The Glorified Christ | Chris Chadwick | Revelation 1:9-20 — Chris Chadwick

If you were to ask the average person who doesn't attend church... Now, that's a qualifier here. The average person who doesn't attend church, and you were to ask them, "What is the purpose of the church?" Like, "Hey, why do we do church? Why do we have church?" you're probably gonna get a variety of answers. Here are the most common answers, at least as far as I could find. These are what is often said. It's a place where people go to worship God, pray, and practice their religion. True statement. Yep, that's a place where people go, worship God, practice their religion. Somebody else said, and this is very common, "It's a place where Christians get together, make friends, and find support." Good answer. Christians get together, make friends, find support. somebody else said, "It's where the church helps support, serves the community, and does charitable work."

And then somebody else said, "It's a place where people learn about God, the Bible, and how to live a good life." And all of those are common, and all of those are good answers as to what the church does, but the question asked was this: What is the purpose of the church? As we come to our text this morning, John, the aged apostle here. I say aged 'cause he's somewhere around 95 to 98 years old. So John, the aged apostle, he wrote the Gospel of John when he was about 93-ish. He wrote the, epistles, First, Second, and Third John, when he was about 94, 95, and he wrote the Revelation after the fact, after he finished Third John. John is writing here, and he helps us to understand the purpose of the church and all churches that are, true Biblical Christ-centered churches, and that is this: The purpose is to magnify Christ who walks among his churches. Helping the poor, learning about God, making friends, all of those things are wonderful.

Friends, every one of those are wonderful. If you're new to Canyon Ridge, I hope you make friends here. I hope you find encouragement here. my prayers and prayer all week has been that you would find comfort and learn something magnificent here today. But let me explain with candidness that the fundamental purpose of the church is to magnify Christ who walks among us. Sometimes people will say, "Well, I wanna go to church and I want them to teach me how to, how to raise children." Well, the Bible has the answers for that. We might even talk about it in a few minutes. And somebody else might say, "I wanna, I wanna go to church to learn how to deal with my finances." The Bible has great answers for that, and that's a wonderful thing, and we try to teach on that as well. But the fundamental, foundational step one purpose of the church is to magnify Christ who walks among His churches Verse number nine in our text this morning.

Our text will be from verse nine to 20. If you're from Canyon Ridge, you think, "Nine to 20? We're gonna be here till 3:00." We will not be here till 3:00, but it will be a little bit longer than we normally are, 'cause we gotta finish chapter one today, 'cause just the way that it lays out. In verse number nine, I want you to notice John's background. The Bible says, "I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." I love verse number nine, and I love this word that we read here. "I, John, who also am your brother." this is John's identity is being laid out here. Now, I grew up in a church culture, and some of you, my dad is from Texas, and if you got saved in a Baptist church in Texas, especially in the '60s like my dad did, you called everybody brother.

Like, everybody is just called brother. If you're new to church, you might even hear people say that. Like, brother this or brother that or brother this. It's a, it's a wonderful word, and it means we have a common identity in Jesus Christ, and God is our Father, and we are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. So you'll hear people often say that. And some of you that are older, you grew up with that. We don't say it here because, well, it can just sometimes seem a little odd at times. Like, if somebody hears it can seem odd. And my brother, I have a brother. His name is Tim. He's much older than me and not nearly as nice. And, he's a wonderful brother. We're very close. But his name's Tim, and he's my physical brother. He's also my spiritual brother. He's a follower of Jesus Christ, loves the Lord with his heart, soul, mind, and strength. and I've never called him, like, Brother Brother. He's just my brother. It's understood.

When believers talk to each other, we don't always have to use that precursor in a title, like Brother So-and-So. But our identity is that of a spiritual family, and that is really important to remember. Amen. If you're a man and you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are my brother. And I'm to treat you like you're my brother, and you're to treat me like I'm your brother. And if you're a lady and you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you've repented of your sins, you've trusted Christ as your Savior, then you are my sister. And you'll hear that terminology in scripture as an identifying characteristic. And John, who is very old, does not say, "I'm your uncle," and he does not say, "I'm your senior pastor," and he does not say a lot of things about his identity. He is identifying the common relationship that we have in Christ, in Christ alone.

So brothers and sisters, take comfort that we are related to the author, the human author of this text. And then John shares with us his location. "I, John, who am also your brother and companion in tribulation." John's went through struggles. Matter of fact, he's in one as he writes this. He says, "In tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos." Patmos was a horrible place to be. It's a rock island in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Italy. Greece and Turkey. And it's right there. I said Italy earlier, it's Turkey. And, it's where felons and the enemies of Rome went to mine the quarries to satiate the Romans' desire to build. I mean, John's in his mid to late 90s, and he's working literally in a rock quarry. Well, why is he doing this? For his faith in Jesus Christ, for the testimony of the Word of God, for preaching the gospel, and being a faithful believer.

He's in a very difficult spot. He's under persecution. He's facing a very challenging time in his life, is what John is going through as he writes this text. We don't see him complaining. We don't see him bemoaning the situation. He is just simply identifying what he is going through as he's on the island of Patmos. this little island, if you're like, "Well, help me out, Pastor." It's like, we can say it this way, it's like Alcatraz on steroids. You know what Alcatraz is, and it's like Alcatraz, the varsity version of the junior high island of Alcatraz. Patmos is a very difficult place. Left to themselves, no resources given to them. Some guards and some picks and some shovels, and they had to work the rock quarry for Rome. And John is there, not for any crime, John is there simply for his faith in Jesus Christ. Well, verse number 10, we see John's assignment as we work through this text in a, in a expositional way.

He says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Now, we gotta do a little bit of work on both of those. The Lord's Day, that became a common phrase used amongst believers in the second century, the Lord's Day. nope, Sunday's the Lord's day. And it's first used here, the Lord's Day, and it is because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we meet together on a Sunday. I'm gonna be incredibly specific here if I can in my language. That is, the church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ every single Sunday of the year, and the reason we meet on Sunday is because we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yes. And if we did not, meet on Sunday, there would be no celebration of the resurrection. This does not mean we can't meet on other times of the week. We have a Wednesday night community groups that meet together, community Bible study groups that meet together throughout our campus here, and we love that.

We can have a special meeting and meet like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. You can meet all week long. But the celebration of the resurrection, that's the Lord's day. That's the day set aside for the Lord, and it evokes the imagery of the Sabbath in the Old Testament without all the legal ramifications that are related to it in the Old Testament. But it is a specific day that is the Lord's day. I don't mean to be rude here, I don't wanna rain on anybody's parade, but it's not the football day. That's right. Oh, we coulda had more amens there It's not the fitness day It's not the family reunion day. It's not the travel day. Now, I understand things happen. Don't get me wrong. I want, I don't wanna be unkind, I don't wanna be legalistic, and I don't wanna be anything less than gracious. But I also don't wanna stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords having not shared the truth of the Word of God. Amen.

You'll see about that in a moment. It's the Lord's Day, and I would exhort believers to think deeply about what you do on Sunday, because it is the Lord's Day. The definite article the, which is the extent of my grammar, means it's exclusive from the rest and different from the rest of all other days. John, on Sunday, separated from the church at, we believe, probably Ephesus, separated from the church at Ephesus, is still meeting with the Lord to the best of his ability And he's meeting, he would be meeting together with the saints. and so I, again, no rudeness in my soul, but online church isn't the Lord's Right... kinda church. Right. "Well, I'll just watch a service." I get it. Sometimes we have, we have first responders that attend our church. I get it. We have guys in the military that are deployed. I get it. I understand that aspect of it. I'm not being, untoward or unsympathetic to those type of situations.

But I do wanna be incredibly clear here that apart from something extreme like that, this is not... This is the Lord's day. "Well, Pastor, I can make double time and a half if I work on Sunday." Well, I get it. You can, but it's not overtime day. It's the Lord's day. Amen. Right. And it's a day that is set aside for believers to celebrate the beauty and the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is why I think probably for 24 years, every single Sunday that we've met together, we've sang songs about the resurrection of Jesus Christ as we did this morning because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the high point of Christian theology, for without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we would be all men without hope It's the Lord's day. And then John says this, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." You say, "Why'd you do what the Lord say first?" I wanted my voice to last. I don't know, I just did. I was in the Spirit.

Now, the image evoked here is of a man seeking the face of God in profound meditation. Profound meditate, meaning he's intentionally thinking deeply about the things of God. Meeting God in a, what we would say because he is exiled to Patmos, meeting God in an unaccustomed fashion, but he is focused with great intent on the things of God I feel like I have to say this. He is He's not meditating with his phone in his hand I, again, I-- there's no rudeness in my soul, I just wanna be a help. But I find even in myself, yesterday I was preparing for today's message and thinking through it. I had written the message on Friday, and I was finalizing it and going through it, and doing all the editing process that I do and all of that on Saturday. And as I'm doing that, I'm getting text messages, and my family, I'm on like a family group text. And hon-- those things are of the devil. I don't, I don't even know why. Like, why?

I didn't have to grow up with this. I don't even remember what life was before text messaging. It was so glorious, like you just lived your life. And now, like every thought... Like I've got a daughter, and she'll tell me what she didn't do. She'll literally, this is an opening phrase regularly in a text message, "This isn't me doing this." Then why do I care? But we get one of those texts, and then somebody likes it, and then somebody says something, and then somebody likes that, and then so... And I'm trying to think about the message, and I just, my phone... And I turn my phone off, but it keeps buzzing, and it's like, "Ugh, stop buzzing." And then so I turn it off completely, and then I'm like, "What if I really missed something?" Like, "Oh, I gotta pay attention to it."

And it just really prevents, I'm being silly to prove a much deeper point here, that sometimes we get so accustomed to the interruptions of life that it truly prevents us from meditating deeply on the things of God. So what we do is we say like, "Hey, read through your Bible in a year," which is a wonderful thing to do, but I think it's far more important to read through the Scripture slowly and let God speak to you. And when He speaks to you, stop and pray on that passage and meditate on that passage. And let the word of Christ, here's actually a biblical phrase, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom. Let God's Word dwell inside of you, and change you, and mold you. And that's kind of what John is saying, "I was in the Spirit. I was focused intently on the things of God." He was not saying he was speaking in tongues. He was not having some charismatic experience. This is not a proof text for that.

There's many reasons why. It is just simply saying he was focused deeply on the things of God And while he is, verse number 10, he heard a voice, a great voice that was behind him, as of a trumpet, and here's what the voice said: "I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." We'll deal with that part in a second. "And what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." There's a writing assignment that John had, and the author says, and we see this again in verse number 19, "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter," which is a layout of the entire book of the Revelation. And he says, "Write what you see." There's a limitation of this book, and friends, there's a limitation to the Bible.

you might be here today and you're pursuing the claims of Christ. You're trying to figure out if Christianity is true. You're trying to figure out if the things in the Bible are accurate, and you've had questions about the Bible, and we wanna answer those, and we'll have plenty of time after the service to do that. But let me say this with humility and a sense of awe towards the Scripture, and that is this: the human authors, what we often call human instruments, wrote what God, exactly what God told them to write, and they did not write anything else in the Scripture. They wrote only what God told them to write, and in the few exclusive times when Paul wrote something of his own opinion, he was very careful to say things like, "I'm saying this. This is not of the Lord." He was giving a bit of commentary on it, and he was incredibly careful to make sure that we understood that that was not inspired, that that was fal...

Sound wisdom ought to be followed for sure, but that it was not inspired. Everything else is exactly what God told them to do. John is told, "You write what you see." Others were told, "You write what you hear." But there was a specific limitation to what was done. So when studying the Scripture, you can have a strong sense of comfort knowing that these are exactly the words that God wanted us to have. Amen. Which is why we can say with full confidence and assurance that every word of God is pure. We can say that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's God-breathed. It's God-inspired. And then we see that this is an assignment to be shared. God didn't give this message to John and tell John to keep it quiet. God gave this message to John and told John to share it, and he's supposed to share it to the seven churches that are in Asia Minor, and what we would call modern-day Turkey.

We'll show some pictures of this later on in our study in weeks to come as we study these churches. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, all cities in Turkey. And Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. John is commanded to share this. Now, in, you gotta have a sense of a creative mind when you read the Scripture. And so John's in the Spirit on the Lord's day and he hears a voice behind him, and the voice is Jesus. And Jesus says, "I'm the Alpha and Omega," verse number 11, "first and the last. And what thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches." In my mind, John is in a cave. I don't know if that was the case. It just, that's how my mind works, and he's in a cave, and he's just sitting by a little candle. How he got the candle, I don't know. How he got the chair in the cave, I don't know. How the table got in the cave, I have no idea. I don't know any of that. That's just how my mind is operating. It's the original AI.

It doesn't-- the Scripture doesn't say any of that, and that's just how my mind is envisioning this. And John turned, in verse number 12, to see the voice that spake to me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. In verse number 13, And in the midst of seven candlesticks one like the Son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps. Paps is just the chest area. Girt about the paps with a golden girdle. We see in verse 12 and following Christ among his church or churches. We see Christ among his churches. Now, it's important to remember or to learn, Acts 20:28 says, "Take heed unto thyself, yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God," now, this last phrase is super careful. Super important. Gotta be careful to understand it. "Which he hath purchased with his own blood." Jesus purchased the church with his own blood. What do you mean?

He went and paid for it? No. The church was established, settled, and he took ownership of the church on the cross of Calvary when his blood was spilled for our sins He's in charge. He's the owner. There's some luxuries that we don't have to change stuff because he's in charge. We can't change our doctrine. We can't change our mission. We can't change our purpose. He owns it. And in the midst of the, this text, we get some imagery that John is helping us with. In verse number 12, there are seven golden candlesticks, and if we look down to verse number 20, "The seven golden candlesticks, which thou sawest," it's at the end of verse number 20, "The seven candlesticks, which thou sawest, are the seven churches." The candlesticks represent the churches. And the angels that he's gonna talk about, that you'll read about, the angels of the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. The angels are simply the pastors of the churches.

Now, when you think of pastors of churches, don't think of pastors as babies in diapers with harps on clouds. All right? That's a bad image. Nobody wants that. The idea of the word angel in this text has much more to do with the angel as the protecting angel. As a pastor, I have a spiritual responsibility to protect the spiritual health and wellbeing of Canyon Ridge Baptist Church. That's why some things don't come in here. If you say, "Pastor, I think you should be more open-minded," well, friends, you'll see in a minute I'm gonna stand before the Lord as the judge, and so there's just some things we can't be open-minded about. Amen. The... I mean, we can try to be kind, but if kindness doesn't work, we have to be clear, 'cause clarity is more important than agreement, and there's just some things that we cannot allow. Why?

Because we have the responsibility as pastors to protect what goes on in the local New Testament church And so he's saying here that the seven stars are the seven angels, the seven churches, the seven candlesticks are the seven churches. And in the midst of them, back to verse number 13, and by the way, this is how the Revelation study is gonna work, 'cause it's written in a, an apocalyptic form, so it's not gonna be like Romans where the thought is continuous. It's gonna, it's gonna jump around a little bit. If we go back to verse number 13, he says, "In the midst of the seven candlesticks are churches, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to, his, down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle." In the midst of the seven candlesticks, the Son of Man, a common title for Christ in the Gospels. It's infrequent here.

It's only here and in Revelation 14:14, but it's a title that emphasizes the humanity and the messianic character of Christ. And we see in this text a description of the holiness and the majesty of Christ. He says in verse number 11, as Jesus begins to describe himself and then what John sees later, Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega The Alpha and the Omega. The one who continually exists. I love this. The one which is and which was, in verse number eight, and which is to come. Friends, be comforted by these words. The Christ who saved you always has been. The Christ who save you, saved you is, and he always will be. There will never be a time when Jesus is not. There has never been a time when Jesus was not. Somebody might say, "Well, what about when he died on the cross of Calvary?" The moment that he died, he went to heaven to fellowship with the Father.

The, his blood was spilt on the mercy seat that was in heaven, which is why the veil in the temple that we sang about earlier was torn from top to bottom because Jesus, the moment he died on this side of eternity, restored fellowship with God and man immediately. He has never not been He always has been. And verse number 13 says that he's clothed with a garment down to the foot, a long flowing robe that falls beyond the feet, and his paps or his chest area is covered with a golden girdle. These robes were worn by royalty, not by just the average man. In the, in the Gospels, Jesus came as a, as a common man. There was no beauty that we should look upon him. We didn't look at his face and go, "Oh, he's handsome, he must be the Son of God," or, "He's wealthy, he must be divine." No. He was just a carpenter's son, a stonemason from Nazareth. That was Jesus. But now he looks like the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Now he is dressed in his appropriate attire. He is dressed as the great high priest What did the high priest do? Well, in the Old Testament, the high priest was a go-between for the people and God. In verse number 13, the Bible says, "He was girt about the paps," or the chest, "with a golden girdle." The girdle of the high priest in the Old Testament had gold threads in it, but Jesus was made entirely of gold. The somber presence of Christ in His role as the judge and the priest in the midst of the churches is significant to His introduction, as will what what will happen in chapters two and three of this text. Well, Pastor, what does, what does all of this mean for Christ that He's in the midst of the candlesticks, and He's got the high priestly robes down to the foot and the girdle of gold? What do... what does this, what does this mean for me? I mean, what do... why do I need to know any of this? Good grief, Pastor, I'm just...

I'm trying to get through the day. I'm trying to love Christ. What does this mean for me? Well, friends, number one, we can take comfort of knowing Christ understands our temptations, is victorious, and will help us win the victory over our temptation. You can take comfort in the fact that Christ has been tempted just like you are. He is victorious and will help you gain victory. So in an effort to be adultish in church, if you turn your Bibles to Hebrews, a few pages to the left, keep your place in the Revelation. Or you can look at the verses that will be on the screen. Either one is fine. But if you like to highlight your Bible, which I highly recommend, Hebrews 2:17, the Bible says, "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren," Jesus made like us, "that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."

Make no mistake, Jesus Christ came to this world to reconcile you to God and me to God He came so that you could be redeemed. He died so you could have eternal life. Verse number 18, "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." You say, "What does the word succor mean?" It's more easily explained with this: a mother taking a distressed child to her chest and comforting her. That's the idea of this word. A fearful child that got startled and is afraid, and taking them and bringing them to your chest Now, I love kids. I love babies. They're wonderful, they're wonderful. But we have a rule, and that is as soon as they cry, I give them back. Like, you're like, "Don't you comfort them?" the best I know how. This is just the best I know how.

I'm holding them, I'm talking to them, you know, and I'm just, you know, speaking truth to them or whatever and loving on them, like, you know, whatever I'm saying. I'm just being silly with them or whatever. And they start crying, I'm like, "This is, this is the most comforting thing I could do. Here you go." If mom's not around, then this is what I do: "Debbie!" If Debbie's not around, I hand him to one of my daughters. If nobody is around, we just stare at each other and we both and need comfort. But I have a dog His name is Mack. And Mack gets afraid every once in a while, and he likes to hug. I don't know why it is, but he likes to hug. And when he gets scared, he'll, like, jump in my lap, and he'll, like, put his head on my shoulder, and then we sing to each other, and I comfort him.

Now, that's a very silly, crude, not like this kind of comfort, but the idea is that of that, is this: That when we are tempted, when we are distressed, when we are tried, he is able to succor them, verse number 18, that are tempted. Friends, when you go through temptation and trials and struggles, if you've repented of your sin and you've trusted Christ alone as your Savior, make no mistake, you are not only not going through them on your own, there is a God in heaven who wants to comfort you, to encourage you, to bring you close to him if you'll allow him to That's why I said to one of our young men earlier today, I said, "You know, when you're tempted, don't go to Netflix or YouTube, go to Jesus." Hebrews chapter four verse number 14.

The Bible says, "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." The temptation you went through, Jesus went through. Now I'm not talking about the exact specific, but temptation can be quantified into three separate groups: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Jesus was tempted with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and He went through all of that without sin. All of us have fallen prey to that. He went through without sin, and because He did, and He is our high priest, and He is our mediator between God and man, we can go directly to Jesus Christ, which is what verse 16 is teaching us.

We can go boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help when? In time of need He is there to help us win the victory over temptation. The second thing we can understand from this text is by the virtue of the blood of Christ, we have access to God. We have access directly to God. Hebrews 10:19, the Bible says, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near in with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised." Having therefore, verse number 19, bring it up.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You can go directly to Christ, directly to Him. that ought to be so encouraging to you that your life, in your life, you need not go through a mediator. You don't need to go to a pastor and say, "I need you to pray for me so my prayers are answered." No, brothers and sisters, you can go directly to Jesus Christ We'd love to pray for you, but you don't have to, and you can still get your prayers answered. This was revolutionary in the 14th, 15th century. The Catholic Church, which is a, kind of the political not really spiritual, but the political leader of the day, had taught that you could never get your prayer answered if a priest didn't pray for you, and you had to go to a confessional, and you had to go to some dude and tell him what your sin was, and then he would tell you some work that you had to do.

And there were some men who just grabbed a Bible and started reading it, and read the Book of Hebrews and started reading the Old Testament and other passages. Imperfect men, for sure, but as they read it, they were like, "No, I don't need to go to a man. I need to go to Jesus, and I can go directly to Jesus, and I can bypass all of the men, and He guarantees me that He will hear me by the blood that He shed on the cross of Calvary for my sin." Verse number 14. Listen to how John describes Him. It says, "And his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire." The longer I preach, the more I look like verse number 14. But the truth of the matter is this He's not talking about age here. A head white like wool, like snow. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the purity that is in Christ Jesus, not age. It implies the eternity of the Son of God and His divine nature.

Verse number 14, "And his eyes were a flame of fire." Speak of the searching righteousness and the divine judgment upon all that is impure. As Christ walks through this church, there are things that are being judged by Him His feet like fine brass that have been burned in a furnace, symbolizing the divine judgment of the Old Testament, the brazen altar, and the other brazen instruments used in connection with the sacrifice for sin. Christ standing in the midst of the churches, says John Walvoord, in the midst of the churches on the basis of divine and righteous judgment portrayed both in the fire and in the metal mentioned Say, "Pastor, why do we see this?" 'Cause we're gonna see His clear judgment on some churches over the next several weeks. So we have to do some work to understand who it is that's doing the judging.

And I feel like we have to do an extra amount of work on this because in American Christendom today, Jesus has been portrayed as only this kind, loving figure that gives you exactly what it is you desire and only what you desire He's almost a portrayed as, I wanna use the right, correct grace-filled language. He is often portrayed as a sycophant trying to keep people happy with him, and doing everything he can to keep them happy. Like a, like a parent in a grocery store who's just like, "Fine, you can have the Skittles if you'll be quiet." That's not Jesus, friends. That's right. Amen. It's not who he is. No, he's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He's the capital K King. There's no one that can compare to him. There's no Lord that can compare to him. He, his eyes are a flame of fire, his head white like wool. He's the eternal judge. He is robed in the robe of a high priest.

He's clothed with a golden girdle, signifying that he alone is capable of taking away our sins. His feet are like brass, burned in the furnace. And I love verse number 15, "His is the voice of many waters." Growing up in Western Washington, my dad was a pastor in Western Washington when I was a kid growing up. And growing up in Western Washington, there's a famous place called Snoqualmie Falls. And if you're from there, you know it. It's the most beautiful waterfall in the world, if you're from Western Washington. If you're from New York, you guys have a little puddle called Niagara. I'm kidding. It's massive, Niagara Falls is. And it would be true anywhere that you go around large falls. And when the water's really running in Washington, and I've been there, and they have some overlooks, the sound of the waterfall is so great that you can't hear the person next to you speaking.

And this would be true certainly of any major waterfall in the world, but this is my favorite 'cause it's just kinda the first one I saw and where I grew up, and I love it. And so it's true everywhere. And when John says in verse number 15 that his voice is as the voice of many waters, what John is saying in this text is incredibly clear, and that is this: When Jesus speaks, you won't. When Jesus speaks, you won't argue. Amen. When Jesus speaks, you won't be like, "Eh, I need to push back a little bit." When Jesus speaks, like, you won't yell your point across. when Jesus speaks, He speaks and all other sound is drowned out I am not an attorney. And Debbie says, "By the grace of God," because I have the spiritual gift of argumentation But I do like to watch them on YouTube. And I like to watch them on YouTube, and I like to watch crusty judges on YouTube.

I don't recommend that you do it, 'cause it's a rabbit hole you'll never get out of. But it's not uncommon to watch a judge talk and to watch the defendant start arguing with the judge. And I'm just thinking, as somebody who studies body language, like you are just not with it, because you're irritating the judge, and he's going to give you, I'm gonna assume, a worse sentence, though they say they try not to. You can't remove the human condition from the human behind the bench. And as the judge is trying to talk, then there's this guy out there that starts arguing with the judge, and they often will show the attorney sitting next to the defendant trying to calm the defendant or quiet the defendant down. And then sometimes the defendant will be like, "Shut up," and they'll say, tell their attorney to shut up. Like, "Shut up. Leave me alone. I gotta say this." And they'll just start yelling at the judge, and they, like, get no mercy.

Let me tell you, when Jesus starts judging, you'll not have opportunity to say anything His judgment is perfect. His decision is final Well, Jesus, I need to explain. No explanation needed, 'cause He is the one who understands the thoughts and intents of the heart much better than you understand the thoughts and intents of your heart His voice is like many waters, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. The glorified Son of Man, the author John observes, has the seven stars in his hand, and when he opens his mouth, he reveals a sharp two-edged broad sword, says Paige Patterson. This two-edged broad sword would be grotesque if reduced to a canvas and paint. It is intended by John to describe the effect of every spoken word of God. His word is piercing, his word is cutting, and his word separating And his countenance verse sixteen Was as the Son shining in his strength. It's kinda like this.

Service is gonna be over here shortly, and you're gonna go outside. Don't wear sunglasses. You've been in a light-controlled environment for a while, and you go, and you look up directly at the sun. You know what you're gonna have to do? Squint, cover your eyes, put your head down. Happens every week. Happens every week. Why? 'Cause it's so bright outside. That's what John is talking about, the persona, the countenance of Jesus Christ, that He causes us to bow our head because His brightness... And it's not brightness for the sake of brightness, it's brightness for the purity that emanates from the very Son of God. You might say, "Well, how would we ever have a relationship with Him?" Well, 1 John 3:2 says, "One of these days you'll have a relationship with Him because you will, know Him when He shall appear. We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is."

That when we stand before the Lord, the day is coming that we will see Him, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. There'll be a time in heaven where we have that kind of same, beauty about us, the purity of an, a, as, a life unstained by sin that we will have forever in heaven with God if we've repented and trusted Christ as our Savior And I gotta hurry, but let me say this we see John's response to the holiness of Christ, verse number seventeen He says, "And when I saw him After everything he just described, verses 12 to 16, really verse 11 to 16, "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet" As dead I'm firmly convinced, firmly convinced that anybody who sees Christ as He truly is will have a deep Holy fear of who he is. And if you're like, "Yeah, he's a good dude. Yeah, it's great, you know" He's good. He's great.

Brother, sister, friend who doesn't know Christ, let me just tell you've not yet seen the risen Christ He's not just some dude He's not the co-pilot from Nazareth. He's not the guy I'm gonna let take the wheel He's not some cheesy decoration store quote He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords And his face shines as the sun, and his feet are as brass, and his voice is the voice of many waters, and his hair is white with purity, and he's wearing the robes of a high priest, and he is holding the churches in the palm of his hand. And when we see him, let me just tell you, we will fall down in reverential awe and fear of who he is John did. I submit to you that John was much closer to Christ than I am. John was much more committed to Christ than I.

And when John sees the beauty and the magnitude and the wonder of the risen King Jesus in heaven, in his glorified holy state that he has had since he returned at the Mount of Ascension to the Father and has been in heaven preparing a place for us, when John saw that in Revelation on the Isle of Patmos, he could not help but fall down and worship him That's one of the reasons there ought to be a reverence that we have about who Jesus is It's one of the reasons he's not a cliche. He's the king. And when John saw him, he fell down. And notice Jesus' response, 'cause Jesus is so loving and so kind. I want you to notice the compassion of Christ shown towards John in verse number 17. John, falls down at his feet.

The Bible says literally as dead in verse number 17. In the middle of the verse, "And he said," Jesus said, laid his right hand upon John, saying unto me, saying to John, "Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I'm alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death." And then he says, "Write these things which you've seen." The compassion of Christ towards John. John's not the exclusive recipient of compassion. Compassion is always how Christ responds to humility. Let me say that again. Compassion is always how Christ responds to humility. You might be a better way of saying it. Humility is how Jesus always responds, or if you're humble, Jesus will respond to you with compassion Why does God resist the proud, but he gives grace to the humble? He resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

Proverbs 3:34 says, "Surely he scorneth the scorner, but he giveth grace to the lowly." James 4:6 I quoted. 1 Peter 5:5, same thing. God resists the proud. I'm not gonna humble myself to God. I don't care what the Bible says. I'm doing my own thing. Then you're not gonna get the compassion, 'cause he resists that. But John is humbled to Christ, and he's comforted by Christ, and he's trusting in the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty refers to the possession of ultimate authority, power, and knowledge. God alone has the ultimate authority, the ultimate power, and the ultimate knowledge. God has all authority in the world And those who possess any form of authority are agents of God. If you have authority in government, you are an agent of God. If you have authority in your home, you're an agent of God.

If you have authority in the workplace, you are an agent of God, and you will be judged by God as to how you use the authority that He entrusted to you. Dad I'm the authority in this home. You're right, you are. You're one of them. You're the chief authority in the home, and you will be judged by God, the righteous king that we just studied about, who sees all and knows all, and you will be judged by what you do with His authority that He entrusted to you The sovereignty of God that is revealed in the earlier verses as the arm of terror to the wicked and to the wicked rebel who reject God, that same hand that is holding the seven churches in his hand is the same authority and power that brings comfort and encouragement to the saints today. I have a really long, beautiful application to this text, and I don't have time to do it all, but let me say this.

If you've been comforted of God, you have a responsibility to comfort those that are around you in need of comfort Many of you have faced the death of a loved one, a financial setback, a broken relationship, a sickness, a friend who has turned their back on you, a loved one who has walked away, and you've been through heartbreaking situations, and God has comforted you through His Word and in His church and through His Spirit. And friends, you have a responsibility to care for the needs of others and encourage and comfort them. And before you think I'm just saying that, 2 Corinthians 1:3 says, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

So if you've been comforted of God, and you have been, you need to find those people who need comfort and share that comfort with them. You know, I just wish somebody would comfort me. Right, we need to create a culture of that, but the Spirit of God has comforted you, and the church comforts you, and you need to look for others to comfort And if you're not, I'm just gonna ask you why not? And the reason most people don't share and comfort is they don't really enjoy being vulnerable with others If you're an engineer, listen to what I just said Like seriously. 'Cause the process that you think is, "I don't need to share that. That's compartmentalized over there, and I don't ever need to think about that again, so I'll let you go through the hurt." I said I wasn't gonna apply this, but now I am. You can't trust a thing I say up here.

but I've compartmentalized that, and you're going through a grave difficulty that I could say words of encouragement and build you up like I'm commanded to in Hebrews 10:25. 1 Corinthians chapter three, or I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. I could give that comfort wherewith I was comforted, but I choose just to keep that over there because I don't want to relive that pain and suffering that Jesus himself brought me through. So you keep the pain, you keep, back the blessing of comfort that you could offer. And my question is, why would you keep that back? Now, we do have people at times that overshare And we do. And sometimes you have to learn, like, social graces and don't go too far. But I know a lot of situations in our church where people would never share what Jesus brought them through And brothers and sisters, that's not like Christ.

The church is to be a place of mutual comfort and care and affection as we draw one another together to Jesus Christ. The comfort wherewith you were comforted, you have a spiritual, if you're saved, a spiritual responsibility to comfort others with that same comfort. You say, "Well, how would I do that? I'm not a pastor." Right, you don't need to be a pastor to put your arm around somebody or kneel down and pray with somebody or say words of encouragement to somebody. You just have to open your mouth with grace and do it And then Jesus talks to John as he's in a prone state and says, "I am he that liveth, and was dead. And, behold, I am alive evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." We're gonna look at that phrase in the future in detail, but allow me to say this: Jesus has absolute authority over death and hell So when you say, "Oh, I don't think my sins could ever be forgiven," He's the authority. He has the keys.

Nobody goes in that He doesn't allow I am he that has that authority over death and over hell. John write these things. Brothers and sisters We have a responsibility to magnify Christ who walks among us When you came in this morning and you sang and you fellowshipped, was your heart striving to magnify Christ? And we're happy to see friends. I was so blessed to see friends and people that I love, and you, and the 8:30 crowd. It was super pumped to see everybody But do we have a desire when we get on this property to magnify Christ? Do we have a desire on the Lord's day to think deeply about Jesus and just magnify the one who loved us and gave himself for us? And he gave himself for us being the very Son of God, the Son of Man. He was the high priest before the cross. his feet were with fine brass before all of that, and then he died for us. Do you live a life that magnifies him?

Or is your life sometimes like mine, just so caught up in the day-to-day operations of life that I forget who He is even on Sunday? See, the beauty of this passage is that it gets all of us to the same level. 'Cause you can preach a ton of messages and not magnify Christ You could live your entire life as a preacher and not magnify Christ. You could live your entire life as a music pastor and cry while singing and not magnify Christ And so the question being asked is, are you magnifying Christ? Does the one who loved you and died for you and saved you and holds the keys of death and hell and holds your salvation, if you're saved, in the palm of his hand You see the object of your worship? If he's not, can I encourage you to repent? Ask him to forgive you and to give you the grace and the ability by his goodness to magnify him like he deserves. And you'll be imperfect at it. Nobody's perfect at it.

I look forward to the day when I can worship him in perfection. My wife sang right here, right here this morning, and we're singing that song. Once for all the greatest sacrifice was made. Once for all a perfect da displayed. The lamb was slain for all my sin and shame. Once for all, amen. And I look up, and Debbie's doing like, "Amen," and I'm like, "I'm married to her. She is hot." Michael, what am I doing? This is about Jesus, and I'm worried about the candy striper on the platform. What am I doing? Not saying it's all bad. There's a humanity to it. But don't we need to be reminded to magnify the one who walks among us?