I invite you to turn with me
this morning to Revelation Chapter 2. We're going to have to have more
than one lesson on this chapter. I'm going to recap just a little
bit out of Chapter 1 and we're going to move into Chapter 2.
There are three very striking things seen by John in this vision
given to him by the Lord. Three very striking things. He
turns to see the voice that spoke to him, and he saw three very
striking things that he speaks of. First, he saw the glorified
Christ. That's the first thing the believer
sees. And that's what this is, is the
revelation of Jesus Christ. It's how it comes. And he's establishing
these things in these visions to John. And John turns and the
first thing he sees is the glorified Christ. He'd saw Christ before. He says in his first letter,
he said, I'm going to declare unto you what I've seen with
my eyes and handled with my hands. He said, I've seen him. I've
seen him. He saw him with his eyes. But
now he's looking through the eyes of faith. And he turns to
see the glorified Christ. Jesus Christ will no more be
seen in his humility. We preach his humility. We preach
that. We talk about that. We talk about
why that humility was given to him and why he must come down
and submit to such things. But we don't see him. Faith doesn't
see him in his humiliation. But risen from the dead, triumphant,
Victorious. Seated at the right hand of God.
He said in Revelation 1.18 when he spoke to John, he said, I
am he that liveth. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore
and have, by virtue of my death and by virtue of my resurrection,
I have the keys of hell and death. He's alive. He's active. He's walking among the candlesticks. He's exalted. He's majestic. John sees the glorified Christ. That's who he sees. When he turns
to see, that's how faith sees. Faith doesn't see poor little
Jesus boy and feel sorry for him. Faith sees the glorified
Christ. They see past the tomb, past
the cross, past the resurrection, and they see him seated at the
right hand of God. So he's alive, he's active, he's
exalted. In Hebrews chapter 1, it says,
he sat on the right hand of majesty. Majesty. So John sees the glorified
Christ. All right, here's the second
striking thing that John sees. John sees in his vision the glorified
Christ in the midst of his churches. Well, you would think the glorified
Christ would be seen off to the side, but he's not. He sees Him
in the midst of His churches. If you see the glorified Christ,
you'll see Him in His churches because He and His church are
one. As He and the Father are one,
He and the church is one. We're one with Him. One with
the glorified Christ. He promised. He said, I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. To His
promise, here He is. He's in the midst of the churches.
Whether two or three are gathered together in My name, there am
I in the midst of them. And then the third striking thing
which John sees in his vision are the stars in the right hand
of the Lord. Here's the glorified Christ.
He's walking in the midst of His churches, and in His right
hand is seven stars. These are the seven pastors of
those seven churches. And he holds them in his right
hand. Now, as long as there have been churches in this gospel
age, there have been pastors. That's just so. I know men try
to make it seem otherwise, but that's not the way it is. Paul
said in his letter to Titus that his intent in leaving him in
Crete was that he should establish order in the things which they
lacked and ordained elders, pastors, in every city as he was charged
to do by the Apostle Paul. Now, these three lessons to be learned by these three
revelations, three lessons that we learn as we see Christ in
these revelations. First, that Christ has the preeminence
in the church. He didn't say, wow, here's the
church, and then after a while, oh, there's Christ then. No,
he saw Christ first and then saw him in the midst of his churches.
It's not the church that glorifies Christ. It's Christ who glorifies
the church. So Christ has preeminence in
the church. This is what John saw. Without
Him, there is no church. He's the head of the body of
the church. Whack off the head, you've got no body. Without Him, there is no church.
There is no glory. There is no adoption. There is
no head. There is no priest. There is
no hope. There is no reconciliation. Without Him, there's no purpose.
What would be the purpose of the church without Christ? We're
to glorify Him. We're to preach Him. There'd be no purpose. There'd
be no power. He's the one who'd given power over all flesh that
He should give eternal life to as many as the Father's given
Him. Without Him, there'd be no power. There'd be no wisdom. God made
him to be unto us wisdom. There'd be no righteousness.
There'd be no sanctification. There'd be no intercession. And
there'd be no redemption without him. Without him, the church
cannot be built, for he's the foundation, he's the chief cornerstone,
he's the builder, and he's the topstone, according to Zechariah. The preeminent thing in John's
vision here is Christ. He does not behold and describe
the wonder of the churches, but the wonder of Him that stands
in her midst. His head, His hair, His eyes,
His feet, His voice. He's preeminent in John's vision. And He's preeminent in saving
faith. He is that which wins the heart. He'll not have your heart until
you see Him in His glory. Then He'll have your heart. So
He's preeminent in saving faith. And Paul said, oh, he said that
I might win Christ. Not that I might win position,
that I might win this, that I might win heaven. I'm sure all those
things were on his mind, but that's not what he cried. He
cried, oh, that I might win Christ and be found in him, not having
my own righteousness, but his. Then the second lesson learned
in John's revelation of Christ is that he is revealed in the
midst of his churches. Now those of you who know anything
about the fall of man and the subsequent inheritance of his
fallen nature, and those of you who know something about the
presence and power of Satan in this world, who takes men captive
at his will, I know men, there used to be a comedian on there,
and he was always laughing, a black comedian, talking about the devil
made me do it. The devil made me do it. And
they laugh and joke about the devil. But I'm going to tell
you something. You're no match for him. He can take you captive
at his will. You're nothing before him. So those of you who know something
about presence and power of Satan in this world. And those of you
who know something of the powerful influence of his religion, satanic
religion, anti-Christ religion, you understand the necessity
of Christ being in her midst and the impact of that statement.
What could the church do without him? What could you do without him?
What does the professed church in this world do without him?
Nothing. Nothing of any spiritual benefit.
They don't do one of that. They make proselytes. That's
what he told the Jews. You come to sea and land, make
one proselyte like unto yourself. And when you made him, he's twofold
more to the child of hell than you are. You haven't accomplished
anything spiritual. And I could go on and on. The
church without Christ can do nothing. and do nothing, nothing
of any benefit. The Roman Catholic Church and
many fundamentalist churches, they boast of their power and
influence in world government. I'm hearing a lot of that in
our day, a lot of it. However, in Romans 13, 1 through
4, he tells us all the powers that are are of God. They're of God. Pilate said to
Jesus, he said, speakest thou not unto me? Christ just stood
before him silent. He wouldn't even answer him.
And it infuriated that Roman governor. And he looked at him
and he said, speakest thou not unto me? Don't you know that
I have power to crucify you or set you free? Listen to what
our Lord told him. John 19, 11, Jesus answered,
thou couldest have no power at all against me. except it were
given thee from above." Christ alone is Lord of lords
and King of kings. And then, secondly, religion
boasts of their converts, their disciples, and soul-winning campaigns. But the truth of it is Christ
alone calls His sheep. Read John chapter 10. It's all
about the shepherd. The shepherd comes before the
porter. The porter recognizes the shepherd and he opens the
door. And the shepherd calls his own
sheep by name. And he leadeth them out and he
sets them out before him. That's the shepherd who does
that. It's not soul winning campaigns. We preach the shepherd here and
I wait for him to call. That's as far as I can go with
it, is to declare Him, point you to Him, talk about Him, exalt
Him. Maybe He'll speak to you. Maybe
He will. But if He don't, there's nothing
of any spiritual benefit going to take place, I can tell you
that. And then the third thing we learn
from John's vision is that he intends to minister to his churches
by the stars that he holds in his hand. Christ's presence is
manifested in the churches, holding the stars in his right hand. Now, the right hand, I'm told,
is the hand of fellowship. When Paul went to the big church
at Jerusalem and told how the Lord had converted him and many
bore witness to it and talked about how he ministered in the
Holy Ghost, they extended their right hand of fellowship to him.
And this right hand is the hand of fellowship. John said, that
which we've seen and heard declare we unto you that you may also
have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father.
This is the right hand of fellowship. And in that hand, he holds his
star. And I'm going to tell you something. You're not going to
have fellowship with him and be out of fellowship with his
pastors. If you're out of fellowship with
one of his pastors, advise you I'd examine myself. Examine myself. Because he holds those pastors
in his hand, and it's the hand of fellowship. And the right
hand is the hand of authority. He said, obey them which have
the rule over you. Pastors are in His right hand.
That's the hand of His power and authority. He gave them authority
in the churches over the congregations. And then the right hand is the
hand of privilege and blessing. No greater gift to you or privilege
given to you in this world to sit under and listen to and learn
from one of God's pastors. He tells you in Romans chapter
10, He said, How will you hear? without a preacher. Now, it ain't
going to happen. I know men talk about it all
the time and talk about these visions they had in their closet
when they were kids, and I don't doubt that they had one. But
I'm telling you, it's not the means that God has ordained.
He's ordained His pastors, and He carries them in that hand.
And that hand is the hand of privilege. When He exalted Christ
and took Him into heaven, He said, sit thou here on my right
hand. There are today some small groups
of men and women who had no pastors. Some, I believe, sincerely desire
to have one and are active, actively seeking one. If you desire a pastor, here's
where you're going to find him, in his hand. That's where you're
going to find him, in his hand. Our Lord said, the harvest truly
is plenteous, but the labors are few. So what can we do? What are we going to do? We're
going to go to seminary, go down there to the preacher factory
and get us some and pass them out. We're going to stand up
and have a missionary revival and try to get everybody to go
out and do this and do that and find a pastor. How are we going
to get this pastor? The harvest is ready to go. The
wheat is ready to be harvested and brought in. The corn. How
are we going to do this? The laborers are few. The harvest
is great. So what are we going to do? Listen
to what our Lord said. Pray ye therefore that the Lord
of the harvest, you pray Him, you ask Him, that He will send
forth laborers into His harvest. It's His harvest. He's in charge
of it, and he alone can send them. How are you going to preach
except you be sent? You're not. You can talk a lot. You can pretend a lot, but you
can't preach if he don't send you. Paul said, how shall you
hear without a preacher, and how shall he preach except he
be sent? All right. With these things in mind, let's
read the first seven verses of Revelation 2. Revelation 2, verse 1. Under
the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, These things saith he
that holdeth the stars in his right hand, who walketh in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor,
and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are
evil. And thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars,
and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake has labored
and has not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee. because thou hast left thy first
love. Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works, or else
I'll come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out
of its place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou
hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the
paradise of God." Now, because of the time factor, I'm not going
to be able this week to get into Christ's reproof of the church
here at Ephesus. I want a whole lesson, at least
one lesson on that. It's so important. So I'll just
put that on the table for next week, the Lord willing. This
morning, I want to show you in these verses a divine order which
shall continue throughout these last days and throughout this
gospel age. He establishes right up front,
his very first message to the very first church, he establishes
a divine order on how he will speak. First of all is Christ
himself. Paul opens his letter to the
Hebrews with these words. He said, God, who at various
times and different manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hast in these last days spoken unto us by his
son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also
he made the worlds. God speaks to his son. Everything
that He has to say to fallen sinners, He says through His
Son. Now, you remember that. All the
way through this book. I don't care what these visions
involve. I don't care what's going on.
It's Christ speaking. No one else of the Godhead has
this name. He's the Word of God. The Word
of God. And what that tells me is this
is how God is going to communicate. This is how God is going to speak
if He speaks at all through His Son. And God has nothing to say
except by His Son. There was a time when God spoke
by types and symbols and figures, called figures for the time then
present. Patterns of things in the heavens,
figures of the true and shadows of good things to come. The priesthood, this priesthood
economy of which I just was speaking, is over. It's done away. It's
done away. The age of Sabbaths and temples
and altars and priests is done away. It's gone forever. Christ coming to accomplish the
redemptive will of God, it says He took away the first to establish
the second. It's taken away. It's gone. And
he tells us in Colossians chapter 2, therefore, don't you let anybody,
don't you let anybody hold you in account of a Sabbath day or
meats or any of this stuff. You tell them, go jump in the
lake. You're not under that. You're under him. He's the fulfillment
of the Sabbath. Sabbaths are a day of rest. He's
our rest. He's our altar. And he's the
sacrifice on the altar. Isn't it Christ that purifies
us? So He's the labor. He's the atonement that was offered
beyond the veil. He's the light in the candlestick. In the outer cord, He's the bread.
You can go on and on. We did when we went through the
book of Exodus. I tried to take everything in
that old tabernacle and show you that it's a picture of Christ.
Even the sockets that the post went into. These things stood, Paul said,
in meats and drinks and divers' washings and carnal ordinances
and posed on them until the time of reformation. And I wished
ignorant men would stop dressing up in them silly robes. There
was a time for a robe. There was a time when God designated
the apparel of the high priest and the common priest, and they
were to put it on when they did service before God. But those
days are gone. Priests dress in the righteousness
of Christ. And only one priest wears that
garment with the names written on the shoulder and the breastplate,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. I just wish people would stop
dressing up in them silly robes and lighting candles and building
elaborate cathedrals and keeping holy days. Paul said these things
have a show of wisdom and will worship only. That's all they're
good for. And where do you find them practiced
in will worship? He's our Sabbath. He's our Passover. He's our High Priest. He's our
Mercy Seeker. Everything God has to say to
His churches, He's going to say by His Son. All right. Secondly, first of all, Christ
speaks. Secondly, the Holy Ghost speaks. After He says all these things,
the very last verse I read to you over here a while ago in
verse 7, it says, He that hath ear to hear Let him hear what
the Spirit saith to the churches. Christ speaks through the Holy
Ghost. When He's come, He said He's
not going to speak of Himself. The Holy Ghost is not going to
say things of Himself. You can read it over in John
chapter 16. When He's come, He's not going to speak of Himself.
Christ said He's going to take the things of mine and show them
unto you, He's not going to glorify Himself. He's going to glorify
us. I'm looking out in these Pentecostal churches and they're
talking about being born of the Spirit and having evidentials
of the Spirit, but they're glorifying the Spirit. They're not glorifying
Christ. I might give them some consideration if they're glorifying
Christ, but they're not. They're glorifying the Spirit
and they're glorifying themselves. Christ speaks in converting power by spirit. Where the spirit is silent, men
are left to their own wicked imagination and to their old
religious traditions. All right, thirdly, he speaks,
Christ speaks. How does he speak? He speaks
through his spirit. All right, now watch this. He speaks through
his apostles. Now this, I know, speaks of the
Word of God. What did he tell John in this
vision? Did you notice it? I tried to
emphasize it when I read it. He said, write. Didn't tell him
speak. He told him to write. See it
there in that first verse in Chapter 2? He told him to write. Write these things. These apostles
wrote the New Testament. And when God speaks, He speaks
through the Holy Spirit and He speaks through His Word. He speaks
through His Word. He said all scriptures given
by inspiration of God, it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness. Contrary to what
this whole apostolic movement in our day is claiming, the Holy
Ghost does not work apart from the Word of God. He works in
conjunction with the Word of God. James tells us that of His own
will, now listen to this, this One from whom every good and
perfect gift comes down, from the Father of lights, these good
and perfect gifts, Gifts given with no variableness, neither
shadow of turning. He said, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. Now what does that say? There
won't be anybody born again apart from the word of God. It's not
going to happen. And then Peter tells us that
we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And then listen to this, God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. You're going to tell somebody
something and you think maybe Christ might be going to, you
better speak by this because that's the only way he's going
to speak. God hath revealed these things
to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. So God speaks to us by
His Son. And God speaks to us by His Spirit. He'll take the things of mine
and show them unto you. And He speaks to us by His Word. Now watch this. God speaks to
His churches by His pastors. Write these things to the angel
of the church of Ephesus." Now, he's got some things to say to
the church, but he's not directly speaking to the church. He's
talking to the pastor. Isn't that what that says? You
write these things to this man, this angel of the church at Ephesus. All right, watch this. Here's
the next thing. You write these things to the
angel of the church of Smyrna. And you go all the way down through
here to Pergamos and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and
Laodicea, all seven churches, all the things that Christ spoke,
all the things that the Spirit spoke, all the things that the
apostles wrote were written to the angels of those churches,
every one of them. Right, our Lord said, these things
saith He that holds the stars in His right hand and who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. So He's going to
speak through His Son. He's going to speak by His Word. He's going to speak in the power
of His Spirit. And He's going to speak through
His pastor. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 5. I'm
going to give you some Scriptures here to verify what I've just
said. Who then is Paul? Who then is Paul? And who is
Apollos? But ministers by whom ye believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man. Isn't that what this is?
Is that clear to you? That just clears the veil to
me. Paul said, God hath in due times, he wrote this to Titus,
Titus chapter 1 verse 3. He said, God hath in due times
manifested His Word, this book, through preaching which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God my Savior. But men won't hear a man. Men
won't submit to a man. Men won't be led by a man. They
will if that man's accompanied by his Holy Spirit. Yes, they
will. And I don't care if his face
is twisted and distorted and he looks like you can't hardly
look him in the face. That was Paul's case. He had
that thorn in the flesh. whatever it was that buffeted
him. It might have been a messenger
of Satan sent to buffet him. I don't know what it was, but
whatever it was, it didn't hinder men from listening to him because
the Holy Spirit overpowered his words, empowered his words to
the regeneration of men. Paul said, you've got a lot of
instructors, but you've only got one father. He said, I have
begotten you with the gospel. That's what he told the Corinthians. And then in 2 Corinthians 3,
5, Paul said this. He told them that they were his
letter, they was his epistle, written not with ink, not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God. What a statement. And he said,
not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything of
ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. who also hath made
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. And so Paul said to the church
at Thessalonica, he said, I know your election of God, when my
gospel. Now I want you to think about
that. Our gospel, he said, the one we studied, The one we prepared,
the one we stood and proclaimed, this one that was in our mind
to reason and to hold, this, our gospel, when it came to you,
it came not in word only, but it came in the Holy Ghost and
it came in power. Isn't that what he's saying?
He establishes an order right off the bat to what he's saying
to these churches. And it's not only how he's going
to speak to the church, but it's how the church is going to receive
it. You're not going to receive it out on the lake. You're not
going to receive it out in the woods. You're not going to receive
it home in your closet. You're going to receive it as
it's given. And it's given to his churches
through their pastors. Does that make sense? People
say, well, you're off on a tangent on preachers. No, I'm trying
to tell you what the Word of God says, and I'm showing it
to you, verse by verse. He who believeth not God hath made
him a liar, and I don't want to be guilty of that, and you
don't either.