7 Churches: Introduction

Now let me add my thanks to what has already been tendered to you, especially realizing a number of you have been in gospel meetings and ministry meetings. To take the time out for a weekend like this is most commendable and appreciated. Revelation 1 and verse number 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass 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 read it they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand. John's of the seven churches which are in Asia peace rather grace beyond you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seventh spiritual before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness the first begotten the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us washed us from our sins in his own blood and made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Behold he cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see him they also which pierced him and all kingdoms of the earth shall wail because of him even so amen.

I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending say the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the almighty. I John who am your brother and companion in tribulation 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 heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega first and last and what thou seest right in a book send unto the seven churches which are in Asia.

Now it's important to realize that it's the entire letter the entire epistle which is sent to these seven churches. What thou seest right in a book and send unto the seven churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamos, unto Thyatira, unto Sardis, to Philadelphia, unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that speak with me and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks.

Now you're going to allow me to give you the better rendering lampstands and we'll see why lampstand is not only a better literal rendering but a more scriptural rendering. In the midst of the seven lampstands one like unto the son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot gird about the pops with a golden girdle. Head in his hair were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire.

His feet like undefined brass as they burned in a furnace and his voice is the sound of many waters. And he had in his hand, rather 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. When I saw my fellow his feet is dead and he laid his right hand upon me and saying to me fear not I am first and the last.

I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore amen. 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 at my right hand are the seven golden lampstands and the seven stars are the angels or messengers of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven churches. Now we trust that God will bless the reading of his word to us all tonight. We have a rather formidable task ahead of us and I trust God will give help.

We would like with God's help to look at the teaching that is involved in the letters of the seven churches but tonight will serve as an introduction as we look at chapter one. Introduction for many reasons and as we shall see what is in chapter one is very very closely linked with what we shall look together at in the succeeding meetings in chapter two and in chapter three. Now obviously tonight we have read and have to comment upon upwards of 20 verses and in all the meetings that follow we'll be looking at anywhere from four or five to seven or eight verses so we have a lot to condense tonight and just to highlight as we would look down this chapter and try to gain something from it.

I think most with perhaps the exception some of the youngest ones here are familiar with the sections of the book of revelation. We read the divinely inspired commentary upon the sections of the book of the revelation the things that thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which which shall be after these things. That's what we read in verse number 19.

So the things which are really occupy more rather the things thou hast seen occupied move to chapter one the vision that was open to John upon the isle of Patmos the glorified Lord that he saw walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands in the midst of the churches the things which thou hast seen the things which are would be chapters two and chapter three and we will look at those in more detail as time allows through the weekend and then of course the things which shall be after these things take us from chapter four onward to appreciate something of the future and of the unfolding of events which John tells us must be so the sections of the book the subdivision of the chapters that are before us of course are are helpful because in chapter one we would see the Lord walking in the midst of the churches when we come to chapter two and chapter three we would see the churches working in the midst of the world and when we come to chapter four and five it is the church worshiping around the throne so chapter one the Lord walking chapter two and chapter three we see assemblies working and chapter four and chapter five the church as a whole worshiping around the throne in heaven now the reason i say working as we'll see is in six out of the seven churches in our authorized version it's seven out of seven but probably more accurately in six out of the seven churches the Lord begins his message to each church with the words i know thy works and so he is examining the activity of an assembly and giving us his commentary upon it so the subdivision then of the of the chapters before us chapters one through chapter five that have to do with the with believers we would of this age we would see there those three different aspects but let me come then to a summary of chapter one very quickly and just look at it for a few minutes if i can with you and consider something of it just go back to verse number one and look first of all at the revealer of the teaching who is doing the revealing the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave so what we are looking at is a revelation it is something which God has given and we will see why but it's important to grasp that God is the source of what we are looking at in all of his wisdom and all of his authority God is the revealer the recipients to who wasn't written to show unto his servants now that immediately would remind us that this is not a book for speculation this was not meant as a book for debate or for intellectual curiosity but God intended that this book would have a practical effect on all who read it and we would indeed read later on blessed it says there in verse number three he that read it he that heareth he that keepeth so God intends this book for his servants not just for students not just for the curious not just for the prophetic individual who wants to learn all he can about prophecy but God intends the reading of this book to have a bearing upon your life and mine your service in mind for him as we shall see in just a few moments as we look at some other aspects of it so the recipients are servants those who are bond slaves those who are willing servants of God this book then is for us in that character if we would seek to serve God in our own day and then we have of course the reason why it was given we are told that he would make known that which must shortly come to pass so God is giving us a a foreview and again it is all with this in mind that it has a bearing upon our lives today that it will have some practical bearing upon each of us individually but especially what we will be looking at in chapters two and three have a practical bearing upon assemblies that seek to bear testimony to God to bear testimony to the Lord Jesus in our own day but it is the word of God so you will see it is we see the reliability that little word in verse number one i think is vital for us to appreciate things which must which must amidst all of the events of earth amidst all the opposition of men amidst all the planning and the intention of men and demons God says this is what must be this is what must be this is what is going to occur despite all that would rage itself in opposition despite the kings of the earth gathering themselves together despite the tumult of the nations God says here is what must be because i have so decreed it we see as well the recorder the apostle john and what i want you to see is that what it is is a revelation not of the future so much that's how most of us would approach this book the book of the revelation while it's revealing to us the future it's revealing to us what's going to happen in the future but you will notice won't you what it says as we read these verses it is a revelation of Christ it's really revealing to us Christ and so as we go through the book we would if all we gathered from this book were future events and uh you know be able to put all the personages in the right place and be able to say who this person is and who that person is and which events occur in what order if that's all we gathered we would be missing we would be missing what is the chief intent of God in giving us this book be missing the revelation of Christ so as you go through the book what do you learn of Christ well in chapters 1 2 and 3 he is lord and judge as he moves amongst the assemblies isn't he a totally different character than what we are accustomed to thinking as we see him in Matthew Mark Luke and John moving in all this glory and majesty and in righteousness amidst the churches and so in chapters 1 to 3 he is the lord and judge chapter 5 he's the lamb and he's also the lion of the tribe of judah when you come to chapter 11 he's the sovereign when you come to chapter 14 he's the reaper chapter 19 he's the bridegroom he's the warrior upon the white horse he is king of kings lord of lords the sovereign of the universe the inaugurator of a new eternity he is all that revealed to us and all the fullness and all the greatness of this person and so John is going to be bringing before us throughout this tremendous epistle unfoldings of the person of Christ revelation an unveiling is the word that is used in the original giving us pictures and glories of Christ that we do not have in Matthew Mark and Luke yes they're suggested to us in Old Testament pictures and in Old Testament language they are suggested to us in the epistles and different things that are said but to John was given this tremendous privilege to the church and to the ages to come to unveil the person of Christ and all the beauty of his person for us and as time permits we will look at that tonight so the the sections of the book of revelation the subdivisions of these chapters the summary of chapter 1 but what i want to come to is the seed plot the seed plot that is in this chapter now what i mean by the seed plot is that john like a wise writer is dropping seeds in chapter 1 that he is going to develop as he goes through especially chapters 2 and 3 but actually throughout the entire letter look at verses 4 to 6 over verses 4 to 6 i want you to just put these words the resources the resources for testimony for god the resources for testimony for god there are three things introduced to us in in verses 4 5 and 6 first of all there is the sovereignty of god you will notice it says from him which verse number four from him which is and which was and which is to come the eternality of this person one who was before everything one who is one who shall be after everything else sovereignty of god him which is which was and which is to come timeless eternal sovereign over everything number two from the seven spirits which are before his throne now older christians know this so please bear with me for the sake of younger believers it does not mean of course that there are seven spirits that's contrary to the rest of the teaching of the word of god there is one spirit but what it does mean is the fullness of the the completeness of his sufficiency the seven fold spirit of god and all the fullness of his availability for the church so we have not just the sovereignty of god we have the sufficiency of the spirit of god but then notice as well what we have and from jesus christ the faithful witness the first begotten from among the dead prince of the kings of the earth what i have there is the suitability the suitability of the lord that we have walking in the midst so if i see in the sovereignty of god the eternity of his person if i see in the sufficiency of the of the spirit the entirety of the blessing he can bring if i see in the suitability of this of the savior the experience of his manhood that fit him for all of our needs i begin to gain some insight into the fact that here are the resources now it won't seem strange to you than will it if as we go through the letter and as we go through the different letters to the churches that the spirit of god draws upon these things and in one instance he reminds us of the one that has the sufficiency of the spirit to meet our needs another occasion him who is the first and last him who was a faithful witness and so on he's going to be drawing upon the the sufficiency of the spirit the suitability of christ the sovereignty of god all with this in view as resources excuse me resources for testimony in our own day and so what we will see is that there is an entire godhead now it's easy to say but it's a tremendous thing to think of there is an entire godhead at the availability of every local assembly to maintain and to prosper testimony there is a seven-fold spirit available not dependent upon how large or how small assembly is there is the fullness of the spirit available for every company there is a sovereign god available for every company there is a savior in his suitability available for every company regardless of size strength weakness whatever it might be and so when you think of the things that can buff in an assembly the persecutions and the difficulties and the opposition even on a local level and in towns and villages and so on there's a god who is sovereign well that may have tremendous comfort to an assembly like Smyrna going through the furnace of affliction it can be a great comfort to an assembly as well being buffeted by difficulty in a town with petty ordinances and petty officers and everything else to realize there's a god who is sovereign when you come to assemblies that are seemingly so weak but find that there's a spirit who is sufficient to raise up gift and raise up leadership and whatever is needed and when you think of assemblies who are struggling there is a savior who is absolutely suitable so that there is no emergency that is outside the sovereignty of a god who is so powerful as there no emergency there are emergencies with us on earth there are no emergencies in heaven there are no 9-1-1s in heaven before the throne there's a sea of glass there's undisturbed peace and tranquility not because it's indifferent but because it already knows everything it's already prepared for everything already has foreseen everything controls everything so there is no emergency that is outside his control all that is essential for testimony the spirit of god can supply and all that we experience as believers individually and collectively there's one who was the faithful witness he's he's experienced it before you and i may not be exactly the same circumstance but he has gone through every form of trial and those are are difficulty so the resources then for testimony in verses four through six verse seven though brings before us what regulates testimony and that is a day of review a day of revelation a day of reversals now i know that verse seven is not referring to his coming for us to take us home not referring to the rapture so much but rather to the day of revelation when every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him but it is a day of revelation that is coming the day of his revelation but there was a dear man older believers here will know him i said mark i'm guy used to hear my father-in-law and my father talk about preachers and they had gone home to heaven they're always living in the past you know but you know i'm living in the past a dear man that older ones would know mr sydney maxwell and he taught us that we will be going into heaven based upon what christ did at calvary for us but we will come out of heaven based upon what we have done for him i'll get that we will go into heaven based upon what christ has done for us we will come out of heaven depending upon what we have done for him what i mean depending how you and i will appear in glory the honor that we will bring to the lord jesus in a coming day in the day of revelation in the day of his manifestation when he shall come on the words of paul to the thessalonians to be admired and all them that believe the way we will appear in the kingdom will be linked with how we have lived for him down here how faithful we have been for him down here how we have carried out our stewardships down here that will give us our place now i know grace is really at the bottom of it all nothing can be divorced from divine grace but responsibility here upon earth will be linked with well done thou has been faithful in a few thou shall have rule over many and so on those parables the the pounds the towns and so on yeah the talents and the pounds and so on will be linked then with reward in light of the kingdom in light of our faithfulness so a day of review that awaits us a day of revelation that awaits us should stir us to an awareness of responsibility to serve but verse 7 reminds us of a much more sobering truth it's going to be a day of reversals a day of reversals every eye shall see him they also which pierced him and it says as well that all kindreds of the earth shall wear what's going to happen god is going to reverse earth's burdens earth said away with him earth said we don't want this man he is unworthy of life he is an imposter god is going to reveal his son in all his glory and it is going to be a day of reversals that thrills us but that is tremendous i think a day is coming when the man that earth rejected men scorned and spit upon is going to have the highest place in the entire universe of god and every knee shall bow tremendous thing to think that god is going to reverse all of that the only problem is when you come to chapter 2 and chapter 3 the lord does a lot of reversing there's a church and it says we are rich we are increased with goods we have needed nothing and the lord reverses the verdict and says you are poor poor blind destitute naked the lord reverses our burdens there's another church that men said the church at smyrna i know thy tribulation and poverty but you're rich there's a church that says we are really on fire for god and the lord comes to the church at sarnas and says you're dead you see there's a lord that walks in the midst of the churches that is giving righteous judgments so it doesn't matter what others think about your assembly it doesn't matter the veneer that we put on the assembly and how active it all looks and how wonderful it all looks what really matters is what does he think what is his assessment and it doesn't matter what others think about you others think about me now i realize i say that guardedly we have a testimony to maintain and we should do all we can to maintain fellowship and warmth amongst us that's not what i'm getting at but to live just for the sake of reputation to live just for the sake of impressing people and pretending to be what i am not and when i am made conscious there's a day of reversal coming what would it matter if everyone thought you were a wonderful christian if when you stand at the judgment seat of christ the lord reverses that verdict for all eternity and what will it matter if you're unpopular and maybe not so well liked if at the judgment seat of christ he reverses the verdict and says well done well a day of reversals all of that should regulate testimony for god a day of review a day of revelation a day of reversals in light of a day of responsibility let me just mention though the revelation of christ that is given to us especially in verses 12 through 20 and just touch very quickly on these i saw in the midst verse number 13 so the first thing i learned as i see this glorious this glorious vision of the lord jesus is his preeminence his preeminency that god intends that he should be preeminent we'll see he's preeminent on our affections we will find that he is preeminent in our aspirations but he should also be preeminent in our assembly gathered to him hope living for him and linked with him vitally his preeminency but then it's referred to as one like unto the son of man so it's his humanity as well his humanity as son of man now i know that that title does not simply mean he was just a man it is his title as man as the last man the second adam his right to rule and reign for god the one who will fulfill psalm number eight what is man that thou art mindful of him the son of man that thou visiteth him it will be in that day that god will find a man in this case a perfect man into whose hand he can put administration for god for the kingdom for all eternity and it will not fail it will not falter it will not be flawed but it will be fulfilled perfectly to god's eternal satisfaction this son of man who is in the midst of the churches so we have his preeminency his humanity but then we have his royalty as well he is clothed with a garment down to the foot that gorgeous robe that marks him out in all the glory of his person his royalty is brought before us and then he is girded about the paps with a golden girdle his sovereignty you will pick up some books and i am not here to criticize or in any way i don't believe this is in our brother jim allen's book so i'm not pointing to that one there's some other older books written on the book of the revelation that will sometimes say something i find so strange that uh he is pure about the paps with a golden girdle because his his affections are restrained and kept in because of failure in the churches as many as i love i chase him the lord loves you just as much loves me just as much when he chases as when he comforts he loves me just as much when he corrects as when he consoles his love is being expressed every moment towards me every moment problem is i don't appreciate it i get cold to it but his love never varies not like human love not even like a parent's love that sometimes can get you know marred by impatience and by frustration never his love never changes and so as we see him moving amongst the churches as we see him correcting and pointing to things and dealing with issues it's never with restrained lovers with a fullness of love going out so we sing even when he chideth tender is his tone none but he can guide us we are his his alone so there is no restraint of this love he is rather his sovereignty we see as well his maturity and dignity he is the ancient of days the white hair and all that is linked with that in verse number 14 but then we come to things which are searching the scrutiny of his eyes the scrutiny of his eyes his eyes it's a flame of fire discerning nothing misses nothing overlooked nothing hidden nothing that somehow cannot be viewed by those eyes i find one of the most sobering and solemn passages in the word of god Paul is dealing with actually dealing with overseers and relationships between overseers and the assembly and he tells Timothy i charge you before god and the lord jesus and the elect angels that they'll do nothing by partiality now i don't know if that just strikes you as being uh as searching as i find it but it's as though he's saying all of heaven is watching god the lord jesus and the angels are watching how you treat each other in an assembly and he says i charge you they're watching we conscious of that i'm just going to take it away from just overseers for a moment just to believe us collectively are we conscious how we treat each other is being observed by all heaven yeah even an email you send no words spoken just out there in cyberspace going to somebody else maybe some little snide remark some critical thing about another person all of heaven sees that that politicking and infighting that occurs all of heaven sees that eyes like flame of fire penetrate piercing searching into assembly relationships the purity and the scrutiny of those eyes feet like undefined brass the the purity of his movements his voice like the sound of many waters the authority of his voice his ministry in his hand out of his mouth we see his ministry holding and speaking controlling and giving and speaking and rebuking all of that is there the ministry that he is going to present in these chapters let me have to leave that for the sake of time let me come to the realization of the nature of testimony the realization of what testimony for god is all about i want to talk to you first of all about something we call autonomy autonomy now that's a misused and it's a sometimes an abused word sometimes it's used like we can do what we want and we don't care what you think and don't care what you say no fellowship is too precious a thing to to move like mavericks and be careless of our brethren and other assemblies but what autonomy does mean is that each assembly stands accountable to the lord but more than that there is no higher court of appeal once you have gone to the oversight of an assembly and what i mean by that is this we have all witnessed tragically the last two weeks is it that when terry shiloh's parents couldn't get what they wanted at this court they went to a higher court and when that court said no they went to a higher court and when finally went to the supreme court and they said no they started all over again in a different vein in this court in that court in other words there was always a higher court of appeal to which they could go some other governing body now if you were in the religious world around us you would be able to go to your church and if you didn't like that you could go to the local uh whatever it might be the synod and you could appeal to the national headquarters eventually and if that didn't suit you maybe even to the international headquarters you'd have there would be levels of control but that's not the new testament teaching of a local assembly for example when you come to matthew 18 you know that chapter don't you where the lord jesus is speaking about uh how you deal with problems between brothers and so if there's a difficulty between two christians you go to that person alone and you tell them the problem and if he won't listen to you you take with you two or three more and you tell again you bring out the problem you try to have it resolved there and if that doesn't work you take it to the whole assembly and if still that doesn't work what do you do then what's the next step what's the higher step you go to none that's the end of it the man is on to you as a heathen and a republican that's it it only goes that far there is no higher authority then in an assembly than when the oversight has investigated a matter brought before the assembly and there is unity and agreement the matter is closed there's no court of appeal each assembly stands responsible for its actions and its dealings to the lord alone so that when the lord is telling these assemblies of their different problems he does not tell smyrna go take care of the problem in ephesus and he doesn't tell philadelphia now look you're only 30 miles away from layer to see it go up there and get things straightened out get those boys on track now every assembly is responsible for its own relationship with the lord and its own spiritual character before the lord autonomy now there's tremendous preservation in that you might think boy it's a shame you know think of the things we could correct if uh you know we had a group of men that would go around correcting assemblies really really look at how the religious world has made such a wreck of teaching if you had three or four men who controlled everything all you got to do is touch two or three of those men and now they control the teaching of the entire groups all the groups that's what's happened in the religious world that's what's happened out there is men at the top have become infiltrated with evil and wrong teaching and all the rest and in the best in the best of evangelical circles that wrong teaching begins to filter down god intended local assemblies autonomous responsible to him controlled by the word of god the authority of the word of god ruling all and yet as we shall see there is still not just autonomy involved but there is a unity that is the result of truth that is agreed upon so while there are individual lamp stands they are linked together by being linked with the lord that's the link not that they have sat down and decided well let's decide shall we have fellowship with each other or not and as a result of their link with the lord they had fellowship with each other now let me just say something for younger believers i may have said it before but it has been a help to me both in my own private life and also even in assembly life and in in responsibility and leadership in the assembly to appreciate something about what fellowship is and what it is not fellowship is not something we agree to have some fellowship is something we have because we agree they even say well you're just playing with words no there is a world of difference between those two things fellowship is not something we agree to have it's something we have because we agree when we share truth and we have fellowship if we don't share truth we could have all the conversation we want and we could make all the intentions of having fellowship together but if we don't share truth there is no fellowship a fellowship is a sharing together of truth that comes from the hand of god and so there is first of all autonomy and there is also unity which is the result of fellowship but i want you to see something of the dignity here as well of local assembly testimony the dignity is this when the spirit of god would desire to give us a picture of what an assembly is in this book of revelation it's not just a lampstand it's a golden golden lampstand golden in other words it's something that god says is precious something that is valuable it's amazing as you go through the rest of the chapters of this book and you find that god places very little value upon things upon earth very little value in fact the day is coming when they're all going to be removed fold it up like a garment put away like you put away your winter clothes when summer comes god says that's something to do with earth with all of its greatness with all of its grandeur with all of its pomp it's all going to be folded up well what is there on earth that's of value to god golden lampstands golden lampstands now you all know you hardly need me to come out here to tell you that back in the old testament in the taranacle there were no dimensions to the lampstand it wasn't a matter of its size what god gave was its weight its weight so we learned something of its weight and learned something of its value and its value is gold and its weight is something for god so that an assembly can be a value for god by just being faithful as a lampstand and it's not its size that matters it's its weight what kind of weight it had what kind of testimony it has for god that gives that assembly value the dignity of an assembly but in this image i see as well something of the priority of an assembly now again this things come to us kind of late in life and you've probably known this all along this is something i've only appreciated lately what is the purpose of an assembly what is the purpose of an assembly when our um there are primary purposes and there are secondary purposes and the great danger is what is when secondary purposes become primary we lose both the primary and the secondary they get what i'm saying there are primary purposes and there are secondary purposes and when the secondary person purposes become primary then we lose both primary and secondary so what's the primary purpose of testimony would it surprise you if i told you it's not to meet your needs primary purpose of testimony is not to help you grow as a christian not to help you have enjoyable fellowship with other believers it's not to help you be a better christian and teach you the word of god better it's not to somehow enable you to live a better life for god that is not the primary purpose of testimony the primary purpose of an assembly is for god it's for his pleasure now you say well can you prove that to me well i think just with a lamp stand we could prove it couldn't we but let me just take seven different pictures the word of god gives us of a new testament church and you just think of them for a moment okay it's a building it's a it's a field for fruit for god it's god's field god's fruitful field it's a chaste virgin in his love to christ it's house of god where his order is seen it's pillar and ground of truth of holding his truth it's a lamp stand burning for him see all the imageries of the new testament all the metaphors of a local assembly in the new testament emphasize that the great purpose of an assembly the primary purpose of an assembly is to be testimony for him now come back with me if that's the primary purpose then all the secondary ones will be taken care of if i take care of the primary purpose if i make sure if this is my goal in assembly life that that the assembly will bear testimony for god as it is meant to do then god will see to it that my needs are met that believers grow that there is blessing there's prosperity but the moment we begin to divert our attention to make sure well this one's happy and that one's happy and this one's needs are being met we've almost become like a little nursery you know whose diaper will we change this week now the primary purpose of testimony is for god and that really brings us to responsibility because testimony and responsibility are linked now if you want to you go home tonight and you get out your computer program or you get out if you're old-fashioned you get out your vines or straws you'll find it upwards of i think it's 18 or 19 times 18 times in the letter in one way or another this word is used and that is testimony testimony we read it three times in chapter one in different forms we read it together in verse number two who bear record who testified of the word of god and of the testimony of jesus we read it there you'll notice it again in verse nine he was in the isle of patmas for the testimony of christ jump over to chapter six those who are beheaded for the testimony of god and you read it in chapter 19 chapter 20 chapter 22 you read it in chapter 12 chapter 15 the two witnesses the book is filled with this that the whole purpose of men is to bear testimony to god now i'm not just speaking here of the idea of individual witnessing that believers do that's valuable vital crucial but i think what we're looking at in revelation is the idea of corporate testimony that is bearing witness to what god is like to the world around and so when you come to chapter two it speaks about my faithful martyr my faithful testimony bearer who was slain in your midst and the lord jesus introduces himself to a church in chapter three as the the faithful witness because they weren't and so time and again what we are learning in this book is the vital responsibility of the testimony you are linked with and the testimony i am linked with to bear testimony to god and you see that then becomes the standard by which the judge moving in the midst of the seven churches begins to find defects not just that they weren't loving each other and they weren't nice christians and they weren't preaching the gospel and they they didn't no no the great thing is this to what measure am i being faithful as to what measure is the assembly i am linked with being faithful and upholding all that god is in his character to the world around now we will see when we come especially to the church of philadelphia if god gives help i want to say this carefully i don't say it with i hope i don't say with pride and without bigotry or without a sense that we are the people but there is nothing out there in that world however evangelical that is big enough to bear testimony to all that god is it is only an assembly functioning according to the word of god an assembly that is upon the right pattern that can bear testimony to all that god is in this person and we'll look at that as time allows when we come to the church of philadelphia so the recognition of what testimony of the nature of of testimony let me hurriedly mention two other things this chapter reminds us of it gives us a reminder of a sovereign god a reminder of a sovereign god not just as we're looking at already resources for testimony not simply the regulation of that testimony or the revelation of christ amidst the testimony or the realization of the nature of testimony but the reminder of a sovereign god why do i mean that or what do i mean by that a day came when under the cruel unjust reign of the roman emperor john was taken from what appeared to be a place of usefulness and exiled to a barren cold desolate rock strewn island called patmas in the eyes of men john your days of usefulness are over forget it what do you do out there no internet uh right they're christians and no telephone to call and encourage them no assembly to help out there john your days are done just pack it in forget it just write it out the lord takes you the world thought they had made a useful man useless in that barren place john rose to his greatest usefulness for god so what appears to be the dealings of men to set someone aside god used as an occasion for pouring into john this tremendous revelation of his son it's interesting isn't it just as an aside john says i heard a voice and when i turned it's interesting that um your mind starts working you think of abraham at a trial on a mount and behind him was the ram had to turn moses was in a desert keeping sheep and he turned to see the bush mary in a garden was weeping and she turned to hear the voice of the gardener she found who was the savior see i find it so often we get occupied with the the trial occupied with the difficulty occupied with the problem and sometimes god wants us to turn don't get so occupied with it get occupied with me get occupied with me not with a trial and so whether it's a john upon patmas or a moses keeping sheep or an abraham about to give his son or a mary weeping because she cannot find her savior to just turn from the problem to realize there is a god to be occupied with that can meet every need the sovereignty of god but let me close with well let me just mention before closing one or two things quickly the response of john to this how did john respond to the vision if i were to ask you of all the holy 11 disciples that were true to the lord who was the closest you would say john if i was to ask you of all the disciples who are true to the lord who who knew the most physical nearness and intimacy to the lord you'd say john if i asked you who was the most comfortable in the presence of lord jesus you would say john and when john saw me fell at his feet is dead he fell at his feet is dead a sight of a glorified risen exalted lord it took the man who knew what it was to fall upon his breast and made him fall his feet is dead now what i'm going about to say searches me before it searches you because what i learned from this is the man who is going to speak for christ to his assemblies he better find himself at the feet of christ as dead now what i mean by that is that in myself the flesh useless judged as unworthy before ever a man can speak for god as god intended to be so let me just come then to what you have in your alley already the names the nature and finally the numerous approaches to to study there are at least three sane ways of approaching these seven churches there's lots of insane ways of approaching the book of revelation you can get lots of books with great diagrams and wonderful pictures and tremendous imagination there are three sane ways of looking at these seven churches the one that most often is taken up is what is called the dispensational view that these seven churches represent the history of the church through the time from the time the assemblies began all the way until the lord comes and assembly testimony is no longer necessary and that is a very profitable and a very good way of doing it my only difficulty with that is i've got to read history books to do that and um uh you can get that yourself mr allen's book on revelation possibly one of the sanest most balanced books i have seen is an excellent book if you want to look at the dispensational setting we may just mention it as we go through but that is not really the major thrust of what i have before us there is the historical way of looking at it meaning that here were seven real assemblies existing in the first century to which john wrote and they were real they had real problems and he addressed them as real problems then there is the what i would call the typical way of looking at them they are real assemblies but the number seven would suggest to us that god is giving us a picture of all the kinds of problems that assemblies can face in these seven real assemblies and i will really be looking at it as a combination of those last two the historical and the typical as we go through these letters together in the two days before us looking at them as real assemblies looking at them as real problems and how the spirit of god would deal with each of these issues so that as we go through these letters just to forewarn you um this won't be a bible reading so we won't be looking at every word and every expression and telling you this means that and that means that we will be hopefully covering the the letter and looking at it and explaining what it means but primarily we'll be taking at least one major take-home lesson from each assembly one principle that the lord jesus would point to and emphasize that hopefully will search us hopefully help to regulate us in our own assembly testimony for god and will be a prophet to us so that each letter is going to highlight a particular aspect and if you have questions on minutiae or you know very detailed things we have visiting brethren with us this weekend all the way from iowa who will be happy to answer questions that right jim you will take questions from six to seven in the morning by phone okay uh if you have questions specifically about those things but anyway that'll be what will be before us in the law of god and um if i can take one minute i know i'm over time but i'll just mention because it'll be brought up and i'll answer it now and we'll be done with it the angel of the church who is it who is they who are they what are they you'll all disagree that's fine and that's no problem i take it that they are the messengers of the churches you might say well what do you get done it's interesting that when you go back to the last book in the old testament book of malachi four different messengers in malachi there is malachi himself whose name means messenger it says of levi he was a messenger of god so in his own day he brought the message of god to the people in malachi's day he was doing he was the messenger it says in chapter three that i will send my messenger before thy face so that would be john the baptist and then it says and the messenger of the covenant shall come that's the lord jesus so it's in each of those cases it's the one who was responsible for carrying the message of god to his people and so when you come to the book of revelation the the word that is used for the the angel of the church is just the word that could be translated messenger we're not saying it's not that he's saying that this the seven stars are the seven angels and now i'm saying well they're really not angels they're really messengers the word could be translated just as accurately the seven messengers so i would take it they were those who are responsible for bringing the word of god to an assembly and to seek to correct what was there now you can take it from there i just leave that with you thank you for your patience and do pray for the meetings and pray that god by his grace will give help and that the meetings will be both challenging and enjoyable and searching to all of us and that the result will be blessing for the assembly shall we pray father we bow in thy presence we thank thee for bringing our people here safely thank you for their patience and listening listening attentively and commend to thee the word of god we would pray father that as we would read and consider these letters together that we will in our souls appreciate something more of the revelation of thy son in all of his fullness and all of his beauty and all of his glory all of his sufficiency that we may embrace more the great truth of being gathered to his name not just representing him but drawing from his sufficiency for testimony in our own day we commend thy people to thee and look to thee for the weekend before us in the name of our lord jesus christ amen