Today’s “Tuesdays With Tony'' post comes courtesy of a comment that Bev Ralph Bing made on Benjamin Lee's post on Sunday. His simple, but powerful post said:
There’s still TIME to REPENT!
Bev’s comment said this: “I’m always impressed that God says He gave the Jezebel in the church at Thyatira 'time to repent’”. And then Bev quoted from Revelation 2:20-21, which I will do from the ESV that I almost always quote from:
“But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.” (Revelation 2:20-21 ESV).
I had never thought about this phrase much until Bev focused on it. I’m not sure if her thoughts are the same ones I’ll share on these verses, but I thank her for putting a powerful passage before me to consider. So, here are the important things from these verses that I take away:
1. There are people in the church who are so sinful that the Lord Himself refers to as a “Jezebel”. Without rehashing Old Testament history, we remember the sinful Queen Jezebel who may have been the real muscle behind King Ahab’s throne. She was a murderous woman who demanded worship to the false god Baal.
In the case of the woman in Thyatira, we know she was a woman of influence who seduced Christians away from the Lord through sexual enticements and fellowship with idols. She fancied herself a prophetess and was active in promoting her sinful false teachings.
2. Jesus was patient and wanted her to repent. To me, this is the most amazing part of this message from Jesus to this church, and to us. Most of us would have no patience with sin this egregious. But Jesus says that He gave her time to repent. Isn’t that amazing? As bad as this woman was; as destructive as her sin was on the church, Jesus wanted her to repent.
The world thinks that only a few chosen will be saved. And they think that once they are saved, there is no chance for them to fall away. But this woman Jezebel, in a letter authored by the Lord Himself to the church she attended, says otherwise. The Lord delays judgment for the hope that we come to repentance. And even though she was a member of this church, that didn’t guarantee she would be forever saved. In fact, Jesus goes on to say,
“Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” (Revelation 2:22-23 ESV).
Which brings me to the third take away from these verses for me:
3. The end will either be repentance and salvation or rebellion and judgment. King Jesus is patient and longs for us to repent from our sins but if we continue to live in rebellion to Him, He will bring His judgment upon us in His time and in His way. The dangerous thing with the longsuffering of the Lord is that if we do not come to our senses, we tend to grow comfortable in our sins and our hearts starts to harden with a seared conscience.
So, my thanks to Bev for bringing this passage to my attention on Sunday and to Benjamin for writing a post that served as the catalyst for this “Tuesdays With Tony” post. Let me end by asking us all to examine ourselves in light of this letter from King Jesus to the church at Thyatira. Do we have unrepented sins that we need to deal with? If so, do not let the longsuffering of the King harden our hearts into a false sense of security.
If we have breath, the Lord is showing patience to us. As Benjamin said, There’s still TIME to REPENT!
Satan will distract us in any way he can, to keep us from focusing on serving King Jesus Who sits on His throne at the right hand of His Father.
To some, he distracts with the thoughts of war and he puts despair of the future into our hearts.
To some, he distracts with changing economic conditions and puts despair of the future into our hearts.
To some, he distracts with political intrigue and he puts despair of the future of our nation into our hearts.
To some, he distracts with beds of ease and plenty and he takes away any concern for the future from our hearts.
To some, he distracts us with endless fighting among our brothers and puts strife and not peace into our hearts.
To some, he distracts us with self-centered thoughts of ourselves and he pulls a shade over our hearts to block the needs of others.
Yet, our King Jesus still reigns on His mighty throne. While we allow ourselves to be distracted, our King serves as the clarity we all need and seek.
Let us lift our eyes to Him in days of distraction and find the narrow way leading to His throne.
Let us bow before His throne in seasons of war.
Let us bow before His throne in seasons of economic turmoil.
Let us bow before His throne while the thrones of nations ever shift upon the earth.
Let us bow before His throne while He abundantly pours rivers of blessings upon us for a time.
Let us bow before His throne as our King unites all of us who submit our hearts under His blessed rule.
Let us bow before His throne as we sacrifice self to the Kingdom and seek out the needs of our fellow servants before we seek our own needs.
There are only distractions if we submit to Satan while on this wretched earth.
But there is clarity and purpose when we bow before King Jesus and submit to Him in every circumstance under heaven.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16 ESV).
In reading the New Testament, I've seen evidence that there is a possibility that Jesus may return sometime this week.
Just saying…
When the world gets crazy in our eyes, never forget that Jesus sits on His throne and reigns over the kingdoms of men.
Let us be careful in which throne we put our hope.
Thrones on earth shift.
His throne is established forever.
When we want to know what it means that Jesus is our rock, our immovable hope, just look at the transient nature of life under the sun.
We cannot put hope in things that man tries to control,
But the hope that we put in Jesus and His throne is sure.
What was yesterday on earth, what is today and what is tomorrow cannot be known by man.
But what was yesterday with King Jesus, what is today and what is tomorrow in Him is where we can set our anchor.
Only in Jesus will we have the certainty we seek.
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19-20 ESV).
It is not that there is evil in the world that makes me the saddest; It is the fact that people have hearts that are inclined to evil and not inclined to the Lord.
God created all people for a purpose and all people have eternity before them. When we choose evil, we are also choosing to reject God. It is in this rejection of God that tears my heart.
It is in the rejection of God that men play with fire and set their course on a path that will one day bring them immense terror and regret.
We all, men and women from all nations around the world, were created for a purpose. That purpose is to serve King Jesus with all of our hearts; to do good and not evil; to allow ourselves to be transformed into His image.
When we turn away from our divinely appointed purpose in life, we allow sin and rebellion against the One who created us for a singular purpose to separate us from becoming who we are meant to be.
When I see people committing acts of evil, it is not in the evil acts that I cry over most; it is in their hearts that are guiding their paths away from life and toward death. We were made for much more than that.
Today, I'm enjoying the important things in life that's easy to take for granted...
22 years and a day married to my best friend.
Watching my 5-year-old play his first T-ball game of Spring.
Having another son paying in a tennis tournament today.
Enjoying it all with my wife, parents and other son.
I'm living the memories I'll have when my life starts to come to an end on this earth.
The last words that Jesus spoke before He died should be words that we treasure every moment of our lives. These three simple words from the Creator as He died on the cross bore the culmination of every focal point in history:
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30 ESV).
It is finished.
Perhaps a tough concept for a people who are known for starting things and not finishing them. Yet, the moment that sin came into the world, it would take God Himself intervening for His creation to provide a remedy for the eternal damage man’s sin and rebellion brought upon him.
The first 2000 years showed that left to himself, man would spiral away from God until there was no remedy, thus the flood.
The next 2000 years showed that man needed a relationship with God. God Himself would make a covenant with man that would teach us the importance of seeking Him out while having the promise of divine protection and providence.
The next 2000 years showed that even though God was faithful to His end of the covenant, man could not keep his end, and thus would fall into condemnation because of the sin that broke the covenant.
It is at the end of this period that God Himself stepped in and paid the awful cost that allowed man to be reconciled back to the Father. Not by anything man did himself, but through the sacrificial love of Jesus who took our punishment upon the cross for us.
Without His self-sacrifice for His people, we would be without hope. And because of His self-sacrifice, we have a way to the Father through Him and His blood. And it was only possible because Jesus could utter the three simple words:
It is finished.
Without those three words, we would be without hope. Let us tuck those words away in our hearts and bring them before the throne of King Jesus daily with an outpouring of appreciation and acknowledgment of what He did for us.
It is finished means that we can live in His grace now and forever.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV).
Well, I suppose that Jesus would be canceled if He lived in our country today.
He's not very inclusive.
Many would say He's closed-minded.
I suppose that the media would have a field-day reporting on Him.
No corporation would hire or sponsor Him.
He wouldn't be welcome to give commencement addresses at most institutes of higher education.
And truthfully, He might even be a little too radical for many churches to have Him as a guest speaker.
Yeah, I suppose if Jesus lived in the 21st century, we'd probably find a way to kill Him too, and feel good about it.
This is us:
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” (1 Peter 1:8 ESV).
One day we will see Him. One day our joy will be confirmed.
It must have been sweet for Peter to write these words. He was a man who reached out His hands to Jesus and walked on water with Him; who tasted water turned into wine from Jesus; who saw Him transfigured on the mountain, standing with Moses and Elijah; and who saw his mother-in-law healed;
And toward the end of his life, Peter sees an ocean of believers who had never seen Jesus, yet believed. And by faith, he knew that this faith would continue throughout the generations until the day King Jesus returns.
We believe, yet do not see. We have joy in King Jesus no matter what we walk through in this world. And it is in genuine joy and contentment that the aged apostle can say,
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” (1 Peter 1:8 ESV).
What was it about Solomon’s request for wisdom that pleased God?
“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9 ESV).
He didn’t ask for wealth, a long life, or victory over his enemies. And…
“It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” (1 Kings 3:10 ESV).
I submit that it wasn’t the wisdom he asked for that pleased God, but that he asked for wisdom so he could govern God’s people.
Even the lust for wisdom is a bad thing if we seek wisdom to bring glory and honor to ourselves; but when we ask anything for the glory of God or to serve others, I believe this is what pleases God.
I believe this is what pleased God about Solomon’s request.
Do we ask for good things so that we can better glorify God?
Do we ask for good things so that we can better serve others?
Or do we ask for good things so that we can have more ourselves?
What a wonderful place to be spiritually when we can learn to be content with what God has provided for us while asking for good things to help us better glorify Him and serve others.
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:3 ESV).
Let us rise today to kiss the Son.
Our God reigns on His throne in heaven where all the earth is His footstool.
Let us not be wise in our own minds, but let us seek out His wisdom and His law.
Let us be conformed by Him and not in foolishness attempt to conform Him to us,
For our King is righteous and pure. He does not change, nor is there any defect in Him to be perfected.
Let us not give council to the King, but let us seek His counsel and search His words to transform us.
In sin we appear before the King and He washes us clean by His blood.
We do not cleanse ourselves but yield to His cleansing blood.
Our King freely cleanses all who kneel before His throne. And when we rise, we are able to stand in the presence of the Father with the Son at our side.
Today, let us do good, seek good, and glorify the Son.
For what He asks us to do He will give us the power to accomplish.
He will make us more than conquerors, not by our own strength and power, but through the strength and power He will supply to us.
And this is why I say,
Let us rise today to kiss the Son.
I love grace.
Grace is God’s power to overcome sin as my good friend Edwin Crozier is fond of saying.
But it is just that- God’s power to overcome sin, not His power for us to live in sin with no consequences.
Jesus equips us with the ability to carry out all the He, our Lord, expects us to do.
That’s why the Lord says,
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46 ESV).
If He is our Lord, we will not live in rebellion and call it grace.
If He is our Lord, we will obey, knowing that He will equip us with all we need in order to obey.
King Jesus will not ask us to do anything that is impossible for us to do.
It is by His grace that we are given the ability to obey, the ability to overcome sin.
I love grace because it makes us more than conquerors.
Not because we are strong enough in ourselves to overcome apart from King Jesus,
But because King Jesus, by His grace, will give us everything we need to overcome sin.
That’s why Paul says,
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2 ESV).
If we say that we are only human as an excuse to continue living in sin, we are not living in grace.
Grace does not excuse sin. Grace overcomes sin. Grace lifts us up when we fall and cleanses us as we continue our walk with King Jesus.
If we excuse sin so that we can continue to live in sin, that is not grace. That is rebellion.
Jesus will give us everything we need to follow His life-giving word. That’s why He plainly says to us:
“Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46 ESV).
I have a challenge for all of us today.
Do not let the sun go down today without doing the following:
1. Pray a prayer of praise to God and another prayer of intercession for someone you know. Love God and love your neighbor in your prayers.
2. Find a way to glorify King Jesus in the eyes of someone today.
3. Devote 30 minutes to reading God’s word or listening to it being read to you.
4. Use your talents: Choose one thing to do for someone in need.
5. Send an encouraging text, letter or message to someone.
I pray that when we accomplish these tasks, it will help us close our eyes in sleep, content that we had a good day in the service of our God.