Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 1. And the text is taken from verses 4 through 8 in Revelation chapter 1. This is John's greeting to the churches. Hear God's word. John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, The Almighty. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. Good and gracious You are to us all together in Jesus Christ. How good He is! Thank You for the salvation that You give to us through Him. And we pray, Father, that You'll be pleased to visit us now by the power of Your Spirit and apply Your covenant Word to our hearts that we might Focus our attention on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Be pleased to bless us to this end, we pray, in His good and gracious name. Amen. Today's a good day in Pittsburgh because the sun is shining. And if you take a magnifying glass and hold it out in the sun, you can focus the light and the heat of the sun down to a fine point and burn a hole in a piece of paper or you can burn a hole in a little pile of leaves and start a fire. The focus of that light and heat brought to a point brings that fire. In our text this morning, the Apostle John is calling us to focus not on light and heat that comes from the sun, but John is calling us to focus on the light and heat that comes from Jesus Christ. And our great need is to focus on King Jesus in all that we do, in all aspects of life. your great need and my great need is to focus on King Jesus. It's the purpose of John in this text to call this to our attention, our need to focus on Christ. And so that's simply the point I want you to get this morning as we look at this text. that you must focus on Christ in all of ministry, in all of life, in all that you do. Your focus must be on King Jesus. Everything else will come into perspective when this is the case. Our text is a greeting that introduces the book of Revelation. And if you look at John 1, Revelation 1-4, it says, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace. You see, because you are members of the church, God is pleased to bless you with grace and peace. What an amazing thing this actually is. Words of John to the seven churches. Well, of course, the word seven here refers to completeness, to wholeness, to perfection. And the seven churches, the names of them are given to us in verse 11. Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. These seven churches in Asia, but in Turkey as we know it today, and these are representative churches really. This clue is given to us by the number seven. And as this is the case, this grace and peace about which John is speaking that comes to you and to me is coming to you and to me as members of the church. You see, we take the letter written to the church at Ephesus in the same way, don't we? Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus and Paul's letter to the church at Galatia and to the saints in Thessalonica. We take these words as words to you and to me. And so we do in this particular text. And the grace The grace is really favor which is extended to you and to me. And this favor brings us out from under the wrath of God. You remember in Genesis 6 where God was displeased with what was taking place on the face of the earth and He was going to destroy the earth with a flood. But then the text tells us that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. And the word in the original language there is grace. He found grace. He was brought out from under the wrath of God. And what does this mean? That he had peace with God. God's action in bringing us out from under His wrath establishes peace between him and us. And so we have this greeting, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you and peace. And this grace and peace flows, first of all, from the Father. Our text again, grace you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. The great God of all who is. the self-existent God. There is nothing before Him, above Him. He exists in and of Himself. We do not exist in and of ourselves. We are created beings. We have life because it has been given to us. Not so with God. He is. And He was. He was in the beginning. He is the one who created all things. He created the worlds, the stars and the suns that spin in space. He created this earth and all that's in it. He was in the beginning and He is coming. In the end of the world, He will come. He will come to judge the earth. In Psalm 96, we sang those words. He is coming, and He will judge the world. He is, and He was, and He is the One who is coming. And how do we know Him? We know Him through Jesus Christ. He manifests Himself through the second person of the Trinity, through Jesus Christ. Drop down to verses 7 and 8. Behold, He is coming with the clouds. This is a reference to Daniel 7, and the Son of Man, one like a son of man. And every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. Now, it doesn't matter from my perspective at the moment whether you're an amillennialist or a postmillennialist or a premillennialist or a panmillennialist. It doesn't matter. The fact is that we're talking about the great God of all who manifests Himself and displays Himself through Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the one who was pierced. And all will see Him. At the end of Isaiah, there's an intimation of the fact that those who are in hell will be able, or those who are in heaven, I should say, will be able to peer into hell and see those who are languishing under punishment in hell. Now, why would this be the case? So they can say, but for the grace of God, but for the peace that I have with God, there I would be. So that they would understand the goodness of God. Behold, He is coming with the clouds. Yes, judgment. And every eye will see Him. And even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it will be. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Who is this Jesus Christ but God Himself? who was in the beginning with God and was God. Is that not what John says at the beginning of his Gospel? And all things were created through Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. The Father of all manifests Himself to you and to me through Jesus Christ. grace and peace to you from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne." The grace and blessing of God comes to you by the application of the Holy Spirit. And the picture is given of seven spirits who are before his throne. The spirit of perfection is the Holy Spirit. We have some other clues in Revelation. Look with me at chapter 4 and verse 6. Chapter 4 and verse 6. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. Out from the throne of God. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Well, God doesn't actually have seven spirits. He has one spirit. But this picture, this portrayal, shows seven a spirit of perfection, a spirit of light, a spirit of heat. And light and heat are characteristics of the Spirit. The light of the Spirit comes to us. And on one side, the light of the Spirit comes to you and to me, convicting us of sin and piercing our hearts. pierced in their hearts, they cried out at the preaching of Peter, what shall we do? And the light of the Spirit comes not only to convict us and to put fear in our hearts, but the light of the Spirit comes to you and to me to warm our hearts and to give us the light of joy in understanding the truth of God and seeing the gospel of Jesus Christ, the light and the heat of the Spirit. And then in chapter 5, in verse 6, we see another figure. I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." There it is again, the seven spirits of God, the spirit of perfection and the portrayal. You see, these pictures are pictures. They are not reality itself. They are portrayals of reality. And the picture that we see is the picture of a lamb as if slain. Well, a slain lamb doesn't really stand. A slain lamb usually lays down. That's usually what happens. And most lambs don't have seven horns. But this lamb is a Lamb with perfect power. And this is a Lamb with seven eyes going out into all the earth. This is a Lamb that has perfect vision, that can see all, who knows all. And the perfect vision and the perfect knowledge of the Lamb is something that gives us pause because it's not altogether comfortable when Jesus Christ the Lamb knows all that we do. You can't crawl under your bed and hide from Him. That will not work. He does know all. And note here that as the Father manifests Himself through the Son, that the Spirit is here portrayed as the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lamb. And then, back to our text, grace you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. The blessing comes from the Father and the Spirit through the work of the Son, from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the one who through Moses witnessed to the truth, the one who through the prophets witnessed to the truth of the Father, the one who, walking the dusty trails of Galilee, and of Palestine witnessed to the truth of the Father. And the One who witnesses to the truth of the Father to you and me through His Word today. The faithful witness. The firstborn from the dead. The firstborn is the heir. And Jesus Christ is the heir of all things. And what else does our text tell us? It tells us that this Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, the heir of all things, the one who was resurrected, releases us from all of our sins. Yes, we know that intellectually, don't we? And we speak about these things in class and in church. But that truth doesn't always sink down into the depths of our hearts. He released us from the penalty of all of our sins. We have grace and favor that comes to us from God through Jesus Christ. He bore the penalty due to you and to me for sin on that cross. He shed his blood for that purpose. And this Jesus Christ, through whom you receive grace and peace, is able to do these things because he is the Lord of all. Look again at our text. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is the ruler of all. Focus on King Jesus. That needs to be your focus and my focus. Again, our text. And He made us to be a kingdom. A kingdom. A kingdom of priests. The priest has free access to the Father and may enter directly into the presence of the Father. Through the Son, Jesus Christ, we have free access to the Father. And the kingdom, the kingdom is delivered to the likes of you and me. We become a kingdom of priests. And He is the King above all. There is no potentate, president, prime minister, legislator, governor. There is no councilman or mayor that may assume authority over your life and my life. Jesus Christ is your King. He is the King of all. Imagine Imagine men, created men, sinful men, men who despise the gospel attempting to take authority over your life and my life. Oh, it's common. It's commonplace. And some of you coming from other countries into this country know it better than we who have lived here for decades. But Jesus Christ is Lord and King of all. And what else does the text say? To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Focus on King Jesus. See, this is the point. This is where John is taking you and me. This is where John takes you and me in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is, yes, about judgments. Yes, about blessings. But more importantly, the book of Revelation is about Jesus Christ and the majesty of Jesus Christ. That's really what it's about. And John is calling you and me to focus on King Jesus. Years ago, when I was a pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and I went into the pulpit for the first time in this little Orthodox Presbyterian Church, I saw in the pulpit a little block of wood, finely finished, with a plaque on it. Sir, we would see Jesus. You're familiar with this sort of thing. I despised that plaque to my shame. I said, you people are not going to tell me what to do, what to preach. And finally, I took that little block of wood off the top of the pulpit. It's a big mistake. Big mistake. You know, you have to learn some things the hard way. And I had to learn this lesson the hard way. I don't recommend it. I really don't recommend it. I won't bore you with the story, Time is up, basically. But I encourage you to take the lesson of that little plaque, which is a quotation from John 12, 21. Sirs, we would see Jesus. Focus your life on King Jesus. Focus your studies on King Jesus. Focus your study of the Old Testament on King Jesus. Focus your study of the Psalms on King Jesus. Focus the study of your family life on King Jesus. Focus the life of your church on King Jesus. And prepare, dear friends, to focus your ministries, when you enter ministry, on King Jesus. This is the lesson. The focus of the Bible is on King Jesus. And the need of the church today The need of the Reformed church today is not to focus on the peripheries. Not to major in the minors. But to major in that which is major. And to focus on King Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word Bless us as we contemplate it. Grant that our focus would be on King Jesus. Upon you, our Lord Jesus. Forgive us where this has not been the case. And grant to us grace, grant to us grace and peace that it forevermore might be that our focus is on you, our Lord Jesus, King of all. Bless us to this end, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.