Revelation chapter 1. For some time the Lord has had on the back of my mind to go to Revelation chapters 2 and 3 and preach through the seven churches and the letters to the seven churches. And I believe the time is now that the Lord would have me do that. But before we can do that, we need to back up to chapter 1 and see who it is who is writing to these churches. And as a matter of fact, you'll see here on the PowerPoint that I've written this, Revelation 1, the focus is Jesus. In Revelation chapter 1, we are given a picture of Jesus Christ that is unlike any other book of the Bible that pictures Him. And it's very important for us to understand what is given to us in Revelation 1 before we can completely understand what is given to us in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. But there's much to say about these churches, and we'll get to that in just a moment. But for the sake of context, I'd like for us to begin reading in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 1, where it says, Under the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. What is said in verse number one is a reference back to what we were given in chapter one. And so it's very important for us to go back into chapter one and to get to that context. But for the sake this morning of smooth sailing through chapter 1, I begin in chapter 2 verse 1 to define a couple things for us. Because Jesus introduces himself in chapter 2 verse 1 to the church of Ephesus as he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand and one that walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. And so it's important for us to understand who the stars are and what these candlesticks are in Revelation 2 and 3 that originated in chapter 1. Well, in order to get that back up to chapter 1, verse 20, why don't we have a word of prayer before we go any further? We better do that because we've got a lot of ground to cover this morning. And those of you who take notes, I've got a lot of this on PowerPoint for you, but it's going to be a little taxing this morning. We're going to do quite a bit of teaching through Revelation 1, probably more so than preaching. Our Father, we thank you for the truth of your word this morning as it is revealed to us in the book of Revelation. We thank you for this book. We thank you for the promise that comes with this book, that we will be blessed if we just read and listen. And so, Father, this morning, would you open our minds and our hearts and our eyes, Lord, as we see the truth about Jesus Christ in chapter 1 and prepare ourselves for what we're going to read in chapters 2 and 3. And so, Father, we ask this morning that you would be honored in all that is said and done. We pray that your Holy Spirit will speak through me. And, Lord, that you would set aside all distractions that may distract me and our church as a whole this morning. Father, please. We pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen Revelation chapter 1 in verse 20 it says this the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in thy in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks the stars are the are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches and Now, when we back up and start in verse 1 of chapter 1, this will begin to make a little more sense to you, but I want us to understand who the stars and the candlesticks are, so that as we begin reading through chapter 1, we can get it in context. The candlesticks are obviously seven churches. Those churches are named for us in chapter 1 verse 11. They are seven real churches that are in Asia and They're represented as candlesticks. And so there they are and Jesus Christ pictures himself walking through the midst of these churches But he mentioned seven stars and he refers to them as seven angels The word angel simply means messenger and let me just cut to the quick I believe that these seven stars that are in the hand of Jesus Christ his right hand are men I believe they are the seven pastors of the seven churches. And I believe that there's plenty evidence for that. As a matter of fact, the word angel, that is translated angel here, is translated messenger in other places. One of those places would be James 2 in verse 25, where Rahab is said to have housed the spies, and those spies are referred to as messengers. That is the exact same word that is translated angel here. So this word is used of men throughout the New Testament on occasion and the fact that These men are told to take the message that is given to them and then present that message to the church as we just read in chapter 2 verse 1 where he says unto the angel of the church of Ephesus writes and he presents a this to this angel or this messenger, which I believe would be the pastor of Ephesus. And then that man has the responsibility to preach that message or give it to that church congregation. And then as he wraps up that letter to the church of Ephesus, he holds the church responsible for the message that has been given to them. And let me say this as I stand before you as your pastor. This is a great challenge to pastors. They hold they will be held responsible for getting the message right. And I've got to tell you this morning, if I am ever tempted to compromise due to the pressure of men or due to the pressure of the times around me, I remind myself that one day I will answer to the one who is greater than any man or any authority on this earth. So there is a responsibility that comes with this and so we have here these seven pastors of these churches We have these seven candlesticks which represent these churches and with that knowledge let's go back to Revelation chapter 1 verse 1 and See who it is who is writing to these churches. And so from the very beginning of this chapter The opening statement is the revelation of... What's the next two words? Jesus Christ. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The focus throughout the rest of this chapter and throughout this book is Jesus Christ. And this morning as we go through chapter 1, I want you to think about that. As a matter of fact, a little bit later we're going to see that the focus of all prophecy Jesus Christ and so we cannot get distracted by that that is one reason why This morning in our song service. We sing songs about our great Savior Jesus Christ Opening with the great hymn crown him with many crowns well, we have Also within chapter 1 a basic outline of the book look at verse 19 of Revelation 1 it says this write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are the things which shall be hereafter and so what we have here in verse 19 is a basic outline of this book of Revelation We have the things that thou hast seen that would be chapter 1 by the time it's given to us here in chapter in verse 19 so John writes what he has seen and And then the things which are, and that would be the period in which John was living, which is the same period in which you and I live, the church age, which is given to us in chapters 2 and 3. And then we have the things which shall be hereafter, which begins in chapter 4 and goes through chapter 22 as we have future events that are given to us in the book of Revelation, beginning with the tribulation all the way through the millennial reign and into eternity. given to us within this book of Revelation. But keep this in mind that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. At the heading of this book, your Bible probably says something like this, the revelation of Saint John the Divine. Is that what it says? Okay, that revelation was given to Jesus Christ. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which then John was committed to writing. So from the very beginning we have the revelation of Jesus Christ We have a simple outline of this book and then beginning in verse number four We are introduced to the Trinity, but let's begin reading from verse 1 to get the context the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and He sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John who bear record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand by the way, let me just say this I am so pleased with the promise that is given to us in verse number three and you should be too because there's a lot of things in this book that we don't understand and There's a lot of things in this book that God chooses not to make clear to us. He leaves a lot of things a little unknown to us, which is fine. He meant for them to be a little unknown to us. But we do have a promise, not that we have to understand it to be blessed, but that we just simply would read it and would hear it and would listen to it. So whether you understand it or not, you have a promise of blessing just to read. That is encouraging to me. There's a lot in here. Then in verse number four and five we see the Trinity John to the seven churches which are in Asia grace be unto you and peace from him Which is and which was and which is to come. What do we see there? We see God the Father in his eternity he was he is and he is to come and so we see the eternal father given to us and And it says from the seven spirits which are before his throne. What do we see here? We see God the Holy Spirit in his completeness and by the way, the seven spirits I believe referred to the Holy Spirit in his diversity of operations and in his completeness and there are other passages of scripture that teach us what those seven spirits are but I believe it refers to the Holy Spirit in his fullness and his completeness and The Bible leaves a lot of the truth of the Holy Spirit to a mystery for us but that's fine because we benefit from his ministry and God does not intend for us to understand at all Isn't it wonderful that God said I have not seen nor ear heard what God has in store for those that love him and I praise God for that we will be learning about our God all throughout eternity and So we have God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and then in verse number five it says and from Jesus Christ Who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth? Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. What do we see here? We see God the Son with his multiple titles or descriptions and by the way throughout the rest of this chapter. I From this point forward, this chapter is all about the titles, or the character, or the power, or the work of the Son of God. The central focus throughout this chapter, and then from this point forward, is Jesus Christ. And so as we get started in this book, we're introduced to God the Father in His eternity. God the Holy Spirit in His completeness and His diversity of operation. And then we're introduced to God the Son. And we are given throughout the next few verses some pretty powerful things about Jesus Christ. Again, look at verse 5. His very first title is Jesus Christ. Please don't overlook that title. The word Christ is a term that means Messiah. It is God's anointed. He is the one who is to redeem mankind and to rule the nations. And so from the very beginning of this introduction to Jesus Christ, we are told that He is God's anointed and He is the one to redeem us and to rule the nations. He is Christ. That is His title. Now I want us to approach this chapter from this perspective and please stay with me this morning Christian This is where I want us to to the perspective. I want us to have as we look through this chapter I want us to to look at it this way before I learn anything else about this book I must learn about the one that this book reveals And that is Jesus Christ we're told from the very beginning the revelation of Jesus Christ and And so before we learn anything else about the book, we need to learn about him. And God does not do this by accident. He gives us chapter one to start this powerful book. So approach that chapter from this perspective. Even in the letters that are written to the churches, he introduces himself with certain characteristics that relate to that church's situations, whether it be commendations or whether it be rebuke because of problems. Either way, he introduces himself to each church with certain characteristics. And so we learn about our Savior. As a matter of fact, let's do this as a tangent right now. Go to Revelation chapter 19. Because I want to establish, as we get into this chapter, the very purpose of prophecy itself. Now understand, the purpose of these messages over the next few weeks is not prophetic. It is to look at the churches of Revelation 2 and 3 and see what we can learn for Brentwood Baptist Church. Revelation 19. I want you to look at verse number 10. It says and I fell at his feet to worship him This is John speaking about falling before one of the angels that was communicating with him And he said I fell at his feet to worship him and he said unto me see thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy you see that The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Let me say this this morning. Prophecy is about testifying of Jesus Christ, period. The very purpose of prophecy is to show us the power of God and specifically to be a testimony of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Now, this is not the only place that talks about that. Matter of fact, we have a beautiful illustration of this truth in Acts chapter 1 go with me to Acts chapter 1 I'm giving us some background this morning Just so that we can understand what we're about to delve into in Acts chapter 1 in verse number 6 Jesus is about to ascend into heaven and he is on the Mount of Olives with his Disciples that are around him and in Acts chapter 1 verse 6. They asked him a question. I It says, When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? The apostles wanted to know about the future kingdom. Is this the time that you're going to do that? Verse number seven. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father hath put in his own power. Period. You're not to know everything, men. You're not to know everything particularly the timing that is within the power of the father and it is interesting that he uses the word power here because it has to do with authority it has to do with responsibility and he says it is within the authority and the Responsibility of God the father to worry about the times and the seasons verse number eight, but I'm telling you what church I'm giving you power Here it is. He says but she shall receive power not the power to know the times or the seasons He says you shall receive power after that The Holy Ghost has come upon you and here's what you're going to receive power for ye shall be witnesses unto me Both in Jerusalem and Judea and in Samaria and unto the other most parts part of the earth. I He says don't concern yourself with the time concern yourself with the task leave the timing up to the father your responsibility and your Authority will be in the fact that you are to be testifying of me The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy And we somehow get this feeling that if we can delve into prophecy and we can know all there is to know about the times and all of those things, and there is nothing wrong with that if we keep it within the right perspective, but somehow we want to judge our spirituality by how much we understand about prophecy in relation to the end times and the time in which we live. And the fact of the matter is, knowledge of God's Word is not an end in itself. Knowledge is a means to an end and that end is to glorify Christ through our lives and be the best testimony for him that we can be period And so if we keep the most important things as the most important things Then we can keep our priorities in line with God's priorities because the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy and And so as we get into Revelation chapter 1, let us remember that the focus is on Jesus Christ. We're back to verse number 5 of Revelation 1. The first thing we learn about Him is that He is the Christ. But then it goes on and says, He is the faithful witness. That is, He was true to His witness of the Father. You and I fail from time to time in how we represent our Father. Jesus Christ never failed in how He represented His Father. He is the faithful witness, thus setting an example. Us as a matter of fact as we get into chapters 2 & 3 we see that God holds these churches responsible for their witness and testimony of him and Jesus Christ has already set the example because he is the faithful witness none of these titles none of these descriptions that are given of Jesus Christ are given by accident or just loosely given to us they all have a reason and a purpose and So He is Christ. He is the faithful witness. But it also says that He is the first begotten of the dead. What does that mean? That doesn't mean the first in sequence of time, because in the Old Testament we had people raised from the dead before Jesus Christ was on the earth. But He is the first in importance. And here is why. It is because His resurrection guarantees us of our resurrection. Aren't you glad for that? Are you all with me this morning? Am I flying a little high for you or are you enjoying this? It's good, even if I say so. He's the first begotten of the dead because his resurrection guarantees us of our resurrection. Matter of fact throughout scripture. This thought is given to us over and over again in Psalm 89 verse 27 It says also I will make him my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth It's referring to Jesus Christ in his resurrection in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15 It refers to Jesus as firstborn of every creature in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 speaking of the resurrection it refers to Christ as the firstfruits and You see, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so very important because He conquered death. Let me remind us this morning that there is no man-made religion that can say that their founder has conquered death. Did you hear me this morning? There is no man-made religion. There is no religion that calls themselves Christian but then relies upon the teachings of men. Who can say that their founder has conquered death? Jesus is the only one who conquered death and it is because of that that you and I have eternal life. Praise God. He is the first begotten of the dead. As a matter of fact, look over at verse number 18 of chapter one. It says, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. Aren't you glad those keys are in his hands? Praise God for that. So thus we have the first begotten of the dead. And Christian, this is not given to us by accident. God is giving us these titles and these descriptions for a reason. Then he's called the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. That's a beautiful title. The Prince of the Kings of the Earth. There's so much that could be said here, but we see his kingship his omnipotence We could if we wanted to go to Psalm 2 and read about it We could go to Daniel chapter 2 verse 44 and read about it We could go to a number of other Old Testament passages and read about it But he is the king of kings and Lord of lords. He is the prince of the kings of the earth. He is the omnipotent But then we have in verse number five this fact, that He loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. He's our Redeemer. It was not the blood of bulls and goats that washed away the sin of the Old Testament saints as well as the New Testament saints and all of us who are alive today. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, our Savior. And it is only because of that that we can even have, verse number six. And it says, And He hath made us, He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And John cannot help but say, Amen. Well, in verse number six, what do we see? He hath made us. He has authority. What do we mean by that? He's been given the right to delegate leadership positions to his people. That is you and me. I tell you what, if you think that when you get to heaven, or we get into the millennial kingdom, that you're going to sit on a cloud, and you're going to play a harp, and that's all you're going to do all day. Maybe you can even throw in eating chocolate bonbons without gaining weight. I don't know. But if that's what you envision, you are wrong. You're going to be busy. The Bible tells us right here that we will be kings and priests unto God and His Father. I cannot tell you that I understand how all of that works. Don't understand all of that But I do know this that Jesus Christ has been given the right to delegate leadership positions to you and me I say praise God So you better get busy while you're on this earth because you're going to be busy in heaven And so he has the authority to do it and then in verse number seven It says this Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him That would be the Jewish nation and all kindreds of the earth shall wail Because of him even so amen Well, this verse speaks of his coming at the end of the tribulation. This is still future to us It is given to us here to reveal to us his character. And I want you to go with me to Luke 23. We will come back here, of course, but let's go to Luke chapter 23, please. And I want to look at the beginning of verse number 28. What's happening here in Luke 23 is Jesus Christ is on his way to Calvary. He's about to be crucified. He's about to be pierced, as it is given to us in Revelation chapter 1 in verse 7. And I want you to notice what he says. Let's get to verse 27 for the context here. And there followed him a great company of people and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." Now, do you understand the context? Jesus Christ is about to be crucified. He's been beaten. He's been up all night. He is a bloody mess. He's on his way to Calvary. And he says, don't weep for me. Can you imagine the selfless love of our Savior? This is amazing. He says weep for yourselves and for your children verse 29 for behold the days are coming in the which they shall say blessed are the barren and the wombs that never gave bear and the paps which never gave suck then shall they begin to say to the mountains fall on us into the hills cover us and then he goes on and Continues to give some signs of the coming of our Savior but at the point in Luke 23 that we just read about they pierced him but in Revelation 1 7 and They will see the one whom they pierced, and then they will truly wail. The first time he was crucified by the Romans, betrayed by the Jews, but next time he will not be betrayed by his own nation. He will not be crucified by any other nation. He will come back as the prince of the kings of the earth. It is future, but it's given to us at this point in the chapter just so that we can understand who we're talking about. Verse number 8 we continue with more titles or description of Jesus Christ We have that he is Alpha and Omega the beginning in the end In verse 8 it says I'm Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending set the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending as a matter of fact in verse number 11 He's referred to as the first and the last and what we see in all of this is that we see his completeness He is a to Z He is everything and I got news for you this morning church I wish I had time to park on this and one day I may come back and just preach on this and because this is worthy of our noting and that is this this Chapter is being written prior to chapters 2 & 3 which are the the messages to the churches and so what we see as Jesus identifies himself as the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending the first and the last is that he is everything we need and our church should be focused on Jesus Christ and We shouldn't be distracted from that, but it's not just within these four walls it's as we go into the world and as we represent him as we go to work and as we Interact with people who do not know our Savior They need to see within us that he is the Alpha and Omega of our lives He is the first and the last we are complete in him. He is everything If I had time, I would just park here and preach on that phrase for the rest of the sermon. But maybe some other time. Let's keep going. It says here that He is the One which is, which was, and which is to come. We see again His eternality, just like His Father in verse number 4. He is eternal. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit share the same attributes. They're all God. And then we see that He is the Almighty. His might is ultimate. There is none that is greater than our Almighty Jesus Christ. And so what do we see here? We see an introduction to Jesus Christ. And let me say that beginning in verse number nine and going through the rest of the chapter, we have a representation of the present ministry of Jesus Christ during the church age. Keep this in mind that when we get to chapters two and three, God will be dealing with the churches and Jesus Christ is speaking to those churches. And so we have an introduction of who the one is that's writing the letters and His authority. So he introduces himself with a number of characteristics and titles but beginning in verse number nine as the kid as the description Continues the focus is primarily upon Jesus's present ministry during the church age And let's begin reading now in verse number nine where John says I John who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the aisle that is called Patmos and The Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ John was exiled He was exiled because of his witness for Jesus Christ And so that's why he says he was on the Isle of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ They exiled him there so that he could not preach anymore. So God gave him this book that he penned and preserved for us verse 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. 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. We have here given to us seven real churches that are named. Now, I believe that these seven churches are representative of all churches of all ages. You might go as far as to say that they represent the ages between the institution of the church and His coming again. I wouldn't be dogmatic about that, but I will be dogmatic about this, that there were several churches that God could have chosen to name here. There were several churches that were in that area as the apostles and the disciples of Jesus Christ did their job as they spread the gospel and as it went around preaching Jesus Christ and churches began to be established. And as the apostle Paul took his missionary journeys and he went around and as he gave Timothy and Titus responsibility to ordain pastors to put in those churches to guide them and keep them correct within sound doctrine. And all of that was going on. There were churches all over that area, and there could have been any seven of several churches that he named here, but he chose these seven, I believe, because they represent characteristics of every church which has and does exist, including Brentwood Baptist Church. Let me just throw this in right now. I believe that it is within God's will that each individual be a member of a solid Bible preaching, teaching church, helping that church fulfill the Great Commission and edifying one another. By the time we get through this chapter, I think you will see that a little more clearly. That these seven churches are representative of all churches of all ages. We see qualities in these seven churches that God likes. There's a couple churches that God said nothing negative about Jesus Christ wrote only positive things We see other churches where that God writes about their needs and their qualities that he does not like he writes about their sins and their shortcomings and he tells them they better get it right and my question to you this morning is will we have our eyes open and Learn from what we see in these chapters as we get into chapter 2 and 3. I pray that we will as Individuals and as a church well continuing on verse number 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me and be in turn. I saw seven golden candlesticks We already know that those seven golden candlesticks are them are the seven churches Verse 13 and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one likened to the Son of Man Clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the paps with a golden girdle Well, what do we see in this verse as John turns around? He sees Jesus Christ in the midst of these candlesticks Jesus Christ is in the midst of these churches. And by the way that tells us where Jesus is focuses right now His focus is on his churches As a matter of fact, in chapter 2, verse 1, it tells us that He walks in the midst of His churches. He is to be central to those churches, and those churches are central to His vision. But we see more about him in verse number 13. First of all, we see that he is called the son of man here. He resembles a man because he was a man. God became man. He became flesh to bear the burdens of a man and he did it all without sin. We have here a reminder of his humanity. Now, I think this is pretty important and I really And see the wisdom of God in doing this because up to this point in the midst of these great attributes of Jesus we are given all of these attributes of Jesus's divinity up to this point and here we have when we get to verse 13 a reminder of his humanity That should be encouraging to us Christians, right? And I got news for you this morning, if you're here this morning and you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, if you have placed your faith in anything other than just Jesus Christ, if you've placed your faith in a church and in its teachings, if you've placed your faith in your own works and what you can do for yourself, if you've placed your faith in your baptism, or if you've placed your faith in anything other than Jesus Christ, the God-man who died in your place, then you will one day pay for your own sin. and spend eternity in hell. You say, Pastor York, that is not politically correct. It is biblically correct. And we need to understand that in the midst of these great attributes of Jesus Christ's divinity, we have His humanity that allows Him to be the Great High Priest that is talked about in the book of Hebrews. That Great High Priest who intercedes on our behalf because He understands that we are but dust. He has walked where we have walked. It also allows him to be the perfect judge of the works of man, because he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. We see a reminder of that in verse 13 as well where it says that he was clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the paps with a golden girdle if we see even in his garments and Into verse 14 where it says his head and his hair were white like wool as white as snow What do we see we see his purity? Praise God for it. Aren't you glad that your Savior is a pure sinless Savior and Oh, I'm so grateful for that. There were three preachers having breakfast one time, and one of them looked at the other two and said to the other two, I sure am glad I'm not God. The other two looked back at him and said, we're glad you're not too. I'm glad God is God, and He is pure. He has penetrating, discerning eyes as fire. The Bible tells us that He has eyes of fire. Penetrating discerning eyes of judgment as a matter of fact in 1st Corinthians 3 13 It says this every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is and then it goes on tell us it's either going to be burned up or Wood hay stubble or it's going to be gold silver precious stones and in that first Corinthians passage I believe we're talking about the judgment seat of Christ and when it talks about our works being tried by fire I believe it is referring to the eyes of Jesus Christ that is discerning and penetrating as fire and I believe it burns up whatever you and I may have done on this earth for our own glory and And He can see through it. We may make excuses. We may come up with reasons as to why we're not serving God. We may even serve God in a way that brings glory to ourselves and think that we're doing God a favor, but in reality, God sees through it all. And one day, all those works will be tried by fire. His eyes as a flame of fire. Well, His feet are like undefined brass, the Bible tells us here. Verse 15, And his feet like undefying brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. Well, his feet had walked through the trials of life on earth. The book of Hebrews says, Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. My friend, Jesus Christ has feet like undefined brass because He went through the trials that you and I go through, and as He went through those trials, He came out with His focus upon God the Father, and He came out without sin. Just like we read in the book of Luke, where Jesus Christ looked at those ladies and said, don't wail and cry for me, cry for yourself and for your children. So as Jesus Christ was looking past the moment into eternity, so you and I need to do the same. We have a beautiful example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose feet was fine brass. There were no tarnishes in those feet. He walked this earth with a perfect light. What a beautiful picture of our Savior. And as he gets into writing in Revelation 2 and 3 to these seven churches, this is the picture we have. Do you see why it's so important to understand who's writing the letters before you read the letters? Look at verse number 16. And he had in his right hand seven stars. And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. This verse is divided into three parts. We have the stars, we have the two-edged sword, and we have the countenance that was as bright as any sun at its brightest moment. These stars play an important role in the plans of Jesus. They are in His right hand, and the pastor who directs Jesus' churches have much to be accountable for. If they misguide the church, they will give an account to Him. And so God gives them Position here of responsibility But he also has out of his mouth a two-edged sword and we all know what that is, right? The two-edged sword is the Word of God His word is to be active in his churches And so we have the Word of God being active within his churches Jesus's attention is on his churches He's given them his word to guide them and to grow them But he's also given the responsibility of protecting and staying true to the word to the churches Praise God for his word. I got news for you as I see the world that we live in today I am so grateful that we have a firm foundation that is on the Word of God and that Morality is not decided by mankind By the whims of the majority. I'm grateful for that two-edged sword that does its work in my life as well as yours and anybody else's who will yield to it and But then we also have his countenance, which shines through his churches. We are the light to this dark world. If we don't shine, how will the unsaved see the Savior? And so in verse number 16, we have this beautiful verse divided into three parts that tells us some of the things that are important within the churches. And then in verse 17, it says, And when I saw him, I fell to his feet as dead. which one of us in this room would not do the same. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. Again, I am all that you need. Verse 18, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches Brentwood Baptist Church, I want us to understand this morning that this magnificent Savior whom we serve Shows himself in this chapter during the church age. He shows himself as being in the midst of seven real local churches. Sometimes we talk about the church in prospect and we're talking about the church as a whole and there is a reality to that, but that church has never met and observed the ordinances, that church has never exercised church discipline, that church has never baptized a soul, that church has not met yet because that church is in prospect. It will meet one day the presence of Jesus Christ, but until that point in time Jesus shows himself in the midst of the real local churches like this one right here that you and I sit in this morning. This is the picture we're given before we have chapters 2 & 3. It is important to understand this context because to gain the full impact of the letters to the seven churches that we're about to start into next week, you have to understand who is writing the letters. It is Jesus Christ. And you have to understand His love for His churches. These were His churches. Look at their names in verse 11. These were His churches. It very well could have been Brentwood Baptist Church listed there if we would have been in existence at that point in time. He purchased these churches with His own blood. He was qualified to judge them. He was qualified to uphold them. He walked in the place of these individuals who made up these churches, even as He is qualified to be your High Priest and to intercede for you and to judge you one day, and me. It is obvious that Jesus' attention is on His churches. But I wonder, if we put the same amount of emphasis on church that Jesus does. I wonder, when He looks into our hearts, if this great God that is represented to us in this passage sees the same level of love for His church that He has for His church. A true love for your Savior will produce a love for His church.