WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.519 Lord, we long to hear your voice. 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:21.440 Holy Spirit, speak to us. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:30.760 Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight. 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:33.560 Amen. 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:36.179 All right. 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.500 Now, by the way, I'm Dan Bielman. 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:43.320 I'm an assistant pastor here at Church of the Advent. 00:00:44.040 --> 00:00:45.820 Tommy Henson is on vacation this weekend. 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:46.799 He's our senior pastor. 00:00:47.180 --> 00:00:48.480 He'll be back with us next week. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:50.760 And we're in the season of Lent. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:52.960 We're on week four of Lent. 00:00:53.659 --> 00:00:58.039 We're working through Jesus's letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor. 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:00.379 That would be modern day Turkey. 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:05.000 Today, we're looking at Jesus's open letter to the church in Thyatira. 00:01:05.780 --> 00:01:08.979 Because it's an open letter, it's for us too. 00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:12.319 We can read it and read it for ourselves and apply it to ourselves. 00:01:12.539 --> 00:01:18.200 And because it's to a church, a lot of what Jesus has to say applies to Christians. 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:22.219 And I know that doesn't describe everybody here this morning. 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:28.760 So if you're a skeptic, some of what we're going to say might not make sense to you, or you might even object to it. 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:30.540 And I ask for your patience. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:33.400 This passage has something to say for all of us. 00:01:33.540 --> 00:01:34.680 And we'll get to that shortly. 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:42.320 Now, of all the seven churches that we find in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, we know the least about Thyatira. 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:45.340 One thing we know is from Acts 16. 00:01:45.900 --> 00:01:51.120 Paul and Silas are in Philippi, and they meet a woman from Thyatira named Lydia. 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:54.920 We read she's a seller of purple goods. 00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:58.920 Well, that would fit well with what else we know about the city. 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:12.120 Thyatira was a cultural and political backwater, but it compensated by fashioning itself into an economic and manufacturing center. 00:02:12.740 --> 00:02:13.819 And there were many guilds there. 00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:22.599 We have inscriptions from Thyatira which tell us of guilds of wool workers, linen workers, makers of outer garments, 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:33.000 dyers, leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, and especially bronze smiths who made armor in particular. 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:39.939 So it's fitting that in verse 18, Jesus presents himself as having feet like burnished bronze. 00:02:40.459 --> 00:02:43.840 But Jesus is doing more than just playing on a locomotif. 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:48.519 His feet of bronze are a symbol of authority and power. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.879 With these feet, he can crush his enemies. 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:59.500 And he has eyes like flames of fire that also accompany his kingly authority. 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:09.959 They're the eyes of a judge, with which in verse 23, he searches the mind and heart and gives to each according to their works. 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:18.419 This king and judge has authority to commend and condemn. 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:21.900 He commends the church in Thyatira for their good works. 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:24.340 For their love, first and foremost. 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:27.379 But he holds something against them. 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:32.000 It's that they tolerate a person named Jezebel. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:42.480 Now, admittedly, that name is kind of distracting because it's a bit of a loaded term for us 2,000 years after Jesus uses it. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:56.479 On one hand, some of you grew up in very conservative parts of the country where the name was used of a woman who was perceived being uppity, ambitious, and with perhaps questionable reputation. 00:03:57.060 --> 00:04:01.859 And the name is invoked to attempt to put such a woman in her place. 00:04:01.959 --> 00:04:03.739 Ah, she's such a Jezebel. 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:16.160 On the other end of the spectrum, the name Jezebel has been appropriated by those influenced by literary criticism who look into the Old Testament. 00:04:16.340 --> 00:04:24.120 They see a strong and influential woman who has obviously been given a bad rap by male writers trying to preserve the patriarchy. 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:28.920 So the name has been given to lingerie lines, indie bands, and World War II missiles. 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:33.660 But why does Jesus invoke the name Jezebel? 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:39.740 Remember from Tommy's sermon last week what Jesus is doing in these letters. 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:46.439 With each of these letters, he's referring to and recapitulating a specific time in Israel's history. 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:56.740 Here, he's reminding the church in Thyatira of the story of Israel's seduction during the age of the divided kingdom. 00:04:57.300 --> 00:05:06.879 In the 9th century BC, King Ahab of Israel pursued an alliance with the Phoenician city of Sidon and married that king's daughter, Jezebel. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:15.339 Now, Jezebel brought with her false gods, particularly Baal and Astarte, as well as hundreds of priests of Baal. 00:05:15.339 --> 00:05:24.039 She was instrumental in the persecution and elimination of Israel's prophets and in the murder of a farmer and the confiscation of his property. 00:05:25.239 --> 00:05:38.099 Using a metaphor that God uses time and again in the Old Testament, she seduces the Israel to chase after other lovers instead of remaining faithful to Yahweh, her husband. 00:05:40.559 --> 00:05:43.739 So how is this playing out in the church of Thyatira? 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:47.339 Jesus says in verse 20, 00:05:48.619 --> 00:05:56.199 She is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 00:05:57.039 --> 00:06:00.899 Now consider the world of Thyatira with its many trade guilds. 00:06:01.539 --> 00:06:05.120 These guilds did more than just collect dues and send out membership cards. 00:06:05.859 --> 00:06:11.059 There was a strong social component to them with common rituals and routines. 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:21.500 To me in D.C. this feels rather foreign, but when my family lived in Vienna, it made a little more sense there, where guilds had more prominence. 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:27.680 And each year during ball season, many of these guilds had huge elaborate balls at the Imperial Palace. 00:06:28.220 --> 00:06:34.660 There was the confectioner's ball and the hunter's ball and the doctor's ball and the gardener's ball. 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:39.240 Jen and I, we won free tickets to the Economic Union Ball. 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:46.800 We didn't notice any animal sacrifices, at least not on the main dance floor. 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:55.060 But in Thyatira, there would have been rituals and events that would pose difficulty for the Christian. 00:06:55.060 --> 00:07:00.019 The Scottish theologian William Barclay describes it this way. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.259 The trade guilds had common meals together. 00:07:03.660 --> 00:07:09.300 The meal would begin and end with a cup of wine poured out as a libation and an offering to the gods. 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:12.899 Could a Christian join a ceremony like that? 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:17.660 Still further, such a meal would almost certainly follow a sacrifice. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:21.060 The token part of an animal would be offered on the altar. 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:26.240 The meat of it would be given to the worshiper to make a feast for the members of his trade guild. 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:30.339 Could a Christian sit and eat meat which had been offered to idols? 00:07:31.579 --> 00:07:32.600 The answer is no, by the way. 00:07:33.019 --> 00:07:38.079 Could he participate in a meal where the meat had already been offered to Apollo or Artemis? 00:07:38.699 --> 00:07:44.300 Still further, this trade guild feast not infrequently degenerated into carousals 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:47.800 where drunkenness and immorality were the order of the day. 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:53.500 Could a Christian participate in a feast where drunkenness and fornication were the accepted thing? 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.860 So, could a Christian participate is the big dilemma here. 00:07:58.460 --> 00:07:59.879 I mean, it's not really a dilemma. 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:03.180 It was understood from the very beginning of the church 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:06.980 that Christians couldn't participate in the worship of idols 00:08:06.980 --> 00:08:11.960 nor could they have sex with slaves as an after-dinner treat. 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:17.859 But to not participate meant the risk of not belonging to the guild. 00:08:17.979 --> 00:08:23.299 And to not belong to a guild meant economic ruin if you lived in Thyatira. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:29.639 So, we can assume that some in this church have esteemed from these practices 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:35.039 and as a result endured persecution and ostracization. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:41.480 But then along comes a teaching that says, 00:08:41.599 --> 00:08:45.399 no, no, no, there's a way to participate in these events 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:47.620 and still be a Christian. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.819 You can participate in an idol feast and follow God. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.139 You can have sex with anyone you like and still be committed to Jesus. 00:08:56.139 --> 00:09:02.659 You can fully belong to this other world and also belong to Christ's church. 00:09:02.659 --> 00:09:07.399 When we see that the issue that Thyatira wrestles with 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:11.219 is a fundamental issue that every Christian in every era, 00:09:11.339 --> 00:09:12.959 in every city of the world has faced. 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:22.879 You adjust your behavior and belief to be fully integrated without cost. 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:26.019 If you want something bad enough, 00:09:26.079 --> 00:09:29.959 you will eventually find the intellectual reasoning to justify it. 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:32.519 Or to summarize what Thomas Cranmer taught, 00:09:32.659 --> 00:09:34.179 what the heart desires, 00:09:34.659 --> 00:09:35.620 the will chooses, 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:37.519 and the mind justifies. 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:39.639 What the heart desires, 00:09:40.439 --> 00:09:41.439 the will chooses, 00:09:42.079 --> 00:09:43.360 and the mind justifies. 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:47.039 And Jesus rightly criticizes this. 00:09:48.079 --> 00:09:48.600 He writes, 00:09:48.719 --> 00:09:50.480 you tolerate this kind of teaching. 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:51.399 Well, he doesn't write this. 00:09:51.500 --> 00:09:52.019 I'm summarizing. 00:09:52.019 --> 00:09:54.199 You tolerate this kind of teaching, 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:58.799 these intellectual gymnastics to justify your immorality, 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.240 you'll believe whatever it takes to avoid the cost of following me. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.099 Now, do you find yourself doing that? 00:10:06.699 --> 00:10:10.699 Do you find yourself making intellectual justification 00:10:10.699 --> 00:10:14.459 for pursuing things you know deep down you shouldn't? 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:16.439 Well, 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:18.719 as long as it's not hurting anybody, 00:10:19.579 --> 00:10:21.959 I can click on this or do that. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:22.419 That's fine. 00:10:22.419 --> 00:10:25.139 Or, 00:10:25.579 --> 00:10:26.500 man, 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.059 the church I belonged to growing up was so fundamentalist. 00:10:30.959 --> 00:10:32.799 I am just not that. 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:34.860 I'm something new, 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:35.779 something better. 00:10:37.379 --> 00:10:37.959 Or, 00:10:38.099 --> 00:10:38.519 simply, 00:10:38.919 --> 00:10:40.099 the one word exclamation, 00:10:40.579 --> 00:10:41.019 grace! 00:10:41.139 --> 00:10:41.879 There's grace! 00:10:42.699 --> 00:10:43.819 I believe in grace! 00:10:43.820 --> 00:10:45.540 You know, 00:10:45.640 --> 00:10:46.960 I have a friend who's a pastor, 00:10:47.160 --> 00:10:49.220 and he had a man come into his office. 00:10:50.280 --> 00:10:53.080 And the man confessed something that he had done on a recent business trip. 00:10:53.520 --> 00:10:54.440 He and his colleague, 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:55.020 who's a woman, 00:10:55.900 --> 00:10:58.020 had recently closed this great business deal. 00:10:58.460 --> 00:10:59.940 And they were at the same hotel together. 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:01.400 And so they went to the bar, 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:02.420 had some drinks, 00:11:03.020 --> 00:11:04.420 felt very celebratory, 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:05.540 and so went upstairs together. 00:11:06.260 --> 00:11:09.440 And he confessed this to my friend. 00:11:09.980 --> 00:11:11.720 And my friend, 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:12.480 the pastor says, 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:13.060 well, 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:14.360 thank you for confessing. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:16.160 You should know that you are forgiven. 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:16.420 Now, 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:17.540 let's take steps 00:11:17.540 --> 00:11:19.580 to tell your wife. 00:11:20.379 --> 00:11:23.980 And let's start to bring reconciliation between you and her. 00:11:24.980 --> 00:11:28.800 And let's take steps to prevent anything from happening again like this. 00:11:29.680 --> 00:11:31.200 And then this guy says, 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:32.960 whoa, 00:11:33.680 --> 00:11:33.920 you know, 00:11:34.019 --> 00:11:36.639 I am so disappointed in you. 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:39.279 What about grace? 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:41.160 What about grace? 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:43.680 You expect me to roll this out? 00:11:43.800 --> 00:11:44.920 You're not showing grace to me. 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:46.160 You talk about grace all the time, 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:47.100 but you can't show it to me. 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:49.759 And of course, 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:51.620 he's talking about cheap grace. 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:52.240 Is he not? 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:59.019 He's intellectually justifying the excuse to not repent. 00:11:59.779 --> 00:11:59.960 Yes, 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.440 God does show grace. 00:12:02.500 --> 00:12:02.860 And therefore, 00:12:02.920 --> 00:12:05.379 he gives us time to repent. 00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:07.460 He calls us to repent. 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:09.740 He gave Jezebel in verse 21, 00:12:09.920 --> 00:12:10.519 time to repent, 00:12:10.620 --> 00:12:13.000 and her followers time to repent in verse 22. 00:12:13.420 --> 00:12:18.940 But I think a lot of us would echo Augustine's sarcastic prayer. 00:12:19.780 --> 00:12:20.180 Lord, 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:21.480 make me pure, 00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:22.820 but not yet. 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:25.940 You see, 00:12:25.980 --> 00:12:26.640 in these verses, 00:12:26.980 --> 00:12:28.460 a sense of urgency. 00:12:28.680 --> 00:12:30.700 God calls us to repent now. 00:12:30.860 --> 00:12:32.440 Now is the time to repent. 00:12:32.940 --> 00:12:35.260 The time to repent is today. 00:12:36.540 --> 00:12:38.900 So what are you doing to repent? 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:41.379 What are you doing to repent? 00:12:41.800 --> 00:12:42.080 You know, 00:12:42.180 --> 00:12:45.080 we have triads that are perfectly built for this, 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:48.400 a place where you can confess and receive support, 00:12:48.400 --> 00:12:51.840 a place to become accountable to one another. 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:54.879 We have the right of confession. 00:12:55.040 --> 00:12:55.980 I don't know if you knew that. 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:57.639 It's not just a Catholic thing, 00:12:58.500 --> 00:12:58.840 but we, 00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:00.860 the priests will hear confession. 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:05.820 If you'd like to use that as the first step in on the road to repentance. 00:13:08.540 --> 00:13:15.920 We confess and we repent because we recognize that sins violate intimacy. 00:13:16.900 --> 00:13:19.780 They violate intimacy with God and with each other. 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:24.939 There is a horizontal and a vertical dimension to our sin. 00:13:26.459 --> 00:13:35.379 A dear friend of mine found himself unwilling and unable to make his secrets known. 00:13:35.379 --> 00:13:44.360 What began with childhood abuse and trauma led to bad and progressively worse decisions made in adulthood. 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:49.120 He's now spending the first of 11 years in jail. 00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:53.240 In the lead up to the trial, 00:13:53.300 --> 00:13:55.039 we talked several times on the phone. 00:13:55.879 --> 00:14:00.600 And the very first time we talked after having been arrested and released on bond, 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:02.379 he spoke of his grief. 00:14:04.139 --> 00:14:07.740 He told me he had always wanted to be famous. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:09.220 And he was a musician. 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:11.000 He just recorded an album. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:13.660 But now he'll never be known for that. 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:16.100 He'll be known for this. 00:14:17.100 --> 00:14:23.340 And his prayer uttered to me through tears was that as famous as his sin was, 00:14:23.980 --> 00:14:24.879 his sorrow, 00:14:25.700 --> 00:14:28.460 he prayed that his sorrow and that his grief, 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:31.500 repentance would be even more famous. 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:35.620 Would I be famous for the sorrow of my sins and for my repentance? 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:37.139 What if the church were known for that? 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:40.279 What if we were known for that as a church, 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:42.179 famous for our repentance, 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:45.480 repenting of not loving our neighbor, 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:50.320 repenting of the sins of racism and social injustice? 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:57.440 What if we were known as the people who could freely say, 00:14:57.560 --> 00:14:58.040 I'm sorry? 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:02.260 Now, 00:15:02.340 --> 00:15:03.340 if you're a skeptic, 00:15:03.400 --> 00:15:04.360 you might be thinking, 00:15:04.640 --> 00:15:07.760 there's a lot of talk about sex going on. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:10.660 Why are Christians so hung up on sex? 00:15:12.020 --> 00:15:13.379 And the answer is, 00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:14.100 actually, 00:15:14.180 --> 00:15:14.400 yes, 00:15:14.460 --> 00:15:14.780 we are. 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:17.320 We are hung up on sex, 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:19.560 but it's perhaps for different reasons than you think. 00:15:21.100 --> 00:15:25.540 The Christian faith has much to say about sex and marriage, 00:15:25.540 --> 00:15:28.320 because as Christopher West wrote, 00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:30.460 sex is not just about sex. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:37.360 The way we understand and express our sexuality points to our deepest held convictions about who we are, 00:15:37.640 --> 00:15:38.500 who God is, 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:39.720 the meaning of love, 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:41.120 the ordering of society, 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.080 and even the ordering of the universe. 00:15:43.800 --> 00:15:44.160 You see, 00:15:44.160 --> 00:15:49.280 the body and sex and marriage proclaim to the world, 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:53.439 God's love for humanity and his plan for us. 00:15:55.259 --> 00:15:58.480 The Bible begins in Genesis with a marriage. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.120 As husband and wife become one flesh, 00:16:01.339 --> 00:16:03.299 it ends with a marriage. 00:16:03.439 --> 00:16:04.299 As the church, 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:05.120 the bride, 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:06.679 is presented to Christ, 00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:07.500 her bridegroom. 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:08.939 And from beginning to end, 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:10.579 we find the theme of marriage. 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:11.759 In the Old Testament, 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:14.939 a sinful Israel is often compared to an unfaithful wife. 00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:16.080 In the Gospels, 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:19.360 Jesus chooses a wedding to perform his first miracle. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:24.240 The Apostle Paul commended marriage as a union to be honored by all people. 00:16:24.419 --> 00:16:25.799 And right in the middle of the Bible, 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:27.659 God tells us what he's up to. 00:16:28.659 --> 00:16:30.080 In Hosea chapter 2, 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:30.759 God says, 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:41.200 You see, 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.720 God doesn't choose marriage, 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:45.879 the picture of marriage, 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:50.559 because it was a convenient way to demonstrate what he thinks of us. 00:16:50.819 --> 00:16:57.120 He made marriage for the express purpose of letting us know that he wants to marry us. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.480 God wants to marry you. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:03.899 This is why in verse 28, 00:17:04.259 --> 00:17:05.140 he says, 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:07.119 I will give him the morning star. 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:08.279 What is that? 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:09.079 What's the morning star? 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:09.720 Well, first of all, 00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:10.500 it's hope, right? 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:12.839 The very darkest part of the night, 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.819 that's when Venus appears, 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:17.119 the morning star, 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:19.839 signaling an imminent dawn. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.720 But the morning star is also himself. 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.539 In chapter 22 of Revelation, 00:17:26.700 --> 00:17:27.440 verse 16, 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:28.039 he writes, 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:31.220 I am the root and the descendant of David, 00:17:31.700 --> 00:17:33.819 the bright morning star. 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:37.000 He wants to give us himself. 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:39.240 He wants intimacy with us. 00:17:39.299 --> 00:17:41.400 He wants union with us. 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:44.660 He wants us to know that we can come to him and tell him, 00:17:44.819 --> 00:17:46.200 I'm sorry. 00:17:46.299 --> 00:17:46.839 And here, 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:48.019 every time, 00:17:48.100 --> 00:17:48.880 you are forgiven. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:55.540 He wants us to be able to rise out of the pigsty and run to the father every time 00:17:55.540 --> 00:17:58.920 and to know that we're going to receive the robe and the ring. 00:17:59.880 --> 00:18:01.360 And for there to be a party, 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:03.080 a feast held in our honor. 00:18:03.280 --> 00:18:06.940 He wants us to be able to look into his eyes and see total acceptance, 00:18:07.420 --> 00:18:08.320 total delight. 00:18:10.300 --> 00:18:12.640 He wants union and communion, 00:18:13.140 --> 00:18:15.980 intimacy with no fear of rejection, 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:17.320 full of acceptance. 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:21.939 Before we close, 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:23.000 let's be honest. 00:18:25.339 --> 00:18:26.720 This is a little difficult part. 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:30.179 I found the language that he uses to describe Jezebel and her, 00:18:30.179 --> 00:18:31.179 her fate, 00:18:31.899 --> 00:18:32.439 uh, 00:18:32.539 --> 00:18:35.759 and the fate of her followers is frightening, 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:41.299 but it reveals God's heart for his bride. 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:52.159 He's a jealous husband and he acts swiftly and terribly to guard the purity of his beloved bride. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:56.540 It recapitulates the faith, 00:18:56.820 --> 00:18:56.920 the, 00:18:57.060 --> 00:18:57.500 excuse me, 00:18:57.560 --> 00:19:00.880 the fate that met the first Jezebel. 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:06.759 Jezebel in second Kings was thrown out of a window onto the rocks below. 00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:08.140 And before she could be buried, 00:19:08.620 --> 00:19:10.420 dogs got to her first. 00:19:10.420 --> 00:19:14.759 And all that was left of her was her skull and her feet and the palms of her hands. 00:19:14.759 --> 00:19:15.340 That's odd. 00:19:15.539 --> 00:19:16.700 The palms of her hands. 00:19:18.360 --> 00:19:20.400 Now let's be honest with ourselves. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:24.480 We chase after foreign gods all the time. 00:19:25.620 --> 00:19:34.259 We bow down to all kinds of things that we think will bring us pleasure and life and acceptance. 00:19:34.259 --> 00:19:39.920 Yet we don't receive Jezebel's fate. 00:19:41.339 --> 00:19:44.440 Christ receives that fate on our behalf. 00:19:45.379 --> 00:19:52.839 He dashed himself upon the rocks of God's judgment so that we would not have to face that punishment. 00:19:53.660 --> 00:20:01.819 He had his skull pierced by thorns and his feet and his palms pierced by nails on the cross 00:20:01.819 --> 00:20:02.839 so that we, 00:20:02.980 --> 00:20:04.539 his bride could be made pure, 00:20:05.419 --> 00:20:06.000 holy, 00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:07.519 spotless, 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:09.159 blameless bride, 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:15.259 presented to Christ to enjoy the most lavish of wedding feasts now and for all eternity. 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:18.639 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 00:20:19.299 --> 00:20:19.519 Amen.