The Revelation, and we're at the second chapter
of this evening, and going through from verse
18 to the end of the chapter.
Revelation 2, verse 18 to the end of
the chapter, and it's a wonderful portion we
have.
We just want to get into our minds
again the whole situation again.
The risen Lord is walking in the midst
of the churches.
He's watching every work, and he's measuring every
motive, and he's scrutinizing every piece of service.
And as he walks in the midst of
these seven churches of Asia, then he sends
letters to each one of them, through John
to the pastor of the church.
You can see the wording's the same again
tonight.
And unto the angel of the church in
Thyatira writes, and the angel is not a
shining angel from heaven, for you don't write
letters to angels in heaven.
It's the old pastor of the church, he's
responsible for the people.
I'm responsible for all who come to this
class for the spiritual teaching here, and I
alone am responsible.
That's why there must be no punctious fools.
That's why I must be faithful to the
Lord whether you come back or whether you
don't.
But for twenty years, I stood behind this
book and preached the truth as I see
it.
And here's the class of my despite of
all that's going on around us.
And I think that speaks for the wonder
of the world.
And so we're looking at this church in
Thyatira tonight.
If you know the map of ancient Asia
Minor, you will know that this city of
Thyatira, you will know that it's in the
very heart of Asia Minor on the old
ancient map.
Sometime if you get one of these old
ancient maps, you'll easily find the Mediterranean Sea,
and then you'll easily find the Aegean Sea.
It just runs up off the Mediterranean.
And you'll find on the coast of the
Aegean Sea, on the Asia side, you'll find
Ephesus quite easily.
It's just one of the cities on the
coast.
And if you find Ephesus, and you go
straight north, you'll come in the middle time
to Smyrna.
It's not very many miles away from Ephesus.
And if you go on through Smyrna and
still go north, you'll come to Pergamos.
Now when you come to Pergamos, if you
turn towards the east and go into the
center of Asia Minor, you'll come to Thyatira.
If you go south from Thyatira, you'll find
Sardis.
If you go still south, you'll find Philadelphia.
If you go still south, you'll find Laodicea.
So you see that Thyatira was right in
the heart of Asia Minor.
But the church here in Thyatira is right
in the heart of these churches.
You see there are seven, and there are
three in one side and three in the
other.
And Thyatira was the middle one.
If you get Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos,
Thyatira.
Then you get Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.
But the middle one of the seven is
Thyatira.
The historians tell us that it was the
great industrial city.
It had much weaving, and the principal dyers
of all weaving material, they were situated in
that day at Thyatira.
Let's go back to the Acts of the
Apostles for a moment, to chapter 16.
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16.
Acts 16, and the way down the chapter
there, it says in verse 11, I'm
looking from Troas.
Now Troas is a port just north of
Ephesus.
And of course Paul sailed from there, and
he sailed straight across the Aegean Sea.
He's weaving Asia Minor.
Actually he's coming to Europe.
He's coming to Macedonia.
And it says, verse 12, and from thence
to Philippi, which is the chief city of
that part of Macedonia, and the colony.
And we were in that city abiding certain
days, and on the Sabbath we went out
of the city by a riverside where prayer
was wont to be made.
And we sat down and spoke unto the
woman which resorted to that.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller
of purple, of the city of Thyatira.
Now that's where she came from.
You can see that she was a seller
of purple, for this was the color that
kings and princes were after in those days.
Purple is always called the royal color.
And it seems to establish what the historians
tell us, that Thyatira was a great industrial
weaving and dyeing center.
And you know, sometimes I hear a lot
about women being kept down, and we hear
a lot about women's lib, and I'll have
a word or two to say about it
tonight in the meeting when we come to
Jezebel.
I want to tell you that way back
yonder there was a woman out selling cloth,
for nobody keeping her back either.
She had come from Asia Minor, and she
was now in Macedonia, which is Europe, and
she was trading there.
She was a seller of purple.
Yes, it's very wonderful to think that in
those days, from all around they were running
into Europe to sell, and I think we're
going to be doing that again in the
last days, because everybody's turning towards Europe now.
But this is where Lydia came from, and
we don't need to go on with that.
Let's get back to this.
And this is the Lord's letter to this
church of Thyatira, and in verse 18 he
said, and unto the angel of the church
in Thyatira write, these things saith the Son
of God.
Now he's putting his signature on the letter
in the very plainest possible way.
In fact, this is one of the letters
where he signs the signature absolutely clear and
plain, no dilly-dallying about with it at
all.
It's the Son of God that's writing this
letter.
You know, only once in the book of
the Revelation is Jesus Christ called the Son
of God.
Many times he's called the Son of Man,
but he's writing his signature in the plainest
possible way.
You know, all who see this letter know
who he is.
Oh, that's it all about the writer here,
who he is.
And then I want you to notice the
other bits that's put to this.
These things saith the Son of God, who
hath his eyes like unto a frame of
fire.
You see, he's the judge of all the
earth.
We'll be looking at verse 24 in a
minute or two.
Verse 23 it is, and he says, I
am he which searcheth the veins and hearts.
You know, the Son of God is able
to see through you.
You cannot blot him.
You cannot hide anything from him.
He's the one who has the eyes like
unto a flame of fire.
He can search into the very depths.
And I want you to get the hold
of that because when Paul was preaching on
Mars Hill, you remember he said to the
crowd that stood around him, God hath appointed
the day in which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he
hath ordained.
For he hath given assurance unto all men
and hath erased them from the dead.
You see, God ordained Christ to be the
judge.
All judgment, both of faith and favor, is
committed unto the Son.
And so it's the Son of God and
it's the ordained of God.
And do you see the other little bit
that's there?
These things saith the Son of God who
hath his eyes like unto a flame of
fire and his feet are like fine brass.
You remember we were looking at this in
chapter one.
Turn back to chapter one there.
And John saw him in the midst of
the golden candlesticks, verse 13, and in the
midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto
the Son of Man.
You can see that the term has changed
a little bit.
The Son of Man, verse 15, saith unto
his feet like unto fine brass as if
they burned in a furnace.
You know, when we're going through the tabernacle,
you remember that we looked at the brazen
altar and it was here the fire was
kindled, the holy fire.
It was here the lamb was offered and
it's here the lamb was consumed.
But the brass of the altar was never
consumed.
Oh, it's true that it must have glowed
at times like brass in a furnace.
You see, I think that what we're seeing
here is we're seeing the Son of God
who became the Lamb of God because in
the Old Testament the fire always consumed the
lamb, but in the New Testament the lamb
consumed the fire.
And thus you see him with his feet
as if they burned in a fire.
He's been in the fire.
What I think the stamp on the letter
is, the Son of God who is the
Lamb of God, who is the Judge of
God.
That's the signature on the letter.
And it's a very important signature because we're
going to look at the church tonight that
was going to go to the devil completely.
And the Son of God can see through
it.
And the Son of God who was the
Lamb of God is the Judge of God.
And that's the signature on the letter.
And the letter begins like all other letters,
I know thy works.
I don't know if you have noted, I
think you should by now, that he said
this personally to every church.
See chapter 2 verse 2, he's speaking to
the church in Ephesus.
Verse 2 he says, I know thy works.
See verse 9 and he's speaking to the
church at Smyrna.
I know thy works.
See verse 13 and he's speaking to the
church at Pergamos.
I know thy works.
See chapter 1 of verse 1 of chapter
3 and he's speaking to the church at
Sardis.
I know thy works.
And to the whole seven churches he said
the same thing.
You know the Lord was never afraid to
repeat something.
Boy I hear the mumbling, now you think
you dare to repeat anything.
Well the Lord did it.
Well that's just a good enough example for
me.
Every time he did it.
He's just saying as I walk through, I
know, I can see your activity, I can
see how you're getting on.
He could see everything that was going on
in the church.
And we're back at verse 19.
I know thy works, and charity, and service,
and faith, and thy patience, and thy works,
and the last would be more than the
first.
It's an old figure of speech in the
Greek language where you put in all the
nouns.
Now notice this.
I know thy works, and charity, and service,
and I think these two are definitely joined
together.
You know what charity is?
It's just love in your heart, isn't it?
Well he's talking about an inward love as
he can see.
And there's nothing surer than this.
If there is an inward love, there'll be
an outward service.
If there's inward charity, there'll be outward ministry,
won't there?
They go together.
You can't tell me that you love sinners
without doing something about it.
And you can't tell me that you love
the Lord without doing something about it either.
So if there's this inward charity, then there'll
be this outward ministry.
And if those two are joined together, I
think the next two are joined together.
He says, I know thy works, and charity,
and service, and faith, and thy patience.
Because if there's an upward faith, and faith
must be going upward if it's going anywhere.
If there's an upward faith, then there will
be a world-wide patience.
He's commending them, you know.
He says, I know your activity.
I know your inward charity.
I know your outward ministry.
I know your upward faith.
I know your upward fidelity, I put it.
He says, I know your world-wide quality.
Because I believe that if you have faith,
then you have patience.
And there's something more he has to say
for this little church.
He says, I know thy works, and charity,
and service, and faith, and thy patience.
And thy works and the last shall be
more than the first.
You know, this is the very opposite to
Ephesus.
You know, Ephesus began so well, and then
he said, nevertheless I have some against thee,
thou hast less, thy first love.
And they were losing out.
But these fellows were increasing.
And so this is the word of commendation
from the Master.
You know, I love the Lord as I
see him talking to the churches.
Because no matter how much he had to
condemn them for, he could always find something
to commend them for.
And so many Christians are the very opposite
to the Lord.
They're always looking for something to condemn a
fellow if he doesn't go to the Baptist.
However, the Lord commands people whether they come
here or not, if there's something to command
them for.
Don't you forget that.
Because I would think he might have something
to condemn the whole bunch of us for.
And then we come from this word of
commendation, we come to this great passage of
condemnation.
He says, notwithstanding, I have a few things
against thee.
He doesn't be very gentle all the time.
Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel.
Well, we need to take time with this.
I don't think that Jezebel of the Old
Testament was resurrected and prepared to try a
title, you know.
No Jezebel from her day appearing in the
Scriptures has always been the symbol of anything
that's erroneous and evil.
In fact, one of the translations says thou
hast there in the assembly a woman like
unto Jezebel of old.
I think that's all true.
But let's think why the Lord used the
name of Jezebel at all.
He know about Jezebel.
But let me say this to you.
I honestly believe that she's the most wicked
woman in the Old Testament.
I don't think I would have any bother
defending that statement.
I know that somebody said to me once,
what's about Lot's wife?
Well, she was no good.
That's very true.
But she was a long way behind Jezebel
in wickedness.
Somebody said to me once, what about Delilah?
I know she was no use.
I think she might have been running a
good second for Jezebel.
But I think if you study Jezebel, you'll
find that she was the worst woman in
the Old Testament.
You know, ladies, she was the first woman
in this book that ever painted her face.
And if you paint your face, you know
exactly who you're following.
Jezebel.
And you're not following a good example.
I don't think it'll keep you out of
heaven on anything like that.
But as the teacher of this class, I
would need to point it out to you,
whether you blush or whether you don't.
You'll know by now I'm not worried whether
you do or not.
But I can tell you, ladies, she's not
a good example.
I'll tell you more.
She was the woman who usurped authority over
her husband.
Oh, he was the king Ahab.
And he was a wicked man, yet she
had to do almost as Jezebel told him.
She was the wicked character.
In fact, if we go way back to
1 Kings, let's go back to 1 Kings,
and we'll find the thing to do about
her here.
1 Kings, chapter 16.
First book of Kings, chapter 16.
And this is what she says about Ahab.
This is her husband.
And Ahab, the son of Omrai, did evil
in the sight of the Lord above all
that were before him.
He was a very wicked man.
Well, he married a more wicked woman.
And it came to pass, as if it
had been a light thing for him to
walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son
of Nebuchadnezzar, that he took to wife Jezebel,
the daughter of Esphediel, king of the Sidonians,
and went himself there.
He was one of the kings of Israel.
Well, he married this woman, and he went
and served Baal.
And she brought into the land of Israel,
she brought 850 prophets.
Four prophets brought them in among God's people.
And she brought idolatry into the nation.
And that's why it's very well used in
this church at Thyatira, because we're going to
enter into a period in a moment where
idolatry came into the church.
But you know, she not only did all
these things, but go on over to chapter
21.
First Kings, 21.
It came to pass after these things that
Naboth, the Jezreelite, had the vineyard which was
in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab,
king of Samaria.
And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me
thy vineyard.
And Naboth just wouldn't give it to him.
And it says, verse 5, But Jezebel, his
wife, came to him, and said unto him,
Why is thy spirit so sad that thou
eatest no bread?
And he said unto her, Because I speak
unto Naboth, the Jezreelite, and said unto him,
Give me thy vineyard for money, or else,
if it please thee, I will give thee
another vineyard for it.
And he answered, I will not give thee
my vineyard.
And Jezebel, his wife, said unto him, Dost
thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?
Arise and eat bread and harvest the many.
I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth,
the Jezreelite.
And she wrote letters to Nahab's men, and
sealed them with a seal, and sent the
letters unto the elders and to the nobles
that were in the city dwelling with Naboth.
And she wrote them the letters, saying, Proclaim
a fast, and set Naboth on high among
the people, and set two men, sons of
Belial, before him to bear witness against him,
saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king,
and then carry him out and stone him,
that he might die.
And it happened.
She was a wicked woman.
You know, she not only used such authority
in the kingdom, and seduced her husband, and
brought idolatry into the nation, but I'll tell
you this, she terrorized Elijah.
She became a terror pest to Elijah.
She scared the man of God, and nearly
ashamed to faith.
And this man who was a mighty man,
this man who took his stand for God,
this man who faced 850 prophets of Baal
on Mount Carmel alone, this man ran for
his life from Jezebel.
She was a very wicked woman.
She's a symbol of everything that's erroneous that
comes into the church.
You know, this is very interesting, that nearly
all the erroneous doctrines and teachings that have
come into the church of Jesus Christ are
women that have something to do with it.
Yes, that's very interesting.
Go across America today, and you'll find that
some of the biggest churches, some of the
biggest buildings are erected to the name of
some woman who started some erroneous practice in
the church, and seduced many of the Lord's
people.
You know, I know that there's the great
argument going on at this moment about women's
lives.
And Miss Greer, whose women live in person,
she is the great eloquent auditor and advocate.
But if I get her message right, she's
not advocating and not arguing for women's liberation.
She's arguing for women's license to sin, because
she's a double-died sinner.
Of course, you know, she would immediately come
back at me and say, your master was
very kind to women.
And I would assure her he was, because
I would know better than she does, how
gentle the Lord Jesus was with women.
I believe in all my heart that the
greatest gentle man that ever lived on this
earth was Jesus Christ.
And if you just go through the gospel,
just as I have done, and take out
every tiny speck to women.
You know, he was the only Jew in
the whole world who would walk right the
way up through Samaria, up the high hills,
and sit on Jacob's well to meet a
woman that nobody would speak to far less
a Jew.
But he did, you know, went to meet
the woman at the well who was living
with a man she shouldn't have.
And you know, he stopped the chariot of
his glory when he rose from the bed
and was going back to heaven, just to
sit out atop the mill at the tomb
when she was gone.
Oh, he did, you know.
And when Martha came in, all fussed up
and said, why, why do you allow my
sister to sit here?
You know, I've got a lot to do
in the kitchen, and here she's sitting.
You know, he defended me, right?
He said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and
troubled about many things.
I'll tell you this, Mary's right and you're
wrong.
It's never wrong to take time to see
what Jesus treats you now.
And I know exactly how he treats his
woman, and I know how he talks up
for women.
I know all about it better than Mithra
does.
And I'll tell you this, and you ladies
sit up and take notice, that when he
chose twelve apostles, there were all men, not
a woman among them.
All men.
Twelve men.
Oh, he knew all about Judas.
We needn't enter into that argument.
He knew Matthias would eventually come and fill
the place.
And I'll tell you, when the Holy Ghost
wrote the New Testament, there were all men,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
There were many writers in the New Testament,
five of the masters, four in the Gospels,
five men, Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude.
Now, woman, you don't think God's gone crackers,
do you?
God knows your place, and it's time you
knew it.
Woman's lived my foot.
I'll tell you this, if you don't know
all about your place, the devil does.
For I'll tell you this, the devil came
round and tackled Eve.
I'll tell you this, he deceived Eve.
He never deceived Adam, you know.
He deceived Eve.
And you know, when a woman gets an
idea, you know, that she can take over
a meeting and stand up and expand truth,
she's the greatest fool on God's earth.
But I'll tell you this, ladies, that God
tells you to be silent in the church.
Now, you can quibble with that whatever way
you like, but the sooner you learn it,
the better.
To be silent, just like that.
And if a woman in our meeting would
give a cheap outlaw on Sunday morning, I
would tear her apart.
Now, she's not talking in here.
She's not alone from God, not from us.
We're in a noble place, you know.
I'll tell you this, dear, that a woman
is not to usurp authority over the man.
And Paul said, I suffer not a woman
to teach.
I'll tell you this, the whole trouble has
always been if a woman gets her foot
in the door and she starts talking, she's
going to run the show, and she's as
easily deceived as ever anybody could be.
You know, sometimes I get some of the
young lasses coming to me with problems.
And you know, sometimes I think they think
they're smart, but they're as dopey as can
be, and I can see it a mile
away.
Now, just take your time, and don't start
in your show off.
Because God has given you a place where
it's not to usurp authority over the man,
and it's not to talk in the church
or to be silent.
God doesn't suffer you to teach, and you
just learn that.
And it'll put you into a place where
you'll be of some use for God.
Because I know that all type brethren take
it far too far then, don't they?
Because you know, while it does say that
she's to be silent in the church on
the church week and Sunday morning, there's not
a word in this book about her preaching
the gospel, or praying in the prayer meeting.
In fact, God teaches her how to pray.
God says she's to have her head covered
when she prays.
It's not teaching her not to pray or
how to pray.
That's the modern paradigm.
He's looking at me, and yet he's never
opened his mouth.
Does she have a place?
Don't let's just sit on her altogether, you
know.
I had one of the weakest little lasses
came to me, as best she was.
She says, Mr. Maulner, I'm going to confess
this to you.
I have a difficulty.
This book says I'm to be silent.
This book doesn't suffer me to teach.
Yet I've been preaching the gospel, and men
and women have been saved.
I said, dear, you're getting muddled about something
you shouldn't be muddled about.
You should be silent when the church meets,
and you're certainly not one of the teachers
of God's word.
It's not to hinder you, dear, from taking
the good news to sinners, and it's not
to hinder you from preaching the glorious gospel
and praying for men and women.
Ah, you've got a place, all right.
Just see that you keep it now.
You see, the Lord chose twelve apostles, and
the Lord chose nine writers, and when Christ
went back to heaven, he gave gifts unto
men, and the word is very definite, men.
It's an old Greek word for man.
And there were apostles, and prophets, and evangelists,
and pastors, and teachers.
And you're not in this at all, and
don't let anybody fool you into it either.
Just do what God tells you, and you'll
find you'll be of use to him.
You know, this is most interesting when you
realize how we come to the end of
the day.
You know, when Jesus Christ comes and takes
the church home, and the Antichrist appears for
the Pope that's left?
He's going to use the church, and it's
in this book, under the figure of a
woman.
The Scarlet Woman.
Have a look at Revelation 17 just for
a moment, and I must not get into
this because when we come to Revelation 17,
we'll have to have a night and a
half.
You see, John says here that the angel,
verse 3, carried me away in the Spirit
into the wilderness, and I saw a woman
sit upon a scarlet-colored beast.
Verse 4, and the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet color.
Who's this woman here?
See what verse 1 says.
Verse 1 says, Come, Heather, I will show
unto thee the judgment of the great whore.
That's not a nice phrase to sing your
Bible.
Who's this great whore they say?
Have a look at verse 6.
And I saw the woman drunken with the
blood of the saints, and with the blood
of the masters of Jesus.
Who's this woman?
I don't think you would have any bother
with that.
You know, I know tonight, I know this,
that many masters were killed because of Judaism.
It was Judaizers that stoned Stephen.
And Paul was an old Pharisee called Judaizer
who brought many of the saints to death.
And I know that communism has been responsible
for the death of many of God's saints.
And I know that paganism in the jungles
has killed many of God's choice servants.
But there's only one system in this world
that has ever been drunk with the blood
of saints, and it's the Roman church.
You've got to face this, whether you like
it or not.
Way back in the dark ages, we'll come
to that in a moment.
They set up the Inquisition, and they murdered
and butchered millions of God's saints.
They were drunk with the blood of the
martyrs and the saints of God.
And I'll tell you this, God hasn't forgotten
that.
He's only forgotten that.
Now, there's just one thing that you must
never deduct from that.
You must never deduct that Roman Catholics today
are responsible for that.
I think this is where we go wrong
enough.
I almost blame the ordinary Roman Catholics for
that.
That was the people's system way back in
the dark ages, and it is responsible.
That's what it was.
Let's get back to chapter two, because I
mean to do this.
You know, it's perfectly true that this is
the message to a church.
The church in Thyatira.
But I've been showing you in these letters
that not only do you have an actual
church, and at the end of each letter
do you have an individual promise, and that
is, he that overcometh, that's to an individual.
But the word of God is so wonderful
that each church represents a period.
A period.
Not only a place or a person, but
a period in church history.
You see, Epictus shows us the church in
the first hundred years of church history, when
the church got taken up with itself and
its governments and its bishops and deacons, so
much that it left its first love, Christ.
And then Smyrna was the church that suffered
under the Roman emperors for the next two
hundred years.
Right down from Nero to Diocletian.
And there were nine periods in there where
the church suffered under the different Roman emperors.
And then we found out last week that
we were looking at Pergamos, which means mixed
marriage.
It was a time when Constantine, Constantine professed
to be saved and joined the church with
the state.
The man preaching the other morning, if you
heard him, I listened to the morning, and
he's the bishop of the Church of England,
and I don't have a whole lot of
concern for him, but he was honest enough
to say this.
He said the greatest blunder in world history
was the time when Constantine joined the state
to the church.
And he even went on to say this,
and the establishment today is no better.
Well, I sure said hallelujah, don't think he
heard me, but it doesn't matter.
Yes, that was another period.
And you see, we get through the first
hundred years with Ephesus, and we get through
the next two hundred with certain...
Yes, that's with another period.
And you see, we get through the first
hundred years with Ephesus, and we get through
the next two hundred with Smyrna suffering, and
we get through the next 300 with Pergamon,
the state and the church joined together.
And that takes us through 600 years of
treachery.
And from 600 now to 1500, which is
900 years, that's the Dark Ages.
That's when Rome began to come into the
flesh, under Jezebel.
Same sort of ideas as Charlemagne.
Yes, this is exactly what happened.
This people system began to be set up,
and of course idolatry came into the church
just like it did with Jezebel in Israel.
And of course many of God's servants were
seduced by this erroneous teaching.
But the reason that I said, don't for
any sakes just blame the Roman Catholic who
lives next door for these Dark Ages, that
there have been many good men in the
Roman Catholic church who have stood up and
openly, unwaveringly condemned this.
I'll tell you that is true.
You know, I've got a book here.
It's an old book as you can see.
It's a very old one indeed.
And it was written by a Roman Catholic
scholar.
I couldn't tell you how I came to
get it.
His name is Filian Wilberforce O'Neill.
He sure is nothing to fear.
He's a far more honourable man, I can
tell you that.
And he's writing notes on the Apocalypse.
And he was the mission priest of the
society of Saint John the Evangelist.
He was a mission priest.
He was a very clever man.
And the way back there he sort of
saw the thing that I see, that not
only are these actual literal, not only have
we individual promises, but these are historical, prophetical
periods.
And when it came to Pius Isaac, I'll
read to you what he wrote.
Now this is a Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic
scholar.
He said, Pius Isaac was a puppet of
science.
We discovered that tonight.
I'm quite proud of this.
He says, in this respect it reminds us
of Babylon.
Now that's his, so I didn't steal it
from him.
I let him keep it and it was
very good.
He says, it is the remarkable combination of
worldliness and yet self-sacrifice in this church.
You can see the charity.
And yet you can see the worldliness.
It is a remarkable combination of worldliness and
self-sacrifice in this church.
Can it but lead one to think of
the church of Rome?
Now that's an honest man.
Some of our Protestants are not as honest
as that, I can tell you.
And this is what he says down the
chapter a little bit.
He says, this church had the mixture of
Balaamism and Nicolaitism, which actually means eloxity, both
in morals and in church discipline.
It is how such a church ever existed
really.
When one reads of the doings of the
people, Church of Rome, in past times, its
worldliness, its luxury, its immorality, its fear of
indulgence, its cruelty towards those who wanted reform,
one can it but see a remarkable resemblance.
I never wrote that, you know.
As a Roman Catholic priest was writing.
Now we need to give them school marks
when they really need it.
I think that this was an honest man.
Here's another bit.
He says, the children born of this prostituted
faith are introduced.
He says, is it not sufficiently plain that
the infidelity of Europe is greatly due to
the corrupt and cruel practice of the court
of Rome, which has brought religion into contempt
and made it hateful.
You'd wonder that a fellow like this ever
existed, to preach in the church when he
preached like that.
So that we've got to be very honest
with things, you know.
See, we get Roman Catholics in this class,
and like everything else, they know that I
don't spare them when I need to say
some things.
Why should I?
One of them met me on the street
the other day and he said, you know,
Mr. Long, we have learned this, that you
are fierce, but you're fair.
I think that's a great compliment that was
paid to me.
I shall always be fierce, but I will
always endeavor to be fair.
I prayed in this church for Sean McSteven
on Sunday morning, prayed that God would spare
him.
I wouldn't like to see him in hell.
I have a feeling in my heart there's
no use, but I wouldn't like him in
hell.
I would never like to see a rat
in hell.
I hold no grief for Austin Curry tonight,
because I think he's a crooked creature.
But I think that the men that go
in to butter his wife about the way
I saw on the TV, I don't think
they're men at all.
I don't think the man that shot the
big surgeon yesterday morning, my God, mate, if
you only knew him.
Let me tell this church that it was
his daughter that took my tumor out and
saved my life.
I think we go far too far with
our dead Protestantism.
Let's be fair, and if we had always
been fair and ulcer, we maybe would have
had less bother.
Yes, that needed to be said.
It fit on with this.
You know, the Lord's speaking here, and he's
saying to them, verse 29, notwithstanding I have
a few things against thee, because thou sufferest
that woman Jezebel.
He's talking about how tolerant they were towards
her.
We don't need to be tolerant towards her,
Ronnie, of doctrines.
It calls herself a prophetess, to teach and
to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and
to make things sacrificed unto idols.
This is when Rome was beginning to creep
in.
The Lord says, I gave her faith to
repent of her fornication and she repented not.
Now, what's the tense here?
Behold, I will cast her into a bed,
and then that committed adultery with her into
great tribulation.
He's talking about a bed of tribulation, except
they repent of their deeds.
Listen to this phrase, and I will kill
her children with death.
And that cannot be physical death, because the
Lord doesn't need to do anything.
You'll die if you live long enough just
to go to the end of the time.
You'll die.
Friend, this is not physical.
This is not even spiritual.
This is eternal death.
And when we get to Revelation 17, and
we see this charlotte woman and all her
deeds, you'll find that God will lift her
and plunge her and her children with her
into eternal death.
God has it in for her.
Don't you forget that.
That people's system will be dealt with by
a holy God.
Could God will take many of the Roman
Catholics to heaven?
There's no doubts about that.
There'll be many of them go to heaven.
My, there's a lot of them in this
meeting tonight.
Bless them.
And they're saved.
Saved by God's grace.
Because God will let the devil know that
no matter how deep and dark a system
may be, he'll be able to save some
out of it.
I should think he'll glorify his name that
way.
But let's get the hold of this.
See verse 24.
Verse 23, I will kill her children with
death.
And at that day, when he deals with
this system in Revelation 17, all the churches,
that's the whole church shall be gathered home
then, shall know that I am he that
searches the veins and the hearts, and I
will give unto every one of you according
to your works.
But unto you I say, and unto the
rest in Thy favor.
You see, I think he said unto you,
the pastor, I say, and unto the rest
in Thy favor, as many as have not
this doctrine.
The pastor wasn't tainted with this.
And there was a few in the church
not tainted, which have not known the depths
of Satan as they speak.
And there's an old transformation which says, which
have not known the depths of Satan as
they say.
Because I think that this woman was bringing
in a number of teachers who were saying
they knew everything about the depths of Satan.
This is what they were saying.
But they were seducing the church.
He says, I will put upon you none
other burden.
And he simply means none other burden than
just to take your stand and be steadfast
and moveable.
But that which ye have already hold fast
till I come, that's an exhortation.
I hadn't room for it in the notes.
There's commendation, there's condemnation, there's exhortation.
And then we come to this compensation.
He that overcometh all this, and ye have
got to overcome erroneous doctrine, and keepeth my
works unto the end, away at the end,
to him will I give power over the
nations.
Because you can see that.
He's going to give us authority.
We're going to reign with him.
We're going to go into the New Jerusalem,
and the nations on the earth shall walk
in the light of it, and we'll reign
with Christ.
But he is a lovely bitch.
He shall rule over them with the rod
of iron, that the vessels of Apocrypha shall
not be broken to shivers, even as I
received of my father.
And I will give him the morning star.
You know, there are two promises.
These are the compensations.
You have authority in that day.
Propensity simply means it's an attitude of thought.
It's the bent of nature.
If you look to your dictionary, it means
the bent of your soul.
You know, the night is dark at times.
And if you've ever travelled on the high
seas in the night, and I've done the
way up near Iceland, you know, the first
star that can be seen just before the
morning break is the morning star.
That's why it's called the morning star.
It'll always come out somewhere.
And you know, the Lord himself is the
morning star.
And this is the dark night, and the
darkness is deepening, it seems.
How will we need to lift up our
heads for our redemption?
Draw near and keep our eyes on the
morning star, and they should be the bent
of our whole nature these days.
Now, next week when we move into the
next church, the period is the Protestant period.
We'll see how they did any better.
Let's sing a couple of verses anyway.
178.
We'll just sing the first and last verses.
178.
Jesus is coming.
Sing the glad words.
First and last.
178.
And there will be books at all the
doors.
178.
The dear Lord part us in thy fear,
and with thy blessing for thy holy name's
sake.
Amen.