I love that song. I have great appreciation for
those old, old hymn writers like Brother Toplady. And he was not
only a song writer, the writer of lyrics, but he was also a
great preacher of the gospel. He stood for the doctrine of
God's sovereign grace in an age where most people were following
the Wesley's. And old brother Toplady, he dared
to stand up against those who preached another gospel. And
he wrote that hymn and several others. And I loved that tune. That is a beautiful, beautiful
tune. And that was a great blessing
to me. I love good music. I really do. It speaks to me. I love the... I listen to the words. Lots of people listen to the
music, and the music is beautiful, but it's... I'm interested in
the words. And I appreciate the selection of songs that are
Christ-honoring. It's a great blessing. Open your Bibles to Revelation
chapter 1. I said this morning, John is
on this island, one of about 50 islands that were penal colonies
of the Empire of Rome, where Domitian sent the various prisoners. This is where he sent John. It
was not a pleasant experience. That is, being beaten and enduring
all the hardships of working essentially on a chain gang. If the historians are correct,
he busted rocks with a soldier standing over him and he got
beat if he wasn't breaking rocks fast enough. But it was in this situation
that John saw the glorified Savior. You know, God, for whatever reason,
puts His children sometimes in dire circumstances. But it's in those circumstances
of Great heartache. Great persecution. That the Savior
reveals to us the magnificence of His grace. The sufficiency
of His grace. You know, we pray for good times. Nobody enjoys the... We love
the roses, but we don't like the thorns. But it's in those thorny circumstances
that God puts us into that we find out that this grace that
saved us, this grace preserves us and keeps us. It sustains
us. And I'll tell you, these dire
circumstances, they'll put our faith to the test. I do believe faith is going to
be tested. In fact, I know it will be. Both
false faith and true faith. If you say you believe on Christ
Jesus, you say you trust God, you believe the Savior, I guarantee
you, you're going to be put to the test. John was put to the
test. You will be, and I will be, and
I hope that when we go through these times that we will manifest
to others that we've really got something, and we've really got
the grace of God. Our brother Scott Richardson
said one time, God will always give you an opportunity to manifest
the sufficiency of His grace to those about you. He'll put you in some circumstance,
some trial in which you'll have an opportunity to show and express
to others that you believe God. And we know in our lives that
God has done that. There's our family members are
observing us. Our friends are watching us.
And they know we profess to believe sovereign grace. We profess to
believe God. And we say, we quote, all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called. according to his purpose, and
Brother Richardson said that God's going to give you an opportunity
to show people that you believe, really believe, what you say. And I fear that so often when
those opportunities come to pass, they arise, that
we prove to be failures. I don't want to fail him, but
I don't always manifest the best spirit, I'm sure. God help me to. God help you
to. I'm telling you, our family members
are watching us. They're observing our... how
do we react to a trial? Here we are, we say we believe
the Lord, we worship the Lord. God might just put us on an island
of Patmos, busting rocks. We'll see if we've got anything. I tell you, when those times
come, I hope He sustains us. And I'll tell you this, if we
belong to Him, He will sustain us. He will keep us. And though we fail, He's always
faithful. That's what I'm thankful for.
And I'm thankful that when we don't believe Him like we should
and when we embarrass ourselves show such little faith, I'm thankful
that doesn't hurt the purpose of God. Aren't you thankful that when
you have a bad reaction to a trial that God puts you in, aren't
you thankful that doesn't affect His eternal purpose to the least
degree? Nothing you can do, nothing I
can do will affect the eternal destiny of anybody. I'm glad
of that. I think about the years, many
years ago when I preached with zeal and fervor, I preached a
false gospel, easy believism. Feel so bad about it, still repentant
of it. But I'm thankful that didn't
affect anybody's destiny. God's work will go on. unhindered
by us. And our failures and our faults
had no effect on what He set out to do. Here's John the Apostle,
he's on Patmos. He hears a majestic voice behind
him on the Lord's Day. It's the voice of God. It sounded
to him like thunder. Even as the voice of God sounded
like thunder to the children of Israel in Exodus chapter 19
and Exodus chapter 20, when God spoke to Moses and gave him the
law. You remember in John chapter
12, our Savior said, Father, glorify thy name. And then there
came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and
will glorify it again. The people that stood and listened,
they said it thundered. It thundered as the voice of
God. Our Lord understood what the
Father said, but all they heard was thunder. I tell you, when God is speaking,
maybe others don't hear what He's saying, but oh God, enable
me to hear. Give me ears to hear what you're
saying. It may not sound like anything
to others who are nearby, but if God is speaking, I want to
know what He's got to say. And I want Him to say it to me. Several times in the book of
the Revelation, we read of the sound of The Lord's voice that
comes is either a trumpet or the sound of a thunder. And usually the Lord speaks that
way in a time of unusual, something unusual is about to be spoken.
Or something unusual is about to be revealed. As it is here in chapter 1. Here is the commanding, powerful,
attention-getting voice of the glorified Savior. And it gets
John's attention. And John is made to see when
the Lord turns him. In verse number 12, being turned,
he said, I saw seven golden candlesticks. They're golden because these
churches are precious in his sight. The Lord has redeemed these people
with His own blood. And John sees the glorified Christ,
which he says was like the Son of Man. But he didn't see the
Son of Man by Himself. He saw the Son of Man standing
in the midst of the churches. He saw the Lord with His people.
But here's something that gives my soul great comfort. The Lord
Jesus is never separated from His people. I tell you even from old eternity,
God the Father put us in Jesus Christ in eternal union, and
there will never be a division of that union. We are in Christ
Jesus. We are one with Him. The Father
sees us and He sees us in Him. Christ was God's first elect. We were chosen in Christ. He
came into this world as our substitute, as our surety, as God's sacrifice
for sin, as the great sin bearer. And when He died on that cross,
We were in Him. We were in Him. We were in Him
like Noah and his family were in the ark. And all of the judgment
of God fell on the ark. We're safe inside the ark, safe
in Christ Jesus. No storm of judgment will ever
fall on God's people because it's already fallen on us and
our Savior and our surety and our substitute. It fell on Him. There is no more thunder and
lightning. There is no more floodwaters.
There is no more judgment. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Can't be. Can't be. And when He was raised for our
justification or on account of our justification, we were raised
in Him. And when He ascended back to
glory, we ascended back to glory with Him. When He sat down at
the right hand of the Majesty on high, we sat down in Him. Wherever the head is, that's
where the body is. We're in Christ Jesus in perfect
union. We're seated with Him in the
heavenlies. John sees the Son of Man in the
very midst of the seven churches of Asia Minor, that is, in the
midst of His people. This is beautifully illustrated
in the Old Testament tabernacle. There was the tabernacle in the
wilderness in the middle. And all around, there are the
twelve tribes of Israel. And right there in the middle,
there's the tabernacle of God. Where is the Lord? He's always
to be found in the midst of His people, even in the wilderness. There He is. There He is. There's the brazen altar, pictures
substitution and satisfaction. There's the laver. That's where
the washing took place. We're washed in the blood of
the Lord Jesus. We've had the washing of the
water of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. There's the table of showbread.
We feast as the priesthood. We feast on the bread of life,
Christ Jesus Himself. He is the golden candlestick. He enlightens us. He illuminates
us. There's the altar of incense. He is the one who is our mediator. He is the one who represents
us to the Father. He is the one who on the basis
of His blood sacrifice presents our petitions to God and He Himself
prays for us. And then back behind the veil,
there is the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat on top. There
is the presence of God. Where will you find the God of
Israel? You will find the God of Israel
with Israel. Where will you find the Savior
of sinners? You will find Him with the sinners
He came to save. You will find Him among His people. I know God is everywhere. I know God is omnipresent. But
in a special way, He is with His children. In covenant mercy,
we were joined to Him, that One who is the very surety of God's
elect. One with Him by eternal union,
so that wherever Christ is to be found, that's where His people
are to be found also, and vice versa. He's the Son of Man. That's what
it says here in chapter 1. John says in verse 13, I saw
one likened to the Son of Man, and then in chapter 2, verse
18, He said, He's the Son of God. He's the Son of God. And wherever He is, that's where
we are, and wherever we are, that's where He is. These seven
golden candlesticks are valuable and precious unto Him, as indicated
by the fact they're golden. The church of our Lord exists
and is commissioned to shine forth the light of the gospel.
These lamps, these golden candlesticks, they don't provide the light.
They have to be lit. They have to be lit. They didn't
light themselves. We didn't give ourselves light.
The Lord Jesus, who is the light of the world, He has set us on
fire, as it were. He has illuminated us. He is
our light. We're a city set on a hill, and
the light can't be hid. I tell you, if we preach the
gospel of God's grace in this world of darkness, it won't be
hid. It will stand out. You take on a pitch black night,
just a little light off in the distance anywhere. Boy, you can
see it. You can see it from a long ways
off. And in this benighted world,
this world of religious darkness and religious error, here and
there, there is a light that shines. That's the gospel of
God's free grace. Those candlesticks that our Lord
has placed throughout the world. But notice, He's always in the
center. Because all the church looks
to Him, leans on Him, relies on Him, is enlightened by Him. They learn from Him. All of the
church is saved by Him. All of the church is forgiven
by His blood. And all of the church is righteous
through His righteousness. Therefore, all of the redeemed
are said to be more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And
John says back up in verse 5 of chapter 1, He's the one who loved
us and gave Himself for us. And He's with us now. He goes
on to tell John, He says in verse 18, I am He that liveth and was
dead. I was dead, but He said, behold,
I'm alive forevermore. Amen. The Savior we worship is not
a dead martyr. He's not a religious leader whose
grave you can go over and stand before, whose tomb you stand
over it and weep over your great religious leader who He taught
many for so many years and then He died. Oh no, I serve a risen
Savior! A risen Savior. Our Lord lives
and because He lives, we live also. John says in verse number
13, he says, He saw this one like to the Son of Man, clothed
with a garment down to the foot. I read in the Old Testament three
offices, three kinds of men who wore garments down to their foot.
Prophet, priest, and king. Prophet, priest, and king. Our
Lord Jesus is our prophet. He is our teacher. He is our
instructor. Turn over to Daniel chapter 10. Let me show you this. Look in
Daniel chapter 10. Verse 5 and 6. Daniel chapter 10 verses 5 and
6. I'll give you a couple of seconds
to get there. Daniel chapter 10 verse 5. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and
looked, and behold, a certain man..." Oh, he is a certain man. He's the God-man. And Daniel
says, "...he was clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with
fine gold." Just like it said. This is the one John saw in Revelation
chapter 1. He's girded with fine gold. Look
at verse 6. "...his body also is like the
barrel, his face as the appearance of lightning, his eyes as lamps
of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color the polished
brass, and the voice of his words..." Like the voice of a multitude.
"...the voice of his words." He's the prophet who teaches
us His words. Nobody else's words mean to us
what His words mean to us. Because His words, that's the
Word of God. The Word of God. He's our teacher. He's our instructor. We're His disciples. Every believer
is a disciple, though every disciple is not a believer. Right? In John chapter 6, a lot of the
Lord's disciples, they left and they didn't follow Him anymore.
And our Lord looked at His twelve and He said, now will you also
go away? And one of those men was a devil,
but eleven of them believed Him. And Simon Peter, speaking for
them, said, Lord, to whom shall we go? We believe and are sure thou
art the Christ. You've got the words of life.
You've got the words of life. He speaks to us. He wears a robe
down to his feet. Elijah is said to have his school
of prophets. Our Lord Jesus, he has his school
of students as well. And they're all of the elect
of God. We all learn in the same school
and we all learn from the same teacher. It says in John 6.64, it is written
in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Our Lord Jesus
teaches us. Jeremiah 31.34 says, They shall teach no more every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them unto
the greatest saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more." He's the great prophet
who wears the robe. And he instructs us. And the high priest, he wore
the long robe. Christ is our great High Priest. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a
faithful and merciful High Priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that
He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor
those that are tempted. He is our great High Priest.
who offered himself as the sacrifice unto God. He's the high priest
who makes intercession for his people. The high priest in the Old Testament,
Aaron, he wore a golden sash. It says here in Revelation chapter
1, he gird about the paps with a golden girdle. Aaron had that. That's our great high priest. And then, in the Old Testament,
kings wore long robes, like King Saul did, King David, King Solomon,
and the rest. Just like it says in Isaiah chapter
6 of our great king, and I read this to begin with, his robe
filled the temple. His long flowing robe. Look with
me in Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11. It is said
of the kings of Israel that when they went out to fight, when they went out to make war
against an enemy, they wore their golden sash,
around the waist. It kept the robe from blowing. It kept it gathered around them.
They wore their swords on their left side so they could take
their right hand and pull the sword out. The golden girdle,
the golden sash, the golden belt around the middle kept the robe
from flowing out, from billowing out in the wind and so forth
and so they could reach their sword and pull it out. Isaiah
chapter 11 verse 5, And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Where is the girdle
here? Where is the golden sash? Around
his loins. He's got work to do. He's got
work to do. What is the work? To win the
battle. What battle? The battle against
our sin. The battle against Satan. The
battle against death. The battle against the grave.
The battle against every enemy of God's people. He wears the
sash, the king wears the sash, the golden belt around his waist
and he rules and he reigns and he fights in righteousness to
establish righteousness. But you read the history of Israel. After the battle was over and
a king reposed himself, he loosened the sash, the golden girdle from
around his waist, and put it back up under his armpits. As it says here in Revelation
chapter 1, look at it again in Revelation
chapter 1, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle." You
know what that means? The fight's over. He's not wearing
it around his loins anymore. Oh no, this is the position of
relaxation. This is the position, as it were,
of retirement. This is the position of success. This is the position of victory! And the King of Kings, he sits
in regal splendor, enjoying his victory that he earned at Calvary,
when he defeated all of the foes of his people. No wonder he said, it is finished. And then went back to heaven
and sat down. Of all the pieces of furniture
in the Old Testament tabernacle, we know one was conspicuously
absent. There was no chair. But this man. This man, this
Son of Man, that's one of the titles of Messiah, this Son of
Man, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, went
back to heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. In
regal splendor, satisfaction, the job is done. He has redeemed
His people. Notice what John then notices,
what he says in verse 14, his head and his hairs were white
like wool as white as snow. You read in Solomon chapter 5
and verse 11, his locks are black and bushy. Now John says he saw him and
his head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow. So
is there some description here? Is there some difference of opinion
here? Oh, no. No. Remember, this is
symbolic language. Even in Daniel, Daniel sees Him
with His head white as snow. In Solomon, and also in Psalm
110 verse 3, when it says, Thy people shall be willing in the
day of Thy power, in the dew of the morning, That's in His
strength, in His energy, in His vigor. It sets forth He's the
one who's always almighty, mighty to save. What does this indicate? He's
the Ancient of Days. That's who He is. He's the Ancient
of Days. And John says that His eyes were
as a flame of fire, Flames coming out of each eye
to penetrate, to burn their way into our hearts. Hebrews 4, 12,
all things are naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom
we have to do. Verse 15, John says His feet
were like fine brass as if they burned in a furnace. He holds the church up. We can't be moved. Our Lord supports us. This also
indicates His ability to conquer, having conquered all of His enemies. You know, in olden times when
kings conquered Various enemies. The enemies were brought to the
king. The king sat up upon his throne. The throne was lifted
up on a higher level. The enemies were brought in and
when they knelt before the king, the only thing they could look
at was his feet. His feet. John said, I've been
conquered. I see his feet. fine brass, as
if they burned in a furnace. And he says his voice, before
he said his voice sounded like thunder, now it sounds like the
sound of many waters, like water crashing on the rocks, just deafening. And he said he had in his right
hand seven stars. Who are the seven stars symbolic
of? Well, it tells us down in verse
20, the middle of the verse, the seven stars are the angels
or the messengers of the seven churches, literally the pastors. And out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword. A sharp two-edged sword cut both
ways. It can save a sinner or cut a
sinner off forever. It just depends on how He wants
to wield it. Whenever our Lord goes in judgment
against someone, it usually says in the Bible He uses His sword. His sword. Look at Revelation
chapter 19 verse 15. Revelation 19, 15. Out of his mouth doth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations. Look down
in verse 21. The remnant were slain with the
sword of him that sat upon his horse. Look at chapter 2 of Revelation,
verse 12. To the angel of the church in
Pergamos, chapter 2, verse 12, write, These things saith he
that hath the sharp sword with two edges. Sword speaks of judgment. And we read in the book of Zechariah,
chapter 7, chapter 13, in verse 7, Awake, O sword, against that
one who is my fellow. against the shepherd. What happened
to the shepherd? The two-edged sword was raised
against him. That's judgment. That's what
that is. That's vengeance for our sins.
The sword pierced his soul and it will never touch us. John says his countenance End
of verse 16, verse 1, his countenance was as the sun shining in his
strength. John says his face was brighter
than the shining of the sun. John saw the glorious Christ,
the glorified Christ. And he saw Him in the midst of
the churches. You know, in Acts, the book of
Acts, you got time to look over in Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Saul of Tarsus
on his way to Damascus. He saw the glorified Christ. Acts chapter 9. Verse 1, Saul, yet breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to
Damascus, to the synagogues, That if He found any of this
way, anybody who believed this way, this way of grace, this
way of salvation by Jesus Christ and Him crucified, whether they
were men or women, He might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as He journeyed, He came
near Damascus and suddenly there shined around about Him a light
from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord?
The Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard
for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and
astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And
the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city. And it
shall be told thee what thou must do. And the man which journeyed
with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but they didn't see
the glorified Christ. And you know, it still happens
that way. People in the same congregation
Maybe two people sitting side by side and through the preaching
of the word by faith you see the glorified Christ and the
person sitting right beside him if you didn't see him. Have you ever thought about those
shepherds we just got through with Christmas a few weeks ago? Think about those shepherds out
there. They saw the glory of the Lord. Scripture says it shone round
about them. How come other people didn't
see that? Where was everybody else? Here
is a bright light shining down from heaven. The glory of the
Lord shone round about them. Everybody didn't see that. Just
those to whom the messenger was sent. What about those wise men
who followed that star? I don't read of anybody else
following along with them. I don't read of anybody else
following that star. We've seen his star! What star? What star? I don't see what you
see! No, and you never will, apart
from revealing grace. And here is John the Apostle.
He sees the glorified Christ. And you say, well, I've never
seen him. And you never will, unless he reveals himself to
you. But if he ever reveals himself
to you, then you'll love to be around other folks who've seen
him too. And then all together we can say, bless the name of
our Savior. Isn't He a wonderful Redeemer
who saved us by His blood and righteousness? We love to hear
His gospel, love to sing His praises.