so so Good morning everyone and welcome to our morning service. What a privilege it is for us to get together to learn from God's Word. We welcome this morning from Ennerdale Baptist Church in Toronto, Jesse Bart. Some of you will remember Jesse having come, well, it's a number of months back now, and we're just thankful that he was able to come and join with us this morning to minister God's word to us. As we begin this morning, I'd like us to turn to Psalm 8 as our call to worship. Psalm 8. Psalm 8 is a psalm of David, it says, and we begin here. I'll read for you verse 1. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who has set thy glory above the heavens? Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet. all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. May the Lord bless the reading of his word to our hearts. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, again, we rejoice and give thanks that we're able to gather freely in your house, around your word, Lord, for those listening in as well. Lord, we thank you for this time that we have to fellowship together, to learn of you. We pray for Jesse as he would open the word of God to us this morning. Give us, Lord, receptive hearts and minds that we might learn of you. to be better equipped to go forth into this world that needs to know the Lord Jesus. So, Lord, bless our time, we pray. Pray that you would meet the needs of all who are, Lord, seeking guidance today. In Jesus' name, we ask it. Amen. Come, Christians, join to sing. ♪ so Come, Christians, join to sing Alleluia! Amen! Loud praise to Christ our King Alleluia! Amen! Let all with heart and voice Before His throne rejoice Praise His, His gracious choice Alleluia, Amen Come, lift your hearts up high Alleluia, Amen Let praises fill the sky Alleluia, Amen He's our guide and friend. To us he'll condescend. His love shall never end. Alleluia! Amen! Praise yet our Christ again. Alleluia! Amen! Life shall not end astray. Alleluia! Amen! On heaven's blissful shore His goodness we'll adore, Singing forever Be seated, please. Robert Hamlet is a singer-songwriter. He wrote the song, Lady Who Prays for Me. He wrote that as a tribute to his mother, who made a point of praying for her boys each morning before they went to the bus stop. A young woman, a young mom, heard Robert Hamlet's song, and she committed to praying with her own little boy before he left the house. The result was heartwarming. One morning, five minutes after she had prayed and sent him out to the bus, he returned, bringing kids from the bus stop with him. The boy explained to his mom, their mom didn't pray with them. Their moms didn't pray with them. In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul urges us to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers. It says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Demonstrating our daily dependence on God is essential in a family. Many children first learn to trust God as they observe the genuine faith in the people closest to them. In 2 Timothy 1.5, writing to Timothy, Paul is filled with joy, saying, when I recall to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. There's no better way to teach the utmost importance of prayer than by praying for and with our children. When we start children off by modeling a sincere faith in God, we give them a special gift, an assurance that God is an ever-present part of our lives. The psalmist reminds us in, not the psalmist, but in Proverbs 22.6, I hope I have the right reference here, saying, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. So may it be so for all of God's people who have an influence in the lives of the youth, that we would be guides in that way. Jesse, if you would come now, please. Well, brothers and sisters, let's look to the Lord in prayer. Lord, you are great, and you are greatly to be praised. We know that you are a God unlike any other. You are the God that made the heavens. The gods of the nations are nothing but idols. You alone are worthy of our worship. You alone are worthy of our full, wholehearted devotion. And Father, even as we consider this truth, we recognize how far we fall short. You've commanded us to love you with everything that we have, and to love our neighbor as ourself, and yet we confess that we so often sin with misplaced loves. We set our love and affection on those things which are the gifts rather than the giver. We set our affections upon ourselves rather than upon you. And we ask your forgiveness for this. We ask your forgiveness for every way in which this manifests itself in word and in thought and in deed. We confess that we wander so often as lost sheep. We do those things which we should not do and we leave off doing the things that we should do. And we ask your forgiveness. We ask your forgiveness, though, in hope, not because of the perfection of our confession, not because we have perfect memory of every sin that we have committed and can rhyme them off before you with precisely the right formula. We do this because we know the promise of our Savior and the sufficiency of his sacrifice. We know that it is His blood that cleanses us from all sin. We know that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so we confess our sins before you this morning. We also do so with rejoicing, knowing that we have a Savior whose sacrifice covers our sins. Lord, help us not to sin. But when we sin, help us to remember that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is righteous. Lord, we bring the requests of our current political and medical landscape before you. We ask that you would give our leaders wisdom and integrity with which to lead us. We ask that you would, even more than this, open their eyes to their need of a Savior, and that you would grant them repentance. Father, it seems from our perspective that our nation, with its leaders' full endorsement, is running as far and as fast away from you as they can. Would you do a work to turn hearts to yourself all across our land, but even in the halls of our government. Father, we continue to pray for those who have been impacted by the pandemic and its restrictions. We pray for those who are frontline workers. We pray for those who are first responders. We pray for those who have been impacted by bereavement as they have lost the people who are loved ones during this pandemic. I pray that you would give them grace and comfort. We pray for those who have been impacted financially. We pray for those who have been impacted emotionally and mentally as we know that this has taken a very big toll on many groups of people. We pray also for those who have been impacted spiritually, as perhaps the restrictions upon meeting in person and the pressures of life have caused some to perhaps become complacent, perhaps wander to and perhaps become cold toward the things of Christ. Father, we bring the requests of this church before you. We pray for the young people and children of this church. Lord, I pray that very shortly, the ministries that reach them in particular would be able to resume. Lord, church calendar distribution has happened recently, and we pray that you would bless that. We pray also for the sick and elderly amongst Berean, in particular Walter Berko in hospital. We pray as well for the ministry to seniors and seniors' homes. We know that this has been, like so many other things, an on again, off again, and there have been restrictions and difficulties. We pray for that ministry. We pray for the missionaries of this church, the Kervits, Miriam Tyers, Pastor Roman, Dr. P, all of these missionaries who are seeking to show Christ to a needy world. We think about this ministry and we pray that you would work in the process of finding a man to shepherd this flock. Father, we pray that you would give a shepherd, first of all, that is after your heart. Lord, may it not simply be about attainments and personality, but a man who is walking with you, who loves Christ and loves the souls of men. I pray that you would help there would be a man who is able to shepherd this flock, to help this congregation in its path of sanctification, on that path toward glory. Father, we also pray for this church as a whole, that Berean Baptist Church would be a church like the Berean Church of old, who searches the Scriptures to know whether what they have been told is true, that they would be noble-minded in that way. Father, we commit these requests to You. We commit ourselves to You in this hour and pray that Christ would be magnified in our midst. We pray this for His sake. Amen. Be thou exalted forever and ever, God of eternity, the Ancient of Days, wondrous in majesty, so mighty in wisdom, perfect in holiness, and worthy of praise. Be thou exalted by seraphs and angels. Be thou exalted with harp and with songs. Saints in their effort of rapture adore thee. Thine be the glory forever. Amen. Be thou exalted, O Son of the Father, gracious Redeemer, our Saviour and King. One with the Father, co-equal in glory, here at thy footstool our homage renew. Be Thou exalted, Thy seraphs and angels, Be Thou exalted with harp and with song. Saints in their anthems of rapture adore Thee, Thine be the glory forever. Amen. Be Thou exalted, O Spirit eternal, dwell in our hearts, keep us wholly within. Feed us each day with Thy heavenly bread, O Healer of wounded hearts, Thy praises we sing. Be thou exalted by seraphs and angels. Be thou exalted with harp and with song. Saints in their bantams of rapture adore thee. O thine be the glory forever. Amen. Be seated, please. And Pastor Jesse, we welcome you and the Lord bless as you open the word to us. Thank you, brother. Well, brothers and sisters, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is quite an astounding thing in a way that it's been over two years since I've been here. And it is a whole new world, isn't it? I mean, a lot has changed in that time. I don't think anyone had any inkling of any of this, but our Lord did. And He is still and always on the throne. So as the new year approached, Like many churches, our church is having its own struggles and going through its own difficulties and decline. We actually ended up having, over the Christmas break, we had three families that got hit with the latest incarnation of Charlie Vector Delta. Thankfully, by God's grace, you know, this is a fairly mild strain, it would seem, and they didn't suffer too much, but of course they were away and, you know, had to spend Christmas indoors, and I was doing strange pastoral duties like making what is that, Gatorade runs, bringing Gatorade to people. And that wasn't one of the things that I was necessarily trained to do, but it doesn't seem too difficult. You just go buy, bring. And a lot of people, a lot of us, I think, are in this place where we almost wonder what's next. One study was done and the word that stood out with all these people, cross-section of society, kids all the way to adults, one word that stood out about the condition that people are in and facing all this was the word languishing. And I think that maybe that's an accurate word for a lot of us. We face a lot of unknowns, and how much longer is this going to last? And what's going on? When is this going to end? And there's a lot of unknowns. And there's 470 different theories about this, and what to believe, and who to trust. And the conspiracy theories that were just conspiracy theories are now, hmm. And so we're all trying to sort through this together. And I think it's very possible for us to really get fixated on what we're going through, almost to the exclusion of setting our focus and our minds and our hearts on the God that is over and above all of this. And maybe confession is good for the soul, but bad for the reputation. Maybe that's just me. I have in this pandemic you know you constantly are hearing about the latest wave of restrictions and you know I have I've spent more time on the phone with Toronto Public Health than I ever imagined that I would trying to discern okay here's what the Ontario says about the restrictions and here's what Toronto Public Health says and how do I reconcile the two things and what am I actually supposed to be doing in the services and not doing in the services and and it's been a very confusing time and it's And it's very tempting for us to get locked in on this plane. And of course, we all have the rest of our lives that we have to live in the midst of this. That means our jobs. That means our own personal struggles. That means our family. That means our extended friends. And all of that has to be filtered through this, what we're going through. And it is very difficult at times to turn our focus away from just this earthbound mentality. So as I was reaching the end of the year and I was thinking about our own needs at Ennerdale, I was finishing my own Bible reading plan and my own Bible reading plan was taking me through the book of revelation, which makes sense. You're at the end of the year. And I was struck again and again by how weighty, challenging, but also encouraging this book is. And I thought about this revelation of Christ. And I thought this is what I need. I need to see the greatness and glory of Jesus. I need to be reminded again that he is still on his throne. He hasn't abdicated it. He is still on his throne. He's still accomplishing his purposes. That doesn't mean I get it. But he's still there. He is still and always who he is. And so I thought, as I looked at the year of Ennerdale, I thought, let's launch into the Book of Revelation, and we'll go at least through the message of the seven churches. Now, I'm not going to do that this morning here. Maybe some of you heard me say, turn to the Book of Revelation, and you thought that we were going to go somewhere else. And no, we're going to stay in the first chapters. I don't have any particular theories on the eyebrows of the beast and their significance in our current regime. I want us to see Christ. I want us again to be reminded of just how great He is. So if you would, brothers and sisters, I'm gonna simply read the first chapter, and then we'll think our way through some of these powerful truths about Jesus, the glorious Son of Man. Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1, 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 bare 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. 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, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, 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, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I 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, and to Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and to Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with the garment down to the foot, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle, His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined brass, as if they burned in a furnace. His voice is the sound of many waters, 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. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not. I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And 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. I just need to grab myself a Kleenex. Taking regular COVID tests, so this isn't it. We can still fellowship today. As everyone moves to the back pew. And then it's really a Baptist church. Well, Revelation. It's been a book that has perhaps engendered more controversy than any other book in the Bible. And unfortunately, that's a sad thing, or that is a sad thing. We may have different views on how to look at some of the passages in the book of Revelation, but I want to just kind of orient you to the book. No matter where you land on eschatological matters, I want to kind of orient you to this book and point you to its relevance to you, no matter where you end up landing on the eschatology thing. We see in that first verse that Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ. It is, as we see, the revelation which God gave unto him to show unto his servants. So this is a revelation from Jesus. It's a revelation that is, as we keep reading, not only a revelation from Jesus about what is and will be, but it's a revelation as its pages unfold of Jesus himself. In other words, it shows the message from Jesus, but as we read it, it shows us Jesus himself. In that sense, it's a revelation of Jesus in two ways, that revelation from him and of him. This book turns our focus not into only what Jesus will do, but who Jesus is. This is, of course, a book of prophecy. It is stated as such. The things which must come to pass, verse 19 as well, tells us that there are things which shall be hereafter. This is also a book that is rooted in the Old Testament. You read this book, and though there aren't that many quotations from the Old Testament, there's constant allusions to the Old Testament over and over and over again. As you read this book, you see that there are things from the Old Testament that are referred to, that are assumed, that are carried forward into this message. And this is very much a two covenant book in the sense that there is so much grounding in the Old Testament. It is a book that involves a lot of symbolism and of course how that symbolism is taken is where sometimes we go in different directions. But everyone that reads this book recognizes that there's a lot of symbolism. But it's also, brothers and sisters, a book of blessing. We see in verse 3, blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, which possibly refers to the practice of the public reading of scripture and those who sat under the public reading of scripture. Not as many people had access to personal copies of God's Word as we do today. And so many people back then, their exposure to the Word of God would be them hearing it read and then attempting to commit some of that to their own memory. Of course, we have the privilege years on of having copies of God's word for our own. We are not dependent upon someone else's literacy level. We're not dependent on someone else's copy of God's word. Many of us have multiple copies. Some of us probably even have multiple copies in our car, let alone in our home. There's a blessing that's attached with reading this book. Blessed are those who read, those who hear, and those who keep the things that are written in this book. Revelation is a book of numbers, and this is the first of seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation. And the others are in chapter 14, verse 3, 16, 15, 19, 9, 20, verse 6, 22, 7, 22, 14. So there are seven beatitudes. There are seven blessings pronounced throughout this book. This is a book that is written to seven real churches. And I know that there have been in some times in the past, there have been people that have maybe wanted to suggest that these are only symbolic churches. These were real churches in existence at that time. In fact, if you look at the list of the churches there, they're listed in verse 11. When you read them in order, they kind of form a horseshoe throughout what is today Turkey. Possibly that would have been kind of a distribution route. They're written to real churches. The best way of looking at the message to these churches is not to try to discern what age of church history does this church fit in, but rather to say, man, if the shoe fits, wear it. How does this message to this real church apply to this real church, to this real believer? This is a book that sets forth the glory of Christ in what has been called his threefold offices. So if you look, for example, in verse five, Jesus is the faithful witness. Now the three offices of Christ, prophet, priest, and king, he's the faithful witness. What does that refer to then? He is the prophet. He is also the prince of the kings of the earth. Well, this refers to his office as king. He's also referred to in verse five as the first begotten from the dead. And then we're told at the end of verse five, he is the one who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. He is the priest who has offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins. And by the way, if you read through the book of Revelation and have your antenna up, you'll see that those offices of Christ run through the entire book. Jesus is the prophet who speaks God's word perfectly to us. And we cannot ignore that message. He is the king, the one who is sovereign over all things. He is the one upon the throne who rules. He is our priest, the one who has laid down his own life as a sacrifice for the sins of his people that runs through this entire book. This is a book that speaks of the privilege of God's people. For all of its mystery, for all of its symbolism, it speaks of the privilege of God's people. Verse six, he's made us kings and priests unto God his father. It's a book that sets forth, that sets our hope on the return of Christ. Again, though we may have differing views about what we should expect or not expect before His return, this book clearly reminds us, verse 7, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him. and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him that Jesus will return visibly he's coming back this is a book as well that is written in the midst of turmoil and oppression and persecution We know that even by reading this first chapter because John tells us that he is their brother and companion in tribulation. In other words, we're going through it together. Furthermore, he said that he is in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ and he's on the aisle that is called Patmos. Patmos was a prison essentially. Why is he there? He's there for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. At this time, an emperor named Domitian has come to the throne and he is beginning to unleash a whole new level of persecution upon the church. So this is not a book that's written from some position of just calm and tranquility. This is not a book that's written to us from some sort of ivory tower. This is John who has and is experiencing struggle, tribulation, oppression. He's actually experiencing tribulation and persecution at this time. If I were to focus us on a message, a practical message of the Book of Revelation, it would be to remind us of the many times that this book speaks to overcomers. The practical message of this book, in the words of one pastor, I think could be summarized with two phrases. Don't give up. Don't give in. Don't give up. Don't give in. Maybe the kind of thing we need to hear right now. Don't give up. Don't give in. Before Jesus even gets to the particulars of the messages that he will write individually to the seven churches He reveals his own greatness and glory as part of that message. And I think that's very significant. In other words, Jesus could have simply had John begin telling us the revelation of Jesus Christ at chapter 2, verse 1. And that would have been incredible and meaningful enough. But we have all of chapter 1. which is about us seeing the greatness and the glory of who Jesus is. And then that greatness and glory reverberates through the messages to the seven churches. It's so important that Jesus will, in each then of the letters he writes in chapters two and three, go back to descriptions that we see in chapter one as he identifies himself particularly to each of these seven churches. Maybe we need to see the greatness of Jesus today. Maybe we need to be gripped by his greatness and his glory today. Maybe that's the kind of message that will set our minds on heavenly spiritual realities and will encourage us. Don't give up. Don't give in. This is a vision of the glorious Son of Man. John has already experienced the pain of persecution. He has, at this point, according to tradition, if tradition in history is to be trusted and believed, he has apparently at this point been boiled in hot oil but survived. He's exiled to this island for the word of God, for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He's not there as someone who is deserving of some fierce punishment. And there he is in the spirit on the Lord's day, but he's not alone. He hasn't been sent to this island alone. And I'm not here talking about other prisoners that are there with him. I'm talking about he is in the spirit And Christ is with him. He hears a voice behind him like a trumpet. And I don't know if you were as immature as I was growing up, but we used to, as children, like to hide behind doors and have some kind of loud sounding device or horn or something and jump from behind that door and scare people. And sometimes we would plan it. The right way to do this, we figured, was you let the person walk by. You don't just open the door when they're there. You let them walk by. And there are two steps beyond the door, thinking there's nothing there. And at that point, you jump out and make the loud noise. Well, here's John on the island of Patmos in the spirit on the Lord's Day. And all of a sudden, he hears a voice like a trumpet. That would have been startling. But Jesus is not speaking to John just to startle him. More important than the tone of this voice is the truth that it communicates. And Jesus reminds him and tells him, I am the first and the last. There's no way I can go into all of the connections with the Old Testament, but file away in your mind, this is a term that Jehovah God uses to refer to himself in Isaiah chapter 44 and verse 6. That he is the first and the last. As Jesus says this, he is claiming deity. He is claiming what is his by right. He is God. He then commands John to write what he sees in the book and to send it to those seven real churches. And when John turns, the scripture tells us in verse 12 that he sees seven golden candlesticks or seven golden lampstands. And in the middle of that is one like the son of man. Now, sometimes we, I think, might be a little bit confused on our understanding about the Son of Man. We think, OK, the Son of God, that's a term or a title that refers to Jesus' deity. But the Son of Man, that's a title that refers to Jesus' humanity. And I think we can understand maybe why we go astray, because son of God, son of man. But actually when you see this expression used by Jesus himself, or used of Jesus in the scripture, this is actually not just a term that refers to Jesus' humanity, but actually a term that refers to his deity. It's rooted in the Old Testament. Specifically, if we were to look at Daniel chapter 7, Daniel describes as he watches in these night visions, there's one like the Son of Man who comes to the Ancient of Days. They bring him near him and then to this one, like the Son of Man, is given dominion and glory and a kingdom. All the peoples and nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. This is no simple man. And against this backdrop, maybe it's easier for us to understand why the disciples get so confused about his predictions. They hear Jesus repeatedly referring to himself as the son of man. But then we hear, you know, and they have in their mind, okay, the Son of Man comes, he's given this kingdom, it never passes away, he rules over everything, but then they also hear Jesus say things like, the Son of Man must suffer many things, must be rejected by the elders, chief priests and the scribes, be killed, and three days later rise again. How can this be true? Because in their mind they have, here's a son of man, he's the one that comes and he's the one that takes rulership of the entire world. How is it then that he's going to suffer and die? Of course, we remember what Peter did when Jesus said that. He said, Jesus, I've got to correct you on this one. Poor Peter, I mean, we have the benefit now of looking back on that, and we kind of look at all the mistakes Peter made, but how many times are we wanting to take the Lord aside and kind of correct him on the way he's doing things, or what he says? But just a few verses later, Jesus, who back in Mark chapter 8, verse 31, talks about his death and his resurrection, just eight verses later in Mark, will say, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. So both of these things are true and you can understand then why it's so hard for them to wrap our head around this. This one has garments that have character, the son of man, Jesus, has garments that are characteristics of both priests and kings. And I need to move quickly for the sake of time this morning, but he has hair of white that shows his purity and his deity and his glory, rather than simply age. He has eyes of fire reminding us of his perfect and penetrating sight and knowledge. And again, there is connection back to Daniel chapter seven with this. His feet are like fine brass, purity and power, feet that can trample his enemies. They're not mingled and weak like the old characteristics of the old Roman Empire, iron mixed with clay. His voice then, which was as a trumpet now in verse 15, is as the sound of many waters. And some of you no doubt have had the experience of going to Niagara Falls. And I remember the first time that I went to Niagara Falls, and as soon as we parked, and we were way away. Of course, I was smaller than everything seems way, way, but as soon as you open the doors, you could hear the sound of those falls, just the power. This is the power and intensity of the voice that speaks. His hand holds seven stars. He's walking, of course, in the midst of the seven candlesticks. We'll talk about that in a moment. Out of his mouth proceeds the sharp two-edged sword, the word of Christ, the word, by the way, with which he will smite the nations, Revelation chapter 19. By the way, that also has Old Testament connection to Isaiah 49. His countenance shines like the sun. And by the way, you Bible readers know that this is not the first time that John has seen Jesus' countenance shining like the sun. You might remember that day on the Mount of Transfiguration. Luke describes it that Jesus' appearance of his face is altered. His robe is white and glistening. This is a Jesus that you can't dismiss. You can't just simply deny him. You can't defy him. To do so is to do it to your own risk, to your own hazard. And John falls at his feet as dead. I think sometimes within professing Christianity, we have a lopsided view of Jesus. And this was actually driven home in a book that I don't necessarily recommend. But I think the book was titled Why Men Hate Going to Church or something like that. And the story is told in this book of this guy that had this survey in the church. And he listed these characteristics. Here are these characteristics, kind and compassionate. This is a list of characteristics over here, and then another list of characteristics over here. Strong, powerful, assertive. And then asked the church, which of these best describes Jesus? And of course, they chose the compassionate, kind, and all these things. And then the guy revealed, well, actually, these lists are from a secular book called Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. And what you've done is you've chosen all the feminine characteristics. And I say this not to diminish the mercy and compassion of Jesus, but sometimes I think we have a skewed view. We need to see that mercy and compassion of Jesus. We also need this Jesus that is so glorious, that his glory devastates us. That his glory brings us to the point where we are on our face before him. In short, we need a Jesus that brings us to the end of ourselves. That's where John winds up. At the sight of the ascended, glorified Christ, John is devastated. He's brought to an end of himself. All of his strength is gone and he falls at the feet of Jesus. You read scripture. And people who encountered the glory of God, this was their response. I mean, you read about people today that claim to have encounters with God, and they use it to pad their resume and whatever else. You know, oh, I saw Jesus the other day when I was shaving, or he appeared to me in my burrito, or whatever people are claiming these days. And there is this cavalier sort of weak Jesus that... You look in Scripture at the people that encountered the glory of God. And their response over and over again was to fall on their face before him. And this is what John does. The glory of Christ, brothers and sisters, brings devastation. I wonder sometimes if we have a partial view of Jesus. We've lost sight of the glory of Jesus, and we need to see again just how great and powerful He is. A Christ who is greater than any other. You know, probably some of you readers of C.S. Lewis, when in the story of the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, Aslan, of course, is the character that We're at another universe. He's kind of a Christ-like figure in that. And he's a lion. And Lucy asked Beaver, is he safe? And Beaver says, safe? Of course he isn't safe. Who said anything about safe? But he's good. Maybe we have a Jesus that's too safe. Why don't we follow Jesus? Maybe the Jesus that we are following isn't worth following. Maybe the Jesus that people are falling away from is a view of Christ that is an incomplete view of Jesus. The glory of Christ brings devastation, but I'm glad that that is not where this ends. Because we see the glory of Christ brings consolation too, doesn't it? The same Jesus whose glory devastated John so that he falls on his face, completely brought to the end of himself, without strength, as dead, is the Jesus that reaches down, lays his right hand on him and says, fear not. And isn't it important, I think, that we get it in that order? A Jesus who is so great and so mighty and so majestic that his glory brings us to the end of ourselves is the same Jesus that then lifts us up and says, don't be afraid. In other words, Jesus is not the person that we might appreciate who can be sympathetic toward us but really has nothing more that they can do. And we all have friends that we love the sympathy that they give us, but we understand that they can't change our situation. They can't control it. They can't turn it. But Jesus can. In fact, the whole thing is in His hands. It's that great and mighty and glorious Jesus that then reaches down and brings consolation to John. And we need to remember, brothers and sisters, that Jesus is not just someone who wrings his hands and cries alongside of us, but someone who is sovereign over those very circumstances. He is a God of grace and glory. He's a God of mercy and majesty. He's a God of sympathy and sovereignty. He's a God of pity and power. He is lamb and lion. Don't be afraid, he says. I'm the first and the last. Nothing predates Jesus and nothing will outlast him. He is God from all eternity, none can unseat him. Don't be afraid, he says, I'm the living one. Don't be afraid, brothers and sisters, he has conquered death. Don't be afraid, he is alive forevermore. Don't be afraid, he has the keys of hell, death and hell. He is the one who is sovereign over that which is the most terrifying. He's in control. And it's this one that walks among the candlesticks. What are the candlesticks? The churches. This is the one that holds the stars in his hand. What are the stars? The stars are the angels. Now, some of you no doubt know that that word angel can be translated messenger. More than likely, in my opinion, this is referring to the messengers, the pastors of these churches. Now, pastors are no angels, as our wives can attest. But there's a sense, in the sense of being a messenger, that they are. And we could go into the details, but it seems unlikely that Jesus gives John a message by his angel to then give back to another angel to then give to a church. It seems more likely that this is the human messenger. And the point is that Jesus is present in his churches, and he's holding that leadership in his hand. Perhaps that's a comforting thought for Berean. As you look to what God may provide in the future, God holds that in his hand. He holds those who are right now seeking to lead the church in its quest to find someone. He holds you in his hands. And he walks among the churches. He's not absent. He's not distant. He is present. This glorious Christ brings devastation, but that same glorious Christ brings consolation. Let me just give you one more point quickly, because I know we're out of time. The glorious Christ brings motivation. Jesus commissions John to write what he sees, this message to the seven churches. The glory of Christ is going to motivate John to serve faithfully, much the same way that the glory of Christ motivated Isaiah to serve faithfully. But even beyond that, the glory of Christ should, when we see it as it is, motivate the churches to live as they should. There's a reason why in every single one of the letters to the seven churches, Jesus begins by identifying himself by particular characteristics, revealing to the church those specific aspects of his glory that they need to grasp and they need to live in light of. See, the glory of Christ doesn't just devastate us and doesn't just console us. The glory of Christ motivates us then to serve him. Because when we are serving Christ, when we are on Christ's side, we're on the winning side. We're serving the one who triumphs in the end. We're the ones, brothers and sisters, that ride with the guy on the white horse. We're on His side. We are the ones who by His grace and for His glory are the overcomers. It's seeing Jesus for who He is that gives us the encouragement to keep going. So I bought a car this week. A new used car. I actually took possession of it on Friday at 4.30. So that was pretty good timing. I went onto the lot, I'd been going to a number of different lots, and I was getting pretty cold, so I got my toque out, walked onto the lot, and the guy said, oh, are you a Maple Leafs fan? And my next words were, because he could see the logo on the toque, my next words were, unfortunately. Unfortunately, and those of you maybe who are Maple Leafs fans know exactly what I'm talking about, unfortunately. And I actually have known some people, and I know they weren't diehard fans, but it just went on for too long. And they're like, you know what? I'm just not even a Leafs fan anymore. I'm just tired of it. After what happened with Boston, after what happened with, and you fill in what happened with Montreal, whatever the case is, I'm done. That's it. That's the end of it. I'm done. I don't have any hope anymore. And the reason why they're giving up hope is they're like, I'm on a losing side. I'm never going to win. Jesus is not the Toronto Maple Leafs. When we are on his side, we're on the winning side. He will triumph. And that's the message of this book, brothers and sisters. Jesus is incredibly glorious. Don't give up. Don't give in. When you find yourself at the end of your strength, he's the one that reaches down to give consolation. Don't give up, don't give in. When it seems so hard to put one foot in front of the other, to continue reading God's word at the very bare minimum, to continue praying, to continue to reach out to those around, to continue just being faithful. His glory brings motivation. Brethren and sisters, may we be gripped by the glory of Jesus. And may that glory of Jesus motivate us to be who we should be by His grace and for His glory. Amen. Oh, how I love Jesus. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing its word. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Jesus, oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me. It tells me of a Savior's love who died to set me free. It tells me of a Savior's love who said His word would be. O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus, O night of Jesus Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh, how I love Jesus! He follows Him first and foremost. He tells of God, His loving heart, and filled with His love. We're going to ask Pastor Jesse to come and lead us in closing in prayer, but we want to remind you that Pastor Jesse will be, Lord willing, with us this evening, and thank him for that and hope that you might be able to join us at that time. So, Pastor. Brothers and sisters, thank you for your patience this morning. I know I went a little bit long. I don't take it lightly because I know it's not easy to sit in church with masks on, having experienced that myself. And so thank you. I appreciate your patience with me and with the word. I trust that the message, if the messenger was weak, I trust that the truth was strong in our hearts today. Well, brothers and sisters, do you mind if today we close with a benediction instead of a closing prayer? And this benediction, I hope, will resonate in our hearts for this evening service as we continue in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, verses 1 to 7. So our benediction, then, is from Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. May his grace go with you this week. Amen.