your riches in heaven. Okay, so look, if you're poor, don't be so discouraged, guys. We know that eternity is to come. You can be a very wealthy person, okay, in eternity, in heaven. Okay, by serving your Lord Jesus Christ. Even though you may not have much on this earth. He goes, and I know the blasphemy of them, which, this is really interesting, that say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. So now we're introduced to Satan again, the synagogue of Satan. Say, who are these people? Well, what's blasphemy? When you blaspheme the Lord. Okay, when you might be cursing God. Let me ask you something. Is Jesus Christ God? What if you said Jesus is not God? Would that be blasphemy? He's just a man. That's blasphemy. Is Jesus the Messiah? Is he the Christ? What if you said, hey, he's not the Messiah, he's not the Christ. Would that be blasphemy? Hey, we believe Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God, the Lamb of God that take away the sin of the world, the Messiah, the Christ. He's God. He's God manifest in the flesh. You're not going to find us blaspheme in the name of God, the name of Christ in this church. But are there some religions that do this? I immediately think of Islam. They deny that God can have a son. All right, they deny that Christ died on the cross. Okay, I mean, that's wicked, right? But these are people that say they're Jews and are not. Now who goes around like, okay, this might be a sensitive topic because of what's happening in the Middle East these days, but who goes around saying they're Jews? Jews. Oh, there's a pastor being racist again. Then Jesus is racist. And who else but are the synagogue of Satan? Whose religion blasphemes and are known for their synagogues? The Jews. Should this be difficult to figure out who Christ is speaking about? The blasphemy of the Jews, the synagogue of Satan. I don't understand my Baptist brethren. Just bless the Jews. We've got to bless the Jews. The synagogue of Satan? I'm not going to bless the synagogue of Satan. I'm sorry. I'm going to bless God's people. I'm not going to bless those that blaspheme the name of Christ. I'm going to bless those that bless the name of Christ. Look, can you please keep your finger there and come with me to Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2, please. Romans chapter 2 and verse number 28. Romans chapter 2 and verse number 28. Look, who's bringing tribulation on the church of Smyrna? The Jews are. Judaism, the false religion of Judaism. They're the ones persecuting the church in Smyrna. And look, Romans chapter 2. You guys know this passage but I want you to pay attention. Verse number 28. It says, For he is not a Jew. Who's not a Jew? Which is one outwardly. Look, those got people in the Middle East that say they're Jews. They're Jews outwardly. Wouldn't you say that? Well, Jesus says they're not Jews. They say they are Jews but they are not. Okay. I mean this is, this is. And it's neither is that circumcision. Hey, what religion today is circumcising people? Judaism. Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. Verse number 29 is important. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit. And not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God. Brethren, the moment you believed on Jesus, you know what he said? I can't save myself. My flesh cannot save me. So you put away the flesh. You were circumcised, not outwardly. You were circumcised in the heart. With your heart you believed that all I need to do is put my trust on Jesus alone. And I'm going to circumcise my flesh. Salvation is not what I do. Salvation is what Christ has done for me. You are a Jew inwardly. Inwardly. Those that are outward Jews, they are not Jews. And surprise, surprise, that's why their main religion is Judaism, the synagogue of Satan. Say, pastor, how can you say that? Look, every false religion is a religion of the devil. That goes for Islam. That goes for Buddhism. That goes for Judaism which we spoke about. That goes for every false Christian sect out there as well. They're religions of the devil. Okay? They are misleading people. Okay? It's about the flesh. It's always about the flesh, isn't it? What do I do? I'm good enough for heaven. I'm doing the works. I know I'm saved. Look at me. Yeah, it's a religion of the flesh. No, you need to be circumcised in the heart. And say to yourself, you know what? I can't save myself. My full trust is on Christ alone. The moment you do that, brethren, you've been circumcised in the heart and you are a Jew inwardly. It's like, oh, it's racism. No, because even Jews can be saved. You know what? When we knock, if I knock a door and it's a Jew, I'm not going to go, oh, synagogue of Satan, see you later. I'm going to try to get him saved. Because I love him as much as anybody else that he's lost. What we hate is false religion. What we hate is blasphemy against Jesus Christ. People that lead others to hell. That is right to hate. Let's love lost souls. Okay, regardless of what race you are. In fact, did you sing our first song this morning on purpose, brother? What was our first song? Like, because of this sermon? All right, just quickly, hymn number 167, please turn to hymn number 167. Just very quickly, you don't need to sing it. I just want to show you, because this is a very, this hymn is a very common hymn amongst independent Baptist churches. And you know what I heard from independent Baptists? They said to me, well, since you believe you're a Jew inwardly, you're not really the Jew. That means you are the synagogue of Satan about me. Because I don't tell the line of the independent Baptist movement regarding Jews, I must be the synagogue of Satan. And yet, all those churches guarantee you, they all sing this hymn, stanza number 2. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransomed from the fall, hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all. Every Baptist church that I've been in has sung that song, ye chosen seed of Israel's race. We all sing it, we're all Israel's race. But when I just, if I, if you go from singing it to teaching it, now you're the synagogue of Satan. Like, what in the world? We don't blaspheme the name of God here. We don't blaspheme the name of Christ. Some people are just so obsessed with their dispensational tool of interpretation, so obsessed with C.I. Scofield, so obsessed with John, J. Dyke Pentecost, so obsessed with John Nelson Darby, where they just can't see clear scriptures and say, yes, Jesus, that's what you said. Like, think about it again, Romans 2, for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. So me believing the word of God makes me the synagogue of Satan? What does that talk about? What does that, what are you trying to say that by extension with the verses that we believe and preach from? Is that the synagogue of Satan also? Are the writings of Romans the writings of Satan? Think about where this leads. Brevin, we're talking about the depths of Satan. And the first thing that Satan is going to use against his churches is false religion. False religion to persecute God's people. Why do you think we bothered somebody in Biwa? We're just knocking doors preaching the gospel, giving people the opportunity to understand and receive the free gift of salvation and someone gets bothered. And I looked into it, the guys from Unite, if you're listening to this guy, he's in the Uniting Church. You guys know there's no gospel being taught there. You guys know that that church is full of homosexual pastors and what have you. There are no standards in that church, they don't care. Because it's a false religion. Just because it's Christian, it's another Jesus, it's another spirit, it's another gospel. And Brevin, you know, even those that name the name of Christ are going to persecute God's people. And call whatever names they're going to call you. They're going to try to stop you preaching the gospel. That's what false religion, Satan uses false religion. That's the first depth that we're going to be looking at. When we look at Satan's armoury, when he digs in deep to attack churches, one thing that he's going to use is false religion to accuse the people of God. Come back with me to Revelation 2 please. And verse number 10. So we can see here that the church of Smyrna is under attack by the Jews. And it says here, Christ says, There are none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison. Look, some of these members of the church, they've been thrown into prison. How would you respond to that? What if I got thrown into prison one day? How would you like that? You know, are we going to turn our backs on our brothers and sisters in the Lord that might one day get... It could happen. It happens. It happens in other places in this world. It says here, So this church, you know, from a very literal perspective, is having 10 days of tribulation from the hands of the devil. And here's the thing, this is what's really interesting about this. It's that surely the Lord's going to deliver you out of prison. Or some. But then it says, Christ says, And I will give thee a crown of life. You know, brethren, we should be willing to die for Christ. I mean, he died for us. He paid for our sins. You know, someone says, hey, look, you need to stop preaching in the name of Christ. You know, we better be able to turn around and say, you know what, if you want me to stop, you have to kill me. That's the only way that New Life Baptist Church is going to stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you say, oh man, we lose our life. Don't worry. Christ says he's going to give you the crown of life. Special reward. Special honor in heaven that you lay down your life for Jesus Christ. But Satan, yeah, Satan will try to destroy you. But don't be afraid. You already saw that you're not going to be hurt by the second death. Look, this body passes away. As soon as these eyes close, you're going to open them and you're in heaven with Jesus Christ. I mean, can it get any better than that? That's wonderful. That's a wonderful promise of God. And I'll just quickly read to you from Galatians 1.13. Because when the Apostle Paul, before he got saved, he was of the Jews religion. He was a Pharisee. And he says this in Galatians 1.13. We have heard my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it. Paul says I was responsible for destroying churches. I was in the Jews religion. Okay. So what do you think the synagogue of Satan is? The Jews religion. Okay. I mean, if you read your Bible, that's pretty clear. If you just accept what God says, that's very clear. Okay. So Satan will use false religion. Now some people have this idea. Well not in the past. You don't understand. The Jews, they are, they believe in the Father, but they just don't believe in the Son. Except we saw in 1 John that if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. Christ says that I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except by me. So if you don't have Jesus, if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. So who they worship then? It's called the synagogue of Satan for a reason. The God they worship is Satan. It doesn't matter what name they give it. It's Satan's religion. Okay. It's a false religion. And again, that misunderstanding. You know, no, no, no. They've got the Old Testament religion. No, no, no. If they had the Old Testament religion, they would have no doubt believed on Christ. Because it says in John 5.46, Christ is speaking to just unsaved Jews that are seeking to kill him. It says in John 5.46, in the words of Jesus, John 5.46. I recommend you note this down. You're going to have to turn there right now. But note it down. John 5.46 and 47. Christ says to the unbelieving Jews, For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me. For he, that's Moses, for he wrote of me. You see, if they believed the Old Testament scriptures, if they truly believed the writers of Moses, they would have naturally believed on Jesus. So the fact that they don't believe in Jesus tells us they don't believe even the Old Testament. So it's not like, oh, they just don't have information. No, it's another religion. It's a false religion. They don't even believe the writings of Moses. Otherwise they would have believed on Christ. And then he says in verse number 47, But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? Look, if a Jew of the false religion of the synagogue of Satan were to go, you know what? I'm going to go back to the Old Scriptures. I'm going to go back to the Old Testament. And I'm going to believe these words. I'm going to make this the basis of my faith in God. You know what's going to naturally happen? They're going to conclude Christ was the Messiah. And they're going to place their faith on Christ. And guess what? Now they're no longer the synagogue of Satan They're no longer the Jew outwardly. They are a Jew inwardly like the rest of those that are in Christ Jesus. Revelation chapter 2, verse number 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos writes, These things save he which have the sharp sword with two edges. That's Christ, the sharp that comes out of his mouth. I know thy works and where thou dwellest, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. So Satan has a seat where in Pergamos or Pergamon It says, For thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. So is this church in Pergamos also going through persecution? Yeah. This time it's not a religious system that's persecuting them. It's Satan has a seat there, a seat of authority. Now it's a political system. Okay. This is now, we're talking about the depths of Satan. Satan will use false religion to persecute his church. Satan will use his political system. Remember Satan is the god of this world. Okay. Now you start scratching your head. Why do our politicians pass laws that are contrary to God? Because Satan is the god of this world. Okay. Satan sets up his seat in a place of authority. Okay. Now look, Satan is not omnipresent like God. Satan can't be everywhere at once. Okay. But there are times we see here that he sets up his seat on a certain place. He goes, this is what I'm going to rule for now. This is where I'm going to influence the world. You say, how would it influence the world in Pergamon? Well again, this is, I had a look at this up and this is in Turkey again and it was a passageway between the Middle East and Europe. So a lot of trade and political influence would go through this area and I guess Satan would say, I don't know, well this is the place I need to set up. This is where I can influence the world in the greatest capacity at this point in time. And because he had that seat of power, okay, the church in Pergamon was suffering, persecution, even a man, Antipas, ended up having to lose his life. He was slain, he was killed because Satan dwelt in this place. So Satan will weaponise politics against the churches. Okay, verse number 14, I better hurry up. Verse number 14. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam and taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. There it is, now we're talking about the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. Which thing I hate. Christ says, I hate their doctrine. Because you're allowing these people into your church. You're allowing them to influence your church with their doctrine. Christ says, I hate it. This is something I have against you. If we have somebody come into our church and they want to influence our church they start preaching their false doctrines. We can't have them in the church. Say look, you need to go because God hates it. And what, I hate it too. I want the truth. I want the truth. I want Christ's truth taught in his church. Aren't those strong words from Christ? I hate the Nicolaitans. I hate their deeds. I hate their doctrine. And we hate, we need to hate false doctrines too. We need to hate wicked people that come into the church to try to drive us away from the truth of the Bible. Um, and then he says in verse number 16 Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Verse number 18. And unto the angel of the church in thy attire write. These things save the Son of God who have his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass. I know thy works and charity and service and faith and patience and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more than the first. What does he mean by that? Well, look at verse number 19 again. I know thy works and look how he ends verse number 19. Thy charity, service, faith and thy patience and thy works. Oh, Jesus, why are you talking about works and then works again? Because it goes and the last to be more than the first. So when they started they were doing works as a church. As they've continued and grown they're doing more works. And Christ is acknowledging, look, I can see that you're doing more and more. You're growing more and more. And he sees that. What you're doing now is more than what we started. Christ can see all the works that we do as a church. From the time we started and had less people and less resources as we grow as a church we ought to be doing more. And Christ enjoys that. He likes that. Then he says in verse number 20 Not withstanding I have a few things against thee because our sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess let's stop there for a moment which calleth herself which calleth herself a prophetess. She's self-ordained. She didn't go through the process. She said I'm a prophetess I can teach God's church and somehow this church allowed her to come in and start teaching. It says to teach what is she teaching? To teach and to seduce my servants my servants. So she's teaching and seducing God's people. To commit fornication. What's fornication? Sex before marriage. And to eat things sacrificed unto idols. You say hey let's bring food. This food has been sacrificed to idols. Let's eat of it. How can a church get this far? With a preacher saying it's okay to commit fornication. It's okay to seduce people in the church. It's okay to eat food that's been clearly offered to idols. It's been offered to this devil and to that devil. Let's eat of it church. So I can't believe church accepts. You think you don't believe it. And then you start hearing stories. Some scandal happens even in independent Baptist churches. Oh the pastor was found out to be sleeping around with the women in the church. It's so wicked. I just what in the world? What in the world? You know and you hear these stories and you think there's no way but then it always happens in many churches. Alright fornication adultery sleeping around and it's all everyone's okay with it. It's all good. You know this is why I and ladies if you want to have a private conversation, there is no private conversation with me. None. If you want to talk, your husband needs to be there. Or if you have no husband my wife's going to be there. Or if you want to talk to me we can talk straight out of the service. Like when everyone's around. That's not my church office for a private chat with some woman. It's not my office anyway. If anyone needs to use it you can use it. But this thing it's such such wickedness. So wicked like in God's house. I just you know. And look look can I say something? How bad can that get? Like that's a pretty bad church. It's still a candlestick for Jesus. It's hard to comprehend but look when things aren't perfect in our church don't be like I can't wait to leave the church. Look at least I'm not sleeping around with everybody because we're all losing right? At least I'm not like we're not like sacrificing food to idols right now. Like give us a break. We're human beings. Oh the church is full of hypocrites. Of course it is. The church is full of sinners. Of course it is. What do you expect? We're all growing and learning and trying to be more like Christ Jesus. It takes time. You know what for some people they're just never they're just unfortunately just going to be wicked. Like please don't just be like I'm leaving. Something bad happened. I'm out of here. Look Christ can still utilize churches that are pretty messed up. Pretty messed up. Pastor I can't find any good churches. Look it might be a little bit messed up. But give it time. Maybe God has given that church time to repent. He still wants it to be a candlestick. Now I'm going to quickly read to you some passages. And if I get accused or anything I won't get accused whatever. But 1 Corinthians 14 34 says Let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak. But they are commanded to be under obedience as also stay after the law. Pastor doesn't mean I can't even say a word at church. This is about teaching in the church. Look there are no women pastors. One of the qualifications is that the bishop must be the husband of one wife. Ladies if you're not a husband that's not you. This is a role that God has given men. To be the preachers and the teachers and the pastors of churches. Also 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 11 Let the women learn in silence your subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to assert authority over the man but to be in silence. Come with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Oh I can't believe you read those passages Pastor. Welcome to a Bible preaching church. Where I care more about pleasing God than tickling your ears. Look you want to have your ears tickled. There are so many churches on the Sunshine Coast. They'll tickle your ears. They'll make you feel good. They'll tell you Paul was just a chauvinistic pig and he hated women that's why he never got married. And don't listen to Paul. Look Paul was moved by the Holy Ghost. That's what God says. And it's strange because it'd be much easier for my life to be anything else but a pastor. It's much easier. Life is a lot easier. I'll tell you as a pastor you're going to be a target. Give me a target. From those that hate you, that hate the Lord, that hate his word. Or whatever just a target out of envy I could be doing so many other things. Make my life a lot easier. Why do people force themselves into positions of authority? Self-ordained, women wanting to be pastors. Look they're not right with God. You need to understand. They're not suited. Why would you want to be under that authority? Why would you want to be under that authority? First Corinthians chapter 10 please. First Corinthians chapter 10. Verse number 25. Not only did she, we know that she committed adultery, I don't need to teach that right. Committed fornication, you all know that's wrong. But she also taught them to eat food, sacrifice unto idols. And what I want to do here just very quickly so for you to understand what this means. Alright. This whole chapter, it breaks down into great detail. What does it mean to eat food, sacrifice unto idols? Okay. Cause then some Christians start to get a little bit what's the word I'm looking for? Superstitious, yeah I was thinking worried. Something along these lines. Overly concerned. And it's like well I don't know what if I went to the shops and this you know this meat was sacrificed to Allah certified or something like that. You know what if this, I don't know what if this just you know well I just want to give you some pointers here. Which I think are very helpful. In first Corinthians chapter 10 verse number 25. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse number 25. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that's like the markets, that eat. So whatever is sold in the shops just eat it. Alright. Asking no question for conscience sake. Don't be like oh I wonder if this has been sacrificed to Allah or I don't know whatever the halal approved food or any other. Is this kosher? Or is this, I don't know. You know I grew up in Canley Vale in Sydney and it was a very Asian immigrant area. And so there'd be fruit markets and they'd always have their little buddha statues. And they'd take oranges or apples I'm sure they were oranges. And they would give them to buddha. But you know what would happen? My friends heard me. They would then take those oranges off and put it back amongst all the other oranges. So you could walk into the you know get some oranges and go oh yeah I'll grab some. And they'd be offered to buddha. So am I going to go to the shop by the way shopkeeper I just want to make sure were these over there on the idol or not? Don't ask. For conscience sake. Don't worry about it. Just eat it. Just eat it. Don't worry about it. Okay. This is why. You don't have to get overly oh man what about this food what about that food. Just don't ask. Just eat on it. Whatever you eat whatever you buy the shambles. Okay. Then it says in verse 126. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness are of. In other words everything belongs to God anyway. Even if it's been offered to sacrifice or sacrificed to idols. The fullness, everything on the earth is God's anyway. So for your conscience sake just eat and don't ask questions. But now we have the condition. If any of them that believe not so an unbeliever bid you to a feast. They invite you. Come and eat with us. Right? And you'd be disposed to go. You'd go yep I'll be there. Whatsoever is set before you eat asking no question for conscience sake. Maybe they did offer it to their idols. Maybe when they were preparing they were like dear Allah bless the food what have you right? Don't ask. Okay for conscience sake. What I'm trying to say to you this topic is very much based on conscience. Okay. But then verse 128 says this. But if any man say unto you this is offered in sacrifice unto idols. So come and eat with me. By the way we sacrificed we gave thanks whatever it is to some false god. Alright. Eat not. Now don't eat it. For your sake. No. For his sake. That showed it. And for conscience sake. Because yeah it can defile your conscience. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So why would you not eat in that scenario? You know some Buddhist family invites you over. You're like man this might open doors to give them the gospel. And they're like hey by the way before we eat I just want you to know we've offered this to Buddha right or something like that. Well now God says don't eat of it. Now you are partaken of food sacrificed unto idols. For their sake because you're like if you start eating that you're like well I've got no problem with your false religion. And I'm happy to participate and eat together with you in fellowship in services false god. Well that's when you don't eat of it. Okay. So because again I don't want you to become the word I was looking for was it's right down to my tongue. Paranoid. Perfect. I don't want you to start becoming paranoid. Look everything on the earth belongs to the Lord. You go to the shop done. Don't ask questions. Just thank God for what he's provided for you. Alright well what if it got offered to the. Don't worry about it for your conscience sake. Let's eat of it. But the problem with Jezebel and the other church was that they were very much knowingly hey we're offering this food to some false god let's eat of it together as a church. That's very wicked. That is what you're not to participate in. Back to Revelation chapter 2 please. And I'm sorry I've gone over time but there's just so much so much going on here. Verse number 21 And I gave her that's Jezebel her space to repent for her fornication and she repented not. So God even gives this church time. Like come on get rid of Jezebel. Alright like stop teaching this nonsense. Then it says in verse number 22 Behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he with search of the reigns and hearts and I will give unto everyone of you according to your works. This is the time now we have chapter 2 where great tribulation is mentioned. Now I'll introduce you to something. This is why a lot of churches don't like these ideas these concepts. Because no no no no the church is not going to go through great tribulation. Except Christ said about this church he'll cast them into great tribulation. And what did we learn earlier in chapter 1 that John is our companion in tribulation. So I want you to notice something this church Christ saying look I'm going to cast them into great tribulation again say well that church doesn't exist anymore I know but remember spirit says to the churches one day a church will go through this period of time this last days the great tribulation to come. And you can see that there are two reasons why God will allow his church to go through great tribulation number one it's persecution you're being tried you know if you're serving Christ you might even lose your life but we saw that Christ is going to reward you for your faithfulness. There might be other believers excessively wicked and God's going to allow them to go through that great tribulation but without protection. We saw that even their children will be killed in this process. Look I don't know when that time will be the great tribulation let's say it is in our lifetime say I'm scared of that I'm going to hide. You know the best thing to do you're going to protect yourself the best way possible just shine the light of Christ just preach you say but everyone will know Christ is going to protect you though and he'll be with you he'll guide you and even if you lose your life you'll be like well I'm ready Lord I've done everything I can but I'm going to be rewarded rather than being punished you know rather than that being a time when God allows his great chastisement to fall upon excessively wicked churches and God's peoples. These are his servants we saw earlier. Now I don't believe Jezebel is saved whatsoever because he says in verse number verse 124 So for those of you that aren't listening to this Jezebel and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak so who's coming or who knows who's of the depths of Satan it's Jezebel. See there are three main ways that God uses to attack his churches number one false religion we saw that. Number two the political system. Number three infiltration where Satan will appoint his ministers into a church to defile a church from the inside. If he can't defile the church from the outside he's going to try to infiltrate and defile the church from the inside. And Jezebel was one of those ministers. Probably attractive lady causing men to just fall over commit fornication and there's great judgement that's going to fall upon this church. I'll just read verse number 24 again but unto you I say unto the rest of the Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak I will put upon you none of the burden. Because look I'm not going to ask any more from you you guys are doing alright just have nothing to do with Jezebel and her doctrines and her teachings. Verse number 25 but that which ye have already hold fast sorry but that which ye already hold let me read that again but that which ye have already hold fast till I come. So you guys look just continue for those and again you say oh I'm in a bad church look you hold fast there might be a Jezebel there might be a false look you be faithful to God even if you're in a bad church it's the best church that I can find. I mean hopefully they're preaching the right gospel right? That's the main thing. But you can still be faithful even if the rest of the church is going down a downward spiral. Now let's turn to one more passage let's go to 1 Peter 4 verse number 14. 1 Peter 4 verse 14 thank you for your patience brethren there's a lot would you agree with me there's a lot to go through here and I've skipped over some things too. But 1 Peter 4 verse 14 let me end on this because three of the four churches that we saw were being persecuted okay people were being put to death even and we complain about persecution when someone just says profanity at us at the door you know get the F out of here or something like that oh I'm persecuted you're not and that's very light you need to learn how to grow thicker skin and it doesn't mean anything okay they're just words. But 1 Peter 4 verse 14 if ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye you know just serve Christ of your life and when people complain and hate you for it you're going to start to learn to just be happy about it it's like well yeah bring it on for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you on their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified this is why I like complaints I like people saying hey stop soul winning because Christ is glorified I like it bring it on you know make more complaints normally businesses are like hey leave me a five star review I'd rather go to the community leave us a one star review and tell us why you hate us because I want not us to be glorified I want Christ to be glorified because they do that they think I'm going to get under his skin leave a one star review I'm like yes praise God for it verse number 15 but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evil doer or as a busy body in other men's matters yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God on this behalf I want to read that to you because we can suffer we can go through difficulties and problems and persecutions in two different ways one way is just serving Jesus and people will hate you for it another way is being wicked which one of those two would you rather suffer for obviously suffering for Christ because you're going to be rewarded for such things with Jezebel and those that followed after her you know Christ said look I'm going to send you to great tribulation they're going to be suffering for their wickedness but look if we're that last generation you know what and tribulation comes I want you to get to the point where you're like you know what we were warned of God John's my companion in tribulation whatever we go through however the devil attacks our church you know what we can still glorify Christ praise God for him he's done everything necessary this whole earth is his the foolish are off it all belongs to Jesus we can rest easy upon him alright brethren the depths of Satan Satan will use false religion he will weaponize politics against his people and Satan will try to infiltrate his church okay let's pray