GOD SPEAKS TO THE CHURCH
Revelation 1.1-20
S: Worship
C: Obedience
Th: God Speaks to the Church
Pr: LISTEN CAREFULLY TO JESUS AND TAKE IT TO HEART.
CV: “We will wholeheartedly worship the everlasting God.”
Type: Propositional
I. SOVEREIGNTY
II. LOVE
III. PROMISE KEEPER
IV. ETERNAL
V. POWERFUL
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Worship Jesus; be filled with awe.
• Listen and obey.
• Experience grace and peace.
Version: ESV
RMBC 18 January 09 AM
INTRODUCTION:
I think it is important to communicate clearly, don’t you?
ILL Communicate (H)
Elizabeth was nervous as she took the wheel for her first driving lesson in Driver’s Ed. As she was pulling out of the parking lot, the instructor said, “Turn left here. And don’t forget to let the people behind you know what you’re doing.”
Elizabeth turned to the students sitting in the backseat and announced, “I’m going left.”
Well, it is important to communicate clearly, isn’t it?
We are starting a series today that will continue into the middle of March.
It is a study on the last book in the Bible.
And its title tells us what it is about…
It’s a revelation !
The title reveals its own meaning.
It is a revealing.
It is an uncovering.
God is communicating His plans and purposes.
The apostle John is the receiver of this communication, and we are going to talk more about him in a moment.
But when he first gets this message, he describes it like this (10)…
“I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…”
He hears a voice.
And it is so clear and distinct that he describes it like a "trumpet."
The thing about trumpets is that you can always hear them.
They cut through everything else.
Now the bad thing about playing the trumpet is if you sound bad, you really sound bad very clearly.
But if you sound good, it also is clear.
So imagine…
For John, someone is speaking like a trumpet.
It is impossible to ignore.
John ‘s responsibility is to get the word out.
Now, the first audience for this Revelation were tired, discouraged, and persecuted Christians.
The Roman Empire was attempting to destroy all of Jesus’ followers, including John.
Specifically…
It is written to churches.
It is written to seven actual churches (11)…
“Write what you see in a book 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.”
You can see that they are geographically in order.
These were real places that John was familiar with.
These were real churches that were familiar with John.
As we have already noted…
It is written by John.
It is likely, at this writing, that John is the only living disciple of the original 12.
John had been a consistent witness about Jesus.
He ran into trouble, however, with Domitian, the emperor of Rome.
Domitian had declared himself “Lord and God” and demanded that people take an oath of worship.
John, obviously, refused to obey such a command.
So, as punishment, he was sent to an isolated island called Patmos.
It was a rocky, treeless wasteland.
He was sent their to work the mines, and die.
Domitian was sure that John, now in his 80s, would not survive long.
Notice John’s attitude (9)
“I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus…”
You know, I don’t think I have ever turned on Christian TV and heard an evangelist say, “Send in your $100 gift and receive suffering and kingdom and patient endurance – it’s ours in Jesus.”
Never heard one say that.
Not one.
It is because we don’t like suffering.
It does not match with the average American mindset.
We want blessing on blessing, not suffering on suffering.
On a side note…
Ironically, in the end, Domitian dies about a year later, and John is released and returns to Ephesus.
For John…
It is about Jesus!
This is all about Jesus.
This is not John’s revelation.
This is the revelation of Jesus.
Jesus is revealing Himself as an abiding Presence.
He knows what is going on in the future.
He knows what is going on in each church.
He knows what is going on in the lives of individuals.
And that, folks, is good news.
Let’s see what we find out about Jesus in this text…
OUR STUDY:
First…
Jesus is the Sovereign King (5).
“…from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth…to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Jesus is in charge!
He is the prophet – the faithful witness.
He is the priest – the Firstborn from the dead.
And He is the Sovereign King – Prince of the kings of the earth.
Prophet, priest and king.
All glory and dominion belongs to Him forever!
He rules!
In addition, we find that…
Jesus loves us (5-6).
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father…”
Jesus loves us, and he has proved it.
He went to the cross for us, and in so doing, took care of our sins!
He forgave us!
Eternally, to those who believe in Him, He has made us His.
He is the Forever Lover.
Then…
Jesus is a Promise Keeper (7).
“Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.”
He is coming again!
He said He would.
And it will be visible.
He went up in the clouds, and He is going to come back in the clouds.
And all are going to see it, even those who do not believe.
Also…
Jesus is Eternal (8).
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
He is the First and the Last.
And He is all the letters in between.
He is the eternal “I AM.”
He was at the beginning of all things.
He will be at the end of all things.
He existed before the cosmos.
He will exist after it ends.
Finally…
Jesus is powerful (12-16).
He is the Almighty.
Jesus is no longer the baby in Bethlehem.
He is not the man of sorrows crowned with thorns.
No, this is the Lord of Glory.
There is no one greater.
No other comes close.
He has no competition.
His garments are of gold, demonstrating His dignity.
His hair is white, demonstrating His wisdom and purity.
His eyes are like lasers, which penetrate and transform.
His feet are of bronze which show is strength and endurance.
His voice thunders, like Niagara Falls, demonstrating the force and power of His Word.
His hand hold stars, demonstrating that the universe is His sovereign possession.
His mouth is a sword that cuts right to the heart which demonstrates that His Word is irresistible.
His face is bright demonstrating His essential beauty.
CHALLENGE:
And what is John’s response?
John’s response was awe.
Electrified, he collapsed.
He was frozen in time and space.
For He is seeing the universe from a heavenly perspective.
He was experiencing the presence of Jesus as we shall see Him someday.
And there is John, prostrate before Jesus, flat on the ground.
Jesus reaches with His right hand, and that hand of power becomes also the hand of tenderness.
And it is as if Jesus says to John, “Yes, you have reason to be afraid, but you do not need to be.”
“Be encouraged.”
Why?
Jesus owns the place!
Death and Hades are under His control.
Death and resurrection belong to Him and are under His power.
It is my hope that in the coming weeks, we will have a new awareness of Jesus and His glory.
We will see Him as high and lifted up.
Because we do not need to be a people that are interested in proving that we can stand on our own feet.
Instead, we should be breaking down and falling at the feet of Jesus.
It is my hope that we will continually live out our core value…
“We will wholeheartedly worship the Everlasting God.”
In the next sections of Revelation, Jesus is going to speak to seven different churches.
And His messages are very specific.
It makes me wonder…
If Jesus was speaking to Randall, what would He say?
If we were one of the churches on the list, what would He say to us?
Would He be happy?
Would He say “good job”?
Or would He be upset?
Would He say that we have been wasting our time?
I want us to go back to the beginning of Revelation to understand that we need to…
LISTEN CAREFULLY TO JESUS AND TAKE IT TO HEART (3).
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
Revelation, ultimately, is not meant to confuse the believer.
This is for anyone to read and profit from.
Read…
Listen…
And keep!
Take it to heart!
Keep the words.
Obey what Jesus says!
Note this…
What a blessing to be able to hear Jesus!
I believe God has been speaking to us.
Do you believe that?
I do!
And it is a blessing.
God loves us and cares for us enough to talk to us.
I believe that God reveals His plans and purposes to us.
It is there, if we will listen.
But not only that…
What a blessing to be able to do what Jesus says!
What a blessing it is to know the joy of obedience!
ILL Obedience (S)
A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord’s voice. The young man could not help but wonder, “Does God still speak to people?”
After service, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. It was about ten o’clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, “God…If you still speak to people speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.”
As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought, stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said aloud, “God is that you?” He did not get a reply and started on toward home. Again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he did not recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. “Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.”
It did not seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started toward home. As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge. “Turn down that street.” This is crazy he thought and drove on pass the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial area of town. It was not the best but it was not the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, “Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.”
The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. “Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.”
Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door, “Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something but if they don’t answer right away, I am out of here.”
He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man’s voice yelled out, “Who is it? What do you want?” Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he did not seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. “What is it?”
The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, “Here, I brought this to you.” The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway speaking loudly in Spanish. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking, speaking, and half-crying. “We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We did not have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk.”
His wife in the kitchen yelled out, “I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?”
The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put it in the man’s hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers and that God still speaks to His people.
That is the joy of obedience.
That is listening to the Spirit of God and keeping His words.
When you do that, you will achieve God’s goal for you.
It is there in verse 4…
Note that God’s goal for you is grace and peace.
God’s blessing awaits you.
God’s blessing awaits those that worship Jesus.
God’s blessing awaits those that read, listen, and take it to heart.
Is that you today?
Is that us?
It can be as we conclude in song.
Let’s offer “our all” to Him as we sing.
For Further Study: Proverbs 15.31, 19.20; Ecclesiastes 5.1; Isaiah 11.2; Daniel 7.13-14; Galatians 2.20; Ephesians 2.4; Colossians 1.16-17; Hebrews 4.12; I Peter 2.5; II Peter 3.9-11; I John 5.3
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Now…May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral
Fuller, Tom Seeing Jesus Face to Face
Haines, Mark Behold Your King
Kelley, Rodney Blessed by the Book
Matherlee, Brian Introduction to Revelation
Tow, Richard Banished but Blessed
Wilkins, Mike John & Revelation
Other
Jeremiah, David, and Carole C. Carlson. Escape the Coming Night. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990.
Keener, Craig S. The Ivp Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Mounce, Robert H. The Book of Revelation. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977.
Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament. Colorado Springs: ChariotVictor Publishing, 1989.
