Revelation: A Message to Thyatira

Good morning, Watermark.

My name is Alfie, and I direct the university ministry here at Watermark Community Church.

I've been here for about two years, just over two years.

And there are a lot of things I love about Watermark.

I love that we are a traveling church, that we move around.

Some people don't like that, but I really do enjoy being in new spaces.

I love that people are changing, that we get to hear the lives of people's stories

and how they're coming to know Christ.

I love that sometimes we have little kids dancing in the front.

And I love that, you know, earlier today I was told off not wearing a blue shirt.

I love baptisms. I love the stories of people being saved.

It reminds me of how I was saved, and it reminds me of the cross and how beautiful it is.

But the cross brings two things to mind.

The sin that plagues our lives and the price that is paid for it.

I'm going to be honest with you guys, this is not going to be an easy message.

Not for me, and not for you either.

In it, we're going to talk a lot about sin, about sex, and about idols in our hearts.

I'm going to see what it looks like in the world, in the church, in our hearts.

And my hope is that at the end of this, that you wouldn't be left in a pit of despair,

but that together we would turn to the cross, and we would see how beautiful it is.

Just as a matter of a note, on your bulletin it says a letter to Pergamum.

That is a typo. It should say Thyatira.

Another thing to note is that I've had a bit of a sore throat,

so if I take breaks to cough, please bear with me.

Okay, let's start with sin.

Sin is our actions, our thoughts, our words that show our hearts,

hearts that are in rebellion against the God of the universe.

There are things we do or say that demonstrate that our heart is saying,

God, no, I don't want to obey your law.

I'm going to do this my way,

and that my desires and this world are worth more glory than you.

I think there are few things that turn our minds and our hearts away from God

and towards sin more than sex.

About sex and money, the writer Paul Tripp says,

neither sex nor money can deliver the promises that we think they are making,

and each area is more dangerous than we tend to think.

Both function today and in the surrounding culture like spiritual solvements

eating away at the very fabric of human community.

He goes on to say that both have the perverse power to master your hearts,

and in doing so, determine the direction of your lives.

Sex in and of itself is not a bad thing,

but a desire for sex, when God and his law and his will isn't at the center of it,

can easily grow into addiction, into insanity,

into a spiraling pit of sin,

and it doesn't get much better when we think about other things.

When we talk about money, when we talk about our work,

I think that our hearts are very easy.

They very easily make idols of anything or anyone,

whether it's good or bad.

I think more than anything else, sex and money has gripped the lives of our world,

has gripped the hearts of our culture.

I think it's sucking away at our souls, at the church.

I think that the church can't escape.

It is true for the church today.

It's true for Watermark.

It's true for the church in Thyatira.

So, this is what we're going to do.

I'm going to talk about the city briefly.

We'll look at what God says is good.

We'll look at things that God says is bad about the church.

We'll try and figure out how they got there.

I'm going to then ask, what about us?

Do we do the same things?

We're going to see what kind of judgment they have in store.

But in the end, when the dust settles,

I hope to show you where we find our hope.

I hope to see that,

I hope that you will see the cross at the end of this.

I think it's very important that you listen to that part,

because if you don't,

it will just be half an hour of me beating you guys up

and showing you where all the sin is in your heart.

I think, you know, if you're not listening to the end,

if you're not looking for the cross,

then all that is pointless.

Thyatira's letter is the longest one

that Jesus writes to the seven churches.

But incidentally, Thyatira was one of the smallest cities.

You'll find it right now in modern Turkey,

and Thyatira is in the middle of this long valley

on the road to Pergamum.

It was in the middle of a valley,

and it wasn't very easy to defend.

So invading armies that were trying to capture

the bigger, wealthier Pergamum

would always come and run over Thyatira

on their way through.

The city was burnt down and rebuilt

and burnt down and rebuilt.

And when Alexander the Great came through,

and he had his little seat of power in Pergamum,

he used Thyatira as a military barracks.

It wasn't until about 190 B.C.

when the Roman Empire expanded

and peace came to the region.

And we see that it took on an identity of its own.

It began to develop industries,

bronze, clothing,

and the precious purple dyes

that made royal robes.

The industries grew to such an extent

that historians actually marvel

at the number of trade guilds

that were found in the city.

Really, a city with that number of trade guilds

should have been much, much bigger.

Because of that,

Thyatira was a wealthy city.

In Acts 16,

we see the story of a lady from Thyatira,

Lydia.

We see that Paul goes and meets her in Philippi

and by the river,

and we see in Acts 16

the story of her conversion.

And we think that she might have been instrumental

in planting the church in Thyatira.

So this church.

Let's look at the good things

that God has to say.

In verse 19, he says,

I know your works,

your love and faith and service

and patient endurance,

and that your latter works exceed the first.

So far, so good.

They're doing all the things

that a church should do.

They have love.

They have faith.

They're serving.

And it's the kind of church

that I would like to be in

because they're growing.

It's not that we're just going to have

a little bit of love now

and then we'll keep that forever.

They've been growing.

Their love has been increasing.

Their faith is increasing.

They're more willing to serve.

The church is almost the opposite

of the first church we looked at, Ephesus.

You know, Ephesus, God berates them

and tells them that

you guys are so obsessed

with right doctrine and orthodoxy

that you've forgotten your first love.

You've forgotten love and faith.

But Thyatira hadn't.

On love and faith,

they were good.

In verse 20, however,

Jesus says,

but this I have against you.

And this is where the trouble begins

because Jesus tells them,

I've had it with you guys

and your rampant sexual immorality.

I'm tired of you guys

repeatedly going to these idol feasts

and eating food that's been sacrificed

to idols.

In Acts 15,

a council of church leaders

gathered in Jerusalem

and they were there

to settle a dispute.

Now there was confusion

about what was expected

of Gentile believers

when they came to faith.

Some said that they had

to be circumcised.

Some said that they didn't.

Some people,

after they were converted,

continued to live lives

that they always had.

Others went on

and adopted, you know,

the Jewish moral standards.

And the council gathered

to clear up this confusion.

And so they said

that circumcision

was no longer required

for believers,

but they gave four things

that believers were

to stay away from

as a mark of their salvation.

The first three had to do

with ceremonial purity.

They were not supposed to

eat animals

that had been strangled.

They weren't supposed

to be in contact with blood.

They weren't supposed

to eat food sacrificed to idols.

And they would stay away

from sexual immorality.

Of these four things,

Thyatira had failed

on two counts.

I said earlier that Thyatira

had a huge number

of trade guilds.

These were workers groups,

kind of like a workers' union,

except instead of

membership fees and strikes,

they had feasts

where they would eat food

that had been offered

to various gods and idols.

And after they were done

with these feasts,

they would feast

on each other's bodies sexually.

Being any kind of craftsman

or tradesman in this city

meant that either

you were in these guilds

and you took part

in these activities,

or you stood outside

where you lost

the benefits of membership.

Members in the church

in Thyatira

were involved in these

and the pagan worship

they took part in.

They traded their religious

integrity for job security.

John records Jesus' words.

He says that

you tolerate that woman,

Jezebel.

Their membership

in the trade guilds

wasn't their biggest crime.

Jesus says that

there's the woman,

Jezebel,

that was seducing

God's people,

that was tearing them away.

He says that,

yes,

there's pressure

to join these guilds

from outside,

but the problem

is inside your church.

There's this woman,

Jezebel,

and she is a false teacher

in their midst.

And to make it worse,

she says that

she's a prophetess.

She's saying that

the message that she has

for the people

is from God,

that God is telling

this church in Thyatira

that they should

be sexually immoral,

that they should

be eating

this food,

the food that's been

sacrificed to idols.

The sin of Thyatira

was that

while these lies

were being spread

that they did nothing

about it,

that they tolerated Jezebel,

and they let her

move into a position

of leadership.

Now,

I don't think that

this woman was

actually called Jezebel.

I don't know anybody

who names their child that.

Jezebel was a woman

who we know of

in the Old Testament

in 1 and 2 Kings.

She was the wife

of King Ahab.

She wasn't an Israelite.

She came from Phoenicia.

Her father,

King Ethbaal,

was named after

the pagan gods.

And so she came

and married King Ahab,

and her time

in the royal court

of Israel

consisted of rounding up

God's prophets

and his priests

and killing them,

replacing them

with her own prophets,

with her own priests.

She drew the nation

of Israel

out of its worship

to God

to the worship

of these other,

these idols,

to worshiping idols

and taking part

in cult prostitution.

In the end,

she was punished

by God.

The story says

that she fell out

of a window,

and when she hit

the ground,

she died instantly,

and that her body

was eaten up

by dogs.

All that was left

were her feet.

This is the kind

of woman

that was leading

the church in Thyatira

away from God.

For Thyatira,

Jezebel wasn't

an outside force

coming in.

Jezebel was

within the congregation.

She was a leader

there.

You know,

if they were like Smyrna,

if the trouble

was coming from outside,

then their judgment

probably wouldn't

be so harsh.

But they had allowed

Jezebel to come

into this position

of leadership

in their church

and draw them

away from the worship

of God

and turn them

towards idols.

The church in Thyatira

brings a strong warning

and a reminder to us

that the enemy,

that Satan,

isn't just attacking us

on the outside,

but he's warring

against us

in our innermost beings,

in our hearts.

It's true for Thyatira.

It's true for us.

It's true for every person.

Here.

If Satan isn't

attacking you

on the outside,

then he's probably

attacking you

on the inside.

And if you don't

sense him

attacking you

on either side,

then maybe he sees

that you're not

worth attacking,

that he's already

had you completely.

Jezebel is a deceiver,

and she carries

these characteristics

into Thyatira

because it's only

by lies

and untruths,

by twisting

what God

had said,

by twisting

the truth

about who God

is and what

the gospel

is,

that she could

convince God's

people to depart

from what God

had commanded them.

You know,

I think the things

that she said

wouldn't be too

different from

some things

that we hear

in the world

today.

You know,

it could be that,

you know what,

your bodies

and your souls

are separate,

that neither one

has an effect

on another.

You know,

do the things

that you must

in your flesh

because it's only

in your flesh.

Your spirit

won't be harmed.

Or this lie,

that the laws

of the church

are old,

they're old-fashioned,

they're traditional

and intolerant,

and they don't

apply to us anymore.

Or this lie,

that you know what,

God put these

desires in you,

and it's a sin

not to go

and satisfy them.

God is out of touch

to the world.

If he'd been in the world

and experienced

these things,

then maybe the laws

would be a little bit

different.

Or we are more

enlightened than

Moses was,

so we can allow

for more things.

Or,

this one,

Paul writes about it,

that God's grace

is big,

and by sinning more,

we make God's grace

bigger,

so we should sin

to make God

more beautiful.

That's a lie.

She would have

told them that

if you're in Christ,

these pagan things

have no effect on you.

That actually,

maybe,

to know that your

faith is real,

you should get involved

with the deep things

of Satan,

because then you'll know

that you're truly

separate,

and you can truly resist,

you've truly mastered

your desires.

Lies.

Lies.

And it's not an attack

from the outside,

it was from inside,

it's like the poison

apple in Snow White.

In the outside,

it's red,

and beautiful,

and perfect,

but when you open it up,

there's only death.

Who was there

to say no?

Who was there

in Thyatira

to say

that this is not right,

that this woman

is telling lies,

that you guys

need to repent

and turn back

to God?

What you must understand

is that in Thyatira,

these things

were totally normal.

These were things

that happened

in the culture

around them.

If you went home today

and you stood

in your lift

and you're going up

and your neighbor

was talking about

how the meat

at the idol feast

was a little bit stringy,

you might wonder

what they're up to.

If they then went on

to complain

or to rave

about the sexual feast

they had afterwards,

I wouldn't blame you

if you rushed

to cover your kids' ears,

because those are things

that we don't see

or expect today.

But in Ephesus

and Thyatira

and Corinth

in cities

in that day and age,

those things

were very normal.

They were as normal

as paying taxes.

Tolerance for sin

is a very sneaky way

of getting into our church.

And often

with sexual immorality

it's very easy

to go and shift the blame

to the culture outside.

It may be true,

but we only succumb

to sexual immorality

because of the desires

in our flesh

and in our hearts.

The culture

and our flesh

fight together

against our spirit

to turn us away

from God

towards sin.

They tell us

that what is the truth

is a lie

and that what God

has said is forbidden

is permissible.

And I don't think

things have changed

too much

in 2,000 years.

When the church

in Thyatira

slipped on its sexual conduct,

we do the same.

And don't think

that because we're here

inside the church

and God's fellowship

of believers

that we're exempt,

that we're immune to this.

Here's some numbers.

Statistically,

about 88%

of singles

in developed countries

engage in premarital sex.

In that church,

in the church,

that number drops

to 80%.

80.

70% of men

18 to 35

watch pornography

regularly.

That's the kind of statistic

that seeps into the church.

Studies have shown

that 50% of pastors

struggle

with pornography.

Something is wrong

with our church,

with the way

we view God,

when 40%

of women

going for abortions

in the United States

say that they're Christians,

that they have a faith

in God.

Studies show

that one in four marriages

within the church

experience domestic

and sexual violence.

And increasingly,

more and more people

in the church

begin to teach

that homosexuality

is a part of God's will

for marriage,

family,

and sex.

In the church then,

in the church now,

sexual conduct

is an issue.

In 1 Corinthians 5,

we see Paul berating

the church

for celebrating

incest in its midst.

They brought into the lie

that freedom from sin

meant they could do

whatever they want.

Now,

don't look at Corinth

and think that we're

any better.

Because pornography

is as much a sin

as incest is.

Homosexual relations

are sin

as much as adultery

is sin.

And in God's eyes,

emotional and sexual abuse

are as much a sin

as pedophilia.

As I grow

and I'm walking

on this journey,

I'm made more aware

of how sinful

and how broken I am.

I don't have to look

back very far

to see a time

when I was in a pit.

On one side,

pornography,

on the other side,

casual sex.

It's not

too many years ago

that I emotionally

abused my girlfriends

to satisfy

my sexual desires.

I see every day

how much my thoughts

and my actions

are torn apart

by slavery

to the flesh.

I see it's only

by grace

that I'm able

to pursue holiness

and purity.

The truth is

that our sinful nature

uses sex

to make slaves of us.

It wraps us in guilt

and shame

and it blinds us

to a multitude

of other things.

It makes us,

as Peter wrote,

ineffective

and unfruitful

in the knowledge

of Jesus Christ.

The problem,

however,

is not with sex.

Without a tire

in much of the ancient world,

the blame was shifted

to livelihood.

Sex is only a problem

because we need to live.

We need to eat

and feed our families.

If we're not

in these guilds

and taking part

in these things,

how are we going to tithe

and support the church?

Do we do the same

in Hong Kong?

Do we compromise

our faith

for our livelihood?

I get to spend

a lot of time

around HKU.

Students at Hong Kong

University

are incredibly pragmatic.

They know that

to get good grades,

they need to study

and they will study

all day

and all night.

And they'll do that

all the way

through the semester

and then they'll get

to where exams

are coming,

which is going to be

in a couple of weeks.

And then they have

Super Pass season.

Super Pass is a phenomenon

at Hong Kong University

where there are

different celebrations

and different things

that they do

to, you know,

get better exam grades.

It usually involves

sticking banners

on your door.

Sometimes it involves

a pig

and they have this ceremony

where they get

this roast pig

and you get a big knife

and you cut it

and each person

has a go cutting it

and the idea is that

if you cut all the way

through the pig

that you'll Super Pass

your exams,

that you'll be blessed

and you'll get at least

a 3.0 on your GPA.

Now, I haven't met anyone

who calls this

a religious ceremony

but to me

it smells a lot

like idolatry.

Like saying that

this pig

and my ability

to cut through it

has an effect

on how I'm going

to do my exams.

It has more effect

on my exams

than God.

I think that we misplace

our trust all the time

and it's not just

the students.

I think we're all

guilty of that.

We do it in our feng shui

to get the flow

of money

to our desks.

You know,

we do it when we

throw Joss papers

at wishing trees.

We do it when we

go under the bridge

so that, you know,

our wives can be blessed

so they can have

healthy children.

You know,

we do it when we

put hope

in what the horoscope

says.

When we buy

a little money cat

to stick in our doorway.

When we think about

the dates that we're

getting married on

or the colors

that we're going to wear.

I think without thinking

we make idols

of just about anything.

We trust these things,

these people,

these rituals

more than we trust God.

And we don't have

to say it out loud

because our actions

do that for us.

They say that

God isn't enough,

that I need these things

to trust in

because they're just

going to be that

little extra

that God can't do.

What I'm saying

is that the problem

isn't with our livelihoods.

It isn't with these rituals.

It's not with sex.

It's not with slipping morals.

It's not our carnal desires

with us.

The problem's in our hearts.

In our hearts,

we don't trust

and honor God.

It was a case in Thyatira.

The issue wasn't sex.

It wasn't tolerating sin

or false teachers.

It was that their hearts

were not on God.

I know that's true.

My problem wasn't sex.

My problem was that

my heart would rather

serve my flesh

than it would serve God.

And Paul captures this.

I love it in Romans 1

because he says,

although they knew God,

they did not honor Him

as God or give thanks to Him.

They became futile

in their thinking.

Their foolish hearts

were darkened.

Claiming to be wise,

they became fools.

They exchanged the glory

of an immortal God

for images

resembling mortal man,

birds, animals,

and creeping things.

And so here we stand

with the Thyatira in church.

Their sexual immorality,

their idol worship.

And God comes before them.

At the beginning it says

that He has eyes

like a flame of fire

and feet like burnished bronze.

It's not a nice image.

It's not Jesus

with white hair

and white robes.

Jesus is here

and He means business.

His burning eyes

say that He sees

and He searches their minds

and their hearts

and He knows

the deepest part

of their souls.

And His feet

like burnished bronze

are not gentle.

They're not feet

for massaging.

These are crushing feet

and they're shining

and reflecting.

It's not enough

that God sees our sin.

He wants to show it

to us.

Of the letters

that we see so far,

the language of judgment

isn't as strong

as we see here

in Thyatira.

Unlike others,

there's no ifs.

Or, you know,

maybes or warnings

or if you repent.

He says that

I gave Jezebel time

to repent

but she refuses

and behold,

watch what I'm going to do.

I will throw her

onto a sickbed.

What was once

her den of pleasure

is going to become

a morgue.

I'm going to kill

her children.

I'm going to punish

those who follow her.

Jezebel's judgment

is not optional.

She had a chance

to repent.

That judgment

is coming.

And Jesus is coming

with His fiery eyes

and His bronze boots.

But it's not all trouble.

He tells others that,

you know,

if you do not repent,

I'll throw you in tribulation.

So if you do repent,

that won't happen to you.

There's still a chance

to return

to Jesus.

It says at the end

of the letter that

a holy and righteous one,

Jesus,

is going to be given

a bronze rod

and He will rule

with that rod.

The word rule here

is a lot like shepherding,

but instead of

a wooden staff,

it's an iron rod

and what's left

in its wake

is broken pots.

What about those

who stay away?

What about those

who have kept

themselves pure?

Jesus says

that I don't lay on you

any other burden.

I do not lay on you

any other burden,

which makes me wonder

what is the burden

they already have?

The burden of living

in a church

that is being rotten

from the inside

by sexual immorality,

the burden of watching

those that they love

punished

for their sinfulness.

The challenge seems clear

that God is calling them

to call their friends,

to call their members,

their family in the church

to repentance.

Is that you?

I mean,

I wonder if,

and I struggle with this,

but asking

and calling people

to repentance.

It's not easy

to go to your friends

and say,

dude,

that's messed up.

You know,

you need to get right

with God.

That is going to destroy

your life.

But I wonder if,

as a church,

are we doing that

in our community groups,

with our friends?

He who has an ear,

let him hear

what the Spirit says

to the churches.

That's verse 29.

It's not long

after this letter,

actually,

less than 100 years

after this letter

was written,

that there was no sign

of a church

ever having existed

in Thyatira.

We don't know

what happened

to the church.

I have nothing to say

how they met their end,

but if Jezebel's story

is anything to go by,

that wasn't a pretty ending.

And I imagine

a conversation happening

in a nearby town.

Hey,

do you remember

Lydia's church?

Lydia?

Yeah, yeah,

you know,

the rich lady

from Thyatira.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

I remember her.

Whatever happened

to that church?

Whatever happened

to those people?

Because, you know,

those guys,

they knew how to love.

They knew what

faithfulness was about.

Yeah, but, you know,

I always felt something off

whenever I hung out

with them.

I wonder if God

saw that too.

In verse 23,

it says,

all the churches

will know

that I am He

who searches minds

and hearts.

It's not enough

that they had

these good things,

that they had love

and faithfulness,

that they persevered,

because God is looking

at their hearts.

He's looking at your hearts,

because out of the heart,

because the heart

is a seat for the soul.

It's where worship

comes from.

It's where sin

comes from.

And what God wants

to see out of our hearts

is repentance.

I think for us today,

we can fall into

one of four categories.

Either we're outside

the church.

We're not part of this

fellowship of believers.

Or we could be

the Jezebel

in the church,

tearing people away

from God's law,

lying to them

and saying that

God has no authority

to speak into

these areas of our lives.

Third,

we could be the people

who are deceived,

who forget what

they've been taught

and follow this new teaching,

mixing our faith

with faith in something else,

worshiping God,

but mostly trusting

in something else.

Or,

we could be the innocent ones.

We don't have idolatry

in our hearts,

but we tolerate

the intolerable

in others.

and we avoid sin,

but by tolerating

the sin in others,

are also guilty.

The truth is about

these people

and about us

is that no one

is righteous,

that we are all guilty,

that we can't keep

his works,

that we all deserve

judgment,

that we deserve

the sickbed,

the iron rod.

We deserve to be smashed

like that broken pottery.

Who can stand

before God?

Who can save us?

The passage says

that we are judged

according to our actions.

Well, clearly,

love and faith

and perseverance

aren't the actions

that will judge us.

I think what God

is looking for

is repentance.

The only way

that we can be saved

is through Jesus

and the only way

that we see Jesus

is by repenting,

by turning away

from our sin,

from our faith

in other things,

from our sexual immorality

and turning

to Jesus.

I think repentance

is key

because it says

that Jezebel

was given time

to repent,

but she didn't.

I think that

every moment

that we are alive

is a moment

of grace.

It's a moment

that God has given us

to repent.

And every moment

we have

is a moment

of grace

that God gives us

to repent.

In Isaiah chapter 30,

Isaiah 30 · chapter mention

we see a picture

of this repentance,

of God's desire

for our repentance.

That's where the imagery

of these broken pots

comes from.

We see people

who have turned away

from God

and God is saying

that they're preaching

illusions

as prophecy

and he says

that because

of their perverseness

that God's judgment

is coming.

It says in the passage

that these pots,

these clay pots

will be smashed

and broken.

They'll be smashed

and broken

to the point

where not a single piece

can carry a drop

of water.

And he calls him

to repent

and he says,

I long

to be gracious

to you.

I want to show you

my mercy.

I'm pulling you.

I want your heart

to turn away

from your sin,

from your desires

and to face me,

to look at me.

I think

repentance

isn't easy.

I've been reading

the Bible in French

so I grew up

speaking French

in a French school

but I thought

if I read it in French

then I wouldn't skip

over the passages

that I thought I knew.

And as I was reading Mark

where we'd see repentance

it says

changement radical.

It says that

there's going to be

a radical change.

When Jesus is preaching

he says

change radically

because the kingdom

of God is coming.

It's not a course adjustment.

It's not tuning a strain

that's a little bit off.

It's standing up

and turning

away completely.

You know,

for me

it wasn't enough

to put away

the emotional abuse

from our relationships

and think,

okay,

that's just a little bit

of adjustment.

No.

It meant changing

radically the way

I engaged

my relationships

and what I did

with my body

with my heart.

One of the things

I've been convicted of

is that I'm slow

to repent.

That I would rather

wallow in my sin

because I'm too proud

to say that I'm a sinner.

That I'm too proud

to say that I need Jesus.

Because repentance

is costly.

It may cost us

embarrassment.

It may hurt

relationships around us.

Turning away

from our sin

and turning to God

could cost us

our homes,

our jobs,

our families.

But I think

it's worth it.

I think it's worth it

because Jesus died

on the cross.

Because in repentance

and turning to Christ

and turning to his cross,

we win Jesus.

We win his righteousness.

We put our faith

in one that will never fail.

Not in a pig,

not in humans,

not in a book

of the future.

And we place ourselves

in front of someone

who will satisfy

us completely.

That will satisfy us

more than money

or sex,

more than family

or work

or good grades.

repentance.

Repentance

turns us

and puts us

before one

who has the power

to forgive sins.

One has the power

to secure our eternity

with God

by defeating death

and defeating Satan.

I think repentance

is good news

because repentance

is not baseless

but it's in a gospel

that's already complete.

The gospel says

that like the church

in Thyatira,

that we are broken

and rotten.

In fact,

we're more sinful

than we probably

think we are.

The gospel says

that there's judgment

coming,

that we can't escape.

The gospel says

that when we repent

that Jesus forgives us.

Or the gospel also says

that forgiveness

isn't free.

It isn't cheap.

It's not a pat on the back

and away you go.

There's still an iron rod.

There's still pots

to be smashed.

And that's what we see

on the cross.

We see the punishment

for our rebellion

against God.

For tolerating sin.

For preaching on truth.

For trusting idols

instead of Him.

Because Jesus takes that

on the cross for us.

Jesus is a shepherd

with the iron staff.

But Jesus,

for those who believe,

is also the broken pottery.

He was apathitira

for us,

for our community groups,

for me.

Jesus,

the shepherd

with the iron staff,

is also

the broken pottery.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Father God,

I confess

that

we love sin

more than we love you.

That our hearts

are rebellious.

Father,

forgive us.

Protect us

from the lies

that pull us

away from you.

Show us

where we need

to repent.

show us

the people

that we should

call out for

and call them

to repentance

and their brothers

and sisters

in the church.

Show us

the cross.

Show us

how you are

the God

that took

our punishment

for us.

That you are

the broken pot.

Father,

show us

that

help us

to believe

that your

holy love

is big enough.

That your

holiness,

your holy

wrath

against our

sin

is taken

by Christ.

Father,

help us

to be people

who are more

aware of our

sin

and see

how beautiful

you are.

Lord,

help us

to repent

and to turn

away from

the desires

of our

hearts

and the

lies

of the

world

into you.

Father,

I thank you

and I

rejoice

that you

have saved

me,

that you

have saved

us,

that we

have today

people who

have done

that and we

get to see

their baptism,

seeing them

dying to sin

and coming

alive in you.

Jesus,

we love you

and it's

your holy

and precious

name that

we pray.

Amen.